Why Megatron vs Optimus Prime Was the Realest Fight of Our Childhoods

[divider type=”space_thin”]During a phase in the 5th grade I watched Transformers: The Movie every day after school for a whole semester. My brother had “borrowed” the VHS from one of his friends in that way one “borrows” things in Elementary school with the invalid assumption that you can loan things that don’t belong to you. That’s how your video games ended up down the street at your friend’s neighbor’s cousin’s house, and how my brother handed Transformers: The Movie to me. A fitting change of possession honestly, because no one could have loved that VHS more than I did. Absolutely no one. In my daily ritual I jumped off the bus from school after arguing the latest from Power Rangers or Pokémon, walked inside through the side door (no one used the front), through the kitchen, and to the den where I tossed my bag on the couch and watched Transformers all alone, content in my being, more carefree Black boy than I ever have been and ever will be. The casual parent may have seen Transformers as a basic action cartoon, a predictable adventure of good versus evil, the fall of the villain inevitable. Late-comers may conjure images of Michael Bay’s shaky cam, Shia Lebouf running, or Megan Fox. Yet whether you enjoyed the $320-million-dollar blockbuster film for lighthearted fun or loathed it as the dumpster fire of a villainous Director more threatening than Megatron himself, you know better than that. Transformers: The Movie was a movie of heart, death, power dynamics, and motiv…