BotCon 2010 has annouced that Stan Bush will be a guest at this years event.  Mr Bush has appeared at BotCon before and has performed in 2007 and 2009.  His relationship with the Transformers brand stems from the original 1986 animated Transformers movie.

If you can't make it to BotCon in Florida, or even if you can, remember there is another Transformers Convention which is a must attend this year Auto Assembly 2010.  Auto Assembly has three special guests flying over this year, Garry Chalk, Scott McNeil and Derrick Wyatt (the latter sponsored by ourselves)

TFW2005.com member locustreign has posted images of the 2010 BotCon Gnaw, Sky-Byte and Breakdown figures.  You can see his mini gallery of the figures here, here and here.

The Botcon 2010 online registrations went live last night but with yet more glitches.

Thanks to everyone who has processed their registration. We know there are some issues but overall, it is not too bad for code that has been bombarded today.

Known issues:

1. The invoice counting system failed and there are many, duplicate numbers. The numbers have NO meaning to you. Because of the duplicate numbers, the first 100 cutoff was in the mid 1030s. We did not send these numbers to the cc folks so don't worry that your number may be the same as someone elses.

2. Some of you have not been getting emails. They may come later today or maybe not at all. Email is not a 100% communication system. When your registration is approved (after a human verifies it, you the system will send a second email. This may not happen for several days.

3. Some of you have not been getting member pricing. A programmer is looking at the accounts to see what the issue is. Please do not, register if you are getting incorrect pricing as that makes more work for the admin dept and we may not be able to get credits back to you for a week or more.

4. Non-attending sets will not be available until next week. There is no inventory in the online system and that's why it says sold out. We will send out a notice when we populate the inventory. We are holding sets back for this group as well as some of the loose figures and we have ordered 50 more 1st 100 pins to let the non-attending members get them.

5. As we have many issues to clean up, please don't call or email unless you absolutely have too. We are aware of many of the issues and will be working to clean them up. However, the more phone calls and emails we get, the longer this will take.

Thanks for your patience and support.

Brian

The original press release regarding the launch of the online registration system can be found below

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

BotCon 2010 Registration goes live!

Fort Worth, TX - May 18, 2010 - Fun Publications, Inc., licensee for Hasbro’s official Transformers Collectors’ Convention, BotCon, announced today that the all-new and highly anticipated online registration system has been completed and has gone live. Pop Culture enthusiasts from around the world are now able to register for BotCon 2010, being held at the Walt Disney World Dolphin Resort June 24th - June 27th in Orlando, Florida. Fans and Collectors’ who register for BotCon as a Primus package holder will receive the 5 piece convention set "Generation 2: Redux," admission to the Friday private sales room experience, all panels and seminars and the Hall of Fame Celebration dinner. The dinner will feature the first four "human" inductees into the Transformers Hall of Fame, including: Peter Cullen (voice of Optimus Prime), Bob Budiansky (Editor responsible for the original Transformers storyline), Yoke Hideaki (Takara/Hasbro liaison and the man behind toys such as Megatron and Soundwave), and Kojin Ohno (designer who created the first "car to robot transforming toy" Sunstreaker and the largest Generation 1 toy, Fortress Maximus). Finally, Primus package attendees will also receive a special bonus Transformers Deluxe figure to go along with their convention box set.

This is the first year BotCon has been held in the sunny state of Florida. "We couldn’t be more excited about bringing BotCon to a location where fans can experience everything Transformers and the amazing Disney World together, in one fun filled week" said Brian Savage, BotCon event organizer and Director of the Transformers Collectors’ Club. BotCon is in its 16th year and will once again feature a large dealer room with thousands of Transformers collectibles as well as other toys such as Star Wars, G.I. Joe, Marvel figures and many other great collectibles from the 80’s, 90’s and modern day! Also at the show will be additional special guests, IDW, Activision, comic book artists and many other events/features for fans of all ages to enjoy!
For more information on BotCon, the weeklong activities and the exclusive figure offerings, please visit BotCon.com.


About HASBRO

Hasbro, Inc. (NYSE:HAS) is a worldwide leader in children’s and family leisure time products and services with a rich portfolio of brands and entertainment properties that provides some of the highest quality and most recognizable play and recreational experiences in the world. As a brand-driven, consumer-focused global company, Hasbro brings to market a range of toys, games and licensed products, from traditional to high-tech and digital, under such powerful brand names as TRANSFORMERS, PLAYSKOOL, TONKA, MILTON BRADLEY, PARKER BROTHERS, G.I. JOE and WIZARDS OF THE COAST. Come see how we inspire play through our brands at http://www.hasbro.com. (C) 2010 Hasbro, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

About Fun Publications, Inc.

For over 15 years, Fun Publications, Inc. has been a Hasbro licensee offering fans and collectors of pop culture memorabilia news, exclusive product and family events through different print offerings, websites, collector clubs and brand specific conventions such as GIJoeCon and BotCon. Located in Fort Worth Texas, Fun Publications reaches a large audience, serving the United States and many other countries such as Japan, Great Britain, Brazil, Australia and Canada. For more information visit TransformersClub.com, GIJoeClub.com, GIJoeCon.com, and BotCon.com. BotCon is a registered trademark of Fun Publications, Inc. (C) Fun Publications, Inc. All rights reserved.

Credit to Seibertron.com for email update

Seibertron.com are reporting that the Botcon 2010 online registration will not be ready until at least the Sunday 16th May.  Ryan received the following email from Brian Savage of Fun Publications:

"Well, once again, not today, and it's looking like it won't be tomorrow either. Almost there.... I promise we will have registration online.
Brian"

Whilst BotCon continues to be plagued by a lack of information, the inability to register and increasing outrage at people being charged extra to book online and yet alternative forms of bookings will not open for a week or two until after the online bookings are ready, the UKs premier Transformers Convention Auto Assembly continues to gather pace with the recent announcement of the full time table as well as some new panels and showcases leading to heavy praise from many areas of the fan community around the world.   It seems that the non-profit UK convention is gathering more momentum and support where as the commercially run official convention is starting to gain the criticism that dogged the much of Glen Hallits reign as chief organiser of Botcon.

In an update to their Twitter Account, Auto Assembly founder Simon has let everyone know that there have been 310 pre-registrations so far for this years event.  Auto Assembly takes place in just 95 days time on the 13th - 15th August 2010 at the Holiday Inn Birmingham City Centre,  Smallbrook Queensway, Birmingham, England.  This years guests of honour are Garry Chalk, Derrick J Wyatt and Scott McNeil.

As sponsors of the event Transformers At The Moon will be in attendance putting on one of our usual toy displays so remember to say hi when you see us.

Now we have first in package images from the exclusive C.O.N.S. 2010 Cobra figure here for you.

A limited number of 50 pieces will be available on the C.O.N.S. on the 25th of July, 2010

Powered Convoy has posted two links on allspark.com to Taobao auctions for two more Botcon 2010 exclusives.  First up was Sky-byte and then there was a new previously unannounced figure, Gnaw.  Both toys are recolours of Energon Sharkticon.  You can view the mirrored images below.

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The Botcon website has under-gone a Generation 2 style facelift over night with a new theme including a poster image showing a Clench to be a recolour of Transformers Universe Onslaught but with a new head.

After their update of Streetwise was leaked (that's what happens when you give images a uniform name on websites), the BotCon team decided to play a joke on anyone scrapping for Clench by uploading poorly digitally doctored images of Universe Tankor recoloured as Clench which fooled several US based sites.  For those wanting to see the spoofed images you can find them here and here.