Botcon '12 Exclusives

[Dominic]

lder, off-screen bodies, no virtually-context-free G2-color scheme nonsense,

The more I think about it, the more I think that 2010 was a good concept that was stupidly handled, rather than a bad concept stupidly handled. The idea of new characters being built on Earth is fine.

My problem with the 2011 set is that it crossed the line between fun and went over in to "obnoxious whimsy". ("Whimsy" is a word that makes me want to hit and hurt people.)

What makes Vice Grip desirable at all?

There are many good things about Vice Grip.

That toy is under-loved.

You know what? Screw you. Screw you hard.

(Seriously, Vice Grip is great fun. As much as I hate BW, I still like both the toy and character.)

There’s a toy that a lot of people had said they wanted, but had virtually no chance of being released at retail.

It was actually a vocal minority of fans who wanted it.

Y’know what the kicker is? Sorenson never even says anywhere that Animated Sideways is either RiD/RM/UT Sideways or ROTF Sideways. He never actually says “This guy came from the Armada universe, and now he’s going to the Movie universe where he’ll turn into a silver Audi.”.

And, you know how any sensible person, or even David "fuckface" Willis is going to read it. Sorenson is encouraging the kind of creative mis-reading that the idiot demographic fans indulge in, and you know it.

These are the douchebags that decided that Hammerstrike is apparently the same character as Cybershark based on the fact that *their techspecs are kind of similar*. Fuck those guys.

Wait, what?

Seriously, we need to get our TF reference page running. I know that this is off topic, but I really would like to see something with the breadth (though realistically not the depth) of the wiki, but the reliability of TFU (which is slow to update sometimes, but generally pretty accurate). Last I checked, JT was on board for this. But, we have not done anything with it.

I tell you, I almost want it just because of the ducks on his chest. Plus, I just dig that mold in general.

I like the mould. But, this is an easy skip for me. Unless it is packed with something that I want, I will not bother. (This is the first year that I have ever planned to customize the few toys that I am interested in.)


Dom
-would have updated the wiki as well.

[BWprowl]

I would not want a spot in a convention set wasted on a fart joke though.

This from the guy who nearly went without eating to buy ‘Bad Rhino’.

My problem with the 2011 set is that it crossed the line between fun and went over in to "obnoxious whimsy". ("Whimsy" is a word that makes me want to hit and hurt people.)

Just Toxitron, maybe. The rest were perfectly fine. Seriously, “Because it’s not serious/mature enough” is a rather petty reason to hate on a set of action figures.

There are many good things about Vice Grip.

That toy is under-loved.

You know what? Screw you. Screw you hard.

(Seriously, Vice Grip is great fun. As much as I hate BW, I still like both the toy and character.)

The Powerpinch mold is a nice toy, sure, but my point was: What made Vice Grip so special, so desirable, that he necessitated being sold exclusively at a convention for triple the value? He’s a two-color repaint of a neglected mold into a character that did nothing of import and was practically forgotten once that convention ended. There is absolutely nothing to make the *fans* (not just the primary-the only audience for this toy, mind you) want him. Even crap like Windrazor, Antagony, and Sandstorm tied into a multi-convention, overarching story, told exclusively to the fans by a fan-favorite author; this made them more ‘special’ and gave them a reason to be sold only at the convention. Vice Grip could’ve easily just been stuck in a regular BW wave, there’s no more unique about that toy, or what little context it received, than there is about Buzzsaw, or the FoxKids repaints of earlier characters. There was nothing defining about Vice Grip, he’s just Blue Powerpinch.

There’s a toy that a lot of people had said they wanted, but had virtually no chance of being released at retail.

It was actually a vocal minority of fans who wanted it.

And they only produced a minor, exclusive quantity of it, to satisfy the demand of that minority. I don’t see how this is a bad use of an exclusive. Would you prefer that they release such a thing at mass-retail, so a couple thousand fans can buy some of them, leaving the rest to rot on the pegs? Or another Thundergate, where they make a toy that *everyone* wants, but only a few are allowed to get, due to its exclusive nature?

And, you know how any sensible person, or even David "fuckface" Willis is going to read it. Sorenson is encouraging the kind of creative mis-reading that the idiot demographic fans indulge in, and you know it.

This sounds like a problem with the fans, not Sorenson. Maybe we need to lighten the hell up. Or at least consult the author of an ambiguous piece of information before we go jamming said info into a wiki because we just think it’d be sooooo cool if all the Sidewayses were the same guy.

Seriously, we need to get our TF reference page running. I know that this is off topic, but I really would like to see something with the breadth (though realistically not the depth) of the wiki, but the reliability of TFU (which is slow to update sometimes, but generally pretty accurate). Last I checked, JT was on board for this. But, we have not done anything with it.

Man, we can’t even get a podcast going. I think you are seriously overestimating the work ethic and motivation of this group. We’re here to BS about Transformers and comics and crap; we can’t turn it into a *job*.

[BWprowl]

Wait, what?

You can look it up, it’s there. There’s also a note on Manterror’s page speculating that he’s probably the same guy as Buzzclaw, again, on account of them having kinda similar bio notes. I’m getting the impression that there’s some douchebag BW fan on there who thinks it’s super-cool if there’re only like three extra BW characters and they just keep getting upgraded/reborn into new bodies with different names.

[Dominic]

If there was some "from Hasbro" evidence, I would give it to them, (such as a last minute name change or some other pre-BM confusion). But, the examples you give are just evidence that the wiki is run by assholes.

This from the guy who nearly went without eating to buy ‘Bad Rhino’.

That was 15 years ago, and uh..... Yeah, it was a long time ago.

And, "bad rhino" was uh.....

You know what? Screw you.

Joking aside, I was not foisting an idiotic meme on the fandom. "Bad rhino" was a silly joke between myself, Honey Bear and a few others. But, i was not saying "oh, look, Retardimus Prime lolololololol".

I do not mind a bit of silliness. But, TFA takes it to obnoxious levels. (I mean, c'mon, Willis is a satirist, right? C'mon, dude, he is so whimsical and fun....)

What made Vice Grip so special, so desirable, that he necessitated being sold exclusively at a convention for triple the value?

Not too many people, including myself, had Powerpinch. Vice Grip was a legitimately "new" toy for many of us. And, the character was better than the standard for early Beast-era 'cons.

This sounds like a problem with the fans, not Sorenson. Maybe we need to lighten the hell up. Or at least consult the author of an ambiguous piece of information before we go jamming said info into a wiki because we just think it’d be sooooo cool if all the Sidewayses were the same guy.

The only ambiguity comes from a deliberate misreading, or the writer being a twit. Dude, you know better than this.

[BWprowl]

Joking aside, I was not foisting an idiotic meme on the fandom. "Bad rhino" was a silly joke between myself, Honey Bear and a few others. But, i was not saying "oh, look, Retardimus Prime lolololololol".

Sometimes characters are just meant to be humorous. I wouldn't call Toxitron an 'idiotic meme', he's just a Character Who Is Funny. Not everything has to be totally serious and legitimate all the time. Toxitron is just there as a funny character, he's no more offensive than Waspinator.

Not too many people, including myself, had Powerpinch. Vice Grip was a legitimately "new" toy for many of us.

Okay, I may need more of a history lesson on this than I apparently had. Was Powerpinch shortpacked, or otherwise hard to come by, for some reason? This was when I was Still A Kid, you know, and I think my brother and I *both* had that toy.

The only ambiguity comes from a deliberate misreading, or the writer being a twit. Dude, you know better than this.

Sorenson made a joke, but was purposefully ambiguous, seemingly so people wouldn't misinterpret said joke and take it as a statement of fact. Willis misread it anyway, and took it as such. If he wanted to say that UT Sideways, Animated Sideways, and ROTF Sideways were all the same guy, he easily could have said "Hey, UT Sideways, Animated Sideways, and ROTF Sideways are all the same guy". But he didn't, because he *knew* it would cause problems if he outright stated something like that. Granted, it ended up causing problems anyway, but still. The fact that Walky was quite literally the ONLY person who jumped on the point only proves that Sorenson shouldn't have had to worry about upsetting the quantum fabric of TF continuity with a joke about the disparate portrayals of guys named Sideways.

[Dominic]

Toxitron is just there as a funny character, he's no more offensive than Waspinator.

Waspinator started to grate on me in season 3.

Okay, I may need more of a history lesson on this than I apparently had. Was Powerpinch shortpacked, or otherwise hard to come by, for some reason? This was when I was Still A Kid, you know, and I think my brother and I *both* had that toy.

Powerpinch was a non-show basic that many people just skipped, despite it being a good mould.

but was purposefully ambiguous, seemingly so people wouldn't misinterpret said joke and take it as a statement of fact

Sorenson described a dimension jumping character named Sideways that was on his way t Shanghai. How the hell is that supposed to be read?


Dom

[BWprowl]

Okay, so eeeevil Ultra Magnus got fully-revealed yesterday. It’s the Diaclone Powered Convoy scheme, so there’s entirely too much blue on him, but the real sticking point is that head! It’s supposedly molded in a skull-shape like the art on the front page, but the front of it’s done entirely in clear plastic, so you can hardly make anything out, least of all from the photos they’ve given us. Vehicle mode looks nice though.

Again though, in this case I’m just happy they didn’t make the Black Convoy or Laser Ultra Magnus scheme an exclusive, gives those things more chance to appear at retail.

I find it kind of funny that FunPub keeps accidentally choosing to use ‘obscure’ characters that IDW also happens to pick to use at the same time. Last year saw both teams give focus to Ironfist and Pyro, and now we’ve got BotCon’s version of Metalhawk coming out, just as IDW’s setting him up for a role in the RID ongoing. Communication, folks!

[Onslaught Six]

[Shockwave]

Toxitron is Bizarro. Complete with speech patterns and everything. His protrayal doesn't really come off as comedic sidekick but more like brute who's dumb as a nail and that's an insult to the nail. The story in the 2011 comic served to wrap up what happened after the end of Animated and also to give the exclusives context.

As for the point of con exclusives, I like the idea of getting rare characters rather than ones made up for the con. I mean I could give a fuck about Apelinq or any of the 4H set characters but if Botcon gets me Animated Stunticons? Awesome. I guess what I really mean with that is that I would prefer the exclusive spot go to already established characters than somebody dreaming up new ones only to have just the one appearance.

[138 Scourge]

Looking at it practically, Shock, I agree with you. I can see why people would get more excited over name characters as opposed to random repaint dudes. Especially since the stories for the random repaint dudes are usually just about god-awful. If someone's gonna shell out the money for the wildly expensive box sets, they oughtta get characters that they like, sure.

But on the other hand, I can't help but dislike the idea of someone's favorite character being done up as a BotCon thing and them not being able to get it. Yeah, I'll laugh about it if they act like total tards about it online like a lot of the Thundergaters did, but, say, if BotCon Scourge had been a decent approximation of Scourge, I'd probably have been kind of cross about the whole thing. Or if Ramjet had been one of the con exclusive dudes in '07, I might have been laughing about Thundergate out the other side of my face. Still, the Con's gotta make money so they can keep having Cons, so I guess they oughtta keep doing what they're doing.

I think '06 and '11 had it figured out the best, though. You random-repaint toys from one line into big characters from another. Best of both worlds, I guess? It seems really kind of cool and clever that way. Well, I thought the '06 set was clever, anyhow.

All that said, my favorite BotCon toy is one of the random repaint dudes. I don't know a damn thing about Sandstorm's character, but he's got a fine mold and is by far the best paintjob that mold's had. And I was able to get him for a reasonable price. Twenty, twenty-five bucks, something like that? Couldn't say that about any of the more recent BotCon things, most likely.

EDIT: Wow, so is SG Magnus supposed to look like Bludgeon, or is it just that any TF with a skullface wearing a helmet's gonna look like Bludgeon? I like that head, anyway, but that mold's only about half-decent in any colors.