Power Core Combiners is over, and the crew asks why a great concept never sold. TakaraTomy warns Japanese retailers to stop carrying third-party Transformers products, naming iGear’s Kup head among others. Hall of Fame voting opens with Erector on the ballot beside Grimlock, Shockwave, Jazz and Waspinator. Shout! Factory dates Headmasters for July 5. Exvee reviews his e-Hobby Autobot set, and Transformers Prime’s “Speed Metal” wins the crew over.
News
Hall of Fame Voting Opens
Fan voting for the Hall of Fame runs April 13 to 22. The nominees are Grimlock, Shockwave, Jazz, Waspinator and, to the crew’s amusement, the Micromaster Erector. Brian reads Erector’s new bio aloud, crediting him with saving Optimus Prime at the Battle of Tyger Pax and designing gear. Brian votes Grimlock, another host votes Waspinator, and the crew expects Grimlock to win. [Source: not found]
Club-Exclusive G2 Ramjet Production Sample
Production sample photos of the club-exclusive G2 Ramjet are out, and Brian wants it badly. The factory retooled the nose cone to be pointier with a rubber tip. The shoulder intakes will use factory-applied stickers because the planned graphics couldn’t be painted. Exvee is glad to see vacuum-metallized plastic on an American toy again. [Source: not found]
Headmasters DVD Dated
Shout! Factory’s Headmasters DVD arrives July 5 for $30, still with no word on an English dub. The crew imagines Walmart shoppers grabbing it during Dark of the Moon fever. [Source: not found]
TakaraTomy’s Odd Box Sets
TakaraTomy will sell sets pairing Dark of the Moon and G1 versions of Optimus Prime and Megatron in one box. It also has Toy Show exclusive “Dark Side” Optimus Prime and Megatron on the War for Cybertron molds. The crew says the black Megatron barely looks different. [Source: not found]
TakaraTomy Cracks Down on Third-Party Products
TakaraTomy warned Japanese retailers not to carry third-party Transformers products. The list includes the iGear Kup head set, a Reflector set, super-deformed Primes, a Bludgeon upgrade, iGear’s minibot Bumblebee and two Devastator add-on sets. Brian notes that heads and add-ons push sales of official toys, unlike full replacement figures. Another notes iGear sells directly from its own web store anyway. One theory is that TakaraTomy wants to protect the short-term licenses it sells to small makers. Another host wonders why fans condemn unlicensed items in stores but praise them at conventions. [Source: not found]
iGear’s Powered Convoy
Right after the crackdown, iGear announces a chocolate-colored, Masterpiece-style Powered Convoy. One host admits he likes the mock-ups because he’s a softie for Diaclone Powered Convoy. [Source: not found]
Transformers Prime: “Speed Metal”
Spoilers: the crew loves “Speed Metal,” with Jack’s teenage insecurities at the center and Knock Out and Breakdown back for more. The crew likes the growing continuity and the expanding Decepticon cast. The crew asks where Ratchet was. One host notices Arcee’s mass shifting in her motorcycle transformation for the first time. Optimus Prime plays a strong father figure. One host jokes that expensive voice actors explain why Megatron and Optimus speak so little.
Comic News
Aimee covers Ongoing #18 and Rising Storm #3. In Ongoing, Optimus Prime refuses to talk to Jazz until Bumblebee recovers. Megatron beats Prime, surrenders, then claims that Spike is out to kill the Autobots, and Prime quietly asks Prowl to investigate. In Rising Storm #3, Shockwave attacks Diego Garcia once the Autobots leave to help Sam. Aimee calls it the second-best IDW Transformers story after Last Stand of the Wreckers.
From the Chat
John DeLuna reports the chat’s Hall of Fame jokes, including Windbreaker, and Don’s push for Arcee. Ender, Chris Triplett and Chris McFeely all drop into the chat. Triplett is excited for the Transformers Prime toys, and John admits he keeps forgetting they’re coming.
TFWiki Spotlight: Transformers Gum
Chris McFeely explains that Transformers Gum was the name of Kabaya’s model kit line, sold with candy in Japan. The new article gives the line’s history and how the kits were built and sold. Its checklist runs from G1 through Victory, the Beast Wars series and Car Robots. Chris hopes it is the first of many articles cataloging thinly documented Japanese merchandise. [Source: TFWiki]
Topic: RIP Power Core Combiners
Power Core Combiners has been canceled, though the crew expects the concept to resurface in Cyberverse or elsewhere. JD Church likes Icepick as a standalone figure but never cared about combining. The crew blames spotty distribution: wave 2 and the Constructicons were scarce while recolors clogged the pegs. They also point to the lack of fiction and no familiar characters like Optimus Prime or Bumblebee. Brian, who has a personal attachment to the line, wishes for blind-packed drones or a card game. The crew compares it to Alternators, whose ideas paid off later in Human Alliance.
Twitter Theater
Rob shows a G1 season three clip in which Octane fiddles with a spaceship screen until a curvy female robot appears. The crew jokes it will raise the price of Universe Octane.
What We Got This Week
Exvee got the e-Hobby United Autobot three-pack. The clear-plastic Rodimus is the prettiest of the set, though the clear plastic makes the joints tight and the missile hard to fire. Kup comes in a greener color with paint-scrape deco, and Exvee calls it the best version of the mold. Scrapheap, the one he bought the set for, disappoints. He is bland and unpainted, with a sloppy visor and the same hand stress marks as Wreck-Gar. Exvee cut off the handlebar nubs to protect the hinges, and he plans to sell the Rodimus.
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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