Great Value BotCon 2020 begins with an Astrotrain!

ウォルマート限定復刻版アストロトレインのストア登録 https://t.co/6PxtefOiE1 pic.twitter.com/F4aPAJiwcQ

— オートベース愛知 (@autobase_aichi) December 29, 2019

Will I ever get tired of my lame Great Value BotCon joke? Well, I can't predict the future, but right now I foresee a big nope. 2019 is coming to a close and folks have already found the 2020 Walmart reissue Astrotrain! I immediately checked the Walmart ap and sadly it's not in stock at the stores local to me. The ap is pretty useful for these types of things, but sometimes it'll drive you crazy. The ap will show it in stock, but it won't be on the shelf. Meaning it's still in the back. Or in 2018, it showed me the store nearest my work had Devastator in stock and no Starscream. Upon arriving... it was the opposite. Guess somebody goofed.

Thanks to the fan votes from this time last year, we know that Astrotrain and Perceptor will be the 2020 toys with no mention of Minibots. Seeing as the 2019 Minibots were something of a surprise, I'm hoping for a repeat of that. You had Optimus show up in January, Gears and Warpath shortly after. Soundwave in summer with cassettes showing a little later. The 2018 ones came out late summer with the Minibots in December. I'm wondering if 2020 will follow 2019 closer to release pattern. Hopefully that means smaller bots being a surprise. I'd be game for more Minibots or cassettes. Maybe something really neat like Throttlebots or something. Sure, the pattern is following previously reissued molds, but hey... we really only know what they tell us or get's leaked out. So, maybe something right out of the left field could happen. I'd really like that.

I'm glad Astrotrain's in his classic grey and purple deco. I'm sure they'll be slight differences from the original toy and this version (I like that honestly). In the mid 2000's when they released Astrotrain it was in his Japanese white deco. At the time that was really cool. White Astrotrain was like Stepper/Ricochet or Artfire, a cool oddity that was pretty hard to get at the time. Stepper got reissued making him easier to get. Same with Soundblaster. Suddenly these harder to get guys were a little easier to get and a little more common. While I have an old purple and grey toy, getting a nice new one is something I'm looking forward too. I've always really liked Astrotrain, so it's a pretty big treat for me.

Transformers SDCC 2019 reveals

Even more new Transformers products were shown off earlier today (yesterday depending on your schedule) and MAN! Adding to my Great Value BotCon of G1 reissues exclusive to Walmart stores is now the 35th anniversary toys will also be exclusive to Walmart! This is something I'm loving as like many of you I'm in Walmart every weekend as is, and well they've generally got the best prices. I was pretty worried I'd have to order from some odd web store, which means it would pretty much get poached the second the toys go up. Which not only would crash the site, but also sell out in a second. So unlike SDCC exclusives that are pretty hard to get when you have a busy schedule (no, I'm not taking time off to sit in front of a web page, I've said before I will not be punished for being a responsible adult), they'll be at my local Walmart! And honestly, I live in the south so I have plenty to choose from in a stones throw.

Under the break is links to galleries and such.

Great Value BotCon 2019 Optimus Prime?

The news of this leak has been making the rounds in the past few hours with most speculating that this will be one of the Walmart G1 reissues for 2019 (since we now know Astrotrain won the fan vote for 2020). Some folks are debating that it's a custom based on the rounded corners and what not, but I'm thinking it's a pretty good possibility. Mainly due to the type of ties holding Optimus to his insert that can be seen, the P.E.T plastic logo visible, multi-lingual text, and the legal info on the back of the box.

I mean, sure it could be fake, but it's real enough looking to be plausible. So with that discussed, I'll just go with the 'what if it is real' and speculate from here. I've really enjoyed the Walmart reissue line and obviously Optimus would be a good choice. I mean... duh. The sticking point a lot are pointing out is the lack of trailer. I would assume this would be a cost cutting measure making Optimus priced similar to Hot Rod as with the trailer he'd probably skew higher than what Walmart would want to put on that shelf. Devastator was pricey, but that was a gift set. This is one bot, $35 for Starscream was probably pushing it, so I can understand why it's be just a cab only release.

Honestly it doesn't bother me as the slight differences in these Walmart reissues have held a certain novelty charm for me. I'm upfront that it's not the original release I just bought, so having an exact replica isn't an issue for me. I like the small differences between releases, it's a weird little checkbox that's nice to have checked. Not to mention, good grief how many G1 Optimus Primes do I have? I got a trailer or billion to stick on him if I really wanted to. Back to that small differences thing, having a cab only Optimus in a vintage style box is neat. It's just neat to have a new version presented as an old thing. I hope his colors are slightly different. Like a hue off or so. I just dig that man. I wonder who else is slated for Great Value Botcon 2019?

Great Value BotCon

Ever since the Walmart exclusive G1 reissue Transformers were first shown, I've been jokingly saying Great Value BotCon or Sam's Choice BotCon. It's a silly thing I've been saying as back in the day, something like a G1 Transformers was something you might have to wait until BotCon to score a decent one. Now you can just go to Walmart. I'm being silly, but I'm also outright going to use the term for something else right now.

BotCon was the first Transformers convention, and for many years the only Transformers convention. It became Hasbro supported and eventually an official entity. Ran by a few different organizers, it was retired in 2016. Somewhere around the early 2000's (maybe even earlier) smaller fan run shows became a regular thing, some growing to even rival BotCon in size. There's also the occasional fan meet up organized by individuals based on things like fan groups or local areas. I've organized a few back in the earlier days of the  Georgia Transformers Fans group. It's fun and that's where I'm going with this.

Going to conventions is great, it's awesome, it's a fun time to be had with other fans in the hobby. It's our little subculture that lives on the fringe, still not sure how to handle the mainstream popularity of Transformers since the live action movies. Problem with conventions is, a convention is just once a year. BotCon (and now TFCon USA) traveled each year. You might not be able to make it due to location, finances, personal situations, or maybe all of the above. Things happen, life happens. Other Transformers shows are generally in the same location, but still might not be accessible depending on factors.

So why not have your own?

Since the dawn of social media, it's much easier to hook up with fans in your area. It doesn't take much to plan a get together with a few like minded individuals. Maybe everyone meets up at a restaurant and goes to some nearby stores after. There was just that screening of the 1986 Transformers movie. That would have been ideal to organize something with others in attendance. Or hey, Bumblebee is about to come out. Arrange a group viewing and a trip to the store later! Maybe rent out a room somewhere, get some folks to set up tables with toys they may have to sell or customs they have to show off. You could play some episodes and order pizza (everyone can chip in $5 each for some Little Caesar's). There's that new trading card game, I'm sure getting players together couldn't be that hard.

Name your event, it can be as simple as just 'Transformers Delaware Fans Meet Up' or 'Local Fans Bumblebee Viewing'. Maybe even give it a neato name, maybe it could become bigger and become the next BotCon one day. Have one as often as you can possibly have one, it's your party. The Transformers fandom was grown from grassroots and from grassroots it will continue even if the mainstream attention fades away (won't be the first time). Have fun, you might meet some new people and make some new friends, or have some new fun with old friends.

You know, maybe you could just stroll into Walmart and get one of those G1 reissues.