Master Collector's Plans for an Official Transformers Convention!

Thursday, September 2nd, 2004 12:21AM CDT

Category: Rumors
Posted by: Professor Smooth Views: 18,745

It's now entirely possible that Master Collector will get the Transformers Convention license. What would they do with it? TFW2005's own Bill has this to say about it:

Hasbro and 3H have both made statements today concerning their futures involving an "Offficial Transformers Convention and/or Club". The future name of this convention will be determined by whomever is awarded the license. I thought now might be a good time to discuss the rumored game plans. It was discovered at OTFCC 2004, Master Collector, who is known for the G.I. Joe Convention, has expressed an interest in obtain the rights to hold an official Transformers convention as well as maintaining their license with the G.I Joe convention.

Rumors have been floating around the different sites over the last week or so concerning different plans Master Collector could implement if they are awarded the license. One such plan includes combining the annual G.I. Joe Convention - which is already run by them - with the Transformers Convention. It is unknown if these plans will effect any 2005 conventions, but since licenses are awarded for 3 year increments, this could take effect in 2006.

As both a Transformers fan and a retailer who carries both Transformers and G.I Joe toy lines and attends the different conventions as a fan first and a retailer second, I feel that this would cause a conflict between the two sets of fans. While some fans are hardcore fans, most tend to lean one way or the other. This could loosely be compared to holding a Star Wars and Star Trek convention in the same hall. Both are Sci-Fi fans, but have widely different opinions on how things should be done. In regard to a joint Transformers/G.I. Joe Convention held at the same hall, I feel that the fans are simply too dissimilar overall for it to be a success. This would cause one of the two genres to be overshadowed by the other. Based on publicly released attendance numbers and the fact that Master Collector has been running the G.I. Joe Convention, that would imply that G.I. Joe would overshadow Transformers.

I feel that a convention run by a crew dedicated to one specific genre would be more beneficial to not only the Transformers fan base but also the G.I. Joe fan base. By keeping the convention focused on one genre, and run by people who can focus 100% of their energies on running a successful Transformers convention; this allows Master Collector to remain focused on serving the G.I. Joe fan base without splitting their attention to a brand new genre they have never dealt with before.

Credit(s): Bill