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Optimus Prime Evolution of a Pop Culture Hero Exhibit at University of South Florida

Posted on 06-03-2012 at 05:39 PM by Sol Fury under Other News

dharmacon dropped by our 2005 Boards to share something that is doubtless going to be of interest to all you fans in the South Florida area - from June 2 to August 3 2012, there will be an exhibition charting the evolution of Optimus Prime at the Nelson Poynter Memorial Library, University of South Florida, St. Petersburg. This cool exhibition in dharmacon's own words "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.

As an added bonus, there are also letters from three of Optimus Prime's four voice actors in the exhibit. Garry Chalk (voice of Optimus Primal and Optimus Prime 2002-2006), Neil Kaplan (Robots in Disguise Optimus Prime) and David Kaye (Transformers Animated Optimus Prime) have all contributed some honest and heartfelt thoughts about Optimus Prime, the fans and the greater Transformers Legacy.

It's pitched at a general audience, so it may not have anything that fans like us do not already know, but if you are in the area then head on by and take a look - it genuinely sounds like a great way to spend an afternoon. Check out the University library opening hours here.

Discuss on the Boards!

Views: 7,289 / Credit: dharmacon of the 2005 Boards!

DISCUSSION: (Jump To This Thread On The Boards)

ckhtiger

awesome!

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

46+2

Dude, that is awesome.

Josh

man that sounds neat

wish i could visit it!

jinx23

Someone go and take pictures

Omegatron

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

Autovolt 127

That's really cool.

The Crazy Collector

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!

Junior

Check your PM. I have idea for you.

Rated X

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.

Grimlockimus

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.

Roufuss

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

Totally going to have to make a stop there.

MovieGodOptimus

They finally remembered RID Optimus Prime

Stardust262

Holy crap that's cool

fisch

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rated X

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.

DrawerDemon

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rated X

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.

Hippie Trooper

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

JoeHavok

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

Onslaught24

definitely gonna have to go. and i'm with Omegatron, we need to arrange a meet up.

EDIT: i'm goin next weekend (9th and 10th)

NaYoung

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

SwerveGears

You know, if I ever open that school, this is definitely going in there.

dharmacon

Quote:

Originally Posted by fisch

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

Thank you very much for the kind words. I'm not going to lie: I think this exhibit is 10 times better than the last one. It's bigger, more focused, and has a LOT more than just random toys and merchandise. In hindsight, I think last year's exhibit was practice for this one.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rated X

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.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Grimlockimus

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.

The problem has nothing to do with Cullen personally, as far as any sort of ego problem getting in the way or anything negative like that. He's just very hard to get hold of. No Facebook, no Twitter, no personal website. I wrote to his agent, and it was more or less confirmed to me that they never passed the word along. I recently touched base with someone, who knows someone, who knows him. Hoping that word might reach him via that daisy chain. I truly believe that he'd be on board with something like this... if only he knew about it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Grimlockimus

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.

This was my sentiment with my last exhibit: bridge the generational gaps, bring young and old together, create a bonding experience. Young children growing up with the movies, Animated, and TF: Prime have no idea what G1 or BW or RID is. What a great way to introduce them to the full history of a character that they already know and love! Likewise, someone who hasn't followed TFs since the 80s or 90s might be surprised at how many Optimus toys are actually out there. I think it's safe to call this "something for everyone."

Quote:

Originally Posted by MovieGodOptimus

They finally remembered RID Optimus Prime

He's easily one of my top 5 favorite Optimus Prime toys... no way I was leaving him out!

Sunstreaker

Awesome - this is my Trans-fan buddy's alma-mater and I only live 45 minutes away. We'll be making a special trip to check it out!

UltimusPrime

Quote:

Originally Posted by dharmacon

Thanks to all who have expressed enthusiasm about this exhibit so far. It's been a school project/labor of love that's consumed most of my life for the last 3 months, so I pray it shows when people actually see it.

As I mentioned in my initial post, the exhibit is technically unfinished: I still need to create a display case for the comics I've set aside, I need to create signs, and I need to do some minor tweaking. Hoping to have those things done (or at least started) between now and Wednesday.

Thank you very much for the kind words. I'm not going to lie: I think this exhibit is 10 times better than the last one. It's bigger, more focused, and has a LOT more than just random toys and merchandise. In hindsight, I think last year's exhibit was practice for this one.

The problem has nothing to do with Cullen personally, as far as any sort of ego problem getting in the way or anything negative like that. He's just very hard to get hold of. No Facebook, no Twitter, no personal website. I wrote to his agent, and it was more or less confirmed to me that they never passed the word along. I recently touched base with someone, who knows someone, who knows him. Hoping that word might reach him via that daisy chain. I truly believe that he'd be on board with something like this... if only he knew about it.

This was my sentiment with my last exhibit: bridge the generational gaps, bring young and old together, create a bonding experience. Young children growing up with the movies, Animated, and TF: Prime have no idea what G1 or BW or RID is. What a great way to introduce them to the full history of a character that they already know and love! Likewise, someone who hasn't followed TFs since the 80s or 90s might be surprised at how many Optimus toys are actually out there. I think it's safe to call this "something for everyone."

He's easily one of my top 5 favorite Optimus Prime toys... no way I was leaving him out!

Myself and a few friends will be dropping in to check it out sometime soon.

Taziir

Kudos to you for making this happen, sounds like it's going to be great

Any chance you can arrange some kind of virtual tour / online archive after the event has finished for those of us unable to attend in person?

Keep up the great work!

Tikin

Awesome. Wish I lived nearby so I could come see!

Shame you couldn't get in contact with Cullen. From everything I've heard he'd love to take part in something like this.

JBStuka

Quote:

Originally Posted by Omegatron

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

Quote:

Originally Posted by Onslaught24

definitely gonna have to go. and i'm with Omegatron, we need to arrange a meet up.

EDIT: i'm goin next weekend (9th and 10th)

I agree it would be cool to get a meet-up together. We haven't had one in a while. Unfortunately on the 9th and 10th I'm gonna be working on my mom's house to help her out.

I may try to go on the 16th.

Primewave

I so want to see this.

Russian fan

Wooooow!!! As many as THREE floors! No one could pull out me from there, if I would be there!
It's great that you managed to make such an exhibition! And even to be recognized by such distinguished people (as Garry Chalk and others)!
Good luck to reach the same from Peter Cullen - his letter with the wise and kind words would adorn the exhibition!
It would be nice to travel with the exhibition around the world, when you become really stronger!
Come to Russia, at least in our St. Petersburg!

dharmacon

Quote:

Originally Posted by Taziir

Any chance you can arrange some kind of virtual tour / online archive after the event has finished for those of us unable to attend in person?

My librarian mentor wants to collaborate with me on an online version of the exhibit that would be archived for future reference. Best case scenario will see it go live in 2-3 weeks, but that is tentative at best right now. If and when it goes up, I'll let everyone know.

moreprimeland

Hope your efforts to get a response and letter from Peter come to fruition. His letter would be the crown jewel to an already wonderful sounding exhibit. Also kudos for including RID Optimus, he's my 2nd fave Optimus.
This sounds like it would be an interesting way to spend a couple of hours. Would love to see it myself.

Hippie Trooper

Quote:

Originally Posted by JBStuka

I'd love to attend a meetup! But the weekend of the 9th & 10th is bad for me too, it's my wife's B-day and if I drag her to a TF exhibition that weekend..... well, I'll just stop there LOL!
Later

Rated X

Quote:

Originally Posted by DrawerDemon

Hey it's not our fault the west coast of florida is mostly known for sleepy retiree towns like cape coral and fort myers. I didnt draw the map. Anything above lake Okeechobee is considered northern florida whether it's on the coast or the mainland. Most of the northerners hate our large influx of minorities and wish they could split the state in two. Im down with that. For the record, I mean no disrespect to you. I just want to clear up a misconception that the schools name would give others.

dharmacon

Just a heads-up that I have posted a few pics from the exhibit into my initial post on the first page of this thread. Enjoy, and thanks to everyone for the positive reception that this exhibit has garnered!

TFW10

Oh wow, my uncle lives in Pasley, FL.

Stardust262

Awesome pics

The Crazy Collector

Nice! More pics please!

Powersa

Letters from VAs adds value for sure. Nice pics! Hope to see more.

MSeegz

Hello. I hope it's okay to post this here.

I work for the NPR affiliate out of Tampa, WUSF, and last Tuesday, I interviewed Dharmacon, who organized this exhibit at the USF St Pete library (since we're stationed on the Tampa USF campus). We'll be broadcasting the story, with clips from the interview, Friday morning at 7 or 8 AM, and again at around 5 PM. Those not in the Tampa/St. Pete area can stream us online at http://www.wusf.usf.edu/

Along with the story, there is a web article, which is currently up on the site right now (http://wusfnews.wusf.usf.edu/post/tr...mus-prime-life). It expands upon the broadcasted story, but will include photos of the exhibit, as well as images and media from the Transformers franchise itself.

I want to thank Dharmacon for taking the time to talk to me last week, and for his wonderful contribution he's made for Transformers fans.

I was also wondering if it would be possible to have an update about this interview mentioned in a news article? It would be great publicity for our website. If not, that's fine.

-M. Seegz

Junior

Great article on the exhibit from the Tampa Bay Times

'Robots in disguise' on display at Poynter Library Transformers exhibit - Tampa Bay Times

Onslaught24

will you be doing a Megatron exhibit?