#can you tell it's Optimus-centric?

[theoldspark]

My IDW au in a nutshell

IDW au where Optimus ends up in the Lost Light and gets his own life changing adventure.

IDW au post-canon where Optimus learns to see himself as more than a sacrifice for the freedom and peace of others.

IDW au where Optimus and Rodimus actually get to become close friends and bond over their similarities.

IDW au where people appreciate Optimus and aren't afraid to show they care about him as their friend.

IDW au where Optimus gets to retire and gets his happy ending without needing to die.

Additional to previous point, IDW au where Optimus suicidal tendencies get properly addressed and he starts to heal and learns to prioritize his needs.

IDW au where Megop gets an eventual happy ending (after a tedious slow-burn because four million years of pinning wasn't enough for them).

IDW au where the LL still gets to have silly adventures and nobody dies (except for the people who are already dead).

IDW au where characters get to reflect, learn and grow together because Op is not the only one fucked up in the group.

IDW au where I push every character to have deep conversations despite their stubbornness to avoid too serious emotions.

In short:

Just an AU where Optimus gets to be genuinely happy for once because I really need it and I can't take the tragedy that is canon anymore.

[artsy-hobbitses]

Do you perhaps have any headcanons on the miscreant Starscream??

DO I EVER.

I'm gonna assume you're new here or at least have not seen all headcanons, so I'll collated into one document. RIP you're getting sandblasted with a horrible sky gremlin who has hidden heart of a hero (DON'T LET THEM HEAR YOU SAY THAT, HE HAS STREET CRED TO MAINTAIN).

Starscream/Stefan Scavarro got his codename from the shriek that his suit's engines made when he would divebomb opponents from the heavens. Combined with them seeing literal stars when he blindsided them and how much of a 'sky devil' he was with his red armor, a terrified senate guard described him as the rebellion's "(Azrael) Morningstar, screaming bloody vengeance as he swoops down from the heavens to hunt the wicked". Hence, 'Starscream' was born.

He wears his hair long to cover the Cold Construct barcode on the nape of his neck. Touch him there without his permission, and he will break your fingers.

He's the best cook on the team, and he'll say it's because he's rather eat barb wire (the taste of his blood would at least add some flavour) than be subjected to the military slop he lived with for twenty years. It's never too late to learn how to how to cook and eat well, though if you substitute fresh garlic for powdered garlic in something you're serving him, he's going to fight you across the dining room table after he's done eating it. Food should be respected, even if they were the product of a culinary crime.

He learned to tailor his own clothes during his college days, and has since become very proficient at it. He make most of his formal garments, and is considered the most fashion-centric member of the team.

He was very close to Senator Shockwave/Sharifuddin Waseem as a young politician, to the point of having an unrequited crush. Sharif accepted him as a part of the senate despite his status as a (freed) Cold Construct driving others away from him, and both spent most of their time together in the senate researching and drafting bills pushing for more rights and protections for the Manual Class and Cold Constructs

He has a personal dislike of Optimus Prime/Omar Parvez, and blames Omar for what happened to Sharif, as Sharif surrendered to Proteus on Omar's watch. He had earlier requested that Omar not leave Sharif's side before their mission began and he was assigned to another post, because he had a bad feeling about Proteus' plans for Sharif, and accused Omar of being too spineless to stop it. That Omar had to choose between saving Sharif or the men Sharif told him to keep safe was something he refused to consider. However, in time they do come to an understanding when he accepts that Omar was given a impossible choice and made the one that respected Sharif's last request and sacrifice.

While he can't bring himself to keep pets (he doesn't want to get attached amid a war), he does have a fondness for cats! He admires their beauty, grace, independence and low tolerance for bullshit. He eventually adopts an old and ornery female cat named Graymalkin post-war to keep him company while Windblade/Wariko Baisho is out at work

Stefan has a ridiculously high pain tolerance due to the abuse he was put through from childhood at the air base he grew up in. His eardrums have ruptured more times than he can recall from flight test chambers and high altitude barotrauma, and if he didn't stop crying, his handlers would give him something to really cry about before they dragged him off to the medics. He has an accelerated healing factor, they saw no issue with letting out their frustrations on him, as he was simply an asset in their eyes, even as a seven-year-old.

As such, he has very warped idea of what constitutes a 'major' injury on him---he can be running around cradling his disemboweled intestines in one arm without breaking a sweat. He offhandedly tells people that an injury doesn't register as 'major' to him unless it's a skull fracture where he can feel a section of his head caved in, or a direct shot to the heart.

Because of this, he also has a very skewed idea of what 'hurt' means to him personally and how he's meant to react to it. He's internalised his handlers' assertion that because he can heal, his pain does not matter. So what if people hurt him? It's what he was built to withstand. There is a weird sense of pride he has about this, he sees it as a mark of strength, and it's partly why he's as defiantly blasé as he is about Megatron's abuse when they get in each other's faces. At the same time, it's also deeply lonely for him and he oscillates wildly between shying away from physical contact and being starved for 'good' touch at the same time.

To add to this, while he grows to harbour unspoken attraction towards Wariko which he attempted to throttle multiple times in their early says interacting with each other, he stops icing her out when she becomes the first person to acknowledge his pain, and that him being able to heal and bearing no scars from his abuse doesn't make that pain any less real. She's also his first experience with 'good' touch, which he quickly finds he cannot get enough of.

He adores musicals. In particular are The Greatest Showman, Moulin Rouge and The Rocky Horror Picture Show.

When he and Morgan are in one of their more civil moods, they play chess together in a weirdly companionable silence, as despite their mutual disdain, they understand each other the most. They're equally matched, and it's the only time where Morgan will sincerely compliment him about something, and he'd accept it without sneering or boasting. (He used to play with Sharif, who doesn't do so now as Shockwave, while Morgan used to play with Omar, so it also feels like a moment of bonding over shared loss)

He's an excellent dancer! Mostly ballroom-based which he picked up during his days as a young politician for big senate events, but he enjoys mixing things up a bit with tango or freestyle.

Has mastered walking in high heels.

He alternates between having a soft spot for Thundercracker/Teo Cortez, who he sometimes sees as a younger brother, and calling Teo out as being the 'weak link' of the Trine. He can one day be planning a heartfelt birthday party and baking a cake for Teo since Teo can no longer celebrate it with family, and the next day be screaming at Teo for messing up at target practice. He justifies this hot and cold by saying that someone like Teo isn't made for war, but since Teo insists on being here, he would rather have Teo sad or angry at him for being harsh over the work they have to do, than to have Teo dead from softness and carelessness. He was genuinely relieved when Teo finally left the Decepticons, and they do reconcile post-war.

Openly calls Tarn out for being a fanboy simp in bad Decepticon cosplay.

He never really takes Bumblebee/Benjamin Bane seriously as a fellow combatant and is constantly breaking into Omar's comm signal on the field to yell at Omar to send "your son" back home, this is NO PLACE for a child playing DRESS-UP. (Ben's "I'M 18 YOU POMPOUS PRAT" is immediately met with Stefan's "DON'T YOU TALK TO ME LIKE THAT, STOP KICKING ME IS PRIME RAISING YOU IN A BARN")

That said, despite being on opposite sides of the fence, when Ben becomes a discorporated soul, he is drawn to Stefan, who can hear him because it is Stefan, rather than Omar or even Memo and Charlie, who unknowingly first truly heard him. This goes back to when Ben was nine, and had a chance to visit the Quintesson War Museum on his birthday; his father and mother however, had no interest in exploring the exhibits with him and left him to do so on alone. On a whim, he asked a passing man, a young politician Stefan who was visiting before a conference, to help him take a picture. Stefan wanted this to be a one and done, but after asking Ben about his parents and finding out they left him to celebrate his birthday alone, he decided to chaperone Ben through the entire time that Ben was there and listened to this boy talk about everything under the sun. He didn't put much thought into this after he left, it was just a few hours of making a child happy/feel less lonely on on their birthday (he's never celebrated one! what a novelty that is), he didn't even have the presence of mind to ask for the boy's name since he himself was not given one until he was 18, but Ben never forgot.

As vain as he is, Stefan hates seeing old pictures of himself, especially those taken of him during his old senate days. He hates the boyish way he used to smile, he hates the hopeful light in his eyes, he hates coming to terms with the part of himself he felt he had sacrificed to hate over humanity on the day they razed the Senate… and how he barely recognizes the man he used to be. Wariko eventually makes him see the truth; that the man he was is the man he still is deep down.

He loves collecting plane models. He does not love putting them together, however, and it's a task he often bribes Skywarp into with offerings of muttabaq fresh off the gridle.

Sharif's old nickname for him is "Pretty Bird", Wariko calls him "Uguisu" (Japanese Bush Warbler).

Extremely protective of his armored flight suit. It was a prototype made by Sharif years ago for him--it was his first taste of flying without a helmet or within a cockpit, and he's never been able to forget that feeling. He also sees it as the last gift Sharif ever gave him before becoming 'Shockwave'. He refuses to let Morgan touch it, and the one time he did approach Shockwave to make some amendments, Shockwave told him to rubbish it for a better upgrade. He declined, and has since learned how to fix and programme the suit on his own. He won't admit it, but it feels like keeping the last physical bit of Sharif's memory alive.

Deeply in love with sky and flying in general; he embraces it as the most free he ever feels. He's up early for morning flights to catch the sunrise, and when he feels like he needs to get away from it all, he flies up high enough that ice gnaws at his face and he can't breath before freefalling through the clouds. It helps him gain a sense of perspective.

Stefan and Wariko do eventually get married, and he settles into a Way Of The Househusband role to her Lady First Delegate. They end up adopting two Cold Construct kids, Suzume and Gabriele.

If you'd like more Winblade/Starscream headcanons (because they are my power couple!), you can find them here and here!

[stellarcuriosity]

(( I am going to answer the asks but. something funny happened in which involved 3 optimuses AT THE SAME TIME ending up in my inbox!!! @oneshallstand, @atlas-ordained, and @virtute-praeditum !!! so while yes i am going to give each one their own individual ask answers i just HAD to draw something for the occasion!!! also this is a great time to mention that starburst is very SMELL centric. each optimus smells different that's how she can tell the difference. also drawing tfp optimus sucks ASS. thank you boximus for being ez to draw ))

[blueikeproductions]

More CyberWorld/EarthSpark stuff that stuck out to me.

Another page in the planning document cropped up, & it gives a general overview of what Hasbro had in mind at the time.

Two new shows are planned to come out, but this page confusingly doesn’t mention CyberWorld, just an “animated kids series” & an “animated pre-K series”.

The other pages still reference CyberWorld, so mostly going by what we’ve seen, CyberWorld is meant to be the kids series, but it’s a big question mark on the pre-k show. Rescue Bots ran its course, I got the feeling lil’ kids weren’t interested in RBA since it didn’t last as long, stories were both too preschool but also trying to tack on IDW centric ideas by forcing Laserbeak to be forgiven and becoming an Autobot, for reasons. Stuff that’s not interesting to lil’ kids or their parents.

When RBA ended, a new toyline took over but I don’t think it sold super well, nor did it have any fiction.

As well as only including Optimus Primal & BW Megatron Gator…? It was a random line, and clearly just filler to eke out RB style toys longer. I don’t see the new Pre-K show being this, but CHT did sell Decepticons as enemy characters unlike RB/A, so the Pre-K show might be based on the Great War this time? Or at the very least, stuff like the Decepticons robbing banks and power plants, lol. Or some gag about Soundwave illegally downloading music, only to be put in his place, but with a contradictory gag about the human kids and Bumblebee doing the same from time to time.

It’s pry too late to ape it now, but a modern pre-K show I could see being Spidey & His Amazing Friends tonally with toys similar to Paw Patrol’s. Like say you have the standard Optimus toy partnered with Spike (Skybound or G1 doesn’t matter), and the trailer transforms into a big jet for Optimus and Spike to ride in. Something like that.

As for CyberWorld.

The current assumption based on the toys, is it might be a return to vehicles vs animals that both RiDs, Beast Machines, Beast Wars II and ROTB (kinda) did.

The Decepticons seemingly being animal themed supports this (plus if Meg Bull IS Megatron, Megs trying to push off road Optimus off a cliff in bull mode is hilarious), though Galvatron is the odd one. The only one with a beast form is the BWII version…

Hasbro might be more open to Beast Wars again but they’re still a bit dodgy about the Japanese cast despite Lio Convoy and Magmatron. I could sooner see a G1 Galvatron than BWII Galvatron, but the fun approach would be an Armada Galvatron inspired design that borrows from G1, Energon & BWII.

Toy speculation suggests the line might be a repaint line like the old TF Universe series made up of Cyberverse, RiD15 and EarthSpark molds.

A possibility. Cited speculative examples of Sky-Byte being his Cyberverse toy, Chomp & Stomp Grimlock being another go at the AoE toy of the same name, & Mirage being RiD15 Blurr make sense, but I dunno. Scorponok and Galvatron stick out, as I would think they’d have to be new molds, though an argument can be made for a G1 colored version of RiD15 Scorponok… Similarly, they might repaint TFP Predaking into Galvatron if he’s a repaint and they wanted to homage BWII, but I’m leaning towards new molds for now.

CyberWorld ISN’T a cartoon, but a toy only subline or size class meant to replace the abandoned Core/Legion class.

Inconclusive. The tiny toys don’t seem to sell well as it is, Legacy just stopped being restocked my way so no BM Cheetor or Energon Megatron for me. Also guys like Iguanus shelfwarmed HARD. Rungs were still clogging Ollies until recently. CyberWorld is also shown to be the successor to ES in most of the documents that we can tell.

The CyberWorld cartoon will have a half of a half shoe string budget like Cyberverse and possibly be similar to it.

Inconclusive but not out of the realm of possibility either. Hasbro has been having its own problems lately, while Paramount is practically on fire right now. A lot of people mostly just seem to be clinging to how similar World & Verse sound, with the logo also looking slightly similar but still different enough. A lot more people also seem resistant to the idea of more Cyberverse either way. CV didn’t perform well either, the toys clogged store shelves from start to finish, heck the first wave went on clearance immediately after Christmas, and the series JUST came out, the messy, lackadaisical approach to the show’s (lack of) story, the bad voice acting, etc. It’s not a fondly remembered show as much as some make it out to be. And even then, you’d sort of expect, if it was directly related, Hasbro would shove Bumblebee front & center, despite the CV cartoon wanting little to do with Bee as it went on. Like let’s be real, if it was a CV sequel, Bee, Windy & Shadow should be here right out the gate. They’re not. At all. Windy is practically benched in favor of Elita now.

Mirage is the focus (seemingly) instead, presumably due to the ROTB version’s popularity. He’s certainly more fun than the rich snob that may or may not be a traitor the G1 version tends to be. Not that you can’t make the G1 version interesting but boy has Hasbro not really had any interest in doing so beyond his invisibility gimmick.

So really until told otherwise we know very little. All we know for sure is EarthSpark is being slowly phased out in favor of CyberWorld & a potential Pre-K show. The Slag Podcast host has given a knowing wink, and has a show planned that will presumably lay these Snaketicons out straight, as people have been calling him a lying liar again for sticking to what he knows. Similarly some have pointed out Nick Roche may have also been lying, giving false hope EarthSpark is continuing on when it’s pretty clear it isn’t. S2 is it people, one way or the other, and the new CyberWorld order is coming whatever it ends up being.

[ikkosu]

Hellooo Ikko, how are you ? I've been trying to come up with appropriate questions to get to know your robot husbands for a while now but I feel like an idiot every time I write one down because I can't tell if it's elementary knowledge or not sooo can you give me a very basic primer on how things work around here ? For reference, I don't even know what a valveplug is, have no clue about conjux endurae and I only know Pharma and Prowl (your husband) so I think we have a lot to cover here. Love your new pfp btw!

Glad you love it!! It took me a while to muster up the courage to swap. I still miss the old one though.

Also it's okay if it's complicated at first 😭 trust me, getting into his fandom requires knowledge of the canon and the fanon too lmaoo. And the fanon isn't so little either 😭, it's as complicated as the cabon with the terminologies which is why I always adore reading original fanon works. It's almost always better than the original ones.

and a writer of the mtme comics (an idw tf comics series) used to write transformers fanfiction, can you believe that? If you're curious, it's called Eugenesis and I don't know what to say about it yet since Im only on the first chapter 💀 and it's certainly interesting...

Anyways, things get complicated so I'll only explain some surface level stuff. Me just jotting down stuff from the top of my head dhjsiwks.

So, basically in fanon stuff because in canon there's no way hasbro is giving them actual dicks, cybertronians have an interface panel. their version of a built in panty that just slides open and close for use. It's located around the crotch, the rectangular shaped thing and when it opens it reveals two interface array/ port (genitals) : a valve (vagina) and a spike (dick).

Though, gender isn't really much a thing in their society, female Cybertronians also have a spike and a valve (in fanon, of course). And there's also other ways writers make the bots fuck. Some writers prefer ports over spike/valve, a different method of fucking that involved plugging and wireplay? I guess, I am not that knowledgeable enough to explain ( I will read more I swear)

So if you write anything explicit, nsfw in the fandoms tf writers will use the tag #valveplug to indicate it's nsfw. And maccadam (lorewise, it's an oil house, basically like a bar where Cybertronians go to drink energon and chat etc. I heard it's used because everytime tf pops up it's just Megan fox because of the movie 😭 and people wanted fandom centric things and not that)

Going into Cybertronian culture is not my forte, but I do know a little. it's a given they interact differently when it's comes to love and relationships. They take these things seriously. Amica endurae : best friend, and Conjux is basically your wife/husband and they'll have to undergo a ritual. And it's canon! :D examples of relationships are Chromedome/Rewind, Ratchet/Drift are just a few . There's many more but I forgor

Cybertronians express emotions through emp field since they don't have a heart but a spark. A spark is kind like a soul? So it's like a magnetic field. when they 'feel' things, other mechs can also feel it as well. they can pull it close to them when they're uncomfortable or expand it to assert domination — just some of the things they do.

Relationships in Transformers gets complicated when there's Sparkbonding involved. I do not know much about that djidskfhkwn so dshsjsja

Some terms, Servo : hand, helm : head, pedes : feet, breem : hour, joor : months, klik : seconds.

There's also many robot husbands!!! Optimus, (iconic dad) Soundwave, Megatron, Ultra Magnus and more :DD

Also, you've just given me the signal I need to learn more about Cybertronian culture LMAOAOA

[robobrainrot]

The Knack

Chapter 4: Rory Magellan

Notes: its a Knockout-Centric Fic with a human OC. Breakdown is alive and well. Optimus is alive and well. Set in the Prime Universe: Post Predacons Rising, Pre-RID15

Updates Weekly/Wednesdays

[Prev chapter] [Jump to chapter 1]

Once they were out of the densely populated area, Knockout wasted no time burning rubber. He needed to put some real distance between them and the scene. He could call Ratchet for a groundbridge out, but that would be admitting that he completely failed the “in disguise” part of Optimus’s golden rule.

His human passenger was not thrilled about his driving style. They had their feet up on the seat with their arms wrapped tightly around their knees. On a couple particularly tight turns, Knockout felt their shoulder hit his side door. Hard. They might have started crying at some point but it was hard for him to tell.

Humans were so weird.

Finally, Knockout slowed down outside an abandoned storage facility outside of the city. Fowler had given the group a map of various government facilities that were no longer in use in case they ever needed to hide. He assured them that they wouldn’t be bothered there, and the areas were kept free of outsiders.

He pinged the door with his code, and sure enough, the bay doors opened for him. The Aston Martin pulled into the facility and opened his passenger door as soon as the doors were closed.

Kylan stayed sitting.

“I cannot transform if you are in here.” Knockout commented after a solid minute of silence. That was a lie but he didn’t feel like throwing the human onto the ground. They’d had enough of that for today.

They gripped onto the seat belt against their chest. “That’s okay… I- uh- you’re… what are you?”

He sighed, blowing air at them through the vents. If he was being honest, it was a relief to know they didn’t actually understand what he was. They were some weirdo that talked to cars.

“I am a Cybertronian. Racer-Medic-Model and so much more.”

“Who made you?”

“Ha!” He laughed, “You think humans could make anything like me?” then he remembered that M.E.C.H. did in fact make a copy of Optimus Prime. He reset his vocalizer. “No one. I’m not from this dirtball of a planet.”

“Oh,” they replied, as if that cleared up anything. “So… you’re an alien then?”

“That’s right, Sherlock.” He drove in a slow circle with the passenger door still open. With the exception of drive-in theaters, he never liked staying in one place for long in vehicle mode. “If it makes it easier for your tiny squishy brain, you can think of me as a robot.”

They thought about that for a minute. “Can I think of you as a person?”

Knockout wiggled his wheels as a nod, then realized he just jostled his passenger. “Yes. You can. Can I think of you as a person?”

The artist snorted. “Yea… Yea, you can.”

After a few more lazy circles, they finally released their death grip on his seatbelt. Kylan’s breathing slowed as they relaxed. Knockout released the buckle for them. The Cybertronian rolled to a gentle stop as the human moved to be properly sitting in the seat.

“Do you have a name?”

“Knockout.” He replied.

“‘Knockout?’” They laughed back incredulously. “Really? Like boxing?”

“Yes. Knockout. Like an attractive bot. I didn’t make fun of your name.” He rolled his optics internally. “‘Kylan’ doesn’t mean anything. It’s not even a word in your own language.”

“My name isn’t…” They bolted upright in their seat. “WAIT- YOU’RE MARTIN?! Ah-uh- @AstonMartin892? I knew your car- or- you looked familiar.”

“Pump the breaks and back up, human.” Knockout changed the UI on his dashboard display to show their social media page. “Your name? It says Ky Limited… it says ‘Kylan.’”

They poked the display. “That’s my screenname. I use it as an alias online. My real name is Rory. Rory Magellan.” The artist leaned back against the headrest. “So, if you need something to write on my tombstone, I’m Rory Magellan.”

He sighed, blowing air at them again. “I’m not going to kill you, ‘Roar-EE.’ I couldn’t just leave you there after… that. I will take you home– safely– after we talk.” He jiggled his side door. “Face to face, preferably.”

Rory intentionally ignored his gesture. “Can I ask why you’re here on Earth? Are there other aliens here too?”

“It’s a long story, kid.” He shifted into park. “Big war, Big mistakes. It’s… over now. We won, but we lost a lot. There’s a handful of us taking solace on Earth while our planet is being rebuilt.”

Rory rubbed their hand on the dashboard in a placating motion.

“Don’t do that. You’re getting human oils on me.” He groaned.

They snapped their hands away. Awkwardly, Rory folded their hands in their lap. After a moment of silence, they sheepishly said, “I’m surprised you can feel that.”

“You are perspiring and sticky.” He replied indignantly. “Now that you’ve got your wits about you again,” Knockout jerked the seat back as far as it would go while being upright. “Remove yourself from my cabin.”

With that, Rory finally got out of the car. They took a few steps back to watch as he converted. Car parts unfurled and shifted into a humanoid form. It was like watching the world’s most complicated Rubix cube. With a flourish, the alien finished his transformation into his giant robot form.

All and all, Rory stood at Knockout’s knee height. The lighting in the facility was dim at best, so his glowing red eye lights were extra pronounced. They took a few more steps back so they wouldn’t hurt their neck looking straight up at him.

They had to admit, he did live up to his name. He was beautiful, in an alien sort of way.

The Cybertronian knelt down on one knee like he had watched the Autobots do when talking to their human companions. It was supposed to make him less threatening, or something. He was still above their eye level, but it was less drastic now.

“Woah…” They breathed as they looked over him.

“Yeah. I know.” Knockout preened, wiggling his shoulder pauldrons.

Rory gestures vaguely to him. “I meant to ask: What pronouns do you use? Do alien-robots have genders or is it just kind of… whatever?”

“‘He-Him-His’ is fine. Cybertronians,” he stressed his correction, “typically default to masculine terms but not always. We had different words for it back home… but in English, ‘he’ is most accurate.”

“Ah.” They nodded. “I’m fine with any pronouns but usually they/them.” Rory curtsied overdramatically. “It’s nice to meet the real you, Mr. Knockout.”

He smiled. Even though he could still see color through the ambient glow of his eyes, he thought they looked silly illuminated by red. Knockout nodded his head as a bow, so he wouldn’t bump into them. “I will admit, I have been looking forward to meeting ‘the artist’ as well.”

Rory fiddled with their beaded necklace between their fingers. “Do… you want another sketch? Or I could do something more refined, if you want. You probably saved my life today so… I owe you.”

Knockout raised an eyebrow. “I didn’t know humans dealt in favors… Hm…” He leaned his face down to be much closer to theirs. Their eyes widened. He smirked deviously, just to mess with them. Once a Decepticon, always a Decepticon. “I’m sure we could work something out.”

Rory quickly took several steps backwards. “Oh man. You’re…” they were going to say unsettling but caught themself. At certain angles, he really was alien. It fell into the uncanny valley zone for them. His proportions were just slightly off. They finished their thought; “huge.”

“Does that scare you, human?”

“It’ll take some getting used to.” They replied. They reached up to touch his helm, but Knockout pulled his face out of reach. Apparently, this was a look-but-don’t-touch experience. Rory put their hands on their backpack straps to signal they wouldn’t try again. “Assuming I can see you again? Y’know, after this.”

“Well, if you’re going to be my personal artist, I hope so.” He folded his servos under his chin and batted his optics at them. “In exchange for ‘saving your life,’ as you put it.”

Rory blinked up at him. “Do you want me to do your car form or, uhm, this?”

“Would you consider both?” He cooed.

“Are you kidding? I’d more than consider it… but when you say ‘personal artist,’ do you mean commission or are you going to kidnap me?”

He shrugged. “Neither. I’m not paying you if you’ve already offered them as a gift. Admitively, I don’t know much about human media, or how you create what you do. I don’t know how long this arrangement will last... I’ve seen pictures and movies.”

“Oh.” They nodded. “That’s fair. I assumed you didn’t have money.” Rory slipped off their backpack and started digging through it. They laid a few things out on the ground before turning back to look up at him. “Well, I guess now’s as good-a-time as ever for an alien art lesson. I’ll show you some work samples, then you can choose the style you want… and we’ll go from there. Deal?”

The Cybertronian wasn’t about to tell them that he did, infact, have money. And a lot of it. His racing escapades were quite lucrative. The only expense he had that the human government didn’t cover was his extensive collection of car detailing supplies.

Knockout smiled, then took their tiny hand between two digits. He shook it as gently as he could, but it still seemed to rattle the little human. “You have yourself a deal, Rory Magellan.”

[darkstarofchaos]

It took me literal years to figure out the appeal of Jazz/Prowl, and after reading this, I strongly suspect that the fandom approach to Jazz was part of the problem. Prowl was the one I got attached to, and I write him as autistic and prone to crashes when faced with the unexpected (in no small part because I got tired of people using him passing out as a comedy beat, but also because hey! Quasi-canon disability!), so I approached the pairing from that perspective. And Jazz just struck me as too unpredictable to be a good partner for him (also, I'm not a fan of extroverted characters "fixing" introverted characters by making them get out more, which is a fairly common trope with extrovert/introvert pairings in general).

Of course, I'm a canon-centric writer, so the first time I sit down to write something from Jazz's perspective, I'm left realizing that he's... Not that? Yeah, he's more spontaneous and extroverted than Prowl, but he's also capable of accommodating for a partner? Like... He's chill. He can be comfortable at a party or spending a quiet evening at home. And he's also a freaking adult, he can have conversations about boundaries and negotiate compromises and stuff.

I also tend to mostly reference from the pilot when I write G1 Jazz (y'know, because the rest of the series kind of dropped him actually acting as an officer), so it frustrates me when he's written as hating or avoiding paperwork in favor of having fun. All of the G1 Autobots are more laid-back and immature than is realistic for their circumstances (it's a side effect of being heroes in an 80s children's cartoon), and Jazz is near the top of the Autobot food chain. You can't tell me he's incapable of being serious and doing the boring parts of leadership.

That being said, I have written Jazz as an antagonist before (he's not special in that regard. Other villains in my roster of unposted WIPs include G1 Optimus and Soundwave, neither of whom are normally written as villains). But like... I don't like Sadistic Assassin!Jazz. I write him the same way as an antagonist as I do when he's a protagonist, he's just less friendly if you're a Decepticon. A lot less friendly.

(Also, since the original ask mentions him being written as a nymphomaniac, I feel like it bears mentioning that my Jazz is on the ace spectrum. Likes to watch and to take care of a partner, but not always interested in participating beyond that. This was not an intentional match for Prowl, whom I also write as ace, but it does simplify their sex life. Which does exist, they still have attraction and libido between them. Just not both in the same bot. Because I like writing about different kinds of asexual experiences).

Anyway.

TL;DR: I like my Jazz better than fanon Jazz.

i like the ship, but jzzprwl really invented this version of ''jazz'' that is like a weird fusion of blaster and vortex ''hehe extremely extroverted chaotic lazy gremlin nymphomaniac who is secretly edgy and hyperviolent assassin manipulator'' like who the fuck is that guy??! and it baffles me bcs if it was one or two ppl doing it i wouldn't care much, but 90% of things involving him is this fanon version who is whole other guy, and i just see jazz being the only who suffers this extreme mischaracterization en masse, i swear i dont see other other tf character who ppl mischaracterize on the same lvl as him... and all done by jazz ''fans'' then i wish he was more unpopular and hated then 💀if all things involving him will be this ''jazz'' who is a whole diff guy, who not satisfied to put borderline racist tropes on a obviously black coded char, they write his dialogue like a racist guy exaggerating aave to make it more thug, then its better to not use him at all 😭sorry for the rant

My reaction when I'm seeing more people expressing the same sentiments I have before:

The last time I talked about this in-depth, JazzProwl was still the most popular ship in the fandom and it's not anymore, now it's MegOp. So a ship that people make a lot of weird OOC racist and bio-essentialist stuff with has been dethroned by another ship that people also do that with... but at least Jazz isn't part of it...? Sadly, the fandom in general on here and AO3 can be scarily racist, I know I've seen some truly horrid Jazz/Soundwave fic for example, like ones where Jazz becomes happy to become Soundwave's slave, or ones (that are supposedly G1-based, not Shattered Glass) where Jazz is portrayed as a scary torturer/assassin and Soundwave as a naïve Woobie who just wants to protect his children (the cassettes).

I agree with everything you said, I think it's really concerning that like, I had somebody tell me they realized the kind of character they wanted was Vortex and not Jazz?! Something is very wrong with the fandom if it's misleading people into thinking that Jazz is like that. I've mentioned before that I really wouldn't know what the most effective ways to try and improve things would be in this situation, but I do have some ideas that could help. There's been an influx of new people to this side of the TF fandom recently, and that gives everybody an opportunity to try and make sure they don't get misled.

Let's help new fans who want to know more about this popular transformer, Jazz, find good canon media that focuses on him

Posting things like GIFs, screenshots, or fanart of Jazz moments from canon sources will also help show people what he's like and get them interested in the real character (or realize they're not actually interested in the character which is also okay)

Similarly, we can show people who might've become interested in JazzProwl what the actual dynamic between those characters used to be like which will help them know what is and isn't fanon

Naming the issues that have been present in fanwork will also help people become alerted to the fact that the racist fanon isn't related to anything canon and will help them identify problematic themes

[mk-wizard]

Top 10 Good Reasons TF Needs to Change its Status Quo

When I say status quo, I mean Transformers needs to stop making shows/comics/movies that are about Autobots vs Decepticons, Autobots are always good and Decepticons are always bad, Optimus can do no wrong and is Primus’ gift to the world, Megatron can do no right and is doomed to fail at everything, nobody can be a better Prime than Optimus and no one can be a worse evil than Megatron, etc. I think you get the picture. Here are 10 EXCELLENT reasons as to why Transformers needs to change its status quo so that the rare diamond that is Rescue Bots is not a blue moon case.

1- Fans WANT to know more about Transformers culture. - Instead of keeping us guessing how things work and what the lore us, just come out and tell us. It would be a compelling story. Plus, the world building would be impressive. Star Wars did it and it was better for it.

2- After seeing Netflix She-Ra and Steven Universe, the new generation will not be satisfied with the bad-guy-bad and good-guy-good formula. - Kids have higher standards after being exposed to better storytelling. If Transformers wants to stay in the game, it has to reach this high standard not go below it anymore.

3- Fans are tired of being told the same story. - Don’t get me wrong. The classic story is a great one hence why we keep watching it again, but that’s just the thing. If we want the same story, we’ll just watch the same story again. Don’t give us a constant reboot that’s slightly tweaked, but ultimately is the same story.

4- Storytelling needs to parallel real life to an extent. - Yes, I know that cartoons and Transformers especially are for escaping reality, but the status quo that a character is good by way of their faction, which is not a far cry from nationality or religion, seems feudal and gives some bad implications. If you’re going to expose kids to a story which they are going to take something from, give them the right lesson. Show them the difference between a nation (an entire faction) and terrorists (a specific group that just happens to be of a said faction).

5- It is high time we gave other characters in the lore time in the spotlight. - Transformers has gotten better at this in the recent years as we are starting to see Bumblebee come out more as an individual and even a leader. We have seen that Optimus doesn’t need to be the main for the story to be interesting, so let’s do that more with others.

6- It is ok for good guys to be bad sometimes. - One of the reasons I fell in love with Transformers Rescue Bots is because Heatwave was very compelling. He is an Autobot and heroic, but he is not above doing “bad boy” things like being a showoff, teasing his friends, holding a grudge or openly showing reluctance to be the nice guy. It’s ok to show that not all good guys are saints. It makes them relatable and interesting.

7- Fans are sick of turning to fanfiction for variety. - Not that there’s anything wrong with fanfiction. It’s all good clean fun, but it’s a bit embarrassing when the only variety there is in a media is when it isn’t even official. Like... shouldn’t professionals who are PAID to write have broader imaginations? Plus, fanfiction (even very well written) just doesn’t compare to an official polished piece.

8- Rodimus deserves another chance. - My brother made an incredibly good point about Rodimus Prime that I didn’t see as a kid, but I see now. He wasn’t badly written or a bad Prime who whined all of the time. His story was too advanced at the time for the times. He was a young leader who had an enormous pair of shoes to fill, but when he would do his work, he did it well. He deserves another chance to have his story told and properly by an audience who is more open minded.

9- It is ok to have settings that aren’t war related. - As Rescue Bots showed, you can have a compelling Transformers based story that doesn’t involve war or some great evil. You can show them having more down to Earth struggles and having less violent jobs. Yes, I admit rescue work involves a lot of action, but the series is more educational and humorous than it is some action show. Heck, there aren’t laser guns and the show is still great.

10- We want to see female and feminine positive Transformers. - So many girls watch and play with Transformers so why not create a Transformers series made for girls or that explores feminine plot lines like family or romance? Or have a female-centric narrative? Being a girl and a feminine one isn’t weak, stupid or yucky. And it doesn’t mean it can’t be funny, interesting, badass or enlightening. Or even appealing to boys. Think of all the boys out there who watch Sailor Moon because they really like the plot and characters for the right reasons. Speaking of which, if you watch Sailor Moon, you’ll get the gold standard example of female appeal, female-centric and female narrative in a series. Having a Transformers series that celebrates females and feminity would be the ultimate Valentine to female fans. I say this as a female fan myself.

PS: I made a list giving 10 more reasons Transformers needs to change its status quo if you want to see it.

[an-innocent-child]

10 Popular Transformers Fanfiction Tropes/Ships That I Don’t Like (And Here’s Why)

Disclaimer: If you enjoy these? Fine. If you don’t like these? Also fine. You’re entitled to your opinion, and I’m entitled to mine.

1) Human x Cybertronain parings. 

Now, I wanna say that it’s not the pairing in itself, there can be relationships without physical intimacy, and that’s fine. If they’re presented as only having content with each other, and not needing physical intimacy, I’d readily accept that. However, a lot of times, I’ll see stories where a human and a Cybertronain manage to conceive a child, and it annoys me because (not only is there a huge size difference) it also shouldn’t be biologically possible, and yet, it always happens, and there isn’t ever a really GOOD explanation, if there’s one at all.

2) Major OC inserts.

This is gonna get me some hate, but I’ve never been a fan of OCs in general, especially in a franchise that has as many characters as Transformers does. A lot of times, the OCs are completely overpowered, and they HAVE to be the child of someone important, whom everyone is after, or they’re a secret Prime, or a great warrior, or, they’re a plain human (but really techno-organic) who suddenly finds out of their Cybertronian heritage. I come to fanfiction to read about the characters I know, and I find it hard to really care about any OCs because I don’t know them before hand, and why should I take the time to learn? This isn’t an attack on ALL OCs, but I think they’re best in small doses on the sidelines, while the main fic primarily focuses on someone else.

3) x reader stories.

Now, there are a lot of these (especially on wattpad) and I dislike them for a lot of the same reasons I dislike the previous 2, I just, don’t care. It doesn’t feel real to me, and you get stories titled “Transformers One-Shots” and I think it’s gonna be a good story, but I go to the chapter index and all I see is “Optimus x Yandere!reader” “Megatron x Mute!reader” “Soundwave x Demon!reader” and it annoys me, because I came looking for Transformers one-shots, and I got this...

4) Human centric stories.

I am but a simple fan. I’m here to read about the giant metal robots. I would like to read about the giant metal robots. Sam Witwicky is one of the most common characters to be a main human protagonist (Usually with powers granted to him by the AllSpark) and I just don’t like him. It bugs me, and I get they’re trying to give more love to the human characters, but the humans only ever truly work as a supporting cast in Transformers, and putting them in the spotlight kinda annoys me.

5) Unnecessary gender swaps

This one has always bugged me because you’ll get great summaries like “With the Autobots running low on moral and supplies, tension is high. Megatron has been missing for months, and the Decepticons have gone silent. When the  battered and injured Warlord of the Decepticons stumbles to the Ark with no memories, a sinister plot is uncovered” and then it’s like “oh, btw, fem!Megatron” and it seems SO unnecessary, and I have to ask what the point of the sex change is. And usually, ANY sex change is accompanied by a pairing with someone formally of the same gender, like “Fem!Megatron x Optimus” or vice versa, and it kinda ticks me off.

6) Unnecessary new sibling/twin character

This kinda falls in line with OCs, but it’s a category of it’s own. Authors introduce new sibling characters (usually with VERY similar names) and then the story focuses on them, like “Samantha Witwicky, twin sister of Sam Witwicky”. Most people seem to paint it as a “what if (insert character had a sibling) but the sibling is so prominent in the story, it’s kinda clear it’s just another OC in a shiny new paint job. Typically, these characters are also very Mary Sue-like.

7) Megatron x Starscream

This may be because I’m a big MegOP fan (Even though I can actually picture Optimus with more characters than Megatron) but I’ve never been a huge fan of this pairing, at least, in any way other than a VERY casual fling. I can’t see Megatron tolerating Starscream enough to actually frag him.

8) Shockwave x anyone (post-shadowplay)

His whole shtick is that he’s logical, cold and emotionless. He would never care for anyone, regardless of circumstance even in the continuities where Shadowplay wasn’t a thing yet. I find it so aggravating when I see “Shockwave grows to care for this new recruit” or something along those lines, because he doesn’t care about love or romance. Dare I say it, but it’s illogical to pair him with anyone.

9) Optimus Prime x Bumblebee

I shouldn’t have to say much, but I feel like they work more with a family dynamic than with any sort of romance dynamic.

10) Megatron or Optimus (or any other popular character) x characters they have no history/chemistry with and only spoke to like once

So, this happens a lot, and it’s always just, lackluster, because in the shows, usually, the characters have never never even spoken to each other alone, and at best have spoken on the other’s presence. Like, I’ve seen quite a bit of TFP Megatron x Arcee, but they’ve never really interacted in the show much at all. I don’t even think Megatron has ever spoken Arcee’s name. Another ship I’ve seen that does this is Optimus x Grimlock (which I put in the same category as Megatron x Starscream). It’s just unbelievable these two would ever actually frag, and it pulls me out when it tries to be serious.

No, crack ships and stories do not count, those are actually fun, as they don’t take themselves too seriously, and, generally speaking, do tell a nice and entertaining story.

Welp, this was it. I’m ready for the comments now.

[thanksjro]

Eugenesis, Part Five Scene Three: Kup Atones For His Crimes I GUESS

I don’t know that I’ve quite recovered from the last post, but the show must go on, as they say.

We’re back at Delphi, and it looks like Swerve and Pincher are hard at work trying to figure out how to deal with this aqua fortis stuff. Neither of them seem to be able to figure out what it is exactly.

Both of these guys have been to Earth, so its honestly a little surprising that they don’t know what nitric acid is, or at least have access to a database where it would be listed. Then again, these two have already more or less proven that they have no business being in a lab, so maybe it isn’t very surprising at all, actually.

Pincher’s spent the last little while trying to find equipment that won’t just straight-up melt on contact with this stuff, and is currently being super-duper careful with a pipette when Galvatron crashes in through the door and startles him into pouring the stuff all over himself. Of course, after seeing what happened to Swerve’s hand, everyone starts breaking out the first aid kits and screaming, only to find Pincher completely unharmed by the event.

You see, Pincher is a Pretender, and his shell seems to be completely unaffected by the acidic qualities of aqua fortis.

Getting back to the raging dumpster fire we’d left at the end of the last post, the Quintessons have decided that the best way to get at the Transformers inside the Institute is to pick up the entire building and shake them out like the last few errant crumbs in a bag of chips.

Learned that move from Wheeljack, he did.

Delphi is ready to receive the robots at the Institute through the teleport. Red Alert and Soundwave run through the halls grabbing folks and telling them to get their asses in gear while Chromedome goes to help Perceptor man the teleport. At this point, all faction-based prejudices and other such nonsense have flown off with the wind. It’s all about survival now.  

Or, uh, it will be about survival, once the damn teleport gets up and running.

Kup put Hot Rod in there, didn’t he? Like week-old leftovers in a Tupperware container. Just can’t let the poor guy go.

The teleport roars to life, much to everyone’s relief, including my own, and then everything gets deathly quiet. Ground troops are moving in from the outside. Good thing the boys are ready to go now.  

Razorclaw is an idiot, and Soundwave, as well as Perceptor make sure to tell him that.

Coordinates are set.

Back at Delphi, Siren’s ready to receive a whole mess of people, when Swerve and Pincher run in to share the good news about the Pretender shells.

Siren, this was like the only reason you were in this room. Pay attention!

As Delphi’s finest discuss the pros and cons of building more flesh-suits, Red Alert, Dirge, and Throwback burst through the portal.

On the other side of the teleport, Perceptor is shooing in the next batch of robots, while Soundwave is trying to convince him that they should be doing things fairly, with a 2:1 ratio of ‘Cons and ‘Bots per trip. Now really isn’t the best time for this, and Chromedome seems to agree with me, seeing as he just starts shoving as many robots as he can, as fast as he can, into this portal while the two argue.

Swindle was at Darkmount when shit went down. How the fuck did he evade capture? The guy isn’t exactly built for speed. Shit, the Decepticons left from Sixshot’s place, how did he get there?

Soon, it’s only Perceptor, Soundwave, Chromedome, and Kup left. Small problem: someone’s got to stay behind to destroy the teleport tech, otherwise the Quintessons are going to find Delphi and this whole thing will have been for nothing. Perceptor’s pretty set on being the one to do it, but then Kup pulls out his gun and says that he’s the one who’s staying. Chromedome, not wanting to argue with the suicidal old man waving a weapon in his face, peaces out through that teleport without much of a fight.

Perceptor asks for any last requests on Kup’s part. He just wants Hot Rod buried in a nice little plot, and for Prowl to be told… he doesn’t say, but after the last couple Parts, I’m going to assume it’s a tossup between a hearty “fuck you” and just giving him the bird.

Perceptor goes through the portal and Kup destroys it immediately after, ready to fight the Quintessons for the last time. He thinks back on all the things he’s done, all the things he hasn’t done. He realizes that he doesn’t want to die, not really, but at this point there’s nothing else left for him to do.

Oh, now that’s interesting. An old, grumpy man on the brink of his twilight years, trying to go out with a little dignity as his body fails him. MTMTE’s Ratchet seems to pull a lot from Eugenesis.

Over at Delphi, Perceptor’s made it safe and sound.

Percy, a man just committed suicide via heroic sacrifice, at least give it a couple minutes before you go and start being cheeky. Is everyone here just so shell-shocked at this point they’re unable to process the horrors unfolding around them? Or are we just not doing upset anymore?

Nightbeat pulls Siren aside to ask if he’s okay. Siren’s not really enjoying having his super-secret base filled with Decepticons. Get with the times, Siren. There’s bigger things than the multi-million year war going on right now.

Yeah, Nightbeat, quit being such a bummer about this ongoing genocide of our people.

You’re not one to talk, mister.

Perceptor catches up with Nightbeat and pulls him off into another room to chat. Seems that Percy wants to hear about the wormhole. Not too interested in Nightbeat’s lost team members, but the worm hole- now THAT’S some hot shit right there.

Well, it’s hot until Nightbeat actually describes the thing. Then Perceptor’s not so into it. Sounds like the wormhole’s dying off.

Perceptor, please.

Perceptor wants someone to go guard the wormhole, that way the Quintessons don’t get ahold of it. That would be a very bad thing, after all.

Nightbeat’s calling you out, Percy.

So, if the wormhole’s on its way out, they should get Optimus back to the 80’s before it’s too late, right?

No, actually.

Perceptor doesn’t think anyone but Optimus can handle the nightmare situation they’re currently grappling with, and spouts the science-bullshit that surely he makes it back to his own time before the wormhole collapses in on itself, because they wouldn’t be here otherwise. Nightbeat calls this science-bullshit out as being bullshit-science, despite the fact that he had been using this same train of logic back during his fugue state episode.

Meanwhile, in the Hall of Villainy, Quantax is pissed. He was so proud of that little ploy he pulled with Rev-Tone, and what do the Sharkticons bring back?

Well, at least he doesn’t have to worry about his hands anymo- no, that’s tasteless, I shouldn’t.

Quantax had been expecting a bit more, especially since he’d sent out so many troops and ships to the coordinates they’d gotten.

He slaps Inhibitor Claws on the troops who failed to bring him the Autobots, not listening to their excuse of there being a teleport. These poor bastards are going to Kledji to be prisoners.

Quintessons need to unionize. Overthrow the ruling class, eat the rich. It’s time, boys, get on it.

Quantax takes a whole lot of pleasure in punishing his subordinates, and he revels in the feeling of just being a complete dick as he calls up Xenon to ask when all those shiny new recruits are coming in. Xenon says that that’s not what the Seedlings are for- they’re going to be a force of enlightenment, not brute strength.

Of course, Quantax isn’t terribly happy with this news, but why should Xenon care? He’s already gotten what he wanted.

Y’know, that sentence can have multiple interpretations.

Xenon is under the impression that once they’re done retrofitting Cybertron to their tastes, the Quintessons will be a peaceful, trade-centric race.

And with dialogue like that, who can argue with such a vision for the future?

Something tells me Quantax might throw a wrench into Xenon’s plan.

[xarciel]

Why Megatron’s Redemption Arc Falls Flat - Part 2

So I realised as I was writing this that I have way too much to say for a single post. There’s a lot to unpack in the metatextual promotion of Megatron in s2 of MTMTE and LL, so instead of this being Part 2/2 as expected it will be Part 2/??. I’ll update the links at the bottom if/when more posts gets written.  

Since his introduction to the crew at the beginning of Season 2 Megatron has fundamentally changed the way the ensemble cast interacted and resolved situations. This is to be expected, of course, since Megatron is a divisive, dynamic character, but the issue isn’t that this /has/ happened, but /how/ it has happened. Specifically, Megatron is positioned as the main protagonist in the ensemble, at the expense of other characters’ arcs.

To make Megatron sympathetic we see the same four steps used throughout the series: -> Raise an issue as something current Megatron cares about -> Retcon the issue through flashbacks as something that Megatron has always cared about -> Resolve the issue in the present, allowing Megatron to show off his ethical ways -> Refuse to acknowledge specific actions taken by Megatron during the war, and preceding the start of MTMTE

This is used in conjunction with positioning all those against Megatron’s rehabilitation as villains (Rodimus on Cybertron, Starscream at the trial, Getaway on the Lost Light and the DJD on Necroworld), ensuring that we get plenty of shots of Megs looking sad (I counted 42 in MTMTE, not including #50-55) and introducing new, even more heinous villains (the DJD) to undermine Megatron’s atrocities up to this point. We’re given extensive monologues from Megatron as his journey progresses, and when he does act in ways that undermine his redemption the story sweeps them under the rug, focussing on other more positive areas instead.

A simple example: Megatron hates mneumosurgery. He considers it a violation of the highest order, as no-one should be able to alter the mind or mental state of another without their permission. At the beginning of Season 2 however, he permanently activates Trailcutter’s FIM chip without his consent, and aside from a single line from Trailcutter this is never brought up again. This is, in fact, altering Trailcutter’s mental state without his permission, but because it’s not done in the same invasive way the narrative skips over the ethical ramification of Megatron’s actions, to focus on the positives they bring.

On the subject of mneumosurgery, this presents the perfect Raise, Retcon, Resolve method described above. Issue #28: Megatron’s hatred of mneumosurgery is Raised when Optimus offers using it as a way to expedite Megatron’s trial. Issue #34: Megatron’s hatred for mneumosurgery is Retconned to stem from a lobotomisation he was forced to undergo by the Functionists when he was still a miner. Issue #48: Rodimus orders Chromedome to use mneumosurgery to determine Atomizer’s guilt in the attack on Megatron - Megatron Resolves his status as the more moral of the pair by being against this use of mnuemosurgery. The Refuse step comes into play with one of Megatron’s schemes from #14 of Robots in Disguise, which takes place roughly 12 months before #28. This issue involves Megatron revealing that he has had Prowl under mind control via Bombshell for months, using him to grow Decepticon sympathy and having him commit atrocities as a Decepticon plant. Nowhere in MTMTE is this even vaguely referenced- pre-MTMTE Megatron is never reflected on within the text.

The fact that the narrative simultaneously punishes Rodimus and Optimus for committing morally questionable actions for good reasons means that Megatron is portrayed in a more positive light than his actions deserve. We are shown, and focus on, Megatron’s suffering from mneumosurgery - the more complex arguments from the practice are laid aside in search of a simple morality arc.

To help further develop sympathy for Megatron, the narrative introduces a new set of villains to replace and even outstrip the atrocities Megatron has committed in the past. This group, the DJD, commit heinous acts against established ensemble characters and their own faction for personal and professional pleasure, and are shown to be incalcitrant to change, even when negotiating with Megatron. Language used by Megatron to describe them repeatedly emphasises his opinion they are more morally corrupt than he ever was, calling them ‘the biggest monsters of all’ and ‘the dark side of the Decepticon cause’. This both distances Megatron from the DJD in the readers minds, and again reinforces the idea that Megatron is no longer the evil mastermind from previous arcs, furthering his redemption arc without any significant character growth on his end.

In the lead up to the Dying of the Light two issues are dedicated to recalling the specific atrocities committed by Tarn on Skids during the war, specifically to prime the audience for the DJD’s appearance as main villains in the finale. Simultaneously, Megatron is undergoing a vow of pacifism, using the four steps to invite audience sympathy and further drive a wedge between past Megatron and redeemed Megatron. Raise: #32 - Megatron talks with Ravage about how he is tired of fighting Retcon: #37 - Megatron the miner originally promoted ‘non-violent direct action’ Resolve: #49 - Megatron takes a vow of pacifism Refuse: Megatron the gladiator, the assassination of the Senate, literally anything from the last 4 million years

While undertaking this vow of pacifism, however, Megatron fails to consider the impact of it on those around him - specifically, by marking himself as a strict non-combatant, he refuses to provide back up to the LL crew in any situation they may need it. Compared with other pacifistic characters such as Ratchet and Rung, this simplistic ‘fighting is bad’ policy demonstrates how Megatron is rewarded within text without considering the issue on a complex level. He is granted moral superiority by simple virtue of refusing to fight, even if his decision may lead to preventable deaths. This view is ultimately self-centric - when compared to Drift’s arc and how he uses his skills to protect others as redemption for committing crimes against them in the first place, Megatron’s redemption is tea tray shallow.

The issues of how Megatron is positioned as sympathetic through framing those against his rehabilitation as antagonists is a post for another time (since this one’s already getting pretty long), but consider the following: from issue #28 to issue #49, there are 42 panels of Megatron looking sad. These panels come either as individual closeups, or panels where Megatron is in the mid-ground and additional body language as well as his face are used to convey his sadness. Once you remove the DJD and Scavengers issues, this is 15 issues, and roughly three panels per issue of Megatron looking sad. This strong emphasis on Megatron’s feelings, and specifically his negative emotions, are used to create sympathy for him by using basic story-telling techniques - to use an old fashioned term, Megatron is being Woobified.

Making Megatron into a ‘relatable’ character was not something that happened in MTMTE by accident. There was extensive planning on the story and art side to make sure that Megatron came across as sympathetic, even though through his actions Megatron never truly shows much evidence of redemption. The Dying of the Light and the Functionist Universe arcs are entire suitcases that still need unpacking here, but for now I’ll leave it with this: a redemption arc is a character making up for past mistakes - a process of self-reflection and action taken to make amends for things they’ve done in the past.

Where is it that we see Megatron making amends for those he’s hurt in the past?

[Link to Part 1]

A quick recap on Megatron (and his sad faces), issue by issue for those interested:

#28: Megatron argues that ‘tampering with someone’s head’ (accessing or altering their mental state) is the one place he will not go. Rodimus tells him he deserves to die for his crimes, and we get 3 panels of Megs looking sad. LL members graffiti his door and Whirl attacks him. Megatron tells Whirl that Whirl is only alive due to Megs’ mercy because of their interactions 4 million years ago.

#29: Flashback to the trial: Starscream says Megatron deserves pity - 3 panels of Megs looking sad. Megatron permanently enables Trailbreaker’s FIM chip without his consent (thereby altering his mental state).

#30: More flashbacks to the trial - Megs gives his statement, manipulates the trial using a legal loophole to avoid judgement and issues a public renouncement of the Decepticons (under duress by Optimus) - 8 panels of Megs looking sad.

#31: Megs is accused of being responsible for crew members disappearing - 3 panels of Megs looking sad. When Nightbeat works out the cause Megatron berates him and blames the disappearances on Nightbeat for not being faster, even though knowing the cause could not have prevented it.

#32: Megatron is accused of killing crew members as the corpses bear wounds from a fusion cannon - he agrees to stay stationary while the others investigate further. We learn Megatron destroyed his signature weapon (under duress from Optimus). Megatron discusses his change of heart with Ravage, describes the DJD as ‘the biggest monsters of all’. Speaks of how old and tired he feels - 7 panels of Megs looking sad.

#33: the team wants to save a planet from destruction, Megatron says it’s not worth it because the planet doesn’t contain Cybertronians. Skids confronts him on his xenophobic views.  2 panels of Megs looking sad. Megatron reveals he can help the team as a last resort. Convinces Ravage to remain on the LL by arguing that he has seen ‘the dark side’ of the Decepticon cause. #34: Flashback to Megatron’s beginnings as a miner on Tarn. Foundation of Towards Peace and the Decepticon manifesto are retconned to being about equality only, and contain no xenophobia. Megatron loses his friend Terminus and is lobotimised by a mneumosurgeon - 6 panels of Megs looking sad.

#35: Megatron loots Trailcutter’s forcefield generator from his corpse. 2 panels of Megs looking sad. Megatron further distances himself from the DJD when Rodimus comes to see him, and the discussion of Megatron’s connection with the DJD is swept under the rug by the next plot thread. Megatron’s role in Trailcutter’s death is never revisited.

#36: Megatron speaks to Orion Pax from 4 million years ago about his moral dilemma - 2 panels of Megs looking sad.

#37: Flashback to the bar fight that got Megatron arrested - this fight is retconned to be caused by the modern day LL crew. Megatron’s manifesto is retconned to originally be about non violent direct action, with Impactor the one who dragged Megatron into the bar fight that gets him arrested.

#38: Megatron attacks Perceptor and demands to be sent through time. Magnus brings him under control. Megatron warps his behaviour from attacking to ‘remonstrating’ and offers no apology for it. The LL crew discovers how much the universe would have benefited from Megatron’s death and tries to enact it, but are betrayed by Whirl’s hatred of Functionism - 4 panels of Megs looking sad.

#39: The DJD find out about Megatron’s renouncement of the Decepticons and decide to continue their work regardless.

#40: Megatron is tricked by Ratchet into giving a poetry reading at ‘Visages’ which nobody attends. Megatron steals one of the time briefcases, which Rodimus and Perceptor are destroying.

#43: Megatron’s intuitive human avatar wields a Decepticon cane, which he discards when he realises its existence. 1 panel of Megs looking sadly at his old age in a mirror.

#44: Megatron agrees to detouring the ship to Necroworld as a way to postpone the search for the Knights. Megatron finds his field of death flowers while a monologue from the Necrobot about how all Cybertronians are killers is superimposed on the page. 1 panel of Megs looking sad.

#47: Megatron wakes up to find Tailgate beside him with mneunosurgeon needles on his fingers. He grabs Tailgate by the head. Cyclonus enters to this scene and attacks Megatron, leaving him with a dent in his head and a hole in his chest.

#48: Megatron apologises to Cyclonus, says he was not going to hurt Tailgate. The ethical question of Rodimus instructing Chromedome to probe Atomizer’s mind is called into question by Cyclonus and Megatron. Flashbacks to Skids time on Grindcore, where Tarn is the principle villain.

#49: Megatron refuses to fire on Sunder, even as he attacks the entire crew of the LL, states he is now a pacifist. Megatron attempts to persuade Rung to continue in his role, attempting to sweep Rung’s mistakes under the rug. We witness the full horror of Grindcore as Tarn’s pet project.

[Issues #50 onwards coming when I get around to it]

[imagine-the-energon]

We Were Wrong {Unfinished WIP}

((So this obviously takes place before Optimus dies in Revenge of the Fallen, but after he delivers the chilling “What if we leave and you’re wrong?” to that asshole Galloway. This is... not a happy story. Far from it in fact. 11 year old me was messed up when she wrote this.))

We Were Wrong -- ROTF AU; What if the President DID force the Autobots to leave Earth before the Fallen returned? What if, almost two decades later, the last bit of humanity ventured into space, desperately searching for the allies they had once exiled themselves? Annabelle Lennox-Centric

I can barely remember what the sun, natural warmth, feels like. I was only a kid, not even in elementary school when the sun was destroyed. The giant robots from space, the one with red eyes, they killed everyone they could find before they killed the sun.

Perhaps it was their last bit of mercy.

For the first few weeks, we managed, only because we stocked up should a nuclear war happen. I almost wished that type of war happened. We were told, through the radios that survivors were given, that only hours before the initial attack, our last hope, a small group of blue eyed robots, had been banished, sent into space all because of one man.

The audio logs from that organization were given, passed around to see if any of the survivors could be able to identify and track the group. Mom knew, I could tell by her bloodshot eyes and shaking tone. I was almost four when the attack happened, and seven when the logs reached our bunker.

I was 13 when they found us.

The logs were playing in the background, and I was doing my best to memorize the speaker’s voice, especially the way he spoke.

“Freedom is your right. If you make that request, we will honor it. But... before your president decides, please ask him this: what if we leave... and you're wrong?”

Mother turned down the radio, hands shaking. “Annabelle, you shouldn’t be listening to that.”

“If I get into the program, I need to recognize how they speak!” I protested, voice quiet as I replayed the robot’s, mech’s tone. We were wrong, I thought, praying that, some how, some way, he would hear me. We were wrong, and now we’re paying the ultimate price. The same price you paid, all those years ago.

“You’re not getting into the program,” Mom snapped, running a hand through her blonde hair. “I’ve already lost your father to those things, I’m not going to loose you too!”

“Dad knew what he signed up for, and you did too,” I replied, tone quiet. “Mom I... I know them. I know I know them. If anyone can get through to them, it’s me.”

“And if you can’t?” She whispered. “If you get stuck and stranded in space? Annie, please... They left.”

“They were forced to,” I murmured back, but when she opened her mouth, the bunker lights flickered with an explosion, sending dust flying towards us. “Mom-,”

“Get to the safe room, now!”

I was 17 when the Decepticons won.

I was 17 when the Earth finally died.

I was 17 when myself and 80 others were sent aboard the Lythrix in a desperate attempt to humanity.

I was 17 and they were wrong.

[artobotsrollout]

Quicksilver Sickness

Tfp OC (Quicksilver) Centric Scenario

In hindsight, telling a mech with the habit of mother henning to 'google' about a human cold was a bad idea.

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"RATCHET FOR THE LOVE OF PRIMUS AND EVERYTHING HOLY HELP ME!"

The medic groaned at his usual station and stopped his typing. Having been interrupted by the panicked voice of Quicksilver coming from the opening of the base he knew that it was pointless to start the process of getting into the proper mental gear for focused work again anytime soon.

"What mess did you make this time?" He growled in reply. He knew he'd end up helping the impulsive mech regardless but he still had to let him know what an inconvenience it was.

"Ratch I'm sorry but Aparna sneezed the other day-"

"Sneezing is a normal human function yes."

"Well that's what she said but then I heard Raf sneeze yesterday too and today I caught Jack sneezing!"

"And the relevance?"

"Well Aparna's holed up in her room now and so I asked her what was keepin' her and she was too exhausted to answer. She said to google what a cold was to get better answers cause she was too tired to explain..."

"And?"

"And oh Ratchet it's all my fault I think I spread a human plague And now Aparna might die and I ruined everything and it's all my fault!! "

Ratchet whipped around at the sudden zero to one-hundred turn around in the young mech to find the usually fearless upstart practically sobbing.

"And and you guys trusted me to be a good guardian for Aparna and Aparna trusted me and I fragged it up royally can you please help me heal the humans??! I dontwantthemtodieplease! "

Raf took that moment to approach Ratchet to let him know he was heading home early because he was feeling a bit lightheaded. Quicksilver started sobbing harder.

"You see!! It's the end of human times! Here we are fighting off Decepticons to protect the humans and yet I missed the bigger evil right under our non-existing noses! WebMD says that a fever and sneezing could be a sign of a chest infection which could lead to bronchitis or pneumonia meaning fluid in the lungs and doesn't fluid in the lungs mean drowning!?!? Which leads to death!!! Or or if a human fever gets too high they can burn themselves up and die! OR if an infection manages to get into the bloodstream it can infect their heart and they DIE! WHY are no humans talking about this horrible resilient plague that can cause death in so many ways!?" Quicksilver cried.

Raf and Ratchet looked like they were trying very hard not to outright burst out laughing at the distraught mech. Quicksilver reached out to Raf with a shaking servo.

"Raf little man I'm so sorry. This may be your toughest battle yet but.. you gotta fight this! Together we will help you weather this storm!"

Ratchet and Raf exchanged an amused glance before bursting out in laughter. Ratchet leaning hard on his console and Raf curled up and rolling on his back. Quicksilver blinked.

"Either you are both in hysterics or I'm majorly missing some key info here..."

"You wanna tell him or should I?" Ratchet chuckled good naturedly to Raf. Jack who had overheard everything chimed in.

"Like anyone would take the joy of correcting someone from you Ratchet."

"Quicksilver... humans get 'colds' all the time. Frequently their systems get invaded by harmful organisms and the majority of times their bodies fight it off and build an immunity. If not.. well, you honestly can't believe that Cybertronians are the only organisms with medicine! Jack's mother is a nurse for Primus sake. Now there are more serious illnesses of course that are concerning but colds are very common," Ratchet explained with a chuckle in his tone and turning back to the console.

"Right... I'm... I'm never gonna live this down am I?"

"Never." the present humans and Ratchet said in unison without even looking up.

"Welp... Fuck."

"Language Quicksilver," the rumbling baritone of Optimus chided with an air of playfulness. "It would seem the old saying: 'Don't believe everything you read' is as relevant for human literature as it was for cybertronian."

Of course.. Ratchet conveniently didn't mention how badly he himself freaked out over Raf getting a cold way before Quicksilver's arrival. No need to ruin the amusement he got every single time another cybertronian saw one of their human companions sneeze.