Us kids at the time left the theatres in tears. It was the end of Our childhood in many ways. It introduced us to the fact that the Hero did not always win, or live. Our Hero had been killed, and the one responsible for his death took his place. Poor Rodimus never had a chance.
I remember when I was 9yrs old, my classmate was not able to come to school because optimus died and we are in extreme sadness. Imagine the trauma I can vividly remember how broken hearted we are.
I think a big reason it traumatized and stuck with so many kids is because unlike a lot of stories where everyone wants the hero to have a triumphant act of self sacrifice as his final sendoff, Optimus didn't have that. Yes, he brings down megatron one last time, but his wounds slowly killing him, the somber music and friends gathering around to say their goodbyes while he dies on an operating table... its not heroic and going out on top; its sad and quiet and somber.
That's so true. Not to mention hot rod interfering with his fight. I always wondered why the deceptacons were suddenly so powerful. I know deceptacons died too, but to me it wasn't satisfying enough to warrant the reciprocation of ironhide, Braun and prowl. I didn't really feel happy at the end of the film. The whole film felt like a pyrrhic victory. Actually that should be the name of the movie - Transformers the pyrrhic victory. 😂 As I got older, I could appreciate the film as an adult. I understood the themes better, but my kid self still years for that triumphant hero film I never got. Lol. Oh well.
@@AnthonyDowellBlakemore That scene when poor Optimus Prime died as well as the score that was played along with it got to me as well like it did when I was a kid, old friend. Till ALL are one.
It's amazing the lack of awareness that creators had when they developed characters over several seasons so that kids would beg their parents to buy their toys, and then turn around and be shocked when kids reacted viscerally to those characters being massacred in one fell swoop in the movie. Fortunately that blind spot resulted in more depth to the film and the solidified the film's legacy greater than would have been possible otherwise.
I'm 40 years old and I'm still pissed off they killed Optimus Prime. It hit me so hard as a kid that I hated everything that was released afterwards. For me G1 and Optimus Prime was Transformers. That when they all died all the new stuff I just had resentment. It wasn't until Transformers 2007 that I was able to give something Transformers a chance. It was only because they had Peter Cullen doing the voice of Optimus Prime.
Facts! Don't get me started on hot rod. Yeah he's a cool character and all but can you say undeserved? Lol. Yeah it ruined transformers for me as a kid, good thing TMNT was up next to bail us out. I could never hate transformers for long, but I didn't get back into it until bayformers. I'm not a beast wars fan at all. 😅
I can understand why they killed him off and the answer they gave, they never knew he was an icon to the transformers story and how much of a father figure he was to kids that were born fatherless. It's better to listen to the fans and think of the iconic character that people turn to
He was shocked and heartbroken. According to Cullen, he first learned about his death when he was reading the script for the first time alongside co-star Frank Welker (Megatron). He said after reading that Optimus Prime was dead, he panicked and flipped through the pages saying, "Frank, I'm getting WHACKED on Page 17! I'm not coming back!"
I was 9 at the time and I didnt go to the theater to watch it, but I remember being so disturbed and sad when some off my classmates said that Optimus dies.
I think this goes to show that the film was a product of its time. It's easy to mute dickhead twitter notifications of outrage but when some PR rep brings wheelbarrows of letters from pissed off parents and dumps them on your desk and says "sort it" it is a tad harder to ignore. With no real back and forth with fans in the 80s I can totally understand when Nelson Shin and Flint Dille say "We didn't know he was an icon" It was on the job learning. Really was totally different then.
I watch this movie just recently for the 1st time and I am 21 years old. Primes death scene left me in utter tears for a few minutes. While I don't get to experience the shock of it when it 1st came out, I still felt truly heartbroken and shattered watching prime die...
We watched it at home for the first time on VHS. I had to have been between 4 and 6. We had to stop the movie while my little sister and I bawled our eyes out. We ended up finishing the movie after we calmed down. I can still remember the grief I felt to this day.
I watched it and surprisingly I stayed after primes death. I watched it on VHS. I don't know what I would have done if I was in the theater. The movie was well done and interesting and did keep my attention. But I'm funny like that, once I start something I had to finish it. I sat through so many disturbing parts in the film, the dude screaming at the beginning with unicorn, the death of iron hide and team, Optimus death, Magnus death, the sharkitcons eating that dude and him screaming. All of it left me with chills. I was left with mixed feeling at the end glad the autobots won, but the death of prime just hung heavy over the whole film like a wet blanket. Also not a fan of rodimus. Lol.
Prime's death elevated him to a legend and made us all appreciate the awesome character he was more. It brought an element of realness to the entire franchise
Between the filmakers killing Optimus Prime, and my mother ripping off his leg of my mint for show only toy that I had to batter for, my childhood completely ended when I was 12 years old. I have been dead inside ever since.
I couldn't wait to get out of school and run home to see the new episodes. When I saw the autobots get killed In the movie completely shocked me and made me very depressed for a long time. That movie had powerful scenes for it's time and it caused a mental impact. Till all are one.
I never understood why Optimus need to died for me to be prime. Couldn't he step down or something? They (and I ) didn't know he was an icon. If so, I'll never agreed with the writers or Hasbro. If only we knew. However ingorance is not excuse in my optics, I still take the blame, but not all, for OP should've shot after Megs was done pleading and then talk.
@@a.jthomas6132 Yeah, Kup tried to tell you to stay away, but your hotheadedness got in the way and thought what if you had to jump in. But I digress, It wasn't your fault, dude. Primus would even forgive you for your mistake, even if you did your best to save him.
The problem with Killing off Optimus Prime was that there was no build up for his passing nor for his replacement. Optimus was just killed off like nothing, and then here comes an annoying character, whom was the actual catalyst for Optimus' death that had only a rebellious streak and followed no rules, to take the title of Prime, and it was his rebellious streak that led Optimus to be killed. So then kids were supposed to get behind this idiot as the new leader? Ultra Magnus had the feel of Optimus but was too overwhelmed with the responsibility and he too was shown to be a new character, though in his introduction, he is shown to be as respected as Optimus and seems to be the right choice, at least superficially. Yes, now Optimus Prime's death is seen as a sort of Necessity, to show him returning more powerful and better than before, to bring hope, so in a way, killing Optimus Prime worked in carving a deeper way of story telling for Alien Robotic Organisms fighting.
I mean I was !! years old at the time, and his death in the movie made the local news here in New York over the controversy. Up until that point growing up, no other cartoon made that type of headline.
@@HaulinOats315 No, but for kids like me who didn't go see the movie, for me to see the cartoon movie make the local news over the death of Optimus was crazy because it was not heard of at the time.
How stupid where they back then?! you cant just kill of the most beloved characters all at once in the most brutal way possible and then expect kids to not care and just buy the new toys
This was two years since the original transformers cartoon was released they didn’t know he was an icon since he still had been new to the kids, this was probably on the job learning, the director I think thought they needed more characters to come in and kill off the old ones because I think they were not interesting anymore except for Optimus prime which would come back as an zombie then dies and then comes back, so I don’t think there that stupid.
If you think about it there was no emails nor even fan mail that never existed because it was the starting phase of technology that's why they didnt know that he was a huge icon to the series
I remember watching the new season as a kid, after the movie, not knowing anything. I had not seen the movie so it was a huge surprise I hated Rodimus prime and Galvatron.
And you’d actually thought we’d accept this? Goes to show you should’ve done your research. Essentially you killed the series btw, no one gave two craps about Rodimus!😄
@@BlitzWare518 About what mcbrideart said, I give a darn about poor Rodimus Prime as well as his fellow Prime, Optimus Prime. In fact, I love ALL the Nine Current Primes of Cybertron, and they are Optimus Prime, Rodimus Prime, Sentinel Prime, Optimus Primal (Optimus Prime's younger brother from "Beast Wars"), Leo Prime, Longarm Prime, Vector Prime, Alpha Trion AND Elita 1. And if THAT'S too Prime, mcbrideart, then by ALL MEANS Prime me up. Till ALL are one.
30 years later at Lucasfilm: Let’s kill off the classic Original Trilogy characters and give our audience newer and lamer versions them wether they like or not!
I literally don’t think they should have, I mean frank welker thought this was literal bullcrap that both the iconic characters got to be killed, I think they should have blamed it on the script-
Can someone please tell me the name of the song in the beginning. It's been stuck in my head since I first saw this interview on the 20th Anniversary DVD.
Us kids at the time left the theatres in tears. It was the end of Our childhood in many ways. It introduced us to the fact that the Hero did not always win, or live. Our Hero had been killed, and the one responsible for his death took his place. Poor Rodimus never had a chance.
I remember when I was 9yrs old, my classmate was not able to come to school because optimus died and we are in extreme sadness. Imagine the trauma I can vividly remember how broken hearted we are.
Naw jit thats me too
I can't even imagine that
Even as a grown man at the age of 40, it still brings tears to my eyes when he died.
I showed it to my grandkids for the first time 3 months ago, and sat behind them so my crying wouldn’t take attention away from the movie. 😅
I think a big reason it traumatized and stuck with so many kids is because unlike a lot of stories where everyone wants the hero to have a triumphant act of self sacrifice as his final sendoff, Optimus didn't have that.
Yes, he brings down megatron one last time, but his wounds slowly killing him, the somber music and friends gathering around to say their goodbyes while he dies on an operating table... its not heroic and going out on top; its sad and quiet and somber.
That's so true. Not to mention hot rod interfering with his fight. I always wondered why the deceptacons were suddenly so powerful. I know deceptacons died too, but to me it wasn't satisfying enough to warrant the reciprocation of ironhide, Braun and prowl. I didn't really feel happy at the end of the film. The whole film felt like a pyrrhic victory. Actually that should be the name of the movie - Transformers the pyrrhic victory. 😂
As I got older, I could appreciate the film as an adult. I understood the themes better, but my kid self still years for that triumphant hero film I never got. Lol. Oh well.
It was very human
When I was a kid, Optimus' death had me sobbing uncontrollably.
Same. Still does to this day.
@@AnthonyDowellBlakemore That scene when poor Optimus Prime died as well as the score that was played along with it got to me as well like it did when I was a kid, old friend. Till ALL are one.
It's amazing the lack of awareness that creators had when they developed characters over several seasons so that kids would beg their parents to buy their toys, and then turn around and be shocked when kids reacted viscerally to those characters being massacred in one fell swoop in the movie. Fortunately that blind spot resulted in more depth to the film and the solidified the film's legacy greater than would have been possible otherwise.
It was a good move.
It teaches kids that nothing last forever.
Pearl Harbor: Remember Dec 7th
Transformers fans: *Remember Aug 8th!*
I'm 40 years old and I'm still pissed off they killed Optimus Prime. It hit me so hard as a kid that I hated everything that was released afterwards. For me G1 and Optimus Prime was Transformers. That when they all died all the new stuff I just had resentment. It wasn't until Transformers 2007 that I was able to give something Transformers a chance. It was only because they had Peter Cullen doing the voice of Optimus Prime.
Facts! Don't get me started on hot rod. Yeah he's a cool character and all but can you say undeserved? Lol. Yeah it ruined transformers for me as a kid, good thing TMNT was up next to bail us out. I could never hate transformers for long, but I didn't get back into it until bayformers. I'm not a beast wars fan at all. 😅
I can understand why they killed him off and the answer they gave, they never knew he was an icon to the transformers story and how much of a father figure he was to kids that were born fatherless. It's better to listen to the fans and think of the iconic character that people turn to
Agree and by shooting him, it means you took the father figure away from him.
I think Ron Friedman said that killing Optimus Prime was like taking daddy away from the family.
I bet Peter Cullen was appalled at what happened
He was shocked and heartbroken. According to Cullen, he first learned about his death when he was reading the script for the first time alongside co-star Frank Welker (Megatron). He said after reading that Optimus Prime was dead, he panicked and flipped through the pages saying, "Frank, I'm getting WHACKED on Page 17! I'm not coming back!"
all he could think of was 'well there goes my car payments'
Even in death,Optimus still sounded like the Optimus I know and love to this very day
I was 9 at the time and I didnt go to the theater to watch it, but I remember being so disturbed and sad when some off my classmates said that Optimus dies.
I think this goes to show that the film was a product of its time. It's easy to mute dickhead twitter notifications of outrage but when some PR rep brings wheelbarrows of letters from pissed off parents and dumps them on your desk and says "sort it" it is a tad harder to ignore. With no real back and forth with fans in the 80s I can totally understand when Nelson Shin and Flint Dille say "We didn't know he was an icon" It was on the job learning. Really was totally different then.
Were there any kids that stayed for the whole movie, after the death of Optimus Prime?
probably couldnt see the screen with all the tears in their eyes.
Probably not honestly
I watch this movie just recently for the 1st time and I am 21 years old. Primes death scene left me in utter tears for a few minutes. While I don't get to experience the shock of it when it 1st came out, I still felt truly heartbroken and shattered watching prime die...
We watched it at home for the first time on VHS. I had to have been between 4 and 6. We had to stop the movie while my little sister and I bawled our eyes out. We ended up finishing the movie after we calmed down. I can still remember the grief I felt to this day.
I watched it and surprisingly I stayed after primes death. I watched it on VHS. I don't know what I would have done if I was in the theater. The movie was well done and interesting and did keep my attention. But I'm funny like that, once I start something I had to finish it. I sat through so many disturbing parts in the film, the dude screaming at the beginning with unicorn, the death of iron hide and team, Optimus death, Magnus death, the sharkitcons eating that dude and him screaming. All of it left me with chills. I was left with mixed feeling at the end glad the autobots won, but the death of prime just hung heavy over the whole film like a wet blanket. Also not a fan of rodimus. Lol.
Prime's death elevated him to a legend and made us all appreciate the awesome character he was more. It brought an element of realness to the entire franchise
No, Bacal; killing Optimus Prime killed the franchise, and it was a miracle that it ever revived.
I remember watching the movie for the first time. I was 17 and tears were welling from my eyes.
Brawn, Prowl, Ironhide, Ratchet, Wheeljack, and Windcharger?
Between the filmakers killing Optimus Prime, and my mother ripping off his leg of my mint for show only toy that I had to batter for, my childhood completely ended when I was 12 years old. I have been dead inside ever since.
I liked his Zombie Prime reference. For those that don't know the episode is called "Dark Awakening" from the 3rd season.
I couldn't wait to get out of school and run home to see the new episodes. When I saw the autobots get killed In the movie completely shocked me and made me very depressed for a long time. That movie had powerful scenes for it's time and it caused a mental impact.
Till all are one.
The movie never came to Portugal and I guess it was a good thing because many also liked Optimus Prime and we would possibly react the same way
When Pime died in the movie. So did a part of me. I felt as if a part of me joined the Matrix.
If Prime didn't die in this, the movie maybe won't be as memorable. Am I happy with that detail, no.
Optimus prime came back to life in season 3 and 4
I never understood why Optimus need to died for me to be prime. Couldn't he step down or something? They (and I ) didn't know he was an icon. If so, I'll never agreed with the writers or Hasbro. If only we knew. However ingorance is not excuse in my optics, I still take the blame, but not all, for OP should've shot after Megs was done pleading and then talk.
If you know Megatron is about use the gun, you could’ve warn Optimus.
His original toy discontinued. That's why.
@@a.jthomas6132 Yeah, Kup tried to tell you to stay away, but your hotheadedness got in the way and thought what if you had to jump in. But I digress, It wasn't your fault, dude. Primus would even forgive you for your mistake, even if you did your best to save him.
The problem with Killing off Optimus Prime was that there was no build up for his passing nor for his replacement.
Optimus was just killed off like nothing, and then here comes an annoying character, whom was the actual catalyst for Optimus' death that had only a rebellious streak and followed no rules, to take the title of Prime, and it was his rebellious streak that led Optimus to be killed. So then kids were supposed to get behind this idiot as the new leader?
Ultra Magnus had the feel of Optimus but was too overwhelmed with the responsibility and he too was shown to be a new character, though in his introduction, he is shown to be as respected as Optimus and seems to be the right choice, at least superficially.
Yes, now Optimus Prime's death is seen as a sort of Necessity, to show him returning more powerful and better than before, to bring hope, so in a way, killing Optimus Prime worked in carving a deeper way of story telling for Alien Robotic Organisms fighting.
I mean I was !! years old at the time, and his death in the movie made the local news here in New York over the controversy. Up until that point growing up, no other cartoon made that type of headline.
Did the news at least give a spoiler alert?
@@HaulinOats315 No, but for kids like me who didn't go see the movie, for me to see the cartoon movie make the local news over the death of Optimus was crazy because it was not heard of at the time.
THE TRANSFORMERS: THE MOVIE
*traumatising kids since 1986*
How stupid where they back then?!
you cant just kill of the most beloved characters all at once in the most brutal way possible and then expect kids to not care and just buy the new toys
This was two years since the original transformers cartoon was released they didn’t know he was an icon since he still had been new to the kids, this was probably on the job learning, the director I think thought they needed more characters to come in and kill off the old ones because I think they were not interesting anymore except for Optimus prime which would come back as an zombie then dies and then comes back, so I don’t think there that stupid.
Definitely the biggest mistake ever made in The Transformers The Movie.
My left ear really liked this video
Absolutely life altering moment for me 🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂
How do you not know the he is an icon
If you think about it there was no emails nor even fan mail that never existed because it was the starting phase of technology that's why they didnt know that he was a huge icon to the series
Also production on the movie started as early as season 1 of the cartoon
@@carterhaas3434 I mean I feel like the toy sales and viewer figures should have been enough.
12 years since this video was made
I remember watching the new season as a kid, after the movie, not knowing anything. I had not seen the movie so it was a huge surprise I hated Rodimus prime and Galvatron.
Our leaders back. Yes skylinx and this time force in the universe can stop me
I blame MARVEL for killing Prime.
Oh wow, Susan Blu was Tina’s mother from Friday the 13th Part VII. Why do I keep thinking that F13 and Transformers are connected? Only joking 😂
Wish the cartoon had that incredible editing.
The first time I watched The Transformers The Movie I hated that Deception Leader Megatron with a passion that I wanted to personally kill him.
ruclips.net/video/wslJ-Dn9L_g/видео.htmlsi=J24N82-RrSb9i3SK
Till all are one ! 😊
And you’d actually thought we’d accept this? Goes to show you should’ve done your research. Essentially you killed the series btw, no one gave two craps about Rodimus!😄
They also made one of the most memorable scenes in the franchise
@@BlitzWare518 About what mcbrideart said, I give a darn about poor Rodimus Prime as well as his fellow Prime, Optimus Prime. In fact, I love ALL the Nine Current Primes of Cybertron, and they are Optimus Prime, Rodimus Prime, Sentinel Prime, Optimus Primal (Optimus Prime's younger brother from "Beast Wars"), Leo Prime, Longarm Prime, Vector Prime, Alpha Trion AND Elita 1. And if THAT'S too Prime, mcbrideart, then by ALL MEANS Prime me up. Till ALL are one.
30 years later at Lucasfilm: Let’s kill off the classic Original Trilogy characters and give our audience newer and lamer versions them wether they like or not!
ruclips.net/video/NEr_OK8xD1c/видео.htmlsi=L3wL8f4g6lZwmRT4
The second generation of Transformers sucked. G1 generation is the best.
True, though Transformers Prime is as good, but not its follow up series the RID series.
G2 is just G1 but with a weird intro
I wonder how many kids in the 80s broke there toy megatrons in revenge after optimus death lol
I literally don’t think they should have, I mean frank welker thought this was literal bullcrap that both the iconic characters got to be killed, I think they should have blamed it on the script-
Can someone please tell me the name of the song in the beginning. It's been stuck in my head since I first saw this interview on the 20th Anniversary DVD.
-SM I have the website link with me. I will be uploading a video of the loop soon.
Shazam says "Blister by Grant Mohrman"
@@HaulinOats315 I appreciate you so much