For long distance fans going to BotCon next year, the Vegas exhibit would be great timing... to spend a few nights in Las Vegas after BotCon (in case it isn't ready before the convention).
And if it isn't ready for BotCon next year, it sounds like it could be at Vegas for a few years for fans to visit on the way to a future BotCon (like the Universal Studios ride in LA). Or, we could see a Las Vegas BotCon in 2018 (it is likely to be in Pasadena in 2017 for the fifth movie) to allow attendees to visit the exhibit while they are in town.

Exactly... this has nothing to do with Conventions or BotCon.
This is a company gaining a mostly global license for public exhibitions, like the Indianapolis Children's Museum exhibit this year, or the Macau and Singapore 30th Anniversary exhibits last year.
FunPub have a target on them, so people are jumping on anything that they are hoping is action against them by Hasbro.
It's understandable... FunPub have burnt a lot of bridges in the fandom and don't openly and directly communicate with us like 3H did, or current major fan-run conventions. But on this occasion, it's nothing to do with BotCon or Conventions.

There is potential, of this experienced global exhibitions company to have more Transformers exhibits in a lot more countries, but the reverse can also occur.... Cityneon now have the right to veto anyone (business or fan-group) organizing a public exhibit (like the one in Macau or Singapore last year), or even Hasbro (which would be why Indianapolis was excluded, to allow Hasbro the ability to do their own exhibit if they wanted to).
What if Cityneon was hosting an exhibit in the same area as a small fan convention, would they have the right to shut down their "competition"... and if they do, could they have the power to shut down any unofficial convention they want... or instructed by a licensed business.
I just think it is unfair to smaller countries like mine, that for the next 8 years, a fan-group that wants to organize fan events or displays because they don't have the big Hasbro presence of America, Hong Kong or the UK, will have to beg for Cityneon to allow it... when in the past, Hasbro would be quite happy for the free publicity.

It might seem packed, but the numbers have been dropping in the last three years, despite the most successful Transformers movie in the middle of it drawing in more people to the Brand.

Blackrocks site shows that 2013 was the last time they had something sell out during it's initial sale period, and 2012 was the last time that they sold out their boxsets during the pre-registration period. And that's despite FunPub reducing numbers of their toys... and they still can't sell out like they did during their peak years before the problems started and customer service dropped.

I don't want FunPub replaced while there is no willing and reliable alternative... I just want them to improve their marketing and customer service, which would see an increase in their sales & attendance... something we haven't seen in their BotCon statistics since 2012, as the pre-registered numbers keep dropping, which was really obvious in the dealer room this year (to me, who's been to all but one of FunPub's BotCons).

That's the problem... they don't communicate enough (or at all for periods of time) to the people they are hoping to get money from. And they are known to promise to get back to us, then don't.
If Coke or McDonalds had the same sort of marketing strategy, they'd be out of business.
They shouldn't have to answer to every bit of speculation or suspicion, but ignoring everything and remaining silent means your target customers have to guess for themselves if no official voice says something.

The best answer a business can give to something that is true or does relate to them in some way is, "we can't comment at this time, but will do so as soon as we are permitted to".
That lets your customers know that you aren't ignoring them, but lets us know that there is something to say when it is the right time to say it. And if you have no intention of actually getting back to us, don't tell us that you will. You can still make a statement that you are not permitted to comment, and leave it at that.

 

Guess I'll be eating some crow, cause it looks like this news DOES affect the world!   Color me surprised, re: Vegas event/exhibit.  

Griffin, you bring up an interesting point about shutting down small conventions, but... you really think they'll do that? I can see them being protective of this license they just negotiated... but the workaround (for you and others) seems rather easy: don't call it a "Transformers" convention. All you need do is call it an 80s toys or Action Figure convention. As long as your con didn't focus exclusively on the TF brand, I don't see how they could shut it down (if they did indeed exercise such power).

 

That CVS this is going above is basically on property in Treasure Island, and really, anything to boost Treasure Island's clientele will be welcome. It's kinda fanny-pack central over there. Actually it could be a good fit. If it's advertising itself into that intersection, you'll catch people at Wynn, Palazzo, and Fashion Show Mall. We'll have to see how cool of an exhibition it is and if people will really wanna go in there, but unless the admission price is too high I'm betting yeah.

These sorts of things can go over fairly well here in Vegas, if done right. I still kinda miss the old Star Trek experience at The Hilton. It wasn't half bad. Quark's bar is basically still there but abandoned. It's like a weird ghost town over there now, that just happens to look like Quark's bar.

 

Guys I work at treasure treasure and this is a first time m hearing about this.Well the space that they mention for this exhibition wouldnt be big enough to hold a botcon at all so Im positive this wont replace it.I think its going to be more like buying merchandise maybe have a few of our local toy dealers be part of it to sell to the tourist.There definitely isnt any type of thrill rides being built at all either.ill post more if I hear anything else.

 

That was pretty much of their only good qualities, that and making figures Hasbro wasn't gonna do.

The Age of FunPub is over.

VIVA LAS VEGAS VIVVVVAAAAAAA!

 

Honestly, I wouldn't mind more clarity either, but for the time being I'm still looking at it from a positive angle (well positive to me  )

 

Look at this Twitter exchange and still try to keep the optimism.  

https://twitter.com/BotCon/status/667141354527588352

Again, a prime chance to answer the simple question and it was dodged. Something is going on.

 

Ideally it would have been a prime time to answer, but if they can't, they can't. Until I see a definite yes or no, to me it's still business as usual and I'll expect that 23rd Botcon.

 

Keep your head in the clouds if you must but I'm reading the writing on the wall.

 

LOL!

Well, with all due honesty and respect, when Has Fun Publications, Inc ever been well versed and/or great at public relations? Even if BotCon continues under FP's leadership, I'm sure they'd rather watch folks that think FP is done with the show back peddle later than say "yes, we are staying" or "no, hasbro has terminated it's relationship with us."

As has been noted several times already, a bit of customer relation/customer service goes a very long way. So, for those waiting for an answer either way, IMO, don't hold your breath.

Now, let it be time for registration, or time to update your credit card...you'll hear from'em hourly.  

 

Remember that one time somebody posted on Botcon's page that Botcon would never leave California again and Botcon immediately responded with "That's not true"?

I remember, I had it for a sig on here for a while because I wanted to make sure to keep them honest. So if the rumors about Botcon 2016 being the last Botcon aren't true, why won't they say "That's not true"?

 

Well the Google with Hasbro at least put it out there that this isn't a Botcon replacement and at least implied that the reason for trademarking the other convention name was just to prevent others from using it. So at least for now that's Hasbro's line...Not sure why Pete had to go all 'no comment' when asked on the podcast if this was all just a formality. It's certainly possible that this new group is interested in running the convention but FP may have some time left with their contract so at least through 2016, or whenever the contract is up nothing will change (unless they see yet another PR debacle)

 

Has anyone thought for ONE second that maybe Fun Pub can only comment with what they are allowed to say? Has anyone actually bothered to send them an email or ask Hasbro? Or does everyone just sit here on message boards and speculate? Go and ask them.

 

Of course, but you can still say SOMETHING without stepping on any toes...especially knowing how things like this were going to spread and lead to rumors and speculation.

Sure, Pete couldn't say "Here's what CybertronCon and Cityneon are" but when asked it would have been a lot easier to say "I can't comment on CybertronCon or Cityneon because there hasn't been any official announcement. I CAN say it doesn't affect OUR plans for Botcon or the club for the 2016 or beyond". It wouldn't reveal anything to do that and if that is the case I'm sure Hasbro wouldn't object to that kind of statement.

 

Does anyone remember this "Transformers Experience" that was announced in late 2015 to be starting up in early 2016, by the Singapore company Cityneon / VictoryHill, for Las Vegas?
Well, according to the PulseCon event today, this is it.... just 6 years late. (which means covid had nothing to do with the delay)

It was originally announced in November 2015 for an opening in April 2016 in Las Vegas, and then announced to be pushed back to late 2016 because they wanted to do the Avengers Experience first (probably thought it was better to cash in on the franchise that was doing better at that time, and it was going to be another year and a bit until the next Transformers movie was due out anyway).

Then in December 2017 they finally did their first Transformers exhibit in China, which sounds like it was what they were planning to do in Las Vegas (there is a promo video of it on youtube for those wanting to know what the American one should look like).

So this one for 2022 is obviously for America, but I can't tell if the where and when was mentioned at the PulseCon panel, but I would imagine that there would be some promotional material released soon by CityNeon.

The interesting thing is that their initial global license that they announced in 2015 for Transformers was apparently only for 8 years until June 2023, but with the long delay in getting it to America, I would imagine that they would have renewed/extended it, as it wouldn't give them much time left for this American run... especially if they were still planning to ship it around the world for other countries(unless China and America are the only places it goes to).
.

 

No zombie threads please.  

 

This one seems pretty relevant for all the reasons @griffin-of-oz posted….

 

It's an important update in fact. Thanks to @griffin-of-oz for sharing it.