BotCon 1994
From Transformers Wiki
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| Date | July 16, 1994 | ||||||
| City | Fort Wayne, IN | ||||||
| Venue | Grand Wayne Center | ||||||
The very first convention dedicated entirely to Transformers, BotCon 1994 was organized by Jon Hartman and Karl Hartman. It was the first in the long-lived series of conventions bearing the BotCon name.
Contents |
Merchandise
Convention-exclusive toys
- An otherwise-unreleased Generation 2 edition of the Stunticon Breakdown. Breakdown is the only G2 Stunticon who was released at all. 300 Breakdowns were produced, with 204 of those being made specifically for the convention.
Other merchandise
- Red and purple shirts featuring the Generation 2 faction logos were available. The shirts also displayed the name and location of the convention.
- All pre-registrants received an individually-numbered badge and button set, and a twelve-page official program guide.
Guests
Two Hasbro employees attended the convention as guests:
- Marketing Director Tom Bowman
- Product Manager Carl Fritz
Events
Foreign toys presentation
Fan Tony Preto held a "foreign toys" panel, focusing on various toys released only in Japan (which were virtually unknown in the North American fandom of the time).
Hasbro presentation
Hasbro guests Tom Bowman and Carl Fritz presented upcoming 1994 and 1995 product, including:
- Dreadwing and Smokescreen, the final product of the 1994 assortment, quoted as costing "about $24.99".
- Superspeedbots "Gearhead", "Double Clutch", "High Beam", "Firecracker", "Motormouth" and "Blowout" ("about 2-3 dollars apiece") and the Superspeedbot Racing Rig. At the time, none of the Superspeedbots had been named. Instead of being in Greasepit's deco, the Superspeedbot shown with the Racing Rig was mostly transparent clear plastic, which the presenters indicated was intentional.
- Cyberjets "Skyjack", "Space Case" and Hooligan, respectively referred to as a "stealth fighter", an "x-fighter", and an "F-18". Only Hooligan was referred to by name.
- Power Masters "Bulletbike", Ironhide, "Meanstreak" and Staxx. Only Ironhide and Staxx were mentioned by name.
- Laser Cycles "Road Rocket" and "Road Pig", referred to as "akin to a Yamaha racing bike" and "akin to a Harley".
- Auto Rollers "Dirtbag" and "Roadblock".
- Optimus Prime Octane, described as having "the Laser Rod feature" and shipping in "the spring of 1995".
- New packaging for the 1995 line was also showcased, featuring differently colored bands at the bottoms of the cards so a consumer could easily tell the sub-segments apart. Alongside proof cards of Hooligan and Staxx, an early mock-up featuring Pothole was used in the demonstration.
- The Real Action Pop-Ups 3-D Transformer Trading Cards were previewed. The presenters mentioned they "know a lot of you guys are very into the illustrations", but they acknowledged that "some of the illustrations that are done now aren't quite the quality they were in the past", because Hasbro wasn't "using the Japanese illustrators anymore" due to cost considerations.
Notes
In 2004, Jon and Karl Hartman wrote retrospective essays on their history of Transformers collecting and the creation of BotCon 1994 in specific for Fumihiko Akiyama's unofficial BotCon Legends: Ten Years' Chronology fanzine. Among their revelations:
- The genesis of the convention came from Jon and Karl wanting to somehow celebrate the tenth anniversary of the franchise.
- The name "BotCon" was coined by Jon, and was meant to convey both a shortening of "roBOT CONvention" and "AutoBOT and DeceptiCON".
- It was Hasbro's Carl Fritz who suggested picking from among the smaller Generation 2 Protectobots and Stunticons for the show's exclusive, as they were cancelled for general release. The Hartmans' top two choices were Blades and Breakdown, but they ultimately went with Breakdown.
- Jon and Karl did not receive many pre-registration inquiries until a few weeks before the convention itself. This almost lead to the cancellation of the show due to a perceived lack of interest.
- The Hartmans had the staff of the Grand Wayne Center put an advertisement for the convention on their electronic marquee, which featured the G2 Autobot and Decepticon logos and information about the show. Unfortunately, the two logos ended up upside-down.
- Just prior to Carl Fritz and Tom Bowman presenting the 1995 product assortment, Jon and Karl had lunch with them, during which time the Hasbro employees revealed the abortive existence of the Rock Bots. Oh, what might have been...
