The Transformers: The Movie Deluxe Edition

by Ralph Macchio, Bob Budiansky, Don Perlin (Illustrator)

176 pages, Hardcover

Published September 8, 2026

About the author

For the Karate Kid actor, click here: Ralph Macchio

Ralph Macchio is an American comic book editor and writer, who has held many positions at Marvel Comics, including executive editor. Macchio is commonly associated with Daredevil, the Spider-Man line of comics and the popular Ultimate Marvel line. In Macchio's words, he "made probably the longest run on Daredevil of anyone."

Macchio is not related to the actor Ralph Macchio, but is nicknamed "Karate Kid" after that actor's famous role.

Reviews

[Paul]

The 1986 Transformers movie is one of my favourite films of all time that I've seen hundreds of times. So in my excitement of it returning to the cinema for the 40th anniversary I bought this hardback of the two comic adaptations, one by Marvel and the other by IDW.

In animation it's pretty hard for me to find fault with the movie in any way. In comic form that's not the case.

The best way I can describe the Marvel adaptation is it's ... Of its time. Comics have come along a great deal and the clunky dialogue feels so dated it might as well be old English. There's also a few things changed (no point in doing an adaptation if you're not going to add anything) including giving us Kranix's frankly atrocious alt mode (but hey, it meant we got a toy of him). I'm glad I read it but it's not one I'll revisit often.

Fast forward many years and we have the much more modern version. It stays very close to the screen with an added scene here and there (the gesalt battle being a personal highlight for me). The art is beautiful as well and I particularly loved the splash page of Unicron devouring Lithone. In fact I wish we'd got a few more splash pages.

I have no real complaints with the IDW version but I found myself hearing the voice actors saying the lines and wishing I was watching the movie rather than reading it. It looks stunning, it keeps to the plot but it didn't wow me.

A solid 4 out of 5. It seems when it comes to Transformers comics I prefer original stories rather than adaptations. Happy to have it but I'd personally watch the movie, especially as it'll be cheaper.

[Hugh McKinney]

It's been years since I've read either of these two adaptations of the same material. Both are inferior to the movie, but they aren't quite as bad as I recalled.

The 1986 Marvel one is actually the more interesting of the two. While it's very much a comic of its time, it was based on an earlier, non-final revision of the script, so there are a handful of minor, non-plot relevant differences that are of interest historically.

The IDW adaptation from 2006 has gorgeous art and coloring, but aside from a single splash spread answering a long simmering fan question, it is a much more straightforward adaptation of the script, right down to nearly all the dialogue being a straight copy-and-paste. I'm a big believer that when you adapt something to a different medium, it needs to cater to the strengths of that medium, so it was a little disappointing on that front. Still worth it for the art though.

[Ben]

The physical quality of the book is very good, but there are literally ZERO bonus materials here. No forward or afterwards, no fan letter pages, none of the new reprint covers collected inside. Those are all missed. I also believe the original authors and artists were not paid royalties or even sent complimentary copies--nothing.

[Andres Pasten]

Optimuuuuus!!