HasCon is coming back, but not until September 2019, and the crew weighs what the first show taught Hasbro. A Masterpiece-style Last Knight Hot Rod prototype suggests third parties are turning to the movie designs. Iron Factory reveals a DJD team that combines into a bigger Tarn, and TakaraTomy’s Legends Kickback, Brawn and Triggerhappy appear in hand. The show also names this year’s holiday toy drive: The Last Knight Before Christmas.
The Last Knight Before Christmas
The show’s yearly toy drive, once Operation B-Hive, returns, though there are hardly any Bumblebee toys on shelves this year. Brian asks listeners to buy Transformers, or any toys, and donate them to Toys for Tots or a similar charity. Take a photo, post it and tag the show. During the episode Rob emails in the name that wins: The Last Knight Before Christmas. Brian also points listeners to Extra Life, where RPG Lessons Learned co-host Mike is streaming games for 25 hours for Levine Children’s Hospital in Charlotte.
This Week in History
The Super-God Masterforce episode “God Ginrai: Showdown on the Surface of the Moon” premiered in Japan this week, and RFC once covered it in an RFC Rewind. In November 1983, Takara granted Hasbro an exclusive license to sell its Diaclone and Micro Change toys in the US as The Transformers. One host calls it the moment Transformers was conceived. In 1998, the Beast Wars episode “Deep Metal” premiered in the US. One host celebrates Depth Charge as the line’s grittiest action hero and a toy unlike any other.
News
HasCon 2019: Official Details for Semi-Annual Convention
HasCon returns September 6 to 8, 2019, at the Rhode Island Convention Center and Dunkin’ Donuts Center. Brian says TFcon replaces 85 percent of BotCon for him, but he misses Hasbro being there. Diecast likes the venue but finds it too far northeast for most of the US. The crew suspects Hasbro bit off more than it could chew and needs the year off. Brian doubts the Flo Rida and Daya concerts paid off. He would move the Transformers panel to a bigger room and stop scheduling it against the opening of the exclusives store. [Source: TFormers]
The Last Knight Hot Rod Movie MP Style Figure Prototype Shown
Chris spotted the prototype. It is tied to the name TF Evo, which he has not seen on earlier figures, though it looks too polished to be a first effort. One host says third parties are clearly moving to movie designs, where the money is in Asia. He has preordered Unique Toys’ movie Optimus Prime and praises their Lockdown, whose panels are sculpted to look like other body parts. [Source: TFormers]
Hero-X Transformers Generations 2018 Book Cover Revealed
The cover shows upcoming figures, including Hero Megatron, Targetmaster Hot Rod and Sixshot, but no sign of an exclusive order form. Chris’s wild guess is a Bludgeon on the Hardhead mold, as seen in an e-Hobby comic. Others suggest Scourge as a Devcon, or Minerva or Gabu from the God Ginrai set. [Source: TFormers]
Zeta Toys Unofficial MP-Scaled Superion: First Look at Combined Form
The crew finds it well balanced but boring. One host says Combiner Wars Superion is as good as Superion will ever get. [Source: TFormers]
Iron Factory Reveals DJD Combiner for 2018! IF EX-31 Dubhe, 32 Phecda, 33 Mizar, 34 Alkaid, 35 Merak
One host calls it ridiculous and wonderful, with Vos as the gun, and the full set could top $200. Another finds a team that combines into a bigger Tarn uninteresting and is over the DJD. He would only buy a Kaon, for the electric chair, and will finish his Mastermind Creations set first. [Source: TFormers]
LG-47 Kickback and Clouder, LG-48 Brawn and Repugnus, LG-49 Targetmaster Triggerhappy In-Hand Images
Chris already has Triggerhappy and has a gallery coming. The crew loves Brawn and Repugnus. The TakaraTomy Insecticons match each other even less than Hasbro’s, so the crew still expects a matched three-pack someday. [Source: TFormers]
Fansproject Rises From the Grave for One Last Dinobot-Shaped Gasp
Chris enjoyed writing the headline, but nobody on the crew plans to buy it. [Source: TFormers]
Toys R Us Bankruptcy Expected to Hurt Hasbro’s Holiday Earnings
Hasbro posted a good third quarter, but Chris expects the Toys R Us situation to eat into what should have been a strong holiday quarter. [Source: TFormers]
What’s on TFormers
Chris has galleries up for Titans Return Slugslinger with Caliburst and Robots in Disguise Combiner Force Twinferno, which he calls a nice deco on a so-so toy. Rob wrote about the canceled Halloween Horrorcons set from the first Transformers Universe line. Chris reviewed Optimus Prime #12 and Lost Light #10, which he says felt like the More Than Meets the Eye he used to enjoy. LG-EX Grand Maximus met its goal and will be made, though Chris thinks the Pretender shell stretch goal was missed. Diecast’s latest review is Generation Toy’s Megatron, Tyrant.
What We Got This Week
Diecast got Toyhax labels for Titans Return Windblade, Full-Tilt and Trypticon’s tower. He also got Fans Toys Coot, an unofficial Masterpiece Kup. He loves the vehicle mode and the Targetmaster, which has a waist swivel that locks when the handle flips up, but wishes the chest had more paint.
Matt got Iron Factory’s pocket-size Swindle and Brawl, whose tight tolerances made him pry the legs out. He thinks the combined Bruticus will be the selling point. He ordered from Ages Three and Up late Wednesday and had them on his porch Saturday morning. He also got a Perfect Effect White Optimus set that he has not installed yet.
Chris got TakaraTomy Legends Triggerhappy, though he slightly prefers the Hasbro deco. He notes the Blowpipe Targetmaster uses different engineering and only stays aligned through its tabs. He also got Robots in Disguise Combiner Force Twinferno from the Toys R Us website with a coupon and reward points, delivered in two days. That finishes his Robots in Disguise collection.
Don found a lone Titans Return Slugslinger at Toys R Us and bought it as a spare.
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.