TFcon has confirmed Bob Budiansky as a guest at TFcon Orlando 2026, which runs October 23 to 25 at the Doubletree by Hilton Hotel Orlando Theme Park Resort. He will take part in a Q and A panel, a signing, and, in the convention’s words, will be “meeting with fans all weekend long”. His appearance is presented by The Chosen Prime.

If the name does not land immediately, the credit will. Budiansky wrote much of the original Marvel Transformers comic, conceived the names of most of the original Transformers, and wrote the vast majority of the tech spec biographies printed on the back of the 1980s Hasbro packaging.

Why the tech specs matter more than the credit suggests

That last item is the one worth pausing on. Hasbro’s 1984 line arrived as a set of converting toys imported from several unrelated Japanese lines. What it did not arrive with was a cast. The tech spec bios on the packaging are where most of these characters got a personality, a motto, and a reason to dislike each other, and they were read by every kid who turned a box over in a shop aisle years before they ever saw the cartoon or the comic.

That is a strange kind of authorship. Budiansky was not writing a story so much as writing the character sheets that every later story had to work from, in roughly a hundred words a time, on packaging. A good deal of what fans think of as canon personality for Optimus Prime, Shockwave and the rest of the 1984 and 1985 assortments started there rather than on screen.

TFcon’s announcement art leans into exactly that lineage, using Marvel-era Shockwave rather than a photograph.

Bob Budiansky seated with his arms folded behind a table on a comic convention floor, wearing glasses and a grey t-shirt, with other exhibitors and artwork behind him.

Budiansky behind the table at the Big Apple Convention in Manhattan in 2009. Photo by Luigi Novi, CC BY 3.0. Orlando is the same arrangement: the convention says he will be signing and meeting fans across all three days.

Who else is announced so far

The Orlando guest list is still filling in, and Budiansky is the first writer on it. Also confirmed on the convention’s own guest page:

  • David Kaye, Megatron in Beast Wars, Beast Machines, Armada, Energon and Cybertron, and Optimus Prime in Transformers Animated. Listed as celebrating the 30th anniversary of Beast Wars.
  • Garry Chalk, Optimus Primal in Beast Wars and Beast Machines, and Optimus Prime in Armada, Energon and Cybertron. Also tied to the Beast Wars 30th.
  • Jason Konopisos and Travis Artz, both listed under voice actor guests.
  • Alex Milne, the artist, whose IDW work is probably the most recognisable modern line art in the franchise.

Kaye and Chalk both have published rates on the guest page, at $50 for an autograph, $40 for a photo with the guest and $70 for the combo. No autograph or photo pricing is listed for Budiansky, so we are not quoting one.

One thing we are not going to state cleanly, because the source does not. A Gregg Berger entry also appears on the Orlando guest page, but the text of that entry says he is attending TFcon Los Angeles 2026 and ties him to the 40th anniversary of The Transformers: The Movie, where he voiced Grimlock. Every other guest block on the page says Orlando. We have not been able to resolve whether that is a copy and paste artifact or a genuine second show, so treat Berger as unconfirmed for Orlando until TFcon says otherwise.

What this is not

There is no product here, no exclusive attached to the announcement and nothing to pre-order, so this post carries no buy link. TFcon’s convention exclusives are announced separately and the Orlando slate is not out yet. Tickets are on sale through the convention’s own site.

Sources

Key art: TFcon official announcement graphic for the appearance, presented by The Chosen Prime.