Spoiler alert! We discuss important storylines and endings from Transformers One (in theaters now) so be careful if you haven’t seen it yet.
The image of Optimus Prime transforming into a truck and setting off with the Autobots is burned into the minds of anyone who saw the old “Transformers” cartoons from the 1980s or the more recent live-action movies.
So it’s amusing to watch in the animated origin story “Transformers One,” when Optimus (or, as he was younger, Orion Pax, voiced by Chris Hemsworth) and his robot friends struggle to get their hands on their first transforming gears: Their mechanical heads keep snapping back into places they shouldn’t be, their limbs get stuck when they try to switch into new vehicle modes.
It’s a moment straight out of director Josh Cooley’s toy box.
“One of my memories from when I had Transformers was that some of them were so complicated they wouldn’t actually work, and I’d get about halfway through and be like, ‘I don’t get it. Dad, help me!'” says Cooley (“Toy Story 4”), “When I was a kid, my Transformers would just be half-finished, sitting on the floor.”
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Cooley, who grew up watching the Saturday morning cartoon “Transformers,” has a lot of Easter eggs and references to “Transformers,” which tells the story of Optimus and his Decepticon rival Megatron (aka D-16, Brian Tyree Henry) as they go from best friends to sworn enemies. Here, Cooley breaks down the ending, the best cameos, and the key post-credits scenes.
How will Transformers One end?
Orion and D-16, along with their friends Elita-1 (Scarlett Johansson) and B-127 (Keegan-Michael Key) (best known as fan favorite Bumblebee), are tasked with finding the legendary Matrix of Leadership, only to learn that their leader, Sentinel Prime (Jon Hamm), has sold their home planet Cybertron to the evil Quintessons and is responsible for the deaths of the Primes who ruled over them. Orion wants to hold him responsible, but an angry D-16 wants to kill him. During their revolution, D-16 accidentally shoots Orion while aiming at Sentinel, causing him to fall into the planet’s core instead of saving him. However, that is exactly where the Matrix is โโlocated. He is resurrected by Prime and transformed into the powerful Optimus Prime, defeating his former best friend and banishing him and his new followers.
Cooley initially considered an ending where they didn’t have an epic battle, but “that’s what I wanted,” he said. “That’s the moment when[Megatron’s]gun comes out. That’s the moment when[Optimus’]mask comes out. I’m waiting for that.”
Will there be any classic Transformers cameos?
Fans of the ’80s animated series will see plenty of familiar faces. Certain characters, like Autobot Jazz and Decepticon mainstays Soundwave, Shockwave and Starscream (the latter played by Steve Buscemi), appear in key scenes, while many others are only mentioned by name or appear in the background for eagle-eyed viewers. At one point, Cooley noticed that the animators were “sneaking characters into my favorite shots.” “I said, ‘You know what? Keep going.'”
Cooley stars in the role of voice of the Decepticon jet Skywarp. “The Decepticons are a lot of fun,” he says. “It was honestly a chance to be a kid again.”
Will Transformers One have a post-credits scene?
In fact, there are two additional scenes in the film. One is after the first credits, when B-127 proudly displays his laser-like “knife hand” at the pile of junk he considers his “friends”, accidentally chopping off one of their “heads”. The other is just before the theater lights come up, when Megatron inscribes the familiar Decepticon crest on all his new followers, enraging them. “Do not be fooled by his deceptions,” he tells his old friend. “Rise, Decepticons!”
“We knew it was important for him to call them Decepticons at some point,” Cooley says, and the original plan was for the scene to occur before the climactic battle. The scene felt “shoved” into the story, so Cooley decided to give it its own place at the end of the film, which was “really great.”
Cooley adds that the scene also gives a nod to the villains’ camp’s naming: “Nobody comes out and says, ‘We’re the bad guys!’ And then when Megatron gives his evil, Optimus-esque speech at the end, it’s like, ‘We’ve been lied to. We’re not going to be taken for granted anymore. We’re going to take responsibility.'”