The original animated movie from 1986 is one of the most beloved forms of content to come out of the Transformers franchise. Whether you saw the movie as a child in the 80s or rediscovered it after the live action movie boom in 2007, a large amount of fans adore the movie. With a 30th Anniversary Blu Ray release in September I wanted to know why you think the movie has endured as long as it has and why fans value it as highly as they do.
I saw the movie around 2008 after discovering its existence and got the 20th Anniversary release for my tenth birthday. I had only seen the first episode of the G1 cartoon on monkeybarTV (or something like that) so a lot of the character deaths had little impact on me. I was in awe, though, at the fact that the Transformers were popular enough to have a theatrical animated movie in the 80s and I was hooked onto the franchise. For me I love the movie because many of my favorite characters were introduced in it, such as Kup, Galvatron, and Hot Rod, and for the memory of a ten year old me watching it over and over again. Funny thing about Spike's infamous swear word, when I watched that scene I thought he had said "oh the ship!" so looking back I find it funny that that scene stuck for a lot of people.
Thoughts?

Edit: I forgot to add Music and all of the above on the poll so just treat these two options as other. Ironically, I probably would have chosen music if it was on the poll 

 

I love it because it is pure, unashamed metal fantasy. It's dark and edgy enough to have some impact, but doesn't take itself too seriously because of it. "Hey, we are going to have Hot Rod fight a giant robot squid now, while some heavy metal music plays. Because we can." It's so bad that it's awesome.

The animation, the writing, the acting, the soundtrack... none of these are remarkably great in their own right, although they're certainly not terrible. But every last cell, line, delivery, and anthem perfectly serves the whole to create a sublime balance of "campy" and "cool" with absolutely no regard for moderation or common sense. It's like letting your imagination run wild as you listen to the unearthly crescendos of a progressive rock album (or maybe Dio, or something similarly consciousness-altering), except that it's all right there on the screen to watch over and over again. I don't think there's anything else exactly like it.

And somehow, despite its disjointed, meandering plot, the movie manages to give us what still has to be the most epic and stoic of Optimus Prime versus Megatron duels, and a surprisingly decent coming-of-age/hero's journey character arc for Hot Rod.

 

I love the the new characters, the somewhat more serious portrayal of warfare, the wider scope, the fact that it moved the action for the most part from earth to outer space and Cybertron... Its just sublimely Techno and epic Transformers storytelling.

 

So many reasons. It felt like an adult animated film like Heavy Metal or Rock n' Rule. I loved it at the time for it's detailed animation art and unforgiving nature to destroy your favorite characters in a matter of minutes. It is the pinnacle of the G1 era in terms of moving forward, not because of new toys, but because the fiction refused to stay redundant.
It set the standard for future renditions of the Transformer line and introduced mainstay mythological concepts. I almost want to say that the franchise wouldn't be as strong as it is today had it not been for this film.

Today, I love the film for its nostalgia and the bold choices. It also is a great reminder on how to handle children's entertainment. The fact that we still have conversations about this film and not Gobots: Battle of the Rocklords speaks volumes.

 

The poll needs an "all of the above option". That would be my choice.

 

cos it's metal as fuck

 

I forgot to add "all of the above", as many would probably feel the same way.

 

For the "oh shit" part. That's epic man

 

Too many reasons...

Nostalgia, soundtrack, memorable lines, the threat of characters dying becoming a reality...

 

because it is one of my favorite animated films of all time. loads better than any of the other toy ad movies. the only ones that i think even come close are the bravestarr and rainbow brite films. gi joe is boring. my little pony the movie is also. the carebear movies are alright, if just because they are totally creepy. the he-man movie, the one that introduces she-ra is just a mess of repetitiveness. mostly involving he-man getting captured, and she-ra having to save him.

but, transformers the movie is the only one that actually feels like it is a movie, and toy commercial second. it has fantastic music, that fits transformers WAY better than any of the music in any of the modern stuff. besides maybe beast wars. gi joe the movie had a great intro. but that was it. transformers the movie, is far from perfect, but it sure is a lot of fun. i know a lot of people hate rodimus, but i love the character. i like a lot of the new characters introduced. and it is the first time it actually felt like a war. where characters are being slaughtered. on both sides. they are getting shot. and now they are dead. gone forever. that is war.

and then there is the gobots movie. the movie that never actually felt like a movie. but wow did it just keep going.

transformers still has the best movie out of all of them. even today. it's still a better movie in my opinion than the live action films.

 

Definitely the nostalgia, lots of things from my childhood have sentimental value, this is one of them

 

D: All of the above

 

I really think "The Music" should be a poll option. I own more copies of the soundtrack than of the movie itself.

 

Everything. The voices, the characters both old and new, the battles, the threat of characters actually dying, and the theme of passing the mantle to the next generation. More than anything, though, the fun. No movie, no matter how good, has ever given me as much sheer fun as Transformers: The Movie.

 

Should be multiple choice.

For me, the animation and characters introduced.

At the time, the movie was easily the high water mark of the franchise, and actually, I think it still is.

 

Everything. Although less so nostalgia given I only saw it a few years ago.
I only saw the '86 movie after finding the DVD in some random shop in 2010, but oooh man, I absolutely loved it.
And dat soundtrack, what a treat! I've got a real soft spot for that uniquely 80's synth-driven stuff, so DiCola's score coupled with all that 80's buttrock really scratches that itch.

Also, Starscream's death. I don't know how many times I've watched it, but every time it gets to Starscream's coronation I'm mentally going "here it comes! Here it comes!!!". Easily one of the coolest movie deaths ever.

It's just rad.

 

Crap, completely forgot about the music. Meeting Vince Dicola at Botcon this year was one of the highlights of the trip for me since this movie and Rocky IV have my two favorite soundtracks.

 

Yeah, very well said. I couldn't have said it better myself. Its not just the animation...the story was dark, edgy and although some elements were borrowed from other stories/toons it still felt original enough. Example, we had most of the old guard dying, the concept of the "Chosen One'.

I found the reformatting of the dead/dying Decepticons was very cool and how the Matrix upgrading Hot Rod to his 'real self' a very cool and a great concept.

 

A lot of reasons overall, but more recently I've had a stronger appreciation for the animation. I always knew it was a step up from the series and it wasn't always perfect or consistent, but it was usually impressive with strong quality and detail, especially the 'showpiece' sequences like Autobot city transforming, or the opening Unicron attack or his transform sequence. The amount of detail in motion always impresses me, even more so that it was completely hand drawn by humans, knowing that a similar sequence done today would undoubtedly be done with CG even in an otherwise 2D production.

 

All of it.