The Energon Pub

Hello Twincast Podcast,

Quick fire question (it may not live up to the standard of recent listener questions)…Kranix’ alt mode…it’s a duck right?

Starflare wrote:Hello Twincast Podcast,

Quick fire question (it may not live up to the standard of recent listener questions)…Kranix’ alt mode…it’s a duck right?

Have we seen him walk?

Hey, Twincast, the only podcast I listen to, so keep up the excellent work!
Missing Link has been an awesome line. You guys were spot on with the prediction that Grimlock would get a toon deco! Do you think Delta Magnus will get a chrome trailer bed version? I haven't preordered Delta Magnus yet because of this. Also, I can't recall if you guys really discussed this, but what character/toy do you want that you think is a "lay up" candidate for missing link treatment? What is a character/toy you want that has the potential but is unlikely to show up in missing link? My thought is the Datsun bros just for the redeco possibilities alone, but the engineering of the legs could be challenging. My hope is for Wheeljack/Exhaust, since the G1 mold is supposedly lost or broken, for my nostalgia, and the engineering into that toy could be amaze-balls! Plus it's Wheeljack -- who doesn't love a mad scientist with a super cool alt mode! Like Doc Brown creating a time machine out of a Delorean!

Hello Twincast Team

What toy only character that has character bio on the back of the box that you loved so much that you wish they were in the fiction?

For me it's Energon Overcast beginning Jetfire's brother that ran away from the war only for his new home to get eaten by Unicron and now he wants revenge. That's so great. Really makes my wonder what back stories they would have come up with for the other Energon Autobot repaints if they got original names like they were suppose to be before Takara repurposed them as super modes for the show.

Hi guys,
What alt mode and or character would you like to see in the Over Gear Line?

Firstly, thanks engaging with my duck based question - it was addressed with the seriousness warranted by such an issue. My next question is: As MacGuffins go, the matrix isn’t a terrible one. Why do you think the whole concept was ditched (was it not sufficiently ducky?!).

Ok, in light of MTMTE Hot Rod, what's the best or worst alt mode web storage you can recall?

Starflayer wrote:Firstly, thanks engaging with my duck based question - it was addressed with the seriousness warranted by such an issue. My next question is: As MacGuffins go, the matrix isn’t a terrible one. Why do you think the whole concept was ditched (was it not sufficiently ducky?!).

It's been used a good bit. Are you referring to the Hot Rod -> Rodimus Prime "upgrade" style feature it has? Haven't seen much of that outside of TF One. Or just generally as a giant-evil-threat-killing-macguffin?

On reflection - the ‘upgrade element’ only seems to have applied to Hot Rod as there was no visible impact on either Optimus or Ultra Magnus. I suppose it’s always bugged me that The Movie and Season 3 spent so long establishing that the bearer of the matrix was the de facto leader and that there was such a burden associated with that that it felt odd when in Headmasters Rodimus skipped town and anointed another as leader…without the matrix…and then it was never heard of again. I’m also conscious that the answer is likely ‘they are a toy company with toys to sell - especially if they are duck shaped’ although subsequent media revisits the matrix a fair bit - could this be an acknowledgement of a creative mis-step?

Starflayer wrote:I suppose it’s always bugged me that The Movie and Season 3 spent so long establishing that the bearer of the matrix was the de facto leader and that there was such a burden associated with that that it felt odd when in Headmasters Rodimus skipped town and anointed another as leader…without the matrix…and then it was never heard of again.

That's because, in Japan, the Matrix wasn't the deciding factor of Autobot leadership. Rather, what determined who was leader of the Autobots was the intangible yet formal ranking title of Supreme Commander. Optimus, Rodimus, Fortress Maximus, Ginrai, Star Saber, and Dai Atlas were all succeeding Autobot leaders through each of them being granted the rank of Supreme Commander one after the other, despite only the first two being bearers of the Matrix.

The Matrix wasn't seen as the deciding factor of leadership in Japan at the time because Japan didn't get the 1986 movie until 1989, towards the end of Victory's original broadcast run well into Star Saber's leadership tenure. And when the movie did finally reach Japan, it was never released in theaters. Instead, it had a limited release at charity screenings (at which it was the original English version that played with Japanese subtitles, too) before being released straight to VHS immediately afterward.

So, while the movie is considered a massively important part of the brand's history in the English-speaking parts of the world, the movie's original release in Japan was more of a delayed footnote, and was mainly hyped up in Japan at the time for the English version starring the likes of Leonard Nimoy and Orson Welles, since both of them were popular in Japan at the time.

Hello Twincast Team

If you had to take away a alt-mode from a triple changer which one would you pick and who is a character you would turn into a triple changer?

For removing I feel Springer is a obvious choice. He's proven he works just fine with one mode with all repaints of him from other toys. I would take away his car mode given that the helicopter stands out more.

For adding one on I wouldn't mind a version of Grimlock that had a vehicle mode to drive around freely in the streets, a Robot to hang around the base and a Dino mode to bash Decepticons.