Transformers Generation 1 Review

Hey everybody, this is Dan Gilbazan, voice of

G -1 Bumblebee, and you're listening to All Things

Transformers. is a message from optimus prime

stay away from my cookie or they'll eat you are

they made from real girl scouts only on sunday

hello and welcome to all things transformers

episode 35 i am joined with the two cohorts of

the entire Transformers franchise on Geekcast

Radio. Introduce yourselves, guys. Yes, TF2 and

Mike. And Pecan Court Michael. Hey, how's it

going? It's going. We have been recorded together,

the three of us, for god close to two years,

and it just we fall right back into the same

old things. It's like we never stopped. Yeah,

exactly. Like riding the bike. Anyways, our discussion

for the remaining episodes of All Things Transformers.

I don't remember if we mentioned it last episode,

but here's a refresher. Anyhow, we're going to

talk about every incarnation of Transformers

from beginning to end as the show goes on, rounding

out the podcast at episode 50, where we will

officially retire it. Unless at some point we

all decide to jump back into the saddle again

uh... so this episode we will be jumping into

transformers generation one the one that started

it all and just to clarify for everybody the

u .s. stuff we're not jumping into the japanese

stuff No, I had this idea, you know Steve was

like, oh, I don't know if I should kill a TCF

I don't know if I you know, I don't know what

I should do with it because I mean honestly We're

not really doing a lot of transformers coverage

right now. Yes. This is the year the 30th anniversary,

but Lately prime ended Which I know Michael's

probably happy about I'd say that prime ended

rescue bots was on a extended hiatus after the

first season ended and Dark of the Moon was what?

Three four years ago at this point. 2011? Yeah,

2011. So three years ago. And there really hasn't

been a lot of major oh my god news. I'm out of

the toy stuff altogether. I'm just naive. Zero

interest in it. I've kind of gotten more into

the comics and with the pull bag starting up

last year That's kind of where I've been when

we do transformers episode. That's kind of where

I've been Doing all the transformers comic news

and stuff. I mean we still we've still brought

it up on ATTF But I was trying to figure out

okay. This is the 30th anniversary. How can we?

do this how how can we give the show give the

podcast a proper send -off and still make it

fun for us and i figure oh let's do everything

what do you mean everything gutter gutter i don't

think he was in the gutter not this time no that's

where you usually sleep so it was like classic

gary oldman quote there come on man Oh, yeah.

So yeah, this not only being the 30 years of

Transformers, it's also the six years of all

things Transformers, which is one year more than

the GeekCast radio network. Yep. Yep, yep, yep.

Because ATTF and TFG1 started a couple of years

before, well... G1 started in a year before The

network and so yeah, it's it's kind of interesting

to see it all go out in the sixes go back Yeah

Six six six. Yes. It's a six shot of a good time

This is bad son of a And my improv has improved

Yes, yes it has. It took four years, but... So

as Steve said, we're here to talk about Generation

1. Steve, when did you first, since you're the

youngest of the three of us, how long did it

take you to catch on to G1? Because obviously

you were still growing up as it ended. Funny

thing about it is I actually learned about it

and about I want to say 1994 or 95 really? Yeah,

I caught it as reruns on the sci -fi channel

back when they actually back when they had their

animation mornings on Like Saturday and Sunday

and then on the weekdays back in the day when

they were actually good I used to catch transformers

generation one. I think it started out with season

three and then it would kind of jump around between

season one and two. So season three has more

of a spot for me as far as recognition wise.

But I like the characters better earlier on.

But that was when I first got my my glimpse into

the Transformers world and then 96 and 97 is

when I hit it full force. So your first prime

was Rodimus. Actually, no the first one I saw

the first episode I saw was the rebirth. Oh That

has to be creepy Zombie what I know it's we're

optimus prime or no the return of optimus prime.

That's what it was I get my my episode titles

wrong, but I Had I had the the ultimate leader

come back. Yes. Yes awesome What about you for

you, Michael, because by 84, you're pretty old.

I, you know, I was a late bloomer. So even when

I was, you know, 11 or so, I was still playing

with Transformers. Mm hmm. Uh, yeah, I would

have been 11 in 84. But yeah, I remember I was

in like. So was a sixth grade or so, and my friends

and I were arguing over like. There's gonna be

a Combiner team made out of jets and they're

all gonna be the same as Starscream So it's gonna

be like these great big Starscream guys that

combine together and it's like no It couldn't

possibly be guys as big as Starscream because

the last combiner was all little guys They were

tiny like I had the constructicons. I knew how

small they were. They were tiny But so we're

like going back and forth with my friends We

yeah, we were late bloomers It's a terrible way

to put it but and I hate that term but yeah,

that's about what it was For me it was it was

so weird because I Would catch episodes out of

order I was four when it started by the time

I was six and seven when it got close to ending

I was like back then I didn't really like When

show when a cartoon ended it didn't really resonate

with me. It was just like oh, it's not on anymore

I guess you know, but they still showed all the

old episodes even though they weren't making

any new ones and for me I Had you know favorite

characters. I like jazz. I liked astro train.

I liked Who else prowl and certain moments and

I liked optimus I He's not the most competent

leader, but he was really good He's not the he

makes some really really bad mistakes in this

series, but anyway I like sound wave and blaster

and the cassettes and all that stuff. I was never

really a Starscream fan I was like I was like

Skywarp more Skywarp was cool Skywarp had like

two lines in the whole series They talk cares

he could teleport who cares the right color But

I remember watching episodes here and there and

here and there my mom let me watch anything and

everything So it's kind of a shock and I don't

know why my my aunt when I used to go to my cousin's

house I would try to watch it if I was over there

at the time that it was on and she's like, you're

not watching that. It's too violent. It's too

this. They said ass. They never said ass in that

show. They never said ass in G1. Spike said shit

once. Yeah, shit. In the film. In hell. In the

film. Yes. Yes. And that's the other thing. I

never saw it in... For me as a kid going to the

video store was the most magical thing ever because

I would find all these video cassettes of Transformers

of Thundercats of He -Man or whatever else and

It was like oh, I haven't seen this yet. Oh,

I haven't seen this yet, and I remember It had

to have been 87 Mid to late 87, maybe I don't

remember exactly the date, but I know I know

I never saw Transformers the movie in theaters,

right? I wish I had but I never did I did either

But I've seen it at TF con Yeah, well, I saw

the bot con when they re -released it Yeah, that

was awesome to actually watch it in a theater

full of other transformer fans Yeah, that is

great. But it came on television They chopped

it up into a couple different episodes and that's

how I saw it. So when I saw the movie, I mean,

you know, they edited it for television, but

when I actually saw the movie uncut as an entire

thing. Yeah, I'm trying to remember. They're

called DVDs now and they were called VHS. This

is terrible. Back when, you know, when I watched

it as a VHS. I was like I've seen this I've already

seen this And again, it was edited so it wasn't

quite the same. But yeah, I mean the plot was

all there Yeah, see I never knew that it was

edited for television. I never knew like I knew

that Was the case over in He -Man and She -Ra

for their film, Secret of the Sword. I knew that

was the case. They edited the five episodes into

a film. But I never knew that Transformers the

movie was edited for television to show as five

parts. That... Wow. I'm so glad I never saw it

that way. I mean, it was on like every day for

a week, so... And I was gonna come home from

school and sit down and watch Transformers and

G .I. Joe anyway. Yeah. uh... so yeah the movie

came out and myself and probably the rest of

the world cried like babies when they killed

optimus and back then i i don't i don't care

what says today back then it didn't matter that

Hasbro was getting rid of the line to make room

for new stuff. That didn't matter to me. What

mattered to me was the damn stories that the

show was and the movie was telling. You know,

people today criticize the movie for, oh, well,

it's just Hasbro making room for its new toys.

You can't criticize the movie just for that.

Yeah. I mean, I criticize the movies for. many

different reasons of that. Yes, but I'm just

saying that... We've had that discussion several

times. Yes, we have. What else about G1 did you

guys enjoy? I mean, obviously the toys. Mostly

it's the toys. I never read the comic books.

But every day I would come home and watch the

cartoon. You know, even if it was reruns Mostly

the first couple of years once it started getting

into third season I didn't watch it as much because

I just didn't like Rodimus as a leader By the

time they brought out from this prime back I

was kind of fading out a little bit like I don't

think I don't think I'm following these anymore

and I realized there's a lot of fans there who

got into it in that Was it 87 88 time period

where you know, they actually saw rebirth on

television and really liked headmasters target

masters that type of thing and Yeah, I mean there's

a lot of people who who were at that age and

that was that was their introduction to the series

and You know as far as I was concerned. It was

like man. These guys are cheap Plastic is crappy

and the articulation just isn't there. I mean,

you know big blocks Yeah, you complain about

you know, some of the earlier guys being a brick,

you know, but man those headmasters You know,

they they had no articulation and the only articulation

they had was let directly from their transformation

It's just they just weren't very good toys and

from the cartoon. You really didn't get enough

characterization for any one of them to really

enjoy them as a character either. Well, and you

switch from like 80, 90 percent die cast to 100

percent plastic. Yeah. Yeah. Which didn't help

matters. Yeah. So, no, I mean, at that point

I was I was breaking away. I was still kind of

aggravated that the aerial bots weren't the size

of Starscream. You know, that really bothered

me. Yeah, I'm kidding you're so cool You know

what the you know what the really sad thing is

it took 30 years for me to realize that Rob Paulson

is slingshot Or air raid. He's a couple of the

areas the voice of a couple of the aerial bots

Yeah, you know looking here I completely Remember

and I don't know. I believe this happened in

g2 and we'll talk about that next time but like

I remember power master optimus Was that g1 or

g2? It was g1 for the after g1 Yeah, but is that

this was that the season 5 when they only showed

20 episodes it season 5 doesn't actually exist

It's they went into headmasters Yeah Which it's

all season 4 but that was like Four episodes

it well, technically technically our rebirth

series Is different from the actual rebirth series

if that makes any sense? Well, unless we're talking

about like what came out in Japan Yeah, no Japan

did get a season four Right. No. No, I'm talking

about with with Tommy and the puppet of power

master optimus That was season 5, the re -airs

that only had 20 original episodes that were

rerun. Season 5 is what you're talking about,

Michael. Those were G2. Oh, no, no, no, no, no.

Yeah! No, the G2 cartoon was G1 cartoons with

a border around it. Right, but what I'm saying

is... Cosmic Cube. We'll talk about that next

time. What I'm saying is, is that, and again,

take this with a grain of salt, but they do do

their research. According to TF Wiki, season

five was Tommy Kennedy with puppet master, power

master, Optimus Prime, and it was more than meets

the eye. The movie, the five days of the movie,

like you said, Five Faces of Darkness, Surprise

Party, Dark Awakening. Return of Optimus and

then rebirth and Okay, they listed here is season

five. So I don't know if I remember watching

the the power master optimist stuff Yeah, I never

saw those to be honest. I Never saw it either,

but it's not any new episodes. No, it's not new

episodes It's all sorts of cool stuff, you know,

yeah Well, they had they had several more years

of Transformers after. Well, they actually had.

Six more years, I mean, they had headmasters,

Master Force, victory zone, return of convoy

and convoy and operation combination. Yeah, so

they were getting episodes all the way up through

the 90s. Yeah. So I mean, I don't think we got

anything until what G2 came out in 91 or 92.

Yeah, 91. And. Yeah. And then Beast Wars wasn't

until ninety five and six. OK, yeah. So, yeah,

we had we had a bit of a drought there. Yeah,

you think? Well, I mean, when people say, oh,

you know, Beast Wars save Transformers, it's

like, well, in the U .S. Yeah. But yeah, in Japan,

they were pretty consistent, though. Yeah. Yeah,

the the Japanese stuff the only thing I like

it for is finally being able to see a blaster

sound wave fight But yeah, yeah, no that was

in the Headmasters headmasters. Yeah. Yeah Fans

are currently dubbing anyway Yes, so that yeah,

or does that dubs of those for years and there's

like private in jokes concerning The does because

they they call them by different names. It's

like some sound wave was No, I want to say blaster

and sound blaster was like Billy or something.

Hey Billy, you know It was just so full of private

in jokes That you know, if you watch them now,

it's like who white white who what you know,

it's like well, yeah 20 years ago when they were

dubbing it, they thought it was hilarious and

now nobody knows what the hell they're talking

about You got to read the wiki just understand.

Well, why don't they call him Billy? I'm you

know, or whatever they call I I can't say exactly

but it's one of those things where it's like

yeah, I used to understand that and Gosh, it's

been a long time I I used to actually collect

the Marvel g1 comics. Yeah, I had almost all

of them Wow I think I was missing missing maybe

six issues okay unfortunately and then probably

about about eight years ago nine years ago I

think I had to sell them all And I probably should

just ask my parents for money so I can keep them.

But I didn't. They're still sitting at the comic

shop that I sold them to. Wow. I'd say a good

50 percent of them because they have a marked

up so high in price that nobody will ever buy

them again. Yeah. But I know they're mine based

on things that were on the cover. Yeah. So you

didn't write your name on it, did they? No, but

I had a mark on the edge. So I knew it was mine

Plus I kind of go in there every now and again

to watch it like a hawk to see if they ever drop

in price I can be like snipe. Yeah, I picked

them up in trades eventually, but No, I mean

I had almost all of them like all the Marvel

GI Joe crossovers with them all the Universe

where they show all their bios and everything

although the art Wasn't really good in it from

the beginning until The art got better in the

70s and then by then it was already deemed to

end well, yeah, well who was it I was gonna say

like Everyone says that Simon Furman, you know

came in and just resurrected it and made all

the all the stories fantastic and epic and yeah

I'll buy that but as a package deal with Simon

Furman came Andrew Wildman. And I have never

liked Wildman's art. I just I mean, maybe it's

blasphemous to say that as a Transformers fan

who didn't like Wildman, but I don't like it.

It's bad. And now Wildman actually came back

to do what do they call that regeneration? Regeneration.

Yeah, it's picking up where I still can't look

at his art. I mean, you think You'd think that

20 years later the art would have gotten better.

He made as an artist, you know, it looks like

he never it never changed It maybe exactly the

same. Maybe he does it on purpose. I don't know

but it's bad. I really like it. They added like

pupils to the robot's eyes and made them look

like humans Well, you can blame Bay for that.

But no, Wildman always had Human faces it Galvatron

look like a guy in a boxy cosplay outfit. I Mean,

oh god, is it ugly? And I definitely agree with

you Yeah, it was just it was the art was just

atrocious and you know Does it attract from the

story some people say no, but I just can't get

into it if I if I can't look at it Well, sometimes

it took away from the story for me depending

on what was going on. Yeah Or depending on what

robot they showed the face of like I was pretty

much good But if they had a real face or or stuff

like that I was like just shoot me I don't want

to see it like especially their decepticon. They

had really bad faces But I mean, I'm happy that

they continued it at least to send it give it

a proper send -off into the g2 comics Yeah, which

I haven't collected any of them since they've

done the regeneration, but that's because I want

to pick them up in trade Yeah, when they're done

with it, but I Wouldn't say it's Overly successful

though. I think it's like one of those cult classic

things that either have to be into it or not

Compared to the modern day Yeah, I guess you

know what I really liked and this is coming from

a guy who picked up Transformers collecting again

in 1998. I really liked the Dreamwave comics

and they came out around that time period because

it's like, wow, they're actually doing G1 again

and they look really good. And, you know, there's

a lot of artists that will do really good art

like Milny or Guidi. But at the time, nobody

else is doing art. For like G1 art and it was

head and shoulders better than anything Wildman

ever did. Oh Definitely. I loved that series.

Yeah, I mean I really liked it but You know the

stories just weren't there the the The plot lines

were just utter utter crap But I mean again,

it was there was a lot of art coming out. There

were a lot of posters I've got posters from the

era that were like Oh, what do I got? I've got

Predaking, Fighting Superion. It's a really nice

poster. It's really cool. I've got a cup. Oh,

what else? I got a couple really nice ones like

a Decepticon spread with like Megatron and a

bunch of people behind him or around him. I really

love the art. Yeah. Yeah, but I mean, yeah, I

really like the art. But now. You know, you've

got IDW. And their art, it goes back and forth.

Like I said, I have a few favorites, but the

stories are always consistently good. Yeah, I'm

starting to notice, though, with the IDW stuff,

and it is good. James Roberts and John Barber

are amazing writers for these characters, but...

I'm noticing that Hasbro is having slightly more

influence because of toy pack ins. Oh, yeah,

it's like And why is crosscut showing up 20 at

25 issues in this way, who are you? I don't know.

I'm crosscut. Who are you? Well, I'm sure fuck

you, you know, I'm swerve come to my bar The

whole ship should know who this guy I mean there's

only 800 of them you know you think everyone

knows I don't I don't want to go down that rabbit

hole but right well let me just say spoilers

for spoilers for anyone who hasn't read the IDW

more than meets the eye robots in disguise but

I find it extremely strange and I still have

no idea how the hell Rattrap and Waspinator got

into the uh I'm completely this is why I'm waiting

for the Dark Cybertron trade to come out the

two trades because they're gonna be in volume

one Dark Cybertron part one and part two so I

can actually read the story from beginning to

end because by issue by issue Dark Cybertron

is just confusing the hell out of me you know

I actually had to quit reading it because I I

didn't like it I'm like this is where everything

fucking breaks down and now that I'm reading

you know more than meets the eye of the the dark

cybertron issues i should say it's like they

changed artists but the but the dialogue is the

same and it's like i can read the dialogue and

imagine the art from when willy was doing it

yeah sorry milly i met the guy he didn't correct

me when i called it milly I don't know how to

say his name. I don't know, I call him Milne.

But Milne, whatever. But I introduced him to

my boy. I said, you know who this is, Aiden?

He goes, no. Oh, man, this is like the best Transformers

artist ever. And he's like, hee hee hee. You

know, we bought a couple prints and had him sign

it. It was nice. But maybe because of Dark Cybertron,

maybe the regular artists on the two titles are

off preparing for the dawn of the Autobots, which

is the next. the next arc after Dark Cybertron

and I will say that yeah you're right the art

it's good but the problem with Dark Cybertron

for me anyway too many artists every single issue

you do not need all three or four or there was

one issue I like that though there was five artists

on it I like that when they switch storylines

they switch art art It's not even an artist.

It's art style. One of them's painted. One of

them's very thin lines, muted colors. You know,

one of them is big, thick, jagged lines, almost

like a sketch. I mean, I like that. I mean, this

is very easy to tell where you're at, you know,

especially when they're juggling five or six

storylines. Yeah. It's ridiculous how much they're

juggling and they're juggling it across three

or four different titles. No, it's just the two.

well it's it's the two and then they have the

dark cybertron it started off with a dark cybertron

issue yeah well it ends with a dark cybertron

issue but you get the point yeah i mean it does

start off with its own issue and then it does

end with its own issue but the the genesis is

the reason why is because they want people to

be able to hey it's it's kind of like when people

ask what's a good point to jump onto a book This

is a point where you can jump on that that's

what IDW is trying to do with that that first

issue and final issue is to kind of put a capital

letter and then a period at the end of the other

one so it's kind of like hey jump on here I'll

buy that but I You know, I guess I I think you

said it. I'm just not enjoying it. I Well, my

problem is is because there's so much going on

I need to be able to sit down and read the story

as a whole not issue by issue because that's

what it took me I don't know maybe a Week after

I bought a couple of the issues to even sit down

and read it because I was just like, okay I'll

read it. I just it's not that I think the story

is bad. I don't I just need to It's just one

of those things where I just have to read it

as one whole thing. Yeah I mean there's the good

points. There's bad points, but what it comes

down to is it's still a thousand times better

than Wildman Yeah, exactly I hate to be the dead

horse and there's a lot of people that are gonna

be like fuck you Wilson It's like sorry man,

I didn't even read the comics when I was little

I got a trade paperback Sometime in I want to

say the late 90s or the early or early zeros.

I guess you'd call it but whatever whatever that

time frame was but I got a trade paperback and

And I'm like, okay. I'm gonna get into the G1.

I think it was I Can't even remember what the

storyline is now. I got it packed away But I

couldn't even enjoy it because the art was just

so distractingly bad I'm like why does why does

he look like you know some guy in a really bad

transformer suit? Really I mean like like really

bad like 70s Star Wars knockoff bad, you know

Is that supposed to be a guy dressed up as C

-3PO? Yeah, but they had no budget. I'm just

now picturing a 70s Sector 7 Agent Simmons. Oh

crap. That was an image I didn't need my head

thanks I Remember the kind of switching back

to the toys for a minute I remember having so

many of the different toys and there were so

many of the ones that I wanted that I never got

like I Always wanted a sound wave and I I had

blaster my friend had sound wave my friend would

Never let me play with the stupid. Oh, no. He's

too fragile. Don't touch myself Yeah, I had a

sound wave. He used to just topple over. Yeah,

no, he'd break at the drop of a hat. And shockwave?

Oh, don't touch my shockwave, man. Yeah. Constructicons.

I still have the constructicons I had when I

was little. My hook is still broken. Because,

you know, a hook breaks at the drop of a hat.

It's like I moved him funny and he broke off

at the knee. You know when you're little it's

like yeah, that's all right. He still transforms

in a Devastator. I'm cool. Yeah, but yeah, I

tell you Devastator oh my god They made that

poor toy in three different damn colors. Yeah,

I've got them Yeah, yeah, I know you've got you've

got all three of you you got a green one a yellow

Well, you know what I'm missing an orange scrapper

And I saw him online once for like 50 bucks.

I'm like, I'm not paying 50 bucks for scrapper

No, it's not worth it. Nah, but right now he's

got a knockoff scrapper on his for an arm. It's

kind of sad He's kind of sad looking but but

uh, yeah, I didn't get started collecting the

g2 stuff until Well after I had almost completed

my g1 collection. Yeah, I mean i've got g1 up

until uh When I got most of the the headmasters

most of the target masters and then I peter out

right about at pretenders Because I just couldn't

get into Pretenders as a as a toy line. They're

already in disguise. What the hell do they need

with beast covers? You know, yeah, it's like

it's it's a robot disguises a human I'm like

is he a 50 -foot human because that's not a disguise

Is he is he a six foot tall human because that's

kind of a shitty robot It's like don't tell me

Grimlock is inside that human body because he's

really tiny now He might have been my favorite

transformer back in the season two days Yeah,

give me all the Grimlock you can give me That's

what she said. That's what she said. That's what

I named him after, Bobby. Well, Steve just swooped

in there with that one, didn't he? Please go

on. I just don't... Now, I could be wrong. Did

the toys for the Dinobots come before they appeared

in the show? Uh, I don't know. I know there were

Diaclone versions. Yeah, see, I've always seen

swoop. the toy for swoop as red and i just i

love swoop don't get me wrong i love his personality

i think he's a really cool character and everything

else i'm one of those people that if it's not

show accurate i just don't want it it has to

be show accurate and that was one of the one

of my big pet peeves with devastator it was like

i remember at one point um i had Had all the

construct icons for the original Devastator the

green Devastator and then somehow I lost a mix

master or something I lost one of the arms or

the legs or something or other and Somebody brought

one over to me and it was the yellow and I'm

like, yeah. No, I'm not having a multicolored

Devastator That's how he started out though,

you know I Had a point and I lost it. Sorry that

happens occasionally, but yeah, I Know sorry

not coming to me. Yeah The other thing that was

so great about the G1 toys was the packaging

Yeah packet was so great that artwork on the

back. Oh man and getting that Getting that decoder

for the for the stats text that was so the the

text specs that was so yeah, I like those I I

would always find like problems with them and

Then you know years and years later You hear

but buddy and ski talk about when he actually

wrote them and he's like, oh, yeah, I screwed

that up, you know Sorry about that. Oh, yeah,

that's yeah, I totally gave You know starscream

stats to thundercracker. That's why he's higher

than starscream. It doesn't make any sense. But

yeah, I totally goofed my bad It's like man Yeah,

I was there hearing him say that at uh tfcon

Yeah, you know people this is terrible and I

feel the same way about like dan gilvazan but

you know, they go to they show up and And they

tell the same stories at all the cons, you know,

it's like You'll you'll you'll see like a video

online it was oh look then Dan Kielvazan was

a TF con I'm gonna see what he has to say and

It's like that's the exact same story. He told

at BotCon You know when I saw him, but but he

asked he he's got a PowerPoint or a PowerPoint

presentation set up. Yep So, of course, he's

got the same story every time it's like you were

made of Cerner stuff Exactly, and you just want

us next time Just next time you want to you want

to sit down with these guys one -on -one and

say hey You know what? Tell me a story. You haven't

told anybody else because I've heard all the

stories already like we got When I say we I know

we all three of us have read it, but we got to

Dan Gilbertson's book Was a bumblebee and me

Yeah, and I tell you 75 percent of that book

is stories. I've already heard Yeah but it's

still kind of cool what it what amazes me about

that book is how he reads it because it's it's

basically bumblebee reading his story it's really

you know and that's yeah the audio version is

cool because he's reading it yeah but yeah if

you're just reading the book it's like i've already

heard the story no i i i got the audio version

i didn't even you know not that i don't want

to just not that i don't want to not support

dan gilbazan but i got the audiobook i had to

get the audiobook yeah no that's the only way

to go it's really cool it is i i tell you uh

to hear him read but again i've already heard

most of the stories it's like yeah i've heard

this and he's you know and he's telling the stories

of oh here we all are in the g1 booth and we're

all you know ribbing on each other and and the

same the same story every time Well, he had a

couple of decent stories on the TFG -1 interview

we did with him. Right, Terry? Yeah, exactly.

Did I just call you Terry? Because it's really

confusing. I'm not sure I'll remember your name.

It's not that hard. It's Mike and Michael. I'm

the Michael. Unless you'd rather call me Mike,

I really don't care. But, you know, and Terry.

And again, just call me Terry. Like Terry the

Hulk Hogan. Exactly. No, but when we were having

this conversation with them, that's like I said,

it'd be nice to just sit down and kind of corner

these guys and guide them to where you want them

to be, which you can do during an interview.

Yes. You know, where it's like, yeah, I've heard

that story before, but tell me about this, you

know, or, you know, what is our standard question

for interviews is like. Is there ever been something

that you were asked to read that you just said

no, I'm not gonna read them Yeah, cuz those are

the best stories Those are really funny or or

what's the other one? It's like if you've ever

been that s to read something that you just said

no, I'm not gonna read or It's the other one

that we always get it's been a couple years since

I've done an interview fan interaction. Oh Yeah,

those are good, too Yeah, I'm a crazy fan. What

would they ask you to do? Those are good ones.

They had me bend over and touch my toes. And

I know it's like, I'm not going to sign your

butt. I don't know where it's been. Yeah. Actually,

I think Tara Strong signed some body part. I

don't remember which one it was, but. The left

side or the right side? I don't doubt it. Tara

the weird fanboy thing for Tara. I tell you but

Did I tell you I met her again at last year's

comic -con? No, oh, I was there with my nephews

my nephew Zach and Jill and Jill was named after

Tara's character in Rugrat He was baby he was

baby Jill And we walked up to her and I told

her you did Baby, Dillon regrets in you and she's

like yeah, I did and I said well You know my

nephew here was named after you and she's like

no way and she signed everything Here take it

you know, and yeah, it was it was a lot of fun

We got to talk to her for a few minutes. It was

like no line or anything But yeah overall g1

doesn't hold up today probably not but it's not

meant to It's meant to be what it was 30 years

ago You know and sure we'll rip the cartoon to

shreds in the TFG2 podcast and we'll analyze

it and whatever else and have fun doing it but

It's still I can still go back and watch watch

those episodes. I mean hell Was it next month?

I think the hub is going back and re -airing

them again. Really? Yeah The hub cycle is now

kind of it's kind of weird hub cycle the hub

network cycle for cartoons just had their running

gym They had Transformers Animated and prime

and prime beast hunters all running back to back

to back They had Batman Beyond Superman the animated

series running back to back of each other Wow

and coming up in March I noticed on my DVR that

More Than Meets the Eye is coming back to air

again. And that's great that Hasbro has that

network that they can actually still show people.

Well, they got all the stuff they have the rights

to. Yep, exactly. It's like, what was it, way

back in the day when Cartoon Network first aired.

And it was like, you know, they had the rights

to all this old Hanna -Barbera stuff. Yeah, that's

like gosh I could watch this all day, you know

Network had substance That's that's a podcast

for another day But no, I Remember going to the

stores and seeing like, you know warpath on the

shelf and blitzwing and astro track I remember

soon as I saw astrotrain in the shelf. I was

like mom. I need six of these guys I don't know

why I just I always loved astrotrain Really?

Yeah. He was the one he was. Well, Blitzwing

was a little at least for me as a kid. He was

a little challenging. And then later in life,

the animated version of him almost took my finger

off. So I'm not really a fan. I'm not really

a fan of Blitzwing. I hate my fingers. That's

right. But no, I really liked Blitzwing. You

know, what bothered me about. Astro train was

that he was not the same color as he was in the

catalog Astro train ended up being black and

purple, but in the in the catalog I want to say

he was white and the Japanese colors Black and

white. Yeah, you know and it's funny because

I've got one here. They had a commemorative reissue

Yeah, yeah, he's he's white and black with purple

decepticon insignias It was he was purple in

the show. So the toy reflected that Yeah, well,

I guess yeah, but I mean I was like, oh man,

he's not even the right color. Come on Any other

thoughts on g1 anything else we want to bring

up? Uh, wow, you know, it seems like we've had

all these conversations before because we actually

Way back in the day, you know critiqued each

and every episode And that would have been five

Six years ago? Six years ago, which we will do

again in about six months. I was going to say

now that Prime is done, we should totally do

the three seasons of Prime. They close, in my

opinion, Prime closed really strongly. I really

liked the Beast Hunter storyline. I agree. My

my jaws on the floor ladies and gentlemen, they

kind of court Michael just admitted he enjoyed

transformers prime No, and again, I think the

last guess we had together. It was like well,

you know, season two or season one was a huge

letdown because they had this storyline that

looked like it was going to go somewhere and

it didn't. And then they had Wheeljack, who's

clearly not Wheeljack. And then they had season

two that had a lot of problems, in my opinion.

And it just didn't work. All these storylines

they were bringing up weren't going anywhere.

And I had serious issues with the with, you know,

with the work. And I even criticized Stephen

Melching in an open forum. And he called me out

on it. Don't be a dick man. Well, he didn't say

that in so many words, but yeah, that's about

what it came out as Season where did this happen?

Oh It was it was on Facebook and I think you'll

have to go back and find that I want to say David

wise posted something And I responded to it and

I said, you know, I really just don't like what

they're doing with the with the The series, you

know with it with the storyline, you know, maybe

it'll get better I don't know, but I'm just not

seeing it right now. I've seen it as a lot of

Derivative stuff happening, you know, it's like

why is you know, I like Unicron But you know,

do we really have to go there again, you know

that type of thing and Stephen Melching responded

and said hey, I'm right here Michael Chess dies

and I responded, you know, apologetically, you

know, yeah, sorry Stephen, you know, but you

know, come on seriously we're looking We're not

we're not looking to see as transformer fans.

We're not looking to see the same thing over

again We want to see something different do something

different do something that hasn't been done

before, you know when many cons came out It was

like, oh man. This is too different Everybody

loves many cons, you know, and now it's like

do something different season three comes out

dragons Yeah, you know and it's like my first

complaint was You know, we've already done V

sports. We've got lizards that stand up. How

do you transform? I stand up We've done that

before my boy pants on exactly. I just stand

up pull up my pants Look, I hit on my claws turn

into hands. Look they flip like this And it's

like my feet are still dragon feet, but that's

cool because I'm a dragon You know First I was

like, oh man, they're gonna go on the cheap route,

but The way the story came across the way they

handled it in the the cartoon or the TV show

The quality of the figures I I have all the dragons

Yeah, I went got it and my boys play with them

non -stop they love them And you know, I open

them let them play with them. So yeah, I mean

I was a big opponent of the series early on because

I just didn't like what they were doing. I didn't

like the choices they made. I didn't like the

storyline directions they were going in. I didn't

like, again, the derivative content that they

were coming out with. But Season 3 really turned

around for the better. Well, talk about that

a little bit more in depth in a future ATTA.

Any other thoughts for G1 guys? Yeah, you know,

G1 was a huge part of my life when I was little.

And when I got old enough to realize that my

childhood was kind of crappy and I wanted to

relive it a little bit and I had a lot of disposable

income and easy access to eBay, it very quickly

became a big part of my life again. What about

you, Steve? Final thoughts? Transformers Generation

1, for me, although it may not be the best Transformers

series, you can't argue that without it you wouldn't

have everything that's come since and it's also

given us a chance to see some pretty iconic characters

and voices and concepts come through that will

shine through in later series of the Transformers

mythos and franchises. Same here. I still love

it to this day. I love seeing all the old toys

as bad as some of them might be, but I still

love seeing all of them. You know, the voice

cast for G1 really made that show. The animation

sometimes wasn't so great. Not as bad as He -Man,

but... Well, that's an argument for another day,

too. He -Man mainly used stock for the most part,

so... Chicken? Stock? Yes, I got it. Thank you.

All right I still love g1. I don't care what

anyone says I do still have my problems with

it But I can still turn that off and go and watch

it for the enjoyment that you know that I had

as a kid before it It's interesting to see how

they're how IDW is shaping the g1 characters

and the in the two on goings that they're doing

now Because I was really Worried about reading

the more than meets the eye title Because I'm

like, oh, there's all these new characters. Oh

great. I'm like, oh boy, but they are really

really good and we will handle it so well written

Yes, we will be doing a we will be doing three

separate comic episodes For this 30th anniversary

celebration. We will doing one of the Marvel

comics the Dreamwave and the IDW what let me

do one Wow okay Steve I think you can close the

show up now Wow alrighty thank you for listening

to all things transformers version 2 .0 and catch

us next time when we'll cover transformers generation

2 I'll be here Where else are you gonna go? Nobody

else will have me seriously taint of primus The

taint of primus I Think does right next to Kayon

it hangs really low Seriously no one else will

have me come on man Dangerously into the smelting

pool. What? The peanut gallery doesn't care for

that joke? Waspinator likes it. Waspinator needs

to smelt away. kill him here and there. I will

make him Rampage's bear. As the letter plays,

a fleshy bant. Oh God. Oh, that's horrible. Ten

minutes of brand new outtakes. What you think

they do after? What you think they do after?

We know we're not at the end of Transformers

Cybertron You wondered what I did alone in my

bathtub for so long Bayformer porn He's splooged

all over the franchise lubrication stop scream

that's bad this is bad sodomy oh I don't think

you can do that or uh what's uh what's his name

Galvatron yeah he can do crazy Welker Galvatron

yeah but not the Not the knee who does knee boy,

you know, it shows how it wasn't me What does

the knee boy say? or we could sit here and do

this all night. Yeah.