Charles Brandon
Member
Talk about old, bionic77!
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Really That Good: Transformers the Movie
- Thread starter JCHandsom
- Start date
Talk about old, bionic77!
Destiny. Haters cannot destroy his destiny.
It's a really weird thing for Optimus to say, though, in the context of the series. What makes Optimus believe that this is a suicide mission? He blows through the fodder like single-ply tissue paper, after all, and he's fought Megatron many times before.
Yes, the line was astounding to me thirty years ago and its nostalgic appeal remains a powerful force, but it's also jarring to me now.
I don't buy many movies, but I've bought TFTM several times. It's worth it.
Old timer? That's something you will never be if you don't post in the MJ v. Prince thread!
Touch is good, but Dare is the best in the film.
Charles Brandon
Member
Remember, Autobot City is really taking a pounding, Devastator is loose, Ratchet, Huffer, Wheeljack, Windcharger, Red Alert, Beachcomber, Ironhide, Prowl and Brawn are all dead. The Autobots are about to lose the City and without that there is no hope, no hope, no hope AT ALL.
Charles Brandon
Member
Correctomundo
Member
Until this thread, I didn't know there existed people that didn't know this movie is really that good.
Line up, chumps. I'll fight every damn last one of ya!
Line up, chumps. I'll fight every damn last one of ya!
shira
Member
So what did you want? More of the cartoon where they just dance around, shoot at each other and retreat?
There's only so many permutations of evil plan foiled
At 6-7 years old, uh yeah? I wasn't expecting to see my heroes being gunned down lol
Optimus almost won the war. He was so close he could taste it. Ironhide could hardly sit still, he was so excited. Spike was talking as if the war had already been won.
Then Megatron killed Ironhide (Optimus Prime's best friend and closest confidant), along with three more of his best Autobots. And laid waste to Optimus Prime's home base, containing many more of his people. This is what Optimus arrived to see, after racing home all night long to try and bring reinforcements.
Remember that clip MovieBob included of Spike from the series pilot writing in his diary "Optimus Prime cares a lot for his fellow robots, and he doesn't want anything to happen to them." It's difficult to resolve the series and the movie as being in the same world because the the drastic shift in tone, but I think it's still possible.
Optimus comes flying in to save the day, counters the immediate threat by sending his best against Megatron's best, and then as he surveys the situation he comes to his new resolve, that this cannot be allowed to continue. Even if it costs him his life, Megatron has to be stopped, and he has to be stopped right now.
It's not so much a strategic decision as it is Optimus Prime being at the end of his limit. He tore through the Decepticons like tissue paper, not because that's just what an awesome bot like Optimus Prime does, but because Optimus Prime was upset like he has never been upset before, and those Decepticons were standing between him and Megatron.
When he reaches Megatron, he has another of his iconic lines "One shall stand, one shall fall" which essentially means "One of us is going to die here today". Optimus Prime hasn't been like that in his fights with Megatron before.
After Optimus has wins the fight, Optimus begins to wrestle with himself, to see if he's really capable of putting Megatron down for good with a bullet in the head (again, see Spike's quote, killing Megatron really isn't Optimus Prime's way). Meanwhile Megatron takes advantage of Optimus' inner turmoil and tries to keep that debate going in his head, while Megatron secretly changes the fight into one of "As soon as I see an opening, I'll kill Optimus with this hidden weapon."
Until the idiot Hot Rod provided some well-meaning but ultimately unsuccessful interference (he foiled Megatron's plan, but opened the door to a sudden hostage situation).
RoninChaos
Member
Bro, that horse would stand up and shoot mother fuckers with a shotgun. AMAZING.
I was 8 or 9 when it came out and they really set it up perfectly for kids to latch onto the new characters.
Daniel was perfect for kids because he had some a robot suit, a rocket skateboard and got to hang out with Hot Rod (who was made to appeal to kids and was the 'cool' new young robot on the block as made all the more apparent with his relationship with Kup).
Seeing your loved ones die early in the movie is Disney Fucking 101 so that is the playbook to get a young kids to pay attention and set the stakes for the rest of the movie. I agree it is lazy but I won't lie and say it didn't work.
It was a perfect movie for kids in the 80s and it has stood the test of time because of how well it was made. The amount of content they fit into the 80 some minutes of runtime they have is astounding. I feel like they visit like a half dozen planets or so during the movie, most of which are destroyed. Several spaceships (most of which are destroyed). At least 2 alien civilizations (one of which is destroyed by the Autobots, the other probably by Unicron). Probably at least 20 regular characters are killed. Like 7 or 8 great songs. Again the amount of content they put in this movie is amazing.
RoninChaos
Member
That shit left a mark on me. Everything I'd seen up to that point always had the main character coming back. This didn't. Death was real. It fucking freaked me out.
I do think there is a lot of merit, depending on where you were when this came out, about living through some sort of earth shattering (for you) upheaval and knowing that even though things will be different on the other side, you'll still come out of it and be okay. That's definitely a theme of the movie, even if it's not intentional.
This thread reminds me, I need to re-buy the Blu-Ray. My brother stole and lost the Widescreen disc from it.
Y'know what always bothered me the most about this?
Hot Rod's arms had guns built right into them. He was literally never without a gun unless you actually ripped his arms off. He could've easily just blasted the gun that Megatron was reaching for. We'd already seen he had good enough aim to hit a tiny hole in a shuttle from several hundred meters away, so blasting a gun from barely 10 or 20 meters away should've been no problem.
Y'know what always bothered me the most about this?
Hot Rod's arms had guns built right into them. He was literally never without a gun unless you actually ripped his arms off. He could've easily just blasted the gun that Megatron was reaching for. We'd already seen he had good enough aim to hit a tiny hole in a shuttle from several hundred meters away, so blasting a gun from barely 10 or 20 meters away should've been no problem.
George Oscar Bluth II
Banned
I didn't know Judd Nelson voiced Hot Rod.
DrForester
Kills Photobucket
Welles's very final role, recorded a month before his death.
RoninChaos
Member
I'm down with auto bot city giving leadership a shot. lol
I mean....who wouldn't be? At that point Metroplex was a part of Autobot City, during the time of the movie though his Transformation Cog was destroyed in the initial stages of the battle though so he couldn't transform to join the fight.
HammerFace
Banned
Do those arm guns ever run out of ammo? Like lack of energon or something?
After seeing the Autobots defence of Autobot city on earth I came to the conclusion that they can't shoot for shit. The shuttle must have been a fluke. All through that battle I don't think we see an Autobot shoot a Decepticon. The funniest part is when they are retreating after Optimus turns the tide of the battle. The deceptions have their backs to them as they are running away and the Autobots still aren't landing any shots 😂
I'd imagine they only run out of Energon if Hot Rod himself is running low, they seem to be directly connected to him and there's no sign of them having their own independent power source.
I always figured that was more down to them not trying to hit. They're the good guys after all, and they already know they've won. It wouldn't be very Autobot to slaughter a fleeing enemy by gunning them down in their backs. It could also prompt the Decepticons to turn around and resume fighting in a last ditch effort if they started dropping even further.
This is my film of the forever, I remember my mum renting it every single week from the village store for me until I eventually traded a kid at school for my very own copy.
Unicron transforms. My favourite scene by far as a kid, was just in awe.
Unicron transforms. My favourite scene by far as a kid, was just in awe.
Didn't he die before finish recording and Nimoy had to finish his lines? Obviously this was just a paycheck for Welles
Ironic a Transformers movie was one of Nimoy's last works too.
There's long been speculation to that effect but it was shot down by movie staff in an interview. See the TF wiki.
I kind of feel bad for still finding this Welles' greatest performance. He gave us Citizen Kane and War of the Worlds, but he gave me Unicron.
I speel my dreenk
Member
It must be a testament to Welles' sheer poise and talent that he did such a fantastic job as Unicron, despite his well-documented feelings on the role. Just go back to the meeting between Unicron and Megatron - just great stuff.
HammerFace
Banned
Well exactly. If they were under siege for I want to say at least half a day, if not more, then his energon might be running low and using those arm guns might have killed him or caused him to pass out due to energon deficiency. I mean I doubt this much thought was put into it though
woopWOOP
Member
As a kid the very beginning always made me sad. A planet of innocent robot people and playing robot children getting munched up by a giant planet. Oh and all the show's characters getting murdered didn't help much either, tho I was too young to have followed the series before it to be really invested in any of them... well aside from Optimus, Megatron and Starscream, the latter getting what he deserved
Just a month ago me and an old friend (re)watched it. He never seen it before and afterwards even he had a small mini rant of "why the fuck did they kill Optimus, the hell is up with this movie", lol
Since I never really followed the TV series after either, did that little pipsqueek robot from prison planet become a recurring member? Man he was so annoying
Anyway it's not a super great movie, ending's a bit rushed, but the first half and the music still elevates it to "awesome" for me
Just a month ago me and an old friend (re)watched it. He never seen it before and afterwards even he had a small mini rant of "why the fuck did they kill Optimus, the hell is up with this movie", lol
Since I never really followed the TV series after either, did that little pipsqueek robot from prison planet become a recurring member? Man he was so annoying
Anyway it's not a super great movie, ending's a bit rushed, but the first half and the music still elevates it to "awesome" for me
cj_iwakura
Member
Unfortunately, Wheelie is a permanent addition to the series. On the other hand, the TV series is pretty weak in general compared to the movie, particularly the seasons following the movie (outside of a very few episodes), so you can ignore the whole thing pretty easily.
If Hot Rod had been that drained I doubt he'd have been running and leaping around declaring he had to help Prime.
The Decepticons had been fighting just as long as well and none of them seemed to be suffering from fatigue, nor any of the other Autbots. Not to mention the Autobots would likely have had way easier access to energon supplies of the city, whilst the Decepticons brought no supplies with them whatsoever.
I've thought about Hot Rod's options here, and he also could have yelled, but yelling could've given Megatron precisely the distraction he was looking for. Shooting would have been the correct choice, but Hot Rod chose tackle. I'm willing to admit that Hot Rod was an idiot there.
But the thing is, Hot Rod is supposed to be a child, a teenager, to be precise. He acted without thinking when he opened fire on the shuttle (good call), and he acted without thinking when he tried to tackle Megatron (bad call).
People crap on Hot Rod for touching the Matrix, as if this was the sole reason why they couldn't have Ultra Magnus as New Leader instead of Rodimus Prime, but Hot Rod respectfully handed the Matrix to Ultra Magnus, who he accepted as his New Leader.
Bobby Roberts has mentioned before that the split-up adventures with the two shuttles seems to have no purpose in the story, but I think it works as a comparison between Hot Rod and Ultra Magnus as leader.
Ultra Magnus ordered Blurr to get the Dinobots on the shuttle, but Blurr couldn't do it, because the Dinobots are too stubborn. So Ultra Magnus ordered Kup and Hot Rod to take over for Blurr, while everyone else gets on a different shuttle. One could infer that Ultra Magnus was willing to let Kup and Hot Rod (the two most useless Autobots) die, if they couldn't get the job done and the Dinobots could be deemed a lost cause. But then Hot Rod made a lasso and corralled Grimlock, and got his shuttle launched first. And Ultra Magnus launched his shuttle before Arcee was aboard. Good thing she jumped/Springer caught her, otherwise Ultra Magnus would've looked pretty bad.
In the air, Hot Rod's shuttle got pounded by Galvatron until it went down. Ultra Magnus: "I can't deal with that right now." That is sooo not the response of a leader. But he did manage to buy some time by crashing on his own planet.
On his planet, Hot Rod fought his way past robo-vines and robo-piranhas, to find Kup defeated by a robo-squid, which Hot Rod defeated using cleverness since the robo-squid was overpowering. Then they got arrested and Hot Rod pretty much busted his way out of jail before Grimlock arrived to seal the deal.
Ultra Magnus meanwhile, got another visit from Galvatron, and Magnus managed to save his crew by burying them, to face Galvatron alone. And then like an idiot, he whipped out the Matrix and tried to use it to nuke Galvatron, because this must be the Autobots Darkest Hour, even though earlier in the film they had just planned to try using the Matrix on Unicron, who was still out there. Magnus backed into a corner = The end of the world. Magnus: "WTF Optimus? You told me this would work." No, Optimus didn't. Magnus told Optimus he wasn't worthy. Optimus said that he knew that Magnus wasn't worthy, and neither was he. But legend says that one day a Chosen One will come along, and he will be worthy, and he will Light their Darkest Hour. Ultra Magnus (despite his earlier reluctance, and his pounding string of failures) ended up thinking the Chosen One was him. And then he got himself blown to bits. Oops.
Then Hot Rod comes along and saves Ultra Magnus' crew from the Junkions by making peace with them, using the technique that didn't work for Kup previously.
Then Hot Rod leads everyone to go after the lost Matrix and try to stop Unicron, and he gets separated from the group and winds up alone with Galvatron, and unafraid, he fights Galvatron better than anyone has since Galvatron showed up and started powning Autobots and Decepticons left and right, because Hot Rod's dodging and using hit-and-run tactics to frustrate his stronger opponent. And remember, Hot Rod is still a child at this point. A teenager. And he's putting up a better fight than Ultra Magnus did. That's why I say Hot Rod is an idiot, but he doesn't suck.
cj_iwakura
Member
Optimus: shot in the stomach, can't be saved.
Ultra Magnus: blown to pieces, good as new.
Ultra Magnus: blown to pieces, good as new.
I agree with a lot of what you say. Besides being voiced by Robert Stack I never liked Ultra Magnus and think Hot Rod gets too much hate.
Magnus' quote "I can't deal with that right now." always stuck in my head for some reason. I always thought you'd never hear Optimus say something like that. Why'd he pick this guy for the next leader? But I guess at the time Magnus was the option since Ironhide was out and Bumbebee was in "oh shit."
cj_iwakura
Member
I would have picked Grimlock.
He was in the Marvel comics run. He was a pretty terrible leader.
Wait, really?
I speel my dreenk
Member
Sure, but only because Magnus was on Junkion, which was literally populated with scrap repair experts. Only thing Perceptor could do for Prime was to look at the wound closer. Pfft.
The script apparently called for him to die for reals, but then Hasbro realized that new toys probably don't sell so good if you kill them dead, a mere 45 minutes after you first introduce them to the audience.
So he got healed up with magic Junkion spooge.
Ultra Magnus doesn't do anything after getting revived, and is even missing from several scenes where he should be present.
I speel my dreenk
Member
Oh yeah, he was a total non-starter. And don't get me started on the toy itself, it's easily one of the worst. The Masterpiece version, on the other hand...
itwasTuesday
He wasn't alone.
Such heroic nonsense
This is bad comedy.
Henchmen21
Banned
bionic77, Is that you?
