#because hearing about bumblebee inspired him to become an autobot

[vihattu-thethoroughbredofsin]

Hey, I saw your post on what the skybound comics did to Jetfire and I feel you. The comics already made it clear it wasn't for me when they killed Bumblebee, but I THOUGHT they would keep Jetfire around after that but no! I didn't read it, cause a friend was kind enough to spoil Bee's death for me but NONE of the Decepticons died in that issue after killing Jetfire?!

That is bull. That is literally bull. And I'm hearing people throwing heeps of praises to this comic series and wishing that this becomes a show. I DON'T. Let comics stay comics and let shows be its own thing for Transformers. Marvel has shown how badly one can mess up a good series when they try mixing that mess together! It ruins the characters AND the plot in the worse way imaginable! No one wins! No one! I know there will be people out there saying differently but this era of shows prove that it will be a high chance of it failing compared to the past!

Hello, anonym! I think you're a fan of Bumblebee, so I sympathize with you, it's very sad when your favorite character is killed in the first issue :(

In fact, the comic series is not so bad, it is clear that it was handled by a person with an idea and inspiration, and he brought a lot of interesting moments. But I don't like the fact that two Autobots were killed in the first issue at once, and the Decepticons are doing well. Once again, the Autobots are at the very bottom and must overcome. Yes, this is the way of the «good guys», but there must be some kind of balance! I think this is because the Decepticons have more fans, and they won't like having one of their favorite characters killed. And so, how many fans does Skyfire have? Not so many, and there are more Bumblebee haters now than fans, there are also few voices of indignation. But maybe the authors themselves love the Decepticons a little more, at least Skywarp is definitely the author's favorite character.

It's interesting with Bumblebee in general, because Hasbro's representatives themselves asked to put this character in the background, because there are a lot of him, and, apparently, approved of his killing. This impression is created from the words of the author, who spoke about this request to shift the focus from Bumblebee to someone else, and about the fact that he was asked to change the number of Ark engines for the final version. It means that there is some degree of control there and all this has been approved.

As for the show, I agree, fandom and Hasbro want it, without understanding the consequences. As if the "Rise of the Beasts" was not an example of this strategy being a failure. Let's hope that comics will not be affected by this trend.

Well, right now I'm just foolishly hoping that Skyfire will be fixed somehow, because it's not fair to just kill him.

By the way, here is the author's channel, he sometimes broadcasts and tells interesting things about the process of creating a comic book, I highly recommend watching it.

[silkling]

Watermarked by Your Ancestry

Chapter Two

———————————————————————————————————

Smokescreen didn’t know quite what to make of Earth. The organic planet was strange. The species that dominated it, the humans, were young yet, but they’d already accomplished so much in the short time they had existed. It was inspiring, in its own way. Though, he also found their penchant for cruelty and violence a little bit disturbing. He knew, of course, that Cybertronians could be cruel. The Golden Age had been proof enough of that. But Cybertronian cruelty was more subtle, more underhanded and sinister. Human cruelty was violent and bloody, loud and impossible to ignore. It made him wonder if that was due to the species relative youth or their organic nature. Perhaps a mix of both, he mused. 

But cruelty and strangeness aside, the humans did know how to make some really nice vehicles. They didn’t have hover capabilities like Cybertronian vehicles did, but damn if they didn’t look good. As exemplified by his new altmode. The sleek racing car made some deeply rooted coding thrum with satisfaction, and he had to constantly withhold the urge to just get on an open highway and gun it.

Overall, the young Elite Guard liked Earth. It was a funky little planet, but it was fun. Of course, him constantly getting into trouble made his already less-than-warm welcome feel even colder. It made an uncomfortable pit settle in his chest. He could understand being told off for revealing his existence to a human. That had been a severe tactical error, but even so his processor had protested the lecture because it wasn’t like he’d known! He’d never been told that the Autobots were trying to remain hidden from the rest of the planet. 

And of course, his tanks still churned when he remembered being told off for pulling that prank with Jack. It hadn’t been fair! He hadn’t hurt anyone, hadn’t revealed their secret, hadn’t broken any laws, and yet he was being scolded again for breaking some sort of rule he’d never been told existed. Had the prank been juvenile? Of course it had been. But that was the whole point. And juvenile or not, it had significantly boosted both his and Jack’s moods. And he knew that was good. Better moods meant happier soldiers which meant an increased morale which made the whole team more efficient. It was basic logic, basic tactics. Keep your soldiers in good spirits, and they’ll keep fighting strong. 

It frustrated him that the others seemed determined to maintain a high degree of seriousness all the time. The few times they did relax, they never even fully lightened up. Except for maybe Bumblebee. But he was young too, so Smokescreen knew that influenced it a little. It had gotten uncomfortable enough that the young mech had taken to just keeping his visor on at all times, feeling more at east with the optical band covering his optics.

And he seemed to mess up every mission. He knew he could be annoying when he talked about wanting to be great, about seeking a destiny. But he wasn’t trying to be, and he even stopped after the first few times Arcee had snapped at him. She just…wouldn’t understand why. Wouldn’t care, probably. 

The truth was, he hoped that if he could become good enough, great enough, maybe he’d learn what had happened to his creators. Because…he knew he wasn’t Well-Sparked. He’d been kindled. He was a halfling, after all. Part Polyhexian, part Praxian. And halflings were always kindled, never sparked from the Well. 

But that didn’t matter right now. What did matter was proving that he could be worth something to the team. But every time he tried, it only seemed to make the others more frustrated when he failed, even when it wasn’t really his fault.

Of course, his ever decreasing mood was only made worse when he’d accidentally overheard Prime talking with Ratchet about him. He could still hear the disappointment in Optimus’s voice.

——————————

“I worry for him, Ratchet.” Optimus’s voice was quiet as he spoke to his old friend. “Smokescreen is a bright young mechanism, but he struggles with finding his place here.”

Smokescreen stopped in his tracks, just around the corner from where the two older bots were conversing out of sight. They were talking about him? He didn’t like the tone of the conversation. It made him nervous.

“I know, Optimus.” Ratchet heaved a sigh. “He’s a good kid, but maybe he’d just not a good fit for the team here.”

That made the bottom of Smokescreen’s tanks drop out. Ratchet couldn’t be serious, could he? He’d been trying! He was doing his best here, but it would be a lot easier if the others just bothered to actually explain things to him! But instead they expected him to just know, even though he’d never even really been involved in the war!

“Perhaps.” The Prime said slowly. “I do not wish to send him away so soon. He is making an effort to adapt.”

“But not fast enough.” Ratchet said bluntly. “Face it, Optimus. We don’t have time to coddle a youngling who’s never fought in the war. He’s smart, and learns quickly, I’ll give him that. With time, he could be an incredible soldier. But we don’t have that time. There’s too much at stake here.”

Optimus sighed heavily, not saying anything to refute it. It made Smokescreen shake slightly, his spark clenching painfully. Did they really have so little faith in him? Did they really think that little of him? Primus, they didn’t, didn’t they? They did, and that knowledge hurt. 

He was always going to be the odd one out, wasn’t he? At training camp, it had been because he didn’t fight like the others. He fought like a special ops agent, his drill sergeant had said. And he had a battle computer too. Not a hyper advanced one, but he had it all the same and it let him make better, more effective plans than the rest of his cohort. His unusual blend of natural skills had given him an edge, and had also made him somewhat of an outcast. For all the other trainees had found him pleasant to be around, they had never known quite what to make of him.

And now it was happening again. For different, even worse reasons. 

“I see your point, my friend. But what is the alternative? We cannot confine him to base, not permanently, and we cannot send him away. Not on Earth, at least. He would be a target for the Decepticons.” Optimus pointed out.

Ratchet grunted. “Then don’t make it permanent. Keep him here for a while, at least until Wheeljack makes his way back. Then we can send the kid off with him.” The medic suggested.

“Perhaps.” Optimus said again.

Smokescreen’s spark squeezed, and he bit the inside of his cheek to keep from speaking up. Optimus couldn’t agree. He couldn’t! He liked it here! He didn’t want to go off while his friends fought and died, not again! It had happened once when Alpha Trion recruited him to guard the Archives while his friends from training had gone on to the front lines. As much as he’d loved that place, he didn’t want to be a bystander again!

There was a great, heavy sigh. Then Optimus spoke again. “I believe you may be right.” He said somberly. “Smokescreen is young, but his inexperience makes him a liability. I do not wish to have his death on our servos. Sending him with Wheeljack may very well be the best option.” He murmured. “I shall inform him of the plans tomorrow, Ratchet. But for now, old friend, you should rest.” 

There was a murmur of agreement, and pede-steps coming his way. Smokescreen scrambled to run back to his room, moving on silent pedes to avoid being found out. As he slipped into his berth, his mind churned.

There had to be a way out of this. There had to be.

——————————

The next day, Smokescreen had started avoiding the Prime liked he was carrying the Cybonic Plague. He made use of every one of his apparently inherited Special Ops skills, not giving Optimus a single opportunity to get him alone. It carried on for days, and he could tell the team was getting suspicious. But Optimus was also busy decoding the coordinates for the Omega Keys , so most bots were focusing on that. 

He’d managed to avoid serious interaction for a few days. He hadn’t even gotten involved when Arcee and Bumblebee had gone out to retrieve a Key and returned defeated. He’d tried to help lighten the mood after, to bring up their spirits, but then he’d just been told he wouldn’t understand because he’d been in stasis the whole war.

(And that was the point, but they didn’t seem to understand. He’d been in stasis while they were fighting, but he wanted to lessen their burden, to fight with and for them and have their backs. He wasn’t trying to hog glory or make their losses lesser in anyway. He just wanted to help.)

But he hadn’t said anything in response, just going quiet and nodding, then pulling away to slip back into the shadows and hope no one thought to call him back.

He stayed there, observing silently, until Optimus called everyone in. He’d found another set of coordinates for the next Omega Key, but this time only Bulkhead and Smokescreen himself were fit enough to go retrieve it. He snapped a salute as he was given the order, and walked into the ground bridge after Bulkhead.

When they came out on the other side, there was a feeling in the air that set Smokescreen on edge. His doorwings hiked up and he tensed, looking around warily. He could almost hear something, but what?

“What is that?” he asked carefully.

But before Bulkhead could respond, there was the sound of jet engines, and a transformation, and a large blue Seeker landed on the ridge above them.

“That, is the sound of your demise!”   he said coldly, and then the beeping started. 

Smokescreen reacted on instinct. He bolted, heading for the break in the trees. Bulkhead followed behind him, and as they got to the perimeter of the bombs he leapt. The explosives went off, sending both Autobots flying, and they tumbled over the ground. Smokescreen flipped to right himself, and looked over to see if his mission partner was okay. And he was. They both were. Scuffed and scraped, but undamaged. 

The sound of jet engines caught his attention, and he looked up to see the Seeker landing once again on a small hill above them. 

“Dreadwing!” Bulkhead snarled, getting to his pedes. The Wrecker turned to the youngling. “Smoke! Go get the relic, I’ll deal with him!” he called out, throwing the tracker at him.

Smokescreen nodded, catching the device, then turning and running into the trees. Behind him, he heard the sound of clashing, and rushed ahead. He couldn’t mess this one up. This was his one chance to prove to Optimus he was worth something. If he succeeded here, maybe he wouldn’t be sent away.

He followed the signal on the tracker until he came to a rock face, and set it down on a nearby boulder. The Key had to be inside the stone. He stepped back, firing his blaster to weaken the rock, and then he moved to to remove the individual pieces manually. 

“C’mon, Smokes.” he muttered to himself. “You can do this. Just get the Key and call it in. No room for error.”

Primus, but he hoped he didn’t mess this up. That seemed to be all he was capable of, lately.

Finally, he found the pod with the Key, and pulled it free from the rubble. He opened the top, and the Key rose from within. He found himself grinning, wings fluttering with excitement. Finally.

He grabbed the handle, pulling the old relic free from the pod, and was about to call Bulkhead when his wings detected movement behind him. He transformed his free servo into a blaster, turning to face the potential threat.

And then something slammed into his helm, jarring his processor enough that his battle computer shoved him into a forced shutdown to avoid cascading damage, and everything went black. 

—————————— 

Smokescreen was roused from his involuntary unconsciousness by Bulkhead. The big mech shook him awake, and he groaned as he pushed himself up, a servo lifting to rub the back of his helm. His optics squeezed shut, making his visor go a little bit dim without them lighting it up.

“Smoke? You okay, kid?” Bulkhead asked, concerned. “What happened? Did you find the Key?”

He grunted, lowering his servo from his helm. “Yeah, I’m good. Just got a Pit of a helmache.” he assured. He looked to the pod he’d unearthed, gesturing distractedly. “Found the Key. It was there.” He narrowed his optics, pulling up the last memory from before blacking out. “I picked it up. But then something hit me.” He tensed, looking around a little frantically. “It’s not here! No no no no no no no! I can’t fail again! I had it!” He shot the Wrecker and frantic look. “Bulkhead, I promise! It was in my hand! But something, or someone, hit me and took it!”

The larger mech took a step back, lifting his servos. “Whoa, kid! It’s alright!“ he stepped forward, slinging an arm around his shoulders. “Don’t worry about it, alright? Prime won’t be angry!” 

“You sure?” 

“I’m sure.” Bulkhead said with a chuckle. He called in to the base, requesting a ground bridge. It spiraled open in front of them, and he led the young mech into the portal. “And besides, we still have one of the Keys! As long as we have those, we still have a chance of getting the others back and restoring Cybertron.” He said as they stepped through the ground bridge.

They walked through, and on the other side Smokescreen was greeted by the expectant caves of the rest of the team. When they realized they didn’t have the Key, their faces fell. It was enough to send a bolt of nerves through he young mech’s spark. How would they react when they learned it was his fault? 

“What happened?” Arcee asked, her voice tense with barely repressed frustration.

“Dreadwing happened.” Bulkhead said darkly. “He ambushed us. I held him off while Smokes went after the Key. By the time I finished with the Con, Smokes had been knocked out. Found him unconscious with the relic pod.”

“So what you’re saying is, we lost another key.” Arcee stated. 

“Unfortunately.” Bulkhead confirmed. 

With that, the two-wheeler turned to the youngest member of the team. “What happened, rookie? How’d you lose the Key?”

The accusation made him wince, and his doorwings sagged. Once again, Smokescreen was grateful that his visor covered his optics, so no one would be able to see the flash of pain that had filled them at her words. “I don’t know.” he admitted. “I found the Key buried in a rock face, and I dug it out. When I picked it up, something hit me from behind. Next thing I know, Bulkhead’s waking me up and the Key’s gone.” 

“And you didn’t get a look at what hit you?”

He shook his helm. “It came out me from behind, and faster than any of my sensors could track. By the time I registered it was there, I was already down.” 

“How is that even possible?” Ratchet asked from off to the side. “I’m not aware that anything on Earth is even capable of moving that fast.”

Smokescreen shrugged helplessly. “I don’t know. I’m sorry.” He hadn’t meant to let them all down. He’d been trying his best, Pit damn it.

“You’re sorry.” Arcee said, and her frustration clearly bubbled over because she marched over to where the younger mech was standing with Bulkhead. “You’re sorry you lost the only relic we can use to bring back our home.”

“Hey!” Bulkhead cut in. “We still have one of the Keys! As long as we have that, we still have a chance!”

“Bulkhead’s right, Arcee. There’s still hope. We just have to track down the last Key and then reclaim the ones we lost.” Bulmblebee beeped from next to Optimus, trying to soothe the femme’s anger.

“The kid got sucker punched, Arcee.” Bulkhead put a servo on Smokescreen’s shoulder. “It could have happened to any of us.” 

The youngling rolled his shoulder, knocking it off. “But it didn’t.” he said bitterly. “It happened to me. Because I got complacent, and I let my guard down.” He looked to the side. “Some great soldier I’m turning out to be.” he muttered to himself. 

Maybe it would be better if he never found out what happened to his creators. If they were even still alive, he doubted they’d want to reclaim a youngling that was as much of a disappointment as he was. He couldn’t even just be average. He was a failure, with how often he screwed up.

“You still don’t get it, do you?” Arcee calm anger cut through his self deprecation. “A couple of victories aren’t going to make you a legend, and not every mission results in success, not for me, not for Bee, not even for Optimus.”

At her words, the Prime turned to look at the trio, frowning mildly as if concerned. Smokescreen didn’t notice though, too busy with the growing pit of guilt settling at the bottom of his tanks. 

Arcee continued, not seeming to notice the growing tension in the youngling she was berating. “We’ve gained relics, and we’ve lost some. We’ve even lost friends.” Here, she looked pained, and her servo lifted to her chest, clenched and shaking. “We’ve even lost a world.” she spat.  Then she looked up, her optics burning as she stared into his visor. “But this is one time we get a do over. We have a chance to bring back Cybertron, and everybody in this room needs to be in sync.” she stated, staring at him in accusation. “This isn’t about you, or your destiny.” she added, her engine growling faintly. 

It made Smokescreen cringe back, doorwings dropping so low that they touched his back. Arcee didn’t seem to notice in her ire, but Optimus clearly did.

“Arcee, you have made your point.” The Prime cut in, turning to face them fully.

She glanced at him, frowning. “Optimus, he needs to hear this.” Then she turned back to him. “You might actually become a great warrior one day, and I sincerely hope that you do.” she told him honestly. “But greatness begins and ends with putting the team first, not your personal scorecard.”

That was enough to make him jolt. It wasn’t like that! “There’s nothing I wouldn’t do for you guys!” he protested.

“Then stop trying to be a hero, and start being an Autobot.”

That made him flinch back as if struck, and he looked to the others for defense. Surely they didn’t agree? Surely they saw him as more than just some….glory-chasing sparkling? Didn’t they know him better?

(Of course they didn’t, his processor whispered. When was the last time one of them actually tried to spend time with him, to get to know him? Never, his battle computer supplied, turning over ever interaction he’d had with the team and coming to the conclusion that they’d never made the effort to learn who he was.)

In a last desperate attempt at finding support, Smokescreen turned to Optimus. Alpha Trion had told him that the Prime was noble and good, that he sought to fight for and maintain fairness. Surely he’d step in? Correct the assumptions that had been made.

But…he didn’t. He just stared, his gaze calm and assessing. It made Smokescreen’s spark twist and squeeze painfully. No, the Prime wouldn’t correct hiss assumptions, he realized. He held the same assumptions himself. 

Smokescreen swallowed past the thickness in his throat, and his servos curled into fists. Distantly, he was aware of sharp pinpricks of pain in his palms, and he realized he must have unconsciously unsheathed his claws as his emotions grew more turbulent.

“Fine.” he said at last, turning to sweep his gaze over the team one last time. His voice was stiff with the effort it took to not break down then and there. He turned his helm away, doorwings shaking from their position low on his back. “Maybe I’m just not good enough.” 

And Primus if that didn’t make him want to cry. He tried. So hard. But in the end, no matter how much effort he’d put into it, it was never enough. And it was starting to look like it never would be. That made a painful pit of resignation settle in his chest, and before anyone could reply to what he’d said to was turning and leaping into his altmode, and then speeding down the hall towards the main doors. 

He didn’t know if someone opened the door for him, or if they opened on their own, but right now he didn’t care. 

He just needed to get away. 

He hit the highway, and then he was gunning his engine, driving even faster than the Earth models of his vehicle mode were capable of going. He didn’t care where he went. He just wanted put as much distance between himself and the base as he could.

——————————

Back at the base, everything remained quiet for a moment in the wake of Smokescreen’s abrupt departure. Arcee crossed her arms, looking concerned and even a little guilty. She clearly hadn’t thought he’d take it so hard.

Pedesteps behind her made her turn, and she was met with the sight of an unusually somber Ratchet walking over to them. “Next time Optimus advises you to stop, perhaps you should listen.” He said, arching an optic ridge at her.

He walked past her, crouching at the spot where the rookie had been standing, and that was the first time the others noticed the small drops of energon staining the ground. “Smokescreen has claws.” Ratchet explained casually. “He was clenching his fists. He must have accidentally drawn energon.” 

That was enough to send a ripple of concern through the others. Had Smokescreen really been thatupset? It hadn’t seemed like it, but then again, now they were seeing the evidence that he had been.

“I’ll go get him.”  Bulkhead said, stepping towards the tunnel. He was clearly concerned, but he looked up in surprise when the Prime held out an arm to stop him.

“Smokescreen is young, Bulkhead, and has much to learn.” The Prime told him. “But right now, he needs to clear his thoughts, and I need to finish decoding the final Iacon entry.” He said, then walked back to his station to get back to work on the coordinates.

After a few minutes, the console beeped and Optimus stepped back, looking satisfied. “Ah,” he hummed. “The final entry has been decoded.” He stated, turning to look at the others. 

Behind him, the console beeped in a new tone, and Ratchet frowned. “Has it?” he asked.

The Prime turned back to the holo-screen with a frown, and the glyphs reorganized themselves into a set of pixels that looked to be rearranging to form an image of some sort.

“Hm.” The Prime frowned, looking at the screen in consideration. “Perhaps it’s a level of secondary encryption.” he murmured. 

Behind him, the rest of the team walked closer.

“Maybe it’s a picture of the relic?” Bulkhead suggested.

“Of what possible use could that be to us without knowing it’s location ?” Ratchet shot back.

“I trust that Alpha Trion had his reasons.” Optimus said without looking away.

The console let out a long beep as the image resolved itself, and then one final beep when it cleared. What it revealed left the Autobots reeling. 

“Smokescreen?” Bulkhead explained, clearly confused.

“Is that that hotshot’s idea of a joke?” Arcee bit out, still clearly irritated.

“I don’t think Smokescreen would do that.” Bumblebee beeped.

“Maybe he knows where the Key is?”

“And never bothered to mention it?”

Ratchet cut in. “A more likely possibility is that Smokescreen himself somehow is the Key, without knowing it.”

“Whatever the case,” Optimus cut in before the argument derailed further. “He could be in grave danger.” He activated his comm link. “Smokescreen, return to base immediately.” There was no response on the other end, and the tension in the room mounted.

“He may have deactivated his comm link.” Ratchet said grimly.

Optimus turned to the medic, gaze hard and serious. “Locate his position, and prepare the ground bridge.”  he ordered.

——————————

Smokescreen drove, and didn’t look back. His processor raced, his spark ached, and his frame strained with ache of the abuse he’d taken today. 

Did his team really think so little of him? He wasn’t that bad, as he? No, he knew he wasn’t. He was aware of his flaws, and being self-centered and egotistical wasn’t one of them. He just wanted to prove himself. Everyone else had already done so much. If he wanted to stand at their level, he had so much ground to make up. But every time he tried, he was berated or scolded for things he hadn’t even been aware of as problems, or things that had been out of his control. It chaffed.

“But greatness begins and ends with putting the team first, not your personal scorecard.”

Arcee’s words echoed in his helm again. That was really what they thought of him. That he saw missions as just…another punch in the card, another chance to show off and aim for glory. Another chance to claim a victory. 

It made his spark burn. He knew he hadn’t been that bad during missions. And yet, the others never thought twice. 

“We’ve even lost friends.”

Remembering made his optics sting. Did they think he hadn’t lost anyone? No, of course that’s exactly what they thought. That he’d stayed behind the front lines, which meant of course he hadn’t lost anyone. Because it wasn’t like he’d had to see the few friends he’d made in boot camp go off to the war, and the next time he heard about them be a report of their death.

Windcharger….

Remembering the minibot who’d been the only one to make an effort to get to know him made his spark ache anew. Windcharger had been his only good friend, really. The mini had been determined in getting past Smokescreen’s defenses and finding out who he was. And once he had, they’d been stuck at the hip. It had been a match made in the Pit, according the their drill instructor. They were both energetic, both loved a thrill, both impulsive. They played off each other’s most extreme qualities. Both the good, and the bad. It meant that when it got the worst of them, they only ended up in trouble. But when it went well…they were a team efficient enough to beat any of the training sims they’d faced.

Warpath, their drill sergeant, had wanted to send them out on a squad together. But Alpha Trion had stepped in once they’d all graduated, and claimed Smokescreen as an Archive guard instead. Windcharger had been sent to the front lines.

He’d never seen his friend again.

It had made him hate the old Archivist, for a long while.

And the next time he heard from Windcharger, it was when Warpath commed him to tell him his friend had been killed in a Decepticon interrogation. The ‘Cons had only sent back his helm.

(And then Warpath had been sent to the front lines, and the next Smokescreen heard of him was Alpha Trion informing him that his old instructor had been killed in an ambush.)

Alpha Trion himself was another loss. He’d hated the old mech for a while, but it had been a conflicting sort of hate. But by the time the Archives fell, the old mech had become a surrogate caretaker, a mentor, and a friend. And then he’d seen him gunned down when the ‘Cons took the Archive.

But before that, the archivist had made frequent visits to the boot camp, and had been the only one to tell him about his creators. It had been his words that inspired Smokscreen to try so hard.

He’d told the then-trainee that his creators were great mecha. That they’d accomplished much for the Autobots, and had become some of the greatest warriors Cybertron had ever known. He’d said that they had given him up in order to fight to end the war faster, and that the old mech hoped that Smokescreen, as their progeny, would be able to live up to the standards they’d set. Alpha Trion has said he had high hopes for him, and that he was sure he’d do his creators proud.

It had inspired in the young cadet the desire to achieve greatness. After all, Alpha Trion had implied that his creators might still be alive. And if they were, Smokescreen wanted to see them again. He’d become convinced that, if he could achieve even a fraction of they greatness they had, then they’d come for him and he’d see them again. 

Because, the truth was, Smokescreen remembered his creators. Sort of. He’d been young when Iacon fell, but not young enough to not form memories. So, he remembered them, in bits and pieces.

He remembered the sounds of their voices, and color of their armor. He remembered the feel of their sparks, and the way they’d loved him. (He knew he had his Carrier’s colors, and his Sire’s frame.) He remembered that his Ri loved to dance and sing with him, and that his Sa had used to tuck him in his lap and read to him. He remembered their love for each other, and the way they’d treasured every moment. He remembered the way he’d used to curl between their frames as they all recharged, and he remembered waking them by crawling over them and bringing them to laughter.

He remembered a lot, in the end, but not enough to figure out who they were and how to find them. 

But his most recent interaction with the team was starting to make him think he’d never achieve that goal. What if his creators met him, and just saw him the same way the others did? He could take not ever getting to see them. He couldn’t take it if he met them and they found him a disappointment. All he’d ever wanted was to make the people who he cared about and looked up to proud of him. 

Warpath had been, he knew. For all his old instructor had had difficulty finding out the best way to teach him, what with him being better suited for Special Ops tactics and the red mini being a frontliner, he knew the older mech had been proud to see him rise above his difficulties. 

And he knew Alpha Trion had been proud, too, when he’d gotten over his grudge for the old mech and started learning from him. It had been Trion who’d helped him foster and develop his tactical abilities, who’d taught him how to use his battle computer to its fullest. And he knew the old Archivist had been proud when he’d learned how to utilities all his unique skills efficiently.

He’d always hoped he’d be able to make his creators proud, if and when he ever found them again. But…if he couldn’t even make his team respect him, what hope did he have of that?

A blaster bolt struck the ground in front of him, and he swerved on instinct to avoid it.

The realization that he was under attack tore him from his spiraling thoughts, and he cast out with his sensors to detect where the shot had come from.

There. Behind him. Laserbeak.

More shots rained down, but he swerved and spun, neatly avoiding them all, and then he was transforming and flicking his hidden blades from their sheathes in his forearms in the same movement. Let the minicon come closer. He’d slice her when she got within range. 

And then his doorwings picked up something new. He turned his helm to look, but only caught a glimpse of Soundwave holding some type of weapon before the wave of indecipherable noise hit him.

It was intense enough to send him flying, and he hit a rock and fell limply to the ground. His vision flickered, and he choked on a cry of pain. It hadn’t been the impact with the rock that did him in, in the end, but rather the sound-wave itself. The sheer volume and cacophony of noise had been too much for his doorwings and sensors to make sense of, and the overwhelming data had started to force his processor into shut down.  The impact had only sped things up. 

The last thing he saw before his consciousness left him was the form of the Deception Second in Command walking over and reaching out to grab him.

Then his processor shut down, and he was lost to the deepest recesses of his mind and all it held. 

——————————

He squealed as servos wrapped around his middle, careful of the little doorwings fluttering at his back, and lifted him up. He was tossed, briefly, into the air, and then those same servos caught him again and pulled him close to a white chest, striped in red and blue. The sparkling shrieked with laughter and slapped the chest of the mech carrying him, looking up with bright optics and an even brighter grin.

“Ri!” He squealed.

The bigger mech laughed as he spun with his sparkling, holding the little one securely in one arm so he could use his other servo to tickle under his chin. It prompted a loud, trilling giggle from the sparkling, which in turn made the mech laugh in delight. 

“‘Ello, sparklet!” He cooed at the bitlet. “How are ya doing today?”

“Ri! Ri! Ri!” The sparkling squealed with excitement, beeping and buzzing up at his creator.  

“Tha’s right!” The mech cooed. “Ah am yer Ri! Very good, bitty, yer a real smart little thing, ain’t ya?” 

The sparkling just babbled at him some more, squeaking with delight and lifting a small, clumsy servo to pat his carrier’s cheek. The mech laughed again, gently nuzzling into the small servo and grinning. His optics shone past the blue visor he wore, though he was quick to let it transform away when the sparkling reached for it.

That, of course, just made the little one squeal in delight and babble again, little doorwings waving.

“He’s rambunctious today, isn’t he?” A voice mused from behind the pair. The mech spun, and saw his mate standing in the doorway, looking amused.

“Aw, he’s jus’ happy, love.” he mech purred, sliding closer.

The sparkling also clearly recognized the new arrival, because he squealed again and reached out. 

“Sa!” He cried. “Sa! Sa! Sa!”

The new bot smiled and walked over, easily taking the wiggling sparkling from his mate’s arms and cradling him close. “Hello, little spark.” he crooned. “How are you?”

“Sa!” Was his only reply, the sparkling burbling in delight. 

He chuckled, lifting his sparkling slightly and lowering his helm, letting their chevrons press together in a gesture of affection that was traditional for their frame type. It made the sparkling quiet slightly, cooing and pressing into the contact. 

The mech smiled down at the little one, then pulled back. He freed an arm, holding out his free one to his mate. “Come here.” he said, a smile on his face and in his voice. 

His mate acquiesced easily and with a lilting laugh, moving close enough to be pulled into an embrace. The sparkling was tucked between his two creators, who shared a kiss over his helm, and he beeped up at them and grinned brightly when they looked down at him and smiled. 

“We love ya, sparklet.” His Carrier whispered. “Yer our greatest treasure. I hope ya never forget tha’.”

The sparkling only cooed in response and patted both his creator’s faces, which only made the two mechs laugh softly and hold him closer. 

For that moment, the world outside could not touch the small family, and everything was good.

——————————

Jazz was roused from recharge by Prowl gently shaking him awake. He blinked,  the last remnants of the dream, no, the memory, fading as he grew more aware. The phantom feeling of holding his sparkling close made his spark ache, and he had to close his optics again. He vented slowly, taking a moment to remember where he was and what they were doing. Then he carefully rolled over and sat up. He stretched, then stood and hummed. 

Prowl wrapped his arms around his waist to hold him close, and Jazz leaned into the embrace and let out a shuddering sigh. 

“What has you troubled, love?” Prowl murmured. “Just recharge fluxes, Prowler. Mah processor decided to dip into the ol’ memory cache for this one.” 

“Oh?” He looked down at his mate, intrigued.

“Wasn’ an importan’ memory, Prowler. Just…one from before.”

His mate understood his meaning immediately, and Jazz saw his optic light dim behind his visor. “I see.” he murmured. “I have memory fluxes as well.” he admitted.

“Yeah?” The Polyhexian hummed. 

“Yes.” Prowl confirmed softly. He tightened his grip on his mate. “We will find him again, Jazz. And this time, we will not let him go.”

“Course we ain’t gonna, Prowler.” He chuckled, leaning up to steal a kiss. 

Mood suitably lifted, he tilted his helm. “Whatcha wake meh up fer? Yeh need meh to take over monitoring so yeh can recharge?” 

The Praxian shook his helm. Then he paused and nodded. “Yes. I also wished to inform you that we have entered the star system Optimus’s message originated  from.”

“Oh, goodie!” Jazz laughed. 

He tilted his helm, taking in his mate’s sagging doorwings and dim biolights. His gaze softened, and he leaned up for one more kiss. It was slow and soft, carrying a comforting tenderness that came with centuries of security and affection. After a few klicks, he broke away and smiled.

“Go get some rest, Prowler. Ah can handle the rest.”

Prowl nodded, squeezing his mate briefly in thanks, and then he released him and settled down on the berth. In another klick, he was out.

Jazz smiled at him, then went to take the pilot’s seat. They were almost there. The faster they finished helping OP, the faster they could get back on the search for their sparkling. 

He just hoped they weren’t too late already.

———————————————————————————————————

And here was chapter 2! Man, this one was long. It took a while to get out. I’m not sure if future chapters will be this long, it just depends on what needs to be included in one chapter from a narrative standpoint. 

Anyway, let me know what y’all thought! I hope you liked this one. I used the dialogue from the show for a small segment, since that point was pretty vital to Smokey’s development and it still went mostly the same here. Anyway, I don’t know when the next chapter will be out, but I’ll try to get it out soon. 

Until next time, folks!

[sphnyspinspin]

Okay-listen. This is like a big stretch just hear me out. What if Rumble was the one who exploded, did it happen after or during the war? If it happened during the war, then he would’ve been fine, all the G1 bots and cons are pretty much indestructible. After the war however……from the same episode we were were getting like a short review how energon depletion works for cybertronians AND that very same episode it seems Bumblebee is just cAssUALly mentioning an incident of hurt bot, a bot from the fandom’s pov that we care about very much. These writers are smart as hell, don’t think for a second that they make Bumblebee say that in an episode that is based around the topic of not refueling properly, and even when they have the gall to write a fantastic argument between Megatron and Optimus, really flushing out Megatron’s role in the show so far, an episode fully dedicated to Filipino heritage with also great writing and extra Alex and Bee dialogue points, THE ENTIRE FLIPPING MANDROID ARC. You’d think they would let Bumblebee get away with saying that as like a funny haha scenario. Writing in a character who has always been part of a such an important duo? An important friendship? Writing in Frenzy….without Rumble…… a sister without……. her brother? Suspicious. Especially considering this show’s gargantuan theme on friendship, and you guessed it, FAMILY. My bestest guess is that they want to make us think that Rumble is dead, and for good reason, because Soundwave believes he is dying.

Rumble took a big blow while being critically low on energon, putting himself in a a stasis coma as a cassette for a really long time. Of course the rest of the cassette gang took big blows too, but they wanted all their medical attention to be directed to Rumble. Both Buzzsaw and Ratbat got hurt making them too vulnerable to leave the base and therefore being with Rumble in his comatose state, guarding him the best they can. The only ones who could leave the base, and are without any too serious injuries, are Lazerbeak, Ravage, and Frenzy. They have to leave with Soundwave almost everyday to scavenge for energon to fuel their friends……..their family.

Also are we seriously going to accept that Soundwave was seriously going to jump Megatron without a plan? The episode is literally called Decoy. We all knew by the end of episode that Soundwave was planning something-something BIG. He knew that Rumble wasn’t going to wake up anytime soon, he just couldn’t bare the thought of looking at his kid in an awful state anymore. He had to act, and fast. Hmmmm? Let’s see? Stay with your Cassetticons and continue to scavenge for scraps of energon, or finally let go of your grudge against your ex who probably inspired you to become a strong soldier and put you and your children through life or death experiences everyday on the battlefield to only switch sides last minute, for a more “comfy” lifestyle?…….……..Neither, let’s be the better protector of your kind, who are trapped in jail cells, by the ones who say it’s for the safety of their own kind. Just remember the lines you rehearsed buddy, cause this has got-to-count. But let’s be honest, you weren’t getting anywhere by being out there.

“Break into” GHOST. Check. Lead a deception jailbreak and revolution against those who imprisoned them, and are total hypocrites. Almost Check. Save your kid with all the extra energon lying around and be a bad ass happy family again. Absolutely necessary to check at all costs.

…

Meanwhile, Frenzy is absolutely done with the crap that Autobots AND Decepticons have put her and her family through. She can’t trust anybody outside of her family anymore. Oh another deception, do they wanna be allies? NOPE they just want to steal your energon. Hey an autobot, gotta run or else they’ll put you in jail. It doesn’t even matter if your a decepticon or an autobot to Frenzy anymore, so far all those she has encountered are jerks. Especially the Autobots who work for GHOST who are probably brainwashing decpeticons as of right now, like they did to Megatron.

When Soundwave started acting differently and suddenly asked out of nowhere for them to cause some problems for a very specific GHOST employee, she was like “Awesome, Now your talking! Never would’ve thought I’d see the day where you’d start to lighten up. Oh Hey! Megatron and Optimus too! This is gonna be fun!”

It was not fun. They got captured. Soundwave got captured. They were going to con jail to serve out a life sentence. Rumble and the others might be next if Rumble’s even alive to see them get captured. Next thing they know, they’re being released and going back home.

“Please let us go!”

“You will only get one second chance. Don’t throw it away.”

Oh Primus this is bad. Like REALLY bad. Who’s gonna help with scavenging? Ravage, Lazerbeak, and Frenzy? R-Ravage?

“We’re free now. You don’t have to follow him anymore.”

Nope.

This is really fraggin bad…If they kept following Soundwave, they would just keep putting up with his grudge against Megatron, and make their lives harder. He didn’t even grieve as long as the others did. He just kept focusing on taking down the autobots, because if wasn’t for them, then they would’ve had enough energon, and the others wouldn’t have gotten hurt. Fair. But really?

Second of all, what’s with the new guys? Haven’t seen those two before. Are they new autobots? Ha, fraggin chums, can’t believe they caught Frenzy of guard with that catchy tune. Jerks…..

[bepisprime]

Transformers Headcanon #15

Oprimus Prime used stories about Bumblebee to convince Wedge to join the autobots

[thanksjro]

The Transformers #22- Chaos Theory Part 1: Space Racism, Space Classism, and Space Pseudo-Romantic Tension Between Rivals

Before I jump into this comic, it is positively vital I talk about Drift.

Drift is an IDW original character, born on the page without any previous rendition. He was introduced in All Hail Megatron #5, which was Shane MeCarthy’s fifth solo writing credit for IDW publishing. He waited a whole five comics to introduce an original character, and Drift had reason and purpose to his creation- he was meant to honor Japan as the home of Transformers. He existed to show what a Decepticon defector would be like, and how both factions were losing the plot of the ideals they fought for. Pretty thought out stuff.

Meanwhile, in The Transformers #22, on the FIRST FLIPPING PAGE-

Okay, to be fair, Rung isn’t super important here. He will be later on, but as it is, he’s just a funny little creamsicle man who’s wandered into the scene. This also isn’t technically his first appearance within the IDW publications; in the Last Stand of the Wreckers, there are several character profiles, penned in-universe by Rung, going over the members of the Wreckers and their various emotional/mental ailments. This is still quite the step up for him, however. To think, he started out as a one-off psych joke in Eugenesis. He’s come such a long way. I’m so proud of him.

Anyway, our story begins in the past, at Maccadam’s New Oil House, where it’s time for Megatron’s character depth injection. He and Impactor are having drinks- Impactor’s had several glasses of what appears to be molten lava, while Megatron’s more of a children’s cough syrup kind of guy- and Megatron’s showing his friend his writing. You see, Megatron’s a bit of a revolutionary, and an intellectual one at that.

Megatron is dissatisfied with the current state of affairs on Cybertron, and as a man of the people- he is but a lowly miner at this point in time- he feels it is the duty of the public to incite change through the power of language and critical thinking. 

That’s not really Impactor’s style though, as we find out when Rung gets tossed onto their table, and Impactor decides that the best course of action to take is to start punching the guys who’re throwing entire robots around in a bar full of very breakable glasses and drunkards.

In the present day, Megatron’s still hooked up to that full-body harness, and is currently being seen to by Ratchet… and Perceptor. When the hell did Perceptor get here?

Oh, okay, cool. Thank you, TFWiki.

Ratchet runs a bit different than one would expect him to here, not quite as grumpy as he’ll end up in MTMTE, and a bit superstitious. No, the role of the strictly-fact-based bluntness has been awarded to Perceptor this issue, who quells Ratchet’s concern with Megatron using his labelled black hole/antimatter powers by telling him to stop being stupid.

Meanwhile, in the observation room, Ironhide, Optimus Prime, and Xaaron are watching this scene go down. Xaaron’s here to act as legal council, since Megatron’s surrendered himself to the Autobots and is therefore a prisoner of war. Is this the first time legal precedent has been taken into account by the Cybertronian population in the IDW run? No, but it does seem as if Xaaron’s just about the only form of legal council they have. No wonder the planet’s such a mess.

There’s a reference to the fact that Ironfist is fucking dead, and then Xaaron leaves to talk to Wheeljack.

Don’t you smile about that, you absolute jag.

Something is bothering Optimus Prime. Megatron seemed off when they last spoke, as if he were putting on a performance. Which he kind of was, considering he invited the entirety of his Decepticon forces to watch him and Optimus beat the shit out of each other. Does Megatron want to- dare we dream it?- end the war? Only one way to find out: Ironhide suggests a heart to heart.

Back in the past, Megatron is being questioned by a cop, in the aftermath of what happened at Maccadam’s.

Did Megatron get his group’s tagline from some prison graffiti? I suppose inspiration can strike someone anywhere, at any time.

Springarm’s questioning Megatron, or at least he’s attempting to- seems to be having a hell of a time with both reading comprehension and having an outdated form. Cold construction gets its first mention in officially published media- an idea played around with in Eugenesis- and then Whirl shows up to save Springarm from embarrassing himself further. Whirl is a cop here, but don’t worry, he gets better.

Back in the present, Optimus is psyching himself up for his conversation with Megatron.  He enters, has the audio in the observation room cut, and Wheeljack loses a bet.

Oh hey, Drift, been a minute.

Optimus wants a proper conversation with Megatron, but Megatron points out that it isn’t exactly fair that he’s strapped in place, filled with inhibitor chips, and primed to be electrocuted to death if he so much as sneezes. Optimus agrees with him, and releases Megatron from his bonds, then offers him a chair and a cup of tea.

So, Optimus and Megatron get to talking. Actual talking, not the “taking turns reacting” stuff they usually get up to.

And then Optimus more or less calls Megatron a hateful son of a bitch to his face. Which Megatron seems to take in stride.

I think Megatron is the only guy in the universe to hate so insanely hard that it turned off his ability to get hot and bothered.

Of course, Megatron doesn’t hate Optimus- oh, he could never. He just hates everything he stands for, and everything he does. Which, uh, doesn’t leave a whole lot left over to not-hate. When asked if he hates Megatron, Optimus isn’t nearly as composed and elegant about his thoughts. It’s like he thinks “hate” is a dirty word. So did I, when I was, like, six.

They’ve been at war for so very long, it’s gotten to the point where the entirety of the galactic council has kicked any Cybertronian representative out, because these guys clearly have some issues that just aren’t getting resolved. Maybe if they had more than a single mental health specialist for the entire population they’d get somewhere.

As it currently stands, Optimus just wants to know what the hell Megatron is even doing all this for. Megatron says it’s for control and dunking on lower lifeforms with space racism. Optimus thinks that’s a load of horseshit, and presses for more details.

There’s our first mention of the Knights of Cybertron, who become a major plot point in the IDW Phase 2 publications. We’ll hear more about them later on.

It seems as if Optimus and Megatron share the basest of values- both want peace. Optimus just isn’t really digging the whole “subjugate the people for a better tomorrow” shtick Megatron’s touting.

Megatron doesn’t like being compared to Optimus, who’s about as centrist as it gets- Megatron is a radical if there ever was one, and he’s been fighting for his beliefs for the last four millions years, tooth and nail.

Not that these robots have nails.

Back in the old days, the Senate divvied up the populace by alt-mode, and whatever you turned into, that was your job. Personal taste, interest, and  talent weren’t factors. That’s why Megatron worked in the mines- he wasn’t allowed to do anything else. This is Functionism, another plot point that will be factoring into Phase 2 pretty heavily.

Optimus didn’t really oppose Functionism at the time, seeing as he was a rather privileged individual, and also a cop back in the day. Everyone’s a friggin’ cop in this continuity.

But enough about systemic oppression of the masses, it’s time to reminisce on the good old days- also known as every single time Optimus and Megatron have ever tried to kill each other. It’s a lot. Like, a lot. And then they have a good laugh about it.

This isn’t a healthy response to stress, you two. Someone throw Rung in there and lock the door for a couple weeks.

Optimus says that he wants to end the war. All Megatron has to say is that he wants it too, and it’ll end. Megatron doesn’t say anything to that. Optimus still hasn’t figured out just why Megatron surrendered, but it looks like time’s up, and he strings Megatron back up and exits the room.

Later, Autobot High Command is having a meeting, with Bumblebee, Ultra Magnus and Prowl having telecommed in. It’s an emergency meeting, over the complicated legality of Megatron’s trial. Since the Galactic Council isn’t returning their calls, they don’t have any sort of neutral third party to run this thing, and the Autobots can’t just hand out sentencing themselves, because they have a natural bias. Magnus suggests they give Chief Justice Tyrest a ring, seeing as he’s considered a neutral by the Galactic Council.

There’s another part to this issue though; because of the nature of this case, the prosecution gets to decide Megatron’s punishment, should he be found guilty. They start putting it to a vote, but Optimus says that it’s his decision since Megatron has been his responsibility for the last few million years, completely cutting Bumblebee out.

Y’know, Bumblebee. The current appointed leader of the Autobots.

Why do we even bother having elections, if Optimus is just going to pull this whenever it’s convenient?

Then Rodimus calls Optimus out on being potentially compromised, since he listened in on his little chat with Megatron. Optimus reacts to this about as well as he can.

That is to say, not at all.

Back in the past, it’s time for some good old-fashioned police brutality.

How in the hell do you even punch someone when the closest thing you can make to a fist is more akin to a torpedo in shape? I guess only Whirl knows.

Whirl’s decided that he’ll be killing Megatron for his two little buddies, and he almost gets to it before Springarm busts in and stops him. Megatron’s being released, on the captain’s orders, because the captain went through Megatron’s things and read his writing, revealing himself to be a violenceless revolutionary.

Impactor, what the fuck.

The captain is Orion Pax, by the way.

In the present, Optimus is back in Megatron’s room, because that will certainly help his case of being on the up and up. He wants to know why Megatron surrendered, and he wants to know NOW DAMMIT. Megatron asks him to rephrase the question, then goes full edgelord in an attempt to make Optimus react, because it’s the only way the two of them know how to interact at this point.

Megatron gets what he asks for, and Optimus realizes that perhaps attempting to murder his greatest rival minutes after having been revealed as a have a soft spot for the guy wasn’t the greatest idea. He leaves the room before things can get more awkward.

He runs into Ironhide in the hallway, who asks how things are. Not great, Ironhide. Not great. Optimus committed an act of violence on a bound man, thus feeding his hatred of authority figures.

In the past, Megatron finally corrects the etymology error everyone’s been making with his name.

Because that’s not a massive red flag right there.

Megatron’s free to go, and Springarm gives him his little journal back. Too bad Megatron’s been tainted by the ᴘᴏᴡᴇʀ ᴏꜰ ᴠɪᴏʟᴇɴᴄᴇ and doesn’t nearly believe as much as he once did in the power of the written word. He tosses his writing away, causing his first incident of property damage and foreshadowing his future.

That’s the end of the comic, but not the end of the issue. In the back of the book is a little blurb welcoming Roberts to the writing chair and calling him out as a bit of a dork, then a sign-off from Andy Schmidt as Senior Editor of IDW, which also calls him out as a bit of a dork.

So that’s the start of the Chaos storyline. Lots of setup here, both for Chaos and things further down the line. This is a sharp left turn from how the prior issues of this series have gone. It’s not just people punching one another in the face. I’m getting a feeling that character motivation is lurking in the wings here.

[jd-arts319]

AriesStream(Zodiacnus)

Name: AriesStream

Alias:ari,riri,ries,streamy,streamer

Gender:non-binary(female)

Birth:3/29/20

Sparked/Forged?:Forged

Species:tech-organic

Height:7'3

Mental Age (In Earth Terms):32

Motto:"I fought for the cybertron cause,because I know the factions of each cause will always betray our beliefs"

Allegiance:neutral(works for autobots & decepticons(current)

Function:inflirator,espionage, assassin(formerly)

Alternate Mode:cybertronian car(triple changer),Nissan silvia 315

Armor colors:

Primary:teal blue

Secondary:gray blue

Accents:light blue

Occupation/Job:bodyguard & assassin(formerly),head scientist & engineer(currently)

Personality:calm,aloof,cool, intelligent,collected,sharp,quite,viscious,cunning,creative,protective,kind

Weapons:scepter,scythe, death fan(can change into 11 most dangerous Japanese weapons)

Fighting style:-Panzer kunst,Krav Maga,aikido,Brazilian jiu Jitsu,jeet kune do

Abilities:

Mental

-Teleportation

-Telepathy

-Telekinesis

-,precognition & recognition

Physical

-enhance Strength 

-object summoning

-magic

-mana manipulation

-weapon & soul manipulation

Color of optics:grey blue(both), silver blue (third)

Universe most used within:TFA,TFP,TF:BH & RID,TF(MOVIEVERSE),IDW,CYBERVERSE,RESCUE BOTS

Sparkmate:???

Sexuality:Bisexual

Strength:20

Intelligence:20

Speed:20

Endurance:20 

Rank: 

Courage:20 

Firepower:20 

Skill:20

Physical Characteristics/Appearance:she had cyan teal hair,grey blue optics,pale blue dermas,white grey faceplate with black marks surounded her eyes to her head,had a diamond chakra gem on her head.

Background:

pre-war

-she was once a student on the dojo & was trained as a cyber ninja,she lives on caminus but send to cybertron to trained as a cyber ninja after showing an incredible flexibility,durability,& agility,when she was being trained 

She,along with her fellow in-training cyber ninjas,are trained by young!dai atlas along with young!yoketron,the two to be masters are seniors & are assistant of the former masters of the dojo.

-after completing her training,she was once assigned to be a bodyguard of young!senator shockwave,she & him grew closer & formed a amica endura bond,she had been protecting & join him through their life together until the war begun,everything falls apart.

Post-war 

-when functinism,propaganda,& corruption begun,she & shockwave had formed a plan to fix the mess that the senators had done,however when shockwave was soon found out,he surrenders calmly while before tha he had warned her to leave,she was recultant but the pleading look & the words shockwave gave her made her do as he says.

"Remember as who I was"

-when she had gone into hiding,she met ultra magnus as when he was only known as minor,impressed by her skills,ultra tries to talk to her to join the autobot academy,she refused once before.

Unfortunately,ultra was stubborn,when she left he had gone back to the academy,& told the leader about her,since no one knew her name when she was shockwave's bodyguard beforehand,she was enlisted.

She once gone back to dojo & stayed there with dai atlas who had let her live with him.

However the next solar-cycle,she saw ultra minor along with the other instructors,kup & primal major

She was not amused,but knowing she had no purpose anymore after she couldn't feel her amica's bond anymore,she doesn't if he was alive,so….

She enrolled to the autobot academy with the convince of dai atlas & the pestering of ultra minor,she recultantly joined,over the next vorns she formed another amica bond with ultra major,but she felt as he felt something else for her,she was confused of her feelings to him,over hose vorns she became the head engineering & science divison.

Relationships:

Dai atlas & Yoketron:

-she respects them as her former tutors,she mostly closed to dai atlas since he was the one who looked out for her back then,so she is seen him as her creator.

Shockwave 

-when he was still a senator,she worked for him as is bodyguard,she didn't expect to become his amica but she doesn't mind,she & shockwave are inseperatable as vorns passed,war begun,she heard shockwave's plans to end the problem of cybertron has with the help of the others,& she too join it was going well until shockwave was exposed & taken to be punished,it was the last time she saw until they meet again as now he was a decepticon.

Ultra magnus

-there relationship to each other is somewhat like a friends-that-one-toletrates-the-other-but-grew-fond-of,despite this type of the friendship,aries cares for ultra magnus,but she felt he saw her other than just a amica,she had mixed feelings about him.

Optimus prime & Alpha-Trion

-she is rather fond of him despite not showing it & she respects Alpha-Trion & also had grew fond of him as well,as for optimus again,she wants to help him grew stronger but also wants to teach him some aspects in some of his actions,still she cares for him

Prowl & jazz

-she took the two under her wings & help them complete their training but they have a close mentor-student relationship.

Sentinel minor & Blackarchnia

-she always reminds sentinel that he was a disgrace after hearing what happend,she was visibly upset & disappointed at him so far she refused to acknowledge him as a did not SIC or Prime,as for blackarchnia she understood why she was angry & she has right to be,however she had let her know she is also disappointed at her no matter what she says,she was at fault too, blackarchnia cannot speak back at her because of her respect but also she knows that aries can apprehend her easily.

Bulkhead & bumblebee

-she saw them as younglings who needs a right guidance,especially bumblebee 

The two also have high respects for her, bumblebee is somehow thrilled to be taught by her,despite he knew he was gonna be lectured.

Rachet & kup,primal major

-they all respected each other as they are helping young bots,she is close to the three of them mostly.

Megatron,starscream,strika,& drift

-she respected megatron,as megatron respected her as a warrior,strika & her see each other as rivals,starscream despise & fear her at the same time,drift & her closer as well as some bots thinks they are a couple.

Random Facts/Quirks:

-fabricius

-cyber ninja 

-many bots & cons admire her & respected her,younger bots sees her as a role model that even Rosanna admitted she was a big fan of AriesStream,always watch the videos of her fights after someone found out she had a lot of records of aries fights.

-she can take off her,head crown,& let her hair down,her visor was inspired by garnet

Weaknesses:

-her emotions sometimes 

-her past

Theme song:

-black widow 

-one woman army 

-confident 

-diamond heart 

-my city

[britesparc]

Weekend Top Ten #359

Top Ten Future Transformers Spin-Offs

So I finally went to see Bumblebee, the delightful, charming, and utterly loveable Transformers spin-off/prequel from Travis Knight. It’s a great little film, on a much smaller scale than the other films in the series, offering some beautifully retro Amblin vibes whilst telling a more compelling and characterful story full of warmth, heart, and genuinely good performances. And as a great big Transformers fan (is there no Transformers equivalent of Trekkie or Browncoat I can adopt?) I got a huge thrill from the recreation of war-torn Cybertron, straight from the iconography of the classic ‘80s cartoon series. I spent the first ten minutes just cooing and bubbling, going “Look! Wheeljack! And Arcee! And Ratchet! And Soundwave! And Shockwave! And Ravage!” and so on.

Anyway, I think the film is all kinds of great, and captures the spirit of the brand and the stories much better (in my opinion) than the Michael Bay ones do. But if one spin-off could succeed where the “mainline” films failed, could that trick be repeated? And this got me thinking: what other stories and characters are ripe for the big-screen treatment? Where else can Transformers go cinematically, without doing any kind of real follow-up to The Last Knight?

Here, then, are ten suggestions. Rather than proposing any kind of reboot or reimagining of the property, I've tried to find stories that could exist within the loose canon of the movies (which, to be fair, is a fairly shifting proposition anyway, with several movies contradicting one another in large and small ways). So, inspired by my love of the original characters, and often by stories I’ve read in the meantime, and with the potentially large caveat that I’ve still not seen The Last Knight and therefore might actually be retreading story grooves already worn, here are ten suggestions for possible future Transformers spin-off movies.

Megatron: Dawn of the Decepticons: drawing heavily from both IDW’s Megatron: Origin and More Than Meets the Eye, this will be a biopic, essentially, of tyrannical baddie Big Megs. Although I know there’s a strong influence from The Fallen in Cinemegatron’s backstory, I don’t see how we can’t square this with the portrayal developed primarily by James Roberts. Megatron is a miner, struggling under a brutal regime on an off-world energon mine, who has the strength and smarts to lift himself and his co-workers out of bondage. But will he remain true to his principles or follow the advice of a mysterious old ‘bot (who turns out to be The Fallen)? Basically the tragic tale of a charismatic working-class leader breaking bad and becoming a monster. Could feature an Optimus Prime cameo – maybe as Orion Pax?

Last Stand of the Wreckers: a moderately-straight adaptation of the Nick Roche/James Roberts classic, one of the most beloved Transformers series of all time. Instead of Bumblebee’s delightful whimsy and Megatron’s tragic drama, this is a straight-up war movie. Obviously it’d have to be tweaked from the comic: no more Garrus-9 or Decepticon Purge. Perhaps tweak the last third to be a bit more like Rogue One or Seven Samurai; the Autobots decide to stay, and die, for a cause. I’d put some more mainstream ‘bots on the team, from the original cartoon and movie. Perhaps it could, like Bumblebee, even be set on Earth in the past, and end up being a story covered up by both the Autobots and Sector 7? That way you’d make it cheaper by having more humans and a little less CG. But the basic gist – an Autobot black ops squad is sent on a mission that goes very badly wrong and most if not all of them die whilst trying to work out what it means to be an Autobot in the midst of this war – should remain the same.

Windblade : whilst I don’t necessarily think the movieverse should adopt the “Thirteen Colonies” storyline from the comics – and I definitely don’t think they should adopt the “all the girls left” sausage-fest fudge that was required after Arcee was declared the “only” female Transformer, especially as Arcee herself and newcomer Shatter both feature in Bumblebee – I do  like the idea of Windblade as some kind of ambassador or diplomat, travelling the universe. Perhaps she left Cybertron before the war really escalated (with besties Chromia and Nautica too, natch) to pursue peace elsewhere? Part flashback to pre-war Cybertron, part  return-to-Earth narrative, it would be a great opportunity to focus on the often-sidelined female Transformers and  have a positive feminist message. I’d have them team up with a now-adult Charlie and her estranged daughter... Verity Carlo. The baddies should be combiners, to go with the “Combiner Hunters” toy set.

Beast Wars: at the risk of causing controversy, I wouldn’t make this a straight adaptation of the popular cartoon. Not unless they want to meddle in far-flung futures or alternate timelines (although, er, see below...). Rather, I’d introduce the concept of “Beast Modes” that mimic organic creatures perfectly (like the “pretender” Decepticon in Revenge of the Fallen that looks like a sexy human girl, because of course she does). So my pitch is this: a lonely Autobot scientist, on a research ship that has more-or-less escaped the war (let’s make him Perceptor, for kicks) has developed this “beast mode” technology that hides Transformers in organic shells. His ship is attacked by Decepticons, but he rockets his subjects into space where they follow Prime’s signal and eventually land on Earth, befriending a young boy (younger than Sam or Charlie; let’s say about 12). But Decepticon hunters (I’d go for Carnivac, Snarler and Catilla – who later has a change of heart – all of whom have inorganic beast modes) follow. So it would share similar tropes with Bumblebee and the first Transformers, but with three or four cute animals instead of robots. This would skew young, perhaps even younger than Bumblebee.

Rodimus Prime: I know Hot Rod is in The Last Knight, but from what I hear he isn’t really representative of the character of Hot Rod/Rodimus from across other aspects of Transformers fiction. Regardless, this film isn’t about him: it’s about Rodimus Prime. Set in the future, it tells a Next Generation-style story of a human/Autobot alliance. Very much a sci-fi space opera, it would feature Rodimus going on a quest to discover the roots of a mysterious force that is attacking human colonies, and its apart links to an ancient Transformer legend. But is he abandoning Earth at its darkest hour to go on a wild goose chase through space? Rodimus must battle his own self-doubt as a leader, as well as a growing number of humans and Transformers who question the alliance. It would have a similar tone to your average Star Wars movie.

Wreck-Gar: Transformers films often have funny moments, but you’d never call any of them a comedy. Wreck-Gar is a comedy, Deadpool-style (but without the filth). A severely-damaged Transformer who crashes to Earth no memory and manages to rebuild himself in a junkyard, Wreck-Gar is a crazy, pop-culture-spouting dervish who just trashes every room he’s in, even though he’s not malicious or a bad guy. Indeed, he is chased by a trio of Decepticons (Swindle, Brawl, and Vortex) who are cruel and unusual (and Swindle wants recompense for a deal gone wrong). An all-out wacky comedy is something not often attempted by big-budget action movies; I’d even go whole hog and get Ward and Miller on board to shepherd the humour to the screen.

Starscream: we’re always focusing on the good guys! Well, here you go: a story about a bot who’s born to be bad. Starscream would be set in the past (naturally, since he’s dead now) and follows Megatron’s least-reliable lieutenant as he heads to Earth to look for Megatron during the time when he was in stasis underneath the Hoover Dam. I can’t remember the chronology, but maybe this could even be set in the late 70s/early 80s, with Starscream  assuming a jet form more like his classic toy (and in that colour scheme, too). He’d be conniving, plotting, scheming, and essentially coming across like a giant metal version of Loki. Perhaps he’s playing a number of human “allies” off against one another, as well as some big Decepticons (Thunderwing? Tarn? Who haven’t we seen yet?) and even a troupe of Autobots he double-crosses. It could be darkly comic and incredible fun.

Hearts of Steel: Wild West Transformers! I mean, what’s not to love? Adapted from the IDW comic series (which was supposed to be out-of-continuity, but was so popular that writer John Barber retroactively incorporated it into the main Transformers timeline), this would need a bit of manipulation to change characters around (I don’t think Bumblebee should be in it, but given the often-contradictory nature of the movie timeline, I don’t see why we couldn’t bring back characters like Jazz, Ironhide, or maybe even Optimus himself). A rollicking steampunk adventure that hopefully would capture the freewheeling outback sci-fi tone of Back to the Future Part III, and hopefully not come across like another Wild Wild West.

Cybertron: I suppose this is a sort-of sequel to Megatron (see above). Set during the war, it’s a men-on-a-mission movie starring a young Optimus Prime (perhaps he could still be Orion Pax at this point). I don’t think we should worry too much about mythologies and intricacies of Transformer society the way James Roberts depicted it, but all the same they could do a lot worse than adapting his Shadowplay storyline, where Orion lead a team of misfit Autobots in an illegal heist to save the world. That kid of behind-enemy-lines vibe could give us a great Cybertronian war movie without wallowing in the grimdark explodey nature of Transformer combat. But especially if this was the movie where Orion earned his stripes and officially became Optimus, that might be nice. Like Megatron, of course, this would end up being an entirely CG affair.

Bumblebee 2: Energon Boogaloo? Look, the ending of the film – without wanting to give away spoilers – could be seen as neatly segueing into the 2007 Transformers film. One could imagine no additional adventurous meetings between Bumblebee and Charlie.  But on the other hand, let’s not rule it out. Perhaps Bumblebee has been on Earth, dicking around, since 1987, and during that time he got up to more mischief with his first best human friend. Some covert Decepticon invasion requires him to break cover, or he needs some kind of human contact to spy for him, and oh look he goes back to Charlie. I’d skip forward a little bit, to around ‘91 or ‘92, slap a bit of early grunge on the soundtrack. See what happens. Just bring back Travis Knight.

So there we are. My ideas for ten possible Transformers spin-off movies. I didn’t really intend for this to turn into ten pitches with little mini-synopses; it was really meant to just be a quick fun game of “stories or characters who’d make a cool movie” but then I thought about it too hard, as I tend to do where Transformers is concerned. Hey, look, some of these films could even tie together! Megatron and Cybertron especially, but you could scatter seeds of stories or references among the lot. Anyway. Wishful thinking. But hopefully a film like one of these will roll out before too long (see what I did there?).

[the-energon-hole]

heya. saw the request box open. may i request a headcannon about Bayverse Crosshairs, drift, Hound Bumble bee and Optimus having a human ally who likes to draw, paint and make photo collages of their alt. modes? and they aspire to design cars one day?

Optimus Prime

-He always has enjoyed human creativity and culture, including things like the music and graphical arts, as it was just another way to prove that you’re species was indeed much more refined than the other Cybertronians give you credit for. Any sentient species capable of not only creating universal images that can portray heavy and interesting emotions, while also putting real value onto simple things like paintings and musical talent really proves the validity of your planet. Cybertron used to have a lot of traditional artistic things like interpretive and realistic drawings on top of both traditional and trendy music that included singing and dancing- however nearing more and more conflict in the government more emphasis was placed on things like the value of defending oneself and the need for weapons productions in case of escalating situations becoming violent, which they did. So much culture was lost in these times of the war that even the Autobots forgot about all the things their fellow bots have created-it was refreshing to see art being produced and appreciated by other beings besides their own- it gives him hope for the future of both of your species.

-Even if he won’t say it out loud, he very much enjoys the aesthetic of human automobiles, especially that of the one he choose as his alternative mode- the Peterbilt Semi-truck.It was very much a symbol of a powerful vehicle that was capable of not only transportation, but also one of great stability and comfort. He was glad that you enjoyed his outward appearance enough to create so many artistic renditions of him, he had never been the center of a muse before- beyond that record keeping of the archivists who want to keep extensive track of Cybertronian history. You very much had  a lot of talent for someone who was so young and a little inexperienced when it came to certain political ideologies, it was good that you had something to focus your attention away from all the bad and produce something beautiful in such a bleak and dark time of war. Though he keeps his praises short, and his complements small, he feels like you have great potential in your field of study and he wants to encourage you to pursue your passions of vehicular design and wishes nothing but the best for you in that pursuit.

Bumblebee

-He was never exposed to artistic Cybertronian culture, as he was thrusted into an already conflicting society really tense with the threat of war looming over them- so he was taught things like battle and survival rather than creative value and understanding. He doesn’t claim to be the smartest bot in the troop, so he doesn’t fully understand your art and why it’s important to you, as he was raised in a  militaristic way where nothing is more important than being a good soldier. Though he has strayed from a lot of those values instilled into him when he was younger- art was just one of those things that never really clicked with him- Cybertronian or Human, it’s all the same to him. He can see ho much value you place on your art and design, and being the muse of your interest, he will still support you all the way- he might not get it, but he sees how important it was to you, and that is all he needed to know that art is a good thing. He also thinks you draw him very handsomely, and anytime you show him a new piece he becomes a victim of his own vanity- he loved it.

-He picked his alternative mode- the Chevrolet Camaro, a little while ago because he enjoyed how it appeared aesthetically, and the fact it was a pretty fast and sporty vehicle. It also looked good in his signature yellow and black colors- that was a big factor in his picking an alternative mode.He would have never guess that you would have had a passion for his appearance, but it made him feel very confident and attractive, even if you didn’t mean for it to be taken that way- who knew this art stuff could have such a profound effect on his feelings and emotions! He gets artistic value a little bit more than he’s letting on, he just is underestimating his own intelligence and critical thinking skills. He wholeheartedly supported you in your efforts to become a great car designer, and he even said that if you design something sleek and fast he would use it for himself- it just has to look good in yellow and black because otherwise it will be a deal breaker.

Crosshairs

-He can’t say he is a fan of art, even back on Cybertron it seemed to him to be a silly commodity that had nothing to do with the bigger scheme of the universe, it wasn’t impressive on his home planet and it wasn’t impressive on earth either. Not that he hates the idea of culture or anything, it just seemed a little odd to place so much emphasis and ideology on some picture or sculpture- the only things that matter aesthetically like that are weapons and vehicles. You have to look good no matter what mode you take, and certainly he had to give credit to the humans for at least not having hideous designs when it comes to automobiles and aircraft. THe designs of sleek and fast cars is definitely something that should be praised and appreciated- and when you explain to him that certainly things like that started off as just a drawing, it kind of hits a little closer to home for him. He will never understand the impact art has on culture, but he can’t get over how good he looks when you show him a new projects you are working on based on his appearance.

-He had chosen an alternative mode based on a car that looked stunning and would turn heads on the street as he would zoom past them- he was a very important bot and didn’t have time for them. It was for sure a vain thing, and the only fitting car for that was the Chevrolet C7 Corvette Stingray. That car looked good in any color but black- as a car like that was meant to shine with a bright and beautiful color, and not blend in with the crowd of ever growing aesthetically pleasing cars. You give credit where it was due, and enjoyed listening to what Crosshairs had to say about car design- whom else would know better than a vehicle themselves? He might be an ass sometimes and unappreciative, but he was a his spark a good bot, even if you would never tell him and he would never want to hear it.

Drift

-Despite his harsh past, and his occasional bouts of loss of self control, he prides himself on a deeper understanding of artistic expression. It can be music created to express various opinions and tones, it could be hand crafted drawings and paintings that hold deep and meaningful emotions, or it could even be sculptures created to be viewed in different jagged shapes in order to create a three-dimensional image- either way, he loved and appreciated it all. Cybertron stopped caring about art a long time ago, so to see it still being able to flourish and grow on Earth made him hopeful and happy- seeing you constantly participating in activities that contributed to this meaningful practice made him happy. Though you were more of a graphical artist, he enjoyed how you could tell his play on words and haikus when he spoke them- finally someone was able to appreciate and understand is words hold a deeper meaning and value than just being simple words.

-Being your muse made him happy, but he would try to remain humble amongst your constant praise and adoration- as humility was a big lesson he learned long ago when he was amongst the decepticon ranks. It was hard to stay humble as his old habits surface more and more anytime you compliment his chosen alternative mode, the Volkswagen Bugatti Veyron- an uncommon car from the region where you are from, so it end up becoming a head turner of a car when he drives down a populated street. You are inspired by his color scheme and appearance, and when you tell him he had a hand to play in the fact you want to design cars one day- well let’s just say all that humility he has been trying to instill in himself is gone and is replaced with all these feelings of dangerous pride and selfishness, he did look very good didn’t he.

Hound

-You can show him all the pretty pictures you want, you can explain the importance of artistic expression all you want, and you could even be a little aggressive in your approach to try and talk to him- it all falls on deaf audio receptors. He was kind of an old man, and even back on Cybertron he didn’t much care for the fine arts of his culture, as he could go as far as to say it was a waste of time. Not to be mean to your or your ambitions, he was just a bot of action and a bot of war, even before the Autobot and Decepticon conflict, he was always a weapons and shooting guy and not a sit around and look at pretty pictures guy. He would never do anything to intentionally hurt your feelings or step on your dreams, it was just when he would see you spending hours and hours on one picture it made him think about all these other things you could be doing with that time, like learning self defense or mechanical technical stuff. He was flattered that he was the subject of a lot of your artistic aspirations- he just doesn’t get it and doesn’t want you to have a sugar coated view of his opinions on it, he just doesn’t care as much as the others would.

-You always asked him why he chose his alternative mode the way you did, and every time he told you, you always were underwhelmed and disappointed with his answer. It was mostly a tactical decision, as he needed a  big and powerful truck that could carry all his weapons as well as it could remove someone from a battle they can no longer fight in. It only made sense to pick the slightly flashy and defensible Mercedes Unimog Tactical Vehicle, and even if that was his outward excuse you knew there was more to that. If there was one thing you knew, it was that cybertronians enjoyed the aesthetics of human automobiles, and even if he won’t admit it he had the look and feel of an old army vet. It was nostalgic in a way, and it had its own weird and pleasing charm- it was vintage and you can totally dig it. Hound hasn’t given you any indication her really cares about your artistic pursuits of car design, but you know he really does care about you, even if he doesn’t get it.

[kcaruth]

Movie Mania: Top 10 of 2018

This one was difficult. Those who have followed this blog for a while will know that for the past two years I have done a top 15 list of favorite films. That is largely because 2016 and 2017 cranked out so many great films, and I could not restrict myself to 10. However, 2018 turned out to be a rather lackluster year for film, in my opinion. Sure, there were some high points, but overall it was disappointing. It was actually easy to stick to a list of 10 this time, and those 10 films are all deserving of praise. I just wish they had some tougher competition to go up against. I digress, though. I now give you my spoiler-free list of favorite films of 2018.

Honorable Mention: Bumblebee

A collaboration between Travis Knight, the director of Kubo and the Two Strings, and Hailee Steinfeld? Count me in!

I stopped following the Transformers franchise after 2011′s Transformers: Dark of the Moon. One can only endure so many mind-numbing Michael Bay explosions before all of his or her brain cells die out. Here is a fun exercise that one of my college professors taught me; try it next time a Michael Bay Transformers movie comes on. Every time there is a cut, tap a pen or pencil or clap your hands. Frankly, it is quite overwhelming and hard to keep up with, and it is difficult not to notice every single unnecessary, jarring cut after becoming conscious of them through this exercise.

Contrast that with 2018′s Bumblebee. At Knight’s direction, the film forgoes most of those flashy explosions in favor of a more intimate approach to actual character development. Knight wisely chooses to keep the audience grounded and focused on the human characters, namely Steinfeld’s Charlie Watson, a teenage girl who is still struggling to come to terms with the death of her father while harboring resentment of her mother for remarrying. As far as the robots go, while the other Transformers movies went overboard with filling the screen with as many Decepticons and Autobots as they could, Knight really only has the titular Bumblebee and a couple of Decepticons hunting him down, ensuring that the action scenes and the film itself do not feel too bloated. Bumblebee is the course correction that this franchise so desperately needed.

#10: Eighth Grade

I was cringing throughout the run time of Eighth Grade, but somehow that is a compliment to this film. Uncompromising in its excruciating honesty, Eighth Grade hits the bullseye when it targets the audience’s empathy for an anxious 13-year-old during her last week of eighth grade named Kayla Day, played by Elsie Fisher. As his debut feature film, writer-director Bo Burnham has stated that he drew inspiration from his own struggles with social anxiety, so the script feels genuine and absent of any Hollywood edits. While Kayla is certainly the main focus of the film, Burnham provides a surprisingly touching character arc for her single father, Mark, played by Josh Hamilton. Mark desperately attempts to connect with his teenage daughter, but it seems like all she cares about having a connection with is her phone and social media. With themes of mental health, heavy use of social media, and sexuality, Burnham delivers one of the most uncomfortable scenes I have ever sat through in a movie theater, which is most likely exactly how he intended it to feel.

I cannot help but compare Eighth Grade to 2016′s Edge of Seventeen, another coming-of-age comedy-drama about a teenage girl by a debut director. If I was given the choice between the two films, I would pick Edge of Seventeen, which I believe is much more re-watchable, garnering that intended empathetic response from the audience with half the cringe. Both are brilliant, but those who have not seen Edge of Seventeen should do themselves a favor and give it a watch.

#9: Won’t You Be My Neighbor?

With so much hate and negativity in the world today, Morgan Neville’s documentary about Fred Rogers is a shining beacon of hope that restores one’s faith in humanity. Using archival footage as well as interviews with those closest to Rogers, Neville paints an intimate portrait of the man who welcomed audiences into his neighborhood through his pioneering television program. Without deifying Rogers, Neville shows how this American treasure dedicated every fiber of his being to teaching children how to be upstanding human beings who care deeply for one another, despite our differences. This documentary proves that Rogers’ lessons were not just for children, though. In fact, Won’t You Be My Neighbor? often feels like a one-on-one session with Rogers, encouraging audience members that they are all capable of good through simple acts of kindness.

#8: The Ballad of Buster Scruggs

Unfortunately, this American western is sure to fly under most people’s radar because it was a Netflix release that I do not recall having much fanfare and advertising. Written and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen, this film is an anthology of six different vignettes set in the American West. Sporting a stellar cast with the likes of Liam Neeson, Tim Blake Nelson, James Franco, Zoe Kazan, Brendan Gleeson, and more, The Ballad of Buster Scruggs flexes the Coen’s signature style of dark drama and black humor while impressively tackling all of the sub-genres within the greater Western genre.

Each of the vignettes are tied together by death in some form or fashion. While my ranking of them changes from day to day, my favorite and least favorite remain consistent. It is virtually impossible to not fall in love with the first vignette, “The Ballad of Buster Scruggs,” which is about a cheerful outlaw known just as widely for his singing as his gunslinging. The final vignette featuring a handful of characters cramped together on a stagecoach ride called “The Mortal Remains,” on the other hand, feels somewhat out of place and ends the film with a bit of a dud. Along the way between these two vignettes, however, viewers encounter enchanting tales of a bank robber, an impresario and his artist, a prospector, and a wagon train on the Oregon Trail.

As the Coen’s first film to be shot digitally, The Ballad of Buster Scruggs boasts some impressive cinematography, especially when it comes to wide sweeping shots, like any decent Western should. It also features a wonderfully delightful score that I desperately hope gets an Oscar nod. Not a week has gone by since I have watched this film where I do not find myself humming one of the songs or music from it. The acting throughout the different vignettes of the film is topnotch, and the actors look like they are having a blast in their roles.The Ballad of Buster Scruggs is a fun time that leaves viewers longing for more time in the American West. For those who cannot find the time to sit down for the whole film, I must urge them to at least watch the first vignette about Buster Scruggs, which is worth the price of admission on its own.

#7: Isle of Dogs

Set in a dystopian Japan, Wes Anderson’s stop-motion animated Isle of Dogs tells the story of a boy searching for his dog on Trash Island after an outbreak of canine flu. Voiced by an all-star cast including Bryan Cranston, Jeff Goldblum, Scarlett Johansson, and Bill Murray, Isle of Dogs is an epic adventure with its fair share of plot twists along the way. Alexandre Desplat provides a brilliant score for the film that matches Anderson’s comedic quirkiness and thematic choices. I would not consider myself a fan of Anderson’s distinct film style, but I do consider myself a huge fan of dogs and enjoyed Isle of Dogs. (Get the title of the film? Pronounce it out loud quickly. I Love Dogs.)

#6: Game Night

Game Night made me laugh out loud like I have not done in a long time at the movie theater. Starring Jason Bateman and Rachel McAdams, the film follows the hilariously ridiculous premise of a group of friends whose game night gets wrapped up in a criminal escapade. In addition to Bateman and McAdams’ great, fun chemistry as the husband and wife duo of Max and Annie Davis, Jesse Plemons’ portrayal of Gary Kingsbury, Max and Annie’s weird neighbor, delivers some moments of pure laughter. For a film that is high on laughs, Game Night manages to string the audience along with its surprisingly competent mystery, complete with reveals and twists that both shock and amuse viewers. Be sure to stick around for the credits and post-credits.

#5: A Quiet Place

Anyone who knows me knows that I am a big baby when it comes to horror movies. I absolutely loathe jump scares and will watch horror movies through my fingers if I am forced to watch one. However, I had heard so much positive buzz about John Krasinski’s A Quiet Place that I could not allow myself to make this list without seeing it first, and boy am I glad I summoned the courage to see it. A Quiet Place is a masterclass in tension, tone, pacing, sound design, and character development.

The plot centers around the Abbott family in a post-apocalyptic world inhabited by blind monsters that attack any source of sound with their heightened sense of hearing. Nothing is known about the origins of these monsters, only that they have wiped out most human and animal life on Earth. In this hopeless world, Lee and Evelyn Abbott struggle to fill their children with hope for the future.

The performances in A Quiet Place are some of the best of the year. The actors have an added degree of difficulty of having very minimal to no dialogue during the entire film, so their facial expressions and body language have to do most of the talking. One of the more impressive feats of A Quiet Place is the characters communicate in American Sign Language, and the actors actually learned ASL for the film. Millicent Simmonds, who plays Regan Abbott, is deaf and knows ASL, so she was able to help her co-stars with ASL, make corrections, and suggest improvements.

Krasinski has said that A Quiet Place is all about parenthood. Along with this theme, the film contains many Christian images and themes that are fascinating to pick apart and ponder. With so much depth, A Quiet Place delivers an original story that grips audiences. Although I did not see it in theaters, I am sure that people could hear a pen drop in their viewings.

#4: Bohemian Rhapsody

For all of its inaccuracies, creative liberties, and unevenness, Bohemian Rhapsody took the world by storm as the highest grossing music biopic and reinvigorated a love of Queen and its leading man, Freddie Mercury. Rami Malek runs away with the film as he disappears into his role as Mercury, so much so that audience members might have to pinch themselves to remember that they are not watching the real Freddie Mercury. Seriously, Malek has to be a surefire Oscar contender for this performance. Not only does he masterfully recreate Mercury’s mannerisms and moves onstage, he also channels his pain and feelings of isolation to bring audiences a fully realized depiction of the superstar. The supporting cast is good too, although Malek’s stellar performance does overshadow them, through no fault of their own.

For its finale, Bohemian Rhapsody gifts audiences with one of the most moving, memorable set pieces in all of film for 2018, the 1985 Live Aid concert. In a word, it is epic. Bohemian Rhapsody teaches lessons of acceptance, love, individuality, and the power of music and leaves viewers wishing they could have had a few more years with the amazing Freddie Mercury. This is one of those instances where the majority of critics should be ignored. Even if viewers are new to Queen, they should not miss this film.

#3: Green Book

Bolstered by fantastic performances by Viggo Mortensen and Mahershala Ali, Peter Farrelly’s Green Book takes a relatively unknown true story about a concert tour to the Deep South in the 1960s with African-American pianist Dr. Don Shirley (Ali) and his driver/bodyguard, Italian-American Tony Vallelonga (Mortensen), and tackles its subject matter without being too heavy-handed and maintaining respect for its characters. The script treats Vallelonga and Shirley as real human beings. Contrary to most film tropes, neither completely changes his character after a single event or incident. Instead, that change occurs slowly over the course of their road trip. Both men learn from one another, despite their disparate backgrounds. Mortensen and Ali are both worthy of Oscar nominations, though I think I would give the edge to Mortensen.

For a film about racism, identity, and the dangerous Jim Crow South, Green Book remains accessible to all audiences. It is full of heart and is brimming with that feel-good aura. As Mick LaSalle wrote in The San Francisco Chronicle, Green Book is “so big in its spirit, that the movie acquires a glow. It achieves that glow slowly, but by the middle and certainly by the end, it's there, the sense of something magical happening, on screen and within the audience.”

#2: Annihilation

I have not stopped thinking about Alex Garland’s Annihilation since it came out way back in February. Garland, the director of one of my favorite films released in 2015 Ex Machina, puts together an impressive cast starring Natalie Portman, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Gina Rodriguez, Tessa Thompson, Tuva Novotny, and Oscar Isaac to deliver a truly intoxicating film that leaves audiences deep in thought well after the credits roll. Based on Jeff VanderMeer’s novel of the same name, Annihilation follows a group of scientists who enter a mysterious quarantined area known as the Shimmer. Inside the Shimmer, flora and fauna undergo uncontrollable mutations. The scientists explore the Shimmer in an attempt to learn its secrets and discover what happened to the military team that was sent in before them.

The atmospheric, bone-chilling score sticks in viewers’ memories and adds to the intense tone of the film. Speaking of tone, Annihilation might bring audiences to the verge of suffocation because of how breathtaking it is. It has possibly the scariest, most dreadful scene of any film from this decade that comes from the stuff of nightmares and leaves audiences haunted. For all of its terrifying elements, however, this sci-fi film also showcases some downright gorgeous scenes that let the imagination run wild. Unlike many sci-fi films these days, Annihilation is not afraid to slow down and let scenes marinate in viewers’ minds. With so many avenues to explore as far as themes go, from ethics to grief to depression to humanity’s propensity for its own self-destruction, Annihilation is a film that should be talked about for a long time to come.

#1: Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

This was the easiest decision on my whole list. No other film came close to the number one spot after I saw Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. I remember seeing trailers for this film throughout 2018, but I did not have high expectations for it and almost blew it off. After all, with all of the Spider-Man films we have had in recent years, how could this one stand out apart from its animation?

The hype is real. Spider-Man is one of the most well-rounded films of 2018. It expertly balances its genuinely funny comedic moments with its emotionally moving dramatic ones. It takes risks that pay off with its bold storytelling, which is full of charm and satisfying superhero action. There is obvious care and attention to detail poured into every frame of this film, a work of art that is a love letter to superhero comic books. The creators of the film wanted it to feel like "you walked inside a comic book," and they hit it out of the park. The computer-generated animation works in concert with line drawings, paintings, dots, and various comic book art styles to make the film look like it was created by hand. It even has word boxes and bubbles that somehow are not too obstructive or distracting. As Todd Howard, the director and executive producer at Bethesda Game Studios, is famous for saying, “all of this just works.”

For such a large ensemble of characters voiced by ingenious choices like Mahershala Ali, Hailee Steinfeld, and Nicolas Cage, Spider-Man gives each of them equal footing while keeping the spotlight squarely on Miles Morales (Shameik Moore), the new Spider-Man. Lily Tomlin voices what may be my favorite version of Aunt May, and many other Spider-Man staple characters make great appearances.

The soundtrack is catchy and fits the bill for what a kid Miles’ age would listen to. There are tons of Easter eggs for hardcore Spider-Man fans to uncover, and there are pop culture winks and nods that most people familiar with the Spider-Man franchise will understand and enjoy. Of course, the late, great Stan Lee has a touching cameo, one of his best yet.

Every part of this stand-alone story feels fresh, and the characters have so much depth to them. It is hard to come up with an original concept that reinvents the superhero genre, but Spider-Man has done just that and more. This revolutionary, culturally important film was a joy to watch, and it may go down as the best Spider-Man film yet. Certainly, it has to be a serious contender for the best film of 2018.

The following are a list of all of the films I saw from 2018, in no particular order:

·         Green Book

·         The Ballad of Buster Scruggs

·         Pope Francis: A Man of His Word

·         My Hero Academia: Two Heroes

·         Black Panther

·         Annihilation

·         Game Night

·         Ready Player One

·         Isle of Dogs

·         A Quiet Place

·         Avengers: infinity War

·         Deadpool 2

·         Solo: A Star Wars Story

·         Incredibles 2

·         Ant-Man and the Wasp

·         BlacKkKlansman

·         Bad Times at the El Royale

·         Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle

·         First Man

·         Ralph Breaks the Internet

·         Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

·         Aquaman

·         Bumblebee

·         Bohemian Rhapsody

·         Bird Box

·         Won’t You Be My Neighbor?

·         Eighth Grade

My 2017 film list: http://kcaruth.tumblr.com/post/171040800751/movie-mania-top-15-of-2017

My 2016 film list: http://kcaruth.tumblr.com/post/156340406236/movie-mania-top-15-of-2016

[markdavesworld-blog]

Movie Review🎬

The most amazing movie that i ever watch was the newest "TRANSFORMERS the last night"

It was a very beautiful movie that i see and the graphics and effects was created very well.

This story starts like this,,,

In 484 AD, King Arthur and his knights battle against the Saxons . Elsewhere,

Merlin approaches the Knights of Iacon, a group of Transformers hiding on Earth, to help win the war. They hand him an alien staff, before transforming together into Dragonstorm, warning Merlin that a great evil will come for the staff.

In the present, five years after the Hong Kong Uprising in the previous film,

Optimus Prime crashlands on

Cybertron, and meets his alleged creator Quintessa. Quintessa blames Optimus for Cybertron losing life, but brainwashes him (and renames him Nemesis Prime) into helping to gain Merlin's staff, which can absorb Earth’s energy to restore their homeworld. Earth is revealed to be the slumbering

Unicron, whose horns are emerging across the planet.

On Earth, Transformers remain unwelcome amongst humanity, apart from in Cuba , and are hunted by the Transformer Reaction Force (TRF), a military force formed from the fallen Cemetery Wind. Cade Yeager , an ally to the Autobots, helps hide refugees from the TRF in his remote junkyard. In the war torn Chicago, Cade, Bumblebee, street-wise girl Izabella and her Transformer companions: Sqweeks and Canopy, helps a group of children evade the TRF drones, but Canopy is killed. Cade receives a mechanical talisman from a dying Autobot knight and has a brief standoff with the TRF before heading back to his junkyard with Izabella and Sqweeks. Both

Megatron and the American military become aware of the talisman’s value and power, reluctantly joining forces to obtain it and a number of Decepticon prisoners are released to aid in the mission. The Decepticons and the TRF locate Cade's hideout thanks to a tracker that the TRF had planted on Bumblebee during the standoff.

Optimus prime have controlled by the enemy there enemy use optimus to get the talisman . When optimus go to the earth he encounter some of the army and also bumblebee , optimus prime wants to get the talisman but bumblebee wont let it that happen because optimus prime is been controlled by the enemy. Optimus prime almost kill his best fiend bumblebee,but when he hear the voice of his old friend bumblebee,, optimus was enlightened his mind and he was so regret about on what he did.

When optimus prime was released into the enemy's control he and all of the Autobot work together to save the world and then he successfully defend the earth into the enemy's hand. After the war on the enemy the Autobots finally back on there own home.

So when i watch this movie it was really a very inspiring one, because they almost lost there hope when enemy almost conquer theme , but they unite as one to save the Earth.

"We can be heroes of our own life, everyone of us, if we have the courage to try"

-Optimus Prime