Needless to say that scene hits a hell of a lot harder now. I can't even begin to tell you how much I have heard about this movie and the impact it left, I want to say since around 2007 or 2008 I have heard people talk about this movie from reviews of it, people who collected the action figures, and just the general zeitgeist of the 1980s for those who remember and for those who will never forget so I kinda knew everything about it already and yet...I felt like I knew nothing. Oh sure the big stuff I was very familiar with! The war between Autobots and Decepticons, the arrival of planet killer Unicron, the death of Optimus Prime, the rebirth of Galvatron, The Matrix Of Leadership, yet how all those pieces come together in a story is a different tale entirely. This movie kicks your ass till you spit out your balls from minute one in a non-stop action rampage fuelled by anime style animation and kick fucking ass 80s rock until end credits, it is brutal in so many ways and not just the onslaught of character deaths. Now I am not an encyclopedia of the G1 Transformers though I have watched the original show yet even I know the body count is absurd in this movie! It is NOT one of those movies where we get introduced to a lot of new characters while keeping up with the originals, if anything they scrap the originals to make room for the new ones which I know would be considered sacriligeous to the point of heresy today, but it does make me wonder how people felt about it back in 1986. What people failed to mention was the fact that Optimus gets dead before I almost want to say the 25 minute mark, in fact the pacing is break neck speed and slightly scattered throughout in terms of where characters are, what they're doing, what the next scene is, it makes Rise Of Skywalker look like an Andy Warhol film taking it's sweet ass time. I thought the big final confrontation with Megatron was more going to be the halfway low point of the film and then our new heroes would gather to fight Unicron. Yet I can't help but feel that seeing Optimus fight so bravely and inspire others to wield their might for right even after his death is a worthy tribute to Peter Cullen, who literally inspired entire generations (Plural!) of people to be better individuals, who fullheartedly believe that freedom is the right of all sentient beings, and that's pretty incredible. Dare I even say awe inspiring! And while we miss such a powerful voice, I can safely say the rest of the voice cast are far from chumps. Judd Nelson does good work playing a more young and brash protagonist as Hot Rod who I know people either love or despise this character but I didn't hold any serious qualms, Frank Welker is still the king and brings his A-game, fucking Leonard Nimoy as Galvatron is a real treat and feels not like a successor to Megatron but just is a reincarnated Megatron, we somehow I still don't know how got Orson Welles as Unicron in his final role no less and boy is that an intimidating voice for a horrific entity and I almost want to say is more destructive than the Death Star. Speaking of which, yeahhh the Star Wars influence is felt here a good bit showing how monumental and influencing that movie was. I do really love the animation, it has that suped up Robotech look with so much color and motion, and it will stun me rigid everytime knowing it was drawn all by hand. The music...holy fuck balls! Both the score by Vince DiCola who was on some high plane wizardy and the soundtrack with Stan Bush and Kick Axe is the stuff you should be buying with your money. I'm serious man this is the most 80s shit I have ever seen in my entire life and I'm speechless. Now can I see the faults? Yes! Do I still very much like the movie and can say it's one of the best Transformers movies even 40 years later? Also yes! It's certainly never dull and even I'm a bit shocked I've never truly written a review of this until now, but hey I ain't mad. I give it 3 stars, 7/10, and tomorrow we hit another milestone and say just one more goodbye.
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