Origins of Ha-Hee Prime on Transformers Fandom

It's a pity you Autobots die so easily, or I

might have a sense of satisfaction now. You got

the touch! You got the touch! Arise, Rodimus

Prime. Optimus! Megatron must be stopped, no

matter the cost. No! I'll crush you with my bare

hands! new generation of All Things Transformers

as we get the origins of any and all Transformers

fans that we can. I am TF2 and Mike. Joining

me is Steve Megatron. He's off playing with his

rubber ducky or something. I don't know. He's

off, you know, putting his cloak on in Beast

Machines or something. But today is episode nine

of All Things Transformers Origins. It is a milestone

episode because for the first time, we have the

very first female Transformers fan on the show.

We have Hahi Prime with us. Hello! This is going

to be weird, just the two of us. Because I'm

used to having Heather here, along with Amy and

Nicole, and just... We talk. Yeah. It's like...

Start a Skype call, 30 minutes later. Mike, are

you still with us? Yeah, I'm just listening.

So we're here to get Hi Prime's origins and yeah,

did you grow up with Transformers and what age

do you remember noticing the franchise? Okay,

this is gonna be fun and Mike, thanks for having

me on I appreciate it Okay, so growing up with

Transformers I didn't Because we didn't have

a television so I couldn't watch the show and

I would go over to my friend's house and we would

watch mask because that was what he liked and

so I got into that and I got into those toys

and I was only vaguely aware of Transformers,

but then when the movie came out in 07 It it

Caught me right at the perfect nostalgic time

because I remembered that it was a thing that

existed But I wasn't wedded to anything specific.

So I just went in with like a completely open

mind and loved it. And then went back and watched

all of G1 on YouTube and went, oh my gosh, this

is amazing. So yeah, so I noticed it 10 years

ago. It was a good year and it's been a good

decade. Yep. So what Transformers generation

is your generation and why? My generation is

g1. I really when I went back to to watch all

those shows I got completely absorbed in it because

I Had from that first watching of the movie I

really latched on to the character of Optimus

Prime and done my whole I am him thing which

I for the first time there was an expanding universe

to play in. Every other time there's been a character

that I just decided I was gonna spend the rest

of my life LARPing, it was based on one thing.

And Transformers was a thing that was continually

growing. And so I went through G1 as Optimus

Prime, experiencing all of it. So things like...

Can't think of anything specific in the first

few I just really really enjoyed the first few

seasons But when the movie was coming up I was

terrified because I was going to die and I was

worried there wouldn't be anything left to play

it You know, technically you already did die

in the one true Transformers movie Megatron,

you know shot you in the you know I watched the

O7 Michael Bay movie and then I went back and

did the whole thing in order. So I watched season

one and season two and then I did the movie.

And then I went to season three and I think a

lot of the reason why I have so much resentment

of Hot Rod is that he took away my person I was

being. He was chosen by the person you were being.

This is no takeaway. Optimus died. It's pretend.

Like so I gotta tell you about watching Dark

Awakening because I Okay that whole scene where

the quintessence are like opening up my chest

and messing around in there I was like Nothing

is quick to me out that bad up until like they

started finger needles in people in in more than

meets the eye that was that same Yeah horrible

horrible thing, but the fact they are robots

and you can technically reprogram them is fascinating

to me and It's a cool way of thinking about humanity,

too. So yeah, what has kept me in transformers

is the way it the specific window it gives me

into thinking about humanity and I Love coming

at things from the side and thinking about them

in new ways. So yeah, anyway What other generations

of the transformers do you like Okay, so Let's

do it this way I love all of them except for

These machines is freaky But deserves a rewatch

still super freaky scares the crap out of me

the designs are creep But I have like a weird

soft spot for like you were saying What's his

face and his you know putting on his cape and

I'm like I have a weird soft spot for that version

of Megatron because he's so Conflicted with that

cognitive dissonance of trying to be something

he isn't mm -hmm. That's cool Okay, so not super

big into these machines. I never gave the old

RID a chance. I just Couldn't get into it and

I haven't given the new RID much of a chance

either because I don't care Should care don't

care but at this point I've had enough Enough

transformers to start to feel like you know what

this is retreading something that I've already

Experienced and I don't feel like I need it Like

I haven't super, I haven't watched every episode

of rescue bots either. Not because it's not the

cutest show ever, but because I don't need cute

show right now. Because I'm a feels addict. Like,

nah, give me like something to really chew on,

man. Make me think about hard stuff. Basically,

you know, cut your heart lengthways. Oh my gosh,

okay, that was actually really good. Friggin

Roberts I thought you're gonna say how much of

a masochist he is cuz that guy So you've only

been in the in the fandom kind of for the last

ten years or so What was the first Transformers

toy you were able to grab? Okay This has been

such a good 10 years, Mike. Such a good 10 years.

I'm so grateful for Transformers. Okay, first

toy we ever got. When the 07 movie came out,

all of us in my family, I had only three of my

four kids at the time, and myself, my husband,

and the three kids all took on Transformers identities.

And my daughter... was only a baby and she became

jazz. And the very first toy we got was the the

battle damaged jazz, which is really hard to

find. Like if I'd known. But like, I don't believe

in in keeping toys pristine in boxes except for

my war within guys, because if you get them out

of the box, they break. So they live in their

boxes. But everybody else is out for playing

with because. they're real and they should be

played with but um so yeah i'm like you know

we could have sold that toy on ebay and made

a lot of money but i'm never gonna do that i'm

gonna i'm never gonna be like dear aba i've got

a super weird rare toy for sale do you want it

so i'm like no it's my other child we don't sell

toys but anyway that was the person we got for

a second there i was gonna i thought you were

gonna say no we don't sell children family is

just immersed in this Transformers culture now,

which is really fun. I don't know that anybody

would be super down with selling any people.

Yeah. So I did this when I was a kid. I don't

do it anymore. And you had already mentioned

LARPing and LARPing 32 years ago wasn't what

it is today. We didn't get dressed up in costumes

or whatever else We just got on a playground

and said I'm gonna be this character and I'm

gonna shoot you in the face Or I'm gonna shoot

you in the arm or whatever else. Do your kids

do any transformers? Pretending let's call it.

Yeah, they do and Especially the first few years

of being in the fandom. We all would together

we would totally Be I you know, we would be our

characters so I would be prime and my husband

be iron hide and my oldest would be bumblebee

and my middle one would be a ratchet and We would

all just like like do stuff as the characters

we still to this day will take imaginary characters

with us when we do stuff like the other day we

were at the water park and My daughter was like

I've got a magic she was taking an undertale

character with her. She's like I've got imaginary

sands and I'm like I will bring I'm gonna bring

imaginary Megatron in his like Hall of Matter

avatar and be like water Meg's it's fun. Here's

the wave pool Like sitting there being like what

would so -and -so do and then we're like, okay

You know what if Megatron was here like in robot

mode We would have to get a bunch of tubes to

float him and he would pretend like he didn't

like it But then he would really start dig it

and going down the slides and being like we were

going down the slides and we both like forgot

to bring our imaginary person we're like hang

on we have to go bring them we have to remember

to bring them this time but like all the time

we'll be like okay so -and -so sitting there

and here's we just tend to bring characters with

us going to the water park I thought you were

gonna say we brought sky bite with us Alright

Who is your end all be all favorite character

from any Transformers incarnation the quintessence

are about ready to you know Sends you off into

the shark decon pit. Who do you choose? You can

pick one Decepticon and one Autobot me and Megatron

So, for those of you listening and, you know,

wondering why she said me and me - it's Optimus

and Megatron. Okay. It's really bad, like I gotta

get out of that habit, but I don't want to. Why

throw away your life so recklessly? I thought

you were made of sterner stuff. My question is

why isn't your husband jealous of this at this

point? Knowing is not half the battle. Yeah,

I'm just gonna sit over here and just wait get

me to get to the heart of hard things sometimes.

Like he we were talking about something really

hard one time. He's like, what does Megatron

think? And I'm like, he doesn't know about this.

He is like clueless about this aspect of something.

And but the other times will be like, well, you

know, or or like something will happen. Like,

oh, my gosh, Megatron is so amused right now.

And he's just down like he he. Oh, man, I'm really

lucky, actually. Cuz they're fun. Absolutely.

What are some of the other Transformers characters

you like and why? Take it Mike. There's so many

good ones and that's why this fandom is awesome

So I just went picked a few random ones. Mm -hmm.

I really really like Ironhide not just cuz I'm

married to a dude who is him but He's just a

good character. He's solid and he's chill and

he doesn't overthink stuff he just does it and

every time i look into a monitor prime my circuit

sizzle hey he just walked in speaking of iron

heart hey him um i like rhinox because he is

the strong gentle type and smart and i like um

he's like are you podcasting um i like iron fist

because he is the one who he's the first time

I did let myself just absolutely get punched

in the heart by the feels. I was like, oh, my

gosh. So I I. Yeah. You know how sometimes the

first time something happens, you that becomes

the token. Mm hmm. So I think iron iron fist

is a token. Like if you missed records, then

I think tailgate serves that purpose. Mm -hmm,

but anyway um I Understand Starscream way too.

Well because he has all of the same weaknesses

that I have at least in my understanding of him

So like I Hate him, but I have to love him like

he's that really really problematic pet That

always pees on the carpet, but you have to take

care of them. Yeah. It's like a weird thing about

being prime is that I'm responsible for everything.

So like, responsible for Starscream. Leakin'

lubricants. Oh god. Are there any Transformers

characters you hate? Getaway can die in a fire.

Getaway can get stuck in that smelting thing

that Tarn had. And that'll have guilt, because

I'm prime. That was an action that was beneath

me. But he has done horrible, unforgivable stuff,

and people who gaslight and manipulate people

need to die. Yes, they do. I'm glad you agree.

There are people who like getaway. There are

people who are like... Don't get that rage other

people feel towards getaway and are like apologists

for him and defend him and I'm not gonna get

in their faces about it because I Know that my

hatred of him is based on some real -life crap

That's pretty dark and if people don't have that

then You know, they're allowed to be like, you

know what? We shouldn't forgive Megatron and

that's something that I can't do. I'm like, nope

It is part of who I am that you have to give

everyone a chance And so I should give getaway

a chance, but he crossed the line Yeah, the only

thing that really requires everyone should get

a chance. I mean the most deserving one obviously

is Rodimus You chose him you got shot and you

chooses blinking roti hey i didn't when the matrix

is right the matrix is right you know well that's

another trippy thing it is matrix right all the

time yes it is that's like a really interesting

thought experiment because it is you know the

it's pending well there's a couple of versions

of the matrix now both of which are fascinating

but the g11 is it's the repository of all of

the wisdom of the previous primes yes but they

are from a long time ago. Okay, but yeah, but

here's the thing. If you look at it in the timeline

of G1, yes, alpha trion was before optimus and

yada yada yada, and you can work in your own

way of getting the matrix from trion to prime

and all of that, because if I remember correctly,

and it's late, and this is our second take on

this, so I don't remember. I'm pretty sure they

never actually explained how Optimus got the

Matrix in the cartoon series. And that's fine.

I don't have a problem with it. I'm not here

to dissect that. I'm just saying, if you look

at Season 3, when Rodimus short -circuited himself

and went deep back into the Matrix to try to

find out who the damn enemies were, find out

it's the Quintessons, you know, you have all

these various primes leading up to Optimus. So,

Optimus at that point had the most wisdom. And

then he chose Hot Rod to become Rodimus Prime.

And then Rodimus can go forward and - Oh, you

mean the Arise Rodimus Prime part? Yeah. Well,

at that point, yeah, because he's the person

who's there. And there is a value in - No, no,

no, listen. Because there is a value - Being

a good leader is knowing whom to choose and when.

And when there's a person there who's maybe not

- the person would have chosen in the first place

but you recognize can do it then yeah you go

okay you're the one who ended up being here I

mean really seriously who's who's Optimus gonna

choose when Unicron's imploding on himself what's

he gonna choose Springer please hell no that

would have been a horrible choice In the last

ten years has your interest in the franchise

gotten stronger or gotten weaker I Think it's

just gotten stronger because they're just and

this is the wonderful aspect of living now There

has just been more and more and more things to

dig into and enjoy And I've just found more and

more rewarding things the deeper I look. And

so, yeah. So is there ever a moment in the last

10 years where you just said, nope, I'm fed up,

I'm done? Oh, man, this is take two, but this

is funny to me. OK, so the only times are that

Age of Extinction made me stop caring about the

movies and I gave them. a lot of trying. But

I don't. And I mourn that because there were

things that were rewarding for me in movie one

and movie three. But I'm done. But the funny

thing is the day and a half where suddenly the

comic books were just pictures on a page and

I went to my husband and went. They're just ink

on paper. I'm sad because they're not real anymore

and then the day after that they went back to

being my amazing holodeck that I experienced

panel by panel and that are totally immersive

and that I believe in that are true Like if someone

were at some point to videotape me Reading comics

in the comic bookstore parking lot in my car

with the windows rolled up so that I can yell

really loud They would be amused I'm also horrified.

I'm sure we would be. Oh man, I blink and live

comic books, Mike. There have been times when,

like, I mean, there's the good times where we're

like, yes! Or the time when I laughed for a good,

like, belly laughter for multiple minutes at

a time at the Orion Pax Spotlight. because there

are two great jokes in there one is about prime

space plate and one is about he goes bludgeon

he's like i need to talk to megatron and bludgeon's

like he talks about you sometimes but it's i

don't want to repeat it because it'd be awkward

for both of us but i have also like cried for

half an hour With the internet giving birth to

the fans and all of us having a voice about what

we like or what we don't like about Transformers

Do you find that your voice gets lost in the

shuffle or do you just shout louder? I Okay,

it's not always lost in the shuffle, but it mostly

is and that's okay with me there are times when

people will listen to my random opinions, and

I'm always really, really honored by that. In

general, I think it's OK that my voice is only

one of many, because I don't think it's healthy

to have everyone. I think we should have a republic

in this and not a democracy. Where we go ahead

and Let the creators work and we all together

become a groundswell of what we collectively

want and Sometimes we kind of get that I think

too though the reason I Maybe am able to feel

this way, you know privileged to feel this way

is that? Things that I have wanted with my whole

soul have been gifted unto me by the comic books

and so it wasn't because i specifically asked

for them but it was time and there were enough

people who thought that this was an actual possibility

that it came about and that is almost more rewarding

than feeling like, you know, I told James to

write X and he totally did, and it was awesome.

What is your Transformers personal anthem song?

Stan Bush's The Touch, Dare, something from the

animated score, something from Brian Tyler's

Prime score, something from Steve's movie scores.

From the safety of my basement room, I can say

that I hate them. 86 movie score. Although I

did give Dare a re -listen, and I was like, you

know what? I have not given this a fair shake.

Dare is pretty good. Okay to be fair you say

that you hate the score you mean just the the

the the license tracks I hate the touch broke

the podcast folks. about people. I think it's

important to represent that there are different

ways of being a Transformers fan. Oh, absolutely.

I've I've really started to be a lot more vocal

than I normally would be about the fact that

I don't hate all the movies because I think it's

important to be like, you know what? Sometimes

people find really good, meaningful stuff in

them. And that's OK. I feel like sometimes people

feel a little bullied sometimes if they're not

liking Transformers in the correct way. And we

need to be open to everyone who's coming in so,

you know, that's why I'm you know, I hate I have

decided that the optimist theme from the first

movie is is good for me because it's it's thoughtful

and it's pretty and Yeah, I like it. It's got

my name on it The reason why I asked you the

difference between the licensed tracks and Vince

DeCola score because Vince's score for the 86

movie Just the instrumental stuff is amazing

See, maybe I need to give it another try but

it's a and this is funny because like I'm on

this future bass Jaguar I'm just like give me

this like funky Sort of syncopated electronica

and I'm down. So you think I would be super down

for Vince DeCola stuff, but it doesn't do it

for me and it's possible that that's because

I've never sat down and listened to a good uncompressed

version of it but it's also because I really

gonna get kicked out I don't like the 86 movie

either and it's not because I gave the matrix

to that punk hot rod it's because I mean that's

part of it obviously but I don't like the animation

style I don't like the it's G1. I know, but it's

it's harsher and it's a it's a movie like G1

was allowed to be crappy animation because it

was a Saturday morning 80s cartoon. The animation

in the movie is much higher quality, but it's

it's jagged and sharp and I. It's off putting

to me, it's still got that sort of Pokemon epilepsy

causing flashiness to it. And it's also a problem

that I watched all these things on YouTube, so

I've never sat on a good screen and watched it.

Yeah. But it's weird. Like all of season three,

I couldn't watch because it looks too weird and

dark. And the quintessence are weird and dark.

And I don't get immersed. in that movie, the

way I am immersed in all of the stuff I love

about Transformers, I am watching it from the

outside, feeling uncomfortable. And that being

said, there are parts that are really beautiful

and skillful and amazing. I mean, I do believe

that the way they show Prime's death is extraordinarily

powerful. brave for them to have done at that

time. I mean, a, you know, animated movie about

children's toys going there in a way that I don't

think had ever been done before, where they're

like, no, we're going to show the passing of

a beloved leader in the rise of a new one. That's

incredibly brave. And I applaud them for that.

And that scene is beautiful. But it just becomes

so. random as they sort of travel around beating

junkie ons and quintessence and weird water tentacle

monsters that I can't and also because they're

all new characters that I am NOT as you know

coming at it from just finishing G1 I wasn't

as vested in I mean now I have a child named

Magnus after all for Magnus you know I bling

in love that guy I had fun once, it was horrible.

So outside of the G1 cartoon, how often do you

go back and watch any of the other Transformers

cartoons? Not enough because I never watch anything

because there's a little voice in my head that

goes you should be doing something useful. So

well you got to give you got to give beast machines

a fair shake now the only reason the only reason

why I say This is nothing to do with the content

of the the show and whatever else the way I view

Beast Wars and Beast machines specifically to

cheetor Cheetor to me is the beast era hot rod

Rodimus You watch him through Beast Wars he grows

up by the time the feral scream two -parter comes

he's a once he gets Transmetallized or whatever

you want to call it. I would say he's around

15 16 17 somewhere around there when we get to

beast machines and he you know gets reformatted

He's pretty much, you know, I would say somewhere

mid 20s, you know kind of an adult kind of thing

and oh god I love that but yeah Give beast machines

a fair shake. No matter how much emo Michael

Jackson night scream freaks you out Once I just

get a good TV because our TV is crap and it misses

one of the sound channels So like and it's it's

like one of the old giant not flat screen, not

good pixel TVs. And so watching things is not

as rewarding as it could be. And so I own everything

on DVD, but I'm waiting until I have something

good to watch them on, and then I will. The next

question, folks, we're going to be here all night

for this. We all love Transformers comics. Which

incarnation do you love and why? I deeply love

the comics. Okay, this is another one where it's

much easier for me to say ones I don't like as

much. And here's another place where I get kicked

out of the fandom, but it's important to acknowledge

everybody's different. I never could get into

the Marvel ones because the art style is another

thing that just visually shuts me out. I can't

feel the characters as much due to the art. Yeah,

I completely agree. Yeah, there are some stories

that I... like more But I can't keep them in

my head even like I can't remember. Oh, yeah

This one panel or such rather happen and it was

amazing. I there's one panel that I remember

because it was such an emotional gut punch and

it is at the end of the whole Unicron arc and

primes just like kneeling over Scorponok's body

and Scorponok actually like had been Brave and

selfless, even though he was afraid Prime's just

sad and I'm such a sucker for like good guy and

bad guy getting along and so there was that but

like it was just a really affecting panel and

when Jean -Paul Beauvais did an homage to that

for one of the anniversary covers I was like

yes and I totally went got a print of it and

it's on my wall and also the Marvel comics were

the introduction of emo prime who goes off to

the moon but that's Basically every most of Okay,

I own the first Trade of Dream Waves generation

one and I blinking Love that there are a lot

of people who really hate it and the art is silly

but there's some really really good prime in

there and Everything is obviously not all about

prime and it will Obviously not the All About

Prime as I progress, but yeah, I like that. I

really have enjoyed all of IDW's run. I really,

really like infiltration. And then I kind of

start to fall out a little bit as it gets toward

devastation and stuff. And then there's parts

of All Hail Megatron that are amazing, where

it's just beautiful. And then it'll just plummet

into worthlessness. And then there'll be an amazing

part, and it plummets into worthlessness again.

There's little bits in the ongoing where I just

kind of stopped caring although Megatron guns

are kind of a really cool concept But once Yeah,

I am a more than meets the eye, baby. I love

that series it's Imperfect and I'm gonna be honest

Not a fan as much of Jack Lawrence's art Have

not caught up with lost light yet, so The art

keeps me out a little bit because it's so animated

and there I have friends who are like Absolutely

ride -or -die for Jack Lawrence because of that

very thing But once it becomes a cartoon, I can't

take it seriously and they aren't adults to me

with agency. They are Characters. Yeah, it's

it's the same with corn how and I love her as

a person But her art on the Windblade books was

a little too cutesy for me. Till All or One has

been phenomenal, especially these last few...

the last four issues of the series have just...

they have challenged me. They have been... uh,

the... what was it? Okay, so 11, 10, 9, 8, 7...

Five, four, three, two, one, blast off! Whatever

the one was that was all about Starscream, that

is the best Starscream writing I have ever read

or seen. Ascetic fools! There's no escape! Hmm,

interesting. It was incredibly good. And then

they did this other... Wrote out a whole post

about it because I was like, all right, I'm gonna

be brave I'm gonna say how I really feel and

then the internet ate it There was an issue that

had blast off leaning into onslaught for a smooch

and I was like Robot smooching is a red line

for me because it's too human and it squicks

me a little bit because I'm still Over here in

straight land. Yeah And I'm not trying to be

a jerk. Yeah. And it's just a thing that I don't

have good comprehension of yet. Even though I'm

trying. But it still squicks me and I'm like,

I'm all for conjuncts injura and everything.

I just need them to not smooch. Yeah. Yeah, it's

it's one of those things where it's like, OK,

that can be a thing that can be a part of the

the continuity of the story. Just do it off -panel.

Do it off -panel. Well, see, that's the thing.

That's why Transformers is off -panelism. One

of the reasons is that it can be what every individual

needs it to be. Absolutely. And I've had really

interesting conversations with people because

I... Anode and Lug are two characters in Lost

Light. and their anode is like a taller girl

and Lug is this short adorable swerve looking

girl and I wanted Lug to be a little short dude

so bad because tall girl who's kind of the boss

of the relationship and short little dude would

be a really fun dynamic to explore for me. So

this is Lost Light, right? Yeah, Lost Light.

Okay, so I have not read this yet and all as

I'm thinking is 1990 Days of Thunder Tom Cruise

and Nicole Kidman Basically Tom Cruise is Tom

Cruise is shorter than Nicole Kidman They did

Dawn of the Autobots. What was your reaction

to Megatron being an Autobot? Oh my gosh, okay,

like... It's actually more complicated than you

would think because I don't want him to just

be an Autobot. Like me, my Megatron still totally

got a Decepticon symbol. But I can tell you where

I was and... when and every case so I was downstairs

I was looking on Deviantart and Livio posted

his cover with Megatron with an Autobot symbol

and because it was Livio's art I didn't notice

right away I was like oh hey there's Megatron

and then I noticed and I did like the full clap

hands to mouse like, huge scream, trying to actually

scream. And then my good, good pal was visiting,

who's also a Transformers nerd. We met on like

a Transformers forum and I go charging up the

stairs. I'm like, crummy! Because she's crummy.

I'm like, crummy, crummy, crummy! Megatron's

wearing an Autobot symbol! And I was high on

that for weeks. Like, I went to my art group

and I'm like, you guys! Megatron's wearing an

Autobot symbol! Gosh, that scene at the end of

Blinkin' Dark Cybertron, as I choke, is why I

can't hate on Dark Cybertron. It had so many

issues, but there were bits of it that I absolutely

loved, and one of them is yes, Roddy telling

me that I have to be prime. It was a good speech,

it was well written. But that little last bit

where me and Megatron are just talking and being

like, okay, are you serious? If you are, are

you ready to deal with the consequences of this?

Okay, let's go. And I was like, ah! Like if you

can see me right now, I'm like, leaning back

into my chair with my arms flailing around. It's

just, oh man, like, oh, I wanted it so bad. And

they were like, here you go. And I'm like, thank

you. And just. Maybe that's why I get so mad

at how prime is sort of falling off a cliff in

terms of knowing what to do Because Megatron

has really found himself and prime has lost himself

Well, maybe John will you know finally come to

the realization that Rodimus is better and they'll

kill Optimus and give the matrix to Rodimus and

everything will be hunky -dory The Matrix will

seek him out like the Green Lantern Ring. Alright,

how big is your Transformers toy collection?

Okay, by this point, it's pretty big. They are

all out, because we play with our toys. I have

no idea how many there are. A lot. We don't buy

like every toy that ever comes out, but. They're

just fun and. I if there's a toy of a robot person

that I love, it will be really hard for me to

not get. I don't own very many Megatron toys

at all. I own the I own like lots of primes.

I own the big MPO one, which is precious, and

I own a really awesome Dark of the Moon deluxe

that I love. He's got backpack itis but i don't

care his alt mode is the true and glorious movieverse

prime truck fight me it's better than the flat

nose even though the flat nose is true um but

there just haven't been good megatron toys um

but there's masterpiece megatron i mean it's

no no i'm talking about the newer versions of

it not the original i've been looking at that

one that one is close and the one that they came

out with a year or two ago where he turns into

a tank is I thought that one was gonna be the

true one but I didn't end up getting it because

it just didn't speak to me like I will buy a

toy if it looks out of the package and goes I

am the person for me now like the other day I

picked up a teeny little whatever it's like Titans

returner I don't know but the brand new bumblebee

that just came out because he looked out of the

package and he was like the way Sarah Peter de

Roche draws him. And I'm like, there he is. I

need to buy him. And then we got him out of the

package and you can fit a tiny little headmaster

dude in the driver's seat. And I was not prepared

and it was adorable. And holy cow. Yep. All right.

So in this scenario, everybody, every, every

human person is safe. Let's say the house burns

down, the whole family gets out. But you can

only save one Transformers toy. Basically, what

Transformers toy could you never, ever, ever

part with, and why, and who would it be? OK.

I instantly narrow it down to two, even though

there's a lot that I care a lot about. And the

two that I narrow it down to are my MP01 and

Springer. Springer? What the hell? Okay, Mike

though. Have you seen the springer that came

out just a couple of years ago? That's like full

-on straight out of last night of the wreckers

Nick Roach drew him she wants no I have not see

Anytime anyone mentions springer to me alls I

can think of is that cocky home wrecker from

the movie From the 80s I swear to God if I have

to say 1986 one more time I it's not you Heather.

It's it's This is why I loathe the Transformers

live -action films because anytime anyone says

Transformers the movie they're like, oh 2007

no, you dumbass is 1986 Yeah, yeah It's because

I didn't view him necessarily as a homewrecker.

Yeah, well. I didn't really sort of exclusively

pair RC up with anybody in my head. I mean, you

know, she's got that saving grace moment with

her and Daniel in Hot Rod. How can you not pair

them? Anyway, it's a whole other discussion for

a whole other day. It's what it needs to be for

you, Mike. Yeah. What was the most money you

spent on a Transformers toy item ever? A single

toy, the MP01, I think was like 80 bucks. And

that was a big deal. My husband actually picked

him up for me. It's got extra love in him. I

love that toy. It's like so heavy and it's so

funny. We have played with him so much But he's

he's real to me like my toys become velveteen

rabid it after a while Where it's kind of scary

get down off the shelf and walk around They might

you never know I mean the next thing you know

you're gonna walk into your toy room and see

you know Starscream humping a giant metal bug

What it happened in the cartoon series Did Starscream

rapes giant metal bugs like Michael Bay rapes

our childhoods okay so we've talked about it

the movie verse was what brought you into the

fandom but at this point do you like loathe or

are you indifferent to the bay verse i wish i

could be indifferent but i still care because

the movie verse is still so culturally influential

and so i it does such a disservice to the good

that exists in the rest of the Transformers universe

it just cheapens it so much by being so shallow

and I I try to find good aspects in the movies

it's been increasingly difficult I really I mean

this latest one I got out of it and I'm like,

I didn't despise everyone. Huge victory for Michael

Bay. But, you know, that's low bar. Yeah, I didn't

despise anyone. Five stars. But yeah, I I'm sad

because I went on like a little rant where I'm

like, I feel bad for for Peter Cullen because

he has such a his. His vision of prime is why

I care about prime so much because he has this

extremely specific Based on his brother that

he loves What prime represents and and so I always

get sad when he has to voice prime as Give me

your face Wonder if that makes him sad and I

was saying that on Facebook and Pete Sinclair

was like he gets paid But see he's but yes, he

does get paid and heaven forbid I know everybody

gets old. Okay, we know this Heaven forbid anything

happened to the man But it's one of those things

where ever since the 80s, every interview I have

ever seen with him. He is equated prime to John

Wayne and he is, you know, I like to think Peter

thinks in his own mind that we are still in 1984

G1. Obviously things have changed over the last

34 years or so, you know, but still, you know...

Sinclair is right, the guy does get paid for

it, and there are times when he will say things

in an interview that he may not have said 30

-something years ago, you know, because times

change characters, especially if it's in a different

medium, like going from an animated series to

a giant live -action movie. Yeah, it's different.

I guess... I am actually, I hope he still thinks

we're all living in the 80s. I really do. And

I cling to the people who are out there. I know

that John Bailey does the prime voice for a lot

of things. And I want him to keep doing that.

I think there's a specificity to that voice and

what it represents to people. I know there's

people who are like, dude. Just get somebody

else to do the prime voice This is we need to

move on and they have various reasons for saying

that but that voice calls up something very very

specific that I want to keep going and I mean

I I say this and I know it's silly but that thing

that prime represents is so important to me that

I as like a 40 year old girl am going to continue

being prime the best of my ability because I

think the world needs that. I think the world

needs that representation of a good person who's

just trying to do the right thing. Absolutely.

All right. So if you invaded IDW, And you can

create any Oh God, we've gone down a horrible

horrible rat hole here folks I think I I think

I need to go grab rewind so we can you know Chrome

dome our way out of this If you could create

any Transformers fiction toy cartoon comic movie

Etc. What would it be? What story would you want

to tell with it? Okay The awesome thing is that

a lot of it has been done. And the other good

news is that I have spent the last 10 years creating

what I wanted to have exist. And very few people

have read it, and I can live with that. Everybody

who creates something wishes that everybody The

world would read it, but I'm also aware of its

flaws, you know The longer you write the more

you look back at stuff you wrote a long time

ago So I've put in the effort and created a universe

where people are trying to figure out how to

get along and how to clean up messes and how

to just live and what kind of society and culture

to build and and that's what fascinates me I've

done a story about what does it mean to be a

female character in as the phone rings in a bunch

of dudes and how you are viewed if there's only

like you know a few of you and the guys are like

oh my gosh they're precious and you're like I'm

just the person leave me alone but so I guess

that's my approach to things is if there's something

that doesn't exist that I want to exist. I do

my best to create it, put it out in the world.

I wish I were a better artist. There's so many

things I wish that I could draw and haven't done

because I feel intimidated. But I do my best.

And then when IDW does something very similar,

I am super grateful. Because let me just tell

you Mike that you haven't finished lost light

I haven't even started it yet the last time you

see Megatron the last time you see Megatron Mike

He is in a place where he has a chance to redo

everything Without going off the deep end and

to kill everyone and he has just gotten a phone

call from me basically And so like the two of

us can work together to fix the world. And I

was like, you know what? Dear James on Twitter,

thank you. That's all I needed. All right. So

I have to modify this question because it doesn't

pertain to you. But I'm going to modify it in

a way that 30 years from now, are your children

going to have a my parents got rid of my toys

story? I haven't gotten rid of any toys. There

have been some that got grievously broken but

now the cool thing is the older they get the

better they are with glue we actually have a

super recent story though that we are all still

in trauma about okay where my son brought a couple

of constructicons from the the g1 painted movie

verse devastator that was a gift from a really

good friend that he had wanted desperately. My

13 year old boy gets really obsessive about things

he wants and that's a whole other issue. Every

so often he actually is able to get something

and so he got this Devastator and they were the

teensy ones and several of them broke and he

recently found them all and he He found all the

pieces and he got out the glue and he was gluing

them together. Well, he brought two of them to

church with us and my oldest boy loves to, oh

my gosh, re -fold robot people into new configurations.

He will always discover everyone's girl walk

mode and their quadrupedal mode and everything.

So he had put these two guys together to form

Bone Cramp. And it looked like a creepy bug version

of a front -end loader eating another thing.

It was creepy. But anyways, they left it on a

shelf above the coats, and somebody took it home

with them. And Magnus watched this person put

it in their bag and walk out the door, but wasn't

able to stop them. And then a bunch of other

kids found out what had happened, and also sort

of rallied around to try and get Seth's toy back

for him. They have not yet been successful and

all of us are wigging out a little bit. I imagine

so You can't just go and find those Yeah, so

it's not so much Things I'm gonna get rid of

and my husband never gets rid of anything, but

it is things that get broken or lost Mm -hmm

What is one piece of advice that you would give

the transformers fandom and transformers collectors

in general? Okay, I thought about this and this

is what I would say to Be as kind and understanding

as you know how and to be grateful for Everything

that you get I see more than I would like of

people getting really intense about what they

want a la my 13 year old son and to the point

where they're not able to just kind of be grateful

for stuff and let it be and you know if you don't

like something Write fanfiction make Go find

friends who feel the same way and Pretend your

own universe we are here in this really fun place

where there's constantly new stuff being added

and We can invent whatever we want. It's like

a worldwide LARP We don't even have to go out

and hit each other with foam swords. We can just

imagine it and draw it and write it. And if you

can't do it yourself, just, you know, you should

find. We can write it in all caps on the internet.

But just, yeah. Pay attention to me. I do feel

like everyone has a voice, but your voice is

no more important or less important than everybody

else's. And so yeah, say what you like say what

you don't like and allow other people to be different

from you All right bonus bonus question time

something I forgot to mention Where do you fall

rumble is blue frenzy is red But I absolutely

believe that rumble is purple and frenzy is black

and red. There you go. That's correct. G1 is

my home. Absolutely. Yeah. So yeah, every time

they do comic book version, I recognize that

the Brit people are like, no, man, that's our

rumble and frenzy. And I'm like, OK, not mine.

Hashtag not my rumble. Hashtag not my frenzy.

Absolutely. Oh god. Alright, that's gonna do

it for us here this week on All Things Transformers,

the Origins episode of Haki Prime. We're gonna

let people interact with you online if they would

like to do so. I still haven't figured out Twitter

yet, but you can try. Basically, if you google

Haki Prime, it's me. I'm on Facebook. I'm still

on DeviantArt because I really like it as a platform.

I'm on Tumblr, but if you try to talk to me,

I will probably not see the message for a long

time, because I forget to look at the message

box, because all I do there is go, like, scroll

through people's art and then reblog. So probably

the best place to find me is Facebook. Yeah,

there I am. I do stuff. I make art. We are about

a week or so away from starting Autobotly August.

Ryan, the name Flo Merkley, and I are going through...

various Transformers comics from IDW. We are

going to wrap up More Than Meets the Eye and

Lost Light because I did not realize that the

Volume 10 trades were not the end, that they

threw in 56 and 57 of both series into Titan's

Return, I have no idea why. At this point we've

already recorded that and it'll be out, but it's

just one of those things So we got that going

on then after that in in August. We're doing

the autocracy trilogy So autocracy monstrosity

and primacy Lady rec will join us for sins of

the wreckers, so there's that Oh, you have no

idea the outtakes in that episode. Oh boy You

have no idea after that I believe it's after

that because I don't have the document pulled

up Ryan myself and the Beatles diva herself are

gonna talk about Angry Birds Transformers, and

then Ryan and I are gonna close out with the

Dinobot trilogy I almost said primes well punishment

redemption and salvation so Also, we've got Most

of its are most of its already done. I just have

to edit it all now, but anyway We're also having

on August 9th Wednesday, August 9th 2017 we're

gonna have all things transformers 9th anniversary

episode So Steve Megatron will be back For for

that as well as this is kind of his show even

though I've not really Stolen it from him, but

you know whatever we kind of shared at this point

You have no idea All right I Am at to you and

Mike on Twitter you can also follow at a I think

it's at all things TF v3 on Twitter for the show

at geocast radio for all the other network updates

Transform transcend transform and rollout and

we will catch you next time here on all things

transformers And which is a surprise because

it was all about, you know, here's Megatron being

a decent guy. And I'm like, this is getting expensive.

It's Showtime Synergy. The latest review podcast

from the Geekcast Radio Network is here. So join

TFG One Mike, Nicole Hailstorm, and myself, Lady

Rec, as we will be reviewing all 65 episodes

of Joe and the Holograms in a 25 episode long

podcast. You can find Showtime Synergy on iTunes

and GeekCastRadio .com. We are the truly outrageous

podcast that you want to be listening to. The

leaders put together some kind of army and attacked

one of the outer cities. Ah, you believe anything.

Anyway, what do we care if there's a war? There's

guardian robots to take care of stuff like that.

Right now, we got fuel to unload. That's it.

That's it. A little further. Perfect. It's really

thrilled to meet you, sir. That was Megatron

flying over the energy docks. I'm sure of it.

So what's the big deal? Are all those yours?

Yes. You see, I've been looking for a place where

I could store my wares. I was hoping this hangar

might be available. Hey, who's that with Orion?

Oh, wow. It's one of those flying robots. What

do you store here? Raw materials or energy? Oh,

we only store energy here. That's just what I

wanted to hear. Decepticons, attack! We brought

the entire convention center to the brink of

an inter -genre geek war. Okay, Michael, if we're

going to tackle this podcast thing, we've got

to do something really special. It has to be

cool. Daily in audio form and undetectable by

radar something that screams summer. I know let's

do a Phineas and Ferb review podcast We'll call

it the podcast organization without a cool acronym

or Pauka for short. What do you think? I think

if we're not careful, Candice is gonna bust us

You can find Pauka on the GeekCast radio network

iTunes blog talk radio and all of the other methods

you find podcasts Since 2011 we have been taking

you beyond. That's right, Tooncast Beyond has

covered many cartoon series and films in our

four years online. Now we take you even further

as we reformat the podcast by covering any and

all cartoon series by season. And we also have

our animated film reviews. So join TFJU and Mike

and the rest of the GCRM crew as we give you

a different cartoon review every Wednesday on

iTunes, Stitcher Smart Radio, Blog Talk Radio,

and of course, Keycast Radio dot com. We are

beyond good, beyond evil, beyond your wildest

imagination. Well, it's finished. You may not

recognize him. He is no longer Orion Pax. Now

he is the first of our new defenders. Optimus

Prime I was wrong my friends I admired Megatron

merely because he was powerful I failed to see

how he used that power