BotCon 2007 Exclusive Set Revealed and Registration Now Available!!!

Hasbro, you dumb mother(#&$(s. Besides for Dreadwind and Bugbite, I would have bought all of those had they been released in stores. Same for the Ironhide and Ratchet figures from a few years ago. Fans AND the kids you aim your products at will buy these if they're in stores. Damn it.

NOOOOOO!

Now I'll never get the rest of the Classics Seekers.

Seriously though. Did anyone not see that coming from a mile away?

Scaleface wrote:I don't blame Botcon for this, but Hasbro are morons. People would have bought all these figures at normal prices. Now instead of $60 at Walmart for 4 Deluxes and 1 VOyager, we have to pay $329 for them!

To quote their site: "Here is your chance to complete your Seeker set while grabbing the best BotCon convention set to date.... Our special convention figures will NEVER be sold at retail stores and are extremely limited."

I can see Bugbite and Dreadwing as Convention exclusives, but the remaining 3 seekers should have been in stores! They could have made Sunstorm a Con exclusive."

I'm still trying to pick up the Timelines guys on discount on ebay, NOW THIS... CRAP.

For those who care to display your displeasure, the email address for Hasbro is Hasbrotoyspr@hasbro.com

Bitching to hasbro wont work. They dont care. The movie figures are comeing out and im sure the classics line is no more.

I so want those figures.
I hate this. How the hell am I supposed to afford this?
Hasbro must really hate the international market.
I am really starting to hate them.
Time to get disgruntled. To the ODB!!!

I have to admit I saw this coming a mile away. The question is how much will the set or at least the three remaining seekers (TC, Thrust & Dirge) go for on Ebay? There will be plenty of people wanting to make some $$$ off of this set via Ebay from people who can't afford to go to Botcon like my self. This truly does suck @$$!!

That just figures.

Well, congratulations to the privileged few who have the coin to drop and the ability to go. Your Classics 'Cons will no longer be completely outgunned.

Darn. I have Skywarp and Starscream, I'd love Thundercracker at the very least.

Stupid Hasbro... First Airrazor and Astrotrain now this. Do they not understand that they'd probably make more money selling these repaints on store shelves instead of overpricing them at a Transformers Convention?

Oh well. Here's hoping they learn eventually.

I'm still hoping for a "Best of BotCon" toyline someday, made up of BotCon exclusives from years gone by. Maybe THEN Hasbro would see how much money there is in these toys.

I'd hate to imagine what these would fetch on ebay considering the 6 figures would average out to 50 a piece. I dunno, like 100 bucks each loose/600 for the boxset MISB?

And now I'm justified not buying the Classics Magnus/Skywarp set.

I knew I was going to have to pay RapeDollars™ if I wanted a complete seeker set. Now I don't have to worry at all.

--B-- wrote:I wonder how much the set is.

This blows, as I can't go to Botcon and won't overpay for the figs after the fact. Oh well, unless someone who is going could ge me some, I'm "Stuff" Outta Luck.

I updated the post above to include this information for everyone.

As angry as I am about this, I can't say I didn't see it coming months ago. I knew something like this had to happen to prevent me from getting a complete set of Seekers.

Ultra Prime wrote:I have to admit I saw this coming a mile away. The question is how much will the set or at least the three remaining seekers (TC, Thrust & Dirge) go for on Ebay? There will be plenty of people wanting to make some $$$ off of this set via Ebay from people who can't afford to go to Botcon like my self. This truly does suck @$$!!

There's a set available that you can buy if can't attend. At least they made the Seekers part of the set so that people can buy that. I had a pretty damn good feeling that this was going to happen. Now I'm just curious to see who the other 4 or 5 exclusive figures will be that you can get at the show.

Very excited about Bugbite. The Bugbite eHobby figure is one of my favorite exclusives from the past few years. This will be great to own both of them.

Windracer wrote:Do they not understand that they'd probably make more money selling these repaints on store shelves instead of overpricing them at a Transformers Convention?

That's my question as well. They would absolutely make more money on these by releasing them to the general public. Just releasing Thundercracker alone would probably satisfy most fans.

I realize it's important for conventions to have some incentives to go to them, but I think this is a little extreme.

Seibertron wrote:There's a set available that you can buy if can't attend.

For RapeDollars.™

$329 for five figures and membership to a club I couldn't be less interested in?

Rofflesauce. Especially considering these figures are all so basic that most people could easily repaint the original releases and come up with something that looks identical for considerably less.

Especially if they go on Clearance when the movie toy line hits. And considering how the pegs in my area are still crammed full with Classics, I have no doubt they will.

yeah I kinda knew they were going to do it. At least the seekers are in the box set that is easier to get for non-attendees rather than being souvoniers.

So the figures are:
Darkwing a repaint of Jetfire
Bugbite a repaint of Bumblebee
Thundercracker a repaint of Starscream
Dirge a repaint/remold of Ramjet
Thrust a repaint/remold of Ramjet

yep that's five

So speculation on the others?

Sunstorm a repaint of Starscream
Nemesis Prime a repaint of Optimus Prime

and then likely three others since its usually the bonus attendee figure, and then two sets of two souvie packs.

shockwaveuk wrote:That instills several kinds of rage in me. Just when I was thinking what a good job Hasbro had been doing lately too.

Seriously, if it wasn't for BotCon, then there would not be these new figures. I would prefer to have a chance at buying these figures then to not have them at all. So to all the whiners, I am sorry these are exclusives, but it's better than nothing.

GetterDragun wrote:

shockwaveuk wrote:That instills several kinds of rage in me. Just when I was thinking what a good job Hasbro had been doing lately too.

Seriously, if it wasn't for BotCon, then there would not be these new figures. I would prefer to have a chance at buying these figures then to not have them at all. So to all the whiners, I am sorry these are exclusives, but it's better than nothing.

Err, no?

If they weren't exclusives Thundercracker and atleast one of the Conehead repaints would've almost certainly seen general release.

While it's impossible to say without any shadow of doubt, we're talking about really easy to make repaints of characters that nearly the entire fanbase has been requesting for months.

We're not talking about Rare/Con-Original characters that not that many people have interest in. We're talking about Primary G1 villains.

I'll even give you that MAYBE the Ramjet mold wouldn't have gotten a repaint, but thats pretty unlikely considering it was a remold.

But Thundercracker would've been a guarenteed release if not for this set.

While I'm FINE with convention exclusives and think they should always do them, having them be of really popular characters that people have been demanding since the inception of the line is incredibly foolish on Hasbro and also incredibly unfair to the fanbase as a whole.

Archibald Witwicky wrote:

GetterDragun wrote:

shockwaveuk wrote:That instills several kinds of rage in me. Just when I was thinking what a good job Hasbro had been doing lately too.

Seriously, if it wasn't for BotCon, then there would not be these new figures. I would prefer to have a chance at buying these figures then to not have them at all. So to all the whiners, I am sorry these are exclusives, but it's better than nothing.

Err, no?

If they weren't exclusives Thundercracker and atleast one of the Conehead repaints would've almost certainly seen general release.

That's like saying if my uncle had tits he'd be my aunt.

Fact: There were no plans for additional classic figures.

Fact: BotCon got approval to continue a portion of the line for an event providing us with characters we would have never got.

GetterDragun wrote:Fact: There were no plans for additional classic figures.

Oh, right. You work for Hasbro, I forgot.

I don't know about everybody else but since I can't afford to go and don't want to pay the inflated Ebay prices that the set will surely go for later ($600 - $900) I think I will be paying the non-attendee package so I can complete my Classics seekers.

I figure the inflated price makes no difference to me since I can't afford to go to the convention in the first place. So, I might as well pony up for the toys and the two pieces of memorabilia (however you spell it!). Don't hate me.

Happy times!

GetterDragun wrote:Seriously, if it wasn't for BotCon, then there would not be these new figures. I would prefer to have a chance at buying these figures then to not have them at all. So to all the whiners, I am sorry these are exclusives, but it's better than nothing.

That is some seriously flawed logic right there.

If it wasn't for fans, there wouldn't be a BotCon.

GetterDragun wrote:Fact: There were no plans for additional classic figures.

Last I heard Classics was going on hiatus whilst the Movie toys were in the shops. I may have missed the announcement they were being discontinued though because I just skim the news.

GetterDragun wrote:

Archibald Witwicky wrote:

GetterDragun wrote:

shockwaveuk wrote:That instills several kinds of rage in me. Just when I was thinking what a good job Hasbro had been doing lately too.

Seriously, if it wasn't for BotCon, then there would not be these new figures. I would prefer to have a chance at buying these figures then to not have them at all. So to all the whiners, I am sorry these are exclusives, but it's better than nothing.

Err, no?

If they weren't exclusives Thundercracker and atleast one of the Conehead repaints would've almost certainly seen general release.

That's like saying if my uncle had tits he'd be my aunt.

Fact: There were no plans for additional classic figures.

Fact: BotCon got approval to continue a portion of the line for an event providing us with characters we would have never got.

Actually, that's not entirely true. Hasbro mentioned at Botcon 2006 that they MIGHT return to the Classics and Alternators line after the movie line is finished.

I imagine using these molds at Botcon 2007 serves at least 2 purposes. Hasbro won't have to return to the Classics line after the movie's line is finished while at the same time it gives those of us who can attend BotCon a very highly desired set. Having sets of this nature should, in theory, help improve attendance and/or package sales for BotCon in the future.

I don't think there's anything wrong with the BotCon folks doing something that is definitely in their best interests from a business perspective while giving giving fans a pretty damn cool convention exclusive that will definitely be worth some money down the road.

Seibertron wrote:I imagine using these molds at Botcon 2007 serves at least 2 purposes. Hasbro won't have to return to the Classics line after the movie's line is finished while at the same time it gives those of us who can attend BotCon a very highly desired set. Having sets of this nature should, in theory, help improve attendance and/or package sales for BotCon in the future. I don't think there's anything wrong with the BotCon folks doing something that is definitely in their best interests from a business perspective while giving giving fans a pretty damn cool convention exclusive that will definitely be worth some money down the road.

And I whole heartedly agree. I have *no* problems with Con-Exclusives. But they should be used as an oppertunity to give Fans truely oddball choices that would never have seen release if not for the exclusive. Last years set of Cybertron toys redone as Beast Wars characters is a perfect example of what Con-Exclusives should be. And it certainly didn't sell poorly. Fans went wild for it.

Making a Con-exclusive set chock full of characters that, literally, hundreds of thousands of TF fans would've gladly run out and bought is foolish.

Bugbite is the only example here of what a Con-Exclusive should really be.

Howell, won't affect me any. All I want is Thundercracker. $4 clearanced Screamer and a $5 can of spraypaint will give me just that.

Seibertron wrote: I don't think there's anything wrong with the BotCon folks doing something that is definitely in their best interests from a business perspective.

Whu? Selling a few hundred figures to a small amount of people makes better business sense than selling tens of thousands of figures to a global market?

I hate this news!

Classics offered the only affordable Seeker mold that looked good enough in recent years actualy make you want to spend the money on a full Seeker set, but actualy be able to as well.

Making it such a confined exclusive kills that dream for so many of us right now.

Joel, the other internet sharks, and all those Ebay scabs must have big bright green dollar signs in their eyes right now.

GetterDragun wrote:Seriously, if it wasn't for BotCon, then there would not be these new figures. I would prefer to have a chance at buying these figures then to not have them at all. So to all the whiners, I am sorry these are exclusives, but it's better than nothing.

No, actually, it's not, at least from where I'm sitting. You see, I don't have a chance of buying them, so this is worse then them not being produced at all. After all, the other way, I'd know the reason I didn't have the chance was because they didn't exist. This way, the reason I don't have a chance is because Hasbro deliberately decided to screw a large percentage of the fans.

The fact that this is becoming more and more common with the current fan club is really making me consider, quite seriously, giving up the fandom because it's beginning to take all the fun and enjoyment out of Transformers for me.

FlameStrike wrote:No, actually, it's not, at least from where I'm sitting. You see, I don't have a chance of buying them, so this is worse then them not being produced at all. After all, the other way, I'd know the reason I didn't have the chance was because they didn't exist. This way, the reason I don't have a chance is because Hasbro deliberately decided to screw a large percentage of the fans.

The fact that this is becoming more and more common with the current fan club is really making me consider, quite seriously, giving up the fandom because it's beginning to take all the fun and enjoyment out of Transformers for me.

Thats exactly whats wrong with stuff like this.

It's deliberately making a 'upper' and 'lower' class of fans. Those who can afford to throw hundreds of dollars a year for things that are not even close to worth that much, and those who can't.

And, unlike social classes where it's nearly impossible to do anything about it, TF fans CAN do something about this. They can simply walk away and save their money. All this really is is incentive for those of us who haven't already completed our Classics Collection to not do so. I know I just lost any interest in getting the other half of the line I don't have.

Like I said, Con-exclusives = awesome. Just not at the expensive of the vast majority of the fandom.

only thing I can hope is we hear good news about the Classics line at Botcon rather than just a big advertising convention for the movie stuff.

At least its still possible to buy the old convention main box sets and pre order for this one, rather than it be a very limited run much like the souvie packs.

Yes I agree for main characters I would have loved to see them released mainstream but honestly no one can answer even if they will pick up the line after the movie.

I know from reading these boards the fans loved the classics. I know from watching my 5 year old son play with the figures that he likes them (asks to play with them each time he's down)

I hope they can see that popular items sell since we know execs only see in $$$

as for the choice of the seekers the Botcon guys picked something they knew folks would like on the forknowledge they wouldn't be released otherwise.

And you know if they did release just the seekers down the road I still wouldn't feel cheated on the box set.

Who knows the seekers might not even have the same look we are used to and might just be simple repaints for a quick buck.

shockwaveuk wrote:

Seibertron wrote: I don't think there's anything wrong with the BotCon folks doing something that is definitely in their best interests from a business perspective.

Whu? Selling a few hundred figures to a small amount of people makes better business sense than selling tens of thousands of figures to a global market?

Different companies. Master Collector makes money off BotCon. Hasbro makes money off the "tens of thousands of figures to a global market." I'm not sure how the deal works between Master Collector and Hasbro but I would imagine that Master Collector pays Hasbro a licensing fee or something. I doubt Hasbro makes any money, or if they do only a little, from the Master Collector run conventions.

Frag. I have to pay through the f-ing nose to get thrust dirge and Thundercracker. I am terribly unhappy.

Look at all the outrage, oh nooooo's.

I will be regeistering tonight for a primus package for me and a minicon package for my girl friend. Can't wait to see the rest of the staff at Botcon and all the rest of the Seibertronians who will be there.

I am really excited about the seeker set they are releasing for BotCon, and I can't wait till we get to see the images of these guys. It will be so cool to be able to have a full Seeker set (I agree that Sunstorm has to be the exclusive show up figure). And if you want these figures so damn much, then you either have to pay a crap load of money on Ebay or just buy the non attendance package. And for those of you who do not want to join the club (and then save money on the purchase) then that is your choice. All this negative stuff isn't going to do much. It is true that lots of people would pay money for these figures in the store, and there are lots of people who would spend the $$$ to get them by either going, or getting a set delivered. I am one of them.

Maldroth wrote:only thing I can hope is we hear good news about the Classics line at Botcon rather than just a big advertising convention for the movie stuff.

Doubtful. Hasbro made the Classics line as a purely filler line between Cybertron and the new Movie Line. It was never meant to be a on going toy line like Alternators. I would love for the toy line to continue but it was never meant for that.

FlameStrike wrote:

GetterDragun wrote:Seriously, if it wasn't for BotCon, then there would not be these new figures. I would prefer to have a chance at buying these figures then to not have them at all. So to all the whiners, I am sorry these are exclusives, but it's better than nothing.

No, actually, it's not, at least from where I'm sitting. You see, I don't have a chance of buying them, so this is worse then them not being produced at all. After all, the other way, I'd know the reason I didn't have the chance was because they didn't exist. This way, the reason I don't have a chance is because Hasbro deliberately decided to screw a large percentage of the fans.

The fact that this is becoming more and more common with the current fan club is really making me consider, quite seriously, giving up the fandom because it's beginning to take all the fun and enjoyment out of Transformers for me.

Why don't you have a chance of buying them? You can certainly buy these if you wanted to.

Air Commander Starscream wrote::lol: Look at all the outrage, oh nooooo's.

I will be regeistering tonight for a primus package for me and a minicon package for my girl friend. Can't wait to see the rest of the staff at Botcon and all the rest of the Seibertronians who will be there.

I am really excited about the seeker set they are releasing for BotCon, and I can't wait till we get to see the images of these guys. It will be so cool to be able to have a full Seeker set (I agree that Sunstorm has to be the exclusive show up figure). And if you want these figures so damn much, then you either have to pay a crap load of money on Ebay or just buy the non attendance package. And for those of you who do not want to join the club (and then save money on the purchase) then that is your choice. All this negative stuff isn't going to do much. It is true that lots of people would pay money for these figures in the store, and there are lots of people who would spend the $$$ to get them by either going, or getting a set delivered. I am one of them.

I think this is a great example of the fandom being full of itself, to be honest. As much as the FANS (less than 15% of Hasbro's Transformers sales per their marketing pamplets) want to see Thundercracker, Thrust and Dirge released as regular line figures, I imagine the retailers and the majority of kids aren't interested in this at all. We've already seen the seeker mold in some variation used 3 times between October 2006 and February 2007 (a total of 4 months). I'm sure there was much more than meets the eye behind the scenes with this decision. I smell pegsitters with these 3 figures had they been released at retail ... just like Mirage, Cliffjumper and Ramjet have become in the past 6 weeks.

the oh Noooos I am upset about is because I cannot afford to pay that sort of money for 3 tfs I want. I can barely make it to the transformerscon this year. I would have bought them if they were on the shelves.

I was hoping to complete one set of fragging seekers for once and yes, I saw this coming a mile away. But I had hoped I was bloody wrong.

I cancelled my hotel reservation at the Biltmore for Botcon an hour ago. When did this event become so elitist? It's just not worth shelling out $1100 to go. I was able to attend Botcon Japan in 2000 for half that. I can wait and see the movie 6 days later(my 30th birthday is July 4th). If you look at the past two box sets from Botcon on ebay(do completed search), you'll see they go for LESS than the registration price of $250-$279. I got my "Dawn of Future's Past" for $202. Only the at show exclusives go for a lot on the secondary market. Also, factor in that the production run will be MUCH MORE than the previous years. I don't think this years exclusives will be going for very much 2-3 months after the show.

Seibertron wrote:Why don't you have a chance of buying them?

The price?

83457W422102 wrote:

Seibertron wrote:Why don't you have a chance of buying them?

The price?

QFT

As predictable as it may have been, it's still complete asshattery. Maybe retailers and kids may not have been as demanding for these as the fanbase, but Hasbro still could have done a decent production run and sold them as a reasonably-priced exclusive via their online store if they couldn't find a retailer. Is it a sound business decision for MasterCollector? Of course. But it's still a slap in the face to all but the most diehard fans who can't afford to get assraped out of $300+ for a handful of small figures that would have normally retailed for about $10 each.

Sunstar wrote:the oh Noooos I am upset about is because I cannot afford to pay that sort of money for 3 tfs I want.

But there are plenty of Transformers that I want that are to expensive. A lot of the Japanese (exclsuive and non) stuff that comes out in up there in $$$ and if I really want it I will pay for it, if not I wont. I wanted the Astrotrain and Airazor set but I decided it was too much money and didn’t go for it. But a lot of other people didn’t think it was too much and got a set. That is the nature of exclusives, it doesn’t mean for everybody and is suppose to be as enticing as possible for people who are willing to pay for it. That's why the Seekers made sense (plus really the other CL figures couldn’t be repainted or remolded for a 5 piece set).

I also think we all need to simmer down a bit in this thread, some posts are starting to go above the point of discussion and are moving to slight attacks. I understand that some of you are angry about the price, but that doesn’t give you the right to get angry with other members who hold a different viewpoint.

GetterDragun wrote:Fact: There were no plans for additional classic figures.

And now there won't be since the ones everyone wanted are going to sell for 5-6 times their normal price. They people will say "hey, they didn't sell well, I guess no one wants classics!"

Classics was the last good thing I liked about the current toy lines, and this could possibly be the thing that kills it. Movie toys are crap, and now the good toys are out of my price range.

Scaleface wrote:Classics was the last good thing I liked about the current toy lines, and this could possibly be the thing that kills it. Movie toys are crap, and now the good toys are out of my price range.

I'd have to agree with you. However, during this 'movie period,' I can get Titaniums and figures I missed out on from other Generations while I wait for the movie's influence to blow over. Not to mention Lego, Stikfas, and GI Joe.

Don't give up hope, I'm sure the Transformers you know and love will come back soon.

Seibertron wrote:Why don't you have a chance of buying them? You can certainly buy these if you wanted to.

Not unless you, or someone else, is willing to provide me with the funds to do so. The same reason I can't go to the convention is the same reason I can't get the set: I can't afford it.

Even if I could afford it, I suspect I'd refuse to do so on principle alone simply because they're far too overpriced. Unfortunately, I'm not even close to being in a position to make that decision.

Air Commander Starscream wrote:

Sunstar wrote:the oh Noooos I am upset about is because I cannot afford to pay that sort of money for 3 tfs I want.

But there are plenty of Transformers that I want that are to expensive. A lot of the Japanese (exclsuive and non) stuff that comes out in up there in $$$ and if I really want it I will pay for it, if not I wont. I wanted the Astrotrain and Airazor set but I decided it was too much money and didn’t go for it. But a lot of other people didn’t think it was too much and got a set. That is the nature of exclusives, it doesn’t mean for everybody and is suppose to be as enticing as possible for people who are willing to pay for it. That's why the Seekers made sense (plus really the other CL figures couldn’t be repainted or remolded for a 5 piece set).

Most of the stuff selling for ridiculous prices has been out for a long while. The Masterpiece figures sell for under $100, Masterpiece Optimus w/trailer retailed for around $170-180, and the complete Predaking reissue gift set went for what, $150? This is 5 new repaints of small figures that retail for less than $10 each, as a set only, and at $280-330. Paying around 600% more for 5 figures, 2 of which I don't even want, isn't worth it. For less than that I could buy a full set of diecast Evangelion Soul of Chogokins or Lords of Byston Well figures.

FlameStrike wrote:No, actually, it's not, at least from where I'm sitting. You see, I don't have a chance of buying them, so this is worse then them not being produced at all.

So what you're basically saying there is, "If I can't have them, then NOBODY should."

Chris McFeely wrote:

FlameStrike wrote:No, actually, it's not, at least from where I'm sitting. You see, I don't have a chance of buying them, so this is worse then them not being produced at all.

So what you're basically saying there is, "If I can't have them, then NOBODY should."

I believe what FlameStrike is saying is "They should give us all a chance to get them by releasing them as regular figures."

Tis true that these figures are hiked quite a bit higher then they would go in the stores. But your forgetting that these figures are exclusives and are not being made in large quantities. I don't like having to pay that much money for these figures, hell I was outraged last year when they sold Waspinator and Megatron together for like $85 and then Lazerbeak and Buzzclaw together for $45. But I baught them anyways because I wanted too so I could complete my Botcon set.

Just curious.... so if the Seekers wernt released as a Botcon set....then what exclusives would have been acceptable for you all to not be able to buy in store? Or should no exclusives been made because you might get left out due to price?