#but it's an interesting take - starscream becoming a decepticon because he was a victim of abuse- i wish that prime actually did

[cosmics-beings]

"You think that's funny you animal, no one gets to laugh at me. I have survived millions of years of abuse and humiliation, I am meant to rule"

I like that starscream's push for wanting to be ruler isn't necessarily stemming from power but more so, he doesn't want to be stuck in the same position he was ever again. it is stemmed from the abuse and humiliation he's gone through over the years and that has made him a cold and selfish person.

i like how he actually references abuse that he goes through in WFC because he honestly never does.

it makes me wonder of sentinel had abused him in the past idk

[dragonsir]

Lets talk about Swindle

One of the things I appreciate about tf earthspark is how all of the characters have depth, even the ones that aren’t the main focus, and especially the decepticons. However, the one I want to talk about is swindle.

In ep 4, House Rules, swindle is his typical greasy self, manipulating Thrash and Mo by acting like a victim and their friend to get what he wants. When they turn on him, he does what we expect and pulls his gun on them.

But what is interesting about Swindle is his motivations. He wants an energon scanner because he’s trying to find his brother, Hardtop. He says things are much harder with only one person, so its probable that he’s never been on his own before, at least since the war has ended. That means its been him and hardtop against the world, and to my knowledge, this is new to Swindle’s character (i’m not counting the swindle from Armada, that one is totally different).

Of course, we could chalk up Swindle trying to find Hardtop as just him needing someone to help him find energon to survive. Swindle does mention that it is an energon scanner that he’s trying to take, so he could potentially find energon solo after dumping Mo and Thrash. But the first thing he says after finding it’s location is that it will help him find Hardtop. He isn’t even thinking about his survival at the time, his priority is his brother. And what’s more, Hardtop seems protective of Swindle as well. He shoves Swindle out of the way when OP drops a shipping container on him.

Swindle got an entire episode, while we only got a few small scenes from Hardtop. But just this shot here gives him depth. He throws his brother out of the way, knowing he himself won’t make it out in time.

I don’t remember any other show giving us this much of a sympathetic view of the decepticons, at least not the minor characters. In Decoy, Frenzy mentions that they, the cassettes, are free and don’t have to follow Soundwave anymore, implying that they weren’t happy with him (or at least Frenzy wasn’t). In Age of Evolution, Nova Storm gets fucking pissed and launches herself at Megatron when he clips Skywarp’s wing. These little moments keep adding up, and with the way Megatron is written to be genuinely caring of his former comrades, I feel like this show finally wants to show us that all of the transformers are people. Not just the Autobots and Megatron, ALL of the transformers. This makes me so excited to see more of Soundwave, as hopefully they’ll flesh out his relationship with his cassettes and megatron. As for Starscream, I really hope they will show a more sympathetic side of him, perhaps for his fellow decepticons, or soundwave, or megatron, or literally anyone (I’ll even take agent schloder).

I am so excited for more of this show and it is quickly becoming my favorite because of how loving it is to its characters. I hope all of them, especially the decepticons, will have more depth and grow over the course of the show. And I think we have good reason so far to believe that they will.

[shikai-the-storyteller]

I absolutely didn’t go back through and edit this at all and hardly any of this is verbatim but I tried to take notes on some of what Mae Catt said during her stream if anyone is interested!

EDIT: Here’s a cleaner post with most of the Q&A.

She says she doesn’t want to yuck anybody’s yums re: ships. She seems Arcee and Grimlock more as friends, but she didn’t say they can’t be in a relationship

They fell in love with Perceptor so they wanted him on the “End of the World fighting the Quintessons” team

They had to dedicate a lot of effort into Dead End b/c it takes time to send in info for modeling a character and deciding on their alt mode

She was pitching Obsidian from Beast Machines really hard. She didn’t know what his personality would be it was just a “Look how cool he is!” sort of thing

Thought it’d be fun to have someone pessimistic like Dead End be on the team

“According to us, Drift did not make it, but I fully endorse whatever you want”

“The brand team had grown up on the toys as we had grown up on the toons, so we just wanted to make the best thing imaginable.” That’s nice 

Rodimus was never considered for the show “it’s been covered to death”, but they were adamant about portraying Hot Rod as someone who wanted to be a leader

Hot Rod is someone who is learning to be a leader

“Please don’t tell JRO I forgot about Whirl” re: talking about why they chose each character for the “Anti-Quintesson” team

Q: Re: Why did Drift try to kill Roddy A: They said they needed a double-agent and they needed someone who would (seemingly) kill Hot Rod

She loves that Optimus is just trying so hard to rebuild Cybertron, I just want society to start rebuilding

Q: Since you mentioned Optimus's death... he didn't seem to have a plinth in "our" Matrix realm. Does that mean the list of Primes works differently? Like are the 13 more of a dynasty, rather than all being a group together?  A: They decided Optimus would be in the Alt! Universe matrix because they wanted to show he was dead. Logical backflips because he needed to be among the 13 to talk to Windblade. 

She says Starscream’s death hurt her most

They didn’t want to kill people off willy-nilly for shock value

"The audience will fall in love with Slipstream so she has to die" LMAO

She almost wanted Starscream to emerge from the Judge heads untouched but she’s ultimately glad that idea got shot down

Dead End’s eyes are white

She’d love to have a MTMTE Magnus / Minimus included. She wished and prayed to have Frenzy and Rumble

They wanted Jazz to be a lady!!!!!!!

These characters are like grown ups (kinda) with their own lives that we don’t see. Lots of stuff happening between episodes

“Rumble and Frenzy are always considered in my heart, but there wasn’t enough time or space or assets to do so”

“Alt Soundwaves also had their own Laserbeaks. I wonder if the scientist would’ve taken them out. He might’ve just gotten rid of them.”

“A lot of intelligent life is inherently mechanical” explaining why so much of the life we saw in the show were robots

She would’ve liked to have the other shows show up (TFP, TFA, G1, Shattered Glass) but they don’t have those assets or budget. “This will quickly become unclear to audiences who aren’t (you people).” They couldn’t have all these references when some of their audience wouldn’t get it

“Why does anyone collect what they collect? That’s a really angry dad who’s got five children and he plays music. Gotta have that” --re: the Scientist and Soundwave

Knock Out was considered but every Transformer under the sun was discussed at some point in the Writer’s room. 

Developing Sky-Byte’s character was simultaneous with Jetfire’s character, "We knew we wanted Sky-Byte to be a poet, and we wanted him and Megatron to be chummy”

From the getgo they didn’t want any humans distracting from the Transformers

Q: Is Megatron dead? A: “In discussions we wanted to kill him. Wanted to do a reverse Optimus death. However, in the final product, I kinda enjoy the ambiguity rather than the final decision. Can’t remember if we were decisive about that in the script.”

She wanted them to have IDW Tarn in there “OBVIOUSLY (the perfect decepticon) should look like this guy. A faceless mindless Decepticon that only serves Megatron”

Q: Is Dead End a good boyfriend? A: Dead End is a work in progress, but maybe Percy is patient enough to get him there

Q: Is Astrotrain a good boyfriend?” A: “No, no...he’s not a good person, really”

“When I was desperately trying to save Starscream’s life even though I brutally murdered Slipstream--” LMAO She wanted Starscream to have amnesia and she says she wanted to have a redeption arc. She wanted him to have a Windblade shard and have it be kind of like Castaway, where he only talked to it (and the shard only had 5 phrases it could say) and eventually Bee would befriend him Wanted to write Starscream as an abuse victim who expected the worse of the Autobots, but she wanted him to warm up slowly

Wanted a Starscream and Optimus episode where he’s like “you did your best and that’s what counts”

Q: Is Percy a good boyfriend A: “Absolutely--WAIT HOLD ON. He’s very blunt, he doesn’t mince words, if you can handle his bluntness then you’re good. He is what he is and you have to deal with him.”

Q: Is Soundwave a good boyfriend? A: Soundwave is not a good boyfriend. He’s a good casual romance but he’s not a good boyfriend. Soundwave would be a terrible listener. He hears a lot but he’d tune you out.

Percy did permanently take over Mac’s bar

She really wanted Obsidian and Transmutate to be in the show.

If Thunderclash was in the show he and Jetfire would HATE each other. Thunderclash would be a rival reality star (maybe) to Media Fire

Fave Episode was “I Am the AllSpark” b/c of that Megatron and Starscream dialogue Also S2 04 Soundwave and Shockwave

Transmutate would be more like the uprising version (?) but modeled more on the BeastWars version

The Starscream & Megatron beatdown was super severe and they were like “holy frick they’re really going for it” when they saw the boards for it

She likes the Windblade / Slipstream ship

Her favorite VA is Jeremy Levy, he’s a really cool guy

She thinks Starscream and Cheetor could become (not necessarily friends, but connected?) because of their connection to the All Spark 

Describes Starscream as an “Awful gremlin” several times

They say Megatron didn’t actually kill Starscream, just really beat him down hard

“Don’t take things I say as the end all be all”

She doesn’t think Bee would be a Prime, Windblade and Hot Rod would be a better Prime. He wouldn’t want to be a Prime. He’s the #2 to Primes!

With unlimited budget combiners could’ve been included, but it doesn’t seem like they thought about it

Astrotrain and the Insecticons are from Megatron X’s universe

Megatron’s priorities changed when he saw his doppelganger. Realizing he was a horrible tyrant, that scared him enough to return and not kill Optimus and make peace no matter what.

She thinks Cliffjumper and Bee wouldn’t get along, solely because of the IDW2 comic stuff

Got 26 episodes for season 3 because they got the 4-part movies

Megatron cares about his troops but not in a way that we would notice that care

Wasn’t a HUGE die-hard TF fan when she got into the series but she was a bigger GI Joe fan, she reread a bunch of things and did a lot of research

Cut joke: S2 E5 Megatron and OP finds the All Spark Decepticons and Autobots popping all over the world, Soundwave pops into Brazil where there’s a music festival and he’d crash the concert and hang out. He likes EDM the most?

The Titans want to be cities. They want citizens. They want to be lived in, that brings them joy (ouch)

Q: How did the Decepticons learn to stream? A: Because they’re deceptive! He knew he should dedicate some time to winning the hearts and minds of humans. Starscreams’ funeral was not the first time they streamed Optimus would use the official media channels, not a streaming service. Megatron would try to speak more directly to the people.

From the conception, the show wasn’t going to have humans

She thought people would ship Dead End / Percy but it wasn’t until she saw art that she started shipping them

Q: Is Optimus the type of streamer who would take 10 minutes to figure out how to un-mute his microphone A: Optimus is a dad. He has no idea what’s going on re: streaming. Optimus would say embarrassing news while Bee and Hot Rod are in the middle of streaming

Doesn’t ship Bee with anyone, she sees him as a little brother

Randolph put Rack ‘n Ruin in the show.

AcidStorm is genderfluid

Cold Construction doesn’t exist in this show. Maybe there’s one jet mode all the seekers really like

We have Mae Catt to thank for Whirl

Percy didn’t transform because not a good time to turn into a microscope while you’re trying to save your planet from Quintessons

If she were a transformer she’d want to be a stealth bomber. She’s 5′3 so she says she’d probably actually be a motorcycle like Chromia

They killed Prowl because it was Shadow Striker doing the killing and he’s a self-sacrificing lieutenant.

Enjoyed writing Starscream most, Clobber and Hot Rod became a joy, S2 E4 was her first one, it was fun getting into Hot Rod’s voice. She said it was hard doing Optimus’ voice, she’d always pass it off to someone to look at it.

She loves the idea of Wild Wheel robbing Astrotrain in train-mode, totally wild west-style

One of her proudest things was turning Lugnut into a gal

They wanted to include more female characters

They love Cosmos, she has a little toy of him. R2D2 but a transformer! They loved having her in the show

Blurr really was the fastest

Maccadam looking like a buff Rung was just a strange coincidence 

Q: Megop rights?  A: “Oh absolutely, duh”

Says we absolutely SHOULD write fanfic. Fanfiction made her into the writer she is today, she says you should write it

There’s a lot between episodes, people living their lives and characters living on the ship that don’t pop up in the show

She wrote non-stop Matrix fanfic from 12-20 years old, she learned a lot thanks to writing fanfic

Uses “They” pronouns for Rack ‘n Ruin but they both use “he”

Sad that Skywarp didn’t get a speaking line

Re: Starscream’s redemption arc: She wanted Starscream to have amnesia if they went the “he comes out of the ruins of the judge totally fine”. “A redemption arc needs to be facilitated by a character acknowledging that what they did was wrong. He would have a laundry list of excuses for everything, even if there was all that evidence to the contrary, but needs to acknowledge that reasons don’t matter because people got hurt. Needs to intend to do better. Let them try and let them fail, they don’t need to 180, it’s hard work to be a better person.”

Shadow Striker is taller than Optimus or is his height. She loves the gender-neutral designs for a lot of characters

She’s not going to say whether Ratchet finished medical school or not Laughed at the  "i don't believe that man has ever been to medical school" comment

Q: How would you feel about a female Optimus Prime? A: [GAY LAUGHTER] “So do you turn Optimus Prime into a woman, or do you take characters like Elita One and uplift her? I would want to lean more into giving Elita One more oomph, I do love how Optimus doubts himself and if he’s worthy of being a Prime.”

Says Rack ‘n Ruin are probably the Prime in that one weird universe lmao

Loves the idea that Transformers have siblings / families

She doesn’t think Cybertronians celebrate birthdays. “Why would you celebrate being alive for 4 million years that sounds like a nightmare.” She says that people would be celebrating milestones if nothing else

She’d kill to have Perceptor meet the other stunticons

She says she doesn’t post fanfic as much anymore. Sends them to Natalie as love letters (Ghost Busters fics specifically)

In a world where you had unlimited budget it’d be fun if Cybertronians were constantly shape-shifting and changing their forms, they’d like having Transformers who “grew a beard” and decided to “shave it”

Re: Ratchet and Medical school: she wants a “I choose to believe Ratchet has never been to medical school” shirt

Natalie (her GF) said hi 

She doesn’t understand cycles or astrocycles, she doesn’t understand the weird Transformers time stuff. (mood)

Natalie explained how ghost traps work and it was a delight "You're basically making a pocket dimension, that's how you capture ghosts" “The Technology for a ghost trap is like magic and science” 

Maecatt's bringing all her TF toys over to the camera 

Q: Elita prime when? A: All the time, in my heart! 

Q: Why are you so mean to Percy? A: He's so mature and pragmatic that he can take it, and is willing to take one for the team bc he understands that it's what he needs to do. Yes, he’s calmly feral.

Yes to the hurt/comfort Deadceptor fanfic joke answer

She jokingly says she's willing to buy Cyberverse fanart prints

“Arcee was fun to figure out because there’s an extra bit of pressure to develop a female character, there is extra pressure to do it well since it’s representing a different community (not that women are different species) more representation is needed. “What kind of woman can our Arcee be?”” Scared to write her poorly, but they realized she could be a fun dynamic duo with Grimlock, someone who could keep up with him, not a “girl” version of him, but someone who could stand on her own two feet

Collecting Soundwave because Soundwave is COOL. Wouldn’t you collect a single father of 5 who carries them around in his chest?

Shockwave altered his vibes to have maximum bad vibes to destroy the All Spark

Rebooting the franchise: she’d maybe do beast wars or something

Skullcruncher is a lady! She misses Mac but Percy takes good care of her

She loved Beast Wars Inferno, she loved that Inferno called Megatron a Queen. It was played as a joke because the 90s weren’t very socially conscious, but she liked that Megatron never corrected him or beat him down

She wanted to have Lightbright and Nickle in the show 

"Maybe Drift is alive, maybe he's rethinking his decision and he'll come back later" 

She said it's hard talking about writing a show because you're designing the experience and you have to make sometimes what sounds like cold and pragmatic decisions (eg: "we need a cold and spunky female") which sucks, but they need to balance out the show. She says she'd never do that just for the sake of doing it, but it's part of something that they do need to be aware of while working on a show “Starts from a weirdly cold pragmatic place, but we try and put truth in it”

Q: Is Skullcruncher Percy's bouncer now that he's running Maccadam's? A: Oh totally

She felt bad about the writing thing because she says "you could throw a rock in California and you'd hit a writer / director or whatever" but she says she really likes being an authority on things now, even if it’s weird

She said Drift would've been helpful in S3 for sure, maybe he'd come up with Repugnis

Q: If Tarn is the perfect Decepticon who's the perfect Autobot A: Someone with a Firetruck alt mode, Autobot insignia as a face. Nat and her talked about it a lot. She says Optimus SHOULD be a fire truck, it makes the relationship between him and Ratchet a little more fun since Ratchet is an ambulance, and Optimus has an AX. It just makes sense! She agreed that the perfect Autobot would be Thunderclash after the chat said that

“If you put the proverbial budget-gun to my head, I’d keep Unicron in planet-mode because it’s more mysterious, but I want both alt modes”

Her favorite Megatron is Beast Wars Megatron

They didn’t want to go the Unicron route because everyone goes that route

Q:  What sort of documents DID Optimus work on in the archives? A: Probably historical archives and working on all the Primes. Something like the French / American revolution equivalent, which informed his speech writing for Megatron and his own ethics. (NICE)

She doesn’t like Sky Lnxy’s design, it’s creepy. “He talks in the G1 episodes and the voice makes it worse.” She can’t get over his face

“Found” the social awkwardness for Optimus. Optimus depicted as a father figure in S1 because it’s from Bee’s perspective, S2 / S3 they were able to explore more and found the limits and found it was hard to maintain that level of heroic dialogue. Optimus would feel awkward about it too. Randolph did an impression of Optimus’ speech. “He can’t not be in war-mode” :(

Q: Were Optimus and Megatron friends ever, or did they just work together on the speech stuff? A: Oh hell yes, I think [the story] is always enhanced when they’re friends and when Optimus really believes in what Megatron was working on. Optimus’ rejection of Megatron is what pushes him over the edge, his best friend rejecting him pushes him into a place where he becomes a tyrannical person.

Q: Does Maccadam know we love him? A: *puts hand over heart and looks into the distance* Yes

“Who knows where Dead End ended up” then backtracks and says “Wait that sounds flippant”

Soundwave’s favorite Earth song is Despacito

Q:  What's the best selfie Arcee's ever taken A: Mae Catt loves the one with the giraffe. She likes the idea of Arcee having a bunch of human friends

Q: What do the Transformers think of the Florida Man? A: They can’t really tell the difference between humans, they don’t really get it. It just sorta looks like all the normal stuff they see on Earth (or something)

Q: Who's the Florida Man of the Transformers A: Rack ‘n Ruin or Skybyte. But he’s too nice hmmm.

Leaned into the wackiness of Wheeljack because of the VA

Q:  What does Optimus do when he's not giving speeches / being a leader when they were all hanging out on the ARK? A: I think he reads, he seems like a heavy reader. It’d be cute if he read really bad Earth romance novels. He seems like a guy who needs a break from everything.

Q: Does Optimus have hobbies? A: Not to borrow from Rung, but doesn’t it seem like Optimus would make model ships? Very quiet, very focused detail-oriented hobby. Oh duh, he also plays basketball.

“I’d love to see more jets [who aren’t our usual gang] and find out all jets are kinda snobby”. Kaon and Tarn would be fun, it’d be cool to make up places.

(Someone asking if Optimus would read 50 Shades of Gray, someone else saying “They’d take it the wrong way because Transformers turn gray when they die”)

Everyone on the Autobot side are friends with each other.

Q: Does Megatron do anything for fun or is he too angry? A: I want to say he’s too angry, he has fun beating people down but I don’t think he’s had fun for a long time

Q: Were you surprised that Jake Tillman was in his 20s listening to his Optimus the first time? A: Jake Tillman was a vine-r she listened to a ton. She’d heard him when he was in his teens

MaeCatt loves that Shadow Striker saved Windblade’s body and kept her safe

Q: what was most important to you personally to put out in each episode? like humor/characterization/arcs A: Wanted to make sure she didn’t write dialogue that was condescending, wanted to be true about the character. Needs to be true to the characters (and gay) 

Transformers probably don’t know what memes are. They know what they ARE, but they don’t get it. They wanted Hot Rod to be super into Earth culture (winning races and driving off before humans could realize no one was in the car), but they never had time to really get into that.

Wound up in the Cyberverse writer’s room thanks to her agents, says she was the only person who gave a crap about GI Joe stuff, the executives were so sweet and let her chat, and they said she wasn’t a good fit for the current live action project so they sent her to the animation side, they sent her to Michael Howzer and they hit it off talking about GI Joe stuff. She was a post PA, someone who helped editors finish things for TV, got a call with an offer. 

[signaturedish]

Can we have a what if adult femme Harry met Skywarp first?

Ooh Skywarp, huh? I’m curious why you’d choose him. I don’t see him getting a lot of attention usually. 

I kind of did a meet-cute thing. Hope you don’t mind it’s not really a summary.

He’s the chaotic neutral of the main three Decepticon seekers. Unruly, a prankster no matter what side you’re on, and very hard to keep on track. Dealing with him during those independent Allspark/Megatron searches must’ve been a nightmare. 

He’s happy with who he is though, fun is hard to come by and he’s not going to let stuffy superiors and grim veterans drag him down. The war has been going on past the point of even caring to remember, what does it matter if he doesn’t join the billionth patrol or dumps an Autobot down a storm drain rather than a hundred-foot drop? It keeps the monotony away.

He’s happy with who he is, even if he’s pretty sure he’s gonna die in some stupid way all alone without anyone who really understood him.

Until he meets the heir to the marauders. 

He hadn’t been wandering the Earth for more than a week (mostly to annoy Starscream who wanted them in formation dammit) when he picks up the weirdest chatter. From a dam filled with itty bitty humans who were too dumb to replicate a cry for help, far fainter than it should’ve been given the assumed levels to a human dam. 

He’s got nothing better to do (muting the indignant shrieking across his trinebond) so he sends a quick acknowledgment and loops back to find out what’s going on. 

What’s going on is that some poor bastard even thicker than Skywarp got stuck in some dingy human lab, apparently. They scrambled him good, too. Not a clue whether he’s Decepticon or Autobot, Primus, not a clue whether he’s a seeker or a grounder. How do you mix those up?? 

He spends way too long lying shamelessly to the unlucky bot, gleeful at how many reactions he can get out of him. Skywarp isn’t the fastest missile in the arsenal and it’s a treat to be around someone even more clueless than he is. Telling him filthy curses were polite greetings, telling him Autobots all have laser-optics, telling him Megatron was a hundred feet tall, it was a riot!

Around the time he’s convinced him Soundwave is the name of an STD, however, the dynamic shifts. 

He gave something away, he always does. Long games are no fun when it’s just him laughing. The other guy- who apparently got tricked by someone else into believing his designation is Hay-ree-ett, ew- wised up, started asking sharper questions, started poking holes in the flimsy story he was being fed.

Started teasing back.

“I guess you’d know all about STDs, huh.”

Hay-ree-ett was irritated with him, no doubt about it, but that didn’t quell a certain devilish glee in taking the piss out of Skywarp that bordered on playful. Probably wasn’t a goody goody Autobot either, not with just how much sarcasm came pouring out of that comm unit.

“What I look like? A hundred feet tall with laser eyes, why?"

Wasn’t even panicking, either, a solid spark underneath all those errors, definitely. Sure, a surprisingly well-constructed slew of insults slipped out in every other sentence for how useless Skywarp was, but the bot wasn’t begging for assistance or demanding straight answers. He bitched about his situation, gamely roasted all of Skywarp’s hair-brained suggestions, and bitched some more.

Skywarp had been burning through his fuel for over an hour when he realized he’d taken shine to the stupid bot. Not a whole lot of Decepticons outside his trine could hold his attention that long without getting boring. 

It was worth a little chewing out later, right?

So with a quick warning ping to Starscream that had long since become the Skywarp Screw Up Signal and a mischievous cackle commed to his newest victim, Skywarp tipped his nose down and teleported.

A couple dozen levels of concrete lead to a wide-open warehouse if Hay-ree-ett was to be believed, not too far for a portal even if the lack of sights was risky. 

Sure enough, in a crackle of energon, the world went dim and steel walls encroached on his wings and he was going way too fast-

He only lightly smacked into a wall of storage containers, switching to peds to stick the landing in a cacophony of shrieking metal.

“Hey there, fragger.”

A surprisingly smooth voice synthesizer lit up with an audible smile and Skywarp wheeled around to find a short nimble bot in shades of gold stuck in a human box. He was sat comfortably in the middle, narrow, downward-pointed wings splayed out behind him.

“If you wanted to join me, all you had to do was ask,” Bright green optics twinkled up at him, “I’ll even scoot over, we can share the box.”

Skywarp sneered, excitement nipping at his heels as he circled around the other bot. “Maybe I just wanted to laugh at you from a better seat. Would be pretty funny if I shook this thing, right? Like a giant rattle.”

No fear, not even a subtle flick of wings. “Go right ahead, it’ll be even funnier when these scientists catch you because you’ve dented your own wings being a moron.”

Oh yeah, the humans. Screaming and scattering like an overturned anthill underfoot. Skywarp let them run, they weren’t interesting.

“How have we not met before,” He wondered, activating his blaster. He intentionally set his auto-targeting on the gold bot and had the pleasure of watching green optics snap open wide as he threw himself out of the way of the first blast. It scorched the box, but didn’t crack it. He fired again, right for Hay-ree-ett’s face. 

“Guess I was luckier than I thought,” Hay-ree-ett snapped, rolling and ducking as spiderweb cracks appeared and tiny plastic shards sprayed the floor around them.

Seeker build, he decided, with enough agility that the bot probably wasn’t designed for damage or defense.

Specialized designs like that didn’t last long outside well-rounded trines, so there’s a lead if some other Decepticon wants to bother figuring out who Hay-ree-ett actually is. 

Didn’t have weapons either, not that it stopped him. Skywarp clapped when Hay-ree-ett executed a strong kick right to the center of smoldering plastic, finally shattering a hole large enough for him to climb out of. 

Then a human scorched him with frost and it was a blur from there.

Screaming, blasting, sprinting, struts numb and aching. Finally, lift-off. 

He went careening to the right, horribly off-balance as Hay-ree-ett clung tightly to his frame without permission couldn’t he fly and threatened to send him crashing back into the hoses of paralyzing ice. Guess that answered how the humans managed to nab a presumably unscrambled bot in the first place.

Hay-ree-ett wasn’t coming off anytime soon and he certainly wasn’t going to end up in a box right alongside him, so he threw open a portal and warped mere inches from the ground.

The desert sprang open around them, flat sand and low rolling hills spread lazily out in all directions as the setting sun lit everything on fire. It stalled his processor, the difference was so abrupt. 

Once he’d settled a little, calmly noting his struts were warming and returning to normal, appreciative of the lack of human screaming and tightly enclosed human spaces. 

Then he transformed midflight and allowed his unwanted passenger to slip right off his wings.

He meant to get a little revenge watching the bot smack into a cactus plant and scratch that pretty gold paint, but apparently the virus was one step ahead of him, because Skywarp was yanked by the ped right along with him and their combined, uncontrolled fall sent both tumbling harmlessly into the sand.

“What the frag,” Skywarp whined, kicking at a bush as sand got into every crevice, “Do you get dumped off seekers that often?”

Hay-ree-ett scowled down at him, already on his peds and glittering in the light, it wasn’t fair that he was so pretty too. 

“No, you just remind me of a set of tricky bastards who’d do the exact same thing.”

Hay-ree-ett softened then, unexpectedly, “well, one tricky bastard now. But you seem like just as much trouble as both of them at once.”

But Skywarp wasn’t listening anymore.

Because he just realized how much of a massive moron he was.

This wasn’t a surprisingly short, surprisingly pretty, surprisingly soft-spoken seeker. 

The information danced mocking circles overheard, parading the conclusion he hadn’t reached while screwing around under the dam.

Glittering gold, lightweight and compactly constructed. Long struts and heavily armored hips. Short torso and rounded breastplate. Clearly crafted with the sole mission of making a bot impossible to hit in the skies. 

His energon pump halted routine, he couldn’t feel it past the scorching shock and embarrassment coursing through every microchip in his frame.

Then, because Primus was cruel, his crackling vocal synthesizer activated on its own.

“You’re a femme?!”

...

And from there we get dumb but fun-loving prankster Skywarp silently dying the sad awkward death of something who never figured out how to breathe while looking at their crush while seeker goddess Harriet finds herself horrifically charmed by this strange extra Weasley twin in a giant robot’s body. 

Hope you liked it!

[purple-comet-hurricane]

OH BOY NEW OC. this is more of a sona if anything but, this my new girl Heartbreaker! she’s a doctor/mnemosurgeon seeker who’s very goal is defy everything it means to be a seeker. (bio under cut)

Name: Stellarus of Vos Nicknames: Heartbreaker (Common designation), Sizequeen (Mercenary alias), Turbo Rabbit, Bunny, Stella, Starlight

Mental Age: 21 Sexuality: Bisexual, Mech-leaning Height: Slightly shorter than average Seeker size Altmode: Cybertronian Tetrajet / F-35 Lightning II Faction: Decepticon

Occupation: Doctor/Mnemosurgeon, Wartime Mercenary for hire

Creation: Forged

Sparkplace: Vos Hotspot Identity: Vosian Education: Iaconian Academy of Medicine Frame type: Seeker Personality: Cold, stubborn, conniving and even a little bit flirty, Heartbreaker was once a strong-willed rebel who wanted to do nothing more than help those around her who suffered under the Senate and to change Cybertron’s society for a better, brighter future. A one-percenter from Vos, she had empathy stronger than any other like her, but with a spark so tender, life wasn’t the sweetest towards it. With repeated harshness and disappointment, Heartbreaker grew cold, closed off even. Nobody knows much about her before the war, but what people do know is that she’s out for nobody but herself. Her own secret agenda with a long checklist, the Seeker will stop at nothing once she sets her eyes on something. Stubborn as a leader-class bot, she won’t let anything go until it’s dealt with accordingly. However despite her exponential processor power and her calculated approach towards everything, even she is not immune to the folly of cybertronians. A side many seemed to know intimately, Heartbreaker was no stranger to Cybertron’s many pleasures in life. Often flirtatious towards those in a higher position than her own, recruits and even her own victims, nobody is safe from Heartbreaker’s insatiable drive. Either way, Heartbreaker is considered a mysterious enigma who strayed to far from her own light.

Bio: Fliers weren’t anything new to Cybertron, many Cybertronians were fliers. However there was a specific frame of such that have always been an enigma to the planet. Seekers. In their prime they were Cold Constructed soldiers for the Decepticons, fashioned in the image that of their leader Starscream. However Seekers weren’t unheard of prior to the great war. Perhaps rarer, but not unheard of. However unlike Starscream, their frames differed bit by bit, as many forged sparks would take it. Stellarus of Vos was no different.

One of the few hundred or so Seekers to be forged rather than constructed, Stellarus was rather unique. Many other Seekers existed but compared to them the femme was considered gifted. Special. But in the eyes of the Senate, she was nothing but another commodity. Seekers were considered nothing short than novelty, pretty little things whose only job was to act. Many seekers were showmen, flying in troupes to perform for Cybertron’s populace. The Vosian Seeker Academy was basically that, a school made to shape Seekers into the small mold of a perfect citizen and perfect entertainer. Initially Stellarus didn’t have a big problem with her studies. She liked the feel of wind against her wings and nose cone when she practiced her routines but she could care less for the history lessons she had to learn. Seekers were good for two things from what she discovered. Librarians or performers. Nothing else. However quickly did the young Vosian learn that none of the aforementioned professions interested her in any capacity. She wanted something more fulfilling. While she liked flying, she didn’t want that to be her job. However, she didn’t know what she wanted. She was an ace student, of course. Her academics were nothing short of incredible. But it was a bore.

But

She discovered her passion by passing. A small mistake. A bump in the shoulder.

The femme wasn’t as tall as the other Seekers, and even then, Seekers weren’t exactly large to begin with, They were slim, agile. Larger than minicons and cassettes of course, but compared to the average common class, they were shorter. Stellarus? She was shorter by a foot, give or take. So when she bumped into a larger mech down in Iacon on a retreat, he didn’t exactly expect to see a shortstuff seeker in his way.

Stellarus wasn’t timid at all, however. She was fierce, stubborn, feisty even. However when she saw the red cross on the Mech’s shoulder and the datapads he carried, her hostile demeanor changed. What is that? Where are you going? This mech could of brushed her off and left her in the dust, but instead he indulged in her questions. She was a medic in training studying at Iacon’s most prestigious medical school. Her optics widened and in that moment she realized what she wanted to do. She wanted to pursue medicine.

What made Stellarus so special. What made her so unique among the rest. She was empathetic. Heavily empathetic. So empathetic she can actual detect the strength of one’s spark. What was wrong with it. And how to fix it. She wasn’t any Cybertronian, she was a One-Percenter.

Her powerful empathy made her extremely compassionate for others. A young spark who wanted to see everyone on common ground. She knew personally how rough society is towards those lower on the caste. How the Senate will force your function until the day your spark snuffs itself. She wouldn’t have any of it. After that fateful encounter, day after day, Stellarus would sneak out of her dormitory and head to Iaconian libraries. There she’d pile datapads of medical textbooks and read. If she had any chance of becoming altmode exempt and attending the Medical Institute of Iacon, she had to prove that she at least had the spark and passion for it. And after repeated denial from the Senate, she finally earned her exemption and strided towards the medical academy. However getting into MIOI wasn’t easy. At the back of her processor she figured the reason they finally granted her exemptment was because they knew how hard it was to get into the academy and that she would eventually give up and go back to Vos. But they underestimated Stellarus and her extreme stubbornness. Once she sets her optics on something there is no going back. She WILL get into the Medical Institute of Iacon whether it takes a stellar cycle or an ano-cycle. Society wasn’t kind to Stellarus. It worked against her and her goals to help others. With prejudice from her ability to prejudice of her frame. Everything was harder than it should of been. She failed again and again, yet she never gave up. But perhaps she became bitter, cynical of a goal she worked for. Her views went from peaceful to a bit anarchistic. Those higher up on the caste didn’t matter. Many said they’d support the abolishment of the functionist caste and create equality yet she saw them do nothing to help her and the many other miners and industrial workers who slave away for the Senate and higher caste workers to function. Anger boiled up in her as she repeated hit a wall and eventually, all her stress and attempts paid off. After a little over a deca-cycle the board finally gave Stellarus admission to their school. She was nothing short of ecstatic to finally have all those cycles in the library pay off and finally help those around her. All the miners and workers who get injured building Cybertron’s infrastructure and enduring the prejudices set by the government, she can at least be there to help fix their wounds. Just like her time at the Vos Academy, she was a star student. Nothing but high scores and impressive marks. However something changed during her time at the academy. Despite finally making it, students and even professors still had some sort of problem with Stellarus. Whether they realized it or not. It didn’t even matter if she told them how wrong they were being, high caste bots won’t change. However despite the low expectations the school had on her, she excelled farther than any flier before her. She also began to grow defensive as well, her feisty nature manifesting into a locked down reclusive interior and a hotheaded exterior. There were two types of mechs who approached her. Those who had something to say, and those who believed what they say about Seekers. Either way, Stellarus had two ways of dealing with them. Shutting them down the harshest way she knew, or stringing them along and using them for her own gain. Either way, by the time she graduated, she was given the designation ‘Heartbreaker’.

Heartbreaker, as everyone referred to her now, wanted to help those on the lower end of the caste. Could she work at one of the reputable medical centers in Iacon or Praxus? Perhaps. But she chose to hop between clinics in the Dead End. If she wanted to say she worked at a hospital, she supposed she worked at the one in Kaon.

The Kaonian hospitals weren’t terrible but they were… Extremely understaffed and extremely under budgeted. She knew it wasn’t the hospital’s fault, but the Senate. But she knew that she could do little to change it on her own. So for the time being she just tried to help as many lives as she could. However with such an esteemed doctor working in Kaon, it drew the attention of the senate once more.

Many Cybertronians were familiar with the rumors and conspiracies surrounding the secret government-ran facility, The Institute. From word of mouth to shock value news, many speculated on what the Institute did, if it even existed. Many people who were theorized to have wronged the Senate were thought to be sent there, never to return. At least, never the same. One night when working a late shift at the hospital, Heartbreaker was approached by a man claiming to be a representative of one council member. He requested an audience with Heartbreaker. Skeptical at first, Heartbreaker nearly declined. But if this person really did represent a member of the Senate, maybe this is her chance to start doing more to help those in need.

What she expected was the usual ‘why is a Seeker like you working in a hospital.’ But instead, she was greeted with acknowledgement and praise on her achievements. A stark different from the demeaning and ridicule she received when attempting to speak with the senators. Something was wrong. She quietly listened to the mech talk of her attributes and even pull up a datapad with a file of her. Eventually he concluded with his little monologue with a proposition.

How would you like to work for the Senate?

Heartbreaker’s optics widened as she glanced around the small room.

What did he mean work for the Senate.

Oh, the Institute of course.

She’s heard of The Institute. Everyone has. The horrors that went down there. Most of the victims were revolutionaries who fought against the system, who tried to overthrow authority. Low castes who couldn’t catch a break. She couldn’t… She couldn’t do that to them.

However the senator’s brow ridge raised at her lack of an answer. He left her to think on it for a while. Leaving Heartbreaker a number to call if and when she decided she’d do it.

Of course, it was a harsh battle of morality and ethics. On one hand if she works for the senate, perhaps she can pull the strings like a shadow puppetmaster and influence their decisions on eliminating the caste system. But on the other… She’d be sacrificing many freedom fighers in the process.

But, she supposed, that was a sacrifice willing to be made in the eyes of progress.

Her work at the Institute was hard cut for her. Empurata, Shadowplay. Her hands were retrofitted with Mnemosurgery grade spikes. Over time she became desensitized almost to the act. Something that scared her to think about. But she had to look past these heinous operations in order to gain the trust of the Senate. Mnemosurgery is the act of viewing one’s memories and given the opportunity to edit them. She could even rewrite someone’s personality if she really wanted too. If her suggestions couldn’t sway the Senate, then perhaps she can attempt something in a more forceful manner.

In the eyes of Heartbreaker nothing seemed wrong, nothing she did could be at fault. She was fighting to abolish the functionist caste yet, was it really worth all these lives?

When the riots and war broke out, Heartbreaker saw herself aligning with the Decepticons. Megatron’s ideologies and speeches spoke to her on such a personal level. And with her abilities she was almost a needed asset for the Decepticons. However with the progression of war, so does come change within organized factions.

She put down her bandages and picked up weapons. She used her ability to hurt, not heal. She set aside her empathy and sought to eliminate those who stood between her and a perfect, equal, Cybertron.

Young Heartbreaker wouldn’t do this. But young Heartbreaker was naive and didn’t know how cruel the world could be.

Sure she realized how skewed the Decepticon cause became. From protesting a corrupt government to trying to form one, she still had a sense of humanity in herself. While she didn’t leave the Decepticons, she took a more neutral approach to the war. A mercenary. Or an assassin, whichever one a person needed. With an extended arsenal of weaponry and abilities, she was a force to be reckoned with. She was everything needed for a terrifying killer. Sneaky, conniving, and cruel. She didn’t just kill her targets, no. She was a mnemosurgeon after all, she had her due before any energon was spilled.

She was a hollow shell of the hopeful, charismatic and moral Stellarus. To the Decepticons she was Heartbreaker, a cold and calculated doctor who served her own agenda. But to everyone else, she was a mercenary who didn’t hesitate to take what she wanted along with your spark.

[adenthemage]

shoutout to @madness-to-my-method​ for enabling me!

Here’s a long post where I dumped all my thoughts about tfp Starscream into a Google doc, please do enjoy and sorry for the length in advance! 

Categories include (but not necessarily limited to, as I’m an unorganized mess,) Wants vs Needs, How the Pit Does His Head Work, Megatron, Heroic Traits, and additional headcanons.

Wants vs Needs: The core to both Starscream’s want and need is the desire to be respected by others. Starscream is, of course, a very ambitious person. He knows exactly what he wants, and what he wants most of all is control of his own life. His own ambition and mad brand of genius amplify this to world-domination-levels of control. The want of power and being feared by others is a by-product of the core desire to be respected.

What he needs is someone to trust. He needs someone to ground him back in reality and help him recover from the serious damage those billions of years of abuse has done to his psyche. This will probably never happen, because Starscream will never let anyone get that close. When he lives in a world where Megatron constantly hurts him and no one has ever stepped in to help, of course he would learn that he should never rely on anyone else. That he has to help himself first and foremost because no one else will.

The closest person to ever almost gain his trust was Knock Out, and Knock Out never even realized it. It’s shown blatantly more than once that Starscream doesn’t forget when people do him a great service or disservice. He tends to operate on a weird ‘eye for an eye’ sort of honor code. If you save his life, he will remember that. KO saved Starscream’s life at least once, and it’s easy to see especially in the episode Thirst that Starscream starts to sort of respect the guy (and the genuine flattery didn’t hurt either.) Meanwhile, in the same episode, we can see KO becoming perhaps a little disenchanted with always being left behind or thrown under the bus after all he’s done to look out for Starscream.

KO put himself out there to help Starscream, (barring the ending of ep Thirst, but unfortunately that’s just the behavior expected of him,) and Starscream realized that in some capacity. On the other hand, Starscream was willing to let KO get hurt to save his own hide at every turn, and KO didn’t miss that. So it’s no surprise in the end, when Starscream rescues KO and hands him a powerful weapon and turns his back to him, nor when KO takes that opportunity to throw Starscream under the bus to save his own hide.

This is why I believe it is nearly impossible for Starscream to form any positive relationships after the ending of tfp. He was already basically there during the series, he likely already had the mentality that ‘trusting anyone=death’, but KO was supposed to prove him wrong, in a way. It was essentially his last chance to change, but instead he was proved right as a result of his own actions. He is a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Starscream desperately needs to be saved from himself. He will never get this. Starscream wants power and control. In his relentless pursuit of this, he has ruined his chances at getting any of the above.

How the Pit does his head work: Starscream, as I mentioned briefly before, is kind of a genius. It’s not really the conventional type, though. He is observed for most of the series coming up with outlandish ideas on the fly (heh,) and they’re usually pretty hit or miss, but when they work they really work. It definitely helps that Starscream is quite honestly willing to sacrifice anything and everything short of his own life if he thinks there’s a chance it’ll work out in his favor. He takes risks-- granted a lot of the time it’s out of necessity, in his mind. ‘If I pass up on this chance, it might cause my death later on.’ He has a combination of a mind that comes up with plans most sane bots would rule out as impossible, and a constitution strong enough to act on those plans.

He functions on the (rather correct) assumption that everyone wants him dead, and so every alliance is never anything more than another means to manipulate and probably kill. He is a startlingly good actor when he is either in control of the situation or under threat of death by anyone besides Megatron.

Speaking of! There are two situations in which Starscream will act strikingly differently. When he is in control of the situation, versus when he’s under threat of even just physical harm. When he’s in control, he is grandiose and dramatic, sadistic and gleeful and terrifying. When he gets what he wants, he revels in it. He loves when he has someone else cornered, when he can feel the fear in them, it’s a sense of power that he isn’t allowed to have ‘back home,’ so it’s intoxicating (also, he’s just kinda a piece of shit.) As he is already prone to puffing himself up, his pride may become his downfall in these times (he gloats every once in a while. Depends on his mood. Sometimes he’ll just murder the victim right off the bat.)

When he feels significantly threatened, or otherwise thrown off guard, he may shut down, so to speak. He will give up on fight or flight and turn to trying to trick his way out. This is what the show seems to consider his cowardly side. He will do anything to protect his own life, including begging. His silver tongue is very much his strong suit, so there are several instances of him talking his way out of death. Thing is, he’s kinda smart about watching his own back. He survived the war, after all, and in a situation where he was essentially taken captive he followed all the recommended rules to surviving that situation. Even when he’s panicking, he’s able to plan an escape route.

Megatron: Megatron deserves to fucking die and I’m going to tell you why. Buckle in.

The concluding paragraph to the Want vs Need section was pretty bleak, and it’s Megatron’s fragging fault. What he put Starscream through is some severe abuse. There’s no way to deny that. He put Starscream in a position of power and then proceeded to take away any sense of power, security, control, safety, you name it. He created an environment where Starscream was constantly afraid and paranoid, punished him for every little error, literally beat him to near-death on an occasion that the show spells out for us. He gave Starscream the idea of what he wanted to badly and then tore it away from him.  If I made a Fears section, (which, I might,) Megatron would be near the top of the list.

And it’s infuriating because Starscream thinks that the way to get out of this cycle of pain and fear is to become just like Megatron. And what’s worse, he adapts to the situation, unaware. He learns that failure of any kind means pain, he learns that security will be found in controlling and harming others, he learns that he is worthless and desperately tries to force everyone around him to believe he is worth something, and he learns that believing in Megatron and the Decepticon cause was naive.

He was right about Megatron, by the way. Unstable as his grasp on reality may be at this point, he correctly saw the major flaws in his leader and correctly sought to dethrone him. Look what happened because Megs stayed in power! Megs became a corrupt leader and created a hierarchy where he was at the top and everyone did whatever he said because they were all too scared of him. If he made errors, it wasn’t because he was making decisions without taking into account the opinions of the qualified around him, it was because someone under him messed up somehow and he would punish them accordingly. Also, he uh, fucking lost the war. So yanno, eat shit, Megahoe.

Starscream kept Decepticon presence so well-hidden for the three years they were on Earth, that the Bots didn’t even realize they were there. Can I stress how impressive that is. He managed to operate on Earth enough to at least mine so much fuel as to run a massive warship and feed an army, and the Autobots assumed they were still out in another galaxy. Had Cliffjumper not stumbled upon one of the digsites before Megatron’s arrival, who knows what they could have done with such a potent element of surprise. He would have killed Optimus Prime in one instance if Megatron hadn’t intervened to beat him up. He would have been a far more effective leader than Megatron.

I would also like to note that the Decepticons do not fear him as wholly as they do Bucket Head, with notable distinctions to be made in how KO does not flinch away from Starscream despite being punished for disobeying him once or twice, whereas Starscream will flinch away if Megatron so much as walks towards him. The poor guy flinches at almost all physical contact, even if it isn’t hostile.

Whenever we’re shown Megatron attacking Starscream, Starscream does not fight back. He even refuses to put his hands around Megs’ wrist when he’s being lifted by the neck, which would generally be instinctual. That’s an intense terror to have been instilled in him, but I guess billions of years of severe mental and physical abuse will do that to you.

Heroic Traits: Starscream is a terrible guy, of course. We’ve established that much. But he’s got some traits that are often ascribed to protagonists, which I find interesting, so I’m making note of it. The big one is his perseverance. American stories love heroes that never give up, despite the odds, that try every angle and come out victorious despite hardships. Starscream embodies this trait, but I think the interesting angle here is that he’s persevering in pursuit of some evil-ish goals. Any heroic trait can be perverted into something to scorn, after all. If this trait is pointed at something that isn’t worth pursuing with such fervor, then perhaps that is what makes the difference between a hero and a villain.

The other one is his willingness to act on the problems he sees. The heroes are the ones who take up the calls to action, and far be it for him to be the type to sit back and let things happen. If he can, he will have a say in what happens. He thinks in terms of the bigger picture and goals towards solutions, and these are usually traits framed as worthy of being admired. He is often ridiculed and punished for these traits in the show.

Also, given his dismay at the destruction of the first chance to save Cybertron being done away with, I think it’s safe to assume, somewhere in his mind, he wants the best for their planet. Whether that’s to rule it is a different story--

Headcanons: He has a crooked, fake-looking smile even when he’s being genuine. Fight me. Also, dark lines under the eyes. Ups the spook-factor and the tired-old-man-factor all at once!

The reason Starscream returned to the Cons for season 3 was because he was starving. The red energon was the last of what he had, so he was forced to find a way to use it to earn his way into one of the factions. The Cons were familiar, he knew how they ticked, and trying to join the Bots twice before nearly cost him his life. It was the lesser of two evils.

He talks to himself constantly. He’s a verbal processor. (Although, this one might just be canon.) He also may not be able to differentiate between what he keeps in his head and what he says out loud, occasionally.

He’s a terrifying enemy in a fight, so long as he isn’t taken of guard. Look at him, he’s basically a bunch of knives with wings! Curse you, tfp, for not letting him win more fights, you cowards!

Dark Energon reacts more powerfully to Starscream than Megatron, though it seems to have more downsides for him, as well. It’s effect when he first stabbed himself with a shard was to cause him to burst into purple flames, while Megs just kinda spazzed out for a bit. However, Starscream could not control a Terrorcon with it, and Megatron could. (Not gonna make a call on the visions from the future thing because Starscream wasn’t affected by the Dark Energon for very long.) Megs used the Dark Star Sabre as merely a big slightly-toxic sword. When Starscream used it, it would backfire and cause him pain occasionally, but he was also able to use it to send out a paralyzing shock to everyone within like a 30ft vicinity or something idk I didn’t count but it was pretty impressive okay.

Insert mumbo-jumbo about Vosian Seekers and Skywarp and Thundercracker and Genericons here. He’s shorter than his brothers fighT ME.

Knowing myself, I’m probably gonna add to this garbage sooner or later.

[scraplette]

Lost Light #3 Thoughts and Feels

It's time for another round of Lost Light thoughts and feels!

As always, under a readmore to protect you from MASSIVE SPOILERS

+Recap of Issue #2: MORE FUNCTIONISTS!

+And we start off in the pod room with Ten, Swerve and Whirl. I think it's super sweet that Cyclonus gave Swerve his number. I would bet good money on Swerve assigning a special ringtone just for him.

+I really like how Lawrence draws Whirl. He looks like a wet, angry crow. Love his little squinty eye.

+The Necrobot used to knock out difficult rescuees with his magic briefcase... I feel blessed by this knowledge. Blessed and fulfilled.

+The new bot is a giant unicorn? Yeah, I know it's Killmaster but that silhouette could've been a unicorn!

+According to TFWiki, all the names Nightbeat is reeling off are victims of Starscream. So, does that mean Nightbeat went looking for Starscream's statue in particular? Or did he just happen to grab a random flower. I was under the impression he'd grabbed these flowers when breaking through Necroplanet's surface, but they were by Ravage's grave(who had a fair amount of flowers around it) but I guess we'll never know for sure.

+Nightbeat and Brainstorm's banter here is so good. I wonder if being Amica will change them in anyway way. They snark because they care about each other so much XD

+Kaput is a spark specialist? Hmmm, I wonder if that will become relevant later on. He also has a nice wheel according to Brainstorm. I must say, it's rather rare for Brainstorm to give out a compliment.

+AWWW! Look at Brainstorm's worried face! BLESS!

+I always love it when someone calls Rodimus “Rodders”. Look out, Roberts, you Britishness is leaking through again.

+I loved the squealing panel in the early preview and I love it just as much here XD never change, Brainstorm.

+Nightbeat is considered sensible?! Oh dear, how low is the bar set exactly?

+I know a few folks who guessed that the Geobomb was the cause of the dimensional shift. Good job, you guys :)

+Brainstorm: ”Get back here, and whatever you do... DON'T get too involved”

Megatron: “I have already adopted twenty of these lost souls...”

 Yeesh, hitting a little close to home here. But seriously, all this sounds so similar to the how the Trump presidency operates and, given Roberts political leanings, this is a clear commentary on current events. A lot of these tactics have been used throughout history to subjugate many peoples and cultures. Not a real life example, but a lot of this is reminding me of the Handmaid's Tale.

+Oh! Hello there Adaptus! So if there are five sacred cities, each one sacred to a particular member of the Guiding Hand, does that mean there's a Mortilus city out there? I want to see what a city dedicated to a Death God looks like!

+Didn't recognise this chap at first- he's had a makeover since I last saw him – but this is Nine Of Twelve, the Inquisitor. I wonder if he modeled his helm after Adaptus' or if it's just a coincidence. And oooooooh, he is so minded? Is he? Maybe this is just a ploy to gather everyone in one place... I got my eyes on you, buster.

+So “AAAARRRGH!” means Killmaster?! Ah, thanks for the translation...

This panel. THIS BLOODY PANEL! TOO GOOD!

+Killmaster is looking pretty epic... even with a unicorn horn for a magic wand.

+I can totally accept that Whirl assumed Killmaster was dead.

+Whirl, when you same “nemesis”, do you actually mean “crush”?

TEN! NOOOOOOOOOOO!

+Look at little Swerve! Running in to avenge a fallen Ten. He's grown so much Q_Q

+”What Primus gives, only Primus can take away.” At what point did Primus decide to give you a city? Just curious.

Tiny drinks.

+I think Megatron is in his element. He's in world that is clearly in need of some revolutionary guidance.

+Oh! Hello Alternate!Anode.

+Ooooh, look at Minimus throwing some shade.

+So, something is approaching Cybertron from deep space? Oh dear, that can't be good...

+Nine of Twelve showed the AVL how to block the headsplosion signal. I guess that explains why there are still some Lunabots and Datasticks about.

Ha! Exactly what I was talking about last time.

+Rod's headdesk moment is quite cute.

+Okay, M'dears, time for a brief breakdown of how the Senate fell and the Functionists rose to power.

Vector Sigma, the source of all life, stopped working. Nova Prime started the Spark Splicing/Constructed Cold project(as he did in the original timeline) but the Council saw this, creating life without the input of Primus, as an act heresay. Since there was no Megatron to form it,there was no Decepticon movement so the Senate and Council were free to focus all their efforts on bringing the other down. The Senate broke into and seal off Vector Sigma and that seriously hacked off the Council. After raising an army of religious fanatics, the hacked off Council destroyed the unused spark crystals before putting the entire Senate to death.

BUT WAIT! There's more!

Nine of Twelve left the Council because he disagreed with their recent actions. Six of Twelve(the guy we saw with the Matrix face) believes the Matrix has been speaking to him, specifically it's been warning him to prepare for war. The Council has been recycling the  population(yikes) forcing them into military or  construction based alt-modes. Essentially body-gloving, which we all know does not end well for an incompatible spark.

+So the Council are a bunch of hypocrits. Good to know... ¬_¬

+Plus another mention of an incoming war...

+I'm not fully convinced Nine of Twelve is a “good guy”. He may be sympathetic to the AVL but only because he disagreed with the Council forcing bots to change forms. He's still a bit of a dickbag who believes that every bot was born to perform a very particular task based on their alt-mod.  

+What's a Blacksmith? Anode, what is a Blacksmith?

+Oh nooo. Please let Lug be okay Q_Q this evidence against her is piling up.

+And this Grief Shot is probably why Swerve was so tetchy in the last issue. While I'm glad Nautica brings up the problems of relying on mood suppressants, this whole scene REALLY makes me miss Rung. “Avoidance is addictive” honestly sounds like something Rung would advocate. Even though he isn't a practising psychiatrist any more, he would still be doing everything he can to help people work through their grief. We haven't seen him since issue #1, where he was with Skids' body and he had that odd episodes. I'm super worried about him.

Also, I'm a little shocked that Nightbeat needs a shot to deal with Skids' death. Swerve I understand, but even though Nightbeat and Skids were Amica(for all of a minute) they never struck me as particularly close. But they did have that little scene alllllll the way back in Slaughterhouse where they referred to themselves as Chromedome's friends. It really makes me wonder how much goes on off panel.

+So a Blacksmith is a baby maker! I've got this hilarious image of Anode using an actual hammer and anvil to make a baby. But it's really interesting there are bots out there who can shape and mold sentio metalico. I wonder what Anode's skills are.

+So the Snowflake is a sparkless protoform? It's so pretty! I wonder if all protoforms can take on shapes like that.

+I think the implication here is that Anode, either on purpose or by accident, was responsible for Lug's creation O_O

+I don't like seeing a sad Lug. It actually hurts to see her sad. wraps her in a blanket

+I know ship Whirl/Killmaster.

+Hi Cyclon- OH MY GOD! WHAT HAPPENED TO YOUR FACE O_O

+Seriously! Why is he all busted up like that!

+”Oh man. You really shouldn't have bothered” Love you, Whirl~

+NO! NOT SWERVE TOO!

Meh, he and Ten and probably okay. Killmaster's wand has probably just teleported them to another universe. Worse case scenario, they're floating in space. I wouldn't be surprised if Killmaster is the key to returning the Rod Squad to their original universe.

+I'm saying it now. NEVER put Cyclonus in charge ever again. He's really bad at it.

+I love how disbelving Rodimus sounds. “Rung. Seriously? Rung? RUNG? Short guy with eyebrows? Likes model ships. He's your leader? Rung?”

But I think it's really interesting that Rung is not, strictly speaking, the Leader of the AVL. I wonder if he's had any contact with them at all. Does he even agree with what they're doing? I suspect this is something that will come up again.

+Yes, good. Mwah mwah. Love this sort of stuff. Rung's entire existence is one big middle finger to the Functionists.

+YES!

YES! It took five years but we finally, FINALLY, got the pun we've been waiting for!

+This is it O_O

Yaaaaaassssss.

...

Yeah, I can see straight through your propaganda BS ¬_¬

To be honest, I was actually expecting this outcome. Whatever Rung's alt-mode is, it was hinted to be the “last thing” the Functionists wanted. If it really was “the beginning of the end” there is no way they'd be stupid enough to parade it around to undermine their authority.

I have no doubt that we'll know Rung's purpose by the end of this arc eyes up the #6 solicit One way or another...

+Love how the Rod Squad members are all ????? even they can see through the BS.

+OhohohohOHOHOH! The Drill(thatwillpiercetheheavens) is going to open up Vector Sigma?! EEEEEEEEEE! Maybe there's something to the Rung=Key to Vector Sigma theory!

+EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! LUNA 2! Are we finally going to meet the Black Box Consortia(or at least, this universe's version of them)

+And now I wait for the next issue : /

[archived-twigwise]

ultriaprime

Can't dissagree. I never thought red alert as autistic though. I always thought of him as cautious. Didnt syart reading mtmte till recently so all i grew up with was the g1 series (wich im proud to say have all of them on dvd)

To reply to this in a far more serious way than you probably thought I would, other than me being Red Alert being “proof,” the little we see of him in Auto Berserk, actually kind of supports the “theory” that he’s autistic!

For one, he clings to one person (Inferno) as his “safe person,” someone he can trust and be more himself around. Inferno acts as a buffer between him and the other Autobots- once that buffer is removed, he becomes paranoid and lashes out at the other Autobots, who don’t understand him.

For another, his paranoia and “caution,” as you put it, is a nonstandard/atypical symptom of autism! One I, myself, have. “Anxiety and fear are predominant emotions” in people with atypical autism.

Another one that could be considered proof of him being autistic, is how he basically has a breakdown when overstimulated- after Rumble’s missile blows him up (the overstimulation or initial trigger- loud sound, tactile input, and visual input) he is very sensitive to how other people perceive or act around him. When Optimus insists he let Hook examine him, that’s an emotional overstimulation trigger that puts him over the edge, and he has a meltdown/breakdown. Once he flees and Starscream finds him and takes advantage of Red’s need for someone to listen and calm him down, he’s much better, though still suffering from a “faulty logic chip.”

“Faulty logic chips” are kind of an autism thing too! for many auties, our brains process logic differently than allistics. Circular logic or faulty logic are very common. Common sense is difficult!

Other Atypical Autism traits that very much fit Red Alert (just from what we’ve seen in Auto Berserk) (as found in this list of Atypical Autism Traits)

May have a strong interest in computers, games, science, graphic design, inventing, things of a technological and visual nature. More verbal thinkers may gravitate to writing, languages, cultural studies, psychology (Ability with computers and technological things, being security director. We mostly see him working with computers initially.)

Highly intelligent, yet sometimes can be slow to comprehend due to sensory and cognitive processing issues (Completely missing the danger posed to the Autobots and Negavator when the Decepticons were near, leading to an ambush)

More open to talk about feelings and emotional issues than people with typical autism (talking to Prime about his feelings that he was the victim of a coup or a scheme to eliminate him)

Hates injustice and hates to be misunderstood; this can incite anger and rage (his meltdown/breakdown after the Decepticon ambush)

Perceived to be cold-natured and self-centred; unfriendly (common fandom interpretation of  Red Alert when examining only G1)

Is very outspoken at times, may get very fired up when talking about passions / special interests / obsessions (again, talking to Prime about his obsession over the perceived “coup”. Also, explaining things to Starscream)

Doesn’t go out much. Will prefer to go out with partner only or children if they have them (Inferno being his “safe person”)

Will not have many close friends, and will not conform to gender stereotypical activities with friends, or have get-togethers to “hang out” with friends (again, we see this in how Inferno seems to be Red’s only friend)

This might just be me projecting, I’ll fully admit that. I feel strongly about this due to being literally Red Alert. But I feel like just from what we see in Auto Berserk (and I guess the little segment in.... Dinobot Island, was that the episode? Temporal Rift two part-episode) there’s a good amount of evidence to support the idea that Red Alert is autistic.

(Now, don’t get me started on IDW/MTMTE, because that’s a whole another can of worms where I would say he’s not only autistic, but also has OCD with an emphasis on paranoid obsessions)

[eyrmia]

TFP Challenge Day #9

“Have any cool Cybertronian headcanons? Of course you do! Share them here! It can be about a character, Cybertron itself, Cybertronian biology, etc.! Whatever floats your boat!”

Headcanons are my favorite thing! I have so many they feel canon. xD Buckle up! A lot of my headcanons take cues from IDW’s G1 universe, so if you don’t recognize a name, it’s probably from there. I don’t include OCs in my headcanons unless they’re super minor (like a gas station attendee…energon station?). Most of these will be about Cybertron’s history and stuff that happened pre-war or during the war. If you don’t like/agree with them it’s okay. They’re not canon (obviously). ^^

The humans love to ask Ratchet questions about Cybertronian biology and culture, and he’s happy to answer. He and June sometimes have really interesting conversations deep into the night, swapping medical knowledge.

Wheeljack actually has the ability to light up his fins when he talks, but he deactivated the setting after the Wreckers made fun of him for it.

Ratchet nearly got his face blown off by one of Wheeljack’s inventions before the war, so now he steers clear of anything the Wrecker builds.

Magnus can actually get really insecure about what he’s doing. He’ll think about actions he’s taken in the past and how they might have been a huge mistake, and will start worrying if he’s cost the Autobots a victory. After he and Wheeljack made up, though, his anxiety hasn’t been as bad.

Ratchet lets the human children sit on his shoulders if he’s in a good mood (this is after the others have returned to Cybertron).

Arcee regularly checks up on Ratchet to see if he’s doing alright after Prime’s death. They have long conversations about their passed friends, like Prime, Cliffjumper, and Tailgate.

Fowler proposes to June and they get married. Jack has mixed feelings.

Raf finally hits puberty and gets taller!

Orion Pax and Ratchet were good friends before the war (it’s kind of obvious). I feel like Orion asked for Ratchet’s advice about Megatronus and stuff, and Ratchet was always there for him, supporting him. I also feel like Orion was originally reluctant to take the Matrix, so Ratchet had to give him some pep talks.

There was more to the beginning of the war than Ratchet tells in his story. I feel like Megatronus had someone else who influenced him. Someone named…Terminus. He could have been something of a mentor to Megatronus. Eventually he died, and Megatronus became the leader of the fledgling Decepticon movement.

There’s not much in TFP canon about Ratchet’s mentor, Remedy. He’s not in any other continuities, and is only briefly mentioned in the Covenant. In my headcanon, he was a Senator and a member of the High Council. He, Sentinel Zeta Prime, and Terminus had all been good friends during the Quintesson War (which was a canon event), maybe even making up an elite team, similar to Team Prime. After the war, however, Sentinel kept the caste system in place, alienating Terminus (as he was demoted from an officer back a miner). Remedy, feeling guilty for his friend, began helping out with the Decepticon movement.

Shockwave wasn’t always faceless and emotionless. He was once a strong advocator for anti-Functionalism, and became friends with Remedy and Terminus because of this. He was also a member of the High Council (that part is canon), but after the Council found out about his involvement with the ‘Cons, they turned him into an empurata and shadowplay victim. They had hoped he’d abandon the Decepticons, but he decided that the revolution was the more logical choice and devoted himself to the cause.

Same as Remedy, Cogwheel is only briefly mentioned in canon. The Covenant says was a colleague of Ratchet’s, having also trained under Remedy. It mentions that she and Ratchet helped start the Quintesson War by exposing their lies about the T-cog, but she isn’t mentioned after that. My headcanon is that she was killed during the war, devastating Ratchet, as they’d been close friends (or more, if you want).

Ratchet, of course, eventually found out about Remedy’s involvement with the Decepticons. Remedy spent a lot of time in Kaon, even after Terminus’s death, organizing things and all that. One day Orion Pax showed up, which worried Remedy as Pax was quite naive. He later went to Ratchet and told him not to get involved with the Decepticons. Remedy knew that Megatronus was far more volatile than his mentor, Terminus, had been, and suspected that things could go awry. Not long after, Remedy’s involvement with the Decepticons was discovered and he was found murdered in his home a few days later. However, Prowl had Pharma (Crystal City CMO and a former student of Remedy’s) perform an autopsy, and Pharma discovered it wasn’t really Remedy’s body. This knowledge never reached the public though because the Council threatened to have Pharma and anyone else he told killed. He still told Ratchet, though.

Before the war began, there were a lot of terrorist attacks on multiple populated areas on Cybertron (this is canon). Not all of it was done by the Decepticons, though, because the Council wasn’t as good as they are made out to be. Sentinel orchestrated some of these bombings to make the Decepticons look bad. Eventually, Megatronus decided to give in to the people’s expectations and began ordering his own attacks on heavily Council-controlled areas.

Rossum was Kaon’s CMO and a former student of Remedy’s. He became Megatron’s CMO during the war and stood by his side for a long time. However, when Megatron began using dark energon, Rossum developed doubts. After the Exodus, he remained behind on Cybertron and eventually joined the Wreckers’ effort against Shockwave’s hordes of Forged soldiers and Predacons.

Ratchet left Pharma in charge as Autobot CMO on Cybertron after the Exodus. Things may or may not have gone well.

Firestar was the Wreckers’ medic.

Flareup was the Wreckers’ explosives expert (besides Wheeljack).

Bulkhead was a construction worker and occasional gladiator in Slaughter City before the war. He and Breakdown initially joined the Decepticons, but Bulk missed the Wreckers and eventually defected to the Autobots. Wheeljack was the first to fully trust him, and he will never forget that.

Remedy had a colleague, another bot who trained with him under their mentor. Her name was Lifeline. They both trained their own set of apprentices as medics. Their apprentices are ordered by age below:

Cogwheel (oldest, trained under Remedy, was going to be his successor as CMO of Iacon, killed during Quintesson War)

Nickel (trained under Lifeline, disappeared after training was finished but reappeared with DJD during war)

Rossum (trained under Remedy, became CMO of Kaon and later CMO of the Decepticons, defected from Decepticons)

Thundercracker (trained under Lifeline, part of a trine with Starscream and Skywarp, became CMO of Kalis, defected from Decepticons)

Pharma (trained under Remedy, became CMO of Crystal City and later interim Autobot CMO)

Ratchet (trained under Remedy, succeeded Remedy as CMO of Iacon and later became Autobot CMO)

Red Alert (trained under Lifeline, was to succeed Lifeline as CMO of Nova Cronum, joined Autobots after Decepticons massacred Nova Cronum)

After Remedy died, the High Council was unsure of how to fill their open spot for a medical advisor. They launched an investigation into Ratchet, but couldn’t find any dirt on him. After the investigation was through, Ratchet opened a clinic in the Dead End (like IDW). There was a period of turmoil because Lifeline thought she should become Iacon’s CMO and take Remedy’s place on the Council. Eventually it was decided that Ratchet would be CMO, but Lifeline would be on the Council.

Ultra Magnus used to be on the High Council, but he resigned, stating that he needed to devote his time to the Wreckers. This eventually led to the prosecution of Wreckers. The Council claimed that the Wreckers were helping the Decepticons to launch terrorist attacks, and ordered the capture of all Wreckers so they could be interrogated and terminated. Very few Wreckers were actually captured, as most managed to hide or escape. However, Impactor, Chromia, and Kup were all captured and had mild shadowplay performed on them. This led to Impactor despising Megatron, even though they had once been close friends (as Impactor had been a gladiator and a miner as well).

The Wreckers were created long before the Great War (this is canon). Impactor’s hate eventually led to the Wreckers becoming exclusively Autobot. The Decepticon ex-Wreckers formed their own teams to combat this, like Squadron X and the Bruisers.

Seekers were discriminated against (not as much as low-caste though), which is why there were several cities that were exclusively “Seeker,” like Vos, Tarn, and Kalis, and also why the Seekers were sent to guard Trypticon Station (also because they could fly).

The TFP bots ordered by age is as follows:

Optimus Prime

Shockwave

Ultra Magnus

Soundwave

Ratchet

Starscream

Wheeljack

Arcee

Cliffjumper

Megatron

Dreadwing and Skyquake

Bulkhead

Breakdown

Makeshift

Knock Out

Bumblebee

Smokescreen

Predaking

Darksteel and Skylynx

During the war, the Autobots and Decepticons both attempted to take Praxus (this is canon). However, not long into the battle, some soldiers began showing signs of a rust infection. However, the disease was only triggered upon full activation of the T-cog (full transformation). It was obvious that the disease was engineered, but no one knew who did it because both sides were severely affected. The spokespersons for Praxus, Prowl and Ironhide, told both Prime and Megatron that whoever cured the disease would be the side they supported (as the originally didn’t want to pick a side, which is why the battle was being fought over them in the first place). Both sides had their medics and scientists get to work. Rossum was the first to engineer the cure, but his lab was invaded by a small team of Wreckers, led by Pharma. Rossum was forced to give over the formula to the Autobot medic. The Autobots were credited with discovering the cure and the Praxian forces joined their side.

No one knows that it was Pharma who created the virus. He was pressured into doing it by the DJD, who were threatening him (haven’t really got this part worked out yet). After the virus went live, though, he felt guilty. He knew he couldn’t just come up with a cure because the others could see through it, so he instead waited for someone else to figure it out, while dropping hints to the Autobots along the way (don’t have this part figured out yet either). He didn’t anticipate that the Decepticons would make the cure first, so he had to steal it from them. Ratchet was angry that he’d stolen from the other side, and they got into an argument about it, with Pharma telling Ratchet that he cared too much and was too weak to make the hard decisions. He regretted his words later.

The medics from both sides had a sort of “union.” Neither of the leaders knew about it, as Ratchet and Rossum tried to keep it as quiet as possible. They exchanged notes, war stories, etc., and just tried to keep their pre-War friendships alive. A lot of younger medics like First Aid and Knock Out got early advice because of this, and even formed cross-faction friendships. However, the union splintered after the Praxus incident, and eventually faded into nothing. Its fate was sealed when Prowl found out about it and confronted Ratchet, threatening to charge him and his medical staff with treason.

Up until the death of the union, Ratchet kept his Dead End clinic running, accepting Decepticons, Autobots, and NAILs alike.

Rossum’s apprentice was Ambulon. When Rossum defected, so did Ambulon. Red Alert’s apprentice was Velocity. Ratchet’s was First Aid. When he left Cybertron during the Exodus, he left First Aid in Pharma’s care. Pharma is overly-protective of First Aid.

Smokescreen was friends with First Aid on Cybertron and they got into a lot of trouble. Pharma doesn’t like Smokescreen much because of this.

Elita-1 remained behind on Cybertron with the Wreckers and Dynobots, and took Magnus’s place after he left Cybertron as leader of the remaining Wreckers. Impactor and Kup were dead by that point, and Springer was in a coma.

Ratchet will never tell Optimus that he was jealous of Megatronus.

Orion and Megatronus considered becoming amica endurae. Orion was also going to become amica endurae with Ratchet, but then he received the Matrix and he felt he couldn’t do it anymore. This pissed Ratchet off but he eventually accepted it.

There are Cybertronian atheists. Ratchet is one. He believes that Unicron and Primus exist (obviously), but he does not believe they are all-powerful gods. They are simply the Titans, perhaps the first Transformers ever built. The Thirteen were forged by Primus to help him fight Unicron. Eventually Primus was forced to retreat, leaving the Thirteen to face Unicron on their own. Cybertron was formed in a similar fashion to Earth and Junkion, with the titan in the middle as the core, but the metal parts came from space junk over an extremely long period of time.

Primes have longer lifespans than normal Transformers because they were built to be more like machines than actual people. This is why some Cybertronians believe that only forged (those built through “natural” means, by the Well), are true Cybertronians. There is controversy over this subject.

The Vehicons and Autotroopers are similar to the MTOs from IDW G1, but they don’t have identities like Knock Out and Bumblebee do.

Knock Out continued his training under Thundercracker after the war was over.

Remedy wasn’t actually dead. He was captured by the Council and they turned him into an empurata and shadowplay victim. He was then exiled to Slaughter City, where he lived as a beggar in the gutters, his mind too badly damaged to remember his life before empurata. Eventually he was discovered by the DJD, who took him in and began repairs. Megatron was informed of the situation, and he decided to keep the whole thing a secret from most of his officers. The only ones he told were Soundwave, Shockwave, and Rossum.

The DJD is a thing, but they have slightly different names, backstories, personalities, etc. I changed their names because they’re named after the first five cities to fall to the Decepticons. In the Prime continuity, Helex and Tesarus were not part of the five.

Tarn is still Tarn and still does the voice thing. x) Before the war he was an empurat named Glitch living in the Dead End. He was friends with Ratchet.

Helex is now Scyk. Before the war he was a miner named Crucible.

Kaon is still Kaon. Before the war he was a Senator named Amp who sympathized with the Decepticons.

Tesarus is now Polyhex. Before the war he was a mechanic named Scissorsaw. He was friends with Wheeljack.

Vos is still Vos. Before the war he was a seeker scientist who worked on Trypticon Station named Forestock. He was friends with Jetfire and Starscream, as they worked together. He is also a language purist, primarily speaking Primal Vernicular.

Nickel is the DJD’s medic, mechanic, etc. She’s in charge of looking after the team and keeping Remedy alive. She’s their version of Ratchet.