Transformers News, Comics, and Toy Updates

Hi, this is Dan Gilbazan, and you're listening

to the GeekCast Radio Network. This is Optimus

Prime, and you're listening to all things Transformers.

Hey, would you like to buy this? No. Sounds good.

Hello, and welcome to All Things Transformers.

I'm your host, Steve Megatron, and joining me

on this adventure into the Transformers fandom

is TFG1 Mike. Oh, hello. We're here. Yes, we're...

No, we're not Optimus Prime from the 2007 film.

No. No. And the funny thing is, I think this

isn't in, um... This isn't in our lovely document

here, but my Google feed on my pixel 7 Pro because

apparently I had to upgrade because the other

phone did something stupid after three and a

half years I don't know what I saw that they

are releasing either in a new 4k or a new blu

-ray box set all seven films for live -action

the goal box set coming Wonder how much you're

gonna charge for that. I don't know. I saw it

in passing and I barely looked at it because

most of the Unfortunately, and I don't know why

this is Google but like most of the stuff like

Yahoo news variety like it's legitimate sources

and stuff, but like I don't know just usually

when I scroll over to this I'm like Oh crap,

what happened to that? I don't know, anyway.

Yeah, so we got some news to catch up on. Last

episode was last month. And yeah, so we got 12

total things here tonight, so six in six. And

finally, it was supposed to happen June 28th,

but we have an update on the Beast Wars, the

album. Dun -dun -dun. Bastards if they don't

release this I'm going to There'll be a riot.

Yeah. Mm -hmm. We've got a reason I don't understand

like it couldn't have like it's a digital release

unless they misplaced some of the Biles or something

like it's not like the Beast Wars and the Beast

machines versions We're getting physical like

the the generation one has represents transformers

generation one blah blah That got a physical

release, because at first it was only going to

get a physical release. I remember complaining

about that on this show. As much as I like physical

media, I don't have a record player. I haven't

had a record player since 1983 when I was three

years old. So, but yes, Beast Wars, the album,

the update is... Well, I was going to say, stoked,

because it's, you know, again, it's Beast Wars.

And two, like... This is the one I've been waiting

for. Yep. Yep. This is the one you've been waiting

for. That's right. And so the update is that,

and I wish we could do this. Unfortunately we

can't because Fridays, there's some sort of primus

thing going on on Fridays in one of our lives.

And yeah, it will be dropping this week, Friday,

August 23rd, 2023. What the 2023 what am I talking

about here August 23rd 2024 or as a fresher So

the next episode folks is going to be a ATTF

East unleashed crossover episode where we review

both scores be stores and beast machines I can't

wait for that actually because I I haven't listened

to the Beast Machines ones since it came out.

And I'm ecstatic to hear it. I mean, I have a

bunch of music soundtracks that I was given by

RFC years ago with the audio or like the vocal

track and sound effects stripped from it. But

I'm... This is an official release after... Yeah.

I mean, this is an official release. It's...

i'm glad they're doing it now that they're getting

on this train of this is the 40th year of the

brand so let's do a 40th anniversary release

of of the original generation one score let's

do a beast machines finally because we i don't

think we've ever had that and i think we've only

ever had beast wars in like maybe pack -in cds

if that at all probably not but so this is kind

of like the first time and it's one of those

things where I'm glad they're not waiting another

two freaking years. If this story, if this thing

got pushed to the 30th anniversary of Beast Wars,

I would be pissed. I would be so pissed. Because

how can you give us Beast Machines in G1 in one

year? I mean, if they had just released the Generation

1 soundtrack score, Streaming the one that that's

out now if they just released that for this year.

I would be fine But you know, I would be fine

waiting for the 30th anniversary for Beast Wars

and then release both Beast Wars and beast machines

in 2026, but they didn't do that So luckily and

I know where I'm kind of complaining in circles

here folks, but luckily they're not doing that

and hopefully later this week we will hear beast

wars the album and as i already said next episode

of this show and a new episode of the beast unleashed

will be us discussing the music because it's

the first time you're really hearing the music

outside of the show and that's one of the things

i love about soundtracks i've been doing soundtrack

stuff for granted this is not through la la land

records but i've been doing soundtrack stuff

for them since 2013 I've always loved soundtracks.

I've always loved hearing music outside of the

movies or the TV shows or the cartoons or the

whatever. So let's go. Alright, so that's Beast

Wars and then we're gonna go into some poster

stuff. So from August 15th of this year we got

new Transformers 1 promotional posters. Thanks

to Asuka26 on X Twitter whatever and D box on

Instagram. We have a look at a new Transformers

1 Promotional poster being given out at select

early screens That's the other thing we missed

because we didn't do an episode until now The

15th to the 18th of this month. Yeah this past

weekend. They had early special select early

screenings That fans could go to of Transformers

1 in theaters. Yeah I didn't have that in my

area. Yeah, I don't know if I had it in my area

or not because I don't leave the house. So that's

just me. So this D -Box poster, I'm loving this.

This is cool as hell. I don't mind it. I think

it's kind of neat. Prime looks like Ultra Magnus,

though. Yeah, a little bit. And that's the interesting

thing with the posters, because honestly, I can

say that some of these posters look better than

the actual. I remember when I first saw this,

I'm like, ooh. If that, yeah, when I first saw

this poster, I was like, ooh, if that was the

actual animation style, if it was 2D and not

3D, I would probably be more hyped for Transformers

1. I've seen all the trailers I need to see.

I don't need this to see the 17 different clips

that they've put out since the original trailers

came out. The sec, the, um, the second. Poster

that they have here. That's just a normal It's

a deep D box real D 3ds Cinemark poster, but

instead of having his name at the top of the

poster It's the full poster with his name in

the lower left -hand corner I kind of like that

one a little more because you have Megatron at

the top You have optimus in the middle and it's

essentially the same sort of thing. It's just

positioned differently Instead of the matrix

and you know his his spark or cotton power or

whatever It's showing them in their vehicle forms

and it's almost got kind of like this nice like

starburst like type appearance You know kind

of that 80s nostalgia look Absolutely And then

we've got additional promotional posters for

the movie and then we got one where it's Orion,

Bumblebee, and Alita with Megatron looking over

there behind their backs and all that. We've

got the one that was done by Matt Ferguson, which

is Optimus standing, which he actually has his

face mask. Which is strange to me, because they

have not shown the face mask at all in any of

the promotional stuff until now. But Matt Ferguson,

I love that dude. He's a great artist. I think

he's based out of the UK. I'm sorry, Matt, if

I'm saying that incorrectly. I've got two of

his posters he did for the Transformers The Movie

stuff when they re -released the 86 DVDs. I've

got those hanging on my wall, so I love his art.

So those are the posters folks I but yeah, I

like the one with crimes face on it more like

just the 3d and the glow effect and You know

matrix showing and the four of them in it Yep,

that's probably my favorite graphic Yeah, it

looks really good They both look really good

And then we've got one last thing, we got character

posters. Now this is cool to me because I haven't

really paid too much attention, and we'll talk

about this later when we talk about some Yolo

Park stuff, I haven't paid too much attention

to the alt modes because in most of the trailers

I've seen they don't have the alt modes yet because

they haven't unlocked the power of transforming

because Alpha Trion, and this is not a spoiler

folks, it's in the trailers. It had not given

them their sparks or their major whatever the

hell they hate like they don't have the beginning

of this movie They're not gonna have the power

to transform until at some point other in the

movie So these character posters, even though

I know I've seen these toys I like seeing the

character poster designs because I think they

look cooler I cannot wait until Optimus gets

his stupid faceplate because I hate seeing Chris

Hemsworth's face on Optimus Prime because it's

just ugly as hell. Brian Tyree Henry is Megatron.

I like that Megatron design, the alt mode and

the robot mode. I think that's cool. See, I wish

that he was like a bigger figure because, I mean,

I like the robot mode. The tank's okay. Like,

I don't mind it either, but I do like the robot

mode after he gets his transformation cog and

Just the kind of design looks interesting. Yeah,

and then we got Alita with her alt mode with

the bike Which looks really really cool and then

bumblebee bumblebee. I From the trailers, I'm

not feeling Bumblebee at all as far as his character

goes, but I love this alt mode because it reminds

me of the War for Cybertron alt mode when Johnny

Young Bosch voiced him. We got Keegan -Michael

Key voicing him in this, but that alt mode very

much resembles the old War for Cybertron video

game design that they used way back when in 2010.

Thoughts? Yep. I miss those. Yeah, I'm not a

fan of Alita the new Humblebee Yeah, his character

is a little annoying But you know, that's just

the way it's gonna be So those are the posters

folks I am only gonna be talking about one. Well,

we're talking about two comic stories, but I'm

only gonna be talking about one of the Skybound

Entertainment Image Comics Transformers series

solicits because the other one I think is incorrect

because so far the Image Comics website has not

updated with what issue 14 solicitation is going

to be. TFW grabbed it from somewhere I forget

where they probably got it from previewsworld

or whatever kind of thing but I think the information

is incorrect, so I'm not even going to go there,

because in that article it says, oh, Transformers

number 14, end of story arc. That's not how that

works. So we've got Transformers issue number

12. This is arriving in September. This is the

end of the story arc. The fate of two worlds

is decided here, as the Autobots and Decepticons

make choices that will change the universe forever.

Now Jesse, aka Matrix Prime, when I read that

solicitation to him, he's like, don't you mean

changes the Energon universe forever? I'm like,

nope. It just says changes the universe forever.

If that's the wrong thing, whatever. And then

they've got the various covers for this, for

issue 12. The main cover is Optimus Prime and

I thought he was standing on the tippity top

of the nemesis. It's not, it's just a rock jetting

out of the water, but I think it's, yeah, it's

the water where he's kind of like walking into

the space bridge or walking into where he's going

to be on Cybertron. Cause Daniel Warren Johnson

and the art team over at Image and Skybound,

they are doing the ultimate doom. Which is fine.

I mean, so they would as a writer what anywhere

Johnson has done has been to kind of like flip

the script on certain things, but he's also very

much homaging generation one directly volume

one of the trade when is it? Well, it's collected

now because it was released earlier Volume one

is called more than meets the eye volume two

is called transport to oblivion Editor TF2 and

Mike here, another edit correction. Volume one

of the Skybound Transformers trade is not more

than meets the eye. It is called Robots in Disguise.

So I was wrong again. Two wrongs in one episode.

I'm sure there's more things that are wrong here,

but here you go. So I mean, they're entrenched

in G1, which is fine. That's the point for this.

I've said this from day one when Skybound got

the license. This is a new era for a new audience.

Yes, it can still apply to us old hats and us,

you know, fans and whatever else, but it's mainly

to get the new comic audience into the Transformers

comics, which is more than fine. But they have

a bunch of various alternate covers here. What

I also love is that they're also doing connecting

covers, which is something IDW did as well. So

that's very, very cool. One thing I wanted to

bring up, and this is interesting to me, even

though I don't have children whatsoever, that's

never happening, but the other comic thing out

of Skybound from August 12th of this year, 2024,

Skybound's Transformers worst bot ever. Meatball

point. Let me just read this before you give

your reaction here Skybound announced the first

book in a new series of original graphic novels

due in shops next July next still so one year

from now Okay, credited to writer Brian Smitty

Smith An artist Mars Jr who has done void rivals

covers in the past for skybound the Decepticons

are known for being bad But ballpoint is truly

the worst the biggest failure of them all after

the last attempt to take down the Autobots goes

horribly wrong He's kicked out of the Decepticons

for good will ballpoint be able to prove his

worth by defeating the Autobots all by himself

or will he keep failing and find that being the

best is more than meets the eye. According to

Mr. Smith here, it says, it's been an awesome

bringing ballpoint to life. Getting to add a

brand new character to the Transformers universe

is a once in a lifetime opportunity. And Mars

Junior says, I've been obsessed with Transformers

since I was a kid. The 1986 animated movie blew

my mind. I've tried to put that magic and love

into each page. The initial cover artwork is

attached to this puzzle The inaugural offering

in sky bounds young so this is why I'm bringing

this up because besides the fact of oh my god

a ballpoint pen as a transformer whatever The

inaugural offering in Skybound's Young Readers

line, Skybound Comet, is an integral component

of its overall comics partnership with Hasbro.

Other key components include Skybound's new Energon

Universe comic book series, Void Rivals, the

two -time Eisner Award -winning Transformers,

and G .I. Joe. and mini -series Duke Cobra Commander

Scarlet and Destro, SkyBound's reboot of G .I.

Joe A Real American Hero, and SkyBound's ongoing

publishing of Transformers and G .I. Joe Real

American Hero Compendiums. So here's the thing.

I've said this from day one. Transformers and

the G .I. Joe books that they are currently doing,

they are for us, the adults. They are not for

kids. I would never, in a million years, hand

a child This transformers comic it's for us.

But here we go just like with what idw did just

like with what dc does with certain of their

books we are now getting skybound comet which

is what you're calling it for kids what do you

think of this and what do you think of this being

like the introductory thing of a new decepticon

who always fails because he's a ballpoint pen.

I think this is stupid. Oh, come on, man. I do.

I hated BotBots and this gives me those vibes.

Honestly, if they wanted to sell the kids, do

something in like the G1 through like Armada

through, I don't know, like any of the iterations

that presently existed and give us like, I don't

know, like I remember getting Batman the Animated

Series comics back in the day. Yep. And they

kind of mirrored the animated series, but they

were less dark in some scenarios But it was still

written that I could enjoy it as an adult Right

or as a kid Yeah, and I don't I feel like they

try way too hard on comics nowadays like they

either push the envelope to the point that it's

like almost Too adult and repulsive and too kiddish,

like there's no medium ground anymore. I feel

like that's why comics are hurting as badly as

they are, is because we're not writing them in

a way that it can be consumed by both parties

equally. I grew up on the old G1 comics, Marvel.

And the G .I. Joe and animated series Batman

comics and the regular mainline you know detective

comics nightfall that kind of stuff which nightfall

is. But but I mean I grew up on all those and

it didn't. I don't know I feel like there's.

There's a point like I understand and I like

the fact that he was able to play in the universe

And create something and kind of have fun with

it but at the same time I Don't I don't love

the concept and honestly, I don't even buy my

kids comics I don't even buy comics and that's

more so because cost and I've never I haven't

loved stories since like the Dreamwave stuff

came out More like the IDWB stores comic or yeah

Like I really haven't loved a whole lot of what's

come out of the comic universe In years, and

so it's been very difficult to get behind it

even though I want to support them And I do like

the idea of it. I just don't Like in this scenario

like I don't love the idea Think it's kind of

ridiculous and kind of dumb because when I think

of transformers, I think of electronics or things

that have a mechanical aspect to them like a

vehicle or You know, I don't know something that

actually runs a ballpoint pen is not something

I would think about that would be like having

like a block of wood or a nail. Like, why? Like,

I would have rather that they had been like,

oh, you know, the world's dumbest paperweight

or like he's an LED lamp on my desk or, you know,

I don't know, something that plugs into the wall

or has batteries or I don't know, just something

that has an electrical current running through

it. Well, I mean, he kind of is mechanical. I

mean, pens do have mechanics in them. With a

push button. I don't love the idea. Like, it's

not something I would get my kids, and that's...

I guess that's kind of why it boils down to that.

But I mean, is it... Okay, so I understand you're

not into the Bob -Bots. I am, because I thought

that was fun. I thought that was kind of cool.

It was kind of interesting kind of and again

for me bot -bots is Taking me back to 90s and

mall culture. That's why I liked that I didn't

like bot -bots because they saw it as Teen Titans

go Well, yeah But that's the thing though like

look at everything Hasbro is doing currently

all the and how much of it is actually paying

off Okay, true, but I'm saying like Money talks,

man, money talks. I agree. You look at the toys,

though. They've got two sides, and Evan and Mark

and Ben and marketing and everybody, and they

all have said this in the Hasbro livestream stuff.

They've got two sides to the company. They've

got the adult collectors and they've got the

kid collectors. Same thing here with these comics.

The regular Skybound stuff is for us adults who

have been... either never have read a Transformers

comic before, or have paid attention to the Transformers

stuff for the last 40 years. And yeah, this story

does sound a little hokey, but... I mean, it's...

I think what the hokeyness is is what the character

is created. I don't think that it's hokey to

have a story where... After last after the last

attempt to take down the Autobots goes horribly

wrong He's kicked out of the Decepticons for

good will ballpoint be able to prove his worth

by defeating the Autobots all by himself Okay,

so technically he's a villain character, and

you don't really want your kids looking up to

villain characters, but I think the whole point

is Being able to prove your worth and anything

that you're doing regardless if it's evil or

not, even though, you know, I would have preferred

if he was good trying to make a difference, but

also the fact that he's a ballpoint pen. Like

I like it. Yeah, but I feel like the vessel of

execution is where I find issue. Yeah. That's

where your suspension of disbelief comes in,

right? It's like, nope, can't do that. Oh, God.

All right. All right, so we've talked about this

at length before, and I'm only bringing this

one up because I saw this and I'm like, wait,

what? So far, as of this recording, we only have

the second wave of the funko pop transformers

nfts that are coming out we did get astro train

we did get a new optimus and megatron we did

get laser beacon buzzsaw and we did get blaster

because i have all of those now for funko pops

but really that's pretty much all we've gotten

so far this year outside of the nfts and i saw

this and i'm like huh I wonder what Steve would

say to this versus Funko Pops, and then I realized

that they're only 3D foam bag clips. Ow, my head.

So they are releasing from Monogram, Transformer

40th Anniversary 3D foam bag clips. The official

Monogram website has been updated with our first

official images of their new Transformers 40th

Anniversary bag clips. Monogram has previously

released blind bag Evergreen G1 and Rise of the

Beast foam bag clips in the past and other products.

Now they reveal new G1 toy design and deco Transformers

bag clips. There are 11 characters available,

Optimus Prime, Bumblebee, Hot Rod, Swerve, Blaster,

Megatron, Astrotrain, Soundwave, Starscream,

Devastator, and Laserbeak. Why are they throwing

Swerve in there for Mighty W is beyond me, but

okay, cool, Swerve, why not? Goldbug, not Bumblebee.

No, it says Bumblebee. I know, but the face.

Oh, I didn't look at the other images yet. Oh

yeah. Cool Hey, I'm all for gold bug. So and

he's good. Wait, he's got red. I did they not

know What color eyes? Transformers, you know,

well, I mean look at Starscream his head neither

They're going for the toy aesthetic not for the

not for the show aesthetic. Okay. Yeah cuz Megatron

and in prime Yeah, yellow. I look like their

original g1 toy reenvision. Yep. Yep I don't

know. I'm not a fan of any of these type of chibi

-looking figures, so it doesn't... I think it's

cool if you wear a backpack a lot. Yeah, I mean,

I can understand that. Yeah, I think that's the...

yeah. Honestly, I would probably... Hot Rod Devastator

and Laser Beak would be the three that I would...

That being said, if there was a Beast Wars Megatron...

Of course. I can't totally diss it, but none

of it speaks to me either. You're right, yeah,

it's not your thing. I feel like they don't...

I feel like they don't jump out of the G1 well.

Ever. Like, there's nothing for animated fans,

there's nothing for, you know, TF Prime, there's

nothing for the Armada trilogy, there's nothing

for Beast Wars, there's nothing... Like, I feel

like... It's everything is heavily G1 or it's

just not created. And I feel like that in it

in Hasbro has this horrible track record regardless

of the franchise. They go to their very first

of whatever it is and that's all they make so.

The GI Joe declassified it's the deep series

GI Joe the Hasbro transformer stuff it's G1.

Power Rangers it's MMPR like nothing beyond it

is In their opinion a moneymaker and so they

just don't produce anything So, I mean I feel

like If they're really wanting to speak to the

other generations maybe sprinkle in a couple

of randos from different series, yeah Like I

don't I like the prime out of all of them, but

again, doesn't speak to me. And for me, looking

at the promotional 40th Inner, the design image

thing, for me, I don't think he's going to be

metallic -ish because these are bag clips, but

Hot Rod and Devastate are in this image. look

to be like metallic versions of themselves not

just your normal like you look at the bumblebee

it's your standard bumblebee it looks like a

you know standard plastic yellow bumblebee whatever

but i don't know some of the like some of the

leg designs on hot rod and some of the chest

designs on on devastator look metallic to me

but that's just me time for me to go on a rant

folks because holy crap why beta toys as much

as i love their um nano metal figs and whatever

else because i've got a bunch of them on the

desk over here they are going to be releasing

their hollywood rides ghostbusters x transformers

ecto one with optimus prime graphics found at

u .s retail okay you can do gigawatt gigawatt

whatever you can do ecto tron you can do the

thing i'll talk about after this fine You, as

Jada Toys, who are doing the, you know, just

kind of like licensing of the thing and whatever,

do we really need a red and blue version that

says, hey, this Ghostbusters car is Optimus Prime?

Really? Do we really need this? No. Like, I'm

looking at the... And granted, the two images

that TFW2005 has of this, it's showing the other...

Jada Toys type stuff that are on the pictures

of the toy shelves and it shows the the time

machine from Back to the Future 2 and 3 so it's

got the two different versions which actually

I might want those kind of thing because it's

Back to the Future but this Ecto -1 Transformers

Ghostbusters thing I don't understand this because

you added bluish stuff to the thing to say hey

it's Optimus Prime what This does my poor member

Rob Bartley and Cringe McCringle we can share

for you our first US sightings of the new Jada

Toys Hollywood Rides Ghostbusters X Transformers

Act 1 with Optimus Prime graphics at US so it's

just Optimus Prime graphics Special Optimus Prime

theme red and blue deco. So it's a freaking repaint.

It's just a freak. Just a bunch of repaint. Repaints

I would have much preferred if they created a

shattered glass version of Ecto -1 and they did

it in the purple, green, and black or navy or

whatever dark blue shattered glass optimus is.

This, to me, is just stupid. Sorry not sorry.

Uh, next up, because I don't think you have anything

to say about that. No, I just, I like the Back

to the Future stuff, that's it. Yeah, I do too.

I'm like, oh, Back to the Future. That's what

we need to focus on. I've seen those though.

Yeah. And I've thought about it. That's my first

time seeing those specific ones. Oh, I've seen

them in the store. They're awesome. Very cool,

very cool. And we'll be right back, right after

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back to the show all right next up. We got Yolo

park, and I'm loving Yolo park They're doing

some really great stuff, but this is their AMK

series or transformers one This is their official

stock images and pre -orders for the transformers

one characters. We have eight figures eight different

figures Four of the main core cast with before

they get their, their, their matrix powers or

their sparks or whatever. Bumblebee, Leda One,

Megatron and Optimus or Orion I should say. And

then we have Orion, Megatron, Elita and Bumblebee.

Once they do get their chests closed up because

they have sparks now. Now, I'm looking at these

and I'm just like... Okay, they're... None of

the Transformers 1 Orion packs. None of the photos

of the toys of him have impressed me at all.

I just don't think I like the toy design of him.

I think he looks fine, other than the fact he

has Chris Hemsworth's face. He looks fine in

the animation doesn't yes, he does No, he doesn't

they just all have that goofy look on their face

They all look the same. They're all that goofy

look So but like like I've seen the alt mode

for the optimus and I'm just like That is the

ugliest truck ever like no And these I'm not

a fan of any of these designs to be honest I

like them when they get their cogs forms. Hmm

for the most part Yeah, primes to leave a lot

to be desired bumblebee and Megatron are definitely

the top tier. Yeah, I agree with that Alita doesn't

look all that much different. Yeah, I'm looks

different but kind of meh Yeah, I like the Megatron

because he gives vibes of the 1980s Marvel comic

like when he first debuted and the original toy,

you know artwork So he gives that aesthetic and

I like it. Yeah And I like the I like his robot

mode But overall, I'm not I'm not a huge fan

of the design of Prime but I mean, I I still

feel like that aside like even without Purchasing

product. I I feel like I'll enjoy the film. Yeah.

And and honestly, the prices for these not that

bad. No, the prices for this for injury is not

bad at all. No, I mean, for 15 bucks for Cogless

in 30. I mean, honestly, they look way better

than the Hasbro stuff. They don't transform,

but I don't. like they've got premium paint premium

paint and they have premium posability and that's

what i love about the yolo park stuff that they've

been doing whether it's this amk series or the

amk pro series that they're doing too because

they've done that with the g1 characters but

yeah no these do look great probably not gonna

be buying these but They do look great and man

getting that Megatron and some of those poses

same thing with the Alita one and Optimus is

is really really cool Well, the thing is is I

mean their MK pro series looks Spectacular. Oh,

yeah I wouldn't get their mini series. I find

those are a bit. No, no, no The MK pro series

is what bro or these ones. Yeah would be the

way to go But, yeah, I mean, AMK's got it dialed

in. Yeah, it does. Absolutely. Old yellow park.

All right, before we get to the final two things,

we've got this interview with Hasbro Transformers

team, Evan and Mark. This was from Toys R Us?

Whatever. 27 minute chat about our favorite brand

of transformers. The Toys R Us YouTube channel.

Okay, there we go. So Evan and Mark were on there

and here are the bullet points. I'm just gonna

read down these if you want to interrupt, interrupt.

The point of, the goal of Studio Series 86 Commander

Optimus Prime was to beat Masterpiece X. The

Knight Rider collaboration wasn't made with the

goal of scaling with anything. Okay, fine. A

designer named Brian who's worked at Hasbro for

30 years is the one who did the Knight Rider

design. Evan isn't a fan of the old Fortress

Maximus Titan, so we're probably going to see

a redo of that in the future. I'm assuming that,

that's not what's said here, but it just stops

that he's not a fan of it. A lot of brands have

come to Hasbro for collaborations. Certain ones

get pushed forward based off of what the Transformers

team thinks would work best for the year. It's

a lot of back and forth. Debating on what to

do with cardboard backgrounds since their research

indicated that people don't use them much. Talk

about creating new flight. That one. What? You

can agree with that one? I could have told you

that one on the cardboard background. I mean,

I like it. It's nice if you're gonna keep them

in the box, but if you're taking them out, the

box and the cardboard are getting pitched. I

mean, I like that they've started doing more

with them. Like they're actually offering something

in the box for the cardboard. It's not just a

piece of cardboard. Like it actually has a standee

type thing where you could pose figures. But

yeah, generally. And then regarding the Beat

MP10, Mm -hmm Would have been nice if you know,

they put premium paint Yeah, that's true. Like

that's very true. I I feel like for that cost

I'd like a little bit more detail on the paint

and the head sculpt Yeah, so I mean I guess they

were going for animated style, but well, and

this is my thing I I still would love to see

a Prime without his trailer. No extra add -ons,

just Prime. Like, give me an affordable Optimus

Prime. They do that all the time though, don't

they? Not really. They bundle them with a stupid

trailer every single time. So, going back really

quickly to the Transformers 1 stuff. If they

did so the difference between the bumblebee version

and the gold bug version or the The upgraded

version the when he gets his spark thing. I think

if they did the the Animated optimus if they

did it more metallic like you can still have

the same Overall cartoon design, but like you're

saying add more detail to it I think if they

made it actually metallic like I actually made

it from diecast construction Maybe that'd work

who knows I don't know Let's see talk about creating

new flight stands so apparently that's the thing

Comic stuff won't come to Studio Series until

SS -86 is mostly finished. If it happens, it'll

be something like Legacy. Evan names Nautica

and Riptide as characters he wants to do. Give

me Beast Wars Megatron without his battle armor

from the, uh, Donut Future Past comic. There

you go. Uh, Mark has plans for more wreckers,

though most on the back burner, Rack and Ruin

is the one specifically he wants to do. Capsules

are always envisioned as a one -year program.

If they do well, it's when they consider to do

more. Though with development, it takes two years.

Oh, this is what I was talking about with Pulsecon.

I mentioned this to you off air earlier or whenever.

Devastator will show off in some form at Pulsecon.

The original plan was to spread Devastator across

two years, but now the goal is five to six months.

They learn from Minnesota based off of how breakdown

well into later wave than they wanted and was

harder to get. So basically instead of sporadically

doing the combiners, like you get a scrapper,

you get a hook, you get a this, every whatever

they're gonna do it all at once. Recommendations

from internal management are to show off combiners

all at once, like I just said. Trying to figure

out a system to make most of the pieces available

at once. And unfortunately, with the Devastator,

you bastards, no trumpets for the Construct -o

-Cons. It was planned at one point though. Dammit.

Still a lot of candidates for Titan class. Azula

wants to do grandest mark thinks broadside would

fit So yeah If people want to watch the video

or whatever I'll link it in the show notes on

on geek cast radio calm But that's that's the

high points So yeah Hmm, okay, I guess Yeah Like

I get the designers want to do stuff that is

more niche because they want and look if you're

working on the project or if you're working on

the product and you Have something that you really

want to do that you think is going to that you

think the bosses are gonna approve Sure, go for

it. Take that shot, but I'm like You really want

to do more records, Mark, or Evan wants to do

this other thing? And look, I would love to have

for us to talk to Mark and Evan and pick their

brains and learn everything that they love about

this brand and about working on it. But I don't

know, some of these things that they're choosing

just seems so niche to me. Yep. And not that

I'm like hating on the niche aspect of it. Right.

Because some of these do deserve new figures.

Yes, some of them do, yeah. And this again plays

into the fact that I was just saying all they

do is G1. Yep. So I mean, I can't knock them

for trying. Right, yeah. Because they're at least

trying to go out of the box. Same token, the

G1 Pyrus will not allow it to survive. Unfortunately.

So that would be the same as like me for like

a Beast Wars fan. It's not that I would actively

go against it. I'm just not going to buy it Yeah,

you know so I mean it's the same I feel like

it's the same with like your g1 purists and unless

they had like a you know g1 counterpart or they

really like the figure or You know aspects like

that. I don't see people really picking up some

of these niche figures like I have no ambition

to get a combiner one might it had a He had cuz

all I could afford was a knockoff Defensor Mm

-hmm from I think it was war for Cybertron. Maybe

maybe it was no it was the Titans return and

Frankly his like I wasn't in love with the way

that it connected in the The designs right, so

I've never been like a big fan of combiners anyway

but Yeah, I mean, I also understand why they're

they're saying, you know release them closer

together because oh, yeah, then a sore I still

see parts of him out But it's you get a leg arm

or a foot I don't see the core No, I honestly

think and I know this would be a big cost I honestly

think what they need to do with combiners is,

and again, they probably can't do this because

of the way that they want to modernize as far

as the design. But do a G1 gift box set type

thing, or give an option to do that. For us collectors

that want it all at once, go on to Hasbro Pulse

and give us that option. If you want the stuff

in stores, put it in stores individually. all

at once and at least you have it but at least

for the collector's side of it all make gift

box sets like why not i mean people throw down

more money on on uh what was the um not grandest

um leo leo prime and and the other like people

tossed out 575 for unicorn now don't get me wrong

it's unicorn i know it's a big thing Literally

kind of thing but like if people are willing

to pay that I'm sure that they would pay for

a full Constructicon like modern -day gift box

set Just saying Alright folks and finally it

saved the worst for last because Surprisingly

folks, I'm not thrilled with this I've heard

rumors, but I can't confirm, and this is one

thing I would love to ask Evan or Mark. I've

heard rumors that the Transformers collaborative

Knight Rider X -Transformers Autobot Agent Knight,

which was announced and shown off at San Diego

Comic -Con, the robot design is supposed to be

sort of designed after Michael Knight's outfit

from Knight Rider, which was... Black leather

jacket red shirt most of the time and blue jeans

Just no no don't stop but we have updated in

hand images of the agent night and The car mode

other than the front bumper because it extends

a little too much and it has the the thing there

That's fine. I like this for the car mode but

the robot mode is The only problem I have with

it and again, I can't really be too negative

about this because this thing does have lights

and sounds Yep, which that's very rare in a transformer.

So I will give it those props However, and notice

how we're hitting all the 80s franchises. We're

hitting back to the future. We're hitting Knight

Rider We're hitting Ghostbusters watch the a

team be next. Oh, of course Cuz all they gotta

do is use like a skids remold Skids remold or

they could do some weird thing with iron hide

or something or maybe they could create something

new Kind of thing. Yeah, that's who? if i was

to get like originally i wanted this i've been

we've been wanting this specific one portal man's

talked about it i've talked about it everybody

everybody's a knight rider fan has talked about

this it would be the smartest thing in the world

for transformers to do a knight rider crossover

and here we are and the only thing i would want

this for is the alt mode because the robot mode

is just ugly i understand you wanting to quote

unquote michael knight's blue jeans on a toy

but that's just dumb like I'm looking at the

image 28 where it's just the robot next to the

back of the box of the thing and he's got his

arms out or whatever and I'm seeing the full

design that midsection should be red it would

make more sense if it was red because his head

is his eye visor is red every every other accent

on him is red It's black and red. The blue sticks

out like a sore thumb. I love the head sculpt.

I love the face sculpt. That is cool as hell.

This would be one of those instances where a

glossy or metallic paint would do wonders where

the gray is like a metallic silver and the black

is a gloss black. The red is like a Like a translucent

red and if they were going for the blue jeans

They should have gone like a dark blue like yeah

dark like dark blue Well, and you know and then

had some you know kind of you know, the the speckled

look that blue jeans have mm -hmm and then add

like kind of a Gloss to it as well and I feel

like you could really make this thing pop but

he's big yeah he's big he's big all right yeah

uh they've got comparison pictures here with

uh gigawatt gigawatt uh agent knight and ectotron

ectotron is the biggest one to this point obviously

but no they look good he looks good next to optimus

and megatron that's cool i just don't megatron

is the cell shaded and the prime is netflix prime

Yeah, and then you got g1 prime Next to him and

then you got all you bastards. They put the ss86

next to it. That's awesome. That's hilarious

Well, they also put the the Megatron From the

new movie Yep Which he doesn't look terrible,

but no, I like the design if it were just a hair

bigger Because I feel like even that would work

like with that Megatron. I was trying to make

Yep out of Galvatron. I feel like the chest on

that thing was perfect. But anyways like the

SS 86 prime again, I want to like it but It's

just again seeing it here I see a less than premium

figure for the car. Yeah The war for Cybertron

one looks far Far more superior. Yeah Well war

for Cybertron one has actually see again that

I know everyone wants a super clean super Animated

I do too, you know animated style optimus but

my first thought looking between the war for

Cybertron one here even though we're talking

about the night rider crossover and the SS 86

one Is what they should have done is they should

have given him slight Design stylings of Not

battle damage that can be removed, but give him

the the worn look Don't give him this super high

polish look because as we already said in the

last episode prime is that you Even in the early

episodes of g1 He had more to him then there

was like more detail and I can't pinpoint exactly

what it is Like I'm not even nitpicking whether

it's like glossy or metallic. It's there's something

on it like color wise That just reminds me you

remember those five dollar figures that came

out a few years ago Those ones that were just

hard plastic, the arms legs moved, the legs moved

and that was it. And I don't even, well actually

they didn't even move. They made the RED figures

even look premium. That's what this looks like

to me. Like the head on Prime and then the windows

I think are what really kills this figure. Yeah,

absolutely. So I shared with you here in the

discord chat the screencaps I took of when optimus

exploded in the movie to transform Look at the

alt mode there in the first image How much shading

the animation has with the fire because they're

doing this with the fiery flame effect too And

then when he gets shot by Megatron not hot rod

Megatron He has more detail and now that I'm

I don't think it's the angle that I took this

took the screenshot at but now that I'm looking

at that second image again, and I'm looking at

this figure They got just just about right right

a white color in there because I forgot how white

optimus's midsection was in the movie But but

yeah, no like you said more detail on that. I

think if they came out with another one of this

prime And gave him the the head sculpt of the

of the Christmas prime give him that head. Yep.

And then they sell shaded the figure like the

movie. Yep. I feel like you'd have a more premium

prime. Yep. Like I I truly feel that and I feel

like that would that would be my premium finish

prime like. And because I know Hasbro likes to

pump money out of things that they create new,

give it a year, year and a half. We'll have a

premium finish version of the same figure. Oh,

yeah, absolutely. It'll look nicer than, I mean,

yeah. I mean, when I can go third party and I

feel like I can get a better figure, I feel like

I'm being jipped. Yep. I mean, hell, the AMK

Pro Series. Oh, I know. Yolo Park. Optimus is

more accurate than this Like come on you guys.

What are you doing? What are you doing? What

are you doing? Well, what's sad is the mp44 even

looks better. Yeah and and again, I don't want

to Directly criticize Mark and Evan but no I

don't like this is the like a Paint Deco mostly

Windows and the head sculpt. It's not I I do

like the figure I just Don't like the paint execution.

Oh, yeah. Absolutely. Oh she wrote you got anything

else. I do not Alright folks, like I said next

episode we're gonna do a soundtrack crossover

for beasties because we got some beastie scores

to talk about We get a score to settle. That's

right. That's right. I could help that. I know.

I say that's right. I will say just as a kind

of preview, I don't want to say spoiler, but

as a preview, I was listening to the Beast Machines

album earlier today. And like I said in the previous

episode, it is 10 tracks. They have pretty much

like they have the main East Machines music that

you expect to have in a soundtrack that is from

the show. They do not have the fat planet opening

and closing themes, but that's not the point

of this. The point of this was to, and I guess

technically it should have been, they should

have had that, but that's okay that they don't

because those i mean unless fat planet ever did

um longer versions of that i mean it's like what

30 seconds for the intro and maybe a minute for

the outro uh but uh no so i'm very excited to

see what ends up on on the beast wars album this

friday because i'm gonna get this episode out

and post -haste This Friday, August 23rd, 2024.

Where can the people find you on socials, sir?

Well, they can find me on their socials at SCP

-21 on X. Still seems weird. Uh... Yes, but they

can find me there and geekcastradio .com. Alright,

alright. I am also... On the X at TF2 and Mike

you can check me out on Instagram at TF2 and

Mike presents as always geekcastradio .com Unleash

the geek in you and we will catch you next time

when we talk about some Awesome beast music take

us out Megatron so until next time Transform

and transcend Ha ha ha ha, yeah. I wish to speak

to my lawyer.