Optimus Prime became iconic with his 1986 death

Autobot leader is heart of the Transformers franchise

Optimus Prime’s 1986 death in The Transformers: The Movie.

Optimus Prime’s death in 1986 allowed him to live forever.

Optimus Prime is the iconic main hero in the Transformers franchise as the leader of the Autobots in their war against the Decepticons. Over the 42 years that franchise has been running since 1984 including numerous story adaptations, fans and followers of Transformers pretty much all know about Optimus Prime’s death in The Transformers: The Movie from 1986.

For kids that grew up in the 1980s when The Transformers: The Movie came out, Optimus Prime’s death was jarring, especially when it came 26 minutes and eight seconds into the film that ran about 90 minutes in length.

Back in 1986, main character deaths in fictional animation, comics and other stories targeted to children didn’t happen. Even if superheroes like Superman or Spider-Man had died in comic books or in animation, they were usually revived or brought back to life sometimes as early as that same comic book or episode the death happened.

Likely the only experience kids might come across at that point in time with main character deaths came from the Japanese animated Robotech series that first aired in North America in March of 1985. In order to see Robotech, you have had to be in a community that was fortunate enough the television stations picked up and showed that series in syndication. Also, Robotech first aired without a toy line until one came out for it a short run in 1986.

For those that didn’t live in the 1980s or grew up in it, it was the ultimate decade when it came to marketing to children. That was due to the United States government removing many of the restrictions regarding the placement of promotional content within children’s television programming. (*A big thank you to President Ronald Reagan on that front*).

Classic animated Optimus Prime.

The standard practice was for companies to create a toy line and then have an animated series hit television networks to market the toy line. Thanks to that marketing strategy, toy lines like Masters of the Universe, Transformers and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were all created and took off from that decade. Hasbro rebooted the G.I. Joe toy line in 1982, and it is still carrying on in the present day.

On the girls’ side, Hasbro’s Jem and The Holograms line based off the female rock bands of that time rose up to rival Mattel’s iconic Barbie line for about three years. The Jem line was tightly linked to the 1980s music scene resulting in rare reboot attempts.

The Transformer toy line produced by Hasbro debuted in early 1984 and an animated series to promote the toys hit television screens on September 17 of that year. It ran two seasons before The Transformers: The Movie arrived in theatres on August 8, 1986.

Over the first two seasons of the Transformers animated series, Optimus Prime was established as the main hero. Voice actor Peter Cullen, who passed away on August 26 of this year, was the first and is destined to be the definitive voice of Optimus Prime.

When auditioning for the role of Optimus Prime, Cullen followed the advice of his older brother, Larry Cullen, who served as a Marine in Vietnam. After mentioning the audition to Larry, the older brother told his younger brother to not be a Hollywood hero that yells and acts tough if he was going to play a hero.

The advice was given, “If you are going to be a hero, be a real hero. Be strong enough to be gentle.”

The result saw Peter Cullen establish Optimus Prime as a father figure of the Autobots as well as being their leader. Optimus Prime came across as a character you would envision being the ideal dad that you could be proud of.

An Optimus Prime from 1984.

While the storytelling of the original Transformers animated series might look campy, it was good in fleshing out the characters. The characters – especially those that came out in the 1984 line – had worked out backgrounds that allowed audiences to identify with them. It was done in a way that wasn’t seen at that point in time in a series targeted for children.

As a 10-year-old in 1986, I didn’t see The Transformers: The Movie on the first day it hit theatres. I started hearing from my friends really quickly on the playground that Optimus Prime died in the movie. The first thing that ran through my mind was that it wasn’t possible.

On the last day The Transformers: The Movie was in theatres, my oldest sister took me to see the film. I had already dealt with the deaths of two uncles at that point in my life, so I had a rudimentary understanding of what real life death was like.

When the opening credits of the movie ran and I saw a list of new characters that didn’t appear at that point in the animated series and Peter Cullen wasn’t put on that list for voicing Optimus Prime, I knew something was up. I was surprised to see like half my toy collection get blown away in that movie and was stunned by Optimus Prime’s death scene where he turned from red to grey due to his injuries from his final battle with infamous Decepticon leader Megatron.

I actually enjoyed watching the movie in the theatre, and I was fine in the theatre. I was still stunned that Optimus Prime was killed off in the movie, and I admit I did have a cry about it before falling asleep when it was bedtime one night shortly after being at the movie.

A VHS copy of The Transformers: The Movie from 1987.

Little did I know at the time, I found out through the decades lots of kids took Optimus Prime’s death a lot worse than I did. There were kids who had to leave the theatre after Optimus Prime’s death scene.

There were kids locking themselves in their bedrooms for lengthy stretches of time due to the fact Optimus Prime had died. I was unaware that a grassroots letter writing campaign from fans and parents was flooding the Hasbro offices to bring Optimus Prime back.

That reaction sharply contrasted the really cold corporate treatment of Hasbro to the young franchise at the time. The original 1984 line of Transformers was being discontinued and the new 1986 line was hitting retail store shelves.

The executives at Hasbro saw The Transformers: The Movie as the vehicle to basically write off the 1984 toy line and introduce all these great characters in the 1986 Transformers toy line.

Screenwriter Ron Friedman, who wrote for the Transformers animated series, advised against killing off Optimus Prime and told Hasbro executives they would have to bring him back if they went in that direction. Hasbro executives said they had no plans to bring Optimus Prime back and had other great plans for the franchise and told Friedman to kill him off in the movie script that he was writing. Friedman followed orders.

As a result, The Transformers: The Movie was produced with the budget of US$6-million, and it brought in US$5.9-million in its original box office run domestically to be considered a bomb. The Transformers: The Movie didn’t have many folks coming out for a repeat viewing due to the death of Optimus Prime.

To add to that factor, 1986 was the year Top Gun was in theatres and folks of all sorts had “the need for speed” coming out to see that flick in droves. Movies in theatres in 1986 included Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Aliens, The Karate Kid: Part II, Stand by Me, Crocodile Dundee, Platoon and Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home.

A VHS re-release of The Transformers: The Movie from 1995.

As Friedman predicted, Hasbro had to bring Optimus Prime back permanently, which they did at the conclusion of season three of the animated series with the two part episode “The Return of Optimus Prime” that aired in late February of 1987.

In another twist that came out years later, G.I. Joe: The Movie was in production at the same time and plans were originally set to kill off one of the main G.I. Joe heroes in Duke. G.I. Joe: The Movie was intended to come out first, but production delays resulted in The Transformer: The Movie being finished first and thus hitting theatres.

Due to the reaction to Optimus Prime’s death, the scene of Duke’s death had been animated, but the story dialogue was changed to announce Duke went into a coma and it was stated at the end of the film he lived. 

The soundtrack there didn’t go with the footage of Duke taking a fatal wound to the heart. G.I. Joe: The Movie premiered on direct-to video on August 25, 1987 and hit television syndication in September of 1987.

Had G.I. Joe: The Movie came out first with Duke’s death as part of the film, his passing likely wouldn’t have hit the same as Optimus Prime’s. Duke was written as a typical military fictional hero that yelled, acted tough and was tough. Plus, it could be argued characters like Snake Eyes, Storm Shadow, Hawk, Flint, Lady Jaye, Roadblock and Scarlett were as equally or more popular than Duke.

As the decades have gone on, The Transformers: The Movie developed a cult following with numerous physical media releases and various returns to theatres. It is slated to make an upcoming return to theatres for its 40 anniversary running in most North American markets starting on Thursday and running through five days later to the following Monday.

A DVD of The Transformers: The Movie re-release from 2006.

The 40^th anniversary return is being dubbed “The Apology Tour” by Hasbro for killing off Optimus Prime in 1986. It will be followed by a 12-minute animated short called Optimus Prime: Awakening. That will mark the final time Cullen reprises his role as Optimus Prime.

In Saskatoon, it will run at 3:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. on Thursday at the Scotiabank Theatre. Those will be the only showing at that location.

The Transformers: The Movie will start a short run at the Landmark Cinemas on Thursday at 3:45 p.m., 6:50 p.m. and 9:20 p.m. It will show there once on Friday at 12:50 p.m., and once on both Saturday and Sunday at 10:20 a.m. The Landmark Cinemas run ends on Wednesday, September 23 at 6:50 p.m.

The Transformers: The Movie is endeared by the generation that first watched it for being a film that treated its audience as being more mature.

The initial reaction to the death of Optimus Prime causing Hasbro to bring him back in short order made him an iconic hero. In various new stories and interpretations of the Transformer franchise over the decades, plots involving Optimus Prime’s death often via self-sacrifice and later coming back to life have been featured frequently.

In the early 1990s, even Superman and Spider-Man storylines of dealing with a more permanent death before coming back to life were rolled out in the comics.

A 40th anniversary edition of G1 Optimus Prime from 2024.

For most Transformers fans, Cullen’s recent passing means they will check out the re-release of The Transformers: The Movie in theatres as part of the way they remember the man who gave Optimus Prime his voice.

Ultimately, Optimus Prime’s death in The Transformers: The Movie in 1986 and the backlash that followed made him very much different from any other fictional hero especially because Cullen presented him as the hero that was strong enough to be gentle.

It made Optimus Prime the iconic fictional character he is, and he will be remembered by the public at large forever.

If you have any comments you would like to pass along about this post, feel free to email them to stankssports@gmail.com.

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