Pete’s RoboCon has come to a close this weekend, and for those who weren’t aware this will be the last Pete’s RoboCon going forward. However, during the convention on Friday and Saturday, there were a few BotCon preview panels to talk about what to expect in the coming years regarding BotCon itself – the convention that started it all.

The panel was hosted by Bret Lovell and Jeremiah McNatt, who are part of the management and ownership at BC Productions, which is the organization that will be running all things BotCon going forward.

Since this is just a preview panel we didn’t get tons of news drops. But we were able to get some questions answered as to the future of the con and what it holds for fans.
There were several questions regarding Hasbro’s involvement with BotCon, and at this time they are not affiliated or directly managing the conventions. But that’s not necessarily a bad thing. BotCon got its start as a convention made by fans for the fans. It wasn’t until several years later that it garnered enough attention from Hasbro to really get knee deep involved with them.

Hasbro

While having that direct relationship helps things along when it comes to toy exclusives in regards to the toy molds and such, don’t forget that the fiction (such as the fiction that brought us Shattered Glass) was all generated by the convention. Whether it was 3H or Fun Publications, the most Hasbro got involved was in relation to approving some of the content. Hasbro also isn’t needed to book guests, panels and all the other integrations that make the convention what it is. Obviously, having Hasbro involved have certain perks that goes with it, but in the end it’s a luxury – not a necessity.
There’s also the consideration that without Hasbro being directly involved, that gives a lot more flexibility when dealing with other possible avenues for the kind of content that can be included at the conventions that otherwise would be barred by Hasbro.

Exclusives?

According to Bret from the panel, there will indeed be exclusive and/or custom toys. It may not be comprised of just repaints of Hasbro products, but the idea of having original content, with original characters who have original stories with toys that could come from a variety of sources is a possibility. But don’t confuse BotCon having unique and different IPs as “third party” that’s NOT the case and NOT what BC Productions will ever want to do. They were very firm in their “no third party” stance.

The Future

As for the brand itself, the plans for BotCon are to be about more than just one convention per year. One of the more interesting aspects is that they are talking about BotCon itself being a licensor to other groups who want to run a version of BotCon. The way it was described is there will likely be very strict requirements for anyone to obtain a license to run “a BotCon” – but in some ways it will be like a franchise of the name. BC Productions will be involved, presumably, the same way Hasbro was involved with how BotCon was ran.
It’s an interesting idea and the reasoning behind it was so they can have more conventions, in more regions with more exclusives that are unique to each con.

How, What, Where?

As of now, there is no announcement for when the next BotCon in 2022 will be held, nor in what city it will be in, but we were told when the contracts are signed for the venue, we’ll be the first to know.
Also something of note is that there may be differences in the scheduling. One example given was that in most conventions, Sundays are a pretty dead day. Most people who travel wind up leaving on Sunday so they can get home in time so they can get to work and kids can get to school on Sunday. So Friday and Saturday would be the most definitive time frames and maybe even Thursday.
Either way, the fan feedback is very important to them and if everyone were to say “No! It has to be Sunday!” then that’s something they’ll consider.
Suffice to say, this raises more questions, but you can discuss this and more with your fellow fans over on our Discord Server and Forums. And be sure to subscribe and follow us on social media with Twitter and Facebook to stay up to date with news and reviews.

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Source: The AllSpark