Brian and JD Church, known online as Unicron Spawn, compare the Transformers fandom of 2009 with the alt.toys.transformers days of the late 1990s on this July 2009 Radio Free Cybertron. They agree the brand is bigger than at its 1980s peak and look back at the Beast Wars era as a golden age for a small online community. JD makes the case for the live-action movies as action films full of fan references, and Brian admits JD may have won him over. Exvee reviews Revenge of the Fallen Deluxe Ravage. Brian also recommends Animated Ultra Magnus at $20 from Toys R Us.
The Fandom Then and Now
JD introduces himself: once JDale on alt.toys.transformers, where he ran the ATT Who’s Who, and later part of Cold Hard Slag as Unicron Spawn. Both hosts say Transformers is now more mainstream than in the 1980s, with movies, several comic series and a new cartoon every year or two. JD credits Hasbro’s multimedia marketing. Brian credits the G1 cartoon for making the movies possible.
They recall the drought after the G2 comic, when the online fandom was an email list and then alt.toys.transformers. Beast Wars brought new fiction but also a rift between fans. JD calls it a golden age when perhaps 50 people drove the conversation and the show itself nodded to ATT. Both praise the Transmetals and Beast Wars Season 2. They agree today’s larger, centralized fandom has left old-timers like them as “dinosaurs,” and JD says that is fine.
Toy Review: Revenge of the Fallen Deluxe Ravage
Exvee’s It Figures review says nearly all the effort went into the cat mode, an alien take on a cat with spines, one large optic and blade-tipped tail. The hip cannons recall the G1 toy. The front legs are fantastic, with jointed claws that can grip, but the rear legs and tail are restricted and the head is fixed by the Mech Alive lunge gimmick. The “re-entry” mode is just folded limbs. Exvee calls Ravage very good as a cat and worth picking up on sale.
Defending the Movies
JD likes the live-action movies “for what they were trying to be,” as action films. He points to fan nods such as Decepticon partners, the AllSpark as a creation matrix, Frenzy as a cassette player and casting Peter Cullen. In Revenge of the Fallen he cites Jetfire’s defection, the Primes, the Matrix and a line hinting at the Transformers’ creators. Brian says Hugo Weaving’s Megatron does not work for him. JD’s idea that Mikaela and a legless Bumblebee resemble a Targetmaster partnership wins Brian over enough to rewatch the first film. Both think Mudflap and Skids were not intended as racist.
RFC Updates
Brian reveals the previous show was the first RFC in five years. He plans a biweekly schedule with JD, Exvee and his friend Chris. Brian found Animated Ultra Magnus for $20 at ToysRUs.com and says it is worth every penny. The hosts also pause to remember Walter Cronkite.
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.