Interviews – Frank Todaro

Hi, this is Frank Todaro, and you're listening

to the Geekcast Radio Network. This is Starscream,

the true leader of Cybertron, and consequently,

all things Transformers. Get it? That's the name

of the show. This is Megatron. And you found

the All Things Transformers frequency here at

the Geekcast Radio Network. Join Steve and Mike

as they unleash the beast in you and discuss

All Things Transformers. Excellent. Yes. Who

gave the idea of Star Trek being like one of

the leaders of Cybertron just out of plain curiosity?

Some weirdo. What do you mean, idea? He's always

one of the leaders of Cybertron. The true leader

of the Decepticons. There have been many voices

of Starscream. Chris Lotta, obviously the first

and arguably the best. However, there have also

been Starscream vocals done by Doug Parker, Tom

Kenny, Steve Bloom, Charlie Adler, and so many

more. But there can be only one true leader of

Cybertron and the Decepticons, and that is our

guest today here on All Things Transformers in

the TFGN Podcast. We welcome Mr. Frank Todaro.

No. I would more say that it's a crisis of infinite

Starscreams. We all get together at the company

mixers to discuss our chosen paths and ruling

techniques in our respective dimensions. No one's

really right. Well, we're all right. We're Starscream.

How dare you, Starscream? I mean, I dare. You

can live if you dare. I'll melt you down into

aluminum siding. Oh, yes, indeed. Or you could

be stupid like Optimus. Thank you so much for

having me, guys. We haven't even started this

yet and it's already a blast. Right on. We could

probably just go on and on talking about what

toys are coming out next because we're all a

bunch of collectors and stuff too. We probably

could. We probably shouldn't because your vocal

cords are already ripped now. You won't have

a voice by the time we end up finishing. That's

what I normally sound like. The other voice is

the one that I put on. It's from my mother's

side. She's half Canadian. I was going to say,

so you're Batman now? Oh, my Lord, no, no. Cornelius

Cady Holmes on the subway or something. Now,

wait a second. Kevin Conroy never did that. No,

no, no, not the Batman. You're right. Yeah, there

is only one Batman. And there is only one Joker.

Oh, God. All right. I'm sorry, I'm throwing you

guys off. I apologize. No, no, it's hilarious.

It's awesome. Uh -huh. That's right, Joker. Before

we get started, and I always ask this, but I

always preface it, if you're going to get in

trouble, don't say anything, but is there any

upcoming projects that you can tease our listeners

with? So this is a great question for me because

I'm so stupid that I forget everything anyway.

So I'm not going to remember anything that's

probably things that are coming up for me. Kingdom,

of course, that's coming up. I think they just

announced that it's going to be in July. So they

just at PulseCon, the Cuphead show. I get to

play Mugman in the Cuphead show, which I'm super,

super excited about. I cannot gush about that

enough. I don't remember what I can and can't

talk about, so I'll just say some video games

and stuff and TV shows and things. I don't know.

There are things. What was that? I says, and

there you have it. You speak TV. I speak TV.

Yeah, Mike's Mike's eyes are grown like rolling

in his head right now. My eyes rolled so hard

it was audible across the room. I felt it near

Burbank, man. Uh -huh. That's right. All right,

Waspinator. This is a Waspinator -free zone,

don't you know? All right. So, Frank, where did

you grow up? I grew up in Queens, New York. right

around the flushing area of queens lived in astoria

for about 15 years forest hills for a couple

years so i just bounced around queens glorified

townie only my town just happens to be new york

so you're a mets fan oh yes i grew up right in

the shadow of shea stadium let me tell you mets

fan spider -man fan by default that's uh i think

spider -man is a mets fan so it kind of makes

its own gravy there you go So that's why it's

good. You know, the Mets fans, it helps you build

character because you're just used to disappointment

all the time. Much kinder than the Yankees fans.

So you got your early start in acting like you

were expecting something different. Oh, let's

go. Let's go. Orange and blue. Yeah, yeah. That's

that's where I'm from. I'm a New Yorker and now

I live out in Burbank. Beautiful downtown Burbank.

Yeah, totally different end of the country. Yeah.

Other side, a giant volleyball game. So did you

always want to be an actor or a voice actor?

I think it was it was always in the back of my

mind. I mean, we all go through different things

as we as we grow up. But yeah, when I was a kid,

still in the story of the day, I used to, you

know, we're all probably around the same age,

I'm assuming. Probably not. I'm probably much

older. It's practically dust at this point. There

are these tape recorders that we all had with

the little handle that goes ka -chunk, ka -chunk

on the outside. And the one is half speaker.

So I used to – I had one of those as a kid. It

was a hand -me -down from my mother. And I would

record every time that all the little kids came

over and we would all be playing. I was a little

kid too. There's nothing weird about that. And

they would want to play house. And I would say,

okay, let's do that. But I want to record it.

So we would all kind of talk into the tape recorder.

And, you know, like family ties and the Cosby

show were the rage at the time. So I would always

make these terrible jokes and stuff where she

would say, oh, this is my boyfriend. I'm bringing

my boyfriend over tonight. And I would always

be playing the dad because I was one of the two

guys on the block. Oh, how ugly is he? So there

are all these tapes that my mom has for like

blackmail material of that. And then, you know,

years go on and I definitely had an aha moment

later on. Where I realized this is what I want

to do. And. That was oddly. Connected to Transformers.

It was oddly. Because honestly most of my inspiration.

Came from actors that weren't Transformers. But

I remember very distinctly. It was the late 90s.

I was home from college. And hearing in the other

room. Beast Wars. As we were talking about before

this. Big Beast Wars fan. And it dawned on me

that Scott McNeil. was half of the characters

that were talking at that time. And one of my

favorite characters is the character Rattrap,

right? I'm a not super tall Italian guy from

New York myself. So, of course, I'm like, oh,

I relate to that guy. I think probably one of

my favorite characters in science fiction period

was Rattrap. And I just remember hearing that

and then hearing Silverbolt talking to him with

Waspinator. The whole same thing. And I'm like,

That's what I want to do. That's what I want

to do. That's that would make me happy. And it

was a long, long trip getting there. I'm going

to keep rattling on here. I apologize. But yeah.

And then eventually, you know, you just keep

hacking away at that stone like a skexy with

a sword and eventually it breaks. And thank God

you can pay the rent with it. Very awesome. So.

How did you how did you break into the business

doing all that? Just hacking away at that rock,

man. Jeez, I just found that pavement. You got

to love it. You got to love the taste of ramen

noodles. And eventually, you know, something

gives. And and yeah, it was Transformers that

brought me out here. I was mostly doing voices.

uh voice work back in new york and i moved here

around the time the transformers uh dropped um

there were some like remote things i would have

to fly back and forth for some jobs and such

uh it's a very different climate now now uh since

the pandemic the way we do things has changed

so much which is kind of good in a sense just

kind of talking about the other side of this

Is in that people around the country now have

these opportunities to record remotely because

everybody's scrambling to figure out how to record

remotely. And since the pandemic, everybody has

sort of the voice community. You know this, Stephen.

Yes. Everybody sort of come together to help

one another sort of get your tech up to spec

at things more. More sort of like a commonality

to sound for everybody set up so that we can

still keep working. And the great side effect

of that is that everybody from coast to coast

now has this opportunity. So yeah, I don't even

remember the question because I've just been

prattling on and on and on like a batty old man

for a while. The Mets are great. Yeah. What were

we talking about? Yeah, I'm not too much of a

fan of that 86 team, though. Dude, I've got my

86 World Series button. Oh, you'd be from my

desk right now. And it's being held by a black

suit Spider -Man Marvel Legends figure. Oh, of

course it is. Did you grow up with Transformers,

and at what age do you remember first noticing

the franchise? Oh, gosh. Well, I'll go back a

year before Transformers. My first transforming

robot toy. was a buggy man action figure in 1983

and i love that thing uh to death i played with

that so much and then after that i got my cassette

man which i don't know if it was the original

dyke i think they had like a couple of knockoffs

of them that came out around the same time so

it was like a slightly wrong colored sound wave

but he had like those embossed letters of cassette

man on his belly uh but yeah from day one man

i uh I loved Transformers. I loved the idea of

it. I remember being enamored with the idea of

aliens who were just sort of like, I don't know,

I guess, inhabiting these things that were built

on an assembly line. It's so different. They're

genuine aliens. Like up until then, I mean, I'm

born in 77, so I'm fairly young. But aliens meant

they had pointy ears or xenomorphs or giant gray

aliens from those documentaries on Channel 9

in the afternoon on Sundays. Like, it was really

cool, right? Especially when, like, Cobra Commander

shows up in one of them in the future. Oh, my

God. It's like a joined universe. It's just like

my comic books. It was great. But, yeah, I love

them from the start. Okay, now this is just a

me question. I ask this to everybody. Because

I did this when I was a kid. And I just assume

I'm weird for me and my friends doing this. Growing

up, did you and your friends ever... I'm going

to terminology it like this because I refuse

to believe in LARPing. Pretend to play Transformers.

So basically, you're all at recess or after school

or wherever in the front yard, the backyard.

And you yell out... I'm going to be Starscream,

and your best friend yells out, well, I'm going

to be Megatron and kill you. Of course. Of course.

And I will say that going back to the other question

about how you get into voice acting, I think

that between playing make -believe like that,

running around on our front lawns, right, and

then something that's close to me is the game

Dungeons & Dragons. So I like we couldn't afford

the books when we were kids. So we would like

make up things. Right. So it got to the point

where, like, you were playing with your toys,

but then, you know, kind of rules and stuff.

And you you're playing with your toys or you're

running around pretending. I remember one of

my friends pretending to be Baron Von Joy from

the GoBots and running around the court, the

courtyard and the school we were at in Bayside.

And like it was the natural progression was to

start playing role playing games. And then eventually.

In high school, I met I met a group of friends

first week of high school that I I don't know

if you curse on this. I'll say I kid you. OK,

then I shit you not every Saturday. We still

get together now via Skype around the country

and continue the same second edition game that

we started in 1991. And that is and other games

are playing Star Wars and Vampire and Rifts.

But that. was invaluable to my career getting

to inhabit a character figuring out what that

character is going to do next uh when you know

i get all asked a lot uh like what are how do

you get into voice acting there's the uh there

are these answers you know capital a lowercase

v take an improv class all of these uh wonderful

bits of advice but the advice that i always get

is play dungeons and dragons or some other role

-playing game think on your feet in that way

because i cannot express how how valuable that

was in training for the rest of my life doing

improv like bought off a couple improv troops

back in new york and i remember when it gets

like oh this is this is kind of like dungeons

and dragons without the dice only we're walking

around which goes back to your question about

running around pretending you're galvatron and

and quoting things and and making up new stories

there's there's a creative output there that

is what people do for a living when they're making

cartoons. So it all kind of comes from the same

muscle that's in your head. And yeah, anyone

who says that you're crazy for doing that, they're

just making up a story. They forgot. Everybody

did that. Everybody did that. And the people

that don't stop doing that, they're making cartoons

that you watch every day. So it's all full circle,

and everything kind of serves towards that sort

of... Anyway, I'm going to prattle on here. You

get the picture. Dungeons and Dragons. I like

Dungeons and Dragons. We're trying to imitate

your favorite characters while you're playing

with the action figures. Yeah, that's great.

And when I play with the action figure, now I

can say it's canon. You know? Yep. It's like,

don't you know I do the voice? But the figures

never talk back, though. That's the problem.

Well. I always have this joke because I do audio

drama voiceover and they thought it was funny

because I told them about this story that I used

to talk to myself in a parking lot when I worked

for a car dealership in different character voices

just to see because I used to listen to like

a lot of the voiceover. Podcasts like Rob Paulson's

and hearing how actors would, you know, change

their voice as quickly as possible. You know,

like, for instance, like Frank, where he could

jump Frank Walker, where he would jump character

to the point that Wally Burrow would think that.

It was somebody else cutting him. We got to go

back. We got to recut that. No, no, we don't,

Wally. It's just Frank. Yeah, it's just Frank.

I love those stories so much. I love that story,

too, and I remember hearing it at TFCon many

years ago, and it was one of those moments that

kind of inspired me to do that, and so I started

practicing it. And, of course, I walk by a car,

and there's somebody sitting in it, and I'm talking

in four different character voices arguing with

myself. So I tell this story to the people I

work with now, and they're like, well, you know

that when we write another season, we're going

to have you talk to yourself. And they did. That's

the best, isn't it? Oh, yeah. Can you talk to

yourself? It's hilarious. That's cool. Did you

sell a lot of cars, though? I mean, I feel like

you'd walk up to somebody, like, cycling through

different places and stuff. Okay, fine. Here,

take my car. No, I got a couple of crazy looks,

though. I just I was like, well, I better just

keep that to myself. That's where we met, right?

You mentioned Frank Welker. That was the second

to last VotCon, I think. Yep. Right. We met in

person. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. The first time we met

in person in the real world, whatever that is.

Yeah, that place that's imaginary, you know.

The place that exists when I'm not playing Dungeons

and Dragons? Okay. It's just a role -playing

game someone else is playing. We're all figments

in this bizarre simulation, right? I shouldn't

say that. People actually think that. I don't

think that we're in a simulation, which is exactly

what I would say if we were in a simulation.

So. What? So. What? You know, speaking of Transformers,

what generation is your generation and why? Um,

see, that's rough because G1, of course, is what

the default setting of of Transformers is in

my mind, because that's what I grew up with.

I read the comic books like nobody's business.

And it was a wonderful, rich world. But I don't

separate the G1 from Beast Wars. To me, it's

the same universe, you know, the same. sort of

uh question so what's that same same toy box

exactly so i would i would say the g1 to beast

wars to and and this is where the fan part of

me like got to backflip because technically prime

wars and war for cybertron are in that uh that

timeline so so that's so i get to like go back

and like play with my toys kind of in in a professional

matter it's amazing So, yeah, the G1 Beast Wars,

that continuity would be, I guess, my generation.

Now, that doesn't mean that I don't love the

heck out of Prime and Animated and all the other

manifestations. Some of the most amazing moments

in Transformerdom were from those shows. I loved

Animated. Really, really liked Animated. God,

Fred Willard came in as Swindle that one episode.

That was great. My brain melted and dripped out

of my ears. is like first of all the sweetest

nicest most uh amazing kind human being but also

to hear him as this kind of like young prime

finding his way in the world in that show everything

about that show uh and derek why it's like deep

cut references like metro titan i think was in

an episode in the background it's insane um insane

insane and uh yeah and rat trap of course my

favorite But yeah, every – and the whole cast

are just so nice. Yeah, yeah. But G1 – I keep

talking about that. But G1, I guess. G1, two

Beast Wars and Beast Machines. There's some good

stuff there. Yeah, Beast Machines got a raw deal.

But anyway. It did. It kind of did. It got a

raw deal because if you separate it as a standalone,

it is a very good science fiction. It's made

well. It looked beautiful. The concepts were

great. The only kind of disparity there was like

some of the characterization where people were

like, oh, would that character really do that?

I'm upset because Rhinox is my surrogate dad.

I don't want him to be a mean tank man. And like,

but as a show, it was a very good show. Yeah,

absolutely. All right. Who is your end -all,

be -all favorite character from any Transformers

incarnation? You can pick one Decepticon, one

Autobot, one Maximal, one Predacon. Hmm. Well,

the answers are Starscream, Starscream, Starscream,

and Starscream. He's technically in all of them,

right? Autobot at one point, right? No, he's

in Beast Wars, too. So, I mean, he was. Yeah,

that's right. It was Doug Parker that did that.

Yeah. God, my favorite Autobot. My favorite Autobot

is kind of a weird one. It's changed over the

years, but it's sort of solidified into Blue

Streak. Blue Streak has one of the most tragic

backstories. If you if you if you delve into

his like bio, like the old Marvel bio and stuff.

Where the reason why he talks up a blue streak

is because everyone he knew in his life died

during the Great War. And to get past that tragedy,

that's how he kind of like uses this like motor

mouth. Of course, it was Casey Kasem, so I mean

it's Casey Kasem. He's sort of like the Spider

-Man. He uses this as a defense mechanism. To

hide the fact that he is constantly tortured

by his entire family dying. And that is freaking

cool. It's a really very interesting kind of

deep background for him. For Decepticons, I mean

Starscream is my favorite now. I love Starscream.

There's a depth there. I loved so much the idea

of him becoming a politician in the beginning

of Combiner Wars. That was so cool. It was just

a great progression for him. um and like now

getting to see the sort of like origin story

and stuff is he's he's a scientist man it's great

you know uh maximal of course rat trap and predacon

gosh oh gosh just how how can i not say megatron

I don't know how I can like there's something

amazing about all of them. Dinobot is amazing.

I just watched Code of Hero again the other day

when I was opening my toy like a little kid,

you know, with the cowboy hat on watching a Western

opening my Dinobot while watching Code of Hero.

But there's just something so like it's like

it's like melted chocolate. The Beast Wars Megatron

is it. That's that's my choice. I haven't gotten

that figure yet. So I was fortunate to find him.

oh god january and i have not seen him in store

since i i ordered from bbts uh because pulse

was always out um so he's he's he exists somewhere

my toy exists out there somewhere eventually

it'll come to my house that's right yeah that's

why i keep telling everybody just pre -order

through bbts you save yourself the stress you'll

get it eventually but i like the hunt And so

I hang out on AllSpark's Discord, and then we

sit there and we banter back and forth of whether

we can find it or not. And I've managed to collect

the entire first wave and second wave of the

beasts. Nice. I just opened Airazor. It's right

next to me on my desk. I'm painting her to be

show accurate right now. You're what? I'm painting

the figure. Oh, right. To be so accurate. It

drives me nuts that they cheaped out on the paint

apps, but I love the visuals of the molds that

they finally have for these figures. I just love

how they figured out the folding of the panels

for some of the wings to make it look like the

CGI model where they just shrink. I don't know

what they're going to do with Pterosaur. I don't

know either, but I was coming very close to getting

a second Dinobot for... uh beast wars grimlock

and then i they're gonna have a beast wars grimlock

based off the uprising comic and i was like i

don't know if i want to do this now and like

a g1 mirage too right are they oh yeah god that's

cool great time to be a fan so many toys so little

time we don't deserve this do we you know oh

yes we do after all they put us through in the

80s yes we do we deserve this i know we're spoiled

now we get all these awesome toys now It's it's

definitely a moment of like, where do you go

from here? Because they have gone and mined so

many of these like like so many like G1 figures

that you never really thought Japanese exclusive

figures. I can't believe that Overlord was in

Prime Wars, you know, let alone like this masterpiece

of a figure there. And then they go back and

redo things that you just got a couple of years

ago. This studio series Grimlock, like that's

a masterpiece that you can drop on the floor.

It's amazing. Same scale, too. And it's a masterpiece

that costs a fraction of the price. This is true.

That's what I like so much about these new toys.

Like Dinobot. They finally have a good Dinobot

in budget pricing. How often do you go back and

re -watch any of the Transformers cartoons that

you're not a character in? I mean... Like I was

just saying, I just watched Code Hero the other

day. I'll throw one on in the background, mostly

Beast Wars, in the same way I would put on Star

Trek The Next Generation or The Office or something,

just kind of put it on. Because after a while,

you watch them so many times, it's like listening

to a song that you know really well. You kind

of have all the beats down. In fact, I probably

watch things that I'm not in far, far more often

than those things I'm in. Yeah. We all love Transformers

comics. Which incarnation do you love and why?

Love what they're doing with IDW. The Lost Light

crew stories were amazing. But the tail end of

the Marvel run, the Furman stuff, Honestly, there's

so many from the early run of the bop. That just

has that special place in my heart because that's

what I started with. And I Am Behind, I have

a lot of the big black spined collected ones

that IDW put out, the hardcovers of the two different

runs, the two different kind of realities when

the movies came out. Not realities, you know,

you don't mean like the face of the IDW universe.

But yeah, to actually answer the question, I

would say the original Marvel run. That's one

of my favorites, too, actually. Yeah. I remember

scrounging them. When they showed the arc, I

couldn't help but notice right away that the

face looked just like the last Autobot from that

last mission. and then to find out that no that's

on purpose and then you see um oh gosh what's

his name the action master uh mainframe is it

yeah no not mainframe it is mainframe right yeah

i think so so and the the uh you know you know

teletran one is like uh not teletron teletran

yeah teletran one it was uh it's kind of basically

that exact figure it's pretty cool yeah So what

was your favorite, or actually your first Transformers

toy as a kid? My first Transformers toy was a

red Bumblebee. It was a wrong -colored Bumblebee.

So Cliffjumper. Bumblejumper. I know. Yeah, but

the, I don't know, is it Cliff B or Bumblejumper?

But the red version of Bumblebee. Yeah, it's

Bumblejumper. In the package that had him, yeah.

Nice, nice. How big is your Transformers collection?

It's pretty big. There's about 100 Rubbermaids

in an undisclosed location back in New York in

storage, because most of my G1 and all that sort

of stuff is over there. With the stuff that made

it across, those few select pieces came from

that period across the country when we moved.

But everything from the thrilling 30s forward

came across with me. So most of that stuff is

here. There's some G1 and whatnot. I have the

misfortune of not just collecting Transformers,

so I'm going to need a bigger boat fairly soon.

But yeah, it's probably bigger than it should

be. Probably bigger than it should be. How do

you feel about non transforming Transformers,

especially like I've seen the studio or the not

the studio, the the red figures, which don't

get me wrong, they look awesome. But what do

you what is your opinion of of just non transforming

Transformers? For me personally, I love the idea

when it's of an old action master like Super

7 just put out Bonsaitron as one of their like.

premium action figures have you seen this yeah

i think so i've seen the the the photos of the

the super seven yeah i don't know if they're

actually out yet we had one of the insecticons

and uh ghost starscream um but yeah i i would

i would love the non -transforming figures of

the action masters i mean of course i would like

them to actually transform too but um but yeah

uh outside of that i mean i haven't really been

collecting them i've seen them in the stores

And I think what's just held me back is just

holding the Netflix repaint of Earthrise Optimus,

if you got that one with the little two minicons

or whatever. Yep, I got that one. That is a perfect

toy. There's no way to improve that. Like the

dimensions, the whatever. It is a perfect toy.

And the joints were all tight on the one that

I got. It's great. So I don't really see the

need outside of being a completist, which I'm

not. I can't be a completist. It's just I can't

get every single minicon that has a teal blob

of paint on its forehead from Micron Legends

or whatever. So if I were a completist, maybe.

But I might grab something that catches my eye.

Of course, if the Starscream comes out, I'm going

to grab the Starscream. But like that Cheetor

figure. They were on the shelves next to each

other the last time we went to Target to buy

cat food. And it was – they had Cheetor from

Kingdom next to the Red Series Cheetor, and the

Red Series had some great paint apps and stuff.

But the one that transforms, they have already

figured out the technology to make it look that

great as a robot. So I don't know. I don't know.

I'm not going to say that it's not for me, but

I definitely would not buy it in lieu of. the

awesome transforming one that they've already

worked out. I could see that. And one of the

reasons why I have, why I'm asking people, or

why we are asking people this question is because

eventually I'm going to steer the conversation

to Funko. Have you gotten the Funko Pop Stars

cream yet? I have not been able to find it. I

am also someone who likes to hunt in the wild,

you know, like when there's not a global pandemic.

And but I yeah, I like to find things. It feels

like there's an accomplishment. I do nothing.

I wake up from my bed and walk into a closet

all day. I need the physical activity. And I

have not found that. I found Bumblebee. I think

it's a Target exclusive, right? I think so. Yeah,

it is. I've not seen it yet. I've not seen it

yet. And that's probably the only modern Starscream

I don't have. I'll send you a picture later of

the. The display of narcissism. That's why I

call him the Starscream display. Pun intended.

That's funny. That's all right. That's how I

am with Megatron. Never voiced him professionally,

but I like to have every single one of them.

Oh, yeah, man. Well, you voiced him in something,

though, right? Didn't you voice him in an audio

drama? Yeah, in audio dramas and stuff like that.

Yeah, that counts. That counts when you're buying

toys. Yeah. Dark glass. I had to, you know, I

mean, I was going to buy it anyway, but I splurged

on the Scorponok, because in one of the fan dubs

a gazillion years ago, I voiced Zarek, and I

also had to buy, I didn't get the whole set,

but I bought Drillhorn, because in another one

of the dubs two million years ago, I voiced Drillhorn

in that one and stuff. And if they make a Victory

Leo, I'll do that too, because TFCOG days. Remember

Victory Leo? Well, that's why I got Scourge.

Yeah. That's a great toy, too. It is, too. I

had the original, or not the original, but I

had the titanium one years ago, and I got rid

of it because I was like, I want one that looks

like the movie. And then they did it. I did like

the Generations one, the flying wing one. That

was a fun mold all around. A little different,

but it accomplished it really well. One day I'll

get that Serpentor repaint of that. It's side

command. So switching gears a little. That's

a good episode. Yeah. Yeah, it is a good episode.

What are your favorite parts about voice acting?

Oh, gosh. I mean. It's a great career if you're

indecisive. You're a doctor one day and your

mom's proud. Then you're a fuzzy bunny the next

day and your mom's not so proud. It's weird.

I love every aspect of it. I love every aspect

of it. The people that you get to work with are

just a damn blessing. I think of most careers,

even different type of acting, the people that

you get to work with, your fellow actors, everyone

in every aspect is just usually just so kind.

So nice, so supportive of each other. So that's

great. But also, I mean, that's just it's just

mind blowing to be able to do what you love and

pay the rent with it and buy food and feed your

cat. It's yeah, never lose sight of that. I never

lose sight of that. It's amazing. So who are

and or were your influences in making you the

voice actor you are today? Geez. We were talking

about all the old G1 guys. Of course, Frank Welker.

I love doing creature stuff, and that's all because

of Frank Welker. Peter Cullen. I still can't

believe that there's a show out there that exists

that when Peter Cullen says Starscream, he's

talking about me. It still doesn't register.

I'll tell you two stories. Back in the early

2000s, 1999 or 2000, whatever, Greg Berger was

there. And I was like, you know, I made my own

demo and like, excuse me, sir. May I may I give

this to you? You know, very nervous and stuff.

Greg turns around and says, not unless I can

give you my own. Gets up, goes back to his hotel

room with his wife, grabs one of his discs, finds

me on the floor and gives me his demo. I still

have that thing to this day. It is one of my

prized possessions because, like, here's the

stupid wet behind the ears kid walking up to

Grimlock. And he's just like, no, I'm just going

to treat you as like – we're just – we're going

to exchange them, and that's it. And that stuck

with me. It stuck with me. Another story, Michael

McConaughey. He, through this one interaction,

became like the Obi -Wan in my mind where he

gave me this advice of if you have butterflies

in your stomach, don't try to get rid of them.

Make them fly in formation. And just the imagery

of that, like to this day when I go into the

booth, if there's – I mean now we were just kind

of going there and have fun and do it and stuff.

But whenever there's any kind of feelings like

that, I still think of those words that he said

to me. That's very cool. It's so cool. And all

those guys, like through the years and then eventually

like when my career started picking up traction

and you're there on the stage with these people.

and and gary chalk gary chalk uh one of the tf

cons jason and i were up there he kept turning

to us and referring to us as all the young turks

are here right and like it's some little thing

that he says uh like it's you know whatever you

know it's a fun joke but then me i'm like remembering

this oh my god you know uh so so i think that's

just the idea that you can be um because these

are like in my mind like the biggest celebrities

in the world right outside of the fact that i

might actually be in something with them at some

point these are the biggest celebrities in the

world and just to see how like amazing they are

with uh with every i can't even i'm not completing

sentences uh but yes alan oppenheimer is another

one a big Influence of mine as a kid, Skeletor,

Falkor, a whole bunch of ores. Something I got

to thank him for at a recent convention. I walked

up again timidly. Now, as an adult playing Starscream

and stuff, because we were... It was a TFCon.

Because, you know, he was... Many of the Transformers.

Beachcomber. Great episode. I'm going to see

this break. I'm going to see this break. And

I went to him like, hey, man, I just didn't want

to do this in front of everybody, but I just

wanted to really thank you. You've been this

inspiration to me. And like he shook my hand

and pulled me in and was like so like weirdly

like so gracious, so kind to me. And I'm just

some schmo who happens to have a similar job

career description. And yeah, yeah. So those

guys, clearly. David, who I've been gushing about

before. All of the old Beast Wars cast who I've

met at the BotCon. They were always guests at

BotCons. Ian, Venus. The first anime that I loved

was called Ranma Half. You guys familiar with

this? Yes. Yes. All right. So both Venus and

Dave were in that. So I heard them there before

I heard them in Beast Wars or somewhere. So I

think I first watched Ron Mahaff in Japanese

with Chinese subtitles up the block at my friend's

house when I was living in Queens. So I would

be like, what did they say? What did they say?

What did they say? So it's a while before I get

souped up. It's ridiculous. But, you know, I

don't know. I'm somewhere in there is an answer

to your question. Basically, I love everyone,

and every moment of that kind of played a different

little nugget into guiding me to the stuff I

get to do today. Nice. Did you audition for any

other roles besides Starscream? Oh yeah, back

in Combiner Wars. For War for Cybertron, they...

directly invited me and jason to reprise the

roles um because it was the same showrunner fj

desanto who is a god amongst men uh one of the

nicest nicest people and a new yorker too so

that's that's freaking great um but he and matt

were uh matt murray the supervising producer

another amazing human being um they they invited

us back for uh for war for cybertron But for

Combiner Wars, I think I auditioned for Starscream

and Megatron. Yeah, yeah. And my Megatron was

definitely very different than Jason's. It was

much more strained than the regular sort of G1

Megatron. And Starscream – I think there's a

border there. Excuse me. It's because I talk

too much. Starscream, I actually got a call from

Eric, who's the showrunner on that. He made Eric

Keldron. Combiner Wars, I got a phone call from

him when I was shopping. I was grocery shopping

and stop and shop off of Metropolitan Avenue

in Forest Hills, if anybody knows who that is.

And he was calling to tell me that he could not

hire me and that he or he was like it was like

it was a sad call. And to say that he didn't

know what he wanted. So I got the call and ran

out into the back in the parking lot. I'm standing

next to a dumpster. And he's like, well, I don't

really know what I have in mind. Have you ever

seen Game of Thrones? There's this character

Varys. Oh, OK. And we were going back and forth

to try to figure out this. This is the voice,

the voice of Starscream, because he did not want

G1. He did not want that. Understandably. Yeah.

And we're going back and forth and back and forth.

And then he's like, hold on, I've got to get

someone else on the call. And then back and forth,

back and forth. He's like, I got to call our

casting director. Hold on. So, you know, like

I said, I'm walking back and forth by a dumpster.

My girlfriend comes out and I'm like, I'm so

sorry that I had to just walk away from you.

And so we drive back to the apartment. And I'm

pacing back and forth, waiting for this call,

waiting for this call. And Eric calls me back

and he's like, you know what? They just reminded

the casting director just reminded me that they

worked for me. Congratulations, your Starscream.

And again, I shit you not. Next day I was on

a plane. The next day I was recording. It was

like that quick. Wow. And it was like it blew

my mind. And also my my birthday was like the

day after that, too. So. Here's something kind

of fun. I spent my birthday playing Dungeons

and Dragons with the showrunner and a bunch of

other people from the industry around here because

I had my lucky D20 in my pocket. And after it

was me and Abby and Eric were sitting at a bench

outside after we did our first records. Abby

Trott, the amazingly talented Abby Trott, who

played Wendley. She's a demon slayer. Carmen

San Diego, a bunch of them. They were sitting

down. I take the thing. I was like, oh, you're

a player. Hey, yes. And what are you doing this

weekend? I'm going to sit in my hotel room eating

7 -Eleven food on my birthday. So, yeah, I got

to play Dungeons and Dragons. It was it was it

was ridiculous. I was a dwarf and they were all

like range weapons. I could do nothing. I just

stood there screaming, holding my axe like John

Rhys Davies. And but yeah, yeah. Another another.

of Dungeons & Dragons into life. So really quickly,

you mentioned dwarves, and I'm like, oh, this

is a perfect spot to put this. I'm looking at

your IMDb, and the first thing I think of is,

why did they cross the Red Shoe Diaries with

the seven dwarves? What was it like being on

red shoes in the seven dwarves? That was a good

movie, man. It was very sweet. I've never seen

it. I'm just saying. Just looking at the title,

Red Shoes and Seven Dwarfs, it made me think

of the old Showtime series, The Red Shoe Diaries.

Oh, my God. That's insane. Well done, sir. That's

right. Oh, my God. The Red Shoe Diaries. Someone's

going to send you some kind of fan art now that

you probably don't want. Starscream in red shoes

with a bunch of dwarves. They could be minicons.

Pino, Noki, and Kyo. I love that. I played three

characters, Pino, Noki, and Kyo, and just the

pun of it was freaking amazing. So great. That

was a really good movie. I enjoyed it. Very cool.

So are there any crazy off -the -wall, behind

-the -scenes stories that you can tell us from

your Transformers series you've been in? Crazy

behind -the -scenes, off -the -wall, doo -doo

-doo. Nothing that I can say on the radio. We

did go sing karaoke once. In character? Yes.

It makes it so much better. Is that on YouTube

anywhere? We were literally just hanging out

after a record once and Starscream sang Creep.

Radiohead? Creep by Radiohead. That's awesome.

I could so see that. It's okay if it hurts. I

want to have control. And so forth. Yeah. He's

kind of a creep. And a weirdo. Yep. So have you

ever seen something in a script that you refuse

to say? No, no. I mean, I've had jobs that like

very rarely, very rarely. But there have been

some things where it's like, I don't really want

to do that. And usually if it's like something

remarkably extreme or anything hateful, I don't

want to like. support anything like that, I guess.

No, no, no. I'll help people move a couch if

they want. Just remember to pivot, Starscream.

Pivot! Good pull, dude. Which character is a

throat ripper for you? Which character absolutely

destroys your voice? None of the Transformers.

I can actually... There's a there's a place that

I can go in the throat for all those guys. I

mean. Here's a little bit of the behinds. Laserbeak

voicing Laserbeak was like a lot of that got

dropped or because there was from scenes that

were cut from the first two seasons. Clearly,

I haven't seen the kingdom yet. So but that one,

I guess there's a little to bring down again

here because a lot of us. So doing that for two

hours has been much. Absolutely. It sucks that

he's gone, but if he was still around today,

do you think you would survive a Wally Burr session?

Oh my god. That's the dream, isn't it? It doesn't

matter how many licks you take. You're just smiling

the whole time. Yep. Oh, man, yeah. All right,

so somebody said to me after WandaVision was

over, and I don't know if they said it to me

or if I read it online. Somebody said to me.

Your Starscream, Jason's Megatron, WandaVision

style. And I'm thinking to myself, I need to

get the two of them in a room and figure out

who would be Wanda and who would be Vision and

then have them voice it. That sounds like a panel

idea, my friend. It could be. Starscream and

Megatron. I was trying to get Jason to do this

for a while. My girlfriend actually went through

and transcribed an old Odd Couple episode. Where

Megatron would be Oscar and Starscream would

be Felix. And I just want to like, no, no change

to the text. Just read them straight through

because there's there's something there. There's

a sitcom there, especially in the Prime Wars

kind of relationship that they had. There's definitely

something there. That would be hilarious, because

I had to do in one of my acting classes in college,

we had to do a scene from The Odd Couple. And

I could clearly imagine those two characters.

Yep. So what's your favorite part of the Transformers

fandom since we keep going back to that? Transformers

fandom? Yes. Like what? Like what? Give me an

example. So like. the maybe like the panels or

the the the groups that are online or oh yeah

yeah okay yeah um man one of my favorite things

was uh was at conventions where we would all

like sit in the lobby paying playing a paper

telephone and like sort of hanging out and the

parts parties were always super fun remember

the parts parties People would come with, like,

tackle boxes full of, like, random missiles and

crap and go to somebody's hotel room. So, you

know, we really don't want to party at a Transformers

convention. Late night drinking and swapping

missiles. Oh, silence. That joke fell. I can't

imagine Starscream drunk. There's that image

of the... Bad energy on when he's drinking. My

left wing fell off again. The tolerance is just

very low. See what I did there, Joe? Joint tolerance.

so you've been to a few of the fan conventions

uh now as a a voice actor uh and now that we

are living in this weird pandemic era of virtual

cons everywhere what are your thoughts about

them about them the virtual cons the virtual

cons it's cool i mean i don't have to wear pants

it's wonderful um one of the uh one of the things

i really really miss though is when I do get

to go to a convention on the guest side of things,

when there's downtime, I get to go to the floor

and rummage through boxes. So I definitely miss

that. I don't know when we're going to feel safe

doing that again. I mean, literally putting your

hand in a box like a frigging Bene Gesserit witch

with disease inside. I don't know if that's in

the immediate future, but I very much miss that.

But outside of that, everybody's been wonderful

with these online things. I mean, I don't have

another place to really record, so they just

see me sitting at my desk with all my weird stuff

and the D &D books and whatever. So that's cool.

You get to kind of a little bit more intimate.

You get to go look into people's houses. And

if they don't have the fake Skype background,

then all bets are off, I guess. Intimate or creepy,

depending on your point of view. Yeah, yeah.

Yeah. Auto -tune them afterwards, right? Yeah,

digital stalkers, you know. details yeah details

details yeah i i actually watched you guys con

uh at uh or panel at the uh icon online in january

january yep oh that was fun that was really fun

yeah i i had a panel myself but it was about

beast wars and i i went on a soapbox and people

were like yeah that's awesome what was your soapbox

i didn't get to see it It was all about how Beast

Wars was what the Transformers fandom needed

25 years ago and what it still needs today. Basically,

Beast Wars saves Transformers, essentially. The

inter -character, and specifically Beast Wars

Season 2, the trans -mentals season, is some

of the best science fiction, but also some of

the best character interactions in science fiction.

It has everything that makes Like all the Star

Treks and Star Wars, all of the things that work

were there in that second season. And I love

it so much. Oh, and it touches on so many genres,

too. That's the one season that like you can

pretty much go back and watch every episode and

none of it's filler. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it's

so it's so much shorter, too. So, yeah, really

just run with it. I'm sorry. My favorite scene

from season two is between Megatron and Rhinox.

where Megatron is trying to get Rhinox to let

him in the ship or whatever. To get the Golden

Desk. Uh -huh. Rhinox is like, go away, I'm busy.

And he just puts a bunch of distortion noise

feedback with him, and he's like, ah, stubborn

Maximal fool. I love, because I love that sound

effect that they used for the audio feedback.

Oh, it's so good. I love how just legitimately

a a force to be reckoned with rhinox is he never

changes he's not like he doesn't get transmittal

or missiles that shoot out of his butter he's

just he's just rhinox but it's it's he's like

dad you know where like he he doesn't show how

big his guns are but then when when When you

finally make him angry, he can defeat Megatron

probably. He's amazing, but he doesn't seek to

be leader. Rhinox is – God, there's – I feel

like every day watching that show, you have a

new favorite character, and it's whoever is on

screen. Blackarachny is your favorite character.

Silverbolt is your favorite character. I mean,

Rattrap, of course, forever Rattrap. I think

my Skype handle right now, as you're talking

to me, is Rattrap. Don't give it out. I'm not

going to say that. Don't give it out. A version

of that. And you're right, you're right, you're

right, you're right. It's... Type that out phonetically.

But, like, some version of Rattrap has been my

handle back in, like, my old IRC days. Do you

remember IRC? Oh, yeah. The text -based thing?

Yep. We used to go on there and Telnet and the

AllSpark boards before I was broadcast. I was

a version of Rattrap. That's an interesting story

going back on a question you said. Broadcast,

the reason why I had that name on AllSpark was

when I was like seven, eight years old, that

was my made -up Transformer. That was my OC,

my made -up fan character was Broadcast because

I loved Soundwave. I loved the things, the Transformers

that turned into mundane objects I was tickled

with. So I made this guy. He was a triple changer.

It was really cool. He turned it to the big old

dumb wood panel television that was in our living

room and a satellite because I wanted to make

him as useless as possible. But a communications

officer, you know, eight years old, I thought

this was really cool. And so he was broadcast

and he was like and this is before like I knew

anything about twin cast or, you know, blaster

dies and comes back as a plaid blaster. So. Yeah,

that is the origin of why broadcast was my handle

for so long, because in my mind, it was my old

character. It's always fun to create your own

characters, though. Yeah, yeah. I mean, that

was when I was nine, but it's not like it stopped.

It's great. I love the non -show toy characters,

too. You can kind of look at them. You're the

Autobot chef. It's like Ultra Magnus when he

doesn't wear his armor, but he never shows up

that way. Yep. So what alt mode would you want

to have if humans could transform? A 2001 Jeep

Cherokee. very specific car i had that i liked

yeah that's it or a 1993 chrysalid baron convertible

british racing green with gold rack top and gold

interior another car i had at some point seems

to be like a trend to pick old cars i i have

an old or i i owned an old 89 s15 uh gmc pickup

and i had a uh it was two -tone which funny enough

i I had the truck for years and then I back in

the early 2000s paid Josh Bertram to turn it

into a transformer. That's cool. So now it's

the mascot of this program. That's right. Ultimis

Prime. What's his name? Ultimis Prime. Ultimis

Prime. So what does Ultimis Prime sound like?

I have no idea. You need to figure that out.

That's what Optimus Prime sounds like, man. You're

a voice actor. Come on. I've never actually thought

about it, but the original incarnation of him

before I had him as the old truck that I used

to have was he was a white clone of Optimus Prime

before anybody was like, oh, that's Ultra Magnus.

But he has a lot of dark gray on him, and he's

got a fusion cannon on his shoulder. so like

best of both worlds there yeah yeah so but he's

more militaristic and less uh less uh you know

oh freedom is the right of all sentient beings

no they help us too you should totally like figure

out like what he sounds like good to sound like

you and then like do intros for the show as the

character that is the mascot that is the transformer

like wheels within wheels pun intended uh anyway

that's really cool that would be fun that would

be good i will do that I repainted a... Oh gosh,

I forget his name. It was from Energon or Cybertron.

The scout class had sort of a convertible. It

was white. You know what I'm talking about? It

has a backpack that plugs on and off. They used

it to make VodCon Cheetor. Oh nice. You know

what I'm talking about, right? Yeah. Oh frick,

I forget his name. But anyway, I repainted him

to be the convertible that I used to drive. I

had this – god, it was a busted -up thing. It

was held together with duct tape. I had to bolt

a button to the dashboard in order to hold it

down when I had to turn on the ignition in order

for the engine to actually turn over. But yeah,

so this thing – it had flowered seat covers on

it too. Only because the upholstery was ripped,

but this thing was like, it was janky as heck.

But I'm driving around New York, you know. And

so I made his Cybertronian mode out of this toy.

But we got metallic green paint, and I did the

whole thing somewhere around here, I think. I'm

thinking about doing that with a Combiner Warriors

Ironhide, because it's a truck. Oh, yeah. Yeah.

So, that's next on the agenda. Movie Ironhide

is a pickup truck, right? It is. There you go.

That'll work. Do a face swap if you want. Yeah.

It's fine. Yeah. Just put Prime's face on it.

It'll work. Give me your face. Give me your face.

Would you like to inform the fans where they

can interact with you online? Sure. Let's see.

My website is Frank Tadaro dot TV Twitter. I'm

not a big tweeter, but. Frank Tadaro VO. I think

Frank Tadaro voice on Facebook. And then on Instagram

is just F Tadaro. I think that's everything.

If you see me in the grocery store, just say

hello, I guess. That's where you can find me.

Find him in the grocery store. Make sure you

talk to him as Megatron. In your cereal aisle.

Yes. What would it be like if Starscream had

a cereal of his own? It'd be called Seekers.

They come in many colors. And they're all very

marshmallow -y. So sugary sweet. They rot your

teeth, kids. Oh, wait, wait, wait. For just a

split second, please, as StarStream, say TV rots

your brains. TV rots your brains. Thank you so

much. That is awesome. Oh, that's awesome. Good.

Any final lines from you, Megatron? Anything

you want to say as Megatron to Mr. Todaro or

any of the voices that he voices? I'm all ears.

Ah, yes. It's Starscream. Whatever happened to

you after I... Had the Maximals send you into

outer space? Oh, it depends which reality you're

really looking at. I mean, for a while I was

a notary. I had a bed and breakfast in Vermont

for a bit. It was a little crazy. The neighbors

were weird. But mostly just working on myself.

Trying to, you know, rebuild myself up after

the whole death thing. And I'm feeling really

confident now. I'm thinking of maybe writing

a book. What would you call it? Oh, a touch of

death. The wind beneath my wings. The wind beneath

my wings. It sounds excellent. Yes. I'll send

you a copy. I'll make talk to my agent. Those

neighbors in Vermont wouldn't happen to be Tori

and Dean, would they? Sorry, bad reality joke.

Bad reality TV joke there, folks. I feel like

the Coneheads should come in as, like, Larry,

Daryl, and Daryl from Newhart. Yes. Yes, they

should. Yes, they absolutely should. Oh, my God.

Makes its own gravy, doesn't it? Yes, yes, it

does. All right. We'd like to thank Frank for

taking the time to chat with us here in this

Geekcast Radio Presents interview. Transform,

transcend, and we'll catch you next time here

on All Things Transformers and the TFG1 Podcast.

Unleash the geek in you. Good night, everyone.

I can't even talk. Oh, wow. It sounded just like

Dan Gilvezan. What the hell? It wasn't even Dan

Gilvezan Bumblebee. That was just like his regular

voice. Jesus, don't do that. This is bad comedy.

Soon, thanks to me, the Autobot raids on our

detention centers will come to a swift end. Or

should I say a swift. and brutal end.