Iacon Underground Radio Network

After the Energon cartoon, Hasbro and Takara decided they needed to put at least a little effort into the next one. By enlisting the anime studio Gonzo and actually giving the translators time to work, Transformers: Cybertron was... well, at the very least, better than the two shows that came before it. With far better CG robots, some genuinely charming characters, and a story that at the very lea...

This week we discuss the return of Barricade, Hasbro's fixation on Deathsaurus this "Unknown Evil", and Lost Light #2!

Following Armada's amazing toy sales, Hasbro and Takara apparently decided lackluster animation and even worse translation were just fine, because that seems to have been the attitude behind the Transformers: Energon TV series. With a confusing plot, stilted CG robots, and translations errors on par with Generation 1's animation errors, Energon quickly established itself as no one's favorite Trans...

This week we talk Power of the Primes and D&D alignments, Shia LaBeouf goes political with his performance art, and we read Optimus Prime #3!

With anime the "cool new thing the kids are into", 2002 saw the first Transformers toyline and TV show jointly developed by Hasbro and Takara for both markets: Armada. And while the toys were exciting and innovative, the show was... less so. With the Autobots out screaming dramatically at the Decepticons, Alexis, Rad, and Carlos find the base's computer being possessed by Sideways! Soon they're pu...

We return! This week we talk new Titans Return toys, Optimus Prime #2, and Till All Are One #6!

After Beast Machines, Hasbro took a break from cartoon production and imported Takara's Car Robots under the name Robots in Disguise. But only a couple episodes into the show's American run on Fox Kids, something happened that lowered the American viewing public's appetite for casual urban destruction. Many episodes had to be edited; a few had to be pulled from airing entirely, though they later s...

With Beast Machines finished, our rewatch of the Beast Era comes to an end. Join us this week as we talk collective fandom fits, the influence of the Beast Era on later Transformers fiction, and Rob tells us all about Bob Skir's Beast Machines prose story! (Also David apologizes in advance for some "sketchier than usual editing".)

This is it: the final episode of the Beast era! Every Maximal but Optimus Primal has had their spark removed, and now Optimus must face Megatron in his own upgraded body! With the souls of every Cybertronian at stake, with the two of them left as the only living beings on Cybertron, can Optimus defeat him? Or will Megatron succeed in remaking the planet in his image? And will Waspinator ever catch...

With the sparks of every Transformer on Cybertron at stake, the Maximals try to hold the grounded Grand Mal against the full force of Megatron's Vehicons. But just what is this new body Megatron is building for himself? Can the Maximals glow and crash into things enough to make a difference? And how far will these titles keep stretching for the sake of hyperbole? Join us for the penultimate episod...

This week we talk the Transformers 5 trailer, Optimus Prime #1, and Lost Light #1!

The Downward Spiral is the second studio album by the American industrial rock band Nine Inch Nails, released on March 8, 1994 by Nothing Records and Interscope Records in the United States and by Island Records in Europe. It is a concept album detailing the destruction of a man, from the beginning of his "downward spiral" to his attempt at suicide. The Downward Spiral features elements of industr...

This week we talk movie news, toys news, and the More Than Meets The Eye: Revolution one-shot!

Megatron is TOTALLY DEAD. He is NOT any sort of rogue spark flying about possessing random conglomerations of reused models. And he was absolutely NOT made that way by some completely incomprehensible techno-babble. Join us this week as we watching something that sure isn't Spark of Darkness!

This week we talk Power of the Primes, everyone's favorite retroactively canon ship, and who decided to finance another couple seasons of Machinima Transformers!

The Maximals finally find the sparks in perhaps the most obvious place possible, but what Megatron's doing with them is downright grimdark! Can they escape with their own sparks intact? Why can't they just leave Nightscream behind with Noble and get rid of two nuisances at once? Will Noble's reappearance turn out to be super convenient? And how far can an episode title be stretched to fit a theme?...

This week we open some new toys and talk Till All Are One #5!

The Maximals split the party in their search for the sparks of Cybertron's missing population, but when is that ever a good idea? Will they find them? And how can it be that hard to find porn in a post-apocalyptic wasteland? Join us this week for Sparkwar Pt. II: The Search!

We return this week with various bits of news and a great deal of appreciation for voice actors!

With Trust as the only remaining Vehicon general, Megatron bolsters his army with two new ones, Obsidian and Strika, whose sparks he chose specifically for their inherent loyalty. Will the Maximals be able to defeat two of the greatest strategists in Cybertron's history? Will Botanica be willing to put aside her disdain for violence to defend her new home? And could the new female characters in th...

When a ship is shot down over Cybertron, a Beast Wars-esque race is on between the Maximals and the sole remaining Vehicon general to retrieve it! But what could be inside? Could it be... a new character?! Come find out with us this week as we watch Home Soil!

This week we have news from Japan, Walgreens Brainstorm FINALLY shows up (for one of us, at least), and we explain new comics to each other!

Megatron infects all the Maximals but Optimus with a virus that makes them all violently hostile! Can they calm their tits long enough to stop him? Will this convince Optimus that Megatron's philosophy--that free will inevitably leads to conflict--is correct? And how is this at all different from the way they acted at the beginning of Season 1? Join us for all this and a G1 history lesson as we wa...

Blackarachnia finally forces Silverbolt to emerge from Jetstorm for good, but the once-hero has gone all 90s dark-and-broody and wants nothing but revenge on Megatron for what was done to him. Can Blackarachnia get through to him? Will we finally learn the origin of the gray apples? And how does actual-dark-fantasy-writer Jen rate his brooding skills? Find out this week in brightest day, In Darkes...

This week it’s HASCON HASCON HASCON!