Recorded the night before San Diego Comic-Con 2018, the show races to keep up as Hasbro booth photos post mid-recording. Amazon listings leak much of the 2019 War for Cybertron line, including Leader Jetfire, Shockwave and Ultra Magnus. MP-43 Megatron gets US distribution, the Bumblebee movie’s Energon Igniters line is revealed, and a dancing Bumblebee leads the toy news. Don marks the first BotCon in 1994 and shows off his 7-Eleven Optimus Prime.
News
Generations 2019 War for Cybertron and Probably More Leaked via Amazon Listings
Chris wrote the story. Amazon US listings surfaced through the Amazon Australia storefront, shortly after earlier listings that look like Micromaster teams. Brian’s highlights are Leader Jetfire and Shockwave, which Chris thinks fit Studio Series sizing better. Other listings include Deluxe Cog, Sixgun, Hound, Ironhide, Prowl and a second Sideswipe. Possible Studio Series names include Barricade and a Dark of the Moon Dino. Leader Ultra Magnus and Optimus Prime have consecutive product codes, so a new Generations Ultra Magnus may be coming. The first War for Cybertron: Siege reveals got a cool reception from the crew. They dislike the battle-damage paint and the $6 Battle Masters, and most plan to pick and choose from the line. [Source: TFormers]
More Mysterious Upcoming Transformers Listings on Amazon: Wait, Aren’t Those Micromaster Teams?
The earlier batch of listings appears to include Micromaster team sets, which the crew covered in RFC Extra 43. [Source: TFormers]
SDCC 2018: First Looks From the Hasbro Transformers Booth
Booth photos posted during the show reveal a huge Bumblebee, an orange or red Lockdown retool that a chatter thinks is a KSI drone, a Dark of the Moon Ratchet deco and a blue Stinger. The G1 reissues include a carded Bumblebee with the Encore head sculpt, and the Devastator reissue is reportedly going up on Walmart’s website. Diecast nitpicks Punch-Counterpunch’s long legs, and Chris defends the toy at $25. Later photos show Hound and Sideswipe wearing pieces of a Micromaster, and a Leader Ultra Magnus that may be armor around the Voyager Optimus Prime mold. Brian would buy that. [Source: TFormers]
Wal-Mart Announces New G1 Reissues
Walmart’s G1 reissues reportedly go up for preorder tonight. The Minibots, at about $6 to $10 each, are the budget pick that one host wants. [Source: IGN]
Dancing BEE: DJ Bumblebee Movie Transformers Toy
The Big Item is a dancing Bumblebee toy for the Bumblebee movie. The crew mocks it as a soap-bottle toy that can only raise its arms, but expects kids to love it. [Source: TFormers]
MP-43 Beast Wars Masterpiece Megatron to See US Distribution in 2018
Like anime-colors Prowl, MP-43 Megatron will come through specialty retail. Entertainment Earth lists it at $319, and Big Bad Toy Store dropped its price to about $320. Don says comic shops rarely discount collectibles like this. [Source: TFormers]
New Listings Tease Upcoming Movie Masterpieces and Studio Series
TakaraTomy listings show an MPM-7 at 10,000 yen, dated before MPM-6 Ironhide. Speculation says MPM-7 is Jazz, though one host thinks Human Alliance Jazz is already great. Another suggests it could be a Bumblebee movie character. [Source: TFormers]
Devious Decepticon Enforcer MPM-5 Barricade USA Exclusive Now Available
MPM-5 Barricade is up for preorder again. Brian’s earlier preorder disappeared, so he placed a new one. [Source: TFormers]
Bumblebee: The Movie Energon Igniters Toyline Revealed
GeekDad revealed the line. The three-inch Speed class runs about $6 and includes Hot Rod, Barricade, a VW Bumblebee and Optimus Prime. The five-inch Power class adds Dropkick, the blue car, and a Megatron in his Revenge of the Fallen tank mode. The bigger classes come with the Igniter pieces, which are not electronic. Rob notes Hot Rod is a retool of other figures, so not every character will be in the movie. Jess Harnell has already let slip that Barricade is. [Source: TFormers]
Leaked From Cybertron: Studio Series Voyager Revenge of the Fallen Starscream
The crew hates the design and will skip it. One host says he would only buy the first, clean-jet release. [Source: TFormers]
Poseidon Limited Editions: Not King Poseidon Seacons Combiner
TFC Toys is rereleasing Poseidon in a black and purple deco that the Seacons never had. Matt does not see why they skipped the existing decos. He also rules that third-party Seacons do not count toward the hashtag Seacons before Unicron. [Source: TFormers]
Unofficial Movie Soundwave Masterpiece-Style Figure Prototype Images
The Dark of the Moon Soundwave looks far better than the Human Alliance version. Rob worries that an official one is surely on the short list, and its Mercedes logo is a legal target. [Source: TFormers]
DNA Design DK-07 Predaking Upgrade Kit
The kit adds new wings, swords and a hammer. Rob says the longer wings make the narrow waist look worse, and he is surprised the kit has no waist filler. [Source: TFormers]
Fans Toys FT-17 Hoodlum Color Photos: Unofficial Hot Rod Figure
The robot mode looks great, but the spoiler is too big for the car mode. Don is tempted but may wait for a possible Targetmaster version. [Source: TFormers]
This Week in History
In 1994, the first BotCon was held at the Grand Wayne Center in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Don, who was there, says it opened his eyes to the European and Japanese continuities and to Hasbro’s Generation 2 plans. He met John and Karl Hartman there, and says the hobby has made his life better. He learned about the show through a letter to Lee’s Action Figure News and Toy Review. Don was first in line for the dealer room and still owns the G2 Breakdown handed to attendees. The Hartmans are digitizing their VHS archives, and the crew spots Don within seconds of the new BotCon videos. [Source: TFWiki]
It’s a Don Deal Preview
With Toys R Us gone, Don argues that TakaraTomy and Bandai leave money on the table by not selling collector exclusives through US outlets. His example is the 7-Eleven Optimus Prime, which could sell on 7-Eleven’s website or through retailers like Barnes and Noble. He says opening the US market would win sales and goodwill.
What’s on TFormers
Rob reviews Power of the Primes Divebomb, which is better than a giant combiner limb with a backpack sounds. [Source: TFormers] He also reviews Optimus Prime #21, which wraps up The Falling. [Source: TFormers] TFormers is running a reader survey with a chance to win store credit from Megatropolis Toys. [Source: TFormers]
RFC Announcements
RFC streams its San Diego Comic-Con coverage live on Thursday at about 2 p.m. Eastern, with Ant from TFU.info, Jason, Chris, Don and Eric Crownover. RFC Extra 43 covers the first War for Cybertron: Siege reveal. Brian’s Professional Robot Collector shirt is available at tfradio.net/shirts.
What We Got This Week
Brian‘s only new item is the RFC Professional Robot Collector shirt he is wearing.
Chris‘s Prime Masters Wave 3 order arrived at Big Bad Toy Store, but he does not have it in hand yet.
Jason is also waiting on his Prime Masters. On sale he got Robots in Disguise Bumblebee and Bludgeon, and enjoys comparing the line’s first toy with its last. His Abominus will be complete next week.
Matt got Mastermind Creations’ Reformatted Calidus Luminous, the Lost Light Rodimus, in the good colors, and likes it a lot.
Diecast got Robots in Disguise Twinferno for about $8 and Power of the Primes Predaking. From Chosen Prime he got Thundercracker and Skywarp, the next two figures in a third-party remaster series. He also got Unique Toys’ Swarder and X-Transbots’ Cliffjumper, Toro, though its backpack bugs him. A Grimlock model kit came on sprues, and he may paint it as G2 Grimlock. He also got TakaraTomy Legends Blitzwing, Moonracer from Amazon and a cel-shaded Masterpiece-style Megatron knockoff from Taobao. The crew says the Megatron’s arctic-camo look drags down his cel-shaded Optimus Prime.
Don got the 7-Eleven Masterpiece Optimus Prime, an opened but complete copy from a US seller. Between eBay Bucks, a coupon, a surprise sale and overtime, it cost him about $100 out of pocket. He loves the green energy axe, the trailer and the watermelon Matrix.
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.