A BIG question for all Transformers fans from the 80s who went to see the animated movie in 1986!?
April 28th, 2011
I too, am a kid from the 80s & am a big Transformers fan. However, at the time the Transformers animated movie hit the cinema screens in 1986, I was only 2-years-old & had not yet heard of the Transformers.
I’ve read & even heard a few true stories that many children were carried out of the cinemas crying their eyes out at the death of Optimus Prime, leader of the Autobots (maybe they cried for the deaths of the other classic characters too, but I haven’t heard of anything about that, only Optimus). I even heard of one story about a young boy who locked himself away in his bedroom & cried all night long after seeing Optimus Prime die (for all I know, that very boy, now a grown man, could be reading this question).
For all Transformers fans who were children during the 80s & went to the cinemas to see the 1986 Transformers animated movie, what EXACTLY did happen in there? Did everyone suddenly burst into tears screaming & being carried out of the cinema rooms? Did the parents complain to the cinema staff & animators?
Seriously! WHAT HAPPENED! Was there mayhem or something? Was there shouting or a stampede to get out of there or demands for money back. I’ve never witnessed such events of people bursting into tears in the cinema.
Posted in The Transformers | 
Tags: 80s, amp, Autobots, bursting into tears, cinema screens, deaths, grown man, mayhem, money, parents, stampede, transformers fan, true stories
I am, and MAN this pains me to say, too old to have been a Transformers fan in 1986. I was aware of them, but I didn’t watch them or anything.
I have been in plenty of movies where people cried though. ET was one of them. Platoon was another one–well maybe not crying but pretty much everyone left that one a bit upset.
Why would they kill a major character in a kids movie though is my question. I can understand kids being upset by that. I mean who wants the hero to die–especially when you are a kid.
I didn’t go to it, but I remember reading about this at the time. There was such an outcry about it that the GI Joe movie that came out the next year was changed (the original script had Duke die, but after the reaction to Optimus powering down, they thought that might be a bad idea.).