#and how astrotrain asks him if he or starscream hates megatron more

[silenceofthewave]

( caught up on skybound!! head full. many thoughts. )

[polygonal-trees]

I really want to know what went down between Megatron and Soundwave, in that gap between the end of the invasion arc and completing the Wall.

I would say that Soundwave is not as loyal in Cyberverse as he is in other continuities, but he's still pretty damn loyal. He was one of Megatron's highest ranking soldiers, he was willing to throw hands with Starscream, and he's known Megatron since the first Decepticon rally. The two go way back, possibly to before the Decepticon movement began.

But Megatron didn't include Soundwave in his plans to defend against the Other One. Didn't even tell him about it.

What happened? Why did Soundwave have to sneak around?

Megatron's defense team consisted of Astrotrain, Dead End, Sky-Byte, and Wild Wheel. The reason for the first two is obvious, they already know what's going on and really don't want Megatron X to find them. Sky-Byte seems a slightly stranger choice, but it's established that he and Megatron are old friends, and apparently Sky-Byte has some technological know-how. He's probably there to replace Shockwave.

But Wild Wheel? The ex-Autobot?? Sure, dude can shoot and he hates Optimus Prime, but did Megatron seriously trust him more than Soundwave?

I can understand Shadow Striker's absence a little better, she's never been established as having a close connection with Megatron (although she was also at his rally...), and while she's a commander of some sort, her position doesn't seem that specialized. She wasn’t ‘necessary’ like Astrotrain.

But Soundwave was Megatron's intelligence & communications officer and social media manager - you would think that his skills could be applied! Perhaps he could have devised some sort of early warning system, or at least helped keep Megatron's team together (since the Insecticons noped out). It’s even implied he had some scientific knowledge, since he was in line to replace Shockwave. But more than that, in previous seasons, Megatron appeared to like and trust him.

Soundwave was in charge of the Nemesis while Megatron was fighting, Soundwave attended the peace negotiations at Megatron’s side, and Soundwave can goof around playing music in a way I don't think a random Decepticon grunt would be allowed to. He has privileges.

So again - what happened?

Did Megatron decide that Soundwave just wasn't that important? That he had all the help he needed? Did he think it would be better to keep his group small, maybe to stop word getting out? If that was the case, you would think he could trust Soundwave with secrecy, but maybe Soundwave lost that trust during the Quintesson invasion arc.

Was Megatron simply too proud to ask for help? Did he want as few people as possible to know he was in danger? He didn't rally his army in his defense, and he only asked Optimus at the very last second. Did he just not want to admit his fear to Soundwave? It seems in-character, if stupid.

Did Megatron not like the fact that Soundwave took control in his absence? Maybe he accused Soundwave of trying to usurp him, and refused to keep him close. Did he worry that Soundwave would become like Starscream? Did Megatron cut Soundwave out due to a paranoid urge to protect himself from another threat? After everything that happened, it seems possible.

Or maybe Megatron was trying to protect Soundwave instead. To keep his friend away from the conflict. They have, after all, known each other for a long time, Soundwave being one of Megatron’s earliest supporters who didn’t side with Optimus. This theory seems unlikely, since Megatron had no problem involving Sky-Byte, but maybe his relationship with Soundwave was different.

Or maybe... Soundwave acted first?

Maybe he confronted Megatron about the Wall, about his leadership, about his choice to abandon the planet. According to the movie synopses, the Decepticons have made a treaty with the Autobots. If Megatron is dead, that presumably makes Soundwave one of the de-facto leaders - did he sign the treaty? Could it be that Soundwave liked the unity he helped build during the invasion, and was tired of the conflict, and argued with Megatron about it?

Did Soundwave want actual, lasting peace?

Notably, during the invasion arc, Soundwave doesn't even suggest that they free Megatron. Sure, the plan meant he'd be freed alongside everyone else, but there was no attempt on Soundwave's part to rescue Megatron as an individual, as opposed to Hot Rod's plan to free Optimus.

Could that just be Soundwave being pragmatic? Possibly! But could it also be possible he was tired of Megatron's shit by that point? That he felt abandoned when Megatron left with Dead End? Did Soundwave walk away from Megatron?

I don't know, but I really hope we find out.

[dorkicon]

G1 For the fandom ask!!!

The first character I first fell in love with: 

optimus prime. gotta say oppy. like, of course.

speaking as someone who really enjoys dumb 80s cartoons, i think giving op a different personality beyond "noble leader" really paid off. like, yeah, hes kind and selfless. but hes also a total goofball. very important 2 me. i wish theyd revisit that more often instead of making him some weird untouchable hero figure

The character I never expected to love as much as I do now: 

the insecticons! all three of em...but especially shrapnel :^) my friend @/princewarmachine (idk if he wants a tag LMAO) has shared a lot of good headcanons with me thats really enamored me with em...

like, have u thought about how the insecticons probably crashed with a full crew...i sure wonder what happened to the rest of them...;_;

The character everyone else loves that I don’t: 

mm, i dont really like a lot of fanon interpretations of starscream in particular. i think he deserves better. i dont know, yall probably know what im talking about. its just the way ppl make the seekers weirdly animalistic and sexy(?), like, bud, starscream is literally just a dude. hes just a guy

The character I love that everyone else hates: 

another one where literally no one talks about him, but i like huffer a lot. just because.

this ones for the huffheads baby lets go huffer

The character I used to love but don’t any longer:

no clue! i liked optimus prime a lot as a kid, too, so ive had zero development there

The character I would totally smooch: 

aw. blaster, or soundwave...probably astrotrain, too. and skyfire. jazz. shockwave too! and, um-

The character I’d want to be like:

oh, i dont even know...i spent too long thinking about this so i took a quiz LOL

i guess bumblebee? i think i WOULD like 2 be the cutest dude ever

The character I’d slap: 

megatron. i want to smack his stupid flat head. <3

A pairing that I love:

i kinda have a lot of g1 ships. just for fun :^) g1 megop is one i like, cause its peak stupid. starwave. rodimags. prowljazz. whatever it is, its gonna b a bit dumb.

A pairing that I despise:

m*gastar....bleeeeh...i dont like it at all...im not even gonna type much about it cause it bugs me, i just think it sucks -_-

[liaswritesrobots]

Soundwave adopts a “minicon” *coughhumancough* starscream gets a crush on said “minicon”..... starscream vs soundwave for readers affection?? Please and thank?

When Soundwave had shown up to the base with a human most Decepticons weren't that crazy about it, Starscream being one of them. But for some reason Megatron had allowed Soundwave this indulgent of adopting a fleshy little "pet". That's what you were to most of the Decepticons anyway, a pet, but Soundwave was always quick to correct them, saying that the two of you have more of a father and child bond.

And it's true, after hanging out with Soundwave for a while and getting to know each other you do sort of see him as a father figure. You've even gotten used to the jokes from Skywarp about Rumble and Frenzy being your brothers now and have actually come to see Soundwave and his minicons as your family. 

Getting along with them has been pretty easy so far- save for Rumble and Frenzy's constant need to be jerks and prank you- it's the other cons that you worry about. For the most part Thundercracker seems ok, he doesn't talk much but he's usually polite enough to you, Megatron of course avoids you when he can, Shockwave asks you questions every now and then in his never ending quest for knowledge, Skywarp is also a jerk that likes to pull pranks on you, Astrotrain and Blitzwing don't interact with you much but when they do they're careful not make Soundwave upset, and so on.

And then there's Starscream. 

You have no idea what is up with this guy. One minute he'll be giving you a cocky smirk and bragging about something he's done expecting you to fall over yourself to praise him and the next he'll start insulting humans right to your face and try to avoid you. The worst part is he doesn't even care if Soundwave is in the room. He'll shamelessly lean in so you can't escape and bitch about his day or expect you to agree with him on how much greater Cybertronians are then get all huffy when you don't act like he's the best thing you've ever seen.

It's odd to you because you genuinely can't tell if this mech wants to be your friend or if he hates you. You think it's the latter, as he seems to want to stop you when you're trying to do something and take up your time only to end up angrily making offhand remarks about your species when you talk back.

Soundwave knows better though. He knows how Starscream works, and he knows how terrible he is at dealing with feelings, especially if those feelings happen to be growing admiration for an organic. That's why Soundwave wants to be in the room with you and Starscream, and when he can't be, he usually sends in one of his minicons to find you and keep you company. He knows how to keep a tab on Starscream and his behavior, and by Primus he will, because he wants to make damn sure that you pick someone better than that mouthy backstabbing jet.

[baebeyza]

Pros and Cons of all the TF shows I watched [updated: Unicron Trilogy and BW Neo]

Update info: Whyever the hell I wrote this and why people care about my opinion is beyond my current understanding, but @chaoticgirl23 asked for the Unicron Trilogy I hadn't watched back then, so- Also decided to write down if I actually like the show or not xD

(also I removed wfc, because I cant really judge after all with the show not being finished) My personal opinions + stuff that can be dubbed controversial and problematic, so beware for racism and sexism! But also beware of my idiotic attempts at humour

G1 (loved the show with all my heart)

Pros:

- The original show

- big cast of loveable characters

- Really awesome human side characters

- Very clever and witty dialogue

- fucking batshit insane

- Rodimus Prime is babe

Cons:

- apart from Arcee, female autobots being treated like a subspecies and only appearing in like one episode (3 if you are generous)

- Motherfucking country called “Carbombya”

- Some human characters are actually shit (those boys from B.O.T)

- Rodimus fucks as a human and not as a robot

- Everything animated by AKOM

- Galvatron’s portrayal as a person with brain-damage reads as ableistic (Personally I still love his G1 version more than the others I’ve seen)

- The “You’re only truly disabled if you lose your courage” line from Chip, it was explained to me that it’s ableistic as well

Headmasters (loved the show)

Pros:

- exciting plot

- characters die, fuck yeah

- Planets get destroyed, fuck yeah

- <3 ~ Power of Friendship ~ <3

- Sixshot is babe

Cons:

- Everything about Cyclonus and Wheelie

- Rodimus fucks off after episode 10 and never comes back

- Arcee going from warrior to secretary

- If you come from IDW I have to break it to you that Chromedome is straight

SuperGod  Masterforce (loved the show with all my heart)

Pros:

- A darker and more serious storyline if you’re into that

- Lots of character arcs and well-written characters in general

- Decepticons having a more family like dynamic

- Decepticons with a level of depth to them

- Redemption much

- Ginrai is babe

Cons:

- This show’s focus is on the humans so if you don’t like human TF characters, this aint for you

- The character Cab has a level of racist stereotyping - he comes from a fictional country in Oceania called Karin and the depiction of that country is everyone living in wood homes and having no electricity. (The show plays in the future so that makes it worse) Cab himself gets introduced as a Tarzan kinda dude who can talk with animals.

While I found Cab himself not bad as a character, the problem with how his background is written sure is stupid and insulting. There isn’t a lot of focus on his country in the show however, but it’s still there

- There is a scene in which the boys Shuta and Cab spy on girls during swim class (they get called out and apologize for it though and the “fanservice” scene itself is really damn modest and tame)

Victory (loved the show)

Pros:

- Similiar fun tone as G1

- lovable cast of idiots

- Exciting episode plots

- Leozack is babe

Cons:

- The only two prominent female characters are love interests and nothing else (which is drop in quality when compared to Masterforce, which had Minerva as a fleshed out autobot with agency and Mega as an interesting female villain)

- Leozack never punches Deszaras in the face

- Fucking retcons the destruction of Mars in Headmasters

Beast Wars (loved with all my heart)

Pros:

- Really compelling story and characters!!!

- Well written dialogue

- Wonderful character animation

- Dinobot is HONOUR and babe. Also I’m crying

- Megatron and his bullshit

Cons:

- Megatron and his bullshit

- That stupid love triangle subplot in season 3

- Some major plotline not being fully developed (the Vok plotline)

Beast Wars II (liked the show)

Pros:

- The Predacons in general

- Lio Convoy (the Optimus of the show) having a son

- Galvatron is babe and so is Starscream

Cons:

- Maximals are lame apart from Lio Convoy and the arc with his son Lio Junior

- A lot of uninteresting characters an episodes

- The Jointrons as racist mexican stereotypes

- Only female robot is part of a love triangle (even more annoying than the love triangle in Beast Wars)

Beast Wars Neo (liked the show)

Pros:

- Big Convoy being a lone wolf turned teacher was a really sweet story to follow <3 How he and his team learnt to trust each other over the course of the show was really nice!

- Unicron in this show was a delight

- D-Navi was always fun

- Magmatron was a rather nice Decepticon leader

- Heinrad is babe

Cons:

- No girls (Boo!)

Beast Machines (very conflicted, tend to dislike)

Pros:

- Plays entirely on Cybertron

- Explores themes of technology and organic life forms and really tries to be something different and deep

- The last episode is really nice

- Jetstorm is babe

Cons:

- No fun allowed - the maximals are really frustrating because we only ever see them being angry and fighting and a lot of them only show us their worst sides

- The maximal character models are HIDEOUS

- You may not actually like the philosophical aspect of the show, especially when you think too long about it and realise it’s kinda shit

Robots in Disguise 2001/ Car Robots (liked the show)

Pros:

- New continuity! New story, new take!

- Funny and lighthearted

- Cute characters

- Sky-Byte/Gel-Shark is babe

- Ultra Magnus/God Magnus is a fucking jerk and I love it 

Cons:

- Sideburn/Speedbreaker’s gag about loving red sport cars and chasing after them - it’s played as a joke all the time but I can see that stuff making people uncomfortable when they see the female driver trying to get away from him and his catcalling (Apart from that I do like him a lot though)

Armada/Micron Densetsu (disliked the show)

Pros:

- Lots of feels between Megatron and Optimus

- Starscream's arc

- The ending arc

- Jetfire was babe

Cons:

- The pacing was unbearable

- Half the time the characters didn't act like people and I was confused about almost every conflict, action and point they made. It's not a great story when I watch episode and need an hour to figure what the hell the story even was

- The parts I liked in concept are not helped by how unnatural and weird the characters acted at times. I liked the ending, but how they got there was so weird that I just can't enjoy it

Energon/Superlink (loved the show)

Pros:

- Megatron/Galvatron - Everything about him

- The japanese voice acting was fantastic!

- Really nice death scenes (I love death scenes btw)

- Mirage/Shockfleet being in love with Megatron

- Bringing back old names apart from Megatron and Optimus

- Rodimus being an equal to Optimus was a nice touch

- The few scenes it was 2D animated

- Jetfire/Skyfire is babe

Cons:

- Animation

- The "for the toys" thing kinda ruined some characters, where instead of getting the toys as completely new characters, they killed old ones and brought them back with a new model. It did suck story-telling wise (and me, loving death scenes, get annoyed when a death scene gets ruined by bringing the character back). So you got all these character arcs that feel like the just stopped

Cybertron/Galaxy Force (loved the show with all my heart)

Pros:

- Love the setting and world with all the different colonies and how they were explored ~

- Optimus Prime, this one is my favourite version of him!

- Vector Prime, they should bring him back

- All the different leaders

- The friendship between the characters- this show has my favourite set of Autobots from all TF media

- This also has my favourite Mega&Star dynamic

- Starscream himself is so well done here!

- Jetfire/Dreadlock was babe

Cons:

- Megatron was lacklustre. When it came to him and his dynamics with other characters (apart from Starscream), he was hardly written as a person with feelings. He never reacts to anything happening within the ranks of Decepticons and it is really disappointing, because there was a lot of potential! (with Flame Convoy and Chromia specifically)

Animated (loved the show)

Pros:

- Character writing, plot and themes!

- Lighthearted tone but enough scenes that dig a little deeper

- Really nice and smooth animation

- Optimus is baby

Cons:

- The chins

- No 4th season

Prime (loved the show)

Pros:

- Best friggin fight scenes and animation in general

- Really exciting plot 

- Ratchet is babe

Cons:

- Predacon Rising exists

- Characters dying for budget reasons (Just don’t hire celebrities when you cannot pay them for more?)

Robots in Disguise 2015 (it's okay)

Pros:

- ...the Stunticons are babe

Cons:

- characters never developing and learning the same shit over and over again

- almost no interesting villains

- even the interesting ones being shoved aside a lot 

- no real built-up for the climax

- lots of filler and not enough time spent on the actual plot of a corrupt Cybertron goverment

Prime Wars Trilogy (loved the show with all my heart)

Pros:

- Megatron, everything about him, he’s babe

- I really like the soundtrack

Cons:

- Bad storytelling, both narrative and visual

- Horrible or mediocre voice acting

- Static and bad facial expressions

- Static and bad character animation

- Feels like no one involved in the production had any idea how to tell a story

Cyberverse (meh)

Pros:

- Really cute as fuck

- Big cast 

- Astrotrain is babe

Cons:

- No time for character arcs, they just jump from set up to conclusion with nothing in-between

- Unfocused plot that jumps from one idea to another

- Megatron broke my heart and I hate him

[thenamesblurrito]

Astrotrain/Spacewarp dude. Record, for the main four Decepticons finding their relics? Ask meme.

Record: give us an in-character blurb about x thing or event in this AU, from history, from the plot, etc!

Written as a fic excerpt instead of in-character, but hey I got it done. Bonus points to anybody who spots the furmanism!

Also the hellsite’s readmore is broken, I hate this.

Starscream shuffled closer to the meager shelter of the arch, folding his wings in tight against the wind. Skywarp huddled behind him, and Thundercracker hadn’t even left the doorway. Megatron, however, braced himself out on the tarmac of the Academy’s elevated landing strip. His fierce grin, turned towards the force of the tempest, was illuminated just enough by his optics to make out over the distance. Lightning writhed in the tangle of clouds that had swallowed the sky overhead, and the wind-driven rain splattered in buckets against every surface. A chunk of debris from a shattered outbuilding slammed into the side of the hangar and dropped into the pile of other detritus quickly accumulating not far from the trine’s position.

“Why is he even out here?” Skywarp shouted over the gale, difficult to hear even though he was right next to Starscream’s audial.

“How should I know?” Starscream yelled back. “Probably to get inspiration, or emotional power, or some other scrap that he prizes over surviving!”

Another tongue of lightning lashed the sky above them and the following whip-crack of thunder shook the hangar to its foundations. Starscream was half a second from marching back to the door and leaving the melodramatic idiot out there to die alone, but a powerful blow from the gale winds pinned him to the wall. Megatron, bereft of the support of the hangar arch, went sprawling, skidding backwards and rolling pedes over helm like just another piece of debris until he thwacked into the wall only a few meters from them.

“That’s it!” Starscream howled. He left Skywarp to give Megatron a hand, instead fumbling his way to the door and shoving in past Thundercracker.

“I’ve been dragged into hundreds of stupid plans in all my vorns stuck with you, but this one was the worst!” Droplets flew from his frame as he whipped around to jab a finger at a bedraggled Megatron, clinging to Skywarp. “You can stay here and ‘appreciate the fury of the storm’ all you’d like, dumbaft, but I am going back down into a proper building with solid walls and waiting this out like a sensible person with survival instincts!”

“Don’t you feel it, though? The gravitas?” He wore the same smile Starscream had seen over and over again: the one that appears when he sees something awful and immediately wants to emulate it. “It’s like the darkness is alive. This isn’t any ordinary storm! This is a calamity.”

“You’re a calamity!”

“Uh, guys?” Thundercracker muttered, unheard over the storm outside and the brewing argument.

“No, there is something out there,” Megatron said, shoving off of Skywarp. “Didn’t you see it, or were you too blinded by its terror? Could you not experience the majesty within the dread? Do you so cling to the light that you cannot bear the shadow for fear of drowning in it?” He paused. “I should write those lines down.”

“Guys?”

“Here’s a line for you, with small words so you can understand: You! Are! Stupid! We shouldn’t have flown you up here! What if the stairwell is locked? If we’re stuck in this hangar, I promise I will make sure you don’t enjoy it.”

“Guys, please!”

“WHAT?” The two turned to look at Thundercracker, who was still staring out the door. Skywarp had joined him, and they both seemed nervous.

“Was the thing you saw like that thing?” he squeaked and pointed up.

As all four of them clustered in the doorway, lightning illuminated an enormous square of sheet metal and durasteel, hovering in the wind like some predatory bird among a swarm of other fragments of buildings. It tumbled one way, soared another, mesmerizing in the way it spun, and they watched it for a long frozen moment before another gust slapped it directly at the hangar.

If asked about this later, Starscream will deny ever shrieking, instead insisting that he smoothly sprung away from the door towards the stairwell along with the other three. His siblings, however, would delight in detailing the way his voice broke in the middle of his terrified screech and how he had to scrabble for purchase against the puddles covering the floor. Each youngling made a mad dash for the other side of the hangar and the safety of the stairs. The howling gale covered their frantic pedesteps—that and the sound of the flying metal wall exploding through the roof.

The only thing Starscream could think, clutching in desperation at Thundercracker and clenching his plating against the sting of a rubble avalanche, was that this was so much worse than turbulence.

The enormous projectile went clean through the top of the hangar and slid through the back wall, crashing down into the library section of the main building below. Starscream only registered bits of it: a beam from the ceiling sweeping him and Thundercracker off the side, the sudden presence of the rain again, a flash of Megatron’s green paint in a rush of falling concrete, a great shattering thunder as the roof below them caved in. His grip on his sibling’s arm never faltered.

The sudden jolt of deceleration didn’t register to him as much as being pelted with datatrax instead of debris. Opening his optics—when had he closed them?—he found himself in a thoroughly ruined library. Records and datapads rained from splintered shelves along with the deluge coming through the hole in the ceiling. The flying wall stood embedded in the floor like a monument to its own destructive force. Starscream blinked away the fugue and looked—Thundercracker beside him, wincing but not obviously wounded, Megatron groaning atop a chunk of steel, and yes, there’s Skywarp, dazed but standing. He let his helm flop back down against Thundercracker’s thigh in relief.

He heard Megatron wheeze as he clambered to the ground, then take a deep vent, before, “FRAAAG YOOOU TOOOO, YOU SLAG SUCKING STOOOORM!”

Starscream grunted in rare agreement.

“Why do you hate everything?” Thundercracker moaned.

��Because the world is broken,” Megatron roared. “and there’s nothing I can do to fix it!”

“What,” Starscream muttered and propped himself up to watch him stomp back and forth.

“I want to revel in the glory of the sky, not wonder if this was a manipulated event! I’d rather be terrified of Cybertron’s natural roiling power than at the possibility that the weather department whipped this up deliberately to destroy an institution that so openly defies functionism!” Fists clenched and dentae bared, Megatron paced in a fervent energy he usually only reached during a performance, sneering up into the rain. “The students accepted to this academy are the best and brightest younglings in all of Cybertron and the colonies! Why then must I suspect that the functionist regime was willing to wipe out the hundreds of us here to eliminate a potential threat?”

“Holy hand, does everything have to turn political for you?” Skywarp sprawled onto a pile of records and flung his arm over his face.

“YES!”

He made an impressive figure, Starscream had to admit to himself. Pedes planted, optics blazing, and fist raised defiant, Megatron looked less like the moody, melodramatic youngling rebel he knew and more like some commander out of the history books. A lyric from one of his songs filtered through his mind: To war, I’ll roar, until I rage no more.

“We are being deceived! Our government, the ones whose duty ought to be the protection and guidance of the people, have instead betrayed us by turning frametypes into a measurement of personhood! We are told to despise our fellows for simply having been forged in different shapes, and no one is aware enough to realize we all share the same suffering! We are directed to labor only in the manner dictated to us, when true quality is only attained by the dedication and skill of those who are not forced away from the work they want to do! What freedoms we have are a pittance, tossed to us as an afterthought by tyrants.

“The only solution to tyranny is anarchy! Every scrap of resistance is worth something!” Megatron spread his arms and yelled into the storm, “I’ll stand alone if I have to! Has Primus left me without support?”

“Yup,” Thundercracker grunted.

“Nooo…” Skywarp raised a limp servo before letting it flop back down.

“I’ll have to check my schedule,” Starscream said.

“It doesn’t matter!” He ignored them. “I accept it! I will have no function from my oppressors, but this I declare as my very PURPOSE!”

At first Starscream thought Megatron had been struck by lightning. The instant blinding light, the shockwave, the wash of charge and sound that whited out his every sensor, it all seemed to fit. He unwound slowly from his reflexive curled position, still blinking at a luminous afterimage of his friend burned into his optics. But the room wasn’t burnt. Megatron huddled on the floor, shuddering, but not a molten mess of slag.

“Wha-att,” voice breaking, he had to pause and reset his vocalizer. “What the frag was that?”

Thundercracker shuffled to a sitting position with a spooked expression. “Lightning? Power cables snapped?”

“Are you okay?” said Skywarp, the only one of the three who had rushed to check on him.

“Yeah,” croaked Megatron. “I… I think I’m the best I’ve ever been.”

“Holy slag, he’s actually gone insane now,” Starscream said.

He and Thundercracker jumped up to look for themselves. Megatron unfurled haltingly. His left arm he kept clutched to his chest until the end, revealing at last a glowing white hexagon. It was a plaque of some sort, with some stylized picture on one side that Starscream couldn’t make out. Only about a finger’s width thick but as wide as his face, it was not unlike a datatrax but for its shape and intricately etched surface. Also the fact that it began hovering a few spans above Megatron’s hand.

“What the pit-” Skywarp yelped, skittering backwards.

Megatron just stared, entranced. “It… speaks to me. It’s connected to me, I think.”

“Starscream, he’s actually-actually gone insane now,” Thundercracker hissed.

He didn’t bother replying. There was just, something, something there, maybe. If he looked a little harder, Starscream thought, he’d be able to see it. The thing pirouetted and pulsed like it was—like it was alive, and he found himself tingling all over with a knowledge that he was in the presence of something powerful beyond mortal measure. Or maybe the tingle was genuine waves of power it emitted, he didn’t know, but he wanted to know, and he wondered if Megatron would just be willing to share for a moment—

“Uhm? There’s more of them!”

Skywarp’s panic made him look, and there they were. Three more hexagons, scattered in an alcove made by piled debris a couple meters away, not yet glowing but certainly more shiny than the dust-turned-mud should allow. Thundercracker grabbed a piece of rebar and made to nudge them into the rubble, but Starscream snapped, “Wait.”

He and Skywarp turned to look at him incredulously. Starscream worked his jaw for a moment, gaze fixed on those three things, then dragged his helm back around to look at Megatron. He stared at him, orange optics glinting white with the thing’s glow. There was a challenge there, and encouragement, and maybe, just maybe, some hint of that power Starscream felt still filtering out across his frame.

“I—”

His siblings seemed scared. He was more scared of allowing the moment to pass than of the danger of this unknown.

“I want one.”

[afterspark-podcast]

G1 Episode 39: Transcript

[This can also be found on AO3!]

[Stinger]

S: I didn't say it was calming. It's just, like, whale noises didn't work. 

O: [Laughter]

[Intro Music] 

O: Hello and welcome to the Afterspark Podcast, an episode by episode recap of the Generation 1 Transformers cartoon. I'm Owls.

S: And I'm Specs.

O: And today we're going to be talking about episode number 39: The God Gambit. Let's talk about giant robots today, shall we?

S: Yep.

O: And today IN SPACE!!!

S: Aliens. Multicolored aliens, even. 

O: One group of aliens seems to be controlling a giant idol- I mean, a god??? 

S: It looks pretty rocky. The high priest yells at a twink as other not priest-like aliens offer their harvest offerings to the so-called god.

O: We see a stylishly dressed pink lady running around behind the scenes, spying on the shenanigans before she and her diverse cadre destroy the giant stone god.

S: Apparently to join this group you must be either: a woman or ‘mustache’ some extremely fancy facial hair.

O: Those aliens had magnificent mustaches.

S: Yes, yes they did. The pink lady yells at the high priest for being a dick.

O: I like her already but then again I like most women who look like they can yeet me into the sun.

S: Oh, and she very much looks like she could do that to like everyone she comes across.

O: Pretty much. Probably not the giant robots but that's a sheer size thing not because I don't believe in her power.

S: Yep. You know, I almost like the high priest’s ceremonial robes but he apparently likes the breeze because there's very little leg coverage.

O: It is all business at the top and party on the bottom. 

S: The high priest, whose name is Jero, rants about punishment from ‘sky gods’ to Talaria who is our badass pink lady.

O: But Talaria tells him, “There are no ‘sky gods’!” Oh my, I wonder how giant transforming robots from the sky are going to come into this?

S: Hint, hint. Now about those giant robots.

O: Cosmos is flying around in space, running away from Decepticons, evading laser beams. He calls the Ark.

S: No one's manning the computer- no, wait, they run in from screen left.

O: I really do think they would just have somebody who would stay there and keep an eye on things but no. Prime, Jazz, Perceptor, and Red Alert all run in and answer his coms.

S: We see Astrotrain is the one pursuing Cosmos.

O: Oh! A carryover from the last episode, perhaps? 

S: That would be a very rare instance of inter-episode continuity.

O: Probably not that, then.

S: Apparently the Cons are trying to get data from Cosmos, so Prime tells them to transmit the data but Red Alert stops them. 

O: Red Alert is the only one here considering cyber security.

S: Well, very fitting considering his job.

O: Makes sense. Thrust and Starscream are sitting shotgun in Astrotrain and overhear the Autobots’ transmissions.

S: Immediately proving Red Alerts fears absolutely correct because apparently Astrotrain can just tune in onto the Autobot comm signal with, uh, no problem whatsoever. And Thrust either cares about his comrade's well-being or has a healthy dose of self-preservation as he expresses some concern about Astrotrains’ dwindling energy levels. But Astrotrain says ‘fuck that’ and continues to shoot after Cosmos.

O: You know, considering Ramjet in the previous episode, are the Coneheads just a lot nicer than I gave them credit for?

S: Maybe? Maybe, maybe. Astrotrain manages to hit Cosmos and poor Cosmos bounces off an asteroid before hitting the planet that was in our episode opening. 

O: So, turns out that isn't a planet- it's one of Saturn's moons: Titan! Courtesy of the TFWiki, it seems like, uh, Titan having life on it wasn't too far out during the time frame [the episode was made in] considering it has a substantial atmosphere and it became somewhat prevalent in popular culture due to the Voyager spacecraft sending back a decent amount of data on it a few years earlier.

S: Fascinating!

O: The more you know. 

S: A bunch of aliens are sitting around outside as Talaria espouses that the ‘sky gods’ aren't real.

O: The high priests are all tied up, too, so she's clearly gotten shit done in the meantime.

S: Yep and in an unfortunate coincidence Talaria points at the sky and says, “Show me a ‘sky god,’” just as Cosmos is, ah, crash landing.

O: Jero's a dick about this, of course.

S: He knows when to take his opportunities with both hands and run with them. We cut to the Decepticons landing in front of the giant temple containing the idol from before. 

O: Starscream claps his hands together and goes, “Here's the church, here's the steeple, open the door, where's all the people?” Where the fuck did he learn this and why?? 

S: Oh, obviously they learned at the same time that they learned what a guinea pig was.

O: I love how proud of himself he looks here, too. I also feel like this lends credence to our toss away comment about Starscream actually making an attempt to learn something about Earth culture, which is super weird. 

S: It's Starscream, man.

O: He does what he wants.

S: Yup-

O: Which includes learning children's nursery rhymes or whatever the hell you want to call that.

S: Astrotrain tells Starscream to stop ranting.

O: Thrust points to the smoke in the distance as to where the people probably are.

S: Or where Cosmos might be, at least. 

O: The high priest who has been untied, of course, he proclaims: “Behold! A sky god!” over Cosmos' prone body.

S: This man is going to take what he's given and run with it. A true con artist. 

O: The other aliens, aside from Talaria, fall down in worship. 

S: She must be so done with everything.

O: I would be so done with everything. 

S: Astrotrain’s like, “Hey, they worship Transformers! I'll just tell them I'm in charge.” 

O: Starscream, unsurprisingly, does not like this plan.

S: He wants to be the boss.

O: Starscream never gets to be the boss.

S: Well, he always declares himself the boss and then he gets demoted right, like, immediately. 

O: This is why you should stop saying you're the boss while Megatron is still alive.

S: Yep. Astrotrain promptly goes for strangulation and then Starscream is just, like, “Okay, okay.”

O: That that'll usually do’er. Uh, Jero tells Talaria to bow down just as Astrotrain drives through the trees in train mode.

S: Choo-choo-cachoo?

O: Astrotrain then transforms and proclaims himself as the mightiest of the gods. 

S: Astrotrain has the other two carry Cosmos into the temple saying, “Prop up that hunk of junk over there.” 

O: Why does Cosmos just keep getting regulated to junk?

S: Because he's small, round, and full of love.

O: All the things Astrotrain hates. 

S: Yeah, Starscream whines about, “Why do they have to listen to Astrotrain?”

O: To which Thrust replies, “Because he'll vaporize us if we don't.” I'm serious, I'm really loving the Coneheads on this watch through. They're way more competent than I gave them credit for.

S: Yeah, well they care about not dying.

O: Which, honestly, counts for a lot in the show. 

S: Yeah, yeah. Astrotrain props Cosmos up as an idol for the people to worship and grabs the energy data off of him. 

O: He then sits there and talks really loudly about how if Cosmos could only reconnect one wire he'd be able to call for help. Thankfully, Talaria overhears this. 

S: Thrust points out that Astrotrain burned up most of his fuel chasing Cosmos and they had better call Megatron, you know, for help.

O: Astrotrain’s, like, “No! Not until I crack Cosmos's code!”

S: ‘I want to be king of this mud ball!’

O: Uh, he's going to be king of something. They walk off and Talaria does the smart thing and reconnects Cosmos's wire, allowing Optimus to communicate with her and activate Cosmos's signal beacon so, basically, the Autobots can find him.

S: Starscream shoots at her and then we cut to a commercial.

O: Starscream misses and, thankfully, Cosmos wakes up and shoots him, allowing Talaria to escape.

S: Astrotrain then shoots Cosmos and poor Cosmos collapses again.

O: He's taken a lot of abuse in this episode. On Earth, Perceptor and Jazz volunteer to go with Omega Supreme to save Cosmos. 

S: Unfortunately, once they get there Omega will not be able to transform and help them.

O: By- due to lack of energy, basically, he's not going to have enough energy to get there and back.

S: Mm-hmm. And back on the alien planet [Titan] Jero leads the Cons to the fire god's lair.

O: Which consists of giant ass crystals that are apparently full of energy. Like most giant crystal things in this show. 

S: One of Jero's followers is like, “Aaah! This is taboo,” Jero's like, “God's gonna do what a god's gonna do, who cares about your taboos?”

O: And Astrotrain wants energy.

S: Yep, never mind that it's the sort of energy that makes things go boom.

O: Hey, I mean, they are what they are. They are a chaotic explosive uh, faction. The Autobots arrive just as Omega runs out of energy and they crash land. 

S: They decide that they need Cosmos to move the poor crash-landed Omega and Jazz tells him to, “not move,” and Omega replies, “Sarcasm not appreciated.”

O: [laughter] Be careful there, buddy, you're making a joke and after the other two walk off the cliff they were on partially collapses leaving Omega balanced precariously on just the teeniest, tiniest bit of rock.

S: “Situation critical.” And frankly, Mr. Omega, that is an understatement. 

O: Yes, it is. In the cave, the Cons are now forcing the aliens to harvest the giant crystals for them.

S: Starscream confirms that they are quite unstable. 

O: Yeah but- I'm shocked, shocked to tell you, shocked.

S: Jazz and Perceptor are walking around outside when Talaria shoots arrows at them and then Jazz asks her to, “Hey, calm down,” and Talaria leads them to Cosmos-

O: While riding-

S: With a bit of explanation.

O: While riding on Jazz's shoulder, no less.

S: She has the best seat in the house.

O: She does, Jazz is a delight.

S: The Cons walk in on Jazz and Perceptor seeing to Cosmos and cue a firefight with a bunch of explosive crystals.

O: Like a sane person, Thrust wants backup.

S: Yep, but Starscream tells him to stand and fight because if Thrust doesn't then Starscream doesn't have anyone to stand behind.

O: Pretty much and it's Porche and rock versus warplane, as Jazz chucks the rock at Starscream, making him fall to the ground. 

S: [Sighs] Starscream yells for help but Thrust runs out and tells Astrotrain.

O: Astrotrain then has does the humans [aliens] shoot crystals at Jazz.

S: They've got them on the ends of, um, arrows. They're using them as arrowheads, I think. The aliens pull out a catapult and begin shooting huge chunks of crystals at Jazz and Perceptor, blasting them into a crevice.

O: Astrotrain captures Talaria and we cut to another commercial, you know, because a woman is in mortal peril and if we have an episode with a woman this is required.

S: We need all that suspense. Thrust, again, calls for common sense as he and Starscream fly over looking for the Autobots but Starscream laughs this off.

O: Naturally, Jazz and Perceptor are fine.

S: Back with the aliens, Astrotrain and Jero continue to be dicks. 

O: And then back to Jazz and Perceptor, because we can't focus for more than three seconds in this episode.

S: They don't have time to have to do all of this stuff in 23 minutes.

O: Of course. The two enter the cave with all the crystals. Perceptor examines them and realizes they're unstable crystallized energy. Jazz then bangs on one with a rock for some reason.

S: I think he might want a sample? 

O: Well, thankfully, Perceptor stops him before any explosions can happen.

S: Yeah. Meanwhile some of the natives are realizing their religion is a lie and confront Jazz.

O: Jazz is like, “We ain’t gods!” 

S: The aliens inform them that Talaria is about to be sacrificed so off Jazz goes to save her and he tells Perceptor to go refuel Omega with the crystals.

O: Which apparently don't need to be refined or anything.

S: Yeah, we just see Perceptor running through the forest with a bag of crystals.

O: Where did he even get a bag? 

S: Subspace? Maybe the aliens had something that he borrowed?

O: Maybe.

S: The natives- he finds Omega in his precarious situation and Perceptor tries to reach him by Indiana Jones-ing some shit. 

O: Back in the temple, Talaria is being tied up just as Jazz pops out of the floor.

S: The inexplicable hole in the middle of the floor leading down to the pit of doom.

O: You know, normal temple stuff in an 80’s cartoon.

S: Elsewhere, Perceptor is quickly shoving crystals into Omega Supreme as they're falling.

O: And Omega's able to take flight, saving both of their afts, with Perceptor hanging on for dear life.

S: Jazz goes in guns blazing to save Talaria, as they duck and cover from the Decepticon fire.

O: Jazz proves to be an excellent shot, too. 

S: Omega and Perceptor arrive in front of the temple.

O: Perceptor looking much worse for wear as he stumbles off from their wild ride.

S: His- Perceptor is just very done with today.

O: He's a scientist, not a- not an adventurer, damnit! 

S: I think a lot of people are very done with today. 

O: Omega punches through the wall and Starscream and Thrust flee.

S: Astrotrain falls down the pit- into the pit of doom, narrowly avoiding the electric lava at the bottom, and then the Cons and Jero meet up in the crystal cave, and realizing they can't fight Omega Supreme, instead decide to blow the crystals up, and fly off with the Decepticons leaving Jero to die.

O: Because, as previously mentioned, Astrotrain is a dick!

S: The volcano explodes or, I don't know, the electric lava explodes-

O: Something-

S: And the aliens are like, “Save- save us and we'll worship you.”

O: Jazz is like, for the thousandth time, “We're not gods,” but they do save the aliens using Omega's tracks.

S: Why didn't they just get in Omega and fly off, it would have been interesting if they just brought everybody to Earth.

O: Uh, the Prime Directive would have been broken?

S: Fair. 

O: The aliens are rebuilding as Perceptor is finally able to fix Cosmos.

S: Well, Cosmos just seems like he got a nap out of all of this.

O: Quite frankly, my poor boy deserves a break. He's got to do all the flying through space except for, periodically, when they grab, you know, Skyfire to do it.

S: Yeah.

O: So something I thought was funny that we found out after we watched the episode: This is actually the first episode- and it took 39 episodes- that Frank Welker does not voice a single character.

S: That's pretty funny.

O: Because, again, he voices like, oh, what? 70% of every single Decepticon and this just happened to be three Decepticons that he does not voice at all! Like, even in the- even in the last episode, he was voicing Rumble. I know Megatron was in there a little, but he was voicing Rumble that entire time, too. So I thought that was hilarious- took 39 episodes for that. But join us next time for: The Core! Megatron wants to journey to the center of the earth and the Autobots engage in a questionable amount of mind control.

S: Yep.

O: And we do have some fanfic for today.

S: So the first fanfic is “From A Distance” by PuraJazzBot, it's from the G1 cartoon continuity and it's rated K. It's gen, there's no pairings, and our lone character is Cosmos. And, in summary, “Being in outer space is not always as exciting as it sounds. Cosmos can personally attest.” And so it's Cosmos in space and it's a one-shot. And I believe you chose our other fic today.

O: Yes it's getting near Halloween so I thought this was appropriate! Our a wild card pick for today is: “Who's The Big Bad Wolf” by LittleMissSweetgrass. It is in the IDW continuity, is G, it is Gen, there are no pairings. Our characters are Verity, Springer, Ultra Magnus, and Minimus Ambus, and in summary: “Verity is trying to get Magnus to wear the costume she worked so hard on,” and it is a one-shot. And they're celebrating Halloween. I know that summary didn't say that but it felt relevant. I'm pretty sure this is going to go up in October- this will definitely go up in October so here's a Halloween fic for you!

S: Nice, that one sounds fun.

O: It's really cute, I like anything with Verity and Minimus in it and, like, quite frankly there's not enough of it. And I- our fan art recommendation for today is: Text from More Than Meets The Eye, which is a Tumblr and it is basically IDW comic edits. It is completely inaccurate text photoshopped into IDW comic panels. 

O: Uh, today is all Ratchet and Megatron. I would apologize for this but, uh, let's face it, we all know I'm not sorry. And these are quite frankly some of my favorite ones, um, which is basically, um, Ratchet is very sure he doesn't give a fuck. Megatron reserves his right to go outside and scream at 2 AM, and, uh, Ratchet hopes that one day he can afford the surgery to remove his head from the ass- from his ass. [Ratchet’s] talking about somebody else, not himself, obviously, but, uh, I love this blog. I- I don't think they've been posting recently, which is always a bit sad but- but definitely worth looking into because I laughed so hard at some of these, and they are great!

And, also, if the- especially with Ratchet, if that is not word for word things I think he would actually say in a, you know, um, more profanity ridden, um, circumstance, I don't know what to tell you because I think they're perfect.

S: That was nice, thank you.

O: Again, highly recommend, very funny. I always laugh my butt off.

S: Yeah, it's been a while since I've seen any of those but I do enjoy them too. And that about wraps it up for us today.  Remember to check us out on Tumblr or Pillowfort as Afterspark-Podcast for any additional information, show notes, or links we may have mentioned.  You can also find us on Facebook and Twitter at AftersparkPod (all one word) and various other locations by searching for Afterspark Podcast such as AO3, iTunes, Spotify, and Youtube, just to name a few.  And feel free to send us questions on Tumblr, or Youtube, or AO3!  Till next time, I'm Specs.

O: I’m Owls.

S: Toodles.

[Outro Music]