Generations Selects Powerdasher Cromar turns up on Canadian shelves before Hasbro has even announced it. MP-38+ Burning Convoy adds clear plastic but also a blue head the crew calls wrong. Siege Nemesis Prime gets a clean $80 deco, and Leader Astrotrain gets its first in-hand review. HasLab Unicron sits at 5,670 backers as UK and EU orders open through Kapow Toys. Meanwhile, the unofficial Zeta Toys Unicron looks postponed after Hasbro takedowns.
News
Unicron Watch: Kapow Toys Opens UK and EU Orders
Diecast reports HasLab Unicron at 5,670 backers, up just 19 from last week. Official UK and EU crowdfunding is opening through Kapow Toys, but buyers there get only about two weeks to pay. Diecast guesses that adds a couple hundred backers at most. The crew adds up the Takara Tomy Mall, EB Games Australia and Hasbro Taobao counts, and still says the campaign needs new hype. One host suggests Hasbro add cheap extras like more slug ships. [Source: not found]
Zeta Toys Unicron Postponed After Hasbro Takedowns
A Zeta Toys representative posted that its unofficial 18-inch Unicron-style figure is postponed, probably indefinitely. Hasbro also had two YouTube videos of the prototype removed on copyright grounds. One host calls the takedowns a first for Hasbro against a third-party item, though not a surprise given the timing. Another host thought the Zeta Toys project was always in poor taste during the HasLab campaign, and the crew suspects it hurt Unicron’s numbers. [Source: not found]
Generations Selects Powerdasher Cromar Shows Up in Canada
Powerdasher Cromar is turning up in Canadian stores in silver, red and black, before any official US announcement. The crew says it recalls G2 Sideswipe with more silver. One host had this Powerdasher as a kid and wants it. Last week’s guess that Cromar would be offered around New York Comic Con now looks likely. [Source: TFormers]
MP-38+ Masterpiece Burning Convoy First Look
Burning Convoy keeps clear plastic but adds a blue head, which the crew calls simply wrong. One host jokes that the correct head will come later as an MP-38++ Takara Tomy Mall exclusive. It runs $111.99 almost everywhere. One host has never watched Beast Wars Second all the way through and plans to skip it. Another host admits he will still buy one. [Source: TFormers]
Transformers Siege Nemesis Prime Revealed
Siege Nemesis Prime is a blacked-out repaint with no battle damage or cel shading, at $80 with no direct US sale option yet. Its sword nods to Titans Return Alpha Trion. The crew is tired of Nemesis repaints, and one host says Power of the Primes Nemesis Prime is enough for him. Two hosts admit they will buy it anyway. It is due around the end of March. [Source: TFormers]
Siege Leader Astrotrain In Hand
Video review images show Leader Astrotrain with a shorter robot than some expected, a trade-off for triple-changer engineering. A third of its mass sits in the accessory tree, so the $50 price still feels fair. One host calls it the best Astrotrain since Classics in every mode. The crew agrees the Titans Return version was a poor Astrotrain and an only slightly better Sentinel Prime. [Source: TFormers]
Ken Christiansen Reveals His Original Ectotron Design
On What’s on TFormers, Rob shares Ken Christiansen’s original design art for Ectotron. The final toy changed a lot to fit the Hot Spot mold family, though the head design survived. The project was in the works for two to three years. The crew likes the shorter hood chest in the original art. [Source: TFormers]
What We Got This Week
Brian found Transformers Mighty Muggs at Ollie’s for $4 each: Megatron, Starscream, Bumblebee and Optimus Prime. Ollie’s also has Cyberverse Thundercracker at $4.99, and he grabbed a $1 Transformers fidget spinner. He got a Cyberverse Starscream from a Burger King kids’ meal. MP-18+ Bluestreak arrived and he likes it, though it is his fifth or sixth version of the mold. He bought a Tyco Transformers race set at an antique store for about $40, only to find the cars missing. Siege Omega Supreme came quickly from Big Bad Toy Store, and he loves its mass and detail.
Diecast got BotBots and a Cyberverse Scraplet from his friend Rob. He also got the Siege dino cassette two-pack with Frenzy, which comes on one card, sparking a Rumble-versus-Frenzy debate in chat. Wizards of the Coast and Hasbro sent him the Transformers Trading Card Game Blaster vs. Soundwave two-pack. It plays the same as the San Diego Comic-Con version with new art. He also picked up a Perfect Effect Jetwing Prime set.
Rob also got the Blaster vs. Soundwave Trading Card Game set from Hasbro and Wizards of the Coast. He plans an unboxing video once his booster box series is done.
Don got Thundercracker from Amazon, which dropped $5 the day it arrived. Amazon would not refund the difference after delivery. His Walmart also had another $45 Skyfire, which he may display in jet mode or trade at TFcon. Don dropped off the show soon after, when McAfee blocked Skype.
Matt had no Transformers arrive this week. His Siege Omega Supreme from Hasbro Pulse and MP-18+ Bluestreak from Big Bad Toy Store are still on the way.
Chris had nothing in Transformers this week.
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.