Heads up Hasbro, you guys rip shit off too!
Botcon 2012 is shaping up to be the biggest clusterfuck in the entire history of the franchise. Hasbro seems to have been putting increasing pressure on the operations of the convention to impede the spread of 3rd party product as well as work they consider to be intellectual property infringement. This has been an ongoing battle for the past 5 years and apparently someone finally got the memo. Unfortunately, instead of attacking the individuals behind the actual knock-off toys, they are now going after the fans which have helped to perpetuate the Transformers brand long before Michael Bay ever said “Megawho?”
Today an announcement came declaring that all fan-art can no longer be sold at Botcon. The convention has had a history of individuals selling limited runs of posters, statues, customs, you name it. Unfortunately, this looks to be something they want to end at the official convention. Boo hoo to the would-be artists.
This is certainly within Hasbro’s legal jurisdiction, considering it is an official convention. The problem is that many are now looking at the non-official conventions that seem to be sprouting up all over the country.
All the while, Hasbro will most surely have their KREO figures on display at the show. Something is very wrong here.