TFCC Botcon 2016 theme - Dawn of the Predacus

[griffin]

People at TFW are saying that Aaron Archer is back at Hasbro. That's weird.... especially after he was working on developing toys that resembled Pretenders, which wouldn't have looked good to Hasbro.
(maybe they desperately needed him back after the big purge of employees and designers, which might have left them short-staffed)

I'd like to see him inducted into the Hall of Fame, along with other various designers who deserve to have that sort of recognition.

[Verno]

People at TFW are saying that Aaron Archer is back at Hasbro. That's weird.... especially after he was working on developing toys that resembled Pretenders, which wouldn't have looked good to Hasbro.
(maybe they desperately needed him back after the big purge of employees and designers, which might have left them short-staffed)

I'd like to see him inducted into the Hall of Fame, along with other various designers who deserve to have that sort of recognition.

Pretenders, hey? Would be a logical progression of the Prime Wars Trilogy gimmicks.

1. Combiners
2. Headmasters/Targetmasters
3. Pretenders

There's an inter-playability theme to all of them.

[griffin]

FunPub have sent out an email to let people know that they have set up a Saturday VIP Judd Nelson Pack for General Admission people... but it costs $60 more than the the cost for pre-registered people.

They must have really struggled to sell VIP tickets to create a Saturday VIP pack to get enough money to pay for him.

2016 BotCon SATURDAY Judd Nelson VIP General Admission Ticket is now available.

For $189***, the Judd Nelson VIP GA PASS includes:

• One (1) Saturday General Admission**
• One (1) item autographed in person by Judd Nelson
• One (1) professional 5x7 photograph with Judd Nelson (Saturday afternoon)
• Exclusive Hot Rod art print
• Exclusive Hot Rod Cloisonné Pin
• First seating at the Judd Nelson Panel*

Please note that there will be no photography permitted during the autograph session.

Your autograph slot will be on Saturday morning 9:00am-11:30am and your photo slot will be Saturday afternoon 12:30pm-3:00pm. This autograph package for General Admission attendees is limited to 200 slots and can be pre-ordered now through March 30th. After that date, you will need to come to late registration and availability is not guaranteed.

*After Registered Guest Package Judd Nelson VIP Pass holders and Golden Ticket Attendees.
**General Admission Ticket ONLY valid on Saturday
***$189 is the GA Pass price. The registered attendee package price is $129.

Visit BotCon and order your Judd Nelson VIP Pass today. Please post this online so that non-club members will know of this GA pass.

See you in Lousiville in a few short weeks!


Brian

I feel bad for those who get the VIP pack, missing out on most of Saturday's panels, with up to 5 hours of waiting in queues for the two sessions.

That last bit asking people to post it online for them sounds desperate... and shows that they have given up promoting things themselves on fansites.

[UltraMarginal]

I had similar thoughts when I saw this earlier on the Seibertron site.

it really sounds like they didn't sell enough with pre-registered people.

And you'd have to really want a Judd Nelson Signature and photo to be willing to give up nearly a whole day of the convention otherwise.

the main draw for me is all the panels, and toys of course.

[griffin]

For those going who registered for a boxset or non-boxset full admission pack, FunPub have just emailed out the pickup details, and it shows that there will be a casino night again this year (it might have been in the Brochure, but I musta missed it).

Some details for anyone else interested...

For non-GT people, they will be sent in their pdf attachment, a designated timeslot for their Wednesday or Thursday package pickup. Below are the details that should be on everyone's email, plus the Golden Ticket details.

SOUVENIR STORE will be in the GRAND HALL.
EXHIBITS will be in GRAND BALLROOM. Both are on the 2nd floor of the Suite Tower.
PANELS will be located in the Cochran Ballroom, which is on the 3rd floor, Rivue Tower.

Tours depart from the Galt House Hotel Main Lobby
Wednesday, April 6 @8:00 am – Horses & Kentucky Bourbon Tour
Return 4:30pm; Breakfast Included; Lunch is NOT included. After tour you are welcome to walk back to hotel or stay and shop for gifts and souvenirs.

Thursday, April 7 @8:00 am – Caving & Museum Tour
Return at 5pm; Lunch is Included. Walking distance of 2 miles over the day.

Custom Classes Meet in Nunn or Breathitt Room, 2nd floor, Suite Tower, Galt House Hotel
Check your invoice to see if you are in the Wednesday or Thursday Class.
Time: 8 am – 4pm each day, Late arrival will NOT be seated after 8:15am or be given a refund.

"Early Bird" Package Pick up time for Tour Guest or Class Participants Wednesday 9:30 pm Combs/Chandler, 2nd floor, Suite Tower, Galt House Hotel.
Bring your Invoice & Photo I.D.
By picking up your badge on Wednesday night, you can go directly to the Club Souvenir Store on Thursday night.
Your name badge gains you entry for the store.

Thursday store hours 6 pm–10 pm. (for at-show toys and merchandise)

Package Pick-up for Golden Ticket Guest Only:
Wednesday 8:30 pm Combs/Chandler , 2nd Floor, Suite Tower, Galt House Hotel
or
Thursday 4:00 pm- 5 pm Combs/Chandler , 2nd Floor, Suite Tower, Galt House Hotel
Each person will receive one name badge regardless of how many packages were purchased. Spouses may pick up spouse’s packages. Parents may pick up minor children’s packages. All other adults must pick up their own package IN PERSON at
the convention. Exclusive in your package: Golden Ticket Cloisonne Pin, GT Surprise Bonus, $2,000 Casino Money, Souvenir Voucher for “3 Times the Limit” on 2016 BotCon souvenirs, Meet & Greet Reception on Friday evening, Pre-signed autograph print, First entry to Exhibit Hall each day, and reserved seating in the front rows of all panels.

Early Shopping Privileges Thursday from 5:00 pm-5:45 pm
We will have a separate CASH line and a separate CREDIT CARD line for purchases tonight.
Souvenir purchases are by a voucher system. Approved badges for souvenir vouchers are: any Primus, Protoform, or Exhibitor (no Mini-Con or Exhibitor Helper Badge). You will receive a souvenir voucher at package pick-up for this purchase option. This souvenir voucher entitles Golden Ticket Primus Badge holders to a “3 times the Limit” of each of the exclusive 2016 convention souvenirs sold in our Club Store.

The "GT Surprise" is the bonus toy... which would be unfortunate if it was related to one of the two guests who are now no longer coming, as the first Golden Ticket year had a bonus Botshots Optimus for each person, signed by Peter Cullen.

This was also worth noting, for anyone needing to contact FunPub during the first two weeks of April - they will be too busy, or in Louisville to be able to respond to emails or phonecalls.

We are not able to accept phone calls or retrieve emails between April 1 – April 12, 2016.

One thing I only just noticed after all these years of the Golden Ticket concept, is that you don't appear to need to be in a Tour or Custom Class to be able to pickup your boxset/package on Wednesday night (Thursday night is the regular night for those without a Class or Tour added). Not that I wouldn't still try to get into a Class or Tour (or both) to make the trip more fulfilling, but it is good to know for next time....

Waitasec, there's not going to be a next time?

[griffin]

FunPub have sent out an email to let people know that they have set up a Saturday VIP Judd Nelson Pack for General Admission people... but it costs $60 more than the the cost for pre-registered people.

They must have really struggled to sell VIP tickets to create a Saturday VIP pack to get enough money to pay for him.



I feel bad for those who get the VIP pack, missing out on most of Saturday's panels, with up to 5 hours of waiting in queues for the two sessions.

Actually, I feel more bad for those who registered to attend BotCon just to see Judd Nelson (like people who live in Louisville, or people who would have just flown/drive in for the Saturday), and now could have spent a lot less as a walk-in for Saturday.
If FunPub had this planned out before pre-registration closed, that would be pretty low, as there was at least one person who lives near Louisville who paid the minimum US$210 protoform package plus the $129 for the Friday VIP ticket (total US$339), when they would have just paid US$189 for the Saturday VIP ticket (which itself was already forcing people to pay an extra $60 over the Friday VIP ticket). It just seems like a desperate cash-grab (or recouping of costs from another drop in attendance, as there was no announcement of boxsets or GTs being sold out this year), by not announcing this until after people had pre-registered... so protoform attendees can't even upgrade to a boxset to at least make back the extra money they had to pay out over Saturday people by selling the boxset and attendee toy.

[griffin]

One of the Seibertron news staff has claimed that the Custom Class toy is CW Bluestreak... but I'm not sure if that might be true, as an earlier announcement from Pete was something about the Custom Class toy having an official head that hasn't been used on a Hasbro release toy yet. (either unreleased, or a TakaraTomy head)

They are also claiming that Hasbro took back the licenses because they want to do the Transformers conventions themselves and make them more family-focused like the Star Wars conventions.

So people know, the custom class this year is for CW Bluestreak.

Also, if anyone is wondering what is coming next for Botcon type events, word on the street is Hasbro wants to reapropriate this event and do it themselves. It will be more family friendly (LOTS more money that way) with them using the Star Wars Celebration as a blueprint. I am sure it will still be fun for fans (Star Wars fans love Star Wars Celebration) but there will be more activities geared towards kids. They definitely aim to turn the event in a type of attraction that way.

If true, I guess if FunPub lost the Convention license, there was no point keeping the other licenses, as the Transformers Convention license was probably their biggest money-maker (when they sell out their toys).

[griffin]

The schedule has been released (not yet emailed though), for those going to now be able to plan out your BotCon days.

The pdf file can be seen here, or from the BotCon main page (click on the Schedule tab on the left column).

And the pdf file for the descriptions of the Panels this year, also from the main page.

[griffin]

Hmmm... no IDW panel again this year, which is odd.

Their excuse last year was that they had just moved buildings, so I wonder what their reason is this year.

Venus Terzo has two panels while the other VAs only have one... I wonder if that's to get more bums on seats on Saturday as walk-ins.

And I'm a bit worried about the Golden Ticket event being listed at the same time as the Hall of Fame presentations, which I hope is just to Vince Dicola (for the award he won a couple years ago) and not the entire HOF awards for 2016, as they should be done during the "Awards" dinner on Saturday.
Hopefully, the Golden Ticket dinner is at the Fourth Street Live precinct, as the Schedule only notes that we meet up at the Hotel Lobby... it doesn't say where it is going to be held. If it isn't, I'll be leaving after an hour to go see Stan & Vince.

[griffin]

Looking through the Schedule, they've got Sunday with hardly anything on again (like last year, and Sunday was like a ghost town compared to Saturday).

No News or Guest panels on Sunday at all, just fan panels or fans who are now working in official roles but are not presenting a panel on behalf of who they work for (like IDW).

Sunday only has four panels, and none are going to be newsworthy for people to flock to them...
- PANEL - 10am - The Art of Transformers with various Artists
- PANEL - 11am - Transformers Japan with Hayato Sakamoto & Andrew Hall
- PANEL - Noon - Cybercast Podcast
- PANEL - 1pm - BotCon Over the Years

Compared to Saturday, which has seven panels, almost double... and includes the feature guests, Hasbro and the Collector Club (who will be revealing the rest of their exclusive toys for this year).
- PANEL - 10am - Venus Terzo Q&A
- PANEL - 11am - Hasbro Product preview
- PANEL - Noon - Gregg Berger Q&A
- PANEL - 1pm - Transformers Cosplay with Rosemary Ward
- PANEL - 2pm - Aaron Archer Q&A
- PANEL - 3pm - Transformers Collectors’ Club Roundtable
- PANEL - 4pm - Judd Nelson Q&A

For me I'm likely to sit in the panel room all of Saturday (I might duck out to the Dealer Room during the Cosplay panel... or process photos on my computer)... but Sunday, I think I will be hanging out with other people more than I am in the panel room (or the Dealer Room, as I wouldn't be buying anything by Sunday, and I should have all the photos taken that I need in the morning before the first panel).

If they didn't do this last year I would say that FunPub were just giving up, as this BotCon isn't going out with a bang... it's going to wind down and fizzle out like it did last year (which they should have learned not to do it again). The only difference will be, people won't be sitting around the walls of the Dealer Room for the last couple of hours waiting for the prize drawing at 3pm. They are going to just leave after the first few hours of dealer room shopping (if they aren't a comic fan to want to sit in on the first two panels of fan-artists)... if they show up at all on the Sunday.
(and if you are a local who can only go in for one day, who's going to choose Sunday over Saturday... or even waste another $25 to come back to Sunday if they aren't a hardcore fanboy - where's the incentive by FunPub, when both days are $25, but one gets you the Hasbro presentation and all but David Kaye of the feature guests... while the other gets you fan-artists, a recording of a podcast and a "reflections" of an event that the majority of walkins wouldn't have been to before to care much about its history)