Headscratchers for The Transformers: The Movie.
- During the fight inside Unicron, Galvatron attempts to choke Hot Rod to death. He attempts to CHOKE. A ROBOT. TO DEATH. IN SPACE. The real mind-bending part? It was WORKING!!
- More likely, he was trying to make Hot Rod's head pop off like a zit. The part that makes it fridge logic in and of itself is that we've seen that at least in one case, losing your head doesn't kill a Transformer, as Optimus Prime's entire BODY was taken apart in a season 2 episode and he was still very much alive.
- And the fridge logic for that, is the question "how the hell did the Decepticons take him apart and yet never find the Matrix during that episode?" Simple, the idea hadn't been concieved of yet.
- The comics did show Megatron choking Brawl until the latter's head cracked open from the pressure, disabling him (though not killing him, since he showed up with the rest of the Combaticons a few issues later). Presumably, something like this would've happened to Hot Rod had he not grabbed the Matrix in time.
- In short, there's a difference between surgical removal (such as happened to Optimus) or willing self-removal (as in the case of the Headmasters), and being severed by force.
- None of this actually serves to explain why Hot Rod was gasping for air...
- The series has shown Transformers panting after major exertion (running, straining to lift or push something, etc.), so the whole "robots don't breathe" thing has never been consistent.
- In the same sequence, Springer transforms into a helicopter during their escape. Helicopters operate on lift, and yet there's no air inside Unicron - how did that work?
- Springer's helicopter form is Cybertronian. Clearly, Cybertronian aircraft work on different principles than Earth aircraft. Perhaps the rotors generate an anti-gravity field?
- During Starscream's coronation, the Constructicons serenade him with trumpets. They're robots, who don't breathe, playing instruments you have to blow into. Oh, and the Constructicons? Half of them don't even have mouths!
- The trumpets could have built-in dynamics.
- The Constructicons hate Starscream for squashing their bid to rule the Decepticons, so they're doing that to fuck with him.
- In the middle of the Battle of Autobot City, Springer and Arcee try to set up a large cannon. Said large cannon is too heavy for two Transformers to move, wasn't ready to fire, and wasn't even pointed out the window it fires out of. The lesson? Autobots are idiots.
- Ultra Magnus was literally blown apart and then put back together in a few minutes, good as new. Optimus Prime was shot and slashed several times, and he died. Were the Junkions that good at robot surgery, or did the Autobot suck that much? And it is implied that yes, the Junkions are that good.
- Ultra Magnus was blown apart but his parts were still largely intact. Prime's damage was all to the torso, which likely contains whatever passes for a Cybertronian's vital parts.
- There's also the concept that his "core" is in the cab portion, and the trailer is actually an additional layer of armor. Granted, while it was a feature of the toy itself, it's a concept that wasn't actually shown in fiction until the Dreamwave comics several years later.
- The real life answer is that in the original script, Magnus wasn't blown apart: the Junkions pulled him apart with lassos (if you look close enough you can still see them holding the ropes, or at least they're drawn holding something). This was considered too gruesome, so they had him get shot at the last minute. Because he was just non-fatally disassembled instead of blown up, it was probably why they were able to put him back together so easily.
- A big part of the issue is the way Transformers live wasn't clearly defined yet. The concept of sparks wouldn't be established until Beast Wars. Going by modern standards, the only thing that makes sense is that the system(s) that supports Prime's spark were irreparably damaged while Magnus' weren't. Even then, it's not clear if a Transformer's "spark support system" can even be damaged like that. Normally it would just put the Transformer into stasis lock until repairs can be made, either internally and/or externally.
- Something that often comes up among fans is why Brawn died from being shot in the shoulder. He took several point-blank shots to the face in the first season episode "Fire on the Mountain" and lived. Plus, it was already established how tough he was. So how did a shoulder wound kill him?
- Proponents of Brawn's survival also state his name was not listed among the dead in the Autobot Masoleum in "Dark Awakening", but Huffer's name was (note that Huffer only appeared very briefly in the movie). What shouldn't be counted, though, is Brawn's appearance in "Carnage in C-Minor", since this was an animation error on AKOM's part in an episode infamous for many, many animation errors (as he appeared alongside Huffer, and Bonecrusher was alongside them; just to recap, Bonecrusher is one of the Decepticons).
- Even if Brawn survived the shoulder wound (which I find likely), he was still on a shuttle of Decepticons for the duration of an interstellar flight. Unless Brawn played possum the whole time (which would be wildly out of character), they would've had plenty of time to finish him off, "such heroic nonsense"-style.
- If you look carefully, you can see about half of Brawn's back explode after he gets shot. It likely took out his insides.
- As we know, detonating an explosive the size of a moon doesn't even dent Unicron... Yet Megatron creates visible scratches on his horns a few minutes earlier while talking to him. And later, his robot mode can be passed through like paper, since Rodimus just throws Galvatron into space through Unicron's side.
- It could be equated to trying to punch a beach ball versus poking it with a pin. The force of the explosion is being directed over a vastly larger surface area, and redirected outward, whereas the other incidents are, at most, the equivalent of a cat scratch and a mosquito bite (a reverse bite?), respectively.
- So, Unicron has apparently been around long enough for word of mouth about his atrocities to spread across the galaxy, as evidenced by how the people of Lithone knew about him in advance and how the Junkions were able to tell the Autobots about him. Yet neither the Autobots or Decepticons show any prior knowledge about him despite having a lot of voyages across the galaxy themselves and some pretty extensive knowledge of alien races. How the hell does that work?
- Possibly testimony to nine million years-plus of futile warfare that has consumed all the Cybertronians' thoughts and decimated their culture. The Lithonians are clearly a peaceful and cultured people, and the Junkions are most likely a mishmash of various cybernetic races and cultures.
- Considering Unicorn is practically the Boogeyman meets Satan of the Transformers universe, perhaps they regarded him as a legend over time, then forgot he ever existed.
- After the Matrix is unleashed inside of him, Unicron starts thrashing around in obvious pain. What I don't understand is why, during said thrashing about, he rips one of his legs off. Just grabs his leg at the knee and rips it right off. What was he trying to do, make a hole in his body and hope the Matrix energy would just vent out through his leg?
- I think he simply went mad from pain. A moment later he tears his own plating over, just to "make it stop" somehow.
- The implication seems to be that Hot Rod and Galvatron were in his leg when the Matrix was opened, and he tried to remove the source of his pain (too late, since by then the Matrix energy had spread far enough to destroy his whole body, leg or no leg).
- What exactly is that random building in Autobot City Devastator destroys? Megatron specifically gets the Constructicons to combine to smash it, but he then says "their defenses are broken" a shot before Devastator actually rips the building open, suggesting it's completely unconnected to any meaningful functions the City has.
- Devastator's big and stupid. He probably misinterpreted Megatron's orders.
- What purpose does Unicron's robot mode serve? He doesn't seem to have the chest mouth of his Armada and IDW versions that make the robot a souped-up version of his planet mode, instead losing the ability to suck up planets in less than three minutes from the audience's perspective, making him less effective at actually destroying Cybertron.
- The G1 comics might explain this, but I'm not 100% sure on their bearing in this version of the canon. Unicron and Primus were once humanoid titans, and it's only after they rematerialized into the physical realm after a fight in a separate dimension that they became robots. Unicron's robot form is probably just a holdover from his past body.
- As for why Unicron would transform into a less efficient form, it was to make Galvatron suffer. Remember he told Galvatron he would "dismember" Cybertron. I take that to mean Unicron wanted to meticulously break up and crush the planet by hand rather than simply inhale it like normal.
- Is there any particular reason Unicron doesn't just go to Earth and destroy the Matrix by eating it along with the rest of the planet? If sending Galvatron instead was for the sake of keeping a low profile, then he blew it as soon as he ate the Moonbases.
- He was probably closer to Cybertron anyway and was planning on eating that first. Earth would probably have been further down on his list. Besides, just because he eats the planet the Matrix is in doesn't mean he ate the Matrix. And for all we know, if he eats the Matrix and digests it, it could give him one terrible case of robo-indigestion, just like how Rodimus defeated him.
- Of course, this brings into question why Unicron swallowed the Matrix in the first place.
- He was probably closer to Cybertron anyway and was planning on eating that first. Earth would probably have been further down on his list. Besides, just because he eats the planet the Matrix is in doesn't mean he ate the Matrix. And for all we know, if he eats the Matrix and digests it, it could give him one terrible case of robo-indigestion, just like how Rodimus defeated him.
- When Galvatron obtained the Matrix and tried to threaten Unicron with it, why didn't Unicron simply torture him like he usually did and made him destroy the Matrix? It's not like holding it made Galvatron immune to the torture - Unicron does it later to force him to kill Hot Rod.
- Unicron likely has no idea what will happen if the Matrix is destroyed, and if it explodes or unleashes everything inside it as it dies… well, it’s right on top of him, and if just opening it inside him left him as a barely functioning head, imagine what that would do coming out as a possible explosion. Remember that Unicron, despite how extremely powerful he is, didn’t try to destroy the Matrix himself; he sent Galvatron and his new troops to do it, far away from him.
- Makes sense, but he learned of Galvatron obtaining the Matrix and of Galvatron's treachery immediately, when they were far away from him. And it was shown he can administer the torture across vast distance. So what was stopping him from doing it right then? Instead he just screams in impotent rage and then obediently waits for Galvatron to come to him, and then swallows Galvatron, ensuring he can no longer even use his internal defences against him.
- The Decepticons hijacked the Autobot shuttle so they can infiltrate Autobot City. With that huge hole in the hull, how did they make their entry in Earth's atmosphere without burning up like the Columbia shuttle? As seen earlier, those ships don't have any shields so there was no way for them to survive.
