Shout Factory’s $50 Beast Wars complete series DVD set, Leonard Nimoy as Sentinel Prime and IDW’s new biweekly Chaos storyline lead this April 6, 2011 Radio Free Cybertron. The crew also covers Transformers Prime’s move to Saturdays and a near-miss Ravage in G.I. Joe. Brian Kilby and TFG1 Mike debate whether Transformers needs a G.I. Joe-style subscription service. Chris McFeely spotlights decoys, and the crew imagines a Marvel Transformers #81 from Simon Furman.
News
Beast Wars Complete Series DVD Set Coming June 7
Shout Factory’s Beast Wars complete series DVD set arrives June 7, Brian’s birthday, for about $50. That is less than Brian paid for Rhino’s first season. The crew recalls Rhino releasing single volumes before the full season set. [Source: not found]
Transformers Prime Moves to Saturdays
Starting April 8, Transformers Prime moves to Saturdays at 7 p.m. Eastern on the Hub, followed by G.I. Joe: Renegades. The crew notes Prime reruns often on weekends anyway, and it looks great in HD. [Source: not found]
Transformers Almost Showed Up in G.I. Joe
The crew notes Transformers nearly crossed into G.I. Joe twice. An Omega Supreme G.I. Joe toy was planned and dropped. More recently, a Pursuit of Cobra Baroness was set to include a robot cat with cassette holes, internally called Ravage. The crew jokes about the cat repaints that could have followed. [Source: not found]
Takara Reruns Transformers United Waves; Windcharger Orders Canceled
Takara told Hyper Hobby magazine it will rerun the first two waves of Transformers United this month. The crew hopes the reruns continue so fans get another shot at Wreck-Gar, Frenzy and Rumble. The chat notes Rumble and Frenzy now sell for $60 to $90 or more on eBay, and the crew doubts Hasbro will use the mold soon. Some Hasbro Toy Shop buyers report Windcharger orders being dropped as possibly discontinued. Exvee says North American distribution of that size class is poor. [Source: Hyper Hobby]
e-Hobby Autobot and Decepticon Sets Shipping
The e-Hobby Autobot and Decepticon sets are shipping. Exvee notes the early Hong Kong releases from TFsource and Big Bad Toy Store lack the booklet included with the Japanese version. [Source: not found]
Leonard Nimoy Voices Sentinel Prime in Dark of the Moon
Leonard Nimoy will voice Sentinel Prime in Dark of the Moon. Brian first thought it was an April Fool’s joke. He notes general tech podcasts excitedly remembered Nimoy as Galvatron in the 1986 movie. [Source: not found]
Hearts of Steel Shockwave Battleship and Comic-Con Starscream
Mastermind Creations’ Cyclops is a third-party Ironclad battleship based on the Hearts of Steel Shockwave design. The crew likes the look but not the price. The San Diego Comic-Con exclusive Starscream and Cobra Commander set got more details, and Brian loves the packaging. Details also emerged on a Transformers MMO, and the crew jokes about playing it together. [Source: not found]
Comic Corner with Lady Wreck
Lady Wreck shares Trevor Hutchinson’s cover for IDW’s All Hail Megatron complete hardcover, due in June at a $75 list price, about 40 percent off on Amazon. The Sector 7 trade paperback is out. At WonderCon, Andy Schmidt revealed that the ongoing goes biweekly through December with the Chaos storyline. James Roberts will co-write with Mike Costa, and Livio Ramondelli and Brendan Cahill join as artists. Spotlights and minis appear to be on hold. The crew jokes that IDW’s slow pacing will now arrive twice as fast.
John’s Protector Armor and Firebolt
John DeLuna reviews the third-party Protector armor for Classics Rodimus. He loves the color match and the battle station trailer, but calls the head horrific, with anime-sized eyes. Protector is smaller than expected and adds about an inch to Rodimus. He also likes the $10 Firebolt in its bag-style packaging and got Generations Thundercracker. Exvee warns that Lugnut’s knee screw can strip and the leg can fall off.
Chat: How Much Would You Pay?
The chat talks about spending limits on hard-to-find toys like Rumble and Frenzy. The crew recalls waiting out Battle Unicron for clearance and finding Robots in Disguise Storm Jet and an Energon Ultra Magnus by luck. They praise Finbeck for finding toys in Australia.
TFWiki Spotlight: Decoys
Chris McFeely spotlights the TFWiki article on decoys, the small rubber figures packed with G1 toys. It covers their place in the mini-comic fiction and their Japanese origin as keshigomu, or eraser gum, used as board game tokens. The article also covers the box sets, color variations, Japan-exclusive decoys and related keshigomu lines. McFeely calls it the most consolidated decoy information on the internet.
Debate: Should Transformers Get a Subscription Service?
The G.I. Joe Collectors’ Club announced a MattyCollector-style subscription service. Brian thinks a Transformers version would let Hasbro forecast demand for fan repaints, so a pegwarmer like Darkmount could go to fans who want it. TFG1 Mike disagrees if it pulls general-release toys off store shelves. He says he would support it only for exclusives and fan-favorite repaints, such as Sideburn, Transtech Cheetor or Japanese exclusives. Both say G.I. Joe suits the model because parts can be swapped easily. Mike thinks BotCon 2011’s set will resell for $500 to $1,000. He also promotes GeekCast Radio’s ToonCast finale and the coming Transformation Animation Podcast.
This Week in Transformers History
Exvee notes that Kodansha published Extremely Funny Transformers: The Gag Coliseum, a collection of four-panel parody comics, in Japan on April 6, 2005. Jim Sorenson shares a petition for more Transformers Animated fiction from IDW and an AllSpark Almanac Volume 3.
Topic: Simon Furman’s Marvel Transformers #81
Simon Furman said he would rather return to Marvel’s Transformers continuity than write for IDW, ignoring G2. The crew likes his unused ideas, like the Nucleon’s varied effects, but worries 20 years have changed him as a writer. One host wants more of Bob Budiansky’s charm, from the Headmasters miniseries to Skullgrin’s acting career and Ratbat. Others credit Furman for taking Transformers seriously as fiction. They doubt the UK stories could be reconciled with the U.S. run, and note Marvel owns Death’s Head and Circuit Breaker. One host likes the Neo-Knights, and another host suggests they would have made great human villains in Animated.
Twitter Theater: Turbomasters Commercial
Rob shares a Czech-language commercial for the European G2 Turbomasters, done in stop motion like the Japanese ads. The crew loves the garish colors and wishes Euro G2 figures got more modern toys. They suggest a subscription service could deliver unused BotCon ideas like that.
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.