Transformers Animated! That’s what TAP is all about

I got a vibe tells me I should be sitting in

on this scene for a while. This episode of Transformation

Animation Podcast features Stephen C. Phillips,

Mike Blanchard, and Michael Wilson. Hello, and

welcome to Episode 0 of Transformation Animation

Podcast. I am your host, TFJoneMike, and joining

me is Steve Megatron. Hello. Hello. And Peacon

Court Michael. Hey, how's it going? So, yes,

it is going, and we are back. It's been a while.

Yeah. No, it's actually been about six months

since the three of us have recorded together.

More so for Michael rather than me and Steve,

because Steve and I record at least twice a week.

So, Michael, where the hell have you been? What

the hell have you been doing? Pretty much the

same thing I always do. Lots of drinking. playing

video games. Actually, kidding aside, just doing

the dad thing. My boys are getting older and

older all the time. Gavin's turning three next

month. Aiden will be five in August. They're

really, really cute at this age. And we have

the whole summer to play with them now. It's

going really good. Can't complain. That's good,

that's good. So when I was coming up for titles

for this one, we usually use acronyms for the

podcast titles. And I was going back and forth,

back and forth, and back and forth. And then

TAP just hit me. I was like, okay, Transformation

Animation Podcast. Because I didn't want it to

be Transformers Animated, the podcast. I didn't

want it to actually be the actual show name.

because that's technically copywritten. So yeah,

and then I came up with the whole tap thing,

and it's always been, I don't care what Michael

says, it's always been the next logical step

in the GCRN's Transformers franchise podcasts.

It's the second logical step. No, it is the only

logical step. We started with G1, then we were

the first podcasters to do a full -on review

podcast of Beast Wars and Beast Machines, and

now we are getting animated. And we didn't get...

that other show that kind of came between the

two. The other show was Japanese. It doesn't

count. Well, yeah, okay, fine. We got rid of

the Armada from Energon and Cybertron. Well,

he's mostly talking about R .I .D. Yeah, I was

referring to Robots in Disguise. I wasn't a big

fan of Armada and Cybertron and Energon. I don't

think anybody was. Not necessarily in that order.

Yeah, I wasn't a big fan of the trilogy, to be

honest. I skipped most of it. But Robots in Disguise,

I watched faithfully. I recorded it and watched

it. I really enjoyed that show. If it was in

English, we probably would cover it. It's in

English. No, it's not. Yes, it is. If you ask

around the fandom, Skybyte is one of the most

beloved characters. Yeah. One of the most beloved

in Transformers fandom. Yeah, it's in English,

yeah. It was originally in Japanese, and it was

dubbed. But then again, so are a lot of other

shows that came to the U .S. that are really

pretty good. But I think eventually, maybe once

we get past this and, let's say, review some

of that Transformers Prime stuff, we might want

to circle back and do... Robots in Disguise,

because it is a very good show. I think you're

going to find it's going to be one of those situations

where before you actually watch it, you go, oh,

I hate that show. That show sucks. And then you

watch it, kind of like animated, and you go,

ooh, I like this show. Isn't that the one where

What's -His -Name is the one that I hate that

voices Optimus Prime? Neil Kaplan. Neil Kaplan,

yeah. There's an automatic mark against it. No,

David Kaye was Megatron. In Red? No. No? No.

He didn't pick back up his Megatron until Armada.

Yeah. Alright, who is Megatron in Robots in Disguise?

I have no clue. I've never actually seen the

series. I'm almost positive that was K. I am

positive 100 % it's not. Alright. I can tell

you anything about that dude's... voice profile.

He can. It's true. He stalked him. I do. Not

in the dark way. I know. Why, hello there, precious.

I'm in another bed. So wrong. Yeah, that's so

wrong. I'm looking it up on BehindTheVoiceActors

.com. Yeah, shameless plug for Kevin there. Yeah,

he'll be coming up later. So while Steve's looking

it up, we've got several topics that we're going

to hit in this introductory episode. Basically,

what we are going to do is we are going to cover

every single Transformers animated episode. We're

also going to have some toy discussions here

and there. Those are probably going to be special,

like .5 episodes at some point. Don't know exactly

how we're doing that yet. The only thing that

I had originally gotten straightened out is that

the podcast will be 15 episodes, which will include

every single episode from the cartoon. I have

both volumes of the Allspark Almanac, so you'll

probably hear me looking at some of that, or

not hear me looking at it, but I'll probably

read some of the stuff out of that, or I'll probably

go to that for interesting factoids, so I don't

actually have to type and search for stuff. What

this podcast won't be. It won't be the dark mess

that the Beast Unleashed podcast is. No, I think

we're going to go for a lighter tone in the series.

For all intents and purposes, this is a kid's

show. Arguably, Beast Wars was a kid's show.

It was very slapstick, very comedic, but the

writing was just top -notch, and it gave a lot

of fodder for discussion. Beast Machines... Arguably

not a kid's show because it was just so dark

and really drove us down into a hole that maybe

we shouldn't have gone into. But Transformers

Animated, just 100 % kid stuff. It's very cute.

The thing that I think really endeared it to

fans was the fact that Marty Eisenberg and Derek

Wyatt had such a grasp. of what made the fandom

great, and they infused their show with it. Yeah.

Still very much a kid's show, but every turn

there's a nod toward G1, Beast Wars, the stuff

that us older fans enjoy. Before you go any further,

Megatron slash Galvatron Red was played by Daniel

Reardon. Daniel Reardon. That's what it says

on the wiki, and I know that's what it says on

Behind the Voice Actors because I remember seeing

his name on the RID entry. I'll buy that, sure.

Well, I can send you the link to the wiki. No,

I was scouring the wiki as we were looking at

this, and I was like, who took the voice for

that? It was killing me. For some reason, I thought

it was K. No, it wasn't K. Oh, well. Anyway.

Regardless, it's a good series. I'm sure once

you've actually seen it, you'll change your mind

on it. The science was actually pretty good.

So yes, back to animated. So we won't have too

much of the dark humor that the Beast Unleashed

had. I'm sure we'll have some sort of humor in

here at some points. I think it's all going to

be humor. We're going to have to find some new

internet memes to ape on, I think. Michael always

tells me. Every time that he and I or the three

of us ever get on a Skype call, he's like, you

should be recording this. We say funny shit.

Even when we're not talking about a particular

show. I know. Just general conversation. We just

say, it's like we are the podcasting comedians.

I can't really say that. I mean, I don't consider

myself a comedian. Occasionally I say something

that makes me giggle. And even after the fact,

when I'm listening to it, I'll be like, haha,

that was funny. I can't believe I said that.

Yeah. So what this podcast will be, as I said

earlier, we're going to cover all the cartoon

episodes. We're going to potentially have interviews

with the creators, writers. An interview I'm

most gunning for on this one. Of course, I have

to find the information again. But one of the

ones I'm most gunning for will probably be a

TAP slash ATTF crossover interview. Susan Blue.

We need to get her because, you know, 25 years

she's been with Transformers since G1. Yeah,

that would be the holy grail. Just because she

was R .C. in several series. No, it's specifically

because of her overall involvement in the franchise.

Right. She has been the voice director for all

the modern shows, as well as a voice actor in

the older shows as well. So that would be a huge

coup. And she's voice acted and animated as well.

Yeah. Yeah, as I said, R .C. across several different

shows. I know I can get Derek J. Wyatt. I do

have a connection for Marty Eisenberg. I would

love to talk to Matt Youngberg and maybe Sam

Register as well. We will also be talking with

hopefully several of the voice cast at some point

or another throughout the podcast lifespan. Steve,

what are you – all right, let's – before we go

any further as far as what the show is going

to be. Steve, what are you most looking forward

to from this podcast venture here? Well, one,

I'm looking forward to talking with the both

of you again. We always had good times, despite

getting irritated with each other towards the

end of The Beast Unleashed. Yeah, because it's

such a fun time. It is most of the time, unless

we start getting on each other's nerves. But

other than that, I mean, it's... Not that bad

of a show. I look forward to actually discussing

it and seeing what everyone's opinions are. Yeah,

I actually wish that there was more Transformers

cartoons that are, you know, U .S.-based that

we could actually, you know, go back and do again

because it just seems like we're running out

of material. Michael, what about you? What are

you most looking forward to from this one? Well,

I tend to drink a bottle of wine before each

show, so that's really what I look forward to.

I'll be sure to tell you guys all about it once

we get into the conversation. And I start slurring.

No, actually, we've had a lot of fun together.

I actually was really looking forward to doing

this podcast with you guys, just because... It's

a streak. We've got to keep it alive. We did

the G1 podcast together. We did the Beast Wars

podcast together. As Steve said, toward the end

of Beast Machines, we were grading on each other

a little bit. I think that was just due to the

fact that the nature of the show was just so

dark. It's like having the one ring around your

neck and just making you evil. Blanchard's not

going to know what this is because he doesn't

like Lord of the Rings, but Steve's over there

nodding his head. Yeah, yeah. Well, it's also

like the hate plague. Yeah. There you go. That's

even better. We're going to chase each other

and tag. Ah, you're it. Didn't you like to be

a Peppa too? That's right. That's almost as good

as the actual sound clip. Ah, Eric Idle. I don't

think Eric Idle was the... Anyway, what it comes

down to is... Yeah, that was a dark show. I don't

really want to see that duplicated, and I really

think that due to the nature of the animated

show, this is going to be much more lighthearted.

I think we're going to be laughing and having

more fun with this one. Yeah. Now... When did

you get – Steve, did you pick up on this show

at all like in the beginning when it first started

airing? Did you ever try to watch it at all?

Yeah. I remember thinking when I was watching

it that unlike you, I was going to give it a

shot. I'll get into my stuff way later. Yeah,

Captain Crap Basher. But anyways, I – No, I thought

I'd give it a shot, and from what I saw of it

from the initial introduction, I was pretty impressed,

so I was able to go back for more, even though

some of it was kind of unneeded and extremely

childish, but it still was a fun ride overall,

but it really hit its stride in Season 3. Yeah,

it did. I was thinking Season 2. Season 3 was

just gravy. That's what I mean. It was complete

fan wank the entire season. Yeah, it was awesome.

I was really looking forward to it when I found

out that it was going to be in the same style

as Teen Titans. Because I really liked the Teen

Titans show. And the thing I liked about it,

which I know it's not for everybody, but because

it was an American show, but it had a lot of...

nods to Japanese anime. They had the close -up

chibi face with a big tear across their head.

Things like that. I like. I think that's kind

of cool. It's a staple in anime. I really enjoy

anime. It's not for everybody, but I think that

the Transformers animated went along those same

lines. It had a lot of the same animation styles,

but it didn't... quite that deep into the anime

look. You didn't have the chibi heads with the

big teardrop next to them. Right. Their face

wasn't reduced to little scrunchy lines with

a red hash on top of it, if that makes any sense.

I don't know if it will to Blanchard. I don't

think he follows anime. It does. I have seen

some anime. I just don't watch it at all. I've

seen some in the past. Like, I saw some, like,

oh, God, I don't know, over maybe five or six

years ago, longer than that. I have seen some

anime. So I know what you're talking about. It's

just I choose not to watch that style of cartoon.

Well, even if it's just, like, Pokemon, you know.

Oh, yeah. Something like that. Then, yeah, you

see that. You follow. You understand. Yeah. But,

you know, I really liked Teen Titans. And I thought,

you know, I could see. a show going in this direction.

I think it would be really neat. And once it

came out, I was already looking forward to it.

But then they didn't do things that people were

complaining about. The fandom was all up in arms

because they were saying the transformation was

going to be like a Tasmanian Devil tornado, and

then they were going to transform. And it's like,

oh, we can't have that. And we had just suffered

through Beast Machines. So we knew what horrible

transformations look like. But overall, I really

enjoyed it. I walked into it wanting to like

it, and I was so pleasantly surprised that I

literally watched the episodes as they came on

TV. So a grown adult here watching the show on

Saturday mornings. That was my first issue with

this show. was when it came on. Originally, when

it premiered, it came on Saturday morning at

10 .30. Well, at the time, I was doing, well,

when it started in 2008, I was still doing TFG1.

We were just getting ready to launch the network.

Half the time, I was up until 3, 4, 5 o 'clock

in the morning, Saturday morning from the previous

night. And I would sleep until 1 o 'clock Saturday

afternoon. You know, it's one of those things.

And it's like, I, or, actually, you know, I've

done this several times on not just this show,

but on other shows. It's like, I'll wake up on

Saturday morning, I'm like, okay, cool, cartoons,

I'll see what cartoons are on. But I've woken

up at 11 o 'clock, right when the damn thing

is ending in the next cartoon, which isn't what

I wanted to watch is coming on. So that was my

first gripe about the show. When I first saw,

you know, a full episode, a couple of full episodes,

I saw one with Angry Archer, I saw one with Professor

Princess, and I'm thinking, I know they're trying

to placate the kids, but these are the worst

human villains ever. Oh, Aaron Archer gets his

own villain and you bash it? Come on. Now, hold

on a second. I didn't know that at the time.

I didn't know it was based on Aaron Archer. 2008

is when I had just started getting back into

collecting. I had just started getting back into

the fandom, and I had just started getting to

know everything again. Looks just like him, too.

Cut a little bit. Yeah, it does, actually. That's

one of the reasons why I recorded my old blog

post that I wrote back in 2008, or I actually

wrote a review of Animated for PredaconEmpire

.com. Shameless plug. And I actually, before

we had started this, so Steve could have something

for the feed for Transformation Animation Podcast,

I read that. That blog post allowed over the

air, and I recorded it, and I put music under

it and all that stuff, and that's on the feed

for TAP. Back when you were bad -mouthing it

before you'd actually seen it? Yes. Yeah, I remember

that. I was like, you know, give it a shot. Give

it a chance. So I recorded this. It's on the

feed. It's Transformers. I think it's TFA from

hate to love or something similar to that. And

I just couldn't stand it. I just couldn't. And

I said, okay, well, because I can never remember

to actually watch the cartoon, when the DVD is

going to announce, I'm like, all right, cool.

I'll get the DVDs and I'll give it a shot. I

really didn't give it a shot until I first saw

Season 3 premiere episode, Transwarped, because

it was super hyped up. They were going to fan

-wake everybody, like Steve said, and all this

and all that. And as soon as I saw that episode,

I went back. I bought the Season 1, Season 2

DVDs. And we'll talk about those a little bit

later. Or as the show goes on, we'll talk about

those a little bit later. I really wish I had

picked those up when they came out at the stores.

Yeah. And I thought, nah, those are going to

go on sale. I'll pick them up then. Now you can't

find them. Yeah, you can't find them. And if

you do, they're $80 on eBay. Yep. Which is kind

of weird. So I picked up the DVDs. I went back

and I watched it. And I really, really enjoy

it. I've never seen... I've seen bits and pieces

of Teen Titans. Half the stuff of Teen Titans

that I've seen that I've been able to find on

YouTube is mostly people using the animation

for friggin' AMVs and music videos and all this

and all that bullshit. Well, I'm just saying,

like, for me, Teen Titans wasn't a show that

I really cared about. It's not in the DCAU continuity,

so it wasn't anything that I really cared about.

I don't, you know... fully hate the show on its

own, but... So I didn't see the comparison of

animation styles, and I didn't find the animation

style of Transformers Animated to be as garish

as everybody had said it was. It's like, oh,

this sucks. Why isn't this G1 style? Blah, blah,

blah, blah. There's plenty of hints. There's

a lot there. There's a lot to enjoy. I appreciate

that it's a different take. It's as different

a take on G1 as Michael Bay's movie was a different

take on G1. Or at least the style, I should say.

Even to a certain extent, the storyline. Because

here we've got an animated, you know, we've got

a story that takes a nod from G1, but kind of

turns it on its head a little bit. And says,

well, you know, things like the Prime isn't actually

the leader, the end -all be -all, he's just a

captain. He's a captain of a ship. That's what

you call the captain. He's the Prime. And that's

unheard of in G1. What are you, crazy? Optimus

Prime is the leader of all the Autobots. But

like I said, just different enough to make you

go, huh, this is kind of neat. Yeah. Yeah, it's

very, very, very cool, actually. I'm actually

just looking at the opening. of Transformers

anime, the All -Spark Almanac Volume 1, and all

the different logos. This originally was going

to be called Transformers Heroes. I'm so glad

that didn't happen, because it's kind of like,

oh, Transformers Ninja Hero Turtles or whatever,

something stupid like that. I think that's originally

what they were going to call the series. Yeah,

Transformers Heroes. Right, right. I was thinking

you were saying the Allspark Almanac was supposed

to be called Heroes. No, no, no, no, no. But

I'm looking at the early logo ideas that are

just on the table of contents, and they all look

really, really cool, but I'm so glad with the

logo that they decided to choose on. I really

like that. That's a really cool logo. Okay. What

else? I need to talk to Jim Sorensen. Again.

No, I mean, now that we're into it, I mean, this

guy wrote the book, right? Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Well, we will still have Jim on, but I'm saying

I've talked to him before. Oh, yeah, well, I've

seen him at BotCon. You know, we didn't record

anything there, but he's a nice guy, really nice

guy. Yeah. So, let's see, the next... Point of

business is listener feedback. Again, the voicemail

line, if people just want to record MP3s for

their voice, they can email them to tf2andmike

at gmail .com. I know there are tons of Transformers

animated fans out there, so I know that there's

probably going to be a lot, hopefully a lot of

people listening to this one, because I know

there's a huge fandom for this franchise. Any

other thoughts before we go to some ads, guys?

Steve? No. I have a thought. I'm actually thinking

that this series takes a couple serious looks

back into Beast Wars. And not so much tying Beast

Wars into the continuity, but including characters

that were from the Beast Wars series. Not the

exact character, but nods. You get a rat trap

in there, you get a black arachnia in there,

things like that. Well, you got all the Maximals

at one point. At one point, yeah, they pop their

little heads up in the jungle. Yeah, so there

is that. And I'm thinking that with any luck,

people will say, hey, we have to take a second

look at all that Beast Wars stuff. In case people

have actually seen this show and haven't seen

Beast Wars. Well worth going back and listening

to the Beast Wars Unleashed podcast. Yes. Yeah,

there you go. If I can manage to get it out.

Beast Unleashed podcast. Yes. Yeah, it's going

to be really interesting to see after we get

this one done. The evolution of the GCRN's Transformers

podcasts from G1 to The Beast Unleashed to this.

And then after the task, maybe the robots in

disguise? Potentially. Heck yeah. If it's on

DVD here in the U .S., maybe. Oh, that's a good

question. Is it on DVD? I don't know. I'm going

to get a good friend from Shout Factory on the

phone. Oh my gosh. See what they have to say

about that. Yeah. All right. So we're going to

head to some ads, and then we've got a Transformers

animated virgin in Optimus Solo. He's going to

be giving us some thoughts, and then we are going

to respond to that, and then we'll close the

show. Transformation Animation Podcast will be

back after these messages. Soundwave, jam that

transmission. Rumble frenzy. Ravage rat bat.

Eject. Operation interference. No, there will

be no operation interference. I am TFG1 Mike,

and you should be listening to my very first

podcast, the TFG1 Podcast. 24 episodes covering

the entire U .S. run of the 1984 Transformers

cartoon. I also have a few supplemental episodes

and an interview with Stan Bush. I bring in guest

hosts who will be full -time co -hosts in Steve

Megatron and fan of the show now co -host P.

Concord Michael. So check out the TFG1 podcast.

You can find it on iTunes and the web at www

.geekcastradio .com. Transform and roll out!

Welcome to my throne of future tales. The Beast

Unleashed podcast is over, not gone. You can

hear more of this great podcast discussing all

the episodes of Beast Wars and Beast Machines

on geekcastradio .com. We include voice actor

and writer interviews with stellar hosting by

Steve, Mike, and Michael. Head on over to iTunes,

or the net, or else I will send you my vehicles

to extract your spark and destroy you. Yes. gets

tapped. That's right, I have never seen a single

episode of Transformers animated, so you're going

to get to hear my reactions as I watch every

episode for the very first time. Now, since the

guys aren't discussing any actual episode just

yet, I thought I would take this opportunity

to let you in on my first reactions and opinions

about this show. First of all, I've been a Transformers

fan since 1984 when I was three years old. In

fact, I've collected Transformers toys since

that same age. I even saw the 1986 movie in the

theater. But for some reason, I have never sat

down to watch this particular series. I think

the main reason for that is because, like many

people out there, I can't stand the animation

style. And for those ToonCast fans out there,

you should know that if I don't like the animation

style of a show, I'm probably not going to watch

it. Now granted, animated style is not as bad

as Dexter's, Fairly OddParents, Powerpuff Girls,

and all that other crap. But there's just something

about Animated that went against everything I

had grown to love about the Transformers franchise.

I mean, come on. The franchise is supposed to

be about big giant robots fighting each other.

You know, manly stuff. And regardless of the

storytelling, the voice acting, the characterizations,

etc., this animation style is anything but manly.

Given that, though, I still want to give the

series a chance and find out once and for all

for myself if the writing can truly outweigh

this craptastic animation style like everybody

says it does. So on one hand, you're going to

get to hear some in -depth breakdowns from the

guys, true animated fans. And on the other hand,

you're going to get to hear some quick reactions

from yours truly. So let's have some fun while

we take this journey together. I just hope I'm

still standing at the end. Now back to Transformation

Animation Podcast. So yes, that was Kevin, and

we stuck him actually on Cybertron. He's actually

stranded there. What do we think of Kevin's little

introduction, Michael? I think it'll be interesting

to see his take on things. I mean, Kevin likes

Transformers. Yeah. And it was just odd that

he's never seen this series before. But, you

know, hey, maybe he sleeps until 1 o 'clock in

the afternoon on Saturdays and didn't see any

of those episodes, unlike some people, right?

But, yeah, hey, let's see what he thinks. I'm

sure he'll enjoy it. Steve? Eh, pretty much the

same thing. I just want to let the listeners

know Kevin's take is going to, like, when we

cover next time, when we cover Transform and

Rollout, the actual quote -unquote movie that

started the series, obviously we're going to

be going in -depth, and Kevin is basically just

going to have under five minutes to just give

his quick thoughts on stuff. So that's how the

show is going to play out as far as transformation

animation. Because we are now to the format of

three at max four episodes per podcast, we are

actually, and I know Mike will probably argue

with this, but my goal for this show is to get

it done by the end of November. So we are actually

making this podcast weekly. It will release every

Monday, just like the Beast Unleashed podcast

did. This episode will premiere June 26, 2011.

So the next time that you will hear from us is...

Crap. Calendar. Lovely. Yeah. The next time you'll

hear from us is July 3rd. Yay. And hopefully

in July we will have a couple of interviews lined

up. So there's that bonus. Excellent. Any other

thoughts before I go through the outro? Nope.

It's a pleasure to be working with you gentlemen

once again. Agreed. I know we're not supposed

to cross genres, but why is Kevin Conroy's voice

flashing in my head? Gentlemen, it's been an

honor. We're not dead yet. Yeah, I know. Thank

you for joining us here on Transformation Animation

Podcast. As always, get in contact with us or

leave feedback for the show. Visit the website,

geekcasterradio .com. You can comment on each

episode post. Leave the show's feedback in iTunes.

I'm sure by the time this episode is up, the

feed will be in iTunes. Follow us on Twitter.

The shorting there is TFA Podcast. Mine is TFG1

Mike. Michael, what is your Twitter? PecanCTMichael.

And Steve? Burnt Toast. I'm joking. SCP -21.

There's a guy named Burnt Toast on Twitter. He's

going to be so pissed at you. Nice. Why am I

flashing to the night Michael showed me the Burnt

Toaster Transformer on Skype chat video? Oh,

my God. I've got that one. That's awesome. Yeah,

yeah, yeah. Ejector or whatever it is. Anything's

better than a rector. Anyway, become a fan on

Facebook. Go to facebook .com slash geekcaster

radio network. I can tell Michael's laughing

his ass off over there. There is a burnt toast

on Twitter. He's from Toronto. Ah, friggin' Canadians.

Follow the voicemail line. Tell us a show you're

leaving a message for and your name. 502 -526

-5821. We hope you enjoyed this episode of Transformation

Animation Podcast. I wish you'll join us next

time when we'll be reviewing the movie that kicked

off Transformers Animated, that being Transform

and Rollout. For now, I am TFG1 Mike with...

Michael Wilson. And Rotten Asparagus. Burnt Toast.

His name is Pierre Schneider. He lives in Germany.

B -U -R -N -T Toast. Steve Megatron Phillips.

We'll tap you again next week. That's what she

said. They're all going to be pissed at Steve.