TF Podcasts

[Pinwig]

Transformers Podcasts

I've edited my original question about what people listen to into being more of a links list for reference because I've found a few more that I've been trying and I can see from the comments posted that my opinions don't necessarily reflect the consensus. So this is a current list of Transformers podcasts I'm aware of, and I'll add more if I find any and try and keep this up to date.

My personal favourites remain RFC, Twincast and TFYLP although Transmissions is pretty good. 

Radio Free Cybertron
Proud to be the longest running Transformers podcast, dating back to 1999. Regular weekly shows which appear around Thursday. News discussion on toys, comic reviews, Q&A sections and recently they've moved toward finishing with a weekly debate topic. Generally fun, the crew sound like decent regular guys. They also do live coverage of the big events like Botcon, SDCC and Toyfair. Also streamed on youtube.

Twincast Podcast
Seibertron.com's podcast. Supposedly fortnightly but rarely is, sometimes appears in pairs of episodes monthly. Comes across as slightly more elitist than RFC (easiest comparison would be where RFC can sound like a bunch of excited 10 year olds, these are the slightly more jaded 14 year old equivalents), but the discussions sometimes go deeper and can be really interesting. Genuinely deep knowledge base which makes it worth listening to.

Transformers For Your Listening Pleasure
Awkward name, but this has improved a lot recently. It's been going long enough to reach 100 episodes and has settled into a good format with discussions that are informative if you want to hear other people talk about specific areas of Transformers, for example they've recently looked in detail at the various Japanese cartoon series and associated toy lines. Downside is that I can't find a working RSS feed. Production quality can be rough, but the cast are actively looking to improve and develop and have recently done some interview podcasts with people like Pete Sinclair (Botcon organiser).

Transmissions
A recent find. This one hasn't been going very long but has very high production standards going by the few I've listened to so far and covers news in more detail than other podcasts I listen to. Very in depth comic reviews, which look at new issues as well as working through the Marvel run. They have also done special editions with interviews. Can get sweary, which is a shame because by nature this one doesn't need it and it could be an all round excellent show.

wtf@tfw
TFW2005's one. Erratic and can be self-important. Tries hard to be 'cool'. Drunken live recordings at cons make you wince. Not one I listen to often.

Shattered Cast Uncut
'Adult' in tone, very explicit at times, but this one does cover areas of news – particularly third party – that sometimes don't appear anywhere else. Randomly switches between mp3 and m4a versions on the rss feed, but the m4a does include embedded images which if listening on a PC show you what they're talking about.

Good Morning Cybertron
Another one that seems to feel heavy swearing is important in making a podcast cool. Very similar to Shattered Cast, but been going considerably longer.

Nebulan Pirate Radio
This had potential, then stopped, came back monthly, but descends too frequently into random shouting and off-topicness. The same crew also do a Turtles podcast I've tried to listen to but found impenetrable. This may have ceased, there hasn't been one for a long time.

The Underbase
Seems to be exclusively focused on comic reviews. Each episode is about a specific issue. Not listened as I follow the comics by trades these days so I'm always behind.

Moonbase2
Frequently wonders off topic and has a tendency to make you feel like you're not part of the listenership it's pitching to. Like being sat on the fringe of a conversation in a pub with loads of people you don't know. Sounds like it's made for people who know the presenters.

Retro Robot Radio
Not a podcast as such, but a useful and concise weekly Youtube upload which summarises third party news.

[KoshNaranek]

I find myself occasionally dipping in and out of podcast's. As someone who is visually impaired, I would actually prefer to obtain most of my news through this medium, but there are definitely peaks and valleys in the quality of the shows and their presenters and contributors.

I mostly agree about RFC, the show has a good structure and is divided in to segments that keep rambling to a minimum. But you're totally right about their attitude to RG1, two people in particular, that just put's me off after listening to it. I tend to listen for a few weeks, get to a point of being bored by the childishness of the "humour", and then leave it for a while. The only other problem the show has is that there are weeks when there are a number of people on and most of the talking is done by the same folks while others contribute virtually nothing, and when they do it's usually to say they "didn't know that" or "that's awesome".

Moonbase 2 is very hit and miss for me. I can see what you mean by your comments about their target audience, and I suppose it can come across like listening in to a group of friends having a private conversation at times. I think if I were to offer them any kind of constructive criticism, it would be to assume the Podcast is like a comic, in that every episode is someone's first and to try to make it as accessible to as wide an audience as possible. It would also help if they adopted a tighter structure like that of RFC in order to keep the episodes shorter and more concise. I really don't want to hear what everyone's been up to during the week and there is a lot of rambling that get's off topic very quickly with bad attempts at humour. However, when they get it right it can be very good indeed. I very much enjoy their classic comic reviews and some of their interviews have been very good. It helps that they keep the number of presenters and contributors small so that people aren't tripping over each other to say something.

The only others one I listen to are RetroRobotRadio on YouTube and of course the mighty StarDub, but I'll give the others you've mentioned a try.

- Tony

[The Doctor]

I usually stick with RFC and the 2005tfw one as I enjoy the presenter's style. I used to be an avid Moonbase 2 listener but gave up after a stream of shows that began with 30+mins talk about sentai shows that had nothing to do with Transformers.

-Ralph

[kayevcee]

Thanks for putting this together, Pinwing!

I'm listening to the latest RFC now. They're talking about the third party Dinobots that various companies are working on.

"But Sludge is so boring..."
"I love Sludge!"
"Hey, I do too, man-"
"Sludge was my first Transformer. Ever."
*silence*

That couple of seconds of dead air resonated with the sentiment of "thin ice, motherf***er".

-Nick

[KnightBeat]

The 'TF for your Listening Pleasure' podcast is a good find. I'm listening to the discussion on least favourite TFs (ep 81) at the moment and the rage coming from each speaker is hilarious.

I listen to Moonbase2 and WTF@TFW at the moment, but agree that the former can be hit and miss. I enjoy the humour, but often feel that I haven't learned anything by listening.

[Pinwig]

I am continuing to explore the podcast options for Transformers fans, although I've reached the point now where there aren't enough hours in the week to listen to them all. However, I will endeavour to keep this list updated as I do enjoy the background noise of geeks talking TFs in my ear while I'm doing the housework

If anyone finds any that aren't linked above, please let me know and I'll add them.

[Pinwig]

May 11, 2014 22:38:19 GMT KnightBeat said:

The 'TF for your Listening Pleasure' podcast is a good find. I'm listening to the discussion on least favourite TFs (ep 81) at the moment and the rage coming from each speaker is hilarious.

I listen to Moonbase2 and WTF@TFW at the moment, but agree that the former can be hit and miss. I enjoy the humour, but often feel that I haven't learned anything by listening.

I agree with both those sentiments. TFYLP is fun, and because they have the 'theme of the week' idea going at the moment the conversation is focused and in depth. I personally also like the way they have nicked Don Ferguson from RFC as I always enjoy his comments and think he gets a raw deal on RFC sometimes (in jest admittedly).

[Pinwig]

Was intending to update this more often with interesting finds, but it really is worth listening to Transmissions episode 70 because it's a substantial interview with Aaron Archer. Not having had the chance to hear him speak at a con, I found it fascinating to hear his insights into Transformers production. Covers lots of areas including Hasbro's relationship with Takara, choices of toy, design process, how cases and waves are set up, IDW, and the odd surprising fact I didn't know (Like the fact he designed MP-01)

www.transmissionspodcast.com/

Also worth a mention - there is a substantial interview with John Barber about all things IDW about 65 minutes into episode 100 of the Twincast Podcast (don't bother with the first hour) and a bit after that with Jim Sorensen where he talks about the new Legacy book.

[Pinwig]

Does anyone recognise the theme music Rob Springer uses for his podcast? I've wondered for a while what it's from.

www.tfradio.net/podcast/2016/8/28/being-awesome-with-rob-springer-072.html

[The Doctor]

I do listen to that but no clue as to the music origin. You could ask on his blog.

-Ralph

[Pinwig]

That's an idea. I reckon it's a Power Rangers thing.

[Pinwig]

Speaking of which, this week's is really quite funny. I can't tell if this is only funny if you listen to it regularly, but a lot of this is Rob explaining Transformers to his wife and trying to design a combiner out of cats. Made me laugh.

www.tfradio.net/podcast/2016/9/4/being-awesome-with-rob-springer-073-making-a-cat-combiner.html

[Pinwig]

I've just been listening to the first couple of episodes of Empire of Rust while washing the car. It's a live play RPG podcast set in the IDW Transformers universe. I'm quite impressed - the production values are high and the story is interesting. There have been about 19 episodes so far, so it isn't too far advanced to catch up with. Worth a listen if you've any interest in stories or RPGs of the Dungeons and Dragons type of play.

www.transmissionspodcast.com/category/empireofrust

episode one is here:

www.transmissionspodcast.com/2019/07/empire-of-rust-1

[Pinwig]

I've been doing a couple of big projects in the garden this week so got completely up to date with this series. It's on ep 29 now - it's an absorbing listen if you're into real play type rpg podcasts. The games master has worked out a pretty interesting narrative with lots of hooks. It has the evolving story better real play podcasts manage.

Anyway, reason to bring it up again - a new player character has grown over the last ten episodes or so, called... Blueshift! It's very freaky every time I hear his name mentioned, very jarring. He's a young wannabe speedster from Velocitron who transforms into a hover bike.

[Jim]

I've been really enjoying the Triple Takeover Toycast in recent weeks:

podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/triple-takeover-toycast/id1558119467

Maz et al are so knowledgeable and personable that even a 2 hour+ discussion podcast with no particular gimmicks or strong structure feels like it flies by (for me, at least)

[Pinwig]

Ooh, nice tip. I've been wanting a quality new TF podcast to replace some older ones that are going stale. I'll give it a go.