New stock photos show Earthrise Optimus Prime with gray hands, but the crew expects the final toy to match earlier blue-handed photos. Anthony Brucali finds that Super7’s Def Jam Soundwave began life as an LL Cool J crossover. Siege Wave 5 starts reaching US stores, and Flame Toys will sell its Furai kits prebuilt. RFC’s Operation Elf on a Shelfwarmer toy drive continues, and the first Twitter giveaway winners are named.
Operation Elf on a Shelfwarmer
Mark Alley’s name for the toy drive is now permanent. Brian worked for a children’s home when RFC started and has seen how much a single donated toy can mean. Don agrees that one toy can make a huge difference to a kid. Brian used Target’s buy two, get one free sale to donate Voyager Megatron, Starscream and Thundercracker. Tag donation photos with #ElfOnAShelfWarmer.
Twitter giveaway winners: Junkion Junkyard wins the 35th anniversary Voyager Megatron, and @Boops wins the Transformers Trading Card Game Metroplex deck. More BotBots, Cyberverse and card game prizes are coming. Brian is also collecting ideas for the upcoming RFC Patreon.
News
Transformers Earthrise Optimus Prime New Stock Photos
The new stock photos show gray hands, and some fans are upset. One host is canceling his preorder, since the cel-shaded Optimus Prime suits his shelf better. Another points out these photos match the New York Comic Con display. Later in-hand photos showed blue hands and eyes, and he expects that version going forward. Wave 1’s Leader assortment pairs Optimus Prime with a reship of Astrotrain, and the crew bets on a later G2 Optimus Prime. [Source: TFormers]
Siege Wave 5 Starting to Hit US Stores
Deluxe and Voyager Wave 5 figures are turning up, including Astrotrain, and Apeface is available online. Rung and Singe have not been seen yet. [Source: TFormers]
Def Jam Soundwave Re-Stickered?
Anthony Brucali of TFU.info got his Super7 Def Jam Soundwave and found the package had been re-stickered. His digging shows it was originally planned as an LL Cool J crossover. One host jokes that not knowing the real story makes it the most exciting story possible. [Source: TFU.info on Twitter]
KillerBody Bumblebee Voice Helmet and Bobblehead Optimus Prime
This wearable movie Bumblebee helmet doubles as a Bluetooth speaker, and a motor flips its battle mask down. Chris calls it one of the coolest dumb pieces of merchandise he has seen in a while. It is on Taobao, and the line also includes an odd vehicle storage box. [Source: TFormers]
New From Flame Toys: Furai Action Series
Flame Toys will sell its Furai model kits prebuilt and painted for a $25 to $30 premium. The first is IDW Optimus Prime in a subtle weathered finish. Chris and Rob compare it to buying Mobile Suit in Action figures instead of building Gundam kits. [Source: TFormers]
Nezha Transformers: First Look at Toys
Toys for the China-exclusive animated series show armored designs named after figures from Chinese religion and literature. Brian wants these more than anything he has seen in a long time, though it is not yet clear how they transform. [Source: TFormers]
Hero-X Transformers Generation 2020 Cover by Tsuyoshi Nonaka
On What’s on TFormers, Rob shares the Unicron-heavy cover by Studio OX alum Tsuyoshi Nonaka. Nonaka later created Soul of Chogokin and worked on the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers Megazord toy. [Source: TFormers]
What We Got This Week
Diecast got NewAge display pieces, including a heavy Lincoln Memorial chair for Megatron and a weathered Teletran. He also got NewAge’s clear Megatron. Amazon price-matched Siege Apeface at $24.99 and Siege Jetfire at $46, and he has ToyHax labels for the second Jetfire. Ocular Max’s Swindle figure, Furuto, has great head articulation.
Matt got Siege Apeface and found it a struggle to transform. He likes it in robot mode next to his Titans Return Headmasters, apart from the battle damage deco.
Rob got the cel-shaded 35th anniversary Optimus Prime from Brian, out of the Hasbro promo box. It is his first Siege Optimus Prime, and the cel-shaded deco won him over, even on the truck mode.
Don used a Target gift card to get the Red Hot and Stakeout Micromaster set for about $5.
Brian ordered from Big Bad Toy Store’s Transformers United restock. He got Micron Caliburst for $7 and Targetmaster Micron Spoilsport for $13. United Hot Rod is the nicest version of the Classics mold he owns. Siege Apeface took him 35 minutes to get into beast mode. He also checked off the urban camo Ruination.
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.