New Transformers 3 set photos show Optimus Prime with a real trailer, plus a NASCAR Transformer. This July 14, 2010 Radio Free Cybertron also covers San Diego Comic-Con’s promised Transformers Prime footage and a sold-out hotel for BotCon 2011. Comics fan LadyWreck joins Brian Kilby, JD Church, John DeLuna, Rob Springer and Exvee to talk IDW. Chris McFeely explains his Annotated AllSpark Almanac II, and the crew debates whether anyone uses the instructions.
News
Transformers Prime Footage Expected at San Diego Comic-Con
Transformers Prime should show actual footage at San Diego Comic-Con, after BotCon got a debut with design art only. One host jokes it will be design art taped to Popsicle sticks. TFormers.com’s Jack will be at the show, and RFC hopes to stream floor opinions live. [Source: not found]
San Diego Comic-Con Exclusives
This year’s exclusives include a Mighty Muggs Prowl and a G1 Blaster. The crew jokes that Hasbro’s best exclusive is Stan Bush, whom they call their new best friend after BotCon. [Source: not found]
Transformers 3 Set Photos Show Optimus Prime’s Trailer
After earlier set photos of actors doing nothing interesting, the new batch shows actual Transformers vehicles. One host is partial to Optimus Prime’s modern trailer, which one host thinks looks like G2 Prime’s. The crew expects Hasbro to sell the trailer separately, maybe at several price points. Other vehicles might be Stunticons, and a NASCAR Transformer tied to Jimmie Johnson also appears. The crew is glad Michael Bay says the third film drops the “dork humor.” [Source: not found]
BotCon 2011 Hotel Already Sold Out
The Pasadena hotel for BotCon 2011 is already sold out, a year ahead. One host jokes that waiting to book was a bad idea, and the crew plans to crash at John’s place. [Source: not found]
Drag Strip Voice Actor Ron Gans Passes Away
The crew notes the passing of Ron Gans, the voice of Drag Strip. [Source: not found]
Toys R Us Deals
Toys R Us now sells Diamond Select statues and Japanese Transformers online. Transformers are also buy one, get one 50% off again, and one host hopes to finish his Power Core Combiners.
Comics with LadyWreck
LadyWreck, a stay-at-home mom who reviews comics for TFormers.com, runs down this month’s IDW books. This month brought Ironhide, Ongoing #9 came out today, and Nefarious #5 arrives next week. Ironhide reveals Alpha Trion, who looks and moves like the classic character but talks nothing like him. She leans toward calling it awesome. Brian asks about Last Stand of the Wreckers, and she says fans were hungry for a great action story. One host, who loves Skyquake, still minds that the series killed him for no reason. She calls Ongoing an improvement.
Interview: Chris McFeely on the Annotated AllSpark Almanac II
JD and Exvee talk with Chris McFeely about the AllSpark Almanac II, Jim Sorensen and Bill Forster’s in-universe Transformers Animated guide. Chris annotates every hidden reference in the book. Volume one took about a week, mostly translating the Cybertronian watermarks. This one consumed him for 11 days, and the resulting file is three times as large. About 2% of the references are still unfound, including references hidden in stock ticker numbers. He’s holding the crossword answers until the authors’ contest on Jim’s blog ends.
Do You Use the Instructions?
Taken from an AllSpark thread, the topic splits the crew. JD tries first without instructions and pulls them out when stuck or about to break something. One host needed the manual for Animated Arcee’s wings after following the prototype on the box. Another avoids instructions and box art entirely, calling them misleading on details like heels and shoulders. The new Bludgeon’s stiff joint, Beast Wars Neo Dead End and Bazooka all get complaints, and Big Convoy is named frustration incarnate. Fort Max’s instruction archive on TFWiki earns praise, along with TFU.info and the old tech spec archive.
RFC Twitter Theater: A Japanese Transformers Movie Commercial
Rob posted a Japanese commercial for the 2007 Transformers movie toys, with stop-motion figures shooting lasers. One host’s favorite foreign ad is the Italian one for Springer and Octane, narrated like a cool jazz-club spot.
Transformer Injuries
One host jammed a pocketknife into his hand prying the missile launcher off Transmetal 2 Cybershark. Optimal Optimus’s plunger-activated lights led many fans to shoot themselves in the eye. Rob’s used Fortress Maximus pinched and cut his arm at 2 a.m.
Next Week
RFC will try something different next week with new hardware, so listen live Wednesdays at 8 p.m. Eastern.
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.