The first in-package images of Transformers Prime Beast Hunters are out, and JD Church has zero interest in the spiky retools of last year’s molds. This November 28, 2012 Radio Free Cybertron also covers the Transformers Collectors’ Club teasing a movie-themed BotCon 2013 and the coming Kre-O Micro-Changers. LadyWreck reviews Robots in Disguise #11 and More Than Meets the Eye #11. The crew rewinds to the Headmasters dub Life Can Be Sacrificed for Peace on Earth and runs the monthly third-party roundup.
News
Club Magazine Teases a Movie-Themed BotCon 2013
Transformers Collectors’ Club magazine #48 teases the BotCon 2013 theme. The cover shows Bobby Bolivia’s car lot from the first live-action movie, which suggests a movie theme. Brian expects the club to use non-movie molds for movie-universe characters. [Source: Transformers Collectors’ Club]
Kre-O Micro-Changers Wave 1 Revealed
TFormers reports that the Kre-O Micro-Changers Wave 1 blind pack ID codes have been revealed, and the figures may already be in Singapore. Brian loves the look of Springer, Hook, Bludgeon and Dirge, though Warpath is just okay and he is saddened by Airachnid. [Source: TFormers]
First In-Package Look at Beast Hunters
Images of Beast Hunters figures and packaging have surfaced. JD calls them atrocious: last year’s molds covered in spikes, as if Rob Liefeld redesigned them. He also dislikes the white packaging with a vague monster image. He says a retooled Bumblebee in nearly the same colors, sitting beside unsold Bumblebees, is worse than a repaint as a new character. The crew compares it to the 2002 Masters of the Universe Snake Men retools and early G2 molds with crappy accessories. They also note that Hasbro has lost its knack for beast modes, calling Thundertron a failure as a beast. Brian says it pains them to complain, but this has killed JD’s interest in the line. They still love Legends-scale figures. [Source: not found]
Spotty Distribution
JD hasn’t seen Ultra Magnus or Thundertron on shelves, and only a couple of Dreadwings. Brian’s wife found Generations Kup, which is plentiful at Toys R Us, but the Bruticus team has been hard to find. [Source: not found]
RFC on Android and TV
RFC now has Android apps for Radio Free Cybertron, Fanboy Versus, Superhero Time and its video shows at tfradio.net/android. The shows can also be watched on TV through the YouTube channel, Blip.tv on Roku and TiVo.
Comic News With LadyWreck
The Art of Fall of Cybertron book is finally being printed. IDW’s February 2013 solicits include Robots in Disguise #14 and More Than Meets the Eye #14, Spotlight: Megatron by Nick Roche, Regeneration One #88 and Rage of the Dinobots #4. Rage of the Dinobots #1, set in the Transformers Prime continuity, is out this week. The Old Oil House released a fan audio drama of The Death of Optimus Prime, with LadyWreck in a small role.
Review: Robots in Disguise #11
After Metrotitan names Starscream the uniter of Cybertron, Starscream lets it go to his head. An attack on Omega Supreme calls Decepticon loyalties into question, Metalhawk decides to trust Bumblebee and Arcee gets a moment to shine. LadyWreck calls it a political poker game, though the final reveal feels a bit soon. She praises Guido Guidi and Priscilla Tramontano’s work and gives it 4 out of 5.
Review: More Than Meets the Eye #11
Shadowplay concludes as Pax’s team breaks into the Primal Basilica to steal the fake Matrix. In the present, the story is told to revive Rung, Red Alert’s fate is revealed and Chromedome, Whirl, Rewind, Ratchet and Ultra Magnus get moments. Pax ultimately loses, and the unnamed senator’s identity is revealed. LadyWreck notes some detail lost with guest inkers but gives it 5 out of 5.
Review: Rescue Bots, The Other Doctor
LadyWreck and Nicole review the first part of the two-parter introducing Dr. Morocco, voiced by Tim Curry. With Doc Greene fired, Morocco takes the town scientist job and convinces the council his Morbot can replace the Burns rescue team. The audience sees Morocco causing the pier fire, the runaway rocket and Doc Greene’s runaway solar car. They love Frankie vowing to expose him.
Transformers Rewind: Life Can Be Sacrificed for Peace on Earth
Brian’s favorite episode is the Headmasters dub in which Scorponok, now leading the Decepticons, plots to turn Earth into a sun. Sparkle is badly hurt by Trypticon, and Fortress Maximus uses his power to save him. Sparkle tells Danny that boys can cry, but not out loud, Brian’s favorite Transformers quote. Scorponok throws Fortress Maximus into lava, but the Headmasters theme song revives him and he runs Scorponok through his weak point. JD finds the dub awful, while Brian calls it a work of art. Another host argues the dub makes the formulaic anime watchable.
Monthly Third-Party Roundup
Brian has brand loyalty to iGear. He covers its limited edition Mini Warriors repaints of Rager and Spray at $40 each or $70 for both, and the new Cogz and Veer, a Swerve homage. A Bushwhacker homage on the Brawn mold leaves him cold. He compares the $20 Rager and the larger $40 Hench, preferring the smaller, Legends-friendly size. TFC’s F-15 jet homage is not as slavishly G1 as expected. A $350 third-party figure with a claw big enough to grip Bruticus also has light-up features like War for Cybertron designs. Head Robots’ drone kit turns the Japan-exclusive Dark of the Moon Vortex into Whirl, which Brian badly wants. A Kre-O upgrade kit gives the figures odd proportions. Head Robots’ Skeletron kit turns BotCon’s Gigatron into Skeletor. JD is unsure about CapturedPrey’s $105 Chaos Paladin pre-order, since Beast Hunters has soured him on Transformers.
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.