Prototypes of Beast Machines Supreme Optimus Primal and the Unicorn basic turned up on eBay, while Mega Rattrap is already hitting stores. This December 31, 2000 Radio Free Cybertron year-end show also covers Shining Ultra Magnus selling out in Japan and the Walmart-exclusive Tripredacus Agent. Rattrap007 reviews Mega Rattrap, and John DeLuna and Brian Kilby each look back on a rough year for alt.toys.transformers.
News
Beast Machines Supreme Optimus Primal and Unicorn Prototypes Surface on eBay
An eBay seller listed unreleased prototypes of the Unicorn basic and Supreme Optimus Primal, also called Air Attack Optimus Primal, plus Stealth Cheetor. Supreme Primal appears in unpainted white with clear plastics. John thinks he looks good and close to show accurate. Still, he dislikes Hasbro’s approach of making bigger Beast Machines toys simpler, calling Nightscream a blown-up basic. [Source: alt.toys.transformers]
Rattrap and Two New Basics Hit Stores
Rattrap and two new basics are reaching Walmart and Target in good numbers. John feared a repeat of Transmetal 2 Blackarachnia’s spotty release, but Hasbro seems to have learned. [Source: alt.toys.transformers]
Recolored Deployers and Beast Riders Spotted
Recolored Deployers are showing up at Target in bigger numbers than the first wave, in more garish, neon colors. Pictures of recolored Beast Riders also surfaced. John likes both as cheap accessories that improve weaker toys like Mega Megatron. He reads the recolors as a sign Hasbro was pleased with the first wave’s sales. [Source: alt.toys.transformers]
Godfire Convoy Gift Set Arrives From TOJ
Fans who preordered from TOJ received the Car Robots Godfire Convoy gift set, combining God Magnus and Super Fire Convoy with translucent plastic and a big sword. John likes the set despite the floppy, cheaply made sword. TOJ also threw in a free Versus pack. [Source: alt.toys.transformers]
BotCon Japan Comes and Goes
BotCon Japan ran one afternoon and felt more like an anime convention with a Transformers focus. Guests included the Japanese voice of Convoy, and dealers sold Japanese toys at great prices. John grumbles that an unnamed American dealer bought up deals to resell. [Source: alt.toys.transformers]
Shining Ultra Magnus Sells Out in Japan
Takara released Shining Ultra Magnus, a translucent yellow repaint of the G1 Ultra Magnus reissue limited to around 800 pieces. It sold out almost immediately. John says it looks like a jello mold and argues the movie scene it references looks blue, not yellow. [Source: alt.toys.transformers]
Tripredacus Agent Revealed as a Walmart Exclusive
Packaging shows the black, gold and silver Transmetal 2 Cheetor repaint is a Walmart exclusive named Tripredacus Agent. John speculates Hasbro has lost the Ravage name, as with Shadow Panther’s renaming. [Source: alt.toys.transformers]
ATT Buzz: The Year in Review
John calls 2000 a bad year for ATT, driven by an influx of casual fans and flame wars for their own sake. He blames Car Robots and dealers’ Transformers 2000 hype for drawing in that crowd. He thanks the elder posters, including Zobovor, Rob Powers and Thylacin2000, plus Steve Stonebreaker and Robert Jung. He urges unhappy readers to post something good.
Toy Review: Beast Machines Mega Rattrap
Rattrap007 found Mega Rattrap in an Evansville store after a tip from RavageX9 on the AllSpark message board. The register wouldn’t ring it up, since it isn’t due until February. The rat mode is about a foot long and show accurate, and the robot mode looks bigger than Tankor. He praises the new instructions, which tint moving parts red. He gives Rattrap a 9.9 out of 10, faulting only the face, and calls him the best Beast Machines Maximal yet.
Trivia
This week’s clip is “Not Snowman Spike. Snow what?” Email Brian with the answer.
Bad Poets Corner
An untitled poem looks back on childhood days watching Transformers.
Brian’s Rant: 2000 in Review
In ten unscripted minutes, Brian says he hates the Beast Wars Mutants. He calls the Beast Machines Maximals mostly weak, though he likes Obsidian, Blast Charge and Ultra Jetstorm among the Vehicons. Takara’s Car Robots year was a flood of repaints, and he calls the cartoon crap. Beast Machines season two was mixed, with Prometheus Unbound a highlight and the Endgame fight boring. He also laments ATT’s decline from repeated newbie questions and off-topic posts.
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.