G1 Optimus Prime, Voyager Optimus Prime, Universe Nemesis Prime, and G1 Rodimus Prime Picks

you Hello and welcome to Transformers toy cast

this is episode 8 holy crap eight episodes for

a show that's supposed to be monthly This this

show has actually gotten a lot of episodes recently.

I am joined today by optimus scourge. Hello,

sir Lupus convoy from the TFW podcast. Hello

Hey, and the goddamn proto man who is pretty

much a toy cast regular every now and then whenever

he can become available Hello Yeah, well whatever

you know toy cast is supposed to be a Even though

you know I've said this before and I'll say it

again. It's scheduled at monthly, but it You

know it's caught fire Yeah, yeah, it's pretty

much been set on fire and whenever we have the

time to do it was when we'll do it I mean the

release turn around on these because they're

so easy I mean we just record like maybe one

or two clips You know my buddy Steve who is my

co my friend and co -founder for geek cast radio?

Com we we just put you know front and back themes

on it and just put it out right away pretty much

So it's been going on with you guys this week.

Why don't we start with you optimist urge? A

little bit of real life situations going on I'd

rather not get into I'm kind of thinking an internet

vacation I stay in touch for the front page and

stuff like that, but haven't been tweeting as

much Haven't been on the boards posting as much

just kind of trying to relax and you know Not

let the stress of my real life, you know Get

in the way of anything else. So but that's cool.

You know lately I got some good news that took

that stress away Awaiting confirmation possibly

tomorrow on a background check and I have a job

at Toys R Us. Starting part -time and working

my way into management because I was in restaurant

management for about 10 years. So, yeah. What

were discounts? First dibs. No more... And we're

scalpers, you beat them to it. Yeah, he can become

a scalper. Not that he would, not that he would.

Well, no, I'm a scalper for the fandom. I scalp

for cosplay shipping. I was actually told by

a friend who works at Walmart, he's like, if

you know your Hot Wheels stuff very well, you

can make some mad money. Because there's always

like chase figures in those cases. Oh, chase

figures, chase vehicles, if you will. He's like,

that's one way to make money. He works at Walmart.

He's like, yeah, that's one way to make a cool

100 easy, you know. Wow. But anyway. On a Matchbox

car? A Hot Wheels, apparently. Wow. That's every

time I go in there I see I see the guy that's

like 50 years old Rummaging through them 50 of

them and he's on the phone saying what's this

one going for? What's that one going for? Oh,

yeah, you know, it's like oh my god If I had

if I didn't have a life I'd probably bone up

on that and make some coin on the side too. But

again like Honestly, I wouldn't even bother because

like I said, I'm a karma good karma kind of person

and I believe in like hooking up other people

ask anyone who knows me they'll tell you I'm

like the cost plus shipping dude or like Lupus

didn't have activators cliff jumper and I found

him and I was gonna charge him cost plus shipping

and I was like wait His birthday was like two

days ago. It's his birthday present, so I just

gave it to him, you know? Yeah, happy belated

birthday. Speaking of lupus, before we get into

what you've been up to this week since this is

the first time you've been on our Toycast here,

I'm going to throw you under the bus and pretty

much introduce our... because I've only heard

you like once or twice on the TFW show. Maybe

I need to listen to more of those. but why don't

you tell the listeners about you know who you

are whatever you know what kind of kind of stuff

you like in the transformers fandom stuff like

that okay uh... i'm a twenty eight -year -old

hardcore geek uh... and freelance writer in exeter

new hampshire uh... i've been collecting since

eighty eighties eighty -three maybe eighty -four

uh... collect robots mostly uh... My big hardcore

series that I collect is classics universe But

my first major transformer was G1 scavenger,

I think or scrapper. Sorry and Yeah, that's pretty

much me in a nutshell I guess So what are you

even up to this week anything interesting anything

going on? Any kind of construction going on at

your house that you might want to vent about?

We're doing a renovation on the house and our

landlord has conscripted us to do the work And

it has been a very long and sudden process Yeah,

that kind of sucks. Yeah But the toys are still

in one piece. That's the important part. Yeah,

that's always important as long as the toys stay

in one piece. That's good primarily a transformer

collector. My other half has expressly told me

that I can't get into anything else, but I just

got the first issue of Blackest Night from DC

Comics, and now I'm looking at the Green Lantern

toys that are coming out and going, oh, I want.

Johnny's going, no, you don't. Stop, stop, stop.

Set it down, step away. Alright, and what about

you, Proto Man? What's been going on with you

this week? Life -wise, let's see, what did I

do this weekend? Shopping with the woman? That's

about it, really. Toy -wise, every day is Christmas.

What came in the mail? Original art from Dan

Kahana from the Classics Universe Club Comics.

I bought some stuff from him that had Rodimus

in it. Vangelis recently convinced me to buy

the alternative stuff because he told me that

the alternative manga comic that comes with it

There's a pink -haired chick that wears a Rodimus

shirt Gotta be kidding me So, you know that's

probably gonna happen too now. Uh What else did

I get? Geez? And last week I was really busy

because I found all the movie deluxes from wave

4 like the ice cream truck and stuff I get this

yeah, it always shows up early in Zellers Like

if you're a Canadian always go to Zellers because

they always get everything first for something

You know what? It's funny and in the state sometimes

Kohl's they're way overpriced like an activator

is $12 .99 instead of like $7 .99 But like when

it's the only one left that you want to have

for your collection to complete it and it's cliff

jumper It's like yeah, you're gonna pay, you

know Derek Wyatt wanted Sorry, I'm just trying

to think what else did I get actually this week?

I don't know Speaking of alternative if I may

cut in I got my first alternative figure Optimus

Prime because I had pre -ordered the black version

of Nemesis Prime or black convoy if you will

So I went ahead looking around for the red one

couldn't find a good price and Someone on the

board sold me one for $50 plus shipping which

is really good considering you it's hard to find

him under 70 so I got a chance to fiddle around

with him at the New Hampshire meetup a couple

weeks ago and I Didn't think I'd be collecting

him. I was trying to pretend they didn't exist,

but they're they're very cool They're not all

diecasts, you know Like the vinyl text were but

they're very good figures. They're complex enough.

They're fun And they're blocky and chunky and

I just I love them, you know, I like it alive

You know that concept because one thing that

you know, you know, god bless the movie toys

at all But we're only gonna get American cars.

So it's nice to see something that right exactly.

I love the other Well, yeah, you can't go wrong

with the GT -R. You can't go wrong with the 350Z.

All classic cars. Yeah, and now that I have the

job secure, because I know I have nothing to

worry about for the background check, I don't

have anything but a parking ticket. Yeah, I probably

will get Megatron when the funds become available.

I really dig him and the swords. And now finding

out that you can store the swords underneath

the car in alt mode is really cool. So yeah,

definitely alternative. But yeah, that's about

all I got this week. The only other thing I remember

now, I ordered from the UK. Apparently, this

is very weird. Robot heroes, when they're sold

in the UK, they come with tech spec cards. Yeah,

so I was like well then gotta get me my hot rod

Gotta get a hot rod tech spec card. So I ordered

that that's pretty cool. You know, it's interesting

The the UK robot heroes they they sell a lot

of the like the exclusive figures as regular

figures They're like a while back Best Buy had

a two -pack when you bought the transformer movie

it came with a movie cliff jumper and a metallic

optimist prime like a battle map. And here in

the UK it's just like yeah you could just pick

it up like any other figure. Before we go on

to the actual toy discussion since we have you

on Portman I have to ask you I've been going

over this and over this my buddy Michael Wilson

and I both have G1 hot rods that on the door

where the Where the yellow flame where it's supposed

to be red. It's actually freaking purple. That's

because probably the sun damaged the sticker

or the plastic. That's the only way because there

is no variation otherwise. In terms of variations

of that mold, you have plastic feet, you have

metal feet. Yeah, I have the one with plastic

feet. And if you want to go deeper than that...

Then you're talking just the target master mold

where the hole on the engine and the hands is

larger. Then you have the box variations, right?

Well, the box variations are... There's actually

quite a few box variations of Hot Rod because

Hot Rod, when he was sold in the rest of the

world, he actually had a different tech spec.

In the American version of Hot Rod, it says in

the tech spec he's an all -American Autobot,

okay? When that same box and that tech spec was

sold in Canada, it's all canadian auto -bought.

When it was sold in the UK it was an all -british

auto -bought and I think that's the only three

variants that exist of that. Isn't there something

to do with they called his target master the

wrong name and there was a corrected box? Because

a lot of his boxes the first run of them it said

misfire And so what you end up finding is that

you end up finding the misfire box, but there

was actually a sticker put on top of it that

says Firebolt. Just sometimes you find it without

the sticker on it. That's kind of why the Targetmaster

version was so rare at a time, because that misfire

box got pulled, and then it was kind of tough

to find Targetmaster Hot Rod, and they were in

limited numbers. And then in the early days of

eBay, he was expensive now because of reissues

and everything. He doesn't go for that much,

but back then, he did. Yeah, I wanted him, but

I ended up getting the reissue and I'm fine with

the reissue. Yeah, you know what? That's a figure

that even the American edition, there is no changes

whatsoever. There's no safety protections to

go under. So him you could even you could get

the Rodimus major Toys R Us reissue from America

and you're getting the same toy as the Japanese

one and not to mention the book box edition Which

I think you're referring to the what the target

master one I have I have both and Rodimus in

the book style Toys R Us a great version to buy,

you know You because you get the target match

you get the beautiful box You get the text back

card like that big page there that comes with

it I think if you're gonna buy any reissue of

them, that's probably the best one you could

pick up All right, we're going to most likely

play a toy ad I haven't figured out which one

I'm gonna play but we'll be right back All right,

we are back and I am going to go first this time

I am going to be talking about generation one

optimus prime This was a figure that my mother

will tell me that I had over and over and over

again But I never remembered actually owning

him When I was a kid, I had a crap load of toys.

I had Transformers stuff, I had He -Man stuff,

I had Mask stuff, I had Thunder, I had a whole

bunch of toys. And they pretty much encompassed

my Castle Grayskull set. Anyways, which actually

I still have to this day in the other room. G1

Optimus, my only real complaint about him is

the fact that his arms fold out and there is

no actual back to him. Unlike, you know, I wish

I had a masterpiece, but I don't. But unlike

that one, the back is pretty much open and it's

just, I don't know, it's weird. I don't remember

it like that, but you know, hey, that's what

it is. I mainly keep him in robot mode. I was

when I was Moving into this apartment back in

February and I was putting all the toys out on

the shelf in the second bedroom and I looked

at him and I actually took a picture and I posted

it on Twitter's a long time ago I'll have to

repost it but Just weird thoughts come into my

head and I'm sorry But I was looking at him and

I was looking at like him in robot mode and his

bumper and all that stuff I'm like where the

hell is his crotch? Cuz I mean he's such a You

know, his cab mode is such a brick that, you

know, I don't know why I even thought of that.

But overall, I really enjoy this figure. I think

that they really got the head mold really awesome

on this, even though his head doesn't turn. And

of course, I realize that the toy came out before

the cartoon did. But I thought that the the translation

from the toy to the cartoon for this figure was

super awesome as far as the transformation Other

than the fact that the trailer disappeared half

the time Actually a little fun fact about that

when this Optimus Prime toy was brought from

the Daikon line to the transformer line It actually

had a different head. Oh did it? Yeah, the original

head for battle convoy Which was what that mold

was used from? I had a larger, like, antennas,

if you will, and a more, I guess, sharper face.

When they brought it over, they actually remolded

and made a new head to match the Marvel comic

book appearance. And then later on, obviously,

considering the cartoon. Oh, that's cool. So

there you go. Also, go ahead, Gary. Oh, I was

going to say, I heard. I don't have it, so I

don't know. But I heard that the. iPod deck optimus

prime has the head that swivels and guess I was

gonna say I've seen pictures, but I don't have

it Yeah, I don't have it either Overall, you

know, I I love him. I mean, he's pretty much

my only well other than my shattered glass prime

He's pretty much the only optimus I have As far

as the trailer goes the trailers cool Just in

trailer mode, of course, you can open it up and

bring the guns out. You know, there's only one

episode throughout the entire Generation 1 cartoon

where he actually splits into three components,

which would be himself, the robot form, the trailer,

battle station, and then Roller being the mini

-spy that he is. And I just thought that that

was super cool that they actually brought that

into the cartoon of actually showing off all

three things. You know, I could be wrong. It

might have been twice that he used the battle

station, but I only remember seeing it once Battle

station was only used once it was in the episode

more than meets the eye part two He actually

fires it off and then Megatron shoots and destroys

the trailer in the background. Although it comes

back perfectly fine uh... another fun fact which

is interesting is that in optimist prides techspec

it says that when the roller trailer is damaged

he feels the pain too. Now this trailer was destroyed

and he didn't feel pretty good actually. Well

in the cartoon it says you know ratchet says

you know I'm splitting off into his three components

and even though even though prime is is himself

you know individual, he still feels the pain

of like if Roller gets blown up or if the trailer

gets destroyed. You know what I mean? I've already

gone over the first episodes of the G1 cartoon

in my other show, TFG1 Podcast, but my biggest

problem with the cartoon, and this actually happens

to Rodimus a few times, the trailer disappears.

In Rodimus's case, it just kind of like merges

with his legs That's usually the most common

thing that the animators do with season 3 is

like when he transforms It's just like yeah that

whole piece just becomes part of his legs, which

is kind of I guess what the titanium Toy was

kind of trying to homage. Yeah, because the titanium

toy did that gloriously. Yes. Yeah entire trailer

whoa and I don't I was I was told the g1 version

it was made of they asked the They asked the

guy who did the Diaclone one or whatever, or

made it disappear, Flint Dilley, or whoever it

was, and he said it was made of Disperion. I

thought that was a great answer. Well yeah, according

to the Japanese sourcebook guides, the final

answer was that when he transforms, it teleports

back to Autobot base next to Ratchet's Bay. That

was the official answer by the Japanese in the

mangas. It was always the subspace kind of thing

that the fandom always dealt with and the Japanese

kind of believed that too. Like the animated

swindle. Yeah, but they actually make a good

explanation of actual hammer space with animated

swindle. He's got an extra prime grill in his

chest I think I said somewhere I don't know where

I said it it might have been on general techno's

animated smart cast he I think I actually tweeted

after I saw that scene and I don't know this

is getting off topic a little bit but Swindle

gave birth to optimus prime When prime climbs

out of his chest in that episode that was just

so awesome yes All right. I think we're going

to move on to you, OptimusGarage, sir. Who are

you talking about today? I'm going to go with

Voyager class animated Optimus Prime. Yay. Animated

really really captured me I'm more or less one

to kind of fiddle with my toys when I first get

them and kind of Put them on the shelf and very

rarely pull them down The animated line was just

so much fun to actually play with and transform

and pose. I really got into I do photo galleries

for TFW as you may know but This figure is just

amazing. It can do kicks and splits. It's a great

homage to the transformation of G1 Prime in the

sense the way his shoulders, his head, the way

they flip out, his legs pop down very similarly.

He has a very interesting feature once you pull

his arms out or whatever. And his legs are still

in like the truck mode you flip a little switch

and his legs come come down in what's called

the gravity spin feature they just kind of spin

around and It's just a cool like anime effect

on a toy and it's just it's not really a huge

deal It's just a little spring but it it just

adds that little pop and you know pizzazz to

the figure It's a cool gimmick that doesn't hinder

the toy which usually gimmicks right? Right,

yeah, definitely. And I don't really care for

the acts he comes with. I keep it on his back

to give the illusion of the smokestacks with

it, but I use the battle -damaged 2 -pack Optimus

Prime's axe with him and it fits perfectly. I

think Hasbro knew what they were doing with that

because they knew that you're going to want that

axe for your Voyager Prime and you're going to

get suckered into buying the 2 -pack, which many,

many... Oh, yeah, they know what they're doing

and they know we're gonna buy it and most of

us did and he just looks phenomenal It's too

bad. He didn't come with that, but he looks great

with it I just think the axe he comes with because

it's part of his trailer They did what they could

with it, you know And then of course you have

the working Little gun where you can put water

in it and actually squirt water By pumping the

front of it. You can you know little got a little

squirk on it actually works He's very very posable

Like I said, he can do the leg kicks the splits

I mean you can get him in almost any kind of

action pose He can hold that you know his axe

behind his head He could hold it with two hands.

I mean, you can just get him in all kinds of

poses. He's just a great figure. I mean, I just

love this guy. Now, what are the differences

between the two axes? Because I don't have those

options primes. The axe that he comes with is

his trailer. Not his trailer, but like the back

piece of him that goes on. Yeah, it's like the

stacks of hair. Okay, and you can you can put

the you can put his you know water gun Which

I don't display him with and that's on his back

as well. It stores on that The same way it stores

in vehicle mode. You can point it frontwards

in vehicle mode to kind of simulate his fire

engine I really wish they had done something

like that with it, but they never did He can

hold but like I said he can hold the battle -damaged

axe which is Um, very anime accurate. So if you

watch the show and you see his axe It's just

you know, it's not perfectly accurate because

it's got all red It doesn't have the silver but

if you wanted to touch it up it'd be you know,

incredibly, you know much better than what he

comes with like I said Hasbro knows what they're

doing they want to sell the two -pack they know

we're going to buy it just to get the axe for

him or a lot of us will so I would say if you

have a Voyager Optimus Prime look around for

the battle damage two -pack or I believe he's

going to be re -released again but he's not going

to have that axe he's going to be released without

the battle damage with the Wing blade prime whenever

that comes out if it comes out But another cool

feature about him is you have the option to have

his faceplate up or down There's a little lever

on the back of his head for that which is a very

neat option and As far as everything else he's

very easy to transform that's a great thing about

him. He's very simple like I would compare him

to g1 only much more You know posable and flexible

He's very easy to transform a kid's not gonna

get frustrated with him. You know, it's not like

the movie prime Don't get me wrong. I love the

movie prime myself, but if you gave it to a five

-year -old he'd probably cry This toy, you know

pretty much anyone could figure out how to do

it just fold his arms up and his legs backwards

and the one difference from That is his wheels

kind of move up to the front and then his bumper

from the front collapses down onto the side of

his leg and his toes just fold down very similar

to g1 prime. And that's pretty much all I got

to say about him, but again, I couldn't recommend

him high enough. If you don't have him, you definitely

want him for your Prime collection. He's a great

toy. Very cool. All right. I think we're going

to take a break and we're going to come back

with the other guys' picks for this episode.

So we'll be right back and we're going to leave

off the break with this. The universe can stop

me. All right, we are back and To start us off

on this final clip. We're gonna go with lupus

convoy. Who are you picking sir? I am picking

universe 1 .0 Nemesis prime the target exclusive.

Okay. Now this is not the SDCC exclusive. It

is not an SDCC. Okay, it was um, it came out

in 90 90 2004 It was fairly hard to find, actually,

at a low distribution. At the time, Target, I

guess, only ordered so much because Cryotech

was basically a shelf warmer. It's a repaint

of the Japanese, I think it's Beast Wars 2. Beast

Wars Neo. Beast Wars Neo. Big convoy. And at

the time, everyone was craving for... for Big

Convoy, because Leah Prime was available through

Hasbro, through the website, but this wasn't

available, so you had to try to finagle it through

the early days of eBay. It retails, currently

on eBay, it's $40 to $60, but I think it was

$30 retail? Yes, it was $30. It was $30? $29

.99 at Target. Yeah, I'm yeah it was I saw him

one time and because I collect nemesis primes

I grabbed him and I never saw him again So I'm

stealing your thunder today. No Well, not really

because I'm I mostly collect trucks and not to

say truck not monkey, but I have I have I have

him but I don't have one to open so until I see

a good deal I don't have an open one and The

transformation is just tough on him, but go on

Just to deviate just for a second actually one

of the big appeals though of the big convoy mold

was that he was actually the first ever Optimus

Prime like transformer to have a removable matrix,

which was this is true. Yeah big big thing back

then because every other because again eat like

like laio convoy which came before him it was

kind of like a molded in suggested matrix in

the chest ditto with with optimus primal where

the japanese they kind of looked at that chest

molding and say yeah that's a matrix you know

and it's true if you look at it yeah okay kinda

looks like a matrix but no not really uh... so

this was a big thing and not to mention the fact

that he could hold it like you know rodimus prime

style like opening the matrix it was a big thing

and so when we got that version yeah big stuff

anyways continue wubis sorry yeah hey it's all

good you are the walking transformers it's like

lepedia sorry go ahead so um... As you guys have

said, it's pretty hard to transform. This is

not a toy for kids, obviously. Not only for the

fact that it can put out a kid's eye like 50

different ways with all the spring -loaded missiles,

but it's basically a shellformer. If you took

off all the shell kibble pieces, it would look

very, very bizarre. But the way that they've

done with those, the kibble pieces... They've

incorporated them into actual weaponry so the

bottom of the I think it's the rear mammoth feet

have little gun barrels in them. His shoulder

pads that are like the two halves of the mammoth's

head actually have missile clusters in them.

He's got little Vulcan cannons on his on his

hips and of note though on his feet he's got

two Their missile banks, but the missiles themselves

are shaped very closely to the original Beast

Wars Megatron missiles. They're big hook looking

things They actually look it's it's an awesome

figure it's got if you were a big fan of the

Fans projects that convoy are tag clone armor

the Magnus armor you're gonna like this because

it's got a big freaking gun that is basically

the upper cranial part the the trunk and the

entire back section of the master mammoth coloring

as It's not the bright color combination that

you would expect of a normal prime. It's the

demure black and metallic teal But since this

is a universe, it had to have a yellow spectrum

color in it somewhere, since they were pretty

big on yellow for that series. It's got a yellowish

tan color that makes up most of the legs, torso,

arms. And it does pretty well to break up the

black and teal. It's got red accents. If you're

a paleo geek like I am, you're really going to

like this figure. But as we had talked about

it in pre -show the day before, it's kind of

got a little nod to the original American Power

Rangers, because it's a black Mastodon with silver.

You just can't help but go, oh, it's kind of

cute. Where's Zack? You know, it's a Mastodon.

It's not a Mammoth, rather. Sorry. Not a creature

you would think to be like, ooh, evil and imposing,

but... Yeah, that's not a toy I would ever own.

I'm sorry to interrupt, Proto Man put the link

in one of the windows and... Yeah, wow. Yeah,

that's what happens when you take off all the,

I guess you could call them, kitable or shellformer

parts. If you take them all off of Big Convoy,

you could actually assemble a separate Mammoth.

from all his kibble parts. Okay, continue. I

guess we can post that maybe in the thread or

something. Speaking of which, OptimusGurge still

has yet to post pictures from episode two of

this podcast. I don't know how to use a camera.

You liar! Alright, continue, Lupus. This whole

digital camera thing, I know nothing about it.

So, as Protoman said, it's got a detachable matrix.

Of note, though, it's not a matrix of leadership.

It's actually called a dead matrix, which they

ended up using, I believe, in the first year

of the transformers collector comic. Yes, they

did. It was his job to use the matrix on Primus,

which would be kind of like the reverse effect

of using the matrix of leadership on Unicron.

In this case, it was kind of used to revive Unicron,

if you will. I believe the term was black in

this darkest hour or something like that. Anyways,

yeah. Yeah. The one thing I really like about

this toy though, in his forearms, he has what

looks like it could be either a machine gun or

in my interpretation, I think it's a tonfa stick

that just kind of flips out of his forearm. And

just in the show they are used as tomfas there

Yeah, they're they're like two little tomfas

that he whips out for melee combat. It is it's

just insanely cool it's nice to have a figure

that's totally armed to the teeth and I Don't

know I it's oh clearly like even it like in the

inside molding of the mammoth heads they even

though they aren't physically missiles there

they give the the illusion that they're like

shoulder cannons with tons of missiles in them.

Oh yeah. There's tons of that molded all over

the figure while they're not physical weapons

they are like suggestions of it all over this

which goes to the name of the original because

Nemesis comes from the big convoy mold and the

convoy's nickname in the Beast Wars Neo cartoon

was the one -man army or the one -bot army if

you will so he was just like he was the the maximal

that needed to send him in and he'd get the job

done. So it was pretty cool. But anyways, yeah.

Yeah, I'm totally in love with this figure. There

are some drawbacks to it besides it being a shell

former and fairly difficult to transform and

convert back and forth unless you've done it

a few times. The mammoth legs, They're supposed

to fold up a bit, at least the feet fold inside.

I've always had a problem with them popping off.

And then the actual BFG, it's got a pretty interesting

way of triggering the missile launching. Instead

of just a push down button, which normally would

shoot off things left and right if you're not

really careful, it's got a turn knob trigger

system. Wow. So it's got a short fat round circle.

It's the bright teal, not teal, maroonish yellow

color. And you just get a little twist and it

just shoots off missiles left and right. If you're

not really careful though and you just kind of

graze it, they're pretty trigger happy sometimes

and it'll just shoot off. But all in all, if

you have the opportunity to pick up this figure,

I would. It might be something that you might

have to pick up at BACON or at a convention get

-together or something for a really good deal,

but he's definitely worth it. I would have to

say maybe the Galaxy Convoy, Cybertron Optimus

Prime, for the longest time a lot of people regarded

this as one of the best Optimus figures ever

made. Despite, again, despite all the negatives

that it does have of the kibble and the big gun

that's kind of almost too big. He's still like

just an amazing robot mode. Yes, the the alt

mode is about as posable as a football But it

looks like a football, but but yeah That's the

joke that everyone says but to be fair Even what's

interesting is that its alt mode actually has

a lot of interesting gimmicks, too You know you

pull the ears of the mammoth and the tusks they

move if you there's a nudge a little knob on

the top of the the of the mammoth and his nose

actually it curls up like a mammoth or an elephant

and even the tip of the nose it's actually articulated

like it actually like you know goes left and

right which is a lot more posable than a lot

other of other Beast Wars you know toys I mean

everyone loves like Beast Wars Cheetor but didn't

have that much articulation but this one you

know it had quite a bit of a little gimmickery

for something that in all honesty didn't have

to in the mammoth mode which is pretty cool I

just had a very, very horrible Transformers Ice

Age crossover thought. No, no, no, listen, no,

no, wait, wait, wait, no, wait, no, wait, no,

wait, listen. You take this one that Lupus is

talking about, you take any form of V -Force

Cheetor, and you take Rat Trap. You have Manny,

Diego, and Sid the Sloth. I think Transmetal

2. Cheetor make the best Diego because he actually

had those like saber tooth like Yes, he did.

Yes, he did Horrible thought of mine Do you have

anything else to say about him lupus? Um, I did

about a second ago, but it just kind of flitted

out of my mind with that If you were if you really

don't like those Armada energon era Figures that

came out and really did have anything going for

him except for the gimmick and the figure was

built around the gimmick This is quite the opposite.

It's it's got incredible post ability legs arms

feet shoulders It was like the the golden time

of the the ball joint in essence Yeah, I just

highly recommend this figure God, now I'm going

to start calling him linebacker prime. He's got

the look. All you have to do is take the... If

you could cut the trunk off, he would look just

like a football. It's true. Especially the big

cotton boy one with the coloring. Yeah. Okay,

so last and most certainly not least, the goddamn

protoman is going to talk about what? G1 Rodimus

Prime or G1 Rodimus Convoy for you Japanese listeners.

Where do I even start with this figure? Well,

I guess I could give you a little history lesson

first. This figure was actually supposed to be

freaking huge compared to what the actual release

was. When this toy was made, they actually casted

it to be about I would say the size of Metroplex,

Powermaster, Optimus Prime, Blaster, that kind

of like 12 inch. Holy crap. Yeah. And then they

kind of realized, let's down it a bit. That's

why if you actually look at Rodimus Prime's trailer,

there's a lot of little detailing that kind of

got lost when it was shrunk down. But it's still

somewhat apparent there. But anyways, so G1 Rodimus

Prime, it was the new Prime toy. He was referred

to as the Autobot Protector, the next leader.

I'm not that great a toy to be honest, and this

is coming from me who's gay for Rodimus. Robot

mode, fairly simple. You pull it out of the trailer

bay, like hitch area, and then the legs are already

done for you. You just pop out the toes, and

then you pull out the arms, flip over the chest,

reveal the head, spin the spoiler around, and

bada -bing, you got Rodimus. He only had articulation

in his arms, which were the shoulders. It looked

like there was articulation for the kneecaps,

but they kind of decided just to bolt those closed.

They even show a joint for the kneecaps, but

they just didn't bother to do it. I think that

had maybe to do with the fact when they downsized

the figure, they just decided it would be cheaper

to do that. He comes with a humongous gun that

he referred to as his photon eliminator, which

is almost about... Three -fourths the size of

the toy. It's a big huge gun In all black When

you open up his trailer, it makes kind of I guess

you could call it a turret combat deck station

Which is a big double -barrel gun with two like

shields that you attach on the side and it's

it's definitely definitely not like, you know

A G1 Optimus Primes trailer not by a long shot.

It's not a base. It's not an HQ You know I guess

you could fit micro masters in it if you wanted

But it's definitely not that It's just it's a

fun figure It's it's a nice Nod to the show In

terms of show accuracy, it's kind of there. I

would find that the robot mode is kind of thin

and tall You know, it's not bad toy. It's just

I think it's one of those figures. I think it

looks really good in alt mode It looks really

good in its flaming Winnebago mode if you will

The robot mode is the robot modes. Okay We you

know, we have better Rodimus figures that came

down the line I think my suggestion if you like

a Rodimus Prime figure get the titanium Not to

mention that the Titanium Rodimus is definitely

one of the best titanium toys, and that's not

just a biased opinion, it's just I own them all,

and Titaniums have a lot of flaws, but this one

really seemed to dodge that bullet of all the

flaws. So it's a really good figure. With this

G1 one I'm talking about, it's not bad. I would

give it like 7 out of 10. If you're not... big

on collecting leaders or if you're not a completist,

I could see you skipping him. If you're someone

who hates Rodimus, yeah, don't touch this figure.

If you hate him for the character, you're not

going to like him for the toy. I guess that's

about it. He's a fairly straightforward and simple

G1 toy, so there's not really that much to say

about it. I guess aside from the fact that...

Yeah, they needed to put more paint in his eyes,

I guess He always looks like he's squinting I

gotta say When you told us and you know pre show

that you were going to be talking about this

one I actually had him when I was eight years

old we were in I don't remember how I got him

whatever else, but I had him you know he was

like my holy grail for a long time because you

know Even though optimus dies in the movie, you

know, I was you know And I I will say this until

I die Rodimus hot rod slash Rodimus has the most

character characterization Out of all the transformers

in the entire g1 cartoon clearly That's what

kind of added to my love of him is at a young

age and then later on as an adult Oh, yeah, it

made me realize that you know out of all the

characters I mean like people will love the shit

out of side swipe But in all honesty, tell me

what you know about Sideswipe from the cartoon.

He has a jetpack? He has a jetpack, he does Jet

Judo, he has a brother named Sunstreaker, and

I guess he's kind of sarcastic. And that's about

it. He has a missile. Where we got a good solid

two hours of this character. He was the star.

And in that solid two hours, we learned more

about him than we did about some of the most

beloved G1 characters that we knew from those

two years prior of season one and season two.

That's because they killed them all off. I think

that's what kind of creates that separation,

where you'll have so many people that passionately

hate him because, quote, he killed Optimus Prime.

But then you'll have that whole other separate

amount of people who just love the shit out of

this character, especially Hasbro, who keeps

remaking and homaging this character. He's a

deep character, especially even when he became

Erotimus. You know even though he had layers

to him. I guess a lot of I remember I heard this

on another podcast the best way to quote it He

was the first emo, you know, he was the first

He was the first ever like oh, you know what

I can't handle this I can't do this man, you

know, like he was like kind of like the first

emo transformer They're just like, you know,

I can't do this. I think I have Rodimus saying

something like that. Let's see Let's see what

I have. Optimus Prime, who could live up to him?

Which is true. Oh, the most famous line was from

Burden Hardest to Bear, which was, you know,

he lost the Matrix, and then everyone's like,

what happened? And he's like, you know, you want

the Matrix back, fine. Go get it, you can have

it. No, but get some other sucker to carry it,

because I quit. i mean it just and again about

that was to go to a who did not shut down from

the movie but even take go to a duly the rodimus

or hot rod character there's just so much depth

to it that made it so enjoyable granted season

three had a lot of problems that a lot of animation

problems that a lot of just weird shit going

on this but what they did a good rodimus episode

burdened hearts bears very prime example of the

only uh... it was done incredibly You know, yes

very much so You know, but I you know, I remember

having this toy. I remember we had gone down.

I think we had gone This is back when I was actually

still living in Massachusetts my mom and her

boyfriend and I went down to I think it was Key

Biscayne, Florida and I remember having him at

the hotel and oh When I got home, I don't know

what happened haven't seen him since he's gone

so I don't know what happened to my erotimus

but I actually thought you know looking because

I actually had my my optimus trailer open and

Michael Wilson my other co -host for TFG one

we were arguing over this I actually thought

the optimus g1 and the erotimus g1 trailers kind

of were similar with the fact they both had a

station inside them that could pull up and is

kind of like a gun firing thing You have to realize

when this toy was designed, they clearly had

that in mind. Again, like I said, this toy was

supposed to be originally two times its size.

They pretty much were planning to make this like

an Optimus Prime headquarters trailer also. It's

just that that got lost in the process afterwards.

Then it just kind of became a combat deck where

he could just stand on it. I agree with the points

touched on he did have a lot of you know character

development and You know as protoman said he's

like yeah, you want this matrix here. Take it.

I don't want it. Yeah I also thought that it

was interesting that when he needed to he went

into the matrix and you know which was dangerous

you know or whatever yet but the matrix could

kill in a transformer it's it which is right

we've had established even in the stores and

everything and he took that to say he took a

lot of risks uh... i mean how he entered the

matrix actually deactivated no but almost put

self -quotes to death You know, for anyone who

saw the Japanese stuff later on, headmasters

and everything, it shows that this character

later on learned to accept his responsibilities

and go on with them. I forget who it was, but

someone quoted it in the TFW boards. A lot of

people were saying, you know, like, what's the

difference between Optimus and Rodimus? And one

person said, Optimus Prime is Captain America,

but Rodimus Prime is Spider -Man. And when I

thought about it, at first it kind of went over

my head, but then when I thought about it, it's

really true. Captain America is the red, white,

and blue, like Optimus Prime, the red, white,

and blue, perfect hero. We don't expect him to

do wrong. He won't do wrong. And to the point

where there's so many photos and art of Optimus

Prime with the American flag even, as the All

Hail Megatron cover even has that, where then

you have Spider -Man, where it's like... responsibility.

God, what is the Uncle Ben line? It completely

escapes my head right now. With great power comes

great responsibility. Exactly. Where that's like

with great power, the matrix, comes great responsibility,

being a leader of the Autobots and taking care

of business. It's kind of interesting him having

to deal with that too. It was a very Interesting

contrasts of that person said and how true it

is and yet look how many people love spider -man

because of how realistic he is At the same time

spider -man also takes a lot of risks too. Yes

America doesn't he's very straight -laced by

the book completely stone -cold to his ethics

Which is you know, which is I always find bizarre

how people will hate on Rodimus because you know

I always tell people if you hate Rodimus Prime

then by the definition you probably hate Optimus

Primal by definition you probably hate animated

Optimus Prime those were all green leaders You

know those were all guys that were like it was

almost like their first day on the job You know

and they all also had to deal with shit from

their from their you know their crew and and

idiocy But you know people will say oh Rodimus

didn't know what he was doing neither did primal

You know neither did animated Optimus Prime.

You know he didn't get respect from prowl right

away He didn't get respect from ratchet right

away all that had to be earned Oh, yes. Which

I thought was great for the character development,

really. That adds to it a lot. You know, because

in G1, Optimus was like, you know, he'd been

around for millions of years, so he had already...

and i've done that so one come up so one we're

expected to believe that this character is the

ship you know no one questions that everyone

everyone believes in him he is but but do you

do you know this guy's like the chairman of the

bullet yeah yeah you know where where this guy

was just like some new dude and we just had to

accept the fact that he's the chosen one now

and so You know what it is a lot of people that

hate on Rodimus. They really haven't depth You

know dug into the fiction that much they're usually

a lot of g1 ers They're they're too blinded.

You know it is I remember one guy said it to

me the best He's like, you know when transformers

ended for me when Megatron got thrown out of

astro train It's like he was like and that's

when g1 ended for me. It's like star screen And

for a lot of G1ers, that's how it was. Season

one, season two, and up to that scene in the

movie, and that's when Transformers ended. I

mean, just me as a kid watching that, I'm sorry.

And I said this in the movie roundtable episode

that I did a while ago on TFG when it was episode

16. The first time I cried in that movie was

when Megatron did the final shot. When you see

Prime... Going back and his leg kicks up in the

air. That's when I started balling but at the

same time I still wanted to see the rest of the

movie and you know as I already said, you know

I like Rodimus. I like the way that they that

they took that I understand now that it was you

know, just killing off the toy line, but you

know my other co -host Michael Wilson over there,

you know, he hates Rodimus just for the simple

fact that they killed Optimus, but You know,

which is fine. That's his opinion, you know and

whatever but here's a little fun fact again in

the original script and in the Marvel comic book

adaptation Hot Rod didn't interfere at all. So

if anything, it's kind of like a Marvel what

if yeah, because what happens is what if Rodimus

didn't interfere? You know what happens Prime

talks Megatron pulls out still gets the gun and

says you're an idiot and shoots him in the, I

guess, spleen or pancreas, whatever the hell

he got shot in there. So either way, he would

have died. That's how I see it. What's interesting

is there was a video game that came out for the

PlayStation 2 in Japan. called Transformers Tatekai,

which was like a Transformers G1, I guess, beat

-em -up fighting game. Oh man, did I want that

game and I couldn't get it. What's interesting

with that game is when you beat it on the Autobot

side, because the story is the Autobots from

the Season 3 timeline come to the Season 2 timeline.

So it's like Rodimus Prime comes and helps Optimus

Prime stop something that's going to change the

future. But just before they separate, and Rodimus

goes back to his time, he's like, Optimus, I

have to tell you something. It's because of me,

I, and Optimus cuts him off and says, you know,

it doesn't matter what happens, the future is

already written. You know, before you were Hot

Rodimus Prime, you were Hot Rod, Autobot, Cavalier,

you know? So it was really cool that even when

Rodimus was going to warn him of his own death,

Optimus accepted it already. So, you know, like

I always say, before you judge, learn the whole

spectrum. Learn, learn, learn of all of that

and then come back to me and then you can hate

all you want. But only then. Well, you know,

I am the type of G1 fanboy that completely Just

rebirth is it rebirth is the happy ending for

me And yeah, and that's it the Japanese continuity

did not exist the only part of the Japanese continuity

Especially headmasters that I actually accept

is the reformation of blaster and sound wave

other than that it didn't exist So I think we're

going to go out to our last break and we're gonna

come back with the closing Alright we're back

and we have this clip for you guys open uh...

i usually use that for when i have audio issues

with podcasts all put that at the intro every

show uh... before we get into the actual closing

i do have to bring up a point because i'm doing

research on rebirth for this uh... friday's releases

I did watch the David Wise interview that's on

the Season 4 disc from the Rhino series and he

wrote the single most violent Transformers episode

ever, which was War Dawn. He had said in the

interview that the original scene where Megatron

attacks Orion Pax, who would eventually become

Optimus Prime, he He shoots it shoots him in

the shoulder in the original animation David

wise said He was supposed to rip his arm off

after he shot him and decapitated him with it

So yeah So we're going to go into the closing.

Thank you for joining us here on Transformers

Toycast. There are several ways to get in contact

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.com. You can also find us on Twitter. The show

name is tftoycast. Mine is tfg1podcast, and what

are your all's Twitter names? Why don't you go

first, Lupus? It's CaminitiStyle. C -A -M -I

-N -I -T -I -S -T -Y -L -E. And then what's yours,

Optimus Scourge? It is Optimus underscore Scourge.

Yes, and what about yours protoman? It's protoman

x not protoman because some bastard took it I'm

trying to hunt him down right now. I think he

lives in Michigan. I'm not too sure but anyway,

it's protoman x one word all right We hope you

enjoyed this episode of transformers toy cast

I wish that you'll join us next time for our

themed episode of all bot con all bot con part

one uh... for now i am t f g one michael with

and this is where you guys say your names wants

to go first gary it's up to the stairs loopers

convoy and the god damn proto that's right and

in the uh... in the immortal words of optimus

prime we're gonna leave you with this uh... transform

thank you for listening until next time What?