A New York Times story on Hasbro’s simplified transformations sets the internet on fire, and the crew says the panic is overblown. Generations Whirl shows up in package, the Collectors Club reveals Chromedome with Stylor, and Rescue Bots packaging hints at Dinobots. TFC Toys shows the first third-party Defensor limb, and Diecast gets ready to cover Toy Fair 2014. Exvee and Rob review the January chapters of Dark Cybertron, and Rob Clay rises from his grave to rejoin the show.
This Week in History
In 1998, the Beast Wars episode known in Japan as Inferno, the Ant Warrior from Hell premiered there. The crew envies the dramatic Japanese titles. Brian and JD Church realize they graduated high school the same year, 1997.
News
Diecast Heads to Toy Fair 2014
Diecast will cover the Hasbro fan event on February 15 and Toy Fair itself on Sunday, possibly Monday too. His coworkers know he is Diecast and give him only a little ribbing.
Generations Whirl Photographed in Package
In-package photos of Generations Whirl look amazing, and the crew says Hasbro keeps knocking the Voyagers out of the park. They make an exception for Blitzwing. The crew recalls being lukewarm at its San Diego Comic-Con reveal until it showed off its poseable limbs. One host is saving his pennies for it. [Source: not found]
Smash and Change Optimus Prime Packaging Revealed
Packaging is out for the Age of Extinction Smash and Change Optimus Prime, part of an easy-transformation subline. One host likes the clean package design, which reminds him of Figuarts. The crew notes the figure looks much like the earlier Optimus Prime image, minus knee joints and chrome. [Source: not found]
Collectors Club Shows Subscription Chromedome with Stylor
The Transformers Collectors Club shows its subscription service Chromedome, and Stylor is a full partner figure, not just a head. One host calls it a great compromise and thinks the head looks better than an earlier prototype. Another host still thinks the head looks squeezed. [Source: not found]
Age of Extinction Asia Listings Name Devastator and Dispenser
Diecast walks through a TakaraTomy list of Asia-only Age of Extinction figures. It includes a Devastator combo pack of seven vehicles that combine, likely a repaint of the Revenge of the Fallen Legends set. There is also Dispenser, a Payload recolor that shoots soda cans, and a darker, more metallic movie-accurate deco. The crew expects all three movies to supply filler figures. [Source: not found]
Rescue Bots Heatwave Packaging Hints at Dinobots
New Rescue Bots Heatwave packaging hints that Dinobots are coming to the line. The crew calls it unified marketing for the Dinobot movie year. One host notes that Dark Cybertron also works in toy characters like Tankor and an Armada-bodied Starscream. He is fine with that, since Transformers is about selling toys. [Source: not found]
New Images of a Third-Party God Ginrai
New images show a third-party God Bomber and Trailer Force that combine into a not-God Ginrai. The crew thinks it looks more like Galaxy Convoy than Ginrai, but very detailed. One host warns that the original God Bomber is a brick, and recommends the Super Ginrai reissue over the original. [Source: not found]
TFC Toys Shows Prometheus Gumball, a Not-Streetwise
TFC Toys shows Gumball, the first piece of its Prometheus set and the first third-party Defensor limb the crew knows of. It runs about $79 to $100. One host was burned by TFC’s not-Superion but finds this one unmistakably Streetwise. The crew agrees the Aerialbots are the weakest Scramble City combiner. [Source: not found]
OmegaCon Announced for August 2
Diecast previews OmegaCon on Saturday, August 2, at the Radisson in Trevose, Pennsylvania, outside Philadelphia. The one-day show plans another customization class with Rumble Frenzy, game tournaments and a retro video game room.
Q&A with Rob Springer
Computron2, who now wants to be called Bailey, asks why the G2 cartoon reused G1 episodes instead of making new ones. Rob guesses it came down to budget. He points out that G2 was not all repaints, citing his Combat Hero Megatron as a new mold. He wishes it had gotten new episodes, since he watched the reruns before high school.
Comic Review: Dark Cybertron Chapters 6 and 7
Exvee and Rob review More Than Meets the Eye #25 and Robots in Disguise #25. They split on the winding chase through Metroplex, and both enjoy Getaway’s quiet horror at the Rod Pod. Tankor gets lines as a toy tie-in, though they call it the wrong characterization for Beast Machines fans. Swerve’s ringtone and My First Blaster both return. MakeToys has since shown a Swerve and Gears set with a My First Blaster.
Robots in Disguise introduces Crosscut in the style of the old Marvel profile introductions. The reviewers say it reads most like a normal More Than Meets the Eye issue so far. They had trouble recognizing Kup in Livio Ramondelli’s art. They also speculate about the issue’s closing reveal and the Knights of Cybertron, and like how Rodimus snapped Nightbeat out of his conditioning.
Are Simplified Transformations Overblown?
A New York Times story about Hasbro simplifying transformations, illustrated with Smash and Change Optimus Prime, set off complaints across the web. The crew calls it overblown. Hasbro talked about simpler toys last year, and Transformers has always had simple sublines. One host prefers elegant transformations to complicated ones and finds the first Masterpiece Prime a chore.
One host thinks fans read the article as covering the whole line, and sees it as marketing aimed at parents. Another host says parents who cannot transform a toy stop buying them. Matt demonstrates a simple transformation on camera. One host is more bothered by movie toys in Generations, and the crew expects the Cyberverse scale-up figures to keep current prices. Everyone agrees Toy Fair will show where the line is going.
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.