I talk a lot. Deal with it kay? :. SPOILERS for something that came out when your parents were in their prime no pun intended The year Im typing this in 2024 marks the 40th anniversary of the Transformers franchise. While Im not as into it as I used to be Ill always have a subconscious soft spot for these Cybertronians. I went through a TF phase in middle school and even today I look back on how vast and overpowering the lore of Transformers is. To this day Ive yet to see a fan wiki as high quality expansive and endearing as TFWiki.net check it out and get lost in the info. A butt load of continuities over the decades all of varying quality the notorious merchandising the 80s roots the Japanese roots how iconic that red and blue truck is...it simply gives you a lot to sink your teeth into. Constantly reinventing and recreating itself over the years continuing to make all the young boys over the world go nuts. Because at the end of the day: how degenerate do you have to be to say no to cool colorful robots beating each other up? So to commemorate 4 decades of the above we enter the 1896 Movie. A colorful lightningpaced meandering cheesy childlike piece of the good ol 80s. Full of iconic scenes The Touch Optimus infamous death Unicrons wrath yet also a bunch of little moments that make you go wait I didnt remember THAT. Despite the 63/100 score know that theres no hard feelings attached to it. Theres plenty of flaws but the childlike charm and energy is what keeps it from being truly bad. In fact Id wager you could show this to an 8year old Gen Alpha kid and theyd fall in love with it. Despite the 80s tinge...the frenetic energy imagination and smaller moments of levity I feel transcends generations. Which I never thought Id say again: the goddamn 80s. And if I could lightly gloat a little: HA EAT IT WEEBS. THIS WAS ANIMATED AT TOEI MEANING YUP: THIS IS TECHNICALLY ANIME. SUCK IT I apologize for that anyway... For context Ive yet to watch the entire original Generation 1 series. So whatever background knowledge I have surrounding the plot of this is purely from the good ol net. Bridging the gap between the second season and third seasons of the original 1984 series dubbed Generation 1 this film being the big budget flick it is kills off and introduces a lot of characters for the sake of advertising new toys. Yes its good ol merican bizniz. Yes its pretty superficial. And yes especially by todays standards is very transparent. The biggest blow being the surprise death of Optimus Prime which traumatized the kids and legitimately made their parents who watched the film back in the day angry. Should it surprise you that by the end of the series they bring him back to life? As for the film itself it doesnt try to tone down the 80s whatsoever. A score consisting of bright synthesizers a soundtrack full of hair metal the oversaturated colors the cheesy but everso quotable dialogue...you can practically smell the decade this was made in. The basic premise is that feared planet eater Unicron is terrorizing the cosmos and after Megatrons Decepticons get into a fateful battle against Optimus Autobots one that cost Optimus his life and left Megatron in critical condition Unicron offers the Cybertronian warlord a new lease on life as his slave reborn as Galvatron. To find the matrix of leadership passed down from Optimus to his successor Ultra Magnus later to Hot Rod whos the closest the movie has to a main protagonist as its the only thing that can defeat him. The films biggest issue is how it rarely knows when to slow down. Were constantly being thrown into new locations as the plot meanders and just kinda goes wherever it wants. Our autobots get split up after their first runin with Galvatron were introduced to new minor characters Wheelie the Junkions the Sharkticons etc. its flashy action setpiece after flashy action setpiece and it can become a little challenging to get ahold of whats going on at times. You gotta pay close attention to whatever autobot is flying off into space to see if they made it. Not nauseatingly hardtofollow to the extent of the Bay films but still. Some of the editing doesnt hold up well. Brief fades to black show up possibly so that its easier to put in adbreaks if this airs on TV. Before the iconic The Touch scene of Optimus in action the Dinobots just got finished battling the Combiners and then its a very abrupt cut to Megatron must be stopped... and the Touch plays. You really have to be on your toes with this film. Even the ending feels pretty rushed. If you didnt know theres a season 3 youre supposed to watch after this this film basically leaves off on a well boys we did it. War is no more. Seriously. I mean its happy in the moment at least. Which leads into some weird tonal aspects like right after Hot Rod Kup and the Dinobots escape Earth Kup starts sharing his old war stories to the Dinobots while Hot Rod trains. But the faint tense music in the background keeps the tone from being subdued and it doesnt really match whats happening on screen. Your headspace is still were in a high speed war what are we doing here? Kup I know you love your stories so do I but could you turn that music off? This couldve been a good opportunity to have a nice transition from the action and ease your way into the scene with no score accompanying it. Let it breathe. And then after say maybe a minute or two you can surprise the audience with more action. Similarly we get an out of nowhere dance scene where our heroes get down to a Weird Al song. Though not that Im saying no to that. To the films credit this makes it so that its not exactly boring. After all the animation can be straightup impressive with the little cracked details and the expansive looking background paintings. The nonstop music adds to its identity and even the little quips are endearing we need a new travel agent and of course the universal greeting. Comparing this to the liveaction films is night and day in terms of straightup charm. I cant describe its got that twinkle yknow? As for the positives which I touched up on this earlier HOT DAMN is the animation great. Nearly every background is as jawdroppingly detailed and beautifully painted as the last. The scuffs cracks and stonelike chips on the robots during battle are always a unique detail that show their power and durability contrasted with them having expressive faces which makes you feel for them theres downright STELLAR sakuga involving Unicron eating the planets the gears and mechanics on the spaceships those luscious transformation scenes Megatron shooting Optimus down the bright illuminating lights that eminate from the Matrix the expertly animated explosions I could go on. And as a cherry on top for us anime fans: this is all courtesy of Toei. Pay respect to Transformers Japanese roots look it up. 220https://preview.redd.it/whatdidyouthinkofoptimusdeathing1v0nuuzw3a845ca1.jpg?width=1080crop=smartauto=webps=9df9179305b507fe867bd1fbd8f56c56da21d69e And despite the plots speed there is one very memorable standout scene that IS wellpaced and directed: Optimus death. Vince DiColas subdued score sells the sorrow of losing the autobots fatherfigure while still being hopeful of the next generation to take over which is what Hot Rod briefly picking up the Matrix foreshadows. His body slowly turns black and quietly passes on leaving Daniel and the other autobots in mourning. Minimal animation puts more on atmosphere and even the highly limited use of sound effects makes you focus more. Almost dreamlike. And all the props to the man himself Peter Cullen for selling Primes deep rough but gentle wise voice. Like your chilled out grandpa. For a piece of metal you can completely feel the pain and sorrow in this robots bright blue optics as he realizes his time is up and his voice aches. And the fact that he actually stayed dead for a good while maintains the impact. 220https://static0.gamerantimages.com/wordpress/wpcontent/uploads/2023/06/collagemaker22jun20230319pm5247.jpg Some other good st is of course both iconic Touch scenes of Optimus mopping the floor with the Decepticons and dueling Megatron and Hot Rod facing off against Galvatron. And as quickly as it happens with the minimum amount of buildup needed I always found it special how Hot Rod becoming Rodimus signals a generational theme Ill talk a little more in a bit. The matrix presumably saw a worthy successor in the kid and it lights our darkest hour finalizing his supposed growth as the leader he was meant to be. Its not super wellcrafted but given we spend a good amount of time with him its not out of left field for him to get this status boost for the climax either. And really one thing that really stuck with me on this rewatch is how unequivocally childish this movie is. And I say that as a compliment. The endless action moments of goofiness bright colors...it all feels like youre sitting at your table messing with your action figures and Matchbox/Hot wheels cars. Invoking nostalgia obviously but also a sense that even though youre watching this when youre older and you sadly cant connect to all of this cheese as you used to you then smile thinking of a boy or girl out there who IS fully engrossed in as you once were. You dont think too hard about the logistics or the flow of how these things happen you can simply accept it face value and whats more: roll with it no pun intended. Basically what Miyazaki was going for in Spirited Aways logic of dont breathe when you cross the bridge iirc. To fully appreciate and admire this: you have to think like a child. Embrace the inner youngster within you and enjoy the ride. Its not easy hell even I have trouble doing it. And Im not even that old but I reckon its not impossible. When it lands you definitely know. Or in other words you could say you have to...dare to be stupid... Ayo. And really while its most likely the anniversaryness of it all the generational aspect is clicking with me more as Im typing this. I havent caught up too much on whats going in the TF sphere outside of the big stuff Rise of the Beasts the upcoming One film etc. and Im by no means the ultimate most knowledgeable diehard TF fan either. Definitely casual. More than I was in my early teens thats for sure. But you dont forget that phase either. It was the first time I properly realized hey giant robots are one of the most inherently cool things imaginable. Its settled: if I have kids Im gonna educate them with this. Just as Optimus passes it on to Rodimus Ill do my part in making sure Transformers stays at least a little relevant in the eyes of the next wave of young robotlovers. And thus marks the proper end of this review of The Transformers: the Movie. In honor of the ultimate giant robot franchise this side of Gundam and Evangelion we can throw Voltron in there as well why not. Rise Up and Roll Out motherfer. Rise Up and Roll Out. 220https://m.mediaamazon.com/images/I/51WJpb+b9OL.ACUF8941000QL80.jpg POSTREVIEW NOTES I always liked the unintentional dark humor of the Quintessons executing prisoners they flatly deem innocent. Its such a sadistic manner and gets me every time. To think this was Orson Welles of all people final role huh. Apparently the recording sessions with him were super rough due to his age but it got saved in post by cool voice effects. Youd never notice it actually watching the film. Thats movie magic baby. Your homework is to blast Stan Bushs The Touch whenever you feel on top of the world. One of these years I need to go on a TF marathon: rewatch Transfomers Prime goated watch Animated all of G1 the Beast Era etc. Anything else that interests me/I havent gotten to yet. To make us anime fans happy I might give Transformers Robots in Disguise 2001 a shot. That ones more legitimate as a TF anime outside of technicalities like with G1. In fact theres plenty of Japanese TF series on here that someone should get around to reviewing soon. Watch clips of the Headmasters English dub. They are....surely something... And finally: shoutout to my man Diamondbolt for always being my fave Transformersobsessed Aussie YouTuber. Thanks for being there Adam. Ill always think of you bro. 220https://i.ebay.com/images/g/ofkAAOSwdGNk55rG/sl1200.jpg Til all are one. 220https://preview.redd.it/which40thanniversarylogodoyoulikemorev03cb5apbsy15d1.jpg?width=1080crop=smartauto=webps=f72f5eca5c6ace509c1c229edc418bb73ebdb745 I spent over an hour typing this Jesus...