#transformers earthspark analysis

[azzg]

🌐The Overhumanized Terrans and the Suppressed Cultures of EarthSpark An analysis of identity disbalance, erasure, and unspoken trauma

In Transformers: EarthSpark, the Terrans are born not of a single world, but at the junction of two — Cybertron and Earth. Yet rather than embody a harmonious union, they are fractured, incomplete, and emotionally unanchored. They are not “children of both worlds” — they are orphans of two.

Their organic side, intended to connect them to Earth, is repressed. Their Cybertronian side, meant to give them cultural and spark-born identity, is hollow — they have no memory, no tradition, no voice in Cybertronian history. Instead, they are emotionally entangled with the Malto children, whose own identities are underdeveloped.

Terrans are overhumanized — molded around the Malto family rather than allowed to explore or develop autonomous selves. The series builds them into empathic mirrors, not persons. Their identities are shaped around human approval, particularly Mo and Robbie, rather than any internal spark or heritage.

They do not learn about Earth, or about Cybertron. Hashtag gets her knowledge from a chaotic internet — not from teachers, not from elders, not from experience. Twitch mimics combat. Thrash tries to anchor in brotherhood, but even that feels strained.

In their trauma and confusion, they reflect not children of hope, but victims of overadaptation. And here lies the danger: their trauma and emotional neglect, if pushed further, could turn them not into heroes — but villains. If the show truly followed its own logic, Terrans like Hashtag, who suffer identity loss, suppression, and emotional dissonance, would begin to question humanity itself — and potentially become antagonists, not sidekicks.

🔴 Disbalance and the Chaos Terrans

The Chaos Terrans make this subtext explicit: they are broken, chaotic, violent — and most importantly, unloved. They ask: who am I, and who has the right to shape me?

But the regular Terrans are not far from them. They are just more polished. They are no less disbalanced — they are simply more socially accepted.

So who is truly unbalanced — the Chaos Terrans, or the so-called “good” Terrans who never chose to be born and never learned who they are?

🗺 Cultural Suppression: The Maltos’ Filipino Identity

There is an uncomfortable silence in the show's handling of Filipino identity. We know Alex Malto is Filipino — but beyond the surface-level nods (a food here, a folk story there), the heritage is barely present. In fact, the Malto children show almost no awareness of Filipino history, culture, or spiritual practice.

Robbie and Mo are Americanized to the core — they show no connection to where they were possibly born or raised. The show never even tells us where they were born.

Even when a new family tradition is built, it’s in Ghost’s bunker in America. Even when legends are mentioned, they are background noise. The children do not speak the language, and we never see their extended family.

Back in the Philippines, it is said that Alex and the children used to hunt monsters of legend — yet that deep experience is discarded once they return to America.

Alex, who knows Filipino martial arts using sticks, has spiritual depth. He is rooted. But his children — and the Terrans who follow them — lack any of this grounding.

Twitch, for instance, would be the most dangerous Terran if she could learn Alex’s martial arts. But she cannot — because she has no soul. Not in the spiritual or cultural sense. Not one rooted in history or belonging.

🤨 Cultural Erasure or Narrow View?

Are the writers of EarthSpark simply lacking awareness of other cultures — or are they unconsciously suppressing them? If American authors write from a narrow, nationalized view, it’s possible other cultures — even Cybertronian culture — are treated as exotic, irrelevant, or optional.

There is no malicious intent here — but there is absence.

🧩 Final Note: Migrant Families and the “Fake Culture” of the Maltos

Though the show hints the Maltos lived in the Philippines, they seem to have grown up mostly in America. It’s unclear where the children were born, or whether they spent meaningful time in Filipino communities. Robbie has friends — but none of them seem to reflect multicultural bonds.

Instead of a real migrant family with a story of diaspora, what we get is an isolated, bunker-living group that mostly mirrors a fantasy of inclusion, not its reality.

This post was made with help from ChatGPT. I often struggle with expressing myself clearly, especially in English, and I’ve said before that I lack strong critical or logical thinking skills. ChatGPT helps me organize my thoughts and reflect on what I feel.

[dailymothanon]

No art today cuz I’m out on a lil trip; but I did make this awhile ago 🤔 some of it may be incorrect btw but I’m no engineer or expert at this… just read a lil bit on this and found it interesting cuz I was wondering about the bits on Soundwave’s back and if they could move like typical seeker wings 🤔 conclusion ??? Idk at all 😏 like ik the hc with wings being a lil sensitive but you’re telling me my girl is out there practically kicking people with her wing legs⁉️ but yknow I’m just wondering what headcanons could come outta the ruddervons/ruddervators… I think it’s interesting

[catthepillarr]

"Soon, I lost all contact with Cybertron, and I know my mission to find you could not fail."

Call me crazy, but I have a theory.

I really like the theory that Tfes Prowl expresses affection through physical touch, which is proven by the multiple times he has hugged several people throughout season 3. (I think the most convincing argument would be the last episode in which Prowl hugs Megatron whilst saying "I appreciate you, Megatron." It can't be more blatant than that, really.) But it got me thinking, why? Why is this iteration of Prowl so comfortable with physical interactions? You can say, "the writers wanted to add some variety to his personality", or simply for shock value, but I think that's too surface-level.

In episode 4, Prowl is introduced. He says "Optimus Prime, I have been searching the galaxies for you." and "My departure from Cybertron was ages ago". I think from these two lines, it's pretty obvious Prowl has been isolated for a prolonged period of time (which is also emphasised by the large, empty troop transport ship). This is corroborated by the statement that he has "lost all contact with Cybertron". Hence, it really isn't hard to believe that the reason why Prowl is going around hugging people is simply because he's just touch-starved. Like seriously, it's not too far-fetched to make that inference. Solitary isolation has been scientifically proven to cause one to crave stimulation which is taken away from individuals who lack the opportunity to interact with others.

Of course, this is literally just a headcanon I'm vehemently trying to justify but isn't it entertaining to rotate the thought of Prowl, of all people, desperately craving contact because he has been deprived of it for so long?

Additionally, just for fun, isn't it also extremely entertaining to just theorise that the reason why Prowl is hugging the people he feels comfortable around is not solely because of his desperation but also because his prolonged solitude has warped his mind into believing physical interactions are now a priority?

Seriously, do you really understand just how entertaining it is to think about just how desperate Prowl was to find Optimus? The emotions long neglected reopening like old wounds when he finally sees his long lost allies?? Do you see the potential for angst??? Can you imagine how sad that little wet cat would be if someone had pushed him away when he tried to hug them jsjdfjfj????

Sorry guys I really like Prowl

[eashgirl]

You know something I enjoy about Skywarp's teleportation across different continuities is that it's rarely the same. The mechanics of his teleportation vary in nearly every continuity, and there are different limits to how it works. In G1, for example, it’s portrayed as a sharp purple flash, accompanied by a distortion of time and space, as Skywarp is able to teleport in an instant. Kind of confused why he doesn't use it that much.

The same appears to be the case in both IDW1 and Shattered glass.

In IDW2 it does appear to seem as though Skywarp can create portals to facilitate his teleportation, though this doesn't appear to be a necessity, as he can simply warp without forming a portal. In this continuity, his teleportation is depicted with a golden hue, and it leaves behind a trail of what looks like mystical smoke (or something similar) as he disappears. I kind of like how much he uses his teleportation in this continuity to be a menace not gonna lie.

In Skybound, Skywarp only uses his teleportation once, but it’s a pretty cool twist. Instead of just teleporting to another spot, he creates these mini portals or disks that stay in place. He then reaches through them to mess with Optimus. The teleportation has a green hue here, which makes for a pretty neat iteration of his powers because imagine if he can use it to just steal important weapons or stuff like that without even trying to move. On paper it's less riskier than actually teleporting there himself. And funnier ngl.

Then there’s Earthspark, where his- or her teleportation is really something..... In this version, her teleportation is ridiculously fast, almost like lightning itself. The whole thing happens so quickly that it looks like she literally transforms into lightning, streaking across the space with this red glow. It’s almost like she’s not even teleporting in the traditional sense; she’s just zipping through reality so fast that she becomes a bolt of lightning, visually it looks pretty great.

But at the same time something I love about giving a charecter a pretty overpowered ability like this is as usual it usually comes with a fair share of drawbacks. Or rules that pertain how it functions.

In the Aligned Continuity, or the pre canon TFP novels, Skywarp’s teleportation has this limitation. He has to plan out his destination at least five seconds before jumping, or else he could end up teleporting somewhere completely random, which could be pretty disastrous according to him. Starscream took advantage of this weakness to set him up,which ended up getting him killed. This version of Skywarp’s ability really relies on him being able to think ahead and stay grounded, because if he tries to teleport on the fly, he’s basically gambling with his own life

However, other continuities don’t seem to have this same limitation. For instance, in Earthspark, Skywarp is shown teleporting randomly to different locations within the span of just a second. Her limitation in this version, though, is that she can’t warp through solid objects, which means if she's trapped in a room with no way out—she’s effectively cornered.

Then there's IDW1 Skywarp—though I wouldn’t really call this a limitation- as this happened due to an incident rather than it always being inherently present, but when he gets stabbed by Arcee during a jump, he loses control over his physical form. He essentially becomes incorporeal, existing almost like a ghost, and has to struggle to keep himself anchored in reality. Messing with space time kind of does that I suppose.

IDW2 Skywarp went through something somewhat similar. He attempted to teleport all the way to Cybertron after he was banished, but ended up getting caught in unspace, where he was trapped for thousands of years. He eventually managed to latch onto Jumpstream and escape, only to be thrown right back into unspace in the end, low-key karma since he was pretty much just changing allegiances on merry whim just to have fun(valid), but also sucks for him. Honestly, a miracle he didn't completely lose his mind after all that time alone- then again he probably did. Unspace was to my knowledge mostly accessible by teleporters such as Skywarp and Jumpstream in this continuity.

So, the moral of the story is—teleportation is fun, but also kind of sucks, at least for Skywarp. Seriously, why are G1 and Earthspark the only shows where he actually gets to teleport? It’s literally in his name—just let him teleport already, I beg of you!

[transformers-earthspark]

TF: EARTHSPARK - SEASON 2 TRAILER

New episodes (presumably 1-10) will be released on Paramount+ June 7th.

[arceespinkgun]

Random but I don't think I've ever said how much I love the Terran insignia in Earthspark!

The sloped shape, protruding parts on the sides, and diamond crest remind me of the first Terran, Terratronus:

But the eyes are rounded which isn't like the Autobot or Decepticon insignia. Instead, they bring to mind human eyes like those of Robby and Mo. It's just so good!

[monocle-teacup]

Most of Dot's bios emphasize that a large reason why she gets along so well with Megatron is because of how similar they are. This isn't a flex, especially when you realize that she's a watered down version of his worst qualities like being controlling, selfish/possessive, arrogant, and how comfortable they are using aggression. To sum up these qualities in Dot using canon: -The Maltos moved to Witwicky because that's what Dot wanted -Her reaction to Robby being understandably upset about moving is to angrily lecture him for daring to voice his thoughts. In general, she quickly/firmly shuts down anyone that questions her. Alex and Mo freeze during the scene with Robby. -The only time Alex objects to what she wants is during Prime Time (which is a train wreck in terms of writing quality) when he convinces her to let Mo fight Mandroid. The rest of the time he cheerfully goes with the flow and does nothing about the problematic behavior running rampant in the family. -The only times she shuts down the kids and Terrans problematic behavior is when it specifically affects her such as Nightshade altering her prosthetic -The way she stresses the concept of family paired with how isolated they are. It's always MY family -The Terrans, Robby, and Mo's ignorance about the War, especially when it comes to Megatron's past comes across as being very intentional. According to bios, the only reason she isn't bitter about losing her leg is because she became Megatron's friend and clearly thinks herself as SPECIAL for this -There's enough evidence to support she's the reason why the Maltos handle negative feelings the way they do -Yes, multiple instances of her being aggressive is a result of wanting to protect her family, but the majority of them are very 'act first then think later'. For example, the possibility of her and Megatron being immediately killed by the Arachnamechs after she punches Mandroid clearly doesn't cross her mind. -If she can't solve a problem via force/aggression, she either runs away/avoids/ignores it -Her lessons/words of wisdom often comes across as sanctimonious such as her response to Mandroid's backstory essentially being: "I lost my leg and I didn't turn into an asshole." She's angry when she says the line.

[name-is-tired]

The starscream brain rot be hitting hard. And I have another song idea that fits him which has turned into a character analysis as well.

'The Mind Electric' with the bits that goes

"Someone help me understand what's going on inside my mind" could be the change of Starscream's mentality due to the normalisation of his abuse and how he views it as -normal-. And if it's Skybound it could be whatever the hell Megatron did to force Starscream to kill the prisoners when he first joined.

"Doctor I can't tell if I'm not me" literally the post war Starscream being paranoid he's not the same person at all as he was before like a clone maybe and the fact that he can't form connections with anyone. And again in Skybound it's the gap between Ulchtar and Starscream.

"See how I laugh at you" resembles Starscream constant undermining of others to make him feel better due to his insecurities and also the fact that his whole life he was laughed at so he does it back similar to the "abuse cycle".

"No you'll never understand" right after that bit shows how nobody has been in his situation and nobody tried to understand or reach out to help him mentally without blaming him for it or even just completely brushing it off. Also highlights how nobody believes him when he tries to talk about the abuse (Hashtag did tho even said how she believes Megatron who she looked up to a bit ig hurt him, a complete 180 of what everyone else does and the fact that she is close to Megatron but isn't brushing it off says so much -nobody has mentioned this from what I've read which is weird cause it just shows how clear Starscream's PTSD is (also fuck Hasbro for taking it away from us)). Saying how he brought it upon himself and that he kept trying to usurp Megatron meant he deserved it. And again shows how he can't grow attachments cause nobody views him as a victim only a failure who deserves his punishment so they don't find reason behind his actions. Not trying to "understand" why he hurts people or in the songs case "laugh" at them because they don't see him as a product of abuse that needs to be cared for. Only a bot who's worse than Megatron ever was.

Or this version

[a-blog-for-venting-i-guess]

Optimus’ attitude towards Megatron’s betrayal at the end of tf one is very ironic when you take into account earthspark’s premise. (I know they’re separate continuities but hear me out)

TF One’s ending shows Optimus does not think any relationship with Megatron is salvageable. Even before the final fight, Optimus’ first words are,

“We could’ve built the future together.”

Megatron doesn’t process it until the banishment, (his answer to this, “I’ll build it myself,” before charging to attack, and his later shock at the banishment, suggest to me he didn’t even realize that Optimus wasn’t offering some form of Olive Branch or forgiveness) but it’s clear to me Optimus had already given up on his best friend. There was no going back to what they had. But at the same time, part of Optimus desperately wants Megatron to understand why he also chose to let go.

“We could’ve built the future together.”

“We were given the power to change our world but you chose to destroy it, just like Sentinel. You betrayed cybertron and its citizens. And you betrayed… me.”

“It didn’t have to end this way.”

Yet as always, Megatron refuses to take any of the blame.

“This isn’t over… Prime.”

Optimus even had an internal monologue about it. The conflict is key. He acknowledges the line between friend and foe can be blurry but is adamant that once it’s crossed, there can be no going back.

“The line between friend and enemy is not as clear as I once believed. Once it’s crossed, there is no going back, because some transformations are permanent.”

This line is especially fun to think about with Earthspark’s existence. Yes, they are separate continuities, but regardless, it proves Optimus in Transformers One IS WRONG. People can change. They can see they screwed up and try to make amends. It is possible for Megatron to do this.

Whether or not TF One Optimus is willing to give his Megatron another chance should said Megatron ever see the error in his ways is another layer to this. One that, if a sequel of some kind is ever made, I hope they explore.

Granted that would mean this Megs would need a LOT of character development, but I’d love to see him realized he messed up and then Optimus is the one that acts cold in response and has to warm up to the idea of forgiving Megs.

I would love to explore this in a fanfic. But I am both lazy and lack wider knowledge of this franchise and its characters. And unlike Star Trek I don’t feel confident enough to fake it till I make it. So I’ll just think of various scenarios in my head.

[vynxwave]

You:

~arceespinkgun

HAHSGZG YEAH

world must know EarthSpark Starscream’s plan in S2 didn’t come out of nowhere as commonly believed, but instead it began in S1!

[cityzenshark]

It's funny how the story's attempt to make GHOST be Cemetary Wind 2.0 when the actually vibe I get from them is NEST turned into an international police force.

Not to mention the Ghoids always wear masks to hide the fact they are robots. Human GHOST agents show their faces.

My point is GHOST is a *shady organization with good intentions*. Just note how every Decepticon in the prison are notably those who have caused harm and are ready to do more harm at any second. The only GHOST member doing all the bad thing is....

...dun DUN...

Executive Agent Croft!

Just her alone.

Now tell me again why does GHOST collapse over a single executive agent? She can't be the only executive agent. And she's definitely not the director of GHOST.

The G for GHOST stands for ghost, not global apparently.

.

EDIT: Alright, I see another faulty writing in the worldbuilding here.

To make GHOST evil-evil, Croft has to be its Director or at least one of the top positions, not executive agent. Schloder's position is only "Agent" yet so many other agents follow his command. It makes Croft's position merely right above him, not that high above as we thought it was. Croft can be extra intimidating if she became director after doing something to the previous director who wanted to help all Cybertronians return to their home.

[azzg]

🌲 Where Are the Other Forest Rangers in EarthSpark? (And Why Is Dot the Only One Left?)

Witwicky sits on the edge of vast, mysterious forest territory. We see rivers, canyons, deep woods, even underground systems. It's clearly a huge area. So why… is Dot Malto the only forest ranger?

Where’s her team? Her colleagues? Her station backup?

This isn’t just lazy worldbuilding — it feels deliberate. There are a few possibilities. And none of them are comforting.

🔸 Possibility 1: They were laid off by G.H.O.S.T.

The moment G.H.O.S.T. moved into Witwicky, local authority figures vanished from screen. Not just rangers — no fire services, no other police, no biologists, no park staff. G.H.O.S.T. may have forcibly taken over, pushing Dot into a symbolic role while they absorbed her jurisdiction. A puppet protector for PR.

🔸 Possibility 2: They all quit. Or deserted.

What if the forest was already changing? Chaos Terrans. Mutant wildlife. Mandroid's drones creeping through trees. People could’ve left in fear — or were ordered to relocate. Dot stayed because she’s ex-military and has nowhere else to go. Or because she’s connected to G.H.O.S.T. through her past and her family.

🔸 Possibility 3: They disappeared.

Mandroid was declared dead by G.H.O.S.T., yet he was very much alive. That means G.H.O.S.T. has a history of falsifying deaths and covering up disappearances. Who’s to say they didn’t do it before?

What if other rangers entered the forest and never returned?

What if the Terran birthing ground is more than just an anomaly? What if something in that forest is feeding, mutating, absorbing?

🔸 Possibility 4: Dot’s job isn’t real anymore.

She walks in uniform. She says she’s a ranger. But no calls come in. No coordination. No staff. She doesn't seem to actually protect the forest — she lives beside it while everything inside grows stranger. Maybe she's not the last ranger — maybe she's the only one who survived.

Or maybe she’s the watcher now. Meant to report what she sees, and never speak of what came before.

G.H.O.S.T. erases history. The show erases people.

And no one in EarthSpark asks: Where did all the others go?

This post was created with the help of ChatGPT. I wear glasses and sometimes experience eye strain or vision issues that make writing harder.

[weirdlookingsnakewithlegs]

Earthspark Analysis

How this will work:

- Starting from this post there will be a series of reblogs.

- Each will begin with the episode number/title.

- Important characters will be given an analysis based on their behavior/decisions/choice of words.

- I may also focus on background characters at times should I see anything interesting.

- I will also focus on other things, for example, if there are fights scenes I will likely make comments.

What you should expect:

I am by no means an expert and this is solely for fun! If you don’t like/agree with what I think that’s okay! In the end we’re all just having fun and this is just for the silly!

Things to watch out for:

I can be oblivious at times! Tell me if I missed something you think is important and I’ll try to round back and take a gander!

🩵 Now let’s get this show on the road! 🩵

[torpedopickle]

I finally watched Transformers Earthspark Season 2 today. I have a lot of thoughts and I wrote some paragraphs for every episode. As you can see I wrote a LOT, enjoy my way too long cartoon analysis:

Episode 1: the cracks are showing but it hasn't crumbled yet

The animation feels less alive than in season 1 even if strong storyboarding still carries some scenes, as I know several of the season 1 storyboarders did work on this episode. It has a couple good sequences, a couple incredibly stilted ones. The overreliance on slowmo feels weird, and the animation struggles to properly convey things, like how we're supposed to take Hashtag's injury very seriously, but it just looked like she got bumped lightly.

the Decepticons are butchered and watered down into "evil because they're Decepticons". Chaos Terrans is an interesting concept and the way they're executing Aftermath would provide a foundation for exploring topics such as delinquent youth, but knowing how the series will go on to treat them in later episodes, I'm not hopeful.

the Maltos feel like they're sleepwalking. They have a lot of screentime but for some reason they don't feel present at all, it's like I'm watching their shadows move around on screen without the things that made them feel alive shining through.

If I didn't know beforehand what this season would eventually stagnate into, I could see myself being fooled into thinking the gripes I have with this episode are just growing pains, however i'm not so hopeful.

Episode 2: Improved in some ways but not in others. The episode premise is decent, and the narrower focus compared to episode 1 does help make the focus characters feel a bit more like themselves again. Unfortunately i just don't think the premise was utilized well at all. Introducing quintessons to the conflict is kind of a big development, but it doesn't flesh them out well IMO. They treat them like wild animals with no characterization for a majority of it, and then hint at some deeper conflicts at the very 3nd before promptly disposingof them. So ultimately it feels unsatisfying (although we do get some expositon in episode 9, but it doesn't add up to much).

And once again i must comment on the character acting on the humans especially being severely lacking.

Robbie and Mo having helmets for like half their screentime definitely feels like a cut corner not to animate their faces

Episode 3 review: some well animated sequences this time around, i'd seen the storyboards for them on twitter and they're really well done, but then there's some others that really werent as decent, so big ups and down in animation quality. Most of the episode did feel like a slight return to formula for Earthspark tho, with how it felt like it was actually making a point about something for once, which so far has been rare in season 2, although the conclusion wasn't the most satisfying with the whole "you can't have everything" message but then hashtag kinda gets most of what she wanted anyway.

Episode 4 is like.... baffling.

Like the fact that they swapped to a wholly different and much cheaper animation studio was so far just somewhat shining through, but now it's impossible to unsee. The animation here feels BEYOND stilted, in every way. Like not even the 2D FX animation looked convincing this time. That clip of Robbie dropping a cake is the weirdest animated thing i've ever seen. It's like it gets sucked out of his hands by a magnet.

The Faire Maestro is a type of character I feel like would have been handled really well in Transformers Animated but was just kinda nothing here, super ugly design too and very odd voice direction. Lots of just bizarre and mindboggling things in this episode, like them seeing faire maestro having an emberstone shard, and then deciding to steal it right in front of his face for absolutely no reason even though they think he's a normal guy and not a villain. And tiny inconsistencies like Mo knowing his name even though he never said it. Bizarre episode all around, Weird Al cameo is cute but then he's gone.

Episode 5 review: Finally Jawbreaker gets to be in it. Except now he feels like a baby. Just a big stomping juvenile baby.

And speaking of big stomping babies, Aftermath is one too. He feels like he's supposed to be a representation of troubled/delinquent youth who don't get along with their peers and who don't have positive role models or a support network, but he really comes off as being just... chaotic, no real sense of interiority to him other than "I'm mean and I enjoy being mean and I can't help it". He's entertaining on a surface level vibes basis, but it doesn't feel like any attempts are being made at making a point. He's barely been in the show so pretty much anything that could make his character interesting is completely missing. Like there's no development of how the decepticons are raising him other than the basic assumption of "bad role models", and the decepticons barely get to be characters this season either. Aftermath feels like an Afterthought, as Chaos Terrans have basically been less than a footnote, and the series has attempted to do no form of storytelling with them beyond surface level observations that honestly feel insulting to the other characters like how the decepticons are just evil now, and the autobots/terrans have lost all nuanced expressions of empathy and solidarity in favor of just "they're generally friendly"

oh and also the evil mushrooms are boring.

Episode 6 review: Man this episode just *feels* wrong, like viscerally.

The show's handling of the chaos terrans just keeps getting worse. There's absolutely NOTHING about spitfire that compels any form of empathy. Like there's not even a mote of her being a troubled and misguided youth, she's just straight up ontologically cruel, like nothing about the conflict in this episode regards a failure to understand, communicate, or empathise with each other, it's just a straight up rejection of those things on both sides. For this chaos terran delinquent analogy thing to work you NEED there to be a sense of humanity or waywardness to them. You NEED to be able to conceive of them as being capable of more than just anger. This just feels meanspirited, especially the way the Maltos have no desire for Spitfire to be better. They just wholeheartedly accept that she's ontologically evil, and honestly, the way she's presented in this episode you'd think they were right, but they're not SUPPOSED to be right.

It sucks too cuz chaos terrans are a great idea

season 1's terrans were all representations of good natured minority kids, particularly third culture kids, who despite their best intentions and kindness end up having to fight for acceptance.

The chaos terrans are a natural progression of that, with depicting kids who end up on the fringe of society because they're inherently different from others and have a harder time being understood, and who don't have a support network to set them straight.

So it starts out in a place where they'd easily be able to build on it, but it's squandered imo. And for several reasons:

1. the Decepticons are 1 dimensional bad guys this season so they fail to capitalize on any potential storytelling they could have done with how their generational resentment might be passed down to the younger generation. They also fail to build any sort of relationship between the Chaos Terrans and the decepticons, so any obligation to stay or debt of gratitude that they might feel is just not there. You get no sense of why they'd want to be decepticons other than wanting to be enabled and encouraged for cruel behavior. They could have given breakdown an actual father son dynamic with aftermath but instead undercut it and play it for laughs.

2. Because the malto's solidarity have been completely watered down into just being "good guys", and never really get to articulate any sort of deeper point in their attempt to appeal to the chaos terrans, so you don't get a sense of how they might help them if they were allowed.

and 3. because the chaos terrans themselves don't really feel like they have much of an inner struggle, interiority, or conflict, it doesn't really feel like there's much of a foothold for

Anyone to latch onto to get through to them. Which makes them feel unredeemable.

so to reiterate and summarize these 3 points; 1. there's no sense of how the chaos terrans are being given negative reinforcement, 2. there's no sense of how the Maltos might help undo this, and 3. there's no sense of how the chaos terrans might want to be helped or not helped.

I understand that like part of the point is that they don't understand the chaos terrans, which supposedly makes them feel more alienated and further pushed towards anger, but there's no nuance or attempt at solidarity to the way these misunderstandings occur. Like there's no hint of Twitch and the Maltos trying their best to reach out to spitfire in meaningful ways. There's no sense of there being some fundamental difference in perspective or circumstance that make them able to understand eachother's point of view, it's just straight up "i tried to be nice but you were mean so now i won't be nice anymore" and it never goes beyond that. It's insulting how easily the Maltos give up on them.

Episode 7: serving as a direct followup to the last, it continues a lot of the same flaws. It squanders any chance of giving Spitfire some depth, like they could have spun her obsessive competitiveness into a deep-seated need for approval or validation or something, but no, she's as one dimensional as her behavior would suggest. Her behavior just becomes more and more destructive to a cartoonish degree where it no longer becomes possible to feel empathy for her.

the whole freaky friday misunderstanding thing too also feels super forced, which isn't helped by the animation failing to convey a lot of ideas.

Comparing this season to season 1 so far, man it just really sucks at juggling the characters. We've had practically 0 focus or development for any of the autobots and decepticons, and the maltos for that matter, despite their overwhelming screentime.

This is likely a casting budget thing. Which is why bumblebee has been demoted from main cast member to a guy who maybe says 2 lines every 3 episodes.

The quality of season 1's writing would go up and down quite drastically between episodes, but so far season 2 has consistently been on par with some of season 1's worse entries. It's juvenile and it has next to nothing to say about anything. Barely even any basic surface level messages, just mostly meaningless antics with next to no focus on exploring characters.

Episode 8 review: it's fine. No notes. It's a competent comedy episode. Fun premise with the whole "thing getting continuously stolen by different people" trope. Basing an episode around optimus's trailer is funny. Animation isn't stellar. Overall it's just an ok episode. I have nothing to say about it other than it's well executed even if it's not very ambitious.

Episode 9/10: okay! End of the season. The finale's mixed for me. In a different universe, this would have been an OK finale for the most part, but the fact that the season has tarnished every single character and plotline from season 1 and made no successful attempt at building anything new of value makes it lack any impact it could have had.

Interesting angle to flip the quintesson creator race narrative that transformers fans are used to. Although they too were an afterthought for this season. Aftermath and Spitfire getting killed really was the rotten cherry on top of their miserable cake. First they're treated like dirt by the story and handled as poorly as they could possibly be, squandering the excellent potential they had, but then they just kill them. Just so starscream's heelturn is even more evil. It honestly feels sad to me that they even bothered to acknowledge the fact that starscream was redeemble in season 1. Just makes it feel even more annoying that they conciously gave up trying to make him nuanced. Some of the animation was good. The shots of terratronus rising were very well composited and communicated the scale extremely well. As for the actual climax, it felt pretty lacking.

Overall a dissapointing season. A shadow of what earthspark was. Most of the characters are completely sidelined (likely for lack of a casting budget), and the few who aren't don't get a single story that feels reminiscent of that immensely strong sense of confident identity that season 1 had.

Hasbro cannot help themselves can they

[the-derpy-duck]

Ok here’s my long ass post about Earthspark Starscream.

None of this is even getting into the final episode of season one because I can’t right now. This show really did body horror and I love it so much.

I love him so so much. I love that the show doesn’t make an excuse for the way Megatron treated him and I like that he was nice. He does bad things and is selfish but also he’s not at the same time? Like horrible friend no doubt but when he was trying to escape he helped his seekers. He lead a jailbreak and he cares at least a bit about the other seekers.

He puts himself first always but also Skywarp was angry at him for not helping. Which would almost imply that at some point he used to help. He shoved her out of his way but he also pushes her out of the way do the energon monster. Was it intentional? Idk. But he did do it. And later in the episode he proves that he can be selfless. He responds well to people showing him kindness. He’s willing to work with the Maltos and follows there plans. He doesn’t even attack them at the end.

Also the fact that no one is like “yeah but you did shitty things so you deserved to be abused” is nice. ‘We’ll obviously no one would say it like that’ have you ever read a transformers YT video comment section? People like finding a way to justify the abuse others go through if they are attempting to fight back and this show says ‘no we aren’t gonna do that. Megaton was wrong to treat his subordinates the way he did.’ Starscream is a bad person, but honestly Megatron is too. His advice to bumblebee on teaching was to use fear because that’s what he did. Optimus tells him ‘don’t use unnecessary force with Starscream’ and guess what he does! I mean you could argue that he technically wasn’t using excessive force but the fact that OP felt the need to tell him not to do that shows something. Like I love this Megatron so much but he still was the leader of a glorified terrorist group. He had good intentions, but it still ended with him leading a group of terrorists.

And the bit where Megatron says he’ll take Starscream somewhere that’s safe and Starscream says ‘no where is safe with you’ is the most thing ever. I love that bit so much. Even if he’s wrong he’s still right because how could he ever feel safe near Megatron or if he knew where he was? The fact that he also automatically assumes the worst in others and is so surprised when Hashtag believed him is so sad to me. Like he’s awful and terrible but he’s also a person who has been hurt by someone who is, from his point of view, helping lock up himself and his subordinates. Starscream is a selfish traitor but Megatron has also betrayed him, his cause (typically, not that applicable to this Megatron), and his people. Also Starscream is telling Megaton to fuck off which I love.

He has the ability to emphasize with Hashtag and he doesn’t want the others to die but he’s spent so much time in an environment that fosters betrayal and constant lying that he can’t just go back for them even if he wanted to. I don’t think he cares either way, but Starscream’s backstabbing nature probably only got as bad as it did BECAUSE he was forced into situations where he could either throw someone else under the bus or be run over. He doesn’t respond as warmly to Skywarp or Novastrom when they showed up (compared to Hashtag) but he had a response. He’s almost apathetic to them but he relaxes slightly and has an almost positive reaction.

Hashtag telling Starscream that bad things happen and it isn’t always their fault was just— AHGHH! I love this episode so much. It’s looking you in the face and saying “hey. that thing you do, where you say this person deserved the abuse they got? Yeah that’s messed up and wrong.” Because people DONT deserve to be abused and no one ever does. ‘Starscream tried to kill Megatron multiple times’ then just imprison, exile, or kill him. And I know that it’s not that simple but if you try to simplify Starscream’s actions then I’m gonna simply Megatron’s possible responses. They both did bad things, we don’t see them doing the bad things in this episode so making an actual judgement is kind of hard but the episode is strongly implying that Megatron abused SS or otherwise unfairly hurt him. I mean SS kind of says it.

Starscream manages to be a really nuanced and complex character without taking away from the others around him. Like Hashtag telling Megatron to leave Starscream alone and Megatron almost shooting Starscream gives all of them more character. Megatron isn’t really WRONG for attacking SS IN THE CAVE. Because if I was Megatron I would assume he would attack the terrains. Hashtag is also a character I didn’t think I’d like as much as I do (her fake evil bit was fun). She cares so much about the people around her and is able to feel empathy for people she shouldn’t and that probably sucks a lot. It’s not a good feeling to feel bad for people and Hashtag is empathetic.

I hope he (SS) will show up more in season two as a neutral force almost like TFP. Because I don’t see him going after the terrains just because they sided with Megatron but he’s also not gonna just join the Maltos. Also Thundercracker pls pls pls. Even if he’s just like ‘fuck this noise’ and then leaves and never shows up again. Just put the Blue guy in.

Twitch trying to recruit more decepticons to Megatron is funny I love her so much.

[hydemind]

Earthspark season 2.