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I’m an 80s baby who was never very interested in Transformers growing up. Here’s why Transformers One finally made me a believer

Pabio December 15, 2024

I am a man born in 1983 (but I consider myself a child of the 90s)so I to have be a big fan of TransformersRIGHT? Well… not exactly.

Thundercats? You bet. G.I. Joe? You know it! And don’t even get me started on the Ninja Turtles, because I probably already have I wrote more about them than anything else on this site. But when it comes to Transformers, I’ve never really been a big fan, even after seeing each Transformers movie (which, now that I think about it, might be the reason Why I’m not a huge fan, given how unbalanced the quality of the films is.

However, after recently watching Transformers OneI think they finally made me a true believer, and I have several reasons for that.

Oh, and minor spoilers ahead for Transformers One.

Transformers One

(Image credit: Paramount Pictures)

The idea of Transformers not being able to transform them strangely humanized them for me

What do transformers do? They are transforming! Uh. But what if they don’t? This is the question asked in Transformers Oneand it kind of blew my mind when I first learned that that’s where this movie was heading.

Because that’s what really kickstarts the whole story. Robots live underground on Cybertron and are fed false lies about their heroes. Not only that, but some of the robots can transform, while others – those who toil in the mines for Energon – cannot. It creates a story about class struggles that I definitely didn’t expect from a Transformers story.

This is also one of the many reasons why this film is just as great for kids as for adults. The fact that this is a story about the haves and the have-nots (for at least part of the film, anyway) is beyond fascinating to me.

Personally, Transformers has always seemed like this stupid franchise that only existed to sell toys. And even if yes, most 80s cartoons were created for this sole purpose, this seemed to be the best example (Optimus).

However, the idea of a segment of them being PREVENTED from transforming (on purpose!) humanized them incredibly for me. So when Orion Pax finally becomes Optimus Prime and D-16 becomes Megatron, it hit differently this time, and in the best possible way!

Optimus Prime and Megatron are featured in the Transformers One trailer.

(Image credit: Paramount Pictures)

Plus, making it a story about a friendship falling apart was the right decision

Forgive me if this is common knowledge, but were Megatron and Optimus Prime ever friends? Because that’s what we get here in this story, which I think is a good decision.

Friends with enemies is a trope I much prefer over enemies with friends, and I like the fact that Megatron supported Optimus Prime until he learned that he had been tricked by someone he once admired.

I love that about this movie. The most I’ve invested in Transformers is with the bitch Beast Wars cartoon (which was partly the basis of the recent movie, The Rise of the Beastsas our own Mike Reyes rated as pretty good). In this cartoon, Optimus Primal and Megatron were sworn enemies, and there was never a hint of friendship.

In fact, if there’s anything I TO DO What these characters know is that Megatron hates Optimus Prime and Optimus leads the Autobots.

That said, we don’t really get that narrative here until about the last half hour. The rest of the film is mostly about the disintegration of Megatron’s friendship with Optimus and how they became these characters in the first place.

It’s a fascinating story, and certainly one that didn’t seem familiar to me as a 41-year-old who experienced Transformers for almost his entire life.

Megatron in Transformers One

(Image credit: Paramount Pictures)

I also like the fact that there isn’t a single human in the whole story

I’ll be honest with you. I never want to see human characters anywhere near one of these movies again. Maybe that’s why I liked it Beast Wars so much, since it was just the Transformers.

1986s Transformers: The Movieis another good example. Yes, there were a few human characters in this animated film, but the main characters were those in the title (and not Megan Foxand certainly not Shia La Beouf).

That’s why I think I really liked Transformers Onebecause I think the human characters really sap the energy from the other films. It’s a story where we don’t see a single human character for the entire 1 hour and 44 minutes, which is great.

Paradoxically, seeing humans interact with them always made these stories less realistic for me. But, with a story focused entirely on Transformers, I feel like I can finally get invested in these characters who, frankly, have always felt more fleshed out than most of the human characters we’ve had so far in live. action movies.

Bumblebee shot energy explodes upwards in Transformers One

(Image credit: Paramount Pictures)

The action was way more exciting than I’ve ever seen in a Transformers story

Another thing that has always bothered me about Transformers is the action. As massive robots, they always seemed so clunky to me.

And I am a man who loves their Godzilla. I also always loved when the Power Rangers took out enemies in their Megazord. Not only that, but I’m also a big fan of Voltron. All this to say, I like big monsters and big robots fighting, but I never liked Transformers fighting. It was never satisfying for me.

That is of course untilTransformers Onewhere the action is intense and impressive. I think a lot of that comes from the way they move in this movie, since they don’t seem heavy at all, but rather sleek and mobile.

This might seem like a problem if you’re used to Transformers being these big hunks of metal like in the live action movies. But I never liked it, and I’m glad they’re able to actually move and fight in this movie, because it makes everything so much more epic. I just wish they still fought like this!

Megatron in Transformers One

(Image credit: Paramount)

Finally, it makes me re-evaluate everything I’ve ever known about Transformers

You know what’s weird? I felt like I had been on the fringes of Transformers knowledge for most of my life. Sure, I’ve heard of things like Energon or their home planet, Cybertron. I’ve known characters like Starscream, Jazz, and Soundwave. I know all this.

Yet it wasn’t until I looked Transformers One that I felt like I didn’t know anything at all. Because while watching this movie, I finally learned that Cybertron is not only the home planet of the Transformers, but also the BODY of what is essentially their god, Primus. I also didn’t understand the story behind any of these characters, nor on the matrix of leadership before seeing this film.

In the 1986 movie, they kept talking about “The Matrix”, but I had no idea what they were talking about (to be honest, I was pretty young when I first watched it ). Now this all seems a lot more interesting because of how the characters in this movie react to these things.

In any case, Transformers One made me re-evaluate this universe as a whole, which is pretty incredible to me since I feel like I’ve watched the characters my whole life and I’m only just beginning to fully understand them. It only took one 2024 movie to bring me to this place.

This is why I love Transformers now! Have you ever seen this film? If you like the brand, even casually, you should definitely check it out. You will not be disappointed.

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