#I don’t know if we need to bring Unicron in

[quibbs126]

And now an additional thought to add on

This is the end of the second movie, and Optimus thinks Megatron’s dead, which he is

But in the third movie, we see Unicron find whatever remains of Megatron and revives him as Galvatron to be his servant. And also in doing so, Galvatron basically isn’t Megatron anymore, it’s just reusing his body and abilities and is under Unicron’s control (whether it be rewriting his personality/mind control or Galvatron is more akin to a zombie)

So now Optimus has to deal with the fucked up corpse of his boyfriend being possessed by robot Satan after said boyfriend nobly sacrificed himself

So I had another horrible thought relating to Transformers One sequels

Here, Megatron and Optimus do at least semi reconcile and Megatron redeems himself

But it’s a redemption via self sacrifice

Megatron finally sees the error of his ways, or he already has but now he sees a way to in some way make things right, and right there and then makes a decision

Optimus is out of commission (though if you want to add the angst, he’s still conscious, just unable to do anything other than maybe talk), and so Megatron gets him to safety, has some sort of final words to Optimus, before heading back to do whatever it is that needs to be done

He does the thing, and the day is saved, but Megatron is now dead for it. Optimus probably chooses to honor him in some way, but he’s still dead

And made worse if Optimus and Megatron’s final interaction in some way parallels their exchange when Orion fell

Sorry I just had to relay this idea to others. It won’t leave me alone so you have to know too

[blueikeproductions]

I’m curious about that too.

Currently Hot Rod is camped out in Void Rivals.

The latest revelations depicts Darak and Solila’s species as being related to Transformers, and that Hot Rod and Springer are looking into an old Autobot legend connected to the organic cyborg’s home planet the Sacred Ring. The artificial planet and its people are connected to a mysterious Transformer called Zerta Trion, a robot so controversial among Quintessons, she’s considered “The Unspoken One”.

Zerta Trion is attempting to bring her own children together, not unlike Primus needing the Autobots and Decepticons to cooperate against Unicron, with Solila as the one to help do it in particular. However unity among the Sacred Ring is considered taboo, its two leaders creativity division to prevent it, fearing the destruction of their people.

What that entails exactly is unclear atm, but when Darak and Solila did briefly connect, this happened.

A giant robot slumbering in the Sacred Ring’s black hole briefly awoke. It’s confirmed not to be Unicron, although to be honest, I would think the lack of a planet mode and trademark horns would be the tip off it’s not… Presumably this is Goliant, the aliens’ word for the end should unity happen. My current guess is Goliant may be Zerta Trion herself, or at least something related to her also.

The current arc also refers to a Vector Theta, though as of typing we don’t know what that is yet. Similar to Zerta Trion’s connection to Alpha Trion, clearly Vector Theta is related to Vector Sigma, the life giving super computer from the original cartoon. Besides Alpha Trion giving up his life to merge with Sigma to create the Aerialbots, Optimus would have a connection to it as well in the cartoon and other media, with Japanese media seeing him merge with it as well to stop a catastrophic meltdown that would destroy Cybertron, once again trusting Rodimus Prime to be his successor.

So how does this connect to Hot Rod?

My current assumption is a splitting of the difference, similar to Superlink and Animated. Rodimus will appear alongside Optimus but there’s a catch to it.

You can’t really pass on the Matrix atm due to the connection is has with Sparkplug and Optimus. Sparkplug’s sacrifice and his own wisdom passed on to the Matrix to guide Optimus while he’s on Earth doesn’t really jive if Hot Rod gets it at this stage.

So instead I think he becomes Rodimus at some point in Void Rivals.

But it’s tricky.

The current Hasbro story is Alpha Trion is one of the legendary Primes, but Skybound has been a bit dodgy about using Quintus and co, instead sticking to a version based more on the 80’s cartoon history with the Quintessons as the creators.

The Trion moniker in Skybound has only been bestowed to two Transformers, Zerta and Alpha, with Trion referring to someone with great wisdom. It’s unclear if Alpha Trion and Zerta Trion are Primes here, though because The Fallen was referenced, it’s possible Alpha is, but because of Hasbro’s continued waffling on Primes, Zerta will either be the 13th Prime and/or Alpha Trion’s ambitious (non-Prime) twin sister.

My point being is Hot Rod gets inducted into the fold, meeting up with Springer and Darak, and shenanigans ensue that sees Hot Rod evolve into Rodimus Trion to help Darak and Solila lead a new age or some such.

This isn’t new territory for Hot Rod either.

ReGen One would see Hot Rod unify the Transformers with their demonoid ancestors.

And on his final days, after all the original Transformers died out, Rodimus Prime’s Matrix energy would see the Demons evolve into the Maximals and Predacons.

In Japanese media, Rodimus Prime would embark on a journey to find a new home planet for the Transformers, after Scorponok rendered Cybertron uninhabitable for the time being. A manga would further depict a now Micromaster Hot Rod founding Planet Micro alongside other early Micromasters.

In Superlink, Rodimus would found a breakaway faction of war weary Autobots and Decepticons that escaped the Great War during the Armada era to found colony worlds so these Transformers could live in peace. This also saw the evolution of the Omnicon species from these refugees.

So Skybound Hot Rod helping the Zertonians and Agorrians and become Rodimus Trion/Theta/Goliant doesn’t feel like a stretch to me. Coupled with DWJ liking both Hot Rod and Cobra-La, I think he’s in safe hands so far. At least I hope he doesn’t become a depressed drunk or be stuck in a coma.

[melishade]

Attack on Prime Chapter 90: The Big Twist

Spoilers ahead if you haven't read the chapter. I recommend that you do if you haven't.

So.....

let’s talk about Primus. Eh?

So looking back on the Transformers franchise as a whole, Primus himself isn't really capitalized on. In a few of the shows, he’s only name-dropped or doesn’t even exist like TFA. In shows like TFP and the book the Covenant of Primus, he is alluded to and even given a brief backstory of his and Unicron’s origins before shifting gears to the Primes and their dynamics, but never makes an on screen appearance. He’s shown as the core and that’s it. We don’t know what he looks like in the Aligned Continuity. I think there is a toy out for him, but it was never said to be official. The only Transformers content that really explores on Primus is the IDW comics. Where Primus has aligned himself with three other transformer deities, but one of them got really angry with him for some reason and as punishment, got rid of his god powers, made everyone forget ever knowing him after he so much as left the room. (Look my info on IDW is spotty. I never got the chance to read the comics in full. Although god being a therapist is hilarious).

Besides IDW, there aren’t many interpretations or characterizations of Primus, which is a damn shame, considering we’ve always seen Unicron in almost all Transformers iterations. So it was something that I’ve always wanted to take a crack at: putting my own spin on the creator of the Transformers. I wanted to bring him into Attack on Prime, but before the AOT story was completed, I had no clue how to bring Primus into the story without it sounding so contrived and out of nowhere. I couldn’t have him pop out in the sky, tell everyone to stop fighting, and then have him leave, confusing everyone. It wouldn’t have made sense. In fact, I was all but ready to scrap the idea for AOP…until the Paths chapters dropped in the AOT manga, and I realized:

And I immediately got to work on how to incorporate Primus into the story while also making it make sense. Which took a while. I’ve worked on multiple rewrites of Primus’ character and his interactions with Eren and Zeke before creating the final draft for the chapter. I started my brainstorming of my characterization of Primus in late 2019 with the document titled RELGN 132 (which was the title of a religion course I took at UCLA, so fairly on the nose). So yeah, I’ve been working on it for 4+ years.

But first let’s talk about the multiple lead up I’ve had up until this point, because again, I’m meticulous with my foreshadowing. Chapter of foreshadowing include:

Chapter 45 Chapter 69 Chapter 70 Chapter 72 Chapter 77 Chapter 81 Chapter 82 Chapter 86

(And a bunch of other additional chapter do have foreshadowing and there is a small inkling of Primus' presence, and I might explain that later, but I want to see if people can piece it together by re-reading the chapter. If not, then I'll probably just say it outright, IDK.)

But, some moments might’ve been noticeable, some not so much. I knew that I didn’t want Primus’ introduction in the Paths to feel out of nowhere. Eren and Zeke are talking and suddenly this guy just pops out of nowhere. I needed him to be alluded to, which is where the 4th notebook and Pieck come in, oh and also Unicron. Well, at least Unicron's powerset.

In the Covenant of Primus, Primus and Unicron are said to come from the same being: The One, who split apart due to its own internal conflict regarding the state of the universe. If Primus and Unicron come from the same being, they must have the same abilities. Or similar abilities at least. One of the abilities should include: using their blood to communicate with others who carry their blood. Dark energon flows through Unicron while energon flows through Primus. Through energon, all Cybertronians are connected and return to the place they spawned from after their death, regardless of how good or bad their intentions were. If this concept can apply to Cybertronian, surely it could apply to titan shifters, who’s powers even defy death itself on some level. Once all the titan shifters, or at least the Founder, had access to energon, Primus had access to them, and would have found a way to enter the Paths, either through his own power or Vector’s help, since the Paths operate outside of space time. (Primus himself will provide a brief explanation in the Paths II. And the In Between OVA that I keep bringing up, is simply AOP from Primus' perspective. God I am so happy I can say that now!)

But because the Paths operate outside of space and time and the fact that the full powers of the Founder hadn't been utilized on the flow of time, Primus lacked the tools he needs to figure out what the hell was going on or even eliminate the power of the titans. He is flung through the memories and lives of each titan shifter; however, some memories are blocked from him and he doesn’t know why. And because of Primus lack of control, he can’t properly interact with the world around him. He can only interact with other titan shifters as a distorted image. A shadow. He can’t give so much information to Kruger and Pieck. He can only provide images, hidden clues because of the barrier between them. And Primus wants to learn about the truth of the AOT world, so he sees through their eyes and listens to their stories. Even when Kruger and Pieck interact with Primus and even touch him, they are met with a warm, gentle, touch of comfort. Something to show that he is other worldly. In addition to that, the allusion to the overlap of voices, how Primus knows about even that happened thousands of years into the past, his glowing blue eyes, how he forces Kruger to feel the pain and suffering of the people he turned into titans, how Primus had called Megatron and Arcee by name before asking Pieck to believe in Optimus, proclaiming he would be the one to end the power of the titans. The longer Primus is on screen as the shadow, the more ‘in your face’ the information becomes. If you haven’t pieced together the shadow is Primus, then at the very least, you know that the shadow is Cybertronian.

Other pieces of information that are not so subtle, is actually the local therapist Rung in the Cybertron OVA. If you know your transformers lore, then you should know that Rung is Primus. That was one of the obvious bits of information that I was incorporating here. Some of the interactions that Rung has includes him not batting an eye when Starscream lashes out at him and catches the energon cube with such ease that he completely forgets to react the way a normal person would. The scene that Rung had alone where he looks at the Jackhammer in a remorse manner, almost as if he knows what’s going to happen but can’t do anything about it. Finally, when Rung places a comforting hand on Arcee, Arcee notes that the hand feels warm and comforting, and she feels a swell of emotions. Ya know, like every other interaction he’s had with humans on screen. Not to mention that Rung recommended that Arcee leave the planet on purpose because of prior knowledge of the AOT world because I’ve hinted at the fact that Primus in the story right now is from a time where the events of AOT haven’t happened yet. Right before he sends Optimus (Of course, this will be explain more cohesively within the In between OVA, which is going to focus on Primus and what’s he’s been doing throughout the AOP story).

More subtle bits of information when foreshadowing Primus’ role in the story is the drawing of Optimus Prime’s holoform, or rather Primus, from the 4th notebook. The drawing is led to believe and cement the fact that the Attack Titan can see into the future. Which is true, Primus’ appearance in the story is a future event, however, I have to make a note that what they are looking at is not Optimus. It’s Primus wearing Optimus’ face. So I had to have someone who would take notice of the way that Primus is wearing Optimus’ face. Erwin had to be the observation because he’s the only human that has been known to notice those subtle details and connections. He of course brought this up with Megatron and Megatron does notice the difference. But the drawing is not Megatron’s concern, assuming that someone trying to interpret someone from memory is going to get a few details wrong. Also, they have other priorities to take care of besides a drawing from the past. Megatron and ultimately Erwin let it go, but I’m letting the audience know, something is clearly up. Adding on top of that, Kruger has never met Optimus, but he had seen the shadow’s face before dying. That should be another indicator that it’s not Optimus. It’s the shadow. It’s Primus.

Finally, the more subtle indication of Primus’ presence in the story is the conversation that Eren and Kenshin had about the existence of gods in general. While Kenshin believes that god exists, Eren does not. He critiques god and believe god to be hypocritical while Kenshin believes that god cares and wants the creation to live freely. It’s supposed to be an engaging conversation while also hinting at the fact that Eren’s definitely going to talk to a deity with his mentality and future visions and get the crap kicked out of him.

I’m certain that I missed something but what I’ve wanted to say but the foreshadowing of Primus is there, and I wanted it to be clear. However, Primus’ characterization is something I wanted to discuss for a long time too. Again, we don’t know much about Primus’ character besides Rung, and I didn’t want him to be a stoic deity. That’s boring. I wanted to have some fun. I wanted Primus to be the complete opposite of Unicron. While Unicron is haughty and prideful, Primus is kind and humble. While Unicron loathes the idea of existence and wants death and destruction, Primus believes in life and creation. Unicron believes that everything is beneath him while Primus sees the value of even the smallest living thing. Unicron believes in working alone, and that he is the most powerful being. No one else should have his power. Primus believes in cooperation, unity, and sharing his power. Unicron wants to destroy the universe, Primus wants to be a part of it.

With that in mind, I was able to write a characterization of Primus: a gentle, kind being that cares deeply for the lives of others that may or may not even be his own. Someone who gets excited at the prospect of learning new things about new beings, someone who mourns the loss of life, and someone who gets angry at the prospect of someone wanting to take that life away. Someone who genuinely tries to understand the individual and their experiences in order to truly understand the meaning of life.

However, there is a fatal flaw to Primus. People I've talked with in the transformers fandom, myself included, have criticized Primus for his own inaction during the war. He gave the Matrix to Optimus, sure, but he did nothing to stop the War in its tracks or even stop the caste system from taking place. Why didn’t he help out Megatron and his people? Why didn’t he stop Megatron when he had gone insane? Why did he make Optimus shoulder all his responsibilities twice? Why does Primus not step in when there are life-threatening events that could destroy the universe? The very thing he values and wants to be part of? It’s very simple: Primus is an immortal deity, with powers to see beyond the veil of time and defy reality if he wanted to but chooses not to based on the safety of the whole universe and every living creature. A personal theory I've come up with is the Unicron prophecy in TFP. Unicron was set to reawaken on Earth, but Cybertron doesn’t know about Earth until the war happens. Sure, if the war didn’t happen, the caste system could have been fixed and Cybertron could have been a better place to live, but Unicron would have awakened with no one to stop him and would have destroyed the whole universe, Cybertron included. It’s an example of Primus trying to see the bigger picture and that’s where his flaw lies. When seeing the bigger picture, he ignores the sufferings of mortals who lead very limited lives compared to him. Primus has all the time in the universe to figure everything out, but not Cybertron, and not everyone else. His purpose even if Cybertron is destroyed is to battle Unicron once more. It’s an endless cycle. But Primus ends up missing the point that he wants to understand. There’s a quote from Steven Universe’s character Sapphire that encapsulates this perfectly:

“I keep looking into the future when all of this has already been solved, as if it doesn’t matter how you feel in the present. No wonder you think I don’t care.”

The meaning of life to a mortal is vastly different to that of an immortal. As a result, Primus will never fully understand them and can’t be part of the universe like he wants to. He cannot live and die like they can. But even so, he still tries to, and that’s what makes him all the more understanding. This is what I want to encapsulate for my characterization of Primus in AOP. Now he has to confront two titan shifters with their own flaws and failings: one that wishes to die, and one that wishes to destroy. And he is not happy with either of them trying to play god out of selfishness.

(There's other things that I want to discuss, like Primus' design and other actions within the story, but I think I'll take care of that tomorrow. Still if you haven't, please leave a comment. That would be greatly appreciated. And I encourage you to read back through AOP to find those clues of Primus' presence.

Not to mention, chapter 45 isn't Primus' first appearance.)

[gelu-the-babosa-multiversal]

Sari Sumdac (possessed by Unicron): My, my. We’ve been causing quite a scene, haven’t we?

Optimus: What have you done to her?! She’s-

Sari Sumdac (possessed by Unicron): Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

Sari Sumdac (possessed by Unicron): Poor Sari… She thinks she needs human friends, in order to be happy. As for me, I’m certain I don’t need humanity. After all, I have the strongest and brightest light. *gets wistful* But they’re all a part of me; the parts I always have to repress…

Raf: …What?!

Miko: *whispering* Dude, what is he even talking about? This is nonsense!

Sari Sumdac (possessed by Unicron): Oh! Hello there! Your new friends are so funny, Optimus Prime. Is that what they’re supposed to be? Funny?

(Sari Sumdac blinks her eyes and fires a purple energy beam at Raf and Miko from her eyes.)

Miko: Hey, Lord Dirtwad! *panting* That all you got?!

Raf: …Huh? Miko, look!

(Raf and Miko notice their forms beginning to lose their colors.)

Optimus: Oh no…

(Raf and Miko collapse to the ground after they lose all their colors.)

Jack: Leave them alone!

(Sari Sumdac continues blasting her mind beams at the group, felling Jack next.)

Cody: Stop!

(To no avail, Cody is swiftly converted as well.)

Sari Sumdac (possessed by Unicron): It’s a pity, the way you bring out the worst in others. See how you’ve encouraged their deficiencies? It’s written all over their minds: insecure, dependent, obsessed…

Bumblebee: Oh, no, no. G-Guys! Come on, snap out of it!

Sari Sumdac (possessed by Unicron): *bitterly* Please stop helping them. You’ll only make things worse; that’s what you Autobots do. I make things better. Here…!

(Sari Sumdac snaps her fingers and Raf opens his eyes, turning and smiling unnaturally at Bumblebee.)

Raf (possessed by Unicron): Oh, thank you, Dark Lord, I feel excellent now.

Miko (possessed by Unicron): Oh, thank you. How generous of you.

Jack (possessed by Unicron): Thank you, Dark Lord. We feel so much better now.

Cody (possessed by Unicron): I feel excellent.

Sari Sumdac (possessed by Unicron): There we are! I’ve removed their flaws! Now there is nothing to hinder my strong light from sparking through them. I’d rather not spread my uninhibited self so thin, you know, but you’ve made it absolutely necessary. Now, the impurities you’ve encouraged in them are gone. Now, they are brilliant! Now, they are perfect! Now… they are me!

Bumblebee: You’re wrong!

Optimus: The humans don’t need to be fixed! They’re fine the way they are, flaws and all…

Sari Sumdac (possessed by Unicron): There you go again. Do you understand why you defend their flaws? I know why, Optimus. You like surrounding yourself with an inferior species.

Optimus: What?!

Sari Sumdac (possessed by Unicron): *smugly* You enable their terrible behaviors, so you can be the best of the worst.

Optimus: That’s not true!

😈 

[bulbabutt]

My point was that the later stuff came from a less restrained writers room while the writers in the 80s were held at gunpoint by business men saying "you need to sell this, this, this, and this, make up lore in 15 minutes for a whole cartoon"

I thought you were in favor of artistic decisions being made freely instead of the suits deciding things? for the record the bay movies didn't make that stuff, either, so that criticism's baseless

ironically, you couldn't get away with Christian stuff in the 80s because implying Robot Jesus stuff would have gotten people mad at you, despite it being more conservative back then

You’re literally missing what bothers me about this era entirely. It’s not that the lore is different, it’s not the lore specifically, I genuinely don’t care about that, animated has different lore, beast wars lore also has a biblical nature, a character literally dies for humanity like Jesus himself. That all works there because it comes from a sense of love of life. What I don’t like is the sense of tone to this lore of the biblical nature. It's steeped in 'how else do you write lore but base it on christian themes'. It comes from a very patriarchal world view. That we are in a biblical war because these two warring factions must be at war, their chosen gods were at war. It's frustrating, to see that everything else needs to use that as the lore now. Think about how Superman is a Jesus allegory in the DCEU. Why is that? Because often these men only have one source of lore they think about.

I'm bringing up the bayverse movies because they brought a sense of cynicism, hyper masculinity, and edgy bullshit to the franchise, and specifically all franchises as a whole. The first movie came out in 2007, before the mcu's iron man. The resulting pro military, pro alpha male power fantasy, pro “throw a guy in there from the comic, the nerds will pay to see him no matter how accurate he is” cameos shit that every blockbuster movie has become starts right here. Those movies are bad for a myriad of reasons, but worse for what they do to media as a whole, we're only just recovering from it recently. That first movie (written by the prime creators) opens with this line:

"Before time began, there was the Cube. We know not where it comes from, only that it holds the power to create worlds and fill them… with life. That is how our race was born. For a time, we lived in harmony. But like all great power, some wanted it for good, others for evil."

This is why I am saying the entire problem starts here. It is lazy and narrow world building to base this infinite war on a creationist religion, of strict good and evil. It's extremely post 9/11, extremely mid 2000s. The vibes are bad. I would rather the media have started to say something else, to imply that evil doesn't come from factions. It did in animated, where the lore implies that the autobots are war criminals, and perhaps the decepticons as a whole arent actually the in lore bad guys. There's a sense that if we continued the story, we'd start finding the real cause of the problem (without needing to pull out unicron for once) What went wrong other than trying to make things in line with movie lore/tone/vibes? Most fucking franchises suffer the same problem, so obviously Transformers does too.

I'm not ever saying the 80s cartoon is perfect. The show has dud episodes. The show has racial caricatures, a lack of women, a lack of cohesion. I literally watched it. In one episode Megatron creates new transformers on earth. In another, you need Vector Sigma to create all life. It's very obvious they're introducing characters to sell them, why else would they throw 40 at you in episode one?

But characters in the 80s cartoons laughed together, had a sense of emotional intimacy that disappeared in the mid 2000s (I noticed this watching TMNT as well) I'm saying it’s softer. The characters are gentler, and laugh and hug, share their feelings and hopes. Optimus Prime chuckles often. He no longer does that. Even though it's still Peter Cullen (because nostalgia) he isn't the same Prime. Now he's 'the 13th Prime' or whatever the hell. Now he's on a mission from god.

To share a scene in particular that shocked me for its genuine soft character interaction between friends, something that would never have existed in the late 2000s for obvious 'no-homo' reasons:

I'm watching this media chronologically. I'm reliving 40 years of how we portray characters and relationships and the hardship of war. I grew up in the mid 2000s. I know what happened. I'm seeing it reflected back at me here, and I'm telling you right now I don't like it. I'm exhausted by it. I'm frustrated that this narrow world view is all I get to see now. I wish the lore would have done something more interesting than this. I'm struggling to word that often, but don't come in my ask box saying I don't actually know what I'm talking about just because YOU don't know what I'm talking about. If you don't like how I'M experiencing the media, go form your own fucking thoughts about it.

[primevein]

The Prime of His Youth: Book II: Quest for Fire: Ch12: Destiny

Cybertron was much different than Jack had thought it was. Yes, the major colour was grey, but a lot more varied than he expected. It seemed almost like a wilderness, at least without trees. The cities they passed were in the process of being rebuilt. They still had a long way to go, but they were still cities. Or maybe towns, given the number of buildings. Some, like Sirenia's on Caminus, looked like large stores but were in fact bachelor apartments.

"Does anyone else find this dreary?" Roxana asked, and a palpable silence followed.

"Cybertron is pretty bleak." Bulkhead uttered.

"I did not want to say anything." Windblade stated, "But I remembered it being better than it seems."

"This is Cybertron!" Arcee exclaimed. "This isn't how I wanted you to see it, Jack." she said to him.

"Hey." Jack joked, "I did bring you to Jasper."

"Jasper's not as bad as it seems." Arcee simply replied.

"You get sand everywhere." Bulkhead stated.

"You're not saying you're afraid of getting dirty, Bulk?" Miko said to him.

"There's a difference between dirt and sand." Bulkhead replied. "Sand is just... ehgh."

"They why didn't you ever say anything?" Miko asked.

"Because Jasper is full of sand." Bulkhead added, "And I enjoyed spending time with you."

"You guys actually got to see things." Smokescreen stated, "I got knocked out by Big A., until I found myself in that forest blasting 'Cons."

"I thought it was your destiny?" Arcee chided.

"I'm not complaining about being under Alpha Trion. He was like a father to me. I learned so much from him. And then, to wake up on Earth, during the last phase of the Great War, under OPTIMUS PRIME! If it's not destiny, then what is it?"

"I thought you got over this?" Arcee asked.

"Until Ultra Magnus pulled me into the Elite Guard, and I'm in charge of training everyone." Smokescreen replied. "And why don't I get my own Human?"

"It's not like?.." Arcee tried to dismiss.

"I'm a people person. I'd love to have a partner I can always talk with. You three are always with your Human partners, what about me?"

"What about Fowler?" Bulkhead asked.

"Ha - ha." Smokescreen stated. "Really, Fowler, that the best you got?"

"What about June?" Bulkhead asked.

"My mother!" Jack exclaimed.

"Tell me, Jack," Arcee chided, "why do you get to spend all your time with me, but June has to stay at home?"

"I honestly don't know what to say." Jack voiced.

"June is too sweet." Arcelia stated.

"She's also a helicopter mom." Miko replied.

"Because you were 14 and trying to join Cybertronian battles." Jack replied.

"And if I didn't, they would have lost!" Miko replied.

"I HATE that this makes sense." Jack grumbled.

"You've always been a stick-in-the-mud, Jack." Miko said to him.

"That's why I married him." Arcee firmly stated.

"Some stick in the mud." Bulkhead replied, "We're going to the Undergrid to find the source of the Primes."

"The what?" Jack asked.

"The Undergrid?" Bulkhead replied, "I could have sworn you said you went there?"

"What, underground?" Jack asked. "Wasn't it just buried?"

"This isn't Earth, Jack!" Bulkhead soundly stated, "We don't have whatever it is Earth has under the ground."

"Unicron?" Miko asked.

"Above that." Bulkhead stated.

"Lava." Sirenia said.

"Magma." Arcelia corrected.

"Yeah, that." Bulkhead stated, "Cybertron's got layers. Haven't you wondered why it's so much bigger than Earth, but has the same gravity?"

"Now that you mention it, yes." Jack replied. "That said, there's a lot of questions I have about Cybertron. I mean, there's no sun, no water, it kind of defies everything we know about life."

"Because we're not like that." Bulkhead stated.

"I know that much." Jack said, and paused.

"You've notice how vulnerable they are." Arcee said, and Bulkhead didn't reply, "How hard is it for us to understand what they need to survive."

"That actually makes sense." Bulkhead stated. "I guess for you, you wouldn't understand how much can live under the surface."

"How much?" Jack asked.

"Everything we kicked off the surface." Arcee stated.

"Like what?" Miko asked.

"Insecticons, for one." Arcee replied.

"Aren't they with Airachnid?" Miko asked.

"That's just one group, Miko." Arcee said to her. "One group of one type."

"There are more types?" Miko asked.

"Most Insecticons move in swarms, and each swarm only has one elder."

"Like Hardshell?" Miko asked.

"He was the leader of the elders." Arcee replied.

"Wait, they were all elders?" Miko asked, "But you said?.."

"Megatron." Bulkhead stated.

"He can do that?" Miko asked.

"Apparently." Bulkhead replied.

"What else do they have?" Jack asked.

"There are very little records." Arcelia stated.

"Just legends." Sirenia stated, "Which I'm not the expert on."

"I was focusing on reports." Arcelia stated, "Which were extremely scarce, even before the war."

"So, we know basically nothing." Jack uttered. "Oh, well, good thing I brought a small army with me."

"Say the word and it can be a full-sized army." Smokescreen stated.

"Wait, what?" Jack asked.

"He wants to bring in the Elite Guard." Bulkhead stated.

"They've been trained," Smokescreen replied, "but haven't had a chance to see real battle."

"If you gave me more time," Bulkhead uttered, "I could get the old team back together. At least those of us who are still alive."

"I would be great to see Jackie again!" Miko shouted.

"Oh, I know." Bulkhead uttered.

"For our captain, every Battle Sister on Caminus would fight." Windblade stated.

"What's so special about Jack?" Bulkhead asked.

"Everyone here but Destiny's Child knows the answer." Arcee stated, "And I don't trust him to keep his mouth shut."

"What?" Smokescreen asked, feigned offence, "Me?"

"Not everything is about you." Arcee stated.

"Alright?" Smokescreen offerered, "How about this? I tell you guys my secret, and you don't let me stay the one bot here who doesn't know Jack's?"

"That does sound like a fair trade." Windblade stated, from atop Bulkhead roof.

"You promise to keep your mouth shut?" Arcee asked.

"At least until I publish my reports on this question." Arcelia stated.

"Yeah, sure." Smokescreen quickly said, and then with more focus and seriousness, "Yes."

"Alright, go ahead. Tell us what destiny had in store for you." Arcee replied

"Well, we all remember it." Smokescreen stated, "The base was destroyed. I was the last one out, but I couldn't do it. I disobeyed orders. I turned back around, turned on the Phase Shifter, and missed the bulk of the blast. The base was leveled. And that wasn't the only order I disobeyed." He paused, as silence reigned, everyone with rapt attention. "I pulled Optimus out of the base and into a cave, and he was just broken. He could barely move. He was in stasis, and when he awoke, he could barely open his eyes. I had to get within a few metres of his face for him to recognize me. This time, I had gone back to find what I could, and what I could was the Forge. The Forge could only be used by a Prime. Well, lucky for me I had one. I brought the Forge back to Optimus Prime. I went to put it in his hands, and... he stopped me."

"Why did he stop you?!" Arcee asked, and then calmed herself down.

"I got to know." Bulkhead stated.

"There was only charge left." Smokescreen stated.

"How did you know?" Arcelia asked, a moment before Sirenia could.

"It's what Optimus told me." Smokescreen, "Even if he wasn't Optimus, he was still the only one that could use it, so I had to believe him." He paused, a pregnant silence followed until Arcee found the strength to speak up.

"He wanted to use it on the Omega Lock." Arcee stated.

"Bingo." Smokescreen stated.

"Wasn't there a big, important, Matrix something?" Miko asked.

Smokescreen paused before he could speak, "The Matrix of Leadership." he stated, and paused a moment, "That will light our darkest hour. Do you know what happens to a Prime when his lights are about to go out?" he asked, and a pregnant silence followed.

"TELL US!" Arcee screamed over the coms.

"His chest plate opens up, and for Primes, it's just there. His inner chest opens, and the Matrix of Leadership is there. To be grabbed, and carried, until it finds someone worthy." The silence was tangible, palpable, as he found his words, as he found the power to say it. "It seemed like he was talking to Alpha Trion."

"For anyone who wasn't there," Bulkhead stated, "That was something he seemed to do once he got the Starsaber."

"The records say they were messages sent forward in time." Arcelia stated, "They could only be sent one way."

"They seemed to come when he needed them." Bulkhead added.

"What did he say?!" Arcee shouted, and Jack gently pet her gas tank. "Sorry..." she grumbled.

"That someone worthy was there." Smokescreen uttered.

"On Terra?" Windblade asked.

"In the cavern." Smokescreen stated.

"And who else was in the cavern." Windblade continued, and a pause occured.

"Noooo." Arcee stated.

"That's what I said." Smokescreen replied. "In the end, I couldn't do it."

"Wasn't it everything you always wanted?" Arcee asked.

"You could say that, but not like... especially not when we had the power to save him."

"And doom Cybertron." Arcee added.

"Well, it all worked out." Bulkhead stated.

"So, I could have been a Prime." Smokescreen simply stated.

"Do you regret it?" Roxana asked.

"Maybe for a bit." Smokescreen stated, "Until we learned we could still save Cybertron."

"That's it?" Arcee asked, "That's the part you regret?"

"Not being a Prime?" Miko asked.

"You know?" Smokescreen asked, "I've been blessed. I went from Alpha Trion to Optimus Prime. And now I'm a Sergeant in the Elite Guard. Do you honestly think there's anything more I want in life?"

"Better scenery?" Roxana asked.

"Well, that." Smokescreen said, and he let the conversation die. It wasn't until a few minutes later that he brought it back, "Alright, that's my story."

"Tsk." Arcee stated.

"I can tell it if you want?" Bulkhead asked.

"Oh, thank Primus." Arcee replied.

"I'll give you the short version, as you already kind of know."

"Shoot?" Smokescreen asked.

"Alright?" Bulkhead asked, "So, you know about Unicron. Inside Earth, right?"

"That's freaky, I know." Smokescreen stated.

"No, you don't." Arcee stated.

"Optimus used the Matrix of Leadership, and it left him..."

"Orion Pax." Arcee stated.

"How he was prior to receiving the Matrix of Leadership."

"So, what?" Smokescreen asked, "It needed to be recharged."

"Pretty much, but not that simple." Arcee stated.

"Ever heard of Vector Sigma?" Bulkhead asked.

"Vaguely." Smokescreen stated, "Alpha Trion talked about, I know it was related to the Primes."

"That was how we recharged it." Arcee stated.

"So, you brought Optimus there?" Smokescreen asked.

"I was tapping a key on the railing." Jack stated.

"What kind of key?" Smokescreen asked.

"The key to the Ground Bridge power supply." Jack stated.

"I didn't know that the Ground Bridge power supply had a key."

"It doesn't." Arcee ominously stated.

"Then what was it?" Smokescreen asked, until the thought hit him, "No? No?!"

"Maybe you should have thought about it before running your mouth." Arcee pridefully said to him.

"Oh, man." Smokescreen stated, "I thought I had the blow away story."

"Welcome to the club." Jack said to him.

[artsy-hobbitses]

I know tarantulas has always been everyone favorite psychotic unicron/ predicon spy and scientist. But I actually, liked how they handled him in idw. I mean I always liked his bad guy character but his whole deal with springer was both shocking and heartbreaking. Please tell me we will get that same vibe in this au.

I’m not gonna lie, I don’t actually have much interest in him as a character because my first exposure to him was through Beast Wars, and that’s what I tend to envision when I hear his name crop up 😂

He’s interesting! I like how he fits in the original narrative and he brings with him some excellent concepts as a villain ! I’ll give him that! I just have like, zero attachment to the dude so y’know, I do intend for him to be included in the story, but just don’t expect the same level of detail/emotional attachment I clearly have for other characters who have been done up so far.

I don’t really intend for him to have a particularly deep relationship with Springer, mainly due to how this entire thing would be viewed from a human lense; Springer is made in a lab, which is already dicey, and Springer is enhanced with several strengths and goes through deliberately accelerated growth to reach maturity as quick as possible, and this is basically someone wanting a product to hit the shelves as fast as possible with as little of a ‘programming’ period as needed.

Springer is very much still Tarantulas’ pride, his greatest work, but it’s murky in the sense that he loves the achievement, not so much the child that holds it.

Prowl has a much better relationship to Springer in this AU because Prowl comes from the same background as Springer (lab-born for a purpose) and as such, understands Springer’s issues with self-identity and has the desire to help Springer not be like he was for a very long time.

Prowl and Tarantulas do end up arguing over Springer at some point (Tarantulas is Big Mad that Prowl took away his prized achievement, Prowl is Big Mad that Tarantulas used him as a template to make Springer without his knowledge/consent and refuses to allow Tarantulas to run tests on the boy) and it doesn’t end well for Prowl.

[mk-wizard]

Optimus Prime is always the hero...?

Hello, fans. If you recall, a while ago, I brought up that in the IDW comics, Megatron tried to stay on the straight and narrow, and actually succeeded at it. So much so that even burying the hatchet with Optimus was on the table. In short, we have seen in the comics and in War for Cybertron that Megatron has what it takes to be a good guy because he is complex and not black or white.

In the midst of that, I got asked by a random person a while ago in a passing comment that I feel I still need to answer because it was just that interesting and worth giving thought. I warn you that this question may seem controversial and the type of thing that you would only expect to happen in wish fulfilment fanfiction, alternate universe or the Shattered Glass series, but trust me when I say it does merit thought because Transformers has become a very vast universe over the years and the characters have become very complicated. If it is possible for Megatron to go good, then is it possible for Optimus Prime to go bad?

I admit that if you asked me this question five years ago, I would have flatly told you “no” and kept it at that, but after writing an adaptation of Jekyll and Hyde my way that delves into the complexities of morality and how it affects our actions for better or for worse, it got me seriously thinking how it could possibly play out. After giving it some thought, I have come to the conclusion that it is not only possible for Optimus Prime to be an antagonist in a story, but a very compelling one.

To understand this, you need to be aware that an antagonist is not necessarily a villain or malicious. In fact, some of the most iconic and possibly destructive antagonists meant well, but did terrible damage either because their vision became an obsession that blinded them or because they had unresolved issues that caught up with them. In the case of Optimus, as good as gold as he is, it would be a bit of both. In both Prime and War for Cybertron, we see a very serious flaw in him that is too great to be ignored. Optimus is both incredibly stubborn and very set in his beliefs which can has proven to be both a disadvantage and a danger to those around him. He has a lot of trouble accepting facts if they conflict with his ideals or morals of how he believes things should be. It is a flaw that Wonder Woman also struggled with except unlike her, he is not as flexible when it comes to accepting that he is wrong. Optimus is so stubborn to the point where he will burn himself with up to ten packs before finally accepting even only the possibility that maybe he should stop playing with matches. This also reveals that Optimus has an egotistical side and while it is one that is with good intent in that he wants everyone to be happy and safe, but he is not willing to admit his vision just doesn’t work and in fact, hurts people. 

For example, he believes Cybertron and its solar system would be a happier and more peaceful place if all Transformers were Autobots which I think everyone can agree with me when I say that this vision is not realistic nor true. Being an Autobot will not automatically make you a safer person to be around and swearing allegiance to the Prime doesn’t mean you will actually live by your oath. Also, for a lot of bots, the Autobot lifestyle was the source of a lot of pain and hardships such as for the slaves, gladiators or poor. To them, switching to another faction was their salvation. You cannot expect to go back to being Autobots when another lifestyle was how they got out of the hole. Another thing to consider is that some Transformers are law abiding and good, but just don’t want to be Autobots because honestly, why should you stop being who you are in order to prove you’re a law abiding citizen? Imagine going to a new place, having a clean record and wanting only a quiet life, but you’re denied entry simply because you refuse to renounce the faction you were born, raised and created an identity behind. This is essentially what Optimus did to the youngling Wedge who was initially a Deceptcon and while Wedge was too young to realize it then so he did without seeing the gravity of what he was asked to do, but imagine what is going to sink into his head when he realizes what he’s done. 

Then you’ve got Transformers like Junkions, Maximals, Predacons, Insecticons (more recently), Pretenders and possibly more where being the faction they are is rooted into their CNA (Cybertronian DNA). They can ONLY be what they are and even they change a symbol, everyone will still see that these bots are not Autobots and will inevitably have an impact on society. Not to mention it is pretty darn cruel for the law to command someone to wear a mask or pretend to be something when their own biology screams that they are something else. The implications and oppression behind such a notion is just harrowing. Before I digress any further, the point is that Optimus’ spark is in the right place and on paper, it sounds like the ultimate Utopia where nobody feels the urge to conquer anyone because everyone thinks, looks, acts and believes the same, but... that is not the way the real world works. In the real world, evil is not an event you can just prevent. It exists everywhere even within the Autobot faction and being different is not just a basic right of all people it is nature and evidently, the will of Primus. This makes Optimus Prime famous quote “freedom is the right of all sentient beings” all the more ironic because deep down, his own view of the free world isn’t really free at all.

This brings us to the next point which also has a huge influence on Optimus that we have to consider and how it opens up the possibility can you could play an antagonist role in general. He is very traumatized by the war and this comes up subtly in Prime and in the Rescue Bots. Optimus uses the term “Decepticon” as another word for “evil” and he isn’t the only bot who has been through the war to do this. It is a realistic type of trauma that even the noblest of heroes will exhibit and just the fact that he would not even welcome a child like Wedge into a loving home unless he converted to Autobot is telling at how extensive this trauma is. This means that Optimus has a stigma towards Decepticons that is so severe that affects his judgement and even his actions. Chances are, it has also affected the way he sees factions and Decepticons. I highly doubt he would be willing to be friends with one even if they were harmless which is something that does get explored in the IDW comics a little. It is also only a matter of time before he starts having other episodes, PTSD and other things that will set off his paranoia further. This has nothing to do with him being good or bad. Optimus is a good person, but he isn’t perfect and war changes a person.

As the evidence and character development suggests, I think Optimus can make a very good antagonist for the right story and maybe, just maybe, there should be a series where is. Keep in mind, I say antagonist not bad guy. Optimus should never be painted as a bad guy not even when he makes bad decisions. He is not Unicron who has malicious intent and he isn’t Megatron who solves everything with hostility. Optimus Prime is a guy who has been scarred emotionally and physically, and doesn’t want that to happen to others to the point where he will inevitably go too far at times. That is normal and actually, to be expected. However, unlike most TF antagonists, he would eventually listen to reason and want to make a compromise, but not without some conflict. After all, learning to adapt after the war and remake Cybertron is a battle within itself and it is only now that Optimus along with other bots have a chance to finally begin healing. That will take time and work.

Since Hasbro is doing a prequel series, it is possible that they will do an epilogue series that deals with this and I don’t think it is a bad thing to show kids that war leaves scars. Learning to stop reacting to every bit stress with hostility is a real struggle for veterans.

Anyway, all of this is just my opinion and I would like to know what yours is. Do you think Optimus Prime being an antagonist could be possible?

Thank you for reading and as always, stay safe.

[aqua-the-smiter]

Wind Guide You

Chapter 2 - The Runaway

Arcee was just out for a walk. That’s all.

Why couldn’t she ever catch a break?

Her peds crunched along the gravelly ground and her servos were clasped behind her back as she slowly trudged forward, going nowhere in particular, just out to clear her processor. The land was barren and surrounded by cliffs and ridges, and the sky was overcast, swathed in a blanket of grey clouds that took away most of the shadows. It was calm if a bit gloomy, and the wind whispered over the ground, occasionally flicking pebbles.

The two-wheeler guessed it was just one of those days where everything was dull and a bit slow. She could tell some of the other ‘bots felt it as well, and seeing as there were no present emergencies to tend to, she’d come out here. Partially for some peace, partially just because she wanted to be alone, and (though she’d never admit it out loud) she still felt a need deep in her spark to silently mourn Cliffjumper.  

Maybe it was silly. Maybe she should have gotten over it by now. She had, somewhat, but something in her still ached everything she thought of him. Thus, she took small chunks of her time every day to grieve, and it slowly minimized her pain by degrees, bit by bit. It helped.

What didn’t, however, was finding a Decepticon passed out among the stones.

“What in the  Pit? ” Arcee asked herself out loud, staring down at the dull silver chassis of Megatron’s right servo bot.

Starscream.

At first she thought he was dead. He was lying as still as the rocks he was surrounded by, but as she watched him, she noticed like bits of movement: a wing flicking, a digit scraping, a ped twitching. No, he was still among the living, unfortunately.

She stood frozen, staring at the motionless form of the seeker, the very ‘Con who had murdered the bot she was out here mourning. Her spark clenched in anger, and she let one of her servos turn into a blaster before backing up and lowering her arm, trying to calm herself. It would be stupid to just shoot him right off the bat.

  Think, Arcee.

Primus, she wanted to just shoot him in the faceplates and be done with it. He was the reason Cliff was gone, and he’d put them through so much grief besides that, both on Earth and off. Her spark seethed, even the small bit of pity she held for him not enough to quench her desire to pay him the same mercy he’d paid Cliff; that meant none at all.

She took a better look at him. He looked...ragged. Worn out, like he’d been flying solo for a while, the kind of wear that couldn’t be faked. Her optics widened when they landed on his chest plate. The Decepticon insignia was gone, and in its place were scratches. She thought hard. How long ago had their last battle with the ‘Cons been?

Somehow, by some miracle, Starscream had defected between the aftermath of then and now. What else could it be? Maybe a trap, but something like this wasn’t Megatron’s style. Sure, he could’ve been kicked out, but if he had been, most likely, if she even found him, he’d be a corpse. He decidedly was  not  that.

She sat next to his still chassis, thinking. What to do with a possibility renegade ‘con? Primus, her luck was shoddy.

She was oblivious to how long she’d been there, feeling the cold breeze over her chassis, listening to it howl between the empty places in the rocks. Starscream did nothing more than twitch.

  What to do, what to do?

It would be easiest to just terminate his aft right there, pull the thorn that was him out of their collective sides right away. Nearly all of her  wanted  to, and yet...that little drop of pity still yanked at the edge of her processor. She didn’t know exactly why, but something about the ‘Con just made her feel bad for him. Maybe it was the desperate way he vied for Megatron’s favor, maybe it was the fact he was always getting whacked in the ankles every time something was going right, or maybe it was just that he was excellent at making  that  particular sad face. There was something just...pathetic about him, and she granted him a bit of mercy for it.

  Wait…

Call Prime. Of course, the simplest solutions were often the best, and she berated herself for not having thought of it sooner. It should have been the first thing that sprung to mind.

Maybe she was still much angrier about Cliffjumper than she thought.

-Optimus, it’s Arcee.- she said over her comms.

-We were just starting to get worried about you.-  came the reply of his usual firm but kind tone.  -Where have you been for so long?-

-Like I said, just out for a walk. You’ll never believe who I found.- she baited, her voice unintentionally taking on the same excited tone as Miko’s whenever Wheeljack came around.

-Did you run into trouble? If you've found an energon mine, come back, don’t try and clear it yourself.- Prime warned, sounding for all the worlds like a gently chiding father.

-That was  one time  , I’m  fine. I didn’t go out looking for trouble, it found me, in the form of Starscream. He’s recharging on the ground right next to me, all dinged up. What do you want me to do with him?-  she asked, getting straight to the point, and trying not to sound too willing to offline him.

-Starscream?-  The Prime paused, just a little bit alarmed  -Are you sure he’s alone? Is there anything off about him?-

-He scratched his insignia off his chest. Just a bunch of claw marks there now. It looks like he’s defected. He’s definitely still alive.- Arcee confirmed.

-Scratched the insignia off his chest.- Optimus repeated slowly, the gears in his processor whirling. That sounded like a sure sign of defection. Was it too much to hope for? He has long since seen potential in bringing Starscream over to the Autobots, and now might be his chance.  -Give me your coordinates and wait there with him. I’ll meet you there.-

-Personally?-  Arcee asked in surprise.  -Are you sure?-

  -I’m sure. Don’t worry, I won’t come alone.-

-Alright.- She relented, berating herself. This was Optimus Prime. There was nothing to worry about.

<>{◇}<>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  The familiar green spirals of the groundbridge gave way to the figures of Prime, Ratchet and Bulkhead. Arcee rose to her peds when she saw them, raising an arm in greeting. Starscream still rested next to her, optics firmly offlined. She resisted the urge to give him a swift kick and ran over to her comrades.

   “Hey ‘Cee!” Bulkhead called to her. “Where’d you dig up Screamer?”

  “He was on the floor when I got here.” Arcee replied, hands on her hips as the four of them made their way over to the recharging seeker. She nudged him with the toe of her ped as the others looked on. “And if you’ll look to your right you’ll see the Decepticon’s possible ex-commander, passed out cold.” she gestured to him with a servo.

  “He looks like a Predacon chewed him.” Ratchet said, eyeing him warily. “Probably been on his own for a while now. Almost definitely has an energon deficiency.”

   “You can tell all that from looking at him?” Arcee questioned, raising an optic ridge.

  “More or less. I’ve been at this for a long time, you know.” Ratchet said, his tone implying a lecture if this conversation kept rolling

   “So...what are we going to do with him? We can’t just leave old Screamer here, can we?” Bulkhead asked.

   “Who says we can’t?” Arcee spat. “If we take him with us, he becomes even more of our problem then he already is.”

   “We’re not leaving him.” Optimus interjected, his voice having an air of finality.

   “Why?!” Arcee exclaimed, failing to tamp down her anger. “What could we possibly do with  Starscream of all bots?!”

  Optimus gave her one of his looks that could possibly make even Unicron himself feel guilty. “We could help him, make him one of us. Show him the mercy he was never granted from Megatron.”

   “And that he never granted Cliffjumper!”

  “If we pull him to us, he’ll never be in a position to do what he did to Cliffjumper again.” he replied coolly. Arcee said nothing, just crossed her arms and turned away.

   There was no argument after that. Optimus was determined, and he made a good point. They brought Starscream to the base, dragging him home like an abandoned kitten found on the side of the road.

<>{◇}<>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  Starscream’s red optics flew open and were greeted to complete darkness and silence. He felt strange, and it took him a few moments to realize he wasn’t hallucinating or shaking from energon starvation anymore. That should have been comforting, but it only shot him through with fear. Someone had gone through some effort to take care of him. Had Megatron found him? Was he back in the belly of the Pit that was the Nemesis?

His head whipped back and forth trying to get some kind of grip on his surroundings but it was black as pitch. He tried to sit up, but his wrists and ankles were tied down to the berth. Megatron must have found him when he collapsed, there was no other explanation. He was probably thinking up some new, horrifically creative way to ensure his loyalty, or wanted him for some nightmarish way to end his life. His spark was hammering inside it’s chamber.

His bonds wouldn’t break no matter how hard he strained at them, but that could possibly be because he was too weakened after so much time alone and with no energon. He felt his optics well up with washer fluid as his spark pounded, so loud in his audials he would’ve sworn anyone outside this...place could hear it writhing in his chest as he started to shake and quiver.

An audial-splitting shriek tore from his voice box as he tried to tear free of his bonds, his back arching as he struggled.  

He couldn’t do this again.

[writeyouin]

Hey there, wanted to know if I could get  some scenarios of how ratchet, ravage, swerve, and cygate would handle if their human s/o  found an abandoned baby and was instantly overcome with motherly instincts. Mama bear mode activated

Transformers MTMTE-LL Reader Insert Drabbles - Baby

A/N – All baby girls in the fic today cos I’m biased.

Warnings – None.

Rating – T

Ratchet

Ratchet stared at you and the small child swaddled in your arms. He had felt bad when he had to work again instead of joining you on the visit to the space port. Now, he regretted not going, because he would have handed the child over to the authorities instead of bringing it aboard like it was his own sparkling.

“(Y/N), please tell me that you aren’t planning to keep this child. What about the original owners?”

“The parents,” You emphasized the word as if it burned your tongue, “abandoned this baby in an alley, with a note, claiming anyone could take her. I mean, who does that? So now, I’m going to be her parent, aren’t I Evie?” You addressed the child. “Yes, I am and I won’t ever abandon you, will I?”

Ratchet glared at you, trying to keep his voice low when he spoke so as not to scare the child. “(Y/N), we cannot keep her. You have to take her back. This is no place for a baby.”

“And why not? She’s not going to cause any trouble here Ratchet, and she needs a family.”

“Of course she needs a family, but it’s not going to be us.”

“Don’t you want to start a family with me?”

“No,” Ratchet hissed. “(Y/N), you are my Conjunx and you had better understand me here. This is not our child. She will never be our child. This was somebody else’s and we will take her back.”

“Ratchet, if you think that I am ever leaving this baby-”

“THIS WON’T MAKE UP FOR THE ONE WE LOST!”

At that point the baby in your arms started crying and you turned all your attention to calming her, “Shh, shh, oh, it’s okay Evie. Your daddy is just working through some issues, he didn’t mean to shout. There, there.”

“I am not her father.”

“Ratchet,” Your stare bore into him, “We are married and this is my child now. You either get on board with this or we are going to have a serious discussion about our future. Now, I would storm out, but Evie needs a health check, so once you’ve given her the all clear, then I will leave.”

No more was said over the matter. Ratchet still didn’t want the child and clearly, he would have to convince you that keeping her was the worst idea for the two of you. The last baby, an accidental clone of you from one of the younger scientists, had been another surprise that Ratchet hadn’t wanted. He hadn’t said so at the time as he could see how you would feel responsible for that one; all the same, while he had never wanted to be a father, he also never wanted the child to die in that unspeakable accident. The Lost Light was no place for a child, and Ratchet hoped he could make you see that before you got hurt again.

After Ratchet had given the baby a thorough medical check, finding that she was perfectly healthy, he started up the argument with you again. It didn’t matter what he said, you simply weren’t listening.

Finally, after a full-on shouting match in which Ratchet regretted most of what he said, he roared at you to get out. It seemed that he would be in no mood to go back to your shared hab-suite for a while, at least until you came to your senses.

While Ratchet expected you to give in, and realise he was right, you waited for him to do the same. Days turned into weeks and Ratchet still hadn’t returned to the hab-suite, nor you to the medical bay.

Although Ratchet didn’t venture out from the med-bay, he heard stories from the bots that came in about how Evie had become something of a ship-mascot and treasure. Every-time she so much as waved her arms or gurgled a spit bubble, Rodimus added another cuddly Rodimus star to her collection.

Even knowing of the rift between the two of you, most bots tried to bring Ratchet around to their way of thinking by pretending they didn’t know about the fight and saying, “You must be one proud bot, having a sparkling so great,” upon finishing their medical evaluations.

Finally, Ratchet couldn’t take it anymore. His spark ached from yearning and sadness and yet he felt in his mind he was right, and no matter what, he would not be a parent. He stomped his way through the ship to the hab-suite he hadn’t seen since the fight. Ready to argue his point further, he stepped inside, instantly deflating at the sight that met him.

You were asleep on the berth, with Evie sleeping atop your chest; the two of you clearly exhausted from the day’s activities. Ratchet sat down in a nearby chair, watching the two of you. He had no idea how much a baby could grow in a month, and yet here it was in front of him.

Staying there for a while, seeing how peaceful the two of you were, Ratchet sighed.

‘Primus,’ He thought, ‘I’m not a praying mech, but… I hope I’m a better creator than my mine was. I’ll need to be here for this child… For Evie.’

Indeed, he hadn’t ever wanted to be a parent, but if Ratchet could be better than those who raised him, then maybe everything would be alright.

Ravage

Ravage sniffed the tiny fledgling in the basket in which you had found it and brought it aboard.

“What is it?” He asked, his tail lashing in frustration as the creature reached out its tiny fists to touch him.

“She is a human, like me,” You answered as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. Ravage didn’t like that tone, nor did he like your infatuation with the small human; you hadn’t taken your eyes off it since bringing it aboard.

“Is it deformed?”

That earned him a glare from you, “No.”

He glanced at you then back to her, realisation finally drawing on him, “Oh, so it’s a Minibot then. Smaller and weaker… What happened to its vocaliser? Why doesn’t it say something?”

You supressed a smile at Ravage’s unwitting ignorance, “Ravage, this isn’t a Minibot. This is a baby, you know, like a sparkling?”

“This is how you start off? No wonder you need me to protect you all the time.”

“Keep talking like that, see where it gets you in this relationship.”

Ravage hissed, making the baby cry with the sound.

“Ravage, you can’t make noises like that around the baby, you’re scaring her.”

Ravage glared at you as you picked the tiny human up, swaddling her in a blanket and soothing her. He hated not being the centre of attention where you were concerned.

“Fine,” He spat, keeping the growl out of his voice, “Tell me everything about your new toy so I won’t accidentally break it.”

It had taken some time for Ravage to understand everything to do with the human sparkling but he finally felt that he could take care of it, if he so wished.

While you were occupied, Ravage strutted into your room carrying a sandwich in his mouth. The baby was lying on its back in the playpen you had commissioned from one of the other bots obsessed with the fleshling. You had named her Danica after the first female NASCAR driver, but Ravage much preferred to call the creature ‘Spawn of Unicron.’

Perching on the playpen rail, Ravage dropped the sandwich onto the baby’s chest.

“Eat, you little retch,” Ravage growled. “I said eat. Then you will grow and (Y/N) will be all mine again.”

The baby giggled and waved her arms.

“You milky little let-down. My hunting skill was perfect. I stole that sandwich from (Y/N) herself. Now eat it.”

Danica gurgled, sticking her fist in her mouth.

“Well,” Ravage sneered, “At least you can clean yourself without help… Wait, what is that? Is that drool? Disgusting. Ugh fine, watch me.”

Ravage started cleaning himself gracefully, watching to see if the baby would do the same. When it did not, he simply rolled his eyes; clearly the child couldn’t do anything for itself.

“You’re not really a threat, are you. Fine (Y/N) can love you and I suppose I will do my part in protecting you. Do we have an agreement, spawn of Unicron?”

Danica started blowing spit-bubbles, entertaining herself in her own manner. Ravage merely scoffed and laid down outside the playpen; until the child learned to stop drooling, there was no way he would get any closer to her.

Swerve

“Let’s keep her,” You said, upon finding the abandoned child in the alley.

“What?” Swerve sputtered, gobsmacked by your suggestion.

“Why not?” You asked, picking the child up and checking her temperature. “We were talking about trying soon, so… Well, we can’t leave her here, and this planet doesn’t have a whole lot of humans and, Swerve, I just-” You looked at him for the first time since finding the baby, “I can’t leave her.”

“Will she- I mean- What should we call her? How long will it take her to walk? Do you think we should make Skids the Godfather? Primus, who will be Godmother? What items does she need? Don’t tell the others that, only me. I’m her dad now so I want to make the furniture? Scrap, where do we get baby formula? Argh, I just swore in front of our child.”

From that very rant, you knew Swerve was going to be a great father.

“Okay… Can you think of anything else we need to babyproof?” Swerve asked, looking at the new layout of the hab-suite.

“Nope, we crushed it,” You answered happily.

“You hear that, Nova? This is your new home.” Swerve picked up the baby from the sock drawer you were keeping her in until the cot was ready. Upon being disturbed Nova started crying. “Oh no, don’t cry. I’m sorry. (Y/N), what do I do?”

“It’s okay Swerve, just keep calm and rock her gently. She’s probably just over-tired.”

“(Y/N), please take her. I need to see how this works.”

Swerve handed you the baby, watching closely to learn how to handle her.

“Alright, so this is how you calm her,” You said, using the techniques you had picked up on Earth whenever a family member or friend asked you to babysit. Eventually, Nova stopped crying and you smiled, “See, it’s just a matter of practice.”

“Oh… Okay. Yeah, I can do this. Hey, will she be needing her crib now?”

“Yeah, as soon as we can get that and the other stuff, we’ll be all set.”

“Great, then I’ll be just a few minutes. I built them earlier, so it’s just a matter of collection.”

Swerve hurriedly left and you smiled to yourself, “See that, Nova? Your daddy is having a freak out. Come on, we’ll start walking to the labs. By the time we get there on our tiny legs, he should have calmed down.”

Swerve vented air through his system, trying to cool down. He wondered how he could be a good parent if he didn’t even know how to calm his new child down. Primus, he would be terrible at this. How long would it be before you realised that he was no good for you and Nova before you left him? He bet it wouldn’t be long at all. After all, humans were so different than Cybertronians; he couldn’t possibly be any good for a human baby.

Swerve slumped against the lab walls, looking at all he had built for the child. All the designs had come from the Earth’s internet, but he had painted them with things from both your planet and his. Looking at his work, Swerve thought of all the pros and cons of him being the child’s adoptive parent; that imaginary list held a lot of cons.

Eventually, the door swished open and Swerve busied himself, pretending to check over the items.

“Hey sweetie,” You greeted upon entering the room. “How are you doing?”

“Me?” Swerve laughed anxiously, “I’m doing great. Life couldn’t be better. I’m just late back because I was looking at this crib and I was wondering, does it look rickety to you, because to me it looks rickety, so what do you think?”

“I think you’re freaking out.”

Swerve stared at you, ashamed that you had seen right through him. “I’m sorry. I just- I love Nova and I want to be a good parent, but what if I’m not? What if I screw up and she grows up to hate me? I’ve never been a parent and I’m scared. There’s so much that could go wrong.”

“Swerve, it’ okay to be scared. I’m scared too. This is hardly a normal place to raise a child. Anything could happen, but as long as we have each other, I know we’ll do great. All we can do is love Nova and show her that every day. If we do that, we’ll do great. So, do you want to come back to the suite and help set up the nursery?”

Swerve pulled you into a hug, being careful not to disturb Nova. “Let’s take our baby home,” He whispered.

You kissed his cheek, “That’s my Conjunx.”

Cygate

“So, what do you think?” You asked Tailgate and Cyclonus, having explained to them how you had come by a human baby. There was only one acceptable answer from the pair, but you hoped they wouldn’t make you choose between them and your new daughter.

Tailgate’s frame started shaking with excitement, and Cyclonus had to hold him back before he tackled you and the child in a hug.

“Careful,” Cyclonus warned. “The baby is more delicate than even (Y/N).”

Tailgate tried to take the warning into consideration, remembering when you had agreed to a polyamorous relationship with him and Cyclonus; he had hugged you so hard that it broke your arm and three ribs. Although he always tried to be more careful now, he still found it hard to restrain himself sometimes.

“WHAT DO WE THINK?” Tailgate exclaimed. “THIS IS AMAZING. YOU HAVE A SPARKLING- NO, WE HAVE A SPARKLING. Oh, boy, oh boy, oh boy. I can’t wait to teach her to play catch. And we can watch shows together and read to her, and Cyclonus can teach her to sing. WE ARE GONNA BE THE BEST CREATORS IN THE WHOLE ENTIRE UNIVERSE.”

You had to laugh at Tailgate’s enthusiasm, but you didn’t let it escape your attention that Cyclonus had yet to say how he felt.

“We can keep her, right Cyclonus?” Tailgate asked what you had been too afraid to.

Cyclonus looked at you and Tailgate. You were the only two people he had ever loved in all of his long life, and it had taken a long time for him to open his spark to you and let himself be vulnerable. Did he really have room in his spark for a third person? It seemed that you and Tailgate were full of nothing but love, but Cyclonus knew he wasn’t like that, and knowing so scared him.

He looked at the sleeping child nestled in your arms. She was so tiny. Delicate features graced her face, and such a young being could only be innocent and pure. Cyclonus was neither innocent or pure. He had a dark past which he would always be haunted by. While it was true that you and Tailgate had helped to heal his inner scars, he knew they could so easily be reopened if he wasn’t careful.

Did such a precious child really deserve such a bad role model? Cyclonus wasn’t sure of the answer to that. Perhaps he would be a terrible creator and only serve to dampen the baby’s future, but maybe, just maybe, he could heal even further with her to care for.

Swallowing his fear, Cyclonus looked at you and Tailgate, and with some effort he said, “She needs a name.”

Tailgate punched the air, crushing Cyclonus in a hug afterwards, “YESSS. WHAT ABOUT AUTOCLAVE, OR CAMBER, OOH CHICANE- NO, RUMBLESTRIP.”

“How about a name from Earth?” Cyclonus suggested, looking to you for an answer.

You considered the question for a moment, knowing full well that Cyclonus didn’t want a Cybertronian name that might remind him of his past. “Okay, what about… Penelope?”

“Penelope…” Tailgate sounded out the word in his vocaliser.

“Yeah, she’s blonde like Penelope Pitstop and one day, she’ll be one hell of a driver.”

“I don’t know who this Pitstop person is, but I like the sound of Penelope. What do you think Cyclonus?”

Cyclonus gave a small smile, “I think she’s perfect.”

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[wemblingfool]

With Beast Wars triumphant return, as well as Cheetor and Skybyte appearing in Cyberverse, and Barricade finally getting pulled out of the bayverse, it's really wonderful to see the G1 deathgrip finally beginning to loosen.

But there are still a ton of characters and designs who deserve to be rescued from obscurity. (Mine is by no means a complete list)

Beast Era- There was just so many, that if I don't limit myself, this list will be nothing but BW. Avoiding Beast Wars US show characters because they get 90% of the attention.

Razorbeast: Was just an empty toy-only character until Furman got ahold of him and did his typical magic to obscure toy only characters. Razorbeast was the best thing from IDW's terrible BW comic.

Botanica: The first (and only serious) plant TF. She would be amazing to see expanded.

Jetstorm: Like a bad gameshow host, Jetstorm was a joy to watch in Beast Machines. He also had a brilliant design that never got justice.

Hydra: From Beast Wars Neo, Hydra was a really lonely Predacon.

Killer Punch: Also from BW Neo, he was a conspiracy theorist on the level of The Question, or The Lone Gunmen. Imagine him sitting in his mother's basement (if Destrons/Predacons had mothers), blogging on the internet about how the original Megatron was secretly an autobot double agent.

Robots in Disguise- Everyone, honestly. Y'all really need to stop the RiD hate train. But here are the stand outs (for me)

Scourge: Is much more interesting a character than anything that's been done with "Nemesis Prime," since.

Gigatron: I go with Gigatron because IMO, he was much more interesting than his US Megatron version. Six modes and driven insane to the point of each mode having a unique personality.

The Predacon Trio: Darkscream, Slapper, and Gasskunk. Skybyte makes the occasional appearance recently. He needs his troops, who were fun enough on their own.

The Autobot Brothers: Sideburn, Prowl, and X-Brawn.

TAI: The best computer the autobots have. In any continuity.

Unicron Trilogy- The biggest continuity outside of the extended G1 continuity. As usual, too many to list.

Thunderblast: Not the most interesting toy, but she was a fun character

Shortround: Dude was a toy collector. He's one of us. He deserved to be brought back.

Brushguard: A decepticon botanist who loves old b-movies. What's not to love?

Ransack & Crumplezone: One of the most iconic duos in all TF

Landmine: We need more grumpy old robots, beyond Ironhide and Kup. Also, autobot construction vehicles are very rare.

Vector Prime: Amazing given how important he was/is, at how little he's been used since. The "multiversal singularity" thing was hands down one of the dumbest narrative moves, but that's no fault of Vector Prime's.

Override: She was an interesting design, and deserves to have more done with her.

Bayverse-

Blackout: neat design and a fairly blank character

Ransack: He's a friggin' biplane!

Sideswipe: same

"Daytrader": A Steve Buscemi transformer. Another Swindle-type character. He deserves to be rescued!

Crosshairs: Fairly big personality, which is rare for a bayverse TF, and an interesting design. I'd take him before G1 Crosshairs.

Animated- Just turn TF into animated for a few more years and I'll be happy. But, in terms of moving characters forward

Prowl: What's not to love? Peaceful nature loving ninja.

Bulkhead: A clumsy, sweet gentle giant with the soul of an artist. Everyone thinks he's an idiot, but he's the best spacebridge technician on Cybertron.

Sentinel Prime: Never been a more fun Sentinel, and never will be!

Lugnut: He just kinda got dumped.

Blitzwing: Would kill to see a future Blitzwing take after him instead of the dull as dirt G1 Blitzwing

Aligned- To be honest, i hate this trainwreck as much as I do Bayverse. But there are still concepts and characters worth salvaging

Knock Out: Dude was a blast. One of the only enjoyable things in TFP.

Soundwave: The only interesting Soundwave out there, imo.

Strongarm: She deserves moving forward

NuRiD Decepticons: Unique and fun designs, all of them! Would love to see Steeljaw and Bisk again!

Bumblebee- It is small. And it is broken. But it is still good... Yeah. Still good.

Shatter & Dropkick: Very much afraid these two will be quickly forgotten about and abandoned.

Cyberverse- it did a lot of new things with old characters. But it did bring some new and unique characters to the table.

Clobber: Sorta stole TFA Lugnut's design while being an amazing new character. She's something we've never seen before- a female big muscleheaded idiot brute. Female TFs are now becoming common enough that we're starting to get variety.

Wild Wheel: Nothing about him wasn't amazing. The show was cancelled before he even appeared, though.

Thunderhowl: Like Wild Wheel, didn't show up until Cyberverse was cancelled.

Hammerbyte: same

Botcon- While under Fun Publications, Botcon became nothing but milling out more G1. But under MiB and 3H, and even in FP's early days, they did give us some unique characters.

Fractyl & Packrat: I don't think there's a more iconic set of characters to Botcon than these two.

Shadow Striker & Roulette: Shadow Striker has gotten to move forward a bit. She appeared in the movie line, which that version was then the inspiration for Cyberverse Shadow Striker, but her sister has been all but forgotten.

Flareup: She's a very bubbly and upbeat personality, who happens to take an almost fiendish glee in blowing stuff up. She's the best thing FP ever did.

Landshark: One of the most hated FP characters, and I've never understood exactly why. He'd be brilliant if he got good fiction:

Landshark doesn't know where he got his name from and he doesn't really care. Some 'bots tend to confuse it with "Landmine", but once Landshark pulls his fist from their abdomen they don't seem to get it wrong anymore. Always the practical jokester and seen by his peers as a wiseguy, he often makes light of even the most dramatic situations. Once, he had one of his power claws ripped off of his body by a blood thirsty Narliphant. Landshark didn't fret about the situation; he simply turned to Flak and asked, "Can you give me a hand?"... Flak was not amused. Able to transform his auxiliary battle platform into a hydraulic booster pack, he has the strength to wield two massive power claws capable of ripping open an enemy's armor plating. This feature also gives him the ability to cling onto or climb up almost any structure. While in vehicle mode, Landshark enjoys intimidating, and then plowing down, anyone that stands in his way.

Like I said, these are all just scratching the surface. But these are all some of my most favorites.

[ultracreativelywritten]

TFA "Humans are adorable" AU where Sentinel is about to rant about humans again only for Ultra Magnus telling him to stop because "These organics are wonderfully adorable beings, and I won't let you insult them."

“We can’t have those organics run loose around the ship! The green one is trying to melt us all!” 

“Now Sentinel, just hold on,” Ultra Magnus placed a servo on the young prime’s shoulder, “he’s on the ship because we can help him.”

“I don’t want your help!” Meltdown yelled from inside his bubble.

“See! He just said that he doesn’t want our help! If he gets out, he’ll kill us all.”

“Sentinel, isn’t that a bit extreme? He needs our help.”

“No, I don’t!”

“The other organics trusted us to change him back. He’ll be harmless afterward, just like the others.”

“The other "harmless" ones are dangerous as well! Sumdac brought back Megatron and he was on our side! Who knows what the rest of them are capable of! They might bring back Unicron or something worse if they get the chance!”

“Sentinel Prime that is enough!” Ultra Magnus brought his hammer down, swiftly shutting up the big chined prime.

“Don’t say I didn’t warn you!” Sentinel stormed out of the command center, and past a holding cell with more humans.

“Icky robots.”

“Foul mechanical beings! Uncage us this instance.”

“HEY! Let us out you dumb-bots.” Sentinel growled and continued to storm away.

“Give it up guys, he’s not letting us out. He knows better.”

[melishade]

In the Dark Timeline, will Megatron take up Shockwave's deal? He knows Porco, the humans would want to rescue him, and Optimus would want him back too since he technically left him behind after promising not to. Plus, none of them like Zeke anymore, so wouldn't Paradise be willing to trade a traitor for a child?

Previous Episode of the Dark Timeline

Yeah! If that traitor wasn’t of royal blood they’d sell him out for one corn chip! If the traitor was Reiner or Annie, they’d do it but they can’t!

————

Shockwave might’ve said that he doesn’t need Zeke to control his army, but he can clone Zeke and have infinite amount of Eldians that have royal blood at his disposal! It’s either that, or face a Colossal Titan full of dark energon!

Megatron is silently thinking this over as the whole military is fighting to the extreme about it. Some are saying to hand over Zeke, others are saying not to. Nothing really gets done that day.

The Survey Corps and Autobots discuss this in private while Megatron is still being quiet about this and trying to figure something out. Levi is saying to make that trade. If they don’t Shockwave could end up destroying everything they’ve worked for. But Optimus retorts that handing over Zeke will only delay that inevitable and he would clone powers of royal blood for generations to come. Hanji asks if the next Colossal Titan will have the powers of dark energon if Porco somehow managed to die in all this. But!

“Dark energon doesn’t allow for reincarnation,” Megatron spoke, earning all eyes and optics on him, “Killing Porco would prevent Shockwave from ever getting his hands on such a power again.”

“Megatron, we are not killing Porco,” Optimus declared with warning, “We are bringing him here and removing the dark energon from body.”

“And do we have the resources to remove all of it?” Megatron demanded.

“Wait.” Armin raised a hand, “Megatron, how are you sure that the Colossal Titan won’t be place in an Eldian baby?”

Silence radiated throughout the neutral ship as Megatron looked down at the floor. Optimus raised an eyebrow in confusion, before his optics widened in horror. “Megatron-,”

“Unicron told me that himself,” Megatron answered, “When I didn’t rejoin the Allspark after my death.”

“Wait, so you’re-!”

“This isn’t about me,” Megatron interrupted Arcee as he stood up, “We have a week to figure out a plan.”

Megatron leaves the room and Optimus quickly follows him out, leaving the others confused. Hanji asks what the hell were they talking about and Wheeljack ends up explaining that reincarnation is possible for Cybertronians, but because Megatron jammed dark energon in his spark, he’s permanently cut off from the process. He’s literally no longer Primus’ child. The Survey Corps can’t help but feel bad. Normally, Levi would say that he deserved it since it was Megatron’s own hubris that caused it, but after everything Megatron’s been doing…he can’t help but feel something.

Optimus and Megatron are talking in private and Optimus asks why Megatron didn’t say anything about his own situation. Megatron says that he thought Optimus knew. Optimus then retorts by saying that’s all the more reason to save Porco and get the dark energon out. It’s a battle for the teen’s soul and he’s suffered enough. Megatron then tells Optimus that he heard Porco in his head when he was over there, begging for help. Megatron believes that maybe there is a way to work around this plan and save Porco, if he can find a way to create a mental link with him. Optimus asks if that is possible, and Megatron says it should be based on his own experience. Megatron says he’s going to try, but before he does, is there anything that he should be careful in saying, and Optimus gives anything and everything he picked up on during his time in knowing him.

Optimus then returns to the others alone and explains that they need to figure out a plan to sabotage Shockwave. Shockwave will most likely use the ground bridge to come to the island and make the trade. It increases the risk for them. It’s been confirmed that Shockwave is at Fort Salta, maybe using Wheeljack and Arcee, they can destroy Shockwave’s base of operations. However, there’s still a concern about the Predacon and whether or not it will be present on base or with Shockwave. It’s a gamble that they need to take. They still haven’t found a way to kill it.

Optimus does ask about Zeke’s involvement. He knows that they can’t trust him, but they can’t let them be in Shockwave’s claws. Jean retorts that it’s hard to trust him when he tried to poison their own. Optimus asks to see Zeke and Levi decides that he’ll take him there. The two grab Lara and they go to an open field. Optimus is confused, until Lara uses her power to open an underground tunnel to Zeke’s prison. The three go down there and Optimus (in holoform) is almost mortified to see the literal scarring on Zeke’s neck from the constant injection of energon in his throat while he’s completely malnourished. Zeke notices Levi and is actually reduced to begging with his torn vocal cords for mercy. Optimus is looking at the both of them in anger while Levi stubbornly looks away. Lara justifies that the military was infected with spinal fluid, it was a risk they couldn’t take.

Optimus gets the end goal, but the methods wasn’t savory in his opinion. Optimus still sees Zeke trembling and opens the bars to his cell. Zeke begs Optimus to stay away, not realizing that it’s him, but Optimus after everything he’s been through, shows mercy. Optimus hugs Zeke, stunning all three of them. For Zeke, this is the first positive interaction that he’s had in months. It was something that he had taken for granted, and he started crying. Optimus lets him go and Zeke realizes that this is Optimus. He was alive. Zeke hasn’t been more grateful. Sure, he’s thought about a long winded euthanasia plan, but he was afraid of a brutal death under Megatron. Optimus tells Zeke about Shockwave’s demand for a trade between the two of them, and Zeke is terrified. He’s fully prepared to here them say that they’ll sell him out. After all, Zeke was going to betray them, but Optimus tells him that they won’t do that. They’ll do everything in their power to save Porco and keep him safe, but Zeke needs to cooperate willingly. Zeke weighs his options, but remembers what Shockwave has done, and is afraid of what he’ll do to him, so Zeke agrees.

Meanwhile, Megatron has locked himself in a room on the neutral ship, meditating and trying to establish a mental link with Porco, but Megatron can’t, because part of him is afraid of tapping into dark energon again. He’s afraid of becoming corrupted again, turning on his new allies, and possibly letting Unicron take over again. It’s a fear, but an understandable one. Megatron hears a knock on the door and is surprised to see Armin walk in the room. Armin asks what Megatron is doing, and Megatron says it’s not important as he’s trying to focus, but Armin retorts saying that they need him to come up with a plan. Megatron explains that he is trying to come up with a plan. Armin is confused and Megatron relents and says he’s trying to establish a mental link with Porco to see through his eyes and figure out what Shockwave is planning. Armin is stunned at the proclamation, but Megatron explains that such an ability is possible with dark energon. But he just…can’t tap into it. Dark energon is dangerous, and it’s a power Megatron underestimated and…fears. It’s a power he can lose himself in. Armin says that Megatron is one of the strongest people he knows, but Megatron retorts that even the strong fear something. He’s not sure if the risk is worth the reward. But Armin retorts by saying that sometimes, one needs to become a monster in order to achieve their goals. Erwin and so many others have had to abandon their humanity in order to achieve something, and it’s something Shockwave is able to do with ease. Megatron needs to be able to do that, because it’s something that the island so desperately needs. Megatron thinks this over, and says he’ll try again. But in the event that he looses himself, he tells Armin that he cares about the island and the the Survey Corps and that whatever he has done in the past, he is sorry for. Armin is stunned, but he promises to relay that message to the others. Armin leaves Megatron alone, and Megatron tries again, forgoes his fears and dives deep into the powers of dark energon.

And is able to establish a link.

(Kay. I’ll leave it here for right now. I’m typing this from my phone at a Honda dealer. Lol.)

[ask-smokescreen]

What it, you accepted the mantle of Prime and became Smokemus Prime?

It really depends when!

If I accepted it when Optimus offered it, we probably would have ended up losing much sooner... Like, I wouldn’t know how to deal with the Predacons or Megatron when he’s all bloodthirsty or anything like that!

If I took it now, after Megs gave it to me, though...

I don’t know. It’d be kinda weird, since it kinda makes you a religious figure and all. I don’t think I’d actually tell anyone I was a Prime, if possible! It’d be kinda nice to keep it secret, I think, and just use all the primely stuff when it’s like, actually needed. I can cause Unicron trouble, which is always a bonus.

... I’d also be taller, which wouldn’t be bad!

But it might mean responsibility, and it might bring trouble.

[thanksjro]

Eugenesis, Epilogue Scene Three: A National Holiday Is Declared

Mark your fucking calendars, folks, it’s a once in a lifetime event.

Now, what could be making Rodimus happy?

Telling himself that Kup isn’t dead, that Thunderclash isn’t dead, that Prowl isn’t dead, that the medics had managed to find their brains and fix them, that it wasn’t actually them who had died but some cheap copies.

Telling himself that Primus himself had given them the cure for the Inhibitor Chips.

Telling himself what he wishes was true.

Telling himself lies.

So, let’s try this again. It’s January 12th, 2013, and Rodimus Prime is awake and alive in the camp that is now home to the Autobots.

Rodimus has been spending the last few days listening to the recordings Perceptor made for him from the time he was busy being mostly-dead. He doesn’t remember any of the time he spent not-dead, but the scientists have been trying their hand at spirituality and more or less explained it to him as him ever-so-slowly approaching the event horizon of joining with the Matrix. The Matrix that we now know is a computer that makes babies, and that we’d already known was chock full of Unicron. Is this what being in the Cloud is like? Because if so, I’m just going to commit to a physical hard drive for all my stuff so my documents don’t become clinically depressed.

And while we’re on this whole not-really-dead thing: you know, retcons feel a lot less needing of justification when they aren’t being pulled by the same writer who made the retcon necessary in the first place, in the same piece of writing. Roberts, if you didn’t actually want to kill Rodimus, you shouldn’t have taken away all of his pigmentation and dusted his ass in a ditch after Kup went off the deep end.

I don’t think he’s actually happy, guys.

He’s currently staring out the window, totally not painfully aware of just how unbelievably tired he looks. Remember when this was the guy who went on fishing trips and joyrides with ten-year olds? Rodimus remembers. He remembers it very clearly. Someone let this guy take Animated Bumblebee’s place for a few days before he goes and finds a pod filled with robo-cancer or something.

It’s time to bury the pain again, as High Command comes through the door.

They made it! Rewind’s OTP lives, unlike him. Time to get down to business.

Rodimus thanks everyone for coming to the meeting, and starts going over the revamp process for the brand new Autobase- they’ve cleaned out the corpses, sorted them by faction, done god knows what to the ones that couldn’t be identified one way or the other, and we finally get to know just what in the fuck Jolup was doing Downstairs.  

…Alright then, Ed Gein. Is this how they were going to handle that dropped Phase Sixer subplot in Lost Light? Because if so, Swerve what the 𝚏𝚞𝚌𝚔.

Rodimus has decided that they’re just going to bury that nightmare under forty tons of plasto-steel, to never see the light of day again. Moving on, he says that Metroplex is recovering rather well from his transplant.

Oh! Hello, Metroplex. You’re looking very… alive. Didn’t you just spend the better part of the week dead and lying on the seafloor?

Turns out that Titans are pretty hardy- they just ripped his head off and slapped it into the middle of the new Autobase and he was good to go.

Rodimus hasn’t heard from Galvatron since he got back- I’m hoping it’s because Soundwave took matters into his own hands- and it’s making him a bit nervous.

Time for status reports!

Magnus has had teams searching for bodies (brains, really) that they can bring back to Ratchet to fix up. He asks Rodimus about potentially building another outpost on Earth, but it looks like he won’t be getting to see Oregon again anytime soon. There’s also the issue of literally everything Xenon told him back on Aquaria- he asks for a private audience for that. Magnus, did you really wait this long to talk to your boss about this? He’s got the Matrix inside him right now, and you didn’t think it pertinent enough to bring up sooner? Priorities, man.

Ratchet’s injected all the POWs with the anti-Chip, which has helped their physical health tremendously. However, not all of them are regaining the ability to transform, and that’s opened up a real can of worms, mental health-wise.  

I’m with Ratchet on this one. I know we don’t exactly have a ton of real estate on the bombed-out husk that is Cybertron, but surely there was something better than the epicenter of the Quintesson Antiholocaust/Transformers Holocaust.

Rodimus says that anyone uncomfortable with the camp can stay in Fort Max’s old place next door until they’re more open to the idea. The reason they aren’t staying at Fort Max’s altogether is because it’s apparently too small to house everyone. There’s, like, maybe three hundred of y’all left, and Max wasn’t exactly petite. Maybe I’m missing something here.

Rodimus, uncomfortable with the topic, moves on to one that’s equally as uncomfortable- Prowl. Ratchet wants to send him off with a full, personal funeral. He’s not dead yet, but he might as well be. Still no donor. Rodimus opts to let the guy die naturally, even after Ratchet explains that he might still be in pain even in a pod and knocked out. Geez, any more good news, doc?

Oh ho, you thought this would stop with just a single robot? Not even close.

Mirage is allowed to be in a bad mood this time. I can’t even remotely fault him for that. And Autobots don’t give parental leave? What a rip.  

Yeah, except they’ve all been Quintesson nightmare babies. This is what some folks might call a problem. Are you telling me that they can just catch pregnancy like the common cold now? This is tapping into irrational teenage fears. Christianity-based fears.

I have to wonder, what’s the general feel behind this process? It’s completely random, even when it happens to someone who’s supposed to go through it, and people just kind of stand there and watch it happen. I feel like it’d be really fucking embarrassing to just keel over and start going through mitosis in the middle of a room full of your peers. Then the whole murder-baby thing starts happening, and folks are drawing guns on your abdomen to top it all off. At what point do you just say “screw it” and have your torso removed?

Ratchet’s been storing the Quintessons in stasis pods, as opposed to Soundwave’s snap judgement of “kill now, repress later.” He’s run all the tests he can think of, and the things aren’t exactly hostile- they don’t really do anything, honestly. Perhaps murder-baby is too harsh a term. Still, they gotta figure out something to do with the little bastards. High Command’s been asking around off-planet.  

Well, there’s one mystery solved! Meeting’s over, Rodimus shoos everyone away, but Siren has something to report: he and Chromedome figured out Nightbeat’s final words.

Oh wow, I was WAY off. Road trip!

[autobotmedic]

((Hey mun do you remember the time in the Prime show where Ratchet didn’t want to pick up the kids from school and it leads the three kids to be kidnapped by the decepticons which then causes Optimus to destroy the omega lock and the autobot base found out then destroyed? Why didn’t Ratchet just pick them up and they were even pleading him to come get them from school))?

{ Mmmmmmmmmm I’m going to use both the episodes Regeneration and Darkest Hour, and we’re gonna talk about Things in my usual rambly way:

The very beginning of Regeneration starts with revealing the children have not been aware of a lot that has been happening when Jack asks, “Why didn’t you tell us about the Omega Keys before?” Despite multiple instances of assistance from them, the Autobots still try not to involve the children in the dangers of their war as often as possible. This is pretty consistent throughout the series, but especially here. The restoration of their planet is hanging in the balance, something both cons and bots are strongly fighting for, which creates even higher risk than usual, so the children have been frequently excluded from confrontations and everything else toward the end of the season.

By the middle of the episode, Optimus has used solus’ hammer to turn the groundbridge into a spacebridge, and the team gathers all their collected artifacts for a Serious Fight to restore their world. Who stays behind on his own, in case of an emergency to activate the bridge and bring them back? Ratchet, which has been normal even in past big events like the journey to earth’s core to stop unicron. Additionally, the autobots were unable to wait or delay (such as to pick up the kids after school) because they are fighting time after learning Mega had activated his own spacebridge to reach Cybertron, and even if they had had the time, it seems likely they would have intentionally been excluded again due to continued severity of situations. Also, both sides main focus was the omega lock, and the battle would not take place on earth. Megatron is not even the one who thinks to get the kids to use, Star’s responsible for that.

Anyway, Ratchet is shown pacing while everyone else is on cybertron, worried and waiting, with 0 idea what may be happening, wHICH IS VERY STRESSFUL, when Jack calls. He says no one has picked them up and asks what’s up. Ratchet’s response is the team is indisposed at the moment and they should find an alternate method of travel home. There wasn’t any pleading, Miko actually does not help by commenting ‘tell ratch to come pick us up, it’s not like he has anything else to do.’ Ratchet’s already high stress levels are added to by (this is an assumption based on other episodes) irritation over his usual activities being so carelessly disregarded. So ratch states go home, nOT TO THE BASE, go home, he would catch them up later, still leAVING THEM ENTIRELY OUT OF THIS SIGNIFICANT BATTLE SITUATION. Also, the communications line needed to be open (which he says to june in Darkest Hour), the ground-now-spacebridge needed to be available for activation at any given moment, and ratch certainly didnt need to leave both com and bridge to Drive and Get them. Did he actually have plenty of time before he was needed in story of the show? Yes. Did he KNOW that? Of course not. That’s the thing about an emergency. They’re not usually on a schedule.

So, ‘wanting’ to pick them up doesn’t really have anything to do with it. Ratchet was manning his station, as he always does and is his responsibility. None of the Autobots had reason to think they would be in danger due to everyone’s focus on cybertron, and didn’t want them to become directly involved, thus likely to put them in danger. Yes, it happened anyway, but they don’t exactly have the resources to be aware of/control everything at once, and we would not have had a dramatic cliffhanger for the season.

I am of the opinion Ratchet’s entire BREAK D O W N in darkest hour is not brought about by one thing, it has hours of worrying and waiting unknowing what is happening to his autobots prior (Optimus has time to contact and update him exactly ONCE, then all of Ratch’s tech at the base starts crashing due to Mega using the Omega Lock on earth, and his stress GOES UP FURTHER). Learning their hope for their planet had been lost, especially since it is broken to him with little explaination, and when he is shocked and Questions it, Smokescreen says he doesn’t get to question a battlefield decision, and that was the last straw, because, “IT MOST CERTAINLY IS.” Ratchet questions Optimus Many Times in series, they are both leader and medic and friends who discuss options when there’s time, but Smoke doesnt know that because hE HASNT BEEN ON EARTH LONG. Nonetheless, Ratchet’s stressed and emotional state causes him to lose his temper, and venting follows. Then concludes. He does not harp on it, he vents his understandable frustration, then his temper cools, and soon after, watches the children without complaint while the others find out what is happening outside.