Oh, hey, also I'm finally getting around to auctioning my BotCon 2010 bagged set!  It comes in a bag, and is bagged.  In the bag are five toys!  Even the toys are individually bagged.  There's a lot of baggage!

So if you want Pyro or Clench or Streetwise or Sky-Byte or Breakdown, you might want to check it out.  I was going to single out one of them as one you REALLY have to have, but that's basically all of them, because they're fantastic.  Well, maybe not Streetwise.  I mean, sure, he's Shaft, but he's not nearly as pretty as the others.

They are so pretty.

You should bid on them.

I've been complaining (sort of) about the lack of Transformers to buy over the past few months.  Well, that's certainly over.  Between the ten new guys I got at BotCon and the buttload of stuff that's starting to show up at Toys "R" Us, I officially have Too Much.  So much that I probably should have started blogging these guys days ago, or I'll never ever get through them!  I have to be at a convention in just about a week!

(Speaking of which, come see me at ConnectiCon!)

But first, lemme remind you to pick up the AllSpark Almanac II, which came out yesterday.  The first volume was like a veritable Transformers orgasm, and the second one is like a whole sexy evening of Transformers orgasms.  Even better, I have some contributions within it!  The back cover illustration is mine, plus I'm the guy who put together the Ninja Gladiator game sprites.  A few of the character selections were my own, and you can probably tell.  You'll know what I'm talking about.  Also, co-author Jim Sorenson kept me around to make sure he wasn't going too far off the edge on some things.  He does kinda need to be reigned in sometimes!  Unchecked, he's a monster!

Anyway, BotCon toys.  I think I'll talk about Cindersaur first, because conceptually I think he's the most high-concept BotCon figure in a while.  Back in Generation 2, they put out redecoes of both Flamefeather and Sparkstalker, but not the third and final dude Cindersaur.  Well, let's fix that!  And so BotCon gives us a G2 Cindersaur 15 years after the fact.  That's only really part of it.

I also like how they arrived at Cindersaur's color scheme.  They extrapolated it from the other two dudes!  See, both G2 Flamefeather and Sparkstalker had bright green and purple robot parts, but were mostly a third translucent color.  Flamefeather was green, purple, and translucent orange, while Sparkstalker was green, purple, and translucent red.  Well, clearly Cindersaur has to have green and purple robot parts, plus they gotta choose a third, dominant color.  And that's just what we got.

Unfortunately, plastic tolerance issues being what they were, BotCon Cindersaur was unable to make all of its blue translucent.  But it's the thought that counts.  And, hey, the toy won't split into pieces in a few years, so that's good.

I really like him 'cuz at this point anybody can throw an existing character's colors on a toy and call it a day.  That's done all the time!  It's old hat.  But how often do we see potential color schemes extrapolated from other toys?  Plus, hey, it's the Beast Wars 10th Anniversary Megatron mold, which is like the best Tyrannosaurus rex Transformer ever.  Hot damn.

Hmm.  Who should I do next?  Who from this set haven't I given enough love?  ... on the other hand, I also just got Leader Starscream today, so...

While the masses get increasingly restless as BotCon is roughly one month away with no preregistration yet, we do get some raw meat thrown down to us.  A few days ago we got to see Clench!  He's Onslaught with a new head, in sparkly dark blue and bright pink.  This means he's awesome.

We also got to see this year's convention shirt, which glows in black light.  I've sworn off black BotCon shirts, since I just have too damn many, but I probably can't resist a G2 blacklight shirt.  I mean, c'mon.

What we don't get is BotCon preregistration three months ago.

I'm gettin' up early today for my trip to WildPig II in New Jersey.  Guess who I'm road-tripping with?  Why, none other than Randy Milholland, because I'm pretty much on his way from Texas, so why not?We're gonna pile up in his truck and godspeed ourselves to Springfield.

We may headbang.

So, woo!  The BotCon 2010 site is up!  It's beautiful.

Funny story: This morning, folks found images of one of the BotCon 2010 set's toys, Streetwise, on the BotCon.com server.  D'oh!  But then later in the day, a second image was found on the server, this time a badly photoshopped image of Universe Tankor as Clench.

And oh, some websites thought they had an awesome scoop!  And man, were people angry.  What a terrible choice for Clench!  And why doesn't he have a new head?  BotCon is RUINED!

Of course, it was all a joke played by Fun Publications.  (At least, the second part.)  And about half an hour after the image was "leaked," the BotCon.com site updated to reflect the theme of the year's set, plus an awesome new Guido Guidi illustration of Spark and the real Clench toy.

The real Clench is apparently a redecoed Universe Onslaught with a new head.  Suitably large, since he's Decepticon leader, and the little details we can spot in this illustration make him look super rad.  The blue on his legs sparkle, which is very important for Clench, and there's his Tron-like circuit patterns on his abdomen.  Here's hoping for his anti-wolf deco and his Texas license plate!

Streetwise Streetstar, the other reveal, is okay.  It's cool that we're getting a toy of an unreleased Generation 2 character, but I really wish the toy had more detail.  I mean, it's super-accurate to the original toy, but the original toy was kinda dull, too.  He just needs some more color somewhere.  But hey, at least it reminds folks that G2 wasn't all dayglo playskool neon.  And the tampograph on his windshield is awesome.

The BotCon 2010 brochure is up! Preregistration will go up later, so we can have a chance to look this thing over.  I haven't really read anything other than the names of the toys in the set, but oh my god yes.

Autobots: Spark (Pyro) and Streetwise

Decepticons: Clench and Breakdown

Predacon: Skybyte!

SKYBYYYYYTE