So, a couple of things happened in recent years which made this weird project possible. One is that about two years ago, the official Hasbro YouTube channel finally saw fit to upload all the original episodes of the G1 cartoon. Prior to that time, if you wanted to find a scene online, you had to kind of poke around and find an episode that somebody had uploaded in six fragments, and hope that they hadn't gotten hit with a copyright violation.

Also, YouTube has a tracking algorithm that will show you (by way of a semi-translucent graphic near the bottom of the video) which scenes have been rewatched the most by their viewership. I used to think this was mostly for naughty videos so people could skip to the "good" parts, but I imagine it also helps content creators determine their viewership engagement levels, so they can see what type of content people are coming for, at at what point they typically bail out.

So, what all this means is that we now have a completely unscientific metric to measure the most popular scenes from every G1 episode. I probably wouldn't have paid much attention right after Hasbro uploaded the episodes, but since it's been a couple of years, and most episodes have anywhere from ten thousand views to a million views, I think the YouTube metrics can serve as a roughly accurate yardstick, with some caveats. (I know some scenes are only being watched because of their meme value, but that's still a form of popularity after a fashion, is it not?)

I think the Heisenberg principle affects these metrics to some degree—that is, just talking about which parts of the episode are watched the most may compel people to bring up the YouTube videos in question and thus alter the metrics to some degree. What I'm saying here is that this list was accurate before you guys jacked it all up.

So, what follows are the most watched, or rewatched, scenes from every episode of G1, at least according to YouTube. The theme song often outranks the individual episode content (some people just want to watch the opening and that's all), so I'm not including that!

Going off the episode order from the Hasbro Pulse channel just for the sake of simplicity. I also looked at the number of views for each episode, which are approximated to the nearest thousand.

SEASON ONE

"More Than Meets the Eye" part 1: I can't get the metrics to pull up for the first episode for some reason. But, it is the second-most popular video on the entire Hasbro Pulse channel, second only to the PulseCon 2022 teaser announcement. Views: a staggering 3,200,000. No other episode touches this.

"More Than Meets the Eye" part 2: the Sherman Dam batle between Optimus and Megatron (11:40). This comes as no surprise, as it's an iconic moment between two iconic characters. Views: 1,100,000.

"More Than Meets the Eye" part 3: Megatron blasting off aboard the Victory, probably so people can hear Prime scream, "MEEE-GAAAA-TROOOON!" after him (16:31). And watch him borrow Sideswipe's rocket pack. Views: 978,000.

"Transport to Oblivion": Megatron getting sucked into the space bridge near the end of the episode (20:57). It's likely because this is the scene where Starscream orders the Decepticons to return to base with another Starscream standing directly behind him, one of the episode's most egregious goofs. Views: 661,000.

"Roll for It": The Decepticon retreat near the beginning of the episode (2:31), probably so people can watch the hilarious way Soundwave runs as he escapes. Views: 599,000.

"Divide and Conquer": When Optimus challenges Megatron to a duel near the end of the episode (20:36). Honorary mention: The first appearance of the neon-colored Seeker trio (13:44). Views: 554,000.

"S.O.S. Dinobots": Lots of good moments in this episode (the Dinobots' first appearance, the Autobot roll call) but the hottest moment is when the Dinobots attack the Decepticons (18:03). (I think I might have artificially inflated the scene where the tourist is talking about the hydroelectric generators, because I was showing my wife how Gregg Berger's conversational voice is nothing like his Grimlock voice.) Views: 1,600,000.

"The Ultimate Doom" part 1: The arrival of the captive Sparkplug at Decepticon Headquarters (4:22) as well as the moment where Megatron forces Prime to activate the space bridge and bring Cybertron into Earth orbit (19:55). Views: 430,000.

"The Ultimate Doom" part 2: The moment where we learn Megatron is going to betray Dr. Arkevile by giving him the Earth, or at least "what's left of it," after his plans are complete (12:08). Views: 345,000.

"The Ultimate Doom" part 3: Lots of good moments in this episode, including Brawn's tussle with the Decepticon guards on Cybertron (1:36), and the Autobot efforts to blast Megatron's escaping starship (20:21). Views: 342,000.

"War of the Dinobots": Not surprisingly, the parts people watch the most are the introduction of Snarl and Swoop (11:12) and the fight between the old Dinobots and the new Dinobots (18:32). Views: 787,000. (Lots more people want to see Dinobots in combat than Cybertron causing lousy weather on Earth.)

"Countdown to Extinction": The argument between the Decepticons near the beginning of the episode (1:39) as well as Prime getting the jump on Megatron with an uppercut (16:42) and the part where Prime fires Megatron in gun mode (21:03). Views: 423,000.

"Fire in the Sky": People seem to love the part where Skyfire renounces his Decepticon allegiance and puts on his Autobot badge (20:09). Views: 602,000.

"Heavy Metal War": The whole sequence where the Dinobots are activated to defend the volcano from the Constructicons gets some love, but the most popular moment by far is the appearance of the Halonix Maximus hologram (20:09). People are paying a lot of attention to a character who doesn't even exist! Views: 448,000. (I would have expected this one to be more popular. It's a damn good episode.)

"Fire on the Mountain": There are a lot of good moments in this episode, especially when Brawn steals Megatron's fusion cannon (11:27) and when Prime throws Megatron from the Macchu Picchu temple (21:07). Views: 407,000.

"A Plague of Insecticons": The scenes with the most rewatch value are when Megatron discovers the Insecticon escape pod (4:21) and when Prime throws an oil tanker at Megatron (20:50). People like it when Prime gets violent and throws things, it seems. 430,000 views.

SEASON TWO

"Autobot Spike": There's no one obvious winner, because there are a lot of low-level spikes in the viewership metric, but perhaps the moment when Spike gives into the "something telling me to do bad things" and betrays Optimus Prime (18:09). It's a dramatic moment! Views: 584,000.

"The Immobilizer": For some reason, people have been rewatching the part where Starscream starts bumping into trees, followed by the part when the immobilized water returns to normal and the Decepticons all fall into it (beginning at 10:11). It's arguably low-grade humor, but apparently somebody finds it funny! Views: 363,000.

"Dinobot Island" part 1: Mostly Blaster's first appearance (4:21) and the introduction of Red Alert and Inferno (6:41) which kind of makes sense for this episode. Views: 216,000.

"Dinobot Island" part 2: Lots of little moments throughout the episode, but the favorite scene seems to be Megatron getting trapped in the stampede of dinosaurs near the end of the episode (20:33). Views: 522,000. Not sure why more than double the amount of people who watched part one decided to watch part two instead.

"Traitor": Hands down, no contest, the end of the episode when Cliffjumper literally throws himself on top of Mirage on the operating table (21:42). Autobots are goofy. Views: 363,000.

"Enter the Nightbird": The pivotal moments where Starscream is jealous of Megatron's new girlfriend, particularly the part where Starscream is finally caged (18:15) and then, after escaping, sabotages Nightbird (20:59). Views: 342,000.

"Changing Gears": There are a surprising number of rewatched scenes (and it's not that good of an episode), but the pivotal moment appears to be when Prime asks the good-natured Gears to do him a solid, and he responds by blasting Megatron's machine (17:41). Views: 301,000.

"A Prime Problem": The climax of the episode, when the evil Prime clone dismisses Spike's fate as unimportant, thus revealing that he's the faker (20:20). Views: 297,000.

"Atlantis, Arise!": The whole sequence with the Dinobots attacking the Decepticons who have taken Washington, D.C. (15:15). Views: 352,000.

"Attack of the Autobots": Wow, Hasbro has these episodes wildly out of order. Anyway, it's the climax of the episode, when Bumblebee confronts the evil Optimus Prime and manages to stick an attitude exchanger device on him to return him to normal (17:49). Views: 326,000.

"Microbots": Drunk Decepticons. You knew it had to be the drunk Decepticons (12:35). Views: a whopping 609,000. Recycled David Wise script for the win!

"The Master Builders": The scene where Megatron accuses the Constructicons of betraying him, and all six of them get a moment to defend themselves (7:18). Views: 329,000.

"The Insecticon Syndrome": The part where Bombshell tries to take control of Megatron with a cerebro-shell (16:27; it was a good try, anyway!) and the part where the supposedly dead Shrapnel comes back to life (21:20). Views: 330,000.