At what age can you watch the 1986 Transformers movie?

[Omegatron]

Oh, my son will notice. He understands about life a death (his maternal Grandmother died before he was born, so we had to explain to him why he has only one Grandmother when most of his friends have two). He will know what's happening, but I don't expect him to be really traumatized or anything.

Originally Posted by Metroplex79

Bare in mind that when we were watching G1, commercials and all...we had season 1 and 2 on repeat 5 times a week, for almost 2 years. For a child that's an eternity.

Raised with that many eps, along with hours and hours and hours of playing with G1 toys with friends and family.

It kinda gets cemented in our heads that our heroes are immortal.

Then the movie came along and shattered that stability.

Sure your kid(s) may have watched G1 once through on your DVDs, and played with your G1s carefully and under supervision. But it will not have the same mental impact when watching the 86 movie.

I agree with this reasoning for why it was different for us.

[brr-icy]

seen it when i was 4, no adverse affects lol

[JLvatron]

Originally Posted by Metroplex79

Bare in mind that when we were watching G1, commercials and all...we had season 1 and 2 on repeat 5 times a week, for almost 2 years. For a child that's an eternity.

Raised with that many eps, along with hours and hours and hours of playing with G1 toys with friends and family.

It kinda gets cemented in our heads that our heroes are immortal.

Then the movie came along and shattered that stability.

Sure your kid(s) may have watched G1 once through on your DVDs, and played with your G1s carefully and under supervision. But it will not have the same mental impact when watching the 86 movie.

That's actually not a bad idea.
I'd want my kids to enjoy the movie and Transformers to the fullest. So I guess this would mean:

-being old enough to understand it and consequences
-watching the eps at least twice, to be familiar with the characters
-play with the occasional toys for character/creativity growth

...then watch the movie.

Of course, during this time they shouldn't watch any other Transformers series that would dilute the impact & awesomeness of G1.

Rescue Bots would be an exception.

The above is a difficult challenge for a parent. But I would hope to come close to these guidelines to increase my kids' enjoyment of Transformers.

[Oberon Prime]

Originally Posted by JLvatron

That's actually not a bad idea.
I'd want my kids to enjoy the movie and Transformers to the fullest. So I guess this would mean:

-being old enough to understand it and consequences
-watching the eps at least twice, to be familiar with the characters
-play with the occasional toys for character/creativity growth

...then watch the movie.

Of course, during this time they shouldn't watch any other Transformers series that would dilute the impact & awesomeness of G1.

Rescue Bots would be an exception.

The above is a difficult challenge for a parent. But I would hope to come close to these guidelines to increase my kids' enjoyment of Transformers.

An intriguing social experiment... But ultimately it seems the only point would be to increase the odds that a child be traumatized as much as many of us were back in the day.

[JLvatron]

Trauma?

I doubt that.

No, the idea is to maximize enjoyment, by being well familiar with all the characters, at an age when 1 can understand them and their actions.

[FreedomGundam]

Originally Posted by JLvatron

Of course, during this time they shouldn't watch any other Transformers series that would dilute the impact & awesomeness of G1.

I think the challenge with the experiment would be preventing any other series/medium from diluting the impact that G1 and its characters will have on your children. When we were kids, ALL we had was G1, so there were no other choices. Now, there's a TON of non G1 stuff out there, and kids have TONS of options in terms of Transformers.

It'll be tricky if the kid is at school, and his/her friends are talking about the TF Prime or the Michael Bay movies, (or whatever else is current) and your kid has no idea what they're talking about. Doubly-weird if they come home and ask you "Can I watch the Michael Bay TF movies?" Do you say "No, I want you to feel for and truly understand this batch of 30+ year old characters first, and then catch up on 30+ years worth of cartoons and movies from my childhood first?"

An interesting, albeit challenging, experiment nontheless.

[Oberon Prime]

Originally Posted by JLvatron

Trauma?

I doubt that.

No, the idea is to maximize enjoyment, by being well familiar with all the characters, at an age when 1 can understand them and their actions.

Oh I understood well your intent. Perhaps I overstate the trauma aspect.

Its just the conversation was about how kids today won't react as badly to the death of Optimus from the movie because the G1 cast isn't as familiar or important to them. This was an excellent point. Your suggestion if it worked would increase enjoyment of G1 which is surely a laudable goal. But it also seems that it would invariably have the collateral effect of making the death of Optimus a harder pill to swallow at least for some children.

Some additional comments on the challenge though. I believe it impossible. I do not believe the impact of something like G1 can be replicated through watching only the original cartoon, regardless of how much you isolate the child from other versions.

What we now call G1 and arguably what caused it have such an impact on those of us of the right age at the time wasn't just about toys and a cartoon. It wasn't merely that G1 was the only Transformers it was that we and all our schoolmates watched it every day after school. We all played with, shared and traded the toys that represented those characters in the school yard. We either wore a Kronoform as our watch, or wished we did. It was on our lunchboxes, the stickers were all over our belongings... etc.

I would argue that our love for the original characters was not just because of the cartoon and the toys. But a far more complicated interaction between media, merchandise and a shared social experience with our peers.

I do not believe one could ever reproduce this level of infatuation in a single child... Unless one were to isolate a whole village and its school populace and perform the experiment on all of them.

[JLvatron]

Originally Posted by FreedomGundam

It'll be tricky if the kid is at school, and his/her friends are talking about the TF Prime or the Michael Bay movies, (or whatever else is current) and your kid has no idea what they're talking about. Doubly-weird if they come home and ask you "Can I watch the Michael Bay TF movies?"

This actually simplifies it.
The Michael Bay movies are not for kids with all the bad language, violence, dirty humour.
And that's more general for any genre film.

If 8 year olds in school are all talking about "that new violent Terminator movie" which is rated 18 +, I would like to believe I wouldn't cave to peer pressure and allow children to watch it.

Of course, I'd go see it myself!

[JLvatron]

Originally Posted by Oberon Prime

Oh I understood well your intent. Perhaps I overstate the trauma aspect.

Its just the conversation was about how kids today won't react as badly to the death of Optimus from the movie because the G1 cast isn't as familiar or important to them. This was an excellent point. Your suggestion if it worked would increase enjoyment of G1 which is surely a laudable goal. But it also seems that it would invariably have the collateral effect of making the death of Optimus a harder pill to swallow at least for some children.

Some additional comments on the challenge though. I believe it impossible. I do not believe the impact of something like G1 can be replicated through watching only the original cartoon, regardless of how much you isolate the child from other versions.

What we now call G1 and arguably what caused it have such an impact on those of us of the right age at the time wasn't just about toys and a cartoon. It wasn't merely that G1 was the only Transformers it was that we and all our schoolmates watched it every day after school. We all played with, shared and traded the toys that represented those characters in the school yard. We either wore a Kronoform as our watch, or wished we did. It was on our lunchboxes, the stickers were all over our belongings... etc.

I would argue that our love for the original characters was not just because of the cartoon and the toys. But a far more complicated interaction between media, merchandise and a shared social experience with our peers.

I do not believe one could ever reproduce this level of infatuation in a single child... Unless one were to isolate a whole village and its school populace and perform the experiment on all of them.

I still don't see the trauma part. Lots of fans I know had seen the movie when they were 8-12. And they all turned out fine.

If there were a Ben 10 movie where Grandpa Max dies, kids would cry. But if the movie was awesome, it would still be awesome.
I don't equate strong emotions and crying to trauma.

I've personally cried in more movies as an adult than I did as a child. And it's cause the movies were That good.

You're right the the conditions for us enjoying Transformers 30 years ago cannot be fully reproduced.
But we can still make an effort to give them the best chances of enjoying it.

I guess it comes down to, if something is worth enjoying, maxwell to it right.

[FreedomGundam]

Originally Posted by JLvatron

This actually simplifies it.
The Michael Bay movies are not for kids with all the bad language, violence, dirty humour.
And that's more general for any genre film.

If 8 year olds in school are all talking about "that new violent Terminator movie" which is rated 18 +, I would like to believe I wouldn't cave to peer pressure and allow children to watch it.

Definitely agreed with you on the language/violence/humor part on the Bay movies.

But what about other current series suitable for kids? TF Prime? The new RID? Even Animated, for all that matter?