It was 35 years ago today, my brother Cliff and I were on our way to see Transformers: The Movie at a Showcase Cinemas in Lawrence, Massachusetts. Giddy is inadequate to describe our mood that day. We were shaking with anticipation of seeing our legendary warriors come to life on a giant screen with animation that far surpassed anything we’d seen on our small screen. We’d quickly learn that the animation wouldn’t be the only element of the movie that would blow our mind that day. But I’ll get to that in a second.
We had been collecting Transformers toys since they were first released in 1984. I delivered newspapers and my Dad would allow me to purchase one a month out of the money I made. The rest had to go towards college savings. I still remember to this day that my very first Transformer was the Decepticon Skywarp. He was a black and purple jet and one of the most incredible toys I’d ever seen. I was probably a little old to be playing with toys as when the Transformers were first introduced in 1984, I was 12 and turning 13 that upcoming December. But Cliff was 9 and he and I were best friends and quite frankly, I still loved that aspect of being a kid. I wasn’t exactly eager to jump into my teen years. I suppose it was my way of clinging to my childhood that much longer.
At the same time, playing with toys at 13 or 14 was a dirty secret. The kids in my class could never know. But ultimately they found out because one of Cliff’s classmates had a brother who was in my grade. He announced to my middle school history class that I was still playing with toys. To which I, turning bright red, screamed defiantly, “I DO NOT! THAT’S A LIE!!” My overly defensive reaction quickly confirming what I’d just been accused of.
Still that didn’t stop me from rushing out to see the movie. My brother and I always chose sides when we started collecting toys together. I’m not even sure how we did it but for whatever reason, I was the good guys in GI Joe and He-Man and I chose Decepticons for the Transformers. It’s also funny because Transformers became my favorite franchise almost immediately. The planes that could become robots and turn back into planes. The transformation was relatively easy too, meaning that when Cliff and I would play, it was always free flowing fun. Probably my favorite toy to this day is Blitzwing because he could quickly go from robot to tank to plane and back to robot within seconds. Much of that is lost with today’s complicated toys, but I digress.
Keep in mind, Cliff and I had two seasons worth of cartoons on our local afternoon block of cartoons on Boston TV. Many of the episodes were the same. Megatron has great plan, Megatron bumbles (or one of his buffoonish compadres bumble), the Autobots kick the Decepticons in the teeth, episode ends with Megatron uttering, “Decepticons retreat!!” No one ever died. The robots had worse aim than any stormtrooper in the Star Wars movies. So yeah, no one ever died. It was rinse and repeat almost every day. The humans in the series were unbelievably annoying. Though the introduction of Devastator on the TV show gave me false hope that finally the Decepticons would win a battle. Nope. Decepticons did as they always did. Bungle and retreat. Rinse and repeat.
It was less than 20 minutes into the movie when suddenly, I was getting pure and utter catharsis for a Decepticon fan. Brutal Autobot deaths that involved smoking mouths and eyes, bodies falling and hitting the floor and straight up heartless execution. For many, it was pure trauma. For me, my Decepticon allegiance was finally getting its due. And the much ballyhooed Optimus Prime/Megatron battle that was endless teased in the trailers had finally come to fruition. It was a shocking ending when Optimus Prime essentially sacrifices himself to save Autobot City. My brother was in tears and I’ll admit openly that while I felt sorry for him, I took smug satisfaction in watching the demise of that self righteous idiot who always lectured everyone. I was Team Megatron to the bitter end. If I could, I would’ve run off carrying his blasting cannon like Rumble did after the epic throwdown.
As time has passed, my love for this very imperfect movie has only grown. There’s a ton of inconsistencies and things that any hardcore fan can just overlook. Like how did Devastator ever fit inside of Astrotrain? How come Ultra Magnus is so easily just glued back together and Optimus had to die a rusty death? Just get those Junkions on fixing Optimus. Maybe Unicron could’ve been coerced into reformatting Optimus into something like the Autobot version of Galvatron by threatening him with the power of the Matrix? Maybe the Autobots were just ready to move on from the Sanctimonius Prime?
Any way, you simply can’t apply logic to something I’m this emotionally attached to. The music by Vince DiCola was epic, awesome and on point. Even as a Decepticon fan, The Touch by Stan Bush brings goosebumps to my skin to this day. Instruments of Destruction remains an absolute banger and is the official anthem of “Kid Tyler finally got a bone thrown to him”. Even better that it was the Constructicons, who were featured prominently in that eye-popping scene. And then, Devastator forms and the immortal voice actor Arthur Burghardt delivers that line that made my life back then, “Prepare for Extermination!” Galvatron finally executed that traitorous loser Starscream. The incredible Leonard Nimoy gave rise to an amazing voice performance for Galvatron that gave me hope that this would carry over to any future series. Alas, the movie was most definitely a stand alone masterpiece compared to what would eventually come to the small screen later on.
Here’s the thing. I was inspired by this movie to pursue writing comics. I eventually got the chance to write the origin story of those famous Constructicons. I was lucky enough to have a son who embrace the Transformers much like I did. He and I have played with them on the floor of his room just as my brother and I did 35 years ago. I still own my original Skywarp toy and my original Constructicons. My other toys? Gone. Trashed. Part of some landfill somewhere. Not these plastic (and sometimes diecast metal) toys filled with personality. But it wasn’t because of those 22-minute cartoons we eagerly consumed. It was the movie that took our passion for this universe and shot it all the way to Cybertron. It became a lifelong love that I’m proud to have out in the open. No denials in history class for me any more.
My son and I have attended a TF Con together. And became one of the signature moments of my life. It’s where I found out that IDW would be publishing my original Constructicon origin story and it was where my son had one epic moment that brought this grown man to tears.
I’m turning 50 years old this year. 35 years ago today, a lifelong passion was introduced that has become generational. I’m now a page on the TFWiki, which means I’ve become a part of my favorite fictional universe. And I did so writing about my favorite characters in that fictional universe. It may have been a movie designed to sell new toys to gullible kids but to this day, it remains one of my five favorite movies of all time. My son and I could likely recite the movie from beginning to end together. We could do it as a two-part play, I think. I’ve been able to share that joy and passion with my son. He was able to see me want to get involved in something, pursue it like a madman with relentless fervor and become successful doing it. And much of it was because my son fell in love with the same movie I did. I’m hoping it’s a lesson he carries through in his life. Find the passion and embrace it and pursue it relentlessly and anything is possible. All from an animated movie in the 1980s. True story.
papiblez 