Twincast / Podcast Episode #209 "Under Siege" #NYCC 2018

Ah, damn, I wish I joined the podcast this time!

The more I look at Shockwave, the more certain I am that he has something very, very close to a gun mode hidden in there.

I think that if the weathering/damage decos were not a part of this line, I would be incredibly hyped for it. Right now, I'm just kind of apprehensive. It's like...how many figures will be tolerable like this vs how many will I just feel like skipping due to poop stains. These look like great molds but they are marred by these paint aps.

I like Starscream. I don't think the 10 seconds of screen time they got make the Tetrajets anything special, so I have no problem with them getting a kind of redesign.

My big thought on this line...Generations has always had a kind of "squishy" scale. I like how they are solidifying the size and scale of Generations here. It makes a lot off things make more sense in my collection. It makes it easier to pick and choose 3P stuff. It also presents characters like Starscream, Shockwave, and Soundwave that have and have needed appropriate Voyager scale figures for the longest time.

'It's a toy show so he might not listen.' Pfsh.

I forgot to discuss this earlier, but it's in response to Scotty's dismay about the cast standardization.

I feel like we are entering a time when Transformers may be managed more similarly to how Marvel and its toy products are. Marvel Legends puts out new versions of the same characters every year or two. They still manage to squeeze in a lot of C-tier guys and oddball choices, but you can bet that Avengers, Spidey, and a Wolverine or 3 will be in the mix.

In a way, we've always gotten the same characters, but if you step back to the Armada era, those characters had a wildly different take from year to year, line to line. If we can kind of go back to that, where Prime and Megatron have dramatically non-G1 takes, I think everything will be fine.

For the minority of us that collects EVERYTHING, Scotty may be right in that a dose of selectivity is necessary. I think though, that this standardization is more of a maturing of the modern franchise that is probably necessary to develop the characters and story beyond what it's been both in marketing and in how we engage the brand.

Thank You! Guy talking in the first 2 minutes about Hasbro's greedy slick handling of Shockwave who should've just been a Voyager and nothing else.

I brought this same issue up about him on another Site and those jokers made it seem like I was trolling.

The Ship mode isn't bad but that 4 handed crap that Warden couldn't even keep together during one interview is NOT UltraMagnus quality.

Nor is it worth $50 IMO. These will likely start showing up late Nov. or early Dec, so I'll just find one at Target or Wal-Mart and leave it on layaway until it goes on sale.

Everyone else can do what they want...

Rant aside, I love all the other Deluxe and Voyager Decepticon's (despite the weathering crap) shown and they'll be bought on site.

That out of scale leader CW Soundwave was huge pass and so were those crappy cassettes/minions. The FOC and WFC Soundwave's were okay placeholders if you don't have classics Soundwave but this new Soundwave is the best version since Classics 25th Anniversary Soundwave. And if G1 and MP cassettes can fit in this new one then I won't even need those "Spy Figures".

Battletrap is great as Battletrap, I don't even use his other modes which IMO were clearly sacrificed in order to make Battletrap what he is while combined.

So there's no real need to justify Flywheels just being a DuoCon with no individual bot modes. The Tank and the Jet both look fine. That Helicopter mode and the individual bot modes did not.

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Refractor came to late. I already bought Papa Toy's version who's better scaled, better quality and cheaper. So they'll be lucky if I bother grabbing just 1 as seperate Con named "Refractor" while the 3P figures I already have will remain the G1 Reflector trio.

Va'al wrote:'It's a toy show so he might not listen.' Pfsh.

"Knowing your audience" points for me this week: 0

Counterpunch wrote:In a way, we've always gotten the same characters, but if you step back to the Armada era, those characters had a wildly different take from year to year, line to line. If we can kind of go back to that, where Prime and Megatron have dramatically non-G1 takes, I think everything will be fine.

I think this is the bigger issue, indeed. If they would treat a new Prime like Maketoys or Perfect Effect lately and keep the general idea of him while stepping out into untread territory I'd be much more ok with it. PotP OP was something I really wanted because it did something new (toy-wise) with the Orion Pax cab. All the other recent OP toys, as well as the upcoming Siege one, are just vanilla ice cream with sprinkles. Vanilla is fine but I need more than sprinkles. Tank Megatron isn't even vanilla at this point, he's unflavored snow cream - fun once or twice but after a short while it's just road grime and salt.

YoungPrime wrote:Battletrap is great as Battletrap, I don't even use his other modes which IMO were clearly sacrificed in order to make Battletrap what he is while combined.

This is a fair point and I'm sure it went into the thought process behind the upcoming Flywheels. Personally, I really enjoyed how Battletrap felt more like a two-bot combiner than a Duocon, and had fun with both individual robots, so I'm probably in the minority on wanting that pattern continued.

ScottyP wrote:

Counterpunch wrote:In a way, we've always gotten the same characters, but if you step back to the Armada era, those characters had a wildly different take from year to year, line to line. If we can kind of go back to that, where Prime and Megatron have dramatically non-G1 takes, I think everything will be fine.

I think this is the bigger issue, indeed. If they would treat a new Prime like Maketoys or Perfect Effect lately and keep the general idea of him while stepping out into untread territory I'd be much more ok with it. PotP OP was something I really wanted because it did something new (toy-wise) with the Orion Pax cab. All the other recent OP toys, as well as the upcoming Siege one, are just vanilla ice cream with sprinkles. Vanilla is fine but I need more than sprinkles. Tank Megatron isn't even vanilla at this point, he's unflavored snow cream - fun once or twice but after a short while it's just road grime and salt.

Thinking back to the conversation, I'm starting to suspect it has more to do with saturation and fatigue than managing a central cast of characters. There's simply too much product, and for people like us that are heavily into it we may just be getting bored. Just the fact that we're thinking in terms of trilogies rather than separate concepts points in that direction.

I mean, if Megatron had a super innovative alt mode - would that be better, or is it more of a case that this Megatron is another Megatron in a long line of similar Megatrons?

Do any of you know if G1 cassettes can fit in the new Siege Soundwave's chest as well?

YoungPrime wrote:Do any of you know if G1 cassettes can fit in the new Siege Soundwave's chest as well?

They cannot.

Realized I never commented on this.

Thanks for having me on this show too! It was a good first episode!

The Siege cons seem to be a hit, Megatron has won a lot of people over, and Flywheels has proven to be great too! Still really excited to eventually get Shockwave. Space battleship!