An Optimus Prime skin for Titanfall turns out to be an elaborate April Fools’ joke, and Radio Free Cybertron is not amused. KFC Toys opens preorders for Citizen Stack, its $185 not-Ultra Magnus, and the crew weighs it against Masterpiece Ultra Magnus. Age of Extinction Voyager Optimus Prime and Grimlock turn up early in Canada while Generations figures stay scarce. Then the crew explains why a new G1 cartoon is never going to happen.
This Week in History
In 2000, Car Robots premiered in Japan with the episode “First Deployment Fire Convoy.” Brian calls it the first Japanese series fans could watch online the next day. The crew remembers the return of real vehicles, Saban’s Robots in Disguise dub and Sky-Byte. They also debate whether the Fire Convoy toy is terrible or great.
News
Age of Extinction Toys Found Early in Canada
Age of Extinction Voyager Optimus Prime and Grimlock showed up at retail in Canada ahead of schedule. Brian wants that Grimlock, but he still has not found Generations Whirl or the Legends figures in stores. The crew urges fans to preorder Generations figures, since movie toys tend to crowd them off the shelves. [Source: not found]
TakaraTomy Lists Black Knight Grimlock and Battle Command Optimus Prime
New TakaraTomy Age of Extinction listings include Black Knight Grimlock and Battle Command Optimus Prime. The Takara Grimlock is reportedly in movie-accurate colors. One host wishes Hasbro would release that version in the US. The crew then remembers glow-in-the-dark details on a Walmart-exclusive Dark of the Moon Optimus Prime. [Source: not found]
Optimus Prime in Titanfall Was an April Fools’ Joke
A video showed an Optimus Prime skin for Titanfall, and it spread everywhere on April 1. The video was pulled, and the crew notes that Transformers games are an Activision license while Titanfall is an EA game. The crew agrees it was well made but confused more people than it amused. One host jokes that it fits Age of Extinction’s human-killing Optimus Prime. [Source: not found]
KFC Toys Citizen Stack Opens for Preorder
KFC Toys launches its E-AVI Metal line with Citizen Stack, a not-Ultra Magnus, at $185. That is $65 less than the Masterpiece Ultra Magnus preorder. The figure is one solid unit, not an Optimus Prime in armor, and is roughly in scale with MP-10 Convoy. The crew finds it plain but clean, though nobody has seen the vehicle mode. Most of the crew will wait for the Masterpiece and debate whether Ultra Magnus should be a truck in armor. One host worries about KFC Toys’ quality, since its cassettes keep having problems. [Source: not found]
Q&A with Rob Springer
Whirl96 asks why Kre-O is a Toys R Us exclusive. Rob Springer explains that Toys R Us bought the exclusive license, since specialty retailers like exclusive lines. Kre-O is a big Hasbro brand, and an Age of Extinction tie-in makes it more valuable. Walmart carries only CityVille Kre-O now. He says Toys R Us sales and its rewards card take the sting out of higher prices.
Topic: Why We Will Never Get a G1 Continuation Cartoon
A Transformers Addicts Facebook thread asks why Hasbro does not just continue G1. Brian argues it will never happen. Hasbro has a thriving brand and new properties, and its target audience does not want G1 back. Hey Mickey says it is easier to sell toys to each new batch of kids by starting fresh, as Power Rangers does every year. Another host adds that the Brave series did the same thing, and that change is part of the Transformers mythos. Brian holds up G.I. Joe as the cautionary tale of a brand that kept retreading the same characters. Diecast suggests Junkions could repair the characters killed in the 1986 movie. Don pitches stories set between the end of season two and the movie, the way Clone Wars fills a gap. One host adds that fans already buy Generations toys without a cartoon, so there is no need to sell them one. The crew also debates what counts as G1 and how fans who love seasons one and two often reject season three.
What We Got This Week
Brian got Beast Wars Rhinox from Hasbro Toy Shop at 20% off with free shipping, after a tip from Don.
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: 1:11:37 — 32.8MB) | Embed
Radio Free Cybertron – 1/9/2013
Radio Free Cybertron 956 – Strategic Omega Prime Reserve
Radio Free Cybertron – 393
Radio Free Cybertron – 02/11/00