Exvee hosts while Brian is out sick, and Robots in Disguise turns 13. Out-of-package photos show Generations Chromia as a heavy retool of Transformers Prime Arcee, and Leader Jetfire turns up at Kmart. Third-party news is a flood: an oversized Masterpiece Grimlock knockoff, two Abominus teams, a Dinoking tease, a not-Impactor and a not-Strika. Don finally explains his decades-long quest for a Headmaster Arcee, and the crew names the grail toys that let them down.
News
Generations Chromia Out of Package
Photos from a Chinese eBay auction show Chromia out of package. She is a heavy retool of Transformers Prime Arcee, with half or more of the toy new. The crew is amazed that Generations is getting three female figures in a short stretch. Don says he is very happy. Fans are already asking for Nautica, though one host notes she was not designed from a toy concept. [Source: not found]
Hasbro Toy Shop Ships New Generations Figures
Hasbro Toy Shop is shipping Nightbeat, Jhiaxus, Crosscut and some movie figures such as Slug. Windblade, from the same assortment, has not shipped for anyone the crew knows, including Diecast. The crew also thanks Nick in the chat for flagging new preorders the moment they go live. [Source: not found]
Generations Leader Jetfire Spotted in Virginia
Leader Jetfire has been sighted in Virginia and sold out on Kmart.com. Don is checking stores near him but has found nothing yet. One host has Jetfire ordered from three places and plans to cancel the slowest two. The crew warns that Kmart’s site ships by assortment, so buyers may get a different figure. [Source: not found]
Color Photos of MP-24 Star Saber’s Saber Robot
New color photos show Saber, the small robot that forms Star Saber’s chest and face. The crew likes it and jokes about future repaints. Don calls Star Saber a niche within a niche, and the crew debates whether the Collectors’ Club might sell it. One host expects a black version, since Takara often does one for its leaders. [Source: not found]
Third-Party News
Oversized Masterpiece Grimlock Knockoff
An unofficial Masterpiece Grimlock about 20 percent larger is coming, sized to match the third-party Dinobots. At least one regular retailer will not carry it. Fans Toys plans its own Grimlock at the end of its Dinobot lineup. [Source: not found]
Unique Toys and Mastermind Creations Both Plan Abominus
Unique Toys leads its unofficial Abominus with Blot, and Mastermind Creations is doing one too. Don is glad to see new combiners, but not when every company makes the same one. One host thinks the individual figures are getting too big. [Source: not found]
Fans Project Teases Dinoking and Dai Atlas
A Fans Project poster at a toy show in Singapore teased a Dinoking or Monstructor, plus a Dai Atlas in one corner. One host expects Dinoking first, given Fans Project’s preference for Japanese versions. Another asks Fans Project to finish its announced figures first. [Source: not found]
Mastermind Creations Shows a Not-Impactor, a Not-Strika and a New Hexatron
Mastermind Creations showed Spartan, an unofficial Impactor that will also become IDW’s Turmoil. Titanic is an unofficial Beast Machines Strika that may be retooled into IDW Roadbuster. A Continuum version of Hexatron adds a new head and chromed weapons but drops the swords. One host still wants the Greatshot version. [Source: not found]
Fans Toys Soar in Color
Fans Toys showed color images of Soar, its Masterpiece-style Swoop, which has been up for preorder for months. It offers a blue or red chest and a gold or clear beak. The crew calls it better looking than Scoria, partly because Swoop is simpler to engineer. [Source: not found]
X-Transbots Shows an Unofficial Wheelie
X-Transbots revealed a Masterpiece-scale Wheelie, packed with a GoBots character. One host is thrilled, and the crew jokes about future convention-exclusive repaints. [Source: not found]
Q&A with Rob Springer
Transfanatics asks when the new Robots in Disguise show will air, and why Don wants a Headmaster Arcee. The crew expects toys around Toy Fair and the show on the Hub in spring 2015. Don suggests a premiere episode packed with the larger toys.
Don explains that Arcee was a main character of the movie and season three, yet no toy existed. Movie shelves and Headmaster shelves both felt incomplete. He began asking at BotCon in the mid-1990s, when the crowd cheered the request. He believes the only reason given was that boys do not buy girl toys. Talk turns to how different BotCon felt back then, when nobody knew the exclusives in advance.
Greg Sullivan of Shattercast Uncut and Good Morning Cybertron asks which grail toy was the biggest letdown. Diecast names Titanium Ultra Magnus, which he hunted for years and found horrible. Don regrets buying Supreme Cheetor. One host names Masterpiece Rodimus Prime, and another finished a G1 Fortress Maximus on eBay a month before the reissue was announced. John says G2 Slingshot breaks the moment you open it.
Computron2 asks about an ongoing Shattered Glass comic once Robots in Disguise and More Than Meets the Eye end. The crew says it depends on the writers. Don suggests a miniseries that drops a current character into the mirror universe. Another would rather IDW build its own mirror universe than take over Fun Publications’ Shattered Glass.
This Week in History
Robots in Disguise premiered on September 8, 2001, with the episode Battle Protocol. Don remembers recognizing Neil Kaplan’s voice from Digimon. He had imported Fire Convoy and Gigatron months before Hasbro announced the show, and he did not regret it. Rob recalls watching the Car Robots videos the week the second US wave hit stores.
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.