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Operation: Toys for Talkers

by Patricia "Vulcana" Wright
Editing by Robert Jung

Background

At BotCon 1998 in California, it was revealed that the voice actors of the Beast Wars television show never get any free toys from Kenner -- more specifically, that they never received (or owned) any toys representing their characters on the show. Not a surprising revelation, but a mildly disappointing one.

That did not sit well with Transformers fan Doug Dlin, who thought that the voice actors should have the toys for their characters. So in August of 1998, Doug contacted a number of his fellow TransFans and pitched to them a radical idea: what if they were to gather up the toys for every Beast Wars character who ever appeared on the show, and delivered them to the actors?

The idea was unanimously approved, and everyone volunteered to buy/scrounge/donate the needed toys, in a scheme unofficially dubbed "Toys for Talkers."

For the next several months, Doug coordinated with the other fans to collect and assemble the needed toys. They were all sent to Patricia "Vulcana" Wright, who lives in Vancouver, Canada -- home of Mainframe Entertainment. While she wrapped and labeled the gifts, fellow fan Benson "Wonko" Yee worked with Asaph "Ace" Fipke (producer), Doug Parker (Terrorsaur), and David Sobolov (Depth Charge) to arrange a date when the toys could be delivered to the studios.

They finally settled on Monday, November 23, 1998, when the final season episode of Beast Wars was being recorded. After a frantic weekend of last-minute gift-wrapping and name-tagging, here is Patricia "Vulcana" Wright's account of her toy-delivering activites...

The Report

Monday morning dawned without rain. This was a good thing. I managed to get the two laundry baskets full of toys and my father's camera in the car with little effort. I went out wearing black jeans and a nice Burgandy sweater, a casual professional attire. I wanted to make a good impression.

At work I suffer through a slow-moving day anxiously awaiting 11:15 a.m., when I planned to leave for downtown Vancouver. For those who don't know downtown Vancouver near the Cambie Street bridge, it is full of one-way streets and can be a navigation nightmare. Fortunately, I have a map in my car and I found out which direction Homer street runs and how to get there.

So it is now 11:20 a.m. I have my driving directions sorted out and it is now time to head downtown. Off I go over Knight Street Bridge, but I'm in behind someone who is terrified of the gas petal and doesn't know how to merge. So as soon as he merges, I pass in front of him and immediately run into gridlock.

ARG! It's only 11:30 a.m. -- there shouldn't be any gridlock north bound on this bridge until four! Dodging a traffic accident, I make it over the bridge onto Southwest Marine Drive and it is relatively smooth sailing until I reach the other end of the Cambie Street bridge and turn left on to Pacific Blvd. I cruise around until I hit Homer, at which time I figure I'm home free.

WRONG! Two blocks into Homer (which is indeed one way) I run into a blockade. The entire street is torn up and I have to detour around it. I head two blocks west, one block further north, and then two blocks east, hoping I'm past the blockade and where the studio should be. I'm not.

After some more dodging, I weave past some more barricades and end up a block beyond where I want to be. I find a free parallel parking space, drop in a quarter -- which buys my car six minutes of life -- and hotfoot it to the studio.

I talk to the receptionist and introduce myself; when she hears that I'm off to feed the meter, she offers to let me park in the parking lot. There is one spot left and I can park there so long as I'm willing to move the car.

I had been warned about this parking lot by Barbara Zelinski (associate producer). She said it was small. No kidding. With a lot of effort, I squeezed into the spot -- you had to be extremely careful opening and closing your doors because you had about 6 inches to do it in. Needless to say, it was crammed, and I was glad the presents were in the trunk and not in the back seat -- I would never have gotten them out of the back seat.

After parking the car, I brought in the camera and the two baskets of toys, prompting lots of Christmas comments. I was instructed to take a seat to wait for Barb and Ace, and while I was waiting, who should show up but Jim Byrns (Inferno). I left him alone; he needed to use the phone and I needed to get the camera assembled.

Barb comes in and tells me that the actors will be out in a minute and that they will be having lunch in the other room. Jim mentions that he is leaving. Panicking, I mention that his present is in the basket, and he replies that he still has to get his coat.

Out come Barb, Ace and Susan Blu. Sue comes up to me, smiles, and introduces herself as the voice director. I say, "I know, I met you at BotCon." She then remarks that that was why I looked kind of familiar.

After some brief introductions, Ace asks Barb to take the pictures for me. Barb replies she will do her best, but she's used to the point-and-shoot type, not a manual camera like my Dad's. Meanwhile, the voice actors are heading into the lunch room.

After a few instructions, I start digging out the Inferno present just in time for Jim to show up and get his picture taken with me. That was Ace's idea, though I admit I didn't fight all that hard. I had originally intended to take the pictures while Ace or Barb handed out the toys, but now I'm in almost all the pictures and I'm the camera-shy one.

The actors start digging into their lunch. I had been offered lunch, but I refused, since I really didn't want to crowd them and I was a bit nervous. Then I realize that Jim hasn't left yet, and that he is saying goodbye to all the other actors.

Humm... Group shot????

YES! I manage to get two shots of the cast and support crew together, then Ace sends someone out to grab the camera and puts me into the picture.

After that, I sort out the presents so I had piles for each of the actors, and a separate pile for all those who weren't there. Barb assures me that she will give the presents to the actors' agents, and they would eventually make it to the actors themselves. I have to continously explain that I was just the deliverly person -- that this wasn't all just from me, but there were about 20 people involved in this.

Going by voice actors so I don't miss anyone or anything...

  • Donald Brown
    Scorponok ("For Don: You stuck it to 'em -- but good!")

    Wasn't there.

  • Jim Byrnes
    Inferno ("For Jim: For the glory of the Royalty!")

    He had to leave early and was rather distracted, but I managed to get a picture of him and I got him in the group shot which also includes the production staff. He appreciated the gift.

  • Gary Chalk
    TransMetal Opimus Primal ("For Gary: You're doing prime work.")
    Optimal Optimus ("For Gary: No one messes with the Big Bot!")

    Wasn't there. He was shooting an episode of Millenium. Scott McNeil noticed the big Optimal Optimus box for Gary, though--

    Scott: "Hey, who are all those for?"
    Me: "Everyone who didn't make it here."
    Scott: "What about that big one on the bottom?"
    Me: "That's Gary's."
    Scott: "Can I open it? Huh, please? He won't notice, I promise..."

  • Ian Corlett
    Cheetor ("For Ian: The word is 'spot-on smooth!'")
    TransMetal Cheetor ("For Ian: Now that's gorgeous!")

    Appreciated the gifts and really liked that he got two toys. The crew razzed him a bit until they saw Scott's pile. :)

  • David Kaye
    TransMetal Megatron ("For David: You're smooth, David, very smooth...")

    Wasn't there.

  • Campbell Lane
    Rampage ("For Campbell: Let it change ... let it consume your shelf-space...")

    Left early so I couldn't give him his gift. However, it is in the pile waiting for him.

  • Blu Mankuma
    Tigatron ("For Blu: Let the trails lead you where they may.")

    He already had a Tigatron (yes, he was there, but I don't know why), but appreciated getting the gift. He was surprised to see it.

  • Scott McNeil
    Dinobot ("For Scott: In memoriam.")
    Silverbolt ("For Scott: He's pure, strong and fast. Okay, maybe not so swift...")
    Waspinator ("For Scott: Wazzpinator ruuulezzz!")

    He thought the gifts were really neat and really appreciated getting the Waspinator because he doesn't have one on a card. He saw one in the store, bought it, played with it to death, then tried to get another one -- but they weren't to be found. I did get a "Wazzpinator likes prezzents" unsolicited out of him. :)

    Apparently he didn't have a Silverbolt either, so he appreciated the gift, though he liked the Waspinator more. He was talking to the other actors about how the first season stuff were collector items and they were really lucky to get them on the card even. He was really happy.

    Scott was kind enough to try to get me in to view the acting session, but Ace said no. It started off with Scott asking me if I was sticking around to watch the session. I said I would love to, but I wasn't allowed, since Ace had said no. At this point, Scott got kind of upset and didn't think that was fair -- he was actually more upset about it than I was! Ace was quite firm on the secrecy stuff, but Scott was really sweet about it. I did my very best not to act like a spoiler-leeching fanboy.

    One other thing: Scott has been invited to EuroBotCon in Britain, I believe. Alec was wondering why he wasn't invited -- or, more specifically, why he had never heard of it before. Scott is seriously thinking of going.

  • Colin Murdock
    Quickstrike ("For Colin: Don't bother gettin' up, we'll just reward ya while yer down.")

    Appreciated the gift.

  • Richard Newman
    Rhinox ("For Richard: You gotta be some kind of miracle worker!")

    He liked the tag and thought it was cute. He was the first to realize that there was something on the other side of the tag, mainly because I flipped it over to look at it. I think they all kept their tags, which was neat.

  • Pauline Newstone
    Airrazor ("For Pauline: We hardly knew ye. Drag ... isn't it.")

    She wasn't there. However, her co-stars say she is a very sweet person and that it was a shame that Airrazor didn't last longer than six episodes. Apparently, she was pretty upset about being killed off. I wished she was there; Airrazor was my favorite character and I would have liked the opportunity to tell her that.

  • Doug Parker
    Terrorsaur ("For Doug: Aaah, it's good to be Predacon!")

    Wasn't there.

  • Venus Terzo
    Blackarachnia ("For Venus: The brains of this outfit.")

    Wasn't there.

  • Alec Willows
    Tarantulas ("For Alec: For all the laughter...")
    TransMetal Tarantulas ("For Alec: You'll return. You always return! And this time, it will be soon...")

    He appreciated the gifts, and found it incredible that he got something. He asked if I was from Hasbro. I said no, I was just a fan.

    Scott was also working on him to come to BotCon. He had a copy of one of Dan Khanna's BotCon art contest entries of Tarantulas which he gave to Alec. I remarked I should have brought my BotCon photos, which almost got me killed by Scott because I didn't bring them. Alec really appreciated the picture and the level of detail in the art work -- he asked Scott where he got it, and was surprised when Scott replied, "that BotCon thing I've been trying to get you to go to for the past few months!" Maybe this will convince him to go.

  • David Sobolov
    Depth Charge ("For David: Slag the High Council, just take the toy.")

    David must have been the one I talked to the most, since he was in on the original plans. He grabbed a silver pen and get everyone there to sign his box -- and I mean everyone, he even had me sign it! David even read his tag in Depth Charge's voice. :) He was really excited about the gifts even though he knew about them in advance.

    According to David, out of all the shows that he has worked on, this is the first time anything like this has ever happened. He was really excited to get the gift and wanted to know if he could get copies of the photos. I told him that they would most likely be up on Ben Yee's site, so he will start checking that pretty soon.

    He also mentioned that he may have to take his own web site down; Beast Wars has really increased the popularity of his site, and last week he had over 200 hits. Since he is running it for free off of his friend's server, he didn't think it was fair to load it down that much. However, if he moves it to a commerical site, he doesn't think he can afford it.

    I talked to him a bit about BotCon and he said he would go if he were invited, but he wasn't invited this year. He figures he wasn't invited because they would have to pay to fly him out there and so they are limited in the number of actors they can bring.

  • Susan Blu (Voice Director, Arcee, Transmutate)
    TransMetal Rattrap ("For Sue: From your Great Nephew.")

    The look of astonishment on her face as I gave the present was great. She really enjoyed the gift, and really appreciates that we fans would do something like this for them. I believe she plans to mount it on the wall in her office.

  • Elizabeth Carol Savenkoff (Predacon Ship computer)
    Jetstorm ("For Carol: Warning -- Unknown energy signature detected within.")

    Carol was by far the most excited about getting a gift. I handed hers out in the middle of the presents, and the look of joy on her face was a sight to behold. She jumped up and down because she was getting a gift -- I think she was ignored a lot as far as publicity was concerned -- and we had to get her to stop bouncing long enough to take a photo. I'm glad we managed to find something for her; it was almost as if she expected to be missed. She kept asking what it was and could she open it right away. :)

All in all, I think it was a success. Ace seemed to be fairly pleased with the way things turned out.

I have two more toys to wrap and send later -- a TransMetal Rattrap for Scott McNeil and a Japanese Shadow Panther for Lee Tockar (Ravage) -- but I guess I will survive...

--Patricia "Vulcana" Wright
November 23, 1998

Credits

The fans who participated in this project were (in alphabetical order):

Some of this stuff copyright Robert A. Jung, blab blab blab.
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