#mtmte critical

[problems-with-botsandcons]

Finally gonna say my piece on how feel about a certain character from IDW 1, mainly for MTMTE and TLL.

It’s not okay the treatment of Getaway and how his character is now treated by the whole fandom/fanon to the point where it becomes uncomfortable for me to share that I like them.

This may be a long post so all my thoughts will be down below.

Warning for mentions of NSFW content and mentions of abuse/trauma

So right off the bat, the fandom’s treatment honestly makes me mad and so fucking uncomfortable that it has made me question if I should even bring this all up. How Getaway went from an MTO, which is basically a cybertronian's version of a child soldier, who struggled with the fact that the person responsible for his creation and trauma was not only NOT punished for their crimes, aka Megatron the genocidal warlord who nearly wiped out his whole race, with a slap on the wrist. A mech who was angry, a mech who was hurting, and not everyone on the ship agreed on giving Megatron a chance. Some of the mechs fought against Megatron’s army, most likely losing people they cared about or just the fact they may also have trauma but nothing as serious because they’re much older then Getaway.

But then his character was turned into a one-note, blood crazy, villain because of two things:

- shipping (tailgate/getaway and cyclonus/tailgate)

- because people agreed that Getawat was right about Megatron, with not only a majority of The Lost Light agreeing but the audience as well

The shipping is obviously a major point of how people view Getaway for manipulating Tailgate into trying to get Megs to nearly kill him. I can protest that it was indeed wrong but giving him small slide, a very tiny one, he might have thought that Tailgate could survive but even then he would’ve been in trouble. I get it, Tailgate is a sweet but naive character that people can't see him with an abusive character like Getaway.

Now to state, I came late into MTMTE and haven't read issues 40 and onwards.

But I can state wholeheartedly that what Getaway got as a punishment was fucking extreme that one would think he was a war criminal. He had his arms, legs, jaw, and voice box removed and was put into a device similar to what Overlord was placed in earlier in the comic’s run.

Sure, he nearly got Tailgate killed but one has to think that MAYBE the punishment was a bit too far.

Now then the shipping can sometimes be the toxic part of a fandom, I get it. I want to state I have no problems with the fandoms’ shipping of Cyclonus/Tailgate since it’s one of the popular ships. Shipping is usually one of the main forces for drama and this is one of them.

But now comes the part that makes my blood boil:

Getaway has his character assassinated then has said character reanimated into a zombie for their creator to control.

Now his character is portrayed as an abuser, a manipulator, or a straight up the most evilest being in IDW, and now Transformers in general, when there are more characters that are deserving of that. Can’t even look towards ao3 for him because it always one or more of these things below:

- abusive and manipulative partner

- rapist

- just pure evil

Getaway had depth to him just like every other character but as soon as it was hinted that Tailgate, whose a fan favorite during MTMTE and TLL, was in danger people were unsure how to feel about Getaway.

I’m also aware that the deal with IDW and Hasbro was slowly ending so the stories had to be wrapped up. So they just had to make him one note. They didn’t have enough time but they could have tired.

I’m gonna end this all off here.

I just want to see content that isn’t just ‘GeTaWaY iS pUrE eViL’ or ‘GeTaWaY tHe AbUsIvE PaRtNeR’ or some other crap.

Because people avoid talking about Getaway after his character was assassinated. People who are fans of him I don’t see speak about him or if they do it can rarely find them.

But I’ve been aware that a of lot people are starting to speak out about Getaway’s mistreatment in the fandom. Which is better than having to stay quiet.

[elfdragon12]

Truly, one of the biggest issues with MIMTE/LL I have is how much character "work" is done away from the actual narrative.

Skids and Swerve are best friends! Where? Chromedome develops and isn't so jealous of Rewind's past (that he knew of from the very beginning)! Where? Megatron changes and is a better/more responsible captain than Rodimus! Where? Prowl convinced Rodimus to take Overlord onto the ship! Where (and when and how?!)? Fort Max and Red Alert get better! Where?

So much happened away from the audience and, as someone who thought that the series was going to be really character driven because of the way the fandom portrayed it and likes that kind of thing, it's incredibly frustrating.

[quetzalpapalotl]

It's really funny that JRo is the guy with the (very valid) fixation on inserting birth imagery everywhere, but it was actually Barber who wrote about parenthood. Like, once the allegorical birth happens, JRo doesn't care.

[pyrotechnicdarts]

ive just had a revelation give me a day to gather some screenshots ill make the best rodimus + prowl + getaway meta post ever. dont hold me to that though

[transingthoseformers]

oh skids, sweetheart, that's in no way your fault.

Right now we're seeing the memories Sunder oh so helpfully unrepressed /s, which. Do you know why deep divers aren't allowed to ascend too quickly? Nitrogen Narcosis, the nitrogen in their blood expands too fast and a lot of bad shit can happen. Why did I bring this up? Froid and Rung have said that with mnemosurgery there's a memory version of this issue, and it's a serious possibility for Skids. It's not exactly pleasant when memories unrepress on their own, so I can't imagine what it feels like when they're forcefully dragged out of the depths via mnemosurgery.

So Skids was forced to work for Tarn in the past, and he was way mega guilty that it was starting to get to him. This isssss not his fault whatsoever, a nice amount of people would call it Stockholm syndrome (which if we can recall Rung said the tf universe equivalent to explain how Froid cares for Sunder).

[icyrambles]

hi hope it's okay to reblog this, but i wanted to ask some questions out of genuine curiosity on some of the stuff mentioned in this post. and before i started i wanted to say that i agree with the general sentiment of your post; fandom has, and continues to have a very bad racism issue in terms of both actual poc and coded poc characters, something that is often brushed aside and ignored by the majourity of fandom. i believe it's important to address these issues and call them out, less they fester and become prevalent in the background, as well as the fact that fandom comfort in terms of tropes should come second to the safety and wellbeing of poc members.

however i did want to ask why some of the tropes mentioned in this post would be considered racist. specifically in regards to making jazz a decepticon, either former or an undercover spy. i could understand if it was just jazz who was getting this sort of treatment from the fanbase (because if it was just jazz then having one of the few explicitly coded black characters in fandom being on the team that regularly enslaves/colonizes other planets is really gross) but i've stumbled across "what if x character was a decepticon" in pretty much every corner of the fandom; ratchet, prowl, optimus, ironhide, the list goes on. it's generally just a really popular idea to ask the question of what if this autobot was on the other team, so i don't really understand why it's specifically racist if it's done to jazz.

and in terms of hyper violent jazz, i don't think i've personally stumbled across that version of jazz but considering in a lot of continuities he's head of special operations and a literal spy, i don't really consider it that big of a stretch to assume that jazz is willing to commit violent acts. then again i could just be misinterpreting the term hyper violence. if it's about jazz being like, blood thirsty i guess, then yeah that seems really far out of left field considering his appearances within most continuities as being a generally kind and caring individual.

again it seems like a lot of your issues seem to be with really popular fandom tropes that are often applied to most transformers characters, not just jazz. and that's totally valid, sometimes shit just isn't someone's cup of tea. but i think it's somewhat disingenuous to say that people are racist for writing jazz with very popular, and very prevalent fandom tropes that exist all over the internet. like do i think that people could do a little bit more thinking in regards to writing a black coded character with those tropes, yeah, absolutely, biases are everywhere and no author/artist is without them and writers should 100% try to research and check their biases if they're attempting to write about coded characters or really any character who experiences something that the writer themself has not experienced before

but considering jazz is a spy/head of special operations in a lot of continuities, having him be a spy for the opposite team or have him come from darker origins (like being a former criminal) doesn't seem too far a stretch for a fan creator to make and generally from what i know from my experience in fandom, a lot of the fun of playing in the sandbox with characters is asking questions of "what if x character did this" or "what if y character acted like that".

anyways i really hope this doesn't sound like i'm trying to pick a fight, i'm honestly curious how jazz being put into these common fandom tropes and/or experiences (like character traits getting flanderized) is an example of racism even if it happens to every other character within the franchise. and additionally do you have any thoughts on how people could realistically do these tropes? or if people simply shouldn't write jazz into any different stories that don't portray him as a direct 1 to 1 in whatever canon they're trying to write.

I think I've reached my last nerve with how TF fans treat Jazz on here and on AO3, and I feel the need to rant about it. Obligatory "not all Jazz fans" and "not all JazzProwl fans" disclaimer here... if this doesn't sound like it's describing the content you make or enjoy, then it's not. Honestly, I don't think this angry rant is going to convince anybody of anything, but I'm posting it because I want to make it clear that people see this and are aware it's racist.

Never let it be said that racism isn't thriving in the TF fandom on Tumblr and AO3, because so much Jazz fan content is the most blatantly racist shit. And it's nowhere near as bad on other sites that people here usually claim are more racist—I've never seen what I'm about to describe on r/transformers, for example. TF fans on here often claim to love Jazz so much and say he's one of the best, most unhateable TF characters along with Soundwave, but do they ACTUALLY love Jazz?

Tumblr and AO3 users when they see this great, heavily Black-coded hero: We love Jazz! Ooh, what if he was a slave? What if he was hyper-violent? What if he was a disruptive chaos gremlin? What if he was hypersexual? What if he was lazy and never did his work? What if he was a drug addict? What if he was a prostitute? What if he had an evil alter? What if he used to be/was secretly a Decepticon? What if he was a notorious criminal? What if he was literally some kind of bestial monster?

I've actually seen people on Tumblr asking if Jazz being a Decepticon or having an evil alter was ever canon. Well, let this be a PSA: none of this shit is fucking real! I've seen almost all the media Jazz is in, and none of this reflects how he's been portrayed, ever! Apparently people posting links and screenshots and GIFs showing what Jazz has actually been like in canon hasn't caused people to self-reflect, because this shit is still somehow super popular and even filtering doesn't screen even close to all of it! And I've seen in real-time people who are newer to the fandom getting tricked by all this racist fanon and then being drawn into it, thinking it reflects something when it doesn't! That's one of the things that bothers me most!

And then there's the other half of this, which is the immense popularity of JazzProwl. Putting aside how ridiculous it is that a ship between characters who haven't had a positive interaction in fifteen years is somehow the most popular ship in this fandom, half of all the Jazz content I see on sites like Tumblr also stars Prowl, as if Jazz isn't an arguably more prominent character with tons of unexplored stuff of his own going on. But that's the least of it. How the hell do I constantly see people uncritically post shit with this ship like Prowl trying to arrest or pull over a chaotic criminal Jazz? Or shooting at him? Or white savior, copaganda, anti-sex work garbage like Prowl as a cop rescuing prostitute/stripper Jazz from exploitative working conditions (I'm not making this shit up)? (Also, @ people who make content in which Prowl is Jazz's slave—I see you too, and you're not woke. You are still linking Black people to slavery as your first thought and then assuming it's subversive to flip the dynamic you'd expect to see. You're getting off on slavery and still including a Black-coded hero in your shit.)

Even the majority of the much milder content I see is still ridiculously OOC and plays into racist tropes in its own ways. Like how 90% of JazzProwl content shows a lazy, distractible Jazz endlessly trying to get Prowl to relax by disrupting his work or playing pranks or some shit. What media does that come from? Oh yeah, it comes from nowhere, because it's just old fanon that's been endlessly regurgitated by people who aren't realizing how making this up plays into offensive stereotypes about Black men and boys. Hey, if you people love this boring dynamic so much, maybe look at the canon relationships that are similar to it instead of forcing characters who don't fit it whatsoever into these roles without thinking about the implications!

And guess what? I've repeatedly seen literal proof that basically everyone who thinks they like this ship hasn't ever seen the characters interact in canon, too—every so often somebody on here will ask why JazzProwl is popular and ask for fans to share the canon media that made them ship it... and inevitably nobody can share anything, which is hilarious every time. Sometimes people will admit it's all fanon. In fact, the other day I saw a link to a fic from the very early 2000s that claims to be the super-influential, first JazzProwl fic ever making the rounds on Tumblr, and guess what? I looked at it and it was already super fucking racist, with Jazz being described as chaotic and not a hard worker and it had Prowl angrily shooting at him!!!

Jazz is one of my favorite characters and I'm so sick of this shit! Normally I love transformative works and new interpretations of characters, but in this case the fanon is so horrid and has always been horrid, so either try to examine Jazz in canon and portray him based on it, or be a fan of a different character! And fucking REMEMBER that this is a Black-coded hero, damn it! I saw a fic the other day that made me literally choke on my drink because it had Blaster (also a Black-coded hero) describing Jazz as a "spook!" THAT DOES NOT JUST MEAN SPY, THAT'S A RACIST, ANTI-BLACK SLUR!!! And this isn't even getting into how people in fic have Jazz talk! Jazz in all the media I've seen speaks very clearly and rarely has any kind of accent, but I constantly see white people attempting to write his dialogue phonetically in a way that feels straight out of Uncle Tom's Cabin. What the fuck is this?!

Also, petty, but the fans who make and consume this kind of content in my opinion don't then get to relentlessly criticize something like Earthspark, which has a cast and crew of people of color, by claiming it undermined its themes and is racist!

[til-all-are-loved]

{This Charming Man Part Two}

MTMTE Megatron x Reader

SFW

Part one Here

Part three Here

"Ambassador Y/N... Its Megatron. I would like to speak with you."

The knock at your door sent a jolt through your chest. Megatron. His voice was low and deliberate, as always, but there was something... different about it tonight. The faintest edge of uncertainty.

You hesitated, your hand hovering over the control panel. Not out of fear—no, you'd learned long ago that Megatron's presence was imposing but not dangerous to you. It was the weight of what this interaction might mean. He rarely sought you out, and never for idle conversation.

Finally, you pressed the panel, and the door slid open with a soft hiss. There he stood, towering in the doorway, the faint glow of his optics dimmed just enough to seem... almost approachable.

"Good evening," you managed, stepping aside to let him in. "What can I do for you, Captain?"

He paused before entering, his massive frame barely fitting within the confines of your hab-suite. It was the first time he'd crossed this threshold, and the way he glanced around was almost... curious. You caught the briefest flicker of a frown as his optics scanned the sparse furnishings, as though he disapproved of how little space you allowed yourself.

"I was hoping to discuss something with you," he began, his tone careful. "A matter of... cultural exchange."

You blinked, caught off-guard. "Cultural exchange?"

He nodded, his optics locking onto yours with the kind of intensity that made your stomach tighten. "The poem you quoted earlier today—Tennyson, was it? Theirs not to reason why, theirs but to do and die. I confess I found it... intriguing. I attempted to locate the full text in our archives, but my search proved fruitless."

You couldn't help but smile a little at the image of Megatron poring over the Lost Light's limited library in search of a poem. "It's from The Charge of the Light Brigade," you offered. "I can recite it for you, if you'd like."

You gestured for him to take a seat, which he did with surprising care, lowering himself onto the reinforced bench you'd pushed against the far wall. It was the only thing in the room that looked like it could hold his weight. Sitting down brought him closer to your level, though his sheer presence still seemed to fill the room.

You recited the poem from memory, your voice steady despite the odd intimacy of the moment. Megatron listened intently, his optics never leaving you. When you finished, there was a long silence.

"Futility," he said finally, the word falling into the quiet like a misstep. He shifted slightly, his optics flickering, as though even he wasn’t sure why he’d said it.

"Uh... yeah," you replied, trying to latch onto something—anything—to keep the conversation from stalling completely. "I guess it’s... kind of about that?"

"Kind of," he echoed, his tone flat. He glanced at you, and for a second, you thought he might elaborate. He didn’t. Instead, he gave a slight tilt of his head, the closest approximation of a shrug you’d seen from him.

You tried again. "Or maybe it’s more about, you know, following through. Like... duty. Even when it’s hard."

His optics focused on you sharply, and you suddenly felt like you were under a microscope. "Duty," he repeated, his voice carrying an edge that made you wonder if you'd said something wrong.

"Yeah," you said quickly, shifting on your feet. "You know, that whole ‘doing the right thing even when it sucks’ kind of vibe." You winced internally—‘sucks’? Really?

To your surprise, he huffed—a short, sharp sound that might have been a laugh if it weren’t coming from Megatron. "An... oversimplification," he said, his voice softer than usual.

You blinked, unsure if that was criticism or approval. "I mean, sure, but that’s kind of the point of poetry, right? You can read it a bunch of different ways."

His optics narrowed slightly, but it wasn’t the menacing look you’d seen in meetings. It was almost... curious. "Interesting," he murmured, though it sounded more like an observation than a response.

The silence stretched again, but this time it felt lighter, the earlier tension easing. You glanced at the floor, then back at him, half-expecting him to make an excuse and leave. Instead, he shifted his weight slightly, his massive frame settling in as though he wasn’t in a hurry to go anywhere.

"So, uh, did you want to talk about anything else?" you asked, half-joking to fill the space.

He tilted his head, optics narrowing again. For a moment, you thought he might actually take you up on the offer, but then he stood abruptly, the motion smooth and deliberate. "No," he said, though his voice lacked its usual edge. "That will be all for tonight."

You nodded, your heart still pounding a little harder than it should. "Anytime, Captain."

He turned to leave, but paused at the doorway. "Goodnight, Ambassador."

"Goodnight, Megatron."

The door hissed shut, and the quiet returned. You exhaled, realizing only then how tense you’d been. The conversation might have been awkward, but there was something oddly... satisfying about it. Like you’d just taken a small step into uncharted territory.

And judging by the way Megatron lingered, you weren’t the only one who felt it.

--

Oh god this got so long and it accidentally turned into a full on fic. Let's see where this goes guys, I think this could go in a really awesome direction. I haven't written fan fiction in like 10 years bear with me.

[decepti-thots]

🔥

Oooh, dealer's choice. Okay. Hmmm.

I think that MTMTE does not ever really manage to coherently bring together its ideas around things like functionism or the cold construct/forged idea, tbh. As ideas, it's very easy to latch onto in transformative fandom and try and do something with them- but on the flip side, I think that when you really try and just look at what the comic does with them in the text, they do not ever come together in a way that has a clear narrative goal, or is always well executed.

This feels weird to say when both concepts are incredibly necessary to the comic itself. They aren't superfluous elements you can take out and the comic is still what it is! Despite that, if you try and do a close read of the comic itself, it quickly feels apparent to me that a) in universe, diagetically, they are not very consistent and you often find yourself going 'wait, what?', and b) non-diagetically, in the realm of 'is this a stand in doing real world social commentary', it's straight up a mess much of the time. As worldbuilding, it's wishy-washy and inconsistent; as allegory or anything like it, you often wind up going 'hm. well. that doesn't really work'.

Is cold construction supposed to be a commentary on classism? Maybe- but the degree to which the text reinforces that a degree of real physical difference exists makes that touchy, frankly. Is it then using that to talk about class and disability as it relates to class? This would be an interesting angle- but the comic has too many issues around its treatment of the latter to invite uncritical use of that lens, in my opinion. Sometimes, racism gets invoked, but of that I can only say I think it is an ill-advised approach the comic does not explore well! Functionism, meanwhile, gestures at a lot of stuff, but never really convinces me the comic is quite sure what it's getting at there. Again, the question of classism comes to mind, and it's all clearly a response to the stuff set up early on in IDW1 by Megatron: Origin, which invites such commentary and critique. But there's just too many holes in its treatment of certain characters to make a lot of sense. The inconsistency means trying to do an actual read across the whole comic winds up maddening. (Source: I've tried.)

And if we justify this by saying 'not everything is allegory, sometimes worldbuilding is just worldbuilding'... well. It just still doesn't add up! In the moment, it seems to make sense, but attempting to extrapolate out into an actual consistent sense of how that world works, or worked pre-war, quickly falls apart for me. Which brings us back to the idea it's not literally consistent but is Doing Thematic Work, which... see above! We run into The Issues again!

This is not to say I think there's nothing interesting to be gained from engaging with this element, to be clear. But I find it's most productive for me when I engage with it from the baseline that it's a fairly muddled, inconsistent, and ultimately difficult to pin down element that, while very important to the comic, is not one of its narrative strengths. Very much a part of the comic where I think admitting the meat is in doing work as a reader to make it work for whatever reading you want to do is a good way to approach it, rather than assuming the comic itself has done that leg work. (And sometimes, that will mean being critical of it; I really do think there's stuff in there that deserves unpacking in how it's handled.)

[manatee-rp-memes]

Transformers: MTMTE Sentence Starters

~Feel free to tweak as needed~

“All good things must come to an end, if there’s one thing in life I’ve learned it’s how to say goodbye and mean it.”

“You think that just because the war is over, we can afford to stop fighting!“

“Okay, so tell me what happened- in layman’s terms, please. The fewer syllables, the better. Science makes me twitchy. Too many rules.”

“Never stand next to a quantum generator when it’s about to flout the laws of physics.“

“So, who broke the rule?”

“I’m too smart to die!”

“Either it’s very far away, or you’ve invented the world’s smallest drink.”

“Don’t say I’m irritable. It really—it really irritates me.”

“One day you’ll say something nice to me—just before you tell me I’ve got a terminal illness or something.“

���Bottom line? I’ve got nothing else to lose.”

“Wow. If I’d known that was the best you’ve got, I’d have said something genuinely offensive.”

“Nice to meet you, loser!”

“But there’s always been a war! That’s like saying there’s no more blue or—or the weather’s stopped!”

“Nothing tingles like a teleport.”

“I was aiming for the other guy…! Obviously.”

“A senseless waste, a terrible tragedy. Boo hoo.”

“He promptly beat me to the brink of fade-out and left me in a critical condition.”

“But that’s a whole other story. Sorry—I always wanted to say that. That, and ‘Impossible! Our laserfire is just making him stronger!’ Ahem. Go on…”

“Please! I surrender! Don’t shoot!”

“MUTINY! Everywhere I look I see rules being stretched and laws being broken and protocols being dragged outside and kicked to death.”

“Maybe I have been taking things too seriously. Maybe I should try and… and… whatever. There’s a word for it.”

“Course I didn’t press it… but what if I had pressed it?”

“A metafictional bomb. It blows a hole in the fourth wall.”

“I can tell you pretty emphatically that none of this – none of this even approaches my definition of ‘okay’!"

"Listen to me. NEVER. HOPE. Hope is a lie.”

“That was a nasty fall. Need a hand?”

“Get the hell out of my bar.”

“Ah, enriched nucleon…! The magic ingredient!”

"You should really stop and listen to yourself sometimes.”

“Life’s messed up. I’m messed up. I’ve done bad things and I continue to do bad things, because the voice telling me not to…? He’s not said much for a while. And y'know what keeps me going? ANGER. Anger’s an insulator. Stops life getting too close. If I got myself 'fixed,' maybe the anger would leave me—and then I really would be screwed.“

"Your life is in the palm of my hand. Before I squeeze, I offer up one last shining truth…”

“If God were on your side you’d have stopped me by now! Will anybody pit their faith against mine?”

“I know, I know—I’m incorrigible.”

“Honestly? I think for an intuitive weapon to promote long discredited notions of moral absolutism is problematic in the extreme.”

“When did you first decide that the universe needed ‘dominating’?"

"My life is a succession of decisions made in confined spaces.”

“If you want to get the measure of an author, don’t look at what they’ve left on the page…. look at what they’ve taken away.”

“Information carries weight. It’s not corporeal, but it has presence. It can be felt. It hangs in the air like—like words. Like the morning after an argument! Actually, not like that. That’s a bad analogy. I’m distracted.”

“Shut up. Stop expecting things of me.”

“The war is over and, thankfully, we lost.”

“I’m confronting my own mortality! I’m having one of those—those existential crisises!”

“'Could!' The luxury of 'could!' I’m already dead!”

“If I sit next to you too long, am I going to die of smartass poisoning?”

“There’s a thin line between categorization and segregation, and I never want to see it crossed again.”

“If the world thinks you’re a monster, what does it matter? The world is wrong. But when you start to think of yourself as a monster…”

“Touch me again and I’ll kill you.”

“Here’s a survival tip: When everyone’s lining up to make sacrifices… always get to the back of the queue.”

“I’ll let you in on a little secret… I can do whatever the hell I like.”

“Maladies of the mind are easily hidden. We don’t want to see them. They remind us of our fragility.”

“You have two weapons at your disposal: your brain and your fists. You must be prepared to use both.”

"I’m fine. Bad dream, that’s all. My first flashback. These things’ll happen when you’ve got a head full of history.”

“This conversation is ridiculous. You are ridiculous. Everything that’s happened in the last few days is intensely ridiculous.”

“We’re all of us the sum of our experiences.”

“I know who I am, but I don’t necessarily know who I was. I find it hard to compare the two.”

“I want to tell you a story.”

“I’m trying to show concern. I’ve seen other people do it.”

“People don’t like me – they just laugh at my jokes. There’s a difference.”

“I hate you. As in, I actively hate you. I am in hate with you.”

“No one cares what you have to say~”

“I had a plan! Same plan as always: survive.”

“I order you to survive.”

“Nothing makes sense anymore.”

[elfdragon12]

Regarding MTMTE/Lost Light: I kind of wished they didn’t add Megatron in the mix because it really felt like it took away a lot of potential character development.

They could have kept Fortress Maximus and Red Alert in the batch instead of dropping them off to wherever.

Another thing is, there were TOO MANY Characters and every character had a story to tell but didn’t have time.

If the crew was smaller, then it would be easier to track down everything.

Megatron basically became the main character... Well, except for when he disappeared from the narrative to spend 800 years in another dimension where he conveniently got all his character development done. 😐

To be fair, nearly everyone on the Lost Light is at least a little bit toxic, so it's better for at least Red's mental health to be elsewhere... But let's drop them off from the narrative almost entirely and handwave them better! (Fort Max was definitely not ready to deal with Megatron and I will say it would have been interesting to see that conflict. Have someone lead the mutiny that you cannot argue with for just not getting to know Megs better.)

That is the full truth! The core group of characters on the Lost Light was at least 20 characters! Not counting the Scavengers or the characters that got added along the way! Heck! The Lug and Anode arc was speed run so fast and they contributed so little afterwards that I forget they exist most of the time! James Roberts even admitted this was a problem in a Q&A.

I definitely think the Chromedome and Rewind arc suffered a *ton* from this as that relationship was so gross and toxic with the creepiest love-bombing scene that I can't forgive Chromedome for. However, because James Roberts didn't have time to actually address it--nah, let's just act like it never happened!

[yama-does-art]

Magic on the Lost Light - Part 2

Lost Light x (gn)reader

Part 1 | [Here] | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | End

Content: mtmte human oc insert, discontinued

Warnings: None

Word Count: 1.4k

Buddy I

You nodded, gaining a smile from the metal giant before you. This was the third alien you have met today. The first being Perceptor, the science officer who found you suffocating to death. The second being Ratchet, the medic that saved you, and now this psychiatrist, Rung.

This one was smaller than the first two, lanky in both stature and build. It was nice to talk to him. Perhaps it was his profession shining through, but he seemed genuinely concerned for your welfare. It helped put you at ease, somewhat. 

Now you were just tired. One moment you were dozing off against a tree, the next you were on an alien ship unable to breathe. While you were grateful that they saved your life, it was rather jarring to see these holographic avatars interact with you. Entities that were not quite human. It was much easier trying to communicate to their true forms, even if they happen to be three stories tall.

Apparently, this species referred to themselves as Cybertronians, hailing from a planet called Cybertron. They are an autonomous group of  lifeforms, inorganic in nature, and composed of living metal. non-binary organisms, though masculine oriented when dealing with organic races. Referring to them as AI, robots, or machines is considered highly offensive, preferring to be called mechs instead.

This particular group is on a quest through deep space to find the alien equivalent of the Holy Grail. And you just happen to land on their ship that recently underwent a catastrophic engine failure that is being ‘handled’ by the current commanding officers. They don't even know where they are due to the ship's failure. In other words, nowhere near this world's Earth.

They said they meant you no harm. You hope that it is true. You want it to be true, yet there was no way to know until you meet the captain. At least the commanding officers had been to Earth before, so there was hope.

Hell.

You already missed the feeling of grass.

Rungs voice broke through your thoughts, “This must be an incredibly surreal experience. How are you feeling?”

That was a loaded question, if you ever heard one. Frustrated. Alone. Afraid. Overwhelmed. You sighed, "Tired, if I am being honest,"

It was fascinating how his facial expressions seem to mirror that of a human. A slight downward tug to his lips accompanied by furled eyebrows. “I still have to wait here but if you need to rest, don't let me keep you."

It was touching to see him actively worry about your needs. You wave him off, "it's fine, I won't be able to sleep anyway. Not until I meet your captain, that is. Do you have any water by chance?"

This time you heard something akin to an engine stall. “No I don't… I apologize, given the current circumstances, we would have to wait for Ratchet," his voices laced in static,"Is it life threatening?"

You have a small smile, "It is fine for now. Ask me again in another day or two."

Another engine stall and somehow he looked even more worried.

"Easy, there," you say, "Just a joke. Kind of. I still need water, but death by dehydration occurs roughly around 36 to 48 hours. Plenty of time."

The mech let out a stream of warm air. Was that a cybertronian equivalent to a sigh? "It pains me to admit that I know very little about organic races, let alone humans. Now that I am in your presence, it frightens me how fragile you are compared to Cybertronians. Something as simple as a lack of a critical resource could be considered fatal."

He cared. It was so touching, you could not help but walk over to where he rested his palm. You smiled, placing your hand on his. It surprised you that the metal was warm. "You are very kind Rung. Given the circumstances, I am glad you were one of the first mechs I got to speak to."

You could see his luminescent eyes flicker behind his glasses. More hot air was blowing in your direction. Perhaps it was an involuntary reflex to being uneasy? You backed away just in case. "Sorry, I didn't know how else to convey how grateful I am, I won't do that again if it makes you uncomfortable"

He frowned, tilting his head slightly. "What made you think that?"

"You emit more warm air when you frown, or during emotional parts of the conversation. I also saw your antenna twitch when I touched your hand, I didn't mean to be rude."

His mouth hung for a second before he shook his head, "You just startled me, that is all. Are all humans physical when conveying their emotions?"

You laugh, "yes, some more than others. It's actually detrimental to our psyche if we don't touch another living being for long periods of time."

More hot air drifted from the mech. "I cannot fathom living in such a precarious state, yet I am awestruck by your resilience to it all."

You slowed to a chuckle, "You underestimate my ability to compartmentalize my emotions. A part of me is absolutely terrified right now. "

His antenna twitched again. "Yet you still laugh."

“Heh, another biological response to stress,” you say, shrugging, “I talk and I joke because it is the only thing I can do. Without your continued kindness, I am incapable of  surviving on my own, at least in this environment. Don’t get me wrong, I am eternally grateful, but it leaves me in a rather uncompromising situation."

He frowned, the realization seemed to hit him. “Is that why you’re afraid?

“Oh sure, that’s a big part of it. I hate being trapped in general, so being here in an unknown location, surrounded by strangers, without any sense of agency definitely rubs me in all the wrong ways. It also doesn’t help that the lizard portion of my brain insists that you’re going to chop me up and cook me for dinner.”

Suddenly, you felt a rumble through your body. “That’s absurd! I would never do something as cruel and abhorrent as that to you. A cybertronian cannot even process organic matter, regardless of substance.” His frown deepened at the hearty laugh of the individual.

You tried to choke back your giggles, “Sorry, human joke. I know you’re not going to eat me. I mean, I’d be rather impressed if you could, but I figured as much.”

 He let out a long sigh rubbing his.. Nose arch? Do Cybertronians have a sense of smell? In one swift movement, he removed his glasses to place them to the side.

“I can see now, that your sense of humor is a defense mechanism. While I may not understand the biological mechanics of it, or the context of your jokes, I can see the pain behind it. Even though there are parallels between our respective species, it only confirms my belief that I would be unfit to serve a psychiatrist for one such as yourself. However,” He held his palm in front of you, his cyan optics met yours, "I, Rung of the Pious Pools, swear to you that I will do everything I can to help you through this.”

Fascinating, he managed to identify your coping strategy and acknowledge the similarities between your two species. He was also aware of their differences to admit that he could not serve in a professional capacity. So what was he asking of you? To believe in him? To trust him? You wanted to. Never in this entire conversation had you felt threatened. Even the medic and science officer was adamant about your safety.

You looked up to the copper toned Cybertronian, you realize that his optics was the same brilliant cyan as his core. Eyes were said to be a gateway to the soul. Was it also true for these giants? Why else would he remove his glasses if not a gesture of trust? You looked back towards his hand. You could hear faint ticks emanating from it and see plating shift even in its relative stillness, all reminders that it is a part of something very much alive. As you walked near him, a terrible thought came to mind. It was reckless, foolish, and insane. But it would also prove a point.In an instance, you swung your body into his palm, settling at its center. You grinned in satisfaction at the bot above. Taking careful note of the increased air circulation around you and how his antenna twitched violently while the rest of his body tensed. “Alright Rung of the Pious Pools, I am trusting you with this. My life is in your hands.”

Next ->

[singingcicadas]

Rodimus and making Necessary Sacrifices

The most famous one: blowing up Nyon

Btw Megatron could totally have saved the people in Nyon if he wanted to; he knew about Zeta's plan beforehand. All he needed to do was give Hot Rod and the citizens an evacuation alert. But he didn't because he wanted to give Optimus a good emotional impact with all the deaths and who cares about the common lowlife anyway, all they're good for is getting bodily thrown at Zeta until his weapon overloads from draining too many people.

Kimia station in Chaos Theory:

Red text bubble is Optimus. He doesn't wait for Optimus to agree before directly giving Omega Supreme orders to shoot Kimia down.

Reaction after confirming that Doubledealer is a traitor:

Using Rung as bait for the sparkeater:

The last two panels also gives us something on how he views (his own) authority. Because while he's always held a position of authority in high command, the high command is still a council. On the ship his authority is absolute.

The next three scenarios form a pattern. It always starts with Rodimus telling someone to kill a comrade, the person tasked with the killing goes 'what I don't want to do that', and Rodimus tones down the order from death to wound.

Ordering Rewind and Swerve to shoot at Fort Max:

Ordering Swerve to hurt Ore:

Ordering Cyclonus to shoot Brainstorm:

Each of these scenarios is in response to a critical situation. Rodimus' first orders of 'aim to kill' are, while extreme, not disproportionate to the level of threat presented. They're within reason and authority. And ceding from kill to wound when protested is proof that he doesn't not care. But it also shows that his first instinctual reaction towards threats is to kill first ask questions later, even if the threat used to be his friend, comrade, or compatriot, he's able to weigh the lives on a scale and make that hard decision. He's also the type of person who's very comfortable with taking the fates other people into his own hands and deciding whether they should live or die (which is why him choosing to spare Getaway after retaking the Lost Light is a sign of character growth).

His characterization is fairly consistent throughout the comics, except for this:

Everything in Spotlight Hot Rod goes against his later presentations. In his spotlight he's said to repeatedly beat himself up over one failed mission and is averse to taking responsibility towards other people for fear that he'd get them killed but in later issues he has No Problems doing exactly that. He displays no preferences for 'going solo' aside from the mission to retrieve the matrix and that's because everyone else kicked him out. When he wanted to leave on the Lost Light he made speeches to convince other people to join him despite the fact the Autobots were already outnumbered on Cybertron and taking people away would make their situation worse. Whenever he went anywhere in mtmte he assembled a team to accompany him.

This scene especially contradicts Spotlight Hot Rod in every single way. The only consistent aspect of his character is the recklessness. He forces Optimus to authorize a rescue mission, of which he declares himself the team leader, ignores Optimus' caution about keeping it clandestine and tells everyone to barge through the front door, shuts Ironhide's objections down by pulling rank, then falls into a trap and gets Ironhide killed. Mission failed too obviously, they only got Prowl out. Optimus takes responsibility for the failure and surrenders to the humans, of which Rodimus' response is: "he freaked out because he couldn't hack it" and promptly also proceeds to drop everything and leave because yay there's no one to keep me on this stupid planet anymore and whoever wants to can come with. Where. is the guilt.

That and the whole fiasco with Swindle and Menasor were probably Rodimus' worst moments lol. Overall he's the type of leader good with stressful trolley problems but bad at considering the larger or long-term implications of his actions. His flippancy towards life and death and tendency to solve problems with the bluntest approach bleeds heavily into his leadership decisions and... just how his character is in general. Thank goodness there's only one of Drift and he's gone for most of the Lost Light voyage, Rodimus really doesn't work well with too many yes-men hanging around.

[robot-thighs]

hello maccadams fans,

so! i kept stumbling across mentions of the short story "Bullets" on tfwiki, because it had important lore about Kimia and some characters who would later appear in MTMTE. but because it was an exclusive that was only published in the TPB for "Last Stand of the Wreckers," not many people have probably read it. it's a prequel story to LSOTW and DOES contain some spoilers if you haven't read that series, but it's also interesting how much jro is obviously setting up for MTMTE, even tho this was written about 2 years before MTMTE started coming out. pretty sure this is the first canonical appearance of Rung.

anyway, because this was so hard to track down, I took the time to find a scan of the LSOTW trade paperback and used an ocr scanner to transcribe it so that I could share it and make it more accessible. I've only ever found a few transcriptions of the first chapter, but not the whole thing. it's very interestingly written, and also contains some interesting criticism of Furmanisms. I highly recommend anyone who is a fan of MTMTE/LL or LSOTW give it a read. The ending still has me shook.

Disclaimer: I didn't change the writing at all, but i did omit a couple very obvious typos that were printed in the TPB, and I fixed some of the formatting issues where chapter breaks were missing or put in the wrong place. otherwise, this writing is completely unaltered. Also, I did read this over like 3 separate times as I was working to transcribe and format it, but because ocr scans can be unpredictable, it's very possible I missed a few minor things.

Anyway please read and enjoy!

-day

edit: fixed the title for the link

[legyt]

Reading Transformers: More Than Meets The Eye (MTMTE) #16

(Been busy with prepping up for New Years, but Im back. Ive read up to #22, so this is just me going back to a specific part)

This part in particular got me HOOKED deeper into Chromedomes character, even more so when I first found out abt him being a mnemosurgeon and a former partner of Prowl.

Its knowing the fact that hes had ppl lik Rewind with him before, and the way Brainstorm implies that Rewind isnt his first conjux endura, and that perhaps the reason why hes 'born dry' of innermost energon to even offer Rewind any back when he was critically injured, was that he gave so much of it away that he just - ran out, zip, nada. He just, ran dry after giving so much of it away to ppl he loved, that had died and he mourned for.

Until. Until he made himself forget them, removing the connections he had with these ppl so that it wont hurt anymore. He knows its easy to get rid of the hurt and pain. Just lik that, a needle stab to the neck, and itd b lik he didnt just lose someone hed love.

He gave so much of himself that hes got nothing left to give, but in the face of living with the pain of losing someone, he severs whatever remained of the ppl he once loved.

His memories of them, with them, and evrything abt them.

It was Brainstorm saying that, without a doubt, that "Yeah, you will cuz we had this conversation before" is what got broke me even more when I was reading it. It still does, because.

Brainstorm is telling him this as a friend, whos seen him end up making the same decision again and again.

Just. Imagine what it wouldve been lik the first time for Brainstorm to ask if Chromedome was doing alright after, but gets nothing.

No grief, no pain. Nothing. Not even recognition from Chromedome when he says their name, as if it meant nothing to Chromedome when Brainstorm knows it does. Its suppose to. And then thats when you realize what was done, what Chromedome did, and it was because it hurt too much for him that he made an 'easy' decision.

But cmon, lets b fcking honest, how tf is it easy to just, remove a person you loved so deeply from your memories and not find it hard?? Because u didnt want to feel the hurt, the pain, and the suffocating grief that came with losing that person.

"Your attention for a moment. This is Rewind, showing you edited footage from my database. I've probably got nought point eight seconds before game over so hear me out! I've always been terrified that you'd die before I did, because you and me apart strikes me as intensely wrong. So promise me something: Be brave. Be strong. And keep going without me. And another thing: No more injecting - it will kill you. And remember: You deserve to be happy... The new institute was the old you. You're a better person now - stubborn and frustrating, but wonderful! And to think - I will never see you again. One more thing - one last thing - because I don't say it enough: I love you." - Rewind (TF MTMTE #16)

YALL MUST UNDERSTAND

THIS FINAL MESSAGE WAS THE FINAL NAIL TO MY COFFIN

I cried.

Simple as that.

I bawled my fcking eyes out so bad, I layed on the couch at 2 AM, being a sobbing messy wreck.

I was shocked at first, and it didnt hit me immediately, but when this page came next I started crying.

Then after I closed my tab and just, layed there listening to sad music as I fcking cry.

I cannot express how much this unraveled me. BUUUUT, I can lay out why it made me feel... why it made me feel.

To start with: Chromedome making a different choice this time, because Rewind told him he deserved to be happy, that hes different to who he was before - someone better.

And I think, part of it was because Rewind made him promise to keep going without him, to stop injecting with his needle fingers.

LIK BRO, I-

All that and in the end, Rewind tells him:

"I love you".

BUT OOOOOOOH

ohhhh theres another one I wanna talk abt...

"You deserve to be happy... The new institute was the old you. You're a better person now - stubborn and frustrating, but wonderful! And to think - I will never see you again."

In this part, that specific page.

THE PARALLELS ARE PARALLELIIINGG 🙉

"You deserve to be happy..." It shows Drift walking out, cuz hes getting banished.

"The new institue was the old you." Gets hit, went down

"You're a better person now - stubborn and frustrating, but wonderful!" But Ratchet helps him up

"And to think - I will never see you again." Drift took a shuttle and left the Lost Light as an exile

PLS PLS PLSPLSPLS PLEASE TELL ME IM NOT THE ONLY ONE THINKING THIS

[transingthoseformers]

This is when I mention that I actually don't believe Pharma in this fic has been shadowplayed.

Like the percentage of him having been shadowplayed imo in this fic is 11-16%, just considering what I've seen of his marriage with Ratchet, what I know of him in this fic, and his words after he hit Ratchet. See, shadowplay is an evil evil process but often it's pretty goddamn obvious if you knew the mech beforehand. If Pharma had been shadowplayed, I feel like we would've seen that part of him suddenly turned up a hundred fold and he wouldn't just. Immediately go back to how things were before. Nahhhh the "I don't know what came over me" sounds like blatant denial to me rather than not knowing what happened.

Ratchet's latching onto the shadowplay suggestion as his own form of deep seated denial and because shadowplay has been on his mind since he met Megs. We've seen how mecha who have been shadowplayed act time and time again both in canon and in this fic, and this isn't it chief.

This is Pharma being an abusive POS that he very well could've been this entire time. This might have been the first time that he hit Ratchet, sure, but don't think I forgot the sly little remarks and the tone of this probably toxic marriage. After all, emotional abuse is insidious as fuck.

[searchingforatrail]

I think while a portion of the fandom has issues with Megatron's redemption, it's not actually a very bad redemption. He never excuses what he does, he dies/is imprisoned at the end, he's a prisoner on the LL, he introspects on the messed up crap he does, and strives to be better, even that the expense of sacrificing his own life if necessary (and he tries to).

A lot of his redemptions is considered bad because we see it done off screen in the functionalist Universe, but even with what I've read of the LL/MTMTE , he does a shit ton of work while away from the functionalist universe.

His redemption arc is often a criticism of his character, and it's not perfect, but it's also not at all terrible.

He takes accountability, serious accountability. He could kill absolutely everyone on the ship if he wanted to, and he doesn't. He makes amends to the people he's able to (even apologizes to tailgate for no reason lol), and continues to strive to put others before himself.

It's not as shitty as people try to make it. And I often wonder if people hate Megatrons' redemption arc, or if they just hate Megatron. Because if their fave was given the redemption arc megatron was, I doubt they'd be complaining.

Because his crimes were never forgiven, he never got a slap on the wrist. He understood what would happen to him, and eventually accepted it. He also worked to make the strong relationships he had, and while people consider the LL just openly accepting him, they really didn't. He had to work his ass off.

Eventually, it just becomes, "well my fave didn't get this ending so Megatron's actually sucked"

And not all the time, there are some valid criticism, even some I've made. But it's not the scum of the earth like people make it out to be. And I love that it was received well enough to be adapted in to ES.

Just thoughts.