History WesternAnimation / TheTransformersTheMovie

* FinalBattle: While not one between the Autobots and Decepticons, overall, it technically is for Optimus Prime and Megatron. [[spoiler: Prime is mortally wounded and dies in the first act of the movie while Megatron is reborn as Galvatron by Unicron. Prime does return in the main series, however.]]

* AsskickingEqualsAuthority:

* SpaceX: Take any normal word and add "-ion" or "-ticon" to the name, and you've got a Transformer "species".

* SoleSurvivor: [[EnsembleDarkhorse Soundwave]] is the only one of the original Decepticons to make it out of the movie alive and in his original form.
** [Excepting his original cassettes (Buzzsaw, Frenzy, Laserbeak, Ravage and Rumble), who are in large measure merely extensions of his will.]

* RealMenWearPink: Hot Rod, the brash young hero, transforms into a futuristic race car with with flames on the hood, never runs from a fight, and doesn't hesitate to take on Galvatron directly, which no other Autobot (or Decepticon) dares to do. He's also a bright fuchsia.

--->'''Hot Rod''': Doesn't this remind you anything, Kup?\\

--->'''Hot Rod''': Doesn't this remind you of some big battle?\\
'''[[SeenItAll Kup]]''': Nope. I've never seen anything like this before.

-->'''Unicron:''' No, ''the point is'', you're a fool!

** Orson Welles was in poor health (it was a few months before he died) and couldn't really deliver to his full potential (plus, there are those who have claimed he didn't really like the role, though this is largely debatable), resulting in many of his lines sounding bored. However, with a bit of help from the sound engineer, Unicron achieves this effect, and it ''works''.

* AvoidTheDreadedGRating: Despite the relatively high amount of violence and deaths in the film, it was originally going to be rated "G" (as said violence was "merely" [[WhatMeasureIsANonHuman robot-on-robot violence]]), and so the creative team realized that to bump that up to a more preferable "PG" rating, they would have to deliberately cross some lines. The most obvious result of this was the infamous line "Oh '''shit''', what are we gonna do now?" (and "Open, dammit, open!" may have served that purpose too). Hilariously, this one was done so the parents would ''have'' to accompany their children to the film and [[MerchandiseDriven know which toys to buy their kids]]. Didn't matter in the UK where the film got a U certificate anyway.

* CoversAlwaysLie: The poster, as seen above, features Ultra Magnus prominently in the center of the picture as he is flanked by other Autobots. But this is Hot Rod's story, through-and-through.

* OutOfCharacterMoment: No Decepticons, even ones established as [[UndyingLoyalty blindly loyal]] to Megatron such as Soundwave, object to having him ThrownOutTheAirlock to lose dead weight, and instantly make their claims to his spot afterwards. It's particularly glaring with Soundwave, who went to the trouble of going back for Megatron and carrying him aboard in the first place. That said, per WordOfGod, Soundwave fought to become the new leader so he could force the others to go back for Megatron. Supposedly there was a cut scene that would have explicetly established it.

* OffModel: Much like the series it spawned from, the movie has a fair amount of errors present. Some minor (coloring errors are ''very'' common) to those that affect the plot rather seriously. (The robots[[note]]Skywarp, Thundercracker and the Insecticons[[/note]] who were turned into Gavlatron's soldiers appear throughout later parts of the film.)

->'''Rodimus Prime:''' Let this mark the end of the Cybertronian wars as we march forward to a new age of peace and happiness! Till All Are One!

->Till All Are One!

* {{Bookends}}: Stan Bush's "The Touch" plays twice in the film. It first plays during Optimus' fight with Megatron in the beginning of the film and plays again during Rodimus Prime's fight with Galvatron near the end of the film.

** ''ComicBook/TheTransformersMarvel'' adapted the film to a three-issue miniseries that was based on a non-final draft[[note]]The major differences are that Grimlock is with Kup and Hot Rod on Quintessa, rather than with the other Dinobots, Ultra Magnus is not shot to pieces, but drawn and quartered (this is still partly in the film, as in the shot of the Sweeps approaching, they shoot long, constant "beams" at Magnus to "lasso" him with, but when the camera switches to him, they are now short "bolts" that only blast him apart), and the Junkions don't board a ship to fly to Unicron, the planet of Junk ''is'' their ship, popping out massive engines to get them going. Perceptor's SesquipedalianLoquaciousness is also more of a RunningGag[[/note]], though the films' events were only canon to the UK version of the comic book.

* CallBack: A tragic example. Fans of the show will remember that the very first episode also began with the Autobots launching into space, spurred by their need for Energon, only to be ambushed by a Decepticon boarding party. The big difference here is that being grossly outnumbered (and without Optimus Prime), the outcome is definitvely fatal for the heroes.

* ExactWords: Grimlock pulls this one off beautifully, during the Autobots assault on Unicron; he jumps out of their ship - "Me Grimlock ''kick butt''!" - and switches to dino mode and proceeds to crash feet first right on Unicron's ass.

* LiteralAssKicking: Grimlock attacks Unicron in the rear immediately after declaring he'll kick butt.

** Unicron's Theme, which kicks off the film, and takes cues from [=DiCola's=] earlier [[Film/RockyIV Drago theme]], turning the ominousness UpToEleven.

* FamilyUnfriendlyDeath: Most of WesternAnimation/TheTransformers [[KillEmAll first two seasons]]' cast is killed in graphic ways, not counting those who die offscreen.

** ''ComicBook/TheTransformersMarvel'' adapted the film to a three-issue miniseries that was based on a non-final draft[[note]]The major differences are that Grimlock is with Kup and Hot Rod on Quintessa, rather than with the other Dinobots, Ultra Magnus is not shot to pieces, but drawn and quartered (this is still partly in the film, as in the shot of the Sweeps approaching, they shoot long, constant "beams" at Magnus to "lasso" him with, but when the camera switches to him, they are now short "bolts" that only blast him apart), and the Junkions don't board a ship to fly to Unicron, the planet of Junk ''is'' their ship, popping out massive engines to get them going. Perceptor's SesquipedalianLoquaciousness is also more of a RunningGag[[/note]], though the films' events were only canon to the UK version of the comic book. ** In 2006, Creator/IDWPublishing would publish a four-part miniseries adaptation of the final version of the film (with some minor changes) in honor of the film's 20th anniversary, which was titled ''Transformers: The Animated Movie'' to avoid confusion with [[Film/{{Transformers}} the live-action Michael Bay movie]].