#i WILL NEVER forget that person getting mad at people calling out how starscream treated the rest of his trine

[cosmics-beings]

i feel like, in attempting to pin a single "ultimately guilty party" between starscream and megatron, people seem to miss that their story is one of the cycle of abuse. they both perpetrate violence that they were exposed to, as a result of or way to cope with their own trauma. this is a very real phenomenon. i still remember when i was about nine or ten and realized that my abuser's mother was also like that, and he was probably just repeating the way he was raised. its not an excuse for any parties involved. people can be both victims and perpetrators of abuse and neither role diminishes the other. their own abuse is still traumatizing, and the abuse they inflict on others is also still traumatizing. you cant pin one person in the cycle as "ultimately at fault" and absolve everyone else of guilt. people are more complicated than that.

also yeah i bet if nova and fem!skywarp were TC and masc!skywarp like in the og, people would be like nooo how can he treat his trine that way-- but people dont care about nova and fem!warp. they see starscream mistreating them and just shrug. fans have a problem with being unable to assign interiority to female characters unless guided there, so i suspect fans are just... not thinking about how that treatment would affect the girls. if it were a male character being mistreated they'd go "nooo he's gonna let that affect his self worth" or something but fans never really do this for female characters, they just take everything at face value. like oh she was kicked. huh. hey starscream is on screen again

I think ultimately, this is exactly what Earthspark is trying to do, I just don't really think the fandom caught that, which would be okay if there weren't a lot of harmful thoughts being perpetrated that skewed victims.

This is why, despite people being upset that Megatron has a redemption arc in Earthspark, I'm glad he does. Because he is also an abuse victim, he has to live with the trauma, and now he is breaking that cycle or can, in his own way. Because now he also has support and family. He doesn't have to fight, he doesn't have to exist in an abusive dynamic or relationship. He's free.

Likewise, Starscream is also breaking that cycle. But it only works if you acknowledge it. That's why I absolutely hated people attempting to argue away the fact that Starscream were abusive to Skywarp and Nova, because this is a cycle of abuse, that needs to be broken and you cannot sit there and try to act like it doesn't happen.

Because the wider part of the episode is that both Megatron and Starscream, who were victims of abuse and hurt each other, and other people, literally DECIDED to end it there. I think that Earthspark is trying to show us that, that abuse is far more complex, especially when you have two people who are victims of abuse and acting out because of it.

They both decided to stop, and to do better. And in order for that to work, you have to also acknowledge that it's a cycle and in a cycle, everyone is to blame when they start hurting others. This isn't excusing Megatron and it's certainly not excusing Starscream.

and :Re the misogyny regarding skywarp and nova--it just gets me really upset. Because it was a teaching moment and the fandom missed it. not only did they miss it they tried to explain away why that was okay, why him treating them the way he did (which is probably something starscream did for YEARS!) was okay. Like again, that is the cycle that is being perpetrated that you literally cannot ignore or attempt to excuse. And it was such a perfect teaching moment for the fans and they ignored it.

Most fandoms, no matter how progressive they claim to be aren't really going to care about female characters especially if they're used in a male character's narrative. Hashtag is usually just reduced to propping up Starscream, and Nova and Warp are just seen as extension of his narrative, which is literally what happens with female character.

The episode was spelled out plain as day that the way he treated them wasn't okay and he needed to be held accountable, but like you said, people just shrugged.

[mk-wizard]

Proof that the Autobot Way is Flawed

Now, before I start exploring this Transformers theory, I want to make it clear that I do not think that Autobots are secretly evil. You can be part of a flawed system and be a good person. Heck, you can be part of a flawed system and even be aware of how flawed it is. Autobots have long since proven that they are good, well meaning people who want to keep their society clean and want to do good for the world, but it is NOT a perfect society. It has flaws that are glaring, feudal and in fact holding Autobots themselves back. And there are many instances which show that the Autobot way has flaws. Also, many of them are from Animated which I give honours to @auraturner for bringing up in her article here as many others did too. Here they are;

If you want to live in an Autobot society, you MUST identify as an Autobot yourself or you are not truly a part of the society and cannot live among Autobots. - Ever noticed that on Cybertron, EVERYONE identifies as an Autobot? And I recall in the G1 series, when Spike and Carly were given the ultimate honour among Autobots, what was this honour? Being called an Autobot. In other words, they were not true allies or equals up until that moment. While we would find being an Autobot cool as a kid, as adults, this feels off and kind of disturbing. Then there was the issue of Jetfire in G1. Why should he HAVE to be an Autobot to prove that he is good? He was good even when he identified as a Decepticon! He could have kept being a Decepticon and just fight alongside the good guys. What if a Decepticon wants to continue being a Decepticon, but just doesn’t agree with tyranny or Megatron’s way? What if a Decepticon was a good person, wasn’t even a fighter, had no criminal record and only wanted to live a quiet private life on Cybertron? Unless that Decepticon is willing to change their faction, the Autobots will deny them the right to live on Cybertron.

They have no trouble conscripting and imprisoning kids. - While we find it cute that Bumblebee is a young teenager, this implications here are actually very dark. What is a teenager that young doing in the army and going to war? Also, in the Animated series, Wasp was arrested and sent to the stockades and he was no older than Bumblebee. This is not ok. You do not give a kid and adult sentence.

Autobot society works almost like a hive mind or at least under the thumb of the Prime. - While Optimus and Rodimus were good and kind Primes who care deeply for others and allow personal freedoms, a large majority of the Primes were not like this. It is implied that Autobot society is a borderline communist society in which everyone plays a role to keep the system as it is forever and it is very rigid towards new ideas and such. This is why Megatron resorted to war in the first place. Nobody would listen to him. They listened to Optimus (as Orion Pax) in Prime, but the problem with this is that Megatron knows the problems better and knows the solution cannot be negotiated. Optimus doesn’t get that because he hasn’t walked in those shoes. Might I also add that the Autobots shot and used aggression first when Megatron start proposing change. That doesn’t look good. Moreover, you all have to believe in the same thing without question. Nobody is allowed free speech and speaking out against the Prime is considered as stepping out of line and if you question the Autobot way or point out that it has flaws, you will be accused of heresy.

While the Autobot faction came to be, their ancestors deleted a lot of the records. - This chilling fact is official in the actual Allspark Alminac. I don’t think I need to say much on this one. Anyone who throws away part of their own history is obviously hiding something.

Autobots have no respect for other factions or beings. - While the Autobots showing a lack of respect for the Earth or Decepticons is played off for laughs, such things are actually quite despicable. When Autobots mine for energon rather than produce it using alternative sources (like the Decepticons did in G1), it does a heck of a lot of damage to the planet. And you know what else does damage to Earth’s property and environment? The Autobot’s war and often at times their own clumsiness. I recall one episode in RID where the Autobots carelessly destroyed and entire golf course in seconds while duking it out amongst themselves and while this moment got passed off for comedy, I didn’t find it funny. It takes a lot of work to set up a golf course and even more to build a building, make a car and don’t get me started on how many injuries bystanders can endure. It is any wonder Prime’s Agent Fowler didn’t like them? I would be mad to if I gave amnesty to people who showed a lack of gratitude through a lack of respect for my home. Also, since the days of G1, the Autobots have mocked and objectified their prisoners either by taunting them or by taking pictures with them. Moreover, Autobots call Decepticons racist terms like “Con” or “Decepticreep”. I have never seen a Decepticon mock a captive except for Starscream and Megatron chastised him for it calling him childish and saying he shamed himself. Also, I have never ever heard the Decepticons call the Autobots a racist slur. Heck, Autobots including Optimus himself have used the term “Decepticon” as another word for “evil”. I also want to throw out there that Autobots do not take prisoners very often nor do they show a lot of mercy. Yes, Starscream is a sadist and a half, but the other Decepticons will not kick someone when they’re down or kill if they don’t have to. In fact, sometimes, their honour drives them not to. As for Autobots, they are not so nice and sometimes, even the noblest ones (including Optimus himself) have been known to take getting even too far.

They do not allow alt mode autonomy. - If you don’t know what that means, it means you are not allowed to choose an alt mode you want. It has to somehow relate to your job or the Autobot way. I know this is all fiction, but wouldn’t the right to choose which alt mode you want be a form of bodily autonomy? And how does your alt mode relate to your job especially when you can only do your job in robot mode? We see Autobots sneak this lack of letting a bot pick and choose the alt mode they really want even in Rescue Bots. When Blurr and Salvage join the team, he takes them to a hanger full of vehicles that are exclusively trucks or automobiles of some kind. In other words, everything four-wheeler. And even in Rescue Bots Academy, this sneaky tactic of guiding the bot’s hand towards a specific alt mode is still there. The bots play up how much the recruits admire them and almost all of them choose alt modes that are similar to their teachers. In the episode where Hotshot choose a fire truck, if Heatwave was a bigger bot, he would have encouraged Hotshot to stick with the rocket like he wanted to be because there’s a reason he wanted to be that and he already changes into a four wheeler of some kind. I think Autobots only allow dinosaur forms because they have proven to be useful, but if you compare the amount of diversity of alt modes among Autobots to that of Decepticon, it’s a night and day difference. I mean... they allow a warrior Decepticon to change into a CAMERA (REFLECTOR) and no one mocks or judges the guy. Now that I look at it, how many Autobots out there change into things that are not trucks or automobiles? Not many. In fact, even Blades wasn’t originally a flyer. It worries me to think what would have happened if a jet flew by in the air and Blurr requested to change into it as it is fast. Or if either he or Salvage didn’t like any of the trucks or automobiles.

They delete feelings and memories. - This is just creepy and the more I think about it, the more it frightens me. A society that considers amnesia acceptable as way of coping with trauma makes me think this society is very crooked and only looks at short term solutions. Not to mention, the concept of dealing with problems is by forgetting them is also telling. It makes me wonder if they apply this as a treatment for all trauma victims or anyone they consider as a heretic. And by any chance, do they use this as a means of ensuring that a former Decepticon becomes a proper Autobot? Holy cow, this is scaring me... And it’s making me wonder how many Autobots were actually once Decepticons, but even they themselves don’t even know it because their entire identities were deleted?

They don’t allow misfits and freaks. - The most disturbing aspect of all. All Autbots are physically perfect and none are beast types with the exception of the Dinobots who are also deemed openly as the exception. I also don’t notice many handicapped Autobots with the exception of Fixit who became handicapped after his accident. I highly doubt he would have gotten a job if he was handicapped from before and even currently, he is treated like an invalid even though he isn’t. They won’t even allow him to fight or inform him of his fighting capabilities even after discovering that he can hold his own. As for Decepticons, you will see tons who do not fit into some perfect mold or have ailments like having psychological issues or other handicaps, and most importantly, you’ll find diverse beast types. It is not for nothing that a large majority of the misfits of society rebelled against the Autobot way. The Autobot way outcasts the flawed and imperfect.