THE Transformers THE Movie THE Apology Tour: We're Sorry for Killing Optimus Prime
- Thread starter LordGigaIce
- Start date
That's cool. Did they track down fan-site owners/staff?
Megatron built a giant laser that could only be fired by Bruticus, but had an "over load" button appropriately placed for a human-sized robot to press...
Yeah. It was all part of the gag.
I read it as tapping into the reaction video genre and the vlog genre to set the scene, which is basically the 2020s equivalent of the classic spinning/zooming-in newspaper device. The former helps sell the notion that the movie and the brand are still being enjoyed by new audiences who react the same way that kids back in 1986 did. "You did what? But that truck guy was awesome." And the latter highlights that for some, the pain has never gone away. All tongue-in-cheek of course. Hence the "need" for an apology tour.
I consume neither of those and am not a fan, but I'm aware that they exist, and that's enough for me to get the joke. It might be a smidge more entertaining if one steps back and looks at the whole thing as kayfabed.
It's about as real as the need to apologize for killing a fictional character in a heroic blaze of glory 40 years ago to sell toys.
This, I appreciate all the more.
I appreciate it. I've personally seen people in recent times seeing this movie for the first time and being shocked by Prime's death. Not people who saw it 40 years ago and refuse to get over it. Not YouTube reactors doing a bit. People in the real world, this decade. Stunned. This is a thing. It's easy for us to be numb to this movie when we've been so overexposed to it, but it remains an insane piece of Hasbro's library.
And in 20 years, Takara can follow suit with Kiss Players: The Apology Tour for that 40th anniversary.
I want a personal apology from Kabaya for stringing me along for years before giving up right when they started the Battlestars.
Y'know, talking about the deaths and stuff, I do wonder how things would have been had the new toys been more... shall we say, literal replacements for the old crew.
We've talked about instead of Ultra Magnus being a new character, he could have been an upgraded Optimus on life support or something that mentored Rodimus, while Galvatron, Cyclonus, and Scourge were all new vessels for old characters.
But think about it: There were other characters that could have gotten similar treatments. Most of the '86 Minibots, for example. Instead of new guys, what if Swerve was Gears, Outback was Brawn, Pipes was Huffer, and so on.
Stuff like that.
I mean, I prefer them more as they are, as distinct characters, but... what can I say, the Aerialbots were where I really started collecting at the time, so I guess maybe my attachment to the first two years' cast wasn't quite the same as some people at the time.
We've talked about instead of Ultra Magnus being a new character, he could have been an upgraded Optimus on life support or something that mentored Rodimus, while Galvatron, Cyclonus, and Scourge were all new vessels for old characters.
But think about it: There were other characters that could have gotten similar treatments. Most of the '86 Minibots, for example. Instead of new guys, what if Swerve was Gears, Outback was Brawn, Pipes was Huffer, and so on.
Stuff like that.
I mean, I prefer them more as they are, as distinct characters, but... what can I say, the Aerialbots were where I really started collecting at the time, so I guess maybe my attachment to the first two years' cast wasn't quite the same as some people at the time.
I think a more modern franchise movie might have done just that, if they did anything so drastic to their existing characters at all.
But it was a different time, when the focus was more on expanding the toyline. The bigs back then ran on the whole "cast of thousands" thing, where every series was a whole new batch. Transformers and GI Joe kind of set the tone for that, and other shows to a lesser degree with slightly smaller casts. For me personally, and perhaps for others, this was a huge part of the appeal. I was a kid who loved reading the names on Crayola crayons (although I sometimes felt that orange red and red orange were switched), so it was a delight to have an endless stream of characters to get to know (and Budiansky gave that incredible value too). That will always have my vote over "he's just called Swerve now" or even "Brawn (Outback Armor)".
The too-bold experiments of killing off core characters in the movie spooked the audience, and showed Hasbro what not to do with unwitting golden geese. In this way, killing Optimus Prime kind of became formative for the toy industry as a whole because it shook up that notion and established that, like with comic books or other long runners in television and movies, a big part of the longevity is keeping beloved core characters around. Kind of a new thing for toylines and toy-based media, for which the maps were being drawn as the land was being traversed.
But it was a different time, when the focus was more on expanding the toyline. The bigs back then ran on the whole "cast of thousands" thing, where every series was a whole new batch. Transformers and GI Joe kind of set the tone for that, and other shows to a lesser degree with slightly smaller casts. For me personally, and perhaps for others, this was a huge part of the appeal. I was a kid who loved reading the names on Crayola crayons (although I sometimes felt that orange red and red orange were switched), so it was a delight to have an endless stream of characters to get to know (and Budiansky gave that incredible value too). That will always have my vote over "he's just called Swerve now" or even "Brawn (Outback Armor)".
The too-bold experiments of killing off core characters in the movie spooked the audience, and showed Hasbro what not to do with unwitting golden geese. In this way, killing Optimus Prime kind of became formative for the toy industry as a whole because it shook up that notion and established that, like with comic books or other long runners in television and movies, a big part of the longevity is keeping beloved core characters around. Kind of a new thing for toylines and toy-based media, for which the maps were being drawn as the land was being traversed.
Last edited:
Yeah. It makes all the sense in the world to look at the Diaclone Powered Convoy toy and go "we'll use that design as an upgraded Optimus Prime," but that presupposes a world where the suits understand that Optimus Prime is a character kids like and are super attached to.
It's strange. The model Hasbro used for both GI Joe and Transformers were incredibly successful because they banked on the idea of "we'll move more product if we give the kids a story- and therefore characters- to latch onto."
But at the end of the day, the people running Hasbro were from the older generations that didn't "get" that toys could be vessels for characters like that. Kids didn't have an attachment to their Rock'em Sock'em Robots, for example.
So with that mentality, it's easy to say "oh yeah, these new designs? Make 'em new guys. Optimus and co, they're old product, sweep 'em aside."
It's strange. The model Hasbro used for both GI Joe and Transformers were incredibly successful because they banked on the idea of "we'll move more product if we give the kids a story- and therefore characters- to latch onto."
But at the end of the day, the people running Hasbro were from the older generations that didn't "get" that toys could be vessels for characters like that. Kids didn't have an attachment to their Rock'em Sock'em Robots, for example.
So with that mentality, it's easy to say "oh yeah, these new designs? Make 'em new guys. Optimus and co, they're old product, sweep 'em aside."
Never mind the extra "you already have Optimus Prime, I'm not buying you another one" on the toy aisles.
Mind, I'm not acting like Transformers invented the same character/new toy dynamic. He-Man was already selling Battle Armor upgrades back before Transformers even hit TV screens to keep the marquee characters on the toy shelves. But I imagine it was easier for convince the above example to drop $5 on He-Man Again than it would be to ask them to do the same for Ultra Magnus's $35.
Some people are still waiting for Hasbro's apology for BeastWarsMachines.
Fixed that for ya
I'm only kidding! I understand what your original post is getting at, though.
Well unlike Beast Wars, an apology for Beast Machines would be warranted
There's not enough apology in the world for Nightscream.
I was 15 when TF:TM came out, didn't have my license so convinced my mom to drop us off at the mall because I was taking my little brother to go see it, he was like, 8 and didn't care about Transformers. I'll just say that I am a HUGE Rodimus/Galvatron fan, and I am loving this. Looking forward to any other promo stuff like this they pump out, for me, TF:TM is up there with Flash Gordon, ya gotta love it for it's ridiculousness of pacing & plot. I just want more animated Transformers in theaters, bring on Transformers One: 2 (Please let them call it that).