Reaction to the new Autobots & Decepticons

[Deception]

i never watched the movie in theatres as well. as a matter of fact...i wasn't even alive

[elburrito]

I was 12 when the movie came out. I was shocked and disgusted by Prime's death. A similar feeling to when I learned there was no Santa.

Then disappointed that Hot Rod turned out to be the new leader. after Prime's last words, I was sort of expecting some ass-kicking robot to emerge.

Never liked the new Autobot characters (except Springer) thought Cyclonus and Scourge were awesome.

[huffer]

The movie was a turning point for me. I didn't like the new characters, I didn't like how they trashed the original autobots. I wasn't keen on the new look of the cartoon either. I just lost interest in transformers at this point.
I did love the part where prime came rolling down from the shuttle.
Watching that scene and hearing "you got the touch" still gives me goosebumps!

[wervenom]

I was 13 or 14 when it came out, wanted to see it in theaters but my mom wouldn't let me. When it came out on VHS I rented it from a little shop and must have rented it for a week straight. When I figured out how to beat the sync pulses on that tape I made a copy (which I still have now). Mind you the infamous Spike line wasn't in it but I have watched that movie on multiple platforms well over 3,000 times at least. The first time I watched it was at my friends house since he had a bigger TV and we were all shocked at everyone's death but to be honest when Starscream threw Megatron out of Astrotrain I was like wtf just happened. Seeing him turn into Galavatron is what gave me goosebumps. I still remember watching the commercial where Galavtron was introduced by Megatron so I had no clue what was going to happen in the movie and Galvatron became my second favorite transformer (Megatron will always be my first . It was season 3 in which I lost respect for him, but appreciated his power. And Unicron's transformation freaked everyone out, we must have re-winded that part 5 times alone. Ahh good times and great memories

[razin]

Although I didn't like the onscreen cast, I still remember buying Scourge, with money I had saved ( I was 9). I'm pretty sure I purchased it at Consumers Distributing.

[Whisky Tango Foxtrot]

I'd seen a fair bit of the animated series before I saw the movie, but I didn't have the exhaustive knowledge of it that I had with, say, He-Man. When the new characters showed up for the movie I figured that they must have been introduced in episodes that I hadn't seen, or maybe I had seen them and just didn't remember given how hard it was to keep the ever-growing cast of Transformers characters straight.

I didn't notice that so many of the original cast were killed in that movie until I re-watched it as an adult, since most of them were blink-and-you'll-miss-it affairs and the hits that took them out tended to be the same sort of thing that they'd survived easily in the show. With Optimus Prime, my main problem wasn't so much that he died but that Megatron didn't. I was already familiar with the idea that a hero might not survive his story, but the idea that a hero might lose? That he might die while his nemesis managed to get away merely damaged? That was harder to swallow.

[Ras]

Originally Posted by Whisky Tango Foxtrot

...I was already familiar with the idea that a hero might not survive his story, but the idea that a hero might lose? That he might die while his nemesis managed to get away merely damaged? That was harder to swallow.

I always figured Megs was mortally wounded, so to me it was a tie since they were both on the way out.

[Janitor]

Five year old me: "Who da f#$k are these douchebags?!"

OK, not really. This was 18 years ago so I don't exactly recall my feelings back then. More than likely I was simply overwhelmed by EVERYTHING the movie brought which we never experienced from watching the tv show:
-a more space-based (vs earth) adventure
-rockin' soundtrack
-this was on the BIG screen!!!
-seeing our beloved characters actually die! <gasp!>
-...especially Optimus Prime (Starscream too)
-UNICRON??? asdfvxihsjkl;!!!!!!!!!!
-the wee bit of cursing we got
-that animation was a cut above

I got Ultra Magnus for my birthday a few weeks later, so I guess it all worked out.

[Ironwave]

Originally Posted by razin

Although I didn't like the onscreen cast, I still remember buying Scourge, with money I had saved ( I was 9). I'm pretty sure I purchased it at Consumers Distributing.

Ahhh Consumers Distributing especially the catalogue

[steamwhistle]

I remember my sister taking my friend and me to see it.

On the car trip to the theatre, we were expecting mega battles between all the combiners, Bruticus, Defensor, Devastator, Omega Supreme, Superion, Menasor... I don't think we were aware of the new toys.

Once the movie started, I realized it was going to be a little different. The animation was far more detailed. Seeing the bot (Arblus, I think I later learned from the comic book), and planet get crunched at the beginning of the movie was incredible. The scene set the tone. This was big. "What just happened here?" Of course, this is me thinking as a kid! I was on edge.

The opening theme music and intro were, and always will be, weird to me. I was still thinking about that planet and those bots getting crunch, and being young, I didn't think much about the names that were flashing on screen, beyond "who are they?" The only names I recognized as being familiar were Orson Welles and Leonard Nimoy. I was too young to immediately comprehend how they were associated with the movie.

Then hearing the familiar narrative voice (of Victor Caroli - though I didn't know much about voice actors then) set me back at ease. I was glad to see that the story was about the future of the TransFormers. I thought it was pretty cool to see Spike as a grown up. I think, from this, it made it interesting for me to see the new bots that were soon to appear.

I took the death of the bots fairly well... At the time, The only bot toys I had were Trailbreaker, Thrust, Dirge, Shrapnel, Blitzwing, Superion, Defensor, and Bruticus. I probably would have been more distraught if any of my toys died!

The death of Optimus Prime was somewhat expected for me, having seen the commercials for the movie on television. Still, I remember being sad about it.

I was still too young to comprehend the commercial aspect of having new bots. I enjoyed that the new characters brought in somewhat new personalities. Although, I see now that there are parallel characters -- Kup is like Ironhide, Springer is like Jazz (although Jazz did survive the movie), Ultra Magnus is like Prowl, Wheelie is a dumbed-down Bumblebee, etc...

Overall, I was a kid, and I was entertained. And the old series and movie still entertains me today, whenever I feel like regressing for a while.

Other random thoughts:
Unicron's head has always been spooky.
Why would they produce a Hot Rod toy when he was already Rodimus Prime?
Scourge looks like a flutterboard with a head sticking out of it.
Consumers Distributing was awesome.