Botcon 2015

Botcon 2015 completed its annual TF love fest this weekend in Chicago, Illinois. Since it is a non-movie year the focus was mostly on Combiner Wars and Robots in Disguise with Hasbro on hand to present some of their late 2015 to early 2016 plans which to no surprise includes more Combiners and a whole lot of repaints for both lines. On the Transformers: Hall of Fame front, Frank Welker (voice of Megatron), Prowl, Predaking, and Vince DiCola (composer for Transformers: The Movie) were inducted. No movie news or anything major to report. Since Botcon bans 3rd Party toys (per Hasbro directive), nothing to report there either. Hit the links below for summaries of all the various panels and galleries to upcoming Transformers releases.

Transformers Brand Panel
This panel went over future release plans of the line. In general Transformers broken up into three segments: Rescue Bots (pre-school), Robots in Disguise (pre-teen+), and Generations/Combiners Wars (all ages, collectors). The below gallery section will cover the official images of upcoming toy lines. The key bits from the panel is upcoming Combiners will include Victorion made from 5 female Autobots, Optimus Maximus (from the comics), Bruticus (in 2016) and Sky Reign (with Sky Lynx as core). The upcoming combiners will rely very heavily on repaints but there will be a few new molds (like Sky Lynx).


Transformers Collector's Club Panel
The panel opened with a look at Botcon exclusives that might become available at Transformers online stores but they will cost you an arm and a leg to buy. Part of the plans for the next' year of releases is "GI Joe and the Transformers: that mixes GI Joe molds with Transformers ones including action figure versions of Marissa Faireborn with an Arcee repaint, Snake with Vehicons repaints, and "Only Human" versions of Arcee and Hot Rod. Other figures is Universe Ramjet and Universe Skywarp (both repaints of Generations Armada Starscream), along with the Triggercons that are a mix of Wave 1 and Wave 2 Combiner Wars repaints with Bludgeon (Onslaught repaint) as the torso. Display pics

Combiner Wars Galleries
Titan - Devastator as SDCC exclusive and foil labels, store shelf release late 2015
Leader - Skywarp, Starscream with crown (both Jetfire repaints)
Bruticus - Onslaught (remold with Hot Spot as base), Vortex (repaint), Brawl (new mold), Blast Off (Firefly repaint), Swindle (new-ish mold)
Sky Reign - Sky-Lynx (new mold), Hound (Swindle repaint), Smokescreen (Streetwise repaint), Trailbreaker (Offroad repaint), Wheeljack (Breakdown repaint)
Optimus Maximus - Battle Core Optimus Prime (repaint), Mirage (Drag Strip repaint), Prowl (Streetwise repaint), Ironhide (Offroad repaint), Sunstreaker (Breakdown repaint)
Legends - Rodimus (repaint), Skywarp (repaint), Shockwave (new mold), Buzzsaw (new mold), Chop Shot (Skrapnel repaint), Pipes (Huffer repaint)
Display Cases: TFormers | TFW2005 | Seibertron


Robots in Disguise Galleries
Warriors - Night Ops Bee (repaint), Gold Armor Grimlock (repaint)
Legion - Night Ops 'Bee (repaint), Alpine Strike Sideswipe (repaint)
Three-Step - Sideswipe
Tiny Titans - Devastator, Bulkhead, Clampdown, Fracture, Galvatron, Grimlock, Inferno, Kickback, Megatron, Optimus, Roadbuster, Sideswipe
Display Cases: TFormers | TFW2005 |


Misc
Class of 1985 Kre-O - Not really from Botcon but related. Hopefully be available on Hasbro Toy Shop but getting them will be difficult.
Other Panel Summaries - Hit the link for summaries of other panels held during Botcon including some of the above along with the TCC Magazine and Timelines Panel, Derrick J Wyatt Panel, G1 Retrospective Panel, The Art of Transformers, Birth of Transformers Panel and more.