We need some good reminders right now... what are your favorite emotional scenes in Transformers?

Ultimate Doom, Part 3:
"Well, Dad. It's like you said, you don't quit on the ones you love."
"...mushy, but true."

Code of Hero:
Dinobot's death and funeral. All of it.

The Core:
"Hang on to your dreams, Chip. The future is built on dreams. Hang on..."

Transformers the Movie:
Optimus's death
"Arise, Rodimus Prime."

Transformers Armada:
Starscream's sacrifice

Marvel G1:
Optimus plunging the Matrix down Unicron's throat at the end of "On the Edge of Extinction"

Transformers Prime:
"It is a concept that I've become familiar with. A human concept."
"That is, sir?"
"Family."

 

The moment transformers the last knight was a box office failure. I cried tears of joy.

 

To me, it would be the Hot Rod vs. General Ghyrik battle in Space Pirates. The first time I read it, I could truly see Hot Rod struggling against Ghyrik and basically internalizing his plight as he is being beaten. And Arcee basically coming in and basically hoping that he manages to see that he is worthy of the respect that comes with being leader of the Autobots:




Also, here is a brief, but very impactful moment for me. Rodimus is running for his life in this panel, and the amount of stress and weariness he has really shows, and really made him feel a lot more relatable to me:


And then, there is this:


There are also a lot of moments in Beast Machines that bring me to tears. The ending of The Weak Component with Optimus Primal coming in and telling Rattrap that no matter how handicapped he was, he was still stronger than what everyone thought just touched me. It not only made me cry, but it also made me reflect a bit. There was also the moment where Primal lets Rhinox go. The amount of emotion in that scene is pretty powerful, and Tankor moving his laser eye around before leaving actually does add to the sadness of the scene. And there is also the scene where Primal realizes that he had become just as bad as Megatron when he wanted to rid all the technological, and the voice performance of Garry Chalk is superb. It's just so filled with guilt, grief and regret, and the appearance of Rhinox basically telling him that it still isn't too late to make things right was... man. I honestly remember crying during that scene as much as I did with the ending of The Ninth Configuration.

Code of Hero also made me cry a lot, and an honorable mention goes to Transmutate. That final scene with Rampage howling with pain after Transmutate was destroyed just really hit me.

 

These ones, and a few others:

Animated:
There are a lot in emotion in this show for me in this show as it was my first and I remember it the most fondly. One of them is definitely Ratch telling Omega to transform to sleep, not being able to answer him on his purpose in the conflict.

Though, my favorite emotional moment was probably the final battle between Optimus and Megatron. My favorite TF line has the perfect set up, Megatron is so self-righteous that he doesn't know Optimus' name, this leads to the final battle after the Lugnut supreme's are destroyed where he drops my favorite line in all of Transformers... "You have interfered with me for the last time Optimus Prime!" perfect.

Prime:
As a 10 year old, Bumble Bee's death actually hit really hard before it got reversed 2 minutes later, it was perfectly done other than that.

Target: 2006
Probably the most intense fight in TF history took place between Galvatron and Ultra Magnus. It is an amazing read.

MTMTE/LL:
I feel like MTMTE had a very nice ending that pretty much wrapped up everything perfectly. I have MANY problems with Lost Light, But one of them, is not issue #25 one of them. A perfect, bittersweet ending for the TF equivalent of LOTR.

 

Optimus' death in the 86 movie. Will never forget.
Dinobot's death in BW. Just an amazing wrap up to an amazing character.
Prowl's death in Animated.

 

“50 years from now, when you’re looking back on your life...”

 

Bee pissing on Simmons

 

OP's sacrifice in Dark Awakening.

 

G1: Optimus prime’s death, keep dreaming chip the future’s built on dreams

Beast wars: the whole transmutate episode as well as dinobot’s death

Beast machines: I’ll add what @TheUltimateBum said

armada: even though I didn’t like armada starscream, his death was still pretty sad

Animated: prowl’s death, when wasp got mutated, I’ll just put @Maximus Danz said:

when sentinel found out that black airachnia was elita 1, the series finale when Optimus finally captures megatron and wears the fragments of the allspark

Prime: the s2 finale, when ratchet found out that Optimus destroyed the omega lock, dreadwing finding out what happened to his brother, the s3 finale when they restore cybertron, also in the s3 finale where arcee, bumblebee, and bulkhead say bye to miko, Jack, and raf, Optimus prime’s death in predacons rising and when all the sparks came from the core of cybertron

Cyberverse: bumblebee’s reaction when he finds out that hot rod got supposedly killed

siege: when elita 1 stays back for cybertron, the whole conversation between Optimus and megatron, when megatron was telling Optimus that the war made miners with no hope into soldiers with a cause, impactor’s death, and mirage’s reaction when he sees all the autobots on spikes

IDW: when megatron explains to ravage why he became an autobot, ravage’s death and soundwave’s reaction, skid’s death, tarn finding out that megatron became an autobot, megatron coming to the final battle and murdering the DJD, rewind’s death, when rewind cut chromodome’s arm to save him, when impactor spares overlord, and the whole conversation between Optimus and megatron in transformers the ongoing series

Bumblebee: when bumblebee dies, and when bumblebee and Charlie go their separate ways

Transformers 2007: when Optimus prime and the autobots are talking about protecting the humans, no sacrifice no victory, and the ending

dark of the moon: when the autobots leave earth and ironhide’s death

Age of extinction: how many of my brothers do we have to lose to make up for your mistakes, when Optimus finds out what cemetery wind was doing to the autobots, and when Optimus spares Joshua Joyce

 

Season 2: Beachcomber's sad "we won..."line from the golden lagoon.

86 movie: The aftermath of the battle in Autobot City was very emotional seeing how both sides took a bit of a lost from all the fighting they did. The till all are one scene at the end after Unicron was defeated is also good, it is the inverse of what happened after the battle of Autobot City where the Autobots gain a new hope for the future and leader after suffering a huge lost. It felt like that was the ending for the Transformers tv series so I was surprised when why found out that there was a season after the movie.

Season 3: The end of the burden hardest to bear where Rodimus accepts his position as the leader of the Autobots.

The Rebirth: Cerebros simple line of "It's a miracle" after witnessing Cybertron restored.

Beast Wars: One episode that stuck out to me when I was a kid is the episode where Tigatron's tiger friend getting killed by the Maximal and Predacon war.

Transformers 2007: When Bumblebee was captured by Sector Seven after he exposes himself while trying to save Sam and Mikaela from falling off Optimus who didn't seem to care. The music accompanying the scene is good and to see Sam tried to save Bumblebee only to be tackled by the men somehow resonates with me even though Bumblebee and Sam isn't my favourite characters. I think its because this was a really well shot scene that made me like it.

DOTM: The Autobot's exile from Earth was well done, like my example above the music accompanying this scene was fitting and I like the conversation between Sam and Optimus. Megatron's honest relief witnessing Cybertron again.

AOE: Cade and Tessa's conversation in the barn, it helps to show their relationship and how they are worried of the others future. There is actually a lot of emotional scene in AOE that I like, the scene where Cemetery Wind came to Cade's house to look for Optimus, the Autobot's reunion where everyone rejoices at the return of Optimus, Cade looking at Ratchet's head being melted down while talking to Darcy(?) about the Autobots are the one that protects them, Optimus and cades conversation about sparks and believing people and Hound's stand against the KSI drones followed by Dinobots cavalry rescue.

TLK: Cade and Izzy moments in the Junkyard.

 

I totally forgot about this, but an honorable mention goes to the scene that starts at 1:03 of this video:

Seriously, I really feel Dick Gautier doesn't get enough credit as Hot Rod/Rodimus. In here, he really shows quite a lot of emotion and you really can tell at times by the tone of his voice that he doesn't want to hurt the person that inspired him most. And his reluctant "I-I'm taking command" really shows how difficult it is for him to do this. And when the fight ends, he truly sounds damaged and uncertain. His "Believe me... I tried" is pretty heartbreaking to me and the eulogy he delivers with the right balance of respect and uncertainty about the future. I still find this a very underrated performance with a lot of emotion and humanity in it.

It's one of the reasons why I feel some but not all of the more recents versions of Optimus (like the TFA Optimus) should have been Rodimus, because Roddy works better as the underdog, as someone who is constantly beaten, getting his ass kicked by life, but even with that and all the self-doubt he has, all the stress and grief leadership brings him (to the point of making him leave the Autobots only to realize that he does need to find that missing part of his own self), he still is gonna try to give it his best shot no matter what.

 

Everyone cites Dinobot’s death in Code of Hero as the most emotional moment, and its damn emotional, but to me the real hard hitting scene is the last one, and the ramifications it would have.

When Dinobot attacked Megatron with the stick, the caveman hostage watched in shock at this ability to use a found item as a weapon. This same caveman was the one who saw his friend get eaten by the python at the beginning of the episode. Not only did he see Dinobot use an ordinary object to fight, he witnessed him construct it into an even more formidable weapon. After all is said and done this same human finds the club Dinobot made, and is amazed at its usefulness and ease at which it cracks open a coconut. Then the same python that claimed his friend returns, and in desperate defence the caveman clubs the snake to death. For a moment the human awes at the power of this crude but effective implement, and its power as a tool and as a deadly weapon, and screams in triumph at this new discovery which would forever elevate humans above all other species.

Dinobot’s legacy was not just saving humanity, he showed them the way of weapons and tools. That club does not just represent Dinobot’s resourcefulness, but the first step in our history, and the incredible power humans would grow to have all because they picked up a stick. The caveman’s scream echoes as the view goes to space, where humanity would eventually go, and thus echoes into the future, with Dinobot’s spark watching over from the vastness.

That to me is possibly one of the most simple yet profound moments in Transformes media. Without a word said we see the actions of a character have immediate and incredible ramifications that would effect all of history. It’s some 2001 A Space Odyssey shit and it was so brilliantly simple and unpretentious.

EDIT: Also if auto-correct were a person I would strangle them.

 

Ian Weir really did a great job with the whole script for the episode. It was definitely his finest work in the series and every moment is filled with tons of emotion. There still are some of the series' trademark slapsticky moments with the Predacons basically being abused to no end, but most of it just really plays with your emotions and that ending really shows the extent of Dinobot's sacrifice.

 

Pipes' death in MTMTE.

G1 Optimus shouting Megatron's name when the Decepticons take off from Earth.

Bumblebee leaving Charlie.

Siege
Optimus Prime: "We are not the Decepticons!"
Optimus Prime: "I won't let you enslave it!"

G1 Fire in the Sky:
Optimus: "We shall remember you, Skyfire."
Autobots: "We shall remember!"

ROTF
Sam's father not wanting Sam to risk his life getting to Prime.

DOTM
Wheeljack begging for his life before being coldly executed.

Animated
Wasp's screams as Black Arachnia mutates him.

86 Movie
The Decepticon screams as they're melted in Unicron's cauldron.

G1
Soundwave's concerned cries for Ravage while escaping the Ark.

 

As annoying as Miko could be, seeing all the different times throughout Prime she either fought her hardest to help Bulkhead or was deeply distressed by his being in danger showed just how much she genuinely loves him & cherishes their friendship. I've always enjoyed that.

 

Optimus Prime's 1986 movie death, naturally.

90% of Code of Hero. Great episode.

Many, many scenes involving Ratchet in the Marvel Comics. He's awesome.

The horrific nightmare Megatron/Ratchet combo freaks me out every time I see it.

G1 Optimus' dad moments in Seasons 1 and 2, of which there were many.

Armada Megatron beating up Starscream in "Rebellion" was actually mildly horrific and very unsettling.

Scorponok's death scene in the Marvel comics. "Did I...do good?"

Animated Ratchet's flashbacks, especially the ones involving Omega Supreme.

 

yeah for a comic relief character in a shitty movie, ron begging his son to get the hell out of here was a weirdly human moment

 

Beast Wars: Code of Hero, obviously, but also Transmutate, especially that ending. The shot with Rampage cradling Transmutate's severed head in his hands and Silverbolt telling Primal to leave him be because he finally understands him... hits like a sack of bricks, man.

Armada: Armada's got a couple of these, and wouldn't you know it, they practically all revolve around Starscream. The scene from Rebellion where Megatron is beating him senseless and, in an act of desperation, Demolishor blows the wall open and quite possibly saves Starscream's life. The bit from Sacrifice where Starscream realizes the other Decepticons abandoned him as a sacrificial pawn against the rest of the Autobots and screams to the heavens above. And of course, his final sacrifice, one last act of defiance against Unicron before being utterly vaporized where he stood. Useless as an actual attack, and he knew it, but invaluable as a symbolic gesture. Starscream was tremendous in this show and it's little wonder this incarnation of the character is still so widely beloved.

Animated: Animated has its fair share of these as well, but the one that always springs to mind for me is The thrill of the hunt-- all of Ratchet's flashbacks dealing with Arcee's tragedy and him finally just wailing on Lockdown by the end of the episode. "Time was I'd use my EMP to do this painlessly. Too bad I don't have that anymore." And, of course, Prowl's final smile right before he sacrifices himself to restore the Allspark.

Bumblebee: Admittedly I was in a pretty emotionally susceptible place at the time I watched it, but the scene where Charlie tells Bumblebee about how hard it's been coping with the loss of her dad and just broke down... that got me to cry, man. Losing someone you care about always hurts, and Hailee Steinfeld is a damn good actress for selling that scene perfectly.

 

I concur with everyone saying Dinobot’s death. The dialogue and voice acting in that scene are outstanding. Of course, everything building up to it as well, such as Dinobot making the decision to fight off all of the Predacons on his own. A great end to a great character.

 

The 1 second of "The Last Knight". It was the moment before I lost all my emotions. It trully seems like a huge emotional moment in comparision to what came.

I have'nt cried since I was in 6th grade. Even then I rarrely ever cried. I've cried once in 6th grade, and it was the last time I ever cried. Optimus Prime's death.