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"Autocon Exclusives" are the name given to fan-made items by members of the Yahoo group called Autocon. These exclusives have a rich history, beginning with not much more than a humorous brushstroke: A prize given to an autoconner for getting the right answer in an informal contest:
 This gave birth to 'Crazy-Steve', who was responsible for an awsome custom-figure series called CSF (crazy-steve figures). Crazy Steve made the first readily available Autocon exclusive items and gave them away to fellow group members when they attended Botcon 2003. |
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2003: Back then, there were two hand-made resincast items produced. The first was a 4-pack of clear decoys (called 'Shuttle-chodes') made to commemorate the 17th anniversary of the Death of Brawn. :-) These were housed in an attractive movie shuttlecraft package, and consisted of the four characters that were killed on their way to autobot city on earth:
The second exclusive givea-way for members of Autocon was another one of Crazy-Steve's masterpieces; a custom resin-cast Tetrajet...named Sunstorm:
 At the time, this was an accomplishment, because Sunstorm wasn't even known as a character in usa Transfandom at the time! Nor were there any vehicle-mode tetrajet figures ('cybertron seeker' jets, pre-earth design). It was completely a surprise to us that a Sunstorm PVC (robot-mode) would end up being a Botcon/OTFCC convention exclusive. Needless to say, the members of Autocon were thrilled to be the reciepients of this piece. Crazy-Steve had no idea the name and likeness of Sunstorm would eventually be worked into the TF mythos, so in a way, the joke was on him ("Hey, but at least I was first!").
Note: 'WTF' and 'chode' are group-specific jargon which are humorous to members of Autocon. We tend to work them into all of our conversations. :-) Note also that there are only approximately 10 pieces each of these exclusives in-existence. |
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2004: Crazy-Steve at work again, this time with more resin-casting. The 'Autocon exclusives' for this year were a micromater Wheelie (loosely based off of the Mexican Targetmaster Whelie), and a PVC Last Autochode (created to make fun of the failed Last Autobot toy we didn't get at OTFCC). These were only available to Autocon members at Botcon USA, and at AutoAssembly in the UK.
 Torsten Able is credited with creating the character art on the package. There were three variants on Micromaster Wheelie: regular, a 'black' chase version, and a turd-colored one. Only a total of 10 Wheelies were produced. (There were 2 further pieces made, of a limited run of exactly two, for some of steve's closest friends. :-) In the same vein as an Autocon exclusive, these CSF (crazy-steve figures) were a PVC Tank Megatron, and a Jhiaxiu...he featured them in his diorama art display at Botcon 2004, then gave them to his buddies.
Interestingly, the Last AutoChode looks more like his Marvel Comic incarnation than what the OTFCC toy was going to be (a blue RID Fire Convoy as Hotspot/Defensor). There was a second bit of humor noted, in that this toy (or rather, the smaller version of the mold) *is* slated to be an upcoming exclusive at Dairycon. It's a blue Fire Convoy Spychanger...called Spot. :-) And speaking of convention exclusives...a further bit of work by Crazy-Steve for the 2004 Cybcon convention exclusives brought back his PVC Tetrajet mold (as Slaughterhouse) and a custom Cybmode Bumblebee (as seen in the original MTMTE). Interestingly, this item transforms! Very cool. More...
Unbeknowenst to most, a tiny fraction of Autoconners recieved this exclusive, which led into... |
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2005: The 2005 Autocon-exclusive item was a set of 3 figures, actually; a recolor/remold of the Energon Sabre team, red in color (versus the yellow of the original) and renamed The Stormsword. This is by far the most ambitious giveaway yet, and is only available to Autocon members who attended the Cybcon (USA), Dairycon (USA), or Dutchbotcon (Netherlands) conventions. The *real* kicker is, these are being given away *only* as a single figure (only one per person), so unless you attend all three conventions, or win the raffles at the conventions, you'll never get a complete set of 3. Bwahahaha! :-) That will teach those evil scalper completist types. Talk about exclusive...the only thing more exclusive that this is the otfcc Last Autobot that we didn't get (heck, it wasn't made at all, it was an imaginary exclusive!)...
 Crazy-Steve wanted to take a break from making convention exclusives, so a local team of Auto-conners, with assistance from professional outsourcing, were able to make this new giveaway, and share it amongst three conventions run by Autocon members. It's interesting that, while Crazy-Steve didn't make this one, it *is* done in his honor, and is being shared with the same people he made previous exclusives for. ;-) He sets the standard. We were lucky enough to grab some snapshots of the 'in-process' work that went into the making of the 2005 items. Click here for the pictorial history of the 2005 Autocon exclusive! Only 124 of these pieces were made.
To throw people off the trail of what we were doing (and to tweak the minibot lovers), we posted preview pictures of a different exclusive. Click here to see what we tricked everyone with. (Incidentally, it wasn't a complete trick...this mold was used as an exclusive for the 2006 Dairycon convention...as Heffer. :-) |
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2006: The 2006 Autocon exclusive is PinchBottom (or PinchPinch, as he is affectionately called). This one is a 'net only' exclusive (that is, only full-participation members of the Autocon group had one mailed to them). Click here for the full bio and tech spec of PinchPinch!
 Crazy-Steve made his triumphant return in 2006, with more figures for the CSF line. The Autocon exclusive figure available to members who attended the Iacon-1 convention was Evil King MacroCranios (a variant was also available, titled, 'Unicron ate my Brother'). In-addition, a select few Autocon members recieved a small school of evil Sharkticons (the type in the movie that weren't made into a toy previously). |
2007: The 2007 Autocon exclusive is MexiCon, who prefers to be called by his full name of Nachos BelGrande. Like last year, this one is a 'net only' exclusive (that is, only full-participation members of the Autocon group who voted in the poll had one mailed to them). Click here for the full bio and tech spec of MexiCon! |
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2008: 2008 brought the greatest exclusive ever! Shared between Dairycon and Autocon, the character is PlotHole! Read and enjoy the depth and humor of this particular Emmissary.
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2009: The great shared con exclusive continues! Split between 5 different conventions, the identity of the item remains a secret...for now. :-)
 Oh, ok, it's not a secret: as part of the multicon-shared exclusive, Autocon members were treated to their own specific version of the A.S.S-09 figure. The Envious Green version, to be precise. :-) What I find funny is that, while there are five versions pictured on the site, there are a total of 6 versions of the figure mentioned. Hmmm...
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2010: All good things must come to an end, and it was with a heavy heart that Autocon exclusives ceased after their 10-yr run. In-addition to the 2010 figure being representative of everything the group stood for, it also came with an honorary Grapple wheel for each member.
   Testshot: Not for Sale. Just as our principles aren't for sale in this Fandom, neither is Testshot. The Autocon-exclusive version could be got only if you were a member of this secret cabal. You can read more about him here. |
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2011: 2011: Oh, who are we kidding. :-) We needed to do another one. Diaclone Cyberdober!
 Read more about him here! |
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Thanks for reading this far. We hope to share more of our giveaway information in the future, and of-course, we hope to have more giveaways. :-)
(Note to legal types: These are all fan-made, fan-painted, fan-named, and given away as gifts to our little group of friends. No infringement on copyrights is intended, nor are we making any money on this in any way, shape, or form. Hell, these guys are losing money; considering how much is spent, then simply given away, you'd have to be crazy to...oh, wait... :-) |