#Soundwave is the leader of the decepticons at the beginning of the story

[sparkleresthold]

More SG foolishness 💙💛

[arceespinkgun]

One thing I really love about the UK Marvel continuity is how it handled Decepticon leadership. All of the leaders were so unique and well-defined characters! There are so many civil wars among the Decepticons that I actually lost count. I think they each show different aspects of Decepticon culture, too. In this post I wanted to showcase the leaders and discuss why I really enjoyed the way they were portrayed!

Megatron: used to be the equivalent of an Olympic athlete. Started the War by preying on political unrest caused by preexisting tensions between the city-states, an aging Autobot council who wouldn't listen to their one radical voice (Emirate Xaaron), and a lack of resources. He started the War with a plan to equip giant engines to Cybertron to pilot it around the universe to conquer other planets lol Megatron is a dictatorial strongman at heart, and his major trait seems to be his indomitable will. No matter who tries to brainwash him or how embarrassed he ought to be by his defeats and stupid mistakes, he keeps going shamelessly.

Shockwave: used to be the ruler of Tarn, and constantly tries to take leadership from Megatron, probably missing the control he had over his city-state. Has a brains vs. brawn dynamic with Megatron, but tends to get extremely frazzled when things don't go his way and don't follow his twisted, self-serving idea of what logic is. However, that doesn't mean he doesn't emote.

Starscream: used to be a figurehead dictator of Vos. Generally tries to backstab whoever's in power, which is probably informed by the fact that he wasn't #1 in his own city-state back before the War. Also, props to Starscream for killing more people than Unicron (the majority get repaired, but still)! Something I find interesting is that Megatron preyed on the war between Vos and Tarn, but usually Starscream and Shockwave work well together in present-day, which suggests the whole war thing was entirely about power and not personal. They're both also ultimately cowards out for themselves.

Soundwave frames Wild Rider when, of course, Soundwave had been the real traitor the whole time

Soundwave: this continuity has such a good version of Soundwave... unlike Starscream, whose treacherous actions are big and loud, Soundwave's treachery is quiet. He serves under nearly every leader and never faces the consequences of blackmailing and betraying any of them, until eventually he is left as the ultimate leader in at least one future timeline. He is such a snake!

Straxus: initially was the leader of the Decepticons while Megatron was on Earth. Despite only being leader for a short time, he leaves a lasting impression with his absolute brutality in the way he melts POWs down to make ingots, beats his own soldiers, and is obsessed with taking over Megatron's body. He also has lasting impacts on the story overall because the identity of Megatron becomes questionable due to Straxus's attempts to subjugate his mind with his own.

Ratbat: originally kinda like Straxus's Laserbeak, Ratbat takes over and becomes one of the most intelligent leaders! He used to be an auditor and his entire philosophy surrounds being as energy-efficient as possible. He even gives Shockwave a negative performance review LMAO Interestingly, he's positioned almost as more of an enemy to the Witwicky family than to the Autobots at times. He also likes to use his own enemies as test subjects and slaves. Eventually, though, his string of successes leads to him being too arrogant for his own good.

Scorponok: wow, I don't even know where to begin. Introduced as the archenemy of Fortress Maximus, he becomes a Headmaster commander by teaming up with the evil Nebulan politician, Zarak. Scorponok begins as a complete mess, with hilariously idiotic plans like using bubbles against his enemies or humiliating the Autobots by having his soldiers defeat them in wrestling matches... and on Earth, he and his soldiers live in a dump. Literally, they live in a dump. He also has more truces than battles with Optimus Prime as he comes to know him, never having seen him until Earth. But Scorponok's ineffectual villainy and eagerness to team up with the Autobots actually leads up to something, as it becomes clear that he actually wants what's best for all transformers but needed to be inspired by Optimus Prime's compassion and support to become confident enough to risk losing the Decepticons' respect and aim for peace. Scorponok (and Optimus) show the strength that lies in choosing to give up conflict and try for peace. In some ways, Scorponok is more like Optimus Prime than Optimus is in this continuity!

Thunderwing: really fascinating. At first he kinda comes across like a generic distillation of what a Decepticon leader is, with all the traits you'd expect of one, and he even takes a test to become one... not the norm given that it's usually backstabbing and civil war that decides who comes out on top. He also thinks he fails the test because he gets distracted by revenge, but then he passes because that proves he's a true Decepticon!!! It's Thunderwing's relationship with the Matrix that is especially interesting. He's obsessed with it, but it's the Matrix's own desire to have new experiences that's corrupting his mind and eventually possesses him. Thunderwing is actually honorable and it's his goodness that allows him to temporarily fight back against it. By current TF standards, Thunderwing would actually be a Prime, since he opened the Matrix, but the Matrix isn't benevolent here. It's more like a little kid that wants to learn by acting out, and Thunderwing is a casualty of that.

Decepticon leaders don't look like this anymore!

Megadeath: the reason Thunderwing is like That™️, and the reason five specific prominent Autobots are the way they are. I mention him because he only appears in a single story in one of the annuals, yet his actions were so unspeakably horrible (the Autobots he traumatized certainly thought so) that he's one of the most sadistic Decepticon leaders ever.

Galvatron: such a multi-faceted and cool villain, that I already made a whole post about him! Notable for his cunning, his fears, and the fact that he was made from at the very least both Megatron and Straxus.

Bludgeon: introduced as part of the Mayhem Attack Squad, which is the Decepticon equivalent of the Wreckers. Specifically, he's introduced hunting down former Mayhems for fraternizing with Wreckers! Bludgeon hates the possibility of peace and loves war, to a religious degree. He thinks he believes in honor, but to be honest, he really doesn't. He's also incredibly fake in that he will pretend to be all for peace just long enough for the Autobots to let their guards down. I'm impressed by how much I love to hate this character given how short Bludgeon's time on-panel was.

There are a few other minor ones that appear as well, so there are even more! I'd like to say that while it probably shouldn't be given that this was like... the first continuity ever, as a fan who became introduced to TF during the Aligned continuity, the way the Marvel UK stories approach Decepticon leadership is so refreshing.

One reason is that Megatron is not portrayed as special just by nature of being Megatron. Yes, he started the War and founded the Decepticons, but he's not given more respect from his troops or his enemies automatically, and he gets his shit rocked constantly. Shockwave's intro was to immediately beat him up and take over, and Megatron embarrasses himself constantly. That's not to say that Megatron isn't worthy of being a Decepticon leader, no—but it means he's often shown clawing his way back up and constantly battling legitimate threats to his position. As a fan, it made me respect him a lot more.

Another thing I appreciate is the way the Decepticons are humanized. There are a lot of blatantly evil ones, but there also many of them who have a sense of honor and goodness, and it's clear that both many Decepticons and Autobots feel stuck and don't even remember why the War started at this point. And even the Decepticons who lack compassion or honor have very understandable struggles, such as facing trauma and trying to overcome it.

Along with the above point is the way the story of Scorponok is handled. I love that Scorponok is a Decepticon leader who always secretly held values that align with Autobot values, but then he ended up stuck in this bloodthirsty culture and endless conflict where he felt like he couldn't do anything, and I love how this is slowly foreshadowed throughout the comic. His friendship with Optimus is also excellent. I really enjoyed how they didn't meet until Earth and slowly became friends as they continually teamed up against greater threats. I appreciate that the Decepticon leader who's best friends with Optimus isn't like... Megatron, who started the War. I feel like a lot of newer continuities make the War center on the falling-out of two friends, which I think is a ridiculous way to handle the conflict.

Speaking of Megatron and Optimus, I appreciate how this continuity just doesn't have a lot of the dynamics that are typically present regarding these Decepticons. Megatron and Optimus are definitely each other's oldest enemy, but their conflict is de-centered in the narrative and they never had a falling-out. Instead, they always disliked each other from before the War. It's actually Shockwave who becomes the nemesis of both Optimus and Megatron for many issues! A lot of Optimus's deepest trauma was inflicted by Shockwave. Also, Megatron and Starscream still have a conflict, but that conflict is rarely present. Starscream causes problems for everyone and is mainly linked to Shockwave for a long time. And as I said before, it's Optimus and Scorponok who become friends.

I think a lot of the approaches this continuity took with the Decepticons should be used in the future!

[lillified]

can i ask what the general lore for your au is? love me some good lore

I think I’ve done a pitch outline before that’s covered some of this, but I can give you the basic background for reference! (Tumblr page search seems a bit broken the further back you get anyway)

Cybertron is an alien planet with a long history of strife. Following the reign of the Quintessons, a hostile and colonial alien species, and their eventual ousting, the remnants of a military-industrial state and its tyrannical caste system left only a matter of time before massive conflict erupted.

Cybertron: The original home planet of the Cybertronians, and the current territory of the Autobots. Cybertron is a very ancient planet formed around the remnants of an enormous organic “ancestor,” whose blood and other material is extracted for use as food. This organic material is vital to the survival of all Cybertronians, and the most important component, Energon, is extremely highly coveted. It can be found sparingly in other parts of the universe (notably other early established Cybertronian space colonies), but without access to the original ancestor, or its sparsely documented relatives and protégé, it is unrenewable, which would inevitably mark the end of the Cybertronian race. Extensive industrialization on a global scale made Energon sparse, and an exhaustive global war only exacerbated this scarcity.

The Decepticons: Made up primarily of the former lower castes of Cybertron, the Decepticons are a mish-mash group of revolutionary mercenaries, banded together to end the tyrannical rule of Cybertron. Although they were originally known as the Ascenticons, they gained the derogatory name after their defacto “leader,” Megatron, permanently maimed her rival for the primacy, Optimus, during a political demonstration that turned violent. Optimus was famously left without a lower jaw, and the brutal scuffle was used to galvanize moderates against the perceived extremity of the group.

Now, having been largely driven off of Cybertron after a battle which devastated both sides., the fractured branches of the Decepticons struggle to find places they can recoup and regather amid the cosmos. Their primary squad, team Alpha, is currently drifting in space, eagerly anticipating the day it can find the resources to reestablish communication with what remains of the Decepticon army.

The Autobots: A faction formed out of the former military of Cybertron and its allies. Figureheaded by the stoic and personable Optimus Prime, the Autobots barely hold onto control of Cybertron, and seek to persist against the Decepticons’ demands for radical reconstruction. Now made up of many of Cybertronian’s youth, plenty of Autobot soldiers aren’t fully aware of what they’re fighting for, and barely retain memories of life before the war. If the current course of the war continues, they hope to drive the Decepticons out of anywhere they’ve hidden until they surrender and concede.

The Present: With impassible stakes for everyone involved, if they want any hope of surviving and reclaiming Cybertron, the Decepticons must do the impossible: overcome their many differences and work as a team. Our story starts in the far reaches of space, where Decepticon Team Alpha is searching for resources and a temporary residence where they can begin to reestablish communication with their allies.

The members of Team Alpha include:

Megatron: the melancholic leader, whose reputation does not match her lethargic withdrawal.

Starscream: the second in command with a penchant for mutiny. Her disloyalty is kept a secret, for both Megatron’s sake and Starscream’s.

Soundwave: the enigmatic and cynically self-important communications officer and third in command. Their speciality is espionage and information control, though they haven’t seen much of it recently.

Lockdown: former bounty hunter turned medic. this mean-looking ‘Con might not be certified, but in a pinch, he’ll patch you up—by any means necessary.

Knockout: the only thing worse than a mad doctor is his lackadaisical and negligent assistant. Knockout doesn’t really believe the Decepticons will win, but his hate for the Autobots is stronger than his realism.

Breakdown: a bruiser-in-training rescued from a docked Decepticon warship. He and Blitzwing were the only trainees who survived being stasis fried. Albeit a strong and capable fighter, this ‘Con doesn’t really have the “Deception grit” yet.

Blitzwing: Breakdown’s fellow soldier. Though she was also trained to be a mercenary, Blitzwing lacks a lot of the natural talent for fighting Breakdown has. Her unrecognized skill lies in weaponsmithing, though Starscream hopes to make a competent combatant out of her yet.

Ravage: don’t be fooled—this weapon class Minicon only looks like a Cybercat. The eldest of Decepticon team alpha, this odd bot gave up his Cybertronian appearance to live out the laid back life of a lazy mechanimal. His powerful spark makes him Megatron’s weapon of choice.

[annabelle-creart]

The 13 Primes Au

Some world building for you, my fellow bitches

This became kind of crazy since I let Inept involve in this, so, I needed to reconstruct the world, so, it doesn't feel blurry in my head and/or out of context, this is some kind of first version/guide

Ps: this Au contains story from the Aligned continuity and Earthspark (only the first season, the second never happened)

Ps2: don't use this timeline as reference for the Life of Rescue Bots au, or you will lose your mind

✨️✨️✨️

At the Beginning, when the Primes were created, well, you already know that, so, let's go more in the future

The first dead one was Thirteenth, died during the Unicron's battle

The second was Amalgamous because of Megatronus

The third one was Solus by Megatronus' hand (aka. Cannon)

The fourth one was Onyx (injured but managed to escape)

The fifth one was Megatronus (ahem 'suicide')

The six one was Liege, killed by the rest for his crimes

The seven one was Quintus, killed by his own creations

The eight one was Prima (aka. Suicide, again)

The nine sibling was Micronus, who left the job searching for some peace

The ten and eleven siblings were Alchemist and Alpha Trion, searching for his dead siblings, believing they would find them in another life

The twelve prime was Vector, bored of his loneliness and wanted some vacation

Nexus system separated a lot of time ago but still exist without needing reincarnation

✨️✨️✨️A LOT OF TIME LATER, AS TOLD IN CYBERTRONIAN HISTORY, WHICH I DON'T KNOW AND DUE TO, I WILL NOT TELL, ONLY THE IMPORTANT✨️✨️✨️

Heatwave and his team end up Lost in Space (I should do a crossover with that series, it can be interesting, but not today), during the stasis he unlocked his prime memories

Meg became decepticon leader after Orion recieved the Matrix and unlocked his prime's memories, bla bla bla

War war war

Soundwave unlocked his memories as Alpha Trion on what remained of the destoyed archives

Shockwave unlocked his memories as Alchemist when Soundwave hit him on the head, doing damage to his emotion supressors

Cybertron got fucked up and all who remained had to escape, they saw an habitable planet with energon and both sides went there, Megatron with the Nemesis and Optimus with the Ark, forming the teams we know now from Earthspark, making some human friends

In human calendar it was the 80's, during that period, cybertronians had to remain in secret to evade the human forces, but with the time (more time than they thought), humans ended up finding their secret (decepticon's fault) and humans had to got involve, the Autobots, to guarantee their safety, allied with humans, settling their base in Jasper, Nevada, meeting on the process 3 teens named Jack, the son of a nurse on the military hospital, Raphael, the youngest son of a soldier of the base, and Miko, who got there by accident and stayed because she was bored, becoming in secret their most dearest comrades

During that time, Makeshift unlocked his memories as Amalgamous after almost being killed by both sides, hiding and not letting himself be seen

Time passed, and energon mines got each time hard to get due to decepticon's handwork, and the worst part was the battles, each time worse than the last one, until finally one of those battles made Megatron got seriously hurt, Starscream tried to use it on its advantage, and Optimus, incapable of let Megatron died by his fault again, saved him against all his comrades and friends' wish.

Megatron unlocked his memories after almost dying, and, mostly cause of the trauma, decided to redeem himself by becoming an autobot to try to end the war, not before making a lot of the harm that happened during Transformers Prime...

When Miko and Jack, who became military cadets and became even more closer to the transformers for recommendation, also being assigned to Bulkhead and Arcee as human fellows, Optimus, Iron Hide and Megatron got assigned to Charlie Burns, William Fowler and Dorothy Malto, becoming the ten of them the most fierce and strong human-cybertronian team of all of times, and had nothing to fear

Until the battle on the bridge

Where the Allspark got lost

Dorothy lost her leg that day, Optimus arm wasn't the same as before, and Iron Hide lost his life. Since that day, Dot had to retire from the army, and Fowler was reassigned on special forces, Miko and Jack were the only humans that remained because Charlie also retired to return home, but kept contact with Dot, Fowler and Optimus

✨️✨️✨️SOME TIME LATER BUT NOT AS MUCH AS BEFORE, JUST A FEW YEARS✨️✨️✨️

A patrol ship on stasis was reactivated thanks to Raphael skills (and a little help from Soundwave), Heatwave, now with the memories of Solus, and the rescue team was reubicated on an island by Optimus' request, both him and Megatron recognizing Heatwave as Solus, and as I told in another post before, they payed a visit with Bulkhead and Bumblebee to the island (finding Shockwave and Soundwave by accident and also discovering they are primes AND Heatwave's twin-sparks) and Megatron had a talk with Heatwave when he slip all his venom toward Meg and then left (how bad it was)

✨️Some time later but just a year or half a year✨️

BOOM, TERRANS, Dot only wanted a normal life as forest keeper with his kids and husband and end up becoming a "my kids found a magic stone and now I have five more kids and my bestie is also trying to understand why"

Bumblebee had to take care of them while everyone thought he was dead, but no, he was racing (no estaba muerto, estaba de parranda)

And spoiler: Breakdown is not dead, Knockout, who also became an autobot to avoid prison, kept him as hide as possible, but Breakdown is too hothead for that, whatever, the terrans, how the new Dot's kids were named, had a really rough year, almost being killed by Mandroid who used the Emberstone to shout down all cybertronians, including the terrans...!

But wait, why Nightshade is the only one still on his pedes? And that answer kept him awake for weeks. When the battle just end up, Nightshade took some of the dust the Emberstone left, and studying it, they found it was alive and possesed like a ghost one of their best gadgets, telling them and the rest of their family Nightshade was a Prime, especifically, Quintus Prime. The Emberstone, who they called Ember for short, told them she didn't shout down Nightshade because she recognized them as her Prime, and as her Prime, she wasn't capable of doing harm to them, especially after all what she did to kept them safe after Quintus dead

Also, thanks to Mandroid's shout down, the new Primes could localize the Allspark that they thought it was lost, and Optimus, Megatron, Soundwave, Shockwave, Makeshift (in bad terms but wanting to go home) went to space find it (in bad terms also with GHOST but they were kind of desestabilized, so, the new team of Primes used it on their favor), during that period, that for Earth it took like one year, they managed to find the Allspark, and sacrificing the Matrix (but not Optimus this time) they could resurrect Cybertron and take it on their original state

✨️✨️✨️MEANWHILE, ON GRIFFIN ROCK JUST AFTER MANDROID'S ATTACK ENDED, I MEAN, BEFORE FINDING THE ALLSPARK✨️✨️✨️

The team also got shout down by accident during Mandroid's attack, and when they were resucited again (Heatwave: if I had a coin for each time I came to live, I had two, which it's not much but it's strange it happened twice JSAKKASJ) they found a signal near, it was a stasis ship with two young bots, Blurr and Salvage, a caverman, and an metallic egg in stasis, surrounded by an ancient language

Cody felt like hipnotized by the egg, and when it hatched, THEY FOUND A GRIFFIN PREDACON!!!! (which I still don't have a name or gender for it, give me ideas, please)

And so they were all that year taking care of a predacon baby, Cody who for some reason had an special bond with it (Heatwave knew Cody and the griffin were two parts of Onyx's spark but didn't tell), two teens who became rescue bots only because they didn't had anything else to do, and a little bot named Sissi who was brought to the island with Hightide- WHY THE DOG GIVES HEATWAVE PRIME VIBES???

It's because he was, that's how Heatwave figured out Servo was Micronus Prime, a Prime... in the metal of a dog... wow

Whatever, when the year ended up and Optimus returned to Earth with the notice Cybertron was again working, most of the cybertronian population on Earth came back to start again, others stayed on Earth to evade the justice system

The Rescue Bots didn't wanted to return to Cybertron, but they had family there they wanted to met again, so, they only returned for a short time, during that period, Optimus was on Earth trying to put some order on what remained, making some paperwork

And the time again passed, Cybertron was being reconstructed and with the promise of a better future, a long time passed, like three years on Earth, the Rescue Team lived in peace on Griffin Rock, visiting their relatives on Cybertron some time to time, while the team Prime were having busy but satisfactory days, Cybertron was again a star in the darkness, of course, changing the ways of the past and their old system, like once Prima did with the first cybertronians.

During Bumblebee's stady on Earth, the Council accused Optimus of traitor due to Galvatron's secret manipulation from the shadows, and with it, everyone who was with him, also figuring out Optimus was actually Prima Prime, thanks to Liege Maximo, the council couldn't let the people know the Primes weren't as they thought, and they couldn't let the people know it was their fault all the disasters that Cybertron went through, were their fault, the quintessons, the civil war, the scraplets, if the people knew they all were fault of the Primes, Cybertron would start a civil war against them that the council wasn't sure they could handle (I'm still unsure if this was what Sideswipe saw or make it another thing, like, "this is bad but this wasn't what I saw, so, maybe it's worse" kind of shit)

But there was a problem: Galvatron, who never lost his memories as Liege Maximo, take control as could over the Council, Optimus wanted to change things, and changed a lot of it during these three years since the resurrection of Cybertron, now it was a little more like Earth, and they repaired as much as they could the damage of before, now New Cybertron was nothing like the old Cybertron, but Liege had a new plan, and tried to kill Optimus, instead, he put him on a choma, but now without him, Cybertron had to direct itself for some time.

Time later, Bumblebee, as a high ranked militar, was sent to Earth to reach and capture criminals who escaped a prison, leaving a checkpoint to the things that happened in RiD15, with Strongarm, his most beloved cadet, and Sideswipe, an idiot that was just here as punishment, they had to remain in secret, so, the people on Earth would not suspect about decepticons anymore, having some help from a junkyard's owner, his son, and Raphael, who Bumbeblee didn't saw in a lot of time, also adding Fix It, the pilot of the ship and Grimlock, another dino bot that was prisioner, and so they were on regular missions, until Sideswipe had a bad hit on his head and unlocked his memories as Vector, and with it, a premonition, a bad feeling and a vision, if they didn't do something as Primes when the moment comes, Cybertron will be fucked up again...

Since then, all the leader who had a relastionship with Optimus were searched as traitors and banned from Cybertron, like Megatron, Bumblebee, Heatwave, and with it, Earth itself, making impossible to come back again, now, Sideswipe gave himself the mission of search for his siblings, try to fix their relationships, and be prepared for what's to come, because Bumblebee will have to handle a lot of shit coming from the council, and if they wanted to search for them outside of Cybertron, nothing will be like before if not worse...

✨️And if you ask for the RBA events, those events would be a lot of time later, like, after the end of the council's problem with the Primes, when everyone is safe again✨️

✨️✨️✨️

This is as far what I have, I didn't watch RiD15 complete, so, I don't have a lot of it planned, but definitely, if I decided to write seriously about this, ALL THIS SHIT WILL GO STRAIGHT TO HELL AKSKAKSKSNS but don't worry, I like Happy endings too much to not to give them one

Whatever, I hope you enjoyed the read and give me your thoughts, and also ideas for Sideswipes vision and the Predacon's name (Inept, help me👀 but everyone is welcomed to left suggestions)

Whatever, I love you, thanks for reading, bye!!!

[altraviolet]

Haven't been able to read the last 3 chapters yet, so I'm up to the part where Soundwave met alternate Rodimus and gave him the hope to start the lost light again and reach out to his friends.

Had a shower thought, since the Megatron for this alternate Rodimus is dead (likely execution right?), once the new lost light gets up and going, will they pick up a new Megatron? Will they seek out a replacment the way our Rodimus is replacing his own lost crew members like Ambulon and Mirage?

I thought about which of the Megatrons that we know of would be in a position where this new lost light would take them in? SG Megatron has his war against evil Optimus, animated Megatron is still very much the decepticon leader, and armada Megatron is solidly evil I think from what I've seen from that show.

Then it hit me. At the end of transformers Prime (not talking about the silly supposed sequal that is RiD 2015) Prime Megatron, after being used by Unicron, gives up the decepticon cause and just leaves to wander the galaxy endlessly in exile or something. What if the new Rodimus and lost light crew come across Prime Megatron and take him in?

What would be really interesting, I think, is what if the alternate Rodimus wants to find our Prime Soundwave and thank him for inspiring him to try again. What if he succeeds, and Prime Soundwave and our lost light crew meet meet Prime Megatron and his lost light crew.

I think it would be really messed up to see the parallel between Prime Soundwave and Prime Megatron being saved by the lost light, especially because Prime Megatron was the one who hurt Prime Soundwave.

I don't know if you've thought about this before, but I'd love to hear your opinion on it. I hope this ask isn't too confusing. It's a little hard to differentiate between the rodimus we have followed in this story vs. the romimus we meet at the end. I'm glad to see that you met your goal of finishing on the 4th! This story has been nothing short of amazing! Thank you for telling it 😁

This is a fun bunch of thoughts :D Unfortunately my answers are going to ruin all the fun. Sorry about that :'D

>once the new lost light gets up and going, will they pick up a new Megatron?

The LL and its ability to jump were unique in the comics. There is no other ship or other Lost Light that the original Rodimus can find and then jump to another universe in. There will be no picking up of other alt-dimensioners, because there is no way to get to them.

>which of the Megatrons that we know of would be in a position where this new lost light would take them in?

ironically (as per the next question), the only one I know of is TFP Megatron. we did leave him in a state where he was questioning everything he'd ever done and basically sworn off subjecting others to that which he had been subjected to

>What if the new Rodimus and lost light crew come across Prime Megatron and take him in?

I'm afraid that there's something very subtle that has been missed here. The LL was able to travel to the TFP dimension at the beginning of the story because no one on the ship has a living equivalent in that dimension. So... yeah, that means in TEG, if we want to be correct about things, TFP Ratchet and Megatron are dead.

So, even if the original Rodimus found another ship like the Lost Light and managed to jump into the TFP dimension, TFP Megs would be dead.

Soundwave noted this veryyyyyyy briefly in the fic. Somewhere. It's like, one line, and he didn't linger on it. But I'm pretty sure I put it in there.

Despite those logistics-

>I think it would be really messed up to see the parallel between Prime Soundwave and Prime Megatron being saved by the lost light, especially because Prime Megatron was the one who hurt Prime Soundwave.

-yes, that would be very interesting to see. TFP Megatron has/would have had (yay tenses) already gone through that kind of arc, though. If he were alive.

Thank you for the well wishes! I hope you enjoy the rest of the fic :)

[nevis-the-skeleton]

What or who are each Decepticons loyal to in TFP?

Hey ^^! Today the question is: What or who are each Decepticons loyal to in TFP?

Because, it's a question that we can think while seeing the series. The question for the Autobots is not really to ask, because we know what they are loyal to: The Autobot cause.

The Decepticons, on the other hand, is another story. We will see here for each character, because none are really loyal to the same thing.

*

Megatron: The cause or rather himself...

Sad to say but I sincerely doubt that Megatron is really loyal to his own cause anymore. Let me explain, in the beginning of season 1, he comes back with Dark Energon. So, that originally he had gone to find an army of Decepticons.

But, it seems that rather than the army to definitively defeat the Autobots, Megatron preferred to return with an unknown substance that has the reputation of giving great power, but also very dangerous for the species of Transformers. The leader of the Decepticons no longer really serves his cause, he's only looking for power to defeat Optimus Prime.

Exactly, Optimus, let's talk about him. Megatron has a clear obsession with him, no doubt. To the point that it made him forget the cause, since he kinda chased the Prime to planet Earth. Whereas, technically, the Decepticons somehow won the war (even with the destruction of their planet).

Because, technically, the Decepticons are more numerous, better armed, and not lacking in energon. On the other side, the Autobots are scattered all over the universe, less well equipped, and always in need of food. Normally, the Decepticons should have declared their victory a long time ago. But, they didn't, because for Megatron it won't be a victory until he kills Optimus.

But, there is another problem that adds up, and that is that Megatron doesn't seem to want to kill Optimus either. At least not by any means possible. When Starscream is about to fire a missile, to eliminate the Prime, Megatron stops him, preventing Optimus' death in the process.

Well, so far you tell yourself that he has a little hatred against Starscream, logical, huh, Starscream tried to kill him a little. But, there is something that is disturbing, it's that he prefers take revenge on Starscream, rather than ending the war by killing Optimus who is still on the ground.

I can more or less understand that he doesn't want Starscream to kill Optimus, and that he wants to teach him a lesson for trying to kill him. OK, I can conceive. I think that I too would have a little hatred if someone tried to kill me. It's totally logical.

But, in any case, Megatron does not kill Optimus! He has the greatest opportunity in the world, and he doesn't! Like… WTF, what exactly does he need to decide to kill him? Optimus needs to be up and running, like, to have the perfect fight or what? Seriously, he stopped the Decepticons from winning the war… Clearly. You see the enemy leader down, you kill him, you win the war, end of the story.

That's why I don't think Megatron is ever loyal to the Decepticon cause… Because, if he was truly loyal to it, he would have forgotten his wish for revenge against Optimus to focus on the goals of the Decepticon cause .

No wonder there are so few who believe in the cause, if even the leader is no longer loyal to it...

*

Soundwave : Megatron

Soundwave doesn't seem exactly loyal to the Decepticon cause, but rather loyal to Megatron. Because, even though Megatron does some shit sometimes, he always follows him. Afterwards, maybe he's actually loyal to the cause, but it doesn't seem like much.

It's for example to Megatron that he made his vow of silence, and not especially to the Decepticon cause. He never disputes a single order, even if it's sometimes a little wonky. And also does everything possible to keep Megatron alive.

He refuses to unplugging Megatron when he was in the coma. He squarely fights Airachnid when she tries to take control and leave without Megatron. Also in RID15 (which is the "sequel" to TFP), as soon as Soundwave gets out of the Shadow Zone, the first thing he tries to do is contact Megatron.

Megatron is his friend very clearly. And even though Soundwave followed him in his idea of ​​revolt, because they had the same ideals, I really feel that he too forgot the real objective of the cause.

*

Starscream : Cybertron

Starscream doesn't really seem to believe in the Decepticon cause, I feel like he sees it more as a means to achieve his objectives. There are two :

1- Become the leader of the Decepticons or Cybertron (it depends on the ambition)

2- Restore Cybertron.

Already, in the aligned novels, it's explained that Starscream's goal is to bring Cybertron back to the Golden Age. He sees that Cybertron is going badly, and he wants to fix things, which is why he is interested in the Decepticon cause.

Well, it's completely screwed up, since Cybertorn dies… Something he regrets bitterly.

But, it seems like it's a goal he still hasn't given up on. When he discovers the true power of the Omega Keys, and retrieves one, he thinks of a way to bargain with the Autobots or Decepticons.

Then, he thinks about the fact that he could restore Cybertron by himself, and become the leader. Except, that he realizes that he has absolutely no way to succed… He has no army, no energon, and not really any material. So, it's a bit complicated to take control of Cybertron...

Because of that, he returns to the Decepticons, and gives the keys to Megatron. But he's not stupid, he realizes that if he does that he can never rule Cybertron. So that means he's overstepped his dream of conquest and glory. His wish to save Cybertron was apparently outweighing his pride.

Moreover, we see that the save of Cybertorn was really close to his Spark, because he's one of those who is most distressed by the loss of the Keys and the Lock (like Ratchet). Unlike KnockOut (who actually allows himself to make a joke) or Megatron. The two seem to really not care.

Just see Megatron's priority, he would rather cyber-form Earth to hurt Optimus, than save his own planet. Starscream obeys, OK, but at the same time, if he doesn't, he wil be hit. So, well, yes, he accepts. He really doesn't have much choice.

Starscream can't be loyal to Megatron or the cause simply because he sees that it's not the same as before, and he doesn't have hope that it will be again. He, perhaps, never really believed in it. The only thing he had hope for, was that Cybertron would one day be restored and saved.

*

KnockOut: Opportunist

Honestly, KnockOut clearly doesn't care which side he's on. I think the reason he joined the Decepticons was simply because he saw that was the side that was winning so he figured that was the one he should choose.

In fact, he's a pretty detached character, who kinda doesn't care when things don't work out in favor of the cause. As long as he has energon and security, the rest is a little above him.

He's not a character who's loyal to anything except himself and his own survival. Just see in Predacons Rising. Well, the Decepticons lost, in which case I'm going with the Autobots. Basically.

He doesn't join a side because he believes in ideals. He joins a camp according to what the camp can offer him.

*

Breakdown: The Cause

I think Breakdown believes in the cause. He knows which side he's on, even when Bulkhead comes to help him against the MECH. He decides to stay a Decepticon, whereas Megatron left him to his fate.

He's not a bad mech, he just fights for the cause, he does his job, without being vicious or sadistic as some can be. So, yeah, he's violent and all, but that's kind of the environment he lives in.

Breakdown is a follower, not a leader or an opportunist. He follows a cause he believes in and that's it. He's not interested in complicated high command stuff, and just does what they asked.

As long as it serves the cause, he does.

*

Dreadwing: The Cause

Much like Breakdown, Dreadwing is loyal to the cause. He follows when given an order, and worries about his leader, because Megatron is the one representing the cause.

But unlike Soundwave who follows Megatron's orders somewhat blindly, Dreadwing can disobey if he deems it necessary. Like when he goes to look for Megatron, when the latter goes to fight Airachnid and his Insecticon. While his leader had told him not to intervene.

The only thing that can get him out of the cause is his wish for revenge for Skyquake's death. But even that, he tries his best to control. He's an honorable robot, who believes in a cause he always thinks is right. His code of honor shows that, for him, the Decepticon cause is an honorable thing, which must have a certain code of honor and values.

Dreadwing's problem was that he failed to notice that the Decepticon cause was no longer what he had known.

*

Airachnid: Herself

Well, no surprise. She is loyal to nothing but herself. She was with the Decepticon cause for a while, probably because unlike the Autobots, the Decepticons allowed more things in terms of torture and death.

In TFP, Airachnid is presented as a sadist who took advantage of the war to do evil around her, without suffering the consequences. If she left the Decepticons for a while, it's probably because she had to do things that even the Decepticons thought was overkill.

She's not on any side. And unlike Starscream (who trades with everyone) or KnockOut (who is just opportunistic), she attacks everyone without distinction. She's the one who basically has her own side.

*

Shockwave: The Science

For Shockwave it's frankly not easy to know. Above all, it seems that he just wants to carry out his experiments without anyone disturbing him. The war was just an opportunity for him to conduct more experiments, and to have access to experiments subjects.

During the war he was able to: recreate the space bridges, create the cortical psychic patch, several diseases, surely many weapons, the Vehicons, the Insecticons, and the Predacons.

The Decepticon cause had more resources, so he joined it. It's logical. It's just Shockwave being Shockwave.

[thatninjacat27]

Optimus Prime’s Backstory of Debatable Continuity

(I tried to put all of Optimus Prime’s past professions(the ones I’m aware of)/background in a way that could make sense in a very short story.) ——————

Orion Pax was once a dockworker who worked as a part-time librarian until he got noticed by Alpha Trion. The old mech gave him an internship to work at the archives. Orion accepted and enjoyed working there for years.

Later down the road, after witnessing some injustices, Orion decided he wanted to be an enforcer. He worked his way up to Captain and was noticed by Sentinel Zeta Prime. The Prime gave him a secret mission. He was to go undercover posing as a gladiator using the alias ‘Optronix’. Apparently there was a rebel group plotting to take down the Cybertronian government and the Council needed an inside mech.

Orion had to fight many harsh battles in the Pits until he met with the leader of the group, Megatron. They hit it off pretty well. The two talked about injustice, the Decepticon Cause, the government and etc.

Orion learned and became very integral to Decepticon operations and a close friend of Megatron. He didn’t report a lot of his activities within the group after truly seeing the damage the Council was doing to the lower classes. The undercover cop began to lose trust in the system he knew.

The higher ups notices the behavior and lack of information in the reports, got slightly suspicious, and pulled him out. The night cycle before he retrieved, Orion confessed the truth about his background to Megatron. That he wasn’t originally a gladiator but an undercover cop.

Megatron wasn’t at all surprised. He knew from the very beginning(thanks to Soundwave) about the mech’s origin. When they had first met face to face, he made sure to install a camera on the bot to help monitor his moves. It left Orion speechless but it made sense given what he knew and seen about the revolutionary.

Despite the revelations each of them had made, it didn’t damage their relationship. They exchanged personal comm numbers to contact each other now that Orion was going back to his real job and parted ways knowing the truth.

When he arrived to get debriefed, the conversations Orion had with Megatron stuck with him and left him to continue helping out on the inside. He decided to talk with Sentinel Zeta Prime about this and attempt to get him to understand the corruption in the government and its effects on the citizens.

After trying to explain to the Prime why a revolt was happening and how changing things could be a good thing, Orion got stripped of his badge and demoted to a space bridge repair mech. Megatron heard of this and convinced him to join his side and change the system. A group of Pax’s friends helped him storm the Senate building. It was there where the Prime and Orion fought each other.

Orion won and ended up killing the other mech. After Sentinel was completely dead, the Matrix called out to the former cop. Orion grabbed the Matrix and with light blasting out from the artifact, his frame transformed. He was no longer ‘Orion Pax’ but now Optimus Prime. And change picked up in intensity.

[kudosmyhero]

Transformers: Primacy #4

Read Date: May 21, 2023 Cover Date: November 2014 ● Story: Chris Metzen ◦ Flint Dille ● Art: Livio Ramondelli ● Letterer: Chris Mowry ● Editor: John Barber ●

**HERE BE SPOILERS: Skip ahead to the fan art/podcast to avoid spoilers

Reactions As I Read: ● since I’ve been watching the Transformers original cartoon for the first time since I was about 4 or 5, I read all of Soundwave’s dialogue in that terrifying/kick-ass robotic voice of his ● heheh, Starscream’s reaction when the flyers start falling toward him:

● Trailbreaker, MVP! ● woo-hoo, Grimlock! “You may have been stronger, Blackwall, but I fight dirtier.” yas, king ● I don’t know who this Slinger is, but… he probably didn’t deserve to go like that. yikes ● shiiiiit, Bumblebee ● eeeee, callback to the cartoon! ● Megatron’s corruption was cleansed a little too easily, imo ● 👏👏👏👏👏

Synopsis: The vision of Pentius he has just witnessed leaves Megatron disoriented and distracted as the Decepticons' aerial forces bombard the Autobots' command position, but soon, the villains' tactics start working against them. The atmospheric alterations brought on by the acid rain they previously unleashed starts to affect the Decepticons' systems, and they begin dropping out of the sky; once on the ground, they are met in battle by the fighting-mad Autobots—joined at last by Omega Supreme—who have survived their bombardment thanks to Trailbreaker's forcefield. Leaving his men to fight, Megatron makes for Trypticon's fallen body, hoping to transfer Pentius's spark out of the giant before the Quintesson restores him, in order to save Cybertron from being consumed by the beast. Before departing, he gives Soundwave one last order: if he fails, burn Iacon to the ground to spare it that fate.

Elsewhere on the battlefield, Hot Rod comes up against Onslaught, but is saved by his old friend Slinger, who now sees the error he made in joining the Decepticons. No sooner have the two comrades made peace, however, than Slinger is ripped limb from limb in a surprise attack by the Predacons, leaving Hot Rod to face them alone. Fortunately, help soon arrives for the young Autobot: having slain his old foe Blackwall by stabbing him through the head with his firesword, Grimlock rallies his Dynobots and brings them to Hot Rod's aid. Hot Rod and Grimlock take on Razorclaw together, and Grimlock shatters the Predacon leader's jaws by pulling them apart with his bare hands.

Megatron easily fights his way through the Autobot unit at the base of Trypticon, but is given momentary pause when faced with Bumblebee, who can see fear in Megatron's eyes. Though impressed with the little 'bot's courage and perception, Megatron impales him on some debris and carries on his way. Optimus Prime spots his old enemy and heads after him; Motormaster tries to bar his way, but as the two charge each other in vehicle mode, Optimus proves himself King of the Road, barrelling into the Stunticon leader and hurling him aside. Omega Supreme deals with the rest of the Stunticons, preventing them from interfering with Optimus's mission, and the Autobot leader soon catches up to Megatron atop the fallen Trypticon's head. As the pair engage in combat with energy weapons, Megatron cryptically warns Optimus of the threat posed by the Quintessons, and tries to goad the Prime into killing him, seeing it as the only way to destroy Pentius—the essence of whose spark remains fused to his own—before he can revive Trypticon. Realizing what Megatron is trying to force him to do, Optimus offers to help him find a way to destroy the malign presence, but Megatron believes it impossible without his death. Optimus refuses to accept this, and unleashes the power of the Matrix of Leadership; its burning white fire successfully eradicates Pentius, but Megatron expresses no gratitude, vowing instead that he will never stop hating Optimus despite what he has done for him. Optimus, sadly resigned to the fact that the spark of the 'bot he once considered a friend became corrupt long before Pentius influence touched it, knocks the weakened Megatron out with a single punch.

Moments later, Prime addresses the Autobots and Decepticons via a huge hologram broadcast, announcing Megatron's defeat, calling for an end to the fighting and vowing that the Decepticons will face justice. Megatron is subsequently imprisoned, and Optimus's surety in, and dedication to, the Autobot cause is left stronger than ever.

(https://tfwiki.net/wiki/Primacy_issue_4)

Fan Art: 033.5 by BOREZET

Accompanying Podcast: ● Swerve's Bar Podcast - episode 04

[geek-antic]

so I started thinking about IDW1 soundwave again, and how he was blackmailed by optimus and how there was little to no resolution to that little subplot which is par for the course when it comes to the guy who wrote the robots in disguise comics at the time.

But I always keep jumping back to it because it bothers me that, from beginning to the end, it made no sense. the blackmail material that optimus had at his disposal hinges on a technicality. to summarize the situation: the autobots had the decepticons holed up in a camp with bombs in their head that would blow up at the push of a button if they ever stepped out of line or caused a threat.

bumblebee was the leader of the autobots at the time and held the remote detonator to those bombs.

unbeknownst to bumblebee and the autobots, Soundwave had discovered the frequency and made sure no decepticons got their heads blown off if the autobots ever were to use the detonator. the plan was to lay low and play along.

however, only a select few decepticons knew about this plan. most of the rank and file decepticons did not know about it. then a decepticon named horri-bull started causing trouble and bumblebee pushed the button to blow his head off. to play along as he was ordered to and to avoid rousing suspicion Soundwave had to either allow this to happen or had to send the detonation signal to the bomb in horri-bull's head to keep up the act.

but here's the thing, not only was it under orders that soundwave did it, it was still bumblebee who decided to push the damn button and kill horribull.

it's like... you know that saying that goes something like "you don't blame the gun you blame the guy who's pulling the trigger"? it's the exact same scenario! I just think this writer is bad, sure he has made some few good scenes and stories and dialogue that I genuinely appreciate but it doesn't make up for the majority of terrible stories and mischaracterization he's written for the sake of pushing the plot forward in a specific direction. it's just the worst way to write a story but I digress.

there is little to no resolution for this blackmailing subplot aside from some quick wrap up where horri-bull's romantic partner needlenose digs into soundwave when he finds out the truth. but the thing is: sure he can be pissed at Soundwave for going along with it, but bumblebee is still the one who decided to kill the guy, so it doesn't really make much of a difference. at worst it could've all been a minor dispute if they had talked it out but alas.

if I were to make a guess at anything out of that mess it would be that Soundwave allowed himself to get blackmailed because he probably felt tired, lost, and guilty all things considered. Because aside from soundwave all of the decepticon high command had gone off to fulfill their own goals, leaving the cause and the rest of the decepticons behind. Ravage who had pretty much raised Soundwave, was away to keep an eye on megatron who had not only given up but decided to change sides to the autobots, double whammy right there. the decepticons had lost the war so soundwave decides to pick up the pieces and tries to give the decepticon veterans a place where they can live in peace away from the rule of primes which happens to be earth of all places. but then he has to deal with galvatron who ended up joining them and he's looking to reignite the war all over again. god, it makes me tired just thinking about it.

point is: by the time thundercracker of all people, shows up at his doorstep with optimus prime in tow. Soundwave is probably like "yeah this might as well happen" this isn't even mentioning that ravage up and died at one point during lost light and soundwave felt that.

mostly i'm not counting that in because idk when it happened in robots in disguise on soundwaves end but whether it was before or after optimus blackmailed him makes little difference because either way the guy was already emotionally defeated at that point.

[s-o-starscream]

Greetings, I hope you're having a good day! Addressing these to the mods, I just wanted to start this askbox off beginning with what roles do the characters star in this universe? And where exactly does the story begin in the plotline?

Gonna take this opportunity to show off all the characters alive at the start of the story, as well as a quick rundown of who they are.

First off, the story begins the moment Starscream wakes up after his execution, and discovers his newfound immortality. He returns to Megatron as his First Mate, but is disillusioned with his leadership now. Thus begin your usual Starscream schenanigans.

Anyways here’s the more or less important cast members:

Decepticons: 

-Megatron: Captain of the Nemesis and all around bastard. Former gladiator of Kaon before taking to the seas. 

-Starscream: Megatron’s First Mate, bestowed with the gift of immortality by Primus, though this is kept a secret from everyone. Formerly a Navy Commander, along with his late brothers, Skywarp and Thundercracker. Grew up in the Northern city-state of Vos.

-Soundwave: Megatron’s Second Mate, head of communications and messenger. Has a parrot named Lazerbeak. Hard of Hearing and nonvocal. Former gladiator of Kaon.

-Knockout: Ship’s doctor and carpenter. Takes great care of his appearance, also has a wooden leg. Childhood sweethearts with Breakdown, formerly a slum kid. 

-Breakdown: Heavy hitter of the crew and Knockout’s assistant. Former construction worker of the Wrecker clan.

-Shockwave: Crew’s scientist and former councilor of Kaon. Was subjected to a lobotomy that stunted his emotions, causing him to run solely on logic.

-Dreadwing: Most often mans the canons. A former Navy Officer like Starscream, places a great deal of importance on honor. Resents Starscream due to him getting his twin Skyquake killed. Also native to Vos.

Autobots:

-Optimus Prime: Captain of the Autobot ship, the Omega, a privateer crew loosely employed by the Navy. Formerly an archivist of Iacon and ex-partner of Megatron.

-Ratchet: The ship’s medic and first mate, and Optimus’ current fiancé. Wealthy background allowed him to get a proper education in a medical academy, a rarity among the seafarers. 

-Bulkhead: Former Wrecker and heavy hitter of the crew. Was friends with Breakdown back in the day, until they had a falling out. Good with kids.

-Wheeljack: Former Wrecker and self-taught explosives expert, more often than not a lone wolf. Only joins with the crew occasionally, usually off doing his own thing.

-Arcee: Most agile of the crew, though equally hotheaded. Former Navy Soldier.

-Cliffjumper: Arcee’s partner in crime, was placed under her command in the Navy. A real jokester.

-Bumblebee: Young Autobot Scout, was very talkative. Now a mute, due to Megatron cutting out his tongue. 

-Smokescreen: Former child prodigy, ego a bit too big for his boots. Studied under Alpha Trion, like Optimus did in his youth. 

-Jack: Arcee’s apprentice, joined the crew as a stowaway.

-Rafael: Bumblebee’s little brother, highly intelligent but timid. Grew up with him in an orphanage.

-Miko: Rambunctious kid who joined the crew to deliver a message to her Aunt. Very keen on sticking around, after quickly befriending Bulkhead. Grew up in Vos.

Navy Officers:

-Sentinel Prime

-Ultra Magnus

-William Fowler

-Prowl

Unaffiliated:

-Windblade: Vosian Ambassador and diplomat, and Miko’s Aunt. Former temple disciple and childhood friend of Starscream.

-Chromia: Traveling merchant and Windblade’s wife, often accompanies her on voyages.

-Nautica: Windblade’s bodyguard, travels with the spouses on the open sea.

-Slipstream: Starscream’s cousin, one of Vos’ current leaders.

-Airachnid: Spider-like Sea Witch, commands a hive of aquatic Insecticons and often creates morbid art pieces out of living things. 

-Rodimus Prime: Chosen Captain of the Lost Light, a deific ghost ship that ferries lost souls to Heaven or Hell. Crew is composed of dead sailors with unfinished business.

-Skyfire: Starscream’s childhood lover, traveling researcher and scientist. Disappeared shortly after Starscream joined Megatron’s crew. 

More characters do exist but are not part of the main story, so they are not mentioned here.

[whatudottu]

So, some time ago, I made a post about something something TFP Rewrite AU. Now, I’m not the greatest at putting ideas into one cohesive story- not without ripping on the original structure.

But recently I had an idea!

There’s a lot of context going into this idea, but bare with me. It will be the basis of other TFP Rewrite adjacent stuff that I may or may not share if i even have more ideas for it, and the main context that applies to general events is Megatron himself and his descent into a Dark Energon induced spiral into incompetency.

Something something books that I haven’t read, apparently in the aligned continuity Megan had already found AND used DE to essentially kill Primus and Cybertron with him, but in the show it’s written as if it’s this mystical element that no one believed ever existed. For this little uh... split in the timeline, Dark Energon was discovered in TFP and TFP alone.

Another interesting tidbit about Megatron, the books seem to paint the Decepticons as the ones in the right, the ones who rebel against a system that had no qualms about letting them die and scavenge the parts of their dead nameless brethren; the Autobots were the upper class so devotely against the Decepticon’s mere existance and the middle class that saw their justified violence as ‘taking it too far’. Now I’m not going to turn Megan into the greatest mech alive, who is actually the good guy dude just trust me, but I’m upping his competence pre-DE.

So essentially, before any event involving Earth in some way is mentioned, Megatron is now a frighteningly powerful and proficient leader, but is inordinately violent to the point of turning his blade on his own crew. In the war - book era - the quality of his leadership outweighed the backlash of his gladiatorial upbringing, and it was the sway of his words and the purpose behind them that further grew the Decepticon forces.

Now, with the Dark Energon in his possession, Megatron’s mind slowly begins to degrade. At first, everything seemed relatively okay, questions being asked about the discovery, on-board scientists and automobile enthusiasts were keen to learn more. But Megatron went on his journey to find more Decepticon soldiers, more forged mecha that fought under the banner of the Decepticon brand.

And that’s were it truly began to go downhill.

Megatron spoke of the Decepticon forces as dead mecha walking, and that the upper class and ESPECIALLY the council would have continued to ensure that became true, but what if they gave them that honour. Megatron announcing his plan to turn the dead into loyal Decepticon forces, undying in their regeneration and the will to choose for oneself who to be again, a second chance. And then began the idea that if the Decepticons were so fated to die at the hands of the Autobots, that they shall never give them the pleasure, and take away their mortal fear of death.

Needless to say it wasn’t a very popular belief.

And ever since Megan took it upon himself to embrace the Dark Energon - the rumoured blood of Unicron himself - into his very spark, the grand intelligence and brilliant command began to gradually grow outmatched by his vehement aggression. Plus, with the Autobots trapped on Earth on the evasive, Megatron could not turn that intense rage onto the battlefield, but harder onto the failings of the Decepticons.

Most folk are blind to the weakening cost-benefit relationship that is Megan’s leadership, mostly because they aren’t directly affected by it. Vehicons are already cannon fodder, they’ve accepted as such eons ago, so any increase in internal violence just hastens the inevitable if they’re even targetted in the first place. Soundwave was already the primary intelligence officer, and though he definitely notices the shift, his loyalty leads him to handle more of the thinking than he did before.

Oh, but Starscream notices, Starscream doesn’t need to open his eyes to notice. He, the medical staff (only really Knock Out and Breakdown) and any technician, maintenance worker and the occasional vehicon stationed at the bridge notice more and more of the failings of Megatron’s mental stablity.

Starscream’s plots to take over the Decepticons begin more and more frequently, and though his popularity in the ranks doesn’t increase at first, it is Megan’s standing in the eyes of his troops that takes a fall before any opinions can rise.

Yada yada overall the Decepticons grow sick and tired of Megatron’s bullshit, something something blind loyalty tries to get Megatron the help he needs, and finally certain ‘Cons begin to think their temporary rule under Starscream’s 6 year occupation doesn’t seem all too bad. No one died, not from their leader and certainly not from the Autobots. Mining had next to no incidents, save for mining exclusive accidents. And Starscream was well suited to keeping their activities a secret from both the Autobots AND the humans living on the planet.

But that’s certainly a thought of the most exhausted mecha, of the bots that will surely be slain for having that idea, for sympathising for the traitorous slagpile that is Starscream.

This could lead to some form of Autobot Starscream AU, but I think ever since I watched Cyberverse, I think that something along the lines of ‘Reformed-Decepticons-now-under-the-command-of-Starscream-by-elective-means-end-the-war-in-a-truce-and-soon-a-peace-treaty-in-efforts-to-restore-cybertron-to-the-world-that-it-was-meant-to-be’ AU/Pathway of this specific Rewrite AU-

Of course I don’t want it to be exactly Cyberverse, I only thought about it like that as soon as I began writing this section. But, maybe I’m just being a Decepticon sympathiser and am too swayed by the words of pre-DE Megatron, but I like when there are two sides of the war and neither are the good guy nor the bad guy.

I want some focking NUANCE in this bitch alright!

Anyhow I hope you liked this idea- there’s probably more on the way, I might’ve thought of some while writing this lmao-!

[artobotsrollout]

The more I think about it, the more I'm thinking I'd like to bring Jazz into Harbingers.

He's smart and lovable and deserves screen time!!!!! Exodus did him dirty. I'm so sorry Jazz you deserved so much better than the role of frequently ignorant devil's advocate. 😭 (I'm also still salty at how bad Micheal Bay messed up Jazz like?!?!)

He'd have his own arcs to explore! *exploration into possible deeper arcs is below the bullet points

With the Decepticons losing Starscream and Knockout, the least loyal to the cause so the most likely to give up information, they're gonna need someone to gather Intel and insight into what Megatron's loyalists are doing.

He would really work well with the general energy Team Prime in TfP has and would connect well with the humans. MORE SLICE OF LIFE MOMENTS!

Optimus is already a serious character which is a big reason imo Ultra Magnus wasn't the best choice to bring in to fill a SIC role. Giving Jazz a more second in command role would be an ideal choice. He would be a good fun contrast to Optimus. With the energy of TFP having some really dark moments, bringing on someone like Jazz would bring hope and fun to a dark situation. He'd be a fun character to have that stands well on his own or with others!

With Starscream and crew taking on a neutral role, there needs to be another higher ranking person, besides Optimus, who is clever, chill, and good with people. Jazz helping Optimus build bridges and keeping a cool head would be helpful in working together, so the first insult thrown by say... a grumpy Wheeljack, Ratchet, or Ramjet won't escalate too far.

On the flipside, having another person who can keep team members in line besides Optimus and Ratchet would add variety and other unique approaches to situations.

As a leader figure, he could connect with the team w/o being as distant as Optimus. (more dads? In MY team prime? It's more likely than you think.) Maybe even be the character to bring in the emotional validation that TfP sorely lacked.

Another person to make fun of Megatron is always good.

Starscream is very clever and having someone who can keep up with his witticisms and not hesitate to call him on his bluffs would be a good edition. While Optimus is clever, I have a hard time seeing him actively engaging with some of Scream's sharper digs or calling people out on things that aren't essential. And I feel like Starscream and Ratchet would both rant about things together but also argue in circles together. XD. Jazz and Starscream could have a somewhat friendly relationship w lighthearted banter while also having some of that warning laced into what they say.

Stealth missions? Hell yeah another whole avenue of stories to explore!

With stealth/spy missions being more of a thing, Smokescreen could be developed further and become an essential member with emphasis on diversionary tactics like he was in other continuities.

While Arcee fills some of the above roles, I feel like a bouncier playful character is enough reason to make him a great addition.

I may or may not want to have Soundwave and Jazz have a music battle.....

*2. He could bring his own character arcs.

I could touch on how important he was to the rebellion against the senate and what he and Optimus were like back then. Having been with OP since the very beginning he'd be pretty exhausted as well

I could see him sometimes using humour/ putting on a smile as a coping mechanism. That's a big avenue to explore too. Maybe even making light of situations that are actually pretty dark. Maybe even accidentally making things awkward by joking about something awful that happened to him. This would be stemming from one thing he and Optimus would have in common: they both have a certain blanketing numbness due to being overwrought.

Imo he could be a good person to explore the masks sometimes made to cover depression or despair with. Maybe even touching on using distraction as a coping mechanism. But I wouldn't want this exploration to be the reason for his interests, instead it would be like, as a person he genuinely loves playing and listening to music, learning about earth and well... learning new things in general. He's genuinely a nice dude.

I could just see him not taking a moment to pause on his off hours and constantly trying to keep himself busy. Anything to keep giving himself purpose and reason to move forward. I think most agree that no cybertronian would be emotionally well adjusted this late in the war. He, like everyone else, is doing what he can to hold himself together. Jazz could try and keep the person he was before the war around for others but mostly himself. The war has taken everything from everyone. He doesn't want the war to take away pieces of who he is as well.

Anyways this post is way longer than I expected it to be and while writing it I went from "I'm considering adding Jazz" to "I'm adding Jazz". This is what I have so far but be aware some things may change as I develop things more!

Jazz would have been one of the members to steal the show if he had been added. Hasbro was too afraid of his power but I want to free him >:O!!!! . Dnchsjdkw

If you're still here after that massive ramble/glorified brainstorm session please take the greatest honour I can bestow, the Autothots Badge of Thottery. Thank you.

[factual-fantasy]

You know thanks to you. I’ve been binge watching Transformers Prime again. Almost done with Season 1. But I’m curious on your thoughts on some of the Decepticons? Who’s your favorite and why? Mine is KnockOut and Breakdown (also ship these two together haha..)

Soundwave. Hands down. Period. He is by far my favorite Decepticon. 

I love him because not only does he look super cool, but he just gives off this vibe that no one else can give off. He’s never said a word throughout the series, and is loyal to Megatron in a way that’s terrifying. 

“He’s the eyes and ears of the Decepticons.“ THAT’S FREAKING TERRIFYING!! He hears and sees your every move! Soundwave knows when you’re up to something, he knows who to trust and who not to. He knew from the beginning most likely that Starscream was up so something, and he knew that Airachnid couldn’t be trusted.

Normally Soundwave is viewed as just a security camera type character. He can hear you and spy on you, but that’s all he does. He’s quiet, and follows orders. He might even be a push over. Wrong, absolutely wrong.

Soundwave can and will kill you if he has to. When Airachnid started talking about Megatron not recovering and how she should be the new leader, Soundwave’s whole demeanor went from “Just minding my own business over here” to “No the frag you ain’t.” he turned around and made it clear, WITHOUT SPEAKING MIND YOU that her becoming the new leader was not happening.

He fought her and EASILY beat her, and if she hadn’t surrendered he would’ve squished her head like a bug. He isn’t taking scrap from people who disrespect Megatron. Which is WHY he’s scary! He’s loyal to Megatron 100%! That’s just awful and terrifying.

As for the other Decepticons, I’ll try and sum it up. (Warning, personal and potentially offensive opinions inbound)

Megatron: I hate him with every fiber of my being.

Starscream: I also hate him with every fiber of my being.

Knock out: He’s a snob and he was rude to Optimus. >:[

Breakdown: I really liked him and I had hope of him becoming a Autobot, I was really sad when I found out he died.（；へ：）

Shockwave: I don’t know him very well yet but he seems interesting. In a good way I suppose. He gives off similar vibes to Soundwave.

Airachnid: She’s a piece of scrap. Never liked her.

Predaking: Never really been a fan because he seems out of place.. and he attacked Wheeljack sooo.. I don’t like him too much. :/

Dreadwing: This dude really made me cry ya’ll. He has such a sad story going on, I feel so bad for him and just wish him and his brother could’ve been happy together. (ಥ﹏ಥ)

Skyquake: This dude really made me cry ya’ll. He has such a sad story going on, I feel so bad for him and just wish him and his brother could’ve been happy together. (ಥ﹏ಥ)

[xenargon]

(TFP) Optimus vs. Orion Pax vs. TFA Optimus: Compelling Optimuses

I kind of despise TFP Optimus. I think TFP Orion Pax is way more interesting. I love TFA Optimus. Find out why I think that is.

In short, I think the primary reason TFP Optimus is a blank slate of a character is because his purpose in the story is not to be a character, but to be a narrative tool.

I’ve gone at length multiple times in multiple places about why exactly I hate Optimus, although none of those places include tumblr so I guess I should recap.

Basically, I dislike Optimus as a character because he’s displayed as the pinnacle of moral justice despite his decisions in the show actively working against him on multiple occasions (for instance, sparing Megatron the number of times he does) and because he’s never shown to really have any flaws or struggles. He’s something of a Mary Sue, being shown as basically perfect from the outset and having no difficulties with any of the problems he faces.

But I think what makes him such a bland, uncompelling character more than this alone is that he’s only used in the narrative to be a vehicle for moral exposition (pun not intended.) His purpose in Transformers Prime is not to be a character, but to merely educate the other autobots in moral values and to be an opposing force to Megatron. What are his motivations? He led five other autobots to take refuge on Earth, but has never demonstrated much of a motivation beyond this. He has never advocated for retaking Cybertron (until that option is practically thrown at him,) nor for creating a new autobot society on Earth. He displays no initiative toward any end goal. He only ever reacts to events that occur in such a way as to display the most ethical option given the context.

Orion Pax, on the other hand, is a true character. I still don’t think he’s super compelling, but he clearly has a personality where Optimus doesn’t. What are Orion’s motivations? He’s well-educated and has read extensively about how unfair Cybertronian society is. He wants to change this and overhaul the caste system, but he’s also somewhat sheltered in that he doesn’t quite know how to go about this. He’s unsure of himself, but he truly believes in his vision for a just Cybertron and wants to achieve this peacefully.

But even more important than his motivations are his flaws, which Optimus entirely lacks (unless you count his backwards moral reasoning, but the show doesn’t imply that these are flawed so they don’t really count.) Optimus is never demonstrated as having any flaws, but as soon as he reverts back to being Orion, the main flaw that immediately becomes apparent is his naiveté. He trusts Megatron more than he should, and this is actively demonstrated as being a flaw by the mere fact that, because of this trust, he ultimately hinders the autobots.

Orion isn’t the most profound character in fiction, but he at least has motivations and character flaws; two things which are basic requirements for having a character at all.

Optimus, on the other hand, doesn’t seem to have motivations toward anything but punching decepticons, and doesn’t seem to have any flaws, given that he doesn’t fail or really struggle with anything. (Okay so there’s that one scene where Starscream escapes with the omega keys and Optimus angrily yells into the sky and I will give that scene a point just because it’s actually a case where he shows emotion like a real character.)

I hadn’t thought about it until writing that parenthetical, but the utter lack of emotion doesn’t help Optimus’ case either. Granted, there are characters like Soundwave who also don’t display emotion, but he still displays motivations and... not really any flaws but he does at least have some struggles and failures to make him imperfect.

Optimus’ role in TFP is simply to be an expositor of moral and ethical thought. He does not serve as a leader, or a downtrodden rebel fighter, or a strategic tactician, or even as a person.

Contrast this with TFA Optimus, which is actually the only one I even like. He, as a character above all else, serves as all of these. He coordinates strategies using the different autobots’ unique skills. He does what he thinks is right even when Sentinel or the Elite Guard push him aside. He makes mistakes, he has flaws, he even has emotional outbursts at times as any real person does. TFA Optimus starts out at the beginning of the show as a well-meaning Elite Guard trainee who was condemned to a mundane life of space bridge repair. He and his vastly underprepared crew are very suddenly thrown directly into the front lines of the war with the decepticons, and Optimus is forced to step up as a leader. By the end of the show, he (and the other autobots) cements himself as a hero, not because he was chosen by Primus to be perfect, but because he worked his skidplate off fighting the decepticons when no one was around to help him, and he did what he knew was right even when no one else would.

His character is what makes him good, not his endowment of a magical artifact by a higher power. He struggles and fails but ultimately rises to greatness because it’s what his motivations drove him to do.

This is something TFP Optimus utterly lacks. I think I’ll end on that note. I kind of want to watch TFA again, damn.

[sparklingpax]

Headcanon: Megatron is actually really really good at singing.

Rambles/(um it kind of turned into a story??) about this below the cut; excuse typos and stuff >//<’’

Not even Soundwave is aware of this; only Optimus is. 

When Megatronus and Orion Pax were friends before the war, Megatronus used to sing for him. Sometimes Orion would join in (he’s decent at it) but most of the time, not really. He just wanted to hear his friend sing. Megatronus’ voice had a quality that sparked some emotion deep within Orion that....he couldn’t and still cannot explain. Optimus, deep at spark, often thinks about how his friend really deserved better and was dealt a bad hand by fate. Had he been of the artistic caste, maybe he could have pursued this, for his singing comes from his spark and would have been so beautiful to hear in stadiums or on the radio....

Before he met Orion, Megatronus sang in the mines while working. He sang to keep himself sane as he worked day in and day out, wishing he was dead rather than live this life. It really was a secret dream of his to pursue singing. Though unfortunately, Megatron to this day is resigned to the fate of never living out that possibility.

Now, Megatron is actually embarrassed of this, and has vowed never to let anyone else ever see that side of him. As Decepticon leader, especially, he felt that no one would respect him if they knew of this. 

Orion used to tell him that music is a beautiful, divine thing--that his voice should not be hidden! 

Yet to this day, Megatron still cannot understand this. He still is afraid of this secret side of him being looked down upon. 

Maybe someday, he will return from his self-imposed exile. 

Optimus will meet him and they’ll stand together for a while, staring over the cities of Cybertron, watching people move about. 

Then, Optimus will say, “Megatronus, do you still wish to sing?”

“Of course,” Megatron will say, without moving his gaze. “What do you wish to hear, Orion?“

Optimus smiles faintly, feeling a rush of relief at hearing his name--his true name, which Primus gave him when Cybertron was first beautiful and full of life.

“Your spark will tell you, Megatronus. I think you know the one...”

And his old friend will begin a song they sang one night, millennia ago. 

While the two walked down the side of an ocean, mesmerized by the glowing stars that shone like diamonds as their reflections shimmered in the serene blue water. 

They had held hands, content to have stayed that way forever. Their friendship was everything to them, and it had felt like a beautiful dream.

It has been said,

“Above thy sweet head

There sits now a crown,

A beautiful crown,”

Stay here with me, 

Just stay here with me

We’ll sit with our crowns

Our lovely star crowns.

All will be one

With Primus above

Who loves us all so

He loves us all so...

[nevis-the-skeleton]

Hi Nevis :D

I found your Transformers story requests on AO3. And I thought I may as well give it a go and give you a prompt (this is my first ever prompt by the way).

I am slightly worried that you might find it a bit intimidating by its sheer length. But then again, you can just pick apart the bits that resonate with you.

My favorite Prime character is Knockout, and to be fair, a lot of his and Starscream's character development is intertwined.

Without further ado:

Episode 11 'Speed Metal' and future episodes

'What if' when Knockout was lining up on the dirt race track in the episode intro, another rather flashy illustrious, Mustang pulls up besides him. The door on the window lowers, a pale skinned woman with jet black hair pops a gum bubble as her scrutinizing gaze devours his entire frame. A smirk begins to creep up the side of her mouth and then into a full blown out grin, she whistles and then states, "Man, those are some seriously sexy steel belted radials. I'm diggin the gold trim too, brings out a fine contrast to that cherry red sheen."

Knockout in all of his astonishing vanity and pride, is hapless but to reply, " Dhow, why thank you! I believe there is no such thing as to over in gross in the finer detailing of my esteem- my car's esteemed, appearance." The woman's grin appears to widen again.

Let the race begin.

Together, they tear up that dirt track like hellfire. An intricate dance that no other competitor can compete with, they are essentially, left in their dust. Not only can that human dish out a fine complement, but she can also drive too! This is far too exciting! There is no foul play, there is, just only skill. Dedication of their whole lives to the craft of driving. It is, simply beautiful.

Knockout engages his turbo on the final bend to the finish line, he catches her off guard with his sudden burst of speed and takes the lead. A cherry red blur crosses the finish line first. She pulls up besides him after crossings the finish line second and congratulates him on his pristine driving ability. He begrudgingly admits that she's the finest driver he's encountered (on this mud ball). They part ways after a few more praises to the flashy finishes of the others car.

In subsequent future races, Knockout is astonished and yet bemused that she turns up in her car for every other race. The two grow to become familiar acquaintances and develop an exceptional rivalry on the racetrack.

Starscream notices Knockout's increasing absence on the Nemesis and discovers his little covert frolicking with the humans. Especially with Knockouts' 'human femme'. He despises this, and sets out to make it his personal mission to separate Knockout from this human and ruin her racing career.

This however, with each attempt, always manages to spectacularly backfire on him. Instead of separating Knockout and the human, his actions only helped to draw them closer together and allow them to develop a strengthening friendship.

I also give you permission to use my Tumblr name, being anonymous or not really doesn't bother me.

Hope I have an intimidated you too much 😅.

Good luck darling

galbrandy xx

Interesting ^^! I prefer to warn that it will not be a ship, because I do not do Transformers x Human, but I see a friendship between the two X). I'm also thinking of adding Soundwave to Starscream's schemes, because surely he too preferred KnockOut to do his job, rather than spending his time with this human XD. Thank you for your request ^^!

~~~

KnockOut loved racing, he found it much more rewarding and exciting than his job as a doctor. He didn't hate his job, of course, but he still had a preference, a much more forbidden one.

The sports car didn't see why he would waste his time doing something he wasn't interested in, especially since Megatron's coma. Everything was in constant tension, especially with Soundwave and Starscream constantly arguing over whether to unplug the leader of the Decepticons or not.

Well, arguing was a big word, since the Communications Commander never had much to say to convince the Seeker not to. Basically, even if the jet didn't admit it, he was listening to the spy plane. And that surely more than he listened to Megatron.

The red robot was on the starting track, ready to start, then he saw a new vehicle arrive, a royal blue and yellow car. He had researched about earthling vehicles, and easily recognized that it was a Ford Mustang. Very good choice of vehicle.

The car pulled into the starting track beside him, and KnockOut saw the window roll down. The woman behind the wheel popped her chewing gum, before smiling. She brushed a lock of her black hair away from her eyes, and peered at the Decepticon, then whistled in admiration. The Velocitronian moved his rear-view mirror to better see the human who had whistled at him, and the latter's smile widened, before she declared:

"Dude! That's a fucking good car! I see you have good taste! Good choice of paint too! Gold and red is always a great mix!"

The doctor huffed a laugh, and was not insensitive to the compliment. He decided to answer this human, who deserved his attention a little more than the other pitiful members of her species.

"Well thank you! But I still think it's rude of you to scrutinize my appeara – the appearance of my car!"

This amused the human who laughed in turn. The flag was soon raised, and everyone started revving their engines, ready to win this race! The Decepticon laughed at these pathetic beings, who didn't stand a chance against him anyway. Let the race begin!

KnockOut wasted no time in overtaking the others, and laughed at his more than easy victory, when he heard the loud sound of an engine rumbling behind him. He moved his rear view mirror to see the Ford Mustang following close behind.

The woman quickly came up to him, the two following each other around the bends, heaving the road in a torrent of dust and sand! The Velocitronian felt the feeling of real racing welling up inside him, as it was the first time in a long time that he had found a real opponent. It seemed to him that the great desert plains of Velocitron were redrawn in the clouds of sand, bringing KnockOut back to lost times.

It didn't take long for the finish line to appear, and the Decepticon revved up, drifting around the final corner. The human gave a start of surprise and admiration, and could do nothing to prevent the Aston Martin from crossing the finish line.

The woman approached, and parked next to him, before opening her window. She looked a little disappointed, probably because of her second place, but her gaze was also shining with admiration and respect. She sincerely applauds KnockOut, before saying:

“Wow! You are awesome! I rarely see drivers like you! You were clearly born for this!

- You're not bad either. answered the doctor. You're one of the best drivers I've met since I've been here!

- It's a pleasure!"

The human smiled defiantly, then said:

"Watch out for your beautiful finish, because the next time we see you will eat my dust!

- That's what we are going to see!" smiled the Velocitronian.

The two soon separated, and the Decepticon already wanted to meet her again for a race.

~

Time passed, and it wasn't long before KnockOut's wish came true. The human and he saw each other often in underground races, their rivalry growing with each victory of one and the other. The red robot was not ashamed to consider her a friend, because she was the only one who allowed him to have fun on the road.

The doctor grew increasingly absent on the Nemesis, and it didn't take long for Starscream to notice. The Seeker was quick to confront Breakdown for answers, but even KnockOut's partner didn't know where that cursed doctor was spending his nights.

The jet took him in tail, and was more than perplexed when he saw him taking the ground bridge for coordinates that had no interest. Starscream frowned in confusion, really not understanding KnockOut's behavior.

“< Weird… >”

The Seeker jumped with a scream, before quickly spinning around to face Soundwave. The Communications Commander just tilted his head gently, as Laserbeak hovered above him.

"Primus… Soundwave… You can't appear like that behind people… I already told you that…" the jet stammered, putting a hand on his chest.

The spy plane drew a smiley face on his visor, feigning an innocent look. Starscream sighed, but wasn't particularly upset, it was impossible to get upset against Soundwave anyway. The Seeker quickly focused on their current problem, and crossed his arms as he looked at the ground bridge, before saying:

"Send Laserbeak, I want to know what is so important to KnockOut that he ignores his medical duties!"

The Communications Commander nodded, before opening a ground bridge on the same coordinates, and signaling his minicon to accomplish his mission.

~

KnockOut won the race again, and laughed in his victory, before exclaiming:

"That's 10 for me, and 8 for you!

- No way! defended the woman. It's 9 for me, you forget our friendly run, you literally saw the aft of my car the whole way!

- How vulgar you are!

- How weird you are!"

The two laugh together, then the Decepticon asked :

“By the way, I would like to know.

- Yeah?

- What is your name?

- My name?

- Yep.

- Why would I tell you?

- Why not?

- I don't even know what you look like, you never get out of your vehicle when we see each other.

- I like to keep my anonymity.

- Pffrr!"

The human laughed, before huffing, and sitting down on the hood of her car. She gazed for a time at the stars, seeing a large bird piercing the clouds, before returning her gaze to her running mate.

“If you want to remain anonymous, I don't see why I shouldn't.

- Oh ! Come on!

- Nope! Unless you give me your name!

- It's KO.

- That's not a name!

- It's a nickname!

- Ah! The agreement is not fulfilled, I don't give you my first name!

- Come on! I'm not gonna call you "Hey" every time we see each other.

- Hm… True!

- Ah!

- In any case, I will not give you my real name.

- Rho…!"

The woman laughed, then got back into her car, before KnockOut called out to her:

“Wait, how do I call you then?!

- You can call me Liberty!"

~

Starscream raised his wings in anger as he stared through the screen at what Laserbeak was seeing. He banged hard on the operating table of the computer, and cried out:

"So that's what he does instead of his fragging job?!"

Soundwave took the jet's hand away from the machine, shaking his head, indicating that he wanted the hardware to work. The Seeker sighed in annoyance, but it was mainly against KnockOut. This idiot was wasting his time befriending a human, instead of doing his job! There was reason to be angry!

“There's no way I'm letting this go! I have every intention of keeping him away from that accursed human! declared the flyer.

- < Proposal > < . >"

Starscream turned his attention to the Communications Commander, while the latter displayed the image of the human that Laserbeak had photographed, before displaying a cross on her.

The Seeker smiled, easily understanding the idea of ​​the spy plane. He nodded vigorously, flapping his wings. He quickly thought of a plan, and wasted no time in coming up with one.

“You are right, Soundwave! The best way to get KnockOut to stop messing around is to get rid of that human! I also intend to make him give up the urge to continue these stupid races!"

~

When the sports car arrived at the new race, he quickly noticed that the atmosphere was strange. He greeted a few drivers, who all stayed in their vehicles, and who didn't even deny answering him.

The doctor thought that they were particularly rude, and that he was going to be happy to humiliate them on the track. We were not disrespectful at KnockOut without taking the risk of tasting bitter defeat!

He found the mood really heavy, but it quickly lightened when Liberty stopped beside him. The brunette opened her window, and made a sign to the Velocitronian, before exclaiming:

“Hey! Hello, KO!

- Liberty, hi!

- Ready to eat my dust?!

- Talk for you!

- That's what we're going to see!"

The human popped her chewing gum in warning, before an arrogant but no less endearing smile appeared on her face. She revved her engine as the countdown ticked down, and she was the first to go!

KnockOut followed her not far behind, when he noticed the drivers behind them getting into a triangle formation. The Decepticon quickly sensed that something was wrong, and his doubts were confirmed when some cut out of the way, to go faster!

“Hey! This is cheating!" the Velocitronian was indignant.

A lot of things may have been allowed on the track, but certainly not going off the road. Even on Velocitron it was immediate disqualification! His Spark jumped into his spark chamber when he saw Liberty being surrounded by two vehicles, and violently jostled.

Starscream smiled, and crossed his arms, as his wings rose smugly. The main room was lit by light from the computer, which broadcast what was happening on the track, courtesy of Laserbeak. The Seeker scoffed, while Soundwave watched in silence, then the jet sneered:

“Bye, bye, vermin!"

KnockOut froze when he saw Liberty's car being pushed off the road, straight into a ravine!

"NO!" shouted the Decepticon.

He sped towards the human, and raced down the ravine with her, under the shocked gaze of Starscream and Soundwave. The Seeker tensed, and squeezed his wings, before screaming:

“What the frag is he doing?! »

The two Commanders froze when they saw the doctor begin his transformation into robot mode, and put their hands to their faces as KnockOut pulled the human out of the vehicle.

Liberty couldn't hide her shock, as she was held back by a giant robot, which had the exact same colors as KO's car. The sports car landed as best as he could, and picked himself up without a problem, before dusting himself with his free hand, complaining about his poor finish.

He quickly put the woman down, who still hadn't said anything, which made him quite uncomfortable. He scratched his head, a little embarrassed, before leaning towards her and asking:

“Uh… are you OK?"

Liberty ended up screaming in terror, which startled KnockOut, who clearly didn't expect it, even ending up being offended by the human's reaction.

"Oh ! Come on! I don't think my appearance justifies such a reaction!" the Velocitronian got a little upset.

Starscream and Soundwave had a rush of hope that this would end the ridiculous friendship between these two, and the Seeker found the strength to look at the screen again, after the disaster the doctor had caused in revealing himself.

The brunette looked around her, before laughing and running a hand through her hair, reflecting her nervousness. She took several steps, never really knowing where to go, before scanning the surroundings again, and saying:

"OK! OK! I see ! It's a hidden camera, right?!

- Would you have preferred…? KnockOut asked.

- You were a car not even five minutes ago!

- Yes and?

- And… And holy shit! What the fuck!

- Language...

- Yeah, well, you'll excuse me, but I have every reason in the world to swear! My racing buddy is a fucking robot that turns into a car!

- So, already, I'm not a robot. I'm an alien."

Liberty tried to say something, but she couldn't come up with anything coherent. She pinched the bridge of her nose, and sighed heavily, before murmuring sarcastically:

“Oh yes…! It makes so much sense…!"

KnockOut raised his optics to the sky, then ended up saying:

"Besides, I saved your life, you should thank me!"

The human decided to look at the Decepticon, and found a trace of his very particular smile, before saying:

"You're right.

- Of course I'm right!"

The brunette laughed at that, and added:

"You're KO, there's no doubt!"

The two resumed a much more animated discussion and without the slightest ounce of fear on Liberty's part. The fact that the human discovered the truth about KnockOut had ultimately strengthened their bond, especially thanks to the fact that the Transformer was ready to reveal his secret to save her.

Starscream had his elbows resting on the computer desk, his head buried in his hands. Soundwave, him, could not hide his dejection at the situation, a hand resting on his forehead.

When KnockOut returned from his getaway, he didn't quite understand why his Commanders looked so dejected, but he didn't ask himself any more questions. As long as they weren't hurt, it wasn't his problem.

The doctor continued to visit Liberty, and with much more freedom. And, all of Starscream's and Soundwave's attempts to separate them always proved fruitless, often going so far as to strengthen the two riders' already stubborn friendship.