Is there an issue with the upload? I'm not able to listen on any of the available formats.

 

I also cannot listen to it on any available format

 

Why does trying to listen to this episode just bring up error messages on every single available platform/format?

 

Not sure what's causing the error, but I just noticed an issue with the published version! I'll send Vangelus a fixed file in a bit and hopefully that also fixes some things.

Also hey, they're back! At least three more episodes are in the ol' editing pipeline. My goal is to get them all edited and ready for upload and completely eliminate the queue before they record the next episode. Sorry for the delay! Mental health can be a pain in the ass.

 

No problem! We appreciate all you do pal.

 

i am just glad something is actually wrong. lol. I thought it was a problem on my end. Thank you for your service!

 

Greatly appreciate everything you & the boys do! Thanks!

 

T...that's cool. I got work Thursday, unless you wanna cover my shift?

 

Amidst the Legacy acquisition talk, I'd like to share my quick opinions:

Iguanus- Best Core Class ever.

Skids- looks average, is very good in hand.

Arcee- very mid tier, still mid tier, but has grown on me greatly.

Bulkhead- very good, whether or not it fits Bulkhead is outside of him just being a very good toy.

And the Energon weapon gimmick as a whole, is very fun, and makes me a lot more excited for Wave 2.

 

I am very much looking forward to the episode y’all recorded after the Victory Saber video went up.

And it’s been really nice to see the designer Instagram posts continue and even move more forward facing. Someone in marketing must have realized we’ve been digging the insights. And I know it worked on me. I was gonna pass on SS86 Arcee until Evan took the time to show us how that figure’s supposed to be photographed.

 

...When was that video, again? I'm still editing 617 so I have no idea if they get to that or not.

 

Around the beginning of June.

 

May 14!

 

Bulkhead is passable since none of his body is there, but Prime Arcee hurts me. There was no reason to change them to have more genericized humanoid faces. They've don't retools for years, new head = new character, it's a simple golden rule is YA DON'T MUCK WITH THE HEADS.

And you can't say "oh it's just a new version and they wanted them to look like they belong" BW Inferno never had a nose, but he got to keep his own face, and got a frigging jaw to capture it right! The G1ing of Prime characters is a deliberate slap in the face. I reject Hasbro's multiverse hoo-ha and say these are Prime callback characters that were always in the G1 universe. PERIOD

 

So the Prime Arcee/Bulkhead/Knock Out design thing is something I've actually given a lot of thought to over the last few months so for the sake of...well the sake of it, I'm going to express my thoughts here, hopefully in a succinct manner

I'm suffering extreme generation 1 burnout at the moment and 80s nostalgia in general. It started looking back in Titans Returns when a lot of characters were trying to lean into the cartoon and comic designs more, and was a problem during Power of The Primes. I was very excited when Siege was announced as I was looking forward to a fresh aesthetic and a host of new takes on classic characters. I didn't get that, I largely got designs who violently tried to be as G1 as possible while sticking on random bits and saying they're from space. The few quirky designs got me through but I was tired. This was also a time where I was much more conscious of prices and with the change in what the size classes meant for inclusion I was becoming more frugal. Then we go to Earthrise and it's a sea of unrelenting nostalgia combined with imo bad pricing. I own the SG Optimus and while the mold IS good, you couldn't convince me to pay the 65-70 euros for a version with a trailer I'm never going to use. More than twice what I paid for an exclusive of it. We hit Kingdom and I'm excited for the beast characters. Yes it's not original designs but these characters have never had the "show accurate attention" and I was happy to have them. But my complaints about the G1 remained, emphasized in Rodimus who here is a 120 euros, again for a voyager and a box I will never interact with. Legacy leaks gave me a lot of hope that finally we were moving past G1 into the other and lets just admit it, largely better narrative driven franchises. I was wondering if we'd not just get Prime but Cyberverse and Animated, heading for cool show accurate takes of designs that mean an enormous amount to me from shows that mean a lot more to me than G1. And then Arcee. And Bulkhead. And my poor beautiful Knock Out. Three toys clearly G1 character pretools which largely remove any of the Prime aesthetic but make it "G1". And I hate it. For me aesthetic frequently trumps engineering, in part because it ensures new engineering. Yes, you can do 3 molds of Optimus and each have wildly different engineering but thinking on the amount of time spent with a figure, it is the looking rather than the handling that dominates. To me it speaks of Hasbro relying on a safety net. RED was ALMOST my escape but we all know how that went. It also says to me that the fandom of those for whom G1 isn't the be all and end all in core aesthetics is largely unimportant. You get the "G1" character. You don't get a Knock out using modern engineering wizardy to show how to approximate the show model. But you do get Jhiaxus, who is on the ball Jhiaxus. Combine for me this feeling of the VAST roster of interesting non-G1 or tradiational G1 (I really struggle to consider IDW1 G1 anymore, it's so different) is shoved in the corner to be made only when a toy of someone either the designer or the 80s kid is nostalgic for can be milked from it. Combined with the lack of an engaging toy line for such a good a show as Cyberverse, my poor experience with IDW2 and it's toy accurate aesthetics, the nasty taste left by the Netflix, inflated prices combining with cost cutting mold reuse or reissue, the one thing that felt like it could be for an adult collector outside that bubble is now tainted.

There's good to come of course. Armada's getting a look in, Jhiaxus IS cool, IDW Blurr looks great, Selects is inventive, Menasor looks great and and Overrider seems to be a lead into a more creative Legacy Year 2. But right now 3 of my favourite characters in the fiction are being made in a way that emotionally if not logically tells me what I value from this franchise is secondary to nostalgia and safety. Aaron made the point that we've always gotten new takes on old designs. Which is something I love...but these 3 are appearing in a line where almost no one else is getting that treatment and to me it communicates a value based currency.

Anyway, that's probably too ranty but it's been running around in my brain a lot atm