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SCMP Reporter

TRANSFORMERS:  BACK ON FILM

What: Transformers are robots   from the distant planet of Cybertron.

After searching the galaxy for new energy sources, they end up on prehistoric Earth.  They run out of power and switch off.

Four million years later, in 1984, the robots find themselves active again  when a volcano erupts.

They discover they can modify their body into vehicles, airplanes and  various gadgets to adapt to life on Earth.

How:  Transformers began life as a line of Japanese  toys in the 1970s. These  were later  released around the world in the 1980s.

The toy series blossomed into a lucrative franchise thanks to the then-popular three-pronged marketing approach: create a new line of toys and then promote it via tie-in comic books and animation series.

The good guys:  The Autobots. Their leader is the charismatic and iconic Optimus Prime, who can transform into a semi-trailer truck.

Prime is a pacifist armed with a laser rifle and an energy axe. Inside his chest hides a talisman known as the Creation Matrix, which will be passed down to the next Autobot leader if he dies.

Prime actually dies on several occasions, but is  always resurrected to feature in  later animation episodes.

The coolest  Autobots are the Dinobots - a group who can transform into robotic dinosaurs.

They  were created by the Autobots after the latter discovered fossilised dinosaur bones in  in the volcano.

Their leader is Grimlock, a fiercely independent and powerful T-rex who  refuses to take orders  from other Autobots.

The villains:  The Decepticons.  They are led by Megatron, who can transform into a Walther P38 pistol - the handgun  used by the Nazis during world war two. A ruthless leader, Megatron's  most powerful weapon is a cannon  attached to his arm.

Megatron tries to drain Earth of its resources.  But his plan is thwarted by Prime, who preaches the ideology of peaceful co-existence.

The relationship between Megatron and Prime is typical John Woo material - both are strong leaders  who  could easily  have been friends  if not for their opposing ideologies.

The movie: The 1986  animated movie is set in 2005. It begins with  a battle on Earth between the Autobots and Decepticons.

Watching it now  will serve as appetiser before the new live-action Transformers movie, directed by Michael Bay, hits  our screens in July.

The animation was  shocking to many children in the 80s.  It  was much darker and more violent than any of the preceding TV series had been.  The robots acted like soldiers at war, slaughtering each other without hesitation.

Prime is killed by Megatron in the movie. But the character  was  revived in later TV episodes after parents complained  that the movie  was upsetting  for children.  Further proof, surely, of the power of youth.



movie buff