#planes trains and autobots

[cutekittenlady]

Planes, Trains, and Autobots

Summary Fic Part 11

(why yes I am continuing this in spite of season 2 dropping. its a summary fic. Plus fanfic inherently ignores canon sooooo. Consider it an alternate events au if you want. Besides I cant even watch season 2 right now.)

[Previous] [Next]

Back at the Maltos, Wheeljack has joined the group and has hooked up his experimental ground bridge outside the barn and is FINALLY ready to commence with the test. Ratchet made him re-rig the whole thing three seperate. First time because he caught him rigging it up in the dugout, second because the exit would hit the barn, and third because the exist would hit the house.

Wheeljack complains that things would probably just "work out" but Ratchet argues that he doesnt want to have to rebuild the Maltos house before everyone gets back. The terrans and kids immediately agree. Outvoted Wheeljack dejectedly turns back to his experimental ground bridge.

Wheeljack wonders where to aim the test run at. He speculates various locations before Ratchet tells him to just aim for somewhere within eyesight so a) they can make sure it works, b) he can apply emergency aid if or when it doesnt, and c) so they dont have to drag wheeljacks body very far if things REALLY go wrong.

Whelljack tells him theres NOTHING to worry about. He is something, like, 87.4% sure this will work.

In response Ratchet tells the kids to take cover in the dugout.

Wheeljack gives a "haha very funny" before starting the machine.

The ground bridge does nothing for few uncomfortable minutes, but just as Ratchet is about to say something it spurts to life.

Wheeljack gives a hoot of success and gives Ratchet a smug look.

Ratchet just responds that he, wheeljack, hasn't gone through the portal yet.

Ratchet goes over to the controls, puts in some nearby coordinates, and tells Wheeljack to brace himself.

Wheeljack asks where Ratchet is sending him, and Ratchet says its in a clearing within eyesight.

Wheeljak turns towards the portal. Then he turns back and asks Ratchet if hes sure the coordinates are right.

Ratchet rolls his eyes and double checks and confirms that, yes, they are correct.

Wheeljack nods and turns back to the portal. He then turns back again, and asks if the portal is fully charged.

Ratchet groan and says, yes, yes it is.

Wheeljack laughs uncomfortable and turns back towards the portal. He then turns back yet again and asks if they should maybe try throwing a very large rock or something through the portal first and-

Ratchet yells for him to stop stalling. If hes confident in his tech it should be perfectly safe. If hes not, then he'll just call Optimus and others and tell them they'll have to take the LONG way back with their prisoner.

Wheeljack clears his throat and steps through the portal.

Ratchet turns his attention back to the controls, making sure all the readouts are correct. He mutters to himself that he KNOWS Wheeljack could do this. Then, remembering hes talking about WHEELJACK, quietly prays the ground bridge doesnt explode.

A few seconds later a portal opens not too far away and wheeljack steps out.

Once hes out of the protal it quickly closes behind him.

Wheeljack stands stunned for a moment before looking himself over and checking for any missing pieces. After another moment he immediately starts whooping and hollering of how the tech works! It works!

The kids watch on and start celebrating too.

Back at the groundbridge controls, Ratchet gives a sigh of relief before shutting the machine down. He mutters a congratulations for Wheeljack.

Robbie, who is standing nearby, asks Ratchet to repeat what he said.

Ratchet raises his voice and says that he was saying hes happy he doesnt have to waste his time scrapping Wheeljack off the floor.

Robbie smiles at him making it clear that he knows exactly what he actually said making Ratchet blush.

---

We cut back over to New Jersey where Optimus is just finishing his call with Ratchet confirming that they've gotten the ground bridge working. Megatron asks doubtfully if hes really certain that its working. Optimus confirms that Ratchet had Wheeljack test it to make sure.

Megatron still expresses doubts, wondering if perhaps Ratchet would have exaggerated its effetiveness.

Optimus tells him that while Ratchet might have a bad sense of humor about Megatrons history, he wouldn't risk the whole mission just to mess with Megatron. Besides which, while Wheeljacks inventions do have a... history he wouldn't approve the use of the groundbridge for others unless he was certain it would safely work.

Dorothy says that they can all go together only for Optimus to awkwardly correct her. The ground bridge is weaker than the ones they used during the war. It likely won't be big enough for them all to go at once.

Megatron asks if Optimus feels confident escorting Dead End on his own. Optimus hesitantly confirms and asks why he asks. Megatron says that he might as well get back "the old fashioned way". WIthout having to follow Optimus on the road, flying back to Witwicky should take no time at all. Around an hour or so at most.

Optimus tells him he doesnt have to do that. He knows Ratchet put his back out but-

Megatron cuts him off and tells him that thats not it. If what deadend told them was true and he truly hasn't seen the other stunticons since the war then they are likely going to have to track and find them all. its been months since Motormaster escaped from prison and Ghost fell. He, Dragstrip, and Wildrider could be anywhere.

They need to preserve the groundbridges energy if they want to gurantee they'll be able to get to the location of a sighting or lead ASAP. That means minimizing the number of trips and avoiding overusing the groundbridge for short trips. It shouldn't be used for any trip they can completely in the alt modes in just an hour.

Optimus is hesitant telling Megatron that splitting up isn't a good habit to get into. After all what happens if, once they're through the portal, Deadend tries to escape?

Megatron questions if he thinks thats likely. Besides which, Ratchet and Wheeljack are on the other side and Elita-one and Arcee are also stationed in Witwicky so its not like they don't have backup. he also says that he doesnt think Deadend is likely to try and escape again. Its hard to get him motivated again after he stops.

Optimus still doesnt agree but can see Megatron has made his decision. Dorothy decides to go with Optimus since they'll be arriving at her house and she wants to make sure deadend doesnt cause problems at her house. Twitch decides to go with Megatron to keep him company on the way back.

Megatron warns her that he intends to go full speed on the way back. This disheartens Twitch who acknowledges that her drone form likely won't be able to keep up at that speed and says she'll likely just go back with Dorothy and Optimus.

After a moment of hesitations, Megatron tells her she can ride along with him if she'd like. Twitch happily accepts and Dorothy gives Megatron a knowing look.

Megatron quicly asks twitch to "just please dont touch anything" and twitch promises.

Dorothy tells them to enjoy their flight and climbs into Optimus' truck form.

Optimus contacts Ratchet the start up the groundbridge. A portal opens up nearby and with one big honk of a horn for a goodbye Optimus drives through. The portal closing behind them.

---

In the abandoned car factory a screen flashes an alert causing knockout to tap the screen irritably. He mutters about interference before digging through the data.

Motormaster asks what the hell is going on with the equipment.

Knock Out at first says that it must be interference before looking closer and cursing.

Motormaster demands to know what the problem is.

Knock Out groans and tells him hes not allowed to get mad at him.

Motormaster says he'll get mad all he wants.

Knock Out rolls his eyes and tells him he's picking up a bridging signal. Motormaster is shocked and knockout continues saying that since he built this sensor with stolen ghost tech it must still be connected with the Autobots signals. Which means that the autobots must have managed to rebuild some form of bridging tech.

Motormaster asks if they'll be able to pick up on the bridging tech Knockout has been working on.

Knockout gives an unconvincing shrug.

After some more shouting from Motormaster, Knockout bites back that hes a medical doctor NOT an engineer. The fact that hes been able to rig up as much tech as he has using a mix of stolen cybertronian and earth tech is, quite frankly, evidence that he, knock out, is an unappreciated genius. One that should NOT have to put up with Motormasters attitude.

The big combiner grabs and lifts Knock Out up by the arm. Knock Out protests but Motormaster ignores him. He demands to know if the autobots can use the same method to find them.

Knock Out tells him that they probably cant. Not only has he not actually tested his own attempt at groundbridging, but the groundbridge signal is only detectable when it is activated and something is moving through it. The more things moving through the portal the stronger the energy output. Plus his own mechanism is pretty... weak.

Motormaster asks HOW weak it is.

Knock Out says before he answers that question he wants to be let down.

Motromaster unwillingly does so and Knock Out brushes himself off muttering threateningly about what he'll do if the other bot had scuffed his finish. He'd JUST waxed it.

Motormaster growls at Knockout and Knockout picks up something like a staff or spear from a pile of crates. Knockout explains that he rigged the smaller mechanism to his old energon prod for easy use and so that they can pick up and move it on the go. Besides which they can actually carry it through the subsequent portal with them and use it to get back. None of that waiting for someone on the other end to open it up.

The rather critical and numerous downsides include them having to manually enter the coordinates every. single. time. And no chance for subtle variation which runs the risk of them transporting themselves into a room two times too small for them, or a place that was clear of rubble when they left but somehow has a pile of rocks when they try and get back. And if the coordinates are even a little off, theres a possibility of doing something like sending themselves a thousand feet into the air or deep into the planets crust. Knock Out doesnt know what a thousand feet of rocky pressure would do to his frame but he doesnt want to find out.

Beyond that theres the not so minor issue that the thing guzzles energon like no ones business so its not even like they can use all that frequently.

Aaaaand of course it has a limited transport capacity. They can do two average to smaller sized bots. Three assuming someone is willing to risk potentially losing a limb. He could potentially make it bigger assuming they're willing to burn through ALL of their energon reserves to make it happen, but that would also make it insanely unstable.

Knockout admits he doesnt know a lot about how bridge science actually works. He largely just repurposed and repaired what was already there. If anything goes wrong mid transport hes not going have any idea of how to fix it.

Because of ALL of that, theres a chance the energy the portal gives out wont be big enough for the autobots to pick up. Maybe. Probably.

Though if they're not careful they MAY be able to find one of their severed arms somewhere. Probably Motormasters, yknow, considering (here Knockout gestures to motormasters considerable bulk).

Motormaster actually seems thoughtful for a moment.

Knockout looks pleased with himself until Motormaster tells him that, in that case, that means Knockout will have to be the one to retrieve the stunticons. Alone.

Knockout freaks out a little. He points out that most of the stunticons are "crazy" and would rip him limb from limb. Motormaster tells him to shut up and just tell them that Motormaster sent him and that that ought to straighten things out. After a moment of hesitation Knockout unwillingly agrees.

He then tells Motormaster that since THATS sorted out he hopes he won't be upset about the other thing.

Motormaster asks what he means by the OTHER thing.

Knockout taps the screen again and says that, unless the equipment is very off the mark... the autobot transport signal they just picked up was right where deadend was supposed to be.

Motormaster proceeds to lose it.

[in1-nutshell]

Established Buddy's Canon names

These are the Buddy's with established 'Canon' names, including their counterparts, with some fun facts.

These will be updated with time.

BW

Spindle

(BW) Blackarachnia's twin sister who is dating Waspinator

Alt mode: Spider

Faction: Former Predacon turn Maximal

Fun Fact: Other potential names include, Anansi and Recluse

TFP/Rid

Maxima

(TFP) Optimus daughter with the opposite personality

Alt mode: Monster Truck

Faction: Autobot

Fun Fact: When Maxima was turned human, she grew particularly fond of orange sorbets.

Lithia

(TFP) Ratchet's daughter with the opposite personality

Alt Mode: Non-emergency Ambulance

Faction: Autobot

Fun Fact: Lithia has done solo karaoke nights when she has the base to herself.

Ophelia

(TFP) Megatron's daughter with the opposite personality

Alt Mode: Monoformer

Faction: Former Decepticon, now Autobot

Fun Fact: Once Ophelia got together with Steve, she made sure to always have at least one day in the week reserved for date night.

Rapidfire

(TFP) Ultra Magnus daughter with the opposite personality

Alt Mode: Smaller semi truck

Faction: Autobot

Fun Fact: When Rapidfire was little, she would sometimes crawl into Magnus's berth when the bombing campaigns got too loud.

Iron Bolt

(TFP) Bulkhead's daughter with the opposite personality

Alt Mode: Family van (Think G1 Ironhide for context)

Faction: Autobot

Fun Fact: Iron Bolt took up rifle training after a random practice round with Perceptor that soon turned into a regular things between the two.

Star Cluster

(TFP) Starscream's daughter with the opposite personality

Alt Mode: nothing yet...

Faction: Former Decepticon turn Neutral

Fun Fact: To avoid the confusion between her first name and her father's, Star Cluster has her friends call her Cluster.

Steel Mauler

(TFP) Old Predacon Buddy

Alt Mode: Dragon Predacon

Faction: Former Decepticon, defected to Autobots

Fun Fact: Steel Mauler prefers to stay in his alt mode than bi ped mode most of the time, it better for naps.

Gamma

(TFP) Bumblebee twin

Alt Mode: nothing yet...

Faction: Autobot, brainwashed to be a Decepticon, returned as Autobot

Fun Fact: Gamma has a little heated blanket gifted from June and loves touching it during recharge time.

Thunderstreaker

(TFP) Kid Autobot seeker

Alt Mode: Jet

Faction: Autobot

Fun Fact: When the kids have rough days, Thunderstreaker likes to take them flying around while they vent.

Red Cross

(TFP) WW1 medic bot

Alt Mode: WW1 medic vechicle

Faction: Autobot

Fun Fact: Red Cross always has an extensive array of bandages in her subspaces, from plain gauze to colorful band aids for the kids. Always keeping it in stock.

Deadloop

(TFP) WW1 energon scout Con turn Bot

Alt Mode: Red Baron plane

Faction: Former Decepticon, defected Autobot

Fun Fact: Deadloop once asked Red Cross to slow dance with him after seeing Mr. Fowler do it with his wife. It was one of the best nights he had during the human war.

Sonar

(TFP) Soundwave's Conjux with the sonic scream

Alt Mode: nothing yet...

Faction: Autobot

Fun Fact: Sonar has a playlist with soft music made by the kids that plays on rough nights.

Weaver

(TFP) Bot Buddy with the personality of SG! Arachnid

Alt mode: Helicopter

Faction: Former Decepticon, turn Neutral

Fun Fact: Weaver Likes to test out the durability of her webs by making little crafts or free falling and swinging around.

Boiler

(TFP) Old British Bot Buddy

Alt mode: Old locomotive

Faction: Autobot

Fun Fact: Their guilty pleasure movie is Disney's 'Treasure Planet'.

Beany

(TFP) Predacon sparkling that follows Boiler

Alt Mode: Predacon (dragon)

Faction: Autobot, Predacon unit

Fun Fact: The kids love to babysit Beany when Boiler goes away, Beany listens to about 80% of what they tell him, compared to the bots which is 50% of the time.

Copperspring

(TFP) Wheeljack's younger sibling

Alt mode: N/A yet...

Faction: Autobot

Fun Fact: Keeps tiny souvenirs from big missions. Their favorite so far was a funny looking rock they found while searching for Predacon remains. It looked a pigeon, a cute pigeon.

Palladima

(TFP) Breakdown's daughter with the opposite personality

Alt Mode: SWAT car

Faction: Former Autobot, forced Decepticon, return as Autobot

Fun Fact: Is a notoriously heavy sleeper and will not get up until her frame thinks its time to get up.

Ranidae

(TFP) Arachnid son with the opposite personality

Alt Mode: Frog

Faction: Former Decepticon, turn Autobot

Fun Fact: Has tried to bring frogs back to the base, but Arcee and Ratchet keep a close optic and have found most of them, key word MOST.

Stonegrinder

(TFP) Bulkhead's older sibling

Alt mode: Logging truck

Faction: Autobot

Fun Fact: They're guilty pleasure is listening to older songs on the radio whenever the others are not around to listen.

Nightlight

(TFP) Bot Buddy with the Batmobile as an alt mode

Alt mode: Batmobile

Faction: Autobot

Fun Fact: Nightlight knew Ratchet when she had gone to medical school with him before changing career.

Quickhatch

(TFP) Bot Buddy who is like Wolverine

Alt mode: N/A some kind of car...

Faction: Autobot

Fun Fact: Potential names for him would have been Steelclaw or Steel Hatchet

Oberon Pollux

(TFP) Megatron's son

Alt Mode: N/A

Faction: Decepticon

Fun fact: He likes making jokes and small quips to pass the time or when he is nervous.

Pavo

(TFP/RiD) Ophelia and Steve's minibot son

Alt mode: N/A

Faction: N/A

Fun Fact: Loves to hang out with his Uncle Bumblebee and has been known to 'pull a Miko' every now and then. Thankfully his sister catches him.

Andromeda

(TFP/RiD) Ophelia and Steve's 'average sized' daughter

Alt Mode: N/A

Faction: N/A

Fun Fact: She loved getting carried around when she was little. Optimus and Ultra Magnus were her favorite bots to try and climb.

Susan Farmfield

Fun Fact: Not only is she a SCI-FI nerd, but she also likes to see old time 'scary' movies. Mainly to critic and see the special effects that were used back then.

TFA

Silver Aid

(TFA) Elita One's twin sister with the personality of Shattered glass Blackarachnia

Alt Mode: Spider

Faction: Former Autobot, turn Decepticon

Fun Fact: Silver Aid had been planning on asking Optimus to be her Amica before the incident. She has thought about asking again once they reunited, but she has her doubts about it now.

Gamma

(TFA) Bumblebee twin

Alt Mode: Nothing yet...

Faction: Autobot

Fun Fact: Gamma and Sari have teamed up against Bumblebee on multiple occasions, sometimes for revenge or just because.

Skyline

(TFA) Starscream's twin brother with Shattered Glass Starscream personality

Alt Mode: Jet

Faction: Decepticon

Fun Fact: Skyline has a personal vendetta against the Constructicon's. Will he tell why? No, but its defiantly personal.

Bumper

(TFA) Lugnut's younger brother

Alt Mode: nothing yet...

Faction: Decepticon

Fun Fact: Bumper likes feeling tall and likes to perch on Lugnut's shoulder.

Nightlight

(TFA) Batmobile Buddy

Alt Mode: Batmobile

Faction: Autobot

Fun Fact: Nightlight has a fear of moths.

Blue Bay

(TFA) Megladon Buddy

Alt Mode: Robot Megalodon

Faction: N/A

Fun Fact: Sari once showed them Finding Nemo, they were singing 'Just keep Swimming' for 2 weeks straight.

Willow

(TFA) Fluttershy bot buddy

Alt mode: Golf Cart

Faction: N/A

Fun Fact: Willow was named after the first thing they saw when they onlined in the park.

Crate

(TFA) Buddy the triple changer

Alt mode: to be announced

Faction: Former Autobot turn Neutral

Fun Fact: Crate is the name of the bot as a whole, the other faces have their own names.

Sprinter

(TFA) Bot Buddy with a greyhound alt mode

Alt mode: Russian Greyhound

Faction: N/A

Fun Fact: If they ever happen to come across another greyhound at the park, the two would just stare at each other for hours, but leave as best friends.

Pikestaff

(TFA) Bot Buddy with a cane who is Optimus's Conjunx

Alt mode: Monoformer (due to injury)

Faction: Autobot

Fun Fact: To improvise on speed, Pike has the two grappling hooks in their arms, swings around like Spiderman.

Vespa

(TFA) Wasp twin sister who took his place

Alt Mode: N/A yet...

Faction: Former Autobot

Fun Fact: Vespa has made several mugs for energon and oil for the team, none dare to throw them away.

Sonia

(TFA) Bot Buddy twins who live on Earth (large Con looking fem)

Alt Mode: N/A

Faction: N/A

Fun Fact: Sonia has to teach the Bots the proper ways to handle humans and smaller framed bots after witnessing Optimus picking up Sari like she had a disease.

Syrus

(TFA) Bot Buddy twins who live on Earth (small bot looking male)

Alt mode: Small car (think something similar to Bumblebee)

Faction: N/A

Fun Fact: As carefree Syrus can be, he is just as much as a worry wart Sonia is when it comes to Sari. He just knows how to hide it a bit better

Thunderstreaker

(TFA) Bot Buddy the Autobot Kid Seeker

Alt Mode: Jet

Faction: Autobot

Fun Fact: They have copied every aerial trick of every Decepticon they have come across, unknowingly making the Con's very proud.

Ironhold

(TFA) Megatron's kid (big)

Alt Mode: Cargo helicopter

Faction: Decepticon

Fun fact: Ironhold as a sparkling used to be so small, many Con's thought they'd be a minibot... boy were they wrong when they grew up to be taller than Megatron himself.

Ophelia

(TFA) Megatron's daughter with the opposite personality

Alt Mode: N/A

Faction: Decepticon

Fun Fact: Once got put inside a trashbot on accident.

Fearless

(TFA) Fearless Human Buddy that Megatron accidentally adopted

Fun Fact: They have made the game Monopoly banned from the base after it almost lead to a 'custody battle' between the Cons.

MTMTE/LL

Juno

(MTMTE) Perceptor's younger sibling

Alt Mode: Telescope

Faction: Autobot

Fun Fact: Juno is a cuddle bug in private and Rodimus loves it.

Moonstreaker

(MTMTE) Rodimus Prime's older sister

Alt Mode: Cybertronain Sport car

Faction: Autobot

Fun Fact: Before the war, Moonstreaker had a pink paintjob that looked a bit like Hot Rod's. She changed it after too many bots started mistaking her for Hot Rod.

Wobbles

(MTMTE) Wobbly bot buddy

Alt mode: Monoformer (former speedster alt mode)

Faction: Autobot

Fun Fact: They had a serial number as a name, Wobbles was a name started by some of their Co-workers and they chose to keep it as their actual name.

Alabaster Lapis

(MTMTE) Fearless Buddy's crush

Alt mode: N/A

Faction: Neutral

Fun Fact: Has teamed up with Thundercracker to make more screenplays. Has tried to get the Scavenger's to join in, but it doesn't end up going according to plan...

Apollonis

(MTMTE) Drift's daughter with the opposite personality

Alt mode: Emergency vehicle

Faction: Former Decepticon, turn Autobot

Fun Fact: Original concepts for Apollonis name would have been Apollo, Glider, or Corva

Simpatico

(MTMTE) Perceptor and Brainstorm's adopted youngling

Alt mode: N/A

Faction: N/A

Fun Fact: Can fall deep asleep on command.

Savant

(MTMTE) Brainstorm's twin sibling

Alt mode: Car

Faction: Autobot

Fun Fact: They have a collection of poems they have read out loud on a data slug Brainstorm keeps in his subspace.

Flare

(MTMTE) Juno and Rodimus sparkling

Alt mode: N/A

Faction: N/A

Fun Fact: ... nothing yet

Lithia

(MTMTE) Ratchet's daughter with the opposite personality

Alt Mode: Non Emergency ambulance

Faction: Autobot

Fun Fact: She does get a bit envious how quickly her father can move from certain emotional situations to the next, something she still hasn't mastered fully.

Ironhold

(MTMTE) Megatron's kid (big)

Alt Mode: N/A

Faction: Former Decepticon, defect Autobot

Fun fact: They had a small crush on Rumble from sneaking into the crowd to watch his and Frenzy's fights in the arena.

Rapidfire

(MTMTE) Ultra Magnus's daughter with the opposite personality

Alt Mode: N/A

Faction: Autobot

Fun Fact: She considers Verity to be her sister and actively stays in contact with her whenever she can.

Boiler

(MTMTE) Old Bot Buddy the Locomotive

Alt Mode: Cybertronian equivalent of a Locomotive

Faction: Neutral

Fun Fact: Boiler's Amica went to go fight in the Great War... they have yet to hear if they ever survived...

Beany

(MTMTE) Predacon Sparkling (Now teen)

Alt Mode: Predacon

Faction: N/A

Fun Fact: Beany used to have a crush on Velocity when he was younger, he now sees her as a sister.

Dreadstalker

(MTMTE) Bot Buddy the Sparkeater who is a apart of the Scavengers

Alt Mode: N/A

Faction: N/A

Fun Fact: They have been affectionately nicknamed 'Skits' by Misfire after their skittish behavior before the reveal.

Fearless

(MTMTE) Fearless Human Buddy that Megatron accidentally adopted

Fun Fact: Fearless secretly loves when some of the bots read to them. So far, Megatron is in top 5. They will never tell him who outranks him.

Dratchet

(MTMTE) Drift and Ratchet's adopted Human Buddy

Fun Fact: In their room, Dratchet has a couple of 'protection' crystals from Drift by their bed. Drift's spark swelled when he found them in Dratchet's room.

Rally

(MTMTE) Human Buddy the Rally racer

Fun Fact: Despite being a good driver, even more with stunts, Rally doesn't like driving and would rather have someone else do the driving.

IDW

Aquila

(IDW) Chromia's mentee

Alt mode: N/A

Faction: N/A

Fun Fact: Some how, she has gained the undying protection of Bruticus and Devistator. Only Prowl knows why.

Tim

(MTMTE) Fort Max's human son who is sick/weak

Fun Fact: Tim loves it when Uncle Prowl comes and visits him on Luna One. Prowl may or may not have a soft spot for the kid too.

TFE

Silver Aid

(TFE) Elita One's twin sister with the personality of Shattered glass Blackarachnia

Alt Mode: Spider

Faction: Autobot

Fun Fact: Silver Aid has random migraines during the day. Especially after any day with Optimus, Megatron or Elita

Echo

(TFE) Bot Buddy who's like Rumble

Alt mode: Mini rover

Faction: Terran

Fun Fact: They love having karaoke nights with the family.

Takedown

(TFE) Bot Buddy with the same personality of Knockout

Alt mode: Sport's car

Faction: Autobot

Fun Fact: Their guilty pleasure is watching cooking shows/ contest and remodeling restaurants with Alex and Dot... and on the rare chance they have with Agent Schloder.

Ophelia

(TFE) Megatron's daughter with the opposite personality

Alt Mode: N/A

Faction: Decepticon

Fun Fact: Ophelia developed a hobby of bird watching, she doesn't know all the bird names, just likes looking at them.

G1

Ironhold

(G1) Bot Buddy who is Megatron's kid who spared Prime

Alt mode: N/A

Faction: Former Decepticon, Defected to Autobot

Fun fact: They like to plan date nights during their free time. They hate spontaneous date nights.

Nova

(G1) Bot Buddy the dinobot with a crush on Bumblebee

Alt mode: Velociraptor

Faction: Autobot

Fun Fact: Her tail like curling around or intertwining with her friends or loved ones. She doesn't realize it happens until someone points it out.

Ophelia

(G1) Megatron's daughter with the opposite personality

Alt mode: Mini blaster

Faction: Decepticon

Fun Fact: She can fit right inside Soundwave's chassis with the other minicons, and in an unrelated note she can fit in Blaster's too!

CJ

(G1) Human Buddy from the real world

Fun Fact: She has a tally chart for all the animation errors she finds.

TFONE

Rigel

(TF1) Orion Pax's younger sibling

Alt mode: N/A

Faction: N/A

Fun Fact: If Riguel had survived to see the war, they would have either become one of Optimus's Commander's or end up being Elita-One's right hand lieutenant.

Nightlight

(TF1) Batmobile Buddy

Alt Mode: Batmobile

Faction: N/A

Fun Fact: Nightlight likes to use her grappling hooks to get to different places around instead of using any other transportation.

Maxima

(TF1) Optimus daughter with the opposite personality

Alt mode: Cybertronian equivalent of a Monster Truck

Faction: N/A

Fun Fact: Maxima gets weird feelings whenever she is close to the Matrix, nothing she can fully explain yet...

Ophelia

(TF1) Megatron's daughter with the opposite personality

Alt Mode: Small rover

Faction: N/A

Fun Fact: Ophelia snuck off with Orion on several Achieve runs to collect any loose change she found on the floor, planning on buying D-16 some Megatronus merch.

Silver Aid

(TF1) Elita One's twin sister with the personality of Shattered glass Blackarachnia

Alt Mode: Spider

Faction: N/A

Fun Fact: Closed her spark bond with Elita-One the moment she saw her face after her alt mode reveal.

[fictional-love-is-my-life]

I hardly see any aerial good bots in the movies. At least ones that get alot of screen time. So could I get Optimus, hound, crosshairs, Lennox and Bee react to a very fast autobot transformer who's alt mode is a " Boom supersonic overture transport aircraft" which is a in progress new way to transport people super fast in the air. Speed reaches Mach 1.7 and can hold 64-80 passengers.

https://youtu.be/zpPYm2oE3Og?si=ez_lPfLisYtrIi3s

Optimus:

Having an arielbot on the team is very useful. They are able to reach areas other bots couldn't. And having such a fast alt mode, they can get to fights or situations very quickly.

He likes to keep them on hand for missions that need a bot to respond to very quickly, they may often be life or death situations. But he trusts them and knows they could get there in time.

Hound:

He wonders if they ever get sick from going that fast. Or if they have ever lost control. He's never gone that fast, and doesn't think his old frame could take it, so he is very impressed by it.

He enjoys watching them fly, and hearing the sound of their very loud engines as they go past.

Crosshairs:

He can understand why they chose that as an alt mode. He adores paratrooping and gets exhilarated every time he does it. He imagines they must feel the same way when they fly so fast.

If it was possible, he'd ask for a ride. But unfortunately he's too big, and it may be a little awkward and difficult for him to try and hang on. But he asks them about it often, living through their experiences.

Lennox:

He would love to take a ride. He would probably do it at least once, but he generally has to stay on ground for his duties.

But he likes having them on the team, they are very useful and very impressive. He'll also try to hook them up with some trained human pilots and airmen, so they can work together.

Bumblebee:

He loves to watch them fly around, sometimes they can be hard to catch when they go full speed. He sees it as a game, trying to catch them before they zip away. He always asks them what does it feel like going that fast. He's speedy, but nothing like that.

He's seen online, some humans have built cars trying to race against planes. But Bee wouldn't want to try, he knows for a fact they are probably one of the fastest things on Earth.

[duckapus]

Since splatfest is it's own thing in the squid meme au what teams was Meggy?

(so I'm going with the North American Splatfests for this since in SMG4 canon the Mushroom Kingdom and Inkadia are in the US for some reason)

Splatoon 1

(since this would all be before she met Mario I can only base them off her pre-character development personality and Vibes. I have explanations for a few of them but for most I'm kinda-sorta picking at random)

Cats (since she eventually gets a cat in canon)

Roller Coasters

Marshmallows (we saw how that one food fight episode went)

Autobots

Art

Planes

Ninjas

Burgers

Naughty

Future

Pokemon Blue

Snowman

Spongebob

Costume Party

Early Bird (She would be a Morning Person, wouldn't she?)

Marie (I HC that she used to have a celebrity crush on Marie. Because I Can)

Splatoon 2

Cake

Ketchup

Flight (Mostly because she picked her team right after getting home from Mario's Challenge and was thinking that flight would've made some of those floors a lot easier to get through)

Vampire (This one's just for me ;))

Sci-Fi (the Fest started the same day she did a Matrix scene for a movie audition, it just makes sense)

Sock (honestly she kind of just picked one at random since she was too worried about Paige to really care. she almost didn't bother going at all)

Action (duh)

Money

Egg

Soccer (anyone notice a pattern developing?)

Leo (okay losing streak aside I genuinely think Leo would be her favorite of the four)

Mikey

Raph

No Pulp (the texture just feels wrong to her)

Octopus (She ended up in matches with Desti a few times and it was awkward being on the same side)

Fork (FINALLY A WIN! Just in time for Waluigi Time...)

Skipped (she was a little busy being the first victim of the Waluigi Apocalypse)

Treat

Salsa (she may or may not be allergic to avocados)

Hero

Friends (considering what I've implied Meggy and Paige's parents are like compared to the NSS and Glitchy Gang is it really surprising?)

Pancakes (she might have just flipped a coin for this one)

Skipped (she doesn't have time for Splatfest there's TRAINING TO BE DONE!!!)

Skipped (kind of hard to participate in Splatfest when all your weapons are stolen)

Skipped (both because she wouldn't have had time with the Tournament going on and...you know...the whole Being Kidnapped Thing)

Narwhals (after Mario's pep talk part of her getting back into the swing of things includes doing Splatfest stuff)

Chaos (she probably would've picked Order before she met Mario, but...)

Ketchup (a lot of things have changed for Meggy. her preference in condiments isn't one of them)

Treat

Super Mushroom (apparently she likes how they taste)

Splatoon 3

(I know she doesn't live in or even near Splatsville but thanks to the DLC we know that Inkopolis participates in Splatsville Splatfests and I figure that by this point there's be a large enough population of Inkfish living in the Mushroom Kingdom that they would too. Plus Meggy's still at least part inkling and is still culturally an Inkling so...)

Rock

Skipped (since her very existence happened to be illegal at the time and she and every other OC dropped dead the exact same day the Fest started)

Grass

Sweet

Milk Chocolate

Aliens (in honor of Greg, of course)

Courage

Skipped (depending on how the timeline works out this is either during or immediately after everyone being stuck in a simulation for about a month. no way they're bothering with an ice cream Splatfest of all things)

Love (time changes a person)

Big Man (she did feel a little awkward picking between people she considers friends by this point. that being said, BIG MAAAAAAAN!!!!!)

Skeleton (I know this happens at the same time as Heist WotFI but she isn't even in that episode (I don't care that she was credited for the song that was her voice actress not Meggy herself she was not physically present and had no idea what anyone was doing that night))

Hug

Friends

Friday

[We interrupt this broadcast to bring you PUZZLEVISION!!!]

[And this one too!]

Save the World (obviously)

[malewife-overlord]

Six Cycles Later -- Part X

Chapter summary: Vengeance looks good on you.

tags: robogore, gore, violence, body horror, death, cannibalism/siphonism

word count: 6588

previous chapter is here, start is here, next is here.

fic below cut!

That was the last time she’d trust an Autobot. That was what Puncture told herself as she walked along the seabed, prize clenched in her right claw, servos of her left twitching in anticipation. Behind her, folded up like a cube puzzle, were the remains of the Autobot she’d dispatched.

For such a large opponent he’d been a shockingly easy fight. He was almost as big as she was, and after listening to him announce himself, she’d felt quite eager about engaging. An Autobot who came equipped with war weapons and wanted to fight honorably would have to be something worth investing her time in, she’d thought. 

She’d been right, in a way. He’d definitely been partially worth it. Their clash hadn’t bored her to tears like the others she’d slain. She’d ambushed him, gotten the first hit, and displaced his staff with a brutal swipe. He’d fired straight into her chest, but her armor had held, and what might have been a fatal shot once had only left a particularly irksome gouge instead. From there she’d tackled him over the bridge, using the body of the Seeker to knock him off his balance, and shoved him below the water. 

That had been a mistake–the staff had electrified the water. They’d both spasmed as the current ran through them, causing her to seize and him to squirm. 

It had been an uproar of foam and splashing. She’d seen him trembling on spasming knees.At the sound of his T-Cog activating she’d snarled.

Oh Pit no. You don’t escape me that easily. 

She’d lunged, wrapping her claws around the tail of his alt mode as he’d launched out of the spaceship window. Her weight had thrown him off balance, sent him immediately spiraling downwards. They’d crashed into the trees together, uprooting the cages and creating a rain of dead organics. 

She’d landed on her back and struggled to flip over for a moment, immediately chastising herself for her weakness. In The Pit the seconds she’d taken would have been enough to kill her. To be a proper gladiator, proud, strong, and undefeated, she couldn’t risk leaving herself vulnerable for even a second. 

But with her luck, the Autobot hadn’t taken advantage of that. He’d crashed nearby and staggered on one knee, gritting his dentae and threatening to keel over. Still, as she’d bared her claws and approached, he’d glared and pointed his blaster again, a panel on his shoulder opening to reveal missile launchers. 

Impressive, she’d thought. Something that could actually hurt her. But even as he’d prepared to launch them, it was apparent to her that he was in pain. She could take advantage of that. 

“You don’t win this,” she’d said, circling around him like a shark. Beneath her mask, venom broiled. “Surrender, Autobot, and I’ll make your death quick.” 

“I can’t,” he said back, keeping his blaster trained on her. “And even if I could, I wouldn’t. Monsters like you don’t belong on this planet.” 

“Is that so.” And her mask had vertically split, releasing a wave of venom as she buzzed out a roar. 

It had hit his eyes. He’d screamed and staggered back, blaster firing rapidly as he tried to wipe the stuff off. That had been her opening. 

And from there she’d pinned him beneath the water, dug her claws into his helm, and prepared to claim her trophy. 

That was when she’d paused. The Autobot below her was a cargo plane, and a large one at that. He was big enough to carry her and the Seeker. Under almost every other circumstance Puncture would have killed him and moved on with her day, but the circumstances she’d found herself in were special. 

Namely, she was alone, out of touch, and grounded on a planet she knew nothing of. And here, out of the ether, Primus had delivered her a mode of transportation that only put up a little bit of a fight. If she killed him, she’d have to manually transform and fly him, and she knew nothing of piloting. 

So instead of claiming her helm trophy, Puncture had decided she would take the entire Autobot. All it had taken was piercing her claws straight into his brain and demanding access to his navigation systems. And don’t even think about calling for help, or flying to an Autobot base. 

She’d pinched his brain between her claws, just for effect. 

On the way out she’d cast a final look at the ship that had imprisoned her for so long and flipped it off. Something had been moving in there, but it wasn’t her problem. A flightless Seeker had no place in the Decepticon cause. This was just natural selection at its finest.

It had all been going so well until he’d decided to crash himself into the ocean. The navigation systems she’d hacked told her the island they were heading to was important. Surely it had to have something she could use, like Energon, or a working space bridge. Before she could confirm what that was, though, the Autobot had offed himself, so for all she knew he’d marked this place falsely and she was walking into a dead zone. 

She supposed that was what she got for trusting an Autobot. Self-sacrificing fools, the lot of them. 

At least she’d made it out with a trophy. His helm leaked pink Energon into the blue ocean water around her, leaving a trail behind her as she marched for the island they’d been flying to. There were no guarantees this place was worth anything, unfortunately, but she’d take dry land as opposed to the vast ocean. 

An orange glare was cast over the surface of the ocean water as she approached it. Before her helm even breached, she could guess as to why. Breaking the surface of the water, her suspicions were promptly confirmed: the island before her was a pyro of flame and stone. 

It was a small thing, only a few miles at max. Beginning with a beach surrounded by jagged boulders, the land quickly turned into a sheer rock face, upon the top of which grew dozens of green organics. They were all blackened crisps, shedding their ash to the pale beach below and turning it gray with soot. 

And upon that beach there was an Autobot. As Puncture breached the water fully, trophy clutched in her right claw, her systems performed a quick scan over the femme awaiting her. She was a standard issue female Autobot, gray and black in color (whether that was from soot or not she could only guess). In one hand she held a military rifle, the kind designed to fire heavy bolts that would pierce through any armor class. 

Good. An actual weapon that would sting. Pain was the best teacher, after all, and once she’d ripped it from the Autobot’s corpse, she could make use of it herself. 

There was only one off thing about the Autobot: she had no Autobrand displayed anywhere on her body. Odd.

The Autobot suddenly trained her rifle and Puncture paused in her step. Ocean waves licked at her cadulens. As the wind picked up, it brought a hot and dry gust with it, dotting the water around her with soot. 

“Hell–”

“Gimme yer name,” the Autobot said, her voice low and dangerous. Her servo was tight around the rifle’s trigger, barrel pointed for Puncture’s helm. “I wanna know who took my best friend from me.”

Puncture scoffed, raising the helm in her claws. “Your best friend? This honorable fool was a bot you considered an equal?” She laughed. “Well don’t just stand there!” 

And with a flick of her wrist she sent his helm flying through the air to embed itself on the beach. 

“Fetch.”

The Autobot’s optics widened with rage, rifle shaking in her hands. But she didn’t fire. Not yet. 

“Tell. Me. Your. Name.” She growled. “Or I’ll rip it from the fried remains of your brain.”

“Hm! Puncture. I am Puncture of The Pit.” She leaned forward for emphasis, spreading her claws. “I am of the highest standing in my home and have sent far stronger than you to the Afterspark, Autobot. Not only were they bigger…” she took a step, “and more equipped…” and another, “and fitted with powers to bail them out of what fights they couldn’t handle, they were paid to fight to the death, and had eliminated every bot they had come across. Until. They. Met. Me.” 

The Autobot fired. A streak of laserbolt sheared one of her antennae off. Her systems immediately screamed a damage report and were promptly suppressed. Puncture’s optics glowed slightly as the Autobot reloaded, aiming again before she could gain any ground. 

“You stay right there,” she threatened. “Be a shame to blast your helm off ‘fore I’m done fryin’ it.”

She huffed, narrowing her optics. “Oh really? You think you can do it, Autobot? You think you’ll be any different from your allies? From your friend?” 

“You don’t know me.”

“And you don’t know me.”

She kept her distance, circling around the Autobot, clearing the water and making it onto sand. A rush on such uneven terrain would give her several new injuries, and with the gouge the cargo plane had given her, a well-aimed blast could be fatal. Yet all she needed to do was to grab this Autobot once and it would be over. She calculated the risk of a charge  as the wind picked up again, bringing a few flames between them. 

The Autobot kept her rifle trained the entire time, never losing focus. She noted that there was something about her hands that seemed off–unlike average Cybertronians, her servos had pads on the end of them. Wires ran their length and down her arm, vanishing into the crook of her elbow. 

It would probably be beneficial not to let her make physical contact, then. Years of facing unknown opponents in the arena had told her that before a charge, one must never underestimate their opponent. Years of killing Autobots in the field like they were turbofoxes had dulled that instinct a bit, but observing the fearlessness of this particular one was giving her pause. No one who couldn’t back it up stood so fearlessly against their foe. 

Her optics were slightly unfocused. She was crunching numbers while watching Puncture, yet her aim never wavered and her grip remained steady. This was no fresh recruit. 

Oh, this would be fun. They were both dancing around one another, waiting for an opening, a weakness. If she charged, she risked injury without any form of aid, possibly ending in death. If the Autobot charged, if she fired and missed, if she didn’t hit the fatal wound, she risked death. 

The prospect was so exciting to her she almost began to buzz.

Her pede kicked against the helm of the Autobot she’d killed, and Puncture stopped in her circling. Casting a quick glance downwards, she had an idea. 

“Tell me, Autobot!” she declared, gesturing with a claw. “What was his name? You were so eager for mine. Was he even worth a designation? Or did he die a nobody?”

“You ain’t worth his name.” Her tone remained even. “I know what you’re doin’. Tryin’ to rile me up. Tryin’ to get an openin’. You ain’t gettin’ that, gladiator.” 

“Not fool enough for emotions, Autobot?” She smirked. “Good. I hate an opponent who kills themselves with their mistakes. Failing to take advantage of openings, failing to punish faults, failing to make that vital first move, and most importantly of all, failing…” 

Her claw hooked the edge of the Autobot helm and, in a single motion, she launched it at the Autobot. 

“TO FIGHT DIRTY!” 

And she charged. 

The Autobot dodged to the side, discharging her rifle as Puncture swiped where she had just stood. The bolt singed into the left of her chassis, smoke curling as she opened her mask and spat forth a wave of venom. Swift as a turbofox the Autobot raised her rifle to the oncoming wave and moved back, blocking the majority of droplets with its sacrifice. The metal began to melt as she flipped a switch on the side and threw it straight for Puncture’s helm. 

She raised her claw to block the projectile right as it exploded. A flash of pink was all she saw as the blast knocked her back, smashing her against the rock face. Her systems buzzed with damage reports as her vision momentarily glitched. 

And the Autobot was on her in a millisecond, punching her clean in the face. Blunt pain exploded in her faceplate, worsened when her helm smacked against the stone again. It struck her again, again, again, aga–

She didn’t need her vision to grab the fist about to hit her again, crushing it with ease between her claws. Through the sounds of twisting metal she heard the Autobot hiss. Her other claw was at her waist in a second, deadly tips poking against wires with only the slightest press. 

“Was that all?” She taunted, turning to face the Autobot again. Her vision was slightly blurred, but she could make out the rage in her optics. “You wasted your opening to punch me in the face, instead of going for the spark?”

The Autobot roared, free arm punching clean through her visor. The pads on her servos tapped onto her inner working all at once and an electrical current ran through her. Puncture’s vision suddenly failed, her systems forcibly redirected into her memory banks. 

And she was no longer on the beach. She stood in a dark alley, the buildings around her forming walls so great she could not see their ends. Before her the path stretched into endless darkness. Behind her was the clamor of death itself.

The walls all closed in at once. Puncture grunted and slammed her claws against them, holding them off with brute force alone. The clamoring behind her grew louder and the path before her began to fall away. 

She risked a look back. 

Rapidly approaching was a creature made of wires and sharp points. Burning flames formed its spark and poured over its broken chassis. Its faceplate had been torn up, exposing its skeletal understructure. Tentacles formed from spines burst from its back, each tipped with claws sharp enough to tear steel. And as she met its yellow eyes, she felt the spark in her chest skip a beat. 

The walls closed in even tighter. Her arms creaked with strain, pain shooting through her body. The ground beneath her feet was threatening to crumble at any moment. 

If she gave up, she’d be crushed. If she held on, she’d either fall or be eaten. Perhaps both at once. That thing was gaining distance fast. Its claws scraped the metal eagerly. And yet despite it all…

She wasn’t afraid. Her systems were screaming for her to be. But she wasn’t.

She couldn’t be. It was the first thing they took. Fighters who were afraid would run. Fighters who were afraid would hesitate. Fighters who were afraid made poor entertainment. If you felt fear, you didn’t make it in The Pit. 

She remembered the day it was taken from her as clearly as she remembered coming online. The overlord had gripped her by her chin and told her to hold still. She’d watched his fingers open and turn into drills. And with no anesthesia, he’d drilled straight into her brain. 

The scraping that had echoed through her mind would never leave her. As it rang through her head, the entire world melted away. Suddenly she was standing on the metallic surface of a brain, and over her hovered the largest drill she’d ever seen. It spun, shrieking with anticipation as it approached her. 

Her pedes were frozen. Looking down she saw hundreds of holes from which Energon poured. Floating within the pools like flecks of soot were parts, familiar parts painted with the colors of bots she’d once known. 

Brilliant silver wings, brilliant silver claws. Delicate glassy eyes and a chain woven from the finest tungsten available. Massive hands, massive enough to crush a bots chassis between them. An eyepatch that hid the scar given for insubordination. Two life chords split around a large helm that connected to a brain delicately held between dentae. And in the midst of it all…

Her own head, empty and devoid of substance. Not the ugly Insecticon one attached to her shoulders. No, it was her. The real her, with her two curved horns and trifecta of spikes. There were her two red eyes, glassy and always broken from fighting. There were her dermas and her dented cheek and the uneven curve on the left of her helm that resulted from Sparks trying and failing to give her a new style. 

The drill was just above her head. Not her real one. The one she inhabited now, by no choice of her own. She looked at her claws and found they were melting. Her entire body was melting. 

The body that she had been given, that she never wanted, that entrapped her like a cocoon, was melting away.

And in the face of death, she laughed. 

The drill collided with her helm and splattered the world with its droplets. Yet still her laugh echoed through the space with its gurgle. As her body fell away, taking her mind with it, she laughed, and laughed, and laughed. 

There was nothing else she could do. 

—--

Even as the shocks ran up her arms and the pain began to fry her wires from the inside out, Channel continued to torture her prisoner. It was her last resort and by Primus would she make it count. If it killed them both, she didn’t care. If it ruined her forever, she didn’t care. Puncture would pay for killing Uptick. It would pay for taking the last thread of her joy away. She’d take its name and erase it from history and die with the knowledge that while Uptick would live on in someone’s memory, Puncture was gone forever. 

But damn, was it a fighter. Anyone else would have died from spark failure following incredible stressing of the mind–she would know. It wasn’t the first time she’d killed someone by doing this. 

That was what had locked her onto Cybertron. She could kill anyone, small, large, weak, strong, impossibly defensive, impossibly offensive. One touch, and their death was guaranteed. 

One touch, and she could take away pain. One touch, and she could take away fear. One touch, and she could make her patients as happy as their forging day. And this war had turned her into a machine whose greatest power was killing. 

Damn them all. Damn them for ruining her. Damn them for ruining Uptick. Damn them for sending Rotors to his death for information that would prove useless in the grand scheme of things. Damn them for leaving her entire regiment to die on that field, to die on a foreign planet, and taking the Ark to hide away for four million years. Damn Optimus Prime for dying so foolishly playing hero. And damn the Matrix for picking someone so incompetent and apathetic he couldn’t even be bothered to visit Earth after being endowed. 

This entire war was so pointless. What were they fighting against? The future of their own species? Whether they drove other planets to extinction under the guise of defending them from Decepticons, burying their organics beneath gunfire and rushing pedes, or conquered them in the name of cyberforming, they were still eliminating entire worlds in the name of Cybertron. Earth was just another rock that would be fought upon, crushed into dirt, and abandoned when neither side could find use for it anymore. 

She’d seen it happen with hundreds of other planets. She’d seen how pointless the fighting had become. Energon was always in short supply. No Matrix endowments would fix that. And whether it was made peacefully or violently, it would drain the resources of other planets during its creation.

If they did not crush a planet beneath their bodies they would drain it for its fuel. One way or another, everything her kind touched died. 

Perhaps she was just the personification of that. And here, on the planet where the war was supposedly decided, she was dying in her final attempt to end the fighting. 

Oh, how ironic it all was. 

Her systems blared warnings. The claw around her waist gripped tighter, breaking wires and bending plating. Her body was so hot the wind now had a chill to it. But no matter what, she would kill this Decepticon. 

For Globetrotter. 

A shriek suddenly sounded through the air. It was a sound so familiar to her, one that always sent a bolt of fear down her spine. It was a sound that portended a barrage of laser fire. It was a sound that promised a chase on foot after her alt mode was disabled. It came in threes, and was often accompanied by laughter. 

It was the roar of a Seeker’s engine. And it was rapidly growing louder. 

What was it that Uptick had said? He couldn’t take them. He couldn’t take either of them. 

The one beneath her was only one of them. 

Fear ran down her spine as charged lightning. She looked over her shoulder, optics scanning the sky in terror. And there, piercing through the air like a needle, was the green and pink shape of the Seeker. 

Her focus broke. Channel tore her servos from Puncture’s helm and squirmed desperately in its grip. Her danger sensor was shrieking so loud it almost drowned out the roar of the engines, system flaring with hundreds of warnings. Red covered her vision, blaring over and over as the Seeker drew closer. 

The Rainmaker. Acid Storm. The remembrance of acidic droplets melting her plating helped her tear her broken arm off, leaving behind a mess of sparking wires. One blockade gone, one to go. But she could not tear off her hips so easily. 

And even if she could, she would not make it far. He was here. 

Acid Storm banked up as he shot over the beach, backflipping to transform back. He did it without the deadly grace of his kind, landing heavily on two damaged pedes. His wings were inverted, just as she’d seen in Starburst’s memories, and his front completely stained with Energon. But unlike in Starburst’s memories, the gray of death had crept into his servos, his side was torn open and bleeding out its own T-Cog, and his face was gone. 

All she could see of it were two glowing white optics. 

“Get. Off. Of. Him.” He threatened. Channel raised an arm in surrender. It wasn’t enough. “Only I get to kill him.”

“Look, I ain’t know what you two got goin’ on, but I–”

“SHUT UP! SHUTUPSHUTUPSHUTUPSHUTUPSHUTUP!” Acid Storm staggered forward, clawing at his arm, pulling off what looked like a spine. With each step he moved mysterious gears on it, unfolding the decoration into a familiar shape. 

A sniper rifle. It was the ugliest one she’d ever seen, but if there was one thing she knew about unnatural looking weapons, it was that they were often more dangerous than the proper ones.

Channel gritted her teeth and strained against the claws keeping her in place. Her body shrieked from the damage the movement inflicted. 

Acid Storm seemed to find amusement in that. “What’s wrong?” He asked, a giggle in his voice. “Are you scared of me? But I’m just a little Seeker, aren’t I? A little nobody?”

“I ain’t–” 

“SHUT THE FRAG UP!” The rifle was complete now, and pointed straight at her helm. His arms were shaking, but despite it all he was smiling. At least, she thought he was. It was difficult to tell with the lack of a faceplate. “You don’t talk unless I say you do. Got that, Autobot scum?”

When she gave no answer he went on. “You really think you’ve won this planet, don’t you? You really think we’re all dead? You run around on the land like you own the place. And all the while you pretend, saying these organics are your friends.” His laugh sounded pained. “And what do I do? Where am I forced to hide? Beneath the ocean, for cycles. While you play with these WORTHLESS organics.” 

He suddenly gagged, spitting out a stream of thin, water diluted Energon. 

“ALL BECAUSE I’M A SEEKER! You…you left me! You LEFT ME! THEY ALL LEFT ME!” 

He was screaming now. 

“They think I’m so worthless! They all think I’m weak! Autobot, Decepticon! Ally, enemy! Well I’LL show you who’s weak! I’ll show you ALL!” 

He moved his hand from the trigger on his rifle and dug his servos into his chassis, pulling at the broken cockpit as if attempting to rip it open. 

“Do you want to know something, Autobot? How old do you think I am? Speak.”

Channel arched an optical ridge. “A Seeker, huh? Anywhere from four million t–”

“WRONG!” He fired. 

The laser bolt that missed her by several feet hit the stone and exploded with so much force that shards buried themselves in the sand on the other side of the beach. Her audials momentarily broke. The Seeker trembled as if his spark was threatening to burst. 

“I’m only one million. Such a small number, right?” He leaned forward, tilting his head as he made eye contact. “Do you know how many I’ve killed, in that time?”

She didn’t answer, afraid that this time, he wouldn’t miss. But beyond that, her optics detected movement at the edge of the cliff. A hand with five long needles was running along the stone, tracking Acid Storm’s movements perfectly.

“Tell me, Autobot. Do you know about the Haumerian Massacre?”

The Haumerian Massacre. She knew it well. Following the disappearance of the Ark, the Autobots had split into several groups and retreated to four separate planets near Cybertron. The Haumerian Massacre was the name coined for the disappearance of one of those groups. 

But there was a problem. 

“That…that was 3.5 million years ago.” 

Despite his lack of a face, the Seeker smiled. 

“Do you believe in the Afterspark, Autobot?”

“I–”

“Don’t. Because trust me when I say this: I’ve been. There is life after death. But it isn’t what you think.” He clawed even more at his cockpit. She caught a glimpse of something that looked mechanical where his spark chamber should have been. “Do you want to know what it’s like?”

She didn’t get the chance to answer. Puncture stirred beneath her, claws flexing against her already damaged waist. Channel screamed in pain. The Seeker hissed, training his rifle on Puncture’s helm instead. 

And from the ridge above them, the thing in the pyre leaped. 

It all happened at once. The blazing, half melted thing landed on Acid Storm, taking him to the floor as its tentacles pierced into his plating. He screamed with an agony so rich she disabled her audials, which kept her from hearing everyone else’s as his side suddenly lit up. Bolts of white energy shot out from him and connected with them all. 

It was a pain so great her systems momentarily offlined. She shrieked with all she had left in her, her T-cog seizing and her functions grinding to a halt. An endless stream of warnings told her about the glitches running rampant through her system. Overheat was inevitable. Her body broke, and after all these years, finally rejected her. 

As if decapitated by an invisible scythe, Channel’s head fell clean off her body, landing on the sand besides Puncture’s massive form. 

Then it unfolded itself into a tiny, black robot, whose Autobot insignia was on her back. She looked around in terror at the writhing mass before her and the massive monster trembling behind her. And with the desperation that drives parents to eat their young, she bolted into the ocean, leaving behind the titans who’d so cruelly decided her fate. 

—----

She’d practically torn her T-Cog out, but she didn’t care. Invert grabbed the tentacle spasming above her and rose to her feet, planting her pedes as she swung with the force of her whole body. The thing slammed into the rock face behind her. Bending to grab her rifle with one hand, she twisted her T-Cog even more. Energy was flowing from her into it, and each streak made it contort even more. 

Her legs no longer felt ready to collapse. Her arms no longer felt numb. The rage pumping through her must have deafened the side effects. Or perhaps death was so close to her now, its effects no longer hindered her. Whatever the case, Invert didn’t care. Her ability was working to her benefit, and she would not pass up this opportunity. 

“Feel my pain. Feel my pain,” she spat. “I’ll take you down with me, and we’ll both die horrible deaths, and I’ll come back in that tub of sentio metallico while your body smelts into someone’s next part, isn’t that nice? Won’t that be so nice?”

She purged more watery energon as she approached the thing. By consuming what had seeped into the swamp and sucking from every drying wire in the dead Autobots, she’d acquired enough fuel to fly. It had been filthy and humiliating, even more than being awoken by the shocks from that Autobot’s weapon while he struggled with Puncture. She’d been unable to speak, unable to ask for help or congratulate her ally. 

And then said ally had left her, like her previous allies had, like Shockwave had, like her trine had, like the Autobots had. That was all any of them ever did. She was just a thing to be thrown away and abandoned. 

And she’d had enough. 

The monster was all wires and twisted plating. It sparkchamber was exposed as it rolled on its back, arching from the energy pouring into it. Removing her hand from her T-Cog, she trained her rifle on its vital organ.

Which was when it truly hit her: she wasn’t in pain. 

The last time she’d used her ability, it had completely incapacitated her. The pain had been almost unbearable. And when it was done, her frame had felt cold. 

That was how it had always been. In the million years she’d had her ability, it had never once left her unscathed.

She looked to her servos and saw they were completely gray. So were her forearms. It was spreading, and soon she’d have to abandon this frame as well. But despite the death literally crawling over her, she wasn’t in pain. 

What development was this? 

Despite the fact that her T-Cog was practically hanging out of her side, she felt it shift of its own will. Looking to her wings, she saw they’d moved to a proper upright position.

In the million years he’d spent studying her, Shockwave hadn’t once managed to fix her wings. And yet here, on this beach, after using the ability he blamed on her inversion, they’d miraculously fixed themselves. 

It was a shock so great her rage melted, and her fingers suddenly felt much weaker on the trigger than they had a moment ago. She stared down at the still creature in the sand, the thing that had somehow caused this miracle. 

As far as monsters went, it was a poor excuse. Skeletal in nature, its warped and jagged plating covered onto only the essentials. Its abdomen had been replaced with what looked like clear glass, displaying an empty chamber full of glowing liquid. On its head were the remnants of a blue helm, now cut into a three-fold crest, the middle of which held a large cracked jewel. From its shoulders and back sprouted six tentacles which resembled spines. Four were tipped with deadly claws, but two bore purple hands.

Its optics opened. They were yellow and surprisingly alive. As they fell on her they widened with fear. The creature suddenly animated and scrambled back, two of its tentacles wrapping around itself. 

“Who are you!? Where am I?! What–” It raised a hand defensively, then stared at the appendage in horror. “What…what…happened to me?!”

She furrowed her optical ridges. “You attacked me, and I shocked you. Who are you? No, what are you? Why aren’t you inanimate on the floor?”

“I-I don’t know! What’s going on!?” 

The Insecticon groaned. Invert turned cold eyes on him. 

“You.” 

His one optic was onlining, indicated by the red glow behind his broken visor. There was a hole in his head where the Autobot had punched clean into it. He turned his head slightly, focusing on Invert. 

“See…ker…” he said weakly. “You’re…alive…”

“Of course I am,” she snapped. “Did you really thing–”

“Your…ability…sucks.” He laughed weakly. “Frag…you.”

Invert growled. “Frag you too, glitch. Oh, and before I kill you? I saved your life. No matter how strong you think you are, a Seeker is the one who saved your aft.” She spat a pink blob on his side. “Deal with it.”

 “Wait,” the creature cut in, “who are you? Both of you! Why are you aiming a rifle at him?! No one needs to die, we can–”

The ocean suddenly exploded. Invert jerked back, looking to the source as a massive cargo plane burst forth from the waves, soaring into the sky. The Autobot insignia was emblazoned on its side. 

They all watched as the plane shot over the island and disappeared, the roar of its engines slowly fading away beyond the crackling of organics. Even the fire was dying down now, having consumed what it could of the island and leveling out into a fine layer of ash. 

She frowned, turning her attention back to the Insecticon, then the creature. If an Autobot had just escaped the island, they’d be back with more. She had limited time to escape the island and return to Victory. This time, however, it wouldn’t be to wait. 

No, frag that. They’d left her behind on Earth. To the Decepticon cause she was nothing but a worthless, weak Seeker. There was only one ‘Con who saw any worth in her, even if it was the worst kind, and he was lightyears away, still waiting on Cybertron. 

Cybertron, where ‘Cons like her ruled and Energon was at least available in rations beyond a single cube. Frag Earth. The Autobots could have this planet. 

She huffed and approached the Insecticon, keeping her rifle trained on his head. 

“You know what? I’ve changed my mind. I think it’ll be fine to leave you here. The Autobots can always use a few more prisoners.” 

She could feel his glare. Invert didn’t care. He could rot in an Autobot cell for the rest of his days. It was a far worse fate than death, and he would know it. Death was a mercy. There was no fate crueler than its denial. 

“But first, you’re going to pay your due.” 

Her Energon levels were less than half, and she’d need more to return to Victory. There were several singes on his plating that, if she hit them hard enough, they’d leak. One looked like it could be fatal if she struck it hard enough. His face was bleeding from the hole in it. She could take her pick of wounds…

If only they weren’t too kind for someone like him.

Turning the dial on her rifle down, she aimed at his shoulder and fired. The bolt pierced clean through him and several feet into the stone. The arm fell away and Energon poured from its source. 

Invert didn’t even need to kneel to bring her intake to the source. She could feel the hate radiating from him and taste it in the bitterness of his processed fuel. Good. That was what the strongest Decepticons were made of. 

Only when she’d drank her fill did she back off and give him an impish smile. 

“You might wanna get that looked at, if you ever find someone stupid enough to care about you.” 

Then she turned back to the creature, the strange thing that had stabilized her, given her proper wings, and taken away her pain. Of course she had to take it with her. Something about it filled a piece in her that was missing, or perhaps took away the excess she suffered from. More study, as Shockwave would say, was needed. She couldn’t let this blessing escape her, even if it had tried to kill her. 

It backed away from her as she approached, trying to give it a friendly smile. Was something wrong with her face? It looked so scared. 

“Why are you backing off? I’m trying to help you,” she said. “Cmon, get up. I’m going to get us off this island. There’s a way better place for us eight hours from here.”

“I...uh…I don’t really…trust…you…” It said, tentacles wavering uncertainly. She rolled her eyes. 

“Okay, let’s get names out of the way then. I’m Invert. Who are you?”

“Um…Luster.” He looked at the brand on her wings. “You’re a Decepticon.”

“Yes, I am. It’s the winning team. And what are you? A monster in the middle of nowhere?”

He looked at his hands, tentacles sagging. 

“Look, allegiance doesn’t matter right now. Do you want to rot on this island with no Energon and no friends, or do you want to come with me and have a chance at getting off this awful rock?”

“Off this awful rock?”

“Off this planet! We’re going back to Cybertron. Frag Earth, this place is awful. The Autobots can keep it. Have you ever met an Autobot? They’re a bunch of sappy idiots. And if they want to play with these gross organics all day, they can have it!”

“I…yes, they…they can have it,” he echoed, shakily moving to his feet. They were too thin to support his weight and almost immediately gave out. Instead, the tentacles on his lower back came to his rescue, bracing against the ground to let him walk. 

He was like a newly forged sparkling. She found it charming. “Alright then, Luster, ever flown in a jet?”

“Uh…no.” 

“Well, you’re about to learn!” She ordered herself to transform, letting the natural feeling that had always felt so unnatural wash over her like a gentle wave. No longer was it a tide of confusion, balance problems, and navigation issues. Her body felt normal, natural, and proper, even though it wasn’t hers. 

She cheerfully popped her broken cockpit, sending its last few glass shards flying. “Now get in!”

Luster cringed at the sight, even more so when a glass shard hit him. He was hesitant, looking around at the island, at the Insecticon, at the sky, as if he expected rescue to come at any given moment. Only when she fired up her engines in warning did he finally move, carrying himself to her cockpit, looking in warily, and finally clambering in. 

He was so light she could forget he was there. Good, it meant she’d have an easy flight.

“Alright, hold on, my seat belts don’t work and if you fall out I can’t guarantee I’ll catch you in time!”

“Wait, wha–”

Her cockpit closed and her engines powered up, and with the ease befitting a proper Seeker, not a half-formed failure who couldn’t even take off without help, Invert shot into the air. 

The charred island and its sole occupant were left behind. 

[cryogeniccrunchbar]

jester plane who flunks out of military training and gets left behind. spends an undescript yet decent amount of time scared and alone in Cybertron’s wastelands only to frantically maje a deal with a mysterious stranger who definitely isn’t the ultimate evil in disguise. Is granted the ability to mimic voices and to literally mask/bend someone’s perception of reality with humor. is knocked out cold and later plucked from some rubble by a snowplow, brought to a ground barge with a few other Decepticons. at some point lures a very unlucky Autobot into a hole with his only friends voice. so yeah.

[asknarashikari]

Continuation of my previous ask aka Hopper1 getting resurrected because Ransack's sacrifice.

Hopper1 sad about Ransack's death but becomes sadder as he sees that Houtaro has passed out due to all the stress that has happened up until now. Hopper1 decides to make a plan to get a fragment of the Allspark and with of the newly sent Team Bullet Train, comprised of Railspike, Midnight Express, and Rapid Run who combine to form Rail Racer, are able to locate the Allspark but find that it is held withing the main Autobot base, Fortress Maximus, and formulate their plan. Hopper1, Steamliner, Apparebushido, Hawkstar, Smaphone, Saboneedle, UFO-X, Nammonite, Neminemoon, and Unicon board Railspike and head to Fortress Maximus. The group enter with Team Bullet Train distracting the guarding Autobots while the Hopper1 and the assorted Chemies go to find where the Allspark is. The Group of Chemies find the Allspark and Hopper1 tells Apparebushido to take a fragment of the building-size cube. The group of chemies are able to get the fragment and jump out of a window to escape Fortress Maximus and are caught by Railspike as Hopper1, the Chemies, and Team Bullet Train return to Brave Maximus. After returning to Brave Maximus and heading to the medical room, Hopper1 inserts the Allspark fragment and Ransack comes back to life but gains a new color and becomes a triple-changer. Along with his grasshopper alt mode, he gains a new alternate mode of a fighter plane. Ransack, now alive, is thankful for Hopper1 bringing him back to life and Houtaro wakes up from passing out. All three of them for their new friendship.

What are the Gotchard Cast minus Houtaro and the Riders' reaction to seeing Hopper1 get an Allspark fragment to bring back Ransack and seeing Houtaro, Hopper1 and Ransack all hug as he has been resurrected?

I imagine they were worried sick and quite anxious while Hopper-1 and his pals were on this little adventure, and maybe a bit pissed they got left out of the mission since it was a chance to get their friend back. Nonetheless, after that initial reaction, they'd be just relieved their friends returned from the adventure safely and succeeded in reviving Ransack

[fiascobaby]

My preference for Decepticons over Autobots comes from a very simple place: cars suck; planes, trains, guns, boomboxes, and mecha-godzilla are cool.

[cutekittenlady]

Have more random headcanons for my earthspark kobd summary fic ideas and speculations. Largely just throwing it out into the internet to feel productive lol. Specifically about the stunticons.

Starting with Dragstrip.

So my version of earthspark dragstrip is a girl. They made her a girl in animated and tbh I think the stunticons having at least one girl on the team is fun.

As in a number of versions Dragstrip is the most loyal to Motormaster and frequently acts to win his approval and at his behest.

Shes the youngest member of the stunticons just behind Breakdown.

She legitimately views the stunticons as her 'family' and the others as her brothers. She doesnt call Motormaster "dad" but the way she acts with him definitely casts him as a kinda fill in father figure for her that shes desperate to please.

Because Breakdown is closest to her in age shes arguably closer to him than she is with Wildrider and Deadend. Sadly the feeling isn't really fully mutual as Dragstrip method of 'joking around' with her 'bro' involves tearing him down with insults, getting physically rough with him, etc. She has genuinely never considered that her behavior has made Breakdown believes she hates him.

Dragstrip is largely like this because she was born/came to be literally right before the war got started. As in she had, maybe, a few years TOPS of "normal" protoform development before getting dragged into the war. The civil war, the decepticons, and being a part of the stunticons has literally been her entire life and once the war on earth was brought to an end she was largely left desiring a return to what had previously been 'normal' for her. Its notable that the state of things for decepticons on Earth hasn't really helped any as she hardly has any real options for learning what a life of peace would even mean as she was chased and eventually imprisoned.

When the stunticons were disbanded she was reassigned to a strike force working under starscream where she saw little success as none of the other members had any patience for her attitude. She was punished and sent to the brig for insubordination more than once before the end of the war.

DeadEnd

If Dragstrip and Breakdown are the "kids" of the stunticons, and Motormaster is their leader/boss/master/"dad" then Deadend is the depressed weary uncle with an art degree he hasn't been able to use.

I like to think Deadends depressive and pessimistic attitude is largely sourced from a rough lower class background in Kaon, millions of years of non-stop war, and especially his losing faith in the decepticon cause. For a time "the cause" was the only thing that gave him any hope of his life improving.

Ironically he probably gets on the best with Motormaster out of all the stunticons. Though that doesnt protect him from motormasters abuse.

He and Motormaster are probably the 'brains' of the outfit so to speak. With Deadend being the more strategic one who tends to help come up with the plans for the group. Hes not a strategic genius by a longshot but amongst the stunticons hes more or less defaulted as the most analytical member. Despite not holding a candle to any of the wars actual military minds.

Amongst the stunticons he probably spends most of the time with Wildrider. The two have little to nothing in common and in truth Deadend finds him irritating. However he still suffers his companionship because hes the only member of the team who isn't "the boss" (motormaster) or "some kid" (breakdown and dragstrip).

After the stunticons were disbanded he was reassigned to the Decepticons communications division under soundwave where he actually did pretty alright but the other decepticons quickly lost patience with his dower attitude.

Wildrider

Wildriders a difficult one to come up with headcanons for initially because his love of destruction and "busting stuff up" kinda comes off as a bit one note. I'm still giving it a shot.

I think like Deadend, Wildrider also one of many decepticons from Kaon. Though in his case i think I could easily say hes a former gladiator from Kaon much like Megatron was.

Gonna take this a bit farther and say that Wildrider and Deadend were some of the earlier decepticon recrutis. Joining up back when it was a class uprising.

I'd say wildriders over the top love for violence may come from his gladiator days and the fact that he feels his ability to inflict violence is the only real thing hes good at.

As mentioned amongst DeadEnds headcanons, Wildrider hangs out most with Deadend. For Wildrider this is largely due to their similar background and the fact that theyre the same age. The best way I can describe their relationship is as reluctant drinking buddies. Two guys who hang out purely because they can only really relate to each other.

Once the stunticons were disbanded he was sent to the front lines of the war during the most destructive battles. He loved it. 10/10. Would go again.

Motormaster

Lets face it. Motormaster acts just like a mob boss. Thats why, in my mind, Motormaster has a history as an organized criminal on Cybertron which is how he picked up his skills in finding peoples weaknesses (or as he calls them "levers")

His connections with Cybertrons criminal underbelly is probably why the decepticons recruited him. Or otherwise Motormaster joined the decepticons in the hopes that it'd get him more influence/power.

In "Planes, Trains, and Automobiles" I AM kinda characterizing MM as the evil villain/abuser. Its not super nuanced and its tropey as hell I know but it makes the story easier to write. Its not like Motormaster CANT have a complicated history or a more sympathetic characterization, but i dont think this will be the fic for that.

As mentioned in another headcanon post of mine, Motormaster uses the idea of the stunticons being a "family" to control its members. Especially breakdown and dragstrip when they first joined up. He used his position as the "family head" to justify everything from bullying and bossing the stunticons around to invading their privacy and controlling various aspects of their lives. Something that was incredibly easy given their bond as a combiner team and his role as their commanding officer during the war.

The most sympathetic headcanon I can come up with for Motormaster at the moment is that, just like Soundwave and many of the other decepticons, he was genuinely very loyal to Megatron and his goals. (Though is it headcanon if you can find plenty of evidence for it in the canon). This previous loyalty is why he wants to reform Menasor specifically to defeat Megatron after Knock Out breaks him out of prison. Since he was in stasis for much of the time after the war, Megatrons perceived betrayal is still very much a fresh wound for Motormaster. In fact, chances are high that when Motormaster finally interacts with Megatron again he's going to be taken aback by how much Megatron isn't the Megatron he knew which is only going to strengthen his desire to kill him. Rationalizing it to himself as just a necessary afterthought after the man he knew already "died".

Motormaster did try to accept Megatrons orders for the stunticons to be disbanded. Out of respect for the man if nothing else. But flew into a rage after finding out Breakdown was reassigned to work under Knock Out, the one who had gotten the group disbanded in the first place. Accusing the medic of doing this exclusively tor rub rust in the wound (He was right) he deliberately tried to run Knock Out over in vehicle mode forcing Megatron to subdue him and have him put into stasis.

Breakdowns not here due to me having a lot of dedicated BDKO headcanons before this post.

[mudzdale]

i think of all the stupid-inane-useless aus to cram characters into, making decidedly non-transformers characters into cybertronians is definitely among the best. you will assign your fave a carsona and you will like it

[fictional-love-is-my-life]

We've seen alot of cars In the transformers movies. In the future, what kind of car would you want to be seen in the franchise? Whether it be a sports car or a big truck like Optimus. I personally would like to see a transformer turn into something that hasn't been seen before in the movies, like a train, road roller, or rock saw digger. 🚛

I think about this so often! And I am so glad someone else thinks about this too.

Look I love sports cars, they are beautiful. And motorbikes are great too. But why do all other alt modes have to go to the Decepticons?

I like in the 2nd Bay film where the constructicons made an appearance, and they were diggers, bulldozers all that cool stuff.

But what about an Autobot digger?? What about an Autobot crane or something?

And planes are great, but where are the trains??? Where are the boats?

I want unique different alt modes!

I want a transformer that turns into a double decker bus, or a moped, or a tractor. I need it.

If it has to be a car, what about a Lexus, or Toyota? Something we can relate to and be like 'hey maybe my little car could be a transformer' instead of us thinking, 'man I'll never have a Lamborghini.'

Sorry for the rant.......but this is something I think of often, I want other options of alt modes as well.

[blueikeproductions]

@vihattu-thethoroughbredofsin I will say in IDW’s defense, they didn’t come up with the caste society angle, they only attempted to flesh it out. It originated in Prime, and has since been used in Cyberverse, I believe Netflix War For Cybertron eluded to it, and I might be misremembering but I believe EarthSpark also uses the caste system as the source of the war.

The problem remains is Hasbro and assorted writers had no idea how to write the caste system other than it was bad, and it was enough to rework Megatron into being the one wanting abolish it.

Functionalism I can sort of understand. For the lack of a better comparison, Antz explored a similar shake up of the system where Z temporarily became a soldier ant while his soldier friend became a worker and the soldier found he LOVED being a worker over a soldier. They otherwise can’t change jobs or go outside the system until Z, in his own neurotic way, but the idea forward they could change.

A Transformer who changes into a tank who wants to be a doctor is frowned upon, because tanks are supposed to blow stuff up, not administer system updates. It’s an interesting train of thought, especially with the imagery of Megatron’s fusion cannon now being a medical kit in late stage Lost Light…. But it all falls apart when you think about it for two seconds. What does Functionalism mean for ordinary cars, for planes, for beasts, or something as mundane as RiD15 style Mini-Con Torpedos and Pucks? All it really says about Beasts is that they’re animals pure and simple and the lowest rung for what feels like an awkward joke referencing older fans grousing about Beast Wars.

It also doesn’t help that it’s never been fully understood what constitutes a Transformer on Cybertron. Roberts made a lot of jokes about generics turning into mundane things like laser pointers and Energon Dispensers, but then you had a joke about a Functionary cop yelling at a piece of junk to Transform, only for Ratchet to clarify the junk wasn’t alive. Like huh? Shouldn’t the Functionary have been able to tell?

IDW2 made the right move to return the cause of the Great War to be more about energy and the Ascenicons/Decepticons wanting power & conquest. Unfortunately the writer chose to do it in the most drawn out, dull, dare I say lifeless way possible.

I think the fact of the matter is as much as some fans detest Transformers being on Earth and befriending humans, that’s the only time they shine because functionally Transformers have NO culture. Armada makes a point to show life on Cybertron is purely militaristic, that Transformers are a warrior race at this stage, with Cybertron largely a junk yard with small hints at great cities that once existed. By Energon, Cybertron is restored to what it used to be, but we still don’t have a clear idea on their culture, as the Autobots largely work with humanity now as scientists and technicians and peace keepers. What little we see in most canons isn’t dissimilar from us, and the Autobots seem to graft pretty easily to our culture and entertainment, G1 famously having some of the Autobots addicted to a soap opera, and Optimus becoming a big fan of basketball. Attempts to fill in the gaps outside of Earth in stuff like Cyberverse and IDW is just flat out Earth and Earth culture but as silly robots. How Beast Machines and Galaxy Force went about it aside, how does Cybertron have plant life and jungles in Cyberverse? I don’t know and I guarantee the Cyberverse writers don’t either. But Cybertron just being a robot Earth isn’t clever or interesting, it’s boring, and it just reinforces why most stories get the Transformers off Cybertron where the real fun can begin.

Hello! I'm sorry if you're tired of this topic, but I can't help but be glad that I'm seeing more and more people criticizing IDW comics!

Once I also wrote a post about criticism of these comics, and my main problem was that there is absolutely no lore in these comics, and if there is anything, it is very little.

I just can't believe that for so long the authors haven't brought anything to the transformers lore. During this really huge amount of time and an impressive list of issues, I expected just a ton of worked-out world and everything else. And as a result, the depth of the lore was approximately equal to the depth of the drying puddle.

I don't understand why many fans praise these comics for the politics and the worked-out world, when this is absolutely not the case. Politics is mainly based on some personal conflicts and intrigues, we practically do not immerse ourselves in the structure and work of the political apparatus, ideas, influence on social structures and lifestyle, the response of different segments of the population to this. No, I understand it's difficult and the age audience is not suitable, but maybe you can't make the central theme of comics something that you can't describe and don't understand how it works?

The authors do not know how to describe a truly alien race and, despite their hatred of human characters, have made Cybertronians so similar to humans that it is absurd.

For example, why is functionalism bad? I understand why this would be bad for humans, but why for another species whose lifestyle should be completely different? In fact, this is the most logical way of life for an alien race, because what is the alternative? Is there an alternative? Can Cybertron switch to equipping itself with conventional technology? What will the Cybertronians who are released from work do, what other jobs and activities are there? The authors do not go into this much and we do not see clear ideas of what a Cybertron society should be without functionalism. Well, or I didn't have enough of what the authors gave me.

But well, we have functionalism. Why is it that the elite of society under this regime are mostly the owners of "useless" altmods? Why not those who transform into scientific or very powerful military equipment? In general, under such conditions, the power on the planet would have been seized by the military part of society long ago.

It's not worth talking about the fact that the usual daily life of Cybertronians is described in almost no way. Along with the culture, we have received very little information about it.

Oh, maybe we know something about the transformers themselves then, right? Not really. Basically you can only find headcanon materials. And what about IDW? Maybe they offered us their glossary, terms, schemes? No, there's nothing. Moreover, already at that time, fans on the forums came up with everything and drew the structure of transformers, and the IDW authors were too lazy to even steal any ideas, except for a few.

But if the authors can't work with these topics, do they describe relationships and love well? Again, no, literally all relationships are either built from scratch, or do not develop, or are full of manipulation, deception and emotional swings (yes, everyone's favorite "the only good" pair of Chromedome X Rewind), or end in nothing, as if nothing ever happened. And it doesn't depend on whether it was a gay relationship or a completely straight one, all the relationships there are very poorly written. If this, like Arcee, is a representation, then it looks more like a direct insult.

And, by the way, if love is for everyone, then where is the love between a transformer and a human? Oh yes, authors hate humans. Love is not for everyone!

And in general, it's good, the authors want to add love and romance, but it needs to be justified! Love relationships are not a necessary phenomenon for species, a lot of stars have to come together for this kind of social interaction to be like that. How did the Cybertronians come to this when they don't have any prerequisites for it? How did they get the Conjux Endura ritual (or did you want to say "bonding"? ;) ).Why does such a strict government, as we were told, disapprove, but not prohibit such types of relations, if in all other respects it is totalitarian and cruel?

How do Cybertronian diseases work? Why did Ratchet die of this disease, but not the characters older than him? This point is generally very similar to a cheap way to soften the reader.

I can go on like this endlessly, but I'll stop here. Roberts is not just a fanfiction writer, he is a very mediocre  fanfiction writer who may have a couple of interesting ideas, but lacks the talent to show them. And then, ordinary average writers understand what they are doing and why, and do not get paid for it. It's even more insulting for the authors of fanfiction, who, even for the sake of their strange plots and ideas, try and spin like they're on a frying pan, go out of their skin, coming up with a justification for everything inside the fanfiction. Roberts can't do that.

In the end, I respect the Kiss Players more because the author knew perfectly well what he was doing and wanted to anger the audience, and the audience reacted appropriately. The authors of the IDW comics thought they were doing something smart and great, but they weren't. But the audience presents it as something great.

P.S. I apologize for the mistakes, I use a translator.

There is no need to apologize, you managed to point out the issues with IDW Transformers and why no one really bothered to read them outside of that specific hardcore audience, and not even a general hardcore audience, but an audience that agreed with one specific interpretation of the material, and everyone who had other interpretations could go suck a lemon.

I’ve said it before, this is a prime example of “Writing a comic about a comic” where the use of lore and specific characterizations is so specific to the franchise that any story that is told is Greek to anyone outside of the bubble, which accounts for IDW’s horrible sales. Skybound’s story so far has been criticized by some hardcore fans as a G1 redux, but even if it is, it’s still a well told story with universal themes, consistent, easy to understand characterizations, and characters that are likable for the heroes and hatable for the villains. It has a clear tone, something both IDW and IDW2 failed at utterly. Roberts, meanwhile was a terrible writer, but he was good at engaging the audience the same way fanfic writers do, focusing on the relationships that get the most dialogue, and leaving openings for others to fill in, via discussion or their own fic. But that’s useless when it comes to engaging a general audience. Most of the audience didn’t want to do the work of filling in the holes themselves, they wanted to have the story do that, or at least provide enough context to paint a picture.

As for Kiss Players, while I don’t know if he wanted to purposefully offend the audience or just create shock value, it was a side story comic. It didn’t shape shows afterwards causing them to tank, and doesn’t have people looking at the last show aired and yawning out of sheer boredom.

[president-alpine]

Thanks to the Earth, the Autobots and Decepticons know how to swim

So this is another silly idea, but like I am just imagining the first few days on Earth for the bots and cons and having to learn what water is.

Like, I don’t think Cybertron has bodies of water that is just readily available or hell, ones they can safely swim in.

So I am imagining them staring at the ocean/pond/lake or what have you, and being like, “What’s this?”

And then they see the humans jumping in and swimming around. Like humans willingly throw themselves into these bodies of water, sometimes at insanely high altitudes. Or some of them sit around in pools that get really hot and bubble! The mechs are just, ???

I can imagine Optimus and the other bots staring at Spike when he’s just swimming around in a beach and having a blast.

Spike: “Come on guys! The water is great!”

Optimus: "How are you floating around just like that, don't you need a floatation device?"

Spike: "It's called, swimming, let me show you!"

Cue a montage of Spike having to teach the bots how to swim, with some varying degrees of success.

Bumblebee is able to pick it up well and can swim around while mechs like Wheeljack just kick around the water and sinking. Though some bots try to just walk around the ocean floor and skip out on swimming but the problem comes when climbing onto shore or boats XD

The cons watch the little swimming lesson and are just, "How dare they get an advantage before we do!" >:0

Not to be outdone, the cons learn how to swim!

Megatron sinks to the bottom in his first attempt.

Starscream almost declares himself leader but was yanked into the water by Megatron.

Day after day, the bots and cons would take the time and learn how to swim. It has become a spectacle for humans to watch them swimming normally, flailing around in the water, or sinking to the bottom of the floor.

Some humans have decided to join in and help out in teaching the giant space alien robots how to properly swim. Some are grateful and some are too stubborn to let themselves be taught.

Megatron: "I know what I am doing!"

He jumps in and sinks to the bottom of the water.

Eventually, all the mechs learn how to swim properly. From simply floating, swimming techniques and even how to avoid riptides or being yanked under waves. They even learned how to float in their altmodes.

However that tends to freak out humans when they see trucks, planes, tanks, and even a train bobbing along the water. (Which is absolutely worth it for the cons) XD

Thanks to them learning how to swim, they get to move around place to place on Earth, cool off during the summer, and even learn what hot springs are.

Though sometimes they hold off important war stuff just to vibe in the hot springs.

Optimus: *Chilling in the hot springs with the bots* "Did we have something important to do?"

Megatron: *Chilling in the hot springs with the cons* "I don't care, this feels good!"

Starscream: "Agree, I'll backstab you later."

However, one thing they didn't realize is how weird it would be for other mechs who have never visited Earth.

Imagine mechs who are visiting Earth for the first time seeing the armies willingly throw themselves into bodies of liquid without testing it or having the kibble to float.

Then watch as they float to the surface and call for you to jump in.

One time Starscream is leading a group of seekers to a lake and he's just telling them the ways they can escape.

Starscream: "If you are out of options, just jump!"

Seeker: "Sir, what do you-"

Starscream jumps into the water and the seekers start panicking. Like Oh no the air commander went into the lake oh dear Primus!

Then Starscream pokes his head out of the water and is just, "You can hide in here and the bots won't find you."

None of them know how to react or comprehend what just happened.

The bots side is going to be much harder to explain to ones who spent their entire lives on Cybertron.

Autobot: "Sir, how are you floating? You don't have any floatation devices!"

Optimus: "Oh, we learned how to swim."

Autobot: "Sir, we are grounders, How are you able to float like this?!

Ironhide: "Oh don't worry, we can teach you."

Autobot: "Wait, this can be taught?!"

Now I have this idea of the Decepticons being cornered at a lake by the Cybertronian bots.

Cybertronian Bots: "We have you now Decepticons! Give up!"

Megatron: "That's what you think! Decepticons! Swim!"

And then the Cybertronian bots just watch as the Decepticons just throw themselves into the water and swim away.

They're all 404-ing at the sight.

Shockwave is getting all these reports of the cons and bots learning how to swim and is just, "This is illogical yet so intriguing."

[ask-prime-starscream]

This was a commission. Smokescreen supports Blurr while he gives birth to the Predacon egg.

Blurred Salvation

Blurr was alone. On more than one account. Isolated in a way the fleeting schemes around him could never even begin to fathom. They were there, these other people, but they couldn’t reach him, they were blocked from him. He could have been on the other side of the planet just as well, stranded somewhere on flat, endless planes of rusty sand. Alone.

What Starscream and Soundwave had done to him was worse than the Pit. Inside a pool of molten metal he would have been at least connected to the countless other unfortunate sparks that had been dragged into a senseless war, forced to kill one another, oftentimes not even knowing why. His metal melting into something formless, something that wasn’t him sounded like salvation. That’s how far they had pushed him. These rotten Decepticons and the monster, the dragon. A chess piece in their game, yet the one who arguably hurt him the worst. The depravity of his acts would have still made him speechless to this very day, if he hadn’t been already muted. His train of thought stopped there for a second, yet not even a bitter laugh could escape his lips…

A white blotch appeared in his field of vision. It could be the Autobot medic or the other race car, it was difficult to tell them apart when malware formed every face, gesture, symbol, glyph, letter and number into a mess of unpleasantly jittering squares that seemed to grow and shrink to the beat of his own spark pulse. He searched for some blue blotches among the few red ones, but his eyes and mind grew quickly tired of the display of his malfunction.

No more, he thought to himself. At least he understood his own thoughts and what he willed right now was to curl up in his bed, cocoon himself into the blanket and escape the waking world at least for a short amount of time.

Dull noises reached his audio receptors. The white blotch tried to communicate with him again, reached for his hand and squeezed his fingers. It must be him then, the race car. He was the only one trying to get so close to him. The only one who hadn’t given up on him, whose gestures towards him weren’t in order to perform another useless exam. Blurr could find meaning in his touches. 

You are not alone. I’m here.

His own hand didn’t move. Didn’t reciprocate. Whether the malicious coding wouldn’t let him or he himself didn’t want to give in to solace and hope. He wasn’t ready for that. He didn’t want to accept the possibility that this would be his only tiny window to communicate with the outside world till his body would fall apart in future eons.

I just want to sleep.

Suddenly a convulsion shook his entire broken body. He opened his mouth to scream, but it wasn’t like even that was allowed to him. In hurt and confusion, he clutched his abdominal plates and sank to his knees. The next convulsion was so bad, he barely felt white blotch’s hand on his back, or heard how the previously dull noises turned into an angry crackling in his head. It was like he was being split open, like a heat sword of a Decepticon had entered his body. Then he was lifted up by two strong arms and hastily carried to the place he had desired to be in the first place: his bed. Not that this would give him any comfort now… He immediately started to toss and turn like being shaken by a cruel nightmare. Where to put all of this pain in?! There was no way, no release! In the midst of all his hurt and confusion a thought dawned on him. 

No.

It was coming. The egg. The Pit-Spawn egg of the dragon! For a moment the last remnants of his sanity seemed to say their farewell and maybe that would have been a blessing.

I’m giving birth to my rapist’s spawn.

He wanted to scream again, but only silence left his mouth. Not even a croak could escape him.

Kill me. If you care about me, kill me and end this!

Of course the race car wouldn’t do it even if he could have understood him. Blurr wondered how he must look to him, writhing in unspeakable pain in complete silence like a malfunctioning doll. How ridiculous he must look! His legs, lower body, the sheets and mattress now soggy with disgusting fluids. Death would be mercy, couldn’t this disgustingly hopeful Autobot understand that?!

His hand was grabbed again and Blurr’s fingers cramped around it. Another wave of pain rattled his tormented body. Something inside his head clicked and gave way to a thought that made him forget about the pain for almost a second in sheer fright: It’s too big.

Blurr cramped and kicked his legs, pushing the useless, wet blanket away that was supposed to give him comfort. Alarms went off in his head, his processor bombarded him with warnings that were meaningless to him. He would be stuck. He would be stuck with this pain forever! 

A large, strong arm scooped him up in some sort of half-embrace and Blurr felt the other bot’s face right next to his own, registering the dull, bassy sounds of something that might have been soothing words. He couldn’t fight it any longer, he curled into this sloppy half-embrace and craved every little bit of support he could gain from it. He no longer cared how he looked or how disgusting he was. He just wanted the comfort that was offered to him so willingly. 

Then his modesty plating retracted and revealed his probably swollen, widened port to the fullest. White pain rocked his body and he grit his teeth so hard it was a miracle none of them broke off. He didn’t know if his hand had squeezed the Autobot’s hand to a wrung piece of scrap in the meantime, but when the white, hot pain diminished, followed by a nightmarish, sucky sound and the feeling of something grotesquely large leaving his body… he finally let go and sunk back into the embrace, panting hard.

Blurr lay there for a while, in all his sticky fluids and coolant and the Autobot didn’t move. A humming sound filled the room and seemed to drive out the silent screams. Blurr reached out and a hand gently clasped his fingers again.

You are not alone.

Blurr intertwined his fingers with those of the Autobot.

I know.

[dimorphodon-x]

I hope I found the right thing to submitt this. ^^'

Eitherway, I would like to know how Novabird would react to Lupus Minor, although, the wheel also seems interesting. You can decide what you're going to do.

(Also, sorry for writing so much. I think I like talking about my boy a little too much ^^')

**********

Lupus Minor (aka. Record) is an Outlier with the ability to save unlimited amounts of information in his mind, who worked underneath Cybertronian cities as mechanic and cargo transporter, before being used as an expiriment to see how much information they could shove into his head. (They basically turned him into a walking Archive, which he hates.)

Record joined the Decepticons and was refitted from a train to a cargo plane. Although, he deserted once he realized the Decepticons aren't like they used to be and after witnessing the death of old co-workers. He then stole a ship from Autobots, renamed it "Neutral Zone" and fled to earth. Which he soon enough left again, after Decepticon and Autobot presence increased.

He is now traveling space with his Minbot friend Silverlining and four younger mechs he adopted as his kids. Galen, Copper, Flinch and Polaris (With Polaris being the equivalent of a 6 year old and the other three being young adults). Together, they started doing a thing they call "Transport". In short, they're a space taxi, flying any Cybertronian who needs a ride. No matter if they're Decepticon, Autobot, neutral or anything between.

Due to him loosing his twin during an accident while working, he's over protective of his family and passangers and will fight, if he has to. He also often acts like a dad towards anyone younger than him. If you aren't a kid or friend in his eyes though, he seems to act distant and sometimes cold, but he doesn't mean any ill will. As long as you follow the rules of his ship, no fighting, even if you belong do opposing teams, he will leave you alone.

Also, he's that kind of dad who knows how to fix stuff and gladly teaches anyone who wants to do the same, or give advice and an open ear, if you need that. After all, Record is a very understanding mech and often puts the wellbeing of his family, crew and passangers over his own.

(Also likes to give Cybertronians a ride in his alt mode, and is a big fan of Johnny Cash, country music and human movies.)

(We’ll go with the timeline where Starhawk had died on Novabird 😈)

With one parent dead and the other in too much of a depressed state to aid in his own grief, Novabird had set off on his own to try to find some kind of closure. This is likely how he’d run into Record.

Nova is naturally a very friendly individual, having grown up after the war and was always surrounded by the crew of the Lost Light. (Aside from some of the hardships that came post war, he had a pretty easy start in life lmaoo) So he shouldn’t be much of a problem for Record to worry about.

Meeting Record and his family might both comfort Nova and make him feel a little bit jealous as he misses what he had. Still, I’d imagine he’d get along with everyone just fine. Just make sure he doesn’t get too close or stay too long, he might start getting emotional with grief and jealousy.

He might only learn about Record’s past if he decides to tell him about it, as Starhawk had taught him to not be too nosey about other peoples’ business or history. The war had caused many bad memories that most may not want to dwell on after all.

[soundcrusher]

-Record, formerly known as Lupus Minor.

-Worked as a mechanic and transport train for cargo underneath Cybertrons cities. Until the death of his twin Lupus Major. He was then handed around, until Project "The Walking Archive", where scientists used his outlier ability to safe important informations in the unlimited space of his mind.

-Later joined the Decepticons and was refitted to be a cargo plane. (He really enjoys flying and doesn't mind transporting things and other Cybertronians.) Although, he deserted after the cause lost it's way.

-Fled to earth and lived with humans for a while. First as a passanger plane, which he hated because the tourists kept on trashing his insides, and then as a military cargo plane. (His alt-mode was and still is a C-5M Super Galaxy.) He mostly used his Holoform when working in the militar.

-Left earth, together with a Minibot he found, after Decepticon and Autobot presence increased.

-Stole an Autobot space craft, which he named "Neutral Zone". Record, together with his minibot friend and four younger mechs he adopted (they're also his crew), are traveling with the ship and transport other Cybertronians to wherever they want or need to go. The only rule is, that no-one attacks each other, if they transport Cybertronians from different factions.

-Record swore off fighting, but will kick someones aft, if they endanger his family, friends and passangers. He also tends to act as a father figure towards anyone younger than him. Giving them a listening ear and offering advice, even if it's uncallled for.

-Enjoys listening to earth music. Especially Johnny Cash, Elvis and anything resembling country music.