San Diego Comic-Con 2012 reveals a Wreckers repaint of the Fall of Cybertron Combaticons that combines into Ruination. This July 12, 2012 Radio Free Cybertron also covers Kre-O micro-changer combiners, Generations Voyager Grimlock with light-up features and Voyager Blaster. Masterpiece Thundercracker, an Amazon-exclusive G2 Bruticus set and Toys R Us exclusives round out the news. Transformers Rewind revisits the G1 episode “War Dawn.”
News
Fall of Cybertron Wreckers Combine Into Ruination
Hasbro’s Comic-Con panel revealed a third repaint of the Fall of Cybertron Combaticon molds as the Wreckers: Impactor, Twin Twist, Topspin, Roadbuster and Whirl. They combine into Ruination. Brian calls it the best reuse of a name Hasbro could have chosen and says a BotCon crowd would have gone crazy. The crew debates whether fans remember Ruination from Robots in Disguise and ranks it with Abominus and Monstructor among the best combiner names. [Source: Hasbro SDCC panel]
Kre-O Micro-Changers and Combiners
Preview night showed Kre-O micro-changers, which reuse existing helmets and parts, such as Sentinel Prime’s helmet for Galvatron and Jazz’s for Waspinator. Individual figures will be blind-packed at $2.99. The combiners Bruticus, Predaking, Devastator and Superion come in four-figure sets at $10.99 each, due January 1. Reports differ on whether the first preview wave has six or 12 figures. The crew loves the combiners, especially Superion, but finds Galvatron and Waspinator weaker. [Source: TFormers]
Amazon-Exclusive G2 Bruticus Set
Amazon’s G2 Bruticus set reappeared at $59.99 for all five figures, in stock November 15. It comes in a box by the original G2 package artist. Big Bad Toy Store shares the exclusive, with preorders opening September 10 for those who email ahead. The game-accurate colors are sold at Comic-Con. [Source: Amazon]
Amazon-Exclusive Jetwing Optimus Prime
Amazon is also getting an exclusive Jetwing Optimus Prime with weapons painted to match. The crew can’t tell whether the image is Photoshopped. [Source: Amazon]
Fall of Cybertron Game Moves Up a Week
Transformers: Fall of Cybertron now launches August 21 instead of August 28. Play.com offers a Vortex multiplayer preorder bonus, GameStop offers a G1 retro pack for Optimus Prime and Megatron, and Amazon offers a G2 skin. [Source: TFormers]
Generations Voyager Grimlock
Generations Voyager Grimlock has a light-up mouth in dinosaur mode and a light-up chest in robot mode. The crew finds it more G1 than Classics Grimlock but also reminiscent of Animated Grimlock and Pretender Grimlock. They hope for a G2 recolor. [Source: Hasbro SDCC panel]
Voyager Blaster, Masterpiece Thundercracker and Toys R Us Exclusives
Blaster is a remolded repaint of Voyager Soundwave with a new head and chest door. Masterpiece Thundercracker on the MP-11 mold is coming, which Brian will buy instead of MP-11 Starscream. Toys R Us will reissue Transformers Prime First Edition figures in November, including the Vehicon and Terrorcon Cliffjumper never released in North America. It will also carry the formerly Asia-exclusive Generations figures, such as Hot Spot and Power Dive. The crew says the Springer head won’t fix the Tomahawk mold. [Source: Hasbro SDCC panel]
More SDCC Reveals
Thundertron from Transformers Prime arrives in October for $20, and the crew calls it a cross between Cybertron Snarl and Leobreaker. Big Bad Toy Store gets exclusive Dark Energon Prime figures, and one listener points out Dark Energon Wheeljack would make a good Slicer. Bot Shots get redesigns for next year and a launcher trailer for Starscream. Linkin Park commissioned a gold-plated Soundwave, which the crew calls hideous. [Source: TFormers]
Regeneration One #81
Brian says newer fans who started with More Than Meets the Eye or Robots in Disguise may want to skip Regeneration One #81. Ardent G1 and Simon Furman fans should pick it up for its ending.
Transformers Rewind: War Dawn
Exvee and company revisit “War Dawn,” in which the weeks-old Aerialbots admire the Seekers, then get thrown nine million years into the past. There they watch Megatron gun down civilians and help Alpha Trion rebuild Orion Pax into Optimus Prime. The crew notes the episode established Orion Pax and Ariel as Elita-1’s earlier form. It also uses the Aerialbots as point-of-view characters for the war’s beginning. They enjoy hearing Peter Cullen play Prime as an action hero rather than a grizzled veteran. They discuss his portrayal of an uncertain Orion Pax in Transformers Prime.
Coming Up
RFC plans live Comic-Con coverage on Saturday, July 14. Next week’s show moves to Wednesday.
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.