Masterpiece MP-38 Optimus Primal arrives in its Beast Wars toy colors, and the crew is split. Transformers: The Last Knight news piles up, from Toys R Us exclusive listings to Autobot Sqweeks, a Voyager price increase and an April street date. MPM-3 Bumblebee and Mastermind Creations’ Carnifex upgrade kit also get a look. Plus Moschino’s G1 runway, Joelanta panel plans and the Toy Fair 2017 live stream date.
News
Last week’s MP-38 guess is settled: it is Masterpiece Optimus Primal in the original toy colors. It includes the mutant head in mask form and the mace as a standard accessory. One host owns three original Optimus Primal toys and loves the robot mode, but says the toy colors map badly onto the gorilla. He plans to skip it for the cartoon-colored MP-32. The crew finds it odd that a recolor gets its own number so soon. One host suspects Hasbro asked for the mace and mutant head so it could sell this deco in the US. A chatter suggests it could be the Robot Masters Primal. [Source: TFormers]
Transformers The Last Knight Toys R Us Exclusive Product Listings Found
Chris wrote the story. Toys R Us listings show exclusive Deluxes, an exclusive Legion assortment, Power Cube assortments and an All Spark starter pack. Stranger items include a $150 Cybertron planet playset and an apparent MP-10 Convoy reissue at $160. A $35 five-piece combiner that mentions Slug has the crew guessing. Theories range from a vehicle-only combiner to reused Micromaster combiner molds. Another guess is a Slug core with four mini Dinobots. [Source: TFormers]
Official Details: Autobot Sqweeks Product Information and Images
The $80 Sqweeks is a remote-control toy of the Vespa-like character, and a TFormers video shows the prototype moving. The crew notes Sqweeks cannot transform when the movie introduces him. Someone in chat says it looks like T-Bob, and one host wants to fix it to look that way. [Source: TFormers]
Transformers: The Last Knight ‘Jupiter’ Confirmed As Optimus Prime
New photos of the Voyager figure confirm the code name Jupiter belongs to Optimus Prime. The crew thinks that also makes Mars the code name for Bumblebee. [Source: TFormers]
In-hand photos show Shadow Spark Optimus Prime with nice paint detail. The crew recalls a price of about $70 and calls it not worth it. [Source: TFormers]
3 Things To Know About MPM-3 Bumblebee Masterpiece Transformers Figure
The crew’s first answer: it is too expensive. Still, one host says the $80 MPM-3 earns the Masterpiece name more than MPM-1 and MPM-2, since it is a new design. Its final size will decide whether he buys it. Others ask whether Human Alliance Bumblebee owners need it, and recall earlier big Bumblebee toys like Ultimate Bumblebee. One host would be far more tempted if MPM-4 turned out to be Barricade. [Source: TFormers]
Transformers: The Last Knight Toyline Streets In April According To UK Toy Releases List
A UK release list puts the Last Knight toys in stores in April. The crew expects a similar date everywhere, since movie toys carry street dates. One host recalls a Target whose shelves were empty on the 2007 movie’s launch day until staff wheeled the stock out. Bill Barclay in chat corrects the crew: Canada, not the UK, got Transformers Prime First Edition. [Source: TFormers]
Transformers The Last Knight First In Store Shelf Label Found, With A Price Increase
A Target shelf label shows Last Knight Voyagers at $30, a $5 jump over the current $24.99. The crew suspects the increase covers movie figures only, not Generations. [Source: TFormers]
High-Fashion Transformers Hit The Runway With Moschino At Fall Fashion Show In Milan
Moschino sent dresses and suits made from G1 box art down the runway, and Brian says he would wear the heck out of them. The crew dates the art to about 1985 or 1986 and mocks the models’ unhappy faces. One host pitches a polo with the G1 grid on the front and a battle mural on the back. [Source: TFormers]
MasterMind Creations Carnifex Continuum Upgrade Kit
The kit adds Mega and Giga, panels to cover the Godmaster port, new guns and a more toy-styled head. One host is tempted to buy Carnifex now, but most of the crew will stick with Hasbro’s Overlord. That leads to a debate about whether Hasbro can trademark the Overlord name. Rob suggests using it as a title, as in Overlord Gigatron. [Source: TFormers]
This Week in History
Exvee was born on January 19, 1984, and he thanks the friends who sent gifts from his Amazon wish list. In 1987, a strategy guide for Mystery of Convoy was published in Japan. One host recalls the story page packed with Alternity Ultra Magnus, which retells the game in grim terms, and the crew talks up the $34 Alternity Convoy mold. In 2007, the 41st Kiss Players radio drama aired in Japan.
Joelanta and Toy Fair 2017
The crew will be at Joelanta in Atlanta on March 10 to 12, with a Transformers track all weekend. Brian will do his annual panel with Dusty and Rob Springer, plus a toy reveal panel about three weeks after Toy Fair. Brian, Rob Springer and Dusty also plan to cover the history of the Bay movies. Crazy Steve will present 1980s and 1990s Transformers ads from his newspaper research. Dusty, now with Toyhax, may show how he designs reproduction labels. Rob Springer insists there will be a Donanomics panel, which Don denies. The annual Toy Fair live stream runs all day Saturday, February 18, with a shorter stream on Sunday.
This Week on TFormers
How We Made Transformers: Bob Budiansky and Bryce Malek
Rob shares excerpts from a Guardian piece with Bob Budiansky and TV story editor Bryce Malek. [Source: TFormers]
The G1 Tapes: ‘Fire In The Sky’ With More Jetfire
Transformers at the Moon released another G1 audio tape, with the cast still calling Skyfire Jetfire. Diecast notes the name was changed because it could not be used. [Source: TFormers]
Legends Bumblebee: TFormers Titans Return Wave 3 Figure Review
Rob calls the engineering good, though the car kibble on the shoulders is a lot. Classics Bumblebee is still one of his favorites. He hopes for a similar but not matching Cliffjumper. Legends Kickback is still to come. [Source: TFormers]
Magna Convoy eHobby Exclusive Classics Optimus Recolor Packaging Revealed
Rob calls the box pure Master Grade Gundam packaging, right down to the pose and the side logo. [Source: TFormers]
Battle On Quintessa! Imaginarium Art Transformers: The Movie Statue
The render shows Grimlock and Wheelie fighting Sharkticons. Rob is not a statue guy, but says this is the one he would own. [Source: TFormers]
Masterpiece Megatron MP-36 Feature Article And Design Notes Translated
A fan translated the magazine feature on MP-36 Megatron, design notes included. [Source: TFormers]
What We Got This Week
Chris got his first wacky-colors test shot, of the Fall of Cybertron Seeker mold, one of his favorites of the last five years. On a pre-birthday outing he found a complete, boxed Mastermind Creations Spartan at a Nashville comic shop for $100.
Matt got Platinum Edition Unicron, whose chest cannon lock he calls the worst mechanism he has seen on a toy. He likes his e-Hobby Convobat, though the flight-stand hole in its blue chest bothers him. At his comic shop he found a carded Space Case for about $9, and the crew shares its love of the Cyberjets.
Diecast got Fans Toys Sovereign and calls it the greatest Galvatron ever. It feels heavily die-cast and, to him, more Masterpiece than a TakaraTomy Masterpiece. Fans Toys Lupus disappointed him by comparison, with a simple, rushed-feeling transformation, though he likes its tilting head. He also got two Transformers coins, one gold and one silver, from Taobao.
John got one of the final Fun Publications shipments, with the Only Human set of Rodimus and Arcee and the Ninja Force crossover box. He says Arcee’s face is a little asymmetrical, and not in a good way.
Brian had nothing in Transformers this week.
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.