Interviews – Sumalee Montano

oh scrap you're listening to all things transformers

she may be beautiful i love you but she's also

tough as nails this ends here cons and she'll

never back down rc is back and the battle begins

transformers prime Relax. I just want to talk

to you. Don't you mean you and your new friend?

Kid, there's a lot you don't understand. No,

I get it. I get it. The first rule of Robot Fight

Club is you don't talk about Robot Fight Club.

What you need to understand is that I don't want

a bunch of crazy talking vehicles following me

around trying to get me killed. Look. Jack, is

it... your personal safety is exactly why optimus

prime has requested your presence optimus who

you may be in danger because you are one of the

few one of the only who have ever seen us dude

what are you waiting for go with scrap hello

and welcome to all things transformers version

2 .0 i am one of your hosts tf2 and mike and

joining me is pecan court michael hello hey how's

it going it's going how are you sir hanging in

there And it's been a while. And of course, in

this latest ATTF interview, we welcome the voice

of Arcee. She was also the voice of Electric

King in The World is Not Enough video game way

back in 2000. She is the upcoming voice of Katana

in Beware the Batman. Sumali Montano, hello.

Hey, thanks guys for having me today. Yes, how

are you? I'm great. I'm happy to be here. Very

awesome. We are happy to have you here. Before

we get started, can you give us the scoop on

what's going on in your world? I don't know,

maybe any upcoming projects a year out or anything

like that? You know, well, I talked to you the

other day, and I kind of gave you a little peek

into... I can't say anything. And this year has

been just kind of an amazing year for video games

for me. It's been really, really nice. So I've

got a handful of really, really exciting stuff

coming out on that front. But I can't share these

things, so I can't say anything. But I think

most of them are coming out in 2013. So I know

I've got one coming out next month. No, in August

that I'm really excited about, too. Video Game

Friend is going. Terrifically. You mentioned

Katana on Beware the Batman. Really excited about

that. We finally got our premiere date July 13th

on Cartoon Network. And yeah, I kind of couldn't

be happier about that too. Really, really excited.

I saw the first two episodes and just fell in

love with it. I love what they're doing with

everything. The animation, the design. The writing

is awesome. I hope people fall in love with it.

And on camera, unfortunately, I don't have as

much to report on on camera. I booked these great

recurring roles in two shows that got canceled.

So I was like, oh, no. Wait, what shows got canceled?

Monday Mornings, which is a David E. Kelly show

on TNT. And Touch. Yeah. Oh, you started in season

two, didn't you? Yeah, he had a couple episodes.

I mean, both shows. Just great, great, great

people to work with. The funny thing about Touch

is that it's Jack Bauer. It's Kiefer Sutherland.

Yeah, sorry, Jack. We're going to bring you back,

and we're going to cancel this other show that

you're in because it's not doing that well. It's

so funny. There was a news story out there that

the reason why Touch was going away is because

apparently it wasn't doing well in ratings, and

Fox really wants to bring 24 back. Wow. I did

not hear that. That's kind of silly. I think

there's a... One of the crew members has a dog,

and the dog is on set. And the dog's name, I

believe, is Bauer, which I just love. Wow. But

yes, tune in for Beware the Batman, July 13th.

Yes, July 13th for Beware the Batman. All right,

so let's go back to the beginning. Where did

you grow up? I grew up in Columbus, Ohio, home

of the Buckeyes, if anybody's... From Ohio, go

Bucs. Yeah. Midwestern girl. We're in that general

area. Michael's in Indiana and I'm in Kentucky.

No way! I didn't realize that. Oh my gosh, it's

late for you. Oh, this isn't late. Oh, that's

so cool. Yeah, like bordering Ohio on both ends.

That's born and raised. Ohio. Nice. So this is

something Michael pointed out to me. I guess

I should have done my research better. How in

the world did it happen that you went from Harvard

to Wall Street to Transformers? How does that

all fit in? I'm still wondering myself. It's

hilarious. I actually met somebody today who

happened to be a neurosurgeon. He also graduated

from Harvard and he lived, we don't have, we

have dorms there, but they call them houses.

And I asked him what house he lived in and he

lived in the house next to the dorm slash house

that I lived in. And like, he knew that I knew

he was a neurosurgeon. And then he asked me,

he's like, oh, so what are you doing now? And

I paused for a moment. I'm like, I'm a voiceover

actor. And he just kind of looked at me. You

don't really think of. you know, going to Harvard

to become a voiceover actor. And, uh, and I immediately

said, well, do you know, because he kind of like

looked a little confused. I was like, well, do

you know Transformers? And he's like, he nodded.

He said, of course. I was like, well, I play

RC, um, the lead female Autobot on the Transformers

Prime cartoon. And he just kind of looked at

me and nodded. And then was like on, like he

had no idea how to respond to that. It's one

of those normal people that doesn't know anything

about geekdom at all. Geek culture. But how did

that happen? I still wonder myself. She made

this joke off air about, oh, she went to Wall

Street, made her millions, and now she's a voice

actress. Oh, I wish that was the case. Are you

kidding me? I wish that was the case. I did make

a nice little chunk of change. um as an investment

banker but i took most of it and i traveled the

world after deciding to quit banking and then

it was during my trip around the world i bought

one of those around the world tickets that you

can as long as you're going the same direction

you can keep on going for as long as you want

until you obviously reach your starting point

but you you know kind of like no and no specific

dates you can change everything and i bought

one of those and about three quarters of the

way around the world I realized what I, I finally

realized what I wanted to do with my life. And

I was like, wait a minute, you've always loved

acting. I like, I, I had done it as a extracurricular

all throughout, literally from like elementary

school, middle school, all throughout high school

and all throughout college. I just didn't realize

that I could choose that as a career. I, I literally

didn't, it never even entered my, my scope of

thinking because a little bit, I was raised with

that mentality of, okay, you get to be a doctor

or a lawyer or an engineer or a very successful

business person. And I was like, oh, but I don't

think I'm passionate about any of those things.

And so I really had to, I literally took time

off. I tried the banking route. It didn't, it

wasn't, you know, it just wasn't for me. I knew

that I wasn't passionate about it and I didn't

love it. And I realized, you know, life is too

short to be doing things that you don't really

love. I realized during my around -the -world

backpacking adventure that I loved acting. And

it literally hit me like a ton of bricks. And

I was on a big boat in the middle of the Indian

Ocean, sailing from point A to point B in Africa.

And literally, the sun came up that day. I was

on this big, and it wasn't any sort of luxury

ship or anything. It was literally a barge. I

was stowing away on a barge because it was the

cheapest way to get from point A to B. And I

think I, like, slipped the captain a 20. And

I was like, could I just hop aboard and, like,

will you take me to Zanzibar? And he did. And

on that trip, I realized, oh, my gosh, I've always

wanted to be an actor. Why don't I choose that

as my career? And so that's how it happened.

Wow. That's an amazing story. It's pretty weird.

I mean, it was a long time, you know, from that

decision. It was a few years before I finally

really figured things out and started. After

that, I finished my trip. I started to do some

smaller projects. I finally landed in San Francisco.

And I started to do some smaller projects in

San Francisco. And I started off doing voiceover.

I think my first job was a radio commercial.

And then my agent at the time was like, well,

we'd like to send you out for on -camera stuff.

And they said, are you ready? And I was like,

oh, wait, wait, wait. Let me take some classes

first. Because that's what I'm a geek about.

I am a geek about studying. I love school. I

love studying. And so I said, let me take some

classes. I took some classes. Then they sent

me out on auditions. And I was so blessed. And

I booked them. And so I started working as an

actor. And then eventually, I mean, I don't know

how many. Do you want me to really go into the

whole story of how I got down to L .A.? Or is

that good for you? I was kind of interested in

how one makes the transition from New York to...

Because I've heard stories where some voice actors

will say, hey, I want to be a voice actor. And

then they do radio or advertising spots in New

York and then make their way to L .A. or Hollywood.

Okay, so you were curious about how I made the

transition from... It was by way of Africa? Well,

initially, the initial seed was on the Indian

Ocean in Africa, off the coast of East Africa.

But the specifics, well, it's not too dissimilar

from that story that you just told. I mean, I

started off, my first couple jobs were a radio

commercial and a video game up in San Francisco.

But I think the difference maybe for me was that

I started off doing voiceover. And then I went

over, I kind of like went off and did on camera.

And for some strange reason, voiceover stuff

dried up for me and it was all on camera. And

I studied with a teacher once who told me, you

have to go in the direction that the horse is

taking you. And the horse decided, it seemed

like it was going down the voiceover path, which

I was thrilled about. That was my initial goal.

And then it went off to on camera. And I just

did several years of on -camera stuff. I came

down to L .A. I booked a little show called ER,

which I was so, so lucky to book. And then I

did that for many years. And then, you know what

happened? My acting coach, my on -camera acting

coach, was asked to cast some animation stuff.

And it was a Stan Lee project. And he knew that

I had done some voiceover back in San Francisco.

And he said, hey, do you want to audition for

this? And I did. And I booked one of the lead

female parts. And so then I, it just literally

fell on my lap. And I took that to my voiceover

agent, my voiceover agent now. But I called her

up. I talked about, you know, what I was doing

and the project. And by the end of it, she was

like, do you have a demo to send to me? I said,

no, but I have an on -camera demo. And she said,

great, I'll watch it. So I dropped that off.

Two days later, they brought me back into the

agency. They're like, we loved your on -camera

demo. We want to see what you can do behind the

mic. They threw me, I think, like four or five

commercial scripts and four or five animation

scripts. And then they thought about it for a

little while, and they called me back, and they're

like, we would love to have you. And that was

how it was born. And I think I had only been

with my agency for not even half a year, and

RC came around, which... was a big, it was, it

was one of my, yeah, it was in the first six

months that I had signed with my agency. So it

was just really a weird, I don't know, a weird

series of events. But now you look back at it

and it's like, oh yeah, it just kind of everything

fell into place. So all fell together. Nice.

Did I answer your question? Yes. Yes. In a much

longer, in a much longer way than you had hoped.

You know, it's nice because when we interview

voice actors, we like to get a feel for who they

are, where they came from. It's not all about,

oh, tell me about your character. Do this funny

voice. It's, you know, I really want to know,

how did you get here? How did this all culminate

into you being in this show? Yeah, I mean, for

me, if I hadn't been doing on -camera work, I

don't think I would have fallen back into voiceover.

I wouldn't have gotten into on -camera work if

I hadn't started down the voiceover path. So

it's just kind of like work begets work. It didn't

all start with voiceover. It kind of veered around,

and now I feel really fortunate I get to do both.

Nice. So speaking of Transformers Prime. Yes.

I thought you said about it. Exactly. So you

got the call for Transformers Prime, and did

they specifically say, we want you to read for

RC, or did they give you a number of roles? You

know, in this case, it's common for actors when

you're auditioning for a new series. I think

it's fairly common for us to get multiple characters

for that. you know for that series any you know

what's right for you anyway in your in your range

um i did i auditioned initially i auditioned

for rc and june jack's mom and then when i went

to the callback they asked me to read miko as

well so i read i read for all three parts and

now it's kind of funny when i when i think and

i look back and obviously i know how perfect

tanya and marky are in their roles I think how

funny it was that I even attempted to audition.

But that's what we do. As an actor, you get the

scripts, you do your work, and you put it out

there and you see what sticks. Had you watched

any previous incarnations of R .C. before getting

the role? I did. I definitely watched some G1

episodes. I watched some of the Transformers.

animated movie the original animated movie i

also watched the live action movies because i

i had i saw that great elial was rc in i can't

remember i think it was number two yeah it's

ruined to the phone yeah i think i had one line

on yeah she had like one line i know i i literally

i watched the whole thing and i was looking for

and i mean and i heard about i was like that's

it what wait you know but um Yeah, those were

kind of the things that I watched. But I felt

like it covered the gamut with those. Yeah. Well,

Arcee gets a lot of credit in the fandom for

being a strong female character. So how do you

think she compares with her G1 counterpart? Oh.

How does Transformers Prime Arcee... Compare

with one, Sue Blues. Yeah. You know she's listening

to this. Right. Of course. I mean, are you kidding?

I watched it with so much, like, so much awe

and respect because, I mean, you just know what,

I mean, she's iconic. I don't, it's hard for

me to compare them, though, because. You know,

when I got the audition, it was fairly obvious

to me that they were looking for something different

this time around. You know, so I, yeah, I don't,

I think it's a tough, it's a tough comparison

because I think that they're just really, they're

very different characters. Right. Oh, and I'm

sorry, that was a bit of a pointed question.

I was actually looking for you to say that. To

say, well, you know, the character that Sue Blue

played in the 80s was more of a, you know, a

mothering. She was more of a, you know, I don't

want to say damsel in distress, you know. Well,

I'm not going to say that. But she wasn't a Transformers

Prime RC. The Transformers Prime RC is written

to be a much stronger character. Yeah, it's really

tough to compare. The writers for Prime, I just

feel so blessed. They really wrote her so...

Well, so, you know, with such a deep backstory

and such history that we got to delve into in

the series that, you know, even the number of

episodes that we have in Transformers Prime to

explore all of that compared to G1, you know,

it's not a fair comparison, I think. But, you

know, I was just in awe, though, when I met C

-Blue. I was like, oh, my God. that's our seat.

Like it was literally like, I didn't really buy

yet that I was our seat. I was like, Oh my God,

there's our seat. Wow. She gets told you the

voice, which is cool. Well, that's cool. And

I'm surprised there aren't any outtakes that

have leaked on air with you. Maybe I don't, I

don't know if it's ever happened, but it would

have been cool if Sue had actually gotten on

the mic and you guys did dueling our seats. That

would be funny. Well, I, you know, when I first,

when I first met her at that first recording

session, Um, you know, she was there directing

and I, I literally, I was so like filled with

nervous energy. It just kind of slipped out of

my mouth. I was like, Oh my God, why aren't you

doing RC this time? And I literally, I was like,

Oh my God, did you just ask that question to

Molly? Oh my gosh, you're such an idiot. What

just came out of your mouth? And I asked it and

she just kind of looked at me and she smiled

and she was so gracious. And she said, oh, it's

time that, you know, it's time to pass the torch.

And I literally, I was just like, oh my gosh,

I can't believe I just said that. But I was,

I was just so taken aback because it's, there

is such a rich history to this franchise. And,

you know, even if you don't. know a ton of it.

Just even delving on the surface of it, you've

got to respect how deep it is and how many people

it's touched and how many generations of people

now are affected by it. Did you watch the original

show when you were younger? I didn't watch it.

I wouldn't come home to watch Transformers, but

I hung out with my cousins a lot. I had two boy

cousins. they watched it all the time so whenever

i was you know whenever i'd be like okay after

school go over to my cousin's house and they

totally have it on so i would watch it but it

would be more like in like snippets and and then

on christmases and stuff like that they would

get transformers and of course like the boys

would open their gifts and then they would disappear

with their transformers you know and i'd be like

you know i just was not in i wasn't In that world,

it was more at that time for me. Like, oh, that's

a boy thing, you know? See, that was my childhood,

you know? Really? Yeah. That's still childhood

at 40 years old. Well, now I get to enjoy it

through my kids, too. Oh, that's great. It works

out, though. I got my boys, and they get Transformers,

and they love it. They were just playing with

Arcee the other day. Oh, gosh. That sounds so

wrong. Yeah, well, yeah, exactly. Aiden likes

to shoot people in the face, and he... And RC

says, I'm so glad I shot you in the face. Well,

I, you know, I have a, I have a almost one year

old now and I so, so hope that he grows up to

not just love transformers, but really have an

appreciation for the character mommy plays. Yeah.

Michael has, um, Oh, what was it like? I don't

know. seven cabinets all in his, like, this giant

cabinet display with over 500 Transformers. Well

over 2 ,000. Well, yeah. 2 ,000 toys. Well, you

know, I was a collector long before I had kids,

and then when I started to have kids, I said,

I need to put these behind glass, because as

soon as they're old enough to grab them, they

will. Oh, yeah. And you'll be losing pieces left

and right. Yeah, well, now all the Prime toys

are scattered on the floor because that's what

I let them play with. And they're literally,

I have a path through my office that I can pace

across while I chat with you guys because that's

all I got because the rest of the floor is covered

with Prime toys. They love these. They love playing

with them. That and the Rescue Bots. They love

the Rescue Bots. How old are they? Oh, Aiden,

my oldest one, is six. And my youngest, Gavin,

is four. He's going to be five next month. Wow,

three boys. Two boys. Oh, sorry, two boys and

a girl? Nope, just two boys. Aiden and Gavin.

I didn't hear that right. That was weird. That's

okay. But, yeah, no, they're at such a good age.

They're so cute. And the things they say, like

I said, with Aiden on the floor. playing with

Starscream and RC, RC says, I just shot you in

the face. That was a good move. And Starscream

goes, ow, ow, ow. Just the things he says is

hilarious. Do they do the voices when they play

the game? No, no. It's all his voice, you know.

But it's terrible. Starscream should say, ow,

ow, ow, after what happened to Cliffjumper. Right,

the way you said that, it made me think that

maybe they're doing a little... They're trying

to put on a little Starscream voice there. Oh,

no, no. Well, that would be really funny because

if I could get him started as a voice actor early,

then someday he could introduce me to Welker.

It's just terribly cute. He's really fun to watch.

I spend a lot of time in my home office, and

he spends a lot of time on my home office floor

right next to me because he doesn't want to.

play in his own room. It's terribly cute. That's

really sweet. So, are there any outtakes, any

funny moments, anything from the voice sessions

for Prime that you can reveal that no one's revealed

before? Who's the biggest joker in the cast?

Oh my god. There are so many of them. There literally

are so many of them. It's gotta be Kevin. I mean,

I would say, I mean, I sit next to Kevin for

most of the records. And I would say it could

be him. But then there are days that, you know,

Darren, I mean, Darren is so funny. And then

there are days Nolan is hilarious. And then there

are days Peter and Frank, they have their own

show. Like they just sit next to each other.

They have, I think one of my favorites, like

they just rip off of each other so well. Yeah.

It's unbelievable. And you get such a sense of

how long they've been friends, how much they

respect each other, how well they know each other.

And they did this, I think my absolute favorite

bit of theirs. They did impressions of Edith

and Archie Bunker. Oh, you're kidding. Holy moly.

Right, right. Who's who? Oh, my God. So, Frank,

it's Edith. Oh, my God. There is Archie. And

it is hilarious. I mean, we would just, well,

almost every time. There are moments in a recording

where, like, you just can't, we just can't get

started yet because everybody is still laughing.

And that one, though, just, that one killed me.

I was, I was rolling. But, I mean, there's so

many jokesters. I mean, there's so many fun moments.

I don't know what stories you've heard. I think

I did. Did Steve Bloom tell you about the string

cheese story? That was one. No. Well, you know,

we talked to him about Rescue Bots, but we didn't

get so much in the way of stories from Prime.

No, I think the one thing we came away from his

interview is when we usually ask a question,

is there any role that you have ever turned down?

Oh, yeah. Remember that? One of the voice roles,

and people will have to go to the interview,

was something to do with tentacles, and he just

said, yeah, no, I can't. Oh, my God, that's hilarious.

I see where that's going. I know where that's

going. I'm not even just going to listen to the

Steve Blum interview. He does a lot of anime,

so, you know, that happens. Anime and tentacles,

I'm not doing those either. Stay away from those.

but literally you guys there are so many moments

that are like everyone is so funny and so i mean

they're all jokesters i can't even like i literally

the first couple records i was i was freaked

out because i was like i have to like like we're

you know you have to get up and do these like

serious speeches and then you've got you know,

string cheese coming out of Darren Norris's nose.

And then, you know, Kevin Michael Richardson

throwing things out there, like literally in

between lines. And then, you know, Edith and

Archie Bunker over here. And it's like, it is,

I mean, and you can't even get a full appreciation

for it truly, unless you're in the room, even

the people on the other side of the glass, because

they, they don't hear all this stuff because

they hear it when they press the button and can,

you know, want to talk to us. And it's only when

you're really in the room. that you can appreciate

so much of the inside jokes that apply. But truly,

there are so many. And one of the challenges

is trying to keep a straight face through it

all when you have to work. I can imagine. I will

say I did crack a smile. It's one of the episodes

where Optimus is off being Orion Pax. I think

it was in season two. You and Bulkhead, Arcee

and Bulkhead get into an argument, and Arcee's

like, you're pretty good at stating the obvious.

Anything else you'd care to tell us? And Bulkhead's

like, nothing I can say in front of the children.

I love that line. I love Bulk. I love KMR. Nice.

I totally missed my cue. Sorry. I just enjoy

this so much. Yeah. Yeah. I wish I could tell

you more stories, but literally there are so

many and there are some that are like, that happened

so much that I feel like there's such inside

jokes that I don't know whether the people would

appreciate it, but I mean, it's nonstop. It's

truly nonstop. And just when you think. we are

like, okay, we're coming to a really serious

scene. You know, RC is giving that speech on

the, you know, on the plateau at cliff jumpers,

cliff jumpers, grave site. And then just when

you think it's going to be serious, someone,

and maybe it does happen to be KMR a lot, but

someone will bust out with something. Like he

always does his, he said, he does this, uh, my

three sons song thing. And like, we'll bust that

out. And it became, it became such a running

joke. Like we were taking bets on when he would

bust it out. What, at what page of the script

or what act would it come out? And, you know,

it'd be like, wait, we're at act three and it

hasn't happened yet. And then bam, you know,

just when you least expect it. And it would just

get all of us laughing so hard. Tell us about

Darren Norris and cheese. I, you know, I don't,

I don't remember exactly what happened, but it

was, I just remember sitting there and I think.

I'm pretty sure it was between him and Steve

Bloom. And I, you know, we get into these sessions

sometimes where literally we're all sitting there

and you're looking down, trying not to show that

you're laughing because you don't want to impede

on someone else's work when they're up at the

mic. Because usually, you know, if it's a scene

that I'm in, I'm standing up. But if I'm not

in that scene... I sit back down and you know,

it's like your whole body is convulsing and shaking

because you're laughing so hard and you don't

want, but you don't want to create a ruckus.

And I just remember doing that and looking up

and I, uh, where, where, where we sit, you know,

I look up off to the left and I see Steve bloom

at the mic, but I see Darren Norris sitting next

to him literally with like string cheese look

like it was coming out of his nose and he was

like swinging it or something. And I'm just like,

Oh dang, I don't want that. I can't laugh. And

cause you don't want to be the, you don't want

to be that actor who, especially with the guys

in that room, you don't want to be the actor

who interrupts, you know, some great moment that

they're just recording. I'm like, Oh God, I can't,

I can't break. I can't laugh. I can't, I just

hold my head down and bite my lip. I can see

Steve bloom glaring at you from across the room

and just talking in stars. You dare interrupt

me. Well, you know what? he's so nice he i don't

think he wouldn't they nobody would do that but

that's something everyone's so nice and so respectful

at the same time there's such jokesters that's

like it's this like funny fine line between you

know laughing and enjoying the moment and oh

yeah wait we have an important job here we're

doing something you know it's not neurosurgery

but you know it's our job Oh, man, the things

I think of now that I could have had him say

when we had him on, now all I'm thinking is TF

Prime Starscream say, who dares interrupt my

coronation? Oh, yeah, I mean, that whole line,

like, the way we sit, we sit in, like, a, what

do you call it? It's like a square, but one side

of the square is missing, and that's the engineering

booth. So you imagine the other three sides.

It's like a horseshoe. Yeah, it's like a horseshoe.

And all of the cons are along, if it's an aerial

view, all of the cons are along the left side

of the horseshoe, and they are literally the

naughty cons. I mean, naughty cons are always

up to some craziness, and it's usually Darren

and... Steve and, and, and Frank. And they're

all like in that row. And then Peter sits next

to Frank. And then Jeffrey sits next to me on

the left at the base of the horseshoe. And then,

uh, Kevin, I, I'm in the middle and then Kevin's

to the right of me. And then the humans are generally

on the right side of the horseshoe. Uh, yeah.

So funny. Uh, from the original G one days, one

of the classic Frank Wilco stories is, is, He

made a feedback noise. Yeah. And the engineer's

like, I can't find it, I can't find it. And all

the voice actors are just cracking up because

it's, you know, they just look over at Frank

and you can't tell that he's doing anything with

his throat or his mouth because he's not actively

acting. He's just... He himself was like, I don't

know. I don't know where he's coming from. I

had completely forgotten about that one, but

it's awesome. He will just be watching you and

you'll touch something or you'll touch a chord

and he'll make that noise. Like the electrocuted

noise. You're like, oh my god! He's just brilliant.

Brilliant. I thought you were going to say crickets.

No, no. 30 years later, he's still doing crickets.

Well, I'm sure he could be. That wouldn't surprise

me in the least. He does that electrocution sound,

and you're like, ah! Now, does he, because we'll

probably never get an interview with him, do

you know, who does the, is it he that does the

beeps for beer? Is that an effect that they use

to put in? How is that, that you all, like? Because

in the show, Bumblebee will do his little beeps

and RC will reply to him. And I'm like, how would

that work in a voice session? Oh, in a voice

session? Is there just like a little quip in

the script that says, Bumblebee does his beeps

and you say this? Well, yeah, basically. I mean,

it does. Sorry, a brain fart. I had to think

about that for a moment. That's a good question,

actually. Yeah. No, bumblebees. Now I feel like

I have to pull out a script. Wait, wait. I'm

pulling out a script. Hold on. Just to make sure

that I'm answering the question correctly. It

has the English translation of what bumblebee

says in the script, or did they just make you

ad lib it? No, no, no. That's what I was going

to say. I'm fairly certain. I'm just pulling

one out. It will say Bumblebee's line in English.

I mean, just written in English. And then, yes,

usually Frank will voice it. So that's him doing

the beeps in the show. Well, that I don't know.

I don't know. But in a record, so even if one

of us isn't there, which happens occasionally.

Someone will usually read that part because...

In English, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, I

was talking in general about any part where someone

wasn't there, but he doesn't read it in English.

He does it as beeps, but I don't know if the

beeps that you hear on the show... Are the same.

Yeah, or whether it's a placeholder or whether

it's a... I'm not... That I'm not sure, so don't

quote me. They sound a lot more technical. It's

like, well, I'm sure Frank could make those noises

if you asked him to, but it doesn't sound like

a person doing it on the show. Yeah, it sounds

maybe like he affected it a little bit, but I

don't know for sure, so don't quote me. I'm getting

nervous because I don't know the answer to that.

Okay. You mentioned earlier that Beware the Batman

is coming out in July. How did that role as Katana

come about? Hmm. How did it come about kind of

for me in terms of getting cast in it? Yeah.

Oh, well, that's actually a cool story. So have

you guys ever played Diablo 3? Yes. I haven't,

no. A lot. So are you familiar with the character,

the Enchantress? Yes. So I voiced the Enchantress.

That was totally you. Well, this was one of those

things where that audition, well, long story

short, because I voiced the Enchantress, I got

to work with Andrea Romano, who is just an awesome,

unbelievably amazing director. She is also directing

us on Batman. But because I met her originally

through Diablo, I think she got a chance to know

my work. We became a little bit more familiar

with each other. So when the role for Katana

came up, I had the benefit of kind of having

worked with her. So I auditioned for it. Just

like with RC, I auditioned for it initially at

my agency, at my voiceover agency. And then they

called me in for a callback at Warner Brothers,

and she was directing the callback. Just out

of curiosity, did Andrea direct Diablo 3? Or

was she there in some other capacity? She did

direct some of the sessions. I don't know. I

don't know how many, but that was where I met

her, was through Diablo III. And the funny thing

about the Enchantress, I mean, that's the short

story. The funny thing, though, about the Enchantress

is when they auditioned that, you know, initially

they said, we want an accent that nobody can

place. And I looked at it, and I looked at the

picture, and I was like, oh, my gosh, what the

heck am I going to do with this? They don't even

know what they want. They were like, well, maybe

something like Icelandic or something, you know,

and but it had to have this like timeless quality

to it. And I was like, oh, my gosh, should I

even do this? And it was one of those days I'm

not. And normally I would I jump at every everything,

any opportunity that my agents give me because

they usually it's all great projects. But this

particular script I actually hesitated on. It

was I so rarely do that. But I, of course, you

know, did my work and I went in and I I decided,

OK, I'm going to pick. Two totally random accents

that I do. And I'm just going to squash them

together and see what happens. And that's how

I came up with the voice for the Enchantress.

And it worked. And it just was so funny to me

that it was an audition that I was a little bit

hesitant about initially. But if I hadn't gone

and I hadn't booked the Enchantress, I don't

meet Andrea Romano. And I don't know if Katana

happens. Wow. Yeah, I feel like everything happens

for a reason, and you just never know. But when

I got the audition for Katana, I was just so,

so, so excited. And then when I got the callback,

I was even more excited. And then when I booked

it, I was like, it was just, again, I feel so

lucky. I have the best job in the world. Nice.

Can you tell us a little bit about Katana? Maybe

give us a sample? Oh, I can't. I don't think

I can do that. It said dreaded NDA again, the

non -disclosure agreement. But, well, yeah, I

don't even know what I can and can't say. I err

on the side of safety and just be like, tune

in July 6th. We're going to DVR it. We'll be

watching. I almost slipped and went into her

voice. We wouldn't tell anybody. But we've actually

had that happen once. Who were you talking to

about Arkham Asylum? Yeah, back when... Is it

Asylum or... No, it was Arkham City, I think.

Oh, with Mr. Freeze. That's right. Yeah. We had

an interview with Maurice LaMarche, and there

was a question of which type of voice acting

did he prefer, whether it was... animation, video

game, or anime? And I don't think Maurice does

a lot of anime, but it was one of those types

of questions. And he's like, well, the thing

about video game voice acting is you're stuck

in a room for 12 hours talking to yourself. And

he was like, yeah, I just recently finished up

Mr. Freeze on the latest Arkham game. And I'm

like, we were like, what can you give us? And

he's like, I can't NDA. I'm like, oh, damn. But

as soon as that happened, and as soon as we published

the interview, Geekcastradio .com just got flooded.

We got picked up by a smaller site, and then

IGN picked that up, and it just went mothball.

And the funny thing is, He never told us to edit

it out. Oh, my God. Yeah, he never told us to

edit it out because we had put it up so fast,

and there was never a chance. Even before we

stopped the Skype call, he didn't say, hey, can

you edit that out? I wasn't really supposed to

say that. He was just trying to give us a really

cool answer, and that's what we got. pretty much

put us on the map a couple of years ago. Well,

this is good for you guys. I hope we didn't get

in trouble for it. No, I don't think he did.

I mean, he's still working. So it's not like

they kicked him out. That would be terrible.

They scare you so much into the secrecy. So I'm

like, okay, once it's in the vault, I just keep

it there and it never comes out. At least I tried.

Well, you said it premieres when? July 13th?

Yeah, it's soon. It's soon. Yeah. We can't wait.

I know my boys are excited to see the new Batman.

Oh, good. I hope they like it. Well, congrats

on Katana, which is interesting because RC in

robot mode is a motorcycle that's similar to

Suzuki Katana. Oh, my goodness. I can't say anything.

See, I think you were trying to trick me there.

See? No, he wasn't. He had that in the script,

and when I read that, I'm like, wait a second.

Because he wrote on the side in there about,

you know, they don't make katanas anymore, and

he means the motorcycle. Right. And I'm like,

yes, they still make katanas. They still make

swords. What is he talking about? I mean, he

uses them in the New Turtles cartoon. Oh, he

means the motors. They quit making them in the

80s. Yeah. Bonus points if you remember what

the katana is. Wait a minute. Is it black and

yellow? What, the katana? The Suzuki, yeah. Oh,

no, they came in all colors. Oh, okay, because

I think I had a friend who, I had an ex -boyfriend

who had one, I think. So that's why I was just

curious. I also learned how to ride a motorcycle,

so drive a motorcycle, I mean. Nice. Now if it

only transforms. If it only could transform,

I know. I know. All right. So with the current

state of the Transformers franchise and conventions

being the big thing, have you been to many of

the fan conventions? I was so, I mean, in some

ways heartbroken because I was supposed to go

to Comic -Con last year and I literally went

into labor the day I was supposed to leave. Oh,

my gosh. And we knew it was a possibility. But

I ended up having our son three weeks before

my due date. So I just figured I'd be this big

pregnant lady. But I was going to do it because

I really want to go to the conventions. And because

I missed out on that one, I haven't been yet.

But I want to go. Yeah, that was the reason I

missed out on a couple BotCons. Really? Yeah,

BotCon being the Transformers convention. Your

water broke, and then you couldn't go to BotCon.

That's exactly right. It was a huge mess. I didn't

know what to do with myself. Nobody could explain

it. Well, my wife was very, very pregnant, and

I'm like, can I fly to Texas to buy toys? And

she's like, no. Yeah. That's exactly what it

was. Well, you know one funny thing? I don't

know if you're going to choose to edit this out.

I'm totally fine if you edit this out. My water

broke while I was in the booth. Oh, wow. I was

recording, and I was like, oh, I think I'm about

to have a baby. And I completely was just like,

I finished the session. I mean, it wasn't long.

It was at my agency. What's that? Wow. Is that

you guys? My question would be, what session

were you in? I know, right? No, it was, I can't

remember. It was an audition. It was an audition

for something at my agency, but I finished it.

I was supposed to go back and audition for something

else, but I was just like, okay. And I totally

nonchalantly, I said, hey, do you mind if I just,

I'm just going to sit down for a little bit while

you edit the final and I'll just, I'd love to

listen to the final. And meanwhile, I'm sitting

down thinking to myself. What am I going to do

right now? Oh my gosh. What am I going to do?

And then so I decide. So my booth director finishes

it. He finishes the audition. He plays it back

to me. And I gather up his strength and be like,

all right. I tell myself, I'm just going to slowly

walk out of here as if nothing's happened. I'm

just really cool about it. So I walk out. And

I'm walking by my agent's office. And what happens?

She peeks her head out. She's like, Sumali, come

on in. we talking to you and I was like oh damn

and so I I I walk I walk into my agent's office

and I'm literally like oh my god my water is

broken and I need to get home I need to start

having this baby and she's talking to me and

the whole time I'm like please don't please don't

look down like I was like I don't I know it's

not it's not like in the movies where it's like

you know buckets or anything like that it's not

like that but I had a conversation with my agent

and then I walked out And one of my friends was

sitting in the lobby, and I kind of whispered

to her what happened, and she drove me home.

And then I called the people to tell them that

I wasn't going to be able to make it to Comic

-Con, and then I had my baby. Wow. You can edit

all of that out. Really? Because that's a great

story. The last part we're leaving in. Let's

talk about binkies with his six - and four -year

-old child. No. The thing that was funny to me

was that I was supposed to read two auditions

that day, and I was like, okay, I'm not missing

out on this one. I'm getting through this one.

And I told myself, okay, it's very possible that

if the baby doesn't come today, I can still get

back into the booth and do the other one later

on this afternoon. And I got home and my husband

was like, are you kidding me? He's just like,

will you please just put your work aside? And

I'm like, that is how much I love my work. I

was so crazy that day. I was like, no, I can

do it. I can do it. I can bust out another one.

That's right. It doesn't get painful for a couple

more hours. We're good. Just keep going. Whatever.

It's not until it's really painful that I have

to really stop. But I'm fine now. Wow, I can't

imagine. Yeah, I couldn't imagine either. I never

imagined it would be that way, but it's kind

of a funny story at my agency that my water broke

while I was recording. Thankfully, it wasn't

during one of the Prime sessions. They would

never let you live that down. If it had happened

that way, though, I think it would have been

hilarious. Are you kidding? I have all of these

– I mean they're already like – they're all like

my son's uncles. I have all of these guys like

ready to help me. It would have been awesome.

That would have been awesome. Yeah, conventions.

BotCon is this weekend. I know. As we are recording

this, we will be releasing it after BotCon, but

as of this recording, we are currently recording

right before BotCon starts. I wish I was going

to be there. Me too, kind of. Well, they announced

about a month ago that the entire cast of the

Rescue Bots is going to be there. And the Rescue

Bots is kind of like me and Aiden's thing. You

know, we did a show called Roll to the Rescue

Bots. And now that I know they are going to be

there, I'm thinking, man, I should have taken

him this year. That would have been awesome.

That's so cute. That would have been great. But,

you know, next month is San Diego. And, you know,

you can do that one. I wait to hear about things,

and I hear there's a possibility that I might,

and then I don't know, and so I don't know. We'll

see. I'm surprised the TFCon Canada people didn't

reach out to you at all yet. TFCon up in Canada,

up in Toronto, is the biggest, largest Canadian

Transformers convention. It's basically BotCon

for Canada. Wow. Well, I'm open. I would love

to go. Auto Assembly reached out to me, and I

thought that was really sweet. Not to attend,

but they asked me to donate some stuff for their

charity auction. And I had so much fun with that.

I was telling you about that earlier, Mike. Yeah.

Was so, so glad to do that. I pointed it out

to you about the subscription variant for Transformers

Prime Beast Hunters. Yeah. It was an RC cover.

Because the thing about it, some people that

I've talked to online, they're like, oh, well.

Transformers Prime Beast Hunters comic has nothing

to do with the actual show's characters. Why

are they putting animation models on covers?

And I'm thinking to myself, it specifically says

subscription cover, which means if you add the

title to your comic shop's list of stuff you

want to be able to get every month, then that's

a perk for those of the... for those of you that

don't just go in and buy it off the shelf. It's

a perk for you to have that, and I think it's

great that they're doing that, but I pointed

that out to you, and I saw that you had signed

it, and I was like, oh, that's so cool that somebody's

going to get that. Oh, I hope so. I had so much

fun. Well, thank you to you for pointing it out

to me that it was coming out, because you tweeted

it. I was like, oh, sweet. So I called up the

comic book store at Burbank, and I was like,

can you set that aside for me? And they were

like, sure. Very nice. Yes, yes. All right. Well,

this has been a fun, fun journey. Would you like

to inform the people where they can find and

interact with you online? Absolutely. You can

find me mostly on Twitter these days. My Twitter

name is my name, but it's the phonetic spelling,

so it's at SueMolly, S -U -E -M -O -L -L -Y.

You can also find me on Facebook. I've got a

fan page for... our Somali as RC. Um, so Transformers

fans have a place to interact with me there.

Yeah. And I'll link those in the post so that

way people can see them when they go to the website.

That's great. That's great. Um, yeah, I mean,

that's, those are my, those are my kind of social

media. I haven't, I'm not on Instagram yet. I'm

not on anything else. Twitter, Twitter. I don't.

Twitter and Facebook are it for me. I don't get

the appeal for Instagram, and I don't get the

appeal for Pinterest or any of that stuff. It's

just too much to keep up with. Thank you. I so

appreciate it. Yes, that's how I feel. So remind

the listeners what you've got coming up. We know

you're in as RCN Prime. What else? Is there something

else? There's a bunch of things, but I can't

say anything about them. So there's like nothing

coming in the next couple of months. It's all,

it's all about where the Batman is. That's, that's,

that's, that is what I can say. And I'm, I stand

by it and I'm so proud and excited to, uh, to

get to play alongside, um, well to be, yeah,

well, um, dang it. See, I got myself all tongue

twisted again. I don't want to say too much,

but I don't want to say too little. But I am

so excited to play Katana. All right. We would

like to thank Ms. Montano for taking the time

to chat with us here in this All Things Transformers

interview. We're going to take a quick break

and we'll come back after this. Hey, partner.

Heck of a view you got up here. If there's even

a small chance your spark is out there listening,

well, we could really use you, Cliff. Seems like

every day another Decepticon arrives on the scene.

We're outnumbered and outgunned. Yeah, I know

what you'd say. Sounds like a fair fight. Hi,

I'm Denise Sands. Just wanted to welcome you

to the neighborhood and to our zero -tolerance

spitting policy. I'm calling a meeting at Wu

Fortress in two days. The topic of discussion

will be the joining of villainous forces for

total control of China once and for all. Wow,

what a cool planet. They got an underwater capital

and everything. Is that where the king lives?

I never met a king before. Hey, you, get out

of my way. Remember that the fave ID for you?

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I need it back. Honey, it's

been 15 minutes. I don't think the boomerang's

coming back. You know, you're okay when you're

not putting your foot in your mouth. Uh -uh -uh.

What did I just say? I don't want to fight you.

I don't want to do this. Please, for your own

sake, don't get involved. Today, I'm going to

show you how to make a cake using lots and lots

of sugar. Sugar, sugar, sugar. Long before the

Cameron Empire, all ships docked in Lyserne,

gateway to the Sea of Castier. This is for a

cliff jumper. I will add this defeat to your

dossier. So much for closure. Now Arachnid's

stuck here on Earth. I'm not sure that's such

a good thing. I'm sorry you had to face my demons

today. You were pretty fearless there, Jack.

Actually, I was terrified. We'll see for you.

Ratchet requesting ground bridge. I need to get

my partner far away from any oversized insects.

Partner, huh? Junior partner. I can still pull

rank. Well, there you go, folks. You know, stories,

you know, Peter Cullen is Archie and Frank Walker

is Edith and cheese coming out of Darren Norris's

nose and water breaks at auditions and that's

Sumali Montano for you. That was a great interview.

She is just a really nice person. She is a very,

very nice person, and it was absolutely amazing

to talk to her. You know, she said a couple of

times that her and I had tested before we did

the interview, and, I don't know, we talked for

about, I don't know, 10, 15 minutes during the

test. And, no, she's just very, very cool, very

awesome person. Even though Transformers Prime,

Beast Hunters is the last season, seriously,

Transformers convention people, go after her.

She wants to be at conventions. She wants to

have the fan interaction. So that would be awesome

for her to show up at a couple of the conventions.

But no, that was such an awesome time. Yeah.

Absolutely. I wish her the best of luck. I know

she's got just amazing things ahead of her. Yes.

Since Beast Hunters is the last season. which

is just depressing at this point because this

is the first season I've actually enjoyed. Oh,

don't say that. Don't bring your negativity towards

me. I kid, I kid, I kid. But no, I mean, like

I said, did I mention this earlier or was it

on non -recorded? But I think I mentioned that,

yeah, I could definitely see a fourth season

coming before. the fourth transformer movie.

And it's just sad that, that we can't see more

of RC and team prime. No, I, I love, I love,

like I enjoyed RC and G1 for what, you know,

for what little she's there every now and then.

But like this, like this is my RC at this point,

like the transformers prime version is my RC.

This is how we'll always remember RC. At this

point, yes. At this point, yes. Sumali, she's

a complete saint and putting up with us for an

hour or so. Of course, check out Beware the Batman

coming up Saturday morning, July 13th on Cartoon

Network. You can catch Transformers Prime every

Friday night when it's on a hiatus on the Hub.

I believe that's Starting tomorrow. Yes. Last

of the last season. Yeah. Last season of Beast

Hunters, but actually because this will be going

out till Monday, the latest episode evolution

just aired this past weekend during box on. So

very, very, very cool. And thank you so much

to. to Somali, and we are going to get out of

here because it's getting late in the day and

late in the night and wherever you're listening

to this. So for now, I am TF2 with Mike with

Michael Wilson. Transform and roll out, and we

will catch you next time. See ya. Hey, it's Jack.

Make sure you check out all things Transformers.

I listen when I'm riding around Jasper with RC.

Hi, this is Somali Montano, and you're listening

to the Geekcast Radio Network. Some came to annihilate

us. Some came to defend us. The battle continues.

Fate rarely calls upon us at a moment of our

choosing. Transformers Prime, only on The Hub.