Welcome, Primates! The Hasbro team has graciously donated a SDCC 2019 Transformers Botbots Con Crew for review! This is my first foray into the world of Botbots since they burst onto the TF scene. So instead of dipping a toe in and trying out a pack or two from Target, I jumped into a 10 pack of the little guys! The Con Crew is split into three groups that pay homage to SDCC (and cons in general). The three groups are: Fantastic Fuelers, the Line League, and the Meet N’ Greets. The Fantastic Fuelers focus on the yummy treats at a convention (or the generic food stand they have at SDCC). That said, I am partial to the pretzel carts they have all over the Convention Center. The Line League group are characters that help you camp out for Hall H. Just like the convention, there is no deodorant in sight. The Meet N’ Greets help you get your favorite autograph from Peter Cullen or Frank Welker.
The Con Crew box is fairly basic with a front flap. The bottom shows the 10 Botbots while the top has humorous bios for each character. I couldn’t find any where that typed them up, but feel free to expand the pic and take a peek. However, I did find the original press release that talks a little more about each one.
Imagine if BOTBOTS took over the halls of Comic-Con! BOTBOTS are mischievous, funny and super silly little TRANSFORMERS robots who came to life after a glowing mist of Energon fell down from the sky and turned everyday objects at Comic-Con to life! This fun convention pack includes ten exciting Comic-Con themed figures known as the CON CREW, a team of Comic-Con experts who are ready to take on the Con!
Within the CON CREW are 3 specialty teams: the celebrity-obsessed MEET N’ GREETS, experts in photo ops and autographs, the energizing FANTASTIC FUELERS, experts in powering through the Con, and the LINE LEAGUE, experts in surviving the many long Comic-Con lines. 3 of the 10 included TRANSFORMERS BOTBOTS figures are also all dressed up in cool cosplay! Ordinary objects like a marker, a to-go coffee cup and a hand-held game become a kaiju, OPTIMUS PRIME, and a super hero! What sort of mischief will these little bots get into at Comic-Con?
The Line League characters are CAPTAIN CARTRIDGE the superhero handheld game, VIGITENTE the tent and CON-PACKTOR the backpack. Fantastic Fuelers include COFEEMUS PRIME the coffee cup dressed as Optimus Prime, CAB O’NATE the energy drink, HAL A. PENO the spicy chips, and SUMTHIN’ FISHY the fish taco. The Meet N’ Greets characters are SCRIBZILLA the marker, BOTARAZZI the camera, and INKY INKERSON the graphic novel.
Available exclusively at San Diego Comic-Con International
The figures themselves are made up of a combo of a rubbery plastic and hard plastic. most of the figures had fairly simplistic transformations. However, I did have to check the instructions for a few that were rather…frustrating. For example, the Coffemus Prime figure was a bit of a pain. The paper around it has to be turned around for the transformation, but I can’t imagine it would last long being flipped back and forth.
The instructions are combined to show all the different figures and their transformations. The best part of it are the fake little selfies from the figures (see below).
My final verdict on these little guys is that the names and gimmicks were more entertaining than the figures themselves. I know my nearly 40 year old self isn’t the target market for these little guys, which makes me wonder if my kiddos (5 yr old and 2 yr old) would enjoy them. The concept is neat and reminds me of the old McDonald’s Transformers. However, the transformations seem more difficult in a simplistic way. I think this set is great for a con exclusive to give us old G1ers a taste of the figures, but grab the OTS version for the kiddos.
Botbots Con Crew will be available 9/3 & 9/4 on HasbroPulse.com, and Premium members will be able to access the exclusives a day early.
