Sentinel Online. Now loading All Things Transformers.
Hello and welcome to... all things transformers
i'm your host steve megatron joining me on this
adventure into the transformers fandom is tfg1
mike things are crash boom banging around here
folks i don't know what's going on in the world
of the transformers but uh the uh you know i
laughed the toaster laughed i shot the toaster
yeah i'm here it's one of those nights folks
but uh It is Monday. What do you expect? Fucking
Mondays. I mean, it is, it is, it is a Monday,
but this will be out on Transformers Tuesday.
So yes. So yeah. So anyways, we're going to get
into some various Transformers toys, some convention
stuff and well, some comics. Yeah. But, uh, and
then of course some, uh, 2026 studio series listings
of speculatory. Uh, I mean, it is, these are
legit. They're just, it's like, what series do
they belong to? Because they all fall under the,
uh, uh, the, the primes, uh, series that they're,
they're doing now with the, uh, generations.
Cause you know, we can't name it something else.
Try the age of Primus. Yeah, the age of the Primes.
It's like, OK. Too long. Let's pick something
else. Anyhow. Getting off first in this conversation
is Takara Tomy Studio Series Commander Optimus
Prime fixed heels. Yeah, I didn't know his heels
were broken. I think they were mismatched. OK.
uh apparently some of the tolerances were bad
too with the mold yeah that's very true yeah
i'm looking at these photos now yeah interesting
yeah this is a good i was gonna say well you
you continue your thought on this and then i've
got something that's kind of a tangent on on
this yeah i I know we covered that this was coming
out and I know we looked at it, but I don't remember
us complaining about the heels. And I don't,
maybe I'm not paying enough attention to the
Transformers toy community anymore because honestly
it's 2025. And the last episode we did was in
February of this year. It is now April. And I
gotta say. Sorry, not sorry, but my interests
right now are everywhere other than the Transformers
fandom. I still love Transformers, absolutely.
But, like, I ain't hip to the jive, man. But
I guess... Okay, so... Are these photos supposed
to show us that they fixed them? Or are these
supposed to show this is what the problem was?
That's what I'm confused about. Yeah, that's
what I'm like, wait a minute. Okay, so the article
here says that, courtesy of very own TFW 2005
member, ProWay, we have some in -hand images
and information about the Takara Tomy 86 Optimus
Prime, which has just been released in Japan.
This release features a slightly different box
with some Japanese text, and the figure has got
fixed heels, which has been a common issue in
the first batch of this mold. To top it all,
this release also improves tolerances on the
mold like the head flip parts and Optimus' gun
on his hand. So, I guess this is supposed to
show that the... See, now... I wish... This photo
or this photo set from this person would have
shown. The old version, as well as the new version
to show the difference, because this to me, like
I wouldn't have been able to tell the difference
unless I saw like an actual comparison time photo
comparison of what the old heels look like to
the new heels, because these heels look. fine
to me but then again i don't have studio series
86 optimus and honestly i don't really want him
well and this is my thing i wouldn't mind a studio
series optimus prime however it for the price
point i'll get a third party optimus prime that's
masterpiece you know what is his price point
i don't even know anymore oh he's 90 yeah Because
it's commander class. Right, right, right. Okay.
Yeah, that's fine. All right. So he's $90. And
a common issue in the first batch of this mold.
You put Hasbro. You put a... And I understand
Hasbro Takara Tomy Studios. I understand this
is the Takara Tomy version. Fine. But I'm sorry.
Hasbro. You let your Japanese partner put out
a version of this elite toy with a common issue
in the first batch? You fucked it up at the first
try? Really? Seriously? I mean, we are talking
about the same company, though, that put out
the Kingdom Beast figures. With tolerance issues
of plastic and then not painting them according
to the show. And then Takara Tomy comes out with
a premium finish. Yeah. Which had all of the
correct color aesthetics that I had to hand paint
on my original figures. Yeah. So this is why
it worries me being a regular non Funko pop toy
collector is because these companies aren't doing
the quality control just seems to be completely
thrown out the window. They threw it out the
window back during the power of the primes. because
honestly like if you look at that whole line
the prime you know the combiner wars titans return
and power the primes you know the quality of
those figures like yes some of the aspects were
pretty nice yeah comparing let's say i i compare
even the optimal optimus because i do have that
figure of Varying degrees. Comparing their Power
of the Primes Optimal Optimus. It has more posability
than the original figure. It is closer in detail
to the show. In some regards. And then in others.
The original release from 1997. Is better. It
had the chrome, like the gold, the vac metal
on them. It was heavier. Yep. And overall, like
it was pretty show accurate for, you know, the
colors and everything else. A lot of the paint
jobs were the first things I started noticing,
but the plastic has gotten thinner and flimsier
as years have gone on to the point that third
party is almost the way to go. And that's kind
of sad when they're the ones that are supposed
to originate it. I mean, even the quality control
on the original masterpiece, Beast Wars Megatron.
There were issues with it, with tolerances and
certain parts being brittle. And the knockoff
actually fixed all of that. And it's it's slightly
different color. like slightly off to the point.
If you didn't know the difference or have them
side by side, you're not going to notice the
difference between the two. And that's why I
have a knockoff instead of the official, because
there's a $300 difference for something that
was manufactured better. And it has David Kaye's
voice. Exactly. So go figure. But, but I mean,
like, I would love to support some of the Hasbro
stuff because like, honestly, I would love to
be able to pick the stuff up in the store, but
they underproduce the ones that everybody wants
and overproduce the other ones, which is, I mean,
it's beating a dead horse. I've been saying that
for years, but I mean, I'm finally starting to
see some new stuff in the store because everything
else got clearanced out or sent to like an Ollie's
in some other state because Colorado doesn't
have one. You should be thankful. So, I mean,
this is getting to the other part that I was
going to cut in with earlier. They have these
new. Smash battlers or I don't know, like these
smash together. Yeah, I know what you're talking
about. I took a look at that in the store and
I'm like, these are ridiculously stupid. And
I get they had a cheater, you know, playing,
you know, cat dog with with Tigatron as the rear
end and. I was like, okay, these are kind of
stupid. Because it's like a mix and match thing.
I'm like, what the heck are the point of these?
Why manufacture something that is not... I mean,
looking at it, the Transformers 1 stuff is somewhat
shelf -warming. I mean, you can pretty much find
every Optimus Prime and Bumblebee on the shelf.
They're not going anywhere. I've all of the Earthspark
stuff was clearanced out to get rid of it. The
beast, the last beast movie or the Transformers
live action movie with the beast stuff took forever
for them to get rid of. They had to clearance
it like mega clearance it to get rid of it. And
then Transformers one stuff selling pretty decent
studio series stuff sells pretty decent. The
Transformers Legacy United. is doing pretty like
somewhat decent once they got past the g2 color
stuff when they started getting like um uh slipstream
and animated bumblebee and you know some of those
characters that are kind of jumping genres there
uh they started doing better and then i for the
first time the other day i saw that deluxe studio
series uh devastation optimus prime in the store
And I took a look at it and I'm like, I want
to like it, but I don't like it. It just seems
bland and it looks cheap. And that was that.
That's my main gripe with the Hasbro stuff anymore
is it looks cheap. Yeah. And now they didn't
have these retro card backed Transformers, which
I didn't even know that that I don't know if
I missed it or if I didn't know that that was
a thing. But they re -released Bumblebee, you
know, in his Earth form with the Volkswagen Beetle.
Yep. In this classic style packaging. And it
says, you know, the Transformers more than meets
the eye. And it's got the red and it's got the
classic art deco of the original Bumblebee on
it. And it's like a very like it's just a card
back with a very minimalistic plastic covering
Bumblebee himself. Which, honestly. I kind of
like. Yeah, I mean, it's it's bigger cardboard
like square because they're putting the art,
but. It I think it kind of compensates for the
fact that some of the figures are bigger than
others, and then they had gears like Autobot
gears, and I was like, OK, this is a new figure.
Oh, and. But I mean, there's still a deluxe,
so you're still paying. you know, $25 for these
things. And, and I get inflation and I get all
that stuff. I don't for the amount of plastic
I'm paying for, like it better be like kind of
immaculate for that $25. You damn right. It better
be immaculate for $25 freaking dollars. And they,
they, they have a hard time selling the, the
leader class. They have a hard time selling the.
The Voyager class, like I don't really see those
move. I've seen the deluxe go farther. We don't
have basic anymore, so that's gone or core class
or whatever. I think that there's still room
that they can. Make this work and. I will be
looking forward to seeing what they do with some
of the other characters and, you know, these
classic card backs and, you know, maybe re -releasing
some of the the beast. type characters are releasing
the new ones with classic box styles but with
the new figure you know something something like
that because like i i'm looking forward to when
they you know get some of that new stuff uh and
you know especially with some of the stuff we're
going to talk about later with new figures coming
along the way yep well what have we been saying
we've been saying Last year, when we did episodes
of this podcast, and this year, we're going to
say it all this year, too. Because I will say
this. Hasbro, you've got the market of us. You've
got us. You've got the 30, 35, 40, 45, 50 -year
-old collector. You've got us. We may not always
buy everything. There are some of us that will.
You know, most of the time you've got certain
things appeal to certain one of us and others
of us and whatever. They need to be fostering
that kid market again. And honestly, the old
stuff sells the best. So like what you're talking
about, like these new figures or these new renditions
of figures, put a new Cheetor. in a classic beast
era box or a beast era package like you can still
do cool things with the brand with new figures
so here's here's part of my my thing too though
kids are not parents are not buying this stuff
for the kids one they can't afford it yeah i
know kids do not play with toys kids are on electronics
and so that's i see where brian cox purposely
has pivoted to chris cox no not brian you confused
the two yeah i know i know what i've done but
chris cox i can see why he pivoted to gaming
games yeah because kids are that's where they're
at that's where that's where they're going to
make the money and they know that And that's
why they're off sourcing, you know, everything
else to everybody else other than like Transformers
and some of their core brands. And then they're
manufacturing those themselves with, you know,
some caveats of some specific versions that don't
transform to other people. And I, I understand
that. And I understand that they're, you know,
they're pretty much a collector's market now.
Like they're not, it's not a kid's market. It's,
it's the people that grew up with it. We're the
ones buying it. We're the ones that are like,
oh, it's a new version of what I used to have.
You know, point in case. If I ever saw the. It's
the classic. Optimus Prime. You know that they
that that looks like. The original Optimus Prime
toy. Oh, yeah. It's the the Legacy United Deluxe
G1 Universe Optimus Prime. Yeah. Like, for instance,
I'm highly tempted to get that one. For the sole
purpose, it's a nostalgia kick like I had it.
I don't love the colors like I don't love the
fact that I mean, I know it's plastic and it's
not die cast and I get that. That's not my. my
thing, the, the, the gripe that I, the only one
I have is specifically is the, um, you know,
it just, it looks like plastic, you know, compared
to the, um, but it's, they give him, you know,
the, the ankle tilt. So they give him, you know,
some of the needs bending and they give him,
you know, better articulation. He, he has, you
know, the fist fold in on themselves, you know,
it's, they give him the, the energon axe uh and
then you know there's a couple little modifications
that are modernized but i mean if i saw that
i would like probably pick it up because i'm
like that's a pretty cool you know figure i liked
the original one despite the fact that it looked
like hot garbage compared to you know what it
was supposed to be uh but it was cool for the
time and i had one and it was one of the ones
that i i thought was really neat and so like
what i would do with it is i would give it the
paint job that it shows on the back of the box
yeah you know the richer blues the the the chrome
the uh the the richer reds you know the deep
dark red you know so it looks metallic like i
would i would give it that paint job if i you
know actually bought it and But I mean, that's
the kind of thing like that's it's a nostalgia
kick. It's giving you a modern version of a classic
figure. But it's they're definitely selling to
us like it's not the kids. It's oh, yeah, no,
I know. But I mean, like I would buy this. Over
the Studio Series 86. Based on the fact that.
This I know what I'm getting like. the devastation
optimus prime looks like crap compared to this
the the the studio series 86 is great i just
wish that they would sell them separate from
the trailer and that's that that's been my gripe
with the various primes that have come out it's
it's you know i would be more willing to be like
oh i'll drop 35 bucks you know on a voyager optimus
prime of studio series 86 or even 40 you know
but 90 it's like i'll buy a third party and get
just the the cab it'll be bigger it'll be better
quality and the paint job will match so it's
it's it's one of those things where i have to
kind of weigh things yeah i understand and my
thing is if i really wanted it If I really wanted
to have it, and obviously I'd have to save the
money to do it, I wouldn't mind paying the 90
because I want Roller. I want the trailer because
I want that full experience of being able to
have Optimus in truck mode, not just the cab.
I want that full trailer. I want to be able to
open up those back doors and have Roller pop
out. kind of thing so i get it i understand where
you're coming from because you're coming from
the great upgrade of 1996 and things were smaller
and more compact and more beastly than car uh
you didn't need trailers for beast modes uh so
i get it but uh yeah i don't know dude like it
just So let me, I don't remember if I've asked
you this in past episodes. I don't know. Have
you, or will you ever show your kids generation
one? I already have. Okay. I don't remember.
That's fine. I know that, but they, they genuinely
enjoyed that. Okay. They like. Okay. Okay. Like
my youngest loves. he doesn't really care he's
like i'll watch whatever he likes beast wars
he likes g1 right my my older one likes g1 like
he likes the car he likes the vehicles there's
more you know there's there's more that that
has them engaged with it i guess just because
it's it is cars um right and they are your oldest
is how old now 12. He's 12. Okay. So he's 12.
So he's. My youngest is going to be 10 in like
a month. Okay. So your youngest still has about
two. Okay. I'm trying to think of like, I'm trying
to think of like kids ages of like when to kind
of try. I'm trying to think of like how Hasbro
could get the kid market back of how they should
be. Like, I remember when we were kids from.
85 to 89 so i was five years old to nine years
old you could anytime my mom took me to the mall
i'm like running to kb toys or running the toys
or us or running to wherever wherever there was
transformers toys or he -man toys or whatever
i'm like zoom there immediately and i'm trying
to think of in 2025 2026 And this is why I thought,
oh, modern toys in vintage packaging would maybe
get... I don't know. It is what it is. Speaking
of things that are kind of classic, and I almost
thought this was an April Fool's joke because
it just sounds like it would be an April Fool's
joke. Up next... New third -party company, Big
Mac Toy. Come on. Big Mac Toy make Big Mac. No
sauce included. Exactly. No Thousand Island dressing
for you. But seriously, when I saw this, and
I understand the Weibo post was on March 29th,
but when TFW posted this, was on april 1st and
i read the the headline big mac toy big01 i'm
like wait what the hell is this that's why in
our document i put april fools question mark
question because i'm like we don't do april fools
around here we don't no we stay offline exactly
i mean i'm online but i ignore all the all the
fools but uh yeah no so this is uh big mac toy
big01 g1 fortress maximus this thing is going
to be two feet five inches tall that's a bit
excessive do you imagine how much that'll be
with tariffs yeah it's going to be terrifying
is what it's going to be hey yeah that's i get
it but yeah i mean i mean i'm all for like yeah
this kind of stuff like i think it's cool it's
gonna be heavy oh yeah i don't i don't understand
where people have the room to put these gargantuan
versions of these characters like i the biggest
figure i've ever had of anything was when i had
the transmittal to megatron like the winged dragon
yeah and it was so big because of the wings and
just the size it put the rest of my masterpiece
to shame and i was like i don't have anything
this big like i don't even have a star trek ship
i don't have like a megazord like nothing and
i ended up getting rid of it because of one space
and then two i was like well i can flip it you
know for what i got it for and then um And then
I can get something else, which I did. I was
able to get like two or three other masterpiece
and like half the Beast Wars line. So City Bots
for me have never been about the bot. Metroplex,
Fort Max, Scorponok, Trypticon. Okay, maybe Trypticon
was about the dinosaur, but they've never been
about the bot. mode it's always been about the
city mode because it was a play set experience
you watch the old metroplex commercial or you
watch the old fort max commercials and you can
have your other transformers that is what like
that's why all the other transformers were smaller
obviously not just why but like Go back to 1984.
Go back to 1985. We were just talking about the
updated version of Generation 1, 84 Optimus.
But you go back to 84. You go back to Optimus.
You go back to Bumblebee, Cliffjumper. You go
back to Ratchet and Soundwave and Megatron and
Starscream and the Jets and this and that and
the other thing. You have something like this
here. And I'm just looking at the city. I have
the larger city image pulled up, the middle image
here, where it's just the city. It's not open
battle station mode. It's just the city mode
where the ramps are. Go in, go out, go around,
go whatever. Upside down, inside out, whatever
kind of thing. It's a display piece. Same thing
with the Ark and the Nemesis. It's a display
piece of using the other toys you have. These
bigger bots, for me, have never been about the
robot mode. Do I like the characters of Fortress
Maximus or Metroplex as the robots? Yeah. But
I like them in the cartoon. As a toy, if I had
this today, I would be using it as a battle station.
I would be using it as a city for every other
smaller thing that I have. Like, I have the...
You probably can't... I have the Jada Toys Nano
Metal Figs. Like, I just basically dropped Starscream
on his metal head here. I would put all my Jada
Toys Nano Metal Figs, all my Autobots, I would
put them in this city. or around the city somewhere
kind of thing. So I understand what you're saying
about the space. I completely do. But that, to
me, is why the city bots... Like, if you look...
What's the episode? Oh, God, I should know this.
I'm a Transformers fan. I should know this. The...
Oh, is it Five Faces of Darkness when Scourge
and Starscream and... Well, it was Starscream's
ghost. Oh, Starscream, that's what it is. Starscream's
ghost. In Starscream's ghost, Starscream comes
back to life. He possesses Scourge, and Scourge...
Starscream has to do these labors for Unicron,
and Unicron wants eyes. Well, what's he going
to do? He's going to steal Metroplex's eye and
Trypticon's eye, and they have to go in. And
as they're going in, they see what kind of life...
is being lived inside the city that is Metroplex.
People can say what they want to say about the
IDW Publishing Comics, which I absolutely love
the IDW Publishing Transformers, IDW 2 .0 Comics,
but Margaret Scott, who we interviewed a couple
of times on the pullback. She wrote the Windblade
series, several of them, and Windblade is the
city speaker. She actually talks to Metroplex
and has a relationship with him and does all
that and whatever else. It's just a genuine,
interesting thing of how the rest of the Transformers
can live inside of this one Transformer. So,
yeah, I don't think we have pricing on this yet.
No, it's probably, since it's two feet, five
inches tall, because I had to do conversion on
that, folks, because I don't want to sit here
and say it's 76 centimeters. I mean, that's what
it says in the post, but I wanted the actual,
you know, two feet, five inches. Yeah, I mean,
it's... I think it's I want to say it's on show
Z. OK, well, if it is, you let me know. I mean,
two feet, five inches tall is about the same
height as the original Fort Max. He was two feet
tall. So, you know, it it is what it is. I think
this is cool. I probably won't be getting it,
but I think it's very cool. Yeah, he's twenty
nine point nine two inches. Yeah. it's it says
that on show z yeah um yeah and people can pre
-order them what's the pre -order price does
it say just as a dollar to start so i want to
know what i'm actually paying for like i want
to know the actual price yeah anyway speaking
of uh the things that are uh costly Masterpiece
Generations. Why they got to add the G to the
MP? I don't get this, but MPG -17 Optimus Prime.
Official images and promotional video. I watched
the promotional video. It looks good. This is
via Amazon Japan. We have new official images
and pre -orders for the Japanese market of the
new Transformers. mpg 17 optimus prime style
generation this new stylized optimus bold features
elements from different universes is up for pre
-order somebody somewhere on facebook i'll have
to send it to you later somebody somewhere on
facebook did a like a optimus masterpiece optimus
prime over the years he's only gotten like more
buffier kind of like he's gotten skinnier he's
gotten like he used to be fat with a ph back
in the mpo1 days by mp44 he's kind of slimmed
down to the point of look you know two shakes
you know and a sensible dinner and and i'm i'm
good to go but uh the video looks cool uh It
looks cool. It looks good. Does it say what it's
supposed to be? It was just confirmed that the
figure will stand 24 centimeters, 9 .5 inches
in robot mode, which is almost the same size
as MP44 Optimus Prime. Don't get me wrong. I
like the appearance of it. I like his vehicle
mode. I like the robot mode. Yeah, but... I don't
know. It almost looks like they took Randall
and Dr. Smooth's Optimus Prime and translated
him to... I don't like the really pointy part
of his head. Yeah, the ears are a little bit
much. And the ankles kind of make me feel like
they're on a ball joint that could break. yeah
that looks a little bad uh but the rest of it
like i mean i'm i'm pretty sold on this version
of a modern optimus prime and no trailer no trailer
for you so 165 dollars at any sense could be
yours today yeah except that's a little bit rich
for me i don't want to okay i know i'll wait
for i'll wait i'll wait for the knockoff no i'm
just That's horrible. You are going to drive
me nuts. I don't want to pay $90 for the Hasbro
all -in -one trailer version, but I don't want
to pay $165 without the trailer. Make up your
freaking mind, dude. Well, I can buy the Magic
Square Light of Freedom Optimus Prime Metallic
version for $69. And here's no trailer. Do that,
then. I don't think I've ever seen this before.
I don't think I've ever seen anyone put his laser
rifle on his shoulder. I have. Really? Yeah.
You want to know when that happened? When I wrote
about Ultimis Prime. Oh, of course. When you
wrote about your Chevy S10 truck. No, no, no,
no. This predates that. Oh. This is late 90s.
I thought. i thought ultimus was the chevy s10
oh the gmc s10 or s15 but okay story time yes
way back when the transformer sites you know
used to be good plentiful and good and all of
this there was a bunch of tech spec creator websites
that would generate a tech spec based on what
you wrote gotcha and they would send in a database
and you could download them and i did um so i
wrote about a character that i created called
ultimus prime and i wrote his his tech spec i
wrote his information that he was essentially
a failed clone of optimus prime after optimus
prime went back to earth you know, or went to
earth and was lost. And so they wanted an Optimus
prime. So they cloned him in, in the failed experiment.
He ended up becoming like the white and like
slate metallic, you know, Optimus prime essentially
like an, uh, like a, uh, ultra Magnus without
the armor. Um, and he had a fusion cannon on
his shoulder. Oh, nice. Okay. It's how I designed
him. And then, um, And then he also had another
one like it was basically his his hand cannon
was on his shoulder, but then his fusion cannon
was like on his arm, too. So, I mean, it could
go either way. But right. Point being, he had
a cannon on his shoulder. And. So it's kind of
funny that this figure is capable of it. Plus,
they have pegs on his back that you can actually
mount his various weapons. Nice. Yeah. Kind of
hold them in place, like on the side and on the
top or on the complete back. So I think it's
kind of cool how he does have the cannon there.
It just, I don't know, it makes him look more
like I'm ready for battle. Optimus Prime, roll
out. But yeah, I mean, I'm I mean, I'm all for
it. I like it. I think it's cool. And then he's
got the laser sword arms and stuff. no i i think
this is really well done i i do like it uh when
it boils down to like a money thing i just it's
not 100 like something i have to get my hands
on i kind of wish i never got rid of my uh mpo1
yeah but it's neither here nor there i i may
eventually get another masterpiece optimus prime
this may be it this may not i don't know but
i do think it's kind of cool I like the magic
square version better. But I think that these
ultimately these are these are all awesome. You
know, there's a flavor of Optimus Prime out there
for everyone. Yep. Absolutely. Oh, boy. And yeah,
so I'm waiting to see what the. price is gonna
be on this thing but apparently we would have
had to wait a few more days on this folks because
the pre -order does not go up until April 10th
but premium collectibles studio museum scale
Unicron statue reveal Coming to us from the official
Premium Collectibles Studio Facebook, we have
our official reveal of the massive Premium Collectibles
Studios Museum Scale Unicron Statue. The chaos
bringer is coming. The PCS Collectibles Transformers
Unicron Museum Scale Statue goes up for pre -order
on April 10th, measuring an immense 39 inches.
This towering force of destruction is a must
have for Transformers fans. Stay tuned for more
details. Yada, yada, yada. So, uh, 39 inches
wondering, um, what's the difference between
this and the, um, the, uh, the, the, the thing,
the thing, the other thing, uh, the one that
actually transforms. Yes. besides the fact that
this one doesn't it's just a statue yeah no i
know but like why is that like okay if you're
gonna do a unicron and i'm looking at the the
better image of this uh on on the facebook thing
that they linked here if you're going to do a
unicron statue Wouldn't you do something where
the bottom of him is the top of Cybertron and
he's actually stand like literally recreate the
scene where he's standing on top of Cybertron
fighting everybody from the movie. If you're
really going to do a 39 inch statue. I don't
know. Whatever. Maybe I'm just complaining too
much, folks. You know how we love to complain
around here. I don't know. And honestly, there's
only one Transformers statue that I still want
to this day that I don't think I will ever have
because I think it was a display piece only.
And it's all your damn fault. Because it's your
guy, even though it's not the purple version
of him. Dragon Megatron. God damn Red Dragon
Megatron from that whatever convention that was.
That display piece was so cool. Thing was awesome.
Anyway. all right yeah so there's that we don't
know what we'll we'll do an update at some point
next month or something folks but pre -order
for that is coming april 10th at 12 p .m uh pacific
time on uh on april 10th getting into some comics
stuff because skybound is skybound under image
comics skybound entertainment is the home of
the Transformers. Transformers fans, roll out.
Today, well, this was posted March 11th, but
in collaboration with leading games, IP and toy
company Hasbro announced a campaign for a Kickstarter
exclusive, the Transformers Compendium Set, which
will collect the complete US and UK stories from
the 1980s Transformers. marvel comics run in
definitive hardcover compendiums fans can sign
up for the mailing list now and receive all campaign
details and updates ahead of its launch on tuesday
april 8th 2025 at 6 a .m pacific time hey that's
tomorrow or today when you're hearing this or
after today when you're hearing this whatever
but uh yeah april 8th 2025 is when the Kickstarter
will go live. There's a teaser trailer that I
will send the link to you for. Lovingly bound
in gorgeous fox leather, each of the Transformers
compendium is between 950 and 1200 pages. Long
time and new fans alike can expect to relive
the classic stories that started it all for the
robots in disguise in editions that will not
be available anywhere else. So yeah, very, very
cool that they're doing this. And campaign rewards
will include 1980s -style tech spec cards, a
challenge coin featuring Autobot and Decepticon
shields, patches, exclusive comics, and additional
stretch goals to unlock as the campaign progresses.
Previous Skybound campaign backers and early
mailing list members will receive a free Jetfire
tech spec card when they back the campaign. A
quote from Skybound says, We wanted to make sure
that Skybound's follow -up to the record -breaking
G .I. Joe A Real American Hero compendium campaign
gave Transformers fans the jaw -dropping experience
they deserve, said Sean Mankiewicz, senior vice
president publisher Skybound. The Till All Are
One compendium box set is the most epic comic
book collection. we've ever produced so whether
you're looking to read the entire Cybertronian
saga like never before or dive into stunning
hardcover collections of the US and UK comics
this campaign has something for every long time
and new Transformers reader that is very cool
I absolutely love that I think that's great that
they're doing that it's not something I need
personally since we've already covered good majority
of the Marvel US and UK run over on the pull
bag. Did that a couple of years ago. We need
to finish that at some point, probably later
this year in Autobotly August or something. Because
I think there's like two trades that we didn't
finish at the time. I think so. Yeah, we'll finish
it at some point. But that is very, very cool.
I do think it is very cool that Skybound is doing
that. And that they are offering very, very cool
collectible type items. And that's the cool thing
about physical comics is that offering to have
the stories in these hardcover special edition
type things and offering to have an experience
that you could never have before. past comic
licensees like idw and dreamwave and obviously
marvel i'm sure they've done like i know idw
did several things over the years but you know
those are out of print by now most likely and
with skybound being the current license holder
they're going to do stuff special for the old
stuff just as they're doing their new run with
the energon universe Oh boy. This is okay. So
this next one is going to be, I need to really
just do a pull bag episode for this, but basically
Alliance entertainment, acquiring key assets
from diamond comic distributors. So earlier at
some point, diamond comic distributors. filed
chapter 11 bankruptcy alliance entertainment
arrived to the rescue earlier today proposed
acquisition which is subject to bankruptcy court
approval includes diamond comic distributors
u .s alliance game distributors diamond select
toys and collectibles and collectible grading
authority who collectively represent a 42 -year
-old enterprise recognized as a category -defining
leader in comic books, tabletop games, pop culture
merchandise, and collectible grading. Together,
Diamond Comic Distributors, U .S. Alliance Gaming
Distributors, and Collectible Grading Authority
support over 5 ,000 retail storefronts ranging
from blah, blah, blah. So the news is that Alliance
Entertainment Holding Corporation Trying to boil
this down here. They're going to, has been selected
as the winning bidder to acquire substantially
all of the assets of Diamond Comic Distributors
Incorporated, currently being sold through a
court -supervised bankruptcy process. The proposed
acquisition, which is subject to bankruptcy court
approval, includes... Everything I just mentioned.
So we'll see how everything goes. Yeah, I'm looking
for a price here. That's what I'm looking for.
There's no price. Yeah. But basically, yeah,
it's a thing. It's a whole thing. I was looking
for a number, and they're not giving me a number.
This is why sometimes I really hate TFW 2005.
And I know it's not their fault. This is the
way the press release is. They just copied the
press release. But some of these press releases,
the headline should be, Alliance Entertainment
acquiring key assets from Diamond Comic Distributors.
For $1 million. It's not going to be $1 million.
I'm just doing the Dr. Evil thing. But that's
a big thing that Diamond is getting acquired
by Alliance Entertainment. That doesn't surprise
me. It doesn't surprise me, but it's news that
kind of came out of nowhere. I was not expecting
to see that news happen last month. So. Yep.
And then we get to Skybound Compendium Volume
2, available for Amazon pre -order. This is the
paperback collecting more of the Marvel series.
End of the Iconic Original Era collects Transformers
45 to 80, Transformers the Movie 1 to 3, Transformers
Generation 2 1 to 12. Oh. See, that's what I'm
more so interested in is the fact that it has
the generation two, but yeah. Um, but yeah, I
mean, it's, it's, it's still cool seeing all
this stuff come back out again. Everything old
is new again. Absolutely. Well, that's not bad
actually for that. That's okay. So you, Oh, wait
a minute here. So we get 45 to 80. That's nearly
40. 30 40 issues plus the moving one to three
another 12 so like let's say 70 issues of comics
in one compendium for 60 just under 60 bucks
that's not bad at all that's that's an investment
right there that's very cool Well, your birthday's
coming up, so look out. You think I'm joking?
I know. You think I'm joking? I have your address.
I know what the hell I'm doing. Anyway. Moving
on to the last thing of the night. The 2026 Studio
Series stuff. Oh, boy. So, TFW member JTPrime17.
of course has an in places. So he sees the, the
product number, which I'm pretty sure these are
target numbers just from what I remember. Um,
so anyways, the, the first link that, that I
posted, cause there's like two different ones
of just kind of continuing it. Um, you know,
we get like the deluxe, uh, studio series. Um,
It says, like, A -level. Yeah. Deluxe. I think
it's Devastation Bumblebee. Yep. And then there's
Deluxe TF1 Orion Pax. Then we get, you know,
Barricade. We get Deluxe Windcharger from 86.
Deluxe 86 Sunstreaker. 86 Kranix. 86 Clipjumper.
Did we ever get a Kranix figure? Because if we
haven't, that's kind of awesome. It is. I don't
think we have. I don't think we've had a Windcharger
either or some of these others, but then you
get TF1 Thundercracker, TF1 Arachnid, and these
are all deluxes. And then the Voyagers, we're
getting the Skywarp Thundercracker, Seekers from
86, Shockwave from 86, TF1 Alpha Trion, and then
Leader, we're getting Leader 86 Soundwave, 86
Astrotrain, 86 Snarl, TF5 Nemesis Prime 30th
Anniversary Capsule for 86 and it says 86 Anniversary
Deluxe Hound Voyager Scourge Voyager Hot Rod
and Leader Optimus Prime so 86 Anniversary Leader
Optimus Prime so I'm wondering if this version
of Optimus Prime is going to give me the colors
that I'm looking for let's hope like the detail
like because if it was like You know, I had that
eight studio, the, the 86 film aesthetic. Yeah.
I would be more likely to jump. Yeah. Not that
the figure's bad. I mean, I liked what they did
and it is like, I felt like the war for Cybertron
Optimus prime, the earth rise and the kingdom.
Optimus Prime I felt like worked as a good G2
Optimus Prime whereas this will be a good G1
because it is G1 but and then I have Scourge
from like the 86 Scourge from Studio Series so
this is not enticing because they have I mean
one I have it too there's like that shell form
for so long like his sweeps yeah and then the
other link is the Age of the Primes full listing
yeah and so we end up with deluxe quintus prime
deluxe sure shot which doesn't tell you what
version of sure shot like if it's g1 if is it
like another universe it says gen gen prime deluxe
no it's generations of the it's the age of the
prime they all say prime so So they're doing
the generation thing here instead of the, you
know, United or Legacy United or, you know, it's
not Legacy, it's Generations again. Yeah. So
they're being super coy on this one. So we don't
even know what universities are necessarily coming
from. We have Blast Off, we have Quick Strike,
which if that's a deluxe Quick Strike for Beast
Wars, that could be interesting. Yep. Smokescreen,
Powerglide, Swerve, Animated Ratchet, Cliffjumper,
and then we get to Voyager. We get Amalgamous
Prime, Brawl. I mean, they're going to make Bruticus.
So, Animated Rengar, Armada Sideways, Nexus Prime,
and then we get Leaders. We get Big Convoy from
Beast Wars 2. Or Beast Wars Neo, I'm sorry. um
which will round out kind of the the beast wars
2 leader you know leo prime yeah and then big
convoy and then um universe razor claw which
was in the past for the for this uh was when
they kind of had it previously i'm i'm wondering
if this is from predaking or if this is from
like the universe like universe line which is
that's what it looks like which would be a repaint
of taiga hawk in the purple and black yeah for
the universe line and then of course we get onslaught
and then generation selects g2 swooping swooping
sludge so nothing particularly here other than
like quick strike i would care about maybe big
convoy because he's a giant elephant prime But.
Yeah, I mean, I'm more interested in the 86 studio
series stuff than I am this particular section,
but it's still cool to see that there's some
cool stuff coming. Yeah, absolutely. Cool stuff
is good stuff. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, there are
there is a lot of good stuff that's that's coming.
Pretty much. I think what has me more excited
about anything that they're currently doing is
whatever they do with the animated line. I'm
more interested to see any of that than anything
else at this point. Because I liked animated
and it just. The animated line itself is, I mean,
2007, 2008, 2009. Seeing those toys in modern
day aesthetic, but still modern day, not aesthetic.
Modern day toy building with the same aesthetic
that we had from the actual show. Just how they're
pulling that off is just so, so fun and so cool.
And that Prime Cliffjumper, well, you're going
to get the horns, folks. It might be Prime Cliffjumper.
Well, that's what it says. Those were all age
of the primes. No, it had two primes on that
listing. It did say Trojan Prime, but it did
say Prime Cliffjumper. okay it does yeah yeah
yeah i knew i wasn't reading it wrong so but
yeah no i mean it it's awesome to be a transformers
fan currently from comics to toy collecting to
whatever else i think the only thing that we're
currently lacking is animation I don't know why.
I don't know what they're waiting on. They might
be waiting for like a reboot or, you know, somewhere
in that. I guess. I don't know. I don't know
what they're doing. It is Hasbro. That's very
true. Like. But. But, yeah, so. So, yeah, that
about rounds out everything. So anything else
you want to bring up before we close this out?
I would have had for this episode, and I'll probably
have it next time, hopefully. I would have had
because I finally at the end of March, I was
able to pay off my buddy. And he was going to
ship me the Transformers Funko Pop NFTs of Cheetor,
Blitzwing, Arcee, and Ultra Magnus from the NFT
Wave 2 of Funko Pops. He shipped them, which
I've lived here in this apartment that I'm living
in for three years. I've never had a shipping
problem. I haven't had a USPS shipping problem
in two decades. he shipped them ground advantage
or whatever usps has or whatever and they never
showed up they constantly went through the usps
system they did this they did that and now because
they've been unclaimed they're going they're
being shipped back to him and i'm like wait what
how the hell did that happen like what the hell
like uh this is why i don't buy stuff anymore
folks this is why i don't buy Because half the
time, and most people know, I don't leave my
apartment unless I have to. So I have to have
things delivered or shipped to me because I don't
go out and get the stuff myself. And it's not
like you can go out and actually buy the NFTs
in an actual physical store because they're NFTs
and it is what it is. But it's one of those things
where it's like, damn it. Like, come on. So there's
that. But hopefully next time. I will have that
to report back that I actually got those. Cause
I'm, I really, I've seen the cheat or I've seen
other people post, uh, like a three 60 of the
cheat or, but obviously I want to get the thing
in hands and I want to see it for myself and
all that and whatever else. And I'm hoping that
they do. What I find interesting with, with Funko
and the transformers licenses, either they don't
do anything with it. Or when they do stuff with
it, nobody's talking about it. I get it. The
overall Transformers community. Ew, Funko Pops.
I think I know maybe five people besides myself
that actually like the Funko Pop Transformers
stuff. I don't see Funko Pop Transformers in
any of the Funko Auctions stuff on Whatnot that
I follow. And I'm not on Whatnot Funko Auctions
to be buying stuff, but I support just... It's
like watching a YouTube video just going whatever.
So I don't know. It is what it is. It's weird.
It's whatever. But we've gotten... We had WonderCon
already this year. No Transformers exclusives
for WonderCon. I don't know if there's going
to be any Funko Transformers exclusive for SDCC,
CCCC. So, I don't know. That's a running... Over
on Geekcast Radio, folks, it's a running joke
between my buddy Christopher, my buddies Christopher
and Matt and I when we do our convention attention
coverage of cons that they go to. If it... Ends
in a CC, we usually add like seven CCCCCs because
ECCCCCC, it's a running joke. But yeah, I mean,
you know, like I always say, even if there isn't
anything currently going on for Transformers
for somebody, there's always 41 years of history.
I will recommend the Skybound comics for older
Transformers fans, for adult Transformers fans,
because it is geared towards the adult collector,
the adult reader. No child should be reading
the Daniel Warren Johnson Transformers comic
because it's far too violent. But for us adults,
it's actually pretty good. 18 issues of him writing.
And I'm like, get to the point over it. Literally
the, the 18th issue that me and Jesse early matrix
prime and Ryan, and even float discussed on,
uh, another comic review, Jesse's podcast. By
the end of it, I'm like, okay, can we get a new
writer? Not that Daniel Warren Johnson's a bad
writer, but I want a different voice on this.
I want a different story. I'm tired of this already.
Like, get to the point. So maybe I'm just old
and bitter, folks. I don't know. So with that,
thank you, as always, for listening to all things
Transformers. I've been your host, Steve Megatron
with TFG1 Mike. You can, of course, interact
with us and the show on geekcastradio .com on
the episode post or on social media. Until next
time, transform and transcend. Yes.