The Energon Pub

The newest Transformers marketplace to take the internet by storm, Crave.com, has just posted an interview that they have conducted with Seibertron.com's owner, Ryan Yzquierdo. In the interview, Crave.com gets to the passion behind the creator of one of the most massive Transformers fansites, showing us that love and dedication to the brand that has brought us all great times of enjoyment really does make for an amazing fansite experience. Here's a piece of the interview just to get you started:

Q: How did the initial idea grow and change over the years? How big is the team behind it these days?

A: Seibertron.com kind of “transformed” based on the interests that its loyal fanbase expressed over the years. I developed many features that users said they wanted. The content and focus of the site switched in 2004 from being centered around the cartoons and comics to being more focused on the toys. Seibertron.com is now home to the world’s largest and most comprehensive Transformers toy galleries with over 2,400 galleries comprised of over 200,000+ photos.



You can view the interview in its entirety by clicking here.

Seibertron.com would like to thank Crave.com for the opportunity to be interviewed.

For all the latest information on your Transformers Universe, keep your optics locked, right here, at Seibertron.com, your Ultimate Transformers Resource.

What's with the thumbnail you chose for the article? O_o

Treetop Maximus wrote:What's with the thumbnail you chose for the article? O_o

Apologies, was just too high-res

Blurrz wrote:

Treetop Maximus wrote:What's with the thumbnail you chose for the article? O_o

Apologies, was just too high-res

Shhhh, *whispers* it was designed to get them to click the story */whispers*

Wow! I read the interview and I'm amazed he took so many pictures for the galleries! Ryan/Mr. Ryan/Mr. Yzquierdo/Seibertron/I-have-know-idea-what-I'm-expected-to-call-him is an awesome dude, especially since he communicates with the site users. What a swell guy.

Treetop Maximus wrote:Wow! I read the interview and I'm amazed he took so many pictures for the galleries! Ryan/Mr. Ryan/Mr. Yzquierdo/Seibertron/I-have-know-idea-what-I'm-expected-to-call-him is an awesome dude, especially since he communicates with the site users. What a swell guy.

Thanks! I try my best. Being part of the community and communicating with all of you is one of the greatest enjoyments I get out of owning Seibertron.com.

I prefer just to be called Ryan, but you can call me Ryan or Seibertron, whichever you prefer and are comfortable with. I'm sure I've been called worse so as long as it's one of those two, I'm a happy man.

Cool interview! Lots of publicity lately huh? It really must be a dream job. I know it's more a labor of love than a job per se, but it must be really awesome to be able to devote so much time to your favorite hobby. And I definitely appreciate everything you've done in creating and running this site so far. It's the reason I got back into Transformers!

Awesome Ryan . Two interviews in less than a month(Or so I recall)...Thanks to your Seibertron gallery I've able to see how G1 toys look like,comparison between movie toys and the full set of HFTD,RTS,ROTF and possibly DOTM toys in the future .

CrimsonPrime wrote:Awesome Ryan . Two interviews in less than a month(Or so I recall)...Thanks to your Seibertron gallery I've able to see how G1 toys look like,comparison between movie toys and the full set of HFTD,RTS,ROTF and possibly DOTM toys in the future .

Most of the main DOTM toys are already in the galleries. Only ones released in the past month haven't been posted yet (and Human Alliance)

Glad to hear that they're helping you out!

kirbenvost wrote:Cool interview! Lots of publicity lately huh? It really must be a dream job. I know it's more a labor of love than a job per se, but it must be really awesome to be able to devote so much time to your favorite hobby. And I definitely appreciate everything you've done in creating and running this site so far. It's the reason I got back into Transformers!

It's a dream job, but it has some drawbacks. It can be stressful and working from home isn't always as great as every one thinks it is (though you can't beat the commute).

I miss the 9 to 5 routine (Seibertron.com is a 24/7 business), going to lunch with co-workers, water cooler talks, my commute on the Metra trains (used to get a ton of work done during that time), things that you don't know to appreciate until they're not part of your routine.

I am very thankful that I'm the only idiot boss that I have to deal with every day though. I love rarely waking up to an alarm clock (I naturally sleep about 6 to 8 hours), I like getting to eat at home every day, I like getting to spend this much time with my family and this time with my two year old daughter is priceless (unlike many fathers, I get to be a very active part of her daily life and get to go to doctor's appointments, the park, whatever that you miss out on doing a 9 to 5).

As much as I love Transformers, I could use a little break. A tiny one! I deal with Transformers almost from the moment I wake up when I check my email until I hit the sack. I bet the folks at Hasbro don't have to do that every day. I haven't quite figured out how to make myself step away from my "business" yet. I often put in 12 to 16 hour days on this site, 60+ hour work weeks are the norm.

I still have bills to pay, mortgage and car payments to make ... Seibertron.com isn't always fun and games for me like it is for most of you, there's a whole business side of it that I have to deal with daily. Just like with any job, there are things I have to do that I don't want to do or enjoy doing with this site (fixing Heavy Metal War yesterday, working on Sonicron's gallery and video, solving problems amongst the community or with staff members, or with sponsors, figuring out how to make a YouTube video, or any other unexpected situation that arises). If I was doing what I wanted to do every day ... G1 Reflector would have a gallery by now as would G1 Overlord, and I'd probably be drawing.

Complaints aside ... it's pretty awesome to get to work on something that I'm so passionate about and to work on something day-in and day-out that I created. And getting to visit with all of you and the Seibertron.com staff every day is pretty damn awesome too.

Seibertron wrote:Complaints aside ... it's pretty awesome to get to work on something that I'm so passionate about and to work on something day-in and day-out that I created. And getting to visit with all of you and the Seibertron.com staff every day is pretty damn awesome too.

So Seibertron.com is an actual profitable business for you these days? Awesome!

Just read the interview, you certainly seem to be doing the publicity rounds these days!

hi seibs/ryan in your interview you stated "'working on completing my collection of original Marvel UK comics" and i might be able to help you out, i need to get into my mothers loft and check their condition but i did collect every single comic and special summer/winter/christmas edition from about issue 50 through to the end. give me a week to sort them out and will send a PM on your Facebook with what iv got.

great article BTW

Sorry about this strange question, and no offense intended, but how do you pronounce your last name exactly? Iv'e been reading the title to myself for, like, ten whole minutes, and can't find a way that sounds right! AGAIN no offense, I just wanna know

Yzquierdo? is that jewish? chinese? japanese? ive just never heard a surname like that before

@ Ryan,

Beast Wars rekindled my interest/love of TFs. Of course, by that time, the internet was up & humming. Your website wasn't on my radar early on, but once I found a link to it from another TF fan site, it has become THE source for TFs info for me. I visit the site daily (oftentimes several times a day). Thank you very much for all the hard work you & your staff put into the site.

Great interview Ryan!

Hey Ryan, you are becoming quite the celebrity. Two interviews in the past couple weeks. Pretty cool.

If I'm right, Yzquierdo is a Hispanic surname, and is pronounced "Ease-kee-air-dough"

Bounti76 wrote:If I'm right, Yzquierdo is a Hispanic surname, and is pronounced "Ease-kee-air-dough"

This.

Blast Cannon wrote:

Seibertron wrote:Complaints aside ... it's pretty awesome to get to work on something that I'm so passionate about and to work on something day-in and day-out that I created. And getting to visit with all of you and the Seibertron.com staff every day is pretty damn awesome too.

So Seibertron.com is an actual profitable business for you these days? Awesome!

Just read the interview, you certainly seem to be doing the publicity rounds these days!

It pays the bills ... there'd be no way I could keep up with this site now having a full time job on top of Seibertron.com. I wasn't planning on doing this full time a few years ago (though I wanted too), but it wasn't until I hit the wall twice job-wise (thanks to the economy) that my wife and I decided I should put all of my time and effort into Seibertron.com.

I mentioned in my previous post that this is a phase toward my primary goal(s). If I'm going to continue to do this, I think it is in my family's best interest for me to expand into other popular brands (hence the network of sites listed in the site's footer) as well as possibly opening up a physical brick-and-mortar store at some point. I can't believe Chicago doesn't have a collectible toy/action figure store like so many other cities have (aside from Quake Collectibles) similar to Time Traveler's in Berkley near Detroit. I have to look into what opportunities the state of Illinois offers small businesses though to figure out the feasibility of it all. I'm a big believer in diversifying and having your hands in as many pots as possible so that if one opportunity falls apart, I'm not left hanging in the dust. But we'll see ... one thing at a time.

Counterpunch wrote:

Bounti76 wrote:If I'm right, Yzquierdo is a Hispanic surname, and is pronounced "Ease-kee-air-dough"

This.

That's how it is probably properly pronounced. We pronounce it as "es-key-are-dough" (like the letter "s", the word "key", the letter "r" (or sometimes "air" depending on the day of the week), and then "dough" like pizza dough). My great-grandfather was Bask and born in Barcelona.

Seibertron wrote:

Blast Cannon wrote:

Seibertron wrote:Complaints aside ... it's pretty awesome to get to work on something that I'm so passionate about and to work on something day-in and day-out that I created. And getting to visit with all of you and the Seibertron.com staff every day is pretty damn awesome too.

So Seibertron.com is an actual profitable business for you these days? Awesome!

Just read the interview, you certainly seem to be doing the publicity rounds these days!

It pays the bills ... there'd be no way I could keep up with this site now having a full time job on top of Seibertron.com. I wasn't planning on doing this full time a few years ago (though I wanted too), but it wasn't until I hit the wall twice job-wise (thanks to the economy) that my wife and I decided I should put all of my time and effort into Seibertron.com.

I mentioned in my previous post that this is a phase toward my primary goal(s). If I'm going to continue to do this, I think it is in my family's best interest for me to expand into other popular brands (hence the network of sites listed in the site's footer) as well as possibly opening up a physical brick-and-mortar store at some point. I can't believe Chicago doesn't have a collectible toy/action figure store like so many other cities have (aside from Quake Collectibles) similar to Time Traveler's in Berkley near Detroit. I have to look into what opportunities the state of Illinois offers small businesses though to figure out the feasibility of it all. I'm a big believer in diversifying and having your hands in as many pots as possible so that if one opportunity falls apart, I'm not left hanging in the dust. But we'll see ... one thing at a time.

A physical 'Seibertron.com' collectibles store would be awesome! You could host fan meets and conventions and all sorts if you actually had a place to host! There's no limit to the possibilities, lucrative too.

Zordon wrote:hi seibs/ryan in your interview you stated "'working on completing my collection of original Marvel UK comics" and i might be able to help you out, i need to get into my mothers loft and check their condition but i did collect every single comic and special summer/winter/christmas edition from about issue 50 through to the end. give me a week to sort them out and will send a PM on your Facebook with what iv got.

great article BTW

That's be great to hear about what you've got. Also depends on how much you're looking for. I've been buying the ones I have in huge lots (50 - 100 books) to save on shipping and to save on it being a lot instead of buying the books individually. I think doing it this way I've paid less than a $1 a book which is really good. I have about 200 of them so far and about 80 or so duplicates that I'll sell later down the road.

Joetx wrote:@ Ryan,

Beast Wars rekindled my interest/love of TFs. Of course, by that time, the internet was up & humming. Your website wasn't on my radar early on, but once I found a link to it from another TF fan site, it has become THE source for TFs info for me. I visit the site daily (oftentimes several times a day). Thank you very much for all the hard work you & your staff put into the site.

Thank YOU for being part of my site. It's fans like you that keep motivating me to keep kicking ass and taking names. I'm glad you guys are enjoying Seibertron.com so much.

Blackstreak wrote:Hey Ryan, you are becoming quite the celebrity. Two interviews in the past couple weeks. Pretty cool.

I don't know about that. Just a die-hard Transformers fan like all of you. I just happen to own a TF fan site too.