Botcon 2013

Botcon 2013 was the second Botcon I attended, the first being Botcon 2011 in Pasadena. 2013 was held in sunny San Diego, 9 hour drive away from the California Bay Area where I reside. Early on, a few friends and I decided that if Botcon was going to be held in California again we would attend. Low and behold, the San Diego location was announced and we were on our way. Initially, the group I was planning on going with were my 2 friends, Grant and Randy, who attended Botcon 2011 with me. However, one of my super hardcore toy collecting friends, Shanti, decided to attend as a dealer. He wanted to bring some of the doubles from his vintage Transformers and Pre-Transformers collection to trade or sell.

Product for sale at Botcon

Having had a ton of experience selling at collectible toy conventions, I decided to help him out and work at his booth. Selling solo at a convention is a major pain with no one to offer breaks for restroom or food. In return Shanti offered to allow me to sell some of my stuff too. Seamed like a great experience, a good way to meet other collectors, and a awesome way to offset the cost of the trip by selling some of my unwanted toys.

Prepping for the show was a little hard since work has been hectic lately. I waited till a few days prior to the trip to really start sorting out what to bring to sell. In the end, I decided to bring a slew of Transformers G1 Encore figures, a few extra carded and MISB Transformers from Beast Wars, Energon, etc, and a smorgasbord of random anime toys I had laying around in storage. Over all I brought what amounted to 8 boxes of toys to sell with a value of about $2,500.00. I hoped I could sell half of them if possible.


Registering for Botcon 2013 was a little hectic. I was returning from a business lunch in San Jose when I randomly checked my email while stuck in traffic. I happened to see the Fun Publication email while I was in traffic and started cutting in and out of lanes to get to my exit. While I was racing home to get to my computer I also called both Grant and Randy to let them know to jump on their computers to register. I got home and registered for both the Primus pack, custom class, and extra custom figure. Grant was able to register for the same load out as well but Randy did not get in the custom class unfortunately. I felt bad so I decided to sell Randy my extra custom figure so at least he would have something.

Generations Sand Storm

Grant and I decided to rent a car and head out Wednesday, June 26 and drive down to San Diego. We would meet Randy who flew down Thursday, and Shanti who was driving down Thursday as well. Grant picked me up and passed off a Transformers Sand Storm he had picked up for me the day before. Oh, what a awesome toy. While reusing the Generations Springer mold, Sand Storm is a totally different beast. I don't think he's superior to Springer but I do think there are enough remolded parts on him to make Sand Storm stand out on his own in a major way.

Frank & Sons Loot

On the way down south, Grant and I decided to make a pit stop a Frank & Sons collectible show. Having been to Frank & Sons previously, we knew there was a Korean vendor that sold Sonokong toys for super cheap and we both wanted to stop by and see if there was anything interesting for sale. Grant picked up Sonokong Car Robots Rail Racer set MOSC for pretty cheap. I picked up 3 Beast Wars II Sonokong Auto Rollers (Auto Jetter, Auto Launcher, Auto Crasher) and a Sonokong Microman Reissue Cassette Copter Spy Heli. All 4 toys are pretty good and the total was $26. I wanted to complete the Auto Rollers for a while and missed out on the clearance sale at Big Bad Toy Store several years ago. Spy Heli also puts me one toy closer to completing my Microman Reissue collection.

Custom Class Blast Charge

Once we got to San Diego, Grant and I checked in and called it a night after grabbing some Vietnamese food. Thursday we got up and headed straight for the Town and Country Convention Center to attend the Custom Class. The custom figure was revealed as Blast Charge, a orange and brown camouflaged Warpath with the new Strika head (super similar camo to G.I.Joe Tiger Force). The figure is a dull choice for me. I was not excited at all but I wanted to make the best of the experience since I already paid for it. I was surprised that the class was so basic. We were handed a set of tools that we had to share and the figure kit which is basically a set of parts on sprue with hardware. The instructions were not very intuitive and I actually made 2 mistakes during assembly. I've put together a ton of plastic model kits, fixed and modded transformers before and I found the only challenge with the class revolved around confusing instructions and the fact that certain steps had to be done by the class staff. I found it strange that the pin holes were all too small and our hand drills were a millimeter too small to provide clearance. Additionally, we were not given the opportunity to glue parts together or hammer pins into place. 

Overall the class attendees were either close friends of each other, who stuck to their own groups, or socially awkward. I have to say it was a unique experience but I do not know if I would attend the class again, especially if I have the ability to just buy the figure separately. 

Botcon 2013 Set

By the end of the class Randy had flown in and I met up with him to grab some food. Grant stayed behind to finish his figure and also planned on attending the unofficial Encline Customization Class afterward. After grabbing a quick bite, Randy and I got in line to pick up our show badge and figure sets. This was actually a pretty easy experience than the long drawn out debacle that Botcon 2011 badge pick up was. I had a little snafu with my badge pick up (I was given a different persons badge by mistake, Steven Ng from Seattle), but after returning to the line and fixing the situation I was off to the Club Store to pick up this years club figure sets. I picked up 2 full sets of the show exclusives, one for my friend Justin who could not attend this year. Overall badge pick up and store purchases totaled 2 hours! My 2011 experience totaled 6 hours and I still had to get a ticket voucher to go back to the store the next day because it was too late. I guess Fun Pub is actually learning how to run a convention. Ha. 

Termination Box Set

Reviewing the toys that night I found I had a broken Obsidian which would need to get replaced the next morning at the trade in booth. This years Botcon set is a hit and miss for me. The Termination Machine Wars Box Set has a few winner and a few big question marks. I love Megaplex, Strika, and Hoist. I think all 3 figures are pretty good. I'm not a fan of the Movie-verse figures so Obsidian, with his awkward designed head and arms, and Skywarp with his action boobs really left me scratching my head. Additionally, I don't understand why they did not group Obsidian and Strika as a separate set and put in some of the other Machine Wars specific character in the box set. As it is, the box set is a Machine Wars / Beast Machines mix. I also do not like the window box which has paint smudges on the window. I also think having the foam showing in the window looks bad and the joke KB price tag makes the set look cheap. An additional note, I learned several days later that there was a misprint on Skywarp which Fun Pub printed the wrong emblems on his wings and also that Hoist is miss-assembled and his shoulders are backwards.

*Image Courtesy of Seibertron.com

The remaining other sets are also hit and miss. I love the Rainmakers set which consists of Sunstorm, Bitstream, and Hotlink (Hotlink still sounds like a 1-800 sex line). The Classic Seeker mold still retains it's classic sleek style and adding 3 more characters to the Seeker Armada is a godsend. The other set includes Electron and Sand Storm. Electron is a gold recolor of Hoist (with his shoulders assembled correctly!). I like him but i wish he had a baton like his G2 original counterpart. Sand Storm is a recolor of Movie-verse Skyhammer. And again, I'm not a fan of the Movie-verse design aesthetic. His Mech-tech type weapon has no lock to extend the blade gimmick out for display and I just can't get over his copter blades wrapping around his chest. To me, he's just a poorly designed mess and a waste of a good slot for a more interesting designed Transformer figure. The show figure is Star Scream based on Movie-verse Terra Dive. Meh. It;s a nice figure and probably one of the better Move-verse figures but he really does not do much for me and does not even look like the original Machine Wars Star Scream figure at all. I sold both my Kreon sets to my friend, Justin, so I don't have an opinion on them.

e-hobby Insect Clone Army

Friday morning, I met up with Shanti in the morning and started set up for our booth. After setting our toys up we chatted with other dealers and I sold a few things early to interested parties. Overall I believe I sold $700 worth of items on my first day. On Saturday I worked at the booth for most of the day. I took a break to attend the Hasbro Brand Panel which unveiled some interesting direction changes for the toy line. I have to say I'm not a fan of their size problem fix. Enlarging the figure and dumbing down the transformation complexity and design will definitely alienate me as a consumer and collector. Also, adding the Lego Bionicle type figures does nothing for me as a collector. I know they are trying to aim for the kids market which is the backbone of profits for Hasbro and their retailers but this new direction will probably help me save money ... which is a good thing I guess. I was excited to see some of the new figures like Skids, Whirl, Gold Fire, and Double Dealer though. Also, Shanti picked up a Loyal Subjects Soundwave figure for me, super nice of him. 

Botcon Loot

On Sunday, I decided to do a little shopping. Overall my sales were pretty steady. A bunch of my high ticket Robotech Toynami and Yamato Veritech / Valkyries sold and I felt like I had money burning in my pocket. Previously, I had talked to Shanti about getting first dibs on some of the toys he was selling and I was able to pick up some pretty choice items, including a slew of Kronoform sets and a loose e-hobby Insecticon set (Minus Energon Cubes). The Kronoform sets included Togor, Modulator, and Invaceptron. Taking a break late in the day, Grant and I walked the dealers room and I picked up Transformers Galaxy Force Blue Ramble (the last regular Ramble figure I was missing from my collection) and I slapped down the $320 and finally picked up Encore Fortress Maximus! Overall Sunday was pretty exciting. I met both Ryan Yzquierdo from Seibertron.com and Jack Hurwitz from Tformers which was a treat for me since I follow both of their sites religiously. Also Jack helped me out a long time ago when I bought my Brave Maximus and it was missing his head master. He emailed Big Bad Toy Store on my behalf which was truly a stand-up move for a website owner to do for a reader.

Now totally tapped out, it was time to pack up. Overall, it was crowded but not insanely so like my past experience in 2011. I was left feeling like there was less attendees this year for some reason but I can't be sure and this is only a feeling I had. Plus I was mainly in the dealers room for most of the time. After it was all said and done I sold about $1454 in products, came out paying for the show and all my new acquisitions with $104 to spare! I brought back a single box of toys that I was unable to sell and a additional full box of new toys. It was totally fun. I have to think about if I ever want to attend the custom class again. I'm not sure it's worth it. The show figures were hit and miss with a ton of factory flaws but some grerat stand out figures. Selling at the show was totally awesome and it was great to meet a lot of fans and also hang out with my good friend Shanti. Hope to do this again sometime soon in the future.

Togor says "Sayonara"

Toy Purchases May 2012

The month of May has become my traditional Botcon toy month since I started collecting Fun Publications Transformers releases. While I did not attend Botcon 2012 this year since it was held Dallas, Texas (no offense but yucky heat). I did preorder the Botcon 2012 Set dubbed Invasion. Since I preordered the set I eagerly awaiting the release news of the new subsets that would be available at the show for attendees and I was pleasantly surprised at the mix of molds and themes. While I originally only wanted to pick up a few straggler pieces for my collection the completionist in me won over the more prudent part of myself I decided to opt to hunt down the entire collection. Additionally, I picked up a Chinese bootleg CHMS version of the Fun Publications 2010 release of Punch Counterpunch and another addition to the Transformers Prime Takara Tomy exclusive set, Breakdown, in May.

SG Treadshot, SG Soundwave, Metail Hawk, SG Ultra Magnus, Overloard, SG Tracks *Image Courtesy of TFW2005.com

The Invasion box set comes with the following figures, including Shattered Glass Treadshot (reissue/recolor of Reveal the Shield Special Ops Jazz with a new head), Shattered Glass Soundwave (reissue/recolor of Generations Ironhide with a new head), Metal Hawk (reissue/recolor of Generations Thunder Wing with a new head), Shattered Glass Ultra Magnus (reissue/recolor of Reveal the Shield G2 Laser Optimus Prime with a new head), Overlord (reissue/recolor of Return of the Fallen Bludgeon with a new head), and Shattered Glass Tracks (reissue/recolor of Reveal the Shield Turbo Tracks).

For the most part, each figure is basically the same as it's progenitor counterpart except in color scheme and sometimes the  head. It's rumored that most of the alternate heads with the exception of Overlord, Soundwave, and Metal Hawk were already designed and created when the original figures released and held back for future use. This is due to the fact that some of the original figures illustrated the alternate heads in their instruction papers. And it goes without saying that Overlord, Soundwave, and Metal Hawk's heads were designed by someone different than the original figures designer as these heads look out of proportion and comic book-ish. Over all the set has some hits and misses. Most of the figures look great but Overlords head is a little ... horrible with his goofy grin and extended chin. For Soundwave, the Universe Ironhide mold has always been pretty bad. Plus Soundwave's head is pretty much the most crappy Soundwave head ever made for Transformers. Metal Hawks look is ok but his paint app for his eyes are horribly applied. Most figures are like snowflakes and unique in eye locations. Some look passable, some look like retarded cross-eyed down syndrome babies (again no offense).

Kickover and SG Optimus Prime *Image Courtesy of TFW2005.com

The 3 additional sets that accompany the Botcon Invasion set and make up the Botcon 2012 collection are, Kickover (reissue/recolor of Reveal the Shield Special Ops Jazz with a new head different than SG Treashots) and Shattered Glass Optimus Prime (reissue/recolor of G2 Laser Optimus Prime with new head that is same as SG Ultra Magnus), Spinister (reissue/recolor of Hunt for the Decepticons Tomahawk with new head) and Octopunch (reissue/recolor of Hunt for the Decepticons Sea Spray) , and the Shattered Glass Junkion 3-pack which consists of Wrek-gar (reissue/recolor of Reveal the Shield Wrek-gar), Junkheap (reissue/recolor of Generations Junkheap), and Scrapheap (reissue/recolor of Japanese Takara Tomy exclsuive United Scrapheap). 

Easily the the strongest set out of the periphery sets is the Kickover/SG Prime set. The Reveal the Shield Special Ops Jazz mold is one of the better molds in the last 5 years of Transformers toys and it's used to good effect with both Kickover and Treadshot. SG Prime has a more powerful color scheme than SG Ultra Magnus or the original Lasrer Optimus Prime and is more imposing with the dark hue of the purple redeco.

SG Wrek-gar, SG Scrapheap, SG Junkheap *Image Courtesy of TFW2005.com

The Junkion set is a close second. Each of these Junkion figures was released within a good 2 year span within separate toy lines but they have never been collected into a single set such as this. It was a excellent choice to release this set and the Shatter Glass theme of coloring them like Insecticons works really well here. It's a little sad though that the SG Scrapheap is easier to get than the original Japanese exclusive Takara Tomy United Scrapheap.

SG Octo Punch, Spinister *Image Courtesy of TFW2005.com

The loser in this series by miles is the Spinister/Octopunch release. I'm not sure why they opted to release this when they could have gone with a more G1 route. I think this set was released as a token to appease any Bay-verse toy mold fans. It is a nice homage in some respects to the Seacons but this set is totally out of place with the rest of the released 2012 Fan Publication collection.

Bard of Darkmouth *Image Courtesy of TFW2005.com

Out of all the Fun Publication toys that released this year, the only toy I missed out on and have yet to obtain for a decent price is the Botcon 2012 attendee figure Bard of Darkmount (a reissue/recolor of Generations Darkmount). I had him on preorder at both BBTS and TFSource and both stores let me down. By the time I got the notification that they had cancelled my order, the ebay prices on this figure jumped to the "umm god no, are you serious?" level. I still want him but I'm content to wait it out until the market stabilizes. I try not to spend more than $80 on any of these figures. $100 is just ridiculous.

Breakdown *Image Courtesy of Takara Tomy

Finally, I can get to the regular stuff, ha. The one Transformers Prime Takara Tomy figure that I knew I had to get because it was not making it's way to the US was Breakdown. At the time he was a prominent figure in the Transformers Prime animated show and a chief loyal enforcer for Megatron. Partnered with Knockdown, the pair was a formidable team in the show. I can't believe Hasbro opted to skip out on releasing him. [Spoiler Warning] I think they knew beforehand that he was going to die in season 2 and opted to skip out on his release. If you look at the pattern of Hasbro releases, they tend to skip characters that will die soon, First Edition Cliffjumper, Sky Quake, and Breakdown.

Overall Breakdown is a awesome figure. He's bulky and a good rival to Bulkhead. Transformation is about medium level complicated. The sticker decals for this mold are fairly hard to apply though. The bumper, side detailing, and knee guards all require expert skill to apply correctly. Breakdown's Arms Micron Zamu is a Rhino that transforms into his trademark hammer. My only complaint is that Breakdowns forearm guard has to rotate to attach Zamu to Breakdown and the rotation of the part leaves the forearm guard rather vulnerable to snapping. Otherwise, this figure is probably in the top 3 molds of this line and it's a shame Hasbro opted to skip it. It's worthy of noting that the trademark copyright on the figure only has Takara Tomy info. I don't think the US will get this guy anytime soon. ) =

Punch Counterpunch *Image Courtesy of TFW2005.com

The last figure I purchased for May is the CHMS Punch Counterpunch bootleg. I really wanted to get the original Fun Publication Transformers Club Exclusive figure back in 2010 but I passed on subscribing to the club at the time since I was not in to the Botcon sets and all the club figures did not appeal to me at all. Once this figure released, the aftermarket asking price sky rocketed to upwards of $300. So when I heard that CHMS was bootlegging this figure I jumped at the chance to own it. While the figure is a fairly accurate representation of the original it is a bootleg. It's missing the rub signs of the original and the paint apps are a little off. Also the figures transformation is not smooth like the original. This is definitely a cast off mold or the original figure. But I'm glad I got this since I would not ever pay $300 for a deluxe size figure. Shit, I would not spend more than $80 ever. Even saying that makes me shutter.