Animated Classic

The first time I watched Transformers I was blown away. This was a time before all the CGI and life-like animation that we are accustomed to seeing these days with The Incredibles or the Shrek franchise. This was 1986, and more than 20 years ago. I remember my mom not wanting me to see the movie and I remember my uncle Brian who had to be 15 or 16 at the time really excited about it, almost too excited.

It’s hands down one of my favorite movies. The first time I saw it I remember when they stormed the Autobot base and it looked as if these Autobots were being killed. You saw smoke coming out of their eyes. It looked as if the Autobots were doomed and then came Optimus Prime. I love my dad so don’t get me wrong, but I’m sure if you asked me in 1986 who I would rather have as a dad……..I would have easily changed my last name to Prime. I’m sure the old man would have understood. Anyways as I remember, Prime comes flying in and you hear the guitar riffs, “You got the touch (guitar riff) You got the Power……Yeah” They come in and start whooping up on the Decepticons. It’s funny because the fight scenes were way more violent than what I saw on tv. I should have been warned. This is probably why my mother didn’t want me to watch.

As the two sides fight, Optimus Prime is hurt and he’s hurt bad. There is that scene where he’s laying on the table surrounded by other Autobots. He opens his chest and reveals the Autobot Matrix of Leadership. He hands it to Ultramagnus (dumb idea) and then it happens, Optimus Prime dies. It was so dramatic. He was this colorful truck and all the sudden he turns dark gray and his eyes are black. I'm not sure what a dead cartoon character looks like, but I assume that's it. A very defining moment of my life at 8 years old. I couldn’t believe it. I actually cried. I was horrified! Up to this point none of my heroes had died. GI Joe was still alive, He-Man was still getting the best of Skeletor, and Voltorn always seemed to pull out of any situation. Why Optimus? Was it to expose Ultramagnus as a fake leader? That’s like Jerry Seinfeld leaving the cast of Seinfeld and expecting the show to go on for two more seasons with George as the main character. It just wouldn’t work. At my old job we asked the roundtable question “Who’s your favorite Transformer” he replied “Ultramagnus” It really got a good laugh out of most of us at the table because of how horrible of a character he was.

The first movie was a big shock for me as a child. I pray this new movie doesn’t leave me in such emotional turmoil as the first one did. Maybe because I’m 20 years older I’ll handle it differently or maybe not.

I can’t wait until the Voltron movie next year.