The Energon Pub

Welcome to the latest edition of the Seibertron.com Twincast / Podcast! This episode features your host, ScottyP along with Counterpunch, Megatronus, Rotorstorm, and Tigertrack! Sit down, tune in, and enjoy as we discuss all the latest news, toys, comics and more.

Episode #137 "The St. Valentine's Day Toy Fair" is available directly and in our RSS Feed and should appear on iTunes, and Stitcher Radio within 24 to 48 hours of when you see this news post.

Even though it's Valentine's Day weekend, we are excited that Toy Fair is finally here! (P.S. thank you to all our significant others for taking a little time away to talk about Transformers for 2 hours )

Our very own Seibertron is in the thick of the excitement in New York City and will be updating us throughout the night with new photos and videos. Even though over the last few months we have seen many images leaked for the upcoming Titans Return line, we are still keeping our fingers crossed for some new and exciting figures.


First up, in all his glory, we'll discuss the new images of Titans Returns Fortress Maximus and the clever way in which he was revealed.

(Head On, Apply Directly To the Forehead)

So many pictures, so little time! As we take a moment to paruse the amazing photos coming in to the Seibertron Galleries, the Twincast discusses some figures that were teased prior to Toy Fair but left us feeling unsatisfied, until now. Powermaster Prime, Wheelie, Blurr and Scourge made their "in the plastic" appearance and you'll have to tune in to hear what we think of these updated characters.



It wouldn't be Toy Fair without the reveal of a new Platinum Edition set, right? Well this time, in celebration of the 30th anniversary of The Transformers: The Movie, this year's (K*Mart exclusive ) is Cyclonus, Scourge, and a Sweep! Do we need another Cyclonus? Oh wow, is that Devcon from Botcon? Listen in as we get this early impression a bit wrong.



Of course, we can forget about this lovely ray of sunshine, Sentinel "Not Ginrai" Prime:

(Ouch, my eyes!)

We decide to step away from the Titans Return line and focus on another line with some pretty neat reveals, Robots in Disguise. With 2016 being the anniversary of Beast Wars, and no official announcement from Hasbro that they are planning new figures - does the newly revealed Scorponok toy show that they might just be teasing us?



Another interesting Platinum set has also been revealed, a Robots in Disguise Grimlock and Bumblebee set. We're excited to have another opportunity at Takara's Battle Grimlock retooling, and of course, another Bumblebee "Supreme Mode" deco for our swarms.


Then the conversation just gets depressing, in terms of sports anyway. Panthers, you had one job.

After that short off-topic interlude, we try and figure out what is up with Windblade all of a sudden?



Thanks to Toy Fair, we've finally been shown a more accurate version of the fan built bot Victorion. Does this new image change our minds on her? Guess you'll have to tune in to find out.



In celebrate of the 20th Anniversary of Beast Wars, we continue on with our special segment on rewatching the television show. In this episode, we'll discuss our thoughts on episode 2, the simply titled "Beast Wars: Part 2".


We finish up tonight's episode, in celebration (man another celebration? Geez) of Valentine's Day, with a question that we are sure everyone has had to deal with.



Well, that wraps things up for another episode! We really hope you enjoyed listening.

Don't forget, the show only gets better if you tell us how. Drop us a review on iTunes and be sure to tell us what you love, what you hate, and what you want to hear!

Not on the show to give your take? Probably not, so don't forget to keep the discussion going on the Seibertron.com Energon Pub Forums by simply replying to this post!

Got a question for the Twincast? We take all of them, we just don't take them all seriously! Leave a question in the Ask the Twincast thread and, if it makes the cut, it may get read and answered on the show.

While Victorion's colors no longer boil my eyes, she just looks like she's made of carrots and celery.

great show,

depending on the price point of the 'masters' I suppose they could become campaign exclusives, like 'kirk' and 'rodney' from the headmasters cartoon.

not being satisfied, I want a 'Minerva' in this format.

Microraptor wrote:While Victorion's colors no longer boil my eyes, she just looks like she's made of carrots and celery.

As a celery aficionado, I highly recommend you don't eat your celery if it has turned that color of green I feel you though, and I'm hoping it's just the very harsh show lighting that makes the red look so garish. The green is nailing Perez's colors from the comic though, imo.

lonrac wrote:great show,

depending on the price point of the 'masters' I suppose they could become campaign exclusives, like 'kirk' and 'rodney' from the headmasters cartoon.

not being satisfied, I want a 'Minerva' in this format.

If Takara doesn't take this concept and sate my Masterforce related desires pretty definitively (as far as Classics collecting is concerned), I'll be both surprised and sad.

Those Strongarm, Grimlock, and Sideswipe figures are Battle Pack figures. Unfortunately not a fix for Warrior Grimlock.

worldsgreatest wrote:Those Strongarm, Grimlock, and Sideswipe figures are Battle Pack figures. Unfortunately not a fix for Warrior Grimlock.

Dead on correct, didn't find that out until a couple days after we recorded this one then forgot to post about that! Too bad, that Warrior Grimlock is really good to me aside from the elbows.

ScottyP wrote:

worldsgreatest wrote:Those Strongarm, Grimlock, and Sideswipe figures are Battle Pack figures. Unfortunately not a fix for Warrior Grimlock.

Dead on correct, didn't find that out until a couple days after we recorded this one then forgot to post about that! Too bad, that Warrior Grimlock is really good to me aside from the elbows.

I'm not sure of this. I made rundown of what was new and that Grimlock is a repackage of the Warrior with a supposed minicon interaction point as written on the package:



So yes, it could have fixed elbows.

And that Strongarm and Optimus were previously revealed in some fold out checklist under One Step Advanced figures.







Unless you are talking about totally different figures, then let me know.

Also, I am not certain about that RID Windblade being a retool. There might be similar pieces, but that would be more like TR Blurr and Chromedome having the same knees. Its a part taken from another toy but stuck onto a new toy.

As for the lack of Beast Wars, yeah John Warden confirmed there would be no retail beast wars toys this year aside from Platinum Optimus Primal. While i am a huge BW fan, I am ok with hasbro sticking to their guns and giving us their vision of what they wanted to update. People have been waiting 30 years for an update of Blurr as he was in G1 so I think that has some priority over Beast Wars toys that were already quite good to begin with. The previous Cheetor and Dinobot proved that the technological advancement wasnt enough to really give a decent upgrade to those toys so I'd rather the engineering gets better before attempting them again.

Also, about Windblade, the generations had the same type of accesory taht was also a fan. It was in the instructions too, so I dont get why its being criticised now as something new.


Transformers Generations Windblade Gallery

william-james88 wrote:
Also, about Windblade, the generations had the same type of accesory taht was also a fan. It was in the instructions too, so I dont get why its being criticised now as something new.


Transformers Generations Windblade Gallery

The rhetoric is I think that is he same part, and so far there's no sign of it fitting into the new head, so its kinda a rediculous accessory.

Flashwave wrote:The rhetoric is I think that is he same part, and so far there's no sign of it fitting into the new head, so its kinda a rediculous accessory.

We dont know that. I am pretty sure it will attach to her head inorder to cmplete her look:



Also, Scotty, upon a closer look the scabbard is not the same piece. Compare the pick below to the one in the post above.

william-james88 wrote:Also, Scotty, upon a closer look the scabbard is not the same piece. Compare the pick below to the one in the post above.

Yeah, you're right. On first glance it looked identical.

Listened while on way to London and back - and have very little to add, toy news doesn't do too much to me (as I'm swimming in it on a regular basis ).

But I did scribble down two things in my planner on the train:

- Crossfit robot: Crossbot.

- There are a number of reasons for Winblade being so bland in RID, and none of them do not make me angry thinking about it. IT will, potentially, get better once we get some further female character input in the series, and start differentiating the personalities more. Maybe. I hope. Sigh.


Episode was cool to listen to, just not my thing to comment!

ScottyP wrote:

william-james88 wrote:Also, Scotty, upon a closer look the scabbard is not the same piece. Compare the pick below to the one in the post above.

Yeah, you're right. On first glance it looked identical.

Did you catch what I wrote about Warrior Grimlock? You seemed quite interested in what it was doing at the show and I thought you'd appreciate the evidence that it might point in your favor of it being improved upon.

william-james88 wrote:

ScottyP wrote:

william-james88 wrote:Also, Scotty, upon a closer look the scabbard is not the same piece. Compare the pick below to the one in the post above.

Yeah, you're right. On first glance it looked identical.

Did you catch what I wrote about Warrior Grimlock? You seemed quite interested in what it was doing at the show and I thought you'd appreciate the evidence that it might point in your favor of it being improved upon.

Yeah, saw it and appreciated, just didn't have much else to say on it. Waters got so muddied in my head, at that time, on what was there and what was not I kinda shut down on the topic

Va'al wrote:- Crossfit robot: Crossbot.

This is now my name for Battle Core Optimus Prime, whose deco resembles "Crossfit Jesus" Seth (freaking) Rollins' Summerslam '15 ring gear:


Transformers Generations Combiner Wars Battle Core Optimus Prime Gallery



Also, next episode is (planned to be) much less toy-centric. Toy Fair comes in and dominates all topics when it happens.

ScottyP wrote:
Also, next episode is (planned to be) much less toy-centric. Toy Fair comes in and dominates all topics when it happens.

OH, I'm very well aware of that, and I don't want to damped a good portion of the fandom and listeners who are into the toy stuff either! I'll patiently wait for fiction stuff whenever it turns up.

ScottyP wrote:
Also, next episode is (planned to be) much less toy-centric. Toy Fair comes in and dominates all topics when it happens.

Thats too bad. I love toy centric episodes since toys are what is at the core of the Transformers Brand. What I like most is hearing your thought on either upcoming toys or toys you have received. Like this new wave of combiner wars toys coming in with Skylynx.

william-james88 wrote:

ScottyP wrote:
Also, next episode is (planned to be) much less toy-centric. Toy Fair comes in and dominates all topics when it happens.

Thats too bad. I love toy centric episodes since toys are what is at the core of the Transformers Brand.

No.

Dr Va'al wrote:

william-james88 wrote:

ScottyP wrote:
Also, next episode is (planned to be) much less toy-centric. Toy Fair comes in and dominates all topics when it happens.

Thats too bad. I love toy centric episodes since toys are what is at the core of the Transformers Brand.

No.

Do you beleive this is the core of the brand then?



Because if you look at the popularity of it...

william-james88 wrote:

Dr Va'al wrote:

william-james88 wrote:

ScottyP wrote:
Also, next episode is (planned to be) much less toy-centric. Toy Fair comes in and dominates all topics when it happens.

Thats too bad. I love toy centric episodes since toys are what is at the core of the Transformers Brand.

No.

Do you beleive this is the core of the brand then?



Because if you look at the popularity of it...

I see you've asked it in the thread already, but yes, in my mind, the core is the fiction, not the toys.
(And I know I'm just deluding myself, don't worry. )

Dr Va'al wrote:I see you've asked it in the thread already, but yes, in my mind, the core is the fiction, not the toys.
(And I know I'm just deluding myself, don't worry. )

Yeah, I thought it could be a good podcast topic question since its something I just assume and adhere to. But seeing your comments as well as Scotty's makes me see that there is a flipside to it all. And I love you all for it!

PS: Also, on a sad note to me, if we look at what really brings in the big bucks, its not the toys, not the nostalgia of the G1 cartoon/comics, not the video games or current shows, it's the big action films which are specifically designed to appeal to an international market. So in terms of popularity, the movie world fiction is at the core of the brand money wise. The fact that the toys are now made after the movie designs and not vice versa (which was the case from the first film) is a testament to this

william-james88 wrote:

ScottyP wrote:
Also, next episode is (planned to be) much less toy-centric. Toy Fair comes in and dominates all topics when it happens.

Thats too bad. I love toy centric episodes since toys are what is at the core of the Transformers Brand. What I like most is hearing your thought on either upcoming toys or toys you have received. Like this new wave of combiner wars toys coming in with Skylynx.

Let's not go too far now! The idea is balance - this episode (137) was extremely far into the toy side of things for obviously unavoidable reasons. Ideally, most episodes will have good discussion on fiction and toys.

Dr Va'al wrote:I see you've asked it in the thread already, but yes, in my mind, the core is the fiction, not the toys.
(And I know I'm just deluding myself, don't worry. )

I don't think you're deluding yourself, at least not these days. Hasbro seems more bent on turning the franchise into an "Entertainment Brand" than "Toy Brand with Entertainment to Sell Toys".

ScottyP wrote:

Dr Va'al wrote:I see you've asked it in the thread already, but yes, in my mind, the core is the fiction, not the toys.
(And I know I'm just deluding myself, don't worry. )

I don't think you're deluding yourself, at least not these days. Hasbro seems more bent on turning the franchise into an "Entertainment Brand" than "Toy Brand with Entertainment to Sell Toys".

The toy side, however, has a big say (from behind the scenes, at least) on how the rest of it is run. But it would be a really cool episode to have, I agree!

Dr Va'al wrote: (from behind the scenes, at least)

It is sometimes a tad more overt than that

william-james88 wrote:

Dr Va'al wrote: (from behind the scenes, at least)

It is sometimes a tad more overt than that

Visual cues and plugs are nothing compared to what Hasbro does to writers controlled by Hasbro Studios. Believe me. I'm still angry.

Dr Va'al wrote:

william-james88 wrote:

Dr Va'al wrote: (from behind the scenes, at least)

It is sometimes a tad more overt than that

Visual cues and plugs are nothing compared to what Hasbro does to writers controlled by Hasbro Studios. Believe me. I'm still angry.

Now you've got me curious. Dont know if this is the right place (then again, Scotty and friends seem to like when a podcast thread starts a discussion), but I would really like to know a bit more about that and the examples that have made you quite irate.

While I agree that the Brand has always been driven to sell toys, I think the fiction has always been a prevalent piece. Think about it, in G1, the toys were better than 90% NOT HASBRO. Hasbro imported them from here and there. The Cartoon, as piecemail and discontinuous as it was, is what "glued" together the Takara, Bandai, etc. toylines into a single brand. That's important in my book.