The Ringer-Verse - 'Transformers One' and The State of the Franchise | Mint Edition

Episode Date: September 21, 2024

Autobots roll out! Jomi and Steve are back to discuss 'Transformers One' and how it stacks up in the Transformers movie franchise rankings. For those who haven't seen the movie, don't worry! We kick things off with a spoiler free review. Hosts: Jomi Adeniran and Steve Ahlman Producer: Jonathan Kermah Additional Production Support: Arjuna Ramgopal Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey, y'all. Sirot Sohi from The Ringer here, and I wanted to let you guys know about a new show that I'm hosting. The Ringer WNBA show. We're going to be talking about all the biggest personalities, breaking down and analyzing the latest happenings that make the W so fascinating, featuring some of the best guests and experts from around the league. Tap in with us on the brand new Ringer WNBA show feed on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. For adults with Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis symptoms, every choice matters. Tramphia offers self-injection or intravenous infusion from the start. Tramphia is administered as injections under the skin or infusions through a vein every four weeks, followed by injections under the skin every four or eight weeks. If your doctor decides that you can self-inject trumphia, proper training is required.

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business to keep companies of all sizes connected with internet, advanced Wi-Fi, phone, TV, mobile services, plus 24-7 US-based support. Millions of business owners already trust Spectrum business. So visit Spectrum.com slash business to learn more. Restrictions apply. Services not available in all areas. Hello and welcome into the ringerverse, your Nexus podcast feed for all things fandom i'm steve allman i'm jimmy dinner on and today we're back it's mid edition baby we're here it's the once-in-a-wild podcast about all the latest fandom that you just can't live with out it's time to transform it's time to roll out okay give me your best peter cullen right now on the spot transform and roll out you got to say automots engage the enemy

Okay. Give me that. Autobots. Engage the enemy. There you go. Gave it a shot. No, it's pretty good. Autobots, engage the enemy.

Transform and roll out. That's pretty good. We look to the stars. All right, anyway, we're going to be doing this all day. Other than that, we're talking about Transformers 1. Yeah. It's exciting. Only Transformers movie.

Just the 1. The 1. Just the 1. The 1. Da1. Da1. Do 1. The 1.

You can't make that joke. Can I not? You can't make the dead jokes, man. It's not... Not duh. You know what I'm saying? No, that's our... That's us.

Shoot. You know what I'm saying? I'm really sorry. It's okay. All right, well, I'll make an apology notes app thing later. It's exciting. We're excited to be back. We're excited to be talking about Transformers.

But before we get into all of that, a lot of things are happening on this here feed. But like later on in the week. It's Saturday today, but we're going to be a little silent for the rest of the week, but then on... I mean, the week is over. It's a Saturday.

Yes, the week's over. But next week. Next week, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, we might be a little quiet on the ring reverse because we're going to be giving you the rewatch of the Joker on the Midnight Boys. And recapping Agatha. And a paying one. Prep for Folly a year.

Yeah, man. Are you excited for that? Not really. Not really? You're not excited to revisit the Joker? One of the worst movies of the 21st century. Yeah, for sure. Something that you just really don't like ever?

I really hate that movie, bro. I really hate it. But it's cool, but we get to talk about Akitha and Penguin, too. That's true. That's very, very true. I'm excited for that. Yeah. And then, on Friday, next Friday, button match is going to come back to talk about the legend of Zelda, Echoes of Wisdom.

Is anybody in this room excited for Echoes of Wisdom? Do you play Zelda games? And then after that. And the crowd goes my lild. Okay. And then after that, we got all can afford Nintendo, Steve. You know, some of us had to grow up saying, duh hood. You know what I'm saying?

Wow. Like, it's not the same, you feel me? Okay. So. I'll ignore the D and Nintendo and carry on. Saying some of us can afford to, you know, Nintendo. So, must be nice, Steve. How was it on your ivory tower growing up?

It's pretty good. I turned it into SNES and, you know, a lot of fun time. I mean, I have a switch now. I just, I don't know. I never got into, because I didn't have one for Breath of the Wild. Y'allam case for that one. and then what's the new one that came out? Cheers of the Kingdom.

And y'all was like, I don't know, man, not really. But for the while, kind of, I was like, all right, y'all got it. Call me traditionalists, but I don't really like Minecraft in my Zelda. I just like Minecraft. You do. I love to Minecraft. I am Steve. You are Steve.

I am Steve. I am Steve. I am John Eldon Ring. I like to put Jack Black in all video game movies and just make him the lead title character. I am John 117 I am Devil may cry

It's not even the name It's just the title Just the title Not the name of the character Yeah no I am It's John and the name of game I am

Final Fantasy This is the I am I am Queens Boulevard I am Near Autonom And he's wearing Like the dress And he's wearing

The two be dressed For anybody that doesn't know near automata, just look that up and then say, Google main characters and then have Jack Black play those characters. You know who Jack Black should play? Like, we're getting off topic, but like he should play Bayonetta.

Ooh. Yeah, I have Jack Black play Bayonetta. No, but actually they should be making Vanetta. It'll be horribly translated and it won't really work. It would be, well, we should get a Bayoneta anime. That's what... I'm certain that we already got one of those.

Hold on. Maybe. Maybe. But that's like one of those things that like 12, 12 episodes, lock a sin. Yes, there was. Bandetta Bloody Fate. Come on now. See, I'm 2013.

I seen to it. Hour and a half long. Sitting at a 49% on rotten tomatoes. That's tough. You hate to see that. Hate to see that. I hate to see that. I hate to see that.

I just get to the episode, shall we? Let's get into it. But before we do, before we got, we got some more program reminders. If you liked what we just talked about and want to hear everybody else on the Ringervverse feed, where may happen. one might find such a thing, Jomi Adelaan. The Ringiverse Socials, baby. That's right.

You can follow us on Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok at Ringiverse. We keep you guys updating what's going on, show you some fun videos of our records, maybe some behind-the-scenes stuff. We like to have fun here on the Reader-Verse. So we share it on the socials. Make sure to follow us. You don't miss anything.

Don't miss a thing. All right. So we're going to be giving you a friendly neighborhood spoiler warning for, Transformers in general, but before we get to that, I want to give, like, a non-spoiler section clear out because this is a Saturday that the movie is actually coming out. So some of y'all might not have actually been able to see it,

and we want to be able to, like, give our impressions whether or not we might want you guys to see it even before we talk about it. So, Jomey, this movie... This movie. Was directed. Directed. By. Josh Cooley.

Josh Cooley, directed by... directed a Toy Story 4. One of the top four Toy Story movies ever made. Okay, listen. Toy Story 4, not a bad movie. Not a bad movie. Unnecessary.

Wildly unnecessary, but in a vacuum, not a bad one. Not a bad one. Starring Chris Hemsworth as Optimus Prime. Brian Tyree Henry is Megatron. Scarlett Johansson and Keegan Michael Key as well. Follows opi.

I'm going to call him. What? Optimist. I'm calling him. Optimus Prime, Appie. Appaheim. I am deaf, destroyer of worlds. I am death.

Oh, my God. If Peter Cullen did that monologue from the, oh, my God. Come on now. Man, it follows Appie and Mega were best buds before all things went a little south on Cybertron and follows them along in an adventure. Okay, Jomey, for God's sakes, what did you think about this movie? I thought this movie was very, very, it surprised me how, how, how, how, good this movie was. I can't even get the words out because

I'm struggling to understand how how much I enjoyed this film. You know, we'll get into some of those specifics later, obviously. But the movie really surprised me in its, like, how strong it was emotionally, how the characters evolved throughout the film, and getting to the climax of the movie is, it's legitimately one of the

most fun times I've had in theaters in a long time. And so this film, I cannot recommend it enough. Go see it, take your friends to see it, take your kids to see it. They'll enjoy it. Definitely take your kids to see it. Definitely. But I think everybody under the side of my voice who hasn't seen the movie who's listening right now, you will be surprised by how good and how much you enjoy this movie.

It's really, really, really good. I don't want to play the expectations game as to whether or not I was like, I had my hopes high. But it really is something to behold when a movie legitimately just surprises you and surprises you like in its second act. And really like this movie doesn't wildly change. But I think that the pacing and the overall tone of what this movie is, there's a moment in this movie where Jomi and I looked at each other and we're like,

is this like kind of, is this kind of cooking right now? It's got some gas in it. Like is there some of it? And like, and don't get me wrong, the first half of this movie is a very fun. And I think we might say not to wholly detract from it, but like a more by the numbers kids adventure movie about Transformers. Yeah, I think that like there's, you know, you watch a movie. There's like, okay, this is a, you know, okay, it's a cool kid, you know, family movie. People can enjoy, everybody can enjoy it.

He's here. He's making his jokes. And then a shift happens. And you kind of like, hey, yo, this is, this is. is real. It really ratchets up to 11 when certain things happen to our heroes that are really something to be old.

Literally shift the dynamic of the entire film. Yes. And I think that I don't want to sing it's like, I don't want to gas this up too much, but like I'm just, I was wildly impressed. And this is, I'll say it for my money,

one of the best Transformers movies I've ever seen. And I think when we get into our spoiler sections, we'll break down. as to why. But I think the last thing that I want to say before we get into spoiling the movie

and talking about why we loved it so much is probably the dynamic between Megatron and Optimus because this movie starts with them as best friends and we never really get to see that dynamic at least explored too much in film.

And I'm curious as to what you thought about the idea of making them best friends and then likely seeing where that relationship might go come the end of this movie. Well, I mean, you know, I mean, the story of Optimus Prime

in Megatron is, I guess, it was widely known if you're a fan of the of the content, right? If you know about Trent, if you know about these characters, you know that they used to be friends, now they're the ultimate haters. It's literally Charles Xavier and Magneto.

Yeah. It's the bar for bar, word for word. Brothers betrayed, political ideologies. Exactly. Exactly. But we've never seen it on screen. before like this. And Chris Hemsworth and Barry Terry Henry do an amazing job of making us care for these characters, care for their relationship.

And then when it all comes crashing down, you're like, wow, I actually feel something. This means something in this moment. And the movie does an excellent job of making us see their relationship, see it grow, see it change, and see it dissolve. And so, yeah, it's just a great time.

All right. So let's get into spoiling the film a little bit. Because I think... Let's be very clear. We're not just spoiling this movie. Every Transformers... Ever. That's ever existed.

The context and continuity of Transformers is on the table. From the beginning of Cybertron, from the Big Bang to the fall of Cybertron. Did the Big Bang sound like... Or you could do the Megatron clink. So when... I don't know if you got... See this is how locked in my own Transformers. Yeah.

Every time Megatron transforms, there's a distinct... ding, ding, ding, when he transforms. You'll never unhear it when you see it again. But it's cool. But we're going to talk about all transformers. So just blanket spoiler warning for all transformers. We'll get into it. Wonderful.

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Visit your local deli today. Discover the craftsmanship behind every bite. Borgeshead committed to craft since 1905. Steve. Yes. You watched the movie. I saw the movie. It went crazy.

You loved it. You loved it. Man, I just got that axe. Okay. So, again, like, I felt like I was kind of sinking into my chair in this first half because we get a little, like, there's some fun jokes in, like interesting things to be had, but I feel like the first half of this movie almost meanders a little bit. I think it kind of finds its footing in the type of adventure that this movie wants

to have because you have this whole like, uh, like they're miners and they're digging for, uh, digging for resources and their whole lives, they're energons and their whole lives have been dictated around what you're shaking your head like I forgot the unobtainium name. of the resource. How important energy on is? They almost blew up our son in the second movie. Just for it.

Just for the Energon. Yeah, and the AllSpark and the Matrix of Leadership. And the seed and the fourth one. And then the other MacGuffin that we can't forget. It's got, oh, oh, no, okay.

Big MacGuffin franchise. Big Wolf. So, I mean, I've ranked the Mcuffins. The last one is definitely, I think it's, is it the, oh, hold on. I got to. Now you got to find it.

I got to find it. You rank the Transformers, Mcuffins? Oh, yeah, on Twitter one time. Oh, great. I mean, it's number one is the Allspark, obviously. You know what I'm saying? And then I think the Matrix is two.

What's the, and the third one is the, it's the pillars. The pillars are, is the, is the, is the McGuffin in the third one. Oh, of course. How could we forget? How could you forget? I didn't forget. No, of course not. The fifth one, the Mcuffin in the fifth one is, oh, it's the staff.

It's the staff of Merlin. Of Merlin. Oh, yes. Of course. This franchise is cheeks. It kind of is. Franchise stinks. But it's no.

But we actually, like, and that's the kind of, that's where we're like, what the fuck, why are we liking this so much? So because it really can do some cool shit. So you talk about the first part of the film. I didn't, because, again, I'm thinking, from all the trailers, everything we see, and I'm like, it's for children. Yeah. It's a kid's movie.

So when they do all those jokes, I'm, I'm not surprised. You know what I'm saying? I think what was it? Like there were some funny ones. Yeah. Like the one at the beginning when he's like transformed. He pretends to transform for like a second.

And then he just starts running. And he's running back. Like that's objectively funny. Right. Yeah, yeah. And, you know, I think that, I think what I'm thinking about now, like farther away from the movie in that first part is they're just there to set up

the relationship between Optimus and Megatron or and, and, I don't know, Ryan Pax. as they're called at the time. I will not be referring to them as such. I mean, not me neither, but... Yeah. That's what they're called. But yeah, that entire portion of the film

is them getting the hygings, getting out of trouble. I'm saying that, you know, has some comedic effects to it. They bring in B, you know, played by Keegan Michael Key. So the one transformer that doesn't chat that much is cast by the most chatty comedian ever. I'm not, okay. Which again, we love Keegan. She's great.

Again, you want to hate the first half of this movie. A-A-A-Tron is funny, bro. A-A-Tron is very funny. Kegan Michael Key saying A-A-A-Tron. Having a robot named A-A-A-Tron. And Steve.

You know what I'm saying? The Steve bit is funny too, right? I mean, because it's you, but also, you know, it's like that kind of stuff. I was like, okay, it's funny. You know, hey, they're not doing nothing important out here. It's cool. I'm having a good time, right?

and then Lawrence Fishburne show up and a whole thing changed Yes whole thing changed Again I want to say that this isn't like exactly paint my numbers But like the turn in which they get the info dump From the Wise Sage former prime Where all of these primes were Like betrayed

And set off to farm resources for the like aliens that are keeping them from the surface of their own planet. And that level of deception of betrayal, I'm like, oh, wow, okay. So, like, nothing, like, surprised me in, like, the twist that they were portrayed by John Hamm. Oh, bro. I mean, Sentinel is a habitual backstabber. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Sentinel Prime is definitely a real SOB.

Yeah, just the word. You can't trust that guy. Right. Right. So as soon as I see him on screen, I'm like, that's my op. He for show going to do some shady stuff. You know what I'm saying? Like, that's evil.

Easily. But Lawrence comes out, gives them the 4-1-1 on the situation, and then literally the characters start to change, right? Like, in the theater, you could hear Optimus Prom, Chris Hemsworth, dig deep to get to, like, Optimus Prom. All right, I'm very glad you mentioned this. It was nuts. So there's a moment when Lawrence Fishburn's,

character who is Alpha Trian. Alpha Tryon. Alpha Tryon gives them a Transformers core that is gifted to them from like the corpse of former Primes. And Megatron gets his favorite. Are you calling them salvage? I mean, they salvaged it. They salvaged the course. They literally did that.

They did that. They did that. You're not lying. You're wrong. They stuck a new engine in there. And it runs like gravy. Second head parts. No, no, no.

No, they're not salvaged. They're certified pre-owned. Certified pre-owned. That's right, man. That's right. No, it's, I, but like, I dig it because then, like, they're able to transform and they're figuring things out. So, like, there are a lot of action set pieces in this movie.

And in the beginning half, it's like, all right, they're in this, like, race. And they're kind of, like, bundling their way through it. 5,000. Yes. And there's, like, a train chase that is, like, interesting where, like, like, the train is like kind of like going on all of these mag paths and like it's kind of like finding its way up to the surface it's crazy um but you don't actually see any like transformer on transformer violence until they are actually able to transform themselves and it's kind of brilliant dog

it's brilliantly staged um the movie becomes like way more gorgeous because you're on the surface of this planet which is like a lot more like rust-filled buildings and foliage and like you see a biome in front of you and all these things. But like, Cybertron itself, like, underneath the surface is just neon drenched and, like, looks interesting, but there's no variety in what I'm looking at. And then when you come up to the surface and they're stumbling to figure out how to transform and they're being chased by all these sentinels and all these other things, it becomes this movie that I'm genuinely impressed by and get to be thrilled by that I can feel the audience

getting one over in the second half of this. What did you think about when they're being chased and they can't transform just yet? That's a funny scene. It's also brilliant because they're getting in touch with their bodies in an interesting way. Yeah, like you're learning how to transform. You didn't have this ability.

You're learning it literally on the fly, right? Then they get in that sequence, after that sequence, actually, they get captured by the High Guard, right? Star Scream and his folks who, Star Skinsfield with Steve Steve Bouchemy And you can Wild casting choice

No, no, no It's literally perfect No, I get it Because you know When he hurts his throat He starts to That's like, Yo, StarSkem

First of all, Starstream down in charge of nobody Yeah That's not how that works A and B Why he's sound What's voice so deep

You got to fix that They do But again, after Alvatronus Right gives them the spiel Gives them the core they could transform.

Like, Megatron starts to be different. He's like, yo, said no lie to us, man. I don't know. He's like fighting StarScream. The cannon out of his arm, like, you know, that iconic weapon comes out of his arm.

And he doesn't know that he could do that, right? And they start to fight, like you said, like the choreography is gorgeous. And then it's just, I'm like literally in my seat like, hey, yo, this is, this is cookie. especially the Megatron turn from this. It's incredibly informed.

And I wish it was also more informed at the same time. I think the biggest thing that I kind of got frustrated with is that the movie that this film turns into in its second half could have been incredible if it was even just a little bit more informed in its prior half. What do you mean about it?

I think that when we see the dissent between Optimus and Megatron about their genuine philosophies on how to fix this problem, of how to, like, reunite Cybertron and either for Megatron, get revenge, literally kill Sentinel and never hope to be deceived again versus Optimus, where he's like, okay, we can bring him to justice, we don't need to kill him. It's wrapped up in the idea of not killing him, but the idea that after the fact, once Sentinel's just say out of the picture, what happens to Cybertron then? And before we,

even get close to that answer, we have it in the idea that Megatron wants honesty, transparency, kind of like a bit of an anarchist type of outlook to this because all of these

people have been crushed under the boot of being minors and deceived and worked to the bone because of this lie. And he's like understandably upset and infuriated and will not budge off of these. things. And I think the great thing is when you can understand a villain or a turn in someone

while still not actually agreeing with it. I think that some of the best villains actually have had that. I don't know. I think the first part informs the second part solely on, well, actually, no. I think a heavy part of it is their relationship, right? Sure. Why do these two people like why should we care about their relationship right and it's literally like who or ryan packs is as a person optimist he goes back in the cave and saves that dude doesn't have to do that but it does right and uh megatron helps right and while they're getting in trouble megaton's like yo those are the rules we have to follow the rules yes right you keep i know you're my guy you keep breaking the rules but i don't know why i have with you you can't break protocol right and so

when megatron finds out that that That entire thing is a lie. Yes, protocol is nothing. It's, brother, not only is it nothing, they've been lying to you, they've been making you do all this nonsense for no reason other to benefit that guy who you thought was a hero, was a legend, completely lied to your face. And subjugated your entire people for the sake of that lie. Do you know what I mean?

And that's, and like, and that's already powerful enough. I would have loved more stuff like that. But again, like, we kind of don't have, there's this interesting balance where I'm like, yes, Transformers is still about robots that turn into cars and they fight and it can still be silly. But then when we get these like really kind of poignant moments where they're like, we need to bring him to justice. And then Megatron's like, I'm going to kill him. He doesn't say destroy. He doesn't say finish. He says, I'm going to kill him.

he's trying to Megatron's trying to roast He's trying to cook Central Prime for 12 hours Like a brisket Exactly And so Like when he says that

Like I genuinely felt it And believed it And I'm like Oh man This felt like such a great Like power creep Of emotional catharsis For these two characters

So when we get to like The Royal Guard And why Megatron is easily now leading people I'm starting to kind of understand Well, I mean, and that's why they cast Brian Tyree Henry, right? Because when I'm looking at it, you know, they, oh, they cast Chris Hemsworth. Interesting.

I don't know. Where's Peter Cullen is available? I don't know. He's not doing nothing. And Brian, I'm like, huh, I wonder what it is. And for the first half, I'm like, I sound like a guy. Yeah, sound like a dude. It's fine.

Like, it's cool. And then once it starts digging deep, once it starts in the darkness, you're like, oh, okay. That's where it is. That's where the money is. And now, and I want to get to a bit of a nitpick and the thing. that like, I get why this is happening. Okay.

But it took me out of it. Where Brian Tyree Henry, as he's like becoming Megatron, air quotes here, where he is branded with the face of a prime that eventually becomes the Decepticon logo. Megatronus. Megatronus, which like, come on, man. You think of a bit of a better name. You can't, though. No, Megatron is the better name, but like to know that it's just a riff on a worse name.

Yeah, well, it's tough. I hate to see it. I don't know. I'm playing it. That's Transformers'Lore. I don't know what you're saying. So, but when he is becoming Megatron, like, there's a bit of, like,

cadence and bass in his voice. And he's, like, you can see both in the vocal performance and what he's actually doing, that he will eventually become the uber villain that we know him to be. Like, you could see Magneto become, me, Magneto, right in front of our eyes. Optimus, on the other hand.

Like, it seems like right after he gets the ability to transform, he is slowly creeping Chris Hemsworth into a Peter Cullen impression. So, yes, but I think it's more than that for both of them. And I think I'm going to start with Megatron.

Right. It's, yes, but you can see, so his eyes in the film are yellow. Yes. They start yellow. And as he descends into his Megatron nonsense. Not just turn, but lose the color. No, no, no. It goes from like yellow to like orange.

Like it literally goes like through the color spectrum from yellow to orange to red. Right. Right. For Megatron. And on the optimist side, it happens after, we talked about a little bit about the voice thing. It happens right after the attack on StarStreer. on Star Trekers base, right where they take B and Megatron back to the palace. When he has the conversation with Attila, and she's like, yo, they need somebody to lead you.

They need somebody getting charged. Then Chris Semser goes, all right, it's tough. It's like he's kind of like playing a role of a leader. And when he doesn't even possibly believe it. Yeah, but at that point, you got to start being optimist. an optimist don't sound like an Australian surfer. Right, but until we get, until we get Alita's like kind of pitch

as to why you make a good leader, why you're optimism, but dumb tish. That was funny. Not going to lie, I was like, ah, I'm like, all right, come on, come on. Got to throw it in there. No, no, no, no, no, hold on. Like, because... Okay, what was worse?

That one, or they're like, I'm tired of being deceived? I was like, all right, guys. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. That was worse. I'm tired of being deceived. Well, because, like, if you work. paying attention, you'd be like, all right, this is that because.

Oh, yeah. Look at that. Well, because, like, that's just like a riff on that. But, like, to know that, like, and again, this is a bit farther ahead, but, like, to know that when the core of the planet and all of the ghosts of the primes give him the name Optimus.

Yeah. Which ultimately is pretty cool. You got to go to robot heaven sometimes. Shilohla Buff went to Robot Heaven in the second movie, remember? Oh, yeah, that is true. Remember he did go to Robot Heaven. He died.

And then Kevin Michael Richardson was like, hey, man, shout out to you, bro. You wanted to primes. When you go to Robot Heaven, who do you hope is there to bring you back to life? Okay, who needs to be a robot heaven? Okay. I'm going to need to see one of my old Tomogacchi's. Oh, okay, rest of peace to my homies. Oh, my God, no, what I need.

Chappie got to be there. Chapie? No, not Chappie. I like Chappie. That Chappie was not great. Movies not great, but Chappie was cool. Don't lie Chappie wasn't cool. You want to mess with Chappie?

Not really, no. That's crazy, bro. You a hate it. No. The original T-1000? Original T-1000? Original T-1,000. You got to be there?

Mm-hmm. I want this, I want the robot dog that I had back in the 90s. Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah, they got to be there. Yeah, he's right up there for show. Got to be there for show, for show. The movie, like, again, and let's talk about the final, the third act. Once they get back to...

Cybertron. Cybertron. Brother. Cinema. We're already cooking with gas at this point. but it's basically a race against the clock to stop a coup and you know that Megatron's already there and Optimus is just kind of racing to find

and stop him before he does something more rash and I think the tension is there action is incredible I loved Arachnid for some reason I love that design I think it was great real quick I loved the what was the name of the alien race that was subjugating the Autobots

the glibdars No, I just made that up. I have no idea. I couldn't tell you. I thought they were... I believed to if you didn't, if you just said yes. Yeah, but you got to get it right.

You know, the quintessons. The quintasans, yes. When the quintessons, like, land in their big, like, bug ship, and they come... I'm like, this looks amazing, by the way. Like, what is this concept art that I'm looking at?

But when they're at Cybertron, like, all those emotional, like, little breadcums, like, come to roost. And it be... Like, there's a level of intelligence that this movie's operating under. in its third act that I think is just

like kind of astounding where you're informed by the idea that Megatron is done saving and thinking about Optimus because of they just

will not see eye to eye and they can't be stopped. The fact that the thing that is stopping Megatron from killing Sentinel is saving optimist. And he's like, I'm done saving you. Like, that is like the perfect turn.

The perfect turn of him becoming Megatron and becoming a villain is when you have, like, your best friend about to die, and the thing that you hate the most that you want to kill, and he picks the latter. That's true. And it's, and it's, and it's, and it

was like, oh my God, like, what is this? Like, this is incredible. And he let, he lets his friend die for the sake of his own revenge and like that and like and you buy it. Again. The fact that we buy it is key.

That's the brilliance of that's the brilliance of the movie because you watch him become Megatron and you buy it. You watch Orion Pax become optimist and you buy it. I don't know if I bought opt. You're smoking crack. No, hold on. No, no, no. That's my goat.

Okay. I understand that. That's my goat. When he's given the speech. No, the speech is good. Speech is good. When he's come, when he, comes back and he's like, yo, we can't kill this dude.

Right. Right. And they fight. And he stands in front of Sentinel Prime and gets blamered by Megatron. That's what Optus Prime would do. I get you. Right? Like that turn, like, I believed that that guy is going to come down to earth and protect me.

And it's only, and I think the only thing that takes me out of it is knowing that Chris Hemsworth is doing a Peter Cullen impression at this point. He is, it's taking me out of it. it a little bit. All right, Charles. Just a little bit. I'm not saying that this isn't like great, but you know that I'm not wrong. No. I mean, he's supposed to sound like that.

I understand that, but it gets to the point where I'm like, you may as well have just cross-faded him with Peter Cullen at that point. I'm not going to lie, that would have been fine. No, no, no, because by the time that like he puts the mask on and he's running into the distance, I'm like, just put Peter Cullen in here. Come on. There's no way. I don't like that. Nah, man, that's reasonable.

bro, that's Optimus Prime, bro. I get it. I get that. I get that. I get that. I get that. I get that.

I know that's your goat. I know that's your LeBron. I understand that. It was just like that was a little tiny bit. You got to do it. But what I'm curious about now. So we don't end this movie exactly on a big grand finale. It's like,

and now, but like we end it kind of like season one House of the Dragon. Not even, bro. They just had a big fight. Right? Like literally like, see, season. too and Outs of Dragon, they had no fight. They just walked off to the sunset.

This one, they had a fight. Optimus, Optimus won. But, but, but Optimus won. But hold on now. Anybody like you and me knows what's got to happen next. They got to, well, the Cybertron has to get destroyed, and then they got to go to Earth. They got to meet this kid called Sandway.

No, that's not it. What happens. They got to have the war of Cybertron first. They got to have the war with Cybertron first. That's right. They got to blow down. They got to go to war. Because that's, again, like, Optimus is now in charge of Cybertron right now.

And Keegan Michael Key, thank God. He's like, I get to work for the government. This is the best day of my life. Good benefits. You get some days off. Yeah. I'm saying. Stephen.

Could be worse. And the guys get promotions. A-A-Tron, yeah. A-Tron get promotions? I thought, I mean, the ending, again, make sense. They have to, you know, separate. He's like, yo, I will let you live because you was my boy. But y'all, you ain't got to go home.

But you got to get up out of here. Right. And they go to the surface or whatever. And it's filled with Energon again. Yeah. Right. That's like if I don't have an, it's not really an epic, but it's my thing. It's like, all right, Megatron.

I know you're mad. But technically the problem solved. The problem is solved. Now you just hate it. Yeah. We got to end. We figured out Energon. If you just cut, you know what I'm saying?

It's like, I know you're. Take the L. Like, it's fine. I know you're mad because of prime isn't charged and you're not trying to, you know, you've been hurt before. But we did, we did kind of. solved a problem. So you ain't got to be doing all this extra. This is all extra curricular activity right now. You know? No, and that, but that's the, that's the interesting thing. So I, I think that

we definitely have a sequel on our hands. I think, I think they should definitely make another one because I'm like, I guess, or the two, I guess. Two Transformers, Two Furies. This episode is brought to you by Nass Energy. Every ounce of dirt, sweat, and gears, every checkered flag and trophy raised every lap, every race, every hard-fought place. They're all jammed inside every can of Nass energy, high-performance energy for burning the midnight oil in the garage, and pedal to the metal human horsepower for the streets. Go ahead, crack open a can of Nass energy and get after it.

So we definitely have a sequel on it. Oh, absolutely. I think we absolutely should get one. What do you want to see? Obviously, like, this leads right into the war on Cybertron. But I think that this is actually... pre full-blown war

that I think we can get. I'm gonna have a mini here comes to the pitch here. This is what I have for you. Okay. I think this is like kind of a early olive branch

situation between Optimus and Megatron. I think that there has to be either some sort of external threat or the Energon is like going bad

or something like that. Like the ore veins are running dry or something. Once that happens, then there has to be like some sort of like outstretched hand of like unity because he like he's got a contingent. Megatron's got a contingent

of bots that they need more people. And I think now that's when that's how the war kicks off. Something bad has to happen. I need to see Optimus in the wrong for something. I could see that. At least in the eyes of Megatron and his people.

Well I mean they always think he's wrong. His is his mirror existence. It's kind of like for sure. It's the Kendrick Drake thing. I just hate the way that you walk the way that you talk. The fact that Drake exists is the reason why Kendra's got the hate in his heart. I understand. But the fact that they were once best friends.

I mean, Kendrick and Drake were never, never tie like that. I know. But the fact that Megatron and Optimus were, I want that divide to go deeper and deeper deeper, deeper. I want sin to be get sin. I want them to be on dragons. Drag, oh, Jesus. And then I want. You're trying to get the Allison Renier?

And then I want StarScream to be out in Harenhall for the. the whole movie. Just tripping on shrooms. Stripping on ghosts. I mean, I could see that. I think you do kind of have to do the war on Tibertron in the second one. Yeah. Only because, right, like, even if you do the Olive Ranch and you start to be friends, I think

at some point, and this is the problem with these movies, you got to get to Earth. You got to get to Earth. I don't think so. I think you do. I think you do because, like, because once Cybertron, like, falls. right? I think the movie ends with them going to Earth. I think that ends with like the fall of Krypton

level of like we send out our best. But I don't think you can stretch that for two movies. I don't think you can do like two more Cybertron movies. Right? I think you beef like the like Cybertron falls. Megatron like is on like rule cyber or rule Cybertron and then Optimus rhyme has to go. Has to evacuate.

Exactly. Right. Well then I think it ends with the evacuation because then it's a mirror image of like okay, we send. We sent Megatron out in exile. He's banished, and now Optimus has to leave with the Autobots. Exactly. And that's like one of the strengths of the movies is that there are no humans in this thing.

I love that. Yes. We've been begging for that for a long time. And I mean, so we, I mean, I know I've talked about this. I don't know if it's on a podcast, but I've definitely like set this. That beginning part of Bumblebee where. Oh, my God. Make that the whole fucking movie.

But this is kind of like this is kind of what it is, though. right? Like when you start from they're being friends and then Megatron has to leave or like something or other happens, this is what we're talking about. Right. It's just the robots. Right. Because that's really all we care about when I show up

to the theater. I'm here to see Optimus. You can really throw any white man right? And any love interests and I'm like Optimus in that thing? All right, I'll be there night one. You know what I mean? Like that's ultimately what it comes down to.

Right? And so no humans, which I loved. But for me to sequel, I think you gotta do the Warbus Hypatron and I think, you know, obviously,

you get on your hide, ratchet, jet fire, you know what I'm saying? Throw some classics in there for the people. For sure. You know, and I think.

It's the whole planet now. Everybody transformed. Everybody trans. Anybody, you get a core, you get a core, you get a core. You get a core.

Everybody gets a core. Look under your seats. Look under your seats. Oh, look. It transformed into a truck. Oh, fun. But yeah, I mean, if they're going to do a sequel, I think you got to do the fall of Cybertron.

And then if you do a third one, you got to come to Earth. But let's try to limit. Let's have like one human. Just make it a two first. Doology? A little little one, two action. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And then it's like, oh, you remember.

You remember? And then history writes itself. And we will meet us. And Optimus Prime left Cybertron. And he went to his home planet. He left his home planet. He was never seen again. For what I've.

Great song. No, I think that we definitely should see that. I've loved that. I've loved my, I wanted my fantasy of just seeing the War of Cybertron for a whole movie, and I think that this could lead us into it. What I will say, though,

is that there is like an inherent level of, I think, like, brightness and optimism, especially in the first... Optimism? In the first half of this movie, that makes it feel more like a kid's movie. You can't have like a war movie with a kid's movie.

You could be really fun. Like, if you just make it... We've watched Avatar. I understand that, but if you... Are we going to make this second one just like straight up PG-13? I don't go crazy. I mean, if you do it, G, you could have, like, it can really literally literally be like this movie, where the first part is being making jokes about working for the government. Sure.

You know, I'm just trying to figure it out. And then you cut to Megatron being on Sirius. And then you, and then some point, something goes down. And then you start the beef. And then that's a whole 90-minute movie. Boom, you solved it. Steve, I'm going to make a bold prediction here right now. Not a prediction.

Make a bold statement right now. I'm going to lay it out on the line. Please do. Transformers' one is one of the best Transformers movies we've ever said. Amen. We've got to break it down. We have to break it down. Break it down for me, Jomey.

So let's just take the 21st century movies, anything that came out after 2000, right? So you have the five Michael Bay movies. You have Bumblebee. you have Rise of the Beast and you have this movie. Right. Okay. Let's start at the bottom.

Okay. Whichever one you think is worse, Edge of Extinction or the last night. It's really whatever you saw last. Bottom. Bottom. Bottom. Those two are.

Shared podium. Definitely the worst of the bunch. Then there's Revenge of Fallen. Also Cheeks. And then Rise of the Beast. I didn't hate it, but I didn't love it. I mean,

it's more so the fact that we got the beasts in there. Yeah, really the only... For 20 minutes. Yep. For 20 minutes and then they're done. They don't transform. They're just...

They're just animals. They're just there. All right, so that's four. Right. Right. That's four movies, right? Then you have, at least for me, I like Dark of the Moon.

I enjoy Dark of the Moon. I enjoy Dark and Moon's a little too long. But it's so cool. That's definitely next up. And then there's a discussion, right? For the first Transformers. Literally, Transformers won.

And Transformers. Transformers the first one. The first one. Yeah. Right. Like 2007 Transformers. Right. Which one do you before? I think obviously the best one is bumblebee. But I could make an argument that Transformers one is the second. Some people listening right now might think is better than bumblebee.

It's possible. Do you know what I'm saying? Like we haven't got a Transformers movie this good literally forever. Yeah. Right? And so it's credit to everybody who works. on this film, all the actors, all the cast, like everybody, the crew, the staff label, everybody.

Artists, yes. This movie rocks. It's legitimately one of the best testimonies films we've seen it in the last 24 years. Like, an accomplishment. On the curve of a Transformers film, it like rockets up to the near time. Brother, on a curve, brother. On a curve, it is the curve.

On a curve, this would be like a 110%. This is a Lawrence of Arabia level. Transformers film, yeah. This carries the thing, it's Bumblebee and that movie like right there at the top. No, but at minimum, I think that this is going to be like

an absolutely worthwhile fun time to, if you have them, bring the kids, absolutely. But if you're even remotely interested in Transformers or like it, this is really good. They'd be throwing so many references at you. They just be like throwing stuff in the future. Like, we mentioned like the Megatron arm

Canon, Star Scream's voice, like the entire thing, there's a lot of like set up and nods that if you're familiar with the canon of the Canon of Transformers, you're like, yo, this is fire. I'm locked in on all this stuff. Yeah. I don't think we can go any farther than that. It's an absolute easy, easy recommend.

But before we go, I want to have a little like personal time check in with you and me, Joe. What do we talk about, share with the people a little bit about the evening that we had for the Transformers screening? Yeah, what's going on? Mainly our Barnes and Noble encounter. Oh, man. Just our Barnes and Noble encounter. How about that?

I mean, we could do all of it, really. We went to a really fun screening at the Grove. And like, so we didn't even talk about the post-credit scene because we didn't hear the post-credit scene. We didn't hear it. And why didn't you talk about why we didn't hear it? We didn't hear those credits see because the audio turned off and they didn't turn it back on. They didn't turn it back on. And so we're sitting there and watching the Decepticons be bored.

Right, right, they're getting like the Decepticon emblem on them. And we're like, man, that was cool to hear. There's like a neon storm happening and they're like blowing off fire. And I'm not even kidding when I say this, but it's all muted. All muted. Can't hear a word. Megatron's yelling. He's like, we are Decepticons.

I'm assuming. I'm sure Brian Terry Henry killed it. I'm sure it was amazing. But yeah, before we did that, we walked around the Grove a little bit and went to the Marginnobles. And people were like lining up and then we... I needed to get a book that was like on the top floor

in like science fiction section. Yeah, so we had to like wait for the escalator, whatever. And so we're like, yo, I'm like, I don't know what's going on. There's a lot of people around here. There's a ton of people. I go to the guy managing a lot. I'm like, hey, like, was there a book signing here tonight?

It's like, yep, yep. I was like, who's signing the book? Guess. You will never ever guess who the guy said. And he said, uh, Pete Wentz. What? That's what we said. Pete Wentz.

We looked around like. That's right. What the hell? Fallout boy bassist. Be Wentz. What the hell? Oh my God. What I like.

Huh? It could have been anybody. You could have given me a thousand guesses. I never would have guessed that. I never got that. I was like, some of those the most random happenstance.

So shout out to Pete Wentz. Shout out Pete Wentz, man. Chicago legend. Pete Wentz, come on the Ring ofverse. Yeah, we can talk about your book, I guess. It was a wild time. It was a wild time. A great little setting at the Grove.

Love to hanging out with Arjuna and everybody and you. That's right. And yeah, I love going to these things where we have great little stories. that we can share about getting Warhammer books and running into a Pete Davidson, Pete Davidson, Pete Davidson book signing. That'd be kind of crazy. Yeah. What's he write about?

What would Pete Davidson write about? Depression. What do you think he write about? Jesus Christ. Come on, man. Dude. What did I do? Oh, my God.

What did I do? Jesus Christ, Kerm. It's probably right, though. Like, I mean, he was on SNL. Yeah. For a long time. You know, it was there for a minute, you know what I'm saying?

I don't know. God, damn. Jesus. Oh, my God. Well, with that, thank you guys so much for listening to us. We had a great time talking to you guys. We can't wait to talk to you guys again.

And before we go, don't forget, a lot of things are happening on this here, Ring or Verse feed, and on the House of Our feed. Next week, the House of Our is going to be giving you their deep dives into both, Agatha,

and Lord of the Rings. Rings of Power. Yeah. And now he's coming up. Yeah. And then we're going to be taking a look at the Joker. Finally, again, on the Midnight Boys, that coming Friday. Well, not again.

This is the first time. That's the whole point. It's our first time. Not the first time watching the Joker. First time I'm talking about the Joker. Yes, in earnest. In talking about the Joker. And then next Friday, Button Mash is going to be giving you their look at the Legend of Zelda

Echoes of Wisdom. Thank you again so much. Thank you, Your Mints, for hanging out with us. We love you. it really means a lot that you guys listen to this and really rock with us. It really means a lot. It's been meaning a lot to me in all of these times. So, Jomey, any parting words for the people?

Yeah, you know, as always, we got to give our shout out to our number one producer out here. Our own niggatronus. What? Yo. What's wrong with you, man? You didn't even put Kerm, in it? That's actually insane. I was going to see.

I was going to do the curb bit. Put your face. Our own, our own Nicotronus. Oh, we're sticking with that. Should I not? Okay, no. Probably not.

We're not commit to it. Commit to it. I'm not cutting it. They're not cutting it. Our own Nicotronus himself. Optimus Kerm. Very nice. Very nice.

We will love you guys. We'll see you next time. Woo-hoo! myself and the devil way it comes

my name is Julian Aneron and I send this message out there to all the to all the

mid-edition listeners listening if you're under the sign of my voice take heed Earth is safe

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