Transformers: The Movie (1986) and the Refusal of the Call trope

Joseph Campbell identifies the refusal of the call in his book The Hero with a Thousand Faces as a story trope where the main protagonist of the story is called to an adventure but refuses to go. The hero’s reluctance to act can come from a variety of reasons that are usually psychological in nature. Emotions such as guilt or fear try to keep the hero homebound so that he/she cannot soar and reach their full heroic potential. It is an age-old trend that is found in all mediums of mankind’s story form. Everything from epic poems, oral fairy tales, literary fiction, television shows and finally movies. It is a part of the storytelling tradition that Campbell famously calls “The Monomyth.” 

Fig. 1 - The Transformers: the Movie (Nelson Shin, 1986).

The Monomyth is a universal story structure that follows a hero on a quest or adventure where he must overcome obstacles and learn lessons that will ultimately change himself and the world around him. According to Campbell, the monomyth is broken into three main acts that represent the Hero’s Journey. The first act is Departure (when the hero embarks on his adventure). The second act is Initiation - here, the Hero must go through a series of trials that strengthen him mentally, physically and spiritually for the ultimate showdown. The final act is The Return, where the hero not only rises to his face his greatest challenge but defeats it, and in doing so, returns to his place of origin with greater knowledge or a remedy that changes his people for the better.

Within these structures outlined by Campbell are storytelling elements that are crucial to the hero’s development in the 1986 animated film Transformers: The Movie (Nelson Shin, 1986), which is a continuation of the 1984 toy line and animated series of the same name (that it follows to the hilt and subverts at the same time) (Fig. 1). The writer of the film, Ron Friedman, certainly had a difficult task. He had to write a story that walked a fine line between introducing the audience to a new heroic journey and an established universe with heroes and villains that were already internationally familiar. Yet Nelson Shin’s film succeeds in ways that are rather surprising. The movie is centred around the young plucky hero “Hot Rod” whose life is that of a soldier in a war that has raged on for millions of years. However, Friedman introduces him in a way that sticks to the blueprints in the first section of Campbell’s Monomyth, that of the “The Ordinary World.” As mentioned, Hot Rod is a young soldier already called to service, but when we first meet the “Autobot,” he is quietly fishing with his human friend Daniel by a river in the mountains. Hot Rod’s life seems mundane and ordinary.

Transformers: The Movie - Hot Rod and Daniel go fishing.

Friedman also does something interesting for the second subsection of the Departure. Hot Rod and Daniel get a call on their communicator that one of their aircraft is arriving at their headquarters. Now, unbeknownst to the two friends, the shuttle was infiltrated and hijacked by Megatron and his evil Decepticons earlier in the film. Hot Rod and Daniel return to headquarters not knowing what is in store for them. This moment is Hot Rod’s “Call to Adventure.” This is when the ordinary ends and the extraordinary begins. It’s no different than the scene when Obi-Wan asked Luke to embark on a quest to save the princess and become a Jedi Knight.

Now, we arrive at the most interesting part of Act One in the film, which is the “Refusal of the Call.” Almost every hero backs out when asked to respond to the call of adventure. Luke in Star Wars denied the call at first out of loyalty to his aunt and uncle. Neo from The Matrix (The Wachowskis, 1999) refused the call due to denial and disbelief. In Hot Rod’s case, the call to adventure is accepted, but the reward is delayed. He is somewhat of an experienced warrior when the film begins, fighting valiantly and courageously to protect his human friends and his compatriots. However, his youth is his flaw. He is immature, impulsive and hardheaded, more like D’ Artagnan from the Three Musketeers than Luke Skywalker. These characteristics lead to the death of the “Autobots” beloved leader “Optimus Prime” during the “Transition of Power” scene in the film, which is the moment in the story when a dying king must hand over his reign to a younger prince. In the case of the Autobots, a mortally wounded Optimus Prime tries to bestow upon Ultra Magnus (Prime’s second in command) the mystical matrix of leadership. This matrix serves as a talisman that grants its bearer the power to lead. Prime choeses Ultra Magnus to carry the burden of leadership, but the matrix has other ideas.

A weakened Prime drops the matrix. All the Autobots in the room reach out for it before the talisman can hit the floor. Hot Rod gets to it first, and when the young warrior lays his hands upon it, a burst of energy invisible to all except the spectator engulfs him. This is a sign that the Matrix has chosen the one responsible for the previous leader’s demise to accept the mantle. This is where the Refusal of the Call is subverted. No one in the room knows about the choice of the matrix. Hot Rod places the instrument of succession in the hands of Ultra Magnus, which is not always the case regarding the refusal of the call trope. As stated earlier, when confronted with the call the hero will often reject it out of fear, guilt or uncertainty over their own ability. The protagonist of the story is usually the one who rejects the initiation. In Hot Rod’s case, the matrix chooses him but does not make that choice known. The instrument is comprised of all the leaders that came before, known as the spirits of the ages. The leaders of old know that the young warrior is not ready but must prove himself by embarking on a heroic journey of leadership. This is the second call of adventure.

In mythical storytelling, a hero may go on with more than one call. In Hot Rod’s case, the first adventure call was the call to service. The second is the call to lead. The journeys are similar in how they begin, but the ending is different. The best example is Galahad’s quest for the Holy Grail in the story of King Arthur. Galahad is said to be the purest of all the knights in Camelot and because of his purity, the knight was able to see the grail, but he did not return to the Arthurian kingdom with the chalice as his prize. Instead, he ascended to Heaven with his purity intact. The call to leadership requires more from Hot Rod - his quest must lead him back to his people with a prize that will help them.

Galvatron from Transformers: The Movie.

During this journey, Hot Rod is accompanied by an ensemble of wonderful, weird and wacky characters that aid him. He is joined with an Ancient Autobot named “Kup” who serves as his mentor. Clunky but powerful Dino-bots are the muscles of the fellowship, while characters Blur and Wheely represent the comic relief. This ragtag group of friends help Hot Rod throughout various trials as he prepares for the ultimate battle against Galvatron the new leader of the Decepticons (see left) that also has the matrix in his possession, and a monstrous planet devourer named “Unicron.” This creature seeks to consume everything in its path, including Earth and the Autobots’ native planet, “Cybertron.”

Hot Rod and the rest of the Autobots reach Cybertron and Unicron for the last battle in what is known by Campbell as “the road back”. This is traditionally the section in Act Three when the hero returns home, but along the way the young warrior has undergone transformations in his personality. His immaturity is gone, yet his resolve to destroy Unicron, reclaim the matrix for the autobots, and save his home planet remains strong. When Hot Rod and his fellowship are swallowed by Unicron, the young hero finds himself in the belly of the beast. The only way to get out of it is to defeat Galvatron and unleash the power of the matrix. Hot Rod knows he is outmatched but engages with the Decepticon regardless of the outcome.

This one act of selflessness leads to the section of the Monomyth known as the Resurrection. Galvatron is close to killing Hot Rod when the hero reaches for the matrix, which is chained around the Decepticon’s neck. The spirits of the ages see the sacrifice that the young Autobot is willing to make and officially makes him the new leader. This transformation leads to the defeat of Galvatron and the destruction of Unicron. The Autobots are transformed when Cybertron is once again under their custodianship. Here, the refusal of the call as an old-world trope is subverted - Friedman sees the mythic possibilities and gives the world a story that is for the ages. I hope this analysis will bring more respect to a film that many fanboys and girls consider it as a classic. “Til all are won!”

**Article published: October 31, 2025**

References

Campbell, Joseph. 1973 [1949]. The Hero with a Thousand Faces. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

Biography

I was born and raised in Brooklyn N.Y., where I developed an insatiable appetite for all things animation. I embark on my journey to become an animator late in life after my wife and I relocated to Georgia. I’m now in the throes of directing my first animated film Plaything as I travel the Country as an over the road truck driver with my wife Marilyn serving as both my teacher and partner.