#but if your problem with idw op is that he's a cop. then just make him not a cop and keep his personality

[lord-squiggletits]

>be me

>looking for MegOP fics on AO3

>see fic tagged IDW1

>fic has Megatron/Optimus as the main characters

>there's only a couple other ships so I know they're going to be at least one of the main ships and not a background ship

>I click

>see the author's note

>"I tagged IDW but it's mostly continuity soup" etc etc "and archivist Orion Pax"

[heliopauseentertainments]

Can I take another turn and ask IDW OP? Sorry I have one mind track

Pick a character I’ve written and I will explain the top ~three to five ideas/concepts/etc I keep in mind while writing that character that I believe are essential to accurately depicting them.

Nonsense, you can have as many turns as you want.

It took me a long time to really like IDW1!Op. I always thought he was interesting, but it took me awhile (and exposure to your love of him) to really appreciate him.

I also don't write him as much as I should and I need more practice but I gotta get started on MegOp Week 2022 stuff so, opportunities are inbound. Anyway, here's the stuff I like to keep in mind.

Slight disclaimer: I have not yet finished reading the Op ongoing. I promise it's in my stack of things to read. OP #1 is literally the next thing.

1. Privilege

One thing about IDW1!Op is that he comes from a place of privilege in his society. He's forged, he's from Iacon (the cultural center of cultural centers for Cybertron), he's at list a good way up the caste chain, he's an excellent cop (whatever that means, good or ill), he's respected by previous Primes, and his privileged position in society is further bolstered upon receiving the Matrix of Leadership and all of the responsibility/respect/etc. that comes with it. He's the Cybertronian equivalent of an upper-middle-class cishet white Protestant guy (yes, this is USAmerica-centric for privilege, but bear with me).

This puts Op in a unique position in this continuity compared to most other Ops. He started off fairly high and without a lot social mobility barriers. That privilege clouds his judgement and often interferes with how he understands others. Functionism worked for him, so even if he became opposed to it and the actions of the Senate through his interactions with Megatron early on, he is still receiving the benefit of those systems and can't necessarily see the full of extent of the problems and harms, despite his good intentions.

2. Compromise

Optimus is down for compromise, which is part of what can make him a good leader. Now, whether or not he's good at compromising and actually ceding ground is another discussion, but he is for the idea of compromise and offering a hand to come to an understanding.

Sure, sometimes it's kind of... not great, like when he told Megatron they could end the War with a handshake. In real terms, that wasn't a compromise, but due to Op's privilege-induced blinders (see point 1), he thinks it's a compromise, because they're talking, they're not fighting. No one is getting hurt, never mind the fact that the Cons are starved, stranded, and Megatron is his prisoner (albeit they address this and he lets Megatron free to at least sit down). He sincerely believes they can come to some sort of amicable agreement, especially after some of their story-swapping in Chaos Theory.

Optimus actively seeks common ground with an opponent even if he sometimes misidentifies what the common ground could be.

3. Interpersonal Callousness

This is another one of his flaws that I find really interesting. He loves people. He cares about people. But he cares about people as an abstract concept. PeopleTM. He cares, but due to point 1, among other things, such as his relative lack of close friendships, he's not actually super observant of other people's emotional needs. He also tends towards being paternalistic. All of this leads to him being/seeming callous and making callous decisions.

While he does care about individuals, sometimes, he does it in a way that makes sense to him and not necessarily in a way that reflects or addresses the needs of the people he's caring about. For example: he regularly ignores and talks over Rodimus, someone who looks up to him and respects him. He cares about what happens to Rodimus, he cares about what happens to Megatron, he cares about what happens to Windblade. He just responds to their needs inappropriately: "So you're just going to ignore me," "I pour out my spark and you're taking notes," etc.

Occasionally this bleeds over into that PeopleTM category too (see his paternalistic annexation of Earth because he cares about humans, but neglects to take into account their agency and needs)

4. Hope, kinda

G-d, this man is so full of hope. Sort of. HopeTM. Not real hope. The hope isn't something he holds for himself. He espouses it and gives it to others. It's a facade that he projects loudly to everyone else. He knows he's a symbol of hope to the entire Autobot faction.

But that hope isn't for him. He hopes vaguely that the War will end, that it will end peaceably, etc. He doesn't really hold much personal hope though. He doesn't know what the end of the War would mean for him. That's part of why he runs off as a freelance merc after the Chaos Event (but being burned in effigy is also a good reason to nope out). But he gives hope to everyone around him and clings to that teeny tiny hope that if he projects enough of it, some will reflect back on him. Maybe. Faking it till he makes it.

5. Self-Doubt

Look. Re: point 4, Optimus does not have much hope and incidentally, he doesn't have a lot of confidence in himself either. This self-doubt is something that he seems fairly adept at hiding from others, all as part and parcel of his image as Prime. Some are aware of it though, those that have known him for ages like Ratchet, Ironhide, etc. Even Rodimus eventually. It's not ever really admitted in front of Megatron, but Megatron knows. A few humans even know, thanks to a self-imposed timeout he put himself in in the earlier run of comics.

Behind the image of stalwart, infallible leadership he's put up over the years, Optimus is plagued by self-doubt and is always second-guessing himself.

[quetzalpapalotl]

I've been thinking about this a lot, but there's a key difference in the way Jro and Barber write Optimus.

When Roberts writes Optimus he is a figure of awe. Be it because he's doing crazy maneuvers that somehow work or by the strength of his principles, there's usually someone there to fawn over him. Even when he's not present, like in LL when Megatron mentions Optimus is usually with admiration.

But JRo is also willing to do more than that. Paint him a but more cynical or flawed, give him doubt. This combination is very reminiscent of how he wrote Optimus in Eugenesis, actually. But the key difference between him at Barber is that Jro's Optimus is always ultimately a figure of good. So for example, Chaos Theory which brings out a lot of his flaws, still gives the reassurance that at his core Optimus is still the idealistic Orion he was before getting the matrix. JRo even confirmed that his speech in the Death of Optimus Prime mirroring the Senate speech was meant to show he hasn't really changed.

But Barber is willing to question whether Optimus is a figure of good to begin with. He made an entire run with that as its theme. Jro made him a cop, which wasn't good but he still focused on his good intentions. Barber called him out on that and showed how much his good intentions mattered when he was still working for a corrupt regime. To be fair, Barber had to try and make a coherent character from everything else that went on on IDW.

But they still don't write him different enough that it looks like two different characters. Is hard to be sure who wrote what in Dark Cybertron, but JRo wrote the conversation between Rodimus, Orion and Magnus (which again has Orion in a shitty mood and being very cynical). So assuming he had a hand in the dead universe segments, those still look very phase 2 OP. He is having doubts, mad at the world and at himself, so he projects that on Rodimus, who despite everything still believes in him and makes Orion gain enough confidence to reclaim the Prime name. This is portrayed as a triumphant moment. And then later Barber would go on to question if Optimus being Prime is a good thing all over again.

And one funny thing about all of this is the outcome of the trial. Optimus does a dirty move and risks the safety of the LL crew by putting Megatron as captain which he didn't even have the authority to, just because he wants to believe in Megs so badly. Thing is that this kind of "I know what's better" assholery is completely in character for him. But I wonder how much Jro was considering that or if he was just focused on getting Megatron on the LL (and he knew Optimus was right because Megatron was meant to become better anyway) and didn't think much about the implications. Certainly none of the problems this causes ever get blamed on Optimus.

Maybe it really is just that Jro didn't get to do much with Optimus. But idk. I do love how he writes him, but I don't know if he would have had the guts to go as far as Barber went. Both in making him more coherent overall and things like "I am gonna help humams"/"Shut the fuck up, we don't want your help you colonizer condescending shit" or calling him a murderer at his own funeral, all of that despite maintaining his core good intentions. They were a good combo, but I'm glad Barber got most of it.

All I wish is that either would have given me more Zeta, lol

[schiste-argileux]

Idw Prowl is an evil SOB (took him two years to send the Wreckers to Garrus-9 and help Maxy (who was protecting all the war crimes the Bots did), put Maxy’s torturer and a war criminal on board the Lost Light cuz why not, sent Pharma to Delphi knowing it was DJD territory)

Prowl... Prowl’s creation and competence in his area of work is astounding. He is brilliant, creative, and defiantly apathetic of this world. But, he is very human in his own way. IDW Prowl is selfish, yet not. He is a unique in that aspect because most people make decisions like his for the sole reason of benefiting themselves. But Prowl’s sole reason of existing is to create PEACE. 

Peace. Peace can only be done when people are complacent, happy, and satisfied. When things are stationary. Stable. 

But life is never stable. Elements desire to form bonds, yet are almost always leaning towards to instability... Prowl’s form of PEACE is a world where there is no fighting. But everything sentient requires to fulfill its desires. As long as there is desire, people will fight. 

A world of PEACE would be a world of full control, there are no surprises, no change. Safety, routines, and constants. No creativity, no development... nothing. stagnant. 

But I must admire Prowl’s tenacity and dedication to this world! 

He sacrifices everything for the sake of the directive, preserve cybertron, PEACE. He sacrifices his morals (Robot Gets Bullied By a Human), his dignity (Recent News, Cop Accepts Orgy For The Means of Establishing Peace, his body (Recent News, Cop gets Molested by A Spider for The Autobot Cause), and of course, thousands of lives (Not Recent News). :D Prowl respects and understands that there will always be chaos and instability, and he is so very flexible around it all! He literally can maximize everything and anything he has. He is the embodiment of consequentialism with a lil dash of politics. I wish my group project members were 1% as productive as him! Prowl tries to put everything black and white, and he gets upset when things get far more tricky, and wants to get everything in control so people can stay safe and remain in peace and not fight! And that’s a respectable goal! Control can be good, it means one understands and is able to retain themselves and the thing they are controlling. But Prowl doesn’t want to accept that there are things out of his control. And Prowl likes to think he’s justified when he controls the uncontrollable. 

I mean, yeah, if he didn’t do what he did, the autobots would have been six feet under A LOT EARLIER. Optimus is not a good leader, preserving organic life over his own soldiers? Psh. Look at Spike, he’s got valid points and can I understand why he left the ‘bots. Prowl’s probably thinking everyday, DAMN, OP, WHY R U SO DUMB. LISTEN WE NEED TO FEED OUR SOLDIERS AND PRIORITIZE OUR SPECIES LIVES INSTEAD OF THIS FUCKING CARBON BASED CIRCLE. HELLO??? And literally Prowl could have been like I’m gonna get ya assassinated so I CAN HAVE IT MY WAY. But Prowl was BORN for the RULES. To follow, to MAKE PEACE. Killing the prime figurehead is against that, even if it would make his life way easier! (hence, not that selfish and also sad that your life is the rules. That’s a short leash, but he makes due)

Honestly I feel bad for Prowl. Must suck to be so big brain that everyone hates you when you say the truths (but also you could learn some more tricks from Jazz to be nicer and hide the truth, but that’s scary because a nicer prowl means more people he can trick and use. Thanks Prowl for being so straightforward! Now people can avoid you easier). He's so straightforward about things that need to be done, he’s in constant denial about the grey area of life!

That’s why when Spike slapped Prowl with reality slaps, Prowl lost some of his shit. Remember, nearly everyone had the edgy depressed time in their teens or young adult years where you realize the world is truly unfair and nothing is black and white? Yeah. Slap that on a 6+ million year old robot with a battle computer and is capable of big brain CPU-age, and was literally built for the sole purpose of enforcing rules and making peace? And no one really cared about Prowl enough to understand him and his background. So Prowl goes through his angst moment alone with his huge titties, frustrated. THIS. IS. WHY. YOU. COMMUNICATE. YA DINGUS. 

Prowl doesn’t become a school shooter like Pharma cuz hes got bigger brain and a lot more power and control over himself, but he literally becomes Shadow The Hedgehog (Even if the world’s against me I’ll fight like I’ve always have). HE’S GONE ROGUE. MA’AM, SIR, THE FUCKING OREO COOKIE HAS TRANSFORMED AND ROLLED OUT.  like. OP was the one thing holding prowl back, which was good! But now prowl’s on the roll and bumblebee is too nice and passive to hold him back. + the bombshell brainwash? feels so bad. being prowl sucks. because Prowl is a necessary evil. 

At least he’s wonderfully blunt about his goal to create a peaceful cybertron, which makes it easier if you want to avoid him or smth. meanwhile you have fake people IRL that smile their way through and then slit your throat and you won’t even know it was them (hey jazz, no offense, but that’s what spec ops does). Fakers are the scariest enemy, but Prowl is still a threat, just not as big as a someone who fluffs you up on a balloon and then pops it. Prowl would just be like, hey, you’re really useful, come over here in my white van i wanna show you something and then maybe you get destroyed. But hey! You were the one with the highest chance of surviving compared to other people! Isn’t that great? You’re so skilled WOW. (Prowl gets punched. Again!) Prowl represents the necessary evil in society. We WILL ALWAYS HAVE EVIL people in this world. But Prowl is a far better evil than people who do evil for their own selfish reasons. It’s like how we have law enforcers and politicians . It’s basically giving them legal rights to do illegal things (lmao). BUT we need them regardless. We need those people to get their hands dirty, possibly killed, so that people can live in innocence and peace. 

I don’t think Prowl ever realized that he was a necessary evil, and when Spike showed him that, he was bitter. But he accepted it. Which I respect because most people can’t be bothered to understand themselves and just throw themselves in denial, and point fingers for their flaws. Prowl sucks up and understands who he is, and he makes the best of it to achieve his goal.  I mean, honestly? Prowl is probably a miracle worker. Not in a Ratchet sense. But look at the way modern governments run, nothing gets done, everything is stalled because no one has the guts to make sacrifices. Prowl would have gotten a shit ton of things done, man, and take quick efficient action. Even if he sacrifices many things for it.  (Warning. I do not condone any taking of lives, NO ONE has the right to judge whenever a person should live or die.)  Prowl reminds me of 秦始皇 (Qin Shi Huang), the king who unified China and sacrificed millions to make the Great Wall, canals, and road systems that last to this day. If it wasn’t for these accomplishments, China wouldn’t have been what it is today. Was it a good thing? For the future residents of China? Hell yeah. But the costs? Those are sins that can never be erased, and they are horrible and shouldn't be done ever again. Was it necessary? Perhaps. But that’s another discussion. Is Prowl evil? Depends on your definition of evil. Perhaps he’s justified, perhaps in his world, he’ll go down as the Qin Shi Huang of the Cybertronians. Regardless, Prowl like Pharma, is an EXCELLENT example to study on public ethics, and administrative officials should analyze him and learn from his mistakes and sins.  I think Prowl is not evil in a sense that he wishes to harm others, but evil in a sense of his apathy. Prowl is a necessary component to a functional society (someone to plot, to use people, to enforce rules even if some are sacrificed, someone who can get their hands dirty). He lives a terrible and sad fate, and I do not wish ANYONE to live a life like Prowl’s or look up to Prowl. Yes, he’s so clever and brilliant, but that kind of power will make you the loneliest person on Earth.

Thanks Prowl for taking the entire load of sin on your shoulders! Big MVP! You get nothing from the world except hate and contempt.  I would go on about him more but I have IRL stuff to do. I love Prowl as an example to tell people that MODERATION. COMMUNICATION. AND COMPASSION are important factors to have a healthy and good mental state. Prowl is the perfect example of someone who doesn’t want to empathize (haha so many people are like this today), who doesn’t want to try to use more braincells and friends help to make better plans that are more moderate and not extreme, and who doesn’t want to talk to anyone thinking its a waste of time or have difficulty explaining things.  BUT I LOVE G1 PROWL because he has far more patience and manners, and doesn’t take a darker, route for his goals. awhohdohd he’s baby,,, i wish all cops had patience and manners and in general open-minded yet cautious enough not to be taken advantage of,,,, perhaps then we wouldn’t have so much polarization and fighting with authority in this world.... 

uwuwwuwuwuw they did prowl so dirty in idw WAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH ;____;   Again, you are welcome to disagree or agree! I wrote this really quickly so I’m sure there will be points that could be clarified or edited. Prowl’s really complicated and I do not like to talk about current IRL problems, but Prowl represents a lot of problems in society. And I think it’s critical if we try to look at both perspectives to get an understanding on WHY people do these things, and is there a solution to AVOID making those same mistakes? There’s a couple of controversial things in this short essay I wrote, esp. about cops IRL. So feel free to have at it! Or ignore it! Whichever is more comfortable for you! Thanks for coming to my ted talk! Again, Prowl is a bad influence and a sorrowful life to live. please do not try to be like prowl. xD I won’t intrude on you if you do, because you have a right to live the life you want as long as you’re not hurting other people’s interests and wellbeing! 

[tfw-no-tennis]

mtmte liveblog issue 30

30 issues wow...forget the fact that I skipped like 5 issues of crossover event nonsense

another big ole swerve recap omg

this trial is so messsyyyyyyyyy lmao 

hvbajdfbahsjkfdbhjs starscream listening to meagtrons speech looking like ‘hmmmmmmm I may have miscalculated’ 

prowl looks pissed af meanwhile optimus just looks dead inside lmao

I mean. megatron kinda does have a point. this is like, the most biased, conflict of interests lookin trial of all time, in that all the major participants have some sort of long, complicated history with each other. what a mess

optimus, listening to megatron’s speech: wow this is worse than divorce court was

oh shit I totally forgot that those decepticons attacked the trial 

MAGNUS HAMMER AYYYYYY

a guy saying ‘objection!’ as optimus prime punches half his face off...that pretty much sums up idw op lmao 

op: oh thank god, I can punch shit now. I'm not cut out for this bureaucracy nonsense

megatron: thanks, random decepticon, for the attempted rescue, but I'm super old and I just want to nap so no thanks

random decepticon: wtf- [gets murdered by optimus prime]

I love op’s big ass antennae 

meanwhile, brainstorm goes to a bar and instead of buying anything, pulls out his own drink. I feel like that isn't allowed in most bars, or is at least frowned up vbsjdhfbhjdkfn. ily brainstorm 

also? big ass mood I was so broke last time I was on a barhopping vacation w/friends that I brought a cheap giantass bottle of mixed drink in my backpack and just drank that at all the bars lmao

WHIRLLLL I love his humansona sm. and also I love that whirl is into artsy french movies or w/e omg

brainstorm, drinking thru a wrist funnel: sorry I cant take my mask off rn it isn’t plot relevant yet

‘earthlets’ lmao

I love that rung is like, too pretentious to care that much about movies and would rather read earth books lol

and then bluestreak is like ‘yeah they have books...comic books’ can this man not read

I still cannot fuckign believe that the argument that got megatron out of a for-sure death sentence or w/e was ‘its not a war crime if we’re on the moon’ liiiiike what the actual hell lmao

also I love that, once again, we see magnus’s strict adherence to the law, technicalities and all

magnus: you cant really stop a trial and move it somewhere else where the laws are better suited to the outcome you desire

prowl: what are you, a cop? fuck off

also op being like ‘ok whatever all that doesn't matter...what DOES matter is that it would look bad for us to move the trial to cybertron in an obvious attempt to circumvent the rules, and public perception is what’s most important, fuck all that ‘morality’ bullshit’

meanwhile, rodimus is dead! and ambulon is also dead, which makes first aid sad, which makes ME sad

ayyy, rodimus is still alive! well, one rodimus is alive, at least 

rodimus and megatron really have the vibes of ‘stepfather and stepson forced to work together on a family road trip gone wrong after dad decided to sit this one out�� lmao

ah yes, ‘malaise’ the medical diagnostic term for ‘I don't feel so hot and idk why’ that practitioners like to throw under the ‘diagnostic notes’ section of lab orders to explain why they're ordering every blood test under the sun for a patient 

I love medical terminology. ANYWAYS

BE NICE TO MY BOY MEGATRON. 

rodimus: listen I have to come to terms with the fact that there's another version of me right here, and he’s DEAD, which means we can’t fuck, which is super lame 

I firmly believe that rodimus would be team ‘hell yeah id have sex with my AU self’ tbh 

I find it interesting that megatron is often casting blame for his actions onto others - here, he says that rodimus made him realize he doesn’t want to stop doing stuff w/his life, and then says that starscream forced his hand w/the whole ‘luna 2 law’ thing, and previously he’s said how whirl beating him up in jail is what led to him abandoning pacifism - take responsibility for your actions and decisions dude!

though he goes on to say here that he resorted to violence because he realized that the system that was in place could withstand everything else he would have tried to use to change it, which is super interesting 

megatron: okay, yes, I MIGHT have murdered billions, but I could help find us a new planet, which would be baller, sooooo...how about you co-opt your lame son’s frat boy ship and put me in charge? 

op: sounds fair to me. now how about we do some more Big Speeches before I make you somebody else’s problem

vbhdjskfbhaskdjf the ‘team rodimus’ lineup setup reminds me so much of the ‘together we make the ______’ meme with the different members being like, ‘the power’ ‘the gay’ ‘the awesome’ ‘the guy with no ears’ hbvhjdkfbs

chromedome: if I do this I could die

rodimus: that sounds like a you problem bro

‘this one time’ YEA RIGHT c'mon cd honor your dead husband’s wishes

omfg I forgot abt brainstorms ‘early early warning system’ lmao

I love nautica soooo much oh man

ooooof drift :( :( oh no

dead future rodimus!! uh oh is right

rodimus, known himbo: I'm sure I can defeat the inevitability of future events! all I have to do is cut my own arm off!

tailgateeeee he’s so cute...I love that he can tell stories of his daring escapades, just like at the beginning of mtmte, but this time its actually TRUE

OH SHITTTT GETAWAY

he looks so fucking sinister there lmao how are we NOT supposed to realize he has bad intentions from the get-go

‘you’ll make a prime one day’ well, getaway, you’re right about that at least...

cyclonus in the bg like 🤨🤔 at getaway

seriously I cant get over how getaway has such a slimy kinda vibe to him, like specifically in his interactions w/tailgate - this is before things even really take off but I'm still like TG GET AWAY (lol) FROM THIS GUY

cyclonus: somebody flirting with my crush? better go stare out a window instead of communicating absolutely anything to said crush about my feelings!

honestly I feel like, while megatron renouncing the decepticons and becoming an autobot is certainly interesting, it would be equally interesting for him to remain a decepticon but try to change the philosophy of the movement 

like, I get why op had him give that speech - to prevent the cons from trying to free megs again/thinking that he was being coerced into things (ironic considered he WAS coerced into giving that speech) - but it’s kinda the easy way our for megatron - being able to completely abandon the decepticon cause and not deal with it at all, and start over anew as an autobot

it would've been a lot harder to remain a con and try to reform what he has broken in the decepticon movement - but I think that would've been really interesting

though from a writing logistics standpoint, I get why jro didn't go for that bc we don't get a lot of other decepticons in the cast for that to work, and also megatron still definitely DOES have to face down all his mistakes w/the decepticons w/the djd and overlord and whatnot

anyways. I cant believe that all megatron had to do to join the lost light was make ONE speech denouncing the decepticons. like, they should've at least had him do a tiktok dance too or something, just to make it a really tough deal

I love the rodpod vbhjfsdkfbjaskjndfj

ok but I still don't really get the logic of making megs CAPTAIN like ouch. poor rodimus 

I feel like making megs a bartender at swerves or st would've been WAY more useful in showing him humility or w/e. OR it would've made him evil again, which, fair, 

ratchet: don't worry, we’ll medically poison him, it’ll be fine

ok but rodimus is right, this is SO messy, op wants to prove his ex husband isn't 100% evil so he’s like ‘ill let my rebellious son deal with him’ lmao god. I love this setup so much, its so wild

ratchet is also right, rodimus’s fuckup definitely pales in comparison to megatrons All That 

OH BRUTALLLLLLLL when ratchet says the list is fake ‘because my name’s not on it’ FUCKING OUCHHHHH

‘only bad guys say ‘unhand me” rodimus ily

omfg ‘we’ve practiced this’ of course they've done evacuation drills...magnus ily

lmao it’s the panel where it looks like rodimus and megatron are doing karaoke or having some sort of rap battle

and the lost light is GONE! oh shit!!!!

and there closes issue 30! once again we’ve gotten a lot of setup and exposition - which, while definitely necessary, means I don't have too much to say

I will say, throwing megatron onto the lost light has definitely mixed things up, and it’s interesting to see new dynamics already forming

so, until next time!

[lord-squiggletits]

Do you like continuity cross MegOP? Like TFA Optimus x TFP Megatron and the sorts? (That's the most popular pair, it seems. Unlikely but I can see their point)

Not at all unless it's for a joke pairing, like IDW OP/IDW2 Megatron for both being jocks that like jumping off things or something.

I'm someone who very much feels that characters are a product of the world/story they're written within, so blending continuities or just ripping a character and putting them in another continuity makes it feel very disjointed imo.

Plus, one of my biggest MegOP pet peeves is the fact that the AO3 tag is proliferated with fics that are basically IDW Megatron/G1 or TFP or some vague continuity soup Optimus, because I hate IDW Optimus erasure.

Tangential hot take below the cut about a particular crossover MegOP pet peeve of mine, IDW Optimus, and the MOP fandom's treatment of him in general. If you don't like bitching, this is your disclaimer to not read.

Also. I really really hate how people will erase IDW Optimus and ship IDW Megatron with literally any other Optimus besides him, because for me it's incredibly boring and cowardly lmao.

Like, people can handle the fact that Megatron is a bad person (I mean honestly some people write him as if he has no flaws and doesn't need to apologize for anything, so maybe they can't handle Megatron being a bad person considering they refuse to acknowledge that he is/was idk) but they can't handle the idea of Optimus being morally gray? Megatron is allowed to be a complex pacifist-turned revolutionary-turned warlord-turned regretful Autobot, but Optimus has to be frozen in some G1/TFP mishmash where he's just an innocent librarian/dockworker whose main personality trait is being a nice dad completely erased of anything that makes him "problematic"?

You can't even argue "oh IDW OP sucks because he's a cop and cops are bad in real life" because 1. the story agrees with that and Optimus constantly faces the consequences of his pre-war alignment 2. people have no problem with the fact that Megatron was an imperialist technoist, and imperialism and racism are both bad in real life. And 3. if people had an issue with him being a cop, they could just write IDW OP's personality but give him a different job, except no one writes IDW OP's personality at all. For some reason people will excuse all of IDW Megatron's shitty behavior/beliefs away (or just pretend they're not canon) but viciously attack IDW Optimus's personality and the occupation he only had for like a fifth of his total life? It's really disappointing to see such favoritism and bad takes from MEGOP SHIPPERS who are the people you would expect to like BOTH Megatron and Optimus, but this fandom has an overwhelming amount of Megatron favoritism where people write him as having all the initiative and Optimus is just some oaf that doesn't understand why the war happened.

If people want an Optimus who's conscious of his role in perpetuating social inequality and contributing to the civil war, while still having relatable depression and having some moments of humor, IDW Optimus is literally right freaking here waiting for people to read his huge and interesting story.

Plus, half the people who bitch about IDW OP and say they hate him either haven't read the comics or completely misread/misrepresent what IDW OP actually does in the comics. If you want IDW OP to be "called out" or criticized then he gets called out and criticized all the fucking time. People just want OP to be a happy dad or a sadboi or an uwu twink and refuse to accept that since IDW is a darker story, Optimus needs to be dark and problematic along with it or else he doesn't fit within the context of his story.

This fandom's tendency to whitewash IDW Megatron while villainizing IDW Optimus is one of its most annoying qualities, and frankly I find it boring and childish lmao. Accept the fact that IDW Optimus is written like an actual person with flaws that can become ugly when he's put under the immense pressure of everything he's dealing with. Real people don't go through all the trauma and guilt IDW OP went through and remain perfect saints who are always nice and never snap out of anger/frustration. IDW Optimus is too interesting and cool for the people who just want unproblematic happy dad Optimus lmao.

And MegOP shippers shitting on IDW OP for things he didn't do or things that were understandable in context, while acting like Megatron did no wrong and should have everyone else apologize to him, is literally the reason why I don't read any MOP fics outside of my circle of friends/mutuals any more. It's just not worth reading fanfic when my favorite character is constantly erased and excluded from having stories written about him.