#Optimus is my second target

[emkamo-blog]

Anyone else pass around transformers, ship to ship like a blunt.

[revelboo]

Hey, it's me again, Meepers ( ＾ω＾ )

Not any specific request, but as someone who really enjoys reading your stories, that also has been helping getting me through my bad days when I read them, want to tell you how much I appreciate the stories. So I wanted to share the China cabinet I got at a thrift store to put my transformers collection in! So far, it's crowded, and not all of my collection can fit in the cabinet until I can replace the glass shelves. So I can't pose them as I want until later.

Also, my personal favorite

G1 Bumblebee with G1 Optimus

Look at his little pedes!

I really appreciate your work!^^

Have a nice day/night!

Ps: Do you have Kofi?

Awww, look at them all! I love seeing y’all’s figures. Thank you for reading my nonsense! And I do have a kofi

Broken Hearts Pt 4

Optimus Prime x Reader

• Watching you talking with Sari and the other two humans is oddly soothing. Soft chatter and laughter reminding him of home. Of the academy before everything had gone sideways. Just relaxing with friends. And it makes his spark ache even as he needs this so much amid all the worry of a resurgent Decepticon movement. Needs a moment of normalcy. No one arguing or upset. Somehow the humans mellowing out everyone without doing a thing.

• Glancing back up at Optimus, he’s still watching you, but you feel oddly safe. Like he’s watching over you, not studying you. He’s as alien to you as you must be to him, but he’d saved you without a second thought. Risked himself for you when he didn’t have to. Didn’t gain anything from it. And the other two people seem relaxed here, too. Comfortable among these giants. Know a lot of it is Sari. The kid trusts them, isn’t the least bit scared of them and you’re all picking up on that. Standing as Bulkhead’s human starts plotting to get a more proper, modern kitchen set up with the bribe of fresh baked gourmet cookies to Sari to sway the bots into helping, you head outside for some air.

• Standing and following you, he hopes you’re not leaving already, but understands if you are. You must have a home, a life. For a moment he can’t find you, but then he spots movement near the alley, your head tipped up toward the night sky and you glance at him before turning your eyes skyward again. “When I was a kid, my family lived out in the country. We could see the stars at night. Too many lights here, though,” you whisper.

• “I could take you out away from the city. To see the stars,” he offers, rumbling voice soft. And you smile despite yourself. Why is he so kind to you? What’s he getting out of this, because in your experience people are generally only nice when they want something from you. “If you wanted,” he adds. And he’s looking at you, not the sky as he shifts on his peds. “I don’t even know where Cybertron is up there. Isn’t that odd? I should know.” And there’s a longing in his voice as his lips press into a thin line before he looks away.

• “I’d love to ride out through the country with you sometime,” you say and he smiles. Your little face tipped up toward him and he reaches to touch your arm but stops himself. Doesn’t want to frighten you. To overwhelm you. So small, but so trusting and he knows he doesn’t deserve your trust. That you’d only been targeted because of him. “How did you guys end up here?”

• “We were attacked,” he admits, grimacing. “By a threat we thought was long gone, but I swear to you that I’ll do everything in my power to protect you and this world.” And he sounds so determined and solemn about it that you believe him. That he’ll fight for you and your home even though he barely knows you. “You’re not prisoners here, you can come and go as you please. But please don’t tell anyone about us.” Understanding that they’re in hiding here and he’s handed you the tools to harm him. To sell him out to the government and trusting you not to. ‘I wouldn’t,’ you assure him and he offers you a servo, smiling when you lay your palm on it like you’ve just given him some immense honor.

Previous

Next

[quirekey]

Hello! Hope you’re doing well! Can I ask for HCS for tfp Megatron x femme autobot reader? Like for background he met her on cybertron before he became the leader of the decepticons and they’d spar together. Like he was literally in love with her and now they’re supposed to be enemies💔 thank you!

I am doing well, thank you!! This is an interesting one and I will try my best to write this, thank you for the request!

MEGATRON x FEMME!READER

[ megatron x cybertron!femme!autobot!reader ]

( We will be going straight into headcanons because I am unsure how I’d wrote the cause of the war in a span of 200-400 words 😭😭)

HEADCANONS

- When you chose your side to be with the Autobots, Megatron has not been taking anything lightly. He has been putting his army to an impossible amount of work. He basically has been letting all of his anger out because he just missed you so much. You were a burden to him but it was hard to let you go when he’s literally in love with you.

- Megatron is sleepless, he never recharges. It’s hard for him to recharge when he is so restless. He’s leading an army, that’s hard. Having you on his mind is harder. Honestly, it’s almost impossible that he has to eat extra energon just to stay awake.

- Megatron definitely just stands in his quarters, staring into nothingness. When he has time alone, he’s replaying the memories he had with you back when it was perfect. He definitely tries to forget but just can’t, so he embraces what he had. When he is relaxing, he constantly cherishes every single second he had back then with you. He enjoyed everything about you. Your voice, your appearance, your personality and how you sparred.

- When Megatron first battles with the Autobots, he sees you on the field. He is absolutely distraught and disappointed because he tried so hard to forget about you. Let’s just say he always targets you, because you both sparred many times in the past.

- Overtime, Megatron becomes obsessed with seeing you on the field. When he is about to fight the Autobots, he would always ask, ‘Where’s my darling?’. At first the Autobots are confused, but only Optimus really understands.

- Optimus actually knows about your relationship with you and Megatron. Back then in Iacon, D16, you and Orion Pax were all really close, like a trio that worked. D16 felt his spark light up like a pile of fireworks exploding everytime he was around you. Orion knew and he and D16 spoke to each other about it. You gained your love for him a little too late…

- The rest of the autobots find out when Optimus explains his close relationship with you. He also does not mention about your and his love for each other, unwilling to make the tensions worse.

- Megatron never confessed to you because he was scared. He spoke to Orion, he rehearsed his confession overtime and has tried so many times to let his true feelings out. He was scared to face the truth if you did not feel the same, how everything you had would’ve been all for nothing.

- You do dearly miss Megatron and actually love him too, but you don’t think Megatron loves you back. You wanted to confess but the war then started and the stakes were just too high. You wanted to let your spark out so badly for him, to keep him as yours forever, but it was merely impossible.

- The reason why you chose the Autobots is because you knew what was right. Though it was extremely tempting, you just couldn’t. You have too much of a strong heart to choose the evil side. You did not wanna be parted from Megatron, but it was inevitable.

[authoratmidnight]

So I was looking through the OptiRatch tag, as you do, when I saw @energon-depo's post about 'Smokescreen is an OptiRatch kid'

And unfortunately it takes very little to get my brain worms going and that one did and I kinda wanna write this. Or at least, a re-imagining of episode 18 where that's the case.

Like. Sometime waaaaaay before canon, before the war, Orion and Ratchet had a little sparkling (Smokescreen). But then (perhaps near the beginning of the war? just after he became a Prime?) he went missing/was kidnapped. He was just gone (I'm sort of thinking maybe Ratchet and Smokescreen were caught in an attack and separated and when the smoke and dust settled he looked everywhere for the little one to no avail).

Eventually they had to conclude he'd died in the attack, because what else can they do? So they grieve and mourn (esp grieving the fact that, now with everything going on, they'll probably never have another one-not only is it far to dangerous to bring a life like that into the world, but if anyone were to find out that Optimus had family like that, it would be painting a target on their backs. he already has to keep his relationship w/ Ratchet on the down low now, a child would be far to risky).

Then we fast forward ahead however many tens of thousands-millions of years have passed and it's the present day on Earth. Team Prime is investigating that escape pod, gets jumped by the 'Cons and then BAM. Smokescreen appears.

And to Ratchet and Optimus, the moment they see his face, it's like they've just seen a ghost. Because he may be grown up now, but that face, those colours/markings, those features, it's the same, it's their sparkling. Of course they mask this well enough under a guise of just. Surprise at seeing another young Autobot. Meanwhile they're looking at each other like 'you're seeing this right??'

So they bring him back to base and ofc ask him about himself, how her got there, his name (b/c it can't possibly be him. it just can't). He gives the spiel we know. But also further prodding on Ratchet's part (while giving him a physical to make sure he's in good condition, don't need another wounded warrior on their hands) reveals that (as far as he knows) any family he had died in the war. His memories as a sparkling are hazy at best, he doesn't remember his parents.

He grew up alone and basically went from alone to the Elite Guard, to his station w/ Alpha Trion and then on Earth.

Meanwhile, Ratchet and Optimus are just 'oh sweet Solus Prime it IS him' esp when a test that Ratchet ran while doing his physical confirms relations.

So on one hand, they're ecstatic that their missing sparkling is alive and well. On the other, do they tell him??? They want to, Primus knows they want to, but at the same time it would be so dangerous, cause it would and could get back to the Cons and that would be painting the biggest ever 'take me hostage' sign on him. So maybe not yet but, perhaps one day.

Smokescreen is woefully oblivious to any favouritism going his way (getting to call Ratchet 'doc' w/o issue, being allowed to just. use the Phase Shifter whenever. god they try not to show favouritism but they slip up sometimes)

And then the s2 ending/s3 staring events happen and Ratchet is just gripped with grief at the thought he's lost not just his partner, but his child for the second time in his life. He is beyond relieved when they turn up alive.

Smokescreen isn't quite sure why Ratchet hugs him so tightly once they're reunited. Like, he's glad to see him too but uh, Ratchet you ok? He's also a bit surprised that Optimus isn't mad at him for disobeying orders (going back to save him when the base blew up, using the forge on him to save him), but he's not gonna complain cause it did work out.

Now Ratchet really wants to tell Smokescreen. After all that he deserves to know. Optimus still isn't sure (even though he does want to as well).

Maybe one day, when the war is over, when it's safer.

Also. Alpha Trion 100% knew who Smokescreen was (b/c he knows like everything) and orchestrated getting him guard duty there, with him, to keep an eye on Smokescreen/keep him safe. He also told him stories about Optimus Prime as a way for him to know about his dad (Smokescreen always had a fascination about him that Alpha Trion was happy to feed). He also orchestrated getting Smokescreen to Earth so he'd one day meet Optimus again.

[shiani25]

Story request: screamer shenanigans that make Megatron go 'in the end he's still my treacherous idiot'

(coming from a fellow megastar lover ehehehe)

If it's vague I'm up for a follow up👀✌️

The halls of the Nemesis echoed with the familiar sounds of bickering, metal clanking, and a shrill, unmistakable voice.

“You dare question my brilliance?!” Starscream’s voice carried through the corridors, grating and theatrical as always. “I am second-in-command, the air commander, the most cunning—”

A loud explosion interrupted his self-aggrandizing monologue, followed by the sound of scraping metal and something heavy tumbling down.

Megatron groaned, his crimson optics narrowing as he slowly rose from his throne. He knew the source of this disaster all too well.

When he arrived at the scene, he found Starscream tangled in some cables, his wings awkwardly bent. Smoke billowed from a hole in the wall nearby, where the explosion had left a perfectly Starscream-shaped imprint.

“What... did you do this time?” Megatron growled, crossing his arms.

Starscream’s optics flickered as he looked up, his dignity even more damaged than his body. “It was... Thundercracker’s fault!”

Thundercracker, standing a few meters away with his arms crossed, scowled. “I wasn’t even here. I just got back from patrol.”

Starscream’s optics darted back and forth, his processor working overtime to come up with a believable lie. “Uh... Then it was Skywarp! He... he... teleported and startled me!”

Skywarp appeared out of nowhere. “I didn’t do anything! This time...” he added, rubbing the back of his head. “I was busy putting glue on Soundwave’s cassettes.”

Megatron pinched the bridge of his nasal plating. “You’re all idiots...”

Starscream finally extricated himself from the pile of debris, brushing dust off his armor. He stood tall, attempting to regain his usual air of superiority despite his crooked wing. Seeing he had no one else to blame for this commotion he finally explained. “I was merely testing a new weapon I designed. It would have guaranteed our victory over the Autobots!”

Megatron looked past him at the smoldering crater. “A weapon.”

“Yes!” Starscream puffed out his chest. “A powerful rocket launcher with advanced targeting systems. It would have destroyed Optimus Prime in one blow!”

“...So where is this rocket launcher now?”

Starscream’s face fell. He glanced over his shoulder at the blackened hole in the wall, then at the far end of the hangar, where the twisted remains of his ‘masterpiece’ lay half-melted.

“There were... a few minor malfunctions...” he admitted, his voice barely above a whisper.

“A few?” Megatron repeated, his voice low and dangerous. “Your ‘weapon’ made a hole in my warship!”

“But, mighty Megatron!” Starscream’s tone shifted to pleading. “Think of the potential! Once I iron out the... um... minor bugs, it will be unstoppable!”

Megatron’s optics narrowed. “Like the time you built that weather machine that ended up freezing yourself in a block of ice?”

Starscream flinched. “I... I was testing the limits of its power.”

“Or the time you tried to create an army of clones and they revolted because they couldn’t stand your voice?”

Starscream’s wings drooped. “They were... defective.”

“Or how about the time you reprogrammed the Space Bridge and accidentally teleported yourself to the bottom of the ocean?”

“That was... a navigation error, and a very educational trip.” Starscream muttered, optics fixed on the floor.

Megatron heaved a long, suffering sigh. How many times had this played out? Starscream, with his insatiable ambition and harebrained schemes, always striving to prove himself but constantly tripping over his own arrogance. It was like a never-ending loop of chaos and destruction.

Yet, despite everything, Megatron couldn’t deny that Starscream’s antics often yielded unexpected results. Sometimes, the seeker’s wild experiments led to breakthroughs—usually after several disastrous failures, but still. And in battle, there was no better air commander. When he was focused and not distracted by delusions of grandeur, Starscream was undeniably brilliant.

Megatron’s shoulders slumped as he watched Starscream attempt to straighten his damaged wing, wincing at the pain. The seeker’s pride was far more bruised than his body.

“Get yourself repaired, Starscream,” Megatron said, his tone surprisingly soft. “And stop blowing holes in my ship!”

Starscream’s optics brightened. “Of course, mighty Megatron! I shall refine my designs and—”

And then explosion rocked the ship. The emergency lights flickered red, and klaxons blared.

Starscream glanced around. “Oh. That might be unrelated.”

“Soundwave!” Megatron barked.

“Affirmative. Starscream’s laboratory has been compromised. External plating breached.”

“Starscream!”

“Okay, fine! I may have been running an experiment on sentient nanites. They were supposed to clean the ship! How was I supposed to know they’d develop a sense of rebellion?”

Megatron’s servo hit his faceplate with a resounding clang. “of course they would rebel, they are your treacherous creations after all. You have one cycle to fix this.”

Starscream saluted with more enthusiasm than sense. “You can count on me!” He dashed off, shouting, “Nanites! Cease your uprising! I am your creator!”

Megatron sank back onto his throne, the ship still rumbling.

“Starscream is an idiot,” he muttered, rubbing his temple. “But at least he’s my idiot.”

In the distance, a loud crash echoed through the halls, followed by Starscream’s indignant squawk. Megatron closed his optics. Maybe if he sat very still, the chaos would just pass by.

It did not.

BONUS!

It was another day aboard the Nemesis, and Megatron was already nursing a processor ache. He could hear Starscream’s shrill voice echoing through the hallways, a sure sign that disaster was imminent.

He stomped down the corridor, servos clanking with impatience. The seeker was up to something again—probably another one of his harebrained schemes to overthrow him. Not that any of them ever worked.

When he reached the main control room, the sight before him was... something. Starscream stood on top of the main console, striking a dramatic pose, his wings flared out as he pointed towards a holographic display of Earth. The other Decepticons stood around, looking various shades of bored or confused.

“Behold!” Starscream announced, his voice dripping with self-importance. “I have devised the ultimate plan to crush the Autobots and seize power once and for all!”

Megatron groaned. Here we go again.

Starscream tapped the console with his foot, and the hologram zoomed in on a human amusement park, complete with a giant roller coaster, cotton candy stands, and costumed mascots waving at guests.

Thundercracker frowned. “Uh, Starscream? What does a human playground have to do with conquering the Autobots?”

“Silence!” Starscream snapped, waving his arm theatrically. “This is no mere playground! This is the perfect location to lay an ambush! We shall disguise ourselves as attractions, lure the Autobots in, and destroy them when they least expect it!”

Skywarp snorted. “Disguise ourselves as attractions? What are you gonna be? A bumper car?”

Starscream shot him a withering glare. “Of course not! I will be... the roller coaster!”

The room fell silent. Every optic turned to stare at Starscream, who stood there, chest puffed out with pride as if he’d just delivered the most brilliant plan in Decepticon history.

Megatron’s optic twitched. “No, I’m going back to recharge. It is too much of Starscream’s brilliant plans for one day. “

[dragqueenstarscream]

hey, its me again, back with more Starscream thoughts, so you just know things are about to get uncomfortably real and introspective! Again, prefacing by saying that a lot of my analysis is based on my own eerily similar experiences to Starscream, so I'm not 100% sure how much of this actually rings true and what is just me projecting.

I have entirely fallen down the StarOp rabbit hole thanks to you, at a speed I never could have expected. When I first finished TFP and started browsing the tags, I'd see the occasional StarOp post and at best be like "alright, sure" and at worst a little confused on where it was coming from, given the infrequency of interactions between the two after like, early season 1. But since I sent that first ask in it just clicked and like.

Before, I was always of the opinion that Starscream joining the autobots was something that could never really work from a character perspective, not just because of his dependency on Megatron like I talked about last time, but like, even if Megatron was completely out of the picture I never felt like the full on redemption and becoming a functioning member of post-war society that becoming an Autobot would entail would particularly be desirable to Starscream (if even possible for reasons both in and out of his control.)

I sorta felt like any good ending for Starscream would have to entail him moreso escaping the narrative than anything else, given the extent to which he's stuck in this cycle almost on a cosmic level, with how he's unable to escape it in any universe, any continuity, which of course ties into wider thoughts on how this franchise seems uninterested in letting Starscream ever escape that cycle. A sort of El Camino style ending, where leaving behind everything you know and running away to Alaska is considered a good ending, all things considered. That naturally led to me shipping him with Knockout, given their chemistry and the fact that they were this close to running away together, it just felt like the most compelling option, narratively speaking.

But now that I've caught onto the StarOp agenda, I've sorta cracked the code and realized that you can make a compelling and believable path to Starscream becoming an Autobot by having him getting together with Optimus initially be on a subconscious level an outlet to recreate the cycle he was in with Megatron purely because he's used to it and doesn't know how to live without it.

Outside of the obvious ideological and moral differences, Optimus and Megatron have a lot in common, especially from the perspective of Starscream. They're both big, strong, masculine figures, and natural-born leaders that effortlessly compel those around them to fight for their respective causes. They both radiate power in a way that I imagine you can almost feel when around them (and in a way I know it, because that's often how it felt being around my personal Megatron, it's why it was so easy to fall back into his arms over and over.)

All this to say, when Starscream gets with Optimus, he's not escaping the cycle, he's changing his target. If he became an autobot he would instantly become the most dedicated autobot, not out of any ideological reasoning or particular desire to be good, but out of an intense loyalty he effortlessly placed in Optimus. But of course, the loyalty phase is only half of this cycle.

This next part I'm heavily basing on what I've realized about my own experiences, so bear with me for a second, (I also doesn't think it exactly applies to TFP as much as it does some other continuities, G1 maybe but I haven't seen much of G1 so idk for sure) but I feel like sometimes Starscream almost tests Megatron in a way when he feels like Megatron's priorities are drifting away from him, (since remember, he needs to be the most important bot in his life, Starscream is desperate for Megatron to be as obsessed with him as he is with Megatron.) so Starscream will sort of do something stupid, maybe he comes up with some harebrained scheme that's probably not gonna work, or he makes some tactical or administrative decision entirely based on what he's feeling on an emotional level, to see "will Megatron back me on this?"

because Megatron does stuff like that all the time, he's far from being a better tactician than Starscream, (notice how the moment Starscream leaves in season 1, the decepticons stop winning like, at all until he comes back?) and he makes rash decisions out of anger all the time, and Starscream goes along with all of it, every single time, so it's only fair that Megatron lets him get away with doing something kinda stupid this once. and when Megatron inevitably doesn't, either because it would work against the Decepticons own goals, or purely because he doesn't want Starscream to think he has power over him, (and despite how good he is at hiding it, Starscream does have power over him in a lot of ways, I might talk about that some other time.) Starscream lashes out, betrays Megatron, and leaves, because once again all the loyalty he gave to Megatron got him nothing in return.

and let's be clear, Starscream doing this is toxic as fuck, but at the same time of course it is, it's almost impossible not to become toxic in an environment like this. And that really comes back to bite you when you get out of that environment, but on a base level still have these habits and base level impulses that might have helped you survive back then but are terrible for the actually decent people you've surrounded yourself with now.

With that, we cut to today, where Starscream is an autobot and he tries to pull one of these "tests" on Optimus because the honeymoon phase is over and Starscream is instinctually ready for things to start getting worse, maybe they had like, one minor argument and Starscream instantly assumed the worst. and I imagine Optimus "fails" the test, says "no, I'm not backing you on this, I'm not gonna let you do that", but unlike Megatron who does so while prioritizing his own ends and his control over Starscream, Optimus is saying no for moral reasons. And I imagine he tries to explain that to Starscream, but that answer isn't hitting him properly because again, Starscream's only thinking in loyalty.

Everything Optimus thought was progress on Starscream's part in living up to autobot ideals was really just newfound intense loyalty to Optimus, his growth was really just him doing what he thinks Optimus would want him to do and what he thinks would gain him Optimus's loyalty in return. and, from Starscream's perspective, it didn't work, so he's thinking "obviously Optimus doesn't care about me at all, fuck him, I'm out of here." so he makes this big display of betraying the autobots and running away.

and from there, it's the question of if Optimus sees through what this is really about. The other autobots are probably no help in that regard, they all probably fall into one of two groups, the "At no point in time was I not 100% sure that this inevitably was going to happen" group, and the "I mean, I had hope for him, and it seemed like he was doing good, but I'm still not that surprised" group.

But of course, Optimus isn't Megatron, he does care about Starscream and wants him to know that, so I imagine he actually tries tracking down Starscream to have an actual conversation with him to try and figure out where his mind has really been at these past few months, and if he catches on to even a little bit of the subtext of what I've been saying here, he's gonna be like "oh shit, there is a lot more we need to work on than I thought."

and yeah, Megatron fucked up Starscream in ways that its gonna take years to properly unpack, so Starscream is lucky to have found quite possibly the best person to help him through it in Optimus. It's gonna be a rocky road, but Optimus is in for the ride.

and I do think this relationship could eventually become healthy, and I like reading fics where they've managed to make it healthy, but I do think at first it really wouldn't be, and as someone with the autism that makes you obsessed with themes and motifs and subtext, the process of seeing it become better, of seeing Starscream have to unlearn these old harmful defense mechanisms, THAT is really what makes my brain vibrate, especially because I've had to go through that same process myself after finally getting away from my personal Megatron for what I'm thankfully certain now is the final time.

also kinda realizing a lot of this kinda sounds like borderline personality disorder, which. that might be something I have to look into in regards to myself, damn. anyways, yeah, thanks for letting me kill the vibe again, appreciate it! I'll probably try and keep these shorter in the future, I imagine it's kind of a lot to suddenly have 1500 words of deep character analysis with hints of traumadumping suddenly thrown in your askbox lol. If this actually was a bit too much then I'm sorry, you can tell me to dial it down a little if you want.

and this, right here, is why starop is my favorite transformers ship.

you really hit the nail on the head with this one. when done well, it's not only cute and fun to explore, but it's also a deep dive into starscream as a character and what could possibly lead to a redemption arc. sure, you don't need starscream to fall in love with optimus to redeem him, but how that would actually play out is so fascinating.

sure, i love aus where starscream is an autobot spy the whole time. yes, i love aus where they were in love in the past and got separated. but the idea of starscream replacing megatron with optimus in his mind fits him so well, because, as an abuse victim myself, it's easy to find yourself drawn to people who remind you of your abuser.

and that's where optimus' kindness sets him apart, because when starscream pushes back on him, optimus doesn't do what starscream expects. he doesn't lash out or hit him or verbally berate him. he responds with honest concern, trying to figure out what's wrong.

and that kindness, that sincerity, is something starscream doesn't even realize he's been missing the entire time.

i do believe they have the potential to be healthy, but the fight towards them actually becoming healthy and helping starscream get out of his toxic mindset is part of what makes these two so damn compelling.

always happy to have another starop fan.

(also you don't have to worry about toning it down lmao, gods know i ramble like a maniac about my favorite things. i'm not gonna be the one to judge)

[woahits-transformers]

Making this its own separate post bc I adore these pannels farrrrrr too much

For those who havent read TF Skybound: these are from issues 12 and 21 respectively.

The parallels here

The composition

The everything

These are two separate instances of Optimus pointing his gun at something and another character wanting him to stop; they are so drastically different while being the exact fucking same tonally. In issue 12 its Optimus' choice to destroy all of that energon, to "forsake cybertron" for earth, to fire that cannon. In issue 21 is megatron's influence that gets optimus to switch from shooting starscream, to almost shooting jazz. Which is even wildier considering its his choice in issue 12 and it looks like he has no choice. Its an extremely hard decision for optimus and he does it anyway which may also be why he looks like that, but my point stands from either angle. In issue 21 it isn't his decision to swap targets.

The tone is the exact same in both of these pannels. The anxiety inducing wait of whats about to be a devastating loss. That moment right before it all happens. The moment of realization of what is happen, and knowing there is nothing else to be done. It will happen. This is exicuted perfectly by the art. The composition and the style of the pannel from 21 being the exact same as it is during the unforgettable one in 12 makes this connection here really solid. This style with the background removed and heavily contrasted black shading with specks of black around it is so rarely used that it really sticks out when it does show up. That makes this tonal connection I'm talking about even stronger.

Megtron's arm has slowly been influencing Optimus, mostly seen when he kills Shockwave. According to Elita, (at some point during 7-12 idr exactly) Optimus used to be a lot more brutal during the war! Megatron's arm I believe is tapping into those emotional outbursts that Optimus is having and influencing him to take the more brutal path. In issue 21 it just straight up takes control to take out another autobot instead. With Megatron being fully back up and functional I'd fully believe if he was somehow connected to Optimus through him having that arm. His ability to control others and their actions while they wield him is very extremely real and could definitely extend to this situation. It could have even helped power up Megatron from his miserable fight at the military headquarters where he got captured at the beginning of his stay on earth. Could explain how he's already powerful enough to get back to kicking the shit out of Starscream too.

Im mostly just rambling here I can't lie... I just NEEDED to get my base thoughts out about this right this second no more proofreading.

skybound oppy i loooooove youuuu~

[honor-cxde]

Dreadwing and the Wreckers

// a rambling by yours truly.

So we know that in Dreadwing's introduction episode ("Loose Cannons"), Wheeljack and Seaspray were Wreckers set to rendezvous in order to try and regroup after the unit splintered. We also know that Dreadwing intercepted their comms, beat Wheeljack there, and set up a proximity bomb to try and eliminate them both. Now, Jackie never had any radio contact with Dreads, but he recognized the bomb the second he saw it and knew who it belonged to.

So, they had met.

Fast forward to the Jackhammer shooting the Sky Claw down on earth. The whole episode ends with the Autobots in a port somewhere, trying to save Bulkhead from the bomb Dreadwing planted on him.

But, wait. How did we get there?

I think our favorite blue and gold Seeker has a deeper relationship with the Wreckers than what was let on.

He knew who Wheeljack and Seaspray were by name. At LEAST he knew Jackie on sight -- after being shot down and subsequently escaping, Dreadwing calls Jackie, on the Jackhammer's frequency, by name, to challenge him.

Wheeljack and Bulkhead both respond. Because Wreckers don't call for backup, they call for cleanup.

They go, and split up. Wheeljack confronts Dreads head on while Bulk, unbeknownst to the viewers, has circled around the back. The Seeker seems to have second thought and runs, ending up in a dead end.

This is one of the things I like about Dreadwing: he's a planner. And he is, tactically, extremely good at it. He failed at every assignment in the show, it is true, but his methods were VERY clearly well-thought out and planned.

In this particular case, he set up his bombs before they ever even got there. He knew where he wanted Wheeljack to end up, and how to get him there, but here's the kicker:

He knew Bulkhead would show up. And that was more important to his end goal.

Dreadwing had a bomb set high, on its own, near the ledge above where Bulkhead ended up standing, thinking they had the 'Con surrounded. There's no reason for Dreads to do this unless he knew without a doubt Bulk would be there (remember earlier in the episode, when the gas station blew and our Seeker made his getaway, Bulk was there. Dreadwing saw him, and knew who he was.)

So he knew that Jackie would come at him from the front, and Bulkhead would sneak behind, and he planned for it. His ultimate goal wasn't to destroy the two of them, though -- he wanted Optimus, and as many of Team Prime as he could get in one location to try and eliminate them all in revenge for Skyquake's death.

So he buried the two Wreckers, dug Bulkhead out, and drug his ass to the port, where he set up his second trap. He knew WHO Wheeljack and Bulkhead were and could plan based on what he obviously knew about how the Wrecker unit worked.

So I don't think Seaspray was Dreadwing's first Wrecker kill. Not by a long shot. I think he was the hyena that skulked in the shadows, nipping at their heels. But he didn't come at them all willy-nilly, he knew he'd get obliterated if he did, so he was a patient predator. Much like a lion, he went after them when they had split up, only targeting one, maybe two, at a time.

I think this bastard has more than the average kill count and a chunk of them were Wreckers.

Thanks for coming to my Ted Talk.

[in1-nutshell]

Uh hi, this my first ever resquest, and i'm sorry if things don't make sense, english is not my first language.

Could i get tfp bot buddy who has shadow powers(like can turn into one and use them as portals), has the appearance of nightmares and is close to Ultra Magnus(dunno if is platonic, familial or romantic)?

They kinda been living as Ultra Magnus shadow since forever and help him on missions,tasks or just anything, but in one of their missions, the decepticons maneged to reallyyy hurt buddy and buddy, not wanting to die, retreated to Ultra Magnus shadow and went into stasis to heal but Ultra Magnus didn't knew that and thought that buddy had perished.

Only now on earth did buddy finally wakes up.

Could i get reactions from the team or something like that if not, that's okay :) also love your writing

Magnus was so close to having a spark attack when he saw Buddy pop out of his shadow the first time they used their powers, that's for sure.

Hope you enjoy!

Bot Buddy with shadow manipulation and being Ultra Magnus's Amica Endura

SFW, Platonic, Cybertronain reader

TFP

Buddy met Magnus through Optimus.

He introduced them to Magnus during the earlier years of the war as his Second in Command.

Magnus just thought he was getting to know another coworker.

A couple missions later, several late-night conversations and some free time later they become Amica Endura.

“You know you never did tell HOW you became Amica with Commander shoulder pads over there. Was it a bet you loss?”--Wheeljack

“No bets were lost Wheeljack. We became Amica out of our own choice and free will. Nothing else to do with it.”--Buddy

“Sure…”--Wheeljack

Buddy loves to prank Magnus with their shadow powers.

Magnus does not find this funny… but he does find it a bit endearing after a while.

Being an Outlier was rare to find in this world.

Even rarer to find after the war broke out.

So many had been the first ones targeted at the beginning of the war there were barely anymore left.

It was a risk putting Buddy in the Wrecker’s, but so far it brought greater success to the unit than any point in their formation.

“Freeze Autobot scum!”—Random Decepticon

Buddy putting their servo in the air almost mockingly.

“There’s three of you and one of me… what ever shall I do?”--Buddy

Buddy’s servos start glowing a bit.

“Have you met my Amica?”--Buddy

“Why would we—”—Random Con

SLAM!

Magnus takes out the three mechs after appearing from behind thanks to Buddy’s shadow powers.

“That was brutal!”--Buddy

Magnus fixes his blaster a bit.

“I hate when you put yourself in these situations.”--Magnus

“Its in the job description Mags.”--Buddy

“Buddy we’ve been over this.”--Magnus

“And we’ve been over this too.”--Buddy

“…”--Magnus

“…”--Buddy

“First one that takes out five Cons has to buy the other a drink.”--Buddy

“If you insist.”--Magnus

Buddy has defiantly used their powers to get Magnus to sneak up on unsuspecting troops.

Magnus is always there for Buddy when they overexert themselves and need someone to watch over their back.

One trip left Buddy badly injured.

They saw Magnus’s backside as he was trying to find them in the rubble of the exploding base.

They tried to call for him, but they could barely keep their optics open.

His shadow was the closest thing they could reach so they snuck into his shadow.

With a quick nap, their wounds would get healed in no time.

Magnus thought that Buddy had died in the explosion after coming back to the base for regrouping.

He checked all other places they set rendezvous points and in none of the places did he even find a trace of Buddy.

Magnus could see it in the optics of his Wrecker’s that the war was about to turn bloodier than it was now that Buddy was gone.

Hopefully things would get better…

Hope was the last thing they had.

Timeskip to Magnus being on Earth…

Buddy finally feels ready to get out of the shadow.

Yeah, it took a while to finally get healed, but they are sure they are ready now.

By their calculations they missed about a couple weeks in the war. Things couldn’t have changed that much.

Magnus is arguing with Wheeljack when Bulkhead sees something wrong with Magnus’s shadow.

“Hey guys, shadows aren’t supposed to do that right?”--Bulkhead

Miko looks from the perch.

“Wow! Wheeljack made Magnus so mad his shadow gained sentience!”--Miko

In a blink there is a bot laying on the floor rubbing their helm.

“Urgh! Never doing that again… hey Mags when did we get better lighting—Mags?”--Buddy

Ultra Magnus stares at Buddy with wide optics.

“By the Allspark! Buddy is that you?!”—Wheeljack

“Who’s that?”--Miko

Buddy moves their helm a bit and spots Wheeljack.

“Wheeljack? I thought you left cycles ago—Hey!”--Buddy

Bulkhead scoops Buddy from behind giving them a crushing hug.

“Bulkhead!? I thought you left to team Prime? Magnus? Magnus what’s going on?”—Buddy

“Seriously who’s that?”--Miko

Magnus remains still just staring at Buddy like a ghost.

Buddy gets out of Bulkhead’s grip stumbling a bit until they reach their Amica with a worried look on their face.

“Mags? Are you okay?”--Buddy

“I��I thought you had perished in the explosion. I looked everywhere…”--Magnus

Buddy scratches their helm a bit.

“Yeah, I got injured pretty badly back there. Your shadow was the closest thing I could reach and… well…”--Buddy

“So, this entire time you’ve been in Ultra Magnus’s shadow?”--Wheeljack

Buddy furies their optics a bit.

“You’re making this sound like I was gone for millennia. I was just gone for a couple of weeks most.”—Buddy

Magnus gives them a sad smile.

“…You never were good at your calculations Buddy.”--Magnus

Magnus puts a servo on his Amica’s shoulder.

“Mags?”--Buddy

“Mags?”--Miko

Buddy finally looks over at Miko.

“Who’s this?”--Buddy

“I’m Miko! Welcome to Earth!”--Miko

Buddy’s optics widen.

“How long was I in there!?”—Buddy

Optimus walks into the room with some of the reports.

“Ultra Magnus where—Buddy?”--Optimus

“WHY IS PRIME SO BIG!?”--Buddy

[mossyscavern]

Lost and found.

________________

Bumblebee was out scouting the area.

He made sure his tracker is on, something prowl has been nagging other bots to do since last incident with the ‘bridge’ an earth month ago.

Bumblebee transforms and climbs on the boulder, looks around, optics scanned the area for any sign of suspicious activity. ‘So far, nothing out of the ordinary.’ He thought to himself, before finally deciding to leave…

Is what he would’ve done, but something caught the corner of his optics. Curiosity getting the better of him, as the scout decides to take a better look.

He slid down off the rock he was on and knelt to look at it a bit closer, optics widened at the object. ‘A decepticon weapon!’ He thought in surprise, staring down at the gun imprinted with the decepticon insignia.

Bumblebee looked to the left, the right and back down at the weapon before taking it in his servos. Examining it like how ironhide taught him.

“Hm.. needs a good polish, but seems functional…safety is off.” He said to himself aiming towards another boulder a bit far from where he is.

‘Hold steady, focus on the target.. use the scope and-.’

Just as bumblebee pulled the trigger, it shot out the typical purple laser beam… and blasts the boulder to nonexistent, while also leaving a gaping hole on the side of the mountain.

Bumblebee stares at the damage, back at the gun, back to the damage. Put the safety on and placed it in his subspace. “Wheeljack and ironhide it is.”

He says out loud, transforming into his Volkswagen Beetle and drove off back to the ark.

*back at the ark*

“Hmm… yep, it’s a decepticon weapon alright.” Ironhide says, noding his helm at the weapon being held by Wheeljack. “And definitely modified too.”

Wheeljack took notice, placing the weapon back down on the examination table. “And you said it was 40 peds away from base?” Ironhide asks, bumblebee confirms with a nod.

“So… what should we do?” Bumblebee asks, eying the… honestly strangely familiar weapon.. bumblebee desperately tries but… he can’t remember exactly where he had seen it.

“We should probably wait until Optimus comes back, that way we’ll know what to do with it.” Wheeljack suggests, both the scout and weapons expert agreed with a nod. “I can take care of the gun until then.”

Bumblebee asks, making ironhide and Wheeljack stare like he has a second head. “What? It needs a good polish. Besides, you’re both on duty.”

“A’ight, you convinced me little buddy. Be sure to keep it on safety while you’re at it.” Ironhide warns, walking off to his post as bumblebee took the weapon in his servos. “Don’t worry hide, I’ll be careful.” Bumblebee promises.

Walking back to his berth room with the decepticon weapon in hand. Thinking of many ways to bring the weapon back.

*time skip*

With the gun in his servos again, bumblebee polished the weapon throughly until its looks shiny and new. Looking over at it once more, bumblebee nodded in pride as he saw no dirt or grime.

‘All that practice payed off, thanks ratchet.’ He thought placing the weapon down and picking up the data pad, writing down on said data pad about the weapons return.

He wrote.. rewrote and added his own thoughts on the matter as well as adding that they needed a weapon polisher for the gun.

Bumblebee nods at the data pad, happily placing it down, suddenly a big yawn escaped his intake, exhaustion caught up to him.

‘That took longer than I thought.’ Bumblebee thinks. Fighting the urge to sleep at the comms.

Fighting to keep his optics online, he groggily got up, walked over to his berth as he stretch his cables with another yawn, lies down and crashes in recharge.

The minibot’s optics still fought… then went into a peaceful recharge.

Blissfully unaware to his surroundings…

To be continued.

________________

… it’s supposed to be a whole story…

but it got a bit too long for my taste and a little bit too complicated sooo I shortened it! Just something to write a bit.

Anyways… I got board, I hope this fic isn’t too… much or too less on information…

I’m… trying to get better at plot twisting and big reveals for later fics. I hope this succeeds.

[tobiasdrake]

The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy 71 - Murder Murder Murder

Well, we just learned a banger of an info drop about Nozomi and her fighting style. What about the others?

She also flies on her weapon, a shovel, as if it were a witch's broom. Honestly, I love her aesthetic. 10/10

Well, you hear her. Us peasants must protect her at all cost so she can set up her crazy awesome murder turrets. I'm excited to see these in action.

Don't worry, my guy. We're all doing it together so it's a shared experience. No judgment. This is a safe environment.

Anyway, Yugamu picks on enemies afflicted with status ailments so he'll get along well with Tsubasa if I ever get to introduce them.

...oh....

...oh no, is she....

...is that why she's.....

Oh, I am intrigued as fuck by the idea that she's a trained ninja who thinks she's a samurai and is overcompensating. That is a fascinating angle.

Also her Magical Girl weapon is a second copy of her sword because of course it is.

Kyoshika's combat abilities are centered around executing single targets. She gets a damage bonus when she attacks a foe that has no other enemies adjacent to it. That is deliciously ambiguous.

It's the kind of ability you might reasonably expect of a samurai. Stepping out onto the field and dueling a powerful adversary in 1v1 combat.

...but it's also the kind of ability you might reasonably expect of a ninja. She excels at picking off and assassinating targets who've been isolated.

It's just a matter of how you present it.

I love her. God, the 2TLDA cast are amazing. I'm so jealous.

Anyways, these are just some goons so murder murder murder aaaaand....

28 days. Uh, well, more like 24 given that we've skipped a few.

Like I said, there's something wrong about Karua's Nobody that we don't have enough information to fully grasp yet.

Oh cool. Do you guys cannibalize them too, or do I get to teach you about that?

Oh cool, it's a spinny wheel that changes to and from a guy! We get to eat Optimus Prime today.

I love you guys so much. I want to live here. I want to bask in your dynamic forever.

SO WHO SCHOOLED WHO HUH

I got the killshot on the Commander but honestly Kyoshika and Kurara did a lot of the heavy lifting. So I'd say we all learned from each other pretty well. This was a mutually beneficial learning experience.

Oh cool, you guys do eat the Commanders. Awesome. Kyoshika, why don't you do the honors?

Incredible. I'm glad we could all share in this wonderful journey of healing and self-discovery. Truthfully, I think the lesson we've learned is that the real blood was inside us all along.

[quibbs126]

So it’s half sketches, but instead of that being because I was too lazy to color the rest, it’s instead because I kind of got carried away doing only sketches. And then I figured I should probably line and color at least some of them, so here we are

So this is more from that sort of Mega Man AU I made up yesterday, with some updated designs for Optimus and Megatron, and a new one for Elita

I decided to use my marker pen again for lineart, since I haven’t used it in a fair bit, but admittedly the lines may have been too thick, which I think you can especially see with the faces. But oh well

Elita’s design is still a bit of a work in progress. I thought it looked fine in sketch form, but looking at it now, she might need more reworking, particularly with her head. It kind of looks like she’s wearing a wrestler’s mask, which personally I’m not a big fan of

Also she has hair, because a lot of Mega Man, or at least Mega Man X designs, have hair, so I figured might as well try it out here. I couldn’t settle on a hair color though, or at least one that fit while not blending in with her other colors. I may just scrap it in all honesty, but I think she may need more around her head regardless

But as for Elita in this AU? I’m thinking she’s more a loner, or she has her own team rather than working with this duo. She’s friendly, at least to Optimus, but she’d rather work by her own rules. And as stated before, she’s very over the top anime

She also has a double sided axe here as opposed to Optimus’ single sided, but that might change later if I feel like it

She kind of gives me Protoman vibes? It’s probably because of the glasses, and also because my head’s been rattling around with this one Elita idea for a bit. Namely of her and Optimus being rebuilt by Alpha Trion like in g1, but instead of being rebuilt at the same time, Elita-1 was built some time before Optimus, being Alpha’s first attempt while Optimus was the second. Which kind of fits with Protoman’s origin

It might be her origin here too? I’m not sure how much I want to deal with creators in this story, since in Mega Man the robots very much have creators, while in Transformers that’s not so much the case

She might just be like, Optimus’ cool older sister

On to other things in this AU, so I decided to look up videos on Mega Man X lore to get more knowledge, considering it’s the basis for this AU. So the Maverick Virus is what makes Reploids go crazy and cause issues. So I might incorporate some sort of virus into this story as well?

Like either the Decepticons are basically like Mavericks, infected by the virus and gone crazy, or this is after the war and a virus outbreak has been making bots crazy, possibly targeting Decepticons for some reason. Maybe the former

But also I learned that apparently it was the Maverick Virus was what made Zero chill, because it changed programming and he was evil before that. And I’m considering having this also be the case for Megatron here

Originally it was just as a joke, like I thought it’d be funny if he was crazy and then the crazy virus made him chill instead. But I’ve thought about it a bit more, and I kind of want it legitimately

Like okay, here Optimus and Megatron are the top bots in dealing with the infected bots. Not just because of their strength, but because neither can get infected themselves. Optimus has the Matrix, which gives him protection, but Megatron is just seemingly immune to the virus

Unbeknownst to anyone else however, he isn’t immune at all, and he’s been infected with it for years. However, instead of turning him mad, it cleared his mind and instead made him far more calm, and he ended up instead working with Optimus and his group to stop these other violent bots

He knows this, but he hasn’t told anyone else about his situation, because of several reservations. For starters, his team is meant to take out infected bots, which means they might turn on him, or misunderstand that it doesn’t affect him the way it’s supposed to and think he’s going to turn rogue. He’s also been working with them for a while, so the fact that he’s been keeping this secret might be seen as a betrayal, and he doesn’t want to lose these people he considers friends

There’s also been work towards finding a cure, and he doesn’t want to be cured. He was violent and full of nothing but rage before, he doesn’t want to go back to that. He isn’t fully sure if that’s what would happen if he was cured, but he doesn’t want to take that chance. It’s also a reason why he doesn’t tell Optimus, because the Matrix makes him immune and is considered the best bet for a cure, and Optimus might unintentionally do so, or with good intentions (Megatron tries to generally avoid the Matrix on missions for the same reasons)

But also it gives him questions he doesn’t like having, like why is he seemingly the only person affected differently? And/or if the virus is meant to disrupt and alter intended programming, does that mean he was always intended to be a violent maniac? Why? Why was he made this way? And is he wrong to be the way he is now?

But yeah, Megatron’s got stuff going on. Will probably come up for conflict later

Also megop’s probably a thing here? I have it that they live together, as you can see in the top right. Also while Optimus may not be the gremlin TFO Orion is, he does not sleep gracefully whatsoever. It’s a bit annoying to Megatron but he ultimately doesn’t mind. It was just supposed to be a funny thing, but yeah there’s probably megop here

And I think that’s it for now. I have a couple ideas for Arcee and maybe some for Bumblebee, so I’ll probably do more of this. Also I’m planning on trying out the Mega Man games too, since I saw they’re on the eShop

I also need a name for this AU probably

[blade-liger-4ever]

Until I can write something here in a laptop-friendly area, I'll have to be satisfied with asking this:

Do you have any headcanons regarding how the Decepticons, mostly Megatron, view Smokescreen? Usually Megatron goes "the one called *insert name*" when referring to other non-Optimus Autobots. I think the only ones he doesn't say that about are ones that are close enough to Optimus for him to recognize/care (Bumblebee, Ratchet, Ultra Magnus). I feel like after Smokescreen went "Why? Who wants to know?" Megs remembers him/his name out of spite.

Of course, it didn't seem like he knew it until Inside Job where they went inside his head. Until that, he was "Prime's latest recruit" or "YOU!!!"

I dunno, what are your thoughts?

No worries, I usually resort to my tablet for asks (the joys of having a dying laptop that scares the crap out of you when you get overly worried about it.)

Oooo, that's a bit tough, but the easiest one is actually Megatron's opinion of Smokescreen. I genuinely think he's the only non-Optimus Autobot that Megatron respects. Because let's face it, when was the last time anyone who wasn't "the Prime" didn't bend under his scowl? Not to mention Smokey was gutsy enough to 1 stand up to him, 2 cope with his capture, and 3 escape in such rapid fashion. All that has to make him the second most troublesome Autobot Megatron has seen in millennia (Ratchet's a relic who's only dangerous when he snorts some space drug, Bumblebee is an "insect" not worth his time, and Magnus is predictable after a point.) Thus, Smokescreen is a dangerous opponent on account of his adaptability and quick thinking. Plus, it's amusing to him that it takes a KID thumbing his nose at him and who pulls all this off as opposed to veterans like the above characters who just either get worked up as anticipated or don't visibly react.

Essentially, he feels it's a fun, if irksome and dangerous, development on the Autobot side.

Starscream I feel views him as this annoying child, not realizing that Smokey is intentionally pushing his buttons (gleefully, I might add. He's such an easy target after all.)

Soundwave at first thinks he's your run of the mill rookie, then probably has to process later that this kid freaking escaped him. I think he'd laugh at the accomplishment if he weren't busy figuring out just how Smokescreen got past him. He's for sure gonna dig up his file and prepare for their next encounter.

I got nothing for how Dreadwing would see him, but the only other one is that Knock Out is driven mad by Smokey for the same reasons as Starscream.

So, by name, Megatron is absolutely etching Smokescreen into his memory, as well as using a few other derogative monikers to see if he'll get any rise out of him. He might start getting reminded of Orion Pax when dealing with Smokescreen, which would be an interesting thought the Kaonite gladiator would mull over.

Soundwave begins viewing him as "Alpha Trion's bodyguard" or as AT's "apprentice." Since Soundwave never keeps anything from his leader, Megatron would take Smokescreen's file under advisement and might put together ahead of anyone but Optimus that there may be a future Prime on OP's team.

Starscream and Knock Out just see him under various insults like "brat" or "child", etc.

Dreadwing has no idea what the fuss is about and, when not referring to him by name, addresses Smokescreen as "the Guardsman" out of warrior respect.

Thanks for this, I had fun!

[kryptonbabe]

The lobotomy of Gears, Megatron's most heinous crime and the tyranny of the majority: an unnecessary socio-historical perspective of a Transformers episode

As I was watching Changing Gears, the 7th episode of the second season of The Transformers I was not expecting to be sucked into a black hole that took me to 20th century psychiatry, democracy criticism and minorities rights. And well, I just needed to put this out there, if nothing else to show how media can affect us in different ways, this was my personal Transformers journey of the day.

The episode revolves around Megatron's plan to remove the personality modulator of the Autobot Gears and use it in his evil sun draining machine, the details are not important, what matters is that Gears personality is fundamentally changed without the engine stolen, and his uptight and irritated personality, turned from this:

To that:

I don't think it's a long shot to understand this change of behavior as something very similar to the effects of the lobotomy treatment that was popular in 20th century psychiatry. This type of brain surgery is defined by the severance of the connections between the frontal lobe and the rest of the brain. "Often, the procedure made people quiet and docile, which they interpreted as a sign of success" - according to MNT. Which is exactly what happens to Gears without his personality modulator.

This is a Sylvia Plath dialogue with a lobotomized patient from her 1950s novel The Bell Jar. And Gears "perpetual marble calm". This excerpt came to my mind because that book along with a couple of movies made me (almost irrationally) scared of these kind of procedures when I was younger. By being underage (back then), depressed and gay I thought I was a perfect victim for invasive, radical ways of making me "normal". Times changed of course, but back then disabled people, the LGBTQ+, women and others with a "strange behavior" were the main targets for lobotomy.

When Ironhide sees Gears transformation from irritable runt to docile servant he is appalled, disgusted...

LOL

How dare Megatron turn Gears into that? Removing the agency and liberty of an individual while keeping them alive, Megatron was way out of line, right? However... by the end of the whole conflict, a complex moral twist takes place among the good guys, the Autobots, when Trailbreaker admits:

Here, Trailbreaker position is reminiscent of that of husbands who would approve of the docile behavior of their wives after the lobotomy surgery. Particularly in a time where women were expected to be calm, cooperative and attentive to domestic affairs. Also I hate the fact that Bumblebee calls that calm behavior "photovoltaic pussycat" because that sounds cool, but in that case it's terrible, stop trying to make debilitating procedures cool Bumblebee! This interaction quickly took me to some dark places, a place where your loved ones can choose how you should behave, a place where you have no choice but to conform to a social expectation, making others lives easier while turning you into a limited being. Maybe not the place where the writers of this kid's tv show wanted to take their audience, I'm aware, but regardless, that's where I ended up, for a while.

They vote and decide to keep Gears without his personality modulator, and Prime agrees:

With this sentence Optimus perfectly synthesizes the concept of majoritarianism in the way of perpetrating the tyranny of the majority. "If the majority rules, what is to stop it from expropriating the minority, or from tyrannizing it in other ways by enforcing the majority's religion, language, or culture on the minority?" (Oxford Dictionary). In that case, Gears had his rights to keep his behavior and personality removed from him by a democratic rule. That reminds us that democracy as a political system is not without its flaws. If the majority agrees on it, does that make it immediately a right or good decision?

Luckily Gears interferes, with a threat that sounds both violent and vague at the same time, a nice touch of writing for a kid's show:

Never change Gears, nothing wrong with a little threat of violence to guarantee your rights to be your own person.

After his threat the Autobots listen to Gears, respect his wishes and Prime just gives his personality modulator back, after that they all laugh!

And honestly... I think they're happier with Gears just the way he always were, grumpy and irritated, but his true self, look at their smiling faces!

At the end of the day this episode's moral is probably: Hey kids, if they're not evil, accept your loved ones for who they are. Let's keep lobotomy procedures in the past and learn to respect our differences based on our deeply flawed history. At least, that's my, admittedly, very specific take on it...

I know this episode took me places and reminded me of old fears and thoughts I didn't have for a while, but it felt good to organize and share these ideas. Thanks for reading it.

[quetzalpapalotl]

Strange thing but did you ever feel like Tarn was made to be more pathetic just to work around Megatron being on the MTMTE cast? Like maybe pathetic wasn't the right word but like JRo had to kneecap the character cor Megs.

Honestly, Tarn has always being pathetic to me lmao

But I kind of get what you mean. There are two factors about Tarn's confrontation with Megatron that make him seem pathetic, the first is that he's an emotional mess that wants to punish Megatron at the same time that he's begging him to go back to the person he used to be. The second is how easily Megatron gets rid of him the moment Megatron decides to get serious, making Tarn look weak in comparison.

For the first one, I really would have accepted nothing else. Tarn is above everything else fake. The guy is LARPing at being this righteous revolutionary that's doing the necessary evil who is so smooth and cultured who cares so much for his team and Megatron's vision and all that. Tarn—presumably to distance himself from Glitch—relies on performing this image of himself and his idolatry of Megatron to get a sense of identity and confidence, it's not about the cause no matter how many quotes he throws at you, is about feeling good with himself. This, I think, is something that has always being a part of his character, so him losing his shit when his identity is treathened this way is only natural.

And there's something poetic about it, Tarn who represents the cause is hollow and fake because Megatron's cause was always being hollow and fake. He groomed Tarn just to spite Optimus. He made up some shit about how they totally needed to kill all the organics and after that we'll have peace, trust me, bro, because his life stopped to have meaning without violence and he didn't want to be vulnerable ever again. So Megatron has to expose and kill Tarn for his own arc.

And I really like that, I love that Tarn is absolutely lame despite it, or because of it, he is this terrifying threat. But because he's introduced as this mounstrous unstoppable force, it may feel cheap that Megatron defeats him so easily. But honestly I don't have a problem with it, Megatron is supposed to be Megatron, the scourge of the galaxy, the guy this professional murder-torturer fears so much. I think it was important for the arc he was going through to really show just how good Megatron is at violence and why he's so afraid of returning to it.

Which I guess, from a certain point of view, does mean that Tarn was discarded for Megatron's arc, but like, he's a villian, he was meant to be defeated no matter how scary he looked, I don't mind. And like, Megatron did have to pull a brand new and op trick to do it, which I guess may also feel unsatisfying, but like, it's Transformers, I expect bullshit powers to happen and it did have set up, it wasn't out of nowhere, which is the most I ask. The most important thing for me is that things make thematic sense.

But I will say that we do know that originally Drift was going to be the DJD's target, and we can't say how that would have looked like, Drift doesn't really need to be able to curb-stomp the DJD alone. But I don't think Tarn's personality would have come across as any less pathetic, like I said, his character always seemed fake, even before Dark Cybertron. And Drift is someone who is also portrayed as putting on a fake-ass persona at the start of Mtmte so they kinda seem like they were meant to be foils.

I don't dare to speculate further because JRo has a very different vision of Drift than McCarthy and then Drift ended up being the worst written character out of Mtmte bc JRo didn't knew what to do with him when he had to deviate everything to include Megatron. So who knows what Drift vs Tarn would have looked liked, maybe more equal since Drift isn't Megatron. But really my issue with this isn't that Tanr was done dirty, but that Drift was.

[flameofthescorpion]

Sinking Deeper....Deeper...

Next part for the Herald of Chaos Sentinel AU! I'm sorry it took so long, my motivation for Writing and Drawing are NOT the same. This ones shorter than the first one but i hope it suffices anyway. CW: Manipulation, Rotting/Decay, some graphic descriptions of violence and i would say a pretty hefty doses of Psychological Horror. OF COURSE, TRANSFORMERS ONE SPOILERS

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It had been a while since everything. The mech could not even tell how much time had passed, only that it had been some time, enough so that the fallen (false) Prime could see from a distance that Iacon had recovered mostly from his death and long had focused on trying to rebuilt itself once Megatron had gone ballistic and attempted to destroy the glorious underground City. He saw it all. Despite his obvious loss of energon clouding his vision and his senses numbening out, he could still recognize that a fight had ensued and that Orion, the fool, had been chosen by Primus to become the next Prime. He. Out of ALL bots. him. Sentinel clenched his servos which were slowly eroding and reshaping into claws with the passage of time, anger bubbling deep within his long rotten core, long replaced with a darkness not even Primus himself could cleanse out of the shell he had become of himself. ”We are past this topic. stop.” A voice rang out in the back of Sentinel’s processor, and he wasn't completely sure if it even was his own any longer. The demon was still watching him, the same demon that he once thought was his “angel”, a simple admirer who had courtesy to save his life, nothing but a false image, he lured Sentinel into something he could not back out of now. Despite him not physically being present, he still managed to watch Sentinels everymove. Yet the false ex-Prime wasn't sure whether or not the demon could read his thoughts. He might just be paranoid at this point. 

Sentinel knew one thing for certain, he had been messing with the mech’s processor. Making sure his memories were hazy, “for focus’ sake.” was his excuse. Yet the hatred he had for Megatron and Optimus Prime kept his memory of those 2 Cybertronians very clear. Everything else just seemed like a blurred cloud of fog, could he recall any other names? affiliations? relations? not really. But he supposed that was not important anymore. His past life was no more. All that counted was his focus on the current goal. Current? total. Total goal. Sentinel didn't know why he just thought of current goal. Getting the matrix of leadership and getting back in power after getting his well earned revenge was his total goal. Getting the Matrix. He NEEDED to get the Matrix. He NEEDED to- “Get the Matrix, Sentinel.” The mech shook his helm. What was THAT? He decided to debate that later and decided to rather focus on what to do now. Iacon was still busy trying to rebuild itself, he needed to strike now, well not the centrepoint of course, he needed to weaken their defense systems first. The false Prime still had to do it while they did not have the strength to completely overwhelm him in mere seconds.

With his wings flared, he attempted to take flight only to fall onto his facial plates promptly after. Sentinel’s golden optics shifted over to his wings to see what's the matter, eroding. they were ERODING. Just like everything else on his body. Eroding and reforming, making him more useful. Stronger.-

It looks like he was walking. Mayhaps that was even better, with his frame having exponentially darkened he could blend easier into darkness than the openness of the caverns. His first target was away from most of the city anyway, plenty of hiding spots to use to his advantage.

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Yet that seemed not to work as he had imagined, it really was not long until they had spotted him. HOW they had spotted him was a mystery to the Mech. Sentinel was well hidden, there was nothing to see him, absolutely nothing! He didn't understand! What kind of surveillance system had they installed? “Fool.”

hat is strange, he had expected the smoke but not that irony note. The false prime shook his helm again. Focus! Focus!

If he couldn't disable it in secret, then he would destroy it and give himself more time to strike. 

Rushing out of his hiding spot with his wings raised and claws bared, he rushed at almost unnatural speeds at his opponents. The air rushed through past his body and claws, giving slight resistance as he swung the deadly talons at one of the guards, piercing their helm and processor. Sentinel froze for a second in pure horror. Since when had he become this strong? However his frozen state was interrupted as he felt a hot, searing pain at the back of his wings. Turning slowly with his rotting optics focused, their pupils pinprick small as they saw the other cybertronian trying to disable him, putting him offline. They are trying to put you offline. Sentinel.

Dentas long reshaped into sharp fangs bared in a fit of rage he launched himself at the guard, spark soon torn out in a blinded state. This wasn't like him. Their facial plates were blurry sure, but this wasn't like him, he didn't fight this savage. He had honor. Had. YOU HAD honor. You traded it for your life. His optics reset as he got up rushing to the control room, less because he was in danger and more to just get away from what he had done. Sentinel never was a stranger to causing death, but not like THAT. Slowing down as he reached the control room his optics focused on a blaster pointed at him before it was lowered by shackled servos.

“Sentinel?”

A feminine voice called out in shock and confusion. A familiar voice, Sentinel could no longer pinpoint it. He looked up, black lanky frame, yet facial plates blurred. You don't need to remember her. She's irrelevant. You serve Chaos, Sentinel. Yet something within his blackened spark clenched. This wasn't just SOME bot he once knew. No recollections. If she was important then why couldn't he remember. Why is his hatred of Megatron and Orion enough to retain his knowledge of him. How is his own arrogance and ego enough to remember that he was once the ruler of Lacon enough. What about her wasn't enough to remember who she was yet still have a feeling of familiarity. “Sentinel say something.” She called out again. Sentinel didn't know what to do, frozen in confusion and conflict. Something in his rotting guts told him they used to be allies, that she can be trusted. Well she seemed to know him, that was for sure. “What have they done to you? Who has done this?”

Her voice was muffled almost yet at that question he sprung back to life. If Sentinel truly knew her ENOUGH that he could recognize the cybertronian in front of him partially, perhaps, just perhaps she could join him. He may not fully recognize her but perhaps they can get to know each other again. It was getting lonely anyway.- Wait, why does he want this? His life is a living hell now! Why would he want to drag others into this?- Its boring to do everything alone. Underlings would be nice.

“Why of course the great Unmaker who else? He gave me all I have ever wanted! Power, Strength" That isn't what he wanted to say! ….Well okay he did. But not like that! Sentinel blinked, Composing himself. “What I meant was that he had saved me from certain Death. I want to retake Lacon, what we had.”

He had tried to conceal the fact that he still didn't know who the cybertronian was on a personal level. Yet instead with acceptance, or even contemplation, she violently backed off, disgust written on her facial plates from what Sentinel could make out. “What…are you.” She sounded afraid. Was he some kind of Monster to her? Well yes he was a monster personality wise, afterall he wasn't oblivious to the fact he made everyone slave away for HIS benefit but physically wise he was always able to conceal that fact. Something changed.

Monster.

That is what he was now. Inside as well as out. a monster.

He tried to shake his helm again trying to get the thoughts off his processor. That DEFINITELY wasn't his thought. He KNEW what he was but why is this affecting him and sending him in a fit of anger? That's just a fact of what he is! that shouldnt bother him! A Monster is what you are Sentinel. Choose a twisted life over death, casted aside your pride and honor to become a mere Herald of Chaos.

And with that he launched himself at the other cybertronian in the room with full intent to tear her frame to shreds, blind from a pure rage he had no idea until now was building up to become unbearable. You are here to follow orders, my orders only.