The Titans Return Siege on Cybertron box set opens for preorder with Magnus Prime, Metalhawk, Tidal Wave and a new Pounce. News breaks on air that IDW’s Till All Are One will end with issue 12. TakaraTomy announces MP-12+ Lambor and leaks Legends Targetmaster Doublecross and Misfire. Diecast finally has FansToys Phoenix in hand and shares his take on Legends Godbomber. Plus a Shocknado crash combiner, a first look at Trypticon in hand and DX9’s Gabriel.
News
MP-12+ Lambor Coming in November
TakaraTomy announces MP-12+ Lambor for November 2017 at about $85. The crew expects a more cartoon-accurate deco, like the Plus release of Red Alert, to pair with MP-39 Sunstreaker. One host admits he owns a knockoff Sideswipe and plans to replace it with this one. Another host suggests strapping bottle rockets to the knockoff for the Fourth of July. [Source: TFormers]
Combiner Wars Early Concept Art by Emiliano Santalucia
A 2013 concept board by Emiliano Santalucia shows Combiner Wars early in development. Nearly everything in the line appears in one image. A Ramjet that never materialized shows up, and the faceoff hints at a possible Leader Class Shockwave. Alpha Trion is there too, which ties to the Titans Return design that grew out of Combiner Wars. The crew would happily hang a print of it. [Source: TFormers]
TakaraTomy November and December Releases Leaked
Leaked TakaraTomy releases include MP-39 Sunstreaker and Legends Doublecross, Sixshot, Misfire and Broadside. Doublecross and Misfire are both Targetmasters, so one host has preordered both. Later in the show, new photos show Misfire’s black helmet and Sixshot with a remolded helmet. Doublecross’s partner looks like a take on Haywire’s gray and black weapon. [Source: TFormers]
Titans Return Kup Recolor Revealed
A Weibo leak shows a recolored Titans Return Kup in vehicle mode. Fans first guessed Crosshairs, but the crew leans toward an Orion Pax for a future box set. The deco matches Optimus Prime, and the shoulder badge looks like a mix of Elite Guard and police insignia, fitting IDW’s cop Orion Pax. [Source: TFormers]
First in-hand photos show Legends Godbomber forming God Ginrai. Diecast already has it and reviewed it. He says Godbomber is a little thin, his forearms pop off easily, and God Ginrai tends to fall backward. He plans to display it against the wall for support. [Source: TFormers]
Robots in Disguise Crash Combiner Shockdrive and Warnado
A new Robots in Disguise Crash Combiner two-pack pairs Shockdrive and Warnado, Decepticon recolors of the Skyhammer set. They combine into Shocknado, and the crew loves the names. The package art looks a lot like Galvatron and Cyclonus. [Source: TFormers]
Titans Return Trypticon First Look In Hand
A blurry first-look video focuses mostly on Full-Tilt and shows little of Trypticon’s transformation. It does show the dinosaur head can swivel and the big hip joints ratchet well. [Source: TFormers]
Titans Return Siege on Cybertron Set Up for Preorder
The Siege on Cybertron set includes Metalhawk, a Triggerhappy repaint, and Tidal Wave, a Broadside recolor. It also has a new Pounce mold, a Thunderwing Titan Master and Magnus Prime, a Super Ginrai redeco. One host bought it a minute after Diecast emailed the crew about it. Owners of Super Ginrai can now have both versions, and one host prefers the blue crotch plate over the white. Another host is excited for a new Tidal Wave figure. Listener Ryan asks where to find the Chaos on Velocitron set at retail. The crew says a restock is unlikely, but suggests calling Toys R Us with item number 758111 to check stores in the area. [Source: TFormers]
Movie Block
New Last Knight TV spots each add a second or so of footage. One shows Bumblebee blown apart and reassembling himself.
Paramount’s Box Office Stakes High for The Last Knight
TFormers looks at Paramount’s recent fumbles, including Baywatch, and the pressure on The Last Knight. The crew compares it to Pirates of the Caribbean, the fifth film in another long franchise, which underperformed. They think the Last Knight trailers look better than the Pirates ones. [Source: TFormers]
Till All Are One Ends With Issue 12
News breaks during the show that IDW’s Till All Are One will end with issue 12 and an annual. Writer Mairghread Scott says the book had hit its profitability breaking point. She was asked to shift the focus after the First Strike event, and chose to end her story instead. The crew calls it a casualty of event-driven publishing. In the chat, Chris McFeely cautions against blaming the Hasbro universe alone.
TakaraTomy TLK-15 Calibur Optimus Prime
TakaraTomy announces TLK-15 Calibur Optimus Prime, a Leader Class figure with shield, sword and axe. The crew loves the dynamic Japanese ad art, and the Leader Megatron ad looks just as good. One host notes US rules require toys to be shown realistically in advertising. [Source: TFormers]
Jada 1:24 Scale Last Knight Vehicles
Jada is making 1:24 die-cast Crosshairs, Barricade and Bumblebee cars. One host loves the Corvette even though he does not like Crosshairs. Robot modes printed on the bottom almost ruin it for another. One host who has stood beside the Barricade prop says its blue matches the real car, unlike the darker Premier toy. [Source: TFormers]
Last Knight Package Leak Shows Nitro
The back of Voyager Scorn’s box gives the first color image of Nitro, a jet. He is gray and black, to nobody’s surprise. [Source: TFormers]
New Last Knight Displays at Walmart
Drop-in displays and endcaps are reaching Walmart stores. One host saw one stocked with Titans Return waves 1 and 2. The crew likes seeing the Rescue Bots gift set back in kids’ hands. [Source: TFormers]
Third-Party News
Iron Factory’s Legends-scale Bridge Watcher is an unofficial Shockwave with a gun alt mode. It marks the company’s third anniversary and will sell at a discount, reportedly about $25. One host likes third parties best when they make what Hasbro will not, like a Legends-scale Overlord. [Source: TFormers]
KFC Eavi Metal Kingzilla and Komodus
KFC’s Eavi Metal Phase Ten pairs Kingzilla and Komodus, an unofficial Snapdragon with Krunk. The crew thinks it looks better than their Apeface, which is stuck wearing a giant backpack. [Source: TFormers]
DX9 Gabriel Omega Supreme Announced
DX9 announces Gabriel, another unofficial Masterpiece-scale Omega Supreme. It lands around the same time as FansToys Terminus Giganticus, setting up a new battleground. One host prefers its softer look and colors but will not buy either. No price was set yet. [Source: Kathleen’s Klutter]
What’s on TFormers
The G1 Tapes: The Ultimate Doom, Part 2
Rob says the latest G1 Tapes post covers extended and deleted scenes from “The Ultimate Doom, Part 2,” including unprocessed Laserbeak squawks. [Source: TFormers]
Legends LG-EX Black Convoy Webcomic
TakaraTomy posted a new Legends webcomic for LG-EX Black Convoy, a Tokyo Toy Show release. [Source: TFormers]
Exvee reviews Till All Are One #10 and calls it a really good issue, which makes the cancellation hurt more. [Source: TFormers]
This Week in History
In 2007, IDW released Transformers: The Ark, written by Jim Sorenson and Bill Forster. One host calls it his favorite Transformers guidebook because it is so comprehensive. In 1998, Beast Wars Transformers came out for PC. The crew agrees there has never been a truly good Beast Wars video game, though some defend the fighting game.
Bad Poets Corner: Dreams
Brian reads “Dreams,” a Computron-style poem about dreaming in code. It comes from 16-hour days building the new tfradio.net.
New tfradio.net Launches June 5
The new site launches June 5 at the same address, and the feeds will not break during the cutover. Nearly 1,800 episodes have moved over, and Diecast’s reviews are now on the site too.
RFC Reviews
Diecast reviews Legends Godbomber with Super Ginrai as God Ginrai.
What We Got This Week
Diecast got FansToys FT-10 Phoenix, the Masterpiece-style Skyfire, and calls it a well-built, quality figure. He had reviewed the test shot, and says the production version’s tolerances are better, especially the wings. He also has Legends Godbomber, which he combined with Super Ginrai.
Rob got Titans Return Brawn, which he calls simple, posable and as complicated as it needs to be. He also got Titan Master Repugnus, whose paint turned out decent, and he likes the little speedboat mode. He thanks Barricade 64, Brickinator and Denno from Toku Nation for gifts from his Amazon wish list.
Don got the Yes Model BB-07, a knockoff of Masterpiece Dirge with a few improvements over the regular Seeker mold. He paid about $100 less than the official Dirge, and Ramjet is on the way. After the QC problems Matt had with his Masterpiece Seekers, Don expects better quality from these.
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.