The Shocking Story Of "Transformers: The Movie"

My boys have taken an interest in the old Transformers G1 animated series and I recently bought the movie, since they will be ready to watch it soon.

As I watched behind the scenes features and reflected on the story, I was really struck by how unusual it is for a kids movie. Although it was just a cold financial decision from the top to get kids to buy the new line of transformers, the decision to discontinue the first line of toys still resulted in a movie with numerous shocking deaths. Most of the season 1-2 autobots are killed, one brutally executed. Same with the decepticons, with most of those not killed being completely overhauled with new bodies. And then of course there is the fate of Optimus Prime.

As someone who now really appreciates serialized storytelling it is so cool to watch these shows again and see how much continuity matters from ep to ep and ESPECIALLY the impact it has when the movie triggers so many massive changes!

I'm really curious to see how my boys react to the events of the movie. They have no idea what's coming...

I sure remember the impact that movie had on me. Of course, I didn't understand the financial realities behind it at the time. To me, Transformers was a cartoon first, and a line of toys second. I now understand the reality was inverted.

But as you say, what they did with Optimus was some bold story-telling. and the practically messianic arc of Hot Rod always excited me. I had always thought that Hot Rod had been a classic transformer from before the movie, but apparently, he was first introduced in the movie. How our memories get scrambled.
To me, this movie, plus the movie-length "Resurrection of Optimus Prime" episode are the pinnacle of Transformers.