Panel attendees: Brian Savage, Rik Alvarez, and Company.
Q: Club Exclusives coming out after the show?A: Planned to release 2 a year. Also looking at doing some exclusives that may have been released in Japan, but not over here in the States. Hasbro helps with the production of the figures but Transformers Club actually designs the decos and molding for the heads for the Convention Exclusives. Transformers Club had to learn the whole process of in order to get everything done. They hope to have a Tool decision made in the next couple of weeks regarding an additional club exclusive.
Q: Where is next years convention going to be held?A: They don't know yet. They are looking at possible sites. The date is probably going to be between late September and mid-October.
Q: How did the council originate.A: Hasbro contacted the people they felt could best handle the convention. If you are on the council, you have to sign a non-disclosure agreement with Hasbro. Rik elaborated regarding all the help Hasbro has given to Brian Savage and his team in working with Transformers. Brian was a G.I.Joe guy and only familiar with Beast Wars continuity prior to signing on to do the Transformers conventions.
Q: Are they going to continue doing large exclusive sets.A: The sizes will vary year to year. They can't do an ala cart system like in prior years because of production requirements and the wants of convention attendees vary so wildly. One they think may be popular, isn't always popular with the attendees and vise vera. Brian Savage has promised that the sets will never be discounted or wholesaled because of devaluing attendee sets. In the future we may see size of figures go up but number of bots go down.
Q: Can we pick up on Wreckers where they left off?A: Yes, it is possible. Wouldn't say it is possible in the next year or two, but definitely down the road. They have adopted "Timelines" to be able to mix continuities together and free them from the Universe storyline and other continuities in order to have more choice in the molds they are choosing.
Q: Any in-story explaination as to why Cromia looks like MoonracerA: Yes, there is a concept on the drawing board. As an explanation for the figure itself, it was suppose to be named Moonracer, but after the colors had been finalized Hasbro told them they couldn't use the name. Hasbro is very picky as to the names they will or will not allow. Therefore the decision had to be made to use Cromia and there wasn't time to go back and re-do the colors.
Q: Was Brawn Considered for the Fallback redeco?A: Yes, it was considered but prefered to pick an aside character that was forgotten about in Transformers fiction.
Q: Will there be any better/lower prices on the Exclusive sets.A: Prices will adjust with costs. They don't think it will be any higher.
Q: How do they select the items and tools?A: Popularity, what is available, and what works.
Q: Did they look into G1 or Beast Wars insecticons as alternative to the Buzzclaw mold.A: Tooling wasn't available for much of the G1 and Beast Wars figures. Brian also explained what the 'tooling' looks like. Large pieces of steel with cut outs in them. Some of the tools are not always there and sometimes the tools are mislabeled. Sometimes tools are spread out sometimes between factories because Hasbro and Takara move manufacturing around to different factories.
Q: Will the comics ever be bound into one large book?A: It's a possibility.
.jpg "Megacon 2025 Transformers Booth Images - Devastator Prototype, Superion, More Studio Series & Age Of The Primes")
