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This has an odd origin as it was meant to be part of a larger idea but it didn’t flow right so it just ended on this page.

I just started to draw Rodimus Prime interacting with the EarthSpark crew, somewhat a commentary on how increasingly the “G1” of anything supersedes any successor, with veterans and now even younger fans starting to reject anything that isn’t “G1” as Rodimus and JD are both rather dismissive of the newer ideas.

It then was going to be one part of a larger crossover of my own ideas with the Legacy toyline in an attempt to give it a story to rationalize it for myself.

The general gist is other combatants that fought in the dimensional battle called the Legacy Wars, a war Grahm, Maddie, Thompson and Meister participated in, started trickling into the EarthSpark universe. G1 Rodimus and Energon Braverman & JD appeared in Witwicky during S1’s events, and are confused by the Emberstone (as it nor Quintus exist in their universes). I accidentally drew Braverman and JD as their Heathers AU selves, and tried to rationalize that to myself but gave up. I did have a splinter timeline where the Heathers AU instead saw Hawkins era Braverman and JD meet the Stranger Things pizza truck Autobot and others but I don’t have that fleshed out.

Another page would see Rodimus mistake Quintus as a scientist Quintesson and try to defend the kids and Terrans, as in my version of EarthSpark, Quintus Will occasionally appear as a digital Force Ghost through the Cyber Sleeves, making a point to be more active in things, even if he can’t really do much but just observe and talk.

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A Pokemon sketch I did awhile ago with Liko and her cousin Indigo I thought I posted but never did. In this version of events, the ancient Rakuians used Unown as part of a password system and that system is necessary to access the lost Rakua civilization.

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It always seemed like the staff on EarthSpark didn’t fully understand what they were doing, as the “G1.5” setting could be rife with other characters related to G1.

For example, the show, at least at first, was big on allegories between Transformers and humans, and considering official media and thirsty fans, you’d think some humans in-story would have romantic relationships with TFs.

So I thought it’d be funny if Astoria was present, with her openly dating Powerglide, with Powerglide being the stepdad to Astoria’s daughter. Astoria’s company is a big shareholder in GHOST, and wants to see results in apprehending all evil Decepticons on the planet after their role in her father and previous husband’s demise following a botched energy scheme. Like many, she’s not particularly pleased at Megatron’s presence, and more than once has said she wants him arrested too once matters are settled. Astoria fell for Powerglide the moment he saved her and her daughter Charlie from their collapsing company building. Charlie’s a little unsure about Powerglide at first, because she thought he was a Decepticon Jet, but was won over by the plane’s charm and that he took her into the clouds to see the beauty of it all.

Charlie is best friends with Max, the son of GHOST agent Alanna and Autobot Seaspray. The two kids often tag along with the Witwiccans (Phoenix and Grahm’s Terran group) and the Maltobots. The two don’t receive Cyber Sleeves though, probably due to being too young for the responsibility.

Beachcomber I saw as a victim of Mandroid’s reprogramming, one of several Autobots and Decepticons forced into the Arachnamech faction. Upon being freed of that, he becomes another mentor figure to the Terrans, passing on his laid back “hippie” way of thinking to the more high strung Phoenix, Ethan, Jawbreaker, Thrash and Camshaft.

He’s one of the few Autobots Dot actually likes, as they both bond over a shared love of nature.

Gears is trans in this version of events, though in story it’s not really dwelled on. The only real hint she is beyond just being another gender bend like Skywarp and Frenzy is Gears remarking she got an overhaul during the Earth conflict and never felt better. Something about upgrading from a stick shift, as a confused Thrash would describe it. Gears is still a bit of a grump though, annoyed at Megatron being an Autobot and having an existential crisis at the possibility the Transformers stuck on Earth are the only ones left in the universe. It’s this moment that sees Hashtag use her internet power to send a signal out into space to see whether or not other Autobots still exist. Gears is pleased to later learn Cybertron is ok, but sour at it being under Decepticon control at the moment. She also is surprised to hear the Colony Worlds are for the most part still intact after the Cosmic Rust incident, and several are actually descendants of Quintus Prime like the Terrans.

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I’m very adamant EarthSpark needed embrace Transformers’ toyetic nature more, and one way was dabbling in Megatron’s evolution to Galvatron.

In this version of events, Megatron evolves into Galvatron during a critical battle against Megaplex, his Clone that he left in charge on Cybertron when he left for Earth. Endowed by the power of the Cyber Sleeves of the Maltobots and Witwiccans, Megatron inherits the power of Quintus Prime and becomes galvanized, laying the final blow on the major remnant of his darker legacy.

Enraged at Megatron getting the power, Starscream plots to steal the power of a Prime to best Megatron. He sends Chaos Terrans Clickbait and Aftermath to kidnap Mo Malto, Maddie Witwicky and Ethan Meridian as they exhibit the strongest affinity towards the Prime. Together with his team’s personal medic Scalpel, they manage to crack the Cyber Sleeves just enough for Starscream to upgrade into his Super form. It maybe a “sub Prime” compared to Megatron’s “Prime”, but Starscream is confident it’s more than enough to give the Autobots and Megatron a good thrashing. Toward the end of the Adventure, Starscream and his Chaos Terrans/Decepticons fall under the mysterious Dark Nova, but his and the Chaos Terrans’ Quintus energy is drained to power up the Prime of Anti-Life, reverting Starscream into his old shell.

Optimus Prime also is upgraded by the Cyber Sleeves into a Terran form, but I haven’t figured out what that looks like yet.

The final battle against Dark Nova, a former apprentice/Prime to Quintus Prime who fell into the Dead Universe and became the antithesis to Quintus’ life above all else, sees Optimus, Galvatron, Terratronus and Giga Zarak using the combined power of all Terrans (Earth and colony) to vanquish the evil entity.

In this upgraded state, Galvatron has the usual power his G1 self has, but also has advanced nano healing, and a weaker ability to create life similar to Quintus, with Galvatron using this power to raise a new generation of Terrans aboard Terratronus on Earth post Nova.

Galvatron and Starscream Transform into modified versions of G1 Quintesson ships shown above.

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Kind of a toss up, as the Decepticon leader on Cybertron could be anyone, but recent trends might point to Tarn based on his IDW and Cyberverse selves.

A reprisal of RiD15 Cyclonus wouldn’t be a bad fit here either.

If you wanna go super obscure, Straxus based on his Marvel G1 self also would fit well here.

But considering the fans writing EarthSpark, and the audience they’re catering to, IDW/CV Tarn feels the most likely.

I’m not too concerned on Terratronus being OP, as MetroTitans are pretty easy to disable. G1 Metroplex was put into several scenarios where he was handicapped and couldn’t do anything, CV Iaconus was decapitated almost immediately, and RiD Fortress Maximus had his energy drained by Galvatron in his bat mode. It’s mostly a matter on what they feel like doing to Terratronus to get rid of her, as she doesn’t have a toy to advertise anyway, so that might hasten her demise. Heck IDW Chela came back online long enough to be shot in the brain module by Starscream and die.

Okay wait, who the hell is supposed to be the villain of the next batch of Earthspark episodes?

Because correct me if I’m wrong, which I might be since it’s been like 2 months since Season 3 came out, the Quintessons are pretty dead by the end of it, I don’t think they can come back. I’m also not sure if this next batch will be Season 3 part 2 or Season 4, but if it’s the former, then frankly I’m even more confused since I feel like the final boss of the season should connect to the mid season one. But again, the state of the Quintessons

I mean if it’s Season 3 part 2, then my best guess is someone else from space, likely Cybertron? Again it’s been a while since I’ve seen the season, but I do recall a lot of attention on Cybertron, with Prowl being sent from there and the Decepticons on Earth taking Prowl’s ship to return there. So I feel like logically, Cybertron will be incorporated more

Personally I think it’d be pretty cool if the new villain was like, a new ruler of the Decepticons that took over after the destruction of the space bridge. Granted, that’s mostly because I want to see the conflict for Megatron in that scenario. But it’d also be interesting if it were the Cybertronian Autobots, that don’t agree with the ideals of the ones on Earth anymore, and/or cause issues for the Terrans and Megatron, being the former Decepticon leader. I don’t know, there’s things you can do with it

But also since we’re here, I’m really noticing the weirdness of the final villains. In each Season 1 batch, it was Mandroid and his machinations, they were all consistent. Then in Season 2, it’s Starscream with Terratronus. Then in Season 3, it’s the Quintessons, which did have some buildup in Season 2, sure, but it’s got very little to do with the villains of last season. And now the Quintessons are completely gone, so who’s the villain now, especially if there’s more Season 3 to go? I have to assume the next villain is gonna have little to do with the Quintessons then

I mean I guess Mandroid doesn’t have much to do with the other main villains as well, outside of his involvement with hunting Decepticons but that doesn’t come up much I don’t think. But like, within the same time span it took to finally defeat Mandroid, we’ll have had 3 completely separate villains

And also, I don’t feel like you have the Quintessons as a mid-season boss, at least not in the fashion we finished them off, that’s season finale treatment. How are you supposed to top that?

I don’t know, I just don’t think I understand these choices

But quite frankly, I have to assume the next villain will be in space, because with Terratronus fully awakened and on the good guy side, how are any threats supposed to stop them now?

[blueikeproductions]

Saw Secret Level, and got inspired after getting better context from the Shadow Labyrinth game trailer.

I’ve noticed people tend to complain about Pac-Man cartoons not being faithful (how you can make a cartoon when the original game is just a yellow dot running around a maze filled with ghosts, fruit and edible dots I have no idea) but Shadow Labyrinth is the Bomberman Act Zero reaction decades late lol. Say what you will about Mesmeron or Betrayus but at least they’re closer to the spirit of the older games, lol. Still the game looks fun, and the short was utterly bizarre but still cool. Funny enough I haven’t seen people complain about this, so I guess turning Pac-Man into a horror thing is ok over embracing its Toon nature.

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So some more stuff about the Swapticons toys came out, that better explains what it is.

Originally I was thinking it would be a resurrection of an abandoned idea from the 80’s:

But the gimmick seems to be closer Micromaster Combiners and Crash Combiners.

While the idea is to combine two guys to form a single vehicle, you can combine them with different characters outside their assortment so so if you want the front half of a car with the back half of a jet, there ya go.

These follow a similar idea but how they work still isn’t fully understood yet as of typing. I’m not sure if it’s a horse costume idea, that is one is the front, the other the back or if it’s something like this:

It’s why I’m not understanding the Ravage and Shadow Panther idea specifically because if we’re to assume Ravage is his G1 self…

How is this supposed to work?

Still the mix and match idea sounds fun since unlike the Hero Mashers attempts, these toys can actually, y’know, Transform! So Optimus’s truck cab with Cheetor’s cheetah butt combined together could be interesting.

I don’t think these are meant to be associated with CyberWorld, but it would be fun to see it implemented there, just to see how nuts it is in a cartoon setting that preferably isn’t trying so hard to be serious.

Two robots that form different halves of a different vehicle or beast is ripe for goofy shenanigans, especially if they make Megatron or Clench combine with something ridiculous.

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Yeah that’s what makes this frustrating because on the surface, Optimus having slightly uncharacteristic shady behavior COULD be interesting if they stuck with it. Instead it’s more butterfly chasing, where Optimus seems far too buffoonish to be shady or heroic, and I don’t think it’s even that intentional it’s just an artifact of the bad writing. It’s the same problem Cyberverse had when it would imply Optimus isn’t worthy of the Matrix, they never explain why the staff just seem to think he’s a chump.

A more honest story at this point is Dot admitting she’s having an affair, she intends to leave the kids with Alex and she and Megatron are gonna go live together on a fancy island with their pet cat Meowgatron.

A more honest story is Robby and Jawbreaker having enough and running away (again), because they just outright admit their family is terrible to them and that they’re better off leaving.

I will always side eye Dot for the way she treats Optimus.

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If we’re to assume Mandroid got his drones from a Transformer, it’d make a little more sense they came from Tarantulas as he was the only one who made use of spider drones in Beast Wars.

Funny enough, they’re called “Arachnoids” according to Rattrap, so that’s not too far off from “Arachnamech”.

Airachnid would be more interested in doing this to Croft and Mandroid.

And she has no issues with doing the same to her fellow Transformers.

Airachnid would probably find it cute Mandroid is wearing Hardtop’s arm, but consider his own butchering skills sloppy and unbecoming to someone with his potential. Then she’d take control of Bombshell and Shrapnel and try to get them to kill Mandroid and Croft on her behalf.

Mandroid having help is sort of the same question people inevitably ask about how Dr. Eggman and Dr. Wily are able to build robots despite their mounting losses against Sonic and MegaMan. The MegaMan stuff is self aware enough to admit Wily was forced to having to build new robots out of junk or rebuild his car into one because his funds dried up. It’s kind of a coin flip with Eggman especially with SEGA rewriting so much stuff again…

My take in my own stuff is Mandroid was able to build the Arachnamechs to be a credible force in his own, but their inability to Transform was a problem he couldn’t crack, so he had to capture and reprogram the Constructicons to help him make rudimentary Cogs to fix this. The Constructicons are also helpful in larger tasks like securing other weapons left over from the war like the Griffin or building larger Arachnamechs based on Scrapmetals.

Dwindling materials and money isn’t really a problem when the Constructicons can just steal the good materials from a True Value or Ace and GHOST can blame it on the regular Decepticons, leaving Mandroid to his devices.

Plus the Constructicons salvage as many of the damaged Arachnamechs as possible to easily repair them and save on resources. Ethan, upon inheriting the Arachnamechs, doesn’t have much of a problem with resources thanks to Termagax, Grapple and Wheeljack.

What do you think of an alternate timeline where Airacnid was secretly working with Meridian and Croft? Would it be more dramatic and brutal or would it play out the same?

Because I have a theory that Dr. Meridian got his tech from this show’s version of Airacnid or Black Airacnid since the machines are called Airacnimechs and it's heavily reminiscent of what she'd make. And to top it all off, the way this spirals out of control as the show goes on is definitely something she’d plot from the beginning because she’d see Mandroid’s suffering and Croft’s thirst for power as amusing.

If Airacnid had her TFP characterization than I feel like Mandroid and Croft would know better than to let her run around on her own even if it was under the pretense of helping them. Mandroid would put a control badge on her while Croft would have her locked up in a very high security wing of GHOST.

I'm not sure why so many people seem to think Mandroid had some sort of help making the Arachnamechs. Alex said himself in Traditions that he used to know a colleague that had similar tech to the Arachnamechs, meaning that Mandroid already had prototypes of them before being recruited by GHOST. Most of his aesthetic is insect based to begin with, even his Final Form. Him being solely responsible for the Arachnamechs makes him a much greater threat.

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In fairness, it’s something of a well known joke with the fans how dumb both the Autobots and the Decepticons are to keep their war going that one of them should’ve won by now or the Transformers should otherwise be extinct.

The problem is the gag is counterbalanced by Optimus’ unwavering heroism and Megatron’s unrepentant greed, but modern media so far instead makes Optimus too much into a socially awkward, possibly autistic leaning, millennial who can do nothing right and Megatron as the more understanding, repentant Dragonball villain.

So the joke doesn’t work anymore, and makes the idea of the Great War lasting as long as it did seem more ridiculous even in the context of ancient robotic aliens.

I know you talked about it in your posts.

But i wanted to vent.

I feel like Optimus is done dirty and given a severe disservice for the sake of Megatron apoligism. Animat,Prime, Unicron Trigology and One movie gave Optimus the grace.

I also hated the way Dot treated Op. Like what he had done to you?

What gets me is that I'm supposed to believe that OP led the Autobots during a very long war despite the fact that the writers frequently make him an idiot in S1. It's another case of the writers hoping the audience doesn't think too hard about the way things are presented in the show.

The crazy thing about Dot not liking is that OP's bio in the ES Production Bible pretty much says it's because he's too awkward and Dot can't stand it.

[blueikeproductions]

I still feel this is an awkward side effect of insisting on making Megatron into a calmer Vegeta. With the show hellbent on making Megatron heroic, it feels like they can only making Optimus into a socially awkward punching bag in Cyberverse and EarthSpark (and to some extent Netflix War For Cybertron), because how dare Optimus still be the main hero in favor of the people’s champion Megatron!

Honestly this might be why modern kids struggle to get into post Aligned stuff because they’re sold on the idea of heroic Autobots and Evil Decepticons, but the modern shows so far instead make Megatron the hero and confusing the pitch and turning kids away to older stuff that’s not relevant anymore.

Dot not caring for Optimus for the pettiest reasons DOES make her a jerk, and her loving Megatron more does reek of staff bias once more. That she also seems to love him more than her husband Alex, to the point she has a framed picture of him and her together sends all sorts of red flags to me.

I guarantee Robbie has one of those throwaway Reddit accounts where he kvetches about his family, after his parents revealed their clear favoritism at Mo when he nearly died, and Hashtag just hasn’t stumbled on it yet.

I will always side eye Dot for the way she treats Optimus.

[blueikeproductions]

In a year and a half, the Energon Universe, between Transformers, Void Rivals, and GI Joe has sold 3 million copies. Closest rocket out of the starting block in sales I can think of recently is Kagurabachi, and that’s getting an anime next year. Just saying Hasbro, an animated EU show would do numbers.

For comparison sake, IDW was selling an average of 11,000 copies of its ongoing a month when it had the license.

[blueikeproductions]

Ok so now we’re getting into the fun part.

How are Transformers able to reproduce.

The miners are the most recent generation of robots on TFONE Cybertron but how they were created in the final film was left unexplained.

How Transformers are created differs from series to series, and even the original cartoon was somewhat inconsistent with it.

The thought process initially in America seems to be “Well, they’re robots, right? They just build each other.” This is mostly what the original cartoon and comics did, with the Dinobots being the first Transformers to be born through construction on screen. Later on in the series, the Quintessons were revealed to have built the first robots on Cybertron in factories, making the idea seem simple enough. It’s never that simple tho…

Japan meanwhile is a little more peculiar, as it suggests, as super robot life forms, Transformers have a life cycle similar to humans, in that they have a baby-childhood stage they grow out of over millions of years and are raised by parents.

American media has toyed with this off and on as well, with G1 having a scrapped scene of Bumblebee remembering his own parents witnessing his first Transformation when he was a baby robot. G1 Wheelie is considered a child canonically, with one children’s book at the time stating he lost his parents when their ship crash landed on Quintessa. Rattrap refers to Arcee as his great aunt and is even raised by Arcee in the Legends manga, and IDW2 shows Gauge being raised by her mothers Arcee and Greenlight.

As time has gone on, the concept of how Transformers are created began to solidly, but not right away. As usual it tends to fluctuate with the same basic idea used as a starting point.

Along with being built from the ground up, the Marvel Comics and G1 cartoon would then state the robot is infused with life by a special object: the Creation Matrix (revealed very early on in the comics) or Vector Sigma (revealed much later in the cartoon).

The Marvel Comics later in the run and during G2 would retcon things slightly, with the first Transformers not being built, but born from the planet itself.

The idea of the Creation Matrix remained but the G2 comics added a different method.

A forgotten form of reproduction called budding, which Primus had initially programmed a predetermined size for the Transformers to subdivide into, and once that was reached, the process was deleted.

Or so it was thought, as the Decepticons rediscovered this lost ability and used it to create more troops during the Great War. This saw the creation of Jhiaxus’ splinter faction and the monstrous Swarm, a ravenous formless byproduct of the budding process that began devouring life across the galaxy. This was, of course, ceased when the Swarm ate Optimus and the Creation Matrix, purifying the entity, causing it to recreate Optimus as it went to go do good in the galaxy.

The budding process hasn’t been revisited but one concept that has been from the G2 comics was the idea Transformers have a genetic code called CNA, pretty much DNA, but robotic.

The original cartoon largely stuck to construction, revealing that the Quintessons built the first Transformers in the series time line, though as the life giving Vector Sigma came much later during the show’s production, what makes the Dinobots alive has never been properly examined here. It gets weirder when Trypticon and the Technobots were also built and fully alive in the absence of Vector Sigma, which only raises more questions as Vector Sigma is credited as giving all robots on Cybertron life. It also created the Aerialbots and Stunticons, as before they were merely drones before being given true life so it’s a bit of a mess, lol. Made even weirder when Grimlock, endowed with super intelligence, built the Technobots from scrap metal inside Unicron’s head. I s’pose the idea as a super genius, Grimlock knew how to make mechanical life itself no sweat, since he didn’t use Vector Sigma or tap into Unicron’s godly powers either…

Beast Wars would introduce Protoforms, a mannequin like early life stage made of Liquid Metal which would go on to become the standard early life stage in future media. Endowed with a Spark and certain programming, these forms would become fully grown Transformers in a matter of minutes.

When the Bay films rolled around, the Allspark is credited for all life on Cybertron, while on Earth, its energy created primitive life out of Earth machinery, with this idea copied in Animated bringing forth the Wreck-Gar, the Dinobots, & the Constructicons.

The movies did try to split the difference tho.

The IDW Bay comics would show the Allspark as one of the only remaining structures on what would become Cybertron, and from the fabric of the planet it would create the Primes and later the first Transformers.

However the movies would later show that the Bayformers have a child like stage in Hatchlings, returning to the idea Japanese creators had in the 80’s. These Transformers are child sized Protoforms that gestate in sacs of Energon for a period of time, but without sufficient Energon in this gestation period they die. As we see Hatchlings in RotF and DotM, it’s implied they can be created in the absence of the Allspark…

When fully grown, they appear to come in humanoid Autobot and insectoid Decepticon varieties.

IDW would try to combine all of the above into two distinct categories: Forged and Constructed Cold.

Forged robots are protoforms that are born from various Hot Spots on Cybertron and Colony Planets, emerging from the planet itself.

Cold robots are prebuilt shells that have cultivated Sparks from storage installed into them. Starscream and Ravage are examples of this type of birth.

Cold robots tend to be looked down upon for being “artificial” and “lesser”, though such prejudice was largely gone post war.

IDW2 would simplify it to a Pyramid, a structure that develops all life to its completed stage, with the newborn assigned a parental mentor who guides them in how to Transform and find a career.

It’s a little unclear if this is the only Pyramid on Cybertron though, though I would imagine there’s more across the planet. Hasbro and creatives tend to forgot there’s other cities besides Iacon. This ain’t Planet Shuggazoom people, there’s other cities besides Shuggazoom City.

Aligned also had a Well of Allsparks, where all life emerged thanks to the Allspark deep within, with Protoforms seeing specific use during the Great War when the Allspark was ejected from Cybertron.

In the absence of the Allspark in Animated, new life on Cybertron was created using Vector Sigma in conjunction with Protoforms.

In Cyberverse, the Allspark and Vector Sigma are used in conjunction to create new robots quite literally out of thin air. Though Vector Sigma was viewed as an expendable component, as it needed to be destroyed so the Decepticons couldn’t use both to build a super soldier army. How this differs from just using the Allspark only I’m not sure, though Vector Sigma is said to be needed to create a specific template. Again how this doesn’t wind up being an issue for future generations is never explored; it’s why I don’t have high hopes for the species in this universe because everything they do should ESPECIALLY doom them to extinction but doesn’t.

A similar problem crops up in Netflix War For Cybertron, as the Maximals and Predacons are the evolved descendants of the surviving Transformers left behind on Cybertron when the Ark and Nemesis chased after the Allspark. Despite the Autobots still requiring the Allspark, the Maximals don’t really see the point, remarking they were born without it… completely derailing the story the show was trying to tell… How the Maximals and Predacons exist … at all on a Cybertron near death devoid of Energon is never explored and I don’t imagine the staff knew either.

And finally, EarthSpark, which would make proper use of a new life giving relic: the Emberstone. While introduced in Aligned, it never really was properly used or explained, outside of being responsible for creating the Quintessons. The relic was left on Earth following a conflict with the Quintessons, where the Terrans would be created from the substance of the Earth when the Maltos found the stone. The show would better establish other life besides the Terrans and Quintessons were created on other planets, but it’s suggested the Quints killed most if not all of their cousins.

The Terrans would be born as fully functional Protoforms, having built in scanners similar to Japanese and Bay media that allowed them to Scan new Vehicle or Beast Modes.

With TFONE looking to simplify things, how new Transformers are born is never specified as the Allspark nor Vector Sigma is never mentioned. For that matter, it’s never made clear if any new robots were created after the Miners, or if new Miners periodically pop out to replace dead Miners. Until something is outright confirmed, my suggestion is to take your pick from above and head canon your own version. My personal pick is the IDW2 Pyramid since it fits the best with TFONE to me. It’s worth mentioning Cloning is also a reproductive means in the general lore.

Perhaps that could also be used to explain why there appear to be multiple versions of the same Miners in TFONE…

[blueikeproductions]

Oh I'm so glad to see someone else who thinks that Hashtag should have had cassettes! For a new transformers race, I feel like the first ones should be different from each other, a group of unique individuals. They're kids for now, but one day they'll be known as the first Terrans, they should all be memorable.

Like if we threw in medic servos being a thing, we could have the first Terran medic. Actually we don't even need that, we just need any one of the Terran kids wanting to heal instead of fight. It would still be relatable to a lot of children since not everyone wants to get in on the action.

The only thing I can think of right now are Twitch and Thrash being the first two, then JB being the first dinobot and Nightshade having an animal for an altmode. (Ignoring the fact that he scanned a statue and not an actual organic. Actually, I guess he could be the first scientist)

Hashtag having cassettes would be the thing that makes her stand out from her siblings, especially if the quintessons invade and she becomes similar to Soundwave, hacking into their databases and spying on them. (Probably not the best comparison, she'd need some sort of character arc before I can actually see that happening. Which could be what the cassettes are for: learning the responsibility that comes with adopting pets. And just imagine the cute companions she could get! Or little sibling figures, if they're like Rumble.)

EarthSpark is a frustrating experience with interesting ideas but lack of interest to make them work as you’d think they should.

A medic seems like an obvious choice to better explain Terranit biology and how it differs from Cybertronian born Transformer biology. You could transplant Medix into a Terran, with his RBA personality but his G1/RB body type.

It would also be a better use of Ratchet, as he could bond with Medix and together with their applied knowledge better understand the Terrans and Cyber Sleeves.

In fairness to Nightshade, Scanning an object related to an animal or vehicle is something older stuff did before. Galaxy Force in particular shows Transformers can Scan pictures of cars or animal statues to gain the data necessary to Transform. Beast Wars era Transformers can Scan fossils and recreate the animal to Transform into it like Megatron, Terrorsaur, and Dinobot. Jawbreaker doing that is likely a reference to this.

Still this goes back to the medic idea, where Medix realizes Terrans might have a more advanced Scanning system that allows them to better adapt than regular Transformers.

Also I feel like Blaster and/or Jazz would be a much better fit as mentor to Hashtag. Both are already enamored by Earth culture and Jazz mentored Sideswipe in RiD15, so it’s not unheard of.

I don’t trust the old writers to make Decepticons into mentors because as we’ve seen they don’t seem interested in picking Decepticons better suited for that, vs forcing the popular ones in the role. It’d be much more fitting to have a well meaning Decepticon that isn’t Starscream or Soundwave give bad advice that the Terrans have to struggle to figure out with the Maltos and Bee. Like say IDW Flatline was another medic that Medix mentored under, but his advice and skills are considered ghoulish by Ratchet, but Medix is able to hybridize Flatline and Ratchet’s skills into something that helps the Terrans and Autobots.

The pet analogy fits pretty well as the cassettes I had in mind would be based on CatDog and Reptar.

[blueikeproductions]

So, it's December 2024 as I am writing this, and this month is gonna be really hard on me and my friends.

I have may too much of a backlog with my commissions to open them to a wider public, so I'm just gonna drop a link to my Ko-Fi.

Any support is greatly appreciated, reblogging helps. Donate if you want to and are able to without it affecting you.

[blueikeproductions]

The Matrix of Leadership is pry one of the most important aspects of Transformers, that it was pivotal in TFONE…

Buuut as usual these things don’t have a straight path.

The Matrix didn’t appear in the cartoon until the original animated movie, with its purpose largely being to destroy Unicron. Naturally the movie never really explained why we never saw the Matrix before or what it truly is. The succeeding third season would establish it as a very ancient relic with surprisingly mystical qualities that conflicts somewhat with the mechanical characters we follow.

Most of what we know is all past Autobot leaders had carried it up until Rodimus Prime, and that it’s potent enough to kill Unicron. Why it affected Unicron is never explained, but the Primacron episode would show the Matrix escaping the dead body of Primacron’s ape-bot assistant.

Which is confusing as the story suggests this wasn’t supposed to BE the Matrix, but a separate entity that would later summon Grimlock and the other Beast Mode Transformers to fight Unicron’s successor, Tornedron.

The Matrix’s final feat in the original cartoon was to vanquish the Hate Plague as its eons long accumulated wisdom was more than enough to cancel out the rage affecting the galaxy.

The funny thing is the Matrix wasn’t even part of the original scripts for the 80’s movie, which instead had Optimus’ “Life Spark” be the object passed down, upgrading Magnus to Ultra Magnus and ultimately be unleashed inside Unicron to kill him.

Megatron’s Life Spark was also a plot point originally, in that it was supposed to be entombed in the Decepticon crypt on Cybertron, but Megatron’s Spark and the Sparks of other dead Decepticons would be released accidentally, where these ethereal beings would come across Unicron who would instead encase them in new bodies as Galvatron and company.

The Matrix originally was featured in Marvel G1, a “Primal Program” housed in the current leader of the Autobots that allows them to bestow life on new Transformers. This was to explain how the Transformers reproduce in the absence of doing it the human way as the race (originally) wasn’t intended to have female characters.

Eventually the comics would retcon it that the Creation Matrix had a physical form similar to the cartoon, with the Matrix described as being the life force of Primus itself passed down to his creations.

This version of the Matrix would be transferred into Buster Witwicky’s brain by Optimus in an attempt to keep it away from Shockwave, which would temporarily give Buster Lawnmower Man like mastery over other machines, to the point he was able to disassemble (a non living) Decepticon Jetfire with his mind.

Buster, after Shockwave was defeated, was able to return the Matrix back to Optimus, with this concept loosely adapted in RotF years later when Sam Witwicky would be given the power of the Allspark in his brain by accident. Later the Matrix would need to be found once more, as the Autobots sent Optimus’ dead body to space, not realizing the Matrix still physically existed in him evidently, kick starting the Matrix Quest. The Matrix would be tainted by Thunderwing, creating the Dark Matrix Creature that served as the final antagonist of Re: Generation One, but the Matrix otherwise would be purified by Optimus and used to destroy Unicron.

G2 would see the Matrix restored, and later abused by Starscream briefly, while ReGen One would ignore this, instead having the Matrix completely gone…. Until Hot Rod was able to get an intact copy from another universe and evolve to Rodimus Prime. Yea it’s convoluted but this is Transformers, it’s always kinda convoluted.

After this the Matrix stopped having a major influenced for awhile, though the Japanese Beast Wars era would introduce the Energon Matrix, a personalized Matrix unique to different Maximal leaders from Optimus Primal, Lio Convoy, Big Convoy and Fire Convoy.

Other series like the Unicron Trilogy would include the Matrix, but it was just kind of there, mostly included just because G1 included it. The Matrix would instead become more of a religious concept during Beast Wars, and later become Transformers heaven in Beast Machines, and while it didn’t exist in Animated, the Allspark would later be contained in a container resembling the G1 Matrix.

Because of the life giving Allspark introduced in the Bay films, the Matrix, along with Vector Sigma, became somewhat redundant, with this being a problem Hasbro and other creatives haven’t been able to properly adapt. The Allspark became a sort of catch all for wisdom and life baring abilities the other two relics were known for, though modern media, albeit not successfully, has tried to make each relic distinct. Vector Sigma in Prime would be a repository of wisdom, while the Matrix was merely the symbol of leadership passed down by Primus to various leaders. Confusingly the Matrix would still display some holy power filled with wisdom, as using it shut down Unicron, but reset Optimus back to Orion. Vector Sigma’s back up data was necessary to reboot Orion into Optimus again… Cyberverse would see Vector Sigma and the Allspark used in conjunction in creating life, while the Matrix was a repository of wisdom from the past Primes as before, but its power could also be used by Megatron and Megatron X, showing the writers’ favoritism towards the Decepticons when they shouldn’t be able to be use it otherwise.

IDW would bring back the Matrix more prominently, but rapidly downplay its mystical nature to the point it was practically described as an advanced light up toy, and could easily be replaced with a fake or have multiple versions be created by Rung’s gizmo mode.

It still held religious significance and was thought to be part of Solomus, the god of Wisdom.

Tyrest would be revealed to be Solomus, so uh… take that as you will.

It’s not clear if Tyrest ever held the Matrix, but in his civilian life, he did work with it, being tasked with extracting life energy from it to make new Sparks after the life giving Hot Spots on Cybertron began to fade. This started the Constructed Cold Transformers, robots whose Sparks were housed in pre-built bodies rather than emerging from the metal of Cybertron naturally. Tyrest would later come to believe the Cold born Transformers were evil and try to kill them all, yeah wisdom my actuator.

After various trials and tribulations, the original IDW Matrix would be split in half, one half claimed by Rodimus the other Optimus, with each one being destroyed in order to fix a problem of the hour. Optimus’ half survived longer, being used as a means to sway the religious colony worlds into Optimus’ goals to have a Council of Worlds, Earth among them.

Despite downplaying the mystical nature, sometimes it would crop up to somewhat demean Optimus, implying he wasn’t worthy of it. Optimus would complain having the Matrix hurt him, while Rodimus instead felt like he just harmed the power of the Chaos Emeralds. The Matrix also temporarily was held by Thunderclash, and had to be surgically removed from his chest because apparently the Matrix didn’t want to leave Thunderclash.

SkyBound seems to meet in the middle, having some general rules with its Matrix, but not being embarrassed by its mystical nature like IDW was.

This Matrix seems to be more of an advanced machinery that has a finite power source, and while it can heal, it can’t reactivate the dead. It is tied to the barer’s life force, and exerting too much energy can kill the barer. Optimus’ selflessness saw him wanting to use what power was left to revive all the Autobots, but when talked out of it, he instead used the power to reactivate the Decepticon damaged hospital Spike was recovering in. Later when Sparkplug merged with the Matrix by unexplained means, the Matrix was re-energized, but also caused Optimus to be given flashes of Sparkplug’s memories and trauma, often seeing a memory of Spike as a baby, one that became increasingly distorted (a fan theory as of typing connected it as a side effect of wearing Megatron’s arm) when Optimus was pushed to his limit and killed Shockwave, and later, possibly due to Sparkplug’s PTSD from his own war, accidentally blew up a tank when the Autobots tried to respond to a Decepticon attack on another city.

Who originally bore the Matrix differs from series to series… Japanese media would try to expand on it in modern manga borrowing ideas from the 80’s cartoon and Beast Wars where appropriate.

The Matrix was originally owned by a survivor of the Big Bang, Primacron, who sealed his master Primus within to use his godly power to bestow life to his robots, eventually creating Unicron. The Matrix would escape and later bestow organic life to a barren planet, but early Quintessons would discover this planet and reformat it into Cybertron. The Quintesson leader of the era was the first leader to bare the Matrix, the being the 80’s cartoon would only describe as “It”.

Netflix War of Cybertron would state Alpha Trion was the first recorded barer of the Matrix, contradicting modern lore which states Prima, who originated from Marvel G1, was the first inheritor of the Matrix.

The modern lore with Prima was contradicted again in One, where Zeta Prime originally held the Matrix.

Who holds the Matrix before Optimus isn’t really nailed down as much as Hasbro wants it to be, as their intended idea is that the Matrix was originally part of the Star Saber, adorning its hilt, but the cartoons and comics tend to be a bit more resistant to this, preferring to to their own direction. Other leaders post Rodimus tend to not have the Matrix either, with Star Saber, Fortress Maximus, Ginrai, Dai Atlas, and RiD15 Bumblebee not using it.

Other Matrix variants are shown to exist here and there, most unusual is a Sharkticon Matrix briefly held by Megatron in Aligned media, and a Mini-Con Matrix held by Over-Run in the Dreamwave Armada comics. A Decepticon Matrix was said to exist in the G1 cartoon, but while it was a fib by the Quintessons to trick Galvatron into their servitude, an actual Decepticon Matrix probably DOES exist somewhere given all the variants I haven’t mentioned for simplicity.

Who can wield the Matrix varies, but for the most part it’s a heroic paragon of justice, hope, and goodness like Optimus who is considered worthy to use it. Hot Rod would also be shown to possess these qualities as would Optimus Primal, all being able to open up and use the Matrix. Ultra Magnus was unable to open it, with him even having to adjust the relic to better fit into his chest. Decepticons, according to the old cartoon, can’t use it. Galvatron tried to both open it and install it as a power source for his cannon and was unable to do so. Scourge and Starscream experienced mutations that did make them powerful when they installed the relic… but had side effects. Scourge was in inconstant pain (possibly, but never confirmed, to be the ancient Autobots retaliating when the Matrix wasn’t returned to Rodimus), while Starscream was instead slowly turning good by the Matrix’s divine power, something the jet was repulsed enough by to surrender the relic, as he loved being a dick.

The Cyberverse Matrix seemed more open minded to Megatron and Megatron X for some reason, despite their own atrocities, with the show implying Optimus wasn’t worthy. Remember kids, villain worship to this extent is unhealthy. Megatron being able to use the Matrix misses the point, something TFONE fixes. When the greedy Sentinel made a grab for the Matrix, it evaporated in front of him, only later reforming when Orion proved worthy of it. This version also attempts to be both a symbol of leadership and a life giving relic, as it controls the flow of Energon on Cybertron. What this means when Optimus goes to Earth has yet, if ever, to be explored…

The long and short of it is the Matrix typically is just an ancient ball that’s a symbol of leadership that occasionally can grant life depending on the demands of a particular story. The only object that’s similar in reverence is the Animated exclusive Magnus Hammer, with it able to generate intense storms and tremors by its user, but is carried around like Thor’s Hammer (never been shown if they need to swing throw it to fly with it tho’).

[blueikeproductions]

Some CyberWorld stuff cropped up.

…Kinda.

Prices were revealed for the line.

Of note is the Scorponok toy that’s roughly 100 bucks. The price has led some to guess it’s similar to the Hot Wheels playsets with the car eating monster and assorted Batman and Paw Patrol transforming playsets.

It’s thought that if this is a transforming playset of some kind, presumably that means this Scorponok is likely based on the G1 version.

And it Transforms from base to scorpion, no robot. Of course the toy could also be based on Bay Scorponok…

At this point it’s hard to say without photos yet, but something similar to G1 Scorponok seems likely.

The other prices seem … ok. Toys are still expensive but these seem manageable? Unless Cyber Changers are more One Steps like Cog Changers, $14 bucks seems a little steep for that though. Hopefully they’ve retired that as the Cyberverse and EarthSpark One Steps clogged shelves my way for the longest time.

The Cog Changers aren’t moving much here either so maybe it’s time for a different approach. Fans do seem more intrigued at what all these toys will be and are hoping Hasbro is learning better lessons after the failure of CV & ES.

Another thing that sticks out is Megatron is indeed part of this toy line, but whether that means he evolves to Galvatron or Galvatron is a separate character we don’t know yet. For that matter we still don’t know if Megatron’s a bull or bulldozer, lol. Both would be funny. It seems then it’s only a matter of time before Bumblebee is also revealed if Megatron’s still involved.

The original listings didn’t explicitly name Megatron, leaving us confused if Meg Bull was Megatron or was a separate character, so this is new information.

Another thing that’s cropped up are the Swapticons.

It’s unknown if they’re related to CyberWorld (both this and CW DO make use of Grimlock and Snarl specifically), but the mention of a Jungle Mission implies a larger return to animals all around from this, CyberWorld and Wild King post ROTB.

The gimmick seems to be a revival of an aborted toy considered in the 80’s.

It’s still just as bizarre now as it was then, but at least the pairs for the Swapticons make a little more sense.

The weirdest pair though are Nemesis Prime and Clench.

Both that Hasbro seems hellbent on making Nemesis a proper character (RiD Scourge aside), and that Clench is remembered. At all. He’s incredibly obscure, and certainly a unique choice.

Hazarding a guess the toy might use the “Laser Prime” body type since that fits what Clench usually turns into the best.

Shadow Panther and Ravage is also funny because depending on the continuity, they’re the same character!

The Beast Wars versions are, unsurprisingly, usually repaints of Cheetor. Apparently Shadow Panther is supposed to be a separate character in Japan, but some Beast Wars stuff in America tried to make him into Ravage to tie into his role in the cartoon.

How this Swapticon version works I don’t know, as I would think G1 Ravage would be the dominant one, but I don’t know if I see this turning into a cassette. Maybe it’s loosely based on BW Ravage?

Or it’s just a Cheetor/Tigatron repaint and I’m overthinking it.

The aforementioned jungle pack is probably the Dinobots, the cats and maybe Nemesis and Starscream?

Hopefully the Swapticons have better luck than the EarthSpark Tacticons, as those finger puppets keep clogging pegs my way. No one wants Hashtag and Arcee that badly it seems.

Also can we go back and use Swapticon and Tacticons as actual factions? They sound cool by name alone.