#BlueIke

[blueikeproductions]

Based on a Makotron gag about Skybound Optimus upgrading into other forms after using Megatron’s arm as a replacement. One of the forms was him using Trypticon’s body…

And I thought it’d be funny to turn it into an actual Combiner in Energon, where Trypticon is an ancient Autobot part of the same faction as Omega Supreme. (My logic is based on Laserbeak being an Autobot in Armada, and Leviamon, a Dark Digimon, being part of the heroic DigiMemory Knights in Digimon Fusion.)

Design wise, this form is just a modified version of what Mako did, but designed to combine similarly to Omega Supreme. It also takes some cues from a few Daigunder and DragoBurst Combiner Modes and Shoutmon X2.

[blueikeproductions]

A cancelled comic I was doing to experiment a bit more with what I wanted to do with Energon in this AU, with Optimus getting unique Combiner Modes besides Wing Optimus and Optimus Supreme.

The Rust Giants are a race evolved into a Viking/barbarian stage when Unicron originally attacked. They settle things with a good old fashioned rumble but in matters like dealing with the Terrorcons, these fights take a little too long to resolve while the Terrorcons do their thing.

The general plot for Iron Planet I had in mind is the Terrorcons run into a problem harvesting Energon here due to the carnivorous Morphobots eating any Terrorcon drone within reach, leading Galvatron to halt operations until they can figure out a solution as the plants were impervious to weapon fire.

They settled on using their green Energon as it was toxic to the Morphobots, especially in gas form.

Meanwhile the Autobots were exploring Iron Planet with their new ally Kranix from the neighboring Rock Planet, getting caught up in one earlier Terrorcon shenanigans before finding out the Morphobots REALLY liked Terrorcons to snack on. Ironhide and Kicker got caught up in a tribe of Rust Giants who became enamored by Ironhide when he (in self defense) beat up and befriended a young Rust Giant about his size that was the offspring of the tribe’s leader. JD and Braverman jokingly call Ironhide “Ironhide the Barbarian” especially when he’s Powerlinxed with his new friend.

The head honcho of the Rust tribe still wasn’t happy about the Autobots hanging around and got into a fight with Optimus, as might makes right, to solve problems.

The reason this is cancelled is I changed my mind on it being Optimus in his Igneous Prime configuration because it doesn’t make much sense in hindsight why it’d be that form specifically. It makes more sense that it’d be Iron Optimus instead:

Also I’m not sure on Igneous Prime’s design here, as the combined form I originally thought would be in homage to Go-Bot Staks and Max Gridman, but I never had a clear idea on what Metamorphosis Prime from Rock Planet would look like just yet.

[transformers-mosaic]

Transformers: Mosaic #380 - "Leader Of The Club"

Originally posted on May 13th, 2006

Story - Alain Desrochers Art, Letters - Dane Eichinger

deviantART | Seibertron | TFW2005 | BotTalk

wada sez: This strip is inspired by the Disney Label version of Optimus Prime, “Mickey Mouse Trailer”. The strip’s title is quoted from the theme song to The Mickey Mouse Club. On deviantART, Desrochers offered a list of the “magicians and sorcerers” Mickey is acquainted with: “There's Jafar from Aladdin, Maleficent from Sleeping Beauty, Fairy Godmother from Cinderella, Merlin from Sword in the Stone, Master Yensid from Fantasia, Genie from Aladdin although he's neither a magician or a sorcerer.” See below for Desrochers’ original script and commentary.

First Panel: Blackness, nothing.

Prime: Where am I, what happened?

Second Panel: Haze is lifting, ill defined shapes are barely identifiable as the clouds, a tree and what might be the side of a building.

Unseen Commentator: Gosh, you had a bad fall, but don’t worry you’re safe now.

Third Panel: Shapes are fuzzy, but clearer. The sky is a vibrant blue, the clouds seem to glow, the tree sways gently as if in a breeze and the side of the building turns out to be a barn door.

Prime: I feel strange, something’s different.

Unseen Person: Gee I’m sorry, when I touched that crystal thing something happened to change you. I don’t know why.

Fourth Panel: POV Prime as he sits up, before him is a creature never before encountered, an anthropomorphic mouse with perfect round ears, white gloves, yellow shoes and a pair of red shorts.

Prime: Who are you?

Mouse: I’m Mickey Mouse.

Fifth Panel: Prime climbs to his feet and shakes his head.

Prime: I’ve never heard of a Mickey Mouse. The Matrix changed me because you touched me you say, but why? *Mickey shrugs at the question*

Sixth Panel: POV Prime looking at his reflection in a pool of water, he should appear cartoony similar to Animated Prime, but more in keeping with traditional Disney animation looks.

Prime: By the Matrix.

Seventh Panel: Full body shot of Mousemus Prime looking both shocked and comically petrified.

Prime: Megatron could never take me seriously like this.

Eighth Panel: Close-Up of Mickey looking suitably ashamed and disappointed at having caused Prime trouble.

Mickey: Oh I’m sorry if I caused you any trouble. Maybe I can get some help to change you back to the way you used to be, I know a lot of magicians and sorcerers. Even a Genie.

Last Panel: Mousemus Prime’s upper torso with a Disney bluebird flitting past his left ear, he shakes his head at Mickey’s concern.

Prime: *Sigh* It is not your fault Mickey Mouse, the Matrix does strange things. I shall have to learn to live with it I suppose. Or perhaps, sorcerers you say?

This might need a little work, let me know if I should rework the last couple of scenes. It might not jive well enough.

End ?

Here is the original script for my Transformers Mosaic piece, I have left it completely intact and chose not to edit it to reflect the changes made in the final draft.

As you can see there was some more dialogue between Mickey and Prime and no really dynamic ending for the piece. Blueike the artist really fixed it up for the second draft by limiting the dialogue and adding that final dynamic scene it helps the story a lot more than what I originally had as an ending.

Most of my other unclaimed scripts have good endings I think, but this one I will admit to having a difficult time limiting myself to actually end the piece on one page. Not only is it a blending of my two favorite hobbies, but it also wasn't easy letting go, my muse wanted to keep writing I think. But I had to limit myself.

Fortunately my collaborative comrade helped get a much better message across for an actual ending. Thanks Blueike :D

[shinybastiodon]

Reaction to YouTubers talking about recent Baby Yoda marketing pushes. They're not wrong! I want my Baby Yoda Flamethrower!

[blueikeproductions]

I’ve said before Transformers has struggled recently with its villains and recent material doesn’t change this.

Ever since this happened…

We’ve largely been stuck with poor man’s Vegeta Megatron.

And as such the series has lost its main villain, and become directionless.

The modern version of this trend started with Rescue Bots & RiD15, but it made sense in their respective series, and the replacement villains were treated like actual villains and are fondly remembered because of that.

It’s also not the first time Megatron was succeeded in leadership, as the Marvel Comics did this shockingly frequently.

With RatBat being the most unique case, in that he was the only one who largely succeeded in his efforts, and was a result of sincerely wanting to try something different.

I think that sincerity is long gone in favor of brand stagnation and “DEI” despite the later going out the door as of typing.

The usual replacement tends to be Galvatron, often depicted as an evolved Megatron through mystical means.

But Hasbro seems very reluctant to use Galvatron lately for whatever reason, instead usually having him as a (technically) separate character if he does show up.

Cyberverse kinda shows the current problem two fold. The bad writers convinced themselves they wrote a sympathetic Megatron when the writing shows him to still be certifiably insane and going through what is essentially an on the nose bad break up with Optimus. This extended to Megatron somehow being worthy of using the Matrix, and able to use it, despite Decepticons never typically being able to, and imply Optimus isn’t worthy of the Matrix, but never follow up on it.

To convince themselves and the audience that the regular CV Megatron was still a good person despite his atrocities, the writers pulled an Archie Sonic, and brought on their own Robo-Robotnik in Megatron X.

He too is apparently worthy of the Matrix and able to use it, despite completely destroying Cybertron and most, if not all, of its non Perfectcon inhabitants.

(To be fair, the idea of a Decepticon being able to use the Matrix goes back to Marvel G1 Thunderwing, but his actions helped corrupt the Matrix, creating the Dark Matrix Creature, but Cyberverse never states this is the case at all. This isn’t really a popular concept the series goes back to either, making Cyberverse the outlier.)

This ties back to Hasbro’s reluctance on Galvatron, as X was originally supposed to BE Galvatron in a Marvel G1 homage, but Hasbro said no.

So we’ve been left with a weird, but non committed, experimental phase of trying out different Villians to less than stellar results…

(Mandroid and Scourge are pretty good villains, but Mandroid quickly succumbed to bad writing, & Scourge was fairly quickly killed off, with no clear intent to go back to the Terrorcons and have a Movie Cyclonus based on the Armada version to take Scourge’s place.)

This feeds back into fan complaints about Hasbro’s unwillingness to try new things I’ve seen recently. In context the complaint was more wanting another Beast Wars like thing with new factions and new non G1 characters.

Like we HAVE been getting that with the Terrans and Terrorcons, but it’s clear kids aren’t that interested in them, and adult fans are as fickle as ever and not supporting it super well either. TFONE is pry the most damning, where it’s doing poorly across the planet theatrically, despite trying a new non-evergreen art style, and a much better version of Aligned/IDW caste system that simplifies it to Cogs & Cogless.

It’s not for lack of trying, but it’s also not grabbing kids well either.

This weird flip flopping recently came into play with Galactic Trials, the crappy looking racing game.

The game casts Nemesis Prime as the main villain, who tried to steal the relics of the Primes, but fail and cast the Chaos Emeralds, er, relics across the galaxy.

Here’s the weird part: this happens before the Great War began, with the Autobots and Decepticons now finding out in the present and scrambling to collect the relics for themselves. The story isn’t expanded and confuses things. Nemesis typically isn’t even a Prime, but a Decepticon clone of Optimus. Barring a few exceptions, the main deviation this MIGHT be referencing is IDW Nova Prime, who briefly became Nemesis Prime, powered by a Matrix like relic from the Dead Universe.

So does that mean in this universe the Matrix chose a guy literally named Nemesis to be Prime? Is this actually supposed to be Nova Prime via IDW? Is this Orion Pax’s black sheep of the product line? So many questions this game isn’t going to answer.

This is the frustrating part about all this. I like that they’re trying to branch out still, and I liked Nemesis Prime in IDW and back when he was Scourge in RiD01, but…

He’s kinda pointless here.

Why are we using a “new” character for a failing on launch, not-mobile game, when the plot would be much simpler in that Megatron or Starscream raided the vault of the Primes only for Optimus to intervene and launch the relics into space. Why is Nemesis the villain? For that matter, since it’s a racing game, shouldn’t the Stunticons be the villains?

This is where CyberWorld might be the make or break now.

I think slowly but surely, Hasbro is recognizing their past ideas on overusing antihero Megatron isn’t working, and that they need to properly commit to a successor if they don’t want Megatron to be a villain anymore.

Going by toy leaks, it appears they’ve decided to go BACK to Galvatron proper, but they also include Scorponok, who’s typically cast as a leader in some capacity (excluding Beast Wars).

(Until we learn more, I’m leaning towards their roles being similar to Superlink’s.)

So I think that’s a step in the right direction so far; going for Skybound’s aim of familiar but, they’re willing to pivot under better writing.

I think that’s where TFONE D-16 doesn’t work as a concept.

Like it if not, casual audiences and kids aren’t that invested in the idea of a wide eyed good boi Megatron who fell from grace or wants to redeem.

They want these kinds of power hungry megalomaniacal Megatrons, who are willing to go the extra mile just to upstage Optimus to stroke their own ego. Not high school bosom buddies with gay lover subtext that Stereotypical Tumblr-Twitter wants. And hopefully with what we’ve seen with Skybound, we’re going back to that Megatron soon. And if we don’t go back to Megatron strictly, then Galvatron might be the way to go cartoon wise.

[alcharliebs]

Commish: Aruto and Goblimon by BlueIke

[myavenueninja-blog-blog]

Alice: Beach Bods pg1 by BlueIke

[blueikeproductions]

Whst came to mind from the above posts on Earth expecting compensation from the Autobots. Transformers do have a currency on Cybertron, but it’s not used very often. It originates in the Marvel G1 series, and I think RiD15 has been its only physical appearance in a cartoon so far. It’s never really been explored as to how it would function on Earth as actual money when I think humans would just prefer the Energon and technology lol.

There's a thing I think we forget: How will Cybertron compensate Earth for the damages of the war after the Autobots win? That would be cool in Earthspark (as a minor thing).

The only way I see this actually happening is in an ES fanfic. S1 probably would've done some bullshit along the lines of the 'TFs being really sorry, can we all just move on now?' while it's most likely not even a thought in Robby's fanfic the show post S1.

In all seriousness though, ES hasn't really shown the state of Earth much since it's too focused on the Malto bubble. Yeah, we see that there are toys and comics about the TFs, but that's so small compared to something like showing Cybertronian tech being widely used by humanity. I can see the Autobots sharing knowledge about how to build space/ground bridges, other energy sources, things like that.

[kaijuguy19]

So how's it going lately? I don't think I've spoken to you in a while. I'm BlueIke from dA, btw.

Pretty good thanks. :) I love your TF5 pics since they’re very creative takes on some of the characters for TLK and ones from the past movies. 

[blueikeproductions]

So an interesting detail was revealed about the TFONE Quintessons.

It would appear, according to staff on the movie, that the ships are actually living, organic creatures.

By extension, going by their design similarities, the TFONE Quintessons are likely fully organic themselves.

Prior to the Quintus Prime origin, it was never clear where the Quintessons came from but their designs are clearly mechanical.

Japanese media would offer an explanation of sorts, in the Controverse manga.

In this story Primacron, the ancient sea monkey alien that created Unicron and later Tornedron in the G1 cartoon, would stake the claim that he created ALL mechanical life. When the Quintesson Judge calls this out, Primacron calmly responds that he created mechanical bacterial life once and surmises those creatures became the Quintesson race.

Further manga would reveal this is true, and go the extra mile by revealing Primus and Primacron were ancient beings that existed in the universe prior to the Big Bang (mirroring a similar idea in the Marvel comics).

Primacron was originally Primus’ pet, but as his intellect grew, and so did his ambitions, and once the old universe died and ours was born, Primacron would enslave his former master in what would become The Matrix of Leadership, and it would grant life to his mechanical creations, the Beast Mode Primitives, the Quintessons and Unicron.

It would appear most modern media opts go instead cast the Quintessons as organic creatures, created by Quintus Prime’s Emberstone, that pilot mechanical suits.

Cyberverse’s take on the Judges also goes an extra mile, similar to Primacron, revealing that these Quintessons are born by fusing five distinct lifeforms together, all chosen to judge a universe accordingly. This is depicted by using Starscream as the dominant component….

But unlike the wholly mechanical Judge seen before, Starscream’s Judge form has organic components, with other organic races in the Greys and Velgrox.

While there’s an argument the G1 Quints might be biomechanical, it’s never been clearly defined with Cyberverse Quint Starscream more plainly leaning in that direction.

As for the organic technology present among the TFONE Quints, that potentially has two origins.

The more famous one are the Trans-Organics, the prototype race the Quintessons developed before making the Consumer Goods and Military Hardware robots that would become The Transformers.

A cyborg like race of primitive animals, they were unable to accomplish basic tasks, and gave into their beast like savagery, destroying several Quints before they were sealed away deep within Cybertron.

In the modern era, a group of Quintessons opted to free their ancient beasts of burden, tricking Galvatron into unleashing them so that the Trans-Organics may destroy the Transformers, allowing the Quints to reclaim Cybertron. Inevitability this fails, with the Quints done in by the Dweller beast, an energy vampire worm Trans-Organic.

The Dweller is the most famous one, and spawned other counterparts seen in Cyberverse and EarthSpark, with the EarthSpark versions being a race native to Quintessa, typing it back to its origins.

The second inspiration, if potentially coincidental, could be GI Joe’s Cobra-La.

The GI Joe movie would reveal Cobra had its origins in Cobra-La, an ancient race of snake people that were the original dominant species of Earth before us mammalian humans evolved.

Cobra Commander is native to Cobra-La, originally being a snake man scientist who became mutated in a lab accident before becoming leader of the snake themed terrorist organization that’d slither into America.

He’s further mutated as punishment for his failure in taking over the world in Cobra-La’s name, slow mutating into a cobra.

While the DiC sequel series would see him restored, albeit still as a mutant snake man.

Presumably CC’s still a snake dude when he briefly menaces in the G1 Movie era Autobots as Old Snake.

Anyhow, the relevance to the Cobra-Laians and Quintessons, is the former use organic based technology. Basically, this means they create specially developed animals to use in place of tools, bridges & vehicles.

@bogleech’s own post on Cobra-La discusses other examples of their technology: https://bogleech.com/cobrala

In the GI Joe film, the Cobra-La people are disgusted by humanity’s use of inorganic machinery, and opt to eradicate humans and reclaim the land that was theirs prior to the Ice Age.

In the Energon Universe, this prejudice exists still for humans, as Cobra Commander is instead a human that lives in their ranks, but they’re more offended by the existence of the Transformers after CC’s science team dug out a frozen Megatron to study him.

Aghast at a cold, mechanical planet populated by giant metallic robots, Cobra-La sends Pythona aboard a space fairing … whatever this fella is…

… to Cybertron to nip this so called invasion in the bud.

It would appear she takes a semi unintentional detour, dealing with matters in the Void Rivals series first, where she’s set to battle the Skuxxoid in particular. (I’d laugh if she became the wife he constantly talks about.)

The Quints and Cobra-La sharing the concept of organic technology is honestly very interesting, and while I do think it was created independently of GI Joe, should more TFONE content be made and the Transformers and Quintessons go to Earth, a further connection to Cobra-La would be really cool.

It’s theorized in the Energon Universe that the Quintessons could’ve created or at least influenced the Cobra-La people, and such an idea isn’t unheard of, as the Zertonians and Agorrians of Void Rivals are revealed to be descendants of Transformers via a new character called Zerta Trion. It’s implied but not yet totally confirmed the Quintessons created the Transformers also via the G1 cartoon as well, and I just think it’d be hilarious if the proud, organic Cobra-La people would discover they’re related to the fully mechanical Transformers via the Quintessons and be utterly mortified. (I don’t think they’d like their Zertonian/Agorrian cousins much either since, despite being organic they have technology based Energon ports on their heads.)

Incidentally it feeds into a personal headcanon regarding EarthSpark, since MARS Industries exists here, that Quintus Prime used the Emberstone to seed life on Earth that would one day evolve into Cobra-La, making them relatives to the Terrans, Quintessons, and Lithonians (the later because Quintus reminds me of Kranix for some reason).

[blueikeproductions]

I do actually really like the idea of rebuilding Jetfire into the Aerialbots (alongside whatever else they have lying around).

The thing is I don’t think it’s still been made clear if the Matrix in Skybound is a life giving relic like it was in Marvel (and to a lesser extent IDW). So I’m not sure if whatever they intend to do will revive him or make new life.

They could rebuild his body into a Sky Spy maybe?

Though the most likely thing…

As a nod to Armada and RotF…

Though if they do it might be closer to these:

Incidentally the jet armor in CV does somewhat look like Jetfire, though he was both still alive and used a tank as armor…

My rationale for the jet armor for Optimus in CV fanon is it served as an aerial drone, albeit not a very subtle one, for reconnaissance. It’s usually stored in his trailer, which due to a running gag I had in mind, is usually blown up once the jet is launched for Optimus to combine with it.

Still barring some third idea neither of us are thinking of, I think we’re sooner gonna see Optimus go Burn Bravern using Jetfire’s body, possibly evoking Gilthor since he already has Megatron’s arm.

Skybound Transformers #7 (Spoilers!)

The future return of Skyfire?

It's great that Optimus is going to revive Skyfire, and not use his parts or body to build a vehicle, right?

…

Right?..

RIGHT?!

What if…

[blueikeproductions]

The Quintessons also got cards.

While we don’t know for sure if there’s other members of their race yet, these are a pretty big departure from the original designs, which have remained somewhat consistent.

Most notably the absence of the most recognizable Quintesson Judge is curious. There’s nothing that says they’re not there, but usually the Judge types are front and center for things, so removing them for a new High Command version is interesting.

The High Command and Soldier designs seem closer to some one off Quintessons from the 80’s cartoon.

The Quintessons have a somewhat complex conceptual history.

Their earliest concept looked like this.

A psychic biomechanical humanoid whose psychic abilities were so great they could make a horde of Sharkticons from scrap metal in an instant and probe the galaxy with a simple mind scan. Their head was apparently their true form, as it would eject and fly to another body when Hot Rod tried threatening it. The biomechanical look would persist for their final designs, but more modern media via Aligned and Cyberverse would instead state they’re actually organic creatures that look something like this:

Revealing their robotic bodies as merely being suits they pilot. It’s not clear yet if this is also the case in EarthSpark or ONE, though ONE feels like this is what they’re supposed to actually look like, but more organic this time than robotic as they typically are.

Some further revisions to the 80’s movie scripts and marketing of the time originally cast the Quintessons as working directly for Unicron, their mock trials were to punish and destroy any lingering survivors of Unicron’s wrath that passed by Quintessa. While this idea never made it into the original film, it was used in the Marvel comics and later revisited in early BotCon comics, but never became hard canon. The UK comics would make them into aliens clinging for survival as their home planet was destroyed by a time anomaly caused by the time traveling Galvatron. Running out of options, the Quints attacked Autobot City on Earth to try and colonize it, but were driven off by Rodimus Prime and Metroplex, their fate unknown but nevertheless swearing revenge on the Transformers.

The final version of the Quintessons in the cartoon cast them as the ancient creators of the Transformers, with some media explaining they also created Cybertron by terraforming a planet into a factory world (at least it wasn’t a parking structure planet). The cartoon would also establish them as slimy business men, having their tentacles in the affairs of other species for financial gain. Along with the Transformers starting out as in universe products to sell, it seems the writers might’ve been having a laugh at Hasbro.

The Quints’ primary goal in the cartoon was to push the Autobots aside so they could regain control of Cybertron, often conning the Decepticons into doing their dirty work for them. Where the Quints came from is never clear, as the show implies Cybertron was more their home planet originally due to their sentimental attachment to it. Their supposed home planet, Quintessa, is implied to merely be another planet they terraformed after getting booted off Cybertron.

Due to the more popular Primus origin from the Marvel comics, the Quintessons and their hand in the creation of Cybertron and its people was largely ignored in most mainstream media. While they saw a homage in Alpha Q in Energon (the connection to the Quintessons made stronger in the Energon Dreamwave comics), they didn’t really start resurfacing as major characters again until recently. The BotCon comics attempted to reconcile the two origins, stating the Primus origin was also the case in the cartoon, with the Quints interfering in the process, and this early idea served as the basis for the Aligned canon, where the Quints did the same in Cybertron’s early years, conning the young race into becoming their allies (servants), by bestowing both the futuristic space fairing technology Cybertronians enjoy today, their modern hierarchy (that became the corrupt caste system Megatron fought against) and the ability to Transform. Apparently the robots technically could already Transform as they all had Cogs, they just hadn’t LEARNED to Transform yet. Like the 80’s cartoon, these Quints intended to sell off the Transformers as products to the galaxy, with Sentinel (Zeta) Prime installed as their figurehead leader like in TFONE. Eventually they were chased off like in the old cartoon, but Prime nor RiD15 would ever revisit the Quintessons, though the prequel novels nobody read did claim the Autobots and Decepticons briefly became antagonized by them once more during the hunt for the Allspark in space.

Aligned’s main difference that’s fueled most modern interpretations is the Quintessons are the creations of Quintus Prime one of the newly established 13 original Transformers.

Aligned implies they killed Quintus and stole what they needed from him to become space fairing and eventually go to Cybertron, conquering other planets along the way.

The Quints were intended to be allies to Cybertron, as were other Quintus borne races, but this was not meant to be, due to the Quints’ hubris. EarthSpark’s version says the Quints were the first sons of the Prime, and in trying to discover their purpose, they became bitter and developed daddy issues, going around and killing off their cousins on other planets, attempting to acquire the Emberstone for their own use. The Quints and Transformers are strongly aware of each other, and clearly fought before, but their exact relationship has not been established yet, if at all.

TFONE greatly simplifies it to the Quints being an alien race that attacked Cybertron during the time of the Primes, though the hows and whys aren’t clear. What is clear is the jealous Sentinel made a bargain, helping them destroy the Primes and letting him be in control in exchange for paying them off in Energon to leave Cybertron alone. It’s not clear if Quintus Prime created the Quints in this universe, but there is a resemblance.

Quintus at some point: Sorry guys, you know how kids are!

Despite the Quintus origin, some modern media has gone back to the 80’s cartoon origin. Notably Age of Extinction and The Last Knight returning to the aliens created the Transformers idea, but the movies not directly using the Quintessons. However concept art does suggest the original intent WAS supposed to be the Quintessons…

Instead all we have is an alien hand and later Quintessa to go by.

It’s never clarified if the two are related, with Quintessa possibly being a Transformer and a Prime as well, but she is also called a liar by those formally in her employ so… She IS able to reprogram Optimus into doing her bidding however, so there’s that. She’s clearly inspired by Quintus, but isn’t connected beyond that. Her goal was to restore Cybertron by draining Earth of its life force and destroy Unicron in one fell swoop (as Earth is inexplicably Unicron again like in Prime). The organic Creators meanwhile were responsible for the extinction of the dinosaurs, deploying bombs that converted organics into cyber matter that made the metal of the Transformers. Lockdown was working for the Creators, but with the abrupt inclusion of Quintessa, it’s not clarified if he was working for her instead/also.

Cyberverse cast the Quintessons as major villains, but instead of the creation origin, they depicted them as trans dimensional entities that travel to other Transformers universes to judge them guilty and destroy them for no other reason other than they can. Truly the best kind of villain: petty. Still this Dr. Who meets The Matrix direction with them doesn’t appear to be at all popular despite the arc being regarded positively. I still think Cyberverse is awful top to bottom, but the general idea they went for is decent. The Primes exist here, as noted previously with Alchemist Prime, but it’s never stated if these Quintessons are related to Quintus Prime.

Netflix War For Cybertron and Skybound Energon Universe also return to the Quintesson origin for the Transformers, though in the former’s case, their connection, if any, to the Allspark is never clarified. Skybound’s Void Rivals is currently the main component using the Quints, and dialog heavily implies the cartoon origin, though some minor Aligned concepts creep up as well. Nevertheless the Quintus origin doesn’t appear to be as… nailed down as Hasbro probably would like.

Indeed despite the resurgence in relevance, Hasbro seems somewhat reluctant to use the Quintessons still. The Quintus origin in the modern era had only been used in EarthSpark, and even then it’s not used… super well. The Steven Universe Diamonds that need a family intervention, never mind the genocide they caused, persists here to much chagrin. With the inconsistency on how the Quints came to be in modern media, it also makes Quintus Prime unnecessary, if some media is treating the Quints as separate beings. Even IDW didn’t do anything with this, despite using a lot of the Aligned concepts, and for now Skybound seems content to ignore it also.

I think the reluctance is due to toys of them not doing well, with the Cyberverse ones doing especially poorly. The High Command guy being able to Transform toy wise seems to be an attempt to make it clear they fit in with Transformers, but their peg warming doesn’t seem to be fixing that.

Along with Hasbro and Paramount not handing the transition from Bee to ROTB properly (like how do we jump from what Bee did to suddenly Unicron attacks?), I don’t have high expectations that the Quintessons will be handled well for a possible TFTWO, if they’re even used at all.

Which is a shame because the ONE designs are pretty cool, they made the Quints more appropriately scary and intimidating vs the slightly goofy looking egg shaped Judges. And I like the Judges but still.

[blueikeproductions]

Megatronus Prime, the only “other” Prime people care about.

And I think a lot of that is due to his simple concept: he’s the bad Prime. He’s evil, brooding and will blow up the Sun out of spite.

His conceptual history starts with G2 where Simon Furman created the Liege Maximo as the evil “Prime”, a natural counterbalance to the innate good of Primus. This guy was the First Decepticon of which Megatron is descended from biologically (technologically?). A lot of the older material insisted the Autobots and Decepticons were genetically distinct, right down to their moral compass.

During the Dreamwave comics era, Furman revisited the idea of an evil “Prime” once more, instead creating the first version of The Fallen.

Originally intended as a Prime of destruction and rebirth, he became obsessed with destruction and became an Acolyte of Unicron, intending to sabotage Primus, but failed. He resurfaced during the early stages of the Great War, intending to finish what he started, but once again was met with failure and sealed away within Cybertron by Primus.

He would be revisited once again in RotF, taking on his more well known alien Egyptian look.

Interestingly, Dreamwave had established a connection with The Fallen and Jetfire, something that ROTF also used, but not to the same extent. Dreamwave intended for The Fallen to posses Jetfire, but it never came to pass. Prior to that, The Fallen had possessed Sunstorm, a Starscream Clone Shockwave created, so ROTF called back more to its roots than people think, using Jetfire and the Seekers.

Because of the success of the Bay films, this version of The Fallen was what people think of regarding an evil Prime, along with him being pretty cool in general.

In this version, this Fallen betrayed his fellow Primes to claim the Sun of Earth, not caring for the human life on it, finding it beneath him. The Primes didn’t want to claim suns of inhabited worlds, so this was pretty much treason. The Fallen was sealed away after a huge battle, but he resurfaced in the modern era, intent to reclaim Earth’s Sun out of pure pettiness (ROTF explains the Allspark needed recharged with the energy of suns, but with its destruction, it wasn’t necessary to claim the Sun for that anymore).

The movie famously doesn’t fully explain where The Fallen came from, just that he was already onboard the Nemesis, soaking up Energon and giving Megatron his marching orders to kill Optimus, find the Matrix, and recover the Star Harvester buried in Egypt.

The IDW movie comics go more in depth, explaining The Fallen was sealed in a sarcophagus on Cybertron that Optimus’ science team dug up during an archaeological expedition. The relic called to Megatron, influencing the temperamental brute already having issues with Optimus, to become the future tyrant and leader of the Decepticons.

Along with the movie being the prototype for the modern Prime mythology, it also was the first to claim The Fallen was the First Decepticon and that his face influenced the Decepticon logo.

It’s not super clear in the movie itself…

…but the comics make the distinction more obvious.

Early concept art also tried to make the connection clearer.

These concepts would eventually feed into the TFONE Fallen’s design. Having a bulky tank like body of his Dreamwave self, wearing a mask that is clearly the Decepticon logo as was intended in ROTF, along with having the scepter of his ROTF counterpart. The Decepticon mask has led to some confusion among some fans, his mask, cannon and predominantly purple body resemble Tarn from IDW.

It’s not meant to be Tarn, as he didn’t originate the look, the real world version of this is Soundwave’s face inspired the logo, but Tarn is the most well known among fans to rock the look. That said, Tarn probably did influence the look a little.

Unlike his counterparts, the ONE version of MP never became The Fallen, instead the context we’re given is this version valiantly defended Cybertron from the invading Quintessons. Being loaded with weapons and having an imposing size, Megatronus Prime was the most powerful Prime. In the modern era, Megs was also the most popular (probably a reference to his ROTF popularity) with many Bots having merch of him, D-16 being a HUGE fan in particular.

Megatronus sadly was one of the first to fall to Sentinel’s betrayal, being slain and his Cog taken as a trophy that Sentinel installed himself. D-16, learning of his idol’s fate and Sentinel’s role in it, was LIVID. D-16’s evolution to Megatron was complete when he stole back the Cog, and installed it in himself, gaining a form similar to his idol. I feel like Megatronus Prime is just saying “YOU’RE NOT AFFILIATED WITH ME!”

Another deviation was Aligned and IDW.

The Aligned version seems to be where TFONE MP takes his primary look from, but still using Dreamwave and ROTF as mentioned before. Funny enough this is the only design besides ONE that clearly communicates MP’s head influenced the Decepticon logo.

The name Megatronus was coined here, Hasbro’s attempt at creating a more obvious connection to The Fallen and Megatron, though many fans have expressed irritation at the name, feeling it sounds too stupid. Aligned’s intentions were to paint him as more of a brooding antihero, possibly another means to connect him to Megatron, whose more infamous roles in Prime Wars, IDW and EarthSpark paint him as a repenting antihero type.

Aligned saw him accidentally kill his girlfriend Solus Prime following subtle manipulation by Liege Maximo, but an embittered Megatronus got the last laugh by figuring out what had happened and secretly killing Maximo. He then went off into self exile, mirroring something Megatron would later do at the end of Prime, making it feel weirdly pre-ordained.

IDW went a similar direction, but its Megatronus started as a scared, nameless robot who witnessed Shockwave murdering Onyx in prehistoric times. Shockwave recognizing who the robot was according to legend named him Megatronus, and molded the nomad to become the brooding Ow the Edge warrior the legends foretold. This Megatronus started a series of campaigns that saw Cybertron united under his Darklands kingdom, and, notably, recruit Galvatron and his then brother Arcee to his cause. After the formation and fall of the Primes, Shockwave later killed his student off world, his purpose having been served to keep history and his own plans on track.

RiD15 meanwhile opted to make Megatronus its first major big bad, with Optimus training in the Prime Realm to defeat him.

Despite being the same character in the Covenant of Primus, this take on him pushed him closer to the more familiar ROTF version: trapped in another dimension, having psychic powers, a Void Scepter, manipulating the Decepticons to ensure his release, and wanting to take petty revenge against Earth. The last one is odd, because Megatronus never visited Earth before, nor is there any Aligned material that describes a humiliating campaign on Earth he was a part of. I’ve always wondered if it was supposed to be a relapsed MEGATRON, stewing over his life, got frustrated and decided to take out Earth and Cybertron in an “If I can’t have it than nobody can!” moment. Concept art for Megatron DOES exist for RiD’s early development so it’s possible such an idea was entertained.

Anyway Megatronus uses a relic to combine the powers of the Allspark and Unicron’s Anti-Spark to trigger a chain reaction that would destroy both planets but he’s stopped by the Bee Team with the power of friendship and combining their Decepticon Hunters into a giant Dragonball Z energy blast. It would appear The Fallen is super dead here, as he’s never depicted going back to the Prime Realm, nor do the Primes seem that shook up their brother was vaporized.

The final version of the Fallen that appears is in the Prime Wars trilogy, again evoking his more popular ROTF form and abilities. Here he strikes a Mazinger Z like design I kinda dig, too bad it didn’t stick.

His primary goal was to revive his lost love Solus Prime, and he chooses to do so by rigging a device using the Matrix and other relics to steal the Sparks of all Transformers to revive Solus’ Spark. Inevitability this plan fails, and a so over him Solus drags her now ex boyfriend into The Well of Allsparks to undo the damage. It feels like they were trying to imitate the 90’s Mummy films, but it doesn’t work at all here. Not to mention we still don’t have a clear understanding on who Solus is in animation, and the ROTF personality used for Megs doesn’t fit for the tragic love story they tried to tell. Maybe if it was intentionally more like Heathers? PW Solus does have a Veronica Sawyer vibe, and PW Megatronus is basically JD….

While the ROTF personality tends to be the dominant one in most of his appearances, making Megs the most tonally consistent Prime, his more heroic role in ONE is a surprise. As such if he is meant to be a regular hero, there’s a fan theory that Sentinel corrupted Megs’ Cog, and when D-16 got it, it was corrupted further, when D evolved into Megatron, glowing an eerie purple the other Prime Cogs didn’t. It’s possible this was the writers’ way of subtly referencing Megatronus’ usual evil antics, or maybe MP’s Cog was built differently because he was the cool Prime.

One other thing that’s funny, is Megatronus is the only Prime that consistently Transforms. Most of his appearances depict him as a space tank, but a few opt for some sort of space craft. Interestingly, the ROTF comics material states the Primes and Transformers are separate species, as the Primes can’t Transform. (How this is different for Sentinel and Optimus is never properly explained.)

However, toys show The Fallen becoming an alien air craft, with early concepts showing him Scanning and taking on an Earth mode: a bomber plane, contradicting this concept. It’s possible this was the comics taking advantage of The Fallen never Transforming in scripts they had to work with and were just assuming.

What’s still amusing is outside of a gun, The Fallen largely assumes military vehicles like Megatron does, strengthening their connections, albeit somewhat annoyingly. Again that preordained feel.

While we don’t see what TFONE Megs turns into, safe bet he’s probably a space tank, but making him a Triple Changer to incorporate the aircraft would be funny.

[blueikeproductions]

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

But how did the Great War start before hand?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[blueikeproductions]

I think the cynical long and short of it is they copied the IDW Autobot Megatron and didn’t do any of the leg work because they expected fans to already know about Autobot Megatron.

The problem is that Autobot Megatron is not a popular idea outside of hardcore IDW fans, and even Roberts mishandled the idea pretty poorly in his own stuff.

I fully believe you could do a Good Boy Megatron but only if you have a suitable replacement villain, and so far modern writers and Hasbro are not great at this.

Pretty much after Rodimus Prime failed, Hasbro has been reluctant to make successors. You can’t really use Galvatron because he’s typically an evolved Megatron. Scorponok is lucky to be remembered and good luck getting anyone to care about Deathsaurus or Overlord. Steeljaw and Shatter meanwhile are specific to Bumblebee, and while Scourge and Tarn are suitable replacements Hasbro refuses to commit to them.

Which leaves us with Starscream and how he’s been messily depicted in EarthSpark as a so called domestic abuse victim (it should be noted all instances of Starscream getting beaten up in G1 are usually because he shot first or did something stupid to feed his own ego). Starscream telling a sob story and going right back to being a dastardly villain really isn’t out of character for him, if anything Starscream is the abusive one over Megatron. Megatron just doesn’t take slag from anyone, that’s the difference.

I stand by Hasbro and Paramount must’ve seen the abysmal performance on S1’s first batch drop and ordered a more traditional Autobot vs Decepticon conflict and insisted on using Starscream because he’s still popular.

I also stand by if the toys and show were better budgeted and developed, we could’ve had a small group of Decepticons who defected along with Megatron to GHOST. Especially if you used those from past media like Sky-Byte, Knock Out, and Clobber. Split the difference and have Autobots upset with Optimus’ handling of things on Earth and letting in Megatron defect to the Decepticons like Getaway, WildWheel and Mudflap.

Okay. While we're talking about EarthSpark S1 problems that have been made worse by S2. Why is Megatron special?

One of the weakest parts of EarthSpark for me has always been the fact that Megatron is the only Decepticon known to have defected. Later on, Cons like Breakdown, Tarantulas, and even Starscream added some nuance by showing them willing to risk themselves for non-Decepticons, though understandably, none of them were willing to defect at that point. But even though such Cons clearly existed, none of them defected along with Megatron, or at any other point during the war.

And Megatron's own defection was just... It's painfully obvious that he was developed to be a Good Guy and didn't have a lot of thought put into what he was like as a Decepticon. By his own admission and Starscream's assessment, he was a violent leader who ruled with fear, but all it took to make him change sides was... Seeing a human care more about his side than he did? That's it? And if that is why he changed sides, he clearly took the wrong lesson away from that, because he still doesn't care about what used to be his side. Instead of trying to do better by them, he abandons them. And then all he has to do to make Optimus trust him is... Scan an Earth altmode. Really.

It all feels very weak to me, and doesn't adequately explain anything. Did Megatron make any attempt to be a kinder leader, or did he just defect immediately after seeing the Error Of His Ways? How did we get from "damn, I don't care about my guys enough" to "my whole cause is corrupt, I'mma go now"? Did he ever try to use his position as leader of the freaking Decepticons to end the war peacefully or steer them onto a better path, or did he just wash his hands of them the moment he considered himself morally superior to them? If he did try to use his influence before bailing, how did he change so much so fast that none of his officers wanted to follow him anymore? Why did he give up on his entire faction and not bring any of the more open-minded Decepticons with him?

There are so many questions that either aren't answered or only get vague suggestions of what might have happened, and the answers we do get aren't enough for me to buy Megatron's redemption. It all feels too fast and too easy, and I do not understand why he could defect from the faction he led but less committed Decepticons just didn't.

And now all of these issues are worse than ever, because all the nuance the other Decepticons had is gone. Now it's just "Y'know, Decepticons. They're evil." Apparently not all of them, because Megatron is still hanging out with the Autobots, Con insignia and all! I ask again, why is Megatron special? Why does he get to change but all the others have to be flat and evil?

The real-world answer, of course, is that he never changed. He was conceived as a good person and ally to the Autobots, and that's how he's going to stay. But you cannot have a "Cons are just evil" story while the ex-leader of the Cons is walking freely in the Autobot base. Megatron's entire character is only possible with the assumption that Decepticons are capable of changing, and trying to revert to Cons Evil makes his redemption weaker than ever. Because it's so painfully obvious that he was written to be a good person and his dark history doesn't actually matter.

[blueikeproductions]

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

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