The Official Transformers Club Q & A Thread

Excellent! I want to know, where is Botcon this year?

What specific modern era (Armada onward) molds have been removed from contention for club exclusives due to mold wear or other odd reasoning?

Dammit, *edits post for stupidity*

Good Q CP!

What other themes for exclusives, Botcon or otherwise, have been explored and rejected for one reason or another?

Further to that, what goes into deciding what an exclusive character should be?

Would a full prime set be a good botcon Idea (EX. Various transformers in optimus prime color scheme, EG, Wheeliemus prime, Kupimus Prime, Cyclonus Prime, and Megatronimus Prime)

Any updates on the release/shipping of the Seacon sets (and Nightbeat)? Last I heard was "four weeks from September 30th", but then I'm only rarely on the Club Forums so not sure if it was addressed there.

EDIT - Never mind; coincidentally, just answered here.

Have you thought about doing a Hasbro Copyright Panel at Botcon? It would be a fun chance for the fans to hear some of the reasoning, etc. behind name changes and what the process looks like.

I want to know if Nightbeat has started shipping yet. I didn't order the Seacons and even voted to have it shipped first because of that very fact but now people are starting to get confirmation on the Seacons but still no word on Nightbeat.

Honestly between City Commander and Nightbeat and having an order in for both since day 1 for each (CC thru BBTS since April), I'm staring to lose my patience.

All I need is some good news on my favorite gumshoe.

What is the most likely venue to see an expansion of the Shattered Glass Universe? BotCon? Club Exclusives? Crazy retail exclusives?

Thanks for doing this, fellas.

Is there ever a chance of seeing a BotCon in Arizona within my lifetime? Or at the very least, will we ever see some Hasbro representation at the Phoenix Cactus Con?

also, and pardon me for being greedy:

Will we ever see a "decent" crossover line? Thus far all "crossover" lines have been merely characters from the "other" franchises represented in non-canonical transforming mech toys. Will we ever see a crossover that respects both sets of characters from both lines, giving us well-known Transformers characters taking the vehicle modes from the other line, with smaller-scale action figures of the characters of the other line to scale with them. (Examples: A "real" Star Wars/TF crossover of a TIW fighter that turns into perhaps Megatron or Starscream, with Darth Vader/Stormtrooper pilot figurines. Or a Transformers/GIJoe crossover along the same lines.)

A poll has been added to the thread. Please cast your vote when you can.

Also, as a reminder, please understand that the high volume of questions being received may not all get answered.

Will their be more Shattered Glass figures in the future?

i had 2 questions but one of them would be kinda be in disrespecting hasbro section so its now to one

are there any more reissue you planning on making.?

Is Hasbro planning more 25th Anniversary reissues after Optimus Prime? Or is he being used to test the market?

tigertracks 24 wrote:Excellent! I want to know, where is Botcon this year?

Me too!

Counterpunch wrote:What specific modern era (Armada onward) molds have been removed from contention for club exclusives due to mold wear or other odd reasoning?

None that I know of as far as Autobots and Decepticons. Mini-cons do wear down faster than most though...

Mkall wrote:What other themes for exclusives, Botcon or otherwise, have been explored and rejected for one reason or another?

Further to that, what goes into deciding what an exclusive character should be?

A character must be able to sell. What is nice with the box sets is that we are able to do a couple niche characters though so that is nice. However, even niche characters need to have wide appeal.

As has been previously reported, we did have a G2 theme for 2007 but that was replaced with the Classics theme. Carryovers from the G2 set were Springer, Huffer and Alpha Trion though Alpha Trion was the one character from 2007 who was not part of the Classics mythology.

bumblebeerocks wrote:Would a full prime set be a good botcon Idea (EX. Various transformers in optimus prime color scheme, EG, Wheeliemus prime, Kupimus Prime, Cyclonus Prime, and Megatronimus Prime)

That could be... scary lol

CMP wrote:Will their be more Shattered Glass figures in the future?

Maybe... And we are revisiting the timeline with the Prose story Dungeons and Dinobots due out this Fall

Pete@BotCon wrote:

tigertracks 24 wrote:Excellent! I want to know, where is Botcon this year?

Me too!

We can smell the con coming and cannot sleep till we know its date and location!

Welcome to Seibertron Pete.

Thanks for your participation here Pete.

Awesome to know about the molds...

I am curious about the decisions to limit figure production. For example: I tried to order the 2007 botcon set but it was already sold out. Now I am trying to collect all the seekers but they are way out of my price range. If the demand is there, why are the production runs of set or exclusives increased? Or, why are the figures not reissued, maybe as a "second printing" like books?

thank you for coming and awnsewering our questions

Just curious...is there any truth that while you are answering these questions you aren't wearing pants?

First off, thanks for doing this. Second, my most recent purchase has been the Wal-Mart exclusive Legacy of Bumblebee set and I have to say, it's the best thing I've bought from you guys in a long, long time. The figures looks great, and I can tell a lot of work went into it. Any idea if you guys will do another Legacy set?

If you do, maybe you should throw in a DVD or comic alongside it. Just a thought.

tigertracks 24 wrote:Excellent! I want to know, where is Botcon this year?

I had heard Tennesee

Thanks for stopping by to answer questions. Will Movie toys be used as Botcon exclusives in the future?

Wheeljack35 wrote:

tigertracks 24 wrote:Excellent! I want to know, where is Botcon this year?

I had heard Tennesee

If that's true, it's okay, but what's up with the Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee belt, if that's the case. The only other places it has been are Rhode Island, and Texas. I'm not really hip on heading to the west coast, but Missouri, Colorado, or Florida would all make nice vacations, and not be too far to drive from me.

I know they care that it is close enough for me. Tennessee works, if that is the case. Rocky Top, baby...

1) Was the success of the G.I. Joe Q&A the impetus for the Transformers Q&A? If not, why were the Q&A's not launched concurrently?

2) As a collector who spent a significant, for toys, amount of money on the 2007 Bot-Con set I was disappointed to learn that one of the figures was going to be released overseas. Going forward what steps will Hasbro and the TFCC take to ensure the exclusivity of the convention sets or should the membership assume that these sets will only see limited release in America?

3) What is being done to maintain the interest of collectors who favor the more traditional style of Transformers; ie. not Beast, Movie, or Animated designs, assuming that Movie and Animated molds will be used for future convention sets? Will we see G1 style molds used in sets like the Joe club uses vintage style figures for their sets?

First-Aid wrote:Just curious...is there any truth that while you are answering these questions you aren't wearing pants?

c'mon dude, let's treat this seriously. Pete is a valued guest at Seibertron.com. Thanks.

Wheeljack35 wrote:

tigertracks 24 wrote:Excellent! I want to know, where is Botcon this year?

I had heard Tennesee

I was just about to seriously ask if they would do the Con in Tennessee! I live in Alabama and I would really love to go to at least one botcon in my life, but having to drive or fly halfway across the country is usually out of the question.

If the con was held a lil closer to home (Tennessee, Atlanta, heck, even Birmingham) I'd be one happy camper! =D

Any chance of this ever happening?

All this talk of Botcon locations has me wanting to ask the following

How feasible is it to hold Botcon outside the USA (preferably somewhere in the UK)? While collectors groups are smaller outside the USA, Auto Assembly did exceed its attendance record this year.

not that i expect botcon to come here ever even as a last resort but is botocn planning to come to buffalo in the future it would actually give me something to be proud of of this city since we only have one convention a year thats the car show.

dragons wrote:not that i expect botcon to come here ever even as a last resort but is botocn planning to come to buffalo in the future it would actually give me something to be proud of of this city since we only have one convention a year thats the car show.

The Bills are 4-0! There's something to be proud of!

tigertracks 24 wrote:

Wheeljack35 wrote:

tigertracks 24 wrote:Excellent! I want to know, where is Botcon this year?

I had heard Tennesee

If that's true, it's okay, but what's up with the Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee belt, if that's the case. The only other places it has been are Rhode Island, and Texas.

Don't forget Durham.

Which reminds me, Raleigh has a brand new convention center

Back on topic, please.

Will we see any other G1 re-issues like the Club Seacon set? I know it was a special circumstance, but it would be sweet!

can botcon ever be a the disneyland convention center?

How long is Transformers: Animated planned to last? And are there plans to make a Voyager-class G2 Tank megatron for Universe, or Transtechs for the Universe line?

bumblebeerocks wrote:can botcon ever be a the disneyland convention center?

Or Disney World? Pleeeeeeease?

How do you choose the paint scheme and details when you do an exclusive? Does Hasbro have a say?

After 5 years of doing the combiner figure what types of free member figure ideas are you guys throwing around?

Any plans to come to Austin or anywhere else in Texas for BotCon?

What are the chances the club could offer import figures like the Encore series?

What about club exclusive US releases of the Japanese Transformers series Headmasters/Masterforce/Victory figures or even the US DVD's?

Once again the questions are great, but please understand that not all of them may be answered. Please look to previous answeres in the thread to see if maybe your question was already addressed.

Stormrider wrote:How do you choose the paint scheme and details when you do an exclusive? Does Hasbro have a say?

Just depends on the theme of the set. Plus, you have to take into consideration the other characters in the set, you don't want 5 green autobots lol...

heimerman13 wrote:I am curious about the decisions to limit figure production. For example: I tried to order the 2007 botcon set but it was already sold out. Now I am trying to collect all the seekers but they are way out of my price range. If the demand is there, why are the production runs of set or exclusives increased? Or, why are the figures not reissued, maybe as a "second printing" like books?

We upped production at the last second but were still short. We are only able to do one run though, so when they are gone, they are gone... Trust me, we wish we had made more!

Will we see the "Classiverse" versions of these Transformers in the future? And in retail?

Thrust
Skullcruncher
Snapdragon
Trailbreaker
Red Alert
Triggerhappy
Slugslinger
Misfire
The rest of the Dinobots, the Aeriobots, and the Stunticons
The Terrorcons
The Technobots
The Seacons
The Bases (Trypticon, Metroplex, Fortress Maximus, and Scorponok)

With the huge demand for the Seacons, what are the chances for a G2 Stunticons and/or Protectobots set?

Trikeboy wrote:With the huge demand for the Seacons, what are the chances for a G2 Stunticons and/or Protectobots set?

On no you didn't!

If Pete answers this with anything other than no chance, I am going to beg, and beg and beg, and beg them to make it.

Are there any plans to bring the other two Masterpiece Seekers to the United States in the form of TFCC (or HasbroToyShop.com) exclusives?

(Due to the relatively high production costs and small - but fervant - fan-base for Skywarp and Thundercracker, I would assume that those two would almost certainly not see a standard retail release)

According to our most up to date poll, 14 Seibertronians are either not members of the Official Transformers Collectors Club or are still thinking about it.

Not sure if its right for you? Don't think there are any benefits to joining? Here's a breakdown of everything you'll get when you are a member:

* Bi-monthly TFCC Magazine featuring the very latest figures in the Transformers universe. Updates from Club officials on whats going on within the Club, product reviews, exclusive first looks at Transformers figures, interviews with Transformers designers and writers and much more.

* A monthly subscription to the Master Collecter newsletter PLUS a free 30 word ad for you EVERY MONTH! Bonus: One person is chosen each month at random that has placed a specific ad for a Transformers item, will receive a free Transformers figure from the Club!

* Club exclusive figures at the members price.

* Discounts on purchases such as Botcon attendance packages and classes.

* A FREE club exclusive figure every year JUST FOR BEING A MEMBER!!!

* Access to the members only forums where all the latest Club info breaks first.

And if thats not enough to get you amped, the guys and gals over a Fub Publications are working hard to get you even more bang for your buck such as contests, club oriented activities and of course BOTCON 2009!

So what are you waiting for, get on over to the TFCC and join today!!!

Trikeboy wrote:With the huge demand for the Seacons, what are the chances for a G2 Stunticons and/or Protectobots set?

I'd like to have this question answered as well. I'd really, really, really like to see a Botcon or TFCC exclusive set of the G2 Protectobots and Stunticons. That would be really awesome.

Tyrenol wrote:Will we see the "Classiverse" versions of these Transformers in the future? And in retail?

Thrust
Skullcruncher
Snapdragon
Trailbreaker
Red Alert
Triggerhappy
Slugslinger
Misfire
The rest of the Dinobots, the Aeriobots, and the Stunticons
The Terrorcons
The Technobots
The Seacons
The Bases (Trypticon, Metroplex, Fortress Maximus, and Scorponok)

I thought we did Thrust

I'd like to cast a vote for seeing the club do either the G2 Stunticons or Protectobots as well.

Also, will we have online registration for Botcon this year or is it still going to be by fax?

I would love to know if there is a plan to make a Signal Lancer Toy. He might just be my favorite Cybertron (Galaxy Force) character and I would be so happy to see his awesomeness immortalized in plastic. I know I'm not the only fan of SL.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i7d9S5Wc_UM =Transformation of SL

PLEASE!?

Heck, all you'd have too do would be build a transformer into the mold of the traffic light that comes with Animated Prowl.

Can all club exclusive boxes from now on be window boxes like the Season set. That box is so beautiful, and since you can see the toys inside, it begs to be displayed.

And I can just imagine G2 Protectobot and Stunitcon sets done in the same fashion with the high quality package.

If OTFCC does do a G2 Stunticon set, I can't imagine how pissed the guy who won G2 Menasor for $7,000 would be. Oy...