What I don't understand is why it is not designated subtropical rather than tropical...as it fits the definition, with some elements of tropical systems (some banding convection close to the center, a little bit of outflow...as noted by the cirrus transverse banding to the west, a circular LLC), clearly it is not a completely tropical system. Even the NHC discussion (Stewart! happy dance) says:

ALTHOUGH A BANDING EYE-LIKE FEATURE DURING THE PAST COUPLE OF HOURS... THE LOW-LEVEL PRESSURE AND WIND FIELDS APPEAR TO [BE] MORE REPRESENTATIVE OF SLOW DEVELOPING SUBTROPICAL CYCLONES.

Sorry to continue to be confused about this. Does the NHC have a designation such that they could say "Subtropical Storm Epsilon," or do they have to designate it as TS and note that it is subtropical in the discussions? Is that what they are doing?