and Junkions (who have their own ship) fly to Cybertron. Galvatron attempts to threaten Unicron, but like Ultra Magnus, cannot activate the Matrix. In response to Galvatron's threats, Unicron transforms into a colossal robot and begins to dismember Cybertron. When Galvatron attacks him, Unicron swallows him and the Matrix whole. The Autobots crash their spaceship outward through Unicron's eye and become disbanded while Unicron continues to battle Decepticons, Junkions, and other defenders of Cybertron. Daniel saves his father Spike from Unicron's digestive system, and the group rescue Bumblebee, Jazz, and Cliffjumper. Galvatron attempts to form an alliance with Hot Rod, but Unicron forces him to attack. Hot Rod is almost killed but, at the last second, recovers and successfully activates the Matrix, resulting in him becoming Rodimus Prime, the new Autobot leader. Rodimus tosses Galvatron into space and uses the Matrix's power to destroy Unicron, then escapes with the other Autobots. With the Decepticons in disarray from Unicron's attack, the Autobots celebrate the war's end and the retaking of their home planet while Unicron's severed head orbits Cybertron. Cast Development Writing The Transformers television series began broadcasting in 1984 to promote the Transformers toys by Hasbro; The Transformers: The Movie was conceived as a commercial tie-in to promote the 1986 line of toys. The TV series featured no deaths, and the writers had already deliberately assigned familial identities to characters for young children to associate with; however, Hasbro ordered that the film kill off several existing characters to refresh the cast. Director Nelson Shin recalled: "[Hasbro] created the story using characters that could best be merchandised for the film. Only with that consideration could I have freedom to change the storyline." Screenwriter Ron Friedman, who had written for the TV series, advised against killing Autobot leader Optimus Prime. He said in a 2013 interview: "To remove Optimus Prime, to physically remove Daddy from the family, that wasn't going to work. I told Hasbro and their lieutenants they would have to bring him back but they said no and had 'great things planned'. In other words, they were going to create new, more expensive toys." According to the screenwriters, Hasbro underestimated the extent to which Prime's death would shock the young audience. Story consultant Flint Dille said: "We didn't know that he was an icon. It was a toy show. We just thought we were killing off the old product line