The Hasbro Transformers Collectors' Club was, naturally enough, the officially licensed fan club for the Transformers brand.
3H Productions
The first iteration of the fan club began during 3H Productions' tenure as the convention license holder. Initial efforts to get the fan club going were largely ineffectual. A single magazine issue saw publication. This version of the fan club essentially dissolved when 3H lost their license from Hasbro in 2004.
Fun Publications
Fun Publications TFCC logo, 2005–2014.
In 2005, the fan club license was acquired (along with the official convention rights) by Fun Publications. Fun Pub immediately launched a new web site to raise interest in the reformatted club, and would actively post news, updates, and new features. The club web site was closely tied to that of BotCon as well. After Fun Publications lost the Transformers fan club license at the end of 2016, they spent a transitional year liquidating merchandise (including TFSS products). They would sell said merchandise for extremely discounted prices, with no membership required. Some examples include the exclusive freebie figure Ramjet, for $4 and the BotCon 2013 set for $77.
Membership benefits
Membership for United States fans started at $42 for one year. Rates were higher for international fans or quicker postage. Benefits with a 1-year membership included:
12 issues of Fun Publications' Master Collector newsprint classifieds (discontinued January 2010)
- Six issues of the Transformers Collectors' Club Official Magazine, each including an issue of the club comic.
- An exclusive Transformers figure, free with each year's paid membership (see below).
- Access to the Collectors' Club store and the ability to buy Collectors' Club exclusive toys.
Access to the Collectors' Club Forums (discontinued in early 2012)
Member-exclusive content on the Collectors' Club website, including exclusive Timelines fiction and various character bios. (discontinued alongside the forums, although online fiction would later return in 2015, now available to non-members as well)
- Discounts on BotCon preregistration
Membership freebie figures
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Included in each year's paid membership was an exclusive Transformers figure, who would then typically be featured in that year's club magazine comic strip. The first five years' figures could be assembled into a combiner, Nexus Maximus.
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 NSFW: Not Safe for Wallet |
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Additional exclusive figures
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Further, members had the ability to purchase additional exclusive figures in the Collectors' Club store starting in 2007. To promote them, the figures would typically appear in club fiction around the time of their release, although not with as consistent a pattern as the freebie figures. In later years, the club store exclusives would often be a redeco of and/or companion to the same year's freebie figure, with several even featuring extra space in their packaging for you to store the freebie.
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 Everyone wants him, few can have him. |
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Club crossovers
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Starting in 2015, Fun Publications began a crossover with the G.I. Joe Collectors' Club to make crossover toys. These toys included:
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Transformers Figure Subscription Service
Starting in 2012, the Transformers Figure Subscription Service (TFSS) was introduced, where six exclusive figures were offered at cheaper prices. In the final two years, the service went for broke and introduced two more exclusive combiners: Thunder Mayhem and Wreckage. Both were used in one of the final story lines from Fun Publications, Of Masters and Mayhem.
| TFSS 5.0 (2017)
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 Double Pretender Optimus Prime and Hi-Q |
Notes
- Only members received membership benefits, making the organization an evil entity that existed solely for the purpose of denying fans benefits that they didn't pay for.
External links
