The Allspark message board has changed hands, and Brian Kilby says the new owners are deleting posts and banning users on this November 13, 2001 Radio Free Cybertron. Goldimus Prime reviews Robots in Disguise Hightower of the Build Team. Brian reviews Cybertronian: The Unofficial Transformers Recognition Guide Volumes 2 and 3. Chris McFeely reviews the bootleg Ruination, and Duo Maxwell covers Yamato’s Macross VF-1A, Jetfire’s cousin.
Toy Review: Robots in Disguise Hightower
Goldimus Prime found the whole Build Team and the bullet trains at Walmart, and his father bought him Hightower. The crane truck is almost all red, about four inches long, with a hook molded shut and a hinge-only crane. A third mode turns the crane into a forward gun. The joints are tight, likely to fix the floppiness of Takara’s Build King. In robot mode he stands five inches tall, with a giant crane rifle and a tiny pistol hidden in the cab. He has 15 points of articulation, including two joints in each foot for crouching poses. Goldimus says the components look better than the combined Landfill. He gives Hightower a 7 out of 10.
News
The Allspark Changes Hands
Brian says ownership of the Allspark, home of RFC’s message board, has changed hands, and some say it was hijacked. He says the new owners are banning users and deleting posts they disagree with, much like Bot Talk. That is the same problem that led fans to found the Allspark in the first place. A new board is being set up at theallspark.com, and Brian will link it from the RFC homepage. He hopes an agreement is reached and doubts the current ownership will last. He also shelved a planned rant on Transformers Armada because parts of it were outdated. [Source: not found]
Toy Review: Yamato Macross VF-1A
Duo Maxwell of alt.toys.transformers reviews Yamato’s VF-1A from Macross: Do You Remember Love?, the design that became Jetfire. He notes Bandai plans an armorless VF-1J, essentially the Jetfire toy with a different head, for about $55 this winter. The Yamato toy costs about $70 to $80 imported. The fighter mode has retractable landing gear and swing wings, and scores an 8.8. Gerwalk mode has about 20 points of articulation but flimsy leg connections, for a 7.5. Battroid mode needs part swaps like Robots in Disguise Ultra Magnus. It has 24 points of articulation and die-cast legs, and he says it outposes Jetfire any day. It scores an 8.4, and he rates the toy 8.4 overall.
Book Review: Cybertronian Volumes 2 and 3
Brian reviews Cybertronian: The Unofficial Transformers Recognition Guide Volumes 2 and 3. Volume 2 covers the third G1 series, including Defensor, Superion, Menasor, Bruticus, the Predacons and the movie characters. It also has a thorough Transformers: The Movie overview with Unicron prototypes and voice actors. Volume 3 covers the fourth series, from Throttlebots and Technobots to Headmasters, Fortress Maximus, Scorponok and the Terrorcons, plus period memorabilia. Brian praises the layout, photos, roomier media reviews and Doug Glenn’s forewords. He’s glad RFC is in the web directory and suggests adding coldhardslag.com and transfandom.com. The only drawback is the $25 price, but he says it’s worth it in this hobby.
Toy Review: Bootleg Ruination
Chris McFeely reviews a bootleg of the Robots in Disguise Commandos, the repainted G1 Combaticons that form Ruination. Mega Octane, the Onslaught repaint, has a better jungle camo scheme but some poorly drilled holes and a problem combiner joint. Rollbar, the Swindle repaint, is his favorite with no faults. Armorhide, the Brawl repaint, gets an extra hole for his small gun in tank mode. Rotor and Movor have loose shoulder joints, and Rotor is his least favorite. Ruination can hold two combined superweapons, leaving no spare parts, and Chris shares a trick for storing Mega Octane’s chestplate. He says the plastic quality is nearly as good as the official toy, despite weak face paint and American military stars instead of Decepticon symbols. He bought his at TransForce 2001 and recommends it, especially at around $5.
Brian says this is likely the last show until the RFC anniversary show around November 25.
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.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 53:08 — 24.3MB) | Embed
Radio Free Cybertron – 329
The RFC Mini-cast – 042: Masterpiece Optimus Primal and Unite Warriors Blast Off
Radio Free Cybertron – 319
Radio Free Cybertron – 08/04/00