Radio Free Cybertron - All of our Transformers podcasts!

Will the real Bluestreak please stand up?

From an ebay listing a few days ago we had the first definite signs of Earthrise Bluestreak being on the way - as if there was really any doubt about that anyway. The only problem is that it was presented essentially as a Bluestreak-colored Smokescreen. The visuals came from product renders, but being a fake was easily ruled out, thanks to unique angles and posing that would be very difficult to fake.

Fortunately, a post yesterday by In Demand Toys let us see an in-package sample of Bluestreak, which shows it using the Prowl body parts. The day is saved! This also let us confirm Bluestreak as being WFC-E32, and product code E7463. This accounts for seven out of eight Earthrise exclusives positioned between the second and third waves of regular retail product, with only WFC-E28 left as an unknown... for now.

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Tuesday isn't just for tacos anymore.

A post on the official Transformers instagram account promises five weeks of Generations Selects reveals coming every Tuesday at noon Eastern time starting on August 11th, and running through September 8th.

The reveals are being split up among Hasbro Pulse, Entertainment Earth, and BigBadToyStore's instagram accounts - though we'd expect the other relevant social media channels to carry the same information.

This seems like it will be the official reveals of various Selects figures we've learned about through retailer datamining early this year, a list which currently includes Bugbite, Hot House, G2 Megatron, Black Roritchi, and Ratchet.

One of those five figures should go up for at least preorder tomorrow after being revealed by Hasbro Pulse, but as for which one specifically, we can only wait and see. We'll also wait and see how many pictures of any or all of these five toys suddenly turn up unofficially while leakers try to strike while their material is still relevant.

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This week: new photos of Earthrise Dirge, Ramjet, Prowl, and Ironhide! A new look at the retail version of Gigawatt. All that and more on RFC 686!

Mentioned on the Show:

The News

Hey, Rob, did you know that TFCon is going to be in Baltimore?

Takara Earthrise Dirge, Ramjet, Prowl, Ironhide Official In-Hand Images

Megatron Day at GameStop - All The Rulers of Deals!

Back To Future x Transformers Gigawatt Mass Market Release in October

Transformers War For Cybertron Earthrise Autobot and Decepticon Art Prints

Transformers Join the Battle in World of Warships Game Announced

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Rob's back for this August of 2020 edition talking about Siege on Netflix, and toys he wants at Walmart. Transformers, GIJOE, He-Man, and kaiju are all discussed as well as the incoming Halloween season. Also sneezing cats!

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This week on Radio Free Cybertron: counterfeit toys, disappointing quarterly results, an over-engineered new Masterpiece toy, Funk Pops, and Netflix Siege debuts! Mass hysteria!

Mentioned on the Show:

The News

* Transformers Chapter One: Siege debuts on Netflix

Police Nab Transformers Counterfeiters

Hasbro’s Q2 Results are not strong

Design Art For The New Masterpiece Starscream From Figure King

Hasbro Fan Expo Exhibit Video

G1 Funko Pops Are On The Way

Netflix WFC Bumblebee And Elita-1 Production Samples Seen in New Stock Photos

Takara Transformers Siege SG-EX Ratchet Images and Details

Takara Transformers Earthrise ER EX-16 Skywarp & Thundercracker

Flame Toys Windblade Furai Model Returns with a New Design

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This podcast is a review of TRANSFORMERS CHAPTER ONE: SIEGE (episodes 1-6), which launches on Netflix on July 30, 2020.

Review Summary

The series is a substantial improvement over the Machinima Transformers series that preceded it, in virtually every respect. The voice direction, animation, and story are all greatly improved. Siege does an excellent job of working within the constraints of 3D animation and creates creative reuses of character models. Where the series falls short is a problem endemic to Transformers fiction as a whole. Hasbro no longer has a consistent vision of who Optimus Prime is. Optimus Prime is best when utilized as a fatherly force of nature, there to break you out of a jam with a laugh and a bit of wisdom. In Siege, Optimus is an impotent leader unsure of himself. Prime is a fundamentally uninteresting character, making him weak does him no service. Another challenge is that this period in Cybertronian history is inherently dull. The Generation One cartoon did it best by giving you hints of what happened in the past, without laying it all out. Siege is another retelling of a period in the Transformers' history, a time that does not require much elaboration.

The creative team did an admirable job with the series, but ultimately we wonder who Siege is for and what the ultimate point of the series is. As entertainment, with its pacing, it falls a bit short. As marketing, it's more than a year out of date. Siege could be served better as a 90-minute supercut leading into Earthrise, similar to Scramble City, which bridged the gap between Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers and Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers 2010. If you're new to Transformers, this might be a fair starting point, but if you're a veteran fan, it just doesn't feel essential.

Things we liked

* Voice direction

* Animation

* Starscream, Megatron, and Soundblaster

Things we didn't like

* Optimus Prime

* Pacing

Thanks to Netflix for providing us early access to review the series.

 

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This week: All the news happened again. TCG comes to an end, as does John Warden's time on Transformers. New Earthrise, Studio Series AND Cyberverse exclusives are the on way. All that plus we break down this whole e-commerce bot fiasco.

Mentioned on the Show:

The News

John Warden moves from Transformers to Power Rangers

The Transformers TCG Comes To An End

Exclusive Quintesson Pit of Judgement Box Set Revealed

RFC News Desk 111 – The Second Fan First Friday Recap

Earthrise Autobot Alliance Ironhide and Prowl revealed

Earthrise Seeker Elite Ramjet and Dirge revealed

Netflix War For Cybertron Wave 2

Second Leader Unboxing pack (ugh)

Voyagers Optimus Prime and Soundwave

Deluxes Impactor, Red Alert, Wheeljack, Elita-1, and Bumblebee

Photo of production sample batch on Twitter

Official reveals of Selects Hubcap, Exhaust, Greasepit

Rotorstorm’s head was fixed. High res picture here

Studio Series Leadfoot Coming Exclusively To Target

Earthrise Runabout Listing Found In Target’s System – Rumored To be Another Exclusive

More Cyberverse Boxsets Heading To Target

Three More Transformers RED Collection Figures Discovered

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Everything we expected and slightly more(?)

Hasbro had a quick live stream this morning, giving us our second Transformers-focused Fan First Friday. The stream went pretty quick, coming in at about 35 minutes out of its 30 minute scheduled runtime, and a lot of product announcements were included. Unfortunately the majority of it was things we already had at least some awareness of.

At the start of the broadcast was an update about Rotorstorm, which they had first debuted on the previous Fan First Friday. Rotorstorm was originally seen using Spinister's head, all the while the product copy and the representatives on the first stream went out of their way to describe how it had a great IDW-inspired new headsculpt. According to the update this morning, that was an error with the previous sample, which was an early engineering pass. The mistake was corrected, and they showed off pictures of the correct new head. Along with this, a small amount of attention was paid to Maverick, which was revealed earlier this week, but no new information was revealed.

A lot of the time was spent talking about the second wave of Walmart exclusive Netflix War For Cybertron figures. We're getting a complete second wave, with all price points. Including a second spoiler pack, because nobody learned the lesson fast enough the first time to be able to stop it. We don't know who will be in the new spoiler blind box, but it does appear to be a Decepticon, and the toy is noted as transforming in 34 steps. The detective work is, of course, ongoing.

Voyagers include Soundwave, which is the "clean" Earthmode Soundwave we saw leaked several weeks ago. It comes with a Ravage and a remolded Laserbeak, each of which have more detailed cassette deco.

The other Voyager is Optimus Prime, which will be the Earthrise robot with no trailer. Coming with it are redecoed Pteraxadon as Enerax, and Soundbarrier as Sheeldon. The two Battlemasters are meant to resemble Prime's energon axe, and an energon shield, respectively.

Five more Deluxes are on the way, included redecos of Red Alert, Impactor, and Wheeljack. The assortment is also going to include an Elita-1 retool of Earthrise Arcee, featuring a robot mode with a fair degree of modifications, but a vehicle mode that's virtually identical. Finally there will be a Bumblebee retool of Cliffjumper.

This week we take a long look at Top Gun X Transformers Maverick, the new G1 characters likely to appear in Studio Series, new Cyberverse toys, and much more!

Mentioned on the Show:

The News

RFC News Desk 110 – Top Gun x Transformers Maverick Officially Revealed

Fan First Friday again

RFC News Desk 108 – Transformers Reveals To Take Place At Walmart Collector Con

RFC News Desk 109 – Studio Series 86 Leader Class Slag And More From Walmart

More Studio Series 86 Listings Found in Walmart Datamining

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More Than Meets The Need For Speed

Hasbro officially revealed Maverick, the Top Gun x Transformers Collaborative figure today.

Maverick was previously leaked a few weeks ago, but all we got to see was a low resolution image of a boxed sample. Today's reveal comes with a ton of huge stock photos that show off the vehicle and robot modes in much more detail.

Upon initial examination, it seems like Maverick may be an entirely newly designed toy. This is a first in the Collaborative series, as Ectotron reused elements from Combiner Wars Hot Spot, and Gigawatt is a remodeled Siege Sideswipe.

Maverick includes a volleyball, extra hands that can hold the volleyball, and a tiny accessory motorcycle.

Preorders went live at 1pm Eastern time on July 13th, for $49.99. Shipping is expected in early October.

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