#Commander Rodimus Prime

[naughtygirl286]

Continuing on with our Sixth Birthday Thing This one was a bit of a surprise but I received the Transformers War for Cybertron: Kingdom Rodimus Prime! I was like "wtf?!?" being I have the Power of the Primes one which I quite happy with so I wasn't sure if I wanted this one or not I was leaning towards getting it but I was surprised to get it for my Birthday. So I don't know if I'm going to keep this one in Truck mode or have him mounted on the trailer cannon I'll probably do that but it was the biggest surprise gift of my Birthday for sure.

[brotoman-exe]

Rodimus sometime during early Season 2 : "This is a ship wide announcement, I've accepted Megatron's position as Captain but only because I have given myself the rank of Master Chief which is clearly a superior rank as it is made of two words which sound cool together. From now on, please refer to me specifically as Master Chief Rodimus Prime if the Captain is also present. Thank you."

[transingthoseformers]

bless us with your Rodibee thoughts

For context the Rodibee plotline is usually the same plotline as "tfp Rodimus is Optimus's matrix baby"

Just... them out racing, Rodimus flirting with Bumblebee as a half joke half serious, them being reunited after being physically separated for a while (maybe Roddie was with another team and the teams got split up?), Bumblebee trying to impress Rodimus and semi dangerous tfp typical shenanigans ensue, hhghg casual physical affection, they're friends to lovers naturally, all the humans and other bots find this sweet (rightfully so)

So, yeah.

[enby-rodimus]

Going about my day and then I remember when Autocracy implied that the people Optimus & co. arrested back when he was an enforcer working under Zeta were hooked up to the energon tanks and died because of it.

[pocoslip]

I'm still Glad Hot Rod got the Matrix of Leadership and became Rodimus Prime instead of Ultra Magnus

(i like how rodimus prime's long rifle blaster is in transformers devastation even though he's not even a dlc playable character)

[in1-nutshell]

Hi! Rapidfire on the Lost Light? What would Ultra Magnus reaction to her?

More Rapidfire!

Hope you enjoy!

Rapidfire on the Lost Light

SFW, Platonic, Familial, Cybertronian reader

MTMTE/TFP

Magnus believed that today was the day he was going to get his work completed.

With all the trouble with the time travel incidents and getting everything back in order, he barely had much time to complete his reports.

That was until he heard a bunch of yelling outside his office.

Magnus opening the door: “What in the All—” He pauses seeing an unfamiliar bot with her back to the wall, looking frightened, and Brainstorm with a gun pointed at her. Magnus: “Brainstorm!” He pushes the gun down as the bot scrambles slightly behind him with a look of disbelief. Magnus: “What is the meaning of this? And why were you going to shoot the unarmed bot!?” Rapidfire: “You-You weren’t kidding when you said this was a different universe, huh?” Magnus looks at her then at Brainstorm, who sported a sheepish look. Magnus: “Explain. Now.”

Turns out another one of Brainstorm’s interdimensional inventions had crashed and brought the new bot on the ship.

 Magnus could practically feel the incoming migraine coming in.

The news of the new bot quickly spread throughout the ship, and everyone wanted to see them.

While walking to Swerve’s with Brainstorm and the now identified, Rapidfire, Magnus noticed that the new bot seemed to stick close to his side.

He figured that she would want to stay by his side after the save from Brainstorm.

But at the same time, it didn’t make sense as she was happily chatting with the bot who brought her into this mess in the first place.

Rapidfire is at one of the booths answering questions when Swerve passes her a cube of engex. Swerve: “Here have some engex! I’m sure that interdimensional travel can work up an appetite.” Rapidfire: “Thanks, but is it possible to get some normal energon? Not that I’m picky! I’m just not supposed to drink this yet.” Whirl: “Ha! Not supposed to drink it, what are ya? A Youngling?” Rapidfire: “Umm, yes?” Everyone: “…” Magnus: “What?” Brainstorm: “HOW!? You’re almost the exact size as Megatron!” Rapidfire stiffens a bit: “Yeah, I’m a bit taller than my Megatron back home too…” Tailgate: “Hey, where is Megatron anyways?” Rapidfire: “What?” Ratchet: “He is coming in with Rodimus.” Rapidfire: “Wait this universe has a Ratchet too? And what was this about—” The doors open and in walks in Rodimus and Megatron. Rodimus: “Sorry for the hold up, Megs here—” Rapidfire leaps over the table and tackles Megatron to the ground and starts slamming his helm against the ground. Tailgate holding onto Cyclonus: “By the Allspark!” Rodimus and Magnus try to pry her off Megatron. Rodimus: “HOW ARE YOU THIS STRONG!?” After a long talk, some patch work and several apologies later… Rapidfire: “Once again I apologize—” Megatron: “You have been apologizing for the past 10 minutes, you have already been forgiven.” Rapidfire: “You can blame my father for being polite sir.” Drift: “Father? Who? Must be a Wrecker with your strength and size.” Rapidfire: "The Commander of the Wreckers or what’s left of us.”  Magnus suddenly concern: “How many?” Rapidfire: “…5 counting myself and our newest human Wrecker, I’ll explain Miko later.” There was a lot of whispers and murmurs. Rapidfire: “If you think those numbers are bad, there are only 9 Autobots on Earth, well 8 now that I’m here.” Rodimus: “Sheesh, didn’t Prime want to send more recruits?” Rapidfire: “Umm, Rodimus Prime, right? I meant that as in the only bots online.” The bar fell into a deafening silence, she didn’t like it. Rapidfire: “But We’ll win, I’m sure of it. Magnus and Prime said to have faith then I’ll have faith.”

After the conversation, Rodimus extends his personal welcome to the ship telling her to stay as long as she can.

Which meant until Brainstorm and Perceptor could fix the gun to transport her back.

Rapidfire made fast friends with the former Wreckers and engineers of the ship.

And in a surprise move, also befriended the minibots, stating that she was ‘one of them’.

The crew thought it was a joke… until she showed an old data pad with a picture of her as a sparkling, dwarfed in the palm of Optimus Prime.

Megatron: “Is that Prime?”  Rapidfire: “Yep! Optimus and my father found me on the same day. That was how I looked before the first few weeks.” Tailgate: “You’re so tiny! But you still haven’t told us who your father is.” Rapidfire: “… You still haven’t figured it out? Wait, does he have a different job in this universe? Knew I should have considered that in—” Magnus: “Rapidfire—” Rapidfire: “Not now dad, what else could—” Everyone: “DAD?!” Rapidfire blinking: “Yeah?” Whirl looking back and forth at her and Magnus: “… I want a DNA test.” Rapidfire: “Adopted Whirl, not biological.”

Sadly, this wasn’t the worst reveal from Rapidfire’s visit on the Lost Light.

That award goes to Minimus Ambus reveal.

Minimus had made the mistake in leaving his office without his suit to go get something from his habsuite.

The next thing he hears is a blood curling scream and thunderous pedesteps shaking the ground.

Turns out Rapidfire had gone into the office and had seen the grey mech suit and immediately thought the worst had happened.

She kicked down the door to the med bay holding the suit in her arms, tears streaming down her faceplate pleading for someone to help him.

Ratchet and First Aid were in the middle of explaining the suit when Minimus came in.

She had a blank stare while he had finished his explanation.

By the end, Rapidfire fell to her knees and hugged him tightly.

Rapidfire prefers Minimus to be out of the suit so she can carry him.

Minimus DOES NOT like this.

It was a couple of weeks before the ray was finally fixed.

Many of the bots did not want her to go back.

Whirl tried to baracade her in his habsuite.

But to be fair, Rapidfire did want to smuggle Minimus so he could meet her Magnus.

In Primeverse… Rapidfire falls on top of Bulkhead. Bulkhead: “Kid!” Bulkhead pulls her into a tight hug. She immediately gives one tighter. Rapidfire: “You have no idea the kind of trip I—” Thunderous pede step are heard. Magnus: “RAPIDFIRE!” Rapidfire gets up and gives a nervous smile at the fast-moving bot. Maybe staying in the other dimension wasn’t such a bad idea… Rapidfire: “Hey—” She gets pulled into a tight hug by Magnus, who lets out a shaky sigh. Magnus: “Oh thank the Prime… Are you hurt? What happened? You’re signal went out and--” Rapidfire: “Hey, its fine, everything is fine. I promise I’ll explain everything.” Magnus just held her tighter.

[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.

[cozzzynook]

Imagine if tfa Rodimus was already part of the Elite Guard by the time they went to visit Prime &co on Earth.

He just spends the entire trip roasting Sentinel and being nice to the repair crew. Whenever Sentinel's trying to be pretty towards Optimus he just teases him and makes him feel ridiculous. "Using your authority for something this petty? How immature of a prime, especially the second in command."

Then Rodimus tells Optimus's team in private, "Mag's processor must've been higher than the atmosphere when he chose someone like Sentinel as his second."

And the team can't decide if they should take him seriously or not.

I can see rodimus just shutting Sentinel down at every turn because why are you picking on someone in a lower position than you?

He’a such a clogged valve

[kingbryancroidragon]

A few times I've mentioned my own idea for a Transformers story and in it, Shockwave would have been the leader of at least one faction of Decepticons. I say at least one faction, because he would have usurped Megatron, taking inspiration from the G1 Marvel comics, but because he wasn't the second-in-command, Starscream is, he'd be viewed as illegitimate with the ones backing him, being the ones who have been serving under him or had in some way been crossed by Megatron or Starscream.

Megatron would actually be in exile, rumoured to be dead, with a small band of followers comprised of Thundercracker, Skywarp, Bombshell and Shrapnel in search of Unicron, a figure who is treated as we would treat something like the Loch Ness Monster, Atlantis, etc., while Starscream is leading his own faction of Decepticons.

Rather than Megatron, Shockwave would have been the one to kill Optimus. Hot Rod would have been Optimus' official successor, but because his training by Optimus was incomplete at the time of Optimus' death, Ultra Magnus would be a place holder, leading the Autobots and completing Hot Rod's training, but being hesitant to hand the Matrix over to Hot Rod on the grounds that he is not completely like Optimus.

It would take a vision, dream, whatever you wish to call it, where Ultra Magnus and Optimus discuss it and Optimus would say: "Of course Hot Rod isn't completely like me. I had more than just Sentinel Prime as a mentor. I had Alpha Trion and Ratchet as well, just as Hot Rod has had you and Kup. Like me, Hot Rod is what all his mentors will make him."

Ultra Magnus would go on to give Hot Rod the Matrix, thus Hot Rod would become Rodimus Prime and go on to defeat Shockwave.

Thinking of this as a season, this would be the final episode, with Shockwave escaping, but seriously damaged. It would be then that Galvatron arrives and the famous dialogue from the 1986 film would play out. A damaged Shockwave would ask: "Megatron? Is that you?"

Galvatron would reply: "Here's a hint!" He would transform and a panicked Shockwave, the only time we see him with any emotion, would be begging Galvatron not to shoot him.

Thus would die Shockwave with Starscream observing that he may win more glory as the right hand of Galvatron, thus seeking to supplant Cyclonus and return to his place as second-in-command of the Decepticons.

EDIT: I just realized that I forgot Kickback was supposed to be among Megatron's followers on his search for Unicron. Well, he is.

[singingcicadas]

IDW Rodimus and Optimus’ relationship in a nutshell: Rodimus chose a leader. Not “Optimus chose a protege.” Rodimus has the dominant position here. 

IDW Rodimus and Optimus have such a deliciously messy relationship that contains equal measures of positive support and fucking each other up in the most spectacular ways. They respect each other, there’s friendship and admiration and fondness born out of long acquaintance, but once you dig underneath there’s also this current of internalized resentment: Optimus sees in Rodimus the reflection of his own flaws, as well as things he simultaneously dislikes and envies; Rodimus wants to emulate Optimus in terms of accomplishments/veneration but is frustrated by the sheer height of Optimus’ ideals and moral standards. They inconvenience his life, makes Optimus impossible to live up to, which in turn makes him feel morally inadequate because deep down he knows Optimus has the right values and doesn’t like what that says about himself.

The default impression that most people have of their relationship is usually Rodimus hero-worshipping Optimus as the eager-but-naive mentee and the stereotypical “Rodimus Wants Approval, Optimus Frowns in Disappointment”. It’s more complicated than that. To the point where I’d even argue that Rodimus is altogether more comfortable in a leadership role than Optimus is, and more often than not his headstrong personality puts him in the dominant position during their interactions rather then the other way around.

Looking at the major points of their interactions, whenever conflicts occur, it’s usually Rodimus who takes the hard aggressive stance and Optimus ends up backing off. He's not an inexperienced rookie in need of guidance, he's part of the Autobot high command, equal rank to Prowl, outranked only by the Prime. (Screencaps for those panels here) Not that rank is ever a deterrent for Rodimus for anything. He gives advice to Optimus as much as he receives them from him, to which Optimus listens. He also bosses Optimus around sometimes and Optimus never says anything just acts all submissive about it

Long post, so read under cut:

Optimus is someone who, though filled with desire to improve the world, has always looked to others to bring about change. He placed his hopes on Megatron, Shockwave, Zeta, and is betrayed each time, all the while stuck in an unfulfilling career where the lines between right and wrong becomes increasingly blurry until he isn’t even sure if he’s the hero or villain anymore. His heart is good but his stance isn’t firm; he ignores Roller’s warning about Shockwave’s suspicious activities and lets himself be pushed around by Zeta. He’s constantly in action, but it’s always reaction, to either ideas or threats initiated by others. It took Megatron backstabbing him down a hole and the Matrix literally shoving itself into his chest for him to finally step up and lift his own torch.

In contrast, Rodimus took over leadership of the weak and starving of Nyon and was planting bombs to defy the government by himself as a young bot. He’s the one who sought out Orion because he believed him to be different, forced him to look at what the government is doing to its people, and gave him an ultimatum: you either side with us or them.

The dawn of their meeting. After so many years of wavering uncertainty, Rodimus is the one who finally forces him to choose a side. Rodimus is the catalyst for Orion's denouncement of the old government, though Zeta's insanity nailed the coffin.

When Zeta came, Orion told him to find a way to get everyone out, that he’d buy them time, but Rodimus knew that they were in no condition to evacuate and there was no time, so he didn’t even try. He blew everyone up.

He made the decision to bomb the entire city of Nyon to thwart Zeta’s vamparc ribbon. He decided that the citizens were better off dead at his hands than Zeta’s, so he killed them himself. 

And it wasn't even a spontaneous decision like the usual kind he's famous for making. The bombs around the city were pre-wired as a contingency plan. He'd premeditated this.

Like this guy would have aced the trolley problem. A weaker-willed person - a more self-doubting person - would have quailed at the prospect of taking responsibility for so many deaths. Even if the citizens would have died either way, what right did he have to decide which side they would die for? Who was he to decide the necessity of such a sacrifice? Was there absolutely no other way? Could he not have taken the opportunity to evacuate even a few lives to safety? 

—These are questions that Optimus would have asked himself if he'd been in Rodimus’ place. He would have hesitated over the moral dilemma. These questions and moral hang-ups are what forms the essence of his leadership, as both the source of his strength and weakness. He's the kind of person whose response to the trolley problem would be to find some kind of insane (and often self-sacrificial) third option like jumping in front of the trolley. (Not that Rodimus wouldn't have jumped in front of the trolley in a heartbeat if he could, but he's also logical enough to realize when that wouldn't work.) If it had been up to Optimus, he would absolutely not have pressed the detonator.

But he defends Rodimus to Bumblebee, and acknowledges him as a worthy candidate for the Matrix, because he recognizes the necessity of the action, even if he might not agree with it. He tells Rodimus that leadership is making hard choices, that the price is to carry the guilt and loneliness and self-doubt.

And thus is the heart of their divergence: Optimus views leadership as something to be suffered over, as a burden he is forced to carry because there is no one else to do it. This makes him reluctant, always questioning his own worthiness, second-guessing his decisions, whether his actions are preventing destruction or causing more of it, whether it's right to decide the lives and fates of other people.

Rodimus, on the other hand, is self-absorbed. He actually enjoys being in charge. Not the responsibility or the mundane management part of it, but the "everyone do what I want and what I say goes" part. He has no problems whatsoever with wielding authority over other people. His self-doubt is the kind that's mostly repressed and god forbid other people from criticizing his actions - Ratchet's assessment of his character is spot-on:

He views leadership as a path to freedom, to steer everyone towards a future that he wants, and while he also feels the guilt deeply when someone dies on his watch, it's always as an aftereffect; it never stops him from taking risks or making the necessary sacrifices without hesitation nor heed to counsel.

His guilt over the loss of his team on his first time as mission leader does not lead him to caution in future missions. Nor does it prevent him from continuously putting his crew members' lives on the Lost Light in danger.

The Nyon situation is not a one-time occurrence. In Chaos Theory, Rodimus wants to destroy the Kimia facility when it got turned by Galvatron into a weapon, Optimus refuses because there might still be Autobots in there. But Rodimus insists, with the argument that there are also Autobots out here; the sacrifice of a few is needed to ensure the survival of the many.

And Optimus gives acquiescence. Note that Rodimus also didn't wait for him to agree before taking action.

It's clear that Optimus doesn't like what Rodimus is doing, but allowed it anyway because 1. Rodimus has the initiative, 2. there didn't seem to be a way to save both ends as they have no way of knowing what's happening inside the Kimia facility. Yet it isn't a decision that Optimus makes voluntarily. Again it's Rodimus who makes that call, Rodimus who makes the hard choice, while Optimus, the undisputed leader of the Autobots and the high commander of an army for four million years in war, is dithering over innocent Autobots and lost lives and morality issues and what ifs. The same source of compassion that makes him hesitate probably looks down upon Rodimus in judgement, but the leader part of Optimus, the logical part that ultimately allows Kimia to be destroyed because he knows it to be necessary, probably also envies him for his ruthless resolution.

(Also he's extremely competent in this issue, like this scene here)

In part Optimus' judgement is true; Rodimus is able to make these sorts of decisions because he does have less moral scruples than Optimus. Which is normal, as Optimus sets a ridiculously high bar. But when that high bar gets too inconveniencing, past Rodimus’ ability to understand or tolerate, he doesn't hesitate to put his foot down and lash out in accusation:

He literally bullies Optimus into letting him lead a rescue mission into what's obviously a trap (hence why Optimus was reluctant to send the mission in the first place). Optimus gives in to his demands without saying anything to defend himself. Then Rodimus proceeds to ignore every single word of warning from Optimus about keeping the mission clandestine, overrides Ironhide who Optimus sent to watch over him - "It's my mission, I'm in charge," barges in the front door straight into the trap, and gets Ironhide killed.

More detailed post about the event here.

By this point Optimus is already grieved by the toll of destruction the war took on both the Autobot forces and Earth, hiding from the humans and unable to help. Ironhide's death is the last straw.

The red text box is Optimus. He takes full responsibility for Ironhide's death, thinks he failed in his leadership, and resigns as prime to surrender himself to the humans.

Rodimus, who's the one actually responsible for the whole catastrophe, doesn't say a peep during Optimus' resignation speech. Then this 🔽 is his reaction:

Like wow. Cold much? Someone just died because of you. Someone else just took the fall for your mistake. They were your friends. But all Rodimus cares about is now we can finally get out of here no one's gonna stop me.

Optimus' surrender is a culmination of events, but this is still the breaking point. Of which again Rodimus is the catalyst. All the Autobots were dismayed by Optimus' decision, but Rodimus was the only one who had solid reason to talk him out if it, if he so chose. He only needed to step up and take responsibility for his own actions. Even if Optimus' mind had been made up, he could still have alleviated his guilt, or at least shared the burden of it. But he stays silent and scoffs at Optimus afterwards for freaking out.

It's not that he doesn’t feel guilty. It’s not that he doesn’t care. The first thing he does when he sees a revived Ironhide is to apologize. But right here right now, all he can think about is leaving the planet. Everything else is low priority. As for Optimus' emotional state? Other People's Feelings have always been a nonexistent point for him. (i.e his treatment of spotlight Trailbreaker and Red Alert). He can be extremely insightful at reading people and has a knack for knowing exactly the right words to say if he applies his mind to it, but callousness seems to be the default setting.

He wants to leave, so he's going to leave. He doesn't bother himself with the predicaments of those who choose to stay behind. He doesn't look back.

In essence he and Optimus does the exact same thing here. Both abandons the Autobots to do what they think is right, except their decisions are based off very different mindsets. Optimus leaves because of guilt, entrapped by his own morality. He thinks that surrendering himself to the humans is the only way to end the violence. Rodimus leaves because he wants freedom. For him, shedding responsibility is a liberation; he feels guilt but is never encumbered by it. 

Rodimus and obeisance in the same sentence. This is about the only time in the whole series that Rodimus is this level of deferential to Optimus. After getting hit in the face with a combiner-sized mistake that turned everyone against him and which Optimus had to bail him out of, stealing Ultra Magnus’ shuttle, dying, an enlightening revival and bonding session with the Matrix, meeting a bunch of people who were supposed to be dead, and seeing the danger that Cybertron’s in, Hot Rod finally reaches the point of character growth where he officially graduates to Rodimus. Not that he’s any less impatient and unmoving to council as Rodimus, but still. It’s a huge step forward. 

Because Rodimus’ behaviour on the Lost Light shows that he’s the type of person who’s very aware of the power of his position and has no scruples about utilizing that power to do what he wants. It’s easy to forget that he’s the top authoritative figure on the ship when you’re looking at his everyday interactions with the crew, he’s friendly, he’s down-to-earth, he’s buddy-buddy with everyone, but when he wants something done, either for ego or for the thrills or just because he thinks it’s a good idea, he will get his way and make people do things his way because he knows he has the final say. e.g. Asserting his position over Ironhide and Magnus when they try to question his orders, using Rung as sparkeater bait, ordering Swerve to shoot Fort Max, taking advantage of Chromedome’s injecting abilities, taking his team towards the Necrobot guilt attack (and thus playing into Getaway’s plans), etc. If people dies, he feels terrible, but the burdens of death only weighs on him after the fact - it doesn’t stop him from leading everyone headfirst into danger the next time it comes around. 

For him to have held the power of the matrix in his hands but willingly choose to give it back is no small feat. He’d wanted that power all his life. He’d wanted to be Prime. But at this point he’d realized that it isn’t just Optimus’ power and acclaim that he wants, as he later admits in the dead universe - it’s the entirety of Optimus’ ideals, his morality, his decency. He recognizes his own inadequacy when he recognizes those values to be true, but they are things that he cannot ever live up to for himself. 

(And also he’s never an actual Prime in this continuity so there’s no reason for Optimus to rename him Rodimus other than an indulgence for Rodimus’ liking of the name.)

After Megatron surrendered himself in Chaos Theory. Rodimus is the only one in the High Council to directly call Optimus out on his bias towards Megatron. 

Rodimus’ account of his Matrix experience:

Rodimus’ matrix experience What Actually Happened:

Rodimus just straight-up lied lol. Maybe he did it to cover up his own insecurity about not wanting to sound as if the Matrix didn’t like him or something but can you imagine how this must have messed with Optimus’ mental state. Optimus was already upset by Megatron’s goading and had just admitted to Ironhide about his self-doubt over whether he’s being too reliant on the matrix’s wisdom affecting his judgement. Rodimus threw him in for a further loop.

And then in response Optimus does the same thing as Rodimus, aka lying about his matrix experience, presumably for the same reasons Rodimus did. The whole conversation is a lie leading to a lie.

Rodimus’ view of the Matrix as the ultimate source of indisputable divine-right autocratic power is more absolute than Optimus’. Here in DoOP when Optimus comes back, Rodimus’ solution to dealing with the NAILs is to have Optimus use the Matrix to assert his authority. When he’s dealing with the Galactic Council and Thunderclash, he calls himself Rodimus Prime to sound more important. Unlike Optimus, who feels guilty about exercising the Matrix’ influence on the colonists, Rodimus doesn’t have qualms about using the Matrix as a power flex.

But at the same time he also treats the Matrix as a tool, not a sacred artefact: he used the Matrix to power his ship when he bonded, and when the Matrix’ energy got depleted, he bashed and cursed at it. When the Matrix was needed to save Vector Sigma, Optimus was reluctant because he thought destroying the Matrix would mean destroying the last of Cybertron’s culture, Rodimus said don’t worry about it. He shattered the Matrix to stop Tyrest and recounted it to Optimus as no big deal.

Yet he believes in the Knights of Cybertron and insists on going looking for them to restore Cybertron’s culture and the Golden Age as soon as he learned of the Matrix map, despite it being pretty clear to everyone that there was no Golden Age, all at a convenient time when everything’s a mess on Cybertron. He takes 200 Autobots on his ship, a lot of them part of the elite, when they are outnumbered 100 to one.

This whole interaction made me crack up so hard, I can't even tell whether OP is being sarcastic or not.

Roddy's internally fuming, but Roddy can't say anything, because "incredible progress" lmao.

Like this is probably the closest we'd get to the "Optimus is Disappointed" thing the fandom loves. Optimus obviously doesn’t believe in the Knights of Cyberton and all the religious crap surrounding it, he probably thinks the Lost Light is on a fool's quest, the whole thing is a waste of time and resources, Rodimus is merely using this as an excuse to get out of the mess on Cybertron (Yeah Hardhead, stop JUDGING), he’d given up his life and name for Cybertron and entrusted Rodimus and Bumblebee to take care of things after he's gone, but Rodimus just went nope and gallivanted off without a backward look, leaving the remaining Autobots at a even more severe disadvantage than they were in before and let Starscream get the chance to oust them as leader. 

I guess if you're really into the Disappointed!Optimus thing then this disappointment could be read as stretching all the way back to the Autocracy trilogy, when Optimus admired him as a worthy successor candidate for the Matrix, but as time went on it would have become more and more clear that Rodimus did not match his idea on how the burden of leadership should be borne. They were constantly at odds on Earth, then the whole bad judgement with Swindle happened, then Rodimus decided to redeem bad judgement with more bad judgement by stealing a ship and going solo into Megatron's lair to steal the Matrix back. The Matrix bonding, when it happened, also didn't magically change Rodimus into a more responsible leader. And leaving when Cybertron is in most need of leadership in pursuit of a dream just further cements that disappointment.

But here again they are making the same choice, just for different reasons. They both leave Cybertron in pursuit of their own ideals, they both abandon the Autobots in their hour of need. Optimus says in the end of DoOP that his self-exile is a uniquely selfish choice, that by leaving the mantle of Prime behind he is finally free. Responsible for no one. Beholden to no one. Except that it's still a decision forced by circumstances, flavoured by betrayal and guilt and his own perceived failings. Yet Rodimus is able to make the same decision with no emotional burdens - leaving's what he wanted, he feels no attachment or responsibility to those he left behind, he's just happy with his choice in general.

People hate on Optimus so much for this scene but does anyone notice, like, how flippantly Rodimus confesses his Overlord fuckup? Oh I smuggled a Decepticon prisoner on board, he escaped, people died, I let my best friend take the blame, I felt guilty about that later so I fessed up and apologized, and now 89/101 of my crew wants me gone. But that's all right because note to self: you gotta win them back, Rodders!

And he even leaves out a good half of it, such as how the Overlord incident is only the last one in a long list of bad decisions and abuse of power and poor treatment of his crew that made them lose faith in him, how the Decepticon prisoner is actually Overlord and they were trying to recreate phase-sixers for Prowl, and how he didn't fess up because he felt bad about Drift, he fessed because Magnus got so fed up with his bullshit that he tried to go to Tyrest to remove his captaincy.

Like it's pretty clear that the 89/101 vote got him hard because it was a blow to his ego. That the vote happened at all is still a big step of personal growth - but the main note he takes from that incident is to win the 89 naysayers back, thus making the failings of his leadership into a completely personal issue, instead of, say, taking a more introspective reflection upon his behaviour regarding concepts such as transparency, responsibility, and accountability. Or taking actual measures to amend his mistake by, idk, sending a message to Drift.

Optimus’s response is definitely not very supportive and is likely projecting his own discouraged mental state more than a little bit - after all, he resigned his position, never mind if it's not actually the wisest choice - but it definitely did strike the truth right where it hurt, as Rodimus practically admits that he made the confession with the expectation of getting a pep talk. He didn’t confess because he feels ashamed or obligated, he confessed because he wanted Optimus to say things that will make him feel better, not actually criticize his actions. He isn't looking for approval, he's looking for validation and absolution. Optimus saw through it and didn't spare any feelings.

This is the second of the two only times Optimus reacts harshly to Rodimus. The first time is when Rodimus called him out as being "too cozy" with Megatron, but Optimus' anger then hadn't been directed at Rodimus, specifically, he was angry at both everyone and himself.

Optimus was perfectly respectful of Rodimus' captaincy when he thought Rodimus was doing a good job at it when he first came aboard the Lost Light.

Orion reclaimed his identity as Optimus Prime because of Rodimus' words. Rodimus addressed Optimus' fears and insecurities while also acknowledging his own.

This is the exact opposite of the "Rodimus wants approval" stereotype. Rodimus is the one that gave Optimus the will to rise above his uncertainty. It's Rodimus' faith that brought back Optimus Prime. It's seeing Rodimus hurt that gave him the strength to defeat Nova.

Just like how all those years ago, it's Rodimus' faith that led him to finally defy Zeta.

Rodimus yells at Optimus again lmfao. Optimus gets cut off mid-sentence and sits through a whole rant before going uhhhh no I just wanted to say. It's as if he's the subordinate.

"Perhaps you could give me a brief update on your progress." This is a perfectly reasonable question, right? Phrased in the most courteous way possible. But Rodimus' response is all passive-aggressive. In the most un-informative way possible. Oh I broke the matrix why are you so hung up about that honestly it wasn't very sturdy to begin with anyway. Like your Chief Justice just tried to commit genocide, maybe that's worth elaborating a bit to your faction leader?

Optimus didn't not tell Rodimus about Megatron's co-captaincy himself on purpose. He couldn't tell Rodimus because Rodimus wasn't answering his calls.

And also Optimus is fully within his right to arrange captain assignments on the Lost Light however he wants, it's been said in the MTMTE that the Lost Light is an Autobot ship, according to Ultra Magnus he has the right to take command, and in the end it's qualifiable for requisition. Yeah Drift did buy it with his own money but it's like, donating a ship to the Navy.

Rodimus knows exactly why Optimus put Megatron on the ship. This panel, along with the "cozy" comment and his motivation speech to Optimus in the dead universe, and also to a certain degree the accusations he made before the mission that got Ironhide killed, all shows that Rodimus understands Optimus very well. He knows how Optimus' mind works, his ideals and fears and shortcomings.

But here in the last panel it show that Optimus does not understand Rodimus at all, and likely never did. He's cautious in their interactions because he cannot be sure of Rodimus' reaction, even after four million years of familiarity.

This is the last time they see each other before Optimus dies in Unicron, when Optimus is asking the Lost Light to return to Cybertron for Caminus' integration ceremony. As the leader of the Autobots it is well within his right to issue commands. But his whole attitude here is careful, phrasing everything as requests and placations. Not to mention that he barely manages to get in a word edgewise over Rodimus' many (albeit understandable) complaints. And it's Rodimus who cuts off the call.

The thing to keep in mind when looking at these two is that it's almost always Rodimus who holds the reins in their interactions, from their first meeting in Nyon to their last conversation in the Lost Light facetime call. During their first meeting it was Rodimus who lured Optimus to the Acropolex and chose him as the leader to follow despite Optimus and Megatron both trying to recruit him with more or less the same words. And the last time they spoke it was also Rodimus who hung up the phone on Optimus. 

It's worth mentioning that from the moment Optimus put Megatron on the Lost Light, he and Rodimus stopped exerting influence on each other's lives. From that point on, the changes and growth to Rodimus' character no longer has anything to do with him. His role in Rodimus' life is replaced by Megatron.

The last thing Rodimus said to Optimus in that call was “Megs says hi.”

[transformers-trivia]

TRIVIA TIME!

no saying the answer in the tags or comments >:3 send me proof that you chose the correct answer after the poll is finished and you get a doodle prize

[transingthoseformers]

TF Surge: So, Megatron ended up being the Decepticon high command's token allistic.

I have to come up with some autistic Autobots too or this could look bad, even though Surge is pretty morally grey.

The problem is that i don't really know or care about very many Autobots. So i can't think of anybody except Perceptor whose G1 bio is very autistic-coded but didn't give him personality besides being nice, perhaps First Aid because G1 First Aid's bio maies it sound like he has hyperempathy, maybe Prowl but he's morally dubious and might be outright a war criminal....

Okay mood on knowing less about the autobots than decepticons, but I've seen headcanons regarding a few different versions of Optimus (I've seen it for G1 at least once I think?) being autistic so there's that!

I've also seen suggestions regarding Ultra Magnus / Minimus Ambus in IDW and OCD, which would make sense considering how I interpreted his character

Dunno if Rodimus / Hot Rod is involved here but I know for a fact I'm not the only one who thinks he's got ADHD in IDW, and I've seen other versions of Hot Rod can be interpreted as that too

I do admit I'm still unfamiliar with Marvel g1 and I don't remember much of the g1 cartoon because to me it all kind of blended together for me

[blue-spider62]

(This may get a little "Erm, actually ☝️🤓")

Is anyone else tired of Hasbro reusing Optimus Prime ? Not that I have anything against the big bot, but I feel like they should give the spotlight to other Autobot leaders, like Star Saber, Lio Convoy and Lio Junior (I'm surprised Lio is the only Cybertron Supreme Commander to ever have an offspring), Big Convoy and my all-time favorite, FIRE CONVOY ! For those who are scratching their heads while looking at the 1st image, Robots in Disguise (or Car Robots as it's known in Japan) is actually part of the Japanese Generation 1 continuity (or JG1). I think Fire has the potential to be a successor to Optimus and Rodimus, kinda like what Miles Morales is to Peter Parker.

Is it just me, or does Fire Convoy look a little… Adolescent ?

[cybertron-after-dark]

what is wayward sparks :0?

YOU'VE ACTIVATED MY TRAP CARD >:3

This is gonna end up being a long ass post about my very goofy iterations of my blorbos and the unbelievably fucked up version of Cybertron they inhabit, so to spare those of y'all that mostly follow me for the canon tf content, I'll just put all this under the cut

To summarize, wayward sparks is the non-existent tf cartoon I've been Envisioning for a few months that starts off goofy and low-stakes but gets progressively more and more fucked up as it goes. The absolutely BRAINLESS lookin bumblebee I keep posting is supposed to be from this AU, as well as the borderline catgirl skywarp, the really grumpy Optimus, and most of the other tfa-esque redesigns I draw.

The Story

Cybertron's been at war for millennia, everyone's sick and tired of it, especially the Decepticons. They're backed into a corner, being captured and killed left and right, and a loss is just around the corner if they don't do something drastic.

So Megatron does something very drastic indeed.

He steals the Allspark, in a heist that, frankly, should've gotten his entire high command killed (though, very suspiciously, they suffered no casualties and got out unscathed, save for Blitzwing, who clipped a wing), with the intent to ambush the Ark, and finally neutralize the greatest threat to his movement and his people: Optimus Prime. Unfortunately for everyone involved, the Allspark doesn't particularly like being used as a weapon and instead decides to put everyone in timeout on an isolated little backwater planet called earth until they can learn to get along and stop trying to kill each other.

Team Prime (Optimus, Ratchet, Bumblebee, Bulkhead, Wheeljack and Prowl) are all WOEFULLY unprepared to be stranded on an alien planet with only each other, Decepticon High Command (Megatron, Starscream, Soundwave, Shockwave, Blitzwing, and Lugnut), and the very strange, very small, and VERY trigger happy humans populating the tiny rural forest town they managed to crash near.

Meanwhile, back on Cybertron, the remaining Decepticons are trying their damnedest to keep hidden, and survive underground, and the Autobots try to figure out what to do while their leader is missing. While the Autobots are left floundering without Optimus, the other active Primes and their followers (Sentinel Prime, Rodimus Prime and Windblade Convoy (yes I know she's not a prime anywhere else but let her girlboss)) try to garner favor with the Senate by picking up the slack, and taking the Decepticon problem into their own hands.

The Autobots

Aka, Optimus Prime's merry band of dysfunctional freaks.

Optimus had to find out the hard way that being a Prime means a direct connection in his mind and spark to an eldritch, incomprehensible god that likes trolling. So now he has to hear Primus in his head at random saying shit that does not make sense. And now that he's in there it's kind of a no takesies backsies situation

While being a Prime is supposed to grant you a degree of divine power, that power is only made manifest through strong dedication to a bot and to a cause. That intense loyalty is also what allows you to handle the connection in the first place. Primes that become disillusioned with their masters have a track record of going completely mad. Unfortunately for Optimus, pretty soon into his career as a prime, the Senator he swore loyalty to disgraced himself hard enough to be sentenced to shadowplay and empurata. Senator Alpha Trion ended up taking him in so he could keep functioning as a prime. It'd be a shame to lose such a talented bot. And with the whole threat of lovecraftian madness looming over his head, he pours his whole spark into following his every order.

Bumblebee is not a Prime, nor is he even particularly religious (even though his boss has a god that's taken up residence in his head) but for reasons nobody can quite seem to decipher, Primus absolutely loves the little gremlin, which manifests as Bumblebee having impossibly good luck.

There's not a situation he can't fling himself into headfirst and wildly intoxicated that he can't come out of with barely a scratch. It's actually given him a pretty warped perception of the war and hardship in general. He really wants everyone to just stop worrying so damn much. Everything always works out in the end, right? So why does everyone gotta be so grouchy all the time? Especially Prowl.

Prowl cannot fucking stand Bumblebee.

This mostly stems from the fact that the little yellow bastard seems 100% intent on making him "happy" and refuses to leave him the fuck alone. Prowl is, to put it bluntly, really fucking depressed. Originally, his function was law enforcement, but he became quickly disillusioned with the job when he realized just how corrupt the Praxus police force really was. When he quit, he felt he lost his purpose, stuck living with nothing to make of himself. Joining the Autobots was supposed to fix him, but even though he's started to turn his life around, he can't say he feels much better. He spends most of his time holed up in his quarters, either maintaining the team's weaponry or just binging old datatrax on teletraan-1.

Oh, and ever since he got to Earth and found out about anime, he's gotten to be a bit of a weeb

Taking care of the team's medical affairs is Ratchet, and even if he wasn't a massive perfectionist he'd have his work cut out for him. His entire team is prone to making stupid, reckless decisions that end in somebody getting disassembled somehow. Their erratic, chaotic behavior makes his processor ache just thinking about it. Unfortunately Ratchet is pretty paranoid, and generally unable to think about anything other than how wrong everything can go all the time.

He typically tries to put forward a very straight laced, very orderly image of himself, but it's a bit difficult to keep up that demeanor when the overthinking spiral takes him. And nobody makes him spiral quite like Wheeljack.

Wheeljack is generally just here to blow shit up and do some Weird Science. Typically this results in Jackie himself getting blown apart with whatever he's trying to explode, but he had a blocker installed for most of his pain sensors ages ago, so he doesn't mind too much. Especially not when there's a top notch medic he loves to annoy that can put him back together when that happens.

And when the good doctor gets completely tired of his shit, he's got his good buddy and lab partner Bulkhead to help him out too.

Bulkhead is a sensitive type, and largely considered to be the voice of reason on the team. Unfortunately, he often has trouble making his voice heard to begin with. He tends to be pretty quiet and really bad at voicing his thoughts, especially when those thoughts are about something that stresses him out. Given he works with Wheeljack, it's a miracle he isn't nonverbal entirely.

He loves his friend, he really does, but it gets frustrating seeing him get blown apart so often Bulkhead worries for his safety because Wheeljack seems to be incapable of worrying about his own. It's pretty easy for him to get caught up in Ratchet's overthinking episodes with his own anxiety until someone snaps them both out of it

How all of them have managed to survive this long, let alone nearly win the war, is anyone's guess.

[Apparently I just hit the image limit so I'll do the cons in a reblog lmao]

[searchingforatrail]

okay but one of my favorite hcs is of Megatron being with people politically more powerful than him, having little to no influence or power outside of where he is, and still being able to get his way/command a room. 

Whether he’s with Starscream as the Chancellor/Leader of Vos, or Optimus and Rodimus as Primes, his influence on Cybertron and suggestions are still heavily sought out by all three of them. Even as technically a parolee, they listen to what he says because of his influence on Cybertron and on them. 

He just commands power. Even if his has none. 

Married to diplomats, the chancellor and/or two primes, he never wonders about what power he does or doesn’t have. He’s easily able to get it with no position. He’s not cruel, either. He’s just very forward and respected. 

he also never publicly criticizes them, or reprimands them. He waits till their private and his just a conversation with them. He’ll only raise his voice if something is completely stupid or outlandish. 

though with rodimus and starscream he is a bit more forward, just because one is a rambunctious wanna-be youth, and the other is two drinks away from a federal crime. 

[quetzalpapalotl]

The thing is that despite how much IDW1 Optimus sucks at times and that he has no future vision, there really wasn't anyone who could have done his jobs better. Being the Autobot Prime during wartime against the Decepticons and their galactic conquest required of him to be a genuinely good soldier and fiels commander who could go against Megatron by being unpredictable, defending organics with unshakeable resolve, withstanding the moral injury without going completely morally bankrupt, being charismatic and serving as a figure of morale so that everyone else doesn't become his worst selves... I mean he didn't do the best job at all this at every time, but who else is there?

Prowl knows very well he doesn't work as a figurehead and also if you thought the Autobots were bad already... Rodimus would suck for reasons I have already explained. Bee can be a good leader after some character development but he only works as that for peacetime. Springer would suck. Impactor? Don't make me laugh. Kup? I mean we could do worse. Arcee would probably be a good fiel commander and can totally go against Megatron but she also needs character development and nonexistent people skills, who would follow her? If Ratchet loses the moral highground of his job always being saving people he will break. The hero worship that leads to Primus Apotheosis would disqualify everyone with it because they do not understand the reality of what this entails.

Thunderclash is perfect in every way tho, he could probably do it.

Optimus is kind of a perfect storm to do this one thing which only feeds to his myth and the myth of a Prime, which was never a gold idea even when Optimus does it, and it also feeds his sense of hyperresponsibility. But also it's he supposed to just stop??