Transformers Legacy: The Art of Transformers Packaging Review

Cliffjumper, commence countdown. Five, four,

three, two... welcome to toy cast this is episode

99 technically the show is retired the last episode

I think we had was a year ago a little longer

I honestly couldn't tell you ladies and gentlemen

I am of course TF Joe and Mike joining us Pecan

court Michael hello hey how's it going it's going

and yeah last episode we had was episode 98 was

Power Rangers toys that was April 10th of 2013

so yeah it's been about a year wow or more almost

two years yeah and this is kind of this is kind

of gonna put the show to bed unless I ever do

a Fort Max review for 100 yeah that's never gonna

happen one of these days yeah one of these days

right sure And hell will melt, or hell will freeze

over. Freeze over and then melt and then freeze

over again. Yeah, something like that. But we

are here, and we are here to talk about something

that has been in the works for a long time, which

is Transformers Legacy, the art of Transformers

packaging. This is the new book from Jim Sorensen

and Bill Forrester who we interviewed back in

March of this year I must say how new is it because

I think they've been done with it for about a

year Well, yeah, but I mean At the time of the

interview we were like waiting on it for to come

out in June and to coincide with the new movie

You know And you know So we were waiting in home.

We're like, okay. Well, we'll publish this on

March 23rd 2014 thinking that in two months three

months time we were gonna have the book and The

book didn't get ended up released until what

was it? August yeah Well, yeah, I picked up my

copy from Amazon I guess I want to say but but

uh, yeah, it was I I want to say Like limited

release or something cuz aren't they already

on their second printing? I'm not entirely sure

I Don't know should totally have Jim here for

this. He would know. Yeah, I know I know right.

Yeah, I Don't know if they're on their second

printing already. I'm not sure I read that somewhere

Okay, I know that You know, I know that Usually

once their books are sold they're sold and that's

it. Oh Like no, no, no, I'm not saying like second

print like yeah, I'm saying like However many

printings they get once they're done once IDW

is done or whoever that cuz I know I know IDW

published it But whoever does the actual printing

once I would assume it's IDW once that's done.

That's done like It's gonna take you You know

and you know selling an arm and a leg to go out

and find the individual copies of the all spark

almanacs thankfully coming up Coming up they're

going to be releasing a the complete all spark

almanac volumes one and volume two and one giant

thing So that's that's coming I have I actually

got on IDW's mailing list to get a physical review

copy of this thing and I was shocked Like I knew

I knew this book was gonna be big but it's big

like it It's pretty much a coffee table book

folks. Yeah, it's like it's like didn't want

to fit in my backpack big Yeah It's like I need

a duffel bag and a half big I'm gonna break out

the ruler here it's uh it is well let's say 12

inches maybe a little bit more than 12 inches

by by 10 inches yeah and and almost fully an

inch thick it's like it's like uh uh what 15

something like something like uh um An eighth

of an inch less than an inch so seven eighths

of an inch thick this thing is huge Yeah It's

like had to do math in my head there. That was

hard It's kind of like It's pretty much in as

far as like from bottom to top wise you know

length wise it's It's about two DVDs stacked

up on top of each other. I actually took a picture

of 300 pages. Yeah. So if you can imagine 300

pages worth of book, that's how big it is. Yeah,

but it's 300, like 11 by 14 or because I know

these are not eight by 11 pages. They're just

not they know two damn things too small. But

I mean, these things are, this book is really

awesome. It's a big book. It's hardcover, glossy

pages. This isn't like regular, you know, book

print. This is like a photo book. It's like each

page is a photo. Yeah, it pretty much, I mean,

there's a bit of text in the beginning, right

after the table of contents. You know a lengthy

piece of text next to a shockwave image and yeah,

I found a little bit of text in here Each section

like part one has some text part two Has maybe

half that amount of text. Yeah, and you know,

I'm still looking for where it says part three

I'm sure it's in here somewhere, but you know,

but mostly at part two is on page 70 but where

you got more text, but I mean For the most part,

it's just pictures tons and tons of pictures

and they and the backgrounds are the Help me

out here. It's like it's like the grids. Yeah

that you would have on the back of the packaging

Around the front of the packaging back in the

only one that doesn't have a grid usually is

Like I was saying that that part one part where

it's just shockwave Yeah, it's a black background

for the page because that's where they have the

text. They can't have the purple Orange ish reddish

grid when you're sitting there trying to read

white text So put it on a black background put

shockwave next to a book firing his cannon and

there you go now the downside Having the the

grid on the background And later on, you know,

they do away with the grid for four different

backgrounds. But again, it mimics the packaging

the downside of having this is that you Some

people complain that you are losing some of the

detail of the of the drawing or they are the

art because they have the black background I

Complain that when you have people sign their

name next to their character you have to have

them do it in a silver or gold Sharpie And some

guys all they had was black, so I had to run

around looking for a Sharpie. Next time we talk

to Dan Gilbazan, I'll have to thank him again

for letting me borrow his gold Sharpie. He was

very cool about it. Dan Gilbazan has a gold Sharpie,

ladies and gentlemen. He truly, truly embraces

the fact that he is now Gold Bug. The Gold Bug.

Oh, you know what I didn't notice before here

starting with page 146 I guess the the action

masters action master line must have had a light

colored background on their packaging because

They do switch to a lighter color. Yep, and that

ends around page 156 it goes back to black But

yeah, so, you know if you're gonna get signatures

in these things, I guess bring multicolor markers

Yeah Or, you know, you could have, um, you know,

whatever signature you're going to have, you

can just have, you know, I honestly, these are

all action masters. If I were going to get signatures

by any of these, it'd probably be in the G1 section.

Well, right. Most of these don't like like I'm

never going to get that jazz signature. But yeah,

if I if I Wow Wait a second sure you can sure

you can you can talk to Phil and then I'm like,

oh wait. No, oops. No, you can't Like Grimlock,

there you go. Yeah, I could talk if I ever talked

to great burger again which you know he's he's

everywhere nowadays i probably will uh yeah i

wouldn't have him sign his action master you

know i'd have him sign the g1 yeah um you know

i know that the the name that i'm about to drop

here in a minute he is a rare commodity At this

point you have to win a raffle or a lottery or

some special drawing at BotCon to even get to

meet this man Anybody ever gets to meet Peter

Cullen you could always have him sign optimus's

right arm on the front cover. Oh wait No, you

can't because it's a hard cover and how is he

gonna say? I've met Peter Cullen a couple of

times. Yeah. Yeah, he failed to sign his own

name once Well, I mean it's one of those things

where nowadays oh Okay, you love oh never mind.

I'm sorry. I was I was flipping through the pages

To to kind of illustrate your point there, but

but I ran into the art on page 10 Oh, it's gorgeous.

This is this is the 1985 Japanese catalog artwork

Oh, yeah, and it's it's beautiful. This isn't

this is a like a double page spread a glossy

paper and this whole thing is Gorgeous now if

I met Peter Cullen again And you know, like I

said, he's doing everything to he's he's still

optimist prime. He's the Hasbro and Discovery

Channel or whoever the whoever's got him next

is gonna Tried him out to the next BotCon. I'd

have I would work. There you go. Whoever whoever's

got him I I would have him sign page 13 Optimus

Prime. Yeah That is so awesome. Yeah, I mean,

you know, we're dropping these these like I'm

going by page number here It's like yeah 13,

you know page 13, right? But once you get this

book and you look and you go, holy cow page 13

is gorgeous It is simply amazing. Thank you,

Dargo. Shut up. Dargo's come to visit and this

bothers me because number one he's supposed to

have a doggy gate to keep him from coming downstairs,

aren't you buddy? And secondly, Shawai isn't

here and Shawai being one of my three cats named

I love you. And guess what? She doesn't love

Dargo. Come on, buddy. Oh, poor dog. but yeah

no this book is just simply amazing it's it's

one of those things where you actually have to

experience this thing even though it's a giant

picture book it is amazing that is true sorry

I had some dog maintenance to attend to Dog maintenance,

what's that run these days? Well, it's like dogs

shouldn't even be downstairs because like I said

the cats the cats pretty much live down here

now in my My man cave, let's say, you know or

Christy's office now that Now that we have dogs,

so, you know, they think they're fairly safe

down here and then the dog comes downstairs and

goes Hey, how's it going? What are you doing

down here supposed to be down here Had a run

him back upstairs, but no it's it's a gorgeous

book and every page is just gorgeous and I think

different people are going to To you know take

away something a little different depending on

which area you grew up with because you know,

I Grew up with it with 1984 1985 1986 so this

artwork is stuff that I stared at when I was

little because you know I kept I kept the card

backs and the boxes and such and and would just

stare at these and go, wow, you know, because

this isn't what my toy looks like. You can't

look at gears and go, yeah, my toy does that

because their legs didn't bend. You know, they

just didn't look. Oh, yeah. Yeah. But now there's

a book that has all of the art that I grew up

with. But somebody else, you know, may have grown

up with. I know a lot of people like came in

during headmasters or target masters So they

might look at that section of the book and go

hey, this is you know, this is what I grew up

with or There's like this gorgeous art here of

the 1986 Japanese package back There's Japanese

people are gonna look at this go. This is amazing

but you know, like I said, they're gonna look

at different parts of the book and go well this

is what I grew up with and and they'll feel reminiscent

about that more than I would. Yeah, absolutely.

I mean, some of the Japanese stuff, some of the

UK stuff is not my thing, but I'm glad it's there.

Yeah. Because it's, you know, Jim and Bill are

collaborating and collecting all this stuff to

put it together to basically show you, hey, look,

Transformers is a worldwide phenomenon. Right.

and it's one of those things where you know seeing

what the like I've heard I have several different

friends from the UK and everything like that

so I've heard what they didn't didn't have and

how different it was from what we had you know

in the mainstream and it's interesting and all

well and good still what matters to me is the

G1 You know 84 to 87 line, right? Yeah, exactly

And you know, but it's still neat to see what

other Other people had it's uh, wow Uh, I was

just looking at it's a more japanese box art.

It's just gorgeous. Uh, like here is page 162

has all the train bots I've i've never seen a

train bot I've never, they look, I'm pretty sure

that these are Micro Masters. But yeah, because

they all form in the Raiden. And then here's

Stepper and Artfire, who are, you know, famous

Japanese repaints of Jazz and Inferno, Twincast

and Sound Blaster. It's like, what do they have

to do to get this art? Because you know, this

only appeared in Japan. Well, you know Hasbro

and Takara and IDW. I'm sure they all made deals

to To yeah make this thing happen and honestly

like the you know I asked Jim and Bill both after

we did the interview and in the time that we

thought the book was gonna come out till the

Time it actually came out. It was out of their

hands. They had already submitted all the work

so the only thing that they kind of and I kind

of believe is that It was contracts with Hasbro

and Takara and, you know, whoever else. I mean,

because once they turn it in, why wouldn't IDW

get it out there to the people? And I really

thought they were going to make it like a, you

know, hey, get it first at BotCon or hey, get

it to coincide with, you know, the age of extinction

and everything else. That's what I thought they

were going to do. That wouldn't have made sense.

I took my copy to TFCon in Chicago because I

had just received it like a day prior to that.

And it made it really easy for me because I wasn't

sure what I was going to have all the voice actors

sign. So I just brought this along. Absolutely.

Look at that, there's actually a text on page

222. Part 4, Generations. The 1995 Japanese Generation

2 catalog artwork. This is just gorgeous stuff.

It really is. It's so amazing. You guys, listeners,

you have to go out and get this or find a friend

that has this because... It's sad because you

can't just go to Barnes & Noble and leave through

a copy anymore because those don't exist. Oh,

well, Barnes and Noble still exist, but... Do

they? Yeah. All of ours closed down. Mm, well.

Barnes and Noble, what was the name of that other

one? Uh, Borders. Yeah. Yeah, they're closed

down too. Um... Wow, there's a lot of G2 artwork

back here, right? I didn't even notice all this

stuff. Yeah, that's... That was what Jim and

Bill had said, that it's all of G1 and most of

what they could find from G2. Goodly chunked

G2. Oh, absolutely. Good looking stuff. I mean,

oh wow. An unused artwork from, I'm assuming

this is G2. This is like a gold, gold, orange,

ugly looking jazz and a pink and green mirage.

It is sad that none of these came out. It is

just a shame. An orange sludge Wow Yeah, I've

never seen this this is set. I've this is artwork

that I've never seen before and I've seen like

What the like the the desert camouflage a secret

jet? stuff like that, but this stuff not I've

never seen an orange sludge before this is a

yellow Grimlock with teal stripes This is crazy

crazy colors Crazy awesome colors. Yeah, but

again stuff that even I've I've been a hardcore

fan for years and years and years and I've never

seen this stuff Wow, you know it takes them to

you know, bring this stuff out. Oh, there it

is page 256 sandstorm He's that that that the

desert camouflage. He's naming camouflage. She's

just he's just beige He's he's a boring beige

seeker, but It's funny, but yeah, these are Holy

cow, this is really stuff they found and that

they included here kills me Yeah, anyway, but

It probably would be a good idea to mention that

we did an interview with them back in March and

yeah There should be links to that. Oh, yeah

somewhere But yeah, there's probably a lot more

enlightening than this conversation This is just

a lot of you know me staring at a book and going

wow Wow, you can't see any of this but Wow It

is very awesome you know it is well worth the

$50 price tag that's on the back of the book.

Oh wow some people are gonna pay 50 bucks for

this but yeah I'd say worth 50 if you got in

early and got a copy on Amazon it will only cost

you 30 mm -hmm think I paid 30 for mine and wow

a bargain at 30 I tell you what Honestly, for

what the content that's in here, it's a bargain

at 50. I know, I know people see a $50 price

tag for, for a hardcover coffee table type book

and they look at it and like, Oh, huh. You know,

no way. I, you know, $50. That's a, that's a,

that's a electric bill that I could pay or something

like that. You know what I mean? But it's one

of those things where if you look at the content,

look at these 300 pages that they put in. And

every character is spotlighted that you loved

or hated from G1. Right. And I think some people,

again, when you say spotlight, I think some people

are going to say, well, where is the text spec

text? Where do I get the descriptions of these

characters? This book is not about that. This

book is box art and lots of it. Yeah. Well, that's

what I mean. The characters... From the boxes

like as a kid there that there would be so many

times where I would want to I know this is blasphemy

that I say this now But there's so many times

where I wanted to cut the boxes To get the image

that was on the box. Yeah, you know, you know

It's just one of those things where Now that

we have this book, we don't have to be cutting

old Transformers G1 boxes because we can see

the images from the box in this book. Right.

You know, what I'm holding in my hand here, and

this is something completely different, this

is the Trans Manual, an unofficial guide to collecting

Transformers volume 2, 87 to 1990. And I forget

who put this out. But I got I got to copy this

a long long time ago and copyright 2002 mark

Kimmel But the the thing here is that is this

this book is all about pictures of the toys and

it includes like their name and their their motto

and their tech specs and And it's basically here.

I'm looking at this book to see which gun comes

with this guy or you know What does it what do

the stickers look like on the front and the back?

And and you know that that's the purpose that

this book serves. This is a field guide So when

I take it out to conventions, I can see this

is figure have the right stickers Does this figure

have the right paint is he all scratched up?

What is it? What did this figure look like when

he was brand new that it but this? to to Compare

and contrast we go back to legacy completely

different animal did it it serves a completely

different purpose and It it serves that purpose,

you know amazingly it's like this is a book of

pictures and It's it's it's it's not something

that I would you know expect to You know serve

serve that purpose of showing me what the textbooks

are, you know, where are the textbooks? Where's

the motto? You know, I don't I don't in the context

of this book. I wouldn't expect that Hmm. I think

it would detract from it. I think I think You

know Jim and Bill Went the right direction when

they put as little text in here as humanly possible.

I Mean, yeah, I mean, I honestly don't know what

I was expecting um out of this because i was

expecting text at some point in it we talked

with them at least specifically right there's

no text in here right no and i understand but

you gotta remember there's names you know yeah

yeah i mean but you gotta remember though this

came out in august september we interviewed them

in march and it is now december yeah by the time

this podcast goes live so it's like between march

and now my memory is Flushed multiple times.

Okay since then so Even some of the texts they

put in I'd rather that they hadn't I Mean, I'm

let's take for example page 44 44 and 45 is a

two -page spread. It's a 1986 Japanese package

back I know this because in one corner They they

put a big white box and in black text that says

1986 Japanese package text and I'm like Why is

that there? It's detracting from the picture.

It's killing me. It's like, I don't even know

where else they could put it that would be less

conspicuous. Or maybe on the next page, although

that's Tripticon. Don't screw up Tripticon by

telling me what happened on the page before.

And then the page before that is triple changers.

Don't screw up triple changers by telling me

what's on the next page. I gotta know. They gotta

put it somewhere. But at the same time, Yeah,

you got a big white box in the middle of my picture

here. That's gorgeous. It's two -page spread.

It's beautiful and it's detracted by this white

box You know, there's no other way to do it But

yeah, but it happens a lot It's it still works

though for the overall image. I mean, yeah, I

guess Okay here. Let's do this like I'm looking

at I'm gonna call it out by name page 185 All

right, so we have 1990 action masters package

back. It's Not nearly as gorgeous as the g1 Because

it's action masters and you know, honestly action

masters, but okay, so you turn the page 147 has

that classic It says Action Masters Autobots,

and it's got that classic box, you know, with

the text that you would expect to see on the

back of Transformer packaging, right? Why, and

that's a nitpick, you know, sorry Bill, sorry

Jim, you know, why couldn't they have put that

type of box on the package back? You know, just

stuck it up in the corner and made it in, as

opposed to this weird rounded edge white field.

that seems out of place and to detract. I don't

know. I'm just saying. I don't like the way that

looks. It detracts. It bothers me. It's like,

I got this beautiful two -page spread of the

1985 package back, Japanese variant, and I couldn't

even tell you how this varies from the back of

the packages that I had. Oh, I could. Yeah, it's

got Devastator on it. It's like it's like yeah

Grimlock taking a chunk out of kickback and for

some reason, you know, George Lucas CGI to devastate

her in there I don't get it. I Don't think like

after the fact George Lucas says, you know what

this scene needs it needs Java the huh? It is

a Boba Fett right here. That's what it needs

The Japanese came in and put Boba Fett in there

Or you know, you know the transform, right? Yeah,

but that yeah, I guess I guess it's okay. Who

am I to complain? It's uh, but yeah stick him

in there Yeah, but again big white box in the

top corner. Why is that even there get rid of

that? Anyway, but again, I can't complain. I

love this book I'm just really amazed at the

quality. I'm amazed at these guys were able to

assemble all this art Uh, cause you know, it

couldn't have been easy. There's, there's gotta

be tens of sources. I don't want to say hundreds,

but you know, tens of sources. And each one of

those sources is not just like, Hey, can I have

that art? It's like, can you dig up that art

from 30 years ago? Can you license it to me so

that I can use it? Can we get our lawyers involved

so that not only is it licensed to me, but I

can then have IDW print it without being sued.

You know, these type of things. There's a lot

that goes into all this. Oh, absolutely. Which

is a good thing. It's a huge undertaking. And

it's not as if they wrote the stuff. Well, the

small bits of text, right, is theirs, but it's

not like they wrote the book. You know, they

had to assemble it from other sources. And that.

I mean, I can't I can't imagine it would almost

be like. You know, I'd like to write a book,

but I'm only going to write about three or four

paragraphs for the text, and the rest of it is

going to be from other people's books. And it's

like, what? All I need to do is get permission

from these dozens of other people to take part

of their book and put it in mine. And then I'm

going to sell it. And you think that no one's

going to agree to that. That's insane. Why would

they do that? You know Jim and Bill pulled it

off. They they took this art from all these different

sources again tens of sources, you know dozens

of sources and And managed to get it in one book

and make it look gorgeous and and sell it Yeah,

well, you know, I think the thing of it is is

this is the 30th year for Transformers still

you know 1984 to 2014 and I think Hasbro... If

Hasbro didn't want them to do this, you know

what I mean? It's one of those things. Hasbro

wouldn't have been enough. They would have launched

it back when the movie came out. Well... Why

did we have to walk along for this? It's a shame.

No, I understand that, and I know that, but I'm

just saying, like, if Hasbro didn't want this

done, they would put their foot down and say,

no, you're not doing this, but... Yeah, the fact

is, the goodly time this art came from Hasbro.

Yeah. Well, look at Jim and Bill. Yeah, well,

look at Jim and Bill and IDW's record. Look at

Jim and Bill specifically, between the original

G1 ARC books they put out to the art of Transformers

Prime they put out, the two Transformers animated

All Spark Almanacs. Since we are still in 2014.

I will say this you know what you know two years

to almost a year from now I'm hoping they put

a Beast Wars You know 20th anniversary or whatever

together You know what I mean, it's it's one

of those things where This stuff kind of needs

to happen. It's stuff like this that makes the

fandom good place to be you know there's a lot

of things out there in the transformers fandom

that people bitch and complain about and everything

else and if you grew up in this time and you're

like you know someone like me or someone like

you and you know like I already said in this

episode there were times where I like I still

haven't gotten A JPEG version but the the Autobot

and Decepticon logos that are in the book from

the boxes I still want those as pictures on my

computer. I've always wanted those I remember

this was why I cut the boxes as a kid the box

tops, right? Oh god, I can just imagine Cut save

the box top kids send them back to Hezro and

we'll donate to schools, you know No way, man

It's like what are they what are those things

cut? There's a You're right. Yeah, okay Judas

just use of mute. There's a There's pictures

of them. They were the robot points Yeah, there's

pictures of them in the book somewhere And I

used to clip those and save them I still have

some in a box. I have no idea why. You know what

they're worth today? Zero. You open the box and

look at them and go, I remember those. Yeah,

because you know, I got, I originally got the

Omnibots and you had to send those points in

for Omnibots, but I had way more than the Omnibots

were worth. So you're like that one kid at the

arcade or the fairway that you've sat there and

you've played thousands and thousands of hours

of skeeball racking up tickets to get the giant

TV in the background and the giant stuffed teddy

bear that cost like 10 ,000 tickets. You were

one of those kids. I guess when you put it in

that context. Deaf dumb and blind kid sure plays

a mean ski ball. Oh, man. Anyway. Yeah. But no,

you know, looking at this book and and seeing

the history that was there for generation one,

two and some of the other stuff. You know, like

I said, I mean, they pretty much have everything

up to the 90s and a little bit beyond. Uh, yeah,

I'm not sure what I mean, you know, I'm sure

if I asked Jim or Bill, you know, hey, what,

you know, what are you guys working on next?

They'll tell me. But Transformers wise, I'm not

sure. What else could they possibly do at this

moment in time? What could make me happier as

an individual than this book? I'm not sure that

they could do that for me. I might have to seek

happiness elsewhere. My children, perhaps. My

wife. Nothing else makes me happier than this

book. God, it reminds me of friggin' Jimmy Fallon

from Fever Pitch. Red Sox sex and breathing in

that order. For you, it's like Transformers,

my wife and children, breathing. That's why my

wife and children placate me with Transformers.

Here, daddy, have some more Transformers. I approve

of this. I approve of this gift. This GIF meets

my satisfaction. Yes. That's funny. So, alright,

we're going to take a quick break. We're going

to come back with some other discussion points

after this. Hi, this is Bill Forster. And this

is Jim Sorensen. And you are listening to the

GeekCast Radio Network. Alright, we are back

here on ToyCast. Since this is kind of... technically

the final episode of the show what have you uh...

been collecting these days what have i been collecting

yeah holy cow you don't know uh... other than

dusty toys on dusty shelves yeah you already

know what i collect uh... i'm i'm Only allowed

one collection and that one election is transfers,

but my children my boys my wonderful boys You

cheat through your children. I see a loophole

Wonderful boys play this game called Skylanders

And the way Skylanders work is is you know, it's

it's an Activision game that involves a a Portal

let's say that's a peripheral that plugs into

your your game console that could be an Xbox

or PlayStation or what -have -you They have one

on the Xbox 360 and they also have have a separate

game for their iPad so they have a Bluetooth

portal that works with their iPad too, so they

can They can take these little figures and put

them on the portal. And then the figures then

appear magically on the TV and you can play them

as a character in this game. A series of games,

actually. So it's like Spyro's Adventure, and

then there's Giants, and then there's Swap Force,

and now the new one is Trap Team, which they

will be receiving as a Christmas present. but

every time they have a new game they come out

with another hundred or so of these little figures

and I Can't have a few I can't I I you know You

can't catch them all I can't I can't I can't

have a few of them. I I can't have most of them.

I must have them all and it's hard because they're

there and I'm sure we've had this conversation

before but there are some that are Super rare

super rare there and it's kind of like a San

Diego comic -con exclusive, right? Oh God, it's

like this type of thing except they're that rare

There are some that you can find on eBay for

like 500 bucks. Oh my god Yeah, like from the

Spyro's adventure and this is something that

just came out three years ago We're not talking

about a 1984 1985 toy mention box right which

in some cases are cheaper than these damn Skylanders

We're talking about a figure that, you know,

might have came out at the New York Toy Fair.

So, you know, Activision, Toys for Bob, they

show up at New York Toy Fair and they say, hey,

look, here, have a figure. You have a figure.

You have a figure. And they're like the same

figures that you'd get with, you know, at retail,

right? Except these are painted blue, metallic

blue. Or these are spray painted with You know

Like gritty gritty stone colored paint. So this

is this these are the this the the statue versions

of that character and Because they handed them

out to five or six hundred people at a toy fair,

you know three years ago They're really rare.

So People charge five hundred bucks for them.

I'm never gonna own those There's probably about

20 the limited figures that I know of that I'll

never own but the ones that like came out of

Walmart or the ones that were like GameStop exclusives

things like that they they might run 25 30 40

bucks and I've picked up a few of those there's

probably maybe two of those left that I don't

have like GameStop exclusives there's one more

I know particularly it's royal double trouble

it's double trouble with a purple scepter this

is ridiculous I'm gonna pay 40 bucks for this

little piece of plastic with a purple scepter.

But in many cases, again, it's cheaper than Transformers.

Let me ask you, since you mentioned Skylanders

and you mentioned this whole thing, what about

Disney Infinity? Have you got them into that?

No, I haven't. The thing was that we had... Spoke

my wife and I had spoke about this and said,

you know, they have this other thing for Disney

You know, you want to try that and we said let's

just do one at a time and see what happens. All

right, so we You know just we just did Skylanders

There were people at the time, you know who said

oh, you know, it's cute but the Disney stuff

is cute but it it's it's It's not just an action

adventure game, but there's also a world building

aspect. That's interesting, but because it's

split in half, you're not getting as good an

adventure game as you would with Spyro. So we

said, all right, so we went with the adventure

game one, which is Spyro. It's a good game. I've

played it with the boys. But another year later,

and who'da thunk, The kids can't get enough Minecraft.

They are insane. For the last month or so, they've

just played nothing but Minecraft. And it's like,

wait a minute, they could have gotten the Disney

version of Minecraft, which is just like building

and world building and construction and that

type of thing. So we have opened up the possibility

to the grandparents that if they would like to

buy this for the kids, for uh for christmas then

we would be amenable to that uh but i i don't

know if i will go quite as insane on the infinity

figures as i did the skylanders because i've

got 170 skylanders and when i say i've got them

i mean my fine and wonderful upstanding children

uh have them because it's their collection because

i'm only allowed one I've got, God, I've got

a lot of these Dan Skylanders. And my wife was

like, you better stop. And I'm like, they're

for the children, you know. I think there's only

been one toy the entire time that I've known

you. There's only one toy I've been able to get

in your collection because I had your wife hide

it as a birthday present. That's right. It was

Perry the Platypus and Dr. Newfantris. They're

still on my desk right here. At one point I think

I told you this at one point somebody got me

a Perry the platypus mouse pad So the mouse pad

is on my desk and Perry and do for standing on

top of it Yeah, it's a slightly dustier part

of my desk But but they have a prominent place

Yeah So my other question since you mentioned

the Skylanders and all that stuff and I assume

this is a no considering I know your opinion

on this subject You're not gonna allow them to

get into Angry Birds transformers. Are you you

know the thought? Crossed my mind because for

a long time Aiden was Just in love with Angry

Birds and about the time the Angry Birds Star

Wars came out. I think he he stopped playing

Angry Birds quite as much. Because anywhere we

went, he'd be like, can I have your phone to

play Angry Birds? And sure, why not? Here, go

play. And so we had the free Angry Birds. And

then we went to the pay Angry Birds, which is

like 99 cents. I don't know. We had Angry Birds

Rio. We had another Angry Birds. I had like six

or seven different Angry Birds apps on my phone.

And he would just. go from one to the other and

play them uh and and then i got angry birds well

six or seven including star wars let's say and

you know because i don't want to exaggerate but

uh you know we played star wars for a while and

and then we it's just kind of petered out you

know we didn't play as much oh it was angry birds

space that came out too so we were playing that

But yeah, again, after after space, it just kind

of just kind of petered out. We didn't play as

much. And I haven't made a big deal about the

Angry Birds Transformers because, you know, I

like Angry Birds. He likes Angry Birds. You know,

we both like Transformers, you know, and now

it's yeah. But I don't I don't know if these

are two tastes that taste great together. I have

not and will not be able to play the game because

I don't have a mobile device and the Angry Birds

Twitter people actually told me it is not coming

to the PC every other app has come to the PC

so I'm basically screwed as far as playing the

game goes but I have seen the the comic From

idw written by john barber and the comic just

came out now that was first. That's livio doing

the art, right? Yeah, yeah marcillo fiera and

livior amandeli Doing the art. It's awesome.

It does look good i've seen a preview and he

starts off in and just You know classic, uh,

uh Robots in disguise, you know, and then it

kind of morphs into this weird This weird comic

comic II. Yeah, it's just like wow that he he

does both really well I was I was just impressed

with the art. I'm probably I'm gonna play this

by ear if my kids if Aidan in particular or maybe

Gavin I don't think Gavin likes Angry Birds,

but if my kids end up Liking or like it getting

the idea in their head that they want to try

this then I will probably get them the comic

book And let them you know go from there I I

saw I want to say at the last toy fair the last

New York Toy Fair I saw that the toys and it

looks to me like oh What do they call those?

Transformers had a line of little super deformed

cars that flipped up Rockin rollers, but that's

not it. No, it's like it's like bumping battlers

or something. Oh, yeah Yeah, they had little

tech specs on their chest that would flip depending

on yeah Anyway, I I didn't like them. I ended

up with a few of them because everyone thinks

that because they're transformers I'd want one

so Those people were giving them to me. I've

got a little optimist I got a little Megatron

and I think I got mirage and bumblebee. I got

a couple but That line petered out and it's like

I know why it's because they stuck bird heads

on them Literally these angry birds transformers

are these little battle bots With that instead

of having a face they've got a bird head and

then and then when they transform the bird head

just moves and now the bird is driving the car

and Then when it flips up bird head moves to

the robot head now. He's got a robot with a head

And yeah, it's like this weird head. They should

have stopped while they were ahead. They were

ahead of their time. They should have stopped

while they were ahead. But yeah, I don't so much

like the way the toys look. I kind of like the

idea that you could use the toys in the app.

Yeah, that's that's what I mean. It's kind of

Skylanders ish, you know Yeah, that's why I thought

you might let the boys get them because it's

pretty much. Yeah Skylanders with Angry Birds

and Transformers Like I said, I think we're gonna

we're gonna play it by ear and See what happens.

Holy crap Yeah, well, I mean if the boys look

like they enjoy it Or look like they might enjoy

that idea and they don't want to play it I want

to play it, you know If they catch wind of it

and think it's the coolest thing ever then maybe

we'll get it My guess is that they'll probably

hear about it and go. Yeah, I'm playing Minecraft

Or like I said we've got Don't tell them but

I've got the the dark edition of the Trap team

starter set Already, yeah, I've already got it.

It's it's put away in a closet somewhere The

cool thing about the dark edition is that there's

limited edition figures in black and silver color

repaints and it comes with the the chaos trap

the cast is the big bad right and you can only

You can only trap him with the special trap that

comes with the special set So I'm like, whoo

-hoo! And yeah, so don't talk Megatron. Again,

I want to thank everybody for the years and years

of friendship and listenership here on Toycast.

As I said, it's... It's time to end it really

It just I am so far gone with the toys. I just

don't don't keep up with them and half the like

the deluxes and the Voyagers and the whatever

the the the ultimates or whatever the next You

whatever the hell it is. It just I'm so far out

of Transformers toys and toys in general I'm

just so far out of that realm at this point And

plus with you know, I know it's been a couple

years now, but with optimus scourge is passing

I just don't feel right doing the show anymore

You know something every now and then we'll come

around something like transformers legacy that

I feel we could do another episode but It's pretty

much done folks. I'm surprised that we didn't

you know nudge nudge this into all things transformers

to be honest Cause that's retired too. Yeah.

Wow. Man. I mean, I, I mean, I could put it on,

I can put it on its feet. Well, it's not that

big of a deal. I thought it was odd that this

was shoehorned into the, I mean, cause honestly

the people that are subscribed to all things

transformers, uh, might not still be subscribed

to this. I mean, yeah. I mean, There's a good

chance no one's going to hear this. It's like,

no, I unsubscribed to that podcast a year ago

when they quit making them. So I don't know.

It's simulcasted or something or stick it in

the other feed or I don't know do something with

it Yeah, we can do something with it. I'll talk

to Steve and see what he says and whatever else

but I'm sure Jim and Bill will be much happier

if it had a wider audience. That's all I mean,

they put out an amazing product I think I think

as many people as we can get to to hear this

and You know buy into what we're saying and buy

into their book would make them more happy Not

to say that's the goal here. We're just stating

an opinion. Maybe some people, after listening

to our opinion, would buy the book. I don't think

I would be lying in saying that Jim and Bill

are the authors. They are friends of the show.

Absolutely. Our opinion is our opinion. And again,

I might be a little nitpicky here and there of

the book, but if people hear what we have to

say and say, hey, I really have to own that book,

and it was a decision that they currently hadn't

made yet, and they go buy the book, then I don't

think it's completely unselfish, let's say. I

don't know. According to these, this number is

six months old. But as of six months ago, Toycast

still had 67 subscribers on Feedburner. So at

least 67 people will hear this. Thirty seven

in a row. Try not to listen to any podcasts on

the way to the parking lot. Oh, God. All right,

folks. That's gonna do it for Toycast. We may

eventually come back with episode 100 or episode

125 or something like that. I don't know. But

yeah, go get Transformers Legacy. You can get

it. Most specialty comic shops have it. I believe

you can get it on Amazon. You might be able to

behoove us to actually look and check on Amazon

to see if it... It should still be there. If

you can still get that price, that would be...

Should still be though quickly. Can I type before

you? I don't know. I don't know. Oh Look at that.

Yeah hardcover $32 and 51 cents Yeah, still available

Yep, exactly doesn't say how many are available

but And it got five star reviews from 20 customers.

That's what we didn't do. We got to put our customer

reviews up here. Yep I don't know if I can put

my customer review up since IDW sent it to me

as a review copy. Someone actually put a video

of them up. What the heck? Very cool. According

to this, there's 16 5 -star reviews and 4 4 -star

reviews. I wonder which evil bastard put up a

4 -star review. That doesn't matter. Still four

stars is still four stars at least That's that

negative after I mean, it's not negative. I mean

at least it's not evil bastards putting up a

one -star review Anyone anyone giving transformers

legacy a one -star review. You don't know what

the fuck you're doing Again, you know people

who are probably expecting something with a little

more text and a little more Well something expecting

expecting the book to do something the book was

not meant to do But at the same time Why would

you pay 50 bucks or 30 bucks for a book if you

weren't fairly certain what you were getting

it for? Right, right, you know, I I certainly

would But some people you know more money than

cents Somebody listening to this is gonna be

I resemble that remark I was gonna buy it, but

not anymore Anyway, thank you again to Jim and

Bill for the amazing book. Thank you for IDW

Publishing for sending me the copy and for allowing

this book to be made along with Hasbro and everybody

else. It's, you know, celebrating Transformers

30th anniversary and, you know, where it all

began with the toys in 1984 and just amazing,

amazing stuff. Now that our Transformers coverage

for the most part is kind of done, I'm sure we'll

have other things that you'll be hearing Michael

Wilson in coming up here shortly on the GeekCast

Radio Network. Where can the people find you

online, sir, to interact with you? Uh, I am on

Twitter at PecanCourtMichael. That's P -E -C

-A -N -C -T -M -I -C -H -A -E -L. Uh... Mo us

exactly. That's an old joke. Wow. Where'd that

come from? Ever heard that for like five years,

I don't think You go way back you wouldn't believe

you kids out there get off my lawn go back Go

back and listen to those old episodes. Those

are hilarious. I tell you what Yeah, um and on

Facebook, I think I'm like Facebook dot com slash

pecan court michael as well some like that probably

might be uh... it should be i think a lot of

people i see they have like their their screen

name and then like five five three four seven

or something afterwards and uh... i'm not sure

if that's something that facebook does automatically

but uh... i i know that when i got mine or or

when i put my screen name on facebook it i got

that just as they activated it so Know I'm pretty

sure I got mine the way it's supposed to be yeah,

you do it depends on like Like if say I tag you

in a status This was me to Michael Wilson when

recording tonight, and there's a giant picture

of Daffy Duck sound please If I click on your

name in my status, it takes me to the actual

post of the status, so it'll put something behind

your name, like after your name, but just going

to your profile directly, it is facebook .com

slash peconchromichael. Sweet. I'm on Facebook,

I'm on Twitter. All right, folks. We will catch

you next time. Keep playing with your toys. Stole

that from David DeWalt.