#earthspark analysis

[weirdlookingsnakewithlegs]

Earthspark Analysis

How this will work:

- Starting from this post there will be a series of reblogs.

- Each will begin with the episode number/title.

- Important characters will be given an analysis based on their behavior/decisions/choice of words.

- I may also focus on background characters at times should I see anything interesting.

- I will also focus on other things, for example, if there are fights scenes I will likely make comments.

What you should expect:

I am by no means an expert and this is solely for fun! If you don’t like/agree with what I think that’s okay! In the end we’re all just having fun and this is just for the silly!

Things to watch out for:

I can be oblivious at times! Tell me if I missed something you think is important and I’ll try to round back and take a gander!

🩵 Now let’s get this show on the road! 🩵

[vihattu-thethoroughbredofsin]

EarthSpark: When the script is not your strong suit. Part 2.

Part 1. Part 2. Part 3.

6. The authors do not understand the consequences of war and racism and cannot work qualitatively with these topics.

Now I'm going to be really emotional for certain reasons, but I'm going to try to bring constructive criticism.

The authors absolutely do not understand and cannot adequately show either the consequences of the war conflict or the problems of racism.

Let's start with what the conditions of the world are in the series. As far as we know, at some point in time, the Cybertronians ended up on Earth and continued their war conflict, which lasted an indefinite amount of time and ended about 15 years ago. As far as we know, humans participated in the conflict on the side of the Autobots, the Decepticons fought against humans as well as against the Autobots, which we learned from the episode "Warzone".

We know that it was a protracted conflict with the death of many people and the destruction of human cities. And we also know that the Decepticons planned the genocide of mankind.

And now a logical question arises. Will most people treat Decepticons or Cybertronians generally well after that? If people were not guilty of the conflict, but suffered greatly from it, why should they just forgive Cybertronians? Why shouldn't people be afraid of Cybertronians after all that has happened? 15 years is a very short time for the wounds inflicted by the war to heal in the minds of the population. For many, a loved one may have died or suffered, perhaps killed by one of the Decepticons. So for what reason should people be against Decepticons being caught, especially if they are still dangerous (but more on that later, when we discuss the depiction of racism).

At the same time, the authors in the narrative are trying to impose the idea that people should treat Cybertronians well, and it is wrong to be afraid of them and be offended at them. The authors show this quite straightforwardly, through the image of the GHOST as evil, exposing Croft and Meridian as unambiguous villains, people in the city as cruel savages and Robbie's friend as malevolent from nowhere.

Although a good plot point could have been built on Robbie's friend, when they would have disagreed about how much their families had suffered from the war. For example, Dot lost her leg, but maybe she has a good pension, maybe she was given a good prosthesis. And Robbie's friend's mother could have died in the war, his father or someone else from his relatives could have suffered more, and his family could not receive any compensation. That's where the ambiguity and a deeper look at the consequences of the war conflict could be. Like, "Yes, Robbie, I'm very glad that Megatron is your mom's best friend, but because of him, my mom is gone!". Maybe it's a cliché, maybe it's too straightforward, but it's better than nothing.

What was shown to us in the series itself? One of the victims is Megatron's best friend (Megatron, the main culprit of all that happened), the other victim is a villain, and we don't see anything else and no one in the environment. Megatron tells us about the consequences in the episode " Warzone". And this episode was made so that we felt sorry for Megatron himself. No, there were a couple more goals — to show that the Terrans are not responsible for the mistakes of the Cybertronians (which is the right idea) and to make a reference to the blue flowers from the IDW comics.

So what does this episode tell us through narrative? Yes, the deaths of both Cybertronians and humans are mentioned, and images of the destruction of human cities are shown. But this is all said in passing, the main emphasis is on the fact that the Cybertronians may have lost the Allspark and the space bridge, which is why they cannot return home. Yes, it is tragic. But who is to blame for this? And are the deaths of people less serious consequences?

Against this background, it is very ironic that the names on the memorial are a meaningless set of letters. Yes, it is clear that it would be difficult to encrypt so many names. But this does not negate the irony.

I just don't understand how it was possible to write the topic of the consequences of the war so badly? Everything can be understood, a children's cartoon, a difficult topic. But if the author can't handle such a topic, the authors shouldn't have chosen it in the first place! The history of all world conflicts and any features of the post-war period is now available. Yes, even now there are several major military conflicts in the real world! Right here and right now! And such an attitude to such a difficult topic, which for many people is an everyday reality, feels like a spit in the face, a spit in the soul. And the authors just took this topic and threw it away for another one, thus saying that this topic is not as important as another one.

And this is the topic of racism. I'm not saying that it's less important, but you can't just replace one with the second one almost in the middle of the season!

And the funny thing is, the authors couldn't even handle the topic of racism and present it correctly.

The authors are obviously trying to present to us here an allusion to racism towards migrants and refugees. Unfortunately, such a narrative cannot work with all the prerequisites that we had in the plot.

Let's start with what racism is. To put it simply, this is a biased attitude towards representatives of other races (nationalities or cultures) based on human fear of the unknown / unlike / strangers, supported by a set of ideological views about cardinal physiological, intellectual, moral differences between races, assuming the superiority of one of them. Within the framework of these views, races are considered practically as different biological species. We know perfectly well that this is not the case and all races are equal in their characteristics and capabilities, since we are one biological species. That is why racism is exclusive and works as a definition only within one species.

And racism doesn't work towards Cybertronians in this series, because, surprise, Cybertronians are a different species. Yes, Thrash, transformers are not people, and people are not transformers. There are obvious differences between the two species. And in this case, they are objective, Cybertronians are physically very different from humans, at least by physical strength.

Therefore, people's fear of Cybertronians is justified. Each of them is a war machine, which, if something happens, a human will not be able to stop, will not be able to escape. And the realization of helplessness causes fear. This is the first reason.

Cybertronians fought on Earth, which led to many casualties, and people remember this. This also causes fear, because every Cybertronian on Earth has shown itself to be a killing and destruction machine.

Because of this, the allusion of refugees and migrants cannot be transferred to transformers. Because they are neither one nor the other in the plot. Let me remind you, every Cybertronian on Earth is either a soldier or working for the faction's army, accidentally stuck on Earth. Each of them participated in the conflict, almost every one of them is a soldier. And when we talk about migrants and refugees, we are talking about the peaceful civilian population, to whom prejudices are transferred, caused by one reason or another, but which are not characteristic of these individuals.

So the fear of transformers is justified, almost every one of them participated in a devastating war for the Earth, most likely almost every Decepticon killed people. And people probably remembered who killed their soldiers, what their names were and what they looked like, because, most likely, during the war there were warnings everywhere about who and what to be afraid of. So why should we be surprised again by people who want to catch runaway Decepticons? Especially when there is the following reason.

Cybertronians do not feel guilty and do not do anything to make Earth their home. They brought destruction here, they are stuck on this planet through their own fault. Maybe they helped people rebuild cities? We don't know. Maybe they shared their technology as payment for what they had done? We don't know. Maybe the Decepticons tried to establish relations with people, but their attempt was rejected? WE DON'T KNOW ANYTHING! All we were shown was a deliberately GHOST-filmed film about how Cybertronians help build a bridge. According to the narrative, it is clear that transformers usually do not do this. And some of them are still dangerous to society. So why should people accept them with open arms in principle? People also have to provide them with energon at their own expense!

Cybertronians are not migrants, because they did not move to Earth of their own free will. Cybertronians are not migrants because there are no civilians among them. Cybertronians are not migrants, because migrants do not come to destroy the place where they are going to live (or do the authors think otherwise?).

I don't even want to describe how dumb the scene was with the underground transformers fights. Just to remind you that in the real world, this is entertainment for very rich people, for obvious reasons. Because they can provide a very big prize, which is what the fighters are fighting for. Tell me, someone, where did common residents of the city get so much money for a prize energon? Where do they even get it, their own underground production in the basement of an old lady? The series tries to touch on serious topics, and then shows THAT. Or do the authors imagine the life of migrants exactly as survival on the run and in underground arenas? But aren't such ideas already racist?)))

7. People are bad again, and the authors lead to the fact that people are the main villains.

Based on the previous point, we have the trope "people are real monsters" here again. Which, under the conditions shown in the series, does not work. But something tells me that the authors are trying to bring the plot and morality to the fact that it is people who will be wrong, that people actually provoked the poor Decepticons to aggression, and in the end they will definitely realize this and apologize. Most likely, they will even kneel down to fully show their remorse.

And all of this in general gives a very strange message. Basically, everyone who didn't like transformers is shown to be bad people, and two even died a pretty terrible and painful death. And only those who like Cybertronians are shown to be good people.

It feels like the show is trying to send a message — accept transformers or die. And this is some kind of very painful message, because it literally says: "You either forgive these guys who have killed a lot of people, are stuck here and some of them continue to cause harm, or you are a terrible person and die altogether".

8. Meridian.

I would like to say that everything is fine here, and I will say it. Meridian is a really stand-out character, an ambiguous villain with understandable motivation, not just evil because evil. But there are also strange moments in his development.

The strange thing is that the authors never gave him a name. Like, what's the idea? One person suggested an interesting theory (I will not mention the nickname in case a person does not want to be associated with what I am writing here) that the authors wanted to show that anyone who lives with hatred and a desire for revenge can be a Mandroid. This is interesting, but it is unlikely that the authors have put such a deep thought into it. Moreover, he has too many characteristic features and moments of backstory that cannot serve as points of connection with the viewer.

It is also strange that the audience was not clearly shown his background. How exactly did he lose his arm, how was he saved by Arachnamechs, why does he have such an attitude towards Croft, how is he connected with Alex. We don't know anything for sure, if I'm not mistaken, we've never been shown any of his flashbacks. And since he's dead, there's no one to tell his story, so we won't know anything about him anymore.

The prerequisites for a connection with Alex were not developed. In the early episodes, Meridian reacted quite emotionally to Alex, but when they met... nothing? They could have been friends or at least colleagues, it would have added depth to the characters, but this is another case of forgotten premises.

We were hinted that something had happened to him, he himself said that Arachnamechs had changed him in some way so that he would survive, and partly he was also technoorganic (?), but this information did not lead to anything.

No less strange is that the authors decided to go all the way with the idea of "you become what you hate." The problem is that Meridian has never become anything like a transformer. Yes, he replaced his hands at first, but then mutated into something else, but obviously organic or at least technoorganic. His final form is either a technical part, or just a shell that doesn't even transform. So Thrash's phrase in the finale doesn't make sense, because Meridian didn't become what he hates, he became something else. The authors could have changed their original plan and pointed out how much he lost himself, became unrecognizably unlike a human in him because of all this revenge, but they did not.

And, if we return to the argument with Thrash, transformers are really not people, so here the authors confuse the viewer, because the viewer must agree with Thrash. But how can you agree with him if he calls two different species by the same name? Or is it a feature of the English language? I don't understand.

Actually, that's enough. I believe that Meridian was right in principle that he wanted to rid the Earth of the cybertronians, since at that time they had done nothing good to the planet and humans. That's it, I declare the #DrMeridianWasRight movement.

9. What about Croft?

It turned out to be very strange with Croft. We absolutely don't know her motivation, why she doesn't like Cybertronians, what happened in her past to get her to the point of wanting to take over Cybertron. Maybe she lost someone in the war, or was she affected by this war? Does she want revenge or is she just ambitious? No, she's just an evil blonde (or gray-haired) woman.

And the choice of death is strange. This is very cruel for a character who has done almost nothing in front of the viewers. It's okay if she tortured the Decepticons, but they just sit in the cells, and what the GHOST did to the Decepticons during the Hashtag infiltration into the base in the episode "Hashtag: Oops" was not explained at all.

What is the backstory of her and Meridian? Why do they treat each other like that? Again, we don't know anything.

And that would be fine for a simpler show, but this cartoon has already shown that it's going to work out the characters and give them some motivation, but not in her case. Or did the authors think that it was enough for the audience that her name was Karen? I don't know. Someone said that she didn't need motivation because she was just evil and there wasn't always a reason to hate. But this is not the case, and any psychologist will tell you (including me) that there are always reasons for hatred, even subconscious and erratic ones, but they are there. There is no groundless hatred, in this case there may be an erratic reason that we do not know and will probably never know anymore.

Part 1. Part 2. Part 3.

[dailymothanon]

No art today cuz I’m out on a lil trip; but I did make this awhile ago 🤔 some of it may be incorrect btw but I’m no engineer or expert at this… just read a lil bit on this and found it interesting cuz I was wondering about the bits on Soundwave’s back and if they could move like typical seeker wings 🤔 conclusion ??? Idk at all 😏 like ik the hc with wings being a lil sensitive but you’re telling me my girl is out there practically kicking people with her wing legs⁉️ but yknow I’m just wondering what headcanons could come outta the ruddervons/ruddervators… I think it’s interesting

[catthepillarr]

"Soon, I lost all contact with Cybertron, and I know my mission to find you could not fail."

Call me crazy, but I have a theory.

I really like the theory that Tfes Prowl expresses affection through physical touch, which is proven by the multiple times he has hugged several people throughout season 3. (I think the most convincing argument would be the last episode in which Prowl hugs Megatron whilst saying "I appreciate you, Megatron." It can't be more blatant than that, really.) But it got me thinking, why? Why is this iteration of Prowl so comfortable with physical interactions? You can say, "the writers wanted to add some variety to his personality", or simply for shock value, but I think that's too surface-level.

In episode 4, Prowl is introduced. He says "Optimus Prime, I have been searching the galaxies for you." and "My departure from Cybertron was ages ago". I think from these two lines, it's pretty obvious Prowl has been isolated for a prolonged period of time (which is also emphasised by the large, empty troop transport ship). This is corroborated by the statement that he has "lost all contact with Cybertron". Hence, it really isn't hard to believe that the reason why Prowl is going around hugging people is simply because he's just touch-starved. Like seriously, it's not too far-fetched to make that inference. Solitary isolation has been scientifically proven to cause one to crave stimulation which is taken away from individuals who lack the opportunity to interact with others.

Of course, this is literally just a headcanon I'm vehemently trying to justify but isn't it entertaining to rotate the thought of Prowl, of all people, desperately craving contact because he has been deprived of it for so long?

Additionally, just for fun, isn't it also extremely entertaining to just theorise that the reason why Prowl is hugging the people he feels comfortable around is not solely because of his desperation but also because his prolonged solitude has warped his mind into believing physical interactions are now a priority?

Seriously, do you really understand just how entertaining it is to think about just how desperate Prowl was to find Optimus? The emotions long neglected reopening like old wounds when he finally sees his long lost allies?? Do you see the potential for angst??? Can you imagine how sad that little wet cat would be if someone had pushed him away when he tried to hug them jsjdfjfj????

Sorry guys I really like Prowl

[eashgirl]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[transformers-earthspark]

TF: EARTHSPARK - SEASON 2 TRAILER

New episodes (presumably 1-10) will be released on Paramount+ June 7th.

[monocle-teacup]

Most of Dot's bios emphasize that a large reason why she gets along so well with Megatron is because of how similar they are. This isn't a flex, especially when you realize that she's a watered down version of his worst qualities like being controlling, selfish/possessive, arrogant, and how comfortable they are using aggression. To sum up these qualities in Dot using canon: -The Maltos moved to Witwicky because that's what Dot wanted -Her reaction to Robby being understandably upset about moving is to angrily lecture him for daring to voice his thoughts. In general, she quickly/firmly shuts down anyone that questions her. Alex and Mo freeze during the scene with Robby. -The only time Alex objects to what she wants is during Prime Time (which is a train wreck in terms of writing quality) when he convinces her to let Mo fight Mandroid. The rest of the time he cheerfully goes with the flow and does nothing about the problematic behavior running rampant in the family. -The only times she shuts down the kids and Terrans problematic behavior is when it specifically affects her such as Nightshade altering her prosthetic -The way she stresses the concept of family paired with how isolated they are. It's always MY family -The Terrans, Robby, and Mo's ignorance about the War, especially when it comes to Megatron's past comes across as being very intentional. According to bios, the only reason she isn't bitter about losing her leg is because she became Megatron's friend and clearly thinks herself as SPECIAL for this -There's enough evidence to support she's the reason why the Maltos handle negative feelings the way they do -Yes, multiple instances of her being aggressive is a result of wanting to protect her family, but the majority of them are very 'act first then think later'. For example, the possibility of her and Megatron being immediately killed by the Arachnamechs after she punches Mandroid clearly doesn't cross her mind. -If she can't solve a problem via force/aggression, she either runs away/avoids/ignores it -Her lessons/words of wisdom often comes across as sanctimonious such as her response to Mandroid's backstory essentially being: "I lost my leg and I didn't turn into an asshole." She's angry when she says the line.

[name-is-tired]

The starscream brain rot be hitting hard. And I have another song idea that fits him which has turned into a character analysis as well.

'The Mind Electric' with the bits that goes

"Someone help me understand what's going on inside my mind" could be the change of Starscream's mentality due to the normalisation of his abuse and how he views it as -normal-. And if it's Skybound it could be whatever the hell Megatron did to force Starscream to kill the prisoners when he first joined.

"Doctor I can't tell if I'm not me" literally the post war Starscream being paranoid he's not the same person at all as he was before like a clone maybe and the fact that he can't form connections with anyone. And again in Skybound it's the gap between Ulchtar and Starscream.

"See how I laugh at you" resembles Starscream constant undermining of others to make him feel better due to his insecurities and also the fact that his whole life he was laughed at so he does it back similar to the "abuse cycle".

"No you'll never understand" right after that bit shows how nobody has been in his situation and nobody tried to understand or reach out to help him mentally without blaming him for it or even just completely brushing it off. Also highlights how nobody believes him when he tries to talk about the abuse (Hashtag did tho even said how she believes Megatron who she looked up to a bit ig hurt him, a complete 180 of what everyone else does and the fact that she is close to Megatron but isn't brushing it off says so much -nobody has mentioned this from what I've read which is weird cause it just shows how clear Starscream's PTSD is (also fuck Hasbro for taking it away from us)). Saying how he brought it upon himself and that he kept trying to usurp Megatron meant he deserved it. And again shows how he can't grow attachments cause nobody views him as a victim only a failure who deserves his punishment so they don't find reason behind his actions. Not trying to "understand" why he hurts people or in the songs case "laugh" at them because they don't see him as a product of abuse that needs to be cared for. Only a bot who's worse than Megatron ever was.

Or this version

[a-blog-for-venting-i-guess]

Optimus’ attitude towards Megatron’s betrayal at the end of tf one is very ironic when you take into account earthspark’s premise. (I know they’re separate continuities but hear me out)

TF One’s ending shows Optimus does not think any relationship with Megatron is salvageable. Even before the final fight, Optimus’ first words are,

“We could’ve built the future together.”

Megatron doesn’t process it until the banishment, (his answer to this, “I’ll build it myself,” before charging to attack, and his later shock at the banishment, suggest to me he didn’t even realize that Optimus wasn’t offering some form of Olive Branch or forgiveness) but it’s clear to me Optimus had already given up on his best friend. There was no going back to what they had. But at the same time, part of Optimus desperately wants Megatron to understand why he also chose to let go.

“We could’ve built the future together.”

“We were given the power to change our world but you chose to destroy it, just like Sentinel. You betrayed cybertron and its citizens. And you betrayed… me.”

“It didn’t have to end this way.”

Yet as always, Megatron refuses to take any of the blame.

“This isn’t over… Prime.”

Optimus even had an internal monologue about it. The conflict is key. He acknowledges the line between friend and foe can be blurry but is adamant that once it’s crossed, there can be no going back.

“The line between friend and enemy is not as clear as I once believed. Once it’s crossed, there is no going back, because some transformations are permanent.”

This line is especially fun to think about with Earthspark’s existence. Yes, they are separate continuities, but regardless, it proves Optimus in Transformers One IS WRONG. People can change. They can see they screwed up and try to make amends. It is possible for Megatron to do this.

Whether or not TF One Optimus is willing to give his Megatron another chance should said Megatron ever see the error in his ways is another layer to this. One that, if a sequel of some kind is ever made, I hope they explore.

Granted that would mean this Megs would need a LOT of character development, but I’d love to see him realized he messed up and then Optimus is the one that acts cold in response and has to warm up to the idea of forgiving Megs.

I would love to explore this in a fanfic. But I am both lazy and lack wider knowledge of this franchise and its characters. And unlike Star Trek I don’t feel confident enough to fake it till I make it. So I’ll just think of various scenarios in my head.

[vynxwave]

You:

~arceespinkgun

HAHSGZG YEAH

world must know EarthSpark Starscream’s plan in S2 didn’t come out of nowhere as commonly believed, but instead it began in S1!

[vihattu-thethoroughbredofsin]

EarthSpark: When the script is not your strong suit. Part 1.

Part 1. Part 2. Part 3.

I will say in advance that I do not hate this series, but I have a lot of questions and complaints about some plot points. These posts are also an invitation to discussion, but first I recommend reading to the end (if someone is interested, of course).

let's get started. It's going to be a long song.…

1. The unevenness of the narrative, forgotten moments, strange plot twists.

Many people, including me, have already talked about this, there are many moments in the series when events develop too quickly and occur without prior construction and prerequisites. This is especially noticeable in the filler series, which had no consequences for the narrative, despite the fact that events predisposed to this. For example, the episodes "Traditions", "Bear Necessities", "Decoy", "Friends and Family". In the first of these episodes, Alex recognized the signs of his colleague's inventions. Has anyone remembered this and tried to find out where Arachnamechs came from? No.

The mutant bear didn't surprise anyone at all. Why did the GHOST throw waste in the forest at all? There's no point in doing it so openly, and if there was a goal, what was it? We never found out. This is an extremely cheap way to show how much the GHOST is an evil organization that spoils nature. This is a militarized organization, where do they get hazardous waste, in principle, if specifically they are not part of military production and their base is obviously not some kind of factory? If this is waste from scientific research, then again, from where? It was not shown that the GHOST was studying or inventing anything until Meridian returned to them. And even if that's the case, what's the point of Croft throwing away evidence of some dark business of the organization where they can be found by the person whom Croft herself lured here to work? The only thing that helped the whole situation was that Dot and everyone else just forgot about this meeting with the mutant bear and did not start an investigation. And anyway, how long has this been going on? It would be a good move to show at the end of the episode "Traditions" a hint of these mutants, which the locals mistook for cryptids. By the way, is Dot a good ranger if she's not interested in what happened to that bear in the woods?

What about "Prime Time"? Apart from all the oddities, no one tried to figure out what kind of ship it was, is it really in orbit, what happened at all? Where did the Meridian go? Isn't anyone interested? Okay. By the way, it turns out that Robby alone could be enough to create Twitch and Thrash? Why? By what logic does the creation of Terrans work at all?! What's going on in this episode, help!

The entire episode of "Decoy" turned out to be useless because the beginning of the episode " Warzone" was cut out. And how would it be, how did it happen that the creators of the series cut out the plot outcome of another episode? At least they would have said that everything that happened was the work of Soundwave and Ravage.

Or an episode of "Friends and Family"? Did Bumblebee forget about the inscription and the drawing, did the whole family forget to get a supply of this water? Considering that this resource eventually disappeared! What did the Terrans eat after the episode "What Dwells Within"?! And if they had to hide for a long time, wouldn't it be worth having a supply of this water?

I'll just leave it without comment that for a long time the children did not even think about telling how the Terrans were born.

And that's not even the whole list. I do not know how it was possible to overlook such inconsistencies and nonsense.

2. Parents do not receive attention in the plot and because of this they look negligent.

The series, which began and is mainly positioned as focusing on the family, decided very early to sideline the parents, Dot and Alex, reducing their role and significance, but most importantly, the logic of the plot. That is, attentive and caring parents do not try to protect their children from getting into various fights and dangerous situations? I understand that the plot should be happening, but they could have expressed their fears, tried unsuccessfully to stop the children or talk to the Cybertronians about it, at least with Arcee, who instead of looking after the children went with them to fight with Soundwave! Are parents satisfied with such "babysitters"? Fine.

How considerate is Dot as a mother if, knowing that a free-roaming Decepticon has appeared in the area, which has already attacked people in the city, she did not think to call home and warn her family about it? This is "House Rules", and we remember how it could have ended for Mo and Thrash.

How considerate are Dot and Alex if, knowing that one of their children may be constantly connected to the Internet, they don't do anything about it? No attempt to control what exactly the Hashtag can see there? No explanation of the rules of behavior on the Internet and possible dangers? This is a show for kids, it could make a good educational episode or part of it, but so, are they waiting for this to become a problem to solve it next season?

One of your children has built a whole bunker out of materials that came from nowhere and constructs often dangerous inventions. What should parents do about it? Probably nothing, they don't need to ask questions, they don't need to control and supervise the safety of this child and the rest of the children, they don't need to look for a teacher, at least a Wheeljack. Why, because in "Bear Necessities" we were not shown the consequences.

Alex is our historian, but it doesn't affect anything beyond the first episode. Did he discover the similarity of Arachnamechs to his colleague's inventions? No, it's not worth investigating. Any historical information is told by one of the transformers, but not by him, although he could tell both his children and us some historical facts important to the plot. Information about Primes and artifacts? No, he didn't tell it, although he could have started with the basics, and the Cybertronians would have completed it. The battle at the space bridge? No, Megatron told about it. What's the point of making a character a historian if you don't give him the opportunity to use his knowledge?

Besides, Alex, by hints, had some kind of connection with the Meridian. This can be understood from the remarks from both Alex and Meridian, which were supported by the acting of the voice actors. But what did it lead to? How did this fact affect their meeting? How did it help to defeat Meridian? Did this give a backstory to either of them? The answer to all questions is no. Then why was this connection added?

Because of all this, Dot and Alex seem to be very neglectful parents who either don't understand what's going on or don't consider it serious. And this is very strange, because they were not originally written like that, and all these situations could have been solved by a couple of lines in the script, but the authors did not think of it.

3. Dads-2 don't make sense.

Well, the main theme of the series is family. And it seems like it is. And then, starting from the second part of the first season, the authors began to conveniently push the parents to the second and third plan, as mentioned in the paragraph above.

But the family doesn't end only with Malto, because this also applies to Cybertronians, who are mentors for Terrans or, as the fandom prefers to call them, dads-2. And it seems like the idea is clear, the Terrans are a bridge between humanity and the cybertronians, they have a human family and there must be someone who will provide connection with the Cybertronians. In addition, the show should show as many recognizable characters as possible in order to attract viewers familiar with the franchise, this is understandable. So how does the plot handle this?

Twitch and Wheeljack. Okay, he created a drone that she scanned and showed her which set of weapons she had. And after that, he disappeared from the plot, although he had several opportunities to help the Terrans, especially Nightshade. If it's expensive to invite a voice actor and add model to an episode, then authors could at least mention him.

Nightshade and Tarantulas. Okay, Tarantulas didn't teach Nightshade anything, because Nightshade already knows everything, he didn't teach any moral lesson, he was going to hurt Dot and Alex. A great dad-2, but apparently the fandom knows better. Nightshade even acquired an altmod in response to the danger posed by the Tarantulas, and this cannot be called a help, if you replace it with any other threat, nothing will change. Well, yes, an excellent dad-2 of a possible war criminal scientist, but more on that later.

Hashtag and Starscream. This is more of a fandom declaring Starscream the dad-2 for the Hashtag, but still. Everything is simple here, Hashtag serves as a plot justificator for Starscream's behavior, which will be discussed later, and no more.

Jawbreaker and Grimlock. It's not that bad here, and Grimlock has a lot to teach Jawbreaker. But do parents not care about the fact that one of their children will be taught by someone with serious PTSD and a problem with anger control?

And for some reason, the fandom appoints Swindle as the dad-2 for Trash. Should I remind you that Swindle used Trash and Mo and later threatened them, maybe even could have killed them? Is everything okay, a good role model?

In the end, this is another thing that the authors wrote into the plot and did not develop.

4. Terrans lose their features and look just like young cybertronians.

The question arises that we are constantly being pointed out that Terrans are important for the future of transformers, that they are unique in their nature. But how is it shown, what does it mean and what does it affect? They are techno-organic, but what exactly distinguishes them from Cybertronians? Do they drink some kind of unusual water instead of energon and can scan fossilized bones? Seriously, what else? Did they appear in an unusual way? And how do we know how ordinary Cybertronians appear, maybe in the same way, but with the help of another artifact and another water. Why would add a technoorganicity characteristic and not really do anything about it? Everything the Cybertronians teach them works, although we should have expected some differences in their functioning and the work of their bodies.

I don't think the situation will change in the second season, but we'll see.

5. The development of Robby and Mo is not consistent.

Why did such a remark from Mo appear in a conversation with Jawbreaker about the fact that no one takes her seriously because she is a girl? This never happened in the series, no one told her that, on the contrary, she was always on a par with Robby. Besides, her mom is a former soldier, how could there be such conversations in such a family? And everything is simple, it was added at the last moment for the sake of something unclear.

In general, their whole development is strange, the viewer seems to be told that both Robbie and Mo are important for some kind of "prophecy", but is it implied that Mo is more important, especially with his healing powers? What does that even mean? Why was the prophecy introduced? For some reason, the authors completely abandoned Robby's arch that he wants to be a defender of his family and is trying to be a leader? He should have had this arch on a par with Twitch, but Twitch took over the whole role. In addition, the final phrase of the parents in the episode "Prime Time" looks very strange when they say that Mo is special. They have a recently dying son sitting next to them! Which, as the episode showed, is also special on a par with Mo! Why was this phrase only about Mo, if it contradicts the whole morality of the episode?

Part 1. Part 2. Part 3.

[cityzenshark]

It's funny how the story's attempt to make GHOST be Cemetary Wind 2.0 when the actually vibe I get from them is NEST turned into an international police force.

Not to mention the Ghoids always wear masks to hide the fact they are robots. Human GHOST agents show their faces.

My point is GHOST is a *shady organization with good intentions*. Just note how every Decepticon in the prison are notably those who have caused harm and are ready to do more harm at any second. The only GHOST member doing all the bad thing is....

...dun DUN...

Executive Agent Croft!

Just her alone.

Now tell me again why does GHOST collapse over a single executive agent? She can't be the only executive agent. And she's definitely not the director of GHOST.

The G for GHOST stands for ghost, not global apparently.

.

EDIT: Alright, I see another faulty writing in the worldbuilding here.

To make GHOST evil-evil, Croft has to be its Director or at least one of the top positions, not executive agent. Schloder's position is only "Agent" yet so many other agents follow his command. It makes Croft's position merely right above him, not that high above as we thought it was. Croft can be extra intimidating if she became director after doing something to the previous director who wanted to help all Cybertronians return to their home.

[earthstellar]

TF Earthspark S1 Episode 21: What it Means to Be Believed -- An Analysis Post

Putting this analysis behind a spoiler cut, as these episodes came out today!

The conversation between Hashtag and Starscream here immediately reminded me of the times I've spoken with abuse victims.

Hashtag: Is this how Megatron treated you?

Starscream: ...You believe me?

Hashtag: I believe he hurt you.

Starscream: You don't know me! You couldn't possibly understand what I've been through!

Hashtag: Then tell me. When bad things happen, it isn't always our fault. There was this Mandroid guy, and he hacked my systems! And I...

So, let's talk about this exchange.

Starscream starts out aggressively just before this conversation, attempting to order Hashtag around.

She declines, and immediately identifies that Starscream's behaviour has likely been informed by prior abuse.

She highlights this in the moment and gets Starscream to notice his verbally aggressive approach by making him realise that he is behaving how Megatron used to treat him-- She does this by using questioning, not by using accusatory language.

This is REALLY IMPORTANT, and is a good approach. When someone is behaving poorly or offensively, encourage them to reflect in the moment by posing a question. It prevents any sense of being challenged, as they are now set up to challenge themselves. "Is my behaviour actually negative? Am I being hurtful?"

This approach is successful, and stops Starscream outright.

It shocks him, to be given the leeway of genuine understanding. This catches him off guard so severely, that we actually get a totally honest reply from him. "You believe me?"

Which is a really significant moment, because Starscream is constantly subject to being, essentially, assumed evil. The other bots often see his negative behaviour and lashing out in a very surface-level kind of way; They don't further investigate or try to think about why, exactly, Starscream is like this.

We don't know how he used to be, before the war or during the war, in this continuity quite yet. But it is heavily implied that a lot of his current behaviour is informed by trauma, and some of that trauma very clearly stems from his prior relationship with Megatron.

Starscream is genuinely surprised that anyone is willing to look past that surface level and actually think: Why is he like this? Where is this behaviour coming from?

Hashtag rightly identifies that what Starscream is saying and how he is saying it is very reminiscent of commanding language; She knows Megatron was his superior officer during the war. She knows Starscream has a poor relationship with Megatron. She knows that as a lower ranked Decepticon, he likely was subject to at least some mistreatment, and that mistreatment is echoed in his "taking command" approach here.

Because to Starscream, "taking command" means being aggressive and controlling. It means using intimidation and belittlement to stay on top.

And Hashtag rightly assumes that this is likely because this is how Megatron did it.

This is how Megatron treated him.

Of course, Starscream responds defensively, as anyone might expect.

It hurts to become aware that you are mirroring harmful behaviour, that you are acting out your hurt on others in a way that hurt was inflicted upon you, and Starscream understandably retorts by claiming that of course, Hashtag doesn't know him-- Or, it is implied, his past.

He is trying to protect himself or instil a sense of control over the conversation by creating distance, while also trying to work up some defensive anger in himself-- How presumptuous of her, to assume!

Except, she's right. And he knows that.

So instead of throwing a fit, he listens when she continues.

Hashtag does two very correct things here:

First, she lets Starscream know that she encourages him to talk about it. She's willing to listen.

Second, she offers some support by starting to talk about her own experience of being abused-- When Mandroid took away her self-agency and assumed control of her.

This is a good and fairly common way that abuse victims tend to offer support to one another; It's often encouraged in certain types of group therapy or support sessions for people to share similar experiences, or experiences that evoked similar feelings, when it's appropriate and beneficial for those present (including the speaker) to do so.

She is attempting to reinforce to Starscream that even though she might not know his pain, she knows her own-- By sharing that trauma with him and being vulnerable herself, that might provide a connection point for them both and could possibly encourage Starscream to open up a bit to her.

This is roughly where the conversation is interrupted, so we don't get to hear Starscream's response.

But I think Hashtag intuitively had a very good approach here: She identified a traumatised person lashing out in a way that was familiar to them but harmful to others, in a way that is indicative of potential prior abuse, and made an effort to provide a safe opportunity for Starscream to talk it out without any fear of repercussions.

She made sure Starscream knows that she is listening and paying attention to him.

She made sure Starscream knows that she believes him, that he does have someone willing to hear his side of the story and genuinely take him at his word.

And that is immensely important; It is common for abuse victims and traumatised people to attempt to self-isolate or lash out, and she saw through Starscream's behaviour here for what it was: An abused person lashing out, trying to close off, behaving in hurtful ways that reflect the hurtful ways they were treated as a defence mechanism.

Starscream needs someone like Hashtag, who won't judge him based on preconceived notions of who he was as a Decepticon, who is willing to listen and give him an opportunity, who is willing to counter his withdrawal by providing honesty and letting him know that she wants to keep the conversation open and give him the space to speak freely about his hurt.

I also especially like that she makes a point of mentioning that we are not at fault for how we are hurt by others. We're not always in control of how we feel, or how we express our feelings.

She doesn't blame Starscream for lashing out. She gets it.

Alleviating Shame: It Is Not Your Fault

Hashtag had her autonomy violated in a very serious way, and although it's not the same thing, Starscream as part of a militarised faction and command structure lost a lot of his autonomy to his service under Megatron-- You don't get to walk away if you're second in command, assuming he held that same position in this continuity for most if not all of the war.

Hashtag is forced to deal with what Mandroid did to her, and Starscream is forced to deal with how Megatron treated him.

Neither of them had any say in what happened to them, or what was done to them, or how it hurts afterwards.

Hashtag knows she has support from her family, but who does Starscream really have? The other fliers, sure, but to what degree? How much support does Starscream really get from anyone, ever?

By letting him know she's been hurt too, even though she didn't get to finish her sentence, she's let him know that he's not entirely alone.

By making the point that nobody can be responsible for what others do to them, Starscream is told outright-- possibly for the first time--that the way Megatron treated him is not his fault.

Internalised Blame: Guilt and Failure Under Megatron's Command

Starscream may very well blame himself, to some degree; We don't know exactly how he's internalised anything, but we do know that Starscream was reasonably high ranking, and was in that command structure for most of the war.

In most militarised ranking structures, it is often the case that officers are considered responsible for errors, mistakes, losses etc. that may fall under a branch of their command which are many times realistically somewhat beyond their ability to control.

This can be a significant source of internalised blame for a lot of former military officers or even military personnel in general; "We lost X soldiers/civilians/etc. and it was my fault" is not an uncommon sentiment, even when realistically it is no single individual's fault and certain circumstances or occurrences are beyond anyone's control.

Megatron likely came down hard on Starscream for any losses, whether it was territory, soldiers, or anything else. He likely came down hard on Starscream for just about anything, after a certain point.

It's entirely possible that Starscream started to internalise these situations as personal blame, as both a result of serving in a war where officers are held ultimately accountable, and as a result of Megatron's treatment of him in general.

He may not have been able to separate "challenges experienced as a commander" and "personal failings" after a while.

And any further/prolonged abuse from Megatron would have only compounded that trend of internalising anything and everything as blame, failure, his own fault-- Not as an officer, but as a person-- Even if it explicitly could not have been.

Emulating Harmful Behaviours: Identify, Understand, Address

This would go some way to partially explaining why Starscream starts to exhibit this aggressive, commanding behaviour; He ends up likely unintentionally emulating Megatron's harmful leadership style, because he sees Megatron as being successful and powerful and in control, while he feels as though he is the opposite in every way.

Abuse has a tendency to make people feel less-than. It can remove people's sense of agency and confidence. It can make people think that their personal traits or inherent elements of their self are suddenly no good, that they could have done something or should have done something, if they were "better".

This is one way that abused people can sometimes start copying or reflecting harmful behaviours from their abusers; They don't know what else they can do. They may be disconnected from themselves to the degree that adopting these behaviours seems like the only "right" option, because it's the only thing that makes people back off, that makes them have that sense of strength or control that their abuser has stripped from them.

I say this a lot in some of my posts, but it's important to remember that while a behaviour may not be OK, we do need to understand.

It's important to recognise this type of repeating back prior experienced abuse, and to not dismiss people who may be hurt when they are lashing out or copying abusive behaviour-- It's important when safe and appropriate to do so to identify this is happening, to make an effort to understand it, and help the person do the same. That's when addressing internalised abusive behaviours can start.

This can take a lot of work, therapy, support, etc. to start identifying, let alone start addressing it-- But it's very possible for abuse victims to restore their sense of self and regain confidence in their capability and identity.

When abused people reflect back prior abusive behaviours that they have experienced, this does not make them a bad person. It means they have been abused, and they may need help to realise they are doing this, and may need help to identify why in a safe way, and may need help to start actually processing trauma in a healthier way for themselves and others.

Hashtag has opened a door for Starscream in more than one way, in this episode.

She's giving him a chance to do this.

She's helping him identify his harmful behaviours, she's acknowledging that he feels bad, that he was made to feel less-than, in ways that she might not have experienced herself-- But she's experienced similar feelings if not the same exact situations, and she's willing to share her own trauma with him. Hopefully he feels he can share with her, too.

I've spoken with plenty of abuse victims, and it's common to hear "You weren't there, you don't know!" or similar retorts when attempting to encourage conversation around some sensitive or traumatising memories or experiences.

It's not always appropriate to provide one's own traumatic experiences in response, but in cases where it is safe and appropriate to do so, I have rolled up my own sleeves and shown my own scars. I have talked about my own traumas as a way of showing support and as a way of showing someone that even if their individual experiences were unique, the feelings they experienced were not, and those feelings can provide a common ground and help provide a point around which to help build rapport. It can also help provide perspective, external to themselves, which can be ultimately positive.

It can also be a show of good faith: I'm not going to judge you. I believe you. I have been hurt, too. Our situations are different, but the way we were made to feel at times was similar.

When appropriate, this can be a pretty effective way to help someone open up about things that are potentially very hard to talk about, or to discuss feelings that are very complex or "tangled" in a way that takes some work to sort out in a healthier, safer way.

Hashtag offered her own traumatic experience to Starscream here, as a way of hopefully meeting Starscream halfway.

And hopefully, it was at least to some degree successful.

So I think Hashtag did a great job in this scene, and I hope we see Starscream take this opportunity that has been afforded to him to give the Malto Bots a chance...

...And to give himself a chance, as well.

----

This is entirely unedited as I continue to watch the episode, as I just got home from work, but I hope it was interesting to someone! :)

[torpedopickle]

I finally watched Transformers Earthspark Season 2 today. I have a lot of thoughts and I wrote some paragraphs for every episode. As you can see I wrote a LOT, enjoy my way too long cartoon analysis:

Episode 1: the cracks are showing but it hasn't crumbled yet

The animation feels less alive than in season 1 even if strong storyboarding still carries some scenes, as I know several of the season 1 storyboarders did work on this episode. It has a couple good sequences, a couple incredibly stilted ones. The overreliance on slowmo feels weird, and the animation struggles to properly convey things, like how we're supposed to take Hashtag's injury very seriously, but it just looked like she got bumped lightly.

the Decepticons are butchered and watered down into "evil because they're Decepticons". Chaos Terrans is an interesting concept and the way they're executing Aftermath would provide a foundation for exploring topics such as delinquent youth, but knowing how the series will go on to treat them in later episodes, I'm not hopeful.

the Maltos feel like they're sleepwalking. They have a lot of screentime but for some reason they don't feel present at all, it's like I'm watching their shadows move around on screen without the things that made them feel alive shining through.

If I didn't know beforehand what this season would eventually stagnate into, I could see myself being fooled into thinking the gripes I have with this episode are just growing pains, however i'm not so hopeful.

Episode 2: Improved in some ways but not in others. The episode premise is decent, and the narrower focus compared to episode 1 does help make the focus characters feel a bit more like themselves again. Unfortunately i just don't think the premise was utilized well at all. Introducing quintessons to the conflict is kind of a big development, but it doesn't flesh them out well IMO. They treat them like wild animals with no characterization for a majority of it, and then hint at some deeper conflicts at the very 3nd before promptly disposingof them. So ultimately it feels unsatisfying (although we do get some expositon in episode 9, but it doesn't add up to much).

And once again i must comment on the character acting on the humans especially being severely lacking.

Robbie and Mo having helmets for like half their screentime definitely feels like a cut corner not to animate their faces

Episode 3 review: some well animated sequences this time around, i'd seen the storyboards for them on twitter and they're really well done, but then there's some others that really werent as decent, so big ups and down in animation quality. Most of the episode did feel like a slight return to formula for Earthspark tho, with how it felt like it was actually making a point about something for once, which so far has been rare in season 2, although the conclusion wasn't the most satisfying with the whole "you can't have everything" message but then hashtag kinda gets most of what she wanted anyway.

Episode 4 is like.... baffling.

Like the fact that they swapped to a wholly different and much cheaper animation studio was so far just somewhat shining through, but now it's impossible to unsee. The animation here feels BEYOND stilted, in every way. Like not even the 2D FX animation looked convincing this time. That clip of Robbie dropping a cake is the weirdest animated thing i've ever seen. It's like it gets sucked out of his hands by a magnet.

The Faire Maestro is a type of character I feel like would have been handled really well in Transformers Animated but was just kinda nothing here, super ugly design too and very odd voice direction. Lots of just bizarre and mindboggling things in this episode, like them seeing faire maestro having an emberstone shard, and then deciding to steal it right in front of his face for absolutely no reason even though they think he's a normal guy and not a villain. And tiny inconsistencies like Mo knowing his name even though he never said it. Bizarre episode all around, Weird Al cameo is cute but then he's gone.

Episode 5 review: Finally Jawbreaker gets to be in it. Except now he feels like a baby. Just a big stomping juvenile baby.

And speaking of big stomping babies, Aftermath is one too. He feels like he's supposed to be a representation of troubled/delinquent youth who don't get along with their peers and who don't have positive role models or a support network, but he really comes off as being just... chaotic, no real sense of interiority to him other than "I'm mean and I enjoy being mean and I can't help it". He's entertaining on a surface level vibes basis, but it doesn't feel like any attempts are being made at making a point. He's barely been in the show so pretty much anything that could make his character interesting is completely missing. Like there's no development of how the decepticons are raising him other than the basic assumption of "bad role models", and the decepticons barely get to be characters this season either. Aftermath feels like an Afterthought, as Chaos Terrans have basically been less than a footnote, and the series has attempted to do no form of storytelling with them beyond surface level observations that honestly feel insulting to the other characters like how the decepticons are just evil now, and the autobots/terrans have lost all nuanced expressions of empathy and solidarity in favor of just "they're generally friendly"

oh and also the evil mushrooms are boring.

Episode 6 review: Man this episode just *feels* wrong, like viscerally.

The show's handling of the chaos terrans just keeps getting worse. There's absolutely NOTHING about spitfire that compels any form of empathy. Like there's not even a mote of her being a troubled and misguided youth, she's just straight up ontologically cruel, like nothing about the conflict in this episode regards a failure to understand, communicate, or empathise with each other, it's just a straight up rejection of those things on both sides. For this chaos terran delinquent analogy thing to work you NEED there to be a sense of humanity or waywardness to them. You NEED to be able to conceive of them as being capable of more than just anger. This just feels meanspirited, especially the way the Maltos have no desire for Spitfire to be better. They just wholeheartedly accept that she's ontologically evil, and honestly, the way she's presented in this episode you'd think they were right, but they're not SUPPOSED to be right.

It sucks too cuz chaos terrans are a great idea

season 1's terrans were all representations of good natured minority kids, particularly third culture kids, who despite their best intentions and kindness end up having to fight for acceptance.

The chaos terrans are a natural progression of that, with depicting kids who end up on the fringe of society because they're inherently different from others and have a harder time being understood, and who don't have a support network to set them straight.

So it starts out in a place where they'd easily be able to build on it, but it's squandered imo. And for several reasons:

1. the Decepticons are 1 dimensional bad guys this season so they fail to capitalize on any potential storytelling they could have done with how their generational resentment might be passed down to the younger generation. They also fail to build any sort of relationship between the Chaos Terrans and the decepticons, so any obligation to stay or debt of gratitude that they might feel is just not there. You get no sense of why they'd want to be decepticons other than wanting to be enabled and encouraged for cruel behavior. They could have given breakdown an actual father son dynamic with aftermath but instead undercut it and play it for laughs.

2. Because the malto's solidarity have been completely watered down into just being "good guys", and never really get to articulate any sort of deeper point in their attempt to appeal to the chaos terrans, so you don't get a sense of how they might help them if they were allowed.

and 3. because the chaos terrans themselves don't really feel like they have much of an inner struggle, interiority, or conflict, it doesn't really feel like there's much of a foothold for

Anyone to latch onto to get through to them. Which makes them feel unredeemable.

so to reiterate and summarize these 3 points; 1. there's no sense of how the chaos terrans are being given negative reinforcement, 2. there's no sense of how the Maltos might help undo this, and 3. there's no sense of how the chaos terrans might want to be helped or not helped.

I understand that like part of the point is that they don't understand the chaos terrans, which supposedly makes them feel more alienated and further pushed towards anger, but there's no nuance or attempt at solidarity to the way these misunderstandings occur. Like there's no hint of Twitch and the Maltos trying their best to reach out to spitfire in meaningful ways. There's no sense of there being some fundamental difference in perspective or circumstance that make them able to understand eachother's point of view, it's just straight up "i tried to be nice but you were mean so now i won't be nice anymore" and it never goes beyond that. It's insulting how easily the Maltos give up on them.

Episode 7: serving as a direct followup to the last, it continues a lot of the same flaws. It squanders any chance of giving Spitfire some depth, like they could have spun her obsessive competitiveness into a deep-seated need for approval or validation or something, but no, she's as one dimensional as her behavior would suggest. Her behavior just becomes more and more destructive to a cartoonish degree where it no longer becomes possible to feel empathy for her.

the whole freaky friday misunderstanding thing too also feels super forced, which isn't helped by the animation failing to convey a lot of ideas.

Comparing this season to season 1 so far, man it just really sucks at juggling the characters. We've had practically 0 focus or development for any of the autobots and decepticons, and the maltos for that matter, despite their overwhelming screentime.

This is likely a casting budget thing. Which is why bumblebee has been demoted from main cast member to a guy who maybe says 2 lines every 3 episodes.

The quality of season 1's writing would go up and down quite drastically between episodes, but so far season 2 has consistently been on par with some of season 1's worse entries. It's juvenile and it has next to nothing to say about anything. Barely even any basic surface level messages, just mostly meaningless antics with next to no focus on exploring characters.

Episode 8 review: it's fine. No notes. It's a competent comedy episode. Fun premise with the whole "thing getting continuously stolen by different people" trope. Basing an episode around optimus's trailer is funny. Animation isn't stellar. Overall it's just an ok episode. I have nothing to say about it other than it's well executed even if it's not very ambitious.

Episode 9/10: okay! End of the season. The finale's mixed for me. In a different universe, this would have been an OK finale for the most part, but the fact that the season has tarnished every single character and plotline from season 1 and made no successful attempt at building anything new of value makes it lack any impact it could have had.

Interesting angle to flip the quintesson creator race narrative that transformers fans are used to. Although they too were an afterthought for this season. Aftermath and Spitfire getting killed really was the rotten cherry on top of their miserable cake. First they're treated like dirt by the story and handled as poorly as they could possibly be, squandering the excellent potential they had, but then they just kill them. Just so starscream's heelturn is even more evil. It honestly feels sad to me that they even bothered to acknowledge the fact that starscream was redeemble in season 1. Just makes it feel even more annoying that they conciously gave up trying to make him nuanced. Some of the animation was good. The shots of terratronus rising were very well composited and communicated the scale extremely well. As for the actual climax, it felt pretty lacking.

Overall a dissapointing season. A shadow of what earthspark was. Most of the characters are completely sidelined (likely for lack of a casting budget), and the few who aren't don't get a single story that feels reminiscent of that immensely strong sense of confident identity that season 1 had.

Hasbro cannot help themselves can they

[hmmimavillager]

the Prowl treatment in Earthspark??

I don't know if it was just me that was irked by this when watching Transformers ES Season 3 Episode 4, but the expectation that everyone had for Prowl to adapt to sudden change in an instant and get disappointed when he didn't is crazy. No, they will not just "get along" after years and years of being at war, and with Prowl still partially thinking they're at war with Megatron, of course they will not get along. What I found even more crazy is the fact that they'd go as far as to call him "rude", and Megatron himself calling Prowl "ignorant" as if he was supposed to know there was no war anymore?? The entirety of episode four is basically just Prowl getting berated by the cast for not immediately adapting to change. Everyone getting upset because Prowl is antsy around the guy he's been at war against for years now is insane. Is he brunt with the terrans sometimes? Yes, but as Prowl himself said, merely accepting them and humans along with the autobots is a FAR change from what he's used to.

[monocle-teacup]

What's really tragic about Mandroid is that it's heavily implied that he was a nice and good person before his accident. I find it hard to believe Alex would've been friends with him if Mandroid was an asshole to begin with. Also the fact that the writers would've been very upfront if he was an asshole prior to losing his arm.

The show does actually give us a glimpse of what Mandroid used to be like and that's during his conversation with Dot in Age of Evolution.

He's calm and polite to her, even after she punches and insults him. Notice how he has none of his usual smugness when talking to her. It's also the only time he smiles normally. His character was the perfect chance to explore the themes ES wanted to do, but the writers blew it.