Those all slipped my mind because I counted them mentally in the Siege line since they're all numbered as such.

But you're right, Selects seems to be replacing the TFSS...and there really isn't an equivalent to what Botcon did.

 

yep, before in titans return and combiner wars id have said the box sets were close to what botcon did, especially the tr ones and liokaiser and computron. those sets all felt at least similar to botcon stuff for me

 

I remember my first BotCon (1997) and was blown away at the experience (Peter Cullen!, Gary Chalk & David Kaye!, Vince Dicola & Stan Bush! in concert!...sadly Frank Welker cancelled)...I looked forward to every one since then (went to all of them through 2011, including the OFTCC & alt-non-Hasbro BotCon)...

I was considering going to the first HasCon but opted not to...not sure how the vibe was with the less-concentrated focus of the convention...

 

You say it doesn’t replace Botcon and give the same argument I think they are like Botcon toys. What is a BotCon toy if not an exclusive item in a limited run compared to retail, and being a repaint or a repaint with remolded head like lancer?

For the convention organisation they tried with hascon and didn’t do one more yet.

The thing BotCon did related to toys is to have bio and a comic telling a story for these characters to sell toys.
Hasbro does not do it but Takara Is doing it with a different format (2 pages comic at a time instead of a full comic) with their select line / star convoy and deacon.

So what is a botcon toy for you?

 

Our world is currently better without the FunPub Collectors Club and HASCON. That's the bottom line here. We have fan conventions that are better than anything they put on anyway, and we have tons of special toys at way better prices. Best of both worlds, which is why I tried to be vocal about how bad a scam the Club had truly become. What in the world were we paying for? Lining the pockets of out of touch fans?

Maybe something official comes down the pike again, but I sure don't see a need or a market for it now. If it does, it needs to have much better management and people who deal in the whole reality of the fandom, not just their little bubble of it.

 

I prefer to attend conventions with an official Hasbro presence. Fan conventions are fine but the emphasis on third party toys sometimes makes it feel like an IP theft party.

I'm not defending Funpub, though - I always thought their method of sales was divisive to the haves and have-nots within the fandom. The way it is now does a lot for parity. I think Unicron has brought some of that back, though, unfortunately.

 

That might be your bottom line, but it's certainly not for a lot of other people. Every point you list is completely subjective, not a fact. It all depends on your personal point-of-view, I probably agree with as much of what you said as I disagree with.

 

The Hascon page is gone. The link just goes to Hasbro's homepage now.

https://hascon.hasbro.com

 

HasGONE.

 

Looks like Hascon was just a one time deal only.

 

Kind of glad if it means that we can get the exclusives at a better price and not have to travel.

 

Because who wants to go to a convention and meet writers and voice actors and buy old figures in a dealer room and hang out with a bunch of nerds friends all weekend?

 

You can get really good stuff out of those panels. Hearing the creatives cut loose, discuss their craft, and preview upcoming projects outside of leaks. You don't even need to travel for that stuff since most of the panels get posted. Now we just have the Comic Cons.

 

Well, I'm hitting TFCon next year, come hell or high water. I've not prioritized it for at least five years now, but it's going to the top of the list. This is so much bullshit, 35-year-old franchise and we can't even have an official convention.

 

Right? I always figured it would go two shows, that Hasbro would rationalize the poor showing at year one as it being a new show, etc. As soon as they announced it would be two years until the next one, we had to know something was up.

 

This I do not believe. As someone who has been to HasCon, BotCon, and unofficial cons. This is certainly not true from my perspective.

 

100% agreed!

 

Honestly? Never understood this, especially with something that is a brand like Transformers. Then again, I consider most of the world building done in the past dozen years or so mostly shite. Even when it's someone whose work I consider good, and it is their own story, like Jim Butcher, Brandon Sanderson, etc. I just don't have that innate celebrity worship required to get excited about 'meeting' them and paying for their signatures.

I can do this every week end with people I already know. It's called IRL.  

 

If the in-person experience isn't important to you, that's one thing, but I really don't understand this dismissal of why it should matter to others.

 

I feel exactly the same. I have zero need for any of that.

I've only ever been to TFcons, never anything official - but what I got out of them was more than enough "convention time" for me. I can't imagine what else an official one would provide or what I would need out of one - and I certainly don't need an "all-brands-in-one" Hasbro thing. Keep it robots only, please.