#first of all i was super into it when i was younger. optimus prime has long been a projectable (and ratchet too‚ from tfp)

[i-dreamed-i-had-a-son]

I'm sorry I can't take your call right now, I'm becoming unhinged about Transformers again,,,

[melishade]

It has been done!

I really enjoyed making these, especially Megatron!

I decided that Megatron has a man bun, because… idk, he seems like the type. I only gave him partially gray hair because he is technically supposed to be younger than Optimus (so weird…) but I think it’s fun that his years of stress and adding dark energon just made him gray faster in terms of human translation since he’s literally gray. I honestly adore the fact I gave him an aquiline nose, similar to in IDW comics, I also did similar stylization with the two-triangles shading.

The scars looked more red and raw than I intended, but honestly it looks metal (heh) so I don’t mind too much.

When you were talking about how hard it is to nail Optimus’s holoform… you weren’t joking. I got his hair down pretty easily, I figured he’d want it short and styled back for convenience. I originally wanted to make him ginger but went with what you intended for him, so I just made his hair a reddish-brown instead (the warm lighting more than compensates for it, and I honestly find it cool that his hair just looks bright, firey red in golden hour/sunlight!)

I had to change Opti’s colors so much, but I’m satisfied with his desaturated red jean jacket. I leaned more towards brown, I’m sure it used to be brighter, but working the the Corps gets you dirty and I think he’d appreciate the look of earthy tones (plus, I think kids and people in general like the more familiar and warm palette than the bright red, idk)

I’m rambling a lot but I did want to put as much thought as I could into these bc 1) I adore the concept of holoforms and wished they were used more and 2) Megatron/Mathew is my fav, so…

Just as a last note: if you look at the eyes of both characters, Megs has a triangle purple highlight and two small, blue dot highlights while Optimus has a yellow square highlight and two red dot highlights (they aren’t super visible but it’s the thought that counts 😅)

Thank you for your wonderful work and make sure to take care of yourself!

FIRST OF ALL THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!!!!

Second, yes, it is so wild to me that Optimus is actually older than Megatron, because according to the covenant of Primus and the Aligned continuity, Optimus was reborn as Orion immediately after the War of the Primes. Meanwhile Megatron was actually born during the Age of Wrath.

Optimus looks so pretty, but his smile also looks so sad. He's hiding his burdens and traumas with a smile! Look at the fluffy hem of his coat! It looks so cozy! Also, I really like the shading for Optimus because it looks like the sun is setting behind him. The shading of his hair looks so gorgeous!

Hehe. Looking at Megatron's hoodie, all I can think about is how Megatron who put the hood over his head and sulk when he's upset. And I absolutely adore the different colors that both he and Optimus have. Like you brought up the fact that Optimus has warmer colors and even with the sun shing behind Megatron, you can tell that there are cooler colors being used. Like I can see hints of purple in Megatron's hair.

I actually did zoom in to see the eye coloring that you were doing and I absolutely adore it for both Optimus and Megatron.

Honestly this is so amazing and thank you so much for taking time to do this. I genuinely appreciate it.

[ihonestlydontknowwhattocallthis]

(Okay so this is just my opinion I respect anyone else’s opinion unless it’s something weird or gross I guess, and I’m not necessarily speaking for everyone here)

(Sorry I planned to make this a short post but I’m always yapping about my opinion more than I need to)

Reasons I didn’t like transformers one:

- the casting is one of those things where they just cast celebrities who aren’t necessarily voice actors to play the characters, for advertising purposes I guess? (That doesn’t mean all of them were bad though some did great)

- I didn’t really like the portrayal of some of the characters, bee was weird but I think that’s mainly because I’m a fan of the completely quite, talking with the radio bumblebee and this one just talks a lot but I like to think that maybe this was what he was like before that all happened which is honestly a great way to think about it. and you know Optimus was younger so I can’t really hate on that take on the character tbh. There are other characters that were kind of weird to me aswell but it’s mainly bee (idk why but he reminds me of zach galifianakis in the hangover)

- I get having celebrity cameos in things but seriously, if your gonna get Steve buscemi in your movie, use that as much as you can! I was so excited when I heard he was playing starsceam I thought “he’s perfect for that!” Only to watch it and I remember maybe five lines that he had and he was only really in one scene. It’s a bit like beetlejucie beetlejuice with willem Defoe, he appeared and then he left. Atleast he was in it more that Steve buscemi though

- the thing is, and again this is just my opinion, it wasn’t cool to me, maybe it was the aesthetic of it or maybe it was the animation I don’t know what made it not cool? Like it has so much potential to be really really cool but the fight scenes kinda just bored me a little, like with the new, micheal bay produced ones, even though a lot of people don’t like those movies you have to admit the scenes are cool, there’s big noises and they look bigger than everything else around them and they’ve got cool echoey voices. And even the original “the transformers the movie” it’s got cool things happening around each corner and amazing songs to go with it (I love that movie). And idk by the end I was just waiting to see who played the sentinel guy (I think it was John hamm)

- I personally don’t need to see Optimus primes backstory, I guess in my head he met like bee and that a lot later but he says my old friend in other newer movies so idk maybe I’m wrong with that.

- also, no idea who elita is, at first I thought she was meant to be ARCEE which I was hopeing she wasn’t but yeah I thought she was gonna die in the movie because I hadn’t heard of her before but I’m also not a transformers super fan so maybe she’s in something I haven’t watched yet.

- also their faces were kinda weird to me since they didn’t look very robotic but you know they were probably going for the original designs too but the original transformers don’t really move their face too much so idk.

Reasons I liked transformers one

- I think some of the voice actors who had experience in voice acting did really REALLY well, Brian Tyree Henry as megatron I think is PERFECT casting he did so well in that role, same with keegan micheal key even though I didn’t like his character very much, John hamm as sentinel prime, he made him sound annoying yet also evil. Steve buscemi even though he wasn’t in it very much I think was perfect casting for starscream

- at first I didn’t like the designs of the characters but then I realised afterwards that they were going for the original transformers designs to base the characters off and I think that’s a good way of doing it and I respect that

- while I didn’t really like the whole ascension into Optimus prime thing (idk why there isn’t a reason for that I guess) I really really loved D - 16s descent into becoming megatron throughout the movie all because his hero lied to him, and i like how they showed both of them ascending and descending at the same time. Also I love how he killed sentinel, someone didn’t just come up to him and be like “no stop” and then he just left like he did at the end, and the way he killed him too by ripping him apart? Honestly it’s probably standing out since I was getting a little bored towards the end.

- I also like the idea that deceptacons were something that were formed rather that a species like other bad transformers.

- at first I was a little confused at the idea that some transformers can’t transform, because I was sure that they could all transform and i thought it was a weird thing to add, and then they added the twist that sentinel took their core thingys from them so they couldn’t transform and that made that whole idea so much better to me. Should I go dark with this? I won’t go too dark, this is probably old by now but what sentinel did to those transformers is what trump thinks parents and doctors do to trans kids (like I mean he seems to think that people get gender affirming surgery without their permission?)

- overall, I’ve started to like this movie the more I see people talk about it, that’s how I feel about a lot of movies, I didn’t like Longlegs that much when I watched it and then I saw all this fanart and discussions and I think a lot better of it now, which is the same with transformers one, I like it a little better each time I see something about it on this platform, and because of that I’m open to watching the movie again to see how I feel about it

- also this wasn’t something I was worried about too much because I get why they wouldn’t put this in the movie it’s not a very known thing but I wonder if they would’ve actually had female transformers by then? Because originally they were all male and then they went to other planets and found out about gender and how they were limiting themselves to one gender, so many of them became female transformers, but I guess I just thought that they probably didn’t go to other planets by then so yeah idk.

Anyways that’s all I have to say that I can think of at the moment, and as I said this is just my opinion and I might get yelled at for this but honestly I’m just saying this to see what other people’s opinions are and if some people agree with me about these things

-also robot yaoi

UPDATE: I know who elita is now, she was in the gen 1 episodes and also I’m starting to be more okay with bees personality.

[autobots-in-training]

Do ignore the other question from this account; it was my very chaotic friend. However, I do have a question for two of you and just a little thing to say to one more of you, and I do suggest not letting the others see this question. Hotshot First aid and Springer First off, this one is for first aid. I say as a medic myself quite simply that a lot of bad stuff is going to happen in the future to you and all of your fellow younglings, and you are going to lose a lot of bots under your care, but it will not be our fault, and you will become one of the best medics known to the cybertronian species, and I highly suggest you don't read this out loud to anyone else since I sound insane. Now since this "ask" just got a bit quite dark, let's lighten it a bit. Question for Hotshot: Since you are clearly aware your caretaker Optimus Prime is the greatest autobot to exist, have you ever heard of an autobot by the name of Elita-1?

Question for Springer: Since Prowl is clearly your carrier by the looks of it and just by the way you talk about him, did he ever tell you any stories and did he ever teach you anything cool?

- Medic Knockout (PS Im super srry that this is so long)

First Aid- Woah. Uh. Thanks! Are you from cybertron? I've never heard of you. I can list all the medics i know on one hand. Carrier, Lotty, Pharma, Red Alert and Hoist. Though they are all autobots, are you a neutral?

Arcee- First Aid, are you answering a question without us?

First Aid- Oh! Sorry i was just reading the question. These are for Springer and... Hot Shot? I think he meant Hot Rod. *takes a deep breath*

Arcee- Wait don't yell!-

First Aid- SPRINGS!!! RODDY!!!

Arcee- I hate you.

Springer- Hey Aid, whats up? I brought Roddy with me.

Hot Rod- Hi!

First Aid- Cool. Was your time with Hound and Mirage fun?

Hot Rod- Yeah!! Hound took us around the ship in his alt mode!

Springer- Illy got tired, so they stayed with their creators.

First Aid- Ah. Anyway, i called you guys cause you have a question each.

Springer- Nice!

Hot Rod- I wanna answer first!

First Aid- Do you know Elita?

Hot Rod- Riri talks about her sometimes. She's the autobot leader on Cybertron, since not everyone could or wanted to leave.

First Aid- Yeah, i think you were still too little when we left Cybertron to remember anything. You might have been 2-3 thousand years old when we left. Elita is basically on parr to Optimus. I watched them spar a couple times, they were 50/50 on terms of strength and skill. They were best friends too.

Hot Rod- Woaaah!!

Arcee- I was still a bit shy, so I didn't talk with her much. She was nice the times i talked with her. She's actually why i chose to be pink.

First Aid- It's terrifying sometimes. You look like you are covered in dried energon.

Arcee- Exactly.

Springer- What's my question?

First Aid- Has your carrier taught you anything or told you any stories?

Springer- About what?

First Aid- I dunno, thats just what the question is.

Springer- Hm... my riri has taught me quite a bit! I know some stuff about genetics, he knows a LOT, the study of cybertronian genetics wasn't allowed before the war, but both my carriers studied it in secret. I was actually one of their expiriments.

First Aid- Oooh, so they had you to see what traits you'd have from each of them?

Springer- Uh. Yeah. Kinda. He also tells me about my other carrier. I remember very little of him. His optics were... they were yellow. Carrier says i look a lot like my other carrier when he was younger.

Arcee- Thats really sweet!

Springer- I want to meet him again. I'm hoping he's still out there.

Arcee- When the war is over, we'll team up and look for our carriers together!

First Aid- I'l help! There's nothing we can't do when we work together!

Hot Rod- Can i come too?

First Aid- You're too little for that. And wouldn't you miss your riri?

Hot Rod- Oh... yeah :[. I'll stay then. Illy would be lonely without me too.

Springer- Wanna see your carrier now?

Hot Rod- Yeah!!

Springer- Let's go then!

*end transmission*

[lets-try-some-writing]

Thoughts on Halloween

Yeah I know its a little late but I was busy. Anyway enjoy the bots reactions to Halloween.

Decepticons

Halloween on the nemesis is an interesting affair. No bot can pinpoint who first introduced the concept to the crew (except Soundwave of course) but it has since been put into practice every year due to the morale boost it brings.

Megatron refuses to have anything to do with the ridiculous human holiday and stays locked up in his berthroom throughout Halloween. He would have preferred the holiday had never taken root among his crew but there is little he can do about it since it has become so strongly integrated into the lives of his crew during his absence. As such the few Vehicons brave enough to attempt to trick or treat at his quarters are met with a murderous glare before being handed a random miscellaneous item.

The quality of item differs wildly between recipients. One Vehicon can get a pile of old scrap metal and another can find himself with some priceless item from pre-war Cybertron. Hence the incentive to attempt trick or treating at Megatron's quarters.

As for Soundwave and Shockwave, neither leave their respective posts and often work straight through the holiday. However as both recondnise the benefit of the holiday they leave out bowls of treats or random trinkets for trick or treating Vehicons. Occasionally though, Soundwave will dress up his cats in little costumes and give them treats. It is the closest he gets to celebrating to human holiday.

On the other hand Knockout and Breakdown are always super into Halloween. They go all out, decorating the entirety of the lower decks, preparing goodies, dressing up, and having a grand time giving out treats. Knockout tends to dress up as the most flamboyant thing imaginable, often leading him to only change his color scheme or add a hat or something (after all what could possibly be more marvelous than himself?).

As for Breakdown, he is very consistent in continually dressing up as a cowboy every. single. year. It drives Knockout up the wall since he has prepared numerous other costumes for his friend. But Breakdown always has the best time swinging around his rope and tipping his hat at others on the nemesis so Knockout lets it slide.

Starscream also dresses up and participates with a bit of prodding from Knockout, however due to his wings he usually dresses up as a ghost since its easily modified to suit his frame type. He will die before admitting it but he really really likes trick or treating. He always has a ton of fun darting from door to door collecting goodies, and he especially loves emptying Soundwave and Shockwave's bowls into his bag.

And of course the Vehicons take every opportunity to party, get completely sloshed, and consume copious amounts of energon goodies. They also all go to great lengths to dress up, even betting on costumes to see whose is the best.

Autobots

The kids introduced the holiday and it was accepted over night. The bots have no particular attachment to Halloween but the kids love it and the younger bots (Bumblebee and Smokescreen) don't get many chances to act their age. As such all the Autobots have taken to celebrating alongside the human children in stride.

Optimus is a little stiff when it comes to anything not relating to his primely duties, but as a mech who attended to and dealt with every conceivable ceremony on Cybertron, he knows how to get into the spirit of things. He has a singular costume and sticks to what he learned about Halloween like it is gospel.

He has memorized every form of dialogue commonly used on Halloween, and through thorough research has come up with the 'ideal' way to approach the holiday. On Halloween night once the children arrive at base to do a little trick or treating, Optimus will go to his berthroom and apply some basic paint to look like a Cybertronian zombie. Then he will wait patiently until the children come to his door and offer them little trinkets that he makes in advance.

Ratchet is not fond of celebrating human holidays and would much prefer to celebrate Cybertronian ones, but he goes along with Halloween anyway. Despite his reservations he is very devoted to making his costume when Halloween rolls round. He spends days preparing intricate costumes to wear and will carefully go out of his way to produce human confections. When the children come to trick or treat at his door, he always has thematic lights a smoke machine running in the background somewhere. And always makes a dramatic appearance before shoving a wrench and a treat into the children's buckets.

Ratchet will never admit it, but he finds it fun to attempt to scare the children with his hyper realistic costumes.

Bulkhead and Arcee are rather neutral on the topic of Halloween and don't really bother dressing up much. Bulkhead might put on something simple like a hat, or perhaps throw a sheet over his head and call himself a ghost. Arcee also might try to put on some basic face paint or maybe a witch hat, but she refuses to do anything more. Both spend most of Halloween following the children around to keep them from getting into trouble. However they do enjoy watching a Halloween themed film with the children after all the trick or treating is done.

Wheeljack LOVES Halloween. He thinks its the best. Free goodies and the chance to scare and or inconvenience people? That is right up his alley. He goes all out on Halloween, dressing up as a pirate or a mad scientist more often than not. He does not give out candy, instead he loves to give the children his unique gadgets, often a concealed weapon or explosive. His favorite little give away items thus far have been his confetti grenades. It brought him no end of amusement to watch poor Jack set his off by accident and end up covered in streamers and glitter.

Jack has avoided trick or treating at his station since.

Then there is Ultra Magnus. He doesn't participate beyond operating the games and setting up the decorations for Halloween. He doesn't give out and treats and instead gives the children toothbrushes, toothpaste, and some vegetables. He wants them to be healthy and strongly believes that the kiddos do not need any more candy than they are already receiving. Thankfully the children accept his offerings kindly and only throw them out after they go home for the evening.

Lastly there are Bumblebee and Smokescreen who are as enthusiastic about Halloween as the children and love to both give out goodies and then collect some of their own from the bots around base. Smokescreen is particularly fond of the after party where he tries to and generally fails to dance with any degree of grace. He has fun all the same though, often getting Bumblebee involved in his shenanigans. As for Bumblebee, he is mainly concerned with getting a bigger pile of goodies than Smokescreen, and as such goes to great lengths to get a little something extra to boost his goodie count.

[pastelpaperplanes]

Big Ol Ask Post Pt. 3 I think

I haven’t drawn anything other than cursed or plain technical stuff w him 😔😔 have these for now but expect more soon!

anon a way back asked what he’d look like next to Overlord being already so big compared to Megs, that’s why you see Lordie if you’re wondering why he’s thrown in that line up!

by the way I have a voice claim for the big purple simp— Jenner from NIMH, he’s so awful but that suave baritone oh it fits too well >:] it’s the ‘humble servant’ line that got to me

Yep! Pharma is absolutely in this AU—as well as the CFau and Crack one too—and in all, he’s still an estranged medic long since booted from any legal work back on Cybertron.

He lost his credibility and more all those years ago when he found himself willing to do his fair share of cutting corners and hastily concealed malpractice to expedite his dream of getting his name down in the medical books—ultimately impressing his dear Mentor Ratchet, finally, in perfecting long-since banned risky experiments and surgeries—not to mention cruel and unusual temperament with the (supposedly) taboo practice of non-medicinal mnemosurgery.

His ambitions and aggression always got the bet of him, this hasn’t changed since he found himself working in freelance outposts. Light years away from Cybertron, he’s made a name for himself as a Good Doctor—but to his under-the-table black market part-dealing clients, he’s just about as bad as a Crooked Medic can get.

Bounty hunters and Arms Dealers like him for his business, a certain DJD member likes him for the occasional berth company and seemingly never ending supply of fresh T-Cogs—but no one actually likes him for his nasty temperamental personality, save for a young and naive Ratchet once upon a time.

Pharma is a roamer, as of recent he’s been a hard to reach mech—seems as if he’s found a little project to keep himself pretty occupied in the last few decades—something about a breakthrough for aiding the Decepticon Energon Crisis :] him and a small, horrifyingly cheerful surgeon are well on their way to completing their first trial batches, it’s safe to say that their little synthetic mixture will have it’s users sated and compliant.

they’ve got that amazing ‘new car smell’ those first few weeks, and instead of chittering like an Insecticons or vibrating their wings like a seeker—they beep and squeak, sometimes even honk a horn depending on the baseline altmode coding, to get their Creators’ attention before their vocalizer truly starts to kick online

It’s cute, but loud

Much like a seeker sparkling, they have to reach a certain ‘age’ (upgrade) to be able to transform completely, in between then they’re still able to rev those engines as a warning should they need it, as well as spin their wheels should they need a getaway HEELIES IF THEYRE LUCKY WOOHOOOOO—for seekers they can hover on their thrusters!

Crusade is actually pretty formal with Megatron. But yeah as a kid, Megs was always known as Carrier, but as Sadie got older and more aware of their surroundings—they definitely came to learn the true weight of that title and the fact that they were the progeny of the faction leader, a fact they should have really held onto with more pride. Not wanting to draw more attention to the already blatant favoritism (and nepotism) Crusade made a switch to addressing Megatron as Sir, My Lord, Lord Megatron, —ect. to better fit in with their fellow troops.

It bothers Megatron more than than he lets on. Crusade shouldn’t have to hide their high ranking as his child, the heir to the faction. Megs is their Carrier and can only order them around for so long, as their Leader however—pulling rank may just allow for their infuriatingly stubborn sparkling to listen to them should a day come where even a Carrier’s plea is dismissed.

Crusade does slip up every now and then and a ‘Carrier’ will slip—often hushed and annoyed though as Megs does like to tease every now and then, gotta remind them that they’re still his baby every once in a while :’)

Optimus however—whenever him and Crusade should truly reunite, will never be called Sire by Crusade, which they so heatedly established early on—Crusade never needed one and they don’t need one now, better to not let the title trigger those long-suppressed emotions. Sure enough though Optimus will get his moment.

actually no lmfao so you’re good! Eh, I haven’t mentioned much plot w them outside of them and Megs, plus bits of potential interactions with Optimus—so the rest of Team Prime is free game :D

For what I (hopefully will have) planned, their interactions with team Prime will be eh,,,interesting to each their own to say the least. Some more stressful than others BUT let’s not get into that until I’ve worked it out—for now I’ll just mention what they’re dynamics would be like when the drama of Oh Shit Boss Bot You’ve Been Hiding a Kid For HOW LONG has died down.

A usually touch-wary Crusade actually is the one to initiate a hug with Bulkhead, he’s the biggest and warmest and somehow is always happy to see them. Plus he tells cool recaps of Earth films and gifts them strange blobish paintings every now and then, all of which Crusade doesn’t exactly understand, but at least the colors are pretty.

Bee is annoying,,,which is what Crusade would say if confronted if they actually liked all the shenanigans Bee suggest they pull together, prank wars to the max, sparring for fun, video games?, DOUGHNUTS and RACES in the fortress halls??? Ahem. they are a super serious soldier, not a hooligan. But honestly, Bee is the one they seek out the most should they need an adventure, they missed out on a lot of this ‘fun’ growing up on the Nemesis—Bee seems to know how to balance a day of soldiering and dumbassery. sometimes.

Ratchet reminds them a bit too much of their Carrier than they’d care to admit. The medic is an old soul to his very core, perpetually tired but quick to snap into work mode, and sweet if you reallllllly squint. Sadie has been taught from day one to always respect medics, Ratchet obviously takes the cake on I’ve Seen Some Shit and for that alone Crusade both fears and admires Ratchet. Again, growing up on the Nemesis they didn’t have too many bots willing to talk much with them—but Ratchet (after he’s gone through his own lot of therapy, him AND Arcee. good lord) has a never ending pile of stories to share with them. Ratchet may throw in a few more colorful curses than necessary—which is SURPRISING bc Crusade thought they’d heard them all back home, but he’s entertaining and tells Crusade how it is, no sugarcoating. For that Crusade is grateful, there’s been too many half-truths thrown about to them in their recent years :’)

Ghost Prowl freaks them out—why does he deliberately have to be so sneaky?? Crusade has only met Prowl a fleeting handful of times (visits from the Allspark come with meaning, you know) and each time Crusade has been given nothing but odd riddles and poetic nonsense. Kidding. Prowl does like his wordplay’s but his given advice is always well meaning—the most firm and direct message Crusade has been passed though was probably most definitely “ Get those two cowards for mecha you call your Creator’s to stop fooling around with each other and SPEAK—at this rate it’s physically paining me that they haven’t begun Ritus and they’re not getting any younger”

Team Prime adores Sadie, they ask Megatron to see their sparkling photos every chance they catch him. And Crusade. hates it.

:) have

We’ve been here before, haven’t we?

[erimeows]

Yellow Roses

The first time was a learning experience.

Bumblebee had been innocent to the ways of human gift-giving back then, unsure of what to get or where to get it, but after using the internet and looking up where to buy gifts for humans, he found that there was a gift shop down the street from where the Autobot base was, and he begged and pleaded with Sari for some of her allowance money “for something important”.

He wasn’t sure what he wanted to get. What he was sure of, though, was that he was completely enamored with you and had been since day one- and he couldn’t bring himself to confess yet, but if he didn’t channel his feelings somehow, they were going to burst.

But as he approached the gift shop on that sunny day in Detroit, no other than Optimus Prime walked out and bumped into him. Thankfully, before he could fall back at the impact, Optimus reached out and caught him, placing him back on his feet with one strong servo. 

“P-Prime, hey!” Bumblebee grinned and tried to look as inconspicuous as possible. He knew he wasn’t guilty of anything nefarious, per say, but he had no idea how Optimus would feel about him being in love with a human and wanting to buy gifts for said human with money that wasn’t his. “What are you doing here?”

“Uh, nothing much...” The other Autobot blatantly lied and hid a bouquet of blue and gold flowers that Bee didn’t know the name of behind his back, face burning the brightest shade of red the smaller bot had ever seen it. “Are you looking for something in particular?”

“I don’t know, I mean, what do humans even like?” Bumblebee muttered without thinking, and upon seeing Optimus’s optics widen, he raised his servos defensively and shook his head. “I mean, uh-! Never mind! What’s up with the flowers?”

“Ah,” Optimus gave an awkward grin and held the flowers in front of him instead of continuing to hide them, probably realizing that it was too late and Bumblebee had already seen them. The younger bot wondered if they were for Optimus or for someone else, but he didn’t dare ask, only listening to his leader talk. “I learned that unlike some other organic planets, on earth, it’s considered rude to pick plants if they’re in close proximity to someone’s home or in front of a public building or park unless they’re a specific type called weeds, which flowers aren’t, but I wanted to buy some for someone, so I came here to pick them up after asking Sari about it. Are you gift buying, too?”

“Well, yeah, I guess you could say that,” Bumblebee looked away and held his forearm in one servo, anxiously shifting his weight between his stabilizing servos. It felt like him and Optimus Prime had reached into the cookie jar and caught each other. 

Bumblebee didn’t dare ask who the flowers were for even though he was dying to know in fear that Optimus would ask who he was at the gift shop for in return. An uncomfortable silence fell onto them momentarily, both of them quiet and staring at each other with the noise of traffic and the bustling Detroit citizens walking on the pavement who kept passing by to keep them company.

“I’ve been doing some reading since Sari’s birthday is in a few months,” Optimus tried to continue the conversation and cleared his throat. “The customs for gift giving can involve about anything when it comes to human girls, but the most common are flowers, books, chocolates, jewelry, clothing, video games, or gifts of practicality, which just seem to be hygiene products and things they can use in their daily lives. Gift cards and vouchers with money on them are also common, but considered less personable, so I wouldn’t go that route if you’re close with the one you’re buying for unless they specifically ask for it.”

“Oh... I gotcha. Good ideas, bossbot!” Bumblebee smiled again, the corners of his lip-plates sore from how forced it was due to his nerves.

What if Optimus had figured it out? That would defeat the whole point of his plan; buy you nice things and leave them at your door in the middle of the night without his name attached. It was simple and easy, but if Optimus knew before he even got to try it?

Well. That made it a lot harder.

Thankfully, though, Optimus gave him a nod and bid him a good afternoon, then walked away.

Bumblebee found himself letting out a sigh of relief.

Thank Primus...

...Hours later, Bumblebee regretted all of his life decisions. He was sitting, holed up in his room with one audial pressed up against your wall. It was a terrible habit of his, but he eavesdropped on you pretty frequently when he heard bits and pieces of you talking through the wall, and he was doing it right now.

He wasn’t sure how he had expected it to go, but when he dropped the bouquet of yellow roses at your bedroom doorstep when you were out for lunch and no one was in the halls, he had hoped that you would simply take the flowers, appreciate them, and never say another word. However, you were currently telling Sari about it, which made sense considering that the young girl dropped by your room often and asked you to do her hair or makeup as an excuse to spend time with you- you were an adult, a lot older than Sari, but the two of you got along very well considering that you were the only one who actually knew how to take care of her properly when Isaac Sumdac wasn’t around.

“I have no idea!” You exclaimed, no doubt in reference to the flowers. Bumblebee cringed. What if Sari made the connection that the money he had borrowed from her was for that? What if she told everyone, or what if you told everyone, and Prime realized why he was at that gift shop and let his secret slip? “I can only assume it was you or one of the guys, but like... I don’t know who.”

“Yeah, I have no idea! It wasn’t me, I would’ve just given ‘em to you. We should dig deeper, (y/n)!”

Oh. Oh, Primus, no. 

“I’m not sure, Sari, whoever it was probably dropped it off like that for a reason,” Bumblebee heard you sigh, and at the same time, he let out a sigh of relief. Maybe you would just forget about it and-

“Wait! Do you have a secret admirer!?”

Dammit. Maybe not.

“I... Highly doubt that, the only one I’d be interested in anyways is-” You started, and then cut yourself off in a way that made Bumblebee’s spark shatter and crumble into little pieces inside his chassis. You were single, but you were already into someone? What if it wasn’t him? He’d understand, of course- Prime was stronger, Prowl was smooth, Bulkhead was talented, and Ratchet was intelligent. Compared to them, he felt like he didn’t have much to offer you. Everyone around him was amazing, and he was just there, but... He loved you, and he wanted you to know how loved you were. So, whether you’d love him back or not, he’d keep giving everything he had to you; even if the way in which he went about it was indirect. “Actually, never mind, but your braids are done-”

“No, wait, you can’t just gloss past that!” Sari whined. Bee almost didn’t want to hear the rest of your discussion, but he couldn’t keep himself from listening. “Who is it, who is it!?

“Let’s just go play Animal Crossing in the living room, we can talk about all of that at a later date, yeah?” You offered, voice laced with both your amusement and confusion. 

“Fine, fine, but you have to tell me soon! Pinky promise.”

“Fine, pinky promise. Now let’s go.”

Bumblebee heard your door open and close, followed by what he presumed to be you and Sari’s footsteps in the hallway. The sound eventually dissipated.

The Autobot was left to lay back on his berth and stare at the ceiling with a huff.

You were telling others about the gift he left, trying to get to the bottom of it, and you were into someone or somebot he didn’t even know about.

What had he gotten himself into?

-

The second time, he felt a little better about it. It was a week later and he hadn’t heard any discussion of the subject amongst the other Autobots, so he assumed nothing had come from it.

But, as he lounged on the living room couch, he jumped upon you sitting down on the couch’s arm- right by where his head was laid.

It made sense that he had been jumpier around you over the past few days. Part of it was the usual I’m-in-love-with-you-and-super-tense-about-it jumpiness that he had become accustomed to, but it was made worse by the fact that he was guilty; guilty of keeping a secret from you, of indirectly lying to you. He could’ve done it the one time with the roses and let it die down after, but when you’d talked about your old game controller breaking the night before at the dinner table, he hadn’t been able to help himself- he went and got it along with a new bouquet of yellow roses, left it in front of your room later that night, knocked, and ran away.

It was the next day, and understandably, he’d been anxious about it. It was better than the first time, but he was just hoping you wouldn’t talk about it.

Of course, he was never that lucky, and you looked at him with the controller literally in your hands. 

“Hey, Bee, do you know anything about this?” You asked.

Had he been caught? Did you know? Or were you just trying to get information from him in case he knew something? Unsure, he decided to play it safe and act oblivious. 

“Huh? What’s that?”

“I’m taking that as a no, but someone left this new controller on my doorstep with a bouquet of roses? I needed a new one, but I only mentioned it to you and the others, so I think it’s one of you guys... But this is the second time I’ve received a gift without any name on it and I’m really confused. I’ve done some asking around, but the only one who seems to know anything is Optimus, and he won’t give me any hints and insists that he has no idea what I’m talking about.”

Great. So, Optimus probably realized why Bumblebee had been at the gift shop last week. Well... From what you said, it sounded like Optimus was at least decent enough to stay out of his business and keep the secret for him- or try to, at least. 

“Yeah? That’s weird, I don’t really know why he’d be like that about it... Wanna play Streetfighter?”

“Sure, but I’m just super confused, man,” You muttered, turning on the playstation and giving a frustrated huff. The game quickly turned on, and while Bee took the old controller, you connected your brand new one and chose your stage, your character being Akuma. Bee chose Ken to fight with and listened to you continue as the game started. “I thought the first time might’ve just been a one-off thing, but it’s happened again, and the flowers were one thing, but now it’s flowers and a new controller. Anyone else would be creeped out, and I’m not creeped out- more flattered than anything since I know it’s from you or one of the other Autobots- but this is really expensive... I’d at least like to be able to say thank you!”

“That makes sense, I think I’d feel the same way,” The black and yellow bot mumbled. The game had hardly started and he was already losing due to his inability to focus- it was so bad that he couldn’t even combat you when you crowded his character into the corner and kicked him over and over and over again. His health bar dropped to zero, signaling that you’d won round one.

Round two started, and he did a little better; actually jumping away from your cornering attempts and offering some blasts and punches, but by the time it ended, he’d only gotten you down to half health, and you were delivering your final blow. Ken fell to the ground, Akuma still standing. 

You didn’t even press replay despite being player one. No, instead, you let out a huff and stared at the ceiling. Bumblebee found himself resting his helm against your thigh without thinking, enjoying the warmth against his faceplates. You two were best friends, very comfortable with each other and with physical affection, so you didn’t mind it, only running a gentle hand over one of his audials in return. 

Both of you set your controllers down. It was obvious that both of you were so focused on the subject of your anonymous gifts that the game didn’t catch either of your interests like it usually would. 

“I might try to ask Optimus about it again tomorrow... Information extraction,” You joked, but Bumblebee quickly sat up and objected. 

“Wait, I don’t think that’s such a good idea!”

“Huh? Why not? He’s the only one who’s given me so much as a reaction,” You argued and stood up to turn the game system off, then started pacing around the room. “And I guess his eyes getting all wide ‘n stuff may have just been something else, but like... It’s all I’ve got to go on.”

“Yeah, but you know how the bossbot is,” Bee stood as well, trying his hardest not to look like he was in the midst of blowing a circuit from the panic that was currently taking over his processor. “He shuts down when you push him too hard. If he knows anything about it, you gotta wait for him to come to you with that sweet info.”

“You’re probably right, Bee, thanks for the advice,” You smiled, and then walked to him to put a hand on his shoulder plate. “I’m gonna go to bed, ‘kay? Goodnight.”

You looked into his optics, and oh Primus, he was gone; your eyes were such a beautiful shade of (e/c), and your smile was so beautiful, and you were so beautiful, and he was so in love-

Quickly, he realized that he was taking too long to respond, so he quickly stammered something out.

“G-Goodnight...” 

And then, you left, swiftly turning and walking out of the living room.

Bumblebee found himself letting out a sigh of relief, but at the same time, he missed you desperately.

He wished he’d given you a hug goodnight.

And, as he stood alone in the dark living room, he thought back to how exactly he’d ended up in his current predicament; painfully in love with a human, giving them things without having the courage to do it face-to-face, life feeling like it was falling apart with every hour that passed without him being able to kiss you and tell you how much he loved you like he so desperately wanted to. 

He’d loved you from the very start, and as bold as he was, he couldn’t bring himself to tell you- he was just too scared, but...

What if this was what finally gave it away...?

-

The third time was what ended up blowing his cover. He should’ve left it alone, and he had told himself that after the last time- it was far too close of a call when you talked about Optimus knowing something, and he was so obvious with his own emotions during that, too... He wouldn’t do it again.

But then, he was shopping with Sari that day and saw a (f/c) hoodie that was just your size and style, and he decided you had to had it. So, when Sari was distracted at a different store, he got the hoodie, along with a new notebook, some pens, and a stuffed bee. He bought the gifts for you and put them in a nice gift bag with some paper, then left them by your door and disappeared before anyone could see him. 

He was sitting in the living room yet again. It was late at night, and though him and his team had spent most of that night playing board games and catching up with a movie playing in the background, they’d all went to bed hours ago, leaving him to think by himself.

He’d lost at every game; Uno, Monopoly, Candyland, Sorry, Cards Against Humanity, and Scrabble, all because he was staring at you the entire time. 

Why couldn’t he just get over himself and confess already? It was selfish to keep hiding from you, because what if the one you’d mentioned being interested in was actually him? And even if it wasn’t him, was it fair for you to think that he saw you as a friend when he was secretly in love with you? Was it fair for you to keep receiving gifts and never knowing who they were from? 

Speak of the devil, though- the second Bumblebee looked up from where he was standing in the middle of the room, you were leaning against the doorway, wearing the hoodie he’d bought you and a pair of pajama shorts. You looked sleepy with your (h/l) (h/c) hair a mess and your soft hands rubbing the bleariness out of your (e/c) eyes. 

“Bee?” You mumbled.

“(y/n), where’d you just come from? You look tired! You okay?”

“Yeah, I’m tired, but I’m fine. I was in the hallway, kinda waiting for everyone else to go to bed so I could talk to you, but... It took me a minute to come in here.” Bumblebee walked towards you and raised his optical ridge. His spark sank to the floor because oh Primus, was this it? Was it finally happening?

“Oh, uh... Why do you need to talk to me alone? What’s up?”

You averted your gaze and gently grabbed one of his servos with your hand, holding it tightly. Bumblebee took a sharp intake. You were about to start talking, and he wasn’t sure he was ready for it. 

“I know it’s you,” You confessed with a guilty smile. Bumblebee froze in place and cringed. “I feel bad, but my curiosity was killing me, so I asked around some more and did a lot of prying- Optimus seemed like he was hiding something when I talked to him about it, so I pried until he gave up and told me that he suspected it was you; that he’d seen you at a gift shop the day I got the first bouquet, that he’d seen you lingering in the hallways the past few times I’ve gotten something, etcetera. He gave me enough details that I pieced it together, so... Yeah.”

“Well, at least it’s out of the way,” Bumblebee laughed out loud, and surprisingly, you smiled back at him. This wasn’t how he wanted it to come out, but he wasn’t sure it would have come out at all if not for this. “Getting human money without a real job is hard! Glad I could at least confess without having to do it so much that I went bankrupt.”

“Bee...” You started again, peering up at him, but he felt like he wasn’t ready for what was going to happen next. Were you about to reject him? He wasn’t sure he wanted to find out. 

“Well, now that that’s done, I’m gonna go ahead and go to bed! I could use a really good recharge right about now-”

“Bee-” You cut him off with a pout and gripped his servo, obviously not done, but he only continued in hopes that you would give it up and let him escape the situation. 

“Goodnight, (y/n)-”

“Bee!” You yelled and pulled him towards you by his wrist so you could get in his face. “For God’s sake, man, stop and listen to me talk for a second!”

“Okay, okay! I’m sorry! I just-” He tossed his hands up defensively, ready to spill his circuits out, only for you to cut him off.

“You don’t think I love you back, right? You’re such a dolt!” You exclaimed. 

“What’s that supposed to mean!?” Bumblebee yelled back at you, processor only catching the insult before he thought back on ‘I love you back’ and froze. “...Oh. Sorry.”

“I mean I’ve loved you for months now! Even before I realized it, I think I would’ve been more than open to dating you at any point in time, I mean... You’re pretty great. Why didn’t you just tell me?”

“Well, uh-” Bumblebee stopped and took in a deep intake, then sighed and linked your fingers with his digits so he could hold your hand properly. The anxiety that had been building up over you for so long now was finally leaving his body and being replaced by relief.“I don’t know. I feel kinda stupid now.”

“C’mere,” You mumbled and wrapped an arm around him. He hugged you back, taking you into his arms and resting his chin on top of your head... He could get used to that. You were warm and soft as you relaxed your body against his and allowed yourself to be held. You let go of his servo in favor of curling your hands and arms up by his chest. “Thank you for the gifts. They were really sweet and I loved them all, so... I’ll be sure to return the favor.”

“Return the favor? This is more than enough to return the favor!” He grinned, only hugging you tighter. “I’ve always wanted to just, like, hug you like this-”

“You can kiss me, too, if you want,” You offered, which had him pulling back to look down at you, spark lit aflame. 

“Really?” Bumblebee asked, just to be sure.

“Of course.”

There was a moment of silence; hesitance from both ends. It was true that, while both of you had been physically affectionate as friends, you’d never kissed, and Bumblebee had certainly never kissed a human. He’d been waiting for this moment for so long, but he had no idea what to do now that it was actually happening. 

Thankfully, you took the initiative and wrapped your arms over his shoulders, hands on the back of his neck. You looked up at him one more time before standing on your tip-toes so you could gently press your lips against his. Bumblebee was frozen still for a moment as he processed your warm, soft lips against his cool metal plating, but after the tension faded, he found himself resting his servos on your hips and melted into it. 

One kiss turned into many; again, again, and again, you moved your lips against his in a manner so intoxicating that he couldn’t get enough of it.

Eventually, though, you pulled away and smiled up at him, but now that he had gotten to kiss you like that, he couldn’t help but want more. 

“I, uh... I’m not sure the favor has been returned yet,” Bumblebee averted his optics from your eyes, able to feel his spark beating faster. “I might need one more kiss just to be sure-”

You chuckled, cutting him off by leaning up again and sloppily pushing your lips against his- and, with that, he was gone.

[definitely-not-karen]

My unnecessary and irrelevant reviews about the transformers media I have consumed.

Please let me have this. I was doom scrolling and transformers is my comfort fandom.

G1: I have not watched all of it, I do plan on doing so but I did watch it when I was younger and does invoke nostolgia. I watched it on Teletoon Retro (does that even exist anymore?) ((just googled it, rip teletoon retro)). For some reason I really like the episode The Ultimate Weapon. I am a huge fan of First Aid and it was because of this episode and I have no idea why. Rodimus is the main character of that episode with First Aid just having a very prominent role in the side story of that episode. I really liked the Aerialbots and their storyline with the time traveling and the not knowing if they’re on the right side was really cool. Honestly the animation errors and weird inconsistent story are part of the charm I guess.

RID 2001: another show I’ve only seen tidbits of. I watched this one via random episodes illegally uploaded to YouTube in the early to mid 2010s and now all those videos are taken down. As a lover of camp, this is camp. I love it. Transformers as a concept is pretty camp (which is why I adore it) and I definitely will watch all of this one day. Though Sideburn is cool and all, I do wish he didn’t chase a red sports car every episode. Otherwise he’s one of my favourites cause himbo rights I guess.

Transformers IDW 2005: So... I read the entirety of the idw comics purely because I found out Thundercracker was a screenplay writer and I wanted to read the entire story so I got the complete context of his development from scary fighter jet to an Oscar winner. I was not disappointed, I was met with queer and trans representation of all sorts, a diverse storyline with action filled parts, comedy elements, slice of life, political drama, adventure, horror, and the best road trip through space. Honestly I was not expecting transformers of all things to have queerness represented so casually and quite well in my opinion (though technically they are guilty of bury your gays, I don’t count it cause there was a clear reason for that death) Thundercracker was marked as one of my favourites cause of this series. I did experience a wonderful story because I wanted to see how he got his happy ending. My biggest criticism of idw transformers is that I love their interpretations of characters and sadly I know I’ll probably never get to seen them like that again. But if I want to experience those characters like that, I’ll just re read it I guess.

Transformers Animated: I have watched the entirety of this great show twice and it still love it. Funny characters, a human character that has a purpose, and a fun change to the formula, Transformers Animated has one of my favourite Optimus and made a Bumblebee so lovably loud they had to take away his voice so he wouldn’t become too powerful. Loved all of the characters except the human villains, Headmaster did not age well and I wasn’t in love with Ratchet’s design but his personality more than made up for it. If you want more animated, I love Transformers ReAnimated the void is filled by that series and channel. While I wish it got another season, it’s ending was satisfying enough I guess.

Transformers Prime: Smokescreen is great and was underutilizes -100/10. Just kidding, kind of I really enjoyed Prime. I’ve only watched through it completely once cause when I was a child I did not like the designs since apparently as a child I was a G1 loyalist I guess. Though now Prime has one of my favourite styles that still holds up today. Dramatic story with actual character development, I can over look that the plots a tad slow. I wish Breakdown was utilized more and it also could have benefited from an extra season but the movie wrapped it up much better than animated’s ending. Knockout is an amazing character and I was spoiled while I was watching it that he turns Autobot though I didn’t realize that wasn’t until the literal end of the series. Would’ve like a completely fleshed out Breakdown and Knockout or at least Knockout redemption arc but there’s always fanfiction I guess.

Robots in Disguise 2015: I didn’t hate it? It definitely helped that I watched this before Prime for some reason. I liked the designs, Sideswipe... himbo rights. Biggest flaw is the lack of character growth. I just want nice things for Sideswipe, Strongarm and Fixit. Grimlock was fun, I like Bumblebee trying to be a good leader and Optimus should have stayed dead. The crossover and referenced to Rescue Bots was fun and Blurr and Sideswipe was the rivalry I didn’t know I needed. But the one I really needed was Smokescreen in there too. The ending arc was interesting though not executed the best and Steeljaw did a lot of the heavy lifting for the villain side to a point where they over utilized him and his character suffered as a result. Windblade was not as bad as people online said she was, splitting the group up into two was stupid cause I’m bitter and still don’t want Optimus there. Also long list of underutilization: Denny and Russel Clay, Jazz, all the characters from prime except Optimus and Bee, Jetfire and Jetstorm, More Rescue bots, and many more! Like that girl that’s Russel’s friend that I literally don’t remember because I’m pretty sure the writers forgot about her! Anyways, in retrospect the show probably wasn’t great but I liked it I guess.

Rescue Bots: This show is way better than it needed to be. I actually love the no Decelticons and war. I’m a sucker for slice of life and especially slice of life with a twist. Human villains that were actually interesting, actual character development, continuity (somewhat), great human characters all while being target for children. I’m so happy I watched this show while I was kind of the target age and rewatching it for the third time was great cause some of the science jargon actually made sense to me. Satisfying ending too and honestly it can just appeal to everyone. Love all four of the main rescue bots and constantly wish they made evergreen designs and toys for them so they could at least make cameos in other transformers media. Sometimes it’s nice to have transformers being wholesome I guess.

Rescue Bots Academy: ... I was not the age democratic for this show and I somehow still liked it? Maybe it’s the fact that I’ve been gravitating to more wholesome content due to current events but it was actually good? Love all the students, I do miss the old crew and characters like Doc Green and Frankie are under utilized and the Burns family is almost nowhere to be found :(. Once again there’s some actual character development and Hot Shot’s mentor relationship with Heatwave is super sweet. Also actually having positive post war Decepticon and Autobot relationships in this children’s show? Woah. Biggest issue is like RID 2015; the lack of continuity and characters completely disappearing. Perceptor was fun and I was not expecting him to appear. And I love me some microscope dude. It was a good send off for the aligned continuity I guess.

Cyberverse: ending too soon. I was about to be upset that bumblebee didn’t have his voice but he had his voice in his head which was great. Episodes like the velocitron one was really good and it definitely got better with each season and peaked in the Quintesson arc and then rolled to the cancellation date. Thundercracker shouldn’t have been killed off but I’m very biased. Seeing the rebuilding of Cybertron was cool. Windblade and Bumblebee had a fun relationship. I really liked this iteration of Grimlock. Perceptor was super interesting but then they did nothing with him after the Quintesson arc which was a shame and I would have liked to see better relationships between the Autobots and Decepticons after the team up. Also wholesome Whirl was fun. Honestly this needed one more season so bad. I just think it could have been great if it got one. But it’s still good I guess.

War for Cybertron: ...let’s see how I feel after Kingdom comes out but right now, meh. For me my favourite transformers characters usually end up being side characters due to me wishing they had more screen time so in this case, Red Alert is great please show me more of Red Alert. I get what all the people are saying about the voice acting and whatever but I can look past it (though please give us Peter Cullen or let the current VC make his own Optimus voice). But one thing is that all the YouTube reviewers be saying that I completely agree with is that it’s dark. Like lighting wise. I occasionally had trouble making out what was happening because it was dark. Honestly my biggest issue isn’t a fault of the show. I like development of multiple characters to be shown so I can fall in love with a multitude of characters but due to short seasons, it makes sense to focus in completely on one character at a time. Siege in my opinion at least let me see more of the background characters rather than Earthrise but I’d probably like Earthwise more if I was a bigger fan of Optimus. I’m going to watch Kingdom but I’m not expecting to be wowed I guess.

In conclusion, I should watch Beast Wars, I’m going to re read the ending of Lost Light again and revel in the melancholic ending I adore and I really like Thundercracker and First Aid. One great thing about transformers and other franchises that have been around for awhile, if you don’t like the current thing, there’s plenty of last media and you probably won’t need to wait too long for the next piece of media you’ll hopefully like.

Please be good idw 2019, I’ve read a bit of you and I have a scrap of hope. Oh please please please be good. Give some characters the Thundercracker treatment.

[imababblekat]

Imagine Blitzwing’s Sparkling Being Found On The Elite Guardian Ship

(A/N: I hope this came out okay! Feels kinda different from how I’d normally write >-<*)

Previous

~

Just as it had happened the first time, the same mysterious sparkling that had showed up out of no where in the back of Optimus trailer, has randomly shown up once again, only this time on the Elite Guardian ship. Optimus and his team were standing on the brig, the former having another argument with his stubborn ex friend Sentinel, when two of his teammates came rushing in with gleaming faces. No one knew what had gotten into the twins, but the moment Jetstorm unfurled his arms, Team Optimus took a huge step back, frames tense and at the ready for the unpredictable nature of the oh so small sparkling before them. Sentiel laughed loudly at the over dramatic display of Optimus and his team, walking over to the twins who had all focus on the tiny servos patting Jetstorms cheeks.

“What’s gotten into you Optimus? I always took you as someone who liked children.”, he teased, making a head nod towards Sari who wasted no time in flipping him the bird.

“You have no idea what this sparkling is capable of.”, Ratchet cut in while also lightly scolding Sari for her behavior, even if the other Prime deserved it.

“It’s a sparkling! What is it going to do? Beep me to death?”, Sentinel scoffed.

“No, but it will scream you to death!”

Sentinel simply rolled his optics, as his own team gathered around the sparkling to coo. The little one only had curiosity, seemingly unware of the others who they had caused much trouble. Glancing up as Jazz wiggled his finger before them, they tried desperately to grab for it with no success.

“I don’t know about being screamed to death, but I might die from they’re cuteness.”, Jazz smiled widely. “Who’s sparkling is it anyways?”

At this, the other Autobots could not answer, just as completely clueless and curious as the Guardsmen.

“Well I thought they might be Blurrs!”, Bumblebee suggested which earned him a shocked expression from the fast talker.

“Why in all of Cybertron would you think that?!”

“Well, they’re super fast, and I mean super fast!”

“Not a single one of us were able to catch them when they began to run rampant. Sari would have been a pancake if I didn’t shield her in time!”, Bulkhead explained, servo extended out to his small friend who also agreed with a fast head nod.

“What’s a pancake?”, Sentinel leaned over to whisper ask Optimus who only pushed him away.

Optimus let out a groan, pinching the metal between his knitted optic ridges in irritation.

“Look, we don’t have the slightest clue to who’s sparkling this is. What we do know is this sparkling is much more than a handful, and that we should keep a careful, close optic on them.”

All attention was taken by Prowl as he let out a hum, now beside Jazz and peering down at the sparkling who eyed him with a glint to their wide optics.

“I don’t think Blurr would be their carrier or sire anyways. Look.”, he directed with observant optics.

As told, everyone had turned their gazes to the smaller Cybertronian, Ratchet being the local medic, stepped forward to take a closer inspection of his own. His glaring optics widened, intake opening to release a shocked gasp.

“What is it Ratchet?”, Optimus curiously questioned, stepping up beside his team member.

“Well,” Ratchet began, pointing to the back of the sparkling,” This sparkling is in the development stage of it’s altmode. Due to their speedy nature, one would think they’d develop to take on the form of a race car, or some sort of ground vehicle at least. However, see these two bumps right here. The protoform mold doesn’t shape this way to hold wheels if they were a car or even a truck. It only forms this way if they’re a flier. These are wing stubs!”

The whole brig lit up with the sounds of gasp and shocked expression, though the worst one had to be the ships captain.

“What do you mean a flier? Flier’s are strictly Decepticons.”, Sentinel scowled.

“Um, we’re fliers!”, Jetfire interjected with a raised servo.

His leader groaned, slapping his own metal hand over his face.

“And how is it you think you two got to be fliers.”

Before either jet twin could say anything, Prowl stepped between Sentinel and the gargling sparkling.

“What’s the problem Sentinel?”, he questioned, but anyone near by could detect the sharpness in his tone.

Ignoring the ninja bots protective stance, Sentinel turned to Optimus and Ratchet.

“If the sparkling is in fact a flier as you say they are, then that means their creator or sire is a Decepticon.”

“So what? You’re going to arrest a baby?”, Ratchet snapped at him.

“Sentinel,” Optimus cut in, pulling the other Prime aside.

“Maybe they are a flier, but that doesn’t mean their parent is a Decepticon. It’s a known fact that not all sparklings develop the same altmodes as their creators or sires. It’s rare yeah, but even still. How can you be so sure that this sparkling’s parents are Decepticons? And even if they were what are you going to do about it?”

 After the last line fell from his lips, Optimus immediately wished they hadn’t. Sentinel’s optics narrowed, filling with that look Optimus knew all to well and he quickly tried to move before him.

“Sentinel-“

“I’ll tell you what I’m going to do.”, Sentiel cut him off, shoving him aside and marching towards the young spark who innocently looked in his direction.

Prowl rushed towards him, intent on stopping the larger mech before getting anywhere near his target, but the later easily threw him at the wall with a swift swing of his shield. Before anyone could do much else, Sentinel ripped the child from Jetstorms arms, eliciting a loud cry from the frightened sparkling. Ratchet’s earlier quip about being screamed to death came into play, the sparklings sharp cries evolving into an unbearable shrieking that soon had everyone falling to their knees and covering their audials. Try as he might, Sentinel couldn’t hold out for long and soon dropped the sparkling in favor of covering up his own audials. Once they hit the hard floor of the ship, the sparkling’s screams died and they quickly rolled off their back and did something entirely unexpected.

Their pedes, something that had not been developed the first time Optimus and his team had encountered them, folded back and transformed into treads, aiding them in a quick escape out the brigs doors and into the many halls of the Elite Guardian ship. Recovering from the deathly sounds brought upon their hearing, the gathered Autobots stood and helped the few who had trouble, all staring in utter confusion and shock after where the sparkling had disappeared.

“I thought you said they were a flier! Explain to me why they have treads!”, Sentinel snapped, jabbing his finger at Ratchet who fiercely swatted it away.

“I might be old, but my optics are still better then yours ever will be! I know what I saw on their back!”

“Then why do they have treads?!”, Sentinel repeated.

As the two’s bickering turned into lowed shouting with their respective teammates trying to calm and hold the other back, the only non sentient metal being in the room was struck with a revelation. Sari’s eyes were wide, her mind distant as she mumbled something to low for anyone to hear. Optimus who had been closer to her noticed her say something and knelt down.

“Sari, what did you say?”, he asked.

The younger girl looked up, eyes urgent and terrified as she repeated.

“We have to find that sparkling. Now!”

Optimus, knowing of the urgency to find the sparkling agreed with her, but he couldn’t understand why Sari had seemed to have fear. His concern was answered when the ship they were in began to shake, the sounds of what appeared to be thunder roar from the ground as though there was an earthquake.

“What the hell was that?!”, Sentinel snapped, already fuming from his verbal fight with Ratchet to deal with anything more.

Blurr sped over to the monitor, pressing buttons at the speed of light before the large screen lit up only to not show the ruin of an earthquake, but something much more terrifying.

“Peekaboo! Now where’s my liebling?!”, Blitzwing cackled, his Random persona bearing a promised death from the glare added to his crazed and unpredictable smile.

~xXx~

[transformers-extrication]

Hot Rod/Rodimus Prime for @pterobat!

Hot Rod

Is that punk kid who talks over you but waits until you get mad and accuse him of not listening to quote back things you’ve said, word for word.

Hangs with Arcee, Blurr and occasionally Springer most.

Will charge down the highway at high speeds blasting 80’s synth and glam rock.

Doesn’t like sitting still or long speeches.

Tends to charge in before thinking or listening to the entire action plan.

He’s better thinking on his feet and doing anyway.

Doesn’t always work out for him but he’s better at it.

Likes pulling sick tricks on his hoverboard.

His almost wing-like spoiler does move a little in his robot mode when emoting.

May or may not have tried to hit on Arcee and took a bit too long to notice she wasn’t interested like that.

Would be lying if he said he wasn’t metaphorically bricking it when he ended up inside Unicron.

He does lie and claims he wasn’t.

He also *totally* didn’t become sorta traumatised upon going through Unicron’s innards and seeing his core. That being said he’s okay with death now.

Rodimus Prime

Was a kid with little responsibilities and now suddenly he’s in charge of a war. Help.

Knows Ultra Magnus and Kup are trying to help but it’s not quite the right help for him.

Felt disconnected from the role and his former friends for a long time and spent more time dissociating.

Probably also didn’t help there was a good long year of no Decepticon activity.

Will Galvatron stop calling him “Runt” already?

What do you mean it’s actually a sorta-friendly nickname? Why does my ‘nemesis’ have a ‘friendly’ nickname for me anyway?

Actually has a more placid relationship with his own nemesis than Optimus did with Megatron. Which is extra weird given Galvatron is more successful than Megatron.

Every success built his confidence in himself up a step. Every failure knocked it back down five.

Still trying his best.

Is it okay to nap for a thousand years?

Feels a bit jealous that he was “replaced” by Wheelie as the humans “main” friend. Also feels stupid for feeling that way.

Snuck off to Junkion once to have a binge-watch of a tv program he liked before Magnus found him and brought him back home.

Feels guilty for being Optimus’s replacement when he’s so ‘feeble’

Actually had more than one chance to kill Galvatron but it was only because he’s blacked out mid-fight due to a seizure or lost focus. He already felt guilty about being a bad replacement to Optimus he didn’t also want to be “that guy” who only beat the Decepticon leader by taking advantage of health issues.

Did the Cybertronian equivalent of calling Kup “dad” rather than “teacher/mentor/friend” Kup thought it was hilarious and assured him he wasn’t the first and won’t be the last to do so.

Hold on, it took Devastator AND fire from Decepticon weaponry to tear through Autobot City’s armour, but Galvatron tore through it by himself with no weaponry…. How the fuck did I survive being “choked” by him…

Only took a couple near-death experiences to get the hang of things, don’t worry guys he knows what he’s doing now!

I’m a great leader! I’m stylish, I’m with the younger bots, I’m on the pulse! I can totally do this!

Oh, Optimus is back? Cool.

Post-Prime Hot Rod

Acted totally happy to be free of the responsibility.

Actually super peeved that the moment he actually started getting his bearings and easing into the role it was slipped out from under him.

Gets pissy when people try bringing it up with him, he’s “free of being Prime” now, can’t they all buzz off?.

During the ceasefire be bumped into Galvatron at an intergalactic flea market and felt like it was an out-of-body experience when his former enemy bid him a good morning and carried on like they hadn’t tried killing each other before in the past.

Mmmm depression bouts.

Took more to extreme sports.

No Swoop I’m not running away from my problems since when did you and everyone else suddenly turn into psychiatrists?

Tries being that “cool guy™”.

Really, where is my life going at this point?

Oh god, what do you mean Galvatron has incurable brain damage because I threw him into a plasma pit? I didn’t know it was there! Oh god, all of that was all my fault oh god.

Galvatron pointing at Roddy: "That's him, that's my dumb little bastard son, I love him"

[firebirdtransam68]

Are The Names In Anime Originally Japanese Or English?  It All Depends On What You Grew Up With

I am making this post to explain what I have observed from the English-speaking community.

We know many people really like anime, right?  We grew up with shows like Pokemon, Yu-Gi-Oh, Sonic X, Digimon Adventures, the Transformers Unicron Trilogy, and for much older fans, Voltron, Robotech, Star Blazers, and Battle Of The Planets.  The only thing is, these shows, originally in the Japanese language, were dubbed in English because many marketers didn’t think people in America, Canada, or any other English-speaking country would enjoy a foreign show, even if it had English subtitles.  The only problem is, many anime shows targeted to younger fans (mainly children) were heavily censored and the dialogue was changed to make it more family-friendly.  The upside is, if companies like World Events Productions and 4Kids Entertainment did not dub the shows, we wouldn’t be able to access the original shows with English subtitles, and we can fully understand how Japanese media differ from American, Canadian, or English media.

Anyway, I remember when I was younger watching bits and pieces of Robotech (a mesh of the Super Dimension Fortress Macross trilogy) with my father, who had it on VHS.  Then I remember watching a few episodes and movies of Pokemon a little later after I witnessed Robotech.  I also remember going to a now-defunct video store where Sonic X was playing (before I even knew the Sonic The Hedgehog franchise).  They all shared one thing in common; they were all in the English language.  And as I have seen the shows, I noticed at times the mouths do not match the dialogue; and I never understood why the animation was different from media like Disney, Don Bluth, or the Loony Tunes.

I did not know what anime really is until I was in middle school and high school.  I didn’t even understand the ‘fetish’ of such design.  That is, until I witnessed a few girls watching the original Sailor Moon anime in English subtitles.  As I viewed a few scenes, I noticed the characters’ mouths matched the language being spoken; and the tone was more serious and less silly like most Western cartoon shows.  Not to mention, most characters look more realistic, such as having five fingers instead of four.

And then I got curious with original Japanese anime shows (back in the olden days, anime was called Japanimation, and later was respectfully called anime), and I came across a mecha show called Beast King Golion (the original show for Voltron: Defender Of The Universe).  I watched a few episodes with English subtitles, and I noticed how dark it was compared to American children’s shows (they show blood, death, real-life situations that adults can understand, and they swear too, usually saying words like “hell,” “damn,” “crap,” “bastard,” “bitch,” and the occasional “s**t”).  Then I saw Voltron, and I noticed how much the dub changed the whole plot of the anime; violence was toned down, hardly any blood on screen, no swear words, somewhat poor voice acting with a few exceptions, and even the characters’ names were different.  The only good qualities I see in Voltron was, of course, the name of the titular mech, and the kickass soundtrack of the 1980′s.

Later, as I look up different anime clips with English subtitles, I wondered if the characters speak English in the original version; and sure enough, there were clips that showed just that (it was awesome, funny, and bizarre; or even both or all three at the same time).  What took me by surprise is that there was a Sonic X clip where Sonic occasionally throws in English in the original language.  I didn’t even KNOW there was a Sonic The Hedgehog anime, and that threw me off in a good way.  I started watching a few episodes with English subtitles, and then compared them to the English dubbed episodes; the original is the winner!  And that was how I became a Sonic The Hedgehog fan, along with the Shadow The Hedgehog (2005) and the Sonic ‘06 games.

And then, interestingly, I discovered Pocket Monsters (the original Pokemon series) when I was browsing for more anime.  I noticed how the main character, Ash Ketchum, had a different name, Satoshi, but they were the same character; they just happened to have different names in different languages.  I was used to the name Ash, but I gradually started to like the name Satoshi even more, because it is the original show in its original language.

I have been a fan of Transformers ever since I watched the live action films by Michael Bay.  It isn’t until The Transformers (1984-1987) and The Transformers: The Movie (1986) in which I started to like the Generation One (G1) Transformers because they originated in the 1980′s (which I really like, even though I wasn’t existent yet back in the day).  I have many characters I like; my favorite Autobot is Ironhide, who was a black truck in the 2007 live action film, and a red van in the G1 version.  Both of these incarnations share similar traits; Ironhide is just an awesome robot, he is trigger-happy (especially in the live action film), has a deep and gruff voice, is funny at times, is stubborn on a few things, and simply makes me smile; and in the live-action film’s case, my father owns a truck, and one of my favorite colors is black (just like KITT from the 1982 show, Knight Rider).  I was disheartened by his death by the traitorous Sentinel Prime in Dark Of The Moon (2011), and at the hands of Megatron in the 1986 movie.  And my favorite Decepticon is Starscream; who doesn’t love a backstabbing fighter jet anyways?

Now, I am sure you are probably asking, “what does this have to do with anime?”  Well, I had the realization many months ago that Transformers Armada, Energon, and Cybertron (which all make up the Unicron Trilogy) were all anime series; so I looked each of them up in AnimeNewsNetwork, starting with Armada.  (I wanted to check out the shows because I heard from many fans how this incarnation of Starscream subverts the traitorous role, and how he was the most likeable Decepticon in the whole series)  The site shows the Japanese cast first, since it is the original language, and I was happy to see that Ironhide was there, as well.  But, when I looked at the English cast, I couldn’t see the name anywhere.  Interestingly, the Japanese credits called Optimus Prime Convoy, so maybe in Armada, this particular Autobot was not called Ironhide.  And sure enough, when I started watching the show in English subtitles (the original is called Micron Legend), I was mostly right.  What took me by surprise is that this Ironhide was not an old Autobot like many traditional Ironhides from the G1 and the Bayformers films, but a young Decepticon missile tank.  Starscream is not the only Transformer to subvert the original roles of past incarnations.  Apparently, this is the only Transformers continuation where Ironhide is a Decepticon.  However, he shared many traits with his G1 counterpart as well; he is tough like how he should be, is funny (and surprisingly cute, not very many Ironhides is that lovable like this one), is stubborn some of the times, has a deep gruff voice, is trigger-happy (especially if you piss him off or cross Megatron in front of him), and instantly became a likable Transformer because of those traits; and he had probably the saddest death in the whole Unicron trilogy when I started watching Energon (originally called Superlink).  I was disappointed when Megatron (now called Galvatron) put his abandoned spark into a new, and unattractive, body, and called him Irontread (didn’t stop me from watching the whole anime series because as I watched it futher, it shared many similarities with The Transformers: The Movie, particularly Unicron’s design, and the green helicopter we know as Springer (Japan calls him Sprung; not sure why...); the only thing missing in Superlink is “The Touch”).  Next to Starscream, Ironhide is my favorite Transformer in the whole Unicron Trilogy.  And what was his English dubbed name in Armada?  Demolishor.

Ever since I watched these shows, I started to like them so much, maybe even more so than G1; probably because the Transformers had many human traits (for instance, they grunt and groan in pain more times than G1; oh and some of them actually cry, mainly younger Transformers like Ironhide in Micron Legend and Wing Dagger in Superlink), and was the first time I see them with teeth and different colored optics, instead of the traditional blue and red for the Autobots and Decepticons, respectively.

I notice many Trans-fans know many characters in the Unicron Trilogy by their English names because that was what they grew up with, or were used to seeing.  And whenever someone points out the original names, they would interject, saying something like “its X, not Y!”  (For example, “it’s Jetfire, not Skyfire!”)  However, there are people like me who will point out what the original names are without trying to denigrate mainstream fans.  Then again, I, too, get a little frustrated whenever a fan doesn’t call a character by their original name.  But, if all else fails, I just let them call a character whatever they want to call them, because I cannot change their minds if they are absolutely certain of what the character’s name is, even if it is not their original name.

Then again, even the Japanese dub of the original Transformers shows and movies changed the names of certain characters because they believed it was cooler, easier to pronounce, or they didn’t like the name for some reason.  For example, Optimus Prime was called Convoy, Sideswipe was called Lambor, Bumblebee was called Bumble, Devastator was called Devastor, Shockwave was called Lazerwave, Lazerbeak was called Condor, and Springer was called Sprung.  (And Autobots and Decepticons were called Cybertrons and Destrons, respectively, and the planet Cybertron was called Seibertron.)  In Micron Legend and Superlink, such names were the characters’ original names in the show.

Here are some characters in Micron Legend with their original and dubbed names (the rest not listed kept their names):

- Convoy = Optimus Prime

- Ratchet = Red Alert

- Hot Rod = Hot Shot

- Devastator = Scavenger

- Grap (possibly Grapple?) = Smokescreen/Hoist

- Ironhide = Demolishor

- Sandstorm = Cyclonus

- Silverbolt = Blurr (who is nothing like G1 Blurr at all)

- Doubleface = Sideways

- Wheelie = High Wire

- Bank = Grindor

- Arcee = Sureshock

- Bumble(bee) = Perceptor

- Shockwave = Tidal Wave

- Rampage = Wheeljack

- Stepper = Sideswipe

- Scourge = Nemesis Prime (Scourge’s name was not mentioned in Micron Legend, but that is what was confirmed in AnimeNewsNetwork and other anime sites)

- Megatron (Super Mode) = Galvatron

- Grid = Swindle

- Search = Blackout

- Barrel = Leader-1

- Prime = Sparkplug

- Alexa = Alexis

- Jim = Fred

- Amphitrite = not even given a name!

Here are the characters in Superlink, along with a few characters from Micron Legend (Armada):

- Grand Convoy = Optimus Prime

- Skyfire = Jetfire (I don’t know what happened to Jetfire and Hot Rod from Micron Legend; maybe they were reformatted without further explanation, replaced with newer characters, or the creators fixed Jetfire’s name to Skyfire and Hot Rod was so damaged that he had to be reformatted and was called Hot Shot, or according to some sites, matured into Hot Shot)

- Inferno V = Roadblock

- Roadbuster = Ironhide (who looked and acted nothing like the Ironhide I am so familiar with; is very unlikeable, compared to Roadbuster, who IS more likeable; and it is quite amusing to see two Ironhides fighting each other in Episode 10, with the one speaking English and the one speaking Japanese; there must be a crack fic about this somewhere...)

- Rodimus Convoy = Rodimus Prime (he was called Rodimus Convoy in the Japanese dub of G1)

- Red Alert = Prowl

- Airglide = Skyblast

- Blastarm = Strongarm

- Ariel = Arcee

- Springer = Bulkhead

- Overdrive = Cliffjumper

- Wheeljack = Downshift

- Galvatron (before recoloration) = Megatron (in Superlink, he explicitly said, “call me Galvatron-sama,” and he looked like his G1 counterpart as well)

- Nightscream = Starscream (since Starscream was killed by Unicron in Micron Legend after he used up all his energy from his spark, which is presumed destroyed.  Yeah, sadly, Starscream never came back in Superlink; although Nightscream looks a lot like G1 Starscream even more than Armada Starscream)

- Mega-Zarak = Scorponok (G1 Scorponok’s Japanese dub name was Mega-Zarak; not sure why the creators called him that, though...)

- Sandstorm/Snowstorm = Cyclonus/Snow Cat

- Ironhide/Irontread = Demolishor/still Demolishor (what, no cooler name like Devastator, Basher, Groundcrusher or Destructor for his new body?)

- Shockwave/Shockfleet = Tidal Wave/Mirage

- Lazerwave = the real Shockwave (in Energon, he is called Shockblast, which I think is silly, so I will call him Lazerwave for Superlink’s sake)

- Buildron = Constructicon Maximus (note that Buildron is the Japanese dub name for Constructicon in G1)

- Bruticus = Bruticus Maximus

- Superion = Superion Maximus

- Superion’s brother = Dauntless Maximus (I will call him Dauntless)

- Alexa = Alexis

I have not seen Galaxy Force as often as Micron Legend and Superlink, but I will list a few characters that I can remember with the sub and dub names respectively:

- Galaxy Convoy = Optimus Prime

- Dreadrock = Jetfire

- Guardshell = Landmine

- Demolishor = Mudflap

- Sonic Bomber = Wing Saber

- First Aid = Red Alert

- Nitro Convoy (male) = Override (female)

- Exillion = Hot Shot

- Chromia = Thunderblast (yes, Chromia, usually an Autobot’s name, is a Decepticon in Galaxy Force)

- Noisemaze = Sideways

- Metroplex = Megalo Convoy (I don’t really know his name; that is what I got from some sources when I was trying to find out what this Transformer’s name was)

Anyways, since I saw the original versions, it can be really difficult for me to refer them to the English dubbed names so many fans can understand what I am saying.  I am sure others feel the same way as well.

Well, that is all I will be saying so far.  I will post more blogs, pictures, and memes when I have the time.

This is FirebirdTransAm68 signing out.

[allspark]

Shooting first and asking questions later in the Allspark Studios today is none other than Autobot Vanguard and ever reluctant leader, Rodimus Prime!  Does he have the touch to light the darkest hour brighter than his undead (whoops, spoilers) predecessor, Optimus?  Follow along after the jump to find out!

Hot Rod and Rodimus were two characters I could identify with as a kid, and still do some to this day.  Hot Rod was a brash know it all (I may still be), and Rodimus was a reluctant leader whose position was a heavy burden (as it should be).  The aspects of their personalities that most found annoying definitely connected with me, so when I had a chance to get the G1 toys, it was a no brainer.  I was a little amazed and a little disappointed at the time.  I was just getting back into G1 after a long and passionate love affair with everything Beast Wars (Machines, II, Neo, etc), and they lacked a lot of the things I was looking for in a toy.  It was nostalgia tinged with what could have been.  I wanted better toys.

  Years later, and multiple Rodimuses…er, Rodimii…,umm Rodimus Prime figures in the bins and we still had not gotten a truly great one…or really one at all.  When I saw Power of the Primes Rodimus Prime online for the first time, my eyes shot open with amazement.  I had to have that toy.  You can imagine the disappointment I was setting myself up for here, but this story has a happy ending similar to POTP Optimus Prime’s.  After some initial frustration, I love what we have in POTP Rodimus Prime, and I know you will too.

Editor’s note: There are a couple of steps in the transformation process that gave me some trouble.  I am going to highlight them in order to hopefully help you avoid that stress.  Or stressed plastic.  I make no guarantees, and I am not responsible for anything you do with your toys, but these suggestions worked for me.

  Cybertronian Car Mode

One of the best things about 86 Movie and Post 86 Movie product was that Hasbro and Takara really just went crazy with the ideas.  Futuristic elements such as Cybertronian vehicle modes and off the wall concepts like Pretenders were my cup of tea, even more so than the original 84-85 cast of characters and designs.  We had already seen some Cybertronian vehicles in the cartoon, so getting Hot Rod was a big deal.

This version is pretty faithful to the original figure.  Actually, I take that back.  This is a definite improvement, as the POTP race car mode is sleeker than that of the G1 figure, much more like the cartoon look.  He does not sport any chrome, but the silver paint is nice.  His wheels are a solid black, and while I know that will disappoint many of you, go get a Molotow acrylic chrome pen and get to work.  The pens are so good you almost can’t mess things up, so don’t worry if like me, your painting skills are not the best.  One last detail that I really love is the spoiler.  It is so spot on to the cartoon model that I almost smile.  Really, all in all, that is what you are getting with POTP Hot Rod in car mode: the G1 cartoon model.

Transformation notes: The front of the vehicle and the back have small things to watch out for during transformation.  The front of the car where the robot shoulders peg in can be difficult to pop out.  I have found that pulling the end with the wheel on it out first, then easing the other side off the tab seems to help.  The back of the vehicle where the legs peg in to the spoiler area need to be hooked into place.  Slide them around the tab on the center of the spoiler first, then up into the outer tabs.  Reverse this process to unpeg them.

    Battle Winnebago Mode

I love the idea of a Battle Winnebago.  It’s just so ludicrous, even more so when the “cab” is formed from a race car.  POTP Rodimus does not disappoint here either.  He’s kinda business in the back, party up front, making him either a seedy club, or a reverse mullet.

Anyhow, he again follows the cartoon model fairly close, though having the cab form from the Hot Rod car makes him a little sleeker than he was depicted on screen.  He has more of the plain black wheels here, brighter orange on the lower sides of the trailer than he originally had, and his flame decal runs higher on the trailer than before.  He still pulls off the look well, so any changes are easily forgiven.

Transformation notes: I kept doing two things wrong that really made me not like Rodimus in car mode at first.  One of them was getting the upper part of the trailer formed.  Honestly, just use the instructions.  That was my error.  That part is formed by the Rodimus forearms, and it will take getting the connectors to slide into the top at just the right angle, but be patient, follow the instructions, and then take it apart and do it again so you will remember how.  The other issue in transformation that I had was that I was intent on getting the top of the race car to tab into trailer’s faux spoiler.  It popped out every time, or made other pieces pop out.  You don’t need to connect the top of the car to the trailer spoiler.  Just use the tabs on the back of the car (robot knees) and the tabs on the front of the trailer that connect to the car pipes.  That will work just fine.

  Hot Rod Mode

Like Optimus, I needed Hot Rod to be perfect, which was never going to happen.  I have had them both for a few days now, and I decided to hold off writing this review until I was truly happy with the toy for what it is.  This Hot Rod is a nice, super G1 Hot Rod that is a good amalgamation of toy and cartoon.  What I love about the figure are the proportions on everything but the arms, the design of the head, and the decent poseability.  This is a great figure.

I have to admit, there are a few things I do not like:

The robot arms are too thin and more like the original toy than the character model

The arms have less articulation in some planes of movement (upward shoulder area being the worst)

The head can only twist laterally, not look up or down

Initially these things really disappointed me.  Then I put the toy down and came back to him two days later and realized that while the above mentioned design elements bug me, this is still a great figure, with good articulation, that pulls off a look I did not have on my shelf.  I found the love for this toy.

Transformation notes: Just remember the warnings I made above in the race car section and you will be fine, until you get to Rodimus Prime Mode

  Rodimus Prime Mode

This is the best Rodimus Prime figure ever.  It’s damn near perfect, though it deviates from the established meshing of G1 toy and cartoon model because honestly, something was going to have to give at some point.  I do not mind, as Hasbro and Takara have given us a true Prime.  Rodimus is tall, built like a mammoth, and armed to the robo-teeth.  Gone is the slender look he had in his previous life, as this version of him truly elevates him to something that looks like the power of the Primes and the Matrix of Leadership flow through his circuits.  I think I love this mode enough to say that I will likely use Legends Targetmaster Hot Rod as my Hot Rod, and this toy will remain in Prime mode on my shelf.

  Beyond the amazing look, there are a couple of things to note that may or may not be to your liking:

He has a bit of backpack kibble. I think it balances out his look, but I can see people not being happy about it.

The head can only twist laterally, not look up or down. This is less forgivable on a leader class figure than a deluxe or even a voyager.

Shoulder articulation is…awkward.

The matrix is not easy to get to like with Optimus.  You have to pop him open to get to it, instead of opening some panels.

Like Optimus, there were also what I would call QC issues with Rodimus:

The knees are not very tight, and he can fall over from his own weight in some poses.

The heels are also very loose and do not support his weight well.

The stickers on the trailer have already started to tear from transformation, as the flames are located on a hinge.

Transformation notes: When going from Hot Rod to Rodimus, the forearms are formed from the front of the trailer.  Be careful when attaching them or detaching them from the backs of Hot Rod’s knees.  Like the leg/spoiler issue, they have to be hooked.  In Rodimus Mode, the hooked piece is on the Hot Rod knee, pointing inward towards the body.  Pulling in that direction first, clearing that hook, then popping out the super tight clamps on the outer part of the arm, will get them off.  Hooking over that part, then pushing down on the clamps will get the arm piece on.

  Overall Thoughts

Power of the Primes Rodimus Prime is another figure that embodies amalgamation of opposites.  The young and inexperienced soldier becomes the seasoned vanguard warrior, and melds many elements of both the G1 toys and character models along the way.  This figure, also like Optimus, was one of my greatest wants in an update, and while he let me down in some areas as well, he still has so much going for him that I have to say I am ultimately pleased.  This is a fun toy, that will lead my Autobot battalions on a new shelf where Optimus hasn’t yet returned from the dead.  There are a few reservations with giving this figure to younger fans.  You may have to walk them through some of the steps first, until they get the hang of things, lest you end up with a sad youngster and the impulse to hunt down another copy.

I judge this Rodimus a solid 9/10!  He’s a mostly unchewed energon stick, sure to please the discerning Junkion or Sharkticon in your household!

Power of the Primes Rodimus Prime Gallery and Review! Shooting first and asking questions later in the Allspark Studios today is none other than Autobot Vanguard and ever reluctant leader, Rodimus Prime! 

[satireknight]

TMNT S02E01 - Return of the Shredder

I’m gonna get this out of the way now: the rest of the 1987 series is not as beautifully animated as the first five episodes, and the stories don’t tend to have many arcs or other such things that I tended to praise in the first season. But I’m not gonna bitch about those things, because it’s the norm and shouldn’t constantly be negatively judged by the highest points. 

Anyway, this episode opens an unspecified amount of time after the last one, with Michelangelo and Leonardo shopping for groceries and squabbling about what toppings they’re buying.

I know we’re meant to suspend our disbelief about nobody on the planet being able to notice what they look like under their trenchcoats, but... come on.

Just then somebody robs the checkout counter, so they decide to intervene, and.... why is Leonardo wearing a jacket under his coat?

The one part of his body he decides to hide... is the one part nobody can see anyway because of the coat? I just don’t get it.

Anyway, they whip the robbers using grocery products (a lot of them) and tie them up with a store sign, and are allowed to leave with a free shopping cart full of groceries. I think the store might want the cart back, though. They’re remarkably expensive.

It must be a slow day, because April is covering a thwarted robbery at a grocery store. 

This episode also solidifies the supporting cast at Channel 6, by introducing April’s receptionist friend Irma, who is kind of dim and man-hungry; April’s douchebag boss Burne, who is a douchebag who lets his way-younger girlfriend influence his news work; and Vernon, who turns from just kinda sleazy to a full-on oily misogynist prick.

We then switch back to the Technodrome in Dimension X, where Shredder has donned his Whiny Little Bitch Hat and has apparently been pestering Krang to send him back to Earth about half as hard as Krang pestered him for a body. So Krang sends him back, apparently just to get some peace and quiet.

And Splinter apparently gets a premonition about this while the Turtles are busy infodumping each other about stuff they already know. You know, as people are wont to do.

Is it just me, or does that strapping look like it’s coming loose?

Anyway, Shredder gets kinda pissed off when he comes back, first because he was inconvenienced by some muggers, and secondly because he doesn’t have a small army of followers there to back him up. Krang’s attitude is that he can have some backup if he actually manages to accomplish something like killing his enemies. I assume Krang is going to spend his infinite time taking over something in his own dimension.

“Of course, I’m in the Big Apple.” I sometimes wonder if anyplace else exists in this series, to be honest.

Apparently that armor is made out of adamantium too, if a single punch can severe a branch as thick as a man’s torso.

So he does what any respectable villain would do: heads to a crappy run-down martial-arts dojo filled with flabby white guys who couldn’t throw a good punch with a catapult. The most notable thing about it is that the schmuck in charge is voiced by none other than Optimus Prime. I’m not even kidding.

And they highlight what wusses they are by immediately joining him when he destroys a punching bag. Imagine if Megatron had done that.

So in the course of maybe an afternoon, Shredder has managed to whip all the losers into semi-competent martial artists... which really highlights that his talents are wasted as a supervillain. Hell, if he just got enough disaffected people together for a few weeks, he could train an actual army.

And his brilliant scheme? He’s going to have them dress up in Turtle-themed T-shirts and paper bag masks, and have them commit crimes in order to wreck the Turtles’ good name.

I gotta say, this is a step down in writing. I guess if wearing a trenchcoat can disguise every single part of your body, from the shape to the color, then it’s not too implausible that all these incredibly nearsighted people would be incapable of telling actual turtles apart from guys in T-shirts.

But it’s really just such a silly idea for a villain to come up with, especially when the whole idea is “they’ll have to surface to clear their name, despite having spent their whole lives up to this point in hiding.” Even the voice of Peter Cullen can’t make this whole scheme seem anything but silly.

And I think Krang agrees with me, because he just yells, “You call that a plan?” and tells Shredder to stop calling him until he’s actually done something. I like to think he’s prepping for a planetary invasion or something interesting like that, and he’s annoyed that Shredder is constantly pestering him.

So Shredder decides to get some quality help... at the nuthouse. No, seriously.

And now suddenly I’m having visions of a Monty Python skit involving a lot of overacting.

So yes, he’s come there to break out Baxter Stockman, who has apparently been wearing the same clothes for quite some time now. Why? Because if at first you completely fail to kill a giant rat, try try again... using the same designer. So Baxter latches onto the first piece of construction equipment he sees and plans to rework it.

“... not a rat in this city will be safe!” Um, technically that was also what was supposed to be true of your Mousers, and just look what happened there.

April is also stressing out because of the robbers masquerading as the Turtles, which pretty much everybody is assuming are the actual Turtles because... people are kinda stupid. And instead of just making a copy of the tape and bringing it to the Turtles, she insists that they come to the Channel 6 building... and risk getting caught by hostile people. She didn’t think this through, I think.

Then again, they decided to bring their giant blimp with the word “Turtles” on the side. Apparently they aren’t that worried about being seen.

And even though the video only has one guy doing a single martial-arts move (kicking open a door), Leonardo is able to discern the guy’s fighting style instantly, figuring out that Shredder must have taught him. Because apparently the Foot Clan has only two members.

And then they’re chased out by the shrill voice of Burne’s girlfriend, which can double as a torture device.

“And what exactly are you doing here?” “Tell her, snookums...” Um... did the show just imply that Burne is having sex with his girlfriend at work? Talk about getting crap past the radar!

And for the second time in as many weeks, Splinter is chased down by chompy robots made by Baxter Stockman. He must be having so much deja vu.

I’m starting to wonder if they keep repairing these walls between episodes. Also, this means that Baxter knows where they live... even though Shredder spends most of the series trying to figure that out. Oops.

The Turtles obviously notice that something smashed down the wall and kidnapped their sensei, so they follow the trail and... end up in a hole barely big enough to crawl through.

I’m going to guess and say that that was not where the construction equipment came up.

But oh no, Peter Cullen and the Pasty Guys are waiting for them there... and it’s not the most suspenseful fight in the world, because I think we can guess which team is going to be triumphant: the super-strong ninjas, or the schmucks who literally only learned to fight the previous day.

One thing that becomes more obvious is that there was probably some censorship issues that came up with the series, because the fights are a lot less weapon-based and brutal, and more about using otherwise-harmless surroundings to disarm and immobilize. Like sofa springs or tires.

Leonardo seems oddly cheerful.

“He left you a message... right there.” Yes, he left you a message on a large easily-seen wall, which somehow none of you saw before.

So Shredder, having finally gotten ahold of the guy he’s spent years trying to murder, decides to outright murder him before the Turtles even show up. Nah, I’m kidding. He goes Bond villain and arranges Splinter in an easily-thwarted, overly-elaborate death trap.

And now I’m having traumatic Dennis McKiernan flashbacks. Also, where did he even find a giant fist-shaped battering ram?

I’m also not confident that the Turtles couldn’t stop it, considering what we’ve seen them do before. I mean, Donatello tore the side off a van with his bare hands with little visible effort. Are we really gonna assume that the four of them couldn’t do something about this?

But then Baxter busts in for... some reason. I think he just wants to show off his construction-equipment invention. 

Also, he seems to have gone round the bend a little. I guess living in the loony bin will do that for you.

Fortunately for Splinter, the battering ram takes several seconds to actually move forward, so the Leonardo is able to free him pretty quickly because... he has swords. And the ratcatching machine gets smashed instead.

And Shredder does something that will soon become very familiar to anyone who sees this series: he loudly proclaims that sure, they’ve won, but he’s totally going to kill them some other day, followed by him scampering off into the distance with his bruised ego.

So the Turtles head home... the compromised home that Baxter apparently knows the location of. April turns up and is apparently confident that some incredibly crappy dojo being destroyed is a wonderful story. No, I’m not sure how. But her report does highlight that the criminal “Turtles” are some schmucks in costumes, which pisses off Burne’s girlfriend.

And if we need further proof that the Turtles are starved for any kind of feminine attention, they start debating over which one of them April was winking at on the news.

Seriously, they need to actually make the acquaintance of more than one woman.

And then she says, “If you must know, I was winking at... Splinter.”

Wait... does that mean she can see them through the TV set? Or are they just so predictable that she knows how they’ll react to any kind of positive attention, and she had the camera people just keep filming her staring blankly for several seconds before she said that?

Look at Splinter’s smile. He’s loving it.

Verdict:

So, obviously this episode was a step down on all accounts compared to the first season, but even taken on average from the rest of the series, it’s pretty mediocre. Mostly that’s because so much time is spent on the Crooked Ninja Turtle Gang, who are basically disposable mooks that Shredder openly admits aren’t actually more than a distraction. And yes, it irks me that Baxter found their lair, but there’s no real consequences for it.

And in case you’re wondering, no, Peter Cullen doesn’t really add anything except me wishing that Optimus Prime would show up.

It does set up something of the model for how the series would unfold after this, with Shredder developing schemes and plans that would never work the way he intended, and usually being sent scuttling away by the end of the episode. Not to mention the Turtles being more public figures that are recognizable by most people, and the dynamic created at Channel 6. 

I do love Krang’s approach to everything in this episode, repeatedly telling Shredder that he can fuck off and stop bothering him. He really doesn’t have any reason to help out if you think about it - he’s gotten back to his home dimension, which he was banished from, and he has all the technology and resources on his side. 

It’s not profoundly bad or anything, but it has a distinct lack of good. 

Grade: C

[rosakai]

When they had arrived at the abandoned Decepticon camp in Africa, only five of the dozens of Hatchlings the Decepticons had been keeping there were still alive.  Those five had been spared from sharing the same fate as the others when the Autobots had rescued them, and now, all five of them had grown into happy, healthy Sparklings.  Of the five, only four currently lived with their caretakers on base-Fireflight, First Aid, Beachcomber, and Trailbreaker, as they had been named.  The fifth, Blaster, lived with Bumblebee, who, in turn, lived with Sam. 

———————

More finished DOTBS art, yay! 

For those of you who don’t know, DOTBS stands for Day of the Black Sun, a Transformers fic I’ve been working on.  It’s an AU that shows what happens after Dark of the Moon in a timeline where humanity DIDN’T turn against the Autobots after the battle of Chicago.  So nope, no Age of Extinction or The Last Knight events/character deaths here!   In-between the writing sessions I’ve been doing on the next chapter (I AM working on it, don’t worry, progress has just been somewhat slow. But it is coming, I promise!) I’ve been trying to get the designs for the characters down so that when I begin to properly illustrate the story I have plenty of references to go by. I decided to do the Sparklings first! I already had full designs for Trailbreaker, Fireflight, and Blaster, but none for Beachcomber and his brother First Aid.  I based their designs and color schemes on their G1 counterparts, though of course simplified A LOT because they are still Sparklings and therefore only have simple basic armor as they’re all too young to take on alt modes yet.  I haven’t done full body designs for Beachcomber and First Aid still, but now they have their main looks facewise, at least. I also tweaked Trailbreaker and Fireflight’s design a bit-mainly their colors.  Trailbreaker is now maroon and navy blue, and Fireflight’s red isn’t as bright as it used to be.  Blaster’s the only one whose design remained the same color-wise.  That bright red just suits his cheerful personality too well for me to change it to something less intense.

Anyway, I also have their character bios done!  Actually, I had them done for a while but never shared them for some reason.  But here they are now:

Trailbreaker-Trailbreaker is the oldest and biggest of the Sparklings.  As befitting his name, Trailbreaker is the most outgoing of the group.  As he is so young, he is unaware of his own strength, and he sometimes gets too rowdy in his play without meaning to, but Trailbreaker is typically a good Sparkling; he is very friendly and looks after his friends the best he can at his young age.  He seems to have taken the role of being the unofficial leader of the Sparklings.  Trailbreaker usually has a serious, solemn attitude, but will break into excited chatter and beaming smiles when he is happy. Trailbreaker’s caretaker is Optimus Prime.

Beachcomber-Beachcomber is the second oldest, and has the calmest personality of all the Sparklings.  He is a very laidback, easygoing Sparkling and prefers to just sit and quietly observe his surroundings than rambunctiously play like most of the other Sparklings.  All nature, especially animals, completely fascinates him, and he loves to watch nature television programs. Beachcomber’s caretaker is Ratchet and his little brother is First Aid.  He is very close to his younger brother.

First Aid-First Aid is normally quiet and observant, but if he sees something that interests him he will chatter away about it and try to figure out what it is. He has an excellent memory and is a fast learner, but he is very shy around most of the older Autobots, and can be extremely timid at times.  First Aid rarely speaks to anyone outside his friends and immediate family, with Bumblebee and Red Alert, and later Scattershot, being exceptions. First Aid’s caretaker is Ratchet and his big brother is Beachcomber.  He is very close to his older brother.

Fireflight-Fireflight is the only Sparkling with the Seeker protoform style, with his wings just beginning to form on his back.  As befitting his function, he has a strong desire to fly, and he is the most rambunctious of the Sparklings-if there’s mischief he’s always in the middle of it and usually the cause of it.  Fireflight’s eagerness to learn how to fly can sometimes get him in trouble, as he tends to climb to high areas and attempt to jump off.  Fireflight’s caretaker is Sideswipe, and Silverbolt is his flight instructor-or will be, once he is old enough to start actually learning how to fly.

Blaster-Blaster is the smallest and youngest of the rescued Sparklings, but he is also the loudest.  Blaster is usually a cheerful little ball of energy, though he turns extremely clingy when upset or around someone he doesn’t know, and he gets scared very easily.  Blaster is fascinated by human music. While Blaster is far younger than the other Sparklings, he is also vastly undersized for his age, being more around the size of a human toddler than a Cybertronian Sparkling.  Fortunately, Blaster doesn’t even take notice of his small size and is able to keep pace with his older, bigger friends just fine.  Blaster’s caretaker is Bumblebee. Aren’t they all just so adorable that you want to give each of them a great big hug?

Although, you’d probably have to ask their caretakers first…they’re SUPER PROTECTIVE of their babies.

[racingtoaredlight]

RTARL goes to the cineplex to see the movie FOR CHARITY! and watches Transformers: The Last Knight, an official RTARL movie review blog post (with spoilers)

Is Marky Mark the titular last knight? Yes, Marky Mark is the last knight.

I went to see Transformers: The Last Knight for some kind of fundraiser thing but let’s be honest here - I was going to pay for it anyway. I can thank my friend for giving me a better excuse than just really liking dumb shit about giant monsters and robots from outer space but I really, really like dumb shit about giant monsters and robots from outer space. This is why movies exist. As for the movie itself it is a loud, obnoxious, borderline racist, confused, confusing, unfunny, train wreck of a movie with product placement and toy selling so obvious it made the whole theater laugh AND it is by far the best one of these movies so far. Even with the strange twists it takes with the “canon” of Transformers lore. Like, stuff that could have just been given a new name not to piss off purists was just given old names for the sake of not having to think up a couple of new letters. This is the artistic genius of Michael Bay.

The movie is split into two parts: the beginning and the ending. Each takes roughly an hour and fifteen minutes which means, yes, this is the shortest Transformers movie in years. For a series that’s on its fifth entry it’s kind of amazing how long it takes to establish the characters and the stakes but things really don’t start happening for probably an hour. I’m exaggerating to say there’s no middle to the movie but it is slight.

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Characters show up in that awesome overly familiar way where your wondering, “who is that?” but everybody on screen is treating them like a beloved icon. Jerrod Carmichael is in this movie, I love him! Every time he showed up and said some kids party level jokes I couldn’t help thinking, “I hope Jerrod Carmichael makes millions for this.” Anthony Hopkins is in a lot of the advertising so I knew to expect him but if you thought the material was beneath him I’ll be happy to tell you that he’s playing a senile old man from England and his doddering is part of the humor. So we’re not just laughing with him, we’re laughing at him. I guess that’s actually not great for him. Marky Mark is back! He’s from Texas! His daughter is gone because of college which is still a thing that people are doing even as the world has been ripped to shreds by giant robots from outer space and the attempts to eradicate said giant robots from outer space. She’s been replaced by a much younger latinx daughter figure who Mark Mark of Texas pulls from the rubble in Chicago and calls her J-Lo. They have an argument about her leaving that I’m pretty sure doubles back on itself to where Marky Mark of Texas started off telling her to leave and ends with him telling her to stay. They live in a junk yard that’s a hiding place for Autobots. The college bit also comes up because the Megan Fox looking lady from the trailers who is actually not Megan Fox is an Oxford professor with a laundry list of credentials. Oddly, outside of this movie I don’t think she actually looks like Megan Fox, either. In any case, she’s super educated and British. Hijinks ensue. Also, returning are Josh Duhamel, in his role as military guy we’re supposed to like for some reason, and Stanley Tucci, in a role unrealted to what he was in the last one. No shit, he’s playing Merlin the Magician. It’s amazing. Merlin is a drunken womanizer who has already pledged his life to the dark arts but he actually becomes a magician with the help of some Transformers friends.

The Transformers train the Knights of the Round Table and give them some magical gifts from Cybertron so that the knights can be honorable and righteous and a litany of other shit. What makes the Transformers side with King Arthur instead of the Saxons they’re fighting? It doesn’t matter. There are a bunch of old paintings and photographs from history that have Transformers in them. A Transformer was the watch that killed Hitler. They’ve been on Earth for thousands of years (it was millions in the last movie) and Cybertron has been dead for that whole time but, also, Cybertron is still out there and needs to co-opt Earth so that it can stay alive. Quintessa, the creator of all life on Cybertron, plucks Optimus Prime out of space and recruits him to get some staff that Merlin had that can make Earth an energy coupling thing that will complete the thing where Earth becomes Cybertron. If you’ve ever watched the classic cartoon The Transformers: The Movie, the Quintessons are in there but they didn’t create Cybertron and they aren’t gods. If that bit of stupid little Transformers canon changing doesn’t bother you SPOILER! Earth is actually Unicron! So the creator of Cybertron (something Prime, I can’t think of what. Sentinel maybe?) who is canonically supposed to be the good half that fights the bad half  that is Unicron is actually bad and wants to co-opt Earth and make Earth into a new Cybertron but Earth is already the evil Unicron. SPOILER! Unicron is supposed to be evil in this movie, too, even if they don’t really get around to actually saying that until the part at the end where they leave the door open for another sequel even though this is the final chapter. For a movie that is ending for half of its run-time I guess it makes total sense that they don’t quite get the concept of ending the series, either.

I’m trying to piece together the plot of the movie but I can’t really get it any clearer than what I have as the first spoiler. Here’s an attempt: The government wants to kill all Transformers but Josh Duhamel’s part of the government stops the other part of the government from killing the Autobots in Chicago, which is sealed off danger zone, then turns around and signs a deal with Megatron that will give Megatron a talisman that Marky Mark has and the Josh Duhamel part of the government will kill the Autobots in the process. Or, no, they’ll kill the Decepticons in the process. Optimus Prime flew off into space at the end of the last movie but now he’s just floating around in space frozen until he ends up falling onto Cybertron. There’s a weird Transformers version of Hellraiser that goes on for a minute and then Optimus agrees to everything Quintessa is saying and announces, “I am Nemesis Prime!” Back on Earth the Megan Fox looking British professor is getting nagged by the ladies in her family to find a man and then Mark Mark of Texas shows up. Wait, this is wrong, she was hanging around before that. Anthony Hopkins breaks into her car and talks to it and then his robot butler shows up. Shit, I have this all wrong.

Anyway, Amegan Fox gets in her car and it turns out to be Hot Rod (also from The Transformers: The Movie fame) who has a French accent now. Hot Rod has apparently been acting as her car all along but had never revealed himself. Did I mention there are baby Dinobots? I don’t think it had ever been established before that Transformers have growth cycles like animals on Earth but apparently they do. I guess that means they reproduce sexually but they can also just be created by touching the All-Spark and they can live forever but also can die of old age but can also come back to life from being dead of old age but they just die when they are killed in battle unless they are rebuilt. Megatron transforms into a plane now. I just remembered that.

Anthony Hopkins takes Marky Mark and his group of Transformers back to the ancient castle where Hopkins lives and he has Hot Rod bring the Unmegan Fox, too. She falls down a mountain and then they walk around talking about Transformers throughout history. Marky Mark is the last night but Notmegan is even more important because she’s related to Merlin so her DNA is actually tied to the staff thingy that Megatron has or wants or whatever. Only she can actually use the thing but every Transformer wants the staff so that they can use it. There’s an exciting phone conversation between Anthony Hopkins and John Turturro that ends with Anthony Hopkins tearing a page out of a book at the library. There’s a car chase or two. Then Hopkins, Marky Mark, and The Girl go to a submarine that she somehow controls. It’s not a Transformers submarine, it’s just a submarine that is dry docked as a museum. At some point, probably earlier than this, Stonehenge is announced as part of Unicron that’s important because... Also, Unicrons six horns (why are there six instead of just two?) are scattered around the globe because of plate tectonics.

Buster from Arrested Development is an important physicist for NASA. He stands in a room with an ever-evolving color palette and yells about mysticism versus physics. Everybody in this movie chooses to not believe things that are happening due to Transformers even though it’s been ten years now of seeing Transformers destroy the planet. Cybertron is barrelling towards the Earth and will destroy the planet. The moon gets shredded by Cybertron flying past it. Still, nobody believes much of anything except for Marky Mark of Texas who is doing his level best to be serious with some of the worst dialog ever written. Let’s go back to the sub chase, speaking of bad dialog, where Josh Duhamel sees a giant alien spaceship submerged and says out loud, “That’s a giant alien spaceship.” This movie is a classic.

Once they all get to the giant alien spaceship they find all of the old Transformers knights who want to kill The Other Megan Fox even though Marky Mark of Texas has the talisman they’re supposed to defend and she has the power to release the staff that guides them all. Then they’re friends because Nemesis Prime shows up. The knight Transformers combine to form a robotic Ghidorah. There’s an hour or so of people and robots sliding around and yelling things and Cybertron slowly taking over the planet but not really getting very far beyond the original push. There are giant metal slabs hanging in the sky over Earth but once the evil plot is stopped through whatever mechanism the staff being reclaimed causes the takeover to stop, the metal slabs never fall. Optimus Prime gives a speech and then a woman in a sari tells some guy that she can teach him how to kill Unicron. She’s a Transformer!

There’s a subplot about Bumblebee trying to get his original voice back but the part they have to give him his voice is female. Transformers are not at all trans-friendly, it turns out. Somehow he has his original voice for three seconds just to tell Nemesis Prime that he’s Optimus Primes oldest friend. That makes Nemesis Prime turn back into Optimus Prime which we know because he says, “I am Optimus Prime.” There is a sequence where Megatron is getting to choose which Decepticons that have been imprisoned get released and we get one minute character bios with name titles for six new Transformers. Every robot talks about kicking ass. There is a sequence set in Nazi Germany where Bumblebee leads Allied soldiers even though he landed on Earth in the first movie which was set in 2007. The secret order that Anthony Hopkins belongs to is called Witwiccan in a sly nod to the old TV shows, comics and first three movies in the series (Shia LaBoeuf played Sam Witwicky) and the character played by Laura Haddock (not Megan Fox) is related to Shia LaBoeuf but she is the last in her line. So I guess Shia died offscreen at some point. There is nothing bad about this movie.

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Official RTARL rating for Transformers: The Last Knight:

6 STARS OUT OF 100 STARS - A MODERN CLASSIC

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[fashionkibatain]

Originally published on Blockbuster movies releasing in summer 2017 written by Zahra Hassan on Zahra Hassan

Summer is a great time for big budget movies to hit the cinemas. The younger lot is having the summer break and would sure to go to cinemas to watch their favorite movies. Most of the parents would also take their annual leave with the kid’s vacation. So the summer movie releases has become a big deal and people look forward to summer, besides for other things, for great movies to release too. Many blockbuster movies are releasing in summers this year too.

Here we take look at some of them and inform our readers about what is in store for them for this summer so they can plan ahead and book their tickets in time. Many sequels are in line as well as some new franchises are making their debut at the big screens this summer. Plenty of action, comedy and drama all in store for us this summer. And of course summer is not complete without a dose of super heroes and this year there is not one or two but three super hero movies releasing one after the other. Animations, and live action all you can enjoy this summer.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2

Releasing on 5th May, 2017, the summer’s first big offering is the sequel to the blockbuster Guardians of the Galaxy. Once again the fate of the universe lies on the shoulders of the self-proclaimed Star Lord (Chris Pratt). As the trailer suggests Gamora (played by Zoe Saldana) and Star Lord are now more than just forced to work together, partners in crime. Finally we will know something about Peter Quill’s true parentage as we meet his father in this movie. Rocket, the sarcastic mercenary and bounty hunter, is back and along with him is what I think is the biggest attraction of this movie Baby Groot. The last movie was a big hit and it did leave a vast room for the sequel. Let’s see whether it lives up to the expectations or not.

Baywatch

The Baywatch movie releases on the 26th of May and features Dwayne The Rock Johnson and Zac Efron as lifeguards. Johnson stars as a man devoted to this job and his life centers on saving the lives of people on the beach. On the other hand Zac Effron stars as Matt Brody, a guy who has no respect for his work and is just interested in having a good time at the beach. The two of them hit off at the wrong end right from the beginning. However they are forced to put aside their differences to work together as a team to uncover a criminal plot that threatens to shut down the beach altogether. The movie also stars Bollywood beauty Priyanka Chopra (of Quantico fame) as Victoria Leeds, the main antagonist in the film. The movie is rated R and there is a lot of skin show as of course it is Baywatch movie. The director Seth Rogen has given us many comedies before, let’s see if Baywatch becomes a blockbuster movie and keeps the audience entertained or not.

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul

Summer is a great time to release movies for kids. In the long holidays kids are bound to get bored and parents would be more than willing to take the kids to theaters to keep them entertained. The wimpy kid series has been highly popular because of its near to real depiction of middle school life and challenges that young boys face during the adolescence and early teens. It is not in the blockbuster movies list but is quite good. Jeff Kenny’s comic timings is great and the hilarious situations that the protagonist Greg Hefley finds himself into, are enough to keep the audience entertained throughout the series.

In this new adventure, the family goes on a road trip to attend Meemaw’s 90th birthday celebrations. Sadly the cast has been changed completely. Of course Zachary Gordon who played the original Greg is now too big to reprise the role of a 5th grader, people are surely going to miss him and all the other original cast members. Whether the new cast can create the same magic as the original ones, remains to be seen.

Movies expected to be blockbuster this summer

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead men tell no tales

The final adventure in the Pirates of the Caribbean series, people will surely be thronging the cinemas just to see Johnny Depp reprising the beloved role of Captain Jack Sparrow for the very last time. This alone is enough to make this a blockbuster movie. Once again Jack Sparrow find himself in a peril, as the horrendous Captain Salazaar (played by Javier Bardem) is after the life of Jack Sparrow as well as every pirate that roams the seas. Jack needs the trident of Posiedon to save his life but in order to get it he has to form an unlikely alliance with an astronomer Carina (Kaya Scodelario) and a sailor from the Navy, Henry (Brendon Thwaites). The trailer looks promising. There is plenty of cool CGI. Although the last two Pirates of the Caribbean were not as good as the first three, this one being the last adventure may surpass all its predecessors.

Wonder woman

This year we are finally going to see DC world’s Wonder Woman on big screen. This trailer is by far the best among all the summer movies. Gal Gadot looks amazing as the wonder woman/ Diana prince. The movie looks fully action packed and Gadot shows some great action moves in the trailer. The cinematography also looks great and the scenic locations are an eye candy. Super hero movies, even if they are average do good at the box office. This one is all set to break records because it seems to be a better made super hero movie. It seems DC is finally about to create super hero franchise that is worth looking forward too. Chris Pine as Steve Trevor a US Air force pilot seems to have done a good job too but I really hope the main screen time is given to the wonder woman and Steve does not end up becoming her savior in the end. It releases in cinemas on 2nd June 17.

The Mummy

so this time The Mummy is hugely relying on Tom Cruise carizma to make the series work. It is not a sequel or a reboot of the original Mummy series. Infact it is a whole new story. The first half of the trailer shows some plane action. How does Tom cruise survive the plane crash, that will be answered after watching the movie. The similarity between the previous series and this one ends at the mummy rising from the dead. This time it is a female princess and she wanted something that was denied to her. This one does not look epic but will be a good one time watch. The mummy here does not look like a mummy but more like monster and the multiple pupils in the eye is downright creepy. Releasing on 9th June the movie stars Russell Crowe, Sofia Boutella along with Tom Cruise and if it is successful we are sure to see a lot of monster movies like this in future. It is a universal pictures production. If you liked the previous mummy movies, do give this one a try too.

Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie

Releasing on the same date as the Mummy, this one looks like a really fun movie. The captain underpants looks hilarious and lovable and we are sure to love his adventures. It is based on a reknowed book series of the same name by Dav Pilkay. This is the first adventure in the series. Two boys George Beard and Harold Hutchins have created their own comic book character Captain Underpants. They end up hypnotizing their extremely unfriendly and bad tempered principle into becoming captain underpants. What happen next remains to be seen but this one is must for those who are interested in having a good laugh. Of course parents with kids, do book your tickets for this one.

Cars 3

No matter how many cars movies Disney will produce, they would not lose their appeal. And this time the competition is tougher. Now our beloved Lightening Mcqueen faces competition with the new generation of cars. The new generation is stronger and faster and Mcqueen seems to be in trouble when facing such tough competitors.

Using the voice talents of Armie Hammer, Owen Wilson and Bonnie Hunt, this cars movie looks a promising one. Although the planes and trucks series could not become as great this series. Releasing on 16th June, even if the movie does not do well, the cars toys will give Disney millions of dollars in return so it is a win win situation for them.

Transformers: The last knight

The director David Bay returns with the Transformers series in the fifth instalment. Transformers the last knight. Here we witness that optimus prime has left the earth. Now humans and transformers are at war with each other. The earth is in a very bad shape and future looks bleak. Now let’s see what will bring optimus prime back and how the future will be saved. The story line may be weak like the last two movies but the CGI and transformer fans will make it a success once again. Frankly I still miss Shia Labeof and Megan Fox in this franchise. Mark Walberg is good but the rest of the cast is just forgettable. May be this movie needs a new young adult face instead of Walberg to make it better. Anyway not to offend any transformer fan, let us wait and see what this movie has to offer.

Despicable Me 3

Frankly this is the movie I am waiting for most anxiously. Whether it becomes a blockbuster or not, many people will find it to be their favorite summer movie. Gru and minions join forces in Despicable me 3. What more do you want. Here we see a new villain Balthazar Bratt. He was a child star and now he has hatched up a plan to rule over the world. The anti villain league has appointed Gru and Lucy to take care of him. Steve Carell, Kristen Wiig and Trey Parker have lend their voices to the movie. The movie will be a big hit banking on the success of the previous ones. Just wait for this one. It is releasing on 30th June. You all know what you would be doing on the 30th.

Spiderman: Homecoming

Another movie that is being highly anticipated and that is expected to be a blockbuster is, Spiderman: Homecoming is Tom Hollands Debut as the young peter Parker. Peter is trying to balance his school life with his web slinging activities when he comes face to face with a new villain, the vulture, played by Micheal Keaton. Robert Downy Jr makes an appearance here. This is the last movie of spiderman before he joins the Avengers. However it has been announced that after the avengers movie there will be a sequel to this spiderman. If you miss Andrew Garfield, brace yourself, you are going to see a lot of Tom Holland in the upcoming movies.

Dunkirk

It is a Christopher Nolan film so it is going to be huge blockbuster. The trailer looks great. Set in the back drop of World War II, it is a war drama with a strong plot line. The allied soldiers are surrounded by the German Army and are being evacuated. The cast includes Tom Hardy, Cillian Murphy, Kenneth Branagh, Mark Rylance, Harry Styles and James D’Arcy. Nolan has penned the script for this one himself too, and it’s set to be the biggest non-franchise movie of the summer. Whether you warm to his films or not, Nolan has not disappointed us in the past. We are hoping this will be a big winner.

This is our list of blockbuster movies releasing this summer. Which ones do you wish to see? Let us know in the comments section.

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