#buffaloids

[askvectorprime]

Dear Vector Prime, what was the reason for odd Cybertronians that seemed to take on characteristics of Earth Fauna, such as Buffaloids, Amphibots, Corvicrons, or other individuals, such as Thunderhoof, Steeljaw, Silverhound and Polarclaw?

Dear Fauna Fawner,

Beastformers had always been a part of Cybertronian existence. From the very earliest days of the Age of Origins, Cybertronians coexisted with Insecticons, Predacons, Buffaloids, Arachnicons, and many others—thanks to the Triptych Mask that my brother Onyx carried with him as he ignited the Well, the AllSpark scanned and replicated the strongest and most successful organisms across the galaxy.

But as Cybertronian civilization continued to develop, as villages grew into towns and then into cities, Cybertronians began to consciously shun the beasts, dismissing them as archaic throwbacks ill-adjusted for the rigors of “true” Cybertronian civilization. By the reign of Sentinel Prime and the rise of the function-based caste system, these beastformers had become an oppressed underclass. Some stuck it out—toiling away in the mines, mucking out sewer pipes, or taking their chances in the criminal underworld—but many more simply went off the grid and established small communities out in the wilderness or set up shantytowns in the tunnel networks that divided the Cybertronian surface from the dangerous underworld beneath.

This all changed when the war came, when Shockwave grew increasingly fascinated by the beast mode and the potential it offered. His earliest experiments were upon the swarming Insecticons, who dwelt beneath Cybertron, but his first true success was when he turned the members of the Lightning Strike Coalition into Dinobots—a Cybertronian subspecies on the brink of extinction. Not long afterwards, he turned members of the Forged into Predacons, an extinct Cybertronian subspecies, and then advanced his work even further by creating new lifeforms from scratch. Using test subjects both willing and unwilling, swelled the ranks of pre-existing variants like Predacons, Skunkticons and Corvicons, then began hybridizing CNA samples together to create genetically-engineered monsters like the Chompazoids. Each new “creation” pushed the limits of their physiology even further—whether it was debilitating toxins, incredible strength, or even telepathic abilities, Shockwave found and amplified whatever unusual powers each Cybertronian subspecies possessed to extreme levels.

Shockwave’s experiments ranged from cruel to depraved, but sometimes Primus works in strange ways. In the years after the Great War, the Well began birthing more and more beast-formers. Many possessed the same massively amplified powers that Shockwave had imbued upon his test subjects, and even those that owed their existence to rigorous genetic experimentation—such as the Predacons and Chompazoids—freely emerged from the Well… until there came a day when Cybertron belonged to the beasts and the beasts alone. Did Primus plan this all along, working  through an unlikely vessel to push through an evolutionary crisis? Perhaps—after all, this is not the first version of Shockwave to have an unlikely association with beasts.

[galvatronsthighs]

I am 100% convinced that as soon as the war ended in Armada, Cyclonus immediately started the Cybertronian version of Jackass.

[anon-e-miss]

Facade - 3 Investigation

Though Prowl knew his disguise was solid, he was still wracked with nerves as he pulled up to Mix’s. He was horrified and awestruck by the damage Devastator had done during their fight with Prime’s agents. The street for blocks was closed. It had truly been a battle and he was mildly baffled that he had not been called out with all the others that had been dispatched to the chaos. Hopefully, no one had died but seeing the wreckage, Prowl was not convinced such a miracle could be possible. Jazz transformed and Prowl followed after him. There was an Autobot guarding the sidewalk who let them pass with a nod to Jazz. He did not pay Prowl any processor and Prowl hardly dared ventilate. This agent had just been steps away when Jazz had been tending to him the previous dark-cycle. Even as he told himself that his disguise was perfect, Prowl feared discovery with every step.

“There was a buffaloid in that arcade machine,” Jazz explained. Prowl nodded as if he had not spent joors in these things on a regular basis. “Pay to play scrap. It’s got this milker hooked up, piped directly to the bar.”

“Did you speak with the victim?” Prowl’s glossa felt fuzzy as he asked the question to which he already knew the answer. He saw the warming blanket Jazz had draped over his shoulders on the floor where he had left it.

“I did,” Jazz replied. “He didn’t say anything. Mighta been in shock. By the time we got done wit the gestalt, he was gone. The scaplets we had tied up all said they didn’t see anyone take’m or where he went.”

“That is unfortunate,” Prowl said.

“‘M just hopin’ he got ‘mself far away,” Jazz sighed. “‘N not caught up in another one o’ these Pits.”

“Do you believe he will come forward?” Prowl asked. Jazz stared at the floor.

“No,” he replied. “Cause he’d be scared we’d throw the book at’m, right? ‘Cause he’s loose in the city ‘n not hooked up with a factory or farm.”

“These places,” Prowl looked around the speakeasy. “Have you ever been to a buffaloid farm?”

“Just last quartex,” Jazz replied. “Farmer was outraged his buffaloid were gettin’ lured away.”

“I imagine he was more worried about his loss of profits and not the missing sparks,” Prowl said.

“That’s right,” Jazz sighed. “That’s exactly right.”

“It would not be hard to lure the right heifer away,” Prowl said. “With the sweet promise of being something other than a number, of being unique.” “Buffaloid farms are all over Praxus,” Jazz said.

“I grew up in Petrex,” Prowl replied. “The farms were the bulk of the economy, everything, every business was linked to them. They had huge herds. The heifers were branded on the aft and well. The farm’s sigil would be on their aft, and their number on their well. You would hear the overseers calling them in by their number.”

“Don’t sounds like ya like the industry,” Jazz said.

“I came to Iacon to get away from it,” Prowl replied. It was dangerously close to the truth. “I wanted more from my life that the banality of it. Those farms owned the city. No grocer, no restaurant could do business with more than one farm. You had a contract, you may as well have been owned by the farm as well.”

“Woulda been ballsy, not just to move to the big city but to a new city-state,” Jazz said. “Yer conjunx come wit ya?”

“No,” Prowl replied. There had been no conjunctions, just bulls, who like him had been numbers and not designations. He thought of the bull who had sired Strongarm on him and felt nothing but loathing. “No, he left us before my femmeling emerged.”

“‘M sorry,” Jazz looked at him. “That’s such a load o’ scrap. Mecha like that ain’t worth their sentio-metallico.”

“It was no great loss,” Prowl said. “I prefer life without him.”

“There ya go,” Jazz smiled. “So it looks like we got the same idea... heifers hopin’ for a better life, they would be easy ‘nough to lure to the city. Even if they wanted to run from this slag, they’d be terrified o’ gettin’ locked up on one o’ the penal farms. Even if these sacks o’ slag hurt ‘em, they wouldn’t dare go to enforcers.”

“Correct,” Prowl replied. Jazz cared. He care for heifers he had never met and Prowl felt that much more guilty for his part but he could not tell the Autobot that he had not been trafficked, he had put himself in that arcade and there were more heifers like him, doing the same thing to survive.

“Walk the scene wit me,” Jazz said. “Maybe we can see where the victim went ‘n if someone “helped” ‘m get away.”

For a moment, indecision had Prowl’s processor all but paralyzed. He walked with Jazz on autopilot. Prowl was a decorated investigator. If someone found the trap door after he investigated the scene, they might look at him and wonder if he had lost his touch. The last thing Prowl could afford was any extra attention. Jazz gestured to the floor next to the arcade and led Prowl over to where the pipe beneath their peds ran to the bar. When Prowl had been hooked up in the arcade, Mixmaster had served his ichor energon straight from the tap at the bar. It made Prowl’s plating itch terribly. His plating felt too small. It took will and practice to force it down.

“We took a sample,” Jazz explained. “The rest is bein’ pumped out ‘n taken to be destroyed.  Our lab’ll see if it matches the sample o’ one o’ our missin’ heifers.”

“Excellent plan,” Prowl replied. He knew it would not. Heifers on his farm had been numbers in a herd. Everyone’s ichor energon had been drained into the same canisters. No one had ever been individually graded.

They walked behind the bar. The last drink Mixmaster had been making remained on the counter with an evidence tag next to it. The rich, opalescent blue of the fuel told Prowl it was energon from his utters. He set his jaw and looked away. Perhaps he would not need to mention the trap door. Its hidden door blended in perfectly into the tile. Jazz walked back and forth behind the bar and Prowl wondered what he was thinking but then he knelt and rapped his fist against the floor as his helm was canted to the side. With a mixture of wonder and horror, Prowl watch him examine the trap door and then trigger it.

“Nice!” He grinned. Prowl nodded and willed himself not to purge.

Jazz wasted no time climbing down into the cellar. Prowl willed his fuel tank down as he descended the ladder only joors after he had made his escape from this place. As he stepped onto the dusty floor, Prowl almost stepped in his own hoof print. He stared for a moment, just for a moment, as he pulled his  ped up. They were not the same. These peds he wore looked nothing like his hooves and the prints he wore were not the same; Prowl stepped away from the ladder, they were not the same at all. Like Prowl, Jazz was fixated on the hoof prints, but for a different reason, obviously. The Autobot followed Prowl’s hoof prints through the cellar, to the false door hidden by the crates. It was strange retracing his steps like this but Prowl kept his doorwings up, kept his anxiety to himself.

“No cameras,” Jazz sighed as he looked about the empty viaduct the tunnel opened out to. “No surprise there.”

“I suppose not,” Prowl asked. “Did you speak to the operators of that speakeasy?”

“Not yet,” Jazz replied. “They went down hard. Gonna take time in a CR chamber before I’ll get a chance to talk wit’em. Only thing I know is they didn’t get a chance to come back for the heifer. But that don’t mean he’s safe.”

“Very true,” Prowl agreed. He looked, almost unseeing, down to the road where he had made his escape and thought of heifers who had not been so lucky. “Can any heifer or bull at large be safe?”

“No,” Jazz nodded his agreement. “No, I don’t think so. Let’s see if there’s anythin’ else in the cellar we outta no about.”

Prowl nodded and followed Jazz back down the tunnel. There was likely illegal engex in those stills, not merely unlicensed, but dangerous intoxicants. The charges against the Constructicons would be innumerable.  He would never have to feel their spikes within his frame again. As much as Prowl felt relief in that realization, the loss of access to their arcade was still a problem. Working with Jazz on this investigation would further legitimize his visit to the evidence warehouse, in fact, Prowl thought Jazz would likely want to see what they had gathered in other raids. When he was preoccupied... maybe Prowl could steal what he needed.

“Now what’s this?” Jazz asked. Prowl watched the Autobot pick the heavy locks with thin picks. It not appear this was his first time picking a lock. “Frag.”

It was an interfacial dungeon. A milker, a fragging machine, a breeding bench, cattle prods and other instruments of pleasure or torture were laid out. There was a berth with crisp, clean white linen set off to the side. He looked at the cuffs, welded to long chains that were hooked to the head and foot boards and imagined them around his own wrists. In shocked horror, Prowl surveyed the room with Jazz. Everything was shiny and new. Not a single piece had been used, not even the berth. They had prepared it for him, Prowl was certain. His spark raced in his chassis. If not for the raid...

“Are ya a’ight?” Jazz asked.

“It is...” Prowl said, schooling himself. “Horrific.”

“Yeah,” the Autobot agreed. “Looks like that heifer made a lucky break.”

[mnemoiisms]

Well, even if you didn't squirm away from the curious inspect of helm kibble, the discomfort was clear, so he's just going to keep at it. Where were these on his alt mode? Did he just have a pair of horns mounted somewhere on the interior like a prized buffaloid frame?

"But humor me. The Autobots don't arrive, the organics do. What is your game plan while prone? Yee Haw them into submission?"

For all their unassuming decoration, those lenses of his were actually quite handy in expanding his vision wider than one would expect. Call it a side product of being paranoid, but Trepan did not like people behind him, and those lenses were perfect in narrowing his blindspot perfectly. While no complete arch of vision, it was a much narrower window of invisibility than Pebbleskipper and his forward facing optics.

So while he cannot see her, he noticed the silhouette slink through the open window and vanish into the catwalks overhead. Funny. It shared the same shape as ... an organic he'd met.

Biting back a grimace, Cliff tries to avoid yanking his head away from curious pokes. Those horns are not just for show, thanks- but it's not like he can actually move out of range, and the less this fragger knows how much it bothers him, the better off Cliffjumper will be.

...ha. He's gonna keep telling himself that until he believes it.

Nimbus idly pointing out the lack of communications is yet another dig under Cliff's plating, and trying to think of a suitable response keeps his processor occupied for the moment.

(Overhead, a thin set of catwalks ring the warehouse walls. Through the window that just opened, a thin figure slips inside and onto the nearest one, doing her best to remain absolutely silent. It's fairly dark up there, beyond where the lights illuminating the floor reach. Not daring to risk giving away her position with a flashlight, she creeps along one slow half-step at a time, constantly checking over the railing for any signs of movement.)

[blueikeproductions]

One Decepticon concept I’ve been toying with off and on for RiD15 is a pack of Glitch Mice that descend on Crown City and start causing machinery to malfunction. Conceptually their Robot Modes are based on Beast Wars Metals Rattrap’s cartoony Beast Mode, while their Vehicle Modes are loosely based on Star Wars mouse droids.

I saw them having a controller, as these are more Cybertronic wildlife, and thought of bringing back Slink, the cat burglar Decepticon from the RiD15 chapter books, creating distractions with Glitch Mice as part of a money making scheme. If not her, another cat bot similar to Scratch and Razorpaw then.

Glitch Mice and Retrorats are distinct species, with Snitch, Labrat, Packrat and Rattrap being Retrorats in addition to being fully sentient. Retrorats also appear to enjoy retro things and speak in outdated slang, be it from Cybertron or other planets, lol.

Some other one off ideas I had was a bulldog Decepticon based on Terrashock’s model, a Sharkticon Combiner in the vein of Chop Shop, a Chop Shop recolor made into Tarantulas, a rework of SkyByte who is a Torpedo Deployer (Slapper as a Slicedice retool?), Autobot Dogfight appearing but he’s redesigned to resemble Snoopy’s pilot look in Robot Mode, and helps the Bee Team with an air battle. I’m not sure about this one because I already had Stormshot, Twinferno, Cloudraker and Skyhammer as supporting characters though. I also had considered other Pretenders coming in as guests, though the only one with a shell atm because it’d be plot relevant would be Iguanus, who’d be a large kaiju stomping around Crown City. His true body, in bike mode, is stored in the Pretender Shell’s head, acting like the creature’s brain. Skullgrin/Dauros was also considered possibly in a similar role, and if not, a member of the Buffaloid line instead.

I’ve also toyed with a modified Ultra Bee that possesses a super mode when combined with Stormshot (a gun) and Twinferno (jet pack).

Reoccuring Decepticon mooks working for Steeljaw and Glowstrike would likely be OCs Razorback (Duocon), Mole Dive (Combiner) and Choptor (Ardurian Roc). Choptor is partnered with Mini-Con Sandsting and they partially function as a nod to Blackout and Scorponok from the movies.

[official-maverick]

What do you think of grimlock x scowl?

m!! not into it! i prefer adoptive brothers

( bonus points for genderfluid scowl!! )

i DO ship scowl x overhead tho!!

[only3yearstfau]

So how many of the decepticons from RiD2015 were experiments, and how many were natural? Scavengebots size shifting seems like it might have been an addition? perhaps they were just like Chompazoids, with wings, originally?

My first ask!! Thanks!

To answer your question, the majority of the main antagonist Decepticons we see in the RID15 the show itself are actually not experiments! However there will be plenty of forged featured in the AU as the tone is shifted darker than RID15 and the stakes are raised.

To explain how I categorize whether or not a specific ‘Con is an experiment of some form, here’s my thought process: Codified subgroups such as Amphiboids, Buffaloids, Skunkticons, Snaketicons, Lobstercons, Sharkticons, and Insecticons do exist naturally! (Although most post war insecticons have been influenced by Shockwave’s experimentation on the species, unfortunately)

A good rule of thumb is that if a decepticon can transform into something else other than a beast mode, they’re not an experiment. If they can’t, odds are they’re an experimental abomination.

This isn’t a hard and fast rule, however! A major exception are, in fact, Chompazoids! Since Chompazoids are related to Dinobots, and Dinobots are an experimental subgroup, Chompazoids are experimental. Scavengebots are natural and the source of the generic code that Chompazoids were fused with to be able to consume and be empowered by metal.

Thank you SO MUCH for this ask, I honestly hadn’t thought about the specifics so this was a wonderful prompt! I hope the answer is understandable and satisfactory!

[thrailkxll]

"Ha, I ain't seen no buffaloid 'n a couple million years." Thrailkill shakes his helm, walking over to close the distance so they wouldn't have to shout at each other.

A deep little chuckle escapes the cowboy "Darlin', I am the bandit." He holds his dark clawed servo out to the mech for a handshake. "Y'ain't out here wranglin' bandits are ya?" He makes a sharp grin.

thrailkxll​:

First a goat yeehaws at him and now a sea pancake yeehaws at him, or is that a water ufo? Are those a thing? He’s really got to stop smoking so much. There’s a big wave, a whole arm wave in fact but no yeehaw because he’s not even sure if this feller is real. Like that last guy. “Howdy!”

Don’t mind Seacrest cackling in delight at getting a response back, even if not the universal war cry of the cattle rustling boonies.

“Howdy” Seacrest murmured to himself, testing how utterly strange those glyphs felt out loud instead of his usual media. … He needs a big hat.

“Out wrangling buffaloids or finding bandits?”

[autoacafiles]

So we've seen MixMatch become Caninocon, Avianoid, Rabbitoid, Ursaroid, and Primatoid, but we know there's other subspecies. Does she have any of those? Minicon, Felinicon, Dinobot, Insecticon, Chiropetron, Buffaloid, Sharkticon, Croctobot, Amphiboid, Lobstercon, Mermadroid, Squidformer, etc.

I think an easier answer is what doesn't she have.

[needs-to-stop-looking-at-valves]

To recap todays episode!!;Bumblebee has been struggling to lead his team as of late. So when a museum finds a stasis pod thats holding a buffaloid named Terrorshock, he can't get a reign on them. However, after having a talk with both Optimus and Russell, Bumblebee hones his inner cowboy, and with the help of his team, corrals Terrorshock right in the middle of a busy freeway, managing to capture him. That's all for today folks, look forward to tomorrow's episode because i certainly am!

Episode link;https://www1.kisscartoon.love/episode/transformers-robots-in-disguise-season-1-episode-5/

[beesbacktalk]

"Is it true your pack brought down a Buffaloid, An Elkcon, and a chompazoid, all without taking damage?"

"Well, we did get roughed up a bit, but we did take them down. It doesn't matter what the criminal is, though, just that we put them away so they can't hurt themselves and others." said Bumblebee/

[paragonrobits]

i’ve been kicking around an idea for the Homestuck trolls as Transformers so what if they were a wandering collective of descendants of the Autobot/Decepticon war, disassociated from either size and not raised into the conflict, but born in places where both sides fought and were forced to leave, unaware that their abandoned colonies bore Sparks that lit up too late to be found

they’ve since been traveling the stars in search of a home and some cultural conext; they’re vaguely aware of the war but they don’t really get it, though some of them have caught onto the galactic respect for the Autobot cause, and the terror the Decepticons have left.

For unknown reasons, they are omnicombinational, but some groupings work better than others, based on their current dynamics.

here’s some of my previous ideas, minus possible Transform-y sounding names:

Karkat is a mini-con, about human sized; his default form is somewhat crab-like in shape, and his alternate form is a cassete which can power-link with any of his friends to boost them, making him invaluable in a fight but he has a lot of issues over being the smallest and apparently most useless one; everyone has to protect him, what good is he (or so he thinks).  he is actually a medic, his small size allowing him to perform delicate surgical work the others cannot do. Due to his small size, he is also able to pull off being a Pretender among human-sized aliens, and his duty in this has developed a fascination with alien cultures and xeno linguistics.

Aradia is a fairly large ‘bot, about the size of the truck-type bots, who is a combiner similar to Chopshop from RID2015; she can disassemble herself into a large group of smaller robots, each capable of becoming an even smaller bot, down to Mini-Con size (thus one or two tend to go with Karkat for safety on excursions). She can only assume her alt mode with all her components available, it’s basically a cool alien excavation truck or mining equipment. Her robot mode has a strong ram-type look to it, complete with large ramming horns that makes her look like a Buffaloid variant.

Tavros actually is a buffaloid; he’s one of the biggest ones, somewhere between Prime-size and Dinobot-size. typically walking on all fours due to his body’s proportions and the massive size of his robot mode’s horns. In his vehicle mode. he becomes a massive RV-style vehicle that he smaller bots can ride in. He’s quite delicate with the smaller robots and any aliens, and is very nervous about accidentally hurting someone.

Sollux; a fairly stout car-sized bot who transforms into a bee-type Insecticon. He has a latent connection with everyone around him that borders on a hive-mind connection and he gets easily stressed completely on his own, but this makes him invaluable for combining; its far easier to drift with each other if Sollux is there to guide the way.

Nepeta: A large beastformer, about Bulkhead’s size, who has a animalistic robot mode and some mild Predacon traits; she resembles a large predatory feline (similar to some of the robots from RID2015) and can transform into a speedy vehicle that’s good at ramming things or doing scout duties.

Kanaya: A heavily-built, weird hybrid of a jet and a tank with some traits of... who knows? A quasi-demonic bat/dragon thing. She’s not quite a beastformer and is hard to classify. Is she a very heavily built jet, a tank that flies? She’d give the functionalists frustrations. She’s also a terrorcon despite never encountering dark energon, implying that the potential exists in her lineage. she’s mostly on top of it but when she’s stressed, she can revert to her basic instincts, causing her alt mode to become more bestial 

Terezi: goddamn DRAGON PREDACON, EVERYBODY. One the largest of all of them under ordinary circumstances, Terezi transforms into a massive dragon that is easily as fierce as Predaking. Sometimes acting as the leader, she’s a boisterous and fierce ‘bot that constantly worries for her friends and puts on a proud front to hide the stress she is constantly under. She idolizes the Autobots as paragons of justice and wants to join their numbers. (May or may not actually worship the Primes, who knows?)

Vriska: An Arachnicon, in the same theme as TFP’s Airarachnid, except that she’s actually a triple changer and extraordinarily smug about it. Her robot mode can transform her lower mass into a spider-like abdomen, and further transform into a beast mode that incorporates aspects of spiders and scorptions, and finally a helicopter vehicle mode. Approximately the size of a Prime-class bot, she acts like the leader and has some sympathies for the Decepticons that she doesn’t like talking about, and is for a rude awakening about their beliefs largely centering around ‘kill all the organics so we can take their stuff’, but in the mean time she and Terezi have diametrically opposing beliefs that bring them into conflict.

Equius: The very model and image of what denotes a perfect robot in the eyes of the old Functionalist order, Equius is a tall and imposing robot who transforms into a jet that is so heavily built and powerful, it resembles a tank. Of all of them he has the most keen interest in their people’s origins, and the one most devastated to discover the loss of their homeworld. He harbors an irrational hatred of the Decepticons for leading to the loss of Cybertron, dispite having little to do with them.

Gamzee: Somewhere between the sizes of a car and a truck, but amazingly massive because he moves in the same way as a gorilla due to how he’s shaped, not unlike Tavros but he has an extra set of limbs that act as arms or legs depending on his mood. His alternate form is a carrier vehicle, unusually lrge relative to his robot mode, capable of carrying the others in land or sea. His processor is glitched, and an infusion of dark energon imbedded in it allows potential sabotage of his body without his awareness.

Eridan: A Sharkticon like Hammerstrike from RID2015, though his rear fluke looks more like a sea-horse’s. Able to assume a submarine form that is capable of flight (even in outer space) he’s pretty smug about being their finest flier despite the apparent clumsiness of his form. His bright purple coloration invites assumptions of Decepticon allegiance, though he has little interest in them. He does have a marked distaste for organics, and he could go either way.

Feferi: She appears to be a Dinobot-sized beastformer that assumes a kraken-like form, and is about as large as Terezi, but the Feferi most people speak with is actually a remote-controlled drone Feferi operates through. She is actually a metrotitan, her true body comprising the ship the group travels in, and in truth she rarely acts directly owing to both massive energon needs and lack of practice actually moving her true body. Due to this enforced passivity, Feferi has a bit of a lazy mentality, at least when acting her drone-body. She is ferociously protective of her group, and like Karkat has developed a keen fascination with alien societies.

[archi-pelago]

BUFFALOIDS

why must you uproot the sins of my past

[galvatronsthighs]

<<PREVIOUS | FIRST | NEXT>>> Story under cut

“WELL…  NOW LOOK WHAT YOU’VE DONE”

“S… shut up” His form tried to curl in on itself, agonising, shredding, torturous…

“SO MUCH FOR ‘THEIR OWN GOOD’ HM? I TOLD YOU IT WOULDN’T WORK, COULD’VE DONE BETTER”

“No, you, you… shut up...”

Galvatron’s systems heaved, the meagre contents of his fuel tank even deciding it wanted out and fled.

His body was slick with coolant and rivers of his own Energon. Dents and cuts covered him, crosshatching his once pristine armour, an awful momento of what he’d done.

He… Just… Wanted… To… Stop…

There was nothing left to come up, but his system tried anyways, heaving, making him choke on his own lubricants. He bowed forward, arms crossed over his chest, groaning.

Why couldn’t? … Why can’t?....

Why did it have to come to this?...

He barely knew what happened, a rush of energy, a flow of power, endless noise like pained screaming…

Determination to help his friends? He hoped so… No…. It couldn’t be….

Cyclonus lay beaten… broken…. Optics dead to the world, they wouldn’t be coming back online for a while.

Scourge was no better. He lay like a thrown toy, his wings twisted over him as if they made some vein last-minute attempt to shield him…

He did this…

“DON’T YOU LIKE YOUR HANDIWORK? I TOLD YOU, I APPRECIATE IT”

“No! This is all YOUR fault!” Galvatron clasped his hands to his helm.

“MY FAULT!? MINE? YOU’RE THE ONE WHO BROKE YOUR PROMISE TO ME! I TRUSTED YOU WITH MY POWER, A NEW LIFE, AND THIS IS HOW YOU REPAY ME? NO, I’M THE ONE WHO SHOULD BE OFFENDED!”

“You should be gone!” Galvatron gasped, struggling for air.

“YOUR WORDS WOUND ME, DARLING, IF ONLY THIS WASN’T ALL YOUR FAULT...”

“Shut up! This is… this is your doing!”

“WE WORKED SO WELL TOGETHER, YOU KNOW YOUR PLACE IS WITH ME, I MADE YOU FEEL SO GOOD!”

Galvatron felt his tank roll again.

“You… ruined us”

“I GAVE YOU EVERYTHING YOU COULD’VE WANTED! AND LOOK WHAT YOU’VE DONE WITH IT! UNGRATEFUL! BUT IT’S OKAY, I FORGIVE YOU”

“NO! I DON’T WANT THAT! I WANT YOU TO HATE ME BECAUSE I HATE YOU!”

“OH HUSH NOW, I FORGIVE YOU MY CALLOUS PET, COME BACK TO ME AND I WILL MAKE IT ALL BETTER AGAIN, YOU WON’T BE ALONE ANYMORE”

“YOU… you’ve stripped us of any meaning!” Galvatron wobbled on his pedes, the act of merely staying upright beginning to become a massive strain on his stabilisers, “Just… go...”

Galvatron wasn’t sure when the tears had welled up in his optics and began flowing again but they did so freely once more as Unicron's voice rang through him.

“SAYS THE MECHA WHO JUST ASSAULTED THE ONLY TWO FRIENDS HE HAD”

“YOU FORCED THAT! I WILL TAKE THEM FROM YOU! I WILL HELP THEM!”

“YET YOU TOOK IT OUT ON THEM! WHO’D TAKE YOU IN NOW? ME, THAT’S WHO, I’M ALL YOU HAVE LEFT AND YOU KNOW IT! NOT EVEN THOSE TWO WILL TRUST YOU ANYMORE”

An anguished scream tore through him, loud and clear, ringing across the desolate lands.

“JUST GOOOOOOOOOO” Galvatron howled, he could feel tears dripping down his front and his systems burning, thoughts and emotions waged a war of their own through his spark and processor as embers danced in the air around him. Yet… he felt grey like all meaning was being sucked from him, life and vitality practically evaporating from his core.

The conflict hurt.

Why does it always have to hurt?

He just wanted… safety? No pain… Just...

Please…

Stop…

“THIS CAN ALL BE MADE BETTER AGAIN, YOU KNOW I CAN DO THAT, YOU KNOW I HAVE WHAT YOU NEED, NO ONE ELSE WILL CARE FOR YOU LIKE I CARED FOR YOU!”

Stop…

“YOU ARE NOTHING WITHOUT ME!”

Stop…

“YOU NEED ME!”

Stop…

“I MADE YOU WHO YOU ARE! YOU OWE ME!”

Please…

“NO ONE ELSE WILL EVER CARE ABout you...”

Unicron's voice suddenly began to get quieter, it took him a few moments before Galvatron realised his own screaming was drowning its voice out.

Awful, ungodly howls and wails escaped him.

The warring thoughts and feelings reaching a crashing cacophony within the very fibre of his being, the beaten forms before him swimming through his head like a haunting Rust-shark circling for its next meal.

Galvatron felt like he exploded, everything went to a flaming static within his body, all sensors both reaching maximum strength yet shutting down all at the same time, flames danced through his systems and he felt like he was going to melt while simultaneously freezing and twisting.

Sensations and feelings he couldn’t begin to describe surged through him like a herd of Buffaloids fighting the rising swell of a vibrant ocean of fear.

It all ended when it felt like claws ran down his back and through his systems, making his optics and sensors finally come back online with a startling jolt.

“You’ll… come… back… you… can’t…. save… them… you… can’t… save… anyone...”

Unicron finally faded from his processor…

… and he was free…

Time for them all to go… Well… anywhere...