Note: This review contains spoilers for The Transformers: The Movie (1986).
In celebration of the 40th anniversary of The Transformers: The Movie (1986), Hasbro held a promotional campaign framing it as an Apology Tour, centering on the trauma many ‘80s kids faced from the infamous death of Optimus Prime in the film and culminating in a special theatrical screening from Fathom Events. While this campaign was meant to be tongue-in-cheek, the recent passing of Optimus Prime voice actor Peter Cullen shortly before the planned screening made the whole thing very awkward, leading both Hasbro and Fathom to downplay the Apology Tour aspect, save for whatever was too late into production to change. Truth be told, before Peter Cullen’s passing, I was actually planning to skip the screening entirely until I learned there was to be a new animated coda attached to it, at which point I got tickets when they went on sale; similarly, I was also going to skip the upcoming 40th anniversary Blu-ray set (I already own the Rhino DVD, Sony DVD and both of Shout! Factory’s 30th and 35th anniversary sets since they all have different bonus features on them) until I learned said coda was going to be included. As for the screening itself, I still found the movie worth celebrating for Transformers fans, but felt mixed about the extra content.
