Botcon 2013 Megaplex

The Transformers Collectors' Convention - BotCon 2013!

Here it is: The Transformers Collectors' Convention - BotCon 2013!

...............Did NOT see that coming!

should've used this mold for starscream

its a good mold, and it works, but man, throwing prime, movie, and classic astetics together, this stuff just doesn't go together well

The Transformers Collectors' Convention - BotCon 2013!

That's exactly what I was thinking.

Okay. Well that sort of makes sense. But I think overall, I'm skipping out on this set.
I don't feel like spending the $$, plus I'm really not to crazy about half of the molds. I would want to get Strika.
It would be a real shame if Megaplex came with that stupid mechtech weapon.

Like the mold - hate the colors.

Time to start the inevitable Botcon Megaplex foot swapping thread?

I hope they intend on putting a newly sculpted head on this mold though. It doesn't need to look like Megatron's head (like the Machine wars figure) but it shouldn't be looking just like Dreadwing/Skyquake.

damn. duplicate. At least I got the retweet.

Parroting the "yo Prime Dreadwing is cool but doesn't jive with the rest of the toys we've seen" song.

Boring.

This set is insanely expensive, and it's as bad as the worst sets they've done (worst I'd put as 2009).

This is nowhere near up-to-par for $365. Very disappointed in FP.

Big mix of mold origin's for this set. Still I could see a place for most of them in my collection.

If I can get a set, Obsidian will likely stay in the box.

I know that they are using the original paint scheme but by Primus that is hideous. It's like Hasbro decided to paint the figure instead of TFCC. How boring.

Yeahhhh, it's a decent mold and definitely a surprise but The colors just look bad on it.

I guess I'll just eBay Hoist and whatever of the other freebies or bonus figures I end up liking.

Good toy but

1) MUCH less cool than Jhiaxus from that mold would have been.

2) Feel a little like it needs more paint.

3) They REALLY should have saved a head remold.


-ZacWilliam, and I repeat, much less cool than making that toy Jhiaxus.

Honestly not a fan of this one. That mold might have been able to fit in alongside Classics if it had a new head, but as it is it really only works as a Prime mold. And yeah, of all the Machine Wars characters, this really would have made a better Starscream.

And while this isn't the club's fault, Megaplex just has bland coloring. Bland coloring on a so-so mold with no new head just makes this reveal somewhat underwhelming. Sorry Pete, just my opinion. I know lots of people really like this mold, though.

I can't lie, this is the figure I want the most.

However, that is certainly because I don't have the mold yet.

Still, I find it rather attractive.

Oh he'll no, how bout we get skyquake in regular circulation before they decide to throw this mold a 3rd time!

That looks incredibly boring.

Great mold idea but MAN this is where a new head was necessary to bring the idea together! A Prime-aesthetic head amidst the 4 others just takes me right out of it. And I really wish more was done with the colours, as on-topic as they are.

Oh hey, probably the least impressive figure in the set. At least give him a new head, guys. Would have made the difference between something really mediocre and something that's could be neat.

Would have been better suited for Machine Wars Starscream, anyway.

Welp, this year's set looks pretty unimpressive, so I'm not sad that I won't be attending this year.

So what is game changing about these last figures?

yeah hodge podge mix this year.

this just seems like a dreadwing repaint. just cause of the colors doesnt mean its megaplex.

I still like it... It doesn't trump the obsidian reveal, but I do love this set!

Works. But it's kinda boring - though that's more Megaplex's fault as a deco base rather than the toy itself.

I think Obsidian/Strika are the only ones I want from the set though. Skywarp looks cool, and Hoist/Dreadwing ARE well-executed, but I don't have the same interest.

as someone who mixes all sorts of aesthetic together, I kinda like the feel of this set, at least from a mold choice. I kinda wanna get these 5 molds together when i get home and snap a few pics to see how they'll really look together.

yea, that's where i'm lost as well. a new head would've helped this one so much. it's a shame they couldn't dump Skywarp from the box set and give Megaplex a new head instead.

The big jump in price tag is pretty nuts. By next year, it'll probably be $399.
Does seem like a very random assortment. I guess the 2-packs and troop builders might make up for it.

I actually like the Megaplex out of all the figures. I thought I would have liked Strika and Obsidian but for some reason neither one jives with me.

Maybe the add-on sets will "round out" the theme as a whole. I am not going, and I probably won't be buying anything, more due to financial woes than anything else. If the add-ons seem enticing, hopefully I'll be able to trade for them. It seems price-wise Botcon figures bottom out a month or two after all the impatient folks get their hands on the multiples they want to re-sell.

It's absolutely their fault. Unless we hear otherwise, they picked the theme, the characters, the molds, the decos.

MW Series 2 was never a very strong idea to run with in my opinion to begin with. MW is a small handful of boring decos with G1 names. When I saw Strika I thought they might be pulling something cool off, but then they trashed it again with the last two.

Bad mold and bad set! I expected more from Botcon!

I love this mold personally but this is an underwhelming reveal for me. I have a hard enough time seeing CHUG and Movie-verse molds coinciding (even the later RTS ones) so throwing a Prime mold into the mix with its more animated styling is like a visual slap in the face to me.

I think this is terrific.

That's my thoughts exactly. It stings a little harder that the TFCC actually *had* Skyquake up as a potential pre-order, then silently removed it.

Might, *might* pick this up for my Prime shelf if I can figure out who to repurpose it as in that continuity...maybe Leozack? Oy I'm reaching like hell there.

Pete@Botcon said this on the Allspark:

Shame if it had a new head I probably have gone for the whole set, as it is I'll pass.

Megaplex looks fine just not what I wanted as far as a CHUG Megaplex. And I agree that a new head could've helped alot. I must say I am so glad they didn't reveal a Jhiaxus from this mold as I'd prefer Jhiaxus from RotF Mindwipe. So as of now my only serious want is Strika and that might be enough to make any purchase as I really wanted Obsidian AND Strika. Looking foward to what the add on sets will be now.

It looks wonky.

All it really would have taken for me to go from "bleh" to "hey that's cool" is if they gave him the standard Megatron bucket head. Megaplex makes a poor decoy for Megatron when he looks nothing like him, no? Still, I dunno how much I'd get behind a Voyager Megaplex, given that Megaplex would have been better suited to be a deluxe army builder.

Its a somewhat baffling choice why they went for Megaplex and not Starscream. With MW Starscream, you wouldn't even have to change the head, because mind you, Prime Dreadwing and Skyquake are loosely based off of G1 Skyquake, and MW Starscream was a repaint of said Skyquake, so a mere repaint into Starscream would both be logical and a way to have things come full circle.

Hmmm...interesting choice and certainly one I didn't see coming.

Kind of weird how they're mixing toys with different aesthetics. Prime molds don't really blend well with Generations. The Skywarp and Obisidian molds, originally ROTF/HftD were so-so, but this is pushing it.

Anyway..I still feel it could have worked - if only it had a Megatron head. It doesn't - now it's just a different color Dreadwing. I'm sure they will have some kind of in-fiction explanation for it, but that doesn't matter. They totally dropped the ball with this one (sorry Pete & gang )

I'm sure coming up with a whole boxset (+ additional souvenirs) is hard, when you can only select from certain toys and are limited in the amount of new heads, but if you can't do the idea justice, then don't do it.

This Megaplex feels similar to last year's Overlord/Gigatron: a great idea, but no molds available to make it REALLY work.



Just to be clear: I was never going to buy this boxset, so it's not like Botcon lost a sale here. Just looking at this from my own personal design standpoint, or whatever you want to call it (the position of the guy who thinks he knows better ): I feel this boxset was already balancing on a rope and could go either way: Skywarp and Hoist are not that interesting. Decent, but not interesting. Strika and Obisidian came as a surprise, but look great (Obisidian's colors might put some people off but I think it's understandable). This last mold, the biggest one even, should have tipped the balance to the positive side, making this set worth the purchase. It does the exact opposite.


Different people, different opinions and all that. Not trying to trash anyone's party here. I'm sure there are people here who love the shit out of this set.

There's no reason they couldn't have changed/tweaked the color of his deco and still have it be Megaplex. They're the designers. BUT:I don't think it will look so boring when seeing it in person. This is just a photoshop job, so that always looks kind of different. Even if he's a dull grey, I'm sure he will look good in plastic form.

But it's still not Megaplex. The appeal of that character is that he's a clone decoy of Megatron. Kind of hard when he doesn't look a thing like Megatron. Like I said, I'm sure they can/will explain it in fiction, but whatever way you want to twist it: that's not what probably most people would want to see.

You can still appreciate the toy for what it is, of course - but why would you shell out Botcon price for a toy you can already own at retail price, when there's nothing that pushes him from 'just another recolor' to 'totally awesome new character'?

Welp, Megaplex is doomed to die within a year's worth of fiction.

People who are questioning the head choice, I'd suggest you look up RID_Nightviper's twitter account. He just tweeted out their whole rationale for sticking with the Dreadwing head, and it makes sense - boils down to this:

1. The BOXART head for Megaplex (which is different than the toy head) has several common elements with Dreadwing's helmet.
2. They looked at it next to other Decepticons in the set (Skywarp and some of the attendee figures) and thought it had common design elements.

Fair enough.

The photoshop looks... unfinished. Maybe it's the bland Machine Wars color scheme. I dunno... Not what I wanted to see for the final reveal.

I'm glad some people are digging this. This is the first year I don't have a passing interest in at least one of them. More power to those that do

"It's a jet."

to quote Gomer Pyle " Surprise , surprise , surprise"

I thought for sure they would not go with a Prime mold until 2014 at the soonest, although i would expect them to tie into the 30th anniversary some how for Botcon 2014.

I do agree the mold isn't perfect for Megaplex but at least its not as far off as Overlord from last years set.

Ugh. The aesthetics are just too varied to work for me. There's no cohesion to the set. I dig Strika and Obsidian, but that's it; At this point I may just sell my box and pick up a loose Strika and Obsidian, or piece out the three I literally have zero interest in.

I like it. My only gripe will be if they (and I kinda mean when they) kept with the soft rubber head on this guy. That was the only thing I couldn't get over and why I returned the one that I bought from the store.