Before watching 86 movie, do you recommend any cartoon episodes for newbie?

[DELTAprime]

The Dinobots and Constructicons are a major part in the movie, but I think their introductory episodes are unnecessary and honestly a little confusing.

Not to mention the fact the Constructicons introduction has been written off by much of the fandom because it's pretty much retconned in season 2 to be non-canonical.

[Deonasis]

Jump in! It is stand-alone and simply the best. Watching anything first may backfire and honestly put her off seeing the movie.

[Paulbot]

I agree with that watch it first, but would suggest watch if with the scrolling text intro rather than the cast credits. It gives a bit more context to the whole thing. Not sure what's on that Bluray though or if it gives you an option.

However, if you're going to watch some of G1... In general you can't go wrong with the multi-part episodes (although I'd personally skip Ultimate Doom). Good stories, usually good animation, and some world building stuff.

If I was introducing someone to the G1 series I'd go with these 15 stories first:
More Than Meets The Eye, part 1-3
Transport to Oblivion
Roll For It
Fire in the Sky
S.O.S. Dinobots
Heavy Metal War
Dinobot Island, part 1-2
Megatron's Master Plan, part 1-2
Desertion of the Dinobots, part 1-2
The Golden Lagoon
Kremzeek!
The Search for Alpha Trion
The Key to Vector Sigma, part 1-2
Starscream's Brigade
The Revenge of Bruticus

[DarkHyren]

Not to mention the fact the Constructicons introduction has been written off by much of the fandom because it's pretty much retconned in season 2 to be non-canonical.

I retconned that my own personal head canon by just changing Megatron's line "they were worth the time we spent building them in these caverns" to "they were worth the time we spent re-building them in these caverns" to imply that the Constructicon's had lost their original bodies at some point (similar to the Combaticon's G1 cartoon origin story). Simple little internal edit but makes the Constructicon's introductory episode remain canon.

Anyway on the topic at hand, if she's not a fan of transformers or cartoons it might be too much to ask her to watch episodes as well as the movie so I just wouldnt bother and would jump right in, it's fairly stand alone and if she is curious to find out backstory etc then you guys can go and watch the series.
Feeling that she needs to watch "a lot of episodes" first might end up being "too much work" to show an interest in "your silly toys", I know this from experience dealing with non fans that thought they were doing me "a favour" by pretending to be interested, so think about what she's like as a person rather then what gives the most information since if it's like the people I mentioned it's wasted effort.

[GoktimusPrime]

If your friend has a general or basic idea of what the Transformers are, then perhaps jumping straight in is fine. But if they have zero idea then I would recommend watching select episodes from Season 1.

Transformers The Movie assumes prior knowledge of the G1 cartoon and it can be quite confusing for people who come in with zero knowledge. This is why TFTM was a box office failure. The 2007 Transformers movie was much better in that you could walk into that film as someone who has never heard of the Transformers before and still enjoy that movie. If a person has never ever heard of TFs before then I'd be more likely to show them the 07 film. It's far more accessible.

[SoundwavePerth]

Jump straight in, its a stand alone movie. IF you really want a brief background, just watch the first couple of eps of series 1, which are good in themselves.

Kind of related, I'm having similar thoughts for my children, when to show them the movie. Both are suddenly heavily into transformers (not forced on them), but I think they need to be exposed to the g1 series, appreciate Optimus before they witness him killed off. I have showed them clips from the movie with Hot Rod as they like him, and they bloody love the song "The touch".

My sister showed her son Transformers the movie and he loves it, but she wont show him the Lion King - as when Simba's dad dies its sad....

I personally think Transformers is a bit more full on!

[UltraMarginal]

Jump straight in, its a stand alone movie. IF you really want a brief background, just watch the first couple of eps of series 1, which are good in themselves.

Kind of related, I'm having similar thoughts for my children, when to show them the movie. Both are suddenly heavily into transformers (not forced on them), but I think they need to be exposed to the g1 series, appreciate Optimus before they witness him killed off. I have showed them clips from the movie with Hot Rod as they like him, and they bloody love the song "The touch".

My sister showed her son Transformers the movie and he loves it, but she wont show him the Lion King - as when Simba's dad dies its sad....

I personally think Transformers is a bit more full on!

a father figure dies in both movies...
I will be showing my kids the show before the movie, as that's how I saw them and I think the show is a little easier to digest as a kid.

[SharkyMcShark]

Definitely take this opportunity to mess with her.

Prime Target

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Hoist Goes to Hollywood

A Decepticon Raider in King Arthur's Court

[philby]

haha cheers for all the opinions! I think we will just jump in. I don't want to make it feel like watching "homework" before. She has seen a few of the live movies so it won't all be completely foreign. She is obsessed with looking every detail up on IMDB while we watch anything together so if she wants more info she can find it hehe.

[BigTransformerTrev]

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