Origins with Nemesis Predaking on Transformers Fandom

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. Joining me as always

is Steve Megatron. Hello sir. Hello. Today's

guest is a guy I have been trying for pretty

much a decade to get on a podcast. I first found

him on YouTube through, I want to say, our fellow

friend Protoman who helps run TFCon up there

in Canada, but it is none other than Nemesis

Predaking. Hello, sir. Hello guys, what's going

on? And uh, yeah, it's, it has probably been

a better part of a decade, Mike. You've been

trying to get pretty much has. I mean, honestly,

seriously, ever since and Steve will have no

context for this, but we know what it is. Ever.

So Nemi Pred did this, this one video and I just

remember this because I know the frustration.

He's like, he did a Canada post rant on his YouTube

channel and I'm like, Yeah, I kind of get that

I get that frustration and I've just remembered

that ever since and I I known and we'll get into

when we start asking the questions I had known

that you were involved with TF con and you were

a Customizer and everything else and I've seen

several of the stuff that you've done over the

years and it's like I Just need to sit that guy

down and just let him talk However long and I

think when we did our test which no one will

ever hear that But when we did our test audio,

it was like, oh, this is a two and a half, three

hour conversation. That went well. Felt like

five minutes. Yep. That's what happens when you're

amongst like -minded people that we all have

different parts of the Transformers fandoms that

we enjoy, but we're not going to sit here and

say, G1, Beast Wars, what's that all about? It's

like you don't just shun one part of the fandom

away. So anyway, we are here and I have customized

this to NemiPred's story, hence why we had the

three and a half, four hour pre -show thing that

we did a couple weeks ago. So we have 27 questions

instead of our normal 25. Steve, kick it off.

So did you grow up with Transformers and at what

age do you remember first noticing the franchise?

What age do I not remember noticing the franchise

I was born in 79 so I was smack dab in the middle

of the Hasbro GI Joe he man Transformers warfare

that was going on Saturday mornings So I can't

remember a time without it in all honesty. Oh

Like I said, I was I was smack dab so I was 79

that was 84 84 Yep, so yeah, I would have been

like six years old Nice six six years old. I

was smack dab in the middle. I mean Yeah, it

was you know getting ultra Magnus and all of

that. I remember when the boobies came out and

everything I mean Optimus Prime when he first

came out Bumblebee all of those You know if I

had a known back in the day, you know the fortune

that I destroyed in Transformers as a child I

don't think any of us knew because we just wanted

to play with the damn things. No No, and that's

the problem now is kids don't play with toys,

but yeah, I don't remember my life without it

Hmm. I was I was about six years old is really

the earliest memory of Transformers I can probably

place But I really don't know my life without

it Like there's there's a Not a section of my

life that transformers hasn't impacted in some

way I mean even down to meeting my brother -in

-law when he was eight years old Hmm interesting.

So what transformers generation is your generation

and why although I probably know this answer

Uh, in all honesty, I gotta say I split myself

between two. Okay. The first one obviously being

G1 because I was smack dab in that, you know,

that Hasbro, you know, Transformers G1 age range

and Beast Wars. Because Beast Wars is what brought

me back into Transformers once again. When I

found out that the episodes of Beast Wars ultimately

tied into G1, I was all over watching it. And

I watched it and I was like, wow, that shit was

good. You know, so I split myself between the

two. Probably quite equally to most degrees.

Some I disagree on the Beast Wars fandom with,

a lot I disagree with the G1 fandom with, but

hey, you know what? Not everybody's going to

agree on everything. No. If everybody did, the

world would be boring. Oh, God, yeah. Although

we could use a little bit of that sometimes.

Oh, God, yes. I want to go back to introvert

by choice. Yes. Yeah, that's my boat. Yeah, I

love how Beast Wars happens to pop up in a lot

of people's... Obviously, G1 is for a lot of

people for growing up with it, but Beast Wars

just from the fact that it revitalized the entire

franchise. And it's funny that they're doing

it again 25 years later. Yeah, very, very interesting.

We'll see how the Bay universe handles that.

Yeah. Oh, God. He says with the hook in his collar.

I mean, don't get me wrong. The Transformers

movies are what they are. You know, if you think

they're anything more than big giant popcorn

movies, then you're solely diluted. You know,

so don't take Devastator Balls too seriously.

No. But I mean, at the same time, anyone ever

really take Devastator Balls too seriously? I

mean, oh, dude, you know, there was somebody

out there that did. Jeez there was enough to

the third party kit needs to be made for a fourth

party kit needs to be made for fucking a third

party kit You know Devastator Hmm. Yeah, was

it an add -on kit by the third? It was an add

-on third party thing. Yeah, third parties and

fourth parties. I can't keep them straight anymore

I know I can't tell the difference between third

party and fourth party parties ko Plain and simple

stop calling your fourth party. It's ko So, third

party is literally just third party that's doing

something Hasbro should be doing but doesn't.

Yeah. Fourth party is something that they're

ripping off from somebody else and maybe did

a little tweaking on, but not a whole hell of

a lot. Now granted, I am guilty. I own KOs, but

I own a KO of freaking Predaking that I couldn't

afford the actual Hasbro version. And that cost

me substantially less than the Hasbro version

in Canada because it's $229 Canadian Well, it's

like It's like the Masterpiece Beast Wars Megatron.

The Masterpiece Hasbro one is like $350 and then

you look at the the knockoff and it's $104 Well

$104 for you guys, but it's like $189 with shipping

and conversion for me It's like at that point,

I'm paying $200, I might as well spend the extra

$200 and get the fucking legit one. Well, and

the funny thing about the legit one to the knockoff

is the knockoff fixes a lot of the joint issues

that the official one had, and it adds David

Kay's voice. Yeah. And that's the worst part

about it, and these fourth parties are making

a fortune because the knockoff people will make

it better in six months. Yep, you know and that's

that's you know, ultimately like I mean I don't

want to get in a whole thing of ko's like fuck

it Like I said, I mean, I'm not gonna you know

Be the first to cast the stone, but I mean fourth

party is ko Yeah, that's my stance on that one

plain and simple, you know I mean if the somebody

comes up with something original on their own

You know and sells it through a ko company first

to establish themselves. That's a different story,

you know, but like, well, that's like all these,

all these ones that are doing like the winged

dragon or the trans arts trans metals where they're

upscaling and master piecing original designs.

Yeah. Well, I mean, I mean more like AOTAC or

IO to wherever it is where they're doing the

upscale, you know, uh, combiner war stuff, you

know, it's like, yeah, they're improving a few

things on it. But otherwise, I mean, you're you're

you're knocking off. Yeah. You know, I don't

know. That's why I say it's it's it's almost

like there's a three and a half party area almost.

Mm hmm. But not really. You know, I don't want

to put that idea out there that they're called

three and a half party or something. Yeah. It's

quite interesting. It's an interesting time to

be a Transformers fan. Hazard was giving us stuff

we never dreamed of. Third parties are giving

us stuff that some people only want to spooge

over. And here we are, the normals, more or less,

caught in the middle going, yeah, I want all

of that. But I'm poor. Exactly. Oh yeah, and

there's a worldwide pandemic and millions of

people are fucking hurting. You know, that's

why the quality control of the plastic isn't

very good in the new stuff. But I digress. Yeah.

Well, yeah, that's a different story. Yeah. That's

that's also why when you call a Target and a

Walmart, they tell you that they don't have it

in stock because it's a problem with the manufacturer.

Well, Walmart, we're just used to it here in

Canada and Target. Well, they they fucked off

after like nine months up here. Yeah, I I wrangled.

Target for a while and that's how I got Megatron

and then in scourge and then after that I was

like I'll just use BBTS It shows up when it shows

up. I really shouldn't complain. We do have toys

or us still True, but yeah, at least we do we

do have that. It's it's probably not as good

as it was in the States But it's better than

nothing. So I'll take that for what it's worth.

Yeah so What other generations of Transformers

do you like? I'm not an apologist. I'm a fan.

Just straight up. I don't care what anyone says.

That show is amazing. You know what? It is amazing.

And it's amazing for all of the wrong reasons

like the room is. And I'm not comparing the two.

Do not get me wrong. I'm just using the analogy.

But if you think about it from the aspect of

that all of Beast Machines is a fucking fever

dream of Prime in the Matrix, dying, then it's

fantastic. Oh, yeah. You know, and only from

that point of view. Yeah, absolutely. So, yeah,

Beast Machines, but I am an apologist for it.

It's terrible for every reason they say, but

it's fantastic for that as well. You know? It's

the same reason why with Beast Wars, if you were

to ask me what episode I would recommend, and

if I'm spoiling a question, let me know. I don't

think so. I don't think so. Most people are going

to say Code of Honor. Code of Hero, yeah. Sorry.

Code of Honor is gored on the boards. My apologies.

Been saying that for too long. Code of Hero.

Yes. That episode is fantastic. It is amazing

It is probably the best episode in the entire

show next to some of the later season stuff in

season 3 Hmm, especially with proto form X and

fucking depth charge. Yep But if you watch code

of hero on its own as a entity You're gonna sit

there and go the fuck Because it's an entire

season's arc of Dino Bot to get to that point.

Yep. And spoilers, if you haven't watched it,

Dino Bot dies. It's 25 years old. If people who

are listening to this podcast have not watched

that episode, that's their fault. That's what

I'm saying. They should have known better. They

should have seen my name on it and going, this

is going to be a shit show. So yeah. It's, you

know, it took that entire season, if not that

entire season and a half to get to that point.

So watching that episode out of context makes

no sense. No. So if you're trying to get somebody

to watch something Beast Wars related, watch,

let them watch the later bits of Depth Charge

and Protoform X Rampage. Yeah. Then that's going

to hook them to the earlier seasons. Then you

get them onto Beast Wars. Yeah. For me, if I'm

going to recommend an episode to anybody, it's

basically Cheetor and the Feral Scream two -parter

when he becomes Transmetal 2 Cheetor. Oh, I hate

that episode. I do too. Really? It's so predictable.

It's so predictable. You know what? It's a good

episode. I mean, I did watch it, but it's one

of those things by like a quarter of the way

through the f - first episode, I'm like, yeah,

it's totally Cheetor. I know it was Cheetor from

the minute he got hit by the thing, but the design

and the way the character depth went through

it and how, you know, he had to basically go

through puberty for lack of a better terminology.

Yeah. You know, I mean, that's, that's basically

why I love it. Yeah. I knew like there was no

mystery. I mean, just like there's no mystery

in the low road that Rhinox is the biggest farting

mother. out there on the planet. Maybe because

I watched it in my late teens, early twenties.

It puts a different spin on it for me. I don't

know. Maybe I'm just a little bit older. Who

knows? You're only a year older than I am, and

we're only seven years older than Steve. But

you know what I mean about the... You know what

I'm saying, Mike. Yeah, yeah. I don't know. Maybe...

I don't know. I don't know either. All right,

Steve, what's the next question? Yeah. Do you

like or loathe the Bavers or are you indifferent?

That again, I would have to say I'm split on.

They're big, giant popcorn movies, like I said,

and if you think they're anything different,

you're delusional. But at the same time, when

lockdown was announced. for the movie, I did

kind of take a fanboy stance because of, well,

I have an entire detail full of lockdowns. So

I can't sit there and say that I 100 % am indifferent

to the Bayverse when there is a reaction of that

on the internet. So while I say that, I was completely

wrong about the characterization of lockdown

in that movie. Characterization was fantastic.

Mark Ryan did an amazing job. Got to tell him

that myself. That was awesome. Very cool. Even

have an autographed framed picture of lockdown

with his signature and a certificate and everything

with it. But anyway, so it was the characterization

in that movie was fantastic, but he was still

ugly as sin. Just like every Bayou verse. design

was. I think the greatest disservice that I can

really run it down for the Bayverse is the movie

with, and I think I told this to Mike in the

pre -show, the movie with Quintessa in it. Can't

remember which one that is. Last night. The last

night. Okay, so in the last night, me and my

wife are watching it at my computer. I doze off

of my computer chair. for like 20 minutes. I

wake back up, she's still watching the movie,

I pause it and I'm like, oh crap, how long was

I out for? She's like about 20 minutes. I'm like,

oh, should I rewind it? Do I need to check it?

Did I miss anything important? She's like, please,

God, no, don't. That sums it up right there.

You know, they're terrible movies. Again, much

like I say about Beast Wars, they're terrible

movies. But I knew they were going to be terrible

walking into them. Yeah, I didn't expect fucking

masterpieces. I expected Devastator balls. You

know what I mean? Like that didn't surprise me

what I saw that was like, well, that's Michael

Bay. You know, like he's he's selling Megan Fox

is the fucking tits and ass in this movie. So,

hey, you know, why not friggin giant ball bollocks?

There you go. So yeah, I mean, the Bayverse,

I could take it or leave it. Like I said, aside

from my stance on lockdown, that is out there

on the record. Other than that, yeah, take it

or leave it. It is what it is and I enjoy it

for what it is and no more. So what was your

very first Transformers toy as a kid? Shit now

you got me thinking I remember having a lot of

Transformers toys, but what was the first Iron

hide that fucking piece of shit. Oh My god, it

just hit me I was thinking and thinking and thinking

and all of a sudden disappointment washed over

me and I was like Was it white or red? It was

red. Ironhide. The other choice is Ratchet. Right.

And they both had no head. Yeah. And they were

terrible. And you were like, oh my God, what

the hell is this? Yeah. That would have been

my first Transformer, Ironhide. Oh, he was terrible.

Yeah. Very, very much so. So terrible. And I

mean, people complain about the classics version.

Like you guys got it good with panel hide Yeah

You guys have it so good with panel hide. I got

that well the original had to hide his face in

glass Yeah, this is true. Oh It's just so bad.

Oh So this next question is kind of a thing that

I used to do as a kid growing up Did you and

your friends ever pretend to play transformers

and say school? recess or something like you're

out like instead of Kids of today having their

heads stuck in their phone, walking into a park,

looking for Pokemon. We used to shout out that

we were whichever character and we would just

run around blasting each other. A hundred percent.

Absolutely. We did. Um, and you know what? Wow.

Thinking about it. Oh, see, I would have been

as a kid, I probably would have been wanted to

be one of the seekers and knowing that cause.

what kid doesn't want to fly? I mean, come on.

So knowing that, knowing my predilection and

everything, Skywarp. Without a doubt, Skywarp

would have been the one that I was calling out.

Can't you do anything right, Skywarp? Watch it,

you metallic mini -meatball or I'll step on you!

You wouldn't want on me, you maxi -turkey! You

know that black and purple surprise We saw that

coming everybody spoilers Okay, now I've been

again wanting to ask this question for a decade

folks and we're gonna have a follow -up here

as well, but Who is your in all caps end all

be all favorite character from any Transformers

incarnation and why? It has to be a tie Okay,

and and the reason being I Will explain afterwards,

but it has to be a tie between Beast Wars Megatron

B -Store's Dinobot. Okay. And G1 Scrounge. Really?

Dinobot and Megatron. I have met Scott McNeil

and David Kaye. Mm -hmm. Awesome, guys. Amazing.

Loved the characters beforehand. Loved them even

more after the fact. Right. Well, you better

hope so. For your sake. Excuse me. Are you implying

that the current situation is somehow my responsibility?

Well, you did start it, dear head! I beg to differ,

cheese lips! Pre -evolved bird brain, eater of

garbage! This is Megatron. This is the glorious

Megatron. G1 scrounge? That poor little fucking

guy, man. Jesus Christ, I fucking cried harder

than when Prime died. And I have been trying

to get a hold of that scrounge figure from that

computron set now for so long he's so overpriced

If anyone has one a decent price get a hold of

me But no yeah three -way tie between those ones

I scrounge for some reason I've I've always loved

That comic book I actually still have it to be

completely honest from when I was a kid That's

not the answer I was expecting I was expecting

to for us to talk about your love of Predaking

No credit credit. Oh, see, that's a different.

That's a different kindness story Okay, well

don't know Yeah, we have another question after

this. Okay. Alright, so you talk about scrounge

and Beast Wars Megatron and Dino bot and you

mentioned skywarp earlier What other Autobots,

Decepticons, Maximals, and Predacons do you like?

As far as Autobots, well let me confer with my

shelf. Repugnus, Wheeljack, Sixgun, Strafe, Ironworks,

or whatever his name is now. You know the guy

who turns into the modulator one? The one they

turned into the grease pit. Oh, yeah, I had him

as a kid. A whole bunch of micro masters and

the pretenders that they put out. And Cosmos.

Really? The only Autobots I have for some reason

are the ones that I had a connection with as

a kid I collect no other Autobots. Otherwise

You can put all my Autobots on one shelf of my

detail. Oh wow. Yeah Well, not not favorites

Sorry Any maximal favorites? Oh, well like a

maximal well rat trap Scott McNeil silver bowl

Any character he played. Anybody who's not Scott

McNeil, um, Rhinox. I, uh, I come in peace. You're

about to leave in pieces. No need for violence,

Rhinox. I merely wish to talk. Go ahead. It's

a free planet. I'm busy. I gotta say, I kind

of now side with Rhinox a little more. You know,

in my older age, it's kind of like with the Ninja

Turtles, it was like, now it's like I totally

side with Raphael, whereas, you know, my kid

loves Donatello, and when I was a kid, it was

Michelangelo was my favorite. You know, so there's

age changing you, I guess. Absolutely. My favorites

are still Donnie and Mikey. I love them all,

but I love Donnie and Mikey more than the other

two. Oh, yeah? See, I was all about Mikey and

Leo. Now I'm all about Raph. It's that anger,

man. It's that Canadian Post, damn it. Oh, dude,

that's still the only video I have ever gotten

YouTube that has been taken down within hours.

Oh man, I guess I dropped too many of the C word.

Yup. Okay. So here's where you can put your Predaking

story. What are some other Transformers characters

that you like? Well, Predaking, obviously. And

the story behind Predaking is when I was a kid,

my mother, she was an interesting person. I was

only ever allowed to have one combiner limb,

never a center torso, only one limb. Hence why

I said strafe. See, ties are out. Now, as far

as everybody else, everybody else wanted the

Predacons and it was the one toy I was never

allowed to have because she said it was too violent

looking. I'm like, it's freaking Halloween colors.

How is that violent looking? So Predaking was

one of those characters I was never able to have

until I was an adult collector. And actually

my very first Predaking my wife bought for me.

So that was pretty cool. So that's actually where

the Predaking came from. That came around as

an adult collector. Believe it or not. Other

characters, like I said, Wheeljack. Wheeljack

was a huge one. Wheeljack was actually thinking

about it now. Wheeljack was the second Transformer

I ever got, and he was much cooler than Ironhide.

Of course he was. So yeah, I kind of have a little

bit of a Wheeljack shelf starting over here.

Very cool. So yeah, probably those two would

be the two I'd give you. So those are the ones

that you that you like and you enjoy are there

any? Transformers characters you either hate

or dislike or just can't stand hmm. I mean Aside

from the nuisance factor and nuisance factor

alone. I will take nothing else into consideration

no Political no racial no nothing else Okay,

just prefacing that now so you probably all know

who I'm gonna say skids and mud flap from the

bavers. So annoying. Like I said, take anything

political and racial out of that. Just annoying

characters as a whole. And here's the funny thing.

I never looked at the skids and mud flap, you

know, as like trying to be two black guys or

anything like that. It was like, I was taking

it as the, you know, Jamie Kennedy, like Malibu

high kind of whatever. Sticky had going on type

of you know white boy wigger kind of impersonation

thing going on But I mean other than that they

were simply annoying characters, but that was

my honor I Did I think it's in her I think it's

her revenge of the fall and I think I have this

on Facebook I might have to include this in the

poster. I'll definitely have to send this to

you I remember when I saw Revenge of the Fallen

and I saw the two of them in the temple scene

or the whatever scene they're doing in Egypt

or wherever the hell they are. That was on the

Devastator balls. That's going to be the theme

of this, Devastator balls. Good thing we can't

call it that. whole scene, there's a point where

Bumblebee comes in and basically just knocks

their heads together. And I'm like, okay, Bumblebee

is Moe and you can either pick one or the other

is Larry and Curly. And those are the three stooges

of Transformers in that movie. I wanted him to

tune his radio to the three stooges where all

he was like, you know, I was like, that would

have made that scene even better. Yeah, you know

like they would have taken it all the series

and that's the thing I mean people take shit

too seriously You know like I mean get I hate

on more characters. Yeah, the characters out

there. They're annoying me Yeah, but nothing

too serious that I'm gonna put headspace into

over the over your lifetime as you Got older

did your interest in Transformers grow stronger

or weaker? Both As as I got older, you know,

it wasn't cool to like Transformers anymore,

you know here over here in North America We got

the great g2 drought as it were However, you

want to take it to some people it was a drought

to other people it wasn't but I mean whatever

again So yeah, you know when when I found out

about girls I kinda lost interest in Transformers,

and then when I got more comfortable about being

myself and who I was in my own skin, I was like,

you know what, if I wanna rock a friggin' Transformers

shirt, who fucking gives a shit? You know? And

that was when I picked up my first Decepticon

logo shirt, and then that's, you know, my brother

-in -law as an eight -year -old came out, and

that's, you know, a whole other kettle of fish,

but I mean, that started me onto the Beast Wars

track. So funny and I did not I did not plan

this at all. I Seriously did not plan this at

all. I just grabbed the shirt because I needed

something to wear when I went out today. I Am

wearing a ripped apparel calm Wheeljacks customs.

I'm actually wearing a wheeljack shirt right

now and I didn't even think about it Until just

now. I'm like, wait a minute. Damn it Well, that's

irony for you. Yeah, the world's got a funny

way of working sometimes right there you go Yeah,

no, I don't remember what the question was I

do that a lot. I warned you Mike It's okay move

on to the next one Steve was there ever a moment

in your life when you were through with everything

transformers Now I guess never really officially

done with it. I mean I always Carried around

the the z1, you know DVDs when they came out

I bought them when they were all like, you know

$109 per half set Yeah, don't not those good

old rhinos not mad about that at all these days

So it was like, you know, I still had those.

I had a transformer shirt. I'd keep, you know,

I had an Autobot and Decepticon poster that are

still with me that I put up on the wall, stuff

like that. So, no, I never really left. So I

guess actually quickly looping back to the question

before, because I actually did remember about

that. You were saying, did it ever get stronger?

So I think my connection with the Transformers

and everything in general is actually stronger

now that I'm kind of removed from the fandom

side of things, and I'm just kind of doing my

own thing, chilling back on my own corner of

the internet. I think it's actually made my connection

with Transformers stronger because of that. So.

Well, that's going to make this next question

really interesting. With the internet giving

birth to the fans and all of us having a voice

about what they like or don't like about Transformers,

do you find your voice gets lost in the shuffle

or do you just shout louder? You know what, man?

I don't show. Not unless I really need to. And

in most cases, people listen to me. Right. But

I find it a waste of time to show. There's no

purpose to it. I am on Twitter. I still float

on the boards just because I don't say anything

anymore on Cybertron .ca or Sabertron or TFW2005

or whichever the other boards that you frequent.

Sector 70 used to be around, I used to be on

there a lot. Just because I don't say anything

anymore doesn't mean I'm not out there watching.

Kingsbot brought me out for one post, I think

it was sometime last year. And you know out of

the blue then next thing you blew up my phone

and everything but that's another story You know,

but it's like I'm I'm on Twitter. I do float

on the boards I check things out here and there

then I come over to my side and if I got something

to say I got something to say if I don't have

anything to say then Hey, you know what? I ain't

got nothing to say But there you go as far as

I don't know this is not I've come to establish

in my life that there are things worth investing

my limited energy into, and there are things

that just are not worth what little energy and

strength I have. So I ain't bothered by it. So

I just move on from it. What is your personal

Transformers anthem song? What is your favorite

music from Transformers? Dare. It's gotta be

dare. That's right. It has to be dare or it has

to be the touch. It's one or the other. Nobody

ever says instruments of destruction. Nobody

says Death of Optimus Prime. Nobody says the

coming of Unicron. You know, it's you can I did

yeah Transformers geek I got that shit memorized

to a point I've got the Vince I will say though

a couple years ago. I think it was right Botcom

2016 maybe Vince Dakota did put it finally put

out through and try to records the full Animated

film score from 86 and I do love a lot of the

tracks from that because of every single one

of them It's one of those things were I do too,

but it's like closing in, which is basically

where they're fighting, they're trying to get

away from the Decepticons, like Clonus is about

that music. I can hear it in my head now. Exactly,

yeah, exactly. But you know, if it's a personal

anthem song, it's like, yeah, it has to be Dare

or The Touch. And I do love the music. I'll say

this for the Bayverse, Steve Jablonski did an

amazing job for the score for all of those movies.

You know what? We'll never take that away from

them. Absolutely. Fantastic job on the score

there. But I mean, thinking about, you know,

like they're even more now and it's really unfortunate

that I'm not allowed to listen to it in the house

because my wife thinks something's wrong with

me then. I really closed down. You'll find me

just listening to the transformers album on repeat

as loud as I can stand in my headphones and endlessly

for hours and hours And I'll just be staring

at a blank screen if I completely shut down Happened

a couple times before unfortunately, but hey

still here Yeah, no, I mean, looking back at

it now, I mean, there is kind of even more, some

of the words are a little more prevalent now

with regards to, you know, my, my injury and

all of that and raising my daughter and whatnot

and everything. So yeah, no, absolutely. A hundred

percent. I would, I would, I would put there,

you know, and if anything, you know, when I was

a kid, I guess I was picturing that I was Daniel,

you know, racing with hot rod where it's now

I picture myself more racing with my daughter.

You know what I mean? So yeah, I guess in in

that regard It's a little more truer these days

than it used to be when you were a kid and you

really didn't understand too much of the lyrics.

Oh Yeah, absolutely How often do you go back

and rewatch any of the Transformers cartoons?

And I hate to use this word because it's used

in such bad connotation these days but Anytime

I'm triggered by something that makes me remember

it or remember a line or remember It makes me

run to YouTube to see something about that show

again That'll force me like actually just the

other day I was Before we actually got the talk

after we were gonna talk. I was gonna watch GI

Joe the movie because I just found out about

Hasbro channel airing GI Joe episodes. And I

found out Arise, the Pentord Arise was on there

and the mass device and all of its parts. And

I was like, yeah, it's all the GI Joe stuff.

Oh yeah. And it's like, and I was like, I want

to watch the movie now, you know, never did get

a chance to watch it, but it's like same thing

with transformers. If something triggers me to

kind of, I want to see this for this. I'll start

to watch it again and then if if I really get

back into it, you know, maybe I'll watch an episode

or two At the start, but then I'll go back to

the beginning and start watching from scratch

There you go You know Have you or are you into

the Transformers comics at all whether it's the

modern stuff now or whether it was the old stuff

back then I ended up buying a bunch of content

back in the early 2000s thinking it was a good

investment because they were number one issues.

You know, back when they could still con us into

that was a smart idea. So yeah, but did I ever

read them? No. Do I know what they were titled?

Nah. You know, they're they're they're in a friggin

long box in my storage closet bagged and boarded

along with the entire death of Superman in Age

of Apocalypse Yeah, oh wow, so I do have but

never read and never cared to after I kind of

left the comic fandom Hmm interesting alright

Steve take it away So, how big is your collection?

That's a touchy subject around these them parts

lately. My collection is officially five Detolfs,

counting the tops filled. I have a corner unit

that is a four -tier glass that holds a bunch

of Lego, like I have the Rick and Morty, McFarlane

Lego, not Legos that came out. I've got them

on there, I've got a bunch of Vietcons. Then

I've got, I mean I'm literally surrounded on

my desk from anywhere I turn. I cannot, where

I'm sitting right now in my man cave desk area,

I'm surrounded by toys. In every conceivable

possible way unless I were to look directly into

the dark abyss that is my living room. So 5d

tall I can tell you I'm well over 60 individual

lockdowns And that's yeah, I and that's two of

every one I own including BotCon. Oh Yeah of

every unless Wow It's something like the plushie

from Japan that was just too big and too expensive

to order two of, which I own one of. Then in

most cases, I own two of everything with regards

to lockdown, lockdown remolds, except for the

stupid axle repaint. But I have two circuits,

didn't pay for those. Mean it's I have one Jagatron,

but that was expensive So hey, you know, but

it's like otherwise I got two Bumpler battlers

I got two of the gravity bots or not the gravity

bots the box shots of each mold Almost I'm missing

a few I have a checklist actually of all the

lockdown figures. I'm missing You know to blazing

lockdown one American one North American I'm

missing the Japanese regular lockdown with the

different tempo symbol on his chest. I mean,

I have two of the BotCon Wild Riders, which,

you know, that was... Yeah, I mean, that's just

one case. And then I mean, you look over it.

I mean, I own the the feral cons twice. The original

version that came out and then, of course, the

Nero Rex version that came out. I have Felsaber.

I've got Nero Queen and Nero Rex. I own two of

the unreleased robot heroes, Predakings that

were in that two pack with Ricochet. Yeah. That's

right. Yeah. I've got the Creon, you know, Predaking.

Basically any Predaking I can get my hands on.

Most of the Beast Hunters, Predakings that came

out. How do you feel about that incarnation of

the character? I don't want to talk shit about

it. It was voiced by Samoa Joe. He'll hurt me.

Granted, he's in commentary these days. But yeah,

no, I mean Jesus I've like I said, there's there's

easily 60 plus lockdowns And yeah, like we said

that's just lockdown and like six, you know five

or six dead to us and I'm trying to convince

my wife to let me get a sixth and She's just

like what and I'm like, it's the last one. I

swear Well, you got to have six because that's

the magic number. That's how you get Devastator

balls. I like that segue. Can you tell folks

it's a running gag? Hey, you know what? That's

what she said. Yeah, that's that's another one.

That's a gold star if you get that reference,

folks. And that's a reference back to my YouTube

days. How do you feel about non -transforming

transformers? I have no issue with them. If it

has to be that way, I get it. If it doesn't have

to be that way and it's just lazy, why? But then

again, I've never designed a toy in my life,

but I've built one from scratch using parts.

So I mean... Right. The reason why... Yeah. The

reason why I have this question in here now,

cause this question actually wasn't in here before

your episode is because fun co is releasing transformers

pops. And I've heard a bunch of people that I

know and respect and really dig their opinion

and agree and disagree with them. They're all

like, Oh, it's just fun co. And if that's your

thing, fine. But it's, you know, it's just fun

co. So I'm like the OG mighty mugs that came

out. I was all in on those. I bought every single

one. They never came out of the box. The only

thing I ever kept mint sealed in box. I don't

know why they just looked good in the box for

some fucked up reason. And I left them in the

box. Yep. You know? Yep. I only ever take them

out. I don't have my Mighty Mugs anymore. But

when I did have them, I only ever took them out

to take photos. And the same thing with any of

the Funkos that I have. I only take them out

to get photos. Funkos are not my thing. But if

that's your thing, hey, whatever. So be it. I

own Funkos. Who doesn't? Who doesn't have at

least a dozen Funkos hiding in their house? I

don't. Okay. I don't know as soon as they do

a Beast Wars Megatron Funko pop Steve. I'm gonna

have to get it for you. Yeah, probably No, he

yeah, yes one for each of us What is the one

TF toy you could never part with? That's actually

a question my daughter tries to get me to answer

so often. The basic way I frame this question

to people is heaven forbid anything happened

and everybody is safe, but the house is on fire.

Everybody's out, but you have to run in and save

one Transformers toy. Which one would it be?

There's So much sentimentality to my collection

like There's not a single shelf that I look at

in my collection that doesn't have something

that I have bought from somebody Gotten from

somebody gifted from somebody or outright just

fucking been a Ridiculously over -the -top fucking

present from a group of guys And I'm so thankful

for that and and like I Fuck Like I legitimately

like There's stuff that comes to mind right away,

but what it can only fuck. Oh fuck. Oh Shit Stomped

you on that one didn't we? You know the little

black RC that came with the the little iron factory

Bruticus Yes, then Ben that would be y 'all sent

me that Yep from his review copy and and I and

I hope the god doesn't get been in trouble I'm

pretty sure the guys know what TF source what

happened to it But Ben and my daughter Sarah

share the same name Kira Okay, and and we've

always had the joke his and my Kira So when Nero

Rex came out My daughter was like daddy you got

your own transformer now and then Nero Queen

came out and then she said oh mommy you have

your own transformer now and Then she was like,

where's mine? And I just tweeted out one day

that, you know, I was, you know, Kira was saying

this and yada yada. If I remember it correctly,

I may be remembering it wrong. Ben messages me

and he's sure like, I'll send this to Kira. And

I'm like, oh dude, that's so awesome of you.

Really? I'm like, what do you want for it? He's

sure like, nothing. I will send it to Kira. And

I'm like, dude, you're amazing. And from the

day that that showed up in the house, Kira has

finally had her figure to go into the display

case Yeah onto what she does the family shelf,

which is Nero Rex combined Nero Queen and that

little black RC and That little black RC is her

and that would be the one because To me, that's

the most important figure to her Their hell with

the rest of my collection very cooler Fuck make

me all fucking emotional goddamn allergies That's

that's our job here fucking all things transformers

allergies, I'm not crying in this house well

Speaking of allergies that are of things that

are going to make you cry. What was the most

money you spent on a TF20 ever? Planned purchase

or unplanned? Either. Either. Yeah. Planned purchase.

Nero Rex, because as soon as that was announced,

my wife knew that she was screwed and I was getting

a second one. Unplanned purchase. Fucking what

is it? fans hobby the ones that did the mega

tooth the masterpiece repugnus I Dropped like

two bills on that on the spot at TF con cuz like

I could and it was shiny. Oh, I Was pretty high

on painkillers and dope at the time to be honest.

So yeah two bills just out the window right away

Totally worth it though. My wife only found out

like six months ago. How much that fucking thing

cost And how many years ago did you buy it? That

was, no, there was no TFCon this past year. Then

2019, I was 2018. 2018 or 2017. There you go.

Yeah. There you go. What's four or five years

between relationships? Like I said. half the

time she doesn't even notice. She just saw it

with all of my haul from TF con and was like,

okay, not sure when he bought that. And then

eventually one year she died. My daughter bumped

into it or something. I was like, oh my God,

Kira, don't do that. Do you have any idea how

ridiculously expensive that figure is? Not, not

because of one of those guys who's like, don't

fucking touch my toys. It's just like, she can

touch my toys. She just understands that They're

toys. First of all, I call them toys. They're

toys, not action figures. And second of all,

she understands the fact that some of them are

more pricey than others. Some of them are cool.

If she picks them up, a man handles them. I got

no problem with that. But then there's other

ones where it's like, okay, Kira, be careful

that he has this one on the desk right now. Watch

out for this one. This one's a little pricey.

And if it breaks, daddy's going to cry and mommy's

going to want to kill you. I'm dead either way.

I accept the challenge. So no, she's like she

bumped my desk. It was on the corner. It was

my own stupidity. I probably had it on the wrong

side of the desk or something. And my wife piped

up and she was in the bedroom and she was like,

how ridiculously expensive. I was like, well,

what do you think I spent on it? She's like,

to this day, I don't have the foggiest idea.

I was like, well, then I might as well just be

honest with you. And I was like, two hundred

dollars. She's like, what? Like, yeah, she's

like, if I knew that, I would have made you take

it back. I'm like, good thing there's no returns

on dealer floors. Exactly. Yeah. Exactly. All

right. So, and I know everyone that's listening

to this has heard me say this a million times,

but the reason why this next question exists

is because when I was six years old, my dad sold

all of my Masters of the Universe toys that I

had at his house, and he basically told me I

was too old for toys. So do you have a parents

got rid of my toys story? absolutely except my

dumb my mother didn't sell them she threw them

in the dumpster five minutes before the truck

showed up to empty it and waited there for it

to show up so I wouldn't go dumpster diving the

only thing that survived that was a fucking bumblebee

missing two back tires and a G1 strafe with no

parts. That was the only thing that survived.

Wow. Yeah, that was brutal. I deserved it though.

Maybe, you know what, maybe I didn't deserve

it, but did I deserve to be punished for what

I was being punished for? Absolutely, without

a doubt. Should it have been that harsh? Probably

not. thinking about it now, but like I said,

I absolutely deserve to be punished for the reason

that it happened, maybe just not so severely,

but yeah, that was a tough day. Transformers

were thrown out, my GI Joes were thrown out,

including the base. My He -Men were thrown out,

which, Grayskull, Snake Mountain, you know, all

of that stuff. There was a... If the kids could

have dumpster dived that day, man, oh my God,

they would have been telling stories for the

rest of their lives. You know, and she just put

it all into boxes and freaking carted it downstairs

and, you know, off it went to the wild blue yonder,

never to be seen again. So this next question

we've already got somewhat emotional in this

episode of the podcast, but this next question

has two parts You and I both know and we've found

this Great great person. Sadly, he's no longer

with us But we each found him at different points

probably around the same time or whatever Maybe

you knew him before I did or whatever, but we

each have our own stories with him. But talk

to us about optimus scourge because I would not

be in the process of putting together Toycast

episode 100 right now if I didn't think he wanted

me to do it eventually because I started that

show with him and Ben. Pia and Optimus Scourge

were my first two guests on Transformers Toycast

back in 2009, 2010, I forget when it was, and

we have not produced an episode since 2014 and

I am in the middle of putting together. Think

at this point the episodes almost over two hours

long From clips and whatever else asking people

their their toy stories of how they like to display

their collections and stuff So how did you come

to know Gary? I knew you were gonna ask you about

this and I'm still just not ready for it Gary

Wow You know what? It's not that often that I

say something like this, but what a fucking beautiful

man And the world is the worst off place without

him. It really fucking is. When I recorded the

clip with Ben the other day, I said to Ben, I

said, can you imagine the excitement that that

guy would have had if he could have seen the

kingdom line? You know, and that's that's gonna

you know what? Is that a train in the background?

No, that's actually beautifully timed because

maybe Gary's listening, you know, and I'm not

somebody who is spiritual or anything, but maybe

Gary is out there and maybe that was a sign because

when I tell this story, you're going to understand

why. So I met Gary at TFCon officially face to

face in 2009. and used the power of the Matrix

to light our darkest hour. And he was, him and

Lupus Convoy were inseparable. They came up that

weekend, they were kind of chilling with each

other and everything. And they were doing staff

stuff with the show and whatnot. And I was chilling

around the art contest table and we were chatting

back and forth. you know because once he found

out who I was he wanted to chat my brain take

pictures and everything and all that because

that's Gary was doing stuff for the boards and

stuff helping out taking pictures that's just

who Gary was he wanted to help out so yeah after

his staff shift was over there's that horn again

um yep sorry to point that out but like I said

maybe it's just fitting um after his staff tour

was over he went into the the dealer room and

he went over to Matt's table, Little Formers,

if you guys obviously are familiar. Yep. He goes

over and he's going to talk to him. This is like

the first day, like the Saturday of the show.

And he's going to talk to him about a commission

to pick up for the next day. He wants to get

a picture done in the Little Formers style of

his, you know, nemesis, nemesis scourge. and

RC holding hands. And it was supposed to be,

I can't remember if it was a birthday present

or an anniversary present for his wife. And he

had gotten it done and everything like that.

And at the end of the day with the dealer and

closing, he comes out with like 10 minutes to

spare. Sorry, I'm fast tracking. He had this

picture done. He came out, he showed it to everybody.

You know, he was so proud of it and he was looking

so forward to giving it to his wife. And he was,

you know, it was something that he just he was

so he was beaming to get back home to give this

to her. In all honesty, I can't describe it any

other way. And later on that day, he came out

of the dealer room with about 10 minutes to spare

until four o 'clock on the Sunday. So this is

the final day of the convention. So everything's

closing down. People are getting ready to leave.

And we're talking with Gary and all of a sudden

he realizes you're like, oh, where's my where's

my picture? You know, it's like, oh, don't tell

me I left it in the dealer room. And he's like,

oh, I know where I was. I'll just run back and

grab it. And he's gone for a while and we're

like, oh, he's having no luck. So he comes back

out after probably about five minutes or so.

And he comes out and he's sort of like, man,

I retraced my steps through the entire room.

He's like, I can't believe somebody picked that

thing up and took off with it. Like, he's sort

of like, you know, I asked at every table, nobody

remembers seeing it. They don't have anything.

They even check behind their tables for me. They

were so nice. He's like, you know, he's sort

of like, I'm one of those people who believes

that you reap what you sow. And this was the

first time Gary ever brought up the idea of karma

to me. You know not per se bringing it up, but

this is where like I said He brings up the right.

This is where I came in. Yeah, I start listening

to him. I like this It's an interesting point

you make Gary and he's sure like, you know what?

I'm gonna take one more run through the dealer

room and I'm gonna and I'm gonna see now Gary's

only gone in for a couple minutes and he comes

out of the dealer room He's got this big flat

box. It looks like two fucking large pizzas beside

each other Okay, that kind of a box and he's

Demon right and I'm like, did you have any luck

finding the thing? He's sure like no, but he's

like you are not gonna believe this He's sure

like let me show you this thing and he comes

over and it's a Tyco train set Transformers Tyco

train set If you've watched Gary's videos, he

made a video series with him and his son refurbing

that thing. When he got a hold of this, here's

the side of the story. I'm not sure if anybody

knows. And if this is the first time it's being

told, I'm honored to tell it. If not, you know

what? Hey, awesome. I don't know what's been

told before, but this isn't about credit or anything.

So Gary comes out with this box. check this thing

out. And of course, it's not just me that's there.

I think, uh, code of honor is there, Gord and,

uh, maybe Duncan, Dak, um, few other people can't

really, maybe Vangelis. I can't remember. And

he pulls this thing out and he's talking about,

he's sure like, you know, I had one of these

things when I was a kid. He's sure like, I ended

up losing it. And he's sure like, I saw it this

weekend in the store in the dealer room and the

guy wanted too much for it. and he's sure like

you know he's sure like i figured you know i

went in the dealer room i did one more round

trying to find my picture and then i saw the

train set and i figured i said to the guy how

much you want for that thing last minute dealer

room closing so he says the guy replied back

to him and says what do you got in your wallet

so he pulls open his wallet he's like i got an

american 50 he's sure like i'll take it you can

take the train set no questions asked $50 American

for a almost 100%. The thing was probably about

80 % complete. Everything had been punched out

of its cards and everything like that, but the

thing was about 80 % complete. The only thing

was is it wasn't taking power. The train wasn't

moving. Gary's like, I just got to take some

steel wool to the contacts and that thing should

work. He's like, oh my God, I can't wait to get

home and show this to my son and restore this

thing with him. And for the rest of the time

that I saw him, he could not stop talking about

how excited he was to get home and show his son

this train set. And sitting down at the bar,

he looked at me and he said, you know what, Stu?

He's like, I walked back into that dealer room

feeling defeated. And when that dealer said to

me whatever's in your wallet, and I knew there

was a 50 in there He's sure like that's my karma

for losing the photo He's sure like as opposed

to turning it into something nice for my wife

now it has turned into something nice for me

and my son and I can't get wait to get home and

do it and I Just was like holy fuck balls. That's

some of the deepest fucking shit. I've ever experienced

in my life And I experienced it. I truly did.

Yeah, it is, you know and Yeah, because you were

there when it happened then we came home Me and

Gary kept in contact a little and all of that

and then I fell off the face of the earth With

the computer and everything and all of that blah

blah So lost track and then I get back onto the

boards and everything and then it's like maybe

six months later It's like all of a sudden I

find out Gary's died of a fucking massive heart

attack in his sleep You know, it's essentially

as I remember I legitimately was shocked like

I was shell -shocked like draw jaw on the fucking

floor Like I was legitimately Fucking devastated

by that moment when I found out that he passed

away because like I said, the world is arguably

Yes place off not having him It would be so much

better I wish I could just hear his voice one

more time You know, as silly as that sounds.

And there's a lot of people that I should probably

put on that list before him, but, you know, if

there was two voices I could hear again, be my

grandfather's and his, you know, just. I've got

plenty of toy cast episodes. No, but I mean,

you know, like, just, just, just to say, no,

yeah. You know, he was just. That type of a guy.

He would put you above all else. If he saw me

in the condition that I'm in now, I wouldn't

want him to, in all honesty, but he would go

out of his way to make sure that I was as comfortable

as I could be, because that's just who Gary was.

And yeah, that train set, man. And I mean, if

you guys, again, followed his YouTube channel,

which is still up there, it is still up there

in perpetuity for what I believe. You can actually

go and see the actual train set that I'm talking

about and the fact that he did restore this kid

and hear the joy that I'm talking about, you

know? Absolutely. If you want to experience what

Gary was, go watch that. That's, I guess, about

the best way I can end it. There you go. Tell

us the story of how you got into customization.

Actually, yeah, that's a bit fucky. Oh boy. A

long time ago in a little life, about 11 years

ago, I used to be a snow plow driver. I'd get

out, I'd be on call and all that, and I'd get

home at weird hours. sleep at weird hours and

all of that stuff. So sometimes playing video

games was not an option. And watching stuff on

TV wasn't an option because earphones were terrible

back then and expensive as hell if you wanted

a decent pair. It was either that or the dirty

birds from Apple. You know what I mean? So I

didn't have that option. So I had to teach myself

how to do something. So I had to teach myself

how to do Photoshop. Don't know why I guess just

the artistic side of me needed somewhere to come

out and then I found the I need a sig thread

on TFW and it was kind of a thing where it was

like people would put in these requests and You

know, you would just jump in and be like, oh,

I think I can take care of that But the thing

was is you wanted to stay in order. You didn't

want to jump like if you jumped one ahead the

next person had to take the job that you left.

You didn't end up jumping too many ahead and

making sure people were missed out. You know,

it wasn't pick and choose. It was very much a

cue, but there was still, if I don't like this

idea, I can at least jump to the next one. You

know what I mean? So I'm over there. Yep. This

guy comes in named Plow King. Maybe you heard

of him. So He requests the thread of his original

character, Plow King. Shocking name, I know.

Sorry, hi kid. I love Eric. Eric's fantastic.

He's one of my fucking best friends in the US.

Only because of the length of time that I've

known him versus some of the other guys. But

yeah, he's an amazing guy. But anyway, sidetracked.

So Eric comes in and he's like, yeah, can I get

a thread with my custom character making it look

like they're plowing the snow off of the road

and such and such and blah, blah, blah. So I

was like, yo, I'm a plow guy. I can do that,

I think. And then I message him and I'm like,

hey man, blah, blah, blah, blah, yada, yada,

yada. And then he's like, yeah, let me send you

some pics. And he sends me a couple pics of Plow

King. Alt mode with the plow on and everything.

And I'm like, wait a sec, wait, what did you,

what, you made that? You know, like kind of like

doing a double take, like, excuse me. And he's

like, oh yeah, he's really good. You just did

this and this. And then he shows me the radicons

for him over there. And then we ended up going

over checking out a bunch of TF master stuff.

because of course Eric is a disciple of T .F.

Master, so therefore I am a disciple of Plow

King. So he ends up showing me a bunch of T .F.

Master stuff and all of this and everything,

and I'm like, yo, you can make your own characters

and everything? And he's like, yeah. I was like.

Okay, like what did what is it you're using to

make these and he's you're like, oh, it's this

alternators line and I was like, oh and then

go on and I check out the resource pages on Sabertron

and all that and I find pictures and stuff that

I'm like, yeah, I'm just playing around with

stuff and Then all of a sudden I just start playing

with hue and saturation, and then I get this

purplish -bluish color that I like, and I'm like,

ah, let's just see what I can make out of this.

And the next thing I know, Nemesis Predator King

Alternator's version was staring me in the face.

So now, what people don't realize, may not realize,

has been so long, is the Alternator's version

of Nemesis Predator King does not transform.

He is two -car ends. Doesn't work, folks. So,

going back to my whole stance on parts formers

and action masters and stuff. So, I'm like, I

don't know what the hell to do. Like, you're

telling me this can be done. I'm like, what would

I need for this? And he gives me basically a

laundry list of stuff, right, and everything,

including reprolabels on how to get custom ones

done and who to contact. So I'm like, damn. I'm

like, all right, let me see if I can source all

of these parts for you. Talking to my wife and

everything and she's really good. Tell me if

you take all of this stuff which is gonna be

about $120 worth of junk and Send it to this

guy in Michigan. He's gonna make you that and

I'm like apparently Then she's just like all

right, whatever it's your money I'm like, all

right cool. So packed it up and sent it off rapper

labels had already sent a second set of stickers

over to Eric already because I had given them

his him addresses his address as well. So they

sent once at the meeting once at the him And

then next thing I know I oh god, I don't want

to know how I don't remember how long it was

I don't want to say if it was like three months,

maybe six months I don't think it was longer

than six months. Maybe it was I'm not sure But

anyway, so next thing I know I get a message

in and from Eric and he's telling me done And

I'm like, okay. He's like, do I get to see it?

He's like, no. I'm like, what? He's like, no.

He's like, not till you get it. So like, just

need letting you know that it's on the way. I'm

like, okay. So now I'm waiting for the mail to

show up. And it finally shows up. And my wife

happened to be here at the time too. So she's

like, all right, show me this stupid thing that's

freaking cost us like $200. I'm like, all right,

can you just give me a second at least take the

thing out and then I open it up and everything

and I pull the damn thing out and I'm just staring

at it I'm like Then I boot up my Photoshop and

I'm just like Fuck did he do that? And then next

thing I know I'm looking at the finger spinning

it around 360 degrees and I'm like, what did

he do? Like how does that go like? How did and

I'm looking at things and I'm like, oh he did

okay You know and I'm like one of the like literally

that's how my brains processing here, right?

Well, you should hear me sometimes man. I make

the weirdest noises Yeah, so I'm staring at this

thing and the next thing I'm like, you know,

I'm like hey like damn I'm like do you think

you can make like if I did the rest of them,

you know, it's like the Predacons right like

You know, this was a couple weeks later fast

-forwarding sorry a Couple weeks later. I was

like, you know, okay, I still can't get over

this thing man. I'm like this thing's incredible

I'm like, you know if I were to do the rest of

them, could you do them for me? He's you're like

no I'm like, oh what and He replies back to me.

He's like if you want them you make them I'm

like, I can't do that You sure like yeah, you

can I'm like, no, I can't He's sure like tell

you what he's sure like download MSN. You sure

like put me on there I had MSN anyway, but old

people, you know So I had him on MSN. I can't

tell you how many days he would come home from

work from messages that were like Oh my god,

Eric help. I don't know what the hell I'm doing

Because I literally started off customizing with

a tiny little freaking handsaw and hand painting

everything which made me loathe hand -painting

everything. So the very first Nemesis Predacons

that were done under the tantrum and headstrong

were all hand -painted and hand -cut. There was

no Dremel involved. There was no diamond saw.

There was no coping saw. It was a tiny little

dollar store fucking cheap -ass sawzall blade.

It really was. So that is actually how I got

into customizing. So long winded story through

the SIG thread. And through Eric, I ended up

becoming Nemesis for the King. And, you know,

I don't know, Eric always said he saw something

in me. And I'm still not exactly sure that what

that was because it's so hard to see something

in somebody through the Internet. And especially

in that time, like we're talking 2007, 2008,

you know, like that was incredibly rare. You

know, like nowadays, yeah, you can, you know,

almost voice chat with anybody now within seconds.

Back then, it was so rare. I didn't talk to Eric

for the first six months. everything was through

MSN Messenger and then I got a webcam and then

we were web camming and that was in Potato Vision.

But yeah, he helped me through every step of

the way. That's why I say I'm a disciple of Blaukang

whether he likes it or not because he hates it

when I say that. He really does. He's like, well,

I just took everything TF Master taught me. No,

you didn't. You did more than that. But he doesn't

accept it. So screw you. It's on record That's

funny, you know Yeah, customizing I've always

wanted to do something like that. I just I don't

I've been experimenting with with custom Lego.

That's one of the biggest things that People

say I don't want to try my hand at customizing.

It's it looks too difficult. It looks too difficult

Well, I do the repaint thing. That's not a big

deal to me anymore It used to be when I was younger,

but I just I look at it and I'm like, it doesn't

look like it should And that's something that

I miss not really seeing a ton of the boards

anymore You know, but that if repainting has

become mainstream as it were that's fantastic

because I think everybody should be fixing What's

wrong gonna figure that they don't like? However,

they like it, you know, like I said, I painted

my freaking run amok. I did copper on it because

I don't like orange, so I did copper. It's orangey,

but it's not orangey. Some people may dig it,

some people don't, but guess what? It's in my

collection. It's got that metallic look to it,

so it just makes it that much more interesting.

That was the signature of mine, actually. It

was metallic and flats. If you go back and look

at almost every piece I've done, I have some

type of metallic versus flat contrast on them.

It was one of the few signatures I carried across

everything. Very cool. If you could voice any

Transformers character, who would it be and why?

Probably Cop. I really have turned into the crotchety

old man. I really have. If chronic pain has taught

me nothing, it's the fact that I change boobs

faster than a Rottweiler. So, yeah, I would have

to say I'd probably be well -suited for Cup because

I could sit there for one second, probably be

yelling at them damn kids and then next minute

be looking at them going... The fuck's your damn

problem? You know, back in my day. Damn kids

with their hipping and their hopping. Pull up

your damn pants, you morons. So many, so many

shows. So. Oh, yeah, yep. So, who is your favorite

Transformers actor? I know you kind of touched

on Scott McNeil at the beginning, but is that

your end -all be -all? Scott McNeil is my end

-all be -all, if for no other reason other than

the fact that at least the last TFCon that he

and I were at, my business card was in his wallet.

If for no other reason. Nice. Just that coolness

factor alone. But, uh, no, Scott's awesome legitimately.

Um, the reason why, I mean, Dinobot, again, I,

I resonated with the character, any, any, any

character voiced by Scott McNeil. How can you

not fucking love him? I mean, you know, going

back to Deadeye Duck and Bucky O 'Hare. Yeah,

I'm that old folks. Yup. Yeah. Um, so I mean,

I had my last cigarette with Scott McNeil. And

that has been over eight years ago now. Now,

that was TFCon 2010. What TFCon did you go to?

2011. I've gone to a bunch of them. I went to

2012. Since 2009. I mean, technically the only

TFCon I missed was 2019, but I did show up on

Friday night. But yeah, I've been to every, I

mean, staff since 2011, if I remember correctly.

Yeah, I was at the Mississauga one in 2012 and

met Scott McNeil and stood in line for what seemed

like forever for that. I was there, I was staff.

Yeah, so he yeah, and he was he was awesome because

he kind of stood with everybody that was our

problem kind of answered questions would make

sure just him to leave his people were screaming

at us Well, I remember somebody brought him dinner

so he could just stay at the table no, no, no

and And then he was late to the panel reading

Eva and they're like, where's God? Oh, he's still

in the room to get Scott out of that damn room

and she came up She's like, nope. Nope. I'm gonna

kill a fucking fanboy Yeah, and he's like he

just comes strolling in halfway through after

they've already cast everybody for the for the

reading and he's just like But he doesn't want

anybody to be upset or turned away That's that's

it and and which is awesome and while yes, it

was a headache to us It was a blessing of a headache.

You know what I mean? It wasn't that it was a

handful to deal with. It was just he was doing

it because he didn't want to upset the fans.

He really didn't. He wanted to meet every single

person that was there to see him. You know, and

he didn't want anybody turned away. So I mean,

that's a good problem to have as opposed to somebody

who's like punch clocking it going, oh, it's

four o 'clock. I'm out of here, deuces. You know,

but inherently that causes problems all the way

around. But no, actually that 2012 then it would

have been. Yeah, that would have been about eight

years ago now because it just turned 2021. So

yeah, I was at that TFCon. I mean, I've been

basically at every single one, like I said. But

I had my last cigarette with Scott that Monday

morning outside of the doors when he signed the

rat trap. Yeah, got a picture. Somebody has it.

I think Wendell has it, a picture of Scott McNeil

signing the rat trap at the hotel. Oh, very cool.

Very cool. We gotta get him in front of the man

on here at some point. He's a hell of a guy.

But yeah, no, it was awesome. It really was.

He's an awesome guy. I fanboyed. I totally did.

I got him to sign my Beast Wars animated Dinobot.

just like I got David Kaye to sign my Megatron

and Derek. So it's just, yeah, no, Scott, hands

down. I mean, David Kaye, awesome. Don't get

me wrong. But yeah, Scott. So what is your dream

masterpiece figure if it hasn't already been

made? Yeah, if they haven't made it yet, what

is I mean, God could only fucking wait for a

fucking masterpiece Predaking. So if you're talking

never going to happen in a million years, yeah,

masterpiece Predaking. But if you're talking

the one I never thought they'd make, well, any

of the Beast Wars stuff, but masterpiece Dino

bot is the one that I'm just like, I hate you

Hasbro for pricing these so far out of this.

The the third party or the fourth party the knockoff

the three and a half or whatever they they do

have a decently priced one there's all the difference

and then there's the other one and The other

one of them is bad the infinite one that generally

goes for about like fucking a hundred I think

it's like a hundred I Don't even remember what

it is. I'd have to look Because that's crazy.

I know we're paying like 150 Yeah, cuz I can

get Tigatron knockoff for like 83 I can get Dinobot

for like 85 like yeah, we're paying like Megatron

for 104 with exchange and shipping So it's like

again, why not buy the authentic Wow, you know?

So it's like, it puts me in a tight spot. It's

like, I can't really afford the knockoff, but

I really can't afford the Hasbro. So I do what

sane people do, and I don't buy shit. Crazy idea,

I know. Yeah. I know. Well, that's when you just

get the kingdom one for 30. That's going to be

my poor man's masterpiece. Well, and it's great

because it looks almost like the masterpiece

one just with less paint deco. And you as a customizer

can paint it if you want to. I have the power.

Sorry, wrong podcast. Okay, He -Man. That's what

I planned. I was looking at my He -Man. Wrong

podcast, yeah. I have He -Man. I have all the

He -Man minifigures across the top of my monitor

on Lego tape. And then right in the middle, the

separate from the evil side to the good side

is a Voltron minifig. Defender. Nice. So there

you go. All right. So you had asked me to remind

you about this and this isn't really transformers,

but it's part of your history. What's the deal

with you and YouTube fans? So, uh, I don't remember

what. what year it was, but it was early on.

One of the first years that we were at the double,

was it the double tree? I can't remember now.

Anyway, so, TF gone. My wife comes up to me and

says that there's somebody who'd like to speak

to me. And I'm like, okay. And she's like, it's

a young kid. He's gotten into customizing because

of watching your YouTube channel and he's here

with him and his mom And i'm like, okay cool.

No problem. Okay, and his mom comes over and

says You know, he's he's kind of shy. He's he's

kind of afraid to come over You know, he just

wants your advice on what you would do differently

for his custom So I went over to him, you know

said hello and everything kind of kind of kind

of got into my good graces a little with them

and I asked to see his custom and he shows it

to me and I took a look at it and I'm like this

ain't too bad I said even for somebody who's

using a brush and some not great paint to do

customizing with you've actually done a really

good job here and he looked at me and he's sure

like how can you tell that I said well first

of all the paint is thick but the paint's thick

not because of you, that's just the type of paint

that it is. It's not meant for this, but you

tried. And I said, the other one is, is I can

see all the brushstrokes in it. So that tells

me that you're using a like dollar store cheap

brush, which if that's all you've got, go for

it. Don't go out and buy anything more if you

can't. I said, work with what you have to begin

with. I started off with a fricking little hobby

sawzall knife and, you know, painting by hand.

and sanding everything by hand and not knowing

what a Dremel attachment was or good paintbrushes.

It was the $1 .99 for 75 brushes at Walmart.

I end up talking with him. Afterwards he goes

off, the mum thanks me and everything and I think

nothing of it again until the following TFCon

when he came with his mom again. And he was better

and he came up to me that year and he wanted

again the advice What would you do better? And

I saw the improvement from the year before and

just like I did the year previous I talked to

him and he went off with his mom and again his

mom said, thank you and Then I think the next

year was the first year that I really experienced

a big problem with my legs and my lower back

problem. So I don't really remember too much

about that year. So I honestly can't recall if

I spoke with them that year or not. That's something

I'd have to double check with my wife. She's

not paying attention. But anyway, so. The next

year comes by, and I see them again. I talk to

the mom every year. And I'm like, okay, cool.

My wife just clarified that the year that I don't

recall about, she said she spoke to the mom every

year. So the following year, I see the kid again.

He's gotten better. He's also grown like a motherfucker.

Holy shit, gross bird. This kid's almost as tall

as I am now. You know So the same thing I talked

with him and everything like that and he actually

entered into the contest this year you know and

He actually legitimately nearly got an honor

roll mention No bullshitting not not not knowing

anything about his customer previously. I had

no idea whose it was I had an idea who might

have done it but I didn't know for certain, but

he legitimately almost got an honorable mention

and he knows that. And I ended up telling him

that year that he was very this close to getting

an honorable mention. So that happened. And then

the next year goes by. I don't see him. And then

the next year, I don't see him. And then 2019

rolls around. And I go to the Friday night and

I had to go on my wheelchair Because I just I

could not take walking around or anything like

this. It just was not possible and I'm out with

all of the guys GM fan and you know all of them

and crisis and proto man and whoever the hell

else is out there jaws D Wendell, you know anybody

and everybody dog dog whoever is a TF con, you

know the Chris Hose coming out, bearded Ian,

God knows, like so many people. You know, it's

just a constant in and out of people that are

coming and going, coming and going. And all of

a sudden I'm sitting in my wheelchair and I hear

this voice behind me and I stopped and I stood

up and I turned around and I said, holy shit,

you're here. And she's like Yeah, he didn't want

to come this year, but I wanted to just for me.

So I said screw it and I showed up and I Looked

at her and I said to her I said, you know, do

you know how important your son has been to me

over the last couple years? I Said I've been

to some very dark places in the last year to

two years Almost to the point like I said the

mic We may not have been having this conversation,

but I'm here and that will never happen. So I'm,

I'm, I'm past that. I'm better, but it was, it

was very close there for a while. It was, it

was touch and go. And yeah, it was remembering

about things like him, wondering how he would

react if he were to find out. These are the things

that are crossing through my mind then. A lot

of my thought was towards my daughter and my

wife, don't get me wrong, but then there was

the selfish part of me that was trying to feed

my ego. I don't know if people who haven't been

in that position can understand that. There's

a part of you that's trying to feed your own

ego to boost you to do it, as it were, I guess

is the better way to put it. So I kept thinking

about him and his mother and how he would react

if he found out that he showed up at a TFCon

and the reason I wasn't there is because I decided

to end things myself. He's had a rough life,

he's fought, he's focused himself into one thing

and tried to make himself better at it and become

better at it. and hopefully is able to turn at

something because of such a young age into something

that can help him further on in his life future

himself better. And I thought about that. And

it was one of many reasons why I chose not to,

but not the reason. The reason I did was my wife

and my daughter. But like I said, there's a part

of what you go. I looked at her and I said, you

know, this may have been a big deal to you and

this may have opened up your son and helped him

become a more outgoing person and things like

that, but you don't understand the power your

son and you have had on me. You know, and that's

something that I can't express enough to her.

You know, and she turned around and she said

to me, she's like, I'm glad we could have this

conversation. Meaning that I was still here.

But at the same time, there was the double meaning

of the fact she was very happy to hear this narration,

as it were, that I decided to give her. It seemed

like if I didn't see her again and... God, I

hope him and her family are safe through all

this bullshit that's going on. But if that's

the last time I ever see her in my life, I think

that's a fantastic place to close it. I think

it ran the course it needed to, but it was everything

it needed to be. And that is so special to me

that if it wasn't for YouTube and having fans

as much as I hate it, you know, I hate the term,

I really do. It's not something I'm okay with.

It's one of the reasons I stopped doing YouTube

is I wasn't cool with the idea of being held

at a higher platform to people. But yeah, without

that, and without, you know, the Transformers

fandom, I wouldn't have that. And like I said,

I guess that kind of harkens back to the question

earlier of, you know, do I have a stronger connection

with the fandom now? Yeah, because of stuff like

that. You know, I could have all the insider

stories. I can drop all the names of people I

know and voice actors and actors I've met. None

of that fucking means a good goddamn. It really

doesn't. None of it compared to this one kid.

and his mother. Absolutely. Just goes to show

you. Butterfly effect. Little ripples can make

a big difference sometimes. Whether you believe

in it or not, and I guess that goes back to the

karma thing and maybe that. Unless of course

you guys want to know more detail, I'm fine with

talking about it. That's fine. I don't give a

shit. It's up to you, man. If you want, if you

feel as far as my pain and everything goes. Everybody

tells me it's going to make my daughter stronger

because of it. And I see how it's made her stronger,

but I also see how it's made her fragile. She

wants to. There's that horn again. Right. Gary,

Gary agrees with me. It's Gary. Gary's basically

reaching out to us through AstroTrain. I think

he's saying he agrees, maybe. Or maybe he's telling

me to shut the fuck up. But anyway, so my daughter,

she wants to be a wrestler. And I mean, legitimately,

she wants to be a wrestler. This kid from the

time she can remember has been watching wrestling.

Wanted to be a wrestler told me she wanted to

be a wrestler. The everything has only gotten

stronger Everything that she's able to see in

social media with wrestlers these days with behind

the scenes and everything everything tells her

that She is exactly like wrestlers were as kids

even to the point where we had her go to Santino

Marella, but it runs battle arts His WWE name

you're familiar with it um steve i don't know

if you're a wrestling fan yep um so anyway she

she spent an entire summer at his wrestling summer

camp every day her entire summer vacation from

the last you know the monday the friday and school

ended on the friday monday she was it at battle

arts she got up at 7 a .m every day monday to

friday of her summer vacation to go and do wrestling

training And get picked up at 430 every day and

come home and go to bed early to go back to wrestling

training every single day Never missed a single

day except for the one day after we went to Smackdown

taping but Even Santino at one point and he said

this to my daughter and it was within within

earshot So it wasn't something that was meant

to be directed towards me, but I did overhear

it Santino said to my daughter, it's kids like

you with parents like that that make it. And

that has only strengthened her drive even more.

And I believe without a doubt that my daughter

is fully capable of achieving whatever dream

she sets her mind to. And if that's being a WWE

star, I back her up 1 million percent. You go

to my Twitter bio, it'll tell you right now,

future father. a women's WWE champion. Mark this

podcast. That will be true if she puts her mind

to it. And absolutely, my pain allows that to

happen for her. If my pain and seeing every ounce

of that I go through helps her push. To get herself

to where she wants to be in life Then every ounce

of pain I have been through is absolutely worth

every fucking second of it And That's the way

I look at it now. I don't want my pain to make

me a victim, but I don't want to be a hero I

want to be her hero Nobody else's right, you

know and I know every kid you know daddy is invincible

and everything but my daughter has seen some

really bad shit with me and she knows that daddy

is not invincible and that's a hard thing to

swallow at such a young age and I just hope that

it gives her the resolve and the strength to

be able to push and get past and accomplish whatever

dream she wants and like I said that's the important

thing to me it's whatever dream she wants we've

taught We've taught my daughter how to say, when

I become a WWE star, star, not if we say, if

she says when, right. But you know what was dirty

about that. This is where fucking kids are too

damn smart. She turned it around on me because

now I'm not allowed to say, if I get fixed, I

have to say when I get fixed. Say when smart

ass. That's Know right kids are change a single

thing about it You know, so it's you know, I

don't know it's it's one of those things that

it's like, yeah I'm glad my daughter has something

that means as much to her if not more than Transformers

means to me You know And that's, that's fantastic

to be such a young age, like to be able to sit

there and say, like, you know, like she knows

the hard work it's going to take. She spent an

entire summer of frigging wrestlers bootcamp.

She can jump off the damn top ropes and take

bumps with the best of them now. Trust, you know,

and if you watch the Broken Skull session with

Sasha Banks, she talks about bumps. My kid was

sitting there going, Oh God, I know. Yeah. Preach.

That's my 11 year old. She's awesome. She is

amazing. Makes it all worth it. If she achieves

the dream that she is happy with, then everything

is worth it. Absolutely. Alright, now that we've

had all that seriousness, it feels kind of weird

asking this question. Where do you land on the

Rumble is Blue, Frenzy is Red, Rumble is Red,

Frenzy is Blue debate? Am in complete agreement

except for me. I usually use the cartoon and

I say rumble is probably black But no, I'm I'm

pretty I'm pretty steadfast on I fall with the

the cartoon that aired here in America North

America Canada, you know, I am I am yeah rumble

is blue frenzy is red and again Just because

it's this fandom if you disagree with me you

are wrong If you could create any Transformers

fiction, whether it's toy, cartoon, comic, whatever,

if Hasbro said, here's Stu, here are the keys

to the kingdom, what story would you want to

tell with it? What would you? To be honest, I

mean, I have had to create a backstory for the

Nemesis Predacons. And in essence, because a

lot of people were basically asking like, Oh,

what makes them blah, blah, blah. And it's like.

Well, here you go, dickheads. If you want to

be so special, I'll throw some backstory at you.

You know, so I guess technically I already have,

but if we're talking like. If they officially

came to you and said, we need this story and

we want you to be able to do whatever you want

to do, I'd really love. To know the backstory

or try and create a backstory on the Proto form

X depth charge Continuum saga, whatever you want

to call it More that's a better word for it.

That would probably be something that I would

that would that would probably be it Just because

that would be something that would be cool to

try and you know, I guess I could crazy ideas

up in this head. So God knows what I could come

up with if I gave myself the opportunity. Absolutely.

What is one piece of advice that you'd give the

Transformers fandom and Transformers collectors

in general? Chill the fuck out. Like legit, some

of y 'all motherfuckers take shit way too seriously.

Who fucking cares if fucking rumble is fucking

blue and frenzy is red? Does it fucking bother

you what I think? Steve was telling me and we

won't use names and we won't name the group,

but there's a group on Facebook where someone

was commenting and whatever. Get your beast wars

out of my G1. Like why does beast wars have to

come into the war for Cybertron stuff? And I'm

just. Like he's telling me this whole thing and

I'm like, Oh my God, why are you so, why is someone

out there on the internet so inherently against

the generations, you know, kind of collaborating

and it's, it's a time travel story for crap sake.

Well, I was going to say that I look at it this

way. Every continuity of transformers is G one

to somebody. Period. There you go. So, you know,

to sit there like, OK, yeah, I O G G one. Yeah,

sure. Does that fucking matter? Not in a goddamn

fucking sense. Means to say it means as much

as the name Nemesis Predicting means in reality.

Absolutely. Alright, we would like to thank Nemesis

Predaking for taking the time to chat with us

here in All Things Transformers to get his Transformers

origin story. I'm gonna run down the closing

and then we're gonna get the heck out of here.

Thank you for joining us here in All Things Transformers.

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is Stu, NemiPred, shutting up as always. Transform

and transcend with us here on All Things Transformers

and we will catch you next time.