A Power Core Combiners packaging mock-up leaked on 4chan this week, tangled up with a story from a notorious alt.toys.transformers troll. On this December 16, 2009 Radio Free Cybertron, Brian Kilby, Exvee, JD, John DeLuna and Rob sort out what is real. Brian also announces that RFC will become the official podcast of TFormers.com. Chris McFeely joins Brian for an interview, and Turin returns with a new song parody.
News
Power Core Combiners Packaging Leaks
A packaging mock-up with pictures of Power Core Combiners toys leaked on 4chan. The crew finds the figures a little flat but likes the concept. John calls it the natural extension of the Armada Minicons, and another host sums it up as Minicons meet the Masters gimmick. The packaging looks like a rough proof of concept, so Brian expects changes and wants to see more. [Source: not found]
Troll’s Old ATT Post Gets Reported as Power Core Combiners News
An old alt.toys.transformers post from a poster called Patrick Stewart got mixed into the leak story. Brian says the poster has made about 10 posts in 14 years, all implausible. He once predicted a 2001 movie starring “Spunk Witwicky.” Brian is certain he is a troll with no Hasbro contacts, and says he came eerily close this time by chance. TFormers, the AllSpark and TFW2005 did not run it, but another site posted it as news for hours. The crew believes the leaked toy picture itself is legit, with styling somewhere between the movie line and traditional designs. [Source: not found]
Japanese Vending Machine Micro Masters Look Like Knockoffs
Brian suspects the Micro Masters spotted in Japanese vending machines are knockoffs. A Tomy sticker on the machine, he notes, doesn’t mean Tomy made the toy. Another host spent an hour searching capsule toy sites and found plenty of bootlegs but not these. [Source: not found]
Walmart Cuts Deluxe Prices to $8
Walmart has dropped deluxe figures to $8. The crew urges listeners to buy some for Toys for Tots, though some of their stores only stock movie toys. [Source: not found]
Brian’s Bootleg Ravage
Brian used an Amazon credit to buy Device Label Ravage. A package from Big Bad Toy Store arrived first and turned out to be a secret Santa gift. The Amazon order then showed up as an obvious knockoff with the wrong colors. The seller admitted it and offered a refund. Brian says he has never had a problem with Big Bad Toy Store and should have ordered there in the first place.
This Day in Transformers History
JD notes that the G1 episode Masquerade premiered on this day in 1985, with Autobots disguised as the Stunticons. Brian hates it as an episode built around a concept instead of a plot. The crew also mocks the combining scene that leans on Mirage for a hologram ability. On this day in 2008, the Transformers Energon Ultimate Collection DVD set came out, which JD skipped.
Stump Monzo
Exvee asks Monzo how many times the G2 Go-Bot Motormouth mold was repainted. Monzo walks through G2 Ironhide, Car Robots Ox, Robots in Disguise Ironhide, Super Ox and its clear versions, and a Trailbreaker-colored Universe release. His count is a little off, but he names every use of the mold, and nobody has stumped him yet.
Interview: Chris McFeely
Brian finally talks with Chris McFeely after knowing him online for 10 years. Chris is known from the TF Wiki, Metrodome’s Headmasters DVD commentaries and the Moonbase 2 podcast. His first comic was an issue of the UK Transformers comic, and he now sells comics for a living. Beast Wars pulled him back into the brand, and the Generation 2 cartoon showed him season three for the first time. He found the online fandom through BigBot.com, then RFC and the Marvel Universe Transformed fan fiction group. Brian showed him how to reach alt.toys.transformers. Chris credits RFC as a big influence on his formative Transformers years, and the full interview is available at tfradio.net.
RFC Becomes the Official TFormers.com Podcast
Anthony, Ironhide1975, is stepping away from the TFormers.com podcast because of work, and its last episode records December 28. The following week, Radio Free Cybertron becomes the official podcast of TFormers.com. RFC keeps its name and cast. Brian expects more resources, more convention coverage, more interviews and an expanded news section.
Turin’s Song Parody: Life on Cybertron
Turin’s first new song parody in a while is Life on Cybertron, set to the Dream Academy’s Life in a Northern Town. It tells the story of the Autobots’ rebellion against the Quintessons and the endless civil war with the Decepticons. Brian also says work continues on Turin’s Transformers the Movie Part 5.
RFC Twitter Theater: The Killing Jar
The crew picks apart The Killing Jar, from the Quintessons experimenting on their creations to Cyclonus’s different voice. They note Ultra Magnus comes off as the jerk at the end after Cyclonus saved them. Brian still enjoys it as a season three episode, a notch above seasons one and two.
RFC Announcements
Exvee will be on ToyCast 30 at GeekCastRadio.com, and Brian will join the final TFormers.com podcast after Christmas. The crew hopes to know BotCon’s date and location next week.
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.