#I HAVE NOT SEEN EARTHSPARK so if there’s something to that don’t tell me I’m starting soon

[bulbabutt]

i think its weird that arcee is like. a core member of transformers groups now, cuz it makes her stick out like a sore thumb being the token girl when at the time she wasnt exactly supposed to be? she was part of the second generation of characters (even though I know the movie was being made first)

like it seems like modern stuff tries to do this with her

which just shows off how much that design doesnt fit and comes off like it was made to be "i am THE girl. you need no more girls we have made the one girl”

but when she was actually designed to match the movie crew, a bunch of more futuristic (the far off year of 2005) cybertronian vehicle transformers with her rounded shapes and pastel colours and she isnt even the only pink one because hot rod is also pink, albeit a much darker pink

(leaving ultra magnus out cuz he was designed to be a brick holding optimus doesnt count)

the point like yeah shes still the only girl but its less egregious when you look at what she was actually supposed to match. i dont think shes designed perfectly but i think its weird that because shes the most recognizable girl transformer she has to be pulled away from her crew and forced into a group she doesnt share the design philosophy of (let alone for her character its sad like... are those not her friends? she’s not allowed to hang out with her own friends anymore cuz she’s the only girl who’s marketable? sad)

it’s extra weird when you realize there’s this crew who were the original girl transformers shown on screen

they’re not perfect either but I like that they have the same busy more squared off shapes and more strong colours, and I just think if they got added in arcees place you could have a less skewed view gender binary for the robots

there’s also the part where it would be cool to have more than one girl in a group, but again arcee with her iconic leia space buns head fits in aesthetically better with the movie crew

[blueikeproductions]

Y’know the more I think about it, if EarthSpark has such an infatuation with the Decepticons, why aren’t they using Decepticons better suited to the story it’s trying to tell.

To me the Decepticons’ role really should’ve been a mix of IDW and RiD15. Most are left rudderless, cranky and confused, still willing to continue the cause and hurt people in an attempt to conquer. Some meanwhile are willing to work with humans in some capacity, good or bad.

Like where’s Sky-Byte, Knock Out, Clobber and Drift?

Never mind Drift’s Husbando thing with Ratchet, shouldn’t Megatron, as a GHOST operative, have his own little group of turn coat Decepticons who willingly followed him to the Autobots (and that it’s specifically ones who willingly became Autobots in past series helps this make sense). I get the intended idea was to make Megatron something of a fish out of water among the Autobots, but technically speaking, shouldn’t a few reasonable Decepticons have tagged along with him?

For that matter, where’s guys like Lugnut and Demolisher having an existential crisis over their leader abandoning them?

That’s gotta be fertile ground for shenanigans and character work with Megatron and the Terrans. I know they kinda toyed with it with the ‘Waves, but boy did they not commit to the bit.

I can also buy that there’s a few Decepticons that are trying to make due on Earth and even work jobs with humans, we’ve seen that before.

Not to mention Decepticons working with the human criminal element (or at least morally dubious types).

And of course there’s my personal favorite, the Decepticons doing whatever it takes to get off Earth.

Like really, the RiD15 Decepticons were able to build/repair ships using comparable human hardware, what in the ever loving skrud was preventing the ES Decepticons from doing the same. And don’t say GHOST, they’re too stupid to be a problem on their own without the Autobots. Maybe the Arachnamechs, but even so what’s stopping an opportunistic Decepticon from capturing and reprogramming them for their own ends?

The writers have such a fixation on the Decepticons, why NOT have this more nuanced take on them that ISN’T just purely making them into giant teddy bears. Fun aside, but they actually had those via Brickbear.

Hey ES writers, I know some of you are reading this, on the off chance you guys continue to write for TF in the future, I triple dog dare you to make a Brickbear Decepticon canon in-show. I don’t care what you have to t’do, you want teddy bear Decepticons? Make this work. The blue print is right here. Basically make him or her the Peter Puppy (Earthworm Jim) of the Decepticons: cutesy in beast mode, a monstrous Hibernation Sandy Cheeks in robot mode. You’re welcome.

The point remains that modern writers NEED to stop sympathizing with the Decepticons and stop writing them as misunderstood Millennials and Zoomers who need a hug. I’M a bi-slagging-sexual Millennial from the 90’s and I’m among those telling you to knock it off, most of us want fun villains who revel in being murderous gearshafts, stealing Energon from refineries and drop kicking cassettes cats. Not everyone needs to reform like it’s Dragonball or Steven Universe, and I say that liking Vegeta and Beerus.

[earthstellar]

Alright, so Earthspark material is showing up at San Diego Comic Con 2022, and there’s already whining from a lot of people (granted, mostly on Twitter, which is hell anyway). 

But, something I’m seeing already is a lot of hate for this Optimus design, and in particular, lots of people are asking “why is there no faceplate” or “why does Hasbro not use the faceplate in animation anymore”, among many variations of this question. 

So, here’s my point of view on facemasks in Transformers animation, as a hearing disabled person: 

When watching any show with subtitles, something I pretty much have to do or I often miss dialogue etc. since I can’t make out speech very easily, it helps to have a visual cue of who is speaking to match up to the subtitles. 

Not all subtitling will note which character is speaking etc., so visual indicators can help figure out what subtitled dialogue belongs to which character, especially in group scenes and the like.

In G1, Optimus had a faceplate which moved a little when he was speaking, and Wheeljack’s ears lit up when he was speaking, so this made it easier for me to tell when subtitled dialogue belonged to them-- Even with their faceplates, I can tell when they’re speaking. 

However, let’s say in Prime, whenever Wheeljack or Optimus have their faceplates engaged, it is harder for me to tell when they are speaking-- Because the faceplates don’t move and Wheeljack’s ears don’t light up. 

I’m not dunking on Prime (it’s my personal favourite of the cartoons tbh), but I feel like it’s important to note that this type of thing can present an issue for some people like me who may (at least at first) struggle to figure out what subtitles pair to which characters in a group conversation or hectic scene or sequence, because their mouths are covered and there are no visual indicators in Prime to know when characters with their faces mostly covered are speaking. 

In this way, G1 was actually a little more accessibility friendly, at least for some of us! 

Now, this isn’t universal, and it depends a lot on HOW something is subtitled, among a zillion other factors which are down to each individual. Just because it’s easier for me personally to follow along with visual indicators doesn’t mean all hearing disabled people will be the same way. 

It’s just something I’ve noticed myself, personally, when watching TF media as a hearing disabled person. Again, not a universal experience! 

But I do find it easier to follow along with dialogue subtitles for a masked character if there is some kind of visual indicator that they are speaking, because let’s be real, a lot of subtitles are not great and don’t always effectively indicate who’s talking, sometimes just because a lot of characters may be talking at once or shit might be happening and I understand why it’s tricky, lol. 

Earthspark: Don’t Roast It Just Yet 

In regards to the Earthspark design, to be fair, we haven’t really seen this character model in motion yet. We haven’t seen much of it at all yet, and I’m not judging the design because I don’t feel as though it would be fair to do so at this stage.

I’m just saying, I understand why Hasbro might not want faceplates to be used super often for main characters with prominent speaking roles, for various reasons. 

Ease of accessibility for hearing disabled people using subtitles to pair along to the visuals might be one of these reasons. 

I don’t know that for sure, we’d have to ask the team working on the show or perhaps even Hasbro directly to find out if this was part of their design considerations or not! 

But it makes sense to me, personally, that if they aren’t going to use visual indicators to show when a character is speaking like in G1 with Optimus and Wheeljack, then it’s best to avoid totally covering most of a character’s face when they are talking, at the very least. 

Quick Test to Prove My Point: 

Can you tell which Wheeljack is actively speaking? 

Right! 

Ears lighting up = Wheeljack is saying something. 

Visual indicators like this for characters with facemasks makes it easier to follow rapid subtitling, or pair subtitled dialogue in group scenes to the specific character which is speaking. 

Now imagine a mess of subtitling going super fast as multiple characters are talking, and there’s no indication of who is speaking which lines as they come up on the screen, oftentimes back to back.

(God help you if you have shitty Closed Captioning and not subtitles. sigh lol) 

For me, personally, I can’t make out dialogue almost at all when there’s lots of background noise/sound effects/music, and it can be super hard to tell who’s saying what in such busy scenes. 

G1 is easier to follow in this way, because for the main speaking bots with faces covered, there are visual ways to determine that which don’t rely upon being able to see the bot’s mouth actually move. 

 Again, this isn’t a universal issue for all hearing disabled viewers, but this is just my own experience! 

I hope that makes sense! :)