Industry | Comics Fan club organizing |
---|---|
Founded | 2005 |
Headquarters | Fort Worth, Texas |
Website | fpcomics |
Fun Publications was a publishing company that ran the Transformers Collectors Club and the G.I. Joe Collectors Club under license from Hasbro. Besides releasing comics, Fun Publications released exclusive toys and ran conventions for their clubs.
Fun Publications also published a serial comic distributed as part of the official Transformer's Collector's Club magazine. There were six pages to the comic in each magazine, which together "make one complete story arc" by the end of the year with 36 pages in six months. [1] The full strips from the first two years were distributed by IDW as Transformers Cybertron: Balancing Act.
In addition to releasing comic books and magazines Fun Publications Timelines series has also produced prose stories, licensed toys and video media. However, 2016 was announced as the final year in which Fun Publications would hold BotCon and host the Transformers Collectors Club. [2]
In 2017, it was announced that 2018 would be the last year that the company would run the G.I.Joe Collectors Club, and at the 2018 convention employees told fans that the company would cease operations at the end of the year.
The Timelines Landquake toy proved extremely popular. [3] Critics of the comic have said that the stories play directly to the fans of the Transformers conventions and stories center on the toys being introduced each year. [4]
After the Transformers convention license was acquired by Fun Publications, they issued a new series called Transformers: Timelines, a series of stand alone tales. The first comic was released in 2005 with a story called "Descent into Evil", starring a group of updated classic Autobots and new characters fighting the evil forces of Deathsaurus and his Insecticons. As would follow with each year's story, some of the characters appearing would be released as exclusive figures at Botcon. [5]
Their 2006 BotCon tale, "Dawn of Future's Past", acts as a prequel to the Beast Wars ; and was distributed by Diamond in November 2006.
A sequel to the Marvel Comics Generation 1 story called "Games of Deception" was the centerpiece for the 2007 comic. The story centered on the Decepticon Bug Bite's attempt to take over the Decepticon forces of Megatron. This story features the Transformers: Classics toy line as well as this year's Botcon exclusive toys. [6] The text story Wreckers: Finale Part II was also released. [7]
The 2008 comic "Shattered Glass" takes place in the "Shattered Glass" universe, in which Classics Cliffjumper is hurled into an alternate reality where the Decepticons are heroic while the Autobots are evil tyrants. [8] The text story "Gone Too Far" was also published.
The story released for Botcon 2009, called "Wings of Honor", was set millions of years ago on Cybertron, a prequel to the Sunbow animated series. This story featured the Autobot veteran Kup in early days, as well as the club membership exclusive figure Dion. The text story "Eye in the Sky" was released, set on Shattered Glass Earth.
The 2010 Timelines comic called "Generation 2: Redux" was among the top 25 sold small publisher comics in November 2010. [9] This story featured a new generation of Autobot and Decepticons made on Earth led by the Autobot Spark and the Decepticon Clench. [10]
The story released for Botcon 2011 was "The Stunt-icon Job", a sequel to the Transformers: Animated cartoon.
Botcon 2012 featured the comic "Invasion", a crossover between the G1 Classics universe and the Shattered Glass universe.
Botcon 2013 featured "Machine Wars: Termination," a story involving a force led by Beast Machines generals Obsidian and Strika against Jhiaxus' army of clones.
The story released for Botcon 2014 was "Hoist the Flag", set in the G1 Wings universe. "A Common Foe", the sequel to "Termination", was also released online.
Botcon 2015 featured "Cybertron's Most Wanted", a story taking place in Axiom Nexus and involving a team assembled from the inhabitants of various alternate Transformers universes.
2016, the final year for the convention under Fun Publications, featured a commemorative story for the Beast Wars 20th Anniversary entitled "Dawn of the Predacus." This storyline, set thirty years after The Transformers: The Movie and 300 years before the Beast Wars, involves the Tripredacus Council and several of their fellow Predacons engaging the Maximals.
The company presented the last G.I.Joe Collectors Club Convention in Chattanooga Tennessee at the end of June.
Megatron is the main antagonist of the Transformers media franchise produced by the American toy company Hasbro and the Japanese toy company Takara Tomy. He is the tyrannical leader of the Decepticons, a villainous faction of alien robots that seeks to conquer their home planet of Cybertron and the rest of the known universe, and serves as the archenemy of Optimus Prime, the leader of the rival Autobot faction. As with all Cybertronians, Megatron can disguise himself by transforming into vehicles or weapons. His alternate modes have included a Walther P38 handgun, a particle-beam weapon, a telescopic laser cannon, a Cybertronian jet, and various tanks, depending on which continuity he is depicted in.
Unicron is a fictional villain from the Transformers media franchise. Designed by Floro Dery, he was introduced in the 1986 animated film The Transformers: The Movie and has since reappeared in Transformers: Armada, Transformers: Energon, Transformers: Cybertron, Transformers: Prime, Transformers Prime Beast Hunters: Predacons Rising, Transformers: The Last Knight, Transformers: Rise of the Beasts, and Atari's 2004 Transformers video game. Unicron is a prodigiously large robot whose scale reaches planetary proportions, and he is also able to transform into a giant planet. Unicron's origin has expanded over the years from simply being a large robot to being a god of chaos who devours realities. He often employs the help of Decepticons in his work, and in some stories is considered part of the origin of the Decepticon forces.
Grimlock is the name of several fictional robot characters in the Transformers robot franchise. He is usually portrayed as the leader of the Dinobots, which are a subfaction of Autobots who can transform into metal dinosaurs. Grimlock is known for his dialogue being spoken in the third person. He appeared on screen along with other Dinobots in the fourth installment of the Transformers film series.
Starscream is a character in the Transformers media franchise produced by the American toy company Hasbro and the Japanese toy company Takara Tomy. He is the second-in-command of the Decepticons, a villainous faction of alien robots that seeks to conquer their home planet of Cybertron and the rest of the known universe. As with all Cybertronians, Starscream can disguise himself by transforming into vehicles, in his case a fighter jet, and he is usually portrayed as a treacherous but cowardly air commander who seeks to overthrow his leader Megatron and assume control of the Decepticons.
The Autobots are a fictional faction of sentient robots in the Transformers multimedia franchise. The Autobots are living robots from the planet Cybertron who, like most Transformers, are each imbued with a unique "life force" known as a "spark." Led by Optimus Prime in most stories, the Autobots believe "freedom is the right of all sentient life" and are often engaged in a civil war with the Decepticons, a faction of transformers dedicated to military conquest and usually headed by Megatron. In a mirror universe portrayed in Transformers: Shattered Glass, the Autobots are villains opposed by the heroic Decepticons.
Transformers is a media franchise produced by American toy company Hasbro and Japanese toy company Takara Tomy. It primarily follows the heroic Autobots and the villainous Decepticons, two alien robot factions at war that can transform into other forms, such as vehicles and animals. The franchise encompasses toys, animation, comic books, video games and films. As of 2011, it generated more than ¥2 trillion in revenue, making it one of the highest-grossing media franchises of all time.
Ultra Magnus is a character from the Transformers franchise.
Arcee is a fictional robot character in the Transformers franchise. She has been depicted as a female Autobot, usually pink or blue in color. Being the most famous of the Female Autobots, she has made more appearances and has had several more incarnations than any other female Transformer. Arcee's design, alternate mode, and personality vary depending on continuity.
Soundwave is a fictional robot character appearing in various Transformers continuity lines within the Transformers franchise. His most well-known disguise is that of a micro cassette recorder. Throughout most of his incarnations, he is an underlying loyal lieutenant of the Decepticon leader Megatron. He is commonly depicted as Megatron's communications officer and in some interpretations, only speaks when mocking the Autobots.
Jazz is a fictional robot character from the Transformers franchise. He is usually portrayed as a music-loving robot who speaks Black Vernacular English. In certain continuities he is shown as Optimus Prime's good friend and right-hand man.
Jetfire is the name of several fictional characters from the Transformers franchise. He is almost always depicted as an Autobot with flight capabilities and a jet or space shuttle as an alternate mode. In some continuities he is a former Decepticon.
Bumblebee is a fictional robot character appearing in the many continuities in the Transformers franchise. The character is a member of the Autobots, a group of sentient, self-configuring, modular extraterrestrial robotic lifeforms.
There have been four main publishers of the comic book series bearing the name Transformers based on the toy lines of the same name. The first series was produced by Marvel Comics from 1984 to 1991, which ran for 80 issues and produced four spin-off miniseries. This was followed by a second volume titled Transformers: Generation 2, which ran for 12 issues starting in 1993. The second major series was produced by Dreamwave Productions from 2002 to 2004 with multiple limited series as well, and within multiple story continuities, until the company became bankrupt in 2005. The third and fourth series have been published by IDW Publishing with the third series starting with an issue #0 in October 2005 and a regular series starting in January 2006 to November 2018. The fourth series started in March 2019 with issue #1 and concluded in June 2022. There are also several limited series being produced by IDW as well. Skybound Entertainment began publishing Transformers comics starting in June 2023, kicking off the Energon Universe. In addition to these four main publishers, there have also been several other smaller publishers with varying degrees of success.
Sideswipe is a fictional robot character in the Transformers series.
Cliffjumper is the name of several fictional characters from the Transformers franchise. His name is usually associated with an Autobot whose toys are often red repaints or remold of Bumblebee toys.
The Transformers is an American-Japanese animated television series that originally aired from September 17, 1984, to November 11, 1987, in syndication based upon Hasbro and Takara Tomy's Transformers toy line. The first television series in the Transformers franchise, it depicts a war among giant robots that can transform into vehicles and other objects.
Transformers: Generation 1 is a toy line from 1984 to 1990, produced by Hasbro and Takara Tomy. It was a line of toy robots that could change into an alternate form by moving parts into other places, and it was the first line of toys produced for the successful Transformers toy and entertainment franchise. The line was originally called The Transformers, with "Generation 1" originating as a term coined by fans of the toys when the Transformers: Generation 2 toy line was released in 1992. Hasbro eventually adopted the term "Generation 1" to refer to any toy produced in that era.
Transformers: Shattered Glass is a series of American comic books and prose stories published by Fun Publications published between 2008 and 2011, being based on the Transformers franchise by Hasbro. Two reboot series are being published between 2021 and 2022 by IDW Publishing.
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