Brian Kilby returns after months off on this October 25, 2002 Radio Free Cybertron with his take on Transformers Armada. He loves the toys and the comic, but not the cartoon. He also plugs RM Transcon 2 in Texas and confirms he will attend all of BotCon 2003. The show closes with Recharge and Hooper X’s prank-filled phone interview with former RFC staffer ViceGripX.
Brian on the State of RFC
Brian apologizes for the lack of updates this year. He works 50 to 80 hours a week, and a broken microphone port on his sound card has kept him from recording shows and interviews. He looks back on the early days with Turin, Goldimus Prime and John DeLuna. He hopes to return to weekly or every-other-week shows once a new sound card arrives. His email is now briankilby at charter.net.
Armada: Great Toys and Comic, Weak Cartoon
Brian really likes the Armada toys; his last purchase was probably Armada Starscream or the Mini-Con racing team. He calls the Armada comic really good and credits Chris Sarracini’s characterization, built from scratch. He is less fond of Sarracini’s G1 comic work. Brian thinks the Armada cartoon is pretty bad, mostly in the writing. He respects the effort behind Robots in Disguise, and Sky-Byte remains his favorite character since Beast Machines Thrust. He says the fandom has taken Armada better than he expected.
BotCon 2003 and Other Transformers Happenings
Brian points to toy reissues, Toys R Us exclusives, new Armada PVCs from Japan and The War Within comic as signs of a healthy brand. He says BotCon 2003 looks like a very good convention despite the controversy, and he is taking time off to attend the whole thing. He teases his friend Chris, who got him a BotCon 2001 badge when Brian only stayed two and a half hours.
RM Transcon 2
Walter at Robot Monster Toys asked RFC to promote RM Transcon 2, a Transformers convention in College Station, Texas, on November 1 and 2, 2002. A link will be on the RFC website.
Listener Mail
Brian thanks Joel Eubanks and listeners including Dune2000, Chris Penn and Fryer Tug for their emails. He may bring back the feedback segment.
Wheezebucket Promo
Wally Wingert, the voice of Sideburn and Mirage in Robots in Disguise, records a promo for Wheezebucket.net in character.
Interview: ViceGripX
Recharge and Hooper X phone ViceGripX, a former RFC staffer and longtime Transfan, in an interview recorded about six months earlier. The call opens with jokes about Fox’s Celebrity Boxing and claims that ViceGripX is secretly Zobovor, Turin and half of ATT. ViceGripX says his eBay days are over now that he is married and starting a family, and money keeps him from BotCon. His favorite cartoons include Beast Wars, X-Men, Batman Beyond and Batman: The Animated Series. He thinks Armada combines everything good in Transformers, from Power Master-style Mini-Cons to Optimus Prime’s trailer. Brian warns that he hadn’t screened the interview, which includes crude humor.
Third Anniversary Show
Brian promises a third-anniversary show in mid to late November, hopefully with returning faces and a few surprises.
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.