Transformers: The Movie 30th Anniversary

Thirty years ago today, Transformers: The Movie came out. And little did I know at the time, it was a ploy by Hasbro to get little kids to get their parents to buy a new line of toys. If the movie came out today, I'd probably complain that it essentially obliterated all the characters I knew and replaced them with new ones that I had no attachment to. But the 11 year old me just accepted it, moved on, and proceeded to collect the new toys.

Looking back, I can see that the movie isn't that great. There's animation errors, the plot is razor thin, old characters were tossed aside to make room for new ones, but I don't care. I still see it through a child's eyes and I love every cheesy minute of it.

While everyone remembers "The Touch" as the main song of the film, my favorite is "Dare," and it continues to be on my workout and running playlists for its inspirational message.



How traumatic is it for a kid to see his heroes get killed?!? I totally remember watching the Autobots get decimated and just being inconsolable the rest of the summer. Prowl's death is particularly disturbing as is Ironhide's who is basically murdered at point blank.



Then our hero Optimus Prime comes to save the day! But he pays the ultimate sacrifice. Again, it didn't matter that my hero at the time was a fictional truck. It was awesome to see him be the savior, and devastating to say goodbye to him. Thirty years later, I still can't forgive Hot Rod for his boneheaded move.



Totally had me bawling like Daniel... :(



Not to be outdone, Megatron is jettisoned from Astrotrain by power hungry Starscream, and is transformed into Galvatron, a bigger, more badass version of Megatron who sounds suspiciously like Spock.



The rest of the movie is kind of a mish mash of the new Autobots trying to survive. Starscream gets disintegrated. Newly crowned leader Ultra Magnus is killed and gives up the Matrix. Kup and Hot Rod run into Wheelie, the Jar Jar Binks of the Transformers universe. Stuff doesn't really get going again until Galvatron challenges Unicron with the Matrix, and Unicron ain't having none of that.



Rodimus Prime? I accepted him as the grown up version of Hot Rod by the end. Of course the TV cartoon had to turn him into a whiny little bitch. But the best part of the fight between him and Galvatron? Optimus Prime saying "Arise Rodimus Prime." Accompanied by "The Touch," this still gives me goosebumps.

For the 30th Anniversary, a new DVD and for the first time, a Blu-Ray will be released. Here's the trailer for it.



I know it seems like I rag on Transformers: The Movie a lot in this post but I accept it for what it is, an imperfect movie that to me is tons of fun and infinitely rewatchable. Remember, Till All Are One!