Twincast / Podcast Episode #184 "The Search for Alpha Trion"

I found Alpha Trion! He's right here! https://www.hasbrotoyshop.com/en/htsusa ... 0?catName=

He's not very GOOD, granted...

Was halfway listening to the first half.

My take on the Dinobots:

Volcanicus' shoulders are too wide for the body. Even with the filler hands on the body, the torso is far too wide up top and even the attachment joints are further out from the actual shoulders.

I don't like Sludge's head, the plastic casing that makes the clear plastic effect makes him look like he's still in his plastic packaging. The others are sorta like that too (for me)

Discussion on Bob. If anyone needs a Bob figure...
back in the first Lego Bionicle series, they made some rubber spider figurines for the Visorak figures that fit their Minifigure play set scale. Now, being a Bionicle based toy, it therefore has a peg hole. And those Bionicle Pegs are 5mm... I think you know where this is going. (See attachment below)

ScottyP: I have wo words for you on that FanCharacter thing: 4. Chan.

What maybe they could do, was a character built from a pool of a dozen predetermined adjectives. For example, you pick from Heroic, Brave, Smart, Reckless, Brawny, Skittish, etc. So maybe your submission is "Blue, Pickup Truck, Skittish, Heroic, Decepticon" and Hasbro builds a character from that. It's structured enough you can't get another Boaty McBoatface but offers more freedom than we already get

Silver bolt/Hun Grr. Here's my theory, that someone in the design department was playing with a Silverbolt and said "Look! I made a Dragon Mode... wait a minute...." and took the new design from that cue.

Unicron Earth- What I didn't like about it was that it's another "Oh here, the Earth is this thing now, too. It sorta, I dunno, took the speacialness of Earth away by making into something actuially special. I liked how in TF Prime, Planet Earth was just a planet where they buried stuff. One of a few thousand planets in the War's history. It gave the story a recyclable reason to bring characters to Earth, without being some splashy thing or some super maguffin. If you wanty to make a Unicron planet, then lets go with BWII Gaia or something that's not Earth.

As to "Where do you go with Unicron", one of the things that I suspect he'll be a stopover point for a much larger "Knights of Cybertron" or "Primes" storyline. Frim Unicron, you go right back into the dynamic of the Primes, sorta Avengers style. But it's also been true that Unicron has always been an etherial being and the Body was just a vessel. In Marvel G1, he and Primus fought on the Astral Planes. In the TFCC comics (which I realize IDW and FunPub did not get along) Unicron was a singular omniversial presence. In TF Prime: Even though Optimus defeated Unicorn's body, Megatron became bound to Unicron's own spark. Even in Predacons Rising, Unicron was contained, not defeated, and youy can find any one of a dozen stories where Unicron's Spark or Essence continues on.

Flashwave wrote:Was halfway listening to the first half.

My take on the Dinobots:

Volcanicus' shoulders are too wide for the body. Even with the filler hands on the body, the torso is far too wide up top and even the attachment joints are further out from the actual shoulders.

I don't like Sludge's head, the plastic casing that makes the clear plastic effect makes him look like he's still in his plastic packaging. The others are sorta like that too (for me)

I don't mind Volcanicus' proportions - yet. These things are so hard to judge in grey scale, and I imagine the width will give him a beefy look. I'm cool with the clear plastic, or at the very least, I'm not taking a major issue with it.

Flashwave wrote:ScottyP: I have wo words for you on that FanCharacter thing: 4. Chan.

What maybe they could do, was a character built from a pool of a dozen predetermined adjectives. For example, you pick from Heroic, Brave, Smart, Reckless, Brawny, Skittish, etc. So maybe your submission is "Blue, Pickup Truck, Skittish, Heroic, Decepticon" and Hasbro builds a character from that. It's structured enough you can't get another Boaty McBoatface but offers more freedom than we already get

Silver bolt/Hun Grr. Here's my theory, that someone in the design department was playing with a Silverbolt and said "Look! I made a Dragon Mode... wait a minute...." and took the new design from that cue.

I doubt they'd do a fan vote with those qualities unless they had the characters picked out, or vice versa. After the Windblade fan vote, it seemed they already had a vague sense of how the new character would fir into the overarching CW & TR narrative, such that it exists, and that the fan vote just helped narrow the execution. We get some say, but I doubt we'll get a whole lot more than we already do.

I'm still thinking Hungrr is Silverbolt, or at least he borrows parts... those combiner torsos could make some good beasts. People were a bit disappointed that Botcon 2016 Sea Clamp didn't come from Hot Spot, who can configure into a pretty convincing lobster!

Flashwave wrote:Unicron Earth- What I didn't like about it was that it's another "Oh here, the Earth is this thing now, too. It sorta, I dunno, took the speacialness of Earth away by making into something actuially special. I liked how in TF Prime, Planet Earth was just a planet where they buried stuff. One of a few thousand planets in the War's history. It gave the story a recyclable reason to bring characters to Earth, without being some splashy thing or some super maguffin. If you wanty to make a Unicron planet, then lets go with BWII Gaia or something that's not Earth.

As to "Where do you go with Unicron", one of the things that I suspect he'll be a stopover point for a much larger "Knights of Cybertron" or "Primes" storyline. Frim Unicron, you go right back into the dynamic of the Primes, sorta Avengers style. But it's also been true that Unicron has always been an etherial being and the Body was just a vessel. In Marvel G1, he and Primus fought on the Astral Planes. In the TFCC comics (which I realize IDW and FunPub did not get along) Unicron was a singular omniversial presence. In TF Prime: Even though Optimus defeated Unicorn's body, Megatron became bound to Unicron's own spark. Even in Predacons Rising, Unicron was contained, not defeated, and youy can find any one of a dozen stories where Unicron's Spark or Essence continues on.

Exactly - Unicron can be surpressed, never entirely destroyed. I'm not as dead set against the Unicron-as-Earth idea as many others, but the TLK execution was just... ugh. If you're gonna do it, TF:Prime did it fairly well - that's the bar.

The gripes about the Dinobots were spot on!

Three of them should've been Voyagers and the other two deluxe without the lame combiner gimmick which did nothing but compromise the quality of these characters.

And Volcanicus looks like TRASH! Seriously, have you seen his leg the Sludge becomes? The Brontosaurus parts end up looking like the kibble of a goose with a broken neck! The crap just looks second hand at best. So Platinum Edition FOC Grimlock remaining my place holder is how I know that I wont be combining these Dinobots either.

How many Leader class Optimus Primes do we need? If the Prime that this gimmick becomes was simply a Voyager it would've been a buy on sight instead of another pass.

I'm only getting Rodimus for the Space Winnebago and Hotrod portion that does look like Rodimus.

We've asked for a Voyager class Starscream for over a decade now and after 3 more deluxes and a Leader class Starscream they give us this bulky mess that becomes a combiner that no one asked for.

YoungPrime wrote:The gripes about the Dinobots were spot on!

Three of them should've been Voyagers and the other two deluxe without the lame combiner gimmick which did nothing but compromise the quality of these characters.

And Volcanicus looks like TRASH! Seriously, have you seen his leg the Sludge becomes? The Brontosaurus parts end up looking like the kibble of a goose with a broken neck! The crap just looks second hand at best. So Platinum Edition FOC Grimlock remaining my place holder is how I know that I wont be combining these Dinobots either.

Which FOC Grimlock do you use - the one that comes with FOC Bruticus (now THAT's trash) or the 'Silver Knight' Target version that comes with Deluxe Optimus? I have the latter with an ArtTek head & blasters, and love him.

As much as I wish they had done 3 Voyagers & 2 Deluxes with ride along, Diaclone-esque Titan Masters, and as much as I am unhappy about the combiner aspect of him, I do have to say that the Combiner himself is pretty slick looking to me. The balance is there, and we'll see if anything can be done with the Sludge head. We've come a long way since Menasor...

YoungPrime wrote:How many Leader class Optimus Primes do we need? If the Prime that this gimmick becomes was simply a Voyager it would've been a buy on sight instead of another pass.

I'm only getting Rodimus for the Space Winnebago and Hotrod portion that does look like Rodimus.

We've asked for a Voyager class Starscream for over a decade now and after 3 more deluxes and a Leader class Starscream they give us this bulky mess that becomes a combiner that no one asked for.

This Optimus is stunning in person - if nothing else he's worth it for screen-accurate Orion Pax. Powermaster Prime is simply a different dude in my book, but I can see where the fatigue comes in. For better or worse, every single line will have 2-3 mainline Optimus Primes. It's what sells.

I agree with you on Starscream; he'd be fantastic looking if not for the Hulk hands, but that feels like something I'll get used to. So long as the torso has utility elsewhere (and knowing Hasbro, I'm confident it does), I'll grudgingly accept him.

megatronus wrote:

YoungPrime wrote:The gripes about the Dinobots were spot on!

Three of them should've been Voyagers and the other two deluxe without the lame combiner gimmick which did nothing but compromise the quality of these characters.

And Volcanicus looks like TRASH! Seriously, have you seen his leg the Sludge becomes? The Brontosaurus parts end up looking like the kibble of a goose with a broken neck! The crap just looks second hand at best. So Platinum Edition FOC Grimlock remaining my place holder is how I know that I wont be combining these Dinobots either.

Which FOC Grimlock do you use - the one that comes with FOC Bruticus (now THAT's trash) or the 'Silver Knight' Target version that comes with Deluxe Optimus? I have the latter with an ArtTek head & blasters, and love him.

As much as I wish they had done 3 Voyagers & 2 Deluxes with ride along, Diaclone-esque Titan Masters, and as much as I am unhappy about the combiner aspect of him, I do have to say that the Combiner himself is pretty slick looking to me. The balance is there, and we'll see if anything can be done with the Sludge head. We've come a long way since Menasor...

YoungPrime wrote:How many Leader class Optimus Primes do we need? If the Prime that this gimmick becomes was simply a Voyager it would've been a buy on sight instead of another pass.

I'm only getting Rodimus for the Space Winnebago and Hotrod portion that does look like Rodimus.

We've asked for a Voyager class Starscream for over a decade now and after 3 more deluxes and a Leader class Starscream they give us this bulky mess that becomes a combiner that no one asked for.

This Optimus is stunning in person - if nothing else he's worth it for screen-accurate Orion Pax. Powermaster Prime is simply a different dude in my book, but I can see where the fatigue comes in. For better or worse, every single line will have 2-3 mainline Optimus Primes. It's what sells.

I agree with you on Starscream; he'd be fantastic looking if not for the Hulk hands, but that feels like something I'll get used to. So long as the torso has utility elsewhere (and knowing Hasbro, I'm confident it does), I'll grudgingly accept him.

Like I suspect most of the fandom, I would have at least preferred a Voyager Sludge, what Voyagwr does he replace? Because not only are ypu replacing a slot, ypu are replacong a Torso figure for another combiner, which means 4 deluxes, and actually 5 with the vacated Sludge spot, dont have a Torso now. Amd if you make Slag a Voyager too, that takes out ANOTHER Torso guy and orphans 5 more figures. 10 Deluxe dudes is half the line, at that point you might as well scrap the whole combining gimmick altogether. I'm not okay with that just to get a set of pure Dinobots.

(I am sorta okay with a Deluxe Slag, actually, and since Slash is New, there's no scale. Also, the Raptor is sorta a Motorcycle of the Dino world, o the smallwr, faster scale worls for me )

Flashwave wrote:Like I suspect most of the fandom, I would have at least preferred a Voyager Sludge, what Voyagwr does he replace? Because not only are ypu replacing a slot, ypu are replacong a Torso figure for another combiner, which means 4 deluxes, and actually 5 with the vacated Sludge spot, dont have a Torso now. Amd if you make Slag a Voyager too, that takes out ANOTHER Torso guy and orphans 5 more figures. 10 Deluxe dudes is half the line, at that point you might as well scrap the whole combining gimmick altogether. I'm not okay with that just to get a set of pure Dinobots.

(I am sorta okay with a Deluxe Slag, actually, and since Slash is New, there's no scale. Also, the Raptor is sorta a Motorcycle of the Dino world, o the smallwr, faster scale worls for me )

I honestly don't think 3 Voyagers would have be an issue if they staggered the releases. Besides, this isn't a Combiner line - it's an Everything-But-The-Kitchen-Sink line. They could have stuck with ~2 Combiners, Titan Masters for the remaining Deluxes & Voyagers, and the Evolution gimmick for the Leaders.

So far we've gotten the following TR Voyagers:
-Galvatron
-Sentinel Prime
-Alpha Trion
-Astrotrain
-Blitzwing
-Octone
-Broadside
-Megatron
-Optimus Prime

We have 5 unique molds amongst those - why couldn't we get 3 unique Dinobot Voyagers (or a unique Grimlock and a shared mold for 2 more Voyager Dinobots)?

There are almost definitely design and other considerations that we are not privy to, so I'll go back to looking at the bright side of things.

Flashwave wrote:Was halfway listening to the first half.

My take on the Dinobots:

Volcanicus' shoulders are too wide for the body. Even with the filler hands on the body, the torso is far too wide up top and even the attachment joints are further out from the actual shoulders.

I don't like Sludge's head, the plastic casing that makes the clear plastic effect makes him look like he's still in his plastic packaging. The others are sorta like that too (for me).

I was more disappointed with the view from behind. With many of the CW combiners, turning the combiner around shows much that the designers just kind of gave up on. Hardly any of them have a decent butt, with the voyager hip hinges being all out there. With Volcanicus, the shoulders don't look very well contrived from behind either. I agree there's a lot of dino kibble for the combiners, but I understand the limits they had. They needed to keep the dinobots looking G1 accurate (except for grimlock's toe claws). That means all the necks, head and such for the dinos is going to just be laid against the deluxe bodies.

To be fair, CW was hardly innocent in that regard. Most of the deluxe figures for CW had plenty of wing, truck, tank and other kibble hanging off the knees, the shoulders and elbows of the gestalts. We end-users just folded and tucked it away as best we could on our own and lived with it. And we will again.

Though I admit, I don't think much of Hun-Grrs beast mode. I expected better.

megatronus wrote:

Flashwave wrote:Like I suspect most of the fandom, I would have at least preferred a Voyager Sludge, what Voyagwr does he replace? Because not only are ypu replacing a slot, ypu are replacong a Torso figure for another combiner, which means 4 deluxes, and actually 5 with the vacated Sludge spot, dont have a Torso now. Amd if you make Slag a Voyager too, that takes out ANOTHER Torso guy and orphans 5 more figures. 10 Deluxe dudes is half the line, at that point you might as well scrap the whole combining gimmick altogether. I'm not okay with that just to get a set of pure Dinobots.

(I am sorta okay with a Deluxe Slag, actually, and since Slash is New, there's no scale. Also, the Raptor is sorta a Motorcycle of the Dino world, o the smallwr, faster scale worls for me )

I honestly don't think 3 Voyagers would have be an issue if they staggered the releases. Besides, this isn't a Combiner line - it's an Everything-But-The-Kitchen-Sink line. They could have stuck with ~2 Combiners, Titan Masters for the remaining Deluxes & Voyagers, and the Evolution gimmick for the Leaders.

So far we've gotten the following TR Voyagers:
-Galvatron
-Sentinel Prime
-Alpha Trion
-Astrotrain
-Blitzwing
-Octone
-Broadside
-Megatron
-Optimus Prime

We have 5 unique molds amongst those - why couldn't we get 3 unique Dinobot Voyagers (or a unique Grimlock and a shared mold for 2 more Voyager Dinobots)?

There are almost definitely design and other considerations that we are not privy to, so I'll go back to looking at the bright side of things.

Unique molds or not, they all share the same gimmick, the removable Heads. Primes is very much all the gimmicks ever, but all of the pricepoints that we know of share all the gimmicks. This, like it or not, IS a Combiner line. Thats not its only focus, but it is a supported main gimmick. Darkwing and Dreadwind. Jazz. Moonracer. Dino-awms. All of them have Combiner pegs. And not only that, but all of them have H/F/Chest Armor We only know of 3 Voyagers, and 100% of them are Torsos with feet armor. There's no reason to doubt that Elita will be different. Like it or not, these toys are meant for a combining play aspect.

DeathReviews wrote:To be fair, CW was hardly innocent in that regard. Most of the deluxe figures for CW had plenty of wing, truck, tank and other kibble hanging off the knees, the shoulders and elbows of the gestalts. We end-users just folded and tucked it away as best we could on our own and lived with it. And we will again.

Indeed - we tend to be more forgiving of vehicle-parts kibble than animal-parts kibble. For better or worse, it's easier to pass off the hood of a vehicle or car doors as armor or distinguishing structural details of the robot. Dino limbs are just... dino limbs.

Flashwave wrote:Unique molds or not, they all share the same gimmick, the removable Heads. Primes is very much all the gimmicks ever, but all of the pricepoints that we know of share all the gimmicks. This, like it or not, IS a Combiner line. Thats not its only focus, but it is a supported main gimmick. Darkwing and Dreadwind. Jazz. Moonracer. Dino-awms. All of them have Combiner pegs. And not only that, but all of them have H/F/Chest Armor We only know of 3 Voyagers, and 100% of them are Torsos with feet armor. There's no reason to doubt that Elita will be different. Like it or not, these toys are meant for a combining play aspect.

John Warden & Ben Montano of the Transformers brand team likened Power of the Primes to a 'Greatest Hits' list. It's not a Combiner line - as you say, the line heavily supports Combiners, but not to the exclusion of everything else. That might be semantics, but it's important to understanding what could have been done rather than what is being done.

I maintain that 3 voyager Dinobots could have been done, and not just as a fanboy fantasy, but as a well integrated Titan Master aspect of this line.

I hated what TF: Prime did to Unicron. Hell I hated that show in general. But taking what should be a GALACTIC THREAT and limiting him to some Earth crap was the last straw.

And it feels like it's what Hasbro are forcing IDW to do again but this time shoe-horning in that Hasbro-verse stuff that most TF readers don't care about.

I hope I'm wrong but cut Marvel and DC off from doing the same thing with crossovers that ended poorly. No about to stop there.

Flashwave wrote:ScottyP: I have wo words for you on that FanCharacter thing: 4. Chan.

What maybe they could do, was a character built from a pool of a dozen predetermined adjectives. For example, you pick from Heroic, Brave, Smart, Reckless, Brawny, Skittish, etc. So maybe your submission is "Blue, Pickup Truck, Skittish, Heroic, Decepticon" and Hasbro builds a character from that. It's structured enough you can't get another Boaty McBoatface but offers more freedom than we already get

Oh for sure, from a practical perspective it'd need to be something like that. Heck, even just "hey, here's three finished ideas and a commissioned art piece for each" with the art by one of the regulars like Matere, Musso, or Pitre-Durocher then the fans vote from there. Something more than what Victorion was - though for the record, I really enjoy Victorion and the characterizations IDW has created for them. It has taken a while but I think with Skyburst and Stormclash being more prominent in First Strike, most of the Torchbearers have pretty defined characters. Imagine something closer to that from the start while voting!

Heck, have a fan vote to choose between Pharma, Rung, or Nickel and watch the fandom civil war begin in earnest excitement in store

Flashwave wrote:As to "Where do you go with Unicron", one of the things that I suspect he'll be a stopover point for a much larger "Knights of Cybertron" or "Primes" storyline. Frim Unicron, you go right back into the dynamic of the Primes, sorta Avengers style. But it's also been true that Unicron has always been an etherial being and the Body was just a vessel. In Marvel G1, he and Primus fought on the Astral Planes. In the TFCC comics (which I realize IDW and FunPub did not get along) Unicron was a singular omniversial presence. In TF Prime: Even though Optimus defeated Unicorn's body, Megatron became bound to Unicron's own spark. Even in Predacons Rising, Unicron was contained, not defeated, and youy can find any one of a dozen stories where Unicron's Spark or Essence continues on.

Yeah, I feel like that's the plan here too. From the start of "Phase 2" there's been a pretty constant background theme dealing with Primus, and this can be both a conclusion, climax, and exposition for more cool material dealing with that and the Primes.

Or it's a hail mary throw to help sales, but hopefully not.

ScottyP wrote:Heck, have a fan vote to choose between Pharma, Rung, or Nickel and watch the fandom civil war begin in earnest excitement in store

Civil War? Better get to practicin' my stabbing!

It's too bad RiD never went full Robot Mafia with Steeljaw's Pack. They even have Clampdown to give 'em the clamps!

Ah, that was a fun listen. I've missed the Twincast Crew.

Gotta admit, since my comic provider folded, I've fallen behind. Have a feeling I might switch to digital when I feel like catching up, which is a shame. IDW was the only company I was still buying physical copies from.

Just a few things i wanted to add/say.

When Scotty was talking about Savage Noble, I was sure he was doing it in a way to not reveal the big spoiler to Ari and the connection to Megatron. But by the end I realized he would have told Ari everything he new if he did.

So Ari, here it is: Savage Noble IS Megatron. In beast Machines, Megatron's goal is to remove himself from his beast mode but the plan gets reversed and he ends up with 2 beast modes. 1 being the dragon mode, due to him already having a ragon mode, and the other a wolf mode, due to his battle with Silverbolt who used to be a fusor but lost his wolf mode in Beast Machines. Of course, this last bit about where the beast modes come from is all stuff that must be inferred in the show. But yeah, Savage Nobel is Megatron who turns from a Dragon to a Wolf. When megatron removes his spark from this body, Savage Nobel still exists but more as a beast which no longer talks and just acts like an animal.

I hope that clears things up.

As for the cross sale on the back of Starscream and his limbs, we see his limbs in the package art. Its just random limbs we already know of like one from abominus and such. The cross sales on the back of the voyager boxes are Prime Masters so we wouldnt have seen limbs there but instead seen some Prime Masters that havent been officially revealed yet.

Listening to this podcast made me really check out the new PotP reveals thathe i had been ignoring.

Prime is amazing. I get that old thrill of anticipation looking at him. Maybe I'm not done yet.


Slag, Snarl, and Swoop look great. All other figures do little or nothing for me.


Good cast, guys. I really enjoyed this one.

Ironhidensh wrote:Slag, Snarl, and Swoop look great. All other figures do little or nothing for me.

I'm pretty much right there on the Dinobots, but with an added "hey, they already gave me a perfect Grimlock so new takes are ok" added in. Still not a mind blowing Grimlock, but there have been worse!

ScottyP wrote:It's too bad RiD never went full Robot Mafia with Steeljaw's Pack. They even have Clampdown to give 'em the clamps!

ScottyP wrote:

Ironhidensh wrote:Slag, Snarl, and Swoop look great. All other figures do little or nothing for me.

I'm pretty much right there on the Dinobots, but with an added "hey, they already gave me a perfect Grimlock so new takes are ok" added in. Still not a mind blowing Grimlock, but there have been worse!

Swoop is the only real standout for me.

The more I look at the others, the more acceptable they become, but I'm not any more excited for them.