#I mean there are only 3 intelligent decepticons by now...

[tapakah0]

[whatudottu]

All this new Earthspark content (i say with a sigh, not liking what i see), just makes me think more about it? Season 1, so good I didn’t need to think about… give or take Shockwave and the rushed end. Season 2? God- and I’m hearing the bloody ‘Decepticon Dome’ is still around for I guess this is season 3 instead of 2b??

I feel like I wanna share my notes for a season 2 rewrite or at least some concepts for one (with some Shockwave edits from season 1) that I had written on… *looks at the date* 28th July just before I started my shift-

Let’s see what happens then :P

First of all, Shockwave.

What do you mean the fucking unethical science guy has issues with what he immediately labels as cybrids? TFP Father-of-Predacons guy? IDW Literally-Becomes-Onyx-Prime guy?

So you’d think my first idea is to turn him not-racist right? Make him curious about the terrans like (using my main Shockwave experience) his Prime’s equivalent interest in predacons, right?

But what if I didn’t, what if he still has that speciesism but… reflavoured it into something more fitting? Say the ‘medical exploitation’ variant of racism that TFES Shockwave can openly claim that ‘I know I’m doing all these unethical experiments to one specific group, but I would do the same for any cybertronus’ to use Mandroid’s scientific name, but really he doesn’t actually desire to experiment on others he might consider the ‘default’. The kind of racism that treats others as scientific wonders in need of full study.

Heh, TFP Shockwave got off lucky, his obsession was predacons and he only knew they were sapient after reviving one from the dead AND discovering it he could transform; something about archeology vs graverobbing :P

Shockwave in the season 1 finale thus has more willingness to work with people who he considers in some way to be lesser, at least different; what’s a good test for a species’ intelligence than watching them problem solve against a corrupt government organisation?

Now onto the actual fucking season 2 notes then shall we?

With GHOST and Mandroid gone we are lacking threats that aren’t the fucking Decepticons again. The Quintessons of course take Mandroid’s role of the active antagonist, the one or ones that act their own agenda divorced from a wider perspective, but who fills GHOST’s role as the passive background threat? Well, as GHOST was the only company/organisation that had extended their hand to establish a proper post-war cybertronian-human alliance, and they seemed to be pretty tied in to either the government or with heavy media scrutiny, in its place could be filled by the actual American government now labelling any and all cybertronian (and terran) presence as criminal behaviour and thus officially rendering them as illegal literal aliens.

I’m not saying this is what the show should’ve done because that is a fucking stretch, but if I’m gonna rewrite Earthspark that’s who I’d want to fill the slot, fanfiction (maybe bayverse) kinda stuff. Maybe for a ‘kid friendly’ ‘not-so-anti-american’ way to make it just a special task force that’s still paramilitary enough to not get conservatives to freak; but let it be known the original idea :P

Back to Mandroid, considering the type (and aesthetic) of his final cybernetics - as well as his sharkticon guards (?) that he from what I remembered freed from somewhere (like a fucking shark pit???) - what if he had in fact made contact with the quintessons and, learning that he was from Earth, they had assumed that humanity and the Malto children were the children of Quintus, they were in fact assumed kin by His abandonment. When Mo ends up waking the executioner, it is still however her cybersleeve that draws it’s attention, yet it is also the terrans that draw its ire as they seem kin to the cybertronians Quintus oh so favoured over them, but also because they are filled with Quintus’ energy and ‘getting in the affairs’ or ‘robbing the power’ of humanity by their disturbance.

It’s not particularly too far off of the actual canon motivations to coming to Earth, as they already view humanity as fellow creations of Quintus even if literally untrue and prefer them to cybertronians and specifically to the maltos, but just imagine them being more anti-cybertronian rather than ‘pick me’ over Quintus’ chosen (one of the better things about 2b/3, the Judge actually acknowledged that the human Maltos were another set of child soldiers chosen for a destiny beyond their years, heh even Prowl agrees).

In a way, with this, both the human government and the quintessons can come to the idea that (for their own reasons and information provided) cybertronian affairs disrupt the human way of life and need to - in one way or another - be punished for their ‘chaos’.

Regardless though, the Emberstone is still shattered, and it’s not coming back (though the characters don’t know that… yet).

What doesn’t happen between it shattering and it’s… let’s say ‘pieces’ for now… is that the Decepticons don’t ‘do what they do best’.

Without GHOST in the way to arrest any Decepticon by virtue of them losing the war, the Autobots can actually begin to offer a genuine chance at armistice. Maybe not full on peace, their existence is a little too criminalised at the moment to immediately settle give or take a millennia worth of war in one sitting, but it is so much easier to prove to the Decepticons that they do in fact have a chance of rest against vorns of war and years of imprisonment and - as much as saying so word for word may begrudge the mecha - can ‘prove’ that they are worth as much freedom as the Autobots so prattle on about if neither of them have power over them in the ways GHOST provided.

What are their current goals? 1) do not get captured by government agents; there’s only so many cybertronians left even with a large concentration in Witwicky, and who knows if GHOST sent their technology back to their military. 2) do not let the government know of the terrans’ existence; with what Mandroid was invested in and what GHOST had intended to learn from him, neither faction nor any of the Maltos want to let the terrans become fugitives or pet projects (the craziest scientist they’ll even begin to consider studying the terrans would be Shockwave but even then they’d prefer even bloody Tarantulas more than him). And 3) gather the Emberstone shards before the government does; if Mandroid literally killed every cybertronian and terran on Earth with one blast of the full thing, what is the strength of one fragment actually measured by?

Given that apparently a shard with just a little bit of water is enough to make an entire spark (or at least, depending on what we learnt from 2a or the designs in 2b/3) act in replacement to a spark, probably decently powerful enough-

But to quote Brennan Lee Mulligan in his quite popular Game Changer, on a planet with 70% water coverage, weather patterns of a few sorts that scatter H2O in its many states to its surface, and all the time in the world between the Emberstone shattering and scattering, it is a “…statistical wonder…” that there were TWO (count them, 2) ‘’’’’’’’’Chaos’’’’’’’’’ terrans throughout - I’ll give it this - the entirety yet exclusively of the Americas.

First of all, FUCK THE TERM ‘CHAOS’ TERRAN! Let’s describe them as shard-spark for now, continuing to use Mandroid’s scientific terms we do not know if there’s a particular biomechanical difference beyond the Emberstone shard to sever the terrans AKA cybertronus terran from their new shattered siblings… or perhaps only cousins.

Second of all, shard-spark terrans are NOT born evil, just troubled in whatever relevant ways their circumstances cause them to be. Most often however without the conflict between the factions, a lot them if they do not happen upon a body of water in a location of dry weather conditions or even unluckily get stuck in a glass display would end up probably already being terrans by the time Autobots, Decepticons and 3rd or 4th party lock onto their signal to track them down from interesting community reports.

You know what was funny? Seeing everyone fall in love with Breakdown projecting a father-son relationship onto Aftermath who conversely didn’t give a shit, because y’all would just see Breakdown imposing that as just the cutest thing ever when he literally didn’t earn the right to think that way about a stranger that happened to be a child.

No, if Breakdown wants his ‘being a parent’ moment, he needs to put his back into it and make an effort to at least fucking try to be a parent? Hell, he can fucking suck at it and maybe even fall into a similar situation where he imposes the parent-child relationship onto a bad relationship, the main caveat being that it isn't supposed to be funny that Aftermath doesn't get it.

Breakdown can be the first contact with a shard-spark terran, maybe a few others or maybe alone, maybe he and Bumblebee took it upon themselves to race towards a shard only to discover a lost child. Instead of the fucking gang recruitment way 2a attempts to explain Aftermath going along with Breakdown, both the racers are mildly freaking out that there's a solitary kid who may or may not be a little fucking pissy right, just in the very spot both their scanners are saying IS the Emberstone shard they've been tracking. It takes a harsher more Decepticon standard demand to get Aftermath to follow either of them over a softer weaker Autobot plea; a force of habit for both of them, even if Breakdown starts actively avoiding Bee's responding glare.

Something about Breakdown associating harsh orders, reprimands and mutual hostility says more about him and his relationship to 'family' than it does on Aftermath sneering at squishy feelings that make him feel weird and preferring the worse treatment since it's the one thing he's got experience in. Something about how in fandom spaces every group of people is immediately turned into found family or just straight up family? Well- considering that Breakdown joined the Decepticons because the Stunticons also had done so (and changing Breakdown's association of Decepticons as family down to Stunticons as family), considering that most iterations of the characters 4 mentally ill soldiers and an abusive leader that actively preys on his team's weaknesses then... heh.

Breakdown finding the bickering and the fighting and the unspoken assumptions of that meaning family... it DOES mean more for Breakdown than it does for Aftermath doesn't it? :P

I don't think I got a good order with this but :P With GHOST gone the Autobots don't have a main base anymore, and by don't I fucking MEAN IT they don't go back to GHOST headquarters after all is said and done; it would be the first place to look for cybertronian activity after the government finds out the closest thing humanity had for bot sympathisers went belly up after all. Between them and the newly freed Decepticons, there is only one neutral ground between them on the Malto farm, but it would be Starscream to bring up stink over it (if even in his mischaracterisation in 2a he labels Autobots as oppressors) siting that the Malto's are functionally civilian and shouldn't - whether or not they could at all in the first place - be responsible for the housing of all these soliders; it's a farm, not a warbase, there is no need to bring more children into their squabble especially with the likelihood of crossfaction shared quarters he'd say.

There is one fortification left to stand against potential government hunting, even if it means to repair defense systems and cloaking devices, even signal scramblers just to hopefully allow rest to those tired of running. None of the Autobots would be happy about it - the Decepticons might disagree seeing it as potentially a little bit funny and as a little bit of petty revenge - but that base may or may not happen to be quite purple in it's paintjob, Decepticon base. To offer the curtsy that none of the 'Cons were given however, the Autobots in addition to the betrayer Megatron would be allowed free reign of the base, give or take a few zones off-limits even to lower ranked Decepticon forces. It's not like the Autobots would have left the base unraided in their time under GHOST's thumb, so there's no doomsday weapons to be wary of anyone activating.

Actual base life doesn't feel horrible for the Decepticons who, thanks in all due part to Megatron's aggressive leadership and hostile work environment, are already particularly used to being near permanently on guard even at rest; if the Autobots still had a base of their own in the local area the Decepticons would've made an easy transition even if still incredibly tense. It takes an extremely disciplined trigger for the Autobots not to snap under the tension, everyone save for Megatron who is used to being on edge, unfortunately for him the Decepticons give him shit constantly and tends to skew towards aggravating him than any of the 'Bots.

However, at the very least the remaining scientists have access to Shockwave's lab, which he might be more willing to share if it helps Wheeljack and Tarantulas to agree to run some tests on the terrans and actually begin to study them to get the full picture, at least as full as they can without dissection which is one of the compromises Shockwave would have to contend with especially if Nightshade wants to be science team buddies with at least the other 2. Either way, probably the least hostile section in the crosshabitation Decepticon base? Mostly because of the fact they're all agreeing to science together rather than punch each other.

But not everyone actually remains in the base, some take off to find better opportunities or because they find the base environment more stiffling than usual real free spirit types, AKA Breakdown. And also why I don't think I ordered this the right way- but I suppose from Emberstone to 'chaos' terran to Aftermath to Breakdown may break if I went no GHOST to no Autobot base to 'don't hide warriors in civilian homes' to Decepticon base to Breakdown to Aftermath... actually no... because then I can go to 'chaos' terran again and bring up Spitfire and others.

So, speaking of...

Shard-spark terrans, while not guaranteed to be trouble-kids so to speak, they are more predisposed to such given the circumstances of their creation in addition to the presence of the shard they are aptly named after. Aftermath is of course a bit of a destruction lover, it feels so good to break things it's often quite the shame that to have a broken thing, you must destroy something that may or may not have a use when it is unbroken. Breaking trees, breaking roads, breaking armour (even if it's a little baby dent to a soldier who's dealt with worse from a kid who didn't even exist up until a week ago), all the same to Aftermath who loves the thrill of it and hates things that make that thrill go away.

Can't even make a dent in that annoying Jawbreaker's armour! Ugh, he'll just have to teach JB to break something for him to make these gross feelings stop AKA JB discovers 'breaking things' stim and (with a bonus quick rewrite of his altmode episode where HE'S the one wreaking havoc on town because 'STOP BABYING HIM' 'WHY WON'T YOU LIKE ME' 'I HAVE AN ALTMODE NOW WHY DON'T YOU PAY ATTENTION TO ME' feelings) feels like really bad about it when he wants to break more things and scream :P good thing his mum's a veteran she can probably get him to do a war cry!

Spitfire kinda immediately did a gifted kid speedrun I think instead, Twitch 2.0 with a better drone model with better and more capabilities and the speed to out fly the out-mode, only up until it is Twitch who is preferred for her softer attitude and willingness to give up all that lets her win for someone else. Look Megatron, if you introduce a 'non-deadly' version of the Polyhex Protocol, maybe make fucking sure there is literally no fucking way for someone to be in immense 'death by falling' danger? Look look look look look- you put a newborn into her first race (btw, created while falling and thus having first hand experience that falling isn't deadly), say it's not to the death, and expect her not to assume that the giant cliff beneath the flying fox was also safe?? And that you had initially planned the Malto CHILDREN to run the course also and yet failed to create a proper safety net, literally or not you have a flight mode you could've played spotter!

Is Spitfire without fault? No, but what do you expect a newborn storm child to know about safety especially with a competitive streak like the one she's fast to develop! You all told her how she has the better altmode and 'better than this' why are you all looking at her like she'd suddenly BROKEN!?

And all these fuckers think they can all hug it out while she stands out in the rain biting and gnawing for attention?! Gross!

:P AKA Spitfire is like 12 (minutes) old and already fallen from grace, no wonder she gets a kick out of mutual 'want to bite people' sibling Aftermath :P

I think these thoughts are spiraling though to be fair my notes are also at this point spiraling-

Spitfire and Aftermath love to brawl with each other, it's too wild to be called sparring but it's not particularly deadly enough to call a battle, though it does get out of hand in ways that Breakdown - if he's still trying for parenthood - isn't even prepared to deal with (bumblebee voice: first time?). During one such brawl, Breakdown alternating between chasing the pair and backing off as they throw in more hits on each other, the kids accidentally run into Skullcruncher and - instead of backing down like someone more in the know - end up dragging him out of his listless reverie when Spitfire dodges Aftermath's double hammerfist after he threw her into the Decepticon.

Now why am I bringing up Skullcruncher is he secretly my favourite character? No, no he really isn't. But considering he's been used as a tool to not only display Mandroid's mind control technology as well as the visible consequences of that technology being used by GHOST, I feel as though he'd been left in the dust to kinda... regress? To disappear into his head? Some fucked up torture coping really, just in a literal brainwashing sense since :P GHOST wanted a pet project test subject. The aforementioned science team, with the help of everyone that was mind controlled and able to tell of it, have been trying to work through the brainfog it seems to have left Skullcruncher with. Regardless of the actual care they have for him specifically, they want to know if there's any actual lingering corruption on a mecha's processor all in due part because of it, to see if it would affect them physically as it had done mentally.

Between Shockwave's calculated response only providing his own experience in cold logic, Hashtag's experience (Shockers listing her under 'confounding variable' because of her status as a terran) having been used to connect her to Starscream when it counted the most whether or not she was good at playing therapist as a child full of fears and no wisdom, and Megatron nearly gunning down a kid he believed to be the hope of all cybertronian kind (all of the science team is reminded of how he has changed, how he now feels guilt over the future he could've failed instead of snuffing it out himself without mind), there may be a few networks rewired via the cybertronian equivalent of neuroplasticity... but the results so far are inconclusive and it's looking more and more likely to just be biopsychological placebo and coping mechanism Skullcruncher invariably got himself stuck in.

But getting dragged into the antics of laughing yet snarling children, going around beating each other around base not out of malice but out of pure enjoyment and glee, being chased around by someone who has the time and freedom - if not, the ability to be panicked about something so relatively small - to try and deal with the situation? Sure, the first strike is always surprising, and maybe he panicked with something violent in response. But the shard-spark siblings were already in the ebb and flow of their fight, if they got caught or grazed by jaws, if they got hit or dodged a sweep of claws, they'll fight like they always enjoyed. Skullcruncher may not be fully present, may not ever be, but hey... maybe those kids can help fight away the monotony and get him out of his head, out of the past the same faces of over a million years couldn't get to sooner.

Something like that?

And to give more love to other side characters that don't even get voices, why not some more Insecticon content- hell, why not a shard-spark terran who becomes an Insecticon, or at least has a bug altmode that caters to their personality. The 'sit alone inside the tube of a playground set all recess' type, the 'uses thoughts to give themselves company' type, the 'weird loner' type who's non-verbal and asocial? A very patient praying mantis, who takes the bugs outside when they're in and wants to show others the cool little creatures? To BE a bug?

Breakdown, who's willingly tied himself down to who he immediately claimed as his kid... his kids now? He... let's Spitfire decide for herself if she wants to be that but... Aftermath calls him 'old man', that's... that's what humans call their 'dad' right? They both make his spark ache and he's growing more and more confused at why he doesn't just run, take to the streets and drive away where his spark can be free again. But the idea sends his systems into a stronger more whole-body version of the feeling, shooting through his chest down through his arms and legs, in ways that feel familiar but... warmer than with any of the Stunticons.

Bumblebee, who was more or less stuck with the Maltobots as Optimus changed his mission, having gotten to actually learn from them as they learnt from him; he knows the feeling, he knows it strongly. And if they get to hang out more now that they aren't actively fighting each other - though I guess it's still a mutual 'hiding from the government' thing isn't it - they might get to talking about it.

"Yeah, that's just classic worry for you." "Bee, I KNOW what worry feels like, we've been at war for Primus knows how long!" He hated the way it sounded like Bumblebee was brushing him off, emphasised with waving of his hand like he was dusting his plating. If his 'cool' slipped well, the 'Bot didn't press him on it. "Always worrying about dying, worrying about energon. Pit! Worried about shrapnel to the wheels, can't keep beating you in races if my tires blow." Maybe not the best thing to bring up considering... "This is different." It has to be, because he knows he worried about the Stunticons, and they were his family. But... "Breakdown," When did he look away? Breakdown turned back to face Bee, "it's worry FOR them. It's... it's a worry because you care? I care about the Maltos, for the humans AND the terrans, and... I feel worried about them?" He can't help it, Breakdown laughs. A quiet chuckle really, turned snickers as Bumblebee's expressions twist. "HEY! What's so funny about that!?" Just in time to feel a fist beat against his shoulder - right on that afformentioned wheel, hah - even though his optics are narrowed and dentae bared, Bee vents out a laugh he tried and failed to hide. "Mr Never-Settle-Down hiding some wisdom I missed?" He squints at the name but doesn't let that stop his smirk. "Hah, come on Bee, you said it like you were such an expert before! But look who's confused now, right? Because 'classic worry' is so hard to explain." Bumblebee shoves against Breakdown's chassis, venting out another huff. "Okay sure, I'm not perfect at explaining it but!" "You care about them, these new... shard-spark terrans?" Aftermath, Spitfire, almost instantly that burst of 'classic worry' runs his systems wild. "I'm not an expert, so don't quote me on anything but..." He offered up his hand, beckoning for Breakdown to take it in one bold move. "I can help with what I do know, yeah? You've got one handful of kids don't you." With another pulse of his spark, the 'classic worry' - that 'worry FOR them' emotion - shivers down his wires and back up to his chest. Wordlessly, Breakdown takes up the offer with a small quick nod of acknowledgement, and feels the residual tingle simmer. It's not the same feeling with the Stunticons, this kind of worry but... maybe that's a good thing. "Good talk, Feelings-Expert, now why don't I the Winning-Expert take you up on that race?"

Can you tell I hate the first episode of season 2b/3?

Get prepared for a mood shift, we'll be talking about GHOST again!

Obviously because GHOST going defunct and maybe so suddenly it's hard for anyone to corral it under control of the next in rank, it IS an entire organisation after all, there would be quite a few lingering resources within the building itself that the government may be interested in let alone the mecha that would be at a disadvantage to those who would access such resources. Mind control technology and research (definitely don't want the government having that), anti-cybertronian weapons and restraining tools, the fucking GHOST harddrives that were placed in the fucking public recycle centre A YEAR AFTER GHOST FUCKED OFF AND DIED!? Yep that's all getting scavenged, at least as best as they can be while the government is extracting as much resources they can without needing to be sneaky about it.

Hah, considering the lows GHOST is willing to go, one such section - another where the cybertronians can't seem to access one way or another - ends up leading to a morgue of cybertronians, Autobot AND Decepticon. Some of course were known casualties, others are now confirmed dead rather than missing, but missing is an apt term. Missing limbs, missing parts, missing heads. Open chests, open sparks, open processors. Cybertronians were only machines to GHOST, only machines to Mandroid, only machines to manipulate and not even mind control... reprogram would be the term more accurate.

With a well of supply for how cybertronian brains may work, of course someone could eventually slap a remote control onto them and pilot them like a puppet on strings, and it's something something pretty horrific yada yada robot corpse desecration is like nothing on human TV screens.

Hmm... as I said I did like that Prowl acknowledge that hey maybe kids shouldn't get involved with war (even if it might've been framed as 'are we sure children are capable of doing adult responsibilities), so I wonder if I should continue with what my July 28th notes say about him or not... hmm...

Okay! MAYBE! I think it could work?

ANYWAY! Villain Prowl who is a stickler for the rules, villainous only in the way a lawmaker is (read: maker) and collaborating with the government to work cybertronians into the system so that they may be apart of the judicial system, which uh fittingly reflects the quintesson motivation and probably would be really cool to parallel the two. Prowl finds out about human war crimes and goes 'hoo boy some if not a whole fucking many of these laws have been violated by the cybertronian war' and resolves to fix it, but under American government cannot do anything official nor fair while the law only considers humanity. Something something 'cybertronians shouldn't be held to human standard law' yada yada 'so you think yourself above it!?'

Maybe not VILLAIN Prowl per say, more antagonist Prowl who wants to atone for the crimes committed on Earth's surface and give back justice to the people but doing so in the only way he knows how, like a cop. Or at least like a second in command/high ranking Autobot commander and advisor, doing his 'due diligence' to make sure that justice is served and that crimes are punished, which I mean ACAB and all he's still a bastard about it by doing it AS FUCKING SOON as GHOST collapses or at least working actively after the fact but :P

Hah and yeah, Prowl would be stiff lipped about children engaging in conflict. For all the bastard cops that oh so value the punishment part of crime fighting, there are laws in other areas (especially around war) that are to the benefit of the innocent. It's just that war crimes seem to really be listed down after the war has official come to an end and the cybertronian war is still in armistice as of now, in due part because Prowl has committed to atoning NOW of all times :P

This was a bit of a mess, I hope you derive some enjoyment out of this

[cityzenshark]

Things to fix in Earthspark part 3

Nightshade's sudden intelligence

Character traits and their lack of relevance

Lack of character flaws

These are my personal takes, no hard feelings

1. Nightshade's unexplained sudden intelligence.

In "Hashtag: Oops", Hashtag gets her alt mode and discovers her (possible Outlier) ability to hack into the intranet systems without needing a hardwire connection. In the same episode, Nightshade makes the dugout by themselves that consists of a super computer and fancy systems.

Where and who does Nightshade learn from to build all those? Wheeljack? They never met him until "Disarmed". Tarantulas? They meet on the next episode. Alex? Possibly, yet there are no scenes or dialogues. The internet? The farm has bad wifi, it's been reminded several times. Nightshade is more interested in books than the internet.

It took Hashtag at least one whole episode to learn about her ability and this naturally leads her to learn about tech. But Nightshade's knowledge came out of nowhere.

Like I said in the first part of this post, involve Wheeljack and the parents in making the dugout. From there, we could see Nightshade learning from Wheeljack first and later more from Tarantulas.

Have Nightshade feel overwhelmed by their own intelligence that they struggle to understand themselves which is why they refuse to have an alt mode. Now that's a start to their character arc.

2. The lack of relevance of certain characters and their traits.

Alex is a professor (right?) in Cybertronian history and culture yet this is only shown in the pilot episode and no more. This went over my head and I thought he was a stay-at-home husband throughout the whole season. The lack of show of this makes his trait irrelevant to be honest.

Tarantulas promised to help the family, didn't he? Where is he when they need all the help in the finale? They shouldn't have replaced him with Soundwave. The latter has nothing to do with the Maltos.

Wheeljack should've had the most involvement with the Maltos next to Bee. Besides Twitch and the dugout, he should be their defacto medic. Have him help the Terrans understand their biology (seriously, the show never considered discussing that at all). Have him study the Emberstone water. He's a scientist - come on now.

Arcee. Just Arcee. Why is she even in Season 1? She plays no important role in it until the finale where she and Wheeljack block the Terrans path. I expected a little bit more from her...

Elita should be Jawbreaker's mentor, not Grimlock. Even though JB is a dinobot like Grim, Elita is the one who taught him about finding the right alt mode. Not to mention Grim is suffering from very recent PTSD - he could've killed JB by accident.

Show Elita together with Optimus more. She's the Second in Command but Megatron is constantly with OP, I forgot he's not OP's second.

3. Lack of character flaws. I'm focusing on the main characters here.

This is a HUGE problem in children's shows nowadays. Character flaws are what makes progress feel earned and have meaning. Everyone has something they dislike about the people they love. It's normal.

The twins are proven to be impulsive and short tempered but the difference of how their personality affects their temper is blurry.

Have Thrash be the angrier twin since he's the big brother. He's the one who jumps into conclusions, throwing assumptions everywhere. The episode with Swindle should've concreted his distrust towards Decepticons/new people. Meanwhile Twitch is more levelheaded and open minded to contrast with Thrash.

The triplets have confidence issues. Nightshade and Hashtag with their intelligence & abilities, and Jawbreaker with his reaction. This is proven when the kids get stuck in the dugout because Nightshade & Hashtag don't plan the security out properly.

Jawbreaker is the only Terran whose flaw is shown well. I don't know why people don't like it. JB feels left behind, of course he'd overreact and get overconfident when he finally got his alt mode.

Make Nightshade eccentric by having them mimic their book's main character. Children tend to do that, I know I did. After 'Disarmed', their siblings get annoyed and tell them to cut it out, further signifying the Terrans' rocky emotional state due to their missing link.

Hashtag is the embodiment of 2010's internet energy which is perfect to make her trust the internet too much. It could also add "internet info vs books info" banter between her and NS.

Robby should act like an actual 14 year old. (He acts like 10 - 12 imo.) Kind of an emo, easily annoyed, visibly irate of his siblings' constant emotional presence. Have him wish the cybersleeves are gone. Those things do not look comfortable.

Like Robby, Mo should feel weirded out by the emotional link, the cybersleeves, and the Terrans occasionally but not as much as Robby. Other than that, she acts like a nine year old with high emotional intelligence.

Writers should avoid treating official media as their personal fanfiction.

[seehowsupplethespineis]

Forgotten Dream

(Megop Week 2022, Day 3: Laughter/No Escape)

(Note: Set during the TFP Orion Pax arc.)

(Warnings: None)

Megatron knew he didn’t need to be here. In fact, with the hunt for the Iacon relics now fully underway, it behooved him to remain on the Bridge as overseer. His troops felt the same way, as evidenced by the curious stares that had bored into him as he left the Bridge. Only Soundwave had understood. If the intelligence officer disapproved, he’d said nothing. Not that his disapproval would have stopped Megatron; he couldn’t even stop himself.

Even the Vehicons stationed outside the energon storage room side-eyed him. Let them. It wasn’t as if they could protest without fear of his wrath (which he would enact swiftly if it came down to it).

I am their leader. They will not challenge me.

The heavy metal doors before him opened. His steely resolve wavered - just briefly - as Orion turned to face him. Not Optimus. Orion Pax.

“Lord Megatron,” Orion greeted him formally. Do not call me that, he wanted to say, To you, I was always Megatronus.

“Orion,” Megatron instead said, “How goes your assignment?”

“Rather slowly, as I mentioned before,” Orion responded with a frown. His brows drew together. They weren’t nearly as weighted as Optimus’s were. Even the downturn of his mouth was less defined. There was no hint of the Prime that he had been mere days ago. Megatron found himself reeling from the change.

Orion continued to speak, and Megatron listened, “I have not managed to decode any more of the artifact locations,” he glanced sheepishly up at the Decepticon leader, “I suppose you wish you’d found another long lost archivist.”

He smiled slightly. Megatron drew himself up, unsure how to respond. If he stretched his memories back to all those cycles ago, he could recall that this was how they’d used to interact. This easy repertoire they’d shared felt like a forgotten dream that had been shrouded by nightmare after nightmare. His fists clenched unconsciously. After all that had happened, how could he possibly still feel this way about Orion? It defied all reason, and yet Orion stood there, confused by Megatron’s silence, his blue eyes wide and concerned, and all Megatron wanted to do was sweep him up in his arms and never let go.

“Megatr- Lord Megatron?” Orion prompted. Megatron knew he’d been about to say “Megatronus,” and he almost begged him to finish.

“No, Orion,” he said quietly, “I am glad that you are here…This is how it always should have been.”

Orion glanced away, though not before Megatron saw the beam that lit up his whole face, that smile that he’d assumed he’d never see again.

“I am flattered,” Orion replied softly.

Megatron knew he had to regain control of himself.

“That does not mean you can shirk your duties,” The warning felt hollow to his audial sensors but he continued anyway, “Do not assume you have special privilege as a result of our...shared history.”

He turned quickly to leave. Before he could even take a step, every joint in his body froze up. His red optics widened and he couldn’t resist the need to spin back around, because Orion was laughing. Head dipped forward, the archivist’s shoulders shook as a soft chuckle rattled his frame. His smile was wide and unabashed and his optics closed briefly from the force of it. Suddenly, Megatron found himself dreaming again. They were sitting atop the Iacon Hall of Records, Orion leaning into him, that same laughter passing from him to Megatronus.

“You cannot say such things about Alpha Trion,” the archivist playfully scolded, “He was only looking out for me.”

“Well, he doesn’t have to,” Megatronus said, laughter dying down slightly, “You have me now.”

“I have you now,” Orion repeated with a contented chuckle, “We have each other, do we not?”

“Always.”

Their laughter subsided into a comfortable silence. Iacon faded away until they were again aboard the Nemesis. Orion’s optics shone as he spoke.

“As you command, Lord Megatron.”

For a moment, Megatron pondered something he hadn’t thought about in ages. But it was only for a moment. Seizing control of himself, the Decepticon leader left without looking back.

You fool, He paused outside the door, optics squeezed shut, It won’t last.

Finally able to lift leaden feet, he marched forward, brushing by the Vehicon troopers, whose questions fell on deaf receptors. It will never last.

When he came upon a deserted hallway, he sagged against the wall.

I hate you, Optimus Prime. His whole frame quivered with rage, I hate you.

[polyhexian]

Hi I know basically nothing about Transformers HOWEVER Id like to join in the fun so,, whoever you wanna babble about 5 headcannons for, go for it!

OOH let me just give 5 of my fave headcanons i havent mentioned yet

1. After the Fort Max incident on the LL1, for which Rewind1 was present, he searched his database for Whirl to confirm if his story was true or not and found out that it was. old news articles about whirls store opening, pictures of him with a face. rewind1 sympathized with him and when Tailgate asked if he could come to movie night, rewind agreed. They never became especially close or anything, but Rewind1 started liking him well enough, especially when he realized how nuanced Whirl’s opinions on obscure films is. Rewind2, however, is a different story. on the LL2, Animus doesn’t die. he’s whirl’s roommate, and he used to work on Kimia with rewind and chromedome on the ethics board. Rewind resents animus for allowing a lot of the extremely ethically questionable things cd and bs were up  to on kimia and because animus and Whirl are now hanging out, rewind starts resenting whirl too. When rewind2 joins the LL1, Whirl tries to buddy buddy with him like he did with Rewind1, only to be immediately shut down. he’s no longer invited to movie night. he’s really hurt about it, even if he doesn’t show it. Rewind2 doesn’t even realize this.

2. After the war ended and before they left on the Lost Light, Drift was staying in temporary housing on Cybertron. he just so happened to be in the same complex as Pipes. Most people distrusted ex-decepticon drift, and when someone warned Pipes to avoid him, pipes took that to mean drift doesnt have many friends and could use some. he showed up at drifts door and insisted on hanging out. drift and pipes have been friends ever since, and drift really appreciates the normal, casual friendship he has with pipes, a kind of relationship hes never actually had before. pipes death as a result of overlord, something he was involved in, absolutely devastated him.

3. Brainstorm lied about only being a Decepticon to research for his time machine. he was a decepticon true believer, once, an MTO that resented the Autobots that made him. It wasn’t long before he grew to hate the Decepticons, too, but by then he realized that he could use his duplicitous status for his own benefit.

4. The scraplet sparkling was not actually considered especially dangerous, even at the time Velocity pulled it out of Whirl’s chest. It was intelligent enough to understand the danger it was in going into mauler territory- when Velocity pulled Whirl out of stasis she just talked to the scraplets and told them that she would be able to synthesize food for it and no one would hurt it if it would be willing to go into quarantine, and it figured that this was a perfectly good deal. its not a malicious creature, just a hungry one that prefers not to be hunted. its only when Getaway tossed it into the oil reservoir and started starving it that it started getting violent- because it didnt have a choice. it only got to eat when Getaway threw people into the oil. it was very relieved to see Whirl and know finally someone was here that would help them. thats why getaways death was particularly brutal- the scraplets truly hated him for caging them like an animal and starving them. 

5. The thing Chromedome attacked Prowl over- the secret prowl was threatening to tell Rewind? the secret was the new institute. prowl was threatening to tell Rewind that chromedome did shadowplay, lobotomies, not just readings. Prowl assumed that Chromedome had never told him, that Rewind would have left him if he’d known, because Prowl thinks his relationship with Chromedome is the only real one. 

[tea-mew96]

An Analysis of Armada Starscream’s Character Arc

So after reading @baebeyza‘s answer to an ask here, I decided I wanted to make a separate post sharing my view on some of the points made there, mainly the ones taking about Starscream’s character arc. Make sure to read that original post before going through this in order for this anything below to make sense. This is all my personal interpretation btw, so feel free to agree or disagree as much as you want. Also, spoilers for Transformers Armada.

For starters, I’m of the belief that Armada is a mess in regards to writing up until the Unicron Battles act of the show, but Starscream’s arc was arguably one of the better parts of Armada IMO. Plus he’s one of my fave characters in the show. Thus, I’m going to analyze and provide my perspective on some of the things mentioned in the original post. 

1.) The fight between Megatron and Starscream in “Rebellion”. If you thought the fight between these two in this episode felt contrived, that’s because in-universe it kinda was. Remember Sideways? He was manipulating both Megatron and Starscream throughout that entire episode in order to get those two to fight to the death. He was successful in getting the fight to happen, but there was no death of one of the bots like he had hoped would happen.

2.) Thrust and Megatron’s plan in “Sacrifice”. It’s true that Starscream had ownership of the Star Saber when the Decepticons finally got it their hands on it. That is, until Megatron had his Minicon Leader-1 trick him into attacking Demolisher with the sword in “Conspiracy”. The end-result was everyone agreeing that only Megatron should be allowed to wield the Star Saber, questioning Starscream’s competence. Ever since then, Megatron was the one in charge of the sword.

So why didn’t he want Starscream to have the sword? Simple: Megatron is an arrogant dick who is afraid of Starscream. Megatron sees Starscream’s confidence as a threat to his status as supreme Decepticon leader, and Starscream challenging him to that fight in “Rebellion” (despite his emotions being manipulated by Sideways in order to do it) is evidence of that fear being somewhat founded in Megatron’s eyes.

As for Thrust, he’s also quite arrogant, thinking of himself as the “best tactician”. Because of his perceived high-intelligence and ability to think of “great strategies”, Thrust believes that he’s better than any other Decepticon…including Starscream. The fact that someone so “below him” has the title of “second in command” doesn’t sit well with Thrust.

Basically, what you end up with are two arrogant people who either don’t like and/or fear Starscream.

The plan that Thrust makes is aimed to retrieve the Requiem Blaster, a powerful weapon which is currently back at the Autobot base. If they want a chance of breaking in, they’re going to have to lure as many Autobots as they can out of the base. In other words, they need a distraction. And because of their combined distaste for Starscream, Megatron and Thrust decide that he is the one that should be the distraction. I’m also guessing another reason to keep him in the dark was to keep the reaction as convincing to the Autobots as possible; sometimes being informed on the twist causes a less-convincing performance, and a convincing disguise was an important thing the plan needed in order for it to work. Thrust does imply that Megatron would have to give up the Star Saber for a time in order to ensure the retrival of the Requiem Blaster, which Megatron agrees to. Starscream only got the Star Saber in this situation because of that little tradeoff to make the plan work: distract the Autobots with the opportunity of getting the Star Saber back while the Decepticons invaded their base and grabbed the Requiem Blaster. And the mission does end up being a success.

This plan was definitely a gamble, as they could’ve easily lost the Star Saber and the chance to grab the Requiem Blaster, but it was one that worked in their favor, so all’s well that ends well. Who cares how Starscream feels about not being informed? Megatron and Thrust sure didn’t.

3.) Starscream, Alexis, and Sympathy

I’m also going to argue that while the messy writing can make it difficult to feel bad for Starscream, that doesn’t mean the potential to isn’t there. I personally have a lot of sympathy for him, even if his story wasn’t executed as well as it could’ve.

“Rebellion” and Thrust’s plan in “Sacrifice” are both driving forces for Starscream to join the Autobots, and a justifiable one IMO.

In “Rebellion”, Starscream gets beaten by Megatron for…no reason. Starscream followed Megatron’s orders exactly as he wanted. But because they lost the previous battle and Megatron can’t admit to being wrong, he blames the loss on Starscream anyway. Sideways says in-show that Megatron beating up Starscream for his own loss was absurd. And the abuse only stops when Demolisher blasts his way in and intervenes.

“Sacrifice” only furthers this mistreatment of Starscream, being used as a punching bag for the plan and getting abandoned without being informed about what was going to happen. This combined with the multiple times he’s been belittled by both Megatron and Thrust sends him over the edge, attacking everyone in the base when he gets back and eventually going to the Autobots for refuge and help to get revenge.

When Starscream arrives, the Autobots-especially Hot Shot-are reluctant to have a Decepticon join the folds so little after their dear friend Smokescreen almost dying by their hand. Hot Shot in particular is still hurt over Sideways’ betrayal. I’d argue those facts make for valid and understandable concerns, even if it results in some drama.

Regardless of their hesitance, almost everyone knows and agrees that having Starscream go back to the Decepticon base after attacking everyone there wasn’t going to end well for him. Thus, Optimus orders that they will let Starscream join their ranks (he’s a good dad).

Alexis was one of the first to suggest that Starscream join, and one of the first to attempt to get him to open up to cooperation with the team, probably because she saw potential in having him as an ally like Optimus did. Towards the end of the episode “Mars”, Alexis congratulates Starscream on a job well-done with getting the Minicon Firebot to join their side (praise ain’t something Starscream receives a lot of). Starscream scoffs and says he’s only on their side to defeat Megatron, but he leaves behind a moon rock, something that the kids had asked Jetfire and Starscream for earlier before going on a mission to Mars. I agree with Alexis in her conclusion that this is evidence of Starscream starting to change for the better. In the next episode “Crack”, the kids award Starscream for his nice gift by throwing him a surprise party and gifting him a chamois. What stands out to me about this scene is that Starscream has no idea how to react. He’s confused because he’s not used to receiving many positive words of praise from his former Decepticon peers, much less a present. 

He does push away help and positivity from the Autobots and the kids (to unintentionally hilarious degrees at times), but I think that’s partly due to the kind of impact his experiences with Megatron have had on his mind. He wants approval and acceptance, but once he starts getting it he rejects it. This is merely speculation from a psychological perspective, but I think Starscream has a hard time getting used to receiving kindness because whether consciously or subconsciously, he doesn’t believe he deserves it. The belittlement and mistreatment by Megatron has made him believe otherwise, and/or that every positive acknowledgement received always comes with a catch later on.

Yes, Starscream does return to the Decepticon fold later in “Crack” when Thrust convinces him that he has a better chance to get revenge on Megatron by coming back and conspiring with Thrust. But his short time with the Autobots and kids did impact him. He was extremely hesitant to fire the Hydra Cannon at Earth in “Threaten” and “Crisis” (even though he fires the cannon anyway after said hesitation), regretted the death of Optimus in “Remorse”, saved the kids from being killed by the Requiem Blaster (now in the hands of Thrust) in “Drift”,  and stays behind to help Alexis retrieve her necklace safely (made from the moon rock Starscream gave the kids) in “Portent”. Starscream shows even after leaving that he has started to learn a little bit about compassion.

During the show, Starscream becomes a person who isn’t quite sure whom he should side with, as his personal goals contradict the overall goals of both sides. And how does his story end? He gets killed by Unicron, trying to convince Megatron (technically Galvatron now, but whatever) that Unicron is a real threat and that he needs to ally with Optimus and his team to defeat him. And his final words? Telling Megatron that he was a dick to him and that Optimus treated him better in that short time period than Megatron ever did.

Look, I get it. Armada’s a mess of storytelling. I wish there was more build up to Starscream defecting to the Autobots and coming back to the Decepticon fold. But we still got a pretty descent arc in the end, even if it could’ve been done better. I can’t make anyone feel sympathy for Starscream, but I refuse to deny that his story didn’t impact me or many others.

Starscream’s arc to me is the story of an abused bot trying to find his place in the world and not truly finding it in the end. It’s the story of a bot who dedicated every fiber of his being to serving his leader and getting nothing but shit in return. I feel bad for Starscream; he deserved so, so much better than what he got.

The thing about that chamois scene is that it had a longer impact on Starscream than the episode initially implied, as I mentioned in the examples above. I’m sure exchanging of gifts probably won’t mean much to someone who is used to getting and giving them. But to a bot who’s been abused by Megatron like Starscream was? That’s a fucking revelation. That’s new. That challenges his viewpoint of the world around him. If it didn’t, he wouldn’t have had second thoughts about firing the Hydra Cannon. He wouldn’t of saved the kids, he wouldn’t have helped Alexis with the necklace. He wouldn’t of helped Optimus convince Megatron to join forces and defeat Unicron.

Alexis was a firm believer that Starscream could be a better person and by extension get onto a path of recovery by showing him small acts of compassion and kindness at a time and celebrating those small victories of improvement. She wanted to be his friend because she recognized the potential he had. She recognized that Starscream needed support, needed a friend, deserved respect. That’s something he never got much of if any during his times as a Decepticon. 

TL;DR Starscream’s character arc in Armada ain’t perfect but it’s still one of the best stories in the show that can impact you and I will forever stan him.

[voidwingsprime]

The Mecha of Flock Aegis aka Meet the Cast

Since I got so many new followers and Skywarp has a close-knit flock, here’s some of them. Yes, this is a multi-muse blog.

Art by @thenamesblurrito​

Long post under readmore

Note on pronouns: Rogue Seeker mecha are nonbinary/alien-gendered, and pronouns are tied to trimorphic manufacturing roles/frame-types/codelines/ranks. When dealing with humans, they default to she/her. They/them is used primarily for multi-body/drone networked persons like Hexbolt.

Skywarp - sha/shi/shiself - refsheet (spoilers)

Second-In-Command of the Aegis, second wing to Thundercracker. Ex-decepticon.

As a member of the the Aegian Command Trine and an Elder Munidor, Skywarp takes shi duties seriously. Each and every mecha on shi ship is shi responsibility and Skywarp does shi best on making sure they are well cared for.

As a Munidor, Skywarp acts as mix of medic, engineer, mechanic, and midwife. Making sure young newbuilds on the ship are sparked into fresh working frames.

In shi free time, Skywarp is a massive troll. Sha is fond of screaming HEWWWWWOOOOO when interacting with humans and loves to record shiself pushing Starscream and Soundwave down the stairs when they annoy shi. These videos are released on Sparktreon: a patreon-like website where fleshies can subscribe and send Skywarp's flock money to see the latest nature documentaries on the everyday life of Cybertronians.

In battle and when growing fresh parts, Skywarp is a feral sadistic hunter.

Thundercracker - yre/yres/yres-self - 200 feet long (? idk, lengths are hard) - refsheet (spoilers) Winglord of the ship Aegis. Ex-decepticon and deserter.

Joined the Aegis with Skywarp as refugees, and they later earned the right to be the Command Trine. (Both co-rule with their creations cycling in as their Third Wing: Slipstream, Shadowrun, Nightstrike, and Misfire)

Unlike Starscream's high-strung dramatics and Skywarp's feral trolling, Thundercracker is a lot more levelheaded. As Winglord of Ship Aegis, Thundercracker is the emissary to United Nations.

In yres free time, Thundercracker writes screenplays, watches movies, games, listens to podcasts, watches SNAP, attends therapy and plays with yres therapy dog, Buster. TC also has a fine collection of alien life forms dating back to when yres did xenobiology with Skyfire and is looking forward to attaining more via Hexbolt and the United Nations.

When angry, Thundercracker's engines scream and no one else can get a word in. OR TC will just pick up the irritating mech, knock them out with a flick to the helm and then shove them inside of yrenself until they behave.

In battle, yre sonic cannons break glass, shatter metal, and cause other mecha to blue-screen.

Starscream - kha/khyr/khyr-self - 63 feet tall.

Aka asshole jet, rooster asshat, prick plane, etc by Willam Lennox.

The ex-Winglord of the Nemesis and former second in command of the former decepticon faction, Screamer has fallen from grace. Nuked to pieces by humanity three hundred years prior to the start of Rogue Seeker, Starscream was left for dead. Kha was later revived by a bored Hexbolt who was in need of a science project to stay alive.

With khyr former comrades dead and Megatron permanently deactivated, Starscream grieves the lost of khyr old flock but relishes being free of khyr former Lord. After waking up in the old NEST base nest to the downed ship of the Nemesis, Screamer spent khyr time between annoying investigating the humans and untangling the natal locks and programming Soundwave left in their creations.

Starscream now spends khyr time between NEST base and the ship Aegis, partnered with Hexbolt in their study of xenobiology. Relations between khyr trine members: Skywarp and Thundercracker are strained but slowly healing.  Despises Soundwave and considers William Lennox a lovely companion animal.

Soundwave - ze/zir/zir-self - 33 feet tall.

During the final battle, between Decepticons and the Autobot Hives, Soundwave bridged zirself over there. But Humanity betrayed Cybertronians and dropped nuclear bombs on both sides. Before ze could emerge from the bridge, the nukes fell and Soundwave got trapped in the Shadowzone for three hundred long years.

Ze has emerged into a world where the Decepticons are wiped out, zir Endura is dead, and zir creations are traumatized and wary after Soundwave worked so hard to keep them alive.

Widowed and unstable with grief, Soundwave reluctantly courts Skywarp out of belief they are one of two last elder Voidwings in existence. Plus it pisses off Starscream, which is always a plus.  Enemies to Co-Parents.

Dr.Hexbolt - they/them/them-self - Organic Intelligence of Nest Base - Uploaded Human - Drone Swarm - Xenobiologist

Three centuries prior and before the bombs fell, Soundwave was Decepticon PR, educating humanity on the crimes of the Autobots.  With zir creations in stasis pods to keep them safe from the war, Soundwave virtually adopted a few lonely young humans over the Internet to keep zir company.  (sending advice, teaching over video/text/calls, sending money, gaming, etc)

Hexbolt was one of these humans. Orphaned three times, Hexbolt survived the bombings, and later was drafted with their “adopted siblings” to remote pilot empty Cybertronian frames to clean up surviving Autobot hives.

Three centuries and several Ph.Ds later, Hexbolt survives as a digital copy of their original self. Said copy controls a network of drone bodies, of which several are mechframes. One of the oldest humans in existence, Hex spends their time crunching data, running simulations on Cybertronian xenobiology, aiding Search and Rescue during natural disasters, and stress-eating in their human replicant/gargoyle  frame.

They revived Starscream, in the hopes that reviving khyr, would lead to repairing the downed Nemesis.  (Human replicant face shown below, minus antennae. Art sourced from this character maker: https://www.dolldivine.com/cyberpunk.php)

William Lennox - he/his/him-self - Commander of the NEST base.

While Hexbolt runs the network and electronics of NEST, William Lennox handles the human end of things. Centuries of no xenomech activity means, NEST has become Siberia, where the UN sends its eccentric peacekeepers. It’s mostly become backup natural disaster relief, and only the memories of Uploads keep the UN from mothballing NEST. Nothing to do except keep a half-mad OI company in their futile attempts to wake up Starscream.

Until that attempt succeeds and Willam has to deal with a walking talking 63-foot headache named Starscream. Who later then finds the dreaded Soundwave, whose been MIA for 3 centuries.

With balls of steel, William Lennox has to keep NEST’ new cybertronian guests sane and non-hostile while dealing with Hexbolt freaking out from the return of their adopted parent.

[askvectorprime]

Dear Vector Prime, In the Transformers × Evangelion universe, was the intervention of the Autobots enough to prevent the success of the Human Instrumentality Project (AKA Third Impact)? And did they ever meet Shinji (the pilot of Evangelion Unit-01)?

Dear Angelic Asker,

I do recall the universe you are referring to. Paradoxically, it came into existence as a result of proceedings within itself, when a powerful Anti-A.T. Field briefly broke down the veil separating the Multiverse from the wider Omniverse. I was able to perceive events there up to that point, but soon after the Field dissipated my awareness of it began to cloud. Nonetheless, I will relay to you what I saw.

Following the defeat of the Starscream-possessed Third Angel at the hands of Optimus Prime, the Autobots chose to establish a greater presence on Earth, working more closely with NERV to defend Tokyo-3. Research into Prime's mysterious upgraded form yielded fruit after the Fifth Angel caused immense thermal damage to Unit-00, prompting NERV to rebuild the Evangelion's superstructure using the knowledge gained. The upgraded Unit-00, now able to convert into a truck just like Optimus Prime, also gained impressive mass-shifting capabilities, allowing it to change the sizes of its individual body parts at a whim. These advancements were quickly replicated with Unit-01 and Unit-02, and proved most useful in the battles against the Angels.

Once the angels were defeated, SEELE sought to bring about Human Instrumentality—but with the Lance of Longinus stranded on the moon, there was only one medium remaining with which to begin Third Impact: the Autobot Matrix of Leadership. After a failed hacking attempt of the Teletraan/Magi networked intelligence, SEELE instead resorted to more duplicitous means, fabricating evidence that NERV was planning to begin Third Impact themselves, which they passed to the one government agency with the military strength to rival NERV's.

The sounds of gunfire and the berserker cry "G.I. Joe!" soon filled the GeoFront. Hundreds of NERV operatives, including noncombatants, were slaughtered by America's elite special mission force—but this would prove to be barely a drop in the ocean. Although the Autobots refused to counterattack against the humans, the Evangelions had no such compunctions, and were eventually able to wipe out G.I. Joe.

It all came tumbling down when SEELE revealed their final contingency: an alliance brokered with the Decepticons. Galvatron himself tore the Matrix from Prime's chest, thus beginning Third Impact. Every living soul on Earth was transmuted into pure Energon, and all became one.

I do not know of this "Shinji" of which you speak. The name of Evangelion Unit 01's pilot was Spike. In what little time they shared together, Optimus Prime became the father he never had, and I think that was what saved him.

[shatteredglassanimated]

Shattered Glass Animated Season 1 Episode 3 - Transform and Rise Up!, Part 3

The Decepticons get to know their new allies a little more, but introductions are cut short when they discover they were not the only Cybertronians who crashed on earth and Overlord Sumdac is far from done with the Resistance...

“Failures! The whole lot of them!” Sumdac snarled, hauling his wrench at the wall next to the unfazed secretary-bot who had just reported to him. That was perhaps the only downside to having a non-human assistant, Sumdac thought. Machines might be more reliable, but they also lacked the satisfying utter fear in their eyes. They would not flinch, no matter how much his wrath flared up and that irked him. Everything he owned ought to fear him. Oh well. At least the robots were obedient. Not like that resistance-scum that had yet again managed to elude him. How they’d managed to somehow completely destroy that techno-organic abomination that some of his finest scientists had failed to contain or control was completely beside him. He’d been so sure that had them this time! So sure he had retreated to his laboratory for two days and had ordered the secretary-bot not to disturb him until his return. Clearly they’d had help. Perhaps even from the inside? Now here was something to consider. The more he thought about it, the more it made sense. The high-tech weaponry, advanced enough to rival his toughest police-drones. The way his camera-bots seemed to mysteriously malfunction whenever a fight ensued between the resistance fighters and his own forces. Sumdac stroked his chin in thought. Yes, it seemed like the only logical conclusion. But who? It had to be someone high up, a human, obviously, intelligent enough to counter-engineer Sumdac-drones. Perhaps-

The comm on his desk sprang to life, interrupting his thought process. Sumdac growled and brought his fist down on the answer button, activating the small monitor. Seeing just who it was that had called him did nothing to improve his mood. A sturdy blond man with a much too eager look in his eye and a shiny badge pinned to his shirt. “What is it, Captain Fanzone?” Sumdac asked, in a tone that would have made a snow storm feel warm. “I am quite busy.” “Good morning, Overlord Sumdac,” Fanzone chattered giddily, either ignoring or not noticing his employers foul mood. “Me and the crew did a bit of clean-up in downtown, y’know, bringing back the drones that got shattered before the scavengers got to ‘em. We found a camera-bot and retrieved it’s footage - which is crispy clean, by the way. You couldn’t find a human making pictures like that in that situation! This is why I love machines-” “What did the footage show?” Sumdac interrupted, before Fanzone was able to descend into one of his unbearable gushing fits. He’d appreciated the man’s complete and utter loyalty and devotion to all things technological back when he’d hired him as his chief of police, but after soon thirty years of listening to his endless drivel, Sumdac wondered if perhaps he should have gone through with making his personal police force a hundred percent non-organic. At least robots had an off-switch. “Right, right! Well, I wouldn’t believe it if I hadn’t just seen it myself, to be honest I still don’t believe it. It’s amazin’, it’s groundbreakin’, it’s-” “Just send me the footage,” Sumdac groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose. He felt a headache coming up. “Right away, sir!” A file popped up on his computer and Sumdac send the data over to the flat-screen facing his desk. As much as Fanzone liked to overstate, he had been right about the quality of the material the camera-bot had carried. The picture was sharp as could be. And what it showed raised Sumdac’s interest. Four gigantic robots, apparently able to transform into flying vehicles at will battled with his monster, each displaying a different set of skill and powers. The footage cut off when one of the beasts’ tentacles grabbed and crushed it in mid-air, but Sumdac had seen enough. He’d been right after all. The resistance had had help. Help from above. No wonder they had disabled his cameras. If he’d discovered their little secret earlier...although ‘little’ was perhaps not an apt descriptor for it. A sense of nostalgia overcame him as he thought back to that fateful evening fifty years ago. At that time he’d thought of his find as a once in a life-time occurrence. He wasn’t particularly angry to be proven wrong, though. Without knowing it, the resistance had possibly handed him just what he needed to sniff them out. He turned to switch on his computer, went through some files until he found what he was searching for, then contacted Fanzone again. “I am about to send you a probe of an energy signature. Do not attempt to find out what it belongs to, it is extremely rare and way over your head. You will feed it to a regiment of your police drones. And then you will dispatch them and let them search.” “So we’ve got a lead, sir?” Fanzone asked. Sumdac smirked. “Indeed we have. Tell the drones they have orders to take any robots they find and bring them to me, undamaged. And if they find any humans accompanying them, they are authorized to use lethal force.” ______________________________________________________________ A lean, great figure, raised it’s hand away from it’s head and left it’s hiding place outside the Terrordrome’s main tower to drop down onto and automated aircraft and onto the street. Transforming into a standard motorcycle and racing towards Downtown. ______________________________________________________________

Meanwhile, in an old abandoned factory on the outskirts of Detroit, the resistance in question were up to face another day. It had been a rather quiet two days since the incident and they’d gotten to know each other a little better. Currently, Amicable Archer had settled himself on Blitzwing’s shoulder and was rather enthusiastically explaining all the things that placed a bow above a regular plasma gun. The Decepticon listened and nodded politely after every second word or so, although he couldn’t for the spark of him understand what this conversation was actually about. But it was still fascinating to listen to a being that was so small and so vulnerable compared to him and his fellow ‘Cons, yet still threw himself into battle against opponents so much bigger and more lethal than himself to protect other humans. Lugnut and Cyrus were sitting side by side on an old assembly line, watching their respective partner and wishing desperately for them to break off and return. Neither of them knew how to talk to each other. Cyrus had mostly gotten over his discomfort after he realized the Decepticons were in no way associated with Sumdac, but they still unnerved him to a certain degree. So much so that he had forbidden Penny to interact with them until further notice. And although she had sulked quite a bit about his decision, she’d ultimately agreed to stay hidden in her room in their side of the factory, much to his relief. Lugnut felt much the same about the humans. He was by no means an organo-phobe, it was more that he’d never had the faintest idea what he was supposed to do with them. Most of the organic life he’d encountered in his life-cycle hadn’t really been intelligent enough to communicate in a way that he could understand and with how squishy and fragile organics were he’d always felt a mere touch with his giant metal claws was enough to make them wither away and/or break. True, this Cyrus looked a lot more put-together than his smaller companion, but still just as soft. The uncomfortable silence between them stretched out with every second, only highlighted by Archers’ and Blitzwing’s light-hearted chattering. Eventually, Cyrus gave an awkward cough and turned to Lugnut. “Umm, so. This ‘Cybertron’...is it...far away from earth?” “Very. Though without a proper star  map, I will be unable to tell you the exact distance.” “Ah. And, err...where did you guys say you came from again?” “New Kaon. It is the main capital of our colonies, a safe haven from the Autobots and their tyranny.” “Huh. Kinda like our factory’s a hideout from Overlord Sour-puss out there?” “...You could say that. Although New Kaon is much superior in size.” “I mean, if it’s supposed to host a whole bunch of you guys, I’d imagine it’d have to be.” Cyrus lifted one corner of his mouth in an uneasy smirk. Lugnut made a noise that could have been a laugh, but Cyrus couldn’t be entirely sure. The behemoths’ face wasn’t exactly what you’d call expressive. He came to the conclusion that, if Lugnut hadn’t been at least a bit amused by his comment, he’d have moved away by now and decided to leave it at that. The two of them continued to sit together in silence, though there was an air of comfort to it now. At the same time, Megatron and Blackarachnia were standing in the repair room. The techno-organic was checking the monitors showing  Starscream’s vital signs. He was still in stand-by, his condition having neither worsened nor bettered since her last check-up a few megacycles ago. Blackarachnia wasn’t sure how to feel about that. She supposed she should be glad he wasn’t going off-line at least. Megatrons was silent beside her, his optics firmly set on his second-in-command. She didn’t have the spark to tell him to leave and to be quite honest, there was no real need for her to do so either. It wasn’t like he was peeking over her shoulder non-stop. When Megatron hadn’t spend time getting to know their new human friends better, he had been in their makeshift med-bay, not saying or doing anything, just waiting for Starscream to wake up. Every time she came in, he would just mutely make room for her. The only time he had asked if she could tell him anything about his condition had been when he had entered the med-bay the morning after she had operated on Starscream to get his arm fixed on her behest. “We’ll just have to wait,” Blackarachnia had told him, trying hard to avoid his gaze by stubbornly busying herself with patching up his mangled servo. And that had been that. She finished her check on the monitor showing Starscream’s sparkbeats and ex-vented a little, turning to face Megatron. “I know you probably don’t want to hear this, but some time we have to discuss our next move. Particularly how we’re going to contact New Kaon.” She looked him right in the optics. “If what the humans say is to be believed, our crash-landing happened 50 of their years ago. And if my translations are correct, that means-” “We have been missing for 50 stellar cycles,” Megatron finished her sentence. There was fatigue in his voice. “I know. And you are right. Our main objective as of now should be to get in contact with our people. They need to know we haven’t perished. And that our expedition has been successful.” He ex-vented heavily, throwing one last look at Starscream and then turning towards the door. “Perhaps the humans can be of help. Their technology may not be as advanced as ours, but it has proven useful once already. If not communication, maybe we will at least be able to send a message.” Blackarachnia nodded, following him outside. When they entered the main hall they found themselves confronted by a very eager Blitzwing and not much less eager Amicable Archer standing on his shoulder. “Amicable Archer has just offered me to accompany him on one of his ‘patrols,” Blitzwing said, a wide smile on his face plate. “I feel that would help me learn more about the locals and their situation. With your permission, I would take him up on that offer.” Amicable Archer nodded. “Indeed! Methinks the metal knight would make a fine companion against Sumdac’s forces of evil.” Blackarachnia threw a cautious glance at Megatron. She knew he was usually more than capable of handling sudden requests, but it was safe to say the last few solar-cycles hadn’t really gone well for him. To her surprise, Megatron gave Blitzwing a soft smile with no trace of irritability or fatigue in it. “A good idea, Blitzwing. But do make sure to stay in contact. If this Sumdac is really as dangerous as our new friends say, he might well have something unpleasant waiting for us.” Blitzwing beamed. “I will! We will be back in about 2 megacycles.” “I doeth not know what that meaneth, but our watchful march should take no less than two hours,” Archer chimed in, putting his hands on his hips and striking a confident pose. __________________________________________________________ The two took off, Blitzwing transforming into jet mode in order to be less conspicuous. As Cyrus had told them in a rather bitter tone, drones flying their routes above Downtown wasn’t really anything special to the citizens and since everyone would be too busy keeping their head down and avoiding directly looking at whatever Sumdac aircraft was currently hovering over them, no one would notice that the jet was, in fact carrying someone. During their flight, Archer would occasionally point out places in which the resistance had fought (and won, as he never got tired to proudly proclaim) particularly tough battles against Sumdac’s forces. Ironically, the overlord’s stubborn refusal to use humans as well as robots in his newly instated police had made things a lot easier on the rebellion when it came to armed conflict. Since they weren’t in any danger of seriously harming some poor innocent sap who was forced to attack them they didn’t have to hold back and could use their bestowed weapons and abilities to their hearts’ content. As long as they made sure the civilians were evacuated first, of course. “After all, ‘tis our noble creed to protect the good people of Downtown from harm, not causeth them harm,” Archer said, crossing his arms and smiling proudly. “Funny,” Blitzwing mused. “We Decepticons have a similar ‘creed’, as you would say. We are programmed to respect and protect life at all costs. Before we came here, that usually meant the AllSpark. But you humans are life as well, which means we must protect you, too.” He paused for a second, before continuing: “Your little planet is so strange to me. You humans are so much smaller and so much more fragile than us and life has dealt you a heavy hand. Yet you just keep going and fighting the force that oppresses you, risking your life every time. It’s admirable, really.” “Oh, thou dost flatter, sir knight,” Archer chuckled, scratching the back of his head. “We doeth our best, but alas ‘tis not nearly enough to fully tame Overlord Sumdac’s forces, sadly. There art times I doth wish-” Archer suddenly interrupted himself and leaned forward to get a better look at the city passing below them. “Do I seeth smoke there?” A grey column rose in the distance before them, accompanied by a warm orange glow. “You humans have rather curious traditions,” Blitzwing said, chuckling nervously. Archer’s eyes widened. “Those arenst any traditions, friend! I knoweth these old factories, they have been shut down long ago when the tyrant Sumdac retreated the assembly of his armies into his fortress. Some of it’s old machinery musteth malfunctioned!” “But if I understand correctly, those buildings have long since been vacated. Why is it an issue if they get destroyed?” Blitzwing asked confused. “The fire couldeth take over to the city! Sumdac cares naught for the people who live here, so he will not send pawns to extinguish it in time if ever. We needeth to act!” Archer said, already fumbling for a particular arrow in his quiver. “Understood. Hang on tight, Archer.” Blitzwing turned towards the burning factory and put his thrusters to full power. Archer yelped as the sudden increase in velocity pressed him back into his seat. The two of them arrived and touched down a few meters away from the factory, Blitzwing transforming back into robot-mode as soon as the surrounding buildings hid them from sight. “Thankfully, our noble benefactor hast prepared me for this kind of calamity,” Archer beamed. He raised his hand to pull down a gas mask from a hidden pocket in his hat. The two took off into the fire. Blitzwing lowered his cannons, shooting ice beams into the highest fire walls. Ice crystals solidified in the spots the beams hit, suffocating the fire nigh instantly. Archer aimed arrows at the flames at his partner’s blind side, the tips of the projectiles releasing fire extinguishing foam upon exploding. In less than half an hour the fire was mostly under control, though Archer insisted on checking for any smaller flames they might have missed. They went deeper into the empty building, Archer lighting the way with yet another arrow. The ash and grime on the walls seemed to swallow the light as it hit them. The slowly melting ice created a steady background dripping. After the crackling and roaring of flames only a short time prior this place now seemed entirely too quiet. Archer had never liked places that were too quiet. It reminded him of... Cutting the memory off before it could fully form, Archer cleared his throat and stopped to turn to Blitzwing. “Well, it seemeth our work here is done. Shall we-” A quiet noise coming from the darkness interrupted him. It was a quiet, high-pitched sob, echoing from the high walls in an eerie manner. Blitzwing frowned. “It sounds like someone’s vocalizer is malfunctioning. Quite badly, in fact.” “We calleth that ‘crying’,” Archer said, slowly following the noise. “‘Tis a sign of distress and sadness among us humans. Though our youngest ones also often useth it to obtain things they doeth desire.” Not sure he entirely understood, Blitzwing followed the human. The light of the glowing arrow came upon a small human boy, curled up in the middle of the factory’s hall. His head was buried in his hands and he didn’t seem to have noticed them yet. Archer smiled warmly and approached the boy, extending a hand towards him. “Now what is a young one like you doing in a dismal place such as this? Didst thou get lost?” Blitzwing narrowed his optics. Something seemed off about this small organic. Archer had told him that humans were very susceptible to smoke and heat, to the point where it was impossible for them to function in an environment that had both aplenty. How had this little one be able to survive in here this long? And then the boy raised his head. It was only for a split-second and an organic eye wouldn’t have been able to catch it, but for a Cybertronians advanced optic it was visible enough. A flicker, like on a faulty monitor. Blitzwing’s optics widened. He jumped forward, servos closing around Archer’s body, just before an ear-shattering explosion blasted out the factory’s windows. ___________________________________________________________ Cyrus hated waiting. Especially if he had to wait alone. Sitting down and smelling the roses had never been his thing, not since Overlord Sumdac’s machines had overrun the city. Not that there had been many roses to smell after that. Aaron and Blitzwing had been gone for far too long for his liking now. And judging by the uneasy way Lugnut shifted beside him, he wasn’t the only one to think so. “Cyrus, was it not?” The voice startled him out of his thoughts and he jumped, looking upwards to meet Megatron’s worried blue....eyes? Lights? He wasn’t sure what they called it. It took him awhile to process what had been said to him. “Er, yeah. Yeah, that’s me.” “I do not mean to offend, but your human companion and Blitzwing have been gone for quite a while now. This patrol of yours, how long does it usually take?” Cyrus frowned. “Not that long actually. And seeing as they were doing it from a bird’s eye view it should’ve taken even less time today.” “I see,” Megatron answered. He seemed about as unsettled by this answer as Cyrus was. “Hey, um...you said you can stay in contact with each other, right?” Cyrus asked. Megatron nodded. “Maybe you should, y’know...contact him? Blitzwing? Just to be safe, I mean.” A penetrative beeping noise sprang up from Cyrus’ belt, making hism jump for the second time. “Sounds like somebody needs a check-up,” Blackarachnia pointed out. Cyrus looked down at the source of the noise, a small round device with a sleek white surface, his frown deepening. “No, that’s a distress signal. Archer, me and Pe- everyone else in the resistance has one of these communicators. We use it to call out to each other when we’re in a pinch.” He took the deice of the belt and tapped a button. “You okay, Archer? We’re all kind of starting to worry over here.” “As you should,” a metallic sounding voice responded. Megatron, Blackarachnia and Lugnut tensed up at hearing it, Blackarachnia even hissing slightly. “I must say, I never would have thought organics capable of constructing such a neat little communication device. It is remarkable primitive, but for your kind even that can be considered impressive.” Cyrus’ hand tightened around the communicator. “Who are you? What did you do with Archer?” “Nothing. Yet. And as for who I am...I am sure your new ‘allies’ can tell you more about that. We have met once before, after all,” the voice responded. Cyrus felt like he could hear the smug grin of its’ owner. He grit his teeth. “What do you want?” “First of all, I want to make sure that this is heard by the rest of the Decepticon-scum. Are they present?” “We are all here, Autobot,” Megatron answered, spitting out the word ‘Autobot’ like an insult. “I assume Blitzwing is with you as well?” “And you’d assume right,” the voice chuckled. “He is a bit worse for wear, but he’ll live...probably. Since you already deduced who I am, I will skip the introductions and get straight to the point. I know you are in possession of the AllSpark. And if you want your comrade and your precious little organic pet back, you will give it to me.” Megatron glared at the communicator in Cyrus’ hand. “We will need time to think about your offer. Give us a megacycle to debate.” “Stalling won’t help you, Decepticon-scum,” the voice spat. “But if you insist on wasting your friends’ time, you shall have your megacycle. And when it has passed, I expect to see you at these coordinates, with the AllSpark.” A light in the device flickered and it went out. Cyrus pressed another button on the surface, hurrying over to a control panel attached to a monitor and connecting the communicator with it. The screen flared to life, showing a map of Downtown with a small red dot flaring up to mark a specific spot. “I know that place,” Cyrus said, leaning forward. “It’s one of the abandoned factories on the other side of the city.” He turned back to the Decepticons, face hard. “If we hurry, we can make it there in under half an hour. We have to leave, now.” “Cyrus, it is not that simple,” Megatron said calmly. “We cannot rush into this without thinking. If this Autobot gets the AllSpark into his servos, this entire planet will be at risk.” “You’re not seriously suggesting that we’re refusing, are you?” Blackarachnia asked incredulously. “He’s got Blitzwing! And who knows what he’ll do to that human!” “Yeah, what she said!” Cyrus spoke up. “I’m not leaving Aaron with some crazy alien murder machine! I thought you Decepticons were the good guys and now you’re actually considering letting two hostages get who knows what done to them?” “You are both far too emotional.” Lugnut had stood up from his place on the assembly line and was now glaring at both Cyrus and Blackarachnia. “For once, I agree with Megatron. Handing the AllSpark over to the Autobot Empire is certain death. Two lives are not worth the prize of billions.” “So that’s it?” Blackarachnia asked, narrowing her optics at him. “We just let Blitzwing and the human die?” “We all must make sacrifices for the greater good,” Lugnut said gravely. “Do you think this is easy for me, Blackarachnia?” “I don’t know,” she hissed. “Isn’t it?” “Enough, both of you,” Megatron cut her off. “This is no time to argue amongst ourselves. Lugnut, I agree that the AllSpark must be kept from the wrong servos at all costs.” The big Decepticon straightened himself and opened his mouth to say something, but Megatron wasn’t finished. “However, I also share Blackarachnia’s feelings on the matter. We have already almost lost a fellow Decepticon yesterday. I do not wish to experience that again. Neither should an innocent human become victim of our wars.” Megatron turned and walked over to Cyrus, kneeling down in front of him. “Cyrus. You have stated that you know the place the Autobot has chosen for the exchange. Do you know it well enough to show one of us the ways around and inside it?” Cyrus nodded. “Yes, I think so. Aaron and I used to scout out these buildings regularly, in case we needed another hideout.” “Good,” Megatron said. “Then I would ask you to help us to prepare a nasty little surprise for our Autobot-friend. Though I must warn you, it won’t be without risk.” “Eh, what else is new?” Cyrus answered, giving a grin. “If it’ll knock that kidnapper down a few pegs, count me in!” Megatron smirked. “Oh, I should hope that it does. Here is what I need you to do...” ______________________________________________________________ Hothead rebooted to a a voice frantically calling Blitzwing’s name. In his processor he identified it as belonging to the organic who called himself Amicable Archer and whom Blitzwing had, apparently successfully, tried to protect from a booby trapped hologram. He groaned in annoyance, forcing the rest of his systems to reboot so he could access the situation and more importantly get Archer to stop yelling at him. His optical sensors reactivated slowly and he lifted his helm to see Archer standing on his chest, only a few centimeters away from his face-plate. Hothead quickly scanned the human’s body for any damage. Aside from a few tears in his costume and some grime on his face, Archer seemed unharmed. “Will you stop yelling at me, human?” Hothead snapped, still only half rebooted vocalizer making his voice sound hoarse. “My audials are functioning quite nicely.” Archer blinked in confusion and took a few steps backwards, but then shook his head as if recovering from some kind of stupor. “My apologies, friend. Thou seemeth to be rendered unconscious from that explosion and with the way the ghastly shadow knight treated thou, I wasnth sure you wouldeth make it.” He paused for a moment, as if uncertain about what to say next. “I couldeth not stop noticing that thine visage seemeth to have changed, along with thine manner of speech and demeanor. Artst thou truly not hurt?” Hothead ex-vented slightly. “No, I am alright. It is a long story. I am not the Blitzwing you know.. Let us leave it at that for now.” Suddenly remembering Archer’s earlier words, he frowned. “Who did you mean by ghastly knight? What-?” He tried to sit up and found that he couldn’t move his arms. A hastly look downward, revealed that someone had wound a thick metal cable tightly around his upper body, pinning his arms to his sides and keeping his cannons from lowering. Archer looked at him miserably. “I tried to stop him, but he tooketh my weapons and threatened to hurt thee.” “Not that he would have been able to stop me even with them. But I wanted to stay on the safe side. You never know with organics.” Hothead and Archer turned their head towards the source of the voice. A slender-looking Autobot with white armor-plating and a red triangular visor covering both of his optics was leaning on against the opposite wall with his servos crossed, giving a smug smirk. “I see you’ve finally decided to join us.” Hothead growled, trying to break his bonds. “You! I remember you, you cowardish, puny Autobot! Release me at once!” The Autobot chuckled. “So you can slag me like you almost did last time? I think not. And I’d advise you to behave.” He lowered his helm, so his line of sight now aligned with Archer. “You wouldn’t want anything to happen to the organic, would you?” “Touch him and you’ll burn, Autobot!” Hothead snarled. “Always so barbaric. You Decepticon-scum really are just mindless war machines,” the Autobot ex-vented in mock disappointment. “The only thing your kind is good for is destruction. Yet here you are, pretending like you’re actually capable of protecting anything.” Hothead flinched and grit his denta, lowering his helm. “Thou art wrong!” Both Hothead and the Autobot turned to look at Archer in surprise, who had lifted himself up to his full height and was now glaring at the Autobot. “Mine companion mayeth possess fearsome battle prowess, but that doeseth not make him less of a knight! He didst protect me from thy nefarious trap after all, didst he not?” For a moment, neither of the two Cybertronians said a word. Then the Autobot laughed. “You’ve certainly trained him well! If he was a little bigger he’d probably be easier to take seriously too, don’t you think?” Before Hothead could answer, the Autobot raised his helm as if listening for something, then put a digit to his auidal and smirked. “I’d love to stay and chat, but it looks like your friends just arrived with my AllSpark.” He walked out of the room, pressing a button on the other side of the entrance. A metal door slowly closed on cue. The Autobot grinned at them before it closed fully. “Don’t go anywhere.” _______________________________________________________ Megatron and Blackarachnia made their way into the burnt out building, carrying the AllSpark between them. Blackarachnia grimaced at the heavy smoke-smell in the air. It wasn’t bad enough to have a negative impact on her organic half but still strong enough to make her a bit uncomfortable. “Are you alright, Blackarachnia?” Megatron asked, giving her a worried look. “I can carry the AllSpark by myself, if you feel unwell.” Blackarachnia shook her helm. “I’m good. We should focus on getting Blitzwing and Archer back.” They stopped in the center of the hall, carefully lowering their cargo to the ground. “I see you’ve used your time well.” Blackarachnia and Megatron whirled around, taking defensive positions. Behind them stood an Autobot, servos crossed and an extremely smug expression on his face plate. Blackarachnia’s optics widened. “I know him! He was one of the ‘bots who boarded the ‘Nemesis’.” The Autobot laughed. “So you remember me? I’m flattered.” “I remember you getting your sorry soulanoid kicked by us,” Blackarachnia sneered. “Figures a spineless wimp like you would result to taking hostages.” The Autobot gave a derisive huff and put a hand on his hip, looking both of them over. “The name is Prowl. Though after this is over I won’t stay here long enough to get more acquainted.” His visor set itself on the AllSpark. “Leave it here and retreat.” “I think not, Autobot,” Megatron said coolly, stepping forward and drawing his sword. “Let us see the hostages first.” Prowl gave him an irritated look. “You will see them once I have the AllSpark. Now step away.” Instead of answering, Megatron gestured Blackarachnia to step aside, raising his sword over the AllSpark. “I do not like to repeat myself, Prowl. Release the hostages or I will destroy the AllSpark.” Prowl stiffened. “You wouldn’t dare.” “Wouldn’t I?” Megatron responded coldly, returning Prowl’s glare with steady optics. The Autobot hesitated, standing in place. Time seemed to stand still as the three Cybertronians stood off against each other, trying to figure out the enemy’s next move. _________________________________________________________ “Are you certain this is the right place?” Lugnut asked, optic trained on the wall in front of him. Cyrus was currently feeling said wall with both of his hands, teeth grit in frustration. “Give me a break, I haven’t been here in weeks! Ah, there we go.” He peeled off a part of the wall, revealing a hidden panel and pressed one of the buttons. Cyrus stepped back and watched nervously as the seemingly solid steel folded in on itself to form an entrance about Lugnut’s size. “Gotta be honest with you, I had no idea if this old  delivery gate even still worked. We found it some time during our second or third visit here and noted it as a possible emergency exit, if we ever decided to camp here. Guess I’m glad we didn’t now.” They entered the building together, treading carefully. After a while, Lugnut suddenly grabbed Cyrus carefully with his claw, making him yelp in surprise and placed him on his shoulder. “It is dark in here. I do not wish to step on you by accident,”he stated, when Cyrus gave him a confused look. “Er..thanks.” Cyrus stood up and balanced himself on the side of Lugnut’s helm. “Though maybe give a little warning next time.” Lugnut nodded. “Understood.” They made their way through the halls, Lugnut’s searchlights showing them the way. “Pick anything up yet?” Cyrus asked, stretching to look ahead into the darkness. “A faint Decepticon-signal, but it is dampened. Blitzwing must be damaged to some capacity.” Lugnut’s optic shrunk, an expression Cyrus had learned to identify as his version of a scowl. “The Autobot-filth will regret this.” “I hear ya,” Cyrus growled. “Still got a bone to pick with that guy for kidnapping Aaron.” Lugnut and Cyrus followed the signal until they came to a locked heavy metal door, not unlike the hidden one Cyrus had used to get them in. “The signal is clearest here,” Lugnut said, eyeing the door up and down. “They must be close.” “Great! Put me down, so I can-” Before Cyrus had the chance to finish his sentence, Lugnut retracted his right arm and rammed it into the door full-force. A loud crash, amplified by the echo of the empty hallway rung through the air. ______________________________________________________________ As soon as the sound reached the hall, Prowl whirled around. “What the-?” Blackarachnia lunged for him before he could run - only for her servos to close around nothing as the hologram of Prowl disappeared into thin air. She caught herself, cursing. “Slag! Of course he’d use that trick again.” “That was a mistake, Decepticon,” Prowl’s voice came from the shadows around them, impossible to pin down. “Your friends will not appreciate this.” Blackarachnia and Megatron positioned themselves back to back, searching the darkness for some hint of their opponent. “He has us pinned,” Megatron said through grit denta. “If we move he will either attack or flee without us even seeing him.” “Yeah, he- wait, seeing?” Blackarachnia’s optics widened. “That’s it! How was he able to react us in exactly the right way, if he was never really here? He has to have been close by. It was the same on the ‘Nemesis’! He attacked Lugnut right after his hologram was destroyed, as if he was just a few steps away.” She turned her helm to Megatron. “Fire your cannon about a few mechanometers to the right!” Megatron raised his free arm and fired at the spot she had pointed out. A startled yell came from the area the shot had hit and a heavy ‘clunk!’ filled the hall. The Decepticons turned, Megatron aiming his searchlight towards the sound. Prowl lay on the floor, glaring up at them and holding his left servo. It was almost entirely shot off, only a fracture of a base skeleton and a few sparking cables remaining. “You’ll regret this,” he growled, pushing himself to his pedes and taking a shaky step towards them. Before either of the three could do anything further, the door behind him was blown open, shrouding the room in smoke. When it cleared again, Lugnut stepped into the room, Cyrus and Archer riding on his right shoulder, while he supported a limping Hothead on his left. “Where is that  Autobot-filth?” Hothead shouted, trying and failing to push himself away from Lugnut and stand on his own servos. “I will incinerate him! Let me go!” “Thou art barely able to stand, friend,” Archer chuckled. “Perhaps thy vengeance can waiteth until a time thou art well again?” “Listen to the human, Hothead,” Lugnut said. Hothead growled, but he stopped struggling. “Hey guys,” Cyrus called to Blackarachnia and Megatron. “Where is that Autobot?” Megatron looked around, frowning. “It appears he has gotten away.” “And he didn’t exactly leave us with good wishes,” Blackarachnia added grimly. “We should go after him.” Megatron thought for a moment, then shook his helm. “We should get Blitzwing and the AllSpark to safety first. The Autobot was hurt. He will not come far.” After gathering up the AllSpark and Blackarachnia doing a quick patching up of Hothead’s wounds, the group took off in vehicle mode, Cyrus and Blackarachnia riding on Lugnut, while Archer remained with Hothead. When they arrived back at the resistance’s base, they were greeted by a bust-in entrance. Rubble from the door was strewn about and destroyed Sumdac-drones littered the area. “What the spark happened here?” Blackarachnia exclaimed. “Oh nothing to worry about really,” a familiar voice answered her. Megatron perked up upon hearing it, hope and joy filling his optics. Could it be-? It was. Starscream stepped out from the base’s entrance, smiling. “It is good to see you all again. Though we did have everything under control.” He turned his helm and raised his hand to give a (very gentle and disproportionate) high-five to a small girl with short pink hair who had made herself comfortable on his shoulder plate. “Hi Cyrus, hi Aaron,” she beamed, waving a wand-like object with a glowing tip at the two other humans. “I made a new friend!” _________________________________________________________ Prowl dragged himself through the empty narrow side streets, flinching every time his ripped off arm emitted a spark. This solar cycle had not gone at all like he imagined. As if waking up on this primitive planet wasn’t bad enough, that disgusting techno-organic had actually managed to see through his technique and now he would have to spend precious time to find a repair shop. At least things couldn’t possibly get any worse. A metallic noise sounded to his right and he turned his helm. A large assembly of drones, a sinister-looking ‘S’ engraved on their torsos stood there. “Energy signature match,” they chanted in unison. “Retrieve subject. Return to base. Retrieve subject. Return to base. Retrieve-”

[glassrain]

Bumblebee:

So, at the recommendation of @timelordsoftherings​ I decided to watch Bumblebee, despite my previous - and rather disappointing - experience with the Transformers franchise. And I’m very glad I did, because I really enjoyed this movie (thanks Aaron)! And now I have Thoughts on the movie (naturally) and I need to talk about them. So, here we go.

(WARNING: Spoilers abound)

* Bumblebee is all kinds of adorable. I love him. He’s this superpowered weapon that could take on the entire army if he really wanted to, but instead he just wants to, like, watch movies and play games and adopt this fragile, pink human girl. And he’s so shy and naive and sweet and earnest. He’s so child-like. And I love that dichotomy, how he’s both at the same time.

* Why do the Decepticons/Autobots have Lips?! WHY? It makes no sense? They’re made of machinery? They hardly need lips to speak, so why do they have lips!

* It’s all so retro and I’m in love with it. Cassette tapes! VCR’s! Overalls! Vintage cars! All the oldie music! *swoons*

* Also, why do the Decepticons and Autobots get into fisticuffs? They are impossibly advanced, sentient, alien war machines. Surely they have a more ... what’s the word I’m looking for? Practical. Surely they have a more practical way to fight each other? I don’t know - throwing punches just seems kinda juvenile and inefficient when both players are armed to the teeth with blades and guns and who even knows what else.

* Okay, but honestly the scene where Bumblebee gets his vocal unit ripped out was devastating. It’s shot in such a brutal manner, flipping from the omniscient perspective of the Decepticon viciously tearing at B-127′s throat, to B’s perspective, with everything glitching in and out, panicky and fading, trying desperately to focus on everything at once. Excellent camera work.

* Speaking of Bee’s perspective - I don’t know how Autobots are created. However, I know for a fact that whoever/whatever created B-127 has at least visited Earth before, because he definitely has a theme going on (heck, Charlie called it within like 5 minutes of meeting the guy). The name, the coloring, the hornet-shaped war helmet - the hexagon pattern of his POV visuals was a nice touch. I approve.

* I appreciated the bit with Charlie’s alarm. Not only indicating the passage of time, but also showcasing Charlie’s depression - because that’s what depression does, it saps your motivation to do much of anything, makes you wonder why you should even get up out of bed at all. But then Bee shows up, and Charlie scrambles out of bed right away - a nice way to show her beginning of recovery, without spelling the situation out for the audience.

* Oh. While we’re on the subject of Charlie’s depression ....

* Can I just say that her mom sorta/really bugged me? Like, her daughter’s clearly struggling with the loss of her father. But instead of making an effort to reach out and actually help, she just comments semi-accusingly on how Charlie always locks herself in the garage; throws movie nights without inviting her daughter; gets a new boyfriend; does little to nothing on order to make Charlie’s first birthday without her dad a good, special one; I’m pretty sure she even blames Charlie for her depression at one point, insisting that everyone else is trying to be happy, and couldn’t Charlie at least make an effort? I know all this makes her sound awful - she wasn’t, not terribly. In many ways, Charlie was enabling her own grief. But depression is hard, and no one does it perfectly, and a little effort on the mom’s part was in order, I think, since she was clearly in a much healthier place than her teenage daughter. I don’t know - she just kinda rubbed me wrong. I didn’t like her much.

* I was genuinely upset on Charlie’s behalf when the boyfriend gave her that book on smiling more. Like, the girl is grieving? And depressed? I would have been mad at him too, if he weren’t clearly such an (well-intentioned) idiot.

* Otis was virtually useless. He should have been removed from the story, or at least utilized better.

* Speaking of poorly utilized characters: Memo. I think he was a super important character to include, since a big part of Charlie’s characterization focused on how she’d isolated herself since her father’s death - Bumblebee helping her open up again and start making new friends was a BIG part of her character development, and I genuinely enjoyed it. I don’t think he was a bad character by any means. I don’t even mind the mini-romance going on between the two. What I did mind is the fact that Charlie’s relationship with Memo took away time I think should have been given to Charlie patching up her relationship with her family. The movie takes the time to highlight the fact that Charlie’s relationship with her family - particularly her mom - has been strained since her dad’s death, but the resolution was virtually glossed over, without any real apologies or conversations from either person. It wasn’t bad, per se, but a bit sub-par. I think the movie should have shifted its focus from “Charlie makes a friend and also fixes things with her family” to “Charlie fixes things with her family and also makes a friend.” That’s all.

* .... I lied. That’s not all. There’s also the fact that Memo is kinda reduced to cheap comedy in the third act; I didn’t like that either. Memo was a good kid, and didn’t deserve that.

* Charlie being like, “I will literally sell you my soul if you’ll give me that Bug”? Honestly Charlie, same. That Bug is adorable - I wouldn’t mind it myself, Autobot or no.

* (Okay but seriously, the Bug is so cute! All the fun-yet-classic lines of the body of the car, the light upholstery - [even if it is a bit frayed on the passenger’s side, I think that just gives it character] - and the vintage center control are all just so cute! I want that car, okay?)

* (I mean, honestly Charlie. You like the Camaro over the Volkswagen? What is wrong with you?)

* THIS scene was so sweet and tender. Charlie’s wonder and kindness quickly winning out over her fear, Bee being so confused and frightened - flinching back over everything, because he’s been hurt before, please stop breaking my heart I didn’t ask for that - but shyly choosing to trust Charlie. Both of them are alone and lost, and find a kindred spirit in each other, with this gentle and almost reverent music in the background. This scene is so soft and good.

* (Also, do you see lips on this Autobot? No. As it should be.)

* Look at how cute he is though!

* The scene where Charlie teaches Bumblebee to hide is too precious for words.

* “I have a good explanation for this .... Okay, no, I don’t have a good explanation for this. But if you tell anyone about this I’ll have to run you over with my car.”

* Charlie’s smile is gorgeous. Just saying.

* Alright. I know this movie is a fictional action flick and all, but seriously. In what universe would the American government just hand their satellites and all their intelligence over to an alien race they just met that day? I mean, I know this took place before 9-11, but that still surpasses my suspension of belief by a fair margin.

* Bumblebee, you can’t just spit out her tapes. That’s rude.

* I couldn’t really get behind the general’s plotline. Which is understandable, because the writers are already juggling so much in terms of development - Bee’s development, Charlie’s development on multiple fronts and backstory, the actual plot - so they really didn’t have time to delve into his story too deeply. They couldn’t really afford to make him much more that two-dementional for much of the film, since he was one of the driving antagonists who never really got much more that a minute of screen time per scene he was in (if that) - and so his about-face in the climax felt slapped on and convenient rather than earned. Plus, his interaction with Bee in the beginning of the movie could have been completely excluded with no major changes to his character. For these reasons, I think they shouldn’t have included him as a Character at all. He was just kinda flat and unnecessary.

* I do think his salute to Bumblebee, and the returning Victory Fist, was super cute though.

* I just lost it when Bee started going to town on the mean girl’s car. It’s been a good while since I’ve laughed that hard at a movie. Maybe it was just how late the hour was, but I thought it was hilarious.

* I love parallels, and the ones going on with Bee/Charlie’s dad were so good.

1) She was working the car in her garage as a way to connect with her lost father, a way to keep him alive, so to speak. “If I could just just fix it,” she tells Bee at one point, “it’s like ... he’ll hear me.” All of these desperate hopes, tied up in fixing her car to save her father. Later, after the Decepticons have left Bumblebee (who also happens to be Charlie’s car) for dead, Charlie is scrambling over him , trying to find what’s wrong, sobbing and chanting, “I can fix this, I can fix this,” as she desperately tries to bring back another dead loved one.

2) In passing, Charlie mentions that her father died of a heart attack. When she’s trying to bring Bee back, she shocks him with the electric guns - they act in a manner that’s extremely reminiscent of electric paddles. Precisely the way one would try to bring back someone who had suffered a heart attack. Whether Charlie witnessed and remembered that and was desperately hoping, Let it work. This time, please let it work, or whether this was simply meant for the audience, it’s still a delightful parallel.

3) The diving, of course. The last time she’d dived was the day her father died. That changes when Bee is under the water, and she once again dives, this time in order to save his life.

4) After Charlie has saved Bee’s life, and then let him go willingly because her place is here, with her family, and not out there with Bumblebee, that’s when she’s able to finally fix her car.

* In so many ways, Charlie gets her father back - or at least overcomes the losses she suffered with her father - through Bumblebee. It’s so beautiful, and touching, and I’m so in love with it.

* Oh, and don’t get me started on their goodbye scene. Bittersweet in such a good way.

* Even without the incentive of connecting with her dad, I can’t blame Charlie for slaving away for so long over that car, because oh. *fans self* That car is a dream.

Okay, this got very, very long and I applaud anyone who made it all the way through. Thanks for sticking around to hear all my rambling thoughts!

[cherry-whxre]

Blurr (Animated)

The name or term "Blurr" refers to more than one character or idea. For a list of other meanings, see Blurr (disambiguation).Blurr is an Autobot from the Animated continuity family.

Speed^3

Blurr is a bot of action. And words. A lot of words. A lot of words said at high speed.

An intelligence agent in the Cybertron Elite Guard, Blurr tends to barrel ahead with whatever he's doing and simply expects everyone else to keep pace... be it on a mission or in simple conversation. His motor-mouth and penchant for tangents tend to leave others in the dust, forcing them to ask him to repeat things.“First of all, the name's not "Zippy"! As a matter of fact, I don't believe I've ever met another bot named Zippy, so one can only assume that you came up with "Zippy" in reference to my speed, which may be technically accurate, but lacks a certain creativity!”

—Blurr introduces himself to Bumblebee, "A Bridge Too Close, Part I"

Contents

 [hide] 

1 Fiction

1.1 Cartoon continuity

1.1.1 Animated cartoon

1.1.2 Legends comic

1.2 The Cool comic

2 Toys

2.1 Animated

3 Notes

3.1 Foreign names

4 References

Fiction

Cartoon continuity

Animated cartoon

Events from IDW Publishing or Fun Publications books are in italics.Voice actor:John Moschitta (English), Takahiro Sakurai (Japanese), more»

Unknown to Bumblebee, Blurr is secretly his older brother, Rex, who ran away from home years ago!

Blurr was present at Autobot Memorial Plaza in Iacon, as Sentinel Prime delivered the eulogy on Optimus Prime's supposedly fallen crew. Dispatches

Blurr initially became known to the Autobots on Earth through his participation in Master Disaster's Street Demon races. This was because Master Disaster manipulated him using a remote control that contained an AllSpark fragment. Blurr proved impossible to beat on the race course; under Master Disaster's control, Blurr used aggressive tactics and sped past Bumblebee twice, even though the yellow Autobot was using his rocket boosters.

Later, the AllSpark Key detected the AllSpark fragment, so Sari stole the remote control to investigate it, which apparently broke Master Disaster's control over Blurr. When Blitzwing was about to attack Bumblebee, Blurr charged off a bridge and played a mid-air game of chicken with Blitzwing, causing the Decepticon to veer off and crash into a skyscraper. Later that night, Bumblebee was on the roof of the Autobots' factory base when he spotted Blurr driving down a nearby highway past the building. Bee called out a thank you, but Blurr gave no response. Velocity

There was a time when he wouldn't speak. Now he won't shut up.

Blurr intercepted a transmission between Megatron and a double agent on Cybertron revealing that Bulkhead was the best space bridge technician in the entire galaxy, and would thus be a target for kidnapping. Blurr sped off to try to stop Megatron, but was instead stopped by Bumblebee. The yellow bot chased him around for a while, until he finally knocked Blurr off the road. This angered Blurr, so he transformed into robot mode, introduced himself and his mission, and gave Bumblebee the chewing out of a lifetime, all in about thirty seconds. Bumblebee missed everything he said past the first sentence.

Later, at the Autobot base, Blurr again introduced himself and explained his mission, this time to the entire Autobot crew, minus Bulkhead. They still had trouble understanding him, but were able to make out the fact that Bulkhead was an expert and that Isaac Sumdac had aided Megatron in building a space bridge.

Blurr led Bumblebee, Optimus, and Prowl to Megatron's base. They had a brief encounter with Blitzwing and Lugnut, whom Blurr quickly caught in stasis cuffs. After watching, Bumblebee reluctantly admitted that he was no longer the fastest thing on wheels. The Autobots managed to reach Megatron's throne room, but Blurr was quickly defeated by Scrapper. A Bridge Too Close, Part I

After escaping from Scrapper, Blurr stasis-cuffed the coward Starscream. As fast as he is, though, Blurr failed to get out of the way of the Egomaniac Starscream, who crashed into both him and Coward Starscream, getting them caught in his cement overcoat and sending them all tumbling into the space bridge. Bulkhead attempted to recall them, but explained that the targeting coordinates of the bridge were never set, meaning that they could have been sent anywhere in the galaxy. A Bridge Too Close, Part II

Remember, always recycle your used intelligence agents.

Though caught in a cement block with the Coward and Egomaniac Starscream clones and floating across a random part of space, Blurr was able to escape due to the clone's efforts. By ricocheting off meteors, moons, and other debris, Blurr was amazingly able to run all the way back to Cybertron. But when he returned, he was greeted by Longarm Prime, who wasn't happy to hear Blurr's news that he would be able to identify the traitor by examining Shockwave's voice sample. Longarm attacked Blurr, who sped away. Longarm transformed into Shockwave, and noted that he didn't need to catch to Blurr, only trap him. Shockwave used the building's main computer to lock down the corridors where Blurr had fled through. Trapped, Blurr was crushed between two closing walls.

Longarm later handed off the blue cube that remained to an unwitting Cliffjumper, requesting he dispose of the "sensitive material". Cliffjumper then opened the incinerator and placed Blurr's remains inside the chute. TransWarped The Blurr cube lay dormant at the bottom of the compactor chute until Sari Sumdac took a field trip to The Metroplex and stumbled down the same chute.

Her residual AllSpark energy revived him, though he was still an immobile cube. When she also inadvertently unleashed a Decepticon weapon from the Great War, Kremzeek, she was able to tap into his speed to reach Fortress Maximus ahead of the creature and save the day. The Return of Blurr Cliffjumper took the Blurr-cube with him to the Stunticons' show, The Stunti-Con Job before Optimus Prime and Jazz used the AllSpark Matrix to restore Blurr to his normal body. The Return of Blurr

Legends comic

Restored, Blurr went to confront his would-be killer in his cell while Slipstream and her co-conspirators looked on. Epiloge

The Cool comic

At the battle for the Decepticon Space Bridge, Blurr joined his fellow speed warrior, Bumblebee, in taking down Blitzwing and Lugnut. They used their speed to first confuse their opponents, then slapped them with some stasis cuffs. As the Decepticons fell over, paralyzed, the pair of Autobots speedsters skipped off while merrily whistling. The Cool Episode 7

Toys

Stop!!

[gearsofbellona]

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyy i got my transformers prime oc redesigned

Name: Jolt Drive nicknames: Jolt, J.D, stardust, princess, kid. kiddo, Jojo (don't call her that, she hates it), faction: neutral (Tibetan mastiff) age: late teens aprox. gender: femme alt. mode: 2017 Corvette Z06 C7 family: Linear range (younger brother), Timewarp (carrier/mother), Wrecktrain (sire/father), Mirage/dino (second cousin) theme song: "Ring of Fire" - Krewella

personality: everyone who meets her, for some reason, says Jolt Drive reminds them of an anime girl, particularity one from the "Maho Shojo" genre. She's cheerful and has an optic for detail. She is know to have Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD or Autism) which in some ways does affect her behavior. she can't pick up on metaphors straight away or if there is a social rule she doesn't know of involved in something. when she gets excited, she 'stims' by fanning her servos close to her face and bouncing. loud unexpected noises are her biggest issue. she cowers and covers her audio sensors when she hears a noise that overwhelms her. music at a certain volume, car revving and jet engines are completely fine. but sirens and chatter are a no. she's clever and intelligent and can pick up on certain patterns (like how a building might be structured). she's also a very good puzzle solver. she can't make decisions quickly so she often needs time to think. she always puts other needs before her own, which has lead her into trouble in the past. sometimes she puts on a childish demeanor to see if she can trust someone. she's also super fidgety. she's very creative. she loves drawing and designing and music. to break up her creative subjects in her education, she took chemistry which allows her to solve more issues. she can make links to other things but sometimes she makes mistakes. she is also very difficult to alterations in a routine that she always has to stick to and has issues concertinaing more that what should be required. overall, she's someone who just want others to be happy, even if it means she'll be in danger herself. stats: Strength:6 Intelligence:9 Speed:3 Endurance:8 Rank:6 Courage:3 Firepower:5 Skill:4 Armor:1 weapons: -the 'Bellona' a light machete which she can use in close combat or for throwing when needed. it's a very old sort of thing, but she treasures it dearly as it was the first weapons she designed ntirly. she even decorated it herself. she named it after the roman goddess of the chaos of war. the blade is lilac purple hard light and the handle is purple metal with magenta decals. - the 'Mars' a small dagger for emergencies. it's more like an army knife in how it retracts into the handle, so she uses it for when she needs to escape from something. she named it after the roman god of war. the blade is silver metal and the handle is purple metal with magenta decals - the 'Chataan' named after the deadliest disater of Chuuk, Typhoon Chataan, this is her blaster which transformers from her right arm. she uses it occasionally since she prefers the 'Bellona', but she has it around. of course she locks it away unless it's absolutly nessesary. it only fires two bullets at the same time in the barell.   - the 'Halong' a wepon she's very rarley used. the blaster transforms from her left arm and can fire 6 bullets in the barrel. it's named after the typhoon that came one week after Chataan. it's heavy for her arm and too much firee power for her. thus she doesn't use it unless she needs to. - intelligence be very careful around jolt drive. her mid is as deadly as her weapons. she can recognize facial expressions and body language which can tell her if someone is lying. - her pigtails if jolt swings her pigtails hard enough, they can hit someone. backstory: Jolt drive was forged/born into a normal cybertronain family. she had a loving sire and carrier and younger brother. her extended family loved her too. they supported her a lot in her younger years. as time grew on she found out about her diagnosis of autism and how people also on the spectrum were being treated. She wanted that discrimination to end so she decided to take up a career that would make her famous to stop this stigma. Balancing her studies, she took up music and became an Iacon sensation. She was also a great student at the Iacon academy of arts. She studied design courses, taking up chemistry to balance out her creative studies. She was going well until an arson attack during a meeting she was attending would stop her in her tracks. She got caught under rubble which knocked her unconscious. she was saved from the incident by a bot named Mirage, who carried her outside and handed her over to the medics. the medics who arrived on scene where ratchet and his young apprentice, airborne. airborne saved jolt's life and befriended her. jolt also befriended mirage, wanting to know the person who saved her from the rubble. jolt and airborne, with mirage's assistance decided to create a safe place for bots with disabilities or who were looked down upon by society, since airborne also has autism. from there they ran into clawmark, a predacon wolf femme who hated hiding with her clan and wanted to break free. clawmark was also born very premature and is scared of what others might think. then from there they met sharpend, a talented artist who is struggling with people constantly bombarding her with request which doesn't make her feel safe, electric shock, another autistic femme and charge up, a femme who needs hearing aid due to her partial deafness. the group called themselves the Tibetan mastiffs and formed the core mastiffs, the leaders, when new members started to come forward. jolt drive continued her musician career when she was all healed. that was short lived though. soon the war came and Iacon put a ban on entertainment in fears of propaganda spreading. without having a source of income to help keep stuff running in the mastiffs and energon on the planet running low, they had no choice but to flee. the mastiffs, and jolt drive, fled cybertron to a different planet occupied by other neutrals. there, they settled and jolt started up her career again, until fate started to march back in. they were going to be discovered by undercover Iacon agents when the planet they were on was going to collide with a larger one. jolt flea to her ship but a malfunction occurred in which it locked early and no one else could get on board. trying to figure out how to get the locks to open again, she accidentally set a course for earth, stranding her friends. the distance put her in stasis before she crashed onto earth. she was discovered by autobots months after her crash. she had woken up and learned how to survive by herself on the supplies she had. the autobots offed her a second place to stay, aside from her ship and she agreed to an alliance to that team. on the condition she share her energon and doesn't give away their base to the decepticons. she agreed, mainly because she wanted some company. mirage was involved in that team and had renamed himself 'Dino' due to his fascination with Italy upon arriving to earth as well as to hide himself from a decepticon he once exposed who may be after him. jolt immediately recognized Dino and was thrilled to e her old friend again. through the CNA tests as standard procedure, to make sure she was clear of anything, a discovery was made that Dino and jolt were second cousins to each other. this actually made jolt feel more comfortable with the autobots since she had a relative around if something were to happen to her. she explained that she lost all communication with her team because of how damaged the communications got upon impact. upon finding out that the mastiffs suffered the same when they tried to leave the planet, jolt made a promise to restart the mastiffs and honor it in the legacy of her (what she assumed to be) fallen friends. now, with her second cousin, Dino and the help of the autobots, she's surviving the war and trying to create a safe heaven for the oppressed and disabled. but little does she know, her friends are alive and well and are looking for her. until she does, she's only got Dino and the autobots. as long as they're nice to her and respect her, she feels safe. extra: - she is a cancer (zodiac) - her 'birthday' in human time is 20th of July - her birthstone is a ruby - she refuses to talk to abelists - she loves magical girl animes and wants to become a magical girl - her favorite musicians are Krewella, Mitchie m and Livetune

[black-strike-otp]

part 79

These poor frustrated children >;3

She could barely get her optics to focus. With trembling appendages Novastrike stretched out her limbs with a soft mewl of confusion. Why was she moving? Her thoughts felt like a fog of exhaustion. How long had she been asleep?

Blinking slowly, she looked up and down through her sleepy haze. Hanging slack in a large servo, she looked over to see Scorponok in the other servo beside her as he gave a groggy click and settled himself against blackened armor.

Nova rolled her helm to the side enough to bother looking up and seeing the abyssal scarlet optics staring down at her and the minicon beside her through the fuzzy outline of darkness. She blinked slightly before placing her helm against the ebony thumb digit of the mech. One of his free digits lightly brushed against her helm as she gave a raspy purr.

Already beginning to drift back into recharge, the small femme snuggled against the impenetrable armor. Her ear gave the slightest twitch as metal plates shifted and rustled; the scratch as the figure sat himself on the berth. He didn’t bother to lay down but did lean against the wall, venting quietly as he held the two small bots against his chassis.

With the enduring fragrance of twilight and death lingering in her olfactory sensors, Novastrike slipped back to sleep.

~

A loud chatter buzzed in the small femme’s audio receptors. Grumbling, she tossed her arm at the alarm as if that would silence it.

Giving off a vexed vent, Scorponok prodded her side carefully with his golden prongs. Relenting to the bugger, Novastrike onlined her optics part of the way and looked up at him.

“Why are you waking me?” she slurred quietly.

“Blackout go fetch energon. Didn’t wake you.”

“Then why did you wake me?”

“We on Nemesis. Blackout being polite. But will need to work,” the scorpion explained.

Groaning loudly, Novastrike rolled over on to her stomach and proceeded to roll again as she rose up to sit on her aft. She gave Scorponok a half-aft look of fatigued annoyance and huffed, pressing a servo to the floor as she gradually pushed herself up to her pedes.

“What sort of work are we going to be doing?” she cautiously asked, checking the area on her arms where her arm blades retracted.

The large metal scorpion shrugged. “No know. Lord Megatron’s choice. We just follow.”

Novastrike snorted softly at that. Bringing her servos to her thighs, the hidden compartments popped open to reveal her gun handles. She pulled them at one at a time to flip them over and inspect them and their plasma levels.

With a hum, the door opened to their room as Blackout stepped in, carrying some brightly glowing cubes of fresh energon. As Scorponok gave a greeting whistle, Nova offered him a glance before pulling out her stun guns and started to examine them for any flaws or damage.

Blackout took a seat on the berth and placed his minicon’s cube down before offering her her own cube. When she didn’t take it right away he made a curious ‘ahem’ rumble in his throat and she reached out, balancing it with one servo against her side while glancing over her weaponry.

“Everything alright, Novastrike?”

She glanced up to Blackout. Her lips pulled into a smile that didn’t light up her optics. How could she answer that with honesty?

“What happened between you and Nighthawk last night?” she insisted, changing the subject. “You weren’t back until rather late. Scorponok and I had already nodded off.”

“I know, and I’m sorry,” the dark mech acknowledged. “I got a bit caught up with him and the medic of the Nemesis, Knock Out. The mech was informing us about how we need to get disguises because the planet that the Nemesis is currently residing its time on is infested with lifeforms they call humans that can’t know I true appearances and thus, we are expected to get guises based off their local transportation vehicles as they are made of similiar-looking compounds to hide ourselves.”

Novastrike was quiet as she took this all in. Strange, she’d met robotic creatures, organic-based creatures, and civilizations in ruin but none that either were already at a similar stage of Cybertronian technology or far below. These creatures sounded like they were in a revolutionary stage of growth.

“What disguise are you going to take on as your alt-mode?” she asked with interest.

Blackout gave an unpleasant growl. “If I have my way, none at all.”

Nova smiled lightly at him and sighed. “Love, you can’t disobey-”

“We’re not staying, Novastrike.”

Caught off guard, she dropped her smile and stared with a flabbergasted open mouth at her suitor. He took a drink of energon while she worked this over in her thoughts. Pressing her gun back into its holster, she sealed off her compartments and took hold of energon cube.

Turning to her beloved fully now, she mimicked questioningly, “We’re not staying?”

“No,” Blackout said, avoiding Scorponok’s equally staggered glance.

“Where are we going? When?”

Blackout waved his servo in the air in front of him in a frustrated way. “We don’t know yet,” he grumbled. “I’ll need to speak further with Nighthawk on the matter. For the time being we’ll lay low, and play along until we can formulate our way out.”

So he didn’t want to stay. She knew she should feel guilty and bad for Blackout, but instead she was filled with comfort and elation. Being in the same solar system as Megatron itself filled her with cold terror, but being in the same ship as him; knowing what he was capable of, she felt like she could have a spark attack at a moment’s notice.

“Can’t we just leave?” she pressed.

This time, Scorponok spoke up: “No. Megatron already furious. Would hunt us. Or send bots to hunt. Thinks we all renegades.”

“You mean he’d try to kill you just for not wanting to stay by his side?” she gulped. “That’s dreadful.”

“He used to punish bots that tried to leave the Decepticon’s,” Blackout confessed quietly, “or have one of his lieutenants take action on his behalf. But there’s plenty of evidence to suggest you are no longer punished for deserting your post, but offlined for attempting to do so.”

Tightening her grip on her energon cube, Novastrike gave a furious huff. “What’s he think you’re going to do?”

“Spy,” Scorponok offered. “Sell intelligence. Join Autobots. Take Decepticon property.”

Blackout shot his partner a warning look at that. Novastrike glanced between the two of them with confusion.

“I plan on contacting Nighthawk on the matter later,” Blackout asserted with a hard stare at his companion. He turned to look at Novastrike and went on, “For now, you should take your energon while you can. Then we need to go seek out Lord Megatron and see exactly what he wants of us today, since we don’t have a routine schedule here as the other bots do.”

Her spark fluttering with nervousness, Nova swallowed loudly as she croaked, “Do you think he’s going to separate our tasks?”

Flashing a devilish grin, the mountainous mech gave a chuckle. His armor seemed to warble slightly from the sinister darkness of his own laughter.

“He won’t,” he assured her.

“How can you be so sure?” she demanded.

“Like I told you yesterday. You’re my enlisted minicon. You’ll be beside me no matter what I’m asked to do or where I’m asked to stand, just like Scorponok.”

“I’m no minicon,” Nova hissed. “I’m nobodies minicon.”

“Darling, I promise, it’s just for show,” Blackout reminded her softly.

“So what, are you going to demean me in front of others?”

Exhaling loudly out of his mouth, Blackout reached out to caress the top of her helm. As he pulled his digits back, he gave a tap at the bottom of her energon cube to encourage her to drink it. Passing him a sour look, she begrudging took a drink.

“I’ve never treated Scorponok with anything less than respect, and I will not treat you any differently than I do him in public,” he stated. “No demeaning behavior required, I promise. It’s only to-”

“Keep me safe, I know,” she responded with sass.

“You don’t think what I’m doing is in your best interest?” inquired the large mech, his voice quiet.

“No- I didn’t say that,” Nova retorted as she looked him in the optic. “But I can take care of myself too, you know. I helped to fight those bots from the Revenge II; I stood my ground-”

“I’m not saying you can’t do those things, love,” he pointed out lightly. “The bots on this ship are tricky and deceitful if not more so than those on the Revenge II. If nothing else, most of them are far more intelligent. They will hurt you, and they will do so in ways that you can’t even imagine. Tearing apart the fabric of your beliefs, torturing you to the point where you know nothing but agony, destroying all the love in your spark and everything you care about. These mechs, they do not just want to end your existence. They want you to live, and watch it burn.”

A fearful tremor moved through Novastrike’s armor, causing her to shiver. She felt too disgusted to really drink her energon, but took another drink anyway. Primus help her she hoped she didn’t purge this stuff later.

As she pulled the cube away from her lips and looked back up to Blackout, she saw the unspoken regret in his gaze. He opened his mouth as if to make amends for his words, but she spoke up first.

“You’re being honest with me and telling me the truth,” she said quietly. “I get that. I’m sorry it’s just- it’s a lot to take in.”

“I know,” Blackout rumbled, nursing his own cube and then continuing, “But we won’t deal with it long. Once we’ve done our labor for the day, I’ll go check in on Nighthawk and Infiltrator. It’d be unwise to bring them in my room as that will look too suspicious, but we’ll see about trying to find someplace less bustling with bots to scheme.”

“Can I come?”

Hesitating for a nanoklik, the big mech finally nodded. “You can,” he stated with caution, “But don’t ask him what happened.”

“What happened?” she murmured, confusion written in her gaze.

Venting once more, Blackout looked down at Scorponok. The bug shrugged at him, taking a drink of his energon cube.

“Scorponok seemed to have neglected to tell you last night, but there was an incident,” Blackout said slowly. “He’s fine though; should recover Knock Out said. He’s just going to need to heal up and we need to see if Lord Megatron will release replacement parts to get him fixed.”

Drawing her optic ridges together, the little femme frowned slightly. He jumped into work so quickly already and managed to get himself damaged? The poor medic. Maybe it wasn’t Blackout she had to worry about getting hung up with the Decepticons again, but Nighthawk. But that didn’t make much sense. He left the Decepticons because he cherished his freedom over the oppressive system that had formed and didn’t trust that they were looking after the interest of their supporters anymore.

Unless Blackout was referring to a different sort of incident. In which case, she could only curl her lip up with disdain even musing the idea of which vile thug on this ship had managed to hurt Nighthawk. He was such a good friend; a careful medic and very thoughtful and wise. Why would anyone want to possibly bring him harm?

She thought to prod Blackout further on the matter, but decided against it as she focused in on him taking a healthy gulp of energon. His shoulders were tense. He looked stress. If he didn’t want to tell her, and he suggested she not prod Nighthawk on the matter, she figured she should just let it go. If it was a matter of pride, she didn’t want to wound the old mech further.

Reaching out, Blackout brushed her servo over Scorponok’s spine, making the bug chatter with joy. Novastrike snickered softly as the bug arched happily and wiggled beneath the contact.

“Lets hurry up,” he stated gruffly. “The sun’s nearly up, we’re going to be late.”

Baffled, Novastrike leaned back. “You’re telling me we’re up before the sun on this planet?” she growled, swirling her energon. “Sounds like a crime to me. Waking me up this earlier; I was up late waiting for you, you know.”

“Right now, you’re temporarily a Decepticon,” Blackout reminded her sternly. “And as the ranking Lieutenant and Third-in-Command of this ship, I need can’t be found relaxing all morning.”

With that, he brought his energon to his mouth, tilted his cube back, and chugged nearly half of it in a single drink.

Novastrike felt queasy by the gesture, and went to try chugging down her own cube as fast as she could. Best not leave their master waiting.

~

Stepping into the command center, it was a hub of activity even more prevalent than when they had been brought on board the ship. Blackout stepped out of the way as a bot went rushing past him, couriering information over to other Eradicons in the room. He chanced a glance down at Novastrike and her wide-optic look of fascination and intimidation at seeing so many bustling bots working at once.

It must have looked like quite the operation from her view, he realized. She had been an Autobot once, but he wasn’t sure what their protocol was in comparison to Decepticon order. That had been back on Cybertron anyway; not on the confines of a massive war space craft.

“Blackout.”

He straightened his composure and turned his optics up sharply towards the tyrant who growled his name. It was easy to mask his embarrassment at being caught staring down at the little femme who he was supposed to pretend was all but a tactical advantage to him, and not the bot who held his spark in her servos.

“Lord Megatron,” Blackout responded respectfully as he bowed his helm, voice low and baritone with harsh notes.

“You’re late,” the warlord informed him bluntly. His dark crimson optics turned down for the first time, focusing on Novastrike as she rigidly bent at the waist to bow much lower with respect.

“My apologies, my liege,” he growled thickly, trying to control the fueling instinct he had to move his pede and hide her from the damning optics upon her.

Gradually, Megatron moved his optics to Scorponok at his other side. There was a brief light of recognition upon seeing that one. He raised his helm up fully to look up into Blackout’s optics.

“Don’t let it happen again.”

“Yes, my Lord.”

“I’m sending you into our primary energon mine for the day,” the Decepticon Leader sharply informed him as he crossed his arms behind his back. “You’ll be protecting the Eradicon drillers collecting energon from the mine and helping to cart the bulk orders on board the platform that goes up into the Nemesis.”

It took a great deal for Blackout not to grimace. This was practically a punishment in itself; slave labor. He was a hunter, and he was being told to protect a flock of bots for the day.

Although he didn’t speak a word, the corner of Megatron’s mouth moved into a smile as his fangs peeked out. “You disagree with my order.” A statement, not a question.

Like any good solider, Blackout stayed absolutely silent. He kept his optics on his master’s. Hardly allowing himself to breath, giving no room of error to even shift as if to disagree.

When he didn’t answer, the tyrant’s smile vanished and he merely glared with loathing. “It’s an important task to protect our assets, Blackout.”

“I agree, sir,” he grunted.

“You say that, but I can read your optics,” the tyrant jeered. “Prove yourself to still be worthy of carrying that insignia on your shoulder.”

Without thinking, Blackout turned his helm a few degrees and moved his optics to look upon the Decepticon logo still on his arm. It was hard to distinguish the faded brand on his plating. Much of it had been scuffed and scratched off from fights, discolored and leaving little impression upon him now- in more ways than one.

“Yes, my lord.”

Grinning his twisted smile, Megatron gave a single nod of his helm. “Good,” he sneered. “You’re dismissed to work.”

Inclining his helm respectfully, Blackout turned to head down for the door. Scorponok and Novastrike moved according to his position naturally; like the trio had been working for thousands of years. The sync of their movements was eeriely in tune.

“Blackout,” Megatron called out as he was nearly to the door.

Stiffening, he turned his helm back to look upon his master. The warlord’s fiercely glowing dark crimson optics were upon him.

“You’ll have to tell me sometime where you got that new pet of yours,” he announced, mockery in his gaze. “I’ve not seen many half-animal bipedes like her around. Not one of Shockwave’s, I presume?”

He was goading him. Blackout could feel it. He wanted a rise out of him, a reaction to gauge him on. Even knowing this his servo flexed slightly at his side and his optic ridge pulled down slightly in a challenging scowl.

“No, my liege,” he responded steadily.

The warlord got what he wanted already. Megatron’s faceplate looked smug. He didn’t need to know why, he didn’t want to know how, he just wanted to know where his boundaries were and how loyal he was to this new one. And he seemed pleasantly satisfied with the results.

“Carry on, then.”

Dipping his helm a final time, Blackout made a little more haste to leave the room this time. He didn’t dare to look down at Novastrike’s burning, desperate, questioning gaze of fear as they moved down the hall, least he snap and decide to eliminate the threat and remove its helm before it could strike.

And that would be the stupidest mistake he could possibly make.

~

Rocks crumbled apart to reveal large glittering gemstones of blue. Although not nearly as colorful or interesting as Novastrike’s gift, these ones were just as important. Her mouth watered just to think that these were going to be refined later into fresh energon. She wondered if asking Blackout to try stealing one of these before they left was a bad idea.

Scorponok at least appeared to be enjoying himself. The bug put to use his drills, and helped to smash and grind up rocks with the Vehicon at work in the mines. Nova had to smile witnessing the minicon at work. Although he clearly was fond of Blackout, appeared to care for her, and was respectful of Nighthawk and Infiltrator, she always felt he longed for more work. Traveling in space bored Blackout in itself; she could only imagine what the poor bug must feel, trapped in Blackout’s frame, having nothing to do at all.

Repositioning her rifle in her grip, she turned her optics over to look at Blackout a handful of yards away. He didn’t even have his weapons out, but then again, he was a giant walking mech. He was ‘muscle’ just standing. He didn’t need a weapon to prove he could wail any bot who stood in his path into a ball of scrap.

His optics fell upon her as he finished scanning the area and he gave her a single nod. She returned the gesture before moving along to the next checkpoint.

“You coming, Scorponok?” she called out.

The bug gave a trill sound in response, diving into the cavern wall and pulling free a large excavated shard of energon.

Shrugging, she turned back and began heading down the tunnel once more, leaving the bug continue his work. Blackout followed from behind a few nanokliks later, scanning the route.

Once they were out of the main chamber shaft, they continued on slowly and without a word. The air smelled musty and damp as they continued. As Novastrike looked up, she noticed some crevices in the ceiling ahead that allowed in some beams of light. It was raining outside from the look of it as water dripped down on the ground.

Excitement bubbled up in her chassis. She wondered what it was like outside of these rocky cliffs. She’d only caught a glimpse as they’d went down the elevator. With so many bots and freight in her way, she’d only just got to see the lush green treetops and cloudy weather.

“Blackout-”

She turned to look up at him, optics glittering, and noticed he was looking ahead. Her optics moved to realize the path cut off in various directions.

“Map says the one to the far left weaves back and deeper,” he reported. “Two lanes after that are dead ends; both fully examined for energon particles in their dust reading negative. Far right is a cave-in from being overly mined. I’ll take the one beside the cave-in since it leads outside. You take the one to the far left.

Defeat sank into Nova’s spark. She gave a nod of agreement as she turned her helm away.

“Yes sir,” she muttered, shuffling down the directed passage.

“And Novastrike?”

Her ear twitched back towards him as she angled her face part of the way to glance back.

Blackout hesitated slightly before finally offering her an appreciative nod. “Good work.”

She frowned slightly, but gave a brief bob of her helm with understanding. “Thank you,” she replied softly, moving into the shadowy tunnel and out of the beams of light.

Behind her, Blackout watched her go with frustration. Giving a shake of his helm, he placed a servo to his servo, muttering a curse to himself beneath his breath as he trudged off.

~

Rain dripped down the boys sullen face and cascaded from his drenched hair. He shivered from the cool breeze that came with the pelted rain as he peered over the brush with dark eyes.

“Do you see anything?” a girl at his side hissed, trying to climb him.

“No,” the boy responded whilst shoving her back.

The bush nearby rustled. Jumping, the teen tried grabbed hold of the girl for protection as she looked down at him with surprise.

“All right you Decepticreeps, show yourself,” she warned, balling up her fists and making a jab in the air.

A nearby tree swayed lightly. Wood cracked as a branch was snapped. Shrubbery began to part, and suddenly a bot came pushing their way out of the thicket and plants with a hard frown.

“What do you two think you’re doing, running off like that?”

“It wasn’t my idea Arcee,” the boy swiftly reported, dropping his arms from around the young lady.

The dark blue armored femme gave a disapproving gaze to both of them, regardless. She turned a bold glare to the young girl, although she didn’t appear fazed. She hardly ever was.

“Miko-”

“Jack gets to go out on all the expectations!” the young girl barked, crossing her spindly arms in front of her small chest. “It’s not fair!”

“Jack wasn’t invited on this particular mission, and neither were you,” Arcee growled. “Bulkhead’s worried sick over you. Now come on, you’re going back to the base this instant before anyone spots you.”

A loud commanding thud seemed to give them all pause. Jack’s eyes moved to the ground, watching as ripples moved through a puddle as the ground trembled underfoot. The strangely deliriously thought that came to him next was when did his life turn from dealing with robots to being in Jurassic Park.

Crouching lower, the Autobot femme practically flattened herself into the mud. Her arms reached out to wrap around the two fragile humans protectively.

The thuds seemed to grow louder and louder.

Despite the warning hiss from Arcee, Jack reached out past her arms to part some of the leaves in front of him. His eyes grew the size of saucers as he swallowed louder.

“Arcee, what is that?” he breathed with horror. “That’s the biggest Cybertronian I’ve ever seen.”

Another thud filled the air. Flecks of sludge and mud splashed up on the monumental bot’s legs as he walked, snarling angrily. He gave a strange, ear-piercing metallic gargle of words; the Cybertronian language too high-pitched and alien for the humans ears to comprehend.

“Not what, but who,” the motorcycle whispered, her mouth barely moving as she looked with horror. “Blackout.”

[afterspark-podcast]

G1 Episode 6: Transcript

Episode Show Notes

[This can also be found on AO3!]

[Stinger]

S: If you were in charge of like creating a Transformers series what sort of base plot would you want?

O: Fuck it--we're starting with the death of Optimus Prime and going from there baby!

[Intro Music Plays]

O: Hello and welcome to the Afterspark Podcast, an episode by episode recap of the Generation 1 Transformers cartoon.  I'm Owls!

S: And I'm Specs!

O: Today we're gonna be talking about episode number 6--Divide and Conquer. Let's talk about giant robots today shall we?

S: Yeah.

O: Last time on, the Transformers, a devastating antimatter formula, old computers, Ravage gently kidnapping a teenage boy from his bedroom--through a window, and Megatron is the, “Most powerful weapon in the universe!”  Let's also not forget Soundwave’s magic mind-reading powers. [laughs]

S:  Yeah.

O: But, for today we start at a high-security...factory?

S: It's some sort of facility in the middle of nowhere--a desert or whatever guarded by a bright green tank with a missile launcher no less.

O: How is that bright green tank not a freakin Autobot? [laughs]

S: I don’t know…

O: And there’s so much going on with this installation, it’s the weirdest freaking factory I've ever seen in my life!

S: There's a water tower, smokestacks and not just one communication tower, but two communications towers.

O: And to top this off, like a cherry on top of a freaking sundae, is it has what I can only describe as Mario Brothers’ bright green pipes on top of the building.

S: And they’re in the desert, yet their lawn is so green and they may or may not have a water feature or some sort of garden for, uh, their workers to take breaks at.

O: And when we mean their lawn is so green, we mean everything outside of it is brown, ok?  Like--

S: It’s the middle of a desert, there's like the [unintelligible] and scrub and...

O: And then, bright green lawn! With a bright green tank!

S: Yup, eh, oh but get this they actually have security cameras

O: So, basically they've one upped the alien robots. [laughs]

S: Yup, and we cut to the interior of the factory as our narrator informs us that they're creating weapons to defeat the most dangerous enemy of all, the Decepticons!

O: And to illustrate this point, apparently they have a poster of Megatron with a sticker plastered across his chest that says, “the enemy”.

S: He really looks like he's wearing a sash like-like he's going to prom like I think he's the prom king or prom conquer, maybe?

O: [laughs] Well anyway, Chip is here and he's apparently helping these scientists with weapon development.

S: And then the Seekers attack the factory. There's a coloring mistake where Skywarp is colored like Starscream.

O: Skywarp is clearly pretending to be Starscream today

S: Oh wait, no now he's Thundercracker.

O: Boy they can't color in this episode, huh?

S: They-they really can't apparently and Soundwave shows up and they start stealing energy.

O: Which flows like water, and is bright blue?

S: Apparently?

O: [laughs] Anyway, Chip, you know, being an intelligent person in this situation unlike I swear to God most people in this show, sends a distress signal to Optimus Prime.

S: [sighs] Oh God, and Optimus is just standing in the canyon from the previous episode?

O: Well they--so they called it a riverbed but, but, but it looks like a canyon!

S: It's a canyon in quotation marks.

O: Yes, but now it actually looks like a riverbed!

S:  Mm-hmm yeah.

O: So he finds out they’re in trouble--the Autobots roll out, including him and some of the people from the Ark.

S: Oh, Spike is actually hanging out with him in the riverbed and Sparkplug is back at the Ark and we actually had a question of which one was which.

O: Well yeah, cuz we were seeing them from behind and like, I feel like one of them looked like they had really really long legs and we thought that Spike was in like, both places for a second but no, one of them was Sparkplug.

S: Yup, and as you said the Autobots roll out, and then Starscream fishes for compliments from Megatron for doing such a fantastic job.

O: Oh buddy, you've gotta--you've gotta, you know, do more self actualization for yourself. You can't rely on this from outside sources man, that's all I'm saying.

S: Yeah…

O: Then Optimus Prime show up and Megatron is telling Starscream to attack but I swear he can't count because he says Starscream outnumbers Prime 3 to 1 but there's 3 Seekers, plus Soundwave, plus presumably all of Soundwave’s cassettes. Shouldn't it be like 9 to 1?

S: Maybe the cassettes are off of a break or something, maybe they’re on vacation.

O: I don’t know, I just thought it was weird at-at least it's 4 to 1 I'm just saying--Megatron clearly can't count. Anyway, Optimus then, uh, so a fight ensues. You know because we-we know what kind of show we're watching.

S and O: [Laughter]

S: Yeah, we do.

O: And Optimus punches a heat seeking missile.

S: Optimus what can't your magical Jesus hands do?

O: [snorts] Using a triple attack the Seekers continue to attack Optimus and they end up bringing him down but then the Autobots show up, so the Seekers flee.

S: And then Optimus is badly damaged.

O: Despite not having a single mark on his body?  It's very strange.

S: This is...I think he's damaged because he's like, “I will shield you humans!” from an exploding computer.

O: Something like that?

S: Yeah.

O: It was dumb but he doesn't look like he's got a mark on his body.

S: Yeah, he punches the thing and then it explodes part of the computer and then it overloads and he's like, “I must protect you!”

S and O: [Laughter]

S: It’s so silly.

O: It is, it’s very silly.  So, uh, Decepticons return to base, ah, Starscream then takes credit for killing Optimus.

S: Oh now look who's doing the preemptive declarations.

O: Megatron has more sense than all of the Autobots fucking combined for the last five episodes right now.  Optimus is dead my ass. [laughs]

S: Yeah,  this might be the first time laser cores are mentioned?

O: Sparks don't exist yet, but sparks are generally like their heart slash soul thing in any other continuity and I guess--

S: This might--laser cores might technically be their brains?

O: Yeah, but it's kind of the closest we're gonna get in G1?

S: Yeah..

O: Which is weird because I'm so used to every other continuity where sparks are like their main, you know--if you kill that they're definitely dead, thing.

S: Well, this still makes more sense than Marvel and, “Oh I saved Optimus’ life by downloading his mind into a floppy disk.”

O: Oh God.  [laughs}

S: Yeah, you haven't read that bit yet.

O: The comic--the Marvel comics are a trip! A delightful trip, I highly recommend reading them. [laughs]

S: Yeah.

O: You will not keep a straight face.  God knows I couldn't, I'm sure some people on the bus think I'm fucking nuts now because I was trying not to laugh my ass off. [laughs]

S:  They’re fun, and they're the first full canon experience I had but let's get back to this!

O: Yes! [laughs] Anyway--uh, so Laserbeak is sent off to investigate if-if Optimus is actually dead and Laserbeak doesn't want to go for some reason?

S: And Megatron seriously threatens his you know, parent of the year standing here.

O: Yeah, he like yells at Laserbeak and I'm like you were doing so well man.

S: Yeah, he threatens Soundwave’s--one of Soundwave’s bird children, bird cassettes.

O: Yeah.

B: Yeah.

O: I'm still pretty convinced that like, if he ever actually, seriously harmed the cassettes he would be screwed because I'm convinced Soundwave is like, the one that keeps shit running in the Decepticons.

S: Yeah, you've said he’s the most competent one there.

O: He’s the most competent one there! Don't piss off your competent subordinate man, he's not like Starscream you won't know he’s comin’.

S: Yup, and then so Laserbeak flies into the top of the volcano and lands on Brawn turning into a cassette in midair.

O: How does Brawn not feel this!?!

S: Apparently they just don't have a hell of a lot of feeling in their bodies or something I guess?  

O:  It’s weird, it’s just he gets carried into the Ark as a cassette on Brawn’s shoulder.  It's so dumb!

S: Yup!

O: Anyway we cut inside where, uh, Wheeljack and Ratchet are working on Prime while everyone else is watching?

S: I guess there's nothing better to do or else this is what counts as entertainment for the Autobots.

O: Pfft, well our leaders gonna die again--guess we better grab a seat huh. Who's gonna make the popcorn?

S: [laughs]

O: Laserbeak then hops off Brawn transforming and flying to perch on some rocks in the room where Optimus is….and no one sees this how!?!

S: I don't know, I don’t know, I mean none of these characters have you know, much in the way of…

O: Peripheral vision!?!

S: Yes.

O: [laughs]

S: I was going to say something of like, uh, passive perception.

O: [laughs] They all failed their passive perception rolls!

S: Yeah...yeah, and then he starts recording, broadcasting back to the Decepticon base.

O: Uh, well finding out Prime's not quite dead yet Laserbeak attempts at assassination.

S: And Ratchet forgets about his capture net from a few episodes ago which is...really annoying.

O: [laughs] Yes, consistency! Uh, so Prime…explodes?

S: Well yeah, he’s got fire and stuff coming out of his chest…

O: He explodes. [laughs]

S: And everyone like, ducks for cover. The Autobots huddle as they try to save Optimus.

O: And then Wheeljack mentions a part he needs, from his old lab...on Cybertron.

S: Oh God, it’s like--can't you just build this..Wheeljack...

O:  [laughs] I don’t know why--

S: ..why can’t you…?

O: But yeah, no, we gotta go to Cybertron for this shit.

S: And then Huffer pisses and moans.

O: Ironhide gets so tired of this he shoves this entire hand into Huffer’s face. I'm not even kidding.

S: How about no? And yeah, I posted the screenshot of this with, “How about no?” it was just, it’s just, it’s--

O: It [is] literally his entire hand is in his face. There's a pretty big size difference between the two and so it ends up being pretty funny.

S: Like, Ironhide is looking in the different direction--

O: Yeah, he's just like shut up Huffer the adults are talking!

S: And he’s gesturing and I think Huffer’s sort of flailing?

O: [laughs] Something like that.

S: It’s, it’s pretty goofy.

O: Anyway, Chip offers to hack the Decepticon space bridge.

S: Oh, and back at the Decepticons--it's Tuesday again and time for some good ol’ Starscream bitchin’

O: Yep, I don't even remember what they're talking about here because it’s just Starscream bitching. Anyway, Shockwave informs Megatron of the Space Bridge’s next coordinates.

S: Why...how the hell does Shockwave know where the--where the stupid Space Bridge is?

O: I assume it’s where he’s sending it?

S: Yes, but why is he--why aren’t the Decepticons here moving it around? I don't understand how Shockwave controls the location from Cybertron. [sighs]

O: I don’t know [laughs] alien robot technology, man, I don’t know how this works I just talk about it!

S: God--I mean, I’d assume they'd be able to do something more intelligent everywhere else if Shockwave’s able to just fuckin’ control the Space Bridge location.

O: [Snorts] Yeah.

S: Alright.

O: I mean the only thing I can think it's maybe it's somewhat based off like, Earth's rotation and where Cybertron is or something?

S: Eh..

O: Not that we're ever going to get that good of an explanation but that's my current theory.

S: God, that would take more math then I’d be interested in doing.

O: That's why they make Shockwave do it! [laughs]

S: True. Yeah, so we found out where the episodes budget went!

O: So literally, Megatron is just colored really, really, really well in this one shot. I don't know why.

S: Like there’s lighting, there's mid-tone, and then there’s shadow, yeah...

O: And you’ve seen old cartoons--there isn't always those things. [laughs]

S: Yeah, like most of the time it's just flat color instead of giving any sort of shadow in there.

O: Yeah.

S: But, nope Megatron's gotta have his mood lighting.

O: [laughs] I believe it!

S: And back at the Ark, Chip is utilizing Teletraan 1 to try and predict the next space bridge Location.

O: So remember what we said last time when we said he was smarter than the robots? Yeah, how did prime not consider this option. [laughs]

S: “Just like Sherlock Holmes with floppy disks!” Oh God…

O: Which is Spike's reaction, um, so sure Spike, sure.

S: Ratchet and Wheeljack are frantically trying to keep Prime alive at this point.

O: Uh, this time without an audience. [laughs] Because they were so helpful last time!

S: Well I bet Prime--I bet Optimus is, ah, grateful for his privacy this time.

O: [laughs] I would be! I don’t want all my friends to watch me die! Anyway, the Decepticons are loading up the Space Bridge with Energon.

S: As the Energon phases through Starscream? Like, I think there’s a bit where he’s just like--

O: They didn't--they didn't use their layers very well again. [laughs]

S: Yeah...yeah.

O: Uh, we get an extra Reflector again today, um..

S: Yeah, for a total of four!

O: For a total of four, and that same [extra] Reflector is volun-told that he's the Space Bridge driver now.

S: Like, Starscream picks ‘em up and ploinks him in the seat and he's begging for his life!?

O: Pretty much--again, pretty big size difference. The Reflectors are all pretty small individually so...

S: Yeah, and then the Autobots show up, or some of them do.

O: Uh, it's the crew that's gonna go to Cybertron show up, basically. So the Autobots show up and then someone did some decent background paintings here?

S: There's some pretty nice light diffusion, especially in the distance. It's very nice, they knew how to keep their details where they needed to be.

O: Yeah, like kind of sparse in the background. Uh, and now suddenly it's raining and Starscream is trying to hit people with a tree.

S: Like he literally rips it out of the ground or something and like, holds it over his head. He's not trying to hit people with it like it's a baseball bat.

O: Which you would you think would be what they would do…

S: Hey--

O: But it’s not!

S: There’d--there’d be a lot more leverage--well, not leverage, but you know, a lot more force behind it if you were moving it like that. But no apparently Starscream just...they don't have baseball in Cybertron.

O: Except for Jazz...apparently? [laughs]

S: I guess--yeah, yeah you’re right!

O: Um, so Megatron orders the Decepticons to lose against the Autobots they've showed up here.

S: I don’t think we get a good reason for that but...

O: I-I think his logic is we're gonna split their forces up and put some of them on Cybertron?

S: I'm not sure how that--

O: But if you beat them here they-they wouldn't have to go to Cybertron so I don't know why he would order them to lose, this should have just been the back-up plan.

S: Yeah I don’t know, its weird and so Starscream gets frozen and Reflector gets force merged together like he gets--

O: The three Reflectors get like, thrown into each other and merge into one? I don’t know.

S: Like--like not like they're transforming and combining into their alt mode it's more like, [clap] wompf?

B: Wompf-wompf?

[Talking over each other]

O: And yeah they're--

S: Like they're all--

O: --combined it doesn't make--I don't know what--I don't know why this is the thing.

S: It's like they've all fused into one...oh God it's like they fused--like [the] Steven Universe gems.

O: [laughs]

S: Except they’re not getting--

O: They don’t get cooler!

S: Or bigger! [sigh] Just suddenly they're all stacked together in one teeny-tiny package.

O: Anyway, Bumblebee, Ironhide, Bluestreak, Trailbreaker, and Chip use the space bridge to travel to Cybertron where they're met by Shockwave and that one Reflector who got tossed through the Space Bridge. Shockwave, apparently, just keeps liquid nitrogen--

S: In like a canister...thing?

O: On the wall!

S: Dispenser! Let’s go with dispenser thing.

O: It looked like--it looks like a fire--it's like shaped like a fire extinguisher is--

S: Yeah.

O: --to my memory. But he just came to there hanging on the wall.

S: Like is that their fire suppression system? Why would they use this? I mean I guess they're weak to water so they don't have sprinklers?

[The Decepticons are routinely in salt water so this point seems moot and I blame it on the inconsistent writing more than anything.  ~Owls]

O: Sprinklers probably would be bad.

S: [sighs]

O: So Ironhide picks up the liquid nitrogen canister thing that’s on the wall, shoots it at the wall and then...it makes the wall more brittle so he basically makes a hole in the wall.

S: Yeah, he like punches a hole in it or something?

O: Yeah.

S: And the Autobots escape out of said hole.

O: Ironhide then shoots glue at Shockwave and the Reflector, gluing them into place.

S: You know what’d be super useful right now? Liquid nitrogen.

O: [laughs]

S: Also--

O: Is real--is that the real reason Soundwave keeps it around?

S: Maybe? Um, but this is also like where that gif of the Shockwave dancing (sort of), shows up or like it looks like he's dancing.

O: It is basically him struggling to get out of the glue but totally without context it looks like he's dancing and I've seen it used in so many different contexts is and it is great.

S: Yeah.

O: Um, so Shockwave and Reflector can't get out and we get to see three new seekers on Cybertron as Megatron orders them to pursue the Autobots.

S: These are the Rainmakers.

O: And yay, more pyramid jets!

S: And Chip single-handedly breaks into Wheeljack’s lab.

O: I still love how the Autobots handle him, they just literally pick his entire wheelchair up and hold him up to be like, the panel that like, the digital panel they need to use to get into the lab.

S: So his Chip learned Cybertronian is that why he--

O: I’d believe it! Chip is smart enough.

S: Mostly, it's just--geez, he is a super genius for learning and becoming fluent and then being able to hack in this different language.

O: [laughs] I believe it!

S:  Or I mean--heck maybe, well no, yeah he did hack it ‘cuz the Decepticons are the ones who put the stupid lock on the door.

O: Oh, was it? I don't remember.

S: Yeah.

O: Anyway we find out here that Ironhide has eye beams.

S: [laughs] Eye beams--he's officially the most prepared Autobot™.

O: Trademark. [laughs]

S: Yeah, he's got freeze gun, he can shoot glue and he’s got eye beams! I mean what the hell else can't he do?

O: He won't help lift Optimus Prime apparently!

S: He wants to supervise.

O: [laughs] No!

S: [laughs]

O: So, uh, the Rainmakers make...well, rain.

S: By that we mean acid rain.

O: And the Autobots are stupid and run outside into it instead of turning around walking back into Wheeljack's lab and either waiting at the storm or thinking of a different fucking option.

S: They’re dumb. They're really dumb.

O: Acid rain by the way apparently has no effect on Chip what's so fucking ever!

S: It's his superpower, he's invulnerable to acid rain.

O: [snorts]

S: And meanwhile Megatron is pleased with this situation.

O: He even compliments Starscream, someone's in a good mood.

S: And he orders an attack on the Autobots like...apparently losing these four Autobots and Optimus Prime is enough to like, weaken the Autobots’ defenses.

O: Yeah, and I feel like we need to specify, he orders an attack on the Autobots still on Earth. Anyway, back on Cybertron, Chip attempts to use motivational speaking to get the bots back on their feet and then Trailbreaker suddenly remembers he can create force fields.

S: Bumblebee looks annoyed.

O: You couldn't have fucking done this five minutes ago, Trailbreaker!?!

S: Like, yeah couldn't you've done this before we stepped out into the rain and then and--

O: [laughs] I don’t think--

S: --started getting all paralyzed or something?

O: Yeah, the bots are affected by the acid rain but Chip isn’t. It's really strange.

S: Like, it gets into their circuits apparently and it makes them short out. I don't know, haven’t they invented like, waterproofing yet? And then Bluestreak shoots the clouds away because he's such a good sharpshooter.

O: [laughs] “I can sharpshoot clouds.” And, uh, Chip’s motivational speaking seems to fail here as the Autobots kind of get themselves back together he's like, “Transform and rolllll for his life!” in regards to Optimus.

S: [sighs] And meanwhile back at the Space Bridge, Shockwave is finally finishing shooting the glue away.

O: And with this shot, like, how it’s framed the single Reflector looks huge like, Shockwave sized. He’s not [laughs] that big!

S: Um-hm.

O: Uh, the Autobots proceed to drive leisurely past these two morons back into the elevator and Shockwave tries to shoot at them.

S: He doesn't even blow out a tire.

O: You had one job dude, one job.

S: And meanwhile the Decepticons are attacking the Ark.

O: [coughs] Spike is super gung-ho to lead this fight. So much so--he steals Jazz’s gun.

S: Jazz really doesn't practice trigger safety.

O: It is hilarious to see a human try to carry a Cybertronian scaled gun because it’s huge.

S: I mean he's not trying, he is managing it but--

O: I know he’s doing it!

S: But it's his size, literally as tall as he is. I mean how heavy is that gun? Spike has to be ripped!

O: Abso-fucking-lutely. Uh, the Autobots are prepared to fight, even Huffer has stopped bitching for five goddamn seconds.

S: He is so down to fight now, Huffer is I mean.

O: [laughs] So, uh, back into the fight, Spike is shooting Jazz’s gun.

S: He's clearly utilizing the spray and pray method. I mean, he’s shooting from the hip!

O: There is no way he’s able to aim with that thing! [laughs]

S: Fighting insues! And Spike calls Ravage a bad kitty.

O: BULLSHIT! Ravage is not a bad kitty, all kitties are good kitties! Fuck you Spike.

S: But especially Ravage is a good kitty, he's just not an Autobot kitty.

O: [laughs] So Sideswipe takes to the air, as he does, shooting from his shoulder mounted flamethrower.

S: But it really looks like he's breathing fire because of the framing and the angle that he's directed--

O: Yeah.

S: --the angle he's at, blah.

O: For once Starscream is yelling about conserving energy. [laughs] Megatron's like, “Fine! Then we'll just have to end this fight.” His method for doing this is...transforming into gun mode and having Starscream fire him.

S: He’s the most powerful weapon in the universe! What do you mean that's not the answer to everything?

O: Okay, dude, but you can’t solve all your problems with your gun, that’s all I’m saying.

S: [sighs]

O: Anyway the cavalry arrives in the form of Bumblebee, Ironhide, Trailbreaker, Bluestreak and Chip.

S: And Megatron has just completely disappeared from Starscream's grasp in the next shot.

O: Where’d he go!?! [laughs]

S: He’s taking a break.

O: [laughter continues] He’s like, oh God--Starscream I can't even stand to be near you!

S: He's getting some polishing and I don't know. Had to clean his barrel. Uh, Chip and Spike deliver the part for Optimus to Ratchet and Wheeljack.

O: And then we cut back to the battlefield and Shockwave’s on the ground here for no apparent reason and shouldn't even be here. [laughs]

S: [laughs] Yup! He looks like he got absolutely trashed and it’s amazing.

O: [laughs] Oh but there’s more!

S: As well as what should probably be Ironhide is down for the count but he's colored like Ratchet.

O: Who again, is inside, we just saw this because he’s fixing Optimus Prime because he is a fucking medic, damn it.

S: Yeah, and it's back to pre-emptive declaration time as Megatron declares the Decepticons the victors and…

O: I revoke my earlier statement about his sense.

S: Yup, yup, it went away today it went away.

O: It went away. Optimus Prime ruins this by not being dead.

S: And the Autobots rally.

O: Uh, Prime basically challenges Megatron to a one-on-one combat.

S: Eeh, that happens in like, ev--like, every single series.

O: Pretty much.

S: This isn’t a surprise.

O: But, but Starscream is going on about a battle code. Is-is he just making this shit up now?

S: Well I mean...Marvel comics the Autobots have like, God, I’m just...forget about that, I don’t know what the hell it’s called...

O: [laughs] You’re like, I don’t know either.

S: No, it’s the thing that Ratchet and Megatron do that--

[Talking over each other]

O: Oh God--no we’re not getting into that!  That is its own separate thing of whatever the hell that is! So, um Optimus does a swan dive off a mountain into Megatron. As the fight goes on Megatron throws Optimus, who then picks up the big rock Megatron is standing on and then Megatron faceplants down a mountain.

S: It's really, really funny looking.

O: It is delightful, but it gets better because then Megatron does his best, “Help like fallen and can't get up,” pose as he's on his back.

S: He really looks like an overturned turtle like one of those ones that's flailing on its back and-- [hiss and laughter]

O: Then Optimus shoots Megatron while he's down, in the stomach, repeatedly.

S: Yup, yup, and Starscream gloats as Megs asks for assistance and he's like in this like, he's sitting up in this sort of weirdly languid looking pose like extending a hand--

O: [laughs] Pointing!

S: --at Starscream, who’s ignoring him.

O: [continued laughter] It’s the Birth of Adam but with Megatron!

S: Kind of, yeah! It actually does look kind of like that.

O: It does!  Um, so Megatron uh, yields, “For now, only for now!” after Prime stomps on his hand.  [dissolves into laughter]

S: And Starscream basically declares himself leader Decepticons again, I mean like always.

O: Do you think he’s a meme? Like, within the Decepticons?  He's just gotta be, right?

S: Yeah, oh God yeah, he’s a meme.

O: [laughs]

S: Probably Thundercracker, er--Skywarp’s tela--teleportation is too. God, probably all of their powers are memes.

O: Oh yeah, but I feel like Starscream--Starscream's, “I Starscream am leader of the Decepticons,” has gotta be like its own like, meme (trademark).

S: Yeah.

O: So the Autobots just let the Decepticons fly off apparently? And that's the end?

S: This actually really reminds me of several piec-bad pieces of fanfiction that I read when I was much younger.

O: Is it bad when in they’re just doing what they’re doing in the canon though? [dissolves into laughter]

S: No, but it’s like, it does reflect that the writing is not good?

O: That’s fair. Anyway, so that’s the end of the episode, uh, next time join us as Starscream finds his long-lost BFF, the Decepticons try to freeze the world and giant robots do dumb shit in snow. Also a giant glowy green rock.

S: Yup, yup.

O: So Specs, tell us ‘bout our fanfic for the day.

S: All right so we have, uh, three fanfiction recommendations for today.

So our first, uh, recommendation for today is, “Rain Stops Play,” by KoiLungfish. It is set in a general Generation 1 continuity. I'm not sure if it's IDW or cartoon, uh, but it's set on Cybertron, just to let you know. It's rated T for teens, it's Gen, there aren’t any pairings. The characters involved are Prowl, Trailbreaker and--with a mention of Mixmaster. And so Trailbreaker and Prowl disagree on what best to do in a rainstorm and our theme here is ‘rain’.

Our next, uh, recommendation is, “Checkmate,” by taralynden. It's, uh, set in the g1 cartoon series, rated T for teens. It has slash in it, uh, pairings are Jazz/Prowl and our main characters are Chip Chase, Prowl and Jazz. Chip and Prowl play chess both on the board and with some of the Autobots biggest secrets, and I picked this because it basically focused on Chip being really curious about the Transformers.

O: Fair enough.

S: And their culture and the fact that they're probably hiding a lot of stuff.

O: [laughs] Nah. Nah!

S: And then our third recommendation for today is, “He Who Laughs Last,” by Nightwind, which is set in the g1 cartoon continuity, rated K, it's Gen, uh, there aren't any pairings and our main characters here are Skywarp, Thundercracker and Soundwave. So in summary, Skywarp may not be the only inveterate practical joker lurking at Decepticon headquarters, and I actually forgot what the theme was for this one when I picked it so that’s why that’s--

O: [laughs] Oh, well Seekers?

S: Seekers, and I guess pranks?

O: Okay fair enough. We’ll just go with--we’ll just go with Decepticons.  It’s fine we need more Decepticon shit in here anyway.

S:Yeah. And that just about wraps it up for us today. Remember to check out our tumblr at Afterspark dash podcast dot tumblr com for any additional information, show notes, or links that we may have mentioned. You can also find us on Facebook and Twitter at AftersparkPod (all one word), and SoundCloud and YouTube at Afterspark Podcast. Till next time, I'm Specs!

O: And I'm Owls!

S: Toodles!

[Outro Music]

[black-strike-otp]

part 12

Anyone who still remains after part 11: you’re a real trooper buddy <3

The Exodus of Cybertron, it was later called. Cybertron needed time to heal. Resources dwindling, the planet scarred- they had to leave for the good of their world. And Megatron, the blood-thirsty tyrant he was with his spark twisted on revenge for his former friend, surged forward into the darkness after Optimus Prime, vowing for his spark.

Little to no one remained on the desolate wasteland once called home.

Ships were scattered across the cosmos as the space bridge was corrupted. The Ark and Nemesis played a game of cat and mouse; the big competitors in space, fighting for dominance.

Factionless rogues tried to stay in contact with rogues, and aid each other when they come into contact. The Rising Star met up from time to time with other ships. Goods were exchanged, conversation offered. Sometimes hosts were less polite than others, but everyone knew better than to pick a fight.

It was lonely. Isolated in space. You could have your friends, your family, but you still felt empty. Homesick. An ache in your tanks more than hunger alone.

~Years Later~

Location: Unknown

:: Decepticon General Blackout, you’re going to be out of range of comm systems after another an estimated 3.68 kils. ::

:: Understood. Have Lord Megatron informed that as promised, I will return with a debriefing of the location. ::

:: Certainly, sir. ::

The line went dead shortly after. Blackout’s alt-mode glided through the vast cold emptiness of space. He saw nothing but dead and dying stars twinkling in every direction, as far as his scanners could pick up.

He checked his star maps a few dozen times. Within himself, he could feel a restless Scorponok; whose thoughts continued to pester his own.

< Recharge, Scorponok. We have a lengthy trip ahead of us.>

The bug didn’t seem very pleased to hear the news. It was certainly going to be a long trip; the poor bug was going to be desperate to get out and stretch his limbs by the time they got there.

~

Location: Just outside of atmospheric pressure and the gravitational pull of planet V 255835 section QBI 832759

:: This is Journey, requesting permission to dock. ::

:: Permission granted. Welcome aboard, crew of Journey. ::

“Its been some time before we’ve had visitors,” Novastrike stated excitedly, practically bouncing just outside of the transport bay. There was a delightful gleam in her optics as she danced in place; servos jabbing in the air.

A rather unimpressed Neutroboost glanced down at Novastrike with narrowed optics. “Settle yourself femme, you’re going to startle them away.”

“At ease, Booster,” Guard commented tiredly. He looked much older than they had on Cybertron. It seemed age was finally catching up to him. “We’re all a little excited at the prospect of making a few new acquaintances and trading partners.”

Neutroboost grumbled at the scolding, glancing away. The seeker used to be so docile and calm, but since Crookedwing’s tragic death amidst the escape from Cybertron, he never could seem to find his own inner peace. What once was a collective, thoughtful, considerate mech was now constantly at war within himself.

Nova pitied him, but he refused to let anyone close to him anymore. Save for, perhaps, Guard.

The giant twin doors finally opened as the docking was secured, locked, and the two vessels had adjusted their pressure conditions to equalize each other out. A team of mechs stood in their own connected ship, awkwardly staring back.

“Greetings, friends,” Guard greeted warmly, placing a servo to his chassis and bowing with respect.

“And to you,” one of the mech’s aboard Journey stated awkwardly.

Groups began to slowly enter each other’s ships and intermingle. Novastrike; hardly spotted beneath all the larger bots conversating, stared up at the newcomers in awe. Most seemed to act shy; socially awkward, actually, she studied from their actions. She slipped further into the Journey and observed their expressions and reactions as they fidgeted and spoke.

She spotted what she could make up to be someone of importance upon the Journey. He was speaking with Guard; nodding as they spoke. His expression showed interest, but anxiety, and he wore a set of strange googles upon his head.

Something moved at his heels, and Novastrike almost squealed as she jogged over.

“Hi there!” she chirped, having spotted the minicon hiding behind the Journey mech’s legs.

The mech immediately looked down at her, perplexed.

“Novastrike,” Guard snapped, offering a disapproving stare.

“It’s- quite alright,” the newcomer stated, though his tone seemed unsure. “He’s just a touch shy at first, that’s all.”

The mech stepped aside slightly, revealing the curled up ball that had been trying to hide behind him. The creature’s shiny gunmetal gray armor shifted in the light. Beneath his form was red, and Nova realized as he moved to stand up and shrink away, that it was his appendages that were red.

“Ooohh my goodness! Are you a descendant of Predacons? Look at how small you are oh, wow!”

The tiny dragon gave a small chirp, lowering its head and wriggly uncomfortably in place beneath Novastrike’s excited gaze.

“He’s no predacon, that I can assure you,” the mech stated firmly.

“He’s glorious,” Nova whispered in awe. “Is he friendly? Can he speak? Can I touch him?”

“He doesn’t normally speak,” the mech stated, nervously wringing his servos in front of his chassis. “And I would ask him, little femme- he’s intelligent, he’ll understand your questions himself.”

Placing her servos respectfully behind her back, Novastrike stood straighter and looked- or tried to look- the red ruby eyed dragon in the optics. “Hello there! You look absolutely amazing. Would it be alright if I just- touched you? I’ll be quick I swear you just- you look so unreal! I mean, I’ve seen a mech once that was a dragon, and he could talk, but he was bigger than you and I never got the chance to touch him and see if he was real or if I was just going crazy.”

“-crazy,” the dragon echoed back in Novastrike’s tone.

“Oh my gosh, you can parrot bots! That’s so cool. What else can you do?” She asked, sitting on the ground.

The dragon looked up at his master, but it seemed the mech had no aid to offer. He went back to speaking with Guard; although, kept glancing back at his dragon anxiously.

“What... can you do?” the dragon repeated.

“Well...” Novastrike brought up her servo, using her digits to help count as she spoke. “I can transform into a cyber-cat, obviously that means I can jump high and hear crazy things far away- like further than everyone in this room. Except maybe you, maybe you can do that too? I can uh... you know, speak, read, write. Sometimes I sing, but alone you know- I don’t think I’m that great. I can shoot guns pretty good but I only use stun rounds, I don’t like hurting bots. Umm...”

She tapped a digit against her helm thoughtfully, trying to find new things to explain. As she did so, the dragon inched closer, reaching out with his muzzle to sniffle at her armor.

“Wooooaaahhh,” Novastrike gasped in awe. She reached out with her servos, retreated, and reached out again.

The dragon bumped her servos gently with his helm with approval.

“Ooohh my gosh you are so delightful, just look at you! Look at how good looking you are,” Nova cooed, patting her servos over the dragon.

He gave a tiny little wiggle at first, like he was confused on how to react. Novastrike patted his sides and his back and his rump moved around like an over-excited dog.

“So cool,” Nova stated, breathless.

“What is-... your name?” the dragon inquired through recordings, lashing his tail around. One of his horns moved slightly; tilting a little to the side questioningly.

Giggling softly as she rubbed the dragon’s armor, she responded: “Novastrike.”

“-Novastrike.” the dragon repeated. “I am- ... Fireline.”

“Well, it’s nice to meet you, Fireline,” Novastrike gushed, offering a doofy grin.

The dragon gave a small flick of his tail, showing his sharp teeth in a grin of his own; although, his seemed a touch more strained and unsure. “-nice to meet you” he mimicked, causing another fit of giggles from Nova. She halfway fell to the floor, and Fireline turned around, snuffling his snout into her side curiously so that she squealed; laughing loudly.

“AhhhHH! Stop you’re- you’re tickling me,” she snickered, trying to shove the dragon’s helm away. He chirped, snuffling into her side more and causing another fit of laughter, to which most of those in the room turned to stare at, optics softening at the sight of the pair messing around. It was pretty rare to hear that sort of unfiltered, joyous laughter floating around.

~

Location: 1200 kleps from planet V 255835 section QBI 832759

< We’re almost there, Scorponok. Shouldn’t be but another 153 jours. You can see it pretty clearly from here. >

Scorponok took advantage of the bond to stare at the location from Blackout’s perspective vision. He didn’t seem impressed with the spherical solid mass of a planet. It seemed reddish-brown in color, with a thin cloud overlay here and there, and small patches of a greenish-blue plant life with almost purplish colored water.

< Looks inviting. > Scorponok stated unhappily

< What’s that matter? No longer want to throw yourself in some dirt and bury around for the next few days? Maybe tearing up some Autobots, causing trouble. At the very least, causing me trouble when I try to get you to dock again or Primus forbid, clean you... >

That instantly changed the bug’s mood.

< Hurry up, you rusty old flier. >

Blackout chuckled. < That’s the spirit. >

~

Location: Just outside of atmospheric pressure and the gravitational pull of planet V 255835 section QBI 832759

“It was really a pleasure meeting with your crew, Guard,” the mech from the Journey stated, shaking his servo. “We appreciate your hospitality. I’m sorry that we don’t really have the resources to help your crew out further.”

“It’s fine,” Guard murmured tiredly, offering a small smile. “Not many are willing to part with their energon, that we understand. It’s the parts we lack for in repairing our vessel that causes the most issues though. Ever since the Exodus, we haven’t had any operational on board defensive system, among the other issues I told you about...”

The mech from Journey offered a sympathetic servo to Guard’s shoulder, giving it a gentle squeeze. “If there’s anything else we can offer, we’ll do our best. Should we come across something useful for you, we’ll try to contact you.”

“And us, you.”

The mech chuckled. “Of course,” he agreed. “And are you sure it’s alright for us to leave you those seven mechs for four of yours? I’d feel terrible straining your ship anymore than necessary...”

“Nothing we can’t handle, and they’ll get used to the rations and way we run things. After all, they’ve been mostly settling around these past few cycles anyway,” Guard stated politely.

“Well, this is farwell, for now,” the mech stated with a nod. He turned to look around with some concern. After a moment, he spotted what he was looking for: a dragonic Cybertronian gnawing on a cyber-cat, over in the corner. They were half flopping over one another.

“Fireline,” the mech stated. “We’re leaving now. We’ll be seeing the crew of the Rising Star again, but it’s time to go.”

Fireline poked his helm up from the interweaved limbs to look over to the mech. His tail swished slightly, and he looked down at Novastrike as he pulled himself free from their tangle.

“Farewell-... friend,” Fireline stated through his recordings.

Roughly shaking her helm, Novastrike stood up and bumped her helm against the dragon’s chassis. “Goodbye,” she said softly. “I’ll miss you, Fireline.”

Fireline gave a soft chirp, lying his helm temporarily on top of Novastrike’s. He pulled away, wiggling his bum a little. With a leap and a bound, he turned towards the mech that called for him and glided across the floor; wings snapping open. He landed effortlessly just inside the Journey’s docking chamber.

“I’ll miss you toooo,” the dragon hissed in a voice Novastrike had never heard. There was a mischievous glint in his optics, and Nova’s own pair widened slightly and as she placed her servos on either side of her face.

“Ooohh nooo, that little monster!” she hissed. “He can speak after all!”

A rather confused looking Guard glanced down at Novastrike as he exited the small docking bay and shut the doors so that they could finish the undocking process. “What was that?”

Offering a cheeky grin, Novastrike gave a little shrug. “Oh, nothing important,” she snickered, walking away.

~

Location: 358 kleps from planet V 255835 section QBI 832759

< Only another 46.3 jours left, Scorp. >

< Wake me when we get there, > the bug stated in the most ‘I’m fragging dying of boredom’ voice that could be.

That’s odd, Blackout thought. He could almost swear he saw a glint of metal for a moment heading on planet; the light from the sun momentarily bouncing over its form before it descended into the cloud cover.

Maybe the rumors were true, after all.

~

Location: Planet V 255835 section QBI 832759, surface

“You think they missed us?” Novastrike asked as the Rising Star made its final approach to the planet’s surface.

Guard gave a hearty laugh, waving his servo to the observation deck’s viewing window. “I don’t know, Novastrike, why don’t you look and see for yourself.”

The small femme jumped up to see what it was Guard was laughing about. A smile flashed across her features as she looked at the dirtball of a planet they were settling on, her optics wide.

“Woah,” she breathed out slowly. “That’s a lot of Knoech’ols.”