TFCon 2012 Preview and Convention Guide

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Commence countdown! 5... 4... 3... 2... This

is Toycast and we have been reformatted into

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this is a... Huh? Oh, nothing. That's right.

That's what I thought you said. Rotten bastard.

This is a Toycast All Things Transformers crossover

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Things Transformers, you are going to get this.

This is the TFCon 2012. pre -show we have with

us the goddamn protoman hello hey what's up people

i'm back yes you're back and uh... tfcon 2012

uh... this is the pre -show this is where uh...

protoman's gonna kinda give us a preview not

really going to too much detail because obviously

uh... we want you know people to actually be

surprised at some stuff that they uh... see at

the convention but this year is slightly different

and the reason why steve is on this episode is

because steve finally uh... mrs megatron is actually

allowing him to go it was a birthday present

uh... steve will be there this saturday right

yes so present it'll be yes it it it it it it

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it it it it it it it it it it it it it it it

it Well, I want to stress one thing. I've been

going to BotCon for many years, and I'm going

to say this upfront, straight up. This year's

TFCon is actually going to be bigger than BotCon,

and I don't mean that from a shallow point of

view. I mean, figuratively and statistically

speaking, we're going to be bigger than BotCon

this year. In terms of guests... in terms of

dealers, in terms of size of the convention.

I think the only thing we might not have is more

exclusives. That's about it. But everything else

is going to be bigger than BotCon this year.

BotCon really fumbled this year in Texas. And

that's why we have such a huge turnout of people

that are coming from the United States and out

of the border, because this year's BotCon was

honestly a disaster. It really was. It was probably

one of the worst BotCons ever been to. And this

year's TFCon, we kind of went all out. It's our

10th anniversary and there's a lot of stuff like...

I think Pia said it the best. You could do BotCon

for years. You do one TFCon. You never go back

to a BotCon. And that's the case with Ben. And

on the flip side to that, off the bottom, this

said, TFCon, that's essentially the TFW meetup,

right? And I was like, no. No. You know what?

In all honesty, guys from Sabertron, John 2 .0.

Good friend of the convention. He's been there

twice Let me think of other well good example

anyone from all spark whether it be iron moose

Monzo a lot of those dudes either have shown

interest in coming have come down themselves

another good example mark who's a guy on On the

all spark. It's it's from different walks of

life. It's it's totally that granted. Yes Cybertron

.ca, which is the Canadian crew that runs TFCon,

was technically a sister site from TFW, if you

want to really go through that history. But we

all come from different walks. Me, myself, who's

part of the staff... While my ties are kind of

linked to TFW, if you really take my fandom history

all the way back, I was from the ATT guys way

back on bulletin boards in 1995. And then Benson

Yee's message board. And then that kind of evolved

into the AllSpark and what is TFW today. So to

say that it's just one thing when we're a convention

that has over 3 ,000 to 4 ,000 people. To say

it's just a TFW meetup is kind of silly. I mean,

it's everything. It really is. It is everything.

To be honest, actually, now that I think about

it, some of the staff I don't even think have

TFW Forum membership. And I think the big difference

is that... You know bot con is known well since

fun pub has taken over and even even before them

But since fun pub has taken taking it over They're

known for their exclusive toys their themes every

years and while and while TF con does have themes

as you said You guys don't have the money to

put into a three hundred four hundred dollar

box You know what I mean you guys don't have

that kind of stuff and the thing about Tia about

bot con is that it's it's It depends on the theme

if people are gonna like it really Well, it's

also we do cut what I do is because I'm in charge

of the fiction every year Whatever molds we get

third party in this case Because we obviously

have more than one exclusive, right? But whatever

molds we get I try to piece it all together into

one fictional Umbrella if you will and while

I don't want to spoil what the other two are

everything meshes together nicely let's put it

that way. And so we have themes too. Last year

was kind of the same thing where last year our

theme which was because it was coincidentally

it was the year 2011 was last year and Headmasters

in the Transformers fiction happens in the year

2011 at least in the Japanese continuity we did

that theme for that year. Right. And the year

before that, it was 2010, which is when Season

3 happened in Japan. So we did something that

was kind of the bridge of the gap to Season 3

to Headmasters. We always try to have a theme

of something, and this year, too, it's going

to be the same thing. There's an emphasis on

a theme of a continuity of Transformers. I mean,

we've revealed Shafter, but that does not necessarily

mean that it's something, because Micromasters

aren't really tied to one timeline. Right. There

is a theme, and people are going to really enjoy

it. Before Steve jumps in and talks about what

he's excited about to go see at TFCon, let me

backtrack with that statement. What I meant with

the themes is that TFCon, not necessarily TFCon

doesn't have themes, I meant that if you're going

to go to BotCon, you're going to spend all that

exuberant amounts of money. it's going to depend

on the theme of the box set or whatever. For

TFCON, you go for the experience, you go for

the fan interaction, and BotCon is retail. That's

the way I look at it. We recognize that, and

it's something that goes without saying. In this

hobby, toys are the most important factor. Yes,

there's fiction. Yes, there's comic books, cartoons,

video games. But toys will always be the overriding

factor of what is Transformers. And we recognize

that for a lot of people, when it comes to BotCon,

one of the biggest incentives of going is the

exclusives. And a lot of people feel that if

BotCon didn't have those exclusives at all, a

good chunk of them probably wouldn't even make

the effort to do those flights. A lot of people

would probably think twice about it. But we recognize

that. And we do realize that there is, for some

people, an exclusive is that piece of straw that

breaks the camel's back to make it happen. Where

it's like, I'm thinking about TFCon, and then

we show exclusives. And then it's like, oh, now

there's the incentive. something that's limited

to 500, a classics interpretation of a favorite

character, if you will, or whatever it is, you

know what I mean? It gives that extra push that

we need, because especially when you're talking

people from the states that want to cross a border

and go to something which to many would be considered

a foreign country to them, it's a good push,

you know what I mean? To have an erector homage

toy, if you will. Alright, so Steve you are going

this year now. What is your game plan? The game

plan is to show up bright and early on Saturday

Because that's a way we're gonna be in in town

Going to My wife's supposed to be going with

a friend. So she's going to drop me off at the

at the door so that I can get my my ticket for

the day. I'm going to basically just try and

meet up with people. And then I'm very excited

for the various people to meet like Scott McNeil,

which would be awesome. I'm looking forward to

the script read. I'm looking forward to just

the whole experience in itself Mm -hmm One of

the good one of the good things about the show

too especially since you'll be arriving and you

won't really like, you know You're gonna be literally

dropped into that environment because we have

the Friday before which we call the icebreaker

which is it's it's like the deal rooms not open

so people are more forced to You know converse

amongst themselves and get to know each other

before the big convention the following day Where

you you're gonna kind of fall into that environment

What's good about the show was that I found I

find that because it's so closely knit the deal

room is so close to the To the Hasbro displays

that's so close to the panel rooms where every

BotCon. It's very spread out It's always a good

walk to wherever you're going. So What's good

about that is when you get to the convention,

it's going to be very easy to find people and

find everyone and find everything. And hopefully

also if the exclusives aren't sold out for you

to be able to take part in that too. Right. Yeah.

Yeah. So just from looking here on the website,

you've got Bob Budiansky, Scott McNeal and Neil

Ross this year. Plus, you know, the We have more.

The Hasbro Canada team, even though they're not

going to be doing a panel this year. They will

not be doing a panel, but they will have a table

there like they always do every year with all

the new products that aren't out in stores yet,

and they will be on site to answer all your questions

in person. Last year was the same thing, and

they were handing out free creos to people. It's

not like we've severed any kind or damaged relationship.

It's partially to do with the fact that for anyone

that was at BotCon that just passed, Hasbro themselves,

Hasbro of America, didn't really have a lot to

show anyone. And the sad thing is the San Diego

Comic Con that just passed recently showed us

that they were saving those slides for SDCC.

They were. The Grimlock slide, more than anything,

the Grimlock slide had the BotCon logo in the

bottom right corner. And we were like, huh, I

think a lot of stuff was withheld. Usually what

it is every year is Hasbro Canada brings the

BotCon product preview slide. That's what they've

brought every year. But this year, because it

was so lacking, if you will, And with the, you

know, Hasbro now being, you know, kind of saying,

well, we also on top of the, you know, the panel

being kind of lacking to also, you know, do something

on the same day that the third party product

preview panel is going to be on. So they kind

of were like, you know what, we don't want to

do a panel this year, but. They're still here.

They're still supportive. They're still gonna

bring all their stuff So there's no severed relations

a lot There was a lot of murmurs going on different

message boards going. Oh my god. They're on a

witch hunt They don't want to do now tfcon. It's

like no no nothing happened. They're still gonna

be there There's still we still gonna be there.

They're just not gonna do a panel in Sadly, I

think to not really to saying take anything away

from tfcon But since sdcc has just happened when

we're recording this we're recording this July

16th Hasbro essentially has already blown their

load for the year and for next year. Oh, yeah,

of course. Everything has already been put on

the table. And unlike a BotCon panel where you're

not allowed to take photos, STCC photos were

taken like crazy. Everyone knows what's coming.

So unless you were one of those guys that weren't

on the front page of any of the major transformer

websites, there's nothing we're really going

to show you if we had a panel that wouldn't be

a shock at this point. That's kind of where some

of our other panels, like I could just, I could

also mention like we have Bob as a guest, Bob

Buganzi, we have Scott McNeil, we have Neil Ross,

we have Hasbro Canada, but also we have artists.

We have Josh Perez who does the coloring for

for Transformers, Robots in Disguise, the current

series. We have Alex Milne, the guy who does

the art for Transformers, More Than Meets the

Eye. We have Dan Cahanna, who's the artist who

did all a lot of the BotCon stuff and all kinds

of the different 3 -H art from back in the day.

He does a lot of current stuff, too. We have

Matt Moylan, who currently works for Udon Comics,

but Matt Moylan is best known as the Little Formers

guy. I wish he would do more of those. Yeah.

And he also helps with the Mega Man property

and the Street Fighter property with Udon comics.

Who else do we have? We have also one big name,

big, big name that's coming as a guest, voice

-related. Yay. it's not announced yet but well

we're two weeks away come on give us an exclusive

come on when is this going to be up this is going

to be up on the 17th so that's that's a little

too because we're saving it for later but oh

come on we'll see we'll see we'll see you bastard

all right anyways um who else uh i'm trying to

think of what else we have guests we have because

there's just there's still more stuff to be announced

we have two other exclusives that are on their

way, so that are gonna be at show exclusives.

Just a bunch of stuff, a bunch of stuff. In terms

of the panels, we have competitions, because

a lot of the third party companies have donated

to us rare third party items. And by rare, I

mean stuff that's like one of five made. pretty

much. Like BTS, which is the company that's known

for their third -party cassettes, they made a

special cast of one of five made cassette sets

in a special color just for TFcom to give out

for the competitions. So someone's gonna be walking

away with something pretty darn rare. We have

a whole bunch of other stuff too that was donated

by different companies. We were just confirmed

today that a And a very famous third party company

is going to be also joining us at the show. I

can't say who right now, but the press release

will be out soon. A lot of, a lot of stuff. I

know it won't be FP seeing this. A lot of stuff.

A lot of stuff. Just it's so, so many things,

so many competitions, panels. Um, I know that,

uh, I know that, um, Vangelis and PR, they're

actually going to be doing a panel this year

together talking about how to do, um, pretty

much fan media. Their panel's name is the fan

media panel where they talk about video creation

or animation. So they're going to do a whole

panel on that. different educational panels from

the different walks of Transformers. There's

going to be autographs. There's going to be Q

&A. Derek Wyatt's going to be there. I completely

forgot to mention that. Derek Wyatt is going

to be there, too. But Derek, he always comes

anyway, so we don't really announce him as a

guest. Yeah, he's not really a guest. He's a

convention goer with staff access. Yeah, he comes

every single year. But because he's there, we

go, hey, Derek, can you do a panel or something

since you're here? So Derek is going to be doing

a special panel. I believe on the Sunday. Yeah,

it's the Sunday where Because the Sunday is the

80s Expo, which is it's more broad Derek's gonna

be talking about the creation of of shows and

animation So he's gonna talk about the beginning

and end processes of how stuff goes about, and

this is not just Transformers, but his work on

Teen Titans, and the Ripping Friends, and all

the stuff that he's done in the past, and he's

gonna bring footage and images showing the process

of how characters are created until the final

form, and just that's gonna be a really interesting

panel that he has planned. Now for those of you

who might not remember last year's TFCon post

show that we did, Proto man essentially broke

it down into the three days. I'm just gonna simplify

it here Friday and Saturday is all transformer

stuff and then Sunday you guys essentially open

the floor to all 80s properties, right? Yeah,

and what's cool about that? And this is this

is where I also I think as a someone who's going

to buy stuff This is where you really benefit

if you go all the day with BotCon That just passed

Not only was there a small amount of dealers,

only 75 unique dealers, unfortunately, which

is not that big. Usually when you go the Friday

and walk around in that deal room that Friday,

if you do four or five passes around, you've

more or less seen everything you're going to

see for the Saturday and Sunday from the deal

room. There's not going to be many pulled out

from under the table surprises, so to speak.

With TFCon, we noticed that our show was so successful

when it came to sales for the dealers that some

dealers were even selling out. So we decided

to turn our Sunday into the 80s Expo and Action

Figure Expo, which is Friday, Saturday, Transformers

exclusively. Sunday, all the big stores and all

the big guys, like one big store that's going

to be at our convention, TF Source, They also

kind of dabble in other things that aren't transformers,

too, because they also run small companies and

stuff. All these other companies then bust out

their non -transformers related stuff. And for

people that just don't deal in transformers at

all, this is their opportunity to now come and

bring their non -transformer stuff, Thundercats,

Ghostbusters, Power Rangers, Marvel DC, you know,

the sky's the limit. And what's good about that

is then The Friday, Saturday, you see Transformers,

you buy Transformers, you walk into the Sunday

morning into the dealer room, it's a whole different

colorful affair. Now it's Lionel and Peter Venkman.

It becomes a whole different animal and really

refreshes the convention and makes your wallet

even a little more emptier, if you will. As sad

as this is, I actually am always more excited

for the Sunday than the Saturday. While I love

Transformers and I'm a completist and stuff,

the Sunday brings... a term that one of my fellow

staff members each year Zian uses because there's

two kinds of dealers. You have pro dealers, which

are the guys that come from stores and they bring

their new stock, and then you have amateur dealers,

which are the guys that, you know, hey, they

bring their collections or they bring, you know,

they're smaller guys and it's usually loose stuff

or they're bringing older figures to get rid

of. And the good thing is, is on the Sunday you

get a lot of those amateur dealers that bring

just a butt ton. of miscellania, Mario figures,

and just all kinds of crazy stuff from different

walks of life. And it's just so awesome to go

through that stuff. It really is. Everyone has

some kind of crazy find on the Sunday that they're

really proud of that they got cheap. And that

really adds a lot of character to the show, because

in all honesty, hey, we're all Transformer fans,

but we're also fans of something else. We all

are. You know, we all might love Transformers,

but we love Nintendo, or we love G .I. Joe. The

point is, is that we're able to feed both those

needs at a maximum level by doing that. Exactly.

And what's good about - We love people, Red Bombers.

No, there you go, Proto Man from the Mega Man

series. You know, like it's just, it's those

kind of things where it really makes the show

even more exciting, where I found with BotCon,

every year the sad thing is, is that after you've...

been to the new room that first day there's not

gonna be many surprises where this one it's exciting

to wake up that next morning because you know

the lineup becomes just as crazy that time because

of what is going to be in that room and all the

crazy stuff there was guys that had you know

just tables of He -Man tables of vintage Star

Wars and you know whatever your walk of fandom

life is we're going to try to meet that and also

Because it's the action figure everything else

changed. There's more guests that are more of

a broad nature Last year we had you know wrestling

guests and stuff from you know, 80s and 90s properties

we had We had, you know, now the cosplay and

stuff. It becomes more 80s. So we have people

in Ghostbuster outfits and Star Wars. So the

whole show then takes a whole different turn

where you had two days of Transformers. The third

day there's still Transformers, but now you have

that whole bunch of other childhood stuff also,

which really is such a big selling point for

the show. And a lot of people really like that.

And that's again, that's what increases our dealer

numbers is that all of a sudden now we have a

whole different walk of life. different dealers.

It's one of those things you have to see to believe.

You have to really just be there. It's the vibe

that's incredible. Oh yeah, most definitely.

Steve, what's going to be your first plan of

attack when you get in there on Saturday? Being

that I don't know what happens when. I actually

have the schedule here that hasn't been posted

publicly yet. OK. I don't mind debuting that

on the show, if you'd like. That's fine. I can

go through it very quickly. Friday's registration.

We're actually starting in an hour early this

year because the show has gotten so huge. So

it's going to be from 8 to 9. The thing is different

from BotCon is that we actually have a very good

system of registration. So you're not going to

be there till 2 in the morning waiting to get

your Primus package. We actually have a very

quick system where everyone is, it's bada -bing

bada -boom, you're in and out. That same Friday,

we're going to have trivia competitions. We're

going to have panels again, like I said before,

by Vangelis and Pia. I'm going to be running

a competition that's a video game related Transformers

competition. We're giving away prizes on all

those different fronts. There's also going to

be, excuse me, tutorial panels that's going to

be run by two very well -known customizers in

the Transformers community of the Radicon. And

then we always have all kinds of events at the

bar in the convention Where if anyone remembers

last year with Gary Chalk Gary Chalk did a live

guitar Presentation singing all kinds of songs

from the 60s and the 70s at the bar With I would

do a rough estimate of 75 to 100 onlookers watching

So that was a really Amazing experience and that's

something you're gonna see all this weekend.

I would not I would not say that You know, we're

gonna have Scott McNeil hanging out there getting

drunk. So who knows what's gonna happen Saturday

It's the same thing registration opens at 8.

So for you Steve that would be like, you know,

just to make a note of that Then the deal room

opens at 9 except for you know for like early

admission they get a little earlier We we're

gonna have a video game room. We're gonna have

panel by again by me called the history of Cybertron,

which is I'm going to go through the hidden history

of transformers as a lore as well as the creation

process thanks to Bob and also his help with

that. There's going to be then a Q &A by Bob.

There's going to be autographs by Bob and Derek

Wyatt at 12 o 'clock. There's going to be a charity

auction where we have a lot of stuff donated

from all the different third -party companies,

whether it be extremely limited items or even

common items. All of it goes to charity. You

get those items. It's great stuff. There's going

to be a Q &A with Scott McNeil. There's going

to be Scott McNeil autograph and photos at 2

o 'clock. Neil Ross has a Q &A. We have our third

-party product preview panel, which is the equivalency

of the Hasbro product preview panel, but third

-party. That's hosted by me and GMFan, where

we preview all the new third -party items that

haven't been publicly revealed on front pages

yet. So all kinds of resins and prototypes, and

we're actually going to have some of those items

in person in glass cases, too, for you to check.

So we also have a display glass case. Again,

it's imagine the whole Hasbro kind of thing at

Boccon, but it's now third party stuff So we

have a lot of that we have the costume contest

for just transformers for the Saturday So we

have the art contest which is you have the 3d

and 2d art contest customization stuff People

win prizes with that and absolutely glorious

statues that we make for first second and third

place Nice, which are what you should see these

they're mouth -dropping. They're essentially

they're transformer statues Wow old gold silver

and bronze for the winners of the competitions

and I'll try to post some and you guys could

post in your forums or whatever They're absolutely

gorgeous. We did some animated themed ones last

year and they were gorgeous We have a live script

reading which this year. It's gonna be Scott

McNeil It's gonna be Neil Ross and the mysterious

third Person will be there too. So the script

reading is gonna be pretty crazy and everyone's

gonna win it. What day is the script reading?

We're still on Saturday. Okay, we're still on

Saturday I'm going to that for sure cuz if it's

what I think and I'm not gonna say it on air

because it's just It's gonna be absolutely nuts.

I just guarantee that. Our script readings are

always pretty awesome, but this is the first

time we've had this many guests doing a script

reading together with the fans. So that's always

been a big thing where the script reading with

BotCon has always been just among the professionals.

And once in a while, a single fan would get an

opportunity. This, a good chunk of fans get a

chance to then also partake in a a live script

reading and so it's really awesome. Which with

that I've always loved watching them on YouTube

after the fact because it's just it's so cool

watching the whole thing transpire. Oh yeah it

really is and it's it's it's a nice thing that

we do every year and people really dig it. Just

make sure your video equipment is working properly

you don't get wires crossing you're not you don't

have staff members off camera they have that

problem on each other. Yeah, well, that's another

thing, too, that I'll just mention. Every single

thing at TFCon you are allowed to record, there's

no pictures, no video rule in any panel, any

panel. Nice. Even the third -party product preview

panel, everything is fair game. We're also going

to have the barricade and beat up beater bee,

if you call the one -by -one scale cars at the

convention. We're thinking we're gonna have them

displayed outside the convention because we're

gonna need more space for more dealers this year

But they will be present at the show. So if you

want to take a picture next to barricade or the

70s bumblebee It will be present and that's thanks

to two very dedicated auto enthusiasts here in

Toronto We also have a fan group photo for all

the different message boards We're gonna do big

photos that we take in high -res images and stuff

uh... we're gonna have a screening of the eighty

six movie at six thirty five p m which is kind

of a tradition we do every year is to put the

eighty six movie just uh... because i always

feel everyone should watch the eighty six movies

once a year for the rest of your life so yes

it's not going to do that if the prices you know

you know if you already own the dvd that's great

but if the you know if you don't own the dvd

at the current time the prices on amazon ebay

are outstanding exactly twelve bucks a twenty

anniversary sony bmg dvd on our own on amazon

is like we're going on ten dollars used what

the hell played on a big screen projector like

a movie theater so you have to look at the really

experience it with all the fans of a nice like

you know many theater and really just enjoy it

uh... at eight o 'clock at night because this

show runs late we have tons of fun at eight o

'clock we have the faction few just hosted by

evangelist and i'm the judge for that for it's

a it's a huge trivia competition. It uses the

format of family feud, but... Obviously, it's

a more transformer spin on it. So to give an

example, it'll be like, you know, name six famous

forms of Soundwave. And there's a signup sheet

on the Friday and Saturday for teams, because

they're obviously teams of four, like Family

Feud. Obviously, a lot of people have already

pre -planned their teams together, but we always

keep forms for people who are stragglers that

aren't part of a team, or they don't have a team,

and we assemble teams. Actually, last year, the

team that won... the whole competition and won,

they actually won free tickets to see Dark of

the Moon. The team that won last year was a team

that was made up of stragglers, guys who didn't

have a team to be part of together. So to give

you an idea, like it's anyone's game, you know,

like you get a group together and you could win

some serious prizes again, you get also - I still

say you guys, at least for this year, especially

with what - what the theme is going to be. You

also need to have, in addition to Autobot and

Decepticon shots, you need to have Predacon and

Maximal shots. Oh, well, I'm going to get to

that because that's actually the next thing.

After the faction feud, which will probably end

around, I'm going to take a rough estimate, 10

o 'clock, we then have the huge TFCon after party

on the Saturday, which the bar itself has actually

reduced the prices because we pretty much more

or less sold out the entire hotel. And so we

made a deal with the hotel that the bar will

lower its prices for TF con to make really cheap

eats there So and all and the bartenders have

made specifically transformers related drinks

And what I what I'm getting at essentially is

you're gonna have drinks I'm you know, don't

take my word on the names yet But to give you

an example, you'll have the ultra Magnus that'll

be a little bit red a little bit blue a little

bit white and it's gonna taste like i don't know

you know but i'm just saying like we have a lot

of custom drinks that are based on transformer

characters of alcoholic beverages that will be

there present uh and we're gonna actually post

the uh we're gonna post the whole uh menu really

soon oh sweet um now that's the sunday i mean

the saturday now the sunday like i said it becomes

the eighties expo and a whole bunch of new stuff

open up uh... one thing that we've had which

we had for the past of four years is just like

bach on we have a customizing class where we

have a a limited edition figure that is a available

only to fifty people that could get into the

class uh... created from heads up uh... in two

thousand nine it was uh... classics universe

two point oh rev which was based off of the car

robots, robots in disguise spy changer rev, who

was that yellow Lamborghini. In 2011, we did

the same thing, a classics version, but of the

character Flash, who was a UK transformer character

that turned into a red car from Generation 2.

And last year in 2012, we did a classics version

of Downshift, the mail order Omnibot. and everyone

who goes to this class gets to create one just

like BotCon. So that starts at 9 a .m. sharp

and it's hosted by our famous customizers, Nemesis

Predaking and DAC, the former BotCon 3D contest

champion actually in 2008. So it's hosted by

two people who are really in the know of customizing.

Deal Room, it opens up at 10. Again, the crazy

deal room, same thing, the video room and gaming

room opens up to 10. There's gonna be a panel

with Bob Buganzi, the how to create comic books

and the process. What's interesting about that

is that how comic books were created back then

with him are vastly different than how they're

created today. And because we have so many comic

book guys on... on floor at this convention this

year, it's going to be very interesting to hear

his stories of creating Transformers and how

it was back then with the old Marvel house of

ideas in the 80s and the 70s than how it is today.

We have voice act. This is this panel. This panel

is a very important panel for anyone that's getting

in the voice acting This was a panel that we

originally did two years ago and last year as

a joke Because we always had this thing where

someone would come up to the the microphone and

ask the age -old question How do I get into voice

acting and? And you know we always and everyone

always asked that question to our voice actors

and we thought you know What why don't we do

one year where we're gonna do a whole panel?

about how to get into voice acting and we're

going to get the voice actor to run that panel.

And we did it with Gary Chalk and Paul Eiding.

And it was without a doubt, it was a break. We

were like, oh my God, something really clicked.

It was the most amazing panel. And I'm not someone

who wants to get into voice acting, but I was

in that panel and I was like, the stuff that

he told, when you give those two an hour to explain

how they got into voice acting. You know, the

trials and tribulations, the shitty jobs they

had before to get to that point. You know, instead

of it just being that one quick question from

a Q &A in a line, how do I get in the voice acting?

And you know, they only have like, you know,

they're not going to spend the whole time just

on that one small question from that one person.

This they have a whole hour and they brought

so much information that if you're someone who's

very serious into getting in the voice acting,

this is not a panel to miss because last year's

honestly, there were so much stuff that even

me like it just went over my head was like you

know how to get into it where to go where to

start what to do what companies the contact and

it was just you know them explaining their stories

how they got into it the failures the successes

where they started david k uh... who is who was

the very first one to do that he was saying how

you know he was doing very small radio commercials.

And then his first big break was there was a

show called Ronin Warriors, which was an anime

port. And they were like, we just need you to

do seven lines for the intro of the show, like

the opening theme. And that's it. And that was

his first big break. But from that, 27 episodes

later, they're like, hey, remember that guy who

did the intro? Maybe he could do one character.

And then it all blew up from there. You know,

where from a small job it became... Beast Wars

Megatron you know like it's just these guys this

whole panel really gives hope to those young

voice actors and they're so educational and the

beauty of it this year was just like last year

where we had Gary Chalk who I don't want to say

he's a new school voice actor but he came from

the 90s and and 2000s and then you had Paul Eiding

who not only comes from more you know film school

and stuff like that but he was an 80s voice actor

so it's the same thing this year we're gonna

have Scott McNeil a more new school voice actor.

And then we're going to have Neil Ross, who's

more of the old school voice actor from the Hanna

-Barbera 70s and the 80s. So it's going to be

a really interesting hearing. They're both, their

takes on it, how to get into it, their trials,

their tribulations, and their stories. So that's

a really important panel for a lot of people.

At two o 'clock also, we're going to have the

costume contest for 80s costumes. Then, like

I said before, development of TV series with

Derek Wyatt. really interesting panel that he's

going to be bringing and then at four o 'clock

we're going to have the Q &A with the convention

organizers or you know give us your feedback

what you thought of the show what we could do

the change what you liked what we should keep

and then at five o 'clock we're going to have

the live recording of the WTF at TFW podcast

Vangelis is going to be doing a live recording

in one of the panel rooms. So that'll be kind

of fun. And then the big final celebration at

six o 'clock until whenever the, you know, goodbye

TFCon blowout at the Quest Bar again. So just

big, big, crazy show. It's just, there's so much.

And like I said, anyone who has ever gone to

it, it's like a drug. You're gonna never want

to not come back. You know, like it's nuts. I

find this very funny, I'm looking at my calendar

on my computer. This coming Friday, a fire will

rise as Nolan's Batman film -verse ends with

The Dark Knight Rises on the 20th. The following

Friday is TFCon. You guys so plan that, right?

Well, you know what? We always plan the show

around STCC. Well, STCC, BotCon. We do these

kind of things that we want to be... Because

we know people that go to TFCon, they're going

to be going to BotCon or STCC. So we want to

always create that gap where their wallet could

recover. This year has been really good for that

because Boccon was in April, so that gave a lot

of people, even people who wanted to go for the

very first time to TFCon, even if they went to

Boccon, it gave them a good three months to recharge

their battery of their wallet if they wanted

to make the trip. And let me tell you something,

slowly people are realizing how cheap it is to

actually go to TFCon instead of Boccon, even

as an American, to fly within the United States

and land in Buffalo. is a lot cheaper than flying

to any of the BotCon locations in general. And

then all you do is you take a taxi to the border

and then it's only like 45 minutes from there.

When it's all said and done and you're on the

deal room floor and the tickets and everything

in the hotel, it's about $400 to $500 cheaper

than a Primus package and the whole flight and

everything to BotCon. It's always cheaper. And

after that, all that matters is if you enjoy

the experience. So, you know, it's cheaper. But

on top of that is we hope you have a good time.

But Lord knows everyone we've talked to has so.

Steve, do you have anything else you want to

bring up before we kind of close out the pre

show? Because obviously we need to save a bunch

of stuff for the post show. Oh, yeah. I do have

a better picture of what I'll I'll be doing.

Few of the panels probably the the Cybertron

one that you're doing I know most definitely

the voice actor QA and autographs the script

read is something I've been anticipating And

then just Various, you know just checking out

the whatever, you know random thing that I happen

to walk up to There's gonna be there's gonna

be a lot of artists artists guests again that

We haven't announced yet another guess so there's

gonna be a lot of stuff like that's the thing

There's a lot more dealer tables than BotCon.

So it's a lot more to go through You know, it's

a lot more stuff and that's part of why I wanted

to go is because it's cheaper No, it's cheaper

and you get more. I mean just that kind of mathematic

logic right there is you know, right? I mean,

I don't even have to stress it. It's again people

like PR they've you know, they know they know

they've they've experienced both and now they

know why spend this when you could do that and

you get more and i know from you know from uh...

our buddy uh... and and co -host uh... pecan

court michael and uh... and octobotomist they

both have gone to several bot cons octobotomist

one twenty eleven and michael has gone several

times throughout bot cons history I would say

since 2009 to now, the last three years, BotCon

has kind of, just from what I've seen from different

videos and stuff like that, it has kind of turned

into, you know, friends and dealing. But the

way I would approach a BotCon if I was going

is, what events? What, what ought to, you know,

my first BotCon, I would do that. I would focus

on that. And then if I went the next year, I

would focus on, you know, hanging out with people.

Whereas TFCon, it's a constant, You know, I hate

to make this comparison, but you know, it's one

long night with a few comatose daylight hours

in between. Oh yeah, totally. There's no sleep

at TFCon, unfortunately. For those of you who

get that reference, kudos, because that's a total

80s reference. But that's totally what it is,

though. It's up until 5 AM talking about animated

with Derek Wyatt. And we're not talking privately.

We're talking a whole bunch of people at the

bar hanging out together. And we don't put any

caps on the guests. The guests are free to hang

out with everybody. They're not shuffled to a

hotel room. Again, like the Gary Chalk situation

last year. Yeah, the guitar thing. Yeah, that

was awesome. That was awesome to see. Stuff like

that. And that was until like 11, 12 at night.

And the amazing thing with that was it wasn't

just Gary Chalk. Gary Chalk's the one with the

guitar singing for all the fans. But if you look

carefully, there's Simon Furman. And Paul Eiding

with his wife also hanging out in the crowd laughing,

drinking. It's an amazing experience and we're

going to have the same this year. I don't know

if this could happen. I know Steve would plot

if it did, but I would imagine with Steve going

and how good his Megatron is. I would love to

see a video of him and Scott just going back

and forth as Waspinator and Megatron. I'd love

to see it too. I would definitely love to try

that. Alright, so, this has been the TFCon Toycast

All Things Transformers crossover pre -show.

We will be recording and releasing the post -show,

hopefully, depending on our schedules, the Monday

after the convention, depending on, you know,

if Proto Man is actually crap on sleep. It's

more doable, yeah. Yeah, the Monday the 30th

of July after... after the convention's over

where we're gonna go through everything that's,

you know, Steve Megatron experienced, you know,

all the stuff that actually happened and everything

else, so any final words, Steve? No, other than

just looking forward to experiencing my first

Transformers convention and, of course, getting

to meet up with everybody up there, so if anybody

hears me on here and is going, more than likely

I'll be wearing something with like... Either

something with geekcastradio .com probably a

hat but because I can't see we're in a hoodie,

but anyways Yeah, I'll definitely be there floating

around Awesome, so that has been toy cast 93

and all things transformers. What is it episode

26? I think We will catch you next time transform

and roll out I got better things to do tonight

than die.