#transformers exiles

[flamewar05]

A clash of tyrants

[emperor-kumquat]

You ever want to read the Covenant of Primus or the other Transformers Prime novels or the Art of Prime? Magic link, boom

[dirtydragonthoughts]

I'm finally getting around to reading Transformers: Exiles and

omg. It is so bad. Like, bad on multiple levels.

I read Transformers: Exodus a few years ago. It was... OK. Definitely not a great work of literature, and there were some "huh" moments in it, but it was fine. But now I'm starting on the next book. I didn't look at the TFWiki entry for Exiles until last night, but just the Errors section is absolutely sending me. (The idea that the book was panic rewritten by Hasbro just before publication would explain a LOT of the issues I'm seeing.)

As someone who loves the franchise, it physically hurts that this guy was paid to write this. It is completely phoned in. Now, I'm sure he was writing on spec, and was probably handed an outline or specific plot points/characters that needed to be included, but even with that limitation it could have been a LOT better.

Anyway I'm going to jot down some of my impressions in this thread because I want to make sure I remember why I didn't like this book, years down the road when I see the book still sitting on my bookshelf. (If I even keep it, that is up for debate.) I'll even keep away from the things mentioned in the Error section of the wiki entry, since that's low-hanging fruit.

(If you enjoyed this book I'm glad for you, but I am down to just hate-reading it now. Sorry about that.)

Impressions will be behind cuts in case you don't want to spoil yourself for this masterpiece. XD

I've finished Part 1 and some of the things that stuck with me have been:

There's a thing in fiction writing that's often bandied about, how you should show and don't tell. It's hard to explain to new authors what this means, and why it's a bad thing. Well, this book has about a million examples. Instead of showing how a character is feeling, it just tells us. Optimus was stressed. Optimus was worried. Prowl was irritated.

Related to the showing/telling thing, this book loves just giving a laundry list of things that happen, regardless of how important it is. For example, we got a whole paragraph on what happened after a race on Velocitron. None of these details mattered to the story in any way, but we still got a whole half page of detail about it:

We got a multi-page scene of Prowl cultivating an informant. He gets named (Armco). A few chapters later Prowl brings him in saying "Here's someone who can keep his mouth shut" and then IMMEDIATELY someone tries to blow up the Ark, and Armco falls out of the plot, never to be seen again. RIP Armco, we never knew ya.

Weird character note: The Autobots show up on Velocitron and discover there's a schism in the leadership there, with factions forming on both sides. While the Autobots are preparing to leave the planet, the "bad" leader says something relatively innocuous to Optimus, who then punches the Velocitronian in the face. This sets off a giant battle between the two factions, whereupon the Autobots dip and go through the space bridge. Brilliant.

More when I finish part 2.

[transingthoseformers]

I've been thinking about doomed tfp megasound

[rescuebabiesau]

"Anything from Crown City, Chase?"

"Negative. The signal's not even going through."

"Well, that's not a good sign..."

..........................................

"Huh... huh... Hang in there, Sideswipe...! Just hang in there...!"

Bumblebee had carried many a bot off of the battlefield and into a safer location for the medic to tend to, but this time, there was no medic, and the bot in his arms was no soldier. He was just a kid, a kid that had no business being in the condition he was in right now.

The attack had happened quickly— rifle fire raining down from the cliffs above and onto the lieutenant and his team. The humans had gotten away, as did Strongarm, Fixit, and Grimlock, but in the midst of the two final team members making a run for the groundbridge, a shot from their enemy sent a cataclysmic failure that led to the portal exploding.

Bumblebee had been flung into the cliff, and with a stray shot having disabled his comm link, he couldn't call for Sideswipe to locate him amongst the collapsing stacks of vintage collectibles that made up the scrapyard. By the time he found the young autobot, Sideswipe's frame was spotted with blast marks and his lower half was partially crushed under a fallen crane arm.

Bumblebee had hauled him from the wreckage and managed to break free of the Scrapyard's walls, but he couldn't race down the road with Sideswipe like this. He'd need to find somewhere to hide until their attackers stopped their rain of death and weren't looking for a yellow and red bot escaping down the road... If Sideswipe was even in the condition to travel by then.

Fortunately, Bumblebee was a war veteran, and he'd learned a few tricks— both from his own experiences and that of his comrades.

Tip number one, save the special toys for emergencies.

The cliffs held some small caverns under them, the exit typically inaccessible by bots or humans, but not if you had a Phase-Shifter stuffed in your subspace for such a time.

He carried the young bot into these caverns, ducking under low ceilings and feeling the squeeze of the tight tunnels, but it would be enough for a little while until it was safe.

"Buh...Bee..."

Sideswipe's voice crackled in his throat, his audio receptor twitching just a bit but really being the only thing moving.

"Just take it easy, Sideswipe... Just take it easy..."

Bumblebee's lights were the only thing lighting up the cavern, but for now, they would rest... Strongarm would be panicking, probably trying to come back to the Scrapyard to search for them.

"Bee... You... Thank you..."

"Shh..." Bumblebee soothed like a parent trying to comfort their child, "...Just get some rest, okay? I'll keep watch..."

What he wouldn't give for Blades' medical expertise right now...

[1ll-ogical]

Toxic old bot yaoi idk; Senator Talonstrike can’t get over his ex-boyfriend, Senator Solstice.

[novafire-is-thinking]

Per aspera ad astra: “through adversity, to the stars”

The Vision

“You see a future in the stars?" Alpha Trion asked him quietly.

. . .

“The stars look endless to me,” he [Orion] said eventually. “Out there, you could just go and go, and there’d be enough space for everyone, and things to do and see that go on forever.” (CoP)

In an earlier post (Orion the Dreamer), I shared the full scene where Orion reveals his hopes and dreams to Alpha Trion.

And I mentioned in the previous post (Desire vs. Destiny) that it was Optimus’ deepest desire to peer behind the veil of life and study its secrets by collecting stories and seeking knowledge wherever he could find it.

Putting together both of these, one can see that Orion/Optimus’ personal vision for his life was to be a lifelong learner—one who learned through exploration, discovery of new life, the seeking of stories, and deep reflection.

Change of Plans

I will recover the AllSpark, thought Optimus Prime. Then I will retrace my steps across the galaxy and sow peace on my return wherever our initial exodus has inadvertently fomented division and war. (Exiles)

Life rarely goes as planned, as Optimus found out as the war dragged on.

Where a young Orion dreamt of setting out on his journey with curiosity and hope, a war-torn Optimus came to expect nothing more than a future quest of reparation and what he determined to be a moral duty.

A Fresh Glimpse of Hope

After so long, it was strange indeed to reach this planet again. Although I had heard it was full of life, I did not expect what we found—civilizations, technologies. For the last months, as we have been on final approach, we have learned to know them by their broadcasts, and though the others say nothing about it, what amazes me is how alike we are. Our bodies are different, our lifespans and our needs unalike, but what drives us and moves us is very much the same: humans talk about the heart, and Cybertronians the Spark; they love and fear, think and fight one another, as we do.

I looked for signs as we came within the light of their sun, and I find them everywhere—the many readings of Cybertronian technology on their world, the intensity of their struggles, the strange richness of their stories—against all odds, Unicron the Destroyer of Worlds has borne eons of life. I feel everything hangs in the balance. The Nemesis still pursues. We still track the AllSpark. So long this journey has been, and in spite of all its battles, so unchanging. (CoP)

Upon meeting and observing humans for himself, Optimus saw a glimpse of future potential—a future in which two very different, yet oddly similar species could learn and grow together, just as he’d wanted before the war. After all, Earth was also home to Unicron—the antithesis of Primus. There had to be a connection somewhere, and if not, Optimus intended to create one.

Of course, the war prevented him from getting his hopes too high, but judging from the fact that he trusted a human with the Key to Vector Sigma, it seems he allowed himself to hold onto a sliver of hope that humanity would not only survive the Cybertronian war, but would be part of Cybertron’s future in some way.

Endings and Epiphanies

I saw my death in the descent of the Dark Saber in Megatron's hand. I was surprised a little, disappointed. And then suddenly Megatron was no more. The reprieve was beyond belief. It shook me to my Spark and I felt suddenly with incredible force the fool I had been. I was not alone. I had never been alone, Prime or not. We, the Autobots, were one. (CoP)

After eons of hardship and carrying what he thought was primarily his burden to carry, Optimus was reminded that he was part of a greater whole.

The bigger goal was to see Autobots and Decepticons become one again, but this monumental shift in awareness was a necessary first step on Optimus’ journey to heal and open himself up to possibilities involving Cybertronians of either faction and humans.

A Shared Destiny

Thus ends the story of the Age of the Primes and of the origins of the Cybertronians, though not the whole story of course, for that is still being written in time and space on Earth, and all over the galaxy where the seeds and the sparks of life are growing.

I, Alpha Trion, one of the last Primes, now give this book into your hands, human friend, so that you shall know who your allies are, and your enemies also, how they are made, and where they have come from. Be sure that wherever and whenever you need our aid, the Autobots will respond to your call.

This is the Covenant of Primus, as given to all Cybertronians by right, and to humans by the last wish of Optimus, the Thirteenth Prime, so let it be.

TILL ALL ARE ONE.

Alpha Trion’s wording tells me humanity is probably the only other species that was given the Covenant of Primus.

This is incredible, to say the least. Of all the races Optimus encountered, he asked that humans be given one of the most sacred texts of the Cybertronian race.

But why humanity?

Well, Optimus firmly believed humans and Cybertronians shared a common destiny.

Alpha Trion, the relics, Unicron, the end of the war.

To Optimus, all of it pointed to Earth and humanity being an excellent starting point to launch into his original dream. He saw in humanity the future he’d endured so much hardship for: a future of learning and growing—not just alongside fellow Cybertronians, but alongside other races as well.

And depending on what each fan chooses to believe is the end of Optimus’ story, he either never got to see the fulfillment of his dream, or he did in some imagined way outside of canon.

Dreamers suffer more, but they also live more.

✧ ✧ ✧

Today, this post and the entire series are dedicated to Peter Cullen on his 82nd birthday, and to one of several beloved Optimi he’s poured so much of his heart and soul into. ❤️

[ohblushblushblush]

Currently obsessed with the fact, that in “Exodus” it is confirmed that minicons can feel when Soundwave is thinking and they are really annoyed about it each time it happens

BONUS:

So basically here Megs is pressing Sounds about the data on the energon transportation. And while it is all seems scary to any other mech, Soundwave is not intimidated by Megatron. Instead, he gets exited (???)

Eheh

[postapocalyptic-cryptic]

A missing scene from MTMTE, in which there is some deliberation over what should be done with Drift, and exile isn't the first answer Rodimus comes to.

After his conversation with Rodimus, Ratchet wastes no time in storming down to the brig. Quick as he is, he’s not the first one there. There’s a crowd gathered around cell three, and as he gets closer, Ratchet realizes someone’s busted the door open. A dozen members of the crew are inside, beating on Drift.

Drift isn’t fighting back.

“Hey!” Ratchet hollers, and everyone freezes. It’s almost comical. Most of these bastards are young, war-born idiots who still freeze at the sound of an officer’s voice. Good. “Break it up!”

A particularly bold blue and purple much turns to face him. “Are you really going to defend this t--”

“Yes,” Ratchet interrupts. “I am. And unless you want Ultra Magnus to hear about this, I suggest you listen to me.”

Blue-and-purple opens his mouth to retort, but one of his companions grabs his shoulder. Clearly, comms messages are exchanged, and blue-and-purple deflates. The crowd disperses, and Ratchet is left alone with Drift, crumpled on the floor of his cell and staring up at Ratchet with something like awe in his bright optics.

He’s not too badly hurt, all things considered. It’s mostly cosmetic damage, scrapes and dents, but energon splatters the floor and drips from a cut on his right arm, and Ratchet wants to get him to the medbay sooner rather than later. He’s still shackled to the wall, and Ratchet hopes that’s why he made no attempt to defend himself.

“Drift?” he calls, stepping into the cell. No reaction. “Kid? Can you hear me?”

Drift cycles his optics and vents sharply as if awakening from a trance. “Ratchet?”

“Yeah, it’s me.” He kneels at Drift’s side and, when Drift doesn’t move, unlocks the shackle around his wrist. “Come on,” he urges. “Up. I’m taking you to the medbay.”

Drift says nothing. He doesn’t move, doesn’t react other than to angle his finials further back and keep watching Ratchet with that awed, confused look.

“Why didn’t you fight back?” Ratchet asks after a long, silent moment.

Drift just shrugs.

“Let’s go. Up, on your feet. You need some energon in you; Rodimus says you haven’t fueled since Overlord.”

Drift, who had been pulling himself to his feet, freezes at the sound of Rodimus’s name. “Did Roddy say this was alright?”

Ratchet rolls his optics. “He agreed under duress.” He agreed under threat of exposure, he thinks to himself. Selfish bastard.

“Ratchet…”

“Listen, do you want to get out of here, or not?” He tugs Drift’s hand, trying to get him to follow Ratchet to his feet.

“But Rodimus said--”

Ratchet growls. “I don’t care what Rodimus said.”

Drift watches him carefully. When he speaks, it’s just one word: “Why?”

“As far as I’m concerned, the legal system decided you deserve a second chance, and it’s not up to Rodimus to take that away from you.” It’s the truth.

Drift shakes his head sadly. “I’ve already had my second chance, and I blew it. This is what I deserve, and I’ve been trying to get out of the habit of dodging my punishments.”

“This isn’t responsibility, Drift, this is idiocy! You know he’s planning on dropping you off at the nearest prison, right?”

Drift flinches hard. Oh. Ratchet wouldn’t have broken the news to him that way if he’d known-- He would have been gentler. He’s never been good at that.

“I,” Drift starts. “If that’s what he thinks is best.”

“Damnit, kid, listen to yourself! You spend half the time expecting everyone to just forget your past, and the other half expecting them to shoot you for it. What is with you?”

“It’s what I--”

“If you say it’s what you deserve,” Ratchet warns, “I swear I’ll start screaming.”

Drift yanks his hand of of Ratchet’s. “It is! You know what I’ve done, Ratchet.”

“You’re right. I do. I also know what Rodimus did.” Drift cringes. “And I know he’s using you to get out of his own punishment.”

“He’s the captain,” Drift argues. “The crew--”

“Exactly! He’s the captain, so he should bear the responsibility. That’s how it’s supposed to work. That’s what Optimus would want. He would want Rodimus to own up to his mistakes, not shove them off onto the nearest vulnerable idiot with a guilt complex.”

“Ratchet…”

“Drift. Listen to me. You infuriate me. You are, without a doubt, the most annoying, most difficult person I have ever met, and that’s saying something. Despite that, for some Primus-forsaken reason, I care about you, and I know you deserve a second chance. Yes, even if you blew the first few. That’s how life works, kid. You can’t just give up.”

Drift stares at him, tears welling in his optics. He frowns, searching for something in Ratchet’s face or field or aura or whatever, and then, without warning, surges forward and hugs him so tightly Ratchet feels something in his spinal struts pop. “Thank you,” he whispers like a prayer.

“It’s gonna be okay, kid. I promise you, we will make it okay.”

[flamewar05]

My guess as to what the leader class Thundertron is for the Star raiders sub line is that it’ll be the Legacy voyager possibly with the transformers GO black deco and it’ll come with either the armada or machinama recreum blaster because he used in in Exiles

[swallowtail-ageha]

I think dancer and vordt's relationship was something like vordt -> dancer is like "aw man i feel so bad for her :( i am the honorable knight who loves her and yet i cant do anything for her bar watch her longingly" while dancer -> vordt is like "if you think you are so honorable why don't you lift a finger to concretely help me"

[emperor-kumquat]

Why is Soundwave like such a sadist in the Retribution book with “enough unrestrained relish” and probably watching the video of torturing Axer over and over again like I thought Soundwave was one of the most civil decepticon and didn’t get pleasure from suffering but just did what he had to do for the decepticon cause but I guess not 😭

The books can be a bit random like Optimus calling Megatron an "old man" and Starscream punching Soundwave

[mybeautifulchristianjourney]

Mourning Turned to Joy

1 "At that time," says the LORD, "will I be the God of all the families of Israel, and they shall be my people." 2 Thus says the LORD, "The people who were left of the sword found favor in the wilderness; even Israel, when I went to cause him to rest.

3 The LORD appeared to him from afar. I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore with loving kindness have I drawn you.

4 Again will I build you, and you shall be built, O virgin of Israel: again you shall be adorned with your tambourines, and shall go forth in the dances of those who make merry.

5 Again you shall plant vineyards on the mountains of Samaria; the planters shall plant, and shall enjoy its fruit.

6 For there shall be a day, that the watchmen on the hills of Ephraim shall cry, "Arise, and let us go up to Zion to the LORD our God."'"

7 For thus says the LORD, "Sing with gladness for Jacob, and shout for the chief of the nations: publish, praise, and say, 'For the LORD has saved your people, the remnant of Israel.'

8 'Look, I will bring them from the north country, and gather them from the uttermost parts of the earth, along with the blind and the lame, the woman with child and her who travails with child together: a great company shall they return here.

9 They shall come with weeping; and with petitions will I lead them: I will cause them to walk by rivers of waters, in a straight way in which they shall not stumble; for I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my firstborn.'"

10 Hear the word of the LORD, you nations, and declare it in the islands afar off; and say, "He who scattered Israel will gather him, and keep him, as shepherd does his flock."

11 For the LORD has ransomed Jacob, and redeemed him from the hand of him who was stronger than he.

12 They shall come and sing in the height of Zion, and they shall be radient over the goodness of the LORD, to the grain, and to the new wine, and to the oil, and to the young of the flock and of the herd: and their soul shall be as a watered garden; and they shall not sorrow any more at all.

13 "Then shall the virgin rejoice in the dance, and the young men and the old together; for I will turn their mourning into joy, and will comfort them, and make them rejoice from their sorrow.

14 I will satiate the soul of the priests with fatness, and my people shall be satisfied with my goodness," says the LORD.

15 Thus says the LORD: "A voice is heard in Ramah, lamentation and weeping and great bitterness, Rachel weeping for her children; she refuses to be comforted for her children, because they are no more."

16 Thus says the LORD: "Refrain your voice from weeping, and your eyes from tears; for your work shall be rewarded," says the LORD; "and they shall come again from the land of the enemy.

17 There is hope for your latter end," says the LORD; "and your children shall come again to their own border.

18 I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself thus, 'You have chastised me, and I was chastised, as an untrained calf: turn me, and I shall be turned; for you are the LORD my God.

19 Surely after that I was turned, I repented; and after that I was instructed, I struck on my thigh: I was ashamed, yes, even confounded, because I bore the reproach of my youth.'

20 Is Ephraim my dear son? Is he a darling child? For as often as I speak against him, I do earnestly remember him still: therefore my heart yearns for him; I will surely have mercy on him," says the LORD.

21 "Set up road signs, make guideposts; set your heart toward the highway, even the way by which you went: turn again, virgin of Israel, turn again to these your cities.

22 How long will you go here and there, you backsliding daughter? For the LORD has created a new thing in the earth: a woman shall encompass a man."

23 Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, "Yet again shall they use this speech in the land of Judah and in its cities, when I shall bring again their captivity: 'The LORD bless you, habitation of righteousness, mountain of holiness.'

24 Judah and all its cities shall dwell in it together, the farmers, and those who go about with flocks. 25 For I have satisfied the weary soul, and I have filled every sorrowful soul." 26 On this I awakened, and saw; and my sleep was sweet to me.

27 "Look, the days come," says the LORD, "that I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man, and with the seed of animal. 28 It shall happen that, like as I have watched over them to pluck up and to break down and to overthrow and to destroy and to afflict, so will I watch over them to build and to plant," says the LORD.

29 "In those days they shall say no more, 'The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge.'

30 But everyone shall die for his own iniquity: every man who eats the sour grapes, his teeth shall be set on edge.

31 Look, the days come," says the LORD, "when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: 32 not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they broke, and I disregarded them," says the LORD. 33 "But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days," says the LORD: "I will put my law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people: 34 and they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD'; for they shall all know me, from their least to their greatest, for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sins I will remember no more."

35 Thus says the LORD, who gives the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, who stirs up the sea, so that its waves roar; the LORD of hosts is his name:

36 "If this fixed order departs from before me," says the LORD, "then the descendants of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before me forever."

37 Thus says the LORD: "If heaven above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, then will I also cast off all the descendants of Israel for all that they have done," says the LORD.

38 "Look, the days come," says the LORD, "that the city shall be built to the LORD from the Tower of Hananel to the Corner Gate. 39 The measuring line shall go out further straight onward to the hill Gareb, and shall turn about to Goah. 40 The whole valley of the dead bodies and of the ashes, and all the fields to the brook Kidron, to the corner of the Horse Gate toward the east, shall be holy to the LORD; it shall not be plucked up, nor thrown down any more forever." — Jeremiah 31 | New Heart English Bible (NHEB) The New Heart English Bible is in the public domain Cross References: Genesis 1:14; Genesis 28:16; Genesis 43:30; Exodus 4:22; Exodus 15:16; Exodus 15:20; Exodus 33:14; Leviticus 26:33; Deuteronomy 24:16; Deuteronomy 28:13; Deuteronomy 30:4; Deuteronomy 30:9; Judges 21:21; 2 Kings 14:6; 2 Kings 14:13; Job 29:2; Job 38:33; Psalm 48:1; Psalm 84:5; Psalm 89:36-37; Psalm 90:14; Psalm 107:37; Isaiah 48:20; Jeremiah 2:23; Jeremiah 29:11; Jeremiah 31:12; Lamentations 3:29; Zechariah 1:16; Matthew 2:18; Matthew 5:6; Mark 14:24; Luke 1:77; Luke 18:13; John 6:44; John 16:22; John 18:1; Acts 3:26; Romans 11:1-2; Romans 11:26-27; Hebrews 6:10; Hebrews 8:9

[transingthoseformers]

Got idea for a fic to release into the wild

Instead of immediately exiling himself Megatron remembers that Djd is a thing and gets an idea:

Megs calls up Tarn and gives him mission of guarding Unicron container so no idiot can get the bright idea to release the Unmaker

Ooooo???? That's gotta have fun results, especially considering I've been thinking a fuck ton about Tarn on earth

So

It would be immensely funny to elect these fuckers as the new protectors of earth

[primuses-least-favorite-child]

"Greetings"

@exiled-megs

Hello, megatron

What is your business here?

[exileandtrust]

UCS Horizon

Rating: Teen Tags: Space fic, post-war fic, episodic chapters Series Summary: The war has ended and Cybertron is at peace. But neither Optimus nor Megatron are around to see it. Sent on a mission to explore space, they and their crew must work together, or be torn asunder. Special thanks to my beta reader.

Read now on AO3