#At least the seekers are seekers from cyberverse

[scribe-of-hael]

Therapist: Breakdown Wheeljack isn't real, he can't hurt you

Breakdown Wheeljack:

This Breakdown's EARTHSPARK toy, BTW

[thunderwetter]

TF One Theory - Why do the Waves stand with Starscream?

So I was thinking about this screenshot and to me, there's one very obvious reason why this shot is the way that it is:

At this point in time, Starscream leads the revolution. There's no Megatron to cause beef between the trio. They pull in the same direction.

Okay so take everything here with a huge chunk of salt, we don't know how and why the war has started and neither do we know what the whole deal with the Con insignia is, but what we do know is that D-16/Megatron wears it the entire movie, discovers a helmet with the same shape and that there's a war going on even before Orion and D-16 have any chance of starting it. A war without insignia, mind you.

This screenshot heavily implies that the war (or at least a war) has started without Megatron and instead, his three angels are the leading figures with Starscream on the throne - but why would the Waves serve him?

First of all, the easiest explanation: Soundwave cares more about their goal than he does about their leader.

In previous versions, it has been established that Soundwave is willing to serve any Decepticon leader as long as he believes in them and that they will make the Decepticons succeed. From Marvel to the various cartoons and comics, he has rarely ever taken command and usually was right by the side of whoever barked the loudest: be it Megatron, Starscream, Shockwave, Ratbat or Galvatron (to name the most prominent examples). He's often seen to favor Megatron in comparison to others, but he's willing to replace him too if he doesn't see any future with him leading them to victory. See these examples from US Marvel G1 where he helped Shockwave destroy Megatron after he went insane and IDW1, where he allied himself with Galvatron, hoping to achieve peace:

Keep in mind that both of these examples were reactions to Megatron's failures. In the Marvel version Megatron went insane after Optimus died and was incapable of leadership, in IDW1 Megatron defected to the Autobots and denounced the Decepticon cause.

In early Prime, Soundwave kept Screamer in check, however he did not contest his leadership as he later did with Airachnid. He saw Starscream as a realistic alternative or at least a temporary solution while Megatron was out of order. Once again, him following someone else was directly caused by his previous leader's inability to continue doing so.

Soundwave's loyalty is to the cause.

But what about Shockwave?

Shockwave is traditionally shown to stand in direct contrast to the others. While in Cyberverse his dispute with Soundwave is played as a joke and his disloyalty to Megatron is merely hinted at, in the comic runs he is just as treacherous as Starscream and while he's not being as obvious with it, he definitely has the intention to ursurp the Decepticon throne or more. In the Aligned continuity (specifically the Exodus novel) it is mentioned that he provoked a war between Tarn, his city, and Vos, Starscream's seeker city, to not only eradicate the seekers but also to get in Megatron's favor and prove that he is the superior second-in-command. In the Prime cartoon later on, they have an active rivalry. Starscream is constantly being pushed back, and, most notably, is the only one to trigger Shockwave's emotions. Shockwave emotes with his antennae, showing irritation and annoyance with Starscream and even openly threatens him with physical violence.

However as is the case with Soundwave, Shockwave is seen to be willing to work alongside Starscream if necessary. During the End of Prime, we see Shockwave grab Starscream and flee to Cybertron together, where they also collaborated on reviving Project Predacon for Predacons Rising. Shockwave is easily capable of killing Starscream, he could also just left him with the Autobots after Megatron's end, but he didn't. He saw more logic in sticking together. He saw use in him. Curious, it almost seems like these two can get along once there's nobody to suck up to anymore, doesn't it?

G1 also has some very interesting Shockwave moments that lead me to believe that TF One is gonna lean heavily on the G1 characterizations for Starscream and Shockwave (and most likely Soundwave, too) OR make Megatron the reason for the rivalry to even bloom.

During Countdown for Extinction, Starscream makes Shockwave believe that Megatron is dead. Shockwave, blindly loyal in this version, shows distress and despair, however he allows himself to be pushed to the side by Starscream and do as he wishes (until he realizes that Megatron is still very much alive). In The Revenge of Bruticus, Starscream and Shockwave are also seen working together out of necessity, giving us this glorious screenshot.

But all of these examples are taken under the circumstance that Megatron is a key figure. "Megatron" doesn't exist yet in TF: One - so why is Starscream the leader? Who put him in charge?

We don't know the reason for the war / the purpose of the revolution yet. We know that transformation isn't a given in this version (yet) and we know that freedom is not what it seems. D-16, B-127, Orion Pax and Elita-1 are all seeking freedom and this is what not only gets them their T-Cogs but also the ability to explore a world that's completely different from the city they know.

We know that Iacon exists - so perhaps other major cities we know, such as Kaon, Tarn and, most importantly, Vos, could be a topic and possible locations in the movie. My first thought was that maybe the revolution of this timeline started in Vos, in the Seeker capital, and it was Starscream who started it, given that in multiple version he leads the city-state.

Because think about it: What is the perfect symbol of freedom if not wings, if not the ability to fly? Even the damn throne looks like it has wings!

We've seen quite the amount of seekers in the trailer too, seekers that are able to fly and to transform. Seekers that are identifiable.

These two are somewhat getting focused in the trailer, possibly Skywarp and Nova Storm (like in Earthspark), the second might even be Sunstorm (if Hasbro even remembers he exists).

At another point in the trailer we also see a winged corpse in the foreground. I have a feeling that transformation and especially transforming to fly is going to be an important aspect in the war here.

The amount of fliers heavily implies that we are perhaps right in Vos, the center of attention, and that is why Starscream is in charge. We are, quite literally, in his realm, on his turf. He is the most powerful one around because he knows his way around the city and he can fly and maybe he also has the political power needed to engage in a large-scale conflict like the one we saw. We've seen him as a politician before, as a good one too.

Whether it's with his words or his actions, he convinced the Waves to follow him and they deemed it the most logical choice to follow him to achieve their goals - whatever these may be.

Probably Megatron will be the one to rally everyone under the same banner, establish the Decepticon insignia and potentially sow the seed for the rivalry between his three commanders, becoming the ideal symbol, both a leader and the figurehead of his revolution.

I almost wish for the tables to be turned and him snatching leadership from Starscream, but I think it's more likely that the dynamic will naturally develop...or be forced on him with some good old abuse, we know Megatron. I wouldn't be surprised to see him beat Starscream up and the Waves realize that maybe following the strongest wouldn't be a terrible idea.

But yeah! That was my interpretation/analysis of that one specific frame. I'm really hyped about this movie, in case you can't tell lol.

Lemme know what you think and if you got something to add, feel free to sneak into my ask box and leave your two cents!

[cleverthylacine]

I'm not well versed in Transformers, but who is your favorite Autobot? What's one thing that if Hasbro called you up right now and said they would do whatever you suggested, you tell them?

My favourite Autobot is easy because I don't like most of them very much. I love Decepticons.

It's either Jazz or Ratchet or Rodimus, depending on the phase of the moon and whether my brain is in RavWaves mode or Deadlock mode.

Jazz and Ratchet and Rodimus are all people who probably would have been Decepticons if it weren't for a stroke of fate.

I also love Rosanna, but she's a civilian and she's been in like 3 things, one of which almost everyone hates.

The problems with Autobots:

they tend to use the same colour schemes which makes them hard to tell apart

many of them are boring af

the Decepticon movement was a legitimate revolution against an extremely bigoted and oppressive government, and the Autobots were the liberals who patted them on the hand and said "we can do this the nice way" even though most of them were from social classes that were literally disposable.

some of them are fucking fascists

some of them are just such goodie two shoes rule bound characters you have to laugh (Star Saber in anything other than IDW was probably the robot version of Sheldon Cooper once)

It's really only in TFA that I don't think Optimus Prime is a giant hypocrite. I don't hate him. I think he's an awesome character. I enjoy him a lot! I also write a lot of fic where he gets his aft handed to him, at least verbally.

But I don't really sympathise with him. Because even when he's unfailingly sweet, like in TFP, he's still...a part of the problem, not the solution.

In some series the Decepticons did become horrible and genocidal, which is wrong, of course, but that led in IDW at least to both sides playing atrocity chicken.

In other series the Decepticons are anti-human mostly because we're in their way and we like the Autobots. In the Bumblebee movie they never even wanted to come here, but they had to--it is Prime's fault that their war came to Earth.

If Hasbro was willing to do whatever I said I would ask them to create a series of all the femme characters most people don't know about. And not make them teeny tiny Core Class dolls. (I own a few of them because they're cute, but.)

I would get them to include Ravage now that ES has confirmed her for a femme. (She is ACAB, assigned cat at birth.)

This would also include:

Esmeral, who should really be a leaderclass because her husband is the size of a small planet (from the Victory manga)

General Strika, who is the least feminine female character in all of transformers and a butch goddess of war (from TFA and Beast Machines)

Botanica because she's cool AF

Rosanna and her evil twin Flipsides (Rosanna's in KP but both of them are in... TFA, I thought? For a heartbeat.)

Howlback (done like her twin sister Ravi, with biped-to-quad transformation that does not involve extra limbs hanging off, because both MMC and Xtransbots have done it just fine) from the Cobalt Sentries who never got a show

Lyzack (from Victory -- the twin sister of Leozack who defends the home front and is a teal and pink seeker)

Nautica (from the IDW comics, who is the most adorable of nerds even if she is Ravage's unwanted aemula/kismesis/hatecrush until they make friends)

the Megatronia combiner which includes Megaempress, Trickdiamond, Lunaclub, Flowspade and Moonheart)

Minerva (yes there's a legacy but it's tiny and they made it a walgreens exclusive)

Clobber (from Cyberverse)

Nightbird (G1 not ROTB)

Termagax (Megatron's mom from the IDW 2019 series)

I have nothing against Elita-1, Arcee, Windblade, Chromia, Moonracer and Slipstream but some people can name hundreds of male characters and only those six and not even all of them.

If I was also G-d of the Transformers franchise as a whole, I would revive Kiss Players, cut out all the bad sex jokes and dropped panties of teenagers, rename a few things -- we do not need a base called "the spiral vagina" -- and take the plot we were actually given in between sex jokes, which was very cool, and write it all out as a comic/story/cartoon. They did the plot in the last few episodes of the radio show after kind of leading up to it very slowly between dirty jokes.

Everyone says Kiss Players is the worst thing Transformers ever made. I'm sorry, that's RID 2015, which is a Transformers show for the "Blue Lives Matter" crowd where the entire plot of the show is to find all these low-class Decepticons who are from denigrated castes that escaped from a prison ship and throw them all back in jail. Like seriously fuck you very much.

I will take perverted panty jokes over asskissing the cops any day. Besides some of the stuff that looks so bad and gross looks so bad and gross because it is--you're not supposed to be down with it, you're supposed to guess that a certain person is being groomed looooong before she figures it out. and the main human characters are actually Secretly Lesbians

I'm sorry this is way more info than you asked for but this is my main hyperfixation other than thylacines, fossas, small wild cats that can't eat you, and other cute weird predators.

[polyhexian]

you pointed out nova storm being yellow now and it's going to haunt me wondering if ciro neili (did some of the character designs) did that as a friggin' monkey team reference

okay so the thing is Nova Storm is a rainmaker. a character that barely exists but IS from G1.

the yellow one. but the thing is that even though the rainmakers are like, quite popular, since they are seekers, and have been referenced in fanon for decades, this character did not get a name until 2015. From Ask Vector Prime. So the rainmakers are Acid Storm (green), Ion Storm (blue) and Nova Storm (yellow.)

Obviously Nova Storm (yellow) is very confusingly similar to completely unrelated character Sunstorm. The other yellow seeker.

Apparently some old fanon staight up asserts Nova Storm is just a miscoloured Sunstorm? god. who knows. Also, to be clear, despite the fact Sunstorm's name ends in -storm, he is NOT a rainmaker. completely unaffiliated. coincidental.

this is where shit gets weird

so in 2015 Nova Storm gets a name. okay, solid. We have agreed the yellow one is named Nova Storm.

Three years later in 2018, Cyberverse airs. This is the new Nova Storm.

Purple

Girl

why girl? why purple?

"well nate," you say, "isnt more girls better? why would you question that?"

well because this is slipstream:

Why are they so similar????? Both purple, both girls. like, really similar purples, too! Theres different models for the girl and boy seekers.

so this is Cyberverse Acid Storm, another rainmaker. due to, I believe, a miscommunication during production, some episodes use the female seeker model for Acid Storm and some use the male. Addressing this on twitter staff has owned up to the mistake and instead of getting defensive, rolled with it and said hey, well, its in there, so its canon! Acid Storm is genderfluid lol. And I kind of love that.

In any case you can see distinct differences in the models, so like. if Nova Storm used the male model, at least it would be different from slipstream. as it stands purple nova storm, for some reason, is one of the most frequently appearing background seekers, so it ends up, imho, being VERY confusing. especially if you arent like me and the rest of us freaks and you cant recognize every character by a picture of their ankle.

so like, to be clear, I'm pretty sure Cyberverse is actually the first time any actual STORY used the name nova storm. I think the only thing predating cyberverse is the ask vector prime. at the very minimum this is the first major use of the name, for the purple female character. at this point the connection to the yellow rainmaker is.... tenuous??????

but then we drop the card game:

which says she, so i guess... girl?

nova storm also apparently appears in idw 2019 where, again, apparently, girl? but look. yellow. YELLOW. all yellow. rainmaker.

so THIS:

this is the art attached to the ask vector prime post. what even the FUCK is that. sorry the art is nice but what IS that. is that a SEEKER? WHO is that. that PRIMARILY black with gold accents. thats not the rainmaker design or even the purple one we'd get.

i genuinely hate referencing this but the only other appearance of nova storm is as an angry birds pig costume and while its still mostly yellow i DISTINCTLY note the black cannons and yellow and hands like. thats. thats from the ask vector prime design.

...right?

this is the Iron Factory third party Nova Storm figure from their rainmakers set. this was revealed in 2019. the angry birds costume is from 2020. 2020. i genuinely think it might be possible iron factory put their foot down and said "the black and gold design fucks" and everyone forgot hes suppsoed to be neon yellow

now HERE... HERE FINALLY.... is EARTHSPARK NOVA STORM

holy shit. look at this. we have nuked the yellow from this design. she's now PRIMARILY black with gold HIGHLIGHTS. who IS this. i guess nova storm has actually now been female in MORE appearances than male????? and as far as I can tell, the gold and black design traces specifically back to deviantart user bdixonarts who has virtually no industry credits OTHER than creating the modern design for Nova Storm???? she, uh, crushed it, i guess

also an incredibly fun note i didnt know until just now: do you know who voiced earthspark nova storm? any guesses?

Nicole Dubuc. nicole fucking duboc plays her AND skywarp. nicole dubuc is the head writer. she wrote rescue bots. and final side note, tfp ratchet's catchphrase "I needed that!" came explicitly from her scripts lol. god this is so funny to me she went from recording rescue bumblebee's lines before they were replaced with beeps to just straight up being Novastorm and Skywarp in a mainline show.

anyway who the FUCK is nova storm?

dude, who the fuck knows.

[decepti-thots]

earthspark stuff i have gleaned from people on twitter who were at the NYCC panel:

first up: they showed episode one! no spoilers below, don't worry- i'll just discuss all the stuff they said on the panel. but the early reviews sound really positive. it sounds like the show gets off the ground running immediately.

elita is second in command to OP, she's SiC of the autobots and helping run things with GHOST.

there will be 'flashback' sequences which are animated in an homage to the G1 style. (jazz is in the background of one of them! HE EXISTS) it sounds like they're directly taking a lot of inspiration from specifically the G1 show for the general backstory. it'll be interesting to see if we get any direct cartoon references outside just the general style for the flashbacks.

there are still decepticons who are bad guys in the show, despite megs being pretty unambiguously not a villain by the sounds of it- regarding the war they apparently said 'not everyone has moved on', which suggests to me megs and OP both opposing a faction of cons who want to re-start the war. sidenote: both OP and megs are shown in the trailers wearing new insignias, but megs' at least incorporates the 'con symbol, so it doesn't seem like he's not a 'con anymore per se.

both skywarp and nova storm are voiced by nicole dubuc herself!! (i didn't realize- apparently she does occasional VA work.) they're described as seekers specifically, which seems here to be similar to e.g. cyberverse where it's a unit within the decepticons.

[tflegendarium]

Hello! How are you?

If it doesn't bother you: how do you think your version of starscream would react (and think) in relation to his counterparts/other versions? And what about skyfire? Would he get along well with his g1 version?

Long day! I had to travel for work and training, so I'm pretty tired but this ask perked me up a little. First of all, absolutely no bother at all! I LOVE thinking about my AU and I love my Starscream.

She's delightful.

I'll go with the main ones I am familiar with.

G1 (Cartoon) - Legend!Starscream probably wouldn't have a terribly negative initial impression as they are superficially similar, but the second she heard, he got his Skyfire back and shot him it would be on sight.

She thinks he is young and reckless because he doesn't have a proper plan and support base yet. She did a successful coup and would be furiously brooding over his G1 silliness, wanting to slap him over the head and probably doing it in between yelling about the correct way to overthrow your leader.

IDW1 - These two would be so similar that they'd either get along fine or kill each other. She is generally saddened and therefore furious at her counterparts' experiences and especially his relationship with his Megatron (Legend!Megatron and Legend!Starscream get along fine). She would also be screaming in frustration at his ruling choices and war crimes. He had it! He had it all, and he could have maintained it but decided to go a step further.

She is very pro-murdering the Senate, though, and would be impressed by his scheming and plans even if her own were different. She would be able to clearly see how she could have made similar choices to his own and the breaking points in his relationship with those around him.

Armada - This is a child. That would be her first thought. I think they'd probably get along, and the most exciting thing in their relationship would be her attempt to murder Megatron.

Aligned - I think they'd circle each other like cats, and she'd be wary of him. She'd sympathize with the losses of his people and be frustrated by his treatment. She'd honestly probably try and recruit him because it is clear he is competent and would be a good leader, and wouldn't you know it she has plenty of room for him.

Cyberverse - At least one of her selves kept the loyalty of their Seekers but then he ruins it by making a Death Cult.

WFC - Little shit. He also gives off incredibly young G1 esque vibes so the relationship would be similar.

Earthspark - These two would get along, I think. She would be understanding of his issues and respect his ability to lead from the little we saw of him he'd likely be another recruitment attempt.

Legend!Skyfire is heavily based on G1 Skyfire, and the two of them would likely get along incredibly well. Legend!Skyfire is also a bit more of a Wife Guy though and while he understands the moral conundrum G1 Skyfire faced and respects his choices and the friendship breakup, he did chose to go with his Starscream when they reunited.

Legend!Starscream would probably make an assassination attempt (non-playful) on most Megatrons.

[scalproie]

Uhhh for the Transformers asks..... ALL OF THEM >:)

🥹👍

• Decepticon, Autobot or Neutral

I like a very specific flavor of neutral which is "picked one side at the beginning of the war but eventually left/deserted/defected" and it often happens to cons so... and also one of my favorite tf trope is when the war is just a part of their history and they end the story united as they once were anyway

• Optimus or Megatron

Megatron lol Optimus may be Dadimus but I'm driving my friend on the autobahn

• Favorite Autobot(s)

Hot Rod, Whirl, Jetfire, Grimlock, Nightbeat, Atomizer, Perceptor by association, Ambulon, Thunderhowl, Wheeljack, Chromedome, Brainstorm, Skids...

• Favorite Decepticon(s)

Soundwave, Shockwave, Tarantulas, Cyclonus, Flatline, Starscream, Waspinator, Skybyte, Thundercracker, Ravage, the Scavengers as a whole...

• Favorite Neutral(s)

Censere🖤 and Quintus Prime💚

• Favorite femme bot(s)

Velocity, Nautica, Firestar, Moonracer, Shadowstriker, Flamewar, Arcee, Swoop

• Favorite show(s)

#CYBERVERSESWEEP BABEYYYYYY

• Favorite comic series

THE WRECKER TRILOGY with mtmte behind having nostalgia points

• Favorite comic company for TF comics (Dreamwave, IDW, Marvel, etc.)

IDW1 wins with nostalgia points

• Favorite human character(s)

Verity, Daniel and The Maltos are my least disliked human characters so they win, one could say I actually like them in fact

• Favorite ship(s)

Soundrod Warrior reporting for duty🫡, Shockwheel, Windstream, Jetbyte, some good ol Megop, cyberverse was the king of good ships actually, then Cywhirl, (poking with a 10ft pole) Taraprowl, Crankcase and his alien bf, also not proud of this one but I saw that one tfp ep like everyone else so KOSS I fucking guess.

• Least favorite ship(s)

Every other soundwave ships, every other hot rod/rodimus ships, you need to understand cyberverse did a miracle with me here, other than that, well ofc most drift ships, some other VERY POPULAR TF SHIPS that I shant name here, uuuh honestly? I enjoy a ship more when its a crossfaction one so if theyre in the same team theres a huge chance that I wont care.

• Least favorite Decepticon(s)

Drift, Starscream, the DJD💜

• Least favorite Autobot(s)

Drift

• Least favorite Neutral(s)

Drift

• Least favorite show(s)

I won't say anything in this one bc I dont want my friends to feel bad

• Least favorite comic series

Dark Cyberton but only the ramondelli sections like please for the love of GOD whats going on

• Least favorite human character(s)

tranformers has yet to introduce a human character that I actually like and love. I do not like almost all human characters other than the ones mentionned above.

• A character you love that no one else seems to

I finally feel normal about Getaway. He was a great autobot antagonist like come on we barely get those. Also Froid is fun.

• A character you hate that no one else seems to

DRIFT

• A pairing you love that no one else seems to

Bro most of my fav ships are from a continuity that most people either havent seen or dont care about. Im not getting anything

• A pairing you hate that no one else seems to

Most confirmed canon ships in mtmte/ll💖 and also arguably the biggest ship in tf period that I shant name here but if you know you know

• Favorite underrated character(s)

Atomizer, Makeshift, Krok, Fulcrum, Spinister, Crankcase, Flatline, Vortex, Chop Shop, Fracture, Terrorsaur, Javelin, Venom

• Favorite class/group(s) (i.e. Seekers, Scavengers, Constructicons, Aerialbots, DJD, etc)

VEHICONS/ERADICONS

• Favorite combiner(s)

My own OC Cannon Fodder, Bruticus, Devastator when Prowl was at the head of the polycule bc it was really funny, Victorion, Volcanicus

• Least favorite combiner(s)

OPTIMUS MAXIMUS

• A bot you want to be best friends with

The frat sons of Optimus

• A bot you’d want as a mentor

Put all the mad scientists in a pit I wanna see who'd get custody of me

• A bot you could consider a mortal enemy

I think If I were a bot or con and Drift was joining our ranks I'd defect to the other side so I could be the one to beat him in battle

• Favorite fandom sparklings (if you know of any)

Not a huge fan of the concept of sparklings in the first place. Not a huge fan of trying to push the human concept of (technically) blood family onto the transformers where the appeal is (to me) how socially similar yet biologically different they are from us

• Favorite siblings

Not a big fan of the confirmed ones so I guess I'll go with the unofficial frat sons of Optimus

• Favorite alt mode(s)

I love unusual flying modes like tfp soundwave's drone one

• What your alt mode would be if you were a Cybertronian

• Favorite toy(s)

I probably have an actual one but Im gonna go with this one bc I got to recently torture my friend with it💖

• Favorite game(s)

WAR FOR CYBERTRON WINS BY DOING NOTHING

• Favorite TF universe(s)

#CYBERVERSESWEEP BABEYYYYYY

• Least favorite TF universe(s)

Forever feeling betrayed by shattered glass bc on concept alone if it were simpler in execution I would love that shit but noOO we cant that it has to be a convoluted mess, so I hate it.

• How did you get into transformers

Saw the first bay movie on tv and was too young to realize it was bad, then saw one or two episodes of animated, then nothing until prime which I saw from ep1 as a wee teen and then it was over for me.

• Would you recommend it to others

Yesn't💖

• What would you do if the Autobots landed on Earth right now and asked for your help

Wouldnt even be bothered by it with the type of shit I got going on. Hell yeah I'll play ambassador and unlike most humans in these shows I'd be good at it.

[ppnuggie]

HCs please for loving the snarky sassy astrotrain ( cyberverse)

　　　　　　ASTROTRAIN x gn human reader

　　　　『　ASTROTRAIN ,, gender neutral human reader 』

　　-> hcs for loving astrotrain 🙏

　　— fluff ,, sfw ,, crack

　　— ugh love that guy 😩🤲 tysm for requesting <33 !

• being with this guy is quite the hassle 💀💀 not only is he a jerk most the time but he does shit on purpose that bother you

• such as putting things you need high up where you can even use a ladder to get them ,, so then you’d have to go to him for help

• and when you happen to ,, he only teases you about being short and taking the longest time ever to get the item ,, claiming his servo must’ve clamped up or that his digits all the sudden ‘stopped working’

• one of these days ,, you promise and swear ,, you’re gonna get him ,, you’ll get him good and then he’d feel what you feel

• however ,, that day seemed to come a bit too soon ,, as he had just gotten back from a mission ,, pouting and whining about deadend and megatron messing up his interior

• though you werent around to witness his meltdown ,, which he had gotten somewhat suspicious of ,, looking high and low for you

• when he couldnt even find a single bit of you or at least a clue to where you couldve gone ,, he started thinking the worst had happened

• this man interrogated every decepticon around ,, some of them were worried he’d hurt them ,, and some had no clue as to where you had gone

• however ,, you being you ,, were teaching the seekers how to play go fish since they finally got cybertronian sized cards ,, which you were glad to teach

• astrotrain ,, though ,, had ruined your lesson and the game that was currently ongoing ,, by grabbing you and rushing away from the scene ,, which left some pretty confused seekers

• astrotrain was examining all over ,, making sure the seekers hadnt forced you to do anything ,, which made you have to convince the big mech nothing bad happened and that you were only teaching them a card game

• he only sighed ,, happy nothing bad happened to you ,, but was quick to scold you for this ,, to which you looked at him smugly

• “ dont mess with my stuff again then ,,”

• though he never stopped ,, if anything ,, he did it more often 💀 so problem not solved

[transfemstarscream]

give me your unpopular starscream opinions queen. you seem to have actually good takes about them

AWH RIGHT! ! !

literally all fanon interpretations of starscream sort of suck ass. creepily sexualized nymphomaniac who everybody is very creepy towards? garbage. woobified helpless little cute seeker who everyone wants to hurt? garbage. angry bird gremlin with no other personality than just that? annoying. the fandom’s favorite one dimensional “mean and sassy”? terrible. if people should be able to enjoy things then i deserve to hate things.

low ranked seeker/scientist origin story > prince of vos/high ranked politician origin story. feels more meaningful and endearing.

jetfire/starscream as a concept is sweet but i don’t mind that a lot of official material never really tackled it after g1. i don’t like jetfire being reduced to some magical boyfriend who can fix all of star’s problems by the fans as well. i appreciate g1 actually trying to add depth to one of its characters but i think there’s better ways they’ve done that.

any attempt at trying to imply that starscream’s awfulness was only formed after meeting megatron makes them a lot more boring to me, honestly. don't like the idea of that at all. letting them be portrayed as a jackass even before the war is one of the best things cyberverse did with star.

starscream is best written when it's not the writer listing off symptoms of a personality disorder and thinking that calling starscream, an explicit abuse victim in the idw1 comics, "sexually aggressive" towards the woman they're spiteful towards is something a good thing. stop being weird about them, weirdos.

starscream is a tragic character, but not necessarily a sympathetic character. there’s a difference.

cybertron may not technically be my favorite, but i will stand by on cybertron starscream being the best starscream objectively.

tfp starscream bad okay. don’t like the design, don’t like the voice (sorry steve blum), story bad, character bad, etc. if they’re you’re favorite, by all means, but best starscream? really? like i don’t care how many “redemption” or tickle torture autobot starscream fanfictions you wrote. they’re not well written like come on…

rid2015 starscream’s arc isn’t that much better than a lot of rid2015’s story like people say, and i feel like people only praise it because it’s starscream. it’s nice that you’re self-aware about star’s issues, writers, but i prefer when something is actually done about them.

cyberverse starscream isn't really that good but like... i care about them, y'know? like that's my guy. that's my girl. you deserved so much better king. hope you're flying high and well.

starscream is one of the best examples of how bad people can be victims of abuse. material that tries to implement the idea that starscream was never mean at all until megatron and/or that “starscream was just a poor cinnamon roll who got corrupted :(“ enforces, although not always intentionally, that abuse victims are always 100% good, pure, and kind people at least before the abuse started and that you can’t really be a victim if you’re not conventionally appealing in personality.

starscream’s abuse is not black-and-white. you can believe they didn’t deserve any of it while also not trying to justify them hurting other people. you can still call starscream a bad person without implying that they deserved all that happened to them. you can talk about their abuse without the mentality that they’re either a perfect little babu or a malicious evil being put on cybertron by unicron himself and is incapable of feeling emotions. you guys……

starscream’s best foils are usually female characters. arcee, windblade, etc. hell even slipstream if we ignore the obvious weird joke she stems from. i like to ignore what mscott the writer's intent was with windblade and starscream's interactions in taao.

star is trans coded but not very good representation at all. their canonical body dysmorphia, although excellent in concept, is kind of shallow in-story and rather vague. their femininity being tied to why they’re considered freaky to a lot of bots is… not good and the fact the fandom plays it off like “stupid sexy starscream” and not the weirdly transmisogynistic attitude the canon has towards star is weird. smokescreen calling starscream “the stiletto-heeled freak” is not the progressive compliment you think it is.

starscream endures a lot of transmisogynistic and homophobic subtext/attitude placed on them that is perpetuated by both official material and the fandom alike; starscream’s likeliness to die in almost any continuity and them being thrown around by the “tough guys” + the fandom’s creepy obsession with inflating their flamboyancy/effeminity and freaky infatuation with their suffering (usually physically, but mentally as well) are connected and inherently tied to the gay/transfeminine coding they have.

let's not erase transmisogynistic undertones and try to shape it into something else to make it "progressive".

i got off into a tangent but these are opinions i've already wrote down some time ago so i hope you don't mind. anyway he's a good character.

[baebeyza]

Top 4 or 5 I dunno

Am bored so imma just list my faves for characters who have at least 4 different versions in the cartoons

(this was more than I expected, so it's under the cut-)

Shockwave!

1. TFP (Just a fucking pissy and spiteful babe with the sexiest design) 2. Energon (jerkiest jerk ever) 3. TFA 4. G1 5. Cyberverse

Soundwave!

1. TFP (My brother's favourite transformer, that gotta mean something) 2. G1 3. Cybertron (I'd love him more if he wasn't in like, 6 episodes total) 4. Headmasters 5. Cyberverse

TFA Soundwave just aint sexy, I am sorry- and neither is RID15 Soundwave after his upgrade u.u WFC Soundy just didn't do much

Prowl!

1. RiD01 (Middle child) 2. Energon (a little eager boyo) 3. TFA 4. G1 5. WFC

Only reason I chose WFC over Cyberverse here is that I fucking forgot he even was in Cyberverse, so he obviously couldn't leave a big impression on me

Ratchet!

1. TFP (Especially that german voice OuO) 2. WFC 3. TFA 4. G1 5. RiD15

Putting RiD15 Ratchet above Cyberverse Ratchet because he says "I needed that" :D Also, in Prime Wars he seems to exist because Windblade mentions him once, but we never see him

Roddy!

1. G1 (Original boi) 2. Energon 3. Prime Wars 4. Cyberverse 5. TFA

Headmasters Roddy gets no place in this for just fucking off and never coming back-

Ultra Magnus!

1. G1 (love of my life) 2. WFC 3. RiD01 (the bitch version-) 4. Headmasters 5. TFP

Fun fact: In the japanese version of Armada he exists as well, but not really as a character, just as an upgrade for Prime in the last season of the show that just existed for some reason - in the english version that upgrade is called Overload :D (but sometimes gets called Ultra Magnus too because the english script writers for the show were kinda high or something)

Oh, and in TFA I aint all that hype for him

Hot Shot!

1. Cybertron (A cutie) 2. Energon (A mature cutie) 3. Armada (I don't even care about this boi, but I can't put him below the other two) 4. RiD01 (I can't remember anything he ever did) 5. TFA (I couldn't even remember him existing)

Arcee!

1. G1 (Original girl) 2. TFP 3. Cyberverse 4. WFC 5. Energon

She's also in Headmasters as a secretary - a downgrade from G1. And in TFA she didn't leave much of an impression on me :/

Wheeljack!

1. Cyberverse (Such crazy uncle energy) 2. Energon (He's only called Wheeljack in original version - and I fucking loved the way he talked man, his voice and accent were just so damn epic) 3. TFP 4. G1 5. WFC He is in TFA, but I can't remember anything he ever said in those 3 minutes of screentime

Perceptor!

1. Prime Wars (Of course, he was so cute and funny!) 2. G1 (Cutie!) 3. Cyberverse 4. Victory (his one job of telling Ginrai he cannot be repaired was better than anything he ever did in TFA - at least he had a damn on-screen job! xD) 5. TFA

Some Minicon in Armada is called Perceptor, but bugger me if I fucking remember which one it was

Grimlock!

1. RiD15 (Fave of the whole show, such a sweetheart! <3) 2. G1 3. Prime Wars 4. Cyberverse 5. TFA

Rid01 also has a Grimlock, but he ain't even a Dino in it

Bumblebee!

1. RiD15 (A sin, I know, but I'm not hot on Bee in general and I just found this one the most appealing) 2. Cyberverse 3. TFP 4. G1 5. TFA

I know he's in RB, but I havent watched that yet so I can't talk

Sky/Jetfire!

1. Cybertron 2. Energon 3. Armada (one of the only two characters I actually liked in the whole show-) 4. G1 5. WFC

TFA version wasn't all that hot to me

Megazarak/Scorponok!

1. Energon (a goodie) 2. Headmasters 3. Beast Wars 4. WFC 5. RiD15

Bro I remember nothing about him in G1, that 4th season was so damn forgettable and weird, that even the RiD15 version stuck to me more

Fortress Maximus!

1. Headmasters (Master SWOOOORD- <3) 2. Prime Wars 3. RiD01 4. G1 (I can remember this version better than Scorponok at least)

Sideswipe!

1. RiD15 2. Armada 3. G1 4. WFC

As with Bee, can't judge his RB version

Blurr!

1. G1 (BOI) 2. TFA (handsome boi!) 3. Cyberverse (I just remember that he dies) 4. RiD15 (Just here because I liked him more than in Armada) 4. Armada (he aint even boi, but he has the name so whatever)

He's in Headmasters too and he fucks off with Roddy, so SHAME ON YOU

Cyclonus!

1. G1 (The only version I give a shit about- the others are just a contest about which I care less) 2. Energon 3. Armada 4. RiD15 5. TFA

Headmasters Cyclonus gets disqualified for the AUDACITY TO BE A WHIMP!

Galvatron! (disclaimer - versions that are really just Megatron-repaints don't count. Also for the Unicron Trilogy, I go by the japanese versions because I hate the english one when it comes to him and Megatron)

1. Energon (In japanese, its always Galvatron from the start, the character never was "Megatron" and bro do I love him!) 2. G1 (The original crazy man, you go babe! 3. Beast Wars II 4. Headmasters 5. WFC (Hope he gets to be awesome in Kingdom! ~)

Unicron!

1. Beast Wars Neo (personality babey) 2. TFP 3. Prime Wars 4. G1 5. Armada (at least he had Sideways here) I mean he is in Energon, but is barely a character...

Red Alert!

1. Cybertron 2. G1 3. Armada 4. WFC 5. TFA

Fun fact: Energon Prowl is Red Alert in japanese and Armada Red Alert is Ratchet in japanese-

Skywarp!

1. G1 (Aesthetics ~) 2. Beast Wars II (totally different character btw, but again - Aesthetics ~) 3. Cyberverse (girl Aesthetics ~) 4. WFC 5. TFA (anti-aesthetics!)

There be a lot of seekers in Prime Wars, but they all die without ever showing a robot-mode so who gives a fuck man

Thundercracker!

1. Cyberverse (It's the moe-effect) 2. Cybertron 3. G1 4. TFA 5. WFC

Thrust!

1. Beast Machines 2. Beast Wars II 3. Armada 4. G1 5. Cyberverse (Couldn't remember him in this thing either)

The Quintessons!

1. Energon (Alpha Q Disney Princess) 2. G1 3. WFC 4. Cyberverse

Alpha Trion!

1. G1 (This is the only version I have spent any thoughts on-) 2. TFA 3. Cyberverse 4. WFC 5. Headmasters

Man, at least in Headmasters he had a body compared to TFP-

Metroplex!

1. Cybertron 2. Headmasters (just for that one scene in which he says that Magnus would have wanted to be buried on Earth) 3. Prime Wars 4. G1

Jazz!

1. G1 2. TFA 3. RiD15 4. Headmasters (mah man Marshall, eh?)

Scourge!

1. Cybertron 2. RiD01 3. G1 4. Headmasters

Cliffjumper!

1. Energon (Character is called Overdrive in japanese but whatever) 2. TFP 3. G1 4. TFA 5. WFC (forgot he was in it)

Ironhide!

1. Energon (The boi) 2. G1 3. RiD01 4. TFA 5. WFC (5 seconds or something)

Omega Supreme!

1. Energon 2. G1 3. TFA 4. WFC

Laserbeak!

1. TFP (Of course-) 2. G1 3. Cyberverse 4. RiD01 5. Cybertron

Sorry, WFC Laserbeak u.u And who cares for Armada Laserbeak-

Mirage!

1. Energon (the Decepticon who is IN LOVE WITH MEGS/GALVS, what more do you want! Also he cute-) 2. RiD01 3. G1 4. WFC

Chromia!

1. Cybertron (In japanese Thunderblast's name is Chromia- forgive me not sticking to one language here x'D) 2. WFC 3. G1 4. Cyberverse

Menasor!

1. RiD15 2. Prime Wars 3. G1 4. Cybertron

Bulkhead!

1. TFA 2. TFP 3. Energon (Sprung in japanese) 4. RiD15

[ask-prime-starscream]

Siege Review Episode 1

I can’t get this out of my head, so there we go: I’ll review the series so I can finally move on and do the things I actually planned to do.

While I’m no fan of the Siege toys (too much kibble, same boxy body type for everyone, not very poseable, absolute no buy for me...), the character models are easy to look at. They aren’t overly bright or hard to make out like in RiD or Cyberverse (gotta call that the R’lyeh effect). I think Bumble Bee here looks pretty good! It’s as if I could pat his head. 

But this isn’t cute Bumble Bee the eternal scout who somehow is also Optimus’s strongest fighter. Yeah, seriously. The way he kicks even high ranking Decepticon aft easily in recent series, he should be Optimus’s right hand bot. HOWEVER, being mute usually turns Bee into a toddler, so I guess mentally he isn’t fit for the job...

But as I said, this isn’t the usual Bee, this is edgy Bee! He can talk! (Thank Primus!) He doesn’t want anything to do with either side because they both suck! (Understandable.) He collects energon just for the money! (Uhm...) ... By the way... what is money even worth here in this dystopian, pile of junk world? Shouldn’t energon be the one thing anybot wants? Or spare parts? Relics from the past? Bee, what do you even want to buy? We don’t know, but if I was him, I’d try to get a spacecraft together and leave this garbage planet!

While edgy Bee has to deal with his client, the not very survival-approved Autobot Wheeljack, they get caught by the seekers. And there he is: Jerkfire, commander of the seekers! Jerkfire is really great with keeping his troops’s morale up. He slices Starscream’s arm off as teaching lesson (Starscream needs to respect his authoritah!!)  and... brings up his own bots against him that way... uh... WHAT AN IDIOT! (At this point Wheeljack, who really wants to sell the Autobot cause to edgy Bee, could say something like “Wowie, if this is how Decepticons treat each other, it’s hardly surprising we don’t want to surrender and be assimilated by you!” But he doesn’t. After all this is still Starscream’s arm which got sliced off and everybody’s meta knowledge tells them that Jerkfire is actually the good guy, therefore... eh, rather crack a joke at Starscream’s misery.) 

Then Megatron shows up and he is really imposing, you can almost hear the menacing smacking of his Overlord lips! What he wants though, is not to kill the Autobots, he rather wants them to join his cause while Starscream is more the genocidal kind of guy. Jerkfire on the other hand probably wants to make them prisoners of war, I assume. He never outright tells what he wants.

Wheeljack doesn’t wanna live in Megatron’s Cybertron and spouts the “Freedom is the right of every living being, yadda yadda” stuff and at this point it would be interesting to know why Megatron’s rule would be so bad for them. Cybertron looks as gloomy as if it was thrown into the Jupiter, but that’s the fault of both factions. I guess, Megatron is bad because once more our meta knowledge tells us so. We never see enslaved Autobots being worked to death. Something that used to happen to Decepticons. We just see Megatron wanting the war to end and the Autobots refusing to surrender which will lead to their extinction.

Optimus Prime rolls out before Wheeljack and Bee get executed and fights the most pathetic fight against Megatron. Their boxy, kibbly bodies make them already sluggish and clumsy and here it’s as if we’re watching two turtles lying on their backs. At least they can hit though, unlike Cyberverse, and there is no stupid slow-motion like in RiD.

Because Optimus can’t do shit, Elita has to save all of their asses. Elita looks a little bit like a ladybug and never transforms throughout the show.

“We have no chemistry.”

I also find Optimus’s and Elita’s relationship to be very... cold. She is usually nagging for him to do or not do this or that and he is dismissing her. She is not his equal. Unsurprisingly she is like “fuck this, I’m outta here” at the end of season one.

Inside the Autobot headquarters, Optimus talks to Ultra Magnus.

Mags: I think this war is lost...

O.P.: But we still alive.

Mags: We got to eat though...

O.P.: Hmmmmmmmmm... (<-- 90% of his replies)

Meanwhile, edgy Bee takes a look at the junk pile headquarters and can’t wait to leave. Optimus tries to recruit him, but edgy Bee doesn’t want to join the losing team. Elita wants to execute Bee then and there, but Optimus is against such Decepticon methods.

Somewhere else in some kind of stadium, Megatron releases some Decepticon propaganda to the masses and everybody claps. Even Starscream who got his arm replaced. Jerkfire rams into him and asks, if he wants to lose that arm too. Bruh!

What a bullying asshole.

After that, Jerkfire tells Megatron that his seekers are out there hunting Autobots (because sometimes he is cool with killing them all) and Starscream rightfully claims that Jerkfire sucks at his job. Jerkfire is pissed, but Megatron reveals a tiny boner for Starscream’s arrogance (and that’s the only thing mattering about the entire show to Megastar shippers, lol!)

Well, and that was episode one!

[emotionaldepravity]

Cyberverse! Megatron trying to console Starscream’s human! s/o about his death. Pre-Episode 4 from season 2.

Better late than never I suppose...

     You had been anxious when Starscream mentioned that he and the rest of the Decepticons were going to go to the moon to try and stop the Autobots once and for all. You had been privy to more than most others about the civil war that had started to overtake your planet. You had the unfortunate pleasure of knowing that your darling Starscream wasn’t exactly on the side that cared whether or not your species lived as long as the All Spark was retrieved. Though you had cared for him, and there were moments that he had told you the same, there was always uncertainty in such a relationship, always a fear that you could be tossed away at any time. You also knew that being the human to tell the world of the Decepticon’s true nature would only make you more of a target than you already were. Things weren’t quite how you imagined they would go when the handsome jet first stole your heart, but for the moments that weren’t taken by the war, you were happy. 

     Of course, today you wanted an immediate update on your Cybertronian love, but not getting a call as soon as the battle ended was more likely. You knew that he had plenty of duties as the Second in Command so you were patient and tried to keep yourself as calm as possible as the Nemesis scanned your person upon approach.

       It was rare that you ever came out to find the Nemesis as it was just simpler for Starscream to find you, but when you did, there was a special little routine. Typically, the proud Seeker Commander would have flown out to meet you either to boast of his victory after a long kiss or to steal you away into his servos as he flew around searching for a safe place to lick his wounds. However, as you ran to the entrance to the Nemesis, Starscream did not come to greet you. You waited for several minutes before pulling out your phone to call his comm. Perhaps he was too injured to come out today? You let the discomforting ring of the phone continue until the answering machine tried to make sense of the unreceived call. The anxiety you felt as you watched him fly to meet his squadron to join the battle on the moon returned. You thought about calling the only other number you had, Megatron himself, one of the few Decpticons you had not met before. 

     It was simply in case of this exact scenario, if Stars ever was ever unable to respond to your ping ,that you ever got his comm number. Why Starscream ever gave you the comm number of the mech who seemed to torture him every chance he got, you didn’t quite understand. Over time as you learned more of how the Decepticon army worked, you grew to hate Megatron even more, but there was no time to worry about that now. You were a bit surprised when the Decepticon leader picked up as soon as it started ringing. Before you could even say hello, a deep voice spoke.

“I’ll be outside in a moment.”

     Before you had a chance to respond, the call ended. It only took a minute or so until a very tall and intimidating silver mech came out to greet you. You had no doubt that this was the “Lord Megatron” you had heard enough of to highly distrust. He wasted no time to inform you of what you had feared the most.

“There are few things that are more difficult to convey than a tragedy such as this. Your beloved Starscream, my esteemed second in Command, has fallen in battle to the cruel Autobots. I’m so sorry [Y/N]. His death is quite the loss to the Decepticon cause.”

     As he waited for reality to set in and for your eventual response, Megatron gave you a look you could not describe. Though you heard the pain in his voice, his expression didn’t quite seem to fit his tone. As he told you more of how horrible and brutal the Autobots were to Starscream, you were unsure of his words. In greater detail than you’d ever want, he described the torture that was you beloved’s last few minutes. It was difficult to find words at such a moment. Perhaps he took your silence as an opportunity, but within seconds the towering mech was only a few feet taller than you. Before you could even make a move to avoid it, he had his arms wrapped around you in a tender embrace that was wholly unlike anything you would have expected from him. The shock of such contact made you shiver and gasp.

“Ah I apologize if I have startled you that was not my intention.”

    A few moments of silence later, he spoke again.

“It’s quite alright if you need to cry.”

      It was almost unfair that his choked tone was all it took for you to completely fall apart. There was a numbness that washed over you when he started to rub your back. He was really gone. All those years, all that happiness, taken from you in such a horrific way. Teetering between grief and confusion, you decided that you had cried enough and pulled away. As you looked at the mech before you, something began to bother you. Why would someone who hates humans so much, at least from what Starscream had said, even bother with you?  Was this truly the fearsome “boss from hell” that Starscream had described? The way that Megatron spoke to you, so full of pity and charm, it made you wonder what could you even believe. Perhaps that act was why Starscream hadn’t left, if was easy to get swept up in it all. 

     One thing was certain and that was Starscream was gone. There was no chance of you getting to see his even a trace of his frame based on what Megatron explained so you turned to leave, certain there was nothing else for you here. He was quick to try to convince you otherwise.

“If you ever need someone to speak again to someone that knows your pain, I am here. You need only to ping me, and I would be happy to come to your side to comfort you in any way you could possibly desire.”

       As you walked back to your car, something told you that you weren’t going to take him up on that offer without plenty of consideration. 

[outlier-roddy]

*writes 1250 words of robot thesis*

So full disclosure, I need you all to know that this is Just My Opinion, i’m in no way claiming to be the final voice on the subject or anything.  Just my thoughts and how i address this AND im only posting it bc ppl said they would read it lol

Tw for discussion of abuse and violence bc megastar

This all started because I noticed that Mae Catt shipped megastar.  And i said to myself, hey, isn’t cyberverse like, the most unhealthy continuity to ship megastar in?? And then i was like well maybe not.  And i started thinking about it.

Cyberverse megastar is probably the best example of how megatron and starscream’s relationship works. [SPOILERS]  In the entire run of the show, starscream is always motivated by megatron in some way shape or form.  At first, he’s under megatron’s command as a seeker; then he betrays him; is killed by megatron; comes back to take his revenge against megatron for killing him; and finally comes back to take his revenge again by judging megatron and the entire universe ‘guilty’.  

Starscream and megatron’s relationship is called ‘abuse’ a lot-- i wouldn’t say that it’s like that for every case, specifically because starscream is an active member of the cause-and-effect that he and megatron have (starscream betrays megatron- megatron takes revenge against starscream- rinse and repeat).  As we know there is no such thing as ‘mutual abuse’ so it’s more likely that starscream is a participant in the dynamic rather than a passive sufferer of it.

That’s another point.  I don’t have to like starscream to acknowledge that he is a complex and interesting character with a lot of complicated moments and motivations.  Similarly, just because I like megatron doesn’t mean I can’t acknowledge that he is an angry, vengeful, brutal asshole a lot of the time, specifically in cyberverse and tfp.  These two characters clash in the ways that we’ve seen historically in tf.  Starscream is self-serving and constantly seeks to undermine megatron, and megatron responds in his own way, which is to say violence.

That’s the big point, that a lot of ppl have pointed out and that some fanfics (and even continuities) have explored.  Starscream’s ambition is to overthrow megatron and become leader of the decepticons.  But once he’s done that, what does he have left as motivation?  in the tv shows, in particular it is implied that he would be exuberant for a few years, but eventually left empty and passionless, without the drive or challenge of overthrowing megatron.  Idw did explore this a few times letting starscream be the leader (I’m thinking specifically in the issue where hot rod steals the matrix-- he was seen to be depressed and bored with megatron gone.  Post-war comic starscream I’m less familar with, but it doesn’t fit my point as well, as he never overthrew megatron and was instead allowed to be leader through different circumstances.  the megastar dynamic i’m most familar with is in the shows, so please don’t try and explain comics megastar because i literally just don’t want to know lsdkjfhbsdh)

the megastar relationship is unhealthy in these ways: starscream is megatron’s subordinate; starscream and megatron are constantly attempting to do violence to each other; starscream is shown to need megatron’s presence to function [and i don’t really agree with this one-- i think starscream should be able to be a character in his own right without constantly having to relate to megatron, but the writers rarely give us that]; and while starscream needs megatron, megatron does not need starscream.

That brings me to megarod, because a LOT of people compare it to megastar and equate it on the same level to say that it’s abuse.  That’s where i disagree, because while i understand how the relationship dynamic with megastar is unhealthy, I don’t think that the same things apply to the megarod dynamic.  In mtmte, rodimus and megatron are at the same power level (at least in title-- there is a part of me that would love to explore just how much power rodimus really had over megatron in mtmte, because you know that one phone call to optimus would have sent megatron back to be executed).  Rodimus is never shown to be in need of megatrons presence or interaction-- rodimus functioned perfectly well before megatron showed up on the ship, and rodimus functioned perfectly well after megatron was left behind in the other universe.  Megatron grows to have respect for rodimus, while he never grew to respect starscream in any continuity as far as I’m aware-- megatron saw starscream as a competent SIC, a useful subordinate, and a threat, to reduce it down.  Similarly, rodimus grew to respect and care for megatron as well, as evidenced by how they interacted at the end of the comic.  They had mutual respect, at the very least.

What a lot of people like to point out is this:

Which.  Yeah.  look, that’s a big deal, especially to rodimus.  I’m a rodimus fan before a megarod fan, and there’s no pretending that being nearly killed by megatron was traumatic to rodimus.  Hell, he even says this:

Which is totally understandable.  Rodimus is traumatized as a result of being shot, and there’s no dancing around that.  As a responsible person, it’s important for me to acknowledge that he definitely, definitely has a lot of complicated feelings about megatron, and he still has that residual trauma from being shot in the chest.  Like, damn roddy I would too.

HOWEVER.  This is where i’ll make the comparison.  Rodimus’ injury happened during wartime, under the circumstances that he was a member of the opposing army that had broken into a decepticon base, stolen something important, and happened to run into the Leader Of The Decepticons, who currently was really fucking pissed off because of a whole lot of shit and was looking to murder anyone and everyone (iirc, megatron also was a massive dick to starscream not long after the shooting roddy incident).  Rodimus was shot as a soldier, under circumstances that absolutely would not happen EXCEPT in a war.  

Megatron and starscream’s relationship does NOT need a war to exist.  Megatron and starscream would have the same dynamic if megatron were the leader of some other kind of force, or if the decepticons were currently at peace, or if the autobots were gone from the equation entirely.  Starscream would always look to overthrow megatron and megatron would retaliate-- and it can’t be explained away by the fact that it was wartime.  None of what starscream and megatron do to each other in g1, even, need a war to make sense-- starscream is power hungry and backstabs megatron.  Megatron is inconvenienced slightly but gains the upper hand back and punishes him.  God, we don’t even have to TALK about tfp megastar.  Imo, that’s the absolute worst continuity for megastar.  

However, that’s the important difference i made.  I feel morally okay shipping two characters that had one violent interaction in the past under the circumstances that it was wartime (and i mean, hell, if you use war crimes as an excuse not to ship ppl say goodbye to megop lmao), ESPECIALLY because they grow together and eventually have a different relationship entirely by the end of the media in question.  Megatron and starscream’s relationship, though, is nearly static (and yeah, that’s due a lot to the writers, as i said).  I wouldn’t feel comfortable shipping them in any context, especially a healthy one.  I mean, that’s just what I feel like, but that’s why I feel okay with megarod and not megastar.

[nails-the-tabaxi]

Unpopular Opinion: I find Transformers Prime to be overrated. At least as far into the series as I've gotten (about 8 episodes of S1) I mentally compare it to Animated and find it wanting. I'm not really digging the writing, and I'm not a fan of the art style or character designs, either. The eyes are weird and would look better with lenses over them. Where are their noses? WHERE ARE THEIR NOSES???

That head crest is ALMOST a nose, but not quite

Optimus reminds me too much of the Bayverse design for me to like it, Bulkhead is a less enjoyable version of his Animated self, I actively hate Starscream and Soundwave's designs, and Megatron is "What if Bayformers Megatron didn't look like Scraplets ate all of his skin". I also hate the "mindless drone cannon fodder" Decepticon troops. At least make them Seekers or something if you're going to do that, but I'd rather have actual characters. AND WHERE ARE THEIR NOSES GOD IT LOOKS SO WEIRD

Optimus, wondering where his nose is

Megatron shows up in the first episode rambling about Dark Energon with zero setup or backstory. We don't even see him really do anything before he fuses himself with it so there's no basis for comparison for seeing him *after* he's fused with it. Cliffjumper dies like 2 minutes into the first episode and thus I feel nothing (yes, you can empathize with his friends' grieving but I felt zero emotion from it).

Generally the show starts off feeling like the beginning of a second season, we’re dropped into the middle of the story with nothing grounding this version of the universe. It's in medias res but not done well, because instead of feeling hooked into the plot and wanting to know more, I'm just left feeling like I missed something. Animated started off after the war as well, with the Decepticons coming back, but it also established the setting well and generally did everything better than Prime.

It’s just better. A LOT better.

Do the human characters ever become even remotely tolerable? Because so far I can't stand any of them. The kids are all high-key annoying, and Fowler is so incompetent he may as well be actively working with the Decepticons. Why was he randomly flying a jet through the desert, in a suit and tie no less? Just so that one Decepticon whos name I can't remember could scan the jet? They'll do things that make no sense or just go nowhere (Jack wants to leave because of the danger oh no wait he's back, nice plot cul de sac there, writers) and generally do nothing but make me appreciate the utter lack of humans in Cyberverse more than I already did. They DO have noses, though, there is that.

Pictured: Annoyance boiled to it’s basest essence

In the plus column, however, I do enjoy this version of Ratchet, and Arcee is the reason I'm going to keep watching the series because I really like this take on her. I keep hearing how great the show is from everyone, and I'm really trying to like it, but so far I just feel like it doesn't live up to the hype.

I just realized: The two best characters have noses!

[short-wooloo]

Transformers grunts

One of the things that I love about Transformers is that it has such a massive cast of characters, in G1 there are at least 300-500 Autobots and Decepticons separately, many of whom just fill the role of low-ranking foot soldiers, which brings me to something that I like about transformers which it does better than most others: the low ranking villain soldiers/minions, all of them have names, and do have at least some brief description of their personality, and given that Transformers names are often indicative of their personalities/habits/specialties/powers, the name also goes a long way towards indicating character

To give an example: Acid Storm, he(/she/they in Cyberverse), is a Seeker, which are effectively the Stormtrooper equivalent in Transformers, a Seeker is basically any Decepticon who shares the same body design as Starscream, albeit with different colors and patterns,

Acid Storm is green, has acid-related powers, and is noted for being powerful, intelligent, and capable of leading, but Acid Storm prefers to remain in a low ranking position, content as a member of the squad of Seekers known as the Rainmakers, to this end, in spite of this characterization, Acid Storm has yet to star in a major role in Transformers, but has regularly been a minor recurring character, often appearing alongside the Decepticons when they are in large groups

Now the fact that so many minor characters, on both sides, in Transformers are given names and personalities, is what separates Transformers from other fictional armies,

When a Stormtrooper dies, its like, “Oh No, TX-5723 is Dead!  He had such a fleshed out personality, like how we only knew him by a alphabetical-numerical designation, or that he couldn’t hit shit”, as opposed to when Acid Storm, or any other minor Decpeticon dies, they have names and some basis of a personality given, the death feels more real and impactful,

And even when a Stormtrooper does have a name its almost never just a normal rank-in-file trooper unless they are going to desert/betray the Empire, when Stormtroopers have names they are either that, or a commander/leader/specialist/unique trooper, but in Transformers, Minor Decepticons get names even though they usually end up being background extras or canon fodder

[koekjelanguage]

TFP S1EP6 Starscream with Soundwave sequence

*****Nederlands StS; We zijn ze kwijt gelaakt(?). Soundwave waarom spoedig ziet niet op. SoW; ~♪♪~ StS; Huh? Wat is er? Een tweede levensteken van Decepticons? Maar Skyquake is de enige hier wie die *****(??). De plek van onze verwoeste ruimte brug? Het zal niet waar zijn. Zou de levensteken kunnen horen van Megatron? Maar hij zijn helemaal niet ver van ont****(ontploffing? ons tekent?) punt. Niemand kan onze knal overleven hebben. Je sensoren klopt niet. Negeer het contact. Verwijder de coördinaten. Wat zeg ik nou? Natuurlijk moet dit eerst onderzocht worden. Als Heer Megatron daar boven zit, dan breng ik kan zelf naar huis. Blijf hier en hou het resultaat ** scherm**(??). Als Skyquake de spark van Prime ruikt, dan wil ik daar bij zijn(???). SoW; “Wil ik daar bij zijn”

*****New words kwijt / lost opzien / to watch, to visit, view levensteken / life sign (het) ontploffing / detonation knal / bang, crash, (de) / erg leuk overleven / to survive sensor / (de) verwijderen / to remove, to delete resultaat / result, outcome (het) ruiken / to sniff

*****English We’ve lost site of them. Soundwave, why aren't you tracking them? /  ~♪♪~ / What is it? A second Decepticon life signal? But Skyquake is the only sleeper buried in this area. The site of our destroyed space bride. You are not telling me. That life signal belongs to Megatron. But he was microns from the detonation point. Nothing could have survived that blast. Your sensors must be faulty. Ignore the contact, delete the coordinates. What am I saying? Of course this must be investigated. If Lord Megatron is up there, I shall bring him home. Remain here and monitor the outcome. When Skyquake snuffs Prime’s spark, I must bear witness. / “must bear witness”

*****Note I always wonder why Strascream wants to be a leader? I actually do not understand how the mind works in the people who wants to be a leader of an organisation without voting or recommendations like him. There must be very heavy responsibility and leaders must make everyone happy. I think Deception’s leader is a super tough job, it’s not all about power. In Cyberverse, Starscream believes that he was the chosen one and at least all the seekers will follow him. That would build his confidence. But I wonder what is his motivation to be a leader in Prime series.

スタースクリームみたいに選ばれてないのに自ら進んで組織のリーダーになりたい、という人のモチベーションが正直よくわからない。組織の全員をハッピーにしなければならないものすごい責任感のある仕事だよね。Decepticonのリーダーなんて権力があるってだけでない、とんでもない重い仕事だと思う。それに進んでなりたいと。 Cyberverseだと、自分は選ばれし者、シーカーのみんなはついてくるって信じているので、それがバックポーンになってるんだろうけど。プライムのスタースクリームは何を思ってリーダーになりたいんだろうか。