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Adding to the press release we posted earlier, about Victory Hill and Hasbro teaming up in Las Vegas, the New York Times has a little more detail on what the Cybertron Con collaboration actually holds for the Transformers. Read up below, and start packing your bags - Vegas is calling!
LAS VEGAS — Batman has his bat cave. Superman has his fortress of solitude. And soon the Avengers and a team of Transformers will call a corner on the Las Vegas Strip home.
Treasure Island casino-hotel has leased 28,000 square feet above a CVS drugstore to Victory Hill Exhibitions to create immersive displays dedicated to the pop-culture brands.
The 10-year lease includes $2 million in tenant improvements to the corner space on Las Vegas Boulevard and Spring Mountain Road.
Victory Hill ended its 18-month run at the Discovery Times Square space in New York where it offered its Marvel's Avengers S.T.A.T.I.O.N. exhibit. The Transformers exhibit is exclusive to Las Vegas and is still in development.
The exhibit is expected to open by March or April. Company officials haven't decided on an admission price.
Out own Scotty P (podcaster extraordinaire) has his own commentary to lead fans through it:
Hasbro's Investor Day presentation was yesterday.
Some things of note:
Slide 20 (see first image below) has TF5 teaser logo (nothing exciting), and some new product called "Alt Modes" - looks like keychains or something but it's a very small image.
Slide 23 (see second image below) has the TF brand revenue (revenue to Hasbro, not retail sales to consumers! HUGE difference!) chart that we've seen in previous years updated to include the 9 months out of this year so far. Pretty good start for them.
Slide 34 talks about expanding footprint into more global markets.
Some new Kre-o product on Slide 37, but it does not look to be Transformers related. Read elsewhere it is a Chinese market exclusive line.
Slide 38 (see third image below): appears to announce Micronauts return - as a crossover with Transformers. Kind of cool considering Micronauts' roots as Microman.
I enjoyed the financial slides. Interesting bit on 61 about slightly increasing resin costs expected for 2016.
Slide 65 mentions a new e-commerce site. Direct to consumer sales or just B2B?
Poor GI Joe. Also no sign of M.A.S.K. which was on the last (I think last, maybe the one before last) Investor presentation.
We received notification of a new gallery appearing on Imgur of a series of animation cells and background art from the 1986 animated movie of The Transformers. After some digging by fellow Seibertronian ScottyP, we have the original source of the labour, Reddit user Kazhero22 who compiled them from Rubberslug and posted them to Imgur! Nonetheless, you can view a selection mirrored below - let us know what you think in the Energon pub!
Thanks to fellow Seibertron.com member joevill, we have some prime news from online retailer Amazon.com, and it's of a very beastly shape. The box set for the full run of Transformers: Beast Wars from 1996 has just been reduced from $39.97 to $19.99! If you're still missing one of the staples of Transformers fiction, or have never really got round to watching it, now is your chance - just head here.
The Complete Emmy® Award Winning Epic Of The Maximals And The Predacons In One DVD Set! When the descendants of the treacherous Decepticons now known as Predacons land on a mysterious planet in search of the powerful crystal fuel Energon, it s up to Optimus Primal and the heroic Maximals to stop them before they conquer the universe!
With the closure of Transformers: Legends and Age of Extinction, DeNA still had mobile device games Transformers: Rising and Battle Tactics - though it now seems that even Rising will be coming to an end too. A Facebook post was uploaded and removed, but we still have a screenshot of it, mirrored below thanks a fan page for the game.
Could this have something to do with the arrival of Transformers: Earth Wars, a collaboration between Hasbro, Space Ape Games and Backflip? Discuss in the Energon Pub!
Fellow Seibertronian Sabrblade has unearthed some gameplay videos for a previously unreported mobile device game for our favourite transforming robots. The game, by Backflip studios, is called Transformers: Earth Wars, and appears to feature a lot of promising designs in terms of the current multimedia direction that Hasbro and IDW are taking. Take it away, Sabr! (You can also view the videos, one in English, one in Spanish, and the official description below.)
There are a LOT of toy-based and toy-inspired designs in this game, such as Megatron, the Seekers, and Breakdown being based on their CW toys, Prowl using his CW toy's vehicle mode parts in a traditionally G1-styled robot mode, Bludgeon being loosely based on the ROTF toy, Blaster and his small friends all based on their Titans Return toys, and there's even a look at a very Titans Return-looking Soundwave
Transformers: Earth Wars by Backflip Studios, Inc (IOS/Android)
Earth's fate is in your hands. Whose side are you on?
Assemble the ultimate team of legendary Transformers robots- including Optimus Prime, Megatron, Bumblebee, Grimlock, Soundwave, Starscream & many more. Will you join forces with the Decepticons or ally with the Autobots? Choose your side! Build an impenetrable base. Wage war against the opposing faction by defeating other players and raiding their bases for energon stockpiles. Construct a Space Bridge to summon reinforcements from Cybertron. Deploy Starscream for air strikes to destroy laser cannons, penetrate defenses with an Optimus Prime ram attack, or repair your team with the healing ability of Autobot Ratchet.
Earth's fate is in your hands.
GAME FEATURES
● Battle as Decepticons or Autobots
● Collect your favorite Transformers characters
● Build & upgrade base defenses
● Attack opposing enemy faction
● Ally & chat with other players
● Fight real people around the world
● Switch between bot & vehicle form
● Teleport new bots from Cybertron
● Decide the fate of planet Earth!
Megatron and his assault team of Decepticons have attacked Earth, ravaging the planet's natural resources to synthesize energon, the preferred fuel of the Transformers race. Optimus Prime has dispatched a tactical team of Autobots to Earth, hoping to counter the Decepticon threat. The battle for Earth has begun. Whose side are you on?
Transformers: Earth Wars.
Roll out!
Please note that Transformers: Earth Wars is free to download and play, however, some game items can also be purchased for real money. If you don't want to use this feature, please disable in-app purchases. This game requires a network connection to play.
Adding to the previously reported Transformers: Robots in Disguise clips we saw here, the official Hasbro site for the show has uploaded a couple more (Back and Forth, The Tragedy of Slipstream, Two Plus Two Equals More, A Level Playing Field), showcasing the new Cyclone mini-cons entering the scene in Season 2 - check them out over here!
We have a small but dynamic update on the Record Store Day Transformers 30th Anniversary Soundtrack vinyl, as reported here, in the form of an official promotional video clip from Vimeo. The clip shows off the artwork and featured of the record packaging, and can be viewed embedded below!
Welcome to the latest episode of the Seibertron.com Twincast / Podcast. For your listening pleasure we have our host, ScottyP, along with "The man who finally got a deluxe of his namesake", Megatronus, and our "Two podcasters from the Great White North who couldn't make it to TFCon", xRotorstormx and RodimusConvoy13. Listen as they give you their takes on the latest and greatest in Transformers news.
Episode #130 "Retools" is available directly and in our RSS Feed and should appear on iTunes and Stitcher Radio within 24 to 48 hours of when you see this news post.
Starting off in the exciting world of comics, we discuss Transformers #46. Learn who is a fan of Blackrock and what we think of Uncomfortable Prime. All that plus some thoughts on the Mistress of Flame and what she represents await in our discussion of this (mostly) new release.
A giant leap is coming, is he ready?
Transformers: Redemption comes up after that. Between some cool crossover pages, story development, and new characters, there's a lot of cool that the cast found in this new release. There's also an intense discussion on Mad Max: Fury Road, so do remember to tell Scotty why he's wrong about it in the Energon Pub by replying to this post.
Slag? Slug? ... Don't call me Mad Max
We move on to a new masterpiece reveal: Masterpiece Ramjet! We dive right into Takara Tomy's first MP Conehead and discuss the intricacies of the head transformation, if we think he's too much like the cartoon, and cheekbones. Yes, cheekbones. You'll want to tune in for this oddly complex tale of speculative reverse engineering.
You wanna say something about my face to my face??
Next up is Combiner Wars Wave 4, specifically, concerns about Wheeljack. Is a Transformers/Powder crossover coming this many years after that movie you forgot about? No, but it's fun to kid around with this (we hope) early test shot.
Ha ha, not enough of the alloy! Wheeljack is still going to be infected with the Hate Plague.
That's not all for re-painted and re-tooled toy reveals, as we next look at e-Hobby Legends Deadlock. Do we like him? Is he purty? Yes. Yes.
Good. Bad. I'm the guy with the sword and the guns.
Had enough toy talk yet? Good! Because there's more. The conversation moves on to the Transformers Collectors' Club Subscription Service Krok and the bonus "mystery" figure, which we completely spoil if you've somehow managed to avoid that reveal so far. What works about this figure? What doesn't? What is the mysterious origin of Shakar? Do we still care now that we know?
One killer Krok.
Botcon 2016 is next, and we give our thoughts on the soon to be revealed (as of the recording) Sea Clamp. Do we think he's the best torso bot to use? We also share our feelings on his boxset-mate Cicadacon. Tune in before the crippling blow of reality swayed our opinions in other directions (or not).
Sea Clamp owes me Lobster Money.
After the toy talk we move on to a listener question. WilliamJames88 asks how we feel when a less expensive, possibly better version of a character is released after we've gotten the more expensive exclusive. We tell you what to think!-- oh wait, what we think. Sorry.
Will you still love me tomorrow?
We finish out with some bragging rights. What did we get? Were they Transformers? Of course they were!
Am I blue? Or am I blue?
With that we wrap up another episode, and we'll see you all again in a couple weeks.
Don't forget, the show only gets better if you tell us how. Drop us a review on iTunes and be sure to tell us what you love, what you hate, and what you want to hear!
Not on the show to give your take? Probably not, so don't forget to keep the discussion going on the Seibertron.com Energon Pub Forums by simply replying to this post!
Got a question for the Twincast? We take all of them, we just don't take them all seriously! Leave a question in the Ask the Twincast thread and, if it makes the cut, it may get read and answered on the show.
Big news to Canadians. As many of you know,Target agressivley entered Canada only to leave it entirely within less than 2 years, taking over and removing the Zellers franchise and leaving Walmart with close to no competition (a case study for the ages). The sad part is that it now made it impossible for Canadians to get target exclusives. But not anymore since Target has just announced to sell to Canada at affordable shipping rates. Not only that, but to celebrate, they have a coupon where you take off 20$ cdn from any order worth 100$ cdn or up. This happens to work perfectly with the Platinum Blaster and Perceptor set which to date has had to issue in Canada.
* Price and quantities subject to change. Shipping costs, taxes and other fees not included in cost shown. Refer to listing for current price and availability.