#Transformers earthspark rant

[brownhood69]

TFE RANT (also spoilers)

Okay, so for those of you who haven't heard of Transformers Earth Spark, it's basically a show where the cybertronian War is technically over and now cybertronians are trying to get used to the life on earth. But they are completely treated like they are animals. If you want to watch the show yourself then go right ahead it should be on Amazon Prime or on Paramount Plus because this will contain spoilers for the first season and the 2nd season so feel free to skip this.

ANYWAY!

So all of you know the Decepticons right?

👆

These guys?

Well, near the end of the last episode of season 1 of Earth Spark they all decided to work together with the Decepticons to take down mandroid, the main antagonist of season 1. There was also two episodes where one of the Decepticons started to have a relationship with the Malto family. Like for example

Nightshade and tarantulas:

And Starscream and hashtag:

See how these two GIFs are completely wholesome? Infact, the first season teaches that even though somebody could be on the opposite side of things that doesn't initially mean that they are a bad guy completely, just misunderstood.

It teaches that everyone can have a second chance if they really try but not everyone can really get that second chance.

And then season 2 comes around,

And BOY was I pissed off about it.

Now I haven't watched season 2 myself but I have watched one episode in it and that's it. remember that I said that the Decepticons finally decided to fight Mandroid thanks to Twitch and that some of the Terrans actually had some decent relationships with some of the Decepticons?

Well season two just completely THROWS ALL OF IT OUT OF THE FUCKING WINDOW!!!

When I watch season 2 I thought it was going to be all cool and hype and I thought everyone was just overreacting over season 2. NOPE! THEY HAD THE RIGHT TO BE UPSET! Because one episode in and I was immediately flashed banged with shock. Robby was explaining after 2 years of like saving cybertronians from Mandroid's destruction the quintus prime Stone (I don't remember what it's called) kind of shattered into like thousands of pieces across the globe. He then says that the Decepticons help them to retrieve them but then they decided to turn on them and get the shards for themselves. EVEN THOUGH THE FIRST SEASON SAID THAT NOT ALL DECEPTICONS ARE BAD!!

Like where did this even come from!? And why make them back into villains when we already saw the shot of them HELPING TWITCH AND HER FAM FROM KILLING ALL CYBERTRONIANS!? Like, what is the point of this!? If you're just going to make them bad guys anyway, why give the Terrans a chance to understand them and sympathize with the 'cons!? You had such a good new take on the Transformers yet you decided to throw away that said good take and just take it back to square one!

WHAT THE HELL HASBRO!?

*SIGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH*

And don't get me started with Bumblebee's relationship with Breakdown. You clearly set them up to be best buddies and then you just set that friendship arc on fire and just went on the 'Con vs 'Bot arc again. But the part that pisses me off the most is Starscream's abandon arc. Earthspark *clearly* wanted to make this Starscream as sympathetic as possible and this could have worked well. IF THEY DIDNT MAKE HIM THE MAIN VILLIAN IN SEASON 2!

And I guess prowl appearing in season 3 is kind of nice but it would have been better if he was like the villain instead of Starscream. If they were going to be good Decepticons then there has to be bad Autobots. But hey, Hasbro isnt keen on keeping promises are you Hasbro?

God, you had such a good idea and you just had to ruin it with season 2 and 3. I hope the rumors of Earthspark getting canceled are true thanks to this.

Also, GIVE US A TRUELY, ACTUAL, HEROIC, SYMPATHETIC STARSCREAM FOR CRYING OUT LOUD! **AND DONT FUCK IT UP THIS TIME!!!**

Okay, I think I'm done for now, but I might add a part 2 if I decided to watch the rest of season 2 and season 3.

K bye!

[eashgirl]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[xxbrightshadowxx]

I will forever be in mourning over the loss of what Transformers Earthspark could’ve been. I will forever feel grief and pain of what Transformers Earthspark could’ve been for Starscream and his character. Most of all, I will forever be sick of how Starscream is treated in all of the cannon continuities. Sure, he doesn’t need to get redeemed in all iterations of him, for example I don’t think in TFA or TFP he deserved to be redeemed since he showed little to none remorse for his actions and when he was offered chances to be redeemed, he refused it.

But the fact that characters like Megatron, fragging Megatron, the warlord who started this whole million year mess, the one who abused and treated the ones used his command like shit, and the one who caused the death of millions of bots to die, has been redeemed in multiple continuities.

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t hate the idea of Megatron being redeemed. I quite like him as a good guy in Earthspark. But it’s the fact that Starscream is treated like he is some unredeemable monster instead.

Doomed by the narrative by having writers to never give him a chance.

[crownlixliquid]

The fandom's portrayal of Starscream's abuse (A rant from an abuse victim's perspective)

To preface this, I am NOT saying that every abuse victim thinks like me or that Starscream is the "perfect" potrayal of abuse or anything like that. Nor is this directed to anyone in particular and it's definitely not a hate message or anything towards anyone who thinks differently. This is my personal opinions on the view as a victim of abuse myself and as someone who deeply relates to Starscream (especially es!starscream) on a personal level.

Now, if you're in the Transformers fandom and especially if you're a Starscream fan, you may have seen a lot of other Starscream fans opinions on Starscream—particularly in the way of how Earthspark handled him—and have seen many people discuss his trauma.

From what I've seen, many people (especially in fics) tend to potray Starscream as this "Perfect Victim" that does no wrong. And this, obviously, is a very harmful sentiment because there is no such thing as a perfect victim. People react and are affected by trauma and abuse in different ways and as someone who people would call the exact opposite of a "perfect victim", Starscream is NOTHING like the way the fandom tends to potray him.

Starscream is more often than not potrayed as a cowardly, selfish, and egoistical individual who does terrible things for his own benefits. NOTHING about that screams "poor little meow meow" to me and honestly? I like him better this way, especially in the case of Earthspark, because in my experiences, that's how my trauma shaped me.

I (unfortunately) used to be one of the people wary of Earthspark due to the loud critiques of Starscream's character in s2 and so I stayed away from the show believing it to be a terrible exmaple of how abuse can affect someone (don't hate me lol! I was an idiot). But that was until I did a little digging myself and I realised... He's literally just me???

Now I'm not saying what he does is right or that I do EVERYTHING that he does. But I think some es!starscream fans have a little skewed perception on what a "Redemption Arc" truly is. As well as what an abuse victim should be. We cannot generalise all victims as "Sympathetic innocent souls" or "Unsympathetic corrupt individuals who deserve what happened to them" because... trauma is so much more complex than that.

In my case, abuse made me violent (not towards innocent people but towards my own abusers) and selfish and at times cowardly. It's not due to an innate desire to harm others and an inherent evil within me but because I was a scared child who didn't know how to protect myself other than mimicking the people around me.

To insinuate that es!starscream did the things he did in s2 because the writers were trying to convey that he's inherently evil due to his trauma (despite that, to my knowledge, nothing in the show implies such a thing) can be a harmful thought because.. 1. It's taking agency away from his character and tying him down to his abuser and 2. Trauma can influence people to do bad things but that doesn't mean there isn't a level of accountability and agency when they do. To villainise that fact just because you want a character you like to be redeemed can be damaging to the already ill conceived perception of abuse victims that are anything but "perfect". We shouldn't shame abuse victims for doing bad things (Unless of course it's something REALLY horrible) but we should still hold them accountable in a safe and respectful manner. Especially since most of the time (at least in children), abuse victims do these bad things in order to protect themselves.

In my personal opinion, I don't think the things that Starscream did in s2 was purely due to his trauma—though I do think it may have influenced him in some way, because trauma tends to influence our decisions in life—but I don't think it's due to some sort of inherent evil within him. People doing bad things doesn't mean that they're born with an inherent evilness. Experience shapes us into who we are, external factors influences our mindsets, and sometimes we get into situations where it seems like we have no choice but to do something bad. (The best example of this I can think of right now is Magneto from X-Men: He wasn't born evil, but due to prejudice and trauma, he felt as if he had no choice but to become the villain.)

As I said, obviously trauma may have influenced Starscream's decisions but to tie every single decision he makes down to his abuser takes agency away from his character and makes it seem like as if he's nothing more than is trauma, which is NOT true. Time and time again across multiple continuities we can see that whether or not he experiences the same thing as es!starscream, he's still the same cunning and egoistical bastard he is because that's who he is!

Just because continuities like Earthspark brings more attention to his abusive relationship with Megatron doesn't mean that's his only characteristic. His decisions are still his own decisions and even if it's somewhat influenced by his trauma in any way it doesn't take away from the fact it's still his choice and in my opinion, to blame everything he does on his trauma feels honestly disrespectful as if victims cannot do anything that is unrelated to their abuser as well as the fact that it once again enforces that whole "Perfect Victim" narrative. Victims can be (for lack of a better word) "imperfect", and it's important that victims like Starscream is represented as much as victims that are perceived to be "perfect" are. Trauma and abuse is a complex topic and when handled appropriately, ALL victims should be represented. Not just those that fit into people's ideal expectations of what a victim should be.

There's also the fact that almost EVERY character in Earthspark or other tf continuities are technically also victims of different forms of abuse or other forms of trauma. Whether it be physically violent or emotionally damaging, so many other characters have been traumatised in various ways and it's not ONLY Starscream that has been abused by Megatron or in general.

As an example, Hashtag: I think when people hear Hashtag say "When bad things happen, it isn't always our fault" towards Starscream, they think it's directed solely towards Starscream and forget that it may have been also directed towards HERSELF. If I'm remembering the orders of things right, Hashtag has also went through a traumatising experience which has influenced her relationship with Starscream. She felt a sense of kinship within their trauma and when she says it's not a victim's fault, I got the sense that she wasn't saying that only to validate Starscream but also herself.

Hashtag has also experienced trauma—not as violent as Starscream's, but trauma nonetheless—and if Earthspark is truly claiming that being abused or traumatised is the victim's fault like es!starscream fans like to claim, then why is that sentiment not extended to Hashtag? Or if you want a more violent example, the Autobots, who have also technically been violently abused by the Decepticons during the war.

Earthspark, in my opinion, isn't villainising abuse victims or anyone who has experienced any kind of trauma in general, nor are they even villainising anyone in general. They teach children again and again that someone's actions is not an excuse to treat them badly, but it doesn't mean you can just LET them continue doing it either, especially when it harms you or others.

If you want an example of actual continuities that DOES justify abuse for "laughs" or because "they deserve it" then turn your attention towards Transformers: Prime. The treatment of Starscream's abuse is highly questionable there yet hardly anyone (Especially es!starscream fans, who I find to often be tfp fans) discusses it. Sure, it could be because it's a kids show. But Earthspark is also a kids show. So why are we justifying tfp's potrayal of abuse but not Earthspark—a show that actually does encourage you to respect victims and makes an attempt to validate victims trauma? (This isn't hate towards tfp or anyone that enjoys it btw. I too love tfp but I find the quality and writing there to be very questionable at times.)

Also, people who criticise Earthspark's handling of Starscream's trauma tend to claim that it influences abuse victims (typically children) to believe that it's their fault. I've spoken to a few of these people myself and how that in my opinion as a victim, I find how the show handled trauma—although not perfect—quite respectable and that the show makes it clear that characters like Starscream, as I said, shouldn't be disrespected just because of their choices, and that although the line may be a bit unclear at times, Earthspark does a decent job at clarifying that trauma isn't excuse for making harmful choices but it doesn't make you inherently evil either nor does your actions excuse being abused. When I brought this up however, they tend to.. brush off my opinion? And repeat the same things again. Which I quite frankly don't get because if you're that concerned about how abuse victims, especially child abuse victims, will perceive Starscream's characterisation, then why won't you take into account the perspective of an actual child abuse victim?

In my opinion—and not to generalise, it's just a personal observation—I think most Starscream fans honestly don't actually care about how his abuse is handled or about what real victims will think. They usually seem like they just want their favourite character to live out their ao3 "Starscream redemption" fanfics. Again, I don't mean to generalise but this is just something I see a lot of in es!starscream fans. I don't mind when people criticise a piece of media when it potrays a group of people in a harmful manner but like... it's kinda pointless if you don't take into account the actual group's perspective in question.

Another thing I'd like to mention; it's not exactly restricted to Starscream fans nor is it exactly about abuse but an issue I see in a lot of pieces of media is that people tend to forget that a individual character's story ≠ the general story plot. Sure a character's storyline may influence the plot and vice versa but it doesn't mean that the character's story IS the plot. When people say that Earthspark's story sucks just because Starscream's (or any other characters) personal plot was unsatisfactory to them, I can't help but question them because even if it IS bad, one bad character doesn't always make the ENTIRE general plot bad. Of course there are exceptions but in this case? I think Earthspark—with what little I've seen of it—is already MILES better compared to other continuities. Which is a strange thing for me to say because when it comes to Transformers—or more specifically, the animated adaptations—they tend to be less than stellar in terms of quality of animation or in storywriting, or sometimes both! Sure it's not perfect by any means and there are definitely a lot of things that are worth criticising, but neither are any of the other continuities and I hardly see them get any criticism. So then why is Earthspark singled out? (Honestly, I think I know why but I don't want to generalise everyone who dislikes Earthspark here.)

And for my final opinion: Some people say that Starscream's potrayal in s2 was too sudden compared to his characterisation in s1. Which... I respectfully disagree.

First off, Starscream BARELY had any screentime in s1. He was pretty much a side character until s2 and had very few screentime enough to draw a conclusion to his character.

People claim that his characterisation in s1 was a "set-up" for a redemption arc or that he already has been redeemed, purely due to the fact he was sympathetic and was nice to Hashtag. And I personally don't quite get that from both a literary standpoint and as a victim: victims can be sympathetic... and still do bad things. Shocking, I know. But just because Starscream was sympathetic and nice to Hashtag doesn't mean he was ever gonna be redeemed or already was redeemed. A redemption arc needs MUCH more than just a few moments of kindness or sympathy. Plus, his moments of kindness towards the Terrans/Hashtag was like... two episodes in comparison to his multiple episodes both in s1 and s2 in which it is setting up his eventual villainous actions AND his offscreen DECADES of destruction and violence against the Autobots and humans during the war. Just like how doing bad things doesn't make someone inherently evil, doing good things doesn't make him inherently nice or redeemed. And it makes much more such for him to not be redeemed because there's virtually no set up for a redemption arc in comparison to his story in s2.

Not to mention the fact that Hashtag is a child. Starscream isn't the type of person to suddenly forget about his trauma and his goals for a child he barely knows, especially a child associated with his abuser. It makes more sense that his "kindness" towards Hashtag was fuelled by his ego getting stroked at the fact that she believed him because I and many others similar to Starscream typically don't just completely forget about our trust issues because of kindness but rather because we feel validated when someone believes in our abuse and trauma and assures us that it's not our fault.

Plus, it makes less sense—in my personal opinion—when all those "Starscream Redemption" fanfics make him immediately flip a switch and suddenly become all nice and selfless simply because he joined the Autobots or whatever. Not to shit on the writers or anyone else who enjoy fanfics like these, I like them too. It's just from a literary standpoint as well as when considering his trauma, I highly doubt he's going to immediately change his entire ideals and perception simply because he bonds with a child or because he joins the Autobots. And in the case of Earthspark, I highly doubt he'd want to join the team that is allies with his abuser, or even just be nice to them. Megatron and the others aren't entitled to Starscream bending over backwards to becoming nice and good for them and neither should the Autobots and the others completely exempt Starscream from the consequences of his actions simply because he is a victim.

That's all my thoughts for now. Again, this isn't to shit on anyone who many have different opinions or just finds es!starscream's story unsatisfactory or anything. I just needed to rant about how the fandom treats Starscream and his abuse (or any fandom with any traumatised character in general) because honestly I'm sick of seeing his trauma being brought up only to infantilise him and take away the agency in his actions or to make fun of his trauma and insinuate that he "deserves" it (which is an awful thing to say, considering the fact real people experience such things). There's nothing wrong with having a different opinion than mine or anything, I just really needed to get this off my chest because I heavily relate to Starscream, especially es!starscream, but also as someone very interested in literature I can't help but need to rant both about the treatment of abuse victims in fandom and the lack of media literacy these days. Feel free to share your thoughts on this post, just keep it respectful.

[amebanworld]

So here is a guideless about the main characteristics of Starscreams' incarnations, at least some of the most notorious. Of course, some are incomplete due the fact those continuities are unfinished by now, or just there isn't enough info. It's very interesting how different he can be in every incarnation.

[toastingpencils37]

Started watching Earthspark a few days ago, and the fact that the kids were all "Did you just diss Prime" when Bumblebee (respectfully) declined Optimus' call, when THIS GUYS VOICEMAIL literally dupes a bitch into thinking "Oh shit he's finally on the line" just for it to be dropped that "Actually this is voicemail lmfao"

And then in a later episode Optimus missed like 28 calls from Bumblebee!! (At least I'm pretty sure it was Bee. Can't remember 100% right now)

[deskraven]

Thoughts on how the Terrans will cope with Human Family Member Death

(Inspired by @wiltyard's post)

I would assume the Terrans are aware of the life expectancy difference between them and their human family right now. They have witness human death twice, and transformer "death" twice. It would be weird if the parents haven't yet talked to them on the topic of death. In addition, Jawbreaker was well aware that transformer life expectancy is longer than "10 thousand years".

Thoughts on their reactions:

Nightshade takes it really well. They are probably aware of the fact even before they started regarding Alex and Dot as their parents. (I'm going down the path of S1E13's early storyboard, where Nightshade took some time to actually accept the human Maltos as family.) They would continue to take it really well throughout the next 100 years. They would be prepared for their human family's aging and take good care of them. They would do their best on researching human medical problems but at the same time respect their medical decisions. They would be present at all the funerals, probably even giving an eulogy if Twitch and Thrash are not present. They would be sad to lose them but they won't break - at least at first. They feel more like the type to break years/decades after the funerals.

Hashtag also realized this fact really early. She kinda just brushed the unpleasant thought away, unwilling to think too deep into it. When her family is talking about the topic, she would pretend she's taking it well but is actually quite terrified. She might feel more comfortable talking to non-family members about this. Eventually someone (Twitch?) will notice and approach her. But when the time actually comes she might still need a while to process the loss. I can imagine the grandkids / great grandkids of Robby and Mo asking their parents "Why does great aunt Hashtag stop visiting?" because she kinda just disappeared for years/decades after Robby and Mo passed away.

Twitch would be aware of this early too. She would feel obliged to be mature, thinking that she needs to stay emotionally strong for her family. Her stress is obvious thought - she's hyperactive, overworking herself during trainings, helping too much with the family chores, etc. Robby would talk to her about this, express his own insecurities on the faraway future, and they will figure things out. When death is actually approaching, Twitch would be quite stressed again. She would push all her important work aside to take care of her parents (even though they already have more care than they need). She would try to stay with them all the time, saying she's more suited for the job because she's about human height and doesn't get tired. And she would really, really want her human family to stay, to the point that it might be a little bit unhealthy.

Thrash is aware of the life expectancy difference, but it would take him a while to realize what this actually implies. The moment of realization would be a shock for him, then he would be in denial. Mo might actually fuel in with the denial, saying they might have a longer life expectancy due to Quintus power. He would be quite angered by the time they realize Quintus power doesn't work this way / or when one of his human family express the desire to live a normal life and die naturally. It's a quite standard 5 stages of grief except that he would be stuck in an endless loop of denial and anger and bargaining. I think he would be the one who harbors the strongest negative feelings over this, and it will be a recurring thing throughout his life. He would snap if someone outside the family brings up the topic. And he might not be present at the funerals. Losing Mo would definitely be a devasting thing for him - the bond between them is just too important and too special. He's her Rocinante and he feels incomplete without her.

Jawbreaker would be very obvious about not taking it well. He probably wouldn't realize the life expectancy problem on his own and needs to be informed, then he just starts bawling his eyes out, which is honestly a relief for Dot and Alex because this is the same reaction Robby and Mo had when they were first introduced to the concept of death (at the age of 5 or something). This is a recurring thing for him too - for a few years, whenever someone brings up this problem he just starts crying. I think he would say some innocent disturbing things like "I would die with you! 🥹" He would probably accept a religious/spiritual explanation like "We will still be with you even though you won't be able to see us or interact with us. / We will meet again in afterlife." He might become religious solely for this reason. But which religion? Can he still "join the Matrix" or "join the AllSpark" if he was born from the Emberstone? But then can humans join the AllSpark/Emberstone? Should he pick a human religion instead? Can a terran join human heaven in afterlife? How does reincarnation work? Can he reincarnate into a human? Could he be the reincarnation of a human? His family would need to deal with questions like these for a good while (which is actually really helpful for all of them).

[deadlysoupy]

"s2 doesn't exist" "earthspark except no s2" "s1 is the only good thing about earthspark" cowards. pussies. milk-drinkers. couldn't even get past the first three episodes to get to the good stuff. istg every time someone mentions one of these things its always the same complaint. i bet if the animation studio didn't change people wouldn't react so harshly, because THE STORY IS STILL THE SAME. you guys think they wrote s2 after s1? after that many episodes of s1? you fools. THE STORY WAS ALREADY WORKED ON DURING SEASON 1. DO YOU GUYS KNOW HOW TELEVISION WORKS. SEASONS GET WRITTEN IN ADVANCE. and tell you what. the second batch is better than the first one. they got their feet wet in the first one and ramped up in the second batch. did we forget Terratronus???? did we forget Robby's teenage angst? the fucking JBAM OR the hate plague episode? these gems? Cosmos? no? i don't think earthspark fans will ever be happy i gotta be honest. there's no fucking middle ground for these people and im tired (blame twitter for this bcs there is nothing but "earthspark sucks" discourse on there its genuinely pissing me off)

[eclipselunarchaos]

I want to hear about people's transformers OCs! Come over here and let me listen to you rant about them!

No! Don't run away! Let me hear all about your OC! Let me see pictures too!

[graceofagodswrath]

Ok ok ok your "Humans of Transformers franchise are space orcs" rant is out of this world.

I detest with passion when humans are reduced to pets and plot devices when instead the story could be about two alien species finding one another equally amazing/terrifying for their own respective reasons.

Here is my question: do humans and Cybertronians see how eerily similar they are? They have love of music, familial relationships, similar urban infrastructure, societal structure, financial systems, competitive entertainment, organized societies and war, colonialism, recreational intercourse, marriage...

Not to mention, why was it never addressed how similar both species look: bipedal, waists, noses, cheekbones, 5 fingers, chins, facial expressions and sense of aesthetics and beauty? Sure, humans have hair but in rather strategic places.

Veins and wires, blood and energon, metal and flesh, nanobytes and blood cells, Sparks and brain impulses, sexual organs...

Imagine Autobots arrive on Earth for the first time expecting some primitive cave-dwellers, only to encounter a less advanced mini-version of Cybertronian cities (New York, Singapore, London, Rome, Tokyo, Rio, Dubai...) and societies running on scientific, artistic and philosophical development which has no right existing on the ruthless, all-organic planet such as Earth is. Societes run by creatures who 4.000.000 (the duration of their war) years ago were hanging from the trees btw.

Autobots would be terrified.

Lemme make sure this response saves this time, cause it took me a minute to answer cause my first deleted and I had so much written I got unbelievably angry and refused to even look at the tumblr app.

But here we are.

So, this is EXACTLY what I have been thinking about for who k owe how long. It’s also the intro to this wack as fuck universe idea I’ve had in my head a while, and have kinda hinted at in my other works, but I’ve never gone into detail about.

And I still won’t.

Anyways, yes. It’s crazy that we backlit humans so much when any other sentient species is about. Transformers, TMNT, etc (I’m on a one track mind, feel free to jot down any other fandoms I can’t think of). The main theme of these stories? HUMANS SUCK. And that is severely unfair. People want to cry about how much our generation doesn’t give a shit anymore. Have you SEEN the media we feed kids???

That’s why I live Humans are Space Orcs so much. It really puts into perspective how unique and batshit our species is.

So, onto the Transformers vs humans concepts. The ONLY reason (forgoing technoism and general hate towards organics) cybertronians don’t see humanity as an imminent threat, or one in general, is because of size. WE BE SMALL AF. Can’t blame them, I get it. We do the same. Insects? Fuck them mfs.

But have you seen a botfly or tick burrow into your skin? The infection that comes form that? Have you seen ants jump a small animal as a colony and absolutely shred it? Or a spider only biting you, and the horror the venom causes (recluses and huntsman’s specifically). We have a good fucking reason for disliking these mfs.

But transformers? These are organic experiences. Worst they go through are rust infections, spark death, the works. They are not at risk the same way we are. That is why they view organics as small and inconsequential. They have no idea how hard we fight to simply stay alive.

And now the similarities. It’s understandable that they wouldn’t immediately recognize the physical, cultural, and psychological similarities between our species. Transformers are an incredibly diverse race, like any other. But specifically in physical form. Your average cybertronian holds a similar appearance to your average human. We tend to have the same features, just with different names. Eyes, noses, faceplates, ears, two arms, two legs. Sure that’s average for them too. But they are unique because of the fact that they have two forms. Vehicle mode. Their mode decides what they’re second mode looks like, which can create extreme diversity is appearance. Small, large, many limbed or not.

So the immediate similarities probably wouldn’t jump out to them in an odd way. There’s also the idea that because they’re so spread out in the universe, they’ve seen other organic races that are also similar. Pairs of every body part could be the common denominator among species.

That goes culturally too. War, love, music, government, politics, it’s all a natural form of sentient evolution. Another common denominator. It’s how it’s done that makes it unique. And the similarities between human and cybertronian culture is uncomfortably familiar.

I think that’s why cybertronians are seen being closest with humans rather than other species in the shows and comics (obviously because the audience is human and they need relation to characters but shhhh forget that for a sec). This is where the theories start.

Let’s say cybertronians begin to recognize the weird similarities between our species. The really, really weird stuff. The itty bitty details. Like:

- how we also mainstream kissing on the lips as the top tier romantic gesture.

- use verbal tone and cues for our language.

- have intensely complicated interpersonal relationships in the exact same manner.

- suffer from extreme mental health issues like depression, anxiety, PTSD (I totally headcannon that forms of adhd, autism, and ocd exist in cybertronian society, have y’all not seen my boy rodimus prime??)

- will also destroy each other in the name of our gods, until we have a common enemy.

That’s just the basics I could come up with. The only time I actually saw a moment where a transformer genuinely take a moment to realize that humans can be a threat, was in transformers prime. Episode 6 of beast wars (I think, correct me if wrong), where Miko beats the ever loving fuck out of an insecticon (I think) and upon Megatron hearing this, just goes blank Kubrick stare for a hot second. Man had an ugly realization that did not fit in with anything he had experienced his whole life.

AND THEY NEVER FUCKING ADDRESSED IT EVER AGAIN. Sick of this shit. Could’ve had the most badass character development, where the humans actually proved useful and did something (it would have fit Milo’s character so perfectly too) and scared the utter shit out of the transformers. BUT NO. They continue to be annoying as fuck.

One thing I loved about TF Prime was that it canonically turned Unicron into Earth. And humans came from the earth. Which relates humans beings and cybertronians so hard. Cousins Fr. We are the cybertronian equivalent of organics, and transformers the inorganic equivalent of humans. The individuality, the chaos, the culture, it clicks. There is so much material to really go into it.

But they never do. Don’t get me wrong, I love Transformers lord and just discovering more without humans being involved. We’re just annoying af at this point. But there is so much u tapped potential in transformers actually taking the chance to LEARN about us. But we’re just friends (pets) to these mfs.

That’s why I love TF Earthspark so far. Transformers ingrained into human culture because they’re not from Cybertron, and cybertronians having to adapt to human culture because they have no where else to go. Granted, it’s a kids show. There’s only so much they can do. But I’m excited for where it’ll lead. It really shows how much of threat and ally humans are, and how we are just as diverse as cybertronians.

I need to write another fic about cybertronians meeting humans their size from our world tho. Need to continue my old piece. Would give me so much life. Y’all help motivate me, college draining my ass.

[dezmolad]

EARTHSPARK S3: review??? (SPOILERS!)

this weekend I watched earthspark and I have to say something or I'll explode. This won't be a review as much as just some loose thoughts trying to summarise what this series had became.

STARSCREAM I hate what happened with starscream. I wrote an analysis of how this character got absolutely massacred in S2 (you can check it out here). To summarise: In S1 he was such a great character, shown so intriguing with both his not perfect character and his history of being abused. In S2 they made him the villain in an absolutely shallow way, in the final episode writing him in a way that makes him irredeemable. And I thought thats the worst u can do. And then S3 happened, when he appears for one scene to be shown as funny for "being crazy" (WHICH IS ABSOLUTELY DISGUSTING WHEN U REMEMBER S1 WHEN HE WAS A VICTIM OF ABUSE THAT NOONE BELIEVED. IS THIS REALLY A GOOD IDEA TO PORTRAY HIM AS HAHA CRAZY GUY). It's absolutely heartbreaking to watch that scene. Starscream gets electrocuted by the very person he opened up to in S1, he was in isolation for all of the S3, he went insane bc of that, and still at the end we drag him to autobot jail. what is this.

PROWL I have no idea how such an intriguing and complicated character from idw that was clearly an inspiration inspired such a dull and shallow character. His process of learning about respect for human allies and terrans is shown so poorely and never feels like being actually resolved, I won't even talk about this. I admire how they did two things I thought were impossible. I thought it's impossible to make IDW inspired Prowl in this show a good guy (I genuinely thought he's going to be the bad antagonist). I thought it's impossible to ignore his weird and complicated relationship with Tarantulas, in a show that had Tarantulas in S1, was created with Nick Roche as character designed and was inspired by The Sins Of The Wreckers specifically in specific places. They did both of those things and it worked out horribly, congrats.

CONCLUSION I can't understand what happened with this season. it's visible there was some cuts, it looks rushed, it lacks any substance, and Quintessons at the end... didn't help the case let's just say. But that isn't my bigest problem. I feel devastated by what happened to the ideals of the show. in S1 we had decepticons in cages, and figuring out it's not actually a good solution. In S2 we saw decepticon as boring usual villains. But in S3 we have decepticons in one big cage again. But this time there is no consideration, there is no doubt. Even if under Shockwave they just want to go home. They should all be kept imprisoned. No matter if they mean no harm, no matter if, like Starscream, they suffered enough. And there is nothing to figure out, that's just how the world works. After all, they are decepticons, right. yes I'm bitter, S1 was just very important to me and seeing what happened to ES is just sad.

[perish-the-creator]

People complaining about others "woobifying" Starscream fail to mention how those of us who apparently do this don't completely erase the damage he's done to others.

When you make art or write where the only characters he interactions with are his abuser (Megatron) and those he semi tolerates then YES he's going to come out of it looking more innocent than he actually is.

We are not going to continue this weird game of trying to police how people can or cannot depict a character. Even if they DO decide to make him some "uwu innocent baby boy" is it really any more different when it's done to Bumblebee? To Optimus/Orion Pax?

Especially stop acting as though those who engage in this way are idiots or too blinded by favoritism to acknowledge Starscream is a flawed individual! If you're a Starscream fan you love BOTH sides of him. The ruthless asshole who deserves to get put in his place here and there by those he hurts AND a victim of cruel and unusal abuse as well.

[edgymegatronus]

Ok megatron crash out.

Been more active in fandom space lately and I have seen some fucking terrible takes on MTMTE/Megatron/morality. BRACE BECAUSE I AM BIASED.

“Megatron didn’t deserve his redemption arc.”

“Starscream deserved it more.”

“I hate Megatron’s redemption arc, it was so unrealistic.”

DID WE READ THE SAME COMIC???????

This isn’t a “Megatron redemption arc” HE DOESN’T GET REDEEMED. HE FACES TRIAL. HE GETS EXECUTED OR PLACED IN A SOLITARY, INFINITE HELL FOR ETERNITY HOOKED UP TO A MACHINE.

Megatron does not get a happy ending. He never should have. He got a limited time where he was ‘the happiest’ he’d ever been. He did not deserve that.

The characters around him come to tolerate, if not like him. They are biased because they spent time with him on the Lost Light, a place considered home. His ‘redemption’ if you call it that lives only TRULY in their minds and experiences. He gets his 819 years in the functionist universe. That does not redeem him. All that went down with the Knights of Cybertron arc at the end does not redeem him.

To the rest of the universe his legacy is ONLY that of the worst Cybertronian to ever live. HIS REDEMPTION WAS NOT THE POINT. THATS NOT WHAT IT WAS. I can’t put this isn’t words without feeling like I’m crazy oversimplifying it.

Like any good, complex-ish media so many of the characters are morally grey. YOU AS THE READER get to decide. We are biased because we saw Megatron. Inside his head and how he treated others. That does not redeem him. I don’t like to think it was ever ABOUT his redemption!!! It never was to him! We don’t want the story to end.

I’d like to think there was an exploration on how a character LIKE THAT can be changed. If they can be changed at all. His second life was confined to a very small portion at the end of his time. His legacy will ALWAYS be one of desolate, brutal, unforgivable horror. I think reducing / brushing away Megatron/Cyclonus/Whirl/Starscream whoever else has a shaded past to just ‘a bad redemption arc’ is crazy. It is NOT black and white like that. And we get to decide!!

Engage ur thoughts about the media you enjoy !!! It’s so fun

[cityzenshark]

Earthspark summarises how it will misuses the phrase "children being children" for the entire show in S1 Ep3.

The children, as hosts, did not give Bee a proper welcome.

They continuously ignore him and never once tell him they want to do their own thing for the day.

When Bee actually joins in their activity by trying to help them to win a game, they told him to buzz off.

Bumblebee proceeds to call out their rude behaviour in a polite manner.

Terrans respond by lashing out physically, almost hurting their human family while Robby & Mo give him more silent treatment.

Apparently saving the cows is the reason why Bee become 'part of the family', which has nothing to do with what happened the entire day prior and has dismissed it.

"They're just kids," says Dorothy.

Ma'am, you narrowly avoided getting splinters to the face when Thrash broke the table. Twitch almost electrocuted everyone in the room and caused a stampede on her happy tantrum flight. Your biological kids, your teenage son especially, are old enough to practice basic hospitality but are acting like toddlers.

Not okay.

Edit: If I were Bumblebee in that episode, I'd leave. I'd rather stay on the run than tolerating a family who lets their kids behave violently just because they're kids.

[bluespider008]

I've been thinkin' 'bout makin' Mayhem an Outlier..

Mainly set on the idea of her bein' able to gain the abilities of other outliers through the consumption of their energon.

The more of a bot's energon she's able to consume, the stronger 'n longer she's able to use the abilities (Mayhem has a very bad habit of bitin' durin' fights, even if it's just sparrin'.)

Though despite bein' able to essentially mimic another Outlier's abilities doesn't mean she'll be able to use them properly without the right experience. Which would likely lead to damages of her own frame as well as any other bots or organics that're too close when she's usin' that ability.

I imagine sometimes it'd even be accidental to copy an ability, especially with her first time doin' it. Havin' her habit of bitin' a lot, she manages to bite, say- skywarp for instance durin' a battle? Accidentally consumin' his energon 'n settin' off her ability for the first time, freakin' herself out when she somehow warps the two of them out of nowhere.

[quibbs126]

Now since my brain is thinking of more criticisms of Earthspark Season 1, I do have to say that while I really like Earthspark Megatron, I feel like they didn't really deal with his history and redemption very well, namely in that he's let off the hook probably a lot more than he should for the stuff he's done

Yeah sure, we haven't seen or heard a lot of what this Megatron did as the Decepticon leader, and it's been 15 years since he switched sides, so the characters have had time to adjust, but we know what Megatron's supposed to have been like from other continuities, and I feel like he's treated too well because of that

Like all the human Maltos are chill with him, and generally most of the Terrans (I think Thrash is the only one more neutral on him, and maybe Hashtag after Starscream but it's not vocalized after that episode), and while on some level I get it, as the kids were all born after his switch and the war, the main protagonists all like him. And even all the Autobots seem generally chill with him, despite previously having been his worst enemies. Even in Season 3, Prowl is probably the most reasonable person here in terms of his hatred of Megatron, and he gets over it way too fast, like in a couple episodes. And there's also Cosmos, who seems to have no reaction to Megatron, despite having been MIA since the war, but I'll come back to Cosmos one day

The Decepticons are the only ones really pissed by his change and haven't accepted it, but they do tend to have more of an antagonistic role in their appearances, even if they're written to be more sympathetic, and they were the former villains of the story, so they're somewhat less credible. Not to mention, they're more angry at him because he betrayed them, not because he was their leader, the orchestrator of probably a lot of the evil they did, and he's allowed to switch sides and be a "better person", while they get punished for following him. I've only really seen this addressed in fanfiction, not the actual show, at least outside of the occasional remark

It probably also doesn't help that the writers seem like they favor Megatron over Optimus, whom Dot seems more neutral on. I'm fairly certain Optimus in this show was more of a mandate than a character the writers wanted, which is probably why he's written like that, which I can't entirely fault them for, but it doesn't really help that Megatron is far more beloved by the writers and plot than Optimus Prime

And he also got a statue in Warzone for his part in the final battle of the war, and I'm gonna be honest, I've always thought that was a bit much, too nice for him, especially when his action wasn't that integral. Like if the statue was Optimus, who destroyed the space bridge, or just the AllSpark, that would make sense, but a statue for Megatron, the bot who presumably caused all of this? I don't know man

And then there's the whole matter of Starscream, and the fact that in his episode, Starscream is portrayed as a former victim of abuse from Megatron and has PTSD from it. Which in a vacuum, I can understand why they did this, as they're trying to make the Decepticons more sympathetic or grey, and this is a very straightforward way to give Starscream depth. But when his former abuser is a main hero of the show and someone we're supposed to like, it just really doesn't gel well. And it doesn't help that Starscream was only properly introduced as a character so late into Season 1 and then he got character assassinated in the next season, so this never gets more focus than what Dweller in the Depths told us, and Megatron and Starscream's relationship was not the focus of that episode either. I'm going to give the writers the benefit of the doubt and assume they weren't thinking about what this does for Megatron's character when they decided to write Starscream this way, but I just feel like it makes Megatron's treatment throughout the rest of the show even more iffy

Like the whole issue here is that Megatron is supposed to be a redeemed villain, trying to atone for his mistakes, but all the heroes love him, more than they do Optimus it seems (at least on the Malto side), the main villains of the story don't seem to care about his redemption much because they hate all Cybertronians, and the Decepticons generally only seem to hate him for turning on them, not for his actions themselves, if they even care, and they tend to be more antagonistic anyways, even if they aren't the real bad guys, so how much credibility do they have?

And I think part of it is that we don't know this Megatron's backstory; we don't know why he started the war, what he was like during the war, how bad his actions were during the war, because we never go into it. So we're just left to assume he was similar to the other Megatrons, who are very much evil and almost all aren't meant to have redemptions like him, making it feel less deserved. What was he like in the past for the Autobots to be generally fine with him in the current day?

IDW also had a redemption for Megatron, and while I'm given to understand some people take issue with this, I'm also given to understand that Megatron is generally not let off the hook for what he did in the past. Like the Lost Light crew hated him at the start and he had to work for them to grow to tolerate or even respect/like him, as well as addressing his misdeeds, and from what I understand he ends the story being found guilty for his crimes and executed. And I don't feel like Earthspark has really done that for their Megatron. Like sure, they're not going to execute a main hero in a kids show, but he doesn't have the same level of being held accountable for his crimes, and that hurts his character

And like I said, this isn't to say I don't love Earthspark Megatron, I really do. I love his relationship with Dorothy and with Twitch and I do love me some undoomed old man yaoi, and I just in general love redeemed villains. But when I really think about it, they really don't address his crimes as much as they should, they seem to get swept under the rug most of the time and he's just a hero, when we really need to talk about them