Skewed and Reviewed recently had the opportunity to interview Transformers Prime voice actor Steve Blum (Starscream) regarding his work on Transformers Prime, Guild Wars, Bulletstorm and the Transformers: Dark of the Moon game.

Here are a couple of snippets, but please visits sknr to read the full article.

How did you become involved with the new Transformers project and your character?

I prayed a lot, bribed a little, cried some. [Laughs] Actually, I just auditioned for it like anything else – and got really, really lucky! Starscream has always been one of my favorite characters – especially as played in recent years by the great Charlie Adler and also the great Tom Kenny! In fact, after hearing Charlie’s recent performances in the films, I felt I had to get his blessing before I could even accept the role! By the way, what a gentleman – love that guy! Tom’s a hell of an act to follow too – jeez! It’s very hard for me to take over a character that has been so masterfully portrayed – especially when my friends are the previous portrayers! I didn’t try to consciously copy anything that had been done before me, I simply did what came naturally and apparently (thankfully) they liked it!

... working with a cast (like in Transformers) – is always more fun. We get to play a lot of nuance off of each other that just doesn’t exist when I’m in a room by myself. And we laugh. A lot. Sometimes too much. This cast in particular is amazing. I get a huge kick out of sitting back and watching Peter (Cullen) and Frank (Welker), the “Godfatherbots” themselves – duke it out. It’s a joy and honor to work in the same room with two of my biggest heroes! They ARE a comedy team. Like the old school, masters of improv and impersonation, the real deal. So much talent in that room, and an unusual mix of voices! It’s humbling.

What sort of research did you do for the parts and what challenges did it present compared with other work?

I read a lot of stuff on the internet and watched an episode or two from each of the older series. I was already in my 20’s when G1 came out, but I was certainly aware that Transformers was something new and different and I have to admit that I did play with my kid’s action figures. I still do. Except I have my own action figures now. That counts as research, right?

What can you tell us about your work in Guild wars 2 and the new Transformers game in terms of who you voice and what were your experiences on each?

Ah, Rytlock Brimstone, one big, nasty Charr – wields a huge sword and speaks in a gravelly, deep voice. That’s pretty much my entire knowledge of the guy. I’m not a gamer, so I play, I fight, I move on. Seemed pretty epic at the time.
If you’re speaking of the newest Transformers game – WAY too early to talk about it, methinks. Lasers trained on my temples. In the past, I’ve played a lot of bots – good and bad, including Barricade and Breakdown. Vocally stressful, but any time I get to live in the Transformers universe, I’m grateful.