The crew recaps the Transformers reveals from Toy Fair 2016, led by Titans Return Fortress Maximus, Mindwipe, Wheelie and a block model of Trypticon. Hasbro gives no comment on a shuttle Blast Off for G2 Bruticus or a 2017 convention. Masterpiece Optimus Primal shows off alternate faces and light-up eyes, and Bloomberg confirms a Transformers movie every year through 2019. Plus a listener asks whether the crew still likes Transformers, and a new contest offers a Combiner Wars Onslaught.
News
Toy Fair 2016 Recap
Diecast covered the show in person, and the crew runs through the Transformers highlights. Legends Wheelie looks great and holds a Titan Master inside. Blurr looks better than the leak but still needs deco contrast. Several hosts like Scourge more than before, though one wants a replacement head. Mindwipe is a crew favorite, and Don praises the engineering that lets the Titan Master hang upside down in bat mode. Fortress Maximus turns out to be a clever Metroplex retool with better proportions, and Cerebros has electronic sounds and a Rebirth-style face. Chromedome gets a full body after all.
Platinum Edition sets include Cyclonus with a Sweep, both in clear plastic, and the Sweep has a newly tooled Devcon-style head. Robots in Disguise Bumblebee and Grimlock come as a Platinum set headed to Entertainment Earth. Power Surge Optimus Prime pops out guns when you put the eagle on his chest, which the crew calls the most patriotic Transformer ever. Warrior Class Windblade is very red, and Diecast describes a soap-like block model of Trypticon standing about half a head shorter than Metroplex.
At the Hasbro Q&A, the team gave no comment on a shuttle Blast Off for G2 Bruticus. They did say Quickslinger and Breakneck sold well. They said a More Than Meets the Eye Nautica is not in development. They would not discuss Overlord, Computron or Brainstorm. Asked about a 2017 fan convention, they said they are exploring options but cannot commit to a time frame. One host suggests anyone who has never attended a BotCon should go this year.
Toy Fair 2016: Titans Return Chromedome Looks Like A Dead End
Chris’s article notes Chromedome resembles Dead End without sharing parts. Ben Yee learned from John Warden that Takara Tomy used Dead End as a development model for the Titan Master features. [Source: TFormers]
Toy Fair 2016: What’s The Actual Size of a Titan Master?
A side-by-side photo with 2014 Brainstorm’s Headmaster, Arcana, shows Titan Masters are a little smaller than Chris estimated. [Source: TFormers]
Masterpiece Optimus Primal: New Looks At Alternate Faces And A Hint of Scale
New photos show alternate robot and ape faces, including a battle mask and an angry ape face. The eyes light up with a button on the head. The swords are the only accessories shown, and the crew suspects the faces and light-up feature are taking the place of extras. The crew expects him around July or August. [Source: TFormers]
Bloomberg Confirms Release Dates For Transformers 5, 6, and Bumblebee Spinoff
Transformers 5 arrives in 2017, followed by a Bumblebee movie and another film through 2019. Matt stays quiet to remain positive. Brian does not like the movies but values the new fans they bring. Don figures each movie pays for big collector toys like Trypticon and Omega Supreme. Rob has pledged never to see the next one unless someone pays him. [Source: TFormers]
New Preview Clip For Robots In Disguise Season 2
Season two’s third episode, “Metal Meltdown,” airs March 5. An LA Times clip shows new characters, including the Scorponok toy seen at Toy Fair. One host suspects the “new Dinobot” in the article is just Grimlock, described by a writer unfamiliar with the show. [Source: TFormers]
Unite Warriors Bruticus New Color Photo
The crew loves it, with only the color-matched feet seeming odd. Vortex is a purple-gray that no longer blends into Onslaught’s chest the way Hasbro’s does. One host would like G1-style clip-on feet from a third party. [Source: TFormers]
MP-25 Masterpiece Tracks With Toy-Style Faceplate: What Does It Mean?
A photo shows Tracks with a toy-style face, and no one knows if it is a coming release or an abandoned idea. The crew guesses it would turn up in Diaclone colors if anywhere. [Source: TFormers]
Planet X PX Warriors: Fall of Cybertron Optimus Prime Prototype
Planet X’s Voyager-scale Fall of Cybertron Optimus Prime looks fine and far easier to transform than the War for Cybertron toy. The crew likes that it includes Ultra Magnus’s sword and avoids the game model’s tiny face. They also debate why Hasbro packages figures in robot mode. [Source: TFormers]
This Week in History
Garry Chalk, born in 1952, and Michael Bay, born in 1965, share a February 17 birthday. The crew marks Bay’s with an exploding cake at sunset. One host recalls riding a BotCon shuttle with Garry Chalk, who loved working on Beast Wars and is a genuinely nice guy.
Listener Feedback
A YouTube commenter asks whether the crew still likes Transformers after a sour Toy Fair recap. Brian says he always aims for a positive show. Rob points out everyone is excited about Titans Return. The crew explains the mood came from leaks spoiling the surprises and ten hours of weekend coverage. Diecast says constant leaks make traveling to cover events less worthwhile. Matt reserves the right to be negative if leaks spoil his first BotCon.
Podcast Review Contest
Brian ended up with an extra Combiner Wars Onslaught and is giving it away. Leave a review on iTunes or another podcast service, then send proof by email, Twitter or Facebook. The winner will be announced on the March 2 episode, and Brian will ship anywhere.
What We Got This Week
Diecast
Diecast’s Transformers swag from Toy Fair includes Combiner Wars Smokescreen and Wheeljack. He traded a Marvel Legends figure for the second one.
Brian
Brian got Masterpiece Ironhide and is surprised by how much he likes it. He also got BadCube’s Sunsurge, which he hated transforming but which tabs together solidly. His Combiner Wars Sky Reign arrived, and he loves Sky Lynx and may buy a second to keep in beast mode. Trailbreaker and Smokescreen are nice, Wheeljack is begging for paint, and Hound made him want to shove it back in the box.
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.