BotCon

That sign down front is good advice. Especially for your bank account.

BotCon was Transformers Nerd Mecca.

It was the annual convention for Transformers fans and collectors. The convention was held, in one form or another, annually starting in 1994. Locations changed from year to year. Though originally "unofficial" (wink wink), it became the officially-official Transformers convention in 2002, openly and fully endorsed and licensed by Hasbro. For a short period of time after this, it was known simply as the Official Transformers Collectors' Convention.

In 2016, Hasbro removed the license from then-showrunners Fun Publications, making BotCon 2016 the final "BotCon" show. HasCon 2017 acted as a convention for all of Hasbro's brands, Transformers included.

On February 3, 2020, Karl Hartman posted that BotCon would return in 2021, though no longer as a Hasbro-sponsored event. It was then delayed again due to the COVID-19 pandemic and eventually scheduled for late August 2022 amidst an ongoing fandom backlash over management. Since its return, it is run by an all-new team of organizers from Agabyss.com.

The name "BotCon" comes from both "robot convention", and the names "Autobot" and "Decepticon".

Individual conventions

For details of each convention, click on the appropriate link below.

	BotCons:
1990s: 1994 1995 1996 Japan 1997 1997 1998 Japan 1998 Europe 1999 1999 2000s: 2000 Japan 2000 2001 2002 Europe 2002 OTFCC 2003 OTFCC 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010s: 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016

BotCon history

BotCon: Slightly less old than the photocopier.

The first BotCon was held in Fort Wayne, Indiana in 1994. Organized by brothers Jon and Karl Hartman, the convention had 180 attendees. 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. During this time, the show primarily took up a single space at the convention center, with the dealer room and panel space in the same area. Botcon 1996 added a small art room just outside the main hall, and had a one-night video event in another small space. Guests were minimal, being mostly only that year's Hasbro representatives.

In 1997, the Hartmans took the BotCon name back (since they owned it and only licensed it out to the previous organizers) and brought fellow fan Glen Hallit into the fold, forming 3H Enterprises (based upon the first letter of all three organizers' last names). In response to the lukewarm-at-best reception to 1996's show, 3H's BotCon 1997 would pile on the improvements and additions, quickly establishing multiple features that have since come to be expected as standard at any BotCon (see below).

(One other thing that happened with BotCon 1997 is that the Wu-Tang Clan were performing in an arena next door, and their fans got rowdy and caused the hotel to be evacuated!)

Each year's show would get bigger and bigger, taking up multiple rooms throughout the weekend. During this era, the BotCon name was also licensed out for several conventions outside of the United States. It was repeatedly stated by the organizers that BotCon was a labor of love, because they sure weren't making any money off it. In fact, it was several years into the life of 3H before they were able to say the convention was "in the black".

THIS... is the wave of the future!
What's that? Really?
We now return you to your regularly scheduled convention.

At BotCon 2002, it was announced that 3H had secured the officially-official Transformers convention license (they'd been "unofficially" endorsed by Hasbro for years prior, but this was kind of the "putting a ring on it" moment), as well as licenses to produce comic books and start a fan club. However, the Hartmans were pressured by Hallit out of planning or running the convention, leaving Glen Hallit as the sole organizer. As a result, the BotCon name, which was owned by the Hartmans, ceased to exist for a time, as 3H's convention was called "The Official Transformers Collectors' Convention," or OTFCC for short.

In 2004, BotCon made a comeback as an unofficial convention, which was held in Pasadena, California. The history of the BotCon franchise up to that point was covered in great detail in the BotCon Legends magazine. At the end of 2004, 3H lost all its Transformers licenses, which were soon picked up by Fun Publications, owned by Brian Savage. The Hartman brothers accepted places in an advisory board for the new convention, along with other prominent fans Benson Yee and Rik Alvarez, and the convention became "BotCon" once again.

BotCon attendance grew steadily over the years, with dramatic increases with the advent of the live-action film series in particular. Though Fun Publications generally did not release attendance numbers, there are casual estimations that between pre-registrants and walk-ins, attendance is somewhere around the 3000~4000 mark for the last few years. (BotCon 2009 in Pasadena is particularly noted for having a massive number of walk-in attendees, with the line easily stretching around the block even on late Sunday.)

In February 2012, people who'd renewed their fan club membership or bought items from BotCon's store found their credit cards had been compromised. FunPub refunded people and assured them "all of your transactions are in a secure socket with the strongest encryption available to any site on the web". This turned out to be a porkie: over time it would come out that they had quite terrible website security and the credit card info was allegedly kept in an unencrypted text file (eeeek!!).

BotCon 2014 was their big anniversary special, with fiction and toys harking back to the Omega Point, Wreckers, and Universe stories, and returning BotCon-created characters like Flamewar.

In 2016, Hasbro announced that it was not continuing the licensing of BotCon through Fun Publications after BotCon 2016, as well as discontinuing the Collectors' Club rights at the end of that year. HasCon 2017, a multi-Hasbro-brand show seemingly aimed more at families and younger children, was announced later, and naturally Transformers was a major feature. However, a planned HasCon 2019 event was ultimately cancelled.

In January 2020, it was announced that BotCon would be returning the following year under new management, though the event is no longer sponsored by Hasbro. In February 2021, however, it was announced that it'd be returning in 2022 instead (due to that ongoing "pandemic" thing). In spring of 2021, various fans would ask questions about who the new management was (many unhappy if Pete Sinclair was involved) and Botcon and its team would not respond well, with some fans being harassed.

There are other, better, SAFER conventions for Transformers fans to attend.Greg Sepelak regarding the return of the current BotCon

BotCon basics

BotCon featured exhibitions of loads of Transformers merchandise and toys all on tables for sale. These are commonly traded among fans and sell for extortionate amounts on eBay. Other stuff included cosplaying, art contests, and signatures from numerous voice actors.

Special guests

Over the years, BotCon featured many individuals who have worked to bring the Transformers multiverse to life, including voice actors, animation staff, comic creators, and design team members from both Hasbro and TakaraTomy. Guests usually had a question-and-answer panel (or two), and were most often openly available for autographs and general talking throughout the show. Fun Publications also set autograph table schedules for most of its guests.

See also:

• Category:Convention guests

Exclusive toys and merchandise

1994 exclusive: Hasbro's leftovers.

One of BotCon's most popular features was the sale of exclusive toys to the guests. Although the toys were always unique, financial costs prohibit the creation of entirely new molds. As such, the toys were redecos of previously used toys, but given new identities, occasionally switching allegiances and even gender. From 2003 on, various toys have had new toolings added to them, most typically new heads. After the convention, exclusive toys often became valuable collector's items in the community, particularly among fans who missed the convention. However as time went on (and the sheer amount of available Transformers product on the market exploded) this was less and less assured, and in fact by the end of BotCon's run, many exclusives from the entire history of the show had their secondary market values shrink considerably.

BotCon 1994 featured a single toy, Generation 2 Breakdown, which was originally developed for retail but canceled. 1995 saw the first toy specifically made for the convention, Nightracer. 1996 had the first (and thankfully only) dealer-exclusive toy, which was just the regular exclusive Onyx Primal with gold lettering stamped on his back and a new box.

3H then upped the ante in 1997 with two toys sold in a single set. The following year had two toys again, but this time sold individually. Over the next decade the number of toys per year grew steadily, coincidentally enough (wink) as the franchise's retail presence did. In 2003, the convention offered the first (and only) "hotel exclusive", Sunstreaker, which attendees could get by getting a room in the official block at the convention hotel. In 2005 with the changeover to Fun Publications, the number of toys made for the show took a massive jump from 2004's four exclusives to a whopping ten (if you don't count "army-building" duplicates sold in multi-packs); a main "box set" of toys, an "attendance freebie" available only to those directly attending the convention, and multiple additional souvenir sets. Fun Publications had used this model for exclusives for their official G.I. Joe convention since 2002.

2010 exclusive: Big box set including a loving homage to Hasbro's leftovers. (Keep in mind, this is only half of the toys available that year.)

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, plus the need to hype the convention as awareness of Transformers grew. Fun Publications revealed the identities of the box set toys months before the show, over the course of several weeks, while keeping its freebie and souvenirs a secret until the first day of the convention (though factory thieves tend to get their hands on production samples and reveal them anyway).

Through most of the 3H run, the toys were —for the most part— available in an "a la carte" method, with the attendee choosing which toys they wanted with their registration... even though the toys were held a secret up until the convention proper, for a while, at least. By OTFCC, 3H began revealing exclusives beforehand in order to push attendance numbers. These toys were available only to attendees; people who couldn't make it were more or less relegated to having an attending friend pick up extras, or dealing with eBay. BotCon Europe 2002's Rook would be the first convention toy made available to non-attendees, partially due to the sheer demand for him outside Europe, and partially because 3H had to order so many just to get the toy made that they were drowning in them. A few other toys would follow suit for the same "overproduced" reason.

The switchover to Fun Publications' model of a big box set that could not be broken up initially caused some contention in the fandom. However, they also offered the box set to non-attendees right out of the gate. In addition, the set also came in "bagged" form, with just the figures, accessories and bio cards, as an add-on to a boxed set. The attendance freebie and souvenirs were for attendees only... up until the end of the convention. Any souvenirs unsold by the con's end were put on the Club store for members to purchase. The attendance freebie, however, remained not-for-sale (though Fun Publications has used them as prizes for online contests).

And there was much wailing and gnashing of teeth.

Starting in 2004, a toy customizing instructional class was added to the BotCon schedule, and the first attempt to create a unique toy/character from this event was in 2005. Since then, the customization class exclusive was the rarest of each year's exclusive toys, limited to roughly 50 pieces. Most of these customization class exclusives were unpainted samples of production toys, which participants assembled themselves and apply a suggested paint job. In 2010, Generation 2 Sideswipe was the first customization class exclusive with entirely new plastic colors not found in previous releases of the mold, creating an instant "holy grail". For 2013, in response to the fandom's ever-growing demand for Things They Can't Have, the toy was also offered as an add-on to normal attendees, unpainted but fully assembled (as Hasbro is not super-keen to let unassembled Transformers out there willy-nilly).

Over the years, a wide variety of non-toy merchandise was made available as well. Almost every year featured an exclusive T-shirt, and in the last few years of the show, posters and prints became more common. The Fun Publications box sets each featured an exclusive pin, plus the first 100 attending pre-registrants got another special pin. Quite a few other more esoteric pieces were made, including wristwatches, lollipops(!), pitchers and glass sets, accessory kits, and more.

See also:

• Category:Convention exclusives
• Category:Customization class toys

Proposed/unreleased exclusives

A number of toys were planned over the years but never produced, for various reasons. Note that some of these entries are essentially jokes from the organizers' brainstorming sessions, which they then later mentioned to other fans:

Show me "What we can finally stop asking Fun Publications about for $1000," Alex.

• The exclusive for BotCon 1994 could have been the Generation 2 version of Blades, before they decided to go with Breakdown.
• Lickme, a redeco of Spittor as a Poison Arrow Frog. Function: Psychological Warfare. Mentioned at the BotCon '99 Organizers Panel.
• Jai-Alai, a black redeco of Manterror. Function: Ninja. Mentioned at the BotCon '99 Organizers Panel.
• Cataclysm, a green and purple redeco of Transmetal Cheetor. This character actually appeared in the convention storyline and was thought to be the lower priced exclusive in 2000 until Apelinq was revealed instead. It is unclear whether Cataclysm was ever truly intended to be released.
• Rodimus Primal, mentioned at the organizer's panel at BotCon 2000, this would have been a Beast Wars version of Rodimus Prime made from the Optimal Optimus mold. Plans were nixed very early on as Primal Prime was going into its limited production run and Hasbro didn't give licensees the leeway they now enjoy.
• Blue Balls Attack Team, from an anecdote shared by Karl Hartman on the now defunct BotCon: Beyond message board, a planning session for BotCon had run much later than anticipated and an exhausted Hartman proposed a pair of blue repaints of Beast Wars Retrax. Obviously not a serious proposal.
• Trailbreaker, redeco of the Robots in Disguise X-Brawn mold as a convention exclusive in 2003.
• Hot Spot, a blue redeco of Robots in Disguise Optimus Prime as a new Autobot leader modelled after the Generation 1 character. The toy would have featured a new headsculpt for the robot's larger "Defensor" mode. This toy was originally solicited for OTFCC 2004, then pushed back for OTFCC 2005. When the license was removed from 3H Productions, this figure was cancelled.
• For OTFCC 2004, the Rail Racer trains were offered to 3H Productions as a possible set of exclusives. Due to a suggestion from Graham Weaver, one of them was planned to be named after the original Steamhammer, as it was a train-y kind of name. Another of the three trains would be Astrotrain and the third was never decided on, though "Loco" or "Cowcatcher" was favored, and the combined mode would have been named "Dominus Trannis", named similarly to the original Trannis. Hasbro changed their minds on the molds' availability, but they later used the "Steamhammer" name themselves, as they did similarly with "Vector Prime".
• Several toys were proposed for the 2005 Official Transformers Collectors' Convention. Due to 3H's loss of the Transformers license these plans never came to fruition. All of the known toys from this proposal were to have new headsculpts and some were to have new accessories.
  • Megatron, a red redeco of Robots in Disguise Megatron as an upgraded (and resurrected) Beast Wars Megatron. (The concept eventually reached fruition as a BotCon 2016 exclusive!)
  • Devcon, a blue redeco of Energon Slugslinger as the Generation 1 character.
  • Brawn, a green redeco of Energon Strongarm as the Generation 1 character. This toy would have featured new snap on Energon gauntlets.
  • Roadbuster, an orange and green redeco of Energon Strongarm as the Generation 1 character. This toy would have featured a new Energon rifle.
• Sentinel Prime, originally conceived as the Cybertron Defense Hot Shot redeco for 2007. He was dropped in favor of Springer, who fit the mold and the story/theme better.
• The developers of BotCon were given a slight chance of using Alternators in 2007, so they proposed a 4-pack boxset which would have consisted of Galvatron (from Wheeljack), Cyclonus (from Mirage), Ultra Magnus (from Optimus Prime), and Rodimus (from what, they couldn't remember at the time, but likely the Rodimus mold).
• The 2011 boxset underwent a few revisions before they settled on Animated Stunticons.
  • First was Shattered Glass Beast Wars.
  • Then it was going to be Classics Stunticons.
  • Then it was going to be assorted Animated characters.
    • The boxset would have featured Sideswipe and Jackpot (both of which were released), Jhiaxus (from Voyager Megatron) while the other two figures were unknowns that would have been a cream-colored Ratchet, and...something else.
    • The figures available at the show would have been Bug Bite, (from Hydrodive Bumblebee), Toxitron (from Wingblade Optimus Prime), Ricochet (from Jazz), Kup (from Cybertron Mode Optimus Prime), Sideswipe (from Rodimus and utilizing the colors of Shattered Glass Sideswipe/Armada Wheeljack), Tigatron (also from Rodimus), Shokaract (from Blackout), Springer (from Swindle), and a three-pack consisting of Flamewar, Antagony, and Nightracer (all sharing the Arcee mold).
      • Other suggested Animated figures include Hubcap from Soundwave and Strika from Voyager Bulkhead.
• A redeco of Revenge of the Fallen Mindwipe into Megabolt was considered as a counterpart to BotCon 2012's Gigatron.
• As part of the Machine Wars theme for BotCon 2013, Machine Wars Prowl (from Classics Mirage) and Machine Wars Hubcap (from Generations Sergeant Kup) were considered.
• A number of figures were considered for BotCon 2014 that did not end up occurring, including:
  • Ransack, a redeco of Generations Kickback as the G1 character and would have been a pirate. Two Arms Microns would have been included as well.
  • Cannonball, a redeco of Prime Wheeljack, likely an idea before they settled on the Prime Ratchet mold for the final figure.
  • Megabolt, a redeco of Prime Skyquake and would have also been a pirate, though it's probably a good thing he wasn't released as the mold was used the previous year.
  • Bumper, a redeco of Prime Rumble as the G1 character.
• At one point, a boxset of the Turbomasters was considered. It would have included Scorch, Boss, Hurricane, Flash, and Thunder Clash; all of whom would have been made from Transformers: Prime figures. Specifically, Ironhide, Wheeljack, Smokescreen, Bumblebee, and Ultra Magnus, respectively.
• The 2008 Universe Silverbolt mold was rather popular for possible exclusives, having been planned to be made into Skyquake/Scrash and Dai Atlas/King Atlas.
• The Revenge of the Fallen Lockdown mold was suggested as "Marlboro", a modern update of the Diaclone "Marlboor Wheeljack". Additionally, the mold's Axor retool was suggested for a Shattered Glass Stranglehold, complete with a mustache.
• Bombshell/Hardshell, a redeco of Generations Straxus as the original character.
• "Predaking BW style", a non-combiner redeco from the Transmetal 2 Tigerhawk.
• Crosshairs and Pinpointer were planned to be made from Generations Sergeant Kup and Universe Nightstick.
• Proposals for Bruton were made from both Prime: First Edition Bulkhead and Generations: Fall of Cybertron Grimlock, but neither would happen due to the character's obscurity.
• "Femme Fatale CyKill" [sic], redecoed from one of the Prime Arcee Deluxe molds, was sadly never produced.
• Twilight Sparkle Prime, based on the My Little Pony character Twilight Sparkle, a redeco of Battle Unicorn.
• Rodimouse, a Transmetal Rattrap redecoed as a Beast Wars version of Rodimus Prime. (Whether serious or not, it would have paired well with Optimus Primal and Ultra Mammoth).
• When asked at BotCon 2016 what exclusive he regretted not being able to do, Pete Sinclair stated that he wanted to make a Shattered Glass Rodimus (Prime) from Generations Springer.
• Sinclair also wanted a retool of Generations Armada Starscream into Beast Machines Jetstorm, which had been proposed for BotCon 2016 before the convention's theme was changed.

BotCon 2017

Though Fun Publications lost the Transformers convention license after BotCon 2016, an Action Master-themed, Titans Return-based "Action on Hydrus Four" boxset was proposed for the potential 2017 BotCon that never came to be; the unreleased toys were concepts revealed through painted mock-ups at RoboCon in 2017. The proposed set used as models:

• Skyfall from Titans Return Highbrow with Titan Master from Apeface
• Sprocket from Titans Return Triggerhappy with Titan Master from Legends Weirdwolf's Headmaster and Attack Cruiser from Titans Return Brawn's vehicle accessory
• "Action Master" Optimus Prime from Titans Return Optimus Prime with Titan Master from Infinitus, Titan Master Rad from Diac, and Lionizer from Sawback's beast accessory
• Gutcruncher from Titans Return Blitzwing with Titan Master from Doomshot/Hazard but with a newly-tooled face, and with "Scout Tank" from Titans Return Terri-Bull's vehicle accessory
• "Action Master" Megatron from Titans Return Sixshot with Titan Master from Nucleon and Titan Master Devastator from Repugnus

Other proposed exclusives for 2017 included:

• Dion from Titans Return Sergeant Kup with Titan Master from Hyperfire as the attendee freebie
• Hot Shot from Titans Return Chromedome with Titan Master Alexis Thi Dang from Stylor and Jolt from Generations Blazemaster. Hot Shot would have had a newly-tooled face on the Alexis Titan Master (the mock up just used the Universe Hot Shot's face as a placeholder).
• Onyx Primal from Titans Return Mindwipe with "Nightwatch" from Infinitus
• Doubledealer from Titans Return Hardhead with two Titan Masters: Knok from Titans Return Nightbeat and Skar from Sawback with newly-tooled bat wings, legs, and a new face.
• Energon Megatron from Titans Return Sky Shadow with Titan Master Leader-1 from Ptero with the face of Ominus
• Rosanna and Flip Sides from Titans Return Rewind, and Decepticon Enemy from Titans Return Rumble, as the troop builder set
• A six-pack of Pretender-based Titan Masters, including Jazz from Xort, Bumblebee from Firedrive, Crossblades from Diac, Starscream from Crashbash, Vroom from Grax, and Metalhawk from Revolver
• Rumbler from the box set's Sprocket with "B² Attack Team" (har har, yes, they went there), two flail weapons from B.H., as the customization class figure

On top of that, "RoboCon" showed off backup plans for alternative exclusive options:

• Armada Jetfire from Titans Return Sentinel Prime with Titan Master Comettor from Apeface
• Devcon from Titans Return Brainstorm with Titan Master Slizardo from Hyperfire
• Turbo Master from Titans Return Highbrow with Titan Master Take-Off from Blowpipe

And the remaining Transformers/G.I. Joe crossover human figures, which would have been shared Collectors' Club exclusives, were shown:

• "Only Human" versions of Ultra Magnus, Springer, and Victor Drath made from retooled G.I. Joe toys

Phew!

Exclusive fiction

It all starts here.

Fiction did not really play into the first few years of BotCon. While attendees of BotCon 1995 did get an exclusive fanzine, it was just that; a magazine full of fan-written stories and fan-drawn art, none of which was approved by Hasbro.

When 3H took the convention back for 1997, one of the many ways they set out to make the show a real mother of a blowout was by adding an exclusive comic story to accompany the toys, penned by "the" Transformers scribe Simon Furman, with art by Marvel comics artist Andrew Wildman. The hugely positive response to this story (even though it was a stand-alone tale that was irreconcilable with the then-running Beast Wars cartoon that it used as a setting) cemented the need for fiction to bring the exclusive toy characters to life, though it would take some time to settle on a format. 1998 started the multi-year "Reaching the Omega Point" story, which was kicked off with a tongue-in-cheek live script reading, followed up by a series of text stories released online, and ultimately ended in 2000 with a full-color comic that assembled the prior text stories before jumping into the final battle.

2008 also marked an increased influx of robo-facial hair.

From then on, each convention had at least one new comic book featuring its exclusive toy characters in action, with a few pieces of ancillary fiction told in other formats. However, in short order there were three different stories running concurrently across two different books (with a few pieces of online prose and a live script reading in 2004), and the problems from prior years with having stories that were told in installments with nearly year-long gaps between them were amplified to a ridiculous degree. With Hasbro pulling the license from 3H after 2004's convention, all three storylines were left uncompleted. The next convention license-holder, Fun Publications, would later go on to provide conclusions to two of them in their online fan club subscription, but the final story, "Primeval Dawn", remains open-ended to this day.

When Fun Publications took control of BotCon, the use of a yearly comic continued under the "Timelines" banner, but with a very important change. Instead of following a single multi-year-spanning story arc, each issue is meant to stand on its own as a single story with a conclusive ending (even if it's part of an ongoing arc told elsewhere), typically set in a different universe every year. Starting in 2006, each year's comic is made available through Diamond at comic shops a few months after the convention. Some shows would also feature live script readings, plus BotCon 2007 would reveal a CGI-animated short film serving as a prequel to the prior year's story.

Some of the BotCon storylines have been later continued through the Collectors' Club web site and magazine, primarily in the form of prose stories.

See also:

• Category:3H issues
• Category:Timelines issues

External links

• More detail on past events
• Hasbro Transformers Collectors' Club
• Convention info from the Transformers FAQ