Transformers One’s Ending, Explained

Transformers One is the newest entry in the franchise and serves as an intriguing new starting point for the story. However, despite being a new origin story, the movie still has greater connections to the original series that help to set up a potential sequel. Here’s Transformers One‘s ending, explained.

Transformers One’s Ending, Explained

Transformers One centers around Orion Pax (Chris Hemsworth) and D-16 (Brian Tyree Henry) and their journey to becoming Optimus Prime and Megatron, respectively. The ending almost entirely sets up the key characters in the movie to the status quo that fans are used to – more specifically, something more in line with the original 1984 cartoon aptly named Transformers G1 (Generation One). 

The character designs, objects, and aesthetic of Transformers One evoke the spirit of the animated series that helped to start it all, especially in the film’s climax, which sees Orion Pax nearly killed by the newly-named Megatron. The entirety of the movie leads up to exposing the corruption of Sentinel Prime and his exploitation of Cybertornians. Unfortunately, D-16’s disillusionment with Primes, in general, leads to the character wanting to tear it all down and start from scratch – no matter the damage or casualties.

Pax’s selflessness and wish to end the violence costs him his life when D-16, calling himself Megatron after the deceased prime Megatronus, fatally wounds him when they disagree about how to carve a new path forward for Cybertron. On the verge of death, Orion Pax is gifted the Matrix of Leadership, an essential item in Transformers lore, with the design of the Matrix being nearly 1:1 as it is in The Transformers: The Movie. The Matrix transforms Orion into Optimus Prime in all his G1 glory as he fights Megatron in what could be considered the first of many battles in their long and violent history.

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The entire crux of the film is finding the Matrix of Leadership, which can help restore Energon supplies, the primary source of power for all life on Cybertron. With Optimus Prime now in possession of the artifact, Cybertron has the potential to thrive once again. However, fans of both Michael Bay’s live-action iteration and the original series know that the Transformers eventually become refugees, desperately trying to find a way to restore their planet. Transformers One ends in a place that fans can recognize, but it still has a long way to go before it reaches the point that we find it in the 1984 series.

Before all that, though, there is the Quintessons. The sinister, animalistic robots are introduced as antagonists in the film and the ones that started an alliance with Sentinel Prime to steal Energon from the planet of Cybertron. Transformers One deftly decides to handle the interpersonal conflicts of its lead characters rather than address the looming threat of the Quintessons still attempting to take Cybertron. There’s not so much a resolution to the more prevalent problems but a clear sense of direction for the main characters, with story arcs that feel incredibly satisfying, especially with the post-credits scene, which showcases Megatron officially forming the Decepticons.

When you pair this ending with Producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura’s comments about Transformers One’s connection to the canon of other films and how far out the prequel is in the series, it’s clear that there’s plenty of room for more stories set on Cybertron. However, given the world’s design and the cast’s voice performances, it’s hard not to see the uncanny resemblance to the world of the 1984 cartoon. If there’s any direction for a potential sequel to go in, it could be toward a potential reimagining of the G1 cartoon that helped to make Transformers popular in the first place.

Transformers One tells a profoundly moving story about the divide between two lifelong friends. In the process, the film also manages to use the rich lore of the Transformers to its benefit, setting up a new antagonist should a sequel for the film be greenlit. There are plenty of nods to the original cartoon series, with the characters’ designs and visual consistency suggesting that a whole new take on the original story could be coming in the future.

And that’s Transformers One‘s ending, explained.

Transformers One is in theaters now.