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Botcon

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BotCon, briefly known as "The Official Transformers Collectors Convention" (or OTFCC) is an annual convention for Transformers fans and collectors. The convention has been held, in one form or another, annually since 1994.

The name "BotCon" comes from both "robot convention" and the names "Autobot" and "Decepticon" used in the toyline.

Featured BotCon guests are usually involved in the creation of Transformers media in some respect, whether voice actors from the animated series, artists or writers from the comic books, or actual Hasbro employees.

Contents

BotCon History

The first BotCon was held in Fort Wayne, Indiana in 1994. Organized by brothers Jon and Karl Hartman, the convention had 180 attendees, a meager start. Botcon 1995 was organized by Raksha, a prominent figure in the fan community, and 1996 by Men In Black Productions, headed up by Dennis Barger. In 1997, the Hartmans brought Glen Hallit, a fellow fan, into the fold, forming 3H Enterprises (based upon the first letter of all three organizers' last names).

At BotCon 2002, Hallit announced that 3H had secured the official Transformers convention license, as well as licenses to produce comic books and start a fan club. Within months, the Hartmans were pressured by Hallit out of planning or running the convention, leaving Glen Hallit as the sole organizer, a move that resulted in a great deal of hue and cry from the fandom.

In 2003, the convention changed its name to "The Official Transformers Collectors Convention", OTFCC for short, due to the Hartman's legal ownership of the Botcon service mark. The fandom had duelling conventions in 2004, as 3H held OTFCC in Chicago, Illinois while the Hartman brothers revived the BotCon name for a convention in Pasadena, California. In fall 2004, 3H Productions lost all its Transformer licenses, leaving the convention in a state of limbo. In early 2005, Hasbro announced on its official website that Fun Publications, owned by Brian Savage, had been given the convention and fan club licenses. The Hartman brothers were invited onto and accepted places in an advisory board for the new convention, along with other prominent fans Benson Yee and Rik Alvarez, and granted use of the Botcon name once again.

In 2002, BotCon sought to expand to Europe, holding its first ever official European convention in Cheshunt, UK. The event, which was held in conjunction with the main BotCon 2002 in the USA, had much less advertising, the registration did not open until only a couple of weeks before the convention, and the official programme only consisted of a panel discussion with Simon Furman, Neil Kaplan, and Wankus. After 3H found out that attendance to the European BotCon had been much smaller than to the main BotCon, they decided it was not worth the bother holding two separate BotCons, and officially announced that BotCon will never, ever, not no never be held outside the USA again.

Locations

Special Guests

Over the years, BotCon has featured many individuals who have worked to bring the Transformers multiverse to life, including voice actors, animation staff, and Hasbro design team members. BotCon guests include:

Exclusive toys

One of BotCon's most popular features is an exclusive toy (sometimes two or more toys) sold to the guests. The toys are different every year, and will not be sold at retail anywhere in the world. The identity and design of the toys were originally kept a close secret until the opening of the convention, although in the later years of the convention the organizers often chose to reveal one or more of the exclusives ahead of time, due to repeated problems with stolen prototypes being sold on eBay.

In the past, the toys were sold individually as part of the convention registration process, however the current convention organizers are only offering the exclusives as part of a package deal, a move that has caused some contention in the fandom.

Although the toys are always unique, financial costs prohibit the creation of entirely new molds. As such, the toys are redecos of previously used toys given new identities, occasionally switching allegiances and even gender. In the last few years, minor remolds have been made to the exclusives, such as the more feminine-looking heads given to 2003 exclusives Roulette and Shadow Striker. After the convention, exclusive toys usually become valuable collector's items in the community, particularly among fans who missed the convention.

BotCon/OTFCC-exclusive toys include:

Botcon 2006 Megatron
Enlarge
Botcon 2006 Megatron

Proposed/Unreleased Exclusives

A number of toys were planned over the years but never produced, for various reasons:

External links

 

From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.

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