#I mean they didn’t have to use Airachnid

[quibbs126]

You know honestly, having Airachnid as Sentinel Prime’s loyal second in command is very interesting considering their TFA counterparts

[sublimati0ns]

I'm the person who wrote about (in my opinion) bad choices for some of the Decepticons.

First of, thank you for not attacking me for the mistakes in my ask and actually providing a correct definition. I have seen so much hate towards people with less popular opinions that I only feel comfortable sharing them as anon. Being polite and helping with understanding is really rare, at least in my spaces, so again, thank you.

Second, I did not mean to come of as someone who wished to see clear deaths of mentioned Decepticons. The only thing bothering me is how they are not even mentioned later despite being a real threat (Yes, I know Soundwave and Starscream come back in RID15, however Shockwave and Airachnid are kind of forgotten. I just find it werid that they would quietly work without causing any problems. They are war criminals on the loose and nobody is concerned?).

Third, I disagree with the interpretation that creators left themselves a way out in case of making a new show. It all felt like they wanted certain characters out of their way as soon as possibile, instead of planing something new. If there is somewhere a post or interview confirming it then I will change my mind. In my personal experience it was just too rushed.

Lastly, all of this is just my opinion. I am in love with this series, however that love is not blind. Prime has its own flaws. What are they? Everybody will say something else, so thank you for this discussion and let's continue to have fun.

Of course! I completely understand the desire to stay anonymous; fandom has turned into such a hostile place over the last 10 years 😓 It’s something I worry about as well, since I know my own opinions are unpopular! But I don’t see a point in needless cruelty… The state of the world is awful right now, and media / internet is the only escape a lot of people have. We shouldn’t poison that :( If something a random stranger online is doing makes us angry or upset we can easily block / mute and complain to friends in private—no need to hurt other people.

But I digress; I see what you mean! I treat TFP as a standalone and haven’t watched RiD15, so if your initial ask was in regards to how Shockwave and Airachnid go unaddressed, I can see how that’s frustrating. To be clear, I didn’t think you wanted to see them die on screen! I just used that as an example for an alternative route a story could take (as opposed to leaving the fate of a character ambiguous). When I mentioned creators leaving loose threads in their work, I was referring to a broad trend I’ve noticed in media rather than speculating that’s what the TFP crew specifically intended, but I wasn’t completely clear, so that’s on me ahaha///

I think it’s totally fair to want something different from the final season of Prime or feel the Decepticons’ fates seemed rushed / sloppy, though! ^^ I can see where you’re coming from, even if I didn’t mind what the writers went with. I definitely have my own gripes with Prime’s writing—the Autobots’ busted plot armour and the way season 2 as a whole felt lacklustre, meandering, and inconsistent (character-writing-wise) compared to s1 and s3 among them >>

[nsokolow]

Transformers One: Charoite

Chapter Six

Charoite woke up to her name being called, along with knocks on her door.

“Char, you ready for your first trip to the surface?” Sentinel asked.

Charoite burst out of her sleeping pod, out the door, and into Sentinel’s arms. “Morning, Sen! Yep! I was born ready!”

A hint of fear flashed in Sentinel’s eyes. “Good to hear. Just remember what I told you last night: What happens on the surface stays on the surface. Okay?”

Charoite’s eyes darted from side to side. “Okay!”

Sentinel picked Charoite up and kissed her. “Fantastic. Let’s go!”

Charoite followed Sentinel, Airachnid, and the guards to the balcony.

“Okay, everybody ready?” Sentinel enthusiastically shouted.

Airachnid and the guards gave Sentinel a single, firm nod. Sentinel chuckled at Charoite’s hyper, wide-grinned nod.

“Okay, gang!” Sentinel stood on the balcony and spread his golden wings. “Let’s fly!” Sentinel fell backward and flew off.

Charoite flew off the balcony with the rest of the crew.

The sky on the surface had to be the most gorgeous thing Charoite ever saw. It had teal steaks of light, and the sharp rocks on the ground glowed a bright orange.

“This is gorgeous!” Charoite said as she flew up closer to Sentinel. “I can’t believe you’ve seen this so many times!”

Sentinel nodded. “Yep! This is one of the perks of coming to the surface! One of the few for me, actually.”

“I’ve been meaning to ask, how come we’re bringing trains with us? Are they carrying weapons to be used against the Quintessons or something? Then again, they haven’t been around in fifty cycles…”

Sentinel’s face froze. “Well, the crates are used as part of a bargain I have with the Quintessons.”

Charoite felt a painful shock in her stomach. “Wait…what? You have a bargain with Cybertron’s greatest enemies? Why?”

“Relax, Char! It’s fine! It’s just a little way of taking control of my destiny and making sure they stay away from us!”

“Well, I mean, thank you for protecting us, I guess.” Charoite felt some relief. Sentinel was merely keeping Cybertron safe, and that was the most important thing. “So, what do the Quintessons want with the crates? What’s inside—”

“Look, Char.” Sentinel held up a hand. “The most important thing is that I’m still a hero, and that you all are kept safe.” He touched her cheek. “Especially you.”

Charoite felt mostly better. She still felt like something was wrong. Surely, Sentinel wasn’t doing anything that wasn’t in Cybertron’s best interests, right?

“Okay! We’re here!” Sentinel announced.

Everyone landed. The trains came to a stop.

An enormous ship, which somewhat resembled a dusty purple beast with multiple heads slowly flew above them and landed. Quintessons exited the ship and stood in two straight lines. One of the green creatures, evidently their leader, flew out of the ship and headed straight for Sentinel.

“Sentinel!” Charoite cried. What was he going to do to Sentinel? Why was Sentinel just standing there expressionless?

Sentinel knelt. In the direction of the Quintessons.

Charoite felt her stomach drop. She frantically looked around and saw Airachnid and the golden bots doing the same.

“What in Primus are you doing?” Charoite yelled.

The Quintesson leader let out an irritated vibration and puffed out pink smoke.

Charoite was so horrified she didn’t care. She grabbed Sentinel’s shoulder. “Sentinel, what’s going on?”

“I told you I had a secret on the surface!” Sentinel exclaimed. “What happens on the surface stays on the surface!”

“Sentinel, what’s in those crates?” Charoite asked with a tremble in her voice.

Vessels extended from the ship. Cubes of energon levitated from the crates and were sucked up into the vessels.

“W-What?” Charoite backed away. “How…how could you do this?”

Sentinel reached his hands out. “Char, I’m sorry, but this is how I’m able to stay Cybertron’s hero and live my life!” He grabbed her hands. “To live our lives, together, in my tower, with everything we could ever want.”

Charoite’s throat hurt as she nearly cried. She jerked her hands out of Sentinel’s grip. “No! Not like this! You’re not a hero!”

“Yes I am, Char.” Sentinel frowned. “I was scared you’d get like this, so I kept putting off telling you. The truth is what I make it. I’m Cybertron’s beloved hero, and you’re my co-hero who will be with me forever!”

The Quintesson leader growled a pointed a tentacle at Charoite. He flew closer to Sentinel and growled louder in his face, surrounding it with pink smoke.

“Charoite, he wants you to kneel.” Sentinel looked at her nervously. “Come on!”

Charoite was so upset she wasn’t even scared. She crossed her arms and frowned. “No! I love Cybertron too much, and I want it to be the real truth someday that I’m their hero! Whether I’m your co-hero or not!”

The Quintesson leader approached her and growled.

“Leave me alone!” Charoite yelled. “You have our energon, so why do you care?”

The creature grabbed all of Charoite’s limbs with his tentacles, picked her up, and threw her onto the ground. He let out a louder, longer growl. He flew towards her.

Charoite screamed and flew away. She looked back at Sentinel.

Sentinel held out an arm. He slowly shrunk it back as the fear on his face morphed into anger.

Charoite’s pace stalled. She almost stopped flying. She might as well have been dead anyway. She lost her home, her dream…

She lost Sentinel.

Charoite felt something pierce through her chest as her vision glitched and went black.

“She’s waking up.” A somewhat deep voice said.

“Finally!” A high-pitched, distorted voice replied. “Maybe she can tell us who she’s working for in exchange for a quick death!”

“Quiet, Starscream.”

“But the Sentinel decal—”

“You think I didn’t see that stupid thing? I remember this girl! I know she worked for him! She might be of use to us!”

Charoite opened her eyes and saw a shiny silver bot’s face peering down at her, his face pensive, his eyes red. He was a transforming bot with sharp cheeks and a long helmet. She thought he looked familiar.

Charoite gasped and sat bolt upright, causing the silver bot to cautiously hold his hands out to her. It couldn’t be!

The silver bot sat back up. “Charoite, right? You may remember me. I was D-16. Call me “Megatron.”

[sonicasura]

He was looking over some reports while in the medbay—the fact he was still on medical leave essentially was forever grating on his nerves… When a comm call from an unknown comm number came through, Breakdown only humored it out of sheer boredom.

“Hey, soldier.” The voice of Checkpoint greeted once the call connected. “I hate to disrupt your recovery, but I need to cash in one of those favors. Or rather cash it in to trade for medical attention, on behalf of an ally of mine.”

Right! The… creature (never really asked what Checkpoint was) vaguely knew about the warrior’s conjunx, who also happened to be the Decepticon medic. Breakdown was a little surprised and confused on why the militarian reptile was requesting medical help. He didn’t think cybertronian medicine would exactly be effective on an organic looking species.

“To clarify, my ally has a cybertronian in their care who needs the medical assistance. Not either of us…” Checkpoint mentioned, seeking to read the Decepticon’s silence as confusion. There was some slight clicking over the comm-line. “…My ally has an offer to act as incentive for Knockout to come here. Airachnid helpless for a dissection—“ More clicking. “—correction vivisection. She’s still alive, unfortunately.

Will that suffice?”

“…I think KO won’t mind shirking a few hours to help a friend.” Breakdown replied, voice all too vicious sounding to be wholesome. Whatever Checkpoint was—he had very efficient allies.

(The moment Knockout came through the ground bridge, Pen put the rest of her plan into action much to the Autobots’ fascinated horror.)

——————————

Megatron was on the main command deck when—a sudden boom of a purple fire ball exploded just shy of the ship. Several more followed forcing the Warlord to order his troops to investigate. That fire almost looked like…

A purple cube was thrown up into direct view of the main window and promptly detonated.

Someone was destroying Dark Energon!

“I didn’t know the Lord and Master of the Decepticons was weak enough to hide behind his army! Come out to the flight deck, Megatron. I won’t even fly given I heard you lost your wings semi-recently!”

Soundwave pulled camera feed of a familiar reptilian creature—the same one that tore off his fusion canon. Apparently, it was intelligent enough to insult the Champion of Kaon! Megatron let out a growl at the insult—

“You really have gone soft, haven’t you?”

His growl turned into a full blown furious war as he had Soundwave ground bridge him onto the flight deck itself. The creature stood among the crumpled frames of the Vehicons sent out.

(Knocked unconscious, not dead.)

“I hope you’ll forgive the firework show, Lord Megatron.” The reptile spoke his title mockingly and not even being ashamed of it. “I just can’t get over how beautiful the detonation of Dark Energon is. I mean, the last time I blew some up—I blew you up and a Space Bridge!”

The gladiator sprinted forward incensed beyond the point of most rational thought now.

——————————

Dreadwing had been running his brother through exercises to cut down on the getting back into fighting form period… When the both of them felt the ship beneath them shake.

Something must have hit the hull?

Then, Skyquake tensed up as if sensing something his split spark twin could not. His sudden alertness was proven right when a creature resembling a light bulb burst out of a duct.

The being reorientated itself without much preamble, then angled its front to them. “[Subject located.]” It spoke in a monotone not even the most bored mechs could manage. “[Beginning reacquisition for research.]” It shot out a pulse of electricity that vaporized a nearby part of the wall which forced Dreadwing to pull his brother into cover. The more physically capable Seeker growled at the words it had spoken. This mindless thing wanted to take his brother! Apparently again.

“[Secondary subject unnecessary. Recovery of primary subject mandatory.]”

His spark would join the well before he enabled that to happen!

(Pen winced as she knew Ion hated becoming Datamon or repeating what his former “minders” said about them. She’d treat the Hagurumon to several new pieces of tech after this.)

——————————

Soundwave was monitoring the challenges issued to his Lord with giant concern. For all the alien creature’s insults, it was no slouch in actually meeting Megatron servo to fist. He was however interrupted from his musings by—

Himself?

The spymaster detached from his console and whipped around to see his own visage. Except the sight resembled the false one that Starscream had been attacked by months ago. Purple energon dripped out of his mirror image’s cracked visor, but what really caught his attention was the broken mini cradled to its chestplate. Behind it… Behind him were the broken deactivated visages of his cassettes.

Rumble, Frenzy and Ravage…

Only the visages gave faint spark signatures that he though he would never feel again.

The imposter spat out static before whipping its helm around… Dark energon splashed just shy off his cassettes broken yet truly there frames. Soundwave found himself already charging despite the smart option having been to disarm his doppelgänger at a distance.

But, he couldn’t think that rationally. Those were the frames of his deceased cassettes which he had never been able to recover!

If only to give a proper burial—he needed them.

(“I found these three in Shockwave’s lab.” Null explained, showing the three miniature cybertronians he ‘borrowed’. “I don’t think they are actually extinguished. But, their sparks are in pieces in their spark chambers…”

Pen thought for a moment. “…See if you can beseech something out of the core of the planet. If not, then we’ll have to try to piece the sparks back together if possible.”)

Operation Save Bulkhead has begun! Except for Breakdown and Knockout, all the others are facing their own personal nightmares/trauma. Ion definitely deserves that new tech as I really don't like how the anime usually portrayed Datamon.

Dr. Datamon from Cyber Sleuth/Hacker's Memory is a better representation.

[kazuchuu]

i don’t know if this has ever been theorized before but i’m back on my tfp hyperfixation and i’m making it everyone’s problem now. while re-watching the show i could not for the life of me understand why the decepticons kept sending knock out, their only medic, on missions. (this excludes the instances where he personally asks to go)

think about it: he’s not equipped for combat. he has no long-range weapons. his best bet is the electric rod, which can only do so much until it’s broken. sure, he’s fast, but that isn’t much when most missions inevitably involve physical clashes. what’s more, as far as we know, knock out is the only doctor aboard the ship. sure, there are probably other scientists, but their speciality is likely not cybertronian medicine. what were the cons going to do if knock out got killed? the vehicons are replaceable but there’s no guarantee that higher-ranking officers wouldn’t need medical attention at some point.

of course, there are some plausible explanations we can think of, and that are even likely! the most obvious one is that he works with breakdown the best (hence why they’re on a bunch of missions together. the brawn and the speedster<3). but after rewatching the human factor episode, it hit me that knock out wasn’t even told that breakdown had died (which is why he says “breakdown, where have you been?” upon seeing him instead of something like “i thought you were dead”). which likely means that, when breakdown goes off on a mission, knock out has no idea when he’ll be back because no con will update him. knock out simply has to wait until breakdown steps into the medbay again.

so what if. WHAT IF knock out personally volunteered to accompany breakdown on his missions because he didn’t want to wait for him? because he couldn’t stand the swarm of “what-ifs” in his mind, because a part of him knew that one day, breakdown might not come back at all, and knock out would be none the wiser. because at least, if he was there, he could watch breakdown’s back, because let’s be honest, the cons aren’t about to risk much for him, are they? he could at least perform on-sight medical treatment if breakdown gets seriously hurt. and most of all i think knock out wouldn’t want to hear of breakdown’s death and live with the regret that he could have saved him if he was just there. (and let’s be honest, airachnid is incredibly strong, but knock out would have probably been able to keep breakdown’s anger in check. ironically he also could have been incredibly useful on that mission because his buzzsaws could slice through the webbing.)

anyway just some kobd brain worms that i had to put out into the void. apologies if i missed something :’)

[keef-a-corn]

Dat’s right, people, it’s time for ‘Keef watches TFP and you just get the notes!’

This is for season 1, episode 16: Operation: Breakdown

I write down the timestamps, but I watch Transformers Prime on Stan (an Australian streaming service) so they may be slightly off.

ALSO! I try my best to note points for every character, but tend to get a little caught up by Bee (although I think I do a pretty good job with the notes regardless) so do be warned.

These notes are really critical and may give you whiplash + not many screenshots for this episode, sorry.

~~~~Transition~~~~

00:07 - first up, this visuals, the audio, really makes the place seem eerie. It’s perfect.

00:23 - Breakdown manages to keep it creepy.

00:38 - All things considered, decepticons calling humans ‘pets’ is not so much an insult as it is an interpretation.

00:47 - Once again, not so much an insult as it is a statement. Miko is a soft spot for Bulkhead (she’s also a weakness and a strength.).

00:51 - A ‘damn right’ would’ve been more suited, but go off

00:55 - beautiful spin. + I much prefer the rivalry between Breakdown and Bulkhead to Arcee and Airachnid. On paper both rivalries are the same. The decepticon is physically stronger, but also talks a lot during fights to get in the Autobot’s head and it totally works. It’s just that Bulkhead responds less to Breakdown’s taunts and doesn’t get as heavily affected by them (compared to Arcee).

01:10 - I may have laughed a bit too hard. + It feels like Breakdown has more respect for Bulkhead than Airachnid does for Arcee. One thing that makes an amazing rivalry is when there’s a level of respect.

01:46 - Aside from plot, why would they take Breakdown? As much as it increases their chances of dealing with the autobots, he’s in worse condition than Breakdown and they have an understanding of how much Bulkhead can endure.

~intro~

02:37 - I had the same reaction as Bulkhead.

02:46 - Not liking the theme of ‘charge not recognising when something’s wrong with their guardian and what they’re doing is not the solution’. I can’t quite remember if it happened in Predatory, but I do know it happened in Out of His Head.

03:04 - Bee’s doing it again.. + For anyone else the phrasing Optimus used would be putting it nicely, for Optimus it’s harsh. Bulkhead has a very different dynamic with Optimus compared to the others so I think it’s more caused by Optimus not knowing how he’s supposed to talk to Bulkhead.

03:08 - now what Optimus said makes it feel victim blame-y. It isn’t, but it comes off that way.

03:12 - Something about the ‘stay still’ felt so.. correct. It was firm and assertive, but in the way instructions should be given.

03:14 - Miko’s probably got something that means she can’t pick up on cues, probably ADHD (this is an observation, not an insult.), with that in mind, I will still say it’s frustrating to see her hyping him up while he’s injured and in trouble.

03:16 - One of the reasons I don’t like Miko and Bulkhead’s dynamic is the same reason as to why I hated the way Raf was acting when Bee was being controlled by Megatron, but to a worse extent. Miko, on purpose or by accident, puts pressure on Bulkhead to act a certain way for her. You can see he’s upset because he didn’t do it and that’s heartbreaking.

03:23 - Bulkhead woke up alone, why would the others have come, dealt with Breakdown, but left Bulkhead behind?

03:33 - I understand that it was a guess and that Bulkhead ain’t the smartest, but why would it be Fowler?

03:34 - I believe this is the first time Agent Fowler’s shown up and I haven’t wanted to punch him.

03:47 - Odd that Starscream would be the one to recognise it. Feels like it would’ve been more accurate for Knockout to have noticed.

03:54 - Rude and highly unnecessary.

04:07 - Love that confidence for Starscream.

04:20 - big talk from someone that was tricked into saving Optimus.

04:46 - that shot was confusing. It implied that it was from Breakdown’s perspective but quickly changes.

05:08 - Kinda vibing with that description of a human.

05:10 - That was weirdly passive.

05:22 - breakdown deserves better.

05:30 - do they though? I thought they only wanted parts.

05:46 - Agent Fowler really stepping up rn.

06:00 - I have no clue what he could’ve possibly said.

06:07 - Seeking Validation from Miko.. Not how the dynamic should roll and really hurts to witness.

06:09 - Prime holding onto his values. Finally someone’s got their head screwed on. Throughout the delivery of his command, he was jolting slightly. Not heavily-animated, but certainly not ordinary.

06:15 - ‘h-what??’

06:17 - has everyone just forgotten their Values?? (Maybe- I seriously am in the dark on what Bee’s saying) Their whole thing is about rights and freedom. + They know MECH is smart and dangerous. Obviously they’re going to use Breakdown as a reference for Cybertronian Technology.

06:37 - This scene is so weird.. Why is there so much pushback??

07:02 - Fowler really showing change rn by admitting that MECH is dangerous to humans too, clearly in contrast to how he acted during Convoy.

07:11 - Glad that was addressed too.

07:14 - MECH’s location really ain’t impressive in the slightest.

07:27 - aw, no.. ;-;

07:43 - That’s.. horrifying you hear.

08:05 - Breakdown’s reactions are making me cry. Since he works with (and dates-) Knockout, you can imagine that he’s heard some of these lines before, but it’s a whole different thing to have them told to him.

08:18 - This is heartbreaking. I thought the scene would’ve ended sooner, but it didn’t and that makes it so much worse.

08:29 - there’s something so.. perfect about this shot.

08:32 - deary dear de I’m gonna loose my mind with the way Optimus (aka Peter Cullen) pronounces each character’s name.

08:33 - There’s something so unbelievably confusing about Bulkhead’s relationship with Optimus.

08:36 - MMMM YES! DELICIOUS! LOVE ME SOME RESPECTFUL LEADERS.

08:38 - the stutter- I can’t breatheee

08:40 - My school should learn a thing or two from Optimus rn. History with people can make things complicated. Optimus is making the right call, for Breakdown, for Bulkhead and for everything else that’s at stake.

09:18 - Go off, Fowler. Really behaved this episode and proved useful… Miko’s giving me whiplash.

09:30 - cover poster potential.

09:43 - Why would that be the right call? Tracks are clues in a situation with vehicles involved.

09:47 - I feel like that isn’t actually a direction.

09:52 - Height difference- also colour palettes got me laughing fr. Like Arcee and Optimus have darker colours, better for blending in. Ratchet’s white and orange, but because of the blue hue he blends in a bit, meanwhile Bee’s just neon. He looks like a highlighter.

09:55 - that’s an unfortunate concept. There’s a little part of me that wants to say that it’s a ploy (honestly cannot remember much of this episode) as it could be the same energon signal Bulkhead and Breakdown were responding to at the start and that’s why there was a focus on the tracks.

09:56 - Kongs vs Godzilla

10:12 - TFP didn’t have the rights to ‘Godzilla vs King Kong’

10:31 - translation: we’re exes. But in all seriousness, rivalries are always looked on in some sort of light but this is a prime (Hehe) example of what they can also be like.

10:45 - heavily animated Bulkhead

10:46 - Miko really just used ‘bromance’ and decided not to explain.

11:17 - Bee running like a child while Optimus just walks is an incredible visual despite the darkness of the episode.

11:21 - Arcee and Bee aren’t in sync but their movements are clearly practiced.

11:33 - Bee’s wings are sticking out. SERIOUSLY HOW DOES THIS BOT HIDE??

11:38 - They’re like dogs when you take them on a walk with the leash more relaxed.

11:41 - wouldn’t they benefit more from Optimus being behind Ratchet? Incase they’re attacked from behind and all.

11:52 - Horrifying and gross.

12:41 - under appreciated line right here.

12:47 - Optimus didn’t move, while everyone else reacted.

12:50 - Wouldn’t Silas have seen Ratchet first? Granted he wouldn’t know Ratchet.. or any other bots’ names, but he should’ve waited a moment to spot Optimus before addressing him.

12:57 - Optics- not eyes.

13:01 - all bots acting very calm.

13:16 - if Optimus had finished that line with ‘a lil bitch.’ I’m certain the show would’ve won thousands of awards.

13:19 - they’re not like other girls.

13:39 - it’s very heavily implied that there’s bomb. Why aren’t they moving??

14:15 - poor baby’s so confused.

14:27 - except that he warned the bots so odds are they are safe. (I know we know they are, but he doesn’t)

16:08 - proper rivals know when their differences must be put aside.

17:05 - incredible aim.

18:36 - That was awesome. Points to Starscream, amazing trick and amazing execution.

18:54 - Some points taken away. They’ve got an unspoken truce going and until they both walk away, it’s still in play.

19:18 - That was beautiful.

20:05 - Damn Optimus, couldn’t even wait until you got home, huh?

20:11 - Nevermind- still do not understand their relationship though. + heavily animated Optimus.

20:18 - that’s the way a child explains how they one tip/tag at school

21:17 - Why would they use Breakdown as a reference for Optimus?? There are so many differences by physical structure alone.

———————

And that was Operation: Breakdown.

Ignoring the fact that this episode would’ve gone very differently if Ratchet hadn’t dismissed Bee after he pointed out the tire tracks it’s a pretty good episode. Not a favourite, but still a good watch. Fowler really stepped up this episode, which was good. I liked the focus on Bulkhead, even when it came at the price of Miko.

I liked the way it portrayed Bulkhead and Breakdown’s relationship. Got thoroughly confused by Optimus and Bulkhead’s though.

Not much else to say.

[bots-and-cons]

(I am resending this one) I was scrolling through your page and encountered the posts of the autobots (+Knockout and Megatron) finding their (s/o)'s body, and I got curious to see how would the other decepticons react? (let's say for example Breakdown, Dreadwing and Soudwave)

The mentioned posts can be found here and here. Also I saw a post saying Soundwave is telepathic, so I used that in this since I liked the idea. I didn’t write Dreadwing, because I couldn’t come up with anything I was happy with.

~Soundwave~

You hadn’t called, you hadn’t texted and you hadn’t come to the Nemesis in days. Soundwave was starting to get worried, since you weren’t answering his messages either. He decided to ping your phone in an attempt to get your location. You were probably just at home, and he was worrying over nothing but he wanted to be sure. Maybe he had accidentally made you mad and that’s why you weren’t answering, even though that didn’t really sound like something you would do.

He didn’t get your location by pinging your phone, which had him really worried, because that would mean your phone had been turned off, and you never did that.

Had he known what was going on with you at that time, and where you were, he would’ve come to your rescue, but now it was too late. Soundwave was standing in the middle of a wrecked M.E.C.H base they had just raided, and looking at your body on one of the rather crudely put together examination tables.

Soundwave hadn’t known you were there, if he had he obviously wouldn’t have had the vehicons destroy the whole place. He was standing over you and he felt like he couldn’t move, because if he did, his legs would give out from under him. So he just stood there, quietly, watching, waiting for some miracle to happen that would bring you back to him.

Nothing like that came, no matter how long he stood there, still as a statue.

“Sir, we should return to the Nemesis, Lord Megatron will want a report on-”

Soundwave didn’t even blink, he just extended his arm and dug the poor vehicon’s spark out of his chest with one swift movement.

“Anyone else want to disturb me?” his voice rang through all the remaining vehicons’ minds.

The vehicons returned to the Nemesis and Soundwave was left alone in the wreckage. Now that he was alone, he allowed himself to collapse, he dropped to his knee plates and took off his visor.

“This is my fault, if you had never come in contact with us, with me, you wouldn't have met such a cruel fate. I am truly sorry and I want you to know, I will cherish your memory forever” he said out loud.

He wanted you to hear that, he really did, but it was too late now, you wouldn’t be answering, you couldn’t hear him anymore, you were gone and he would never hear your voice again.

~Breakdown~

“What-what is this?” Breakdown asked with his voice breaking.

“I’m sorry, I found them like this outside the medbay, there-there was nothing I could do” Knockout said.

Your battered body was laying on the medbay’s table. You were wrapped in the blanket you had brought to the Nemesis with you. If he didn’t take into account all the blood, it almost looked like you were sleeping. There were also some burn mark looking things on your face.

“Airachnid” Breakdown whispered with a low voice.

That had to be it, who else would do this? She must have somehow gotten to the Nemesis and taken her revenge by killing you. Those burn marks looked like the acid from her claws too.

“I’m going to kill that spider bitch” Breakdown growled and hit the examination table.

Breakdown marched out of the medbay, but on his way to the ground bridge, he stopped. He leaned against the hallway wall and just sighed. What the hell was he going to do? He wasn’t even able to protect you when you were alive, how was he supposed to protect you now? How was he supposed to avenge you? You were somewhere far away, somewhere out of his reach and he would never hear your voice again. He would never feel the warmth of your hands on his cheeks when you kissed him, or hear you whisper sweet reassurances in his audial while you were sitting on his shoulder. You were gone and nothing he would do to Airachnid would bring you back, but that wasn’t going to stop him from killing her. Even if he couldn’t get you back, he would avenge you.

[thenamesblurrito]

I think you mentioned that Snap Cheetor has carnivorous instincts, at least with Scraplets. is this ever brought up in the story itself? like, is there a support group for carnivorous beastformers? an underground "ethical" farmers market? (sure, mechanimals live for a Long time, but a long time isn't Forever, and accidents do happen, its better to use the resources than waste it)

yea, Cheetor does have predatory instincts, and even powered down as Blurr he has to deal with it! i actually mention that here with Airachnid too: suddenly an apex predator in a world of chattel, and those instincts, much like Blurr, are going to give her some interesting compulsions.

the interesting thing here is Blackarachnia didn't have that prey drive prior to bonding with the Liegian Darts. Blurr certainly didn't, the closest thing he had was a sort of chase instinct as a racer frame. Abominus doesn't have a prey drive, neither do Soundwave's minicons, nor do any normal people. other beastformers with predatory alt modes are already sniffed at for being monstrous, bloodthirsty, dangerous. Predaking has had more than one instance of a grown adult claiming he, a youngling, was threatening them just by being around. but no mecha, not even beastformers with predatory mechanimal alt modes, have beastformer instincts. it's a terrible false stereotype and regularly used to leverage public opinion against them.

so. why the frag are Blurr and Blackarachnia affected???

for Blurr, he figures it prooooobably has something to do with the fact he's pretty sure he maybe might in fact be possibly turning into a literal mechanimal. how else is he going to explain how he can speak to mechanimals, disney princess style? for Blackarachnia, she wants to deny it, to ignore it, but when push comes to shove and she's willing to hunt down an actual person for the thrill, she's going to have to admit that Airachnid may have a mind of her own, outside of Blackarachnia, and a mind much crueler, bloodthirstier than she'd like...

now, as for the worldbuilding part of your question!

the real issue here is cultural norms. Cybertronians would never dare to eat a living thing, that's barbaric! that's a spark of life forged from Vector Sigma, designed and set forth by Primus himself, how could you! that's so much worse than messing with innermost! even if mechanimals aren't people, they're alive, and thus inedible, even when dead. now, plenty of mechanimals and cyberflora produce things and take part in the energon cycle that creates edible material, and this is obviously harvested for food. i mean, just look at all this fruit.

so if you present the average mech a singlehorn sandwich, they'll be horrified, and might just lose their appetite. the notable and widely derided exceptions to this cultural norm are Carcerians and spacers, the former of whom spend enough time bullied by cassetteowaries, roobots and their joAIs, and data drop bears to want a little tasty revenge, and the latter of whom spend the majority of their time away from any semblance of civilization and decent fuel, so scraplets and barnacles are valuable snacks. Ariel cheerfully tells her roommates about what delicious baloney she could make of a beryllium boar and spends the next hour cackling about how queasy they all look.

[quibbs126]

So I ended up making that character that’s a reference to some game, because I don’t know why

I probably won’t use her, but she exists now and I mean I like how her design turned out

So uh, yeah, this is Stinger

I have decided I won’t tell you the name of the game she’s a reference to because I want people to guess. But honestly, I don’t know how easy it’ll be to guess the game

But I mean, I think I was relatively blatant in the reference. If you want another hint, half of it is her name, and the other is part of her design. I really don’t think it’s that difficult, but you also have to know the game exists, which I’m not sure how many people do

But anyways, design things

A lot of her design takes inspiration from one of the characters in the game, and so I can’t tell you that aspect, but I also referenced Transformers characters as well, mostly Animated characters. Arcee in her body type (I may or may not have traced the initial body from her because I couldn’t get my proportions right), Drift for her top head thing and the things on her sides, and then Shockwave for her hands and alt mode

I gave her claw hands to reference the fact that her name’s Stinger; she needs something to sting people with

But also outside of them, another primary influence was Beast Machines Jetstorm, since he’s very slender like what I wanted

I didn’t actually know how to design her alt mode, all I knew is that it was supposed to look vaguely like a dinosaur and also terrifying. But I don’t know how to draw that, so that over there is my best attempt

Probably need to get better at it if I want to convey a terrifying Airachnid and/or Blackarachnia in my AU like my brain envisions, but oh well, a problem for later

Edit: I’m realizing now, she probably doesn’t look at all like a dinosaur. I don’t actually know how to draw them, and my lazy ass didn’t look up references because it was going to be sketch only. She probably looks closer to a kaiju or the Balrog or something than a dinosaur. My bad

And sure, her normal and alt mode don't really look like they're the same person, like you can't really see where the dino stuff comes from on her, but spoiler alert, she's almost definitely not actually Cybertronian, just taking the form of one, so it's fine I guess

But anyways, on to any sort of character stuff, it's mostly what's said above

The main idea I had outside of that is that in a story where she hypothetically exists, she had once mentored one of the main characters, though she seems to have mysteriously disappeared, presumed dead. Then one day, presumably back on Cybertron, the group encounters this absolutely terrifying dinosaur looking thing that eats people and eventually realize that this is what Stinger has become. They think that this was like, the product of a forced experimentation, like how the Dinobots come to be in some continuities, but the twist here is that this beastly form is completely intentional on her part, and she is fully sapient like this. This is more what she actually is (though probably not fully). She might have had a different alt mode in the past, but this is what she looks like now

Her motivations are also completely unknown to anyone but her, and due to her true otherworldly nature, pretty much don't have anything to do with the war between Cybertron, and probably involve its destruction? But not because she's evil, because of some higher, but also more base purpose

I don't know, I figured her true motivation after taking a small break from writing this description, and coming back now, I realize that the description I gave her on the art made her sound too normal, too mortal. I mean I guess you can say it was an act, or maybe she just had amnesia and forgot her true purpose, but I don't know, sounds a bit cheap

So, for now, let's take out her true motivations because they're too big, but she can keep secretly being a terrifying, somewhat eldritch entity

Not sure I have anything else to say, so yeah, take this thing I made that I don't even know why

She probably didn't even have to be a Transformer, but I must insert my new fixation into everything (dead serious by the way, I do this with most other things I see and think are neat and I think it's becoming a nuisance to other people tbh), so she is

[megadoomingir]

Hello everyone! Yes, look at me! Doin’ a little posty-post here! And it’s a good’n, I promise! ^^

I hope everyone has been able to take some much needed deep breaths as it comes to the end of the month. I decided to share this as we come upon the edge of a new year; I hope he is received pleasantly. Though I have been asked on many occasions as to what he looks like and have seen fan art made for him, I did not take it upon myself to give him a proper face until recently. So, please allow me to offer you all C.Y.L.A.S. for your viewing pleasure~

This is just after his construction. He is battered, torn to pieces, and put back together as best as MECH was able to manage. You can SEE the pieces Airachnid had stolen from her donated. :3 I said ‘donated’. Such a nice gesture... It’s clear to see which parts originated from Airachnid’s frame and which they were able to solder back together on the clone. Though clearly damaged, the early version of C.Y.L.A.S. is still a point of pride for MECH. ... For all of two minutes.

MMM. YES. THE HUMAN BEING WITHIN THE CHASSIS. Or, at least, what’s left. The clone’s frame is small to begin with and I have a LOT more to say about this last remaining part of ‘Silas’.

Firstly, because I know it will be asked: Why does he have less damage to his human body/why is he less gross? Well, in the canon TF:P, the fake Optimus chassis was what fell on him, along with the roof. The fake Starscream chassis was smaller, lighter, and had more large angles to play with that allowed for less ‘overall’ damage. ... Yes. This means MECH may not have, necessarily, probably... most likely... needed to remove his arms and legs. ... They were probably fine. But. Yeah...

This moves onto the next question I know will be asked: Dear LORD, then why did they amputate- Look. Starscream is... he is smol. Small boy. Baby. But he does know ABCs. Which means, of course, that the clone would be just as lithe and narrow. And they took the limbs for spacing. Mostly. The bare minimum of Silas was used for implantation within the clone’s chassis. I should do a post on the Cybertronian frame/protoform that I’ve noticed regarding TF:P. Another rant entirely, really.

Third question, for those who may understand the human body a little bit more: His bruises look like they’ve been healing, why is that? (I did my best on the bruises, I didn’t use references, only personal experience from some of the worst bruises I’ve had in life.) Well, he was better able to care for himself as a Decepticon soldier than a test subject. He was allowed to stay within the clone chassis longer without being experimented on or forced to endure more pain and suffering. The human part of him was granted some time to heal... just not a lot.

His final form. The frame we have now in the story! I’m excitedly pleased with how this turned out! His dark coloration emulates a black widow spider. Look at the red cockpit. Ok. I have a confession. I wanted the cockpit to be red as soon as I started coloring him. I had no idea how ‘black widow spider’ it looked until I finished and then said to myself ‘dang, a spider!’ as I had unconsciously went with what I knew to be familiar in the real world and what translated well artistically. I still love it, even if I only made the correlation afterwards. Sometimes, these things just happen beautifully. :3

I also have a reason for the yellow-gold colors on the heels of his peds and the ends of the spider leg attachments on his back. The eye/optic is trained to follow the brightest, fastest moving thing in moments of extreme alert. The distraction is used in the wilds of our own planet by predators that distract their prey so they can move in closer to complete the kill. The reason for it here is very similar. Anyone fighting C.Y.L.A.S. will have a lot to handle, made doubly more difficult if they find themselves distracted by his brightly colored peds or spider legs. This makes him well adept at ambush attacks and fighting in the dark. And the display can easily catch new opponents unaware of how big and menacing C.Y.L.A.S. truly is.

[weenwrites]

TFP Arcee and Airachnid Reacting To a Body Swap

Pairing - Adversaries Category - Headcanons Trigger Warnings - None

They were just out on a battle field, fighting each other as usual, when SOMETHING hit them.

They don’t know what, probably just a weapon that the Cons didn’t know they had on the Nemesis, though.

It knocked them out cold for a good while, and when they woke up in the enemy’s base they were just too shocked to say anything at first.

For Arcee, she’s absolutely horrified at being in her worst enemy’s body.

I mean, wouldn’t you be horrified to wake up and find out that you’ve swapped bodies with someone who’s caused you so much pain and traumatized you?

Airachnid’s certainly startled by this new development…

Airachnid sees this as an opportunity to take the enemy down once and for all, and be in Megatron’s graces, so she essentially TRIES to be Arcee.

Arcee also sees this as an opportunity to sabotage the enemy, and does exactly that while trying to pretend to be Airachnid, although she absolutely hates it.

She screws up the Nemesis’s weaponry and nearly gets caught once by Soundwave!!

They BOTH have to think about how they’re going to convince the other side that they’re who they say they are after their cover’s been blown…

GOOD LUCK WITH THAT!

Also for as long as the swap lasts, they have to get used to each other’s alt-modes and such.

Arcee doesn’t particularly have the best time with Airachnid’s extra legs or helicopter alt-mode, but hey! She manages to deal with it somehow.

Arcee nearly tripped while she was using Airachnid’s extra legs, but managed to catch herself in time.

Airachnid on the other hand has to deal with the fact she isn’t able to shoot webs, and has to use a motorcycle alt-mode.

Sure she’s screwed up once or twice and all the others got a bit suspicious of her…

Luckily she managed to play it off as “I caught a rock in my tires and tripped” when she struggled to drive around and eventually fell over in her new alt-mode.

Yeah… Suuure you tripped…

Literally everyone notices that there’s something off about them, and Soundwave’s only a little ways away from finding out about the body swap.

[seeking-the-stars]

💖 TOP 5 FAV TFP EPISODES:

Darkness Rising Part 1: 

*Probably the only episode where Starscream is treated with respect and dignity, which ironically goes away after Megatron regains leadership by the next episode! (After the ‘Darkness Rising’ arc, Starscream seems to be taken less and less seriously over the course of the show...)

*I like Jack’s terrified reaction to the Transformers, it’s more realistic compared to Raf and Miko would usually roll with what’s happening like it’s no big deal. It’s always kinda frustrates me that Jack was the only kid that actually cared that they almost died later on. I actually like that trait Jack had, trying to the only sane man of the team but then they mostly got rid of that trait after ‘Darkness Rising’!

*It’s super ironic that Miko aka the kid that wishes to go on the Autobot adventures the most, is the kid introduced last and missed out on the show’s first battle that Jack and Raf saw! (Well, second battle if you count Cliffjumper losing to the vehicons...)

Scrapheap:

*The scraplets are one of the many things that basically become wasted potential in TFP Season 1, but they’re still horribly awesome.

*I love that Raf wanted to keep the scraplet as a pet at first until it attacked Bubmlebee then Raf did not hesitate to destroy it and apologized to Bee for what happened, even though what happened wasn’t Raf’s fault.

*Half of the fandom talk about how badass Miko can be sometimes that they’re usually forgetting that Raf and Jack are badasses as well in their own right; all three kids managed to take down half of the scraplet swarm all by themselves. Meanwhile, I like how Optimus and Arcee comforted each other and were about to accept death with dignity. We all know they were going to live, but it’s still both heartbreaking and heartwarming.

Predatory:

*This is the episode where I like Jack the most, cause it feels like he actually has a personality other then liking motorcycles and girls. Also, his partnership with Arcee has greatly improved and feels more interesting compared to ‘Speed Metal’. I also like how Jack becomes rivals with Airachnid like Arcee did.

*This is one of the two episodes (the other being ‘Crisscross’) where I actually like Airachnid’s character (before she became female Starscream) and I like the war flashbacks Arcee has throughout the episode, even though the writers could’ve given her a more creative past with Arcee instead of repeating the losing partner tragedy with Tailgate. Maybe replace it with Airachnid killing Arcee’s sister? 

*Like I said, some people are so focused on Miko that they forget Jack can be a total badass too sometimes. In fact in this episode, I think Jack was more badass then Miko cause unlike Miko who relies on cybertronian technology to take down her enemies, Jack uses what little supplies he already has on himself (multi-function pocket knife and magnesium fire-starter) to destroy Airachnid’s ship. Now that was pretty smart of him.

Shadowzone: 

*Even though Starscream never had a proper chance to use the power of dark energon, he still looked pretty awesome when he tried.

*It’s pretty creepy how Terrorcon Skyquake’s severed hand is way faster then him.

*Jack was almost as awesome as he was in ‘Predatory’. Jack actually felt like the leader of the kids that TFP was trying to make him into. Also, even though I felt pretty annoyed with how bratty Miko was in this episode and how she’s the reason they got trapped in the Shadowzone in the first place, she did risk her life to get Raf his glasses back and it was great that she did take responsibility for her actions after they were free from the Shadowzone. (If only she didn’t repeat her mistakes in the future episodes...) 

Stronger, Faster:

*Ratchet only wishes to help his team and this episode shows how much he cares behind the grumpiness.

*Even though Ratchet becomes a jerk after taking the synthetic energon, he does raise some great points about how Optimus would rather risk the lives of his fellow Autobots, then end it by destroying his former brother Megatron once and for all.

* Ratchet truly shined in this episode, even though he lost the battle against Megatron, cause I still believe Ratchet was right in wanting to destroy Megatron. (And it shouldn’t have taken Raf almost dying later for Optimus to realize this...)

💔 TOP 5 LEAST FAVORITE EPISODES: 

TFP Beast Hunters: Predacons Rising:

*They should’ve ended at ‘Deadlock’...

Partners:

*If only Starscream kept his mouth shut and the Autobots weren’t such hypocritical jerks...

Rock Bottom/T.M.I.: 

They’re tied because they’re basically both the same story; Miko’s recklessness almost getting Bulkhead killed and she’s sad about it and takes responsibility, but she never properly learns her lesson and it’s by pure luck that Bulkhead is still alive... 

Metal Attraction: 

*I feel sorry for Jack in this story, he keeps getting pushed aside by June and Arcee. He helped save his Mom last episode and yet June treats him like he’s a little kid and is a bit condescending towards him near the end. (At least Jack stands up for himself near the end of season 1.) I know June means well and she’s only trying to protect her son, but I can understand Arcee’s frustration. Speaking of Arcee although I get her being salty about June, I dislike how she flip-flops; she lets June keep Jack in the base, but after she learns Miko sneaked out, Arcee allows Miko to stay with her and Bulkhead... (At least Arcee makes Miko return to the base when things got more serious...) 

Speed Metal:

*I’m sorry, but almost everything about this love triangle drama Jack is a part of is stupid. I also dislike how strict Arcee was in this episode, but at least she gets better by the end of it. The only thing I truly liked about this episode was the Decepticons... 

[sonicasura]

“Er, I found something—well overheard something. In his processor?” Backbite began, after returning from the current leader of the Decepticon. The cyber sleuth was hesitant to send anyone into Megatron’s processor due to the effect Dark Energon was having on Null. He reported feeling dizzy and otherwise sudden bouts of anger at random things. So, yeah the original Decepticon was a no digimon zone. The Wormmon shuffled up to Pen still a bit jittery, “Starscream’s always scheming so it’s kinda impossible not to overheard his thoughts.”

“That sounds more in line with the Starscream I know if a different variation.” She commented while minimizing some program windows. “Outside of fantasies over being the undisputed leader, what is he thinking so much about?”

“A ship called the Harbinger. It’s in two pieces and crashed a long time ago… But, he has definitely been there before.” The insect-like Digimon explained, bringing up a few scant screenshots of memory files. Admittedly, a crashed ship didn’t sound like it would be of much use. Yet spare cybertronian technology was worth its weight in gold right now.

Maybe a few pieces could be used to repair certain components of Trypticon that had purposely been left to fall into disrepair.

“See if you can dig up the location of that crash site, Backbite. Maintain your discreetness, but please get me a general direction if you can.”

——————————

Speaking of crashed ships, Liberty managed to tag along to the site of one owned by a pretty nasty cybertronian. Pen remained on call as the Biyomon subtly disengaged from Arcee in order to infiltrate the spaceship.

“It’s like a deranged Gabumon went on a hunting spree in here…” She whispered despite the owner not coming up on any scans. Various alien species’ heads decorated the halls of the ship like some sort of sick trophy hunter. The Biyomon gagged at the smell alone, which was quite a feat as bird Digimon didn’t have much sense of smell. “What should I even do?”

A Pabumon kept relying Arcee’s experience to them both in real time, so Liberty wasn’t technically in any rush to regroup. Though she really wanted to get out of this creepy place.

“If not out of a sense of avenging these aliens, then to spite that cybertronian spider.” Pen began venomously to a point that surprised even herself. “Gut the ship’s internals for parts. Make sure she won’t get it off the ground any time soon by any means necessary.”

.

.

.

Liberty had all too generously stole any components that looked important while freeing the trophies from their displays. Then, she rather determinedly set them ablaze in eerie green fire in what appeared to be Airachnid’s habsuite room. Anything that wasn’t welded down was swooped into cyberspace. Even some components that were soon joined the ill-gotten goods.

The Biyomon did have to digivolve into Birdramon as someone—Jack apparently—ignited the fuel line exploding the ship itself.

(If for a brief moment, the fire appeared to attempt to drag Airachnid back into it’s blazing embrace. Then, that was between Jack and the demon of a cybertronian femme.)

Pillaging Airachnid's ship for parts and destroying her trophies is perfect level petty. Jack is definitely keeping that moment noted. Something very strange seems to be happening in the background.

Best to keep a list of it.

[chronosabyss]

Chapter 1 of Decadence is live!

Summary: Starscream has instated himself as leader of the Decepticons while the Autobots deal with the aftermath of their attempt to take down Megatron. With the chain of command shaky on both ends, it's up to those remaining to pull their teams together to work past hurt feelings and decide which ideals are still worth pursuing. (Rated T for mild violence.) Story will be updated once a week until completed.

Below is a small part of ch 1. You can read the rest on Archive of Our Own. https://archiveofourown.org/works/28850817

---

"Status report?"

 "Same old, same old. A full diagnostic of the ship is still in the works, but I have Breakdown running a complete structural survey as we speak. So far there are a couple of holes here and there, but nothing that needs immediate attention."

 "And the crew?"

 "Although Breakdown is back on his feet, I advised him against any strenuous activity for the next few solar cycles. Soundwave is still absent from the ship, and several troopers found Airachnid immobilized in a back hallway. I had her placed with the others that met a similar fate." Knockout brought up a quick list of numbers on his data-pad. "I've taken a brief stock of the Vehicon soldiers and it seems that while there were 46 injured and 38 frozen, only seven were beyond repair," he announced, eyeing the numbers.

 Starscream raised an eyebrow. "That's good?"

 "You trust my professional opinion don't you?"

 Starscream scoffed. "Apparently it's why I keep you around."

 "Then considering the damage we get on a weekly basis from the Autobots on the ground, we're golden."

 "Right," Starscream said, unimpressed. "Have you had a chance to examine Optimus Prime's condition in cell block three?"

 "With the exception of minor battle damage, he seems relatively healthy. You know, aside from being a living doorstop."

 "How’s the crew taking Megatron's sudden absence?"

 The medic let out an uncertain tone, glancing sideways for a moment. "Eeh, morale could be better. You've got your typical post battle unease. Word's spread of Megatron's demise, but no one's really sure what happened."

 "Good. Let's keep it that way," Starscream finished, starting to turn away.

 Knockout sidestepped around to get in front of him. "Starscream-" Seeing the dirty glare his commander shot him, he hastily corrected himself. "      Lord     Starscream. The whole ship's on edge. Everyone's talking. The more astute bots have even drawn attention to the fact that the Autobots somehow managed to gain access to our ship while it was cloaked, something that I need not remind you should be nigh impossible."

 Starscream narrowed his optics almost threateningly. "It was the scout. Most likely he was using a concealed means of communication to contact the Autobots while he was on board. A tragic oversight, I admit, but nothing more. I've been meaning to gather the troops together to address the recent change in command. I’ll make it a point to bring up at the assembly. Is that all?"

 Knockout hesitated, wary for once at the possibility of pushing Starscream too far when he was already testy. Eventually his curiosity won out. "There is one other thing I wanted to ask you about. At this point most of the ship has been combed over by the casualty crew to gather the downed soldiers for repairs. While there are a few isolated machine levels and storage corners that still haven't been checked, there has still been no sign of our former Lord Megatron's body."

 A brief flash of alarm flitted across Starscream's faceplate which he quickly masked with a more neutral expression. "Do you really think I would have left the corpse out where any common soldier could see?"

 "Alright then. Where did you have it moved?"

 "Well um," Starscream stalled, a bit taken aback. "That's classified information."

 Knockout sighed, shaking his head. "Really Starscream? If you didn't want me privy to such mundane details you shouldn't have made me second in command. How am I to make sure your ship is running ship-shape if I don't even know where our liege's body is stowed? The crew is asking whether or not there is going to be a commemoration in his honor."

 "A commemoration?" Starscream choked.

 "An observance, a memorial, whatever you want to call it," he gestured casually. "It's been nearly a full cycle and someone had to bring it up."

 Starscream turned away, processor churning to come up with a reasonable explanation as he brought up several digits to tap agitatedly at the side of his faceplate. "Tell the crew that his body is too desecrated to be shown. Our liege suffered horrific damage at the hands of the Autobots. He would not have wanted to be seen like that," he finally said, wearing a mixed expression of both sorrow and unease.

 "Fine, but that still leaves the matter of its location," Knockout said in a matter of fact. “As the ship’s chief medical officer, I’d like to perform an autopsy.”

 "I told you, that's classified." Starscream crossed his arms childishly.

 "So what, you're just going to keep Megatron's rusting chassis in your closet?" He held up his servos defensively. "Look, I'm not one to judge, but there are certain health regulations that must be observed when dealing with the disposal and recycling of the deceased."

 "A-are you insinuating that I am keeping the whereabouts of our former Lord's body a secret out of some sort of sick fascination?"

 "I'm only saying that whatever your reasons are, it would be nice to know a roundabout area so I at least know where I should be avoiding."

 Starscream sputtered for a moment in an effort to formulate a retort. Failing to come to any sort of solid reprimand, he reached out and grabbed Knockout roughly by the lower jaw. "Why you-"

 The sound of the door opening made both mechs freeze mid struggle. They looked over to see a dark slender figure standing just inside the doorway, observing them quietly.

 "S- soundwave!" Starscream released his grip on Knockout's face, leaving the medic to shoot him an ugly glare as he rubbed a servo on the affronted area. "What a… nice surprise," he continued through a forced smile, his optic ridges drawn up in a twinge of anxiety. "Where have you been?"

[keef-a-corn]

Dat’s right, People, it’s time for ‘Keef watches TFP and you just get the notes!’

This is for season 1, episode 17: Crisscross.

I write down the timestamps, but I watch Transformers Prime on Stan (an Australian streaming service) so they may be slightly off.

ALSO! I try my best to note points for every character, but tend to get a little caught up by Bee (although I think I do a pretty good job with the notes regardless) so do be warned.

~~~~Transition~~~~

00:16 - Oh dear.. already quite bored

00:41 - One thing to note is that Silas is a mix of Megatron and Optimus. He’s on the field alongside his workers regardless of why they’re there, but he also does not care who he hurts.

01:07 - Airachnid’s always gotta have a cool reveal. Theoretically. In practice it is not achieved.

~intro~

01:57 - Average day in Australia.

02:37 - OH GAWD. This again??

02:58 - had to take a solid minute to collect myself. They don’t refer to themselves as ‘transformers’ so Airachnid saying that made so much sense, but the actual word sounded so foreign.

03:03 - honestly just hate Airachnid and Arcee’s rivalry so much. There’s no respect in it and it’s not clear (to me at least) how it happened. We get back story for the situation, but it clears up even less. Why is Airachnid specifically going after Arcee?? Why does Arcee take it so personally?.

03:13 - E X C U S E M E

03:28 - let us be clear… rn Jack’s mum is hawt.

03:46 - in Speed Metal this was proven true.

03:58 - Does Jack seriously not have any other friends? The humans are so dependent on the bots it’s frustrating.

04:26 - honestly, June’s a good mum. She’s very clear and firm, but she doesn’t yell.

04:49 - uh.. that’s honestly a weird line and feels really inappropriate.

05:06 - wait, so Arcee stays the night at Jack’s place?? But she works at night too!

05:42 - that car has the same numberplate as Jack’s mum RPI • 437 if it was a background car it wouldn’t matter, but we can see the plate clear as day.

05:55 - WOO! Beeeee

06:00 - the extended part of this scene is a luxury- oh wait… oh.. oh no… it’s a filler. This is a filler episode. That’s why Bee’s there and no one else is. If Ratchet, Optimus and/or Bulkhead don’t talk during this episode, it will confirm it.

06:08 - Hehe, the contrast. Also June listens to elevator music on her drive home.

06:34 - honestly, a little surprised they hadn’t gone with the ‘Doesn’t check the room’ trope.

06:46 - ooooh The light is a ground bridge! Thought they decided to randomly add the idea that when Arcee transforms it’s a Winx like transformation.

06:54 - gaslighting 101.

07:00 - June in denial that her son’s a frickin looser and has no friends.

07:16 - Rest in pieces Jack.

07:56 - JACK NO THAT’S A BAD IDEA.

08:03 - I mean- KiNdA

08:08 - Didn’t June get off work early to cook Jack dinner?

08:40 - kinda vibing with Silas and Arcee’s dynamic rn

08:47 - WTF- seriously tho, wtf?.

09:37 - Mech is a really weird name for a group that doesn’t like transformers.

09:45 - ‘In my bed. I slept with your mother, Jack. Call me… Papa Silas.’ Would’ve made the episode 100x better.

10:10 - Wait… so the communicator scrambles the signal, so Arcee can’t reach the autobots, but as far as they are aware she’s supposed to be at Jack’s house. If her signal randomly went out, wouldn’t they notice and go looking for her?

10:25 - they had this ability the whole time but only NOW choose to use it?? If they had it set up throughout the town, they would be able to find any bot lickity split, especially if it causes them that much pain.

10:40 - Does anyone else despise the ‘they just want me 🥺’ trope?

10:51 - Arcee’s number plate is 396571.

11:26 - Oh my gaaaaawd! When will Arcee learn that she has to maintain level headed when fighting Airachnid otherwise she’s wasting her strength.

11:34 - the way Arcee’s optics tilted backwards and got big in fear, panic and desperation is a sweet choice. But how has she not realised that with Silas standing there, putting both Jack and June’s lives at risk, that he doesn’t care about them??

11:43 - bicthless behaviour.

13:09 - Calling her ‘Spider-bot’ rather than her name is both disrespectful in not using her name, but respectful in recognising who she is.

13:13 - HE SAID THE TITLE.

13:21 - The worker calls Arcee ‘it’ - entirely disrespectful and objectifies Arcee.

13:28 - considering how long it took them to simply open Breakdown’s chest plate and remove his eye, it’s safe to assume Arcee’s got plenty of time.

15:33 - what’d I say?

15:38 - he rhymed.

16:01 - what does that mean?.

16:30 - continuity.

16:35 - Awesome shot, which also captures their power imbalance.

16:40 - significantly higher. Arcee’s strong, yes. But not nearly as strong as Breakdown + Breakdown had assistance from another bot.

17:48 - why wouldn’t they have done the concrete as soon as Airachnid fell? She would’ve been less likely to have woken up.

18:31 - Agent Fowler! Proving to be useful Y E T A G A I N !

18:54 - how did he go so long without noticing that missing??

19:04 - THANK YOU! Responsible man right here!

19:07 - No. that would’ve been a good call because Airachnid’s very dangerous and Arcee cannot handle her on her own.

19:24 - that was very funny. The line was delivered so mildly, but made so much sense as well.

19:46 - They did obtain some information, so I guess Silas got what he wanted.

20:53 - MMM YES. SEXIEST MUSIC.

21:07 - Look at hiiiim

21:11 - Ratchet turns around like an old man.

21:17 - so jealous of June rn.

21:25 - Another cover poster + Optimus looked slightly offended in the moments before the shot I got a photo of.

21:28 - Not a word from Bulkhead, Ratchet and Optimus. I wonder w h y .

———————

So that was Crisscross!

Incase it wasn’t apparent, I’m not a fan of the obvious filler episodes. I’m not a fan of Arcee and Airachnid’s dynamic either, so it made the episode worse.

One thing I will give it credit for is that it addressed the fact that June would’ve started to get suspicious.

Crisscross is better than Predatory, but I don’t like either episode.

[poptimus-prime]

They/Them Pronouns when referring to me please and thank

Me explaining every episode of season one of Transformers: Prime poorly in 3 sentences or less.

Transcript below the cut

Darkness Rising, Part 1: The Rock--I mean Cliffjumper--gets absolutely FUCKED. The rest of the Autobots decide to adopt some kids who are being bullied by Vehicons, and proceed to explain they’re fighting over food after a long civil war.

Darkness Rising, Part 2: Megatron rolls up with grape flavored rock candy and wants to raise a zombie army. Cliffjumper can’t catch a break even when he’s DEAD. 

Darkness Rising, Part 3: Ratchet and Optimus, AKA the team parents™, go out to figure out what Megatron wants to do with his rock candy. The kids are left with Bulkhead and Agent Fowler gets fucked over by Robot Bird Man #2.

Darkness Rising, Part 4: Agent Fowler gets unfucked over and the Team Parents almost get eaten by zombie robots. Megatron controls the Zombie Robots because he stabbed himself with his rock candy.

Darkness Rising, Part 5: The gang has to keep the Cons from using the Bifrost Bridge to send zombie bots from Cybertron to Earth. Megatron gets fucking YEETED...or does he?

Masters and Students: Ratchet likes science fairs a bit TOO much. Starscream tries and fails to use Skyquake to make everyone onboard the Nemesis his bitch.

Scrapheap: Ratchet, Bulkhead, and Bee get absolutely fucked over by a termite-flesh eating parasitic hybrid while Arcee and Optimus slowly freeze to death at one of the poles. Raf never got his snowball, but to be honest none of them care because jeez everyone almost DIED. 

Con Job: Bulkhead’s war boyfriend is coming over to say hi. Decepticons get to him first and use his face to infiltrate the base because they have a shapeshifting friend they didn’t think to use until now.

Convoy: Optimus and the gang have to help Agent Fowler with his UberEats side hustle and it almost causes a nuclear meltdown because M.E.C.H. just really want a piece of that cake. Ratchet confirms Cybertonians can and do get thigh-burn. Fuck Silas Counter: One.

Deus Ex Machina: Bulkhead takes Miko to Greece and they find out about a vampire device. Cue Indiana Jones meets Night at the Museum style bullshit. The name of this episode gets mentioned by name AND used as a trope.

Speed Metal: Bumblebee and Jack do bad boy things and go illegal racing because Jack has a dick measuring contest with a guy from school. Knockout kidnaps said guy and everything goes sideways.

Predatory: Doc Ok’s twin robot sister, Airachnid, comes back with a vengeance. Her and Arcee have major beef that almost ends with everyone dead.

Sick Mind: Optimus gets the literal fucking plague. Ratchet encourages illegal mind hacking technology so Bumblebee can buzz around in Megatron’s head and get a cure. This is supposedly successful.

Out of His Head: Megatron is now buzzing around in Bumblebee’s head and is trying to get back to his own body. Optimus single handedly stops global warming even though Ratchet LITERALLY just told him to take it easy. Welcome back Megatwon.

Shadowzone: Miko does some bullshit and gets all 3 of the kids sent to the shadow realm with a Zombiecon. Starscream loses his arm and the game of bullshit with Knockout.

Operation: Breakdown: Breakdown and Bulkhead have big beefy boy beef until M.E.C.H. shows up. Megatron says fuck Breakdown lives, but the Autobots at give a bit of a fuck. Fuck Silas counter: Two. 

Criss Cross: Airachnid teams up with M.E.C.H. and they kidnap Jack’s mom as bait for Arcee. This goes as badly for M.E.C.H. as you would expect. Fuck Silas counter: Three.

Metal Attraction: Bulkhead and Arcee get put in the get along sweater. The get along sweater device doesn’t end up in Megatron’s hands, but Spider Bitch does.

Rock Bottom: Jack, Miko, Arcee, and Bulkhead get trapped in an energon mine because Megatron happened. Miko almost suffocates...fun times. The series would have ended a lot sooner if Jack wouldn’t have been the bigger person and just drilled into Megatron’s head. 

Partners: Starscream and Airachnid play freeze dance with the Autobots. Starscream says fuck Decepticons lives and tries to defect after Spider Bitch betrays him.

T.M.I.: Bulkhead gets to learn via osmosis, but they have to make it stop before Bulkhead just becomes a talking book. What book was it? The Autobot Cookbook: A Recipe for Synthetic Energon.

Stronger, Faster: Ratchet discovers what a sugar high is and accidentally commits a heterosexuality while under the influence. Megatron gets absolutely fucking decked by Doctor Grandpa. Bookmark this episode for later, it comes back to bite them in the ass HARD.

One Shall Fall: Optimus has a burning bush moment. Megatron makes an attempt on Bumblebee’s life that ends up almost yeeting Raf to the Shadow Realm again. Optimus decides he must, in fact, kill a bitch.

One Shall Rise, Part 1: Unicron wakes up from his dirt nap and decides to cause fuck shit. Come to find out that Unicron IS the core of planet Earth and has to be stopped if the planet’s gonna survive.

One Shall Rise, Part 2: Optimus and Megatron bury the hatchet for 22 minutes. Jack gets a souvenir from Optimus. Cue Journey to the Center of the Earth.

One Shall Rise, Part 3: Ratchet exposition dumps. Unicron can get fucked, and he does get fucked.