The Energon Pub

The Seibertron.com Twincast / Podcast is back as villains Mr. Starscream, Megatronus, and the nefarious ScottyP vie for control of the galaxy. Will one be mistaken for Needlenose, or will the power of shattered glass send things into an alternate universe where all the latest Transformers news is discussed at length? It's the latter.

Episode #259 “Podcast Convoy” is available directly and in our RSS Feed, and should appear on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, and Stitcher Radio within 24 to 48 hours of when you see this news post.

Here's what we discuss in this episode:

• It's the 10th anniversary of Transformers Prime, and a commemorative boxed figure appears to be in the works. But who exactly will be in the box?
  
  
  
  
  
• The next Titan has been revealed - we think. Hazy images of the Ark are infiltrating the inter-webs, opening up speculation on how this mystery Titan will be executed.
  
  
  
  
  
• Shattered Glass has entered the main line, with a new Optimus Prime and Ratchet 2pk up for preorder. We nitpick.
  
  
  
  
  
• Continuing on the redeco train, Cordon & Spinout have been announced in the Generations Selects line, begging the question, will this set beat Sunstreaker to collectors' hands?
  
  
• We take this Diaclone beat to introduce the utterly surprising Diaclone Battle Convoy which looks amazing and a literal ton of fun... for $300. Tough sell for a 7" homage, but the nostalgia will not be denied.
  
  
  
  
  
• Volcanicus is back, this time as a Takara box set in the Generations Selects line. Takara's version may sport cartoon-accurate decos, but we're just disappointed it's not Dino-pope.
  
  
  
  
  
• Runabout is not a surprise, but will we see him in Earthrise? We raise questions about how the end of Earthrise and what to expect as we speed full throttle into Kingdom.
  
  
• We briefly touch on comics with Transformers '84 #3 and the entrance of Star Saber, and generally appreciate the fun old school tone of these issues.
  
  
  
  
  
• We close out this episode with an entertaining round of bragging rights. Enjoy!

Another Monday, another Twincast!

Oh man, Scotty's vacation was short!

I have no idea what the Prime set might be, I'm afraid it's going to be something like a WFC deluxe repainted as Breakdown and the vehicon, with a Smashdown repainted as Breakdown's hammer. That's where I think this is going, though i wish for something like OG re-releases. I hope, depending on what it is, that we also get more Prime related stuff for the anniversary.

Yep, pulsecon is where the pit of judgement is getting released, I got the email as well. I'm glad I'm not invested in this, I don't want a repeat of Ghostbuster Prime's heartbreak on Pulse.

Scotty, as someone who loves water and swimming, I wouldn't even try to surf. no thanks.

I totally forgot about the core class G1 guys and how they could go with the Ark, that is a neat idea.

Ari, that was not the Ark splitting in the movie though, those were the Autobot shuttles. I think the Ark will either be a non-transforming Titan, or it will have a Last Autobot robot mode (which has been rumored). I would prefer an Animated Omega robot mode, but that won't happen for 20 more years.

I love Shattered Glass stuff, I am so excited with this. I would have preferred a Soundwave instead of Prime with Ratchet, but I am super glad to get that SG Ratchet!

The original SG Ratchet was based on the Energon Inferno mold BTW.

No Selects figures showed up in Siege show. Closest we probably got was Soundblaster, but he was 35th anniversary, not Selects.

I'm excited for the Diaclone guys. I was thinking about both as MPs, and then here are the generations ones, perfect! Glad I did secure a Tigertrack to go with Spin-out. Still keeping my MP Spin-out pre-order though, that one has a specific purpose.

That Diaclone Battle Convoy is so cool. I'm so stoked to get that to go with my Triverse mechs. That is a statement right there!

Scotty, you should try out one of the Triverse. You only need 1. I recommend Tridasher (the car), that one is so smart with the transformation, it's really REALLY cool! I'll also have Trirambler to try out, sort of Cykill-ish. But definitely, try out the Tridasher.

Ari, I cannot disagree enough with the gundam look of Battle Convoy. That is not gundamesque right there, there really aren't any sort of gundam references in this. It's diaclone, it's all it's own style.

ari, I can definitely say you can grab only a single or a couple Diaclone and be happy with it. You don't need to dive keep, you can keep yourself floating nice and high on this line.

Um, Paul, I like the Dinobots from the movies. They are so cool. I'm still waiting for a new mold Slug and Strafe to go with TLK Scorn and SS Grimlock.

I'm super glad i did not have issues with getting Leadfoot, i got him last Monday and had no issues buying him that day. The pre-order stuff was an absolute mess though.

I LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE my SS Devastator, that is such a great thing!!!!!!!!!

Glad you're loving Jazz Ari, he is great! He is my 2nd favorite after Megatron!

MPM Starscream's transformation is so great, that is where that toy really shines. He's fun to transform!

Cool prototypes Scotty! Saw them on twitter before this, now I have the whole story.

I appreciated the trig joke Scotty.

Good show!

D-Maximal_Primal wrote:Ari, that was not the Ark splitting in the movie though, those were the Autobot shuttles. I think the Ark will either be a non-transforming Titan, or it will have a Last Autobot robot mode (which has been rumored). I would prefer an Animated Omega robot mode, but that won't happen for 20 more years.

I can probably draw some distinction between AN Ark and THE Ark - I always viewed THE Ark as an Autobot shuttle that got the 'the' designation because of its historical significance rather than it being substantially different than the shuttles.

But I'm a big enough person to admit that 5 seconds on TFWiki proves me entirely and irrevocably wrong on that.

D-Maximal_Primal wrote:Ari, I cannot disagree enough with the gundam look of Battle Convoy. That is not gundamesque right there, there really aren't any sort of gundam references in this. It's diaclone, it's all it's own style.

I think I have more standing on this one! Japanese mecha share a lot of cues across Gundam, Zoids, what have you - and Diaclone Reboot certainly shares many of those foundational elements, if not the specific stylizations that make Gundam, Gundam.

Let's split the difference on this one?

D-Maximal_Primal wrote:ari, I can definitely say you can grab only a single or a couple Diaclone and be happy with it. You don't need to dive keep, you can keep yourself floating nice and high on this line.

You can definitely SAY that, but that's simply not my collecting style.

megatronus wrote:

D-Maximal_Primal wrote:Ari, that was not the Ark splitting in the movie though, those were the Autobot shuttles. I think the Ark will either be a non-transforming Titan, or it will have a Last Autobot robot mode (which has been rumored). I would prefer an Animated Omega robot mode, but that won't happen for 20 more years.

I can probably draw some distinction between AN Ark and THE Ark - I always viewed THE Ark as an Autobot shuttle that got the 'the' designation because of its historical significance rather than it being substantially different than the shuttles.

But I'm a big enough person to admit that 5 seconds on TFWiki proves me entirely and irrevocably wrong on that.

Glad to see when can make peace with this one, I've never heard of those not referred to as shuttles

megatronus wrote:

D-Maximal_Primal wrote:Ari, I cannot disagree enough with the gundam look of Battle Convoy. That is not gundamesque right there, there really aren't any sort of gundam references in this. It's diaclone, it's all it's own style.

I think I have more standing on this one! Japanese mecha share a lot of cues across Gundam, Zoids, what have you - and Diaclone Reboot certainly shares many of those foundational elements, if not the specific stylizations that make Gundam, Gundam.

Let's split the difference on this one?

I'll split this one with ya. It has a distinct Japanese mecha feel to it, just not quite what the Gundam use

D-Maximal_Primal wrote:ari, I can definitely say you can grab only a single or a couple Diaclone and be happy with it. You don't need to dive keep, you can keep yourself floating nice and high on this line.

You can definitely SAY that, but that's simply not my collecting style. [/quote]
But I'm still not wrong about this one, in reality, I feel you could grab a Triverse mech, or maybe 3, and feel good about it. I truly believe it is possible to get 1-3 and thoroughly enjoy yourself. Tridasher alone is like 6 toys in 1, so there's that.

D-Maximal_Primal wrote:

megatronus wrote:

D-Maximal_Primal wrote:Ari, I cannot disagree enough with the gundam look of Battle Convoy. That is not gundamesque right there, there really aren't any sort of gundam references in this. It's diaclone, it's all it's own style.

I think I have more standing on this one! Japanese mecha share a lot of cues across Gundam, Zoids, what have you - and Diaclone Reboot certainly shares many of those foundational elements, if not the specific stylizations that make Gundam, Gundam.

Let's split the difference on this one?

I'll split this one with ya. It has a distinct Japanese mecha feel to it, just not quite what the Gundam use

As the resident Gundam nerd, you're both wrong. Diaclone takes more cues from the 60s and 70s super robot tradition than it ever has from Gundam.

ScottyP wrote:

D-Maximal_Primal wrote:

megatronus wrote:

D-Maximal_Primal wrote:Ari, I cannot disagree enough with the gundam look of Battle Convoy. That is not gundamesque right there, there really aren't any sort of gundam references in this. It's diaclone, it's all it's own style.

I think I have more standing on this one! Japanese mecha share a lot of cues across Gundam, Zoids, what have you - and Diaclone Reboot certainly shares many of those foundational elements, if not the specific stylizations that make Gundam, Gundam.

Let's split the difference on this one?

I'll split this one with ya. It has a distinct Japanese mecha feel to it, just not quite what the Gundam use

As the resident Gundam nerd, you're both wrong. Diaclone takes more cues from the 60s and 70s super robot tradition than it ever has from Gundam.

A-HA! See, I was right the first time!

D-Maximal_Primal wrote:

ScottyP wrote:

D-Maximal_Primal wrote:

megatronus wrote:

D-Maximal_Primal wrote:Ari, I cannot disagree enough with the gundam look of Battle Convoy. That is not gundamesque right there, there really aren't any sort of gundam references in this. It's diaclone, it's all it's own style.

I think I have more standing on this one! Japanese mecha share a lot of cues across Gundam, Zoids, what have you - and Diaclone Reboot certainly shares many of those foundational elements, if not the specific stylizations that make Gundam, Gundam.

Let's split the difference on this one?

I'll split this one with ya. It has a distinct Japanese mecha feel to it, just not quite what the Gundam use

As the resident Gundam nerd, you're both wrong. Diaclone takes more cues from the 60s and 70s super robot tradition than it ever has from Gundam.

A-HA! See, I was right the first time!

I hate both of you.

It's going to be nice opening up Battle Convoy and not having to watch an hour long transformation video to change him. Sure, you can break him down into smaller parts if you want, but from bot to vehicle(s) he looks pretty easy. I'm not too concerned about rabbit holes since I really just want him as a crazy new Optimus Prime design and nothing else.

Obviously a black repaint would simply be "Black Battle Convoy". I am suddenly excited about the prospect of a Powered Convoy being released, just as long as it's a real armor upgrade and not swapping out the arms and legs for trailer parts.

Personally I want a Leader Scorn since he's supposed to be slightly taller than Grimlock if I remember right. Shame it doesn't seem we'll be getting the rest of the movie Dinobots updated for SS any time soon.

Emerje

Emerje wrote:Personally I want a Leader Scorn since he's supposed to be slightly taller than Grimlock if I remember right. Shame it doesn't seem we'll be getting the rest of the movie Dinobots updated for SS any time soon.

Emerje

This is the biggest disappointment for me. We got SS Grimlock, and TLK Scorn basically counts. So why haven't we gotten a nice voyager Slug and Strafe yet? It's a little disappointing that we might get the 86 dinobots in this line, in it's 4th year, before we complete the AOE Dinobot roster

D-Maximal_Primal wrote:

Emerje wrote:Personally I want a Leader Scorn since he's supposed to be slightly taller than Grimlock if I remember right. Shame it doesn't seem we'll be getting the rest of the movie Dinobots updated for SS any time soon.

Emerje

This is the biggest disappointment for me. We got SS Grimlock, and TLK Scorn basically counts. So why haven't we gotten a nice voyager Slug and Strafe yet? It's a little disappointing that we might get the 86 dinobots in this line, in it's 4th year, before we complete the AOE Dinobot roster

To do movie Dinobots right they'd all have to be Leader Class and even that's debatably too small. For as little as they used the Dinobots in the movies I'm ok with what we got. Don't get me wrong though, would gladly welcome Voyagers for Slug and Strafe.

ScottyP wrote:

D-Maximal_Primal wrote:

Emerje wrote:Personally I want a Leader Scorn since he's supposed to be slightly taller than Grimlock if I remember right. Shame it doesn't seem we'll be getting the rest of the movie Dinobots updated for SS any time soon.

Emerje

This is the biggest disappointment for me. We got SS Grimlock, and TLK Scorn basically counts. So why haven't we gotten a nice voyager Slug and Strafe yet? It's a little disappointing that we might get the 86 dinobots in this line, in it's 4th year, before we complete the AOE Dinobot roster

To do movie Dinobots right they'd all have to be Leader Class and even that's debatably too small. For as little as they used the Dinobots in the movies I'm ok with what we got. Don't get me wrong though, would gladly welcome Voyagers for Slug and Strafe.

I would like to see them get at least voyagers. Strafe is pretty good as a deluxe, but I would like a more detailed SS Grimlock-esque one. and Slug desperately needs a larger figure, the deluxe is just too dang small. Leaders would be awesome, but I am more than happy to get voyagers if they would get made

"Tall Voyagers" would probably be OK since they didn't have particularly crazy transformations. The smaller parts count can lead to bigger figures. Just like with Grimlock I could probably overlook any gaps if the paint and plastic is dark and detailed enough.

Oh, forgot to mention, I think it was Scotty that said War Breakdown couldn't possibly be the Japanese figure because that required stickers and Hasbro wouldn't include stickers with a figure. The contents of the box reads:



"Includes figure, accessories, labels, and instructions". So it really does lean more towards the original being reissued.

Emerje

^ Based on the pics out today, yep, I've gotta take the L on that one!

ScottyP wrote:^ Based on the pics out today, yep, I've gotta take the L on that one!

Sometimes, you just gotta take one for your own team ya know?

that is super awesome