Hasbro and Discovery are launching The Hub, a new channel replacing Discovery Kids with Transformers, G.I. Joe and My Little Pony programming. This January 20, 2010 Radio Free Cybertron also covers the first Power Core Combiners image, Supreme Bumblebee and an $80 Device Label Blaster USB hub. Chris Reed, known as Fort Max, joins for an interview about his TFWiki-hosted instruction archive. Then the crew and guest Ender pick the worst Transformers toy line of the decade.
News
Hasbro and Discovery Announce The Hub
The Hub is a partnership between Discovery and Hasbro that will replace the Discovery Kids channel. It will feature Transformers, G.I. Joe and My Little Pony. The crew mocks the corporate promise of dynamic and engaging programming and wonders whether Hasbro will fill airtime with G1 or Beast Wars reruns. One host jokes about G.I. Joe: Resolute airing four times a week. [Source: not found]
Power Core Combiners Image Explains the Gimmick
A likely Power Core Combiners image shows a figure packaged with a Minicon, along with the clearest explanation yet of the line. The Minicon can be a robot, a weapon, a vehicle or armor. The crew compares it to a quadruple changer and jokes about a tiny robot clinging to a chest. They want to handle one before forming an opinion. [Source: not found]
Supreme Class Bumblebee Revealed
Rob found pictures of the Revenge of the Fallen Supreme class Bumblebee, a very large Bumblebee with missile racks on the hood. The crew is underwhelmed by the hand-to-weapon gimmick and the legs. One host says it needs the ripped-out spine of Ravage as an accessory. [Source: not found]
Device Label Blaster, Cheetor and More
New Device Label and Disney Label items include Cheetor, a Buzz Lightyear and Blaster as a USB hub. The crew likes Cheetor but balks at Blaster’s roughly $80 price. They argue the line takes a $20 toy, adds $10 of hardware and charges $75. They also point out that an unpowered USB hub is nearly useless. [Source: not found]
Transformers Animated Heads to Japan
Transformers Animated has a Japanese air date and a Sega card-scanning game. The crew doubts a card-scanning game would sell in the US. Another site posted the Masterpiece Convoy comic pack-in translated into English. [Source: not found]
Transformers 3 to Focus on Character
Reports say Transformers 3 will focus less on robots and explosions and more on character. The crew reads that as fewer nondescript gray robots on screen than Revenge of the Fallen. One host jokes the robots should flash their names on screen when they transform. [Source: not found]
Mudbuster Bulkhead and Thundercracker
Rob also found images of Transformers Animated Mudbuster Bulkhead and Thundercracker. The crew is glad Animated toys keep coming, as filler between Revenge of the Fallen and Power Core Combiners. [Source: not found]
This Day in Transformers History
JD Church notes that January 18, 2006 saw issue 1 of IDW’s Infiltration, the start of the publisher’s G1 comics.
Interview: Fort Max
Chris Reed, 23, grew up on Power Rangers and first met Transformers when he and his brother used G2 Optimus Prime as a stand-in Megazord. He started watching with Beast Wars, and Beast Wars and Animated are his favorites. His TFWiki-hosted site archives instruction scans, mostly saved from the old TF Racetrack site that went offline in 2004. It also mirrors Pat Lee’s Angelfire page and Raksha’s artifacts list. He co-hosts Superhero Time, a podcast on tokusatsu shows like Super Sentai, Kamen Rider and Power Rangers. He names Starfish Hitler from Kamen Rider as his favorite tokusatsu monster.
Worst Transformers Toy Line of the Decade
Last week the crew unanimously named Armada the best line of the decade, so this week they pick the worst. One host votes for Kiss Players, calling it an embarrassing branch of Binaltech. Exvee picks the first movie line, or Masterpiece if he wants to be inflammatory, and blames the diecast. Titanium draws several votes for weak engineering and poorly integrated diecast. Ender, who welcomes himself to the debate with Titanium Scourge, says that figure would be better in plastic. Another host picks both movie lines for their shared molds. Rob picks Built to Rule, saying the instructions produced worse robots than his own rebuilds. John sticks with Titanium.
The crew ends split between Titanium and the first movie line. They note the first movie line was rushed from designs never meant to be toys. They also credit Revenge of the Fallen Leader Optimus Prime as a near-Masterpiece without the diecast. Animated earns praise for matching its toys to the show designs. Several hosts name the movie Megatrons among the worst toys they have seen. Next week’s homework: the best and worst individual toy.
Twitter Theater
This week’s pick is the Energon arena episode, which a host calls a clip show hosted by anime cat girls. It was made to mark the 500th Transformers episode. The crew enjoyed only a few seconds, including Shockblast occasionally shooting the hosts and a tiny Unicron joke. The talk turns to how the Armada, Energon and Cybertron cartoons undercut their toy lines.
Plugs
Exvee announces a new weekly comic book podcast with Ender, JD Church, Chris Triplett and Chris McFeely, possibly titled Age of Crapocalypse.
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.