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[Seibertron]

Join the Twincast B-Team as they pop-up into Episode #80! Yes, you read that right. #80! You might be asking yourself ... what happened to #79? Well, make sure you check back later this week for the debut of #79 which was pushed back so that we could time this episode with today's release of the Transformers: The Ultimate Pop-Up Universe book.

This episode is hosted by Seibertron.com site owner Ryan Yzquierdo who is joined by Matthew Reinhart, Emiliano Santalucia, and Ben Kubasak. Pop-up paper engineer extraordinaire Matthew is the author and architect behind the Transformers: The Ultimate Pop-Up Universe, Emiliano's beautiful artwork graces the pages of Transformers: The Ultimate Pop-Up Universe, and Ben is one of Ryan's best friends, a fellow programmer, and a collector of Masters of the Universe, Transformers, Star Wars and Disney.

Episode #80 is available directly and in our RSS Feed and should appear on iTunes within 24 to 48 hours of this news post.



In this episode, we discuss a huge array of topics from Transformers, Masters of the Universe, My Little Pony, Star Wars and more! Here's a run down of our discussion ...

Transformers: The Ultimate Pop-up Universe (in-stores Tuesday October 29th, 2013)



Hasbro's official in-house Transformers bible known as the "Binder of Revelation"



Masters of the Universe - While Emiliano has done much official work for the Transformers brand over the past decade, he might be better known on the Internet as being a huge fan of Mattel's Masters of the Universe brand. Find out what Emiliano has to say about the vintage India "Leo Faker", Mantenna and more!





Rhinox and Waspinator - Emiliano designed these two upcoming Beast Wars toys that are getting a Transformers Generations release next month





Transformers Animated ... are these some of the best designed Transformers toys?



Peter Cullen ... is he being overused?



Ryan answers the question from Podcast #78 ... "Ironhide or Bulkhead?"



DC's take on the current Masters of the Universe comic book



Hasbro's problems with the G.I. Joe brand



Age of Extinction: rumored artwork of Optimus Prime riding Grimlock



Hasbro's execution of the My Little Pony brand



We cover some bragging rights at the end as well as a few other odds and ends. Enjoy this special edition of the Twincast / Podcast and make sure you check back later this week for our out-of-sequence Episode #79!

Thank you again for listening to the Twincast/Podcast. We hope you enjoyed this special bonus episode.

[Sabrblade]

Haven't listened yet, but I'll be swinging by B&N on my home to pick up a copy of the pop up book. Been waiting for this thing since its announcement.

[chuckdawg1999]

Problems with the Joe brand? Hmmm, would've been interesting if you had a Joe guy on to discuss things, If only you knew one who was a desperate attention whore

[xyl360]

Rhinox and Waspinator - Emiliano designed these two upcoming Beast Wars toys that are getting a Transformers Generations release next month

Emiliano, on behalf of myself and other avid Beast Wars fanatics a very heartfelt THANK YOU !!!!

Seriously, these are two of the best looking, most show accurate Beast Wars figures ever created, representing two of the most iconic characters from the series. You've done marvelous work and we are extremely grateful!

[Sabrblade]

most show accurate Beast Wars figures ever created,

Moreso than the Transmetals, IIs, or Fuzors?

[xyl360]

most show accurate Beast Wars figures ever created,

Moreso than the Transmetals, IIs, or Fuzors?

Yep, because in those cases specifically, the show models were designed based on the toys to be accurate per Hasbro's orders (and they still missed the mark with at least some of the details, especially, sadly, Transmetal II Megatron due to the dead Diaclone style gimmick which virtually ruined his bot mode chest). If you need other examples:

• Optimal Optimus' chest guns which are always deployed (hated that so much that I removed them from the toy and broke the cockpit piece to move it higher up on his chest more like the show)
• Silverbolt's wings cannot fold down like on the show
• Tarantulas' fingernails/claws are supposed to be painted yellow/gold and they are eternally turned upward
• Transmetal Megatron's VTOLs cannot deploy facing downward as on the show when in bot mode
• Transmetal Rattrap's vehicle mode bits don't rotate around so that the large wheels are behind his shoulders (I modded mine, placing the wheels behind his shoulders in bot mode but sacrificed the transformation because of it) and he has no gun (thank you Shapeways and a creative individual who did me the solid of making one based on my request so that I could at last give him a proper gun like on the show)
• Transmetal Cheetor's face is just wrong, not only in appearance but also color
• Quickstrike's colors are off (paint fixed that)
• Transmetal II Dinobot's articulation screws him up just a bit and the colors are off (especially his face) though paint fixed most of that (not articulation though)
• Transmetal II Blackarachnia is way off as many of the colors are wrong (lack of paint apps mostly in bot mode), the shoulder bits are way too big on the toy (necessity of alt mode) and her face is jacked
• Transmetal Rampage's crab legs don't place properly in bot mode without modding and many of his colors/paint are way off (he's red, not orange, though Takara fixed that) and his face is not painted correctly
• Transmetal II Cheetor had several minor issues with the mold/articulation, but his main problem is the paint job/colors (too yellow, not enough spots, yellow instead of black claws, missing face paint etc.)

I'm listening to the podcast now and just heard some convo regarding GI Joe. I'm far from a huge GI Joe fan, however I must say that GI Joe: Renegades was one of the best cartoons in recent history IMO and was executed in an excellent way. It was fun, exciting, great characterization, excellent writing, dramatic, funny and had a good modern take on the entire concept (an evil corporation instead of a straight up terrorist organization with no apparent source of funding for some unlimited army ). It's much easier to root for the Joes when they're the underdogs too and when even their own government is after them as they fight the bad guys and look to clear their names (A-Team style FTW ). I really wish they'd chosen to continue that series with the "renegades" now rejoining the military in on their GI Joe team to go after the re-emerging Cobra and get them shut down. Even if they finished it off with nothing more than an animated movie/special where Cobra Commander plays out his "endgame" in retaliation for the renegades putting him out of business and the Joes having to participate in one final epic battle to end it once and for all, that would be sufficient for closure, but either way more of that story would be great.

[JackStraw]

would you say I have a plethora of Ponies?

Great podcast as usual. Looking forward to checking out the book in person. Nice to hear from the artists involved. Love the MOTU discussion.

I think Matthew hit the nail on the head in terms of Hasbro being too PC with the whole Real American Heroes vs the Terrorist organization thing. TRU has almost an entire aisle of those no name cheap military figures and vehicles so I'm not sure what they are so afraid of. It's not like Cobra is stationed out of Carbombya or anything.

I would also add that despite the brand floundering right now, some of the classics figures released in the movie wave 3.5, like ultimate Storm Shadow, Cobra Commander are some of the nicest Joes to come out in a long time. That Storm Shadow might be my all time favorite.

[joevill]

I really enjoyed this episode. Loved hearing Matthew give Animated the love it deserves.