TFCon 2014 in Chicago October

[griffin]

As BotCon is becoming more commercialised and less fan-friendly by the owners, and since there is less interest in it by fans down-under, I thought I might feature a few of the larger fan-run conventions in future.
(after all, BotCon was once fan-run before it became "the official convention", and some of these other ones have become quite significant and popular following the "burn bridges" policy of FunPub's owners to its past members and potential attendees)

TFCon is run by people involved with TFW2005, and has been a Canadian convention each year since 2002. But this year there is an American one in Chicago, to get closer to the main concentration of fans in America.
It is on this year in October 24th to 26th, so is a bit late unless you are a spontaneous traveller with money to burn.

Features and guests include...

TFcon Chicago 2014 features a huge dealer room for Transformers merchandise, question and answer panels and autograph sessions with many special guests including ALAN OPPENHEIMER the voices of Warpath, Beachcomber, Breakdown and Seaspray in Transformers Generation 1 well as the voices of Skeletor, Man-At-Arms and Mer-Man from He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, in addition to DAN GILVEZAN best known as the voice of the Autobot Bumblebee in the original Transformers cartoon as well as the voice of Peter Parker/Spider-Man in the 1981 animated series, Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends. He also voiced Goldbug, Hot Spot, Outback, Rollbar, Scamper, Skids and Snapdragon in Transformers Generation 1, VENUS TERZO the voice of Blackarachnia in Beast Wars, AARON ARCHER former Hasbro VP, toy designer and creative lead for all Transformers partnerships. JAMES ROBERTS writer of Transformers More Than Meets The Eye. Transformers Comic Book artists ALEX MILNE, SARAH STONE, ANDREW GRIFFITH, LIVIO RAMONDELLI, JOSH BURCHAM and CASEY COLLER. More guests TBA.

I might have gone to this if it was still a couple months away, as I've only recently decided to explore and support major fan-run conventions now (after seeing and reading about the pattern of behaviour and policies of FunPub that shows no evidence of changing - I don't see why I should be giving them exclusive coverage on this site anymore).

This site will still feature BotCon and Club news and info, but some of the major Transformers fan-conventions will also be treated as news now, which only exist now to rival BotCon because of FunPub's treatment of fans created a sharp rise in the demand for them in the last five years.
.

[griffin]

Apparently this is one of the actual Barricade cars used in the first movie... and it will be at the TFCon later this month.
That's pretty cool. (and would make me want to go if this was known a couple months ago)

[MayzaPrime]

I actually planned to go to this as I have a friend who lives in Chicago, the only reason that I am not there is that I am currently in Fiji, cause I basically got a free trip.

If this is in Chicago again I will get there.

[griffin]

Chicago is one of the cities I'd love to go back and explore with more time, so I think the TFCon is likely to be there each year if it becomes an annual event... as their Canadian one has always been in the state of Ontario, and the last four have been in the one city (for convenience and streamlining I guess).
I'll keep an eye on it for next year though, unless BotCon is in Chicago next year, then it would be a bit much visiting that city twice in a year.

[MayzaPrime]

I do have a few contacts in the States, my Sister-in-law is having her wedding in California in 2016, so I am trying to convince her to have it around botcon time in the off chance that it might be held there... Having 4 kids makes it hard to travel.