The Combiner Wars animated series wraps up, and the crew agrees it never found its footing beyond Megatron. Brian falls hard for Geoffrey Prime, the Transformers Adventure giraffe now up for preorder at Toys “R” Us Japan. Titans Return Deluxe wave 3 shows up in package, and the Transformers: Animated production bible goes online. Fans Hobby debuts Masterpiece-size Repugnus and Doublecross figures, which Don loves.
Combiner Wars Finale
The series is over, and one host kind of hated the ending. If the budget can’t cover Metroplex, he says, an arm and a disembodied voice are not enough. Windblade’s role as a city speaker comes from IDW’s comics, one host explains. So does the Enigma of Combination, and both make more sense there. The crew agrees the five-minute format never worked for a 40-minute story. Megatron was the one character aware of how silly everything around him was, and he is far more competent than the G1 cartoon’s Megatron.
This Week in History
In 2005, BotCon 2005 opened in Frisco, Texas. For one host it was his first full BotCon, and he loved the brand-new hotel and the mall across the lot. A UK friend bought two extra suitcases at Target because US prices saved him so much, including two Unicrons. Don says the 2005 box set holds up well, given that Fun Publications had only months to put it together. Also in 2006, the second Kiss Players manga issue came out, and the crew warns it is not safe for work.
News
The Transformers: Animated Series Production Bible Is Now Available to Read Online
The Allspark posted the bible as a PDF. One host read through it and found that Optimus Prime was meant to have more Inspector Gadget-style tools. Early plans had some toys coming with human figures, and Prometheus Black was going to create Meltdown rather than become him. [Source: TFormers]
Titans Return Deluxe Wave 3 In-Package Photos
Breakaway looks boring as a white repaint of a mold the crew has seen many times. Hot Rod appears to be a new mold, and Twinferno gets praise for its name. Trigger Happy looks like it reuses Highbrow’s engineering, and he is one host’s favorite Targetmaster. Several hosts wish the line had room for Targetmasters too. [Source: TFormers]
Generations Titans Return Voyager Alpha Trion: Original Concept Art by Emiliano Santalucia
The original illustrations didn’t include the ship mode. One host thinks Alpha Trion would have been better without the lion mode. [Source: TFormers]
Transformers Adventure Geoffrey Prime Now Available for Preorder at Toys “R” Us Japan
Brian calls it the biggest news of the week and wants one badly. He loves that Transformers are toys first, and this is exactly the kind of oddity he enjoys. One host hopes the shoulder symbol is a QR code that puts a giraffe into TakaraTomy’s game. Robot Kingdom is the crew’s best guess for getting one in the US. [Source: TFormers]
Letrons Tests Life-Sized Remote-Controlled Transforming Car
The crew calls it the best-looking robot mode yet for a life-size transforming car. They see it as a publicity piece, not a product. [Source: TFormers]
TakaraTomy’s Fortress Maximus is due in October, and some retailers are already billing for it. Weirdwolf looks so much like the Hasbro version that Chris canceled his preorder. Don says Wheelie would make best-of-the-year lists if his car mode held together. [Source: TFormers]
Unite Warriors UW-EX Megatronia: Comic Pages by Hayato Sakamoto
The crew calls the comic cute and slightly ridiculous. The highlight is Mega Empress turning the ports on Victorion’s head into a railgun that knocks a combiner’s limbs off. [Source: TFormers]
The Last Knight: Anthony Hopkins and Mark Wahlberg on Set
The two look happy on set, and the crew can’t tell what is in Anthony Hopkins’ mouth. [Source: TFormers]
Third-Party News
Fans Hobby Master Builder MB-01 and MB-02: Unofficial Repugnus and Doublecross for 2017
Don loves the Monsterbots and thinks both look great, especially Repugnus. Another host says they are Masterpiece-size but look and engineer like Fans Project’s Dinobots, so he will pass. One host jokes that a line called Master Builder should have started with Grapple and Hoist. Don hopes Grotusque follows. [Source: TFormers]
Mastermind Creations Reformatted R-18 Anubis: TFCon Chicago Exclusive Death’s Head-Like Remold
Don’s friend, a huge Death’s Head fan, says the head isn’t perfect but the paint matches well. The crew likes the greens. [Source: TFormers]
What We Got This Week
Rob got G2 Superion for $30 shipped in Hasbro Toy Shop’s eBay sale. He won the quality control lottery, and every joint and latch works perfectly. He likes G2 Powerglide and would like him more in chrome.
Diecast got the movie-line Hotspot for $5 from the same eBay sale. His big arrival is Gravity Builder’s Crane, so he can finally build his not-Devastator. It came with replacement parts for the other members and a bonus clear Megatron kit.
Brian finally got Unite Warriors Computron and loves it, though he wishes it had the Combiner Wars hands and feet. He also got MakeToys’ Despotron, which feels great but has legs about 30% too big for him. It inspired him to order Toyhax symbols for his third-party figures. He also found Titans Return Rumble at Target, Legends Shockwave and Cancer, and TakaraTomy’s Legends Scourge at Retro Reboot in Pineville.
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.