Transformers Animated Tech Specs!

As you probably already know from the flurry of posts recently I was pretty excited about Botcon this year mostly due to the fact that the exclusives were themed from the Transformers: Animated show. So imagine my surprise upon arrival in Pasadena at the two exclusive lithographs this year: Animated Tech Specs in the G1 style! Naturally one for Autobots and the other for Decepticons.

Usually the annual Lithographs don't excite me very much, but this was completely different. The team at Fun Publications (who runs Botcon) had partnered with Art Director Derrick J. Wyatt and Writer/Story Editor Marty Isenberg for the Transformers: Animated Television Show to expand the Animated Universe even further. What is great about these sets is they include all of the Animated Tech Specs that had been shown in the Transformers Collector's Club Magazine in prior years. I had been upset when these specs were produced exclusively in the Magazine and had resolved myself to eventually scan the pages and reprint them for myself. Now, I don't have to!

Additionally, we get a lot of new characters, including techs for all the Animated figures exclusive to this year's convention. Not only that, but the creators opened up a whole new can of worms with four of the 'Con' specs: Shattered Glass Animated. I believe this was done because two of the exclusive toys this year were from the 'regular' Shattered Glass Universe: Galvatron and Thundercracker. However we now have specs for Shattered Glass Optimus Prime (complete with goatee), Bumblebee, Sumdac and Sari. This provides a jumping-off point for future Animated storylines and gives us a whole new universe to consider. I fully expect some intrepid customizer to provide us with real-life examples of these characters sometime in the near future.

As you can see, I cut my lithographs up into the individual techs so I can place them in my tech spec books right behind the Beast Wars. I certainly hope that FunPub continues to produce these in the future as I really like seeing the old G1 style with new characters as well as the expansion of the Animated Universe.

Botcon Video is Up!

Music is by Tony Bacala of TFW2005.

A little taste of the experience...

So I have finally arrived home from Botcon 2011 and I must say that I was overall very impressed with the convention this year. My last Botcon was 2007 so I haven’t had the pleasure of attending in quite a while and I believe that was for the best. I had come to a point where I didn’t think I would ever want to go again; which I believe was due mostly to an overload of Transformers. Now that the Movie franchise is ending (or at least transitioning) I feel more inclined to become involved with the convention circuit again.

I'm not sure if it was just me or if it was actually Fun Publications, but they have figured out how to put on a really excellent show. I feel like they have finally hit their stride with Botcon whereas before I felt as if it were treated as more of an afterthought of JoeCon. Everything ran really smoothly this year and the lines weren’t nearly as long as prior years (despite my previous post; I just abhor lines in general). The two most enjoyable parts of the convention had to be the Transformers: Prime Script Reading with almost the entire cast(!) and the Casino Night Dinner. Having the cast show up free of charge and on their own accord was a great treat for the fans, and I hope the actors know how much we appreciate it. There was one attendant who mentioned how he didn't normally get star-struck at Botcon, but to be in the presence of Ernie Hudson (an original Ghostbuster!) he was overwhelmed. I felt the same way about seeing Jeffrey Combs being a big Star Trek fan myself. The cast did an excellent job as I knew they would and even threw in a few Ghostbusters references to rib Ernie a little. Directly after that we had the opportunity to see the next episode of Prime that hadn’t been aired yet: Operation Breakdown. All I can say about this episode is it is one of the best of the series thus far, not far behind my current favorites Speed Metal and Predatory. Trust me; it is not one you want to miss when it finally does air.

This was my second time participating in the Casino Night and even though I didn't win anything I had a great time. It feels like they have really refined the idea and worked out all the kinks. Of course it didn’t hurt that my group had a friendly, personable dealer. I remember back in 2007 the first Casino Night I attended it wasn't nearly as fun, and the prizes weren't as good either! FunPub had some really primo stuff up there this time, including the big boy: Darksyde Megatron and Waspinator from the 2006 convention. The guy who won that had about $15,000 in casino money. In comparison I only ended up with $1,600 and that was after combing four peoples' winnings together!

The only part of the convention that I felt was somewhat lacking was the Hall of Fame Event. As I mentioned before I really enjoyed myself, but I'm not sure it was worth $90 for me and my wife to attend. The show we saw was great, but I had at least expected to see the entire Transformers 3 movie for the admission price. I must say though, the Erector tribute was completely hilarious and oddly makes me pine for a G2 or Beast Wars Erector! I think most of the money for admission went to rent the extravagant venue and to get Michael Bay to attend, which I personally could have done without. I realize everything he has done for the Brand, but I could tell he didn't really care about being there and had that signature attitude about him. I think he would have been better sending in a video like Spielberg.

Overall though it was a great event and I feel much better about attending another Botcon than I did after my last experience. I hope to put all of my pictures and videos together in a short little montage to give anyone who didn’t go a quick taste of the convention. Over the next few weeks I hope to be showcasing all the items I obtained, but I will have to wait until at least Monday because I had to ship everything back from California and it won’t arrive until then.

Botcon 2011 was a blast!!!

Wow, I forgot how much fun a Botcon could be, I haven't had the pleasure since 2007. I think what surprised me the most was the Hall of Fame event, from which I wasn't expecting very much. But they did a great job and I really enjoyed myself. I also became a full-on Transformers: Prime supporter over the weekend. The show has been slowly growing on me, but hearing from both the cast and the creative team behind the work has given me a new respect for the show and I will be an avid supporter from now on. It also didn't hurt that we got to see an episode prior to airing which was probably the best episode of the series thus far. I love character driven stories and TF: Prime does not disappoint.

So over the next few days I'll be uploading more videos and pictures of my experiences at the 'con. Until then, enjoy this picture of my final haul from the weekend:

Oh yeah, look at all that paperwork!!!!

Lines, Lines, Lines, Lines, Lines!!!!

Wow, worse than Disneyworld, Botcon has become huge since the last time I was an attendee!!

A quick video!

I decided to take a really quick video of my collection the other day basically as a test to see if I'd be able to post videos to my blog relatively quickly. I hope to be doing this during Botcon in a few days. So anyway, here you go, a very quick and badly lit collection video!

An Unexpected Change of Perspective...

My buddy Flywheels over at Random Toy Reviews is doing a look back on Botcons of the recent past in celebration of Botcon 2011 starting this weekend. His posts got me all nostalgic for "the good ol' days" and so I started looking at a lot of my old Botcon pictures as well. The funny thing about looking at old pictures is you see things you never saw before. Back in 2006 I was still very much focused on completing my Beast Wars collection and obtaining a lot more G1's. I took a lot of pictures of the dealer room that year, but when I went back to look at the pictures I saw something very interesting:

Yeah, that is a crapload of Tech Specs and Instruction booklets right there. Anyone who has been following this blog for any amount of time knows that these are my highest priority right now. I originally took the picture because I thought it was a good one of Fort Max, Overlord and Scorponok; it is so funny to find this five years later. What I wouldn't give to go back and yank all those up. But it gives me good hope for this year.

I also may have actually gotten Flywheels's head in this picture, but I can't be sure. He'll have to confirm that one for me.

Mail Call: May 26th, 2011

Got some more paperwork in the mail the other day, nothing too exciting. These will probably be the last things to come in the mail until after I get back from Botcon. I sure hope I have better luck there, these last tech specs are really killing me!

Tantrum Instructions
Rampage Instructions
Brainstorm Instructions
Cloudburst Instructions
Splashdown Instructions
Slapdash Instructions

Collection Pics Update!

Well I finally got around to finishing the next leg of my collection pictures: 2002 through 'The Movie Era'

There is one final section that I need to photograph to have my entire collection complete: Botcon, Classics and Animated figures. I decided to give these figures their own section since they are going to continue to expand in the future. If I do buy Prime toys I will probably lump them into this section. Man, these pictures were so much easier when I could do it by year, but if I did that all the Classics figures would be spread out over five years and that just doesn't seem right.

I'll try to have it completed before I have to leave for Botcon in a week so I can start showcasing all the new stuff I know I'll be obtaining :)