Takara’s TG-23 Metroplex goes up for preorder at $250 plus shipping, with an extra gun and chrome the US version will not have. Robot and vehicle shots of the Transformers Go! three-piece combiner look very Brave-like, and the crew pitches a Defensor repaint. Alternity Fortress Maximus wins over even Brian, and TFCon announces a GoBots theme. Transformers Rewind covers “Deep Metal,” and More Than Meets the Eye #16 gets a tough review for its art.
News
Takara Generations TG-23 Metroplex Up for Preorder
Takara’s Metroplex is up for preorder at $250 plus shipping. It comes with two guns and chromed parts, while the US release gets one gun. The crew says the US version follows the video game look and Takara’s leans G1. Brian would choose the G1 look and wishes for rubber tires. He is also a little sad it includes Scamper but no Six-Gun that combines. Scaleface in the chat suggests a third-party Six-Gun. The crew doubts it can be a Toys R Us exclusive and wants it to succeed so more Titans follow. Paladin campaigns for a Titan Class Omega Supreme, and another host would pick Trypticon. [Source: TFormers]
Alternity Fortress Maximus
Brian usually has no interest in the Alternity line, but he really likes the Fortress Maximus version. The crew thinks it is a retool of the Alternity Optimus Prime mold, in a green vehicle mode with a Master Sword. At 8,700 yen on Amazon Japan, about $100 shipped, Brian is passing. One host thinks it will also appeal to 1:24 scale car collectors. [Source: not found]
Transformers Go! Combiner Robot and Vehicle Modes Revealed
After weeks of silhouettes, shots of Takara’s three-piece combiner show a car, a jet and a fire truck, which Brian especially likes. The combiner modes look very Japanese and Brave-like, and the jet version looks like it is wearing a jet for a hat. The crew doubts it comes to the US, guessing $100 for a three-pack. Don pitches a Prowl, Silverbolt and Ironhide repaint to form Magnaboss. Another host suggests the Protectobots, with the sword-wielding jet as Blades, for a long-awaited Defensor. [Source: not found]
TFCon Goes GoBots
Scaleface reports that TFCon has a GoBots theme this year, with an exclusive figure called Vanguardian. Brian worries BotCon will now skip the idea. Don digs up a fan mock-up of a BotCon GoBots set built from Animated molds. The crew would absolutely buy it. [Source: not found]
BotCon Iacon Packages Sell Out
BotCon’s Iacon packages have sold out. The crew guesses demand for the set is higher than expected, or people simply prefer not to travel to California. That leads to a debate over BotCon versus San Diego Comic-Con, with most of the crew preferring the smaller BotCon.
Transformers Rewind: Deep Metal
JD and Paladin call this Beast Wars episode an extended commercial for the Transmetal Ultra Class Depth Charge and Rampage. They find Depth Charge’s revenge story canned, though his voice is great. They poke fun at the toy’s huge wings, which need a shelf of their own. They laugh at Rampage wandering off and leaving Inferno on his own, and wonder why the Maximals never cleaned up Rampage’s remains. One host wonders whether the Collectors’ Club Depth Charge could mean a Beast Wars presence at BotCon.
Comic Review: More Than Meets the Eye #16
The reviewers like the writing as it wraps up the Overlord aftermath. Chromedome stays calm because he plans to wipe his own memory, until Rewind’s final message and a talk with Brainstorm change his mind. Drift takes the blame and is put off the ship, shielding Chromedome and Brainstorm. The issue ends with the cliffhanger that Tailgate has three days to live. Their problem is Agustin Padilla’s art, which they find off-model, loose on perspective and badly staged. Two long shots meant to show Ultra Magnus’s hand curling back to life took them several reads to understand. They do like the flashback page that shows Killmaster among the Phase Sixers, alongside Sixshot, Black Shadow and Overlord. They hope for better art on the next arc and Beast Hunters.
Rob Springer Answers a Listener Question
Brad from Victoria, Australia, asks whether Rob keeps boxes for movie and Prime toys, and whether those lines will be popular in 30 years. Rob has kept every package since 1984. He folds most boxes flat into big storage bins and keeps special ones, like Masterpiece and BotCon boxes, whole. He believes every generation has its own G1. Kids who started with the movies will see them the way older fans see 1984. He expects Prime to blend into the movie look in fans’ memories.
Transformers Prime Retro Review: Deus Ex Machina
Aimee and Nicole review the fifth episode, written by Nicole Dubuc. Bulkhead helps Miko skip detention, then gives her the parent talk. The episode debuts Knockout and Breakdown, and both hosts love Knockout as the vain, twisted pretty boy of the Decepticons. The kids sneak into a museum to grab a Cybertronian orb tied to an Energon Harvester. Knockout takes down Optimus Prime with his shock prod. They note an animation error that adds pink to Arcee’s collar. They like how the kids’ involvement is justified, since humans can blend in where the bots cannot. Bulkhead destroys the Harvester, and Fowler arrives to get Miko out of trouble.
What We Got This Week
Don
Don’s pickups this week were not Transformers. He saw Shockwave again and passed.
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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Radio Free Cybertron – 12/19/2012
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