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Sabrblade wrote:

SW's SilverHammer wrote:These uprising figures would've fit perfectly fine into DoTFP, and actually pretty interesting, despite the fact is hate the fiction. Instead of this funpub decided to go with Dawn of the predicus which has some of the worst club figures, ever, one of the worst club comics, ever, and some of the worst promotion, ever. I would go so far to say the toys and fiction for dawn of the predicus are a BETRAYAL to beast wars. Eat my ass funpub.

I won't disagree that Dawn of the Predacus was a terrible story, but you know good and well that it was all Hasbro who pushed for 2016 to be a Combiner Wars set and that the story was all IDW/John-Paul Bove's headcanon. Fun Pub merely coordinated with the two to both comply with their wishes and release everything to the specific venue. Scorn where scorn is due. Blame Hasbro for forcing the CW theme on the set and Bove for his nonsensical headcanon story.

Funpub could've easily said "no see you next year", or "no, i'm taking my toys and going home." but funpub felt it would be best to stay to the course and get as much money as they can from the dedicated botcon fans with a poopy box set, and they got their contract canned anyway because of how stagnant their sales have been over the years. Now is that last part speculation? Yes? However until I see actual numbers from hasbro and funpub, the trends over the years have led me to believe that funpubs sales have been stagnate at best since 2007, and dropping at worse.

SW's SilverHammer wrote:Funpub could've easily said "no see you next year",

HA! HahahahahahahahahahahahaaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAH!!!! Yeah, they could TOTALLY have said that to their bosses' faces in their final year of existing! There was and is no "next year" for them.

SW's SilverHammer wrote:or "no, i'm taking my toys and going home."

Then there'd have been no BotCon 2016 at all, and everyone who went would have missed out on the great time that was had by many.

SW's SilverHammer wrote:but funpub felt it would be best to stay to the course and get as much money as they can from the dedicated botcon fans with a poopy box set,

In other words, they went for the most economical route that would keep their business afloat instead of the most moronic route that would have killed their business outright, which you seem to have wished for them to have taken.

SW's SilverHammer wrote:and they got their contract canned anyway because of how stagnant their sales have been over the years. Now is that last part speculation? Yes? However until I see actual numbers from hasbro and funpub, the trends over the years have led me to believe that funpubs sales have been stagnate at best since 2007, and dropping at worse.

We knew about their losing the license as early as December 22, 2015. They were already on their way out long before BotCon 2016 rolled around. BotCon 2016 did no effect on their coming to an end.

And for how bad the 2016 comic was, that was completely all Bove since he doesn't recognize how the problems with his story are problematic (or even recognize when an explanation for his side of an argument is explaining his side of said argument).

And lo and behold, Pete Sinclair just chimed in about the health of the Club's business model and how the next year would have been had Fun Pub not have been losing the license this year:

As far as us, model was working just fine all things considered. We were in the process of adjusting and offering some new supporting merchandise. BotCon 2016 was a big success as was the TFSS 4.0. I am confident 2017 would have offered up some amazing toys, more along the lines of Megatron and the other high points from this years offerings.

Sabrblade wrote:

SW's SilverHammer wrote:Funpub could've easily said "no see you next year",

HA! HahahahahahahahahahahahaaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAH!!!! Yeah, they could TOTALLY have said that to their bosses' faces in their final year of existing! There was and is no "next year" for them.

SW's SilverHammer wrote:or "no, i'm taking my toys and going home."

Then there'd have been no BotCon 2016 at all, and everyone who went would have missed out on the great time that was had by many.

To be fair both were the same point essentially considering it was their last year, it would've had no affect on anything really besides some bummed fans. Oh no a corporation canceled a PR event? My god. And with for this year? nothing of value was lost, considering there a lot more fan conventions run by fans. Also funpub saying no would;ve had the same effect, losing their contract.

Sabrblade wrote:

SW's SilverHammer wrote:but funpub felt it would be best to stay to the course and get as much money as they can from the dedicated botcon fans with a poopy box set,

In other words, they went for the most economical route that would keep their business afloat instead of the most moronic route that would have killed their business outright, which you seem to have wished for them to have taken.

Their contract was dead anyway, and if funpub doesn't die after the next TFSS, i will be very surprised.

Sabrblade wrote:

SW's SilverHammer wrote:and they got their contract canned anyway because of how stagnant their sales have been over the years. Now is that last part speculation? Yes? However until I see actual numbers from hasbro and funpub, the trends over the years have led me to believe that funpubs sales have been stagnate at best since 2007, and dropping at worse.

We knew about their losing the license as early as December 22, 2015. They were already on their way out long before BotCon 2016 rolled around. BotCon 2016 did no effect on their coming to an end.

And for how bad the 2016 comic was, that was completely all Bove since he doesn't recognize how the problems with his story are problematic (or even recognize when an explanation for his side of an argument is explaining his side of said argument).

I never said 2016 had an effect, what I was saying was canning botcon2016 really would't have made a difference. Because fun pub's been dying for a long time, i would be shocked if the did anything besides break even/hit the benchmark most years.

SW's SilverHammer wrote:To be fair both were the same point essentially considering it was their last year, it would've had no affect on anything really besides some bummed fans. Oh no a corporation canceled a PR event? My god. And with for this year? nothing of value was lost, considering there a lot more fan conventions run by fans. Also funpub saying no would;ve had the same effect, losing their contract.

No, BotCon 2016 was a very well received event by all sides. Losing it would have robbed fans and guests of a great experience and Fun Pub of a successful venture, so yeah, a LOT of value would have been lost for everyone.

Going out on BotCon 2015 would have been way worse than going out on BotCon 2016.

SW's SilverHammer wrote:Their contract was dead anyway, and if funpub doesn't die after the next TFSS, i will be very surprised.

Only the Transformer Collectors Club is ending. Fun Pub is still going to be running the G.I. Joe Collectors Club and JoeCon. G.I. Joe is virtually a dead franchise, yet its club and con get to live on while those of the very much alive Transformers franchise don't.

Sabrblade wrote:

SW's SilverHammer wrote:Their contract was dead anyway, and if funpub doesn't die after the next TFSS, i will be very surprised.

Only the Transformer Collectors Club is ending. Fun Pub is still going to be running the G.I. Joe Collectors Club and JoeCon. G.I. Joe is virtually a dead franchise, yet its club and con get to live on while those of the very much alive Transformers franchise don't.

I guarantee Joe con 2018 will not happen

SW's SilverHammer wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:

SW's SilverHammer wrote:Their contract was dead anyway, and if funpub doesn't die after the next TFSS, i will be very surprised.

Only the Transformer Collectors Club is ending. Fun Pub is still going to be running the G.I. Joe Collectors Club and JoeCon. G.I. Joe is virtually a dead franchise, yet its club and con get to live on while those of the very much alive Transformers franchise don't.

I guarantee Joe con 2018 will not happen

Hasbro begs to differ:



They renewed the Joe license with Fun Pub for another two more years.

ScottyP wrote:

shajaki wrote:For a BW fan, these not seeing the light of day is nothing short of tragic

What's tragic was what actually came out, presumably, in lieu of some of these: Another Tigatron, Another Airazor, Another Tarantulas, and freaking Under-Three who despite being cool isn't as cool as basically any of these (except maybe the BM Rattrap from Prime Frumble, that one's sorta meh.)

Agreed, I have no clue why they just made more of the same characters instead of giving us characters we didnt get yet. I mean, sure we would have already had a Dinobot but that is the one figure which I always felt was not given the right mold in the 06 box set. It just doesnt evoke anything Dinobot to me, unlike this awesome Springer mold.

Sabrblade wrote:

SW's SilverHammer wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:

SW's SilverHammer wrote:Their contract was dead anyway, and if funpub doesn't die after the next TFSS, i will be very surprised.

Only the Transformer Collectors Club is ending. Fun Pub is still going to be running the G.I. Joe Collectors Club and JoeCon. G.I. Joe is virtually a dead franchise, yet its club and con get to live on while those of the very much alive Transformers franchise don't.

I guarantee Joe con 2018 will not happen

Hasbro begs to differ:



They renewed the Joe license with Fun Pub for two more years.

Okay unrelated note to my hate on for funpub, that tells me Hasbro hopes that the IDW revolution combined continuity, or something else up their sleeves will revitalize the Joe franchise enough to increase public interest in general. In-turn, new older fans with disposable income will join the joeclub. Back to my hate one, i stand corrected, unless hasbro reneges at some point.

Wow, those are amazing! Too bad we never got those. Too bad we never will get them.

Sabrblade wrote:Other characters whose designs weren't directly based on any existing toy molds:


Survive, Buzzclaw, Cybershark, Bighorn, and Ser-Ket:

Actually, Ser-Ket is a dead ringer for her Alligned counterpart from the "Rage of the Dinobots" comic, who is in turn based on the Ripclaw figure from Beast Hunters. I think she'd have made good FSS material if things had kept going.

Zeedust wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:Other characters whose designs weren't directly based on any existing toy molds:


Survive, Buzzclaw, Cybershark, Bighorn, and Ser-Ket:

Actually, Ser-Ket is a dead ringer for her Alligned counterpart from the "Rage of the Dinobots" comic, who is in turn based on the Ripclaw figure from Beast Hunters. I think she'd have made good FSS material if things had kept going.

Of course Uprising Ser-Ket looks similar to Aligned Ser-Ket, that's where the inspiration for Uprising Ser-Ket came from. Except that the Aligned Ser-Ket/Ripclaw design doesn't have wheels on its shoulders or transform into a vehicle mode like Uprising Ser-Ket's design does. All five of the designs in that image there are inspired by the designs of each's original toy, but modified into Cybertronian forms that don't turn into Beast Modes, and of which no preexisting toy designs exist.

Sabrblade wrote:Of course Uprising Ser-Ket looks similar to Aligned Ser-Ket, that's where the inspiration for Uprising Ser-Ket came from. Except that the Aligned Ser-Ket/Ripclaw design doesn't have wheels on its shoulders or transform into a vehicle mode like Uprising Ser-Ket's design does. All five of the designs in that image there are inspired by the designs of each's original toy, but modified into Cybertronian forms that don't turn into Beast Modes, and of which no preexisting toy designs exist.

Ah. Didn't see the wheels, and she looks much closer to her counterpart than the other four do (Buzzclaw is admittedly a closer match than the Maximals, but still quite a bit less so than Ser-Ket.) So I think that's an understandable mistake on my part.