quibbs126

[quibbs126]

A random thing I sometimes think about because I can’t stop thinking about Transformers crossovers, but I feel like TFP Optimus would just be having the worst time

Not externally mind you, he’d be happy to be there and meet his other counterparts and probably see people dead in his universe still alive, or the war in better shape for them. I think the struggle would be entirely internal and about his own guilt and worthiness of his role

Because as far as I can tell, excluding the comics because I haven’t read them, I think Transformers Prime has it going the worst for the Autobots. Their Cybertron is completely dead, and with little/no hope of reviving it until the Omega Lock. His team is so small because they’re some of the only Autobots left, and most who are absent are so because they died. And his Megatron is probably one of the worst ones, despite their previous history and the significance he has to this Optimus

Like he’s super serious and stoic, and his team say it’s because he’s a Prime, they’re just like that. But then they all meet the other versions of Optimus, all of which seem to have more life and personality in them, and things are going fine for them. These other versions of him are allowed to be people, which TFP Optimus seemingly denies himself, and it proves that this isn’t a general Optimus thing, this is something particular to their Optimus, they’ve got the depressed one. And Optimus probably wouldn’t have a good time seeing that not only are they able to be more of people than him, but the war seems to be going better for everyone else as well, as if him doing this was for nothing, but it’s not something he can undo now

And then there’s Earthspark Megatron. He’d be happy to see a version of Megatron actually changed his ways, but you know it’d hurt him to see that yes, it actually is possible for Megatron to change, his just won’t. And even if the Earthspark versions assure him that it isn’t his fault, as Megatron’s change of heart was more spurred by Dorothy, though Optimus’ faith in him absolutely helped, there’d still be the fact that his Megatron refuses to change like this one. Not only that, but again, learning that his is probably one of the worst, and probably one of the least likely to change (at least without other factors). Which would be crushing because of his internal hope that maybe Megatron could change, or the significance he couldn’t help but place on him because of their past, basically all being for nothing

And as stated, there’s the fact that seemingly everyone else is doing better than his universe. TF One doesn’t count as much, since the war hasn’t even officially started there, but the others still do. Yes Earthspark and Cyberverse have dying planets, but they’re still alive (presumably in ES’s case) and have clear ways of reviving them by obtaining the AllSpark, which was lost. And it’s probably going to hit everyone that the universe (excluding One) where Cybertron is at its best and still has a pretty functional society is also the one where Optimus isn’t the leader of the Autobots and didn’t fight in the Autobot-Decepticon War. Like things maybe would have gone better for their people if Optimus wasn’t the leader

Now yes, it isn’t his fault he’s in the worst timeline; technically that’s the writers’ fault and in universe that’s probably more on Megatron’s shoulders than Optimus’. But I can definitely see him blaming himself, as he sees that he is not only the worst Optimus in terms of personality (by which this definition is more actually being a person, not so much moral fiber), but in terms of actions as well, and what they’ve led to. Which again, is untrue, but that’s how he sees it

I wouldn’t necessarily say it’d lead to a TFP Optimus crash out, since I don’t think that’s how he’d react to it. It’d be more like an implosion probably. But it still would be interesting to explore I think

[quibbs126]

Okay I just have to step in and say the game’s good before Dustbpund Village, at least in my opinion

Particularly with Geof Agricite, but maybe that’s because his section emotionally destroys me every time I play it

It might also have to do with the order I play the three Blue Vale stages in, because the way I do it I think has a progression

Because like, with the Center City Cenote ones, there’s a very clear structure in how you deal with the people. You interact with them, very clearly see they have a problem that’s negatively affecting them, go in the stage, fight the Assassin boss, absorb the crystal and get a card, and then everything’s all better for the people. But as soon as you step into Blue Vale, that structure breaks down little by little

For starters, it’s not 4 people for 4 cards, it’s only 3, and I don’t recall any of them having any sort of boss fights at the end. But more specifically, I want to talk about their stories and endings

I start with Iwasaki, who has a clear problem of wanting his Tree Fan Club to get validation from the Tree Master they’re inspired by. And then by the end of it, he realizes that he doesn’t need the approval of the Tree Master, and at this rate, he has become the Tree Master himself, no longer needing the approval of the original, and being happier for it. A happy ending for Iwasaki

Then I go to Lonwei Yonstein. She claims that her brother Clonwei has become infected with Dust and you must clean him, though their actual problem isn’t very clear at this point. However as you go through the stage, you see snippets of Clonwei (though it’s pretty obviously Lonwei) having interactions with the other characters around the area, and how despite being a smart scientist, she’s just a normal person who wants interactions and relationships, but through her own inexperience with social interactions, she ends up pushing people away. Lonwei insists that it’s Clonwei dreaming up these scenarios and berates him for it, which is very telling since it’s obviously about her, and Clonwei is just a robot. By the end when you get to where the Crystal is supposed to be, it doesn’t decompose right, as Lonwei admits she filled Clonwei with Dust to run simulations on how social interaction would go for her (so none of those scenarios actually happened, they’re all imagined), but sees the error of her ways now and tries to fix her mistakes. However, she does not reach the conclusion that simulations aren’t reality and she should just try to interact with people regardless of what facts say. Instead, she shuts down her attempts to interact with others, believing that her straying from her intended purpose as a scientist was what caused this, and she should just stick to that and stay alone. It’s not the right answer, at least as we know it, but at the very least, she puts on a happy face, so I guess we helped her?

Sorry, I may have on Lonwei a bit too long. I just found her story hits a little too close to home, as I also struggle with social interactions and don’t know if I even should bother, though I’m yet to reach any conclusion of my own. Her story made me a bit uneasy with that

But then we get to Geof Agricite. We find him collapsed in a pit, seemingly close to death, and he does not remember who he was or why he was here, and wants you to help him. As you go through his stage, you first see graves of everyone in the village he used to belong to, with even a husband and daughter, and you learn he was the mayor of the village, when one day a fungus started growing and causing the crops to die and people to get sick. He, as the mayor, tried to help by pulling out the fungus, which helped, but only temporarily as it never stopped growing back. And as you go even further and see everyone else in living memories, you see that everyone else eventually started to tell him that there wasn’t hope for the town, and that they needed to leave. But Geof was stubborn and thought he could save the town if he just kept digging and trying harder, and eventually, everyone started leaving, even his husband eventually deciding to take their daughter and leave without him, and there Geof stayed, still trying to get rid of the fungus, until he wound up where we met him. But even with his memory back, he still hasn’t learned the lesson to let go, and stays where he is, wanting to keep digging, but collapses instead, going silent afterwards, seemingly dead. He didn’t learn anything, and he didn’t die happy, he died alone in a pit with no one to mourn him

We do see he isn’t dead in one of the endings, and we also do meet his husband and daughter, but they never reunite in game again, and yet again, he didn’t achieve any revelation with his cleansing of Dust

The expected scenario is gradually deconstructed, from a happy ending, to one we know isn’t what’ll truly bring happiness but the person seems happy with, to just pure tragedy. And by this point, it’s clear that cleaning Dust isn’t the simple, easy solution to the problems other characters face like we were led to believe, and that it doesn’t help everyone. There might have been a few things before that seemed off, particularly the Great Gwom and her children after the Dust cleaning, but it’s far more blatant by this point

While it’s not until Dustbound Village that Nova herself gets those seeds of doubt about her purpose planted in her mind, we the audience have these seeds of doubt about our quest even before that, and if things really are as they seem

Sorry, I didn’t mean to turn this into a whole essay. I meant to just say “but what about Geof Agricite?” because I love his stage and how it makes me so emotional (I also love the song, Time to Let Go), but then I wanted to insert my interpretation of the events based on how I order these stages. Because with all the other sections, I’ll play around with the order, but not Blue Vale

i'm kind of obsessed with anodyne 2's subtitle (return to dust) because before you play it or know anything about it, it's like "ohh its cause anodyne 1 you sweep up the dust so its return to dust cause like return to dust cause its again lol!" but then once you get to dustbound village it gets Recontextualized. and then the game is really good

[quibbs126]

Anodyne 2 is such a good game with an interesting story, I need more people to know about it and analyze it

Sorry, I’m just thinking about the game right now. Earlier I had to meet up with my group for a project, and one of us brought a speaker for music, and she put on Minecraft music, which made me think about Anodyne 2’s soundtrack, and she let me put on the music after I failed to explain the vibe of the music, and after which we got through the entire game’s soundtrack, with me frequently chiming in to explain where in the game this is from, and explaining stuff about the game

So like, my brain’s been wired to the game today, and now I need more about it

[quibbs126]

I know I’ve probably said this before, but I’d like to see another Transformers series have a main Autobot medic that isn’t Ratchet

Like yeah, Ratchet’s not bad, even if I admit I personally think he shows up too often, but I’d like to see other medics and their perspectives, how they differ in their role from him

It’s not like Ratchet’s the only one, I know there’s others outside of him. I know there’s First Aid, Lifeline, Ambulon (but I also don’t know anything about him), and presumably others (I don’t know where Pharma fits, if he’s eligible for the role). And hell, Lifeline comes packaged with a former soldier turned medical assistant in Quickslinger, that itself would be another interesting thing to explore

I don’t know, I’d just like to see someone else and what they’d be like

I mean technically Earthspark has that with Wheeljack I think? But like, Wheeljack’s the engineer and I think he’s only filling the role becomes he’s the closest to that position, and similar goes with Nightshade; they’re not the medic, just the closest equivalent. So I don’t really count it

[quibbs126]

I’m just now remembering that Cookie Run has Peperoncino, a single father trying his best and we were introduced to him desperately searching for his lost 10 year old child, without us knowing it was his kid, just someone close to him who may or may not have died, and he had to spend like a year in our time before we got a part 2 to his story and he actually got to reunite with his son

I need to watch Peperoncino and Habanero’s cutscenes again, that stuff is peak angst

[quibbs126]

So uh, I drew this tonight

It was just based on me seeing this post on Twitter about how these two characters from Godzilla x Kong are basically Orion Pax and D-16 in another universe, and then me saying someone should redraw the characters in the screenshot as them

And you know, since I can draw, I might as well do it myself

But then I immediately forgot that it was specifically dpax I was meant to be drawing, and drew their final Optimus and Megatron forms instead. Oh well

I haven’t seen Godzilla x Kong, so I have no clue who these original characters are or how much they fit. But I do know Brian Tyree Henry plays one of them and this is the movie that his quote “I’M GONNA KISS YOU ON THE MOUTH” comes from, so I have to assume it works. I also have no context on this scene I’m redrawing itself

I’m mixed on how the art turned out honestly. On one hand, I think someone absolutely could have done a better job, and probably a better version would have the two more closely resemble the original characters, like wearing similar clothes and/or making them human. I’m aware I’m only decent at drawing Transformers at best (outside of when I try really hard, which is rare) and I’m aware I probably misinterpreted the vision, I just did it because I thought someone should, even though I don’t think I got it

But like, I still kind of enjoy how the final product came out, I think it was pretty good by my standards. I still don’t know how to draw the TF One bots very well and I think yet again, Megatron ended up looking the worse, but I still think it turned out reasonably well. I also liked giving them those bright colors in the Overlay, Screen and Multiply layers; I wanted it to be colorful and it was (even if the colors are I think wrong, they’re supposed to be more orange/red)

It also wasn’t all that bad having a canvas size and having to draw a lot bigger than I usually do, I feel like the lineart in particular got to shine because of that. I also used my Marker Pen here, for no real reason other than I haven’t used it in a fair bit

But uh yeah, this thing I made. Hopefully in this universe they are not doomed

Edit: I did a little bit of modification on the art, namely fixing a bit more of the background (best I could), and changing the blending of the pupils to make them brighter, since I remembered they’re supposed to be lights, so they should shine

[quibbs126]

I yet again feel like I haven’t drawn anything substantial recently, I need to fix that

But also at the same time, I have no clue what to draw at the moment. Which is really frustrating, because right now I have the time to draw while at work, I just don’t have anything to draw

Like I feel like I should draw some official characters or something, not like OCs or my AU designs. But like, what do I do?

I don’t know, I’m just airing thoughts out to maybe get my head working

It feels like this was a lot easier back in winter. But I also don’t really remember what I was doing in winter either

[quibbs126]

Random idea of mine I’ve had but don’t know where to utilize it: Megatron as a sparkling would have been a heavy ass baby

This came from me watching some reviews of his original toy and someone saying that because of all the die cast on him, he was really heavy, at least for his size (feels good on the gun mode, but not so much the robot from what they said)

So like, maybe small Megatron had like abnormally thick plating for a sparkling, so it made him really durable, but also really heavy

Throwing him would probably count as a ballistic weapon, particularly at high speeds. A force of destruction before he could even think

[quibbs126]

Okay I need you to know that ever since I’ve seen these, they’ve given me a very particular vibe, and I keep them saved in my photos for potential character inspiration

Like the expressions on both and their contrast, the dull colors on Cranidos compared to the brighter colors (or at least blue) on Rampardos

The vibe is probably Transformers related because fixation, so not really about Pokémon, but still, I very much like them and they stay so I can look upon them

Poorly drawn Cranidos line

[quibbs126]

Oh yeah, a small addendum to the AU idea I posed earlier: I think it’d be funny if by sheer happenstance, despite directly fighting each other, Optimus and Megatron don’t come face to face for a good while. Like by whatever cosmic powers, they just happen to never be in the same room at the same time. Other bots on both sides have seen each leader, just not the two themselves

By the time they do meet, they’ve heard so much about each other (probably a good chunk from propaganda), and have these mental images of each other, it’s very disorienting when they see what the other actually looks like. And the fact that it took them this long to actually meet face to face

Also also, I think it’d be a point that both Megatron and Optimus have false views of one another due to Autobot propaganda, with Megatron depicted as an evil tyrant and Optimus as the fearless soldier who defeated the former evil leader of the Decepticons, as well as in general skewed views of the other faction that they learn to re-evaluate. I mean, Optimus is the one being fed propaganda, but Megatron’s experiences with the Autobots makes him have a hard time believing any Autobot soldier could actually be a good person, not realizing they fall for the lies just as much as any citizen, or that someone of Optimus’ new status could be so in the dark (he just sort of stumbled into a high position by killing the last Decepticon leader)

I feel like I was gonna add something more, but I forgot what

[quibbs126]

So I had another random idea for some version of a Megatron, this one being based off the idea that the Decepticons are in large part propaganda by the Autobots. Like they exist and are fighting the corrupt Cybertronian government, but their evil-ness is greatly embellished by the Autobots to make them look less credible in their cause, including giving them the name Decepticons

So basically my thought was that this Megatron only recently became leader of the Decepticons. Someone else had been the leader of the Decepticons, and it was generally an even match between them and the Autobots, until one day the Autobots were able to gain some upper hand or created some last resort that devastated the Decepticons, including killing their former leader. I’m not sure if it was one decisive victory or something like Project Omega

The Decepticons were in shambles afterwards, and it was assume the war would be over soon and they would surrender. However, Megatron, who I’m thinking was an apprentice to the former leader and deeply respected them, rose up and is now keeping the faction alive, making it so the war goes on and everything the Decepticons (and his mentor) fought for does not die in vain

He’s probably got his own smear campaign going on with the Autobots for this, claiming he’s even worse than the former leader, possibly even saying that he intentionally led that leader to their death (though it was still an Autobot victory), so that he could claim their title and power for himself. And also that he’s an absolute tyrant, and probably that he’s huge and deadly powerful

The real Megatron isn’t nearly as monstrous (probably not as big too), but he has an iron will and refuses to let the Autobots win, and is very good at giving rousing speeches to rally the Decepticons. However his new position leaves him very stressed, as he’s well aware that the Decepticon cause is hanging by a thread, and he’s just trying to pull it all back together. He was also not in a leadership position before this, that was his mentor, but he’s taken it now because seemingly no one else would

I imagine Decepticons like Soundwave, ones very loyal to the cause, are also very desperate to keep Megatron alive, because while he’s keeping things together in their moment of crisis, if he dies at this point, the Decepticon cause will likely die with him, there won’t be another Megatron to similarly take his place. I’m not sure about Starscream, but he probably thinks Megatron isn’t cut out for the job. Whether or not he tries to get rid of Megatron and insert himself as leader probably depends on how loyal to the cause he is

As for Optimus in this scenario? I’m not sure, but chances are he’s generally in the dark about the true nature of the war. I might pull from that abandoned g2 AU in which Optimus was the one to kill the former leader, but had no idea the full consequences of his actions at that time. It might be less direct here, but he still had some hand in it. Which gives Megatron a reason to despise and go after Optimus, for killing his mentor, though it might be another case of propaganda in how involved he actually was, and the Autobots just propping him up for the sake of their narrative

But yeah, just some thoughts, it’s not really fleshed out. And in all honesty, I’ll probably abandon it like my other AUs. But you know, thought it’d be neat to share

[quibbs126]

YES you get it, I’ve also thought about a future TF One being forcefully made into Unicron’s servant

Granted, my idea had him leaning closer to how he is in the g1 cartoon, aka basically insane, though probably still being controlled/influenced by Unicron, it’s just that his transformation messed up his processor and such. But yes, I like this too

I also really like this design in general. And yeah the wings fit the false angel look, but it could also be seen as a parallel to Sentinel, couldn’t it? He becomes just like his hated enemy, even if it wasn’t by choice

I’m curious what his alt mode would be, since he’s probably not a cannon like g1, and I don’t really know Galvatron’s other alts

But yes, I love all this

Galvatron in Tfone ?

Was just a silly sketch. I'm not sure if I'll continue it.

I used his G1 as reference and added a few motifs from other iterations, particularly the wings to give him a false angel look.

His eyes look vacant as he's basically a slave to Unicron. Megatron/D-16 doesn't want to serve another leader, so Unicron is suppressing their emotions to act as a puppet for their agenda.

Let me know what you think!

[quibbs126]

Actually you know what, let me rant about Earthspark Cosmos actually

So like in Season 2 we learn one of Fairmaestro’s rides is actually an Autobot he used a restraining bolt on, that being Cosmos. Not only that, he doesn’t know about the Megatron switch and presumably the end of the war, meaning he’s been absent for the past 16+ years at least

We have now been introduced to a character who has no clue what has happened past the war, including the Terrans and the whole Megatron situation, a character who’s presumably quite literally been considered MIA among the Autobots and basically a captive of a human for well over a decade. And then the show just does nothing with it, they completely abandon Cosmos until they need him in the Season 3 finale because he can fly, and he has no character stuff going on

Like there’s so much there for the show to go into with Cosmos. Everything he knows back with the Autobots has completely changed (well I suppose not the fighting Decepticons part, but everything else), and he just has to adjust to it. How does he feel about Megatron, whom last he saw, was still a violent warlord. How do the Autobots feel seeing a comrade that went missing back during the war and they presumably thought was dead? How has his captivity and usage by a human for so long affected his relationship with humans and how he sees them? How has being binded to his alt mode for so long affected how he sees his alt and his ability to transform, does he never want to transform again?

I know Cosmos usually isn’t that big a presence in the war, being more a space explorer that’s part of the Autobots or just space transport, and some of these questions would be a lot more significant if it was a more important character, but like these are still things to unpack with Cosmos, and would be really interesting, I assume particularly for fans of the character (you know assuming he’d be written good)

Like there’s just so much and nothing is done with him, why even introduce him as a character at that point? What does he add here?

[quibbs126]

Now since my brain is thinking of more criticisms of Earthspark Season 1, I do have to say that while I really like Earthspark Megatron, I feel like they didn't really deal with his history and redemption very well, namely in that he's let off the hook probably a lot more than he should for the stuff he's done

Yeah sure, we haven't seen or heard a lot of what this Megatron did as the Decepticon leader, and it's been 15 years since he switched sides, so the characters have had time to adjust, but we know what Megatron's supposed to have been like from other continuities, and I feel like he's treated too well because of that

Like all the human Maltos are chill with him, and generally most of the Terrans (I think Thrash is the only one more neutral on him, and maybe Hashtag after Starscream but it's not vocalized after that episode), and while on some level I get it, as the kids were all born after his switch and the war, the main protagonists all like him. And even all the Autobots seem generally chill with him, despite previously having been his worst enemies. Even in Season 3, Prowl is probably the most reasonable person here in terms of his hatred of Megatron, and he gets over it way too fast, like in a couple episodes. And there's also Cosmos, who seems to have no reaction to Megatron, despite having been MIA since the war, but I'll come back to Cosmos one day

The Decepticons are the only ones really pissed by his change and haven't accepted it, but they do tend to have more of an antagonistic role in their appearances, even if they're written to be more sympathetic, and they were the former villains of the story, so they're somewhat less credible. Not to mention, they're more angry at him because he betrayed them, not because he was their leader, the orchestrator of probably a lot of the evil they did, and he's allowed to switch sides and be a "better person", while they get punished for following him. I've only really seen this addressed in fanfiction, not the actual show, at least outside of the occasional remark

It probably also doesn't help that the writers seem like they favor Megatron over Optimus, whom Dot seems more neutral on. I'm fairly certain Optimus in this show was more of a mandate than a character the writers wanted, which is probably why he's written like that, which I can't entirely fault them for, but it doesn't really help that Megatron is far more beloved by the writers and plot than Optimus Prime

And he also got a statue in Warzone for his part in the final battle of the war, and I'm gonna be honest, I've always thought that was a bit much, too nice for him, especially when his action wasn't that integral. Like if the statue was Optimus, who destroyed the space bridge, or just the AllSpark, that would make sense, but a statue for Megatron, the bot who presumably caused all of this? I don't know man

And then there's the whole matter of Starscream, and the fact that in his episode, Starscream is portrayed as a former victim of abuse from Megatron and has PTSD from it. Which in a vacuum, I can understand why they did this, as they're trying to make the Decepticons more sympathetic or grey, and this is a very straightforward way to give Starscream depth. But when his former abuser is a main hero of the show and someone we're supposed to like, it just really doesn't gel well. And it doesn't help that Starscream was only properly introduced as a character so late into Season 1 and then he got character assassinated in the next season, so this never gets more focus than what Dweller in the Depths told us, and Megatron and Starscream's relationship was not the focus of that episode either. I'm going to give the writers the benefit of the doubt and assume they weren't thinking about what this does for Megatron's character when they decided to write Starscream this way, but I just feel like it makes Megatron's treatment throughout the rest of the show even more iffy

Like the whole issue here is that Megatron is supposed to be a redeemed villain, trying to atone for his mistakes, but all the heroes love him, more than they do Optimus it seems (at least on the Malto side), the main villains of the story don't seem to care about his redemption much because they hate all Cybertronians, and the Decepticons generally only seem to hate him for turning on them, not for his actions themselves, if they even care, and they tend to be more antagonistic anyways, even if they aren't the real bad guys, so how much credibility do they have?

And I think part of it is that we don't know this Megatron's backstory; we don't know why he started the war, what he was like during the war, how bad his actions were during the war, because we never go into it. So we're just left to assume he was similar to the other Megatrons, who are very much evil and almost all aren't meant to have redemptions like him, making it feel less deserved. What was he like in the past for the Autobots to be generally fine with him in the current day?

IDW also had a redemption for Megatron, and while I'm given to understand some people take issue with this, I'm also given to understand that Megatron is generally not let off the hook for what he did in the past. Like the Lost Light crew hated him at the start and he had to work for them to grow to tolerate or even respect/like him, as well as addressing his misdeeds, and from what I understand he ends the story being found guilty for his crimes and executed. And I don't feel like Earthspark has really done that for their Megatron. Like sure, they're not going to execute a main hero in a kids show, but he doesn't have the same level of being held accountable for his crimes, and that hurts his character

And like I said, this isn't to say I don't love Earthspark Megatron, I really do. I love his relationship with Dorothy and with Twitch and I do love me some undoomed old man yaoi, and I just in general love redeemed villains. But when I really think about it, they really don't address his crimes as much as they should, they seem to get swept under the rug most of the time and he's just a hero, when we really need to talk about them

[quibbs126]

You know something that annoys me is that in the Earthspark episode Age of Evolution, we get a couple remarks from Mandroid that he’s familiar with the Malto name, and specifically that he’s familiar with Alex, recognizing his face and calling him by his first name when he sees him

But then in Prime Time, we finally get payoff to this mystery when the two finally meet each other, but all it amounted to is that they used to teach at the same university. Like that’s literally it, and I think the only new information the group gained is Mandroid’s real name of Dr. Meridian, which was entirely unneeded info and something the audience has known from day 1. Mandroid wasn’t even a cover name, nor was he hiding his identity, it’s just what the Terrans decided to call him when they met him and the name stuck, because they never bothered to learn his real one

Like what was the point of dropping the hints that they had a history if it wasn’t going to go anywhere?

I can only assume that initially it was supposed to be a bigger deal, but by the time of the reveal it got to changed to just “they used to teach at the same university” and that’s it. I’d say either they had the idea that they knew each other, but could never figure out a good payoff and/or how to work it into the story, so they just had to settle for this, or higher-ups didn’t like the idea or decided to take the story in a direction that wouldn’t have made it work, so again they had to change it

Though it also came like, super late into the season, I’m half wondering if they just had it in there so they could just get the loose thread tied up, even if it didn’t amount to anything

I don’t know, I know it isn’t important in the grand scheme of the story, but it just ticks me off, it’s a plot point that never gets used to its full potential

[quibbs126]

Honestly I really do have to wonder why Airachnid of all characters was made to be Sentinel's loyal second in command in TF One. Like why did the writers choose her?

Not that her being here is a bad thing, she's great, I'm just genuinely curious because I don't see much of an obvious answer

Like all the other generally important characters of the movie make sense, either being well established characters within the franchise and/or typically in a role relevant to the movie's story. I'm not sure that latter part made sense, I mean like how Sentinel is usually a "predecessor" to Optimus' position as Prime, as well as flawed ruler of Cybertron, so him being the ruler of Cybertron/Iacon makes sense in the movie. Or to an extent Elita-1, who's prominence in the series has only been increasing in more recent years, but she's also supposed to be like Optimus' female counterpart in her original role, and she shares a backstory with him in g1, which is where the name Orion Pax originated, so like she fits here in relevance too I think. Does that make sense? I think I overexplained

But like, Airachnid isn't nearly on the level of relevance as any other major character in the story, being a character who first debuted in Transformers Prime, and as far as I'm aware has never had particularly strong ties with pre-war Cybertronian government/Sentinel. She feels like such a strange addition in comparison to everyone else

I mean there's some stuff I can maybe see as reasoning for her there. Like how TFA Sentinel had a strong connection to Blackarachnia, who's a character very similar to Airachnid and I feel like is meant to basically be her replacement, and they chose Airachnid instead because of BA's whole techno-organic thing and turning into a spider, while Airachnid just looks like a spider in robot form and turns into a helicopter

And also while Airachnid is a Decepticon, I'm pretty sure in Prime she tended to be more self-serving than devoted to any cause (though she'd never join the Autobots), eventually being more like a third party after Megatron decided to get rid of her. Similar with Blackarachnia honestly, in Beast Wars she doesn't seem particularly loyal to the Predacons, and she basically didn't interact with the Decepticons past the TFA pilot, she was pretty much a separate party. And seeing as how Airachnid was part of a group from before the war that both sides hate in One, it makes sense to have Sentinel's second-in-command be someone who's not too staunch on their faction loyalty. Though I'm also given to understand in earlier drafts of the movie, she was meant to join the Decepticons in the end, so I'm not so sure on this logic. Also, it is ironic when you compare her previous incarnations' self-serving nature to her being seemingly 100% loyal to Sentinel

And also also, maybe they just wanted a cool, more unique-looking character, maybe particularly one that's female since there's only one other major female character in the movie. And the other most prominent female Decepticon, Slipstream, is a Seeker, and so is inherently tied to Starscream and the other Seekers (who also seem to make up the majority of the High Guard we see?), so spider lady it is

I don't know, I'm just genuinely curious, because there doesn't seem to be any clear-cut answer as to why Airachnid specifically is here as Sentinel's loyal second-in-command

[quibbs126]

So I made yet another megop fankid. I keep making now ones and discarding them, sorry, I’ve just never settled on one idea or anything

But anyways, this one is specifically for my X AU. Or at least he was supposed to be (I mean he still is), but because I was listening to No One Mourns the Wicked still (but fully now), the vibes told me that he's from the bad ending version, where Megatron dies and is remembered as a villain and mastermind of the Destron Virus and Decepticon cause, when he never was, and all of his friends have to live the lie afterwards

I know I said prior that I wanted the kid's name to be Convoy, but somewhere in the process I wanted to name him Omega instead. I think I was thinking about E-123 Omega from Sonic, and thought it sounded cool. I don't know, maybe he can have a sibling named Convoy or something

But yeah, basically Omega's backstory is that he's Optimus and Megatron's kid, but Megatron didn't live to meet him, and one of his parents is remembered as pure evil (I don't know if I want to use the terms carrier and sire here idk). I don't know how Omega's situation here works, how he's allowed to be around. Maybe the lie here is that Optimus didn't know Megatron's true intentions (which probably is the general story, that he tricked the Autobots into trusting him), and he got sparked shortly before the truth came out and he died, and I don't know, he says he wants to keep it "to remember the bot he thought he knew". When in reality, their relationship was entirely loving, and I also don't know if Megatron would have known about Omega before his death

I'm also unsure if Optimus has told Omega the truth or if he's having to feed lies to his own child to keep the lie going. The latter means angst when Omega eventually finds out, and the former might mean ostracization from others because at least when he was younger, he didn't understand what was so wrong with his other parent

But either way, Omega has angst because of the Megatron situation, not helped by the fact that the two look pretty similar, at least compared to him and Optimus. And in the public eye he's ostracized for being the child of such a horrible bot, and again, their physical similarities. I'm not sure how he feels about Megatron, it depends on how much he knows, whether resentment, yearning, fear. But he probably wishes he'd at least been able to meet him, to know he truly was

I've half thought of the idea that all this possibly leads to him having an actual villain arc sometime later in life, but I don't know if I want to go down that route, nor do I know what he'd do. But like, that's probably too much angst for Optimus

Yeah, other characters are suffering plenty, but I mean, Optimus lost his beloved, has to constantly lie that he was a despicable bot and he had been tricked by his deception into trusting and loving him, possibly even to his own child, one that Megatron would have loved but never got to see, all while knowing he was never a wicked person. And now his son, someone he's likely had to assure throughout his life that he's not evil for who his other parent was (while probably being reminded of having to do similar with Megatron himself), actually does go down a path of evil, something Megatron never would have wanted. Like Christ, that's a lot, and honestly, it's probably way too much suffering for Optimus, he doesn't deserve this shit

But this probably won't be the canon route Omega takes; he's probably going to grow up in a happy family with both parents. The song just made me take this route

And also, outside of all this angst, I don't really know Omega's deal, I never did. In the head sketch and initial lined design, I hadn't figured out his vibe, which I think you can tell in the posing and expression of that design, as it doesn't communicate much. He needs more time in the oven before he's fully fleshed out as a character, or I know what I do with him

His design might also change by the time he reappears, possibly drastically, because I'm not 100% on it. By the end, it grew on me, particularly after I decided he intentionally looks a lot like Megatron, but I don't know if it's the best I can do. It sort of feels like I just mishmashed aspects of his parents together, and he looks too much like Megatron by the end of it

It might also be his colors, which outside of the white, basically all come from Megatron. I like the white and red, but I feel like maybe the combo doesn't make him look proper megop, like he could be Ratchet's, or Prowl's, or something like that. Yeah the white is from Optimus, but Megatron's usually a light silver-ish color anyways, it's not that far off. And Optimus also has red, but I made red a rather prominent color on Megatron too, and it's the same shade on both of them. I gave him purple eyes to try and distinguish him from either, since he's got so much red and Megatron aspects already, and the blue I think would have made him look even less like he's megop and more generic, since blue eyes are generic Autobot colors. But I'm still unsure of it and how it fits

I don't know, lesson here is that Omega probably needs more time in the oven, both design and character wise. But he exists in some form here and now, so enjoy this version of him if you wish. Hopefully I'll be listening to a different song by the time I get back to him