blueikeproductions - Tumblr blog

blueikeproductions · 6 days ago

Text

So with TFONE now on streaming, it’s now number 1 on P+, and introduces audiences to the modern version of the origins of the Great War.

But how did the Great War start before hand?

For the most part, it’s pretty simple: Most series revolve around both factions fighting over energy sources when we first meet the Transformers. This power struggle would more often than not depict the war stalemating due to an energy crisis or the energy crisis being part of the reason the war started to begin with.

Occasionally the question is brought up why the Autobots and Decepticons can’t get along…

The Decepticons are pretty typically war mongering villains, wanting to pillage and plunder the galaxy to rule over it, while the Autobots oppose them for the good of Cybertron and other innocent lifeforms caught in the conflict.

For the most part, the cartoons don’t divulge too much into any deeper ideological differences, the Decepticons want power and will hurt people to get it, the Autobots want to protect. That’s about the long and short of it.

The original cartoon and some comics would later explain this is a genetic difference due to their creation. The Quintessons built the robots to be Consumer Goods and Military Hardware, with the Military robots desiring power and conquest some time after the Quintessons were chased off Cybertron. The comics would suggest the Decepticons are a natural yang to the Autobots’ Yin, futher established with the ancient evil mechanoid, Liege Maximo, being the one who the Decepticons descended from. Unlike today, most media would cast Megatron and Optimus as simply being the current leaders of their respective sides, with Optimus coming into the battle a little later after Megatron was established. Likewise, both would have successors, like RatBat and Bludgeon in the comics or Deathsaurus and Violenjiger in anime while the Autobots had Grimlock, Rodimus Prime, Star Saber and Dai Atlas. There clearly was an intent for a line of succession that today is mostly ignored.

Anyway, the 80’s cartoon was very consistent that the Decepticons were the cause of the conflict, and that Cybertron was plagued with several wars prior to Optimus and Megatron’s time, with each side declaring victory at various points.

Curiously, an aborted concept prior to the 80’s movie would’ve explained the Decepticons were a separate alien robot race that invaded Cybertron in its prehistory, which would’ve greatly changed things had that been retained.

While the Marvel Comics would mostly retain ideas from the carton, the earlier issues would reveal Transforming was a war time invention of the Decepticons, which the Autobots would later copy. This was of course retconned later with the Primus origin story, while the cartoon would show Transforming as an Autobot invention during the war.

The UK comics would attempt to elaborate the origins of the Decepticons by depicting the athletic Megatron and his early followers being survivors of their destroyed city states during early conflicts over dwindling energy resources on Cybertron. While Optimus and Megatron were former athletic rivals, their connection and rivalry became more solidified during war time.

Cartoons would largely stick to the simpler direction of Autobots and Decepticons being morally opposed, one Heroic and Good, the other Dastardly and Evil.

Japanese media in particular goes pretty hard in this direction where the Autobots and their Maximal descendants are pretty firmly established as peace keepers and heroic ambassadors of justice, helping other races evolve and grow by pooling technology and resources, resulting in Autobot City on Earth, Earth Defense Command and collaborations with other organic and mechanical races. The Decepticons meanwhile are a corrosive force aiming for wanton destruction and power lust, led by various so called Emperors of Destruction like Scorponok and Deathsaurus post Galvatron. The only real exception to this in Japanese media was the reveal Deathsaurus’ Decepticons were only fighting to keep their families alive aboard Deathsaurus’ fortress. His wife kept tabs on things there and was actually kind of a sweetheart, though this is only unique to the manga. Anime Deathsaurus had no family and was hellbent on wanting to blow up Earth to prove a point out of spite.

Armada is pry the only time where the question was asked as to why both sides are fighting, to the point the modern Autobots and Decepticons ask this themselves and show uncertainty as to what both were originally fighting for in the first place. The show would establish that while the war started similarly to G1, the sudden appearance of the evolution granting Mini-Cons aggravated things further.

The anime would later explain the Mini-Cons, and his Acolyte Sideways, were created by Unicron as a means to keep the war going, as the anger and hatred of the war sustained him.

Unicron somewhat rightly called out both factions as merely being war machines that loved fighting and wouldn’t know what to do with themselves outside of that environment. It gave Optimus pause, and Galvatron seems to silently acknowledge this is true to some extent, but Optimus still values what he feels the Autobots have been fighting for thanks to the humans and Mini-Cons: peace for all. Optimus will fight, to eradicate the evil plaguing Cybertron in Unicron and those among the Decepticons who won’t quit.

Thanks to a time paradox that saw Rad, Carlos and Alexis travel to the era of the Mini-Cons’ creation and bond with them back then, this ensured Unicron and the Decepticons’ ambitions would unravel in the future, seeing the Mini-Cons gradually evolve into beings celebrating peace rather than just being “smart tools” for war time.

What makes it funnier for Armada, is the Dreamwave version of events featured a short comic about peace ambassadors coming to Cybertron to attempt to diffuse the situation.

The surviving ambassador hoped it would work itself out and got the heck out of Cybertron.

While the Great War was still the main war, other series would state Cybertron was constantly at war, with the Great War simply being the current one. Past wars, like the cartoon, were either waged by the Autobots and Decepticons’ ancestors or caused by an alien invasion by the Quintessons or other races with an axe to grind with Cybertron.

The Bay films would famously introduce the life giving Allspark which for a lot of media, became the primary reason why the Autobots and Decepticons went to war. The Decepticons wanted to abuse its power for their own gain, like the Skeksis wanted with the Dark Crystal, while the Autobots couldn’t let that happen, seeing the relic ejected from Cybertron, condemning it to a slow death until the relic was found on Earth, prompting both sides to go there to fetch it. While Earth’s inclusion in the war originally was to both explain why the Transformers turn into vehicles and Earth animals, and that our planet is abundant in resources the Decepticons would seek to use, that became secondary as the Allspark was viewed as more important. Ancillary movie material would start to lay the foundation that Megatron started the war out of jealousy and growing idealogical resentment at Optimus.

Today, thanks to TFONE, but also the Bay films and Aligned, the Great War caused by the Decepticons started instead by a falling out by Optimus and Megatron who originally were former friends with similar ideals for Cybertron. The duo had managed to stop the initial corruption plaguing Cybertron, but Megatron’s anger, hated and growing resentment and superiority saw him break ties and start a new War to eradicate the Autobots and to fully remove any trace of the false Primes and leaders he felt Optimus now represented.

This concept had shaky ground though, as I feel it unintentionally painted the Decepticons being in the right, and the Autobots being in the wrong. IDW (and later WFC & Cyberverse) milked this for all it was worth, painting the Decepticons as misunderstood freedom fighters who lost their way, while the Autobots while still trying to uphold peace and justice, did appear to come off as simply defending the system some of them benefited from. Megatron would later become more of an antihero, painting his current EarthSpark counterpart being reformed and working with Optimus once more, but still clearly struggling in areas due to Optimus’ view points to keep Megatron in check.

This modern idea isn’t super popular with veteran fans, with Autobot Megatron being a particular point of irritation due to how unbelievable Megatron would change his mind is based on the writers making both factions irredeemably awful and gray in IDW, WFC and Cyberverse.

TFONE is the only thing to come out that far better articulates the idea, though not without some parts feeling a little forced, it’s still the only thing that makes it far more believable Optimus and Megatron used to be close friends. In this version of events, Optimus was more of a thrill seeking, reckless adventurer type wanting to prove his worth, while Megatron fully believed in the system and was content to be a cog in the machine that benefited Cybertron. This is much more understandable as older stuff tended to cast Optimus as a quiet book worm while Megatron was the more loud ambitious one, which felt at odds with the modern political nature of the war. TFONE Megatron’s hero worship of Sentinel and belief in the system shattered and turned into part self loathing and full on anger and frustration makes so much more sense, and his growing resentment at Optimus for dragging him on wild goose chases in their youth also fits the modern ideas better.

Chief among them, TFONE fixes the problem Aligned had, by instead having the Decepticons originate as the entitled upper class (like Airachnid and Darkwing) and disgruntled, power seeking High Guard led by Starscream, while the Autobots originated as the oppressed Miner class. I think the key difference going forward is Optimus still sought equality and brought it by both proving what the Miners can do at the Iacon races and by providing the Miners with their T-Cogs and restoring flowing Energon to the energy starved planet that Sentinel created. Megatron meanwhile is still stewing in his loathing and hatred born from his disbelief at what his hero Sentinel has done, and what he feels is Optimus contributing to it (when he’s clearly not). It’s fairly simple for what it is, and it works perfectly.

The energy crisis is also brought back in the film, a problem Sentinel caused, which I think helps better explain further stress on why the war broke out. Considering the Quintessons have a stake in Cybertron’s Energon, the continued need for energy I would assume would still play a role in a potential sequel. Skybound also returned to energy being a driving factor, though it’s unclear as if typing if Optimus and Megatron were former friends here, I’m leaning towards no. What context we do get with him leans towards his older G1 cartoon self, wanting to completely eradicate the Autobots as well as having a corrosive, manipulative personality, shaping those like Starscream into the monster he is today. No trace of the modern lingering hope the two have that they could go back to being friends seems to be here.

How newer versions of the Great War are shaped post TFONE, within CyberWorld and during Skybound we have yet to see, but however it works in the future will likely depend on which version the creators want to go with Megatron…

#blueike productions #blueike #transformers #unicron trilogy #transformers g1 #maccadam #the great war transformers #transformers one #transformers armada #skybound transformers #energon universe

49 notes · View notes

blueikeproductions · 6 days ago

Text

So we’ve established the modern idea for Transformers leadership is some combination of the Primes and a Council.

But what I forgot to mention last time was IDW’s stab at both ideas.

I think we all forget IDW’s era of Transformers was around for longer than we remember. It started around the time of Animated and the first Bay movie, ending with Cyberverse and Bee.

As such, IDW went through a lot of growing pains as Hasbro started modifying the brand into what we know today.

Furman kicked things off, with his story revolving around a modified version of his own Prime lineage, with Prime Nova, now Nova Prime, as a central antagonist for much of the run.

As time went on, Hasbro had started to reshuffle the Prime concept after RotF brought the ancient Primes to general audiences, ushering in the the modern version of the group that included Solus, Quintus and so forth. The main line books hadn’t included ancient Primes yet, so the book could slide them in fairly easily, but as usual there was a catch.

It’s pretty apparent Roberts didn’t want to be saddled with the Primes, as his MTMTE series largely went out of its way to ignore them. Instead, he had his own vision for the legendary original Transformers in the Guiding Hand.

13 robots whittled down to five, they represented the three core components of a Transformer: the Spark (life in Primus and death in Mortilus), the Brain Module (wisdom and knowledge in in Solomus and Epestimus) and the Transformation Cog (Adaptus).

These five would shape creation myths on Cybertron, and hence the group’s name, would guide the early Transformer race, part of which were members of their own group, the legendary Knights of Cybertron.

Don’t get too excited about these guys, despite the book hyping them up as being as important, if not more than the Hand or Primes as this benevolent group who led Cybertron to prosperity until they tried to spread their philosophy to the stars, they were basically normal, religious, space explores who got fatally sick from being in “too much contact” with organic species and were euthanized.

I really do think Roberts hated most things about Transformers, from being very dismissive to the human component (despite writing the Transformers as sitcom humans), the unusual lack of Transforming to the point it was a running gag, and trying to erase the mysticism Transformers has had since the 80’s movie.

See the Guiding Hand do represent this mysticism to a degree, right down to legend saying the death of Mortilius is the reason Transformers have millennia long life spans, but in actuality it’s all a sham.

Like the Primes, the Guiding Hand was undone by infighting. Legends claimed the death god Mortilius was the one to start the first wars on Cybertron.

However, the Guiding Hand turned out to not only be real, but the legends were all wrong. It was the ambitious Amalgamous Prime stand in Adaptus that betrayed his brothers, wanting war purely so the Transformers wouldn’t stagnate in peace time, and gradually evolve from the coming conflicts so that they may ascend as organics do to higher plains of existence.

These were the true forms of the Hand, just simply ordinary Transformers, with the unassuming psychiatrist Rung actually being the first ever Transformer born on Cybertron: Primus.

Adaptus and Solomus, now Tyrest, would serve as series antagonists, with Epestimus being retconned into being the ancient Magic 8 Ball artifact The Magnificence the early IDW Furman run used. Mortilius was actually a nice guy, though he still did observe death, being a sort of mortician chronicling the death of individual Transformers, but also having the means to save others thought lost to history.

Like the Primes, all of the Hand ultimately died for the Transformers species to move on to other things.

The group doesn’t appear to be that popular, with Rung being Primus met with a particular revulsion, as the Lord of Light was whittled down to a nerdy, forgettable twig boy that had some healing factor powers. Rung did have the ability to create the Matrix in his unusual “ornament” mode, but perhaps to add to the annoyance, he could build multiple versions of the Matrix, further reducing the mysticism. Like can you imagine TFONE doing this? Oh Sentinel couldn’t get the Matrix, because he accidentally destroyed it when he shot Zeta? No big! He can just force Rung to pop out a brand new one! Yeah it just doesn’t work.

Rung being Primus or the first Transformer tends to be ignored, and so far he’s the only one of his group to make the leap to other media, where he’s usually just treated as a field medic like Ratchet. His alternate form is instead a weaponized medical device rather than a Matrix Maker.

Rung is so far the only one to get a toy, but general audiences and kids weren’t terribly interested, his WFC toy clogged Ollies for the longest time.

Rung would get a surprise return in Japanese media, as the leader of a group of human made Transformers called Selectors, who were powered by the mysterious Angolmois Energy deposits found on Earth. Unhappy with his people’s lot in life, being a (somewhat unintentional) servant class for humans, Rung turned to the Decepticons to start an uprising against humanity, fracturing the unified Cybertron brought about in G2.

When the Quintessons interfered, corrupting several Selectors into their servitude using the chaotic power of Angolmois Energy and later observing Spike Witwicky admit to mistakes and declare his love of the Selectors as friends and fellow people, Rung realized his mistake and helped humans and Autobots fight back with the power of true “Good” Angolmois Energy.

Notably the manga references a dirty joke from Rung’s appearance in Earth Wars…

Where a now Autobot X Spike uses Rung’s weapon mode against a Quintesson in a … much deserved but still painful way.

The battle ultimately saw the Angolmois Energy too dangerous to use, as humanity rightfully feared the power would react to the evil in all human hearts, so humans and Selectors, now cool with each other, evacuated Earth for greener pastures, setting the scene for Beast Wars II’s Angolmois plot with Galvatron. Spike wasn’t too concerned about the Selector’s still being fueled by Angolmois, as they proved they can work together in peace, which feels a bit contradictory, but whatever, Rung and Spike seem happy.

The similarities the Guiding Hand had to the Primes would see a couple of them be regarded as actual Primes in IDW 2, but otherwise the group has largely been ignored after IDW ended.

As for the Thirteen Primes, they came off as an afterthought in the original IDW comics. I’m not sure if Furman had any immediate plans for Prima, Liege Maximo, Maccadam and others he had a hand in creating, but that ultimately fell John Barber and Mairghread Scott to fill in some blanks. The Thirteen were not demigods but instead simply the leaders of various tribes of the discombobulated Transformers race after Adaptus’ so called God War. A time displaced Shockwave created a time paradox where the Primes only formed due to Shockers’ awareness of the future. Killing Onyx and assuming his identity, Shockwave kicked things off by making Megatronus his student, ushering in the era of the Primes. This also saw the eventual rise of the corrupt Prime lineage Nova Prime, Sentinel Prime, Nominus Prime and Zeta Prime would go on to define.

So why are the Primes so clumsily implemented here? Two reasons: the reintegration of the Primes via TFP came much later into IDW’s run, where like most series up until that point, IDW was mostly content to ignore the concept of a group of ancient prototypical Transformers. The other I believe boils down to IDW wanting its own unique creation myth, but because of Hasbro wanting to enforce the updated Prime mythology, they had to included it whether they wanted to or not. I think this is also why MTMTE feels more like its own thing divorced from what the rest of IDW was doing, as Roberts seems to have had more freedom to do what he wanted, using his old fan fics as a basis. Ergo the creation myth of the Guiding Hand persisted over the Thirteen Primes here, although the rebooted IDW2 would more organically implement the Primes as the first Transformers, with some of the Hand in their ranks, but still treat them as myths and legends vs most media showing the Transformers being fully aware they existed, with older Bots having even worked alongside them, like Starscream’s High Guard in TFONE.

As for a Council, that was the awkwardly implemented Functionist Council, which would later give way to the oppressive Senate. Both were exaggerated versions of the Caste System (Transformers can only have work and benefits based on what they turn into) from Aligned with the simpler Cog and Cogless concept succeeding it in TFONE. In one timeline, the Functionist Council evolved into an oppressive dictatorship worse than the Senate, who casually enforced the deaths, or “Mass Recalls” of Transformers whose alternate forms no longer served a purpose to them on a whim like spaceship Transformers or cassettes/data sticks. Think that obsolescence episode of the Twilight Zone, but cranked up to 11. While the original Functionists died off in the Great War, their fingers in the pie of the Senate beforehand, their alternate versions were the final antagonists of MTMTE while the main books fought Unicron. The cog headed nitwits had managed to Transform their Cybertron into a more traditional looking Primus to cleanse all universes of non Transformer life, but were stopped and killed by Rodimus and Autobot Megatron’s group.

These clockwork bean counters don’t appear to Transform, but apparently these Skeksis wannabes can Combine to form The Key to Vector Sigma. Like most of Roberts’ stuff, we never actually see them do this, and it would appear they found a way to access Vector Sigma without needing to Transform to do so. I understand this is probably intentional to make them hypocrites, but even so… I would think maybe just having them be cars, spaceships and other things that were recalled might be more appropriate.

Some earlier ideas that were kicked around to make these IDW concepts a bit closer to older creation material would’ve seen the Knights of Cybertron have ties to the Quintessons, and Rung channel his inner Ultraman to fight Unicron. The later was recycled for alternate Rung to fight a super weapon of the Functionists, but that resulted in Rung both dying, and further abusing concepts like Mass Shifting, making the Transformers more broken and oddly overpowered which annoyed fans.

For now, the concept of the Guiding Hand and Functionists as alternate creation myths and governing bodies seems to be utterly ignored in favor of doubling down more on the Primes. Rung is the only one to make it into toy form, and other non IDW media, but he along with many other IDW originals appear to be benched for the time being. While Skybound can use whoever they like, so far they seem mostly content to stick to the G1 cartoon cast and the occasional OC like Starscream’s friend Genvo. I don’t really see Rung having a role here anyway, and frankly he’d probably just get shot in the head and stay dead if he did appear considering the violent struggles of the Autobots here…

Funny enough I could see Rung as a Miner class robot in TFONE, he fits the aesthetic, but so far no. I feel like he’d probably just be a car or bike to stream line things if he did appear though.

#blueike productions #blueike #transformers #maccadam #the thirteen primes #idw transformers #the guiding hand #g1 transformers

11 notes · View notes

blueikeproductions · 7 days ago

Text

Today, Cybertron’s leaders are established as The Primes: 13 original prototype Transformers and the Matrix carrying figureheads that would eventually see the rise of Sentinel Prime. Optimus Prime, & Rodimus Prime.

But who was in charge before the modern Prime concept took root?

The earliest material was pretty clear Optimus Prime wasn’t part of a lineage, Prime was just his last name with no real importance beyond he was the leader of his team. It wasn’t until the 80’s movie and the debut of Ultra Magnus and Rodimus Prime did the concept of a line of succession start to take root, with the cartoon and comics monkeying around with their own versions of it. It was the Marvel Comics that would lay the foundation of the earliest Prime lineage with Prima, Prime Nova, Sentinel Prime, Optimus Prime and Rodimus Prime.

This was something of a retcon though, as the comics originally didn’t feature Primes obviously. The early stories on the American end didn’t put too much stock on a functioning government as the point was to get kids hyped up on the shenanigans of the warring Autobots and Decepticons on Earth. The cartoon would slowly establish Alpha Trion as a figure of authority among the Autobots, with special Guardian Robots (Omega Supreme among them) keeping the peace on prewar Cybertron.

The Marvel Comics would tinker around more with a functional government on prewar Cybertron, though most of this is from the UK version of events. The American comics would establish a loose idea of Autobot Elders Optimus Prime took guidance from, with the UK stuff going their own way with it.

The UK comics would establish two types of ruling bodies: The Council of Autobots Elders and the Autobot Overlords.

The Overlords were closer in concept to the Primes by sheer coincidence, but they were the initial ruling body on Cybertron until the overpopulation and fuel shortages caused the planet to split into various, feuding city states fighting over what was left. The last surviving Overlord, an elderly outmoded robot who needed constant Energon injected directly into him to stay online, attempted to keep the peace by ushering in fun gladiatorial games, but that only made things worse increasing competition among states, as well as seeing the rise of athletes Optimus and Megatron. Yes prior to being a blue collar dock worker, earnest miner or data clerk, Optimus used to be a star athlete and, apparently, had aspirations to be a doctor. (IDW Megatron also had aspirations to be a doctor in his youth and later became one post war during the Functionst conflict so I wonder if Roberts borrowed that from UK Optimus.)

As for the Overlord, conflict heightened with Tarn that saw Optimus and Megatron help the leader escape with his trusty bodyguard Ravage. When the elderly Overlord couldn’t go on without more Energon, Optimus went to go get help, while Megatron and Ravage decided to abandon the old mech, letting him go offline, starved of Energon. Megatron felt he would be much better suited as Cybertron’s new leader anyway in this unorthodox times, something Ravage agreed with.

The Council of Elders, also known as the High Council, didn’t fair much better. It was one of their number that appointed Optimus Prime as the leader of Iacon’s military in desperation to push back against the Decepticons. The Decepticons would later attempt to bomb Iacon, post Ark launch, under orders from their new leader Trannis; the Council would surrender, only for Trannis to kill them all anyway.

It was here the idea of a Council of Elders would persist in other media, with Beast Wars establishing a similar concept where Optimus Primal and other assorted leaders took orders from this group. Known as the Maximal Elders also, this group governed all of Cybertron, with the Tripredacus Council answering to them as well, though this trio of Predacons did plot to overthrow the elders. Thanks to Megatron taking over in Beast Machines, the trio didn’t get this chance. Who the Maximal Elders were was never specified in the cartoon, but later ancillary media would retroactively declare the elders to be the Maximals that formed the toy only Maximal Combiner Magnaboss.

In this case, they’re the Autobots Ironhide, Silverbolt and Prowl having upgraded into Maximal forms. Most likely this was done to better align with the Tripredacus Council, who took their name from the toy only Predacon Combiner.

Japanese media would flirt with a similar concept in the Great Convoys and Convoy Council in Beast Wars Neo.

A sort of splitting of the difference, they were Prime like Maximals who governed Cybertron under the guidance of Vector Sigma. The main leader of the group was destroyed towards the end of the anime by Unicron, using Predacon Galvatron’s body. After Unicron was defeated, Vector Sigma appointed Lio Convoy and Big Convoy as the new leaders of the Great Convoys. Many years later in Japanese canon, the Great Convoys would be succeeded by a new group called the Prime Leaders. In ancillary manga made years after the Beast Era, it was explained after Beast Machines, the Oracle, now back as its original Vector Sigma form, would create a new line of Transformers with their own special Energon Matrix, in honor of Optimus Primal’s heroism and sacrifice. These robots would be the various Convoys of the Great Council, Lio Convoy, Blue Big Convoy and his son Big Convoy. It’s implied this also includes Fire Convoy.

Speaking of Fire Convoy, the Car Robots dub, RiD01, would also have its own council concept: the Autobot Elders who Alpha Trion is among and built Optimus and Ultra Magnus, and the Predacon Council, who Megatron takes his orders from.

Dreamwave’s Transformers comics would make the heaviest use of the High Council concept, with a version of it appearing in their G1 and Unicron Trilogy comics.

The High Council in the later would be partially antagonistic. The Armada and Energon comics would establish the High Council as the leaders of Cybertron while the Autobots were more military and police officers with Optimus serving under them. While initially reluctant to indulge in Optimus’ concerns Unicron was still active, they changed their tune somewhat when Alpha Q had sent Unicron’s Acolytes to attack Cybertron. The groups’ leader Levitacus often would lock horns with Optimus and Jetfire on matters, but his team mate Avalon would be more sympathetic.

Avalon would turn out to be a traitor, working for Alpha Q for some ill defined personal goal of attaining a rightful heritage that was never explained due to Dreamwave going under and Furman’s scripts for the remaining Energon issues don’t explain this either.

Animated would also have a High Council that worked in tandem with the acting Magnus, in this case usually Ultra Magnus, but after Shockwave’s sabotage, they were stuck with Sentinel Prime, something they openly disliked. They’re a little TOO by the book, being sticklers to certain rules, rarely willing to compromise on their laws when Alpha Trion clearly wants to, notably towards Sentinel’s schemes and Megatron taking full advantage of the system in his trial in a script reading storyline years later after the series’ cancellation.

A Council of Ancients is also referenced in G1 Dreamwave and RiD15.

While not seen in RiD15, I’d wager a guess some of them resemble the guys on the right. Apparently this version of the group knew a few things about the lost art of “true” Combining, whatever that actually meant.

In Dreamwave G1 they were the original ruling body that appointed the Matrix to Optronix (the DW version of Orion Pax) creating Optimus Prime after Sentinel fell. The Council was later destroyed by the Decepticons’ uprising.

Pretty much post RotF and Animated, where Primes became top dog again as the leaders of Cybertron, the older ideas started getting congealed, with Primes and a governing council working in tandem, but in the absence of a Prime, the council would lead instead. This started taking root in Aligned, starting the trend of the Council leading Cybertron upon Optimus’ retirement usually. One exception was Prime Wars, where Rodimus Prime led a Council with the Mistress of Flame and Starscream on post war Cybertron, but this didn’t last, eventually seeing Optimal Optimus Primal inheriting the Matrix and becoming the new Prime at series end, no Council whatsoever. This is somewhat repeated in War For Cybertron also, with Optimus Prime still as Prime, though he and Megatron’s people decide it best to simply go their separate ways, claiming two halves of the planet in a shaky peace.

The High Council was also a fixture in Prime and RiD15, with the initial function to appoint Primes, eventually choosing Orion Pax to be Optimus, after Megatron’s threats into making them make him a Prime failed to sway them. Gee imagine that. By RiD15, the High Council had been secretly usurped by insurgent Decepticons led by Cyclonus, who sought to take over Cybertron and restart the Decepticon Empire.

This version remained a silent antagonist throughout the series, including events that plagued the Bee Team until they decided to go back to Cybertron to confront the corrupt Council who they found to have gained complete control of Cybertron using a brain washing program. After Ultra Bee and Steeljaw defeated the Council’s Combined form Galvatronus and halted their plans to take over Earth next, a new “temporary” Council made up of Jazz, Ratchet, Bulkhead and Windblade after Optimus retired and Bee’s unit returned to protect Earth from remaining Decepticon insurgents.

Cyberverse repeated the idea with the new Council post war of Hot Rod, Bumblebee, Windblade, Shadow Striker and Laserbeak being appointed in Optimus’ place. I’m assuming the Dinobots would have some role since they were present when Optimus appointed the younger bots. It’s worth mentioning despite Cyberverse trying to go beyond the boundaries of Autobot and Decepticon… the new Council still consists majority Autobot, with the Decepticons being an ill tempered hyper competitive sports car with an axe to grind with Bee despite what she says, and a non sentient bird. Not feeling that great about this Cybertron’s shot at peace to be honest.

With EarthSpark’s chances of continuing past “S3” looking more unlikely as of typing, I don’t see a High Council being explored here… Alternatively, the series is more laser focused on the power of Primes than it ever has before with the heavy focus on Quintus Prime and his legacy in the Terrans and Maltos. So even if a new leadership is formed… more than likely it’s the Maltos (and quite likely Megatron) at the rate things are going, and technically speaking Cybertron would still be governed by a Prime due to the Maltos and Terrans using Quintus Prime’s power. So no more Primes after Optimus falls apart if this notion is explored, and I don’t really see fans being keen on the Malto kids being in charge and Megatron co-ruling with them being looked on fondly either.

The only work around here is if the Cybersleeves make a new Terran to be the leader, a “Maltous Prime” or some such. Though that requires Maltous to be developed long enough in a small arc that them becoming leader feels earned (or as earned as it can be in EarthSpark), but we will never know how that might work either way.

TFOne is never going to depict a Prime post Optimus if it’s allowed to continue, since Rodimus or anyone else wouldn’t fit the personal story of D-16 and Orion Pax here. A High Council might be more likely but who makes that up we won’t know until it happens, if it happens. Possibly Bee, Elita and Jazz in particular but who else, beats me.

While the modern idea has evolved into a Prime and some sort of Council working together to govern Cybertron, with the Council succeeding Optimus, I’d honestly prefer just going back to a new post Optimus leader. It’s been 40 years, I think we can resume Rodimus or try a new Prime again.

#blueike productions #blueike #transformers #maccadam #the 13 primes #g1 transformers #transformers earthspark

22 notes · View notes

blueikeproductions · 7 days ago

Text

A commish set in the Heathers AU I got to do, where Heather Duke meets her new nemesis in her personal trainer Tony Perkis, lol.

Tony Perkis was the main antagonist from the 90's Disney movie Heavyweights, centering around the exploits of Gerald and his friends at the fat camp he was unwillingly sent to for the summer. Perkis was the crazed camp leader who was hoping to turn the camp into a big weight loss infomercial program; it was a silly premise, but a fun one.

Heather MacNamara's salsa bit was lifted from an earlier Incorrect Quote sketch I did, lol.

Old 80's workout gear was fun to draw, though I didn't want them too colorful and outlandish to make it easier to finish the piece, lol. Ram has more of a SNL Hans & Franz thing going on though...

#heathers au #blueike #blueike productions #heathers the musical #heathers #heathers 1989 #heathers oc #heather duke #heather macnamara #dan braverman #specs silverman

9 notes · View notes

blueikeproductions · 8 days ago

Text

So what happens when Martian’s pencil breaks?

youtube

BACK AT IT AGAIN O7 KEEP DRAWING STARSCREAM PRIVATE MARTIAN!!!!!!

#tf skybound #transformers #tf skybound spoilers #Youtube

1K notes · View notes

blueikeproductions · 9 days ago

Text

Energon is pretty much only dangerous to organics if a story requires it to be.

Organic lifeforms in the G1 cartoon freely used it for various things with no ill effects. It was even used as money in an alien gambling casino.

I don’t remember that specifically happening in TFA, but what I do remember is a lab accident that resulted in Prometheus Black mutating into the acid creature Meltdown after experimenting with with separate Autobot fuel that leaked from Bumblebee in a wrestling match. Also, perhaps closer to what you meant now that I think of it: BlackArachnia was tampering with Sari’s Allspark Key, hoping it would remove her organic mode once she inserted it into her chest, but instead it was starting to weaken her, with a pulse wave aging nearby organics thanks to BA’s meddling. It was reversed once Sari and Optimus removed the Key from BA, and never brought up again, but that only happened due to BA messing around and not something the Allspark Key did unchecked.

Kicker was bestowed the power of Energon by Primus himself, and beyond heightened awareness (as well as possible super strength to be able to fight Terrorcons) and his hair going Super Saiyan when he detected Energon, Kicker suffered no ill effects. Though that said I would think the Lord of Light himself would see to it Kicker suffered no ill consequences when he bestowed his power. Humans work alongside Autobots and Omnicons to mine for Energon, and suffer no harm the deposits or processing. Energon in the anime is also described as the power of life itself, with Alpha Q’s Energon Sun providing light and accelerated healing and evolution to lifeforms on planets Alpha Q was able to recreate using it and Unicron’s power.

The organic humanoids of the Sacred Ring from Skybound’s Energon Universe can also consume Energon, and find they don’t need to eat food because the Energon sustains them. The catch though is the Agorrians and Zertonians are also revealed to be descendants of Transformers somehow, perhaps explaining how they can safely ingest it. Meanwhile, Energon deposits on Earth were discovered by the Dreadlocks, who were able to process it and power their vehicles. Cobra Commander and Destro also seek to use Energon for their own benefit and suffer no consequences being near raw Energon or Energon Cubes. This may change though as the Energon Universe continues, but the Autobots set up a water powered Energon generator for themselves and to give back renewable energy to Spike and Carly’s hometown.

Mandroid being negatively affected by it is specific to EarthSpark to better show how far he’s willing to go for his goals, but I don’t think he thought it through either. I would think the Emberstone has some Energon mixed into it and the Maltos suffer no consequences being near it let alone having the Cyber Sleeves for the most part.

At this point, I still question how bad Energon is for human health... like, there is a clear inconsistency for every new TF interaction but even in the aligned continuity the idea is bounced like a ball to all directions...

In TF Unicron Trilogy: Energon, Kick was sent countless times in search of Energon by his stupid father only because the kid had the special power to detect Energon... and then use the Energon to give Kick a power armor or something like that IDK.

In TFA it is shown how the mere presence of the All Spark can kill human cells and literally rot a human... but also reverse the process????

On TFP it is said that Energon is lethal, and it was shown with Raf after Megatron shut him with his Dark Energon canon. But then they have to sue pure Energon to save Raf and there are not other consequences after that...

In TFRB Blurr and Slavage gave a caveman a small Energon Crystal so he survived the current disaster that was destroying his home. IT. LITERALLY. KEEP. A. HUMAN. ALIVE! I keep the guy like a frozen fruit in the fridge kjahkajfhLSF

In TFES... IDK I don't remember well, but Mandroid was decaying in life. We could see his whole body rotting as the season passed. With Robby happened the same but at a much faster alarming rate...

And then there's the thing with the Botbots. I'm surprised no one has sued the store because the exposure to their products is causing limb loss, skin rotting, blood loss, sickness, and IDK what else jhdakjefhakf

I think that I might be forgetting more specific scenes and extra info, so feel free to discuss.

#transformers #maccadam #energon

50 notes · View notes

blueikeproductions · 10 days ago

Text

Cyberverse also had a similar problem of infinitely more interesting ideas such as the Allspark reacting to Bumblebee in a way that any other series would interpret as him being chosen by the relic for a great destiny…. Only for it to go absolutely nowhere. Some early marketing said Slipstream would be the leader of the jets over Starscream, and that got people excited, thinking Starscream would have to be up to his usual tricks to betray Slipstream so he can take her spot. Also no, it was instead shown she was still working under Starscream, and when Starscream screwed up in a time skip, Slipstream was promoted to Air Commander… But this didn’t matter as for whatever reason the Jets PREFERRED Starscream and wanted nothing to do with Slipstream, and then she’s randomly killed by Bludgeon. This is an ugly reoccurring pattern that seems to have followed to EarthSpark where the writers can’t commit to certain ideas, and because of poor decision making regarding ancillary media, we don’t get chapter books that would be perfect to flesh out stuff like Battle of the Bay or Mandroid’s space adventure that saw him reformatted into a Nausicaa Ohmu Bug.

One of the show's biggest problems is that most of the interesting/juicy stuff happens off screen. Off the top of my head:

-The Battle of the Bay -Megatron switching sides -OP ordering Bumblebee to go into hiding -What Bee was up to while he was hiding (yeah I know he talks about racing) -Starscream's time in GHOST jail -What Mandroid was up to while at GHOST -Mandroid's space bridge journey -The freaking time skip before S2A

#transformers earthspark

54 notes · View notes

blueikeproductions · 10 days ago

Text

I’ve been expressing some doubt on TFONE toys selling, and they’ll go to Ollie’s before long, but then I saw this post from an Aaron Archer YouTube video.

I think this says a lot about Transformers post Aligned. The spark wasn’t there anymore, with subpar cartoons in Cyberverse and EarthSpark, while Legacy and Studio Series was banking too hard on nostalgia for the remaining characters people aren’t as enthusiastic about.

As an Ohioan, the stores my way were clogged with Legacy and EarthSpark toys no one wanted, and currently both toys have largely been phased out in favor of TFONE… which also doesn’t appear to be selling.

Different Strokes I s’pose, but while I am happy the TFONE movie seems to be moving product in other countries, I’m not seeing it in my state. Sentinel, Quintesson, D-16 and more are just collecting dust here, and I’ve heard other TF YouTubers saying similar things where they’re at, so I’m still a little skeptical on whether toy sales will help TFONE like they did with TMNT Mutant Mayhem. I would like to hear from others if they’ve noticed the toys moving their way.

It’s why I’m still concerned about Age of The Primes, the successor to Legacy. So much of the Legacy stuff didn’t come my way, and what we did get like Iguanus and some of the Junkions and Rock Lord guys, languished on shelves here. I still fear the Prime toys won’t sell well because nobody knows who guys like Solus Prime or Amalgamous Prime are, and despite best intentions, TFONE didn’t spend enough time with the 13 Primes to get people invested beyond Sentinel Prime, Alpha Trion and arguably Zeta Prime. I don’t see them making a Zeta Prime toy though, and it might be over saturation to make a TFONE Sentinel for AotP. Maybe if they made a G1 U-Haul Robot Sentinel though, I thought I heard a rumor they are making one, but I might be misremembering.

Still if product for TFONE is moving, that is at least a good sign, and hopefully that helps during Christmas time when TFONE becomes more accessible on streaming and DVD sales, so more kids see the movie and hopefully want toys after. I still think they missed out having more gimmicky accessory toys, again Prime Cog like Mini-Cons for Elita and Sentinel or mining equipment that becomes little robots partnered to other Miners like Jazz, Red Alert or Arcee. I also say toys of the deerbots would sell going by the kid in my theater who was excited to see them. Once more, hint, hint, Hasbro. Even if you ship it to Takara, I want a B-127 that combines with the deer bot into a cool weapon mode.

#blueike productions #blueike #transformers #transformers earthspark #transformers one

7 notes · View notes

blueikeproductions · 10 days ago

Text

How a Transformer Transforms was never really nailed down before, but TFONE reintroduces a semi obscure concept in that Transformation is controlled by a Cog, and without it, one can’t Transform.

How a Transformer changes form in older material was never really clear, and frankly the cartoon writers didn’t particularly care. They’re space robots that turn into cars, animals and objects, how much more complicated can you make it?

Most instances regarding how a robot Transforms in the 80’s cartoon referred to loose ideas about special circuits, or quirky by products of Transformation such as “Dinosaur Transform Static” unique to dinosaur type Transformers, but otherwise nothing too specific. The cartoon would later on make a point that the Autobots’ ancestors invented Transforming as a stealth tactic during one of the various prehistoric wars prior to Megatron’s time, though there was no mention of specific inventions to do so.

Cogs were brought up as a plot device post movie, … but there was a catch. The original T-Cogs were limited to Metroplex and Trypticon, special gizmos that allowed THEM to Transform to Robot Mode, with a few episodes devoted to both factions stealing the other MetroTitan’s Cog to get a leg up in a fight. Unicron also required the Cog of one of the giants to facilitate his recreation, implying he too needed one to Transform. The cartoon seems to suggest the Cogs were unique to the giant Transformers, but that the Cogs weren’t entirely cross compatible, leaving Metroplex and Trypticon stuck in half way modes if they used each other’s.

Action Masters famously robbed Transformers of the ability to change, as the miracle fuel Nucleon changed their “Figure Alteration Systems” into “Energy Storage Reactors”. No mention of Cogs yet again, but retroactively it could mean a Cog is mutated by Nucleon into a tank to store Nucleon.

How Transforming was controlled was revisited in Beast Wars, where Maximals and Predacons used onboard computers to automate the process. Beast Machines would return to the idea of Transforming being a process that is learned, with the now Techno-Organic Maximals devoid of onboard computers needed to find a meditation still point to convert from Beast to Robot.

Presumably, thinking of it retroactively again, techno organic Maximals have no Cogs, while Vehicons likely still do. They’re shown to still have onboard computers anyway. Coincidentally, earlier Japanese media would also mirror Beast Machines, where young Transformers that migrated to Planet Master hadn’t learned to Transform yet, and through rigorous training and technological advancement, learned and evolved a new way to Transform in Headmaster technology to adapt to Master’s harsh terrain.

Indeed most media was content to ignore Cogs being a component, as the older stuff never really used it anyway on regular Transformers. James Roberts’ Proto-MTMTE fan fiction would introduce a separate concept called a “Morph Core”, a cluster of nerves connected to the brain module that controlled Transforming, and while the IDW comics would recycle the name, it still referred to the Cog in the end. It wasn’t until Aligned that concepts started getting streamlined, with the idea of a Cog controlling conversion being revisited there.

Today, via Aligned, all Transformers require Cogs to change form. As part of an initiative to make Transformers into more obvious living organism like us, rather than just space robots, the Cog is … somewhat confusingly referred to as a biological organ rather than a piece of machinery. How that differs from other body parts that are implied to be mechanical in nature anyway I have no idea, but the point is the Cogs are treated as special, they control Transformation and the ability to Scan new Vehicle or Beast Modes, and can’t simply be rebuilt from scratch if lost or damaged. If a Transformer looses one, another Transformer has to donate theirs like a human would donate a kidney to another. TFP would famously depict this where Bumblebee and Starscream would loose their Cogs as part of a scheme by the human terrorist organization MECH, who required a Cog to build their own Transformer. T-Cogs, as a biological component, mean that all Transformers’ genetic code constrains the schematics for a T-Cog, as Starscream would learn when his Clones all could still Transform when he couldn’t. Starscream would later harvest a Cog from a dead Clone to replace his own, though with how often Megatron bragged about Decepticon science, I imagine they had the power to build a functional Cog from scratch anyway.

MTMTE era IDW would have their own spin on the matter, where Cogs had a religious and political bent, being connected to religious figures in Amalgamous Prime and Adaptus, but also many Action Master type TFs, now “Monoformers” would reject their Cogs for political reasons due to Functionism. A one off Decepticon was so repulsed by Transforming, he was whittled down into a base form lacking kibble, and made other Transformers wear mode locks so they wouldn’t compulsively Transform in front of him.

As an aside, there’s moments like this that makes me wonder if Roberts genuinely hated Transforming. So much lore centered around how intrinsic Transforming is to Cybertron culturally, and yet hardly anyone Transformed on his stories that it was routinely used as a running gag… You can’t tell me that’s not a little unusual for a Transformer fan.

RBA would also introduce an off shoot of the Cog, a Mul-T-Cog that allows the wearer to assume three Vehicle Modes, but not all at once, as the user needed to make a wise choice on which form to use on a mission. Japanese media also has the “Super Transform Cog”, but as of writing, we don’t know exactly what that is.

TFONE would mostly go back to the mechanical nature of the Cogs, no real mention of biology, but retain that all Transformers have them upon activation. The Miner class had theirs removed before becoming online, creating a simple to understand Cogless vs Cog social structure where those who can’t Transform not having many rights or job opportunities under Sentinel, mirroring IDW and obscure Aligned concepts.

Also kind of ironically mirroring IDW, Sentinel, despite The Fallen’s Cog, never actually Transforms into Vehicle Mode, going back to that clunky idea of Transforming being intrinsic but having some who don’t even try.

Orion, Elita, D-16, and B-127 all got Cogs of Primes, donated by Alpha Trion from Prima, Alchemist, Onyx and Micronus, and later on Megatronus, with Cogs being restored to the Miners by Optimus. Where these Cogs come from isn’t clear, though my assumption is Sentinel kept the Cogs of the Miners in storage for some reason, and they came out of storage to their rightful owners once the Matrix was restored. There’s a popular theory the four having ancient Prime Cogs might give them special powers, though nothing has been officially stated. It’s said in TFONE in particular that the Cogs unlock the built in potential of a Transformer, which we see with how Optimus and Megatron evolve as they gained their Vehicle Modes, though at the same time, upon getting Megatronus’ Cog, Megatron does appear to evolve further, so it’s a bit unclear if this is his genetic potential or if Megatronus Prime’s influence took over. Optimus similarly only displays certain attributes like his Axe when he gets Zeta’s Matrix, so we’ll have to wait and see if this gets played up at all in story or in toy form. I still say a better Mini-Con like version of the Prime Master gimmick would be cool for a further TFONE toy line. Like an Onyx Prime Cog that unlocks a Dragon Cannon on Megatron’s arm for example or Optimus sprouting Prima’s sword when Prima Prime’s Cog is plugged in. Admittedly I’m kinda surprised Action Masters haven’t been revived through the Cogless in toys, like having a drill accessory that becomes a dinosaur buddy for Orion or a jet pack that becomes Laserbeak for D-16. Hint, hint, Hasbro.

There are complaints off and on how relying on a single Cog for Transforming is limiting and kinda stupid, but Transformers is inherently nothing but dumb fun so it still kinda works! They’re still robots at the end of the day so having a gizmo that directly controls it makes sense. It’s just funny to me that it took largely until recently to come up with that based on an obscure plot device from the cartoon for Metroplex.

#blueike productions #blueike #transformers #maccadam #transformers one #t cog #transformation cogs

47 notes · View notes