The Energon Pub

Wed Feb 05, 2020 6:12 pm

Hey, I'm one of the staff members that resigned from The Allspark a couple of days ago. We've written an open letter to the organisers of BotCon.

https://tinyurl.com/AllsparkAndBotCon

News Credits: 12 · Wed Feb 05, 2020 6:31 pm

The Wadapan wrote:Hey, I'm one of the staff members that resigned from The Allspark a couple of days ago. We've written an open letter to the organisers of BotCon.

https://tinyurl.com/AllsparkAndBotCon

So because some people have their feelings upset by something he said on social media, he deserves to be booted from the running of BotCon? Yeah, no thanks. If you don't want to financially support him then don't, nobody is forcing you to go to BotCon, but don't try and "cancel" him. That's just weak, and a classic example of the kind of vigilante mob justice/cancel culture that's infested the internet.

Lord knows you have enough bloody Transformers conventions over there, there will be one whose organizers sympathize with your views. Try being British, where there is ONE convention run by some...unique individuals.

News Credits: 226 · Wed Feb 05, 2020 6:54 pm

Black Hat wrote:Try being British, where there is ONE convention run by some...unique individuals.

Hold my **** beer and let me tell you a story about being a fan outside of the US ...

News Credits: 12 · Wed Feb 05, 2020 6:56 pm

Burn wrote:
Black Hat wrote:Try being British, where there is ONE convention run by some...unique individuals.

Hold my **** beer and let me tell you a story about being a fan outside of the US ...

Touche.

News Credits: 462 · Thu Feb 06, 2020 12:51 am

Some more information about the new BotCon and BC Productions:

Bret Lovell answers some peoples questions about the new Botcon at about the 1 hour 8 minute mark of the Stasis Lock Podcast.
#1 Pete Sinclair is a stock holder in the BC Productions Company, but not a majority shareholder
#2 Bret Lovell is the Manager of BC Productions
#3 Karl Hartman is involved in the process of planning and running the show
#4 Bret wants Botcon to be AFFORDABLE and to bring it back to the Pre-2001 days
#5 Night Shining is a Licensee to sell Botcon Product. They are a separate show.
#6 Bret is open to Licensing out the name to others for other products.
#7 This is a continuation of Botcon, not a start over.
#8 Night Shining was the first company to approach them to sell product, so that 's why they have Botcon merchandise for sale.
#9 BC Productions started within the last month, so everything is happening fast.
#10 Primal Sabbath is involved in making the Botcon Product Guide.
#11 The name of the main author of the Product Guide is currently being withheld.
#12 Bret's goal is avoid previous mistakes made by previous Botcon companies.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAFWcGwfOjE

News Credits: 462 · Thu Feb 06, 2020 1:16 am

Also, there is this announcement of an announcement from the BotCon Facebook:

Thu Feb 06, 2020 7:13 am

Damn, Pete's involved? Count me out.

News Credits: 656 · Thu Feb 06, 2020 10:40 am

Sabrblade wrote:#12 Bret's goal is avoid previous mistakes made by previous Botcon companies.

Off to a fantastic start on that front :lol:

News Credits: 462 · Sat Feb 08, 2020 8:34 pm

Posting this here since this is the current BotCon thread.

Way back at BotCon 2014, in honor of the convention's 20th anniversary, a special BotCon Retrospective Panel was held at which 21 unrealized concepts for potential BotCon/TCC exclusives were shown. The first ten were for those that never made it past the concept stage, while the second ten were for those that were initially approved but later rejected (and the 21st one just a bonus).

The panel forbid any photos or filming, so most of these concepts have never been seen publicly. Though, over the years, some of them have been shown online.

Of these concepts, the 10th one shown (meaning, one of the ten that were never approved) was one that was described as "You'll either love this one or hate this one."

It was "Twilight Sparkle Prime" redecoed from Beast Machines Battle Unicorn.

And now, the BotCon Twitter has posted that concept for all eyes to see.

Seems like now would be the perfect time to show this concept. With the news of IDW’s Transformers/MLP crossover, here is the mock up for Twilight Sparkle Prime shown at BotCon 2014.

Former Fub Pub member and current Night Shining member Jesse Wittenrich sheds some additional light on this mock up:

And here's the "official" reveal of the Twilight Sparkle Prime mock-up (first shown 2014 but I believe it was made in 2012 or 2013). It wasn't made to fit any theme but as a stand-alone.

I'd originally wanted to do Shining Armor because of all the... shining armor. But the "mane" character had a better chance.

I'm not sure how many more shades of purple could have gone into the mock-up lol #botcon #transformers
@hasbro

News Credits: 226 · Sat Feb 08, 2020 11:07 pm

eh, it's not actually that bad.

Would be more fun to release now and see the raging fanboys lose their **** all over again, because this week was much fun to watch.

News Credits: 462 · Sat Feb 08, 2020 11:16 pm

Burn wrote:eh, it's not actually that bad.

Would be more fun to release now and see the raging fanboys lose their **** all over again, because this week was much fun to watch.

Heh, I'm half-temped to quote the post and share it over in that comic thread just to see what happens. :twisted:

News Credits: 12 · Sun Feb 09, 2020 7:29 am

The colours actually look pretty alright on that mold. Shame I really, REALLY don't care about MLP.

News Credits: 1350 · Sun Feb 09, 2020 10:27 am

Sabrblade wrote:
Burn wrote:eh, it's not actually that bad.

Would be more fun to release now and see the raging fanboys lose their **** all over again, because this week was much fun to watch.
Heh, I'm half-temped to quote the post and share it over in that comic thread just to see what happens.

I'm guessing that reaction was more on social media then here.

News Credits: 462 · Sun Feb 09, 2020 10:53 am

ZeroWolf wrote:
Sabrblade wrote:
Burn wrote:eh, it's not actually that bad.

Would be more fun to release now and see the raging fanboys lose their **** all over again, because this week was much fun to watch.
Heh, I'm half-temped to quote the post and share it over in that comic thread just to see what happens.

I'm guessing that reaction was more on social media then here.

Heh, speaking of which, there are commenters on Facebook all panicking/outraged over this mock up because they think it's actually getting made and don't realize it's a years-old concept for something that was never going to happen in the first place.

News Credits: 1350 · Sun Feb 09, 2020 2:44 pm

Sabrblade wrote:
ZeroWolf wrote:
Sabrblade wrote:
Burn wrote:eh, it's not actually that bad.

Would be more fun to release now and see the raging fanboys lose their **** all over again, because this week was much fun to watch.
Heh, I'm half-temped to quote the post and share it over in that comic thread just to see what happens.

I'm guessing that reaction was more on social media then here.
Heh, speaking of which, there are commenters on Facebook all panicking/outraged over this mock up because they think it's actually getting made and don't realize it's a years-old concept for something that was never going to happen in the first place.

I'm always confused on why people lash out like that. Even if it was real, no one was forcing them to buy it, and it's existence wouldn't mean every transformer from here to eternity was going to be MLP related. Such an odd reaction. Guess that wiki section on 'ruined Forever' is pretty apt.

News Credits: 12 · Sun Feb 09, 2020 2:54 pm

ZeroWolf wrote:
Sabrblade wrote:
ZeroWolf wrote:
Sabrblade wrote:
Burn wrote:eh, it's not actually that bad.

Would be more fun to release now and see the raging fanboys lose their **** all over again, because this week was much fun to watch.
Heh, I'm half-temped to quote the post and share it over in that comic thread just to see what happens.

I'm guessing that reaction was more on social media then here.
Heh, speaking of which, there are commenters on Facebook all panicking/outraged over this mock up because they think it's actually getting made and don't realize it's a years-old concept for something that was never going to happen in the first place.

I'm always confused on why people lash out like that. Even if it was real, no one was forcing them to buy it, and it's existence wouldn't mean every transformer from here to eternity was going to be MLP related. Such an odd reaction. Guess that wiki section on 'ruined Forever' is pretty apt.

To be fair, the knee-jerk reaction to the presence of the horse show is well earned, given that it more or less consumed the internet for the best part of a decade. Like, seriously, for a long time there was literally no way of getting away from it, and it drove a lot of people absolutely loopy. And that's before we get into what some of the fans were like...

News Credits: 226 · Sun Feb 09, 2020 6:48 pm

Black Hat wrote:
ZeroWolf wrote:
Sabrblade wrote:
ZeroWolf wrote:
Sabrblade wrote:
Burn wrote:eh, it's not actually that bad.

Would be more fun to release now and see the raging fanboys lose their **** all over again, because this week was much fun to watch.
Heh, I'm half-temped to quote the post and share it over in that comic thread just to see what happens.

I'm guessing that reaction was more on social media then here.
Heh, speaking of which, there are commenters on Facebook all panicking/outraged over this mock up because they think it's actually getting made and don't realize it's a years-old concept for something that was never going to happen in the first place.

I'm always confused on why people lash out like that. Even if it was real, no one was forcing them to buy it, and it's existence wouldn't mean every transformer from here to eternity was going to be MLP related. Such an odd reaction. Guess that wiki section on 'ruined Forever' is pretty apt.

To be fair, the knee-jerk reaction to the presence of the horse show is well earned, given that it more or less consumed the internet for the best part of a decade. Like, seriously, for a long time there was literally no way of getting away from it, and it drove a lot of people absolutely loopy. And that's before we get into what some of the fans were like...

Funny, I had no trouble avoiding it.

I guess I'm just better at scrolling on and letting things go than some people?

News Credits: 1350 · Sun Feb 09, 2020 7:54 pm

Burn wrote:
Black Hat wrote:
ZeroWolf wrote:
Sabrblade wrote:
ZeroWolf wrote:
Sabrblade wrote:
Burn wrote:eh, it's not actually that bad.

Would be more fun to release now and see the raging fanboys lose their **** all over again, because this week was much fun to watch.
Heh, I'm half-temped to quote the post and share it over in that comic thread just to see what happens.

I'm guessing that reaction was more on social media then here.
Heh, speaking of which, there are commenters on Facebook all panicking/outraged over this mock up because they think it's actually getting made and don't realize it's a years-old concept for something that was never going to happen in the first place.

I'm always confused on why people lash out like that. Even if it was real, no one was forcing them to buy it, and it's existence wouldn't mean every transformer from here to eternity was going to be MLP related. Such an odd reaction. Guess that wiki section on 'ruined Forever' is pretty apt.

To be fair, the knee-jerk reaction to the presence of the horse show is well earned, given that it more or less consumed the internet for the best part of a decade. Like, seriously, for a long time there was literally no way of getting away from it, and it drove a lot of people absolutely loopy. And that's before we get into what some of the fans were like...

Funny, I had no trouble avoiding it.

I guess I'm just better at scrolling on and letting things go than some people?

I was actually going to post something similar, I was aware of the show but I just moved on. Wasn't my interest so just left it at that. I know a part of the fan base has a reputation, but quite frankly every fan base has that, they just vary in volume.

News Credits: 462 · Sun Feb 09, 2020 11:02 pm

ZeroWolf wrote:
Burn wrote:
Black Hat wrote:
ZeroWolf wrote:
Sabrblade wrote:
ZeroWolf wrote:
Sabrblade wrote:
Burn wrote:eh, it's not actually that bad.

Would be more fun to release now and see the raging fanboys lose their **** all over again, because this week was much fun to watch.
Heh, I'm half-temped to quote the post and share it over in that comic thread just to see what happens.

I'm guessing that reaction was more on social media then here.
Heh, speaking of which, there are commenters on Facebook all panicking/outraged over this mock up because they think it's actually getting made and don't realize it's a years-old concept for something that was never going to happen in the first place.

I'm always confused on why people lash out like that. Even if it was real, no one was forcing them to buy it, and it's existence wouldn't mean every transformer from here to eternity was going to be MLP related. Such an odd reaction. Guess that wiki section on 'ruined Forever' is pretty apt.

To be fair, the knee-jerk reaction to the presence of the horse show is well earned, given that it more or less consumed the internet for the best part of a decade. Like, seriously, for a long time there was literally no way of getting away from it, and it drove a lot of people absolutely loopy. And that's before we get into what some of the fans were like...

Funny, I had no trouble avoiding it.

I guess I'm just better at scrolling on and letting things go than some people?

I was actually going to post something similar, I was aware of the show but I just moved on. Wasn't my interest so just left it at that. I know a part of the fan base has a reputation, but quite frankly every fan base has that, they just vary in volume.

Plus, there's also the side who actually enjoyed the fad along the way, regardless of whether or not they actually took part in it.

I myself watched the show and liked it enough to keep up with it all the way to the end (nine seasons, baby!), as well as watching the Equestria Girls movies, the theatrical movie, and whatever TV specials and online shorts were released.

But, I did not participate in the fandom and nor am I even on social media, so a lot of the obnoxious craziness that some have spoken about was also very easily avoidable for me. And what little of the fan content I did see (memes, fan art, fan videos, etc.) was only sporadic in frequency since I didn't go actively seeking any of it out, and was mostly harmlessly amusing since I don't go to the kinds of sites where the dark sides of fandoms are found.

News Credits: 226 · Mon Feb 10, 2020 1:04 am

Never watched it, it never interested me. I did catch the end of one of the movies the other day, and I can see why it appealed to so many, but it just wasn't for me.

At the height of it I saw some incredibly weird **** from the "Bronies", and some of said Bronies were just downright weird and freaky while others were more ... well, for lack of a better term, "normal".

But you get that with every fandom.

It was easy enough to ignore, it made no impact on my life, it didn't harm me, nor would it ever harm me, so I just kept scrolling on.

But we seem to have drifted way off topic. :lol:

News Credits: 462 · Fri Feb 21, 2020 10:20 pm

I just got this email:

A message from our Company Manager, Bret:

Good evening!

We wanted to take a moment to reach out to everyone and introduce you
all to BC Productions, the new home to a brand you all know quite
well... BotCon!

We say 'brand' because while we all recognize BotCon as the show that
served as the official Transformers Convention for much of its time from
1994 until 2016, it is now much more than that. While we are planning
our first show for Summer of 2021, we have plenty of great brand related
events/items planned for you leading up to the return of the
Transformers fan event of the year!

We have some great partners lined up to bring you an amazing variety of
BotCon related memorabilia and other exclusive offerings. Our friends
over at BBTS just put up the pre-order for their exclusive version of
the BotCon: Beyond the Convention guide book. This 144 page guide book
covers every BotCon item ever produced in the U.S. The BBTS edition will
feature an exclusive cover and an exclusive T-shirt you can only get
through their online store. It is already over 50% sold through! You can
find that listing here:
https://www.bigbadtoystore.com/Product/ ... ils/117184

Also, in anticipation of BotCon's return in 2021, we will be hosting a
pre-party event THIS summer at the Galt House in Louisville, Kentucky.
We will be there Friday Night to introduce the new BC Productions team
and to discuss the things planned for BotCon 2021. You can find more
information on that by visiting:
https://nightshininginc.com/robocon

This is just the start! More new partners, upcoming events, and
exclusive toys are all on the horizon, all in an effort to bring you
BotCon like never before.

As the first and largest Transformers convention of its kind, we
couldn't be more excited to bring BotCon back in this new and exciting
way!

Check out BotCon.Com and follow us through all social media outlets!
Looking forward to the future with all our fellow fans!

Bret Lovell
BC Productions

Like us at:
facebook.com/BotConOfficial
twitter.com/botcon
instagram.com/botconofficial

And join in the discussion at:
discordapp.com/invite/H3tvKFf

News Credits: 462 · Sun Jun 14, 2020 9:01 am

Extended interview with Pete Sinclair on the future (and past) of BotCon:

News Credits: 462 · Fri Jul 24, 2020 9:45 pm

The BotCon 2021 Pre-Party livestream:

How to Share With Just Friends

News Credits: 462 · Sat Jul 25, 2020 3:20 pm

The BotCon 2021 Discussion Panel:

How to Share With Just Friends

News Credits: 462 · Sat Jul 25, 2020 7:53 pm

https://www.facebook.com/BotConOfficial/posts/4315248465182246

The first #BotCon 2021 exclusive has been revealed - #ActionForce: Wasp Raider.

Produced by #Valaverse in conjunction with Night Shining.

Available for pre-order later this year. #actionfigure #convention #exclusive #conathome #virtualcon #collecting #wasp #swarm