Veterans Day: The Jason Morgan Story Part 3
Posted by: iamratchet
Today we wrap up the story of our friend Jason Morgan. There is still so much that he can tell us and we appreciate the time he took for us to reflect on Veterans Day. We thank you Jason for all you did for your country and our hobby. Below is the last segment in our Veterans Day tribute of the Jason Morgan Story. Be sure to check out his YouTube Channel Patriot Prime and his Veterans Day Special that posted today.
Now thanks to Amazon.com willing to ship items to us overseas I ordered as many Transformers books and DVDs as I could get, and my platoon and I enjoyed the exploits of the Autobots & Decepticons on our portable DVD players. Their adventures helped us pass the time as we waited on our mission to end and to finally go home.
In February of 2005 myself and the rest of the soldiers returned home to our families and friends, spending over a year in southern Iraq. I decided in 2006 that the ARMY wasn’t for me anymore and in June I was Honorably Discharged from the Military.
2007 was of course a great year to be a Transformers fan…well depending on how well you enjoyed Michael Bay’s Live Action take on our favorite Robots in Disguise. None the less Transformers were everywhere, it was like ’84 all over again and all being led by Peter Cullen’s return as the voice of Optimus Prime. The toy shelves were lined up again too and if you didn’t favor the “Bayformers” the Classics Line was introduced featuring modern versions of old favorites.
My poor wallet was taking a beating.
I was working full time at a Gym as a Certified Personal Trainer and Children’s Fitness Specialist at that time and my love of Transformers inspired me to do a “Biggest Loser” type of contest for my clients, I called it “The Transform Your Body Challenge”. It was a hit and I continued to do it twice a year.
It also wasn’t out of the ordinary for a Transformer toy to be dropped at the gym to be added to my collection.
In 2012 I bought myself my dream vehicle, a 2001 Jeep Wrangler Sport that I named “ROLLBAR” and as it goes sometimes, I sold off a good portion of my collection to buy add-ons and upgrades for it. I just wasn’t collecting as much anymore, the shelves were crammed to full of Bumblebees, but my love of the bots was still there. To celebrate us both turning 40 in 2013 my wife and I decided to get tattoos, she got an old school style sleeve while I got Optimus Prime carrying the American Flag in honor of my service to our country and my love of Transformers. On my actual 40th birthday I was in Charlotte, NC and discovered a store called “Retro Reboot”, a vintage Toy Store, I had never been in one before and I was amazed. Not only impressed by the toys but the people in the store. Folks my age who were into toys just like me who also held down full time jobs and families. This was unheard of in the small town I lived in.
Then they told me about CHARTICON.
CHARTICON 2013, my very first Transformers Convention. I was totally amazed, Transformers toys wall to wall, voice actors, cosplayers, artists, tiy Exclusives, and custom cars were all over. I had so much fun meeting all these great people and it was the first time I’ve ever sat in a bar drinking and talking about Transformers. There was even a special showing of Transformers The Movie ’86 on a big screen in an auditorium. The nickname “Patriot Prime” was given to me there because of my tattoo and I’ve since been called that in the Transformers Community. This event boosted my interest in collecting to the extreme, I had made numerous contacts and new friends and discovered how Collectors enjoy helping Collectors and Scalpers are filthy pieces of human garbage.
Fast forward to today, I have a 3 year old son Dylan to share my passion with, Lisa was pregnant with him at CHARTICON unbeknownst to us, and I just completed all of my American released G1 Decepticons. I converted a spare bedroom into my “Office”, a combination display room and workspace.
I’ve learned how to rebuild and restore vintage figures, and am a frequent contributor to multiple Transformers Facebook groups. Just recently, at the request of quite a few of my friends I created a Transformers Youtube Channel called “Patriot Prime Reviews. The Transformers have been a huge part of my life since I first saw that comic book back in 1984 and it’s just not the toys, it’s the characters and the stories that I enjoy. I still kick back with one of those MARVEL reprint books and reread “The Underbase Saga” for the 100th time, the ’86 Movie Soundtrack plays in ROLLBAR (Dylan loves “Unicron’s Theme”) , and nothing beats re-watching “The Ultimate Doom” on DVD.
My name is Jason “Patriot Prime” Morgan, and this was my Transformers story.
“Till all are one.”
Thank you Morgan for your interest and asking me to do this.
It actually was a nice trip down memory lane reminiscing about my Transformers collection.
Great story Jason!
Great work on your blog.