The Trannies ballot is up, and voting for the annual Transformers fan awards closes January 31. The Computer guest hosts this January 7, 2001 Radio Free Cybertron and delivers the ATT Buzz. That includes pictures of a new mega-sized Optimus Primal and Tom Hanks singing the Transformers theme on The Tonight Show. Goldimus Prime looks back on a year of Beast Machines, Beast Wars and Dinobots toys.
News
Trannies Ballot Posted, Voting Closes January 31
The ballot for the Trannies, the annual Transformers fan awards, was posted early this week. Categories range from favorite character to best fanfic. Instructions are on the Transformers newsgroups, including alt.toys.transformers. The Computer urges listeners to vote for RFC and plugs Brian’s eligible fanfics, “Good Mr. Cullen” and “Stan Bush’s Story.” [Source: alt.toys.transformers]
New Mega-Sized Optimus Primal Pictures Surface
Pictures of another Optimus Primal, this time a mega-sized version, showed up on alt.toys.transformers. [Source: alt.toys.transformers]
Tom Hanks Sings the Transformers Theme on The Tonight Show
Tom Hanks talked about Transformers on The Tonight Show and sang the theme song, causing a big fuss on the newsgroup. The Computer is unimpressed and sings it himself. [Source: not found]
New on the RFC Website
The homepage now links to five RFC broadcasts picked as good entry points for new listeners. A scroller from the original beta site also returns.
ATT Buzz
With John DeLuna out, the Computer hosts the Buzz. Threads covered fan love woes, Trannies speculation and beta lurkings. Debates also asked what makes a good Transformers website, and the Computer says it needs competent design, plenty of content and a reason to exist. A newbie discussion followed last week’s Buzz. A which-Transformer-would-you-be thread led the Computer to pick Soundwave.
Goldimus Prime’s 2000 Year in Review
Goldimus Prime counts 45 Transformers toys released in America in 2000, through Rattrap. He calls the Beast Machines Maximals marvelous and says they only improved from Buzzsaw onward. The Vehicons started strong with Mirage and Scavenger, then mostly turned brickish, Obsidian and Megatron aside. Tank Drone, the first 2001 Vehicon, is short and limited but beautifully sculpted.
Goldimus finds the Beast Riders and Deployers interesting ideas he wants to see again. He is torn on the Dinobots, glad the Neo imports came cheap but cooler on the American repaints. The Beast Wars Mutants were innovative but uneven. Transmetal 2 Cheetor’s mold may become the last Beast Wars toy as the Walmart-exclusive Tripredacus Agent. He thinks it is time to retire the Beast Wars name and looks forward to Battle for the Spark.
Trivia
Last week’s clip was from Fire in the Sky. Zephos, Rattrap007, Prowl, Bluestreak7, Thrust and Wimperblast got it right. A new clip is played.
Music
The show closes with “Dark Side” by Elephant Monkeys, a band featuring a friend of Brian’s on guitar.
Radio Free Cybertron is the world's first and oldest toy and action figure podcast — broadcasting from the heart of the Transformers fan community since October 1999. What started as a scrappy fan show has grown into an institution, with nearly 1,000 episodes and over 25 years of coverage. Every week, host Brian Kilby and the RFC crew dig into the latest Transformers news, toy reveals, collecting, and everything hitting shelves from Hasbro, Takara, and beyond. No fluff, no hype — just informed, passionate collectors who have been doing this longer than anyone else on the planet. The original. The longest running. Till all are one.
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