Shitting Their Prime Pants

It feels like ancient history now, but then again, I suppose it was almost 20 years ago. At the time some major drama in the Transformers fan world went on that seemed larger than life. For outsiders- the Transformers fandom is more of a subculture than other fan bases. It's a little world of it's own that many members stay pretty wrapped up in. These days it's much larger and segmented, but it used to be much smaller and more tight knit. This particular event took place from 2003-2004, when things were starting to get a growth spurt. The internet was becoming more of a common thing and message boards for various interests were popping up all over. These were quickly taking the place of older online gathering spots, much to the dismay of some assholes.

There was one constant, BotCon. Prior to the last years, it was a smaller more personal affair back then. There were occasional attempts at other TF conventions and some TF programming at other shows, but BotCon was pretty much viewed as the only one. It was like our annual family picnic and a must go destination for many. Hasbro supported the show, but it wasn't officially official until around 2002.  I'm not going to go into the complete history of the con, but here it is of you're so inclined. In short, the brothers who founded it had a partnership with their friend Glen a few years into the cons life. This partnership ran the show for about 6 years. In 2003 they had a falling out and split up. Glen who owned the official license would go on to run the official fan club and con now named The Official Transformers Collectors Club/Convention (OTFCC for short). The brothers would run BotCon as an unofficial show in 2004. And within the fan community, a battle line in the sand was drawn. 

Hasbro PulseCon Ghostbusters Programming!

GHOSTBUSTERS PANEL!

Join us as we celebrate the Ghostbusters franchise in a three-part panel filled with HUGE surprises and reveals!

Part 1: Classic Ghostbusters Panelists: Ernie Hudson, Hasbro Ghostbusters Brand Team We’ll begin by celebrating the iconic 1984 film. Tune in for ghostly surprises, classic toy news, and a visit from a very special guest: Ernie Hudson, otherwise known as Winston Zeddemore from Ghostbusters! Get ready to hear him answer your fan questions! 

Part 2: The Making of Kenner The Real Ghostbusters Toys Panelists: Mark Boudreax, Hasbro Ghostbusters Brand Team We’ll continue our journey through the 80’s with an inside look at the making of The Real Ghostbusters toys from original Kenner toy designer, Mark Boudreaux. Next, you’ll see behind the scenes of sculpting with Dave. Finally, meet the Hasbro team that relaunched the Kenner Real Ghostbusters toys in 2020. Hear about how they answered the call to bring this beloved toy line back for the fans and be the first to see the next Kenner Real Ghostbusters toy to hit shelves! 

Part 3: Ghostbusters Afterlife Panelists: Jason Reitman, Hasbro Ghostbusters Brand Team We’ll end our celebration with a nod to the future… the new Ghostbusters Afterlife feature film, coming to theatres in March 2021. Academy Award-nominated, Golden Globe-winning filmmaker Jason Reitman, director of Ghostbusters Afterlife, will take you on a tour of the Ecto-1 that was used in the new film. He’ll end his tour with an exciting reveal! You’ll then hear from the Hasbro team about the next toy inspired by the Ghostbusters Afterlife film to hit shelves!

Thanks to Rogers & Cowan for providing Zone Base Readers with this awesome news!

Hasbro PulseCon 2020 Guest Line Up!

HASBRO UNVEILS ALL-STAR LINEUP FOR HASBRO PULSECON, GIVING FANS A VIRTUAL FRONT ROW SEAT TO PANELS, CELEBRITY GUESTS, MUSIC AND MORE

Special appearances by John Cena, Joe Manganiello, Ashley Eckstein and Henry Golding, music performances by Fall Out Boy, Lights and Jack Black and Kyle Gass of Tenacious D, and 2-days of interactive experiences, new reveals and exciting guests behind Hasbro’s iconic fan brands; Only on the Hasbro Pulse YouTube Channel

 

PAWTUCKET, RI – September 18, 2020 – Hasbro, Inc. (NASDAQ:HAS) officially revealed its programming slate of immersive fan experiences for the first ever Hasbro PulseCon today, featuring a dynamic panel lineup, top celebrity guests, and must-see music appearances all free of charge. Top stars including John Cena (Bumblebee), Joe Manganiello (True Blood), Ashley Eckstein (Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, Star Wars: The Clone Wars), Matthew Lillard (D&D Fan, Scooby Doo), Ernie Hudson (Ghostbusters: Afterlife), Jason Reitman (Ghostbusters: Afterlife), Dee Bradley Baker (Star Wars: The Clone Wars) and more will make appearances during the course of the two-day event, along with a special message from Henry Golding (Snake Eyes) and unique experiences from musical guests including Fall Out Boy, Lights (featured artist from eOne’s roster) and Jack Black and Kyle Gass of Tenacious D. The event will be available exclusively through the Hasbro Pulse YouTube Channel on September 25-26, 2020.

 

Attendees can expect one-of-a-kind access to their favorite franchises during Hasbro PulseCon, and interactive experiences connecting fans with the creative talent that help bring them all to life. Brands including Dungeons & Dragons, G.I. Joe, Magic: The Gathering, Power Rangers, Transformers as well as premiere partner brands Marvel, Star Wars™, Ghostbusters, and more will be featured in an exhilarating panel and activity lineup that spans two days, giving fans a livestream experience to celebrate with special guests, receive exclusive access to exciting brand reveals, purchase Hasbro PulseCon merch, and participate with interactive elements such as live Q&A, trivia and even virtual ‘ghost hunting’ in celebration of National Ghost Hunting Day! For every viewer of Hasbro PulseCon, Hasbro will donate a toy or game to Toys for Tots up to 100,000 pieces. Through the gift of a new toy, Marine Toys for Tots helps bring hope and joy to America's less fortunate children.

 

While the 2-day virtual event hosted by SYFY Wire on-air correspondent, writer, and producer, Jackie Jennings, begins on September 25, fans can expect a few fun surprises leading up to that date – including an advance sneak peek on the Hasbro Pulse YouTube Channel September 22 at 12pm EST. In addition, Hasbro and eOne are thrilled to be launching a PulseCon Spotify list which will be available on Friday 25th and consists of a number of songs from eOne artists, including The Lumineers, Powfu, Brandy, Alice Ivy and Lights.

 

Included below is a peek inside the programming that will be available exclusively on the Hasbro Pulse YouTube Channel. Programming takes place on Friday, 9/25 at 11am EST and Saturday, 9/26 at 10am EST, with each day ending around 5pm EST for exciting musical experiences with its lineup of artists. 

BotCon 1994 video

This is great.

Screaming into space

Damn that art sells it

SDCC is right around the corner and exclusive talk is on every bodies keyboards. Super 7 is teasing a Transformers exclusive by the way of their upcoming Henshin Cyborg style line that honestly looks pretty neat. I do love a good X-Ray/Cross Section robot image.

But, the big one. The poop your pants one. 

The stuff dreams are made of

 A Studio Series Bumblebee set that comes with reissues of Dial and Zaur, some of the rarest Transformers, and they're coming out of nowhere with a Bumblebee. I'm obviously not going to the con, and I hope I can score a set from the after con sales. I say hope because it's already hard for a working adult to get some of this online stuff as it sells out pretty quickly, but there's going to be all sorts of extra competition for this one. I mean, these are the kind of figures you rarely get to even see in real life... and they're coming with a Bumblebee in a SDCC set. People might actually kill over this one. Going to be a bummer when I wake up and find out it was availible for all of two seconds while I was driving home from work.

I'm a positive person, but knowing I'll likely never get this is super depressing

Save the date!

Toylanta prep

Firecons are kinda my mental mascot for this years con

It's Monday night as I'm writing this. I'm at my desk taking a small break from my work. Despite it only being a 4 day week this week (taking Friday off for the con), I'm pretty busy. I always try to make up ahead of time for time off I take as to not burden my department too much. It's also going to be a long week for a 4 day work week, as I got Toylanta to look forward to this weekend and I'm pretty excited. These days it's pretty much the only con I go to and honestly, it's the perfect con. Just a giant adventure of toys everywhere you look (and even more just out of sight) and fortunately for me, the stuff I'm into usually goes for a pretty fair price.

I like digging in bins for figures, scouring for deals, and this con has plenty. I dig the shows vibe too. Relaxed, laid back, meant to be fun. No anxiety or various fandom drama, just a bunch of cool people enjoying their various hobbies together. The high quality conversations I have over the weekend cannot be replaced. One year I spoke for hours with a dude about discount store fantasy figures. Another about Starriors. Just a great convention.

Fortunately the show is just a short road trip for me, so I just have to plan for the drive each day, which isn't too bad. Mainly anticipate where I'm eating lunch more-so than really anything else. Looking forward to the Transformers panel I help line up each year. Dusty and I are planing some good conversation and hoping those in attendance participate.

I've been slowly working on a list for stuff to look out for, though I wonder just how much I'm going to adhere to it. I don't really buy a whole lot at the show, but what I do get is generally great. I still fondly remember my main purchase of 2016. Aside from some great Beast Wars stickers I got, I hadn't really bought anything until I was about to leave that Sunday ending out the con. As I walked around and said goodbye to friends I dug through one last dump bin and there it was. A gallon zip lock bag containing about 75% of a G2 Bruticus in fairly good condition for 20$. Well shucks.

Just a few more days and we'll see what fun I'll have this year. What's great about this show is it's always an experience. Each year I have a different experience and that's the kind of thing you can't buy.

See you all in March!

Hope everyone is having fun at TFCON USA

I couldn't make it this year to TFCON USA (and super jealous of all you lucky people that could!), hope everyone there has a super fun time!

4 years ago

GNAW WAY

Thanks to that Facebook memories thing, I was reminded that the best Transformers convention ever was 4 years ago. Hard to believe it was so long ago, but that's the march of time for you. If you weren't there you really missed out on something special. It was literally everything I wanted in a Transformers convention.

There's an element you only get when something is made from pure love. When the people making something just want it to be what people want. When they say to themselves, "I want this to be the kind of show I'd want to go to".

Throwback Thursday- Botcon 1995 Pre Reg

Oh, they're doing it again? I can't miss it again this year!

*****************************************************************************
                             BOTCON '95             

The Second Annual Transformers Convention             
Dayton Convention Center, Dayton, Ohio
Saturday and Sunday, August 5 & 6, 1995
Some planned events include:
- A special Convention Exclusive Transformer figure available only to preregistrants
- A laser light show synchronized to the soundtrack of Transformers the Movie
- A presentation by Hasbro executives on upcoming plans for the toy line,
  including a question-and-answer session
- An art display and contest with prizes awarded in color and black & white
  categories, as well as an art auction
- A display room featuring private collections of Transformer-related
  merchandise
- Continuous videos, including the Japanese episodes and the Movie
- Dealer tables for the buying, selling, and trading of Transformers and
  Transformer-related items
- Presentations by the officers of the fan clubs and club media producersPrices:Non-Dealers:
     Preregistrants $25 for whole weekend, $15 for single day (Sat. or Sun.)
          (Preregistration includes the Convention Exclusive Transformer)
     For non-preregistrants, admission at the door is $5 per day.Dealers:
     $80 per table for whole weekend; $45 per table for single day (Sat. or
     Sun.)
       (Price includes admission for dealer and one helper, and the
          Convention Exclusive Transformer)
Hotel Costs:Stouffer Renaissance Dayton Hotel is connected directly to the Dayton
Convention Center.
$64 per night, single or double room (up to 4 people per room), plus 12.5% tax
(=$8 in tax per night).  To reserve rooms, contact Stouffer Renaissance Dayton
Hotel at:
          Fifth & Jefferson Streets
          Dayton, OH 45402
          phone: (513) 224-0800 (call collect)
Remember that you must make hotel reservations separately (not through the
convention organizers) by *July 14, 1995*.  Be sure to say you're coming for
BotCon '95 in order to get the reduced room rate.
Other things to see in and around Dayton:Wright Patterson Air Force Museum with IMAX theater; International Women's Air
& Space Museum; Dayton Art Institute; Dayton Museum of Natural History;
National Afro-American Museum and Cultural Center; Victoria Theater; Memorial
Hall; Sunwatch Village; Paramount's King's Island; The Beach Waterpark; Blue
Jacket Outdoor Drama.
     The Dayton Convention Center is conveniently located close to Dayton
International Airport, and is easily accessible by highway.  Greyhound bus
station is located directly across the street from the Convention Center and
hotel.
Contact:  Raksha, convention organizer
          a.k.a. Jovanka Kink                    Michael Payton, phone contact
          1177B Georges Place           OR       (614) 885-5313 (Sun.-Wed.)
          Columbus, OH 43204-1085                e-mail Micr...@aol.com
          e-mail jk...@magnus.acs.ohio-state.eduArt Contest:   David Kolodny-Nagy
               3701 Connecticut Ave. N.W. #500
               Washington, D.C. 20008-4556
               e-mail st93...@pip.cc.brandeis.edu                         BotCon (TM) by Jonathan Hartman******************************************************************************                                                      _____________________
                    Registration Sheet               |Official Use Only:   |
                                                     |Date Received_______ |
                        BotCon '95                   |Registration #______ |
               August 5 & 6, 1995; Dayton, OH        |Weekend__ Sat__ Sun__|
                                                     |---------------------|Name       _________________________________________________
Address    _________________________________________________
City       ______________________  State___  Zip____________
Country    _________________________________________________
Phone      _________________________________________________
e-mail (if applicable)   ___________________________________               __ Dealer
               __ Non-Dealer               __ Attending whole weekend (Saturday and Sunday)
               __ Attending Saturday only
               __ Attending Sunday onlyPrices:
Non-Dealers:
     $25 for whole weekend; $15 for single day (Saturday or Sunday)
          (preregistration includes the Convention Exclusive Transformer)
     Admission at the door for non-preregistrants is $5 per dayDealers:
     $80 per 8' table for whole weekend; $45 per table for single day (Saturday
     or Sunday)
          (Price includes admission for dealer and one helper, and the
          Convention Exclusive Transformer)Total amount enclosed: $___Hotel Accommodations must be made separately:
$64 per night, single or double room (up to 4 people per room), plus 12.5% tax.
Contact Stouffer Renaissance Dayton Hotel directly at:
     Fifth and Jefferson Streets
     Dayton, OH 45402
     phone: (513) 224-0800 (call collect)
Reservations must be made by July 14, 1995.  Be sure to say you're coming for
BotCon in order to get the reduced rate.Registration deadline is July 20, 1995.
Cancellations must also be received by this date to guarantee a refund.     Return this sheet with check or money order payable to:
               BotCon '95
               1177B Georges Place
               Columbus, OH 43204-1085                         BotCon (tm) by Jonathan Hartman
******************************************************************************

*note* I had so much fun doing this last week, I thought I'd do it again. Not sure how many of these I plan to do, but for the moment I'm having fun. I pulled this from this old usenet post.

Throwback Thursday- BotCon 1994 Pre Reg

Who's all going?
 

BotCon '94 Information Sheet
What:     Transformers Tenth Anniversary Convention
Where:    The Grand Wayne Center, Fort Wayne, Indiana.
When:     9:00am-5:00pm, Saturday, July 16, 1994
Contacts: Jonathan Hartman, Chairman       David Kolodny-Nagy, Art Contest
                209 West Rush Street Box 845     Brandeis Univeristy,  PO Box 9110
                Kendallville, IN 46755-1741        Waltham, MA 02254-9110
                (219) 347-1154                              (617) 736-5485

The purpose of this convention is to celebrate the tenth anniversary of
Transformers.  Fans, collectors, and dealers are all invited to come and be a
part of this special event.  Planned events and activities include:*    A presentation by Hasbro executives on the past, present and future of the Transformers, including a sneak preview of upcoming toys.

*    A special Convention Exclusive action figure available only to those who
     preregister. [Not necessarily a TF then...Dave]
*    A collection gallery displaying private collections of American, European
     and Japanese Transformers items.
*    An autograph signing and question-and-answer session with members of the
     Transformers comic book staff. (Tentative) [perhaps because the team
     itself is tentative - Dave]
*    An art contest and auction for fans to show their talent at rendering
     their favorite Transformer.  Prizes will be awarded in two different
     categories.
*    A video gallery where Transformers cartoons will be shown, including The
     Transformers: The Movie.
*    Dealer and collector booths for the buying, selling and trading of Transformers and Transformers related items.Attendance by preregistration is encouraged as it will allow guests to guarantee a hotel room for staying overnight (if desired), and it will be the only way to get the exclusive convention action figure.  The fee for non- exhibiting guests is $15 per person before April 30, 1994.  After that date it will be $20.  Dealers and collectors who wish to set up a booth are required to pay $45 before April 30, 1994.  This includes drapes and an unskirted table for one 10'x10' booth.  Exhibitors will be allowed to bring one helper for the booth.  Additional drapes, tables, table skirting and booth spaces are also available if desired.  After April 30, the fee will be $50.  Free bus transportation will be available to and from the airport on the day of the show only.  Admission on the day of the show will be $5.  Lodging is available at the Fort Wayne Hilton at the Convention Center which is attached to the Grand Wayne Center.  The special convention rate of $62 per room will only be guaranteed to those who preregister.  The Hilton is conveniently designed so that guests do not have to go outside to travel between the Convention Center or the adjacent parking facility [and the hotel].  The hotel also has a shuttle service to transport registered guests to locations around the city, including the airport.  Many eateries are available to guests downtown, as well as those provided by the Hilton. For more information, please contact Jon Hartman at the above address.  Inquiries about the art contest and auction should be directed to David Kolodny-Nagy.[Fort Wayne Chamber of Commerce type stuff deleted.  For those uncertain exactly where this is, Fort Wayne is in the Northeast corner of Indiana.]

< clip and print! >
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

BotCon '94 Registration Sheet
Name:______________________________          
                                          |Official Use Only:    
Address:_____________________________             |Date Rec'd:__/__/__
                                                  |Reg #:                
City:________________State____Zip_____            Phone: (___)_________Age____


CONVENTION INFORMATION:
Rates:    Non-exhibitor before April 30, 1994 - $15 per person
          Non-exhibitor after April 30, 1994 - $20 per person
          Exhibitor before April 30, 1994 - $45 *
          Exhibitor after April 30, 1994 - $50 *
          Entry fee on day of show for walk-ins - $5 per person
* Fee covers one 10'x10' booth and a helper
  Please inquire if you want more than one booth

HOTEL INFORMATION:
Rates:    $62 per room per night (single or double occupancy)
          Rooms must be reserved by a deposit equal to one night's
               accomodation.
          Earliest check-in time on day of arrival is 3:00pm.  Check-out time
               is 12:00pm.

PLEASE INDICATE ONE OF EACH OF THE FOLLOWING:

_____Exhibitor
_____Non-exhibitor_____I will be driving to the show [Autobot?]
_____I will be flying to the show  [Decepticon?]_____I will be staying in the hotel on Friday night
_____I will be staying in the hotel on Saturday night
_____I will be staying in the hotel both nights.
_____Single or
 _____Double Occupancy
Number of People Attending:_____
Total Amount Enclosed:
$_____Please include your hotel deposit with your registration fee if you need a room.  Return this sheet with your check or money order to:

     BotCon '94
     209 West Rush Street
     Kendallville, IN  46755-1741



*credit* I found this in an old usenet post. Guess I'll go ahead and link to my post regarding older cons while I'm at it. Since I'm at it, check out these scans of Tomart covering BotCon 1994. Some of the copied text didn't format well to the blogger format, so I made an attempt to clean it up so it could be easily read.

It's totally him

Well, I guess... maybe... uh

There I was, late July 2002 sitting in the lobby of a Holiday Inn in Fort Wayne Indiana. It was Friday morning and I had driven overnight for BotCon. I had planned on driving the 10-12 hours from Atlanta over night and sleep a few hours before pre reg pick up. I didn't count on getting there too early and having to wait for my room to become available. So there I was sitting in the lobby, half napping, half playing my Gameboy Advance. Eventually more people started pouring into the hotel and before I knew it, some friends from Transfandom/TFW2005 (before they split up) had plopped down next to me in chairs. We all were super excited for the weekend and chattering away about what we hoped the exclusives would be.

You see, back then, it was a mystery.

That's right, back in the old days, the BotCon exclusives were a mystery. You could wait until the con to buy them, or buy them at pre reg blind. If you didn't like them, there was plenty of dealers willing to buy yours on the spot. The most you had for a clue was a rough size hint on the pre registration form.

It was super fun.

Well, in 2002 things were changing. Instead of the usual one or two exclusives, there was four. That's right, before the 10-15 exclusives of the Fun Publications days, we only got one or two. So four seemed insane. Let me break it down for you. This year there was a pre registration exclusive. Then, as the current comic publisher wasn't happy with 3H selling comics, they sold a small exclusive that came with that years convention comic. Then after that you had the traditional large and regular sized exclusives. Also for the first time, we all knew who the large exclusive was going to be. 3H had shown him off in order to get more fans to the con.

So, going in we knew the large toy was Cyclonus made from the Beast Machines Ultra Class Jetstorm toy. Which still left the other three a complete mystery. To add to the fun, there was two different con shirts that year and if you bought one during pre registration, it would be a mystery as to which one you got. Of course you could buy the other one at the show (and I did).

After I got my room and a nap, I met my friends from the lobby to go to pre reg pick up together. We were all staying at the Holiday Inn, the second hotel with a convention discount rate, but also about two blocks away from the con center. So we had a short walk ahead of us. We got in our respective lines (separated alphabetically by last name) and picked up our pre reg kits.

We were given our shirts and a small box with all out con materials inside including the pre reg exclusive. The other three were available for pick up at the Friday night dinner for those in attendance, or Saturday morning for everyone else.

The shirts were either Optimus Prime or Megatron decorated with neat art of their various bodies on the back. I got the Megatron (and totally bought the Optimus shirt the next day). The pre registration exclusive was Tap Out! Made from the recent Cliffjumper keychain toy in a neat green deco. I was ecstatic over Tap Out. I was a big fan of the keychain toys that were released months before the show.

They were reissues of the classic Bumblebee and Cliffjumper toys with a small plastic loop molded on allowing for a keychain to be attached. With this in hand, we all decided the small toy with the comic had to use the Bumblebee keychain mold. Also inside the little box was all sorts of goodies including an Optimus Prime sucker (I still have it, good thing it's wrapped in plastic... yikes) and also a neat art print. My friends got Skywarp, but I totally got Tigatron. They were all jealous, as they should have been.

There was also the convention guide book inside, which on it's cover had what one friend decided HAD to be the other exclusive. You see, the cast of Robots in Disguise (the 2001 series) were all guests and the guide cover reflected that. Each actors characters were on the cover... but for some reason, Prowl was purple and black. This wasn't too much of a hint to the rest of us, but that one guy swore we were definitely getting this.

I mean loudly. Very loudly. We were in the Burger King and there he was screaming over and over, "GUY'S, IT'S TOTALLY IT, IT'S TOTALLY IT, OH MAN IT'S SKYWARP FROM PROWL THATS WHY THE PRINT WAS IN THE BOX, GUY'S THAT'S WHY!"

So we had to leave Burger King and eat at Rally's and he had to chill out, which he didn't. He went on and on and on. Later as the dinner went on, we went down to hang out at the con center with the other non dinner attendees and tried to hear what was going on inside. Those in attendance were given free Armada and Heroes of Cybertron toys and a showing of the pilot episode of Armada was shown.

I wasn't too jealous of the toys, because they had already been showing up at stores. I was jealous over the Armada showing as it wasn't due for air for a few more months and I was eagerly looking forward to it. During the dinner, 3H revealed what the exclusives were to much applause. We didn't get to hear what they were and headed out to join in the parts parties.

Over the course of the night, I heard that there was a Cheetor in Jetfire colors. I also didn't pay it too much attention as that just sounded ridiculous.

The next morning I stood in line to get my exclusives, still mostly clueless to their identity. Then one of my friends stopped by to show me one of their con exclusives. It was CatSCAN!

Made from the Beast Machines deluxe Nightslash Cheetor in RATCHETS COLORS, in a pretty neat box that was made to resemble a small laptop, CatSCAN was pretty cool. In fact he remains to be one of my favorite BotCon exclusives. The small comic toy turned out to be made from the Bumblebee keychain as we predicted. In a cool metallic blue, Glyph was a really nice looking mini bot!

Now, about that Skywarp Prowl toy... it of course never happened and that friend didn't really hang around us for the rest of the convention.

Guess he was embarrassed.

The new big show.

Earlier today I was having trouble getting to sleep, which worked out as Brian Kilby texted me to check the RFC mail list. We had gotten the press release for the new official convention (replacing BotCon) known as HasCon.

I was kinda blown away.

So this fall, HasCon will host events not only for Transformers, but also My Little Pony and other Hasbro brands. That's kinda a deal maker as whenever I go to these shows, my wife is pretty bored. But here, she'd be able to enjoy the MLP stuff. Making for a better time for the both of us and not just me.

Also in the email was news of the upcoming new Fan Club to replace the ending one ran by Fun Publications. I'm a sucker for a fan club and even more for an official fan club. I can't help but to wonder how it would operate and how things would go. I generally liked the former club magazine and hope we get some sort of newsletter. Hopefully the new club would have some sort of membership exclusives.

Speaking of exclusives, I wonder how the at show exclusives would be? Would they be some super niche thing aimed at fans? Or would it be special editions of current figures? Personally, there has been some pretty neat special editions of current toys, so I'd be for that.

I'm super interested in what's to come of this new show. It feels weird to have watched 2 incarnations of official Transformers conventions open and close. This new show is almost like a comic con based on Hasbro characters. Considering all the properties they own, I'm not against that.

Beast Wars 2 AutoJetter

My living room makes for a good backdrop, I guess.

Years ago at Charticon, I bought this awesome AutoJetter figure for a whopping $10. It was a great deal, I had been meaning to get one eventually and for that price, who could argue? I'm quite fond of the Autorollers from G2, and the fact that the two unused molds got released in Takara's Beast Wars II line had always made me happy.

Yes I know, he's not an animal in Beast Wars.

As you can tell from the picture, this is the Korean release, which I tend to prefer for their neat packaging. I don't know why I like a box with a tray better than a window box. I just do. What's neat is, the tray inside the box has a page from a Korean newspaper taped over the tray. For what reason, I don't know. Maybe it's just the way the kid stored his toys. Or perhaps the kids grandparents kept toys at their house and felt they needed to seal up the tray. Either way, my AutoJetter has a page of Korean newspaper taped to its tray and if that's not a reason to brag, then I don't know what is.

From 1999 even! That's such a special year, even Prince sang about it.

Once you open up the special Korean newspaper seal, you find AutoJetter and his parts just lying there like a lazy bum.

Just going to lay there all day?

What's neat about this toy is, it kinda transforms itself. Like all Autorollers, you just roll him along and he folds up into robot or jet mode. That's fun in the same way popping bubble wrap used to corner the market in. With a little switch in the back, you can lock him into a mode. That's handy, because if you don't, he gets floppy. And nobody has the time for that nonsense.

As you can expect, AutoJetter turns into a jet.

Another neat play gimmick is his missile firing wings. Each wing holds 3 missles, when you move the sliding lever, it fires the missles in order. It's pretty neat and even carries over to his robot mode.

You don't want him making finger guns at you.

In robot mode AutoJetter looks kinda like a knight. There's a dominating blue color that is hidden almost completely in jet mode. Personally I love this toy. When it comes to classic toy styling or silhouette, I vastly prefer the G2 visual style. It's just got this character to it that's firmly rooted in it's time and isn't often duplicated.

AutoJetter, like all Autorollers is all toy. Which is something great considering he was made for small children to play with. I like toys better than fancy shelf pieces. A great toy is just more impressive to me and AutoJetter is both impressive and a great toy.

Also, mine is sealed in a Korean newspaper, so I have no choice but to think mine is special. Because he is.