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Welcome to the latest episode of the Seibertron.com Twincast / Podcast! This episode features your host ScottyP with Megatronus and RodimusConvoy13. Listen in as we discuss the latest news, toys, and more.

Episode #196 "One With The Matrix" is available directly and in our RSS Feed, and should appear on iTunes, Google Play, and Stitcher Radio within 24 to 48 hours of when you see this news post.

TRU is dead. Long live the... department store chains? Toys 'R' Us is defunct, at least in the United States, and while many (including the Twincast) have discussed the emotional response many are having to the news, we take time this episode to talk business. How did this series of unfortunate events comes about? How are Hasbro, Mattel, and other toy makers handling the news? Perhaps most importantly, where will the business go?



A skillful segue later, and we're into TRU Exclusive Studio Series Thundercracker. All hail Nitro Zeus repaints! The Twincast, while slightly confused about how this particular character choice fits into the 'movie accurate' Studio Series, is interested in acquiring what will likely be the last TRU exclusive Transformer out there.



Power of the Primes reveals have kept apace, and we're faced with redeco-aggedon. While we are not exactly thrilled with Voyager Inferno and Legends Outback & Cindersaur, we are not displeased either. Meanwhile, Megatronus smells victory as a prospective PotP Wreck-Gar finally brings a Junkion combiner into the realm of possibility. Still... does every motorcycle have to be redone as Wreck-Gar? (Yes.)



Friend of the Twincast Skullcrunchberries has a listener question about a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad man on the inter-webs who counterpunched him (hint, hint) into getting back into the Transformers hobby. How, he asks, did the rest of the Twincast get back in the game? Whatever our answers... it's pretty clear we're in the thick of it.



We have another listener question on our docket. Acesmcgee asks: "my daughter and I have been having a blast making Skylinx walk around the house and it has had me pondering what my favorite gimmick that I can recall from past and present lines has been, and for me it turned out to be simple, light-piping that gives a sense of life to my TFs. What is yours?"



We move on to comics, particularly the recent Optimus Prime Annual 2018 - Seibertron review, here. While disappointing in its lack of title character, the issue is a delightfully campy romp through the eyes of Thundercracker, who is charged with making a film to prop up Starscream. The Twincast enjoys this issue greatly, and we do our best to parse the more serious and character defining gems held within.



Lost Light 16 is next - Seibertron review here. This issue is full of character work, vignettes, and exposition. In other words, it doesn't push the plot very far... until the end, that is. Still, the Twincast finds value in this odd situation of being dead, err, one with the matrix, and teases out where this strange predicament might lead.



We conclude this episode, like we always do, with bragging rights. What has the Twincast managed to find since our last recording?

on Guard City, i think Alpha Bravo would do well for the Helicopter in that group, even has the orange chest

grimdragon2001 wrote:on Guard City, i think Alpha Bravo would do well for the Helicopter in that group, even has the orange chest

That part works but I always think of blue and white for that chopper. The point does remain that it may be an easy custom if using AB, for sure!

ScottyP wrote:

grimdragon2001 wrote:on Guard City, i think Alpha Bravo would do well for the Helicopter in that group, even has the orange chest

That part works but I always think of blue and white for that chopper. The point does remain that it may be an easy custom if using AB, for sure!

I read 'Guard City' in my head the way people say 'Twiiin Citays!" in person. It's infectious.

megatronus wrote:

ScottyP wrote:

grimdragon2001 wrote:on Guard City, i think Alpha Bravo would do well for the Helicopter in that group, even has the orange chest

That part works but I always think of blue and white for that chopper. The point does remain that it may be an easy custom if using AB, for sure!

I read 'Guard City' in my head the way people say 'Twiiin Citays!" in person. It's infectious.

Now imagine Guard City to the tune of Rack City

ScottyP wrote:

megatronus wrote:

ScottyP wrote:

grimdragon2001 wrote:on Guard City, i think Alpha Bravo would do well for the Helicopter in that group, even has the orange chest

That part works but I always think of blue and white for that chopper. The point does remain that it may be an easy custom if using AB, for sure!

I read 'Guard City' in my head the way people say 'Twiiin Citays!" in person. It's infectious.

Now imagine Guard City to the tune of Rack City

Detroit Rock City?

megatronus wrote:

ScottyP wrote:

megatronus wrote:

ScottyP wrote:

grimdragon2001 wrote:on Guard City, i think Alpha Bravo would do well for the Helicopter in that group, even has the orange chest

That part works but I always think of blue and white for that chopper. The point does remain that it may be an easy custom if using AB, for sure!

I read 'Guard City' in my head the way people say 'Twiiin Citays!" in person. It's infectious.

Now imagine Guard City to the tune of Rack City

Detroit Rock City?

No but now I'm imagining the potential for a KISS combiner.

ScottyP wrote:

megatronus wrote:

ScottyP wrote:

megatronus wrote:

ScottyP wrote:

grimdragon2001 wrote:on Guard City, i think Alpha Bravo would do well for the Helicopter in that group, even has the orange chest

That part works but I always think of blue and white for that chopper. The point does remain that it may be an easy custom if using AB, for sure!

I read 'Guard City' in my head the way people say 'Twiiin Citays!" in person. It's infectious.

Now imagine Guard City to the tune of Rack City

Detroit Rock City?

No but now I'm imagining the potential for a KISS combiner.

Paradise City?

Now you're just picking any old thing with "city" in it, Brick.

ScottyP wrote:Now you're just picking any old thing with "city" in it, Brick.

Brick City?



I'm punchy this morning.

I thought it was Steven Spielberg and not Lucus.

Counterpunch wrote:I thought it was Steven Spielberg and not Lucus.

I assumed it to be Lucas, Spielberg, and Abrams mashed into one new Special Edition with blinking Ewoks

This totally could be the theme song for this episode.

I think people are sad about losing TRU more for what it used to be to them as a child rather than what it actually was today.

I see it as a truly rose-colored glasses kind of thing. There was nothing great about that store these days. It was the third place option for toys when Target and Walmart had otherwise failed you or the distribution lines got things there first. To top it off, you were paying a premium to shop at TRU.

Now, their avenue for exclusives was great. That will be missed as they seemed willing to do big things or non-standard items. That aside...it'll be odd not having them, but I personally don't feel any loyalty or overwhelming sadness at their demise (which I firmly believe isn't entirely the business model's fault).

Counterpunch wrote:I think people are sad about losing TRU more for what it used to be to them as a child rather than what it actually was today.

^^^100%

Counterpunch wrote:I see it as a truly rose-colored glasses kind of thing. There was nothing great about that store these days. It was the third place option for toys when Target and Walmart had otherwise failed you or the distribution lines got things there first. To top it off, you were paying a premium to shop at TRU.

Now, their avenue for exclusives was great. That will be missed as they seemed willing to do big things or non-standard items. That aside...it'll be odd not having them, but I personally don't feel any loyalty or overwhelming sadness at their demise (which I firmly believe isn't entirely the business model's fault).

Outside losing a channel for exclusives, I'm worried about how this will negatively impact smaller toy manufacturers for whom TRU was an outsized portion of their sales, and more relevant to us, how it will impact the product pipeline for Transformers.

ScottyP wrote:

grimdragon2001 wrote:on Guard City, i think Alpha Bravo would do well for the Helicopter in that group, even has the orange chest

That part works but I always think of blue and white for that chopper. The point does remain that it may be an easy custom if using AB, for sure!

Alpha Bravo does have a big blue stripe down the side. In fact, he has as much blue on him as the CW Blades does white. Which isn't nearly as much as the G1 Blades either. So it still works when you consider the updated deco on the CW toys.

Bravo would be an easy shoe-in as a guard city helicopter. Not as much blue as the original, but enough to harken to him. All the other limbs just stay as defenders regular limbs and done. Scotty, I never would of thought of Gaurd city, in my head I kept seeing the possibility to G2 defensor up possibly.
Excellent show, took me a few days to listen to the whole thing. You all got me hooked onto MTMTE and Lost Light (though I do the volumes so takes me a moment to catch up with you all) and now I am going to check out the Wreckers books. You are all bad influences on my wallet.
As an aside, Counterpunch, I am still waiting on my repro to arrive, so my homework may take a moment. Been practicing though with some arms micron figures I picked up recently hehe.
I know you guys use personal time to do the podcast, so just wanted to also say thanks and that I look forward to your shows and efforts to put them out.

Ok, first off, the Guard City folks have zero personality...so, I think we're well within our rights to fudge the accurate to OC portion a bit. I mean this both in terms of them having no fictional personality and by in large, having no deco personality.

Fly Up


Alpha Bravo


Aside from the blue on the front of the helicopter, this pretty much works in its entirety.

*****

Streetstar


Streetwise


So, the only real differences are that Streetstar is white where StreetWISE is a light gray and the sticker differences.

I'll be using Rook in this spot. He fits thematically with the idea that Guard City is more of an active defender.



*****

Safety


Look, aside from having the UW version and the CW version and pretending there's a difference between them, we don't have a great option here.

I'm personally going to be using my Botcon Medix.


*****

Sparkride


--Shrugs--

He's Grove. Whatever. Maybe?... I don't know. You tell me.

Insane Galvatron wrote:

ScottyP wrote:

grimdragon2001 wrote:on Guard City, i think Alpha Bravo would do well for the Helicopter in that group, even has the orange chest

That part works but I always think of blue and white for that chopper. The point does remain that it may be an easy custom if using AB, for sure!

Alpha Bravo does have a big blue stripe down the side. In fact, he has as much blue on him as the CW Blades does white. Which isn't nearly as much as the G1 Blades either. So it still works when you consider the updated deco on the CW toys.

Acesmcgee wrote:Bravo would be an easy shoe-in as a guard city helicopter. Not as much blue as the original, but enough to harken to him.

I hear you guys, but it just doesn't work for me. Probably Va'al's fault as Alpha Bravo is very much his own unique bot in my mind! You'd think I'd look for any reason to not buy more CW toys too

Acesmcgee wrote:Excellent show, took me a few days to listen to the whole thing. You all got me hooked onto MTMTE and Lost Light (though I do the volumes so takes me a moment to catch up with you all) and now I am going to check out the Wreckers books. You are all bad influences on my wallet.
As an aside, Counterpunch, I am still waiting on my repro to arrive, so my homework may take a moment. Been practicing though with some arms micron figures I picked up recently hehe.
I know you guys use personal time to do the podcast, so just wanted to also say thanks and that I look forward to your shows and efforts to put them out.

No, thank you! This means a lot.

Also, sometimes I worry about overhyping, but not with Last Stand of the Wreckers. Top five all time Transformers media for most folks, I think. I super recommend the Hardcover if you can swing it, has all the cool profile pages and bonus text stories not printed anywhere else. Prose isn't always great, but these have layers and matter later on, sometimes in surprising ways. Anyhow here's a link to that: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1613771266/

Alpha Bravo hated the name Fly Up, he thought it was too generic and not befitting his personality as more than a flying guy. So he chose the name Alpha Bravo in hopes that the other members of the more militant defensive group of Guard City would adapt similar and more united call signs, like Streetstar would become Charlie Delta... and others, Echo Foxtrot and so on.

Sadly, it did not catch on and he was left with a new moniker. When the other members of Guard City went missing, the Aerialbots invited him to join their team--as they had to remove Slingshot from service due to his continuing bullying of team leader, Silverbolt--. Alpha Bravo served as the team's new long-range communications bot, and reserve for backup on missions where they would streak ahead and make first contact, and he would bring up and watch their rear, possibly adding the final touches to the Decepticons who were already nearly broke. His barrage of air-to-ground and air-to-air missiles usually provided the right amount of persuasion for the cons to retreat.


Anyway, I like the new Inferno mold as micromaster Red Hot, as I love me some micromasters (and this would a larger transtector type for the much smaller bot). The toy is even said to have a head mold very similar to if not the same design as G1 Inferno.

http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Red_Hot

Plus, I still really like my Generations/United Inferno... whichever subline is proper for its designation. Which this would never replace.

william-james88 wrote:I love Scotty's bit on Terrorsaur's weapon storage. I was in 3rd grade when I got my terrorsaur and was mindblown by it.

The most telling part, for me, has been buying the other versions of the toy secondhand. Lazorbeak? Had the gun. Hydra? Yes. Fractyl? Yep, it's there. The Packrat included with Fractyl? Gun lost to the ether because the Rattrap mold doesn't have the amazing storage that Terrorsaur does

That combiner wars Medix is so cool. I would have bought it if it were available in store. I'm glad that he will finally be in the upcoming Rescue Bots Academy. He doesn't look like his toy, but he's a cute lil fella that will appeal to the kids I'm sure. I'm guessing that they changed his colors so that he will look more like the ambulances kids see in real life. Though I like that they kept the EKG wave on his forearms and changed that to green. It will probably go all after school special on us about how ambulances help sick people. I prefer the classic red and white on rescue vehicles but sometimes that does get boring so it's nice to mix it up with that electric yellow green.

I'll say I am tempted with Inferno but I already own that mode as Pyra Magna. It's nice but in vehicle mode it's kinda wonky. It likes to collapse a little which is annoying. I know there are better firetruck modes I have my eye on currently.

Speaking of fire - Firestar looks pretty sweet and will look nice next to Moonracer. Though I have still yet to find me a Moonracer at a decent price. Can't say any of the other wave 3 or 4 figures really speak to me at this point but as we see more of them (and more details) then that may change. I'll keep an optimistic eye out. Seems to me someone at hasbro is paying attention to the IDW comics. (Sad they will be over and I wish we got toys of some of our IDW favorites)