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