#tf bw bumblebee

[starsha-k-luna]

🐝Bumblebee!🐝

HELLOOO EARTHSPARKKK

[antenanotaic3]

i wanted to draw a buncha bots so there u go

[adventuretolkienlover]

(REPOSTING! I accidentally got the poll run time wrong.😅)

Currently, I'm in the process of developing a Transformers TV Show, that I plan to pitch someday. (Who knows when that will happen, but I can prepare right?🤣) However, I'm kinda new to the fandom. And still learning about all the characters. I know I want Bumblebee as the Main Protagonist. But he needs some buddies. SOOOOOOOO...

Also, please feel free to tell why the protag you pick is your fav in the comments or tags! I'd love to hear your reasoning and learn more about them too! My current personal fav is so far is Rodimus! Besides Bumblebee of course.

(Reblogs are appreciated! I'd like this to have plenty of reach in the fandom!)

[heckyeahponyscans]

Excited to see the new Transformer movie, it comes out in September!

[comicalcarnival]

Here's my progress so far for TFcon prep! got a few of each made, but hoping to get more done.

[in1-nutshell]

Which TF buddy/characters have S/O?

As of now, these are the current Buddies that are dating/ Conjunx vs those that are pinning still.

BW

Dating/Conjunx: Spindle and Waspinator

Pinning:

TFP/ RID

Dating/Conjunx: Maxima and Grimlock, Ophelia and Steve, Sonar and Soundwave, Nightlight and Ratchet

Pinning: Lithia and Bumblebee, Red Cross and Deadloop, Weaver and Predaking

TFA

Dating/Conjunx: Silver Aid and Megatron, Gamma and Prowl, Nightlight and Ratchet, Pikestaff and Optimus

Pinning: Willow and Prowl

MTMTE

Dating/Conjunx: Juno and Rodimus, Moonstreaker and Swerve, Wobbles and Ambulon

Pinning: Alabaster Lapis and Fearless

TFE

Dating/Conjunx:

Pinning: Silver Aid and Megatron, Ophelia and Steve

G1

Dating/Conjunx: Ironhold and Rumble

Pinning: Nova and Bumblebee

TFONE

Dating/Conjunx: Nightlight and Ratchet

Pinning: Silver Aid and D-16/Megatron,

[siphersaysstuff]

FORTY YEARS!

As we reluctantly trudge into 2025, that means we've had FOUR DECADES of Transformers toys released globally with no breaks. So for January's Patreon-backed @tfwiki picture update, let's check out some toys from each of the major franchise chunks across TF history! Strap in!

I know it's an odd choice, but G1's representative is 1993's Europe-only Lightformer DEFTWING. But I think it's a fine example of TF's subteam gimmicks, the franchise's longevity even before the nostalgia boom, global reach, and its ever-evolving aesthetic.

(And as an personal-type note, this completes the Lightformers/Trakkons on the wiki, toy-pic-wise. Finally, all user-provided pics rather than crunchy old book scans. I love it when I can complete a team/theme like that.)

Beast Wars was a drastic change meant to save a dying line. And boy oh boy did it do that. Toys like 1997's B'BOOM mix "realistic" animal styling with super-posability and play gimmickry. Oh, also? This guy, a bit bigger than a modern Voyager, was $15. How's that make ya feel?

Car Robots/Robots in Disguise translated BW tech into classic TF Earth-vehicle alt-modes... with varying levels of success. WILDRIDE, aka X-BRAWN, here in a con-exclusive clear "transitional" state from regular to "Super" mode, is one of the better attempts.

The "Unicron Trilogy" really pushed toy-play gimmickry, and Armada's Mini-Cons are easily the best representative of the era. And Armada BLACKOUT (here in Powerlinx colors) embodies the versatility of their play pattern, with dedicated interactions with Demolishor.

The live-action movies were also a huge change in TF toys, both refining complexity and working some interesting gimmick & design challenges. 2007's DROPKICK is from the tie-in video games, and is a fun angry dude. The Bumblebee movie guy too? Maybe! Why not?

Animated's radical aesthetic shift had BW levels of immediate rejection followed by sudden glowing (and deserved) praise. SAMURAI PROWL shows off the tight coordination between the show and toy teams, making a complex design into a dang fun toy!

Prime kicked off the "Aligned" era, a massive reboot that formed the foundations of TF mythology going forward. New bots kept coming like AIRACHNID, here in her TakaraTomy "Arms Micron" release. And like other newcomers, proved popular enough to jump to other series!

Cyberverse used "evergreen" designs in a further shift to more kid-aimed TFs, which had started after Prime with Rescue Bots and Robots in Disguise 2015. ALPHA TRION embodies this with a much chunkier, simpler, action-gimmicky toy.

And now it's EarthSpark, focused on a new generation of TFs... but not all of them are nice! Chaos Terran SPITFIRE embodies the increased number of female TFs in the line... and the longstanding practice of redecoed toys as new characters, being a recolor of Twitch.

40 dang years. And I'll keep on going through it to bring more toy pics throughout its wide history for as long as I can. If you like these explorations and want to help out, consider contributing to my Patreon! Every little bit helps. You can find it at

"gregstfwikipics" at patreon dot com

[blueikeproductions]

More CyberWorld/EarthSpark stuff that stuck out to me.

Another page in the planning document cropped up, & it gives a general overview of what Hasbro had in mind at the time.

Two new shows are planned to come out, but this page confusingly doesn’t mention CyberWorld, just an “animated kids series” & an “animated pre-K series”.

The other pages still reference CyberWorld, so mostly going by what we’ve seen, CyberWorld is meant to be the kids series, but it’s a big question mark on the pre-k show. Rescue Bots ran its course, I got the feeling lil’ kids weren’t interested in RBA since it didn’t last as long, stories were both too preschool but also trying to tack on IDW centric ideas by forcing Laserbeak to be forgiven and becoming an Autobot, for reasons. Stuff that’s not interesting to lil’ kids or their parents.

When RBA ended, a new toyline took over but I don’t think it sold super well, nor did it have any fiction.

As well as only including Optimus Primal & BW Megatron Gator…? It was a random line, and clearly just filler to eke out RB style toys longer. I don’t see the new Pre-K show being this, but CHT did sell Decepticons as enemy characters unlike RB/A, so the Pre-K show might be based on the Great War this time? Or at the very least, stuff like the Decepticons robbing banks and power plants, lol. Or some gag about Soundwave illegally downloading music, only to be put in his place, but with a contradictory gag about the human kids and Bumblebee doing the same from time to time.

It’s pry too late to ape it now, but a modern pre-K show I could see being Spidey & His Amazing Friends tonally with toys similar to Paw Patrol’s. Like say you have the standard Optimus toy partnered with Spike (Skybound or G1 doesn’t matter), and the trailer transforms into a big jet for Optimus and Spike to ride in. Something like that.

As for CyberWorld.

The current assumption based on the toys, is it might be a return to vehicles vs animals that both RiDs, Beast Machines, Beast Wars II and ROTB (kinda) did.

The Decepticons seemingly being animal themed supports this (plus if Meg Bull IS Megatron, Megs trying to push off road Optimus off a cliff in bull mode is hilarious), though Galvatron is the odd one. The only one with a beast form is the BWII version…

Hasbro might be more open to Beast Wars again but they’re still a bit dodgy about the Japanese cast despite Lio Convoy and Magmatron. I could sooner see a G1 Galvatron than BWII Galvatron, but the fun approach would be an Armada Galvatron inspired design that borrows from G1, Energon & BWII.

Toy speculation suggests the line might be a repaint line like the old TF Universe series made up of Cyberverse, RiD15 and EarthSpark molds.

A possibility. Cited speculative examples of Sky-Byte being his Cyberverse toy, Chomp & Stomp Grimlock being another go at the AoE toy of the same name, & Mirage being RiD15 Blurr make sense, but I dunno. Scorponok and Galvatron stick out, as I would think they’d have to be new molds, though an argument can be made for a G1 colored version of RiD15 Scorponok… Similarly, they might repaint TFP Predaking into Galvatron if he’s a repaint and they wanted to homage BWII, but I’m leaning towards new molds for now.

CyberWorld ISN’T a cartoon, but a toy only subline or size class meant to replace the abandoned Core/Legion class.

Inconclusive. The tiny toys don’t seem to sell well as it is, Legacy just stopped being restocked my way so no BM Cheetor or Energon Megatron for me. Also guys like Iguanus shelfwarmed HARD. Rungs were still clogging Ollies until recently. CyberWorld is also shown to be the successor to ES in most of the documents that we can tell.

The CyberWorld cartoon will have a half of a half shoe string budget like Cyberverse and possibly be similar to it.

Inconclusive but not out of the realm of possibility either. Hasbro has been having its own problems lately, while Paramount is practically on fire right now. A lot of people mostly just seem to be clinging to how similar World & Verse sound, with the logo also looking slightly similar but still different enough. A lot more people also seem resistant to the idea of more Cyberverse either way. CV didn’t perform well either, the toys clogged store shelves from start to finish, heck the first wave went on clearance immediately after Christmas, and the series JUST came out, the messy, lackadaisical approach to the show’s (lack of) story, the bad voice acting, etc. It’s not a fondly remembered show as much as some make it out to be. And even then, you’d sort of expect, if it was directly related, Hasbro would shove Bumblebee front & center, despite the CV cartoon wanting little to do with Bee as it went on. Like let’s be real, if it was a CV sequel, Bee, Windy & Shadow should be here right out the gate. They’re not. At all. Windy is practically benched in favor of Elita now.

Mirage is the focus (seemingly) instead, presumably due to the ROTB version’s popularity. He’s certainly more fun than the rich snob that may or may not be a traitor the G1 version tends to be. Not that you can’t make the G1 version interesting but boy has Hasbro not really had any interest in doing so beyond his invisibility gimmick.

So really until told otherwise we know very little. All we know for sure is EarthSpark is being slowly phased out in favor of CyberWorld & a potential Pre-K show. The Slag Podcast host has given a knowing wink, and has a show planned that will presumably lay these Snaketicons out straight, as people have been calling him a lying liar again for sticking to what he knows. Similarly some have pointed out Nick Roche may have also been lying, giving false hope EarthSpark is continuing on when it’s pretty clear it isn’t. S2 is it people, one way or the other, and the new CyberWorld order is coming whatever it ends up being.

[seraphim-seeker]

So I was bored and made Various Slasher Version of TF Characters

IDW-ish Megatron

TFA Bumblebee and Bulkhead

Ratchet and Wreck-Gar

WheelJack

TFP StarScream

Final Girl! Tailgate

Haunted Doll! Minimus

Galvatron

Kiloton

Terminus

BW! Megatron

Sibs! TFP and TFA Optimus

Yea so I hope y’all fine them interesting

[geenawrites]

[published on letterboxd 7/27/23]

Beast Wars, produced by the defunct Mainframe Entertainment, is seminal children's television. It's the reason Transformers still has a pulse in a post-80s media landscape. It's the Star Trek of the franchise, grappling with the ethics of armed conflict and environmentalism. It's a fantastic series, esp if modern audiences can get past the dated CGI.

But in the twenty-odd years since its end on Fox Kids, Beast Wars has become the Blade of Hasbro's franchise. It proved the franchise's viability to the company, but since then the cast and story of BW have been regulated to the margins in favor of G1 nostalgia. My boys can't even get another show on their own, they have to be supporting characters to Optimus and Co. I hate it.

Rise of the Beasts is pretty much more of the same for the BW story, but worse. The Predacons have been annexed from the story altogether in favor of the Terracons, minions of Unicron. The Maximals are down to Rhinox, Cheetor, Primal, and Airrazor, who play supporting roles, yet again, to Optimus and Bumblebee. I hate it, y'all. Rise of the Beasts is everything I want to see stop for the Beast Wars story. I need Hasbro to put some respect on my team's name.

But, I didn't hate this movie.

I had fun watching this to some degree. What works for ROTB is the story surrounding Anthony Ramos and Dominique Fishback. Unlike previous TF films, minus Bumblebee, there's some sense of investment in their characters from the script and their integration with the Transformers conflict. The absence of Michael Bay as a director might be the best thing to ever happen for the human elements of this franchise.

The story in general? If you've seen the first two Transformers films, it's basically that. A MacGuffin hunt for a Transformers artifact.

Performances from the voice cast are fairly strong throughout. Michelle Yeoh and Ron Perlman do a lot to make their characters feel like more than what the film allows them. Peter Cullen still putting work as Optimus Prime. Everything he says sounds like something from a Toonami ad and it pleases me greatly. That annoying guy from SNL was even pretty good as Mirage. I him like better as a franchise mascot than Bumblebee, whose talking-through-audio-clips shtick is dull as dishwater now.

There was all this talk about one of the original voice actors from BW (the actor who played Depthcharge) being cast as Rhinox, but his lines were clearly cut because I ain't hear a peep from him.

ROTB is not a great film. It doesn't do the Beast Wars story any favors, the G.I. Joe tease made me roll my eyes more than Mirage becoming an exo-suit did. ROTB honestly seems to prove that the movie franchise doesn't have much going for it in terms of storytelling.

Much like Captain Marvel, it's heavy-handed on the nostalgia callbacks of the 90s and calls attention to itself in ways that it shouldn't. But I had fun watching this, and for a second time, the human element was probably the best part of the film.

Give it a watch if you aren't completely done with this franchise, but do me a favor and check out Beast Wars and Beast Machines. It's good shit.

[elfdragon12]

So with the caveat I am splashing around in the shallows of the franchise and everything I see makes me not want to go deeper. I do think it depends. I definitely get wanting fewer humans in Transformers. Multiple times watching the shows I’ve wanted the human characters gone. And yet. I have a soft spot for a bunch of the G1 humans and Bumblebee is probably my favourite thing from the franchise. A movie that’s mostly about a human. Though I still wish there was more with just the robots. But then they just make the robots humans anyway would be what I gather. And it would not necessarily make it better.

For example, I really do not like the Prime kids. Raf and Miko are annoying in their own ways and Jack is one of the blandest audience surrogates I have seen. But then they eventually got replaced with a robot, Prime Smokescreen, a character I despised. Prime had a LOT of issues, and a fair few good things, and I think the kids were just one of the symptoms overall. They largely had no reason to be involved with the actual war so reasons had to be contrived.

And I will say, I think part of it is that it’s a kid’s franchise at the core. And a bunch of the shows feel the need to have a token kid involved. Whether or not it makes sense. Like I also disliked Sari. Then I thought “would I dislike her if I were still a kid?” And my answer was that given the kind of kid I was, “probably, but less.” And as such people write off humans in the story entirely, when if used well they can make the story better.

Which is all I guess to say that I think it mostly boils down to what purpose the humans play in the story and how well said role is handled. For what it’s worth I did find ONE fun enough for the most part.

Sorry Beast Machines turned out to be such a dud. Hope it doesn’t affect your love for Beast Wars. And hope you like whichever one you watch next better!

Here's the thing (which you've touched on in this message): humans don't make a Transformers show bad, the writing quality does. Humans just tend to be the default scapegoat for a story's flaws.

You just gotta find what clicks with you. I tend to find the older shows more endearing, flaws and all.

I feel like a lot of Transformers stories that go out of their way to exclude humans tend to lose a lot of the heart that makes the best shows good. They usually try to be Edgy™️ and Mature™️, but don't do a very good job at it because they're trying too hard to be those things. (Folks try to claim Energon Universe is edgy, but apparently they didn't notice the tender moments sprinkled across the story.) While Cyberverse would not be considered edgy, it does try during the Quintesson/Matrix for preschoolers arc (Hot Rod's VA even tries to reflect this, but I don't think he executed it well). No one even dies via a smelter or a pool of lava! However, most of CV's flaws are in the absolutely atrocious pacing and "it's a kids' show" (derogatory). Rescue Bots is a preschool show through and through, but is much better written. It's often silly, but it's fun silly.

Maybe if there were more shows without humans, the ratio of good to not good would be less skewed towards not good. So far, TF One is the only one I'd say is good without a bunch of disclaimers, like "just skip the whole first season" or "it makes sense they're all acting like that because they're in a stressful situation--even though it's not inherently more stressful than the other show". It knows it's a kids' movie, so it works to tell a mature story that is enjoyable to their intended audience.

Beast Wars is great because it creates a good balance of serious, fun, silly, and thoughtful. Beast Machines has been called "too dark" for kids, but BW covers more serious topics. However, BW is a more brightly lit show and has humor (also Shakespeare quotes) so that it isn't too heavy for the child audience. (Don't worry, a poorly written follow-up couldn't possibly make me love BW less.)

TFA and TFP are pretty hit or miss when it comes to human characters. Personally, I think Sari generally works just fine as a child appeal character. I probably would have liked her if the show aired in 1997 on KidsWB. I did like Jade in Jackie Chan Adventures. Where TFA misses the mark is with the human antagonists, Prometheus Black/Meltdown being the only good one, Porter and Headmaster and Slo-Mo being okay, and the others being... Not great. The good TFP humans are June, Raf, and Fowler. There are people who like Miko, but I'm not one (maybe if her character actually grew and matured at all, it'd be different), and Jack is cardboard.

I think one of the big reasons that the original show's humans work so well is that they are supporting characters rather than main characters. Yes, even Spike. They rarely take over the story and they are typically quite competent in their support roles. The only humans I don't really like through the show are the BOT episode kids and Dirk Manus (no one came here for human/human romance!). Daniel is fine in the original show, in my personal opinion. I loved Rodimus remembering their friendship. There are also a lot of humans and it's a revolving door. Don't like a human? Don't worry, they probably won't show up again!

I've actually started another show! Victory! So far, it's pretty cute! The pacing of the episodes is kinda wonky and they introduce a lot of characters really fast so I'm having a hard time pinning names to bots. However, I think Holi and Jan are very cute friends and it's sweet how all these robots are this kid's foster family. Also, I've been watching Rescue Bots with my sister now it's on Tubi (seriously, at this point, there's very little reason to pay for a streaming service for TF shows now. Almost all of them are on Tubi or YouTube). There's a lot of focus on interpersonal relationships early on in Rescue Bots.

[blueikeproductions]

Adding on to the comment of using lesser known characters over more popular characters.

As much as modern writers keep trying to ship Optimus and Megatron together or Megatron and Starscream, something like that isn’t what the average Joe Convoy wants even if they are gay or gay compliant. Not to mention complaints off and on we barely see Optimus romantically with Elita-1, how’s that gonna work with Dion when Hasbro seems hellbent from denying Optimus romance in general?

I never really saw Starscream as being interested in anyone. Aside from the one time he filtered with Slipstream in Animated, and that feeds into what I’m about to say, Screamer seems like the type who is all about self love. He loves himself, slag everyone else. ESPECIALLY Megatron. Soundwave and/or Shockwave easily be the Smithers to Megatron’s Mr. Burns, but nobody really seems interested in exploring that. At all.

I could see Bumblebee being bi, but he’s another one that isn’t really lucky in the romance department. (Funny enough I have a vivid memory of Bumblebee having a tall girlfriend among the Female Autobots, but that clearly isn’t true sadly.) Occasionally they imply he has a thing for Arcee, and the one time he scored with Arcee in Devil’s Due TF vs GI Joe, he horrifically died shortly after… Maybe don’t ship him with Breakdown for fear of a disapproving Motormaster to swing by and stomp Bee into sheet metal…

Arcee has kinda become the poster child for NOT doing queer stuff. The horribly mismanaged trans backstory, the constant need to over correct it to the very end instead of maybe just not touching it at all and trying to make best of it, and the aforementioned age difference by pairing her with Aileron. By the time IDW2 corrected it by Arcee being an average gal with her wife Greenlight trying to raise a child during political upheaval on pre-war Cybertron, most had looooong since checked out. Now we’re back to Arcee being into men (as she was with suitors like Hot Rod, Springer, Chromedome, and more), by having her romantically interested in Ratchet via Skybound currently. Personally I say Arcee should be bi, speaking as a bi guy but unless you’re Nick Nelson, no one cares what we say it seems.

I think as a result using other characters is viewed as preferable. Like Tidal Wave, especially when he was upgraded into Mirage, being head over heels in love with Galvatron in Energon.

Personally my choices for gay rep in that department remain Inferno & Red Alert, Chip Chase, Tracks, Sunstreaker, Beachcomber, Daniel Witwicky, Buster Witwicky (I know he married his high school sweetheart Jessie, but I dunno, he always gave me a gay vibe), BlackArachnia (like Arcee, make her bisexual, but she still has to be her deadly yet sexy femme fatal self like in BW for this to work. We all know she’d make guys and gals weak knee’d!), Shadow Striker (I always personally assumed the CV writers wrote her as a lesbian, they just never outright said so to my knowledge), Grapple & Hoist, Sentinel Prime (his TFA self always struck me as the himbo type), and so on and so forth.

Oo! I know, next cartoon, bring back Buster and Chip, and have them be a couple, while Spike and Carly are a couple to have both worlds. Everybody wins.

IDW is heralded as a pioneer for queer representation for Transformers but it was the start and not be treated as the standard, one should always continue to strive to do better. People are likely afraid that any valid criticism towards IDW will conflated with its queer representation and scare off Hasbro from including it in future installments. However, the people doing that to appear to be associated with IDW itself such as Harrison who deflected to homophobia when faced with criticism, as if IDW didn't inherently cater towards homophobes (whether intentional or not) by having their canon queer characters and relationships be largely made up of lesser known characters opposed to legacy characters because it would be more palatable...

I don't want to throw out the proverbial baby with the bathwater, and I want to make it clear that the issue isn't queer relationships in and of themselves. I've seen plenty of metas from other creative minds that pointed out how you could write queer relationships with the cast of characters in such a way that it would make more sense in context, and not grind the giant transforming robot action to an absolute halt. But it's much harder to defend "romance is taking up way too much time" than "miss me with that gay shit," hence going with that stereotype with any and all criticism.

Then again, James Roberts was also the guy whose fanfic novella I keep making fun of literally had a scene where Soundwave has sex. And even he has claimed that it was too much in hindsight.

That and let's be honest. Between IDW tanking, WFC tanking, and now Earthspark's woeful underperformance, if anything would scare Hasbro off from hiring LBGTQ+ writers and inserting those relationships into Transformers going forward, it's those commercial failures, not the complaints of a few grifter Youtube channels who think making fun of Nightshade will get them a few extra ad dollars.

[zoskas]

src

[tfadvuuuk-blog]

[artlikesrobots]

oh hey there

i'm cheetor in the background

[pluralsword]

Bots helping out trans transformers - yes, all the circumstances depicted in this context are derivable from canon at this point. Also a post about part of how we got deep into transformers after watching Cyberverse, learning about trans ones, and the value of the stories. The thoughts are after the image IDs.

ID 1 of 4: A diorama of toy transformers on a trans flag floor in front of a sci-fi polity backdrop. On the bunk lying down is a IDW1 Arcee with her right hand raised in enthusiasm. Her left hand is held by PRID Arcee, who is also holding an energon goods box near her counterpart while turning to look to her left, as is Anode next to Lug, in turn near BBM, ER, IDW2, and Energon Arcees doing the same. Three medics are standing around PRID Arcee: BBM Ratchet with a hand to his head an MP Ratchet medical arm out his back, Minerva with an arm around him & clenching a wrench, & a custom Velocity sticking a cylindrical accessory into IDW1 Arcee's back stack as if a syringe. That Arcee has a cable running into her back. her sword hilts, a rifle, a red jetpack, & her old Spotlight Arcee back stacks by the bunk. In front is S86 Arcee with a sword over her shoulder & holding Jhiaxus's head, while Q-TF Arcee holds his rifle. Road Rage, Sideswipe, Chromia, & Animated Arcee block the entry of Ultra Magnus. End ID.

ID 2 of 4: On the same background as before is a diorama with boxes and books assembled to resemble two small apartment homes. A door made out of a sketchpaper cardboard cover is open to the apartment on the left, with a custom Velocity (from TR Blurr) standing in the doorway. Ahead of her to the right is a custom Nautica (from WFC Chromia) being embraced by a custom Lug (from TR Rewind) while a custom Anode (from RID15 Warrior Windblade) has her hands raised in excitement. Behind her IDW2 Arcee (from WFC Nightbird) shares an embrace with WFC Greenlight while the two have arms outstretched looking at the open home. Jetpack and prime armor accessories are at the feet of Lug, Anode, Arcee, and Greenlight, imitating luggage, and Anode has a fusion cannon firing chamber/grip stored in her back turbine, also imitating luggage of a sort. End ID.

ID 3 of 4: On the same backdrop with no additional structures are just some transformer toys. To the left is PotP Elita with and TR Overlord with arms on the hips or hanging to the side, and Origins Bumblebee waving. The three are watching with pride as BW Archadis and WFC Vertebreak run towards each other, WFC Acid Storm shares an embrace with Ion Storm and Nova Storm, and BBM Soundwave hugs a BBM Howlback who has leaped onto him, head and front legs on his shoulders. Gathered by those last two are BBM Buzzsaw sitting in bird mode, BBM Ravage sitting on back legs with jaws open in a howl, and BBM Frenzy waving back at Bumblebee. End ID.

ID 4 of 4: On the same trans flag and polityscape background as before, a tense situation is depicted with a transformer diorama. On the left side from back to front is Cheetor holding the Allspark & a sword, Legacy Prime Arcee holding the Omega Lock, & the Forge of Solus Prime is seen raised by a barely visible Smokescreen, standing behind the next row of bots: Legacy Bulkhead with his mace & rotary blaster out, FoC Jazz w/ a pistol raised, & Universe Tread Bolt with shoulder cannons up & his blaster over his shoulders. Next up are S86 Rodimus with a pistol and a blast effect lit Matrix, Siege Rung, WFC Airazor, a Mistress of Flame w/ hammer, IDW1 Arcee w/ swords, & CW Pyra Magna with her ax. Last in front are Cyberverse deluxe Grimlock in Trex mode, and TR Windblade holding the T30 Stormfall sword. Opposite the bots are SG Flamewar with a rotary blaster and shield raised, Cyberverse deluxe Dead End, Kingdom Cyclonus, Siege Megs, & Ultra Slipstream with blasters raised, & Motormaster with sword. End ID.

So- First image: IDW1 Arcee did actually have a reformatting surgery of her own volition from Ratchet in MTMTE #27 Dark Cybertron Chapter 10 The Becoming, and she was happy about it, unlike the extra bullshit Jhiaxus tacked on to her surgery from him! Anode helped her out in between those events for a while. Arcees generally, trans or no, care deeply about ethics and compassion of some sort, helping people out and willing to put their all into it. Showing up for the surgery of someone they care about is the kind of thing they'd do. Magnus is there cuz' he arrested her in Spotlight Arcee. Which well, prison wasn't what she (or anyone) needed for what her situation was. Sideswipe was there because even though he didn't understand her much until the end, HE TRUSTED HER ANYWAY, stood by her choices, risked his life for her as she did for him. Chromia is there because of how close she is with Windblade and how Windblade sees things, more on that later.

The second image is because Anode & Lug had been homeless for at least part of the duration of Great War, & Arcee in An Arcee Sort of Day having had trouble getting a housing loan. We chose Nautica to help them because she eventually understood Anode and Lug’s economic reasons for theft after initially taking issue with them.

The 3rd image doesn't have to do with the characters as much as it does things from IDW1 & AVP (although Archadis, Howlback, and Overlord’s gender expansive stories come up in Ask Vector Prime): in the former, the loneliness of trans characters shown, cut off from or having lost community & understanding from people, & eventually finding family. In the latter, working together for euphoria.

The last image is a bit more abstract/cobbled together. The Decepticons in e.g. Cyberverse, sought to meddle with Cybertron's reproductive autonomy: deciding form & role for new gens ('Perfect' Decepticons) with similar assignment for MTOs in IDW1, and forced weaponization (e.g. FoC). The Autobots have also sometimes been guilty of aspects of the latter two, but they more often champion autonomy as a way of life. Remaking/reforging derived from Solus Prime's story is an important metaphor/value for Camiens like Windblade, who respected Arcee when few would. The collective souls of reemerging generations in a cycle of life and death with the AllSpark parallels that reforging view, as shown by the words of Dai Atlas in the Escape miniseries, and the Matrix of Leadership had a direct link to the AllSpark in IDW2 as well.

From all this one can extrapolate that the fate of the AllSpark, the value of recreation of self and the access to capacity to do so have particular connotations both for trans transformers and all bots, just as building reciprocity, trust, wellbeing, and protection from malpractice do. Thus, to us, it's abundantly clear that while Transformers in regards to transformers does not deal with trans issues as a copy of Earth issues [this includes how in IDW1 Cybertronian androcentrism that (trans) gals face is not the same as ours] they speak to timeless aspects of autonomy. It is no accident that a number of trans people have been drawn to these stories over the years. Apart from enjoying them for other reasons, this aspect is there. Even when Transformers media is not talking about trans people, it is often dealing with things that effect us.

And that goes on a less dire level too. Like, the fact characters usually have two or more modes that are very different & related. And body modification is a deep & regular part of these stories, something a lot of people do. And the theme of change and agency itself in stories. This is say: if you either get what's happening in our world where gender expansive folks are in dire straits but we try to make joy and love anyway, just as the trans characters in these stories do, or if you can connect with how transformers is- there is something related.

If this motivates somebody to think carefully about how political engagement choices in how our lives are effected by issues mentioned prior and gets curious about transformer or robot stories that tackle this stuff, then we've achieved something. Thank you for reading :3 <3 ⚧️ 🏳️‍⚧️