In an email today to backer's of the Smithsonian's Kickstarter to preserve the Niel Armstrong Space Suit, any backers at the $20 level or higher will receive a message from the Autobot Leader himself to use in your voicemail. Here is the link for the Kickstarter and the excerpt from the email to backers

 

That's awesome.
Not $20 awesome, but still awesome nonetheless.

 

I was wondering what suit he meant...

But it was cool that Jetfire could be a military aircraft in the series, and that astronauts Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong could appear in a cameo role:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5aw5yGN2kR4

 

A little 'tie-in' tidbit for this:

Transformers got an honorable mention for including the SR-71 Blackbird
in the (ROTF) TF movie during the latest episode of "Planes that Changed the World" on the Smithsonian Channel. It's airing again tonight @ 8pm CST.

Planes That Changed the World: SR-71 Blackbird | Smithsonian Channel

 

Oh man, this is so cool. Thanks for sharing.

 

It's only $20 to go to a worthy cause and to get a Optimus Prime voicemail greeting to boot, I'll back this even if it doesn't hit the stretch goal!

 

I'm assuming this a a generic recording that gets sent to everyone and not an individual one that says your name?

 

HEY! TFs are a popular franchise, right?
LET'S USE THEM TO PUSH AGENDA X!!! WOO!!!

I'm surprised they didn't tap Michael Bay for this. "Being the first director to address robots exploring the moon, Michael Bay understands the importance of preserving a space suit! He wants you to fund this kickstarter!"  

(i.e. I find the use of the TF brand here to be tacky, unrelated, and completed inappropriate. Space robots make moon landings cool now?   Maybe the Smithsonian can reach kids via twitter, line, Twilight movies next?  )

 

Voicemail?!? I'd argue that very few of us, particularly the younger generations, rarely, if ever, use voicemail anymore! Still, it's the thought that counts, right?

 

Sooooooo, I'm guessing it's not Cullen doing individual recordings? That I would do.

 

Not really. There's still a Transfromers exhibit at the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum right now. Took these on a recent trip.

 

Didn't know about this. That's pretty awesome. Just another reason why I need to visit this museum.

 

There's also the "Optimus Prime Scholarship" NASA gave out.

https://www.nasa.gov/content/goddar...contest-to-receive-scholarships/#.VcvOu_lViko

 

Doing the napkin math: When the pledges hit $700,000, everybody who pledged at least $20 can get a message. That's roughly 30,000 possible eligble donors. If Mr. Cullen gave each person a personalized message, his voice would be gone permanently. I'm pretty sure that your assumption is correct.

For the majority of donors, it's not just a good thought to pledge for this kickstarter campaign. It's also almost free. For the pledge levels listed below $100, people pledging at that amount will be able to write it off on their taxes. For the pledge levels at $100 and above, you can write off the pledge level minus $20. So, as long as you don't make a budget-destroying pledge, you get almost all of it back by tax deduction.

That's a pretty good deal. The kind of deal you almost never see.

 

Hey, a kickstarter featured on TFW2005 that's succeeding  

 

meh.

 

I think it's cool that the Jetfire reference from ROTF was inserted in the press release. A neat bit of continuity reference.

 

$700,000... At 20 bucks a piece. 35,000 personalized messages to be recorded by Cullen. At... say, two minutes each. 1,167 hours. Roughly 49 days worth of Peter Cullen recorded messaging. Not including the actual recording session time.

I'm gonna guess that donator 35,000 would have one extremely awesome message from Optimus Prime, "Hello, fellow aero-space history enthusiast. Fuck you and your thirty-four thousand, nine hundred ninety-nine no-life, loser, space-nut buddies who have wasted two years of my life. Prime out." Then you hear him zoom off with the audio from the final scene of AoE.

Honestly, I'd rather have the itemized details explaining what about a space suit [digital] restoration will cost $700,000 in exchange for my twenty bucks.

HAH!

 

I iz gonna back this up. Always been into space exploration stuffs or at least often enough to give appreciation  

 

A two minute long voice mail message? I think most are in the neighborhood of 10 seconds.

"I AM OPTIMUS PRIME. Leave your message at the tone. Freedom is the right of all sentient beings"

I wonder if people will be sharing or selling these recordings after the fact.

Thank you