#Megatron is supposed to be much older than Optimus and the other Autobots

[quibbs126]

So I was thinking about how I like this one trope of a former antagonist joining the good guy team, only to find the team is honestly kind of a bunch of idiots and somehow becomes the responsible member of the group. I’m not sure where I’ve seen it, but I feel like I have and I like it

And then I decided “okay but what if I made this Megatron” and so now I’m telling you about this

I’m gonna say the setup is similar to Animated, where the original Autobot-Decepticon War ended a long time ago, and our protagonists, including Optimus, were born after the war, but not Megatron, who led the Decepticons. The Autobots and Megatron meet in some way, they crash land on Earth, same deal. And Megatron fights them initially, but eventually he decides to stop and even join up with this group of Autobots

I haven’t figured out the exact reason why, but it probably has to do with the war and the Decepticons being in exile for so long. Like at this point he’s lost the fire and hatred he had during the war and he just can’t find it in himself to continue, even if he feels the need to. That and possibly, he can’t really bring himself to hate these particular Autobots, who unlike the old Autobots he fought, haven’t really done anything to wrong him other than defend themselves and wear the Autobot symbol, which at this point any bot from Cybertron would

But yeah, he has a redemption of sorts and joins the group. I want to say this happens relatively early on in the story? Like he’s definitely part of the group by the end of this hypothetical Season 1. The villains for the rest of the story would be either other Decepticons who don’t share Megatron’s desire to simply stop the fighting, and/or a new group of Decepticons that have risen up from the ashes of the original to cause trouble for Cybertron once again

I’m thinking that maybe while Megatron doesn’t have much beef with the Autobot team he’s currently with, he might have more ire for the older ones he did fight during the war, particularly including whoever’s running the Autobots at this point. He probably also isn’t the nicest guy, considering he’s the former Decepticon warlord, but he’s working on it, or at least isn’t terrible

I also think it’d be juicy if in this scenario, we did still have a thing like in TFA Season 2 where the Autobot higher ups do come in and context the Earth Autobots, only for Lord Megatron himself to also be here, and seemingly part of their team. Especially if this is at a point in the story when Megatron’s proven himself to the team and saved their lives, and he’s a valuable member, but it’s kind of hard to explain to someone who wasn’t there. Also he’s being aggressive with the higher ups, which is not helping

And I’m coming back to this now after work, since I was writing this during break, and I don’t quite remember what else I was going to say, so I’ll just leave it here

Admittedly it probably isn’t that much different from other canon Megatron redemption stories, apart from the fact that nobody here really has history with him (though I think that could partially apply to Lost Light as well? Like I know he knew some of them, but I think most of the crew he’s not met or fought personally). But you know, it was a thought and I thought it sounded neat

[coefore]

I did it! This is an IDW AU born while watching The Green Knight (2021), specifically from one movie shot that I'd like to redraw. I was torn on whether or not to draw them all as robots or humans, so I started making designs for their human counterparts first - mostly because it is more fun to come up with clothes and accessories. I will eventually tackle a robot version. This is a long post, btw!

Indeed, this is a completely separate version from the Lion King AU I had come up with a couple of years ago, I just borrowed the crowns because I really liked those designs lol.

But let's set the stage under the cut. You can listen to the playlist on spotify dedicated to it: I've placed the songs in sequence so that they can create a certain vibe for the scenes I had in mind. You can read the plot part while listening.

Some character traits

This royalty au supposes a parliamentary monarchy (like the UK, Spain or Japan). This work is an in-between of later Roman/early Medieval aesthetics and some Futuristic Stuff. The Autobot brand is the royal family crest, while the Decepticon brand can be used to signal the Protector and their entourage, but only in formal settings outside the nation. Usually, the Protector can show elements of the Decepticon colours (red) in their attires.

Optimus Prime

Optimus is prideful and domineering: he knows he has the power to do real damage to people. After all, he was born into royalty and has known no other life. He has anger outbursts, but that's a side effect of his paranoia. At the start of the story, he is not the prime yet. He's around 23-24, already suffering from a mental affliction much like schizophrenia, but, just as in ye old days, the court and his father (Zeta) are not really concerned about his odd behaviours. "He is just volatile", you know. He is also dramatic, making big scenes when his emotions are too cooped up. Optimus, though, is not intentionally cruel - this isn't a Shattered Glass au where he wants some kind of bloodlust sated. He has a deep inner mind, feeling much more like a philosopher and a writer than a brute. This makes him a little naive, too, having people in court (like Prowl) taking advantage of him - and sometimes even Megatron uses his influence on Optimus to stir him where he wants to. He reads a lot, is curious, and is deeply in love with Megatron - sometimes becoming a little cringy about it. He can be a bit of a goofball, telling jokes and being rather affectionate with his family. Sadly, he's a Pisces.

Megatron

Megatron is a diligent engineer who just so happens to pick the Prime's son's interest at some point while assisting his father (Terminus, a strict, distant man) in a job at court. Optimus and Megatron are the same age. He is aloof, quiet and a very good listener. That means he often allows people to speak over him or for him - that doesn't mean, however, that he isn't going to correct them or speak his mind. He is just a careful man. Coming from a rather cold family environment, he has a hard time expressing his emotions, both verbally and physically: he kisses and hugs, sure, but that doesn't come naturally to him. After becoming protector, he has a hard time getting used to the court lifestyle since he is quite bothered by the intricacies of royal "rituals", may they be clothing, hairstyles or make-up choices. Or Starscream fussing over him about that all day. He also often stands up against abuse of power, especially from Optimus. They fight quite a lot. He enjoys drawing (buildings, like architecture) and reading novels, but he's not particularly cultured. He is also, sadly, an Aquarius. (And transgender, but this has no political or social bearing in the story besides being Rodimus' biological carrier).

Prowl

Prowl is about fifteen years older than Optimus, becoming his advisor once Zeta Prime passes in "a tragic accident". He is ambitious, cunning and... Deceptive. His ultimate goal is to push Optimus to insanity, convince the parliament he is unfit to rule and become reagent in his stead. This would allow him to create an oligarchy with other senators. His words always support Optimus' delusions, abusing the Prime's naivety for his scheming. Prowl thinks of Optimus as an idiot lucky enough to be born in a high position in the social pyramid. He has attempted various times to "warn" Megatron, one of the few people who is extremely suspicious of Prowl. And by warn, I mean having him pushed down the stairs, giving him a nice broken leg. He also acts suspiciously around Rodimus.

Zeta Prime

Zeta Prime was a balanced, careful ruler. He held concerns about his son's future, as he thought Optimus wasn't fit for a leading role. He was a stern man and often frustrated by Optimus' antics. However, their relationship was on good terms. He was "found" dead by Prowl during a political meeting abroad, as he was standing in for Alpha Trion (Zeta's advisor), prompting Optimus' coronation. Zeta wasn't sick, but all primes in this AU suffer from haemophilia (a hereditary illness that makes it harder for the body to stop bleeding).

Rodimus

Rodimus was born three years into Optimus' primacy. He was brought up in a restrictive environment, as Megatron grew more suspicious of Prowl, fearing for Rodimus' safety. That translated into Rodimus feeling anxious when Megatron's not around (for too long, at least) and becoming a little jealous of him, even if it's Optimus taking Megatron's attention. Rodimus uses "dad" for Megatron and "Father" for Optimus. He doesn't like Optimus too much, usually bearing his presence and ignoring him whenever he can, but deep down he worries about his father, too. He is a very knowledgeable child with a vast vocabulary, as he enjoys books of every kind and, just like his dad, he is a good listener, learning a lot from the "adult conversations" around him. Rodimus is often seen together with Starscream (his nanny, in a way lol), who he is fond of but has difficulties showing it. He becomes Prime-to-be at the age of 16, like all Primes.

Starscream

Starscream was the royal alchemist, an inspired researcher and a man of science. He is loyal and has strong opinions on many subjects, especially on morals and ethics. That is also why, during Zeta's late reign, he was demoted to servant with the accusation of insubordination. He is still a high-grade servant, usually dealing with bureaucracy... Until a new Protector shows up, that is. As soon as Megatron becomes a Protector-to-be, he is assigned the role of first maid in assisting him, a task he takes very seriously. Although Megatron's distance and lack of interactions with him drive him quite mad at first, he slowly realises they're quite compatible. Their relationship evolves into confidants and then friends, as Megatron often takes Starscream's side. Also, Starscream has been suspicious of Prowl since day one. He enjoys Rodimus until he starts being a little opinionated pest-- but he's fond of the child, even as he grows older and more anxious. His hobby is sneaking into the court laboratories and fixing whatever annotations made by other alchemists he deems wrong.

Skywarp & Thundercracker

They are part of the Protector's entourage (and Starscream's brothers). Skywarp is a little airheaded, a bit clumsy, and usually focuses on entertainment, mostly writing poems and songs. He is the only one who knows all the intricate inner passages of the court's buildings by heart, meaning he never gets lost. Thundercracker, on the other hand, is a bit more cocky. He is built like a brick, so he helps with manual tasks and is a decent leader, usually picking up the ranks when Starscream is busy. Both of them were not demoted like their brother, they just started working at the court as high-grade servants. They are very loyal to Megatron, although they treat him more like a royal than a friend.

The Plot (generally speaking)

Optimus is interested in this one engineer working at the court he has seen a couple of times in the last few months. He is gorgeous, and it sounds like a fun time to fill in his afternoons, maybe even getting some sex out of it. That's a thing he hasn't lacked in his life, like most royals he was used to having sex workers available at whim. However, Megatron doesn't seem too affected by the Prime-to-be's attention. He is very deadpan and interested in him as a person; he finds Optimus interesting and funny, so, in a matter of weeks, they kind of hit it off, Optimus falling madly in love with this man, spending most of the time daydreaming and absolutely useless at his duties, much to Zeta's dismay.

As this love story progresses over the next couple of years, Prowl's machination starts rolling out: being a young overachiever, he patiently waits for the chance to get rid of Zeta in a way that doesn't point directly to him. After all, Prowl is trusted and seen as loyal and caring for the Primes he serves; he is an incredibly talented actor, having the support of a few Autobot senators, too. On an out-of-country political trip, he lets Zeta bleed to death, coming back home in a hurry to announce the Prime's death and rushing Optimus' coronation. At this point, Optimus is not mentally ready to hold that position; he is quickly pushed to marry Megatron, making him his Protector. In a matter of a year and a half, Optimus' mental state quickly deteriorates, allowing Prowl to take hold of the neo-Prime's decisions.

Optimus' mental illness worsens, which stresses Megatron into stirring his husband away from Prowl. Rodimus is born in that worried, paranoid environment. Although mostly wanted by Optimus as one of his fixations (and also discouraged by Prowl himself), Rodimus brings more stability to the court. Megatron finally takes hold of Optimus' volatile behaviour as Rodimus grows older, making the Prime doubt his advisor's suggestions more than once. Prowl, thus, "warns" Megatron to lay low, having him pushed down the stairs. The goal wasn't to kill Megatron but to show him Prowl could. As Rodimus turns seven, Megatron becomes more anxious and paranoid, rubbing that over to his son. Optimus doesn't allow them to go around the court or outside without being accompanied.

Prowl's hold on Optimus slowly slips away. At the time of Rodimus' coronation as a Prime-to-be, during a medical examination for his haemophilia, the court physician (Ratchet) tells him he needs to be careful, as that illness was Zeta's cause of death. That was a known thing, of course, but it made Optimus think over the mechanics of his father's death in a way only an obsession-driven man can. He confides with Megatron over his suspicion of Prowl killing his father, and finally, they seem to be on the same page on this...

This is somehow the story up to now. I don't know if I'll update it further. I just enjoy the idea of whatever can happen in this setting. I hope you enjoyed reading this wall of text.

[blueikeproductions]

Well it’s official. This time we mean it.

EarthSpark is officially over as the toy listings for the next show are out.

The next thing is Transformers Cyberworld.

Any relation to Cyberverse is unknown atm, but if Hasbro is serious about not revisiting older series, then this is a new continuity either way. Cyberverse came from a toy line used in the films and Prime, so it was probably a trademark slap deal for the cartoon. Cyberverse didn’t refer to anything unique to the show, and no I don’t count the multiverse as they never once referred to it as “the Cyberverse”, and the show was made up on the fly as they went with multiverse stuff coming on much later coincidentally. In no way was Cyberverse/multiverse planned, that takes a level of basic planning the CV writers didn’t know how to do.

To my recollection Cyberworld isn’t in reference to a preexisting thing toyline or otherwise, so hopefully whatever Cyberworld IS is better expressed in the plot and toy gimmicks.

The toy listings don’t have Megs, Screamer & the Waves as previously mentioned, but they also seemingly lack Bee & Optimus.

The named Autobots so far are Mirage, Grimlock and (presumably) Snarl.

Presumably Snarl as most instances are Autobots/Maximals, the most famous being the Dinobot Snarl. More than likely it’s the Dinobot, but we do have an instance of a Snarl being a wolf. I’d be fun seeing the wolf again lol.

The Decepticons meanwhile are Galvatron, Scorponok, Sky-Byte and (presumably) Offroad.

Presumably Offroad is a Decepticon (most TFs with the name are), but the toy is listed as “OP Offroad” so it MAY be an off road truck version of Optimus Prime, similar to his RBA & ROTB toys.

One toy is listed as “Meg Bull”. No idea what this refers to. Theres plenty of bull Transformers, but whether this is any of them isn’t clear. This being a “Megatron Bull” would be hilarious but I don’t really see Hasbro doing this just yet either.

Toy gimmicks and sets similar to what we saw last in Prime appear to be making a return? “Scorponok Strike Battle” sounds like something in that vein like a Hot Wheels play set, though it may just be Scorponok with a tail lashing action. Beast Wars style, Movie style or G1 style remains to be seen.

Galvatron is said to have armor, while the other gimmick line’s called “Cyber Changers”.

These are probably the One Step Changers of the series but hopefully it’s something more involved like the Beast Hunters.

Chomp & Stomp Grimlock is probably more than likely another version of this:

Hopefully retooled to better match the new Grimlock though.

The stand outs are Galvatron & Scorponok, as it’s not clear which one is the leader of the Decepticons here. Both have been leaders before, & more than likely it’s Galvatron. Galvatron being used again is the biggest shock, as Hasbro has been dodgy about using him in place of Megatron in recent years. IDW wrote Galvatron as a separate character who predates Megatron, while Prime Wars declares (confusingly) that Megatron used to be Galvatron, implying he somehow de-evolved, which has never been depicted properly. (Japanese G1 stuff adds to the confusion where Galvatron evolves further but goes back to calling himself Megatron… oy…) WFC tries to have it both ways with Galvatron as a separate individual, but that he’s from a dark timeline where both he and Optimus were enslaved by Unicron…

I suppose my point is technically Megatron is still in the series as he’s typically portrayed as evolving into Galvatron, but Hasbro has been so weird about non Optimus and Megatron leaders, that they could easily just have Galvatron be an unrelated villain. Either way, the desire to focus on Galvatron is very welcome, regardless if he’s Megatron or not.

[mythicaldemigoddess-of-deltarune]

Crossover Ship-Shockwave x Pearl Plus Extra (2023)

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[Note: do NOT reblog without permission.] 

Credit for Transformers goes to Hasbro & Takara

Credit for Transformers Animated goes to Sam Register & Matt Youngberg

Credit for Steven Universe goes to Rebecca Sugar

Credit for Helluva Boss goes to Vivienne “Vivziepop” Medrano

Credit for Red Vs Blue Series goes to Burnie Burns

Credit for Halo Series goes to Bungie Studios

Credit for Tenchi Muyo Series goes to Masaki Kajishima & Hiroki Hayashi

Credit for Fallout Series goes to Bethesda Softworks

Credit for Mass Effect Series goes to BioWare

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Falere is a Ardat-Yakshi, a Ardat-Yakshi is a rare genetic condition that is in Asari...

one could view a "Ardat-Yakshi" as being kind of like a Succubus. it might be a weird idea, but what if in a Crossover between Fallout x Mass Effect, Ghouls are Immune to the deadly powers of a Ardat-Yakshi.

I mean even there could be some people who are Immune to Succubus's full powers, like how someone who could be part human, earth angel and succubus...

who wouldn't just be in danger from a full succubus or incubus but also humans as well.....which is why it is good to make sure to have gems to protect you when you sleep. I'm still not sure if that would work for everyone, but maybe it is still possible that it can work for others.

it be interesting if Falere and Hancock were ship together, it would be 100% Fanon and not 100% Canon.

my wanting to Crossover ship Shockwave and Pearl, had to do with being inspired by a drawing by Blitzy-Blitzwing, that I saw.

it was of the Hazformers version of Shockwave, and because what he says in the drawing, made me think of Pearl....

and well here we are, a Crossover ship between a Gem and Cybertronian.....which the drawing is in two, one where it's just them and in another drawing I did...

so in other words, I had copy the drawing I already did, and placed it into a separate form, and still worked on the other drawing as well...

it be interesting in a Crossover Timeline, The Gems are creations of Primus & Unicron's Little Sister....be funny if Unicron gets really scared if he hears that his and Primus's Little Sister is mad at them.

and the first Gems that their little sister had created would be White, Yellow, Blue and Pink Diamond.

also in my own weird way, I can't help but view the Autobots on Cybertron in the TFA Universe, as being like the Homeworld Gems...

while the Decepticons from TFA Universe, being like The Crystal Gems.... I mean come on, if Autobots are the ones who try to make something like the  "Project Omega" that is suppose to be a dangerous weapon of mass destruction....

ya can pretty much tell who the true bad guys are, because they made Project Omega to be a dangerous weapon, and it wasn't even made by Decepticons. so Megatron was being truthful about the Autobot Tyranny, sure Cybertron wouldn't be any better with Megatron ruling it, but besides making Project Omega...

Autobots have misused their own Planet's Sonic Canyon's own living metal to make protoforms, and those protoforms don't even get a chance to grow up and are made to age to probably to 16 Ano-Cycle Old.

plus Sari and Wheelie are possibly the only ones that have been born from Cybertronian Asexual Reproduction in their generation, with it being possible that Wheelie could be a One Ano-Cycle Older than Sari.

I still think that Megatron could be Sari's Cybertronian Father, and who was in the lab that Sari's baby self was found in, and since her Human DNA comes from her Human Dad Isaac Sumdac...

her CNA must come from her Cybertronian Parent, and that would 100% be Megatron, plus it couldn't be Optimus or anyone from his team, because they were under water and still in stasis.

I think the reason why the Autobots who live on Cybertron haven't went through the "budding stage" in so long, might have to do with their corrupted leaders who run Cybertron.

one of those corrupted leaders would of course be Ultra Magnus.

 Frag The Autobot Elite Guard! 

The Allspark is the cure for the Autobots being sterile!

a Protoform could have a spark given to them by either The Allspark or Vector Sigma, but for all we know, the TFA Universe's Vector Sigma may have been corrupted to cause sterilization.

Autobots off Cybertron on one of the Autobot Commonwealth Planets, could of still make new sparks for their future children, by not only the budding stage, but also having a piece of their spark placed into the new protoform.

plus all the planets that are part of the Autobot Commonwealth, are most likely the original homes of organic life, but the Autobots took them over and most likely got rid of all the organic life that originally lived there.

so yeah, Autobots from TFA Universe, are likely like how Homeworld Gems use to be, taking over organic worlds and making new gems.... and the Decepticons from TFA Universe, are like The Crystal Gems, but of course slightly different....

yeah I'm weird, viewing The Autobots on Cybertron as "Homeworld Gems" and The Decepticons as "The Crystal Gems" in the TFA Universe.... the Project Omega from TFA could be seen as a Counterpart of The Cluster from Steven Universe.

even both Omega and Cluster were made to be weapons by The Autobots of Cybertron & The Gems From Homeworld...

but that doesn't mean they have to be weapons, because Omega was able to form a type of Father & Son bond with Ratchet, with Ratchet being the "Dad" of course...and Steven formed a friendship with the Cluster.

Tucker from Red Vs Blue, should of kept that armor that originally belong to Maine, the idea of him adopting Ryo-Ohki as his daughter, just seem like a adorable idea.

even if it would be more of a Fanon Crossover Timeline, but it would mean that Tucker doesn't just a daughter, he also gets his own space ship. XD

and when Ryo-Ohki isn't being a space ship, she's on top of Tucker's head or on one of his shoulders, being all cute and adorable.

this would also make my first fan art of Chazwick, I gave him metal shark teeth and a eye-patch as well as a T-Shirt that says “Tuna-Himbo” in that drawing.

also gave him a Robot Earth Angel Girlfriend, who is possibly more of a one-shot type OC and I decided to name her Charleen.

Chazwick is also suppose to be drinking some kind of soda in that drawing as well.......if I had to say what Charleen’s Halo and Wings are made out of it, it would be Ethereal and Technology of The Feminine Energy.

and in theory the known Seven Rings or Circles that is ruled by like Lucifer, Asmodeous, Mammon and others...

use to belong to a type of Feminine Earth Angel Princesses, who if my theory is correct are the true rulers of those Rings that were part of the Earthly Mother’s Earth Kingdom, until those guys took it over when they fell and made half of it a part of what is known as “Hell.”........once again, you can’t leave Masculine Angels alone for a few minutes without them causing some kind of trouble....

I mean it is just a possibility, and it’s okay that not everyone takes that theory seriously....even if it could be possible.

also even if the drawings of this post isn’t really mature, but just in case I am placing “mature audiences only” and “not for kids” for the tags.

also I hope some like the idea of Chazwick with metal shark teeth and a Eye-Patch, some might understand why I gave him metal teeth.

even if Chaz is a bit of a perv, he is kind of a funny Tuna-Himbo.

and it’s okay if it is just me and maybe a few others who view him as a Tuna-Himbo.....once again, the nickname “Tuna-Himbo” make into my head when watching the episode that he appears in, it was of course my first time watching that episode when it came out on the day when I found out it was uploaded.

and of course when watching it, the word Tuna-Himbo came into mind.

and of course that episode is for mature audiences only, like 18+...

anyway I will sign back on here later, to check out some more fan art.

also I want to say that if I put “do not reblog without permission” and you see it, like it being both mentioned at the very top and even in the tags.

please do NOT ignore it, I can understand if it might of not been seen at first, and I can allow the reblog if it was a accident.

but if it was ignored on purpose or if I am being lied to about it not have been seen, just so they wont get in trouble, and I hope NO one does that, because I don’t think I can forgive if that were to happen....

just try to keep a eye out for the words that say “do not reblog without permission.” and anyway, hope some like these drawings that are being post together in this one post.

and it’s okay that not everyone ships Shockwave x Pearl.

my shipping those two was inspired by a Hazformers drawing with Shockwave’s demon form in it, and what he says in the drawing had reminded me of Pearl.

I’m weird and I’m weird shipping Shockwave x Pearl.                                  

[blueikeproductions]

@vihattu-thethoroughbredofsin I will say in IDW’s defense, they didn’t come up with the caste society angle, they only attempted to flesh it out. It originated in Prime, and has since been used in Cyberverse, I believe Netflix War For Cybertron eluded to it, and I might be misremembering but I believe EarthSpark also uses the caste system as the source of the war.

The problem remains is Hasbro and assorted writers had no idea how to write the caste system other than it was bad, and it was enough to rework Megatron into being the one wanting abolish it.

Functionalism I can sort of understand. For the lack of a better comparison, Antz explored a similar shake up of the system where Z temporarily became a soldier ant while his soldier friend became a worker and the soldier found he LOVED being a worker over a soldier. They otherwise can’t change jobs or go outside the system until Z, in his own neurotic way, but the idea forward they could change.

A Transformer who changes into a tank who wants to be a doctor is frowned upon, because tanks are supposed to blow stuff up, not administer system updates. It’s an interesting train of thought, especially with the imagery of Megatron’s fusion cannon now being a medical kit in late stage Lost Light…. But it all falls apart when you think about it for two seconds. What does Functionalism mean for ordinary cars, for planes, for beasts, or something as mundane as RiD15 style Mini-Con Torpedos and Pucks? All it really says about Beasts is that they’re animals pure and simple and the lowest rung for what feels like an awkward joke referencing older fans grousing about Beast Wars.

It also doesn’t help that it’s never been fully understood what constitutes a Transformer on Cybertron. Roberts made a lot of jokes about generics turning into mundane things like laser pointers and Energon Dispensers, but then you had a joke about a Functionary cop yelling at a piece of junk to Transform, only for Ratchet to clarify the junk wasn’t alive. Like huh? Shouldn’t the Functionary have been able to tell?

IDW2 made the right move to return the cause of the Great War to be more about energy and the Ascenicons/Decepticons wanting power & conquest. Unfortunately the writer chose to do it in the most drawn out, dull, dare I say lifeless way possible.

I think the fact of the matter is as much as some fans detest Transformers being on Earth and befriending humans, that’s the only time they shine because functionally Transformers have NO culture. Armada makes a point to show life on Cybertron is purely militaristic, that Transformers are a warrior race at this stage, with Cybertron largely a junk yard with small hints at great cities that once existed. By Energon, Cybertron is restored to what it used to be, but we still don’t have a clear idea on their culture, as the Autobots largely work with humanity now as scientists and technicians and peace keepers. What little we see in most canons isn’t dissimilar from us, and the Autobots seem to graft pretty easily to our culture and entertainment, G1 famously having some of the Autobots addicted to a soap opera, and Optimus becoming a big fan of basketball. Attempts to fill in the gaps outside of Earth in stuff like Cyberverse and IDW is just flat out Earth and Earth culture but as silly robots. How Beast Machines and Galaxy Force went about it aside, how does Cybertron have plant life and jungles in Cyberverse? I don’t know and I guarantee the Cyberverse writers don’t either. But Cybertron just being a robot Earth isn’t clever or interesting, it’s boring, and it just reinforces why most stories get the Transformers off Cybertron where the real fun can begin.

Hello! I'm sorry if you're tired of this topic, but I can't help but be glad that I'm seeing more and more people criticizing IDW comics!

Once I also wrote a post about criticism of these comics, and my main problem was that there is absolutely no lore in these comics, and if there is anything, it is very little.

I just can't believe that for so long the authors haven't brought anything to the transformers lore. During this really huge amount of time and an impressive list of issues, I expected just a ton of worked-out world and everything else. And as a result, the depth of the lore was approximately equal to the depth of the drying puddle.

I don't understand why many fans praise these comics for the politics and the worked-out world, when this is absolutely not the case. Politics is mainly based on some personal conflicts and intrigues, we practically do not immerse ourselves in the structure and work of the political apparatus, ideas, influence on social structures and lifestyle, the response of different segments of the population to this. No, I understand it's difficult and the age audience is not suitable, but maybe you can't make the central theme of comics something that you can't describe and don't understand how it works?

The authors do not know how to describe a truly alien race and, despite their hatred of human characters, have made Cybertronians so similar to humans that it is absurd.

For example, why is functionalism bad? I understand why this would be bad for humans, but why for another species whose lifestyle should be completely different? In fact, this is the most logical way of life for an alien race, because what is the alternative? Is there an alternative? Can Cybertron switch to equipping itself with conventional technology? What will the Cybertronians who are released from work do, what other jobs and activities are there? The authors do not go into this much and we do not see clear ideas of what a Cybertron society should be without functionalism. Well, or I didn't have enough of what the authors gave me.

But well, we have functionalism. Why is it that the elite of society under this regime are mostly the owners of "useless" altmods? Why not those who transform into scientific or very powerful military equipment? In general, under such conditions, the power on the planet would have been seized by the military part of society long ago.

It's not worth talking about the fact that the usual daily life of Cybertronians is described in almost no way. Along with the culture, we have received very little information about it.

Oh, maybe we know something about the transformers themselves then, right? Not really. Basically you can only find headcanon materials. And what about IDW? Maybe they offered us their glossary, terms, schemes? No, there's nothing. Moreover, already at that time, fans on the forums came up with everything and drew the structure of transformers, and the IDW authors were too lazy to even steal any ideas, except for a few.

But if the authors can't work with these topics, do they describe relationships and love well? Again, no, literally all relationships are either built from scratch, or do not develop, or are full of manipulation, deception and emotional swings (yes, everyone's favorite "the only good" pair of Chromedome X Rewind), or end in nothing, as if nothing ever happened. And it doesn't depend on whether it was a gay relationship or a completely straight one, all the relationships there are very poorly written. If this, like Arcee, is a representation, then it looks more like a direct insult.

And, by the way, if love is for everyone, then where is the love between a transformer and a human? Oh yes, authors hate humans. Love is not for everyone!

And in general, it's good, the authors want to add love and romance, but it needs to be justified! Love relationships are not a necessary phenomenon for species, a lot of stars have to come together for this kind of social interaction to be like that. How did the Cybertronians come to this when they don't have any prerequisites for it? How did they get the Conjux Endura ritual (or did you want to say "bonding"? ;) ).Why does such a strict government, as we were told, disapprove, but not prohibit such types of relations, if in all other respects it is totalitarian and cruel?

How do Cybertronian diseases work? Why did Ratchet die of this disease, but not the characters older than him? This point is generally very similar to a cheap way to soften the reader.

I can go on like this endlessly, but I'll stop here. Roberts is not just a fanfiction writer, he is a very mediocre  fanfiction writer who may have a couple of interesting ideas, but lacks the talent to show them. And then, ordinary average writers understand what they are doing and why, and do not get paid for it. It's even more insulting for the authors of fanfiction, who, even for the sake of their strange plots and ideas, try and spin like they're on a frying pan, go out of their skin, coming up with a justification for everything inside the fanfiction. Roberts can't do that.

In the end, I respect the Kiss Players more because the author knew perfectly well what he was doing and wanted to anger the audience, and the audience reacted appropriately. The authors of the IDW comics thought they were doing something smart and great, but they weren't. But the audience presents it as something great.

P.S. I apologize for the mistakes, I use a translator.

There is no need to apologize, you managed to point out the issues with IDW Transformers and why no one really bothered to read them outside of that specific hardcore audience, and not even a general hardcore audience, but an audience that agreed with one specific interpretation of the material, and everyone who had other interpretations could go suck a lemon.

I’ve said it before, this is a prime example of “Writing a comic about a comic” where the use of lore and specific characterizations is so specific to the franchise that any story that is told is Greek to anyone outside of the bubble, which accounts for IDW’s horrible sales. Skybound’s story so far has been criticized by some hardcore fans as a G1 redux, but even if it is, it’s still a well told story with universal themes, consistent, easy to understand characterizations, and characters that are likable for the heroes and hatable for the villains. It has a clear tone, something both IDW and IDW2 failed at utterly. Roberts, meanwhile was a terrible writer, but he was good at engaging the audience the same way fanfic writers do, focusing on the relationships that get the most dialogue, and leaving openings for others to fill in, via discussion or their own fic. But that’s useless when it comes to engaging a general audience. Most of the audience didn’t want to do the work of filling in the holes themselves, they wanted to have the story do that, or at least provide enough context to paint a picture.

As for Kiss Players, while I don’t know if he wanted to purposefully offend the audience or just create shock value, it was a side story comic. It didn’t shape shows afterwards causing them to tank, and doesn’t have people looking at the last show aired and yawning out of sheer boredom.

[libermachinae]

[ID: Screenshot from Robots in Disguise 29. Prowl, in profile, looks to the right. Prowl: “I lost my best friend, Prime. Megatron stood at his side and only one of them walked away.” End ID.]

I’ve never stopped thinking about this line, so! What the fuck is up with Prowl and Bumblebee’s relationship? (Spoiler alert: I do not think Bee is another ex 😔)

They first met millions of years ago when Bumblebee went to Orion Pax for help regarding horrible dream he’d been having, and from there remained in each other’s orbits, though not really friends.

[ID: From Robots in Disguise #32. Prowl and Bumblebee stand with their backs to the reader, watching Metroplex lift off in city form while a battle rages in the sky around him. Bumblebee: “Nobody said war’s logical, bud.” Prowl: “That’s my point. We’re going to do stupid things until we die.” Bumblebee: “Primus, Prowl. Lighten up. We’re not like the Decepticons!” End ID.]

During the war, they got along fine, but in the one snapshot we see there’s not a lot of friendliness between them: Prowl is talking about the futility of their war and Bumblebee happens to be someone nearby. There’s a familiarity to the way they talk to each other (I doubt many people would bother or could get away with calling Prowl “bud”), but it’s more like coworkers who have been stepping on each other’s toes for a long time than real friends. The conversation begins and ends with Prowl’s internal monologue, while Bumblebee’s perspective is just a device used to draw out more of Prowl’s thoughts. Little is shown of their relationship because at this point, it just isn’t there.

[ID: Screenshot from The Transformers #21. Optimus stands with his back to the reader in the foreground, with Bumblebee and Prowl in the Background. Prowl’s caption: “That’s when Prime filled in the ‘Bee. He took it better than I expected. Smart questions. No whining. Focused the anger. He’s going to be a great leader one day. If he gets the chance.” End ID.]

(”the ‘Bee” lol Costa’s Prowl is a specimen) Half a million years later, they’re on Earth, Bumblebee has been elected and then demoted, and Optimus is leaving with most of the Autobots while assigning them to investigate the illegal weapons trade. Prowl has thoughts on Bumblebee’s leadership, which will be the ongoing theme of their relationship for the rest of the series. In typical Prowl fashion, he will never speak these particular thoughts aloud. (continues under the cut!)

[ID: Screenshots from Spotlight: Bumblebee. Panel 1: Bumblebee points offpanel with his cane and at himself with his thumb. Bumblebee: “No, wait, hang on, Prowl—I’m in charge here.” Panel 2: Prowl points a stern finger at Bumblebee, offpanel. Prowl: “What? Come on. This isn’t about being in charge, it’s about being right.” Panel 3: Prowl, flanked by two other Autobots, walks away from Bumblebee. Prowl: “’I’m in charge.’ Optimus Prime would never put up with that kind of procedural nonsense.” End ID.]

Spotlight: Bumblebee is basically a story about Bumblebee trying to impress Prowl. It opens by showing us how little respect Prowl holds for Bumblebee, ignoring his orders and taking bots he had already assigned to different tasks. We already know that Prowl is no Optimus fan, making the dig at Bumblebee extra cutting. It also doesn’t hurt that Bumblebee’s whole story so far has been about trying to live up to Optimus, Prowl’s words coming as long-anticipated confirmation that he has failed to do so.

[ID: Screenshot from Spotlight: Bumblebee. Prowl smiles. “Means the little guy’s got more spark than I gave him credit for, these last couple million years. Taking down five bad guys on his own— and blaming himself for not stopping a hundred more? And then coming home and taking control?” End ID.]

“That’s what Prime would do.”

Recklessly endangering himself for the sake of taking down a few “bad guys”? Yeah, that actually sounds exactly like Optimus.

Bumblebee proves himself taking command and earns a little respect from Prowl, even finding the confidence to bite back for Prowl’s “procedural nonsense” comment. It marks a big shift in their relationship, and by the time they’re back on Cybertron in time for Death of Optimus Prime, they’re working together by choice rather than decree. If we’re looking for a point where they become friends, I think this is it, a whole three years before the “best friend” panel above. All it took was a “couple million years” of just tolerating each other.

And this takes us into Phase 2!

[ID: Screenshot from Robots in Disguise #1. Bumblebee waves a cellphone-like device in Prowl’s face. Prowl: “They’re not my friends.” Bumblebee: “Whatever they are—you keep them in line or I will. You understand?” End ID.]

And also into an ongoing conversation about friendship! 

The pair is back on Cybertron following the events of Death of Optimus Prime and trying to figure out how to bring order to their home, and immediately disagree about the best way to do that. Bumblebee refers to the newly deputized Decepticon enforcers as Prowl’s “friends,” using the word to highlight the unprofessional, independent nature of what is essentially Prowl’s personal anti-neutral militia.

[ID: Screenshot from Robots in Disguise #1. Bumblebee: “Rodimus and his crew died. They were our friends—we can’t—can’t not eulogize them.” Prowl: “They were my comrades—dammit, my friends, too.” End ID.]

This leads into a conversation about the recently-departed Lost Light, for which Bumblebee thinks a memorial should be held. This time, when the word “friend” is used, it’s more sincere. Bumblebee also doesn’t say “my friends”—he extends an invitation that Prowl accepts, albeit clumsily.

Does he mean it, though? Prowl is not so socially bankrupt to not understand how friendships are supposed to look. Even if we dismiss his attitude to the Lost Light as general Prowlishness, this scene is followed by a conversation with Arcee in which he says he doesn’t trust anyone, which is a pretty major hurtle to get over. It’s not a stretch to assume Prowl is lying.

He never makes a move like that without a purpose, though. By referring to the Lost Light crew as his friends, he gets Bumblebee to relax and see things from his own perspective, giving him an opportunity to talk about the more pressing security issues they are facing. This, in fact, is Prowl’s go-to strategy: identify the person in power and get close to them, thereby giving him the ability to watch over how that power is wielded.

[ID: Screenshot from Robots in Disguise #1. Prowl speaks to Bumblebee over his shoulder. Prowl: “Look. every day, I watch the sun go down and wonder if we can make it another night without them. If I even want to.” Bumblebee: “Huh. I mean, yeah. Me, too.” Prowl: “I’m not emotionless, Bee. I care about Rodimus and Magnus and the rest as much as you do. But look at the situation logically.” End ID.]

That said, I don’t think Prowl is lying here. Despite how warped his worldview becomes, I do believe that at his core, Prowl wants what is best for Cybertronians (well, Autobots). Many of his darker plans were created with the intention to keep people alive, so regardless of his personal feelings to them, he is not “emotionless” and does feel something over their deaths.

[ID: First screenshot from Robots in Disguise #2. Bumblebee smirks at Prowl, holding up his electrocuting cane. Bumblebee: “Heh—same old Prowl. Wheeljack whipped it up the other day.” Prowl: I’ve got to have a talk with Wheeljack.” Second and third screenshots from Robots in Disguise #3. Panel 1: Bumblebee frowns at Prowl. “Enough! Prowl—shut up. Metalhawk has a point.” Panel 2: Prowl looks furious. Bumblebee is holding him back from lunging at someone off-panel. Prowl: “Bad move…” Bumblebee: “Down, Prowl.” End ID.]

I don’t have much to say about these scenes, except that I like them as an illustration of their dynamic in this part of the story. Cold, confrontational, and yet with a degree of familiarity I would’ve thought more fitting to a much older connection. I really can’t imagine the Prowl from half a million years ago, talking at Bumblebee about the folly of their commander, allowing himself to be held back and calmly talked down. Through their work together, something is developing that we might almost mistake for genuine friendship.

[ID: Screenshot from Robots in Disguise #4. Arcee: “Come on. I know you didn’t destroy it. You’re not that hard. But you are cold and calculating. Enough that even Bumblebee—even your only friend—thinks you might’ve.” Arcee: “Bee won’t say it. But you know that’s what he’s thinking.” Prowl: “It doesn’t bother me. Bee doubts everything. Even himself.” End ID.]

“Even Bee—even your only friend—thinks you might’ve.”

“Bee doubts everything. Even himself.”

The same phrase is used twice in the conversation to distinguish Bumblebee as an outlier (not the superpower kind, though maybe his ability to tolerate the Worst People should be considered). For Arcee, it’s in his proximity to Prowl. Prowl’s use of the phrase is a little more ambiguous, though. Is he saying that one should have faith in oneself if nothing else? It definitely fits in his worldview. Or is he saying Bumblebee is worthy of being trusted, believed in?

If so, what does that mean? Bumblebee would take Prowl’s endorsement as faith in his abilities as a leader, but we already know Prowl doesn’t view leadership that way. He needs to get an Autobot elected, and Bumblebee specifically, because he needs someone in power he can get close to and control. Bumblebee’s leadership, though perhaps not Bumblebee himself, offers Cybertron a path towards peace. So, actually, Arcee and Prowl mean the same thing: Bumblebee is special because he’s the person Prowl is closest to.

This is also the first indication we get that Bumblebee does not trust Prowl so fully as Prowl wants. As sneaky as Prowl is, it’s easy to forget sometimes that Bumblebee is his own agent with his own ability to measure the facts. He wants to trust Prowl, but that doesn’t blind him to Prowl’s reputation.

[ID: Screenshot from Robots in Disguise #5. Ironhide and Prowl cluster around Bumblebee, who looks contemplative. Prowl: “Think about what they’re say about you in the future, Bee! The Autobot that let the Decepticons go free?!” Ironhide: “He’s right—a little. Think about what the future can be. Cybertron’s our world,and tomorrow’s our day…” End ID.]

We get to see more of Bumblebee soon after, since Prowl gets cerebroshelled. Bomb-Prowl is much more ruthless than the genuine article, expressing little care for the lives of any Cybertronians, but nobody notices it around Prowl’s standard prickly persona. Bumblebee experiences growing unease with Bomb-Prowl’s methods, though interestingly does not dismiss him for it. Consider the above scene: a fight has just broken out. To resolve it, Ironhide, Starscream, and Ironhide recommend removing the Decepticons’ ID chips. Prowl is the sole voice of dissent, and Bumblebee chooses to ignore him while also maintaining their partnership.

Bumblebee can think for himself and say no to Prowl. This situation is not just Prowl manipulating and taking advantage of Bumblebee: the latter is fully capable of making his own decisions.

[ID: Screenshot from Robots in Disguise #11. Bumblebee stands on the left and Prowl on the right. Bumblebee: “Am I wearing blinders because you’re my friend? Are you even my friend?” End ID.]

When Omega Supreme is attacked, Bomb-Prowl accuses the Decepticons, opening himself up for scrutiny: Metalhawk accuses him of killing Ratbat. Bumblebee starts to express his doubts openly and he questions not only Prowl’s innocence, but their relationship altogether. (Also, though literally Bumblebee is asking, “Can I consider you, Prowl, a friend?” his question can also be read as, “Are you who you say you are?”)

Bumblebee’s question doesn’t imply he trusts Prowl. He doesn’t even trust himself: he’s wondering if their friendship has installed in him an implicit bias in Prowl’s favor. There is a possibility his feelings regarding Prowl are strong enough to warp his perception of reality, and he’s worried that he can’t see what's obvious to everyone else. In contrast to previous leaders Prowl has watched over, Bumblebee is aware of his ability and willingness to manipulate those around him. He’s not under any illusion that Prowl is honest with him all the time, but he also isn’t confident enough in himself to remove Prowl’s influence.

[ID: Screenshot from Robots in Disguise #11. Bumblebee: “Then I want to get back to finding Ironhide and the others, because he’s my friend and friends look out for each other.” End ID.]

There is also the matter that he does consider Prowl a friend. Not a good friend (as in caring, respectful, thoughtful), but nevertheless one he does not want to lose.

[ID: Screenshot from Robots in Disguise #14. Panel 1: Bumblebee shoves Metalhawk aside and reaches for Prowl, who is collapsing to the floor. Bumblebee: “Prowl—I—” Panel 2: Prowl lies on the floor. Prowl: “Bee… it wasn’t… wasn’t me… How could you not… see that?” End ID.]

I think the feeling is mutual. Prowl’s not angry at Bumblebee for falling for the Decepticons’ trap.

He’s hurt that his friend didn’t notice he was gone.

[ID: Screenshot from Robots in Disguise #16. Ironhide helps Prowl up. Prowl: “…I’m me.” Ironhide: “Got too much of an ego ta be anybody else.” Prowl: “I—I needed to hear—” Bumblebee (off-panel): “Later, Prowl…” End ID.]

Their relationship starts to go downhill from here. After breaking free from Devastator, Prowl actually tries to talk about his feelings, and Bumblebee dismisses him. To be fair, there are other things going on that need their attention, but Prowl is never given an opportunity to process what he has been through. Bumblebee, who excels at talking to people and helping them through their problems, never offers a space for Prowl to open up about his experience, and it’s the internalization of his trauma that leads to Prowl’s emotional degeneration through the rest of the series.

[ID: Screenshot from Robots in Disguise #18. Panel 1: Bumblebee hunches over his cane, struggling to stand. Bumblebee: “It’s *kaff*… Well, I don’t want to know *kaff kaff* what’s going on in his mind, but… Prowl didn’t do any of the *koff* terrible stuff.” Panel 2: Bumblebee stands in front of Prowl, facing the reader. Bumblebee: “He was *kaff* being controlled by Bombshell. I mean obviously he didn’t *koff* kill you guys—he didn’t blow up the Decepticon pen. He *kaff kaff* wasn’t running a secret war. He didn’t *koff* have Ratbat eliminated.” End ID.]

I don’t think Bumblebee is being intentionally malicious, though. Consider all the times Prowl has had to say outright that he feels things and has emotions: I think it’s more accurate to say Bumblebee didn’t believe him. The doubts he felt about Prowl were never with regard to his intentions, but rather the way he interacted with and understood the world around him. Bumblebee, going by the reputation Prowl made for himself, doesn’t believe Prowl processes events the same way he does, and as a result falsely assume that his mind control and forced combination will have no greater impact on Prowl.

And then even Bumblebee’s faith in Prowl’s intentions is shaken when Arcee reveals he did call for Ratbat’s assassination. Bumblebee is so betrayed he passes out.

[ID: Screenshot from Robots in Disguise #18. Panel 1: Ironhide grins to the side while Bumblebee holds a fist to his mouth, coughing. Ironhide: “Aw. An’ everything was goin’ so well…” Bumblebee: “Prowl. Why—what—*kof kofff* *koff kaf*” Panel 2: Bumblebee’s hand reaches up as he collapses. Bumblebee: “*kaf kaf* Nnnggggh…” End ID.]

The next time they interact is in Dark Cybertron. Getting close to the end, here!

[ID: First screenshot from More Than Meets the Eye #23. Bumblebee points his gun up to the off-panel Titan. Prowl stands beside him. Bumblebee: “What?!” Prowl: “You talked a good game with the Dinobots. But you need to act, too. When you were in charge of the city, you were paralyzed.” Second screenshot from Robots in Disguise #23. Panel 1: Prowl, yelling: “You’re hesitating again! Look at us! We’re teaming up with the enemy and letting Starscream do whatever he wants?!” Panel 2: Bumblebee, with a steadying hand out, stands in front of Soundwave. Bumblebee: “Prowl, shut up for once. All your attitude ever got us was… was the Constructicons.” Soundwave: “The Constructicons stand with you?” Bumblebee: “Long story, Soundwave. And this isn’t a team up. We just happen to have the same objective.” Panel 3: Prowl points at Soundwave. “Then do something! Don’t just let this—this—Decepticon control you!” End ID. Third screenshot from Robots in Disguise #23. Prowl holds up a struggling Arcee while yelling at Bumblebee. Prowl: “You let this happen, Bee! We attack now!” Bumblebee: “Prowl, get your priorities in order—” End ID.]

Evidence of Prowl’s trauma starts to become more visible. The comradery they shared before is gone; Prowl’s methodical approach to problems is gone. Instead, he is scared and impulsive, and he takes out his new anxieties on his “only friend” because Bee is the one thing he’s supposed to be able to control.

[ID: Screenshot from Robots in Disguise #26. Panel 1: Bumblebee and Prowl stand amidst flaming wreckage. Hound (off-panel): “Where’s Megatron?” Bumblebee: “He’s… I think he’s gone. He took the thumb and ran.” Prowl: “Dammit. You should have never done back for him, Bee.” Panel 2: Bumblebee grabs Prowl’s neck. Bumblebee: “Prowl, you smug piece of—” Prowl: “Uk!” Panel 3: Bumblebee releases Prowl. Bumblebee: “I’ve had enough of your self-righteous second-guessing…” End ID.”

But he can’t. Bumblebee has gotten used to ignoring Prowl or refuting him. Add to that Prowl’s heightened emotional state, and Bumblebee responds to his criticism with open aggression. Stuck in crisis mode like they are, there is no way for them to reset and calm down until the Titan is finally taken down and everything comes to a standstill for a moment.

[ID: Screenshot from More Than Meets the Eye #27. Prowl leans close to Bumblebee, gesturing to his head. The Constructicons linger in the background. Bumblebee: “Oh, good. I was hoping your friends would could out of hiding.” Prowl: “They weren’t—I mean, they’re not—They just shared my memories. The Decepticons exploited my—my—my head!” End ID.]

And with this, we cycle back to their first conversation in Robots in Disguise. Before, Bumblebee used the word “friends” to criticize Prowl’s Decepticon enforcers and the freedom they were granted to terrorize the neutrals. Prowl, known to circumvent the chain of command, decided to forgo it almost entirely in that case, creating a violent, lawless group that did not fit into the military structure the Autobots still relied on.

Now, he uses “friend” to refer to the enthusiasm the Constructicons have for Prowl. Prowl’s deceit has been brought into the open, legitimizing Bumblebee’s fears and forcing him to question all over again his role as a leader. The doubts he had in himself and Prowl are tied together, so that even with the knowledge that everything that happened to Prowl was out of his control, he still feels threatened by the Decepticon presence Prowl now carries with him.

And even though he’s met with this kind of hostility, Prowl still comes back to Bumblebee to continue work as his advisor. He’s got a group of bots literally right there who trust him and support him without reservation, but he chooses Bumblebee because he still believes in their power to do right by Cybertron.

[ID: Screenshot from More Than Meets the Eye #27. Prowl stands on the left, Bumblebee on the right. Prowl: “Bee—we stopped his plan, but Shockwave is still out there.” Bumblebee: I know, and you’re totally right, and anything less than a perfect attack plan and we’re sunk—so I need you to come up with one. In the meantime—mingle. There has to be somebody you want to say ‘hi’ to.” Prowl: “Actually…” End ID.]

This is the last time they talk to each other. Prowl reminds him of the impending danger, Bumblebee is grateful for his expertise, and then he encourages Prowl to go relax. There’s something to be said for the fact that upon leaving Bumblebee’s side, Prowl immediately seeks out his ex, but I think it’s mainly just that he’s lonely rather than anything nefarious. He’s lonely, and despite their distrust and criticism and generally poor treatment of each other, Bumblebee is someone who accepts his company, a rare thing that’s he’s going to lose very soon.

When I first read the words “best friend,” I assumed Prowl was lying. I also assumed, even if that was true, it would not hold in the reverse. I think I’ve changed my mind on both counts. Prowl didn’t pursue Bumblebee with genuine intentions, but they both ended up getting something out of it. It’s not a healthy relationship, but at a tumultuous time in their lives it might literally be the best they can do and in their own ways, they trust they’re going to look out for each other.

[ID: Screenshot from Robots in Disguise #18. Bumblebee, with his cane, leans on Prowl as they leave the ruins of Iacon. Their plating bears obvious damage, and ash and dust float through the air around them. End ID.]

[mocacheezy]

And the title of "Was so amusing I forgot he was supposed to represent a ruthless villain" goes to: ✨Beast Wars Megatron (1996)✨

[Show spoilers below, but you probably know that already.]

Extra note: I am a TF newbie. This is my opinion and I don't have all the details for the many continuities that exist. I just need to scream about a purple T-Rex.

As the shows main villain, he seems more comical than threatening, but during the second and third season he:

Cut out an immortal spark from a failed Maximal science experiment, and continuously used it to torture said experiment (both for his amusement AND practicality, since Rampage would destroy him otherwise)

Called a deformed protoform ugly, "with an ugly name to match its appearance", and called it useless since it is unable to transform.

(Yeah, the above doesn't sound bad or unusual by villain standards, but these are things that had me go "What the fuck, aren't you the theatre kid of a villain? What is this?!", so if it made me react like that it's on the list. The following things also contribute to my reaction)

Set up the before mentioned protoform to an impossible task of essentially killing all Maximals and bringing proof of their deactivation as a test of its competence (bring me their heads... Dramatic✨)

By calling it useless since "It can't even transform!", he is spitting on the name of his predecessor, the original Megatron

(I am atleast 90% certain that G1 Megatron (and any other Megatron really) would take a look at it, figure out if it can hold a gun/fight/be useful and let it fight. Can't even transform my ass, as long as it can be manipulated and/or fight for the Cons it doesn't matter if it can or can't transform you copper bitch!)

Decided to cut the Maximal science experiment's immortal spark in half to create a new Frankensteined transmetal super soldier.

In order to obtain more power he took the original Megatron's spark and "mingled" it with his. And by mingled, I mean he inserted it into his own spark chamber with his own spark and kept it there. Not intending to return it to the original frame most likely.

Until the very last episode of the third season, until the last 10 or so minutes, it looked like he was going to win. I am talking the whole "Are the good guys going to win?" kind of doubt on my end.

But the real kicker and the reason why I'm so shocked?

He was in character through all of this! He didn't get "more evil" or "crazier" or "ruthless" as the seasons progressed. He wasn't "meaner" or "less charismatic". He behaved precisely as he did in the first season, same dramatics in his movements and speech and all of that!

The only difference was that he was doing something actually threatening and villainous in front of us viewers!

That's what had me staring at the screen with wide eyes; the fact I got fooled by his personality and didn't perceive him as an actual threat.

From the 3 shows I finished watching so far (Prime, Animated, Beast Wars) he threw me in for the biggest fucking loop.

Because with other Megatrons it's very clear what kind of a villain they are from the start:

Prime Megatron looks like a threat, moves like a threat, and while he has charisma, we don't see it that often. And he has dramatics, but those are mostly reserved for fights with Optimus or Unicron-poprock-crystal-candy induced hallucinations. And even then it's more like grand, over the top speeches, not silliness.

Animated Megatron has class. He is charismatic and uses this to his advantage to the extreme. He manipulates everyone and anyone, his followers are ready to fight eachother for a crumb of his praise, and a chance to be called "most loyal". He has dramatics (more than just the fact he twists his oil barrels into goblets) and he has embarassing moments infront of his troops, but those are due to circumstances, not him being silly.

I am in the process of watching Cyberverse, and so far this Megatron is a threat, doesn't seem like much of a threat when fighting the autobots, and to my limited spoiler-fueled knowledge, will become a bigger threat later on.

Take another look at Beast Wars Megatron and tell me if you'd consider this guy a threat:

He monologues and laughs TheVillainLaugh so often, you start to expect it and just wait for it most episodes. At one point he laughs so hard he ends up choking on it. And after his coughing fit he resumes his plan monologue as if nothing happened. And it's not like the other Predacons don't acknowledge their boss' behaviour:

That doesn't mean he doesn't have some loyal Predacons; Scorponok, Waspinator and Inferno being the ones that come to mind (also the ones that crave his approval and praise the most), with the other Preds leaning more towards treachery. But how he handles treachery or disobedience or even talking back, where it seems like he's bantering, not threatening them,

His personality just doesn't fit with the traits and behaviours the other two Megatrons exibit, the kind of traits that I started to expect of Megatron as a character.

He doesn't fit my perception of a Megatron that is a threat.

Which, considering the narrative of transformers, says alot about me and the way I essentially placed the character into a mold and went "alright, angry, commands and demands attention, can be ruthless, is stupid enough to keep a guy as his SIC/ on his team, despite multiple murder attempts and scheming".

Now, if we get into actual details, Beast Wars Megatron wouldn't count as "an actual Megatron", since the show itself is set after the Great War between the autobots and decepticons, G1 timeline. This Megatron took his predecessors name, so for all we know his name could be Joe before he changed it.

But his actions and the "destroy and conquer and lay the groundwork for future plans while you're causing mayhem" thing he has going on? That is Megatron behaviour as far as I can see.

And, granted, Beast Wars is the oldest out of the three shows I've watched (Animated 2007, Prime 2011), and so he is older than both of them, his characterization might be much closer to G1 than both Prime and Animated!

But before this becomes a full on essay full of misinformation (and more spelling mistakes), I'll just give my thanks to each continuity being it's own thing, with enough variety to keep you on your toes, while expecting how the general plot might go.

I hate that I can't even fully hate him, because he is so incredibly entertaining, so I am stuck looking @ the screen, cursing the fucking prehistoric grape lizard fidget spinner of the future, because he is so vile but he does it in style.

Here's a flattering picture of him as I seethe.

🎉Congratulations you metal Barney on rollerskates!🎉 You are truly despicable, the worst! I hope you choke on a rubber ducky💕

[He also gets a smaller trophy for his Transmetal MegaMode (or whatever it is called officially), because its a fucking dragon. He went from a bubblegum T-rex, to a copper rollerskating T-rex that can fly, to a red and gold dragon that can breathe fire and ice. So yeah, drastic transformation wise, no competition here, as well as levels of drama that came with each alt.]

[dragons-socks]

Baby Bumblebee chpt 1

Bumblebee wheezed as his optics faded in and out of focus. His helm must have taken some damage as the humans around looked larger than he was. They were wearing white coats and blue outfits. They were shouting at each other. Bee tried to think back to what happened before he was here. He remembered going on a mission with Lennox and the op team. He could feel himself going into stasis. He tried to fight it. A mask was put over his face and for some reason the air grew thicker. The last thing he could hear was Lennox’s voice shouting in a different room asking for Bee.

When he woke up, it was to a white room on an unusually soft bed. Everything looked large. It almost looked like he was in Optimus’s room, however, it wasn’t the design of Optimus’s room. And in this strange very large room sat Lennox. He was asleep in a chair that was both large and also fit perfectly to the small human captain. Bee’s processor’s couldn’t comprehend what this mad illusion was trying to show him. He tried to access his radio to splice songs together to communicate to the captain. He even tried to use his binal speech to at least get the humans attention. However neither would work. He started to feel panicked, and tried with all his spark to comm-link into the other Autobots. It was silent and no messages seemed to be sent.

This made the young Autobot even more panicked. He could hear loud panting and the hammering of a very loud human heartbeat right next to his ears. He turned to see if Lennox was hyperventilating, but the man stayed quiet and asleep. Bee trembled from his bed and fell to the floor in hazey pain. He got up on shaky legs. It almost feels as if had just gotten out of surgery after his legs were blown up. He stumbled through a doorway hoping it was a way out of this unreal world and back to Optimus or Sam or anyone really. Even the normal sized Lennox would be better than the whacked out world he found himself in.

This strange room yielded even more terrifying and strange results. Its what Sam calls a bathroom. It usually was so tiny; as much in this new place was supposed to be. However, it was the mirror that had Bee frozen in horrific shock. Instead of seeing his face with his mouth guard fused into place and his glowing blue optics gleaming against almost too bright of a yellow finish. A human was staring at him. They were much smaller and looked younger than Sam. Bee reached out towards the mirror and the reflected image reached back towards him with small hands. A choked gasp struggled out of Bee and the image reflected his fear. He and the boy reached towards their head and instead of a metallic helm, fluffy blonde locks ran through his bandaged fingers as well as the reflection. He ran to the mirror, climbing onto the sink and sitting as close to the reflection as he could. He inspected this strange form he found himself in, investigating the realness of the image. He didn’t realize he had been clicking his tongue and making distressed whines as he fell even further into despair.

“Bumblebee?” Lennox whispered, slowly walking into the room. Bee glanced at the Lennox and cowered closer to the mirror, away from this not-Lennox. He held his hands out in defense, ready for a fight. Not-Lennox stopped, not moving an inch. Bee tried to talk to him again. But all that came out were whines, rumbles, and tongue-clicks. “It’s me, kid. It’s Lennox.”

Bee shook his head. He shook this human head, making accusing clicks, anything to inform this imposter that he was not believed. How was he Lennox if Bee wasn’t even Bee.

“I know you must be confused, but let me explain before you become more freaked, kid.” Lennox stepped closer, but Bee held his hands out like his shooters. “The Decepticons had this device and you got hit, kid. They had aimed it at Optimus, but you blocked what we assume was their only shot because they hightailed it out of there when it didn’t quite work. You fell unconscious and began to shrink. We brought you to this hospital when the transformation from bot to human was complete. You saved Prime, Bee.”

Bee didn’t know if he trusted this Lennox yet. What he said sounded plausible and impossible at the same time. It was just he was human! How in the All Spark was that supposed to be conceivable? Bumblebee squinted his eyes and gnashed his teeth.

“Still don’t believe me, kid? Um.. what if I told you something only the real Lennox would know?” Lennox asked. Bee cocked an eyebrow, but didn’t deter the man. He hummed, really thinking of the most perfect answer. Bee watched, his still large, overly bright blue eyes held onto Lennox’s own brown eyes. “After the huge fight between Megatron. The first one. You didn’t want to admit to the other Autobots that you kind of feared Sam’s mom and had me accompany you on your patrols for over a week to make sure the women wouldn’t beat you up.”

Bee dropped his guard. He didn’t even tell Sam as to why the Captain was also on watch for that week. Lennox let out a sigh, letting the tension leave his body. He walked over and picked the small child out of the sink. Bee looked no older than ten years old. If this was an accurate representation of the bot’s real age Lennox was going to use the Autobots as scrap metal. Not just a child soldier, but practically a baby soldier.

It didn’t take long for a nurse and then a doctor to come in. They both said their pleasantries about Bumblebee being awake and alert. Then they got to work. The young scout started to fight as blood was drawn and vitals were checked. He chittered when the doctor brought a light to his eyes and hissed as a nurse tried to get him to stop squirming.

“I see our suspicions were correct with his scarred vocal chords.” The doctor hummed.

“Are we good to get out of here, or are you going to continue to agitate my kid?” Lennox asked, tapping his foot.

“No need to get impatient, Mr. Lennox. We’ll just need to bring in the paperwork and you and young Bee here will be all set to go.” The nurse smiled before leaving the room.

They were once again on their own. Bee turned to Lennox and gave a series of clicks and ticks in what Bee remembered of Morse Code that the human army had used many times around him. He just wanted to know where Optimus was and when he was going back to his leader.

“That’s the thing Bee. Optimus doesn’t think its safe for you to go back to the base. And if we brought what could only be assumed as an eight year old child into a high security facility our operations might be shut down.” Lennox tried to explain, but the young autobot kept trying to get past him. Eventually Lennox just held the distressed kid on his hip, walking back and fourth trying to sooth Bee like he did his own, much younger, kid. Bumblebee soon tired out from his struggles and lay limp in the captain’s arms, trying to fight recharge.

For the first time, Ironhide almost drove cautiously down the roads as Bumblebee slumbered in his back seat and Lennox called his wife to tell her that he sort of adopted kid. Ironhide took this time to comm into the base. To talk sense into Optimus.

“He should be with his team, his people. Bumblebee is an Autobot, even if doesn’t look it anymore.” Ironhide reasoned.

“He is small. Smaller than any other human that we’ve ever interacted with. One misstep and he will be with the All Spark. I could not bear it if this were to happen.” Optimus stated.

“So you’ll ship him out, leave him alone in a world he knows nothing about? What if Bumblebee still requires Energon to survive? He is dead then too.” Ironhide shot back, his engines rumbling in displeasure.

“The other humans have their own homes to get back to. Bumblebee would be at base all the time, Ironhide. And with each passing day the decepticons grow closer to finding where we have stationed.” Optimus stressed. “If they found Bee, they would not hesitate to kill him. I know this looks like I am turning my back on my scout. I assure you, I have thought hard and with a heavy heart have made this decision.”

“I will look after him, then.” Ironhide declared. “I already watch over the captain and his family. If Bee is to stay with Lennox, then I am to stay with Bee.” He disconnected the link before Optimus could deny his wishes.

Lennox slumped back into the seat, looking back at the still slumbering child. Ironhide also wanted to just decompress for a moment. The stress of demanding answers and your wants to a superior is always nerve wracking.

“How did Sarah take the news?” Ironhide asked.

“Much better than when she first found out that our truck wasn’t just a truck. She’s not happy about it though. Though I wouldn’t worry.” Lennox couldn’t stop but continue to turn back and make sure the kid was still there. This time revealing that be was awake and running his small hands against the interior of his friend. “How are you feeling, Bee?”

A few clicks and rattling grunts came from the kid, but nothing too distressing. The thought of teaching him sign language flashed through the captain’s mind.

They arrived home after another hour of driving. Sarah walked out of the house as Lennox was helping the kid out of the back of the truck. She tried to stay angry at her husband, but couldn’t help but melt into the large blue eyes practically glowing against such small mocha cheeks of the child.

“Bee, you remember Sarah, right? She’s come to the base every so often.” Lennox said. The child let out a confirming chirp.

“Welcome to the family, Bumblebee.”

[quibbs126]

So I’m still going back and forth on that Transformers concept I mentioned yesterday, whether or not I like it

Tbh I might at least just try it out at least for a few characters, just to see where it goes, but I still need to figure out how to draw Transformers. I’ve been neglecting doing more practice

But anyways, I’m mostly just making this post to say that I have at least thought up a concept for Starscream in this story. Should I probably pair it with a design so that it’s more substantive? Yeah, but I don’t have one, nor would I know where to start, so eh

Context for those who don’t know what I’m talking about: basically Optimus and Megatron are both not the leaders of their factions, rather just commanders, and also the Autobots and Decepticons are supposed to be more grey, but I haven’t figured out how

Okay, so on to Starscream ideas I had last night

Basically, he’s a much older bot than Megatron, one with a lot of military experience, but who was assigned to Megatron’s squadron as his subordinate. This is mostly because I like the concept of an older Starscream that TF One has now introduced

Starscream’s kind of pissed about this assigning, thinking he should be the one leading the squadron instead of this much younger, more inexperienced and hotheaded bot. There might also be the idea he considers himself superior due to being able to fly while this Megatron doesn’t have a flight alt mode

But unfortunately, Megatron has him beat in a one on one fight, the majority of the squadron prefers Megatron over Starscream, and their superiors probably wouldn’t take kindly to him usurping command, so he mostly just grumbles and tries to undermine Megatron’s authority

Megatron doesn’t really like him either, seeing him as this old geezer (okay he might not be that old but he’s definitely notably older than Megatron) that keeps thinking he’s better than him because he’s older and complaining about how he can do better, and yet is of a much weaker character, being self centered and cowardly. How self centered and cowardly Starscream actually is might not be accurate, or he has reasons as to why he’s like this, but it’s exacerbated in Megatron’s mind. But he also can’t deny that Starscream is quite experienced in military strategy and tactics and is objectively quite the capable fighter, so he keeps him around as his second in command

Potentially later down the line, these two could grow to tolerate each other more and maybe even respect one another

And yeah, I think those are my ideas for Starscream in this potential story. I just thought it sounded neat and wanted to share

[koukouture]

Second Tries part 1: Shadowhunter

Second Tries will be a series where I revisit my old fandom OCs and tweak them around to be less OP and more like a fucking person. 

Today on Second Tries, we have Shadowhunter (edgy I know) and old Transformers (yes, that Transformers) OC that I came up with when I was around nine or ten, I dropped her at elven years old because I became obsessed with Magi. 

(There was a rewrite of the original story, but I'm not taking that into account as there’s only one chapter versus the original’s 20+ chapter of nine year old me’s crack enabled ramblings) 

Let me first explain to you the plot of the show, since this show in particular was Transformers Prime and not the original or the more popular movies. I still love this show, but not to the extent of writing fanfiction. In depth character analyses maybe, but no fanfiction. 

So in Transformers Prime, there aretwo sides to a war over the planet Cybertron’s political system, the Autobots (good guys) are on Earth and are collaborating with basically the FBI. The Decepticons (bad guys) are the ones with the advantage here, with larger numbers and legions of drones, plus they have more experienced and smarter minds on their ship with an advanced hacker, two scientists, and a leader who is basically the golden standard of villain. 

I won’t refer to them as heroes or villains because both sides have very understandable goals and ways of thinking. I myself leaned more towards the Decepticons because I understood that they were all in all fighting for equality and to overthrow the old order. They were more competent and should have won in my opinion. Both sides ultimately chased the same goal but it was the way they handled it and how it would be settled when one side won that tied the whole thing together. 

Transformers Prime was a war and though I couldn’t really tell back then, wars have no right or wrong. There are no good guys and bad guys, the goal is peace, but peace means different things for different people and the way that peace is achieved is also different. 

.

.

Now that you know the plot of the show this is based off, this is what I could gather of her character: 

- Shadowhunter is apparently some sort of divine guardian or something, of what I don’t know, but from looking at old notes, these guardians all sort of reside over specific sets of principals that are important to society in some way. Hers are, get ready for the edge; darkness, war, violence, and most notably, fear. 

- Bless my nine year old soul for realizing that having someone with corresponding powers would be too powerful, so I dumbed her down and had her exiled for her rash behavior, stripped of her power but given immortality in exchange to correct her mistakes. Which is actually a very interesting concept. 

-  Her origin is even more fucked up: she’s half god (they’re called Primes in Transformers, Optimus is sort of like a trial god. Like a demigod?) her dad is the MANEFESTATION OF EVIL (his name is Unicron and he’s like, a fucking planet + was exiled and is only half alive so idk how he even had a kid???) but she was obviously not raised by him, her mother died after giving birth to her (???) and she’s raised by her verbally abusive step father and her step brother, the canon character Soundwave. 

(I want to fucking die) 

- She, get this, grows up to be seriously fucked in the head but still loves her brother who by the way, she looks nothing like in my old drawings. Maybe I described her as looking more like him but whatever. 

- The thing is she acts perfectly sane and I hate it. She acts like a perfectly normal person when described to be basically Azula and she even cries and apologizes for her mistakes THREE CHAPTERS INTO THE STORY. 

I find that my issue back then was execution, which is honestly my problem now but back then I didn’t even write any notes, I was sort of on track for the first two chapters and then I fucked off thirty miles south and basically dropped this exiled god concept. 

The thing is, she was also written as a canon character’s love interest and I wrote everyone out of character. With her love interest it’s even worst because her boyfriend is a psychotic, merciless, and not to mention abusive war tyrant.

I think that Shadowhunter over here has amazing potential to be a villain and the abusive one in the relationship but I digress, she is the main character and my entire point to her arc was for her to be redeemed. As much as I love this idea, she was supposed to be redeemed.

Shadowhunter was shown to have a soft side, but her soft side shouldn’t get in the way of her ideals. Her whole idea was: camp out with the winning team and hope this war gets over with. She clearly did not care how the war ended, just that it ended and that she be on the right side when it did in the hopes that if this war ended, she technically did what she was supposed to do since she contributed to both the start and ending of the war. 

If you’re wondering how she “started the war” I made it so that she got into Megatron’s (the leader of the Decepticons and her love interest) head and fucked him up real good, pushing him to start a war since she was the guardian of violence and by extension, war. 

Now, here’s what I would change if I were to rewrite her story:

- I would definitely have her still be violent and overstep her boundaries a lot, the other characters are shown to fear her slightly and wouldn’t stop her then. She gets beaten up for this in the original but I’m not going to include that since the beater in question was her love interest.

- She isn’t the leader, more of a high ranked commander and I need to remember that. Despite her lower statues, she does come from a lot more than her superiors so I would find a way to integrate that since class plays a big role in their society. 

- What I really am not comfortable with anymore is the fact that she is written like an emotionally unstable teenager whilst her love interest is clearly older and more mature

- I would make her more mature since I think it was just the way I used to write 

- I would make the romance more slow burn and problematic, it was way too fast and turned out way too perfect when both parties are clearly mentally unstable. Perhaps there isn’t really any love, one both sides the end goal is power. 

- Seeing as she is to be redeemed, I don’t think their romance should end perfectly. Megatron is still violent and messed up while she has come to terms with her mistakes and has redeemed herself in some way. 

- Having her join the other side would be perfect, she isn’t a fan of their methods, but they share the same goal as her: a democratic and peaceful society instead of dictatorship and violence. 

- Joining the other side would also be problematic with most of the Autobots seeming to not like her, I like this a lot, since despite her being a very difficult and rash person, she is still powerful and could give them the upper hand on the enemy as an ex commander with inside information.

- Now as for her brother, Soundwave, I’d definitely have them disagree and he would still end up on the losing side in a bad predicament. Perhaps it’d be the turning point for her, and her trying to convince him to join her would definitely add to her redemption and mellow her out 

- Her brother dying because of his stubbornness since he’s shown to be extremely loyal to his faction in the show. I like sibling dynamics a lot, especially when they don't share the same goals. It makes for a compelling story and it’s very emotional watching one rise and the other fall when you know they care for each other. 

- Maybe she would have genuine love for Megatron, but it actually isn’t shown what happens to him. He actually just flies off in the end, a lot of people presume he’s either committed suicide or lives in exile. So I will yeet that off the table and have her just be content with whatever comes after the war since she most likely can’t have her emotionally unstable boyfriend 

- I personally think she’d keep her position as this divine guardian, but be a lot more tamed. I think her problem was that she only listened to herself back then and never actually took the word of anyone she supposedly held close to her, spending time on a cohesive team like the Autobots would definitely help her a lot. 

And I think that’s where I’ll wrap it up. I love her concept and I’d like her even more if I chose to keep her evil, but I have to stay true to young me’s vision and redeem her. Either way, I definitely think she’s less Mary Sue now because she always got her way and was friends with everyone. Having her earn people’s trust is a lot better than the “everyone just likes her dude” she was in the story. 

Anyways, that’s it for this part of Second Tries. I’d love to know what you guys think! 

[signaturedish]

A question for ur TF fic. What if when Harry gets turned he's like, younger? When it happens I mean (He is 10 right?) Like, five or something maybe? What would change? How would the bots and cons react? How would Harry react?

Hey you! Sorry that took a hot minute. 

Yeah, Harry’s ten in the fic. 

The way I intended it was that he was clearly ten in his internal monologue right up until he was turned into a robobaby. Then the trauma on top of a completely different set of instincts had him thinking and behaving a good 5-3 years younger than his current age with a gradual upward incline as he got more comfortable and familiar with himself in later chapters. Right now in the narrative, he’s almost back to normal, we’re just waiting on a returning desire for independence which won’t happen until he’s secure in his relationship with Megs.

So to make him five, I think that drop in maturity would come off much more dramatically. He was a pretty independent human ten-year-old, resigned to his treatment as a servant, and capable on his own. A five-year-old Harry would be far newer to his servant status and much more unsure of himself from the getgo- Five-year-olds aren’t built for the kind of independence the Durselys expect from him, we’re right in the middle of those growing pains. 

Then we turn him into a robobaby. 

(I like the age I chose for Harry but sad baby Harry was so cute I made this a little long for more details, excuse my indulgence)

Appearance-wise he wouldn’t change much. He’s already too small and at the youngest growth stage, his internal programming would probably be more toddler-esque with a stronger inclination to cry for attention, a greater need for positive attention, and more automatic behaviors geared toward inciting those things. 

Oh and he keeps his lisp.

The first few days would be a nightmare, like constant crying, deeply distressed at all times, desperately reaching out to the scientists on blind instinct and getting reprimanded for it at every turn. A whole mess, a whole inconsolable mess, the scientists think there’s something fundamentally wrong with him, he’s incoherent past the point of even perceived aggression. 

Then Megatron makes his move. He’s been hearing what sounds like a newspark being tortured for hours and hours and now that he can see that it probably isn’t a sleep paralysis-level nightmare driving him to madness he needs to Handle This ASAP.

First problem- Harry isn’t responding to cool, logical instructions to communicate through comm. He’s way past regular conversation. 

This is eventually resolved when Megatron very clumsily takes the right stabs at comforting him. It takes hours, some sullen silences, panicking, maybe a soft reboot or two, but he does get there. Crooning lullabies, softer sentences, praise when Harry stops crying, Megatron is flying so blind it isn’t even funny but he’s not dumb, he can see it’s working.

The transformers view PA!Harry as a very gifted and mature toddler. This itty bitty little baby can fit so much serious thought and a burgeoning emotional intelligence in it so they try their best to accommodate and not come off terribly condescending. Success varies. 

Younger!Harry acts much truer to his appearance. So in general, how the TF crew thinks of Harry changes very little, but how they respond to him does.

Megatron is as soft as he can possibly be to the point of genuine pain. Harry is so much more emotionally dependant and lost that it’s less easy to drift back into overlord mode around him. You’ll note that Megatron doesn’t have another mode to switch to, just a rusty parental unit protocol set he’s never activated before. Soundwave gets called down immediately, surveillance be damned, he needs someone with caretaking knowledge and he needs them now. 

Bumblebee doesn’t really perceive the difference, he couldn’t clock Harry’s age in any au, he was kinda sure the bot was glitched initially. His genuine confusion when Harry kicks and screams and sobs like a very young child who’s thinnest thread of guidance was just ripped away from him by a lying yellow monster easily comes across as cruelty. The mistrust and fear/hatred Harry develops for him does not mellow for far longer than his stay with the Autobots.

On the bright side his meltdown makes the Autobots come to terms with their find much more quickly. They could hear the distress calls a mile from the dam and had a lot of the freakout there instead. 

Ironhide rips him out of Bumblebee’s cab while Jazz is split between hovering worriedly and tearing the scout to pieces for allowing him to get so worked up. Similar rough aesthetic and coloring to Megatron and an English accent help a great deal in calming Harry down and the rocking and lullabies do the rest. 

Every Autobot has his targeting systems on and a whole lot of automatic aggression coursing through them with the terror and pain of a sparkling still fresh in the air. After Bumblebee is brought to miserable apologies and Bonecrusher is ripped limb from limb they’re still pumped and ready to Throw Down with Megatron. But he just makes that deal to keep Harry safe and assures Harry that he’ll be okay with Optimus and Megs’ll be back soon. 

Harry is still distraught Megatron left him with strangers. But he’s there long enough to form those Autobot attachments, primarily with Ironhide, Ratchet and Jazz.

Ironhide doesn’t put him down much at all, even when Harry tries to hide it, he gets anxious all alone on the cot and much prefers the nook between pauldron and helm to cuddle in and listen to growly war stories and life lessons. He sleeps up there whenever possible too. Ironhide can tell all this and happily allows it, staying stock-still for hours and gently rousing him whenever Harry begins to have a nightmare about the dam.

Ironhide’s perception hasn’t logically changed much, but the way Harry behaves ticks every box to drive him into an overprotective rampage, to the point that humans aren’t allowed within thirty feet of him and even the tiniest whimper has him hovering like three thousand pounds of promised death over his charge. 

They bond the closest, to the point that Ironhide could plausibly replace Megatron as Harry’s imprinted guardian (but he doesn’t).

Jazz and Ratchet share tertiary ‘older brother’ type roles in Harry’s life. Jazz reads to him, plays games with him, and holds him when Ironhide can’t be there. His playful casualness helps keep Harry calm and gets him to open up, but its not something he responds to as successfully. Camaraderie is appreciated but not something an insecure five-year-old always understands.

Jazz gains the most points correcting Optimus’ treatment of him and handling any humans who get into the hanger before Ironhide does something drastic. Thinks that play up his aptitude as a parental figure and devotion to keeping him healthy and safe. 

Ratchet...he really needs Harry’s observational skills and willingness to shoulder some emotional weight in the relationship, unfair or not. Without the ability to deliver the reassurance Ratchet needs, in addition to possessing a much more fragile disposition himself, it can be difficult for Ratchet to interact with Harry. He keeps to himself when Harry doesn’t ask for him or need treatment and they read rejection in each other’s hesitance too often for Harry to pursue the affection fit to burst in Ratchet.

Ratchet would 100% die for him and is right up there with Ironhide as his most aggressive defender, but he isn’t a great source of comfort for Younger!Harry. He wins his points through being the best cuddler, hands down, and praising him most often. Soft moments when neither of them are shy or afraid are where they’re closest.

Optimus is weirdly like Bumblebee here. He has Harry clocked as infant but god knows that that’s supposed to mean. He doesn’t have a mode outside of Prime to switch to for Harry and the stumbling we see in PA is him doing his very best. He’s not dumb, he recognizes that Harry isn’t emotionally mature enough to be spoken to the way he might mistakenly speak to him in PA, but he doesn’t have any other words. There’s a lot of frustrated staring and helpless silences here. 

Jazz tries his best to gently encourage some softer interactions and Ironhide is raring to punish his Prime if he dares misstep with his sparkling charge, tensions stay a little high.

With Soundwave planning Harry’s extraction, it goes off almost without a hitch, no sparklings were bitten in the attempt at least. Thundercracker might actually die depending on the plan. He has the most experience out of the Decepticons with immature and young bots via his own casseticons and a paternal disposition under all his cool logic. So he’s bustling around like an expectant mother, training up all the other Cons in grueling exercises and curriculum to get them up to his standards of child rearing aptitude and childproofing the base.

Megatron really does appreciate some tangible, reliable instructions. He’d appreciate it even more if he wasn’t a little bit threatened by how confident and capable Soundwave is when interacting with Harry. Soundwave quickly becomes the second favorite- almost on par with Ironhide.

Barricade is terrified of Harry in that way twenty-somethings are terrified when married friends give them babies and then leave to do something. This is way too important and delicate for him and someone pleaserescuehimitsgettingcloserohmygod-

Thundercracker is much more cautious handling Harry. We haven’t gotten there yet in PA, but he’s kind of the fun uncle who definitely goads Harry into things partially to get under Meg’s skin. Not so when Harry is more openly vulnerable and clumsy, now we’ve got a little baby chick who needs to stay in his nest and be warm and safe. Gliding will happen much, much later. If ever.

Harry was affected by how the scientists treated him to the point of being intensely shy around friendly, good humans and flatly terrified of anyone else. Megatron hunted down every remaining SS agent with Soundwave’s help to finish the job for that.

Eventually, Harry would feel more secure and comfortable and would start wanting to be on the ground and playing with less parental bots instead of carried everywhere by his guardians, but that recovery is achieved at the Decepticon base after some weeks have passed.

Okay and I think that’s it! Thanks for asking!! I had probably too much fun...

[bots-and-cons]

As I found the other anons “pear shaped” adventure of human and autobot ask amusing could I ask for a continuation of Ratchets one plz? Betting an entire emerging ration someone gets punched as honestly while the bots are pretty good at calming relatively calm or excited people I doubt Fowler and the bots would be v good at someone who DID NOT WANT NO THANK YOU. About the entire circumstances lol

I feel like this is just gonna turn into “how Ratchet became a guardian” and I love that. and if I feel like it I can write another part to this. The first part can be found here.

Ratchet didn’t really think when he locked you in the back. He was supposed to pick up the kids for Primus’s sake. How would he explain some raving human in his back space?

“Hi Ratchet” a boy said and climbed on to the front seat.

Let! Me! OUT!“ you screeched and seemingly startled the kid.

“Wow, Ratchet kidnapped a human!” a girl yelled, sounding rather excited.

“Not so loud Miko, and no I did not” the car answered.

“You kids, you need to help me, I want out of here” you pleaded

“Are we taking them back to the base with us?” another boy, seemingly a bit older than the previous one, asked.

“We have to” the car answered.

The car started up and all three of the kids were squished on the front seat, you pouted on the back and planned your escape. They would have go let you out at some point, right?

Eventually the car stopped. The kids hopped out and the older boy came to open the back door for you.

“Here we are” he said.

You basically sprinted out, but you were quickly stopped by another five or so robots standing before you.

You just stared at them in awe. This was cool, you had to admit, but you also definitely wanted nothing to do with this. You would rather sit at the back of the ambulance than deal with this, but when you turned around the ambulance was gone and standing there was the bot you had seen before.

“Ratchet, what is the meaning of this?” the biggest bot asked calmly.

“I had to transform in front of them and came to the conclusion I had to bring them here”

“Could someone tell me what the hell is going on?!” you growled and kicked the biggest bot’s foot.

It only hurt you however, you grabbed your foot and jumped around on the other one. The big bot didn’t even really acknowledge you had kicked him. He just looked down on you with a bit of a worried expression.

“I am Optimus Prime. We are autonomous robotic organisms from the planet Cybertron, also known as autobots and we are here to protect your planet from the Decepticons” the biggest bot said, sounding oddly official.

“Ahhah” you nodded, being able to process about two percent of what he just said. “So aliens?”

“Yeah, but like cool battle aliens” the girl chimed in.

You decided it would be best to keep calm, and try to talk yourself out of this. You could handle this, just keep calm.

“Miko, we are not battle aliens” a big green one said.

“I know Bulk, but it sounds so cool”

“You said you’re here to defend us humans from Decepticons, so are you the good guys or something?”

“Yeah, pretty much” the smallest bot said.

“Okay, so if you’re the good guys, you’re gonna let me go right? I’ll keep my mouth shut and I’ll never talk about you to anyone, I swear. I just wanna go home”

“The robots looked at each other. You could see they didn’t really know what to tell you. 

“Please, I just want to go home” you pleaded.

“Do not misunderstand, you are not a prisoner here” Optimus said.

You sighed in relief.

“But since you have seen us we will look after you from now on. You knowing about us puts you in danger, since the decepticons would now consider you our ally”

“What do you mean look after?” you questioned skeptically.

“It means you get to hang here at the base if you want to, and you have to check in on us so we know you’re okay and didn’t get kidnapped by Megatron” the kid called Miko explained.

“Mega-what?”

“Megatron is the leader of the decepticons” the younger boy said.

“Okay just a sec could I get an introduction tour or something cause I’m kinda tired of being so confused”

“Uu, let me”  Miko exclaimed.

“Go ahead” Ratchet rolled his eyes.

“I’m Miko and the big green bot there is my guardian Bulkhead, or Bulk”

The big green bot waved at you awkwardly.

“And like the big guy said, he is Optimus Prime and you already met Ratchet” she said, nodding towards the grumpy ambulance. “This is Jack and his guardian is Arcee. And then we have Raf and Bumblebee”

“Nice to meet you all… I guess” you added under your breath. “I’m (Name)”

You listened as the bots explained the situation to you. They told you about what the decepticons were doing on earth. You listened, but really you just wanted to get home and never come back here again. As luck would have it, Ratchet was appointed as your guardian, and he seemed just about as happy about it as you.

At least on the ride home you got to sit on the front seat.

“So Ratchet, right? I know you’re not very thrilled about being my guardian or whatever, and I’d rather have nothing to do with this but, I hope we can still get along”

“We’ll it’s good we have a mutual understanding of the situation”

You could basically see him rolling his optics, as Miko had told you the bot’s eyes were called.

“Hey I didn’t choose this, you forced me into this” you huffed.

“I’m aware”

The rest of the way went in silence. Ratchet dropped you off at your house and you calmly walked inside. You could deal with this.

[mocacheezy]

I was able to get an old portable dvd player (thank you parents of the past, it is much appreciated in the year of '21, and thank you sister for keeping it somewhere we could find it) and after buying the cable and charging it, I started watching that Transformers dvd I got some time ago.

Turns out its TF Generations, so we're watching "through the cube" which alright, nice to get the nostalgia going for the parents, while also getting the attention of the kids with the constant rotating scene from scene. Kind of annoying for me but hey, that's just my attention problems.

It has two episodes: More Than Meets the Eye, Part 3 and Auto Berserk and here's my thoughts on the dubbing:

I actually missed dubbing from my childhood, and the fact Soundwave, Spike, Red Alert and Mirage have female VAs brings me intense amounts of joy. I didn't even know I will be so happy to hear this old, somewhat crappy dubbing. I missed it and didn't even know it.

The crowd cheers are pathetic just as I remember them XD

"Ti ne bi mogel voditi androidov na piknik." alright, alright, nice change of a joke that doesn't translate, but that means Megatron (and other Cons probably) discriminate against androids.

The "Transform and roll out! " sounds... strange. Then again it is a dub and I didn't watch this as a kid XD

The way slovene is spoken has me smile and cringe because it sounds so formal but it actually isn't. It might also be the way language evolved. It could also be my lack of watching dubs for a long long time.

Za slovenski folk: "Spremenite se, pa pojdimo!". Ta "Pa pojdimo" me ubije. Uporabili so ga samo enkrat, "Spremenite se" pa je prisoten pri skoraj vsakem transformiranju, ampak tisti resni glas s takim stavkom XD

In total I think there are 3 guys and 1 girl dubbing this. I guess this is similar to what we have today, with the difference the old folks DON'T try to change their pitch... I think. Multiple characters have the same VA amd you can clearly tell it's the same one. (I also think there might be two girls in the new dub group, but I'm not sure).

I wonder why, aside from musicians and comedians, we don't have more voice actors??? Or trained voice actors?

I have no place to really talk, because giving voice to characters is an art, and not everyone can be Frank Welker. So unless I myself go into the dub buisness, I am keeping my mouth shut and congratulating the dubbers.

10 for the effort and execution

(even if the older gen knew how to make falling on the ground sound more realistic. Yes I am still not over Cyberverse Windblade being yeeted across the desert and her screaming and grunting so softlya when she bounces off the floor. But as I said, being a VA is tough work and my nostalgia might also be affecting my viewing of the newer stuff)

So to wrap up the dub experience:

and down here are some of my thought process while watching the two episodes:

who was going to tell me that G1 Prime has a blue underside of his crotch plate? How come I never saw that anywhere?? This has so much potential and jokes about interface difficulties, if I don't find at least one joke in a crackfic about it I will be disapointed.

I love Optimus' head shape and finials, he looks adorable.

I'll watch G1 eventually, but if Spike really does write in his diary about how Optimus would make a good president I am high fiving the lil bastard.

You know you are in too deep when you see a 2D warlord and can't stop smiling. Bitch, I don't even fully know you but BY FUCK do I love the design and mannerisms!!! OG Megatron, 10/10, and I may be biased because childhood dubbing, but they picked a good VA for him.

Great VA choice for Starscream too! And he is very pretty as well, damn, I can see why people love G1 even without nostalgia!

Ravage, what can I say. Good casette. (Also love how he doesn't speak to the Autobots, but comms Megatron)

SPEAKING OF TALKING: Skywarp requesting permission to teleport and his interaction with Megs made me smile so much LOOK AT HIM, LOOK AT OUR TELEPORTING BOY!!! He shoots for shit, is awful at it, but look at him go!

Unicron singularity might be the answer to why Ironhide and Bluestreak can fly, but I'm not sure.

In any case I love how Optimus speaks to Ironhide, it's great. Heck, the Autobots dynamic and interactions are great. I can see why people say Optimus is a dad, or why they talk about how the Autobots are like a family.

Also we see slow motion of how OP transforms and I adore it!

And how he acts too! He is stubborn and it takes multiple attempts to persuade him from sacrificing himself/trying to do his duty as a leader when it's too dangerous. He listens to his friends and soldiers, but isn't hapoy about it. He acknowledges the risk.

Back to blue underside crotch however: IT'S JUST A BLUE LIL SQUARE UNDER ALL THAT WHITE! WHAT PURPOSE DOES IT SERVE ASIDE FROM BEING PRIME'S LIL GARAGE??? COME ON! COME ON!! A blue trussy, I mean tfp had a bikini situation going on, but G1 Prime has just a tiny rectangle/square! I don't even know the shape but it's BLUE ON WHITE CAN IT STAND OUT EVEN MORE??? (And here I thought the Megatron toy and the trigger crotch were bad XD)

Seeing Starscream manipulate Red Alert had me smiling. Look at this tri colori squeak toy jet. Being his eviiil self.

Seeing how Megatron interacts with his other Cons is just hilarious. He is a TERRIBLE boss if you make a misstep. So mean! ...Then again, he is bent on destroying the autobots if he can't get to Cybertron first, so *shrugs* the guy can be a lil frustrated I suppose. He does pick on Screamer alot however, and the dynamic of these two has me understand MegaStar much better.

They are a bickering old couple that joke about how they'll kill eachother, but never go fully through with it. Must be true love~

All in all, glad I got that dvd. Megatron has screen time in it, the animation is ridiculously pretty in that old show way and even if the episodes were probably selected at random for the dvd it was interesting to watch.

I love it. Can't wait to watch G1 when my brain allows it, and I will forever wonder if actual G1 was also dubbed fully.

[transformerimagines]

Cliff falling (Tfp Bumblebee x reader)

This wasn’t supposed to happen. You had gone against Lord Megatron’s wishes when you jetted off to a mountain range, hoping to be left to your own thoughts longer than you might have been on the warship. You were angry at the Second in Command in all honesty, Starscream was abrasive, rude, obnoxious. Starscream was, well Starscream and at times when he is annoying you just needed to go for a flight. Stomping around angrily at the top of a cliff is how you ended up in your crumpled position at the bottom of the cliff, you had stupidly tumbled over the edge and before you could fly off your right wing had been damaged. That wasn’t even the best part, when you landed your pede had twisted under your body in an unnatural position leaving you both unable to walk and unable to fly. The icing on the cake was when the three Autobot pets came rushing around the corner, your day couldn’t have gone any better. You later found out they were on a field trip when they heard Cybertronian sounds and came to see what it was, if it were any other Con they would be dead right now.

“We need to call someone.” The tallest boy said after they had inched closer to you, obviously at ease that you couldn’t fight when you were injured. It wasn’t like you to fight fleshies anyway, however with a reputation as Con assassin it was sensible for them to be worried. You shook your helm as you rested against the cliff side, wincing as you moved your wing slightly.

“The autobots could help you, they won’t want to but they will.” The girl added while prodding at your unbroken wing, she was ballsy to straight up ask if she could feel them. It wasn’t hard to remember your own sparkling curiosity so you didn’t argue. You were too distracted by the designs the human was drawing on you wings to notice the youngest human put a call in to his guardian. It wasn’t until the swirling blue of a ground bridge appeared did you realise what was happening.

“How dare you go against my wishes!” You screeched at the trio, much like Starscream had screeched at you earlier. They looked sheepishly to the ground as the yellow scout exited the ground bridge alone, glaring at you first before turning to the humans.

“Are you hurt?” Bumblebee communicated to them, all the while keeping his blaster pointed towards your head. In turn, your servo switched to a blade glowing the same bright red as your optics.

“No, we’re fine.” The youngest spoke before turning to you with a saddened look. “She isn’t though, she’s hurt pretty bad.” You started to argue as soon as the words left the humans mouth, starting a verbal battle between yourself and the three children while Bee assessed the condition of your body. The askew angle of your wing and the way your ankle bent was not a good sign, there was energon leaking from both injuries that were slowly pooling around you. If he didn’t act then you would have died of energon loss, you couldn’t fly to the warship and he assumed your accident knocked out your communications otherwise you would have contacted the Con’s already.

“Ratchet, I need a ground bridge to base. Y/N isn’t in a good way, she needs your help Doc.” This sound of Bee had stopped your petty argument with the children, instead you looked at him with anger in your eyes.

“I am not going anywhere with you Bot, I would rather offline then seek out your help.” You spat, blade switching to servo again as you attempted to pull yourself up using the side of the cliff. In your weakened state, you looked quite hilarious, maybe even pathetic, at the moment you didn’t care. You only knew you weren’t going to give in to the pity of the autobots.

“You are grounded,” You froze, fully supported against the wall with your back to the Bot. The children saw that what Bee said had hit a nerve, however they weren’t quite sure why. “You are a seeker, without your wings you will perish,” He continued, walking towards you as he beeped melodically. You watched him, fluid brimming at your optics as you realised the severity of your situation. “Now stop being an afthead and come on.” His servo outstretched to you and a smile playing on his face plate.

Was he asking you to trust him? That was never going to happen, the bots had done far too much to you for you to trust them. Your two older brother were killed by the Bot’s during a raid on a Decepticon base leaving only you and your older brother, the only one left of the original triplets. The Con’s had done a lot to them as well, you had murdered too many bots to count all because they had murdered your kin. Bumblebee knew that and yet he was, offering his servo to a femme that could easily kill him but he knew you would take it because you had both lost too much in this war to attack when somebot was injured. You motioned with your helm for him to move to the side, you were to stubborn to allow him to help you and you paid the price when pain shot through you as you placed your injured pede on the ground. You would have fell over if Bee hadn’t come to your side, hooking your arm around his shoulder to take you weight, all the while being cautious of your wings. He knew how sensitive a seeker’s wings were and wasn’t overly fond of getting his helm bit off by an angry femme.

A ground bridge opened just in front of you as Bee told the kids to get back to their ‘teacher’ before he helped you pathetically hobble through the portal into the Autobot base. Your embarrassment wasn’t helped by the fact most of the autobots were waiting for your arrival, throwing questioning looks at Bee when he beeped angrily at them, almost defensively. You held your head high as you both made your way slowly across the room, your presumed Bee was taking your straight to the med bay, you didn’t want to have to deal with the Autobots right now. You were so close to the corridor as well. So, so close before a certain wrecker decided to open his trap.

“Thought we told you not to bring stray’s home, Bee.” Wheeljack smirked at his word choice, knowing it would get a rise from you. You whipped around quickly, fighting against Bee’s hold as your arms waved rapidly trying to get to the fragger who had insulted you. Pain was all but gone, now all you felt was the energon running through your frame.

“Who are you calling a stray, your dirt kissing Glitch!” You exclaimed, temporarily breaking free of Bee’s hold before he grabbed you around your midsection. “I have a family! Your Wreckers are all dead. I should know I offlined them!” Wheeljack’s face turned to thunder as Bulkhead grabbed his friend’s shoulders and wrestled him to the other side of the room. Before you could argue even more, you felt yourself being slung over Bumblebee’s shoulder as he continued his walk to the Med bay.

“That’s enough excitement for one day,” He beeped, you didn’t fight your current position in fear you might injure your wings even more. Your anger had subsided, now was the time to think rationally. “Do you cause this much commotion among the Cons?” He made conversation to make it seem like it wasn’t awkward when it really was. You all of a sudden became all too aware of how close you were to the young scout and that sent you blushing in a way that it shouldn’t have, especially for a con.

“I try,” You admitted, “It’s too funny to watch Knockout and Screamer argue over something they think the other did when really, I’m the one who always starts it.” A sound like laughter came from Bee when you told him, making you smile at how bizarre it sounded.

“Sounds like someone is constantly causing trouble.” He stated before entering the med bay where both Optimus Prime and Ratchet were waiting for you both.

“You have no idea.”

_-_

It didn’t take long for the medic to heal you right up. Now you were in the middle of nowhere, waiting for the Cons to come and collect you. Optimus contacted Megatron and told him about your injuries before deciding on a location to meet up so that you could be handed over. No guns, no mess, no battles. You were currently standing in between Bee and Optimus, your wings fluttering happily at the fact that both were functional again. The action obviously annoyed quite a few of the autobots but it was quite intriguing to Bee who now saw the tattooing that you had marking the edges of your wings. He would have reached out and touched them if it weren’t for the sound of engines roaring above the cloud line, once they got closer you realised that it was Megatron, Screamer and Soundwave. Excitement washed over as you transformed, racing in to the sky to meet them, performing various somersaults and tricks and you flew between them. You saved the best till last when you transformed mid-air and slammed into your brother. Starscream wasn’t expecting this but he transformed anyway, spinning you around him and holding you to him as you both landed, Megatron and Soundwave not far behind you.

“How did this happen!” Starscream screamed worriedly, inspecting you to make sure that you were fully healed and the Bots weren’t lying.

“I fell off a cliff.” You responded lowly, looking to your pedes in embarrassment. You felt a large hand on your helm, you tilted your helm upwards to see Megatron looking down at you with a hybrid of a frown and smile on his mouth.

“Maybe don’t disobey orders next time, Y/N,” He spoke softly, caringly rubbing your helm making you smile at him as you nodded. Megatron turned to the Autobots who were on high alert as they watched your interaction, even Bee had his blasters out but thankfully they weren’t pointed towards you. “I owe you my thanks for returning Y/N to us unharmed.” He nodded his head towards Optimus in respect who nodded his own back.

“No thanks is needed, she caused a small disturbance among the Wreckers but other than that she was quite pleasant.” Optimus informed Megatron. Hearing about the Wreckers made Starscream smirk at you before turning his shit-eating grin towards the two bots who only grew angrier by the second. Megatron was satisfied with what Optimus had said and transformed along with the others before jetting off, you didn’t transform yet though. There was one more think you needed to do.

You turned your gaze from the sky to the Bots before walking over to them, your optics focused to Bee who froze when he saw that it was him who you were approaching. You lost all other feelings, instead focusing on not tripping over your own pedes as you came to a stand in front of Bee. You slowly leaned up to him, tilted your helm, and placed a small kiss on the corner of his lips. You stopped for a moment, allowing Bee to look into your optics momentarily before shyness overcame you and you had to look away from him, turning you back to the yellow mech.

“T-thank you for your help.” You stuttered out quickly before you felt Bee lean over your back, shivering as he placed a servo against your wing while his helm rested against your and pressed his own kiss to your cheek.

“Anytime.” He beeped, you might have been imagining but you could have sworn he sounded amused by what was happening. Before you could get further wrapped up in the situation, you cleared your throat before running forward rapidly and transforming. Ascending in to the sky until you joined the other Cons who were waiting for you.

“WHAT IN THE PIT WAS THAT!”

“SHUT UP STARSCREAM!”

[matrixbearer]

Thank you for the bayverse!Optimus meta. It was very enlightening, and also put into words aspects of him that I had thought of but not really... formulated I guess. The reason why AoE is my fav TF movie is precisely because of the persecution of the Autobots, the injustice that nobody really gets punished for. You mentioned also the sparklings. I attributed their "evilness" to Megatron being their father, but you're right, they come from the Allspark. Part 1/2

Part 2/2: So does this mean that in order for a transformer to turn into a mech like say Optimus or Bumblebee or Ratchet they would have to be educated accordingly? or is it maybe that the Allspark was corrupted? But back to AoE, what I appreciated so much was the realism. Like, you cannot convince me that we wouldn’t use alien robots (who have proven to have a soul) to advance our own technology. The movie might have been too long (that was imo not the flaw) but in that sense it was realistic.

♞ ┊ ( ooc. )

I am glad you found some enlightenment in my response to your question about comparing Tyran Optimus to other iterations. (reference.)

CONT.

Oh, I have no doubt that humans would use an alien species for their technology, that we would argue ourselves into moral ambiguity for our benefit; we do it for our own kind, I cannot see is proving to better than to an interstellar alien. Having faith in humanity does not mean ignoring our worst qualities; it is about watching for those qualities and trying to put a stop to them. We all know, at our heart of hearts, that if we wanted to be the great species we aspired to we could be. The only price to pay would we could no longer look to another group and see them as Othered in the sense that they don’t deserve the same care we give ourselves. We tell ourselves that to take care of someone of another group would will cost us anything in a burdened sacrifice. We don’t look to someone else and provide for them the same way we do ourselves.

That is animal instinct, that is survival of the self and the tribe. It is only when we get into the tribal instinct to provide our own tribe that selflessness begins to take a backseat. The reason why we’re not cannibals and why we condemn murder is because we taught ourselves as a species that to harm one of our tribe was to harm our tribe, because it diminishes the population of the tribe. Until humans can look at ANY other human as a member of their tribe, we will continue to be the human species we see in AOE && TLK; we will be the humans that turns refugee children away because they aren’t seen as children of our tribe. Optimus Prime puts emphasis on the right of freedom belonging to all sentient beings; there is no other, there is no crossroads of division, it is simply for all. We don’t see that. We haven’t come to see that, yet.

So yes, we would treat an alien species as another resource for us to strip clean and pick apart for our sole benefit.

The AllSpark is not corrupted, at least we have NO indication that it is. It is simply the powersource of the unique radiation required to bring Cybertronian metal to life. The rest attributed to it is metaphysical. While we could argue that the AllSpark must be alive because it sources life, I do not feel at all that it is inherently evil or corrupted. Why? Because it goes back to the argument of what is evil. The Nokia phone in the box (TF1) was not evil; we could say it was merely defending itself. If you refer to my previous answer (here), I iterated how Cybertronians are much tougher than humans are. They are naturally more violent than we are because they can survive much more. But to call them inherently evil because they have a higher tolerance of violence is projecting our limitations onto them and turning into a diagnosis.

Cybertronians are more evil than we are—but that is their nature. That is no different than them transforming into another form. It is who they are, built into their CNA. They are not inherently evil, no more than how humanity is inherently evil. With sentience comes freedom, free will, and the right to choose WHO and WHAT we are. They, just as we, become evil in how they behave. Autobots are also violent, but they fight to protect and to defend. Decepticons are evil because they fight to destroy worlds, to hoard resources, and the power to decide who does and doesn’t deserve those resources. That is what we do when we assess someone and decide if they are worthy of partaking in the resources we’ve claimed as ours. Evil comes out when a member of one tribe decides that the member of another tribe is somehow less than and subsequently less worthy of receiving life giving resources. That is when evil comes out.

The Civil War started because of a famine (re: Tyran books). They were in a race to find the AllSpark and they were fighting over who gets to decide who receives their resources. Megatron was evil because he wanted to only give to the strongest, to those like himself. Optimus wanted to give it anyone, no matter what it meant they were because all Cybertronians had the the same rights as he did. That is why the Decepticons are constantly saying they just want to go home, they just want fuel, they just want to rebuild their world—okay, that sounds noble, but they also wanted to deny those very things to others they feel are unworthy. They wanted to rebuild Cybertron in their image, and this was the same fundamental goal the Decepticons had in the end of Transformers Prime and why Optimus chose to destroy the Omega Lock. That fundamental differences in morals is why Tyran Optimus opted to have the AllSpark destroyed and Cybertron critical damaged by way of aborted transportation to our solar system.

What was the deciding factor to turn bots like Optimus Prime, Bumblebee, Ratchet, or any of the Autobots away from the extreme violence inherent to their nature? The same factor that decides such with us; free will. We are also a violent species, and there is no need to give explains of our atrocities as a species when we can all think of at least three. But it also refers back to the definition of evil being in the choices we make, and now in how we are born. The idea that someone is inherently evil (born that way) is an ancient one, not so much challenged until recently as we learned more about mental health and also looked beyond our immediate tribe.

This is the whole ❛ nature vs nurture ❜ argument. Transformers Tyran clearly lines out that evil within their species is nurture, not nature, and that humans are the same. The Autobots choose to not be as the Decepticons. Optimus Prime was one of the leaders that ended the tribal wars that carved up Cybertron; they were a lot like the tribes of the British Isles.

Are some people inherently less prone to violence than others? Yes, absolutely, and we can see that in our own kind. Optimus Prime was one of those less prone to violence; he had an eloquence to explain his reason away from violence that made sense to others. Ironhide was one of the first to step away from the tribal wars and follow Optimus towards the unification of Cybertron and its many tribes.

One of the many points of the background apocrypha in Tyran that is missing from the movies is the dyadic reign of Megatron and Optimus. They were High Lord Protector and Prime; one led the military and Cybertronian might, while the other was leader of the civilian side of things. They were equals and balanced each other as two sides of a coin. They were also sparktwins; they came from the same spark but were separated, and were reunited when the tribes were united. Megatron was meant to be the more violent side to balance Optimus’ pacifistic side. Megatron’s job was to protect Cybertron, to enforce its laws and guard its safety. Why? So that Optimus could focus less on the will to survive and more on the will to grow as a civilization beyond the most basic of needs. Without Megatron, Optimus has suffered, being pushed further and further to the edge of their primal instincts, often times to fight the mech that was supposed to protect him and let him just worry about leading their people. It could be assessed that as time passed on without Megatron, Optimus’ more violent instincts were brought out more with time.

There is a lot more realism in the last two movies. To me it shows Michael Bay and the other creative minds behind the continuity have grown and matured as well. If we look at the difference between say TF2 & TF4 there is a lot less of the childish humor. Less sexualization, less crude humor, less easy fixes, and the characters age as well. We no longer have a teenage hero of the story, but a father of a grown daughter. I think it is because they realize their target audience is actually older than they original were aiming towards, and that is why the realism becomes all the stronger and all the darker. This new Tyran Trilogy they are making is my favorite so far. I love the background and the setup of the previous three, but this new story arch is just so refreshing and exciting. 

IDK, I don’t agree with any of the criticism I’ve consistently read about AOE or even TLK. They are long, but I like long movies. I’m not typically a movie person but a TV series person because I like lengthy; I also don’t like reading book series with less than three involved.

At the end of the day, the Tyran continuity is not going to be for everyone. It is for me because I love the emphasis on how alien they are, the inclusion of advanced technology and magic, and a brutality to balance out the previous continuities kept tame for younger audiences. AOE&TLK are my favorite from the continuity now because of all the reasons I’ve discussed.

That and the music is also amazing, just as with any of the Tyran movies!

Hope to hear from you again, BayverseAnon! I love discussing this continuity as I feel it is under-discussed with less negativity.

And if anyone wants to send worldbuilding anons to my Tyran Optimus, please do so! I love worldbuilding with any of you.

[black-strike-otp]

part 16

“We need u to chill out with the drama and death, ma’am.”

Try ‘n stop me. I’ma start rolling d20′s to determine everyone’s fate in this story ‘n you can’t stop me.

~Days Later~

Neutroboost took front and center in the largest gathering room on the Rising Star days later. It was an announcement everyone was either dreading or eagerly anticipating, depending on your viewpoint.

The mech looked visibly troubled. The same, haunted look that manifested the moment he was informed that Guard had been sent to the medic’s bay for immediate surgery. It hadn’t lost his optics sense.

On the bright side, he continued working in Guard’s position (well, what should have still been his position, as he was supposed to be an acting commander all along). The guards protected the energon reserves and everything remained very much the same as it did prior to Guard’s injury.

Novastrike squeezed past the legs of some of the much taller bots so she could get a better look at Neutroboost. Sure she could technically hear the mech just fine from the back, but she wanted to see his reactions as he spoke.

“Guard’s expected to survive.”

An immediate sigh of relief casted over the crowd.

“Unfortunately, our fine medic has informed me that his wounds were strenuous and worse than originally thought. Guard’s going to require a lot of rest. There’s... little hope that his left leg. We expect he’ll be in a lot of discomfort, with the possibility of never having a functional appendage.

“You all must understand,” he continued, “Guard is an older mech. Older than anyone left on this ship. When he is ready to get back to work, he will let us know-”

“A very spark-warming speech, Neutroboost, but I’ve been lying low long enough.”

Everyone turned their helms around with a mixture of disbelief and joy. Novastrike’s audios strained to hear the Commander as she hopped up and down from her position to try spotting him. It was both ridiculous and comical, leaving a few to chuckle a little as they spotted her.

“Guard! I- I thought you would still be-”

“Yeah, the medics not too thrilled with me getting up and moving around yet either, but he knows I’m stubborn,” Guard pointed out, his blue optics twinkling. Bots respectfully inclined their helms and parted the way as he stepped by.

Quivering in place, Novastrike grinned and stepped back as she waited for Guard to pass. She kept her helm held high as he walked by; wanting a very good look at the mech.

Her smile faltered just a moment.

There was a massive patched up scarred section on the front of his chassis. Using spare materials, a large support structure had to be made for him to use as a cane to walk. He barely placed weight on his left leg, hopping more than walking to move around.

Neutroboost took a step back to allow the larger mech some space to speak. He, too, offered a slight blow as Guard turned to address the crowd.

“Now, I know all of you have been working extra hard since... Well, the incident. Neutro’s told me that the top of the ship has been properly sealed off. I’m sure you’re all very tired with energon running low, and I appreciate your hard work.”

Guard gave a small pause as a brief round of applause and whistled chorused through the crowd. He made a gesture with his servos, snickering a little as the crowd settled. “However, the fact remains that we lost some very good friends in the battle. Good family. And we were ill prepared. So, much as this concerns me to say, we’re going to need to look for energon. Desperately. More than ever. Because we’re going to need energy not for today, but for tomorrow. For the fights that may certainly come our way.”

Novastrike glanced around. She met the worried optics of bots. They were rogue specifically to stay out of this war. And although they all knew Guard would do everything he could do to keep them out of harm’s way, his openness to acknowledging the threats around them left everyone uneasy.

“I know everyone here has a good spark in them. I know all of you want what’s best for the crew, for Cybertron, for our species. But we can no longer slack of training. We can’t continue to think just because we’re in the big, wide open space that we’re unseen. It isn’t Cybertron, but there’s signals coming off of us of our origins. And for some, just because we don’t follow, that’s simply enough to offline us.”

“But I will do everything in my power to keep everyone here safe, as I have tried to do so far,” Guard stated softly, turning his optics down upon his wounded leg.

Servos came together in colossal set of applause. A chant began to spread through the crowd moments later. Novastrike turned to see thebots placing one servo against their chassis armor over their spark and pumping their other servo in the air. Needless to say, with a whimsical grin, she too joined in.

“For Guard! For the Rising Star! For Guard! For the Rising Star!”

The old mech offered a tired smile, a blurry look about his optics. He blinked rapidly and startled, glancing over to see Neutroboost place a servo against his arm and nod solemnly with a smile of his own.

It was quite possible he shed a tear or two before the meeting was adjourned.

~

~Months Later~

The Nemesis was under heavy fire. There had to be at least half a dozen starships in its fleet, and even more ships that didn’t qualify as technically ‘starships’ but those stolen and used as such during the Exodus.

Standing against it was the Ark, and a much smaller armada of Autobot vessels. Much like the Nemesis, it took was encountering heavy fire from its opposite faction.

Seekers and fliers were using their abilities to their advantage. With the Autobots lack in these fields, the Nemesis had a slight upper servo.

Upon the Ark, Blackout could make out Lord Megatron taking on Optimus Prime himself. Obviously anyone with half a processor was letting the leader of the Decepticons have his thrill for the kill. Any Autobots who attempted an intervention were either being slaughtered or punted off the ship, where they would soon find themselves surrounded by a hoard of Decepticons.

The havoc was delicious.

Blackout took a ‘grunt’ job. Since all the lazy, stupid Decepticons didn’t act nor think of it, he had his cannon open and was going after the Ark’s weapons. Most of the dumbafts were trying to go after the Autobot’s themselves instead of considering the giant mcfragging laser beams and particle-combustible cannons, and missile launchers.

Oh, not to mention the overshock sonic battery that sent out massive waves of discharge that made auto-calibrating systems malfunction like Blackout’s EMP generator.

Blackout used his EMP discharges and machine guns to try keeping away the Autobots that kept coming at him like mosquitoes. They hardly had enough Seekers to prove a real nuisance, any any trying to fire on board the ship were for the most part, easy to dodge so he could focus his attacks on the Ark’s weapon systems.

Explosions riddled the ship, but seemed to only be leaving surface damage. It was well-built, Blackout would give them that. Shards of metal and any bots outside the ship trying to attack went soaring off from his attacks, but it seemed he was doing minimal damage to the vessel itself.

:: Blackout to Nemesis, direct attacks on the Ark’s front and top where the laser emitters are. Be aware, Lord Megatron is fighting on the upper deck. Do not hit our Lord. ::

:: This is the Nemesis to Blackout, we read you. ::

The Nemesis’ charged up its large fusion cannon and fired. The enormity and strength of the blast washed over the front of the Ark in a blaze of fire. A wave of energy from the black went soaring like a sonic blast in all directions, hitting a flier Autobot. The bot went soaring in Blackout’s direction and he fired his cannon, leaving the poor sap a ruin of scrap metal floating in space.

The Decepticon Hound whipped around his machine guns and trailed bullets along a couple of Autobot fliers and seekers that darted around him wildly. He began flinging his alt-mode around swiftly, aiming to try taking another of them out.

A seeker streaked by Blackout as he turned. His cannon went off with a clap of thunder, striking the seeker and sending him spiraling.

But not before he managed to drop a small gift of a payload before he went flying.

Blackout put full power in his thrusters, but it was too late.

The flak grenades detonated. With the openness of space the damage could have certainly been much worse, but fire and shrapnel pelted into Blackout’s frame; digging into him and his undercarriage. One of his thrusters was knocked offline and the other sputtered, slightly.

He could feel a swift reaction of Scorponok’s pain through the bond.

Blackout jerked his cannon around. The thing spat sparks as it loaded up another shot and he fired after the seekers and fliers even as they flew well beyond an accurate shot.

A sudden sonic blast slammed into Blackout, sending him spiraling in circles. His systems glitched as he whipped around and around, trying to gain control of his steering.

The Nemesis had powered up the fusion cannon again and fired.

Scrap, he was too close to the Ark.

Although the direct attack was no where near him, the energy whipped around the ship and sent Blackout hurtling away from the Ark. With a lack of control, he simply started flying randomly and couldn’t stop.

Seekers suddenly came jettisoning past him, deploying missile after missile into his frame. Energon and metal exploded outward from his body and into space.

“ERROR: Systems Malfunctioning. WARNING: Reaching critical energon loss.”

Blackout tried to hail the Nemesis or frag, any of the stupid Decepticons floating their useless afts around.

The seekers rounded back around, firing off their neutron blasters and energon blasters as they passed.

Blackout was floating further and further out from the fight at this rate. His systems suddenly went into lockdown; going into stasis as his frame was blown into by hundreds of tiny blaster shots.

~

“It looks like there must have been a major battle here.”

“Indeed it does,” Guard stated wearily, looking at massive wreckage and rubble left behind by the warring Autobots and Decepticons.

Novastrike’s audios lowered slightly, seening all the offlined bodies simply left to float in space. She sent a silent prayer out to Primus. No matter how far they were from home, she knew he must be accepting the sparks of these fallen souls back into His grace.

Guard turned slowly at the team of bots standing around him, jutting out a digit to one of the many ships left stranded. “We’ll start with that one first, and see if there’s any survivors or energon that managed to get left behind.”

The group nodded their helms respectfully in response. “Yes sir!” they shouted in unison.

With her tail giving a small lash to and fro, Novastrike stepped closer to Guard. The mech looked absolutely exhausted. She wondered if he’d been drinking his ration of energon at all lately.

“Sir, is there anything I can do?”

The Commander adjusted his cane to the best of ability. He was clearly exhausted; he barely managed to shuffle slightly in her direction to look down at her better.

“You may wait at the hatch for them to return, Novastrike. I’m sure they’ll salvage some things from the ship, and we’ll need help organizing and categorizing anything that’s brought in.”

“Yes sir,” she responded respectfully, trying on her best supportive smile. Despite how tired he looked, he still offered the kindest smile in return.

Transforming into her cyber-cat alt-mode, Novastrike bolted down the hallway. Her claws scrapped the ground below her, helping to grip the ground and propel her forward faster. Bots staggered as she darted by, shouting obscenities at her speed that it wasn’t a race and that she needed to watch it.

A purring laughter escaped her. Just because they didn’t understand the thrill of a good run, stretching out all your limbs and feeling the pressure loosening in your joints, didn’t mean they had to be so snippy.

Nova came to a halt just outside the hatch bay. Magnetizing her pedes onto the floor, she waited for someone on the other side to open the door for her so she could come out.

“Hey there Novastrike,” the mech stated warmly.

She offered a polite nod.

“Ooh no, looks like Guard sent short stuff to help us out,” teased another.

“Short stuff’ll still kick your aft in the training room.”

“Ooohh she got you!”

“Shut up.”

Nova’s optics looked over those standing around with the hatch open. Neutroboost made the most prominent presence, standing near the middle of the room with a datapad in one servo and speaking to a mech standing beside him.

:: This is Team Alpha. We found energon, I repeat, we found energon! ::

Everybot broke out in cheers. Over the open comm channels on the ship, Guard’s voice echoed through the radios, “Excellent news. Any survivors on board?”

:: Negative, sir. Massive casualties. We’ll keep looking, though. ::

"Roger that. Report in with anything else you find,” Neutroboost murmured over the comms.

Venting a sigh of reassurance, the little femme walked close to the edge of the hatch. Space extended out in every direction endlessly. Planets, stars, the cosmos itself. She took a deep breath through her vents as though she was in awe.

A sheen of light captured her optics. For a moment, she thought it may be a comet, but it seemed too close.

Her optics readjusted.

It was an outline. The armor was so incredibly dark, it blended in with space itself.

Novastrike zoomed in the scope of her optics. There were gaping holes in the small ship, wires protruding here and there, and-

Her spark lurched. There had to be something wrong with her optics. That couldn’t be?

“Does anyone else see that dark, black ship about forty-eight degrees off, right there?” Novastrike asked, pointing a digit towards the manifestation.

A couple of the mechs stepped closer. Their optics whirled faintly as they readjusted.

“You know, I think you’re right.”

“That one looks pretty rough, I don’t think we’d find anything on board it Novastrike.”

Neutroboost strode over slowly. Nova gazed up at him, watching as his optics shifted slightly to look better into the void.

He gave a small noise. “Well I’ll be fragged,” he stated.

“Do you see it?” Nova asked helplessly.

“Of course I see it,” Neutro half snapped. He gave a morbid chuckle. “Looks like that mech finally got what was coming for him, huh?”

Instantly, the little white femme’s ears lit up. Her derma peeked out slightly from a deep frown on her faceplate and she snarled.

“How could you say such a thing- he could still be alive!”

Neutro turned a bored expression over to the femme. “How is that our problem? The big fragger probably met his fate anyway, look at how damaged he is.”

Neutroboost turned back and gestured to Blackout’s alt-mode. The other mechs turned to look at Novastrike, their optics showing alarm.

By the time the other turned his smug expression to where Novastrike had been, she was no longer there.

“Sir-”

Neutroboost turned to follow the gazes of the other mechs, spotting a rather defiant looking little femme harnessing up one of the few jet packs they had on board the ship.

His optics paled. “Are you mad?” he stammered. “Don’t you dare go out there.”

Clicking the harness into place, Novastrike gave a wave of her servo. The tether she secured around her floated lightly behind her as she demagnetized her pedes from the floor.

“Somebot, stop her!” Neutro demanded over the comm links. “Guard, we have a situation with your favorite little femme.”

Pressing curiously down on the accelerator for the boosters, Novastrike shot out from the Rising Star as she turned off her comm channel.

She gave a nervous squeak and let go of the accelerator. She continued floating straight out from the ship, her optics wide as she glanced around. It looked incredible out there. Looking out from the windows of the Rising Star didn’t do it justice. It was like being encompassed in shadows and moonlight faded and distant from every direction.

Glancing around, Novastrike adjusted the positioning and angle of her jet pack and gave a small pulse in the opposite direction. She flipped the direction around again and gave another small burst, slowing her approach as she directed herself over to the familiar ship.

Sure enough, the closer she got, the more it looked familiar. Or, should have looked familiar.

Shards of Blackout’s armor seemed to levitate around him in a debris field. The closer she got, the more she could see the speckles of energon that were simply floating around him as well.

Flipping her direction, Novastrike turned on the magnetism on her pedes and clanked into Blackout’s side.

Her spark fluttered anxiously. It was impossible to tell if he was alive, or dead. She reached down and slowly ran her digits over the mech’s armor.

Armor shifted from atop Blackout. Novastrike let out a small shriek, slapping her servos over her mouth. Oh Primus- was something- was something on him? Was it feeding on him, was it a Scraplet-

Scorponok undocked from Blackout’s frame and Novastrike let out a ragged groan of relief. It didn’t last long, as she noticed that Scorponok’s backside was lined with holes. His golden optics were rather lifeless and fatigued.

“Hello there buddy,” Nova all but cooed, carefully shifting her pedes on Blackout so she didn’t rip off anymore armor or get stuck as she reached a servo out to him. “You doing okay?”

The bug blinked his optics out of sync. He gave a chirp like he was confused by what he saw, and tilted his helm slightly.

“Hold on a moment, Scorponok. I got you,” Novastrike soothingly said, reaching out further. She ever so slowly placed her digits against the bug’s helm. He gave a small, weak whirl and nudged his helm a little more against her servo.

“Thank you,” she whispered, smiling slightly.

Demagnetizing, Novastrike angled her jet back and gave a light squeeze. She circled around Blackout and looked into the tether one way, knotting it. Then she floated slowly around the other direction, knotting the tether over a different section.

“There, I think that’ll do,” she murmured, glancing over the big ship.

She turned her comm channel on.

:: -in Primus name do you think you’re doing, you idiotic, ridiculous, stubborn, hard-helmed- ::

:: You can reel me in now Neutroboost, I got him. ::

:: Reel you in?! Reel you in?! You think I’m just going to- ::

A gentle tug came from the tether, and Novastrike magnetized herself against Blackout’s side, curling her digit against his armor as he got yanked forward slightly. Scorponok gave a startled metallic click and wrapped a section of his tail against Blackout to make sure he didn’t go floating off.

As they came closer to the Rising Star, Novastrike could see Guard standing by Neutroboost at the front of the hatch with his arms crossed as Neutro flung his arms wildly around, ranting and raving.

Uh-oh.

Giving a slick boost on the jet pack, Novastrike raised Blackout just enough so that he’d slide into the open bay without hitting the lower section of the hatch. Guard and Neutroboost stepped further back, and Guard, without turning his optics away from Blackout and Novastrike, gestured to another mech standing nearby.

The doors slowly closed for the hatch, and gravity was initialized once again.

Scorponok tumbled off of Blackout and onto the ground. He didn’t even so much as make a noise of pain as he simply lay sprawled where he fell.

Nova dropped down off Blackout and on the floor, her audios lowered.

“I can’t believe you!” Neutro growled. “Of all the stupid stunts, you bring this back? He’s probably not even online! You’ve wasted time and energy, and now we’ll need to throw him back out! And what if was online, hmm? You think we have the energon to spare for him?”

Guard raised a servo to Neutroboost. His optics grew brighter and he looked absolutely livid. He clearly wasn’t done chewing out the tiny femme but pouted furiously, waiting to see what Guard would have to say.

Much to Novastrike’s surprise, he made a wide arc with his servo, offering for her to speak.

“Guard, I’m sorry.”

“You are apologizing insincerely,” Guard rumbled deeply.

“I’m sorr-”

“Explain yourself, femme.”

Novastrike bit into her lip slightly. “I... I don’t really have a good explanation, sir. I know him. If he’s alive, I just... I wanted him to have a chance at living...”

“So, are we going to give all these poor, helpless individuals a ‘chance at living’ now?” Neutroboost snarled with annoyance.

Guard lifted a servo to him again for silence. Neutro grumbled, turning his helm away.

A little smile pulled at the corner of Guard’s faceplate. “I suppose we should call in the medic, then. You have a kind spark Novastrike, be sure that you’re placing it in the right servos.”

Novastrike started, and Neutroboost’s jaw dropped at the comment.

“Y-Yes sir,” she whispered, feeling a mixture of confusion at the comment and vulnerability.

The large mech gave a small nod. Ignoring Neutroboost’s sputtering as he tried to aim a disagreement towards him, Guard turned and headed for the exit to the bay with his fellow Commander right on his heels.

The others in the bay room exchanged glances, and turned to follow after the two Commanders.

~

“Well, he’s online. Barely,” the medic said softly, checking her scanners as she walked around the massive tattered obsidian ship.

“Do you think you can save him?” Novastrike asked anxiously, her digits twiddling in front of her chassis.

The femme glanced down at Novastrike slowly. “I can try my best. No promises.”

“And Scorponok?”

“He’ll most likely live,” the femme stated. “It looks like most of the shots glanced him. I would say your big friend here probably tried positioning himself so that he took the brunt of the attacks in order to save his minicon.”

Novastrike’s spark skipped a pulse. She looked between Satan and his small companion, whom the medic had managed to place upon a berth in her med-bay unlike giant’s large form.

A questionable grumble moved through Guard as he spoke: “How are you going to patch up the mech in this state.”

“I can’t,” the femme admitted. “I’m going to have to force his t-cog to transform. That alone might kill him.”

Novastrike could feel Guard transfixing a glance upon her. She tried to keep a steady, blank face.

“I’ll do what I can,” the femme repeated. “I’m going to seal up as much of his energon lines before I do that as I can, and with the fresh energon the team’s bringing in he’ll at least have a fighting chance with some of that in his system. I do assume, anyway, you’ll allow him some...?”

“Of course,” Guard agreed. “He’s our guest. And if Novastrike trusts him, then he is welcome here. We’ll do our best to help him recover, and protect him.”

Nova let out a soft, breathless gasp. Guard’s optic ridges raised high as he looked down at her, chuckling at her reverence gaze that lay upon him.

“Thank you, sir,” Novastrike gushed warmly, bowing her helm low.

Embarrassment flashed across Guard’s faceplate, and he quickly waved his servos in the air. “None of that, Novastrike. Although, if he does make it, I am putting you in charge of him. We can’t keep the mech against his will, but if he decides to stick around for any length of time, anything he does...”

“Is under my jurisdiction and punishment if he acts up. I understand, sir,” Novastrike murmured softly.

Guard gave a short nod. “Very good,” he stated. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to return to Neutroboost and try to calm him down and explain... all of this.”

The medic gave a thin laugh. “Ah, yes. Neutroboost is going to love this.”

Guard winced. “Indeed,” he agreed.

Novastrike flinched slightly as the Commander shuffled slowly around and ambled out of the room. She could see the worry written in the medic’s face, too, as she watched him too. That did nothing to ease any of her worries.

Suddenly, she turned her face upon Novastrike. She practically jumped out of her armor from the stern gaze.

“You brought him in, you’ll be helping fix him,” the femme stated matter-of-factly. “Now, get over here and put those little servos to use. You’ll start with stabilizing his little friend while I work on big-n-scary.”

A nervous smile stretched on Novastrike’s lips. “Y-Yes ma’am,” she squeaked, trailing after the medic.