The Energon Pub

Welcome to part two of the Seibertron.com Twincast/Podcast's coverage of Botcon 2016. This episode stars 'the Michiganders who stayed at home', RodimusConvoy13 and Tigertrack. We discuss our reactions to the images of the Botcon attendee exclusives and the reveals at the annual big Botcon Hasbro panel. Speaking of Hasbro, this interview also features an on-site interview with members of the Hasbro Transfomers brand team!

Episode #141 “Botcon 2016 Part 2: Homers“ 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.

Our discussion agenda was simple... it went a little like this...BOTCON BOTCON BOTCON...botcon, botcon, BOTCON.





From the early displays on Friday, to the new reveals on Saturday, we discuss Titan Returns, the Platinum set exclusives-- especially the new Autobot Warriors Pack--, the new set of club subscription figures, and we spend a heavy dose of time comparing the HASBRO vs. UNITE WARRIORS COMPUTRON sets with the real winner being, us, the fans (unless you wanted individual releases then well...)!






"It is indeed, just a repaint of that G1 pretender shell that so few people have..."

A couple of other topics that are also touched on are what we wanted to see, or wanted to see more of, and didn't, including those little teasers that we we were given: once at the end of the slide show presentation (prior to 'see you in 2017') and once on the cross-sell of a new package (Lio Kaiser combined).

"Aren't you too excited that we are getting Flywheel's body to go with his TR head..wait what Todd? Who? C'mon no way..."




Having both been Botcon veterans we too reminisce about Botcons and exclusives past, and where and what the future might hold, with no real answers, but plenty of questions.


Where's Waldo?--both of us happen to appear in this picture.

After we wrap up those proceedings, there's more! This epic show continues with an interview, featuring special guests from Hasbro, Brand Marketing Manager Ben Montano and Product Designer Ed Masielo. Counterpunch, Scotty P, and more of the charming accent of Dr. Va'al ask some burning questions to members of the Transformers brand team. A big thanks to Hasbro, as well as our friends at Rogers & Cowan for making this happen!



Look out for Episode 142, which wraps up our Botcon coverage.

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! Don't be too hard on us this time, there were only two of us!

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.

Got a question about the Hasbro interview. Firstly, thanks for asking about the Platinum line and it indeed does look like its handled by a completely different team (which I assume is the same with the Hasbro MPs).

During the interview even though you guys were really struggling to get Hasbro to clarify their meaning of the word "story" it still seems really vague. And probably for good reason. They say that they first plan out a story these characters are all part of but then they say that if its not explored in the comics, then its simply because that character being a headmaster will happen later or already happened or its the case in another dimension.

Is it safe to say that the "story" is just a theme they have for a line and that each toy's inclusion is it's own fiction. For instance:

Hasbro: Blurr is a headmaster, and it works because he was a headmaster at some point.
Fans: When was Blurr a headmaster?
Hasbro: During the Titanmaster line.

And thus the toys make up their own fiction, encouraging kids (and collectors) to bring this fiction alive by playing with the new ecosystem they created. Is that a fair interpretation of what they were saying?

Oh and to the actual podcasters, when you guys were talking about Japanese exclusive TFs for a redeco of Alpha Trion, I thought the answer was going to be Leone from Headmasters:

william-james88 wrote:Is that a fair interpretation of what they were saying?

Probably as fair as any other. Sometimes they can only say so much, or in our case they'd been answering the same question for hours doing interviews before this so may have just come about a kind of standard response by that point. Ed and Ben were really cool and the openness of the brand team in regard to talking to fans during the show was on a really high level this time around.

I realise my question in the interview was very similar to ScottyP's, but I just wanted to make sure the answer was what I thought it was. I hope no one else minded!

As for the two home-stayers, I really enjoyed listening to far away chat about the reveals, and the latter part of the segment was good to hear, too. Once I find my notes, I'll add to the post too.

william-james88 wrote:
Oh and to the actual podcasters, when you guys were talking about Japanese exclusive TFs for a redeco of Alpha Trion, I thought the answer was going to be Leone from Headmasters:

I didn't even know that existed!

RodimusConvoy13 wrote:

william-james88 wrote:
Oh and to the actual podcasters, when you guys were talking about Japanese exclusive TFs for a redeco of Alpha Trion, I thought the answer was going to be Leone from Headmasters:

I didn't even know that existed!

I think its so perfect because this actually would be an update for a toy that was part of the headmasters gimmick.

william-james88 wrote:

RodimusConvoy13 wrote:

william-james88 wrote:
Oh and to the actual podcasters, when you guys were talking about Japanese exclusive TFs for a redeco of Alpha Trion, I thought the answer was going to be Leone from Headmasters:

I didn't even know that existed!

I think its so perfect because this actually would be an update for a toy that was part of the headmasters gimmick.

The only problem I see with it is that the colors are exactly like Sentinel Prime.

RodimusConvoy13 wrote:

william-james88 wrote:

RodimusConvoy13 wrote:

william-james88 wrote:
Oh and to the actual podcasters, when you guys were talking about Japanese exclusive TFs for a redeco of Alpha Trion, I thought the answer was going to be Leone from Headmasters:

I didn't even know that existed!

I think its so perfect because this actually would be an update for a toy that was part of the headmasters gimmick.

The only problem I see with it is that the colors are exactly like Sentinel Prime.

Sure, but in my mind, it wouldnt have been Hasbro releasing that redeco but Takara instead. I guess I should have precised that. Just like how they turned Thunderton into 2 different decos in japan. And they probably wouldnt be releasing Sentinel prime on their side (since its just a redeco of Astrotrain) and thus there wouldnt be anyother bot with that deco in the line

By the way Headmasters Lione is currently available for less than 200$ here: http://jungle-scs.co.jp/sale_en/?page_id=121&id=827626