The Energon Pub

News Credits: 5 · Wed Apr 23, 2014 10:29 am

The price for as non attendee box set is ridiculous. No way should it be the same price as an attendee package.

News Credits: 656 · Wed Apr 23, 2014 10:55 am

Doctor McGrath wrote:The price for as non attendee box set is ridiculous. No way should it be the same price as an attendee package.

Absolutely agree with that. The attendee package has the Universal event built in, so I became very ok with the price once I learned that (cuz f--k a casino night, don't need that same 'ol noise). My only guess, not knowing a lick about their actual cost, is that they're losing money on Primus sets and offsetting a bit with the Iacon ones.

Or, rather, their margin is something like 10% on a Primus set because of Universal so they want to then have a higher margin on the Iacon sets to help out.

Just throwing darts; as stated, I have no clue at all what their cost is, but indeed I don't get why the non-attendee went up as much as the attending package, given what comes with them besides the toys (Event at Universal Studios vs. shipping costs).

News Credits: 4 · Wed Apr 23, 2014 11:01 am

Doctor McGrath wrote:The price for as non attendee box set is ridiculous. No way should it be the same price as an attendee package.

honestly, I feel the cost for either is a lot. But then I'm looking at tfwiki and seeing some Botcon exclusives only had 1200 made. I'm sure that the cost of making even say 2000 deluxes compared to however many Hasbro makes ramps up the cost price considerably. I'd guess it's more comparable with the cost of manufacturing some 3rd party toys, so when you break down the price of an Iacon Package (even including club membership, and bearing in mind you'll get a 6th figure from that) it doesn't seem quite so bad.

But...when you take into acc that those attending get all the meet-ups, dealer room, artist alley, and all that cool stuff, sure it's better to go...but then you've to pay for a hotel, and flights there (or water for your horse, whatever) and get time off work (because you'd better be working if you think you can afford this!) and all that jazz...

It's a decision you have to make yourself. Personally, as much as I'd love to attend, I can't afford the time or, to a lesser extent the money. But I might spring for a Non-Attendee set if I can see a way to offload Ginrai and Ferak.

edit: Do they charge international Iacon Package customers any additional shipping costs? IIRC they do for the membership figure.

News Credits: 5 · Wed Apr 23, 2014 11:05 am

ScottyP wrote:
Doctor McGrath wrote:The price for as non attendee box set is ridiculous. No way should it be the same price as an attendee package.

Absolutely agree with that. The attendee package has the Universal event built in, so I became very ok with the price once I learned that (cuz f--k a casino night, don't need that same 'ol noise). My only guess, not knowing a lick about their actual cost, is that they're losing money on Primus sets and offsetting a bit with the Iacon ones.

Or, rather, their margin is something like 10% on a Primus set because of Universal so they want to then have a higher margin on the Iacon sets to help out.

Just throwing darts; as stated, I have no clue at all what their cost is, but indeed I don't get why the non-attendee went up as much as the attending package, given what comes with them besides the toys (Event at Universal Studios vs. shipping costs).

Yeah, I couldn't believe it when the brochure went live. Completely priced this guy out.

News Credits: 293 · Wed Apr 23, 2014 11:47 am

Doctor McGrath wrote:The price for as non attendee box set is ridiculous. No way should it be the same price as an attendee package.

this is the reason id rather give my money to ebay.

just based on watching botcon items on ebay, im confident i can get a set around $400. a lot of sellers do pre-sales, and if i keep an eye out im pretty sure i wont be spending more than 450.

News Credits: 251 · Wed Apr 23, 2014 11:47 am

Yeah, unfortunately, there's no way I can go to BotCon, or get the non-attendee package. Not at that price, anyway. Which sucks, because I really wanted this to be my graduation gift. Oh, how it pains me to skip out on Devcon and Scorponok (and before anyone says it, I do not use eBay. I have had issues with it in the past).

Oh, well. MP-11 Starscream or Metroplex will have to do.

News Credits: 16 · Wed Apr 23, 2014 11:59 am

No mention of loose sets? Don't they usually offer extra loose sets to people who buy the Primus package? I kinda would prefer that since I really don't have the space for a box set right now. (Psst - anyone want to hook me up?)

News Credits: 656 · Wed Apr 23, 2014 12:19 pm

It Is Him wrote:No mention of loose sets? Don't they usually offer extra loose sets to people who buy the Primus package? I kinda would prefer that since I really don't have the space for a box set right now. (Psst - anyone want to hook me up?)

Only 250 loose sets being produced this year. Those are gonna fly.

News Credits: 5 · Wed Apr 23, 2014 12:37 pm

ScottyP wrote:
It Is Him wrote:No mention of loose sets? Don't they usually offer extra loose sets to people who buy the Primus package? I kinda would prefer that since I really don't have the space for a box set right now. (Psst - anyone want to hook me up?)

Only 250 loose sets being produced this year. Those are gonna fly.

I do not get the business model here.

News Credits: 25 · Wed Apr 23, 2014 1:02 pm

At this point they're really Just catering to the guaranteed checks of those who they know will be attending, because they went last year, or the year before that, so-on and so-on

News Credits: 4 · Wed Apr 23, 2014 1:19 pm

ScottyP wrote:
It Is Him wrote:No mention of loose sets? Don't they usually offer extra loose sets to people who buy the Primus package? I kinda would prefer that since I really don't have the space for a box set right now. (Psst - anyone want to hook me up?)

Only 250 loose sets being produced this year. Those are gonna fly.

Flooop!

this makes me worried about my chances of getting anything after market. The box-set is usually the most in demand thing, so if they're only doing 250 loose sets, I wonder if there won't be many souvenir sets either? and of course, those'll be where the bots I really want end up (spread across two or three sets, packed in with others I've no interest in at all)

News Credits: 656 · Wed Apr 23, 2014 1:53 pm

Doctor McGrath wrote:
ScottyP wrote:
It Is Him wrote:No mention of loose sets? Don't they usually offer extra loose sets to people who buy the Primus package? I kinda would prefer that since I really don't have the space for a box set right now. (Psst - anyone want to hook me up?)

Only 250 loose sets being produced this year. Those are gonna fly.

I do not get the business model here.

This is the "we took a ride into the Red with Machine Wars and have to cut costs" business model >:oP

News Credits: 5 · Wed Apr 23, 2014 4:53 pm

ScottyP wrote:
Doctor McGrath wrote:
ScottyP wrote:
It Is Him wrote:No mention of loose sets? Don't they usually offer extra loose sets to people who buy the Primus package? I kinda would prefer that since I really don't have the space for a box set right now. (Psst - anyone want to hook me up?)

Only 250 loose sets being produced this year. Those are gonna fly.

I do not get the business model here.

This is the "we took a ride into the Red with Machine Wars and have to cut costs" business model >:oP

Hahaha for sure. The please pay for last years "good idea" with this years model.

News Credits: 462 · Thu Apr 24, 2014 7:43 pm

Guest update! They're baaaaAAAAAACK!!! - http://www.botcon.com/BotCon2014/BC14guests.html
http://www.botcon.com/BotCon2014/BC14guest10.html

News Credits: 6188 · Fri Apr 25, 2014 3:02 pm

The official BotCon Twitter account has revealed a whole slew of guests for the 2014 convention, and they're all part of the Transformers: Rescue Bots cast! Joining the guest list, which you can find here, are Steve Blum (Heatwave and Prime Starscream), Parvesh Cheena (Blades), Jason Marsden (Kade Burns), Shannon McKain (Graham Burns), Elan Garfias (Cody Burns), Nicole Dubuc (Bumblebee, CAT, and writer for both Rescue Bots and Prime episodes), writers Greg Johnson and Brian Hohlfeld - bringing the guset count to seventeen!

News Credits: 5 · Fri Apr 25, 2014 3:16 pm

Va'al wrote:The official BotCon Twitter account has revealed a whole slew of guests for the 2014 convention, and they're all part of the Transformers: Rescue Bots cast! Joining the guest list, which you can find here, are Steve Blum (Heatwave and Prime Starscream), Parvesh Cheena (Blades), Jason Marsden (Kade Burns), Shannon McKain (Graham Burns), Elan Garfias (Cody Burns), Nicole Dubuc (Bumblebee, CAT, and writer for both Rescue Bots and Prime episodes), writers Greg Johnson and Brian Hohlfeld - bringing the guset count to seventeen!

Damn, no Lacey Chabert? That's to bad.

News Credits: 462 · Fri Apr 25, 2014 5:56 pm

Time to think of more questions to ask the writers this year.

News Credits: 6188 · Thu May 01, 2014 2:55 pm

The official Transformers Facebook page have shared pages 3 and 4 of the BotCon exclusive comic, showing off charactes Ferak and Cannonball from the 2014 'Pirates vs Knights' theme! The two pages, mirrored below, are part of the 'Hoist the Flag' story, ideated by Marty Isenberg, scripted by Jesse Wittenrich, drawn by Hayato Sakamoto and coloured by Josh Burcham - check them out!

BotCon 2014 is coming to Pasadena, CA June 19th-22nd. For the full reveal of this year's 5-figure convention set and general information on the show, be sure to visit http://www.botcon.com. To see two of the exclusive characters in action (Cannonball and Ferak), we have an exclusive preview of pages 3 and 4 from this year's BotCon comic!

News Credits: 241 · Thu May 01, 2014 3:01 pm

How many cameos do you spy? I see several:

Big Rescue Force
the potential combined from of the Motorvators
Armada Tidal Wave (really, FunPub?

)
FoC Air Raid
Meanstreak
Power Master Ironhide

The last two are really toy-accurate in the locomotion department. :lol:

News Credits: 656 · Thu May 01, 2014 3:27 pm

If that Tidal Wave ends up being a toy AND has that mast and sail, then they could bag up RotF Tuner Mudflaps in the other sets and I wouldn't care. Pirate ship Tidal Wave would make it all ok.

News Credits: 402 · Updated Oct 21, 2022

I'm liking the writing so far. Say what you will about The Club's lore, but it's usually well-written.

News Credits: 3 · Thu May 01, 2014 4:21 pm

That whole last page made me smile.

News Credits: 462 · Thu May 01, 2014 4:33 pm

Oh slag. They really did use the Armada Tidal Wave design for the ship. Though, they did give it a sail, which I wouldn't expect them to do at this point since they said that Scorponok ate up their remolding budget. So the jury's still out on whether or not they will or won't use that mold.

Anyway, something important to note is that the first of these two pages was actually already revealed in the last issue of the TCC magazine. So those who got the magazine and read are seeing it here for the second time.

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:How many cameos do you spy? I see several:

Big Rescue Force
the potential combined from of the Motorvators
Armada Tidal Wave (really, FunPub? )
FoC Air Raid
Meanstreak
Power Master Ironhide

The last two are really toy-accurate in the locomotion department.

Not counting the Tidal Wave, I see 12 bots/things in that pic.

News Credits: 462 · Thu May 01, 2014 5:54 pm

Okay, upon closer inspection, I see (clockwise from top-right):

Scorponok in Jet Mode
An Easter-colored combiner form for the Motorvators
Big Rescue Force
Windmill
Under-3
Meanstreak
Some guy behind Meanstreak
Power Master Ironhide
A red Autoceptor
Bonaparte Tulcas
Some gray guy behind Ironhide
A redeco of FOC Fireflight (Generations Air Raid)
The Tidal Wave