25 Things You Didn't Know About The Transformers

For over two decades, our lives have been influenced, impacted – well, transformed by giant robots from the far away planet Cybertron. For them, it has been millennia in a civil war, but for us, it has been twenty years plus of watching, playing and loving the Autobots and Decepticons. With the release of the new game, Transformers: Fall of Cybertron, we think we know everything there is to know about the metal aliens – but – we may not. Here are 25 Things You Didn't Know About The Transformers. Enjoy and read closely – the information here may be more than meets the eye.

Tyrese Gibson, singer and actor who played Sgt. Epps in the live-action trilogy is a huge Transformers fan. Gibson is so much a fan that he received an Autobot tattoo to show his true loyalty. Luckily, Tyrese is not a triple-changer because that would be some complicated ink.

Grown-up fans are well aware that their Cybertronian icons live on in re-runs, new cartoons and movies. But a younger generation is being exposed as well. Transformers: Rescue Bots features a team of emergency vehicle Autobots who work alongside humans in rescue situations. Rescue Bots exist in the same continuity as Transformers: Prime and has even featured guest appearances by Prime and Bumblebee.

Besides Peter Cullen, one other original voice actor from the G1 series returned for the 2007 live-action film. Charles Adler, who portrayed the Aerialbot Silverbolt in the cartoon, returned to voice the devious Decepticon second-in-command Starscream in the film.

Voice actor Frank Welker (G1 Megatron) provided snarls and sounds from Ravage, Soundwave’s recon panther robot. These same sounds from the 1980’s cartoons were used again for Ravage in the more recent Michael Bay Transformers live-action movie. However, Ravage was not the cassette tape kitty we grew up with.

Peter Cullen, the renowned voice actor behind the Autobot leader, based the character’s voice off of his older brother, Larry. Larry Prime was a captain in the United States Marines and a Vietnam veteran. Cullen has often stated that his brother had a calm bass filled voice with great wisdom behind the words. Larry Cullen recently passed away and was honored by the corps he served and fans of his younger brother’s work.

Transformers mourns another actor lost. Chris Latta, the man behind Starscream and even G.I Joe’s Cobra Commander died after a long illness. Although he died in 1994, Latta lives on for those who grew up in the 1980s. He not only was Starscream but also was Gung-Ho from G.I Joe and voiced characters on The Inhumanoids, Spider-Man & His Amazing Friends and even the Simpsons.

Ratchet, tried and true Autobot doctor Ratchet is named after Nurse Ratched from the film One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. With every incarnation and imaging of the Transformers universe, the medical officer and veteran bot is a constant.

According to Bob Budiansky, the writer for the Marvel Comics series, Hasbro originally thought the name Megatron sounded too villainous. Budiansky pointed out that was the point and Hasbro went along with the suggestion. Thank you Bob. The evil Decepticon could be known as nothing else!

According to his early toy information, the Autobot leader is really segmented into three parts. The Brain – the humanoid robot we all love. Roller or the Scout Car – a little wheeled buggy and the Combat Deck – the trailer which opens up for command and battle. Roller had few appearances in the show and the trailer often just disappeared when Prime transformed for battle!

Numerous errors and mistakes can be found in the Transformers G1 cartoons. Characters are colored differently from one scene to the next. Voices mismatch with the wrong person speaking and whole limbs can appear missing. Misplaced animation cels and dips in quality are to blame for Transformers’ issues. Many mistakes are hilarious to catch.

In the 80s television series, Megatron is voiced by veteran voice actor Frank Welker. In the movie, the G1 Decepticon leader is mortally wounded and resurrected as Galvatron, voiced by Star Trek actor Leonard Nimoy. In the film Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, the cries and screams of the Vulcan (played by Nimoy) were fulfilled by Welker.

As with actor Orson Welles, The 1986 Transformers movie was the last film for the legendary actor and musician Scatman Crothers. Fans of the original cartoon know his raspy voice and hip style as the heroic Autobot Jazz. Crothers was loved by G1 fans as the strong and reliable counsel for Optimus Prime.

The first Transformers live action movie (2007) took up approximately 20 Terabytes of computer disk space. The second movie, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen took up 145 terabytes. That would be 35,000 DVDs in total.

"FIRRIB" stands for "Frenzy is red, Rumble is blue.” A small fact to some and giant mistake to others. On the original G1 toys, the blue robot that ejected from Soundwave’s chest was Frenzy and his black-and-red twin was Rumble. However in the cartoon and ever since, it’s been flip-flopped. Since the mistake decades ago, toys have since continued the color-shift.

Huh? Yes, years ago a Japanese candy company created candy toys titled Transformers Choco. The toys were made of plastic which could snap together to form the actual Transformer. Every toy shipped with a candy-dipped chocolate (that’s the Choco part, we’re assuming!) Most of the Cybertronians created in this line were Generation 1 characters.

Transformers: The Movie had a recorder holder amongst its large voice acting cast. John Moschitta held the Guiness Record for fastest talking man alive. It’s no wonder that he was the voice behind the Autobot Blur.

One would think the universe is big enough that two science-fiction stories could exist without touching but not the case here. Transformers and Star Trek have several points of contact. One involves two veteran actors of the Star Trek original series (Leonard Nimoy – Spock and Roger Carmel – Harry Mudd.) In Transformers: The Movie, Nimoy voiced Galvatron and Carmel was Cyclonus.

Marvel Comics writer Bob Budiansky is considered by many to be the man behind the history and beginnings of the Robots in Disguise. Story has it that Hasbro approached Marvel for backstories and Budiansky had to crank out names, characteristics and history in a short period of time!

In the United States Army Ohio National Guard, there is an actual Optimus Prime. A guardsman had his name officially changed on his 30th birthday. Claiming that the fictional robot impacted his life during trying times, the soldier is now named after Prime. He actually received a letter from a government officially stating that things were better now that the leader of the Autobots was serving.

Peter Cullen and Frank Welker reprise their roles together since the 1980s – With the critically acclaimed Transformers: Prime series currently on television, this is the first weekly series where the actors who originated the larger-than-life characters are back again. For the recent films, only Cullen returned as Prime. Actor Hugo Weaving played the Decepticon leader on-screen.

Transformers: The Movie was the last performance for the legendary Orson Welles. He was the menacing and commanding presence behind Unicron, the destroyer of worlds. Some myths out there say that he didn’t finish the movie due to illness and that some of his sound effects were filled in. However, it has been officially stated that Welles finished the job.

Back in 2010, Hasbro, one of the companies behind Transformers, began showcasing and honoring both those real and fictional. Creators, voice actors and characters have been inducted during a special ceremony at the BotCon (Transformer fan convention.) Some of the inductees are Optimus Prime, Bob Budiansky, Starscream and Steven Spielberg.

Fans of the cartoon Robotech found an odd similarity between the Valkyrie jet-transforming-robot suits and the action figure of Autobot Skyfire. In Japan, they used the same model to produce both toys. In the cartoon, the Decepticon-turned Autobot giant jet didn’t look like the alien-killing Robotech vehicles. But when kids received Skyfire the toy, many little heads were scratched.

When Prime turned gray and became one with the Matrix (Cybertron, not Keanu), children were traumatized. So much that they cried to their parents who in turn cried to Sunbow (the animation company behind Transformers’ cartoon) who rewrote part of G.I. JOE: The Movie. Conrad Hauser ("Duke") was to die while saving his punk half-brother Falcon. Yet instead he goes into a “coma” only to wake up at the end.

Transformers: The Movie had cursing. The infamous “Oh s**t” and “Open, damnit” lines have been mysteriously scrubbed from any version of the film today. The Autobots were so human like; they thought like us, could talk like us and cussed when about to be eaten by a giant planet. Namely Unicron.