History WesternAnimation / TheTransformersTheMovie

* DiscOneFinalBoss: Subverted since Unicron is already set up to be the ultimate villain but Megatron is effectively this for the Autobots, having managed to slaughter roughly half of their number(of the named characters, that is) and being taking out by a mortally-wounded Optimus Prime before anyone is aware of Unicron's existence.

* SoleSurvivor: [[EnsembleDarkhorse Soundwave]] is the only one of the original Decepticons to make it out of the movie alive and in his original form. There's also his original cassettes (Buzzsaw, Frenzy, Laserbeak, Ravage and Rumble), but as they spend most of their time inside his chest compartment, this makes sense.

* KnewItAllAlong: When Rodimus Prime, f.k.a. Hot Rod, reveals himself and gives his first command, Kupp beams and says, ''"I knew you had potential, lad!"''

** So Optimus had taken a pretty mad hit following his battle with Megatron but any thought he might be fine gets evicerated by Red Alert saying "[[AnyoneCanDie I fear the wounds are fatal]]".

** Unicron, despite being an actual ''planet'' is able to sneak up on a defenseless planet at the beginning of the film as well as the Autobot bases on Cybertron's moons and then Cybertron itself and in every instance nobody notices him and no sensors detect him before he reaches nomming distance. Possibly {{Justified}} due to it eventually being revealed that he's a PhysicalGod rather than simply a giant robot, so maybe he can only be detected when he wishes to be.

The film also stars Creator/EricIdle as Wreck-Gar, Judd Nelson as Hot Rod, Creator/LeonardNimoy as Galvatron, Creator/RobertStack as Ultra Magnus, Lionel Stander as Kup and Creator/JohnMoschitta as Blurr.

** In 2006, Creator/IDWPublishing would publish a four-part miniseries adaptation of the final version of the film (with some minor changes) in honor of the film's 20th anniversary, which was [[AdaptationTitleChange titled]] ''Transformers: The Animated Movie'' to avoid confusion with [[Film/{{Transformers}} the live-action Michael Bay movie]].

* CatchPhrase: The Junkions are full of recycled catch phrases from other TV series and commercials. ("Kill the grand poobah! Eliminate even the toughest stains!")

!!''The Transformers: The Movie'' provides examples of:

* AnArmAndALeg: Kup loses his left arm and right leg when Hot Rod rescues him from the octopus on Quintessa. Fortunately, Hot Rod reattaches them in the aftermath.

* HateSink: The [[HangingJudge Quintesson Judge]] runs a KangarooCourt in which the "trials" serve as amusement before the prisoners are executed by being dropped into a pit full of Sharkticons. His very first scene has him declare the last survivors of planet Lithone's destruction as innocent and then have them executed anyway, [[EvilIsPetty laughing as they are eaten]]. It says a lot that Grimlock can easily sway the Sharkticons to turn on their master simply by stomping his foot and pointing at the Judge, who then sets himself apart from the other major villains in the movie by [[DirtyCoward refusing to fight back and instead running away]] from the Sharkticons as they happily chase after their next meal.

* KangarooCourt: Even if you're innocent, the Quintesson magistrate is dropping you in the Sharkticon pit. Primus only knows what they do to the guilty. ([[MortonsFork It's actually the same thing either way]], they just like to taunt the victim first.)