Dreamwave’s Transformers #1 was the top-selling comic of April, and Brian Kilby reviews it on this April 12, 2002 Radio Free Cybertron. Hooper X interviews Trixter about being a woman in the Transformers fandom and calls Rik Bakke in Norway. Brian also reviews Cybertronian Volume 4 and Robots in Disguise Super Prowl. Finback explains why he hates Beast Wars Snarl.
RFC Update
Brian apologizes for a month without a show and aims for updates every two weeks. He admits he gets bogged down, with a two-year backlog of comics to read. New listeners have about 97 archived shows to catch up on.
Comic Review: Dreamwave Transformers #1
Dreamwave’s Transformers #1 was the number one comic for April. It shipped with Autobot, Decepticon and $5.95 holofoil covers, plus an incentive cover Brian missed. He finds the story thin, since the Transformers barely appear outside of being puppets. Spike, a character named Lazarus and a secret government outfit carry most of the issue. Brian calls the dialogue empty and the tone faux-mature, out of step with a continuation of the G1 cartoon. The coloring is strong and the Transformers look fine, but the humans have blank stares. He is disappointed overall but still says it is worth buying.
Save Internet Radio
A spot urges listeners to email the Librarian of Congress at copyinfo at loc.gov. It warns that proposed per-song, per-listener royalty fees would shut down small internet broadcasters.
Interview: Trixter on Being a Woman in the Fandom
Hooper X talks with Trixter about being one of the few women in the Transformers fandom. She says some male fans fixate on any woman who talks to them about toys, and she has had to cut off friends who took it the wrong way. Most of the women at BotCon, she notes, are there with boyfriends. The talk turns to BotCon history, from the 1996 lobby hangouts to the handful of fans who have attended every year. She recalls Doug Dlin’s dead-on Rattrap impression. Trixter predates the online fandom; she ran a print fanzine called Roll Out and contributed to others. She remembers early FAQ myths and how the internet finally answered questions every fan shared.
Book Review: Cybertronian Volume 4
Brian loves the fierce Finback cover. The book has the usual toy, TV, comics and artifacts guides, plus a checklist and a web page listing that includes RFC. It finishes the comics guide through the end of G1, and Brian thinks it may finish the TV guide too. The photos are the book’s strongest suit. His only real complaint is the $25 price, and he would welcome more ads if they brought it down. He hopes to interview Doug on a future show.
Finback’s Rant: Beast Wars Snarl
Marcus Good, known as Finback, is a Tasmanian and a biologist, and Beast Wars Snarl is his most hated Transformer. He says the toy looks nothing like a Tasmanian devil. It has a bushy tail, kangaroo back legs, bat ears, the wrong teeth and a tan body instead of black. He does like the robot mode and its original transformation. He’s glad the toy was a gift, because he would never have paid for it.
Interview: Rik Bakke
Hooper X calls Rik Bakke in Norway, who is working on a big site update after interviewing Paul Davids. Rik says landing actor interviews is just a matter of asking. He plans to attend BotCon after the latest guest announcements, including Dick Gautier. He describes spotty Transformers distribution in Norway after the 1980s and says he is indifferent to Armada but may follow the comic.
Toy Review: Robots in Disguise Super Prowl
Super Prowl repaints Prowl in blue, red and white, with red and blue police lights and a larger Autobot police symbol. Brian says the attention to detail beats the original Prowl. His one complaint is the kibble common to Car Robots and Robots in Disguise cars. Prowl is harder to transform than X-Brawn but far easier than Sideburn. He paid $8 at Walmart and says to buy three or four.
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.