The Transformers: The Movie promo

Early in the production of The Transformers: The Movie, a promotional trailer was made to sell the project to potential investors.

“	A new motion picture will transform the summer of 1986 into an incredible adventure.	”
—The promo's opening blurb.

This trailer has since been released to the general public, and features a fair bit of test footage that was either changed or cut before the movie's release, together with a few lines of unique narration by Victor Caroli.

Notable differences

• There are close-up shots of both of Unicron's pincers piercing Lithone's surface.
  • Unicron's inner workings have a much more organic appearance to them.
• The Autobot shuttle is a slightly different design and colour scheme.
• When Kup tells his story about the Ick-Yak to the Dinobots, they are sitting around in robot mode.
  • Kup's dialogue is also from a different take to that which was used in the movie.
• The Battle of Autobot City is a bit more energetic and violent than the final version.
  • Ultra Magnus is drawn in his Diaclone colours.
  • Autobot City is mostly white.
• The Matrix of Leadership is missing from around Galvatron's neck.
  • The placeholder image is a white outline somewhat resembling the middle sphere, but without the handles.
• Galvatron falls inside Unicron as he transforms, only to suddenly reappear outside of him.
• Unicron in robot mode is missing his facial hair.

In addition to the above points, there are a few musical cues and lighting and sound effects featured that were changed for the movie's release.

Japanese version

A slightly re-edited version of the trailer exists that features Japanese captions on screen. Apart from these captions, there is little difference between the two versions; the opening blurb has been removed (probably due to it being pointless in front of an audience that can't read English), and some of the blank footage between cuts has been trimmed down.

This version is often simply called the "Japanese trailer", and is usually lumped in with the movie's regular trailers and TV spots.

Releases

The promotional trailer has been released as a special feature on a few DVDs.

• Transformers: Complete Original Series: Deluxe Edition (Maverick Entertainment) — The Japanese version.
• Transformers: The Movie: Reconstructed (Metrodome) — The Japanese version.
• Transformers: The Movie: 20th Anniversary Special Edition (Sony BMG) — The original version, but features commentary by Paul Hitchins in lieu of the audio track.
• Transformers: The Movie: Ultimate Edition (Metrodome) — The Japanese version.