Beast Machines Cheetor, Blackarachnia and Thrust toy pictures hit alt.toys.transformers, along with a wave of spoiler-posting trolls. On this December 17, 1999 Radio Free Cybertron, Turin fills in for Brian Kilby, whose computer is out of state for repairs. Turin reviews Transmetal 2 Nightglider and the UK repaints of Claw Jaw and Spittor. He also takes on the long-running Enter the Nightbird debate, and Zobovor previews his Transformers Television Encyclopedia.
News
Trolls Post Beast Machines Spoilers to ATT
Trolls have invaded alt.toys.transformers, posting Beast Machines spoilers right in the subject lines. John DeLuna says careful readers can still dodge them. He stayed spoiler-free for a month, which made the previous week’s Waspinator episode hit all the harder for him. [Source: alt.toys.transformers]
First Pictures of Beast Machines Cheetor, Blackarachnia and Thrust
The newsgroup got pictures of a Beast Machines Cheetor toy, plus other Beast Machines toys including Blackarachnia and Thrust. John thinks the toys look good, especially Blackarachnia. He jokes that Hasbro still pays the same monkey to transform toys for the box photos, and suggests hiring a five-year-old instead. [Source: alt.toys.transformers]
Silverbolt Posts G1 ASCII Portraits
John gives props to Silverbolt for posting a few G1 ASCII portraits to ATT. [Source: alt.toys.transformers]
Opening
Turin is the guest host while Brian Kilby’s computer is shipped to another state for repair. Turin expects Brian back in a week or two. He also tallies his first year of collecting: 63 G1, G2 and Machine Wars toys and 98 Beast Wars toys in 46 weeks, for 161 Transformers in all.
Trivia
Last week’s winners were Jay Foster, Polaris and Zobovor. The answer was the G1 episode Starscream’s Brigade. This week’s clip asks listeners to name the episode and what the clip shows.
Toy Review: Transmetal 2 Nightglider
Turin reads his interpretation of Brian Kilby’s review of the Transmetal 2 basic Nightglider. Brian praises the color scheme, robot mode, scabbard, easy transformation and weapon, and calls the beast mode stiff. He scores Nightglider 9 out of 10. Turin is not a big fan. He likes the robot mode, but finds the orange too much and the beast mode lacking.
The Transformers Television Encyclopedia
Zobovor (Dave Edwards) explains his Transformers Television Encyclopedia, a guide to the Transformers cartoon universe. When finished, it will have over 1,200 entries, including Cybertronian devices, episode descriptions and over 200 Autobots, Decepticons, Maximals and Predacons. He hopes to finish it sometime before 2005.
Episode Review: Enter the Nightbird
Turin weighs in on the alt.toys.transformers debate over the G1 episode Enter the Nightbird. Dr. Fujiyama builds the robot ninja Nightbird, the Decepticons steal and reprogram her, and the Autobots recover her after Starscream’s treachery. Turin finds no evidence that Nightbird joined the Decepticons of her own free will. He thinks Bombshell’s reprogramming gave her some personality, citing her narrowed eyes in the last scene. He reads Megatron’s line as wanting her as a soldier, not a weapon or a lover. He sees no evidence of a romance at all.
Song: Nightbird
Megatron disagrees about the romance, so Turin performs Megatron’s song Nightbird to the tune of Neil Diamond’s Cherry Cherry.
Toy Review: UK Claw Jaw and Spittor Repaints
Turin likes the UK repaints even better than the original Claw Jaw and Spittor. Spittor is now red with gold highlights and a mostly black robot body. Turin thinks it looks better, though the original colors match his Transmetal 2 form more closely. He admits he transformed his original Spittor wrong for months. Claw Jaw comes in dark green and blue with light green highlights, and both repaints use geometric highlight shapes. Turin also confesses he missed Claw Jaw’s back-mounted weapon for months. He suggests fans turn repaints into new characters and submit them to the Beast Wars Non-Show Character Site.
Closing
Turin warns that next week’s show may be short because of the holidays and wishes everyone a Merry Christmas.
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.