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On this episode, we’re joined by Steve, the Evil King Macrocranios of the Roboplastic Apocalypse, as we look over KFC’s Masterpiece Inspired Third Party Blitzwing in Toys. We also look into IDW’s Transformers comics solicits for November, and in convention news voice actor Morgan Lofting is slated to attend Action Figure Expo 2015. All this and much, much more on this episode of TransMissions!
Check out our “Trips to the Store” video segment on YouTube!
This episode of TransMissions is sponsored by Prime Toys, where you can get collector grade toys without the collector grade prices! Throughout the month of August use the coupon code TRANSMISSIONSAUGUST at checkout for 10% off your order!
To celebrate our second anniversary on the TransMissions Podcast, we’re giving away a Masterpiece G2 Bumblebee to one lucky listener! Click here for details on how to enter!
Like what we’re doing and want to help make our podcast even better? Support us on Patreon or donate via Paypal!
Want to see a new IDW comic set in the G1 cartoon universe? Sign our petition and make your voice heard!
Show Notes:
- Cold Open [0:01:44]
- Intro [0:03:47]
- Mini-Interview with Steve of The Roboplastic Apocalypse [0:04:23]
- Facebook Page
- Roboplastic Apocalypse Episode 73 featuring a Tom Scioli (Transformers vs. G.I. Joe comic creator) Interview
- TransMissions Episode 41 Tom Scioli Interview
- Roboplastic Apocalypse Episode 67 and Episode 33 feature a Derek Yaniger (Transformers G2 Comic Artist) Interview
- TransMissions Episode 112 Derek Yaniger Interview
- Rapid Fire Questions [0:20:15]
- Toys [0:32:03]
- KFC Reveals Masterpiece Inspired Blitzwing – Eavi Metal Ditka [0:32:17]
- Bill Swerski’s Superfans (SNL) – Ditka
- Comment by Mathew Ignash from Episode 122 with more info on DX9’s 3rd Party Blitzwing Gewalt
- GCreations Reveals Blade (Swoop) – Prototype Images [0:41:33]
- Reprolabels August Update [0:48:23]
- Masterpiece MP-21R Bumblebee Red Body [1:00:01]
- Red Bumblebee information from the TFWiki
- Hasbro Rolls Out Autobot August Promotions! [1:07:35]
- Combiner Wars Deluxe Wave 4 Comic Pack-In Bios [1:10:24]
- KFC Reveals Masterpiece Inspired Blitzwing – Eavi Metal Ditka [0:32:17]
- Titan Wars Deep Throating Rumors [1:13:44]
- Questions from Dinobot Maximize (Check out Dinobot Maximize’s YouTube Channel)
- Comics [1:26:54]
- IDW Transformers November 2015 Solicitations (Spoilers)
- Transformers #47
- MTMTE #47
- Sins of The Wreckers #1 (of 5)
- MTMTE TPB Box Set – First 5 volumes of MTMTE collecting issues 1-22 plus Death of Optimus Prime
- TF vs G.I. Joe TPB Volume 2 Collects issues 5-9
- Transformers #45 TFcon Charlotte/Acme Comics Exclusive Cover Variant
- Power Ranking – The best 30 Comic Book Writers for August 2015 – Check out Number 29!
- IDW Transformers November 2015 Solicitations (Spoilers)
- Video Games [1:37:34]
- Trips To The Store [1:50:08]
- Convention News [2:09:55]
- Voice Actor Morgan Lofting to attend Action Figure Expo 2015 (same location as TFcon)
- Feedback [2:11:49]
- Closing [2:20:27]
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first here again, oh a great start to Friday!!!!
im going to attempt to take note on the first pass today, but im sure ill enjoy it SO MUCH, it’ll most likely be on the second…what, i listened to ep 122 like 3 times!!!
NOTES, i just got up already like 20 minutes ago!!!
To address your guest’s question about cracking “rubber” tires, the ones Nonnef are making are not rubber, they are black dyed silicon, so no issue with cracking.
As for the theory that red Bumblebee is a “Diaclone homage”, guys, Bumblebee isn’t a Diaclone toy! He was from Microchange. This red Bumblebee is an homage to the red Microchange volkswagon that came out in Japan in the early 80s. The reason why there were red Bumblebee toyin the USA is because Takara had stock of the toys already made for Microchange and Hasbro needed more toys to put on the shelf during the great sales rush of Transformers toy in 1984, so they stuck a bunch of Microchange toys into Transformers boxes and sold them to us. I’m surprised they didn’t make red Bee a new character for the MP line, maybe calling him Stinger or something.
Your guest asked what other movie figures were in the Titan Wars line, and you said none. Just going back over your past leaked news, I see you mentioned Soundwave, Blaster, Eject, Optimus Prime, Rewind, Rumble, Frenzy and Galvatron. All these characters appeared in the 1986 movie.
Yes I was so intent on trying to make the parallel with the existing Diaclone homages in Masterpiece that I flubbed the distinction that the minis were originally MicroChange minicars. All in all I think I didn’t do too bad if that was the only Scaleface nitpick I ended up with!
I have never believed the Takara overstock theory in regards to the miscolored minibots and Bumblejumper. Nobody has ever come forth with official documentation or other evidence of it being the case that Takara had tons of unused robots they accidentally overproduced. It’s all just fan speculation. For that to be the case they’d have to either have taken already packaged toys out of the Japanese packages and repackaged them in US packaging, or just wastefully overproduced toys. Either of those practices make no logical sense for a small toy company like Takara was at the time.
For the sake of argument, let’s say they just happened to have a bunch of Bumblebees and Cliffjumpers lying around, and only in the yellow and red colors. What about the blue ones? They didn’t overproduce the blue ones? Why wasn’t there leftover overstock of the blue MicroChange minis put in Transformer packaging? Further, if the demand was so great, why didn’t they just package black hooded Bluestreaks, yellow Sideswipes, blue Trailbreakers, black Ironhides, etc., etc. in with the rest of the in demand Transformer stock?
I would love to read a breakdown of the situation explained by credible official sources detailing how it happened, but so far that hasn’t come out. The overstock theory is just speculation. The main reason I doubt it is that official Hasbro art exists for Bumblejumper. I believe each of these mystery minibots were ordered by Hasbro for use as distinct individual characters but for whatever reason the packaging was not used and they shoved the toys onto existing cards. Until someone credible with hard evidence comes forth I put no stock into the overstock theory.
I can see why most of those other Titan Wars movie guys slipped the TransMissions guys’ minds. All of them you mentioned with the exception of Galvatron and Rewind were not introduced in the movie. Within the context of the conversation we were talking about core movie characters. Besides Galvatron, all those other dudes either already appeared in earlier episodes or weren’t exactly the kind of guys I think about when I think new major players from the movie.
I didn’t say it was because there were overstock of Microchange toys that Hasbro released them in the US. I said it was because Hasbro was desperate for toys. Back in 1984-85 store literally could not get enough Transformers toys. They would sell out immediately. So Hasbro was grabbing everything it could to stick on a shelf.
Also, Eject was introduced in the 1986 movie.
Of this announcements in this episode I am most surprised and pleased by Horribull. I am a big Masterforce fan. I wasn’t expecting to get a new Masterforce Bullhorn figure!
My question still stands. Where are the blue MicroChange minicars and the red Familia 1500 xg in Transformer packaging if Hasbro diverted existing Takara MicroChange stock? Why wasn’t existing Daclone stock in the original Takara colors also diverted to the US to help out with demand? Why is there no blue Bluestreak? I’ll bet it’s all because Hasbro never ordered Takara overstock or existing stock or had lines diverted. Circumstantial evidence more supports the theory that Hasbro only ordered production runs in specific colors and no Takara overstock or existing product was diverted to the US. I would just really like to see the source of your claim that the mystery minibots were Takara rerouting their MicroChange production lines for three of the lowest price point figures.
Also, there were plenty of Transformers to go around by ’85. The immediate sellouts were only during holiday ’84. The second half of ’84 was the only time Transformer orders placed by retailers went unfilled. Before the cartoon hit nobody cared and the toys were in supply enough that stores were comfortable advertising them. Then beginning around September ’84 there was a rush which subsided by early ’85. The reason Hasbro was desperate for toys in only in ’84 was that they ordered way less than there was eventual demand for, and so did stores. Bob Prupis said this at Botcon ’04. He told his bosses at Hasbro it would be a huge line but the bean counters would only approve upwards of 100 million in wholesale orders. Hasbro placed the bulk of their Takara orders early in the year and expected that to be enough, but as Prupis said, an additional 200 million dollars in wholesale orders went unfilled that year. Takara being a small toy manufacturer could not keep up with production demand. So by late ’84 when stores needed more, Hasbro left them high and dry because Takara couldn’t produce. Everything eased off by February 1985.
Also, Eject and Rewind were in the movie for only like five seconds of screen time so I can forgive the guys for forgetting them in the context of our conversation about memorable/main movie characters. Galvatron should have popped up, though, if they have talked about him before.
Yeah, as I just posted, we just talked about Galvatron a couple weeks ago, and I just had a brainfart. 😛
As for where the blue minicars are, I have no idea. Perhaps they only grabbed things that were red and yellow, thinking they could slip them in without kids noticing. Blue woud have been more noticed. As for sources though, sorry, I guess it’s as much unproven speculation as any other theory. For Diaclone stock… how do we know they had any overrun Diaclone stock? That’s a higher price point, so less likely to make an overrun, where Microchange cars were practically gatchaphon level impulse buy toys. Much easier to run extra of those toys.
I just listed every character in the movie who was mentioned in the Titan Wars rumors, since I figured you wanted to know. Oh, another mentioned, who was SORTA in the movie was there was mention of a Titan Wars Cassette named Stripes, who you may know was in an easly draft of the movie script.
Thanks for the added info on the Red Bumblebee, Mat! Regarding the 86 Movie figures in Titan Wars, you’re right that I forgot about Galvatron who we just talked about 2 weeks ago.
But as Steve said my meaning was characters that were introduced and prominently featured in the 86 movie. Rewind and Eject were introduced, but not prominently featured (one memorable scene with no dialog). Optimus, Blaster, Soundwave, Rumble & Frenzy were featured but had already been in the cartoon. And Optimus is a Powermaster in Titan Wars which was not the version that’s in the movie.
To my mind the core cast of 86 movie figures would be:
AUTOBOTS:
Hot Rod/Rodimus Prime
Kup
Blurr
Ultra Magnus
Springer
Arcee
Wheelie
DECEPTICONS:
Galvatron
Cyclonus
Scourge
OTHER:
Wreck-Gar (Junkions)
Sharkticons (Gnaw)
Quintessons (Judges and Guards)
Kranix (“I’m the last survivor of Lithone!”)
Unicron
Of course a few in the other category don’t have official toys or haven’t had one in awhile.
Arcee, Springer, Cyclonus and Ultra Magnus have just gotten new Generations Deluxe or bigger toy versions in the last 2 years so I think it’s unlikely they’ll get new ones in Titan Wars. Rodimus and Wreck-Gar have a Legends figures coming out for Combiner Wars, but we could still get deluxe or voyager figures for them in the future.
So far, Galvatron, Blurr and Scourge have been indicated for Titan Wars.
BTW, just a clarification, we’ve gotten direct indication of Rewind and Rumble from the source, but Eject and Frenzy are just my speculation since they’re easy repaints.
Okay, but he didn’t ask which CORE movie figures were in Titan Wars, so I listed them all.
Anyways, I’m more hoping for a modern Deluxe Hot Rod.
I do worry about one thing though, Nonnef had stated he’s working on Combiner Wars upgrade kits as movie characters like Scourge and Kup. If Titan Wars does them, will that screw up Nonnef’s plans? I’d rather have them as combiners, so I can make a Cyclonus with Sweep limbs, and a Sky-Lynx with Kup, Blurr, Hot Rod and Arcee limbs.
Wow,I never knew the mini bot scandal was a thing. ..
More later
Oh my god! I’m crying over here!!! I can’t stop laughing at Steve or with Steve or whatever. This guy is awesome. The Straxus jokes made my stomach hurt. Please make this guy a regular on the show. His humor reminds me of Mike Birbiglia’s stand up but with Transformer jokes. Charles’ reaction “I KNOW WHO STRAXUS IS” almost made me crash my car in Sewickley out of laughter…no not really. Really, great show guys. I’m in stitches! When you think the show can’t get any better….
Yeah, Charles was pretty defensive about Straxus. As if Steve stumble upon something Charles did know.
Repo-Lables for life!
I have a question for the hosts in the next show. As will probably announce FansProject has confirmed they are making an Optimus Prime colored version of Crox. It seems like their Headmasters all get one recolor. We have seen recolors for their versions of Chromedome, Brainstorm and Skullcruncher now. What recolors should they make for their versions of Hardhead, Mindwipe, Weirdwolf, Highbrow, Snapdragon and Apeface?
MWG on the TFW2005 boards had a question/theory about Titan Wars for your source. I thought I’d relay it to you. He was wondering if perhaps the upcoming Alpha Trion could be a remold of Combiner Wars Sky Lynx. It too has a ship and beast mode, and with the proper retooling could be a robot and possibly even a combiner torso.
From what I’ve seen, it seems very unlikely to me that Alpha Trion could be a remold of CW Sky Lynx. But I’ll pass the question along.
Question for the next podcast. What do you guys think about the Takara Legends Femcons…???
More specefic the retooling level. And what other molds could you all see getting that level of retooling from Takara and as whom…???
Hey guys, thanks for mentioning me on the episode. Very cool!
All I want is for Yoshi to stop asking for Deepthroating to be referred to as female. A mouth is a mouth, man. Just lean back and enjoy. (With your eyes closed, if need be.)
Futurama had something for this and I quote:
“..instead of he or she we are to use the word shkle. And instead of him or her we are to use the word shklim or shkler.”
Fantastic episode, folks! I tinkled a little, Jimmerz almost crashed, Deepthroating is on the verge of losing gender neutrality… Shit’s getting crazy! Keep a witness handy.
I’d like to thank most of the team for joining us on the Saturday Skype session (There’s always next time, Jeremy). Thanks Dinobot Maximize for diligently wrangling us hooligans and hosting every week. It was the most fun I’ve had as unofficial chat commentator (I’m usually muted, but always offering my two cents in chat). Favorite moment? Darryl performed the internet equivalent of a testicular targeted dropkick on Yoshi in the chat as he exited. Bad form? Sure. Bad etiquette? Maybe. Bad muthaf…? Erm…I lost track of where I was headed with that. Anyways… Fun. Thanks. Out.