#Ratchet and OP are having a VERY bad day

[starscream-is-my-wife]

What was happening during the interlude, bumblebee experiences a day without any (robot) adult supervision

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[mgarmagedon]

Weird question but how Bee and Arcee reacted when their parents give theme away to Optimus and Ratchet and what they feeled about from day to day being parents to Bee and Arcee? The question poped out after seeing your art with Ratchet with Bee and Arcee when they were smoll. Hope you have great day or night ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️ And your art is AWASOME ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

OMG THANK YOU SM DUDE ❤️❤️❤️

But that is interesting question actually! Because at the begging Ratchet was very angry at Optimus that he took children to main autobot base, where was mainly males around their age or older and at this point of the time they weren't even married yet (so believe me or not, there was few quite weeks).

Arcee felt very unwanted, she even was thinking of running away with her baby brother (even if he was only 1 y/o child when she was 6 XDDDDD), after all this mean doctor couldn't be her new mommy >:[

They was always arguing at the beginning, that is why she was kicking him every time she had a chance XDDD

And about Optimus, she didn't care about him at the begging. In fact she was blaming him for the fact that their mothers weren't coming back and only what he did was go out for whole days and sometimes weeks.

This whole situation was really hurting OP, because Carpenter was one of his friends from times of being archivist-librarian.

But with sometime Ratchet started getting more attached to Bee and Arcee even if that was hard for him to take care of children almost 24/h and Optimus felt more comfortable with 2 children around him! Arcee even started calling them dads when she turned 7!

And about Bee, calling Ratchet and Optimus dads was completely normal for him, because for him they was his parents who cared about him, gave him food, warm place and raised him. He didn't met his moms or see them again so he chosen to not care about 2D2 and Carpenter.

As a bonus I can add that because of stress of having children (because being a doctor wasn't stressful enough for him) he started to gaining some weight so he felt really bad with himself (before having children he was little hot goth OP bf-gf-bf) (and yes Ratchet is genderfluid)

And this old fart Ironhide taught Arcee how to fight uwu

[kandicon]

Slow burn where Jazz (mods georg and terrorizer of health professionals everywhere) exclusively goes to Starscream (also mods georg and technically a medic that almost no one trusts to use if they like their internals) for medical treatment that he can't do on his own- because no one else gets it- despite their vastly different ideals. There can't be a single situation they can't handle and the very thought of being unprepared drives both of them up a wall. And they both put up their fake friendly personas up to max even though they both know the other isn't falling for it.

Starscream will call up Jazz in the middle of the night (knowing damn well he wasn't asleep) and without even a hello be like: I installed an upgrade to make certain neck cables give off enough of an electric shock so anyone who touches them is forced into stasis.

"The same cables that feed power directly to the brain module?"

"Obviously."

And then Jazz is on his doorstep five minutes later with very noticeable tire trails behind him to betray his speeding.

Like Jazz only has more mods by a very small margin but Starscream has more illegal mods than Jazz (by a slightly larger but still tiny margin). Everybody thinks Jazz is just getting either two am booty calls or out of v important special ops business. He thinks he's doing the latter but instead he's acting exactly like Red Alert in a bad spiral, just being quiet about it.

Jazz is slowly falling for the giddy little face and excited wing flapping Starscream does every time he requests something like all his data ports exploding at once if someone jacks in without his permission. And Starscream thinks he's safe but the twenty minutes after surgery, with energon still on his hands, he'll go up to his trinemates and gush like "Oh Skywarp he was so cooperative he even laid on the table willingly! Even you weren't as still when I beat you unconscious for the same upgrade!" And Skywarp will be like "Wait, is THAT why I woke up in an alleyway three days ago?!"

They're fueling each other's metal issues sooooooo much. If Ratchet saw either of their insides he'd have a spark attack on the spot. Both of their codings are absolute messes only decipherable to them bc Starscream wants that extra layer of protection AND he never learned how to code right in the first place.

One of these days they're gonna get caught from Starscream dropping everything in the middle of a battle if Jazz gets hurt. He just NEEDS to see how damaged coolant lines will affect his already easily-overheated taxing systems. Shhh, shhhh yes, look, red person. Totally means I'm Ratchet, your visor is just malfunctioning. Now *rips open chassis and pulls out syringe filled with ominously glowing liquid* let's see what happens when we inject this directly into your spark chamber :)

[mycarhasasecret]

What about the tfp Autobots(Op, ratchet, bee, Arcee, and Bulkhead) reacting to their show???? I think that would be kinda neat to see their reaction to them being on a show in a different world

If it's ro much I get it. Thank you and have a good day/night!!!!

Yeah, sure

Optimus Prime

-Wonders if he can use it for some tactical purpose. The scenes that take place on the Nemesis are especially of interest to him. If he is able to discern patters or weaknesses from these scenes then maybe he and his team have a fighting chance.

-Finds it interesting to see what his comrades are up to while on missions that he does not accompany them on. It’s also interesting to see past happenings from different perspectives. He believes he can use this to understand his teammates and the dynamics among them better.

-it is of the utmost importance that the Decepticons do not find out about this. Megatron is likely to also use this for tactical advantage in the same way that Optimus wants to use it.

Ratchet

-“I do not say that!” “That doesn’t even look like me!” I never said that!” “This is a gross oversimplification of the situation!” “Okay, this line makes more sense when you consider…!”

-critiques and criticizes like no one you’ve met. But he can’t deny being entertained. He takes a stroll down memory lane, enjoying the nostalgia, even the violent parts.

-Line Optimus, he fears the repercussions if the Decepticons should get their hands on this information. It could be catastrophic for Autobots, humans, and any other beings who occupy the universe. This is dangerous information and, frankly, the thought that it’s out there free for the consuming is terrifying.

Bumblebee

-oooooooooooo how cool! He’s excited about this development, and watches eagerly. He makes notes and talks about all the missions. He finds the Nemesis scenes to be especially interesting, even if they piss him off from time to time.

-He loves the moments with Raf, his best friend. It warms his spark to watch him grow up all over again. It makes him immeasurably happy to see Raf and all the other humans get closer and bond with him and his team.

-He watches it all the way through, the good times and the bad times bringing him joy and sorrow respectively. He’s very happy that he knows this exists now, and wants a physical copy of the series to be able to watch it over and over again.

Arcee

-Seeing Cliffjumper die, and all the subsequent happenings gives her a weird kind of closure that she never really got before, even if it pisses her off all over again. At least she knows he went out fighting. At least she knows what happened to her partner in the end.

-Her main concern, again, is the ‘cons. But it’s also nice to go back and look at things. But it is frustrating from time to time. Hindsight being 20/20 and all…

-She does a lot of groaning and eye-rolling. But it gets a few laughs out of her too. She enjoys watching it, going back and seeing everything. But after a few of the darker, more personal happenings she has to take a break and come back to it later to finish watching.

Bulkhead

-He thinks it’s weird, all his business on display like that. Anyone can’t watch this. Anyone can see into Autobot base. Looking at him…always watching…freaky….

-Then he gets to the parts with Niko and Wheeljack. His spark melts as he reflects on all the good times together. He loves hanging out with his friends more than anything. They made all the war bullshit as bearable as it could possibly be. And he’ll always love them for that.

-The dark stuff makes him sad. But it’s counteracted by his love of crushing ‘cons! It’s what he’s good at and, again, it’s been a bonding activity with him and his buddies! It all circles back to having a good time with his friends.

[lord-squiggletits]

I wish to love and appreciate idw optimus more too. But I also don’t want to read through the entirety of IDW 1.0. Can you please recommend me any specific issues/parts?

My best friend and fellow IDW Optimus lover made a post compiling all the comics with major story beats involving Optimus. Her list has a lot of the same things mine does, but also a lot more specific issues because she actually knows which specific issues of which series you can read specifically for ones focused on IDW Optimus. We don't agree on everything (I love some comics she dislikes and vice versa), but I would recommend her list simply because it's the most well-documented and thorough. Link I also have a lot of far less coherent but still genuine posts about IDW OP on my #idw op love tag.

As for specific parts I would recommend... since you don't want to read through all of IDW1, I'll go ahead and recommend you things based on in-universe chronological order rather than story release order, but if anything here interests you then I would recommend reading IDW1 in release order so that you get a better grasp of the story's context and how new lore was given out over time:

Chaos Theory and Police Action by James Roberts (The Transformers 2009 issues 22-23): I love love LOVE the way JRO writes Optimus talking to Megatron during the present day, it's very IDW-Optimus flavored because of how blunt, abrasive, and snappy Optimus is. There's a part in the comic where Megatron claims that he "knows [Optimus] better than anyone else," and he's right, but it's also true that Optimus knows Megatron well enough to see that he's bullshitting and it's very entertaining watching Optimus slowly lose his patience with him. I love the dialogue especially, no one (canon or fandom) has ever quite written the same IDW OP who's in this set of comics. It's also the most MegOP comic of all time because the sexual tension and the subliminal imagery of them doing BDSM together is unreal, plus it really captures their dynamic of two old soldiers who snap together with chemistry despite (or perhaps because of) being such long-time enemies. They just UNDERSTAND each other so well. Also, as a bonus point, Chaos Theory is where the pre-war lore for IDW1 began being published, so if you read Chaos Theory then the context for future pre-war lore makes a little more sense.

Shadowplay by James Roberts (More Than Meets the Eye issues 10-11): More pre-war lore that picks up where Chaos Theory/Police action left off. Important because it establishes a lot of IDW OP's character relationships, especially with "the Senator," Roller, and to a degree Ratchet and some minor side characters. I don't really know what to say about this besides it's just really fucking fun to read and features IDW OP getting to do cool shit like fight bad guys, investigate conspiracies, and do heists while also establishing one of his key character traits: being disastrously gay for suspicious men that he places entirely too much trust in to tell him what the right thing to do is.

Spotlight: Orion Pax by James Roberts: Okay, I'm really sorry for recommending JRO's stuff because it feels like favoritism and I don't even think JRO does the best version of IDW OP, it's just going in in-universe chronological order means that a lot of JRO stuff ends up first on the list. This one doesn't really have much of consequence in it and is honestly one of the weaker Spotlight issues, but like Shadowplay, it involves Orion Pax doing fun action shit and having way too much trust in a suspicious man (a new one from the suspicious man in Shadowplay).

The Autocracy Trilogy (Autocracy, Monstrosity, Primacy) by Chris Metzen: Oh my fucking god this is THE IDW Optimus to me, this trilogy is literally what made my ears perk up to even start liking IDW OP because it's what took me from "Optimus Prime, that's the guy who's the super awesome leader that everyone likes and is a paragron to everyone, yeah I know him" to "Oh.... holy shit this is such a good plot/worldbuilding, Optimus has so much CONFLICT and DRAMA with other people." It covers one of my favorite periods of the general Transformers formula, namely pre-war and early war plot events as conflicts come to a boiling point, there's political conflicts and personal conflicts, the planet is falling to shit and everyone is trying to escape and things are as depressing and scary as you would expect for a war that's literally about to consume a whole planet. I found the general plotlines to be gripping and intense (Autocracy is the weakest in this regard, but the writing gets better with each book) and I really like seeing how Optimus grapples with leadership. Especially the negative parts where people hate/fear him because of his association with Zeta's regime (the previous Prime, who Orion worked for), call his judgment into question, refuse his calls to action or waver in their faith in him, and so forth. I found it to be a really nuanced yet sympathetic view of IDW Optimus that made me fall in love with him. Because really, the thing that humanizes a character the most is making them flawed, and Autocracy trilogy Optimus is so incredibly flawed and conflicted. And also it shows him being shit on by other characters in a way that's well written in a plot that makes sense and doesn't feel like the entire plot is conspiring to shit all over him.

The Death of Optimus Prime by James Roberts and John Barber: This comic is basically the transition from phase 1 to phase 2, it establishes the branching plotlines of MTMTE and exRID, so this is another one of those comics that will help you understand IDW1 better if you want to read for more than just Optimus. Anyways, DoOP is great because it has a similar vibe to the Autocracy trilogy in that society is chaos and full of people who fucking hate Optimus' guts for the role he played in the war. You can also compare/contrast the way OP was before the war and early in the war versus the way he is after the war and see how much the war changed him (Chaos Theory also kind of is like this but it more shows bitchy Optimus specifically in his dynamic with Megatron). It also features a fair amount of Optimus Heroic Moments, Optimus Brooding, and Optimus being so fucking depressed he's literally sad when he wakes up and realizes he's not dead dude get some fucking therapy please I'm begging you--

Punishment by John Barber: This skips ahead quite a bit in the story but I think stands decently well on its own without having to understand the wider context. It's one of Barber's best-written stories and one of the only ones I've come back to reread for its own sake. It features Optimus trying to solve the murder-mystery of a bunch of Decepticons, featuring really cool plot conflicts like Optimus trying to navigate post-war society and the tensions that still linger from the Autobot-Decepticon war. I really like this one because it has that whole "not everyone loves OP and a lot of people hate him for justified reasons" thing that makes IDW OP a much more 3D character, PLUS it has some politics with the way Decepticons are treated post war. And I think it does really interesting things with Optimus in terms of showing how he DOES have this idealistic, merciful side that wants people to choose peace and letting go of vengeance, but of course it's not so easy to expect that of people after a 4 million year war. So when people inevitably choose violence, Optimus gets frustrated and angry and lashes out in a way that feels very real and understandable. It's a really good example of a comic that shows IDW OP in a nuanced way, showcasing both his virtues and flaws in a complicated situation that shows that there's no easy solution to these problems and no way for Optimus to escape without getting his hands dirty. Unlike future comics which involve OP being in complicated situations but instead the plot is super contrived and seems to overwhelmingly shit on OP without ever mentioning the very obvious ways that he could be defended, creating a story that's conceptually fascinating but incredibly mediocre in execution.

If I had to recommend any single one of these to read, I would recommend the Autocracy trilogy the most because it's literally the story that made me love IDW Optimus and made me realize "whoa, this guy is super nuanced and not what I expected of him." That's not to say that no other Optimi have depth and nuance, but I think the Autocracy trilogy was great for me personally as one of the first IDW1 comics I read. It struck a really good balance between "uh Optimus was part of some bad things that warrant being shit on" and "Optimus is struggling to overcome those bad associations he did, succeeding with some people and failing with others" and "Optimus is an optimist who has faith in others even when they don't have faith in themselves." Also, as a bonus, the Autocracy trilogy also features cunty murder-husband Megatron, an interesting character arc for Hot Rod, and the Dinobots as really interesting supporting characters (including their leader, Grimlock, having a cute veteran-rookie dynamic with Hot Rod that I wish we got more of).

[moonlight-tmd]

(so late for Halloween but idgaf)

bee carving a pumpkin! :D

or team prime doing silly crafts for Halloween w/ Sari :3

Oh yes absolutely!

he would carve a cartoony bee into his for the lols. X3

Bulkhead would defo help make decorations for the base- paper bats on the strings, ghosts attached to the ceiling n stuff. He tried to carve a pumpkin too but he crushed it on accident :(

Prowl would defo go to a harvest festival if there was one. Bee and Sari tag along cuz there was supposedly a contest for the biggest vegetable/fruit. They were not wrong. Here you have a (different user's) post from that trip. Also Prowl would try to make a pumpkin pie for Sari from Bulk's squashed pumpkin, it turned out good by Sari's words. :D

Optimus is not really keen on the whole ordeal. The spooky theme and costumes- even the silly ones- make him uneasy (especially the spider decor). He doesn't want to ruin the fun so he just stays quiet, it's not a big deal.

Speaking of costumes- Bee would absolutely go trick-or-treating with Sari in his own costume. He loves to dress up! One time he made himself look like that black taxi from that one horror movie- while in his root mode he looked like a pitch black monster with red LEDs as eyes. Optimus was on patrol in that time and he thought it would be a great idea to give him a spook. So he made some ruckus near where OP was driving and jumpscared him with the scariest screech he could do. He regretted it shortly after because Optimus whipped out his axe and smacked him with the blunt side as an impulse reaction for being spooked+that looked like a decepticon/NOT friendly creature. Bee was send flying to the other side of the parking lot... Yeah, Optimus had to make a very awkward call to Ratchet cuz Bee was having severe ache in his tank and coughed up a little bit of enegon. Later Ratchet scolded both of them for being idiots, Bee had internal damage and couldn't leave medbay for 2 days and missed trick-or-treating. Optimus felt so bad! He apologized several times and even went and got him some home-made treats to make up for the missed treats on halloween. Bee took halloween costumes easier from then on- he dressed up as classic things like a mummy, witch or vampire. I like to think he made a costume of Blitzwing for fun at one point and just happened to bump into said 'con when he was out spooking young teens. Blitz still has a selfie of him holding the startled wannabe and him smiling widely. Also Bee really wants to know how the whole pumpkin spice thing tastes like cuz apparently it's good. Also candy- oh well, at least he got the joy of collecting it for Sari.

Ratchet, per usual, doesn't care. Although if he was feeling funny he would get fluorescent pink paint and splatter it in his workshop or himself just to mess with the others. He's the kind of guy that would play morbid jokes like that if given a chance- he is a medic after all.

Sari is having the best halloween with them. She comes up with those cool games for them to play and watches scary movies with them, She would absolutely be the type to pretend-gag when seeing christmas decor in the middle of October, Bee does that too- it's way too early, damn it! (i hate it too)

Hope this answer satisfies you and Happy (late) Halloween!

[slipstreamsam]

Rollcage Relationship chart

Here's a list of TFP characters/ocs and how my lovely Autobot boy Rollcage feels about them!

Clay - His best friend, the one who helped him recover after a *rough* landing and first few days on Earth. These guys are ride or die for each other, even moreso than for the rest of Team Prime.

OP - That's Dad. Ok in all seriousness, he looks up to Optimus but doesn't idolize him like some others may. Rollcage is young but has seen how bad shit can get, he trusts OP but will try to voice concerns/dissent if he has it.

Bumblebee - Despite being unsure of age and actually being a bit shorter, Rollcage sees Bee as a kind of younger brother and wants to help him out when he can.

Ratchet - Doesn't really get him, respects the old man but with how loyal to OP Ratchet is (outside his drug binge) they don't quite see eye to eye sometimes.

Arcee - Arcee is a little scary, but very dependable. A good friend, and almost a big sister in his life. Definitely would not want to piss her off.

Cliffjumper - Never knew the guy, barely knows anything about him, slightly curious but avoids asking.

Bulkhead - They're bros! Rollcage feels comfortable around big Bulkie, can totally chill out and get anything off his chest that he needs to. Would have his back to the very end.

Wheeljack - Another guy with scarce interactions, but he's like that cool uncle who shows up at holidays with cool presents and fireworks.

Aerostar - Now it gets interesting. She's a real rival to RC, the pair butting heads when they first meet and continuing to for a looong time, no matter where the flighty stuntplane's loyalties lie.

Rowan - Really unsure what to feel. He cares about Clay and most humans quite a bit, and since Rowan is Clay's friend he tries to be friendly. But after a few frigid responses, he basically treats her like a moody housecat and just keeps his distance while attempting to be nice.

[brandwhorestarscream]

amnesic starscream au: nightmarish memories

Since the incident with his memories , starscream is prone to nightmares, or , memory coming back in fragmentary detail, it almost always has something to do with his warframe discrimination, not so happy life in the academy, or megatron

It became such a habit for him to reach out to the group's medic to try to talk about, trying to figure out what are they

In a specific instance, he had a dream about the council, a very bad one if the tears in his eyes are any indicator

"What is it this time?"

....

"Kid?"

"Op-optimus said i- I'll have to answer to ultra magnus and the council soon...... they don't believe me, they didn't believe then, i begged them to believe but I'm not a liar-"

"Starscream-"

"I'm not! I'm not a liar-"

"Starscream!"

"...oh, sorry, i was being too loud again? I'm sorry imsorryimsorry-"

Ratchet deeply wanted to hate this kid, he was a sadistic decepticon for primus sake-

But all he sees is a scarred youngling.

What did the council do to you, starscream?

WHAT DID THEY DO INDEED 😭

I already have so many frightening thoughts of how badly they could've hurt hkm, tormented him, traumatized him. Charging him with the murder of his dearest friend, trying to lock him up and refusing to let him return home to his family in Vos... eventually destroying the city of flyers because they're "dangerous, undesirable war frames"

Poor baby's been through so much and deserves a break 😔 the nightmares haunt him, and sometimes keep him awake for days at a time. Get him his membership card for the insomnia gang because he's their newest member

[artsy-hobbitses]

Ok there no such thing as perfect in relationships, so do any of the couples have any pet peeve’s that drives them nuts. Like not putting the toilet seat down or leaving food scraps on dishes and putting them in then sink. My BF does this and it drive me nuts 😡

Hound is VERY lucky he's a sweet, hunky werewolf because Mirage cannot BELIEVE the amount of fur that gets clogged up in their shower/bath which he sometimes forgets to clean out. Also, Hound likes to shake (DO NOT SHAKE) to dry himself at times, and it sends water EVERYWHERE on the sink with even more bits of wet fur and Mirage is just gonna focus on his very handsome face and not think about bapping him on the nose with a newspaper for the mess.

Ratchet leaves coffee cup rings on pretty much every available surface that isn't related to his medical work and stacks paper cups instead of tossing them. Drift lets him know it's time to toss them out by using them to build intricate forts around his medical journals.

Megatron likes reading, but dog-ears pages, even with borrowed/pristine books. He didn't see anything wrong with it since all the books he had as a child were in bad condition anyway, a dog-ear isn't going to ruin it any further than it already is, and it's the text that matters. OP, whose parents were bibliophiles and carefully curated books, definitely shrieked internally a little and tried to get him in the habit of using actual bookmarks.

Windblade is actually pretty messy compared to Starscream---in her defense, her heavier work schedule means it's really not on her list of priorities---with papers and folders everywhere and empty take-out boxes (for days when she has no time to cook) stacked on each other when he came to live with her post-war. He got her into the habit of Marie Kondo-ing her workspace at least once a month.

[elindae-writes]

Hi there! I'm pretty new to TF lore and "Unburied" was actually the first place I'd heard of Cybertronian EM fields, which is a really neat concept :D Would you be able to talk more about them and how they work? Do you think a Cybertronian would be able to sense a human consciousness, or would they be too different from each other?

I am also just a wee sapling when it comes to knowledge about TF lore. I just saw the concept of EM fields appear repeatedly in other fanfics and so I latched onto it and used it in my own. In the Unburied universe fields are emitted from a Cybertronian’s spark and hovers around them. Their sparks fluctuate in time with their emotions, so their fields do as well. Bots can learn to control and prevent any emotions from getting out of them, such as our boy Soundwave for example.

You can learn a lot about a bot by looking at (or I suppose a better word would be “feeling” because fields are invisible) their fields in their natural state. Different kinds of bots have different kinds of fields that flow around them in different ways. Most have fields that flow around them like water and that can be calm and smooth or very active and intense at times. Other bots, such as flyers, have airier fields that feel more like a staticky cloud. The natural resting state of a field can you tell about what that bot’s basic mood and personality is. Optimus’s is calm and smooth whereas as Starscream’s is more jumpy and active.

Since bots are capable of feeling multiple emotions at once this means that fields can have multiple layers at once. The outer layer of the field will tell you what that bot’s dominant emotion is at any time whereas the deeper layers will reflect that bot’s deeper emotions. When Ratchet was high on synth-en his outer field was very prideful, but his inner field layers more sad and pensive. Bots can train their fields so that the inner layers are harder to sense, thus making it easier for them to hide their true emotions. Bots who are true masters at field manipulation can prevent their true inner feelings from seeping into their inner field at all.

Some bots have frametypes specifically built with the purpose of reading and interpreting other’s fields, such as Soundwave for example. Bots who spend a lot of time near each other or who are in some way connected (such as Laserbeak and Soundwave or bonded Seekers) will have fields that feel kind of similar to each other. It’s also my headcanon that Soundwave can actually see fields in the form of colors around a bot’s frame, a very unusual ability indeed. I just like that idea because he is such a weird little cryptid bot who shows no emotions but who is very good at seeing yours, so I just enjoy imagining him as having very weird empath abilities.

Bots who are bonded will be able to vaguely sense their bondmate’s fields over their sparkbond (unless there is too much physical distance). Fields vibrate at slower frequencies when bots are in recharge. Starscream has tried and failed to pretend to be asleep because his intense field is constantly vibrating nonstop like a clogged up Roomba.

When bots who like each other are near each other their fields will match up and flow along a similar or even identical frequency (in other words, they literally vibe with each other). When bots who dislike each other are near each other their frames will clash and their field waves will distort the other’s. 

Fields are also influenced by frame size. Bots with bigger sparks tend to have bigger frames and a much larger field as a result of that and the opposite is true for bots with smaller frames. But it varies from bot to bot a lot, there are a lot of bots out there who have small or just average-sized frames but who have the massive fields of a bot much larger than them, such as Starscream for example.

If you ever encounter a bot who has a field that is wayyyy bigger than you’d expect then that means one of two things: the most likely explanation is that you’re dealing with a bot who just feels very intensely, and the second and more disturbing explanation is that the bot you’re with has a spark intended for a big frame that has just been crammed into a smaller one (once again, poor Starscream as an example because it’s canon his RID frame is his original one and WOW was he a big bot). This is also why it’s really not advisable to put a bot into a frame much bigger/smaller than their spark can handle. It makes them feel emotional distress which in turn results in big/little field problems. Bots with frames who are too big will have tiny little fields.

Bots who feel very little or who are just really really good at controlling their fields will also have tiny or nonexistent ones. Shockwave doesn’t have a field at all, one of the many reasons so many bots find him very creepy. Even the bots who are very good at controlling their fields, such as Optimus, will slip up and let emotions loose during times of high stress. (Sidenote: Optimus totally lets his field out more loosely when consoling Starscream or just any bot in need of consolation in general)

Optimus and Megatron’s fields used to vibe in the ye olden days but now their fields have mutated to be total opposites of each other. If you spend anytime near one and then any time near the other then you could look at both their fields and be like “oh, they know/knew each other.” Optimus and Megatron are just deeply connected like that. Optimus isn’t all that pleased about his field’s mirrored quality of Megatron’s, but accepts it. Megatron is furious about it because his trashy EM field is like the Walmart version of Op’s cool divine one.

The Matrix of Leadership also has an impact on Optimus’s field. It makes his field much larger and gives it cool holy vibes, but also has the side effect of helping to mask his emotions. This is both good and bad: good because it helps him garner respect from bots by literally emanating Robot Jesus vibes, but bad because it has resulted in many bots, including the team, just assuming that Optimus either doesn’t feel emotions the same way they do or that he is just unable to feel emotions at all. Which by the way he absolutely can feel normal emotions, the Matrix just has everybody fooled.

I don’t think a Cybertronian would be able to see a human’s consciousness because they are just too different. Human hearts aren’t capable of emitting vibes the same way.

[schiste-argileux]

Idw Prowl is an evil SOB (took him two years to send the Wreckers to Garrus-9 and help Maxy (who was protecting all the war crimes the Bots did), put Maxy’s torturer and a war criminal on board the Lost Light cuz why not, sent Pharma to Delphi knowing it was DJD territory)

Prowl... Prowl’s creation and competence in his area of work is astounding. He is brilliant, creative, and defiantly apathetic of this world. But, he is very human in his own way. IDW Prowl is selfish, yet not. He is a unique in that aspect because most people make decisions like his for the sole reason of benefiting themselves. But Prowl’s sole reason of existing is to create PEACE. 

Peace. Peace can only be done when people are complacent, happy, and satisfied. When things are stationary. Stable. 

But life is never stable. Elements desire to form bonds, yet are almost always leaning towards to instability... Prowl’s form of PEACE is a world where there is no fighting. But everything sentient requires to fulfill its desires. As long as there is desire, people will fight. 

A world of PEACE would be a world of full control, there are no surprises, no change. Safety, routines, and constants. No creativity, no development... nothing. stagnant. 

But I must admire Prowl’s tenacity and dedication to this world! 

He sacrifices everything for the sake of the directive, preserve cybertron, PEACE. He sacrifices his morals (Robot Gets Bullied By a Human), his dignity (Recent News, Cop Accepts Orgy For The Means of Establishing Peace, his body (Recent News, Cop gets Molested by A Spider for The Autobot Cause), and of course, thousands of lives (Not Recent News). :D Prowl respects and understands that there will always be chaos and instability, and he is so very flexible around it all! He literally can maximize everything and anything he has. He is the embodiment of consequentialism with a lil dash of politics. I wish my group project members were 1% as productive as him! Prowl tries to put everything black and white, and he gets upset when things get far more tricky, and wants to get everything in control so people can stay safe and remain in peace and not fight! And that’s a respectable goal! Control can be good, it means one understands and is able to retain themselves and the thing they are controlling. But Prowl doesn’t want to accept that there are things out of his control. And Prowl likes to think he’s justified when he controls the uncontrollable. 

I mean, yeah, if he didn’t do what he did, the autobots would have been six feet under A LOT EARLIER. Optimus is not a good leader, preserving organic life over his own soldiers? Psh. Look at Spike, he’s got valid points and can I understand why he left the ‘bots. Prowl’s probably thinking everyday, DAMN, OP, WHY R U SO DUMB. LISTEN WE NEED TO FEED OUR SOLDIERS AND PRIORITIZE OUR SPECIES LIVES INSTEAD OF THIS FUCKING CARBON BASED CIRCLE. HELLO??? And literally Prowl could have been like I’m gonna get ya assassinated so I CAN HAVE IT MY WAY. But Prowl was BORN for the RULES. To follow, to MAKE PEACE. Killing the prime figurehead is against that, even if it would make his life way easier! (hence, not that selfish and also sad that your life is the rules. That’s a short leash, but he makes due)

Honestly I feel bad for Prowl. Must suck to be so big brain that everyone hates you when you say the truths (but also you could learn some more tricks from Jazz to be nicer and hide the truth, but that’s scary because a nicer prowl means more people he can trick and use. Thanks Prowl for being so straightforward! Now people can avoid you easier). He's so straightforward about things that need to be done, he’s in constant denial about the grey area of life!

That’s why when Spike slapped Prowl with reality slaps, Prowl lost some of his shit. Remember, nearly everyone had the edgy depressed time in their teens or young adult years where you realize the world is truly unfair and nothing is black and white? Yeah. Slap that on a 6+ million year old robot with a battle computer and is capable of big brain CPU-age, and was literally built for the sole purpose of enforcing rules and making peace? And no one really cared about Prowl enough to understand him and his background. So Prowl goes through his angst moment alone with his huge titties, frustrated. THIS. IS. WHY. YOU. COMMUNICATE. YA DINGUS. 

Prowl doesn’t become a school shooter like Pharma cuz hes got bigger brain and a lot more power and control over himself, but he literally becomes Shadow The Hedgehog (Even if the world’s against me I’ll fight like I’ve always have). HE’S GONE ROGUE. MA’AM, SIR, THE FUCKING OREO COOKIE HAS TRANSFORMED AND ROLLED OUT.  like. OP was the one thing holding prowl back, which was good! But now prowl’s on the roll and bumblebee is too nice and passive to hold him back. + the bombshell brainwash? feels so bad. being prowl sucks. because Prowl is a necessary evil. 

At least he’s wonderfully blunt about his goal to create a peaceful cybertron, which makes it easier if you want to avoid him or smth. meanwhile you have fake people IRL that smile their way through and then slit your throat and you won’t even know it was them (hey jazz, no offense, but that’s what spec ops does). Fakers are the scariest enemy, but Prowl is still a threat, just not as big as a someone who fluffs you up on a balloon and then pops it. Prowl would just be like, hey, you’re really useful, come over here in my white van i wanna show you something and then maybe you get destroyed. But hey! You were the one with the highest chance of surviving compared to other people! Isn’t that great? You’re so skilled WOW. (Prowl gets punched. Again!) Prowl represents the necessary evil in society. We WILL ALWAYS HAVE EVIL people in this world. But Prowl is a far better evil than people who do evil for their own selfish reasons. It’s like how we have law enforcers and politicians . It’s basically giving them legal rights to do illegal things (lmao). BUT we need them regardless. We need those people to get their hands dirty, possibly killed, so that people can live in innocence and peace. 

I don’t think Prowl ever realized that he was a necessary evil, and when Spike showed him that, he was bitter. But he accepted it. Which I respect because most people can’t be bothered to understand themselves and just throw themselves in denial, and point fingers for their flaws. Prowl sucks up and understands who he is, and he makes the best of it to achieve his goal.  I mean, honestly? Prowl is probably a miracle worker. Not in a Ratchet sense. But look at the way modern governments run, nothing gets done, everything is stalled because no one has the guts to make sacrifices. Prowl would have gotten a shit ton of things done, man, and take quick efficient action. Even if he sacrifices many things for it.  (Warning. I do not condone any taking of lives, NO ONE has the right to judge whenever a person should live or die.)  Prowl reminds me of 秦始皇 (Qin Shi Huang), the king who unified China and sacrificed millions to make the Great Wall, canals, and road systems that last to this day. If it wasn’t for these accomplishments, China wouldn’t have been what it is today. Was it a good thing? For the future residents of China? Hell yeah. But the costs? Those are sins that can never be erased, and they are horrible and shouldn't be done ever again. Was it necessary? Perhaps. But that’s another discussion. Is Prowl evil? Depends on your definition of evil. Perhaps he’s justified, perhaps in his world, he’ll go down as the Qin Shi Huang of the Cybertronians. Regardless, Prowl like Pharma, is an EXCELLENT example to study on public ethics, and administrative officials should analyze him and learn from his mistakes and sins.  I think Prowl is not evil in a sense that he wishes to harm others, but evil in a sense of his apathy. Prowl is a necessary component to a functional society (someone to plot, to use people, to enforce rules even if some are sacrificed, someone who can get their hands dirty). He lives a terrible and sad fate, and I do not wish ANYONE to live a life like Prowl’s or look up to Prowl. Yes, he’s so clever and brilliant, but that kind of power will make you the loneliest person on Earth.

Thanks Prowl for taking the entire load of sin on your shoulders! Big MVP! You get nothing from the world except hate and contempt.  I would go on about him more but I have IRL stuff to do. I love Prowl as an example to tell people that MODERATION. COMMUNICATION. AND COMPASSION are important factors to have a healthy and good mental state. Prowl is the perfect example of someone who doesn’t want to empathize (haha so many people are like this today), who doesn’t want to try to use more braincells and friends help to make better plans that are more moderate and not extreme, and who doesn’t want to talk to anyone thinking its a waste of time or have difficulty explaining things.  BUT I LOVE G1 PROWL because he has far more patience and manners, and doesn’t take a darker, route for his goals. awhohdohd he’s baby,,, i wish all cops had patience and manners and in general open-minded yet cautious enough not to be taken advantage of,,,, perhaps then we wouldn’t have so much polarization and fighting with authority in this world.... 

uwuwwuwuwuw they did prowl so dirty in idw WAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH ;____;   Again, you are welcome to disagree or agree! I wrote this really quickly so I’m sure there will be points that could be clarified or edited. Prowl’s really complicated and I do not like to talk about current IRL problems, but Prowl represents a lot of problems in society. And I think it’s critical if we try to look at both perspectives to get an understanding on WHY people do these things, and is there a solution to AVOID making those same mistakes? There’s a couple of controversial things in this short essay I wrote, esp. about cops IRL. So feel free to have at it! Or ignore it! Whichever is more comfortable for you! Thanks for coming to my ted talk! Again, Prowl is a bad influence and a sorrowful life to live. please do not try to be like prowl. xD I won’t intrude on you if you do, because you have a right to live the life you want as long as you’re not hurting other people’s interests and wellbeing! 

[lord-squiggletits]

question regarding idw op’s characterization if you dont mind me asking! i’m trying to do research on op’s pre-war mindset for a fic but he’s definitely a Complicated op and im not familiar with all his flaws and virtues and how that changes throughout the war and how many times he’s called out for his questionable decisions, etc. do you have any recs for like, required reading on him?

It's literally 4 AM here but uhhhh let me not some things down for you really quickly. Quick note I'm giving you these recommendations in loose publication order and not chronological because READING COMICS IN TIMELINE CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER IS A BAD IDEA IT'LL CONFUSE YOU SO MUCH. I have to reread a couple of these series myself because I was an idiot who decided to read chronologically so I barely had a clue what was happening. Though by the same token, if I hadn't read the Metzen trilogy first I wouldn't have fallen for IDW OP the way he is, sooooo

ANYWAYS

-The Transformers (2011) issues 22-23: this is when JRO first wrote in IDW OP being a cop and it also describes how he and Megatron met. Even if you're not a MegOP writer, this is still important because Megatron is one of the first people that Orion comes to admire so much that he basically speaks highly of him every time he comes up in conversation. And at this point OP is still rather idealistic because it shows in him "not agreeing with everything" Megatron wrote to full on blasting the Senate on public TV. Really showcases how this guy is an action man driven by his feelings first and foremost. Oh, and in the present day his conversations with Megatron (who knows him better than anyone else) has Megatron basically saying soul-cutting things about how OP has to try so hard to be a flawless paragon and how that must destroy him. As well as just them being pretty gay in general jajdakfnns this is an IDW MegOP blog it's in the header shhh

-The Death of Optimus Prime: A one-shot that happens right after the previously mentioned series. It features the neutral Cybertronians and how they hate OP a lot, there's a guy named Metalhawk that instantly is like "yo fuck you" as soon as he sees OP (although the reason for this isn't explained). I think the very beginning and very end, when OP has his internal monologue, show him after war best. There's a one-off line where OP describes feeling sadness when he realizes he's still alive, which is literally just said and gone as soon as it happens but holy SHIT does it say a lot about how fucking depressed this guy is. And then the ending (where he voluntarily exiles himself from Cybertron) has him feeling basically relief/happiness at the fact that he's now no one's leader and only responsible for himself. This is a guy who basically never wanted to be a leader, or at least not in the way he became during the war. Sure, OP is very confident and led by his conditions, but I think he kind of preferred a life where he could physically do something to stop problems rather than an endless war that dragged out.

-More Than Meets the Eye *10-12, can't remember which: also called Shadowplay, I really love this issue because in addition to showing OP being the action hero himbo I adore, it also showcases how IDW OP is actually very intelligent (which is something the fandom refuses to acknowledge even across continuities because for some reason people think a bumbling himbo with no opinions of his own could be someone as strong and charismatic as OP), since he was able to cleanly predict how and why the Senate would stage a bombing for political reasons. It also features interactions between OP and Roller, Ratchet, Shockwave, and ZETA (a guy almost no one considers but BOY is he important to IDW OP). Good to have if you want to get a vibe for his personality.

-More Than Meets the Eye *36: A time-travel issue where some of the LL crew goes back and helps OP post-Shadowplay when he's on the run. Again showcases action hero OP who as the whole is still quite idealistic and believes system reform is the way, despite everything. The conversation he and Megatron have (you've probably seen screencaps of this already because it's a very emotional/poignant scene from Megatron's perspective) is emblematic of this.

But that's the end of idealistic OP, because then you have the entirety of OP's career serving as Zeta's enforcer after Sentinel is killed and Zeta becomes Prime. A time period where there's ostensibly reform (a new Senate, formal anti-functionist laws) but shit's still bad on Cybertron because spoilers, Zeta is actually evil.

-There's a few flashback scenes in the Optimus Prime and I think ex-RID series that @quetzalpapalotl could give specific examples and screenshots from, but this is where a fuckload of examples of OP's regret and/or him being called out (by other characters or implied in the narrative come from). But also because no one in this fandom reads anything outside of MTMTE/LL, no one actually knows this lore about him so :/ yeah. Anyways, at this point Orion Pax is working for Zeta, his friend and mentor* (*stated elsewhere), and fighting the Decepticons who are fully militarized and basically already scoping planets for conquest. At this point OP is a guy with basically zero idealism whatsoever. His friend Zeta seems worse and worse by the day, but Megatron is turning into a violent conqueror and isn't the person Orion came to admire. OP is basically aware that his side is shit too but he's really sticking to Zeta out of some desperate desire to believe things can be okay, which is...basically one of the things the narrative calls him out on.

That goes into the Metzen trilogies, aka

-Autoracy, Monstrosity, Primacy: Orion Pax is just SO FUCKING SALTY AT THIS POINT he's full of repressed anger and when Megatron shows him footage of the corrupt Senate Orion is basically like "yeah the Senate is corrupt, water is wet." I haven't read these series in two years so I can't tell you much, but basically a ton of people either dislike OP or barely agree to work with him. There's a panel of Dai Atlas calling him out that's literally the exact moment I fell in love with IDW OP because I was like, "holy shit this is a guy that's an Actual Controversial Figure and he doesn't just get everyone to like him because he's The Good Guy and everything he does is assumed to be good." Definitely a MUST-READ for anyone wanting to understand IDW OP because it covers a lot of early war lore and OP is more or less the central protagonist so it focuses a lot on him.

I've probably missed a fuckload of stuff, but this post is tagged with #idw op love and if you look through my blog there's posts by me and others with really good analysis of him as a character. Hope this early morning ramble helps.

[cuddlyscribe]

anon asked: Reader with OP, Ratchet, KO, Screamer And Sounds where reader is about to get surgery in the next few days and is super nervous about it? Maybe to the point they cry cause they’re so nervous

[recognize these headcanons? this is a repost from my old blog ‘ohscraptfphcs!’ You will see this disclaimer above all of the content i have moved from my previous blogs.]

Optimus

Optimus just has a knack for comforting people, and it’s always been that way since way back in the day

But he’s especially good at it with his s/o

He’ll cuddle them close to him and just hold them while they cry, letting them know that it’s okay to feel scared about something like this

He reassures them as best he can by saying that the doctors all know what they’re doing, and he knows that they won’t let anything bad happen to them

And Optimus certainly won’t let that happen either

What’s more is that he’ll take them out on a drive, letting them relax in his alt-mode while they just explore the beautiful scenery of Jasper

Ratchet

Being a doctor himself, he understands the risks of surgery, human or Cybertronian

Things can certainly go wrong, but it’s unlikely, and he lets them know that

He swears that everything will be alright, and he’ll be with them, even if it’s just in spirit

If they’re nervous about the procedure and what leads up to it, he’ll outline what they might have to do in order to prepare for it, and how it might go if they’re being put under

Ratchet has had to undergo stasis during surgery before, and he tells them that it’s just like sleeping

When they do get teary-eyed, Ratchet snuggles them close in his servos, whispering sweet nothings and promising nothing will ever happen to them so long as he’s here

Knockout

Because he has a human s/o, he’s taken to learning about their biology and anatomy, as well as their surgical procedures

He knows that surgery can be a stressful thing for anyone, seeing as complications can arise during and after the procedure

But with his expertise, he runs them through factual points of surgery and how unlikely it’ll be for something to go wrong

He’s definitely unhappy that he can’t be right there while it’s happening as another set of eyes, but he’s leaving the human surgery in the hands of humans who should know what they’re doing

When they start to cry, he feels very empathetic and holds them to his chassis

He had to undergo some pretty terrifying surgery back on Cybertron before, and he felt quite the same way

Knockout reminds them that he’ll check them over back on the Nemesis when the surgery is done to make sure everything is okay

It never hurts to be sure

Starscream

He feels a little helpless because of his lack of knowledge of surgery

Despite it, he’s a great comforter, smoothing their hair and cuddling them close

To ease both of their minds, they look up the procedure online to get a basic overview of what’s going to happen

Starscream likes to know exactly what’s up with his s/o, and if he needs to be there to watch all of this take place

However the presence of a giant sentient robot might make the doctor’s hands shake, so he dismisses the idea

Scream even considers asking Knockout to do it here on the Nemesis, where he can be present and watch over them

But alas, KO doesn’t have the proper tools nor expertise to do it himself

With that, Starscream has no choice but to let them go down to the surface to get the surgery

He’s nervous, but he doesn’t show it. He wants to put up a strong cover to show that his s/o will be okay

Soundwave

He already knows everything he needs to know about the surgery, and fills his s/o in accordingly

They go over everything together in an easy-to-understand manner, so they won’t get even more nervous

But sometimes even when you know everything inside and out, it can still be very scary

So Soundwave does what he does best: give hugs and kisses, and lots of them

He’ll prop them up on his shoulder afterwards, because he knows that the incredible height their at makes them feel strong and unbeatable

On the day of, Soundwave deploys three Vehicons to take them down, and flies to the surface to make sure they make it safely inside.

He had them place several tiny security cameras in the room so he could watch over the surgery

If anything goes wrong, he flies over there and whisks them away to somewhere where they’ll get the proper care

On the Nemesis, he can’t be bothered by anyone else besides Megatron, and no one dares to cross him

[transformers-autobotsrollout]

Cybertron. A planet that has been embroiled in war seemingly since its creation. This is the stage on which our story is set. 

We open on a gladiator named “Powered Convoy” getting whaled on Strong-Bot. While he manages to get the upper hand and wins the match, as he leaves, we can tell that he doesn’t enjoy what he does for a living. He drives back to the docks where he lives, which are in pretty bad shape, but his face lights up when he sees Ratchet and she tells him about her new job.

The next day, Ratchet asks Optronix what paint job she should have on her first day working at Iacon City’s science guild (Oppy's got his arm covering his eyes, he is polite) and Magnum comes in asking Optronix how his last match went. Typical wholesome, slice of life robots. When Ratchet drives up to the citadel, Optronix takes a sharp left to talk to his... correspondent. It's not Megatron, but Sentinel Prime who was a like-minded 'Bot who believed in his words.

Sentinel explains that while he can’t directly bring petitions to Alpha Trion, he has gained an audience with Megatron, who’s most certainly the closest and most powerful they’ve got to someone who approves of off-planet exploration. While Optronix is nothing but firm in his beliefs, he’s unable to articulate what he wants in front of a crowd (in his words: “I’m bad with speeches”), so he asks Sentinel to speak for him. 

Sentinel agrees, and then we hard cut to Megatron in a testing facility, currently watching Doubledealer and Shatter show off the destructive capabilities of a massive fusion cannon. A little on the nose, but I think it’s good.

Ratchet’s first day doesn't go as well as she’d hoped. She gets mocked for being lower-class by the elite guard, ignored and pushed around by the more experienced medics and scientists, and by lunch she’s wishing she never left home. And then she meets Ariel Pax, a cadet in the Elite Guard. Ariel treats her with kindness that she’s endlessly grateful to finally get from these city-bots, and she spends the rest of the day with her.

The summit is treated more like a daytrip for Megatron. Megatron only talks to Sentinel, period, and he spends most of the time talking about his own opinions wherever Sentinel tries to discuss the content of Optronix's words. Optronix still doesn't talk much due to his fear of speaking in public, but he does his best to keep up. 

Anyways, they have lunch at a typical fancy place with 56 forks and Megatron is still only talking to Sentinel. Sentinel's trying to recall Op's words as best as he can, but Optronix has had enough and finally speaks his mind, shocking them both.

Megatron and Sentinel both leave for the train, but Optronix realizes that Megatron... "forgot" to tip, so he sticks behind. On the train, Sentinel admits that it was Optronix who had a solid plan on societal reform, but Megatron has his own opinions on Optimus... namely that he's "too naive" to be a leader and that it'll take a miracle to convince him otherwise.

The train suddenly lurches forward without Optronix on it. Poor guy has to cling to the caboose just in the nick of time as Sentinel and Megatron inside try to figure out what's going on. A masked individual suddenly jumps the two, and while they outclass him physically, he's able to use magnetic fields and well-placed knockout gas to take them out. 

Optronix pries his way into the train and finds it full of explosives that he has no idea how to defuse... so he calls out for Sentinel and Megatron, and gets no response. They're a little tied up at the moment (HA).

Megatron isn't amused and dryly asks how much the intruder plans on ransoming them for. The response he gets is that they're not getting ransomed at all; they're going to be blown to smithereens from the dozens of EMP bombs he's planted all over the train. 

Significantly more freaked out, Sentinel tries to reason with him. But the intruder says that there's nothing that Sentinel or Megatron or any of those hoity-toity bluebloods can do to stop this, and that they've had it coming for a while. Megatron laughs and tears into the bot.

“My fault? You think this is my fault? Oh, that is rich!

You’re one of those bots, aren’t you? Let me explain something. I’ve worked my way to the top with everything going against me, with everyone I’d known being sent offline or segfaulting their RAMS to the point of inoperability, and I’m still standing. I struggled for my position in life, and you have the audacity to accuse me of being undeserving? 

Think about it. Real hard. What have you done to deserve your lot in life? That’s what I thought. You’ve done nothing. Nothing at all! You’ve lazed away in your rusting husk of a chassis and decided to punch up for the fun of it. That's why you blame me, you blame everyone that’s actively tried to be an operating member of society out of your own jealousy and guilt. You sat as you were, a worthless lay-about, and you take it out on people you deem your 'oppressors'.

It isn’t my fault that you’ve gone nowhere, it’s the fault of an ill-mannered, ill-tempered, functionless, underdeveloped cog with nothing better to do than to beg for scrap metal instead of-!”

The stranger tapes his mouth shut and is like “lol figures” while Sentinel tries to be all “you’re never gonna get away with this, Optronix is gonna getcha” and the guy noticeably freezes up. Optronix is about halfway to where they are when he’s ambushed. 

Thankfully, he manages to knock the guy out of the emergency door, and they have your typical battle atop a train. Optronix notices something familiar about the magnetic attacks he uses and breaks the mask he'd been wearing. It’s his old friend Windcharger, who’s quite unhappy about Optronix "becoming Megatron’s new bodyguard."

Optronix explains that it’s a misunderstanding, and Windcharger goes on about how people like Megatron are the reasons that Optronix was forced into fighting in the first place; Optronix’s spark is in the right place but he aims too high. Understanding Windcharger’s frustrations, he at least tries to talk him down from destroying the train as it’ll not only kill him, but it’ll kill all the innocent bots waiting at the station. Just as Windcharger seems like he’s about to relent… Megatron blasts him in the chest.

Sentinel’s sentries aided in their escape and defused all the bombs. Optronix soberly brings Windcharger’s shell back inside as Megatron thanks him for the rescue. As they pull into the station, Megatron spins his tale about Optronix’s genius and his defeat of a dangerous terrorist, all the while he’s really in the back, stabilizing Windcharger. 

He asks why Optronix didn’t leave him to die, to which Optronix tells him that it’s his second chance to make a change that involves less mayhem. He can tell that Windcharger is passionate about his cause and he hopes he’ll make the right choice. Windcharger flees through a trap door and Optronix steps outside to face the reporters.

Megatron’s busy talking about how his life was saved by Optronix and Sentinel Prime and how whomever was responsible for this is in custody (HA). Except this bit's on a screen that Magnum is watching, and he asks Optronix how much of it's true. Sentinel answers for Optronix that Megatron greatly exaggerated a lot of it, but the basic gist is true.

Optronix says that he feels uncomfortable at the amount of "deception" that's being used to fill in the gaps, even with Sentinel reassuring him that " it doesn't matter if he agrees with us or not, just as long as our message has a platform".

Evidently Optimus isn't too jazzed about that. He mumbles something under his breath about how blunt honesty is more effective than convincing lies. Magnum, Optronix, and Sentinel get off the shuttle and arrive at the Dancitron. Sentinel insists that "Primes don't party" but he's dragged in by a delighted Ratchet, who's celebrating her first week as a proper doctor. 

At the Dancitron, Ariel Pax and Ratchet dance together while Optronix talks more about his beliefs with Magnum and wonders if he's aiming too high. Yes, he wants Cybetronian culture to branch out and share with the universe, but Sentinel's words have made him worry if he should be trying to fix their society first and focus on other planets later. Optronix tells Magnum "I never wanted this vision of mine to be a transaction".

The next day, Optronix meets Jetfire and his envoy of Protectobot Elite guardsmen for the first time. He was Ariel Pax's commanding officer in the Elite Guard and a brash, overconfident jerk that didn't really mesh too well with 'civilians' and was very blunt and vocal about his opinions. Optronix could NOT stand him at first and their first meeting ended with Optronix calling him a "brute".

Megatron talks to Flipsides and Shockwave about what really happened in his massive garden. He admits that while he is impressed with Optronix, he'd "prefer to keep my business partners at arms' length" and that gives him an idea. 

Megatron calls Sentinel and requests a meeting with him. When he arrives, he offers him a job at Tarn Industries and tells him he'll upgrade all his sentries free of charge. Sentinel refuses because he already has his job as a Station Master and he doesn't want his sentries tampered with. Megatron's pissed but concedes.

Ratchet learns to fight from Ariel and confides in her that she’s always hated violence from first hand seeing Optronix’s injuries from the gladiator matches and patching up her fellow dock workers. 

Magnum is in Metroplex, trying to get their leader Gravitas to back Optronix's words. He never really trusted Megatron or his company and he just wants the best for his best friend. But Gravitas won't listen; he's clearly preoccupied with something else. Whatever Magnum tries to say, he's shut down or blocked off with xenophobic statements that he knows'll only drag them offtopic if he tries to contest them. 

Gravitas at least has the decency to tell Magnum that he clearly has a good head on his shoulders... which is why he's been chosen to be the next leader of Metroplex. Turns out Gravitas has a week to live because of the noncommunicable rust plague inside his body, yaaaaaaaaay. 

Magnum takes this poorly and panics to Optronix that he doesn't think he'll be ready for all the power that comes with this position. Optronix, equally stressed, proceeds to become even more stressed.

Optronix and Sentinel finally get Alpha Trion and the rest of the Cybertronic Alliance to hear them out. Sentinel hasn't told Optronix anything about Megatron offering him a job nor what he heard when he was tied to him (remember Chapter 1 where Megatron was a jackass to Windcharger?)  and Optronix is incredibly nervous about speaking in front of a crowd. Megatron has made it clear through pretty much everything he's done that he's got something else planned for Optronix's idea, but they've no idea how he's going to spin it.

Megatron opens with the basic gist of Optronix's ideals; their culture is stagnating and their world needs a cultural reset. All's good so far until Megatron unveils his idea: to colonize and conquer other planets. Using their resources and spreading the name of Cybertron far and wide, establishing trade centers for partners, becoming stronger and stronger through political allies and bringing Cybertron into a new Golden Age. 

Optronix's worst fears have come to light. Megatron's made it all about himself and is treating the entire thing as a business proposition. Worse yet, the members of the council and even some bots in the crowd are agreeing with him. 

So he puts his foot down and tells Megatron that this wasn't what he'd intended, that he's spinning this concept wildly into something that benefits only him and not the whole of society.

Megatron responds thusly. "You came to me and asked if I could help you speak. I strongly suggest you recall why you couldn't do it yourself."

Optronix is silent.

Megatron asks "Is there anything else you'd like to say?"

"Yes."

With that, Megatron takes a right hook to the face and goes sailing into the wall. Now that he's been sufficiently silenced, Optronix tells the council his ideas. 

Cybertron should branch out with peace and support, not with ideas of conquering and monetary gain from these people. They can share their cultures and learn new things from alien lifeforms without forcing their ways of life onto them. How every sapient being in the universe deserves freedom and the right to education.

"Don't you see? There's no need for senseless violence-" 

He's cut off when Megatron tackles him to the ground. 

As the two of them begin to fight, the entire house devolves into chaos, with verbal and physical blows flying left and right. Everything has gone to hell, and it's not made any better when Alpha Trion calls order in the court with his "equalizing staff". Alpha Trion declares the two mentally unfit on the spot and orders them both to have "system purges" in order to “calm their circuitry.” 

Megatron is royally pissed at having his name dragged through the mud, and as the two are taken away by Elite Guardsmen, loudly blames Optronix for the whole thing. Jetfire outright refuses to perform a system purge on them despite what Alpha Trion says, taking Optronix by surprise. While the alternative treatment (a nanite bath) isn't exactly enjoyable itself, it's far less invasive than the former.

A month passes. Optronix feels horrid. All his intentions blew up in his face and this, if any, is a good time for Sentinel to tell Optronix the truth. Optronix isn't shocked at all, but he asks why Sentinel didn't tell him sooner. Sentinel tells him that he didn't want to discourage him because Megatron was the closest thing they had to a foot in the door. This leads to an argument where Optronix asks Sentinel if it was worth siding with a xenophobe just for the sake of popularity. 

After quite a bit of nasty insults are lobbed back and forth, Sentinel leaves and Optronix folds in on himself.

Megatron visits one of his own subsidiary factories in Velocitron. He's eerily serene as he speaks with the head engineer of the building, Dirt Boss. Once Dirt Boss tells him everything he needs to know and asks him why he's in such a good mood, Megatron smiles and tells him he's got a new lease on life. 

He proceeds to shoot Dirt Boss point blank and rigs the building to explode, knowing fully well that the radius will decimate the nearby train station and send one hell of a message. As Ratchet and Magnum lead Optronix outside to try and cheer him up, they see a massive billowing black smoke cloud in the distance…

Optronix and Magnum aid in the horrible aftermath of the meltdown on Velocitron. Megatron is being shady and keeps making references to an “ ideological terrorist attack” with roughly zero proof. Magnus and Override have a sweet little moment of romantic tension as they knock into each other. Optronix remains cautious about the attack as Ratchet snarks about how Megatron is still bitter about having his brain waves scrambled… which never actually happened since you know, Jetfire’s gayness saved Optimus and also Megatron by proxy.

Optronix and Ratchet enter Iacon’s Hall of records and read up on Cybertronian history to try and figure out how to get their own movement off the ground. Optronix discovers information about some of the primes and realizes that a lot of them share the same morals and views that he does. He's beside himself as he keeps scampering back to grab more and more datapads about all the primes as Ratchet watches. Optronix is overwhelmed with joy that he's not alone... and then he sees a symbol emblazoned across one of their chests.

An ancient symbol, one that means "quick-thinker”. Autobot. And this gives Optronix an idea. Optronix throws a match for the first time in his career, and everyone can tell. He uses the assembled crowd to better discuss his beliefs and explain the future he wants for Cybertron. And surprisingly enough... he gets someone that listens to him. Namely, his OPPONENT, Impactor. This little spark of hope is enough to convince him that he's still got a fighting chance.

A few days later, Magnum is getting ready for the official announcement that he’ll become the next leader of Metroplex, following Gravitas’ death. He’s distracted from these proceedings when an episode of Andromeda Explains It All airs with Megatron as its special guest, a mere half-hour before he’s scheduled to appear. Magnum immediately tells the guards to cancel the announcement out of fear for the pro-Autobot civilians in the crowd.

Optronix is having his own problems with being an Autobot as he has to help an Autobot supporter being hounded by two punks calling themselves Decepticons, one of which accuses Optronix of being “pro-invasion”. They quickly shut up and book it when Jetfire and Sentinel appear. Still burned by Sentinel’s betrayal, Optronix is cold towards the both of them, but Sentinel begs Optimus to hear them out. Namely, Jetfire thinks that Megatron intentionally sabotaged his own factory to incite violence towards them and their supporters. So Optronix and Sentinel put aside their annoyances towards each other and focus on the true villain, Megatron.

The Decepticons proceed to cause more chaos across multiple cities as the Autobots clash with them. Ariel and Ratchet argue about the rising tensions, with Ariel refusing to spur the wrath and endanger more people by outwardly supporting the Autobots as an Elite Guard member, and Ratchet contesting that Ariel knows that standing up for what she believes in is more important.

Jetfire and Sentinel (who is entirely unwilling) burst into Megatron’s private airship with all their evidence. Jetfire threatens to arrest Megatron right there on the spot. The two Autobots are promptly dragged out of the ship by reactionary Decepticons. The Decepticons take Sentinel hostage and attempt to execute him where he stands, but The Elite Guard is there to stop them.

Iacon is set ablaze by the Decepticons and the heroes rush to the citadel. Alpha Trion's all like "oh okay huh looks like the incredibly invasive mental reprogramming backfired, who'da thunk". We and Optronix of course know that they never were reprogrammed because Jetfire saved them, but being that Jetfire is unconscious, he can't exactly explain that to him.

Alpha Trion then begs Optronix to protect the Matrix, thinking Megatron's going to steal it and use it's power against him out of vengeance. Optronix agrees, on the condition that Alpha Trion doesn't hold himself up in the citadel and helps his friends get innocents inside.

So Megatron shows up a little later on, Alpha Trion begs for mercy and apologizes for what he did to them both, but guess what! Megs doesn't care! He's just here to kill Alpha Trion and leave because he can blame it on the riots exploding across the city. He doesn't give two damns about the Matrix.

"I'm not going to kill you. Gravity should do most of the work."

But Optronix shows up to save the day, the Matrix around his neck on a chain. Megatron weighs his options on who he wants to kill more and Optronix quite literally has a target painted on his chest, so he takes the bait and chases him away from the citadel, in turn protecting everyone that was packed within.

The Elite Guard and Ratchet successfully get a barrier around the citadel, only for Inferno to suddenly reveal his true colors as a Decepticon double-agent. He stabs Ariel’s optic out and tries to off her while she’s wounded. Ratchet snaps. She not only tackles him to the ground, but she successfully tears his arm out of its socket and beats him with it. Windblade is barely able to get her off him, but the damage is done in more ways than one.

Once they're well and far away from the center of town, Optronix tries to open the Matrix and blast Megatron into next Tuesday. This fails and Megatron mocks him before blasting him (and the ground beneath his feet), and Optronix falls through an entire building, seemingly offlining him. Jetfire's second wind comes in and he starts whaling on Megatron as Optronix lies in the basement of the building quietly pleading for the Matrix to open.

His grip falters, he slumps over, and in true LIGHT OUR DARKEST HOUR fashion, the Matrix transes Optronix's gender and boosts his lightning powers, giving him the strength to soundly body Megatron. Megatron falls in front of the Decepticons and has to be carried away by Strikha, who orders a full retreat.

Optronix returns to the citadel with both Jetfire and the Matrix in his possession. Alpha Trion is shocked, but his friends are nothing but overjoyed. It's Jetfire who comes up with the name Optimus by way of calling his transformation "an optimal solution".

Ariel awakens missing her optic and berates Sentinel for not knowing what he was doing, only to change her tune when she hears Ratchet's the one that saved her life. Ratchet weakly smiles as Ariel thanks her.

Alpha Trion is all set to set up a grand ceremony, but Optimus tells him to read the room and says there will be no celebrations until the city is rebuilt. He wonders to himself if he's deserving of this power and if he's just as culpable of starting this mess as Megatron is. He looks around and sees the company he's kept... and reassures himself that there's still goodness in the world, and the best they can do right now is pick up the pieces.

[plokoonsdisapprovingeyebrows]

liveblogging some Cyberverse episodes here instead of on twitter bc twitter’s everything is pathetic. :D I haven’t done this in years haha

EPISODE 3

skipped the first 2 eps bc i bounced hard off them a couple years ago skhfdgk. bee and windblade were never exactly my Faves lol.

episode opens with a goddamn cool ship!! ugh i love the forward wings! Also bee being a super distracted driver is hilarious omfg. I dont believe that man has a drivers license lmfao

ummmmmm the allspark is talking??? yeah id be creeped out too be lmfao

starscream’s alt mode lowkey looks like a moth??? from a certain angle at least. thats actually cool.

this op’s va is definitely trying to sound like peter cullen (actually succeeding pretty well!) and imo it wouldn’t be bad at all if his lines actually sounded like speech and less like proclamations. actually that’s an issue with a few of the other characters too, he’s just the most obvious.

im definitely spoiled by tfp’s fight scenes, this one had hardly any weight to it XD

OP YOTE THE ALLSPARK INTO THE BRIDGE SKHFKDHG

EPISODE 4

holy shit i love wheeljack lmfao

GRIMLOCK GOT TENTACLED?????? LMAO WHAT??

omfg Optimus is a) SUCH a dad, and b) SUCH A DAD. ugh i love him praising the Autobots, and him gently redirecting Wheeljack after the explosion was such a joy skhdfkgjhd

Those critters are kinda cute! I sort of understand OP’s hesitance at using the energon, especially if the deposit was only very small - does it really make ethical sense to take the perhaps only energy source of a population of creatures for a potential gain of, what, maybe days? (At least this is the interpretation I’m going with lol)

EPISODE 5

Bee’s waking up on a snowy mountain with a goat. Where are u bee?

Oh, the Himalayas. XD Ok thats fair lol, mountain wildernesses are good for hiding shit.

holy shit bee getting distracted watching infomercials and game shows is a mood skfjhkj

ohmygod windblade u have wings, just fuckin fly away

“What was your name again” WINDBLADE OMFG

ok the choreography of the fights is rly off, someone is always making stupid mistakes or not taking opportunities and the overall effect is just meh, manufactured suspense.

EPISODE 6

holy shit im skipping a bit i just cringed into oblivion

[headdesks] ok OP wtf? “I do not intend to start a fight” promptly does so anyway. 

SHOCKWAVES ANGRY EYEBROW OMFG. 

ok I love TFP starscream’s voice but this one is good too! XD he sounds so smug and judgey in every single line skhfkdhj

Ok, again, children’s show, but there was no depth in that exchange. Megatron’s got the Villain Stick and he’s hanging firmly to it, OP has no nuance and his writing is hanging just as firmly to the Hero Stick. 

also I’m having trouble taking Megatron seriously because his goddamn head looks like its squeezing out of his tiny braincase and every single time he looks straight at the camera I L A U G H. He’s got a good voice tho! Hasn’t got the bombacity and charisn’tma of TFP, but it’s nice and threatening nevertheless.

EPISODE 10

im skipping ahead a bit bc i saw a pic of maccadam on tfwiki and oops he’s hot lol. 

NO REGRETS LOL. SURPRISE BEE TO THE FACE LMAO

ahhhh the landscapes are so pretty, or at least that one was <333

fuck i cant deal w that Ratchet’s voice lmao

I enjoy this interpretation of Grimlock more than I thought I would XD. I love the meathead Grimmies A Lot but nerdjock Grim is cool too!

god soundwave dancing is amazing but then his BACKUP DANCERS fuckin kill me omfg skdhjfjh

hmmm ppl have been selling me on the megop in this but so far i aint feeling it lol. gimme a few more episodes and lets see XD

wheeljack/shockwave science buddies?? YES.

...mmmmmm friendship ended with alpha trion, i simp for maccadam now

DEADLOCK?????????? OK HES PRETTY!!!

aaand i still cant take Megs weird pinched head seriously lmfao, he looks like a sausage w half the stuffing squeezed out kjdhfkjh

UHHHH IM HERE FOR ELDRITCH GIANT MACCADAM???? EVEN HOTTER SKDFJ

“Find the king of the dinosaurs!” “Uhh, what’s a dinosaur?” I love that so much skdfhj

ok gonna stop there bc i zoned out and missed all of ep 12 lmfao. will do some more tomorrow, unless my brain comes back and I get to write skjhfjd

[the-odd-job]

Ashes of Icarus chapter 19 - All the Things He Said

Warnings: Chose Not to Use Category: Other Fandom: Transformers Characters: Sunstreaker, Sideswipe, Optimus, Cliffjumper Relationships: Megatron/Sunstreaker, Sideswipe & Sunstreaker Additional Tags: Dubcon, Unplanned Pregnancy, Mechpreg, Sticky Words: 1937

( Previous )

Every day grew more tense as the sand in the hourglass slipped away. His time was running out. Sooner and sooner Ratchet would access the spec ops records, and then it would be all over him, wouldn’t it? Jazz, Optimus, Prowl, Ironhide, Red Alert would have questions that Ratchet would have to answer.

They would all find out, and then what?

Then what?

No doubt Red Alert would demand the greatest punishment, although Sunstreaker wasn’t at all sure what that might be. Was it possible they’d straight up execute him? He wouldn’t have put that past them.

Exiling him would’ve been well preferable to that. Incarcerate him?

What would they do to the sparkling? While it was still in his frame, and after it had separated?

Did he want to stay to find answers to those questions, or should he leave before they could make him face the consequences of his actions?

Where would he go? To Megatron? Or somewhere else?

Where else?

Where could he go? And would Megatron even let him go, after he had made it clear he wanted his hands on the sparkling? 

Or would he simply be hunted down and dragged to the Decepticons?

He was likely safe from that fate if he stayed with the Autobots, but was what the Autobots would do to him any better?

Megatron, at least, had stopped harassing him after their one mid-battle conversation. Apparently he’d gotten to discuss what he had wanted to discuss—probably mainly the reminder of what he had promised to do if Sunstreaker didn’t.

Tell the Autobots.

But so far, there had been no word from the tyrant.

It was quiet on all fronts, for now, but he could sense Ratchet’s mounting concern. Sunstreaker, personally, thought that Ratchet didn’t want to find out answers in a way that would break his precious medical confidentiality, but what was he doing except forcing the medic’s hand with his refusal to tell who the sire was?

With his refusal to admit it was Megatron?

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“Sunstreaker, Sideswipe,” Optimus greeted them in the rec room. They were sitting in their corner table as usual, and if Sunstreaker’s presence didn’t just create a lovely bubble around them that no one dared to cross the threshold of. 

No one except the Prime.

Optimus spoke quietly enough that snooping ears couldn’t hear him, which was enough to make Sunstreaker tense from helm to pede. Now what?

He glared.

“Wazzup?” Sideswipe asked with an easy smile, leaning back in his seat.

“Could I speak with you two in private?” the Prime asked. Sideswipe cocked an optical ridge at him.

Sunstreaker growled. “If it’s not something we can talk about in public, then we’re not talking about it.”

Optimus gave him a look, but that was nothing new. Happened practically every time they talked, really. Sunstreaker didn’t lose his glare any more than Sideswipe lost his smile even as he sipped from his cube.

If Optimus wasn’t as kind and forgiving as he was… Well, Sunstreaker wasn’t sure he’d even be an Autobot at this point, after everything he’d done and all the disrespect he’d shown. 

And soon enough he might just use up all of Optimus’ goodwill, and then what? The million dollar question. He highly doubted even the Prime could forgive relations with Megatron.

“Very well,” Optimus said, surprisingly, and took a seat opposite from them. Even Sideswipe frowned at this point, setting his cube down.

“Seriously, Prime, what’s this about?” his brother asked, and wasn’t that what they were both curious over. 

“Ratchet has been very concerned over you,” Optimus rumbled, glancing between them. His voice was low and quiet, just enough to travel across the table to them, and no further.

Sunstreaker’s optics narrowed. “What’s he said?”

“Just that he’s worried. You know Ratchet would never speak of anything confidential.” Everyone knew that. As bad as Ratchet’s bedside manner was, as grouchy as he could be, one thing he was, was reliable. Optimus may have been his leader, and if Sunstreaker hazarded, his friend too, but that wouldn’t be enough for Ratchet to speak of things that were between him and his patients.

Beyond saying he was worried about them it looked like, anyway.

“Did he ask you to talk with us?” Sideswipe asked, a little disbelieving. Optimus for sure tried to be everyone’s buddy despite being the leader of the whole damn faction, but it couldn’t exactly be said he and the brothers had ever been too close. They had too many issues with authority figures, especially as maddeningly soft ones like Optimus, to really appreciate the Prime to any measure.

Not a great foundation for anything more than barely passable relations, as much as Optimus never held it against them. He still tried.

As he tried now too. “No, he didn’t ask me to. I wanted to ask you myself. Is everything alright?”

What the frag made him think they’d tell him even if something wasn’t? Sunstreaker frowned harder, and next to him, Sideswipe mirrored the expression.

“Yeeeaaahhh?” his brother almost asked, because you know, why wouldn’t everything be just dandy? “Everything’s fine? I’m not sure what Ratchet’s worried over.”

Sideswipe paused for a thoughtful effect before he continued. “Well, unless it’s about Sunny’s glitch. That’s been acting up.”

“I remember,” Optimus sighed, his optics resting on Sunstreaker. “But you have had quite a bit of luck keeping it under control since, have you not?”

“Thanks to Sides,” Sunstreaker grunted.

The Prime frowned at the suggestion behind those words. “What has caused it to act up like this?” Damn, wasn’t he just so concerned. For who, though? For Sunstreaker and his mental health on a downward spiral, or for the rest of the Autobots he’d become an instant threat to if he lost control of himself?

Probably a bit of both. Optimus was just so… Altruistic.

“Haven’t you noticed Megatron’s given me an uncomfortable amount of attention lately?” Sunstreaker asked, raising one of his optical ridges for good measure. “If that’s not stressful, I don’t know what is.”

Look, he wasn’t even lying.

“I have noticed,” Optimus said carefully, like the whole situation was a powder keg ready to explode.

With Sunstreaker on the scene, that may as well be true. “Do you know why he’s given you that amount of attention?” Optimus continued, looking at him with concern.

But that was probably fair enough when your worst enemy was gunning for one of your soldiers.

Sideswipe cracked his knuckles mentally. Time to fabricate some falsehoods.

“You remember that one time Megatron and Soundwave ran into me and Sides?” Sunstreaker asked, and continued after Optimus had nodded at him. “He said something about remembering me, that time. We have some… Unfinished business, that he didn’t manage to finish that time either.

“I think he’s trying to finish it now.”

Optimus frowned and considered his words for a moment—and the implications behind them. “What kind of ‘unfinished business’, if that isn’t too much prying?”

Aw, wasn’t he just so polite.

Sunstreaker stayed quiet just long enough to make it look like he was considering how much and how he would tell about this—for reasons that should become obvious when he finally spoke up. “There was a deathmatch,” he said, a bit cautiously. See, their past was a bit of a sore topic, wasn’t it? So violent and filled with death even before the war that most Autobots were just uncomfortable when it came up. 

They didn’t want to hear about everything they had been through. It was just too disturbing for their fragile little sensibilities. “It ended before either of us died, which is… Not supposed to happen. Ever.” He gave Optimus a meaningful look, the kind that said ‘you wouldn’t understand, but just take my word for it’.

Optimus nodded again, more slowly this time as he started to catch onto what Sunstreaker was getting to.

Sunstreaker said it out loud anyway, just so there was no confusion. “I think he’s trying to grudge kill me now, now that he remembers me.”

“Don’t worry, we’re not about to let that happen,” Sideswipe piped in with a fierce grin. The Prime frowned at him in disapproval, to which Sideswipe merely shrugged. So they were a little bloodthirsty, and too fearless for their own good. Sue them.

“Is there anything you would like me to do about that?” Optimus asked kindly.

Sunstreaker snorted. “Kill him, maybe? Would solve a lot of problems.”

The Prime had a pause before he sighed. “Yes, that is the goal, isn’t it?” he said quietly enough that Sunstreaker wasn’t sure if it was even aimed at them at all.

They said nothing. Optimus eventually cycled another ventilation, and nodded at them. “Thank you for your candor, twins.”

Candor. Right. 

Sunstreaker nodded back, as did Sideswipe. 

Optimus took his leave, and alone they were again—but not for long, because someone whose intelligence was as lacking as their height decided to come their way after the Prime had left the room.

‘Cause you know, Optimus wouldn’t have particularly approved of Cliffjumper antagonizing them, but that was all Cliffjumper knew how to do. 

What did they ever do to him? Were activated in the wrong city? Had the wrong frame type? A past he didn’t approve of? A little too shaky loyalties?

“Everyone’s starting to notice something’s up,” Cliffjumper said as he came closer, stopping outside of grabbing distance and placing his hands on his hips.

“And what is up, exactly?” Sunstreaker asked, narrowing his optics at the minibot.

Cliffjumper leaned towards them. “You and Megatron are what’s up. You’ve been eyeing each other for months. So what’s going on there, huh?“

Was it just Cliffjumper looking for any excuses to blame them for unbecoming behavior?

Or had their comrades actually noticed the change?

Sunstreaker snorted. “He wants to kill me is what’s going on there?”

Sideswipe laughed. “You’re reaching even harder than usual, CJ!”

The minibot wasn’t discouraged. “Am I really? What’s with him not trying to fragging ‘kill you’ this hard before, tell me that.”

Easy. “Because he didn’t remember me before,” Sunstreaker said with a good, big roll of his optics. “Now he does and wants to finish what he started way back when.”

“That’s what we figure, anyway,” Sideswipe shrugged, “Not a hell of a lot of other potential explanations.”

Cliffjumper growled at them, but he had no solid proof, did he? So he’d noticed their looks, the lowkey drama between them—noticed something was going on.

But he had no way to prove it was anything more than what the twins suggested it was. He didn’t know about the sparklet steadily growing next to his spark.

But he would soon. Everyone would know soon, once its signature strengthened enough to become noticeable on top of that of its carrier. 

And then… He could only imagine what Cliffjumper would accuse him of then. 

He might even hit home.

“Say what you say,” Cliffjumper huffed at them, his arms coming up to cross across his slagging mini chassis. “You won’t be able to hide the fragging truth forever. Did you jump on that spike already? ‘Cause I think you did.”

This time Sunstreaker laughed and Sideswipe snorted. “Riiiight, he fragged Megatron,” Sideswipe said in full mockery. “And lived to tell the tale?

“Frag off, Cliff, seriously.”

“Why don’t you do what your name suggests and go jump off a real high cliff?” Sunstreaker smirked, hiding his expression behind his cube.

Cliffjumper growled at them again, but turned to leave. “We’ll see who laughs last, fraggers.”

Yeah—and it probably wouldn’t be him and his brother.

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