The crew looks back at 2017 in Transformers, from The Last Knight’s box office collapse to HasCon’s thin crowds. Everyone names one toy of the year, and the picks range from Last Knight Voyager Megatron to Fans Toys Phoenix. Brian grades the January predictions, and Diecast goes zero for three. Then a month-by-month review covers MP-41 Dinobot, the Power of the Primes leak and the first HasCon. Plus a Street Fighter II x Transformers recap.
Top Toys of 2017
Brian’s rule: one toy each, no honorable mentions.
Don picks The Last Knight Voyager Megatron. He says it proves a movie-style toy can use its mass well and look good in both modes.
Matt picks Titans Return Leader Overlord, finally released in the US. It is simple, but it is everything he wanted in an Overlord.
Diecast picks Fans Toys FT-10 Phoenix, its unofficial Skyfire, with a little nostalgia in the mix.
Chris picks The Last Knight Nitro Zeus. He praises its unusual engineering and its play pattern with other toys, though the instructions are terrible.
Rob picks the Primitive Skateboarding Optimus Prime exclusive. The black Optimus comes with new parts for a railgun or a skate park and a Titan Master, all for about $5 over retail. He calls it the best exclusive in years.
Brian cheats with a Titans Return Legends figure from 2016 that he could not find until 2017. He loves Legends and troop building, and he calls it the perfect Transformer.
2017 Predictions Scorecard
Diecast scores zero. He predicted Masterpiece Ultra Magnus, an official Masterpiece Galvatron and a third-party movie Unicron.
Matt lands about 50%. Twin Twist, a Takara Kup better than Hasbro’s and Legends Beachcomber came true. Unite Warriors Liokaiser, a Titans Return Voyager Springer and Masterpiece Trailbreaker did not.
Rob gets credit for predicting Broadside would not be Tidal Wave. His call that the movie line would adopt the Titans Return play pattern counts as a partial hit through Cogman and Nitro Zeus.
Don scores about a third. More Masterpiece Beast Wars toys arrived, but the Toys R Us Apex Armor Optimus and an e-Hobby Black Zarak did not.
Chris predicted Titans Return Scorponok and got only the head, a partial hit.
Brian gives himself two partials. Hasbro’s crackdown on third party surfaced through a UK retailer, Kapow Toys. He predicted Titans Return Dinobots and got Dinobots in Power of the Primes instead.
2017 Year in Review
January and February. MP-38 Optimus Primal arrived in toy colors, and Hasbro Asia bundled his bananas. A Target shelf label revealed The Last Knight’s price bump to $29.99 for Voyagers. Fans Toys showed Terminus Giganticus and Phoenix, which the crew thought might be impossible. The X-Transbots Springer revealed then still has not shipped. Power of the Primes fan voting gave Optimus Primal the Leader slot. The Last Knight got a Super Bowl spot, which the crew notes more people saw than the movie. Toy Fair brought Chaos on Velocitron and The Last Knight’s Megatron toys, and Wonderfest showed a silhouette of a Masterpiece Dinobot. The Transformers Collectors Club entered its final year.
March and April. Some Legends Chromedome figures shipped with the wrong faceplate, a factory error. Pete’s Robot Convention got good reviews from attendees. Toy Fair Australia revealed Misfire and Slugslinger. ROM vs. Transformers launched, and Chaos on Velocitron hit Toys R Us online, where Chris bought five. Brian’s favorite headline of the year: Michael Bay threatens as many as 14 more Transformers movies.
May and June. The Last Knight’s release date moved, and HasCon finally issued an official press release. MP-39 Sunstreaker and Fans Toys Rouge were revealed. DX9’s Gabriel, an unofficial Omega Supreme, was so big and reasonably priced that Fans Toys cut its price. Takara’s Movie the Best Laserbeak on the Bumblebee mold appeared, and Brian learns on air that his copy is a Christmas gift on the way.
The Last Knight. The crew gave the movie a fairly positive review at the time, with a big asterisk: it is watchable only by Michael Bay standards. Its opening weekend came in around $69 million and fell short of hopes. It dropped 78% in its second weekend and earned around $600 million worldwide. The crew pins its hopes on the Bumblebee movie and its new director.
July and August. Hasbro announced the Revolution comic crossover set for San Diego Comic-Con. The Bumblebee movie got a $22 million California tax credit, and John Cena joined the cast. HasCon revealed Headmaster Arcee as an exclusive, and Don trended online that day. Masterpiece 7-Eleven Convoy and MP-40 Targetmaster Hot Rod were announced. Make Toys canceled Galaxy Meteor, and HasCon tickets turned up at 50% off on Groupon.
HasCon and fall. The crew heard Hasbro hoped for 40,000 to 45,000 attendees, and the turnout was far smaller. Grotesque surprised everyone at New York Comic Con in a plain box. Galaxy Meteor was uncanceled. Chris’s article, Unlicensed Third Party: The Death Spiral, argued third party is shrinking, and Brian agrees it is not doing great. Takara announced an Encore God Fire Convoy at about $300, and LG-EX Grand Maximus with Greatshot needed preorder thresholds. After Comic-Con, nearly all of Power of the Primes leaked.
Late fall. MP-41 Dinobot’s price landed around $200 to $250, the most expensive regular Masterpiece yet. Mattel rebuffed Hasbro, and Machinima’s Titans Return disappointed most of the crew. Takara’s Power of the Primes figures look identical to Hasbro’s, which the crew sees as both good and sad.
Closing Notes
The crew recaps Street Fighter II x Transformers for John: Chun-Li is Arcee, Ken is Hot Rod, Ryu is Optimus Prime and M. Bison is Megatron. One host calls it maybe the best weird crossover yet. Another recommends the Till All Are One annual by Mairghread Scott, who wrote most of his favorite Transformers comics this year.
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.