To brighten the mood, the crew picks the Transformers episodes that remind them why they love Transformers, from “The Return of Optimus Prime” and “Webworld” to Beast Wars season one. An Earthrise Starscream turns up with an alternate screaming face, hinting at a future Coronation Starscream. TFCon USA in Orlando is canceled as the coronavirus shuts down conventions, and Super7 shows a new ReAction wave. Chris reviews Generations Selects Kraken and Lobclaw, and Brian finally gets a Fortress Maximus.
News
Earthrise Starscream Alternate Face Accidentally Revealed
A TFW2005 member found his Earthrise Starscream shipped with the wrong face, a screaming expression Chris calls a dull surprise face. Chris thinks it is pre-tooling for a Generations Selects Coronation Starscream. He points to Starscream’s frozen scream as Galvatron shoots him in The Transformers: The Movie. Alternate face sculpts sometimes go unused, he adds. The crew believes this is a one-off lucky find. One host notes the eyes are a separate part, so the face can never look fully anguished. [Source: TFRadio]
TFCon’s Orlando show is canceled, which the crew calls the right call but a blow to morale. WonderCon is canceled, and one host expects San Diego Comic-Con to be delayed at least. Toylanta is canceled and moving online through a Facebook group. Brian floats a virtual Radio Free CyberCon someday. The planned TFCon exclusives will still be sold through the usual dealers, and TFCon’s fall show will be in Chicago. [Source: TFRadio]
New Transformers ReAction Figures from Super7
Photos show the next Super7 ReAction wave: Shrapnel, Rumble, Grimlock and Skyfire. One host hates that he likes them, and another says they look like something out of a Tom Scioli book. Don loves the card art most and wishes for a coffee table book collecting it. [Source: Super7]
Episodes That Remind Us Why We Love Transformers
Matt picks “The Key to Vector Sigma,” which introduces the Aerialbots and Stunticons, and “Dark Awakening,” with its zombie Optimus Prime. He adds “The Burden Hardest to Bear” for Rodimus Prime and the Malaysian dub of Headmasters’ “Life Can Be Sacrificed for Peace on Earth.” He also picks all 42 parts of Transformers Animated. Another host loves “The Ultimate Weapon” for a Rodimus who has to think instead of punch.
Brian’s warm hug is “The Return of Optimus Prime,” which still gets to him emotionally, and he loves the strange “Webworld.” He would watch “Starscream’s Brigade” and “The Revenge of Bruticus” back to back. From Beast Wars he picks “Transmutate” for its theme of common ground. He calls The Transformers: The Movie comfort food, flawed but loved.
Rob picks “Five Faces of Darkness,” the one multi-parter he caught in full as it aired as a kid. He also notes Beast Wars season one plays like an old anime’s character-building first half. One host prefers simple, standalone Beast Wars season one episodes like “A Better Mousetrap,” “The Low Road” and “Possession.”
Don picks the Dinobots’ debut, “The God Gambit,” “The Gambler” with Smokescreen, “The Dweller in the Depths” and “Call of the Primitives.” From outside G1 he picks Transformers: Prime’s “Chain of Command,” where Miko pounds Starscream in the Apex Armor. Season two of G1 is suggested for easy, fun escapism, and Transformers Animated’s “Human Error” and “Garbage In, Garbage Out” also come up.
What We Got This Week
Chris
Chris got Generations Selects Kraken and Lobclaw from the next Seacons wave. Lobclaw is a retool of Blot and feels more solid than Gulf, but its lobster legs do not lock in place. Chris likes its smooth faceplate, which recalls Alex Milne’s Getaway. Kraken comes from the Cutthroat engineering family and has a sleek, low-profile alt mode, though its wings hang loose. Both come with parts of King Poseidon’s sword and the well-articulated combiner hand. Neither impresses him as much as Turtler, but both beat Gulf. He is also helping design a Unicron-colored custom repaint for one host’s extra Turtler.
Don
Don got Unique Toys’ take on Last Knight Megatron, about $180 with tax from TFSource. He says the jet vanishes into the robot with almost no kibble, like the company’s Challenger. He cannot wait to see what Unique Toys does next.
Rob
Rob got Transformers: The Manga volume 1 and loves it. It is simple, written for kids in 1985, but the art is excellent. He says it feels like authentic, rediscovered G1 with its own character. Another host agrees that it does not feel like the cartoon or the early comic.
Brian
Brian got Transformers sippy cups in the Evergreen art style for his youngest. He also bought Fortress Maximus Encore for about $250 plus $70 shipping, instead of a pricier vintage Japanese Headmasters Fort Max. Now he finally owns a Fortress Maximus.
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.