Transformers: The Movie (1986)

The Watchcast is back for another year, and we're kicking off 2026 by laying waste to our plastic filled childhoods! The first entry in our trio of toy commercials disguised as films is one very near and dear to our youthful hearts in Transformers: The Movie, a film that simultaneously enthralled and traumatized an entire generation of budding robot enthusiasts, and tested the limits of how many popular characters you can kill off in the name of commerce.

CHAPTERS:

(00:00:00) - The Nextlander Watchcast Episode 164: Transformers: The Movie (1986
(00:00:25) - Intro.
(00:05:57) - Let's talk about our own histories with Transformers fandom.
(00:14:45) - On the trauma of Transformer murder.
(00:20:49) - How did Transformers (generally) come into existence? And some other miscellaneous bits.
(00:31:55) - Onto the movie, and who is responsible for all this.
(00:38:14) - Killing off the old toy line.
(00:44:54) - What a (bizarre) cast! And soundtrack!
(01:00:19) - Break!
(01:00:50) - We're back, and real quick, let's chat about the version we watched.
(01:03:22) - Kicking off your kids movie with an entire planet being devoured.
(01:10:46) - Leaping into the year 2005, and everybody's got moonbases now.
(01:15:59) - Say goodbye to several Autobots.
(01:19:48) - Hot Rod, Kup, Arcee, and the rest!
(01:29:00) - Optimus is here to save the--oh no.
(01:35:47) - The scene that middle-aged nerds still describe to their therapists.
(01:40:18) - Unicron, Galvatron, and various Cyclonuses.
(01:51:43) - Eat it, Starscream.
(01:54:09) - On Arcee, and how the party gets split.
(02:00:12) - Are the Quintessons interesting? A debate.
(02:08:33) - Are the Junkions interesting? No.
(02:13:02) - Unicron goes ham, and Rodimus is born.
(02:29:14) - Final thoughts.
(02:40:31) - Teeing up for next week's movie: G.I. Joe: The Movie!
(02:43:46) - Outro.