Origins of DJ Valentine on Transformers Origins

This is Optimus Prime, and you're listening to

All Things Transformers with Steve Megatron and

TFG1 Mike. Transform and roll out! Hey, this

is Springer. I got better things to do tonight

than die, like listening to the Geekcast Radio

Network. This is Optimus Prime, and you're listening

to All Things Transformers. 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 and Mike

and joining me is Steve slash Megatron. Hello,

sir. Hello. How are you? I'm here. You're here.

And today's guest is somebody that we've been

working with for a couple of years now. He's

somebody that any time I put a Transformers the

Movie quote on Twitter will constantly argue

back and forth with me over who the best Prime

is, because we all know the one true Prime is

Rodimus. He is one... He is, what are you, one

fourth, one third? I don't know what, he's part

of or creator of Simplistic Reviews, that amazingly

funny sketch podcast that we love to listen to.

It is Mr. DJ Valentine! believes that Rodimus

Prime. Rodimus Prime doesn't even believe that

Rodimus Prime is the best Prime. That's why he

resurrected Prime, Optimus Prime, to give him

back the Matrix. He's like, I suck, I gotta get

outta here. He's like, I don't know what to do,

I need Optimus Prime, nevermind, I can jump in

the Matrix and ask him questions. Can I hit him

with a hammer Prime? No, Rodimus, you freaking

idiot. I'll take care of this. I thought you

were made of stardust stuff. I'm not, I'm Judd

Nelson. Hey! You leave Bender alone, dammit.

So yes, we are here and we're gonna get the origins

of DJ and figure out why he is the Transformers

fan that he is. Take it away, Steve. Where do

I take it? No, I'm just playing. Did you grow

up with Transformers and at what age do you remember

first noticing the franchise? I remember my stepfather

I got the toy before the cartoon. Did I watch

a cartoon? My parents were more afraid of me

watching toys with guns than giving me toys with

guns. Oh, nice. This was weird. So the first

toys I ever got was a Snake Eyes and an Optimus

Prime. So I was like, this is awesome. This truck

becomes a man with a gun. Yes. This is going

to be my toy forever. No, no, no, no. Keep the

keep the soccer ball in the in the back. I don't

care. I want to play with this red truck that

turns into a man with a gun. Oh, it has a trailer

with a wheelie thing in the back. Yeah, yeah,

yeah. Leave me alone. Video games. I'm going

to play with this. So, yes, I would say, God,

I would say around who the cartoon might have

been already. I think I was maybe eight. Was

very young. I know I was in the corner playing

with Optimus Prime for a very long time until

I got the rest of the The Autobots and Decepticons

to join them Hmm very cool. Very cool. What is

your transformers generation and why? Come on

Gen 1 It's gotta be Gen 1. It's gotta be you

know, I mean I I give respect to some of the

new stuff I just that voice in the animation

I think is just that because it was such an equivalent

to it felt like a shared universe with it there

was kind of is with GI Joe and stuff like that

that Generate the 80s of Transformers was just

I mean I grew up it literally raised me I would

come home from school and then I would I would

I would watch Duke in in Cobra commander fight

and then I would wait for the the Autobots to

fight the Decepticons on a volcano or something

And somebody optimus has the purple, uh, no no

megatron had the axe and optimus had the mace

the orange mace I just watched them fight. It

was great. That's oh, yeah I'm of all the new

stuff. I'd say I like the um, the one that this

came on netflix a lot Very recently they had

a transformers Forget the name of is it called

Transformers product war for Cybertron and Earthrise

comes out at the end of this month The one that

just came out. Yeah, very very well done and

I had I think I was live tweeting episodes I

was watching it. So the new stuff is really good.

I think it's I think now that it's kind of gotten

to a place where And not to bring it to Star

Wars or anything, but start Transformers and

Star Wars share some stuff where they're kind

of fixing some of the the wreckage that Michael

Bay left Yeah, like hey, you know this was cool,

you know, it wasn't just you know Explosions

there was some depth to these characters and

I think the new stuff is doing that But no, I

if I had to pick it's always gonna be the 80s

So what other generations of Transformers do

you like? I Think when I got off the Transformers

train, I think it was right after It's right

after Optimus came I think right after the run

where Optimus came back Runs I like I like I

could like I mentioned the one on Netflix. I

do like They had the It was the one where the

the domes the CGI show I think word it was his

name Is the Transformers prime where the kid?

Had the bike and Jack Darby. Yeah, that was pretty

good I just only I didn't like that shows because

the Autobots were so Few I liked it when it was

a lot of them You know, so you can variety. Well,

they weren't trying to sell toys anymore. They

were just trying to have retains. Exactly. They're

trying to tell stories, which I mean, to my to

their credit is a good thing. I just I like when

there was a lot of autobus because a lot of personality

or Decepticons, a lot of personalities. But I

did like the run. I did like what they were doing

with it. Which was is that the same universe?

I mean. Was never huge and I know Steve's gonna

kick me in the throat, but I was never huge on

Beast Wars I did I know I did like the episode

where they kind of went back to the arc. I think

they time -traveled or something and You saw

the original gen 1 Autobots frozen in existence

time -traveled, but what happened is they? They

crashed before like right after right right right

right? That was cool. I thought I thought that

kind of mixing. I thought that was pretty cool

But again, that was never huge CG. It's not even

Beast Wars fault CG animation for me is It's

either like it's got to be really really good

or I'm gonna be out because I'm again because

I'm old I like it's like the hand -drawn stuff.

So this is like really good like they were doing

with the Transformers prime I was kind of like

okay if you look at Beast Wars now, though the

story wise be sources good It's like some of

the animation. I really wish they would like

do with like a little upgrade and maybe it will

Get get on that gas you guys could upgrade that

whole thing and they probably redo that that

you can just double your money if you do that

anyway But yeah, yeah, so those are some of the

the shows I like And you mentioned your very

first was Optimus Prime earlier but was the up

the g1 of Optimus Prime that was the very first

Transformers toy you had every that was maybe

the the first action figure I had was Snake Eyes

and Optimus Prime. I remember that vividly. I

didn't even know any of this until I started

watching the cartoon. I didn't know what, I just

knew this toy is awesome. This was an awesome

toy. I didn't know I was holding in my hands

probably one of the greatest characters of all

time. I didn't know there was more of him. Then

I realized, oh, he has a family? All his enemies

and family are in my head now I can decide them

at a store there There is there is iron hide

and there is bumblebee and there is jazz and

there is mirage. I can just pick them all up

Oh, there's Megatron though. I could when I was

a kid guys Megatron was the how would you put

this? The taboo toy they didn't you that you

weren't allowed to get Megatron because back

in the day kids Megatron transformed into a gun

like a gun gun like not a Stick yeah, it was

a pistol so Parents were with ape shit at the

time about you guys you selling your child a

gun and he wasn't like It was like a Walther

P38, wasn't it? It was a silenced one. He wasn't

like colorful. He was gray and black. So it wasn't

like a real one. So when the masterpiece came

out, they had to put orange caps and open all

of them. Exactly. So when I when I was a child.

Parents lost their shit. So getting mega if anybody

on your block had Megatron that you were that

was the cool kid That was oh wow. Your parents

are ooh I want to hang around you cuz you got

that you got you got Megatron. How the hell you

get so yeah, those are the Little toys I got

but I never got a Megatron. I get I know I got

a sound shockwave I got shockwave because he

was the purple gun. You could you could have

him around. That's fine That's clearly not good.

I got us. I got a Starscream That's that's great.

I got one of those uh And I got uh, I think I

got jazz. You know, I got a cliff jumper in jazz

Those are like kind of my that was my Autobots

versus step of cotton's fights most of the time

Hmm. Very cool. Very cool All right, we'll ready.

Yep variety is the spice of transformers. We'll

switch up five and six Steve growing up Did you

and your friends now? This is the reason why

I said Steve and I are gonna switch the five

and six questions because this is more of a question

that I added in here because it's something I

remember doing. Did you and your friends ever

pretend to play Transformers at say school or

in the park or at recess or basically you're

out there with your friends and you shout, I'm

gonna be Optimus Prime and my most hated enemy

over there across the playground is gonna be

Megatron and I'm gonna run him down. No, it's

sadly. When we were playing it because at the

time G .I. Joe and Transformers were I want to

say for listen around me and my popularity was

neck and neck. It was like, you know It was they

were almost synonymous and we were out if you're

talking about not playing with toys with us pretending

to be characters everybody was doing GI Joe where

I was because we had the big old playgrounds

and you know, it's essentially playing cowboys

and Native Americans and then you weren't you

weren't You didn't need a lot of stuff because

it's very hard to go. Hey, I'm Optimus Prime

and transform to a truck But it's easy to go.

Hey, I'm Duke and you just run around or I am

roblox or whatever So yeah, it was you mostly

GI Joe if I was playing transformers It was probably

with my cousins because they had way more Transformers

than I did and we would just play with the toys

in the in the house But if outside it was GI

Joe time Mm -hmm. Very cool so Who is your end

-all, be -all favorite character from any Transformers

iteration? You can pick one Autobot or Maximal

and one Decepticon or Predacon. Gotta be Prime.

I mean, if I have to pick somebody other than

Prime, I really dug Springer. Mainly because

he has one of the greatest... and I told you...

He has one of the greatest lines in cinema history,

which I've got better things to do tonight than

die, which is such a badass line. And that was

the first time I'd ever seen him. And then the

cartoons that follows, I really like Springer

because he's kind of like this Han Solo -y character.

You know, he was really cool and he transformed

into two things. But in terms of his attitude

I really liked his attitude so spring is pretty

cool generation one style I'd probably lean more

toward jazz because that's scatman Crothers and

so in terms of Decepticons, I mean and it's kind

of I know guys are going to be picking the main

ones because Megatron and Starscream together

that's Shakespearean shit but that's some say

That is um, I mean just to the core of this guy

is in charge. He keeps his enemies close because

he knows Starscream is gonna take him over. He

knows he's he but he doesn't want to you know,

kick him to the curb. He wants to keep him as

close as he can keep an eye on him. That's Shakespearean

stuff. So their relationship is so good. I love

it. It's like the separate. Oh, I like Megatron

or I like Starscream. I like that dynamic and

it comes to a head and uh The movie the animated

movie, but I just any time they would bickers

even the first lines of the movie And you know

remember like five seconds before that Starscream

is using in the animated movie. He's using Megatron

as a gun to kill Everyone and then five seconds

later. They're arguing. You're an idiot Starscream.

It's like so good I like them so much and there's

other Decepticons that are great. I mean You

get to you get to Listen Soundwave who was essentially

the loyalist and then you get all these other

guys you get rumble. Who's like this Brooklyn

this Brooklyn? Transcepticon it doesn't but but

I mean if I could just watch Megatron the Starscream

argue forever The only good thing about the Transformers

the first Transformers movie is they they have

that one? interaction where Megatron call Starscream

an idiot. I was like, ah, there it is. And then

they never do again. But yeah, I like in terms

of the Decepticons, it's got to be those two.

Awesome. What are some of the other Transformers

characters that you like besides the ones you

just mentioned? I'm gonna say this and I just

gonna go to the new stuff I I mean I hated bumblebee

and because I didn't like you know, he's number

one Wow, I asked I asked the man a question What

other Transformers characters do you like and

he skips down to the next question? Which are

there any Transformers characters you hate? No,

no, no, no, no, no I'm setting you up when I

was younger. I hated bumblebee Uh -huh, but I

don't believe I'm saying this to Michael Bay's

credit. He was the first guy That kind of was

like on a mission to make bumblebee cool And

then because I even when the movies the Michael

Bay movie I never I was never a bumblebee fan,

but to this newest Transformer cartoon that came

out and I think I kind of started turning on

bumblebee as I like him more he wasn't offending

me and he's kind of like the Ahsoka of a transfer

but The newest transformer cartoon that was on

Netflix, Bumblebee's frickin' awesome. He is

awesome. And I did not change his backstory to

where he was like, I'm not a Decepticon, I'm

not an Autobot, I'm on my own, I'm like a loner.

But it kind of worked for me, and I was like,

man, this guy is cool. I like this character

where he's kind of just on the fringes in that,

I mean, in this newest animated thing. I know

in the Gen 1 cartoon he was just the guy that

Spike got in. He's just drove around and he got

his ass whooped all the time But in in the newer

stuff even in the video game is bumblebee and

in them in the Michael Bay movies Bumblebee actually

did stuff. I was like, oh, okay. I like him now.

So Bumblebee will probably rising on that list.

Like I say, he's the Ahsoka of Transformers.

I like I hate it ultra going to hate later Like

that's an Autobot Mean in Decepticons, there's

not there's not many Decepticons. I don't like

all the Decepticons cool Astral Train comes to

mind, but uh, I thought about wise I liked iron

hide for a little while but again when you're

a loyalist with a lot of with not a lot of Wiggles

room there. I kind of get you kind of bore me

when you got a little you know a little edge

to do where you're not really like Grimlock where

he's like I don't give a crap, you know, he doesn't

care I Do what I want that kind of makes me go,

you know what I like cup Chef's kiss love cup

though. He's just a ripoff of Obi -Wan Kenobi,

but I still love him. He's so awesome. He he's

the only redeeming factor for me to like hot

rod because without hot rod cup doesn't really

work but without hot rod cup would have been

destroyed forever right right right cup and cup

cup's relationship with hot rod i like but it's

more i like what cup is doing i love cups war

stories i love cup berating grimlock grimlock

was cup was one of the only autobots that grimlock

respected Like, so, those are some of the Transformers

that I really dug. Steve? So, are we going to

the hate character, or are we going to the next

question? Of course, we have to go to the hate

plague. We all love the hate plague, right? So,

you know, what's the character that you dislike

the most? Would it be Rodimus? Mmm, okay, put

it this way. For a very long time, I fucking

hated Rodimus Prime. And it was for the simple

fact that he is literally invented. He is invented

to replace a toy line. He's but that toy line,

which they didn't care about, had a personality.

So it's like you're replacing. Optimus with this

guy and I know they're in any other medium. It's

like, oh well This guy has optimus is like the

Captain America of the group But this guy has

flaws and it makes them more interesting, but

you can't understand. It's so inglorious It's

so it glories to me. I hated him for a very long

time I still kind of hold a little resentment

to him But I realized what they were trying to

do and why they did it So I take it away and

I think his arc Equals out himself to where he

wasn't ready to be the lead They even wrote he

wasn't ready to lead the way out He couldn't

he couldn't do what optimus could do neither

was ultra Magnus another one I did not like he

was not ready to lead either Which is shown in

the the animated movie not even the show ultra

Magnus was not a good leader There's that see

there's a line that ultra Magnus says when I

watch it as a kid I didn't really pick it up

and when I watch it now, I'm like and you suck

Where it was like, uh, the springer was like

the other uh, cup and hot rod just bud I can't

deal with that now, which is like bro This is

your boy. See you don't even care It's so ultra

maggot did not like though. I love robert stax

portrayal of him. Uh, Yeah, I hate it. I could

mention bubble be changed for me a hot rod has

lessened Ultra Magnus never liked him because

again anytime there's somebody's trying to take

shine away from optimus not my favorite And I

guess I would say oh mmm Insecticons weren't

my thing man. It wasn't big insectic and either

one of them I was kind of happy when they got

changed into The sweeps in the cyclones. I didn't

give a guy. I'm not it. I know people love Worship

at the altar of the insecticons not my thing.

No, I don't want bugs I want cars and planes

and jets and ships and stuff. Yeah, I've never

understood the the bug infestation. Love that

is the infestation. I mean, as a character, they're

they serve a purpose and they they have cool

things where they can eat anything, which is

which works. I just as I said, yeah, OK. I mean,

I got you go. You enjoy your your bugs. I'm going

to watch the guy that can turn into a jet. That's

cool Yeah, absolutely All right over your lifetime

as you got older did your interest in transformers

grow stronger or get weaker It got weaker mainly

because I grew up, but I still like when somebody

starts talking to me about the 1980 the the 80s

move the anime movie I you know as you know,

I spring right back up because that movie was

Life I think life affirming but it's like it

was some of those things where I was like that

is something that's gonna That's a that's a wrinkle

in my brain where I remember I Don't cry and

that was one of the few films that had me Paul

like my mom had to take me out of theater. I

was I was traumatized by that movie So it's got

its lasting effects on me so yeah that and I

guess when I remember having arguments with my

friend his name is Neil de Souza and we we both

love Transformers and I remember when Michael

Bay was announced to direct the movies and I

was hyped because at the time Liked my bad boys

was filmed like five feet from from my house.

Oh, this is great. This is gonna be awesome Michael

Bay knows I do action I did not know they were

going to To put it in nice terms Weaken The the

history or not even care about the history because

all I heard at the time was they got Peter I

mean I get the Frank Welker thing, but I mean

you got Peter Cullen, that's Optimus. I literally

held my childhood in my hand, that was him. And

I'm gonna have him back? Awesome. And then I

watched the movie and I'm like, no, what is this?

And it became angering to me and it just kept

getting worse. Until recently and I did I probably

forgot to bring this up until recently with I

mentioned the prime show on Netflix Haley Steinfeld's

Bumblebee is amazing. I freaking love that movie.

That movie is awesome That movie is what all

the Transformers movie should have been because

it wasn't directed by Michael Bay, right? Correctly

directed by Steve the night is a Steve Knight.

Uh, this is the night. I know he's Travis Travis

night Travis night Travis night the Nike guys

son. Yeah, so If the all the movies just were

like if that was imagine that Bumblebee was the

first Transformers movie You could build off

that mean that it's kind of the live actions

are kind of in a hiatus holding dead period now

But that movie is so well done. But at the time

it came out people were so like Shell shocked

and finished with the Michael Bay stuff. They

didn't really give it a chance, but if people

watch it It's what gen 1 is it is the the first

10 minutes of the movie is Optimus Prime fighting

Decepticons on Cybertron and I'm just Eyes welling

up with tears like this is awesome. This is great.

This is great So like my love went way down during

the Michael Bay time to hatred and it started

going back up with Bumblebee the movie and some

of the the video games and The the Netflix show.

So yeah, I'm kind of on a roller coaster when

it comes to transforming Was there ever a moment

when you went you were kind of just done with

it I think it was it was a Yeah, Revenge of the

Fallen. That was when I was done. The first movie

I was like, that was bad. I don't like this.

This is not... I mean, again, I was in film school,

so I kind of like, this is not shot well. Some

of this stuff is designed improperly. Why? Simplify

this. Why? But I was still like, okay, whatever.

This is bad, but whatever. And then I saw Revenge

of the Fallen. I'm like, good. No, this is not

even bad as like a movie, as a Transformers movie.

This is bad as a movie. This is offending me.

I am offended by this film. And I was, I don't

care. I mean, for my job at the time, I had to

watch all of them. God forbid. And I just was

so checked out. Like this is awful. I don't believe

they've taken something that I loved and they

murdered it for profit. And that was it was Revenge

of the Fallen was when I was really like completely

checked. That's where all my hope was gone. Like

after the first one, I was mad, but I figured

maybe, you know, they can whatever. And after

Revenge of the Fallen, I realized these movies

are making tons of money. I realized oh, this

is this is Pavlov's dog. He's not gonna change

his behavior because he's being rewarded for

it So is this gonna get worse and that's exactly

what happened. No needs who needs hornets when

you have Devastator balls. Oh, she needs to see

I was getting over the racist illiterate robots

Do you know how of a much of a paradox it is

for a highly intelligent robot to be illiterate?

That's that hit me in a way where I was like

this offends me Into my sensibilities of logic

Spock wouldn't understand this movie and he's

in the third one. So I don't understand Yeah,

that's not good No, I swore off those movies.

Even though I watched him. I swore them off after

the second one Yeah, the second one's second

ones. Maybe the I can't think because they're

all bad But the second one is so bad like the

Chicago the third one is bad Because it's just

noise at a certain point. But it didn't like

hurt me. It's just like the second one's like,

hey, you like this? Well, screw it. Like it's

like slowly tearing up money in front of you.

Like, no. Remember your childhood? Screw that.

With the internet giving birth to the fans and

all of us having a voice about what we like and

don't like and all of that regarding Transformers

Do you find that your voice gets lost in the

shuffle or do you just shout louder? In terms

of arguing Transformers I mean back in the back

when the the bays were going on I was I was shouting

because I was doing shows with people who would

defend this those movies and I would like I would

try to break through like now in my old age.

I don't really I Try not to pick as many fights

as much but at the time I was like I'm trying

to help you Why do you like this? Like what are

you with? Tell me Let's figure out where the

problem is because you don't see it. It's like

it's it's like that I'm trying to explain to

somebody that somebody's a zombie, but the other

person won't believe That is dead. It's horrible.

No, it's great Look at it. Look at it. So yeah

that back in it probably around What was the

third one called the the work of the moon darker

than darker? At the time I was kind of like Stop

defending these these are horrible three strikes

and you're out and I was really adamant about

it But I think at the time where they shot Anthony

Hopkins with a bazooka and one of them I was

the guy I don't I don't care anymore And then

they made a third or a fourth one and you're

like, okay, what are they doing here? Yeah, right,

right exactly And then like in I just talked

about when Bumblebee came out how people were

shell -shocked I was one of those people were

shell -shocked. I was like, no, I don't care.

I love Haley Steinfeld I'm a huge fan of hers

since true grit. I loved her at everything so

When I heard that she was doing it and it was

Travis Nikes I love Kubo on the two strings.

I was like, yeah, I don't kids transformer I

don't it's Michael Bay anywhere near it. He is

all right. I'm out. I'm out I don't care if he's

producing his hands are somewhere in that. I

this is the guy who thought rate is a loss arc

with bomb I'm away from him. So when I finally

was forced to watch the movie, I'm like, oh Damn

it This could this could have this could have

been this was the this is the movie that I would

be like telling people who didn't know about

Transformers and didn't understand why I like

Transformers, what I would show them. But they've

already seen Dark of the Moon and what was the

Age of Extinction and freaking. So they're they're

done. They were territory fans. I'm a fan fan.

So at that point, I was like, I can't get them

back in a tent. It's over. They already walked

away. They're in the car. They drive it home.

I can't get them. Watch Bumblebee. It's over.

It's over. Just so so crazy So well I was gonna

say what This is an interesting question that

Mike poses here, but what is your transformers

Perth's personal anthem song for example like

Stan Bush the touch or yeah Yeah, people say

you got the touch is not mine. I love you got

the touch. It's fine It's the great one of the

great Optimus Prime moments. I like dare I really

like that. Which means... I think that's Rodimus.

Which means that's Hot Rod's theme, which means

you secretly love Hot Rod. No, you're right.

I have no problem with Hot Rod. I have a problem

with Rodimus Bride. When he has Hot Rod, that's

fine. We need to rot a miss prime your leadership

sucks, but I can't I can't folly one You got

prime killed and I'm never gonna forgive you

for that. I'll I'll just move away. Yeah, I understand

what happened, but you still you're an idiot

But there is a great scene And that song goes

with it. It's so well where it starts off all

triumphant and then it just turns, it's probably

just the movie, just the way the music of that

movie, it's so awesome. But how it turns into

triumphant to, oh no, something is happening.

What's going on? Megatron? So it's like, it starts

off so happy and then it gets to, oh. So I find

myself singing that. That and... The song where

they end another hot rod scene where he's underwater

in a quint What's the name of the song where

he's underwater? Nothing's gonna stand in our

way by kicking away And the song where Megatron

murders everyone in the beginning That song is

awesome Again, I'm not thinking anything away

from all these songs because they're all awesome

in that soundtrack But I think there is the first

one I go to Then nothing's gonna stand in our

way and then instruments of destruction in that

order. I think are my favorite Very cool. Very

cool. How often do you go back and rewatch any

of the Transformers cartoons? The the generation

one stuff not as much I mean I usually watch

the end because I have the animated movie on

blue. Yeah, I watch that Probably three times

a year something like that. I forced my sister

to watch it The animated show I I think when

The Netflix show first came on I went back and

watched a couple episodes and I we were doing

a sketch for our show where I was make we were

making fun of the fact that I think the plot

of the sketch was The Autobots have just landed

on earth and they're trying to decide which things

to be, and Optimus keeps picking like residential

cars, like ships and jets and guns and stuff,

and they're like pissed at him. But at that point,

I was watching a lot of the Gen 1 stuff just

to get the music that we wanted to use and the

attitude to write the script. But that was when

I was watching it. Recently, which was probably

in Surround September, I watched a lot of the

Gen 1 stuff. Alright, I'll take this one. So

I don't know how many of the Transformers comics

you have read, but we all love them, supposedly.

Which information do you like and why? I like

the art of the IDW stuff. I didn't read a lot

of it, but I just liked how... uber -realistic

it looked. I really like the IDW stuff, which...

It's very, like... To call it a comic book, and

I love comic books, but it's almost a... The

art in there is amazing. Like I don't want a

short change, but oh, it's just a comic book.

It's a comic book, but yeah, I would like look

at it and then I would go back and read it because

it's such... The illustrations are amazing and

the Autobots kind of lend themselves because

you look at an Autobot and you... I mean me as

a kid up to now you want to look at the seams

they have like these little grooves in there

and in their shoulders and Where do they transform?

Where does the part go that? I'd be looking at

oh, that's the part where his arm goes in it.

So The person who drew the IDW comics. I'm I'm

sorry if I don't know your name. It might be

a team of people It's a whole team of people

but the main two for the sorry for Phase two,

which is the really most popular one at this

point, it's the universe that just ended before

they started their new, current, rebooted universe.

That was Robots in Disguise, aka Transformers,

was by Andrew Griffith, and then More Than Meets

the Eye, aka The Lost Light, that was done by

Alex Milne. So, yeah, but there was a plethora

of other artists that did it as well. That run,

I remember when I was... You go to a comic shop

and you see the cover and you're like, oh man,

that's dope. And the funny thing about it is,

it would be an amazing picture of a Transformer,

but it would be like, prowler. It wouldn't even

be like a, it wouldn't even be like Optimus.

It'd be like this normal puffer or brawn, but

it'd be like the baddest picture of brawn you've

ever seen in your life. It's like, oh, that's

awesome. I don't even know what this book is

about, but look at this picture of Wheeljack.

I don't even, Wheeljack is such a loser, but

he looks so awesome in this cover. So yeah. Very

cool. Very cool. So. How big is your transformers

collection your toy collection? Yeah, your toys

your toy collection Oh, they're all gone now,

but I mean when I was when I was when I had them

I think the most I ever had at one time was ten

Autobots and Maybe five this epic so about 15

of them. I think was a big I wasn't again. I'm

not a Like large means so when I got transformers

I got Transformers and GoBots because my grandparents

couldn't tell the difference. But I didn't have

a lot of them, but the ones I did, I covered.

I had more, again, I keep going, I had more Joes,

I think, because they were cheaper, than Transformers.

I wanted, you know, the big ones. I wanted Omega

Supreme. I wanted to get the big, but those were

like... At the time, I don't even know. I just

know they were a lot of money because I kept

being told there are a lot of money. Mm hmm.

Cherish the cherish the toys you have. But yeah,

when I had when I had my toys, I think I had

around 15 of them and they were they had their

own little little space. I kept them separate

from the Joes and the Thundercats and the GoBots

because I was trying to explain. I remember having

the discussion. Because I got leader one I believe

somebody gave like one of my grandparents gave

me or my great -great honor or whatever and she

just that cuz she knew I was a Transformers fan,

but she didn't she doesn't know the difference

between though You saw this guy turned into a

plane and I would like have to pretend like yay.

Thanks. Thanks Yeah. This is not a chance for

me. I can't have Leader One mingling with the...

No, no, no, no. You're nowhere near. You don't

get to be in this club. That's right. Alright,

so if you had... This is why I crafted this for

people that have collections, and I'm sorry that

you don't, but the next question is... I'm poor,

I'm sorry. What do you want from me? Okay, so

if you still had your Transformers toys... Everybody

is safe, but let's say the house is on fire.

What is the one Transformers toy you could never

live without, part with, ever? Basically, you

run back into the fire to save it. Optimus. Definitely

optimist if I had optimists definitely my Starscream

and definitely my sound wave Because sound wave

made noises when you pull the trigger we changed

from into a gun He lit up and he he made noises.

So it'd be those three The rest of them I would

be I'd probably be burning in the spire because

I probably But I would be upset but if I lost

my off when I lost when I lost my toys I was

upset but because it was a lot of moving and

stuff. But, uh, my optimist was like, I remember

his arm broke. Oh, that was a rough day. And

I had that was the day you cried. It wasn't the

movie. It was when your toy broke. We managed

to put it back. His arm didn't break his. I think

the way the gen one toy, the original gen one

toy is like his arm was like, you know, like

a socket joint so he could like pop it back in.

But I didn't know that. So I was like, Oh my

God, I broke my toy. I think my uncle put it.

back together. But yeah, so Optimus again, that

was the first one of the first action figures

I ever got ever. So it's just like I would run

for that one. Starscream was a jet. Kids boys

like jets, especially at the age I was. And this

was a jet that turned into a man that had guns

on his arms, welded to his arm. So yeah. All

is I can think of is that skit that Randall Nigg

and Dr. Smoove did a number of years ago. It

was Megatron advertising Old Spice. It was the

classic Old Spice commercial from a couple years

ago. They did it up as mega, like, look at me!

Look at your man! Look at me! Look at your man!

And at the end of it, and I'll send you the video

so you can watch this, but at the end of it he's

like... It doesn't matter what you say. I'm standing

on a jet and he's standing on stars I'll send

that to you. I think we're going to skip question

17 and 18 because you're poor, just like we are,

so you have no money that you can spend. So question

17 for the listeners, and you guys have already

heard this if you've listened to any of The Origins,

what was the most money you ever spent on a Transformers

toy item? Ever and question 18 we kind of already

talked about this because do you like lo there?

Are you just indifferent to the Bay verse? We

know you outside of bumblebee you hate the movies

I'm so pissed. I'm so pissed that bumblebee is

a part of the Bay verse. That's what pisses me

out I wish it was some completely different thing,

but it's not it's connected so I have to like

uh It's it with five how many movies were there

six if you don't count bumblebee this way through

this the first transformers was five So one out

of six ain't bad And talk about shooting cyber

ducks in a barrel I mean in any sport that's

a bad percentage, but I still I Those movies

are but if you I'm sorry I met the present if

you like the bay former's movies I'm I'm sorry

if I've offended if I have offended you I don't

mean any I take it back. I am offending you How

could you like those movies? They're awful. They're

horrible horrible movies. If you like them, please

question your taste It's almost like the people

that like Star Trek into darkness, you know,

hey, I like Star Trek into darkness. Oh boy Fight

fight fight. That movie is terrible. Look look

look you gotta understand. I'm coming from a

place where remember Uh, there's a final frontier

movie, okay? This movie was just terrible in

star trek insurrection. We're living in star

trek Discovery times. Okay, so look it might

not be your cup of tea, but it's good. I would

much rather watch that than watch discovery I

hate discovery. Oh, yeah, we just had a podcast

about that If you want to hear our entire thoughts

on any of discovery and Picard and how bad they

are So then we we liked lower decks more than

we liked either of the two. I don't I didn't

want to watch Lord X because I didn't want to

be pissed off Yeah, after I watched Picard, I

was just like no Well lower decks was actually

the only thing that's uplifting of the the three

and I'm waiting for strange new worlds to see

if they actually do it justice but Time will

tell anyways, um, so if you had the I will say

I will say this about the You can edit this out.

I'll say this about the Star Trek into darkness

thing. I think that whole Franchise is built

on the fact that it's probably one of the most

perfectly cast Movies of all time like all of

them, so I don't really Not say I don't care

about the plot, but I would just watch them do

anything. I just call urban as bones is Chef's

kiss amazing. So I I don't I know if people have

problems with it, but the cast is so good I did

I could I could I'll write it. I'll write the

way Well, it it would actually be nice if they

used him again and in strange new worlds, but

but that aside if you could and I'm kind of creating

a question here on Mike, but If you could voice

any Transformers character, who would you want

to voice? Well, I voiced Megatron and that not

as good as you I've done Optimus which I could

not do that was really tough. I Did Starscream?

I really like I really like Well Springer is

cool, but he's not he's not nothing really like

he's not doing a lot of stuff I like Grimlock

just because he's kind of like you know The fun

one everybody loves Grim easily, you know, you

get to say do a lot of stuff In Unicron first

of its Orson Well, so I mean come on But Unicron's

just every line he says is so cool John Knowles

did a good job in Prime. John Knowles did a great

job in Prime considering that Orson is no longer

with us. Well they should have had Maurice Lamar

do the brain, you know, look at my frozen peas.

No, that would not have worked for Prime. What

is this I sense? Taint of primus My eyes there's

a guy in they made a speak of the Netflix there's

a Netflix movie called bank that just came out

David Fincher and There's an actor who plays

Orson Welles and it's terrifyingly accurate like

he's I thought they were using recordings of

worse than wells, but he's Orson Welles impersonation

is frighteningly good. I was like, well, if they

ever did this again, let him play Unicron because

he sounds exactly like Worsenwell. He looked

exactly like Worsenwell. He was fantastic. All

right. So we're going to skip question 20 because

that ties back into parents and toys and we know

it's okay. Well, I mean, because you've kind

of already talked about it, but basically question

20 would be, it's because my dad sold my toys

as a kid. So question 20 essentially is, do you

have a quote unquote, parents got rid of my toys

story? Oh yeah, we moved. We moved from Half

Street in Hollywood, Florida. We moved to Miramar

and they just forgot a box. Oh no. And we tried

to go back for the, it wasn't there, gone. So

I was like, well, all right. Luckily, they got

me a video game system at the time to appease

my anger. I was still like, yo, what the fuck,

guys? Come on. It's myself. What's going on?

If you could create any Transformers fiction,

toy, cartoon, comic, movie, whatever, basically

Hasbro says, here, as long as you follow the

general character rules to the G1 characters

or whatever, what story would you want to tell

with it? I want to do a prequel where Cup is

young. I want to do a Cup story. They've probably

already done this. I haven't looked. I mean,

you guys probably know Transformers lore a little

bit more than me, but I think... all those war

stories he's telling in the movie, I wanna live

some of them. I want Young Cup fighting alongside

Orion Patches before he's, you know what I'm

saying? I wanna see some of that stuff. That'd

be a good, almost like a Rogue One type war,

Cybertronius, like the first 10 minutes of Bumblebee,

give me that. Like the animated show that was

on Netflix is pretty much all of that. But though

I didn't like how they they treated prime but

uh, and they talk really slow They do talk slow.

Well promise like getting his Ass whipped in

that show which I didn't understand like I've

always I've subscribed or prescribed to the notion

that prime and Megatron are equals but Anyway,

I would rather watch I would I would I would

write I would be happy to write a cup Though

again, I got that there. I'm pretty sure this

has already happened if they haven't I don't

that's a that's a travesty a cup prequel series

with with young Optimus when he's not optimism

these Orion patches and he's fighting on Cybertron

I would love that that would be fantastic What

is the one piece of transformers advice that

you'd give the transformers fandom and the transformers

collectors in general One piece of advice All

right, what you like and don't let anybody dissuade

you not to like it. I'd say a lot of people Including

me which I've done told you not to watch Bayformers,

but just awful awful movie. But uh, if you like

it those those toys in that show and that goes

for a lot of the stuff in the 80s he manned Thundercats

GI Joe Transformers that stuff Has a lease for

me was personal that was like, you know where

a lot of my imagination Because I had transformers

and I'm like, well, I'm not the show's not on

I got to create the battle plans for this I got

to create the show and a lot of the stuff that

I my ability to write comes from you know what

this today i'm gonna have optimus get captured

and the autobots gotta save them before megatron

fires rocket that blows up the sun the stuff

like that was this me in my like my living room

with a couple of transformers creating stuff

the same thing with he -man and then thundercats

those toys are personal to everybody that has

them i mean people just looking at all the dolls

or their action figures or their toys but those

are like the sparks of where your imagination

comes from That's what's great about toys in

general is that you know if you have any toy

it does it is to amuse you but it also It can

I'll say teach you stuff, but it can develop

your mind I would say more than you think people

again parents in the 80s with this complete disagreement

It's warping your mind is making you horrible

and what you love violence and not I think it's

actually trying to teach you how to Have an imagination

and some of the stuff that you're picking up

from the show You might pick up as a moral lesson

a lot of stuff that prime says is super more

like moral like holy crap some of the stuff Megatron

says it's like yeah Starscream oh, you know what?

Megatron is being a dick. Yeah, you know, so

some of that stuff kind of shapes your your outlook.

So yeah, I would say If you like certain Autobots

and you like certain Decepticon, you like certain

shows, just hang on to them. That's your stuff.

That's your personal stuff. If I'm being a dick

and you love watching Decepticon, Devastator

Balls, and you love that stuff, man, that's all

you. That's all good. Oh lord. I feel like that's

like almost like a really bad Pokemon song of

like Jigglypuff. Jigglypuff. Instead of that,

you're saying jangly ball. Devastator balls Anything

else you want to say about transformers DJ III

Again, it pains me But I think it I think it's

getting better Now it sucks that it's getting

better now we should have been better Ten years

ago, but I think it's finally getting better

now this some of the stuff that I've seen I talked

about before it's like, oh man. Yeah, that's

great. So I think The little dry spell we were

sitting in with Cadd Yeager or Katie or forget

his name was or you know Just like a dry spell

on animated content. That was well done. I Think

it's getting better now. I think we're getting

people who are my age who are producing these

shows Who are like grew up with it and really

is the you know, this is what makes optimus cool

This is what makes you know astrotrain cool.

This is what makes blaster cool This is what

makes you know and making this show instead of

saying, you know marketing Let's focus on this

that's why really I keep going back to this Netflix

show you should give me some free money for all

the stuff I'm plugging but I really like the

fact that There was they were focused on the

characters More than the fact that they were

like there was that again the spoiler for the

show I guess but there was that thing where the

I forget his name one of the Autobots get separated

from the group I think it's probably I can't

remember but he gets separated from the group

and he finds a decepticon that's dying I believe

and he kind of like the Decepticon kind of becomes

disillusioned by the set his his brethren because

they kind of left him to die and he kind of starts

helping the Autobots like man you wouldn't Impact

yeah, it's awesome storyline. His arc was really

good and who the hell is impactor? Well impactor

actually is somebody he I mean I mean in terms

of like When you say transformers impactor is

not like on the top ten of your the Autobot or

the code transformers your name in a little bit

Again, it depends on where you're coming from.

He was super huge in the IDW comics. He was part

of the Wreckers. He was right there along with

Springer as part of the Wreckers and things like

that. So there are plenty of like, if I ever

twist your arm enough to get you to read the

IDW phase two stuff, you'll understand why Impactor

is who he is. I thought he was real. I was like,

Oh, wow, this guy's really cool. And I liked

what they did there where I was like, man. Could

we get stuff like that in the more mainstream

though? This is mainstream, but I mean like the

bigger stuff. We never had anything like that.

That's really like character development for

Where I think they were the sneaking car smash

cargo boom. That was all they were thinking about

they weren't thinking about oh wait, they have

personalities there's characters to these things

they they They're more than just you know explosions

and stuff. There's depth I would say in From

the top to the bottom from bumblebee to optimist

to impactor to anybody they could took the frickin

laser beak all of them have something so They

should focus on that, but I think it's getting

better I think the people the stuff that the

content that's coming out now is I think is it

reflects more toward that then Car hit cargo

boom and in testicles. No. What do you think

about the fact that they're not using? Union

actors anymore To do the voices. Oh, I didn't

even know that they're not using you yet. They

stopped using union actors because it cost too

much Oh, wow, she's so so like Beast Wars. I'm

sincerely scared of what they're gonna do with

it Oh, you know, you're gonna get like 50 bad

impressions of Megatron. Oh, yeah Everybody does

a bad impression. I do the worst impression So

they're gonna be calling me on the damn Oh, they're

sorry ask ask Mike how offended I am that I'm

not in the running. You're happy and you're angry

at the same time. I'm like, there's an opportunity

there, but I'll never see it. This is awful.

Well, I went I dumped a voice reel of me doing

Megatron. there in a Transformers Facebook group

because I was like If you're if you're looking

for a Beast Wars Megatron, I know a guy and then

I had a I pointed it myself and then I Hey man

people being cast for crazier stuff so you know

then I then I saw that there was like oh Chapter

three and they were at the studio. I was like

dang Yeah, I mean that in terms of union stuff.

I didn't know that that sucks I mean it sucks

in terms of that, you know for the actors at

the voices, right? Right for the originators

of it. I feel bad for them I always think of

that the family guy sketch where they say they

say It's almost like the Muppets when they change

the voice actors and they have Fozzie the bear

and he goes anybody want to hear a funny joke

and this is like You're not fighting a bear.

You don't sound the way I want you to For some

generation, Beast Wars without the voice actors

that they're probably used to might suck as much

as it would have sucked if they got rid of Peter

Cullen in the first season. The funny thing is

I cast a Beast Wars Darkglass video, or they

were trying to make the lost episode of Beast

Wars. that explains Dinobot's transformation

back to Dinobot after Rampage's spark was destroyed.

And I had to voice cast everybody and I was very,

very particular on voices. And like, of course

I played Megatron in that, but like I had a crappy

mic at the time. So like I would have been like,

I would have understood losing it based on that

alone. We had a guy that did Rampage, spot on.

Kevin did Depth Charge. We had Daniel Ross, who's

done Starscream in the movie games. He was Waspinator

and Rattrap. And one of the guys like Zander

Mobus, I think. I think he's a part of, I think

he plays like Soundwave and somebody else in

Cyberverse or something, but he was like the

maximal computer. I mean, we had a bunch of people

that ended up becoming voice actors. That were

in this and they sounded pretty much spot on

to their their characters and so I was like devastated

never happened I mean, I have the audio clips.

I'm planning on putting this together for next

year, but But yeah, like I was like man, they

could have got any of these people Like Chris

McFeely does a spot -on Dinobot Yeah, right It's

funny cuz I think if you're telling me they're

changing from Union to the non -union actors

they might I mean I have no idea but they might

just be Just just change them up. Let's make

it sound completely different. So when they get

about Primal in the machinima series, right?

Right, right. Yeah, they got Ron Perlman Hey,

they wanted Keith they wanted Keith David to

be optimist in the damn Bayformers movies until

There was like a little bit of an uproar for

the times, but and I love Keith David But he's

and we're gonna go through this eventually. These

guys are gonna be too old to do these voices

and that goes with Everything transfer like they're

doing the new Obi -Wan Kenobi series. They're

gonna have Darth Vader in it James Earl Jones

is like 93 years old Well, they're gonna get

in Christians and come back. They're gonna have

Hayden Christian. I know I know that but I'm

saying he's not gonna be doing Chad Vader Hey

Obi -Wan, I remember he's not gonna be doing

that. I think I have to get somebody that sounds

like Vader, but it's gonna be not James or Joseph

we're gonna have to start getting used to You

know the voices not being exactly who we grew

up, you know, yeah And while it does absolutely

suck for Peter Cullen and Frank Welker and all

of that, I love the Jason Marnocha as Megatron

and Jake Fushi as Optimus in the Netflix series.

I think they sound good for the animation that

it is. Yeah, but they're gonna have the Beast

Horse cast look exactly like their Beast Horse

character. So that's where it worries me is cuz

like you're not gonna get a rat trap sound to

like you like Rhinox may be okay You know, you

could possibly get a waspinator because somebody

will do a bad Gollum impression and then right

Yeah, yeah, Dinobot. I'm gonna get somebody you

got you got a Brooklyn accent your rat trap No,

just tell them just just pitch your place a little

higher, you know, and then they'll be like, okay,

we got it Yeah, and then you know, you're gonna

get a lot of these characters that are just gonna

be like just God awful. Like, there's gonna be

no... I'm cringing already because, like, I'm

afraid of what they're gonna do. Would you rather

them just completely do completely different

characters or just completely different voices?

Completely different characters if they're gonna

not get somebody that sounds like the original

or at least along those lines. Just do totally

different characters. Don't even rehash them.

All right, they're probably but you got to think

of it like in terms of okay. You're the cheap

studio We already did all the animation. We already

got all the scripts. Yeah, you can't do completely

different So we're gonna have somebody that sounds

completely different or sounds like this because

it probably costs less to worry about that then

to Reanimate everything rewrite every script

get rid of these characters That's how they're

looking at it probably that's why they need me

is Megatron Hey, I'm all for that. I'll give

Marnosha a run. I could do Waspinator too. Alright,

so where can the people find you online DJ? What

you got going on over there at Simplistic Reviews?

Literally five seconds before we record this

I finished writing all of the sketches for our

New Year's Day episode I'm always writing sketches

like I had I don't shoot you. So yeah, which

we make fun of what are we making fun of this?

But oh we're making fun of Warner Brothers and

Disney. So That's gonna drop on the first we

have all of our sketches for the year is gonna

we're doing a spell year in review show that's

gonna drop on Christmas Day Steve was in the

You were in a Sesame Street sketch we did, so

you're in a bunch of them, I think. So yeah,

all the sketches we did for the year from January

to this year, to this month, is gonna be dropped

on December 25th, and you can find all of that

at simplistic .reviews, or simplisticreview .net,

and you can just follow everything that we do

at simple tweeters. Awesome. Thank you for joining

us here on All Things Transformers. If you'd

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I am TF2 and Mike with Steve Megatron Phillips

DJ Valentine Transform and transcend with us

here on all things transformers, and we will

catch you next time folks I know what you are.

That is enough. I don't trust you. Good. Never

trust anyone.