I think Takara's recent offerings are superior to what Botcon usually gives us and at a lower cost too. And if you want new characters, Takara gives us that too.

 

I have to agree with you there as neat as botcon exclusives were they were really expensive which honestly some don't even have more paint than some retail verisons at all or have a lot of paint even sometimes unecessary

 

I don't know about "needing" Botcon exclusives specifically from Fun Pub, and we have seen some random stuff from both Hasbro and Takara at retail.

However, there are still plenty of Action Masters, Pretenders, Diaclone/Microchange, G2, Machine Wars, and other G1 sub-group characters that haven't been done. Hasbro & Takara can only release so much themselves. There's also some of us that'd prefer certain redecos use older Classics/Generations molds that Hasbro either can't or won't release back at retail, outside of Platinum sets. A Botcon/Club-type entity checking off a bunch of those characters in Classics is something I still WANT, that's for damn sure.

We may not need Botcon, but I do want an outlet for those random-ass characters or decos (especially with older Classics/Generations molds).

 

We never needed them but I enjoy them. And I'd very much argue Takara's superiority as that varies figure by figure. I mean I guess people generally feel Legends Black Convoy was superior to TFCC Scourge but felt they were on par for the most part. FunPub's decos are in generally just as extensive and lovely as Takara's I feel.
The two things Botcon figs had going against them was cost and QC issues (which Takara isn't free from in all fairness).
Ideally if TakaraTomy released the stuff FunPub came up with it'd be win win.

 

There will always be something that Fun Pub does that Hasbro refuses to do and that helps me accomplish my goals for my CHUG shelf. So yeah, I still need Fun Pub.

 

I'm sure there will always be a need for previous molds with new deco and name slap for a %1000 markup

 

There will always be a niche for an exclusive that would never sell in large quantities as a regular release but would make a small portion of the fanbase very happy. So yeah, exclusives fit that niche and that niche will never go away.

Finding the right character or idea to use for an exclusive figure is the tricky part. It used to be that black repaints and Scourge/Nemesis Prime versions were easy sells, but I know that doesn't interest me any more.

Random repaints of the Classics/Henkei seeker mold were also an easy idea to put out. I love those!   But I sure as hell would not want a leader class CW Acid Storm. Maybe a Sunstorm... lol.

It all depends on character and execution. I wish Hasbro would make new characters as their SDCC exclusive products instead of just alternate deco/deluxe deco of existing characters though.

 

Well, Fun Pub kind of ceased to be a source of "fill in the gap" and more of a "what? well, okay...". The Targetmaster Juniors and the Triggercons were the last of the "I NEED THIS" toys they've released. The rest are pretty much odds and ends...although I do think the odds and ends are what convention sets SHOULD be. I should never feel compelled to spend $300+ for "fill in the gap" toys again anytime soon, please.

 

I thought the main point of Botcon exclusives was to make things that were way too obscure to fit in with anything within the near future. Some things have a broader appeal, like the TFA Stunticon set, but Sgt Hound wouldn't have been very likely to happen under normal circumstances.

So the question doesn't really make sense to me.

 

ya know, Titans Return actually seems like it would have been amazing from them ~ the opportunity to mix and match heads + bodies with a snazzy new paint job, ala what eHobby is doing with Convobat... seems like you could really mine some obscure depths.

 

I don't like exclusives in general because it makes it harder to get figures than it should be (Why do I have to wait till October for my Groove to ship?), but I know why they exist.

Either way, I'd rather not have to sulk over not being able to get figures for reasonable prices. At least Takara figures have the excuse that they're imported and that they have great paint jobs. Being an exclusive does not excuse being almost double the price of a figure with the same mold.

 

The main point of Botcon exclusives are to make figures that:

1. Hasbro has no plans for future release within the current sub-brand.
2. will cause collectors to shovel money onto Funpub in order to help pay for the convention and turn a profit.

 

I don't know the inner workings but I'm willing to bet FunPub had to pay some sort of fee to Hasbro for using the molds. FunPub figures also tend to go farther paintwise (not always the case; see Botcon Scorponok).

 

I have only four BotCon / FunPub exclusives, so I'm not an extensive collector of them. I'm glad such niche products exist and if there's one I really like, I'll pick it up. Unless they start doing G1 reissues of rare / international characters, such exclusives will always be a small part of my Transformers world, however.

 

Do we still need Botcon exclusives still? I'm gonna say no. FunPub was essential back when they first got the license, when Hasbro was doing Cybertron and only planned for Classics to be a small filler line. They practically had the entire G1 playground to themselves. But as Hasbro came to realize the immense market for updated G1 toys, they took over more and more of that playground. In large part, FunPub's exclusives the past few years have been original-fiction versions of characters or homages to less-popular continuities. They were getting more and more limited in what Hasbro would allow them to do. They served their purpose in their time, now that time is over.

 

Takara also does the occasional very obscure character wich are much more available and sometimes a bit cheaper than Funpub stuff, but Funpubb was far more prolific: for one Takara excusive Scourge we practically got a whole toyline from Funpub.
The problem is you had to be a member, and that sucked especially for people outside the US.
I hope Hasbro's new formulae can merge Funpubs amount and variety of product and the creativity of what they could come up with with the availability of Takara's excusive's, that would be beautifull.

 

I haven't needed Botcon exclusives since 2004. Or more to the point I'm tired of stuff being released as con exclusives that should have been retail.

I don't mind when the convention does new characters or obscure ones or a unique redeco, but I'm sick of FunPub getting stuff like CW Ratchet and the Classics Seekers rather than a retail release. At least we eventually did get the balance of the Seekers. But you can't tell me that with all of the `84/`85 characters being churned out in CW, Ratchet wouldn't have sold well enough.

I'd rather go back to the Fractyl/Packrat and Windrazor days, when the con exclusives were awesome to have but not critical to your collection, rather than you're stuck with gaps in your line-up because a major character is released as an exclusive.

 

We just need to modernize the Robot Points system. Man, I miss those and the little ordering catalogs...

 

I'm going to miss FP... Thanks to the TFSS, I don't feel it yet, but next year I will... It's the unexpected figures that I'll really miss. some of my favorite FP figures are ones we would never see in stores like General Optimus and Sergeant Hound.. Or Predacus and Thunder Mayhem. Or Machine Wars.

The only thing I'm upset about is them not finishing sets. While FP did help fill in some gaps, they also left many things unfinished.

Machine Wars Optimus, Megatron, Prowl, and Hubcap.
Stranglehold from Rhinox to go with Bludgeon and Octopunch.
Crankcase to go with Windsweeper and Ruckus.
Quake to go with Spinister and Needlenose.

I know there's others but those are just off the top of my head.

 

Brilliant notion!