From the club email to members:

Hello Members!

We have some exciting news! On Friday afternoon, BotCon registered attendees will be treated to a script reading panel starring Judd Nelson, David Kaye, Venus Terzo, and Gregg Berger! To see this you must be a registered attendee, so make sure you have signed up for your Primus, Golden Ticket Primus, MiniCon or Protoform package. Also, for those who have already registered, if you have not yet added your Judd Nelson VIP Pass to your existing package you can do that today! Visit BotCon for the details and then if you need to register, add the VIP pass or do both, you can do that here.

As you can tell from the above paragraph, there has been a guest change. Unfortunately due to personal reasons, Scott McNeil had to cancel. However, Gregg Berger will now be coming! We will all miss Scott, but we are very excited about seeing our old friend Gregg in a few short weeks.

Registration will close on March 21st so there is not much time left to register. Currently there are only 30% of the Primus packages, 8% of the GT packages and 19% of the Iacon (non-attending) packages, left.

Please note that March 16 is the last day you can join the Transformers Collectors Club. If you are interested in receiving the discounts for BotCon, the 2016 FREE Membership Incentive figure and/or purchasing the TFSS 5.0 (to be revealed in full at BotCon 2016) you will need to be an active member as of March 16. All memberships will end December 31, 2016. Hasbro looks forward to sharing new plans for the Collector’s Club with you in the future.

We appreciate your support over the last 12 years and wish the brand well in their new endeavors.

Thank you for your support and we look forward to seeing each and every one of our Club members at BotCon 2016!

Brian

 

HASBRO looks forward to sharing new plans for the club, NOT FP... They're finally admitting that it's over??

I wish I could go this year, if it's the last Botcon. I always had fun. I think FP designs some great figures, too... What replaces them may not be nearly as good. I hope they at least hire Pete..

 

"We appreciate your support over the last 12 years and wish the brand well in their new endeavors."

That sounds like a goodbye-ish sentence to me.  
Say what you will about FP, I always had a good time at Botcon.

I'm excited about Gregg Berger joining though!

 

Yes! I missed a chance to see Gregg Berger the last time he was at Botcon. I won't miss him this time - my G1 Grimlock needs an autograph!

 

What's interesting about that is it suggests the club itself isn't quite done and may live beyond Botcon.

 

This is no different than what they've done up to now. They're saying exactly as much as they're allowed to.

It's been clear for a good while now that they're prevented from saying anything more explicit at Hasbro's directive. Not because they don't want to "admit" something.


But, on topic, while I'm sorry for Scott McNeil and his fans, hearing that Gregg Berger will be there is great news!

 

Maybe FP still have the convention license and just not the club license? Who knows. Hopefully we'll know in a month...

 

Doubtful. Doubtful in the extreme.

 

Seems I keep needing to re-shuffle the "things to bring and have signed" pile. (even though I already have a few items signed by Gregg and Scott each)

Sorry to hear Scott won't make it. Hope things are OK with him. I had a Generations Waspy ready to meet him. Now it's time to see if I can find a suitable Gregg-Berger-related toy. Wish I had a bunch of boxed FOC Grimlocks sitting around.  

 

Funpub no longer being the clubholder? Requiescat in pace ... bastardo.

 

While we all know I have no love for Fun Pub after the Golden Ticket response to my ADA Request I hate to see people lose their jobs.

Everyone going have fun, and I guess we'll meet up next at a very crowded TFCon next year.

 

That first paragraph is enough to show why they shouldn't be running things. A convention shouldn't have 6 different 'packages' for attendance.

 

well its now official. Fp and the OTFCC as we know it are coming to an end.

 

What does this mean for th TFFSS? I've already paid in full for 4.0 and they are advertising there will be a 5.0. Will we be getting a prorated refund for the months of membership we are not getting?

 

You paid for the club membership for 2016, you're getting 2016. They'll do one last subscription service, but as of December is all done.

 

As long as they get their subscription fees in before the end of year, when their license runs out, they can produce the 5.0 figures in 2017 and mail them out then if need be. Probably why there's a rush.

 

As predicted this is Hasbro cutting all ties as a similarly worded email just went out to the G.I. Joe Club too.

 

I can't remember where I read it, but I think the plan is to take the preorders for the 5.0 sub whole the 4th one is shipping and release both of them every three weeks (with a short gap between) til the end of the year.

 

Never thought I'd hear myself say this but with this constant shuffling of the voice actors.....if this is the final FP Botcon, good riddance.

20th anniversary of Beast Wars and we get....David and Venus again?

Why no David Sobolov? Why no Don Brown? Why no Doug Parker?

No offense meant to Kaye and Terzo, but jeez louise we've been there, done that. Way to go, FP. Huge opportunity to go out with a bang, instead go out with a fizzle. Oh well, at least the toy set is worth it.

 

Slight downside to Gregg attending instead of Scott is the fact that all of the stuff I bought for Scott to sign kinda goes to waste. And now I need to find something for Gregg to sign (I don't keep many Grimlock's in box).

Hmm...$100+ for a messed up legit G1 Grimlock, or $40 for the clean looking KO G1 Grimlock...decisions decisions.