One of the darkest things about this film.....
A quick perusal of the message boards shows that many people have commented that the movie is way darker than the G1 series, and most kids films today, often for the brutal deaths dealt out to Starscream, Ironhide et al, and the emotional trauma of losing Optimus Prime to boot. But the darkest, most nihilistic death of all? - Kranix. Not only was he torn to shreds by a multitude of robot sharks (check out his death scream as the scene fades out for chills), but as he himself stated only moments earlier, he is the last survivor of his entire race. Instead of a tiny sliver of hope to give kids that life will persevere in the face of even the most terrible odds, the scriptwriters decided to teach them that no matter how far you run, no matter how hard you try, eventually you and everyone you know will die, and the world around you will be spectacularly indifferent to your demise (apart from Hotrod and Kup's half minute interaction with him, we're never shown that any of the other Autobots or Decepticons are even aware of Lithone's prior existence, nevermind it's spectacular destruction. A whole planet full of life wiped out, and almost all of the main characters we're rooting for are blissfully oblivious to their fate.
There's one for the detractors who say this film is just a glorified toy commercial.......