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Transformers Collector's Club News on Seibertron.com
Fellow Seibertronians, fellow Seibertronian Optibotimus has released a video review of near-final production samples of the Botcon 2016 box set figures Seaclamp, Ramhorn, and Cicadacon, otherwise known as the Tri-Predacus Council from Beast Wars. They, along with Ravage and Tarantulas will combine to form Tripredacus, but for now, Optibotimus only has the members of the Tri-Predacus Council. Seaclamp is a recolor of Combiner Wars Scattershot, and sports a new head, based on his appearance in the show, as well as the new Tripredacus head, which Optibotimus kindly shows off in the video. Ramhorn is a recolor of the Combiner Wars Technobot Nosecone, complete with the new drill weapon and new, show accurate, head; while Cicadacon is just a recolor of Combiner Wars Skydive, he still looks accurate to his show appearance. Are you excited for this Boxset? Check out the video and leave your comments below.
Fellow Seibertronians, via the Cybercast podcast, we get our first look at the actual Botcon Terrorsaur. During episode 142 Pete Sinclair of Botcon was showing off several of the boxset and TFCC figures, and teased the Terrorsaur figure, which was first revealed on the Predacus boxart, and seems to be - at this point - a straight recolor of Combiner Wars Airraid.
-Ramjet can be seen at around the 22 minute mark
-Skywarp can be seen just after at the 23 minute mark
-The torso mode for Predacus at around the 24 minute mark
-Seaclamp can be seen at about the 26 minute mark
-TFCC 5.0 Prime's head can be seen at the 39 minute mark
-Terrorsaur can be seen at the 1 hour 14 minute mark.
So what do you think of these? Are you excited for this new figure? Let us know in the comments below.
The Transformers Collectors' Club sent out an email update for BotCon 2016. As was mentioned earlier, Scott McNeil is no longer attending but in his place Gregg Berger (G1 Grimlock, Long Haul and Skyfire) will be attending and participating in the script reading with Judd Nelson, David Kaye and Venus Terzo. Also registration will close on March 21 and the update gives a hint concerning the future of the Transformers Collectors' Club. You can read their entire update below.
Hello Members!
We have some exciting news! On Friday afternoon, BotCon registered attendees will be treated to a script reading panel starring Judd Nelson, David Kaye, Venus Terzo, and Gregg Berger! To see this you must be a registered attendee, so make sure you have signed up for your Primus, Golden Ticket Primus, MiniCon or Protoform package. Also, for those who have already registered, if you have not yet added your Judd Nelson VIP Pass to your existing package you can do that today! Visit BotCon for the details and then if you need to register, add the VIP pass or do both, you can do that here.
As you can tell from the above paragraph, there has been a guest change. Unfortunately due to personal reasons, Scott McNeil had to cancel. However, Gregg Berger will now be coming! We will all miss Scott, but we are very excited about seeing our old friend Gregg in a few short weeks.
Registration will close on March 21st so there is not much time left to register. Currently there are only 30% of the Primus packages, 8% of the GT packages and 19% of the Iacon (non-attending) packages, left.
Please note that March 16 is the last day you can join the Transformers Collectors Club. If you are interested in receiving the discounts for BotCon, the 2016 FREE Membership Incentive figure and/or purchasing the TFSS 5.0 (to be revealed in full at BotCon 2016) you will need to be an active member as of March 16. All memberships will end December 31, 2016. Hasbro looks forward to sharing new plans for the Collector’s Club with you in the future.
We appreciate your support over the last 12 years and wish the brand well in their new endeavors.
A very brief but important update from BotCon HQ, via TF_JW, concerning Beast Wars voice actor Scott McNeil - who can no longer attend the event, due to personal matters. As we're sure he will be missed at the con, we join in with best wishes and hope to see him at another event soon!
**Important Guest Update For BotCon 2016**
We regret to inform you all that Scott McNeil will not be able to attend BotCon 2016 as a guest due to personal matters. We wish him the best!
The best to Scott. The staff of Fun Pub and I are sorry you can't make it!
Once again via BotCon correspondent on Seibertron.com TF_JW, we have two unlettered preview pages from the event's comic, as written and coloured by JP Bove and drawn by Corin Howell - check them out mirrored below!
Here is your first look at the finished colored pages 1 and 2 from next month's BotCon comic "Transformers: Dawn of the Predacus" published by IDW. This fantastic Beast Wars 20th anniversary story was written by John-Paul Bove with art by the very talented Corin Howell. Get the limited edition convention edition next month at BotCon 2016 in Louisville, Ky April 7-10. See you there!
As we get closer to BotCon 2016, and with the IDW/FunPub collaboration on this year's comic - Dawn of the Predacus - recently confirmed, we thought we'd reach out to one of the creators behind it, to get a little further into the process and the story: colourist turned writer, and fellow partial Italian, John-Paul Bove!
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Va'al - Hi John-Paul! It's great to hear you'll be working on the insides of another Transformers comic, though this time you're actually at a keyboard rather than with a palette! How did you get the gig?
JP - The short answer? Lots and LOTS of death threats.
Probably how the talks went down at IDW
The longer answer is that outside of Transformers and IDW I had been writing for some time on creator owned stories and writing Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles here in the UK. I had been pitching some ideas for Transformers stories for some years, but with the amazing IDWverse books they're planned a long way in advance so there's not much space for any additional tales in there. I'd nailed my colours to the mast regarding working on a G1 cartoon continuation comic and I'd also approached IDW with an idea for a Beast Wars book to celebrate the 20th anniversary. Interestingly these two ideas had the potential to dovetail together and connect if necessary. When FunPub looked to partner with IDW to produce the comic, John approached me to pitch and the rest is (future) history!
Va'al - Perseverance seems to be the way to go, then - a tip to keep in mind. So when Barber approached you, did you get a guideline or directive, or were you given free rein as to what the story might do (other than include this year's toys, of course)?
JP - My main guideline was that it had to be in continuity (which any BW fan will know is an interesting and muddy one) and it had to feature the toys. I had already pitched a mini series that would bridge the gap between G1 and Beast Wars so the story was always going to live in that time frame. A lot of the characters that the toys represent were already baked into the story so the main challenge or restriction was getting as much of what I planned into just one issue. I had to take my original outline and focus in on a very specific part and specific time and place from it.
It is a very full issue and the goals I set myself were that it should be a Beast Wars and G1 story that matters, with moments that shape and add to your understanding of the mythology in ways that are both inevitable AND surprising. I really wanted to see what some G1 characters had become and what some Beast Wars characters were like before they had become the characters we knew.
If I ever get the chance to expand on this it has been built in such a way that it is the middle part of a trilogy. The first part would be very G1 centric and the third part more BW centric with this issue functioning as a bridge. There's a really, really incredible moment, a scene between two important characters that I would love to one day tell. What starts Dawn of the Predacus off is the consequences of an act of sacrifice that make the Great War anyone's to win or lose.
DotP is a complete one shot but we know it isn't the end, we know some of these characters continue into BW and we know that some G1 characters don't make it through the Great War. There's still a lot of time between here and the Beast Wars (and here and The Rebirth) that I had planned out and hope to one day tell you all about.
Va'al - That sounds like you really planned the events out quite a lot already before getting the brief, definitely! You mention a number of characters that you wanted to include: was anyone forcibly or inevitably left out?
JP - Oh yeah, I'd been planning these stories out a long time before the opportunity came up. I can't say too much as there are still other characters getting toys to be revealed, but there's a lot of G1 characters I wanted to touch on. Again, if the book does well maybe we will see them yet! Mainly there are characters I'd like to have had more time to play with, especially Tarantulas.
Va'al - We are seeing a very different Tarantulas in IDW's version of events, of course, but that's another story... So we are to find something bridging a gap, which feeds from established work and feeding into other established work - what was the hardest part to tweak to make it all work, in your opinion?
JP - I'm a continuity junkie so finding the connections between various points on the timeline was something that came quite naturally. The hardest part was deciding what to leave out as the space I had was limited. I wanted to avoid multiple timelines and realities, and have what happens here to inform and have impact on the stories we're already familiar with. Just because we know the war ends doesn't mean we know HOW the war ends.
Though the big challenge was that the Beast Wars show referenced points from various continuities that contradict each other. Making sure that that this story was in continuity with as much of those other stories as possible was tricky, but hopefully rewarding for most fans.
Va'al - I do not envy you that task, at all. Was there anything you were particularly pleased to have been able to work in, either as an in-joke, a reference, or just a personal itch scratched?
JP - There is a Transformers the Movie nod which was so satisfying... I think, beyond getting to give characters I adore new words to say and new characters some life, my main satisfaction comes from setting the foundation for things in Beast Wars that were perhaps not best explained and seeing how their origins stem from G1 events... It adds another layer to stories we already know.
Va'al - I'm sure we'll be seeing it for ourselves very shortly, at this stage! Before we round this off, how was collaborating with someone else on the visuals, this time round? How was the experience of working with Corin Howell?
Not the BotCon comic
JP - I'd worked with Corin before on a couple of pages but I'd also had the good fortune to meet her at last year's San Diego Comic Con. Her style is very different from what I'd worked with in the past, a more expressive, more animated look which in a way captures two aspects of both G1 and Beast Wars. As a colourist it gives you a lot to play with as well. Of course she has the misfortune to deal with me as a writer and a colourist! Who can she complain to about the demanding writer or the unreliable colourist!?
Va'al - She'll be up to the challenge, I'm sure. JP, it's been great to have you have this chat with us to build up some extra hype for the comic and BotCon - thank you for joining us! Are there any last words you want to throw out to readers and fans?
JP - Only that I hope everyone has a great BotCon, the guests are amazing, the artists are amazing and the toys (some still very secret) are going to knock your socks off! I hope people enjoy the book too, naturally! And if you do please spread the word, there's so much more story to tell! Thanks to everyone that has supported me and the books I've coloured and really pushed to have me write something in the Transformers universe, it's a dream come true.
Oh, and don't forget to sign the petition for a G1 Cartoon universe comic!
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BotCon 2016 will take place in Louisville, Kentucky, on April 7-10th. You can check out news and coverage of the event, as things happen, right here on Seibertron.com, and join in the discussion in the Energon Pub boards!
The final round-up of all the artists in their Alley at BotCon 2016 in Louisville, courtesy of TF_JW in the Energon Pub, has been mirrored below for your viewing pleasure - and features all of yesterday's announced guests plus the likes of Dan Khanna, Robby Musso, Hayato Sakamoto, Ken Christiansen and more! Check it out.
Yet more updates coming through directly from BotCon HQ - via TF_JW in the Energon Pub - about this year's Artist Alley, featuring a slew of IDW and FunPub creators present this April in Louisville! Check out below more info and images.
TF_JW wrote:Next up, you may recognize her work on the IDW Combiner Hunters comics. Or her AMAZING Starscream, Torchbearers, and DJD artwork: Sara Pitre-Durocher!
TF_JW wrote:After Sara is Brian Shearer. He's got a unique paint/marker style for his art that fans will no doubt find interesting!
TF_JW wrote:Casey Coller will be in the BotCon Artist Alley again this year! Casey is a fantastic artist and an all around good guy! Stop by his table and say hello!
TF_JW wrote:Brandy Dixon has been providing colors for various BotCon/the TCC projects for the last few years. If you head for her table, she's going to have plenty of G1 Seeker/Rainmaker art as well as Beast Wars anniversary artwork for the voice actors and special guests to sign!
TF_JW wrote:Marcelo Matere has been providing artwork for Transformers packaging, comic books, and toy designs for quite some time now. His style is very adaptable, from highly detailed G1 to a more cartoonish Animated look. His latest project is as cover artist for IDW's "Deviations" title.
Another double update for the Artist Alley at BotCon 2016, courtesy of TF_JW again, and this time featuring Brendan Cahill, who has worked on More Than Meets the Eye, and colourist/artist Josh Burcham, currently on Sins of the Wreckers and FunPub books!
TF_JW wrote:The third artist for the BotCon 2016 Artist Alley is Brendan Cahill:
Stop by his table and get the Cyclonus/Tailgate feels all over again! Or chat about regional breweries and the best place for a cheeseburger!
TF_JW wrote:Double Joshes! The fourth artist being announced for BotCon 2016's Artist Alley is Josh Burcham!
One of the fastest colorists ever and always with stellar results! He'll have plenty of art to look through, but make sure you check out his Beast Wars anniversary print in particular!
The BotCon ambassador to Seibertron.com TF_JW has posted in the Energon Pub a new guest update for this April's event in Louisville, featuring the Artist Alley and the first confirmed guests - Alex Milne and Josh Perez! Check out more info below, and keep your optics tuned here for more updates as they are revealed.
TF_JW wrote:The BotCon 2016 Artist Alley announcements have started! There are going to be a lot of great names revealed today, and each one is superbly talented and a pleasure with whom to talk. So if you're planning to attend next month, I hope you'll take a moment to stop by the artists' tables, browse their art, and chat if you have the time!
The convention will once again have the LARGEST Transformers Artists' Alley of any pop culture convention. Stay Tuned for reveals all day!
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