Interview with Mike the Birdman Dodd on Transformers

Hey everybody, this is Dan Gilbazan, voice of

G1 Bumblebee, and you're listening to All Things

Transformers. This is Optimus Prime, and you're

listening to All Things Transformers. Vutrex

report. We are being followed. Decepticons. Hello

and welcome to an all -new generation of all

things Transformers as we get the origins of

any and all Transformers fans that we can. I

am of course TF2 on Mike and this week the guest

is Mike the Birdman Dodd. Hello, sir. Hey, you

know I'm - I'm actually kind of surprised I haven't

done one of these before, actually. Yeah, you

have never been on All Things Transformers. Way

back when, when I started out, you were on TFG

One for that interview I think I did with you

and Snowball, but you have actually, this is

the, where breaking your All Things Transformers

cherry is, some people might put it. The light!

Yes. It's the rightful topping for a Sunday.

Even though we're recording this on a Tuesday.

yeah something like that anyway so Mike is from

Canada we won't hold that against him he runs

this week in geek net for those of you that may

not know and get right into it and I always start

these if anyone's listening to their episodes

I know this first question is kind of stupid

but there are some people that were not fans

when they were kids. They found it later. So

did you grow up with Transformers and at what

age do you remember first noticing the franchise?

Yeah, I actually totally grew up on Transformers.

I'm definitely a child of the 80s. I remember

watching it around 85, 86 when it originally

aired. I'm just going to move my mic closer.

Excuse me. I used to get it via one of our local

affiliate stations, CK and X, who I'm pretty

sure is not around anymore, coming out of Wingham,

Ontario. And I'd only ever cast the last 15 minutes.

Sometimes I get lucky and I'd catch a full episode

if the bus could get the hell home fast. I used

to rent the tapes from, I can't remember the

company. of their orange i can't remember they

only home entertainment that's it yeah they also

did uh... the ninja turtle stuff to you uh...

but yeah so i grew up on on the franchise for

a while never saw the movie in theaters i'd be

good as to see it years later with my best friend

at the time quincey his dad read it for us And

every opportunity I got I could try and grab

the tape from him or the local video store. So

yeah, I grew up with the Transformers a fair

chunk. They're always in my house for Christmas.

We used to have a program up here in the town

that I grew up in, or sorry, the town over I

grew up in, Owen Sound. There used to be this

thing for the Legion, which my grandfather was

a member, and Santa Claus would show up and give

out toys, and I remember getting quite a number

of pretenders from those Christmases, and I always

thought that was... really cool and i remember

the mcdonald's happy meals with the transformers

in them too so yeah they've almost always been

a part of my life in some capacity which transformers

generation is your generation and why so this

is basically is it g1 is it beast wars beast

machines animated transformers prime that kind

of thing It would definitely be G1, although

Beast Wars would definitely be a close second.

I fell out of Transformers probably in the 90s

when I just stopped getting toys, and it wasn't

until I randomly came across Beast Wars. In Canada,

the show was called Beasties due to children's

Parents rights groups over violence concerns.

I always thought that was really stupid um remember

sitting on the couch with my friend Ryan and

We are watching why TV which is the youth television

network up here in Canada and It was we're like

space battle CG space battle this looks interesting

And it was the first episode it was the pilot

for Beast Wars and we're like holy shit. What

is this? um and for the longest time i was such

a beast wars fan because he would tape the episodes

because i didn't have cable because my parents

had satellite but if you think they let me near

the big tv and the satellite well they were watching

sports or something it didn't happen so i had

to rely on a lot of vhs's so ryan would tape

them for me i'd watch them and for a long time

i was a huge beast wars fan But it wasn't until

the Dreamwave comics came out in the 2000s That

I fell back in the generation one and I'm thinking

all right. This is me This is my generation because

I knew all the characters. I'd never seen them

characterized like that before I mean sure there

were the Marvel comics of the 80s and the UK

ones, but I never got into those but it was the

dream way of comics i collected every single

comic every single variant of every cover i still

have long boxes just full of them uh and g1 just

be kind of became my thing though with toys i

was a lot more liberal i was really a huge fan

Beast Wars toys because they weren't so blocky

the pose ability was utterly fantastic for most

of them Plus it was just fun to hunt them I have

me and my friend Ryan used to do a lot of just

he got his license when he was 16 and I'd skip

a lot of school so we could drive down to Toronto

or Niagara Falls. We're like, well, I don't feel

like going to class today. Do you want to go

hunt for Transformers? Why, yes, I do. Well,

I don't feel like going to class. And we just

randomly just drive around Ontario hunting for

toys. And occasionally, I'd go out to Garasi.

I was like, for Generation 1 toys. Or I'd ask

my friends like, hey, do you have any of your

Transformers left? You know, you want to sell

them to me? In fact, one of the worst deals I

ever made for a toy is I gave up my Super Nintendo.

A bag of Doritos and 20 bucks for Inferno from

Beast Wars. Oh my god. Yeah, I'm a friggin idiot

Inferno is a cool character, but this one if

he had a busted rotator joint in his butt So

he didn't spin as well as he should have but

yeah, that's how big of a fan I was so I'd say

for me It's a tie between Beast Wars and G1,

but G1 will always be my favorite though What

are the what outside of the Dreamwave comics?

What are some of the other generations of transformers

that you like or that you've noticed over the

years? Um, I Read some of the IDW stuff. Mm -hmm.

Um, I followed transformers prime for a little

while I watched the first season and half the

second and I just kind of fell out of it just

cuz life and Podcasting and broadcasting just

got in the way. Yeah, um, but one comic Or one

generation or I guess one form of media from

Transformers that always stuck with me There

were two of them once again from Dreamwave They

were the micro master series, which I thought

was an amazingly well written book and There

was I think it was the age of darkness which

they never completed because the company went

under which was just such a Such a tragedy that

so many good stories and so much good artwork

got lost because people couldn't pay the bills

What was your very first transformers toys a

kid I remember several but the one I remember

the clearest Actually, no, I don't know shit.

I'm thinking here. What was my first? Okay once

again tragedy strikes I remember my parents sent

away, back in the day, for Optimus Prime and

Megatron. I never got them. But what I got instead,

is I got Reflector. LOA Reflector. And you would

not believe how much that sucker goes for now,

if he's complete. And yeah, I trashed him, because

I'm, you know, an asshole kid. But I remember

getting Reflector... Cosmo or Cosmos Beachcomber

Chop Shop. I remember getting a lot of the smaller

Transformers. Ultra Magnus was a big one. In

fact, I remember getting into a fight with some

kid, like a physical fist fight, because he wanted

to borrow my Optimus. And he stole him from me.

He's like, Mommy, Mommy, this kid stole my Optimus.

I'm like, Oh, yeah, kid. And I remember punching

this kid right in the mouth. She's like, yeah,

you're gonna steal my office primary to feel

my fist and I'll never forget this kid because

he smelled exactly what what an open sewer smelled

like It was terrible. So I always associate ultra

magnets with that smell. Um, which is terrible

But I remember the first transformer I ever got

as a birthday present this one. I'll never forget

It was Metroplex And Metroplex has always been

one of my favorites because he's big, he's a

city former, he looks cool, he's got a lot of

accessories, he's just a cool looking figure,

he's a great display piece. And I remember, I

think it was my seventh or eighth birthday, I

was just so thrilled to get him and have bigger

Transformers. Then other transformers I'd get

down the line would be a lot of Pretenders I

remember getting the action masters. I thought

they were cool because they were more detailed

the pose ability was a Little better than the

regular blocky ones, but I remember getting prowl

on his motorcycle shockwave on his Dirt bike

type thing or no. He had like a gun he rode in

and then there was this other one I can't remember

what his name was he was another action master

He was a Decepticon. Oh My friend Quincy got

and he just kind of gifted him to me as I kind

of he's like, I don't know if I like Transformers

over I'm like, yeah sure, you know I remember

the first transformer toy I ever stole Once again

because it's playground politics and this kid

did not appreciate what he had this rich douchebag

Him and his brother Matt and Mike had dirge and

ramjet oh geez and i remember stealing dirge

because i'm thinking you don't appreciate this

you go home to your wonderful toy mountain where

less than us peasants will just sit here with

our little microformers no sir i do not accept

this um yeah i was a douchey kid but i just remember

having so much fun with the deluxe class Figures

to my mind. That's what a transformer should

be around the 15 and around I guess would have

been about the $10 price point back then But

that scale of transformer I remember my parents

buying me Trailbreaker because I thought he was

cool. My next -door neighbor had mirage and Prowl

and jazz. I think I ended up with them at some

point, although he broke his prowl and It's so

upset me so much. I'm like, he's he's a cop car.

He's cool. How could you break him? You dumb

dumb. I hate it when kids abuse them. Oh, although

in that next door neighbor's house next to my

parents house, which they no longer have because

while they're well gone in the foundation, I'm

pretty sure there's a cliff jumper in the cement

of the basement. Because I remember playing in

the house when it was being built and losing

my cliff jumper in the foundation. So what year

was this that this happened? This would have

been about 86. 86. It is now 2016. It is 30 years,

okay? All I can think of is Michigan J. Frog

and Looney Tunes. When the guy goes to the construction

thing, the building is being uncovered and Michigan

J. Frog just pops out and that's all I can think

of. Yeah, at some point when archaeologists discover

the ruined landscape that is what's left of the

world, they will find a hundreds -of -year -old

cliff jumper. That's funny. I say this on all

the episodes that we've done for this. It's a

little weird question, but when I was a kid...

We just played we didn't have a term for it.

We yeah, it's called live -action role play now

But that wasn't a thing in the 80s that the actual

wording of it was not a thing Yeah, exactly.

So growing up. Did you and your friends ever

pretend to play transformers? Like you said,

oh, I'm gonna be this character and You know

what's weird. I don't remember a lot of us ever

playing transfers I remember we always used to

play guns because I had this ridiculously huge

gun collection for toys and I was always like

a huge like like Robocop mark, but I remember

I Remember playing transformers a few times.

I always remember playing prowl Sunstreaker or

I've never got a chance to play prime because

my buddy Quincy always called optimus prime or

star scream so and a lot of my other friends

they were all they were into other things but

we didn't play a lot of transformers on the playground

but i'd always play with my toys and i'd play

with those a lot so i played a lot of transfers

by myself though not with my friends which is

kind of depressing all right so g1 megatron puts

his fusion cannon to your temple Who is your

end -all, be -all favorite character from any

Transformers incarnation? You can pick one Decepticon

and one Autobot. From the Decepticon side, I'd

have to pick probably Soundwave, just because

I love that voice modulation thing, and I like

how he's a loyal soldier to Megatron no matter

what. For Autobot, it gets a little tougher,

not by much, but... Through years and years and

years, it's always been Prowl. Let this human

go! We seek another! Oh wow! Dr. Alcazar sent

me the anti -matter formula! I've got to keep

it safe! i love that cop car i think he's very

cool i love his look um i like how chip chase

took control of him in one episode with a five

and a half inch floppy this doesn't happen um

i remember his like acid pellet shooting gun

stuff like that i remember his toy being less

than stellar but still cool to me um yeah prowl

without a doubt what are some other transformers

characters you like Big fan of Sunstreaker. I

remember getting him as a mail away, and I just

thought he looked cool. I always wanted sideswipes,

so I'd have the quote unquote brothers. I've

always been a big fan of any of the jets from

the Decepticon Seekers. Not so much the coneheads,

but the original three. Shockwave. Love Shockwave's

design. He looks so cool. In fact mostly because

of a Marvel Comics cover in the 80s where it's

him standing in front of like this Days of future

past wall and it says all are dead and it's just

such an iconic Marvel Comics cover And I just

think he's kick -ass too. So but for a good guy

cliff jumper because Casey Kasem did an awesome

job before he left the show and Ultra Magnus,

because Robert Stack's a boss. Yes, yes he is.

I can't deal with that now! Cliffjumper, commence

countdown. Five, four, three, two, one! Oh, Casey.

Ugh, that whole debacle. Yeah. Our bomb, yes!

Are there any Transformers characters you absolutely

hate that you just cannot stand? Transformers

animated pretty much anybody on that show. Really?

I tried for like three episodes to get to like

that show, but there's that stupid redhead girl

That's sorry some sorry. I'm like no you know

I Refused to acknowledge your existence thus

you are a glitch in the matrix. You don't exist

So screw you, get out of my TV. Yeah, I couldn't

stand anything Transformers animated, like at

all. So I pretty much wrote off that entire show.

There's two, I like animated, I'm not gonna go

into the whole reason why, but there's two characters

that they're, the way they're done in the show

is absolutely amazing. that is Shockwave slash

Longarm, where Longarm was the Autobot side of

himself, basically dual personality for Shockwave,

an Autobot side and a Decepticon side, and at

one point... because shockwave got outed by the

autobots he could then go back to megatron in

his true colors and it was corey burton doing

the voice of shockwave just like in g one and

he turned purple i kid you not i remember watching

this episode when it aired i fell out of bed

one saturday morning because i was not expecting

that the other one is for the first time in god

knows how long Judd Nelson returned to the role

of Rodimus in the Season 3 opener Transwarp.

That was awesome. That's pretty cool. Yeah. Over

your lifetime as you got older, did your interest

in the Transformers franchise grow stronger or

weaker? It was a lot of up and down through high

school. I had a lot of Beast Wars keeping me

interested, but it wasn't until probably when

I moved out on my own and moved in with my first

fiance. Ashley that I really lost interest in

transformers for a number of years It wouldn't

be until I get a copy of the movie from the Rhino

release. I'd get back into it like 2002 I'd say

my interest or transformers really came back

probably around 2005 2004 when the Dreamwave

comics were hitting pretty heavy And there was

a certain line of toys that came out around that

time. I'm still kicking myself in the ass that

I sold them about 10 years ago. I had the alternators,

which were based on real vehicles. And I remember

my first being, I think it was dead end or it

was smoke screen. Sorry, Mike, go ahead. Those

alternators were awesome. They were amazing.

And the fact that I was learning about real vehicles,

because you know growing up where I am everybody

has a trade or they're these gearheads or whatever

nerds are not exactly high on the social food

chain but the fact that I could have a conversation

like I knew Jazz was a Subaru WRT 10 or something,

or I knew Smokescreen was a Subaru something.

I knew that Grimlock was a Ford Mustang GT something

or other. I could rattle off the stats for those

cars because they were Transformers. They were

real to me. And seeing a car like Windcharger

who is a Honda S2000 Seeing him in a movie like

he was in too fast too furious the car that was

driven by Devon Aoki's character I'm thinking

holy shit. That's a wind charger actually look

like that is so freaking cool And it's kind of

what got me interested into the customization

aftermarket of transformers finding out you can

buy aftermarket parts you can buy replacement

stickers you can even Customize them if you want

to paint them stuff like that. People were doing

it. I'm thinking holy shit. This is so friggin

cool. Um So I'd say my I'd say my love of the

franchise got stronger Dropped off a little bit

during college and then when the bay verse movies

came out they came back kind of strong Because

it was always something to look forward to because

I'm like, all right cool Be a new Transformers

movie in like a year or two. All right, that'll

be something to do So, yeah, I'd say I'm actually

surprised how strong the Transformers love has

consistently been there. In fact, my second tattoo

I got was an Autobot symbol, which the tattoo,

it should have cost me 400 bucks. Somehow I was

able to talk to tattoo artists into doing it

for like 150. That's awesome. Oh, yeah. They

were kind of pissed because he looked at me afterwards.

He's like, I should have charged you like $400.

But since I kind of agreed to it, damn you, kid.

I'm thinking, I know, right? Because I came in

right at the end of the night, I went to the

casino, my buddy Craig had won some money. And

I convinced him like, you want to get me a tattoo.

And he's like, I want to get you a tattoo. So

I Jedi mind tricked them. And they were maybe

like an hour away from close. I didn't think

it would take that long. Because this is my second

tattoo. I'm thinking, all right, well, it doesn't

look that hard. It's just a lot of lines and

some cool shading, whatever. So I go in at 1

leave at 330. Oh, yeah, they were not pleased

with me But I'm like guys I promise I'll keep

coming back and that's the place I got almost

all my tattoos throughout college Was that one

place in Niagara Falls? place called heads which

Supposedly there were some health issues. I never

got sick and I've had blood work. So whatever

but yeah that I'm surprised how much I've loved

Transformers over the years actually Now you

said during college, you kind of dropped off

a bit. Was there ever a point where you just

said, screw it, I'm done. I don't want, I want

to get interested in other stuff. Yes. Uh, it

was, and it was because of alternators. I had

spent so much time looking, there was a, there

was a certain one and I'll never forget it. It

was the alternator deceptive charge. And it was

about the time shockwave came out. Both were

recolors of, I think, jazz. And I was like, you

know what? Fuck it. I can't find them. I'd go

to the States, because I was like half an hour

from Niagara Falls. And I'd go over with my wife,

or sorry, with my girlfriend at the time, Blair.

And I'd go look, or I'd go with my best friend

-size roommate, Pierce. And I couldn't find them.

Even online. They wanted $80, $90 for a recolor

and I'm thinking, you know what? Screw it. I'm

done. I'm buying Optimus Prime and that's it.

And the last alternator I bought was Optimus

Prime as the pickup truck. And that was the last

transformer I bought for myself for probably

like eight years. Alright, so with the internet

giving birth to the fans and everyone having

a voice about what they like or don't like about

Transformers or anything in general Do you find

that your voice gets lost in the shuffle or do

you just shout louder? Well me knowing you for

the last eight nine years. I'm pretty sure you

just shout louder I used to have a lot to say

about transformers because I used to be really

close friends with a bunch of guys who ran another

transformers podcast spade I Can't remember the

other guy Jesse and Ryan Jesse and Ryan Show

was called. Yeah TF wire and I used to really

really get into it It was one of the first podcasts

I actually actively listened to and I'm thinking

I just don't have that much to say I mean, I'm

a huge fan. I remember for a long time I was

I would like to call myself an apologist for

Transformers Revenge of the Fallen, because I

genuinely find that movie to be a guilty pleasure.

I really like it. I'm terrible. But it was also

one of my first press screenings, so I guess

that's why. But, yeah. Find my voice gets lost

in the in the transformers fandom. Although weirdly

enough I used to do a My Little Pony show which

you're taking over at some point at some point

and I talked about DJ pawn three or vinyl scratch

and in one of the Equestria girls movies she

has a car that transforms into a mobile DJ stand

and I said on some podcast or somewhere I I wish

the car had the Transformers noise, because they're

both properties owned by Hasbro. And some fan

wrote in giving me an essay as to why the two

universes are not compatible. And I'm thinking,

first off, you've put entirely too much thought

into it. So bravo to you, sir. But second of

all, I was like, holy crap. So yeah, my voice

tends to get lost in the shuffle. But I'm always

the first guy there to champion. anything new

Transformers -wise, like, I'm excited for the

new movie even though I know it's gonna be terrible.

Although, I will admit, Age of Extinction genuinely

put me in a bad mood. I remember walking out

of that theater so mad. Um, but yeah. We'll talk

about the Bayverse a little bit later. Okay,

so I know you have a story behind this next question

because as I've already said we've known each

other for X number of years at this point What

is your? Personal Transformers anthem song whether

it's the touch whether it's dare whether it's

something from Vince DiColo What's your story

here? My personal fit like my personal personal

deep personal favorite is actually unicorns theme

the live version which comes off of, it was on

a different version of the soundtrack. Because

if you play that over the right stereo, it will

shake your apartment. It'll shake the walls.

It's gorgeous. But my personal theme song was

actually my wedding song. When me and Blair got

married back in 2011, we entered the hall, the

Stan Bush's... the touch I was able to yell and

sing that walking up to the bride and groom's

table and all my friends all my friends knew

what it was Blair's quote -unquote friends and

family were utterly bad as to why I'm belting

out this 80s rock anthem. And the rest of my

friends, they were just right along with it.

It was so incredibly gratifying to walk into

that. And I had Stan's blessing to use it. And

Stan actually became a personal friend of mine

during college, because I did a number of different

projects on him. And it was just so cool to have

the touch as a wedding song. I just, it's, as

much as the wedding is supposed to be for the

bride, I'm totally went against the grain. That

day was my day. Well, Blair was like, I got my

uncle to play Star Wars on the bagpipes, which

is cool. Let's not, let's not talk crap about

that. But when I got married, exactly when the

minister or the officiant, Yes, and I now pronounce

you man and wife. I had the victory fanfare from

Final Fantasy 6 Play as soon as that happened.

Once again my side of the wedding And it was

just it was just so badass and I wish during

the night because we had arguably the worst DJ

in the world as Our wedding DJ like my god this

kid sucked I would have loved to put on the Transformers

soundtrack just to see what people would have

done when Dare to be Stupid came up. That would

have been memorable as all shit. It's the new

hokey pokey, folks. It was amazing though. Like

I said, just walked into that hall with, you've

got the touch! It was, like I said, so badass.

Now you've kind of already talked about it a

little bit We'll get to that in a minute. Actually,

I skipped one. How often do you go back and rewatch

any of the Transformers cartoons? Not often actually

what I do if I ever want a Transformers like

Fix I'll just type something in to YouTube. I

remember actually Probably a couple weeks ago.

Actually, I randomly decided to I wonder what

all the theme songs sound like So I randomly

went back and watched all the title Songs and

end credits and everything just because I was

really really bored one night But I don't go

back often because I have Two different versions

of the complete series. I bought one of the bootleg

from Japan back in college I got the matrix collection

For review years ago from shout factory and I've

gotten every subsequent release ever since But

I don't get a chance to go back and watch them

pass the initial period for review, which sucks,

which means my memories of them are basically

one and done. It kind of sucks. I mean, I'm hoping

when I take some time off during the winter here

for my mini mental vacation, maybe I'll go back

and rewatch some stuff. Although the show has

aged horribly, but that's kind of the fun of

it. Yeah, I look at most of them in the time

capsule that they're in. Like, you look at G1,

that's clearly 80s, you know, it started in the

80s. I'm here to sell toys, basically. Well,

no, not necessarily, yes. I know a lot of people

say that, but not necessarily. There were plenty

of really good written plot episodes. The key

to Vector Sigma, two -parter. I'm trying to think

what else. heavy metal war which was the season

one finale where megatron basically gets all

the decepticons powers and he cheats to win this

battle against prime i mean that there are so

many good episodes from season one and season

two and there even some good ones from season

three as well alright so earlier you mentioned

the dreamwave comics what other comics and if

you want to go in further with dreamwave what

other transformers comic stuff It was mostly

mostly all Dreamwave things, although the main

reason I got into them was because of the artwork,

which was Alex Mine and Jim Lee doing a lot of

it. I remember the book that really sold me on

the Dreamwave stuff was actually the Ultimate

Transformers visual guide. And I got that when

I was in Edmonton. I was out visiting a girlfriend.

And I had a credit card with no spending limit

on it. So obviously let's buy stupid It was yeah,

I was an awesome summer. Let me tell you um,

and I bought that and I'm like looking at all

the artwork and I'm loving If this is the new

official artwork because back in the day the

artwork on transformers was I always thought

kind of hokey and kind of stupid It's only now

that I appreciate that 1980s lunchbox art And

I really, really got into it because of that,

and that's why I collected all the variant covers,

is because I wanted to have all that personal

artwork. When I went to a Transformers Con back

in 2006, I had a piece of RC done up. and a piece

of prowl done up by the artists and I didn't

pay that much because they just did it quickly

in pencil and marker but it looked really really

really good um and I kept those for years I actually

remember giving them away to a girlfriend at

the time I was dating just before Blair um and

Don't know like the big thing with the Transformers

comics. It's the artwork that always sticks with

me That's why I didn't much care for the first

incarnation of the IDW stuff I didn't like how

it looked all painted it looked a little too

mechanical a little too real Mm -hmm, and I just

didn't appreciate that as much now the later

IDW stuff is significantly better Hmm, and then

when they did the cool crossover stuff with like

GI Joe Yeah, or whatever. In fact, I guess that

kind of works if it comes to other incarnations

Anytime GI Joe and Transformers crosses over

I'm a huge fan of that like I love Optimus Prime

as the his tank or a Starscream as like as like

a Cobra Rattler and all that shit. I think prowl

was like a Cobra stun or something. So Yeah,

I'm a huge fan of that. Yeah, the IDW stuff,

for me, it's just one of those things where the

story hits me and then the art hits me later.

Like, how I read comics is I read for the story

and I notice the visuals as I'm going along,

but I'm mainly focused on the story. So when

I go back to... give myself a refresh I'm like

oh that's real oh my god that's odd you know

that kind of thing and IDW from the start of

death of optimus prime now this is just now I

know you said the early IDW stuff which I'm assuming

you're talking about the original transformers

ongoing that they did from the start of the two

ongoings that they had more than meets the eye

in robots in disguise which started with the

death of optimus prime those two ongoings from

their inception in 2011 were just amazing I mean

James Roberts He is the Decepticon murderer of

souls when it comes to character development

and writing on more than meets the eye The man

can just do no wrong the same thing with John

Barber on wrote a book formerly known as robots

in disguise and Yeah, it's it's IW is doing such

good stuff right now Now I know you've had some

issues over the last few years, but How big was

or is your Transformers toy collection? My Transformer

collection at its height. I had most of the alternators

before I sold them. I had Masterpiece Prime.

I had... This was really awesome. Hasbro sent

me the Comic -Con exclusive Metroplex. And I

was like, holy shit, because this thing came

in like a refrigerator box. It was so huge. They

sent me that in Fortress Maximus, I think. And

I had that and I'd come into some money at that

point. So I was buying lots off of eBay. So I

had an original Prime, an original... Galvatron

and all this other thing. My favorite out of

that collection was I had a bunch of the combiners.

So I had like a Superion, I had a Devastator,

I had Computron and all that and it was so badass.

I had Soundwave and Blaster. However, now that

things have significantly changed, because I've

kind of decided if I'm going to collect I don't

want to have to resell my collection every few

years because it's just too painful. But combiner

war stuff is surprisingly easy to find. So in

the fact that you can make your own combiners,

that's a huge selling point for me. So when I

was in the States this past summer for my vacation,

so thank you to my fans who decided to give me

a break. I went out and I got some of the Combiner

Wars figures because they were on for like 10

bucks. And it was so cool. I've got Sunstreaker.

I've got Wheeljack. I've got Galvatron. I've

got a lot of the newer Combiner Wars and Titans

returns. I'm missing Blaster and I'm missing

Soundwave if I really want to complete what I

have. But yeah, I got them and I'm so happy that

I have them. I mean if I do regret selling One

toy would probably be my masterpiece prime because

I got him at a steal for 25 bucks Wow, yeah when

I was younger the Toys R Us near me was clearancing

them out Just like yeah 25 bucks. It's all yours.

No problem So a friend of mine had bought in

like 10 of them And we were just, oh yeah, we

were selling them off. I remember another time

we did this around Christmas time. They were,

this was, I guess, Energon, I think was the big

line at the time, or maybe it was Armada. And

we had bought, we came down with a hundred bucks

a piece. They were clearancing out Omega Sentinels

at 10 bucks a piece. So we each bought 10. And

we were just giving them away or selling them

at retardedly good prices. And it was an awesome

Christmas. We certainly made a few kids happy,

made ourselves happy at the same time. But yeah,

my collection right now is pretty modest. I mean,

if I had to refocus, I'd probably go back, get

the G1 cast. from season one in masterpiece form

like i would really like to go back and get bumblebee

masterpiece because he looks cool i'd get prowl

jazz prime megatron probably star scream and

sound wave would probably be the ones that i'd

probably grab um if for for combiners i would

probably get I think Bruticus looks really cool

from the Combiner Wars, and probably Menasaur.

Because if anything made me appreciate those

things again, is Transformers last year had a

really fantastic video game called Devastation,

which had no right to be as good as it was. Yeah.

Because it was like playing an episode of the

show. Oh yeah, absolutely. And I really started

to like Combiner. Thing like like that's my thing.

I love spectacle in my toys, which is why I like

the big Metro plucks it is your fortress maximises

stuff like that. Hell I'm really surprised. They

haven't done a triptych on yet, but give it time

I guess so Yeah, my collection right now is probably

no bigger than 15 At most it'll get as big as

20 and I'm pretty satisfied with that What is

the one Transformers toy you could never part

with ever? You already did But if I had to go

back, I wish I had never got rid of my blaster

and sound waves Because I'm an audio guy. I am

sound design. I have music so I wish I never

gave those up because I had Buzzsaw I had laser

beak I had ravage and I had I think I had rat

bat for Blaster I had steel steel jaw ejected

rewind So I'm really wishing I kept all those

and their tapes now. I have their tapes now in

their modern forms I just don't have the tape

decks to go with them. So and it's so hard to

find them because right now, because I know Soundwave

is like a leader class figure and he's retailing

for like 40 or 50 bucks. So you could get the

masterpiece version of Soundwave. That's true,

but I really I. don't mind the titans return

version or if i had to go back even the fall

of cybertron or war for cybertron versions were

kind of cool looking so but yeah i mean if if

i had to go back there was even one that was

kind of cool where it was like an mp3 player

slash transformer which was kind of neat so yeah

if if i never had the part with figures it'd

be those ones what was the most money you ever

spent on a transformers toy item on an individual

toy i think i spent about a hundred on a lot

i think i spent 650 and that's with shipping

because it was a big lot um yeah i think Yeah,

the most expensive toy I bought I think was a

couple of all was a couple of alternators I got

like three for a hundred and twenty and When

I had a bunch of money probably about four or

five years ago I got whoops. Sorry random TV

loudness I got a Version of what was it I had

like every dyno bot I had like half Half the

combiners I got like prime Metroplex and all

these other figures for like I said 650 bucks

plus shipping and It was it was such a fantastic

deal because this guy didn't know what he had.

They had their accessories They all had their

missiles and everything. Yes. Yes. I finally

have a Grimlock I probably have a slag. The only

thing I didn't get was like a swoop. Um, so that

was pretty cool Cool, cool. All right. Do you

like Loathe or are you indifferent to the Bayverse?

It's such a hard question to answer simply because

I like, I like how the Bayverse is making Transformers

accessible to people again. Like it's presenting,

like it's not as cartoony as it could be. which

means people like us are arguably going to be

very, very mad at it, but it's getting people

talking in about Transformers. And I do like

that. The thing I don't like about the Bayverse

is the design of the robots. I don't like how

I can't see their faces clearly. Like there's

no defined lines, or if they do, there's too

much and you can't tell what the hell's going

on. And I think that's just a problem with the

Bayverse design and the Bayverse editing. It's

just very difficult to watch as a film. But I'm

okay with it for the most part. I don't like

how they killed Jazz in the first movie, which

was just such a bitch way to go out. I want a

piece of it. I want two. Really? Poor Eddie Winslow.

Yeah, like, come on, man. And then they turned

Soundwave into Dr. Claw. Like, really, you couldn't

have spent the 10 minutes with the vocoder program

and given them the proper voice. Really, Frank

Welker, you just couldn't have done that for

me. I actually, you know what? One of the things

that actually has grown on me about the Bayverse,

I really like Hugo Weaving as Megatron. That's

really grown on me. I wish they'd done more with

certain characterizations. I feel like you know

who the Decepticons are more than any of the

Autobots outside of Prime and Bumblebee. Like,

I think Charlie Adler did a great job as Starscream,

but he doesn't have a lot of lines. bloody depresses

me. Um, they did a good job and say what you

will about Age of Extinction. They did a good

job with Hound. I mean, you got John Goodman

in there, you know, Dan from Roseanne, and they

gave him... But that's not our Hound. That's

Bay's Hound. Well, yeah, but I mean... I'm still

happy with it. I mean, just the fact that I got

him on the screen at all is... Oh yeah, absolutely.

Although... Don't know and this will be my f

-bomb for the episode. How do you fuck up Dinobots?

Because I'm like the robot dinosaurs this should

be the most brain -dead easy thing ever and somehow

some way although I will admit I love the character

of lockdown because I like the fact that he's

a transformer bounty hunter who's neither Autobot

nor Decepticon he's just like you know what you're

just a bounty to me you are money I like that

I thought that was actually kind of neat but

other than that Bayverse there's a lot of problems

but hey it's getting a new generation of kids

interested because they not may not necessarily

like what we like. So whatever gets them talking.

That's true. If you can create any Transformers

fiction, whether it be a toy, a cartoon, a comic,

a movie, whatever, what would it be and what

story would you want to tell? I would do, I would

do Transformers GI Joe as a five episode mini

series on TV. It would be a week long event.

Each episode would be the standard 22 minutes.

and it would be awesome that's what i want i

want to see elwin i'd bring back the original

voice cast too like i'd well i guess as the ones

that are still alive yeah ones are still alive

or at least really good sound -alikes because

i think that'd be so cool like i said i'd love

the fact to see Starscream and Cobra Commander

working together or Serpentor killing Bumblebee

and all this stuff like there's so much cool

stuff that could happen if they were to bring

that to life or alternatively if i could somehow

get transformers infestation with the transformers

the ghost busters the ninja turtles and all that

shit for like i don't know even if it was just

a half hour mini movie i'd be okay with that

as long as it had a ridiculously high budget

to look cool The only problem with that is you're

not going to get TMNT with Ghostbusters and Transformers

because TMNT is a different company. It's just

one of those things where there's only one, and

I'm sure other people can do it, but I've only

ever heard one person do a scat band jazz and

he did it so well and that was Phil Lamar because

I remember when I interviewed him the first time

and we asked him about because he was jazz and

animated and I asked him I said do you did when

you went in After you got the role did they tell

you to do your own thing or did they tell you

to go? You know to do a scatman impression. He

said oh once you get scatman in your head You

you can't do anything else and he gave us an

impression of it And I'm like if they ever get

jazz again in a cartoon you need to be the voice

of jazz So awesome do you have a my parents got

rid of my toys story you know I don't think so

I think Think I just got rid of them as time

went on and then they garage -sale the mommy

when I moved out so I don't I Don't blame them

for getting rid of my toys More like I got rid

of my toys because I am in crippling debt But

no surprisingly my parents were always pretty

good to me when it came to getting me toys so

thankfully they never got rid of anything though

they rarely got rid of my sega genesis at one

point i was kind of pissed about that dang all

right what is one piece of advice that you'd

give the transformers fandom and tf collectors

in general focus do not spread yourself thin

find something you like and stick with it Like

if you're gonna collect alternators stick with

alternators if you're gonna collect a masterpiece

Stick with masterpiece or if you're gonna collect

one character stick with one character because

my friend Ryan he finds He clucks with the mantra.

He wants the best representation of that character

and I think that's a very smart way to to approach

collecting Like for myself If I get a chance

to refocus, I may go back and do combiners or

I may go back and do shockwaves and just find

the best version of each character and just kind

of stick with it. So yeah, like I said, that'd

be my voice just find something you like stick

with it If you spread yourself too thin, you're

gonna run into more problems than what it's worth

Taking a look at the aftermarket stuff is definitely

worth your your time, but you got to do your

research on it so check out YouTube links talk

to other people in the fandom and Don't be afraid

to ask questions. Sure. You may get the odd people

saying you're asking a stupid question, but At

the end of the day the buck stops here and it's

your money. So you better be spending it properly.

Yeah Alright folks, that's gonna do it for this

episode of long things transformers origins We're

gonna be back next time around with a new episode

of origins. I believe Steve will be back he uh...

kind of was suffering from some cosmic rust this

this time around so he'll be back uh... where

can the people find you online mike uh... people

can find me at this weekend geek dot net you

can also hear me on toronto's talk radio station

am six forty and across the course radio network

on video game soft street which airs sundays

at seven p m but check your local listings for

additional times at that show airs and um...

Also at terrible warriors .com as one of your

many game masters You can follow me on Twitter

at TF2 and Mike you can follow at geek cast radio

on Twitter or all things TFB 3 on Twitter What's

your Twitter Mike? My Twitter my Twitter Instagram

and Facebook are all at Birdman Dawn I tend to

accept all Facebook and follow requests. Just

don't be a douchebag and don't be creepy. I'm

sorry that yeah, I'm always around All right,

well transform and roll out and we will catch

you next time here on all things transformers