Earthrise, Kingdom, and Robot Enhanced Design Figures

Hello and welcome to All Things Transformers.

I'm your host, Steve Megatron Phillips. Joining

me in this endeavor into Transformers fandom

is... Do you have your own mic? Yes, and this

is... Well, this is one of the last episodes

of 2020. Yes, and this show has not been 2020ed

unlike the other show. No, because unlike the

other one, there's plenty of good things going

on in this... universe or this side of things.

And so without further ado, we have some Transformers

Earthrise information. We've got some Kingdom

Toy info. We've got a convention info as well

as Transformers Red. So I think we will go to

Transformers Earthrise first. Yes. How much are

you looking forward to this? of this recording

we are nine days away from this show and I am

really really interested to see what they do

and how they do it I know a lot of people out

there are iffy on this show I know a lot of people

love it I know they're like there's people on

all sides and it's okay it's fine like nobody's

Oh, fuck it. Nobody's opinion can be wrong. We're

all assholes. You can't have a wrong opinion.

You just can't. I feel like I feel like I should

have that space balls clip. You get it. I'll

put it in. Yeah, it's wall to wall proctologists

is what it is. Yes. But here's the thing. Like,

OK, again, I reference this almost every podcast

you and I do. I did an episode with a friend

of mine of GeekCast Radio, Tom DJ. where he has

this modern fandom manifesto and it's this set

of like logical common -sense rules of how to

act within a fandom and everyone's opinion should

be their own and it should be respected to the

point of oh you love this great it's not for

me but i'm happy that you're enjoying it kind

of thing and some of these fans man like And

to be frank, we have been them before. We have,

and we're learning and we're trying to... We're

rescinding that stupidity and we're just like,

you know what? It's not for us, but you know,

they're keeping it alive. Yeah. Because eventually

it will come full circle. There will be one that

we enjoy again, like this. Right. And I did enjoy

Cyberverse. I thought it was a decent show, even

though it's a short form show. It was better

than RID. Both of them? Yeah, I'd have to go

back to... Well, RID was the continuation of

Transformers Prime. Right, right. I remember.

I'm saying I would have to go back to that to

really fully explore and remember it. But that

being said, aside from the really, really slow

talking because it sounds darker... That's really

my only gripe. And I blame that on the voice

director more than anything else. The voice direction

would would honestly be where it's at, because

it's not like they can't speed up the visual.

It's a very easy thing to do in Adobe Premiere

or whatever they're using to export it. They

could speed it up easily. It's just. I feel like

that's majority of the problem is the vocals

are too slow. Like they've tried something terrible

to stretch these episodes out to be longer. And

but it's not that they are good. And I do get

that they lack some of the storytelling that

like, you know, I mean, yes, Beast Wars is dated,

but the storylines are very intricate, very Well

written even if the episode sucks it there's

it's still very well done Whereas I feel like

this could have been sped up a little bit more

and some of the episodes like in In the the initial

trilogy of this siege I felt like you could have

even made it an episode shorter by cutting some

of stuff out, but It wasn't that it was bad,

and I did love seeing them in a CGI. As well

as some, you know, because I mean, in this particular

time they were covering, we've never honestly

gotten much in the way of a concrete storyline

kind of filtering it out. Yes, we've gotten various

iterations in different comic universes, whether

it be Marvel, IDW, Dreamwave. And then we've

gotten various ones in, you know, the Marvel

UK, we've gotten Um, you know, transformers prime,

we've gotten video games, we've got, so I mean,

we've had all different iterations of it and

none of them really, really fleshed it out as

well as this. Um, so I'm looking forward to seeing

what earth rises because honestly, like they're

not, it's not going to wrap itself up in a nice

little bow in this. It's, it's going to definitely

be kind of a pain, um, as they're going to deal

with these. Yeah, I forget what the third faction

is the oh Because I mean you've got Autobots

decepticons and you've got the ones that are

basically clones of everybody else The Crap yeah,

they're the crashy. No, no, no, it's the machine

faction. It's um, what the hell's it called?

God, it's going to drive me nuts. So anyways,

they've got, you know, on this other poster,

like because I'm one poster, they have, you know,

the nemesis, they've got the arc, they've got

Prime, Bumblebee, Wheeljack and RC, at least

it appears to be. Then on the other one, they've

got, you know, the the nemesis, they've got Soundwave,

Megatron, Starscream, Barricade, who looks like

Depth Charge. In the photo and then the other

one you get like a damaged Cybertron you get

a quinnison you get the arc You get this other

ship. That's the the machine army you get this

bumblebee clone this Wheeljack clone, and then

you get this other guy. That's the machine wars

sound wave toy basically Because you can definitely

tell they're you know cherry picking from various

season or series and saying, hey, this toy could

actually be a character, even if it's not fully

fleshed out, it works. So I don't know. I think

he's playing double dealer or something, something

like that. But but yeah, but regardless, like

I'm looking forward to seeing what they do with

it. I'm hoping that the voice direction is a

little bit better in this one. But again, this

is another one of those, you know, periods of

time that you never really heard about. Exactly.

Somebody complained about, and this was on that

first poster post, the poster of Prime and Bumblebee

and the Ark and all of that. So that first poster

post on the Transformers Facebook page, somebody

had commented where they're like, I wish more

could have been done with Siege. I wish more

could have been done with that, you know. As

they're basically trying to say that siege was

the only part of the series kind of thing and

I didn't reply to this person I just put a general

comment on the thing. It's so funny to me that

my comment comes up as one of the most relevant.

I love how people complain about Transformers

War for Cybertron Siege as if it was the only

part of the War for Cybertron trilogy. People

baffle me at times. The creators have said there

are three chapters. Each chapter is six episodes.

There is only so much you can put into six episodes.

And honestly, they put, like you said to me,

I think you said it off air, you might have said

it a few minutes ago, that they could have cut

by one episode, like have five instead of six.

but seriously they put so much into those first

six episodes and just from the trailers and the

teasers I've seen of Earthrise it seems like

they're doing that again they're putting so much

into it and we don't know how the story is going

to play out until we actually see it in nine

days. Well and that's the thing too is is they

put so much in there that's why I felt like they

could have cut some However, if they were to,

you know, if they had enough exposition and enough

storytelling and enough reason to they could

technically stretch it to like a 10 episode season

and or eight episodes like The Mandalorian. And,

you know, so I mean, in that regard, like, I

kind of wish they would have gone a little bit

longer. But again, you know, it's it's it's neither

here nor there. But again. I feel like it could

have been better. I feel like there's a couple

of hang ups and I'm not blaming it totally on

the story. Like I'm blaming it more so on the

voice direction territory of why this is catching

so much flack. It's because of the, like I said,

the almost Western slow talk that they've given

every actor in the show. And it's not that they

don't try. It's that that's what they're told

to do. And and so like, yeah, you have some good

ones. You have like Wheeljack. That's pretty

good. You have Prime. That's pretty decent. You

have some of the other Autobots. But most of

the Decepticons, like I feel like like some of

them kind of pale in comparison to like their

other versions. And it's not just because the

voices aren't the same actors. Like and I get

that they're going non -union and they're trying

to get people that sound. Or in some cases don't

sound anything like their character like Megatron

for instance But and I'm not knocking Frank Tadaro

because I know he's doing or not Frank Tadaro.

He starts to Starscream He does great at that,

but I'm not knocking. I forget who's doing Jason

Marnocha. Yeah, Jason Marnocha. He's He's doing

great for what he's got and plus I don't dislike

the voice No, I think he's doing it really well.

I think for some of the original ones, I think

that's one of the best original ones that I've

heard that gives it a new spin without sounding

like a carbon copy. Right now, if I was to rate,

because there are six episodes in Siege, if I

was to rate my top six favorite Megatron voices,

for me personally, Prime is number one, Prime

Welker, Beast Wars Megatron is second, Jason

is third. Jason from, from this, from more for

Cybertron is third. And then G one Frank is fourth.

After that, Corey Burton from animated, I guess.

Yeah, I would, I would, you know, I would agree

with your top five other than Megatron. Obviously

you would put, yeah, you would put Beast Wars

Megatron is number one. But it's also, he played

Beast Machines Megatron and I feel like he took

it up another level, but it wasn't like a new

character. It wasn't a new character. It was

a continuation. So essentially that's the only

reason I would bump him one step ahead of Frank

is because he got that extra series to play on

it. Um, whereas Frank didn't. And so, and I mean,

Frank got a chance, you know, Frank had three

seasons of prime. He had, you know, Two full

seasons of G1, and the reason why I put Prime

over G1 - But they're suited different. They

are, but it's the same. So from what I've read

and heard Frank say specifically, G1 Megatron

was a higher register for him. It was hurting

his voice more. And then Prime Megatron, he just

kind of reversed it and made it a lower register.

To me, it's the same, it's not the same character,

but it's the same vocal inflections from G1 to

Prime. That's all I'm saying. And that's the

only reason why the Prime version of Frank's

Megatron gets higher for me than G1, because

he improved upon his own character. Yeah, in

that regard, I see that too. Yeah, I mean as

much as people knock the voice acting like I

don't hate it enough to not watch it at this

point We still have Earthrise coming and then

That remains to be seen what they do with the

story what they do with the characters what they

do with the vocals and then we have Kingdom and

That's where things I feel are going to get either

extreme hate or extreme love And it's not just

for me. I have a feeling because people are very

critical over what we've gotten so far Right

the way the Beast Wars characters are They're

so dynamically different In a variety of ways

because they use a lot of their their animal

inflections You know Megatron's very snake ish,

you know dinosaur you get, you know Dinobot who's

got the And you know various other characters

that that have various either growls or sounds

that go with them I feel like if they don't capture

the essence of the character and Have it as closely

possible sounding like them. I feel like they're

going to get dragged through the dirt something

terrible for Kingdom and I know they're recording

it because or at least doing the animation for

it because FJ DeSanto shared a picture of it,

yeah. Yeah, he shared a picture of it at the

WB Studios, which I believe WB owns Rooster Teeth.

I don't remember. So anyways, I'm optimistic

for the next two, like I'm optimistic for the

storyline specifically of Kingdom and Earthrise.

I'm not optimistic on the Beast Wars characters

in Kingdom. I'm I have no I Have no ill feeling

on Earthrise because I have no idea what to expect.

It's like a totally different Universe basically

like here that they're playing in and so I have

no idea what to expect Kingdom I know that it's

kind of playing off of that original idea of

bringing G1 and Beast Wars together in season

4 of Beast Wars that never happened Yeah, it's

basically time travel. Yeah, it's time travel.

So but it's doing time travel in this essence.

But in the original Beast Wars, they were planning

on bringing the the the Autobots and Decepticons

into the Beast Wars. And and having, you know,

all of the characters wake up and, you know,

kind of join in the battle. So essentially, Kingdom

is getting to play in that playground that we've

never had before. Which that's what excites me

about it more than anything else so But yeah,

I mean I'm I'm looking forward to seeing it and

of course we'll review it when it comes out I

do find it odd that the arc looks like a weirdly

shaped duck on The poster I just noticed it just

now like it looks like an Autobot simple, but

it looks like a duck It's really weird It just

came to me, so that's why it popped up in conversation.

But yeah, I'm excited for it and in some of the

direction it's going. I'm loving this new generation

of figures that are coming out with the extensive

detail. Some of them do look cheaper than stuff

we've gotten in the last 10 years because of

the different ball joints. They don't necessarily

use ball joints. They use click joints now. on

a lot of stuff or a weird hinge system that it's

not quite the same as the ball joints like the

smaller they are the more they use the ball joints

the bigger they are they've gone to this whole

click actuator thing yeah which again i find

strange but i think it's because the sheer weight

of the figure it will likely hold up better in

the grand scheme of things but it also depends

on how well their feet and their legs are formed

I've discovered. But speaking of toys. Yes. We

should go to the kingdom toys that have been

announced. OK. Have you seen the Air Razor figure?

Yes, I have. That looks spectacular compared

to the original figure. Not only is it larger,

it's a deluxe this time instead of a basic. so

they're able to pack in more detail. But they

also give her some of the colorations, the face,

the arm bullets that Arizer had in the animated

series, which I find really cool, to be honest,

that she's finally gotten a decent figure. Yeah,

it looks so cool. It seriously has me tempted

to get it. Because it's it's so well put together

Yeah, I'm looking at it now. Wow. Yeah, it looks

so good Yeah, just the level of detail like it

puts the original toy to shame I feel like if

you could take certain like masterpiece figures

and then you take some of the kingdom figures

I feel like you could have like whole Full quality

line of these these figures at least pre -transmetal

Right and then of course you get Dinobot Oh,

of course. And I like his robot mode more than

his dino mode, but that's just because his dino

mode. I mean, it always shows Robo Kibble. Yeah.

No matter which figure it is. And I got the classics

one while back, like the 30th anniversary. Thrilling

30. And it was really good. But the the dinosaur

modes always are terrible. Now, this this being

said, you know, the dino mode of the masterpiece,

of course, looks spectacular and like the show.

But. And in the masterpiece of Dinobot does look

better than this. However, I will say for an

affordable price point, this Dinobot is probably

like if you're just wanting to be in robot mode.

This is probably the closest you're going to

get to the masterpiece and have it look this

good. The head for the first time ever actually

looks like Dinobot. Yeah, it does. Because they

made him a Voyager. He's not a he's not a deluxe

like he's been all along. Some of the some of

the colorations like I do feel like they cheaped

out on some of the color. On these figures compared

to. Because like his legs are orange and there's

like no silver on them Like there would have

been in the show or in the in the masterpiece

and so I mean in some of those regards I feel

like they cheaped out in some areas, but Again,

I mean, what can you do? It's still a it's still

a decently priced and well put -together figure

But yeah, so I really like that And then, of

course, a little new tidbit here. They dropped

EAN numbers for a Kingdom Voyager class Rhinox

and Tigatron. There's no pictures of them yet,

but... Right, yeah, I'm sure the pictures will

be coming soon. Yeah, it has me excited for it

because, I mean, now we've had we've had Primal,

we've had Cheetor, we've had Rattrap, we've had

Dinobot, we've had Megatron, we've had Blackarachnia.

Now we've got Rhinox and Tigatron joining the

fray along with Eraser and everything. So that

leaves, we just need to hear about either a Scorponok,

a Pterosaur or a Waspinator to join the fray.

The only one that I've not seen any like no hints

about him actually showing up is terrorists or

which is unfortunate if they don't use him because

I feel like or tarantulas either because I feel

like if they're trying to do this whole time

travel thing and with the state of where they're

at right now with the maximal side, the maximal

side is fully decked out, which means Megatron

side is sorely lacking. So interesting to see

who they bring in and how they bring them in

Like I'm basically we're getting a season one

of Beast Wars characters pretty much Yeah, as

long as they all show up right as again. I've

not seen any confirmation over Scorponok pterosaur

or tarantulas like waspin. You're just kind of

a given True you'll show up. I mean like yeah,

so I'm really hoping that they all come in there,

but I'm hoping that they get good voice actors

for these. I know I've obviously probably missed

my window, although it would still be great.

I can do Waspinator. I can do Megatron. Chris

McFeely is Dinobot and various other people that

were in Darkglass and they'll be all set. Oh,

I forget what his name is. The dude played the

Maximal computer like spot on. Sounds like sounds

just like Ian James Corlett. It was it was disturbingly

similar. And then funny enough, he didn't audition

for Cheetor when we did it years ago. So I'm,

you know, obviously a huge Beast Wars fan. So,

oh, that leaves out Inferno. We don't have Inferno

either for the Predacon side, but we've got until

June before we know everything anyway of who's

going to be where. But and it's possible they

may not have Inferno or Inferno was the last

Predacon anyway. So it's possible they may not

go that route. I'm just excited for it. Like,

I know you're worried about the voices and everything

else and you've told me off air and I'm only

bringing this up because it's part of the conversation.

You're like, I will denounce Transformers forever

if Megatron is bad. And I'm like, calm down.

There have been bad Optimus Primes before and

I'm still here. Yeah, but I feel like Prime is

kind of like that one that everybody does a decent

impression of. I feel like Beast Wars Megatron

people just like even even like like there's

I've heard waspinators I've heard rat traps.

I've heard I've heard various other like Beast

Wars characters and it's very difficult to hear

one that actually sounds good Of any of them

So, I mean once in a blue moon you'll find somebody

that does a decent like I did a TF con we found

a good quick strike voice but you know like I

can do tarantulas he's not good but I can do

him yeah I could do Tigatron or not Tigatron

Rhinox too it's not good but I can do it so I

mean I wouldn't want to hear myself do those

roles like just because they're so poor by comparison

so again like I said it I'm not denouncing it

I'm just saying I I if If the beast voices are

terrible I will not watch the rest of it You

have to because we have to cover it on this podcast.

Oh, you know, I'll watch it once I'll never watch

it again That that is what the equivalent of

what will happen See the thing for me and I've

said this for years. I have to watch things Two

or three or four times the first time I watch

it to enjoy it to get the story get my initial

thoughts the second time I might be watching

it to catch anything I missed and also to record

audio third time might be to actually take full

would be the fourth time but yeah no I understand

where you're coming from just I mean that was

like me way back when when Neil Kaplan was the

voice of Optimus Thank God I was a kid back then

and I had other things that could preoccupy my

time. What's sad is he followed us for a time.

Then he probably listened to one of the shows

where I bad -mouthed him. I wasn't bad -mouthing

him specifically, I just don't like his optimist

voice. Just like you don't like certain Megatron

voices or you're worried about, you know, how

Megatron... I'm pretty decent with most of them.

But... Yeah, I mean, there's there's some iterations

that are pretty bad of a lot of characters I'm

sure we have a lot of people seeing red. So let's

talk about the robot enhanced designs I did see

that they're gonna have a cheetor. Yes, which

I love the idea because I Wouldn't get I would

get all the Beast Wars characters I don't care

if they transform as long as they look like they're

supposed to look I don't care So for those that

I'm sure most people that are listening to this

know this, the robot enhanced design series of

transformers from Hasbro is non -transformable

figures. Uh, the images I'm looking at is Bumblebee.

Uh, we have a Starscream. I don't know why Devastator

is in this post because it doesn't look like

this. Combine your words. Right, right. I understand

that but it doesn't look like it's a red version.

It looks like that It looks like that's a transformable

version of Devastator anyway Yeah, like if I

was like I'm too old to be transforming these

things I like I I spend all my time Editing podcasts

now not not playing with toys and this is coming

from a guy who collects Funko pops But I only

ever take those out of the box to take pictures

of them. Then they go right back in the box But

I would still display these robot enhanced design

figures because they're so So cool. I can't wait

to see more of these Yeah, I'm I'm definitely

Stoked to see what they do with them as far as

future figures just because Again, they just

you know They look pretty blasted close. And

I just and honestly, like when I build stuff,

you know, I'm looking at the the red design of

Cheetor and RC from Prime and the Cheetor. He's

got the legs on his back like he would in Beast

Wars, his. Body looks just like it would the

colors are a little off He's got like a little

bit of gold stuff like going on with his head

and his arms and his you know The panels on his

legs and almost looks kind of evil in his face

a little bit But I mean for the most part like

it looks much better than the transformable versions

of cheetor other than the masterpiece Like cuz

I've never seen a decent looking cheetor. Yeah

And in ranch traps kind of hard to do too. So

like I mean Some of those type characters are

really hard for them to do But yeah, I mean it's

it doesn't look terrible I I would I would definitely

rather have something like that Than have to

worry about transforming it And in their action

masters, but they're acceptable because they're

not big giant bricks, yep Although I wish the

like the movie Scourge like I would be fine if

he was just, you know, robot mode, because I

want the studio series Scourge to. Anyways. Anyways,

I think it's funny that they've got core versions

of the G1 characters, though. Yeah, it's kind

of silly because it's like. In retrospect, like

if they, you know. I get why they're making them

smaller just so they can sell them and they're

kind of a footnote of the kingdom line. They're

not really. They're trying to sell a new version

of the character without necessarily having to

resell the same toy. So I get it. But. They're

the thing that's funny about it is. Like the

core Megatron for instance, he's he's got like

his his arm fusion cannon and then on his other

hand He's got the Walter, you know p38 that he

turned into in g1 which is funny, but I Find

it humorous that they're selling these and there's

they're all scaled smaller than the Beast Wars

When in Beast Wars, they're supposed to be larger

than the Beast Wars characters True I don't know.

It's just a strange sizing thing, but I think

that they're just trying to appeal to, you know,

everybody, everybody like, oh, I can't afford

another $50 Megatron. So what's funny is some

of the commenters are like, could you try using

a mold that doesn't scream? I don't know how

to draw a tank. And then another one says, so

another Megatron that looks no different to the

other variants in the war for Cybertron lines.

Gotcha. And then a lot of you know, is he holding

himself he has a mini gun himself someone is

playing with themselves lol So and then there's

like somebody did a meme of Yeah, it says Hasbro

to curry you guys are awesome you actually made

Megatron into this meme and there's a meme that

says mech that's got Masterpiece MPO one prime

playing with a miniaturized version is is there's

nothing like playing with yourself? People are

hilarious. I love it memes for the win So anyways,

yeah, so that's that's pretty much all the the

transformers news Yep that we've got We do know

that the beast wars comic is coming february

first issue is coming uh february 24th 2021 so

there you go folks 2021 is already off to a good

start because transformers beast wars number

one will be coming uh i think i read this last

time but i could be wrong celebrating 25 years

of beast wars in the future the planet cybertron

belongs to the scientific -minded maximals and

the action -oriented Predacons. When a crew of

Predacons led by the successor to Megatron's

name steals the Golden Disk in the ship capable

of traveling through time, it's up to Optimus

Primal and his Maximal crew, Rattrap, Rhinox,

Cheetor, and new character Nix to catch them.

Brand new beast era begins in an oversized first

issue. Yeah, so far they've only got listed the

first issue here in Comixology, so I'm sure next

time we record an episode, which will be in the

new year, most likely because we have an episode

coming out after this one, I'll have more info

on Beast Wars 2021, celebrating 25 years of the

series. So also, I find it funny that the timing

lands of this. Tformers has a link for the Making

of Beast Wars Transformers documentary. And it's

got all these YouTube videos of the making of,

the crew interview with the animators and programmers,

and the test work, the animation lip sync, and

things like that. Of course, promoting that Shout

Factory has the DVD series on sale for $19 .99

at Best Buy. I still have mine. Very cool. I

couldn't I couldn't part with it. I am looking

forward to the Beast Wars Megatron Kingdom figure

just because it's the closest I'm going to get

to a masterpiece. And it looks spectacular compared

to every Megatron that's in my price point. Yeah.

um there's a couple of little mini gripes with

it but overall like like as far as coloration

but i'm not complaining for having an accessible

version now if i get the masterpiece i would

ditch this in the heartbeat but that's not in

the cards uh so so yeah if you'd like to coordinate

something for steve's birthday next year please

email tfguandmike at gmail .com all payment forms

are accepted Oh, masterpiece mechatron. I'll

cry on the air now. I've done that before for

more important things, but anyway. So you have

a convention you're going to be doing. I do.

Funny enough, Iacon online is the name of the

convention. Now, the art is kind of funny because

it. It has kind of like a basic vector -based

art. It's actually very unique and actually very

cool. It's got almost kind of like a Mega Man

X vibe to it, not only in colors, but in the

design. And it's got like a little seeker flying

by. And this is Icon Online, where all are one.

And... Of course, so far they have some guest

spotlights that were dropped today, actually.

It's David Mariette. Yep. He's one of the editors

at IW. Yep. And writer, editor, done things like

Transformers versus Terminator, Transformers,

Sonic, et cetera. They've also got Flint Dilley.

Yep. having a panel. They've got Greg Berger

having a panel. And All Things Transformers having

a panel. We win. They're also going to have Artist

Alley applications for Virtual Artist Alley.

They're going to have cosplay contests. and you

know, alterations and things like that. So they

had a panel application process and I was like,

meh, let's see what happens. So I started filling

it out and it has, You know, we need a variety

of panels some panel ideas include games toys

reviews history of transformers characters focused

panel or focused panels fanfiction panels how

to draw transformers and more and I was like

25 years of Beast Wars. I Was like um That's

called the panel and I totally forgot what the

name that I picked for it was until like they

emailed me with the acceptance because I was

like I don't know what I'm doing. So I was like,

the worst that can happen is they'll say no.

So I sent myself on the ATTF messages that I'd

applied to it. And if I get it, it would be kind

of cool. And since it's the 25th anniversary

of Beast Wars, I said why Beast Wars was important

for Transformers rebirth and why it can be again

25 years later. And so I called the panel The

Beast Unleashed, and then it got accepted. And

I was like, oh, that's so cool. And then I was

like, now I have to do an entire presentation,

which isn't that far out of the realm. And so

I had fun creating it. And then I spent like

While trying to find like I was recreating the

Beast Wars logo and like this gold Look, which

was pretty neat But I was like if the panel because

I forgot that I named it the beast unleashed

until I was like half done with some of the art

and then I was like Oh, yeah, it's the beast

unleashed. I was like, where did I put the new

art for the pot art? Because I couldn't find

it and then I ended up finding and I was like,

okay, just copy paste the logo and then Put the

stuff on there then I was able to put all things

transformers on it. So anyways, I'm presenting

a panel It will likely be pre -recorded because

it's a weekend thing and I start production on

the audio drama series that I work for the very

next day So rather than have me be strung out

tired and everything else I'm gonna put on the

game face and I'm going to record it. It'll be

a video for their convention. I'll likely have

it timed and recorded and then have a nice little

slideshow going as well as conversation about,

well, Beast Wars and why it's important for the

Transformers rebirth and funny enough how it's

come back now to breathe revitalization into

the franchise. Because it seems like we've gotten

into that rut again where everything is G1 again.

Yeah. There was somebody that commented on one

of the Transformers Facebook posts where it's

like, I wish they would do a series. It was,

it was, it's on one of the, um, one of the War

for Cybertron posters. I forget which Earthrise

poster it's on. I wish they would do a series

that combines all styles of animation from G1,

G2, Beast Wars, Beast Machines. I'm thinking

to myself, there ain't no number of animation

studios that Hasbro could afford, because they'd

all have to farm it out to 17 different places

to get all those styles. I love that people come

up with these ideas, but some of these ideas

are so damn hair -brained it would never work.

Part of their thing was like, oh, so that way

we can appease all generations. And I'm like.

It's like I've said on this show before. We all

have our favorite parts of the Transformers lore,

whether that's Beast Wars, whether that's G1,

whether it's animated prime, whatever. They're

all still there, even though there's not new

episodes of Beast Wars. I mean, not obviously

the original series, Beast Wars, Beast Machines,

whatever you want to say. Those shows didn't

go away. They're still on DVD. They're still

on I mean I can go to to be right now and watch

an episode of both series like I mean some some

of these fans just act like The shows are gone

and what they're replacing them with they're

not replacing them. They're creating new content

Well, and they act entitled about it, which is

worse And I know I used to do that. I'm not saying

I did never did that I used to But for the longest

time now, I've had the, the opinion that, you

know, everybody has something in transformers

for them. Yeah. I mean, I, I, and I, I'm very

particular as well over, you know, my stuff.

I'm very like hair, brain, like it's gotta be

this way type of thing. Um, but that being said,

like I can watch it. and let it go. If that means

anything, like I can watch it with just a watcher's

eye and just kind of forget about it. And then

I'm like, oh, OK, that was decent. And then just

never watch it again. And just realize that's

not my cup of tea. It's not something I'll ever

revisit. But it was interesting. It was a different

take. Yeah, it's like when we recorded the first

episode of the new IDW universe and I asked you

off air after the fact, I said, are you still

interested in doing this? Did you like it enough

where you want to continue the story or do you

want me to find a different host to do the rest

of the thing? And you're like, no, I like it

enough and we'll figure it out from there, yada

yada yada. At least you're willing to give things

a try. There's, I still see so many fans and

now it's on Twitter, Facebook, wherever. And

it's like, Oh, no, I want this back. I want that

back. You still have that. It's just not coming

back in the way that it was there. Well, it's

like it's like Star Trek, for instance. And I

know this is a tangent, but Star Trek and Transformers

have kind of had a little bit of a synergy between

each other, you know, with Leonard Nimoy. So

the funny thing is, is like, I absolutely do

not like any of the modern Star Trek shows. I

find them repulsive because they have poor writing

and Because the special effects are not up to

par with stuff that came out 25 30 years ago

Namely like when they're having a space battle

they copy paste the CGI instead of like back

in the day They had physical models and somehow

they blew them up on screen using CGI without

having to Copy paste the same ship 50 times.

So, I mean, there's a lot of stuff in that regard

where I feel like it's very lazy and I hate it.

The canon, they can't seem to keep straight.

They have plot conveniences more than anything

else. They hit the same beat every episode. There's

no variation and it's very pale version of Trek.

So that being said, I hate all of the new series.

Funny enough, the only one I like is the animated

one. And that one was written by a guy that did

a parody account of season eight of TNG. And

he's doing this show that actually is funny enough

following Canon, even though it's poking fun

at certain things and it's doing it in almost

a Rick and Morty style of, you know, Orville,

you know, family guy element. But it's it's more

Star Trek than Picard or Discovery, which, again,

I find to be Blasphemous to the previous five

series that came before it But I'm still watching

them Because the name is attached to it and because

whether I like the series or not It's still playing

into the canon of this of the entire franchise

right and I Watch all of the Transformers series

even if I don't like them When is all is said

and done Because again, it's following the same

franchise. It's not in the same continuity like

Star Trek is but I watch it all same reason with

Star Wars or anything else and It doesn't mean

that I love it anymore like the new stuff I I

still loathe it I just watch it from the perspective

of I have to like go in knowing that I don't

like it But I'm watching it for the Canon sake

and just turning off my mind to the rest of it,

because if I don't, it'll just irritate me to

the point that I am just a rabid fanboy. And

I say that because I'm on a podcast called Future

Imperfect, and we're all rabid fanboys on there.

I'm a little less critical than the other three

on the panel. They mostly say everything I'm

thinking anyway, and so I don't have to say it

so I'm a good guy So that being said You know

when it comes to transformers like there's usually

it's an entire series that I dislike like I hated

the machinima stuff because not only was it short,

but it was just It just wasn't my cup of tea

like I didn't mind the animation I just disliked

a lot of the back -and -forth that was going

on in it I just wish the machinima series would

be put on Netflix so we can watch it in one streaming

consciousness. They'll never do it because look

at G .I. Joe resolute years ago. Those were five

minute clips. And when you put them all together,

it was one great hour and, you know, like 10,

15 minute movie. Right. When separately. It was

a disaster. Yeah, and so I feel like that's what

happened with the machinima series, and I think

it was also a proof of concept for this. Maybe

yeah, I think it was the demo reel to get this

going because once machinima took took the dump

and went up went under because I believe FJ Desanto

was a part of that team too. he was yes um so

i feel like he was able to take some of what

worked from that and bring it over to rooster

teeth and netflix and actually create a longer

form i mean essentially the the machinima series

was uh basically like i think it was like 10

five minute episodes or maybe five minute episodes

so it ended up being like two episodes it was

like two episodes of what we're getting now Right.

So they were doing like this entire like they

had three series of it, but it was like these

entire plot lines and they just I didn't like

any of them. I mean, I liked Primal when he showed

up, but and then they had Ron Perlman instead

of Gary Chalk. So, I mean, it's like, yeah. So,

I mean, I don't know. It wasn't my cup of tea,

but I definitely prefer the War for Cybertron

series much more than that. Although I don't

like the slow talking. Yeah, I don't either.

If you speed it up to 1 .5 or 1 .25 at least,

they talk semi -normal and move semi -normal.

Which sounds like that's all they really needed

to do. But I think that they had to stretch it

to fit a certain time span. Yeah, and you know

what? The time span for the War for Cybertron

stuff? Like I said earlier in this episode, I

feel like six, let's just call them 30 minute

episodes, even though they're more like 22, but

whatever. Six 30 minute episodes for three chapters,

18 total episodes. That's not what we used to

get back in the day, but if Earthrise is anything

like what Siege was with how much stuff they

put into it, like I'm excited. As far as the

machinima stuff goes, the only things that I

remember really, really enjoying was seeing shattered

glass Rodimus as Rodimus Eukronus, where he's

black and purple, but it's basically a shattered

glass Botcon homage where he's got the goatee

and all that. And the fact that Mark friggin'

Hamill, Luke friggin' Skywalker was a Transformers

character. I never thought that would ever happen.

Yeah, I think he played the Fallen. Megatronus.

Yeah, the Fallen. They call them the Fallen in

War Within of the old Dreamwave stuff. That's

where it originated. But yeah, I mean, he got

to play a part in that. That was great. So I

again, like I don't I don't dislike all of it.

And they had like Jason David Frank playing,

you know, in it as well. And so, I mean, you

had you had a lot of a lot of fan boy isms in

there and so that was that was fun too um like

you had you know i i know that like john bailey

it was a dream to become optimus prime at some

point he got to actually do it for one of the

seasons which was cool um you know even if he's

not your cup of tea like it was still cool from

a fan perspective to get to actually play the

role no absolutely and i i sort of liked what

he did but i'm like but then they went back you

know they got they got Cullen and it worked out

fine. I mean, that was. And then they killed

them, so they didn't have to pay him anymore,

but. That's right, kids, every time Optimus Prime

dies, it's so they don't have to pay Peter Cullen

anymore. Yep, it's so that they can get a cheaper

actor. That's the saddest thing, isn't it? Isn't

it? Well, I mean, and that's and that's why the

War for Cybertron series has no. Like you've

got youtubers. You've got other people online

like us. I mean there's there's people a Lot

higher profile than us. They're getting to play

roles in this We're like non -union actors and

so I mean It is what it is. Like I don't hate

it. It's not bad. I Just I fear for the the kingdom

voice acting but for the for the most part like

I definitely prefer this I think that they should

follow more the The Mandalorian thought process

on their episodes make them as long as they need

to be Yeah, don't don't try to stretch them to

a certain time limit like there were Mandalorian

episodes that were 32 minutes and there were

other ones that were like 52 and so it's just

it kind of like You know in this regard with

with the war for Cybertron If you need eight

episodes to tell the story properly You know

don't stretch the voices don't you know? To drag

them out, you know, just do Do what you can with

it tell a good story and If it needs to be longer

make it longer if it needs to be shorter make

it shorter But don't feel like you have to hit

this particular mark Yeah, kind of like a podcast

make it as long as it needs to be not any longer

Yeah, but the thing with the podcast is there

are some people out there as much as I love these

people to death Feel like oh we have to keep

it to blah blah blah if we go over this time.

Oh my god This podcast is the longest podcast

we've ever done on this podcast. It's like no

guys just talk and when you're done talking Just

close it out and like find a good Ending point

and there you go like next time on this show

Steve and I will be talking about transformers

galaxies issues five and six which features cliff

jumper on a cliffhanger because he's a wannabe

uh and that'll be our last episode of 2020 for

ATTF and we'll come back in 2021 with uh beast

wars number one most likely i don't know or we'll

probably have other things we'll probably come

out before because they'll they'll be the the

convention and um of course after the convention

comes out i'll likely release the video of um

my panel on geekcastradio .com. Cool. I'll wait

until after the convention because I don't want

to, you know, obviously I want to be in the convention.

So right there you go. But yeah. So I mean, if

people are interested in that, they can go to

iacononline .wordpress .com. And the link will

be in the show notes as always. As always. So

I think that's about it for this episode. It

is, and I forgot. We actually do have an episode,

hopefully, if we can wrangle that weird Solo

Mac person. We do have an episode. That's right,

Solo Mac. Solo Prime. Is that a sandwich at McDonald's?

No. The Solo Mac? It's a one? One Mac? Yeah.

Yeah, it's one Mac. It's not very big. It's a

Mac without the bun. That's right. It's a Mac

without the onions and the lettuce and whatever.

But with Optima Solo, because Optima Solo will

be joining us for our Earthrise episode. You

and I did the Siege episode. Optima Solo will

be joining us for Earthrise. So once we get that

time frame locked down, because man, I'm telling

you, December 30th. I hopefully will. Between

the time the second chapter releases on Netflix

on December 30th and the time we get to record

it Maybe this first or second or third week of

January. I'm hoping to have my TV mounted I'm

hoping to be able to watch it on a mounted 55

inch television screen because here's the thing

I Already have a TV. I just throw them. I lost

the remote. So I just had to spend six bucks

for a remote I forgot I had the other TV Nice.

Yeah, so I don't need no Phillips TV or anything

like that. But yeah, no, it's gonna be fun. We've

got lots of cool stuff coming up for all things

Transformers and the rest of the stuff on the

GeekCast radio network. I guess Transform and

Transcend and we'll catch you next time here

on all things Transformers. And if there's something

that you'd like to have us talk about, you can...

message us on the Twitter at allthingstfv3, or

you can email us feedback at geekcastradio .com.

So until next time, I've been Steve Megatron

Phillips, and you've been TFG1 Mike, and transform

and roll out.