Interviews – Abby Collins Cluster

Hi, this is Abby Collins and you're listening

to the TFG1 podcast. Yeah, you said you're cloning.

You said you should probably clone yourself.

First thing I thought of was Starscream because

he's always trying to clone himself. He is that

nasty, nasty Decepticon. Obviously, I'm partial

to Decepticons, let's be real. Aren't we all?

I mean, it's just no fun being nice all the time.

Hello and welcome to the TFG1 All Things Transformers

TFG2 Podcast Crossover Interview. I am one of

your hosts, TFG and Mike, and joining me is Steve

Megatron. Hello, sir. Hello, how are you? Good,

yes. Give David Kaye a run for his money. And

in this... First of many interviews this year

celebrating the 30th anniversary of Transformers,

we welcome Starscream's daughter, Mrs. Abby Gluster.

Hello! Hello, how are you, Abby? I'm awesome,

how are you? I'm really excited to do this with

you guys. Yeah, I was like, hmm, we need an insider,

not only to Starscream himself, but... to the

workings of Hollywood and how that goes. And

you are just everywhere nowadays, aren't you?

I'm trying. You have to, I'm trying to be as

many places at once as possible. Yeah. Much like

Starscream. Yes. Too bad they haven't perfected

that cloning technology yet. The technology just

catch up with the, with the fan fiction already.

Please. I really appreciate that. not the fan

fiction oh god wow my head hurts already oh boy

I honestly can say that I think that's one of

the reasons that I grew to dislike Starscream

over the years the character in general I know

and it just really depends on how he's portrayed

and who voices him I agree You know, as I said

in the introduction, Abby is Chris Lotta's daughter.

May he rest in peace. And it's just one of those

things where since his incarnation, there have

been only, I think, two that I've enjoyed. Who

are your two? And I'll tell you mine. Tom Kenny

in Animated. All right. And Steve Blumen Prime.

All right. I love Steve Blum. He's one of my

favorites. I love Charlie. Oh, from the movies.

Yeah. Charlie. But just as a human being. But

I'm pretty much on board with you, though. I

think those are, I mean, they're awesome. All

three of them are great. I mean, I guess you

could make an argument for Doug Parker in Beast

Wars when Waspinator became Starscream. Right.

The whole ghost thing, but... That's not them.

Yeah. Alright, so before we get started with

the questions, give us the scoop on what's going

on in the world of Abby Cluster. What have you

been up to recently? Any hidden projects you...

Well, aren't supposed to reveal that you will.

Of course not. I, and I keep my mouth shut. But,

um, so for people who don't know, like I mostly

have started in theater, which is a lot of musical

theater. Um, and then about a year and a half

ago, really started hitting the ground very hard

pursuing voiceover work. Um, I was like, Hey,

I forgot this was a thing that I could have.

Like I'm. obviously kind of grew up around it

but I was like wait I could do that too so I

just started you know in the ground running I've

done a lot of um for some people know about the

podcast that I do with Rob Paulson his Talkin'

Tunes podcast that I help him out on which is

super fun and just you know plugging away auditioning

for things booking small stuff uh I'm in two

different musical theater shows right now, and

then I'm choreographing another one. So just

kind of all over the place. Awesome. Yeah. Awesome.

All right. So where did you grow up, and what

was it like? Okay. I was born in Burbank, right

near all of the studios that my dad worked at.

And he decided he didn't want to be in L .A.

at the end of the day anymore, so we moved out

to Ventura, California. Which is maybe about

an hour outside of Los Angeles, an hour north.

It's a coastal town. Very cute. He was actually

the assistant coach to my baseball team. So that

was always interesting. Because he would, in

fact, yell at us like Starscream when we were

underperforming. Definitely. interesting conversations

when rooms needed to be cleaned, things needed

to get done around the house, always Starscream

or Cobra would pop out. But it was definitely

interesting growing up the child of such an exuberant

performer. Yeah, I can only imagine. I mean,

he is exactly... as crazy as you think he was,

but with a heart of gold. So, growing up with

a dad like Cobra Commander and Starscream, did

that influence you at all for your wanting to

become an actress and a voice actor? Absolutely.

I mean, I think at first, when I first started

kind of, doing performing, I stayed really far

away from voiceover. And I think it was part

of me being a little bit terrified of his kind

of, I mean, legendary status, if you will. Because

there's a lot, you know, it's a lot of pressure

when you go into something that you have, you're

following in the footsteps of someone who's very

well known and very specifically known for a

certain type of performing. And, you know, he's

a boisterous six foot two, 200 pound. man and

I'm kind of a loud five foot six girl who sounds

like a 10 year old on the phone. I had to just

stop kind of comparing myself to it when I went

into the voiceover world and really find my own

kind of niche and performing ability, which is

I think why I was so pulled to the theater world

initially. Cause it's just a different outlet

for that same kind of insatiable creative need.

Yeah. And I think a lot of it is like growing

up around someone who's so performance and animated

and just in general, just a very open and interesting

person. It lends itself to kind of being that

way naturally yourself, you know, like I didn't

really see any other option. I don't like filing.

I don't like real work. Like, to play. So I kind

of have no other skills. Yeah, nobody likes real

work. I mean, real work, I commend those who

really enjoy being accountants, but it's just

not something that I could do. I have my own

fascination with numbers, but I never took it

that far. I mean, numbers are, I mean, you know,

they... It's a thing, but it's not something

that I'm interested in. So tell us the story

of how you broke into the business. Okay. It's

actually kind of a fun, kind of one of those

kismet stories. I was doing a lot of theater,

dancing, and I... got married and found myself

pregnant and was like, Oh, wait a second. I can't

tap dance anymore while I'm pregnant. That's

not a thing I can do to pay bills anymore. So,

um, I kind of decided I'm going to kind of switch

gears and really start pursuing this. I've had

a fascination with it my whole life as kind of

this thing that was so revered by the work that

my father did and just revered by peers who were

and fangirls too, because I grew up a fangirl

of lots of different genres, that I was like,

you know what? I'm going to go after it. So I

found a box in my garage that was full of old

call sheets for Transformers, for G .I. Joe,

for all different kinds of things. And I just

started pulling names and going down the list

and trying to find people on Facebook and trying

to find people. on Twitter and email and just

Googling them and seeing who was still working

and who wasn't. And I got in touch with, the

first person to respond to me was Flint Dilley,

who was just the nicest guy. He was like, oh

my God, I loved your father. I can't believe,

like, I literally can't believe that I'm talking

to you right now. Just started reminiscing about

working with him. and put me in touch with Pete

Sinclair over at BotCon. And the first job I

ever did in any kind of voiceover work was doing

the live script reading at BotCon in 2011. Oh,

wow. Yeah. I was thrown into the deep end of

the pool with David Kaye and Morgan Lofting and

just a ton of Greg Berger and Neil Ross and just

a ton of... incredibly talented people. And I

was like, all right, well, I guess we're hitting

the ground running with this. So, uh, it was

beyond what I would have expected. And I haven't,

I haven't been able to stop since it's become

an, it's a really terrible addiction. It sounds

like a fun one. It's the funnest of the addictions.

I feel like of the addictions one could have,

performing is probably the safest. Yes. Maybe

next to cuddles or My Little Pony. That'll come

up later. All right. So you mentioned Flint Dilley.

Now, I believe it was on the, I think it was

the 2007 release of the Transformers movie where.

Either on the commentary or somewhere he mentioned

some story where he had to bail your dad out

of jail. He didn't know what he was in for. Okay,

so this is the story as I was told as a child.

So it could have been edited for my safety. Okay.

But I have never heard anything different. And

I'm sticking to it. So my father moved to California

from New York. And he grew up, he was born in

New Jersey, lived in New York his whole life.

Jaywalking, not a thing there. Doesn't exist.

In Southern California, if you cross the street,

like when you don't have a walk sign, you can

actually be ticketed for it. So my father apparently

racked up an exorbitant amount of jaywalking

tickets. At one point, the dude was like, do

you have like 400 jaywalking tickets you haven't

paid? And arrested him. So my dad was in jail

for jaywalking. Which is a thing, apparently.

So that's the story I've told my whole life.

I'm not 100 % convinced it's the truth, but that's

the story the seven -year -old version of me

was told. And that's the only information I have

about it. Wow. Yeah. That's crazy. That's exactly

the answer you were not expecting, I'm sure.

Well, it's different than what we've probably

heard elsewhere, so that's good. That's good.

Yeah. All right. Did you ever get into any of

the stuff that your dad was doing at the time?

Were you watching Transformers as a kid, or were

you a My Little Pony fan? I was a Transformers

fan, definitely. G .I. Joe. but I was also watching

it kind of after it. I'm a little bit, I'm just

on the tail end of that generation. I was born

in 86. So as was I, there you go. See, so I was

kind of introduced to it slightly after the fact,

not, I wasn't watching it when it was on air,

but we had all the tapes and all sorts of, you

know, all of the memorabilia around the house.

And so it was kind of a forced, a forced watch,

but I also enjoyed it either way. I had Transformers

bed sheets and I still have my original Optimus

Prime and I have all sorts of fun Transformers

trinkets around the house from growing up with

it. But I think that my favorite when I was that

age, I was a gem fan. You know, it's not just

a... cartoon for girls right i know it's not

at all i mean my brother i would watch transformers

and cobra with him rng i'd go with him and he

would watch gem with me and don't ever let if

you ever meet him don't ever let him tell you

differently because they're singing along just

like me and my friends he knew all the words

you know it's just one of those things like that

has always really made me mad about some of the

parts of different fandoms where it's like, oh,

Jim, that's a girls cartoon. Girls cartoons don't

have, you know, cars exploding while they're

falling off cliffs. What does that mean? Like,

hello, bronies? I mean... Yeah, let's not even

go there. I mean, it's not... Girls Shmurls,

it's an awesome cartoon. It is. It is. Awesome.

Yes, it is. But yeah, it was definitely... And

then, like, when I really liked, like, when I

was younger, All Real Monsters was another one

of my, like, in the 90s was one of my favorites.

Oh, yeah. Yep. For sure. Yep. Also, technically

not a girl cartoon, but fuck it. So, did you

ever hear any crazy stories from the voice acting

sessions, or did you actually go to any of them

as a kid? I have very few memories. I, like,

remember sitting in the control room during a

couple, like, but the only memories I have of

them are, like, because I was, like, little,

little. I was, like, two. It was, like, sitting

there, like, spinning around in a desk chair.

While he was playing with the controls and telling

them to do more things. Make more lines. We need

to be here for 20 hours, people. I know, right?

Get it right. Yeah, that kind of stuff. And,

I mean, my dad, as troubled as he was at times,

was always on task when he was in the booth or

on set. He did a live -action movie called Strangers

Among Us with James Gandolfini and Melanie Griffiths.

And there's this scene in the movie where him

and Mr. Gandolfini are just sprinting down the

street. And my dad broke his foot on the first

take of that. Oh, wow. And did it 15 more times.

Oh, wow. As the demons he had, one of them was

not giving 110 % every time he went up to do

his job. So that's probably my favorite story

about him. That's just his personality, just

to give 150 when someone asks you for 100. That

was, I think, what he would want people to talk

about. in his, in his absence. Yeah. Yeah. So

who are some of the other voice actors that have

influenced you over the years? Let's see. I mean,

obviously I'm a huge Rob Paulson fan. There's

nothing. I mean, I was also a huge Ninja Turtle

fan when I was a kid. Having the opportunity

just to talk to him on a regular basis and just

the breadth of his work that spans from when

I was a kid to now watching things on Disney

Junior with my son that he's in. Like every time

I change the channel, Rob Paulson's voice pops

up on something. He's everywhere. That man is

everywhere. So he's obviously a huge influence.

Charlie Adler, just the amount of... heart and

soul and tenacity and just he there is no there

is no punches pulled and you get no bullshit

from charlie adler ever like he he knows his

shit and he is probably one of the most open

and inspirational people i've had the the pleasure

of uh working one -on -one with he is phenomenal

to work with um yeah i mean and i've i've had

the just great luck and gratitude for the people

that Rob has introduced me to through the podcast

as well. From, like, I got to meet Randy Rogel,

who is just stupid talented with the songs he

writes and that kind of stuff. And then, you

know, anything that I've met the people through

the BotCon world, like David Kaye is one of the

nicest men I've ever met. Him getting down. David

Kaye is an adorable man anyway because he's just

really nice to look at. Him getting down and,

like, talking face -to -face with, like, the

three -year -old who just can't wait to get his

autograph and, like, picking them up and taking

photos with them just makes him a thousand times

more attractive. I'd also say, like, Gray Delisle

is... I'm a huge fan of hers. Just... She's...

She's a classy lady. She's really fun to talk

to and just a really great influence for where

I would love to be at one point in my career.

Yeah. We'll have to get her on here one of these

days. You should. She is fun to talk to. You

might need to put an explicit warning on your

podcast, though. They're always on there. They're

always explicit. Yeah. All right. Don't be fired,

then. Well, fuck it. Yeah. We made that decision

for all. I made that decision day one. I said,

I am not podcasting for children. Excellent.

All right, well, let's talk about all them bitches

and hoes then. Oh, man. No, she took Wikipedia

by storm. She said, this is the photo you people

have? No, here. Here's my wiki photo. Yeah, she's

definitely one who's like, will let you know

what she wants and does not want. but she's awesome

but yeah I think those would be like the list

of maybe my top few influences and it changes

like I am also influenced by people who aren't

voiceover actors like singers and performers

like I'm a huge Sutton Foster fan who's a big

Broadway performer and um uh uh Bebe Neuwirth

I love think she's phenomenal just you know there's

just there's influences all over the place I

think yeah yeah so what are some of your goals

and your journey that where you want to be in

the uh voice acting business say five years from

now oh five years from now i'm uh five years

from now i'm pretty sure if i'm not in at least

i don't know i want to be on one I want to be

on one show that is in at least its second or

third season. I want a steady paycheck. And you

know what? More than anything, I just want to

still love it. You know what I mean? I don't

ever want to get to a point in my career where

I'm performing for the money or performing for

the rote of it or the job of it. Every day that

I get to do this as a job is... such an exhilarating

and just mind -boggling positive energy in my

life that I I can't really imagine it ever sucking

even if I'm still just working a couple times

a week you know yeah just fucking awesome it's

just not any other way like I think my probably

main goal would be I would love to work with

uh with Butch Hartman would be a huge thing for

me We'll go with that. That's my five -year plan.

In the next five years, I would like to work

with Butch Hartman. Butch Hartman, I hope you're

listening to this. Oh, God. I can so see you

as Timmy's cat instead of his dog. Totally can

happen. Butch Hartman, please write a cat into

Fairly OddParents. And I'll be there to audition.

Oh, man. I'm really surprised. I don't know how

I... believe it's only happened once in 30 years

that there's been a female Starscream. I'm really

surprised that they wouldn't attempt to come

to you in the future for a female Starscream.

You know, I would love the opportunity to audition

if it happened. Absolutely. I mean, because there

was Slipstream, and that's kind of as close as

we've gotten. Yeah. And, I mean, the opportunity

to audition for something like that would be

just... so surreal and life altering and life

affirming. Let's be real. Yeah. I feel like I

might be kind of intimidated. I mean, to be completely

honest by an audition like that, because I feel

like I'd come in and people would expect my dad

to come some sort of creepily seance through

my body into the audition. But I'm sure that

they would understand that. I would bring my

own flavor to it. Yeah. But that would, I mean,

that would be just beyond ideal and so fun and

kind of creepy. Yeah. Yeah. And kind of creepy

to be a hundred percent honest about it, but

creepy in a good way. Yeah. I remember when we

did talk to Steve Bloom, he said, because there

was one moment in Prime where he sounded dead

on. Yeah. Dead on like G1 Starscraven. He told

us, he said, they don't have me do that often,

but when they do, I know to do it when they start

throwing up jazz hands in the booth. Yeah. Yeah.

Oh, God. One of the things that I always heard

about my dad in the booth is his ability to sweat

beyond what any normal, capable human being should

sweat out during a session. It's Wally, those

long sessions, you know. Yeah, exactly. But he

had a towel in there with him. He would change

shirts halfway through. I think it goes back

to that always giving 155 % every time you go

and do something. Now, do you know, was he one

of those performers that at times would have

to stand up for lines, or did he always just

sit on the... Oh, no, he never sat down. Okay.

No, he was not a sitter. I mean, he came from

a world of stand -up comedy, and he was not a...

Park and bark as you say. Like he was very engaged.

And like walked around. And he had this whole

bit. About being like this. His thing was he

was a psychotic. Who learned to market his problems.

Was his big. His big bit. That he would do a

lot with. Stand up comedy. Which I actually hope

to. People should keep an eye out. I'm working

on my website. AbigailCollins .com And. I'm going

to have a corner kind of section of the website

that's going to be uploaded videos of some of

his stand -up stuff and stuff that people haven't

had an opportunity to see yet. So that's really

cool to be working on. Very cool. I mean, we

have hundreds and hundreds of hours of different

stand -up routines. live -action appearances

and interviews. Like, we have video of interviews

that he did at Star Trek conventions. Just all

kinds of really interesting stuff that I think

that people would do and will want to see. Yeah.

Oh, most definitely. Yeah. Because that's, I

think, the thing that people ask me the most

is just, like, they're hungry to kind of get

to know who he was as a person. Yeah. Because,

you know, I think that it would... blow his mind

how what the longevity of the work that he did

did he have any idea back then what what this

would turn out to be i between transformers and

gi joe and everything else i really don't think

so i think for him he was just going to work

and getting paid to do something he loved to

do i don't think the breadth of what has kind

of become the transformers world and the gi joe

world and just the conventions and the websites

and the podcasts and just things that would still

be happening to this day 30 years later just

would never have crossed his mind. Never. I think

he'd be I think he'd be three things about it.

I think he'd be humble. I think he'd be grateful.

And I think one of my favorite quotes from him

was he called home during a Star Trek convention

at one point and was like, oh my God, to my mom.

And I was like, oh my God, honey, these people

think this is real. So I think he'd be a little

bit shocked about the level of fandom about it.

But he would just, I think he would eat it up.

He would love it. And the opportunity to do the

live appearances, I guarantee he would have been

the first person on any panel for BotCon or anything

like that. He would be just so game to jump in

there and interact with people about it. Which

is why I feel like when people ask me to do it,

I'm like, absolutely. Why the hell not? I mean,

if I had the opportunity to talk to people who

were affected by his work, I'm there 100 % of

the time. Because we share that. I share that

in common with fans. I'm a fan just as much as

I am his daughter. So what franchises are you

a fan of today? As far as animation is concerned?

Animation? Anything. My nerdy fandom. Yeah, let's

go with that. What's your nerdy obsession? My

biggest nerdy obsession is Harry Potter. am a

huge Harry Potter nerd, like tattooed Harry Potter

nerd beyond. I don't, it's just, I w I still

waiting for my letter from Hogwarts. It's coming.

Um, I've recently been kind of doctored into

the doctor who, uh, I have a friend who started

me on, um, started me on nine and I got through,

I got through 11 and then now I've, I've actually,

I'm going back to one. Before I watch anything.

Anything new. Interesting. And I am just enjoying

the shit out of it. Very much like Doctor Who.

As far as. This is completely girly. And unless.

I mean you can argue with me. But I won't believe

you. Downton Abbey is totally the best thing

on television. And I don't believe that guys

watch that. Unless their wives make them. I think

those are probably my three biggest current obsessions.

And then like, as far as animation is concerned,

I'm anything that Butch Hartman does. I love

Fairly Oddparents. I loved Danny Phantom. I haven't

really watched a lot of Tough Puppy, but what

I've seen of it, I just, I love it. It's awesome.

So I think that man has such a unique, even just

the animation style is unique and fun to watch.

Yeah. Yeah, I've gotten into Fairly Oddparents.

I've seen several different episodes of Tough

Puppy. Right. I haven't seen Danny Phantom, but

I really do enjoy Fairly Oddparents. What is

so funny to me about that is Darren Norris is

Cosmo, and yet he can play completely straight

voice in Knockout and Prime. Oh, yeah. Exactly.

Darren, we had him on the podcast right around

when I started working on it with Rob. And that

man, his range. It's just, it's incredible. It's

incredible. The amount, the full voice, the deep

stuff he can do, the crazy high stuff, like original

Cosmo versus like where Cosmo has kind of settled.

The crazy, and then, you know, we've got the,

who's the Arnold Schwarzenegger -y one? Oh, is

it Bennett? No, it's not Bennett. It's not Jeff

Bennett. No, I mean, Darren does it. I just can't

remember the name of the character. Oh, um...

Oh, crap. I know. I can't either. But that guy,

you know, the military... I mean, it's just so...

It's just so mind -boggling, the range that that

man has. And, to boot, one of the nicest human

beings I've ever met. Yeah. Which is wonderfully

something you can say about a lot of people in

the voiceover world. Yeah, pretty much. I mean,

it's, it's Hollywood, but it's not Hollywood

with all the drama. Exactly. It takes the, and

it takes the, a lot of time it takes the self

obsession out of the work. Cause I think that

that is, and I'm not saying that on camera people

are terrible people, but I'm, you know, there

has to be a little bit of narcissism that goes

into being like, I'm so pretty. I think people

want to look at me a lot. Whereas like, you know,

it's just, it's, it's kind of a freeing, a freeing

world. And I feel like that when you can be free

to kind of do whatever the hell you want, then

in the booth, like you, you're more confident

with yourself and just less intimidated by the

people around you. So I think it just gives you

an opportunity to be a nicer person. Oh yeah.

Completely does. You're not, you're not playing

out of a place of fear, you know? Yeah, exactly.

Uh, that would be Juergen von Strangle. Thank

you. Juergen. Yeah. That is also Darren. That's

interesting. Exactly. The amount that you would

just, you're like, oh, that's the same guy as

Cosmo? Totally. Never would have picked that.

Well, because so many different voice actors

do Arnold impressions. Oh, yeah. It's, you know,

and same thing with Walken. Like, there's so

many, every single voice actor I've ever heard

an interview with. Everybody does a walk -in,

and then I hear Rob always saying, oh, well,

Jeff Bennett does it best, and this, that, and

the other thing, and everything else. Jeff Bennett

does everything best. Let's just get that very

clear. Yes, he does. I went and saw a bunch of

them do, I don't know if you heard or saw, or

the Voices for the Shore Sandy Relief that they

did. A bunch of them got together and read a

copy of The Christmas Carol. No, I didn't hear

about that. Oh, man. You should look it up. It's

called Voices for the Shore. And it's like Jeff

and Rob and I'm trying to remember who else was

there. Corey Burton and just Carter Walgren and

a bunch of and Gray Delisle was there. A bunch

of just super talented voice actors. doing like

their most famous characters and then also celebrity

impressions of the different characters and reading

all through the Christmas Carol. Really funny.

But I went and saw the live audience thing and

I was just floored by Bennett's ability to do

impressions. Just there's no like including Edith.

Uh, from the, the like, Archie, like that whole

bit, like. Edith from all the family. Oh, wow.

The family, like Jeff Bennett busted that out.

And I'm like, what the hell? Like what? You shouldn't

physically be able to do that. But, uh, Edith

Bunker, that's sort of like Bunker. Yeah. Yeah.

So just everything was just so good and so spot

on and entertaining. Such a good, and you know,

all the proceeds went to Sandy Relief Hurricane

City, so that was pretty cool. That's great,

that's great. So how did you end up working with

Rob or assisting him on Talking Tunes? Okay,

my very good friend Justin Charles Cowden, who

is also a voiceover actor, he was on Emperor's

New School and oh man he's gonna kill me for

not remembering all the other things that he

worked on but i can't at the top of my head but

he was um ozzy and dricks he was an ozzy and

dricks um but he he's my husband's best friend

he's our son's godfather like he's he's the dude

but he um he was in kinkos one day down in the

valley and ran into rob who he had worked on

ozzy and dricks with i believe And they got to

talking and Justin was literally on his way to

Ustream to watch the first episode of a show

that we worked on there called Show Interrupted.

And the first guest on Show Interrupted was going

to be Maurice LaMarche, the voice of the brain

and countless other things. So he was going to

be our first guest on that show. And Justin...

And kind of was telling Rob where he was going.

And Rob was like, oh, that's so interesting.

Like, what's this Ustream that you speak of?

I'm doing this. Yada, yada, yada. So Justin was

like, let me get you in touch with James, who's

my husband, who is a production manager over

at Ustream. And so. James got in touch with got

Rob's information and called him and kind of

that he actually facilitated bringing Rob on

as well So instead of just having Maurice for

the first guest the first guest on this was both

pinky and the brain so And then Rob and James

had a discussion afterwards and talked about,

you know, trying the podcast out on Ustream.

And we, you know, we, for those of you who follow

it, we've gone through a few different iterations

where we were doing it in the studio and then

at the Lovitz and now we're at the improv. But

the amount in which the show has grown and changed

and just kind of taken a life of its own started

with a meeting of two old co -workers and Kinkos.

has gone from there. And, uh, I just happened

to be there to be, to be, uh, PA on the show

interrupted. And I was like, Hey, you're Rob

Paulson and you're Marisa Marsh. And you both

worked with my dad. And this was weird. And it

was like, just, and both of them were so gracious.

And so, uh, just as everyone else I've met in

the voiceover world, it has just so inviting.

And, uh, and Rob was like, and I started doing

private lessons with Rob and, So it just kind

of grew from there, and he's now like a member

of my family. Yeah. It's so funny that everyone

always says, and Rob has said this too, and he

says he can't remember which ones. It's so funny,

now that I'm re -watching Generation 1 for the

upcoming TFG2 podcast, I'm like, hey, wait, why

does Air Raid sound like Yakko? And I'm like,

hey, wait a second. That's Rob Paulson in the

80s. Oh, my God. I swear to God the man doesn't

age. No, he doesn't. No. Yeah. His voice sounds

the same. His spunky demeanor. He really is,

in the most sincerest way, a joy to be around.

I honestly think he uses that Just for Men gray

just to gray out his hair. It's true. He probably

has beautiful flowing raven locks that he tries

to age himself. And his beautiful teeth. It's

the beautiful teeth that get me every time. It's

the cartoons that keep him immortal. Exactly.

I'm pretty sure he's sucking the children's soul

through the screen as he does the voices on Disney

Junior. He's like, give me your youth! Well,

it's funny because my son is actually 16 months

and he watches Disney Junior and I was watching

Mickey Mouse Clubhouse with him and I hear toodles

and I'm like, wait, that's Rob. That is Rob.

My son is going to be two in less than two weeks

and he is having a fully... Toodles, Mickey Mouse

Club house -themed birthday party. That's what

my son had for his first birthday. You know,

it's just, oh, too, and it's easy to say when

you're two. Toodles! But yeah, we watch a lot

of Mickey Mouse in my house. A lot of Mickey

Mouse. I mean, I love Mickey Mouse, don't get

me wrong, but that's a sound to hear all day

long. But he actually, you know what, he is all

of a sudden getting very into that Ninja Turtles.

Ninja Turtles! Ninja Turtles, mama! Okay, I can

get down with this for sure. So he's now seen

a few episodes of both the original and the new

Ninja Turtles, and he now has picked out his

own Ninja Turtles nightlight. Donatello shines

on his ceiling in the night. One of those projector

nightlights. He makes me put him in the same...

I had to go buy extra Ninja Turtle pajamas because

he would not let me put him to bed in anything

else. So I think I have a brewing Turtles mega

fan on my hands. I'm grooming my son to be in

debt just about everything I was, which is Turtles,

Batman, Transformers. If you ask my son what

Batman says, he goes, Batman. My son points at

Batman because I have one of the masks, one of

the toy masks. I put it on my face sometimes,

and he goes, every time he sees Batman, he says,

Daddy. And he carries around this little tiny

Batman figure, and he has Optimus Prime, and

then the two of them fight, and I'm like, no.

Yeah, Liam has a couple. He has a little cobra,

and he calls them, I mean, you know, we try to

talk as much about his grandpa that he'll never

meet, but he calls him Papa Cobra and Papa Starscream.

That's awesome. It's adorable and heartbreaking

at the same time for me, but it's pretty awesome.

He also calls his Donatello doll Uncle Rob. Which

I can't imagine has got to be so confusing for

a two -year -old. Like, wait. Wait. Why do you

sound like my... I don't know what's happening.

Who are you? They're poor little brains. They

just have no hope for being anything but mega

nerds when they're kids of ours. Yeah, I sit

there and I read them stories and character voices

because... As Mike will mention, I mimic a lot

of character voices from cartoons and various

other things. So I'm sitting there reading Aladdin

or reading Transformers or Batman and mimicking

all the voices of the characters, and he's sitting

there looking at me like, you're scaring me.

The looks, they can be so judgmental even when

they're not even two yet. It's really impressive,

the looks that they're able to give. It was so

funny. Was it when we interviewed Pat Frehley

that you broke out your Krang? I think so. I

forget which one it was. We did a ToyCast episode,

and I broke out Krang the first time, and you're

like, wait, huh? That's what it was. That's what

it was. It's since been retired, but a couple

years ago, I started up a toy discussion podcast.

Okay. And episode 87 was all about the 87 Turtles,

well, actually, the toys didn't come until 88,

but the 87 Turtles figure style stuff. Okay.

We're in this episode, and myself and Steve and

our co -host, Sweene Halleck, we're like, we're

all talking, and all of a sudden, I hear Pat

Fraley Crang coming out of Steve, and I'm like,

where the hell did that voice come from? Pat

Fraley. It was something I had heard most of

the stuff that he usually does, and it was something

that I had never heard before, and I'm like,

holy crap. That's awesome. When you can still

be surprised by your friends. I sit there, and

the sad thing is, because I work at a car dealership,

but this is what I do for fun, so I sit there,

and I'll have conversations in different character

voices with myself. To the point that people

look around at me like I'm crazy. That's actually

called schizophrenia, Steve. Yeah, I know. It's

when I lose the conversation that something's

wrong. But the conversation's still happening

that you have me ready to pick you. You know,

and everyone said when Rob got the gig on Turtles,

they're like, oh. Why are they making Raphael

somebody else and this, that, and everything

else? I was open to it because I knew Rob and

I knew Rob wasn't going to just do the original

voice. He's going to do Raph as Donnie. Yeah,

I knew it wasn't going to be that. And people

will swear up and down and argue with me that

it is the same. It isn't. It is so not. There's

different inflections. Bring these people to

me and I will take care of them. Wait, Rob? The

little 7 -8 year old in me still loves Rob as

Raph, but the adult in me loves him as Donnie.

He is so awesome as Donnie. And the relationship

between Donnie and April is just... That's just

hilarious. A little creepy, but also hilarious.

It's creepy, hilarious, and now it's even more

creepy and hilarious because they have a love

triangle going on between Casey, April, and Donnie.

I'm like, what's even happening? It's the nerdy

boy who loses out to the... The cool guy. Yeah.

Damn chops every time. Stealing my ladies. No,

I remember when I think it was the first or second,

it might have been the third episode, he had

a line. It was something about Donnie having

to, oh, he was complaining about, Donnie was

complaining that he had to use a bo staff. And

he's like, how am I supposed to fight advanced

alien technology with a stupid stick? And it's

just the way Rob does the voice for Donnie. Where

he'll start off soft, and then he'll go into

angry mode. They did it again more recently when

there was an advertisement. I think it was one

of the new episodes from Season 2, like two weeks

ago. I think it was about two weeks ago. And

there's a promo where Raph asks him, What's going

on, Donnie? Well, gee, I don't know, Raph. The

Kranger having a sweet 16 party or something.

It was just, oh, God, he's so good. He really,

I mean, he is, the fact that he's that talented

and still that nice is almost annoying. Like,

damn you. Can't you have some flaws? I almost

wish I would have bumped into him before because

I never realized it until we talked to him. What

was it, last year? No, it was two years ago.

I think we talked to him last year, didn't we?

You and I did? No, it was 2012. Oh, okay. Yeah,

it's 2014 now. Get with the program. Yeah, time

flies. I forget. It's March, Albert. How did

that happen? But I discovered that he's actually

from my hometown area. Are you from Flint? Yes.

Oh, nice. I have family in Clarkston. Oh, really?

That's not very far. Yeah. Hey, Aunt Mary. Love

you. What's the final question there, Steve?

I was going to say, before we close out, So what

would you suggest to people that are looking

into getting into voice acting? You know, that

is a super amazing question. And I will just

kind of maybe forward on information because

I'm still really new at this and I'm chipping

away at it and breaking into it. But the thing

that I think sticks with me the most is just

work on your craft. Don't try to. be someone

else don't try to be rob paulson or be like find

where your voice lies in the characters that

you're working on develop develop characters

like today for instance i was i'm choreographing

a show at a high school and a there were kids

who came in who were not the best singers they're

not the best actors and everything but like they

had an interesting quality to their voice or

an interesting choice with their inflection and

you're like wow, I can apply that to this character

I'm kind of developing or working on. Just find

the nuances in your performance from all around

you and kind of really always be working. Always

be on top of it. Sing and dance and do monologues

or beat poetry or anything to get yourself comfortable

in front of a microphone and in front of an audience.

Because even if you're alone in that booth, There

can be an audience of millions on the other side

of that microphone. So always just keep performing

all the time. I think that'd be the best thing

that I can do. In my downtime, I go and take

a dance class or I go and work in a local theater

company. There is nothing that you can't learn

a little bit from. I think that would be my biggest

advice. Good point. Awesome. Always be on top

of it. Yep. Would you like to inform the fans

of where they can interact with you online? Absolutely.

I am the first person to admit that I am the

absolute fucking worst at social media. I am

just the worst. Which is why I'm really hard,

guys. I just, I'm so much better at talking to

people than I am. Like, I don't know what to

say in 140 characters. But if you want to follow

me on Twitter, I'm at A underscore Ryan C. So

that's A underscore R -Y -A -N C for Twitter.

I'm on Facebook, Abby Collins Cluster. And that's

about all I do in social media because there

are far too many other platforms. I'm like, I

don't know how to work this. I won't. This is

fine. I can't. I'll get there eventually. But

for someone in my 20s, I'm such a technophobe.

I like talking to people. That's much more fun

that way. But yeah, I just, I don't know. I'm

getting there, though. I'm taking classes online

and how to be better at being online. Who's that?

I'm getting very meta about that. My wife's like,

Good thing I have you around because I know diddly

squat about this stuff. Pretty much. I'm like,

honey, how do I make Skype work on my phone so

I can leave and not be late to rehearsal? He's

like, just open the app. Already there? Oh, wonderful.

But yes, Twitter, Facebook, I'm around. I'm better

at Facebook than I am at Twitter, but I'm getting

better at Twitter. That's where Mike found me.

Mike found me on Twitter. See? No, we were already

friends on Facebook. And Twitter. Both of us

were. Twitter just happened for you to notice

the email more. Exactly. But it happens. See,

I look at things on the phone thing. Yeah, on

the phone thing. In my hand. Yes. Okay, what

have you got currently going on that you are

in production to do that you can talk about and

pimp out? I can talk a little. I just did, there's

a, I'm trying to think of things I'm allowed

to talk about. Give me a minute. Give me a minute.

Or two. I just did some work. I'm in process

of doing some recording for a video game. From

a small independent company that the game's called

Home, and the animation for the game's mostly

done, and we're mostly working on scripting stuff.

So that should be coming out later this year,

I think. But that's pretty much it. Everything

else is kind of in an NBA, I'm not really allowed

to talk about it, phase of existence. It's in

a bunch of theaters. Oh, I can talk about theater.

I'm currently in a production of Thoroughly Modern

Millie and Thousand Oaks that opens March 14th.

So people can come there. I will keep the Twitterverse

updated. I frequently do cabarets and burlesque

shows in North Hollywood. So I don't have any

of those on the books right now, but look for

them in the next few months. But yeah, I do kind

of a lot of theater. Is there anything else?

Oh, I'm going to be at a, there's a new expo,

actually, that's coming up called Pop Stuff Expo.

If you guys want to go on their website, I'm

going to be appearing there. That's the weekend

of May 10th. Very cool. So, yeah. And I think

I'm going to go, I think I'm going to be at BotCon

this year, too. So. That'll be good. Yeah. 30

years. That'll work. Yeah. What about TFCon?

Yeah. Hey, if someone asks me, I'll go. Yeah.

Yeah. So, yeah. I'm kind of all over the place.

Alright, we would like to thank Ms. Gloucester

for taking the time to chat with us in this special

All Things Transformers interview. I'll ask you

to hold the line and we'll be back after this.

Bye, guys. Oh, yes. Easily. Does that technology

still exist, Snake? Is it for sale? This is the

world, Mr. Draft. Everything is for sale. Autobots,

transform! So there you have it, folks. That's

the interview with Abby Collins Cluster, Starscream's

daughter. It was amazing talking to her. That

was so fun. Oh, yeah. It was so interesting listening

to all the different stories and all of her personal

journey and stuff about her dad and all the people

she's met through the business. Yeah. Can't wait

till she gets that website up and going. Just

to see all the stuff that she has and to see

all the stuff that she's going to put up about

her dad. That'll be awesome. You know, the one

thing I forgot to ask her is why the stage name?

Because if his name was Chris Collins, why did

he use Lada? So maybe I'll ask her in an email

and I'll put it in the post or something. I don't

know. So there you go, folks. That's one of what...

Hopes to be many different Transformers type

of interviews, even though she has connections

to Transformers, obviously, but she's not in

it right now. But here in TFG1, G2, all things

Transformers, I have plenty of plans to celebrate

the thrilling 30th anniversary of Transformers

with plenty of new interviews. Oh, yes. Or, as

Micatron would say, yes. Yes. I don't know. I

think we're going to have to get the real one

in here one of these days again. I think you're

right, sir. All right. We will catch you next

time. Transform and roll out. Hi, this is Abby

Collins, and you're listening to the Geekcast

Radio Network. They simply don't make terrorists

like they used to.