Here's all the toys from this year's BotCon set all thrown up on my desk.
Howdy folks! We decided to push on through the night on our way back instead of staying the night half-way, so we’re all home again a bit early. Since this morning, I’ve been trying to get back into the swing of things, especially with tomorrow’s book signing event!
Throughout the con, I got the same two questions from folks a number of times, so I thought I’d take the time to answer them here:
1) Did you know about the Shattered Ravage toy?
I’m not one of the dudes who decides on BotCon figures, so it was those folks who put the set together and realized that the little jaguar that comes with the Hound mold should be SG Ravage. They didn’t ask permission or anything, nor should they have to – I don’t own Transformers, Ravage, or the Shattered Glass concept! Only the character conceit is mine. But apparently my little Twitter character had endeared himself to lots of folks, so BotCon jumped at the chance to do him. (And eBay seems to be favoring him at the moment over most of the others, so woo!) I’m honored and humbled that I own a little Transformer that I created. It’s a new feeling for me!
But no bio card. I may have to fix that somehow.
2) How do you feel about Dinobot winning the Hall of Fame?
Sunday, after the Hall of Fame dinner, Dinobot was honored in a display case.
I still don’t believe that it happened! This should not be real. When they announced he was the winner at the dinner, there was some very happy swearing, and, as I had been filling myself with alcohol the whole night, I stood up on my chair and put my fists up into the air. I was off in the corner so hopefully nobody saw.
People attribute the victory to me, but I don’t believe that. If I could order you folks around so easily, I’d be a heck of a lot richer! No, folks voted for Dinobot because he strikes an emotional chord. My linking and pleading wouldn’t have worked unless there was a pull for Dinobot to begin with.
Not that I won’t take credit if it suits my purposes. Ha ha ha.
So modest ;D
Lol what, one of those toys isn’t exactly him, and one’s a happy meal toy? XD
I’m sad they didn’t show all five decoes of the original mold. But they still somehow managed to have a piece of Dinobot merchandise I don’t own. *shakes fist*
I’ll be completely honest…I was voting at least twice a day for Dinobot solely because of your blog posts.
Meanwhile, I got about 30 emails telling me they were voting for Soundwave and/or Grimlock EXTRA HARD to offset my campaigning. I guess we still outnumbered them!
I knew he wouldn’t win, but I stuck to my guns and voted for Shockwave every day. I was happy Dinobot won though, the nerd rage that ensued on TFW2005 was worth it. I also like what having him in the First Year Hall of Fame represents to the Franchise and/or Fandom.
I’m surprised they didn’t put the color corrected Transmetal 2 Dinobot in there.
If they needed it I have both colors still in package
.
Who’s the tiny Dinobot?
I voted for Chopperface sort of to vote against the GEEWUNNERS as a show of support for Beast Wars which is the best Transformers show with the best characters.
That and McNeil’s voice and one of the best death scenes in fiction made it an easy choice.
It’s good… but I honestly think I prefer Animated.
I voted for dinobot every day scince you brought it up. Not really a fan of dinobot myself, just wanted to make you happy. it’s kinda my thing… If I had read blogs about other folks who didn’t like dinobot then maybe I’d've wanted to make them happy too…. but none of them have my second favorite webcomic (after girl genius) on their blog!
I voted exactly ONCE, and it was for Chopperface, mostly because I felt he deserved it and G1 was MORE than well represented already – though I did still enjoy all your campaigning for him.
On a side note, without being too spoilter-ish for us Non-Attendees, does SG Ravage appear in the Club Comic that comes with the set?
I voted for dinobot several times becasue of your posts. I won’t say that Dinobot was my favorite character from Beast Wars, but as I feel Beast Wars was the best animated transformers…well ever…it is grossly underappreciated by a lot of trans fans. Beast Wars and Dinobot deserver their place as first ballot hall of famers
Shattered Glass Ravage, is also something I really want…hopefully ebay prices come down? (but I doubt they will)
I think I voted for Soundwave a couple of times, Grimlock once when you pointed out that Dinobot would be in favor of a contest of strength determining the victor, and then Dinobot when you posted his death scene.
To be honest, I was blown away when I read Dinobot won as well. I mean, I was hopeful, but yeah… I thought it was totally going to be Soundwave. (Granted I did vote everyday as well for Dinobot.) I was trying to think about WHY he won, and honestly, here’s my thoughts:
Soundwave was cool, yes. But he was cool in the 1980′s. He hasn’t really been seen too much since, his actions in the Marvel comics series and Cybertron was never really notable. And his appearances in the movie made less of an impression on us then “Noooo, too many sonic booms!” did. And Animated, while awesome… He was in less episodes than Angry Archer. And Soundwave never had that single stand alone defining story like Chopperface did. He was just… Cool. And cool can carry you a long ways, but there’s a very blunt difference between “cool” and “good”. Jazz was also cool. However like Soundwave, he also never had that defining story that made him beloved. He was likable and cool as well… But he didn’t have much more beyond that. Grimlock, to be honest, has only been portrayed as the intelligent military genius in the comics. No animated version of him has ever portrayed him as anything more than the slightly mentally handicapped thug. And Shockwave is the same as Grimlock. His actions in the comics is more impressive than his actions in the cartoons where he got his ass kicked repeatedly by anyone coming through the space bridge. His portrayal in TF: Animated was great, but it was shown once and never seen again, sadly. Shockwave and Grimlock had TONS of wonderful defining stories… But they were all in the comics. And your average voter remembers the cartoons more, I think.
Dinobot was cool too, but he had that defining story that really resonated with people. I mean, when Prime died in the original ’86 movie… Yeah, kids cried, but they’re kids. They cry at anything sad. Dinobot’s death made ADULTS tear up a bit. People’s trying to replicate that emotion with character deaths in Transformers since, and the closest I’ve seen happen was Prowl in TF:A and even that was not as moving as Dinobot’s. Many people consider Beast Wars the best TF series ever, he was one of the reasons, and he was the representable for it.
But hey, I’m probably way the hell off. For all I know, Dinobot might have just inched out Soundwave by a couple of votes. Just my thoughts.
I think I voted only once (and for Dinobot). Honestly if I had liked another character on the list better I wouldn’t have voted for Dinobot just to please you, but I liked Dinobot the best, even if I, sadly, don’t own a single toy of him (and I own G1 Soundwave, Titanium Soundwave, Legend Class Cybertron Soundwave and Robot Heroes Soundwave o.o ).
In the meantime…how is that Sky-byte? I would totally buy that toy if it wasn’t going for 60$ on EBay >< it looks really cool!
Next serie needs a new Sky-byte.
There aren’t that many great Dinobot toys, and there are a shit-tonne of Soundwaves.
Maybe we’ll see this rectified now
SO AWESOME THAT DINOBOT WON. It was really great that Scott got to be there for it, too- he rocks like granite blocks. Man I hope we get him for AnimeFest again so I can make his Guest badge be Dinobot holding a trophy.
It surely caused no end of whining, but I think it was brilliant of them to open the voting to as many votes as anyone wanted to cast, rather than limiting it to one vote per IP address or whatever. This way, it wasn’t how many people wanted a particular candidate to win, it was how much those people wanted it to win. I’m guessing Soundwave probably got more individual voters because there are always going to be more casual fans who only remember one or two characters from their childhood than there are rabid fanboys with faction symbol tattoos, and Soundwave was pretty damn cool. But Dinobot fans meant it. They voted early and often because they genuinely cared, and I think that makes this a better result than if it had just been a measure of how many people only cared enough to hit a button once.
Willis didn’t make people Vote Choppaface- he only showed us that it was possible, and our love of a badass character moved us to propel that character to victory.
Speaking for myself, my favourite TF character has always been SoundWave, secret leader of the Decepticons and power behind the throne. But in voting for the Hall of Fame, I voted for Dinobot, and did so almost every day, because he was, in my opinion, more deserving of induction. Dinobot is awesome, and I’m glad he won.
I’ve heard a few people saying that Dinobot was a lock from the beginning, as the lineup was one BW character and a 4-way G1 split.
I want to know where these people who thought Dinobot’s winning was such a given thing were when the lineup was announced and even the Dinobot voters were referring to it as “Grimlock vs. Soundwave.”
Considering Scott was invited to Botcon at the absolute last minute. Yeah, don’t think it was in the bag.
First, Dinobot won. Then, he blew up Waspinator. And there was much rejoicing. -yay-
Dinobot does not need our approval.
Soundwave will get in there eventually. I bet all the Geewun nerdrage is hilarious.
So which non-G1 guys do you folks imagine will eventually end up in that Hall of Fame? Personally I’m banking on Optimus Primal, Megatron (BW/BM), Black Arachnia (BW), Sky-Byte and Vector Prime (Cybertron).
The Beast Wars show had quite a few worthy characters IMO.
Megatron, Black Arachnia, Rattrap, Primal and obviously Waspinator come to mind.
But for Sky-Byte and Vector Prime, I dunno. What about their characters would
qualify Sky-Byte and Vector Prime? I tried to but coud not bear to watch RiD, Armada, Energon and Cybertron. Normally I am all over the “so bad it´s good”-stuff, but those shows really tested my patience. What about their characters would qualify Sky-Byte and Vector Prime?
I am trying to come up with potential nominees from Transformers Animated, but while it was a great show (I´d rank it just a tiny bit below Beast Wars), I cannot think of a single character that I´d nominate.
Then there is the movie continuity, but those characters are too bland anyway.
Sky-byte is just a memorable guy, a guy who’s a bad guy mostly because he wants Megatron’s aproval and that’s about it. He’d actually be more succesful as a hero. He’s also surprisingly popular with the human children IN the show!
And he’s a poet! Can’t go wrong with a shark who does haiku.
Vector Prime mostly because of his impact on the story. He’s the one who brought forth the Cyber Planet Key quest to save the universe and he sacrificed himself to allow the Autobots to exit the dimension Gigantion had fallen into.
‘course we’d have to induct all the worthwhile G1 and Beast Wars character before going into RID or the Cybertron trilogy or even TFA.
DINO NOT TRUKK
Yay for Dinobot! Beast Wars was the only TF franchise I really got into – played around with the G1 toys as a kid, but didn’t really care about the characters or media versions. BW was definitely something new and interesting and awesome, and goddamn if Chopperface doesn’t deserve his shiny new podium spot.
So, I’m not a big fan of Beastwars, because the animation style doesn’t do it for me — but I’m really glad that the fandom got a chance to speak and be part of the official records. You all sound like a great group of folks.
Honestly, I voted for Dinobot every day (twice on days I worked) because I wanted Amber to get reelected, and I wondered if he was voted in she would be too.
Also I figured why not.