Tampa Bay Toy & Comic Expo, and Iacon Expo

[Sabrblade]

Since we have a number of Floridians on here, I figured I might share some info about these two upcoming events.

Next month, on June 8, the Tampa Bay Toy & Comic Expo will be happening at The Venetian Event Center, 9724 Cross Creek Blvd, Tampa, FL 33647, with lots of guests ranging from comic book creators, to film and television people, to cosplayers and more:

ABOUT THE TAMPA BAY TOY & COMIC EXPO

WHAT IS THE TAMPA BAY TOY & COMIC EXPO?
Established as the Tampa Bay Toy Expo in 2015, the newly christened Tampa Bay Toy & Comic Expo is the bay area's family-friendly convention for toys, comic books, video games, and pop culture. We design each of our events to be packed with value and fun to fit every family's budget.

WHAT TYPES OF ITEMS CAN WE FIND AT THE EXPO?
Attendees will typically find toys, pops, video games, and collectibles from their favorite pop culture brands. Vendor offerings also included Silver & Modern age comic books from your favorite publishers, past and present. Every year is different and you never know what treasures you may find!

WHAT DOES IT COST TO PARK & ATTEND THE EXPO?
Admission to the Tampa Bay Toy & Comic Expo starts at only $5.00 per person. Kids 12 & Younger are FREE with paid adult admission. We also offer a $10 VIP ticket, which includes an exclusive comic book. Unlike other events, parking at our event is free of charge. With door prizes, over 90+ tables of vendors and fun, we are sure you will enjoy a great day with us.

WANT TO BECOME AN VENDOR / EXHIBITOR?
If you are a Brick & Morter or Online Retailer who sells Action Figures, Minifigures, Comics, Collectibles, Video Games, or pop culture-related items, you can apply to be an exhibitor at the next Tampa Bay Toy & Comic Expo!

Of particular relevance to Transformers is not only the wide assortment of toys that one can find at this event…

(Photos taken from 2021)

…but also the exclusive item being offered for this event.

There are two admission options currently available: $5 general admission, and $10 VIP admission.

And the VIP admission includes a special comic book with a new cover made exclusive to this event. The comic is described as being "an exclusive, limited edition, licensed comic book featuring Transformers, GI Joe, M.A.S.K, Rom: The Space Knight, Micronauts, and more!"

The cover itself is described as "an 80's toy-centric comic book cover, limited to only 1,000 copies, while supplies last."

This, to me, sounds like it's an issue from IDW's Revolution run, and the mention of the word "licensed" suggests that this new comic cover is legit and official, making this comic an official Transformers item.



Meanwhile…

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Later this year, on September 13-14, 2024 (one week before Transformers One hits theaters), a brand new Transformers-specific fan convention is coming to Florida, called Iacon Expo.

Run by the same people as the TBT&CE (Mad Robot Enterprises), it will be held in the same venue location.

JOIN THE FUN AND BE PART OF HISTORY

Join fans of all ages for the main event, on Saturday September 14th from 10am to 4pm, as we kick off the 2024 IACON EXPO and celebrate 40 years of stories featuring your favorite robots from Cybertron. Here is just some of what you can expect at Iacon Expo this year…

OUR DEALER ROOM!
IACON EXPO will host an 11,000 sq, ft dealer room featuring over 80+ tables of toys, comics, games, and more. What treasures will you find to add to your collection?

GUESTS, ARTISTS, AND MORE!
Meet special guests, artists, and contributors to the history of the Transformers.

40TH ANNIVERSARY DISPLAYS!
Check out our Transformers 40th Anniversary Battle Display, featuring Autobot and Decepticon characters from across various timelines and generations.

EXPERIENCE HISTORY!
Join with fans as we screen vintage commercials from some of your favorite toy lines in Transformers history, all presented on our giant projection screen!

RACE IN THE IACON 5000!
Build your legend! Bring either your new Transformers Bumblebee Hot Wheels car or your favorite Hot Wheels car to race with other fans on our IACON 5000 Racetrack!

CONTESTS!
Randomly selected attendees will have a chance to compete for prizes in our SPEED TRANSFORMATION CONTEST and our KNOW THY MOTTO TRIVIA CHALLENGE.

ENTER TO WIN!
Every attendee with have an opportunity to enter to win a sealed TAKARA TOMY TRANSFORMERS GENERATION 1 ENCORE REISSUE FORTRESS MAXIMUS (Approx. Retail Valued of $650 USD).

A YEAR OF CELEBRATIONS

40TH ANNIVERSARY OF TRANSFORMERS
Ever since its 1984 debut, the TRANSFORMERS brand has transformed from a cherished toy line into a worldwide phenomenon, becoming an essential part of pop culture. Over 40 years, the influence of Transformers has spanned across animated series, comics, and blockbuster films, and now captures the hearts of millions of fans worldwide.

RISE UP WITH THE BEASTS
Also celebrating anniversaries in 2024 are the beasts, with both BEAST MACHINES and BEAST WARS NEO celebrating their 25th Anniversaries this year.

A VICTORY & SOME ENERGON
But the beasts aren't the only ones commemorating the occasion! TRANSFORMERS: VICTORY is celebrating its 35th anniversary, while TRANSFORMERS: ENERGON is celebrating its 20th anniversary in 2024!

Guest announcements have not been made yet, but ticket sales have gone live, with $10 general admission for Saturday only, and $30 VIP admission for a Friday evening event and the Saturday main event.

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Regarding hotel accomodations for both events, the following three hotels are all located not too far from the convention venue:

 

[Sabrblade]

Tomorrow's the big day for the toy & comic expo. Any other Floridians on here going besides me?

 

[Sciflyer]

I wish that I could. I've got a friend's birthday celebration that I have to attend. Last time I went was 2018-ish and it was a lot of fun. I hope that you have a blast!

 

[CoffeeHorse]

I can't. My car is still broken and that would be two humongous Uber bills.

 

[Sabrblade]

Went to the expo and got myself a nice little haul.

The comic is exclusive to this event, or rather its cover is. It's Issue #1 of IDW's Revolution series, with a new cover by Matin Dunn, Javier Lugo, and Aly Dunn. It was first released at the 2016 toy expo, and has been a regular exclusive to the event since then, given out every year to attendees who register for VIP admission (a measly $10; normal general admission is only $5). It's also available to purchase at the event as well. I went with VIP admission, so I got it included with my registration.

The rest of my haul consists of:

• Armada Laserbeak
• Cybertron Scout class Scrapmetal (yellow variant)
• San Diego Comic-Con 2005 Cybertron Legends of Cybertron Skywarp
• Timelines Heatwave
• Timelines Shattered Glass Cyclonus & Krunix
• And a Japanese Beast Wars keychain camera toy called "Beast Wars Movie". I haven't opened it yet but I'm guessing it's something like a View-Master with a slideshow of reels inside it that can be viewed when held up to a light source, but that's just my assumption.

EDIT: Just opened it up and, yeah, it is like a little View-Master. I can see at least two images inside, but the internal mechanism that's supposed to rotate the images is kinda busted, so the images are stuck in place. The two I can see are a pic of the JBW logo and a Mainframe screencap of Optimus Primal's season 1 gorilla face.

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Also, I have something I'd like to discuss with you all on here.

At the expo, I spent a good deal of time talking with the event organizer, Barry of Junior's Toy Box & Collectibles, and we got talking about both this event and the upcoming Iacon Expo. The reason he does this toy expo and wants to start up Iacon Expo later this year is because he's trying to stir up more interest for people who want to go to conventions like this but don't want to have to pay enormous amounts of money for admission fees. He wants to provide more affordable alternatives to those more expensive events like BotCon and TFCon.

Being that I've gone to those more expensive ones over the years, Barry asked me if I could find out what kind of interest there is in the greater fandom at large for Transformers/toy conventions that have more affordable admission prices. Of course, we know one of the big reasons those more expensive conventions is the cost to get more expensive guests to those events, especially if they are actors coming across the country from Los Angeles or Vancouver.

But one of the things Barry told me that he's really like to do for Iacon Expo is to get guests who are former Hasbro employees, like brand managers and people from marketing, who have lots of behind-the-scenes stories to tell. Like, the kinds of stories told by Aaron Archer and Rik Alvarez at the many TFCons they've been to. What a lot of people don't realize is, according to Barry, that there are actually a lot of former Hasbro employees who do live in Florida and work for Disney now, so the travel costs for them would be far less than those coming from California and/or Canada. These are people who worked on the brand back during the Beast Era and the Unicron Trilogy, and could share stories about their time working on the brand during those eras.

What Barry wants to know is, is there enough fan interest in that kind of brand history that would get people to come down to Florida for a Transformers convention that only cost ten dollars to attend?

 

[Sciflyer]

In truth, I don't go to 'cons regularly anymore. We get the occasional toy show in Jacksonville, but I am usually not very motivated to attend because:

a). There just aren't a lot of previously-released Transformers (or comics/toys in general) that I slept on or are the hunt for anymore. I do like to find accessories or junked out figures for customs and kitbashes, but I feel like I can find that stuff online or at most any local toy or comic shop. And crucially, I don't have to pay an additional fee to get in.

b). The convention extras (anything outside of the buying and selling of toys) such as getting comic book/actor autographs, listening to talks is usually not a big enough draw for me to warrant paying the cost of admission.

Having said that though, I would be interested in meeting/hearing stories from former brand employees. So a convention that featured people like that with a comparatively low entry fee would be something that I'd make an effort to attend.

 

[Haywire]

Nice Haul! Really wish we got to see Armada Laserbeak more often!

As far as the convention goes, I like the concept of a low-cost Transformer convention in theory, but the travel and lodging costs for me to get to Florida from the Midwest are just going to make it fairly expensive anyway. (For comparison, I decided we didn't have the budget to go to Botcon this year, even though we could have stayed with my wife's aunt for free.)

If I actually lived in Florida, it would be a very different story; chances are good I would be there, schedule permitting.

(Also, yeah, hearing behind-the-scenes stories from employees sounds like fun! I've often wanted to find out who at Tonka worked on the Gobots for similar insights.)

 

[CoffeeHorse]

I'm interested. This year wasn't doable but I plan on never having a year like this again. I still love conventions. I never buy anything because I never find anything I can't find on eBay for a better price, but conventions are fun. Especially smaller conventions. Especially especially new conventions. There is a special atmosphere at a small convention run by a crew doing it for the first time and actually doing it well.