A new Hasbro trademark for Power Core Combiners has the crew guessing on this November 18, 2009 Radio Free Cybertron. The show also covers IDW’s Transformers Continuum, the new ongoing comic, and Electrostatic Soundwave. Monzo of the Transformers Wiki talks about BotCon trivia and his name on Universe Onslaught. Exvee reviews the Fans Project City Commander upgrade kit, and the crew celebrates the RTM-1 Headmasters dubs.
The crew explains that last week’s show was scrapped after about 15 minutes because it sounded too rough to air. He thanks Matrix Prime, whose TFWire podcast just ended at episode 200, for a farewell plug. On the show are JD, John DeLuna, Rob, Monzo and Exvee.
News
Power Core Combiners Trademark Surfaces
A new trademark filing for Power Core Combiners has turned up, and nobody on the show knows what it means yet. The crew notes a single trademark says little, and the owner has three years to use it. Hasbro insider Patrick Stewart commented on it on alt.toys.transformers. The crew calls it rumor mongering, but notes he was right about the movie, sort of. [Source: alt.toys.transformers]
IDW Releases Transformers Continuum and the New Ongoing Series
Rob read Transformers Continuum and thinks he may be the only one who liked it. He suspects that’s because he hasn’t kept up with All Hail Megatron and IDW’s G1 miniseries. IDW also released the first issue of its new ongoing series, with two covers. One host found the preview pages unimpressive, saying they read like 1997 fan fiction. [Source: not found]
Electrostatic Soundwave and Freeway Jazz Hit Shelves
Transformers Animated Electrostatic Soundwave and Freeway Jazz are out. The crew insists the Soundwave repaint is really New Soundwave and plans to buy him despite disliking the mold. Freeway Jazz draws shrugs as Animated Jazz in movie colors, a throwaway repaint. [Source: not found]
Trent Troop’s Blitzwing Bop Published
Trent Troop has a new story, Blitzwing Bop, published by the Transformers Collectors’ Club in its newsletter and online. It is a comic prose story about Blitzwing in the Shattered Glass universe, and the crew has heard good things. [Source: not found]
Turin’s Reviews: Transformers Animated, Home Is Where the Spark Is
Turin reviews Transformers Animated season one, episode four, Home Is Where the Spark Is. He enjoys Prowl’s fascination with organic life and calls Megatron’s voice work first rate, even as a head on a shelf. He finds Bumblebee tiresome this time, picking on Prowl without provocation. Bulkhead squeezing into Sari’s sleeping bag is the best gag. Turin likes that the Autobots are not great fighters yet, which leaves room for growth. He calls it a good character episode that fits the series, though not one to rewatch on its own.
This Day in Transformers History
The G1 episode The Girl Who Loved Powerglide premiered in 1985. The crew calls it an odd story and part of the run of season two character spotlights. One host jokes that Kiss Player missed an obvious character to build on. Exvee’s pick is November 20, 1993, when Mystery Science Theater 3000 aired Alien from L.A. That episode gave the fandom the term dull surprise, a label for Pat Lee’s slack-jawed shocked faces. The crew pans Pat Lee’s art and pencils in a future episode on his dealings with fans and staff.
Toy Review: Fans Project City Commander Upgrade Kit
Exvee finally received the Fans Project add-on kit for City Commander, sold for about $11 to $13 before shipping. It includes two missile launchers with four missiles, a transforming rifle and three face plates. One face plate copies Ultra Magnus’s cab robot, and another hangs its mouth open in dull surprise. Swapping faces on the original trailer takes pliers and can mark the paint. The launchers have no springs, but they plug into the shoulders or the trailer’s front corners. Exvee’s favorite piece is the rifle, which extends its barrel automatically when the stock folds down. He paid about $20 shipped and says original trailer owners should get it.
One host finds City Commander too anime-styled next to Classics. The crew also says they are tired of Optimus Prime repaints as Ultra Magnus. Rob calls Robots in Disguise Ultra Magnus style over substance, while the Spy Changer gets some love. The crew praises Fans Project for selling the new parts separately instead of forcing a full rebuy.
Interview: Monzo
Monzo of the Transformers Wiki and the Obscure Transformers website joins the show. His name and birthday appear on the side of Universe Onslaught, and Acid Storm’s tech spec references him. He took his online name from Weirdwolf, one of his first toys. He says Transformers MUSHes showed him how many fans lacked the basics of comic and cartoon history. Monzo now prints an Obscure Omnibus for Hasbro and IDW staff at BotCon, and suspects its Acid Rain profile inspired Acid Storm. His Transformers Wiki team won BotCon trivia two years running, though 2009 had no contest. He learned about Onslaught from a fan club newsletter photo after a mystery email confirming his name and birthday. A day later, he says, the deco would have gone on Powerglide.
In a preview of his upcoming segment, Monzo explains other hidden toy decos. Universe Ratchet’s license plate nods to an Andy Wildman cover, and the Toys R Us Whirl reads Ovalong upside down. The crew couldn’t crack the MDL markings on Universe Overload.
Stump Monzo
Starting next week, Monzo takes listener questions in Stump Monzo, We Bet That You Can’t. Send Transformers questions to stumpmonzo@tfradio.net or to @stumpmonzo on Twitter.
Twitter Theater: The Resurrected Billy Against the Decepticons
Twitter Theater rolls into a talk on the RTM-1 dubs of the Japanese Headmasters series. Exvee watched them for the first time last week and was most surprised that they used the Victory opening. The crew revels in the renamed characters, from Blaster as Billy to Fortress Maximus as Spaceship Bruce and Ginrai calling himself Optimus Prime. They play favorite clips and recommend the dubs, which even non-fans enjoy. One host hopes to redub a Headmasters episode with commentary someday.
JD’s eBay Clearance
JD is clearing out carded figures on eBay, led by a sealed TFCC exclusive Skyfall, the first in the club’s combiner series.
Coming Up
Next week the show tackles fan fiction, with an interview lined up and the first Stump Monzo. One host is finishing a fandom parody comic made with a character creator tool, to be posted online and possibly as a PDF.
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.