#ratioism

[askvectorprime]

Why would anyone come up with the Functionist caste system?

Dear Caste Castigator,

As many ideas do—be they dangerous or benign—it began as innocent curiosity. Every generation inevitably asks itself the same question: “What is my purpose? For what reason was I created? What part do I have to play, in our society?” Our alt-modes are important to us, and throughout history, many have looked to our forms for the answer. “Why do I turn into this, and not that? If I was designed this way, then what for?” And as we find that our own bodies have precious few answers to give us, we turn to those around us: “Why are there more cars than particle accelerators?” At the dawn of our civilisation, even my siblings wondered about these mysteries.

It was during the rise of Nova Prime, in response to the war of the Primes, that these philosophical questions morphed into the ideology of Functionism. Nova Prime decided that the tribes had gone astray—that each had their own divine purpose to fulfill, which they had forsaken. He recruited twelve bots—one from each of the original tribes, excepting Onyx's—who formed a council to comprehend and expand this list of functions, forming the first Grand Cybertronian Taxonomy.

Having arrived at what they believed to be a complete set of categories, they thus set out to fit the planet’s population into these categories. At its basis, this meant that Solus’ followers were assigned to work in the forges; Alpha Trion’s followers to the archives; the Darklanders to the barracks. Few at the time considered this societal structure to be asserted unnaturally. Rather, it was seen as codifying the existing cultures of the tribes, unifying them in its view of Cybertron as a single people collectively working to a divine mandate. The dissenting voice of the Beasts was easy to disregard, given their defeat at the Citadel of Light, and most abandoned Nova’s society to live in the wilderness.

As the Golden Age continued, the Taxonomy grew more and more complicated. The original set of castes was expanded, coinciding with the introduction of ratioism: the more unique your alternate mode, the more important you were believed to be. Castes believed to be “important for society” were heavily subdivided into hyperspecialized classes, allowing the Prime and his followers to be seen as blessed. Meanwhile, laborers remained in larger, more generalized castes, where they were treated as interchangeable.

Naturally there were objections to this—but with the weapons held by the newly-formed military classes, the rebellion was halted in its tracks, and society was forced to accept the caste system wholly, even as it grew ever more byzantine and oppressive.

It may be surprising, given his later reputation, but Nominus rose to become Prime mostly on the back of his promises to loosen the caste system. This was supposedly implemented through the introduction of the intellectual classes—those who were judged to be valuable for their minds, not their alt modes. This was a huge development at the time, bordering on heresy... but in truth, this progress proved to be a fantasy.

[asterisque]

"I am the professor and he is my student? Wow, if I didn't know any better, I'd say kinky, Doctor!"

[gayrobos]

Thirteen Primes masterpost!

I’m posting designs for the Thirteen Primes as in-universe religious iconography, and this is where I’m collecting information on the project and links to all of the pictures.

The basic premise is that the Thirteen are not real people (or, you know, as confirmably real as religious/mythical figures on Earth), so their qualities come from religion and folklore rather than history. Lots of people swear by them, and governments pay a certain amount of ceremonial respect to them, but very few people are dedicated to them. Those who are are generally part of groups loosely based on ancient Greek mystery cults--closed societies with private rituals who may believe more strongly in the mystical powers of their deities. I didn’t do any research on this FYI. These mystery cults are also not limited to Primes; a few other mythological figures have dedicated cults as well.

Primus has a kind of super-prime status, in that people really really think it is real and beneath our feet and responsible for the creation of new life. Expeditions to investigate it never come back.

Religious iconography changes with the times, so I’m intending to take a snapshot of Cybertronian culture at a particular point in history (loosely based on the fic I’m writing with armcontrolnerve right now). The Autobot and Decepticon empires control nearly the entire planet since unification efforts started about four hundred years ago, holding roughly the north and south hemispheres respectively; neither the Prime in Iacon nor the Prime in Kaon possesses the Matrix of Leadership, which has been lost for several million years. Contact is just about to be reestablished with off-planet colonies, and space bridge technology will get big in a couple decades. Indentured servitude is the default for laborer-class Cybertronians, but functionism and ratioism have cultural rather than legal influence. It’s a bad time for the arts. Film and other narrative media are put through the censors to make sure they’re appropriately patriotic.

I’m writing in-character as a kind of clueless religious scholar who doesn’t quite get the extent to which peeling back the layers of historical revisionism on depictions of deities is a political act. In short, their book is deeeefinitely not getting past the censors.

Finished designs:

Solus Prime  -  Prima  -  Alpha Trion  -  Vector Prime  -  Onyx Prime  -  Alchemist Prime  -  Fallen Prime  -  Liege Maximo  -  Micronus Prime  -  Nexus Prime  -  Amalgamous Prime  -  Quintessa Prime  -  Logos Prime  -  Prime Regnant

[rifleseye]

See my thought process for the political landscape of a pre-war cybertron is that each city-state has different policies. cybertron is a huge planet and it has a huge population, having only One consistent political landscape is simply impossible. not to mention i’d imagine each polity is different culturally. I’d imagine there are some polities that are more functionalist than others, but even the ones who are supposedly more open has some pretty bad ratioism and the functionalism that is there is well hidden from those that don’t live there.

[pyroclastic-bro]

Ok, to explain. We SEE Pious Maximus twice in the comics, both during the Shadowplay arc, where he is publicly ridiculing Functionism/Ratioism, something that very much threatened the interests of the senate since he seemed to be a public figure and perhaps a faith leader. It is mentioned that he has been missing for 18 months.

The next time we see him, it is when Prowl and Chromedome stumble upon on of the Institute sites while tracking down Sherma's killers. Another bot is with Maximus, presumably he has been an experimental subject for the mnemosurgeons to work on, otherwise they would have scrambled his brains and released him. The next time Maximus is mentioned, is during a battle on Clemency, early in the war when Megatron turned on the Nightmare engine. Ultra Magnus mentions needing to "Save Pious Maximus from himself", this indicates that Pious' behavior was altered during his time at the institute, or perhaps that he was freed by the deceptions, causing him to join their side (this part is kind of unclear, as there is not much information about this battle or character). I theorize that after the battle, Pious's frame/mind was taken and used by the autobot version of the Institute, resulting in Fortress Maximus. I think this fits, as Fortress is specifically referred to as a "war-born" bot by Whirl. Additionally in Ten To Midnight, Sentinel Prime mistakes Fortress Maximus for Pious Maximus. I hope this makes sense :)

I firmly believe that Fortress Maximus is either Pious Maximus shadowplayed beyond all recognition, and modified for war, or that he is just a new spark/brain in Pious' corpse. Like, that's the only explanation. It pisses me off that it's not really addressed in canon

[timelessmulder]

i really love that percy’s alt mode hasn’t been updated since the 80s he’s still the same really shitty microscope

[decepti-thots]

i was thinking last night about how incredibly specific "minesweeper" as a fake alt seems to me and if there's a reason to choose it over just like a car or smth (specialised alts being more socially prestigious under ratioism maybe?) and i realised something

it's just SUCH an oddly specific thing to happen twice it made me laugh for some reason

[polyhexian]

Post ll good timeline ending Whirl's got boyfriends now so he's really starting to mellow the fuck out and at this point most people tolerate him or are outright a little fond of him. Swerve has a fun event night where you get half price drinks if you put together and present a 5-10 minute presentation on any topic of your choice for the room. You must be already sloshed when you begin. Cyclonus gives a presentation on the development of golden age hymnals and how they've warped over time through translation and transliteration. Its fascinating but a bit dry. First Aid gives a presentation on the grossest things he's ever had to pull out of people and it receives massive applause. Whirl gives a 45 minute speech while nearly blackout drunk on the affect of ratioism on the decline of Cybertronian art and music how systemic efficiency programs destroyed generational craftsmanship and minimus has to hold megatron back from trying to drunkenly make out with him three times

[cyber-phobia]

I know absolutely nothing about transformers but I am Here for the lore

Speaking of the Institute, this is Fortress Maximus

He's one of two War Born bots (the other is Fulcrum), meaning his spark emerged during the war.

During the war, hot spots stopped appearing, so no more transformers were being created and there was no longer a means of reproduction for their species. So his existence is almost impossible (only two new bots in four million years)

Here's Pious Maximus:

The Senate was very against pretty much everything he said, since their power relied on having a certain alt mode, which would be useless without Ratioism (Functionism).

Putting the similar appearance and name aside, Pious Maximus is later seen at the Institute. Along with the fact that Fortress Maximus was supposedly 'born' at a time that it was impossible for new sparks to be made, I can say with a reasonable amount of certainty that Pious and Fortress Maximus are the same person.

Also this:

[stawscweam]

Starlight (Transformers OC)

General Information: 

She/Her pronouns

Forged

Minibot

Microjet alt-mode

She’s a Primalist that has a tattoo of the Matrix on her left cheek

Her optics glow vibrantly when she’s strenuously using Empath, they naturally glow brighter than most Cybertronians because her power is always active

Personality:

Pure, passionate and precious

Soft-spoken but adamant on her values

Always sees the best in others and believes anyone can change for the better

Can never say no to others and always puts their troubles over her own

Vehemently despises using her powers, because she feels like the abomination those in power view her and her kind

She fears she unintentionally manipulates the emotions of others to benefit her, whether that’s by befriending her, agreeing with her or any other such possibility

Refrains actively using her powers on others without their explicit permission

History:

An outlier with the ability called “Empath”

She can experience and control the emotions of others

Her range is city-sized and is always active, but it drains her immensely and she constantly has to keep her ability in check

Experiences massive migraines when she overly exerts her powers and can offline temporarily from sensory overload 

Thoroughly exhausts her to experience extreme emotions from others or apply to others

Could permanently offline herself if pushed too far 

The versatility of her powers include:

Forging emotional bonds with loved ones via touch that allow her to sense their emotional presence from any distance

Healing emotional wounds by taking their pain into herself

Experiencing the emotional residue left in places from major events

Imprinting her own emotions onto others

Senator Shockwave enrolled her into the Jhiaxian Academy of Advanced Technology in her youth

Extremely fond of Shockwave and his friend Senator Dai Atlas, aspired to become a liberal Senator like them 

Starlight learned more of the Knights of Cybertron and ancient Cybertron from Dai Atlas directly, he quickly became fond of the young Primalist

She had a crush on Skids during their academy years, but never acted on her affections due to her shyness and fear of artificially implanting her feelings into him

Focused her studies on the social inequalities of pre-War Cybertron and solutions to rectify them

She also researched the societies and cultures of other species in the universe

Rejected Functionism and believed the alt-mode of a Cybertronian was not an indicator of their vocation

Did not subscribe to the notion of ratioism, abundance or scarcity of an alt-mode did not dictate a Cybertronian’s worth

Horrified by the past social apartheid administered against cold-constructed bots and routinely debunks the myth of their “inherent” depravity

Opposed the vile caste system rooted in the social structure of Cybertron perpetrated by the Grand Cybertronian Taxonomy and advocated the equality of all mechs

Against the belief of Cybertronian supremacy

She avoided “altercations” with the Senate and Functionist Council by utilising her “resources”

Senator Shockwave and Senator Dai Atlas protected her as well

She ended up becoming a scholar on social sciences who joined the Circle of Light in the new Crystal City on Theophany after the rise of the Decepticons

Sympathised with the Decepticons, but did not want to join the war

Starscream tried to recruit her, “One Star-person to another...”

A pacifist who believes in peaceful revolution

She’s not a fighter and cannot fathom the idea of hurting another being

Saddened by the corruption of the Decepticon’s cause

Afraid of Star Saber and tried to talk him out of his plans for an atheist holocaust and his hostile faith while they resided in Crystal City

Dai Atlas told her to give up on convincing the stubborn evangelist, but she could never do such a thing, “Everyone can be saved.”

Amica Endura to Wing and prayed for him, Drift and the others to survive their battle against the Slavers and Lockdown

She and Dai Atlas shared a cell when they and the rest of the Circle of Light were captured by Star Saber and the Legislators

She eventually joins the Crusadercons after her people are saved on Luna 1 as the Lost Light’s sociologist

As a member of the Circle of Light, finding Cyberutopia and the Knights of Cybertron was her dream

She paints her face in honour of Dai Atlas

Becomes Conjuxed to Skids and grows closer to Megatron after her beloved’s death

Felt it was fate that she reunited with him on Luna 1 when he presented the Lost Lighter’s recruitment video

Chromedome: “Cynical? Skids, I was suicidal....but then I met someone who saw the best in everyone—even me. Maybe there’s someone out there who can save your life, too.” 

Skids: “It’s your fault, actually. After we had that talk on Theophany, I decided that abandoning my lost memories amounted to a kind of betrayal. All those people I’ve met, all those people who’ve touched my life—I mean, I don’t know if there are any, but that’s kind of the point: I hate to think I might’ve forgotten them.”

Due to her aversion towards violence, she stayed behind with Teebs when Roller and Chromedome recruited Skids and the other outliers during the Fake Matrix Heist

Stays behind with Ultra Magnus, Percy and Megatron when the Crusadercons follow Stormy into the past

Troubled by the flowers around her statue on Necroworld and prays for the fallen due to her pacifism

Wing’s spark energy resided in one of the flowers and it confirmed her fear that her inaction led to his death

Delighted when Megatron declares his refusal to fight and supports him in his non-violent journey

Headcanons:

She’s a Spectralist and fluent in Chirolinguistics

Fan of Megatron’s works such as “After the Ark: Nominus Prime and the Illusion of Progress” and his polemic “Towards Peace”

She meditates to clear her mind and ground herself

Senator Shockwave enjoyed it when she used her powers on him whenever he asked her to calm him down from one of his passionate outbursts

She also enjoyed experiencing the richness of his emotions, one of the few moments she liked her powers

Devoted to Dai Atlas for providing a safe haven for those who wished neutrality with the help of Tyrest

She adored asking Senator Dai Atlas questions of Cybertronian history and his personal past

Dai Atlas taught her Old Cybertronian

Perhaps it was Dai Atlas who suggested she wear an inhibitor chip to disable her cursed powers?

Perhaps she’s able to save Skids’ life by deactivating her inhibitor chip and taking away his emotional guilt and trauma related to Quark and the other prisoners’ deaths?

Fond of holding the hands of her loved ones with their permission

Her dates with Skids involve playing games of trivia like quizzing each other on different species’ culture and politics, the question game, movie night, chilling at the oil reservoir, browsing in gift shops and dancing

She doesn’t drink, but enjoys accompanying Skids and Trailcutter in their bar outings

Helps Trailcutter with his self-worth issues and always makes sure to know he’s appreciated and loved

Brainstorm delights in showcasing his latest Unmentionables to her horror, it reminds him of his days on Kimia

She loves Brainstorm, but the way his mind works frightens her

Joins Cyclonus in prayers and participates in singing in Old Cybertronian with him and Tailgate

Attends Megatron’s poetry readings

[thenamesblurrito]

Original Continuity ask Meme: Backdrop. What's your favourite location, or setting you designed for this Au? Just a curious Anon who loves your art designs.

Backdrop: what’s your favorite place or setting in this AU?

I’ve actually answered this once before! I haven’t managed to draw any more of Simfur, whoops. Settings and backgrounds are not my strong suit 😬

But I can tell you about a different ancient city that rose after the sundering of Simfur. While the story of SNAP never actually visits this place, I think it’s important enough to at least mention. Tyrestis, later translated as Doradus, was the second greatest city of ancient Cybertron. It rose after the God War ended, trying to recreate the grandeur of Simfur and, uh, not quite succeeding.

In fact, that’s where the first version of functionism began. It’s actually better described as ratioism, but function by frametype, classification by size, and the concept of worthlessness outside of work began in Tyrestis society. It was an incredibly wealthy city, and very prosperous... for those who were rich. The servant, laborer, and slave castes were not so fortunate.

It didn’t have a particularly large territory, but the size of the city itself was enough to contain several million citizens. Very few Knights of Cybertron passed through Tyrestis despite its extensive temple network and heavily religious society. None of those ancient heroes seemed to trust it very much, especially as the original thirteen Primes began to disappear. This did not stop the religious culture at all, especially in later years when fanaticism took over. Cybertronian sacrifice became a common practice, with insurgents and blasphemers usually thrown to alloygators to be consumed. Alloygators are still linked to sacrifice in modern superstitions and are thought to drag their victims to the Well of Sparks, where they placidly swim with the dead.

It fell, eventually, partly because of its own bloated corruption, partly because people became dissatisfied and left for a less oppressive home, and partly from skirmishers and raids from nearby cultures chasing Tyrestis’ fabled wealth. The Maximal Empire rose soon after the twilight of the city, absorbing its territory into its borders, and the area is no more than ruins now. As Cybertronix evolved over the megavorns, it became better known as Doradus. Most people only know of it in the history books, its plundered remains somewhere in the crust of Cybertron near Vos.

Perhaps the most commonly known tidbit is the fact that the name Tyrest came from the city’s founder and greatest regent. It’s still used as a more traditional, historic name today, similar to Optimus, Magnum, Terminus, and other names of the Knights of Cybertron. Many people know the fable of how the city’s founder came from nowhere, with nothing, not even his name, and after amassing a following and guiding them to building this great civilization with naught but the labor of their hands, he took the city’s name as his own: Liege Tyrest.

[hangryshawn]

...I started typing up a second reply but then realized that if I'm gonna spam replies, may as well do a whole reblog, so. Yeah, I'd agree flying alt modes are superior. I'd even say they could potentially give ground-based vehicles an inferiority complex. But. If we assume that people without flying alt modes have the numbers and authority on their side...

Is it really so counter-intuitive that restrictions could be placed on a group which is capable of outperforming others? I am assuming this group is in the minority, and members of the majority (or plurality, since not everyone has an alt mode designed for travel) were able to begrudgingly coexist with them mainly because of those certain artificial restrictions.

In real life also, if you're stereotyped as being able to out-compete by some metric at a given task, you do get othered. Maybe it's different when we're discussing feats of physical prowess versus, say, academic performance. And Cybertronian alt modes are so very distinct in a way that doesn't quite correspond to the barely-there variations found in human beings (which are probably largely nurture vs nature) so it's hard to compare. But.

If we assume that animosity exists between—just to keep it simple—cars and jets, I think we can also assume that cars as a group want to prevent jets from taking all the (good) jobs. Even if there had been no animosity originally, it would still be in the cars' self interest to limit what jets can do. And so jets, being in the minority, get corralled into certain roles which, yeah, may be better than some of the other options, but there is still a ceiling.

Maybe a few token individuals manage to break it. (Although I feel like there haven't been enough Primes around for there to be even one flier Prime in history, but whatever. Statistical oddity, perhaps?) The point is, the ceiling is in place to keep most jets from getting very far. They're allowed certain aspirations, but they're not supposed to be leadership.

They're still in a better place than the people who suffered worse under ratioism, of course, but that doesn't mean they aren't second-class. Especially if, once war is underway, they're perceived to have a propensity for siding with the other side. (This is a more prevalent view outside of IDW's continuity, I think? I haven't seen as much of the "fliers are Decepticons" talk in MTMTE, but maybe it's the post-war setting that makes a difference. Obviously I still need to review Phase One.)

I do find it a little odd that there's a bias against flight frames in science and academia, if only because real life analogies would suggest that you can have an illustrious career in research, sure, just prepare to be under constant suspicion and if the govt ever finds you inconvenient you'll be labeled a suicide, although I'm sure that happens to members of the majority as well...

Uh, where was I? Jets versus cars.

If I were to compare to typical fantasy race stereotypes, I'd say that jets are treated as a mix between elves and orcs. Which, coincidentally, I view as two sides of the same coin. A race that is simultaneously superior and inferior to humans. is both a threat and a source of interest, whose exotic appeal and amoral ways are ripe for conquering. Also something something communal living/collectivist values which are at odds with human (Western) individualism.

Anyway. I would think that most cars would hold the jets they've gotten a chance to know personally in high regard. They might even say that some of their favorite employees are jets, or wish that x other group could be more useful like jets. That doesn't necessarily mean that they respect jets as equals. They may think specific jets as being like themselves, and they can still see jets as a group as some sort of monolithic threat.

Again, there's not much basis for outright discrimination in the source material I've reviewed. (MTMTE, by and large. Some LL, also.) But if we accept, at face value, the claim that flight frames were second-class citizens, I think it does make sense.

The thing about "flight frames are an oppressed class" in IDW is that I pretty much only like it specifically because of Pharma, otherwise I just find it really weird and unintuitive? Like, flying vehicles can FLY in the SKY. They're faster and more maneuverable than a ground vehicle could ever hope to be. They're better for combat in almost every way. There are multiple Senators and perhaps even Primes who seem to have flying vehicle alt modes. Who would look at the superiority of flight frames and go "yeah let's oppress these people"? Like what that just doesn't make sense.

[notwhelmedyet]

MTMTE reread : issue 10 : Cybertronian Culture Lessons

split my commentary into sections!  this section will cover any cool tidbits of culture + worldbuilding I noticed rereading this issue.

[image: Panel from MTMTE #10, with rounded corners and to indicate it’s from a vidscreen.  A mech at a podium gesticulates angrily while saying: “Nova’s Population Augmentation Program led to widespread energon deprivation and, worse, a virulent racism that persists to this day.  It should make no odds whether you’re forged or-”  A caption at the bottom of the screen indicates this is taking place at the J.A.A.T. Lectures.]

The sudden population boom from cold-created cybertronians lead to energon shortages

Anti cold-created bigotry was still a thing at the time of the flashback (though Chromedome seems to do fine with mechaforensics)

Ratioism = a tenant of functionism? Implies that those with more uncommon alt-modes deserve more privileges/rights

Cybertron had tacky billboards before the war.  (Also Relinquishment Clinics were socially acceptable enough to buy billboard space)

[image: Panel from MTMTE #10.  Rodimus and Ultra Magnus peer through a tiny window in a door while talking.  In the foreground we can see the back of someone's head, recognizably Cyclonus from the horns. Ultra Magnus: "And Cyclonus - what have you charged him with exactly?" Rodimus: silence Ultra Magnus: "Okay.  You've read him his rights, though." Rodimus: more awkward silence Ultra Magnus: "You didn't read him his- does he even know why he's here?"]

The autobot code and/or current cybertronian law requires you read rights to prisoners, as in American Miranda Rights.

Smells associated with medical facilities and/or death: rustwash and soured energon

Sometimes Cybertronians get engravings done on their bodies with quotes that have meaning to them

Empties: a description for bots whose brains have been removed.  Probably not the same sort of empties Ratchet was treating at his clinic

[robotswithcoffee]

[timelessmulder]

Here Are Some Headcanons bc I’m Gay And Tired

in terms of ratioism perceptor is pretty low ranking; despite his scientific alt he’s pretty basic and was usually regulated to lab assistant, passed over in favor of more complex/fancy microscope alts

after rising to prominence he started throwing his name behind projects by CC bots & those with non-scientific alts

got kicked out of at least one lecture because he tore into the Bad Science of a “cc bots are lesser” study

the protectobots, sans first aid, are constructed cold

blades is an mto (from an evac unit that im still figuring out)

he has pretty nasty claustrophobia relating to this

prowl has problems with sensory overload

perceptor has chronic pain after Near Death Experience #1

during downtime on luna-1 max has pretty much endless questions about pre-war life, questions he didn’t really have time for Before. this is especially true after he’s called “pious”

[polyhexian]

We just didn't get enough ravage interactions period. Like mtmte really properly opened the can of worms that is "Cybertronian society treats animal-shaped Cybertronians as actual animals despite any and all displays of their intelligence and sentience and the oppression and bigotry they face in Cybertronian society is actually wholly different from any other experience of functioning or ratioism and even their fellow decepticons do not respect them" and then never closed that can. Like by really putting a spotlight on ravage as a proper cast member and giving him observable pathos and then spending more than a single offhand panel acknowledging the extremely specific form of oppression he's subjected to the reader actually puts some thought into it and it's place in a postwar cybertron and then it is. Never addressed or given proper screentime. Like it's cute when nautica pets ravage but how does that experience make him feel? Having his bodily autonomy regularly disrespected by those who don't actively deride him or treated as a thing that can be owned and objectified by those that do? What's it gotta be like to be in that position? Why would beast formers join the Decepticons who don't want to give them rights EITHER? How are beastformers not in their own completely separate faction? Is it really so bad in Cybertronian society that beastformers believe that the poor treatment they get with the decepticons is still better than what they get from the autobots? What about autobot beastformers? What are they looking for?

Also we never see tiny tiny minimus's actual alt mode and I DO believe I recall seeing jro answer a question on Twitter about it that minimus is ALSO a Turbofox in his irreducible form, which does make sense, and I would LOVE to see how a beastformer minimus and ravage interact, how characters like nautica from a planet that appears to not have beastformers reacts to the treatment of beastformers, or say, drift, who was a passionate early freedom fighter who has a LOT to say about rights and oppression......... Why did we open the can of we weren't going to take out the worms

On that note, we really missed on Minimus and Ravage interactions. Ravage would have no patience and would frankly be offended with Minimus internalized racism. But he's in a similar position to Megatron in that no one really likes him, but al least Minimus would treat him with polite formality. Despite his own prejudices, Minimus treats everyone pretty equally and that's not something Ravage is used to.

Besides, Ravages only looks up Megatron and Megatron seems to have a lot of respect for Minimus and they are falling in love. Besides, is shown that Ravage actually respects Ten and Minimus was the one who defended him.

It would also be interesting to see how Minimus reacts to being called out on his shame for his own alt-mode.