#like fucking tarn

[soundwave-radioandbroadcast]

So uh...

may be over head just a smidge....

[mrmeepsmadmind]

rewatching this over and over again.. mainly bcs tarn makes soundwave into a manlet but also bcs it's hilarious

[lord-squiggletits]

Y'know I kind of feel like when Megatron killed Tarn and said 'I want you to spend your final moments thinking of this: that everything you've done has been for nothing' he was kind of self-projecting onto Tarn? Mainly because at Megatron's statue, M and T had a conversation where Tarn explicitly asked if all the Decepticons in service to Megatron died for nothing, if HE did everything he did for nothing. (And I think M even gave an answer along the lines of 'idk I think we basically did'). And then after Megatron killed the DJD and Rodimus teleported in to rescue him, there was that silent moment where Megatron just stared at Rodimus not moving at all before he finally took his hand at the last moment.

It honestly feels to me like for a while, Megatron fully intended to murder-suicide himself. Murder the DJD, his monsters and his creation, and then take himself out alongside them, because he is also a monster. Because he also feels that everything he's ever done has been for nothing.

Goddamn it's no wonder I liked that scene so much LMAO, as someone who thinks villain Megatron > Autobot Megatron, literally one of his key traits is that Megatron basically took his pain/trauma/worldview and used it to lash out at the universe and try to subjugate it to his vision. So the fact that he took his own pain and brutally murdered the DJD while telling them the very same thing that puts him through so much agony is so very deliciously ironic. And a return, however brief, to the Megatron characterization that I know and love.

[mychlapci]

I don’t know much about Tarn but I think him going with Megatron would be perfect and set him up to have serious mother issues

even better if we combine this with the ask i sent about Megatron teaching the sparkling that Orion is dead and Optimus Prime must be destroyed

-millipede

Tarn is perfect for it, honestly. Trust me. The agony Optimus will go through when he realizes that the little bitlet he and D16 had in good faith, that was born out of their love, during a simpler time, has grown up to be one of the decepticons' most violent and brutal killer.... oh man. he'll feel so guilty.

And Tarn would have such intense mommy issues. Megatron is so messed up after the events of the movie, he's angry and in denial and bloodthirsty, he killed Orion and Optimus Prime is standing in his place and he needs to kill him. He's slipping into obsession and little Tarn just wants his carrier to love him... but Megatron needs a soldier, not a son. Tarn understands that, he'll be that, for his carrier, if it means Megatron will pay attention to him, love him.

[transingthoseformers]

Who would be crazy or desperate enough to try to sex up Tarn?

I feel like Tarn accidentally could give Pharma the impression he wanted the Jet carnaly and Pharma just finaly is "Ok, you win, have your wicked way with me!" Tarn is shocked when Pharma pops his interface array to display his glistening valve.(Pharma manually activated the lubrication function because he figures Tarn ain't gonna use lube.) Tarn ends up having to roll with it because he doesn't want Pharma to know that wasn't his intention. Pharma just broke a bit more mentally he doesn't dare give the Jet this as a win.

Bonus points if the misunderstanding comes from the differences between Jet and Grounder courting. Pharma thought Mr. Psychological Torment knew he was relentlessly hitting on him.

Hidden level extra secret bonus points if what Tarn ends up learning about the mating habits of jets in the aftermath completely recontextulizes Starscream's shenanigans as the longest running most elaborate attempt as courting in Seeker history because Megatron is oblivious to Starscream's true intentions.

Oooo????? Intriguing, love the return of accidental courting/seduction and it's Tarn of all mecha

Pharma will be so confused by Tarn not acting as how he'd expect, i feel like Tarn will be cumming in like a fucking minute because he is so not used to this, but he will make sure Pharma joins him in that because No Way is this version of Tarn going to neglect his new lover because, again, Tarn is a man of many vices— and sex is about to be one of them.

I just love the idea of Tarn crumbling under the right circumstances

Starscream's elaborate courting attempt must've been INSUFFERABLE to those who knew, like even the most dramatic of mecha didn't hold a candle to it. And it alllllllll went over a busy and unlikely to fuck his subordinates in this situation Megatron's head (that, or Megatron found out and dismissed the idea soon afterward) (because oh starscream, you're not getting what you wanted either :) )

Tarn's research has to be so conspicuous too

LMAO IMAGINE TARN DECIDES IT'S ONLY RIGHT TO COURT PHARMA PROPERLY THIS TIME... and it's a mess because now Pharma's confused on Tarn's odd behavior (cannot get over the image of Tank Courtingggg)

he finds the saddest looking crystal flowers to ever exist on Messatine too because it's definitely not the greatest environment for them. he still finds them though, and I'm tempted to suggest he unknowingly (or knowingly) secretly raided someone's sad little private crystal garden.

[primus-why]

I Feel TFOne Could've Handled This Better...

Hot take but I feel like folks have been really generous with the take that OP was unable to find ~the perfect words~ in the heat of the moment (and thus should be given some grace) when he told D to stand down and "not be like Sentinel"... namely cuz I don't feel that the narrative supports this?

Like-- after all is said and done, OP doesn't reflect on that part of their split. He doesn't have a moment where he seeks validation or voices his regrets over the choice of his words, it's actually cut-and-dry. The narrative (as it stands) supports that OP saw D-16 acting up, so he called him out and stood on business, down to the last scenes where he's basically like "yeah it's a shame but y'all knew I had to do it to 'em."

It didn't have to be much! I'm not saying to absolve Megs, just show OP looking at things from a different perspective/contemplating a bit on that tough choice and the morality of the moment. Some examples of what I wish we had:

B-127 straight up blurting the obvious by later chatting with Orion like, "Wait so you told your best friend that he was acting just as bad as the guy who enslaved us for our entire lives and was torturing him like an hour ago? Oof. Seems kinda harsh." Then have some of OP's regret show on his face.

OP asking Elita-1 after Megs is banished if he did the right thing. Have Elita back his choice up, saying, "You should have seen what he did after you were... gone. It was terrifying. I know it was tough, but you made the right call." OP is grateful for the support, but a conflicted look still flashes across his face before he steels himself to look out towards the horizon... and the future.

Have OP walk past other mechs/former miners who didn't go with the High Guard saying stuff like, "Wish I could've given Sentinel a piece of my mind!" "Yeah, but I'm glad he's gone for good." "Ugh I miss everything." "Oh, it was crazy! Megatron picked him up and then he rrrrriiipped-- oops, hey there, Mr. Optimus... Prime... sir?" And have OP wave hello, looking a bit sick when they leave.

Post-credits scene with Starscream going on and on, asking Megs when they'll be back to teach the upstart Prime a lesson. Megs grabs his face to shut him up. "Patience, Starscream. The Prime thinks I'm no better than Sentinel... but I'll show him. He wants Iacon? He can have it. In the meantime we'll take the rest of the planet! Then I'll come back, crush Prime under my heel, and we'll take Iacon too. Sentinel's reign will barely be a footnote, because I'm about to become Optimus Prime's worst nightmare." The vocal performance would really need to sell this-- like picture Megs saying something like that from a place of anger and hurt, not so much a place of genuine evil or malice.

Basically instead of Orion's assertion being backed up as black and white/good vs bad, I wish we had some different opinions/reactions from the characters sprinkled in there. Like you can't tell me out of allllll the miners who weren't strong enough/willing to go with the High Guard and ended up sticking around that NONE of them were like "eyyo honestly?? Kiiiiinda glad Sentinel is dead. Wish I could have helped, tbh." like come onnnnn...

And you can't even argue that he's not an active threat-- I don't think everyone would see things that way! It's not just about the threat he physically has, but the threat he represents and is very likely to act upon if given the opportunity! He has a proven track record of not only being sneaky and conniving, but also capable of dealing some serious damage/killing people bigger and stronger than him, plus he has the backing of the Quints. All he'd need to do is wriggle his way out of jail and run off to his sponsors, then he'd probably be back to hurt more people! (If the Quints didn't just kill him out of incompetence lmao). There's a lot of "ifs" here, but I think it's a valid argument that not everyone would agree on what is the right or wrong way to handle Sentinel once he was down long enough to, like, do something about him.

I feel the situation needed a bit of nuance. In some way I wish they had kicked the can and had D and Orion bicker while Sentinel escaped, then have D get frustrated enough by the loss of Sentinel to point fingers (and his fusion canon) at Orion, who then falls and becomes OP. (Megs could still show some of thar emotion/remorse right after he does it too.) Not only would this open the door for a sequel, but tbh the Quint might have just killed Sentinel anyways and sought to deal with the miners uprising themselves lol. (Maybe that could have been an after credits scenes too instead of the B-127 bit??)

Would love to see a moment in a sequel where they have a calmer moment after arguing for a bit. Have OP mention how Megs was out of line, that it hurt and even scared him to see him act that way, and Megs can quietly point out "you said I was as bad as Sentinel... is that really how you see me? After everything we went through?"

Then OP can fumble the bag again lmao like "D, I... I'm sorry, that didn't come out right... but you still took things way too far..."

"Why am I not surprised-- your opinion is what matters the most! Maybe that's why you became a Prime, since you're so good at acting like the world revolves around you--!"

*gets interrupted by someone else before another yelling match ensues*

[dormiloncito]

the thing about transformers is that they really get you with the toys

[scribe-of-hael]

I don't like this character because they are "NICE"

I like them because I know they could CRUSH ME

[witchofthesouls]

You know the Shotgun Wedding Megatron variant of the Doner Clause AU has to have interesting implications for Tarn's Relationship with his Father-in-law. Tarn has to copy sempai Megatron so you know he's gonna be a devoted little worshiper/priest of Megatronus. He's not an Athiest in this one because complete Freedom of Worship (including the right not to) in Megatron's magnum opus. Plus the High Priest of Solus' own conjux decreed the wedding.

Tourniquet is predisposed to dislike the guy on principle. The Healer had time to accept the Nurse's eventual settling down with a sweetspark, especially since you hadn't taken the Trial to be a full-fledge Healer, opting to support instead, and slowly decreasing your ventures with Tourniquet into the wilderness and off-world outposts. Tourniquet had fuel pump failure from the barrage of realizations that not only Deadzone stole away his darling balefire that latched onto him as a lost emberling but had gotten sparked and then abandoned in a distant galaxy with no way back!

If Deadzone was alive, he would be a dead mech crawling. Literally. The Healer would slowly carve the fleeing 'con into pieces as he used the mech as live bait for the more cannibalistic targets or mech-eating species.

Tourniquet will have a lot of conflicting emotions about the entire thing.

On one hand, your new spouse is a dedicated mech that's taking care of your needs and isn't squeamish like the last one. On the other hand, the mech is an offworlder as well, and you're adamant to stay bonded to the mech with a lot of issues stemming from broken Seekerkin-coding.

Tourniquet would need a lot of guided meditation via hymns and sparring with his own kind because he needs that level of brutality to clear his head on how the First Conjunx had a hand on tying you and Tarn together as Resonants and the High Priest of the Fallen had declared for the marriage. How can a Healer go against their own patron's love?

You're torn between setting up tentative meetings in the outskirts at a festival with the bitties or ensuring they will never, ever meet. You know that your adoptive creator/mentor will be highly upset because Tourniquet, in some ways, is a traditionalist. Not only in the way of your training, but he also has the tendency to test your other relationships. Be it friendships, roommates, or romantic to see if those mecha or people will be able to guard your back and "keep the hearth steady to guide you home, ember."

Plus, Tourniquet will most likely flip out that he wasn't able to provide a blessing onto the etchings upon your wings or Tarn's chassis and you stood alone without kin or kith at the site, nor was part of the initial bonding phase between flock members for the fresh newsparks.

(He was deeply touched that you kept your old travel blankets and prayer carvings locked with his biosignature, so the bitties are somewhat familiar with him.)

Either this Tarn and Tourniquet will be able to debate spirituality between modern Cybertron and Caminus with the fascinating differences between the texts and oral traditions, especially with the linguistic drift as well as how Camiens had managed to keep Primal Vernacular alive within their legal system and religious practices, or they'll be in a constant war of attrition over "the proper way of doing things" from rearing newsparks to psychology tactics within a short-window interrogation to inducing a forced sleep in a delirious comrade to a simple engex spritzer recipe.

(On a side note, Tarn thinks it's a complete sin that Tourniquet doesn't garnish his drinks. Meanwhile, Tourniquet is upset that Tarn is too focused on the overall appearance rather than the resulting taste, especially since the fruit rinds can be used in other applications. )

[namtanlovesfilm]

no, actually my least favorite thing about watching thai dramas while speaking & understanding thai... is that the dialects never match up 😭😭😭 if a character is from a non-central province, they'll have their whole family speak in northern/southern/isaan dialect while the main character, who's played by an actor from bangkok, will unexplainably not have any remnants of his native dialect when he speaks even though he was born & raised in the area and often time never even left... that shit breaks the fourth wall to me, like... why even hire an actor who doesn't fit the role fully, I don't get it 😭

[dalishthunder]

As both a transformers fan and a Ramattra fan I gotta admit.... the megatron ram skin is fuuuuuugly as all hell

They should have went with Tarn.

THEY SHOULD HAVE GONE WITH TARN!RAMATTRA

like hear me tf out, yes thematically megatron makes sense, but Tarn also makes a lot of sense too

Tarn:

Also a dogmatic zealot!

Deep resonating voice!

Hides his face behind the mask of his ideals!

Deeply traumatized by the system that chewed him up and spat him out!

PURBLE!!!

[earthspark-shockwaves-reduction]

if they bring in Ratchet into earthspark they should have a bit where one of the humans mentions that they gotta go get some kind of medicine from the Pharmacy and Ratchet gasps and goes "how is Pharma here and why would you want to see him"

[worlds-smallest-epsilon]

grrrr why are fetchlands so expensive >:(

[lord-squiggletits]

The funny thing about Pharma and the Delphi situation is that that's where the concept of the DJD was first introduced (with the first scene with the DJD at work happening literally the issue afterwards, issue #6) and literally the more you learn about the DJD the more it vindicates Pharma in his paranoia and being convinced that he couldn't ask for help like

In the Delphi issues we learn that the DJD hunts down Decepticon turncoats/traitors/etc and that Ambulon, one of the Delphi staff, was a Decepticon traitor. We also learn that their leader is evidently terrifying in addition to being a t-cog addict, but that's it.

Except in the subsequent issue #6 and all issues with the DJD afterwards, we learn a variety of fun facts about the DJD such as

Several of the members either literally transform into torture equipment or have said torture equipment built into their bodies

Their leader, Tarn, the guy with the t-cog addiction that forced Pharma into blackmail, can kill people with just his VOICE

We later learn that the DJD have a fanatical devotion to the Decepticon cause/Megatron such that they literally worship an idol of Megatron

Even later on, we learn that Tarn's kill-you-with-his-voice powers work both over the phone and via recordings of his voice

Tarn is also very talkative during torture sessions and he seems to find pleasure in his stupid, smug-smart guy persona where he likes to describe to victims what's happening to them and why. And there's no reason he wouldn't apply this to Autobots just as much as he does to Decepticon traitors

The DJD have access to signal jamming technologies that make it so that even if their victim can get a help signal out, no one will receive it until weeks after the fact

Their entire system of hunting people down is based on pursuing them no matter what, isolating them from any help, driving them mad with psychological terror, etc

They're capable enough warriors to slaughter an entire ships' worth of people, apparently without sustaining any meaningful casualties

They're drug addicts that are prone to overdosing and/or losing control and slaughtering people while they're under the influence

So like???

If Pharma was only privy to HALF of the things that we as the audience know about the DJD, it's perfectly reasonable to assume that Pharma probably wanted to call for help at some point, but was convinced that doing so would lead to 1. the signal being jammed/blocked so no one would help anyways 2. him and everyone else at Delphi (including the TRAITOR WHO IS ONE OF THEIR EMPLOYEES) would be horribly tortured to death by fanatical Decepticon torturer freaks.

Like I get that in the text Pharma only says that he did the Red Rust stuff so that he wouldn't be caught/blamed for the t-cog deal and is prideful about how he stopped the DJD from murdering Delphi, but like...... there's no fucking way that Pharma going "oh I didn't want to get in trouble and also I'm better than everyone" was his PRIMARY reason for everything on Delphi. Pharma didn't go from perfectly normal/sane Autobot doctor to raving egotistical maniac because he was always an asshole and he decided to solve the DJD issue in an asshole way. It's bc according to all canon evidence we have of the DJD and the way they react to traitors/Autobots, Pharma had every reason to fear for his life and believe that no aid would come to him.

[shardofsun]

Worst part of being a Pharma fan is that unlike with Tarn, I can’t enjoy the fics where he shows up as a generic villain. Like, yeah I can believe that Tarn will, in any universe, have the capacity to be the worst fucking person possible. Nobody likes Tarn because they want him to be nice, they like him because in a comic that’s basically a “Cybertron’s Got Talent (For War Crimes)” competition he somehow manages to come up on top.

Liking Pharma, however, means knowing that his villainy only stemmed from a series of highly specific events (thanks Tarn) and the moment those events don’t exist in a fic and Pharma is still evil my immersion is broken. He is just some guy. The fact that he is just some guy is part of the appeal. He’s a great villain because of the dissonance of him having chainsaw hands and slicing people in half, while also being just some guy who’s petty about his ex. Stop taking away his just some guy status!!

[transingthoseformers]

Do you think any of the concessions miners would have followed Megatron and the High Guard at the end of tfone? Imagine if some of did, they would never have received their t- cogs when Optimus restarted the Well.

What if Megatron went back and harvested t-cogs from the fallen guards to give to his cogless followers? Or better still, what if he recovered the bodies of the other Primes and gave them their cogs.

Maybe that could be the origin of tfone Tarn and the djd?

Ooo I mean, it makes sense at least SOME of them would join Megs, right?? After all, they knew him just as much as they knew Optimus/Orion and you cannot tell me all of them agreed with Optimus/Orion

(also because you cannot tell me that ALL of Iacon joined the autobots and JUST the high guard became Megatron's decepticons)

That being the origin of the DJD in this universe would be fascinating