BotCon
Annual convention
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
BotCon, previously known as the Official Transformers Collectors' Convention (OTFCC), is an annual convention for fans and collectors of the Transformers multimedia franchise and related merchandise.
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| BotCon | |
|---|---|
Cosplayers at BotCon 2011 | |
| Status | Active |
| Genre | Transformers fan convention |
| Inaugurated | 1994 |
| Most recent | 2026 |
| Organized by | Agabyss Enterprises LLC |
| Filing status | Private company |
| Website | http://www.botcon.com/ |
The first BotCon was held in Fort Wayne, Indiana, United States in 1994. It has 120 attendees.[1] In 2015, BotCon was recognized by Guinness World Records as the "longest-running Transformers convention".[2]
Featured BotCon guests are usually involved in the creation of Transformers media in some respect, whether as voice actors from the animated series, artists or writers from the comic books, or Hasbro employees. Fun Publications held the convention for a number of years, with 2016 being its final year.[3] BotCon remained defunct until returning in 2022.[4]
BotCon has had numerous event-exclusive toys, including the first version of the character Apelinq. Apelinq debuted at BotCon 2000 and was designed by organizer Glen Hallit. The character would later appear in the 2023 film Transformers: Rise of the Beasts.[5]
Event history
BotCon
| Year | Date(s) | Venue | City | Guests | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1994[1] | July 16 | Grand Wayne Center | Fort Wayne, Indiana | Tom Bowman and Carl Fritz | |
| 1995[6] | August 5-6 | Dayton Convention Center | Dayton, Ohio | N/A | |
| 1996[7] | July 12-14 | Clarion Resort Rosemont | Rosemont, Illinois | George Boznos and Anthony Gaud | |
| 1997[8] | August 5-6 | Dayton Convention Center | Dayton, Ohio | Dawn Berryman, George Boznos, Stan Bush, Peter Cullen, Vince DiCola, Bob Forward, Simon Furman, David Kaye, Jerry Palmer, Venus Terzo, and Andrew Wildman | |
| 1998[9][10] | June 19-20 | Anaheim Convention Center | Anaheim, California | Susan Blu, Garry Chalk, Vince DiCola, Larry DiTillio, Jennifer Donahoe, Andy Espenshade, Bob Forward, Simon Furman, David Kaye, Bryce Malek Scott McNeil, Doug Parker, Rob Tokar, Andrew Wildman, and David Wise | |
| 1999[11] | July 16–18 | St. Paul RiverCentre | St. Paul, Minnesota | Asaph Fipke, Jim Byrnes, Scott McNeil, and Brian Chapman | |
| 2000[12] | July 28-30 | Grand Wayne Convention Center | Fort Wayne, Indiana | Ian James Corlett, John Moschitta, Venus Terzo, Alec Willows, Vince DiCola, Chris Tang, Joe Mattiko, and Jamie Overbey | |
| 2001[13] | July 13-15 | Durham Marriott Civic Center | Durham, North Carolina | Michael Bell, Gregg Berger, Garry Chalk, Scott McNeil, John Stephenson, Paul Davids, Simon Furman, Ernie Burns, Vince DiCola, Gary Falcone, and Joe Mattiko | |
| 2002[14] | July 26-28 | Grand Wayne Convention Center | Fort Wayne, Indiana | Dick Gautier, Neil Kaplan, Steve Kramer, Michael McConnohie, Peter Spellos, Wayne C. Lewis, Tom Wyner, Derek Choo-Wing, Richard Epcar, Adam Fortier, Simon Furman, Bob Forward, Pat Lee, Chris Sarracini, Michelle Field, Andrew Frankel, Joe Mattiko, and Aaron Archer | |
| 2004[15] | June 19-20 | Pasadena Convention Center | Pasadena, California | Fumihiko Akiyama, Wally Burr, Peter Cullen, Paul Davids, Tom DeSanto, Flint Dille, Dan Gilvezan, Bryce Malek, Michael McConnohie, Tadao Tomomatsu, David Wise, Bob Prupis, and Alison Segebarth | |
| 2005[16] | September 21-25 | Embassy Suites Dallas-Frisco Hotel & Conference Center | Frisco, Texas | Eric Siebenaler, Wally Burr, Michael Chain, Brian Dobson, Michael Dobson, Paul Dobson, Colton Dearing, Greg Lombardo, and Aaron Archer | |
| 2006[17] | September 28-October 1 | Lexington Center | Lexington, Kentucky | Richard Newman, Blu Mankuma, Pauline Newstone, Scott McNeil, Peter Cullen, Chris Ryall, Dan Taylor, Simon Furman, Don Figueroa, Alex Milne, Dan Khanna, Jake Isenberg, Drew Eiden, and Marcelo Matere, Greg Lombardo, Forest Lee, Aaron Archer, and Eric Siebenaler | |
| 2007[18] | June 27-July 1 | Rhode Island Convention Center | Providence, Rhode Island | Peter Cullen, Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman, Rachael Taylor, Tyrese Gibson, David Kaye, Daniel Ross, Stan Bush, Ernie Petrangelo, Brian Goldner, Vickie Stratford, Joe Kyde, Greg Lombardo, Aaron Archer, Eric Siebenaler, Jared Wade, and William Rawley | |
| 2008[19] | April 24-27 | Duke Energy Center | Cincinnati, Ohio | Simon Furman, David Kaye, Alex Milne, Tara Strong, Derrick J. Wyatt, and Aaron Archer | |
| 2009[20][21] | May 28-31 | Pasadena Convention Center | Pasadena, California | Gregg Berger, Stan Bush, Peter Cullen, Paul Davids, Vince DiCola, Flint Dille, David Kaye, Bryce Malek, Michael McConnohie, Alex Milne, David Wise, and Derrick J. Wyatt | |
| 2010[22][23][24] | June 24-27 | Walt Disney World Dolphin Resort | Lake Buena Vista, Florida | Bob Budiansky, Jeff Kline, Kōjin Ōno, Peter Cullen, Hideaki Yoke, Paul Eiding, Scott McNeil, Drew Eiden, Karl Hartman, Lanny Lathem, Greg Sepelak, Pete Sinclair, Trent Troop, Jesse Wittenrich, Ben Yee, Rik Alvarez, Aaron Archer, Joe Kyde, Forest Lee, Greg Lombardo, Chris Oliveri, Lenny Panzica, Matthew Proulx, Bill Rawley, Eric Siebenaler, Tomoya Miyake, Brian Wilk, Jeff Kline, Mike Vogel, Casey Coller, Bill Forster, Dan Khanna, Marcelo Matere, Alex Milne, Chris Mowry, Jim Sorenson, Stan Bush, Matt Tieger, and Hironori Kobayashi | |
| 2011[25] | June 2-5 | Pasadena Convention Center | Pasadena, California | Jack Angel, Arlene Banas, Gregg Berger, Stan Bush, Flint Dille, David Kaye, Jeff Kline, Morgan Lofting, Michael McConnohie, and Neil Ross | |
| 2012[26] | April 26-29 | Hyatt Regency Dallas | Dallas, Texas | N/A | |
| 2013[27] | June 27-30 | Town and Country Resort | San Diego, California | Wally Burr, Jason Jansen, and David Sobolov | |
| 2014[28] | June 19–22 | Pasadena Convention Center | Pasadena, California | Jack Angel, Susan Blu, Steve Blum, David Kaye, Morgan Lofting, Michael McConnohie, and Derrick J. Wyatt | |
| 2015[29] | June 18-21 | Pheasant Run Resort | St. Charles, Illinois | Susan Blu, John Moschitta Jr., Frank Welker, and Derrick J. Wyatt | |
| 2016[3][30] | April 7-10 | Galt House Hotel | Louisville, Kentucky | Gregg Berger, David Kaye, Judd Nelson, Venus Terzo, Winston Bolen, Josh Burcham, Brendan Cahill, Ken Christiansen, Casey Coller, Archie Cunningham, Thomas Deer, Brandy Dixon, Matt Frank, Andrew Hall, Adam Hicks, Dan Khanna, Marcelo Matere, Alex Milne, Robby Musso, Josh Perez, Sara Pitre-Durocher, Rob Roberts, Hayato Sakamoto, Brian Shearer, Derrick J. Wyatt, Silas Zee, Stan Bush, Vince DiCola, Kenny Meriedeth, Ken Rose, Pete Sinclair, Aaron Archer, and John-Paul Bove | This would be the last year BotCon was held until 2022 |
| 2022[4] | August 25-28 | Embassy Suites Nashville Downtown | Nashville, Tennessee | Gregg Berger, Bob Budiansky, Jeanne Carr, Simon Furman, Laurie Hymes, David Kaye, Michael McConnohie, Melodee M. Spevack, Frank Welker | |
| 2023[31] | August 24-27 | American Dream Mall | East Rutherford, New Jersey | Travis Artz, Susan Blu, Bob Budiansky, Garry Chalk, Jessica DiGiovanni, Simon Furman, Scott McNeil, Robby Musso, and Venus Terzo | |
| 2024[32] | June 27-30 | Grand Wayne Convention Center | Fort Wayne, Indiana | Aaron Archer, Gregg Berger, Paul Eiding, Robby Musso, and Alec Willows | |
BotCon Japan
| Year | Date(s) | Venue | City | Guests | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1997[33] | June 8 | Science and Technology Hall | Tokyo, Japan | N/A | |
| 1998[34] | December 12-13 | Sevencity Hall | Hirotaka Suzuoki | ||
| 2000[35] | December 17 | Tokyo Trade Center Taito Hall | Tesshō Genda | ||
BotCon Europe
| Year | Date(s) | Venue | City | Guests | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1999[36] | August 13-14 | St. Barnabas Center | London, England | Simon Furman | |
| 2002[37] | November 3 | Wolsey Hall | Cheshunt, England | Simon Furman, Neil Kaplan, and Wayne C. Lewis | |
Official Transformers Collectors Convention
BotCon was renamed the Official Transformers Collectors Convention in 2003 after organizers Jon Hartman and Karl Hartman had departed 3H Productions.[38]
| Year | Date(s) | Venue | City | Guests | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003[39] | July 25-July 27 | Hyatt Regency O'Hare | Rosemont, Illinois | Vince DiCola, Gregg Berger, Garry Chalk, David Kaye, Josh Blaylock, Mike Norton, Clayton Brown, Mark Brooks, Simon Furman, Jerry Jivoin, Eric Siebenaler, and Aaron Archer | |
| 2004[40] | July 31-August 1 | Donald E. Stephens Convention Center | Michael McConnohie, Dan Gilvezan, Scott McNeil, Bob Budiansky, Simon Furman, Andrew Wildman, Vince DiCola, Greg Lombardo, Aaron Archer, Eric Siebenaler, and Tony Beard | This would be the last convention organized by 3H Productions before filing for Chapter 7 Bankruptcy.[40] | |
