#idw the dreamer

[knowltonsrangers]

the amount of sass that Nathan Hale has in this series is absolutely perfect.

[squishfest]

Funny little self indulgent stimboard because I haven't posted in a few days,,, Rung is literally a dream caregiver I wish undeterminable objects were real

[keycomicbooks]

Superman Son Of Kal-El #13 (2022) Travis Moore & Tamra Bonvillain Cover, Clayton Henry Pencils, Tom Taylor & Nicole Maines Story, 1st Full Appearance of Dreamer (Nia Nal) 

#Superman #SonOfKalEl #13 (2022) #TravisMoore & #TamraBonvillain Cover, #ClaytonHenry Pencils, #TomTaylor & #NicoleMaines Story, 1st Full Appearance of Dreamer (#NiaNal) DREAMS AND NIGHTMARES It’s the dramatic DC Universe debut of Dreamer! https://www.rarecomicbooks.fashionablewebs.com/Superman%20Son%20Of%20Kal-El.html#13 @rarecomicbooks Website Link In Bio Page If Applicable. SAVE ON SHIPPING COST - NOW AVAILABLE FOR LOCAL PICK UP IN DELTONA, FLORIDA #KeyComicBooks #DCComics #DCU #DCUniverse #KeyIssue

[oxygenpdf]

Tagged by; @formulanni

This seems like such a cute tag game 😭

Tag: @flyingcakeee @midnight-grandprix @saviour-of-lord @stoptakingthegoodname5 @nico-di-genova @op81s @racingliners @xnd8 (no pressure)

[lullaebies]

What do you think about Helaena's portrayal in the show? Idw to ask about Aegon's portrayal because he was the one that get fucked up the most even if they wanted him to be the main antagonist of the show there were many "more complex and interesting" ways to portray him. But what about helaena? There is always something wrong in Helaena's character in the show for me, in many ways she does seems to be a caricature of the trope of the weird prophetic princess.

This is going to be an essay. Buckle up.

As endearing and easy to feel for her circumstances she is (and the show is how I got to know her, I liked her to begin with regardless and I read Fire and Blood only after watching), I feel like the show failed her tremendously, not only by falling into the trope you mentioned, but perpetuating stereotypes regarding neurodivergent people as well as making Helaena a victim before bothering to make her a person. Let me get into it one by one.

The trope of the neurodivergent girl with powers, to begin with, is obviously a somewhat uncomfortable trope that hints neurodivergency doesn't have a place to be unless it is accompanied by powers of some sort. The idea of neurodivergence being inherently magical is harmful in a detracting kind of way. That already kind of leaves a bad taste in the mouth as both the neurodivergence and dreamer plotlines were added without textual evidence in F&B, so the mix is probably deliberate to create 'she's more than what meets the eye' type of character. Doesn't work as well in today's sphere of things.

Now, I wouldn't care nearly as much about the trope if they bothered to make her more than just her prophecies and her neurodivergence. They could've had their cake and could've eaten it if they gave her actual lines that speak of how she feels about what's around her and in what situation she's in. Every single line she has in the show is a prophecy, save for exactly two: her speaking about her millipede to Alicent (because her hyper fixation is the only she cares about, apparently) and her roasting Aegon at dinner (which was a serve, but was once more only there to serve she cannot converse like a normal person and to show she is a victim). We have absolutely nothing about how she feels as a person, as a sister, as a mother! They barely gave her a chance to react to Driftmark, we don't know if she was scared about her wedding and what is happening to her, we don't even get her saying what she thinks about her visions! We have zero framing of anything. We see nothing of what the book describes her as: Why was she described as a happy girl? Why people agreed she would be a lovely mother? Why did the smallfolk like her, why was her death their last straw? Who is she, aside from bugs and weird mumblings? Autistic people have thoughts and feelings and many of them can express them in an even better way than people without autism (I worked for 4 years with autistic adults, and I'm pretty sure I'm on the spectrum myself - anecdotal evidence it is, but there was no reason to not let her have actual character moments.) Many people in this fandom are convinced she is not able to hold a single conversation with anyone - it's atrocious and offensive.

And then we have the victim discussion, which only packs it in further. She is shown to be a perpetual victim in the show, pretty clearly to vilify Aegon (who frankly is also a victim of the marriage, but we don't get to talk about that). She has been stripped of all her agency; in the books, she talks smack about Aegon in a humorous way, she sits on his war council and advocates for peace, she is a good mother who is hands-on with her children and consistently portrayed with them. She has a life, and meaning outside of being a victim, she's active. When you think of a princess who claimed the largest dragon living in the dragon pit, don't you at least think she is courageous? that she has a sense of life in her, to drive her to do such a thing? And she could've done all of the things she does in the book, with the dreamer plot and the neurodivergent characterization all the same, and that is what drives me insane. These were additions, but they didn't have to overwrite Helaena as a whole.

We don't get to see her truly live, and care about the things she loves. When B&C happens, we are going to see an autistic woman brutalized and her children hurt and murdered many people would cheer for it, without the necessary preparation of showing how much she cared about the children, without showing any conflict of hers to take the mantle as Queen, without her ever showing or thinking about these complex situations she's been put in. She's not allowed to have an opinion politically, at least not so far - she's not allowed to have as much voice as her brothers do and she's not allowed to be taken seriously as Queen Consort as Rhaenyra is taken seriously as Queen, which is such, SUCH a shame, because if we had a smidge of comparisons between the two sisters we could have had them be proper foils, which is interesting, and not to the detriment of either of them!

To conclude; they sprinkled on Helaena tropey traits, made her lines be more or less summed up as cool foreshadowing, and erased the traits that would've made the crowd find her endearing and relatable as a person. (and I have theories about it, but I won't get into it here). They failed Helaena not because of the additions themselves, but because they refuse to take her place as a woman in this story seriously, as well as refused to flesh her out beyond the surface-level tropes. She could've been so, so much more, and I can talk about it for hours, but choices have been made. Her arc deserved to be built up better, as did her character, and it's very frustrating.

[witchofthesouls]

snorts another line of Dark Energon (Warning: Trauma. Lots of it.) Gods & Goddesses AU where the 13 OG Primes are stranded on Earth in the aftermath of Gaea's birth(???), & they decide to try & Claim these new toys in front of her. Primus/Rung manages to get them offworld, but the damage has already been done. The 13 are utterly mangled by the experience, physically, spiritually & mentally. Primus/Rung has to remove the vast majority of their power because they would straight-up die from their biology & Sparks being torn up otherwise, downgrading them from "Physical Gods" to "Immortality & mild superpowers, but that's it" like IDW 2005. He can't help with the trauma & rhabdophobia (fear of magic), tho. Prima never treated Megatronus badly in this timeline, Liege never plots against his siblings, & Quintus never makes the Quintessons (he got his optics permanently damaged, & is too afraid to leave Iacon) so...yay, teamwork? (If we want to tie this into the Prima's a Dragon-Fragger AU, then 1.) Prima would have to be clever about how he takes on Predaking due to the massive power difference between them & 2.) Predaking realizes he has to invent therapy for his small BF. And talk to his Dad so he can get some context for when Prima wakes up screaming.)

Hmm, this is more of a commentary route because I got really set ideas about Gaea being a sister/daughter/reflection to Unicron and Primus.

As in, Primus would never have been able to get the remaining Primes back. Not after splitting his own power to them. Yes, they are powerful gods. However, Gaea can be taken as their originator as she is of Unicron, who is of Primus, and all were once a single entity that existed before nothing.

Basically, she took advantage of their relationship to claim them. And unlike her brothers, she's not letting them go. Ever.

In this particular AU, the variables that caused their downfall went another way, so it was Quintus who left first. He ventured off to find new species to become good neighbors to a new race. Where in one world, Quintus had found the planet Quintessa; the dreamy Prime was pulled to a hungry Gaea...

< Fragment of myself. > It crooned to a dreaming Prime, fascinated by his visionary thoughts and far-flung travels to seek out his goals. Quintus dreamt of gleaming cities and massive libraries. Stars full of treasures and beautiful singing bridges that connected everything and everywhere. < Wayward Dreamer. Sky-walker. Bridge-builder. > How could it leave such a delicious, willing morsel that stolen its dark heart with such a vision?

Quintus became the bait to grab the rest. Megatronus never returned when he went to fetch their lost brother. Solus and Liege Maximo disappeared on his trail, so it wasn't a surprise it prompted the rest of the brothers to stage a rescue with Prima hot on their heels...

And they all Fell.

Besides, I doubt they would leave after finding out that Unicron hadn't been fully vanquished.

Some of the Primes sleep so deeply, unable to awaken in physical reality. They put too much of themselves into fully caging the Unmaker. Others still walk the planet, wandering and trying to find a way off the planet.

[artsy-hobbitses]

So what kinda relationship do Cliffjumper and Mirage have in this universe 🤔

I can't give you a 100% confirmation deal since this relationship seems to be based on his G1 self, and the Mirage I take my inspiration from is clearly IDW! Also I am not the one crafting Cliff's charaterization 8U

There's also what looks to be a pretty heft age gap? Cliff is closer in age to Bumblebee and Mirage is in his 30s at the start of the war.

THAT SAID they're two Autobots who are VERY handy marksmen and have a lot of experience hunting game, so I feel like that's something they might be able to bond over (Mirage sometimes hunts deer on Alpha Trion's estate for the kitchen).

G1 Cliff HAS accused Mirage of being a traitor, and if that's what happens here as well, I don't know how that's going to play out here given what happened when Ironhide accused Mirage of the same thing.

I like to imagine Cliff is probably torn about the situation?

Gotta poke @cao-the-dreamer for more thoughts!

[lord-squiggletits]

Ever since I finished writing/published We Are the Music Makers, I haven't been able to read the poem that inspired it without literally getting shivers or tearing up by the end. The whole poem is so good, but it's the last stanza that really gets to me because it perfectly describes the ending of my fic.

Hhhhhhh please read the poem if you haven't before. Read the fic if you like angsty AU IDW MegOP, but definitely read the poem because it's so fucking good aaaaaaa

Great hail! we cry to the comers     From the dazzling unknown shore; Bring us hither your sun and your summers;     And renew our world as of yore; You shall teach us your song's new numbers,     And things that we dreamed not before: Yea, in spite of a dreamer who slumbers,     And a singer who sings no more.

[comicbookclub]

Hulk Gets Giant-Size Train Fight, Dreamer Leads New Suicide Squad, IDW Turns 25 | Comic Book Club News For December 15, 2023

Hulk is getting into a train fight in Marvel's upcoming Giant-Size issue. Nicole Maines's Dreamer is leading a new Suicide Squad for DC Comics. IDW will celebrate its 25th Anniversary next year. All on Comic Book Club News for December 15, 2023.

Hulk is getting into a train fight in Marvel‘s upcoming Giant-Size issue. Nicole Maines’s Dreamer is leading a new Suicide Squad for DC Comics. IDW will celebrate its 25th Anniversary next year. All on Comic Book Club News for December 15, 2023. SUBSCRIBE ON RSS, APPLE, ANDROID, SPOTIFY, OR THE APP OF YOUR CHOICE. FOLLOW US ON TWITTER, INSTAGRAM, TIKTOK, AND FACEBOOK. SUPPORT OUR SHOWS ON…

[theblotsays]

SDCC 2024 Exclusive TMNT BST AXN 5” Variant Action Figures by The Loyal Subjects

The Loyal Subjects will be at San Diego Comic-Con 2024 later this month with five SDCC 2024 Exclusive Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles BST AXN Variant Action Figures! Based on the characters’ appearances in the IDW comic book series, these TMNT BST AXN action figures stand 5” tall and feature 31 pts of articulation, multiple hand grips, signature weapons, and multiple head portraits. First up is the SDCC 2024 Exclusive Glow in the Dark Variant Metalhead and Donatello 2 Pack. Straight from the Dream Realm to your shelf comes the San Diego Comic-Con 2024 Exclusive Glow in the Dark Variant Shredder The Dreamer TMNT BST AXN Action Figure. Next up is the SDCC 2024 Exclusive Battle Ready Variant Dark Leonardo TMNT BST AXN Action Figure. These single pack 5” action figures by The Loyal Subjects will each retail for $30. The limited edition San Diego Comic-Con 2024 Exclusive Battle Ready Variant Jennika TMNT BST AXN figure is also being released at TLS SDCC booth #2544. Last but certainly not least is the limited edition SDCC 2024 Exclusive Foot Elite TMNT BST AXN action figure, which is the perfect army builder for your Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IDW Comic Series Collection. http://dlvr.it/T9QCK7

[knowltonsrangers]

ideal location [ch.15]

[a/n: at long last, chapter fifteen of ideal location! all previous chapters can be found here. please enjoy!]

You suppose that it was only a matter of time before something had to happen, for the feeling of misery to worm its way into the air. Out of breath, the unkept grass ensured you were to be swearing at every step, sliding in territory that was familiar, but filled with so many unknowns. Every moment had led you back to this so-called starting point, rain pounding against the Earth as water gathered in the uneven dirt.

After saying goodbye in the late afternoon, you were practically skipping back home after a long math lecture, hopeful to have a quiet night in. The weather had taken a quick turn for the worse, grey clouds filing in overhead, and with just this knowledge alone, it poked at you to get inside just a little quicker.

“Nathan?” The apartment foyer was empty, curtains still drawn apart from the morning. A bit suspicious, you slip inside further, allowing the door to shut behind you.

“Hello?” You did a once over, the small apartment leaving little places for someone to go, and when you finally entered the last place he could be hiding, your entire body freezes and a chill runs the length of your spine.

“Nathan!” Cold air billows after your scream, frantic hands pushing aside overgrown shrubbery and dangling tree branches, hanging overhead on by the thinnest thread. Your shouts all fall upon deaf ears, as the weather overcame any of your working senses. Moving on adrenaline, you push onwards, your feet sinking further into the landscape the more you struggled.

After the events of the previous night, you never would have guessed this would happen so soon. You had finally felt that the both of you were on the same page, pinkies intertwined as you promised everything would be alright.

None of this ever would have crossed your mind, blind sighted by such an exaggerated reaction, but willing to encourage and support in any way that you feasibly could.

“Nathan Hale!” It’s scary, and you’re scared to death, pulling hair away from your face as the rain slicked it to your scalp.

Finally, after a flicker of lightning, you can see in the distance, that little red schoolhouse. Your heart leaps to your throat, giving in to the adrenaline once more as you slide downhill, yelping as you lose your footing on more than one occasion.

This is nothing like the night that Nathan had carried you through these woods, and your solemn wish for his hold now. You wanted to see this to the end, and you wanted to do it together. Not like this.

The inconsistent flares of lightning would be your only source of light, and as you bargain your time to arrive just short of the door, you are alarmed to find it ajar. It’s a find that terrifies you down to your very core, swallowing bile as you take shelter in the doorframe, just under the overhang, away from the thundering storm.

“Nathan?” Your voice actually trembles, wary as to what you were to discover when you arrived. When you had returned from class, unable to find Nathan anywhere, you knew there really was only one place he knew by heart, outside your place- at least on foot.

The place where he seemingly was dropped without warning, the place where you had met him.

In the shadows, windows allowing some of the unsteady light inside, a figure moves. Yelping, you are hit with the realization all at once that this wasn’t Nathan, knowing he would have immediately answered the moment you called his name.

This person’s silhouette doesn’t match the man you’ve harbored in your apartment the past few days, and the more you try to convince yourself that this was no more than a terrible waking nightmare, the man just stares back at you.

While Nathan was tall, this man was taller, more built than the wrestler, though, not by much. And the craziest thing of all was that he was wearing a military uniform, the royal blue on his arms and shoulders coming into focus after your vision blurs. Swallowing thickly, you take a hesitant step backward, faltering and frightened beyond comprehension.

Then, just as you go to absolutely book it, someone appears behind you, completely out of breath, and gasping for air. You spin around, horrified, thinking you’re now cornered between two people you didn’t know.

“y/n,” They wheeze, and grateful once more for the storm, a flash of lightning casts light upon a familiar face, and you can feel the relief wash over you at once. Running down the stairs and over to the blonde, and he stands, scooping you up into his arms once your hands have reached his grasp.

“I’m so sorry,” He’s shouting, but only so you can hear him over the rain. The storm had plowed through unexpectedly, and the moment you couldn’t find him as the skies opened, it caused you to take action, straight away.

“I had this bad feeling, and then for some reason I had an insatiable compulsion to come back here,” A hand comes to cradle your head to his chest, and you grip fistfuls of his shirt, holding him as if you could never let go.

And all at once, the notion hit you like a freight train, comprehending that it would be damn near impossible to ever say goodbye to Nathan Hale. If you thought this was the end, you would never be able to cope with such an ending to this chapter of your life.

“I got lost, and then I couldn’t see the path anymore. And this weather, I- “

Nathan falters, and you uncertainly break away from his hold, warily calling his name, but his gaze is fixated on something just over your head, blue eyes wide as if he was staring at a ghost.

With your back to the schoolhouse, you had temporarily forgotten about the man, going to warn Nathan, when one last time, lightening flares, and you catch a glint of tears in the man’s eyes.

You half-turn, still in his hold but anxious to see just what he was so enthralled by, you were instantly met with the idea that this was all one elaborate prank being played on you.

“Captain,” The voice hums, just loud enough to be heard over the rain. Nathan, on reflex, drops his hands from your back and jumps into a firm salute, leaving you utterly confused and detached from the entire interaction.

“At ease, kid. No need for formalities,” He takes the stairs down, stopping just shy of the two of you, and Nathan relaxes, but the tension in his shoulders was enough to keep him rooted to his spot in the dirt.

“How, I…” Is all he can say, and your eyes blink once, then twice, taking in the man as he stands before you, seemingly kind but alarmingly intimidating.

“Maybe you can explain what’s goin’ on?”

He smiles brightly at Nathan, then gives him a pat on his shoulder, as if he was elated to see him.

“What is happening.” Your voice is small, but when he turns to you, the instantaneous understanding grabs you and shakes your shoulders violently. The man offers you his hand, and you stare blankly at it, unwavering as the urge to cry overcomes your sanities.

“y/n,” Nathan nudges you gently, unsure as to your reaction, but at his brief contact, you take his hand, overwhelmed and feeling insane at the same time.

“y/n.” He says to himself, giving your palm one, then two, then, finally, a third shake.

“Thomas Knowlton, a pleasure.”

[urbancobrastrikeforce]

The Loyal Subjects SDCC 2024 Exclusive BST AXN Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IDW Shredder The Dreamer figura

Az alábbiakban az új SDCC 2024 exkluzív BST AXN Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IDW Shredder The Dreamer figurát láthatod a The Loyal Subjects sorozatából. Egyenesen az Álom Birodalmából a polcodra. Ne hagyd ki a lehetőséget, hogy a limitált kiadású Shredder The Dreamer figurával bővítsd TMNT gyűjteményedet! A San Diego Comic Conon debütál. [ToyNewsI]

[lexie-squirrel]

Doctor Who Classics (#1-10, #1-4)

Я решил взяться за комиксы по "��октору Кто" - причем за классические, те, что выходили в одноименном журнале с конца семидесятых годов. При этом я выбрал раскрашенную версию, которую выпускало издательство IDW в отдельных номерах, а не сборники - потому что черно-белые комиксы читать немножко уныленько (это же не манга). Так как журнал запустился только в 1979 году, то и комиксы начались с Четвертого Доктора.

Первой же историей была The Iron Legion, про то, как Доктор оказался среди роботов, вдохновлявшихся римскими воинами. Надо сказать, я продирался сквозь первые страницы, пока не появился забавный старенький робот по имени Везувий, который несколько скрасил мне не особо интересное чтение. Мне категорически не нравилась рисовка в большинстве выпусков Четвертого Доктора, хотя вроде как рисовал легенда комиксов - Дейв Гибсон, подаривший нам "Хранителей" Алана Мура. Но выглядит довольно грубовато и скучно - хотя может в черно-белом виде и получше, не знаю.

Следующей сюжетной аркой был City of the Damned про город, где запрещены и эмоции, и вкус еды, и привязанность к другим людям. Конечно, яркий Четвертый этого просто так потерпеть не мог и даже послужил ключом к победе и революции. Эта история была довольно бодренькая в отличие от предыдущей. Далее была крошечная история Timeslip, где меня порадовали не только Четвертым Доктором, но и Первым (мелькнули также Второй и Третий)! Но это не был кроссовер Докторов вроде юбилеек, дело было совсем в другом.

Ну и наконец легендарный комикс The Star Beast про коварного милашку Мипа, который недавно был воплощен в одной из юбилейных серий с Четырнадцатым Доктором. Его я прочитал еще раньше, в черно-белом варианте - и не пожалел. Всегда приятно быть подготовленным заранее. Именно в этом комиксе, кстати, появилась комиксная спутница Четвертого, которая болталась с ним несколько выпусков - темно��ожая девушка по имени Шэрон. Не особо интересная и прописанная, ну а чего я жду от старого комикса.

Так что со следующей сюжетной аркой, The Dogs of Doom, Доктор приключался уже с Шэрон. Она была не особо интересная, действие происходило на космическом корабле, и единственное из ряда вон выходящее событие - это Доктор, превращающийся на время в ужасного оборотня (а еще там были далеки). На сюжетной арке Time Witch я, честно говоря, надолго застрял - там Доктор и Шэрон тоже застряли, в другом измерении, с женщиной, которая могла менять окружающее пространство одной лишь мыслью. При этом в конце из-за временной аномалии Шэрон зачем-то превратили из вчерашней школьницы во взрослую молодую женщину.

Потом были приключения на азиатскую тему Dragon's Claw, где Доктор, Шэрон и К-9 оказались в средневековой японской деревушке с довольно-таки агрессивными монахами и с загадкой, ответ на которую начинается с "сонта" и заканчивается на "ранцы". Было много мордобоя и полезного К-9. Потом б��ла короткая история The Collector про коллекционера живых существ, к которому чуть было не попали Доктор и Шэрон, а еще там была временная петля. Потом была сюжетная линия Dreamers of Death про людей будущего, любимое занятие которых было попадать во сны и переживать там приключения. Конечно, не обошлось без подвоха. А еще именно в этом номере Доктор распрощался с Шэрон, которая по заветам классики нашла себе парня и решила остаться с ним. Не то, чтобы Доктор особо по ней скучал...

После этого Доктор сменил свой прикид на темно-красный, в котором он щеголял свои последние сезоны. Далее было много коротких историй вместо полноценных сюжетных арок - странная история про греческих богов The Life Bringer, War of the Words, где бились за космическую библиотеку, а Доктор опять всех перехитрил, Spider-God про людей-бабочек с грустным концом, которая могла бы потянуть и на полноценную арку, и под конец короткая и не особо внятная история The Deal, где Доктору пришлось столкнуться с жестокими пришельцами.

Потом снова была сюжетная арка End of the Line и она оказалась довольно занимательной - про подземный город и людей, воюющих с каннибалами. Потом была короткая, но веселая и забавная история об отдыхе Доктора, где он познакомился с зеленым писателем-инопланетянино�� по фамилии Азимофф и где они чудом выжили, заключив пари с гонщиками. Junkyard Demon была про старых киберменов, которые откопали на свалке (тут, кстати, была странная и непривычная рисовка). А завершились комиксы про Четвертого в то время на короткой истории, вариации на тему Мерлина и короля Артура - The Neutron Knights.

Не скажу, что эти комиксы маст-рид для хувианов, но все-таки это было интересно, хотя я Четвертого больше люблю на экране и из первых его сезонов - потом он заметно растерял все свое кудряво-зубастое обаяние. Ну а впереди меня ждут комиксы с моим любимым Пятым! Посмотрим, удивят ли меня.

[comicbookclublive]

Hulk Gets Giant-Size Train Fight, Dreamer Leads New Suicide Squad, IDW Turns 25 | Comic Book Club News For December 15, 2023

Hulk is getting into a train fight in Marvel's upcoming Giant-Size issue. Nicole Maines's Dreamer is leading a new Suicide Squad for DC Comics. IDW will celebrate its 25th Anniversary next year. All on Comic Book Club News for December 15, 2023.

Hulk is getting into a train fight in Marvel‘s upcoming Giant-Size issue. Nicole Maines’s Dreamer is leading a new Suicide Squad for DC Comics. IDW will celebrate its 25th Anniversary next year. All on Comic Book Club News for December 15, 2023. SUBSCRIBE ON RSS, APPLE, ANDROID, SPOTIFY, OR THE APP OF YOUR CHOICE. FOLLOW US ON TWITTER, INSTAGRAM, TIKTOK, AND FACEBOOK. SUPPORT OUR SHOWS ON…

[paragonrobits]

i voted Tarantulas and here's a few reasons why:

Optimus met Shockwave and Megatron long before thier respective falls into tyranny, evil and becoming the most unspeakably horrific mass murderers in the history of the universe, and so on! Shockwave was probably one of the most noble people on the planet before he had Shadowplay performed on him, which shut down his ability to care for others in favor of cold, indifferent rationalism; he was EXPLICITLY an extremely good person before the 'bot he was, was functionally killed. As such, this doesn't reflect much on Optimus.

Megatron is another example of this, though less extreme. Megatron was an idealistic dreamer longing for a world without alt mode prejudice or creating people to be living tools, which is where he was when he and Optimus met, informing their respective world views. Now, a far more important aspect of Megatron's character is being a mass murdering xenophobe whose explicit end goal was 'the complete genocide of every non-Cybertronian being in the universe', but this was clearly not apparent to Optimus, and while Megatron seems to have always been a bit of an isolationist, this supremacist ideology took some time to materialize, and Optimus legitimately didn't know about it until Megatron had fully embraced tyranny.

Zeta Prime is less excusable. This is, after all, the guy that is best characterized by the TF wiki as such: "He's probably a pretty nice guy! After all, Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light, and Zeta looks downright friggin' evil. Is that masked, horned face the face of someone who would torture and brainwash the dissidents and suck fuel from his own citizens to fuel his army? Totally! So if he were actually bad, he'd probably try to hide it a little, don't you think?"

So, yeah. Horrible taste for him, but I take the view that firstly, Optimus probably did not have any personal feelings for him one way or the other; Zeta was his boss. Optimus was probably friendly with him, but that's just how Optimus IS. And again, Optimus was working for him because after his own attempts at revolutionary thought, he'd accepted a position in the system to change it from within, only to be stymied and increasingly depressed at the apparent futility of it; by that point Zeta likely seemed pretty much like the others he'd had to deal with, and Optimus didn't really have much input on dealing with him or not

Conversely, Tarantulas is much less excusable; this is, after all, an incarnation of a character whose first and most iconic depiction was as a villain with such sexually charged violence towards others that it was incredibly creepy. Prowl is... well, a walking example in IDW of how ruthlessness and ends justifying the means is a terrible thing in the long run, but he pales in comparison next to motherfucking OVERLORD.

I could go on, and on; this is the guy who was so horrifyingly violent and sadistic that Megatron, whose entire supremacist ideology was based around the mass genocide of all non-Cybertronian life, kicked him out of the Decepticons for being too cruel. He delights in the idea of sadistically murdering a human by slowly ripping her apart just to hear the noises her body will make. He, and I cannot state this enough, turned an entire planet into a gigantic mixture of a concentration camp and arena where everyone fought to the death. And he did this to impress Megatron, and Megatron was freaked out by it.

Granted, this was PROBABLY because Megatron found it a waste of resources but COME ON. HE. FREAKED OUT. MEGATRON.

For the purposes of this poll I'm considering Senator Shockwave, Zeta Prime and Megatron as guys Optimus is into, and Prowl and Overlord as guys Tarantulas is into.

[cuppajj]

I wanna know who Blocks is crushing on huhuhuhu

I don't know who specifically but I know they will get with the love of their life <3