BotCon
This article currently links to a large number of disambiguation pages (or back to itself). (March 2025) |
BotCon | |
---|---|
Status | Active |
Genre | Transformers |
Inaugurated | 1994 |
Most recent | 2023 |
Organized by | Agabyss Enterprises LLC |
Filing status | Private company |
Website | http://www.botcon.com/ |
BotCon, briefly known as "The Official Transformers Collectors' Convention" (or OTFCC), is an annual convention for Transformers fans and collectors. BotCon has been held annually since 1994. BotCon is a syllabic abbreviation for "Robot Convention"[1] but also refers to "Autobot" and "Decepticon",[2] the protagonist and antagonist robot factions in the many continuities in the Transformers franchise.
Featured BotCon guests are usually involved in the creation of Transformers media in some respect, whether as voice actors from the animated series, artists or writers from the comic books, or actual Hasbro employees. Fun Publications has held the convention for a number of years, with 2016 being its final year.[3] It was replaced by the now defunct HasCon, Hasbro's own convention, in 2017.
History
[edit]


The first BotCon was held in Fort Wayne, Indiana, United States[2] in 1994. Organized by brothers Jon and Karl Hartman, the convention had 180 attendees. BotCon was organized in 1995 by Raksha, a prominent figure in the fan community, and in 1996 by Men In Black Productions, headed up by Dennis Barger. In 1997, the Hartmans brought Glen Hallit, a fellow fan, into the fold, forming 3H Enterprises (based on the first letter of the organizers' last names).
In 1999, BotCon Europe took place in Clapham Common, Wandsworth, South West London, England.[4][5]
At BotCon 2002, Hallit announced that 3H had secured the official Transformers convention license, as well as licenses to produce comic books and start a fan club. Shortly thereafter, the Hartmans were removed from their organizational duties, leaving Glen Hallit as the sole organizer of the new company, 3H Productions, Inc.
In the winter of 2002, 3H sought to expand to Europe, holding an official European convention in Cheshunt, UK. However, the event, which was held in conjunction with the main BotCon 2002 in the US, had much less advertising and the registration did not open until a couple of weeks before the convention. Since the attendance at the European BotCon had been much smaller than the main show that summer, 3H decided it was too much work to hold two separate conventions, and officially announced that they would never hold BotCon outside the US again.
In 2003, the convention changed its name to "The Official Transformers Collectors' Convention" (OTFCC), due to the Hartmans' ownership of the BotCon service mark. The fandom held dueling conventions in 2004, as 3H held OTFCC in Chicago, Illinois, while the Hartman brothers revived the BotCon name for their final convention in Pasadena, California. That fall, 3H Productions lost all of its Transformers-related licenses, leaving the convention in a state of limbo.
In early January 2005, Hasbro announced on its official website that Fun Publications, owned by Brian Savage, had been awarded the convention and fan club licenses. The Hartman brothers and prominent fans Pete Sinclair, Benson Yee, and Rik Alvarez were invited to form an advisory council to help ease the transition of organizing the convention for the new owners. Once the Hartmans' service mark was transferred to Fun Publications, BotCon regained its status of being the official Transformers collectors' convention.
On February 2, 2020, people started to observe new activity on the official BotCon website. On February 3, 2020, Karl Hartman announced BotCon 2021. In a post on the Official BotCon Facebook page, Hartman said, "The story of BotCon is not over. It just has a new chapter. On behalf of myself, Bret Lovell, Andrew Hall and the rest of the BC Productions crew, I am honored and humbled to announce: BotCon 2021".[6]


Over the years, BotCon has featured many individuals who have worked to bring the Transformers multiverse to life, including voice actors, animation staff, and Hasbro design team members.
BotCon returned in 2022 under new ownership (Agabyss), with a brand new convention in Nashville. The return of the convention on August 26, 2022, marks a new era for the once official transformers convention. While Transformers are still the main focus, the convention will also embrace other properties that many in the fandom already enjoy. (see botcon.com)
Transformers Hall of Fame
[edit]At the 2010 BotCon, Hasbro introduced a "Hall of Fame" awards ceremony to commemorate the people and characters of the franchise. Hasbro selected the first four robot inductees, while fans worldwide voted for the fifth. In the end, Dinobot from Beast Wars: Transformers won the votes. Among the human inductees were Bob Budiansky for helping create the franchise through comics and personality profiles, Peter Cullen for giving Optimus Prime his voice, and Hideaki Yoke and Kohjin Ohno of Takara Tomy for creating many of the franchise's toys.
For 2011, Steven Spielberg and Michael Bay were inducted for the success of the Transformers live-action film franchise.
In 2012, the first posthumous award was given to voice actor Chris Latta, who died in 1994. Wheeljack, one of the characters he voiced in the original series, was selected as the Fan's Choice recipient.
Exclusive toys
[edit]One of BotCon's most popular features is the exclusive toys made available to the attendees. The toys are different every year and are not retailed anywhere in the world. The number of exclusive toys increased significantly in 2005 after Fun Publications became the official license holder of the convention. The identities and designs of the toys were originally kept a close secret until the opening of the convention, but in the later years of the convention the organizers often chose to reveal one or more of the exclusives ahead of time due to repeated problems with stolen prototypes being sold on eBay. In 2008, organizer Brian Savage ordered all eBay users selling these prototypes to return them to their rightful owners.[7]
Although the toys are always unique, financial costs prohibit the creation of entirely new molds. As such, the toys are redecos or repaints of previously used toys given new identities, occasionally switching allegiances and even gender. Beginning in 2003, some of the exclusives were given new, retooled heads to further differentiate the new characters from previous uses of a mold. As the number of exclusives offered at each convention grew, so did the number of retooled parts. Since then, it has been standard practice to produce three or four newly tooled heads (or other parts such as wings in the case of 2007) for each BotCon. After the convention, exclusive toys usually become valuable collector's items in the community, particularly among fans who missed the convention.
The Transformers Collector's Club also releases exclusive figures, which are also remolds and repaints of regular Transformers figures.
Special Guests
[edit]- 1994: Tom Bowman and Carl Fritz.
- 1995: None
- 1996: None
- 1997 (Japan): None
- 1997 (US): Peter Cullen, David Kaye, Venus Terzo, Dawn Berryman, George Boznos, Jerry Palmer, Bob Forward, Simon Furman, Andrew Wildman, Stan Bush and Vince DiCola.
- 1998 (US): Susan Blu, Garry Chalk, David Kaye, Scott McNeil, Doug Parker, Bob Forward, Larry DiTillio, Simon Furman, Andrew Wildman, Rob Tokar, Richard Starkings, Bryce Malek, David Wise, Vince DiCola, Andy Espenshade, and Jennifer Donahoe.
- 1998 (Japan): Hirotaka Suzuoki.
- 1999 (US): Scott McNeil, Jim Byrnes, Asaph Fipke and Brian Chapman.
- 1999 (Europe): Simon Furman.
- 2000 (US): Ian James Corlett, John Moschitta Jr., Venus Terzo, Alec Willows, Joe Mattiko, Jamie Overbey, Vince DiCola and Chris Tang
- 2000 (Japan): Tesshō Genda.
- 2001: Michael Bell, Gregg Berger, Garry Chalk, Scott McNeil, John Stephenson, Paul Davids, Simon Furman, Joe Mattiko, Ernie Burns, Vince DiCola and Gary Falcone.
- 2002 (US): Dick Gautier, Richard Epcar, Steve Kramer, Michael McConnohie, Peter Spellos, Wayne C. Lewis, Tom Wyner, Aaron Archer, Michelle Field, Andrew Frankel, Joe Mattiko, Derek Choo-Wing, Adam Fortier, Simon Furman, Bob Forward, Chris Sarracini and Pat Lee.
- 2002 (Europe): Simon Furman, Neil Kaplan and Wayne C. Lewis.
- OFTCC 2003: Gregg Berger, David Kaye, Garry Chalk, Aaron Archer, Michelle Field, Jerry Jivoin, Eric Siebenaler, Vince DiCola, Simon Furman, Josh Blaylock, Mike Norton, Clayton Brown, and Mark Brooks.
- OFTCC 2004: Michael McConnohie , Dan Gilvezan, Scott McNeil, Bob Budiansky, Simon Furman, Andrew Wildman, Guido Guidi, Vince DiCola, Aaron Archer, Greg Lombardo, Eric Siebenaler and Tony Beard.
- BotCon 2004: Peter Cullen, Wally Burr, Dan Gilvezan, Vinnie D'Alleva, Bob Prupis, Alison Segebarth, Don Figueroa, Pat Lee, James "Brad Mick" McDonough, Joe Ng, David Wise, Bryce Malek, Paul Davids, Flint Dille and Fumihiko Akiyama.
- 2005: Paul Dobson, Michael Dobson, Brian Dobson, Michael Chain, Wally Burr, Colton Dearing, Aaron Archer, Eric Siebenaler and Greg Lombardo.
- 2006: Peter Cullen, Scott McNeil, Richard Newman, Blu Mankuma, Pauline Newstone, Simon Furman, Aaron Archer, Eric Siebenaler, Forest Lee, Greg Lombardo, Chris Ryall, Dan Taylor, Alex Milne, Don Figueroa, Dan Khanna, Drew Eiden and Marcelo Matere.
- 2007: Peter Cullen, David Kaye, Daniel Ross, Tyrese Gibson, Rachael Taylor, Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman, Brian Goldner, Vickie Stratford, Joe Kyde, Greg Lombardo, Aaron Archer, Eric Siebenaler, Jared Wade, William Rawley, Stan Bush, Ernie Petrangelo, Dan Taylor, Alex Milne, Nick Roche and Robby Musso.
- 2008: David Kaye, Bumper Robinson, Tara Strong, Marty Isenberg, Derrick J. Wyatt, Simon Furman, Alex Milne, Denton J. Tipton, Jim Sorenson, Matt Youngberg, Aaron Archer, Steve Bono, Michael Ballog, Jared Jones, Joe Kyde, Forest Lee, Greg Lombardo, Marcelo Matere, Todd Patrick, Bill Rawley, Vickie Stratford and Jared Wade.
- 2009: Peter Cullen, David Kaye, Gregg Berger, Michael McConnohie, Weird Al Yankovic, Mark Ryan, Michael Bay, Tyrese Gibson, Alex Kurtzman, Roberto Orci, Brianne Drouhard, Claire Lenth, Derrick J. Wyatt, Marty Isenberg, Irineo Maramba, Matt Youngberg, Heather Maxwell, Otis Van Osten, Aaron Archer, Michael Ballog, Joe Kyde, Forest Lee, Greg Lombardo, Matthew Proulx, Bill Rawley, Paul Davids, Flint Dille, Bryce Malek, Roger Slifer, David Wise, Josh Burcham, Casey Coller, Mike Costa, Bill Forster, Andrew Griffith, Shaun Knowler, Joana Lafuente, Marcelo Matere. Alex Milne, Chris Mowry, Robby Musso, Nick Roche, Chris Ryall, Andy Schmidt, Jim Sorenson, E.J. Su, Denton J. Tipton, Josh van Reyk, Matt Moylan, Ken Christiansen, Vince DiCola, Stan Bush and Holger Fath.
- 2010: Peter Cullen, Paul Eiding, Scott McNeil, Bob Budiansky, Kōjin Ōno, Hideaki Yoke, Jeff Kline, Mike Vogel, Casey Coller, Bill Forster, Dan Khanna, Marcelo Matere, Alex Milne, Chris Mowry, Rik Alvarez, Aaron Archer, Joe Kyde, Forest Lee, Greg Lombardo, Chris Oliveri, Lenny Panzica, Matthew Proulx, Bill Rawley, Eric Siebenaler, Tomoya Miyake, Hironori Kobayashi, Brian Wilk, Matt Moylan, Stan Bush, Matt Tieger, Drew Eiden, Karl Hartman, Lanny Lathem, Greg Sepelak, Pete Sinclair, Trent Troop, Jesse Wittenrich and Ben Yee
- 2011: Peter Cullen, Arlene Banas, Gregg Berger, Steve Blum, Jeffrey Combs, Paul Eiding, Tania Gunadi, Ernie Hudson, David Kaye, Josh Keaton, Morgan Lofting, Michael McConnohie, Andy Pessoa, Markie Post, Tyrese Gibson, Michael Bay, Steven Spielberg, Flint Dille, Rik Alvarez, Aaron Archer, Michael Ballog, Brian Goldner, Jerry Jivoin, Joshua Lamb, Greg Lombardo, Lenny Panzica, Matthew Proulx, Bryan Baugh, Duane Capizzi, Steve Davis, David Hartman, Jeff Kline, Jose Lopez, Roberto Orci, Christophe Vacher, Mike Vogel, John-Paul Bove, Casey Coller, Mike Costa, Thomas Deer, Marcelo Matere, Chris Metzen, Robby Musso, Josh Perez, Livio Ramondelli, Chris Ryall, Andy Schmidt, Stan Bush, Hideaki Yoke, Hisao Nishimoto, Brian Ward, Dave Cravens, Kelvin Liu, Sean Miller, Terry Spier, Pete Sinclair, Greg Sepelak, Trent Troop, Jesse Wittenrich and Ben Yee.
- 2012: Peter Cullen, Garry Chalk, David Kaye, Dan Gilvezan, Buster Jones, Abby Collins, Simon Furman, Rik Alvarez, Aaron Archer, Clint Chapman, Chris Hicks, Mark Maher, Bill Rawley, John Barber, Casey Coller, Bill Forster, Chris Metzen, Chris Mowry, Robby Musso, Josh Perez, Matt Tieger, Eddy Dew, Steve Huckle and Kelly Vero.
- 2013: David Sobolov, James Horan, Wally Burr, Parvesh Cheena, Steve Blum, D.C. Douglas, Imari Williams, Elán Garfias, Jason Marsden, Diamond White, Shannon McKain, Maurice LaMarche, Glenn Morshower, Jason Jansen, Brian Hohlfeld, Nicole Dubuc, Greg Johnson, John Barber, John-Paul Bove, Casey Coller, Thomas Deer, Bill Forster, Matt Frank, Andrew Griffith, Carlos Guzman, Joana Lafuente, Marcelo Matere, Alex Milne, Chris Mowry, Robby Musso, Livio Ramondelli, Mairghread Scott and Jim Sorenson.
- 2014: Jack Angel, Susan Blu, Steve Blum, Parvesh Cheena, Elán Garfias, David Kaye, Morgan Lofting, Michael McConnohie, Shannon McKain, Jason Marsden, Samantha Newark, Hal Rayle, Imari Williams, Nicole Dubuc, Brian Hohlfeld, Marty Isenberg, Greg Johnson, Hayato Sakamoto, Naoto Tsushima, Derrick J. Wyatt, Mark Maher, Ben Montano, Lenny Panzica, Bill Paukert, John Warden, Mark Weber, Hisashi Yuki and James Roberts.
- 2015: Frank Welker, John Moschitta Jr., Susan Blu, Derrick J. Wyatt, Casey Coller, Matt Frank, Alex Milne, Josh Burcham, Robby Musso, Dan Khanna, John-Paul Bove, Josh Perez, Thomas Deer, Livio Ramondelli, Silas Zee, Mai Namba, Brendan Cahill, Hayato Sakamoto, Kotteri, Kōjin Ōno, Jerry Jivoin, Mark Maher, Ed Masiello, Ben Montano, John Warden and Mark Weber.
- 2016: Judd Nelson, David Kaye, Venus Terzo, Gregg Berger, Winston Bolen, Josh Burcham, Brendan Cahill, Ken Christiansen, Casey Coller, Archie Cunningham, Thomas Deer, Brandy Dixon, Matt Frank, Andrew Hall, Adam Hicks, Dan Khanna, Marcelo Matere, Alex Milne, Robby Musso, Josh Perez, Sara Pitre-Durocher, Rob Roberts, Hayato Sakamoto, Brian Shearer, Derrick J. Wyatt, Silas Zee, Stan Bush, Vince DiCola, Kenny Meriedeth, Ken Rose, Pete Sinclair, Aaron Archer and John-Paul Bove.
- 2022: Frank Welker, Gregg Berger, David Kaye, Michael McConnohie, Melodee Spevack, Jeanne Carr, Samantha Newark, Bob Budiansky, Simon Furman, Livio Ramondelli and Robby Musso,
- 2023: Scott McNeil, Garry Chalk, Venus Terzo, Susan Blu, Dick Terhune, Jessica DiGiovanni, Laurie Hymes, Ryan Andes, Jeremy Levy, Travis Artz, Jaime Lamchick, Courtney Shaw, Dan Khanna, Candice Santora, Robby Musso, Ben Yee, RodimusPrimal, TMReviews and Diecast.
- 2024: Alec Willows, Bumper Robinson, Gregg Berger, Paul Eiding, Aaron Archer, Josh Perez and Robby Musso.
- 2025: TBA
References
[edit]- ^ Stonebraker, Steve-o. "Transformers FAQ > Fandom > Conventions". Archived from the original on 2005-08-19. Retrieved 2005-07-28.
- ^ a b Cieply, Michael (29 May 2009). "BotCon: Remaining Transfixed by Transformers". The New York Times. Archived from the original on Mar 31, 2022.
- ^ BaCon (April 8, 2016). "#BotCon 2016 - Last Transformers Convention From Fun Publications". tformers.com. Archived from the original on Sep 17, 2020.
- ^ "BotCon® Europe 1999". BotCon Online. Archived from the original on 2008-10-22. Retrieved 2009-11-27.
- ^ "BotCon Europe News Page". melted.com.
- ^ Greg (2020-02-03). "It's Official - BOTCON IS BACK!". The Allspark. Archived from the original on 2020-02-04. Retrieved 2020-02-04.
- ^ Tformers.com. "BotCon Threatens Legal Action Over Stolen Toys". tformers.com.