Takara Tomy surprised everyone this week with an Encore reissue of Fortress Maximus, and the Radio Free Cybertron crew is thrilled, if wincing at the roughly $330 price. This October 4, 2012 episode also covers Masterpiece cassettes, a black MP-10 Optimus Prime and an Encore Devastator with a cartoon-style head. Transformers Rewind revisits the G1 episode Dark Awakening. The crew closes with a frank talk about how expensive, and how much less fun, collecting has become.
News
Encore Fortress Maximus Announced
Out of nowhere, Takara Tomy announced an Encore reissue of Fortress Maximus, complete with the Master Sword from the Headmasters version. Big Bad Toy Store and TFSource list it around $330, a bargain next to a boxed original on eBay. One host preordered it. The crew dreams about Grand Maximus or Brave Maximus repaints and a G2 Fortress Maximus in Trypticon colors. [Source: Big Bad Toy Store]
Masterpiece Cassettes Revealed
Takara’s Masterpiece cassettes are coming in sets that work out to about $30 per figure, with Laserbeak packed in with Masterpiece Soundwave. The crew prefers the United Rumble and Frenzy and calls these mostly redos of the G1 toys, though Ravage looks great. One host expects Ratbat to come with an e-Hobby Soundblaster. [Source: not found]
Black MP-10 Optimus Prime
As expected, a black repaint of MP-10 Optimus Prime is coming. One host thinks it looks pretty nice, especially the green, though he’d rather have a Transformers: The Movie corpse version. [Source: not found]
Encore Devastator in Cartoon Colors
Encore 20A is Devastator in cartoon colors with a new cartoon-based head. The crew jokes that the head looks like somebody’s uncle and says it does less than nothing for them, since the mold is everywhere. [Source: not found]
Generations GDO Megatron Out of the Box
Out-of-box photos show the Generations G.I. Joe crossover-styled Megatron on the Bludgeon mold, headed to Toys R Us and Asia. The crew likes the comic-inspired head sculpt but says the skinny body doesn’t scream Megatron. [Source: not found]
Capbots and G.I. Joe Kre-O
New photos show the Capbots, Optimus Prime and Megatron robots that turn into baseball caps. The crew jokes that a transforming baseball cap can now look decent. G.I. Joe Kre-O is also coming. One host bought the Kre-O Rotor Rage Vortex set on a Toys R Us buy one, get one free sale and says most big Kre-O sets turn up on clearance for under $10. [Source: not found]
Prime Line Check-In
One host spotted Dreadwing at Walmart and asks whether anyone is still collecting the Transformers Prime line. One host has skipped nearly everything, and another sticks mostly to Cyberverse. The crew agrees deluxes now cost what drugstores charged in 2007.
Rescue Bots: Four Bots and a Baby
In a recorded segment, Aimee and Nick review the Rescue Bots episode Four Bots and a Baby. Cody must prove himself by watching a robot baby, with predictably funny results. They love Chase’s terrible lullaby and the baby bonding with “Uncle Heatwave.” Aimee says her kids, ages five and nine, watch every week. Rescue Bots has a second season coming.
Transformers Rewind: Dark Awakening
With Hey Mickey from Superhero Time guesting, the crew revisits Dark Awakening. Rodimus Prime and company hide in an Autobot mausoleum ship and find Optimus Prime’s tomb empty. A Quintesson-revived Optimus takes back the Matrix and leads the Autobots into a trap, then sacrifices himself to save the fleet. The crew calls it one of season three’s best. One host remembers sobbing as a kid and saw the whole episode for the first time only now.
They love Rodimus’s blunt choice for the humans, suffocate or asphyxiate, and Hot Rod’s action-hero turn. They note the episode’s physics and continuity problems and the moving scene of Daniel reading the names on the memorial wall.
Topic: The Cost of Collecting
Brian says he isn’t buying any mainline figures right now, only Takara pieces and gap fillers. He balks at $200 for the Shattered Glass Soundwave and Blaster set and $330 for Encore Fortress Maximus. One host says most of his money now goes to third-party toys, which he admits should worry Hasbro. Another says he would barely be buying Transformers without Generations.
The crew misses toy hunting, but notes that gas for five stores now costs more than shipping, and hard-to-find toys turn up later at Ollie’s or Family Dollar. Brian found three Darksteels at Family Dollar for $5 each. He says he’ll spend time hunting but not huge money, and he still won’t pay $500 for the Diaclone Ultra Magnus. One host is selling most of his collection, keeping his G1, Japanese and favorite Beast Wars pieces.
RFC Notes
Radio Free Cybertron returns to Wednesday nights on Halloween, October 31, at 8 p.m. Eastern. Listeners can follow Brian, Exvee, John and Rob on Twitter.
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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