Twincast / Podcast Episode #109 "I Can Deal With That"

Oh I am so glad this is up, it's been a long work week and now I've got something to take the edge off... well... this and possibly alcohol...

Anyone ever notice combiners are essentially transformers having an orgy, and make a bigger robot?

Oh and it seems that there's allota Michael's/Mikes auditioning and/on the show.

Good episode, I really dig these long ones.
Can't really say why, for sure... but I'm really looking forward to episode 110 now!

Odd that some of the MP 'desirables' mentioned in this episode are what a lot of MP collectors complain about, either in the official line or 3rd party releases. Specifically gimmicks and light piping for eyes... Personally, I could do without both. Light piping, while cool looking when you have a light shining on the back of the head, is mostly useless when the figure is sitting on a shelf and gives the figure dull or 'dead' eyes without the proper lighting. And gimmicks, I'm fine with them if they don't himder the figure, but most the time they're unnecessary. The figure transforming and looking like the toon is all the gimmick I need.

As for Ultra Magnus...great figure! But I do wish they would have scaled him to bot mode like they have the rest of the line since the reboot. Not even the carbots scale properly in alt mode to MP-10, why's Magnus the one exception? I'd understand if they went the white Prime route and that's just how it landed, but they didn't... But I think I'm probably in the minority I'm that one. Good for everyone else, I guess.

I think if they scaled him smaller, it won't be proportional to MP-10 and won't be a car carrier for the other MP cars.

Wow, another one out already! I need to catch up...

Wow that cloud Rodimus is unacceptable!

Kibble wrote:Light piping, while cool looking when you have a light shining on the back of the head, is mostly useless when the figure is sitting on a shelf and gives the figure dull or 'dead' eyes without the proper lighting.

Amen to that. This is precisely why I prefer the Hasbro MP-10 robot/truck piece. Just can't stand the "dead eyes" on the Takara one (though still buying the re-release of it for the nicer trailer. I suck.)

I often ignore light piping on Gundams too, it's super whack in almost every case. Even the stickers are reflective and, meh. So from that experience, here's my recommendation for figures with green eyes where you want to really make them "pop" on the shelf: www.amazon.com/Tamiya-Models-Acrylic-Pa ... 00KMWUS8U/

Anybody got some good recommendations for blue or red? Gotta be bright but not too bright, ya know?

fenrir72 wrote:I think if they scaled him smaller, it won't be proportional to MP-10 and won't be a car carrier for the other MP cars.

Wouldn't be proportional to MP-10 in alt mode...instead he's not proportional in bot mode. I thought the point of the reboot was to scale properly in bot mode... And you're right that he wouldn't be a working car carrier for the other MP cars...the whole one time I did it for 2 minutes and will likely ever do it. But hot damn if it wasn't worth it at the price of the 99.99% of the rest of time he'll be the wrong size in the mode he's actually displayed in!

I get why they did it (more or less)...I just don't agree with it, nor does the choice agree with how they've been doing the other figures. But whatevs. Although if this figure continues with the trend of MP figs getting KO'ed, it would be awesome if they shrunk it down an inch and a half. I would totally buy that chit.

Kibble wrote:

fenrir72 wrote:I think if they scaled him smaller, it won't be proportional to MP-10 and won't be a car carrier for the other MP cars.

Wouldn't be proportional to MP-10 in alt mode...instead he's not proportional in bot mode. I thought the point of the reboot was to scale properly in bot mode... And you're right that he wouldn't be a working car carrier for the other MP cars...the whole one time I did it for 2 minutes and will likely ever do it. But hot damn if it wasn't worth it at the price of the 99.99% of the rest of time he'll be the wrong size in the mode he's actually displayed in!

I get why they did it (more or less)...I just don't agree with it, nor does the choice agree with how they've been doing the other figures. But whatevs. Although if this figure continues with the trend of MP figs getting KO'ed, it would be awesome if they shrunk it down an inch and a half. I would totally buy that chit.

At its heart, the MP line is a compromise between vehicular and robot scale. Just as Magnus is a bit taller than he should be, arguments have been made that bots like Sideswipe & Prowl should have been slightly taller. But that doesn't change the fact that, considering the size of the task and the choices they've had to make on both sides of the scale question, Takara has done an amazing job.

I got my MP Magnus in earlier this week. At first, I really didn't like him - the limited articulation in bot mode soured my opinion. He's grown one me - he is Magnus. Seeing him standing on the shelf with Optimus, Wheeljack, and the rest seems so right. And at the end of the day, if it feels right to me, that's what matters.

Lots of complaints about the club and Botcon in general and yet you're talking about it. That's the point. We're months away and not knowing what's exactly being done has got you talking about it. I'm willing to bet every one on the cast owns the vast majority of the club/con figures as well. How quickly we forget the good and are willing to talk smack about the club with no one to counter(punch?)point you. I've been around for the whole ride minus the con in 05. I've gotten some great toys. Had some great times with some great friends I've made attending. Enjoyed some fun fiction and in some cases, phenomenal art. I've never been left out to dry with poor customer service. So really, at this point, is it just the popular thing to do to still be holding a grudge? We're all adults, collecting toys. If there's some legitimate issue, I would imagine we're all adult enough to manage a solution. Whether that's to stop doing business with them, or continue to give them business and complain, that's your choice. Whatever the case, it's far past time to stop visiting that well.

I've never heard about the missing battery cover for Sentinel Maximus and I've owned him for years. I can't find any mention of it doing a Google search. I couldn't even find images of the battery cover. I had to take out mine to guess where it might be. Ha! So yeah, first time hearing that.

P.S. I realize I made it sound as if the battery cover was missing but it was intact. Crisis averted.

xRotorstormx, I live in Baytown, Tx and that Toys R Us has been poorly stocked for Transformers for the base 2 years or so. I did not see any on the current movie figures there until about 2 weeks after they were released everywhere else. Unfortunately it is not just the Toys R Us, it is the area in general late distribution all around.

Finally able to listen to this one too, and have a reply to Seibertron and those who mentioned the lack of artist acknowledgement in Transformers: Legacy.

This is what Sorenson had to say about it when we interviewed him and Bill Forster about the book:

Va'al – I will not comment on Hasbro UK, here. I think my question at this point, though, is: what about the artists of the original artwork? Did you find out who they were?

Jim – They're all in the Acknowledgements section, we did contact them but not everyone remembered what they actually worked on. We didn't think it made sense to do attributions if we only knew about 40% of the total. But they are there, and they did help with the book.

I do not have a copy at hand to check, but I do remember seeing something to that effect in the Acknowledgements page!


As for Leader Ultra Magnus - holy carp your voice is amazing.

Flux Convoy wrote:Lots of complaints about the club and Botcon in general and yet you're talking about it. That's the point. We're months away and not knowing what's exactly being done has got you talking about it. I'm willing to bet every one on the cast owns the vast majority of the club/con figures as well. How quickly we forget the good and are willing to talk smack about the club with no one to counter(punch?)point you. I've been around for the whole ride minus the con in 05. I've gotten some great toys. Had some great times with some great friends I've made attending. Enjoyed some fun fiction and in some cases, phenomenal art. I've never been left out to dry with poor customer service. So really, at this point, is it just the popular thing to do to still be holding a grudge? We're all adults, collecting toys. If there's some legitimate issue, I would imagine we're all adult enough to manage a solution. Whether that's to stop doing business with them, or continue to give them business and complain, that's your choice. Whatever the case, it's far past time to stop visiting that well.

I can definitely relate to this point of view. Almost everything I've personally dealt with regarding the Club and Botcon has been great and very fun, and yes, I own all but like 6 of their figures.

Personally, it seems fair to criticize their methods because they don't seem to be worried about growing the club and convention, and any issues I raise about them stems from a genuine care and desire for them to do well. If the convention grows and becomes something even cooler, that's great. Doesn't seem they want that to be the case, which is frustrating. But truly, any complaining is, for me, rooted out of a positive place at the end of the day. It can't help but come across as negative, especially once rolling with it as a group, but just feels like they're losing the pulse of the fan community and it concerns me, so the topic gets brought up.

That said, if a good portion of our listener base is sick of that kind of talk, we can absolutely cut down on it!

ScottyP wrote:

Flux Convoy wrote:Lots of complaints about the club and Botcon in general and yet you're talking about it. That's the point. We're months away and not knowing what's exactly being done has got you talking about it. I'm willing to bet every one on the cast owns the vast majority of the club/con figures as well. How quickly we forget the good and are willing to talk smack about the club with no one to counter(punch?)point you. I've been around for the whole ride minus the con in 05. I've gotten some great toys. Had some great times with some great friends I've made attending. Enjoyed some fun fiction and in some cases, phenomenal art. I've never been left out to dry with poor customer service. So really, at this point, is it just the popular thing to do to still be holding a grudge? We're all adults, collecting toys. If there's some legitimate issue, I would imagine we're all adult enough to manage a solution. Whether that's to stop doing business with them, or continue to give them business and complain, that's your choice. Whatever the case, it's far past time to stop visiting that well.

I can definitely relate to this point of view. Almost everything I've personally dealt with regarding the Club and Botcon has been great and very fun, and yes, I own all but like 6 of their figures.

Personally, it seems fair to criticize their methods because they don't seem to be worried about growing the club and convention, and any issues I raise about them stems from a genuine care and desire for them to do well. If the convention grows and becomes something even cooler, that's great. Doesn't seem they want that to be the case, which is frustrating. But truly, any complaining is, for me, rooted out of a positive place at the end of the day. It can't help but come across as negative, especially once rolling with it as a group, but just feels like they're losing the pulse of the fan community and it concerns me, so the topic gets brought up.

That said, if a good portion of our listener base is sick of that kind of talk, we can absolutely cut down on it!

I feel like for the most part, we have always been fair with the club and Botcon. To not point out our frustrations when things do not improve would be disingenuous.

I feel like we have always balanced it by being prompt and thorough with the things they do well and right.

Counterpunch wrote:

ScottyP wrote:I can definitely relate to this point of view. Almost everything I've personally dealt with regarding the Club and Botcon has been great and very fun, and yes, I own all but like 6 of their figures.

Personally, it seems fair to criticize their methods because they don't seem to be worried about growing the club and convention, and any issues I raise about them stems from a genuine care and desire for them to do well. If the convention grows and becomes something even cooler, that's great. Doesn't seem they want that to be the case, which is frustrating. But truly, any complaining is, for me, rooted out of a positive place at the end of the day. It can't help but come across as negative, especially once rolling with it as a group, but just feels like they're losing the pulse of the fan community and it concerns me, so the topic gets brought up.

That said, if a good portion of our listener base is sick of that kind of talk, we can absolutely cut down on it!

I feel like for the most part, we have always been fair with the club and Botcon. To not point out our frustrations when things do not improve would be disingenuous.

I feel like we have always balanced it by being prompt and thorough with the things they do well and right.

I personally think the twincast's treatment of the Club, and the validity of certain criticisms, depends largely on exactly what the criticism is.

For example, when you talk about outdated marketing models, the seeming lack of interest to grow the convention, and the over sexualizarion or arbitrariness of certain Club characters/fiction/toys, I think the criticism tends to be fairly even handed.

When it comes to criticism of the convention location or timing of announcements, I raise an eyebrow. Certain podcast members regularly bemoaned the CA convention location for the past few years, but when the Chicago location for 2015 was announced, there was no love - in fact, more lampooning for the most part. Or, when the Club announced Chicago farther in advance than usual after complaints of not giving enough notice, there was more complaining about how they should announce it even farther in advance - preferably at the end of the previous year's Botcon. Granted, these criticisms were largely tied to the fact that the Club was obviously trying to disrupt TFcon, but it seems they just can't win on certain things.

At any rate, I don't mind Club criticism - we're all very passionate people who care about the brand, and if the official Club that represents that brand makes major missteps, it's our job to make that known. Besides, why would I want to listen to a podcast where everyone agrees with me on everything?

What exactly do you think needs improving though? Obviously whatever they're doing is working for them. Lines are an issue at any con. As noted by others, go to any other convention where celebrities are present. See if Botcon lines aren't miniscule in comparison. You certainly won't get the kind of quality time with a celebrity like you can at Botcon or these TF fan specific events. I own every figure they've done including the Magnificus and SG ehobby pack. There's slim few I don't care for. No huge complaints. I'm more frustrated with the lack of certain characters instead of others sometimes. I guess the negative attitudes just grate on me. "A big box of shit." I mean, c'mon. Has there been a year where the majority of the box set is actually bad? By any stretch? I've attended every show since 06. Being a Florida resident, travel expenses to California are outrageous. Yet we managed it, every time. I get the location gripes from my end of it. However, I have never had a bad time in Cali. The locations have never been run down or gross. Never had a bad experience there. We were ecstatic to hear this year was going to be our end of the country. Otherwise we were going to have to bow out. In short, I don't get a lot of the complaints. I agree that I don't want to listen to a show where everyone agrees with me either but it's gotten old and redundant to constantly berate the club. My (more than) two cents.

Flux Convoy wrote:What exactly do you think needs improving though?

My two biggest issues:

1. Order show exclusives when you register.
2. Modern websites and webservices for ordering, including adequate security measures.

And my one growing issue:

Better control over how new heads are QCed. This truly was not an issue for me for a long time, but it seems that every year there is one that is problematic now.

Counterpunch wrote:

Flux Convoy wrote:What exactly do you think needs improving though?

My two biggest issues:

1. Order show exclusives when you register.
2. Modern websites and webservices for ordering, including adequate security measures.

And my one growing issue:

Better control over how new heads are QCed. This truly was not an issue for me for a long time, but it seems that every year there is one that is problematic now.

The mystery part has always been Botcon tradition. I like being surprised. Your second point, I have no counter for. There's no denying their web technology should have grown up by now. Your final point, I'm having a hard time remembering any Club or Botcon figures in the last couple years with any head issues. I'd be interested to hear which ones you have issues with.

Flux Convoy wrote:

Counterpunch wrote:

Flux Convoy wrote:What exactly do you think needs improving though?

My two biggest issues:

1. Order show exclusives when you register.
2. Modern websites and webservices for ordering, including adequate security measures.

And my one growing issue:

Better control over how new heads are QCed. This truly was not an issue for me for a long time, but it seems that every year there is one that is problematic now.

The mystery part has always been Botcon tradition. I like being surprised.

Just because it's a tradition, doesn't mean it's a good thing Maybe some people want to know if they're going to actually get their $400+ worth before signing up.

SW's SilverHammer wrote:
Just because it's a tradition, doesn't mean it's a good thing Maybe some people want to know if they're going to actually get their $400+ worth before signing up.

Except you do know what you're getting for the admission cost. The souvenirs are a separate cost.

Flux Convoy wrote:

SW's SilverHammer wrote:
Just because it's a tradition, doesn't mean it's a good thing Maybe some people want to know if they're going to actually get their $400+ worth before signing up.

Except you do know what you're getting for the admission cost. The souvenirs are a separate cost.

Yeah you know you're getting figures of a sort. Maybe it would be better knowing who those figures are before setting out on a cross country trek for toys you don't want; but you don't know you don't want them, because you weren't told who they were. The point is not all botcon figures are great, and someone shouldn't have to pay the cost of admission, plus some, to find out you don't like figures you blew a little over $1000

SW's SilverHammer wrote:

Flux Convoy wrote:

SW's SilverHammer wrote:
Just because it's a tradition, doesn't mean it's a good thing Maybe some people want to know if they're going to actually get their $400+ worth before signing up.

Except you do know what you're getting for the admission cost. The souvenirs are a separate cost.

Yeah you know you're getting figures of a sort. Maybe it would be better knowing who those figures are before setting out on a cross country trek for toys you don't want; but you don't know you don't want them, because you weren't told who they were. The point is not all botcon figures are great, and someone shouldn't have to pay the cost of admission, plus some, to find out you don't like figures you blew a little over $1000

I'm in the camp that thinks all of the exclusives should be revealed, and that all of the exclusives should be revealed long before hand. If they want to hold back the attendee giveaway, that'd be fine ... but to hold back half the set just doesn't make sense to me. I think they'd get a better turn out if they just showed their full hand instead of doing this convention like it's still back in the day. It comes across to me like they're afraid of revealing all of their exclusives for some reason instead of standing behind their product(s) sold at their event proudly.

Seibertron wrote:

SW's SilverHammer wrote:

Flux Convoy wrote:

SW's SilverHammer wrote:
Just because it's a tradition, doesn't mean it's a good thing Maybe some people want to know if they're going to actually get their $400+ worth before signing up.

Except you do know what you're getting for the admission cost. The souvenirs are a separate cost.

Yeah you know you're getting figures of a sort. Maybe it would be better knowing who those figures are before setting out on a cross country trek for toys you don't want; but you don't know you don't want them, because you weren't told who they were. The point is not all botcon figures are great, and someone shouldn't have to pay the cost of admission, plus some, to find out you don't like figures you blew a little over $1000

I'm in the camp that thinks all of the exclusives should be revealed, and that all of the exclusives should be revealed long before hand. If they want to hold back the attendee giveaway, that'd be fine ... but to hold back half the set just doesn't make sense to me. I think they'd get a better turn out if they just showed their full hand instead of doing this convention like it's still back in the day. It comes across to me like they're afraid of revealing all of their exclusives for some reason instead of standing behind their product(s) sold at their event proudly.

I've said this for years, the club's focus are the hardcore fans who were there for '95, '05, and who will attend in 2015; because lets face it if you're a fan who can go every year; you will. and those are guaranteed checks for the club. Now that's not bad, just stagnant; the club won't change; if there's no need to.

SW's SilverHammer wrote:I've said this for years, the club's focus are the hardcore fans who were there for '95, '05, and who will attend in 2015; because lets face it if you're a fan who can go every year; you will. and those are guaranteed checks for the club. Now that's not bad, just stagnant; the club won't change; if there's no need to.

Which is sad, because there are definitely mid-tier folks like me who can sign up for the subscription service, but can't justify going to a convention every year. Chicago makes it easier, but it's still a challenge. Some innovation might get some folks off the fence.

megatronus wrote:

SW's SilverHammer wrote:I've said this for years, the club's focus are the hardcore fans who were there for '95, '05, and who will attend in 2015; because lets face it if you're a fan who can go every year; you will. and those are guaranteed checks for the club. Now that's ot bad, just stagnant; the club won't change; if there's no need to.

Which is sad, because there are definitely mid-tier folks like me who can sign up for the subscription service, but can't justify going to a convention every year. Chicago makes it easier, but it's still a challenge. Some innovation might get some folks off the fence.

Yeah but that's risky, because if it's to new it will alienate hardcore fans,but if it's the same old same old, the fans who are willing to go every year are still a guaranteed check, and as long as it's a steady guarantee and they break even at least, the club won't change, because it's secure.

SW's SilverHammer wrote:

megatronus wrote:

SW's SilverHammer wrote:I've said this for years, the club's focus are the hardcore fans who were there for '95, '05, and who will attend in 2015; because lets face it if you're a fan who can go every year; you will. and those are guaranteed checks for the club. Now that's ot bad, just stagnant; the club won't change; if there's no need to.

Which is sad, because there are definitely mid-tier folks like me who can sign up for the subscription service, but can't justify going to a convention every year. Chicago makes it easier, but it's still a challenge. Some innovation might get some folks off the fence.

Yeah but that's risky, because if it's to new it will alienate hardcore fans,but if it's the same old same old, the fans who are willing to go every year are still a guaranteed check, and as long as it's a steady guarantee and they break even at least, the club won't change, because it's secure.

I'm not sure it would be so risky. Like you say, the guaranteed checks are guaranteed checks. The people who go every year tend to emphasize the social benefits and "experience of being at Botcon" rather than the product itself, or the advertising strategies that market that product.

But folks like us? I think if they want to broaden their base of attendees, they really need to implement at least some incremental change and experimentation.

megatronus wrote:

SW's SilverHammer wrote:

megatronus wrote:

SW's SilverHammer wrote:I've said this for years, the club's focus are the hardcore fans who were there for '95, '05, and who will attend in 2015; because lets face it if you're a fan who can go every year; you will. and those are guaranteed checks for the club. Now that's ot bad, just stagnant; the club won't change; if there's no need to.

Which is sad, because there are definitely mid-tier folks like me who can sign up for the subscription service, but can't justify going to a convention every year. Chicago makes it easier, but it's still a challenge. Some innovation might get some folks off the fence.

Yeah but that's risky, because if it's to new it will alienate hardcore fans,but if it's the same old same old, the fans who are willing to go every year are still a guaranteed check, and as long as it's a steady guarantee and they break even at least, the club won't change, because it's secure.

I'm not sure it would be so risky. Like you say, the guaranteed checks are guaranteed checks. The people who go every year tend to emphasize the social benefits and "experience of being at Botcon" rather than the product itself, or the advertising strategies that market that product.

But folks like us? I think if they want to broaden their base of attendees, they really need to implement at least some incremental change and experimentation.

The people who go place emphasis the social gathering, however that's not what botcon's necessarily about in a capitalist sense you know. Botcon gets most of it's money back in sales, how the sales go about doesn't matter whether people are buying the privilege to be part of the social event, the toys or the personalities. However Something I think needs to happen is botcon needs to settle. The traveling circus is fun sure,but a set time and place would help stabilize it fiscally. The one thing I wish would happen, and I know this would upset people in the midwest and south. However I think there need to be a Botcon East, and Botcon West. because people like me on the coast, specifically the west coast, there's absolutely no convention for us this side of SDCC.

SW's SilverHammer wrote:However I think there need to be a Botcon East, and Botcon West. because people like me on the coast, specifically the west coast, there's absolutely no convention for us this side of SDCC.

A thousand times this. Have your California show, heck do Pasadena every year if you want to, it seems to make them money. Then rotate it around the East Coast and Midwest; see what works and what doesn't.

Maybe TF Con running two shows a year now will kick them in the pants a bit to do the same. Maybe.

Imma let you finish, but I need to share this reminder about Alpha Bravo.

Va'al wrote:

How can you not love him.



He's so majestic.



He's so selfless.



He's so stylish.



And a great team worker.

Alpha Bravo is the Chewbacca of Combiner wars, AKA the true hero.

ScottyP wrote:

SW's SilverHammer wrote:However I think there need to be a Botcon East, and Botcon West. because people like me on the coast, specifically the west coast, there's absolutely no convention for us this side of SDCC.

A thousand times this. Have your California show, heck do Pasadena every year if you want to, it seems to make them money. Then rotate it around the East Coast and Midwest; see what works and what doesn't.

Maybe TF Con running two shows a year now will kick them in the pants a bit to do the same. Maybe.

Anyhow, I can only hope this would happen though knowing the club, if they do two conventions, that'd probably cause some friction in regards to exclusives, what's going to happen at the show, booking, what have you. But if that does happen they should be treated like two separate conventions. maybe two sets of toys, or just the average count divided by two; whatever, guests based on proximity and scheduling, and the vent based on locale. If they wanted to do the traveling circus, they could literally have it where there's two cons have charter maps, this one goes Pasadena, Seattle, Portland, Tucson; this one goes Chicago, Houston, New York, Atlanta, etc.

Two shows a year is kind of a pipe dream. You guys said it yourselves, the the returning customers are likely to remain so. I hardly think showing off the other figures is going to matter much. It hasn't to my girl and I for the last decade. She doesn't give a damn about Transformers at all. It's those friends we've made that bring us back every year. Would I like to know all the toys? Probably. I much prefer being pleasantly surprised. If I'm not, then I simply wouldn't buy them. That's if I didn't collect all their figures. No one is forcing my hand there. That's all on me. I agree that some things are dated but if they work and they're profiting, why bother changing?

Flux Convoy wrote:but if they work and they're profiting, why bother changing?

...because everyone knows the Transformers brand is about not changing.

megatronus wrote:

Flux Convoy wrote:but if they work and they're profiting, why bother changing?

...because everyone knows the Transformers brand is about not changing.

Sarcasm aside, I understand what you're saying. Capitalism doesn't adhere to any rule other than trying to make a profit though. Obviously this works for them. They're clearly not changing the strategy. We've all had ten years to get over it. I'm gonna go to Botcon and have a great time with great people even if I hate every last figure this year. I'm gonna be a club member and hope they produce stuff I like. If not, I'll live. They're only toys. It's a gamble, take it or leave it. Even better/cheaper, make friends with folks who attend. Have them grab stuff you want. I'd offer but my hands are already full. I lost my point. It's a hobby about toys. Shouldn't that be a fun thing?

Flux Convoy wrote:

megatronus wrote:

Flux Convoy wrote:but if they work and they're profiting, why bother changing?

...because everyone knows the Transformers brand is about not changing.

Sarcasm aside, I understand what you're saying. Capitalism doesn't adhere to any rule other than trying to make a profit though. Obviously this works for them. They're clearly not changing the strategy. We've all had ten years to get over it. I'm gonna go to Botcon and have a great time with great people even if I hate every last figure this year. I'm gonna be a club member and hope they produce stuff I like. If not, I'll live. They're only toys. It's a gamble, take it or leave it. Even better/cheaper, make friends with folks who attend. Have them grab stuff you want. I'd offer but my hands are already full. I lost my point. It's a hobby about toys. Shouldn't that be a fun thing?

I'm glad you understood it was sarcasm in jest

Thing is, you're going to go anyway. You're a guaranteed revenue stream to the Club. The question isn't about how to keep attendance the same, it's about how to grow the convention so the Club can make more money, put out more figures, and generally keep this whole thing going for longer. Keeping everything the same isn't the way to do that, necessarily.

I'd definitely argue that they're producing more. The sub and the additional figures. They're producing twenty plus figures per year now.

Flux Convoy wrote:I'd definitely argue that they're producing more. The sub and the additional figures. They're producing twenty plus figures per year now.

I think you're missing my point...

megatronus wrote:

Flux Convoy wrote:

megatronus wrote:

Flux Convoy wrote:but if they work and they're profiting, why bother changing?

...because everyone knows the Transformers brand is about not changing.

Sarcasm aside, I understand what you're saying. Capitalism doesn't adhere to any rule other than trying to make a profit though. Obviously this works for them. They're clearly not changing the strategy. We've all had ten years to get over it. I'm gonna go to Botcon and have a great time with great people even if I hate every last figure this year. I'm gonna be a club member and hope they produce stuff I like. If not, I'll live. They're only toys. It's a gamble, take it or leave it. Even better/cheaper, make friends with folks who attend. Have them grab stuff you want. I'd offer but my hands are already full. I lost my point. It's a hobby about toys. Shouldn't that be a fun thing?

I'm glad you understood it was sarcasm in jest

Thing is, you're going to go anyway. You're a guaranteed revenue stream to the Club. The question isn't about how to keep attendance the same, it's about how to grow the convention so the Club can make more money, put out more figures, and generally keep this whole thing going for longer. Keeping everything the same isn't the way to do that, necessarily.

Yep, the problem with the club is how stagnant it is. Even if the club is making enough to break even or better, they're still depending mostly on older hardcore fans. Eventually those fans will either get frustrated with the club's lack of ingenuity, or how tedious they've been for the decade plus, either way with the clubs dependency on this small sector of fans; because lets face it, there are more people like me and megatronus, than say you or seibertron, and when that fan base starts to dwindle, the club will start hurting.

Va'al wrote:Imma let you finish, but I need to share this reminder about Alpha Bravo.

Va'al wrote:

How can you not love him.



He's so majestic.



He's so selfless.



He's so stylish.



And a great team worker.

Alpha Bravo for President.

Counterpunch wrote:Alpha Bravo for President.

Alpha Bravo - Always ready to lend a hand.