Takara Tomy announces an MP-09 Rodimus Prime reissue for January, and the crew remembers why the original fell apart. Siege finally reaches shelves, and Brian falls hard for Flywheels while Don rolls out TFC’s Rolling Thunder Optimus Prime. Color photos of MP-44 Optimus Prime show two head sculpts but no basketball, and MP-43 Beast Wars Megatron slips to March. Studio Series Dark of the Moon Megatron also surfaces at Tokyo Comic Con with a stiff fabric cloak.
What We Got This Week
Chris found a Cogman for $8 at Ross while waiting on a pizza. It is his third, but the first he has seen in a store, and he likes the mold. The crew notes Ross also had Air Attack Optimus Primal for about $30.
Brian caught a short-lived Hasbro Toy Shop deal on Siege and ordered the Voyagers and Micromasters. At a neighboring Target he found Sideswipe, Flywheels, Hound, Lionizer, Blowpipe and Firedrive. Flywheels is his favorite, and he is a little sad how much he loves a new Flywheels toy. He also got Studio Series Dropkick, which is tiny, plus a small Cyberverse Bumblebee from his closing Kmart. Diecast shares his story of Flywheels’ crotch popping off at the NYCC preview.
Rob thanks listeners for Power of the Primes Outback and Titans Return Misfire. Misfire was a long-term hunt, and now he only needs Twin Twist.
Diecast got a set of knockoff Dinobots in random colors, including a pink Slash, Sludge and a green Snarl. He also got Magic Square’s Legends-scale Blaster with a tiny Ramhorn, and he is amazed by its articulation. His Sky Lynx reissue from TFCon Chicago is still unopened.
Matt got a passport for his first trip to TFCon Toronto next July. He also added acrylic shelf risers for his line of eight Sharkticons.
Don found the Siege wave 1 deluxes at Target. He is on the fence about Sideswipe because of its height and red-on-red Autobot logo. He ordered Studio Series Dropkick and KSI Sentry through the RFC Amazon link. He got Fans Project’s Constructo, a TFCon exclusive, for $89 shipped. His big buy is TFC’s Rolling Thunder Optimus Prime, a G.I. Joe Rolling Thunder homage with die-cast weapons and armor that builds a fort or turret. After selling some items, he has about $50 in it.
This Week in History
In 1984, Marvel’s The Transformers #4, The Last Stand, was released. Sparkplug sabotages the Decepticons’ fuel and the Autobots win, until Shockwave flattens everyone on the last page. In 1997, Beast Wars Transformers was released for the PlayStation in the US, and the crew calls it virtually unplayable.
News
MP-09 Rodimus Prime Reissue Announced for January 2019 Release
The domestic price looks like about $230, only $30 more than the original release years ago. Nobody can confirm whether the quality problems that broke the first run are fixed. One host hears it is aimed mainly at the China market, and the crew calls the mold overly fiddly. Brian bought the original and has gotten years of content out of bashing it. Don says Takara cannot afford another quality-control mess while its profits slide. [Source: TFormers]
Tokyo Comic Con 2018: Studio Series Dark of the Moon Megatron Close-Up Photos
Brian is excited for a Leader Class Dark of the Moon Megatron. The cloak looks like hardened burlap, so one host dubs it soft bads. Another thinks a microfiber cloth would drape better at this size. Don loved the old Dark of the Moon Voyager Megatron. [Source: TFormers]
More Info for Rumored Upcoming Siege, Studio Series and Movie Masterpiece Releases
Chris wrote it up from a retailer order sheet with Chinese text. It lists Movie Masterpiece Megatron and Jazz. Siege exclusives include a Greenlight redeco of Chromia with a Targetmaster and a Skywarp battle pack with Slamdance, likely a Skytread redeco. Studio Series adds the KSI Boss from Age of Extinction, apparently a retool of Nitro. [Source: TFormers]
Takara Tomy Stock Photos: MP-44 Optimus Prime 3.0 and Siege Chromia, Prowl and More
Chris finds Chromia is about 95% new tooling on Moonracer’s engineering, with different joints throughout. Don is annoyed Hasbro did not just redeco Moonracer. Chris counters that a combiner-ready toy would not fit a line with no combiners. [Source: TFormers]
Takara Tomy MP-44 Convoy Masterpiece Optimus Prime 3.0 Full Official Stock Photos
Brian is sad there is no basketball. Chris thinks the chest windows look off-model and still sees MP-10 as the ideal blend of toy and cartoon. The crew loves the two heads for Optimus Prime’s two animation models. The crew wants a City of Steel version with the Starscream disguise parts. One host notes Amazon Japan has it near 35,000 yen, about $320, which is still absurd but better than $450. [Source: TFormers]
Bumblebee Gets a Voice: Dylan O’Brien Revealed as Bee Voice Actor
Brian has never heard of him. Don wishes they had used Will Friedle, the Transformers: Prime voice. [Source: TFormers]
MP-43 Masterpiece Beast Wars Megatron Delayed: Is Takara Tomy Having a Masterpiece Problem in 2019?
Brian got the delay email from Amazon Japan and is relieved for his wallet. MP-43 slips two months to March. Chris’s TFormers article lays out his concerns about the state of Masterpiece. [Source: TFormers]
W-01 Dirty Man Transforms From Toilet to Samurai Robot
Brian loves it, though he points out it turns into a Japanese-style toilet rather than an American one. [Source: TFormers]
BotBots Spotted at Walmart
Rob reports single-pack BotBots sighted at a Walmart in Massachusetts, in cardboard stocking-stuffer displays. Later in the show he adds that retail packs carry a code inside and a penciled code outside. TFormers has the full code list. [Source: not found]
What’s on TFormers
Rob’s video review of Siege Voyager Megatron is up, and he calls it a really nice toy. TFormers also covers Sir Richard Branson vanishing from Transformers: The Definitive G1 Collection. Simon Furman could not find the original permission note, so the original artists redrew him as a Mr. Johnson.
Trading Card Game Gamble
Diecast opened his second booster box and found no super rares, though a Grimlock saved it. The crew agrees it is basically gambling.
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.