#Out of His Head

[merlinfromberlin]

It is once again that time of the month where I rewatch Out Of His Head to write angst about Megatron being stuck in Bee's head.

It's just... a very compelling episode to write angst about. Like, there is so many possibilities for what exactly Megatron could have been doing to Bee in order to control him. Did Megatron torture him? Did Megs overpower him based on willpower alone? Was Bee still in stasis and completely unaware until he woke on the Nemesis the first time? Did Megatron see any of Bumblebee's memories? Did he maybe trap Bee in one of them? Tyger Pax, maybe? Did Megatron conjure a happy fantasy for Bee to get lost in and stay complacent while Megs was doing his nefarious deeds?

Who knows. It's what makes the episode so incredibly compelling to me. Because it could be so many things.

The last one is what I'm currently playing with for angstober. But honestly, I love all of these possibilities and will probably keep coming back to this episode. ^^"

Fun fact: Out Of His Head is (among a great many other episodes) also on my re-watch list for another wip where I take a completely different approach to how Megatron managed to control Bumblebee.

[tfp-is-prime]

Transformers: Prime Season 1, Episode 14: "Out of His Head"

Original Airdate: May 7, 2011 2023 TFP Rerun Airdate: May 7, 2024 [Watch on YouTube] Synopsis, courtesy of Apple: Megatron remains a fixture inside Bumblebee’s mind and manipulates his actions back at the Autobot base.

[flash-lighter]

I made my own blog and then immediately disappeared from front for three days, anyways hello everybody I’m back :)

Anyways I’ve been considering posting this for awhile but I wasn’t sure how the reactions to it would be oh well I’m going to do it anyways, this is what I look like in system! For anyone who might have been curious :)

Both of these I drew myself, by the way

[keef-a-corn]

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

This is for season 1, episode 14: Out of His Head

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

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

~~~~Transition~~~~

~recap~

00:48 - I’m pretty sure that’s what pupils actually do when you shine light in them.

00:52 - Ratchet’s using a torch fr.

00:58 - *sigh* here we have an example of TFP skipping over recovery arcs, although there probably wasn’t much to Optimus’s.

01:05 - ‘OlD fRiEnD’ tryin to convince us they ain’t married.

01:07 - Ratchet making sure Bee got credit, aww

01:08 - They’re so proud of him.

01:12 - Tryin to be modest as if he didn’t do that.

01:15 - with confidence ‘did you just say that?.’

01:18 - gotta bring focus back to husbands recovery.

01:24 - ‘Megatron shouldn’t be a problem, Arcee probably killed him.’ Not too confident with that one though.

01:28 - they looking at Arcee. How would they not have noticed something was up with Bee?

01:36 - these shots would be useful if you needed a reference for Bee’s hands.

01:39 - It’s annoying that Optimus doesn’t notice something’s wrong sooner.

01:46 - Megatron chilling in the dark could mean one of two things. 1. Bots that are awake don’t have a mind scape or 2. Bee doesn’t have a safe place to imagine himself if that he can rely on.

~intro~

03:08 - Bulkhead’s just chilling watching Bee as if he couldn’t go defend.

03:19 - I know someone who passes like that. It would constantly jar my fingers while trying to catch her pass.

03:29 - not even slightly concerned about Bee pegging the ball at your head?.

03:42 - oh no! Babee!

03:51 - one would thank that for closeups of Megatron’s face they’d make sure he was looking forward.

04:24 - really entertaining himself, huh? Also this plot is only here to get the boys out of the building.

04:33 - where has he been keeping that? …up his as-

04:48 - Starscream’s so entertaining to watch.

04:53 - so… Megatron’s child?

04:57 - I recommend watching that scene on loop while playing ‘bet on it’

05:01 - why he gotta lean like that?

05:13 - Robots bowing gotta be(e) one of my favourite genders fr

05:17 - Huh…

05:20 - H OL UP Raf has parents, right?? Can’t he go to them to drop him off? Do they know that an expensive ass car is driving their son to school?

05:41 - What exactly is Megatron doing? If he was smart he would’ve been snooping in on the bots or is he seriously just waiting?

05:45 - The camera’s very fair away from Bee and there’s a loud noise. How haven’t the other bots noticed something’s wrong?

05:50 - this is much uncomfortable. Between Megatron being able to control Bee to the tone he uses when encouraging him.

05:59 - the transition from Megatron to Bee is so smooth I can’t breathe. + Ratchet calling out his name causing Bee to regain control is beautiful.

06:02 - Look at hiiiimmmmm awwww

06:03 - RATCHET’S SO HEAVILY ANIMATED I CAAAAN’T it’s almost like the animators forgot they are metal.

06:05 - with confidence ‘what?’ Also this is how my dogs look when I put their food in their bowls.

06:07 - I don’t understand why or how, but Ratchet looks stunning here.

06:11 - Bee proving that if he was bitten during an apocalypse he would tell the people around him.

06:14 - so remember before when I said that Megatron chilling in the darkness means one of two things?. Will the first one couldn’t be true, otherwise this line wouldn’t make sense.

06:17 - There’s something so interesting about the way Bee powers down.

06:19 - This shot just looks cool.

06:21 - Optimus looks so concerned. + Heavily animated Ratchet.

06:25 - Heavily animated Raf, huh.

06:25 - Optimus just silently standing their looking between Bee and Ratchet. It’s slightly upsetting to realise that he doesn’t say a word during this scene as if he wouldn’t have something to say.

06:33 - Man, I wish I could get that.

06:47 - that ‘why?’ is so done with Fowler.

07:01 - LOOK AT THAT SIZE DIFFERENCE.

07:13 - good thing.

07:40 - I’m pretty sure it wouldn’t. We are talking about the Arctic, right? As in the place that is sheets of ice floating on top of water? If it was the Antarctic, sure, but I’m pretty sure ice that melts without land underneath just melts, rather than increases water levels. I could be wrong though.

07:42 - my face when I realised that they added in this stupid B plot so that the A plot could focus on Bee, Ratchet, Raf and Megatron, but that came with the price of Bee struggling with something and the rest of team Prime choosing not to get involved or say a word on the matter, including Optimus.

08:28 - this means that Power down mode is not like a coma. Raf’s honestly wasting his breath because he’ll have to repeat the story later.

08:49 - 👁👄👁

08:52 - That’s how it feels when someone shows me a photo of a baby and goes on about them, while I try my hardest not to tell them that the baby looks kickable.

08:57 - Honestly, most realistic reaction. There’s probably something here that could be used as a parent Ratchet & child Bee fic prompt.

09:02 - The way Ratchet dismisses Raf until he links it back to Bee + the subtlety of Ratchet’s eyes widening + the cue of the music coming in.

09:03 - THE SMILE CAUGHT ME SO OFF GUARD I CRIED. YOU KNOW THAT HE’S FRAGGIN PROUD OF BEE- MY HEARRRRRT. (Fun fact, I was showing my friend this shot later and they got very worried because I started crying in class)

09:09 - ngl, kinda forgot his was standing their unconscious.

09:13 - BOOOOOOO! M’kay, Imma stop hating on the subplot now. Just hope I’ve made it clear that I don’t like why it’s there.

09:21 - This is so amusing to see because it’s such a Scooby Doo sorta thing.

09:27 - Optimus flexes his hand just to ball it up again.

09:38 - Here we have a time when Prime is not a good start off show (that and because your standards get raised really high and you get thoroughly disappointed when other medias aren’t the exact same) because they don’t explain wtf ‘the end run on Polyhex’ was.

09:39 - Bee’s wings, when he’s powered down, rests at a lower angle, but when he’s awake we know that they point up. One idea could be that when he’s awake, they rest at a higher up state (cue fanfic prompt where a bot realises Bee’s awake because of the wings).

09:47 - ya’ll seeing what I’m seeing?

09:48 - That’s the opposite way to how he powered down. Literally. The angles, the movement. It the exact same, just in reverse. This ain’t a bad thing by any means.

10:06 - I highly recommend watching the way Bee’s pedes/feet work. It’s interesting.

10:30 - why doesn’t Ratchet think to a) call Optimus or b[ee]) FOLLOW BEE?? Why is he just standing there??

10:50 - why are so many bots blind in this episode?? HOW DID YOU MISS THAT?!

10:56 - from this you can tell that Megatron’s not used to controlling Bee’s hands/servos because he kinda fumbles when originally trying to pick it up.

11:14 - YES. YOU SHOULD!

11:17 - I get it. I do. But here’s the thing.. Bumblebee had just gone into Megatron’s mind, then later mentions that he’s seeing Megatron’s face, he’s now gone to the location that he doesn’t know after waking up from a forced power down! YOU COULD AT LEAST LET OPTIMUS KNOW

11:27 - HE SOUNDS LIKE A MUM! I C A N ‘ T

11:30 - *grabs child’s wrist*

11:31 - *child immediately opens hand to show what he’s holding* it’s a muscle memory.

If anyone tries to deny that Ratchet is a parental figure to Bumblebee, I’m going to bite them.

11:34 - It was this moment we got to find out what it would look like getting punched by Bumblebee.

11:35 - RATCHET NO!

11:36 - Okay but that pose- damn Bee.

11:38 - Why is he whispering?

11:42 - I get this is menacing and all but he looks like he’s doing this: Ò^Ó

12:02 - now we watch as he DOESN’T CALL OPTIMUS.

12:07 - ‘I’m fine. More importantly is Bumblebee?’ Making me tear up.

12:26 - when you mess with the wrong medics child:

12:41 - … to be fair… yeah.. Ratchet did his research, he should’ve known.

12:54 - This episode could’ve gone differently if THE HAD CALLED OPTIMUS. THIS ONE I AIN’T LETTIN GO.

12:59 - Raf, listen buddy… someone needs to man the ground bridge while all bots are in the Arctic. Also you’re gonna get hurt, ya dip.

13:05 - *cri*

13:09 - I’m like 90% sure this is men in the bathroom.

13:29 - Starscream’s worse than Megatron.

13:33 - YES! MY ‘TRANSFORMERS BOWING’ COLLECTION EXPANDS!!

13:36 - BREAKDOWN! I CHOOSE YOU!

13:43 - love that ‘evil’ laugh for ya, king

14:32 - When characters believe a character that’s being mind controlled can ‘fight it’ is so incredibly frustrating. It’s mind control, not a physical fight, there’s so much more to it.

14:55 - RAF. WHY THE FRAG WOULD YOU YELL THAT WHIKE RATCHET’S TRYING TO SNEAK IN??

14:57 - Once he knew it wasn’t his child, all bets were off. Ratchet attaccs.

15:01 - ya know who would be really useful if this sort of situation? OPTIM-

15:09 - Reminder this is not a memory issue, this is a warlord CONTROLLING BUMBLEBEE FROM THE INSIDE OF HIS HEAD. Raf is an idiot.

15:13 - it’s the listening part that got him, not the ‘remember me’ part.

15:14 - Aww.. the babies trying his hardest. Watching the way Bee’s eyes shift is genuinely heartbreaking.

15:17 - he looks adorable.

15:21 - the way Bee’s wings are so high up-

15:27 - NO! He’s obviously in pain.. I can’t!!

15:44 - YES! (But imagine how much easier it would’ve been with opt-)

15:50 - Raf’s genuinely making me mad. WHEN HAS THAT WORKED THIS WHOLE EPISODE??

06:00 - … H o w D o e s T h a t W o r k ? Is he actually beeping? Is that actually Megatron’s voice? Is he beeping but it sounds like Megatron’s voice??

16:05 - FOR FRAGS SAKE RAF-

16:27 - weirdly pretty.

16:31 - oooh~ love me some height difference and from Megatron’s perspective.

16:51 - I was kinda expecting ‘daddy’s home’

17:02 - Man, I had the Mandela affect on this. I always thought the Megatron said ‘I outta thank you for your hospitality, Scout. Deceptions, finish these pests.’ Might’ve been from a fanfiction but I swear I’ve seen it. + this shots remind me of the scenes that Megatron was talking to Bee in Sick Mind.

17:17 - dunno how I’m supposed to feel about Ratchet leaving Bee in open fire.

17:35 - HE CAN FLY

17:37 - that was cool ngl

17:39 - if he kept his legs closed he would’ve had a gymnastics technique going there while he mounted the spike. If you know you know.

17:53 - Sorry Arcee, you don’t got those strong legs like Bee.

18:04 - Transformers on ice. (Decided to see if it’s real and omg)

18:23 - that’s rich, ain’t it?

18:27 - I love that so much.

18:41 - So light em up up up, light em up up up-

18:49 - If I had a dollar for every time the screen went white in this episode, I’d have two dollars.

19:29 - and you’ll never believe who brought him back

20:45 - oh I see, so the guilt of failing to fight off Megatron’s control and bringing him back is gonna come later, got it!

20:52 - On the scan Bee’s head and chest are red.

20:58 - ignore me, that’s normal.

21:04 - Why is Optimus wearing his battle mask? Wait why is everyone so excited?

21:28 - AHHHHHHHHH

———————

So that was Out of His Head!

I really enjoy the episode, but wish they had done a bit more with Bee being controlled by Megatron, especially if they had touched on the group noticing the little things more.

I mentioned at that start that TFP skips recovery arcs and that is certainly the case for Bumblebee, especially considering that for a bot loyal to Optimus, bringing back Megatron could be viewed as traitorous. Not by Optimus, but by Bee himself.

I also thought that Raf’s role was pretty weak. He didn’t actually do anything for the plot.

Then you have the very apparent part of Optimus not being as involved with the A plot as he should’ve been.

But I thought the animation was beautiful, the dynamic between Ratchet and Bumblebee was enjoyable and Bee being common ground for the dynamic between Raf and Ratchet.

Despite all the negatives, when you’re just watching the episode and not deconstructing it the way I do for the notes, it’s very much an enjoyable watch and I sincerely hope I haven’t ruined the episode.

[batcavescolony]

Katniss is such an unreliable narrator. She says "Then something unexpected happens. At least, I don't expect it because I don't think of District 12 as a place that cares about me" girl you deliver strawberries to the Mayor, you hunt and trade for the district, when you fell at Prim being chosen someone caught you, when you went to Prim people parted for you, when you volunteered EVERYONE stopped. Idk how to tell you but I think you're a pillar of the community.

[dudedidujust]

The daily planet runs a front page article calling superman the light of mankind

Cue the batfam launching a counter campaign in support of Signal,  the real Light of Mankind.

It starts as a joke but quickly derails into an all out war.

[ktkat99]

Jason comes back from the dead and, as he's still a bit out of it, heads to the manor.

Crawling straight up through six feet of compacted earth is hard, especially after waking up suddenly in a coffin, so after he makes it inside, he sits down to rest on the couch.

And immediately falls asleep.

Hours later, Bruce returns home to find Jason's body, covered in dirt, dug up from the grave and left on his couch.

[otto-doctavius]

Logan and Mary Puppins are so “dad and the dog he said he didn’t want” coded. He was acting disgusted by that dog for 90% of the movie, then when they were going to fight the Deadpools that almost baby-talk “You won’t wanna see this, bub.” slipped out. Then ofc there’s the bit at the end when they’re all at the table and he’s just sitting there playing with her ears and laughing as he makes her high-five Laura. I see you, mr “she is NOT coming with us”. You like that nasty little dog

[chloesimaginationthings]

FNAF Springtrap's first night in Dead by daylight..

[mooreaux]

Love Undying

[enthyrea]

i wonder what they were up to before this

[tinnedmarlin]

helmetless gabriel

gabriel got his “artsy side” from gianni. it runs in the family

[hymnoeides]

Apollo rkgk！！

Have the line art itself too bc I think they’re pretty nice :3

[anetesenpai]

Eternally fascinated by the fact that, canonically, Zoro's single (1) neuron is good at maths

Other crewmate's reaction

[morganbritton132]

17 year old, CEO Tim Drake canceling a press conference and then putting out a statement like, “Sorry for canceling last min, Alfred said that he was going to run my laptop through the dishwasher if I didn’t clean my room. I think he’d do it :/. Also, wasn’t really in the mood. Cya -Tim.”

[raynewolferune]

DC x DP Prompt: Bruce is bad at emoting but at least ghosts are empathic (too bad bat kids are not)

Was reading Twincognito on AO3 when I stumbled across this gem again:

~

" “Danny, Tim. I was just…checking in. Is everything alright?” Curse his inability to make meaningful conversation when it wasn’t a life or death situation.

They glanced at each other and shrugged.

Then Danny hauled himself out of the bed and walked over to Bruce.

Bruce tried not to let too much excitement show on his face. "

~

Now I really want to read a story where Bruce adopts Danny post Meta trafficking and is being his usual emotionally constipated self. His kids keep getting mad at him because he's treating their new meta brother who was trafficked poorly (generally being stilted in conversation with him, walking away hurriedly mid-conversation, avoiding Danny when he's feeling really awkward, etc). They think Bruce is discriminating against Danny for being a civilian, meta, dealer's pick, but really it's just Bruce being horribly socially awkward. Danny knows this because of ghost empathy and find the whole thing hilarious. The whole thing comes to a head with the Bat Kids staging an intervention in the Bat Cave.