BotCon 2013 Theme Revealed: Machine Wars!

Machine Wars? Surprising. Thing is, we only have two characters unique to that line: Hubcap the tow truck and Megaplex the Megatron clone. What are you playing, FunPub?

I wonder if Movie Longarm is a licensed mold...

OK, curiosity officially piqued.

Well, every cloud has a silver lining...

Looks like I'll be saving some money next year as an international collector;

For now, unless something really interesting comes down from on high, I'm out

Sounds like I might be skipping this year. Ill have to wait for more info. Location ??? The trip may be a deciding factor if its a cool city...

SLAG YES!!!

Cannot wait to see the toys for this!

Yes. Yes! YES! YES!!!!!!!

Thank you Funpub for saving me $$$ again this year

Machine Wars? Strange, never thought that would be considered as a theme...

Unless we see some downright amazingness, I think I could skip a year of wishing for BotCon exclusives.

Well, I'm kind of excited to see what we get for the figures this year. Machine Wars had some interesting stuff. Kinda curious if we'll finally get Hooligan from the Energon Starscream mold to finish those guys out. I wouldn't mind Cyberjet redecos either as new characters.

Interesting.............I'll leave it at that.


Actually I won't - I have to say, let's give Soundwave a little break for now. We have an MP, FOC on the way, TFCC has done SG Soundwave..um...twice..

Let's leave him out of this set please.

All I can think of is how they did Skyquake and Thunderclash in a previous Wings set, and their original toys were repainted into Machine wars Op and Starscream, but repaints of those guys from Botcon would seem to imply Wings or Honor Shattered Glass, so...

...well, FunPub will have a nearly blank canvas for whatever the hell they feel like doing, so hopefully that means creative lightning struck someone and we'll be getting our most original Botcon fiction ever!

Hmmm, anyone else thinking the most logical way to expand this would be to do a memorial to K.B. Toys? You know, a bunch of homages to their other TF exclusives? If they used the Bayniverse Bludgeon mold again plus a random Optimus mold we'd have the Destructicons, and surely there's 2 molds that'd work for early Energon Cyclonus and Demolishor. "Revenge of the Fallen Mall-Toystore" has a nice ring to it, yes?

Potential line from comic: "Our ranged weapons have somehow been neutralized! I suddenly feel very unsafe!"

All right, I'm interested. Show me them figs FunPub!

Bumblevivisector wrote:All I can think of is how they did Skyquake and Thunderclash in a previous Wings set, and their original toys were repainted into Machine wars Op and Starscream, but repaints of those guys from Botcon would seem to imply Wings or Honor Shattered Glass, so...

...well, FunPub will have a nearly blank canvas for whatever the hell they feel like doing, so hopefully that means creative lightning struck someone and we'll be getting our most original Botcon fiction ever!

Hmmm, anyone else thinking the most logical way to expand this would be to do a memorial to K.B. Toys? You know, a bunch of homages to their other TF exclusives? If they used the Bayniverse Bludgeon mold again plus a random Optimus mold we'd have the Destructicons, and surely there's 2 molds that'd work for early Energon Cyclonus and Demolishor. "Revenge of the Fallen Mall-Toystore" has a nice ring to it, yes?

Potential line from comic: "Our ranged weapons have somehow been neutralized! I suddenly feel very unsafe!"

I like the KB Toys homage. That would be a great idea!

Something machine wars themed that would fit in with my classics would be lovely!

Well, we know that TFCC can use the Movie Terradive mold, they have it for depth charge. So there's a third of the Cyberjets right there. (be the Seeker boxsrt fiasco all over agian...) i wonder if they have acess to the Cybertron molds still? CYB Defence Red Alert as Stalker/soundwave? Classics Silverbolt as King Atlas?

Machine Wars... Huh.

To be honest, I am not all too impressed. From a vintage standpoint, it does stand out. But I still remember when this toyline debuted. Back then, I was disappointed because I was hoping for a Generation 1 revival. And today, I feel that they have a steep hill to climb as I'd have preferred a Beast Machines follow-up. And it is my third least favorite Hasbro-based franchise.

But whatever... At least they are not doing Shattered Glass again.

KUMA-NIN Maximus wrote:And today, I feel that they have a steep hill to climb as I'd have preferred a Beast Machines follow-up.

Well the last few 3H-hosted BotCons/OTFCCs had the 2003 Universe series set up as a Beast Machines follow up.

And there's the Japanese timeline follow up to Beast Wars Returns with Beast Wars Reborn.

Mkall wrote:All right, I'm interested. Show me them figs FunPub!

Ditto!!

I personally have been hoping for a Unicron Trilogy or RID themed BotCon, but this is pretty awesome! Like a lot of you are saying, I can see some G2 guys thrown in. If we have Voyager Soundwave by then, I could see a Stalker repaint, maybe with a Garboil repaint of Laserbeak. I could also see Megaplex, but not as a jet. Despite the head, that mold was never my Megatron, so I could see a Classics Megatron redeco. I also really want a Machine Wars Sandstorm, not only because my GDO Sandstorm has some sloppy painting, but also because it would mean we're one step closer to a Rotorstorm. I could also see some non-MW characters added in, like G2, and even some G1 characters who shared molds with MW guys (i.e. if MW Prowl were to be a repaint of Mirage, Bluestreak could do that too.) Also, this is a bit of a hint to if we're getting a deluxe Trailbreaker/cutter, as Hoist would easily be retooled from that. I'm mostly glad for more Classics figures, but I will say this: even though I liked SG, Wings is doing more, better.

The poor man's G2 during a time after G2's death. Incidentally this actually intrigues me, as there was really nothing at all to that line, so it would be neat to see it gain a life it never had. Also I totally regret not getting any of the G2 redux stuff, so this is kind of a second best thing.

I'll stick with my original bricks.

Who knows, someday FunPub might develop something original instead of rehashing old ideas.

I can see this set going one of two ways:

Redecos of newer toys as the original toy characters (like Cybertron Defense Red Alert for Soundwave, Energon Starscream for Megatron/Megaplex, Classics Mirage for Mirage/Prowl, etc.)

Or,

Redecos of toys as OTHER MW characters to flesh out and expand upon the Machines Wars series by having new characters interacting with the existing ones to make the original line bigger and more developed.

I'm kinda hoping it's the latter since that would help to enhance the line more than it already is and create greater opportunities for more story to be told with a cast greater than just twelve individuals.

phase wrote:If we have Voyager Soundwave by then, I could see a Stalker repaint, maybe with a Garboil repaint of Laserbeak.

That figure was released in Australia.

doing more, better.

Oh, the grammar.

Sorry, I had to.

Machine wars? never remember that one, I suppose Europe got mainly beast wars, or were those the moulds that made the pseudo generation 1.5

I'm surprised no one suggested Prime Skyquake/Dreadwind with a new head as Megatron and any repaints he had...

Sabrblade wrote:

KUMA-NIN Maximus wrote:And today, I feel that they have a steep hill to climb as I'd have preferred a Beast Machines follow-up.

Well the last few 3H-hosted BotCons/OTFCCs had the 2003 Universe series set up as a Beast Machines follow up.

And there's the Japanese timeline follow up to Beast Wars Returns with Beast Wars Reborn.

That is true, but my point is that I'd prefer something that I like a wee bit more than how this line turned out. Because I was one of those fans who wanted a Generation 1 revival at that time, and said "WTF is this?!" when they debuted this line.

And I knew both things. And the comparison is why Beast Wars Neo's Longrack is basically my only favorite Beast Wars character.

Insane Galvatron wrote:I'm surprised no one suggested Prime Skyquake/Dreadwind with a new head as Megatron and any repaints he had...

No. Please no.

lonrac wrote:Machine wars? never remember that one, I suppose Europe got mainly beast wars, or were those the moulds that made the pseudo generation 1.5

Machine Wars was an exclusive that had Hasbro collaborating with K-B Toys. Nothing real special back then, and a lot of fans (including myself) were hoping it was more of a Generation 1 revival. And unlike Generation 2, it did not really go international... Receive any real love when it debuted... And does not really have any vintage-based value.

In other words - BotCon has a lot of work if they want to make this a likable theme, especially for those who were around when the line first debuted.

Sabrblade wrote:

Insane Galvatron wrote:I'm surprised no one suggested Prime Skyquake/Dreadwind with a new head as Megatron and any repaints he had...

No. Please no.

The mold is too recent anyways and still in use by Hasbro.

didnt see that one coming

I wished I had the money for the botcon exclusives and this year will be no exception. I just think that with a line that had little to no fiction and only a hand full of repaints from Europe and leftover molds from G2 there's a lot that can be done with this.

doing more, better.

Oh, the grammar.

Sorry, I had to.[/quote]


Oh and that wasn't bad grammar. The comma denotes a pause in the sentence thus breaking how it was to be read. "Wings is doing more with what they have, and better." is what he seemed to be intending to say. Instead he typed it the way he did and still got the point across by using just the comma. Had he not used that comma then it would've read: "more better". Which is indeed, poor grammar.

Sorry, I had to.

Hopefully this means Machine Wars Starscream using the Universe Silverbolt mold. I've been wanting that.

Oh, helloooooo, hint!

Pete Sinclair on Allspark.com wrote:I'll be explaining HOW this works tomorrow. As soon as I do you all will go "ohhhhhhhh, that makes sense"

It's very simple, a method that is very common, yet very awesome when applied to this franchise...

Sabrblade wrote:Oh, helloooooo, hint!

Pete Sinclair on Allspark.com wrote:I'll be explaining HOW this works tomorrow. As soon as I do you all will go "ohhhhhhhh, that makes sense"

It's very simple, a method that is very common, yet very awesome when applied to this franchise...

What, repaints?

What they'll probably do is include only two or three Machine Wars characters and the rest will be G2. Because doesn't the theme's description say that they're seen in one of Sizzle's premonitions.

I don't care for most of the Machine Wars line, but dat Skyfire

Skywarp64 wrote:I don't care for most of the Machine Wars line, but dat Skyfire

What Skyfire?

Skywarp64 wrote:I don't care for most of the Machine Wars line, but dat Skyfire

There was no Jetfire/Skyfire in the Machine Wars line.

Okay TFCC redeem yourselves with this please.

Machine Wars is probably the only complete line I own and the one that fascinates me the most since we have so little story around it.

Mold Speculation:

Energon deluxe Prime: As Machine Wars Optimus
Energon Bulkhead: Sandstorm
RTS Perceptor: Soundwave

Fun Pub seriously could not have made me happier with this announcement. Please give me a Machine Wars Botcon set that will rock my socks.

Skywarp64 wrote:I don't care for most of the Machine Wars line, but dat Skyfire

Skyfire? Do you mean Skywarp?

PrymeStriker wrote:

Skywarp64 wrote:I don't care for most of the Machine Wars line, but dat Skyfire

There was no Jetfire/Skyfire in the Machine Wars line.

Pardon me, I was misremembering RiD Skyfire.