Origins of David Wallace aka KalelPrime from TFNation

Hi, my name is James Roberts. I'm the writer

on Transformers More Than meets the Eye, and

you're listening to Geekcast Radio Network. Check

out All Things Transformers. I could dig it.

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 for the first time in nine years

is Mr. Kal -El Prime, David Wallace. Hello, sir.

Hello, sir. Yes, it has been almost a decade

since I've been on. We're very much looking forward

to being back. So thank you for having me. Absolutely.

Should have you on more often i was gonna say

i just thought it did a really terrible job last

time and you're like never again Well it's funny

because nine years ago is when i started the

pull bag and when i started the pull bag i wanted

multiple various different comic booky things

and i had come up with the origins and we had

a number of questions about comic books and things

like that the funny thing is Since then, I believe

it was 2019 or 2020 where I actually updated

and changed and more streamlined the pull bag

questions for comics, but I've also expanded

that into Transformers, He -Man, Overall cartoons

slash anime and actual podcasting. So I have

30 questions that I will ask people about podcasting

whether it's listening or hosting one So so yeah,

it's fun. Well, do you do you want to know? We're

talking about nine years and just to put that

into context for any comic book fan out there

because I heard this the other day and I was

like surely that can't be the case and I checked

it and it is indeed true the last time I was

on this podcast We were still in a post -New

52 world. Yep. The New 52 is that old. Yep. That

terrifies me. It's the old 52 at this point.

I mean, it was, you know, it's never to be looked

back on fondly, but all I'm simply saying is,

is like, Jesus. I mean, you know. Certain books

are good. Other books, not so much. I mean, there's

nobody that can argue with me in the negative

about Kyle Higgins' run on Nightwing. I will

shoot you dead if you say anything. Criticism?

Fine. Negative? Like, yes, I know there are plenty

of aspects in the New 52 that were bad. Nightwing

was not one of them. Same thing with Gail Simone's

Batgirl. Oh man, so good. He had a red insignia

on his chest instead of it being blue. That's

right. That's the only criticism. No, it's not.

I will fight you on this one. No, no, Nightwings.

Yes, sorry. No, this is a Transformers show.

We should not talk DC because I'll end up, you

know, but no, Kyle's Kyle's run on Nightwing

was was excellent. And I'm sorry, but you will

never get me on side with Barbara Gordon. She

should never have been brought back as Batgirl.

You're one of those killing joke enthusiasts,

are you? Not a killing joke enthusiast in the

slightest. I simply make the argument that Barbara

Gordon was not a good character before she became

Oracle, and she has not been a good character

since she stopped being Oracle. I will argue

Gail Simone's Birds of Prey Till the End of Time

as one of my favorite all -time runs on the series,

but in terms of just an overall character, like,

you know, she's just a... product of that silver

age where it's just try and get another bad person

out. Uh, and it wasn't until she became Oracle

that she became interesting. That's, that's my

argument anyway. Um, but, uh, you know, yeah,

it's, uh, not a, not a, not a killing joke enthusiast

though. Obviously one can't argue the fact that

it's an incredible story. Um, but, uh, yeah,

uh, just that. And plus, you know, I, I've just

got to, I've just Got a love for Stephanie Brown

as Batgirl. And I know there's probably a lot

of Cassandra Cain people out there going, what?

Like, Stephanie. It's like, no, no, Stephanie's

run on Batgirl as Batgirl was brilliant. Like,

it had the, it had all the joy of a Spider -Man

comic, which, you know, DC has desperately tried

to replicate for the last 50 years, but never.

Anyway, Transformers, yes, sorry. I do apologize.

Oh, transformers. So these first, you might want

to trim this down to like five questions given.

Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no. It's, it's fun. Hey,

as long as you got the time, it's fine. All right.

These first five questions are kind of, you know,

let's let the audience get to know you, even

though I know maybe some of these answers and

some of these questions are kind of obvious.

Did you grow up with Transformers? Duh. At what

age do you remember first noticing the franchise?

Yes, I did, because I'm that old. I grew up with

Transformers. Transformers came to the UK in

85. I was born in 82. So literally, as I'm starting

to form a concept of the world, there is Transformers.

Earliest memories? That's a difficult one. I

don't really recall. The earliest one that I

can definitely remember is watching Transformers

the movie for the first time. We bought it from

a local supermarket. We took it home. We put

it on. We watched it. And I cried when Optimus

Prime died. And now to you, I'm sure... I'm saying

to the American audience out there, I'm sure

everybody knows this now, by the time we got

Transformers the movie on cassette, they had

gone ahead and made several edits to it and one

of the edits that they made to it was that at

the end of the movie, after Till All Are One,

Victor Carolli turns around and says, the Transformers

story will continue and the greatest Autobot

of them all, Optimus Prime, will return. The

battle is over, but the galaxy -spanning adventures

of the Transformers will continue and the greatest

Autobot of them all, Optimus Prime, will return.

And I refuse to let my parents turn the video

off until Optimus Prime came back. Not realizing

that that would require... So, let's see. I mean,

that would have been... So that would have been

like 80s... 87? So that's like my earliest memory

of Transformers. However, given the fact that

I cried when Optimus Prime died, I'd clearly

been exposed to Transformers a lot more than

that. I just can't give you any specific examples,

unfortunately. Yeah. Yeah, I... You know what?

I... He's not the great he's one of the greatest

leaders of the Autobots, but he's not the greatest

leader of the Autobots I mean if the guy's gonna

sit there and play basketball while the insecticons

are destroying Hoover Dam or whatever We've anyway,

we've started recording. Let's let's look. That's

not for you didn't show this to us just There

is only one chosen one and they didn't choose

optimus No, they chose a dude who at the first

opportunity tried to give the Matrix back to

a zombie. Hey, you leave Scourge out of this.

What Transformers generation is your generation

and why? Generation one why because I grew up

with it and I will You know what? I think a lot

of fans, especially fans of our age just don't

accept the fact that it is entirely nostalgia

You know like I can You you can you can argue

that any piece of Generation One fiction, doesn't

matter how well it's written or anything like

that, of its time. You know, it is not modern

by any standards. The animation of G1 is not

modern. The writing is not modern. The overall

presentation is not modern. It does not hold

up to a modern audience. That's not to say people

won't enjoy it, but it is entirely nostalgia.

And I maintain that. But even though that is

the case, even though I would not begrudge anybody

who says It's old and it doesn't look good. Um,

I, I would, I would still argue that to me, it

is just the best. Um, yeah, I mean, the thing

of it is, is, and I say this in almost every

episode I record when talking about anything

of a certain time period, you view it as that

time. Like there is no reason why you should

have. Any argument of why G1 should hold that

the cartoon specifically why it should hold up

today. No, it shouldn't hold up today. It held

up almost 40 years ago when it debuted because

at the time that's what animation was. And that's

great. Again, it's not necessarily looking at

it with rose colored glasses. It's looking at

it through the lens of this is what. animation

was in 1984 yeah and you know there are there

are a handful of episodes look I will say that

despite despite G1 being the oldest I would say

it is not the most dated show no it's not the

most dated show I would say that if you know

purely and I've gotten a lot of flack for this

and I will say Beast Wars is the most dated show

Beast Wars visually is the most dated show, because

early 3D does not hold up to current 3D, whereas

older animation, you know, look at the Fleischer

Superman cartoons. Do they hold up to today's

animation? Absolutely they do. There's no question

about it. You know, but early 3D doesn't. Now,

storyline wise, I don't think you... I think...

Beast Wars has only been surpassed once in Transformers

history. So if you would have turned Beast Wars

into a set of radio players, Beast Wars would

still be fantastic. But if you stuck a kid in

front of Beast Wars now, they'd probably be like,

yeah, what? No, thank you. But I still adore

Beast Wars. So yeah, G1 is... absolutely of its

time and yet there are still a handful and you

know everybody will know which episodes I'm going

to see you know Call of the Primitives visually

it still holds up it's still an amazing looking

episode but that is you know but but then you

watch Carnage in C minor and I'm not picking

I'm not picking that uh out of me but because

it's Carnage in C minor and everybody I like

Carnage in C minor but so do I but Ultra Magnus

does pick up two Constructicons in each hand.

He does, doesn't he? You know, I mean, come on.

You know, yeah, so swings and roundabouts. But

yes, generation one all the way. What are some

other generations of Transformers you like? Beast

Wars, Beast Machines, I like, I love Transformers

animated. Cybertronian technology can withstand

more than this pathetic planet can dish out.

We Decepticons now face our darkest hour. I think

Prime is a good show, though I think it lagged

a little bit. In terms of non -cartoon, I will

die on the hill of Dreamwave. I still think,

despite the fact that again, that has not held

up very well at all either, and obviously has

been mired in controversy, that is what brought

me back to the game. So I have a nostalgic attachment

to that. I think Galaxy Force is a really good

show, a very underrated show, and I am absolutely

loving the current IDW2 that's going on at the

moment. And I think, assuming that Rookley can

stick the landing, which I have no doubt he will,

I've got no reason to believe he won't be able

to, I think if Rookley can stick the landing,

I think in five years time when it's all there

and we've had time to assess and stuff. I think

Ruckley's run will go down as one of the all

time greats. Yeah, I mean, I over on the pullback,

we've covered and here on all things Transformers,

because I do those as crossovers, we've covered

the first three volumes of the trades. So that's

up to I think issue 15 or 16 of it. Okay. And

I, I think I would have to go back and look and

see, uh, but I, I don't know what it is about

IDW second generation, third generation, phase

three, whatever, whatever they're going to call

it. I think they actually do call it phase three

because the phase two books were, you know, Robertson,

barber and all of that. But I don't know what

it is about that book, but I. could not get into

the, like, I don't know if it was the way Brian

was writing it or if it was the way that, I don't

know, I got lost. I was exactly the same as you.

Absolutely the same when it first started I dropped

it almost straight away I read the first six

issues and I was like, nope, this isn't for me.

It's too slow It's it's it's too It's it's too

plotting and all of that stuff and for whatever

reason I decided look I'm just going to buy the

trades and I got like it was only recently, you

know It was only a couple of months ago that

I went back to it So I I think I got to about

trade three or four and I just read him like

just non -stop and it clicked for me. Now I will

make the argument and I've heard people make

the argument comics aren't published in trades

that these aren't graphic novels these are comic

books and you can't you can't say it is a good

comic book if you enjoy it in graphic novel form

and I in trade form and I agree with that like

I don't think it's a great comic book uh in in

the sense of a monthly read in fact now that

i've reached the end of the trades i've actually

stopped reading it because i don't want to read

it issue by issue by issue by issue um but having

sat there and taken a few days to just read all

of it uh it it makes a lot of sense to me um

so you know i i totally understand it because

i was right there but for whatever reason when

i went back It just clicked and I... Yeah, so

I'm looking forward to him sticking the landing

and we'll wait and see. That said, all of the

spinoffs that they've done have really been a

waste of time. I've made no bones about it. I

think the Wreckers miniseries was a waste of

time. I think the ConstructureCon miniseries

was a complete waste of time. Basically anything

that Ruckley didn't write has been a waste of

time. and there's been a waste of issues. Because

clearly, Rookley has no interest in touching

that stuff, because he hasn't. The constrictor

cards have not showed back up, even though they

were in year one of his run, and they were given

like six issues. But that's an issue with editorial,

rather than with Rookley himself. I don't know,

the thing with the comics is that I liked Galaxies

for what it was. I mean, for what it did as a

12 -issue miniseries, it was able to tell various

stories. Instead of putting writers, and each

section of that, as you know, each... It had

a different creative team, so one through four

had this, five and six had this, seven and nine

had this, and then 10, 11 and 12 had this. And

that's all well, good and great. That gives many

creators a chance to touch a brand that they

may love. Cause why else would you work on something

if you don't love it? You know, and whatever,

and that's amazing. But it also gives them that

chance without having to say, okay, hey, You're

now the new Transformers writer of the next 70

issues, let's say. I seriously doubt that, that,

uh, Ruckley's run is going to reach that by the

time IDW loses the license, sadly, but you know,

it is what it is. I don't know. I, my problem

with legacy was that, and I've been arguing for

a Transformers anthology book for years. I think

IDW should have done the Transformers anthology

book decades ago. And they should have done exactly

what they did, which is give a dedicated number

of issues to a dedicated creative team and just

say, go wild. But what they should not have done

is they should not have limited it to the IDW's

new rebooted universe in order to try and artificially

inflate that universe because what... I hated

the most about that legacy book and this was

actually one of the things that really did hurt

I think my enjoyment of that early IDW was you're

telling me that the very first miniseries that

you are going to publish after you have gone

ahead and said we are starting from scratch is

a series about the enigma of sudden combination.

Get into the sea. It was a dumb idea back when

it was done in the original IDW. I hate mysticism

in my transformers. get rid of it, and why do

that? Like, why not come up with a new reason

why the combiners work? And the very fact, and

I know you haven't got to this yet, but the enigma

of combination does show back up in Ruckley's

run, and the way Ruckley has handled it suggests

to me, and I don't know this for definite, but

it feels to me like Ruckley literally just went,

get this rubbish into the sea. And I will leave

it at that. Yeah. Why, why you would go instantly

back to a universe that you've just said we're

moving on from baffles me. Um, and yeah, I, I

have only read up to for the ongoing for Mr.

Ruckley's ongoing. I have only read up to issue

24. Right. Okay. Because that was in. I've got

no context for where that is, I don't know. That

was, it's the awful dark. Oh, what was going

on in that? Alright, let me just look at issue

24. Thank you so much TFWiki. Issue 24. From

the surface of winged moon, Wheeljack watches

the last of evacuation shuttles leaving for Cybertron

and focuses his mind on... Okay. Yes, yes. Yeah,

I know where you are. That's fine. Yeah, yeah.

So yeah, there's a long way to go before the

enigma shows back up, but needless to say, when

it does, roughly... Ruckley treats it with the

respect it deserves. The respect it deserves,

which means just discard it. Hey look, I'm not

gonna spoil it for you, but like, look, when

you read it, you'll think back to this conversation

and you'll go, huh, oh yeah. Now, like I say,

I don't know, maybe Ruckley's got a greater plan

for it, maybe it's gonna come back and annoy

me right at the end. uh but uh yeah we'll see

um but no to go back to the question that we've

deviated from um you know i i don't think there's

i don't think there's a transformer series that

i i actively don't like uh except for probably

energon really and i would probably say that

The IDW, sorry, the Dreamwave Energon comics

were fine, they were good, obviously they ended

too soon, and the first nine episodes of Energon

or so are alright, but then after that it just

becomes a cluster. But even then, like, I would

look at Energon and I would say Alpha Q was a

great character. I think there is definitely...

I think there is definitely... the possibility

of bringing back the idea of the combining Autobots.

I think that's an interesting concept for a toy

gimmick. Don't think it necessarily paid off

well, but with today's magical articulation,

who knows what they could come up with. Yeah,

I could still see some of that, even though I

think it's fair to say that Energon is probably

the weakest of everything that Transformers has

has produced. Well, then question four is going

to be difficult to answer. Do you like Loathe

or are you just indifferent to the Bayverse?

Okay, we need to define terms. Is Bumblebee counted

in the Bayverse? I count it as a live action

movie. However, I will state that It is the bridge

to a new non -Michael Bay directed universe coming

with Rise of the Beasts and things like that.

So my argument would be, or my argument, my answer

would be, I think the first Transformers, the

movie, the 2007 movie is a good movie. I think

it's a fine, it's a fine, decent movie that I

think, you know, made it. a lot of money and

was really good for the brand even though it

killed Transformers Animated. So its legacy in

my mind is mod however I think that's a good

movie. I think every subsequent movie after that

became an intolerable mess to the point that

I still have not seen the last Michael Bay directed

movie and nor do I have any interest in it. I

watched the first 15 minutes of the last night

and I still have not ever gone back and finished

it. Not that we condone this around here at All

Things Transformers and Geek Caster Network,

I found it somewhere online in a dark corner

and I tried watching it and I'm like, yep, nope,

just can't do it. I had no interest. in dedicating

another, here's the problem with the, just to

go down the rabbit hole, these are, I make this

argument all of the time and I get the fact that

I am literally shouting at grown men usually

when I do it, but the reality is Transformers

should be and has always been for kids. Doesn't

matter how much you want to like turn around

and say oh well I'm an adult collector and this

line, oh the masterpiece line, that's what I

collect so therefore I'm purely adult. Look,

it's a kid's toy line, it's a kid's property.

These movies should also be for kids. These movies

should not be three hours long. I do not understand

why Hasbro let Michael V get away with making

these things just So long, but never mind, I

digress. Well, you know, the thing of it is,

is that the one thing I cannot fault the movie,

the babe verse, the movie verse one through five

is that they made the brand of a jillion, zillion,

trillion, million, fulfilling dollars. And without

that money, Transformers may not be where it

is currently. We may not have ever gotten an

arc. Even though what I'm about to say was more

so fan funded than anything else, we may never

have gotten a Unicron, HasLab, whatever. But

what I will say is that they... I'm not disagreeing

with you. You are correct. He is... A director

with a certain style and they are trying to mass

market these movies to the main. I mean, if I

go up to somebody in a grocery store, not that

I'm going to, but if I, you know, pass somebody

in a grocery store saying, Hey, what do you think?

Do you know what transformers is? Oh, the first

thing that they might say is those movies that

Michael Bay made because. Transformers, I feel

with us, with the fans, is even though it's a

global thing and everybody knows about it, most

of the stuff that we love, because we are all

children inside, you say that it's a brand for

kids and you're not wrong. The sad thing is,

none of us, I don't think any of us have ever,

ever grown up and I blame the 80s for that because

that's the way the 80s was. You know, I mean,

like. I was a latchkey, single parent kid kind

of thing. I went to school. I discussed various

cartoons and action figures and whatever with

my friends at recess and wherever else. Obviously

I learned stuff in elementary school like you're

supposed to, whatever. I would come home. First

thing I would do is watch, try to do part of

my homework, watch cartoons, eat dinner, finish

my homework and then watch more cartoons. And

the way that style of growing up, Has progressed

over the, you know, you know, 42 years that I

am now alive. It's like. Just cause Toys R Us

isn't here in the States anymore. It doesn't

mean I grew up. You know, like the thing is with

the Michael Bay movies, I think. You know, we

can extrapolate a few things about what would

happen if the Michael Bay movies had not happened.

And I think it's fair to say that we're actually

living right now, I think, in the timeline of

the non -movie. And what I mean by that is, you

know, the time that the first movie came out,

Animated was out. If the movie hadn't happened,

Animated would have got another season, maybe

a second season. The deal with The Hub would

never have happened, which means Transformers

Prime would probably never have happened. By

that point, we would probably have gotten a new

Transformers show after Transformers Animated.

It might have done all right, but you're already

heading into the 2010s. heading into the days

of iPads and things like that and kids not caring

about cartoons anymore and things like that and

what we would have seen is what we're seeing

now which is Hasbro don't have a backup plan

for when the movies don't happen so what what

they've done is they've gone to the well which

fans have been begging for for the last 20 20

odd years now which is give us G1 and that's

what Hasbro have done. The only difference is

we would have got it 10 years earlier and we

would have got it with 10 years ago engineering

as opposed to today's magic. And so I like it

in what respect I thank the Bay movies because

what we're getting now is to my mind because

in terms of my collecting and I don't know if

this is going to be a question that's going to

be raised later but like I will I am now only

collecting based on my love of generation one

for the most part anyway and every so often I

might dip in here or there but you know now I

have the most accurate most incredible generation

one collection that you're ever going to get

And so, you know, the Bay movies, I think, earned

their place in in the fandom. But I can't say

that I'm a fan of them. Yeah, I mean, because

The Rock is an awesome movie and I will, you

know. Yes, I you know, it's one of those things

where. When I asked that question, it's, and

everyone that has answered it so far, actually

that question used to be further down in the

list. I moved it up to number four because somebody

brought it up this early in the conversation

in one of the other episodes. And I was like,

maybe I should move this question. Anyway, so

yes, I absolutely just like beast wars saved

transformers in the nineties, even though the

CGI was early CGI. You know the 2007 film helped

propel as as we've said and as you said, you

know To what we have now and that's fine. Does

that mean? That the story in those movies is

good No, it does not mean that at all just because

it made the money doesn't mean it's a good story

in fact you you bringing up beast was there I

think in let me see how would I phrase this best

I think you referencing Beast Wars there proves

the exact point of why in the long run I think

right now the Michael Bay movies have done more

harm than good and the reason I believe that

is because Back when transformers died and died

for you guys because it never died first like

it never stopped in the UK Like we yeah, we were

getting new transformers right into Beast Wars

launching, you know, we were getting overload

and stuff like that in the UK Because, you know,

we're the real hardcore fans. You guys were just

the fairweather. You were like, you were like,

action masters. Now we're done and we were like,

give us action masters. You lucky sods. But,

but... It took a reinvention like Beast Wars

for Transformers to find its footing again. Mm

-hmm. Hasbro will not allow that to happen anymore.

And I make the argument right now is what I want

from Transformers more than anything else. And

I'm not going to get it in the new show. And

as much as I think the creative, you know, Nick

Roach art director, Nicole Dubeck, you know,

story editor and show runner, these are incredible

talents. But what are we going to get? We're

going to get a generic Optimus Prime. We're probably

going to get a generic Megatron. There'll be

a Starscream. There'll be a Soundwave. There'll

definitely be a Bumblebee. There's already an

Alita 1. Hasbro need to... give the property

to somebody who can do something new with it.

The last time we had something new in Transformers

was Transformers Animated and that was back in

2007. And the problem is the BAME movies have

turned Transformers from a kids cartoon to, as

you pointed out, a billion gazillion dollar franchise

which just like all of these other companies,

Disney and stuff like that, are terrified to

mess with on a grand scale. But I think that's

what Transformers needs now. I think Transformers

needs to be messed with. I think somebody needs

to take it and strip it down and start all over

again, just like they did back in Beast Wars.

But that's just my opinion anyway. And our lovely

show creator, Steve Megatron, is not a fan of

this and I don't know what your feelings are

on it, but that to me is what BotBots is. That

is the next new... Because it literally has nothing

to do with Transformers. All it has to do with

Transformers is... Energon shot down and activated

like There are amalgamations. There are character

things you can see in the very like Burger Tron

and you know, whatever it is what it is, but

there is no Optimus Prime There is no Megatron.

There is no oh my god We have to pay attention

to 40 years of continuity or not. And yeah, you're

right. You're absolutely right They won't take

that chance. They won't at all, but Who knows

maybe they I don't know. I agree with the argument

there. I think I keep saying argument. We're

not arguing here No, I know I agree with the

sentiment I think but boxes is a lovely breath

of fresh air in the same way that I thought rescue

bots Rescue boss is the best Transformers show

we've had in Okay, this is going to be controversial

because I know there's a lot of people who love

Transformers Prime rescue bots is the best show

since transformers animated um in terms of it

just being a fun enjoyable cartoon the problem

with rescue bots and the same with bot bots i

think is unfortunately it skews just a bit too

young that a kid growing up will look at rescue

bots and bot bots in the same way that people

of my generation would look at things like Thomas

the Tank Engine or Postman Pat I don't know what

the American equivalent of these shows would

be for you but these sort of these shows that

aren't quite for the the older child You know,

these would be your four to six maybe. And I

think they skew just a little too far there.

So I think when kids grow past those, that's

when they don't get something new and interesting.

They just get the rehashed transformers, you

know. And I don't know whether or not that has

any bearing on any kids. Like it'll be really

interesting if in... five or ten years time,

we start seeing kids or young adults, I guess

at this point, coming to Transformers conventions

because they love the Netflix shows. And if they

are, I will slap them and tell them that the

world is doomed. Have you seen all of BotBots?

I haven't seen all of it, but I've seen enough

of it to know that I enjoy it. Okay. So, what

was the last episode you saw of The Tin That

Are Out? Oh, God, now you're asking. I'll be

perfectly honest with you. I have seen some of

them, but I... Let's put it this way. I've watched

them, but I could not tell you any discernible

qualities to them, but I enjoyed it while it

was on. Okay. So here's the thing and we are

not yet to the point here at all things transformers

where i have done my full on season one or series

one or whatever. The first ten episodes whatever

they're gonna call i don't know what streaming

calls seasons any seasons are like used to be

twenty two episodes all know now they're thirteen

okay fine now they're ten now they're five and

i'm like. Whatever but anyway so i haven't done

our full review so i'm kind of i'm. I don't want

to repeat myself in the future, but when I watched

the first 10 episodes, there are certain things

like there's an episode about finding. Obviously

the whole through line of the series is burger

Tron, at least at first wants to get back with

his squad and he wants all the other people to

get back with their squads, not realizing that

throughout the entire 10 episodes. the loss bots

became their own squad because they're all these,

you know, it's like the island of misfit toys

from the rank and embass, uh, uh, Rudolph show.

So there are a couple of things in there, like

feeling law, like the whole aspect of feeling

lost amongst your friends or feeling lost amongst

where society thinks you should be. And then

you finding your place. Personally, I think only

teenagers and young adults to older adults can

get that. I don't think a four to six year old

is going to get why Banzai, the plant girl, why

she doesn't have her own squad anymore. I don't

know. I'm probably reading too much into it,

but you know. No, no, I think you make a very

good point there and you're right. I mean, it's.

I hope it is, you know what I mean? I hope every

aspect of Transformers is somebody's gateway

to it. I think more to do with BotBots though,

I think it's just... And again, I might be old

man shouting from his pulpit here, but I often

wonder if it's just the animation. But then again...

I think back to the early 2000s and I think back

to shows like Ed Edd and Eddie and stuff like

that and I looked at those animations and I thought

they were rubbish and you know they were huge

and you know there are you see you see those

things on t -shirts nowadays and you know because

that is the Powerpuff Girls is the cultural touchstone

for an entire generation of people, even though

I thought back in the day it looked like tripe.

But then again, I thought Beast Wars looked amazing.

So, you know, hey, swings around, I guess. Yeah.

Yep. All right. So question, the next question

we have is who is your end -all, be -all favorite

character from any Transformers incarnation you

can pick? One Decepticon, one Autobot, one Maximal,

one Predacon. Oh, okay. Generation 1 Optimus

Prime is my GOAT. And when I say Generation 1

Optimus Prime, I mean the cartoon version of

him. Because despite the fact that I grew up

in the UK, which is predominantly the Marvel

comics, I for whatever reason missed out on the

Marvel comics and I was just a purely cartoon

kid. Generation 1 Optimus Prime... every time,

which is interesting because I don't have an

affinity for any other 80s leader character.

Leonardo was not my favorite turtle. He -Man

was not my favorite Masters of the Universe character.

The leader characters don't tend to interest

me, but Optimus Prime just all day long. Like,

so yeah, Optimus Prime. Decepticon wise, my favorite

Decepticon. Oh, that's a difficult one. I love

Galvatron. I think Galvatron's incredible. I

think Galvatron's amazing. I don't know why,

necessarily. I think he's just maniacal -ness

to him. In fact, actually, one thing... This

is gonna sound really weird, but... One of the

reasons that I love Galvatron so much is because

of the Dreamwave Armada comic books. Okay. Okay.

So if you remember the Dreamwave Armada comic

books, the last or the second to last story arc

that they did was Worlds Collide, where Simon

Furman introduced of Unicron's heralds from an

alternative dimension and they were basically

his generation one favorite character. There

was Bludgeon, there was like Ramjet or Thrust,

one of the two. I think it might've been Thrust.

There was Thunderwing and was it Thunderwing?

I think it was Thunderwing. And then there was

Galvatron. But the Galvatron that showed up in

that series was this just monstrous silent, just

no -nonsense, just took everybody out, and he

was just ridiculously powerful. And what I loved

about that show was, I was like, I kind of like

this idea, and this is purely headcanon. So,

you know, take that for what it's worth. I always

thought to myself, You know is the reason Galvatron

is insane because he went into that lava bath

or doesn't matter why he's insane But this is

what Galvatron would have been like had Unicron

gotten him, right? Had had had Galvatron had

Megatron been dead and he just you've reused

his carcass or whatever it is And I don't know

it just made me love Galvatron all that much.

So anyway Beast Wars characters. Oh god, like

I mean the Beast Wars characters are just like

the best Like, pound for pound, there is not

a bad Beast Wars character. With the exception

of Tigatron and Airazor. Hey, you leave Tigerhawk

alone. I've got no problem with Tigerhawk. Tigerhawk

is a badass. But Tigatron and Airazor, Tigatron,

Airazor, Scopin - Look, Scopinhawk and Pterosaur

were so bad that they fell into lava. because

of a slight earthquake. They were that boring.

They couldn't even be bothered to come up with

good reasons to write them out of the show. You

know what it is? I adore Rattrap. I think Rattrap

is phenomenal, but I am literally, if you ask

me tomorrow, it could be a different character.

And in terms of Predacons, you know what? Inferno

is just tremendous. But I'm going to pull one

out. I'm going to say, he's not my favourite,

but he is one that is incredibly overlooked.

I adore Quickstrike. I just adore Quickstrike.

And the very fact that that original 1997 Quickstrike

toy Works so well with the current crop of Beast

Wars figures in terms of scale in terms of articulation

It's just phenomenal So yeah, I adore Quick Strike.

I think it's fantastic Awesome. Yeah, so follow

up really quickly Which voice of Galvatron do

you prefer? Do you prefer Spock or do you prefer

Frank Welker? No, I think I do prefer Leonard

Nimoy. Really? Yeah, I think so because again

he was the more measured, he was more measured

and whereas I think Frank definitely had to play

up the maniacal, cackly, crazy, you know, we

think of Webworld or something like that. You

know, I think one of... and again this is pure

headcanon and I do apologize because it's not

really a fair question if I'm saying like oh

because in my head I think this but um you know

I've always had this idea that like uh you know

when Optimus Prime opened up the matrix return

of Optimus Prime part two and the madness was

removed and stuff one of my favorite Galvatron

scenes of all time is when he comes up and he

says you know there will be no war today Autobots

you have earned Galvatron's respect and the way

Frank plays that line there's no craziness in

him or anything and it's all like I almost get

the feeling that like there is a sense that whatever

the Matrix has done it has it has given Galvatron

like a moment like Galvatron is finally in my

head it's Megatron who's talking to him. Because

in my head, so quick diversion, if I was to have

written a Transformer Season 5, and I appreciate

the fact that this would never have happened

in the Sunbow cartoons and all of that stuff,

I would have made the argument that the reason

Galvatron is insane is not because of the lava

bath, but because Megatron and Galvatron are

two completely different people and they're literally

at odds with each other. And so, you know...

My headcanon would say that, that is Megatron

talking to Optimus Prime. And I thought it would

be really symbolic because it's the last time

that Megatron talks to Optimus Prime. And the

last thing that Megatron ever says to Optimus

Prime is, there will be no war today, Optimus

Prime. But that's just my headcanon. And I think

that's when Frank... Was was really cool, but

but no I think I think Nemoy is Nemoy has the

threat but also the The intelligence as well,

so yeah, I'm gonna go with Nemoy Yeah, I man

I've given you something to think about now,

haven't I? Normally, I would argue the fact that,

you know, eh, they were the same guy. Because

essentially, one turns into the other. It's transmogrification,

it's whatever, but fuck, man, wow. You know,

Bumblebee becomes Goldbug. It is literally he

just got an upgrade and he changed his name.

He's the same guy. And to be fair, to be fair

the reason that i always thought this um was

because despite the fact that i watched the cartoons

i did not see the five faces of darkness until

i was a fully grown adult so i didn't realize

that uh I didn't realize the voice changed. No,

I knew the voice changed because I knew it was

Frank doing it. But I didn't realize that he

went into the lava bath. The only thing we got

was the secret files of Teletran 2 and you see

him coming out of the lava and stuff and he's

clearly insane and stuff. I didn't realize that

was part of an episode until I was in my 20s.

So I just assumed he was nuts because... He was

nuts, you know, and so like in my head I was

like, all right, so why is he nuts? Well, he's

nuts because Unicron was keeping the Megatron

personality in check and the Galvatron that he

created, you know, like why did Scourge and Cyclonus

work then? Well, You never saw the Insecticons

or the Seekers arguing. They were already dead.

Galvatron just reused their husks and rebuilt

them. The reason they're fine is because they

are literally a brand new personality implanted

onto dead bodies. But, you know, and all of that

stuff. So yeah, like that's always been like

my thing. Total headcanon. I love Galvatron.

I don't just love Galvatron. I love the Marvel

Comics Galvatron. I liked some of the IDW Galvatron.

You know, it's not just purely Galvatron, but

yeah. And I love Cyclones. Like cyclonus is amazing.

Yeah. Cyclonus is, is number one. Uh, yeah. Galvatron.

I love the threat that Nimoy brought with, okay.

Cause you know, you look at that and I'm going

to ask you this way later as far as like the,

the. The disparagement between the time of us

in the U S having Transformers versus when it

actually got to the UK kind of thing. Cause like,

as you've said, it wasn't all at the same time.

Uh, you know, but for me, you know, you look

at Megatron and Megatron throughout those first

two seasons, he had a couple of insane moments,

but For the most part, he was just an evil dude.

So when you take, you know, when you put them

in front of a giant planet and the giant planet

says you either obey me or you die. Well, then,

you know, I accept your, I accept your terms.

I accept your terms. You know, I think a little

bit of Galvatron was already there because, you

know, him screaming in fear of dying a little

bit. Like any of us would. Hello. I mean, if

we're facing our own death, then of course we're

going to scream. Yeah. But yeah. So when, when

you transform him, when you change him from Megatron

to Galvatron, okay, great. The only time he was

ever hindered was when Unicron tortured him.

Yet when you get to season three. And I love

this. I absolutely love the fact that Flint Dilley

and the Sunbow crew got a mental health cartoon

in the, we talk about men and women, but we talk

about men and women's mental health today and

everything else and doing the right thing for

yourself in the right amount of time, whatever

else and all this and all that. And how, you

know, we need to be able to talk about the things

that are. Going around in our brain and what

well that was the other thing I didn't tell you

Off -air was I also had brain surgery since the

last time we talked I'll tell you that story

later. Well, I hope it got it was nothing like

web world, please No, no, no No, nothing like

web world. So so yeah, I mean, I guess my whole

point here is is that yeah Leonard is the evil

side. Whereas they took Frank and just Made Galvatron

this mental patient that you needed to have?

What a way to get sympathy for a villain, honestly,

if you really think about it. If he's gone crazy,

and he's not just crazy because he's crazy, yikes.

All right, what are some other Transformers characters

you like? Oh, geez. God, I have a big love for

Jazz, Generation 1 Jazz. I have a great love

for Generation 1 Ironhide. Scopernock I adore.

Outside of Generation 1, Sentinel Prime is incredible.

Transformers Animated Megatron is the best Megatron.

Hands down like no questions. He is just the

definitive Megatron I would go so far as to say

Corey Burton is the best Megatron not David Kaye

not Frank not Frank Welker Corey Burton's Megatron

is when I when I hear Megatron if I'm reading

comic book I hear Corey Burton's Megatron I adore

his Megatron I think Oh, God. You know, I mean,

I could go through every series and there's a

character that I loved. I loved IDW's Prowl until

they basically ruined him in Barbara's run because

they just didn't know what to do with him. I

thought... I mean, if you were going to tell

me that, you know... IDW was gonna make me a

fan of like pyro like I would have said well

first of all I would have said which one's pyro

again um but uh you know like yeah there's just

there's so many um right all right so on the

flip side are there any transformers characters

you hate oh Hate's a weird word. No, I don't

think there's a character that I hate. There

are characters that I do not understand the appeal

of. I do not understand the appeal of Generation

1 Starscream. I know why I get it. I'm about

to say something here that if I'm not careful

in the way I word it, I have a feeling it could

be taken out of context. I appreciate the fact

that a character like Generation 1 Starscream

appeals to a female fanbase. I don't know why.

I don't know what it is about evil, maniacal,

backstabbing jets. That appeals to a female audience.

I have seen it But I just don't understand it

And I've never I've never really gotten on board

with it and I think to be honest the reason that

I've never gotten on board with it is because

Generation one star -screen never in the cartoon

again, and that was what I grew. It never made

sense He never made sense. He never did anything

that was worthwhile that Megatron would keep

him around. And people could say like, oh well

he was a great aerial general. Pointing me a

single thing that he did in that entire first

two seasons that would make him, that would make

you keep him around. And that's kind of why I

like Galvatron, because when he shows up and

kills him in Transformers the movie, it makes

perfect sense, because it's just like, this guy

is useless. Like, why was Skywarp, the guy that

could literally teleport around the world, why

was he not the leader of the Seekers, and he

had a cooler paint design? Yeah, I don't know

what it is about. G1 Starscream that appeals

to the female side of the fandom. I don't want

to explore it. I think the answer is obvious.

Next question. I love when a plan comes together.

I've tried to have the conversation before, but

I've never I've never met anybody who's been

able to articulate why. But I think that it's.

I think. And this is an assumption on my part,

and as I say, I would defer to a woman's opinion.

I think the part of the female brain that loves

Starscream is the same part of the male brain

that loves characters like Vegeta. Okay! Alright,

yeah, that's... That's just, that's it. That

anti... Like, we love a good anti -hero, they

just love a really evil villain. You know? Yeah.

But who knows? Absolutely. Right, next one then.

Alright, over your lifetime, as you got older,

did your interest in the Transformers franchise

grow stronger or get weaker? Oh, it's definitely

been peaks and valleys, obviously. You know...

And I'm sure you can appreciate this as well.

As a kid of the 80s, you know, Transformers came

out early 80s. I remember He -Man being the biggest

thing in the playground. Then I remember Transformers

being the biggest thing in the playground. Then

Ghostbusters was the biggest thing in the playground.

Then you got Turtles. uh and Turtles was the

game changer and then Turtles gave way to Power

Rangers and Power Rangers became the game changer

and I was always that kid in the playground who

was like no no Transformers is still the best

and everybody was like shut up David no it's

not like Transformers is so old and I was like

no no it's not because because because the movie's

cool um And then, you know... And when he says

the movie is cool, folks, he means the 86 movie,

the good one, the amazing one, even though it

has animation errors in it, whatever. They'll

maintain that if that movie hadn't been released,

Transformers wouldn't be a thing today. But anyway,

as we head out of the 80s and into the 90s, yeah,

like Transformers... pretty much, you know, I

say it's still carried on here, but there was

no real, I was a fan of the cartoons. People

were still reading the comics. I didn't, that

was it. I was kind of done with it. I fell back

into it in the early 2000s when the reissue started

hitting and all of that stuff. And then I was

back into it. And I was back into it huge. That

was my, you know, I was an adult now. I had disposable

income. I was buying everything. And that pretty

much, was how it went until about five years

ago when I sort of realized that I wasn't connecting

with uh in fact actually no i keep seeing five

years ago it's not even five years ago we're

talking like ten years ago at this point we're

talking like transformers prime was when i started

to realize that i wasn't really connecting with

the media in the same way that i did um and so

at that point i kind of i i i kind of i didn't

Leave the phone number anything but i did take

a step back stop doing the podcast i focus more

on what we did at the convention and things like

that and now i think i'm in like a really. good

place with it which is that I can happily turn

around and say yeah I've not seen the last Michael

Bay movie and nor do I have any interest in it

and you know I might I might go back and finish

watching the rest of BotBots I might not but

I don't really care to be honest um you know

and and so I I think I'm in a like I think I'm

in the right place for where I am in my life

you know I'm nearly 40 uh I'm 40 this year um

and and I'm in a I'm at a point where I know

what I like from Transformers, I know what joy

Transformers brings me, but I don't need to be...

I don't need to be everything Transformers anymore,

which I was for a good long time. So yeah, since

the early 2000s I've never left it, nor do I

ever believe I ever will leave it again. But

I just don't need to be as invested in it as,

as I, as I had been. Yeah. And I, you know, you

say that and I'm kindly. All right. We are now

at a point where I'm going to say it again, because

I'm two years older than you, but we are two

years away from the 40th anniversary of G1. So.

We've had all of this stuff in the last forty

years from cartoons to toys to comics and. Arguably

right now the toys are the best they have ever

been. You know that galvatron all different all

of the repaints of him. the dirty original mold,

the new mold that doesn't have the dirt on it,

the G1 toy design of it, the reformat. You want

to talk about something I've wanted since I was

a kid. I want a toy of reformatted Galvatron.

And they did that with whatever the has lab,

whatever the hell it was. But, you know, the

thing is, is that we all have something in this

franchise and we all also have Many other interests

that we like, I don't just sit here and record

transformers podcasts every week anymore. I record

about comics or podcasting or he man or movies

or it's that's why it's called the geek cast

radio network. That's why our hashtag is unleash

the geek in you is because it doesn't matter

what you're a geek or a nerd or whatever. About

as long as you're enjoying it, enjoy it for what

it is. I'm sure there are plenty. You know, part

of your screen name was Kal -El Primal. I assume

the Kal -El part is because you're a Superman

fan. Guilty as charged. You know, so, you know,

like the thing of it is, is we focus on the parts

of whatever fandom we like. And we have those

parts and those parts aren't necessarily more

or less important than someone else focusing

on. I mean, yeah, I may make a snide remark about

the Unicron trilogy or whatever, but you know,

like, but I'm, I haven't watched all of Armada,

Energon and Cybertron and supposedly by Cybertron,

they say it gets better quote unquote. I'm like,

it took them three series to get better. But

then again, look at the, look at the whatever.

Yeah. No, it's always a, it's always a dumb argument

that, Oh no, it gets better. Like yeah, but it's

but it's not good now though No, so I have to

put up with the crap it to get to the good bit.

Yeah. Yeah I mean, I would say, I would argue,

I would say, you know, if you don't mind reading

subtitles, just watch Galaxy Force, because Galaxy

Force is not the third part in the trilogy. You

don't need to have watched Armada and Energon,

because Galaxy Force wasn't a continuation of

those shows until it was put into Cybertron.

You know, it's a good point. Like, I've had a...

I've come to like a weird realization over the

last... couple of years, right? And I'll use

Blaster as an example because Blaster is the

most recent toy that I've bought. I was holding

Blaster in my hand, right? And this isn't a revelation

that came to me with Blaster, this has been a

revelation that I've been having over the last

two years, which is I will never need to buy

another Blaster toy in my entire life. You know,

I will never need to buy another Galvatron toy

in my entire life I will never need to buy another

cyclonus toy in my entire life I will never need

to buy another Megatron sound wave shockwave

Everybody's talking about this new blitzwing

toy. They're like, oh But you're you're gonna

get charged double the price and it's smaller

than the last one Yes, but it looks like the

g1 and it looks better than the Titans return

and it's in scale with astrotrain. So that will

be the last Blitzwing toy that I ever buy in

my entire life. I think there is a, you know,

I look at the new wave of stuff and I'm like,

let's take the legacy wave one. I need to buy

Wild Rider. I need to buy Skids and I need to

buy and I may buy the kickback. Is it kickback?

It is kickback, isn't it? And that's it. I don't

need some dodgy version of a bulkhead. I don't

need an RC repaint. Not repaint, it's obviously

a new mold, but an RC that's not generation one.

Like, and I'm perfectly happy with that. you

know, for people that want to buy everything,

I was there with you. But I was there with you

when it was cost effective to do so. When it

was going to break the bank, because you were

buying. So so I'm cool with that, like and I

am and and I hope one day everybody reaches the

same Zen tranquil that I do as well. That's not

like going back to what we said before, I want

there to be a new cartoon where I just need it.

I want there to be something so good that I'm

just like, give me all of this because it is

amazing. I want to feel that again, but the last

time I felt that was in 2007 with Transformers

Animated, and I've not felt that since. And now

we're almost, well, we're 15 years removed from

the last time that I was like, this is the best.

But yeah, it's a funny place to be in, but I

think it's a very nice place to be in. Because

again, you're not, and this will tie into the

next question, you're not having to, amongst

your friends or amongst even total strangers,

Back in 2005, 2006, 2007, we were all shouting

louder than everyone else on the message boards

so we could be heard about what we liked or didn't

like about Transformers. And now most of us who

are the age that you and I are, we're kind of

like, I'm perfectly fine with whatever it is.

that I have. And the sad thing is, and I know

you've brought it up several times here, but

you just said that it's been 15 years and I'm

like, yeah. And in that 15 years, we just recently,

I believe it was last year, lost Derek J. Wyatt.

Yeah. Fuck. Yeah. Like, Oh God. It just, you

know, that show say what anyone wants to say

about that show. But Some of the things that

they did on that show, and I've told this story

on this podcast many, many times, but the reason

why I continue to retell it is because number

one, I think it's funny that at 27 years old,

this happened to me. And number two, it's just

an awesome emotional moment when I believe it's

in trans war, probably part three at the end,

when it is revealed the true colors. I remember

I was not 2000, so I was 29. It was 2000, whatever

season three was of animated. So I was just under

my 30th birthday or whatever it is. I literally

was laying in bed watching that episode on Cartoon

Network. I literally fell out of bed when Cory

Burton says, and now I can finally serve you

under my true co the biggest gripe I had about

long arm slash shockwave and animated the biggest

gripe. Why is he gray? Why is he this color?

Why? Why is he not purple? Damn it. And I they

did they did the thing. I have I have a I have

a very I have a story for that moment as well.

All right, go ahead. Transformers animated would

air on a Saturday morning in the US. It would

then end up on a torrent site, which got usually

posted, I think, on the TFW forums about three

o 'clock UK time on a Saturday afternoon. Now,

on a Saturday afternoon for for almost an entire

decade, there was me, my friend Chris, my friend

Phil, and my friend Andy, also known as Cobra

Commander TFW from the Moonbase 2 podcast. And

obviously Andy and I were the big Transformers

fans. And we went to Asda and the animated stuff,

no, no, sorry. I do apologize. We didn't go to

the supermarket. The pictures had showed up for

the Purple Shockwave. And literally, we were

talking about it and we would get dinner and

we would sit down and we would watch Transformers

animated. That was like our Saturday ritual.

And Andy and I are literally talking about how

the The shockwave repaint is just a cheap cash

-in. It's just trying to play on nostalgia. There's

no need for us to buy it. That scene happens

and the two of us just look at each other and

go, shit, we need to buy this. This knockoff

repaint of a Generation 1 nostalgia has now become

the most important toy in our collection. We

need to buy this thing now. And like literally

by the end of the week we've gone on eBay or

whatever it is. And for me, Transformers Animated

holds a special place in my heart purely because

of what we've been able to do at TF Nation. with

Transformers Animated and what it's allowed me

to do. Uh, and the, you know, the very fact that

like in 2019, we got to effectively get the entire

cast back together to, to do season four or the

first three episodes, which are available on

YouTube, if you're interested. Um, you know,

um, and I will link them in the show notes and

I got to, you know, Marty Eisenberg sent me a

message at, uh, like 10 to 1 in the morning and

said, are you still awake? And I'm like, yes,

I am. He's like, do you want to talk to Corey?

And he's in the recording studio doing the lines

with Corey Burton, a recording studio that we

paid for to get Corey in there to do this. And

I'm just like, it's one o 'clock in the morning

and you're asking me, do I want to speak to Corey

Burton? Yes. And then do you want me to tell

my really awkward Corey Burton story? Absolutely.

That's what this podcast exists for. It's one

o 'clock in the morning. I am speaking to Corey

Burton, a guy who, you know, every Transformers

fan knows. And I've had the opportunity because

of our interaction to be able to interview Corey

and stuff. You know, Corey doesn't do conventions.

Corey is a very private individual. And I never

thought in my entire life I would ever get to

speak to Corey. And I get to speak to him and...

I say all I say to him is just you know thank

you for taking the time to do this I really really

appreciate it and he in the nicest way possible

turns around and says David it's a you know it's

a pleasure thank you for recording sorting out

the studio I hope you like it and if the conversation

had ended there it would have been a lovely two

second conversation between the two of us but

my mouth opened up and to Corey Burton, one of

the titans of voice acting, I come out saying,

well, if it's not very good, you'll do it again.

Wait, wait a second. English bastard, you gave

him a Wally Burr line, are you kidding me? It

just fell out. I was just like... He laughed

and I laughed because I was in absolute defence

mode here and then I laid an entire decade's

worth of... you know, place the trees at his

doorstep and stuff like that. But yes, I, yes,

I threatened Cory Burton with more work if he

didn't do it better. But he didn't, he did an

incredible job and it was it was amazing. So

yeah, you know, like, so, you know, animate animated

holds like just this incredible spot in my heart.

And, and you know what I, I hope that I know

this is gonna, this might sound weird and I'm

sorry like I do apologize listeners like you

know but if a show comes along the next show

comes along and I'm not saying it will because

I don't know any more about it than anybody else

but if the new show comes along and it's it's

not for me And I know that's a weird phrase now,

and it's seen as a negative, oh, it's not for

me. Well, no, no, it literally is. If a show

comes along and it's not for me, I'm not going

to complain about it. I'm not going to write

mean things on the internet. I'm not going to

talk about how it was better when I was a kid.

I'm just going to let whoever it is for enjoy

it. and I'll always be there for when the next

show comes along and the next show and the next

show and I will give them a try and if it's for

me I'll enjoy it and I just kind of I hope that

a lot of people sort of do reach that point where

where they realize that you know Just because

it's different doesn't mean it's necessarily

bad. And it doesn't all have to be in service

of you. There is, you know, G1 as, you know,

as people like to come up. Like, we should have

no complaints because we have literally been

given everything we could want. Now, don't get

me wrong. I still want my goddamn Autobot Target

Masters, where are they Hasbro, for the love

of God, what's going on? And also, where are

my... Where is... I need my Autobot Target Masters,

and I need my Throttle Bots. Like, once you've

done that, the game is done, basically. Or when

you can go back and do some of the combiners

again. But yeah, like I don't know. I just hope

I'm in a very chilled place with transformers

Yeah, and I I'm sort of in that same place I

am also in that same place with turtles so for

and this is about transformers This isn't about

turtles, but it it it is kind of sort of the

same thing We had 87 we had 2003 we had 2012

all three of those animated series I enjoy I

need to catch up with 2012 because I haven't

watched past I think season two, but whatever.

Uh, I think I saw like the first episode of season

three where they replaced Jason Biggs with, with

Seth Green, but whatever. But when rise of the

TMNT came out, I looked at it and I said, okay,

that's the direction they're going to go in.

That's fine. That's not for me. And that's okay.

I'm going to go over here and read the IDW comics

or whatever kind of thing. Did the IDW comics

bring Venus to Milo back? Yes, they did after

24 years. I saw that, right? I saw the headline,

and I saw a whole bunch of grown -ass, stupid

men moaning about the fact that they were about

to ruin it again. And I sat there and I thought

to myself, like, how misguided do you have to

be to assume that just because a character was

trekked terribly in a terrible show that nobody

enjoyed anything about, Yeah. You would assume

that by bringing that character back, you know,

all the many, many years later is going to do

exactly the same. I don't know. Is it just a,

just a weird observation that I noticed there?

So it's, yeah. So the thing about IDW Publishing

Turtles is just as with anything else, over on

the pull bag, my I usually find one or two people

where I can take that person and we can go through

everything of whatever. So I have people, I had

people for the IDW, the Robertson barber run.

I had people for this. So I have my buddy Joe

who he and I over the third, not 13, the nine

years that the podcast has been around, you know,

we've been reviewing everything in the main IDW

continuity. And at first we both thought, oh,

when they brought in Jenica and then they turned

her into a turtle, we were like, oh no, they're

going to go Venus. They didn't, but that's what

we initially had thought. And hey, if they're

going to bring back Venus and they're going to

like literally my main. So I don't, I I'm not

famous folks. I'm not, but. every once in a while

something happens to me where it's like oh my

god that just happened to me i don't remember

what was going on at the time of the in the in

the comic but in on the cover of issue 55 which

is a cover of alopex and kitsune with casey and

april in the background if you have ever been

a tmnt fan you need to check this out quote unquote

geek cast radio. That is something that I had

said to Joe on one of our podcasts. And it is

on a physical comic book cover that somebody

can purchase. Here's the thing. I don't care

what, like there's nothing in the turtles universe

that, that IDW can do wrong. That is a love letter

to the entire franchise of the Turtles. You know,

to, again, not necessarily one up your Cory Burton

story, but I have a couple of Derek stories myself

that you may not know. When they were planning...

they were doing something with Motor Master.

It's similar to your story. It was like one or

two in the morning. I was wide awake. I was surfing

Twitter and Derek J. Wyatt was on Twitter. And

he's like, really quickly, I need to see the

back of G1 Motor Master's head. So I'm like,

combing through all of the G1 episodes to see

if I can find a screen cap of the back of Motor

Master's head. I got that to him. He said, oh,

gee, thanks. And that's all I ever. Next thing

you know, we have BotCon 2011 Motor Master. And

then going back to Shockwave with the Shockwave

toy that you and your friends just absolutely

had to have after, you know, Corey did the colors

and whatever. Derek told Twitter and told me

one Saturday morning. Yeah. A lot of the Transformers

animated toys are on sale at Target for five

bucks. I said, you're kidding. This was at like

6 a .m., 7 a .m. Eastern time. Target opened

at 8 a .m. I was there at 8 30. I got that purple

shockwave for $5 United States currency. You

know, the terrifying thought would be that's

like, that's like a $50. Like if that toy was

released today, that's like a $50 figure. Oh

yeah. Oh, it's so crazy. The notion of buying

toys nowadays though, my God. How do kids afford

it? I have no idea. They don't. They just make

their parents work so the parents can afford

it. Yeah, true. Getting back to the questions,

and this has been an obviously amazing conversation

as I knew it would be, kind of like I said about

shouting earlier, with the internet giving birth

to the fans all having a voice about what they

like or don't like about Transformers, do you

find that your voice gets lost in the shuffle,

or do you just shout louder? I just don't care

anymore. I don't care. I also really don't care

what other people think either. But again, I

think that just comes with age. I think you get

to the point where it's not important to win

the argument. It's not important to even be involved

in the argument. I think the online fandom has

a lot to answer for, especially in the wake of

the attempt to open the community up, especially

to female Transformers fans. I don't understand

why this is such a contentious issue. However,

having said that, and certainly Transformers

has not really had this to that degree, things

like Star Wars have certainly been a polarizing

thing for that Making I maintain That I do not

like the sequel trilogy Having said that The

the reason well actually and the reason that

I do not like the sequel trilogy is because of

Rey and the way she was handled. It is not an

objection to a female -led story. It is an issue

with a badly written story. End of. You know,

and just a... prove my point, the very fact that

Palpatine is still alive, completely undoes Anakin's

entire plot story, the dude that brings balance

to the force, therefore it completely destroys

Star Wars. End of discussion. Like, there is

no argument to be made there. Having said that,

yeah, you know, I don't understand why opening

the the floodgates to anybody who wants to be

involved in it. I think, you know, that fandoms

do have a lot to answer for in regards to that.

So yeah, I just shut up. I just don't care. I'd

much rather just chill out and read a book. I

wish that things like Twitter let you write out

your message but wouldn't let you post it for

five minutes. So you could just sit there and

look at it and like chill out. and then think,

do I really want to post this? Um, you know,

but hey, but yeah, no, I, I don't, I, I don't

find my voice being lost in the shuffle because

if anybody, if anybody cares what a 40 year old

man thinks who collects toys, who's got the problem

here? Me or you? Yeah. I mean, the reason why

I asked that question is more so you know as

of you know 10 15 whatever years ago it was when

we were all joining tfw or whatever like you

know that's more about like message boards and

things like if i go on insert name message board

name here and i just introduce myself my name

is mike i like this this and this and this and

this about transformers oh by the way rodimus

prime is the one true leader of the autobots

in my personal opinion And somebody will come

back and say, oh, well, you're wrong, but that's

okay. And I'm just, I just look at that and I'm

like, okay. Yeah, it's like, I mentioned this

in the last origins episode I did last month.

And I said, there was a meme on Facebook where

you have three of the go bots characters, go

bots, the Kmart of transformers. And someone

commented on that post and said, well, they came

first. And I said, Well, in this case, first

was the worst. The same person I'm replying to

says, that's your opinion. You're wrong. But

that's your opinion. I'm like, opinions can't

be right or wrong. They're just opinions. If

you agree, fine. If you disagree, fine. Yeah,

that's it. You know, that's it. The problem with

the internet is everybody needs to have a brand

online. And everybody needs their brand to be

the most successful, you know, I mean, and I'm

not I'm not taking shot, you know, but you got

you guys have got a podcasting network and stuff

like that. You have a you have a presence. You

have a footprint on the Internet and stuff like

that. And, you know, people come to you because

they've they've listened to what you guys have

said and basically have decided that, you know,

their mindset seems to line up with yours, you

know, and they want to hear more of what you

have to say. And that's cool. Like if people

want to listen to what we have to say on these

long conversations and stuff, then that's cool.

But you know what, I would give you the time

of day if you were a crazy person and said something

like, I don't know, like Rodimus Prime is the

one true leader of the Autobots. You know what

I mean? I would still give you the time of day.

You're wrong. But yeah, so I don't know, the

internet's a funny place and I would just tell

people not to pay much attention to what I have

to say. Yeah, I mean, I think we can all be in

agreement if Nightwing's Insignia just turns

purple. That way one has blue, one has red, and

there you go, it's purple. Bingo! Nightwing is

the new leader of the Decepticons. I am not prepared

to give up on this hill. Unless, of course, you're

a fan of Batman and Robin, in which case, is

that what you're getting at here? No, no, no.

I mean, it's okay. It's probably the movie I

would put last amongst all of the other movies

right next to Rises, but, uh, yeah, I, no, no,

no. What is your personal Transformers anthem

song? Examples, but you don't have to choose

from these, obviously. Stan Bush, The Touch,

Dare, Vince Da Cola's stuff, Animated Score,

Beast Wars stuff, whatever. My favorite piece

of Transformers music is... the launch shuttle

sequence from Transformers the movie. Ah, yes.

Just it builds and it builds and it builds and

it is it is one of those pieces of music which

I have listened to it at that movie so many times

that I can just fit the dialogue cue into the

music. You know, having said that, another And

again, going back, I mean, it's all Transformers,

the movie related, isn't it? No, it's like, you

know, the music cue of Rodimus Prime at the end.

where you finally hear the catchphrase of the

show, Autobots Transform and Roll Out. That music

cue is absolutely fantastic. He transforms, he

opens up his canopy, and you'll never give in

when you're back. I mean, it's just legendary.

A song that I loved. And I appreciate obviously

why it was changed. I loved the original Till

All Are One, so Ground Zeroes. Obviously changed

because of September 11, 2001. Totally understand

it. But that was the first song that I heard

when I realized that Stan Bush was still making

Transformers songs. That was when I sort of realized

that Stan Bush was actually a person, and I was

kind of just like, I was like, whoa, hold on

a minute, and he's got this other one, and it's

banging. So those are a couple of ones. However,

from a, and I would say those are some of my

favorites, but from a purely artistic And you

cannot argue with the arrival music from the

2007. Oh no, you can't at all. Just absolutely

beautiful. And is one of the reasons that I will

go back and watch that movie, is just to watch

that scene. I still think it's incredible. I

still think it's one of the greatest bits of

Transformers ever produced. Because it was it

was what you had been waiting for since you were

a little kid to see Like them and it was like

Optimus Prime, you know and take everything else

with a pinch of salt, but that's what you were

waiting for You know, so so yeah some Those would

be some of my musical choices. Oh and absolutely

rescue bots theme song Like Yeah, I cannot tell

you how many times since I started podcasting

in 2008. I want to say that I am the record holder

of having Stan Bush interviews. Since 2008, I

guarantee you I've talked to that guy at least

10 times over the years, if not more. I just

recently talked to him last year. Because his

10 CD box set, the Stan Bush collection was coming

out. So yeah, Stan is amazing. Vince DiCola amazing.

All of the people that have ever worked on Transformers

music, all of them are absolutely amazing. Every

single last one of them. Do you want to hear

my really funny Stan Bush story? Sure. The first

time I got to interview Stan Bush was for the

podcast, oh god, many, many, many years ago.

I think this would have been when he was trying

to get one of his songs on one of the, you know,

there was that period where people were like

all of that stuff. And myself, my friend Adam

and Nick Roche interviewed Stan Bush. Wow, and

Nick is a huge Stan Bush fan like when we when

we had him over at TF nation We did the concert

a few years ago like Nick introduced him like

Nick is a like a die -hard Stan Bush fan So I

when I found out I was gonna interview him. I

was like, hey Nick, do you want to join us? Nick

was like, yes So there's like, you know one transformer

celebrity interview and another one but as a

total fan Anyway, we were talking to him and

we were asking him questions and things like

that and he mentioned that he many, many years

ago, and you'd probably know this one, but he

released an album, I think in the 80s, where

the name of the album was actually a telephone

number. And the idea was is that you would ring

the telephone number and you would get the latest

information on Stan Bush. Anyway, he tells us

this and we're like, oh, that's really interesting.

And then we end the podcast, Stan leaves and

all of that stuff, and the three of us are standing.

sat there and were like, we talked to Stan Bush,

hey! And then one of us has the bright idea,

let's ring the telephone number. So we ring it,

and we're thinking, oh, it's bound to be disconnected,

you know, this was an album back in the 80s or

the 90s or something. 1994, dial 818 -888 -8638.

Yeah, no, that telephone number is still very

much in use and it is somebody's private telephone

number. We don't get the person, we get their

answering machine. Please leave your message

after the beep. Beep! There's just silence. Until

Nick Roche, in his thick Irish accent, just goes,

Hello? We're looking for the touch. Do you have

the power? Listen, all hell's breaking loose

and we're right in the eye of the storm. So if

you could get back to me, that would be great.

Thanks, bye. And just we hang up. And I just

imagine that somewhere in the United States,

somewhere, somebody got a voicemail and they

listened to it. And it was an Irishman basically

quoting the touch to them. And that was just

like a really ridiculous, funny story. that,

you know, Nick Roche prank calling people. That's

funny. After Amy, I don't, was it Amy, Nicole,

and I, or I don't know. I know Amy was on it.

After we did Last Stand. Oh, what's the second

one? Is it Last Stand, Sin, and Requiem? I don't

even know if we did Requiem of the Wreckers.

Anyway, Sin's and the Wreckers was the second

one, yeah. Yep, Sin's was the second, and Requiem

was... I don't even know if we ever ended up

doing Requiem, I don't remember. But anyway,

after one of those, and I am famously... And

I blame the Marvel storybooks for this. I am

famously not a fan of Springer. I love Neil Ross

to death, but I fully say that Springer in the

movie is a homewrecking mofo because he just

wants to come between RC and Hot Rod and Daniel

and all that and whatever else. The main reason

why I've always said that is because when I was

six years old in 1986, I only ever read Before

i saw the movie really the wild boy of quintesson

story book from marvel books and in that book

the only person the only robots that are in that

is cup rc hot rod. And obviously the dinobots

but like springer is nowhere in there whatsoever

so when i went in i read last stand sins and

i again i don't remember if we did requiem. I

picked out several lines. From one of those amazing

Nick Roche books and I had already done I think

either one or two interviews with Neil Ross and

I said, Hey, I emailed Neil and I said, Hey,

Mr. Ross, I'm doing a comic book. Review where

one of your characters is the star Autobot in

it. And I said, these are some several lines

would, you know, would you mind saying them as

the character? He goes, no, sure. When do you

need to buy? And I said, whatever it will, you

know, whatever it was. And next thing I know

I have G1, I still have them in my audio archive

on my computer. I have the voice of G1 Springer

saying lines that Nick Roche wrote. I emailed

Nick and I said, here, enjoy these. And I believe

he emailed me back and said, Oh my, he said something.

I forget what it was that he said, but I basically

made the guy's day and I've never talked to Nick.

I would love to interview Nick because Nick is

awesome. But what I, cause I just, I always,

the way I view my podcast is it's an audio drama.

It's an audio production so i view it in the

way of audio production but also view it the

way of either a movie or television show or a

cartoon where if i can throw in a clip of whatever

it is i will. As long as it makes sense as long

as it doesn't interrupt the conversation kind

of thing so so yeah. So i've got i've got those

and all that good stuff no it's just it's just

so that's one thing about the transformers fandom

all these. you know, whatever negatives there

are in it. There's so many more positive aspects

of being a Transformers fan. Couldn't agree more.

Because we have, some of us get to have these

amazing experiences of meeting whomever, you

know, insert person here or getting to have a

call with insert voice actor here, whatever.

Oh God. And I don't know if I've told you this

before, and I know I've probably mentioned this

on the show. When I interviewed Phil Lamar, I

think it was the first or the second time and

As we all know Phil was the voice of animated

jazz One of the questions I asked him was did

they ever Ask you to do scat man And he said

No they didn't they wanted me to do my own thing

as far as the voice for jazz and animated and

he goes if i did scat man and then he goes into

scat man and i'm like. Fuck scatman crothers

just came back to life what the hell is literally

i thought scatman was like right behind me i'm

like the dude's been dead for however many years

the man has been dead. but wow just so it's moments

like that it's moments like with your story with

corey and at one o 'clock in the morning and

you know that's why i love being in this fandom

is because it's moments like that that just you

know yeah yeah absolutely i mean you know you

uh you know just as a complete aside if they

and i don't know i i very much doubt this is

a question you're going to ask but uh you know

If there was one, like, if there was one person

involved in the Transformers universe that I

wish I could just have the pleasure of having,

like, two minutes with, it would be Scatman.

Like, the, you know, and I mean, Phil Lamar,

don't get me wrong, you know, incredible dancer,

incredible, you know, incredible, like, physical

performer and all of that stuff. And Scatman,

exactly the same, you know, just like... One

of those came from a generation of performers

who could do everything. Yeah. You know, sing,

dance, act, play a musical instrument. And was

just a cool cat. You know what I mean? Like I

would love to have just had two minutes of that

guy's time. Yeah. And I've never met, I've never

spoken to anybody who's ever had any interaction

with Scatman. That was not just incredible, you

know. And when you talk to people like Greg or

Neil or any of these people, they talk with such

reverence about Scatman. Oh, yeah. And Andy was

jazz man. So it's just cool as, you know, but

yeah. But no, you're right, you're right, those

moments are incredible. Absolutely. How often

do you go back and re -watch any of the Transformers

cartoons? It depends, really. It just depends

what I feel like. I haven't seen that episode

in a while, I'm going to watch that. It's easier

to go back and watch Generation 1 purely because

it's usually a self -contained 22 minutes. That

said, there are several episodes from Beast Wars

that I would go back to and re -watch. But again,

even when you start getting into Beast Wars,

the time commitment becomes greater because it's

a connected narrative. But I can't tell you how

many times I've watched Code of Heroes. I go

back on a fairly regular basis. I just couldn't

put a time frame to it. I'm not going to sit

there and say that I watched... You know, I'll

watch Transformers the movie at least once a

year. Yep. Or whenever they release a new version

of it. But yeah, like, I mean, it's fairly frequently.

But I tend to just go back to the stuff that

I know I enjoy. You know, there's a lot of Generation

1 episodes that if you gave me the title of it,

I would go, uh, which one's that again? You know,

like I have no desire to rewatch the core or

I don't know. I was about to say I was about

to say the Dweller in the Depths, but that's

a really good episode and I totally would rewatch

that over and over again. But you know. I mean,

yeah, I mean, yeah, it's like Carnage and C minor.

It's great and small doses throughout your life.

It's not like you're going to watch that episode

all the time or, you know, masquerade from season

two. Hey, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Masquerade

is awesome. Masquerade is awesome because the

Stuntacons are my favorite combiner group, like

end of discussion. They are the boys. Like for

me, an episode like, oh god, I literally just

thought of it there and it's gone now. Like,

The Girl Who Loves Power Glide. Not an episode

that people would consider to be like top ten.

However, for whatever reason, here in the UK,

the video releases that we always got, for whatever

reason, the backup... episode on the videotapes

would always be The Girl Who Loved Powerglide,

so I have like fond memories of that episode

because it was one that I saw repeatedly as a

kid, you know, but I'm not going to say that

I've watched The Girl Who Loves Powerglide in

the last five years, but if... Tomorrow I wake

up and go in fact I might actually I might go

hey I thought about the girl who loved power

glide last night I might watch that and then

I'll watch it and then I don't need to see it

again for a decade, you know, but Yeah, it's

it. No, I I do go back on a on a fairly frequent

basis. Yeah Yeah, I mean and it generation one

specifically is more of It's 98 episodes, but

you don't need to watch all 98 you can pick out

your favorites you can watch the multi -parters

if you want you can You know pick your favorite

care like triple takeover if you want an astrotrain

and blitzwing episode and yeah, you know make

tracks if you want to if you want a tracks episode

or Whatever and you know like there there are

There are three or four transformers episodes

from G1 that I will watch probably once a year,

along with Transformers the movie. Like, they

are my go -to episodes. Like, the book stops

here in terms of best Transformers cartoons ever.

Right. But yeah, most of the time I'll sort of

stick to them. And then periodically I'll dip

in here and there. Absolutely. You've kind of

already answered this but we all love Transformers

comics, which incarnation do you love and why?

I love all of them. Like I genuinely do love

like all of them You know, we're not talking

about the like Panini UK Transformers the movie

comics and stuff like that But you know each

of them have their own Unique take on things

I think You know, Marvel UK has just a fascinating

history. Like genuinely fascinating history.

Changed the comic book game in the UK to a degree.

You know, in the US, I think you would probably

agree that when people talk about 80s comic books

based on kids cartoon, you guys talk about G

.I. Joe. and you guys talk about G .I. Joe the

way we talk about Transformers here. So, you

know, Marvel UK has a big thing for me. As I

say, Dreamwave got me back into it. I can absolutely

tell you that MicroMasters is a pile of tosh.

You know, and I make no bones about it. In fact,

I would argue that, you know, that those Dreamwaves

comics, they're pretty rough, man. They can be,

but I have a nostalgic attachment to them. I

think Simon Furman's Asian series is one of the

biggest biggest regrets in in Transformers because

I think IDW jerked too soon that concept had

so much potential to go for so much longer and

I still think it is a concept that idea of a

cold war Transformers comic book like a series

where neither force is going anywhere and they're

kind of just bickering backwards and forwards

and the And I remember when those comics first

hit and everybody was like, this is ridiculous,

it's about three human beings. It's like, yeah,

because the war doesn't budge and the only thing

that does budge is the people in the middle of

it. And that's why it has to be about human beings.

I think it's an incredible one. All -Hill Megatron

is a great summer blockbuster if you love Generation

1. I am in one of the Transformers comics for

the ongoing series, so I can't be totally angry

at that, even though it wasn't brilliant. And

then, of course, you get James Roberts' More

Than Meets the Eye, which, and I have said this

to James's face, it's not for me, but I appreciate

what that did for the fandom in bringing people

in. So yeah, and as we've talked about, I do

think that in five years time we'll be looking

back at IDW2 and I think once it's all said and

done, I think there might be a reassessment there.

And I'm really anxious to see what happens next.

You know, the rumours are speculating. We've

heard that Kirkman might get his hands on it.

I am fascinated to know what a Transformers comic

book. Now, let me phrase this in a way that does

not insult every single person who has ever worked

on a Transformers comic book. I am anxious to

see what a Transformers comic book looks like

from a major well -known group of comic book

professionals. And what I mean by that is people

who have worked for the big two in meaningful,

long -running careers. And that's not a poo -poo.

Anybody who's worked on Transformers before,

I don't mean that. It will be interesting because

we have seen how difficult it can be for writers

to manage Transformers effectively. The future

for the comics and Transformers is, as we all

know... It's up in the air. We don't have any

there has as of this recording there has not

been any definitive set in stone news of where

that license is going to go. I think this point,

I think you'll we'll know in a couple of months.

I think we're right. Yeah, no summer summertime

comic. Yeah, as the as the convention circuits

open up with yeah. Yeah, I mean because. I want

Kyle Higgins and Boom Studio to get it. I've

been reading the Power Rangers stuff and it's

amazing. So let's give that a go. Steve Megatron

and I have said, Steve was like, oh, it'd be

interesting to see if Marvel got it again like

they had it originally. And my reply to him was,

you know what I want to see, Steve? I want to

see a DC Comics Transformers. Just to say that

Transformers was both at the big two. Well I

recently watched the Peacemaker TV show and in

that TV show Peacemaker references Optimus Prime

which means like literally by name and I put

a tweet out basically saying that so by that

rationale and given ages That means that not

only does Transformers exist in the DC Cinematic

Universe, but it means that there's a good chance

that Henry Cavill's Superman has a favorite Generation

1 episode. Just extrapolating that Superman's

favorite episode is something. But yeah, like,

I don't know, like, I've heard the rumors. And

they're all rumors at this point, we don't know.

I think I'm pretty sure I know where it's going,

but... Like I say, we'll have to wait and see.

I would love it to be a curveball. I would love

it to go to somebody. I don't think it'll go

to Marvel because Marvel is owned by Disney and

why would Disney promote a property that they

don't own? I've heard the rumors of Disney wanting

to buy Hasbro and all of that stuff. I don't

see it. But, like I say, I just hope that wherever

it goes it it goes um it goes to somebody who

who's got a good well we we know right we it's

public knowledge that idw pitched to get the

license back and they were the hasbro rejected

their pitch That has been said, I think, by people

in IDW. So we know that whoever's got it has

delivered a better pitch than IDW did. So that

immediately makes it interesting. Yeah. Yeah,

it does. All right. What was your very first

Transformers toy as a kid? That's a very good

question. The toy that I think I have the earliest

memory with is a Generation 1 Blitzwing. It certainly

wasn't the first Transformers toy. I'm sure it

wouldn't have been. But yeah, I distinctly remember

being at my grandparents' house with a Generation

1 Blitzwing. And I think that's probably the...

earliest memory that I have. Very cool. Yeah,

everybody's saying the critiques on the new Blitzwing

and I'm like, do you not remember the Generation

One toy? I always love it when people critique

Blitzwing because we've never had a Blitzwing

where people have ever gone, oh wow, that's really

cool. And you're like, yeah. He transforms into

a plane and a tank. You could not get two more

diametrically opposed shapes if you tried. One

is designed to be sleek and fast, the other one

is designed to be thick, hard and like, the very

fact that the concept even exists is ridiculous.

Like people complaining about that, you know,

it's so dumb. It is what it is. How big is your

Transformers toy collection? My Transformers

toy collection takes up an entire room plus an

entire garage full of tubs of toys that I have

no desire to ever play with again. My only regret

is that I am just a hoarder by nature. I'm not

that bad. Like don't get me wrong. I'm not living

me on filth or anything like that Right, right.

No, yeah, because I have a wife but you know

would be living crap. I don't mean yeah but no

like I have You know a dozen or so Plastic tubes

full of Transformers toys, which one day I need

to Give to people like, you know But yes, I it

is it is a substantial I say substantial collection

I have seen collections that make my collection

look like a drop in the ocean But uh, but you

know, it's a it's a collection that has been

accumulated over 20 22 years now In terms of

what I have out on display, I just have the what

I consider to be the definitive Generation 1

collection and that is not Generation 1 toys.

In fact, I only have one Generation 1 toy out

and that is my Generation 1 Octopus Prime. Everything

else is at the earliest. The oldest toy that

I have out on my shelf is Because I still think

to this day he is the best representation of

the figure is Classics Hound Okay, and yeah,

I remember a classic sound yeah still to this

day the best version of Hound and Then everything

else is well to be honest Most everything else

came out over the last Three or four years, you

know, yeah So yeah, I just want Toys now are

insanely fun to play with insanely incredibly

well engineered and and look like the the characters

that I I grew up with as a kid home my interpretation

of them So yeah, so so I have a I've got a good

collection. I think Very cool. Very cool If you

could voice any Transformers character, who would

it be and why? Oh, God. I do not have. Like,

I studied acting as a profession, but I've never

been any good at voices. I don't know, what would

a Geordie, Geordie is what they call people who

come from Newcastle, which is roughly where I

live. I don't know what we would, I don't know

what a Geordie Transformer would sound like.

Like, what you're doing, like, you know, I've

got the idea, like, you know. I don't think a

transformer would sound like that at all. So

perhaps... Durge. Purely because I turned and

looked at my shelf and he was the first one that

caught my eye. Now if you could keep that voice

of just how you said his name, Durge. Like you

keep that intensity throughout the entire performance?

Well, if I were, if I was clever enough, I would

basically say I would do Soundwave because I

can do a really good Dr. Claw. I'll get you next

time, Gadget. Next time. You know, I've been

told my Dr. Claw is great, but I have just ruined

my throat. Like literally, you know, an old sound

wave is just inspect a gadget with a vocoder.

So maybe sound wave then. Yeah, I don't know.

That's awesome. God, that hurt my throat. I don't

know how we did it. I have no idea how we did

it. Well, that's why he's Frank Welker and I'm

not. Who is your favorite Transformers? Person,

actor, voice actor, whatever. Oh, God. I've had

the privilege of getting to meet and know some

incredible people. Mm -hmm. Who is my favorite,

as in human being -wise? Peter Spellos. Okay.

Peter is a very dear friend of mine. I played

Skypie in the original Transformers Robots in

Disguise. He is a very, very dear and close friend

of mine. He has been to my house. He has stayed

with my family. He is a wise sage to me. He is

a beautiful human being and always has a positive

word for everybody and given his story and what

he has. he has gone through in regards to, you

know, the cost of celebrity. I think it's a beautiful

one. You know, so I would probably say him. In

fact, I would say him, but I mean, you know,

other people that I'm very close to, you know,

Paul Iding, who not only voiced Perceptor, but

also voiced Colonel Campbell from the Metal Gear

Solid series, which I adore, Greg Berger, just

because of the fact that when I introduced my

wife to, oh yes, this is Eeyore from Winnie the

Pooh, and she lost her mind. So yeah, I have

been... Because of the convention, I've been

incredibly fortunate to get to know some of these

people on a personal level, and they're just

beautiful human beings. So Greg was there when

you obviously introduced him to your wife, correct?

Mm -hmm. Please tell me he said in response,

thanks for noticing me. that's exactly what he

said you know that's it because these guys you

know these guys you know when I always hate that

I always hate can you do when you know when you're

in a public forum and stuff like that I always

hate that question can you say this in this um

and it's it's only because it's like I always

get the dance monkey dance um sense of it you

know um but yeah like you know these guys they're

so used to it that it's just it's down pat and

yeah you're right they have those stock phrases

you know if you ever if you're ever talking to

paul um and you bring a metal gear solid he will

instantly go into uh I don't know if you're aware.

But the AI, I Need Scissors 61. When the flying

fish or whatever it was. They've got these stock

phrases. My favorite one is whenever you ask

a voice actor about a voice and they go, I have

no earthly idea. That's when you realize you've

got somewhere. What show is that from? Hmm. Yeah.

They're just like, I have no idea. Move on. And

you're like, right, cool. That's fine. Very fortunate

to know some very beautiful people within the

franchise. Absolutely. All right. So this cannot

be anything that... May or may not have been

announced, this cannot be anything that's in

production already or about to come out. What

is your dream masterpiece figure that they have

never done? I have so many angry opinions of

the masterpiece toy line. Oh no. No, I genuinely

do. I think the master, I have real problems

with the masterpiece toy line. Because can't

we just accept the fact that it's the third party

toy line now? Essentially it is yeah What the

last the last toy that Hasbro put out was another

version to Kara rather was another version of

Starscream Which is what the third or fourth

now? I don't even I've lost count, but we've

but we've still never yet had a masterpiece Galvatron

or jazz I don't think they've actually ever done

jazz, but that could be. Yeah, with the Ottawa

Cars, I give them a pass because of car licensing.

Right. But the very fact that we've never had

a leader of the Decepticons. And I get it. Japan

is a very different society. Bad guys don't sell

in Japan. Yeah. Good guys do. I totally understand

that from a cultural standpoint, but seriously,

you're gonna give us three versions of Starscream

and never give us... Anyway, that wasn't the

question. Sorry, this isn't a rant on... If I

could have... I mean, technically we don't need

a masterpiece Galvatron anymore because we have

leader class Galvatron in whatever color you

want him in, dirt or no dirt. Well, all I can

say is... Where do you land on the Rumble is

Blue, Frenzy is Red or Rumble is Red, Frenzy

is Blue debate? I grew up with the cartoon Rumble

is Blue, Frenzy is Red. I know I, I know I am

wrong. Well, for me, I always say Rumble is purple,

Frenzy is black, but it is what it is. Yeah.

Like I know I'm wrong. I know the cartoon was

the one that made the mistake, but I don't care.

Like, you know, that's it. Yeah. Yep. If you

could create any Transformers fiction, toy, cartoon,

comic, et cetera, what would it be and what story

would you want to tell with it? Ooh, I... I always...

I could probably say this now because I guess

the... I submitted two pitches to IDW many, many

years ago. Oh, wow. Yeah, yeah. Oh, okay. Neither

of which went anywhere. Perhaps I wasn't very

good. Well... The reason one didn't go anywhere

was because it was literally fan service It was

absolutely fan service. I pitched a story which

basically retconned the end of all hail Megatron

And the only reason that it retconned the end

of all hail Megatron is because I thought that

Honda deserved better than to go out the way

he did. Mm -hmm. And so there was this story

where It was and it was Ironically, it was Nick's

last stand of the records that sort of ruined

this so this this was pitched during the ongoing

but before No, no, sorry, this was after this

was after records was came out, but it was before

obviously James took over and stuff like that

So the general thing of it was is that Verity

came back to Earth after last stand of the wreckers.

She had post -traumatic stress disorder and one

of the things that the Earth was still dealing

with was the aftermath of the attack on New York

City. One of the ways that she tried to cope

with it was to try and help people get over the

grief of it. And one of the things that she realized

she'd been running from the whole time was the

fact that Hunter's family, which had been previously

established as existing, never knew what happened

to Hunter. And so she decided that she was going

to... Go visit that the hunt as parents and finally

come clean with what happened and So she goes

to the house and she knocks on the door and lo

and behold hunter onion opens the door uh and

uh well sorry no it's it's not hunda it's his

sister rachel who who opens the door and she

she breaks down and she explains da da da da

and rachel's like well no you've obviously got

the wrong hunter onion because he's he's cooking

cookies or whatever it is and uh and hunda rocks

open and hunda like has no idea who verity is

and so basically what you are going to find out

during the course of the story was that while

Verity was off with the wreckers in space, Ratchet

had also had a crisis of conscience over what

happened to Hunter because Ratchet was the one

that brought Hunter into the war. And so Ratchet

in his holographic form went and met with Rachel,

his sister, and uh he oh god what was it he he

realized through talking to her that because

honda was missing bearing in mind this is taking

place right after all hill megatron so new york

is still a mess at this point he realizes that

like honda being gone uh will will ultimately

do more harm than good to rachel And so what

you learn through the course of the story is

that what Hunder actually is, is a facsimile.

Right. And Ratchet has rebuilt Hunder, but because

he was merged with Sunstrigger, they digitally

had all of Hunder's personality and memory. Okay.

And so this guy is, for all intents and purposes,

Hunder. But what Ratchet did was he only implanted

the memories up until the point where Hunda went

out alien hunting that day. Okay. So it is Hunda.

It's 100 % Hunda but it's not the real Hunda.

And Verity finds out about this and there's a

big existential argument between Hunda and Ratchet.

And sorry, between Verity and Ratchet, and Verity's

argument is how can you do this? You've created

a monster who doesn't have a soul. And Ratchet

turns around and says, I don't know what you're

talking about. And she's like, the soul, the

thing that makes you you, you don't have it.

And to cut a long story short, the argument essentially

ends with Ratchet opening up his chest compartment

and revealing his spark and he goes, that's me.

Everything that is me is that. Point to your

soul. And Verity can't do it. Meanwhile, in the

background, there is a cult who worship Overlord.

who are on Earth for a diabolical reason that

I won't go into and stuff like that. But it turns

out that they are led by two occultists of the

Decepticon cause known called Mega and Giga.

Which is obviously the name of the overload.

Power Masters from and stuff like that. And then

they get into things and Searchlight was going

to be in it and stuff like that because he showed

up at the end of Last Hand of the Wreckers and

stuff. And I pitched it and it didn't go anywhere.

So there you go. That would be how I would have

brought Hunter Onion back to life. The other

thing. So, yeah, I don't know. I would I did

I I tried to do that. What would I do? I don't

know. Like, I'm not I'm not clever enough to.

to do I would do something set it on Cybertron

a police procedural with Optimus Prime like as

a cop and you could slowly weave in the political

machinations of the Decepticons and stuff like

the city of Kaon and stuff like that but ultimately

like you know do NCIS with Optimus Prime And

as you're saying this, my first thought was Optimus

Prime ends up turning into Martin Riggs, whereas

Bumblebee is essentially Leo Getz. Whatever you

need, Leo Getz. Yeah, yeah. Josh Burcham and

I originally started plotting this out, but we

were actually using the Generation 2 characters,

so it was like Mirage. Sorry, not generation

two, rather. Oh God, what was it? What was the

line called? Oh, I can't remember anyway. But

Josh and I did have this idea of doing some weird...

police procedural thing where it was like set

on Cybertron and Optimus was like a crime scene

investigator or a Ryan Pax was at the time and

stuff like that. Yeah. But yeah, so I don't know.

I leave that stuff to much better and much more

talented people. You know, just like just like

anybody who's ever read a comic book, they think

they can write a comic book. You know, because

comic books look easy. Comic books are not easy.

No, they're not. And I always I always used to

think I always used to think I could write a

Transformers comic and then I read More Than

Meets the Eye issue 6. And I have said this to

James, I turned around and I went, I don't know

how you did that. I still to this day, I have

read that comic again and again and again and

again and I do not know how you managed to accomplish

that. It's a phenomenal piece. of art and literature.

And that was the moment that I realized I'm not

good enough to do this. And I've said that to

James before. I've told him to his face that

he killed any desire that I had to be a writer.

So well done you. Oh, and you destroyed Starsaber

as well. So you can go away. Oh man, yeah, I

mean, I don't know how it would work and it's

more of a general world story that I want to

tell. What if we had the internet 40 years ago

instead of having the internet when we had it?

I don't know how the world would be where it

is now if that had happened, but I don't know.

I can't deal. Just like Ultra Magnus, I can't

deal with that now. The only thing that I've

ever said in regards to stories, and I think

this is the truest thing that I've ever heard,

is it doesn't matter what you write as long as

whatever you're writing works within the rules

of the world that you are creating. Like, you

can make anything, but your world has to... in

order to tell a particular story, you have to

make sure that the world accommodates that story.

And the perfect example I always have of that

dissonance that doesn't work for me, and obviously

take out the views of said author and stuff,

I think the Harry Potter series don't work. And

I've never read the books, I've only watched

the movies, but every time I watch it, I'm just

like, I don't understand how or why this, the

only reason that he who shall not be named is

a threat is because everybody else is being stupid.

I have, again, put the author aside. No. I have

never had any interest in Harry Potter, anything.

I don't dislike it, but at the same time, I don't

care. And the reason is, and I've, again, I've,

the listeners have heard me say this over the

last 14 years that I've been podcasting. In 2000,

I was in a, a book store. I think it was books

a million. I don't remember. It was, I know it

wasn't Barnes and Noble, but it was some. bookstore

here in the states. And I went up to the clerk

and I said that, you know, I like reading Dean

Kuhn's books. I like reading John Grisham stuff.

I like reading this, this, this, and this, and

this. Can you give me, I guess it was a new town

I was living in in Mississippi and whatever else.

And she said, okay, let me introduce you to two

separate and very different things. On the left,

you have a boy wizard. On the right, you have

a former lingerie buyer turned bounty hunter.

Now, can you guess which one 20 year old me went

towards? Yeah, yeah, yeah. That makes a lot of

sense. And the former lingerie buyer turned bounty

hunter is the ever popular Janet Ivanovich character

Stephanie Plum from the Stephanie Plum series.

and I have read those books. I need to catch

up on them, but I've read those and I have never

ever done anything in any kind of hog anything.

Alright, final question. What is one piece of

advice that you'd give the Transformers fandom

and Transformers collectors in general? It's

for kids. It should be. It should always be for

kids because one of these days and this is a

People said god you sound so pessimistic one

of these days. You're not going to be here and

transformers is Yeah It is going to outlive all

of us and to claim ownership of it uh and try

to resist change um and try and make sure it

is still all about you uh does nothing but drag

it down and given the fact that as I said before

Hasbro are in the business of keeping things

exactly the same because what they have at the

moment makes them money uh is just going to stop

What the brand needs now more than ever is to

transform. But it can't. And it stagnates. And

guess what? In five years time, if the brand

doesn't change, what's left? Are you going to

buy a new blaster in five years because it's

got slightly better paint apps or it's feet?

do slightly different angle rockings you know

like that's it like my my thing is and and this

message if anybody's actually listening out there

this message goes specifically to um the the

the people that have got the transformers comic

book license make the comic books for kids And

now I don't mean make the comic books for children.

I mean, and I don't know, you know, like, make

sure that if you're going to do a Transformers

comic book, it's an all ages book. That doesn't

mean that it has to be dumbed down. We got Marvel

UK, you know, we got Time Wars, we got the Wreckers,

we got all of this stuff. And we were kids when

we were reading this. It doesn't mean that it

has to be dumbed down, but get those books into

Scholastic. Get some books onto tablets and stuff

like that. Make these comics available for kids.

Get kids involved in it. And as far as the adults

go, if you You know if you are on one of these

forums or something like that and somebody new

comes along shut up Like I don't care I mean,

I don't care but but the but people who are new

to the fandom should not be met with some standoffish

opinion about why frenzy is red and rumble is

blue or or why I don't know Galvatron is the

best Decepticon in the world because his head

cannon that he made up 20 years ago you know

like just let let people do it and and you will

always still have your generation one hmm so

just let let it be that that's what I would say

to people but it's it's you know that's that's

that's coming from me and I appreciate that at

this point in my life Transformers doesn't mean

what it did and I appreciate that in the early

2000s I was that guy you know but uh you know

yeah I I think that's it it's you know let it

change let it evolve and that goes for Hasbro

and and for the the fans as well Yeah, absolutely.

Yeah, all right folks. We're gonna take a quick

break. You're gonna hear some ads and some other

stuff and Whatever else I decide to put in here

and we'll come back to close the show after this.

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Toycast. All right, we are back and before we

close it out Mr. Wallace sir any news for TF

nation yet as people might be aware if you're

following us We have been a little bit quiet,

you know, we're still sort of finding our feet

after the last couple of years It's gonna be

the first convention we'll have had since 2019

I don't have anything that I can I can report

on just yet What I will say though and I will

drop the tiniest of hints here and I know people

are going to be like that's not even a hint all

I'm going to say is if you're my age or Even

if you're just a fan of Transformers in general

you want to be at the Saturday night show that's

all I can say there is something there and you

will hopefully enjoy it or you will at least

find it interesting. Let's put it that way. You

know, we've got a good show coming up this year.

I'm really looking forward to it. So hopefully

we'll see everybody in August and you can go

to the TF Nation website to buy your tickets

if you live in the UK or you want to travel to

the UK. What are the dates again August? What

to what? Uh, that's a very good question. Uh,

let me, let me quickly run to the website so

that I can remember and I can promote it. See,

I haven't, uh, I haven't done, uh, what are these

podcasts in such a long time that I can't even

remember. It's the 12th to the 14th of August.

And that's at the Hilton Birmingham Metropole

Hotel. And like I say, you can go to tfnation

.com should you wish to register your interest

and buy your tickets. Very cool, very cool. All

right, folks, that's going to do it for this

episode of All Things Transformers. Thank you

for listening. If you'd like to get in contact

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for the network at all things TFV3 for the show.

I am at TF2 on Mike. What is yours and or TF

Nation's Twitter, sir? Yeah, you can find TF

Nation on Facebook. On Twitter, it's at TF Nation

Limited. And I'm on Twitter under at Kallel Prime.

If you care to know my musings. I can't promise

anything particularly interesting, but yeah.

I mean, we've been recording for almost three

hours now, regardless of edits. And yeah, this

has been one of the most interesting ones we've

done so far. Oh, thank you very much. I'm glad

that the last the nine year hiatus hasn't. We'll

see you in nine years, folks. Well, exactly.

Yeah, that's it. That's it. We'll do another

one in a decade's time. Follow us on, become

a fan of us on Facebook, go to facebook .com

slash Keith Castro and you can also check out

All Things Transformers over there as well. For

now, I am TF2 and Mike with David, otherwise

known as Kal -El Prime about 10 years ago, I

think. We hope you'll transform and transcend

with us here next time on All Things Transformers.

Yeeees. I wish to speak to my lawyer.