 Hey, what's going on guys? Patriot Prime here once again with another episode of the Sit Rep. And my guest tonight is Kato from Kato's Toy Box. Sir, how are you doing this evening? If I was any better, I'd be twins. Excellent, excellent. Well, first off, tell my guests or tell my viewers a little bit about yourself. Uh, well, um, not much to say. I'm not a, I'm a boring guy, but, uh, I just don't really have much going on right now. I just, uh, another boring Transformers collector that is too old to do it and too stupid to stop. Well, you're my type of person in. You fit right in with us real well. Well, um, just to let everybody a quick recap on how the Sit Rep works is I have 10 questions for you. The first five questions regarding regards you as a Transformer collector and the last five questions is regarding you as a YouTuber. So if you're ready to go, we will rock and roll. Let's do it. All right, sir. Question number one, what's the appeal of Transformers for you? Well, I think the answer probably goes along with what a lot of other people say, but as a kid, I really liked two things, maybe three things majorly, robots, cars, and soldiers fighting. So it's pretty much when they came out with Transformers, I said, wait a minute, these are robot soldiers that turn in the cars and they fight. Sign me up and mom go to the store. Nice. Pretty much it. All right. Question number two, aside from G1, which is always the number one answer, what is your favorite Transformers fiction? I thought about this one for a little bit because it's almost entirely G1, but the Dreamwave series before it went over to IDW, the Dreamwave comics like the war within, probably one of my favorite fictions because they mixed things up so much from what the cartoon did, but still kept a lot of my favorite characters. And the art in that series was that Pat Lee Art was amazing. So that's how he kept the boxy style yet modernized. That's right. It looked gorgeous, but he took these like, if you play G1 now, these cheesy looking, maybe not the right word, but these really simple shapes and figures, and he just destroyed it on that on that series. And then who was the other artist that came along later was Figueroa that did, I think he did the war within. And it was just all really cool looking stuff. And you could tell everyone was from the G1 series, but seeing Grimlock become more of a leader with the, what was it, Lightning Strike? Lightning Strike Coalition. Coalition. It actually showed him in an alt mode that wasn't a dinosaur. Remember that big tank looking thing with the flames coming out of the exhaust? That's right. It was, that was such a wicked series and what a great way to pay homage to G1 without being stuck in that same, you know, that little loop that the series did. I'm trying to remember, didn't it start off where they found the deceptive, they were all frozen in the Arctic? They found, I remember they found Soundwave. Yeah, they found Soundwave. I've got them all in graphic novel form. I haven't looked at them for a long time because I always thought that's kind of where they got the idea for, you know, finding Megatron in the ice in the movies is from the, like the dream wave series that did that. But yeah, the series came out in 2002 because I remember after the, after 9-11, I was on duty station and I remember picking up a, what was the comic book magazine back in, was it Wizard? Wizard. Yeah. Wizard. I remember picking up a comic, one of those Wizard magazines, just something to read and there was an article talking about bringing the Transformers back and it was all about Dreamwave. So it had to come out in 2001, 2002. Yeah, it was the, it was early 2000s because it was around the same time that I was getting things like, you know, the Ultimate Marvel series. It really kicked off or somewhere around that line. So I was in, I was collecting a lot of books at that point, like Ultimate Spider-Man and all that stuff was like. That's a good series. I've got all those things. Such a great series. So I didn't, I didn't get into the Miles Morales line. I wish I would have because I hear it's pretty good too, but. Have you seen that new movie, the Animator one? Oh yeah, it's one of the, it's probably the best Spider-Man movie I've ever seen. Oh, I had my doubts at first and now I kick myself. I didn't go see it in the theater. Yeah, I went to the theater. A girlfriend and I went and watched it in the theater just because, yeah, I had my doubts too, but I was like, Spider-Man, I gotta go watch it. It's just, I'm kind of a fan, you know. Yeah, I saw that today. I love that. And man, I got, I left that theater. This is going to probably sound like Harrison saying it this weekend, but I still think it's a better movie than even Avengers Endgame was as far as an overall story and how it was done. I thought it was great. We won't talk anymore like that because no spoilers. No, no, no spoilers. I actually unfriended somebody because they decided to be funny and post the end of the movie and I'd delete them and they're like, well, I thought we were friends. I was like, I don't, I don't put up with shit like you care how long I've known you. You spoil a movie, you're an asshole. That's right. Just by definition, you are no longer worthy of being anything close. It's just a douchey thing to do and I don't like it. Exactly. All right, number three, question number three. Do you have a favorite figure or grail? This is the one toy you will never let go of. And I know it's probably not one of those princess pops that I've seen behind you before. No, you cut out this image now. Yeah, no. So it's actually, yeah, I've got I don't have my original G1 Sunstreaker. So the answer is Sunstreaker. I don't have my original G1 Sunstreaker, but I got one off of eBay that's probably about 99% complete. He's missing his spoiler in the back, but all the other accessories are there. I would never let that thing go. That was the first transformer I ever got, and I'll always keep that for sure. Nice. I think Christmas of 84, I got a jazz and he broke like immediately out of the pack. The door snapped off. I remember the next day we went to the store. It was a western auto. Remember those? That's where my sister bought him for me. They were all out of jazzes, so I got to trade it out for a Sunstreaker instead. Yeah, there was something I can't say that he was one of my favorites while watching the cartoon because as a like a nine, ten-year-old kid, you almost are always going to go to like Optimus or one of those, but him being the first one that I ever got for my birthday probably in 85, probably 85, was such a huge deal because money was tight back then, so I could go pick out something for like 10 bucks that I knew I was going to get for my birthday. It was the 80s, so I wanted a yellow Lamborghini who didn't, so it was cool to have him. I hope we get one in the Siege line. I'd love to see a Sunstreaker pop up in Siege. We got a decent one with Combiner Wars. I've got him over there. I actually like the Combiner Wars prowl better than the Siege prowl. Do you really? Some Repro labels might fix him up. Yeah, you're the Repro label king. I loved what they did to Sandwave. Yeah, that was really cool. I love the chess piece, how it fixed that. That has been my fastest growing video. I have hit over a thousand within three days. That's crazy. I wonder what the draw was. Sandwave, popular character, I guess. Yeah, I guess most of my videos, I mean, I'm happy if I break 500, but my toy hacks ones always score a lot. Yeah, that's like probably my most popular one is that Magic Square Prime, the full-sized Prime, their masterpiece scale one. That one, I mean, for my channel, it grew up there pretty big and I don't know why. I mean, I wasn't early with it or anything, so I don't know what that was. But yeah, that sound wave, what toy hacks does to that thing is magic. Well, after I got what they did with their Titan's Return sound wave, they did the blue chests and everything, as soon as I saw the, I think I mentioned in my video, as soon as I saw them release or the pictures of a sound wave, I was like, toy hacks is going to fix all that nastyness on it. That's right. They nailed it. They nailed it. It's a great, what a great company. I've done a few things from them for the, some of the third-party stuff I've got to get some labels right on them, but I haven't done any of the C stuff, which that might change. And they're such a fantastic company. You got a problem with one of their things? Are they sending you something that's messed up? They'll send you a replacement. No questions asked. Yeah, that's really cool. They offer those sales all the time. Yeah, you can't go wrong with them. Me plugging away at toy hacks. Hey, that's all right. Put a logo up there and have them send you a few bucks. It's worth it. It's worth it because they're great. All right. Well, question number four, what figure is your white whale? What is your most wanted toy? Pretty easy. A G1 Megatron, not necessarily in the box because I'll have him out. And the reason is that was my first, I guess at the time, what would have been a like one of the fuller size figures. I got it for Christmas one year and we were allowed to take one toy with us if we went anywhere. So we went to church the next day. I guess it fell on a Saturday, but went to church the next day and this kid who I will never forget. I'm not going to put his name out there because he doesn't deserve it, but I had Megatron out and showing him. And you remember how the transformation of that barrel flipped over to the side? He swatted it. I guess trying to swat it out of my hand or something in it spun it the wrong way. So less than 24 hours that it just popped right off on that little plastic swivel. Oh, that hurts. So yeah, I would love to find a G1 Megatron at a reasonable price. I know I can, they're out there. So, but if I got my hands on one, it wouldn't go anywhere either. Well, if you remember my sit repletoni, I'll spare you the humility of getting mine and playing with it in front of the camera to make you feel bad. That's all right, I enjoy seeing it. Okay, well, last transformers question. What's your favorite transformer character? Any fiction, any media? I won't judge. This isn't a toy. This is the character. Well, favorite character. I'm going to be a sell out and just say Optimus Prime because he's such a, I'm a big John Wayne fan. I love John Wayne and watching stuff with Peter Cullen. He's always said, or at least in some interviews, he said that he, you know, channeled his inner John Wayne for his Optimus Prime voice and every once in a while you can hear it. And the mixture of Peter Cullen's voice with Optimus, just such a cool character and and really want to icon now. I mean, who would have thought it? Who would have thought that red truck is such an icon now, even people that don't like transformers know who Optimus Prime is. That's right. And the hell with people who don't like transformers. Yeah, we don't like those people. Those people don't exist. Everybody likes transformers. They ranked right out there with those spoiler people. That's right. Unless they're just trying to be all hipster about it. And, you know, I was a and a go box guy. Not that there's anything wrong with go box. But you know, there's those people that are going to be all hipster and say that yeah, there you go. I had, you know, the only go what I ever had. And I was telling him from Transformers and video games that I need to track him down. The same year that I got Sunstreaker, I got a character called Vanguard. And he was either, I don't think he was a minivan. I think he was like an actual like box fan. If I remember right. But his name was Vanguard. Was he one of their one of the regulars that spilt my drink? Yeah, he was one of all ones. Yeah. Not like one of their larger ones that Rudy showed. But yeah, I had him and it's really cheap because it was the same year I got Sunstreaker as far as our memory serves me right. But, you know, obviously got overshadowed by transformers. And at least at the time, because I had like a transform. My sister and I have the same birthday four years apart to the day. So we had a split day cake, a Barbie on one side and transformers on the other. So you should have blended it together made like a Barbie cyborg. Yeah, I don't know if my mom would have and I say it to me in my in my head. It was a beautiful cake, but she probably literally just like stuck a plastic transformer and a Barbie on there and wrote happy birthday on there, which that's fine. It was great. I also got that same year. I got a book from a cousin, the Call of the Wild by Jack London. And I say that like it's important only because it's the only book that I ever did a book report on my entire high school life. And I never read it. So it was a good year. It was a good year that year for for for birthdays. I guess that's awesome. All right, well, that's it for the transformer questions. Now it's on to YouTuber questions. And I've noticed you're you're starting to pick up a little bit. You're getting getting some recognition on your channel. You know, I think it's seeing your name thrown around a few places here. That's good. Oh, I'm sorry. I keep interrupting you. No, go ahead. I'll say you're not on Facebook. Are you? I am not. I gave up the Facebook ghost a few years ago. I've seen you pop up a few times on there. So anyway, question number six is what possessed you a grown ass man to do toy reviews on YouTube? Well, first, before I thought about doing that. And I talked to Matthew about it a little bit. I was rebuilding my collection slowly. It was I'm really fairly new at rebuilding my collection because I had plenty of stuff as a kid. I got rid of it going up. But the quick answer is last year, there was a hurricane. And where I work, basically, we evacuated up to Tennessee, came back down. I was ready to go back to work. And we got an email saying, don't worry about opening the store up. We're closing it now. There's no damage to the store. No, nothing. They just basically use it as an excuse to get out of business. It was actually a moonshine distillery. So moonshine. But so at that point, I had been doing retail. I worked that, you know, as long as I could work, I'd been working retail. And I was just so bummed out that I lost this job. It was great because it gave me time to do another job that I have. But once they did that, I was like, I've got I'm going to start doing something I want to do. You know, I've got to find something I actually enjoy doing. I had this other job that helped, you know, pay the bills and all that kind of stuff. So I was like, I lost my job. So I'm going to go buy some transformers and get on YouTube. So that's basically what I did. I just kind of said, it's my turn to do something I want to do. And my girlfriend was like, I think you should do it. I think it's a great idea. And it's like, okay, pay the rent. But I mean, that's really how it went. I just said honestly, I think I saw a few reviewers. I had started wanting to get back into collecting. And I saw you and Matthew and or deluxe. And I don't like throwing people's real names out there. But deluxe. Another guy, the first guy that I did on my little show was Sardo, NumSpa, followed the, I started watching Mgo and all the big guys too. And I was like, I want to talk about transformers with people. It's the actual talking part is free. You know, so I'm going to buy them anyway. So that's how it started. And it's amazing the people you meet doing this. You know, I mean, it's like, I've never talked to you face to face before. I mean, I saw you live the other day. But now it's like you and I've known each other forever because of these plastic robots. Yeah. And there is, I say it, I said it at the end of a few of mine. And I really mean it. I was like, by the time I'm done with this, these people that I've met who know the odds of ever meeting you or any of these other guys are, I mean, nonexistent, right? I mean, it just wouldn't have happened without this. And then add to the fact that we all have something in common. It's innocent, good fun. Like I have, this is going to sound really ridiculous, but I have no idea what any of these people's political beliefs are, right? Nothing. I know nothing. All I know is we have this fun thing in common. And we can all love it together. We can all talk together about it. And nothing else matters. And that's just, that's great. And I mean it every time when I say now that I've known these people, I would do anything for you. So if there's something I can do, I consider all you guys friends now and I'm okay with it. Oh yeah. And I'm going to thank you right now for the donation on my channel. That was all and that was, I appreciate that. I noticed it. And I was like, well, if I can't go, I can at least, you know, help somebody else go. Yeah, I was talking to Joel from Larkin's Lair. And I'm sorry, I threw first names out because I've got to know these guys so well. But and I was talking about how something about dipping into my TFcon fund. He says, you need to create a donate button. I was like, how in the world do you do that? And he helped me line it up. So I got on there. So yeah, there's nothing wrong with that. I mean, you're not, you're being honest about what it's for. It's why not have people in the community say, here's a something to help you get there. I think it's brilliant. I would, like if you if I did know you before this, and you were like, Hey, man, can I borrow a few bucks to get into TFcon? Yeah. Well, so this is no different to me than. Well, I thank you very much. It was kind of a shock to see the notifications. Now, I mean, I got a couple of them already. Well, that's good. I'm glad. I'm glad. Okay, so you kind of answered question number seven. But what keeps inspiring you to get in front of that camera? Well, now that's actually probably maybe I did answer it. I don't know. But you guys, like honestly, one that being fun, right, it is just fun. And I don't like most people say I don't have a lot of folks that collect to sit down and have conversations with. So that's a big thing is just having folks to talk about a common commonality with. But then again, see you guys out there doing this. And I try not to directly copy anyone. But at the same time, I'm like, That's a brilliant idea. I want to do that. And I think all of us have to thank Deluxe Baldwin for the idea of doing this because he had me on his show and I had a blast. And of course, I realized I couldn't do the live thing. That's where I got the idea with the set questions and just turn it into a show type deal. So it works works pretty good. So yeah, we don't have that great interaction like we can't the community can interact with it interact with us. But I think people watch enough they know the questions I'm going to ask. So I think they enjoy hearing your answers. Yeah. And I think that whole idea and again, like you said, thank him for that because I just opened up a whole new thing. And and prior to that, I was not about to get in front of the camera. Like it just wasn't even I mean, all my reviews up until that point were, you know, wrist up just me yammering on about stuff. But then when that changed is we were doing some remodeling of the apartment, they were coming in to redo carpet and put hardwood down because it had just been a while. So the apartment complex was doing that. And in the process, you know, we basically lost the table that I did most of my stuff on. And I was like, well, I got this new figure and I think I'd gotten that new age cosmos in. I was like, I've got to show this to people and I don't know how to do it. And so finally, I just said, well, I'll sit in front of the TV and just show it to people and see what happens. And from then I think got on deluxe is about around 30. It's like, well, I'm out there now. So why don't I do this too? And now I'm probably live as much or video my noggin as much as I did anything else by now. Well, mine came from the fact that I have been on TV a lot. I did a lot of things for when I came back from Iraq. The job I had when I got back from the desert was I got a gym job where I created children's programs. I'm always on the news doing things with that. I had video channels before and so when it kind of flipped around to this, I knew a lot of reviewers that's all you saw was the hands. And I said, why won't do it different? I'm going to talk to you for a little bit, do the hands and then do an outro. And that's why I did my very first video. People liked it. So that's why I stuck with the only thing is toy hacks videos. I just go right to the stickers. I don't fool with it. Well, there's no introduction to do with a toy. Yeah, you're just introducing the toy again. Well, yeah, I love seeing what everybody's formats are. You know, I'd like deluxe was one of the first ones I saw that, you know, didn't transform the figure. Yeah, he's a smart one. Yeah, he convinced me not to do that. Actually, I was on I am on Reddit and I actually asked a few guys on there. And I was like, what do you look for out of a review? And so many people, a lot of people said that they just don't if they watch a review, they don't look always for a transformation in a review that, you know, maybe that could be a separate thing or whatever. And I was like, well, I don't want to I'm already from the south and talk to damn slow anyway. So, you know, my videos were being way too long. So I just took that out. And he was the first one I saw that, you know, showed the figure here rather than just his hands. And I wasn't quite ready for that yet. So when I film a G one, I've got no problem with the transformation. It's the newer ones. I will have to redo that transformation sequence two or three times. And oh, I go into a full fit of cussing rage. Yeah, that's speaking of that. I want your I want your blooper real probably at least once a week. That's hilarious. What a great thing to do. I loved it. I loved it. Thank you. Because I can I can relate because I try to be very because I know that maybe there's going to be kids that watch it and full disclosure, talking for 30 to 40 minutes and not cursing is a feat of miraculous proportions that I don't think a lot of people can comprehend. So especially when you're up, one of these. Yeah, and I've been surrounded most of my life by one of those and there's a lot of those. And yeah, it's conversation happens in special ways. And have you seen the blooper real where Dylan's sitting on my lap? No, instead of me letting the f bombs go, you'll see me growl. Yeah, there's a blooper real where it's him and I sitting there. Oh, I haven't seen he just happened to hop on my lap. We're doing a review and I'll get mad. I sit to go. Fantastic. He looks at me at one point and goes, Daddy, you gonna do this right or what? And then the growl. Yeah, I got you. It's great. All right. Question number eight. There are thousands of toy reviewers on YouTube. What makes you any different from the rest? I thought about this question too. And honestly, I don't have an answer yet. I think I'm still finding my place. I do have a few things coming up that are a little different. Now, I admit right off, I said this to you earlier, I love your style now with that monitor you have in the background. Yeah, that is so cool. That was a huge accident because of the same, you know, the whole thing. And now we're building this table that's going to be hopefully fantastic or non existent. It's only going to be one of those two things. It's either going to be greater. It's not going to exist. But the where most things are going to happen and that's going to take me away from this. So I don't know. I don't know if I'll use that table for reviews or videos or mix it up a little bit or why because I like this. I like like on the on the present show where I do where I was talking to Joel and Sardo throw their channels up there. That's the first thing I noticed and let people see that. You know, when I'm doing something when I'm talking, I'll have mine up there. You know, it's I kind of I do kind of like that. So but you got to watch what you have in the background because you get people like me that will point out the Twilight books. Yeah, I actually wish my girlfriend was in here to hear that. I haven't told her that yet. That was so funny. Well, I didn't say Twilight. I said, yeah, but look behind you. I was going crazy in my head trying to think that I accidentally throw out a Twilight reference. She's a huge fan. As far as she's concerned, it's the best thing that's ever existed, possibly for being for those of you watching that don't know what's going on. He did a live show the other day and it was a wider shot of what you're looking at right now. And on the in the back is a bookshelf and there was the Twilight books. Yeah, you can see the little there it is right there that hands and the apple. And I noticed that and I called him out on us. I didn't know you're a Twilight fan and it just blew his mind. Yeah, I was I stopped for a minute because I couldn't figure out if I had said something and I actually got defensive. I was like, I was like, I didn't say I didn't say anything. What did I say? You're the Twilight fan. You are. You're faced. You know, I was like, I was like, well, you got the reference and you're the fan. So, that was great. See how off the rails we went. You were so bad about this. Yeah, my bad. I love it. That's what happened. That's what happens with these shows. I dig it. All right. Question number nine, we've touched on this a little bit. What's your thoughts on the Transformers social community, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, any shout outs? Do you have any shout outs people? Well, I haven't had any issue with the social community, mostly because it's been limited to Instagram, YouTube and Reddit. And most I haven't had any issues there. So everybody that I've met through all three of those formats have been fantastic. I'm not on Facebook, like I said earlier, so I don't really get into a lot of the bitter debates that seem to happen a lot there, mostly because I think that's not as bad. I mean, the forums like the TFW 2005 sites like that, those are a lot worse than Facebook. With Facebook, I'm on a bunch of groups that are very well maintained. And yeah, I met a lot of good people that way. I think that's a good thing when you can kind of rein in who you're talking to. I think Instagram is good for that because, you know, it's a follow or unfollow thing. It's you can fine tune your audience and who you're talking to about who you follow or whatever. And I would think Facebook could be like that too. The forums are just like a just a trolling of anybody and everybody can say anything and God forbid if you enjoy any of the Babers movies at all, like you can't even mildly like anything about those are, you know, out into the wind. But which I don't understand. I think people, we should all be at least grateful that it kept the franchise alive. If nothing else. But yeah, I haven't really had any issue with the social community. So I dig it. I don't have a problem with any of it. And as far as shoutouts go, man, everybody that I've been talking to lately deserve to shout out. I mean, deluxe you. I have been wildly addicted to watching everything that the anyone from the figure force puts out. You know, Rudy, Rudy ever admit that what he does to your girlfriend that makes her want to watch him so bad. Oh yeah, he said that they had a torrid love affair. He gave her that science fantasy experience. That's right. That's right. That fantastical science fantasy experience. She doesn't know about that yet either. We don't have a conversation. So it was so funny. I got him on the set rep one day. I just happened. I was off work. Dylan was I don't know what I don't know what was going on. I was off work. And he sent me a Facebook message. I'm like, Oh, shit. What are you doing right now? And I ran to set the whole thing up. So yeah, you actually introduced me to him his channel and all of them. I love watching his stuff. He has some of the coolest. I don't know how to put it, but the way he presents the nostalgia of the figure just is perfect. And I always see something new in his background. That's right. Every time I'm like, Oh, look at there. That's that's that thing or you know, whatever. And I just think he does just good, honest, open conversation. And I love I love it. There's so many different ways for all of us to do the same thing. In a sense, and yeah, all those guys. I mean, he's Joel is a great dude. Eric a new tabby. He's a great dude. Oh, man, I could be here all night with with shout outs. They're all awesome. Except for that prime guy, freaking douchebag. No, I'm just kidding. I mean, you and you and twilight fans twilight fans. That's great. Okay, last question. Do you have any channel goals for yourself and where can our viewers find you plug yourself? You plug yourself. Where do I like kind of where do I see myself in five years kind of thing? Channel goals. I just want to keep having fun. I'd like to come up with interesting new ways to talk about stuff, maybe some new product, but it's mostly going to be transformers. As far as like where I see myself in five years, I don't know. I'd like to be sitting down having a beer with half of you guys in five years wondering how we got there, you know, I think that'd be fun. TF con 2023, baby. Yeah, I think that'd be a blast. Just look around and, you know, sipping on a Miller white going. Yeah. As far as plugging myself, God, I'll be 50 in five years. Yeah, you're just a tad older than me. Yeah, I'll be 48 in five years. So you were right behind you. I'm on YouTube and Kato's toy box reviews, Instagram and Kato's toy box reviews. And that's pretty much it. So other than that, you can knock on the door and come on inside. But I'm not giving you my address. I wouldn't do that on here. No. And just to let my viewers know that I will link Kato's channel at the end of this video and in the description. So I got you covered there. Appreciate you. Well, buddy, that is it for the set rep. I really appreciate you stopping by and allowing me to interrupt your evening plan so we can sit there and talk about plastic robots. I'm all about that. That isn't that was my evening plan. So coincidentally it worked out. Excellent. Perfect. And I want to thank you guys for watching. Don't forget to like and don't forget to subscribe. I try to put out new content at least once or twice a week just depends on my schedule. Sit reps anywhere from two to one a week just depends on how I can grab a guess. Guys, this is Patriot Prime signing out. Who are