Seeing The Transformers: The Movie (1986) in the Cinema, 40 Years Later

1. Seeing it on the big screen

Seeing the movie in the cinema was a very different experience, and I think that is mainly down to the fact that my attention couldn't really be anywhere else. I was looking at the screen, with darkness around it, and hearing the sound. I wasn't on my phone. I wasn't reading a book at the same time. I wasn't pausing to go to the toilet. I was paying attention. That made me notice and think about things I otherwise didn't think much about.

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2. Things I noticed for the first time

The destruction of Lithone

• Kranix appears to know what Unicron is.
• When the planet is being destroyed, we see a guy who... doesn't look like the other Lithones, or a Lithone at all. In fact, he looks almost human. (TFWiki describes him as Metal Hero-ish.)

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The introduction

Having seen it exclusively on home media, I was used to it transitioning from the destruction of Lithone to the title card, and a Star Wars-style text crawl with the theme playing in the background. It was a bit of a shock to jump straight to Cybertron, and Laserbeak doing his spy job.

The Autobots on Cybertron

• Getting Cliffjumper to do the countdown — I wonder if that is in any way a reference to his voice actor, Casey Kasem, and his role presenting many radio countdown programs?
• I got really excited when I saw Laserbeak, given that Hasbro appears to now be retroactively classifying the microcassettes as Micromasters. :)
• Margaret Loesch? Look, I'm already overjoyed to see a movie animated by Toei in the cinema, as Toei is connected to most things I love — Transformers, Super Sentai — but she was the executive producer here? She later brought me Power Rangers!

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• I've often read about an error in the film showing three moons of Cybertron, when it only has two, apparently. However, the opening narration clearly says ‘two of Cybertron's moons’, so there must be more than two.

Attack on Autobot City

• Because I was so focused on the film for once, I felt the characters' emotions and attitude a lot differently. In particular, when Arcee says to Hot Rod ‘Then you probably didn't understand the situation.’, I could feel her snarkiness, even though it wasn't visible in the film. Similarly, when Megatron gives orders to his various minions, I could feel his joy at experiencing some victory. Even Daniel's worry when he sees the Constructicons combine into Devastator — there's little on his face, but I could feel it anyway!
• When we first see Kup, he's directing three other Transformers to move a barrier. For the first time, I looked closely at who they were. One appears to be Huffer. One appears to be Hound. The other one is Bluestreak! Neat.

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Shortly after, we see a view from the barricade site as Hot Rod fires at the Autobot shuttle, and Sunstreaker is with the group.

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When Arcee and Springer go into the launcher room, a red and blue Transformer is seen on the ground. The Internet tells me that is Wheeljack, but coloured as Smokescreen because originally it was meant to be Smokescreen. He doesn't look too much like Wheeljack, though.

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That doesn't mean Wheeljack isn't gone, along with Windcharger. But he looks quite different, and it isn't just the colours. The red and blue fellow is missing the ‘fin’ over his left shoulder.

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Hey, Grapple is here, fighting alongside Perceptor. And I guess it is Swoop who runs by in the foreground, as well.

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When the Autobot shuttle appears (notably after what seems like a whole evening has passed, plus the battle time occurring during the previous day) we see a shuttle being piloted by Optimus Prime and Sunstreaker, with four of the five Dinobots on board. No Snarl (makes me sad!) but... hang on! Wasn't Sunstreaker on the ground with Kup, Hound and Bluestreak before? And didn't we see Swoop run in the foreground as Perceptor and Grapple fired at some Decepticons?

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I recently got a Sludge Blokees toy with an alternative pair of eyes, bulging out of his head. I wondered why. Only when I saw the film in the cinema did I notice this...

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After the Dinobots fight Devastator, we see Optimus Prime, Sunstreaker and Hound outside the shuttle, which has now landed. I have read online about all of this being continuity errors, but I just don't see it. I explain why below.

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3. Choice, leadership and worthiness

I have never really been fussed about Optimus Prime's death in the film, and it was only watching it in the cinema, with it as my main/sole focus, that I worked out why. It's something I feel about a lot of fiction.

Optimus Prime was doing his job — a job he chose to take on. He didn't have to be the leader of the Autobots. He didn't have to fight Megatron to the death. He chose to.

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A lot of the fiction I really love to read or watch has a similar pattern. During The Collection Obsession storyline in Avengers, there is a bit where a badly-injured Captain America goes out to fight the Brethren as there is no-one else to do it. Still, it was a choice he made. I don't feel bad for him. I value him. He made a choice.

Something similar happens with the Black Knight during The Gathering. After defeating Proctor, and experiencing all the drama that went with it, Dane is faced with a dilemma. He didn't cause this. He isn't Proctor. None of this was his doing. But in the end, he made a choice. He decided to go with Sersi to the pocket reality made by Ute the Watcher. I don't feel bad for him. I value him. He made a choice.

Optimus Prime chose what he chose, and he chose the outcome. It makes him a hero, yes, but also someone who chose.

I have much more sympathy for Ultra Magnus. He didn't choose it. It is almost forced on him by Optimus Prime, and he pays the price later in the film when he is cut down by the Sweeps. I also have very little sympathy for Rodimus Prime during Season 3 of the TV show, as while he has his doubts and experiences worry, again, he chose to be the new leader.

I didn't notice it until the cinema viewing, but there is so much choice and worthiness in this film. We see it early on when Kup chooses to save Hot Rod rather than rush to Autobot City. We see it when Hot Rod chooses to try to help Optimus Prime. We see it when the Decepticons discard their wounded.

We see it in a big way with the Autobot leadership.

It is so prevalent through the film. Optimus Prime makes his choices, and secures the outcomes.

Ultra Magnus makes choices, but struggles. We see it when Springer tries to get him to react to Kup and Hot Rod seemingly being blown up, and he says ‘I can't deal with that now.’ When deciding to sacrifice three quarters of his shuttle, he even says ‘What choice do we have?’

Later, we see it on Junk, when he is unable to get the other Autobots to victory when the Decepticons attack. He does what he can do — get them to safety, and try to stop the Decepticons on his own.

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That's what gives me sympathy for Ultra Magnus. He chose none of this. He's a soldier and ready to do his part. He never asked, chose, or wanted to be leader. In fact, he pushed back against the idea.

We then see it with Hot Rod. He chooses to fight Galvatron inside Unicron, and persists. That's when he chooses to be a leader.

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4. More things I noticed

Starscream's coronation

• For the first time, I noticed that Thundercracker and Skywarp actually appear to be present at Starscream's coronation, despite having been jettisoned from Astrotrain and turned into Scourge and (possibly) Cyclonus.
• Also, assuming those statues are earlier or other Decepticon leaders... well... many of them seem fat, and one appears to have a belly button.

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Who is that on the far left? It almost looks like Sludge!

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Quintessa

When Kranix is being dragged off to his fate, paying close attention, I actually heard him say the name of his planet. I had never noticed that before!

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Junk

On the planet Junk, how does Hot Rod have an energon goodie to offer the Junkions as he says the universal greeting? On Quintessa, he appeared to be all out. Although, technically, it is Kup who says ‘Empty.’ and Hot Rod just says ‘No more.’ Given that he had just lamented the cost, he could be expressing an intent.

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I love both Slag's dancing and Swoop's dancing!

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Cybertron

When Unicron transforms and attacks Cybertron in robot mode, I only just now realised that the Decepticon ship which retaliates is the one given to Galvatron by Unicron, followed by Dirge, Ramjet and some other Decepticons.

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While very hard to see in this screenshot, I've noticed that when the Dinobots attack in robot mode, they are fighting alongside the Decepticons.

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Inside Unicron

Who gets devoured by Unicron? We clearly see Jazz, Bumblebee and others being carried over the acid pit thing, but ahead of them are some (likely Cybertronians) I don't recognise. They don't look Lithonian. I imagine there were others on the two Cybertronian moons which Unicron devoured.

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For years, I have questioned Galvatron choking Hot Rod. He's a robot. He doesn't need to breathe. This time, I listened closely to the sound effects. You can hear metal rending. I now interpret it as Galvatron trying to rip Hot Rod's head off (or ‘crush’ his neck) and Hot Rod is quite justifiably trying to stop this, not choking.

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The end credits

• Inferno was in this movie? Where? (No, he wasn't.)
• Dirge spoke in this movie? (No, he didn't.)
• Gears spoke in this movie? (No, he didn't.)

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Apparently, Gears does briefly appear on-screen in the film!

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Hey, I recognise you!

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Gene Pelc was a Marvel employee in Japan who liaised between Marvel and Toei, leading to the 1978 Toei Spider-Man series and, arguably, part of the creation of Sentai.

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5. Optimus Prime: Awakening

It was very lovely to have a send-off for Peter Cullen, and for G1 Optimus Prime.

The story didn't really grab me. It didn't enrich the story (at all) and what it did have just muddied things a bit. Why did Bumblebee have a Decepticon insignia and Megatron's fusion cannon? Where was this moon? I get there's a thing from Void Rivals in the background, but even with that context it didn't add much.

Nothing in the short explained why Optimus Prime chose not to end Megatron then and there, or even where, when or how this was happening. Were they inside the Matrix? How does dropping the Matrix where anyone could find it help even the stated decision Prime makes?

It has its own post-credits bit, in which the Megatron in whatever this is finds the Matrix at the end. OK. Is it even real? Galvatron couldn't use the Matrix, so why would this Megatron be able to do anything with it? Does Prime have any memory of this when he returns in Dark Awakening, The Return of Optimus Prime, or Return of Convoy?

I did like that it showed alternate versions of Optimus Prime and, at one point, called him Convoy. I don't get how it chose which versions to show. I thought that maybe they were all ones voiced by Peter Cullen, but I have checked and at least one was not.

Think back to what I said about Prime's death in the movie, and what happens to Ultra Magnus and Hot Rod. Think about what I said about Captain America in The Collection Obsession and Dane Whitman in The Gathering. This short was almost the opposite of that. Yes, Prime made a choice, but the choice was inconsistent with what we have seen about him, including in the main film.

It didn't feel emotionally appropriate. It was just an extra thing added on.

I wish it had been animated by Toei, to fit along with G1. It was very well-made. Great animation. Wonderful. I prefer 2D animation over CGI/3D stuff, but as far as CGI/3D goes, it was awesome.

I was not a fan of the writing, or the plot. Not only did it not fit, it wasn't appealing in its own right. It was written by Ryan Parrott, so there's another Power Rangers connection.

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6. Forty years later

I'm very glad I saw this in the cinema. It is the same movie, but being in the cinema environment and focusing almost exclusively on the movie made it easy to notice things I had never noticed before, and led me down some rabbit holes as I investigated these things online later. It also made me reflect on some things about my own preferences and values which I had skirted around for years without ever fully identifying.

I didn't think the film would appear in the cinema again. Few films do. I was too young to see it when it was in the cinemas and didn't even know Transformers was a thing until five years after that. Being able to see it, and seeing it, was pretty remarkable for me and a noteworthy life experience, especially considering that it brought together so many things which are important to me. I'm not quite saying ‘life before seeing this in the cinema vs life after it’, but I'm not far off.

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