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[megatronus]

With 2019 wrapping up and an entire decade in the rear view mirror, the Seibertron.com Twincast / Podcast winds down the last 10 years with trivia, highlights, and more. Join Scotty P as he catches up with Megatronus, Counterpunch, Cobotron and Seibertron himself look back at what has been and make bold predictions of what the next 10 years might bring.

Episode #237 “Target: 2010s” 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 talk about in the episode:

• ScottyP kicks us off with a sinister game that tests the crew's mastery of this past decade's events...
• It's the 2019 year in review - each member recounts their favorite Transformers toy, favorite piece of Transformers media, and what they disliked most about the past year.
  
  
• The crew looks forward to their most anticipated known Transformer of 2020, and make one for sure it's-gonna-happen prediction.
• Looking back at this past decade, we use Transformers: Prime as a jumping off point, discussing both the show and what it represented, as well as the spottiness (and triumphs) of the toy line.
  
  
• We also get to talking about the War for Cybertron & Fall of Cybertron video games, Rescue Bots, and RID 2015.
• Our review would not be complete without a movie discussion, starting with Dark of the Moon and extending to Transformers The Ride and the Wahlberg-era films.
  
  
• This decade has seen a sea change in how Transformers is marketed - we cover the highlights, lowlights, and how the brand has evolved with time.
• Also essential to the 2010s: IDW Phase II, including the critically acclaimed More Than Meets The Eye and other works that fundamentally changed the reach of the Transformers brand.
  
  
• We end with our personal highlights: favorite Transformers moment & bragging right of the decade, and what we look forward to most in the next decade.
  
  

| Love us? Hate us? Extra Super Love us? Drop us a review on iTunes. |
| Want to keep the discussion going? You can do so by simply replying to this post! |
| Got a question for the Twincast? Ask the Twincast.

[Counterpunch]

Fill those gaps!

[Flashwave]

Fill those gaps!

20191222_151939.jpg

20191222_151739.jpg

20191222_152830.jpg

20191222_152247.jpg

*hasnt listened tovthe Podcast yet?* whichvkit is that?

[DeathReviews]

While Transformers Prime was a good series, I will forever resent it as being the series which supplanted Transformers Animated. And while Prime started off strong, they gave up on that series after barely 2 years as well. The linking of toy lines to TV series has resulted in many series with good potential getting cancelled just when they're starting to rev up. Just so Hasbro can move on to the next toy line. In many ways I think that's a big mistake.

I've already made plain my general aversion to the Bayverse franchise.

But on the upside, the 2010s was when Hasbro finally got the combiners right in Combiner Wars and Power of the Primes.

[Counterpunch]

Fill those gaps!

20191222_151939.jpg

20191222_151739.jpg

20191222_152830.jpg

20191222_152247.jpg

*hasnt listened tovthe Podcast yet?* whichvkit is that?

Just this https://www.bigbadtoystore.com/Product/VariationDetails/94504

[Ironhidensh]

So I took Counterpunches’ advice and I’m listening to the Dark of the Moon podcast from 2011. I gotta ask, and I’m afraid this may be inappropriate, but........

When did Jon3.0 stop having a southern accent?

[Flashwave]

Thank goodness for the 30 second skip...


I think Cyberverse S2 deserves some credit, that has been a huge step up from S1.

Why is Generations Hoist terrible?

That RID cliffjumper was bad, but the weapon was a three sided hammer club/gun and I loved it. First you use it as a Glass Gas Gun and make everythig super brittle. Then you use the butt of your gun and BASH IT INTO A MILLION TINY PIECES. I gave that gun to GDO Cliffjumper

Recue Bots: can we talk about how Rescue Bots is not afraid over the toyline to transform into anything? Generations is so locked into "Starscream is an F15" or whatever and Rescue Bots is like "Who would look good as this Racecar?" "Who can be a good Quinhet?" Or "Ooh! Everyone's a Dinosaur!!"

Salvage was a Garbage Truck, unless he got a rescan somewhere. J think Boulder got a Rescan as a dumptruck? Salvage was in it as a B team player

Hold on Ryan, it hasbt been long enough for your daughter to be 10. #old

I think Generations has gotten too story heavy now to pull in Rescue Bots. Before Combiner Wars when the toyline was random characters was a great time for Rescue Bots Generations.

I was at Botcon 2007!

counterpunch, I fully agree with what you were saying about botcon being prohibitively expensive, however let me interject here real quick with a personal experience. I'm part of a local Model Railroad Club here in Indianapolis we put on a show three times a year at one of the Indianapolis high school and every year now IPS has continually jacked up both the venue cost and added fees (such as a security guard, except the first year they pulled that it was a Wrestling Coach with a whistle... We put our foot down on that). For us to set up Friday night and use their Gym for 5 hours Saturday is going to be $1000. There probably was a lot of extra bloat in FunPub's budgetting that jacked the coat of Botcon up, but if its costing us that much to use a 50+ year old Gymnasium for 5 hours, and "its" going up, I cannot start to guess what a Hotel Ballroom and room block reservations is for a weekend+.

I think the surprising thing you guys poke at and not really delve into is that Hasbro is lettingbthe boid be filled with an unlicensed Convention. They were pribably making mint from Fun Pub in licensing and to let TFCon run with it seems... Odd? I gotta wonder if they were surprised by the return on investment from HasCon snd thats whyvthey let the Convention side go, focusing strictly on the toys.

I gotta agree with Cobotron. The Podcast and getting to be on an episode has been a huge highlight for me and I thabk you again for the opportunity. I, like Cobin, don't have a TF fandom in my area. I do have a few close friends and I randomly ran into a collector at a Walmart at the start of Siege, we were both stalking the Pallet of new figures. I dont have the time anymore it seems to write out my long replies but I really look forward to these podcasts.

Bragging Rights: i am gonna divide this into two.

Best purchase was probably Takara Metroplex with the Iron Factory Slammer and Six Gun for the original retail. I don't need to elaborate on the why, you guys have covered Metroplex, but suffice to say that figure enticed me to drawing out a full ship schematic for it. Favorite overall purchase was either LGEX Black Convoy and or Baldigus. RID01 was my jumping on point, and Baldigus is my favorite Combiner, even though its "just" a repaint. I am also super attached to the SkyByte redco of Sharkticon, I think that was this decade.

Honorable Mentions for me is Overlord, and Tidal Wave.

------
So what you are wanting is more like HftD Lugnut, and I wholeheartedly agree. I still want a Generations Lockdown that is more of the regular asthetic. I really feel FE Bulkhead still looks good with the Pre-CW Generations, but he is a bit too big with the generally smaller scale figures of the current lines, being more in line with guys like T30 Springer and RTS Jazz, although I do think he looked VERY good next to CW Prime, but the other CW bots in that line are too thin and spindly.

Funny you mention a "Teen Titans" cast, the Rescue Bots or an offshoot thereof could really slot into that kind of story pretty easily.

I still stand by if they had done more of the Transformers with the soldiers from the first movie nest in the second movie and less of focusing on the annoying kid and the dog on drugs, those movies could really have been a big thing and not have as many of the complaints as they currently do. Yeah you probably still have the same plot pacing issues, and the lack of character development from the Transformers side, but you'd have more of an action movie with more subdued in control characters. It wouldn't be that hard to replace Captain Lennox and NEST with GI Joe. A toy line might be somewhat harder, I think the easiest way to do it would be the Matic GI Joe vehicles like they've done with the exclusives released alongside identical transforming characters in our regular toy line scale and just a little bit of imaginary fudging. I do not want to see that Acid Trip comic made real.

I'm okay with sticking with the core cast of characters, if that's what it takes, but in 2020-2021 I really want to see Generations adopt what Rescue Bots is doing so well with its toy line, where they seemingly draw a random alt mode out of a hat anco dragster race car who can we turn that into let's use blur or maybe we turn Bumblebee into a motorcycle because we need to do another motorcycle Transformer. Let's go back to our ID 2001 and give Optimus Prime a fire truck alt mode that actually looks like a fire truck that Cybertron mode doesn't count. Or if they don't want to skewer Original Classic characters with new alt modes like that then reach into the archives and find a dragster Transformer. I think the definer is I don't have a problem with buying more Optimus Prime toys, but how many more red cabover Optimus Prime semis am I really going to buy?

Something else I want to see, I want them to take the Bot Bots next level and give some of them 5mm Pegs.

Happy New Years Guys! "See" you in 20/20!

[Counterpunch]

Thank goodness for the 30 second skip...

Was there an error in the file?

Why is Generations Hoist terrible?

Small, even by today's standard, poorly executed hook/tow feature, very uneven proportions.

I was at Botcon 2007!

Not to make it embarrassing, but I remember your father being with you and how nice you both were.

counterpunch, I fully agree with what you were saying about botcon being prohibitively expensive, however let me interject here real quick with a personal experience. I'm part of a local Model Railroad Club here in Indianapolis we put on a show three times a year at one of the Indianapolis high school and every year now IPS has continually jacked up both the venue cost and added fees (such as a security guard, except the first year they pulled that it was a Wrestling Coach with a whistle... We put our foot down on that). For us to set up Friday night and use their Gym for 5 hours Saturday is going to be $1000. There probably was a lot of extra bloat in FunPub's budgetting that jacked the coat of Botcon up, but if its costing us that much to use a 50+ year old Gymnasium for 5 hours, and "its" going up, I cannot start to guess what a Hotel Ballroom and room block reservations is for a weekend+.

So, oddly enough I know a good deal about model train conventions (my father owned a business in this field). I think the issue you're dealing with there is the smaller size, plus the insurance cost.

Even if you took the no-toys route with Botcon, tickets for Primus level events were still like $150. I don't think there are many comparables that will show Botcon as an actually affordable convention. I remember going to Otakon (a massive, massive convention) and getting more for my ticket price for far, far less.

I think the surprising thing you guys poke at and not really delve into is that Hasbro is lettingbthe boid be filled with an unlicensed Convention. They were pribably making mint from Fun Pub in licensing and to let TFCon run with it seems... Odd?

I imagine the licensing agreement was almost free. Remember how FunPub swooped in and saved the convention for 2005.

I gotta agree with Cobotron. The Podcast and getting to be on an episode has been a huge highlight for me and I thabk you again for the opportunity. I, like Cobin, don't have a TF fandom in my area. I do have a few close friends and I randomly ran into a collector at a Walmart at the start of Siege, we were both stalking the Pallet of new figures. I dont have the time anymore it seems to write out my long replies but I really look forward to these podcasts.

Always glad to hear this stuff!

Happy New Years Guys! "See" you in 20/20!

You too dude.

[D-Maximal_Primal]

Phew, took me all day, but I listened to it! and I hope you enjoy these comments, it took 3 3x5 cards to fit all my notes while listening:

-Scotty: Impressive opening! I understood most of that!

-Prime/Dotm quiz section: I knew so many of those questions right off the bat, that was literally my 10th grade year of school! I had a friend who was a huge Prime Soundwave fan

-Mike: TF84 WTF?! I understand after your explanation, but that issue was basically Spotlight: P/CP. I'm surprised you ranked it below the ongoing. I also just got that comic in physical from from Ryan, thanks Ryan!

-That Mirage mold was made to be Slapdash. If it isn't made into slapdash I will be very sad. And we do need the final 2 targetmasters and powermasters in generations

-Prime Beast Hunter toys are still some of my favorites. That whole aesthetic was incredible and I wish that had been in the show

-Prime Dreadwing remains one of my favorite fictional characters, he was my BW Dinobot in a way. I really enjoyed him and his toys too

-Sharkticon Megatron is fantastic. I glad I almost exclusively was forced to wait on BH. Bulkhead and Cliff were the only 2 RiD ones I got, and it took until now to get RiD Dreadwing and FE zombie Cliff.

-Breakdown: I got that figure from Va'al my senior year of college. Paid him back with a PotP Battletrap. It is a limited but still pretty fun mold. I love it as both Breakdown and Megatron

-Fall of Cybertron: the biggest takeaway from that game was Metroplex. that game put Metroplex on the map, and is the reason I love him (will be coming back to this point later)

-TF the Ride is fantastic. I cannot wait to take my soon to be wife on that ride for our honeymoon to disney/Orlando next October!

-Can I ask your guy's thoughts on the Nitro Bumblebee from dotM? I loved that figure, it was really fun. Still display it in car mode cause of how cool it is

-Ryan RE Wreckers: 8 wrecker molds were made for DotM. there were 3 legion figures, but the #48 Topspin was as a vanilla car and was kinda shite. the deluxe had all 3 but #42 Leadfoot basically wasn't available and #88 Roadbuster was vanilla, but topspin was fantastic, still one of my favorite figures in my collection. and then HA passed on Topspin and used a vanilla Leadfoot, but made a fantastic Roadbuster. I really want SS to give us a weaponized Leadfoot too to complete the deluxe cast.

Also, Wreckers were permanently weaponized, they had no vanilla race car mode ever

-Ryan: I loved SS Grimlock, I'm sad you didn't

-AOE was sort of the start of SS. The figures from both AOE and TLK are in scale with SS and molds from both are used for the SS line. DotM is almost there too, just a bit of a shite version but still sort of in scale for the most part.

-TLK Scorn is the best movie Dinobot figure we have gotten. He is wonderful.

-Ryan: with regards to fiction, it would be cool to be travelling through space so alt modes can be put to more practical purposes. Sometimes stealth/blend in, other times to navigate terrain, and to fight. Broaden the horizons so to speak.

-there is a 3P Devy coming out, but there has been little word on it. the SS is doing well enough that it isn't really getting much attention

-comics highlight of the decade for me was the Brainstorm time travel story. Pure gold.

-Regeneration 1: I got the whole thing freshman year of college and it was really enjoyable. I loved it

-Rook was the best CW figure, period. He deserved better in fiction

-My decade moment/Bragging right of the decade was Metroplex. That was the first ever ebay purchase I made, and I wanted him for the FOC role he played. He was the first transformer I ever spent more than $100 on, and he was huge and fantastic. He has a ton of nostalgia factor for me, and he is really enjoyable. That figure is fantastic. T30 Trailcutter started me down the generations path too, and then SG MP Prime and the G1 Dreadwing from TFcon are also huge highlights.

-Cobs: I feel the exact same. I knew no one who loved transformers like I did before joining, I love all you guys, you have allowed me to flourish and enjoy this hobby so much!

-Ryan: we did get a horse in BW: Mach kick.

Great show all, looking forward to the new year and Claire's thoughts on Hound!

[Counterpunch]

-Mike: TF84 WTF?! I understand after your explanation, but that issue was basically Spotlight: P/CP. I'm surprised you ranked it below the ongoing. I also just got that comic in physical from from Ryan, thanks Ryan!

Ongoing was a player that didn't even get into the game as far as I'm concerned.

But...you may be right in how hard I was on 84'. I had just re-read it recently and was really put off with the ending and another ignoble moment from an idw Optimus. I really liked Punch getting so much of a book, it was just that ending...

Edit: I'm personally also in a moment where I'm tired of seeing heroes do unheroic things.

[D-Maximal_Primal]

I'm personally also in a moment where I'm tired of seeing heroes do unheroic things.

I fully understand the ending.

and this is something I am feeling as well. I want some more good guys to actually do good things with no catch. I feel like for all 3 IDW Primes (RG1, 2005, 84) that has come into play

[ScottyP]

-Mike: TF84 WTF?! I understand after your explanation, but that issue was basically Spotlight: P/CP. I'm surprised you ranked it below the ongoing. I also just got that comic in physical from from Ryan, thanks Ryan!

Ongoing was a player that didn't even get into the game as far as I'm concerned.

But...you may be right in how hard I was on 84'. I had just re-read it recently and was really put off with the ending and another ignoble moment from an idw Optimus. I really liked Punch getting so much of a book, it was just that ending...

Edit: I'm personally also in a moment where I'm tired of seeing heroes do unheroic things.

I think for the Simon Furman/TF UK Optimus, which is what I took that as, it was pretty in-character. Plenty of pre-Earth shady stuff can be attributed to him https://tfwiki.net/wiki/Optimus_Prime_(G1)/Marvel_Comics_continuity

[Flashwave]

-Mike: TF84 WTF?! I understand after your explanation, but that issue was basically Spotlight: P/CP. I'm surprised you ranked it below the ongoing. I also just got that comic in physical from from Ryan, thanks Ryan!

Ongoing was a player that didn't even get into the game as far as I'm concerned.

But...you may be right in how hard I was on 84'. I had just re-read it recently and was really put off with the ending and another ignoble moment from an idw Optimus. I really liked Punch getting so much of a book, it was just that ending...

Edit: I'm personally also in a moment where I'm tired of seeing heroes do unheroic things.

I think for the Simon Furman/TF UK Optimus, which is what I took that as, it was pretty in-character. Plenty of pre-Earth shady stuff can be attributed to him https://tfwiki.net/wiki/Optimus_Prime_(G1)/Marvel_Comics_continuity

The comic that tied into from the 80s run saw them bomb a ship without even checking for another survivor. But I agree with the larger sentiment. I want to see Prime portrayed more along the lines of Picard: firm and certain to the officers, a softer side he can show the younger bots and humans fron time to time, and every once in a great while a soft, emotional underbelly to humanize, that is made more effective vy how rarely its seen.

[Ironhidensh]

So, you guys did figure of the year, but what would figure of the decade be?

[ScottyP]

So, you guys did figure of the year, but what would figure of the decade be?

This is extremely tough if picking a superlative and I'm really uncertain. There was so much product put out from 2010-2019 that no matter what I pick as the best of the bunch I still may be forgetting a more worthy toy.

If I had to pick a toy to "represent" the decade that was, MP-10. No hesitation. Sure, MP-44 came around right at the end but for the one that shaped the decade? MP-10.

[Ironhidensh]

So, you guys did figure of the year, but what would figure of the decade be?

This is extremely tough if picking a superlative and I'm really uncertain. There was so much product put out from 2010-2019 that no matter what I pick as the best of the bunch I still may be forgetting a more worthy toy.

If I had to pick a toy to "represent" the decade that was, MP-10. No hesitation. Sure, MP-44 came around right at the end but for the one that shaped the decade? MP-10.

That's a really good answer. After I thought about it, I'd have to say I can't narrow it down to one figure myself. So many, many good toys came out in the last ten years....

What I think I could do is narrow it down to line of the decade, and I'd say that is Combiner Wars. I really feel like it set the tone for what Hastak wanted to do, and is doing now. An almost complete set of original run characters updated in a similar format. They might not all be combiners now, but you can't argue that everything since about 2014 or so goes together well on a shelf. And this comes from a collector who isn't a fan of that direction.

Still..... The figure that brings me the most joy, the one I just keep going back to... Well, I'd say its Combiner Wars (well, Unite Warriors. **** Alpha Bravo) Superion. I never thought we would get that level of update on the combiners, and it just stands out as such a perfect update/homage.

Of course, I could also say MP Ultra Magnus. If you had asked me before he came out, I would have told you we would never get an MP of him that wasn't some clunky armor draped on an MP-10 repaint. Yet, here we are. Magnus blew me out of the water.

It was a good decade, even if I was ignoring it till about 2014.

[Flashwave]

So, you guys did figure of the year, but what would figure of the decade be?

This is extremely tough if picking a superlative and I'm really uncertain. There was so much product put out from 2010-2019 that no matter what I pick as the best of the bunch I still may be forgetting a more worthy toy.

If I had to pick a toy to "represent" the decade that was, MP-10. No hesitation. Sure, MP-44 came around right at the end but for the one that shaped the decade? MP-10.

That's a really good answer. After I thought about it, I'd have to say I can't narrow it down to one figure myself. So many, many good toys came out in the last ten years....

What I think I could do is narrow it down to line of the decade, and I'd say that is Combiner Wars. I really feel like it set the tone for what Hastak wanted to do, and is doing now. An almost complete set of original run characters updated in a similar format. They might not all be combiners now, but you can't argue that everything since about 2014 or so goes together well on a shelf. And this comes from a collector who isn't a fan of that direction.

Still..... The figure that brings me the most joy, the one I just keep going back to... Well, I'd say its Combiner Wars (well, Unite Warriors. **** Alpha Bravo) Superion. I never thought we would get that level of update on the combiners, and it just stands out as such a perfect update/homage.

Of course, I could also say MP Ultra Magnus. If you had asked me before he came out, I would have told you we would never get an MP of him that wasn't some clunky armor draped on an MP-10 repaint. Yet, here we are. Magnus blew me out of the water.

It was a good decade, even if I was ignoring it till about 2014.

For me it would be Titans Return over Combiner Wars if we are taking the lines as a whole. The Combiners shown in CW but the non-combiner characters who became combiners like Sunstreaker are a bit of a compromise that Titans didn't have nearly as much of, and Titans Return pulled a lot of back catalog G1 guys out like Triggerhappy, Skullgrin, Mindwipe, Misfire.