Jim Shooter recounts the secret origins of Transformers at Marvel on his blog, and the crew digs in on this June 22, 2011 Radio Free Cybertron. Takara announces an Encore Constructicons set for about $120, and new pictures show the smaller Masterpiece Convoy MP-10. Peter reviews the Dark of the Moon video game, and the crew praises the Transformers Prime episode Operation Breakdown. A Beast Wars catalog that gave early figures G1 names sparks the week’s topic.
JD Church hosts while Brian is away, joined by Peter, Aimee, John DeLuna and Exvee. Rob sends in Twitter Theater and a new recorded segment.
News
Encore Constructicons Set Announced
Takara is releasing an Encore Constructicons set for about $120, which the crew says works out to about $20 per Constructicon. One host notes the Tokyo Toy Show announcement said Devastator would be modified for modern safety rules, likely fusing the drill bits and missiles. If it sells, Twincast and Soundblaster may follow. JD admits he is tempted, since he doesn’t own a Devastator. [Source: not found]
Masterpiece Convoy MP-10 Pictures
New pictures show the Masterpiece Convoy MP-10, a slightly smaller and more detailed Optimus Prime with lots of accessories. A transformation video posted via TFormers mostly shows the back of someone’s head. The crew also wants a Masterpiece Megatron redo in a material that won’t rust. [Source: TFormers.com]
E-Hobby Black Masterpiece Rodimus
E-Hobby will offer a black Masterpiece Rodimus. The crew jokes that this is unprecedented for E-Hobby, and predicts a clear version next. [Source: not found]
Dark of the Moon Ultimate Optimus Prime Turns Up Early
Dark of the Moon Ultimate Optimus Prime turned up at a Massachusetts comic shop for $89.99, with receipts posted on TFormers. Takara’s version costs 16,000 yen, about $200, and any differences are unannounced. Nobody on the crew plans to pay that. [Source: TFormers.com]
Revoltech Optimus Prime Prototype
Prototype pictures of a silver Revoltech Optimus Prime show a non-transforming figure with heavy articulation and many weapons on revolver joints. No price yet, but the crew expects it to be expensive. [Source: not found]
Oakley Transformers 3D Glasses
Oakley is selling Transformers 3D glasses with Autobot or Decepticon logos for $150. The crew will stick with the free ones at the theater. [Source: not found]
Michael Bay Explains Megan Fox’s Exit
Michael Bay says Megan Fox left the franchise after she compared him to Hitler, which led Steven Spielberg to call for her firing. The crew wonders why the old story is news now, and one host thinks it was a stunt that backfired. [Source: not found]
Club Freebie Sideburn and More
Production shots of the Transformers Collectors’ Club freebie Sideburn surfaced, reportedly via a flea market. The crew is reluctant to promote leaked items, but agrees it looks great. JD plans to join next year for the Battle Charger Runabout. Dark Sentinel Prime also gets a Cyberverse figure. [Source: not found]
Fast Food Transformers
Burger King’s kids meals now offer Transformers Flip-Outs, super-deformed figures with features like a glow-in-the-dark Soundwave. KFC’s kids meal Transformers, about the size of Deluxes, are out in Malaysia, with pictures on the Allspark. The crew doubts the US will get them. [Source: The Allspark]
Jim Shooter’s Secret Origins of the Transformers
Jim Shooter is recounting the development of Transformers at jimshooter.com. The first post explains that Knickerbocker Toys pitched a franchise for generic Japanese transforming robots to DC and then Marvel. DC produced a sample comic before Hasbro bought Knickerbocker, and the next year came Transformers. Part two covers Marvel’s conflict with Sunbow. The crew enjoys the line that in Japan, cars turn into robots and kids don’t ask why. [Source: jimshooter.com]
Third-Party Animated Powermaster Optimus Prime Armor
A shadowy teaser shows add-on armor that turns Animated Optimus Prime into the Animated Powermaster Optimus from the AllSpark Almanac. The maker is unknown, and it reportedly fits the Voyager mold. The crew also looks at Not-Devastator Hercules figures, at about $100 per unit. [Source: not found]
Review: Transformers Prime, Operation Breakdown
Transformers Prime’s Operation Breakdown opens with Breakdown about to kill Bulkhead before the human group Mech captures him to reverse-engineer his body. Megatron refuses to rescue him, but the Autobots go after him to keep his technology from Mech. The crew calls it a strong, dark episode for its rating and hopes Breakdown’s toy keeps the missing eye. JD praises every character’s response, especially Breakdown still trying to kill Bulkhead when Starscream arrives. It is not groundbreaking, but it leaves JD optimistic about Prime.
Review: Transformers: Dark of the Moon Video Game
Peter calls the Dark of the Moon game one of the better movie games. It feels like War for Cybertron, the Stealth Force mode works well and players no longer hunt for ammo. But it is short, under ten hours on medium across seven levels. Driving in vehicle mode needs the right stick to steer, which he calls asinine. Multiplayer has three modes, with Conquest the most popular. He prefers War for Cybertron for multiplayer and suggests renting before paying $60.
Transformers Prime Kids and the Chat
From the chat, Headmaster Don wants an episode focused on the kids. The crew is happy the kids barely appeared this week, and several would happily write off Miko. Chat also asked about the G2 Ramjet and BotCon Thundercracker, which the crew teases for a future review.
Comics with Aimee
Aimee reports that Dark of the Moon movie adaptation #3 is out today, with the third part of John Barber’s Convergence prose story. The Dark of the Moon prequel trade has hit the bestseller list, and she congratulates Barber on his first child. Heart of Darkness #4 arrives next week, while Dark of the Moon #4 may be delayed.
This Day in Transformers History
JD covers June 21, 2000, when the Car Robots episode with the giant Buddha statue transformer aired. June 22, 2009, marks the US premiere of Revenge of the Fallen at the Los Angeles Film Festival.
Crave Corner
Cole from Crave says this week’s feature is Classics, including Generations Thundercracker, Warpath, Wheeljack and Lugnut. Shiptimus Prime has listed Kups with iGear heads. For June, Crave runs a refer-a-friend deal worth $5 each, plus a seller contest for the most listings sold.
Rob’s Segment: The Weirdest Fan Experience
In his first recorded segment, Rob recalls the strangest fan he ever met. While running Georgia Transfans viewing nights at a Media Play around 2004, a disheveled G1-only fan pitched his fan fiction site as Transformers Mythologies. Rob and his friend Chris Berucco later ran into the same man at a Georgia flea market and made a quick escape.
Topic: Beast Wars As It Might Have Been
Shout’s Beast Wars DVD set includes a first-year catalog that gives early figures G1 names: Polar Claw is Red Alert, Buzzsaw is Bumblebee and Megatron’s Ultra figure is Galvatron. The crew debates whether those were plans or placeholders. Exvee notes early tech specs hint the show was meant for modern Earth. Most agree the names were probably placeholders and the story is more mundane than the fandom’s 500-post threads. The crew then asks whether Beast Wars still excites fans, and JD predicts its nostalgia wave is just beginning.
Twitter Theater
Rob found a Jollibee kids meal commercial for Beast Machines, from around 2000. It shows Optimus Primal, Cheetor and a Megatron who looks like he has real arms, played by kids in costume. He calls it fun and wishes more commercials just showed kids being kids.
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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