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Have any of you seen the home made statues of Optimus Prime and Bumblebee, standing outside of billionaire brain scientist Newton Howard's home in Georgetown? They are based on the Bay film aesthetic and there's been petitions to take them down for a long time, since they attract undo attention in this rich neighborhood and are said to break the neighborhood aesthetic. Neighbors have even said that having these statues up could encourage people to place inappropriate statues, like a Joseph Stalin statue (this is an actual argument).
As of right now, the law has sided with those who want these taken down, but the conversation will continue at the next meeting of the D.C. Public Space Committee where the current petition is to keep them up. And the reason we bring this up now is because none other than Peter Cullen and Dan Gilvezan are on the list of witnesses, and from what Dan states in the article below, they will bear witness in character as G1 Bumblebee and Optimus Prime. Here is the original article from the Washington Post: https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va ... 411dee256e
You can also read it below.
When the D.C. Public Space Committee gathers on Thursday to consider whether to allow two towering statues in the likeness of Optimus Prime and Bumblebee to remain standing outside a Georgetown home, they will hear from local residents, college students and the homeowner.
They will also hear from Optimus Prime and Bumblebee.
That’s right. This won’t be an ordinary hearing, or at least not a boring one.
The Autobots, in their own voices, will defend their place on the block, thanks to an attorney with a sense of humor and two actors who are used to rolling to the rescue.
Peter Cullen, who has served as the voice for Optimus Prime in the Transformers movies and animated series, and Dan Gilvezan, who gave voice to Bumblebee in the animated series, are listed on the petitioner’s witness list for the hearing.
“Bumblebee is going to testify and hopefully turn some heads,” Gilvezan told me on a recent evening.
The meeting will be held virtually, and Gilvezan plans to place a photo of Bumblebee on his screen and offer testimony in the voice that is familiar to fans. When we spoke, he considered what Bumblebee might say and two phrases came to him immediately: “Some of my best friends are human” and “I would hate to think I wasn’t welcome in Georgetown.”
“He’s a very innocent and youngish character,” Gilvezan said, “so I don’t think it would make sense to him as to why he wouldn’t be welcome.”
It may seem silly that the real Transformers are coming to the defense of the statues, but the controversy that has surrounded the figures since billionaire brain scientist Newton Howard placed them outside his home has been filled with silliness. Those statues have made people smile, pose for photos and leave gifts. They have also pitted neighbors against one another.
The 10-foot-plus figures are made from car parts and stand on two platforms that once held planters. Since putting the statues up, Howard has watched children stop to marvel at them and Georgetown University students make a point to walk by them. He has also seen his neighbors push for their removal. Neighbors have argued that the statues don’t fit with the aesthetic of the historic block of multimillion-dollar homes, could pose a safety hazard, have drawn unwanted traffic to the neighborhood, including from a motorcycle gang, and could encourage residents to put up statues of other figures. Joseph Stalin was named as an example.
In April, the Old Georgetown Board, a federal body made up of architects who review projects in the historic district, sided with Howard’s neighbors. They voted unanimously to deny his request to keep the statues standing outside his home.
The D.C. Public Space Committee, which is holding Thursday’s hearing, will take that recommendation into consideration before making a final determination.
Paul Strauss, an attorney who represents Howard, said the statues have now been up for two years, long enough to show that his neighbors’ concerns are unfounded. He said the figures are secured in place with anchors, no Stalin statues have been erected and a photo he saw of those bikers left him questioning what’s considered a motorcycle gang.
“It was some rich guy with a Ducati who probably does tax work,” Strauss said.
Strauss, who also serves as a D.C. shadow senator, said he plans to present a legally cogent defense at the hearing. (“If you’re doing something on or with your own property and it’s not hurting anyone else, you should be allowed to,” he said. “Let’s just err on the side of freedom.”) But he also plans to tap into the levity of the situation. (“Are we going to try to have some fun with this?” he said. “Absolutely.”)
If you ask Strauss whom he represents, he won’t say Howard. He will tell you he represents Optimus Prime and then quip that “Bumblebee, for ethics reasons, has separate counsel.” (Another attorney in his office, Marta Jara, is focusing on Bumblebee for reasons that are more logistical than ethical, but that explanation doesn’t sound as funny).
Strauss will also tell you how registering online to speak at the hearing posed a challenge for Optimus Prime and Bumblebee that humans don’t have to worry about: “My clients find the idea that before they can register they have to prove they’re not a robot a little bit discriminatory. We may have an equal protection challenge there.”
Strauss credits Emily Swallow, who grew up in the D.C. region and plays the armorer on “The Mandalorian,” for connecting him to Cullen and Gilvezan.
Howard, whose work involves using technology to try to cure neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, described the willingness of Cullen and Gilvezan to speak at the hearing as “an amazing rallying of support that I did not expect.”
Howard also plans to speak at the hearing. He shared his statement with me, and it addresses how he has been humbled by the number of people who have expressed affection for the statues, how that display of art contributes to a neighborhood that “has a long history of eccentric artwork” and how, if he is allowed to keep those figures standing, he plans to get them routinely cleaned and inspected “to make sure they are putting their best foot forward at all times.”
When we spoke, Gilvezan wasn’t yet sure what he would say to the committee. But he told me he got behind the effort because children are going through a rough time right now and the statues give them joy.
“The world is awfully bleak in a lot of ways these days, especially for kids,” he said. The statues are something out of the ordinary — which is why people have a problem with them but also why they are needed, he said. “I love the idea that somebody is driving by with their kids and suddenly it’s, ‘Oh, its Bumblebee and Optimus Prime!’ It’s going to make their day, and to think that opportunity wouldn’t be afforded to them makes me sad. And it makes Bumblebee sad, too. I can promise you that.”
While the Transformers Earthspark show has been around for months, Megyn Kelly, famous for her time on Fox News, only learnt now that the show includes the non-binary character Nightshade. She doesn't watch the show but commented on a clip featuring Nightshade discussing their pronouns with a human, calling it "disgusting". The reason this is being brought up here is because with Transformers being a franchise from the 80s, it rarely gets discussed in the older demographic (60 and up) and now Megyn has raised the show's awareness to them, who follow her, spreading outrage.
This was then picked up by her old network, Fox, with Laura Ingraham who dedicated an entire segment to it, calling the show "corrosive".
Here is a video detailing the fox news segment with clips of Laura Ingraham reacting to Transformers Earrhspark.
We have our most comprehensive interview yet with Transformers Rise of the Beasts' director Steven Caple Jr. While it reinforces many elements which fans have expressed disliking, like the push for diversity, rap culture, Michael Bay helping with the film and ensuring the preservation of the Bayverse, it does give us something very refreshing compared to all other Transformers films: a focus on the robots as characters the audience can truly care about. While we did have that with Bumblebee, that film was centered around the nostalgic concept of a human befriending an alien creature (who could not talk), learning about our world. This film instead is about teams of robots, each made up of distinct characters, with their own personalities and reasons for acting as they do.
Here is the blurb concerning what the director hopes to accomplish with this film and you can read the entire interview from the Hollywood Reporter here.
I hope it’s not a cheesy answer, but I want people to be able to connect with the new Transformers that we’re creating. Yes, I definitely want people to connect with the humans, too, because they now look like us more than ever in this film. But, if anything, I just really want people to be able to emotionally connect with the Transformers that you know and the new [Transformers] that we’re bringing to the table. I’m not here to just create robots for you to say, “Yeah, that was cool. That was fun.” I want you to be like, “I really truly care about [Optimus] Primal. I really truly care about Airazor and these other characters,” because this is the foundation for what I would love the franchise to be going forward. And a lot of the stuff in this film is a huge setup for where the franchise can go, so I’m excited for people to check that out.
Thanks to a heads up from Seibertronian Sabrblade, we have news that the latest SFX Magazine, the February 2023 edition, has an exclusive interview with Alan Tudyk, the voice of Optimus Prime in the Transformers Earthspark. This is Tudyk's first time voicing Optimus Prime, and his awe at being able to voice the legendary Autobot Leader is on full display. This is not his first Transformers experience though, as he played the character of Dutch in Dark of the Moon previously, which he references in his interview. You can read the snipped of interview below, and pick up the Magazine for the full interview!
What goes through your head when you learn that you’re going to be part of such a well-known franchise?
I got an email asking if I wanted to do it. I read it and my brain rejected the idea that I would even be asked to play Optimus Prime. I read it as Prime. I saw Prime and I was like, “Oh, right. There are other Primes.” Because I did [2011 live action film] Transformers: Dark Of The Moon, and there was another Prime [Sentinel]. There was Optimus and then this other guy showed up.
It was like one of the original Primes and so I thought I was like Optometrist Prime or some other, you know, Amazon Prime. I was like, “Cool. I’ll be talking about Transformers. I’ll probably have like two lines an episode and I get to do this cool thing.” It wasn’t until just a few days before I ever had to record that I started working on it and saw that all the lines in the script that were highlighted were Optimus, and I freaked out.
Why?
Like, there’s no way! [Laughs] What are you talking about? I’m more like Uncomfortable Prime, I shouldn’t be… That’s usually my characters that I play: Indecision Prime, left or right? We really had a blast, I came in and worked on it, and we had a really good time. The first time I got to say “Autobots, roll out,” I got chills, literally chills. And then they turned up the heat. And then we continued the session.
What’s been your main take-away for your character?
I would say it’s just so much fun. I love this new iteration; there’s areas of grey here because it’s now after the war, and Megatron and Optimus Prime are working together, but it’s not clean-cut. Some of the Decepticons are still fighting this war, so they’ll capture them and it’s like, “Are they your enemies? Are they your friends? You’re all part of the same species. So what is it?” There’s a question there. It’s about looking after ourselves as a species, which is a good message at any time in history, but working together for the common good.
I also took away how cool the animation has become. From when you first watched it to now, this big animation is so cool, it looks really, really good. It’s very entertaining, there’s a lot to it. There’s a story family, a lot of that part of the story, but then there’s also some really great action.
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