As someone who watched G1 in realtime, I can tell you the first 2 seasons and The Movie were G1’s peak. The animation, the characters, the story telling, all went down hill with 5 Faces of Darkness. Sure season 2 had some quirky episodes, but they were one and done story arcs completed in a single episode, a welcome break from the rinse and repeat formula of the Autobots thwarting the Decepticons’ plan every episode.
Completely agree, the movie may have had a darker tone (which I actually liked) and killed off a lot of beloved characters but it also had top notch animation and an iconic soundtrack, unfortunately Season 3 killed whatever momentum they may have had.
@@luckyrockmore2796 Yes, and I have to agree with you and the maker of this video. As a kid, I could not get into the show much after the movie. In my opinion - it started to become too many new characters introduced with not much background story. It made it worse for kids (such as myself) who did not see the movie - only to tune in to watch and see brand new transformers and not see your favorites that you got invested in for the last two years. I had to find out from a friend at school that many of the transformers I grew up with had died in the movie. SMH. 😒
As someone else who watched G1 in realtime, I agree 100%. In fact, when the episodes were finally released on DVD? I just bought Seasons 1 and 2 (and The Movie). TF: The Movie is the endpoint as far as I am concerned.
Honestly the side character episodes were awesome. Helped give every character a chance to shine. Most transformer shows nowadays are very airtight and plot focused and dont have as many Characters. This is the charm of g1 for me, that the world was big and filled with so many characters. I hope future tf media goes back to the g1 formula to hopefully create even more new characters and continue expanding the franchise.
Absolutely. Honestly, I think that's one of the smartest, most unique things about G1 - and I don't like G1 as much as most. And considering fandoms and particularly the TF fandom today, imo there is _absolutely no way_ focusing on side characters killed the show. It's not like it had any kind of main plot they ignored to begin with, other than "energy war!" and even that is still featured in most character-focus episodes. What is so wrong with actually elaborating on characters, giving them personality and story? Nothing, as far as I'm concerned.
I feel like probably the way they did it in "Season 4", the new side characters were just given appearances without much effort to characterize them in their debuts.
Transformers Prime still remains the best series to date in keeping its stories connected to the main plot. There's side stories, but they still have purposes.
@@FlippinGurtrude Maybe, but what does that have to do with this comment? TFP still lacks the large extended cast which gives some series, like G1 and (I think?) IDW, their charm. It's a completely different show.
@@applesauce9mm I would argue "Enter the Nightbird" was far worse. But whatever, people now sweat "Nightbird" to death as the original first female Decepticon character. I actually gag a litlte bit when I say "Decepticon" -- Cybertron and Destron sound so much better. I gotta give whoever re-imported these shows BACK to Japan, props....
@@benjamindalton8940 I grew up during original run too, and that episode did stick out for me. But I didn’t like it either. I didn’t care she was female, I just didn’t like it. The laser sword was too much like a light saber and I didn’t like that. They weren’t fighting vehicles anymore at that point, just Star Wars wannabes.
I actually agree with this. As much as I love the movie, it truly was the peak of the show. As a kid I did not like season 3 or most of it's characters.
Seasons 1 & 2 were set on Earth in the current time, that worked fine. Aside from killing off most of the original roster, season 3 was set too far into the future, which took away most of any realism a cartoon about shape shifting robots could have.
I was cool with the Movie & Killing off some of the main characters. I just hated the look of some the New Autobots & Decepticons like Hot Rod(Rodimus prime) & The New Megatron (Galvatron. The best episodes of Season 3 & 4 we're when brought back some of the original Autobots & Decepticons or New ones that Had that original look.
Season 3 has better episodes on average IMO. So it's sad that I agree with your take. It just wasn't the same with an entirely new cast of characters. I could live with a few deaths in the movie, but for them to kill pretty much ALL the characters we got to know over the first two seasons was idiotic. If it was about toys, why not keep making the old toys if people are buying them?
I remember being in the theater for the first live action movie. After the words “I am Optimus Prime” the theater burst into applause and yelling like a sporting event… it’s amazing the company didn’t know what they had.
Starscream's death was more impactful to me than Optimus Prime's. I remember laughing when Optimus died. It was spoiled in the trailers. Starscream though was my favorite character and his death caught me completely off guard. My 7 year old self was crushed.
@@gabrielboorom2683 yeah I know there were a million different TV spots and trailers. Some of them straight up said Optimus Prime and Megatron battle to the death and shower the It's Over Prime and him blasting Prime. Lol. I guess even at 7 I was extremely pessimistic.
@@unum1979 Me too. I was bored when Optimus was dying, it was so slow to probably give some drama but everyone crying around, the matrix falling in slowmotion... Starscream was dead, I didn't care about the movie anymore.
On the contrary. Season 3 had PLENTY of wacky episodes. In fact, aside from characters and plot points, it's almost as if the movie never even happened.
I actually preferred the outer spaceb stuff, it was darker and had a lottle more depth. Plus have you ever noticed how similar galvatron is to serpentor is?
I think the side characters are important to flesh out the cast. Even side characters have fans so it's important to include them. You can't keep relying on the same half dozen every episode and not have it get stale.
@@rtype1974 I think not only they had to present the new toys but also wanted to put kid's immersion to a deeper level. They weirdly think all kids want to identify with the annoying kid from the show, like Spike or Daniel but they probably tried to make a mix between an Autobot and the kid character. I didn't really care about Optimus' death, I was more affected by Starscream's death but I would take Optimus over annoying kids character anytime. Anyway, now with time, I appreciate more Optimus (and not more Spike, Daniel or Hotrod/Rodimus, they are still annoying).
@@rtype1974 Not just a teen, but the guy who got him killed. It would be like if they had a Justice League movie where Jimmy Olsen got Superman killed fighting Lex Luthor, and then he is the leader of league for the rest of the movie before becoming the new superman. Fans weren't going easily take a replacement, but being the guy who got the previous hero killed was going make that even harder pill to swallow. I think if Prime had died because there was no other way to save everyone else(Like Megatron was going shoot the power core of the autobot city and kill everyone and Prime jumps in the way and died afterwards or some sort of ultimate sacrifice), it would been easier to accept, but they gave us the worst case scenario with Hotrod. Most of us would much rather let Megatron kill Hotrod than Prime die during that fight instead.
i was just 13 when the transformers came out in 84. i had a mess load of transformers back then. i used watch the show. i still got all of my old transformer comic books still today. the gen 1 transformers are still the best around to me.
Prime's death & Hotrod's transformation (pun intended) into Rodimus Prime weren't handled very well. Apparently Optimus Prime has died many times in various incarnations of the franchise, but in the movie it felt forced and almost insulting, not to mention traumatic for some kids.
Yeah I enjoy those too. The show drops off for me after the movie/time jump. I really prefer the transformers change into earth vehicles/things, as opposed to the alien vehicles, for some reason.
1986 movie killed it for me in my childhood. I only watched S3/4 sparingly back then. Caught up to see it all of course in adulthood. Totally agreed w this, but I remember more and more combiners getting introduced up to the release of the movie.
@@therecanbeonlyonechris5019 My god, all I can think of when I can read this was WHYYY lol - I started building my own goofy Transformers as a kid, outta LEGOs, around that time, and I'd make new Autobot leaders beyond Rodimus Prime and gave Unicron a whole family to come eatin' planets, ala "angels" from Evangelion. Unicron wasn't even the final boss. Meh, some people don't want things to grow beyond a weird desert and everyone wearing yellow hardhats and no women for miles in any direction.
The show died when Optimus died in the 86 movie. Yeah they brought him back in the series after all the pissed parents wrote angry letters but the damage was done. I myself was one of those traumatized children who saw the movie and came home heartbroken and gutted. After that i gave up on transformers and started being more interested In Ninja turtles. In hindsight though i think shocking people like that was a good thing. The writers being bold enough to kill off prime and all of the G1 favorites actually gave the movie more of an edge and for that it is more memorable. I hated it at the time but ultimately it was the right decision. Movies in the 80s didn't care how many kids they upset. Film makers had balls in those days!
The first time I watched the movie as a kid, I actually didn't realize that it was implied that all the original cast was supposed to have died. I got that Prime and Starsceam were dead and that certain cons were transformed to new forms. But I just assumed the other bots shown damaged were still around after being repaired like always happened in the show. It was years later that I figured out that all those original cast characters were supposed to have died in the movie.
Ratchet didn’t do “that much” in the show, now the marvel comic book is where he really rose to prominence, for like three issues he was the only functioning autobot, and he tangled with megatron multiple times.
@@jeremytung1632 He and Wheeljack were usually the ones always involed with repairs and inventions. (They both built the Dinobots) After reading the Marvel comics line, though, I preferred that story to the show. I'd like to see someone adapt that storyline to animation, (or well done non-Michael Bay live action)
My favorite cartoon of all time. A lot of people would say the movie started the demise of the show by killing off Optimus Prime as well as many other fan favorites
I've been thinking, Maybe if they haven't decided to make Ultra Magnus into a separate character, and instead make him a powered up/rebuilt Optimus, they could have still gotten the promotion for their new toy, while preventing the massive fallout that came with optimus's death. I mean Magnus isn't bad as a separate character, but the opportunity was there. If only they had the foresight.
Another thing I think that's worth pointing out is that the animation quality really dipped as the show went on. The reason for this is that the show was worked on by two studios, Toei and AKOM. Toei handled all of season 1 and most of season 2. By the time season 3 came around, AKOM handled a decent chunk of that season and all of season 4. AKOM in general was worse at shadowing and drawing proportions. A good example of this is various episodes in season 2 where Devastator looks like a cardboard cutout rather than a towering giant.
Yeah and I think that after the movie Toei were no longer doing any animation for TF the good S3 animated episode were done by the same studios that were doing the TV commercials.
Last year I revised G1 with my 9-year-old son, from my amazement, he enjoyed watching G1 before 1986 Transformers Movie. Well no other way to avoid watching the 1986 movie, we watch the massacre and my son was completely distraught after the death of Optimus prime. He pause the movie and was completely baffled. He watch the rest of the movie hoping that Optimus prime somehow or someway come back to life. I have to inform him after the movie to just keep watching the rest of the episodes and Optimus prime will come back to life. He truly did not want to watch the rest of the episodes but he reluctantly did. It was like I was reliving the moment how he felt when I was a child.
"A Decepticon Raider in King Arthur's Court" may not have had much to do with the series' overall arc, but it was still a quite entertaining episode. Gave Starscream some time to shine, and more Starscream is Always a good thing. The movie is where the series really started to nosedive (though "BOT" is easily the series low point). How they thought it was a good idea to kill off two of the most beloved characters in the series and completely change one of the others, even if their goal was to sell more toys, is beyond me.
What kind of weirds me out about the time-travel thing is that technically all the characters are "there", just passed out in a mountain. Like, it's one thing to have the usual trope of characters traveling to a distant past long before they were born, but seems strange when they still existed, and from their perspective, isn't even particularly long ago compared to the 40 million year span of time from when they initially crash-landed.
"hey kids. wanna see the transformers on the big screen?" kids: "yeah!" "now do you want to watch them all die in horrific, pointless ways while we shill you new toys?"
I agree with your assessment. The first two season were fun, whereas as a child, seasons three and four left you sometimes scratching your head on how any of it made sense. The movie, while not exactly horrible, was indeed tragic and traumatic for its young audience. It even made Hasbro rewrite its coming GI-Joe to play down the destroying of everything, and made the lead character Duke end up in the hospital with a coma instead of KIA.
Season 2 is by far my favorite season. I love the whacky episodes because, contrary to the author's intent, one can only have so many straight war episodes. Part of what made Seasons 1 and 2 so great were the world-building around the Transformers. And the grim realities of an un-ending war need to be leavened by some hijinks. Why? Because it adds dimension to the main characters. Kremzeek is perhaps my favorite episode because it portrays Optimus at his most *human*. He is caught up in a crazy situation, knows it and is exasperated. But, in the end, despite all the trouble Kremzeek has stirred up, Prime is still adhering to his core values and is most reluctant to kill Kremzeek. It is crazy, zany, but it allows the Autobots to react to the world they are in and to show their quality.
@@syafiqjabar Actually you're incorrect, Scramble City was made to be in between season 2 and the movie. Showing off the combiners' ability to change limbs and also show off the citybots as well.
As a kid growing up in the 80s I adored Transformers. The Movie was legendary and has stuck with me all these years, many OG fans see the animated movie as the pinnacle of the series. I watched the TF the Movie so many times I memorized it, and still occasionally rewatch it roughly once every year or two. :)
Completely agree with your conclusion. I grew up with G1 Transformers and fell in love with the series and characters. After they killed off most of the original characters in the movie I lost interest. I got a couple of the new characters (Hot Rod, Cyclonus and Scourge) but then my interest shifted to MASK. Any Transformers toys I got after that were from the 84/85 line.
Watched every day for years and saw the same episodes over and over again and loved them. I can tell you still to this day, I remember when a season 3 ep would come on I'd hear that new intro and be upset every single time because it was so different. Without Optimus Prime's death in the movie I don't think we'd still be talking about G1 or any of it though. It was that moment moreso than any other moment in the series that ingrained it onto our souls. The 80's were notorious for doing that with our favorite characters and I loved it ( I'm looking at you Robotech! )
I was about 5 years old at the time. I (and along with every other kid in the theater) was bawling my eyes out at that scene. Despite that, it's still one of my favorite childhood movies. As much as I liked the new cast of characters, I had no interest in watching season 3.
I didn't really think that Season 2 showed any deterioration, and I didn't mind the off-the-wall episodes. (I was a kid back then) I actually considered Season 2 to be the prime of the show. I had no issue with Optimus Prime becoming a KIA in the movie. He was a warrior leader, after all. I think Season 3 was when things really declined. Back in Seasons 1 and 2, the Transformers animated portrayal in their robot modes was always distorted from their corresponding toy appearances. But at least their alt-modes in the series still resembled their alt-modes in the toys. That changed in Season 3, where now the animated Cyclonus looked different from the Cyclonus toy, in both the robot and alt modes. The same was also true for Galvatron, who was even more distorted. Galvatron had become insane, unlike Megatron. I thought the Quintessons were a stupid idea. They were clearly contrived. They didn't even transform. I thought resurrecting Optimus Prime was also stupid. It clearly devalued Hot Rod/Rodimus Prime's divine role as The Chosen One. And don't even get me started on the Headmasters.
I must say you cannot forget that the third and fourth season were taking place right around the time when cartoon Saturday is where no longer happening. They were they and many other cartoons were forced to make cartoons with some kind of moral obligation. Along with finding out they can make more money on sports and live TV because there were less expensive to produce and hand drawn animation. There was a bevy of things coming into play. With that said that is not discounting what you said but adding on to. Good job keep up the good work.
I was 17 years old in August 1986. Just graduated high school & saw this movie in theaters with friends. I’m a witness that u are correct that this franchise died after the movie. 😢
I really enjoyed Season 2 - I loved the episodes that focussed on the more obscure characters because it helped flesh out the roster of characters they had. As a kid, I never liked it when you had a TV show based off a toy line and there’s 25 characters you can buy (including many cool ones) and you only ever see 8 of them in the show. Also, if all the episodes are narrowly based around a single central theme, it quickly gets very stale. The variety that the more unusual episodes offer brings a lot more character and interest to the show, and as a kid, I just saw all these weird storyline’s as being more imaginative than many of the other shows on TV. Transformers was a lot more watchable and had a broader, more epic feel than shows like Voltron that were essentially the same basic plot for every single episode.
The Movie in the summer of 1986 ended the series. But honestly, even if the Movie never happened, the show was going to lose steam by Season 3 regardless. Kids shows like this don't usually have a long shelf life, especially back then. As kids get older, it becomes "less cool" to play with Optimus Prime as was a year or two before. Almost every kid I knew was into Transformers during the 1985-'86 school year, by 1986-'87, eh....not really. As the original kids from 1984 moved into either upper elementary school or even middle school, people's tastes changed.
There was were classic lines in G1 . Optimus Prime “ Ok Megatron it’s just you and me ?Megatron “ Then you’d better get some help Prime “ . Starscream’s retort to Bombshell “ Why you rust incrusted cockroach “ . His taunt to Prime “ All the danger you can handle is here Floptimus Prime “ . He tells a retreating Megatron to “ Save the oration “ . There are many more but the writing was excellent and was much missed .
I totally agree with you. I hated the movie for the sole reason that they killed off every single character I loved. I hated Galvatron - he was whiny, his voice was annoying and he lacked Megatron's leadership. But mostly, it was the death of Optimus - forget it - I was done after that. I didn't watch another episode of the series until many years later when it was released on VHS. Even to this day, I haven't watched the series in its entirety because I know I'll just be pissed off by Season 3-4. It's too bad it went off the rails. I always wondered how far it would have gone if they stuck to good writing instead of focusing on frigin toys.
@@giovannifierros951 I remember going to the theatres to watch this and I literally cried when Optimus died lol. I'm not sure if it's sweet or pathetic that a kid looks up to a fictional cartoon character. Maybe a bit of both. Ahhhh the 80's, where has the time gone?
@@guardiane yeah but do you remember the feeling when prime came back? Then sacrificed himself into the sun. Talk about pure joy turning into pain once again.
@@jesset2504 But THEN he came back AGAIN lol. I really loved that, but it was too little too late. If you really think about it (and I try not too, since it's a cartoon) - it doesn't make sense for a robot to truly "die". I mean, c'mon, what killed Optimus that they couldn't just fix him? Ultra Magnus BLEW UP into a million pieces in the same movie, but no problem, they just rebuilt him, good as new. lol Sorry, it's been over 30 years and I'm still bitter ;)
@@guardiane There's probably a reason like Prime's spark chamber was badly damaged, whereas Magnus's was intact. But yeah, that did make me go "Huh?" as a child.
100% agree. The series died the instant you saw the movie. I was 12 at the time and still a huge transformer fan. The movie, for me, was traumatic. The first few minutes in and I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. Couldn’t focus at all on the plot and was in shock when I walked out of the theater. Every one of my friends had the same experience. Thanks Hasbro! You gave children some wonderful memories, and then slaughtered them before our eyes.
I am a hardcore Transformers Fan, and I can agree with this. I was born in the 2000s and I watched Transformers G1 after the Michael Bay films. The best season was season 1, season 2 was good, the Movie had some good stuff in it like the Matrix and The Touch, but season 3 and 4 I can't remember a single thing. Those were awful and a pain to watch. Transformers like many other franchises, is always ruined by the love for money. IF Transformers was in charge by a passionate leader who cares about the characters and the fans, and is not there just to sell toys, this series would be one of the best franchises in the world. Probably close to Star Wars. The best series that really cared about the characters and the war of Cybertron was Transformers Prime. I think we can all agree it is the best Transformers Show to date.
I haven't seen any show after G1. I caught a glimpse of Beast Wars once but was turned off that everyone looked completely different. But now I'm interested to check out Prime.
@@FunFactFilms Prime is the definitive best of the Transformers franchise! I do recommend watching the whole series of Transformers Prime. And I (and I’m sure many more) would love to watch your video with Transformers Prime.
@Hiden Bunter's Krak Pype I agree with you. I wasn’t born in the 90s to be able to watch and enjoy Beast Wars. But I began watching it a few months ago and it is good! I still haven’t any reached major plot points, so I can’t talk of the series as a whole yet. I did reach the Starscream’s ghost and the Unicron chamber. But so far, it is good! The characters are very well done and fun! I too love Dinobot and Rattrap! They are very fun to watch! Especially when they quarrel! 😅 I still respectfully prefer Transformers Prime, but Beast Wars is really good!
@@FunFactFilms They didn't look different, they actually had nothing to do with original characters. Maximals and Predacons are descendants of Autobots and Decepticons, and Optimus Primal and Megatron from Beast Wars just picked their names based on the original Optimus and Magatron. But Transformers Prime is definitelly a must watch.
@Hiden Bunter's Krak Pype While the CGI pales in comparison to what we see today, it was almost cutting edge for its time, and in HD actually looks better than what I remember from the old analogue days.
As a guy born in 77 I agree, that movie killed the franchise, and showing it had learned its lesson the reason they did not kill off Duke in the GI Joe movie, because of the backlash from killing off Optimus. Can you imagine had they done something like that in this era with social media and everything we have today? It would’ve cancelled the company entirely…
Great points! I always found the introduction of the Quintessons as the masters of the Transformers bizarre and at odds with the original storyline. The episode “The Gambler” is one of my favorites, as we see the Autobots on a Star Trek-style voyage through space and landing on strange new planets. It would have been good to see more space exploration episodes like that, with the Decepticons doing exploring of their own and the Autobots stopping them. The episodes from Season 3 also eliminated the expected use of large, advanced space craft necessary to travel between planets and solar systems such as Charr, Earth, Unicron, and Cybertron. Instead, we just see everyone randomly flying through space, which doesn’t make any sense since the distance would be too great for small robots to make on their own. King Arthur’s Court and Mermaid Sea Spray were AWFUL episodes, and BOT was truly terrible. Agree the movie really changed everything for the worst, as all of the 1984 line were either killed off or molded into Megatron’s Faustian pact with Unicron. Yea, it only got worse when Season 4 came along with the terrible Nebulon story arc that never caught on with people who liked the original adventures.
To be very very frank, I thought "Quintessons as creator race" was exceptionally dumb. To this day I've got a better take on who they are, if I do say so...
@@benjamindalton8940 Suit yourself but that is vastly superior to Marvel's having to have a god in everything BS. These are robots they are built they do not simply exist at the dawn of time. The Quintessons being the creators of the Transformers makes much more sense then the God BS.
This is a good video from a Western perspective, but in English speaking spheres the Japanese G1 history is often neglected. G1 in Japan outlived its Western counterpart by a good margin, and many people don't know that this history exists or treat it as minor supplemental material because it did not air here. The Rebirth even aired several months after Headmasters.
Some of the episodes you're attributing to the fall of Transformers are some of my favorite episodes. I rather LIKE having side characters featured. You get to learn more about them.
as a kid in those days, I 100% agree. Looking back now I know why I lost interest. I didn't realize it then as a kid, but this explanation makes total sense and I can confirm it looking back to when I lost interest.
A lot of the original characters were killed off because their toys were discontinued. They needed the room to introduce new toys to their 30 minute commercials.
I hated it as a kid. i find it okay as an adult. It blows it's load in the first 20 minutes and randomly planet hops for the of the movie till just kind wraps up everything in a rush to end it. It's too dark for most kids,and was a boring watch for any adults who were forced to sit through it. It misses across the board and bombed accordingly.
@@Lastjustice Oh man, I loved it as a kid. It's definitely a flawed film, but there are enough neat moments throughout to keep it engaging for me. Also, that soundtrack is loads of fun.
"killed it" by being awesome, yes. Why do I feel like I'm the only fan of Transformers growing out of the first two seasons and the crap GI Joe music they imported just to finish off their frenzy-of-combiners season?
The problem with Season 3 is that it never explained what happened to several Transformers from earlier season who were not seen in the movie. We see Omega Supreme, Superion, Defensor, Menasor, etc but there is no explanation of who died in the movie other than the ones we saw die (and Huffer). The fates of Smokescreen, Sideswipe, Bluestreak, Inferno, Grapple, etc are never revealed, even when they visit the Autobot sarcophagus ship
I honestly think that Transformers The Movie was one of the BEST MOVIES EVER. Classic high stakes drama at it's best and Orson Welles as Unicron....come on man. That was his last role before he died. And killing Prime was heartbreaking, but the way he came back in season 3 was awesome! Great story arc in my opinion. That's why the new masterpiece figures sell for $200 today and movies and video games are still made....FORTY YEARS LATER!
Transformers was intended to be a half hour toy commercial, hence why they introduced so many new characters as the series went on. Even after G1 was cancelled in 1987, Hasbro continued G1 with the toylines and the Marvel Comics series, which would eventually lead to Generation 2. Also, there were three Japan-exclusive anime Transformers in the late 80s - The Headmasters, Super-God Masterforce, and Victory. Optimus Prime dies *again* in Headmasters, Galvatron dies in an avalanche, Rodimus Prime leaves Earth so Chromedome can become Autobot leader while Scorponok becomes Decepticon leader. Masterforce is based on the Pretenders and Powermaster toylines, but they completely changed the story and their names. Victory was completely Japan-exclusive, even the toys were. Finally, there was the single episode OVA called Transformers Zone.
Lots of truth here. One thing I take issue with: I really like A Decepticon Raider in King Arthur's Court. I think it's almost the responsibility of an episodic TV series to sometimes explore side characters. But 100% agree the movie marks a turning point. I loved the movie (still do) not in spite of the massacre but BECAUSE of it - it made the whole thing epic in scope. But there was no way they could top it, and the post-movie decline was inevitable in hindsight.
The Rebirth (Season 4) was originally going to be a five parter, but was trimmed down to three, due to costs. This video died by the time the fourth season was mentioned.
Corporate's biggest mistake....not just with Transformers G1, but with other cartoons is: developing a cartoon to SELL a toy product. Develop a cartoon for the cartoon, characters and storyline itself, THEN as the series evolves and the characters develop and grow....begin to create the toy product around the originally established cartoon. But, then we all know that what Corporate does never makes logical sense to their customer/fan base....only to their money hungry shareholders.
1986 may have been the demise of the Transformers cartoon (which was just a series of toy adverts), but during this time, the UK Transformers comic became a huge success. New and old characters were treated with respect, and it became a stand-out era for our beloved characters. These stories still resonate to this day.
I remember watching that movie in the theater, was riding in the back of my parents truck and my cousins were visiting. I was in 6th grade and stoked to see what the stunticons were going to do and I cried when they killed Prime, first time I ever cried in a movie. Leaving that, was so pissed off, Transformers died that day. I have tried to regain the feeling from time to time, 2002 with TRU reissue to even today with the China/Koren KO reissues on ebay every so often. Hasbro is so short sighted with everything they do but I guess that's the nature of the beast. Good review and you are spot on!
Great video! Thanks for putting this out there 👏🏾 Series 1 is a joy to watch, despite some of the animation errors. I agree with the view on Series 2. It was more haphazard and characters were often introduced with no back story or qualified origins. The worst story point was placing the Constructicons as being created on Cybertron along with a history that involved Omega Supreme's origin, plus being present when Megatron was 'born'; as opposed to their (more convincing - and sensible) Season 1 origin which had them built by Megatron and the Decepticons on Earth. In one of the videos I was watching once, a commentator mentioned how the 1986 Movie came very early in the overall Transformers run. I totally agree. I bought my first Transformers comic in March 1986 (issue #53 UK comic), which meant I had just missed the immortal 'Dinobot Hunt' story, and started with a slower story where an AWOL Megatron briefly became the possession of a small-time gangster. 1986 in fact saw the introduction of the 1985 toy characters into the comics, so we first saw Blaster, Perceptor, the other mini Autobots, the Insecticons and the Conehead Seekers, not forgetting three memorable comic-only characters Scrounge, Spanner and Straxus (Straxus would get toy versions years later). Although they were the 1986 toy characters, the Special Teams, aka the Aerialbots, Combaticons, Protectobots and Stunticons actually appeared in the UK comic before the 1985 characters. Omega Supreme made his first appearance in a great story in the summer of 1986 which featured a rare move of the Autobots attacking the Decepticon base. Without rambling on too much, the movie wiped away the majority of the 1984 and 1985 characters before the fan base really got used to them. This was a great shame, and it is good to learn from this video that this was down to Hasbro's insistence. Series 3 of the cartoon really did ramp up the number of appearances by new characters, who again like the characters of Series 2, were frequently introduced without any origin stories. I hope one day there will be an animation which will bring the G1 characters back to life in a more even-paced manner. Many G1 characters never made it to animation, and while there have in recent years bern very good iterations of the G1 characters in the Machinima and Earthrise (Netflix) storylines, only a fraction of the characters are involved. Here's a massive salute to the G1 characters 🖖🌟👏🏾
My kids are loving season 2. Im not going to traumatize them with the movie. When season 2 ends, where should I take them to continue the story with the original characters? Are there comics they can read that have more stories?
This is spot on! I was so sad because of the death of the old characters, and the new strange look of the New Transformers, I switched over to a little show called ROBOTECH! That's when I realized the difference between story-driven and TOY-driven cartoons! Then, a few years later, AKIRA came out and changed everything!
Transformers: The Movie was my introduction to the series, so for me the tone-setter was a bunch of the heroes and villains being permanently killed in the war and passing of the torch from one leader to the next. I watched scattered episodes of the series itself afterward.
There were a couple of reissued seasons featuring the best episodes as well as the movie (split into 5 parts) and Generation 2 (debut in 1993 as a weekly show, and 1994 as a daily show) featuring the best episodes from three seasons.
I really enjoyed the Arthur episode. Frankly, so much of Transformers G1 was absurd, silly, and more than loose with its continuity (Constructicons for instance). So having something break up the Scooby-Doo formula was awesome. Also, the movie was the highlight for me. It took chances, removed plot armor, and actually showed a war with stakes. Third season gave us Predaking, so all is forgiven 😄
As someone who grew up with "Beast Wars" and was introduced to the G1 transformers through the movie, I didn't have the same heartbreak at the huge amount of characters dying in the movie. At that age, the story was the story, and that's just how it was.
Same, though even with my limited exposure to the G1 series, I ended up finding it really cool how _[Beast Wars spoilers]_ ... it eventually becomes a sort of strange prequel to the original series, taking place entirely during the time the G1 transformers were dormant - even if it seems conceptually far-fetched that these robots from the distant future would end up _also_ crash landing on Earth, while additionally inadvertently time-traveling to a point some time later than the original crew's arrival, yet still prehistoric.
I can't think of that tune without thinking of Call of the Primitives (when it's used in the asteroid field) or, especially, as Jessica Morgan is taken to meet Rodimus in Return of Optimus Prime.
9:05--it's far worse than that. When you count all the Headmasters AND their partners (minus Spike, since he's an OG), all the Targetmasters and their partners (plus the partners that link up with Rod, Blurr, Kup, Cyclonus and Scourge), the Twins (a pair for each side), the doublespy Counter/Punch, and Sixshot...you have a grand total of (drum roll...) 45 NEW CHARACTERS to come up with names, voices, personalities, and backstories for...and THREE EPISODES to do it all in!
I was a big fan of transformers season 1 when I was in elementary school. Season 2 was good but not as good although there were enough good episodes to keep me interested. I did not see the movie and season 3 was so confusing to me i stopped watching after the first episode. I never thought of the toy selling angle but you make a good point why the show evolved the way it did.
Aw, man - your analysis is on point. I finally grew out of Transformers in 2 stages: first when the 2nd Bay film was dumber than even my lowered expectations (Autobot vehicles running up a mountain in robot mode, human recognising Decepticon jet with no trouble, most interesting human character played by Rachael Taylor gone); then second when I started becoming befuddled with many new and varied continuities and storylines and cyberverse nonsense. I hold onto my memories of enjoying G1 as a child (I actually didn't think anyone in the movie was dead other than Optimus Prime, Starscream and Unicron - I mean, they're robots, you can repair them!) ... but re-analysis like this and other videos is leaving me kind of bitter. It could've been - so - much - more!...
Watched this as a kid, loved it. Fast forward to my twenties, forgot everything except my favorite characters and how Optimus fought Megatron on with them glowing weapons. Randomly watched the movie one day and was horrified when Optimus died. Literally dumbfounded. Hot Rod was whack to me and always will be. Lol
I can't say that the "episode cramming" alone led to the series downfall. Not that alone. First off, there was an automatic salary increase to all voice actors, and it came every 30 episodes. And every time those salaries increased, it left less money for the animation to be done. Second, the voice director ran into problems ... balancing several different series at the same time - TF G1, G.I. Joe A.R.A.H., My Little Pony, and others. It was his job to make sure the total number of voice actors didn't go over a certain number. And whenever he slipped, it would go over that number, so even less money than before could be used for the animation. To prevent this *and* reduce the number of salary increases per season, the episode total was reduced in Season Three. But unlike G.I. Joe, the network did *not* grant TF G1 a budget increase, so the original animation budget would not be completely restored ... not unless Sunbow paid for the episodes out of their own pocket ... which they were stuck doing by the end of Season Three's production (and explains why so many episodes ending up being done by AKOM in S3). In Sunbow's case, paying for an episode was not preferrable, because whenever the episode flopped, that was money lost that Sunbow would never get back (rather than the loss going solely to the network).
Ugh. Got the year wrong on My Little Pony; I forgot that the movie came before the series. Can you tell I hadn't followed that franchise all that closely?
I have mixed views on G1 Transformers. I like the characters and the various concepts of the series, but I find a lot of the episodes to vary in quality. Some of my favorite episodes in the series have to be the last bunch of episodes from season 2, where they introduce the Stunticons, Aerialbots, Combaticons, and Protectobots. The 1986 Transformers movie has a great soundtrack, and I like how season 3 tends to have a slightly darker tone. When it comes to Transformers series, Transformers Animated might be my favorite.
As a kid, I lost interest right when the movie came out. But I can't really tell you why. It might have been that the Nintendo NES came out and everyone wanted to play video games instead of with toys. Also, the Dinobots were cool but I agree it starter to feel rushed around that time.
I witnessed Transformers The Movie in theaters, on opening day. And I can tell you I was literally blown away as I sat in the theater and watched this insane, beautifully animated dark and loud madness of animation. The multiple tones of cel shading colorization, insane soundtrack, profanity, and drawing was bigger and more detailed than the TV series. This movie was an anomaly at the time, even the Sci Fi Hud designs were sick. I love this movie til today for having the audacity to be made and released back in 1986 when it clearly looks like a 2005 anime movie.
This take was very interesting, as a hardcore G1 Transformers fan, I tend to agree in the majority of your observations. Still I believe all these also lead to an important fact: We grew up and started to be more interested in girls, sports, real cars... etc, toys after your 15... were just out of the equation.
It didn't have to ruin the show. Game of Thrones proves you can kill off characters and still be a great show. You just have to make sure the new characters get good storylines.
@@thinkhector you're not wrong, but when you completely replace the entire cast without any real back story or reason, it really hurts a series going forward.
I agree completely. The first two seasons focused on the story and not selling toys! Now and then we got some new characters but the plot still remained focus on the story. In fact the only time I think they ever slipped up on character introductions were the Proctobots. Seriously where did these guys come from? I remember as a kid seeing season 3 air and having been completely unaware of the movie...suddenly saw a bunch of characters that I didn't know. Then I saw Dark Awakening and combined with new knowledge of the movie and it all fell into place. Most of those characters I loved?...dead. Because of this I avoided the movie for years. Wish that I had avoided it completely now. They made the movie and the season that followed something the first two seasons weren't...one giant toy commercial. Yes! the overall purpose of the show was to sell toys but at the same time the writers understood that the best way to sell toys were to give fans characters that they'd want toys of! If that makes any sense. It's why I'll never like the 1986 film. Mostly because these same characters who got killed off and written out of most of the plot were the ones that you'd THINK that the movie would be centered on. Not a random assortment of characters that we never saw before! I looked at Ultra Magnus, Arcee, Springer, Hotrod/Rodimus, Kup, and Blurr and find myself asking. "Excuse me but who are you? No seriously WHO ARE YOU?!!" I just saw Prowl, Rachet, Brawn, Ironhide, (poor Wheeljack and others got killed OFF SCREEN) and Optimus Prime die and now I suddenly see these guys just pop out of nowhere stealing the spotlight. And it was the same with Season 3! What few season 1 and 2 autobots who didn't die in the film barely made cameos now and then! (with a few exceptions mind you) For those of you who like the 1986 film, more power to you but I honestly just feel that it's a giant train wreck. The big fight between Optimus and Megatron occurs too soon. After Autobot city most of the plot is just the Autobots running from the Decepticons (for crying out loud, just sick the dinobots on them!) And the final fight is just Rodimus throwing Galvatron through a wall. And then after a quick speech the movie just ends. And thats it! Which is really sad cause you tell the production value was high for this film.
Personally, I always preferred the wilder episodes of seasons 2 and 3 to the somewhat blander episodes of season 1. Although there's no question that Toei's animation was superior to Akom.
Things in season 2 was when everything was about to go downhill. Then everything died in the 1986 movie. Which made season 3 & 4 the dark times of Transformers G1. Corse after watching the Rebirth finale. I prefer The Return of Optimus Prime as the true finale to the series. With him coming back to save the universe. He & Galvatron finally put their differences aside, which makes it clear that the War between the two sides is finally over.
B.O.T Is amazing. One of the best episodes ever. If you like the combinations, which I did, and Swindle was my favorite you loved this episode. Also, it's nice to see Muster Weatherbee from Archie make an appearance.
As a kid from the 80s you got to rememeber that marvel comics had the right from 1984 to 1991 . Also, remebering i had the toys and i remember when G2 came out ( toys around 92 ) the constructicons were repainted yellow amd purple and these toys were starting to be more plastic as i remember. G1 lastest all 4 seasons and ended after 91 in my thoughts
Still waiting on a series of comic books or animated series that explains what happened during that 20 year gap between season 2 and the’86 movie. They at least owe us that much. If you go the animation route there are still a few of the original G1 cartoon voice actors that are still alive that could reprise their respective characters.
I second that motion..I was just thinking about that 20 year gap and how it leads to a lot of continued G1 stories and possibilities. The original animation style is a must, if someone ever does decide to fill that void.
@@mattmccain8492 I can’t for the life of me figure out why this isn’t brought up by other G1 fans or Transformer’s fans in general. I’m sure if enough noise was made I’d like to think we’d get some form of media detailing that 20 year gap. We now technology that can mimic anyone voice to voice some of characters whose original voice actors are no longer with us. Obviously they would need permission from said actors estate to do so. But man I’m still waiting for that.
Don't sleep on Headmasters. You gotta watch it in Japanese with subtitles. Its full on G1, the new team the Headmasters are great. Without spoilers the original team is in there a lot too, as well as movie '86 team.
Three main mistakes made: 1. Killing optimus 2.Frequently adding irrelavent side characters. 3.Not enough thought given into the script writing for each episode.
Post-1986 episodes jumped the shark by having crappy animation visuals from AKOM. The 1 episode Carnage in C-minor was atrocious. Although half that season had Toei's animation giving them more detail & Optimus Prime came back, it wasn't enough to save the show. Post-1987 would continue in Japan only for it to decline 2 1/2 years later.
It often makes me wonder how much longer could Transformers could've ran as a series with the new characters as well as the original characters together
The series would have lasted longer if there wasn't so much a poor backbone for how the show was made. The structure for writing the show, creating story lines, animation kept changing too much. I think even production companies changed as well. Too many cooks in the kitchen so to speak. When you have an emphasis pushing out toy product lines over keeping a good story line, then you get a mess of sorts. Japanese version of the show lasted longer and was far better structured than what was put out in the United States. I honestly think the G1 series deserves a reboot with better animation and story board with how today's animated cartoons are made. The Transformers toys of today are far superior in quality and transformation than what they were in '84+. With a reboot, the G1 story can be cleaned up so it shows more continuity and not be so chopped up like the original.
@@dmonsef Ive often said that I would love to see the series rebooted with the CG animation of Transformers: Devastation as well as storylines from the game Those I believe would go over extremely well with the Transformers fanbase
While season 3 may have been quite the change from the first two seasons (almost a new show, really) I've always enjoyed it and I think it holds up better than most of season 2. As for season 4, that was doomed the moment they decided it would only be three episodes long.
Totally agree. Was big fans of G1 Transformers till the release of the 1986 movie. It killed all of my favor Transformer for the most stupid reasons & most silly way to die. Never care about Transformer after the movie.
What should I do for my next "When...Died" video?
Hey fun facts do you think you can do a little more behind the scenes trivia please 🙏🙏🙏
Thats a good question. There are so many good franchises that died. I trust your decision to cover a good one 👍
Do the 60s Batman series
GI Joe cartoon series!!
How about the good son starring Macaulay Culkin And Elijah Wood
As someone who watched G1 in realtime, I can tell you the first 2 seasons and The Movie were G1’s peak. The animation, the characters, the story telling, all went down hill with 5 Faces of Darkness. Sure season 2 had some quirky episodes, but they were one and done story arcs completed in a single episode, a welcome break from the rinse and repeat formula of the Autobots thwarting the Decepticons’ plan every episode.
I watched a video the other day of Metroplex getting his eyes stolen by ghost Starscream. The animation was unbelievably bad...
Completely agree, the movie may have had a darker tone (which I actually liked) and killed off a lot of beloved characters but it also had top notch animation and an iconic soundtrack, unfortunately Season 3 killed whatever momentum they may have had.
Transformers in the mid 80s was LIFE for me! Season 1 and 2 and then the movie were indeed peek for me. 👍👍
@@luckyrockmore2796 Yes, and I have to agree with you and the maker of this video. As a kid, I could not get into the show much after the movie. In my opinion - it started to become too many new characters introduced with not much background story. It made it worse for kids (such as myself) who did not see the movie - only to tune in to watch and see brand new transformers and not see your favorites that you got invested in for the last two years. I had to find out from a friend at school that many of the transformers I grew up with had died in the movie. SMH. 😒
As someone else who watched G1 in realtime, I agree 100%. In fact, when the episodes were finally released on DVD? I just bought Seasons 1 and 2 (and The Movie). TF: The Movie is the endpoint as far as I am concerned.
Honestly the side character episodes were awesome. Helped give every character a chance to shine. Most transformer shows nowadays are very airtight and plot focused and dont have as many Characters. This is the charm of g1 for me, that the world was big and filled with so many characters. I hope future tf media goes back to the g1 formula to hopefully create even more new characters and continue expanding the franchise.
I feel the same I like to see lots of characters not just 4-5 characters
Absolutely. Honestly, I think that's one of the smartest, most unique things about G1 - and I don't like G1 as much as most. And considering fandoms and particularly the TF fandom today, imo there is _absolutely no way_ focusing on side characters killed the show. It's not like it had any kind of main plot they ignored to begin with, other than "energy war!" and even that is still featured in most character-focus episodes.
What is so wrong with actually elaborating on characters, giving them personality and story? Nothing, as far as I'm concerned.
I feel like probably the way they did it in "Season 4", the new side characters were just given appearances without much effort to characterize them in their debuts.
Transformers Prime still remains the best series to date in keeping its stories connected to the main plot. There's side stories, but they still have purposes.
@@FlippinGurtrude Maybe, but what does that have to do with this comment? TFP still lacks the large extended cast which gives some series, like G1 and (I think?) IDW, their charm. It's a completely different show.
There isn’t an episode that I didn’t like. This was my childhood. The weird episodes still had a place in my heart.
Even B.O.T.?
@@Goldfire-tt3dv Not their best work but as a kid i loved it. Plus any episode with the Combaticons had going crazy. I loved combiners.
@@applesauce9mm I would argue "Enter the Nightbird" was far worse. But whatever, people now sweat "Nightbird" to death as the original first female Decepticon character. I actually gag a litlte bit when I say "Decepticon" -- Cybertron and Destron sound so much better. I gotta give whoever re-imported these shows BACK to Japan, props....
That carbombya was a bad one.
@@benjamindalton8940 I grew up during original run too, and that episode did stick out for me. But I didn’t like it either. I didn’t care she was female, I just didn’t like it. The laser sword was too much like a light saber and I didn’t like that. They weren’t fighting vehicles anymore at that point, just Star Wars wannabes.
I actually agree with this. As much as I love the movie, it truly was the peak of the show. As a kid I did not like season 3 or most of it's characters.
Seasons 1 & 2 were set on Earth in the current time, that worked fine. Aside from killing off most of the original roster, season 3 was set too far into the future, which took away most of any realism a cartoon about shape shifting robots could have.
@@gabrielboorom2683 They ran out of licensed vehicle toys to reuse.
Specifically, it peaked with Optimus Prime's bull-rush through the Decepticon ranks.
I was cool with the Movie & Killing off some of the main characters. I just hated the look of some the New Autobots & Decepticons like Hot Rod(Rodimus prime) & The New Megatron (Galvatron. The best episodes of Season 3 & 4 we're when brought back some of the original Autobots & Decepticons or New ones that Had that original look.
Season 3 has better episodes on average IMO. So it's sad that I agree with your take. It just wasn't the same with an entirely new cast of characters. I could live with a few deaths in the movie, but for them to kill pretty much ALL the characters we got to know over the first two seasons was idiotic. If it was about toys, why not keep making the old toys if people are buying them?
I remember being in the theater for the first live action movie. After the words “I am Optimus Prime” the theater burst into applause and yelling like a sporting event… it’s amazing the company didn’t know what they had.
One thing I think we can all agree on: Starscream's death was epic. The gem of the entire movie.
"Coronation, Starscream? This is bad comedy."
Starscream's death was more impactful to me than Optimus Prime's. I remember laughing when Optimus died. It was spoiled in the trailers. Starscream though was my favorite character and his death caught me completely off guard. My 7 year old self was crushed.
@@unum1979
I saw the movie when it came out so I didn't get any spoilers about that. The only spoiler I got was Megatron's "It's over, Prime."
@@gabrielboorom2683 yeah I know there were a million different TV spots and trailers. Some of them straight up said Optimus Prime and Megatron battle to the death and shower the It's Over Prime and him blasting Prime. Lol. I guess even at 7 I was extremely pessimistic.
@@unum1979 Me too. I was bored when Optimus was dying, it was so slow to probably give some drama but everyone crying around, the matrix falling in slowmotion... Starscream was dead, I didn't care about the movie anymore.
I liked the more off-the-wall episodes...they showed that the series didn't take itself too seriously. Of course, The Movie and Season 3 changed that.
On the contrary. Season 3 had PLENTY of wacky episodes. In fact, aside from characters and plot points, it's almost as if the movie never even happened.
Season 3 was the one with that one episode where cobra commando turns Ultra Magnus, Hotrod, Arcee, Cup, and Spinger into humans, talk about crazy.
I actually preferred the outer spaceb stuff, it was darker and had a lottle more depth. Plus have you ever noticed how similar galvatron is to serpentor is?
@@MisterBurgerBeachball That was a fun episode : )! I actually loved that one. "They don't make me mercenaries like they used to. COBRA-*kaff* *kaff*"
Season 3 is how I got into g1 as a kid. I love it
I think the side characters are important to flesh out the cast. Even side characters have fans so it's important to include them. You can't keep relying on the same half dozen every episode and not have it get stale.
But prime was the ultumate leader and you killed him to put basically a teen in charge?
@@rtype1974 I think not only they had to present the new toys but also wanted to put kid's immersion to a deeper level. They weirdly think all kids want to identify with the annoying kid from the show, like Spike or Daniel but they probably tried to make a mix between an Autobot and the kid character. I didn't really care about Optimus' death, I was more affected by Starscream's death but I would take Optimus over annoying kids character anytime. Anyway, now with time, I appreciate more Optimus (and not more Spike, Daniel or Hotrod/Rodimus, they are still annoying).
@@rtype1974 Not just a teen, but the guy who got him killed. It would be like if they had a Justice League movie where Jimmy Olsen got Superman killed fighting Lex Luthor, and then he is the leader of league for the rest of the movie before becoming the new superman. Fans weren't going easily take a replacement, but being the guy who got the previous hero killed was going make that even harder pill to swallow.
I think if Prime had died because there was no other way to save everyone else(Like Megatron was going shoot the power core of the autobot city and kill everyone and Prime jumps in the way and died afterwards or some sort of ultimate sacrifice), it would been easier to accept, but they gave us the worst case scenario with Hotrod. Most of us would much rather let Megatron kill Hotrod than Prime die during that fight instead.
i was just 13 when the transformers came out in 84. i had a mess load of transformers back then. i used watch the show. i still got all of my old transformer comic books still today. the gen 1 transformers are still the best around to me.
I think most people can agree it was Primes death that’s killed the series if he was still alive and leading more people might have stuck around
Prime's death & Hotrod's transformation (pun intended) into Rodimus Prime weren't handled very well. Apparently Optimus Prime has died many times in various incarnations of the franchise, but in the movie it felt forced and almost insulting, not to mention traumatic for some kids.
@@gabrielboorom2683 he’s died but he’s always come back because he makes money
Yeah, but the movie was awesome!
Yeah I enjoy those too. The show drops off for me after the movie/time jump. I really prefer the transformers change into earth vehicles/things, as opposed to the alien vehicles, for some reason.
@@o.8.p149
😂
1986 movie killed it for me in my childhood. I only watched S3/4 sparingly back then. Caught up to see it all of course in adulthood. Totally agreed w this, but I remember more and more combiners getting introduced up to the release of the movie.
the movie was really good however
👍 agreed same goes for me
@@therecanbeonlyonechris5019 My god, all I can think of when I can read this was WHYYY lol - I started building my own goofy Transformers as a kid, outta LEGOs, around that time, and I'd make new Autobot leaders beyond Rodimus Prime and gave Unicron a whole family to come eatin' planets, ala "angels" from Evangelion. Unicron wasn't even the final boss.
Meh, some people don't want things to grow beyond a weird desert and everyone wearing yellow hardhats and no women for miles in any direction.
The movie was Horrible tbh
The show died when Optimus died in the 86 movie. Yeah they brought him back in the series after all the pissed parents wrote angry letters but the damage was done. I myself was one of those traumatized children who saw the movie and came home heartbroken and gutted. After that i gave up on transformers and started being more interested In Ninja turtles.
In hindsight though i think shocking people like that was a good thing. The writers being bold enough to kill off prime and all of the G1 favorites actually gave the movie more of an edge and for that it is more memorable. I hated it at the time but ultimately it was the right decision. Movies in the 80s didn't care how many kids they upset. Film makers had balls in those days!
The show just couldn't be the same without iconic characters like Ironhide and Ratchet...
the movie was really good however
The first time I watched the movie as a kid, I actually didn't realize that it was implied that all the original cast was supposed to have died. I got that Prime and Starsceam were dead and that certain cons were transformed to new forms. But I just assumed the other bots shown damaged were still around after being repaired like always happened in the show. It was years later that I figured out that all those original cast characters were supposed to have died in the movie.
@@toddwood440 Yeah, especially that season 3 episode where they visit the Autobot crypt and read off some of the names.
Ratchet didn’t do “that much” in the show, now the marvel comic book is where he really rose to prominence, for like three issues he was the only functioning autobot, and he tangled with megatron multiple times.
@@jeremytung1632 He and Wheeljack were usually the ones always involed with repairs and inventions. (They both built the Dinobots)
After reading the Marvel comics line, though, I preferred that story to the show. I'd like to see someone adapt that storyline to animation, (or well done non-Michael Bay live action)
My favorite cartoon of all time. A lot of people would say the movie started the demise of the show by killing off Optimus Prime as well as many other fan favorites
Yeah. That's right. I was super sad when I saw Wheeljack, Jazz, and Ironhide get killed in the movie's beginning.
@@cgasucks Jazz never died. He was my favorite character and lived throughout all of the G1.
I've been thinking, Maybe if they haven't decided to make Ultra Magnus into a separate character, and instead make him a powered up/rebuilt Optimus,
they could have still gotten the promotion for their new toy, while preventing the massive fallout that came with optimus's death.
I mean Magnus isn't bad as a separate character, but the opportunity was there.
If only they had the foresight.
If you saw it in theaters, like I did, it was devastating. It was also Orson Welles' last movie.
Also Scatman Crothers’ last movie.
“The Massacre of 1986” sounds suspiciously like “The Bite of 87”
Another thing I think that's worth pointing out is that the animation quality really dipped as the show went on. The reason for this is that the show was worked on by two studios, Toei and AKOM. Toei handled all of season 1 and most of season 2. By the time season 3 came around, AKOM handled a decent chunk of that season and all of season 4. AKOM in general was worse at shadowing and drawing proportions. A good example of this is various episodes in season 2 where Devastator looks like a cardboard cutout rather than a towering giant.
I never knew that, now it makes sense
Yeah and I think that after the movie Toei were no longer doing any animation for TF the good S3 animated episode were done by the same studios that were doing the TV commercials.
Last year I revised G1 with my 9-year-old son, from my amazement, he enjoyed watching G1 before 1986 Transformers Movie. Well no other way to avoid watching the 1986 movie, we watch the massacre and my son was completely distraught after the death of Optimus prime. He pause the movie and was completely baffled. He watch the rest of the movie hoping that Optimus prime somehow or someway come back to life. I have to inform him after the movie to just keep watching the rest of the episodes and Optimus prime will come back to life. He truly did not want to watch the rest of the episodes but he reluctantly did. It was like I was reliving the moment how he felt when I was a child.
Aw man! Well I hope it was still a good experience to share the series with your son.
The Girl Who Loves Powerglide was one of the funniest episodes from season 2
"A Decepticon Raider in King Arthur's Court" may not have had much to do with the series' overall arc, but it was still a quite entertaining episode. Gave Starscream some time to shine, and more Starscream is Always a good thing.
The movie is where the series really started to nosedive (though "BOT" is easily the series low point). How they thought it was a good idea to kill off two of the most beloved characters in the series and completely change one of the others, even if their goal was to sell more toys, is beyond me.
What kind of weirds me out about the time-travel thing is that technically all the characters are "there", just passed out in a mountain. Like, it's one thing to have the usual trope of characters traveling to a distant past long before they were born, but seems strange when they still existed, and from their perspective, isn't even particularly long ago compared to the 40 million year span of time from when they initially crash-landed.
"hey kids. wanna see the transformers on the big screen?"
kids: "yeah!"
"now do you want to watch them all die in horrific, pointless ways while we shill you new toys?"
I agree with your assessment. The first two season were fun, whereas as a child, seasons three and four left you sometimes scratching your head on how any of it made sense.
The movie, while not exactly horrible, was indeed tragic and traumatic for its young audience. It even made Hasbro rewrite its coming GI-Joe to play down the destroying of everything, and made the lead character Duke end up in the hospital with a coma instead of KIA.
Season 2 is by far my favorite season. I love the whacky episodes because, contrary to the author's intent, one can only have so many straight war episodes. Part of what made Seasons 1 and 2 so great were the world-building around the Transformers. And the grim realities of an un-ending war need to be leavened by some hijinks. Why? Because it adds dimension to the main characters. Kremzeek is perhaps my favorite episode because it portrays Optimus at his most *human*. He is caught up in a crazy situation, knows it and is exasperated. But, in the end, despite all the trouble Kremzeek has stirred up, Prime is still adhering to his core values and is most reluctant to kill Kremzeek. It is crazy, zany, but it allows the Autobots to react to the world they are in and to show their quality.
Season 3 should have had the story of how megatron actually defeated the autobots and went back to cybertron
Yes, there was a huge time gap from the end of Season 2 to the beginning of the '86 movie, where the Decepticons are on the verge of total victory.
@@perfectsplit5515 yea like how did that even happen I wanna see that also sparkplug died during that gap
In Japan, instead of the movie they had the Scramble City TV movie that did show how the season 1 and 2 characters got there.
I can agree to that.
@@syafiqjabar Actually you're incorrect, Scramble City was made to be in between season 2 and the movie. Showing off the combiners' ability to change limbs and also show off the citybots as well.
As a kid growing up in the 80s I adored Transformers. The Movie was legendary and has stuck with me all these years, many OG fans see the animated movie as the pinnacle of the series. I watched the TF the Movie so many times I memorized it, and still occasionally rewatch it roughly once every year or two. :)
Completely agree with your conclusion. I grew up with G1 Transformers and fell in love with the series and characters. After they killed off most of the original characters in the movie I lost interest. I got a couple of the new characters (Hot Rod, Cyclonus and Scourge) but then my interest shifted to MASK. Any Transformers toys I got after that were from the 84/85 line.
Watched every day for years and saw the same episodes over and over again and loved them. I can tell you still to this day, I remember when a season 3 ep would come on I'd hear that new intro and be upset every single time because it was so different. Without Optimus Prime's death in the movie I don't think we'd still be talking about G1 or any of it though. It was that moment moreso than any other moment in the series that ingrained it onto our souls. The 80's were notorious for doing that with our favorite characters and I loved it ( I'm looking at you Robotech! )
Robotech was 💯🔥!
Agreed. The Movie killed it. I was only 6 when the movie dropped. Optimus dying shattered my psyche.
Yep that’s about right for me too. I was in kindergarten when it premiered and going to 2nd when the movie happened
I was about 5 years old at the time. I (and along with every other kid in the theater) was bawling my eyes out at that scene. Despite that, it's still one of my favorite childhood movies. As much as I liked the new cast of characters, I had no interest in watching season 3.
@@VitaminD313 This very very True. Though season 3 had a cool opening credits beat.
I didn't really think that Season 2 showed any deterioration, and I didn't mind the off-the-wall episodes. (I was a kid back then) I actually considered Season 2 to be the prime of the show. I had no issue with Optimus Prime becoming a KIA in the movie. He was a warrior leader, after all.
I think Season 3 was when things really declined. Back in Seasons 1 and 2, the Transformers animated portrayal in their robot modes was always distorted from their corresponding toy appearances. But at least their alt-modes in the series still resembled their alt-modes in the toys. That changed in Season 3, where now the animated Cyclonus looked different from the Cyclonus toy, in both the robot and alt modes. The same was also true for Galvatron, who was even more distorted. Galvatron had become insane, unlike Megatron.
I thought the Quintessons were a stupid idea. They were clearly contrived. They didn't even transform.
I thought resurrecting Optimus Prime was also stupid. It clearly devalued Hot Rod/Rodimus Prime's divine role as The Chosen One.
And don't even get me started on the Headmasters.
It was all because Prime was the best selling Transformer on the market, and killing him off was an extremely execrable idea.
I must say you cannot forget that the third and fourth season were taking place right around the time when cartoon Saturday is where no longer happening.
They were they and many other cartoons were forced to make cartoons with some kind of moral obligation.
Along with finding out they can make more money on sports and live TV because there were less expensive to produce and hand drawn animation.
There was a bevy of things coming into play.
With that said that is not discounting what you said but adding on to.
Good job keep up the good work.
I was 17 years old in August 1986. Just graduated high school & saw this movie in theaters with friends. I’m a witness that u are correct that this franchise died after the movie. 😢
I really enjoyed Season 2 - I loved the episodes that focussed on the more obscure characters because it helped flesh out the roster of characters they had. As a kid, I never liked it when you had a TV show based off a toy line and there’s 25 characters you can buy (including many cool ones) and you only ever see 8 of them in the show. Also, if all the episodes are narrowly based around a single central theme, it quickly gets very stale. The variety that the more unusual episodes offer brings a lot more character and interest to the show, and as a kid, I just saw all these weird storyline’s as being more imaginative than many of the other shows on TV. Transformers was a lot more watchable and had a broader, more epic feel than shows like Voltron that were essentially the same basic plot for every single episode.
The Movie in the summer of 1986 ended the series. But honestly, even if the Movie never happened, the show was going to lose steam by Season 3 regardless. Kids shows like this don't usually have a long shelf life, especially back then. As kids get older, it becomes "less cool" to play with Optimus Prime as was a year or two before. Almost every kid I knew was into Transformers during the 1985-'86 school year, by 1986-'87, eh....not really. As the original kids from 1984 moved into either upper elementary school or even middle school, people's tastes changed.
There was were classic lines in G1 . Optimus Prime “ Ok Megatron it’s just you and me ?Megatron “ Then you’d better get some help Prime “ .
Starscream’s retort to Bombshell “ Why you rust incrusted cockroach “ . His taunt to Prime “ All the danger you can handle is here Floptimus Prime “ . He tells a retreating Megatron to “ Save the oration “ . There are many more but the writing was excellent and was much missed .
I totally agree with you. I hated the movie for the sole reason that they killed off every single character I loved. I hated Galvatron - he was whiny, his voice was annoying and he lacked Megatron's leadership.
But mostly, it was the death of Optimus - forget it - I was done after that. I didn't watch another episode of the series until many years later when it was released on VHS. Even to this day, I haven't watched the series in its entirety because I know I'll just be pissed off by Season 3-4.
It's too bad it went off the rails. I always wondered how far it would have gone if they stuck to good writing instead of focusing on frigin toys.
Wow Man That Sounds Rough I Mean I Don't Know How I Would've Felt If I Was Born In The 1980s
@@giovannifierros951 I remember going to the theatres to watch this and I literally cried when Optimus died lol. I'm not sure if it's sweet or pathetic that a kid looks up to a fictional cartoon character. Maybe a bit of both. Ahhhh the 80's, where has the time gone?
@@guardiane yeah but do you remember the feeling when prime came back? Then sacrificed himself into the sun. Talk about pure joy turning into pain once again.
@@jesset2504 But THEN he came back AGAIN lol. I really loved that, but it was too little too late. If you really think about it (and I try not too, since it's a cartoon) - it doesn't make sense for a robot to truly "die". I mean, c'mon, what killed Optimus that they couldn't just fix him? Ultra Magnus BLEW UP into a million pieces in the same movie, but no problem, they just rebuilt him, good as new. lol
Sorry, it's been over 30 years and I'm still bitter ;)
@@guardiane There's probably a reason like Prime's spark chamber was badly damaged, whereas Magnus's was intact. But yeah, that did make me go "Huh?" as a child.
100% agree. The series died the instant you saw the movie.
I was 12 at the time and still a huge transformer fan. The movie, for me, was traumatic. The first few minutes in and I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. Couldn’t focus at all on the plot and was in shock when I walked out of the theater. Every one of my friends had the same experience.
Thanks Hasbro! You gave children some wonderful memories, and then slaughtered them before our eyes.
I am a hardcore Transformers Fan, and I can agree with this. I was born in the 2000s and I watched Transformers G1 after the Michael Bay films. The best season was season 1, season 2 was good, the Movie had some good stuff in it like the Matrix and The Touch, but season 3 and 4 I can't remember a single thing. Those were awful and a pain to watch.
Transformers like many other franchises, is always ruined by the love for money. IF Transformers was in charge by a passionate leader who cares about the characters and the fans, and is not there just to sell toys, this series would be one of the best franchises in the world. Probably close to Star Wars.
The best series that really cared about the characters and the war of Cybertron was Transformers Prime. I think we can all agree it is the best Transformers Show to date.
I haven't seen any show after G1. I caught a glimpse of Beast Wars once but was turned off that everyone looked completely different. But now I'm interested to check out Prime.
@@FunFactFilms Prime is the definitive best of the Transformers franchise! I do recommend watching the whole series of Transformers Prime. And I (and I’m sure many more) would love to watch your video with Transformers Prime.
@Hiden Bunter's Krak Pype I agree with you. I wasn’t born in the 90s to be able to watch and enjoy Beast Wars. But I began watching it a few months ago and it is good! I still haven’t any reached major plot points, so I can’t talk of the series as a whole yet. I did reach the Starscream’s ghost and the Unicron chamber. But so far, it is good! The characters are very well done and fun! I too love Dinobot and Rattrap! They are very fun to watch! Especially when they quarrel! 😅 I still respectfully prefer Transformers Prime, but Beast Wars is really good!
@@FunFactFilms They didn't look different, they actually had nothing to do with original characters. Maximals and Predacons are descendants of Autobots and Decepticons, and Optimus Primal and Megatron from Beast Wars just picked their names based on the original Optimus and Magatron.
But Transformers Prime is definitelly a must watch.
@Hiden Bunter's Krak Pype While the CGI pales in comparison to what we see today, it was almost cutting edge for its time, and in HD actually looks better than what I remember from the old analogue days.
As a guy born in 77 I agree, that movie killed the franchise, and showing it had learned its lesson the reason they did not kill off Duke in the GI Joe movie, because of the backlash from killing off Optimus. Can you imagine had they done something like that in this era with social media and everything we have today? It would’ve cancelled the company entirely…
To this day I'm still traumatized from watching Optimus die in that movie. I'll never forget it
Great points! I always found the introduction of the Quintessons as the masters of the Transformers bizarre and at odds with the original storyline. The episode “The Gambler” is one of my favorites, as we see the Autobots on a Star Trek-style voyage through space and landing on strange new planets. It would have been good to see more space exploration episodes like that, with the Decepticons doing exploring of their own and the Autobots stopping them. The episodes from Season 3 also eliminated the expected use of large, advanced space craft necessary to travel between planets and solar systems such as Charr, Earth, Unicron, and Cybertron. Instead, we just see everyone randomly flying through space, which doesn’t make any sense since the distance would be too great for small robots to make on their own. King Arthur’s Court and Mermaid Sea Spray were AWFUL episodes, and BOT was truly terrible. Agree the movie really changed everything for the worst, as all of the 1984 line were either killed off or molded into Megatron’s Faustian pact with Unicron. Yea, it only got worse when Season 4 came along with the terrible Nebulon story arc that never caught on with people who liked the original adventures.
To be very very frank, I thought "Quintessons as creator race" was exceptionally dumb. To this day I've got a better take on who they are, if I do say so...
@@benjamindalton8940 Suit yourself but that is vastly superior to Marvel's having to have a god in everything BS. These are robots they are built they do not simply exist at the dawn of time. The Quintessons being the creators of the Transformers makes much more sense then the God BS.
This is a good video from a Western perspective, but in English speaking spheres the Japanese G1 history is often neglected. G1 in Japan outlived its Western counterpart by a good margin, and many people don't know that this history exists or treat it as minor supplemental material because it did not air here. The Rebirth even aired several months after Headmasters.
Some of the episodes you're attributing to the fall of Transformers are some of my favorite episodes. I rather LIKE having side characters featured. You get to learn more about them.
as a kid in those days, I 100% agree. Looking back now I know why I lost interest. I didn't realize it then as a kid, but this explanation makes total sense and I can confirm it looking back to when I lost interest.
I kinda' love that your "day Transformers died" is my favourite part of G1 and the only part of it that is still watchable today.
A lot of the original characters were killed off because their toys were discontinued. They needed the room to introduce new toys to their 30 minute commercials.
You just threw a spear through my heart with your announcement of the death date of transformers. That was literally the day I was born 😢
The movie may have killed the show, but it's still awesome. I'll always love it.
I hated it as a kid. i find it okay as an adult. It blows it's load in the first 20 minutes and randomly planet hops for the of the movie till just kind wraps up everything in a rush to end it. It's too dark for most kids,and was a boring watch for any adults who were forced to sit through it. It misses across the board and bombed accordingly.
@@Lastjustice Oh man, I loved it as a kid. It's definitely a flawed film, but there are enough neat moments throughout to keep it engaging for me. Also, that soundtrack is loads of fun.
@KrO 80s powerrock is the absolute best!
"killed it" by being awesome, yes. Why do I feel like I'm the only fan of Transformers growing out of the first two seasons and the crap GI Joe music they imported just to finish off their frenzy-of-combiners season?
@KrO
Dare to be stupid
The problem with Season 3 is that it never explained what happened to several Transformers from earlier season who were not seen in the movie. We see Omega Supreme, Superion, Defensor, Menasor, etc but there is no explanation of who died in the movie other than the ones we saw die (and Huffer). The fates of Smokescreen, Sideswipe, Bluestreak, Inferno, Grapple, etc are never revealed, even when they visit the Autobot sarcophagus ship
I honestly think that Transformers The Movie was one of the BEST MOVIES EVER. Classic high stakes drama at it's best and Orson Welles as Unicron....come on man. That was his last role before he died. And killing Prime was heartbreaking, but the way he came back in season 3 was awesome! Great story arc in my opinion. That's why the new masterpiece figures sell for $200 today and movies and video games are still made....FORTY YEARS LATER!
The movie had a better script than the live action movies
@@mattep74 Very, very true.
Transformers was intended to be a half hour toy commercial, hence why they introduced so many new characters as the series went on. Even after G1 was cancelled in 1987, Hasbro continued G1 with the toylines and the Marvel Comics series, which would eventually lead to Generation 2.
Also, there were three Japan-exclusive anime Transformers in the late 80s - The Headmasters, Super-God Masterforce, and Victory. Optimus Prime dies *again* in Headmasters, Galvatron dies in an avalanche, Rodimus Prime leaves Earth so Chromedome can become Autobot leader while Scorponok becomes Decepticon leader. Masterforce is based on the Pretenders and Powermaster toylines, but they completely changed the story and their names. Victory was completely Japan-exclusive, even the toys were. Finally, there was the single episode OVA called Transformers Zone.
Great video. Looking back I think the 1986 movie was worth the massacre. Still one of the best animated motion pictures of all time.
Lots of truth here. One thing I take issue with: I really like A Decepticon Raider in King Arthur's Court. I think it's almost the responsibility of an episodic TV series to sometimes explore side characters. But 100% agree the movie marks a turning point. I loved the movie (still do) not in spite of the massacre but BECAUSE of it - it made the whole thing epic in scope. But there was no way they could top it, and the post-movie decline was inevitable in hindsight.
The Rebirth (Season 4) was originally going to be a five parter, but was trimmed down to three, due to costs. This video died by the time the fourth season was mentioned.
Corporate's biggest mistake....not just with Transformers G1, but with other cartoons is: developing a cartoon to SELL a toy product.
Develop a cartoon for the cartoon, characters and storyline itself, THEN as the series evolves and the characters develop and grow....begin to create the toy product around the originally established cartoon.
But, then we all know that what Corporate does never makes logical sense to their customer/fan base....only to their money hungry shareholders.
1986 may have been the demise of the Transformers cartoon (which was just a series of toy adverts), but during this time, the UK Transformers comic became a huge success. New and old characters were treated with respect, and it became a stand-out era for our beloved characters. These stories still resonate to this day.
I love how you used the name b-boy instead of breakdancers. Great video.
I'll never forget seeing that movie when I was 9. I cried my eyes out.
I remember watching that movie in the theater, was riding in the back of my parents truck and my cousins were visiting. I was in 6th grade and stoked to see what the stunticons were going to do and I cried when they killed Prime, first time I ever cried in a movie. Leaving that, was so pissed off, Transformers died that day. I have tried to regain the feeling from time to time, 2002 with TRU reissue to even today with the China/Koren KO reissues on ebay every so often. Hasbro is so short sighted with everything they do but I guess that's the nature of the beast. Good review and you are spot on!
Great video! Thanks for putting this out there 👏🏾 Series 1 is a joy to watch, despite some of the animation errors. I agree with the view on Series 2. It was more haphazard and characters were often introduced with no back story or qualified origins. The worst story point was placing the Constructicons as being created on Cybertron along with a history that involved Omega Supreme's origin, plus being present when Megatron was 'born'; as opposed to their (more convincing - and sensible) Season 1 origin which had them built by Megatron and the Decepticons on Earth.
In one of the videos I was watching once, a commentator mentioned how the 1986 Movie came very early in the overall Transformers run. I totally agree. I bought my first Transformers comic in March 1986 (issue #53 UK comic), which meant I had just missed the immortal 'Dinobot Hunt' story, and started with a slower story where an AWOL Megatron briefly became the possession of a small-time gangster. 1986 in fact saw the introduction of the 1985 toy characters into the comics, so we first saw Blaster, Perceptor, the other mini Autobots, the Insecticons and the Conehead Seekers, not forgetting three memorable comic-only characters Scrounge, Spanner and Straxus (Straxus would get toy versions years later). Although they were the 1986 toy characters, the Special Teams, aka the Aerialbots, Combaticons, Protectobots and Stunticons actually appeared in the UK comic before the 1985 characters. Omega Supreme made his first appearance in a great story in the summer of 1986 which featured a rare move of the Autobots attacking the Decepticon base.
Without rambling on too much, the movie wiped away the majority of the 1984 and 1985 characters before the fan base really got used to them. This was a great shame, and it is good to learn from this video that this was down to Hasbro's insistence.
Series 3 of the cartoon really did ramp up the number of appearances by new characters, who again like the characters of Series 2, were frequently introduced without any origin stories.
I hope one day there will be an animation which will bring the G1 characters back to life in a more even-paced manner. Many G1 characters never made it to animation, and while there have in recent years bern very good iterations of the G1 characters in the Machinima and Earthrise (Netflix) storylines, only a fraction of the characters are involved. Here's a massive salute to the G1 characters 🖖🌟👏🏾
Thanks, I'm glad you enjoyed it!
My kids are loving season 2. Im not going to traumatize them with the movie. When season 2 ends, where should I take them to continue the story with the original characters? Are there comics they can read that have more stories?
This is spot on! I was so sad because of the death of the old characters, and the new strange look of the New Transformers, I switched over to a little show called ROBOTECH! That's when I realized the difference between story-driven and TOY-driven cartoons! Then, a few years later, AKIRA came out and changed everything!
you're the man, i was the transformer kid and i was devastated and had nightmares from Optimus dyeing. it's all about the Money.
Transformers: The Movie was my introduction to the series, so for me the tone-setter was a bunch of the heroes and villains being permanently killed in the war and passing of the torch from one leader to the next. I watched scattered episodes of the series itself afterward.
You probably had a much better introduction than those that are poo-pooing the movie and what came after....
I want to cuddle you and make you feel safe
There were a couple of reissued seasons featuring the best episodes as well as the movie (split into 5 parts) and Generation 2 (debut in 1993 as a weekly show, and 1994 as a daily show) featuring the best episodes from three seasons.
I really enjoyed the Arthur episode. Frankly, so much of Transformers G1 was absurd, silly, and more than loose with its continuity (Constructicons for instance).
So having something break up the Scooby-Doo formula was awesome.
Also, the movie was the highlight for me. It took chances, removed plot armor, and actually showed a war with stakes.
Third season gave us Predaking, so all is forgiven 😄
As someone who grew up with "Beast Wars" and was introduced to the G1 transformers through the movie, I didn't have the same heartbreak at the huge amount of characters dying in the movie. At that age, the story was the story, and that's just how it was.
Same, though even with my limited exposure to the G1 series, I ended up finding it really cool how _[Beast Wars spoilers]_
...
it eventually becomes a sort of strange prequel to the original series, taking place entirely during the time the G1 transformers were dormant - even if it seems conceptually far-fetched that these robots from the distant future would end up _also_ crash landing on Earth, while additionally inadvertently time-traveling to a point some time later than the original crew's arrival, yet still prehistoric.
I liked the background music in Season 3. The one song called Ancient Wisdom was amazing.
What was it about the music that you liked? Synthesizer stuff?
I can't think of that tune without thinking of Call of the Primitives (when it's used in the asteroid field) or, especially, as Jessica Morgan is taken to meet Rodimus in Return of Optimus Prime.
I love the web world theme
Kids were wailing in the theaters when Optimus died. We couldn’t believe it!
9:05--it's far worse than that. When you count all the Headmasters AND their partners (minus Spike, since he's an OG), all the Targetmasters and their partners (plus the partners that link up with Rod, Blurr, Kup, Cyclonus and Scourge), the Twins (a pair for each side), the doublespy Counter/Punch, and Sixshot...you have a grand total of (drum roll...) 45 NEW CHARACTERS to come up with names, voices, personalities, and backstories for...and THREE EPISODES to do it all in!
I was a big fan of transformers season 1 when I was in elementary school. Season 2 was good but not as good although there were enough good episodes to keep me interested. I did not see the movie and season 3 was so confusing to me i stopped watching after the first episode. I never thought of the toy selling angle but you make a good point why the show evolved the way it did.
I feel like G1 ended with transformers the movie. It was an entire new era in season 3 & 4
They weren't "toys"...they were *people* 😭
Aw, man - your analysis is on point.
I finally grew out of Transformers in 2 stages: first when the 2nd Bay film was dumber than even my lowered expectations (Autobot vehicles running up a mountain in robot mode, human recognising Decepticon jet with no trouble, most interesting human character played by Rachael Taylor gone); then second when I started becoming befuddled with many new and varied continuities and storylines and cyberverse nonsense.
I hold onto my memories of enjoying G1 as a child (I actually didn't think anyone in the movie was dead other than Optimus Prime, Starscream and Unicron - I mean, they're robots, you can repair them!) ... but re-analysis like this and other videos is leaving me kind of bitter. It could've been - so - much - more!...
Watched this as a kid, loved it. Fast forward to my twenties, forgot everything except my favorite characters and how Optimus fought Megatron on with them glowing weapons. Randomly watched the movie one day and was horrified when Optimus died. Literally dumbfounded. Hot Rod was whack to me and always will be. Lol
I was 11 when this began. Along with Transformers: The Movie, it's the only thing I consider my Transformers. Because it's still the best.
I can't say that the "episode cramming" alone led to the series downfall. Not that alone. First off, there was an automatic salary increase to all voice actors, and it came every 30 episodes. And every time those salaries increased, it left less money for the animation to be done. Second, the voice director ran into problems ... balancing several different series at the same time - TF G1, G.I. Joe A.R.A.H., My Little Pony, and others. It was his job to make sure the total number of voice actors didn't go over a certain number. And whenever he slipped, it would go over that number, so even less money than before could be used for the animation. To prevent this *and* reduce the number of salary increases per season, the episode total was reduced in Season Three. But unlike G.I. Joe, the network did *not* grant TF G1 a budget increase, so the original animation budget would not be completely restored ... not unless Sunbow paid for the episodes out of their own pocket ... which they were stuck doing by the end of Season Three's production (and explains why so many episodes ending up being done by AKOM in S3). In Sunbow's case, paying for an episode was not preferrable, because whenever the episode flopped, that was money lost that Sunbow would never get back (rather than the loss going solely to the network).
Ugh. Got the year wrong on My Little Pony; I forgot that the movie came before the series. Can you tell I hadn't followed that franchise all that closely?
When Unicron created Galvatron is my favourite part, but after that it died
I have mixed views on G1 Transformers. I like the characters and the various concepts of the series, but I find a lot of the episodes to vary in quality. Some of my favorite episodes in the series have to be the last bunch of episodes from season 2, where they introduce the Stunticons, Aerialbots, Combaticons, and Protectobots.
The 1986 Transformers movie has a great soundtrack, and I like how season 3 tends to have a slightly darker tone.
When it comes to Transformers series, Transformers Animated might be my favorite.
As a kid, I lost interest right when the movie came out. But I can't really tell you why. It might have been that the Nintendo NES came out and everyone wanted to play video games instead of with toys. Also, the Dinobots were cool but I agree it starter to feel rushed around that time.
I witnessed Transformers The Movie in theaters, on opening day. And I can tell you I was literally blown away as I sat in the theater and watched this insane, beautifully animated dark and loud madness of animation. The multiple tones of cel shading colorization, insane soundtrack, profanity, and drawing was bigger and more detailed than the TV series. This movie was an anomaly at the time, even the Sci Fi Hud designs were sick. I love this movie til today for having the audacity to be made and released back in 1986 when it clearly looks like a 2005 anime movie.
This take was very interesting, as a hardcore G1 Transformers fan, I tend to agree in the majority of your observations. Still I believe all these also lead to an important fact: We grew up and started to be more interested in girls, sports, real cars... etc, toys after your 15... were just out of the equation.
You're not wrong. As much as I love the movie, it really hurt the show.
It didn't have to ruin the show. Game of Thrones proves you can kill off characters and still be a great show. You just have to make sure the new characters get good storylines.
@@thinkhector you're not wrong, but when you completely replace the entire cast without any real back story or reason, it really hurts a series going forward.
@@thinkhector it didn't have to, but it did.
I agree completely. The first two seasons focused on the story and not selling toys! Now and then we got some new characters but the plot still remained focus on the story. In fact the only time I think they ever slipped up on character introductions were the Proctobots. Seriously where did these guys come from?
I remember as a kid seeing season 3 air and having been completely unaware of the movie...suddenly saw a bunch of characters that I didn't know. Then I saw Dark Awakening and combined with new knowledge of the movie and it all fell into place. Most of those characters I loved?...dead. Because of this I avoided the movie for years. Wish that I had avoided it completely now.
They made the movie and the season that followed something the first two seasons weren't...one giant toy commercial. Yes! the overall purpose of the show was to sell toys but at the same time the writers understood that the best way to sell toys were to give fans characters that they'd want toys of! If that makes any sense.
It's why I'll never like the 1986 film. Mostly because these same characters who got killed off and written out of most of the plot were the ones that you'd THINK that the movie would be centered on. Not a random assortment of characters that we never saw before! I looked at Ultra Magnus, Arcee, Springer, Hotrod/Rodimus, Kup, and Blurr and find myself asking. "Excuse me but who are you? No seriously WHO ARE YOU?!!" I just saw Prowl, Rachet, Brawn, Ironhide, (poor Wheeljack and others got killed OFF SCREEN) and Optimus Prime die and now I suddenly see these guys just pop out of nowhere stealing the spotlight. And it was the same with Season 3! What few season 1 and 2 autobots who didn't die in the film barely made cameos now and then! (with a few exceptions mind you)
For those of you who like the 1986 film, more power to you but I honestly just feel that it's a giant train wreck. The big fight between Optimus and Megatron occurs too soon. After Autobot city most of the plot is just the Autobots running from the Decepticons (for crying out loud, just sick the dinobots on them!) And the final fight is just Rodimus throwing Galvatron through a wall. And then after a quick speech the movie just ends. And thats it! Which is really sad cause you tell the production value was high for this film.
Personally, I always preferred the wilder episodes of seasons 2 and 3 to the somewhat blander episodes of season 1. Although there's no question that Toei's animation was superior to Akom.
Things in season 2 was when everything was about to go downhill. Then everything died in the 1986 movie. Which made season 3 & 4 the dark times of Transformers G1. Corse after watching the Rebirth finale. I prefer The Return of Optimus Prime as the true finale to the series. With him coming back to save the universe. He & Galvatron finally put their differences aside, which makes it clear that the War between the two sides is finally over.
B.O.T Is amazing. One of the best episodes ever. If you like the combinations, which I did, and Swindle was my favorite you loved this episode. Also, it's nice to see Muster Weatherbee from Archie make an appearance.
Yeah Swindle
Swindle was my favorite as well.
Once the Japanese took it back G1 was very very good for Headmasters, Masterforce, and Victory. Lots of folks have no clue G1 continued on over there.
As a kid from the 80s you got to rememeber that marvel comics had the right from 1984 to 1991 . Also, remebering i had the toys and i remember when G2 came out ( toys around 92 ) the constructicons were repainted yellow amd purple and these toys were starting to be more plastic as i remember. G1 lastest all 4 seasons and ended after 91 in my thoughts
The movie was the peak. It so sealed the demise of the series thru the death of Optimus Prime.
I know this is from two years ago but there is so many unsolved question in the series too
Still waiting on a series of comic books or animated series that explains what happened during that 20 year gap between season 2 and the’86 movie. They at least owe us that much. If you go the animation route there are still a few of the original G1 cartoon voice actors that are still alive that could reprise their respective characters.
I second that motion..I was just thinking about that 20 year gap and how it leads to a lot of continued G1 stories and possibilities. The original animation style is a must, if someone ever does decide to fill that void.
@@mattmccain8492 I can’t for the life of me figure out why this isn’t brought up by other G1 fans or Transformer’s fans in general. I’m sure if enough noise was made I’d like to think we’d get some form of media detailing that 20 year gap. We now technology that can mimic anyone voice to voice some of characters whose original voice actors are no longer with us. Obviously they would need permission from said actors estate to do so. But man I’m still waiting for that.
Don't sleep on Headmasters. You gotta watch it in Japanese with subtitles. Its full on G1, the new team the Headmasters are great. Without spoilers the original team is in there a lot too, as well as movie '86 team.
Ya know, cartoons are just like any prime-time sitcom or soap opera. You can't just kill off the whole cast (except for a few, unpopular ones).
Three main mistakes made:
1. Killing optimus
2.Frequently adding irrelavent side characters.
3.Not enough thought given into the script writing for each episode.
Post-1986 episodes jumped the shark by having crappy animation visuals from AKOM. The 1 episode Carnage in C-minor was atrocious. Although half that season had Toei's animation giving them more detail & Optimus Prime came back, it wasn't enough to save the show. Post-1987 would continue in Japan only for it to decline 2 1/2 years later.
Toy sales controls so much with a franchise even today
It often makes me wonder how much longer could Transformers could've ran as a series with the new characters as well as the original characters together
The series would have lasted longer if there wasn't so much a poor backbone for how the show was made. The structure for writing the show, creating story lines, animation kept changing too much. I think even production companies changed as well. Too many cooks in the kitchen so to speak. When you have an emphasis pushing out toy product lines over keeping a good story line, then you get a mess of sorts. Japanese version of the show lasted longer and was far better structured than what was put out in the United States. I honestly think the G1 series deserves a reboot with better animation and story board with how today's animated cartoons are made. The Transformers toys of today are far superior in quality and transformation than what they were in '84+. With a reboot, the G1 story can be cleaned up so it shows more continuity and not be so chopped up like the original.
@@dmonsef Ive often said that I would love to see the series rebooted with the CG animation of Transformers: Devastation as well as storylines from the game
Those I believe would go over extremely well with the Transformers fanbase
Actually it was when Starscream got the Underbase and nearly everyone was offlined by a cosmically powered Starscream
While season 3 may have been quite the change from the first two seasons (almost a new show, really) I've always enjoyed it and I think it holds up better than most of season 2. As for season 4, that was doomed the moment they decided it would only be three episodes long.
Yeah, no matter how bad Season 3 was, B.O.T, the last episode before the movie (ain't that a kicker?) Is the worst episode of Gen 1.
Totally agree. Was big fans of G1 Transformers till the release of the 1986 movie. It killed all of my favor Transformer for the most stupid reasons & most silly way to die. Never care about Transformer after the movie.