In stark contrast to the blockbuster expectations for the latest installment in the Transformers film series, the animated Transformers One, the first animated film in the franchise, The Transformers: The Movie, was released to minimal fanfare in the summer of 1986, when the film, which finished its theatrical run with a box-office gross of less than $6 million, became a commercial and critical failure.
Unlike the 2007 release of the first live-action Transformers film, which launched a film series that has accumulated more than $5.2 billion in box-office revenue, The Transformers: The Movie was primarily geared toward establishing a new toy line. The film was financed by toy manufacturer Hasbro, which decided that the best way to launch a new toy line was to kill off several of the franchise’s original characters, most notably the beloved Optimus Prime, whose death in the film elicited outrage from Transformers fans, especially children.
While the bold decision to kill a character as iconic as Optimus Prime drew praise over subsequent decades, as evidenced by the enduring cult following that The Transformers: The Movie has acquired over the past 35 years, the immediate repercussions were disastrous for the franchise, which took over 20 years to fully recover from this colossal miscalculation.
The Great 1986 Transformers Massacre
Set in 2005, approximately 20 years after the end of the second season of the animated Transformers television series, The Transformers: The Movie opens with the evil Decepticons having conquered the Autobots’ home planet of Cybertron. The heroic Autobots, forced to operate from Cybertron’s two moons, plot a counteroffensive in which leader Optimus Prime sends a shuttle to Autobot City on Earth to acquire supplies.
However, the Autobot plan is discovered by the Decepticons, who hijack the ship and kill several Autobots in an extremely violent fashion. Prowl is gunned down, his body riddled with blaster bolts, his eyes glazing over while smoke billows from his mouth. Ratchet is shot repeatedly in the chest by Decepticon leader Megatron’s second-in-command, Starscream, who also blows off one of Ratchet’s arms. The most graphic kill belongs to Megatron, who shoots a defenseless, wounded Ironhide in the head at close range, execution style, with Megatron’s signature fusion cannon.
This all happens within the first 10 minutes of the film, which includes approximately 70 deaths. Of course, the most consequential death in the movie is that of Optimus Prime, who dies approximately 20 minutes into the film from injuries sustained from a titanic battle against Megatron, who was also mortally wounded in the fight, only to be regenerated in the body of the robotic villain Galvatron, while Prime-chosen heir apparent Ultra Magnus becomes the new leader of the Autobots.
With the death of Optimus Prime, The Transformers: The Movie broke one of the most vital rules of 1980s genre film-making in terms of killing a franchise-building protagonist without first establishing a commercially proven replacement. While it took real courage for Hasbro to kill off its top Transformers characters, the replacements were rejected by fans, as evidenced by the declining television ratings and toy sales that followed the film’s release. By severely underestimating the strong emotional attachment between 1980s children and the classic Transformers characters, especially Optimus Prime, Hasbro, to quote Prime from the 2011 film Transformers: Dark of the Moon, made a grave mistake.
The Transformers: The Movie Traumatized Children
When parents took their children to see The Transformers: The Movie in 1986, nothing could have prepared them for how dark and disturbing it turned out to be. While the execution sequence on the Autobot space shuttle is certainly jolting, this paled in comparison to the shock of seeing the dying moments of Optimus Prime, as his damaged body turns gray while the light from his eyes dims.
Prime’s death scene in the movie, while dramatically powerful and poignantly rendered, was strong stuff in 1986 for children, many of whom simply couldn’t take it, as evidenced by reports of crying children being ushered out of theaters by their parents. The resulting backlash ultimately compelled Hasbro, which was deluged with complaints from upset children, to revive Prime through the animated television series.
Given the cynical commercial motivation that inspired the making of The Transformers: The Movie, it’s ironic that the resulting film seemingly alienated audiences of all ages in 1986. While adults viewed the film as a feature-length toy commercial, many children were left horrified and never wanted to see another Transformers film until they became adults.
The Transformers: The Movie Left an Enduring Legacy
While the decision to kill Optimus Prime and other classic Transformers characters in the film had disastrous short-term consequences for the film and the overall franchise, this merciless approach, however contrived, proved to be beneficial in the long run. Before The Transformers: The Movie, killing a franchise protagonist was virtually taboo. By breaking this unwritten rule, the movie infused the franchise with a sense of danger and unpredictability, forcing audiences to contemplate the possibility that any Transformers character, no matter how prominent, could be killed at any time.
Moreover, The Transformers: The Movie showed Hasbro and the production team behind the ensuing film series how far they could push the boundaries of realism while remaining popular with audiences, as evidenced by the positive reviews for Transformers One, which has proved that it’s possible to make a successful animated Transformers film that explores mature themes without scarring a generation of children. The Transformers: The Movie is currently not available to stream. Transformers One is in theaters on Sept. 20.