The Transformers: The Movie (1986)

Welcome to Animation Season 2022!

Happy New Year and Ba weep granah weep nini bong to you all! We're starting this new season with a movie that traumatised a generation of children - The Transformers: The Movie.

Transformers started out as a toy line, and became a comic and a TV series, and it was making huge profits for parent company Hasbro, but what do you do when you want to introduce a whole new toy line and get rid of the old ones? Why, you make a feature length animation to kill off the ones you don't want anymore. It'll be easy, right?

Well, turns out Hasbro ignored the advice of seasoned writer Ron Friedman, who insisted killing Optimus Prime would be a terrible idea. Hasbro went ahead and massacred not only Optimus, but other fan favourite characters, just to get kids to want new toys.

While this decision is seen as one of the worst ideas in Transformers history, it arguably made The Transformers: The Movie into more than meets the eye, and while the move failed at the box office, its legacy in animation history would be preserved as an emotionally impactful story for millions of fans, and is now a beloved cult classic.

I would love to hear your thoughts on The Transformers: The Movie

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Theme Music: Verbal Diorama Theme Song

Music by Chloe Enticott - Compositions by Chloe

Lyrics by Chloe Enticott (and me!)

Production by Ellis Powell-Bevan of Ewenique Studio

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