My Transformers Midlife Crisis: Backer Version

Love this movie, love the soundtrack. The seres was alright and if I think the Japanese shows are up on Veoh somewhere. Watching Hot Rodimus (as he somehow ends up getting called in some circles) and Galbatron (as he gets called in Japan) call each other bastard is jarring at first.

Jazzy G

I want WAY more than 50 years of hbomb please

Azalea Jane

33 here and not sure if I'm half dead or still in my early 20s. Think I'll just keep playing video games and be happy that I can at least afford to buy Japanese figures now, lol.

Richard Williams

Midlife? You’re not even 30 yet, Harris. Come on, don’t make those of us a decade ahead of you feel even older. 😂

Tom Martell

I kind of absolutely adored this video, mostly because the power-rock anthems of that movie shaped a lot of my music taste during m'teen years. Also you are only three years older than I am and that is mild to moderately brain-breaking, not sure why. But I have a lot of the same nostalgia you did for that film, and there's something really heartwarming about watching another person talk about it with fondness despite its massive... massive... Unicron-sized good-movie-devouring flaws. You sort of sound like a kid who's excited to share their favorite thing, but is used to being talked over, and that vulnerability is really cool to see on someone with a public platform! I grew up in the literal woods with access to exactly one channel, so most of the movies I watched were ones my older brothers or parents owned. I literally wore out the VHS tape of the Transformers movie we had. But due to that aforementioned lack of television, it is the only Transformers property I've ever consumed, so I don't have a lot of context for it within the greater cannon of the toy commercials. I dunno, it's a cool video HBomb. If you get to that Night in the Woods video I'm going to probably re-watch it nearly as many times as I'm gonna re-watch this, if not more. Keep it up, you rule, don't let the acquired superpower of feeling old eat your soul too much.

Ruth (The Horned Witch)

Wow, this was really insightful, kudos!

Dave

boring

Excellent video! Super hyped for Night in the Woods!

Transformers! Roll back, eh?

Your Resident Homestuck Guy, Gumba Masta

good post. extremely good post. im glad to see you talk about what you want to, and it was fun. thanks for letting yourself do this! <3

(Gay) Rosencrantz

When I first started, I expected this video to be a bit "lighter" and personal, given how the intro was like "I'm just gonna talk about the Transformers movie and you can watch it if you like!" And I was completely fine with that. I'm always worrying about content creators just kinda like, burning out and breaking down from the demands of...being a content creator. I uhhh, want to let you know that if you ever need to just like...take a break and spend a month or year just like, resting and relaxing, I'll still support you on Patreon. You're a human being and I want you to take care of yourself and enjoy your existence. Having said that, I pay money so...uhhh....I'm gonna make a big huge response to this! And it's going to be a giant wall of text so one read it if they have like, things to do. I never saw the Transformers cartoon series. Nor did I ever see the movie. It's weird because I'm a bit older than Harris. Granted, I knew a lot of friends and cousins who did see the Transformers movie and the OG 80's cartoon. The main reason being I had very few friends and my parents didn't have a lot of money. I could never really be a part of the 80's toy thing because...I just couldn't bear to force my parents to buy me all those toys. I've also seen, and read, a LOT of takes on the movie and weirdly enough, feel like I "get" what it's about so much that I...never really felt compelled to ever watch it? Before I kinda wrote it off as like "oh yeah, Optimus Prime was everyone's Robot Dad and this was like, important 'cause they killed him off in this" and didn't ever think of the movie beyond that. Your take on it...shed quite a bit of insight, both philosophically and personally. I knew this video was going to be personal for you but uhhh...it turned out to be quite "heavier," but in a really good way. Your ability to bare your soul is admirable and brave. And even though I've never seen (nor intend to see, really) the Transformers movie, your ability to communicate all the interesting things about it in such a relatable, personal way is one of the reasons why I like giving you money over the internet. I don't have much to add other than..."Beast Wars" and "War Planets" were...more of my thing. That whole genre of 90's CGI action-toy shows were more my jam. Mainly because of the Dinobot character in Beast Wars. Spoiler warning for the 1996 "Beast Wars" CGI animated series, in case...anyone cares about that? See, the way I relate to the death of Optimus, is connect it to the death of Dinobot in Beast Wars and what that meant for me. I uhh...never really cared about having a father (for reasons I won't get into) so Optimus' whole surrogate parental role--and the role of that whole heroic archetype, for that matter--didn't really do much for me. Instead, I found in my childhood I could only connect to characters I saw myself in. And I saw myself a lot in Dinobot. Dinobot was a Predacon (Decepticons, but they're scary insects and dinosaurs) who betrayed his former comrades to join the Maximals (Autobots but they're tigers and gorillas and stuff) for uhh, plot reasons. He fit the whole anti-hero archetype of the "good guy" who wasn't always a "good guy" and in fact was very much a "bad guy" but had a personal code that made him "good" enough not to be "evil." Which is my personal cup of tea as far as characters go. I won't get into the whole details of his character arch, but from what I remember he...basically sacrifices himself for the future of humanity, taking on ALL of the Predacons by himself. After of course, "betraying" the Maximals to join the Predacons. Which was always a huge fear that the Maximals had. Many of the Maximals had very "It's Complicated" relations with Dinobot, and up until they discover his dead body, really did buy into the idea that he betrayed them all. And hated him for it. But then they see what he did, the risks he took, and the death he faced. More so, they knew that *he knew* that he would die doing this. And that he was the only one who could've done what he did. So they buried him as a hero. I can't remember the exact last words Dinobot said when he died. I just remember the scene of him valiantly making the crudest hammer imaginable, and ruining Megatron's entire plans for total domination of the future with the greatest fake-out ever. Which depleted the last of his energy, extinguished his spark, and guaranteed his death. I took a gander at the wiki and this particular quote summed him up greatly. "Tell my tale to those who ask," his last words were. "Tell it truly—the ill deeds along with the good—and let me be judged accordingly. The rest... is silence." And the reason why it struck me so hard was because of one of the most personal struggles I faced as a child. One I still struggle with as an adult. The struggle of contemplating what my inevitable death will mean, and what it will be. The environment and events that happened to me in life taught me that, at a very early age, I will die. And the people close to me will die. And, for reasons I'd rather not get into, a part of me *wants* to die (please don't be concerned about me typing this--I am not suicidal, I'm in therapy, on the meds, all that good stuff). The one thing I always contemplated is...if the few people I've let myself get close to, the people that are still alive with me, will benefit from it. As in, I've always been haunted by this idea that my friends and loved ones would be "better off" with, or without me. 'cause I fit Dinobot, and that general "weird scary loner who doesn't fit in with the 'good' people but...tries to anyway" archetype is one I feel like I live. And the whole funereal process Dinobot had, the things spoken about him, the way he's mourned and remembered and understood. When I saw it, I thought to myself "that's how I want to die. That's how I want to be remembered. That's the meaning I want my life and inevitable end to carry." And uhh, to connect it back to the video, the whole idea of having a meaningful, noble, redeeming death may...be pretty crazy and a hopeless thing to believe in. Especially since my experience had very much taught me that death happens at any time, place, or reason, and at oftentimes it's completely meaningless and there's nothing you can do to prevent it and there isn't anything heroic or grand. But...I'd like to believe that there can be an idea or purpose or people I can throw myself into the void for without hesitation or regret. And that said death will do something like...prevent Megatron from wiping out humanity. And be something others can learn from, grow from, and carry with them. Which of course might be totally crazy to believe in. But hey, I already got a long list of diagnosis' that kinda tell me I'm batshit loco. So the way I figure it I uhhh...might as well try to live some kinda life where I can meet the kinda end that carries that kinda meaning for...at least like, three or four folk. By the way uhh. I don't mean to pry but I do hope you're like, doing okay. I've had about four mid-life existential crisis' and they sometimes lead to bad things. I can't really say I can be helpful or supportive because I'm a walking "work in progress" and very much have no idea wtf I'm doing but. I'll uhh...support you or anyone I can. If anyone bothered to read all of this, I hope you do everything you can to take care of yourself. You're important, even if you don't think you are. Anyway excellent work on the video, Harris. It's definitely worth the pledge. In fact I feel like I'm exploiting the shit outta content creators sometimes. Like, I get all this cool stuff and contemplation for just a few bucks a month? Beats the hell outta a Netflix sub, in my opinion.

Right there with you in the midlife crisis zone.

Katly Hong

I really, really liked that style - it was a comfortable and natural feeling of conversation / listening to someone speak about interesting things. It's probably good to use shorter-form stuff like this in between your bigger videos - nice change of pace. BTW - I have NEVER seen a single episode of Transformers but that didn't stop you getting all your points across to me successfully. So seriously well done there!

Dagmar Makara

Hbomb looks like he is gonna cry in the end, did he just lost someone? I also always thought of you and Jenny Nicholson pretty similar in the way that you guys just make what ever come to mind to you, and I really like that

This is 2000x exactly why I fell deeply deeply in love with Gurren Lagann!! You've finally articulated why I love a completely unrelated thing that's also about giant robots!!

I was born after this movie and watched it a few years ago with friends and was...highly...amused by it. Its badness eclipses Orson Welles' blood alcohol level when he was doing his lines. Regarding the video, no criticisms for the cut, but I will touch on the morality. I'd say Unicron is clearly evil because it has both the consciousness to know what it's doing, know there are alternatives to what it's doing (plenty of uninhabited planets out there for victimless consumption), and actively chooses not to care. It's clearly something that ought to be defeated and is done so through the Mentioned Bullshit and (???) "Faffing About" (???). Unicron being some proxy for nihilism only really works if you don't think about it toooooooooo hard. You did hit upon the gold, though: the ultimate solution to existential dread is the very thing it invokes to try to overwhelm you. If all things turn to dust and nothing matters, then that lack of meaning is also meaningless and shouldn't and doesn't actually inform your life--or any life. It's precisely by ignoring the ostensible futility of it all that life has lasted for billions of years, respectably rivaling the time-scale of the universe. What I'm most nostalgic about my time, the 90s, is how natural this optimism was and the confidence we had in it. I've just been consistently annoyed by people after 9/11 and all the weird, tired, insecure, post-apocalyptic cynicism everyone else has adopted as a really bad coping mechanism for ultimately...mild shit. I was bored of grimdark and all the 9/11 proxies after about five minutes of it. And now it's 2019 and Endgame is about to come out oh God abort abort A fly lives for 17 days; flies have been around for millions of years. So enjoy your life. It's worth living and there's no shame in thinking that.

Valastrius

Harris I gotta be honest this video is very strange. I think you have some good points in the intro and ending but the long, long, loooong stuff between meanders and gets lost in examination of a movie which is, as you said, for children. It gave me no small level of anxiety to watch it. I respect what you were trying to get at here but I think the way you went about it is perhaps a little bit too self-indulgent.

Stormbourne

LET ME TELL YOU ABOUT SHE-RA AND THE PRINCESSES OF POWER AND IDEOLOGY

Genuinely fantastic, its also nice to see a positive look at nostalgia in part

Samael

Is that a bandicoot on the bed?

Naomi Hatchman

If you die at 52, I will be very unhappy. :(

Kimberley Challis

never watched transformers, not even as a kid. but thank you for telling your interpretation of its message, because hearing it honestly helped me right now.

Never saw the Transformers movie, though now I want to re-rewatch the My Little Pony cartoon with the demon in it. 26 is the perfect age to have an existential crisis. I’m a bit curious about your older vids, maybe have a clip of one where you’re talking or making a joke? :)

I was born in '84, and so the movie came out when I was around 2 years old. It's ingrained in my childhood and I dearly love this awful movie. You've explained in great detail why I love it. Plus the death of Ironhide traumatised me. He has the best line in the movie, too: "Every time I look into a monitor, Prime, makes my circuits sizzle. When are we gonna start bustin' Deceptichops?" Also, the soundtrack is fucking amazing, no joke.

No, Weird Al was absolutely on the soundtrack and it's very odd but also kind of awesome.

lmao i assumed you added the Dare to be Stupid audio over the clip the first time, it was just too on the nose

Thank you Harry; now I understand why this dumb dumb movie meant so much to my high school boyfriend. (That might sound flippant and dismissive; it's not meant to be. This was really cool.) Also, while I still love your more polished videos, I also really like this more rambly, ad-hoc approach.

some kind of gay cryptid

I never got into transformers, but as someone who has forcibly cobbled together the meanings and messages I needed out of bad nostalgic media over and over again this still really resonated with me.

Shawna Lee

It's a lovely video, really liked it. It’s a very interesting companion piece to your Lovecraft video. I also felt that maybe in a sneaky way it maaaybe has a different idea of what nostalgia is? Considering nostalgia is supposed to be a bad thing capitalism exploits to manipulate us? For some time, mostly in the reboot/IP market, I’ve thought of nostalgia (putting aside the pedantic "it means this and that in old greek!") as a desire to purely relive a feeling that a thing gave you in the past, as opposed to having a new experience based on that thing that moved you in the past, which means a nostalgic revisit is not looking to reexamine the thing but to use the shell of the thing as an emotional trigger. This video seems to have a different idea of what nostalgia can be. Like maybe the contrast between an emotional memory and the present experience of a thing is the point, and nostalgia is a reminder that the past experience is not less valid and therefore it’s the contrast between those experiences what we should examine… Which paradoxically would mean nostalgia can help us embrace our changes as we grow? At the very least, maybe the act of asking yourself why you felt one way then, and another way now (or maybe the same way) is a way to find a new angle on things, instead of just taking for granted as correct whatever reaction you have to the thing upon revisiting? I don't know, sorry that I’m rambling. I just had the feeling as I watched this that it had a different idea of what nostalgia could be, and maybe we've... some of us all... OK ME, I've been allowing some kind of commodified idea of what nostalgia should be (an emotional pavlovian trigger to sell us on reboots and remakes) rob us... me of that potential. Also I have a cold and barely slept so it was great watching this video in bed and feeling your positivity as the video came to a close.

Alien6981

Splendid as usual, Harry.

If I had known that making YouTube videos was as simple as rambling for an hour and then slapping on a intro and conclusion I would have started my own channel years ago. So be on the lookout for my 12 part series on the cultural impact of the Animorphs books on a pre-9/11 generation.

Andrew H

I remember when I was younger I was afraid of the idea of a mid-life crisis, after seeing how it was presented in movies and reflecting on how it appeared to affect my parents. But, I thought I would be in my early 40's before I had to deal with whatever it was that made them so serious and sad about things sometimes. Turns out all it took was dropping out of college and a failed photography career to see the dim light. I'm turning 30 next month, and I'm going to school again. When I was 18, five years (the time it will take to get my Master's) both seemed like an eternity, and somehow also valueless. Now, time is incredibly precious. And, I know if I don't pay attention, five years will have passed as if over the span of a day. It's hard to get that naivite back. It's so good for our happiness, but so hard to choose to feel without help. Honestly, I think it's why so many people drink so much. Obviously, not the best way to deal with it. My Transformers movie is being a summer camp counselor at a film camp every year. I think there's something about immersing yourself in the lives of young people that can help you see things their way, even if just for a short while.

Trace Myers

Beautiful work as always, HBomb! The messages in the film really speak to me as well, the sort of blind dumb optimism that pushes people on. I needed this today, thank you so much!

The most upsetting part of this video: <a href="https://i.imgur.com/pMLucdL.png" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://i.imgur.com/pMLucdL.png</a>

Smazzie

I really quite liked this video, despite knowing nothing about transformers :)

Sylien

Isn’t the skeleton kinda like the hbomb giant plushie already?

Lint

I like this video a lot! The format's quite different (and I hope you never stop dunking on alt-right weirdos) but I really like it and I think it works. I also like that you undercut some of the more serious philosophical sections by just zooming in on the faces of the stuffed toys you have. I also think you show a good amount of the movie for people like me who never watched it. My one suggestion would be re: the $10 reward. I'd suggest that you have the power to veto something that people chose. I'd rather see you make stuff that you care about (that maybe I don't care about) than things that I care about (that maybe you don't care about). Also I played NitW for the first time very recently and am excited for that!!

the video worked only on my desktop for some reason but now i finally watched it. i really love this video and the concept of the media that changes us removed from their artistic value. how something objectively bad can really influence you in a positive way. this almost made me want to watch the transformers movie but i think the one you described to me will always be better than the real thing. then again i did watch the bay transformers movies so the cartoon one is probably still better than those. either way great video 👏 also hilariously you referencing jenny nickolson whom i just stumbled upon on youtube

Calysto

anyone else keep getting the "video unavaliable" message?

Calysto

Weirdly, the video works from my laptop but not my phone 🤔

Jay Bob

Also, the soft "oh, my god" that you end this video with is the most hilarious way you could've delivered that.

The Doom Merchant

BIG fan of the movie when I was a kid, but I haven't watched it in a very long time. My VHS of it disappeared a billion years ago [since replaced with a DVD], but I do still have The Return of Optimus Prime [two-part S3 finale] on VHS. This had a lot of points that really resonated, as a fellow Getting Old person with a liking for Transformers. A good'un, Hbomb.

The Doom Merchant

Wow--something about this video definitely struck a chord with me. Thanks for making this.

Thank you for the video, even though I will defend the movie until my dying breath.

Sean Kelly

Sorry to be a downer but my 14 year old cat died four days ago. This video was fucking...insane. Like I'm kind of freaking out because you said so much that I needed to hear.

Haley Hastings

new video is very cool :) you made me laugh with a zoom and that was awesome, you had great insights about the film that I had never thought about before and I just loved it. I just have to point out that laser is misspelled in there (didn't get the time mark, sorry) you wrote "lazer candy" and it's laser with an s, it's a bit weird but stands for Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation (look at me, i'm smart) other than this it was just great work again!

thanks for the reupload. that was super interesting and almost made me want to watch that movie for the first time. almost. also, I hope for the sake of you living a lovely, long life and for the world benefiting from your mind for as much time as it can, that this isn’t a *mid* life crisis so much as a third life crisis?

Shelby Fawn

it's been two hours and it's still unavailable ;_;

manda

Watch out! Lindsay's gonna leave oil covered Optimus Prime parts in your bed when she finds you on her turf.

Brandon Stalnaker

not sure what's going on with the loading problem. Here's the link again but in a different format in case it helps: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iLsN7mDBIWI" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iLsN7mDBIWI</a>

Hbomb

Hmm, unavailable here too. But I have patience.

George

Yep, 26 is about when it kicks in (speaking as a 35yo). Also, this was elegant and lovely. Thank you.

Jenlifer Fronester

Finished the video now and I gotta say, well done! Quite enjoyable, and as someone very close in age to you who is also feeling suddenly old, it ended up being more emotional than expected. I really like this style of video, also; the difference in tone from your usual, more fast-paced vids gives it a bit more impact in this case. Also, I agree with the people saying you should keep the title as-is. It really works quite well!

Asa Sweet

I'm glad you have time to think about this stuff, because I sure don't. Your video has made me think, what is my "The Transformers"? I'd probably say Star Trek TNG because I was a night owl, and sci-fi re-runs were more interesting than Frasier or M*A*S*H re-runs. I don't have anything interesting to say yet, but you have got me thinking about it in a new light and what it means to me now versus what it meant to me then. I appreciate that. Thank you.

Callan Christensen

Now i'm waiting for you to do the same video for Babylon 5

18:45 you misspeak and call unicron galactus

You should definitely put Bah-weep-Graaaaagnah wheep ni ni bong (thanks transformers wiki) in the title or description so TRUE FANS know this is a friendly analysis

Cat Operated

Loved the video Hbomb! I wonder if you saw Infinity War? And if so perhaps you're making a (probably correct) assumption about what will happen in the next movie, but even if that assumption is right it seems to me that it could play a similar role in the memories of super young people who are watching it today as Transformers played for you? Thank you again for your work, I think it really speaks to a lot of us!

Do the prequels next. Please. As a fellow prequels lover I want to hear your fun voice talking about stuff some more. (You missed a chance for another 'capitalism is ruining everything' rant joke when you talked about how franchised AAA movies and games can't kill off main characters early anymore.)

Nalte

Forgive me if someone has said it (haven't refreshed the page yet to update comments), but at around 18:40 or so you say Galactus when I think you mean Unicron. Enjoying the vid so far though!

Asa Sweet

Anyone else having trouble with it loading?

Really interesting stuff! I was never into transformers but I like learning bits and pieces about it peripherally like this

You know, I think videos like this are what makes left-tubers, and you more specifically, Harris so much more special than any avatar wielding Youtube channels that really just don't like minorities that much. The ability to be open and honest about something personal like this goes so far beyond the permanent irony that a lot of those channels employ. Can't we all just be..real people sometimes?

I love your style of delivery, and i believe that the staccato of the leitmotif you use in your opening is a representation of how i perceive your editing choices as well, i do appreciate the vlog style, as comfortable and familiar, but your skills as an editor and a director are better spent than on vlog style. he says while implicitly denigrating it, despite the fact that it is actually super useful. you were able to crank out 50 minutes of video in good time, and so long as the content is incisive and funny i doubt anybody will mind the change too harshly.

Yeah, I can't go past "My Transformers Midlife Crisis". I guess if you wanted to be clever you could just name it 'Transformation' or some BS since, y'know, that's life — but that seems wanky.

Sean Riley

What a delightful day this is!

My Transformers Midlife Crisis is a fantastic video title

Sam Humleker

video won’t load, americaphobe!

calvin!

Oh HarroldBlimpyBoy, I enjoy your video creations.

Robert Shippey

That feeling when you have to pause an old Hbomb video you're watching to start watching the new one on Patreon.

Smh, whin is the Popeye vidleo comin out? :P

Hbomb have you considered getting a giant plushie to put in the background of all your videos? I feel like this would be a major help to catching up to Jenny.

Kewl0210

video's working fine for me? Possibly a region thing? Also, I'm a huge-ass fan of NiTW, I've played it thru a few times, cry every time. Super excited for the video :)

Yah!!

Same, guess the yanks gotta wait our turn while the servers load everything up

Dammit Joe

video not working for me either

Hazel's Bad Opinion Corner

Says video unavailable

Sam Mortimer