Yes, I too was a big Transformers fan when I was a kid. Man, I loved those first two seasons, especially the characters like Ironhide and Ratchet.
So, it was a shockt to me when I finally got to see Transformers: The movie. when the Bad Guys (Decepticons) show up on the Good Guys (Autobot) ship.. and kill every good guy I liked execution style within 20 seconds.
Upon closer viewing, at one point, a new character is looking on a scrapheap, and clearly the bodies of two others I liked were there. Later, we see an old favorite ripped into pieces as he is eaten.
Now I know, the death of “Optimus Prime” is supposed to be the big thing.. but he dies heroically.. it was the callous cold death of these characters that really was kind of messed up in my eight year old little world.
As I got older, I realized that these kinds of decisions are often marketing decisisions.. or actors quit. So, when everyone but ripley died in Alien3, When Tasha Yar died on Trek, when Dax died on DS9, when tessa died on Highlander, I saw the pattern.. it is made quick and “pointless” to shock the audience..
What does this have to do with the price of beans, I don’t know.. suffice to say, when you’re a kid, maybe death should be a few steps further away.
Interesting facet…
I think it’s an interesting facet of American culture that it’s acceptable to depict the violent deaths of favorite cartoon heroes in children’s shows, yet not acceptable to depict the creation of life in children’s shows.
I’m not advocating anything here; I think it’s just kind of a funny thing that we have this taboo against sex, yet not a similar taboo against violence. I don’t know if that’s a good thing, a bad thing or just… well… a thing.
—
Matthew P. Barnson