#whereas simon it's all in his appearance (and that's all it takes for anyone's knees to buckle and shake)

[lunarw0rks]

price is scarier than simon and i'll die on this hill

[starscreamwastaken]

By popular demand, here hare my essays comparing and contracting “The Decent of Inana” with “Last Stand of the Wreckers,” and Cain and Able to Megatron and Optimus in the Aligned continuity. Hope you all enjoy. They’re both pretty short. 

“Last Stand of Inanna”

The Descent of Inanna tells the story of Inanna, her descent into the underworld, being tricked, trapped, and eventually freed. Transformers: Last Stand of the Wreckers tells the story of a group of Autobots who descend on a captured prison, their struggle, their deaths, and the ultimate outcome. While these stories may seem drastically different at a glance, I found a few comparisons between Ereshkigal the queen of the underworld who trapped Inanna, and Overlord the character who captured the prison, as well as The Wreckers and the beasts who free Inanna, and the Autobots and the god who sent the beasts. I also managed to find similarities between Inanna and the prison itself, Garrus 9. Both stories have an intense role of “good” and “bad” however Last Stand of the Wreckers, in the Transformers style, contains  more ultimate evil and ultimate good themes. The reason for The Wreckers visit and the Beasts visit also differ in their intention, however accomplish a common goal.

While trying to compare these two works I first tried to equate Inanna to the Wreckers themselves, as both parties go alone into dangerous territory. The Wreckers themselves could be a parallel to the artifacts Inanna brings into protect herself with. Like the artifacts, which were removed in the seven gates, at every point of the Wreckers journey a member of the team is either killed or injured beyond repair, making the odds of the last Wrecker standing escape quite low. However, Inanna reminds me more of the Prison the Wreckers infiltrate. This Prison, Garrus 9, like Inanna, is captured and made a “corpse” by Overlord, the cruel death loving protagonist of the Wreckers story, who I compare to The Queen of the Underworld Ereshkigal. It is likely there is a greater reason behind Ereshkigal taking Inanna, but it appears as though she does it simply because she can, and the ultimate enemy of the Underworld is generally set up to be Heaven, where Inanna hails from and is a representative of (The Descent of Inanna). Overlord takes over Garrus 9 for attention, but while he is there he goes on a killing spree for the pure sake of it. (Transformers: Last Stand of the Wreckers) Making others suffer was literally what he was built for, (Transformers: More than Meets the Eye) and he does it as well as the Queen of the Underworld herself. It takes three years for anyone to be sent to Garrus 9, and in Inanna’s story she tells a servant to send someone after her in three days (The Descent of Inanna). The Wreckers remind me of the beasts in that they are disposable, and hold no greater meaning beyond that of their mission. Not only that, but both are sent by a “holy” figure. In Inanna’s case it is by Enki and in the Wrecker’s case it is by the Autobots, who hold themselves on a pedestal of Righteousness because their leader was assigned by their god, Primus.

The Descent of Inanna and Last Stand of the Wreckers does a good job of blurring the lines between good and evil, while at the same time setting up a character we are meant to root for and one we are meant to root against. The difference, however, is that The Wreckers do have an ultimate bad guy, and in the end he is defeated. Whereas in Inanna, while Ereshkigal loses Inanna, I would not count anything that happens as her being defeated. She is actually quite respected, considering her status. She is still a goddess and is still in high standing, despite what she had done. Overlord, on the other hand, is burned nearly to death in order for anyone to escape Garrus 9, which very few do (Transformers: Last Stand of the Wreckers). Another major difference between these stories is the intent. The Wreckers, unlike the Beasts, do not descend onto Garrus 9 to rescue anyone or liberate it, they go in to get data that would incriminate the Autobots. The only reason they fight Overlord as all is because defeating him was their only way out. While the intent is different the outcome is the same in both stories. One must stay for another to go. The only way Inanna was able to escape the Underworld was if someone took her place. The only way the Wreckers were able to escape Garrus 9 was if they defeated Overlord. In both cases there is an ultimate need to fulfill the ultimate goal.

The Descent of Inanna and Transformers: Last Stand of the Wreckers, while aesthetically very different, end up being very similar in the end. It is easy to equate certain characters from one story to certain characters in the other. The series of events I find to be very similar, and even though the intent differs, the ultimate goal becomes the same in the end.

“Brother’s Keeper”

The book of “Genesis” has no lack of siblings and their rivalries. The most notorious among them is the story of Cain and Abel, a pair of brothers whose differences lead one to do unto the other the unthinkable. Killing one’s own brother. The older of the two, Cain, is an example of the human at his worst, while Abel is the example of what can happen to man when human is at his worst. These two brothers share a similar story of another pair of “brothers” in a piece of today’s modern media. The quarrel between the Transformers characters of Megatron and Orion Pax, later known as Optimus Prime, follow in the footsteps of these Biblical examples. One, like Cain, is arrogant, and misunderstanding of God’s way and words. The God in this case, is meant as a literal entity,  as well as a higher power known as The Council. Megaton, like Cain, presents to this higher power an offering. In their ignorance though, the offer is not accepted, and the higher power shows that it is in favor of Abel, or Orion Pax, as opposed to Cain and Megatron. Both instances result in death.

Cain is the brother who “tills the earth.” (Genesis 4:2) Abel is the brother deemed “the keeper of the sheep.” (Genesis 4:2) Cain’s job implies a heavy amount of physical work, while Abel is a watchful eye meant to keep others safe. Abel is portrayed as being slightly more devout than his brother, in the way in which he works to please God. When an offering is called to be taken Abel picks his best lamb while Cain, not wanting to waste his best crop, gives God scraps of the land. Similar to how Cain does more physical work, Megatron works as a Gladiator before becoming a true revolutionary (Transformers Exodus). Orion Pax, on the other hand, watches and files away information as an Archivist, similar to how Abel watches over his herd. Further, the image of the Shepherd is often associated as a holy figure. A shepherd is often used to refer to God’s “deliverer” of the people. This role that Abel plays, along with his willingness and devotion to God, could have been why God favored Abel over Cain. Orion Pax, like Abel, was also favored, and granted an artifact called “The Matrix of Leadership” turning him into Optimus Prime (Transformer Prime 27) In essence he, too, became a shepherd, and it was his voice that was heard over Megatron’s.

It is no secret that brothers are prone to fighting, especially when brothers differ so much it is not surprising at all. Cain was hard and arrogant, believing himself the better of the two and deserving of more. Abel, on the other hand, can be described as “gentle and timid” and “a dreamer of kind and peaceful dreams” (Weisel 41). Orion Pax, being a young and curious soul, can also be described as soft in the way Abel is a lover of life with an unrelenting want to discover and explore. It is the complete opposite of his soon to be friend, Megatronus. While Cain, throughout his story, is not an advocate of violence like Megatron, both are lead to it through jealousy and rage. Unlike Cain Megatron never succeeded in killing his “brother” Orion Pax, but his anger lead to the destruction of many lives nonetheless. Had Cain not fallen to his knees before God and admitted his guilt, the same fate may have befell him. Megatron and his followers, like Cain, were cast out and cursed to wander for the rest of their lives. Though one wandered and found a wife and settled, the other went on fighting for the rest of their life.

Like the story of Cain and Abel the characters of Megatron and Optimus are meant to represent the ultimate “good and evil.” Cain and Megatron being the Ultimate Evil, and Optimus and Abel being the Ultimate good. The fact that I can find parallels between a story about humans written hundreds of years ago, and story about fictional space creatures written in the twenty first century demonstrates that these themes are universal.

(Cites for both)

The New Oxford Annotated Bible with the Apocrypha. Eds. Michael D. Coogan, Marc Z. Brettler, Carol A. Newsom and Pheme Perkins. New York: Oxford University Press, 2010. Print. New Revised Standard Version.

Wiesel, Elie. Messengers of God: Biblical portraits and legends. Bibliophile Library, 1987

(Wiesel, Élie, and Marion Wiesel. Messengers of God: biblical portraits and legends. Simon & Schuster Paperbacks, 2005 (?))

Irvine, Alexander. Transformers: exodus. Del Rey, 2010

Dubuc, N. (Writer). (2012, February 18). Orion Pax Part 1 [Television series episode]. In Transformers Prime

Roche, Nick Et Al. Transformers last stand of the wreckers. 681336, 2010

2. Wolkstein, Diane and Samuel Noah Kramer (trans). "The Descent of Inanna." The Bedford Anthology of World Literature: The Ancient World, Beginnings - 100 C.E., edited by Paul Davis et al., Bedford/St. Martin's, 2004, pp. 28-39

3. Roberts, James, et al. Transformers: more than meets the eye. IDW Publishing, 2016