#reading spotlight shockwave

[darkcybertron]

damn bro you got the whole squad distraught and confused

[whatudottu]

Ever since making my human Shockwave design, both my original one and this one, I've been thinking of what arm he would have because even if you have access to a cannon arm as a human it's logical to have a functional arm prosthetic maybe idk-

An extra ever since after reading @nukeli 's SG Shockwave fic I've also been thinking of human Shockwave having a donor arm like what happens in the oneshot, it being mismatched because though demand is high supply is very very low and replacement body parts don't last-

[cyberesc]

THE BOY IS MINE. (PART 1?)

pairing: Prohero!Bakugo x Prohero!Reader

rating: angst, requited unrequited love (?)

note: since mha ended I thought I should clean up some of my old drafts, part 2?👀

part 2

The city of Musutafu was alive with chaos, the roar of explosions filled the air as you and Dynamight chased down a villain. Adrenaline pumped through your veins as you leaped from rooftop to rooftop, your focus laser-sharp on the figure darting through the streets below. This villain had been wreaking havoc all day, and it was up to you and Dynamight to put an end to their rampage.

But even in the heat of battle, it was impossible not to feel the tension that had been building between you and your hero partner. Bakugo had always been a force of nature, his presence intimidating, and his skill unmatched.

Although you’ve worked together since you were sidekicks at Endeavor’s agency, your heart still pounded with the thrill of working with him, the current number two hero in Japan. Working alongside him had been both a blessing and a curse—because somewhere along the way, you had found yourself falling for him. And that had complicated everything.

Bakugo had always been focused and determined to reach the top, something he’d spoken about often when you were alone together. It wasn't uncommon for you to end up patrolling with him, just the two of you, sharing quiet conversations during those fleeting peaceful moments. There were times when he opened up, letting down his prickly exterior just enough to show you a sliver of vulnerability. Those moments had led you to believe there was something more between you, something unspoken but deeply felt.

It was why, as you jumped from building to building, you couldn't help but glance over at him more than usual. His face was set in a determined scowl, as always, but you’d learned to read the subtleties of his expression, the way his eyes softened when he was in a good mood, or how his posture relaxed ever so slightly when he was around you. You wondered if he felt the same spark you did.

As a pro hero, it was inevitable for Bakugo to take on sidekicks, a mandatory responsibility held by the commission. Among these sidekicks was Hitomi Mori, aka Shockwave, a newcomer to the agency who had become a thorn in your side. Hitomi had a knack for showing off, constantly trying to one-up you and prove she was the better hero. But it wasn’t just about the spotlight—she also sought Bakugo’s attention.

Your feelings for Bakugo weren’t exactly a secret, not to those who paid close enough attention. And unfortunately, one person had been paying close attention: Hitomi.

Bakugo had mellowed out since high school, the consequences of the war having deep seeded impact. In his own way, he was sweet—people who cared enough to read between the lines would see his kindness in the way he took care of those around him. He’d never admit it but he grew soft, it was evident in the way he handled his sidekicks. He understood more than anyone the anxiety and determination it took to prove oneself as an up-and-coming hero, and he took it upon himself to mentor his sidekicks with a level of care that made others take notice.

You’d catch Hitomi in the break room trying to flirt with him but to his credit, Bakugo seemed completely uninterested, barely acknowledging her advances with a dismissive grunt or a roll of his eyes. If anything, it made her try harder, convinced that his indifference was just him playing hard to get.

But lately, there have been whispers around the agency. Office gossip buzzing with speculation about Dynamight and Shockwave, suggesting that there was more to their relationship than just mentor and mentee. After all, she was a constant presence by his side, needing more training as a newly hired sidekick.

You brushed it off at first, certain that it was just idle chatter, but sometimes doubt crept in your thoughts, couldn’t help but question if there might be some truth to the rumors, even if you didn’t want to admit it.

While you and Bakugo soared through the air, hot on the villain’s trail. You landed on a rooftop, ready to make another leap, when something caught your eye—a massive electronic billboard across the street. It displayed a celebrity gossip segment, the headline flashing in bold, obnoxious letters:

“DYNAMIGHT DATING HIS SIDEKICK? HERO ROMANCE IN FULL BLOOM!”

You didn’t believe it. But when you saw the accompanying photo, your heart dropped to your stomach. The image showed Bakugo—or someone with a striking resemblance to him—with his arm around a pretty young sidekick you recognized as Hitomi. They were smiling at each other, and for a moment, you couldn’t breathe. Your vision blurred at the edges as the words on the screen seemed to taunt you. The candid moment captured in that photo didn’t look posed or forced—it looked genuine. Real.

For a split second you clung to the hope that it was all a lie, but then you noticed the sign in the background, blurry and unfocused, but unmistakable—a hidden konbini that Bakugo frequented during his breaks between patrols.

It was a place few people knew about, a spot Bakugo had mentioned in passing. Seeing it in the photo made it all too real, solidifying the rumor in your mind.

Everything you had let yourself hope for, every secret glance and every careful word, crumbled in an instant. The world tilted on its axis, leaving you feeling unsteady. How could you have been so stupid? You had let yourself believe that you had something special with him, that maybe he was just taking his time before making a move. But now it seemed that he had only been keeping you at arm's length while he entertained someone else.

“Hey!” Bakugo’s voice crackled through the intercom, snapping you back to reality, but it was too late.

The villain, sensing an opportunity, lashed out with a powerful blast of energy. You felt the impact before you could react, sending you flying backwards. Pain exploded in your abdomen as you crashed into the wall of a nearby building, the world spinning around you. You hit the ground hard, gasping for breath, the wind knocked out of your chest making it difficult to think.

“Y/H/N!” Bakugo’s voice was sharp with panic, but it sounded distant, muffled by the ringing in your ears. You tried to push yourself up, but your body refused to cooperate, the pain too overwhelming.

The villain advanced, ready to strike again, but Bakugo was there in an instant. He didn’t hesitate, unleashing a large blast that sent the villain crashing to the ground, unconscious.

As soon as the threat was neutralized, Bakugo was at your side, his hands hovering over you, unsure of where to touch. “Y/H/N, what the hell happened?!”

You could only manage a weak shake of your head, your vision blurring from the pain and the overwhelming weight of your heartbreak. “’m fine,” you mumbled, though you knew it was far from the truth.

“Like hell you are!” Bakugo snapped, his voice a mix of anger and concern. He quickly called for backup, his eyes never leaving you as he barked orders into his comm. “Stay with me, Y/H/N. We’re getting you out of here.”

Soon enough the ambulance arrived. As the medics carefully lifted you onto a stretcher, you could feel Bakugo’s eyes on you, burning with the intensity of a flame ready to ignite, but you didn’t turn around. You couldn’t be around him right now, not when your heart felt like it was in pieces.

The medics fussed over you, bandaging your scraped and bruised side and insisting that you head to the infirmary for a proper checkup. You nodded numbly, barely hearing them as you replayed the scene from the billboard over and over in your head. The pain in your side was nothing compared to the pain in your heart, the realization that whatever you had hoped for with Bakugo was nothing more than a fantasy.

Later, back at the agency, you locked yourself in the bathroom, staring at your reflection in the mirror. You looked pale, tired, but more than that, you looked broken. Why didn’t he just tell you if he was seeing someone?

The pain in your chest tightened until it was hard to breathe. You remembered the conversations you had shared, how he had told you, in his own way, that dating wasn’t on his mind. That he was too focused on his career, on becoming the number one hero. And like a fool, you had believed him.

You squeezed your eyes shut, willing yourself to hold back tears that threatened to spill. Memories of moments between you and Bakugo flashed through your mind, each one now tainted with doubt. Quiet conversations during late-night patrols, times he comforted you during a mission gone wrong, homemade bentos, and the small gestures—like the way he brushed a stray hair from your face or the rare smile he’d give you after a lame joke.

Bakugo Katsuki was a hero who didn’t need distractions, and you were a distraction. That’s all you had ever been. You couldn’t bear the thought of facing him again, of pretending that everything was okay when all you wanted to do was scream at him for breaking your heart.

So you avoided him. In the days that followed, you changed your patrol routes, swapped shifts with other heroes, and did everything you could to make sure you wouldn’t run into him. When he called, you let it go to voicemail. When he knocked on your office door, you pretended you weren’t there. It was cowardly, you knew that, but you couldn’t face him—not when the pain was still so raw.

Bakugo was relentless, though. He kept trying to reach out, his messages growing more and more concerned, until they finally stopped altogether. That hurt more than anything, the silence that followed. It was like he had given up on you, just as you had given up on him.

You never learned the truth about the billboard, afraid that the rumor would be confirmed. You never found out that the gossip magazine had fabricated the whole thing to stir up drama. Bakugo wasn’t dating his sidekick, and he never had been. But the damage was done, and you didn’t give him the chance to explain, to tell you that the only reason he kept his distance was because he didn’t want to hurt you—because he knew he couldn’t give you what you deserved.

Bakugo had always been driven by a relentless need to be the best. His world was dominated by the quest to be number one. In the midst of his single-minded pursuit, he often overlooked the people around him, including you.

You didn’t know it but a part of him cared deeply for you, even if he rarely showed it. He always admired your strength and dedication. You were one of the few people who truly understood the weight of his dreams and the sacrifices he made. That’s what made it all the more painful that he could consider ever being with you.

Bakugo couldn't shake the feeling that he was unworthy of you. He was aware of his flaws—his abrasive nature, his relentless drive, and the emotional walls he built to shield himself. He believed you deserve someone who could be fully present, someone who could offer you more than just fleeting moments of affection with his chaotic schedule.

He feared that your love and commitment might be wasted on someone who couldn’t reciprocate it in the way you truly deserved. So, he kept his distance, believing it was for the best, protecting you from the inevitable heartbreak.

His fears were solidified by the silence that followed your last encounter, Your unanswered calls and messages were a painful confirmation. The way you avoided him—your refusal to meet his eyes, the abrupt end to your conversations—only reinforced his beliefs that he couldn’t be what you need.

As much as you tried to convince yourself that you were better off, that it was better to focus on your own career, your own path as a hero, the ache in your chest refused to fade. The image of Bakugo smiling at someone else, was burned into your mind, a constant reminder of what could have been.

What should have been.

But it wasn’t, and you didn’t know how to move forward when it was still dragging you down, pulling you under with every step you tried to take.

© property of cyberesc 2024. please refrain from plagiarizing any of my works and do not repost/edit/translate/copy onto any other sites.

[devilart2199-aibi]

IDW collection reading update! :^) 📖

Just finished Phase 2 volume 3! This volume included: The MTMTE 2012 Annual + issues 9-13, The RID 2012 Annual + issues 10-11, Signal to Noise and Spotlights: Thundercracker, Bumblebee and Megatron!

My thoughts will be below! ⤵️

MTMTE 2012 Annual:

Started off super wacky with Magnus 😂 Then got really interesting with Crystal City disappearing, The Metrotitan being underneath and the Galactic Council making their appearance! I liked how they tried to recruit Magnus and he said nah and smiled :)

RID 2012 Annual:

Absolutely LOVED the vintage/retro comic pages they did for the story/flashbacks of Nova's group!! Why so evil, but so cool looking?? I'm curious to see what all that with the Metrotitan and Starscream meant! 🤔

MTMTE 9-11:

Absolute banger. Probably one of my favorite stories so far!! I'm sorry but a murder mystery?? on Cybertron? in the past?? with stellar art!?! Sign me up any day.

Also it was great to finally learn more about Senator Shockwave and the rest of the Characters! Like Drift, Chromedome and Whirly! The back and forth with all the banter and the layers of fronts and corruption ahhh *chefs kisses*

Also I thought this ⬆️ was so cute bc it's a fact right out of Prowls characters bio/info sheet/page.

MTMTE 12:

This is the Surprise! Give you a mini heart attack issue lol Bc of my own silliness I was stressed the whole time reading it 😂 but it was really good!! We got to learn a bunch about Rewind. And that him and Chromedome are Conjunx' !! 🥺💞

MTMTE 13:

This was a super fun issue! I'm absolutely loving all this Magnus character time!!

The Holomatter Avatars were pretty funny 😂 Whirl was too adorable and I thought it was really sweet that Magnus chose to look like Verity 🥺 Uncle Magnus misses his kid.

I felt bad for Swerve ;_; also I'm excited to see more from Cyclonus and Tailgate!! This ship is full of liars lol 😂

RID 10-11:

10 was an issue where Orion (previously Optimus) is currently hunting down Jihaxus to get answers for stuff and things. There is quite a bit of time jumping back and forth which always gets me confused 😂 it was interesting tho!

Issues 11 Starscream takes action against his Deceptibros (Just Shockwave, Soundwave and their posse really) and I really look forward to his team up with Prowl, if it goes anywhere from here! Also Arcee killing more people rip Ravage, Frenzy and those other guys 🫡 and a wild Megatron makes a reappearance?!?!

Signal to Noise:

It was a little Lost Light interlude! It was from Rung's perspective. I feel like I haven't seen much from him specifically so it was pretty cool and interesting :> Like everything, I'm curious to see where it goes!

Spotlights:

Thundercrackers was enjoyable! It just reinforced that he was good leaning, or at least not one for senseless violence. I really like him and hope he makes a reappearance! I'm curious what he's up to on earth

Bumblebee's was fine. Him struggling to be the leader and feeling like he has to prove himself, but getting the job done!

Megatron's was a banger. I absolutely love his monologs. What he thinks of his Decepticons and the 'Pep talk' he gave Starscream to get him back to his usual self.

----

Final random thoughts:

Of all the storylines, MTMTE is still my favorite to read rn. I must admit, Rodimus tho is stressing me out as the leader 😂 I was gonna say my fav characters rn but, there are just too many haha

I've already hopped into volume 4 so I'll be seeing you soon with more ramblings! 👋

[cialovesklopp]

𝐒𝐇𝐄 𝐈𝐒 𝐁𝐀𝐂𝐊

𝒔𝒖𝒎𝒎𝒂𝒓𝒚 — where several articles question the absence of amara imani and where the singer has gone, after hiding because of all the bad news and scandals

masterlist

taglist: @lorarri @locedes @aechii @Ippi_d

SHE IS BACK! After a long hiatus from the public eye, lasting a year and more, the queen of pop & rnb is back and making headlines again. And we can all be sure, she’s got a lot to tell.

Via photo dump on her instagram account, the singer announced her highly anticipated return, sending shockwaves and creating chaos on platforms like Twitter, TikTok and Instagram. The singer also hinted at the arrival of new music, up roaring her entire devoted fan base.

She also announced the coming of two new songs — a collaborations with pop singer Ariana Grande as well as her own single.

Her sudden disappearance from the spotlight did not come unexpected after the whole cheating scandal with ex-boyfriend Evan Henderson. Humiliation and Defamation had pushed the 24 year old to leave the music business and take a very needed pause as it seems, reading from her instagram post.

The thought of Amara stepping back onto the stage has not only fans on the edge of their seats. Everyone who is someone in the music business is anticipating her return especially because of the big hole she left. And let’s not forget, that Imani did not contradict any statements her ex-boyfriend Evan Henderson had dropped about her. So the question is of course, whether she accepts those allegations made about her or whether this will turn into the next star he said - she said.

Last time Amara Imani dropped a single was over two years ago, so of course her whole fan base is awaiting her return with impatience. Whether those songs will be about her ex-boyfriend, stepping into the shoes of Taylor Swift and mentor Beyonce or about her own self-growth, only time will tell. So stay tuned as the music world braces for the return of Amara Imani.

𝐈𝐍𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐆𝐑𝐀𝐌

amara.imani

liked by liyah.clark, arianagrande and 14.346.907 others

amara.imani in my head — out soon

the user turned her comments off on this post

arianagrande

liked by amara.imani, selenagomez and 5.819.092 others

arianagrande thank u, next 💋 official release soon @amara.imani

view all 39.405 comments

amara.imani 💋

arianator1 why am i kind of excited for this

imani_gossippage i feel the evan slander incoming

amara_imani_fan WE USED TO PRAY FOR TIMES LIKE THIS

amara_im123 mother is blessing us with three new songs

amaraimani_updates can’t wait to listen to this masterpiece

butera.stan the fact that ariana is willing to come out from her music pause just for amara

honeymoon_ari but also why does this song sound so passive agressive

amaraxgrande FR we’re def getting a boss bitch track

liyah.clark

liked by amara.imani, charles_leclerc and 2.046.837 others

liyah.clark visiting my bestie in parisss (and treating her to dinner because she’s about to slay and enter her revenge era) @amara.imani

view all 56.201 comments

charles_leclerc mon angé 😍

liyah_clark baby 🫶🏾

lordperceval16 ARIANA WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE

leclerc_lover I THINK THIS IS HIS NEW GIRLFRIEND

charles_updates guessing from his comment, i think the rumours are true

amara.imani why didn’t you post the other pictures

liyah.clark i didn’t look good in them

cl16stan are we really sure she is dating him? like she is way above his league

liked by charles_leclerc and 370 others

maxverstappen1 no way this is his new girlfriend? i don’t believe him

landonorris maybe he paid her @liyah.clark you can tell us how much he is paying you

liyah.clark OMG I KNOW YOU @maxverstappen you’re the one who looks like that ice age character and @landonorris you’re driving that Lego car

danielricciardo yep, she’s definitely dating him

graceywood where was my invite??

liyah.clark you didn’t pick up, you were too busy sleeping

carlossainz55 nice to finally meet the girl charles’ been talking my ear off the entire time

charles_leclerc thx for exposing me mate

liyah.clark aww nice to meet you too chili

lewishamilton nice to put a face to the name, wishing you and charles the best for your relationship

liyah.clark i think i just died, thank you sir 🥹

𝐚𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐚.𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐢 𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲 3𝐡 𝐚𝐠𝐨

@k.mbappé reacted to your story

k.mbappé rehearsing my song, right?

amara.imani patience is a virtue kyky

k.mbappé the make-out sessions we have whenever i come home from training beg to differ

amara.imani je te jure, je vais te bloquer un jour — I swear, i’ll block you one day

amara.imani and don’t act as if you hate them <3

𝐓𝐖𝐈𝐓𝐓𝐄𝐑

𝐈𝐍𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐆𝐑𝐀𝐌

amara.imani

liked by donatellaversace, liyah.clark and 17.864.325 others

amara.imani project nr. 2 — happy to announce my new collaboration with @versace. i am very excited to be chosen to portray this beautiful line and am honored of being a part to its creation. it’s a dream come true for me to co-design my first collection next to @donatella_versace and the entire team. thank you so much for giving me this chance 🤎

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the comments on this post are limited

liyah.clark i’m so excited for this to drop

versace 🤎

selenagomez congratulations, this looks amazing

graceywood in love with this collection @amara.imani i’m so proud of you

donatella_versace this was all you sweetie, you are now officially a versace member. this collection is a creation of love, friendship and passion for fashion

amara_imaniupdates this is so gorgeous, like drop-dead gorgeous

amy_imani you showed them what you were capable, that even with all the people who dropped you, you’re still able to rise

cynthia_e most beautiful thing you ever designed sis, proud to call myself your sister everyday and watching you rise and rise higher

beyoncé congrats, you’re showing them who’s on top

dualipa welcome to the family gorgeous, i still remember my first collection 🤎

imani_forever amara is THE moment, like we’re all begging to be her

[eldritchships]

The First Night

Summary: Much of the last twenty-four hours have been spent fighting, locked in the most desperate and arduous battle since the end of the Transformers War. After an emotional reunion, Shockwave and Flatline retreat to a haven for some much-needed rest. If only it were that easy.

Word Count: 5404

Author's Note: A real labour of love, I hope others enjoy reading as much as I did writing it! Spoilers throughout for Season 1 of Earthspark.

Taglist: @payaso-pastel, @szayelinx @chimerakisses, @mystrunmah, @bugsband (If you'd like to be put on/taken off the taglist, just ask!)

Hidden from prying eyes, a lake groggily woke to the peaceful trill of birds. Dense forest shrouded the light that reached the lake’s surrounding clearing, making the trek uphill more difficult for large, metal feet to traverse their way through. The lake’s clear water shimmered underneath the morning sun; the reflection was split unevenly by the shadow of a giant tower in the near distance.

Flatline kept his servo tight around Shockwave’s, leading the way through the trees. He kept his optics on Shockwave, who was keeping his own firmly fixed on the ground in front of him. The yellow circle cast a faint spotlight, watching out for any rocks and exposed tree roots underfoot. The two of them walked wordlessly; the scenery provided plenty of noise to fill the silence, from the low sounds of wildlife, to snapping branches and the creak of moving metal as they ducked around and underneath the treetops.

It was a few hours past sunrise. Much of the last twenty-four hours had been spent fighting, locked in the most desperate and arduous battle since the end of the Transformers War. It had taken everything to emerge victorious, including the brief death of all energon-based beings worldwide. When the dust settled, everyone had celebrated, but Flatline had tried to rush the collective sigh of relief for one pressing reason: Reuniting with the love of his life, previously thought to have died in the war.

Flatline stepped free of the tree-line into the clearing and then glanced behind him. Shockwave remained close by his side, using the hold on his servo as both a guide and a tether. He lifted his helm, optic recalibrating now that they had reached more open surroundings.

Flatline smiled, and he stepped closer to take the head of Shockwave’s cannon as well.

“Come on.” He tugged Shockwave forward, voice quiet but warm. It was only a short distance further before they approached a house, sitting by the lake and seemingly a couple stories high. Shockwave faltered, but Flatline continued on, undeterred by the idea of human presence. He knew there wasn’t a single human around for a long distance, because he’d explicitly tried to keep it that way.

Taking one stride over the rock garden on the lawn, Flatline’s digits slipped from Shockwave’s cannon, although his other servo remained tightly entwined. Instead of a wooden, human sized door, an industrial roller door took its place as the entrance. The gaze that burned into Flatline’s back, analysing everything carefully, warmed his spark as he reached down and unclamped the lock holding the door shut.

“This is your residence.” Shockwave surmised. Flatline hummed in confirmation with a nod, now reaching for the handle. The tips of his digits brushed against the metal, and then Flatline froze, as if startled. He looked back, something loaded behind his stare, although his expression was vacant.

Shockwave was standing in his yard, tall - not as tall as Megatron, but he was nearly a head taller than Flatline, just like he remembered - and purple plating vivid in the sunlight. Behind one of the finials adorning his helm, a windchime hung beside the window, depicting the moon and stars shaped from stained glass. Flatline had hung it shortly after receiving the house, because it had reminded him of…

“Flatline.” Shockwave’s voice reached his audio receptors, breaking Flatline from his thoughts. Shockwave was staring at him, expectant. Flatline didn’t know how long Shockwave had been waiting, but he swallowed, and fought to summon the words on his processor.

“It’s ours, now, I suppose.” He pulled open the roller door, and the clattering of its metal blinds pierced the silence as he stepped inside.

Outside, Flatline’s home seemed like any normal human abode, aside from a few abnormalities like the door. But inside, the home was gutted of interior walls and of a ceiling between levels, allowing a Cybertronian to stand at full height. Indeed, all of the furniture was sized for Flatline as well, a little cluttered in layout but easy to navigate. Flatline’s gaze swept across the interior of his home, taking it in as if for the first time. Nothing was different from how he’d left it - even his favourite laser scalpel was still sitting out on the workbench, from when he’d sworn that morning he would get around to putting it away later.

He could feel Shockwave behind him, taking the same survey of the house. Flatline wondered what it must have looked like to him; Everything so comfortable and with a set place, a home that had visibly been lived in for years. His jaw clenched and he reached around Shockwave, who stepped aside, to shut the door behind them.

“Are you certain we’re safe here?” Shockwave’s servo was still clutched in Flatline’s, and the latter hadn’t removed it for a moment over the last few hours. The dip in his tone was fuelled by caution, shifting his weight to eye the thin steel shutters.

“Completely.” Flatline assured him, glancing up above at the sleeping fluorescent lights. They weren’t needed, even though fatigue made it feel so much later than mid-morning.

“Good.” He felt a cannon arm wrap around his stomach, and a purple chestplate pressed against his back, “I’ve wanted to be with you privately since we were constrained to the Terrans’ base of operations.” Flatline slowly pulled his free servo away from the door. It shook in the air, and he frowned at it before resting it on the arm around his front. He stroked his palm across the plating. After giving two soft pats to its surface, he squirmed until he was able to turn around, facing Shockwave directly. Shockwave lowered without needing to be asked, and Flatline hopped to wrap his arms around his neck, pulling him down further. They held onto each other tightly, a minute passing by that they spent as close to each other as they could possibly achieve, together and alive and shielded from the outside world by the four walls of Flatline’s home.

“You’re not usually the cuddly type.” Flatline mumbled against Shockwave’s chestplate.

“These are extraordinary circumstances…do you want me to stop?”

“No, no, Primus, no.” He clutched even tighter to emphasise his reply, shaking his helm. His optics shut, missing whatever silent response Shockwave gave. Fifteen years without his life partner, with one more thing that was important to him wrenched from his grasp, and Flatline felt prepared to weld their spark chambers together so they could never be separated again. For now, he settled for the long but terribly brief time they embraced, until concern nagged at his processor and he untangled from around Shockwave’s form. “Are you hurt? I can’t believe I didn’t check after the fight, I should have- Let me take a look at you.” His servo searched frantically around Shockwave’s helm, across his chestplate, over each shoulder pauldron and everywhere else in-between, insistently checking for injuries. Shockwave started to pull back.

“The blast of Quintus Prime’s power repaired all physical damages.” His report fell on deaf audio receptors, and when digits started to curl underneath his arm plating to examine the internal workings, Shockwave carefully took hold of Flatline’s wrist and moved it away from him, firm but not intended to hurt. “Flatline, I am fine.” Flatline stared at him, but then averted his gaze. He looked at his servo in Shockwave’s grasp, and after a beat, his optics narrowed as his digits clenched.

“I’m a medic, this is my job.” He said quietly. “This is what I’m supposed to do.” Shockwave’s helm lowered, the angle mimicking a furrowed brow. With the hold he still had on Flatline’s wrist, he guided the servo to rest on Flatline’s chestplate. Shockwave stopped abruptly, staring at the blank pink plating, but the action only lasted a moment before he met Flatline’s faceplate again.

“There will be time later. I am currently uninjured, so it’s illogical for you to waste your energy.”

Flatline remained silent, but his optics flicked back up, returning Shockwave’s gaze. His body still appeared tense, but his fists unclenched, and that was satisfactory enough. Shockwave turned around, giving a single nod towards the further side of the home. “I wish to become familiar with your living quarters.” Shockwave started to walk forward, but a firm tug on his arm stopped him in his tracks. He peered back, and he saw Flatline still standing in the same place, one servo wrapped around the triangular head of his cannon. It squeezed hard enough that without attempting so, Shockwave knew he couldn’t shake it off.

“Don’t-” Flatline’s vocaliser caught and then gave a few soft clicks, betraying his efforts to reset it. Whatever he wanted to say was lost to the air around them, but his optics were pleading. Shockwave paused, and then he shifted his cannon arm, adjusting so that Flatline’s hold on it wasn’t uncomfortable. He took a step forward, and Flatline followed silently, which encouraged Shockwave to continue walking as he had before.

Their extremities once again entwined, Shockwave took an unhurried tour of Flatline’s home, examining anything which caught his interest. One of the tables housed a modest workstation, complete with most of the proper equipment and a Cybertronian computer for data analysis. Shockwave noticed a laser scalpel left improperly stored against a centrifuge, but he didn’t comment on it; much like Flatline’s attempt to examine him, it could wait until there were less important matters to deal with. Besides, Flatline had always kept his station less orderly in comparison. Shockwave turned his helm, and his finials pulled back. Catwalks ran along every wall, level with his chestplate and sized for the average human. It stank of GHOST’s intervention; he had seen similar catwalks traversing the corridors, in the brief time period between his release from the Immobiliser and the control chip becoming embedded in his shoulder. Shockwave’s servo curled at his side, and a foreign one touched his arm, rubbing gently in an attempt to soothe. His finials returned upright and Shockwave filed away that information to be addressed afterwards.

His attention turned elsewhere, cataloguing some of Flatline’s other belongings: a CD player (likely gifted by their mutual musically-appreciative friend), a well-read collection of guides to Insecticon anatomy, an empty spark chamber preserved in a Cybertronian-made shadowbox (treasured as much here, it seemed, as it had been on the Nemesis), and a small selection of human reading material, including a beginner’s introduction to astrology, open to a page on Earthen constellations. His sensors caught on a flash of colour on the wall, and when he focused on it, Shockwave fell still. Of the windows that adorned the walls, scaled for Flatline like everything else, he had noticed a piece of decor on the window closest to him. As recognition crept over Shockwave’s neural circuits, his shoulder pauldrons sank with a soft creak.

A handful of Cybertronian remembrance flowers, pressed and framed above the window. The blue stripes adorning the petals, even while flattened, accented the view of the lake outside with an eerie beauty. Shockwave’s optic flickered across the piece, and then he turned his helm towards Flatline.

“Were those intended for me?”

The grip around his arm tightened, and Flatline stared at the frame.

“You and some others.” His vocaliser sounded hollow. Shockwave watched his faceplate, the microscopic twitches in his expression, until Flatline tore his gaze away and moved to lean into Shockwave’s side. It was another reminder of the war, of the space bridge exploding, and of Decepticons being hunted down and caged. Another reminder of why he had to swallow down what had been done to him and keep going. What had originally been a respectful gesture now made his fuel tanks turn, as if the act were cheapened by having one of those flowers resurrected, tangible and comforting underneath his touch. Flatline pulled Shockwave’s arm, and he was almost relieved when Shockwave shifted and walked away from the window, moving on to the next area of the room. Shockwave remained silent, which itched something in Flatline’s processor, but he couldn’t be certain it was what he thought. Dread crept up into his spark at the idea that he might have lost the ability to read Shockwave, the bot he had spent so long figuring out like a heavy piece of nonfiction, and Flatline failed to keep another frown off of his features.

Shockwave fortunately wasn’t looking at him right now; the improvised path had lured his interest to a shelf of containers, all filled with liquids of different colours and consistencies. A datapad storing a record of the inventory was tucked inside one corner of the shelf, poking out ever so slightly over the edge. Shockwave’s optic brightened and he took the datapad, scanning over the itemised list. Flatline browsed over the contents of the shelf, noting the bubbles that shouldn’t have been present in the KRC-109, until he felt Shockwave step closer towards him.

“What have you been experimenting with while I’ve been gone?” Shockwave’s tone sounded slightly lighter, charged with the intrigue of scientific discovery. A small smile managed to crack on Flatline’s lips, and some of the weight lifted from where it rested on his frame.

“Well, I’ve been working a lot slower lately. Taking it easy.” He glanced towards Shockwave out of the corner of his peripheral, and his smile twitched a little wider, “I haven’t had someone watching my work ethic.” Shockwave’s helm tilted, and he leant forward to nudge the upper corner of it against Flatline’s temple.

“You’re suggesting you need me to create something exceptional.”

Flatline barely stifled a chuckle, and the sound caused Shockwave’s finials to twitch. He thought that if he could manage to rouse the mirth Flatline used to have in surplus, then he was acting correctly. So it was unexpected and disappointing when Flatline’s joy quickly fizzled out, dissipating as soon as it had arrived. Flatline turned enough to reach up and cup Shockwave’s helm.

“I need you.” His palm pressed adamant against Shockwave’s non-existent cheek as his gaze steeled, allowing no room for refusal against the statement. Shockwave stared back at him, the inner workings of his optic spinning in and back out. The weight in Flatline’s vocaliser flooded his processor beyond capacity, and his ventilation fans kicked on to dispel the increased internal heat from computing the full breadth of the words. Even when he did so successfully, he failed to synthesise an appropriate response to encompass every meaning Flatline required. So he relied on past data, and he returned the datapad to the shelf using feel alone, without breaking Flatline’s gaze, to then wrap his servo around Flatline’s hip. His thumb-digit rubbed gently, mirroring Flatline’s comforting gesture from before. Flatline’s expression softened, and he leant forward to press a kiss to the lip of Shockwave’s helm. “Never leave me without you again.”

“I won’t allow that to happen.” Shockwave promised. He swore it both to Flatline and to himself. He had been taken by surprise for the last time, and if Megatron was no longer suitable to lead the Decepticons, he would take authority and lead the faction back to its proper course - an undeniable victory. Then, Flatline would be promoted to chief medical officer; the logical next step of the medic’s climb to accomplishment, and a worthy position for one of few bots Shockwave could still trust.

Flatline’s touch slipped away, and Shockwave was brought back to the present. Another smile was threatening to rise on his partner’s expression, and Flatline removed the servo on his hip in order to move to the cabinet.

“...I can show you my ongoing projects tomorrow, if you’d like.” Flatline slowly suggested, tapping the datapad back into its nook on the shelf with a clawed digit. Shockwave rose back to his full height, and Flatline’s chin tilted up, as if he were expecting the reaction. He looked back at Shockwave over his shoulder pauldron. “You could give me your input on the current problems I’m having.” The idea of working in a laboratory again did cause Shockwave’s finials to perk up.

“Tomorrow, then.” He echoed. He glanced down at his own servos, which he realised were empty for the first time since leaving the Terrans. Shockwave paused. “I had assumed you would want all of my attention to yourself tonight.” The question in the remark caused Flatline to pause, and he slowly turned away from the inventory of chemical concoctions, although his back remained facing Shockwave.

“I’m a little different than you remember. My love.” The words caught before the term of endearment, as if they were rusty on Flatline’s glossa. Approximately fifteen years without use, Shockwave reminded himself with a flash of bitterness. But Flatline’s smile did reappear, and this time it almost became smug as he added, “I’m not affected as easily as I was before.”

“Is that correct?” Shockwave asked. He shifted his weight to his other pede, ignoring Flatline’s nod. He reached over and brushed his servo across Flatline’s side, testing at first, then pressed more firmly along a seam discovered in Flatline’s softer metal. Purple digits travelled along the seam, skirting around rotor blades to massage a spot between the shoulders. Flatline bristled and bit back a pleased-sounding but involuntary grunt. Shockwave cocked his helm, and he tapped a single digit against that spot in satisfaction. Flatline quickly swatted him off, pulling away with narrowed optics.

“Stop that.” He grumbled. His tone lacked any true irritation, but his rotors clicked and twitched more snugly against his back. “Don’t look so smug.”

“You’re incorrect. I’m pleased. You’re much the same as I remembered.” He stepped forward, and when Flatline didn't stop him, Shockwave returned the servo to his back, only to rest there instead of prod. “At least some things haven’t changed.”

Flatline glanced towards Shockwave out of the corner of his optic. The sensation on his back felt too familiar to be disturbing, yet too alien to be truly comforting, and he spent a half-second with his jaw clenched as he agonised between the two conflicting feelings.

“Come on.” He pointed to the right. Shockwave’s helm turned to follow the digit, and the two of them started walking again, ignoring the protests of tired pistons and heavy tank treads. They circled around a wall divider made from heavy duty shelving and a tarp, entering another makeshift room. The catwalks still ran by, but there were noticeably fewer windows on this side of the house, blocking most of the brightening sunshine. Flatline had always preferred to fill his personal quarters with ample places to sit and rest, and inside his home on Earth, that preference was evidently still the case. Besides the recharge slab in the far corner, there was an array of different chairs and couches, some of Cybertronian make, some improvised from human materials. Flatline’s course beelined for the closest one among them; a couch sitting back against the wall, made from mattresses and a combine harvester’s tires.

Flatline dropped onto the couch, and he let his entire body go slack into the softer material. His helm fell back and his optics closed, brow furrowing in relief from finally being off his pedes. He sighed, letting his ventilation systems run on high to purge steam and flecks of dirt from his internals, and sunk further into the serene darkness of his closed optics. A solid whir met his audio receptors. Then a touch braced against his knee. Flatline startled, optics snapping open to see Shockwave starting to kneel between his legs.

“Oh. Shockwave, please, I should’ve-” Flatline sat up and dug his claws into the mattress beside him, pulling it forward with the intention of putting it on the floor. How could he have forgotten so easily? He couldn’t let Shockwave be uncomfortable - he’d been through enough - and if he knelt like that all night, it was bound to put strain on his joints.

Shockwave pressed on the mattress, holding it in place.

“Stop it.” His tone was firm, the metallic filter over his voice grumbling more noticeably with the command. He wasn’t looking at Flatline, and ignored his attempt to over-placate. He moved only to lower to his knees, and then forward against the medic’s smaller form. Another momentary wave of panic ebbed, but Flatline still stared at Shockwave’s forehelm, rendered helpless by the large form slumped against his own. The love of his life, back within his arms. He lowered his ventilation systems to the barest level he could achieve without injury, blaming them for the inhale trapped in his throat. Slowly, Flatline touched the side of Shockwave’s helm.

“Someone needs to take care of you.” He said. His optics flicked away with a blink, and his vocaliser lowered to a mumble, repeating old words archived in his memory banks, “A break won’t kill you.”

“Unnecessary.” Shockwave countered, resting his cannon arm beside Flatline’s seat on the couch. He paused, and then sharply pulled his helm back; He didn’t leave the embrace, but his gaze fixed on Flatline’s chestplate, and his finials twitched down and back. “...What I require is a cycle of rest with full control of my motor function.” Flatline’s frown deepened, looking at the cannon lying beside him, and unaware of Shockwave’s sudden scrutiny.

“I won’t let anything hurt you ever again.” He breathed, and he was willing to engrave the promise into his engine block in order to keep it. It was bitterly almost satisfying that most of those responsible for Shockwave’s most recent pain were already dead. But he could settle for knowing Shockwave was alive, and for the moment he had spotted him on the battlefield. The realisation that it was him after so many years still thrummed through Flatline’s circuits.

Flatline returned his attention back to Shockwave’s pseudo-faceplate, and he finally noticed Shockwave’s staring. He almost always stared, since he couldn’t blink, but Flatline remembered enough for his frown to fade from his lips.

“What’s wrong?”

Shockwave rested his servo on Flatline’s chestplate.

“Your display is gone.” He said quietly. “The silence is…unnerving.” Not for the first time, Flatline’s optics softened, and his servo reached up to entwine with Shockwave’s own.

“It’s still there.” A holo-display appeared on Flatline’s chestplate, right underneath their woven digits. Glowing a soft blue, an agitated but steady beeping noise began to tick from the summoned screen. Shockwave’s pauldrons relaxed, and he gently pulled their servos further to the side, allowing him to watch the reading of energon pulsing through Flatline’s systems. He’d spent many cycles in a laboratory or entering recharge with that quiet beeping reaching his audio receptors. A form of constant feedback of Flatline’s emotions. It used to affect his focus terribly, but he’d grown quite used to it over time. Briefly, while rendered without autonomy and mindlessly roaming a cornfield, he had resented its absence.

“Why did you remove it?” Shockwave questioned. He sunk further forward, resting more of his weight against Flatline. Flatline’s free digits found that persistent tense spot in the back of Shockwave’s neck cabling, idly massaging as his optics flicked between his screen and back to Shockwave’s faceplate.

“A side effect of updating my alt mode, I think.” Flatline explained. “Besides, I wanted to better hide how I felt, and the reading sabotaged that. It was the logical choice to hide it.”

“You sound more like me, my spark.” Shockwave’s helm tilted, and the blue holomatter fizzled where the corner poked through the display. It cast small flickers of light in the reflection of his yellow optic. “Should I be concerned?” Flatline’s gaze set on him, unblinking and heavy. The pulse rate on the screen increased, spiking rapidly, and Flatline switched it off, the display vanishing back into the silence of the room.

Shockwave remained still for a moment, and then he pulled back to get a pede underneath himself. He hoisted stiffly into the empty seat on the couch, the movement faltering for the split-second it took for him to be certain the handmade piece of furniture would hold them both. His servo didn’t leave Flatline’s once during that time, and he used it to pull Flatline as close against his side as possible. Flatline remained silent, but he tucked himself against Shockwave’s chestplate; the size and shape would typically cause an issue, but Flatline found a comfortable position with a noticeable amount of ease. Shockwave made a note that Flatline’s claim of being less receptive to physical contact was proved increasingly false.

“Is this more satisfactory?” He prompted. Flatline slung a leg over Shockwave’s thigh, which put a little more strain on his back that promised to ache later, but it lowered the distance between them even further. He squeezed Shockwave’s servo tightly.

“I missed you.”

“That does not answer my question.”

Flatline laughed, although it sounded tired and choked. He wrangled his digits free to slide both arms around Shockwave’s midsection, although his grip immediately resumed being as snug as before. Shockwave watched his expression tighten, and Flatline then turned his helm, pressing his faceplate into purple plating.

“Satisfactory.” He mumbled slowly. His optics closed, and Shockwave shifted to let his helm fall back against the couch. Even the quiet winch of his neck cables sounded pressing in the noiseless room. His own optic cast a faint but perfect yellow circle on the ceiling above. He watched it for a long time, minutes passing by as he expected Flatline to begin recharging.

The body against him began to shake. Arms clenched around his torso and Shockwave’s helm snapped down, finials up and alert. Flatline’s rotor blades flared, his dentae clenched. He was trembling violently, ventilation coming in strangled bursts as his clawed digits dug into Shockwave’s plating.

“Flatline.” Either the rattle of strained machinery or the sudden alarm of the situation drowned out Shockwave’s voice. Flatline pressed against him, burying his faceplate. The shaking didn’t stop, and his claws clutched tight enough to pierce, tearing grey metal and sending an array of flashing warnings into Shockwave’s HUD. “Stop.”

Shockwave dug the head of his cannon into Flatline’s back, his servo cupping his pink helm. Neither action pressed hard enough to hurt, but the sudden sensation was enough to shock Flatline into a sharp inhale.

Shockwave’s finials flicked back, ignoring the readout from his own sensors. Slowly, the tremors lessened, and finally stopped. Flatline’s optics cracked open, the usually bright blue dulled. His digits removed themselves from the small holes they’d created. He didn’t meet the insistent stare looking at him, the silent questions he knew were rising on Shockwave’s non-existent glossa. His spark felt like it was fluctuating wildly, and he waited for it to collapse altogether, saving him from the dread that had been churning in his fuel tanks since the two of them had arrived home together. Then Shockwave relaxed, so slightly it would have been imperceptible to anyone else, and that felt worse.

“I don’t understand.” Bitter venom stung Flatline’s vocaliser, words pouring out in a growl. “Why can’t I enjoy this? This is a good thing, isn’t it?” Flatline’s rotor blades flared again, one side cutting into the mattress padding next to him and hitting springs. The purple body beside him didn’t move, not even to flinch. He shook his helm, frustrated and angry with himself. “You’re alive. But I’m going to look away for one moment and you’ll be taken out by blaster fire.”

Flatline glared at nothing, and his arms squeezed around Shockwave’s torso, torn between staying or pulling away. There was still a servo supporting his helm, and a cannon against his back. Shockwave’s optic flickered, and he leaned down.

“I’m alive. As are you.” He pressed his forehelm against Flatline’s, pulling his partner’s immediate attention away from scowling at himself. “I will ensure nothing separates us again, to the best of my ability.” Flatline clamped his mouth shut once more, staring into the bright optic filling his vision and paying active heed to the feeling of Shockwave’s servo around his helm. Hearing his own promise spoken back to him certainly made it sound more true, although a voice in the back of his processor was screaming that something bad was about to happen. There was one thing he knew was true, one thing he couldn’t doubt.

“I love you.” Flatline said quietly. Shockwave’s finials perked up, and although a smile wasn’t strong enough to reach his lips, it did reach Flatline’s spark. He pressed a kiss to the lower corner of Shockwave’s helm, and some of the tension faded from his body, bringing him closer against his partner’s form again. The servo cupping his helm rubbed a thumb-digit along the surface, pausing only briefly when part of the shape was unfamiliar. Flatline returned to the spot against his shoulder, and brushed over the injuries he had left in Shockwave’s plating.

“I’ll fix those tomorrow.” A soft whir of Shockwave turning, but Flatline added without looking up, “I won’t take no for an answer.” Shockwave was silent, then shifted to get comfortable again, conceding to Flatline’s insistence as well as avoiding the tear that had been left in the upholstery.

Believing the immediate danger had passed, Shockwave read over and dismissed each of the alarms in his HUD, sorting through until his vision was clear again. Sunlight was attempting to creep into the room, stalking around the corners of walls and furniture. Shockwave glanced down, checking on his partner; after Flatline’s moment of panic, he thought it wise to start observing him periodically. Flatline was still tucked against him, arms holding, helm downturned. But he was still tense, and upon closer inspection, his optics were open. Irritation crept into Shockwave’s vocaliser.

“You should rest.” Flatline jumped when Shockwave spoke, only confirming that he was still on alert. “Your stress will be more severe while you are exhausted.”

“Quintus’ power surge restored our energon levels to full.” Flatline replied matter-of-factly, avoiding optic contact. The excuse hardly satisfied Shockwave’s reasonable processor.

“I didn’t mean physically.” He attempted to smooth down Flatline’s rotor blades with his cannon, tracing the blue metal in an attempt to soothe a physical part of Flatline’s anger. “There have been many developments over the last solar cycle, and your processor is currently overencumbered. I will be here when you awaken. …I will rest better if you do, doctor.”

A long minute passed, and then finally, Flatline allowed himself to sink into their second embrace.

“You’ve always been the reasonable one.” He grumbled. It sounded equally as much a compliment as an insult, but Shockwave’s optic warmed, and his arm tightened around Flatline’s waist.

“With some exceptions.” He rumbled back. The corner of Flatline’s mouth turned up as he gave a short hum, and he shut his optics. The tension that had been radiating off of his form petered out, not completely, but far less recognisable than it had been before. Shockwave let his helm lean against Flatline’s, and he felt another squeeze around his stomach in silent approval.

The silence settled on the two of them again, but it felt less constricting than it had before. The light of day continued to pass by, but it failed to reach them through walls of brick and steel. Any further danger had been postponed until the nebulous tomorrow, or eternity thereafter.

Shockwave lifted his helm. He searched Flatline’s faceplates, making certain that he had finally fallen into recharge. Carefully, Shockwave started to shift, cautious for any sign of rousing as he moved his right arm. His digit tapped a few spots on Flatline’s chestplate, exploring the surface with focused intent. Finally, there was a mechanical hum, and the holo-display flickered back into being. Shockwave listened to the soft beeping, much slower now than it had been before. Then, he tucked the lip of his helm against Flatline’s crest, and his optic dulled, as if closing.

With a blanket of darkness over his vision, what few sounds passed by seemed enhanced in his audio receptors. The calm beep of Flatline’s pulse, shadowed by the hum of dormant lab equipment on the other side of the wall divider. Birds continued to titter outside, capturing insects from the surface of the lake’s water. Recharge eluded Shockwave just as it had the pink mech protected within his arm, but it was still the best rest he had achieved in a long time.

[mychlapci]

Im so normal about shockwave.

I have no idea if you've ready Shockwaves Spotlight comic with his regenises(i fucked the spelling up) project. But there's this part where he throws away all logic and starts acting purely on survival instinct when he realizes he has to stop thinking and just DO in order to defeat the dinobots. He went feral, literally. Now imagine he's like that in the berth, only thinking with his spike while he fucks his partner into the ground/berth. Hnnn

hghhhh I have not read Shockwave’s spotlight (though i have all the time to do, so i know...) but i love your enthusiasm.

I need Shockwave to abandon all logic in bed, becoming an instinct powered fuck machine

[popculturebuffet]

Transformers More Than Meets The Eye Retrospective Season 1 Finale: Remain in Light (Patreon Review for Brotoman.exe)

Hello all you happy Autobots. It's been over a year, two spotlight issues, a two issue prequel, an annual and as of this review, 22 issues but we've done it we've reached the end of more than meets the eye season 1.

It's been a long project but one of my faviorites, one I always wanted to do but simply didn't have the time on my own and was more than happy when Brotoman commissioned these. I owe him a world of gratitude for his support and patience. Without him I woudln't of been able to talk about gay disfunctional robots every month and for that, i'm eternally grateful. This is one of my faviorite comics and re-reading it slowly and intently has only solidified that.

So a few things before we dive into this wonderful story: The first is something I forgot to mention last time that brotoman pointed out, something important I missed in my tired daze: How big a moment Rewind saying "I Love You" To chromedome is.

See before this, the series was coy about the two: It made it damn obvious the two were a couple.. but also used terms like them being "friends" and no one using words like couple, common law husbands or pound pals. The two were just a duo at first and if you were a mite thick headed like yours truly, who at the time I first read the comic didn't look for gay subtext like a bloodhound after a cheeseburger, you'd miss it. It was still obvious, the way they act around each other, their history, the way they fight.. the two are ENTIRELY an old married couple and act it and anyone looking closely could see that. But Roberts knew that those three little words were, to quote an interview with Sequart Orignization, a step up.

All that said, the Chromedome/Rewind relationship stepped up a gear – and moved fully into the open – with issue #16, when Rewind tells Chromedome (not for the first time, but it’s the first time we’ve seen it on the page) that he loves him. I was conscious that this was really nailing certain colors to the mast, and I was ready to make a case for those three words to stay in the script. But both John and Michael Kelly at Hasbro were incredibly supportive and encouraging, and the declaration of love survived the editing process. The reaction to the first Transformers gay couple was amazing – overwhelmingly positive. To be honest, I thought most people would be pretty cool with it, because most people are sensible and decent, but it was still encouraging to see. Hooray for Transformers fans."

I"m happy to hear that the reception was entirely positive and that Hasbro was supportive. I'm sure there are still a few idiots who were again it here and there, but like those who actively deny huntlow happened.. their a few idiots who can't accept objective reality and there's only one way to deal with them

Moving on to Remain in Light itself, We need to talk about the big shockwave shaped elephant in the room. Dark Cybertron is intended to be the finale for both this and Robots in Disguises' first season, a big epic crossover to shake up both series status quos and onboard us into season 2.

In practice.. it's the big showy finale to Robots in Disguise with the MTMTE cast guest starring. It's still VITAL to MTMTE, I would've simply recapped it like I intend to recap RID if that weren't the case: Nautica and Nightbeat are introduced, joining the crew in season 2, Megatron has his heel realization that leads to him also joining the crew, Cybertron finds out Prowl didn't kill MOST of the lost lighters (RIP Rewind I), and Chromedome powerbombs the motherfucker off a cliff.

I'll unpack this scene more when we properly get to it but I cannot see Prowl get powerbombed off a cliff while he's somehow SHOCKED this happened despite begging for it. It's Dellliccciooousss.

The fact is while a crossover was inevitable the death fakeout meant both books were completely isolated from each other, and thus their plots.. really don't intersect much. Prowl's actions have consequences and his baiting Chromdome leads to bad shit over in RID, but for the most part the two books are their own stories and their own spheres and by the time they intersect it works well enough... but it's clear they just work better on their own. It's likely why the third addition to this line, Windblade (both volumes) was made to stand on it's own while having an easier time intersecting back with Cybertron as our heroes are one teleport away versus the lost light being deep in space and in it's own character stuff. Windblade, btw is fucking great and I intend to cover it at some point, just not as part of this retrospective. It's it's own beautiful thing.

So while Lost Light was going to get into the Dark Cybertron hype, it needed to cap off it's own story first as it would've been a bit much to try and cram two series with a wide buffet of ongoing plots and plans together. So we get Remain in LIght where a LOT of character arcs are paid off, a few questions are answered, and a few things are set up for both next season and the eventual finale of the series. As usual it's remarkable how much Roberts set up, but here's where it gets to payoff more: last arc paid off the overlord conspiracy and rewind and chromedome's relationship, this one pays off magnus' breakdown, the circle of light and even where we found skids and just what was chasing him. It's a true epic and I can't wait to share it with you under the cut.

Part 1 picks up exactly where we left off: Tailgate is running to tell Cyclonus some "stupid news" while Rodimus, Blaster and Ambulon look over the security footage since Ratchet was busy telling Tailgate he gonna die. And to remind us Ambulon exists before the carnage to come.

For now Blaster's friend Mainframe is able to track the shuttle, so Rodimus is rounding up a crew to go find Magnus, with a determination we've scarely seen and a grimness we really haven't.

Meanwhile it turns out Tailgate's sickness... is cybercois, a condition that slowly kills the trnasformer, taking away their movement , speech and eventually memory.. and given memories of this place are all Tailgate really has he didn't take it well. Cyclonus urges tailgate to face his death with dignity and head on, agreeing to keep it secret and leaving... to mutilate his own face with a large scrap, enraged the one person he has on this ship is about to die and he can't just cut his diseas in half.

Hot Rod leads the crew to a big hole, making it very clear that he dosen't care what they ahve to say their going in... and for once his impusilvness pays off as what he finds is Luna 1, cybertron's missing moon which was mentioned before and I honestly forgot was the setting for this arc but it's a brilliant payoff and a way to have Rodimus have acomplished something big: he found one of the lost moons. Even if the quest has gone nowhere, this is still pretty damn big and he has perceptor confirm it. What's more curious, even if Perciptor dosen't buy it? Luna has a BILLION PEOPLE on board.

So Rodimus assembles his crack team.. and this is the first time we really see what we'll call Team Rodimus come together: While Rodimus has interacted with all these guys before, this is where it becomes clear how much he cares about them as more than just his crew:

First recurit is Rung whose surpised after Rodimus' outburst last time they talked. Naturally that's exactlyw hy: Rodimus flipped out largely because it was something he didn't want to hear... and with magnus gone he NEEDS that opposing opinon.

The rest of the team includes Brainstorm, whose happy to go and is already packed (holds up suitcase), Ratchet as the Medic, Perceptor as the more stable science guy to Brainstorm's mad scientest, and Whirl... who Rodimus flat out admits he just needs to throw a punch. Also going along is Chromedome, who Skids begs to help him: Since LUna 1 is allegedly's a giant treasure trove, Skids wants something to repair his memory. Swerve also wants to go but is harshly turned down by rodimus due to limited capacity, while Cyclonus agrees to go and take Drift's place as spirtual advisor, since he's the most religious person on the ship left, which he agrees to if Tailgate can come.

What I really get from this is while Rodimus is asking most on qulaifications, only being really straight with Rung.. like I said this shows who he really cares about: his team has to be small and he's a dick to swerve.. but it's likely more he knows Swerve might be in danger here and if there were room, skids and swerve would be along. These are who he can count on, who he's leaned on, who he needs without his two main supports on the ship. And this team will only grow as time goes on.

For now Team Rodimus heads to the planet, with Tailgate hoping to find a cure and Cyclonus.. thinking hope is a lie and telling him to never hope. And also he killed his puppy. He made him a puppy and then he stabbed it. A bunch. And then he showed tailgate the pictures.

Anyway our heroes land on the seemingly barren moon only to find...

IT's a hell of a reveal, and one that will be vastly important down the line... it won't really have any consequences for NOW but just remember this in a few years when we get to the final arc. For now jus tnejoy the sense of wonder on everyone's face: even Ratchet, the crankiest of crank and Tailgate who

We then find out what constructed cold means as Tailgate asks... granted I think I covered this definition back in chapter 1, but as a reminder; cold construction is making a cybertronian via "Spark splicing" using a bit of someone elses to craft a new one. This was in part due to demmand: Cybertron couldn't expand out into the cosmos if it didn't have enough people. Problem is as we've seen like any society Cybertron is quick to prejudice, and thus once Nova Prime who invented the process left, many a city started trying to "prove" constructed cold bots were inferior, something Chromedome is still bitter about and rightfully so.

It's about then things go to hell: On the ship commuincation is suddenly blocked between the bridge crew and away team, and Skids hears some clanking. on Luna 1, our heroes are soon swarmed by decepticons as Lockdown arrives

Okay probably not the right reaction but for those curious who this guy is, Lockdown was one of the handful of original characters from Transformers Animated, my faviorite transformers show and the one that reignited my spark for this fandom. And then this comic did it again, it's a bit cyclical. Point is even if I badly need a refresher on that series, Lockdown was their kraven the hunter, a bounty hunter who hunted down autobots for the decepticons, mostly working for them out of necisity and largely being his own man, so he fits for being a gun for hire for someone else. He sadly dosen't get as much to do here, at least in this season I can't remember if he shows up again, but it's just nice to see something from Animated imported as later installments tend to either make new transformers or stick with the core ones.

On the ship.. things are worse... Skids is confronted by those mysterious robots, who i'll just go ahead and call by their proper names: Legislators... only this time their giant sized and emerging out of the oil pool. What's worse is they soon creep up on EVERY deck of the ship, all shouting the same thing: 1984. Oh and in case you thought things couldn't get any worse as Team Rodimus flees... Ratchet is shot down and isolated....

We pick up from the siege in issue 2: the ship's overrun, our heroes are outgunned and only Swerve is able to land a solid hit as only one came to Swerves

... admitely I just wanted to show off the my first blaster. (Clears throat)

SAY YOU, LITTLE AUTOBOT. YOU WANT TO SHOOT THINGS WITH ALL THE BIG KIDS BUT YOU CAN'T FIRE THEIR BIG OLD GUNS FOR BIG OLD BOTS WITH YOUR WIDDLE BITTY BABY HANDS? TRY MY FIRST BLASTER! MY FIRST BLASTER IS A GUN DEISGNED FOR LITTLE FELLAS LIKE YOU. jUST POINT SHOOT AND MY FIRST BLASTER WILL TELL YOU IF YOU DID AND SUPPORT YOU IF YOUR NOT. MY FIRST BLASTER, FROM BRAINSTORM INC A DIVISON OF BRAINSTORM IS SMARTER THAN YOU LLC.

WARNING: NOT SELLABLE ANYWHERE EXCEPT THE LOST LIGHT. DO NOT GIVE TO BOTS UNDER 1. DO NOT USE WHILE DRUNK UNLESS IT'D BE REALLY FUNNY. COPYRIGHT VIOLATERS WILL BE HUNTED DOWN AND DIPPED IN ACID.

Meanwhile Skids continues his fight and easily wins using his super learning, able to predict his new foes attack easily and counter it.. the problem is while it's a great skill when your fighting a few of Legislators.. it's not so great when your fighting NINE of them and they'll likely keep coming.

So back on Luna 1.. it isn't much better. Whirl and Cyclonus get seperated from the group, and Rodimus, while finding out Ratchet got taken down from tailgate.. simply can't go back for him.

Rodimus then procedes to do some dope as hell sacrlige as he plunges into a titans corpse to give him more room to evade their captors. Sadly while his moves are dope as fuck and Lockdown is sure to give them the slow clap they deserve.. he's already gotten everyone else. After taking a second to tell pharma everyone else hates him, a worthy use of his time. What a legend.

So our heroes end up in a jail cell where, for the past two issues, Rodimus has been recapping these events to Minimus, his cellmate.. who looks an awful lot like someone a certain dead bot was looking for.. hmmm. Questions for later.

For now Rodimus admits they weren't just dumped in a cell first, as Rodimus correctly figures Lockdowns taking them to his boss: a long lost moon as a base, teleport tech.. all of this screams big bad.. and Lockdown is at the end of the day a guy just doing his job. Pharma mentioning a collective "lord and master earlier" already told us this, but it's a nice character bit, shows that beneath his reckleness Rodimus is far smarter than he appears and far more capable than most give him credit for. He's an idiot, sure, but he's one with great skill and intiution.

And sure enough there is a big bad behind all this.. and of all people it's..

I was as shocked as rodimus but it's a clever rug pull: We've seen Chief Tyrest brought up a lot, his accords are what Ultra Magnus is duly appointed enforcer of and back in Last Stand of the Wreckers, he's the one who oversaw the Aquetius trials. So seeing him show up is a suprise... but seeing him be BEHIND all this is a nice swerve. He also makes a perfect contrast to our crew: the embodiment of order and rigidity veruss our far looser, far more human crew. Metaphorically I mean thir still giant robots.

Tyrest is being an obstinante dick, proving he really is Magnus' boss, charging our heroes with crimes against creation. We find out our ambus ISN'T dominus, but his brother minimus, an allged energon trader who hasn't tried to escape because he's waiting for his day in court, a BIGGGGG honking neon sign of a clue at who this guy is. But more on that later, for now Tailgate has a bit of a breakdown, with no one knowing why since he didn't tell anyone present he's dying and could be trapped here for what days remain.

Meanwhile Ratchet.. is not doing any better, with Pharma torturning him, showing off his new shapeshifting hands which can become TWO chainsaws. That double groovey. He's no less stable than last time, but now he dosen't need to PRETEND to be and is honestly an even better villian on return: he has a joker style quality to him as he fiddles with his double groovy hands and plays with ratchet making him ask what's in THE BOX

Turns out 9 robots vs skids does just mean send more legislators and we get a nice speech from the guy, with him pointing out how the Lost Light took him in, cared for him and welcomed him no questions asked.. and

Unfortunately while Skid is totally badass.. he's also wiped.. and thus dosen't see this coming

We'll get into who this fine bastard is later, for now he knocks out Swerve too.

Back in Prison, Tailgate asks about tyrest, noting Nova Prime had a chief science offer of the same name.. the same guy. We get Tyrest's backstory: He was a nobody until the war when, with Dai Atlas' help , they helped 10,000 neutrals off world. Tyrest returned to TRY and broker peace, simply two city states, one for each side, but naturally since one of those sides was Megatron that never went anywhere. It instead lead to the Tyrest Accords, a series of rules of engagment the biggest being not exporting cybertronian weaponry. It's thanks to him the universe isn't a smoldering crater and thanks to Optimus he's chief justice.

As for what he's doing here... no one has a clue. He was last seen during the Aquetius trials, which Rodimus helpfully recaps: trials using a judging machine that 100% predicts guilt, and hasn't been seen since the trials. They also pass around energon sticks, something equivlent to either gum or cigarettes or autobot slim jims

Rung offers Minimus to snap into one.. then delberately spills it and spills it more, causing him to HAVE to get them off the ground and organized... and proving what Rung's figured all along:

Yup, while Ultra Magnus was indeed Ultra Magnus... he was also Minimus Ambus. It's complicated and naturally Hot Rod's a bit confused, so Magnus backs it up slightly: he war bought into luna one and reparied... then smacked in the face by tyrest.

Tyrest decides just bitchslapping Magnus PHYSICALLY isn't enougH: having read his logs and found his actions disgraceful, both the micromanagment and the various fraternizations, he disables the armor and left ambus as he was.

As for why Magnus was a fancy suit of armor, turns out Ultra Magnus is a legacy of brave autobots, all one percenters.. but smaller rewind sized ones, Loadbearers. So while their not super tanks from the start.. it means they can be heavily modified and thus wear the Magnus Armor. The Magnus Armor was forged after the original Magnus, a real brave bot, died: Tyrest saw what fear and awe he imposed and realized he could exploit that and thus created an "immortal lawman". If this is sounding very sinestro to you and making you nervous, that's the idea. As for why small transformers it's simply that most cybertronians can't get fancy armored add ons" too much and they freeze up. A loadbearer has plenty.

So our magnus, Minimus was the latest.. and seemingly last. He also has ten days left.. but it turns out Pharma wasn't lying: Tyrests doctors can work miracle.

Back in the flashback, we get a recontexulization of Magnus character from Tyrest, who isn't exactly reliable , hence why I didn't think too heaviyl about his words before.. but in hindsight.. they make perfect sense and the interview I mentioned backs it up: Magnus.. had a nervous breakdown.

For most of the lost lighters the war ending is a fresh start: the war is over.. but for the bulk of them the war wasn't something they fit into. They were fighting because they had no real choice or had been for too long. And in the case of some like Chromedome the war simply took one terrible thing they were forced into and swapped it for another. The war ending means a chance ot start over and do anything else.

Magnus... fit perfectly. He was a stickler for order, a natural talented combatant, and while he was the latest to wear this armor, he more than earned it. The war was chaotic and horrible, but it also had rules, a clear bad guy (even if this book shows there's still plenty shades of grey in the autobots), and a clear end goal. Life.. dosen't have those. LIfe is just doing your best and hoping today is good. It's not perfect, it's often messy, but it's just how it is. Magnus didn't really have to worry about small talk or what he does with the rest of his life.

It also explains why he took the lost light: it was seemingly close to what he'd been doing: going through space, righting wrongs, etc, all. Cybertron would've had more order.. but it was also filled with thousands of bots who resented him for everything he'd had to do over the war, and a new world he understood even less. It was the lesser of two evils, so he overcompesated by becoming anal retintive in the extreme. He's a soldier who simply couldn't cope with the war being over, a tale sadly as old as the nasty institution itself and didn't get himself the help he needed.

Magnus replacement.. was Star Saber, that guy we saw make Skids into a kebab. Magnus was mostly talking to them though.. because he was curious. He asked to be put in there as.. nothing is adding up: the decepticons, the titan, and now this "crimes against creation" charge that wasn't in the laws before. magnus, still being a tad naive even after all of this, goes to talk to tyrest.

While he does, WHirl and Cyclonus have escaped having killed a bunch of decipticons themselves and after their done getting to the numbers, see a cell block above... identified as such because it's directly over a giant smelting pool, as whirl puts it "a prison you can dunk" Whirl of all people is the logical one here: They need a ton of weapons to go rescue the others, and he can sniff an armory. Somehow. Honestly I'd question it but if anyone could find weapons through sheer force of will it's whirl.

Back with the head tha twouldn't die, Ratchet assumes this is about revenge.. and it is, Pharma wanted to hunt ratchet down, but his main goal

Thing is Pharma's a mite bit paranoid and hasn't removed them because their hard locked, and he assumes rigged to explode. Ratchet uses this to his advantage: he calls Pharma a coward, stating that he really didn't do it because he's scared he can't and essentially challenges him to a surgery duel: first to fix it win. Honestly Chicago Med and Grey's Anatomy could use WAY more of those. I'd watch every episode twice if it was a death sport race to see who can surgery faster. Get it on it Dick Wolf and Shondra Rhymes!

So back with the bicker twins, Cyclonus and Whirl argue, with Cyclonus pointing out byu this point.. Whirl could've had his own hands back and his face if he wanted, with Whirl genuinely worried if he stops being angry, he wouldn't be him anymore. Cyclonus gets stabbed from behind for our THIRD stabbing this story and our FOURTH in the last few issues, but it's not fatal, Whirl saves him.. and our dynamic duo find the prisoners: not our heroes, who are as it turns out somewhere else.. but the circle of light. It's why they have so many swords avaliable.

Back with Ratchet he made a bit of a tactical error.. while his gambit was clever.. he forgot that Pharma is basically the joker now and thus had ambulon and first aid brought here as swerve and skids were to Team Rodimus cell: their going to be the guinea pigs and despite ratchet's begging, he can't get the contest called off. This is happening. And unfortunately for ambulon instead of across the waist... Pharma decides to go lengthwise.

Semantics point is ambulon is super fucking dead and purple chainsaw blood is all over. It's a brutal, horrifying death.. and tha'ts really the only reason it works. That Pharma set up this horrifying death game, when he could've just done minor surgery and used one of the Legislators, since they aren't really sapient at this point anyway. Otherwise.. Ambulon is a guy we barely knew who disappeared entirely: Pipes was also mostly absent till his death.. but Pipes felt like an actual character and had enough characteirzation up to his death. Ambulon.. feels like he was kept on just for this chainsaw death since First Aid had more to give. It's not a bad death, I mean... look at that gore, but it's not as weighty especially coming after two big tearjerking ones.

Back at the cells, Swerve fills the rest of the crew in: the legislators have locked down the place, and he tells them about Star Saber, who it turns out in this unvierse is a notorious evangelical nutball who tried to do atheist genocide. So you know the MOST stable person to give a big sword. Star Saber being made into a villian.. was a bit contervseral according to tv tropes. Saber Originally was the optimus prime equilvent for one of the G1 animes, Transformers Victory, having a neat design and big old sword. So making him into a sociopathic religious nut wasn't the best for some. Me I think it's fine: the series already has plenty of heroic autobots and it helps reinforce the idea that being on the autobots .. dosen't make you a good person. Same with Tyrest.

He shows up to drop off a new prisoner.. and it makes Chromedome have a relization: when Skids memory was begging for estape it was asking for getaway... the autobot whose now being loaded into their cells.

Minimus goes to confront Tyrest who couldn't give a shit what Magnus thinks.. but is willing to explain what his grand evil plan is and why he's doing all this supervillian nonsense: guilt. Turns out Tyrest is one of the archetechts of Cold Construction, and instead of using sparks.. it used the matrix. This is a brilliant move and explains why, with cold construction only stopping fo ra bit because it was assumed the matrix was dry when really someone stole it assuming this was blasphemous.

And sadly. Tyrest has started to agree. The Aquetius trials drove him around the bend, with all the guilt and horrible actions of the autobots on trial getting to him.. to the point he started to drill into himself, hence the holes.. including one in his own head. Huh Egon WAS right it would've worked.. as Tyrest saw something beckoning him and thus the space bridge is a portal to cyberutopia itself. But being ... unhinged to say the least, Tyrest has decided he has to atone first... since all the criminals on trial were constructed cold, he assumes their an abomination and plans to use a literal killswitch to kill every last one tommorow. And beofre Minimus can stop this.. he has a legislator squish the poor guy's head.

Onto Part 4. After a reminder of the various gushers of blood abound, we cut to a fight with Whirl, Cyclonus and the Circle of Light. Turns out the circle had been cut down a bit, but is still a massive army, allowing for an epic battle while everything elses going on and the revelation that will come in hand in a bit that Cyclonus, being a true believer, can power their faithswords, which use energy from a spark to do something something something religion. Look I'm being as through as I can, but this is a MASSIVE story arc.

In the Cell Getaway TRIES to have a reunion with Skids, while also introducing his catchphrase bomp.. basically a sort of fistbump he used to annoy skids. At any rate Skids can't remember anything but Getaway can and fills the rest of the cast in on Tyrest's madness, which is a term I try to be careful with as someone with a mental illness myself.. but really appleis to a man whose drilled a thousand holes into himself and is trying to do holy genocide right about now. When Rodimus mentions Ambus not being back yet... Getaway drops the bomb on him baby, he drops the bomb on him... that Ambus LURED them here.

Back with Team Holy Genocide, Tyrest explains how the hell he knows this switch will work to someone who was there for it: He kidnapped Pharma because Pharma is apparently famous for being Forged, so he could prove it wouldn't kill Forged transformers. THe attack on the circle of light? A whole cities worth of test subjects, taking ten thousand down to one thousnad. Speaking of which given the Circle is a mite testy about the genocide, Tyrest decides to handle the situation by.. letting the equally religious genocidal monster he keeps on payroll handle it.

Skids has a bit of a breakdown over his missing memories so not wanting to see his best friend break down further, Swerve asks Gateway to fill him in on what he's missing. Skids and Brainwave were partners in the Dipolmatic Corps... which was really Autobot Special Ops. What good would being spies be if they broadcasted that fact? They had a similar job as the wreckers, impossible missions and such, but while the Wreckers were more Impossible MIssions Force, going in somewhat subtle and always ending loud and dangling themselves off cliffs, the ASO were more the stale beer type of spy: get in, do the mission, maybe surivive.

Their mission this time was to put a mind bullet in Tyrest's head.. not kill him, to Skids relief, as the binary gun, that gun Skids couldn't find when he was introduced, wasn't designed to kill, simply implant a thought, and a very simple one at that: Resign. As for why, while Skids boss didn't know the fulls cope of what tyrest is doing he got the feeling something bad was going down given he was chasing down titans and talking to the decpticons. Sadly .. Skids missed, Tyrest set his horeds on them and while Skids escaped, he followed one last protocol: after all the binary gun had two bullets... and the other was used on him to erase the mission

To no one's suprise, Prowl's the spymaster here and to even less shockity shock, him prodding the already deranged man with a god complex led him to speed up his plans. The good news of all this though is Getaway.. can get the mout. He's an escapeologist, a master escape artist, macguver as a transformer and the only reason he hasn't busted out? He didn't have a fresh set of keys.

While Getaway plans his way out, so does Ratchet, who has an argument iwth first aid: First Aid makes the valid point that Ratchet has a savior complex; he hasn't really retired.. because he dosen't think anyone else can do the job as well as him. Turns out this isn't it: Ratchet didn't let first aid help.. because Ambulon was long dead by chainsaw to the face, and he simply was stalling to weaponize his corpse, a nice little callback to drift doing the same. The two argue over what to do with Pharma, Ratchet not wanting to sink to his level and First Aid wisely feeling Pharma will just come back to haunt them again, if probably not the one to do it since i'ts clearly out of anger his friend we saw maybe once just got chainsawed in half by the guy.

The argument is interupted by Team Rodimus. Turns out the keys... were all the stuff on everyone and using Brainstorms breifcase straps (he had it on him as it's designed that only those who KNOW it's there see it) and Chromedome's fingers to create a dart gun, knock out the guard then have everyone use the sticks on the bars at the same time. THeir out, and Tailgate is hopeful he can find a cure. And what I like, and forgot to mention is HOW Luna 1's a treasure chest: it's not because it was lost. Luna 1.. is just luna 2 with a diffrent name. But since Tyrest took up refrence he also took every bit of treasure the magnuses had built up with him and thus he really CAN work medical miracles. It's juts without Pharma.. they might not be able to.

For now it's time to light up the stage cause it's time for a showdown. With team two guys , a religoius leader an an army it's not great as the legislators won't stop and there's a LOT of them, and Star Saber makes it worse. While Dai Atlas does his best against his polar oppiste.. Saber snidely tells him "Primus hates you and stabs the life out of him"

Team Rodimus don't have it much better.. they arrive, point a gattling gun at Tyrests face.. and tyrest simply activates his staff and the bodies hit the floor. It's a subsonic suggestion they can't move, so powerful they don't even belivie it when he tells them and with that.. he pulls the switch. Brainstorm and Chromedome start to fade.. and they aren't alone...

It's a brutal sequence ending with the scavengers... and with that tyrest has almost won, and all he has to do.. is step into the light of his portal as it activates.

So as the final chapter opens, Tyrest is about to get his big prize when...

It's a clever save: Tailgate's condition had been front and center for most of this arc, Ratchet outlined loss of functions.. it's poetry. I also love him jamming his finger in the head hole, it's a detail I did'nt notice till writing this but I love it.

WIth that the rest of the crew can rally.. but Tyrest uses tailgate as a human shield with Tailgate revelaing his condition so Rodimus can shoot.. but Rodimus has grown from the incident with fort max and can't bring himself too... thankfully..

Before we can process "how the hell is magnus still alive", we cut to the battle outside and we get an awesome fight with Cyclonus and Starsaber, with Cyclonus stabbing the fucker in the eye.. before he gets teleported away. Where? Well.. that's al ong ways off from being answered, but for now he's away from gutting people range so that's good at least. Back with Team Rodimus, Rodders asks what we're all thinking "What the hell". Turns out in a clever, if still somewhat labored twist... Minimus didn't tell them HOW many loads he was carring. This is as far down as he goes, but it still makes a lot of sense. Tyrest not KNOWING this dosen't, but we can handwave it as Tyrest assuming he got the heads and just.. not carring enough about magnus to double check the corpse, a mistage that made him into one.

Our heroes need to scramble to find someway to shut off the killswitch though as Tyrest was still sane enough to not put a shutoff on it. Before they can deal with that properlyt hough, Pharma heads into the portal with First Aid giving chase.. and Pharma saying far more than he needs to, chuckling and grinning about all the autbots at delphi and bursting into laughter about his lengthwise joke... and soon bursting from the head as first aid shoots him.. and then collapses, not able to deal with taking a life for the first time

It's a powerful moment. Pharma absoltuely deserved to get his head burst... but it's still a life and it dosen't, as first aid clearly hope, make the pain of everyone he's lost go away.

So while this goes on Perciptor has a hail mary: he hooks rodimus up to it, which MIGHT hurt him and will defintely destroy their matrix piece, using it to undo the code. While Rodimus makes a "there goes our map" quip.. it's very clear he has no intention of backing out: personal glory isn't worth the deaths of everyone.

So with Death on the way he decides to clear the air with Magnus, ask if he really betrayed them. Turns out.. yeah he entirely lured them out here, having become disturbed with Rodimus' increasing irresponsiblity. It wasn't a full trap as he had no idea Tyrest was so far gone, he just wanted him to give Rodders a lecture, snap him out of it, tha tsort of thing not you know, nearly kill them all and then try to commit genocide as an encore. It speaks to who Magnus is: he's orderly.. but he's not the zealot his former boss is. He just wants to do the right thing.

And so does rodimus..w hich leads to one hell of a confession

It's a powerful moment an da wakeup call for rodimus: while he's still carefree after this... it's him realizing he's been way too caviler.. and let his own ego and pride get people killed. And he needs to , instead of hiding from it like he did, face the conseqeucnes of his actions. It's also a nice moment in that instead of seeing his sacrifice as a way out or a glorious way to redeem himself as he might have before the incident... instead Rodimus just hopes he lives long enough to begin the real work.

As he writhes in pain, Tyrest.. turns out not to be dead and says one word: one... which sends all the legislators their way.

In the meantime Skids ends up on Cyberutopia.. yeah... in a big reveal it, or some form of it exists and skids ended up there due to taking the portal: it was blocking anyone who had guilt in them, and Skids.. finally felt free enough to try it.

What he saw there will be important later but for now the plan worked: everyone is saved and Whirl celebrates, deciding to put the past behind him and cyclonus... and after a quick murder fantasy Cyclonus agrees. He has somewhere more important to be.

Back in the control room the legislators swarm and Skids shows up to help.. while something takes Ambulon's corpse through the portal. No time to dwell on that setup now as the legislators need to be stopped..a nd it's tailgate who once again saves the day in a brilliant way too. Remember how Magnus had him memorize the law and just about everything including the dimensions of the kitchen sink? Well when finding out the law computer is right there, this allows tailgate to easily write a new one REPEALLING them all. the legislators freeze, our heroes win the day, and Tyrest vanishes. And sadly while Tailgate won the day.. he passes out.

Thankfully we have a solution: on his deathbed we get a very poginant line from Tailgate, the little bot who simply wanted to be special and important...

It's a small line.. but one that sums up the comic> life isn't about being a big hero or saving the unvierse, though our heroes certainly did that.. it's abotu living it. It can be hard, messy and often rediculous.. but it's more than worth it.. and with that Cyclonus gives Tailgate the gift of life.. by stabbing him in the chest

And for once.. IT IS HEALTHY as it was a way to do a spark transfusion, one Whirl of all people brought up. It was risky.. but it was worth it.

So as Rodimus decides to bounce, deciding this big discovery wasn't really wroth it with one crew member dead, first aid traumitzied and brainstorm in his lab, unknown to all having taken the super spark, and the rest of the sparks having gone quiet after the matrix became dust.. he's lost.

Magnus however.. is found. He may not know what his future is.. but he's finally at some sort of peace.. and has a ncie gentle talk with cyclonus

Remain in Light was one of my faviorite arcs of lost light.. and re-reading it only clinched that view: it's a tense epic that's fast paced but manages to cover a LOT of ground without anything feeling underserved, and the result is stunning. It's a worthy end to season 1.

And it WOULD be where we leave off.. but before dark cybertron we have one issue left, issue 22.

Little Victories is a nice Coda to the season, an issue I skimmed over the first time I read the comic due to the art... not being great. Artist James Raiz takes over from here through dark cybertron and his art style isn't bad, being kind of sketchy and gritty. Not my cup of tea but not bad art. The problem.. is that the art style dosen't fit lost light at all. I mean look at this panel with cyclonus

It's a good joke, but it looks just so dead serous and grungy. It just dosen't fit what's entirely a slice of life issue, showing a recuritment film Rewind made before his untimely passing.

That said giving the issue a second chance or two i've come around... once your ready for the jarring art shift, you can enjoy the story with plenty of fun documentary gags including Magnus having part of the film removed and getting editiing rights, as well as having Swerves swears censored.

There's two plots here: The first involves everyone being curious what Rungs alt mode is, with Swerve having a bet as to who can get him to show it first, leading to a really great, really stupid joke

I love this comic for it's deep characters, engaging plot and world building.. but I also love that a large part of the comic is just roberts letting these robots act like jackasses. It makes them so damn relatable. I mean someone had to try this.

The other is Thunderclash, what a guy. Thunderclash is a legendary hero and the king of the parody sues, a guy so noble and kind that even optimus looks up to him, a hero unparalleled. He's this series Ace Rimmer, and intentionally too as Roberts is a big red dwarf fan, something that isn't a huge suprise but is welcome.

For those not familiar with Ace, he's the alternate counterpart of Red Dwarf's Arnold Rimmer, an uptight attempted ladder climber who usually fails due to his own incomptience and ego, while Ace is everything Arnold WISHES he could be: Smart, handsome, good with a joke, beloved.

So naturually someone like Rodimus, full of ego and self importance himself, needed someone just simply better than him doing the same job who everyone on his crew unabashadely loves. Thunderclash is just.. that nice and I love the ways they bend over backwards to make EVERYONE fall for this guy, from him being one of the few autbots to be nice to cyclonus and earn his genuine respect with his knoweldge, to teaching Perciptor of all people something. It's just great fun and it's just as fun to watch Hot Rod gnash his teeth over someone else getting all the attention.

There's also a third kinda plot as the crew runs into the Ammonites, a group of robots fighting a forever war with some bug aliens that whirl seemingly end sin ten minutes. We don't know how and tha'ts how I sleep at night

All three collide at the end: Thunderclash's ship needs a jump, esspecailly since, while an epic hero of epicness, he's dying: the ship is Thunderclash's life support and being the autobot's own personal jesus, he's naturally using this time to save everyone he can. It's why his crew's behind on their own quest for the knights.

Sadly one of his crew turns out to be an ammonite spy and they turn out to not have been the good guys, thankfully Rung has an idea and turns into a blunt insturment. Or is it an object. point is he's blunt, hard and blunt. As for WHAT he is...

This will be important going forward, and in hindsight may be one of the most important little bits in this issue. Thunderclash will be too.

We then get the ending which is... eh in my eyes. I like Lost Light's comedy, I point you to just a few paragraphs ago with the stupid alt mode night joke. But this bit.. feels a bit of a stretch: it turns out the film was being screened to the circle of light who ALL, every one of them, boo hiss and complain about them all being fuckups. Besides being more than a little harsh... the film was made by a DEAD AUTOBOT. Rewind DIED before this was made and i'm damn sure they told them that. I like the jokes and I don't mind shots at how little the crews acomplished, it's a decent runner but here.. it just feels mean. Doubly so since the lost light JUST SAVED THEIR ASSES and the ENTIRE UNIVERSE, and not a one of them think tha'ts neat. We get a heartwarming ending showing how much it means but this joke.. just really dosen't work at all. One of Roberts rare misfires but boy is it off target.

That said the issue overall is fun and i'm glad I gave it a second shot. It's good stuff and like seemingly EVERYTHING before the finale itself, it's got a lot of setup.

Next Time: Before we can get to DARK CYBERTRON we have to see what everyone else has been up to

Thanks for reading

[elfdragon12]

So you know how Simon Furman's big justification for how he handled Arcee being a female Transformer in the Marvel UK issue "Prime's Rib" was "it was the times!" as if 1989 was some ancient history? Also that there wasn't really a female readership?

Yeah, here's a letter in Marvel #18:

"Dear Bob,

TRANSFORMERS #13 was great. You guys were sooo right about that being an off-beat story. Megatron is my favorite character and I have been worrying about what was going on with him. Boy, if I had Megatron as my servant, that would be great. He is the coolest Decepticon around. On a different subject, though, why aren't there any female Transformers? Hey, we're in the eighties now, Bob. Male dominance is a thing of the past. Robots shouldn't be any different from humans. You have me thinking you guys are male chauvanists or something! Come on, guys, let's have some female Autobots tangling with Megatron or Shockwave. Maybe you can have a love interest for Optimus Prime! Please consider my suggestions. I think you would really benefit from the addition of a female Transformer. JoAnn Teen 320 Drake Road Honolulu, HA

That settles it, Shingo, you've officially started a craze--even people in Hawaii think we're cool! Our Transformers comic just might put Emerson Air conditioners out of business! But seriously, JoAnn, you've got a point. There definitely seems to be a serious lack of femininity within the pages of TRANSFORMERS. But, in the near future, you will be seeing a female Autobot. It will not be in these pages, though, but in the upcoming TRANSFORMERS film (which Marvel just happens to be adapting in a three-issue limited series--so be on the lookout)."

Not only is this a letter from a female reader (there's also a "Shannon" on the same page, but that writer is from the South, so possibly a boy named Shannon), a female reader pointing out that they should be past this "no girls allowed" mentality. They're in the 80s!

This is from the US side of things, but I don't think the climate regarding feminism and girls either choosing to read Transformers based on their own interest or any brothers' (pre-mobile device, you often shared books or TV time in a family with more than one or two kids) would be so different in the UK.

While folks might argue about JoAnn's point of "robots shouldn't be different from humans", we should recognize that she isn't making a point from the viewpoint of hard science fiction but as a girl who wants to see her gender represented in the stories she enjoys. I, for one, definitely don't fault her for that. If you're going to write male robots (which even Furman admits they were), it's ridiculous to say that female robots don't make sense.

Either way, Simon Furman's portrayal of Arcee and women in "Prime's Rib"... Was perhaps not a result of "the times" and maybe... His own personal view on women that has lurked in how he has written them as recently as 2008 with his Spotlight: Arcee issue.

[kryptonitecore]

Reread: Spotlight: Soundwave

I do love the cover! I remember really not liking this one the first time I read it, but my opinion is somewhat better the second time around.

This is a distinct version of Soundwave, perhaps a bit closer to some very old-school versions of the character (as in Bob Budiansky’s original notes for the character kind of old…) much more self-centred and less defined by loyalty, he’s keeping secrets from Megatron, and even hesitating to recognise loyalty or idealism in other people. He’s surprised when he finds out that Bludgeon’s actions are motivated by actual (zealous) belief, for instance. Maybe not the most harmonious with later characterisations, but still, it’s distinct. Not sure IDW1 really needed another disloyal member of Decepticon high command, though…

Soundwave catches on to an absence in Bludgeon’s reports, a key part of Shockwave’s research, the Regenesis project, that keeps being left out. A lot of this issue is really build up to Stormbringer, though I read that one first. It has some interesting moments of Soundwave using his altmode to spy (and later getting stuck in it), where his resentment towards humans grows. I’m still more curious about full blown infiltration protocol, though, because the idea of Decepticons essentially living normal lives to fit in for potentially quite long periods of time, effectively being sleeper agents, is intriguing. Here, though, Soundwave just has to be a boombox.

There’s something interesting here, though it’s not really dug into either, about the dependency between Soundwave and his cassettes. IDW1 doesn’t give huge quantities of information about it (I think?), but at least a few of Soundwave’s cassettes were dubious about joining him (Rumble and Frenzy, ordered by Megatron) or outright unwilling (Ratbat, forcibly reconfigured). However, when he’s in his altmode he essentially has to rely on them to support him if he can’t break cover or gets stuck. This isn’t explored much, but it is an interesting element.

[ineedtosleep-qvq]

Hello transformers fandom:D

Soo I have been wanting to read transformers idw but I'm over laemd whit all the comics I feel lost and confused lol

I started with transformers spotlight Megatron and now I'm reading spotlight shockwave but restly I just knowed that there are over comics before it , I manly came for mtmte but the more i hear people talking about the idw universe in jenrel I just get excited to read the comics I'm just confused ,i don't know where to start in order to understand and enjoy the lore of it all 😀.

[melishade]

Nie musisz odpowiadać ale mam dziwne wrażenie że Quintus prime maczał palce w stworzeniu tytanów ale to tylko teoria

Translation: You don't have to answer, but I have a strange feeling that Quintus prime was involved in the creation of the titans, but that's just a theory.

He's not involved with the creation of the titans, but it's a good theory. Based on what I've read through the aligned continuity and the Covenant of Primus, Quintus was the scientist. The dreamer. He was responsible for technological advancements, but...he didn't have proper ethical guidelines. Not as severe as Shockwave, but some of his ideas were called into question by the other Primes. One thing led to another, and Quintus supposedly was killed by his creation, the Quintessions, before they went to Cybertron to rule them. So yikes for Quintus!

But a very easy theory to Quintus being involved was that the hallucigenia that attaches itself to Ymir was a rouge experiment of Quintus that kind of got away from him and landed on the AOT world. (Really, he misplaced the spiky worm). The only reason I'm not doing this is because, again, I have everything planned, and two, introducing another Prime into this story might complicate things. Also Quintus is not really talked about much in Transformers media. I'm surprised he's getting some spotlight in Earthspark, but it's good. It's a nice change of pace from the formula.

[kudosmyhero]

Transformers Spotlight #1: Shockwave

Read Date: July 15, 2023 Cover Date: September 2006 ● Writer: Simon Furman ● Art: Nick Roche ● Colorist: Josh Burcham ● Letterer: {uncredited} ● Editor: Dan Taylor ●

**HERE BE SPOILERS: Skip ahead to the fan art/podcast to avoid spoilers

Reactions As I Read: ● if Shockwave had Soundwave’s g-1 voice, he would be the most terrifying Decepticon by far to me ● it was initially cute that the mammoths are following Shockwave around, but their plight is sad

● 👏👏👏

Synopsis: Six hundred thousand years ago, the Great War on Cybertron rages between the Autobots and Decepticons — a state of affairs that Shockwave can no longer abide. Having extrapolated from the data that constant fighting between the two factions will cause an energon shortage and eventually leave Cybertron a dead, energy-drained planet, Shockwave initiates a new plan: a project that he dubs "Regenesis." Raw energon is distilled into special warheads and fired at suitable planets — one of which is prehistoric Earth.

Never telling Megatron about his plans, Shockwave bides his time for many years until his samples bear fruit. Arriving on Earth as the very end of the last Ice Age, Shockwave begins the next component of his plan: regulating the planet's wild energon reactions. Shockwave knows that his fellow Decepticons will brand him as a traitor for his unauthorized experiments, but no longer cares; ultimately, logic is his only master.

Unbeknownst to the Decepticon, the Dynobots have tracked him to the planet aboard their vessel, the Skyfire. Having once lost face to Shockwave after he foiled a vital energon-gathering mission, all five Transformers are hungry for revenge. Team leader Grimlock is eager to land and mete out some vengeance on their enemy, but Slag advises caution: the unchecked energon radiation on Earth's surface is causing energy fluctuations dangerous to unshielded Transformers, and while Shockwave is safely insulated against its effects, the five Dynobots possess no such protection.

As Shockwave plants a series of special energon dampers to rein in the energon storms, he observes a herd of dying mammoths, and further mulls on his plans: as cold-climate organisms fail to adapt to changing climates, so too must the Cybertronian race continue to evolve, a process that will only succeed if Shockwave is allowed control of the balance of power…

Aboard the Skyfire, Slag has come up with a novel solution to their dilemma: by using the on-board CR chambers, they will be able to adopt beast modes based on the native creatures, protected from the energon radiation thanks to artificially synthesized flesh. A hesitant Grimlock agrees to go ahead with the plan… but only if Slag can find him better organisms to scan than the "pathetic" mammals who roam the Earth. It doesn't take long before Slag discovers creatures more to their leader's liking: the fossilized remains of ancient dinosaurs.

Having finished his business on Earth, Shockwave prepares to summon his ship and leave… but is momentarily confused when his ship fails to arrive. His concerns are well-founded when, seconds later, the five Dynobots, now clad in new, saurian alternate modes, arrive via orbital bounce and lay into the Decepticon scientist. A creature of logic and rationality, Shockwave is unable to comprehend the savage, chaotic behavior of his foes before having an epiphany: their mission is one of pointless revenge for his actions.

As he is consumed by another barrage of enemy firepower, Shockwave realizes that his core logic will not be of any use in the fight against his irrational foes and retaliates as only he can: by simply shutting down his higher functions, allowing a synthetic form of rage to take over. In this primal sub-routine, he brutally retaliates against the Dynobots, quickly stripping them of their protective synthetic flesh and thus forcing them into stasis lock. The battle seemingly won, Shockwave returns his neural cortex to normal operations and, with his ship disabled by the Dynobots, prepares to steal the Skyfire to escape Earth. Before he can do so, however, he discovers that Grimlock will get the last laugh after all: the Dynobot ship acts on a command pre-programmed by Grimlock and uses its onboard weaponry to open fire on a nearby volcano. The mighty blast provokes a volcanic eruption, and all six combatants are swiftly entombed in a pit of molten lava.

Elsewhere, Shockwave's absence hasn't gone unnoticed. A suspicious Megatron, wanting to learn more about Shockwave's pet projects, assigns the loyal Bludgeon to investigate the errant Decepticon's findings.

And, many thousands of years later, in the year 2006, a team of archaeologists digging in Eureka, Nevada, unearth a massive, metal, purple hand…

(https://tfwiki.net/wiki/Spotlight:_Shockwave)

Fan Art: Shockwave by EspenG

[companyknowledgenews]

The year Channel Seven signed its own death warrant: How scandals and sackings have brought the network to its knees - Journal Important Web https://www.merchant-business.com/the-year-channel-seven-signed-its-own-death-warrant-how-scandals-and-sackings-have-brought-the-network-to-its-knees/?feed_id=137438&_unique_id=669ba0ea5d5e9 #GLOBAL - BLOGGER BLOGGER To say Channel Seven has had a controversy-filled year so far is an understatement.The Bruce Lehrmann Spotlight scandal, a high-profile reporter being sacked for alleged inappropriate behaviour, newsroom reshuffles, the axing of a much-loved newsreader, and the introduction of astrology and comedy into the news bulletin have all caused irreparable damage to the network’s brand.While all three commercial networks face financial doom due to the ongoing collapse of the TV advertising market, Seven – which proudly calls itself ‘Australia’s number one’ – is teetering on the edge of the most catastrophic decline of them all.This is because, unlike Nine which owns Stan, Seven has no streaming platform to fall back on once television vanishes – meaning it really is downhill from here.Things are looking so grim that there are already rumblings of the Aussie network falling into foreign ownership.Whatever happens, 2024 will be remembered as the year it all went south for Seven. Lehrmann legacy Channel Seven’s tumultuous year kicked off in April with shocks reverberating from the infamous Bruce Lehrmann interview on the Spotlight program.To say Channel Seven has had a controversy-filled year so far is an understatement Spotlight secured two exclusive interviews with the rapist last year in exchange for a year’s rent at a luxury unit, worth about $105,000, ahead of his defamation case against Network Ten and Lisa Wilkinson in the Federal Court.The bombshell revelations of former Spotlight producer Taylor Auerbach, made in an affidavit, caused Lehrmann’s defamation case to be reopened.Mr Auerbach had been instrumental in locking down Lehrmann for a pair of exclusive interviews for the current affairs program.In an affidavit to the court, Mr Auerbach claimed Seven had paid for or reimbursed the former political staffer’s eye-watering expenses, including accommodation, meals, drugs and prostitutes. Bruce Lehrmann is pictured being interviewed by Spotlight’s Liam Bartlett in 2023. The interview created shockwaves throughout Channel SevenHe further alleged in the affidavit thousands had been claimed on a company credit card to pay for Thai massages, against company policy and without the knowledge or consent of Mark Llewellyn, then executive producer of the Spotlight program.Mr Auerbach tendered his resignation to Mr Llewellyn in a November 2022 text in which he confessed to spending $10,000 on the company credit card that ‘had nothing to do with work’ – but made no mention of Mr Lehrmann’s involvement.The resignation was not accepted at the time and Mr Auerbach stayed on with Seven until 2023 when his contract expired and was not renewed.Seven and Mr Lehrmann denied the allegations, with Mr Lehrmann claiming they were ‘an untrue and bizarre story from a disgruntled ex-Network Seven producer’.Following weeks of damaging claims, Mr Llewellyn left the network.‘I am proud of Spotlight and proud of the dedicated team who make it, he said at the time.‘I repeat that any suggestion that I was aware of, condoned or arranged payments for illegal or unsavoury activities is wrong.’Llewellyn’s exit sparked a chain of departures in April, with Seven West Media chief executive and managing director James Warburton leaving the network two months earlier than expected, and he was joined out the door by Kerry Stokes’ right-hand man, commercial director Bruce McWilliam.The Lehrmann fallout in April also saw the departure of Craig McPherson, network director of news and public affairs and partner of Dancing with the Stars host Sonia Kruger, after nine years in the job.Mr McPherson was replaced by Anthony De

Ceglie, who was appointed in April as Director of News and Current Affairs and Editor-in-Chief.Mr De Ceglie is responsible for Seven’s News and Public Affairs programs including 7NEWS, Sunrise, The Morning Show and 7NEWS Spotlight, as well as 7NEWS.com.au.Bondi Junction massacre blunder April also saw Seven’s Weekend Sunrise plunged into turmoil after an on-air gaffe mistakenly labelled a 20-year-old Sydney University student as a cold-blooded killer.The blunder, which aired during the program’s April 14 episode, resulted in the innocent Ben Cohen mistakenly being identified as the perpetrator of the Bondi Junction massacre instead of the actual killer, 40-year-old Joel Cauchi.Following the gaffe, several producers were reportedly removed from the program and the network settled out-of-court with Mr Cohen for an undisclosed sum. The stars haven’t aligned yet for the nightly horoscope readings of AstroTash aka Natasha Weber (pictured). The segment has been slammed by Channel Seven viewersStaff reshufflesThe revolving door kept turning at Seven last month with another round of redundancies.The network announced a reshuffle of its news leadership team, including a new director of news in Sydney, and new executive producers for Sunrise and Weekend Sunrise.Sean Power took on the role of director of news for Seven Sydney, replacing veteran news chief Neil Warren, who had been at the network for 32 years.June also brought the news that up to 150 jobs were to be axed across Seven West Media’s TV and print divisions, as well as the sales and marketing teams, and printing staff.Veteran journalist Robert Ovadia was sacked following an internal investigation into allegations of improper conductOvadia and out Another unsavoury scandal rocked the network last month when veteran journalist Robert Ovadia was sacked following an internal investigation into allegations of improper conduct.Ovadia’s exit came after ABC Four Corners made inquiries about the alleged toxic culture in the Seven newsroom.Ovadia had been with the network for 23 years and it was reported after his exit the allegations concerned emails exchanged between Ovadia and a former Seven colleague four years ago.The Daily Telegraph reported a Photoshopped image of a young female producer was at the centre of the decision to sack Ovadia.The picture is believed to depict a cartoon version of the female producer, but it was not sexual in nature. There is no suggestion the allegations are proven and Ovadia has previously said they were unfounded and he would defend himself.Earlier this month, multiple insiders said there was now a tense atmosphere at the station, with some staff ‘miserable’ and taking sick days to look for jobs elsewhere after a new regime took power intent on shaking things up.Seeing stars This shake-up included the introduction of a horoscope segment into the nightly news bulletins by celebrity astrologer Natasha Weber, better known as AstroTash.The network didn’t need to gaze into the stars to see the backlash, with one viewer posting on X: ‘Channel Seven news now features a horoscope. What rubbish. Looks like they don’t really care about news.’Another wrote: ‘Seven News treating the viewers as morons with horoscopes.’Here’s Humphries Channel Seven is also trying to lighten things up with a weekly satirical spot at the end of the Friday night news bulletin presented by comedian Mark Humphries. Following the first instalment, many viewers didn’t see the funny side, with one tweeting: ‘Only one problem with the new 6.57pm news idea from @7NewsSydney. It’s not funny.’Humphries took the criticism in good humour. ‘The worst thing that was said about me, that stays with me is, “I look like a Ken Doll gone wrong!”‘ he told 2DAY FM’s Hughesy, Ed and Erin.Others enjoyed Humphries’ spot. ‘A bloody triumph,’ a viewer wrote on Instagram. Insiders say veteran Channel Seven presenter Sharyn Ghidella (pictured) was axed from the network because of her high salaryMark Humphries (pictured)

saw the funny side of being slammed for his new comedy spotGhidella goneHowever, viewers did not see any humour in the recent sacking of veteran Channel Seven newsreader Sharyn Ghidella.Ghidella, who had been the face of Seven News in Queensland since 2007, confirmed her sacking in a fiery Facebook post.She said her ‘tap on the shoulder’ finally came while she was getting her hair done before going on camera, admitting it was a ‘relief’ of sorts after several anxious weeks of media job cuts.Ghidella took a parting shot at the network in her post.‘I’m also not one to have my evening news served up with humour and horoscopes either, so, to be honest, it is time to go,’ she said.Ghidella was reportedly axed from the network because she was on a much higher salary than her co-host Max Futcher. Of the changes at Seven, Mr De Ceglie said in a statement to Daily Mail Australia: ‘If people think we are being inventive so far, they haven’t seen anything yet.’ Time will tell.  “What a year so far, with the Bruce Lehrmann scandal, the sacking of a much-loved newsreader, a reporter fired for alleged inappropriate behaviour, horoscopes and comedy segments…”Source Link: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13641993/The-year-Channel-Seven-signed-death-warrant-scandals-sackings-brought-network-knees-theres-little-chance-recovering.html?ns_mchannel=rss&ns_campaign=1490&ito=1490 http://109.70.148.72/~merchant29/6network/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/pexels-photo-3830880.jpeg To say Channel Seven has had a controversy-filled year so far is an understatement. The Bruce Lehrmann Spotlight scandal, a high-profile reporter being sacked for alleged inappropriate behaviour, newsroom reshuffles, the axing of a much-loved newsreader, and the introduction of astrology and comedy into the news bulletin have all caused irreparable damage to the network’s brand. … Read More

[onlinecompanynews]

The year Channel Seven signed its own death warrant: How scandals and sackings have brought the network to its knees - Journal Important Web https://www.merchant-business.com/the-year-channel-seven-signed-its-own-death-warrant-how-scandals-and-sackings-have-brought-the-network-to-its-knees/?feed_id=137434&_unique_id=669b9fcc6e5f0 To say Channel Seven has had a cont... BLOGGER - #GLOBAL To say Channel Seven has had a controversy-filled year so far is an understatement.The Bruce Lehrmann Spotlight scandal, a high-profile reporter being sacked for alleged inappropriate behaviour, newsroom reshuffles, the axing of a much-loved newsreader, and the introduction of astrology and comedy into the news bulletin have all caused irreparable damage to the network’s brand.While all three commercial networks face financial doom due to the ongoing collapse of the TV advertising market, Seven – which proudly calls itself ‘Australia’s number one’ – is teetering on the edge of the most catastrophic decline of them all.This is because, unlike Nine which owns Stan, Seven has no streaming platform to fall back on once television vanishes – meaning it really is downhill from here.Things are looking so grim that there are already rumblings of the Aussie network falling into foreign ownership.Whatever happens, 2024 will be remembered as the year it all went south for Seven. Lehrmann legacy Channel Seven’s tumultuous year kicked off in April with shocks reverberating from the infamous Bruce Lehrmann interview on the Spotlight program.To say Channel Seven has had a controversy-filled year so far is an understatement Spotlight secured two exclusive interviews with the rapist last year in exchange for a year’s rent at a luxury unit, worth about $105,000, ahead of his defamation case against Network Ten and Lisa Wilkinson in the Federal Court.The bombshell revelations of former Spotlight producer Taylor Auerbach, made in an affidavit, caused Lehrmann’s defamation case to be reopened.Mr Auerbach had been instrumental in locking down Lehrmann for a pair of exclusive interviews for the current affairs program.In an affidavit to the court, Mr Auerbach claimed Seven had paid for or reimbursed the former political staffer’s eye-watering expenses, including accommodation, meals, drugs and prostitutes. Bruce Lehrmann is pictured being interviewed by Spotlight’s Liam Bartlett in 2023. The interview created shockwaves throughout Channel SevenHe further alleged in the affidavit thousands had been claimed on a company credit card to pay for Thai massages, against company policy and without the knowledge or consent of Mark Llewellyn, then executive producer of the Spotlight program.Mr Auerbach tendered his resignation to Mr Llewellyn in a November 2022 text in which he confessed to spending $10,000 on the company credit card that ‘had nothing to do with work’ – but made no mention of Mr Lehrmann’s involvement.The resignation was not accepted at the time and Mr Auerbach stayed on with Seven until 2023 when his contract expired and was not renewed.Seven and Mr Lehrmann denied the allegations, with Mr Lehrmann claiming they were ‘an untrue and bizarre story from a disgruntled ex-Network Seven producer’.Following weeks of damaging claims, Mr Llewellyn left the network.‘I am proud of Spotlight and proud of the dedicated team who make it, he said at the time.‘I repeat that any suggestion that I was aware of, condoned or arranged payments for illegal or unsavoury activities is wrong.’Llewellyn’s exit sparked a chain of departures in April, with Seven West Media chief executive and managing director James Warburton leaving the network two months earlier than expected, and he was joined out the door by Kerry Stokes’ right-hand man, commercial director Bruce McWilliam.The Lehrmann fallout in April also saw the departure of Craig McPherson, network director of news and public affairs and partner of Dancing with the Stars host Sonia Kruger, after nine years in the job.Mr McPherson

was replaced by Anthony De Ceglie, who was appointed in April as Director of News and Current Affairs and Editor-in-Chief.Mr De Ceglie is responsible for Seven’s News and Public Affairs programs including 7NEWS, Sunrise, The Morning Show and 7NEWS Spotlight, as well as 7NEWS.com.au.Bondi Junction massacre blunder April also saw Seven’s Weekend Sunrise plunged into turmoil after an on-air gaffe mistakenly labelled a 20-year-old Sydney University student as a cold-blooded killer.The blunder, which aired during the program’s April 14 episode, resulted in the innocent Ben Cohen mistakenly being identified as the perpetrator of the Bondi Junction massacre instead of the actual killer, 40-year-old Joel Cauchi.Following the gaffe, several producers were reportedly removed from the program and the network settled out-of-court with Mr Cohen for an undisclosed sum. The stars haven’t aligned yet for the nightly horoscope readings of AstroTash aka Natasha Weber (pictured). The segment has been slammed by Channel Seven viewersStaff reshufflesThe revolving door kept turning at Seven last month with another round of redundancies.The network announced a reshuffle of its news leadership team, including a new director of news in Sydney, and new executive producers for Sunrise and Weekend Sunrise.Sean Power took on the role of director of news for Seven Sydney, replacing veteran news chief Neil Warren, who had been at the network for 32 years.June also brought the news that up to 150 jobs were to be axed across Seven West Media’s TV and print divisions, as well as the sales and marketing teams, and printing staff.Veteran journalist Robert Ovadia was sacked following an internal investigation into allegations of improper conductOvadia and out Another unsavoury scandal rocked the network last month when veteran journalist Robert Ovadia was sacked following an internal investigation into allegations of improper conduct.Ovadia’s exit came after ABC Four Corners made inquiries about the alleged toxic culture in the Seven newsroom.Ovadia had been with the network for 23 years and it was reported after his exit the allegations concerned emails exchanged between Ovadia and a former Seven colleague four years ago.The Daily Telegraph reported a Photoshopped image of a young female producer was at the centre of the decision to sack Ovadia.The picture is believed to depict a cartoon version of the female producer, but it was not sexual in nature. There is no suggestion the allegations are proven and Ovadia has previously said they were unfounded and he would defend himself.Earlier this month, multiple insiders said there was now a tense atmosphere at the station, with some staff ‘miserable’ and taking sick days to look for jobs elsewhere after a new regime took power intent on shaking things up.Seeing stars This shake-up included the introduction of a horoscope segment into the nightly news bulletins by celebrity astrologer Natasha Weber, better known as AstroTash.The network didn’t need to gaze into the stars to see the backlash, with one viewer posting on X: ‘Channel Seven news now features a horoscope. What rubbish. Looks like they don’t really care about news.’Another wrote: ‘Seven News treating the viewers as morons with horoscopes.’Here’s Humphries Channel Seven is also trying to lighten things up with a weekly satirical spot at the end of the Friday night news bulletin presented by comedian Mark Humphries. Following the first instalment, many viewers didn’t see the funny side, with one tweeting: ‘Only one problem with the new 6.57pm news idea from @7NewsSydney. It’s not funny.’Humphries took the criticism in good humour. ‘The worst thing that was said about me, that stays with me is, “I look like a Ken Doll gone wrong!”‘ he told 2DAY FM’s Hughesy, Ed and Erin.Others enjoyed Humphries’ spot. ‘A bloody triumph,’ a viewer wrote on Instagram. Insiders say veteran Channel Seven presenter Sharyn Ghidella (pictured) was axed from the network because of her

high salaryMark Humphries (pictured) saw the funny side of being slammed for his new comedy spotGhidella goneHowever, viewers did not see any humour in the recent sacking of veteran Channel Seven newsreader Sharyn Ghidella.Ghidella, who had been the face of Seven News in Queensland since 2007, confirmed her sacking in a fiery Facebook post.She said her ‘tap on the shoulder’ finally came while she was getting her hair done before going on camera, admitting it was a ‘relief’ of sorts after several anxious weeks of media job cuts.Ghidella took a parting shot at the network in her post.‘I’m also not one to have my evening news served up with humour and horoscopes either, so, to be honest, it is time to go,’ she said.Ghidella was reportedly axed from the network because she was on a much higher salary than her co-host Max Futcher. Of the changes at Seven, Mr De Ceglie said in a statement to Daily Mail Australia: ‘If people think we are being inventive so far, they haven’t seen anything yet.’ Time will tell.  “What a year so far, with the Bruce Lehrmann scandal, the sacking of a much-loved newsreader, a reporter fired for alleged inappropriate behaviour, horoscopes and comedy segments…”Source Link: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13641993/The-year-Channel-Seven-signed-death-warrant-scandals-sackings-brought-network-knees-theres-little-chance-recovering.html?ns_mchannel=rss&ns_campaign=1490&ito=1490 http://109.70.148.72/~merchant29/6network/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/pexels-photo-3830880.jpeg #GLOBAL - BLOGGER To say Channel Seven has had a controversy-filled year so far is an understatement. The Bruce Lehrmann Spotlight scandal, a high-profile reporter being sacked for alleged inappropriate behaviour, newsroom reshuffles, the axing of a much-loved newsreader, and the introduction of astrology and comedy into the news bulletin have all caused irreparable damage to the network’s brand. … Read More

[elfdragon12]

Flowspade lowkey seems like the “Shockwave” to Megaempress’ “Megatron”.

Anyhow, The Megatronia group need more spotlight.

Depends on which Shockwave we're talking here. XD I would probably compare her loyalty more to Soundwave.

Preferably without the extremely cringy/sexist shounen anime bad writing tropes. Bring Brian Ruckley back in! He did great with Trickdiamond!

Megaempress's ability to ~seduce~ every man just needs to get thrown out entirely (I cringe at how Blackarachnia does this in TFA too). Just make her regular charismatic. Being more on the sensual side is fine, but yeesh. And let's either play into her similarity with Megatron as more of a cloning situation or siblings or something OR make her a more separate entity with a separate identity.

Lunaclub was dealt the worst hand. Dial back that creepy obsession with Starscream or, at the very least, give her more to do outside of it. That Starscream was forced to make a "sexy video" with her as a punishment is Yikes On Trikes! Maybe we could highlight a specialty. She has a flame sword! (Double-checked her article and apparently she was in it, but I haven't read it yet, so IDK.)

I don't have much in the way of notes for the other half of the Moon Moon twins, Moonheart. She's a shy medic with a crush on Soundwave. She does stalk him too, but more "wistfully gazing from afar" than "I'm going to cut off a lock of his hair and keep it". Maybe playing at how the different attitudes of the twins play off each other in how they interact with other people.

As for Flowspade? ENHANCE THE YEARNING! Similar to Road Rage and Nautica.