The blue Bluestreak rumor resurfaces on alt.toys.transformers, and John DeLuna calls it a myth. This April 21, 2000 Radio Free Cybertron also revisits the “Dark Side” debate over the Beast Wars Predacon ship. Goldimus Prime reviews Beast Machines Airraptor, and Turin debuts the song parody “Transforming in the Wind.” Brian Kilby closes with a spoiler review of the Beast Machines episode “Endgame, Part 1: The Downward Spiral.”
News
RFC Interview Delayed, Ask RFC Launches
Brian Kilby says an interview with Dalmatian will not air this week and should be ready in two weeks. Responses to his ATT rant will be read next week. Listeners can answer the new poll on alt.toys.transformers, and send questions to the new Ask RFC address. New staff email addresses are posted on the main page.
ATT Buzz
John DeLuna says G1 topics are back on the newsgroup, including the blue Bluestreak rumor stirred up by eBay shenanigans. He thinks an official blue Bluestreak almost certainly never existed. He concedes a slim chance, since a red Tracks was released in Europe. The “Dark Side” debate also returned. In Beast Wars, Terrorsaur greets Cheetor with “Welcome to the Dark Side.” John says the script shows it was an expression, not the ship’s name. Fans have used the nickname ever since, and he has no complaint with it.
News from Cybertron
Turin’s comedy news has a Decepticon jet arrested for lewd comments and Bluestreak and Sunstreaker cited for indecent exposure. Optimus Prime and Megatron try to end the Great War with Tic-Tac-Toe, but game 200,467 ends in a tie. Ultra Magnus orders Punch, aka Counterpunch, executed because no one remembers whose side he is on.
Transforming in the Wind
Turin performs “Transforming in the Wind,” a song parody with lyrics posted on the homepage. Brian loves the Wheelie line.
Beast Machines Airraptor Review
Goldimus Prime reviews Airraptor. He likes the beast mode, which stands well with its wings in any position. He scores it 7 out of 10 despite kibble from the hanging robot legs. The robot mode is leggy and boring, but he likes the quick-draw gun gimmick and gives it 8 out of 10. He suspects he swapped the two scores. The bomb-drop gimmick works poorly, so gimmicks get 7 out of 10. Overall, he highly recommends Airraptor at $10.
Trivia
Last week’s answer was “Fight or Flee.” Rodimus123, PlutoM and MockAlertCR answered correctly. Brian calls this week’s clip a hard one.
Beast Machines: Endgame, Part 1: The Downward Spiral
Brian reviews the episode after a spoiler break. Primal holds the Sparks, and the Vehicons go on the offensive to take them back. Rattrap frees Botanica from the floating head, sacrificing the ship’s remaining power. Brian found that scene cliched and self-serving. He thought the episode was boring at first, but it grew on him after a few viewings. He gives it a 7 and plans reviews of the last two episodes.
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.