Conventions

USA Today has lifted the lid on the San Diego Comic Con 2013 exclusives from Hasbro. Continuing the trend of the past few years, Hasbro will be offering a G.I. Joe and Transformers crossover set again this year. This year's set features the G.I. Joe Skystriker and V.A.M.P. vehicles redecoed as Jetfire and Autobot Hound. The set includes three G.I. Joe figures, Snake Eyes sporting an Autobot symbol, the Baroness with Ravage on a chain leash, and the third figure in the set is a G.I. Joe samurai figure redecoed as Bludgeon himself! The set is rounded out with accessories of Blaster and his cassettes in their alternate modes.

Other Hasbro San Diego Comic Con exclusives are shown, including Star Wars exclusives, but these are the only Transformers / G.I. Joe ones on display.

Botcon has announced their final special guest for Botcon 2013 in San Diego. Saving the best for last, they have announced that Glenn Morshower will be attending Botcon 2013. As well as his role as Agent Pierce in 24, Glenn Morshower played the role of Colonel Sharp in the 2007 movie where he has the dubious honor of being one of the first human victims of a Transformer attack. He would then return to play the role of General Morshower in Transformers Revenge of the Fallen and Transformers Dark of the Moon, and was due to play a role in Transformers 4 until other commitments prevented his return.

Botcon 2013 takes place the weekend of 27 - 30 June 2013 in San Diego, CA. Remember you have just one week left to pre-register for this year's show - head on over to the Botcon homepage to pre-register for this year's show!

The Botcon Facebook page has posted up an image of the final sample of the Botcon 2013 boxed set packaging. Previously we had seen some sample packaging - this time out, we're seeing the final version. A few of the details have changed but the overall look - which apes the look of the original Machine Wars packaging - remains intact. It is a departure from previous year's packaging which featured all the toys on the box art, instead focusing squarely on Obsidian. Check out the image at left.


On the subject of Botcon, you now have less than one week to pre-register for this year's show in San Diego, CA! If you intend to attend and have not pre-registered, the cut-off for pre-registration is midnight on Tuesday 11 June, 2013. Head on over to the Botcon homepage tout-suite to pre-register if you are planning to attend!

Botcon has announced more additions to their Artists Alley, the largest ever at a Botcon! Joining the talent in Botcon 2013's artist's alley with this announcement is Transformers illustrator extraordinaire, Alex Milne! The organizers of Botcon have this to say:

ALEX MILNE is a professional illustrator based in Canada who has been working in comics for the past ten years. He has worked on many different projects over this time, but is best known for his Transformers work with IDW Publishing. Some of the titles he has worked on over his career have been, Megatron Origins, Spotlight Arcee, Drift mini series, Transformers Ongoing (Chaos Theory) and various other titles and covers. Currently he is working with James Roberts on the latest ongoing title More Than Meets The Eye.

Check out the full lineup of talent who will be in Artist's Alley at the Botcon homepage and stay tuned for more special guest announcements next week! If you have not yet pre-registered for Botcon yet there is still time - visit Botcon.com to find out more!

We have received some in-hand images of the Keith's Fantasy Club & Hands of Steel exclusive Black Repaint Tribe Black Hawk and Smack Down. These in-hand images show the details included on both of the cassettes in their alternate forms, as well as detailing the level of articulation on their combined mode, Black Hawk Down. Combined, Black Hawk Down is said to boast 15 points of articulation!

This set is going to be available at numerous conventions over the summer months from members of the Hands of Steel group, and the first convention they will be offered at will be B.O.T.S. 2013 this Sunday, 9 June 2013! B.O.T.S. 2013 will be taking place at Can Dance Studios, in Aalsmeer (close to Amsterdam, Amsterdam Airport). Find out more about the convention through the B.O.T.S. homepage!

TFcon is very pleased to welcome voice actor Venus Terzo the voice of Blackarachnia in Beast Wars and Beast Machines to TFcon 2013. Ms. Terzo will be taking part in Q&A panels and autograph sessions with the attendees of the world’s largest fan-run Transformers convention.

TFcon, the world's largest fan-run Transformers convention will take place July 26th to 28th, 2013 in Toronto, Ontario at the Delta Meadowvale Resort and Conference Centre. You can pre-register online for TFcon 2013 via this link for the exclusives VAN GUARDIAN and ROSWELL.

TFcon 2013 features Canada's largest dealer room for Transformers merchandise, question and answer panels and autograph sessions with many special guests including Transformers voice actors JACK ANGEL the voice of Astrotrain, Breakdown, Cyclonus, Omega Supreme, Ramjet, Smokescreen and Ultra Magnus in the Generation 1 cartoon plus DICK GAUTIER the voice of Rodimus Prime, along with Transformers comic book artist Livio Ramondelli with more to be announced. The TFcon 2013 hotel block is now available.

Auto Assembly have today revealed their convention exclusive customisation kit. This year's exclusive customisation class set is "Bad Cop" and is being brought to fans in association with Keiths Fantasy Club and Sensible Collectibles. "Bad Cop" converts a First Edition Transformers Prime Vehicon into a Transformers Prime Barricade, and includes a new head, lightbar and pre-cut sticker sheet.

The kit will be available in two different forms. The Gold Pack contains the base figure (a FE TF Prime Vehicon figure, unreleased in the UK), the exclusive head and light bar, and a pre-cut sticker set. These are strictly limited to 50 sets and are £30 each. The Silver Pack contains the exclusive head, and uncut sticker set. These have a production run of 100 sets and are £15 each.

The Gold Packs are available to convention attendees only, limited to one per person, but the Silver Packs will be available as part of the Non-Attendee Pack which will be unveiled in the next 24 hours! Silver packs will be limited to a maximum of two per person. Both the Gold and Silver Packs will be available to pre-order through the Auto Assembly website from tomorrow, along with the existing convention exclusive T-shirts and the exclusive Mech Ideas Robot Manuel X.

No particular skill set is needed in order to complete your figure, as they are designed for novice customisers, however a kitbash panel will be held to demonstrate how to convert the your First Edition Vehicon using this set!

Auto Assembly 2013 is Europe's largest EVER Transformers convention and is taking place over the weekend of 9th - 11th August 2013 at the Hilton Birmingham Metropole Hotel. To book your tickets or find out more including details of all the dealers attending, all of the guests and a full schedule for the weekend, visit the Auto Assembly homepage!

A new video promoting Botcon 2013 has been posted up. Soundwave and Blaster have one of the longest rivalries in Transformers lore next to Optimus Prime and Megatron, and today they will settle their differences - with a dance off! Check out the video below:



Botcon 2013 is taking place on June 27-30 in San Diego, CA. To find out more or pre-register for this year's convention, please visit the Botcon homepage, www.botcon.com.

Botcon has tweeted another guest update; another member of the Rescue Bots cast will be attending Botcon 2013! Maurice LaMarche, voice of Chief Carlie Burns and the Morbot on Rescue Bots along with Six-Gun in his one Generation 1 appearance, Thief in the Night, will be joining the rest of the Rescue Bots cast at the 2013 convention.

Botcon 2013 is taking place over the weekend of 27-30 June 2013 in San Diego, California. Find out more and pre-register at the Botcon homepage!

Just a quick reminder - Acid Free Gallery will be in attendance at Wizard World Philly this weekend (booth 555), and with them will be several new prints. They will have the previously seen Soundwave print with a limited edition variant, a Dinobots print, along with a new Starscream and Screamer variant. Previous prints will be available as well.

We hit up WW Philly on Thursday and checked them out, take a look at pics from their booth. The Soundwave print is 24x36, so it really has a presence when seen in person. Check them out after the jump!

ecns.cn has posted some news regarding a new Transformers Expo opening in Bejing this year! Set for an August time frame, the expo will feature design workshops, panel discussions, and an extensive animation exhibition. It will also present unreleased artworks, video games and transformer toys, from the very first generation in the 1980's to the 21st century reinvention ignited by Michael Bay's film trilogy. The expo will be called "Transform and roll out" and will be Beijing's first ever "Transformers Expo". It will be held at the China Millennium Monument Museum of Digital Art

You can read the full article by clicking the link above or by clicking the title bar.

Thanks to New Jersey Collectors Con Sponsor Big Bad Toy Store we are proud to announce our first of 3 “Mega Door Prizes” – Fortress Maximus Encore 23! Standing tall at just under 2 feet and weighing in at 14 pounds, Encore: #23 Fortress Maximus converts from city mode to vehicle mode to robot mode and is accompanied by Cerebros, Cog and Spike figures. He is outfitted with rifle, radar dish, mini-laser rifle, photon rifle, and dual laser blaster, and Master Sword.

If you're heading out to Wizard World Philly this weekend, make sure to stop by and pick up one of 10,000 NJCC August 18th, 2013 toy show flyers that will be handed out by NJCC sponsor Stylin Online. Look for one of his many "Tower of T-Shirt" displays located on the dealer room floor.

Join us on FaceBook New Jersey Collectors Con

Botcon has announced a second guest attending the 2013 convention tonight - and this one is a doozy. Attending Botcon 2013 is none other than the legendary voice director Wally Burr. Wally Burr voice directed not only the original Transformers Generation 1 cartoon, but also many other 80's and 90's favorites such as G.I. Joe, Jem and The Holograms, Inhumanoids, Visionaries, Exo Squad, Conan, Big Foot and the Muscle Machines and too many more too list!

If you're attending Botcon 2013 be sure to take advantage of this opportunity to meet the man who made many of our Saturday mornings so memorable while growing up! If you have not pre-registered, the cut-off for attending has been announced as Midnight Eastern Time on Tuesday 11 June. Find out more and pre-register at the Botcon homepage!

IDW's Andrew Griffith dropped us a line to let us know that he'll be a guest at Wizard World Philadelphia from May 30-June 2nd this coming weekend. For those not familiar with Andrew Griffith, he is the regular artist on IDW's Transformers Robots in Disguise series, one of the talented individuals responsible for bringing our favorite Robots in Disguise to life.

You'll be able to find Andrew in the Artist Alley at Table #2100. Andrew will also be appearing on the following panel on Friday, May 31st at 2.00 PM:

2:00 – 2:45 PM HOW WE GOT HERE
An overnight success. That gets thrown around a lot these days but what’s the reality? Did all these really talented and successful creative minds just pop up ‘overnight’ or was it a long and arduous process? Join writer/artist Bob Layton, artist Andrew Griffith and filmmaker/writer Daniel Boyd as they tell us just really how they got here. Moderated by Rebecca Housel. (ROOM 109)

Click here to find out more as well as buy tickets for this weekends event!

Botcon have announced their next guest attendee. Making his convention debut is Jason Jensen, who played Tommy Kennedy in the little-known fifth season of Transformers Generation 1 alongside an animatronic Powermaster Optimus Prime. His role in the series was to act as a bridge to introduce the episodes alongside the Optimus Prime, as the "fifth season" was a series of reruns.

Check out the full guest announcement and biography on Botcon.com. Botcon 2013 kicks off in San Diego, CA in a little over five weeks time. If you're planning on attending and have not booked yet - what are you waiting for? Head over to the Botcon homepage to find out more and pre-register.