The Official Transformers Collector’s Club has announced that Botcon 2013 will be held June 27th-30th in San Diego, California at the Town and Country Hotel and Convention Center.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEBotCon 2013 Coming to San Diego, California June 27th – June 30th!
Fort Worth, TX – December 4th, 2012 – Fun Publications, Inc., licensee for Hasbro’s official Transformers Collectors’ Convention, BotCon, announced today that next year’s award-winning convention will take place at the Town and Country Resort from June 27th thru June 30th in the beautiful city of San Diego. You can make your hotel reservations now at BotCon.com.
In the coming weeks, Pop Culture enthusiasts from around the world will be able to register for BotCon 2013 through the BotCon.com online registration system. Fans and Collectors’ who register for BotCon as a Primus package holder will receive the five-figure MACHINE WARS convention set, admission to the Friday private sales room experience, priority seating at all panels and seminars throughout the weekend and admittance to the Hall of Fame Celebration party. Finally, Primus package attendees will also receive a special bonus Transformers Deluxe figure to go along with their convention box set. General Admission for non-registered guests will be available on Saturday and Sunday only.
For more information on BotCon and all activities and the exclusive figure offerings, please visit BotCon.com.
Happy about the location? Hit the discussion link below to discuss it with your fellow Transformers fans.
Primal Sabbath
I'd budget for last year's prices and maybe a little more. Go ahead and put back about $400 if you're getting the Primus package, and maybe another $250-$300 if you're trying to get a bagged version of the box set. I'd assume $600-$700 if you were thinking of going Golden Ticket (if they do that this year). And finally if you plan on buying all 3 souvenir sets, put back $110-$120 for each of those. Then, if you want bring cash for the dealer room and 3rd Party after sales. And of course, hotel cost (which there should be a link to the Botcon website for that).
I went last year, drove because it was only 4 hours away, and between gas, food for me and a friend (for all 5 days, we also eat like giants), hotel (wasn't the Hyatt) 2x each souvenir set, the Primus package, bagged version of the box set, a shirt and dealer room spendings, I dropped about $4500.
That was my first Botcon, and if I were you I'd definitely try to budget to splurge, it makes up for the years you can't go. I saved up for about 5 months, eating nothing but Ramen and going straight to work and back home . If you're flying and do plan on buying a bunch of stuff that won't fit, or you don't want to risk putting in your luggage, bring cash to FedEx it back to your home too
butchrecon72
I am guessing from the lak of response that no one really knows.
butchrecon72
Has anyone heard ANYTHING about pricing yet? I would like to get this paid for asap.
bumblebeeprime2
Man i will have to do SDCC next year then they are so close! after all this is my first official BOtCON convintion! i have never gone to the pannels before ever or any convention for that matter! so this will be a exciting year!!!!!
Primal Sabbath
Thanks dude, and yeah, I see what you're saying, but this hobby isn't "a room full of nerds" (I mean that in the best of ways ) anymore. It's gradually growing and expanding as more collectors are starting to enter the hobby. I agree that the point of a business is to make money, and a good way to do that is to start expanding. That's why there isn't just one single ComiCon a year. Now obviously Botcon is no where near that scale, but it's definitely growing. What other way is there for a business to make money other than to grow. They should at least try it out for a year, see how it works.
As for the toys and their collectibility, well I agree they are great novelty pieces, and definitely something to hold onto for great memories, but there will always be KOs, which I'm totally fine with, to play the wild card. Enough demand for a certain exclusively painted figure and next thing you know CHMS is shelling one of almost identical aesthetic out of their factory . Sure quality is a trade-off, but that's nothing that can't be fixed most of the time.
Regardless the situation, I'm still going to grab an Iacon set, and then have a buddy pick up the souvenir sets for me, and depending on how cool the attendee "freebie" is, I'll hunt for that too.
But anyways dude, have fun at the convention, it's a blast!
Autovolt 127
Well guest wise they better go all out like they did in 2011 when they had a bunch of G1 voice actors, the Prime cast and some others there.
EightiesKid
Good luck with the interview and job application!
I would love to see more Transformers conventions, but I do think it would be tough. Part of what makes Botcon cool is the exclusive toys that are offered. Offering them at 3 different conventions would take away from their novelty and from their value. Then you have Hasbro, I don't know that they would want to do multiple official conventions, send their people to the shows, display the toys, and display bigger stuff like movie vehicles, etc. The cost may add up to more than what we might think. I recall that Funpub said that Botcon does very well when it is in CA. I'm taking that to mean that attendance is high, and the convention makes money. We do need to remember that there is a business side to this, and in order for the convention to be successful so that we can have future conventions, it needs to do reasonably well financially.
With that said, I think there is a lot of demand for Transformers conventions, which is why we see a lot of unofficial conventions popping up all around the country, and in other countries. I would personally LOVE to go to multiple Transformers conventions every year. That would just be awesome. But I'm super happy that I'm getting to go to Botcon this year.
Primal Sabbath
Hire part timers to help with the 3 conventions. FunPub can easily split their core team among the three to oversee everything runs as smoothly as it possibly can.
First off, the general public won't give two shits who the guests are, they'll go on admission day and maybe buy an autograph wristband just so they and their kids can have a nice fun weekend. And to be honest, I'm almost damn sure the fandom wouldn't mind either. How hard could it possibly be to rotate guests between the 3 by year.
If you actually sit down and think about it rather than just glance over and say "pfft that'll never happen," then you're not really contributing much at all.
It's not entirely impossible. I know it'll never happen, but again not impossible.
Primal Sabbath
Went last year (2012), and there were a dick load of people, souvenir sets also sold out at like 11am on Saturday (except for Octopunch & Spinister).
G.B. Blackrock
You suggested that they run three conventions, each in a set different part of the country, within weeks of each other. Even if we assumed it wasn't FP, I can't imagine a group of people with the stamina to keep up such an intense pace….
Then there's the issue of guests. No way would you get the same guests at each of your hypothetical three conventions, and that means that there's reason for people to choose which one they want to attend, wholly separate from "where the convention is."
Basically, you're trying to suggest the possibility that one can do otherwise-identical conventions at different times and in different places, and my assertion is that, by moving the locations (let alone the times), you've just set up something that, by definition, isn't possible. It's hard for me to believe that it was actually a serious suggestion.
Primal Sabbath
Oh I know, but it certainly seems like there's no reason that it shouldn't happen.
cobra zartan
Have you ever been to botcon? Were lucky to get 1 a year.
Liokaiser
This will never happen.
Primal Sabbath
Nope, not a joke. And I'm not sure why it would be?
G.B. Blackrock
This is a joke, right? Can't ever be sure these days….
Primal Sabbath
Still can't see why they don't just host 3 per year. West coast, middle America, and east coast. Two weeks apart from one another. All in set locations. They'd obviously have to make more box sets and souvenir sets to equally spread out between the 3, but it's not completely impossible, and I'm sure it would prove quite profitable for FunPub. But that's my 2 cents. Were it not for being out of a (steady) job for the last 4 months, I would already have my flight and room booked, but that's the spice of life. Will hopefully get to go next year. Wouldn't want to miss the 30 year anniversary!
On a side/more interesting note, I am dying to see what the box set figures will be, and later the souvenir sets. As others pointed out, Soundwave being Cybertron Defense Red Alert repaint/remold seems legit, unless they throw us a left-fielder and it's RTS Perceptor or something like that but I'm genuinely curious on the choices for the other figures. Hopefully I'll land this job I have an interview for this week, and can afford to put my income tax into the non-attending package. And save up for the souvenir sets.
LegendAntihero
Not sure but San Diego is possibly best place to have the con. That's why SDCC is there to begin with
PrimusVsUnicron
Why won't BotCon comeback to Chicago
ducti748
Wonder how long till we get our first figure reveal?
natecm
Awesome! Who's gonna come visit us?