It’s time to talk about TFcon again!

TFcon 2017 was held in Mississauga on July 14-19th. I look forward to this convention every year, and with good reason. It’s the best, most fun time that a Transformers fan could have. Especially now that BotCon, the official convention, has ceased operations in favor of an all-Hasbro branded show that starts this fall, making TFcon the biggest name in the Transformers convention scene.

As expected, I had a blast at TFcon this year, and so I wanted to chronicle a little bit of what happened that weekend. But what is great about TFcon is that my experience can be completely different than anyone else, and there are probably hundreds of other reasons why TFcon is as fun as it is. For awhile, I was starting to feel like maybe TFcon had hit a plateau and couldn’t possibly get any better. Looking back at it though, I see that I had a thoroughly great time and that the only thing that was missing was that I wanted more of it! So let’s take a closer look.

The guests this year were fantastic. Original Transformers voice actors Michael Bell and Arthur Burghardt had a hilarious back and forth with each other. You could tell that they went back together a long way in that business, and neither of them were concerned about being politically correct. Alec Willows, the voice of Tarantulas in Beast Wars (probably my all time favorite character) was a gem of a guy who seemed legitimately interested in everyone. And of course we had my old pal Scott McNeil, a world class convention guest and all around cool bro. The panels that these guys did this year were among the best voice acting panels I’ve ever seen at TFcon or any other convention.

Speaking of panels, once again I volunteered to do a panel presentation. This year, I spoke about the toylines that were used to create the Transformers brand, going through the history of things like Micro Change and Diaclone that pre-date Transformers. Actually the scope of my presentation was a little wider than that, also hitting on some of the weirder and more obscure toylines that are part of the Transformers family tree. It was not a big secret that I was still working on finishing things all the way up until showtime, so I was nervous about finishing it on time, possibly experiencing technical difficulties, or going over the allotted slot. One I got started and everything worked properly, I was in the zone. It was so much fun to talk about this stuff with an audience. When it was all over, I was immediately told that I had nailed it, and hearing the applause was pretty cool.  I could finally relax and enjoy the rest of the show after that.

Here are a few entries from the costume contest. That Whirl was pretty impressive, though a little bit dangerous to be around!

Of course, the best part of the show is being a part of the fan base and seeing friends, old and new. The Faction Feud saw the unexpected union of the Furmaninjas, where myself and TFcon legend Guber of the Ninja Consultants teamed up with two members of the Furmanisms, our eternal rivals. We lost in the first round, but it was still a good time. Throughout the weekend, there were many fun interactions all around the hotel (and the nearby Swiss Chalet), as well as the traditional Slurpee run, hanging at the bar, and lots of other late-night hilarity.

Here’s what I bought this year. I didn’t get anything that was a huge, sought after grail at a good deal, but I did get a lot of what I wanted. Check out my Tumblr for the full rundown, and keep an eye open over there as I post pictures and reviews.

In many ways this year’s show was kind of par for the course, but that course is awesome, so that’s not a bad thing at all. The only bad thing about TFcon 2017 was that I didn’t see everyone and do everything as much as I wanted to.

This was the 14th TFcon that I’ve attended and I can not imagine my life without it. In the end, I made many great memories from this show, and the main thing I took away from this year’s TFcon is that being a Transformers fan is a gift that keeps on giving. I feel extremely lucky to be able to attend, contribute, and become a part of this community. I’ll be back for more, so I’ll see you there next year.

Sayonara.