The Transformers: The Movie 40th Anniversary – Theatrical Experience and Optimus Prime: Awakening

Hi, this is Jim Meskimen, and you are listening

to the Geekcast Radio Network. Welcome to All

Things Transformers. I'm your host, Steve Megatron,

and joining me on this adventure into the Transformers

fandom is TFG1 Mike. Oops, all movie, 40th anniversary

edition. I thought you were going to say you

did it again, but then again. i don't know no

no no no no no this is no well this is no britney

b thank you very much trying to keep this episode

completely explicit free on this one normally

i would let the explicit fly but considering

we have um kid correspondence in this uh later

on uh but uh but yeah so yeah uh movie experiences

coming up later in in this episode but we are

we are recording this um on a wacky wednesday

september 23rd 2026 uh the movie has been in

has had its theatrical run it's still in its

theatrical run they actually I believe they extended

the theatrical run dates. I don't have that article

in front of me. I think they extended the theatrical

run to October 4th. I think that's what I saw.

It depends on the area. Okay, but I want to say

that's what I saw, but I don't know. It definitely

is regional because each region seemed to get

it for about five days, give or take. My area

was no different. They started playing it on

a Thursday and they finished on Monday. So I

saw the notice of this and I knew 100 % I wanted

to see it. Yeah, you had to go. And this was

before like I knew, you know, before Peter Cullen

had passed away. This was just like, yeah, I

think I need to see this. And that was before

I knew about the awakening clip and anything

else. It was it was more so because. Two years

ago, when I was on a work trip in Tennessee,

they had the movie playing. And had we been anywhere

near one of those theaters during one of the

nights that I was there, I was going to go over

and watch the movie. Like I was going to go by

myself to the theater and just unwind because

like I get peopled out very easily. I can do

a convention. I can do an event. I can go to

that stuff. I can only handle so much of listening

to people. Not that I have any distaste for that

in general, but as an introvert, I just I don't

I don't do well with like no social situations

in abundance. So I was going to go see the movie

and lo and behold, one, I didn't have transportation

to there was no theater near where we were at.

right or the convention center so i was like

oh i missed out hopefully i get to see it again

in the future so when it came you know physically

in my area and i'm like okay this is this is

like one of those things i need to go to and

my kids wanted to go to and i was like all right

this this i think would be a cool experience

to make them to see it i mean they've seen the

movie i have you know i have the sony disc i

have the uh i have like an earlier downloaded

file from years ago and then i have the shout

factory release from five years ago yep and i'm

hoping to get my hands on the new one because

of the awakening but also because i would like

to compare features between the three discs yeah

because i have the 20th anniversary the 35th

anniversary and i i want the 40th and then beyond

that i'm not like i don't feel like i need it

but if you know they come out with another one

at like 50 and there's a bunch of awesome stuff

to go with it you know great yeah but i would

much rather they did that with like g1 you know

came out with like a remaster of it or something

um so i said i said to somebody the other day

well okay so again as of this recording uh am

one day removed from record being a guest on

somebody's podcast that people won't hear until

june of next year what i know dude i i did not

know that like i have met my twin and this dude

is more of a i can't believe i have met a podcast

machine more than a machine than i ever was This

dude, his recording, he has recorded things for

his show, his schedule. I'm like Wayne and Garth

facing Alice Cooper. I am not worthy. I'm bowing

down to this guy because he's just recording

and recording and recording. The way his show

works is he does a, like a lottery system where

he has you pick like a number between like one

and 33. And then you pick from those three, whatever

films. And he centers it around superheroes and

comic books, uh, kind of thing. So I picked it

and I picked it. I picked it and whatever. And

unfortunately, and, uh, not end game. Um, Brand

New Day was not going to hit media release by

the time he wanted to record. And I said, well,

to coincide with your rules, what about the 40th

anniversary of Transformers the movie? I said

that, you know, is kind of my wheelhouse. And

he's like, yeah, sure, let's do that. So we recorded

that again last night, September 22nd, 2026.

So I literally have the whole point of me even

mentioning this is I literally have the 4K Ultra

HD 35th or whatever. I have the Shout Factory

disc in my in my hand right here. So you're talking

about comparing the 20th and the 35th and the

30th and all this. So on the 35th, it new 4K

restoration, new feature length storyboards.

New 30th anniversary featurette, including the

acoustic performance by Stan. Deleted in alternate

sequences. The Till All Are One comprehensive

documentary looking back at the Transformers,

the movie, with members from the cast and crew,

including consultant Flint Dilley, cast members.

Greg Berger, Sue blue, Neil Ross, Stan Gilvezan,

which we're going to talk about Dan here in a

couple of minutes later on. Um, yeah. Uh, and

then audio commentary with, so they kind of,

the interesting thing about shove factory is

what special features they've brought forward

from previous releases. So like you, I, I'm going

to be very interested in seeing, in the whole

seeing what, is going to be on the 40th anniversary

version. I have it pre -ordered. It's coming

out, I believe, November 17th. I think that's

the date. I'm not looking at my Amazon account

at the moment, but I have it pre -ordered. This

will most likely be the final time in my lifetime

that I will pre -order the Transformers the movie

on disc because it's the 40th anniversary. I'm

46 years old. I'll be here most likely for the

50th anniversary. But after that, it's like,

I don't know. You know, it's kind of like there's

only so many times you can buy. As much as I

love, love, love, love, love, love this movie.

There's only so many times we can buy it at our,

you know, age as we get older and older and older

and older and older. So it is showing until October

1st in my area now. Okay. I was not. Okay. I

was, like I said, I, I saw certain, like I said,

I, I couldn't find the, the thing on TFW, which,

which one it was as far as all that goes. Um,

but, um, but yeah, no, uh, transformers, the

movie in theaters. was in theaters and, oh boy.

Um, yeah. And the, uh, since we're talking about

the theatrical, uh, thing, I guess we could talk

about the numbers. Yeah. It surprisingly did

fairly well. Yeah. Or for what it is. I mean,

it, it, more than you know yeah it more than

made up for the fact that it it's an old film

and it did make up its own you know money and

yeah yeah so I mean I'm I'm I'm happy that they

they managed to at least get something back on

it and they did they did make decent amount almost

a million dollars every day or somewhat over

so A little over four million dollars is nothing

to sneeze at. I mean, for an old film. Yeah,

no, absolutely. And my my theater was about three

quarters of the way full. Nice. Very cool. Very

cool. Yeah. So, I mean, it was it was definitely

an experience. And I'll have some commentary

about. The quality of the film in certain aspects,

as well as like some things that were a little

bit different. Yeah. And the thing is, is over

all of the releases, all of, all of, over all

of the re -releases since 40 years ago, since

its initial release, it had a budget of roughly,

what does that say? 6 million. At the time, if

I remember correctly, before these numbers got

adjusted for the last 40 years, I think it only

made like. 4 million, 3 million. It did not make

its money back. I remember the initial numbers.

I remember the original numbers before it all

got jumbled into all the re -releases. But with

all the re -releases over the years, it has made

over. $10 million in total of all of the re -releases.

But with this specific re -release, that $4 million

box office, that's amazing. $4 million for 40

years. Not just that. It's not bad either just

because the fact that they didn't really have

to do anything. They just had to be like, okay,

we're going to re -release it with a new marketing

plan. They probably spent more than that in marketing,

but they're going to make it back on the back

end from the toys. Oh, yeah, absolutely. We'll

talk about the toy here in a second. I wanted

to bring up the numbers first, but I mean, really,

just looking at the numbers that TFW 2005 has,

the 17th had just over almost a $1 .1 million

day. The 18th was just under $1 ,844 ,000 and

change. The 19th was just over $1 ,200 ,000.

It was at $1 ,369 ,000. The Sunday was $890 ,000.

I guess people actually went to church that day.

So total domestic 1 ,454 theaters. was $4 ,156

,531. That's not bad for one weekend. For a movie

40 years ago that did not make its money back,

that was considered a flop. 40 years ago that

was considered a toy company flop that was considered

oh my god they're just killing look this is just

me saying i'm not trying to say negative things

about the movie in general i'm just considered

considering what other people have said in the

past oh it's just the toy company killing off

the old line killing off the old toys and bringing

in the new you know optimum and again this I'm

just saying this not to be disrespectful of Mr.

Cullen and his passing, but this is Optimus Prime,

the toy. Optimus Prime, he's the old and busted

toy from 1984. We've killed him off in the movie

as the character to get ready for the new hotness.

Hot Rod and Rodimus Prime and Ultra Magnus and

all this and all that. That's all Hasbro thought

of it as was. It's just. You know, new toy packaging,

new toys, new characters. But here we are 40

years later and we have a $4 million weekend.

Like, what world are we living in, dude? Holy

crap. I can't believe that. I never thought in

my lifetime I would see this. Because Optimus

Solo didn't even think I was telling him the

truth. When I told him, yeah, I saw this in 2018

in theaters. He goes, what are you talking about?

Like, yeah, I know. I'm not kidding. I know me

and my dead wife went to go see this. I know

Karen and I went and saw this. It was a one night

only deal. September 27, 2018. Cause I met. a

former host of rfc one of the former co -hosts

of rfc ender we went to the same theater in chicago

i remember when this happened i'm like i know

i'm not hallucinating this unfortunately that

was a one night only deal and apparently they

don't they don't track those as much as they

track a whole weekend but that was my experience

and outside of the fact that i don't i can't

get out nowadays to travel to the theater But

that's why I said that the 35th anniversary was

my, or not the 35th, but that, because that was

the thing. They delayed the 30th anniversary

thing to do the coincide with the Bumblebee release.

That's why they had that one night only screening.

It was tied to the Bumblebee movie release. But

here we are with the 40th. And. They made a toy

to go with Bumblebee, with the new Bumblebee

thing. And honestly, the only reason why I want

this toy. The Optimus Prime Awakening Bumblebee

official pics and details and the pre -orders

are live and you can get it from... tf source

entertainment earth big bad toy store robot kingdom

chosen prime ages three and up amazon etc etc

i don't want it for the i i wish they had a pack

i wish they had a packaging thing i bet it's

gonna come in robot mode which is gonna suck

for me Almost all of them come in robot mode

anymore. I know, I know, I know, I know. If I

actually wanted him in robot mode, it would be

amazing. It would be fine. But the funny thing

is, I actually want him in alt mode because I

think the alt mode is badass with Megatron's

gun on his hood. It looks so good in alt mode.

Two times in my lifetime that I've wanted...

A bumblebee in alt mode. It's this and it was

the elite guard bumblebee from animated and the

elite guard bumblebee was black and gold. He

was all black with gold accents. But I love that

they made this figure. Absolutely love it. It

does look so good. The robot mode does look good.

It's just, I love that car mode. That car mode's

amazing. To me, anyway. But, yeah. Yeah, I don't

mind the figure, but I'm not a huge Bumblebee

fan anyway. Yeah. again it's just one of those

things where like i my collection is so like

your collection is pretty much you wanted well

first off number one for those that might this

might be your first episode of this show steve's

collection is mainly beast wars your collection

really isn't g1 i mean you've got some yeah i've

been progressively getting some not all but some

Yeah, I'm working towards trying to get the studio

series more than meets the eye Starscream. Which

seems to be sold out everywhere. Yeah, and yeah.

And yeah, so the yeah, I don't know. But like

I said, it he just he looks so cool and. I don't

know. Maybe I'll... Go ahead. No, I was going

to say, finish your thought, and then... Well,

I was going to say, maybe I'll keep him in robot

mode for a little while. Maybe I'll transfer...

It depends on how... So my difficulty with...

Like, I still haven't fully... Poor Rodimus.

I have Kingdom Rodimus. A friend of mine gave

him to me years ago now. He's still sitting half

-transformed into robot mode because he... uh

came in car he came in alt mode uh i that's my

biggest problem with transformers now because

of the cerebral palsy and not being able to fully

use my right hand that's the like again maybe

i'll keep him in robot mode i don't know like

i said it depends on like that's why i wish i

could have seen by now the box to see like how

many steps it's gonna take and i'm sure Like

20 minutes after we finish this recording or

tomorrow morning after this is all done, I'm

sure. Oh, look, either in inbox art or in, you

know, we now find every time I say something

on these, on these podcasts a day later. Oh,

look, we have what you want. We didn't have it

when you wanted it, but we have it now, and you

can actually see the information you wanted last

night. But no, I don't dislike his robot mode.

I actually love Bumblebee's robot mode here.

It's just that car mode is just so freaking cool.

He's basically Transformers animated. Yeah, a

little bit. Yeah, a little bit. Since we're on

the topic of toys, when we went to Target two

days before going to the theater, I went to check

out because I knew that Target had a whole thing

about the 40th anniversary apology tour figure

kiosk. And they had the Optimus Prime popcorn

bucket heads. Did you get it? Did you get it?

Did you get it? No. Oh, you bum. I'm looking

for very specific stuff. They had... I think

they had Kranix. They had the Battle Damaged

Leader Megatron and Optimus Prime in abundance,

which I'm like, oh, this is interesting because

the only other Optimus Primes and Megatrons I've

seen are the Energon, Dark Energon versions at

Walmart, and the Primes sold out pretty quick.

The Megatrons are still there. The Battle Damaged

Prime is... What's funny is these are the only

two versions of the Studio Series 86 I've ever

seen in the store. And they were just kind of

shelf -warming because one, it's Target. Two,

like Walmart seems to go away faster if they

have it. But they had these. They had the record

of the soundtrack. They had the Super 7 Unicron,

which my kids were like, these are stupid. All

Super 7 products are stupid. Yeah, and that's

what I said too. Then they had some of the cyber

world figures off on the regular Transformers

aisle, but I was kind of going, oh, okay. I mean,

I have Studio Series 86 Prime and Megatron. I

didn't really want battle damage. No, the Megatron

was more tempting than the Prime on battle damage.

Plus, Target had them on sale. So instead of

paying, you know, 59, they were 47. And I was

like, well, that's not terrible. But again, like

I was kind of hoping for Starscream because as

far as I know, Target was the only place that

had him and he was like $32 or something. And

everywhere else like BBTS, it's like 65 and it's

on back order. And yeah, there's like nowhere

else right now. So I'm waiting for a knockoff

of that one because honestly, I don't think I'm

ever going to see it. I have the core class from

more for Cybertron, but that, that was one that

Ian had bought at one point. And then he was

like, I've done with transformers. And then he

gave it to me. And then, so it's been on my shelf

since like, and I painted it to be more like

the show. But I let him, you know, he's like,

I want to mess with that again. And I'm like,

okay, that's yours anyway. Like, I don't care.

I'd rather get the studio series, you know, from

the film. But no, I mean, It was interesting

seeing some of those figures. And then, of course,

seeing some of these same figures in the theater

when people were watching the movie was interesting,

like the variety that were there. But I'll talk

about that experience a little bit later. I think

next we have the Skybound Entertainment solicitations.

Yes, yes, we do. So we have October, November,

and December rounding out the year for the...

solicitations for the comics. October 14th, 2026

brings us Transformers 37, which this starts

a new story arc considering 36 ended the story

arc for last. Yeah. So even though this solicitation

doesn't say it starts a new, and I don't know

what they're doing over there at image comics

makes no sense. Sometimes. But we have Elita

One, or Elita Prime, with the Energon. Or not

the Energon. We have Elita Prime with the Matrix

Sword, the Sword of Leadership. Because she put

the Matrix of Leadership, she fashioned it into

a sword, Energon blade thing. She's trying to

rip off Beast Wars Megatron, but his Energon

blade was much cooler. Ugh. Alita Prime, somebody

just stab her in the back, please. The price

of being Prime. How far will Alita Prime go to

win the war on Cybertron? So one of the interesting

things about Skybound at the time, at the end

of issue 30, way back when, was that they said

that. Issue 31 to whenever they were going to

go back and forth between Earth and Cybertron,

almost like they were going to split the book

up because the point of 25 to 30 in that whole

story arc there was Optimus versus Alita. You

know, Optimus and his Autobots and all this and

all this and everything else. And Alita was going

to take this group of Autobots and go back to

Cybertron. Optimus was going to be exiled to

Earth and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And I

thought we were going to have comics on Earth

and comics on Cybertron. That really kind of

didn't really happen. They kind of whatever,

but. So here we are, finally back on Cybertron

in October. October 14th is when that will come

out for issue 37. It does have some interesting,

very cool variant covers for that issue. It's

got one with Shockwave and Jazz and Jetfire,

so that's cool. uh let's see and then in november

november is when we finally get the return of

megatron and megatron's got him see megatron's

finally revealed out of his cocoon that he's

been in since good lord how long ago is known

from whatever because transformers number 38

releases november 11th 2026 Who or what has emerged

from Megatron's cocoon? Sorry, Autobots. You're

not going to like it. Well, that's what the thing

says. And they have, I mean, clearly the silhouette

on this and the next issue, it's pretty much

Megatron's body. You can clearly tell, but they

have it silhouetted out because it's like, oh,

it's this big surprise. I actually like, again,

a lot of the variant covers more, although I

wish they would really give Optimus' damn faceplate

back. I am so sick and tired of seeing that guy's

mouth. Give him a faceplate. I think what they're

doing with the Megatron here, and I could be

missing the mark here. I think that they're going

the route of G2. potentially that would be cool

i think we're gonna get a g2 megatron here potentially

with uh the cover to 38 but then look at 39's

cover and then i'm not so sure because the i

don't know look at that cover to 39 because the

is he stabbing him with the blade or what's he

doing with that blade because I think it's a

shot from his arm cannon. I don't think it's

a blade. Okay, because that's the thing. Because

you look at the 38 cover and the 39 cover. That

38 cover looks like a blade. It doesn't look

like a fusion cannon to me. So it looks like...

I don't know if you've ever seen this. Back in

the day... Yeah, I remember. You can send it

to me. Don Figueroa, years ago, had... There

were two different Megatron. graphics yeah one

of one of which he was an airplane right one

of the others he was a tank yep i'm thinking

we're getting some kind of a weird amalgamation

of either a g2 or this because years ago like

i said we got this this special you know megatron

uh dominator design okay And then back in the

day, we also got, you know, the, for the, it

was like a thrilling 30 Megatron that we got

at the time. Yeah. I remember that. Yeah. So

I think we're getting something among those realms,

which would be really cool if they went that

route because we haven't seen kind of an original,

an original design. for Megatron in quite some

time. So I honestly would love to see that. Yep.

Absolutely. And yeah, I mean, that cover for

39 looks amazing. Looks absolutely awesome. Poor

Optimus, though. He looks like... Oh, no. He

don't look so good. Because Megatron's holding

on to Spike like he's crushing his. So this cover,

because again, I don't know why. Okay, so December

9th, 2026, Transformers. Final issue of 2026.

I understand these solicits are coming out now,

but, like, come on, you guys. Really? Optimus

versus Spoiler? We effing know. Like, hello?

It's Megatron. Like, why you got... You've never

seen a fight like this before. Like, we freaking

know, man. But, like, where he's holding Spike

in his left hand, It kind of reminds me of how

Unicron was holding the junkie on ship and squeezing

it before he let go. Indestructible. Yeah, right.

I don't know. But yeah, that's the solicitations.

I will go back really quickly to November for

Transformer. October and November. October, we

are getting... The Transformers UK Compendium

Book 2 trade paperback on October 14th. This

is a must -read collection for every Transformers

fan. Collects Transformers UK 146 -153, 160 -161,

164 -173, 180 -189, 198 -205, 213 -289. Stories

from the Transformers UK Annuals 1989, 1990,

91, 92, and the Transformers Generation 2 UK

Number 1 and 2. It's got an awesome cover with

the Dinobots, with Sludge, Grimlock, Slag, Snarl,

well, not Slag, Slag, Slug. and Swoop. So that

looks very, very cool. That comes out October

14th for you collectors. And then the other one

was November 11th, also on the same day as the

single issue. Transformers 38 and Transformers

Volume 6 come out the same day. So Transformers

Volume 6 collects the arc we just finished reading.

So 31 to 36. The new era of Transformers continues.

Optimus Prime and Megatron are forever changed

as the war between the Autobots and Decepticons

takes unexpected and violent turns. Even if these

two powerful leaders are vulnerable, is anyone

in the Energon universe truly safe? So that collects

volume issues 31 to 36. The alternate cover to

that is a really cool Megatron energy mace cover,

which I think is cooler than the Meg. So the

Megatron, the main cover there, the Megatron

shooting his fusion cannon, I think that was

one I didn't forget. I think that was issue 31.

I think that was issue 31's cover, but the alternate

cover is, I think, the better cover, the Energy

Mace cover, which is the one that I would want

if I was getting the collected edition for that.

So, yeah. Yep. There was also something from

Dan Gilvezan. Oh boy. There was some drama around

that saying that he was wondering why Bumblebee

had a different voice in the movie than he did

at the end scene of Awakening rather than the

movie. And he says he was questioning Hasbro

and some people are dogging him for not. But

I kind of understand where he's coming from because

typically when they've done g1 revisits of stuff

they've brought back the original actors for

most you know for the ones that are still alive

anyway and in this scenario i kind of wondered

the same thing like why they didn't bring him

back for this so and i and i did the research

on this and i found because here here's my biggest

thing so when they announced optimus prime awakening

the only thing they said was Peter Cullen, at

the time, they announced that it was Peter Cullen

and Frank Welker returning to play Optimus Megatron

and Soundwave. They said nothing else about who

else was going to be in it. They didn't. This

is before Peter passed away. This was before

anything. They just said Peter Cullen, Frank

Welker, Reunite, and everything. After Peter

passed away, They said this will obviously be

Peter's final voicing of Optimus Prime. Frank

Welker is Megatron Soundwave. And we knew Bumblebee

was going to be in it. We didn't know who else

was going to be in it. And they didn't say who

was going to be voicing Bumblebee. And I don't

think they ever really have said. I like no voice,

no, not voice, um, no outlets, TFW T formers.

Like I haven't found anyone, any of the major

outlets that we go to that we, that we, as a

transformers podcast, any of the outlets that

we go to, I haven't seen anybody do it. So I

went on a mission to find who voiced bumblebee

in optimus prime awakening. It turns out it is

a. person by the name it's a man by the name

of jared lemaster now i looked at his imdb it

looks like he's just starting out he through

the research i did looking at his imdb he has

also been in lanterns as militia man whoever

the hell that is because militia man would just

be somebody that's part of an army okay but i'm

right exactly but i'm I'm just reading the post,

the comment that I wrote on Dan's post. I said

I have not watched Lanterns yet. He's also been

in a show called Homestead the Series. It seems

he's just starting out. I don't know what they're

doing with this Optimus Prime Awakening short

now that Peter is no longer with us. Maybe they

were going to put it into a series next year

if Peter had still been with us. I honestly hope

they don't do anything with the dang thing. I

hope they just leave it where it is, in the short

and whatever. Now, Dan, in his comments and in

his videos that he's been doing, what he had

said was that it turns out that... What they

did was they used Canadian voice actors, which

the Canadian voice actor unions, unlike the American

unions, don't pay residuals. So that's why they're

not using Dan in... in this stuff because that's

how has that's the way he framed it kind of thing

at least that's how i read into it from what

he said i don't know but yeah he's all up in

arms about it which i kind of get it because

like these guys originated the roles not that

other people haven't played them over the years

but we've also got the scenario of like you know

jim cummings getting snubbed and yeah you know

I get it. They're tossing out these old guys

that have done these roles for years, so I understand

where he's coming from. I understand where he's

coming from, but... Here's the thing. When's

the last, like eat other people have done research

on this. And even I did research on this. When

was the last time Dan played the voice of bumblebee?

I think it, I think somebody said it was transformers

devastation. How long ago was transformers devastation?

And it's like, look, it was like 10 years ago.

Yeah. And look, I'm not trying to begrudge the

guy, his, his, his feelings and everything else,

but like. I don't my point in bringing that up

is for the last 10 years. Has Dan voiced this?

Has Dan been this vocal every time somebody has

voiced Bumblebee in the last 10 years when it

hasn't been him when it's been the G1 character?

Well, most of the time it hasn't been the G1

character. like he's played the g1 character

it's been the other ones like the other ones

were different incarnations so like right i get

him not being cast for those yeah but this specifically

like they brought frank back they brought you

know they brought peter back they've you know

they brought back uh greg burger in the past

they've brought you know anybody that's still

alive or people that have been able to replicate

the voices they brought back and so yeah i get

where he's coming from because this is his bumblebee

Now, that being said, he does mention something

about a possible clip that is supposed to more

or less tie into this. He's saying that, you

know, some source has, you know, that this short

is meant to be a teaser for a Transformers YouTube

series to be released by Hasbro next year. Which...

whether it happens or it doesn't is a different

story but i i think one transformers is still

doing a cyber world which yeah i kind of lost

interest uh i haven't even really watched any

of the cyber world stuff i i think i've just

lost interest because these are all shorts and

i just i don't care for all of that like i mean

i've watched them together too but i yeah until

they put cyber world on a disc format and it's

all one long stream of consciousness or one long,

like until they put it on something where it's

not 10 minute bite -sized things. I don't think

I'll ever watch cyber world. And as much as I

love Dan and I love that he's being passionate

about the character that he originated, honestly,

At this point, Hasbro needs to start anew. They

need to create a new generation one. They need

to start over. Like, think of 2027 as the new

1984 and create something. Not saying you have

to erase what's already here. Not at all. I'm

just saying come up with something new that encapsulates

the last 42, three, whatever, however long years

of the brand and make a new cartoon. You can

use the same animation style. Use the animation

style that's in OPA. I love that animation style.

I love that 3D animation style that they were

using. I honestly think Generation 1 is done.

I don't think you can use. I don't think there's

anybody out there. You can't recapture G1 anymore.

G1 is in a time capsule at this point. Oh, I

agree with you. As much as it hurts me to say

that, it's in the time capsule that it's in.

We can always go back to it. Now, if you want

to hire Dan Gilbazan to do an update, and when

I say updated, I don't mean updated for, I mean,

like, like I said, write a new script, have the

character of Bumblebee, have Dan do the, just

like how they do the, the Robleson stuff. like

when they had like have dan like that's what

i mean when i say updated kind of thing like

if you want to write new scripts and write a

new story and have a well it's kind of like when

uh um what's his name when rob paulson came back

and went from raft to doing donnie in turtles

2012 Not saying obviously you wouldn't have Dan

changing characters, but that kind of thing where

you write a new story and you're going to obviously

have to get a new. That's the other thing Hasbro

has to do. They got to find a new Optimus Prime.

How are they going to do that? I mean, yeah,

we've kind of found one guy, but we don't know.

Really good job. Yeah, absolutely. But at the

same time, he. Peter also more or less saved

or recorded his voice for Eleven Labs, which

is an AI company and has partnered with Hasbro

over it. So part of me is wondering if Hasbro

is going to pay the family in perpetuity and

just use a robo voice. of prime maybe i i could

definitely see them doing this but they you know

it may be only for certain things yeah maybe

specifically for the live action movies it may

be you know i don't i don't think that they're

going to do it for every series i think they're

going to purposely cast someone new yeah and

start over occasionally like and just you know

try different stuff But I think that if they

need to fall back, they're going to 100 % fall

back on Peter's voice. Yeah. And use this method

that they've already shown that they're likely

to use. But I don't know. I'm kind of torn because

I love the actors. I love G1. I love the Beast

Wars cast. I mean, say what you will about any

of the, you know, there are certain character

actors that have done good at, you know, creating

their own spin on a character like, you know,

Frank with Starscream. Yep. But then you get

instances like the entire Beast cast of Kingdom

was poorly cast. Yeah. And didn't fit the roles.

No. So, I mean, you get situations like that,

too. I'm not saying every version should sound

like Peter Cullen or like David Kaye, but something

in that residual ballpark doesn't have to sound

exactly the same, but something that at least

has the gravitas that the original voice had

would be nice. But yeah, I mean, we've spent

way too long on Dan's theory. No, no, no, but

it's one of those things where it has to be talked

about because as fans of the franchise and wanting

them to do more and do things in a way that not

only honors what came before it but also like

i've said create new things at the same i don't

know dude i'm happy to see them try new things

it may not always be something i'm interested

in and that's fine Like there's going to be times

where I'm interested a hundred percent. There's

going to be times where I just like, eh, you

know, and, and that's fine. Like there's the,

they re -released the movie. I'm like, yay, I'm

back in. But like the cyber world, I'm like,

meh. So, I mean, it, it kind of goes both ways.

Like there's, there's a lot of back and forth

time with all of that. And so I'm, I'm just happy

that, you know, we're getting a nice mixture

of everything as, as time progresses. but with

that in mind having just seen the movie yes so

we went we got there a little early we were kind

of checking stuff out and got our seats we were

the first ones in the theater then another group

came in shortly thereafter and then more and

more people and as people started coming in they

like one group brought in the popcorn bucket

one set of uh people brought in transformers

figures and had them sitting in the cup holders

during the film and then towards you know during

the awakening they had the figures like standing

on their knee like pretending to watch the movie

you know and so uh these were and what was funny

is like uh it was like grown women so it was

just it was funny uh seeing them bring the toys

like and I was like okay like I not that I'm

saying like one or the other is going to bring

stuff but like I brought Starscream like the

core class because I'm like hey he can fit in

my pocket like it's you know it's fine but you

know it was I thought it was definitely cool

that people were bringing their fandoms in some

people had posters some people had you know all

kinds of other memorabilia while they were there

and it was just a genuine love and reverence

we didn't have some moron standing up in the

middle with a matrix yeah so I was happy There's

theater etiquette that needs to be followed,

folks. If you have a toy matrix that you want

to carry with you into and out of a movie theater,

that's more than fine. Open it outside the theater

before you go in, and you can open it outside

the theater after you come out. You do not, do

not stand up in a dark movie theater and open

your matrix during the freaking film. yeah so

thankfully nobody did that during our showing

and we were all able to enjoy it and I did notice

though that some of the sequences didn't go exactly

like the disc like they were edited differently

I can't remember for the life of me which ones

because obviously I didn't have anything to write

it down with during the during the filming but

there were scenes I was like this isn't how this

went in the disc like The way it was edited,

it's almost like they cut it differently in certain

segments of the film. The other thing was I noticed

there were several scenes where it was. Uber

grainy, like depending on the scene, there was

like three or four scenes specifically. Throughout

the film that were super grainy and like pixelated

and. It looked like original footage. But it

looked like they. they didn't use like a 4k remaster

of it or anything it was just kind of it definitely

looked like it was an original film in that aspect

but then other aspects it was more crisp and

so it was just kind of weird watching that i

wish i could remember which scenes i'm sure if

i re -watched the movie i would i would remember

uh if i re -watched on disc i i would remember

where where those scenes were but I want to say

one was on like the shark to con planet. One

was like with the Autobot Decepticon battle.

Yeah. And then there was like one during the

end area, but yeah. So of course, after all of

that, you know, seeing the movie, everybody hanging

out through the credits and nobody getting up.

It was funny. The theater turned the lights on.

Yeah. Like they expected people to leave. And

nobody left. Yeah, nobody left. Everybody was

still sitting there. We're like, we're here for

that extra clip. We ain't leaving until we get

it. So we definitely stayed, watched the clip.

And I loved the intermixing of it in the 3D and

hearing Prime. The kids commented that Prime

sounded very old compared to the film, you know,

for having. And I'm like, well, he's, you know.

40 years older so he's gonna sound different

plus you know he'd gotten accustomed to the deeper

prime of the live action films and so did Frank

like Frank had changed during Transformers Prime

that was more of the take we got of the Megatron

and the alternate world the the the one like

the basically the one that's talking to Prime

throughout it He, or that entity of, you know,

supposed to be the matrix of we're all or one,

looked exactly like the Oracle from Beast Machines.

And I just sat there and I'm like, it's the Oracle.

He's literally talking to the Oracle. And then

getting thrown in all these different scenes

was cool and seeing Soundwave and seeing him

fighting everybody was pretty neat. then it was,

it was kind of jumping all over the place. And

I was like wondering what the whole purpose of

this was. And I know that some of it's people

are like, you know, you should be critically

thinking about it. You should be, you know, more

open -minded with it or critically thinking.

And I'm just like, okay, I get that. But it's

also called awakening. It takes place between

the movie and dark awakening. So I'm wondering

if it's like partially a foreshadowing the fact

that he's going to be brought back to life in

Dark Awakening. Right. And they're telling him

not to get the Matrix or take the leadership

or to try and save his friends like when he's

brought back because he's like, you know, in

Dark Awakening, he's confused. He's been brought

back by the Quintessons. And so, I mean, there's

that. But then he ends up doing all of it anyway

when he comes back during the return of Optimus

Prime. Yep. So it's like, okay. So like in that

element, like I don't understand the clip. Like

I don't understand the awakening in that sense

is essentially what the whole thing is, is they're

telling him to abandon his mission, abandon his

friends, abandon the leadership and abandon the

matrix and move on. Cause he's like, send me

back. I'm not done. Like, I'm not, you know,

I can still help. I can still, you know, and

they're like, no, you have to leave everything

behind or risk, you know, And then they show

him all these different cataclysmic scenes of

things happening. And so like in that regard,

like I understand it from like moving into dark

awakening, but if you're moving into, you know,

later G1 where he comes back with during the

return of Optimus prime, well, he does all of

that anyway. And so it's kind of like, okay,

so why are we, why are we doing this this way

and then they leave off like they finish the

clip and I'm like okay so he went to the afterlife

he went you know he moved on because he goes

into the light yeah after abandoning you know

because he could have killed Megatron yeah and

then he you know throws the matrix off and of

course after the credits of it it shows Megatron

walk over pick up the matrix and laugh yep And

it's like, okay, so what was the purpose of this?

Where is it going? Yeah. But it's almost setting

up that if it's not tied to G1. What is it tied

to? And what is it tied to? And what is it starting?

And who are they going to bring involved? Like,

are they going to have Frank come back and play

Megatron? and then they're going to pick it up

you know from that clip and go in a different

you know like a different multiverse different

direction because they you know of course they

allude to the fact that prime dies in pretty

much every dimension and comes back and you know

so so with optimus gone they could do anything

with it right right right with optimus gone because

he's no longer with us Oh, what could they do?

I wonder what could they do? I mean, clearly

Megatron's alive. He's not changed into his other

personality. And if this person would agree to

come back, seeing as how he's the only person

still alive. To currently do the voice of. Yeah,

he's. I mean, he's 66 years old, but. Hot Rod

could return. I don't know that direction. No,

no, no. I know what you're getting at, though.

I'm just saying, like, if they were to continue

this, if this was it. I personally think with

Peter gone. I don't. I don't know how if Hasbro

is going to set some time to mourn as a company.

I don't think they will because they're a company

and they want to make money. I think they're

going to go on some weird amalgamation of an

America's Got Talent, American Idol search for

the next Optimus Prime kind of thing. Trying

out. OK, fine. Yeah, you do that. Awesome. Go,

Steve. Go. Awesome. Yes, yes, yes. Yes. But it's

one of those things where I don't know how long

it's going to be before we get the next thing

is my point. And if this is supposed to start

the next evolution of Transformer animated series.

Okay, great. But we don't, it's not clear as

much as I like Ryan Parrott as a writer, because

he is a fairly decent writer. He's a pretty awesome

writer for the most part. This is so open -ended.

This is not a fun. This is not. Well, then, Joker,

at least I get to go out by being Batman. This

is not that at all. It's not a definitive close

off like that. No, no, no, not at all. Not at

all. Not at all. This is wide open spaces. We

don't know because, again, they didn't know.

Nobody knew. Unfortunately, Mr. Cullen passed

away. You know. It was an unforeseen circumstance.

It wasn't in the cards kind of thing. Nobody

knew. And there was no way to pivot the story

to make it be an honorable last appearance of

Peter Cullen. And is it a good last appearance

of Peter Cullen? Absolutely. My favorite line

out of the whole thing is a line that actually

Optimus gets chastised for because the one wants

him to just, you know, accept his fate. But he

says, and I'll get the line for you so you can

put it in here. But he says, as long as I keep

fighting, there is always hope. I'm one of those

types of people that. I am always hopeful no

matter what goes on in my life, whatever, whatever,

whether it's struggles, whether whatever it is,

it's like, I don't care. I always have hope kind

of thing. When he said that, I'm just like, okay,

robot dad, I got it. Like whatever it is kind

of thing. So. Wow. Really? My phone just activated

when I said, okay, robot dad. that's ridiculous

i don't even have like really i didn't even say

okg like wow that was crazy and i have my phone

in silent and whatever modes anyway uh but yeah

no optimus prime awakening is such an open -ended

thing that we don't know what they're we're gonna

do with it we don't know what they were planning

for with it. Maybe Hasbro will come out in some

sort of press release and say what the initial

intention was for it. Maybe at some point, hopefully

without himself getting himself in trouble, maybe

Ryan Parrott will come out and say what the original

plan was for it as the writer of the thing. I

don't know if he ever will, but I liked. 75 %

of it for the most part yeah I would say the

same like I don't I'm not gonna like hate on

it because I did I did like I just was confused

and so were my kids like they were confused okay

like like my boys said like this clip was almost

pointless like because there was like no payoff

yeah and so like i i kind of agree with them

but at the same time you know having you know

grown up with this version of prime i'm like

it's also our last send -off of peter cullen

yeah so in that regard like i will take it for

what it is and just enjoy it and if nothing ever

comes of this great you know but if something

does great with that too yeah but uh But yeah,

I mean. I think that overall. It was a nice send

off. And. Yeah. So. So I'll be curious to hear

what other people's thoughts are on this whole

thing, since, you know, we've been kind of going.

Back and forth on it. So. I mean, have we seen

the end of this war forever? Who can say, Spike,

in this vast universe is anything truly forever?

Welcome to this special segment of All Things

Transformers. In this specific segment, I'm going

to be talking to my boys, Ian and Nolan, and

they're going to be providing their thoughts

as I ask questions. So first of all, what did

you think about seeing the movie in theater from

the like the. The videos before the movie and

then during the movie, and we'll talk about the

Awakening clip after. Well, seeing the movie

in theater was a lot better, but at the same

time, it was different than the one I've seen

because it was the original one before they put

it out on TV and they put it in theater. But

the beginning clips were really good. I liked

how in the very beginning they had a video too.

What were some of the videos that you enjoyed

at the beginning before the movie? Do you remember

the commercials? It was all about the Transformers.

Yes. So we had Big Bad Toy Store. Yeah. We had

the video game. The one about Peter Cullen? Yeah,

there was a clip about Peter Cullen, like a tribute

to him. Yeah. He's telling his life story of

how he became Prime. Yep. Mainly. So, what did

you think about the movie? I thought it was really

great. And I liked seeing it in the theater just

because it was on a big screen and good audio.

What were some of the cool things you saw in

the theater while we were... watching the movie

or waiting for the movie like what were some

things that you noticed people had like maybe

products or toys or um i saw some people who

were just sitting everywhere some had posters

others had um transformers toys yeah so some

had some had toys what where were where did some

of the people put their their figures on their

legs to see the movie or in the cup holder yeah

What were some of the toys you did see? Starscream,

Prime, Rodimus, and... Or Hot Rod. Well, yeah.

And who was the third? I thought there was Hound.

Was it? Maybe? I don't know. I don't remember

who all had it, but it was pretty neat. There's

also the Optimus Prime head that was a popcorn

bucket. Yeah, I remember seeing that at Target,

and then we saw it actually in the theater. So

then after the movie, what did you think about

the awakening clip? It was very hard to understand.

It was all over the place. And then it didn't

really seem related to the movie like I thought

it would be. It didn't have a purpose whatsoever.

I mean, it was kind of cool, but it had no purpose.

Also, Optimus Prime just walked away from his

Autobots when he would never do that. And you

could tell that Peter Cullen was sounding a little

bit older for the clip. It didn't sound as much

like Optimus Prime. What were some of your favorite

parts of the clips that it showed of the Awakening

video? What were some of your favorite parts

of it? When he saves Bumblebee. When he saved

Bumblebee? Yeah. From Megatron at the end? Yeah.

Yeah. Except I don't like he just throws the

Matrix and tries to destroy it in lava and then

Megatron takes it. Yeah, Megatron takes it and

is happy when he can never really use it whatsoever.

That's true. Yeah, so this, from what I've gathered,

this clip is supposed to take place between the

movie and Dark Awakening in Season 3. where they

revive the dead Optimus Prime. So I'm a little

confused because it doesn't really because I

mean, it says awakening. So it's it clearly is

trying to play on the dark awakening, but it

doesn't really fit either. Unless it's alluding

to the fact that if he were to get the Matrix

and go with the fight again, when he was revived

in that episode, that it would be bad. And maybe

that's what it was leaning towards. I don't really

know. Like I was trying to understand it. I mean,

at this point, I think I just look at it as like.

a love letter to like peter collin and prime

and stuff like that but i think that uh it didn't

really fit for that it was it was neat but uh

from what i've gathered and i read something

from dan galvezan who played the original bumblebee

he i guess would have loved to have played the

part he just wasn't offered it uh but from what

he's heard they're going to have a youtube series

that's going to continue from that clip Yeah,

I really think that they should have used the

original Bumblebee's voice, because in that ending,

the awakening clip, it should have been the original.

Yeah. So, anything else you want to say before

we close out? No. No? Okay. So, after that, back

to the show. Well, as far as the overall movie

experience, how do you feel about seeing the

movie in theaters for your first time versus

sitting at home and watching it on disc? Well,

this has probably been the first nice theater

showing of a film I've seen in a while where

people aren't obnoxious. Okay, I'm not talking

about that. As far as seeing the movie, I did

enjoy the movie. Okay. So I remember when Karen

and I saw this back in 2018 in the theater. Again,

the theater experience itself was nice, but my

God, seeing this on a film screen was great.

It was an amazing experience. But man, watching

it at home in 4K is just so good. What Shout

Factory has done to fix this film? It's just

so, look, I came from a childhood of, I was six

years old. I didn't get to see this film in theaters

when I was a kid. How I saw this film was I had

to wait once a day to see this in parts. I saw

this day one through five with Power Master Optimus

Prime and Tommy. I saw this in the, in the day

parts when they split this up for TV at first,

I didn't see this as a film until probably the

mid nineties, probably right before I, I mixed

up beat rebooting beast wars. Cause I've told

that story before. Cause originally I thought,

I thought reboot was beast wars and I didn't

know what the hell beast wars was at the time.

damn you megabyte it's all your fault tony j

uh now i didn't think tony j was megatron but

i just i just thought that show i thought reboot

was was for some stupid reason i thought reboot

was beast wars at the time because i didn't because

again uh by the by 95 96 i hadn't had transformers

in my life since 1987 because After 85, 86, I

was watching ALF on TV and I was watching the

end of Knight Rider and 87, the Turtles came

on TV and I was into Turtles for the longest

time. And then I was watching a whole bunch of

other stuff. So by the end of 87, I didn't even

like, I remember walking into a video store and

seeing transformers, the rebirth, or maybe that

was 88 or 89. Whenever the rebirth ended up on,

on VHS and in video stores, uh, I'm like, transformers

is still a thing. Really? I didn't even know.

Uh, and you were funny how that works out. Yeah,

you were around those years. You were like one

or two or three. You weren't even out of diapers

yet at that point. What? You weren't? Yeah, it

is a long time ago. Yeah, you were getting too

old for this stuff, man. Right, my kid told me

I was old because I'm as old as the movie. Yeah.

They still said it was a great movie, though,

and they were glad they went, so. There you go.

very cool very cool so anyhow I think that about

rounds this episode out yeah oops all movie is

all done oops all movie so until next time you

can comment on this episode post on the website

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subscribe on the various pod catchers and until

next time transform and transcend Autobots transform

and roll out yeah