When Transformers G1 Series Died

What should I do for my next "When...Died" video?

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.

There isn’t an episode that I didn’t like. This was my childhood. The weird episodes still had a place in my heart.

If you saw it in theaters, like I did, it was devastating. It was also Orson Welles' last movie.

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.

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.

One thing I think we can all agree on: Starscream's death was epic. The gem of the entire movie.

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.

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 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.

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

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.

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. :)

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.

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 Massacre of 1986” sounds suspiciously like “The Bite of 87”

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.

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.

The show just couldn't be the same without iconic characters like Ironhide and Ratchet...

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! )