#tf earthspark critical

[entropicfission]

sometimes i think about how tf: earthspark could have been so FUCKING GOOD. like, season 1 wasn’t perfect or anything, but it was setting up the stage for some solid “oh SHIT!!!” storytelling that we haven’t seen since like, TFA’s whole omega supreme lore drop. and then season 2 pissed it all away.

we had a megs-and-dot dual critique of what they saw as optimus’ pandering to human “respectability politics” in the face of real-time injustice. that’s CRAZY. WE COULD HAVE HAD THAT. we could have had dot dissect her entire backstory in the military as a Black woman playing by the rules of US colonial imperialism, throwing herself into it to be used as a tool of oppression, only to see it for what it was and subsequently say “fuck that” and distance herself and becoming besties with MEGATRON — LIKE. IM CRAZY WITH IT. but no . s2 said lol what if we refused to even try

[justmenoworries]

Something something the fact that the Maltos are a co-dependent hive-mind is never really addressed in the show, something something EarthSpark's insistence on only ever presenting the Malto kids as a group seriously hurts their individual character development

[magic-glasses]

YESSS WE’RE GETTING 2B BEFORE THE YEAR ENDS

And a 2D in 2026?? This season is gonna be super long but I’m not complaining 😭

[ultimatefartwizard]

EARTHSPARK MESSAGES AND SUBTEXT THATS NOT EVEN SUBTEXT

It's been a while since I have posted as I've been busy with finals, but I saw a post that absolutely made me spur a headache with just how utterly fatuous of a take I saw on Transformers Earthspark and the messages it sends.

DISCLAIMER: DO NOT USE THIS POST TO ATTACK OR HARASS ANYONE, THIS IS ONLINE DISCUSSION OF A WORK OF MEDIA.

THIS ALSO COVERS SPOILERS FOR SEASON 1 OF EARTHSPARK, IF YOU WISH TO AVOID SUCH A TOPIC PLEASE REDIRECT YOURSELF.

@monocle-teacup Won't repost your post as the way tumblr reposts works would have everything funnel onto your account, but I'll be pinging you and I did screenshot your post for viewer's context:

I have ALOT to talk about here, while also being completely in shock and disbelief how you end up BELEIVING THE SIDE THAT IS A GENOCIDAL LUNATIC WHO SEES THE TRANSFORMERS AS SUBHUMAN AND A DISEASE ON THE EARTH??? AND IS WILLING TO FULL ASS MURDER AND MUTILATE PEOPLE? From here any * you may see is likely a footnote mark to check details I put at the end for clarity. If I miss something, let me know and I will clarify.

Before I get into the meat of dissecting your clearly ill-informed and definitely not thoroughly thought out post, I need to get something out of the way because I believe you'll use this as a means of shielding yourself from incoming critique: It's okay to like and enjoy characters who are clearly bad people. There is a CLEAR difference between enjoying a fictional character and agreeing with whatever they might do or say. I enjoy many bad and morally reprehensible characters, including Mandroid/Doctor Meridian, but that doesn't mean I agree with them or don't find their actions and ideas deplorable. If you find yourself agreeing with someone who sees another group of people* as being subhuman or a danger to society you need to reconsider your ideologies and thought processes. Like ASAP.

Okay onto the actual deconstruction of your statements, why they are blatantly lacking a thorough reading of the messages in Earthspark, or even lead into uncomfortably ignorant territories both with Transformers and very real-life, human related things.

As a first point, you state that you hope this show re-examines the fact that hatred towards another group of people (even if they are fictional) automatically makes them a terrible person, and bring up the statement that the show makes GHOST's detainment of transformers look "cartoonishly evil" but does absolutely nothing to address Dr.Meridian's statements of transformers being dangerous.

Yes. Yes it ABSOLUTELY DOES address that throughout the entire show. In fact, the whole season is literally about deconstructing the notion that BOTH Dr.Meridian's and GHOST's ideals and methods are harmful if not downright discriminatory towards transformers as a whole.

GHOST's method of control is a guise under the US government by detaining any transformer they deem as "a threat", this can even mean autobots or non-aligned transformers who don't want to join their organization or are just doing their own thing. They will willingly classify them all as "Decepticons" to justify their inhumane treatment of them. This is paralleling how humans will stereotype and conflate other groups of people, as being all associated with one singular event or organization of people that is seen as bad or a danger to society* and use that stereotyped ideal to weaponize it against them and justify harming them in multiple ways; which is what Dr.Meridian ALSO DOES THROUGHOUT THE ENTIRE SHOW. Dr.Meridian is a scientist that literally works with and is a huge provider of technology to GHOST, he literally works with them and experiments on the detained transformers. You can't say "oh GHOST bad Dr.Mer not so bad" when he's LITERALLY PART OF GHOST AND YOU CANNOT SEPARATE THEM. HE IS EXTREME AND OUTSPOKEN ABOUT HIS HATRED THROUGHOUT THE SHOW AND ACTIVELY IS SHOWN TO BE ENTIRLEY IN THE WRONG BOTH IDEOLOGICALLY AND ACTION WISE. You clearly have not watched with a critical eye if you think they never address his points or somehow he is right about something. He never is and it shows just how harmful his mentality is. You don't even need words spoken out loud to know he's ALREADY HEINOUSLY WRONG AND BIGOTED.

Why should the show, one that shows transformers having to battle against racist and xenophobic hatred towards them from humans, re-examine that relationship? People are being discriminatory to people they don't like, and to them it doesn't matter if they are decepticon or not; they're all the same and dangerous in their eyes. Yes, there was a war brought onto earth's soil from pure happenstance of where the Ark and members of the two named groups had landed, and yes it was bloody and many lives were lost like any war is. Should the war, as well as atrocious acts of violence by a few and the circumstance that which the birth and type of being transformers are deem all transformers as dangerous? OBVIOUSLY FUCKING NOT. That's literally stereotyping. That's what Dr.Meridian is doing. He's literally grouped them all into one conglomerate in his head and sees them all as pests to be exterminated.

The transformers are both immigrants and refugees of war that had lasted thousands of millions of years and a desperate attempt to find any source of energon because they would STARVE TO DEATH IF THEY DIDN'T AND RESOURCES WERE DANGEROUSLY SCARCE ON CYBERTRON. They are thousands of lightyears away from home in a place that doesn't have the cultures they are familiar with and structures built for them which accommodates their needs. And to add onto it, most were never originally outfitted with guns and shit. They had to ARM THEMSELVES TO PROTECT AGAINST ATTACKS. JUST BECAUSE YOU SEE A GUN POP OUT OF THEIR BODY DOESN'T MEAN THEY ARE BUILT LIKE THAT NOR DOES IT MEAN THEY ARE AUTOMATICALLY ALL DANGEROUS. The only ones who are theoretically "built for war/violence" are war-frames like seekers, but they didn't even CHOOSE THAT LIFE OR WANT IT! THEY ARE COLD CONSTRUCTED* AND LITERALLY ENSLAVED INTO BEING CANON FODDER FOR WHATEVER SKERMISH THEY ARE DEEMED NEEDED FOR. Starscream wasn't even a warrior before this, he was just some nerd ass scientist. Cold constructed bots and War-frames are already deemed subhuman by other transformers. The entire war that you see is a continual millions of years struggle which the origins are in a fight against their own horrible systematic oppressions to try and bring freedom and put an end to the horrible reign back on Cybertron. How does them being robot organisms displaced by ongoing war, a continual brutal and bloody struggle for freedom back at home, and dangerous resource scarcity make them any more dangerous than your average person? And the "they are robots/walking death machines" argument doesn't count because you're only seeing them from a nonhuman lense in that case. Take off those nuts and bolts covered glasses and think of how this would be if they were all humans instead. The visuals of only seeing them for their robotics are blocking your ability to view this group as simply a mirroring of humans in nonhuman bodies. Humans are just as dangerous and ostracizing as them. Literally humans slaughter other humans frequently; bring upon hatred and obscene actions onto one another with or without robotic attachments and aid of machines. Just because the transformers are robotic extraterrestrials who are "different biologically/mechanically" makes it no different from the dehumanization and other forms of racism and xenophobia. Transformers are literally just... humans in a robot shell. You can't argue against this at all because most if not all have human forms, ALL of them have human minds, and just happen to come from a planet they need to be insanely large sized on, as well as already pre-armed due to conflict that they have escaped from.

The whole story of Earthspark is LITERALLY about the experiences of the Terrans; first generation descendants of immigrant refugees navigating the struggles that come with being just that. They make whole episodes surrounding their feelings of alienation and their struggle to have a place in the world, their culture and history and who they are. They want to feel they belong and feel they have a place in this world and be seen just as human and belonging as their human family. Their government and the world around them alienates them and treats them sub-humanly despite them being just as human, flaws and all, as us. Since I'm praddling on about this topic, did you even ABSORB ANY OF THE EPISODES HOME PART 1 AND 2???? IT'S ABOUT THIS TOPIC AND TEACHES HOW THIS MENTALITY OF TREATING THE TRANSFORMERS AS SUBHUMAN ALIENS THAT NEED TO GO AWAY OR NEED TO BE CLASSIFIED AS DANGEROUS/A INVASIVE "SPECIES" THAT NEEDS TO BE REMOVED IS BAD. IT SHOWS THE RACISM AND XENOPHOBIA THAT ESPECIALLY COMES WITH BEING CHILDREN OF IMMIGRANTS AND THE ISOLATION THEY FACE.

Please, I heavily implore you to go back and watch them. You somehow miss the entire point of the show and ESPECIALLY this episode. Many episodes cover different points of their existence as first gen children and the reality that the transformers have to face in general while being refugees on a planet with others being hostile and degrading to them but this particular episode is the one that tackles the points I make in this post the most. It may not go super deep into it due to forced time constraints and other executive nonsense that makes it harder to go into more detail but it still covers the topic very well.

Humans getting nipped at the heels for being bigoted towards transformers isn't some "ouugh you can't think the decepticons did bad things" type of nonsense and I absolutely hate the "oh because you can't be bigoted towards a group of people it means you suddenly can't criticize the actions of someone who happens to be someone of that group" mentality you seem to be concocting out of thin air. It's them associating the entire race of transformers as all bad, unbelonging or worthy of being seen as dangerous and to be wary around them or like they need to not be on earth and "go back where they came from". You go between "decepticons" and "transformers" interchangeably and seem to do exactly as the show heeds against heavily; conglomerating the actions of a FEW to encompass the overall worthiness of a WHOLE POPULATION OF PEOPLE.

Doctor Meridian is wrong and genuinely evil and disturbing with how he treats them and him seeing them as dangerous and a pest needing to be eradicated nor should any of his views be agreed upon, no matter how much you may try to defend him. There's more I could add but for simplicity's sake but that's what I mainly will state. The rest of clarity can be discussed in the comments.

I'm not sure whether your lack of understanding of the show and its messaging you are discussing or your love for one of the major villains is clouding your judgement, but please read EVERYTHING here to its fullest extent. Nothing here is intended as an attack on your character (if you're somehow seeing it that way) but as a heavy critique of your views on this show and how you are analyzing things. I might sound like I'm yapping to yap or "it's not that deep", but it literally is. The show and it's writing make it a big point and I will refuse to accept any iteration of "you're making a mountain out of a molehill" type statements. If you have any questions or comments you're free to bring them up.

-With confusion and annoyance, Wizard.

-Footnotes- *By group of people, I refer to sapient (human minded) beings who are grouped by either race, ethnicity, nationality, religion, gender, sexuality, disability, etc. By this classification, Transformers are considered a group of people; even if they are "nonhuman" *If you are somehow seriously confused or appalled by me pointing out real world racism and xenophobia as parallels to what is being done by GHOST, Dr. Meridian, and your average run of the mill civilian, you need to reread absolutely everything. Racism and xenophobia are a huge talking point in the show and I refuse to retract this statement. *Cold Constructed means the transformer was made in a factory, more often than not to be a worker slave for whoever is demanding they be produced. Two characters off the top of my head who are cold constructed is Starscream and Megatron.

[cosmics-beings]

Can I ask your opinion on what you personally think a good redemption arc for Megatron would be? I agree with your opinion of IDW/ES’s attempts because it really feels like something is…missing.

this is kinda critical, and it may be strange coming from me because over the past year I've tended to be soft on megatron but I've also been looking at characters with a more critical lens....so if hardcore megatron critique offends you then just look over. also...these are MY opinions.

What is missing is actual accountability, because in none of Megatrons redemption arcs does he ever actually take accountability, at least not in a way, IMO, that does anything for the narrative or holds him accountable.

There’s a lot of things that could’ve been done different. while I don’t really agree with how things are going in ES in regards to his character, what I do like is that Megatron’s past actions are finally coming back to get him. And by that, I mean that all the Decepticons have practically turned their back on him, which I love. And it also shows the organization can and in some cases should exist without him. I think what I didn’t like about ES, is that his redemption fell flat because he didn’t really understand a lot of what he did wrong. Meaning that, yes he was very sympathetic about being a warlord, and causing war and stuff. we even saw how much he cared about the deceptions and how angry he’d get when he thought that Optimus was working with GHOST to subdue the cons.

However, Megatron’s care for the Decepticons in ES is very very conditional. Meaning that if any Con had an issue with I’m, or literally wasn’t worshipping his feet or seeing him as a leader, he was prone to violence. This was shown with the Seekers AND Soundwave especially Soundwave — whom his peaceful facade broke the minute Soundwave held him accountable.

So I can’t say I completely hate ES, because it shows the flaws in taking a war lord and trying to make him a family grandpa, when he hasn’t really, truly been held accountable. But that’s also the thing that kinda makes me not like his redemption arc in ES. He is free, with the Autobots, with the Maltos, while his people are not. AND YES, for whatever reason, Megatron betrayed them. Maybe Megaton thought he was doing the right thing, maybe he thought it was saving the Decepticons, regardless it was still a bad look imo.

I hope ES points that out, how hypocritical he is, how the Deceptions don’t really want him as a leader because of that. 

IDW/Lost Light...

I love the Lost light, and i have a soft spot for LL Megs, but I really don't think Megatron deserved a lot of the nuance and care he got, when other characters had to suffer and didn't really get that. LIKE soundwave and other cons/ex-cons also deserved that nuance and love he got.

I think what i really hated however is how Megatron's presence on the Lost Light overshined a lot of the other characters. There was this need to push an unneeded redemption to the point that other people's narratives were overlooked. Rodimus suffered MASSIVELY for this, and he became an addition to Megatron' s arc, wherein he still had so much more growing to do. Now his character is solely tied to megatron and to me at least, it's kinda annoying. He deserves to exist outside of megatron but because there was a need for redemption for Megatron, he doesn't get that.

The relationship between Magnus and Rodimus, which needed to be highlighted, was HEAVILY destroyed because the narrative wanted Megatron to be the main character. And Roddy's trauma with being a prime was essentially downplayed.

I think that Megatron probably should've fought Unicron with the others in the end. And similar to starscream and soundwave, i think death, certain death would've been a great redemption for him. I'm not saying he can't be on the lost light for a while but essentially he wasn't held accountable for anything he did. he got therapy, he got a family, and he also got to leave to go to the functions universe and live a life he wanted.

and yeah maybe he gets executed, but there is also another megatron who was created with another LL, who doesn't get that, and he gets to be free and happy, while trillions are still dead because of him.

I don't think he actually got a redemption arc in the LL simply because he wasn't held accountable for anything. He got a very compelling, sympathetic story that i guess worked...

but i never saw it as redemption because he never was truly truly held accountable for what he did.

that's just my opinion. all of this is just my opinion so you don't have to agree with my takes!

[earthspark-shockwaves-reduction]

...you know I gotta be honest. even if it was written so he's called out by another disabled character for it. "I got disabled in a war with these people and now I hate all of them and want them gone" was a really fucking shitty motivation to give a main villain. also making it so the disabled character on the Good Guy Side that calls him out and says it's no excuse has a prosthetic that is neat and easy to conceal and "blend in" with the rest of her body while the villain's prosthetics look mangled and rusty and Inhuman in comparison to the rest of his body because He's The Villain was shitty too. the fuck

[matchbet-allofthetime]

❗Transformers Rant Post❗

(note: this is all done in one sitting and is based on personal observations and continuities I know are linked through concept art, canon continuations, etc, so I THINK this is all fairly (if not almost fully) accurate, but if not, don't come at me, tf has been my special interest for my entire life. If it sounds ramble as hell, that's because it is. My bad.)

OKAY SO

Here we go

Hopefully there's a cut because this is long and I get pissy. Enjoy.

So i just learned that in transformers Rise of the beasts, they based Optimus' face under his battle mask off of Peter Cullen (aka THE VOICE OF OPTIMUS PRIME SINCE 1984)

And from what I'm aware, they only publicly released that they made that design choice AFTER trailers released and people were saying Optimus' design was terrible and ugly, which is so disrespectful

And I'm gonna cry about this ajdjdj

While also on this topic, I am sick of being told "bayverse sucks!!!" Or some other equivalent when people talk about the bayverse movies

Because Optimus was voiced IN EVERY ONE OF THOSE FILMS by Peter Cullen, so that's just,,, don't disrespect who MADE YOUR FANDOM WHAT IT IS (give him credit for how well he did everything at least, you don't HAVE to like bayverse, no one is forcing you)

Transformers fans (mostly newer ones/ones who have gotten into the fandom in the past three to four years, I've noticed) are the vast majority of those who are CONSTANTLY bashing designs.

It's been done with bayverse (YEARS after the films released and did FANTASTICALLY), it's happened to Earthspark, and now to ROTB. This is bullshit and so disrespectful. You can criticize a design without being a dick, for one, and two? The animators didn't ask your god damn opinion.

And ALSO the reason they did his model after his face in rotb? Because *Hasbro wouldn't hire Peter Cullen this time around so (I assume) they did it to honour him because he was disrespected and tossed to the side by Hasbro because Hasbro sucks ass

He's the reason we HAVE OPTIMUS PRIME. Not a single voice could've fit, not a single person would've made Optimus who he is other than Peter Cullen.

He's the reason we have transformers prime. (Because he VOICES OPTIMUS HERE TOO) And the TFP movie (TFP beast hunters predacons rising, where he ONCE AGAIN VOICES OPTIMUS). And he's the reason why we have the continuation of that, which is transformers robots in disguise (WHERE HE IS, ONCE AGAIN, OPTIMUS MOTHERFUCKING PRIME) And then THAT became comics with tfp's characters that didn't exist anywhere else in canon (as far as I'm aware, it's been a while, IE knockout and breakout with their TFP DESIGNS, etc) then became earthspark later down the line, which was a mix of mtmte, TFP, and bayverse designs in concept art bc it combined ideas

Bayverse is ALSO ALSO the reason we HAVE ROTB. AND BUMBLEBEE 2018.

The reason I say he's responsible for all of these? The reason I say that Bayverse is a backbone for transformers (branching off from G1 ofc)? Because every single new fucking continuity or series or comics or whatever the hell is ALWAYS based on preexisting designs merging with new ideas.

He made Optimus Prime who Optimus Prime is and frankly I am a little god damn sick of people saying "this series/movie is bad" or whatever just because they don't like it

Anyways I had to rant but I'm not sorry about it and I hope others can feel a bit heard because I am so fed up with online slander.

I grew up with Bayverse. It gave me my entire start to this fandom. It gave THOUSANDS OF US STARTS TO THIS FANDOM. It is the SOLE reason we have so much we have now, as much as we have- and god damnit, you don't have to like it but UNDERSTAND it is the ONLY reason you have more than 3/4 the content this fandom currently does (if not more)

/end rant

[cheesythicdoritolegz]

Wow, this is pretty good criticism for the show. Something has been bothering me about season 2 for quite awhile now.

When I watched it the first time, I'm gonna be honest... I had fun with those recent episodes. They were a lot more action packed and I was ecstatic when I saw some of the legacy characters made more appearances. However, in the last 4 episodes, I felt conflicted with how they went more into this dark direction. Especially when it's supposed to be directed towards a young audience (13+). When I saw this post today, the internal conflict I have towards this direction increased quite a bit.

For the last couple hours, I have been having this question linger in my head: Who is this show really for?

It's like this show is trying to do this "have cake and eat it too" route. Where there's one part where it goes pretty wholesome and sweet, and it goes into this other part where it acts all serious and dark.

When it comes to going towards the dark direction, I think it worked well in TFP since it had some mature themes at the very start of the show. However, when it comes to Earthspark....I don't know. It just doesn't work out well at times.

Especially when they're literally displaying scenes of Robby getting seriously ill and later on possibly dying in some form of alternate scenario. This was a way to prove to Mo how she's that needed for such heavy responsibility, which is fucking crazy looking back at it.

What's even worse is that she had to fight Mandroid ALL BY HERSELF!!!!!

A little girl had to fight a robo hating maniac (who doesn't even mind hurting her and her brother too) , and her parents just watch being all proud of her. LIKE BRUH!!!!

If that was my kid, I would have been mad at Quintus Prime for giving my kid such a responsibility and doubling down on that. I would kick both him and Mandroid's ass, and find some way that my kid doesn't have to go through this heavy burden anymore. She and her brother are already going through so much, and they're freaking kids. And, I don't care if Optimus Prime tries to stop me. I'm going to swing REAL hard on these assholes.

Along with that, the fact that they even shown the possibility of Dorothy and Alex dying in front of their kids, and Mandroid almost succeeding in committing GENOCIDE...I don't know, it's freaking crazy. I don't know how they even thought it would be a good idea showcasing this to kids when these themes are kinda pretty dark.

Also, the idea that throughout show is that they want to enforce to these kids that they are THAT deeply important in the powers they possess...I don't know. It makes me somewhat depressed. It's even worse when you have to think about the Terrans for a second. The idea that they were just created not too long ago, and they're constantly put on this pedestal that it's their responsibility in re-establishing and preserving relations between other OLDER cybertronians. They're all kids and seeing all of them having to act more like adults to fix actual adults kinda breaks my heart.

They shouldn't be exposed to the dark realities of the world so quickly. They shouldn't be given and enforce a great amount of responsibility. They shouldn't be the ones to manage how actual adults act towards one another. They should be kids by maintaining their childhood and have fun with the limit amount of time they have.

Just for ONCE, let these kids be kids and stop making them be the adults. FFS.

The fact that people are more concerned about a Nonbinary character...I don't know, I feel a bit pissed off. If people are worried about this show's direction, it SHOULD be about THIS!!!

I had a lot more criticism with the storyboards being revealed and how some parts of these episodes didn't have more screentime/context with how certain things turned out. It's something I could talk about for another day, but my brain is all fried from rambling.

What do you feel is more concerning for children with what is in the EarthSpark series; all of the clear terror and death, or having a they/them pronouned character?

Because the terror and death is seemingly entirely looked over but the ONE CHARACTER going by different pronouns is apparently nothing short of outrage.

Anon, I Am Nonbinary.

I’ll put a more thought out response under the cut

Earthspark drinking game take a sip every time an extremely young child has to emotionally support an adult or is put in life-threatening danger.

1. Steven Universe really ruined a generation of children’s media by making showrunners think they had to tackle issues like PTSD and trauma.

However, to give SU some credit, Steven was not 9 years old at the start of the show. It’s a really jarring choice that was probably made to capitalise on a more marketable demographic for TF and to keep the children’s play more lighthearted, but you get some really weird moments like (checks notes) a nine year old giving advice to an adult on how to handle trauma.

The issue with this is no nine year old should ever have to do this for an adult. They do not need to be wise beyond their years. They do not need to be a therapist for their caretakers. Grimlocks PTSD episode is one of the most egregious examples of this, where (not only is this depiction extremely one-note and weird) the narrative punishes Jawbreaker for not realising Grimlock is having a panic attack in the middle of their play.

As a framing device in a kids movie, what is a nine year old viewer supposed to take from this? The child brain is going to think ‘the adult lashed out and hurt Jawbreaker, it was his fault for being too rowdy.’ LIKE YOU WOULDNT SEE THIS IN PEPPA PIG.

And you do need to consider this when you’re writing children that young in your media, because kids are going to watch shows that have other kids the same age as them in it. There’s an almost instinctive camaraderie in seeing a fellow nine-year-old on TV when you’re at that age. So, the show is very likely going to be watched by 8-15 year olds which brings us to

2. JESUS CHRIST. THIS SHOW NEEDS TO CALM DOWN.

This show is way way way too interested in putting children in extreme danger. Constantly, towards the end of the series.

I’ll make a note first that it’s okay if kids shows have fun play-violence; kids like action. Children like low-stakes explosions. It’s not super serious and most TF media does this well, even if it’s tonally a bit more serious. This is not really an issue in a show like TFP or TFA which also had young kids.

Earthspark does not make its action low-stakes. Earthspark treats its violence extremely seriously; children cry, they scream, they get bruised, their parents wail when they see them in danger. Violence has a lasting impact, it has to because the show constantly wants to talk about trauma, so they can’t have video game rules. If they get hurt it has to impact them. Robbie and Mo are in consistent, life-threatening danger. They’re always being shot at or dropped off cliffs or almost killed and it always harrows them.

And kids can pick up on this. They’re going to realise that this is something that’s Serious, and Scary, and they’re going to be FREAKED out.

They’re also going to be freaked out when the children are fuckin. Tied into the bio-wall with tubes by Mandroid, or when Robbie has alien leukaemia and his parents are so so scared and has to rush him to the hospital and Mo is crying so much, or when their parents are seemingly killed and the kids are screaming and punching the ground and blaming themselves.

And that last part is important, because on several occasions the narrative reinforces this. The narrative. Of a children’s show. Says yes; Robbie and Mo have powers, and this makes them responsible for the well-being of the adults around them. Mo literally gets told this. By GOD. Before her parents proudly watch on without interfering as she fights in hand to hand combat with the villain (WHO IS, AS WE HAVE SEEN, FUCKING DERANGED AND WOULD LOVE TO KILL A TEENAGER JUST ONCE PLEASE PLEASE)

In conclusion, what this tells me is the showrunners are inexperienced. They didn’t consider what is appropriate for the subject matter of a children’s cartoon. They wanted to write about trauma, and war, and think kids are cute! And didn’t want their TF fanfiction to be narratively compromised by having to ‘dumb it down’ for kids.

The result is this is never a show I would ever put on for a 4th grade class in break time, at the risk of severely upsetting a lot of them. And it’s also a show I can’t enjoy as an adult, because it uses the language of a children’s cartoon to make nuanced topics more binarised and soppy.

[still-not-over-transformers]

Here is some content for whilst I continue to work on my requests. I just really got inspired to write some Headcanons for (TFP and TF Earthspark Starscream x Reader) and how they would show their affection for the reader. 

TFP & TFE Starscream x Reader Headcanons (Showing Affection to GN Human Reader) 

Word Count: 900+

TFP:

Let’s face it, showing others genuine affection and praise doesn’t come easy for Starscream. This could most likely be from himself receiving more criticism and spite than respect and positive reinforcement. So when it comes to showing (Y/N) affection, it’s subtle, especially if other prying eyes or optics are watching. 

At first he would be aloof towards you in public settings, especially around the other Vehicons and Decepticons on the Nemesis. Then it would gradually turn into little jabs at how small you were, and how a helpless human such as yourself couldn’t possibly navigate the Nemesis on your own. But he was willing to “graciously” lend you a helping hand, so to speak. 

Despite initially choosing to ignore your presence, Starscream would quickly switch to insisting on having you near him as much as possible. The first time he received a compliment from you, he tried to brush it off with prideful boasting, “Yes, yes of course you would recognize my brilliance. As Second-in Command of the Decepticons, I must always set a stunning example for the troops.” Underneath the vain facade, the Seeker would conceal his fluster, as secretly he questioned what you gained from complimenting him. 

After a while, Starscream would begin to show slightly more obvious signs of affection for you. He couldn’t allow others to see him fawning over you, so he was sneaky about it. Often his favorite method to get you alone would be to take you out on patrols with him whilst in his alt-mode. This is when the Seeker would open up more to you, sharing his frustrations regarding work-life, Megatron being an unfit leader, etc. You were taken by surprise when he asked for your opinions on matters, as it was unlike Starscream to ask for anyone else’s thoughts. 

Winning Starscream’s affections was a long-game, but once you had his spark, you were his and his alone. Starscream doesn’t like to share after all. Especially not his precious little human. 

As for nsfw: He’s a huge tease. He enjoys feeling in control and often instigates intimate encounters. Making you hot and bothered until you begged him to finally enter you. If you give him a cheeky compliment on his frame or his spike, it was easy to tell if he was flustered by the twitching of his wings. Oh and his wings are VERY sensitive, if stroked in the perfect spots, it was very erotic for him. He’s very kinky and really enjoys bondage (for you) and has a stash of toys in his private chambers. 

TFE:

Starscream’s encounters with humans hadn’t been necessarily positive while he had been on Earth. G.H.O.S.T had seen to sew mistrust in his spark, making him reluctant to trust any human. But then of course, there was you. When he first encountered you, he fully expected screams of terror or you to flip out and run away begging for the Autobots to come save you from the evil, selfish, traitorous… Starscream. But you didn’t. You addressed him the same way anyone would when meeting a stranger for the first time. No judgment. 

This was a first for the Seeker, and it only further piqued his curiosity and interest for you. Initially, his old bad habits took over and well, he kind of kidnapped you. But only because he feared being sold out to G.H.O.S.T, or having Megatron find him again… Self-preservation, something Starscream was very good at. He wasn’t rough with you at all, just was keeping you close to him “for your safety”, as he initially told you. Sure enough, after spending more time with you, Starscream’s guard slowly lowered as he realized you weren't a threat. 

Trust wasn’t something easily won from the Seeker, but you steadily earned it. The first time Starscream didn’t hover around you and allowed you space, he was pleasantly surprised you didn’t try to escape. Starscream would slowly open up, telling stories of his adventures as a Seeker before the Great War. He didn’t open up to just anyone, so to see the genuine look of interest and awe in your eyes made him feel something. Something new. 

Starscream tried to be subtle in expressing his affections, asking you to help map out stars in your galaxy, or assisting him with selecting new locations to scout. But despite all of his cunning and skills at deception, he couldn’t lie convincingly to you. So if he had a surprise planned for you, it was apparent on his faceplate. If questioned as to what he was up to, Starscream would brush it off as a glitch in his system. 

Sometimes he would show off a bit to you. Even allowing you to go on flights with him, his favorite moments being when he shocked you with barrel-rolls and gunned it at high-G’s. Any bit of joyous or excited laughter would make his spark skip a beat. Starscream realized that he could in fact, make someone smile rather than cower, and he was glad he made you happy. 

As for nsfw: He would be a little shy at first, maybe a bit flustered by being desired this way. Starscream would be a gentle lover as the two of you initially began your intimate endeavors. Making sure you were comfortable, going slow, giving more than receiving. As his confidence grew, however, he would reveal just how naughty he was. He had an edging kink for sure, getting off at bringing you close to ecstasy and then withholding it from you. Also it is no surprise that the silver-tongued Seeker would be rather good at oral. He definitely got off on seeing you squirm in pleasure at his touch, and he enjoyed kissing every inch of your body. 

[the-derpy-duck]

Ok so I haven’t finished the season 2 episodes yet but so far I think it’s been less good than season one but I don’t dislike it. I think, so far, it’s been good. Season 1 was really good and I think a lot of people built up expectations for season 2 and when people have really high expectations the end result tends to disappoint people regardless of its actual quality. Because the potential of where the story could go wasn’t really divisive and as long as that story is unfinished people can take that potential and run in whatever direction they’d like to. The decepticons potentially being not pure evil made people, myself included, interested. It presented an idea and people got attached to that idea and built up a lot of expectations for it. Specifically with Starscream because a most TF media tends to gloss over or oversimplify his morals and relationship to Megatron and the world around him. Armada is the main exception I can think of outside of like IDW, but generally the shows present the relationship between Starscream and Megatron as highly questionable to outright abusive without any other commentary on it and no one really giving a shit. Which could be intentional and helping to characterize the decepticons as a group that doesn’t care about its members because everyone ultimately either wants power or to not die, but I honestly don’t think a lot of the writers were thinking about that. Cyberverse COULD have been intentionally ignoring all of the death (which there is a LOT of) to show how Cybertronian society has decayed and made war and death and suffering so common that no one really stops to grieve. But it also could have been a kids show that had 11 minute episodes and was taking on topics that it was not ready or able to properly address. Same for TFA and TFP (and rescue bots, as much as I hate to admit that). I like these shows and I like to believe my own reading of it, but I do not believe that this was at all the intention of the shows writers.

The author is dead and I killed them, but it was really cool to have a TF show that actually seemed to be diving into the repercussions of Cybertronian society and specifically the consequences of Megatron’s actions on the people around him. And for those consequences to hold weight and be taken seriously, not brushed off because the characters affected by him were also villains. And that’s part of why I think people are disappointed by season 2 so far. Because it seems that all the potential was just waisted. The time skip caused us to miss out on a really ingesting idea, it would have been really cool to see the decepticons go from siding with the heros to being against them. Starscream’s entire thing is betrayal and we skipped over a major betrayal???

And my commentary is very starscream heavy because a lot of what people liked was centered around him. After Megatron he’s probably the most complicated character, especially morally speaking. We haven’t gotten the entirety of season 2 yet. I think this might only be 1/3rd of it. So I don’t want to make a big statement like ‘earthspark is ruined! The show sucks now!’ because I don’t think that’s true at all. I wish a few things were done differently, but I want to see this story completed and I want to see what story they are trying to tell. I don’t think a story being incomplete negates it of criticism (*cough*tfa*cough*) but I think it’s not fully fair to make a final judgement on an incomplete product, especially if it is still being made. Season one of earthspark was some of the best storytelling trasnformers has done imo, but it is not the completed show.

TL;DR: Season two is alright, it’s also not done being released yet and I want to wait until it’s completed to make a final judgement. Oh and also bumblebee is here

[blueikeproductions]

And it begins, the EarthSpark toys are on clearance.

So far it’s just these size classes, but it’s not looking long for this toy line. None of it really moves super well. The store I was in moves the Tacticons a little better, but probably only because they’re so cheap.

Among the Deluxe line, Nightshade continues to shelfwarm, with the ROTB and Legacy toy lines still doing better by comparison.

If this changes for TFOne’s toy line later this year remains to be seen, as we still have no clear idea on what the movie is like or what the TFs look like. A candid shot of an Orion Pax popcorn bucket is the best we got, and most people are playfully making fun of how chunky it is like Energon Optimus Prime.

(Art by staticoctopus on Twitter, it’s cute and fits very well with the topic, lol).

Meanwhile, Skybound’s still knocking it out of the park, and is garnering far more discussion and speculation that EarthSpark can ever hope to have.

It’s doing what Bob Budiansky had been making a point of from the start: you need Earth and humans to properly tell the stories of alien robots that turn into vehicles, just having them only on their own doesn’t work unless it’s Beast Wars or Beast Machines. Because you get WFC, Prime Wars, and Cyberverse when you strip Transformers of its humanity figuratively and literally.

It’s why EarthSpark is so weird, because it is trying so hard to make statements it has no qualifications to make, and pretty much treats most of its non Megatron, non-Mandroid and non Jawbreaker male characters like morons. Robbie practically dies and the show treats it somewhat as a joke, instead having Alex & Dot love up Mo while Robbie lays there probably thinking of the worst retirement homes he can shove his parents in to. The human X Transformer relations are still frankly terrible unless you’re a Malto. If modern writers despise the Chosen One story, they’re sure going all in on the Maltos as being chosen for a vague destiny, aren’t they?

Meanwhile, Skybound does this:

Telling a much better and heartfelt story about humans and Autobots coming together with future trials yet to come. There’s a reason people criticize the inept and some that shady EarthSpark Optimus (his only saving grace currently is being voiced by Alan Tudyk), but most universally praise Skybound Optimus as the return to form Transformers desperately, desperately needed.

On top of that, spoilers for context, Sparkplug sacrificed himself to save Optimus, by merging with the Matrix, revitalizing it. Now Optimus is guided by the human wisdom of a repentant Sparkplug, who previously was consumed by the horrors of the war he served in, the death of his wife & eldest son and his alcoholism used to drown it out.

Now Optimus is seeing what appears to be Sparkplug’s memories due to his influence of the Matrix.

It’s led many to assume this is Optimus stepping into the role of father to Spike, mirroring Star Saber & Jan. I think that’s terrific idea, Optimus better understanding humans from the get go but now having Sparkplug as his Jaga to potentially guide him further.

It also seems to be a reverse Hi-Q from the Marvel comics.

And that resulted in Hi-Q evolving into a new Optimus (mostly because of the Action Master toy at the time, but still.)

This is what EarthSpark wants to be but refuses to do, it’s what IDW thought it was trying to be, but absolutely failed, and now we’re at TFONE.

Hasbro is now trying to properly advertise it with an animated logo on places like Instagram. The movie is set to come out this September if all goes well with the toys trickling out around that time (though toy distribution being what it is, probably January 2025 at this rate).

Like EarthSpark, One is stated to have “political” commentary and characters like Nightshade according to leaks and rumors. This I guarantee will kill this movie faster than EarthSpark if the story and characters aren’t up to snuff. Thankfully, audience test screenings have been very positive so far, but another problem we’ve all anticipated. Comments about the official logo now have people incredibly confused and hesitant to go near ONE because they don’t know if it’s Bayformers, Bee/ROTB, or something new, and being told it’s a new thing doesn’t seem to be helping…

Skybound remains the best thing Transformers has had in a long time. One has the potential, but I think its main “non politically driven” deterrent is it being another movie with vague ties to Bayformers and being a cartoon movie. (Some are actually angry it’s an animated movie and not a live action thing, it’s confusing…) There’s apparently plans to to make TMNT: The Last Ronin into an R movie under Paramount, as it too is the only good thing TMNT has going for it (besides Mutant Mayhem, but we’ll see how that goes for its TV show), so it’s entirely possible Hasbro may chose to do the same with the Energon Universe, as it’s the only thing period Transformers has going for it right now…

[justmenoworries]

Okay, I'm about to say something very controversial.

I think the Terrans and the Maltos are kind of the weakest part of EarthSpark.

"What? But they're the main characters!"

Yeah, I know. That's the problem.

The main characters are this group of children who are, for the most part, not in the loop when it comes to the show's more interesting conflicts.

The Transformers fitting in on Earth, post-war tensions between Decepticons and Autobots, G.H.O.S.T. being corrupt, parts of humanity being suspicious of and/or downright hostile toward Cybertronians- all of those are things the Maltos are either only tangentially related to or stumble across accidentally.

And that makes sense!

The Terrans and the Maltos are literally children, they shouldn't have to deal with all of that. And the way the show makes clear how brutally the realities of war hit them once shit starts going down is absolutely heartbreaking and well-written.

Still, I can't help but find their story-arcs... kinda boring and repetitive.

Now, I'm aware EarthSpark wasn't really made for people my age. It was made for young children, kids who are just starting to become Transformers-fans and need or might need an introduction to this universe and its characters.

And its message about the power of love and family is a really important one to tell.

But part of me can't help but feel that the Transformers stuff kind of ends up falling by the wayside.

When I think of episodes I enjoyed, the ones that come to mind are always those where the Maltos either interact with Cybertronian characters or ones where the Maltos completely take a backseat, leaving the plot room to focus on the Cybertronians and their troubles ("Decoy", "House Rules", "Missed Connections", "Warzone").

While the episodes that focus more to entirely on the Terrans were often the ones I was least interested in ("Moo-ving In", "Friends and Family", "Bear Necessities"). That's not to say any of these episodes are bad, but like I said, they weren't particularly interesting.

At times it feels like the show itself is aware that the Maltos don't really contribute much and flips a switch to artificially boost their importance. Like in the finale where all the Cybertronians (and Terrans) just so happen to get incapacitated so that Mo and Robbie can save the day with their magical healing sleeves.

There is this constant tug-of-war between a heartwarming slice of life cartoon about family, coming-of-age and love and a dark space opera epos about the consequences and casualties of war, racism and genocide. And when these two clash it often doesn't work.

We'll spend one moment talking about how Megatron used to brutalize his troops and the next doing a comedic sequence where Bumblebee falls off his hay-chair and does a funny exclamation. One moment we're examining the unjust detainment of one faction while the other walks free, and then suddenly it's "Look! The funny mini-casette-bots are making craaazy mischief!"

We get hints that there's something more going on, we get hints that some characters deal with heavy stuff, but if those characters aren't the Terrans or the Malto kids or in any way related to them, hints is all we ever get until everything comes bursting out at once.

Just to make this clear, I am not saying that EarthSpark is a bad show overall or that I hate the show. But no piece of media is perfect and the reason I'm criticizing EarthSpark isn't because I want it to go down, it's because I want it to do better.

Back to the Maltos: If they were interesting enough characters, I wouldn't mind them being the protagonists at all. They have potential, I'll admit to that.

But once you get past the novelty of Transformers born on Earth and being bonded with humans, there's just not much to them.

They're not very deep as characters go and their personalities aren't strong enough to carry them just as they are. They're your standard bickering but loving kid siblings.

It doesn't help that they're not really allowed to be anything but a family unit, to the point of being quite literally a hive mind.

And yes, the show wants to send a message about being open with your emotions and family bonds. But after the umpteenth time a Malto-character started a monologue about how much they love their family and how much their family makes them strong and how they're confident they can get through anything with their family I was like

I hope they develop these characters further in season 2. I want to like them, but right now it's really not easy for me.

Those are just my two cents, feel free to give your own.

[themoonking]

a criticism of earthspark s2/3 from me that isn't about starscream for once: the downgrade in animation quality is actually so upsetting :-( i understand that it was likely due to lower budget / different crew / some combination thereof so i'm not as harsh about it as the writing (not retconning your characters' personalities is free, but animation costs money!) but season one had some of the best fight scenes in any tf show and then now it's a noticable dip in quality. when fairmaestro first appears and has that conversation with swindle, the disconnect between the words he's saying and the way his mouth is moving is so bad that i actually physically recoiled.

[dynared]

“I'd also argue that the IDW style writing in Earthspark is extra-insular because it's not just a mandate to keep with evergreen concepts, it's also now a moral issue as it was with many of those writers, to keep the franchise away from "chuds" and undesirables that probably bought Energon Universe comics like crazy.” Sorry if I sound overly nosy, but would you mind expanding on this??? I only recently got back into TF (with my only previous experiences being YEARS ago when I was a kid and didn’t even know who Shockwave was) so I’m a little out of the loop

Let's describe this so that it doesn't come across as a GriftTube rant or an apology for other writers.

IDW's comic writing was very insular, in that it was written almost like fanfic was. In fact, many of the writers, most infamously James Roberts, got their start in fanfic (Roberts having written the notoriously weird, tryhard novella Eugenesis), and were more than willing to import their characterizations from fanfics to the official comics, most infamously Star Saber, who was reimagined from a standard Autobot leader/single dad with an adopted kid into a religious fundamentalist of the worst kind, because that was the characterization Roberts used. Most of the IDW writers did not have a high opinion of the Japanese Transformers material (the hows and whys are their own articles, but the short version is - the fan wiki had a hate-on for the Japanese material and those fanfic writers were in that same circle). Most comic companies flat-out say this is a bad idea. Marvel Comics, in their submission guidelines for Epic Comics, call the phenomenon "Writing a comic about a comic", namely that your work is only of value to a specific section of fans who are already engaged with the material, and who want to see the material altered in such a way that it appeals to their biases (in this case, the writer's big anti-Japan, anti-super robot sentiments, and the desire to deconstruct Cybertronian society as Simon Furman laid out in Marvel).

This also included a lot, a LOT of gay romance. Roberts and other writers were clear why, they wanted to write romance, the character line was mostly male, so you were getting gay romance. This spiraled into a lot of issues with a focus on gender identity (after a very, VERY poorly received Arcee comic where she was essentially driven insane by a transition from male to female), and sexuality.

These comics sold horribly but built a very dedicated audience, the sort of audience that would probably have read fanfics breathlessly. So much so the writing started to leave a lot of openings, poorly described items, and loose plot threads that fanfic writers could build off of and write their own interpretations of, as a fanfic writer will often do when they want to get their audience more involved. But in terms of selling comics, they were poor sellers, to the point that an attempt at a combined shared Hasbro Universe, via the comic crossover Revolution, tanked, icing Hasbro's plan for one for nearly 7 years (with the Energon Universe trying again with a much more measured, controlled attempt and the film producers promising a GI Joe/Transformers crossover film).

The problem is that a lot of the criticism of the stories (we don't want to read about Transformers romance endlessly, you treat characters poorly, these crossovers make no sense) was often interpreted by the writers and the fans as "We hate gay people and trans people, we want stuff blowing up", and the writers who were supportive of such issues, doubled down, dismissing their critics as a small number of prejudiced malcontents. Some of the writers and fans of the writing of IDW also went on to help with other animated shows like Cyberverse, the War for Cybertron Trilogy, and Earthspark, most notably Nick Roche and Mae Catt. Both have been adamant about how important representation and life lessons are to their writing, with Catt out-and-out bragging on Twitter that she had two female characters kiss because she knew it would annoy people.

"I AM THE GAY AGENDA!"

Catt discussing her goals for EarthSpark on Twitter/X

All the shows I have just mentioned were also commercial failures. Cyberverse toys still clog toy shelves in discount retailers, the War for Cybertron series did so poorly that when the same writing team proposed a sequel based on the Legacy toy line, Netflix turned them down, and the Q4 reports show Earthspark was a commercial failure with many theorizing the only reason it's getting a Season 2 is because Hasbro wanted something on the air for their 40th anniversary, instead of having nothing in media besides comics until Transformers One comes out in the fall of 2024.

This leads to the final part of this explanation. The new comics from Skybound have seen fit to ignore most, if not all of IDW's contributions to the franchise, more focused on lots of action and basic but effective and strong characterizations serving to re-introduce the characters to people who have never read a Transformers comic or haven't watched Transformers media for decades. This is quite the opposite of Earthspark's focus on identity and life-lessons that were designed for the more insular fandom. And the criticisms of Skybound from the internet tend to focus on that, that they're appealing to an audience that didn't want what IDW was giving, so they're prejudiced. The thing is that the sales numbers don't lie, with many retailers pointing out that Skybound's take on the Transformers outsold comparable IDW releases 10 to 1.

I really hope all that helps clarify things. Like I said, I think that the writing being done essentially by fanfic writers, for fanfic writers created something that casual or non-fans were not going to engage with, but the fear that their critics were prejudiced in some way caused many of the writers to double down on those same habits, even when it's clear that the back-to-basics storytelling of Skybound is attracting far more readers.

[monocle-teacup]

Holy crud, I've been saying the VERY same criticisms about Earthspark for almost a whole year offline! I wanna add that the show really missed the mark of making Mandroid & Bumblebee parallel/ Megatron & Croft parallel. The lines were RIGHT THERE, they just needed to be defined! 1/8

Hey Anon, I hope you don't me combining some of your asks together so that my response flows better. I thought about putting all the asks and my response in one post, but that would've been entirely too long.

This is such a fascinating idea and TBH it never occurred to me that you could draw parallels between Mandroid and Bee of all characters. I'm honestly shocked the show didn't have a flashback episode about The Battle of the Bay because it was such a significant event. Maybe they'll do it in the 2nd season.

When you put the similarities between Mandroid and Bee that way, they make wonderful foils for each other. Both being secretive, but dealing with that burden in different ways. It would've made for interesting character growth for Bee and a particularly emotional scene with Mandroid exploding on his old friend Alex about how much he feels Bee is responsible for ruining his life.

Yeah, Bot Brawl could've easily been its own arc multiple episodes long. There was so much that could've been explored, like more variety in humans views on TFs and introducing more legacy characters.

[earthspark-shockwaves-reduction]

whenever I see people in the earthspark tag angry bc megs has been reformed in this show I'm like... you must hate mtmte huh