Botcon 2015 - Frank Welker VIP Package Print Image

At first click, I was actually a tad disappointed it wasn't a collage of all the TFs he voiced.

And then 3 seconds later, I was like, who cares? This is awesome!!!

I would've preferred a print titled "Don't Fuck with the Decepticons' The mostly focused on the most important aspect of G1 megatron. The trigger crotch.

That's pretty awesome!

What's that... orange explodey one, under the "main" Megatron's cannon? I'm drawing a complete blank on it.

Bumblevivisector wrote:At first click, I was actually a tad disappointed it wasn't a collage of all the TFs he voiced.

And then 3 seconds later, I was like, who cares? This is awesome!!!

His autograph card has all (or most) of his characters, though.

Noideaforaname wrote:That's pretty awesome!

What's that... orange explodey one, under the "main" Megatron's cannon? I'm drawing a complete blank on it.

Plot point from G1 cartoon episode "Heavy Metal War". Megatron used a "furnace" made by Scrapper to absorb all the Decepticons' special powers. Skywarp's teleportation, Starscream's null rays, etc.

Coller, Perez - you do good. Again.

With everyone just returning from Botcon 2015 at St. Charles, the folks over at Fun Publications just dropped by to let us know for that the BotCon 2015 Items available Exclusives and Box set as well as a flurry of other items is available at the Club Store! Of course you will still have to be a member of the Transformers Collectors Club first. You can order yours today here.

Hello everyone!

We are now back from BotCon and what is left has been put in the club store:

BotCon Items:

2015 BotCon Exclusive Generations 2 (General Prime and Sgt Hound) 2 pack
2015 BotCon Exclusive Diaclone Explorers (Burn Out & Life-Ticket) 2 pack
2015 BotCon Exclusive Waruders (4 pack)
2015 BotCon Exclusive Kre-O Earth's Most Wanted (6 pack)
2015 BotCon Exclusive Hat (1 pc)
2015 BotCon Exclusive Assembled Class Unpainted Figure (1 pc)
2015 BotCon Exclusive Lithograph " Journey to Nexus Prime" (Unsigned) (1 pc)
2015 BotCon Exclusive Lithograph " Journey to Nexus Prime" SIGNED (1 Pc)
2015 BotCon Exclusive Oversized G.I. Joe Frank Welker Card UNSIGNED (1 pc)
2015 BotCon Exclusive Three Panel Autograph Collector Card SEASON 3 (SIGNED) ( 1 pc)
2015 BotCon Exclusive 3 Panel Autograph Collector Card Frank Welker Transformer UNSIGNED (1 pc)
2015 BotCon Exclusive Comic Convention Program: TF Timelines Issue 11 "Cybertron: Most Wanted" (1 pc)
2015 BotCon Exclusive Autograph Guest Cards Set 1 (guest cards NOT signed) (1 pc)
2015 BotCon Exclusive Autograph Guest Cards Set 2 (guest cards NOT signed) (1 pc)
2015 BotCon Exclusive Uncut Autograph Card Sheet of 8 Set 1 (1 pc)
2015 BotCon Exclusive Uncut Autograph Card Sheet of 8 Set 2 (1 pc)
2015 BotCon Exclusive Autograph Uncut CHASE Cards (1 pc)
2015 BotCon Exclusive Frank Welker VIP Pass Non-Attending Package (1 pc)
2015 BotCon Exclusive Megatron Lithograph UNSIGNED plus Megatron Cloisonne Pin (1 pc)
2015 BotCon Exclusive Megatron Cloisonne Pin (1 pc)
2015 BotCon Exclusive T-Shirt (Small, Medium, Large, XL, 2XL, 3XL)


TF Regular Store Item-

2015 Transformers Club Exclusive Lio Convoy (1 pc)

Check it all out at the Club store! Many of these items are very limited!

Brian

Keep your optics tuned to Seibertron.com for the latest in news and updates!

I picked up the souvenir sets as soon as the email hit. These seem to be available in much more limited quantities than previous years...

megatronus wrote:I picked up the souvenir sets as soon as the email hit. These seem to be available in much more limited quantities than previous years...

I actually want nothing this year from the club... Strange. more money for that Chogokin Hulkbuster

mooncake623 wrote:

megatronus wrote:I picked up the souvenir sets as soon as the email hit. These seem to be available in much more limited quantities than previous years...

I actually want nothing this year from the club... Strange. more money for that Chogokin Hulkbuster

Not even the Waruders? WARUDERS!!??

Any way you slice it, Waspinator repaints are fun (and hilarious).

megatronus wrote:

mooncake623 wrote:

megatronus wrote:I picked up the souvenir sets as soon as the email hit. These seem to be available in much more limited quantities than previous years...

I actually want nothing this year from the club... Strange. more money for that Chogokin Hulkbuster

Not even the Waruders? WARUDERS!!??

Any way you slice it, Waspinator repaints are fun (and hilarious).

Sorry I haven't been keeping up but what are these guys? any fiction? link me plz

I'll save my money for the Sub 4.0 set instead. Did they ever explain what the white Waspinator was based on? Or the Legends Micromasters for that matter?

Emerje

mooncake623 wrote:

megatronus wrote:

mooncake623 wrote:

megatronus wrote:I picked up the souvenir sets as soon as the email hit. These seem to be available in much more limited quantities than previous years...

I actually want nothing this year from the club... Strange. more money for that Chogokin Hulkbuster

Not even the Waruders? WARUDERS!!??

Any way you slice it, Waspinator repaints are fun (and hilarious).

Sorry I haven't been keeping up but what are these guys? any fiction? link me plz

I have no idea where or how they play into fiction. But I think they're awesome. This is a 4-pack:

megatronus wrote:

mooncake623 wrote:

megatronus wrote:

mooncake623 wrote:

megatronus wrote:I picked up the souvenir sets as soon as the email hit. These seem to be available in much more limited quantities than previous years...

I actually want nothing this year from the club... Strange. more money for that Chogokin Hulkbuster

Not even the Waruders? WARUDERS!!??

Any way you slice it, Waspinator repaints are fun (and hilarious).

Sorry I haven't been keeping up but what are these guys? any fiction? link me plz

I have no idea where or how they play into fiction. But I think they're awesome. This is a 4-pack:

Lol that's just a rainbow color group of Waspinator to me Fiction makes me want toys. Like that new Needlenose and spinister! those are must gets

Excellent! Picked up the Diaclone 2 pack, which is the only thing from this year's sets that really appealed to me; boxset included. A brand new-Pretender is pretty cool, but I had stopped collecting around the time the Pretenders came out, so no nostalgic appeal to me.

Hope everyone gets what they want!

mooncake623 wrote:Lol that's just a rainbow color group of Waspinator to me
Ha! That's the appeal

mooncake623 wrote:Fiction makes me want toys. Like that new Needlenose and spinister! those are must gets

Yea, those Triggercons look sick. I'm actually really excited to see how TFSS 4.0 turns out.

megatronus wrote:

mooncake623 wrote:

megatronus wrote:I picked up the souvenir sets as soon as the email hit. These seem to be available in much more limited quantities than previous years...

I actually want nothing this year from the club... Strange. more money for that Chogokin Hulkbuster

Not even the Waruders? WARUDERS!!??

Any way you slice it, Waspinator repaints are fun (and hilarious).

I like the looks of the Waruders, but they're too rich for my blood. Especially if I'm going to try to afford the Mayhems. And Grand Scourge. And...

My blood needs to be more expensive.

Godd@mmit, why do the waruders have to be SO expensive? I'm so completely torn, I need the set in my life, but I have no money for it, and I probably won't care about it after a few weeks

mooncake623 wrote:Lol that's just a rainbow color group of Waspinator to me Fiction makes me want toys.

Allow me.

This year's "Cybertron's Most Wanted" story originally led us to believe that it was just gonna be a story about five criminals from different walks of life brought together to save Cybertron from a big threat a la Guardians of the Galaxy, but it's much more than that.

Thanks to most of the exclusives and their true nature all being kept secret prior to the convention, it turns out that story is a full blown official crossover between Transformers and Diaclone! Yes, DIACLONE! The original pre-TF line in which all of the robots were piloted mechs, and involved a space war between the Diaclone team and the Waruder aliens.

The four Waspinator redecos represent four Waruder mech drones piloted by the four smaller Waspinators who represent the Waruder pilots. Here's their bio:


What's more is that all four of the toys are based on preexisting decos:

• The Parasite drone (black and purple) deco is based on the unreleased "Halloween Horrorcon Waspinator" that was to have been part of the 2003 Universe line before it was canceled.
• The Mudfighter drone (yellow and orange) deco is based on the Beast Wars Fox Kids Transmetal Waspinator, and also happens to be the deco used by Shattered Glass Waspinator.
• The Storm Rider drone (red and blue) deco is the only Diaclone homage of the four, being based on the Diaclone Warudaros figure's deco.
• The Paralyzer drone (white and red/pink) deco is not directly based on its source material, but is instead loosely based on it, which is Bug Bite. But, there is also some inspiration from a real world species of wasp in this deco, so it's the only one of the four that stands out as being more unique than the other three.

Furthermore, the attendee freebie Skrapnel redeco Zaptrap is also a Waruder, being the leader of the invaders in the story. And like the others, Zaptrap is a mech piloted by Beet-Chit, a redeco of Chop Shop.



Note that the redeco of Reflector that comes with the toy is not named in the bio, but the comic itself refers to it by the name of Spy-Eye, and also shows that, even though it comes with a Waruder, it is not a bad guy, but is instead a member of the Diaclone team.

This brings us to the good guys of the Diaclone-themed toys: Burn Out (the black Skids redeco) and Lift-Ticket (the red Hoist redeco).


Notice the little Targetmasters from the Scoop mold (Sgt. Hound) are pictured next to each one. They are the pilots of the two Diaclone mechs. Burn Out is piloted by Dia (a female, btw, thereby technically making Burn Out a fembot), and Lift-Ticket is piloted by Cline.



So yeah, they really went all retro and old-school with paying tribute to what came before the Transformers with this year's offerings. People kept asking for a Diaclone-themed BotCon, and they pretty much delivered on many fronts with these figures.

Sabrblade wrote:

mooncake623 wrote:Lol that's just a rainbow color group of Waspinator to me Fiction makes me want toys.

Allow me.

Thanks for the story Sabr! The story is pretty cool but I still have no interest in these =/ more for you guys!

mooncake623 wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:

mooncake623 wrote:Lol that's just a rainbow color group of Waspinator to me Fiction makes me want toys.

Allow me.

Thanks for the story Sabr! The story is pretty cool but I still have no interest in these =/ more for you guys!

What about the Generation 2 two-pack, the Galva Convoy figure, or the awesome pack of Marvel G1, Sunbow G1, and Animated Kreons?

Sabrblade wrote:

mooncake623 wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:

mooncake623 wrote:Lol that's just a rainbow color group of Waspinator to me Fiction makes me want toys.

Allow me.

Thanks for the story Sabr! The story is pretty cool but I still have no interest in these =/ more for you guys!

What about the Generation 2 two-pack, the Galva Convoy figure, or the awesome pack of Marvel G1, Sunbow G1, and Animated Kreons?

I don't collect Kreons beisides those SDCC ones, Galva Convoy... while it looks cool i don't really care about it either... only thing I might want down the road would be Battletrap... The Club really can't make something that is going to please everyone, and that's ok cause last year I got 2 sets of the Box set... I initially loved everything (besides cannonball) but now all I have left from that set is the Scorponok and Devcon.

It isn't an accurate comparison, but with that color scheme I still think someone was looking at this guy when trying to come up with a more interesting pallet for "Bugbite". The colors are just too specific to pick by accident.



Plus, of all the pilots he comes with it's the orangey-yellow one similar to Windrazor's BotCon '99 counterpart Sandstorm.



Seems far too unlikely to be all a coincidence.

Emerje

Yikes, those prices though. Too rich for my wallet right now.

Hey guys, with all these unsold sets (first time ever by the way) I am wondering if the interest in Diaclone is just not there. It might be because nobody knows/cares about the accompanying fiction in comparison to the one surrounding the Transformers Brand.

But then I remember Malboro Wheeljack and how every was ecstatic about him. So I dont get it, are they 2 different things to enlicit two different kinds of demands? Because from where I stand I see Takara referencing Diaclone and it's all sold out, then I see Hasbro referencing Diaclone and ... crickets. What's the deal?

and @ Megatronus, I just KNEW you would be all over those troop builders!

Sooooo.... on the subject of botcon: Anyone have any Oilmasters, Megatrons, Steppers or Battletraps they are willing to part with at a reasonable rate? Like, a noticeable difference between your price and Ebays prices?

william-james88 wrote:Hey guys, with all these unsold sets (first time ever by the way) I am wondering if the interest in Diaclone is just not there. It might be because nobody knows/cares about the accompanying fiction in comparison to the one surrounding the Transformers Brand.

But then I remember Malboro Wheeljack and how every was ecstatic about him. So I dont get it, are they 2 different things to enlicit two different kinds of demands? Because from where I stand I see Takara referencing Diaclone and it's all sold out, then I see Hasbro referencing Diaclone and ... crickets. What's the deal?

Exhaust had the whole tobacco controversy surrounding it and people want what they can't have.

D-Maximus_Prime wrote:Sooooo.... on the subject of botcon: Anyone have any Oilmasters, Megatrons, Steppers or Battletraps they are willing to part with at a reasonable rate? Like, a noticeable difference between your price and Ebays prices?

You dont just want to buy the set from the botcon site? It's 416$ and I doub anyone would sell it for less since that is the cost of the set.

william-james88 wrote:

D-Maximus_Prime wrote:Sooooo.... on the subject of botcon: Anyone have any Oilmasters, Megatrons, Steppers or Battletraps they are willing to part with at a reasonable rate? Like, a noticeable difference between your price and Ebays prices?

You dont just want to buy the set from the botcon site? It's 416$ and I doub anyone would sell it for less since that is the cost of the set.

I don't really want the whole set (not really digging Packrat) but I would kinda like one of them, mostly oilmaster since he is a pretender or Megatron cause he looks so badass! But if I could find a comparatively cheap Stepper (I love shattered glass and have none of them) or Battletrap (I love the mold) I would gladly pick them up. So I while there are options, I would kinda like 1 at least, maybe 2. Moneys tight when you're in college

Sabrblade wrote:

william-james88 wrote:Hey guys, with all these unsold sets (first time ever by the way) I am wondering if the interest in Diaclone is just not there. It might be because nobody knows/cares about the accompanying fiction in comparison to the one surrounding the Transformers Brand.

But then I remember Malboro Wheeljack and how every was ecstatic about him. So I dont get it, are they 2 different things to enlicit two different kinds of demands? Because from where I stand I see Takara referencing Diaclone and it's all sold out, then I see Hasbro referencing Diaclone and ... crickets. What's the deal?

Exhaust had the whole tobacco controversy surrounding it and people want what they can't have.

Is that all it is? Sad in a way. But I remember that people were quite excited when he was revealed, no? I just checked and people were REALLY excited: http://www.seibertron.com/energonpub/masterpiece-mp-23-exhaust-unveiled-t101591.php

So why do so few care about these?

william-james88 wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:

william-james88 wrote:Hey guys, with all these unsold sets (first time ever by the way) I am wondering if the interest in Diaclone is just not there. It might be because nobody knows/cares about the accompanying fiction in comparison to the one surrounding the Transformers Brand.

But then I remember Malboro Wheeljack and how every was ecstatic about him. So I dont get it, are they 2 different things to enlicit two different kinds of demands? Because from where I stand I see Takara referencing Diaclone and it's all sold out, then I see Hasbro referencing Diaclone and ... crickets. What's the deal?

Exhaust had the whole tobacco controversy surrounding it and people want what they can't have.

Is that all it is? Sad in a way. But I remember that people were quite excited when he was revealed, no? I just checked and people were REALLY excited: http://www.seibertron.com/energonpub/masterpiece-mp-23-exhaust-unveiled-t101591.php

So why do so few care about these?

I personally don't care about these because I don't know anything about Diaclone besides the fact that they came before Transformers and are a different color.... they have no fiction right? I think the only reason why people care about the original Diaclones is cause it's rare... Who actually played with Japanese Diaclones as a kid and it has the same nostalgia for them as a G1 toy?

william-james88 wrote:Is that all it is? Sad in a way. But I remember that people were quite excited when he was revealed, no? I just checked and people were REALLY excited: http://www.seibertron.com/energonpub/masterpiece-mp-23-exhaust-unveiled-t101591.php

So why do so few care about these?

Marlboor Wheejack was one of the few Diaclones to have a fair level of recognition/reputation/infamy/etc. in the fandom for many of the years preceding MP Exhaust's existence. He was known and desired even before given the MP treatment (and a name!), whereas Black Skids and Red Hoist are just two of the many other Diaclones that were viewed as just different-colored versions of the characters we know without anything special about them. Of all the Diaclones that didn't make it to Transformers, Marlboor Wheeljack was/is *Special*.

mooncake623 wrote:I personally don't care about these because I don't know anything about Diaclone besides the fact that they came before Transformers and are a different color.... they have no fiction right? I think the only reason why people care about the original Diaclones is cause it's rare... Who actually played with Japanese Diaclones as a kid and it has the same nostalgia for them as a G1 toy?

I believe Cobotron cares a lot. he would get Diaclones as a kid from a specialty store. There are quite a few fans in this thread for the recent MP Diaclone reveal: tokyo-toy-show-2015-mp-style-diabattle-diaclone-toy-revealed-p1699992.php#p1699992

Sabrblade wrote:

william-james88 wrote:Is that all it is? Sad in a way. But I remember that people were quite excited when he was revealed, no? I just checked and people were REALLY excited: http://www.seibertron.com/energonpub/masterpiece-mp-23-exhaust-unveiled-t101591.php

So why do so few care about these?

Marlboor Wheejack was one of the few Diaclones to have a fair level of recognition/reputation/infamy/etc. in the fandom for many of the years preceding MP Exhaust's existence. He was known and desired even before given the MP treatment (and a name!), whereas Black Skids and Red Hoist are just two of the many other Diaclones that were viewed as just different-colored versions of the characters we know without anything special about them. Of all the Diaclones that didn't make it to Transformers, Marlboor Wheeljack was/is *Special*.

Thanks for the info Sabr!

william-james88 wrote:and @ Megatronus, I just KNEW you would be all over those troop builders!

On Diaclone: I don't see these Botcon figures as Diaclone in and of themselves. They're homages, and it's not like these were re-engineered to accommodate the pilots in the way some of the Diaclone figures engineered the pilots out. Repaints are a fundamental aspect of the brand, and I see these as club-original Transformers repaints/characters first, and Diaclone homages second. Especially the Waruders - to me, the Waruders are to Waspinator what the many Seekers are to Starscream.

I understand many (or most) might not see it that way, but I also don't think Club sales were down necessarily because of the Diaclone theme. I'd be interested to learn if Botcon attendance dropped, or if people are tighter with their cash these days.

On Exhaust: you need to draw the distinction on two lines: Takara output for the Japanese collector market vs. Club output for the US collector market, and MP figures vs. Generations figures. Controversy and restrictions on US stock is one thing that helps raise that figure/character to widespread WANT, but at its core I think Exhaust's fame in this incarnation has a much more to do with being a Takara MP more than anything else.

megatronus wrote:

william-james88 wrote:and @ Megatronus, I just KNEW you would be all over those troop builders!

On Diaclone: I don't see these Botcon figures as Diaclone in and of themselves. They're homages, and it's not like these were re-engineered to accommodate the pilots in the way some of the Diaclone figures engineered the pilots out. Repaints are a fundamental aspect of the brand, and I see these as club-original Transformers repaints/characters first, and Diaclone homages second. Especially the Waruders - to me, the Waruders are to Waspinator what the many Seekers are to Starscream.

I understand many (or most) might not see it that way, but I also don't think Club sales were down necessarily because of the Diaclone theme. I'd be interested to learn if Botcon attendance dropped, or if people are tighter with their cash these days.

On Exhaust: you need to draw the distinction on two lines: Takara output for the Japanese collector market vs. Club output for the US collector market, and MP figures vs. Generations figures. Controversy and restrictions on US stock is one thing that helps raise that figure/character to widespread WANT, but at its core I think Exhaust's fame in this incarnation has a much more to do with being a Takara MP more than anything else.

The one thing I wish that had done was Police Sunstreaker, ESPECIALLY since the designer was there. Maybe next time.

Tranzilla wrote:The one thing I wish that had done was Police Sunstreaker, ESPECIALLY since the designer was there. Maybe next time.

I would have liked that, too.

Darn it! I'm not a TFCC member and would love to order something off of their online store.

Would any TFCC member be so kind as to help a new Seibertron member out and order something for me? I can pay through paypal, and delivery would be to Canada. I'll also be at TFcon in Toronto, this year.

I don't think popularity is the biggest problem, but price. Sure, I'd snap all of these up at retail, but the TFCC/BotCon prices just keep getting further and further out of my price range. Exhaust can't really be compared to these guys since he was sold as a regular retail MP. Even if it were an exclusive I doubt the price would have changed. Blue Bluestreak is the same price as a regular MP, Takara Tomy Mall Defensor is the same exact price as the retail UW sets, Micron Legend Megatron and Car Robots Black Convoy from Tokyo Toy Show are also the exact same prices as Legends figures of their respective size classes. That's typically how Japan does exclusives regardless of how limited they are. The only glaring exception is movie Nightmare Megatron, now that's a markup Brian Savage would be proud of. Though I suppose there's also eHobby which does price pretty high, but I'm guessing they name their own prices so it's hard to say why the prices are what they are.

That said, I want everything TFCC has to offer next year. I sure hope they make a lousy BotCon set to counter that. Shame we'll probably see Armada Thundercracker and Sam's Starscream at BotCon.

Emerje

HOLY---!

https://twitter.com/p2099/status/611777982454087680



That level... of attention to detail... is INSANE!!!

D-Maximus_Prime wrote:Sooooo.... on the subject of botcon: Anyone have any Oilmasters, Megatrons, Steppers or Battletraps they are willing to part with at a reasonable rate? Like, a noticeable difference between your price and Ebays prices?

I picked up the boxed set off eBay for a really, really good price. Look for auction listings and you might have similar luck!

I don't know if it was posted on this site or not, but here's a clear shot of Galva Convoy's bio for anyone who's curious about it:

Cool bio. Lots of possibilities there. Love that "Swerves" got a reference there

This topic has been moved to our new Transformers Collectors' Club and BotCon Forum which you can find at the following link: transformers-collectors-club-and-botcon-forum-f235.php

Sabrblade wrote:I don't know if it was posted on this site or not, but here's a clear shot of Galva Convoy's bio for anyone who's curious about it:

Maybe I missed it earlier on, but is there a pic of the suggested paints for him? Would like to add a bit of detail to my unpainted one and since someone's already thought through the colors that will help.