#this isn't just an earthspark issue

[cosmics-beings]

ugh so many megatron thoughts that i am honestly just too afraid to post but i have so many meta about him that i wanna write but im just afraid of how people will take them.

[primus-why]

This gave me similar vibes to:

Bonus: glowy "cracks" forming on someone's face.... hmmmmmmmmm

[cyberapid]

Earthspark Bumblebee x Cybertronian Reader

reader isn't gendered, brief description of a Terran bleeding

—•—•—

The yard of the Malto family is quiet, besides the gentle clanking of Bumblebees stray movements as he holds himself upright on one arm and the occasional sounds of the animals that live there.

“I wish to do a full bio-mechanic and diagnostic scan as soon as possible, Conjunx. Your file has shown that its been more than a year since your last, this dissatisfies me,”

His optics squint open just enough to allow you to see shining blue before they close again with a short huff, optical ridges pinching together and dermas shifting into a place to show his annoyance. “It's not that big of a deal. I run like a dream, but if it'll satisfy you– sure.”

A small whirl of excitement leaves you before you can think of suppressing the excitement coursing from your chassis to your vents, a noise that if you were looking at the yellow bot you’d see brought a small smile to his face plate.

You both fall quickly back to a comfortable silence enjoying the ‘weekend’ that the older Maltos children claimed needed to be without lessons where instead you relax or play in the case of the children, just as quick your calmness was suddenly interrupted by the barn door being slammed open by the twins, Hashtag, and Robby all looking panicked and quickly speaking over one another— Their rambling is cut short by Bumblebee slamming to the ground with a thud so loud it has Robby leave the ground for a moment.

“Slow down! Slow down. What happened?” Your Sparkmate’s quick to push himself back to his pedes as the small horde of the Maltos children nearly surround him— he tries desperately to calm their jumbled panic into something understandable for the pair of you as they drag the two of you towards the entrance of the barn.

A quick scan with your optics covers them in a blue hue, that comes up with no external or internal injuries on them. But the heartbeat of the small human holding your servo to drag you towards the barn is both faster and far more erratic than usual, showing his panic, although you can already tell that from his actions alone.

“It's Nightshade! It was an accident, we only wanted them to come play. Honest!” Robby is quick to give in explanation, seeming to be the calmest child in this situation even with his heightened state.

The two of you are rushed into the barn and then under where you're met with Mo and Jawbreaker fretting over Nightshade, who's clutching their lower tibulen in panic. A scan isn't necessary to see the main issue as Nightshades servos are covered in the familiar blue hue of energon leaks down their pede and is covering their servos.

Nevertheless you quickly scan the young bot, where its registered that one of their fuel lines have been sliced, thankfully not deadly and nothing notably serious,

“Would you remove your servos, Nightshade. I will be repositioning you,” the Maltos children move aside, tense, as you raise and place Nightshade with ease onto a tall workstation. Unlike the children who give you space to work— Bumblebee doesn't care much for the personal space of the young Terran or yourself as he leans forward inspecting your quick work to find the fuel line in question with a silent panic. “An easy fix but this will hurt, sparkling. I will be quick,” without much explanation after you begin work with pinching the affected line, which causes a yelp of pain from the young Terran whose servos snap to grab Bumblebees. The procedure is small and finished with a practiced ease and quickness as the afflicted line is wrapped in a sturdy tape– not new but better.

Twitch is the first to react with a strangled yell before wrapping her arms around her sibling, resting their helms against one another's, “I'm so sorry! We’ll never sneak up on you again, promise!” her affection is returned by her much taller sibling whose hug nearly engulfs her.

“You should cleanse your servos before- okay,” your suggestion is heard by none of the Maltos children as their excited chatter fills the once tense air but you're just as quickly distracted as you feel your Conjunx's servos creep around your mid-plating from behind before fully wrapping his arms around, sending your spark into a dizzying flutter, “i also have to cleanse mine– so don't, bumblebee,” blue stained servos are held just out of reach of his own wandering ones as a soft rumble from his vents sends vibrations down your back chest plate.

“I think I'll survive,” being behind you hides the cheeky grin he sports but not the warm air from his vents breathing on the back of your helm. “You did great,”

“It's something I've done countless times. I’d be worried if not- the energon, enough Bumblebee.”

[quibbs126]

So I finally went and drew something proper, and it’s more X stuff

I was having a lot of trouble coming up with anything to draw yesterday, and eventually I just settled on some AU drawings since At least I can draw them easily. But I wasn’t able to fully get around to it yesterday so I pretty much just ended up drawing it today

It’s pretty much just various Megatrons, that I later on ended up tying with his smiles (and the blue text which is Optimus’ opinions on them)

Honestly I don’t think the drawings are half bad, outside of maybe Optimus. When I drew him, I wasn’t really sure what to draw after making the first two, so I went with something related to the things I was making

I haven’t really made much new content on this AU because I really don’t know what to do for it. After I made my PowerPoint and saw how much I was missing, I just sort of stopped because I didn’t know how to fix the issues, and just making more characters wasn’t going to fix it

With this, I have some new ideas, but they’re really just expansions on Megatron’s character and relationships with Optimus and a bit on Kiloton too, not much lore wise

But okay, let's start. I ended up putting the opinions in the art itself, so I don't really need to reiterate them here, but these thoughts from Optimus are just supposed to show some more of how he sees Megatron, particularly in his smiles

If you were to ask Optimus what his favorite smile of Megatron's is, and you assured him Megatron would not hear any of this, he'd probably admit that he finds his crazed heat of battle smile really hot. Like it does something to him the others don't. But he also very much enjoys his softer smiles, because he likes seeing Megatron genuinely happy. So, while it is not the one that does the most for him, his soft smile is probably his favorite for the reason that it's Megatron's favorite

Moving onto Megatron, I think I mentioned something in his bio about him being aggressive off field, which I'm kind of keeping as true, but not as in a mean sort of aggressive, he's just very...okay I don't actually know what the words I'm looking for are. But in my mind, he channels a lot of Earthspark Megs, albeit not nearly as old and with significantly less war crimes

He very much enjoys sparring and fights in general, they do excite him. But he also gets self-conscious about his passion in the battlefield, because he doesn't want to be reminded of his old violent self or potentially bring it back to the surface more than he already does. That's why his smiles of genuine happiness outside of the battlefield are his favorite, because they prove to himself that he is more than a war machine pretending to be something he isn't

Also, while in the process of thinking about what to draw while out today, I was able to come up with more about Megatron and Kiloton, and specifically more surrounding the events that led to Kiloton's death

I'm thinking that Kiloton, while being a caring bot and wanting to see the best in people, had a deep hatred for the Destron Virus (oh by the way, it has a name now. I don't know if I told you before) for tearing Cybertron and its people apart by forcing bots to turn against each other. And while he doesn't necessarily blame the infected bots so much, he knows they can't help it, he despises whoever created and first spread the virus and wants them dead, as well as non-infected bots who use this solely for their own personal gain

If he was part of the Autobots, it was solely because Megatron wanted to join and because Kilo wanted to help keep him safe

And then around the time of his death, during some big mission or other, he somehow (idk how) finds himself faced with the Decepticon leader (though he might not know at the time), who reveals to him that the one who caused this virus was none other than Megatron. Now Kilo is most likely not given the full situation, namely that Megatron himself doesn't know this information or that he isn't the true root of it all, this was more likely done to get Kiloton at odds with Megatron so that they would fight, since Kilo and Megatron were very close. But Kiloton is absolutely furious at this, once he gets it confirmed that this is indeed the truth, feeling utterly betrayed by the bot he loved. He was also probably infected with the virus at this point, making his anger even more pronounced

And then the confrontation between Megatron and Kiloton happened, with Kiloton wanting Megatron dead for what he's done, and Megatron not understanding, but realizing Kilo is infected and that he'll have to fight him to protect himself, but only wanting to knock him out and detain him. Megatron also thinks this secret Kiloton is so angry at him for is that he lied about being infected, which he admits is true, though he doesn't say specifically that this was what he was admitting, and Kilo thus thinks he's admitting to his involvement with the spread of the virus

Then during the ensuing fight, in a moment of pure instinct and complete accident, Megatron shoots Kiloton fatally, leading to his death, and in Kilo's final moments, he still hates Megatron for what he did. Also in these moments, some of Kilo's final words implies to Megatron that what he was mad at him for wasn't his infection but something else, but by the time he realized, Kilo was already dead

Megatron feels horrible about his death for a multitude of reasons. First off, the obvious point of him killing his lover, that's going to put a damper on things. But it's also because Kiloton's death was entirely unnecessary; while he put up way more of a fight than anyone would have expected from him, he was not dangerous enough that death was the only option, he very easily could have just been detained. But Megatron killed him anyways. And even if it was an accident and he never meant to kill him, it made him more scared of his old self, thinking that maybe it's just in his nature to destroy, as it was his battle instincts that led to him shooting Kiloton, thus reinforcing that idea in his mind that he is nothing more than a killing machine. And on top of all that, he'll never know what it was that made Kiloton so angry with him in that battle, because he knows now that it wasn't his infection. But Kiloton's dead, so he'll never know (well he will find out the truth later, but this is his perspective after the fact)

While in current day he and Optimus are together, it took a long time and a lot of comforting and reassurance, a good chunk of it from Optimus himself, for him to get over what happened and to try and move on from Kiloton

And also with this I realize I need to expand more on Megatron and Optimus' relationship and what it means to them and why they're together

I can at least say that I don't think, provided Kiloton had lived or the circumstances around his death had never happened, that Kilton and Megatron's relationship would have lasted the way Optimus and Megatron's is supposed to

It's not that they didn't love and cherish each other, but it's the fact of the virus and Megatron's involvement in it. In the scenario where Kiloton had lived and said what he knew to the other Autobots, while he would have found out that Megatron legitimately didn't know about it, and thought he was admitting to something far lesser, he still wouldn't have entirely forgiven him for his involvement in this mess, and would probably still feel hurt at the betrayal of Megatron not telling him about his infection as well, even if it is the lesser of things. And Megatron would have been soul crushed by the revelation of his involvement as well, probably also because the bot he loves and the first to show him kindness now resents him for it all. And even if none of that happened and the truth came out to everyone at the intended time it's supposed to, Kilo would still have some resentment for Megatron in this instance. And even if Kilo eventually forgave Megatron because he genuinely didn't know and it wasn't really his fault, their relationship would never be what it once was after this

Meanwhile with Optimus, when this information gets learned, he's supposed to be there with Megatron when he finds out, knowing the entire time that Megatron didn't know. And while he'd still be hurt that Megatron didn't trust him with the knowledge of his infection, it wouldn't be relationship breaking because he knows Megatron has felt guilty about this, and he's admitted to Optimus that he has a secret that he's scared to tell Optimus of, this being it. And it kind of pales in comparison to the bombshell that just dropped on Megatron at this moment. Optimus is actually the one to try and get Megatron out of the meltdown this leads to, by assuring him that this was never his fault, and he knows that Megatron wants to be a good person and is not defined by his origins

And with that, I'm not sure I have much else I've come up with. Like I said, I need more on Megatron and Optimus, but I do at least have some things here

And I think that about wraps up all the relevant stuff I have here. Not sure what I'll draw next, hopefully AU related

I do have two sort of ideas, namely drawing them with hair because the Mega Man characters have hair and I just want to, and also making a megop kid here because it's been an idea in my head, and I want to. Granted that latter option might still need to wait until later, I think I need to make more before I get ahead of myself. So probably the hair thing then

But I want to name them Convoy, since you know, that name isn't really being used here and I can

Anyways yeah, that's about it

[arceespinkgun]

How do you feel about people saying the Malto family in Earthspark are toxicly positive and claiming "they treat everyone who isn't a Malto badly"? I keep seeing these takes but honestly to me they don't seem any worse than most kid's show families, just that the show wasn't given enough time to follow up on situations or put in the full level of nuance needed (like most kid's shows).

EDIT: I noticed I sounded a little pointed in this response and that wasn't my intention. I'm happy to talk about this show and glad you asked! I'm just... getting exhausted....

I've seen these takes multiple times too, but... I can't really respond to them. Like, I don't agree, I can say that... but the problem is, whenever I see someone name a specific scene or moment to support the idea that they are toxic/insular/treat others badly, it just doesn't make any sense to me. But to explain why I don't agree and it doesn't make sense, I'd basically have to write an essay every single time.

I'll use one singular example of what I mean: the idea that Robby's parents were being toxic by being put off by how he was so upset about their move. ...That was like, one of the first things that ever happened in the show. You know, the inciting incident? So all of the characters could learn stuff together...? Because characters with no flaws and no desires who never grow are boring? An intro to the world of the show that helps us care about the characters and makes us interested when we learn things like that Dot was actually lured to Witwicky and that makes us care and engaged when all the Maltos open their hearts to these new life forms and the parents start taking their kids' issues much more seriously?

^This is the sort of thing I'd have to say for every little piece of evidence presented. Basically without fail, I'll see someone claim the Maltos are so bad... and then pick either the most minor flaw or conflict ever, or pick an issue that they learn from that's the whole point of a specific episode or arc! This is a big reason I keep saying I hope people watch the show and form their own opinions.

[driftsart]

is there a decepticon/autobot you hate/dislike in transformers?

Here's a summary of the things I hate in Transformers:

Deeper explanations at here! ⬇️⬇️

Bayverse/humans:

The only thing I like about Bay verse movies are Optimus and Megatron, Starscream, and the autobots w/ Optimus in the first movie. The thing with Bayverse movies is that it barely focuses on the actual Robots and I just end up skipping 3/4 of the movies just to see robots fighting. I hate how it focuses mostly on Sam's life and girls, at that point they should just call the movies "Sam's Life: With a Side of Transformers."

I feel like my biggest issue when it comes to transformers is the humans. They haven't been able to figure out how to use human characters properly without them getting in the way/stealing the story. I ignore most human characters but Bayverse human characters are just too annoying for me.

I don't really have an extreme hate towards a certain Autobot or Decepticon, just a small few I may not like, such as the predacons in TFP, Megatron's design at the end of TFP, Arachnid from TFP, those two Bayverse autobots, etc.

Shows:

I don't HATE a specific show, just find it annoying, or not interesting. One show I don't really find interesting is Earthspark. It looks nice, but the only character I honestly like on the show is Megatron. I watched around the first two episodes and like two more in between, and honestly, I didn't enjoy them much. Sry <3

Rescue bots academy was a show I did like in the past, but it started to get a bit annoying later, idk.

Summary:

There really isn't much I can't tolerate in Transformers, just some few details here and there.

I do have a few asks asking about the humans in my au, and I've been brainstorming ideas for them, but I don't think they will have a super important role, and will not be main focus or anything.

I also have a few asks about the Earthspark terrains in my au, all I can say is that they will be getting a huge redesign if I decide to include them in my au, and their story will be a bit more interesting.

This was a lot of info, let me know if you have questions about anything, I hope this made sense lol :)

[darkstarofchaos]

Having seen some frankly irritating opinions from both sides of the aisle, I think some of y'all need to chill about the way the Decepticons were handled in EarthSpark.

Decepticon fans are allowed to be upset that the faction's depth and potential for development was tossed aside in favor of "Decepticons are just evil".

However, depth and potential doesn't mean the Decepticons have to be buddy-buddy with the Autobots. Depth is amoral, you can be a villain who resists "redemption" and still be a well-rounded character.

My issues with S2 vs S1 are as follows:

The lack of good explanation for why the sides are fighting again. I am not upset that the Cons are villains again. They have no reason to like or trust any human or Autobot, and gratitude for having your life saved only goes so far. My issue is that S2 literally opens by saying the Cons started the fight again just because that's what Cons do. Obviously the story is from the perspective of the main cast, and there are hints that they could be intentionally unreliable narrators (Starscream refers to them as oppressors, Breakdown challenges Bumblebee about giving up on Cybertron), but we aren't given enough time with the Cons to draw a solid conclusion about the intentions here.

The way the heroes treat Spitfire, i.e. a literal newborn. She was 100% in the right when she said that she didn't know the moral rules she was being expected to follow. But because she wasn't born with morals and an understanding of mortality preinstalled, the heroes condemned her instead of trying to de-escalate and take responsibility for their part in the situation (granted, Megatron was the only flight-capable adult present and he argued against de-escalation. Which tracks because he's Megatron. But someone should have pushed for a peaceful resolution).

How much depth do individual Decepticons still have? Who knows, Starscream, Shockwave, and Breakdown are the only ones with any focus. The others are only seen fighting, causing trouble for fun, or just standing around growling. Twitch - i.e. one of our main characters - literally spends an entire episode in the Con camp and we still manage to see nothing of Decepticon life when they're just hanging out. And yes, I know that the more characters you have in a scene, the harder it is to show their personalities. You can still show them playing cards or arm-wrestling or something. Anything to show that they're actually people and not just a hive mind that exists to fight.

Starscream. Specifically the last 20 minutes of the S2 finale, because everything else in his characterization fit S1 until that point. He literally calls the Autobots oppressors, so of course he's going to fight them. He wants Aftermath kept out of the way (that's a child, so that's perfectly reasonable) and he's frankly patient with Twitch-as-Spitfire, in spite of Skywarp's incredulity that he lets her "get away" with causing trouble (again, that is a child. Patience is the correct response). He even seems to like Spitfire after meeting the real her. The only issue I had with Starscream leading up to the second half of the finale was that his motivations didn't seem to be much deeper than "I want power" (I could be misremembering that point - there may have been an "Earth is going to be our home, let's make it better to live on" when he and Shockwave discussed Cybertron). And then the last 20 minutes happened and I can't see any logical extrapolation from S1 to that. It was just a generic "Starscream goes mad with power", and it came completely out of left field. Not even any remorse about what he "needed" to do or any attempt to justify himself, it was just, "Yeah, I'm worse than the people I called out for being oppressors, isn't it great?"

If there is some big plot twist where it turns out the heroes were unreliable narrators all along, some of my issues will actually be fixed. However, I find that extremely unlikely, for one major reason: all of the non-Decepticon characters who disagree with the heroes are either villains or they "come around". The Quintessons felt betrayed by Quintus? Nah, Quintus was a great guy, you can tell because he tortured a kid for wishing she had never been chosen by him. Prowl doesn't like the Autobots' reliance on children? Silly Prowl, those kids are special, we want them to fight. The narrative never, at any point, entertains the idea that those dissenting voices might have a point. Which means we're probably meant to take the heroes at face value on most, if not all things.

TL;DR: the Decepticons being villains makes perfect sense, even with the context of S1; it's the heroes acting like they're only fighting for power after we had several episodes about second chances and not all Decepticons being the same that makes it feel like a cop-out. And Decepticon fans are allowed to be upset that some of their favorite characters had interesting stuff going on only to be functionally relegated to Voiceless Grunt Number 3 (and yes, several Autobots have also been relegated to Voiceless Grunts. If one of your favorite characters has fallen victim to this affliction, regardless of faction, you have my sympathies).

[0wldn0]

I could also see Bee maaaaybe trying to convince Breakdown to not attack Megatron? Issue is he also maybe doesn't actually want Breakdown to leave?

From what I've read so far I imagine Bee isn't exactly happy that breakdowns back with the stunticons. Probably because what little context he has on their relationship isn't exactly great. From Bees perspective maybe it's like watching a friend leave to meet with their kinda toxic family they haven't spoken to in years.

He'd probably be mostly unaware of the extent of the character development there.

That's true!! Bee would definitely feel conflicted about the whole situation. Breakdown is a dear friend, and as far as he knows the Stunticons have not been a healthy team. He wouldn't want Breakdown to just go back to them like that... But Breakdown seems very happy about it? It's confusing for Bee. They seem much happier now, but also they're seemingly here for vengeance?? Do they all really want vengeance? They don't act like it?? What's even going on?? I can imagine the Terrans questioning Bee about things concerning Breakdown after this development and Bee would just be so lost about it all, he wouldn't even answer questions he knows the answer of. He just wants to talk things out with his friend 😔

This makes me think about something! I always imagined this AU to be a bit different from the canon Earthspark timeline. So Bee saying "Back on Cybertron, before the war, I've had this friend..." is ignored in this AU, because here the Stunticons are created during the war. ((Bee is also born at the start of the war in this AU too. Which makes Breakdown just a bit younger than Bee here, pfft)) But maybe I can change that...? I adore the G1 version of the Stunticons so I tried to make their origins according to it. But I also want to make this as according to Earthspark as possible? ooh so much thoughts 😵

I'll probably just keep it as them being born when the war was already happening. I have no idea otherwise 😔I'm not sure how to write the Stunticons' characters if they were having good lives before the war and then suddenly they all struggle to an extreme extent like this... Maybe though, the Stunticons didn't even know each other before the war? 👀 And they were just brought together when all of them were at the brink of death to create a combiner... And this gestalt bond they were forced into, plus the near-death experience all of them had, caused them all to develop different coping mechanisms and issues like this... Ohh maybe I can work with that actually!! It would explain why Breakdown trusts Bee so easily when they meet during his paranoid episode too! Must think about this!! Definitely definitely!!

Editing: I'm going with my original idea of them being created during the war instead! Sorry Earthspark.. I'm ignoring your canon a bit.. But I gotta do what I must for my AU 🙇

[3headedsharknado]

I'm so excited about earthspark Prowl honestly like, omg one of my favorites being on the screen ahhghgg. I just hope he doesn't die or smth like every other show he's in. Also lowkey kinda hope he's a bit of an antagonist like he was in idw. I think it'll be a great thing for the malto kids too for them to be able to learn that not every autobot is completely good, kinda like how they learned with tarantulas that not every decepticon is completely bad. He probably won't be an antagonist honestly but it would be a cool thing if he was, like how in idw he still had that fear of the decepticons uprising again when everyone's guards were down, it would honestly be a good plot point, adding another mental health point in the show too. Considering prowl is a war veteran (like basically every bot that isn't a Terran in the show), he's bound to have some sort of ptsd issue from the war. Also season 2 of earthspark is starting to lack in the villains considering they already defeated Mandroid, and making Starscream a villain again after his abuse victim arc in season 1 wasn't that great of a plot point. But it would be a cool thing if they made an autobot the new main antagonist. That's just me tho, anyway thats my rant. Thoughts?

[wishingstarinajar]

Hey! Seeing the Ratchet gif for the last question had me curious:

How do some of your OCs interact with/feel about the good doctor? If they do at all.

Hoi~ If it is Prime specifically like in the gif, then I don't really have any OCs that interact with him. Most of my current Transformers OCs were created with the IDW comics or Earthspark in mind.

I love Prime though! It's one of my personal favorites, and Ratchet is my favorite Autobot of the series.

(Just look at this man, rawr~)

If we're talking about IDW/Lost Light Ratchet, it's mostly just acquaintances.

Of my OCs, Starflare interacts with him the most, but mostly because they are LL staff and have dealings with each other when it involves the crew's well-being. He's a resourceful, brave and old mech. Starflare (as an M.T.O) admires the latter, but I wouldn't call them friends friends. Just acquaintances who get along fine enough when in the same room. They work well enough together, too.

Chainwheel is friendly and familiar in character and hardly has issues with others, but not even he is on close terms with Ratchet. Can't be close with everyone! He still thinks the old medic is a delight to hang out with, which is questionable because Ratchet isn't exactly known for being overly social or outgoing, at least not in his LL days (party ambulance whoop whoop!).

Riot and Ruckus don't really like Ratchet but only because he's a medic and keeps getting on their cases after they become official members of the Lost Light. They haven't been taking good care of themselves, not to mention all the theft they've committed while hiding in the vents as stowaways. The medical bay has been missing supplies during that time, whoopsie. They've plenty of amends to make, they are just not very good at that, the rascals.

[sonicasura]

Let's be honest with ourselves that Transformers Earthspark has its issues. It isn't uncommon for the series to have a few messy iterations throughout the years. However those at least have something going for them.

Bayverse is a junk pile yet there's a lot of material you can build off on and some pretty interesting concepts. RiD15 is an awful sequel to Prime but does decently well as a standalone although there are much needed changes to be had. Earthspark... Well, it's just there.

I can be lenient with the plot holes and poor pacing as Nickelodeon is notorious for interfering with any show that isn't SpongeBob to the point of cancellation. The issues truly land on the characters themselves. I'm gonna try to simplify it without devolving into a rant like the previous draft.

Edit: Gonna add some further edits as I wrote this in the middle of the night. Plus my simplified version skipped some key details.

Robby. Somehow they made a human character I actually dislike instead of be neutral about. In the official Transformers wiki, he's labeled as a big brother who cares for his siblings but his actions so far say otherwise. Robby literally ran away in the first episode because they moved then decided to try and hide the Terrans from his parents.

Yet he rarely gets enough consequences for his actions. I think we don't just need less Emberstone saves not just because of plot armor but force actual character growth on him. Like a life changing to one of his siblings as consequences for his actions and strained relationship until he gets his head outta his ass.

Edit: Yes, I know Robby is a teenager but that isn't a decent enough excuse for his behavior. Seen the trope about big brothers who do act closed off or at some points rude but they haven't done shit that put their family in serious danger. No, I didn't try to purposely forget the times he was injured badly.

There honestly needs to be less of those and his consequences be adjusted to it affects someone else badly. *

Next issue is lacking confrontation with Optimus choices alongside the obvious misplaced trust in the 13 Primes. Quintus Prime literally emotionally manipulated and scarred Mo through a fake bad ending reality because she doubted herself. No good person would do that, much less an actual ally. Even moreso on a child.

I seen this shit in Trollhunters but at least Jim, the main character, was a teenager. (It still was wrong though.) We also got remember that Liege Maximo and Megatronus/The Fallen are Primes. Yet somehow it is best to trust them.

Don't get me started with some of Optimus' choices when it comes to GHOST. He probably did it to protect his Autobots but what about the Decepticons who are locked away? Why are there so little of his companions with him especially since Bumblebee had fucking went into hiding before the show began.

There needs to be tension between Optimus with his Autobots. Someone is bound to snap and Bumblebee would have the biggest impact. The man clearly isn't okay as he's doing things that even Megatron admits ain't like him.

Mandroid needs to be written differently. He has the making of a sympathetic villain but oh boy. First off it is clear that his depiction is ableist aligned since the reason he doesn't like Cybertronians is because he lost his arm. Major thing to change right there.

Give him a narrative where his interest been genuine but slowly declines as the Autobot/Decepticon war increases the number of destroyed lives. Let him become a victim to this than just 'I lost my arm so death alongside experimentation to all Cybertronians'. Also don't make Mandroid ignore the obvious fact that the Transformers parts he puts into his body is slowly poisoning and instead come up with ways to fight the infection. Kinda like in Ironman 2 where Tony's arc reactor began to do the same thing.

Edit: Mandroid's negative views on Cybertronians are about the war and he's aware of the Energon poisoning. It is just that it is poorly portrayed to the point you rarely see it over his Arachnamechs/his ruined life.

Have the man present various evidence of destruction the war caused by both sides at the Malto children or anonymously spread such info around town to sew discontent with the townsfolk. 'These are the people who you consider heroes. Who you see as family and friends. Or should these tragedies be forgotten?'

Do a Baxter Stockman where you frequently see him try to fix the Energon poisoning than just simple dialogue. Even have testing on organic subjects to see how they react and find ways to counter it. Don't keep these key points as simple dialogue. *

I don't think Karen needs much changes either. 'But her taking over Cybertron doesn't make sense!' It actually does for one reason: hubris. Have you ever seen what happens when you give a control freak power? Their behavior becomes more erratic as they begin to think they deserve more. She is xenophobic in nature so imprisoning Decepticons and ordering around the Autobots is a drug to her.

Karen wants to treat them like slaves so the next step in her mind is Cybertron. Her death is well deserved and well played. Just like Icarus, the bitch flew too close to the sun.

I think the last major issue, other than out of character racist Shockwave, is the Terrans. No offense but they need a bit less screentime so the rest of the cast can shine. We barely see Alex and there's unclarified issues involving Bumblebee with Arcee if he's uncomfortable around her.

I also want their flaws to be at the forefront. Thrash is the only one who gotten such character development from his encounter with Swindle. We need more of that! Like Hashtag's overreliance on the Internet biting her back as she is forced to use real world skills.

Edit: I accidentally put in Terrans when I really meant Twitch. The screentime for everyone needs to be balanced mainly for the Malto family. Alex alongside the three younger Terrans rarely get involved or their characters further build upon. Twitch needs to get benched more.

Also the Dad Number 2 should really be addressed. Wheeljack was clearly uncomfortable when it been brought up. Plus it is way too fast to even consider such ideas unless you plan to have it addressed properly. Like 'Kid. We barely know each other yet somehow I became a father figure in an instant? It's best not to do that until you truly certain "Dad Number 2" doesn't mean harm or feels comfortable with it.' *

Earthspark clearly has potential but these problems need to be handled better. Addong the deleted scenes help add some clarification but canon needs to present it. We are supposed to get a second season so hopefully some of these are addressed.

[cosmics-beings]

okay so finally my unpopular opinions on the starscream es episode.i liked the starscream episode as you know, because it was nice and important for his abuse to be validated. and it was even more libearting to see a Steve Blum voiced starscream get his justice because of how poorly tfp starscream was abused and it was made into a joke and seen as something he 'deserved'.

but I've been wanting to also just share my critique on it for some time! it's a little critical, so just putting that out there if you don't like earthspark or starscream critique you should skip over this. I've spoken a lot of positive things about the episode so these are just my thoughts. so warning, heavy critique.

my main issues are fandom's treatment of hashtag, and people using the episode to perpetuate the 'perfect victim' mentality on starscream and forget that he's flawed and nuanced.

starting with hashtag, i really don't like how a lot of fans make hashtag "mother" starscream and act almost as if she's supposed to be his caretaker, when she is a minor, who is facing her own trauma. i think she was needed to validate starscream and to make him feel that his own abuse is real and that it isn't his fault for getting abused.

but i also think people took that and decided to a.) make hashtag his mother figure and b.) use it to excuse the way he treated and was borderline abusive to others (i.e him kicking his trine mates when they were on the ground, and since they were female character no one actually cared).

i think hashtag was needed as a completely neutral source to make starscream's own trauma's validated and to show the viewers that his abuse isn't funny, and that just because megatron is 'good' doesn't mean that it's excusable and that starscream has to like him. moreso, it's important to show that children can also call out and understand abuse. that was why hashtag needed to do it. it doesn't matter how much megatron was a part of her family and practically an uncle figure to her, he still abused someone and she still recognized that.

BUT at the same time, i don't like the idea that the fandom props his emotional trauma and responsibility on HER. in a lot of fics, aus, etc, hashtag is usually made to be starscream's caretaker without any sort of care for her or her trauma. and i think people forget hashtag is a child, shit some people ship them (ew) because they like to make her the one to care for him. Hashtag is a child, and is completely innocent and he own trauma should be validated and honestly, discussed as much as starscream's. People don't really see her or let her exist outside of Starscream. Her trauma is at large, ignored by the fandom and if people care about it, it's only to validate what starscream went through, and never to have him actually caring about her. that's why i like to write fics where HE helps her, because she is still a child and he is an adult.

ths isn't talking about fan content where starscream is literally hashtag's father figure, which i enjoy. i like when content portrays hashtag being a kid, and starscream being a parental figure to her, but that tends to be a small majority of hashtag and starscream content.

and this brings me to the perfect victim mentality that is harmful in fandom spaces but i see it's impacting starscream.

the perfect victim mentality is this idea that in order for an abuse victim's abuse to be validated, they have to be perfect and innocent. they can do no wrong and even their own actions need to be pacified or excused because if they are one bit of flawed or problematic, then that ruins their victim status.

this is why tfp wasn't seen as a victim, because he was evil, he was abusive, he was dangerous, and the writers made a choice to perpetrate the thought that all abuse victims MUST be perfect and if they aren't, then they deserve their abuse.

this is what's happening to es starscream, but the opposite way.

starscream isn't responsible at all for the abuse megatron put him through, and no amount of think pieces are going to change that. but hashtag telling starscream that his abuse isn't his fault, isn't an excuse for how he's treated and abused others. he was a fascist, a war criminal, committed multiple genocides, and in various continuities abused others both before and after he met megatron.

again he was even physically kicking his trine mates and that implies that it's a common occurrence and it's happened before. hashtag also pretty much confirmed it. i know BCS skywarp and nova are women you guys don't really care about them, but the way starscream was treating them wasn't okay.

he is still an abuse victim, but that doesn't excuse his treatment of others.

A lot of people tend to use megatron's treatment of starscream to excuse Starscream's abusive action toward others. Meaning there is this idea that because Megatron abused Starscream, then we can't really hold him (starscream) accountable for his actions toward others, and that is false. Yes, Megatron abused starscream but that doesn't give him a slap on the wrist or an excuse for things he did! And if you are trying to excuse Starscream's actions because of how megatron treated him, then you are also saying that we can't hold megatron accountable for how he treated starscream.

because megatron abuses starscream in response to his own trauma and abuse. and even if he does, he still needs to be called out for it. JUST as starscream should be held accountable for his actions.

Starscream still is a villain, he still did terrible awful things that i hope earthspark addresses. He still caused genocide, because he could, he still killed, because he wanted to! again, it was implied that he was abusive to his crew, if hashtag didn't call him out, he would've been abusive to her because he was going to use her as a hostage. earlier i saw someone trying to explain and excuse that starscream wasn't a problematic person because 'the other seekers are following him' but they had no choice. and then this person really tried to act as if him being 'toxic' to them isn't problematic and that's the issue. you can't cherry pick what is and what isn't abusive because it's a character you like, even if that character is a victim.

the perfect victim mentality skews people's perspective on abuse and makes it seem like you have to be innocent to be an abuse victim. and it scares me because a lot of people have tricked themselves into believing that starscream is a good person who doesn't need redemption and hasn't done anything wrong. and I'm terrified because when he actually starts to act like Starscream, fandom is either gonna turn on him or try to excuse his villainous actions.

So that said, those are my main two critiques with the starscream earthspark episode.

hashtag isn't starscream's mother but it seems the majority of the fandom went with it. and ties her worth and her importance to him.

and likewise, starscream is an abusive victim but he isn't perfect, and that's okay. abuse victims don't have to be perfect to have their abuse taken seriously and i don't think that's realized enough in fandom spaces.

[cityzenshark]

How to fix certain things in Earthspark

The dugout,

Dorothy,

Alex,

the triplet's relationship with their family

This is my own take, no hard feelings

1. The dugout.

Have the parents plan the dugout with Wheeljack while Nightshade, JB and Thrash eagerly joins building it.

No one should be 100% okay if their dopted child builds an underground bunker on their own and without telling them at all. What if the barn collapsed?

The security systems Hashtag and Nightshade install are done without guidance from Wheeljack, hence why the siblings get stuck inside for ten hours in 'Security Protocols'.

They could've called Wheeljack for help in that episode.

TLDR; anyting regarding the bunker should've involve Wheeljack. It makes his character more relevant than being just Twitch's Dad-2.

2. Dot should be a more strict mother.

Please know the difference between strict and abusive.

She's a veteran who wants a normal life as a forest ranger only to get roped back into Transformers issues without her consent. On the same day, her kids found newborn Transformers and want them to be family from the get go?

Have her relunctant about it and have Alex talked her out. Have her warm up to the twins gradually. She just found out her dream job is bait for GHOST. If I were her, I'd be angry for a week.

After she fully warms up to twins, the warmth is then immediate to the triplets.

She shows actual concern about the kids' cyber-sleeves. Have Dot monitor the sleeves herself every episode until she's assured they are harmless. Then have her and Alex be worried triple time after 'Disarmed'.

She knows about the events of 'Home' and have the kids grounded while worrying about Hashtag's mental condition. They were in the city for heavens sake -- Dot and Alex were bound to know!

Think about June Darby. June is rightfully concerned about the kids being involved with the Autobots. Raf nearly died to something normal medicine can't cure, Miko is impulsive around soldiers, her own son went to a desolate alien planet. As a teenager, I find June annoying. Now as an adult, I find the kids even more annoying. Dorothy should've been more strict than June and Fowler combined because she was directly involved in the Cybertronian war.

It makes more sense if she doesn't want her children involved directly with Cybertronians at all. With the Terrans, there isn't much of a choice but to rely on Cybertronians so the Terrans could learn about themselves.

3. Alex is the person the kids and Terrans first get info about the 'Bots and 'Cons & he's the family's reassurer (idk the suitable word to use here).

The point of his profession in Cybertronian history is only shown in episode 1. That's it. He should be the first person the kids go to when they want to know about a Bot or a Con and anything Cybertronian related.

Have him be more open about Cybertronians than Dot. Sure Dot is shown to be positive with Cons changing their ways because she's friends with a redeemed Megatron, but she's also seen the Cons' heinous actions so she's likely reluctant to talk about them/double standards.

Things like these can be offscreen by having dialogues mentioning them: "Dad says Optimus used to--" / "Dad told us--" bla bla bla

Mention his past connections with Meridian clearly. I have no idea about that until @monocle-teacup mentioned it.

3. Aside from each other, the triplets are closer to the parents than their older siblings.

Hashtag is close to Twitch but after 'Home', perhaps it's best to see her going to Dot for help and get a bit clingy.

Nightshade and Alex should have more screentime togather. Alex did introduced NS the book that lead him to the author's grave where NS gets their alt mode.

NS is essentric by copying the main character of said book. Kids often copy their favourite fictional character, so why not? And when they get into character, Alex plays along.

JB can be ruled out from this as he is close to Mo but something feels missing... I can't pinpoint where though.

to e continued maybe

[stunticonbreakdown]

I think the reason I don't like Knock Out that much isn't because of his character itself but rather how he affected fan interpretation of Breakdown's character which has potentially ruined the character forever for future media. All people want for Breakdown in Earthspark is to have Knock Out show up so they can be together again, completely failing to see that he is not the same as TFP or IDW Breakdown. He is a different character.

I wish people could see that. G1 Breakdown isn't TFP Breakdown. He doesn't need to be with G1 Knockout (who TFP KO isn't even based on). Earthspark Breakdown isn't TFP Breakdown. He doesn't need to have an Earthspark Knock Out in order to make him a "complete" character. Breakdown predates any character named Knockout or Knock Out in transformers by 5 years.

It's so obvious that this is how people see Breakdown most of the time. When Breakdown was in the Earthspark part 2 trailer, everyone just assumed Knock Out would be there and that KOBD would be canon in the show. Plus in the Windblade comics even, the TFP is watered down to nothing but a slow, bulky guy married to his abelist husband Knock Out.

When I saw Breakdown in TFP for the first time I felt represented. I have very bad sensory issues and I saw that in Breakdown. I then watched some G1 episodes with him in it and related to his paranoia, and then found out G1 and Prime Breakdown have more in common than it seems at first glance. TFP Breakdown is just as paranoid as G1 Breakdown. They both have agoraphobia (which I could relate to as well!!), and then later on I discovered that TFP Breakdown had upgraded his body from a small muscle car, and had a similar engine-vibration ability as G1 Breakdown too. Breakdown has so much character depth but it gets ignored because no one seems to care about him, only the character relationships they want him in, whether it be romantically with some character, or his rivalry with Bulkhead- which I'd love to go on more about how Breakdown joined the war immediately on the side of the Deceptions, and not the Autobot wreckers, but I'll keep it all for another post.

Earthspark Breakdown likes racing because he likes racing. That's it. It's not a code for "Knock Out is back." TFP Breakdown gave up his speed to fight Bulkhead evenly. Earthspark Breakdown might think that'd be so crazy, and he could never give up such a thing.

Sorry for ranting have a good day y'all!!

[arceespinkgun]

So I heard that Robert Kirkman will take over the Transformers Energon after issue 24. Very interesting. I know he wrote The Invincible series and I heard there are a lot of good parts (and the bad parts) about that comic. Honestly, I don't know what to feel about the news so far (I'm a bit concerned about writing for the female transformers though. The bad part of the comic I heard from the fans was the questionable writing choice of certain female characters)

Also, apperently Josh Cooley will direct Transformers live-action movie with Michael Bay being the producer... It seems like Hasbros and Paramount gonna toss the Transformers: One sequel into some ditch and leave it there indefinitely...

I'm going to copy-paste something I said on r/transformers:

I thought Earthspark and Cyberverse were both great, but the toylines weren't always great at supporting those series and the distribution of Earthspark was pretty bad. The Skybound comics running right now have been good… but I think this franchise just isn't well-suited for the economic situation a lot of consumers are in right now, and because of Skybound's comics' success I worry that Hasbro will attempt to hard-pivot even further into G1 nostalgia, which I think would only be mildly successful in the short term. I think it's just not clear to me who TF is targeted toward. Collectors with a lot of money to spare? Kids who don't? Both? I wouldn't mind a gap in media and toys for a while, to be honest, just so there's more time to produce something quality and wait for a more stable time.

I know Kirkman is extremely influential and successful, and also I've already liked seeing him do things like develop Beta/Zerta Trion as she's deserved for so many years (so I don't feel he'll neglect female characters). And of course, in terms of business decisions, all of this makes sense. I imagine Hasbro executives are thinking:

Critics and fans loved TF One and it got new people into the franchise. But it flopped in that it didn't make a profit. So let's take the director of TF One but then bring Michael Bay back in because under him the movies actually made money. And Kirkman's work is extremely popular and well-received and he's been a huge TF nerd for many years, so he's actually perfect for writing our comic series and his work can even be adapted into animation!

And maybe some of this stuff will be great, it's totally possible that will be the case. But while obviously I love G1, I love the G1 cartoon and comics because they feel weird when looking back on them now—I don't think those weird and surprising elements/qualities tend to show through now. That being said, I assume the comics, at least, will be pretty good and I might follow them casually. But I actually feel... kinda down when I think about all of this. And it's not just because I dread seeing yet more G.I. Joe getting spotlight in TF which I've hated every time it's been done, or because I didn't like Cooley's work on TF One, or because I don't like Bayverse, but because I loved Earthspark so much and it felt like such a great direction for the franchise, and that brief era feels over to me.

Of course I understand why we're not getting more things like Earthspark. The show and toys were distributed poorly, and the toys ranged from great to terrible, meaning they didn't have consistency. And most fans now largely hate the show, or simply haven't seen it. But Earthspark delivered everything I ever wanted in a TF show, so I loved it, and the way it was rolled out (pun not intended) and received makes me lose interest in other TF things. Like, Cyberworld will have Elita and Galvatron and Scorponok and potentially even Airachnid and Jazz in it—so many characters I enjoy so much and some of their designs look so cool!—but when I learn about it I feel nothing. I see it and feel cynical and it makes me think of any number of really bad game shows that are popular right now.

In the first arc of the Skybound series when Earthspark and the Go! Go! manga were all going simultaneously I felt a lot of optimism about the franchise, but now it's been like one year and I don't feel it anymore... I think the announcement of the new projects and the ways in which TF One vs. Earthspark were received killed it for me. I don't feel like I'm in the target demographic for this franchise.

[icyrambles]

one of the things i find consistently weird about transformers as a piece of media is how the decepticons keep being the bad guys without any really attempt at reworking them as a faction

pretty much every continuity that exists has the decepticons filling the role as the primary antagonists. here's a list of the tf media i've consumed over the past year; g1, animated, prime, cyberverse, earthspark, rotb, first 2 bayverse movies, idw1 + idw2, the first 5 issues of tf skybound, shattered glass, the first 10 episodes of rid15, and a few episodes of armada and beast wars. and literally all of those have the decepticons fulfilling the role of antagonists.

now i'm specifically not taking issue with the fact that the decepticons are the bad guys. that's not my problem here. my problem is that the franchise as a whole seems to have a problem with actually developing the decepticon characters and the faction as characters/concepts worth being antagonists

this isn't a dash on the existing pieces of transformers media just to be clear, i enjoy cartoonishly evil shenanigans as much as the next person (my favourite character is fucking tarn for goodness sake). instead please read through the rest of this post as a single person's critique of a tonal inconsistency throughout the franchise of transformers

with the more recent pieces of transformers media attempting to paint the decepticons in a more sympathetic light (see cyberverse and earthspark) i noticed a core writing flaw with how the teams behind these works tackled making the decepticons more morally grey characters.

and that's the fact that they decepticons are still just as evil as they are in the original g1 cartoon, just with a little more grey paint thrown over their war crimes. it's one of the main writing flaws i have with both idw1/2 and earthspark.

because those writing teams really want you to view the decepticons as less evil. they really want you to watch/read through their content and see the decepticons as a group of individuals who, while not right in their actions, still deserve to be treated as more than a villain of the week.

and i agree with this sentiment. i think the decepticons should be more than villains of the week who need to be defeated at all costs. i think the decepticons should get the opportunity to be fully developed characters with hopes, dreams, aspirations, flaws, and emotions just like their autobot counterparts.

but there's a problem with how these writing teams interact with the decepticons. and it's the fact that they're still the bad guys. even if you give megatron a redemption arc in earthspark, there's still the looming implication that he, along with an army, invaded a random planet and potentially killed millions. (it's a kid show i'm not expecting them to go into detail with all of megan's war crimes, but earthspark does imply that megatron did fuck up a lot of earth's shit)

idw does a slightly better job with this, showing that the autobots have their fair share of war crimes, but the decepticons are still the primary antagonists throughout the comic's run.

even shows that paint the decepticons as purely the bad guys have tonal issues with how they're written

taken animated for example. the autobots get to be fully developed characters with personality traits outside of just being the good guys. bumblebee is impulsive, he likes video games and racing and being a little shit, he's not a beacon of virtue. prowl is antisocial, he doesn't like communicating with his team, but he fucking love nature, he loves meditating. he has a whole backstory about wanting to avoid being drafted into a war for fucks sake.

but the animated decepticons don't get that. there's nothing about blitzwing or lugnut or starscream that makes them uniquely suited to being in the decepticon cast. none of them get to have defining character traits outside of being decepticons who need to be beaten.

the same can be said for prime.

while i don't particularly think that any of the tfp characters are written well, at least the autobots have reasons for their personalities. arcee is a jaded bitch because she watched both of her partners die right in front of her. optimus is distant because he lost his best friend to differing ideologies. ratchet is grouchy all the time because he's constantly running low on fuel and is probably worried about his only family dying horribly in a war while he sits on the sidelines.

but the decepticons. they're just evil. megatron gets so addicted to power that he hypes himself up on the space equivalent of hard drugs for most of the series. soundwave.... he's there i guess? shockwave decided to violate the laws of nature for shits and giggles because the series never decided to expand upon his character except for evil scientist. starscream gets to be a sniveling coward who gets beat up whenever he appears and we never learn why he acts this way.

time and time again, transformers has an issue with writing decepticons as anything more than the bad guys.

and the reason why i take issue with this, isn't just because it's "bad writing" it's because the decepticons have a habit of having backstories that involve being discriminated against and it leaves a very bad taste in my mouth when the group of people who are more than often classified as second class citizens on their own planet get lumped into the role of "bad guys who want to steal and murder and pillage" when they want to change the system that is actively discriminating against them

and this all sounds like a lot of complaining. and it is. but i do have a method of trying to remedy this mess. two ways actually

#1: the hard way. (aka, this is the harder of the writing solutions because it requires viewing the decepticons as more than villains)

instead of having the decepticons being a group of revolutionaries who loose their way and become evil and genocidal seemingly for no reason other than "oh well revolutions don't really work and anyone who starts one just wants to cause problems against the system" why don't writers actually try and view the decepticon faction for what it is in most cases a group of people who were heavily discriminated against and who want to change their planet to actually treat them more than objects.

cybertron is shown to be a shitty planet to live on in more continuity, i can find it perfectly believable that people would want to change the system through radial reform.

show me why the decepticons became the way that they are. don't just tell me that megatron was always a bad person who wanted to become a dictator. that's stupid and highly uncreative after it's been done 15 times in a row in every single continuity

i would highly prefer a series that takes place from the decepticon perspective. i wanna know more about them. why is starscream constantly trying to overthrow megatron? is it because he thinks megatron is a bad leader? does he have a plan for how he would change things if he did become leader? if he's just doing it because he's egotistical, does he have a backstory that made him the way that he is?

give me decepticons with hobbies and personalities outside of wanting to kill everything.

#2: the easy way (this is easier because it doesn't require radical re-imagining of the decepticons as a whole)

just make the decepticons the ruling class. genuinely, just make the decepticons the people in charge from the beginning. you wouldn't have to imagine that many changes. megatron can still be a warlord intent on conquering the galaxy (it's just re-framed through the lens of him always being this way instead of having to learn violence is a solution), starscream constantly vying for the throne is now much easier to understand because the faction isn't rising up from the lower class, they were always in power and starscream wants more of it.

it even works out for the autobots because them being the lower class rising up against a tyrannical force re-contextualizes their desperate want to defend planets being attack by the decepticons. they're not just doing it because it's the right thing, they're doing it because they know what it's like. and that makes their motivations seem more sympathetic than a fucking god complex of saving the "tiny pathetic humans who can't defend themselves"

the decepticons being purely the bad guys is actually the reason why i'm not gonna read the rest of the skybound comics. i have no interest in another comic that is functionally (at least from the five issues i've read) just a bloodier, more violent g1. it's disappointing that instead of trying to explore the existing transformers characters through a different lens other than "evil" tf writers keep making the decepticons the same old bad guys.

this franchise has so much potential for interesting stories, cyberverse proved that to me when they allowed the autobots to team up with clobber, dead end, and soundwave, but it's being held back by the pervasive trope of the decepticons being the bad guys in every single story