Impactor wins the Generations fan vote, and a Hasbro Q&A hints that War for Cybertron will mine the 1984 cartoon’s Cybertronian modes. Studio Series Leader Grimlock wins over nearly the whole crew, and Studio Series Optimus Prime shows up in hand. Toys R Us UK enters administration, and Jada announces G1 and Bumblebee movie die-cast cars. Masterpiece MP-40 Targetmaster Hot Rod’s giant Firebolt gets roasted.
News
Transformers Generations Fan Vote Result Announced for War for Cybertron Two-Pack
Hasbro opened the fan vote at Toy Fair, and the winning matchup becomes a Deluxe two-pack. Impactor versus Mirage wins, to almost no one’s surprise, and Brian says that is how he voted. The crew had long assumed Hasbro would never make a mainline Impactor. Diecast uses the fan club’s Rook as a combiner leg, while another host defends Rook as a solid figure on its own. One host jokes the Mirage will just be the Classics mold. The crew keeps pushing the running hashtag Seacons before Unicron. [Source: TFormers]
Hasbro 2018 Transformers Fan-Vote Mini Q&A Offers at Least One Interesting Detail
Asked why Wheeljack was in the vote, Hasbro says his Cybertronian mode from the 1984 pilot has never been a toy. The crew reads that as a sign War for Cybertron will borrow from the cartoon’s Cybertronian modes. They list Bumblebee, Wheeljack, Jazz, the Seekers, Soundwave and Laserbeak. One host wants Tetrajet Rainmakers with some Fall of Cybertron engineering. Don adds the Decepticon trucks and warriors from “War Dawn” and the Aerialbots’ cargo-shuttle forms. [Source: TFormers]
Bumblebee: The Movie and G1 Jada Die-Cast Cars Coming Later This Year
Jada’s 1:24-scale Hollywood Rides line includes a G1 Optimus Prime, a movie Optimus Prime and a VW Beetle for the Bumblebee movie. Diecast, a car collector, loves the G1 Optimus Prime. Brian wants KITT from Knight Rider, and one host wants KARR for its Peter Cullen connection. [Source: TFormers]
Toys R Us UK Enters Administration: Customers Advised to Spend Gift Cards Now
Toys R Us UK has entered administration and stopped selling online, and customers are told to spend gift cards now. In the US, the chain plans to close about 200 more stores. The crew believes the UK business is a separate company, so the effect on the US is unclear. [Source: TFormers]
Studio Series Leader Class Grimlock: In-Hand Photos of New Mold Movie Dinobot
Diecast’s Toy Fair photo of Studio Series Leader Grimlock was the most popular of the show. Everyone but Matt loves it, and even a host who hates the movie designs calls it beautiful. One host explains that movie toys usually get accurate only the second time, since the first wave is built from concept art. Eric advises against a clearance Leader Megatron, whose jet mode is its only highlight. [Source: TFormers]
Studio Series Optimus Prime Movie Voyager: Extensive In-Hand Photos
The crew likes the colors, and the deco is painted rather than stickered. One host still wants Optimus Prime at Leader scale. Another explains that the forest-fight characters are sized together, so not all can be Leaders. [Source: TFormers]
Masterpiece MP-40 Targetmaster Hot Rod In-Hand Photos With Comparisons to MP-28
Several hosts thought MP-40 was already out. The crew likes the maroon, but Firebolt is huge on the hood, clearly designed for the larger Rodimus. One host compares it to a picnic cooler on a go-kart. Another calls it the most epic repaint fail in years. [Source: TFormers]
7-Eleven Masterpiece Optimus Prime
Brian wants TakaraTomy’s 7-Eleven Masterpiece Optimus Prime, priced at 269 pounds, about $373. It uses the Masterpiece Ultra Magnus body with green highlights, a Matrix that looks like a watermelon and a 7-Eleven employee mini figure. He may use his tax refund. Don tweeted at 7-Eleven asking it to bring the figure to the US. [Source: not found]
This Week in History
On February 29, 2008, the BotCon 2008 Shattered Glass set sold out. The crew recalls it as the first official mirror-universe take on Transformers, and one host says only the Games of Deception set sold out faster. [Source: TFWiki]
Listener Feedback
One texter points out an existing third-party cape made for Mastermind Creations’ combiners, and Don recalls several colors. Tom asks whether War for Cybertron will dig into obscure characters and end with a Rodimus versus Galvatron finale like G1 season three. The crew hopes so. One host notes John Warden named Rebirth and “Call of the Primitives” among his inspirations, alongside the 1984 cartoon.
What’s on TFormers
Chris reviews Optimus Prime Annual 2018, Starscream: The Movie, and Rob reviews Optimus Prime #16, The Falling, Part 2. [Source: TFormers] Rob’s Brands of Transformers series reaches Nerf, after Playskool and Kenner. [Source: TFormers] TFormers also has Titans Return Loudmouth concept art and David Kaye’s return as Beast Wars Megatron in a Robot Chicken clip.
Reviews
Diecast reviewed Studio Series 01 Bumblebee. He likes it but not the downsizing, and he worries War for Cybertron will be downsized too.
What We Got This Week
Don got Weijiang’s oversized Megamaster, the version with the Laserbeak silencer, and hopes it is the last Megatron he ever buys. He also showed an Evangelion-colored Optimus Prime knockoff with trailer, bought for under $200 instead of about $500 for the original.
Brian got Stinger and a purple Legends Megatron that the TakaraTomy Legends comic may make Beast Wars Megatron. He also got MP-10B Black Optimus Prime, cheap from Amazon Japan, and loves the paint.
John had nothing in Transformers this week.
Eric got the Wave 2 Power of the Primes Legends from a friend at Purdue: Battletrap and Tailgate. He loves Battletrap but loves Tailgate even more.
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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