“Good morning. My name is Optimus Prime,” a gruff voice said in a public hearing in D.C. on Thursday.
Voice actors behind the Transformers testified in support of letting three huge Transformers statues remain outside a house in the Georgetown neighborhood — but District officials said they need to go.
Statues of Optimus Prime and Bumblebee have stood guard on Prospect Street NW for more than two years, attracting tourists and children. A third statue is installed on the rooftop.
Neuroscientist Newton Howard said the “iconic” statues stand outside his home to send the message that machines are our friends.
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But some members of the Public Space Committee said they detract from Georgetown’s historic streetscapes and that Howard missed permit deadlines and ignored official entreaties to remove the sculptures. The commission is the latest body to vote for their removal — despite an impassioned plea from Optimus Prime.
“Georgetown should be proud to share his visions for transformation,” a voice actor said in character.
The actor who voiced Bumblebee in the first animated series featuring the Transformers also testified in the virtual meeting.
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“They say that this thing sort of sticks out like a sore thumb, and I informed them that as Bumblebee, I resent being referred to as a sore thumb. A fully functioning, healthy thumb? Perhaps,” the actor told News4.
On a more serious note, attorney Paul Strauss — who also is D.C.’s shadow senator, lobbying for D.C. statehood — said the debate over whether the Transformers statues should stay highlights an overreaching federal presence that no state has to endure.
Strauss said he and Howard, the homeowner, will appeal the committee’s ruling that the statues need to go.
Hopefully, whatever the outcome, there will be no hard feelings, a Transformers actor testified in character.
“Autobots, humans: Let us transform ‘till all are one,” he said.
