I have a bone to pick with the Philippine movie theaters nowadays. There are a lot of smaller movies that have come out in other countries like the United States. But we’re only getting the really big blockbusters lately. For every The Devil Wears Prada 2 and Spider-Man: Brand New Day we get, the Philippines is missing out on films like Coyote vs. ACME, The Room Returns!, Mutiny, Motor City and many more. So, it comes to no one’s surprise that the 40th Anniversary re-release of one of the greatest movies ever made, The Transformers: The Movie, was never, ever going to get released here, despite the Philippines having a large transformers fanbase. And, yes, I stand by my statement that it is one of the greatest movies ever made.

There are a couple of reasons why I wanted to go see the re-release of The Transformers: The Movie. One, I do love how they’re poking fun at themselves by calling this The Apology Tour. After all, this is one of the movie that traumatized a lot of little Transformers fans. Yes, a cartoon about giant robots fighting caused a lot of grief for hundreds of tiny tykes who grew up watching the heroic Autobots fight the dastardly Decepticons. I mean, when you see most of the die, including fan favorite Optimus Prime, the leader of the Autobots, that’s bound to cause a little kid to bawl their eyes out, right? And they just had to “apologize” for doing that… 40 years later. Hey, better late than never!

But the second and probably biggest reason is that they’re adding a totally new short to Transformers: The Movie during the Apology Tour. That would be Optimus Prime: Awakening. This is something I really wanted to see on the big screen because this would be Peter Cullen‘s final performance as Optimus Prime before his passing earlier this year. As a huge Transformers fan myself, I would have loved to hear Peter Cullen’s voice coming out of the Autobot leader one more time. Alas, as the re-release isn’t coming out here in the Philippines, that means that Optimus Prime: Awakening isn’t either. So, I just had to rely on *ahem* less reputable methods of seeing the short. Like Unicron‘s head after the battle, the entire thing is floating out there for people to see. It would just take a little effort to do so.

By hook and by crook, I did get to see Optimus Prime: Awakening. And I have to say I both love it and hate it at the same time. Now, I will be talking about the plot of Optimus Prime: Awakening as it does connect to how I feel about the short. So I’m bringing out the mandatory SPOILER warning now. So, you have been warned.

So, Optimus Prime: Awakening actually takes place right smack in the middle of the event of Transformers: The Movie. As Optimus Prime finally passes, his Spark/spirit joins with The One/The Source. Optimus pleads with The One to return so he can help his fellow Autobots against the Decepticons. The One mentions he will return, only to die again. But he (Optimus Prime) will continue to fight against the Decepticons throughout a multitude of other timelines, proving that his fight is futile.

The One then shows Optimus Prime a vision of Unicron attacking Earth and Prime’s hand turning human before snapping back to this reality. Optimus Prime is still unconvinced and, this time, The One sends Prime back to the early days of the War of Cybertron. Megatron has Bumblebee cornered and Optimus interferes. The two leaders fight and Optimus gets the upper hand. Bumblebee pleads to Optimus to finish off Megatron. But this is when Optimus Prime realizes that this is what The One was talking about and how this endless bloodshed will not end, even if Megatron is sent to oblivion. Optimus Prime then relents and drops the Autobot Matrix of Leadership into the core of Cybertron. Optimus Prime then walks through a glowing corridor, telling a confused Bumblebee he has to go and “light our darkest hour.” In an after credits scene, it shows Megatron managing to retrieve the Autobot Matrix of Leadership to officially end Optimus Prime: Awakening.

I guess I’ll talk about what I disliked about Optimus Prime: Awakening. The biggest thing is… what the heck was that about? If you read my summary, Optimus Prime: Awakening’s overall plot is very cryptic. It deals with a more spiritual side of Transformers lore which I was not expecting. I’m mainly a Generation 1 Transformers fan, so, while I am familiar with the idea of “alternate realities” as that’s a reference to the other animated Transformers series, I didn’t really watch them. I am sort of familiar with the concept of The One but only through “knowledge osmosis”, meaning I absorbed it just through being a Transformers fan but I never really delved too much into it. So, I’m betting a lot of it went over my head. So, to me, while I was able to follow the story beats, I know I’m not able to fully understand the meaning.

I’m also really confused with Optimus Prime: Awakening’s ending. Did The One actually send Optimus Prime back to the past? If so, does that mean he gave up the Matrix of Leadership? If so, how did we still get the Generation 1 cartoon and The Transformers: The Movie? Did that all happen in Optimus Prime’s head and him walking into the glowing door was his Spark joining The Matrix of Leadership? If so, then why is there a scene where Megatron finds the Autobot Matrix of Leadership? Is that also in Optimus’ head only? It’s just so confusing? Or maybe it’s not meant to be understood but just felt emotionally? Like I said, what the heck was that about?

However, despite the really confusing ending, I can’t help but still have a soft spot for the short. I guess a lot of it has to deal with Peter Cullen’s passing and this being his final performance. To hear him voice Optimus Prime one more time and him do the voice of what made him famous in the first place is just a nice bookend to his career. Despite him being in his mid-80s when he recorded these lines, he still has the knack of delivering a really nuanced and emotional performance. This is especially true when he walks through the golden doors and says it’s to “light our darkest hour.” Hearing him say that sent a chill down my spine with how good a delivery it was.

I also do have to say I didn’t mind it being all CGI and 3D animation. I would’ve loved it if they went back to using “traditional” hand-drawn cell animation for this short to really pay homage to Transformers: The Movie. But I can’t say the 3D animation here is bad. Heck, I have to say it’s really good! The animation is really good and easy to follow and, if I were to have a gripe with it, I do wish the folks behind the animation used a more “cell-shaded” look.

But for me is that, even though I wish it had a more clear-cut ending, I did enjoy the more spiritual storytelling of Optimus Prime: Awakening. I was on board with it until we got to the confusing ending. But I did like the ideas behind it. Things like Optimus Prime feeling the burden of being the leader of the Autobots and having to save everyone. Him relinquishing the Autobot Matrix of Leadership because he realizes he has to rely on his fellow Autobots to move forward and succeed him (because he died in Transformers: The Movie).

I still wish I could have seen Optimus Prime: Awakening on the big screen. I actually would have loved to just try to talk to others who saw it with me to discuss what that was all about. But I know we just might get into a debate about what it is all about because we would have different ideas as it doesn’t have a clear cut ending. So, for right now, I just have to content with scrolling through the Internet and see the opinions of other fans who did get to see it during the Apology Tour.

Lucky bastards.

What’s your take on Optimus Prime: Awakening? What do you think it means in the grand scheme of Transformers lore? Let me know in the comments section below!