Transformers 3 filming photos show the new female lead in a bathrobe, along with an updated Ratchet. This June 9, 2010 Radio Free Cybertron also covers Banzai-Tron, the Transformers Prime prequel comic, a limited Scorponok reissue and Seaspray’s Australian release. Jack of TFormers.com interviews the lead programmer of the Nintendo DS version of War for Cybertron. Ender then tears into IDW’s Transformers Ongoing #8, and the crew launches Project Awesome for BotCon 2010.
News
Transformers 3 Set Photos Show New Lead and Ratchet
Transformers 3 is filming, and set photos show the actress replacing Megan Fox wearing a bathrobe between takes, smoking and picking her nose. The crew jokes that the production should simply call her Megan. Photos also show an updated Ratchet, and the crew notes the white is right but the red is still missing. [Source: not found]
New Photos of Banzai-Tron
New photos show Banzai-Tron, a repaint of the Revenge of the Fallen Bludgeon mold. The crew loves the mold and calls the color scheme quirky enough to want. [Source: not found]
Transformers Prime Prequel Comic Details
Preliminary details on the Transformers Prime prequel comic set the story on Cybertron, where the Autobots want Prime as their leader. The crew says it sounds a lot like War for Cybertron. Judging from the single Bumblebee image, they expect the show to aim at the Ben 10 crowd of 7- to 10-year-olds. That leads to a rant against G.I. Joe: Resolute and the Sigma 6 cartoon. [Source: not found]
Limited Scorponok Reissue
A limited reissue of the Scorponok mold is coming. The crew calls it a great, forgotten toy that does nothing wrong. Then they argue over whether Armada Megatron belongs among the top five Transformers ever made. [Source: not found]
War for Cybertron Demo and DS Kiosk
An Xbox Live demo of War for Cybertron is out. One host played the DS version at a Toys R Us kiosk with Chris Triplett and was not impressed. [Source: not found]
Scott McNeil and Paul Eiding to Attend BotCon 2010
Scott McNeil and Paul Eiding, the voice of Perceptor, will attend BotCon 2010. The crew wonders whether Eiding will remember a role he voiced for about two years in the 1980s, and they trade stories about voice actors’ memories. [Source: not found]
Seaspray and Payload Hit Australia
Seaspray and Payload are out in Australia, so the crew expects Seaspray in the US soon. They call the new Seaspray enormous, like the oversized Powerglide, and wish for a giant Cosmos. [Source: not found]
This Day in Transformers History
JD Church notes that on June 11, 2003, Hasbro announced plans for a fully live-action Transformers movie. John DeLuna calls it surreal that the films became far more popular than any movie fans wanted could have been. He recalls sending pop culture Transformers mentions to Zobovor for a list. The talk turns to inevitable remakes, and the crew learns that James Lipton is credited with the ThunderCats theme.
Project Awesome
Stan Bush, who sang “The Touch,” will appear at BotCon 2010. The crew launches Project Awesome, asking fans to get photos of themselves high-fiving Stan Bush. Fans who can’t attend can Photoshop one instead, then email it to Brian at tfradio.net. They say Stan Bush knows about the idea and fully endorses it.
Interview: War for Cybertron DS Lead Programmer
Jack of TFormers.com talks with the lead programmer of the DS version of War for Cybertron at Vicarious Visions. The game ships as separate Autobot and Decepticon versions with two independent stories: Megatron’s rise to power and Optimus Prime becoming a Prime. It has 30 characters, including DS-only figures such as Grimlock, Swoop, Cyclonus, Cliffjumper and Ultra Magnus, with their own designs. An RPG-lite system lets each character level up and unlock abilities, so Bumblebee and Cliffjumper play differently.
Players carry a main and a backup character with separate health bars and swap between them to exploit damage types. Local multiplayer supports up to four players in deathmatch, king of the hill, capture the flag and Energon Dash. Players can wager leveled characters and win them back through rescue missions. One side quest has Grimlock demanding tasks before he will join Optimus. He says Hasbro asked for High Moon’s Maya character files and came back weeks later with gray toy prototypes. Megatron is written as calculating rather than insane, with the Decepticon story about accumulating power and the Autobot story about hope.
Garry Chalk Liner
Garry Chalk records a Radio Free Cybertron liner.
Comic Review: IDW Transformers Ongoing #8
Ender says the issue is written competently but gives no reason to read it. Spike disables a Constructicon with homemade drain cleaner, then kills it with its own gun, which Ender says turns Spike into a torturer and removes Devastator from continuity. He calls the art subpar, with only one Transformer in the issue. He argues the series keeps negating the Autobots’ reason to exist and has gone seven issues without moving the plot. The crew blames inconsistent IDW character designs between artists, and Ender praises Mike Costa’s Ironhide miniseries by contrast.
The crew debates fixes, from a soft reboot to simply sending the Autobots back to space. They note editor Andy Schmidt says issues 9 and 10 will be better. Ender also pans the Bumblebee miniseries and jokes that a Mr. Magoo crossover would be the best Ongoing issue in eight months.
BotCon 2010 Plans
The crew asks listeners to visit the TFormers.com table or say hello around BotCon, and jokes about cooking bacon at the table. John DeLuna will rove with recording equipment for interviews. Coverage will run on tformers.com, tfradio.net and oldoilhouse.co.uk, and Brian may broadcast live on the road to Rob’s house. The crew also urges listeners to join the TFormers.com forums.
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: 1:17:27 — 35.5MB) | Embed
History on the Fives: The Lost Episodes – 1: More than We Missed, Part 1
Radio Free Cybertron 637 – Sailor Unicron
Radio Free Cybertron 693 – What a pleasant toy buying experience
Radio Free Cybertron 919 – 2025 Annual Prediction Show