Quick check over on ebay and somebody has the entire Wreckage v2 crew (Toxitron, Counterpunch, Fractyl, Impactor and Bluestreak) up for $900 +$14 s&h.

Good lord.

 

If you’re doing BotCon again, it needs to evolve beyond the old concept which is not needed today.

Be inclusive instead of exclusive. A private elitist club is very dated and uncool now, update the model to be accessible. Kickstarter/Patreon panels in advance for panels and guests, provide live streams for paid backers and put up the videos on Youtube later for all of fandom to enjoy. Ticket buyers get to be there in person. Have Hasbro do a panel to reveal new toys and this panel can be live streamed for free.

Work with Generations Selects, because you’ll never be able to beat it. Develop a toy idea, conduct polls to fan-built it, then submit it to Hasbro to make it a Generations Selects toy they sell at retail at retail prices, allow them to label it “Botcon Exclusive” but anybody everywhere in the world will be able to buy it at retail. In exchange, ask to have it sold at Botcon first before being available at retail, ticket buyers get to buy the retail toys first at retail prices too but with hand-signed and numbered tech spec cards. If working with Hasbro is not feasible, then conduct customization classes for all ticket buyers to create the Botcon redeco from a retail toy. The new BotCon has to prove that BotCon is not about limited run exclusive toys priced to exploit fans. Obscure characters are already done to perfection by Hasbro, but I feel Shattered Galaxy repaints is a niche that has enough mass appeal which BotCon can own further developments of this pocket universe.

Shattered Galaxy is also a neat way for BotCon fiction to not mess with canon. Kickstarter/Patreon to commission writers and artists to create a comic around the toy but make it available for free to view online. Physical copies only sold at the show, hand-signed and numbered. A one-shot self contained story focused on 1 character enables fandom to get behind a new twist on an old character, and also allows world-building over the years. Professionals will help shed the fanfic quality of past BotCon fiction. Also include BW characters in this new SG.

Attendees get a Botcon pin that identify them as ticket buyers at the event and which they can keep as souvenirs and collect. All other merchandise such as T-shirts can be bought by everyone anywhere in the world via the Botcon online store.

Run a live auction of rare toys in the middle of the dealer room, concurrently have some rare toys up for bids also on ebay. Use the proceeds from these auctions to buy Transformers toys and donate them to a charity that gives out toys to children in hospitals during Christmas.

Continue the Hall of Fame dinner with Hasbro if possible, live stream the ceremony for free. If not, do a fans awards for best fanfic, fanart, cosplay, customs, photography, reviews, figure-of-the-year as voted online. Highlight some fans for their contributions to fandom.

Have a massive play area for parents to play toys they never touched before with their kids, its a nice way to experience non-G1 portions of the franchise like Cyberverse and Bot-bots.

Never let any individual personalities control the new BotCon, the new BotCon should be a consolidation of the TF fandom to set it apart from the other conventions. Even if it is not official, its brand should be the con that feels the least commercial, the most fan-focused. While the old BotCon was about the exclusive toys, dealer rooms and gathering of very-devoted fans, the new BotCon should be an expression of the entire TF fandom celebrating the franchise, uniting everybody to create fan-wanted actions for everybody. Via the new BotCon, fans come together to: make available a SG repaint for retail, create a SG comic for all, make certain guests panels happen, give out awards, help share Transformers toys with children stuck in hospitals during Christmas, a physical destination where children and children-at-hearts can play with all sorts of TF toys, together.

Trying to make as much money as possible from a very small but very devoted part of the fandom was very short-sighted, the real value is being the most trusted consolidation of one of the largest and most valuable franchise on the planet. That’s how to make this show better, and bigger. Imagine BotCon 2026 taking place in New York, Toronto, Manila, Beijing, Sydney and Tokyo. Botcon toys include Heroic Unicron and Heroic BW Megatron. Concerts with Imagine Dragon, Linkin Park. Fans crowdfund the deleted scenes from the 1986 TFTM, bringing the storyboards to full animation with voice acting. Fans commission Frank Welker to redo all the Megatron voice-acting from all the movies. Fans commission a live-action CGI clip of the 1986 TFTM fight between Prime and Megatron using the models from the Bumblebee movie. Fans giving TF toys to children in hospitals during Christmas and Chinese New Year across 12 countries become the single biggest toy purchase in history, every year. Every Botcon show attracts 8000 families selling 20,000 tickets.

Many said the BotCon name simply has currency with TF fandom. Instead, it should have power.

 

Extremely hard no to any Kickstarter type things involved.

 

Hasbro sits at the same table as Russia, China, UK, USA & France.

I had a dream like that once. Then reality slapped me real hard.

 

Siebertron has a habit of running with "news" that is half guesswork or unfounded rumor. Generally they're pretty good but anything that seems "iffy" should be considered a rumor unless someone else posts it too.

 

I tried to get on Botcon in 2011, because of Animated. That did not happen. And this is a great opportunity. That would be my second visit in US.

 

A few good points here but not all would work as stated... they could be used as ground floor ideas maybe.

BotCon has never been a private elitist club and has always been inclusive, inviting any and all to attend. Whether they could or could not attend due to distance or finances or otherwise was not on BotCon. There have always been many options available for those on a budget as far as the main attendance tickets go, ranging from the full weekend including exclusive toys to the walk-in each day. I like the idea of doing a livestream thing for backers and such, but things like that have their way of leaking out to the general public (non-backers) so it would be moot to be a backer after awhile. Maybe a livestream of the dealer room so people get to see that aspect of it or something. If Hasbro has any kind of presence at BotCon they would NEVER agree to allow any kind of livestreaming of product reveal in any way, cameras were always banned (despite the occasional one that slipped by) in past years during the Hasbro panels.

You do understand how toy production works right? I'm not totally against the whole fan vote thing, but in order to pull it off they would have to start the process over a year in advance. I'm not saying that the production of the figure would take over a year, but factoring in all the time to create the choices for the polls and the time to get a good amount of votes... it's time consuming. Putting together the list of available molds, then working on a list of possible decos, putting that list of decos into a poll, narrowing that poll down to - oh, let's say - Top 3 and put them in a poll to get the final voted figure. Then to actually put that figure into production isn't as easy as calling someone and saying "flip the switch!" They have to have the molds pulled, align time frame with the factory producing it, make some samples, wait for said samples to arrive for approval, send back sample with any possible changes (this could be done electronically but still takes time) and then wait on updated samples (if any) then go into full production. Creating/cleaning/separating parts, adding any paint deco to parts, assembling parts, etc.

Simply putting the words "BotCon Exclusive" on a box and making it so that anybody everywhere in the world will be able to buy it at retail, does not make it an exclusive figure with or without hand-signed and numbered tech spec cards - It just makes it a repainted retail figure with extra words.

As for conducting custom classes to create a redeco of retail toys, many of the current unofficial cons already do that anyway, it's a fun activity to be shared with others at the conventions.

What are exclusive figures (not just BotCon) if they aren't limited run figures meant for a niche audience? Nothing about them exploits fans, other than the fact that they are aimed at the fans more so than regular retail figures - because as we know, Hasbro's main audience is the kids. Yes, I know... Siege and Earthrise (and whatever is next) is being geared more towards fans, but as much as we want to believe we are, fans are not Hasbro's main audience... they are just recognizing that the fanbase is out there more now than they did in the past. Plus, it doesn't hurt that some of the designers grew up with the franchise as well and have some influence on the line.

Done to perfection may be a bit strong choice of words but they really are doing very well with the Selects line. For the most part BotCon was all about obscure characters (Antagony, Apelinq, Shockaract, Windrazor just to name a few) before they became official with Hasbro and Hasbro insisted that they have known characters in their sets. Why would they want to stick with one theme though? Shattered Galaxy/Glass is a novel concept but not everyone is a fan of it (I, personally, really like it but that's besides the point) so if they stuck with that, then eventually they would lose majority of their audience, which is why set themes changed every year hoping to appeal to majority of the fanbase/con goers.

Not sure what the point of a Kickstarter/Patreon would be other than to gather funds for certain items, but to pull money to commission artists? That's not really feasible. What about those that don't contribute to either of those, do they just miss out on the item that was commissioned? If so, then doesn't that in turn make it that which you don't like as pointed out in the beginning of your post about exclusives? Also, if it is available to view online for free, what is the motivation to buy a copy when you could just download it and save it? Someone could opt out from backing any Kickstarter/Patreon to get said comic made and then download the free copy that others helped pay for. Eventually, everyone would catch on to this strategy because if they can do it why can't everyone? Then eventually there is no comic for anyone to enjoy.

The idea of making enough shirts and other non-exclusive souvenirs (Glasses, posters, etc.) could be good to generate income from those that could not attend but want to show their support, but how do they know how many of those items to make so that they aren't sitting on a bunch of them expecting them to sell out and they don't? Inventory takes up valuable space and unsold items creates debts that need to be recovered quicker rather than slower to help pay for the next show and more souvenirs.

This is a cool idea, it could work in conjunction with the livestreaming from the dealer room. It could be done.

I like this idea as well, bring the Hall of Fame back to where it began and give it back the fanfare that it originally had, but it really all depends on whether they could get the ok to do it and of course the logistics with the livestreaming.

They tried this at several of the initial FunPub run cons back in 05 and on, but stopped doing it for reasons I am not aware of... I just know it stopped happening after a few years.

I understand what you are saying with that but have you heard of the phrase "Too many cooks spoil the broth"? It means if too many people are involved in a task, it will not be done well. Have you gone through the various threads on this or any other newsgroup for this fandom? Everyone has different ideas about everything! Even if they allow a certain group of fans, whether voted on by other fans or selected by other means, there will still be uproar for those fans not chosen and how it's now biased and so on... As much as we all want to have our voices heard and our ideas made and have the convention in our area every year, it's just not feasible because then it takes away from other fans that wanted the same thing.

Sure we can all add thoughts and ideas and sometimes they may get used in some way, but we can't always have our cake and eat it too.

As much as I love the Transformers franchise, we are far from the largest and most valuable franchise on the planet... sorry but that is the truth. BotCon was held in New York in 1997, had the first concert with Stan Bush and Vince DiCola and even had a CD produced with exclusive music for BotCon and (I believe) the first appearance of Peter Cullen. That wasn't crowdfunded, that was because of the support of past conventions allowing them to go bigger and better (and a little in debt), so they already knew how to do that.

Fans can commission VAs all they want, doesn't mean that VA has to do it. You really think a Frank Welker is going to want to sit down and redo all the lines from all the movies? Do you know how exhausting that would be? Just because it is crowdfunded it doesn't really guarantee it will be able to be done in the cases that you gave. Especially since it would have to be agreed upon before it was even put forth into crowdfunding.

I'm sure we would all love to see BotCon reach levels of 8000 families and 20,000 tickets but have you ever been to San Diego or New York Comic Con? It would be kind of like that and a that's a little scary.

Do you not see the power of the BotCon name in just this thread alone?

 

Since this is now looking unofficial the impact is greaaaaatly reduced. It’s a name now.

 

Upon further inspection, I can’t imagine Hasbro being involved with this. So I finally know who Pete Sinclair is and his views and agenda are far away from what I would ever endorse with my money. Hopefully TFCon comes a little closer next time.

 

A lot of really good points in the post above. Furthermore, everyone that complains about the $400 box sets - as I've said, that cost is the cost of admission/running the actual convention, and the toys are incentive. How many of those complaining would simply shell out $300 for all the admission to the show, and have no toys to show for it? See HasCon for how well that works out.

 

$400 is a massively overpriced admission for a con like botcon. power morphicon (power rangers convention) is $70 for weekend admission (with higher tiers of course) and a weekend at sdcc in 2019 including preview night was $304. in no reality should botcon cost as much to attend as sdcc

 

Can't speak for power morphicon as I know nothing about it.
But $300 at SDCC doesn't also get you 2 autographs per guest per time in line, the dinner / casino night etc... While comparable only in price. It really isn't very comparable in what you actually get.
But realistically the toys definitely cost more than $100 or even $200... So. Idk.

 

that i agree with, botcon did have a lot of perks, however both sdcc and power morphicon (picked that one because similar fanbase and all that) have tiers to their attendance. people keep saying that the botcon box sets are what paid for the convention, essentially box set = admission, so the minimum admission was $300-$400. someone more knowledgeable about the funpub era, please correct me if im wrong, but if im wrong then that means that the idea that the boxsets paid for the convention is an absurd fallacy

 

I wouldn't go so far as to say "fallacy." Obviously it didn't cost FunPub that whole $300-400 to MAKE the toys, so there's definitely money that's paying for the convention coming out of the box sets. And, right or wrong, I don't think it's disputable that encouraging folks to get the box set was the primary means that FunPub encouraged folks to fund the convention.

The main issue, as I see it, with FunPub's "cost of entry" vs. other conventions, is that you more or less had to pay for most of the "perks" (by which I mean not only the toys, but also the autographs, casino/dinner, etc.) up front as a package deal, whereas most other conventions either go a la carte, or in any event leave the pricing of autographs up to the guests (or the guest's sponsors). You have better options to just pay for what you want. (Yes, BotCon still had the walk-in options, but then you didn't have the option of many of the perks).

 

this is a much better wording of what i was trying to get across

 

It wasn't just the box set though.
That massive price tag also went toward paying for everything else like tours and such that the Primus Package offered.
*Looks up*
Yeah, @G.B. Blackrock put it much better.

What I took issue with was people turning around and selling just the toys for that price, which, as I said before, basically said "reimburse me for my entire trip".
Screw those people.

 

So. That wasn't the ONLY form of admission. There was a protoform package usually for $125 or something? Maybe more? I never gave it much thought because I ALWAYS wanted the toys. But i think the Protoform package got you all that extra stuff.
Or. What I did most years is sign up my "brothers/sisters/cousins" (I'm an only child) for a $50 minicon. Hell one dude i didn't even know. Lol
Or there was always just the Saturday-Sunday weekend general admission. $25 a day? $25 autograph bands?

Well. Lemme know if you decide to dump Metal hawk. Mine has a blue boop on the nose and I'm trying to upgrade to a slightly better looking one hahaha!

The tours were add- on options we had to pay for if we wanted to go. Not included in box set price.
Also. I don't see anything wrong with that. It was basically a provided service for anyone who couldn't make it to the show I feel.

 

The money made from the two cons also goes to keep a business running year round and pay the salaries of those involved. Sure they had the clubs membership fee, but that also had its own expenses like printing the magazine, the toy and the cost of shipping. Also the subscription services for figures.

Botcon is the only convention that had free autographs from celebrities, save for a few in the later years.

FP was a business not a charity, none of us will truly know the cost of running that type of business.