Here is something cool from the original Transformers outing on the big screen. Via Transformers@TheMoon, we have learned of an Imgur album which contains some animation cels and backgrounds from the original Transformers the Movie, from 1986. These images cover the gamut from cels used in the movie’s animation including Rodimus running toward the camera in the finale and the reformatting of Megatron, to montages of the backgrounds from several key scenes including the battle of Autobot City. Some of the montages look to have been stuck together from several images – possibly either due to the way these scenes were composited during production, or by whomever uploaded these images. Either way, there is some great material here to be enjoyed, especially some of the images such as the establishing shot of Autobot City in the header of this story.
akaBoG
I sold the full body Unicron cell (listed as \"movie 20\" above) to a private seller……maybe ten years ago or so for $9,500.00. My brother and I originally begged my dad to buy the cell for us at an art and hobby show in 89 or 90. I know that one is real for sure.
Darkspire17
a few of them are not real, there from an old thread for backgronds for stop motions and backdrops, the sky pic( from the trailer) is just a screenshot from the trailer), a few of hem are fake, made from capturers from the movie, this is very old news
OptimusTimelord
Aww, thanks man
Lol, yeah not really news… Funny that many of the images have been on TFW2005 for a year or so
I wish they had managed to dig up the original artwork though, it would be great to see the genuine stuff. That Autobot City panorama for example, I cobbled together from glimpses between trees in a tracking shot; not particularly the best way to view it! Would love to see a nice sharp, detailed scan of the original painting…
Blue Meanie
I have it, be aware though it is the oversaturated, under contrasted remastered version. I actually watch the old Rhino DVD or the non letterboxed Sony version. I have the Japanese laser disc too, never watch it though.
Newholl
Yeah, and some are from Rubberslug members (like the Unicron tearing surface of Cybertron from a deleted scene).
GAUGE
Pretty sure alot of those are edits Optimus Timelord did in regards the the Background shots.
Most of those have been floating around the web for years.
Ribieconvoy
Beautiful stuff. I love seeing how cartoons were made before the digital era. To be fair, there's a lot of similar stuff going on today with layering techniques in digital software, but there's just something magical about physical media that I feel digital will never have (but I'm totally glad digital is the standard now because the quality is better, it's cheaper, and there's less to keep track of ).
cj37a
Thanks… ebay here I come..
Then I can throw these old Laserdisc copies in the trash ^^.
Chaos Prime
Wow, what really nice art. I'm loving this.
Aernaroth
I absolutely adore the background paintings of the 86 movie. Gorgeous stuff, and now I'd really like to see the original cels (mattes?) instead of these composites.
Psychoshi
I was surprised and confused to see this stuff frontpaged, as I recognized the images that you had put together in your thread a while back. You should get news credit for this!
Blue Meanie
That side shot of unicron tearing into the planet is no where in the movie. Must be one of the legendary cut scenes.
Goldimus Prime
I <3 Optimus Timelord, you have made so many wonderful contributions to this fandom!
tunaflash
Wow, great post, thanks. That header image is beautiful.
OptimusTimelord
Yeah somehow a dozen or so of my composited shots, such as the Autobot City panorama, have ended up in there. So those are not the original artworks, just my reconstructions using screen grabs. Plenty more in my thread, including S1-3 of the tv series, here: http://www.tfw2005.com/boards/radicons-customs/979397-g1-toon-backgrounds.html
Elbastardo
The backgrounds are seriously the #1 thing I loved about the movie! The rest of the animation was great, the music, the story and the new characters were fantastic but those backgrounds really fascinated me as a kid.
When I first saw it in the theater I was just blown away by the whole movie but watching it later on vhs I would always pause during these scenes and study them. I even tried to draw some! Also the Unicron transformation scene where he totally counts as background too!
What a great find!
Qcjoe
I hope the U.S gets a HD release soon.
Killamarshan
Some beautiful art there. Particularly the Autobot City landscape.
TheIchKing
Simply stunning
AnonymousDwell
My GOD those are beautiful!