Hey everyone! Just a heads up for all central Florida fans that I have unveiled an exhibit devoted to Optimus Prime over at the Nelson Poynter Memorial Library, University of South Florida, St. Petersburg.

The exhibit features roughly 100 figures, including many of the major Optimus Prime toys that have been released in the U.S. since 1984, along with plenty of toys from more ancillary product lines (e.g., Heroes of Cybertron, MyClone, Kre-O, etc.). It also features products and merchandise, narrative text and facts, a selection of comic books featuring Prime on the cover, and a display case devoted to the four voice actors that have given life to Optimus Prime over the years.

I will qualify this exhibit in the same way that I did the one I presented last year: this is tailored for general audiences, not just ultra-diehard fans. I think that for any fans in the area, it would be a very pleasant way to spend part of an afternoon, but make no mistake: there is probably not much in this exhibit you don’t already have and/or haven’t seen before.

However, I am extremely proud to say that David Kaye, Garry Chalk and Neil Kaplan have each made personal, unique contributions to this exhibit: each of them was kind enough to write a letter to have put on display, one which describes their feelings about being Optimus Prime and their association with the Transformers. Not surprisingly, each of them wrote some amazingly honest, heartfelt things about Prime, the fans, and their continued association with the TF legacy. (I tried—and am still trying—to get Peter Cullen on board, but as you can imagine he is very hard to get in touch with.)

Anyway, here are the essentials for anyone who’s interested:

Exhibit runs June 2 to August 3 at the Nelson Poynter Memorial Library, University of South Florida, St. Petersburg campus. Check here for library hours. Note that they will be CLOSED several days this summer.




UPDATE 6/12:
I am in the process of building a fully-fledged online version of the exhibit. In the meantime, here are a few pics from it:

 

awesome!   my dad lives in Jacksonville, and I wish I could take a visit down there this summer to check out your exhibit.

 

Dude, that is awesome.

 

man that sounds neat  

wish i could visit it!

 

Someone go and take pictures

 

I'll have to stop by. May have to arrange a Florida meet-up.

 

That's really cool.

 

Sounds sweet! Wish it wasn't on the other side of the country though.   Please, someone take lots of pics and share with the rest of us!

 

Check your PM. I have idea for you.

 

It's funny how the "University of South Florida" is not anywhere in "South Florida". Coming from a Miami native, South Florida officially ends after West Palm Beach. Anything higher up we consider swamp country or red counties. On topic, I would love to see the exhibit if it travels down to South Florida. Im suprised they couldnt get a letter from Peter Cullen for the exhibit. But after his limiting autographs at Botcon, I suppose he thinks he is Mickey Mantle.

 

Now this is pretty cool, I wonder why Cullen didn't do a letter? Maybe he was just busy with Prime and the new ride or something.

While it may be aimed more towards the general public than the fans, I could see an exhibit like this making a lot of younger kids into Transformers Fans, just to walk around and see and hear all of these things about Optimus Prime.

Now we just need an Exhibit about Megatron.

 

Wow, that's only about 30 minutes from me.

Totally going to have to make a stop there.

 

They finally remembered RID Optimus Prime

 

Holy crap that's cool

 

Funny yes, but it was strategic. The University founders felt if they called it South Florida then it would entice more prospective students.... And University of Tampa was already taken.

Dharma did a good job with the last one too, will have to see if I can get to see this one.

 

The Gulf beaches are anything but swamp, and Sarasota's sure as hell not North, or East. I'll concede "West Central" Florida.
(I admit, I always get irked when Miami acts like there's nothing worthwhile north of the Glades. Then again, over here, we think of Miami the way California looks at LA.)

On topic, if I get up there, I'll totally write it up and get pics.

 

Awesome! I work in St. Pete, I'm gonna try to go check this out, take some pics if possible to post here too!
Thanks for the heads up!
Later

 

Wow, this sounds great. I live in Tampa. I will definetly be checking this out.

 

Nice! I work just minutes from here, looks like a lunchtime visit is in order tomorrow...