Yeah, I'm going to this one too. It will be at the beautiful Disney Swan and Dolphin resort in the Walt Disney World Resort area.

Here's the official site: http://www.botcon.com/BotCon10/

Key possibilities:

Hasbro is sure to debut something. What, I don't know!

Peter Cullen will be there! (So looking forward to meeting him, hopefully)

Takara/Tomy will have their own panel! Hopefully they'll show off more of their 2010 Collector items like G1 colored and retooled Unicron, sleep mode Masterpiece Prime, and maybe a Masterpiece Hot Rod/Rodimus Prime? (strong rumor!)

A massive money pit of a convention hall filled with things I will want to buy but will more than likely make me cry because I can't.

Anybody else going?

Julius gave Botcon some love on the front page:

http://www.actionfigureinsider.com/main/official-transformers-convention2010-orlando

I'll get there Friday. I'll take pics and give reports as much as I can!

Hope you enjoy it. I attended when it was in RI back in 2007 and had a good time.

I'd like to go, if only to attempt to snag a complete set of Predacons. He's the only classic combiner I want that I don't have.

6:30 a.m. Peter Cullen line. Must be a 100 people in front me. Sucks to be a dork.

Back from Botcon! Overall impression: it's a ripoff. But that's okay because I still met Peter Cullen, scored some hard to find toys and once again verified how normal I actually am.

But on to the show:

Peter Cullen was the highlight of the con for me. He genuinely seems overwhelmed and appreciative of the outpouring of affection from fans. Even a bit uncomfortable with it. He seems very down-to-earth and is immensely generous with fans.

He did a funny bit of Eeyore (easy to forget he was the voice of Eeyore among many other characters; even in Transformers) talking to Optimus Prime in his panel. I'd recount it but second-hand jokes are never funny. I'm sure someone on YouTube has it. He concluded the panel with a heartfelt thanks and a geek-gasm inducing "Autobots, transform and ROLL OUT!!!"

Here he is before I met him:



As for the dealer room, it was disappointing. Even Botcon veterans were saying there weren't as many exhibitors this year. I went in with a specific list of toys and only found 2 of them. Nobody had the top thing on my list. I still ended up getting a few other things I'd had trouble tracking down through normal means anyway so it wasn't a total loss.

On to the toy previews! I didn't see much I hadn't seen before online but it was all nice to see none-the-less.

Here's the upcoming Leader Class Starscream which is all kinds of awesome up close (and huge!).



Maybe the figure that surprised me the most was Sea Spray. Smaller than I expected and much cooler in person.



Here's a Legends scale Ravage I was not aware of before that looks great.



The immensely awesome Human Alliance Jazz.



The much-cooler-in-person latest rendition of Voyager Optimus Prime.



And finally, San Diego CC exclusive Reissue Blaster.



I did take pictures of all of the War for Cybertron figures which look very good. Maybe in another post.

All in all, I probably wouldn't do it again unless it was in my home city but Peter Cullen saved it.

Till all are one!

Thanks for the report and the pictures!

Awesome pics and write-up! Thanks so much for sharing.

Fantastic photos, UM!

I've always found these types of cons to be great for one reason alone and that's the panels with the toy makers (granted, I would've loved to have met Cullen... missed the chance when BotCon was in a Kentucky a couple years back), the dealer room and the fan panels usually leave me completely cold...

Thanks, everyone! I didn't go to many panels but my understanding is Hasbro didn't get good until their last panel on Sunday. Unfortunately, I was already Botconned out by then and had left. Though apparently there was nothing substantial. Just a lot of stuff in concept stages and tantalizing nuggets to tease us. Things like they're working on a Kup and other random pseudo-confirmations like they do want to complete doing updates of the original 13. We'll see. I would've loved to have gone to the Takara panel but I arrived pretty much when it ended. I don't think anything all that newsworthy came out of it though. It still would've been cool to see and hear some of the fathers of Transformers.

Here are some more observations:

Peter Cullen has a lot of love for Frank Welker. He was most relaxed when speaking about him.

Transformers: Prime, the new animated show to premiere on Hasbro's network this Fall, will feature both the voices of Cullen and Welker once again. The show sounds great from what little I've heard. Kind of a blend of G1 and movie-verse and not necessarily married to either. No toys to support the show just yet.

In hindsight, I'm surprised at how few guests there were, beyond the expected Hasbro people. Only 3 voice actors (Cullen, Scott McNeill, and Paul Eiding), Bob Budiansky, and a couple of IDW artists. Of course, the ever-present Stan Bush too.

I was disappointed there weren't any props or vehicles from the movies. Of course, they are shooting right now but I was still hoping to see something. Chevy was on hand with a new Camaro but it was easy to tell it was a factory vehicle made to look like Bumblebee and not a screen-used car. The paint job wasn't even close.

I made a video with all of my pictures and some video of Peter Cullen but YouTube is being a pain about the music I used and deleted the audio. If anyone knows where I can host it without annoying the licensing gods, let me know and I'll be happy to post it.

SO......I'm not crazy. When I was checking out con coverage on youtube, I couldn't help but notice that things looked awfully small this year. I still can't bring my self to go to botcon while its several states away from my NJ. Hundreds of $$$ to stay in a hotel (that is if you want to qualify for the special offers) & $50 for 1st day erly bird entrance. & lets face it, if your not gonna go early they theres no real reason to got at all!

The point is why shell out all that $$$$??? Some say its to get the exclusives at con retail price. But I'm like after all the money you spent on Hotel, air fare, & addmition, then you could have just as well stayed home & cherry pick what you want off ebay. Sorry but being among "fellow collectors" is hardly a consolation prize for me......no offense.

Bottom line M. Bay has made an utter mess of the TF franchise. Hasbro knows it & so do the fans (even if they don't want to admit it). Bay thought he could continue to skate by on TF FX alone with out giving a real story to sink your teeth in to. I think I saw some where that the new MP mold was gonna be movie Starscream......I'm like......WHY????

TF has been in dire need of several new MP molds & instead of doing a sure fire G1, they reach to the movie stuff that clogging pegs & shelves. Bay says his 3rd TF film will be more G1 inspired but frankly I think the big cry baby is gonna throw a bunch of crap together & run & hide under his bed LOL.

I remember he was throwing a temper tantrum before ROTF hit theators crying the critics are to hard on him. Gee Wiz Mike....you right, who ever cant see the noteworthiness of one giant robot walking with a cane & commits suiside just to be a jet pack accessory or an even bigger robots testicules......well if they can't see the art in that shame on them .

Bay knows all to well he is WAAAAY out of his element & is sorry that he ever laid hands on TF property.

Not more sorry than me

Thanks for the report and quality pics, Uncle! I'm gonna check out your video soon as you can post a link. YouTube is pulling the plug on everyone's audio nowadays.

Peter Cullen is a legend. I saw a photo of him years ago wearing a cowboy hat and he looked just like I pictured him. It's always great to hear that he's being appreciated for his contribution to the franchise. I would have paid good money to meet him! Same goes for Bob Budianski due to his writing and overall work for Marvel as both creator and editor.

I missed out on SDCC Soundwave last year, but Blaster won't slip me by, hopefully. It's very cool to see Seaspray as a larger figure after so many years. Always did like him. And is that Trailbreaker to his right?

I read the other day about how VW won't license the rights to Hasbro, which mean no more Bug modes for Bumblebee/Goldbug. They're passing up tons of money and all that brand recognition for nothing. It sucks.

Eh, Bumblebee always sucked anyway.

Now, Wheeljack? He was awesome!

Yeah VW/Porsche don't want their products to be associated with war.

Anyway, nice report on Botcon. I can't bring myself to go all that way for a TF specific con but I will go to it next year when it's in Pasadena.

That would be Night Ops Ratchet from the movie line. I already saw it at Toys R Us this past weekend. They had Sea Spray too but the paint apps weren't up to par.



I did not get the exclusive toys, actually. That was well over $400 and I didn't feel like spending it. In fairness, it did include more than just the toys though. Of course, had I got them I could sell them for a handsome profit right now but I'll leave that to others. But even the standard entrances like the Protoform package and just below it were well above convention standards. It doesn't cost as much to get into San Diego or Celebration V, didn't included the awards dinner or other perks, and simply wasn't a good value.

You could've had the hotel pretty cheap if you got in early enough. And I live 3 and a half hours away so no airfare for me. I wouldn't have gone otherwise, though.

Thanks for the kind words everyone!