Prime and I met up with a friend of ours this afternoon/evening. We spent some time, shooting the breeze about various things and naturally, the subject of HasCon popped up. Here’s where things get interesting, to say the very least.
Word from Hasbro seems to be that they aren’t exactly sure if they want to hold this trade show/convention on an annual basis. If anything, this may be every two or three years. Which means if they are shooting for that sort of schedule, the chances of this being outside of Rhode Island are next to none.
I was pissed. Hell, I was beyond pissed. For pretty obvious reasons. If I was uncertain about attending before, this little tidbit puts the final nail in the coffin. There is no way in hell that I will ever step foot on an airplane to head to this. Hasbro can kiss my skidplate on this one. It’s bad enough I lost BotCon but to then to has Hasbro say, “Do this thing every year? Nah, we ain’t gonna do that…” is the last straw. I gave Hasbro a chance but that’s done.
It gets better. Sort of. Or something.
HasCon may be involved in some legal proceedings, as well as Stan Lee. It seems Mr. Lee agreed to only make appearances in that area with the Rhode Island Comic Con. Appearing at HasCon might have been a breach of his contract and things might get a bit litigious here. We’ll see.
Oh and as for the VIP bags? The bronies were fawned over while the Joe fans were ignored. Bronies got a swag bag that was stuffed full. Joe fans? Oh, here’s an extra exclusive with some extra figures. That’s all you guys get.
We all agreed: we want BotCon back. HasCon was meant more for the younger crowd and we want our Old Farts Convention. We want our family reunion. Hell, we really don’t even need exclusives; just a decent dealer room and we’re golden.
Prime and I might hit up JoeCon or Pete’s Robo Con. Something smaller, a little less crazy. Let’s be honest here; if I want to go to SDCC, I’ll go to SDCC, not Hasbro’s take on SDCC. But that’s just me.
Iacon East 
The possibility of this HasCon being not every year was proven true yesterday 10/30/17, as the next one will be in September 2019. Looks like they took a cue from Disney’s own X23 convention which is every 2 years.
So much for seeing the SilverDefense team at a HasCon. 😦
I hope Stan Lee isn’t in any trouble…
I feel the same as all of you, I want BotCon back. Primus know from all past BotCons that all Transfans are not the same and they don’t like anything and everything Transformers or have to have the exclusive sets. Fans and dealers all had their own reasons for going. And that is mainly for the social factor – we’re a Transfan family. We would buy what we want in the dealer room, attend panels of guests and shows that piqued our interests, wait in line rides for autographs and room up in hotels for saving money and having get-togethers. Those reasons and more are what compelled fans like you and me to travel across the US for the next event, or even fans from abroad like the 3 Fumis…
HasCon ’19 and me? I may go. I love to travel and cram my itinerary with city visits so the trip is not just for the convention alone. I still hope we can all rendez-vous somewhere in ’18…
~daiAtlas
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