Masterpiece Grimlock is coming to the United States, and the crew weighs whether it’s worth $150 on this October 28, 2009 Radio Free Cybertron Halloween show. JD Church opens as host while Brian Kilby deals with a baking catastrophe. John DeLuna reviews Revenge of the Fallen Human Alliance Skids, and the crew interviews Ironhide1975 of the TFormers.com podcast. GeoCities shuts down, and next week’s guest is cosplayer MetalHawkGuy.
This Day in Transformers History: The Dweller in the Depths
JD notes that the G1 episode The Dweller in the Depths premiered October 30, 1986. One host calls it a favorite. The Quintessons trick Galvatron into unleashing a tentacled monster from the depths of Cybertron that turns Transformers into zombies. The crew calls it creepy and weird.
RFC Twitter Theater: A Week of Halloween Episodes
Rob runs down a week of Halloween-themed picks: Dark Awakening, Beast Machines’ Spark of Darkness, a Masterforce zombie episode and The Dweller in the Depths. Feral Scream, Animated’s Black Friday and Starscream’s Ghost round out the week. Tuesday’s official pick was the Transformers Animated episode Along Came a Spider, set on Halloween night. One host recalls a Transformers Legends story from 2004 in which the Mini-Cons go trick-or-treating with Rad, Carlos and Alexis.
Toy Review: Human Alliance Skids
John DeLuna is collecting the Revenge of the Fallen Human Alliance figures and picked Skids for Halloween week, joking about the face. Skids turns into a Chevy Beat concept car that John calls mundane. The figure is roughly 1:24 scale, close to Alternators. The small human figures are about two inches tall with basic articulation.
John says fan reviews rank Skids first among the Human Alliance figures, ahead of Bumblebee and Sideswipe, and he agrees. Skids has a great silhouette, balance and articulation. Because he’s smaller, he comes with an Arcee for Mikaela to ride, though John calls Arcee a so-so Legends-sized toy. The figure has a seat on its arm and pegs in its hands for the human figure. At about $25 at Target, John calls the Human Alliance figures the best buys in Revenge of the Fallen. He thinks the uneven Deluxes and pricey Leaders make them look even better. One host got his Human Alliance Bumblebee free in a Revenge of the Fallen press kit.
News
Masterpiece Grimlock Coming Stateside in 2010
Masterpiece Grimlock is getting a U.S. release, and probably a Canadian one too. The news broke right after last week’s show. One host notes the mold came and went fast and still sells for about $150. Another already owns it. The crew doesn’t know what accessories it will include and hopes for the crown. They also note how slowly Masterpiece repaints reach the U.S., with Skywarp already out in Canada. [Source: Transformerland]
G1 Art and the Unicron Prototype
G1 production art on eBay sat at about $7,500 when the crew last checked, and they would happily settle for prints. That prompts talk of the G1 Unicron prototype sold around BotCon 2001 for about $12,000. The crew invites the buyer to come on the show. One host says the prototype was on display at BotCon this year. Another says he wouldn’t pay much more than twice retail for a prototype. [Source: not found]
Clearance Finds
Brian rejoins the crew and shows off Transformers Animated Optimus Prime, which he got for $20 at Ollie’s. He says the talking figure wasn’t worth $50 but is absolutely worth $20. One host got Primus for about $25 on clearance and sold a second one for a profit. He calls Primus excellent from the waist up.
RFC Staff Blogs
Brian explains the new staff blogs at tfradio.net, which cover niche interests that may not make the show. His posts include his recent finds and a look at the RFC studio. Rob’s include pumpkins carved as Jetfire and the Fallen.
Interview: Ironhide1975 of the TFormers.com Podcast
Anthony, known as Ironhide1975, hosts the TFormers.com podcast with Z Piper, started in 2008 with TFormers.com’s backing. Years ago he went by Botimus and drew a South Park-style Transformers parody called the Zapbots. He also helped out with RFC back in the day.
He remembers listening to RFC’s Transformers: The Movie parody and quoting it with friends. He says the TFormers podcast tried a Daily Show format with canned laughter before settling into a natural news-and-comment show. The crew compares notes on the growing field of Transformers podcasts, each with its own format. He points families to kid-friendly shows like Moonbase 2. They also discuss how hard podcasts are to explain to non-listeners. Ironhide1975 invites the crew to join his Sunday recordings.
GeoCities Shuts Down
GeoCities finally closed this week. The crew mourns early Transformers sites lost with it, including Zobovor’s Transformers dance, The Transformers Collector and TFG1 Forever’s fanfic archive. One host compares it to the Library of Alexandria. Another argues most of value has already moved elsewhere. The crew discusses Blogger and WordPress as replacements.
Transformers Halloween Costumes
One host wore a Ben Cooper Snarl costume from Kmart as a kid and still has the mask. Brian spotted an adult Optimus Prime costume for about $80. The crew also mentions kids’ costumes for Animated Optimus Prime and Bumblebee and the movie characters, plus a G1 Optimus Prime costume.
Next Week: MetalHawkGuy
Next week’s guest is Joe, the cosplayer known as MetalHawkGuy, of JAG Productions. Brian calls him one of RFC’s two biggest fan interviews, alongside Jim Sorenson.
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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