Takara Tomy and Capcom team up for Street Fighter II x Transformers, and John DeLuna declares it the most important day of his life. Ken, Chun-Li, Ryu and M. Bison arrive as repainted Transformers in two versus packs this May. Chris catches up on Power of the Primes, from a great Swoop to a Jazz with weak ball joints and a hidden message. New photos show MP-41 Dinobot’s alternate faces and its brutal transformation. Plus TFCon USA heads to Chicago and Fans Toys shows Rouge in color.
Toy Drive Reminder
Brian kicks off this year’s Last Night Before Christmas toy drive, the show’s yearly push to donate Transformers to Toys for Tots. He suggests buying shelfwarming Titans Return Wave 1 figures for the donation boxes, which also clears pegs for Power of the Primes.
News
TFCon USA 2018 Dates Announced
TFCon USA 2018 is headed to Chicago, running the 26th through the 28th. Brian is unsure he will go, and a couple of hosts wish it had stayed in Washington, D.C. for at least one more year. [Source: Seibertron]
Chris Finds a Hidden Message on Power of the Primes Jazz
Last week Chris discovered a political slogan written in Cybertronian script on Power of the Primes Jazz, and the story reached Kotaku. Hasbro said it does not want political speech on its toys. The crew explains that Hasbro calls freelance deco artists vendors, so the message likely slipped past approval through a freelancer. He says the attention mostly blew over. [Source: not found]
This Week in History
On November 23, 1997, the Beast Wars episode “Maximal, No More” premiered in the US. The crew likes that it gives Dinobot real soul-searching, even if it does not stand out. On November 19, 2011, the Encore Devastator reissue came out in Japan, and the crew is still waiting on a G2-colored Devastator. In 2013, Star Saber won the Masterpiece fan poll.
Street Fighter II x Transformers
Street Fighter II x Transformers Two-Packs: Pricing and More Details
John DeLuna walks the crew from his first Soundwave in 1984 to his first Street Fighter cabinet in 1991. Takara Tomy and Capcom’s collaboration brings two versus packs in May 2018. Ken vs. Chun-Li is about $90, and Ryu vs. M. Bison is about $130. Ken uses the Titans Return Hot Rod mold, with Hot Rod’s crest repainted as Ken’s eyebrows. Chun-Li is Thrilling 30 Arcee, Ryu is Optimus Prime and M. Bison is Megatron, all done with paint. Each comes with a tiny Titan Master of its fighter. John has already preordered and wants all 12 Street Fighter II characters. The flesh-colored faceplates creep out a couple of hosts, and some wish Ken and Ryu shared a mold. [Source: TFormers]
More News
Machinima Titans Return Episode 3: The Fight Begins
Rob says the third episode drags, like a five-minute script stretched to fill time. The quest for Fortress Maximus happens off screen, and the Metroplex vs. Trypticon fight shows almost no damage while Optimus Prime calls it epic. Rob does enjoy Megatron’s return and his banter with Optimus, including a nod to the Requiem Blaster. [Source: TFormers]
Fans Toys Rouge Color Images
Color images of Fans Toys’ Masterpiece-style Arcee, Rouge, surfaced on Facebook. The crew agrees it is the best third-party Arcee so far, with an optional, more animation-accurate chest. Several hosts think the face is off, with lipstick that overpowers the eyes. Diecast plans to get one, and one host wishes it were a Headmaster. [Source: not found]
Mattel Passes on Hasbro Merger Offer
Mattel turned down Hasbro’s offer. The crew suspects Hasbro wanted Mattel’s licenses and to remove a competitor. One host says Mega Construx is the one Mattel property he would like Hasbro to have. [Source: TFormers]
Power of the Primes Combination Diagrams and Dreadwing Instructions
Rob covers leaked combination diagrams for upcoming Power of the Primes figures. They name no combiners and mostly show mixed combinations from each wave. The Dreadwing instructions show how the Blackwing side works. [Source: TFormers]
Power of the Primes Starscream Torso Mode First Look
The first photo of Starscream’s torso mode looks like movie Starscream with a G1 head. The crew notes the Elita-1 retool will do the same. [Source: TFormers]
New Images Show MP-41 Masterpiece Dinobot’s Alternate Faces and Transformation
Dinobot looks great in robot mode, and every alternate face has a movable jaw. The raptor mode is okay. The mid-transformation photos look like bad fried chicken to one host, and another hopes it ships in robot mode. [Source: TFormers]
New Images of MP-39 Sunstreaker
Sunstreaker includes an alternate chest that matches the car’s windows. One host already got his payment request from HobbyLink Japan. Another says he always picks an official Masterpiece over a third-party version, even though he likes Sun Surge. MP-40 Targetmaster Hot Rod follows in February. [Source: TFormers]
Paramount Launches Its First Augmented Reality Experience for The Last Knight
Viacom NEXT built the iOS-only experience with Apple’s ARKit. One host has tried VR but never AR. [Source: TFormers]
MMC R-31 Ater Beta and R-32 Stray Preorders
Mastermind Creations’ unofficial Drift and Deadlock go up for preorder. The crew is split on whether Drift needs a new toy, though everyone would take one over another Windblade. [Source: TFormers]
Magic Square Announces New Unofficial Legends-Scale Figures
The renders include Ultra Magnus, Cyclonus, Inferno and Stunticons. Cyclonus looks great, while one host finds Ultra Magnus too thin. The crew suspects these are untextured renders. [Source: TFormers]
Perfect Beast Mega Doragon: Unofficial Beast Wars Megatron
This unofficial Transmetal 2 Megatron is sized to match Perfect Effect’s Optimal Optimus. One host says it is substantially redesigned toward the mechanical side. Fan-edited Cryotek colors look great, and one host notes Perfect Effect is already doing a Primal Prime redeco. [Source: TFormers]
Power of the Primes Target DPCI Numbers for All Sizes
Rob shares Target DPCI numbers for every Power of the Primes size class. So far, stores only show Deluxes and Legends in their systems. A Target endcap reset starts on the 26th, and Chris’s reviews of Windcharger, Beachcomber, Slash and Jazz are up on TFormers. [Source: TFormers]
What We Got This Week
Diecast opened a small Taobao box. He got Mech Fans’ Legends-size Sixshot, an upscale of the DX9 War in Pocket figure, which came with labels and a blue Diaclone driver. The box shows the submarine upside down. He also got a second Kup so he can display both modes, plus replacement hand joints for his Perfect Effect Combiner Wars Devastator upgrade kit.
Chris caught up on Power of the Primes. Jazz has loose leg ball joints, and a leg popped off during the show. Slug looks better when the neck transforms correctly, and Dreadwind came out better than its photos. Swoop is his favorite deluxe of the wave, though it is overloaded with sculpted detail. Target’s 25% sale got him the new Legends: Windcharger, Beachcomber and Slash. Slash is his favorite, and darkening Windcharger’s helmet would help a lot. He also ordered the Prime Masters from Hasbro Toy Shop.
Don found the clones Fastlane, Cloudraker and Wingspan, and he is keeping a platinum set with Ultra Magnus. He picked up the Robots in Disguise Cyclonus combiner, a lone Power of the Primes Dreadwind in Roanoke and Robots in Disguise Twinferno. Toys R Us coupons got him Dark of the Moon Optimus Prime with shield and sword for $15.
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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