I expect it to be bigger next year. 35th anniversary and whatnot. But my original thought was that Hascon would become analogous to Disney World: you go to "Disney World," but you're really going to the Magic Kingdom, or EPCOT, or whatever other subdivisions they may have. You'll go to "Hascon," but under that umbrella is Botcon, and MASKcon, and Jemcon, and Ponycon, and whatever else.

But it turns out that's not what's happening after all, so.

 

(Not any kind of terrorist threat, just a fun image)

 

Though it's small and unofficial, the Seattle Area does have CybFest NW: Transformers fan convention.

 

Yeah I'm sure many people had a great time but I'm only interested in Transformers (ok and SW BS) so given that

I wouldn't even consider spending $100, let alone what the tickets actually cost. + Travel + hotel.

Not saying it's bad, just not for me  

 

Fandom 2016: Good riddance, BotCon was never good, FunPub are swindlers.

Fandom 2018: OMG BRING BACK BOTCON #LOVEFUNPUB

 

MY HYPE TRAIN IS A SCHWERER GUSTAV



Obvious symbolism, non?

 

It was actually filed in both class 41 and 28 and the G&S includes both conventions and toys.

The conventions description does not mandate any particular size or style of convention, so they could still argue that a mini-convention within HasCon counts in order to file it defensively, as an earlier poster had suggested. Technically token use does not qualify as use-in-commerce under the law, but proving something is merely a token use would be expensive and probably not worth anyone's effort. I do think that sort of defensive use is very unlikely however, because they paid for two classes and a single class application would probably get them sufficient coverage if their plan was only to hold onto the mark.

 

Oh hai lawyer guy

 

How unfortunate.

 

I’m sure Sentinel Prime would approve.

I genuinely appreciate the clarification.

 

FunPub here to ruin our fun yet again. Though I can't really blame them for sitting on the name. They know Hasbro would pay a pretty penny to get the name back if they wanted to run Botcon themselves.

 

FP could have gone the dairycon route and contacted a Chinese factory to direct manufacture a tf figure for their new convention.

then maybe if the convention has good attendence numbers they expand on the convention figures.

FP could literally go with any 3rd party company to do a convention exclusive figure. Then Hasbro is on the outside looking in.

 

I wonder about toy exclusives... we know Hascon will have at least one. I could see an agreement between Hasbro and FunPub that the Hascon exclusives will also be for sale at Botcon. But I can't see Hasbro authorizing FunPub to produce their own exclusives. That was one of the fandom's main sticking points about Botcon, and if Hasbro is at all sensitive to what the fandom wants, they won't go back to that model.

It's a weird move, all around. Brian Savage was never the Transformers fan, he brought in Pete to really shepherd Botcon, is my understanding. And Pete's moved on since FunPub lost the license. He seemed happy to grow RoboCon when we were there this month, and it is indeed a fine (small) show, with freedom that wouldn't be there with Hasbro involvement.

 

I'm betting it's just a "to keep other conventions (like TFCon) from suddenly getting the Botcon name" rather than any concrete plans for a new show. Mabe Brian is hoping to profit from the name in case Hasbro decides to do solo brand conventions. Or he's hoping to not lose the name quite yet just in case Hasbro abandons HasCon and he can get the show back...

 

Megatron's new altmode i can dig it  

 

West coast BotCon hype train.

 

Then I'm not going

 

1) WHY?
2) There are other shows for that. Hasbro's blessing was your draw.
3) Dick move

 

yes.

 

Funny you mention... But fandom has been screeching (myself included) to bring back Botcon on all of Hasbro's Facebook endeavors to promote Hascon since the end of 2016's Botcon.

I wonder if like others have said, exclusives production would turn to a 3rd party company?
I mean Brian certainly isn't a stranger when it comes to making money running cons?
The name alone would be a draw. Pepper in some toys and business is a boomin' I would think.

To be fair, I don't think TFCon or any other existing cons would go after it. They've all built their names and reps thus far on their own brands, and people choose to go to those for that reason.
Of course I'm sure they'd want it for the reasons listed above, too... So who knows.

Either way... I'm very interested in seeing what is in store for a future Botcon.
But that said, for me Botcon never went away. I've been able to attend it last year and this year in Covington, Ky.
And if FunPub is going to host one next year I better start saving for two cons. Thankfully Texas isn't too far away if they decide to host it in Dallas as a field test lol