Will he succeed? Don’t let the title of the video fool you!

Long ago, Justin (@_js) tried putting 64 Teddy Grahams in his mouth. At BotCon 2011, he tried to break his record.

There was a table in the Botcon dealer room, to which, I kept going back. They had very reasonable prices on domestic hasbro releases and some third party items that were not outrageous. One of the third party items I kept eyeing were a couple recently released headmaster figures in the likeness of Soundwave and Optimus Prime. Not only did these figures become heads for headmaster-compatible figures, but they also had an alternate mode.

Robot mode. Alternate Mode. Headmaster Mode. But wait, there is more! These figures come with a small plate that allows one to form the head of the other figure’s robot mode. Its a pretty crazy and neat concept, but does it work well?

Read on to find out!
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When I purchased Top Spin and Twin Twist in the dealer room on Friday, I also noted a bag filled with translucent and clear knock-offs of the Laserbeak and Rumble/Frenzy cassette molds. The bag was labeled five dollars each and contained seven different cassettes. Four Laserbeaks and three Rumbles. I took a mental note of the bag and decided if I was still thinking about it Saturday, I would go back and see if they were still there and sure enough they were. I decided to just pick up the whole bag since they were small and my purchasing has been limited so far.

Read on for more pictures and details of these interesting knock-offs.
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I found Trailcutter on a table in the dealer room. He was loose and in a box with about twenty other Trailcutters. He is one of the classics legends figures that I just assumed I’d never find at retail, so when I saw him my interest was definitely piqued.

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The first table I walked up to on Friday had these two figures sitting on it in plastic bags. Top Spin came with his chrome weapon and was marked $3, while Twin Twist included his chrome weapon, instruction booklet and tech spec. Twin Twist was marked $5. Both figures seemed to be in pretty good shape. I picked them both up and handed the dealer exact change.

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This year at Botcon 2011 we tracked down the incomparable Sean Long, star of the Internet, and got him to take some time off from making Transformer videos that only show his hands and asking questions at panels to share a cool story with Ernie, bro.

But wait! Back in 2009 we also got a chance to interview Sean Long, but never used the clip out of laziness! The audio quality is, in a word, shitty. The only person you can really make out is Caren who’s not actually in front of the camera. If only I had a mic port on my camera… Enjoy this blast from the past!

The theme of Botcon 2011 was Transformers Animated and as a huge fan of the series, I made sure I picked up all the convention exclusives. This year’s attendee exclusive was an Animated version of IronFist using the Animated Ironhide/Ratchet mold with a brand new head. IronFist was never in Transformers Animated, but his big claim to fame was his starring role in IDW’s recent Last Stand of the Wreckers comic. I’m sure due to naming rights, most likely with Marvel, the tech spec does not actually use the name IronFist (though the comic book does), it actually uses Fisitron, the pseudonym, under which, IronFist wrote his chronicles of the Wreckers’ adventures.

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I figured that it would be fun to do some mini-reviews on some of the items I picked up at Botcon this year.

Grapple was an interesting item that I picked up mid way through Saturday. My intent was to purchase the Transformers Reveal the Shield (RtS) Solar Storm Grapple. I have a policy of sticking with the American versions for the most part. I am not much of a stickler about variations in color schemes so the cheaper choice has been my traditional choice. The biggest variance between the two version is the United (Japanese) version has an orange head while the RtS (American) release had a black head. The orange head is ‘anime-accurate’, as the kids say these days. It also differentiates him a bit more standing next to Universe Inferno. The RtS version’s black head is actually faithful to the original toy, so that version does have a basis in “reality”.

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