10 Insane Movie Moments You Couldn't Believe Directors Actually Went There
6. The Death Of Optimus Prime
A truly harrowing sight for any young viewers upon a first watch, the death of Optimus Prime in Transformers: The Movie was the stuff of utter nightmares.
This shocking moment from Nelson Shin's 1986 picture would be the equivalent of Disney killing off Mickey Mouse, of The Simpsons killing off Homer, of Pokémon killing off Pikachu, of Thundercats killing off Lion-O, of SpongeBob SquarePants killing off... well, you get the point.
Transformers: The Movie set its stall out early, with a handful of Autobots brutally murdered by Megatron and his nefarious Decepticons. While a later battle between our heroes and villains has Megatron getting the advantage over long-time rival Optimus Prime, nobody at the time of a first watch would ever think that the film could possibly kill off Prime.
Shockingly, that was indeed what happened. After a battle that left both Optimus and Megatron with fatal damage, the leader of the Autobots dies on an operating table after the colour literally drains out of him.
Of course, in reality this was done as a way to erase the old guard of the greater Transformers franchise and introduce a slew of new characters; a slew of new characters who could make for shiny new toys to shill to the kids of the day.