#(does Unicron know)

[deja-mew]

HOT TAKE: Even after Unicron upgraded him, Megatron had to pick barnacles off himself for a good long while. I can’t imagine all the underwater critters that probably moved into him as a corpse. Maybe he wasn’t down there quite that long, but I’m sure he didn’t get away 100% critter-free. Barnacle boy Megs. Who else is here for that

[i-dreamed-i-had-a-son]

There is a brutal contrast in how Megatron and Optimus's stories end. Optimus nobly surrenders his spark, along with the Matrix of Leadership, having been sent off by his dear and trusted friends after giving them a fond farewell. He has accomplished his life's greatest goal; now he is able to rest. He dies willingly, at peace, bringing hope and giving life to the next generation by restoring the Allspark.

Megatron had already been killed, and was told that he can never join that very Allspark. Having been enslaved, and only released because of Optimus's actions, he is now reanimated, inhabiting his own corpse. His only remaining ally, who has constantly betrayed him, does not understand him. He flies off, alone, having lost all his forces and failed in his mission, and realizing that his life's greatest purpose was misguided. He is left, we can only assume, to live a hellish and hopeless life--a shell, consumed by the past.

And he did not tell Optimus goodbye. He knows that Optimus will leave him behind, will obtain the heaven he can never enter. He gives him the parting gift of his repentance, to acknowledge this. But in his refusal to say farewell, there is an echo of his own wretched endurance. He does not get to rest. Megatron will remain, eternally alone--eternally waiting for a reunion that will never come.

[transingthoseformers]

Rung should step onto a Unicron Earth it’d be such a thing

*buzzing in Rung on Earth thoughts* in general I greatly am in favor of mecha who haven't been to Earth being on Earth, but!!!! Also!!! I think it could be really really fun :3

[kandicon]

*writes the same exact headcannons in slightly different scenarios over and over again*

[soundcrusher]

Tachy and I have been talking again (well, more like scheming) and this doodle was inspired by it.

Eda's a single father of four now, due to Record not existing in Animated.

From left to right we have the holoforms of Phoenix, Galen, Flinch and Polaris.

(Eda's @tachyon-omlette's character.)

--------------------------------------------

Also, extra doodle of a roadtrip gone wrong.

Featuring @genesisorionix22's Sandman as the map reader.

[dontpetmeibite]

Have you ever felt disgusted with Megatron? Or any of your partners. Bad things happened in the War.

I think that in most relationships, even where people haven't committed any war crimes, there might be moments of disgust. (Also, war--any war--involves bad things.)

I was absolutely disgusted with Megatron when the Lost Light and its alternate counterpart came into the same space and the ship started disappearing around us, and he allowed us to be locked in a storeroom together, and we had the first real talk that we'd had since the end of the war.

I actually attacked him, you know, and he let me. I drew blood when I slapped his face, and all he did was take my wrist in his hand and hold it until I calmed down.

I've never felt more like a fraud in my entire life. See, Megatron and I used to argue a lot about things, but he was almost always able to convince me to go along with things that I wasn't really comfortable with, because the mech has charisma, and a way with words, and because we have known one another almost all of our lives. I used the arguments on him that he had always used on me--and also on Deadlock, except Deadlock snapped and I didn't. "Everyone wobbles." "This is just part of being a Decepticon." "You'll see what I meant on the other side of this." And so on.

But none of them worked when I used them on him.

And for him to turn to the Autobots for decency, when Soundwave had been standing there right next to him for four million years, and we had made it clear so many times that we didn't like the new versions of the infiltration protocols, and that we'd rather have administered the populations of our client worlds than obliterated them, and I'd even asked him once why, if it didn't matter what shape or size or form people were, it should matter what kinds of chemicals we were made of. We were community organisers back in Rodion. We never used violence then except as a last resort. I was never a freaking pacifist because I knew we were going to have to kill off most of the Senate just to fucking survive, let alone do any good, but I didn't use violence against people who had less power than I did except as needed for self-defence.

And because Megatron loved us, he didn't have us taken out and shot. But he did remove us from any and all decision making and authority over subject worlds. Soundwave was particularly upset about all of the time he had spent setting up class warfare on worlds so that we could drive people like the Senate out of power and arrange for badly needed revolutions...only for Megatron to decide after a few million years that after that, he'd send in Phase Sixers instead of a planetary governor.

So yeah. I was furious. Angry. Disgusted.

I can't tell you why I didn't stop loving him then. Why I never have, even though we are not together like that anymore. I will say that I was very relieved when I found out exactly how much damage Trepan did to him before Rung stopped him, and why, and that Sunder had pulled out all the staples and stitches and threads without touching him on the Lost Light. I won't say that it excuses everything or even anything he did that was wrong. But it was very enlightening to discover that the original plan of the Senate had been to break his mind and turn him loose only to have him destroy his own revolution, and that it had actually worked, except it had taken four million years and they all died at our hands not knowing that it had succeeded.

Megatron and I have always had a very tangled, enmeshed relationship and I wouldn't say it was ever a 'healthy' one--whatever the fuck that actually means. I've come to feel, especially after meeting the jackrod, that Terminus to some degree groomed Megatron, and that he passed some of that on down to me. I used to laugh about the fact that people would misread some of his old poetry and come to the conclusion that he was Parvilla's parent/mentor rather than her lover. (Parvilla was my pseudonym as a poet and also the name that he gave me as one of his muses.) But it's actually a little creepy, and we've both acknowledged that in recent years.

That said, he was one of the first people I ever met who cared how much I was being hurt back then. We are still amicae, but we are no longer sexually involved.

The worst moment in my relationship life, though, was with Soundwave, who is also the person I love and have loved the most. After Megatron's public and embarrassing abdication and betrayal of the cause and of his people, Soundwave (after a lot of goading from Galvatron) ordered me to go after Megatron, and find out if he was serious about this Autobot business, and kill him if that was the case. I was furious with Soundwave and angry that he wouldn't step up to the leadership himself when he's a better person in every way than Galvatron, and I was also really angry that he thought it was acceptable to set me on my amica. I knew it was a sort of test and a cruel one--because I hadn't fully recovered from cassettification, and I couldn't really properly refuse the order.

But I also knew he was out of his mind with grief at the time, mourning the illusion he'd had of who Megatron was, and the damage that Megatron had done to us together and separately, and to our relationship, and the way in which he'd manipulated us both to get us to cooperate with him. I knew that Megatron had hurt him deeply, and more importantly, I knew that there had been times when Megatron and I (together) had caused him a lot of pain; and on the Lost Light, it became apparent that between him and Megatron, he was the one who actually loved me the most.

Riptide asked me once whether I'd choose Soundwave over Megatron and I told him to stop trying to commit suicide-by-cat in the heat of the moment but later I told him that the choice I had made was to choose myself. I let both of them know that they couldn't manipulate me anymore and that I wouldn't put up with it from either of them.

Megatron pulled one last stunt that cost him the benefica part of 'amica benefica' after that. But shortly before I left the Lost Light, Soundwave rescinded the order, and while I had had all the cassette protocols overwritten by Ratchet, I also forgave him for giving it, because I understood the stress that he had been undergoing at the time, and because I knew he knew why it was wrong and regretted it.

I love Soundwave more than anyone and Megatron more than most, but I've been disgusted with things that they did. What matters to me is that they, too, became disgusted with those things. You know, we were all horrifically mistreated in our early youth. We knew what we knew. We knew the way we were being treated was wrong, but we had to figure out how and why on our own. At the time, every moral authority we were aware of was telling us that we were in the wrong because we refused to submit to our superiors in caste and obey the orders we were given. And Cybertronians committed genocides before the Decepticons did, and if you don't think the Autobots committed atrocities, I will be happy to introduce you to my sister, who survived Garrus-9, or to point out to you that the MTO programme was nothing we would ever have come up with on our own if we hadn't had to fight an enemy who was already using it. We were enslaved by the Quintessons, and the Iaconian culture which led the rebellion overtook and attempted to eradicate most other Cybertronian cultures, and out from the centre it spread, like a plague.

I don't believe there's a single living Cybertronian over the age of one hundred (years, not vorns or millennia) who has managed to avoid becoming complicit in some atrocity or other. But I also don't believe that executions solve problems. All execution does is make a few people (not all of them) who got harmed feel a little better emotionally, at the expense of the mental health of the person who is ordered to kill a helpless prisoner, and at the expense of every possible act of atonement or expiation that person could ever commit in an attempt to repair the universe. Revenge shouldn't be outsourced.

I've had a lot of conversations about imperialism and colonialism and conquest with people in recent years, especially Marissa Faireborn, and Charlie Watson. And I'm sorry that the evolution of our culture came at the cost of so many other peoples and worlds, but at some point you just have to stop what you're doing and do better. Letting yourself be stuck in a singularity till the heat death of the universe, or letting yourself be murdered in public, doesn't fix anything.

And in the end, Optimus Prime's solution to the problem of Earth was to try to become a coloniser himself, and Soundwave and I are proud that we helped Earth's inhabitants stop and resist and apply to the Council of Worlds on their own, with Sanctuary providing encouragement and assistance but not attempting to trespass their sovereignty.

I've rambled a lot. Thanks for your patience. I do that.

[keferon]

Titan LL!

Heavens, I love Titan LL.

...You know, since nobody's doing anything, I think I'll try something. Dibs!

.*.*.*.

Lost Light is named after a day of mourning.

He doesn't feel like it.

Perhaps it was a wish made upon the smallest of the youngest batch of Titans, brought online shortly before fires of revolution blazed across Cybertron and it's domains. For the mourning to be the least in the coming times. Perhaps they succeeded, but joke's on them. Lost Light may have been online through the times of grief, but grief does not touch his spark. It's another element of his surrounding, like floating rocks, clouds of solid something, solar winds, the works.

Well, for a given definition of "online", because, he, his batch and some older Titans were moored in random spots in the system, just away from Cybertron itself.

The new batch was mostly stationed in the shadows of Cybertron, in vain hopes of civil war going away quickly. But sometimes, when the fighting peaked and threatened to reach the moons, they were herded away and over to the system's edge, near the border of termination shock. There were a lot of visible stars here. And Primus, there was nothing more Lost Light liked more than those beautiful, beautiful stars.

The first Titans were sparked to carry their Cybertronian brethren beyond the embrace of their homeworld to the stars and defend them on the way. Not all Titans functioned as deep-space transport nowadays, but that was the original idea behind their frametype. Wayfarers.

And just when Lost Light started to go mad between moorings and itched to stretch his warp drive, because Primus and Unicron conspired to punish him specifically for his hubris, the Quintessons struck.

And Titans of Cybertron, eternal guardians they are, stood as the first line. While the little ones below scrambled around and got their priorities and slag-all in order, they stood. And together they withstood successfully. Neither Cybertron nor any planet in it's system fell to the Quintessons. It was not a clean victory, and Quints broke the lines to land incursions, but the Titans weathered enough that the little ones on the grounds were not overwhelmed. They endured the first of storms.

In the end of the beginning, the home system was safe, the civil war was over, and the Titans under the newly united Cybertronian High Command were partially reassigned to the outer fronts.

Now, Lost Light is a tiny Titan. An unusually tiny Titan by Titan standarts. He heard it was because there was a mix-up of vessels for reforging into Titanframes, and his was made from a late shipment two classes below specification.

His largest configuration houses in theory a thousand crewmembers. He prefers his smallest, which should hold above a dozen, but he does not have even a dozen of a crew anyway. He is still a Titan, and can comfortably rip into one, two, three Quint ships, but he cannot withstand a dozen, and Primus below, Quint ships in outer space come in waves and swarm like the squids they are. Instead, in this war he does he does best of what he does - he runs. He is small, his warp drives and bridge generators are the best among his batchmates, and he is fast. So he runs.

There's no Quint blockade that can stop him. Perhaps his cargo hold is not the largest, but if he is given a delivery, he will deliver it as soon as possible, come Pit or high tides. There's no escort craft that can keep up with him (and let's be honest, they are already understaffed enough that they simply can't find proper escort for his size), so he runs alone. If the Prime himself needs an express delivery, Lost Light is the Titan for the job.

He sees a lot of stars on his runs. He is pretty sure some of them are at least unclaimed, and some may be uncharted at all, so he marks them all on his maps. For later! Once the war ends, the beautiful, beautiful stars are his! He amasses a lot of maps, colors and marks them in the brightest hues his software comes with.

And some little ones even ask after the maps. Not like he hides them or something.

So, when the Prime calls, he comes.

Prime waits for him in the hanger personally. Together with the usual retinue, very much less usual very large pile of maps, boards and documents, a Perceptor hidden behind the pile of stuff (Xanthium talks about her favorite gunner a lot, when they have time to catch up), some twitchy engineer and his frequent passenger of express ferry Head Tactician Prowl.

Who has something very tiny enthusiastically crawling on him. Something so tiny, he has to recalibrate his inner and outer sensors for recordicon contact. His optics were hit in bot mode by rocks larger! Which were sometimes crawling with assorted space crustaceans! Come to think of it, thos crustaceans moved similarly...

And, because he is better at acceleration than braking, first thing Lost Light does is voice this observation.

"Prowl, sir, you've got crabs"

...

That was a start of a wonderful working relationship. Once they calm the tiny organic down from laughing, that is. It's name is Jazz, and it needs a ride home. Home which is besieged by Quintessons, and likely is near a fortified outpost, if not a starbase.

Strictly speaking, usually Titans are kept apart from organics, because they are usually very small, and tend to rot and fossilize. But since Lost Light is also very small, he got a direct invitation to an organic planet and immediately engaged his internal environmental system to produce enough oxygen. This is a chance of a lifetime!

Which brings him to his current... Problem?

The thing is, Jazz apparently has comrades. They pilot simulacrum frames specialized in Quint killing, which is very much respectable. And Lost Light's alt-mode's hangar bay may be a little tight in this configuration, but still compatible with them.

The issue is, one of those simulacrums which Lost Light got to shelter, a pleasantly painted one (flame patterns are always in vogue! No matter what anybody says!), appears to have broken down. Which made the organic inside very upset. At least he thinks it's upset, he is not very good at reading organics. Those "humans" do have fields, but they are very dull in comparison to Cybertronian ones.

The little organic with great taste is shouting what appears to be obscenities at unresponsive frame and alternates this with begging. Lost Light is floundering in his processor. The organic performs some indecipherable actions towards a fuel line of some sort with a tiny wrench. He's been at it for hours. None of the others from Jazz's makeshift warband returned yet.

This means Lost Light is responsible as the hosting Titan. Lost Light is usually alone. He does not quite know how to host other Cybertronians for prolonged periods of time, let alone organics. He hopes he maintains a nice oxygenated atmosphere.

He cannot watch this anymore. He has to gather all his confidence in his circuits and do something. Like talk to an organic without Prowl or the twitchy engineer (Swear? Swole? Swire? Swalter?) present. And, well, he'll figure how to decelerate later!

"Little one, do you require any assistance? I do have an internal welder somewhere..."

The organic startles, almost falling from it's precarious perch at the simulacrum's locked elbow joint, catches itself in time, and glances around. Then it glances up. And around again.

"I haven't hit my head that hard, yes? Is there someone here?"

"Well, yes? I mean no offence, but you're inside me"

Silence answers him, quickly broken by laughter. He remembers Jazz laughing. It is a similar laugh. He thinks he likes this laugh more.

"Well, I did not expect the ship to be speaking too. I really should not be surprised after this whole month"

At least the organic isn't despairing anymore? Lost Light thinks he can see a smile on it's face if he strains the camera.

"Technically, I'm a Titan. I'm a ship in the same way Deadlock is a,,, what you call small ground vehicle... Car? If I want to, I can be a building."

"Wait, but if you're the ship... How big do you guys come?!"

"Very. Now, little one, do you want my welder or not?"

Another wave of laughter follows.

"I do have a name!"

"You did not introduce myself"

"Cheeky. And yet, you did not introduce yourself either, big ship"

"My designation is Lost Light, and I'm the best Titan Courier this side of the galaxy"

The organic seems to finally locate his internal camera and so it points at it with it tiny wrench. Lost Light thinks it likes it's smile too.

"Well, nice to meet'cha, Lost Light. Name's Hot Rod. Now, about that welder..."

Lost Light rummages in his inventory for his favorite welder, mountable on a cargo manipulator. It is surprisingly elusive.

"I have it, I have it.... somewhere. It's been a long time since I patched up myself."

"...You patch yourself up often?"

"Nowadays not much, I'm a very good runner, and... Aha! There it is!"

Hot Rod look very, very happy to see the welder-wielding cargo manipulator. He is so much smaller than the tiniest little ones he carried. He reminds Lost Light of something that escapes his processor.

"Thanks, big ship. I hate ruptured lines. God knows when Ratch and that Swerve guy will be back"

"I'm not that big, you know. And I'm glad to be of assistance"

Despite pointed critique from the organic called Ratchet later on, Lost Light considers his skills with a welder in his internal cargo manipulator arms to be above average.

Hot Rod thinks so too, and ire of a medic shared is misery halved in Lost Light's books.

And then it hits him.

He reminds Lost Light of those beautiful, beautiful distant stars.

Lost Light prepares a very tiny datapad for a very big map.

.*.*.*.

...And here it is. I got possessed. Guest-starring my basic knowledge of astrophysics and bad jokes.

OOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHH I LOVE THIS TAKE ON THEM SO MUCH

[scourgeofmyownbrain]

Only one guy on here has two eyes, and even then, they're fake eyes. It's big-tits-McGee, Mr. logic man extraordinaire, Geneva Suggestion Believer himself: Shockwave! Yep, all 12 of him, a reasonable amount of alternates to have, unlike some people... Shockwave Height Chart, everyone, fuckin wee.

Edit: I didn't like the old scaling I had so I changed it. The old chart is at the end of this post.

Quick Disclaimer, if any of the images look weird, it's because I had to stitch a few separate images together to create a full body shot of the character.

Here are links to my Bumblebee Chart, my Optimus Chart, my Megatron Chart, and my Soundwave Chart. !!NEW!! -> Ratchet & Ironhide. Please go gawk at how many Optimus designs there are, sweet fuck, there are so many. For future reference, all these charts will be filed under my "Transformers Height Charts" tag and my "aka the adventures of a..." tag.

Master Post

Explanations and Sources below the cut.

Unicron Trilogy Energon - ~14 feet 3 inches (No actual source, and Energon doesn't have any listed heights anywhere. For the uneducated, the Unicron Trilogy has given each of its 3 seasons separate names and 3 separate art styles. This is the design used in Energon (S2) though he only shows up in Energon. I was able to compare him to Optimus, and using Cybertron's listed heights, I got this number. I am in physical pain, it does not get better from here. Hilarious side note, his Japanese name is Laserwave, which contains the missing "wave" of Shockwave in this iteration's name.)

Earth Spark - ~15 feet (No actual source for ES, but using a barn door to get Bumblebee's height, then Optimus's, then Megatron's height, I was able to make a guess at Shockwave's. Shockwave comes up to about Megatron's chin; I lost the screenshot I used. It's so convoluted, I know, but it's all I have, also, tiny universe, everyone is so small)

TFA Longarm/V1 - 15 feet 2 inches (Animated has no actual numbers, but the lovely @phoenix-inanis has provided a frankly astounding resource with their own calculations for the heights of all the TFA characters. Go look at it, it's wonderful -> https://phoenix-inanis.notion.site/TFA-Height-Chart-f6ad2960ca8c4c5b859ee4958723aaa4?pvs=4)

Gen 1 - ~18 feet (TFWiki, uuuuh I've got nothing to add)

Netflix Cybertron Trilogy - ~18 feet (I have no source for this, other than assuming that because this design is identical to Gen 1, they are the same height. That's it, really)

Knight/Capel-Verse - ~18 feet (No source, and he never stands next to anyone I can measure him against, but because the TFOne director has said that this movie is both canon to the LA movies and its own separate canon, I am assuming the height I figured out for TFOne applies to this universe as well. Until proven otherwise. Capel directed the ROTB movie if you're wondering why his name is there)

One - ~18 feet (No source, I got this number by comparing him to Optimus. Now, I am aware of the TFO heights listed on the wiki, but I reject those numbers on principal. A: Those numbers are sourced from the Walmart Promotional AR Experience that came out before the movie. B: There are three decimal points, and that number does not convert into a whole number in meters (which is originally what I thought was weird about it). C: The director has said that this movie is both canon to the LA movies and its own separate canon, so I have elected to use the few given heights we have from KCV and worked from there. My Optimus post has slightly more context if you want it)

Cyberverse - 20 feet (This comes from a screenshot of this video which has the Cyberverse height chart everyone uses, though the quality of the screenshot is iffy.)

Aligned Cont. WF/FOC/TFP - 26 feet 2 inches (This number comes from Fandom and I completely believe it, even if they don't list their source, because the entirety of this universe is freakishly tall. Go look at my other charts, all the ALC designs are monstrous compared to the others)

TFA V2 - 29 feet 11 inches (Once again, phoenix-inanis did a fuck ton of work, go look at it, it's wonderful -> https://phoenix-inanis.notion.site/TFA-Height-Chart-f6ad2960ca8c4c5b859ee4958723aaa4?pvs=4)

Bayverse - ~30 feet (Ok, so I don't have a source for this one. There used to be one, BV Shockwave used to be listed as 40 feet tall bc of an article done to promote the movie, but that is no longer listed for reasons not known to me, and making some comparisons to Optimus, I have found them to be kinda close in height. It's very hard to actually validate any of this. Shockwave never stands normally next to anything I can use as a ruler at any point in the movie. He's always at a dramatic angle or partially covered by something in the shot. It's so violently frustrating. I am confident he is around this height though, I just can't figure out how much taller than Optimus he is)

And that's it. I didn't have to leave any designs out, all of them are included here (hopefully). It was so nice to work with a character where I wasn't drowning in 20+ designs across every goddamn universe.

Edit: Here are the different layers separated.

vvv Old scale vvv

[scribescrawls]

Heard Starscream has an immortal spark and crack theory headcanon that it’s not because it was an accident that he was born with a ‘mutant’ immortal spark, but rather it was Primus purposefully making him that way as a wild card in case Unicron ever came back. A wild card where things could go really badly for everyone or really well depending on what Starscream does and you don’t know which it’ll be, but sometimes that kind of unpredictable chaos in desperate situations can change the tide of things tipping the scales in small ways that have big ripple effects. Like running out of ideas and just throwing spaghetti at the wall and see what sticks lol

Like Optimus Prime is Primus’ favorite, he holds the Matrix defending Cybertron and all around doing his best to protect others. Optimus is god’s blorbo.

But imagine Starscream is his poor little meow meow. The dog he put in the room to eat the chess pieces when Unicron isn’t looking. Primus cannot predict what the frag Starscream will do, but that means neither can Unicron. And Starscream can’t die, not in a way that matters. But also imagine Primus decides to never tell Starscream that he has an immortal spark because he thinks he should get to live a normal life (with all the good and bad that entails) without the burden of knowing all of that since there’s a possibility Unicron will never return anyway. What if Starscream is Primus’ silly rabbit.

[raileurta]

Random headcanon I just thought of but Miko will exclusively refer to Unicron as mom or mother. Why? Well because obviously she wants to mess with the autobots and he is technically their mother. And Miko will absolutely die on this hill.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Miko: If Primus and Mom are siblings doesn't that make Cybertronians cousins of humanity?

Ratchet: It absolutely fragging does not.

Optimus: Language old friend.

Wheeljack forever the enabler: It sure does! You know kid since all primes are like mini Primuses it also makes Optimus your uncle!

Miko: Oooh your right! Guess I got to start calling you uncle now uncle.

Optimus forever the father: 🥹

Ratchet under his breath: Should have just joined the decepticons when I had the chance.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Miko: You know-

Ratchet: No.

Miko: Wh- I haven't even finished my sentence yet!

Ratchet: I don't care.

Ratchet: Does it look like I care?

Miko: Well you don't know what I was going to say. It could have been about cats or something.

Ratchet: I can tell from your tone whatever was coming out next was something that is going to age me by a millions of years.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Ratchet: Miko you just keep running through the ground bridge!!! How many times do I have to keep telling you this?!

Miko: I can't help what I inherited from my mom! I crave the chaos!

Ratchet: ....

Ratchet: One of these days I'm going to kill you and make it look like an accident.

Miko: Bold of you to assume I can die.

Ratchet then proceeded to try and strangle Miko.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

[lets-try-some-writing]

I hope you don't mind, this isn't about Unicron and Earth but while you have inspiration I would like to take you up on that TFA prompts thing.

The Warframes prompt was most interesting to me. I like to believe that each of the younger members of Team Prime have some kind of Warframe coding;

Optimus is taller than the average Autobot Civilframe and stronger than he looks, he pulls his punches but still manages to be the best fighter the Academy has seen in eons. He has retractable claws, blunt and a little rusty from neglect. He also has quite the set of wild chompers, long, broad, semi-retractable fangs that can flex in his mouth like mandibles (think Chinese water deer), a set of broad tusks that poke out from his bottom lip, and the rest are all slightly sharper than average. He keeps his jaw transfigured to hide them away, making them appear more like just slightly more pronounced canines. This tends to cause aches and pains in his hands and jaw like arthritis and teething problems.

Prowl knows full well he's a Warframe. Those blue-tinted shades? If you look close enough, you might find purple eyes behind them, which of course are actually red. It's why he dodged the draft. Sure, he didn't wanna get caught up in the war, but he Definitely didn't wanna be found out as a Warframe and get decommissioned. It's part of why he's so reserved, Master Yoketron risked and lost his chassis protecting his secret.

Bulkhead is a Civilframe, but his spark says otherwise. He's massive compared to other Autobots, even taller ones like Optimus. His bulky frame, tendency to break things - even accidentally - and his occasionally short temper are compensation for his spark trying to manifest a proper frame transfiguration, but the protoform mold he was made from won't allow it. He sometimes has spark pains and aches from the strain.

And poor little Bumblebee. Also a "civilframe", but he didn't always look like that. He originally had door wings and antennae, but such features can be seen as "other" and "Warframe-like" to Autobots - after all, there are no Autobots who have wings, let alone fly. That's a Decepticon Trait - and he was often picked on for it. He eventually went and got a reformatting, but even then, it didn't stop the back-strut phantom pains from the lack of his door wings or the occasional migraines from the severed nubs of his old antennae beneath his horns.

And Ratchet? He's a Civilframe, through and through, emerged as one from the Well and would return to the Well in the same condition. But even then, while he doesn't have the weapons, coding, or spark of a Warframe, he sure as pit feels like one after the war. The longer he stayed with the Autobots, the more jaded and numb he became towards them. He watched as the once great faction he believed in fell to the same trappings as the Golden Age of Cybertron. This day and age? He could confidently say he's met Decepticons with more honor than most of the Autobots he knows. The Autobots were now more of a slightly more conniving and subtle lesser of two violent evils.

I want to see Ratchet coaxing the Warframe traits out of his - sparklings, younglings - team. He assures Prowl he won't tell a spark about his Warframe heritage, doctor-patient confidentiality, but he does insist that Prowl tells the others. He helps Bulkhead with his spark problems for the short term but knows he's going to have to get reformatted eventually into a proper frame for his spark or he might end up back in the Well of Allsparks earlier than he should. Bumblebee gets incredibly damaged during a fight that prompts Sari to use her key to save his life, which ultimately brings back his wings and antennae. He braces for jeering remarks and disgusted looks but instead finds comfort and care from his teammates in his recovery and learning to be himself again. (Bumblebee usually hangs out around Optimus more since, with his finials and Bee's antennae, they communicate much more easily this way.)

And when Ratchet finds out about Optimus' neglect of his claws and the strain he's putting on his jaw from keeping his fangs and tusks hidden away? Hoo boy. He practically forces Optimus to sit down with him and clean his claws of the rust and debris and sharpen them a bit for maintenance, he coaxes him into releasing his transformed jaw, letting it rest (unclench your jaw), and sets a strict maintenance regimen so it doesn't happen again. With the release of his fangs and claws and finally starting to relax, Optimus starts acting a little more... feral. Figuring something was wrong they looked into his coding to find active base coding. The others are concerned that his repression of his fangs and claws reactivated it or he had a bad sparkling-hood, but Ratchet reassures them that while those were valid concerns, bots with Warframe coding can sometimes have active base coding since their primary function was for war and needed the extra edge in battle, merely a holdover from his Warframe heritage. (Though he does start scouring the Autobot's files on Optimus just to be sure everything is ok back home.)

This brings the team closer together with these common traits. Optimus can relax more around his team-pack-family, and often engages in "sparring" (which is more often than not like play-fighting) expressing more of his feral traits - which Bumblebee has come to mimic. Prowl tells the others about his heritage as a Warframe and acts as the silent protector for the others (especially Bumblebee, though he would never admit it). They all have weekly "spa-sessions" for Bulkhead so he can relax and calm his spark, Prowl offers messages. And Bumblebee feels more at ease with the crew, outwardly expressing his emotions through his EM field and his wings and antennae, Optimus in particular responds to him more with his finials. He even let's out little mechanical buzzing-chittering noises that Sari points out are a lot like an organic bumblebee. All in all, they're all so much more happy and healthy, and Ratchet can't help but pat himself of the back.

Autobot High Command be damned, if they question why Ratchet allowed the other's undesirable coding to fester instead of eliminating it, he'll say he was doing his job as a Medic and looking out for the health of his team. And if Ultra Magnus himself has a problem with it, he can shove his Magnus Hammer right up his--!

(Anyway, if TFP Ultra Magnus and TFA Ultra Magnus met, it'd be On Sight. For TFA Magnus. TFP Magnus will not tolerate any slander of his Leader no matter what form he takes or universe he's from. I have a feeling that TFA OP would be adopted by the entirety of TFP Team Prime, and they would probably have to be held back from hunting down Ultra Magnus and Sentinel. TFA OP would probably put his foot down for Sentinel (old habits die hard, and despite being a dick, Optimus doesn't want Sentinel dead) but Ultra Magnus is free game. He did say he didn't have the programming to be a hero after all, why should he play hero and save his sorry aft now?)

Dude this is all brilliant. I don't think I can use ALL of it at once but I am going to roll with this prompt now thank you. Consider this a chapter 1 of sorts I suppose. Warframes au is in action!

━━━━━━ ⊙ ❖ ⊙ ━━━━━━━━━━━━

Two hundred... two hundred and eighty five... three hundred. All accounted for. Starscream had to do a few double takes with the frameless newsparks to ensure that their containers didn't hold more than one, a startlingly common occurrence with a few due to some less than optimally educated creators packing their bitlets up for transport incorrectly. Thankfully, all the frameless newsparks seemed to be in order. Their containers lined the walls and were perfectly locked in, with no room for possible breakage or loss of life. Some flared in greeting as he extended his field to encompass their containers. A particularly bright set of sparks flashed as Starscream neared, both already being familiar with his presence due to him having tended to them most often during the evacuation phase.

The leftmost was abnormally large for being but a spark, a fact Strika and her consort continually reveled in without end. The rightmost, by comparison, was small but powerful. As was to be expected by all that remained of Tarantulas. Both were so bright, not yet dulled by war. All Starscream could do was pause and touch the glass of their containers. Tarantulas had been so proud of his creation before he fell at Hydrax... At least the newspark would be taken care of far away from the war. Maybe when they were grown, they could connect to their creator through history.

Soon enough, Starscream sighed and turned away. His gaze shifted to the older ones, the newsparks who had long since graduated and advanced to the status of newbuilds, and in some cases, younglings. Most of them were strapped into their pods, ready to be put into stasis lock throughout the journey. The younger ones clutched trinkets from their creators, toys, charms, sometimes even a weapon or two. Only the oldest remained out of pods, standing firmly with pistols on their hips. They were the hopefully unneeded last line of defense, each youngling barely trained enough to qualify as guards and still far too small to be reasonably expected to perform.

The younglings tried to look stoic, going from newbuild to newbuild in order to calm their nervous sparks. But in their optics, Starscream saw fear. Terror for what was to come, of the separation that loomed ahead of them. He couldn't show it, but he dreaded it as well.

"Sir, when will we see our creators again?" One of the younglings, a gold and black model with bright red optics, stared up at him cautiously. The youngling clutched his pistol tightly, his terror poorly concealed. As much as Starscream wanted to reassure the youngling that all would be well, he couldn't make such promises, not with war raging around them and growing closer and closer to their borders. Instead, he dropped to a knee and tried to smile.

"Once Lord Megatron drives back the nasty Autobots, you and the rest will be brought back to New Kaon with all the speed the Decepticon Armada can muster." The youngling managed a weak half smile in return, holding his pistol a little looser. Starscream patted him on the helm, hoping that the action would comfort them both.

"Why don't you tell me your designation? That way, if I see your creators, I can give them a message for you." That seemed to cause the little one to perk up. The youngling smiled brightly, releasing his pistol entirely to grin.

"My creator is Barricade! He named me Prowl! If you see him, please tell him I'm going to become a spy just like him! And when I do, I'll come find him!" Starscream fought the urge to wince as he nodded and sent the youngling off. Prowl didn't need to know that the likelihood of reuniting with his creator was next to none if his line of work was as Megatron's optics and audials.

It was better this way. Better than the young live and old die in their defense.

Standing and turning his attention to the rest of the newsparks, he noted the youngest ones were safely held in their incubators along the walls, their small protoforms barely more than simple living metal. Making his way to their section of the transport, he took his time walking along to view each incubator. The newsparks within were of various sizes, a nod to their creators unique CNA. Few had color, still mostly protoform white. However, there were a handful that were already showing signs of their heritage, a fact Starscream smiled at. Thankfully, the newsparks weren't distressed. Most were deep in recharge, already preparing for stasis lock due to their young age.

It was a small mercy.

"There you are, Orion." A hint of mixed relief and grief settled in Starscream's spark as he pressed up close to the glass of one particular incubator. The newspark within squirmed upon seeing him, optics bright and flashing in his creation's version of a smile. Already Orion looked so much like Skyfire that it hurt. Red, blue, and white plating. Optics blazing a stunning crystalline hue like a cloudless sky. If one didn't know any better, it would be hard to call Orion a relative, much less his direct heir. But, the signs were still there. Small clawed digits, wing nubs that looked more suitable for speed than the heavy transport abilities of his other creator. Despite that, he was likely to look most like Skyfire, a fact Starscream cherished.

"You be good for your fosters. Don't bite them and don't give them too much snark, alright, starlight?" Orion cooed in response, his little vocalizer hardly formed enough to produce even basic sounds. Starscream knew it would be breaking code, but he was unable to fight the desire to hold his creation one last time before their separation. Hoping and praying no one was looking, he scooped Orion into his arms, letting the newspark rest firmly against his chassis to hear his spark once more. Instantly, Orion cuddled up against him, his small face pinched in the same way Skyfire always did when they cuddled.

"You are so soft sparked, Orion. But I see a warrior in you..." He leaned down, pressing a gentle kiss to the newspark's helm, enjoying the babble he got in return despite how much it ached. He'd already lost Skyfire. And now he was going to lose Orion as well... if only for a time.

"No matter what happens, remember that you are a seeker of Vos. Keep your honor. Fight for our people. And when this is all over, when we've won this war... you will inherit our ancestral home." He rocked Orion in his arms, fighting back the urge to run with Orion and never come back as grief assaulted him once more. It was too soon. Far too soon since Skyfire... but he couldn't risk it. None of them could.

The little ones had to be sent away.

"Once the Decepticons have retaken Cybertron, seekers will again rule the skies. And you, my hunter, will lead them." Orion chirped, curling up tightly against Starscream's chassis. A few alarms rang out around him, alerting Starscream to the fact that their time was almost up. He didn't want to leave, to let go of this and all he had. But what choice did he have? He couldn't risk Orion.

"Starscream, are the newsparks secure?" A harsh comm from Megatron finally snapped Starscream from his stupor. He laid Orion back in his incubator, steeling his spark as much as he could as the newspark stretched and curled up to recharge. Looking around once more, he gathered the strength to reply.

"Yes, my Lord. They are ready for launch." An affirmation greeted his response, to which Starscream swiftly took the chance to leave the shuttle before the urge to snatch Orion up became too strong. This was for the best.

This was for the best.

Right?

He tried his best to convince himself that his little mantra was right as he went about his work. But as deca-cycles ticked by, Starscream felt unease and even fear from his creation. It was to be expected considering their parting, but this was... strange. Orion was terrified far too often for his liking. His very spark told him something was wrong.

Unfortunately for him, his instincts were correct.

"My Lords... the Vengeful Spark has been captured by Autobot forces. By the time reinforcements arrived... all the newsparks were confirmed to be gone."

No. This couldn't be happening.

"What happened to them?" Megatron's booming voice rang out with a wrathful undertone that left even the bravest shaking. Starscream, however, barely heard him. White hot fury raged in every part of him as he listened, his grip on the war room table increasing to the point of damaging the surface.

"The Well of Allsparks stopped producing vorns ago. We believe that in light of this, they targeted the evacuation ship specifically to claim our newsparks as their own." Those fragging GLITCHES.

"THIS IS ABOMINABLE!"

"We must bring Cybertron DOWN."

"This cannot stand."

The cries of his fellow Decepticons echoed around him. But all Starscream could feel was the terror of his creation, the rage of having lost him and his conjunx, and the sheer wrath that boiled so hotly in his spark it threatened to explode.

They would pay. They would ALL pay.

━━━━━━━━━━━━

Being stranded on a foreign world with limited resources was never fun. Having an entire team of what amounted to three younglings and one semi-adult? That was even worse. The only saving grace was that each seemed to have enough common sense to not be wrapped up in all the propaganda nonsense. Ratchet's initial assessment of his newfound team was fairly simple.

Young, stupid, but not unsalvagable.

That assessment changed the instant he started getting them in for checkups.

"Optimus, who were your creators?" The Prime sat on the edge of the medical berth, shrugging as if he weren't a walking medical disaster. He smiled sheepishly, showing off the tips of fangs he had evidently tried hard to hide. His digits tapped the berth, small claws having been long since filed down but quickly growing back. A quick glance at his frame showed that he was far too lean for a ground unit. It wasn't something he noticed initially, but the Prime was abnormally top heavy, a trait usually found in flight or warframes. On top of that, his optics were unusually focused. Most civilian framed bots had full optical lenses that hid their inner workings. But warframes? Their optical glass was more transparent, allowing for them to focus on targets easier.

Optimus, on the surface, looked the part of the simple grounder. But any medic worth their shanix could take one scan and see he absolutely was NOT what he seemed. The constant twitching only added to Ratchet's suspicions.

"I don't know who my creators are. I was a refugee found orphaned after an attack down in Polyhex." What a bunch of slag. Any vet could tell that the Polyhex 'attack' was a coverup. Thinking back on it, there had been a sudden surge in newsparks following that event...

"Bumblebee, what about you? Who were your creators?" The yellow grounder flinched at being called out, a fact Ratchet noted with growing suspicion. Bumblebee was far more in line with traditional civilian blueprints when compared to Optimus, but getting a closer look at him revealed scars. Dozens of surgical scars of all things. He'd had parts removed, parts that Ratchet could swiftly assume were likely more warframe than civilian.

"Don't know! I'm with the Bossbot. I was one of the last wave that came from the Well." Bumblebee's plating shifted, and instinctual thing that would have once allowed a mech with wings to raise them. Ratchet sighed as he saw the motion. His statement was also a bunch of scrap. Ratchet had been one of the attending medics at the last wave and it had been long before Bumblebee or the rest were framed.

"Bulkhead. Same question." The largest of their group fiddled with his digits, unsure of how to answer. Scanning him like a hawk, Ratchet found no physical issues to add to his increasingly likely theory. But the gentle white glow of the bulky mech's optics told a story that fell in line with his teammates. Running a scan showed his spark signature was off the charts. His spark was far too powerful for the frame it was in. He had to be in pain. There was no way all that excess energy wasn't hurting him, especially since he wasn't bolting around twenty four seven.

He was in the wrong frame. That much was clear.

"Sorry Doc. I was also part of the last wave." Ratchet sighed, rubbing his face as he looked over the three near younglings in his care. Was he going senile? He highly doubted it. This... whatever this was... it was not beyond the Council. Especially if it was for the sake of their precious war.

"Give me a moment." Stepping out of the medical bay, Ratchet moved directly to Prowl's room. The ninja was the only one he hadn't had much of a chance to scan, and now he needed to be sure.

"Prowl!" He didn't even bother to knock before kicking open the door. The ninja didn't even twitch from where he was meditating. He simply hummed, getting up after a moment to address Ratchet as he caught his breath.

"I need to confirm something. Take off the visor." Prowl hesitated. Ratchet stared.

Prowl was, reportedly, also an orphan of Polyhex. If what Ratchet suspected was true, then he-

"I take it you've begun to put the pieces together." The visor came off without a fight, revealing blazing red optics that momentarily left Ratchet stunned in their brilliance. He stepped back, staring in sheer shock as it all came together in one disgusting picture.

Prowl was small, yes. But there was no denying the red, or the unnatural competence in battle. If he was like this... then the rest of the team-

"They don't know, but we are of the three hundred."

Oh.

Oh.

"I was one of the few old enough to remember. But I had to keep my mouth shut." Prowl stepped closer, meeting Ratchet's gaze calmly. It was impossible to move under the red of those optics.

"We are warframes, doctor. And for your information, I am just as surprised to find others like me as you are." Prowl maintained optic contact for a long moment. Ratchet had to run through the data a few more times before he simply groaned and tried hard to not try and bang his helm on the nearest wall.

He had Decepticon younglings to get properly framed and trained.

[hauntedradiotower]

I think it’s so beautiful that in some continuities, Earth is Unicron. Like this has the potential to be handled SO poetically and Transformers Prime actually did a pretty good job (compared with the movies (though if you ignore what the writers were actually going for you could argue those told a poignant and very different type of story in spite of themselves (Autobots and humanity are pure evil, the horrors of empire, etc. (but im four parentheses deep now so I’d better quit while I’m ahead). ). ). ).

Where was I? Ok, imagine you’re an Autobot, homesick and war-weary, but you’ve landed on a planet that isn’t half bad, and you’ve bonded with the natives of this planet more so than most planets in the cosmos. They look nothing like you, yet you click. They even drive around in vehicles that look like you (or that you can turn into, depending on continuity)! How did they know?

You always click with the earthlings, over and over and over throughout time and continuity. Like brothers from another mother.

But they are small, and weak, and have little capability to defend themselves against the greater weapons and forces out there in the cosmos. So you pledge your lives to defend this planet and its species. Earth becomes your home away from home; the Earthlings become your allies, your friends, your families.

And then you discover that the core of this home away from home is FUCKING UNICRON?! The devil from the Bible, greatest enemy of Primus, core of your homeworld???

The Earth’s inhabitants, your family, are by extension Unicron’s children. Oh yeah and suddenly all these human-built constructs which only serve to hurt the majority of their species suddenly start making a whole lot of sense. All their history? Starts making sense. And you realize you’ve let Unicron’s children into your spark and home. What does this mean for you and the future of your species? Do you still trust them? Are they by default pure evil, or is there hope for them? How do you separate them from their evil creator, the very core of their planet?

Naturally, this is the part of the narrative where fucking Unicron starts waking up and we don’t have time to have a crisis of eschatology right now, we’re rather busy trying to postpone eschatology another hundred years.

And the humans seem to be helping us put down the furious waking core of their own planet, hmm, maybe they’re not 100% evil. Maybe the line of good and evil is not so clear cut in this species. Thinking about Primus’ children as pure good does seem rather silly now that we think back on the centuries of war we’ve had.

Idk I just think there’s a lot that can be said here and I have only managed to scratch the surface of THE THEMES in this post. Every time media portrays the core of the earth as alive, it fills me with such a weird, thrilling feeling of meaning. The fact that transformers made it evil adds layers to the meaning. Idk what I’m trying to say yet. Just know that if I were in charge of directing a transformers movie, Unicron would be the slumbering earth’s core, and he would be hungry

[tinydefector]

Hey Tiny!I dont know if youve been asked this before but how do you think cybertronians feel about humans,a fleshy organic species, on earth that is lightyears away from their home planet looking and acting suspiciosly(if i dont spell something right sorry) alot like them?

Since in some of the continuitys the allspark ends up on earth, do you thinks some transformers might think we were made by primus to?

Another thing im interested in, is that since we're so interested in technology, is that humans eventually become a techno-organic species then become a transformers like species from there.Like transformers can help out with that and eventually we all evolve into one metal transforming species?

Sorry it took me so long to get around to this one.

Personally I love the idea of both humans and Cybertronians getting the Uncanny valley reaction to each other, for Cybertronians its more of a 'why do I feel sudden dread near these little creatures, have my people done something to them, does it have something to do with the Quintasons.

For humans it's more of the freeze up, don't look don't acknowledge, treat it like your in the Appalachians reaction to them the first time they ever see a Cybertronian becuase the closest thing outmind and body can relate something so similar and different is fear.

____

Cybertronians are very fascinated by our body structure, like out of all the different species in space some little backwater planet has a species so similar to them. Some believe it Primus' doing others believe it's just the way the planet evolved over time.

I happen to very much like the earth is Unicron in some aspects and love the idea of Unicron being such a petty little bitch who made humans becuase he wanted to one up Primus with his creation. (Gets even funnier with human x Rung stuff) cause now Unicron has to suffer knowing that primus is interfacing a human or the fact that humans and Cybertronians are getting it on that much all becuase he was a petty bitch.

______

I don't think humans would ever become a fully techno organic race but I do very much love the idea of how our technology advances for those with disabilities, its much more small stuff then us having advances weapons under our skin. I happen to really love the idea of having cybernetic prosthetics, and other advanced technologies along that line. Cybertronians being a lead into helping humans develop was to help re make or structure joint with much safe surgery then the metal pins we use.

So I don't think it would go full cyberpunk style but I do like the idea of us going the more cyborg route than the techno organic.

___________

But also along that line there are always going to be those who fear things they don't understand both on the human and Cybertronian side. If you guys have ever played Detroit become human it's a great aspect of how I think people would very Cybertronians outside of the fact of the fear of them being aliens.

But i also love the idea of Cybertronians fearing the shit out of humans over the experience they have had with other organic races, (quintasons). Seeing what we do with old cars, how we pull them apart when somethings wrong, I feel like alot of bots would fear being undercover on earth due to just what humans can do to cars.

So honestly I think k the cybertronians fear us more than them due to just watching what we do with the stuff around us, while our fear of them stems from uncanny Valley and the fear of aliens. But once we get to know then it's all a down wards spiral to freak intercourse.

[lexicorp]

*plays God's Plan by Mother Mother-*

[edit: they have a Playlist now]

Sunstorm has been lingering in my brain aaannnd now theyve escaped containment sjfnskvnd

bit of lore rant under cut

So as relative standard, Sunstorm is a clone of Starscream made by Shockwave. They were presented to TC and Warp as a replacement for Star (Starscream gets rekt and peeps think he's ded for a while), made to be the idealized, perfect weapon. Shockwave had created them really as his beta test for his project of cultivating the next evolution of Cybertronians. He viewed Sunny as a partial success, given that their radioactive spark became an apparent problem quite quickly. Shockwave was still satisfied with their skill, resilience, and behavioral programming. Even when they would occasionally spout some questionable nonsense about Primus when their radiation got a bit high, it was irrelevant and an easily solved problem to Shockwave. Plus, the ridiculous energy output Sunstorm was capable of was a valuable resource to be used as a source of power for the citadel. Saved on quite a bit of energon that way lol. Speaking of energon, they rlly had to be careful when fueling of making sure their radiation was a safe level before hand so they didnt combust lol. If they're optics are red, then that's an easy indicator that they chillin.

Sunstorm very often will "translate" Shockwave to people. Insisting that Shockwave cares in his own way, and that he has the best intentions. Shockwave did kinda programmed em to be specifically loyal to him tho-- Sunstorm very much does not understand why Shockwave is imprisoned later.

They also be plagued by visions from the gods due to their heightened energy signature. Primus and Unicron sound the same to them. Unicron of course took advantage of that and starts rlly getting in their brain and manipulating em hard. I'm sure you can guess what for-

After Shockwave's imprisonment, Sunstorm starts having more trouble keeping their energy levels stable, since the citadel was decommissioned, and the others dont really know the specifics about their condition/how to handle it. Unicron's influence gets worse, and Sunstorm goes to visit Shockwave for advice. Although they aren't in their right mind anymore, so when Shockwave tries to guide them on how to expell their energy safely, they freak out that he doesn't understand. In their frenzy they almost melt Shockwave thru the bars as they're in more of a daze guided by Unicron bein like /dewit/ lol

But guards step in. They try to apprehend Sunstorm buuut they cant touch em. Sunny leaves adn there is a whole arc of that theoretical last season round them and how peeps will end up taking down unicron and Sunstorm gets a good ending.

they have a lot of issues sjnijsndv

But I think theyd still visit Shockwave later, be decent friends with Soundwave, and Thundercracker. They'd retain an aversion to Optimus, really not being a fan, much to OP's dismay smh. One quirk of theirs to Starscream that makes him find a bit of a point of conversation to start on. Star would def warm up to em /after/ all that crazed shit (Probs would even get a bit protective tbh).

[thescreaminghat]

ok but the entire "optimus and megatron vs. unicron" arc in tf armada was so iconic (spoilers). these bitches are airlifted into unicron to destroy it from the inside, then five seconds after encountering unicron's herald, sideways, megs immediately gets put into a genjutsu. sideways gives optimus the option of a) dying or b) "merging" with unicron, which, likely due to sideways's line delivery and the general framing of the situation, felt (to me) like he was an instigator on The Bachelor trying to sabotage op's choice in an upcoming rose ceremony. optimus is also kind of a slippery bastard so he literally just says nothing, like he's seriously contemplating the possibility of getting with Some Crazy Mech over saving the universe, right in front of his zonked out ex. brother knew primus was going to get him out of that messiness (aka via the intervention of the minicons). sideways is defeated and optimus kills him with his sidearm, in full view of the human kids that have tagged along for the final battle.

keep in mind that megatron has not been useful at any point since landing inside unicron. my guy decides to change all of this by declaring, minutes after unicron goes into stasis, that he NEEDS to FIGHT optimus NOW, it CANNOT wait, he NEEDS to be SATISFIED by optimus, he MISSES the way they used to FIGHT each other, he KNOWS optimus LOVES the SMELL of FIGHTING, there is NO OTHER WAY for them to deal with the negative emotions they keep generating and supplying unicron with by being alive TOGETHER, WHY won't optimus just FIGHT--

op's ensuing exasperation literally begins radiating through the viewer's screen, and after gently shooing the kids and minicons away, he suddenly tears out and throws away the matrix of leadership from his chest, declaring that he doesn't need it to FIGHT megatron. not only does this go super hard for optimus's development as a character and symbol of the autobots, it also goes super hard for megatron, in more ways than one (probably). and then they fight, and it's so entertaining and raw, and then after these two have stopped acting stupid for each other megadummy decides to sacrifice himself to save his sworn enemy. i love them so fucking much

[valacre]

: ̗̀➛ The Kiss Sealed It…

Megatron x Reader - Transformers Prime

Screenshot: Megatron, TFP season 3, episode 7

My love, can you feel the heaviness of wretched distance between us? Can you feel the bleeding wound which hurts me so as I think of you? Can you feel the dagger that you keep lodged within my mortal temple? Nay, you feel not as I do, for yours is of a distinct making, one too different for me to understand, yet I try, I try.

Distance makes the heart grow fonder, or so the saying says, though rarely does it mention the agony which accompanies it; cruel and unforgiving, its company stays with me always, haunting me as anger fuels me; mind growing darker.

Inferior flower, what curse have you bestowed upon me? Me! A warlord from beyond your stars. In what manner must I fall for you to seek me out, to finally submit and abandon the weakness of flesh and bone.

What must I do for you to say: I love you.

Love. Such a treacherously cruel thing to bestow upon the living. For millennia he believed himself above it, thinking himself too mighty to fall for such a weak emotion. It was not meant for him, and yet Primus must have deemed it fit to prove him wrong, for whom else could have set such a plan like this.

Gritting his denta, he places a servo upon his chassis, feeling the shard of dark energon still pulsing from within. Unicron. You were a daughter of Unicron, unintentionally created, but still made from pure chaos. Perhaps this was a shared ploy set by two gods to strike him down, to see him fall from the grace he’s so painstakingly built himself up to. Primus may wish to end this war between his children, but Unicron may desire to create calamity, and what better way to do that than send one of his own creations.

Ever an unending mystery, he cannot truly grasp the whole truth that was you. There was no aura for him to feel; to see, no spark for him to bond with, and your mind could not be penetrated by any means of scientific devices, and neither could he understand it. You were an enigma; one that he should have destroyed long ago, yet he could not bear even the slightest thought of it. Just thinking of it caused an ache so profound it wreaked havoc upon his spark, and he roared in fury as a fist dented the wall at his side.

Fragile flower, born of storm and grace, living within a symphonic thunderstorm that threatens to end your life at any minute, yet you toil and stand tall with a smile upon your face, and though your days are short you still offer him what is most precious to you, time.

And still you fled from him.

Your eyes, so bright with life and grandeur, had looked upon him with deepest longing, set high within darkened caverns as life’s end seemed inevitable for him. Your cry had stalled the executioner's hand, and he yet lives because of it.

And still you fled from him.

Did you fear loving him? Did you fear what he might do to acquire you by all means necessary? You bore no will to live forever, whether it be by his side or not, but he could not truly honour your wish, for in the end he was selfish and wanting, and he wanted you, desired you so deeply he could not imagine a future without you. And was this the game of gods playing out before him? To have him fall so deeply that he could not possibly go on should you fade away?

Regret laid sourly upon his glossa, and he wondered why he could have been so foolish as to leave you behind. Alone you’d stood upon a field of flowers, and there you’d been left by him when he could have so easily taken you. Back then he had not thought himself so drowned, believed he could easily forget you and the feelings by which your presence brought, but distance makes the heart grow fonder, or so your saying goes, and distance made his spark fall deeper, so now he must drown.

Wherever I go I know I am not alone, for you will always find me, your living spark knowing of my hidden soul. And though I am but a prey for a prideful predator, I feel no fear, for sharp teeth are not revealed to cause me harm, but smiling for me, only me.

Metallic lips upon my jaw and neck, I still feel you there, willing your life into mine. Scarred and cold, you brought yourself onto me, and though I am crushed beneath your weight, I do not wish to part. Can you still feel mine own lips upon your cheek? Upon your forehelm as I hold you close, allowing you but a single moment of peace to an otherwise long and bloodied life? I wonder… do you miss it?

Ever trying, you wish to extend our time, but your blood trickles and burns my skin, festering and burrowing until my lungs give out and I decay from within, light diminishing, day by day. I do not know of it, but perhaps, within your spark, you do. Is that why you are so desperate? And is that why you are so angry? Because you do not know just how little time there is, and you hate not knowing. You hate being afraid.

Will it ease your mind to know, that I do so, too?

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