#i love overanalyzing stuff

[robby-bobby-tommy]

So I've finished Transformers: Exodus and, for God's sake, I adore this book. It was really interesting and surprisingly thoughtful, cuz it brought up a lot of hard and heavy themes.

And now I really want to share one of my personal favorite moments of all book and discuss its themes.

But, before I begin I am obligated to warn you about spoilers. If you want to read TF:Exodus absolutely don't read my post. Ok? Good. So, once again, brace yourself for a scene analysis! Also, this is all my opinion, I might be wrong.

Now, the scene I talk about is battle between Sentinel Prime and Megatron. I'll let you read it before I continue on what I love about it.

Now, remember me praising this book for bringing up heavy themes? Yeah, this is an apogee of that statement. Like this one scene makes us question so much and makes us wonder who is right. Yet the best part is that it's no one IMO.

So, the first big question, that came to my mind reading this was who should I root for?

Now, from watching TFP and other Transformers media we all expect Decepticons be bad and every Autobot/bot who supports their cause to be automatically a good character. Yet TF:Exodus absolutely changes the narrative. Sentinel Prime isn't in any capacity a good person. He is the one who proposed and made to life the caste system, the one who made millions upon millions bots suffer just because they could transform into certain thing, the one who gave D-16 the reason to became Megatronus. (Let me clarify something. D-16, Megatronus and Megatron are all the same person, yet I'm inclined using this separation for clearance of speech. D-16 is a slave, Megatronus is a gladiator/revolutioner and Megatron is a tyrant/dictator. Though it isn't really true, since Megatron quickly changed his name, but I feel it'll be easier to comprehend what point of character ideology I'm talking about). Thousands of bots were living their long life in the mines, in the pits of polluted cities just because they were born with a specific transformation. He reaped what all this unfortunate, unnamed bots sow. Sentinel Prime is the person who is responsible for deaths and, even more terrible, lifes millions of bots had. Honestly, I don't remember why he decided that caste system was a good idea, but in grand scheme of things it doesn't matter. Let's be frank, SP had time to change the system, yet never did. Why? Because it directly benefited him. Why change something if it makes your life better at the cost of unnamed, distant slaves that you can ignore?

Yet I can't find myself rooting for Megatron. And this is a question, that was brought up by the book and for which I have no answer.

When the reasonable sacrifice becomes unstoppable massacre?

Now, revolution isn't something that usually ends up with no victims. As Megatronus states nothing was changing while him and Orion discussed the problem. The higher class wouldn't do anything if they were asked nicely, which we can clearly see in the books. So to make themselves heard, gladiators decided to do terrorist attacks, which is while understandable, yet directly contradicting to their own ideology (we'll get to it later). But, when is this enough? This question is indirectly asked by Sentinel Prime. Are the deaths of Bumper and Fastback were necessary? Now, I'm not sure that I, at least for now, possess any means on discussing this kind of question. And this is what I like! It isn't just yes or no, good or bad. We want to hate Sentinel Prime and be on Megatronus' side, but it isn't that easy. Because it's not Megatronus anymore. It isn't this idealistic bot, who only wants freedom for himself and his people. No, Megatronus is long gone. And now there's someone new. Megatron. Now, while I can't discuss necessity of deaths of other persons, since I consider myself unprepared for this kind of talks, I can point out the moment when I think revolution became Megatron's secondary mission.

No, I'm not talking about scene where Orion became Prime, though it is really important. I'm talking about the brief moment when he torn out Bumblebee's voice box.

Was it necessary? Probably yes, since Bee was an enemy's spy. Yet what makes it a very important scene is that in this particular moment, Megatron forgets about his own cause. His ideology was about freedom of speech and choice for people like him. So wouldn't it mean that Decepticons should respect a someone's choice becoming an Autobot? But it never happens. I'm not saying that Megatron should've let BB go with praises and a smooch on the forehead. But when the ideology founder doesn't play by his own rules, why would people following him should? And this is why I love this book and this moment. Guys, I'm not saying I've read much and maybe I just have very low standards, yet this is such a good scene! I never thought I'd say it, but the story about space aliens who fight each other, while smoking intergalactic crack is one of the most realistic stuff I've ever seen! Megatron's idea was brilliant yet the execution and envy destroyed everything good. Megatron was right at first, but when he stopped caring for his own people that's when it all went downhill. And this scene just keeps getting better. Call me slowpoke (cuz this is what I am), but writing this made me realize about what delusion OP talked about in TFP and about what SP was talking about in this moment. Megatron is no revolutionary anymore. He is a tyrant. He long forgot about his cause, the only thing he cares about now is getting back at Optimus. His delusions make him think he's doing the right thing for a good cause, yet he never fully understands that he becomes something he has sworn to destroy. Now he is ignoring his people, sending them to endlessly and pointlessly die on the battlefield or by his own hands just for disobeying his orders. Megatron couldn't care less about the caste system he had already wiped out of existence. The envy, the pain and the "betrayal" got to his head, twisting his mind and even driving him crazy. And people tend to find an excuse for their own wrongdoings, so they can feel better about themselves. Megatronus' idea became Megatron's excuse.

And this is so deep and so realistic. I love how Alex Irvine approached Megatronus' fall and Megatron's rise, our necessity for choosing the lesser evil out of two morally questionable ideologies. And giving us the opportunity to decide for ourselves.

I hope you now understand why I adore this scene so much😉

[poppedbubblgum]

Donnie tears up more than once in the rise movie.

For a split second, we can see him crying while he and Mikey were about to be crushed in the turtle tank.

He really thought he was going to die and the fear was enough to spur that reaction. It’s really sad to me actually, like, it looks like his life is flashing before his eyes.

[nonbinarypirat]

Spoilers for Iruma (manga and show)

I recently got into Iruma through the anime and fell in LOVE with it to the point where I started reading the manga since it’s going to be a bit of a wait for the next season (which I’m fucking excited about because more singing, performance Iruma, more irumi (or iruminati??)). But I have gotten to Walter Park in the manga and fuck dude, I really resonate with Iruma grappling with understanding his feelings.

Throughout the story, it’s iruma trying to break free from the mental and emotional abuse his parents put him through on top of the fucking crazy situations he was forced into. He only had time to think about survival, he never had the chance to even fully develop his own emotions and thoughts. We see this throughout the story of him struggling to develop a normal life in the netherworld despite never having a normal childhood to begin with.

Anger is typically one of the easiest emotions for us to understand. It’s something we just primitively resonate with. Even if all else fails, anger is something we can fall back on. However, Iruma (not only because of his more easy going personality spawned from his parent’s manipulation) has never had the opportunity to feel this because he has already felt like most situational outcomes are hopeless to change anyways so why get mad about it.

That outlook, while it could be healthy depending on the context, is downright dangerous to always feel. If you can’t even let yourself freely understand your anger, you simply let things go without even trying to defend yourself. We see this manifest in season three with Bachiko (though I DO love Bachiko even in the beginning because I support women’s rights and women’s wrongs).

I just find him a curious character to study because while the show is silly goofy most times, so many reaction videos I have watched ignore his deep-seated trauma, mostly because of how cartoonish they make it. But take the cartoon silliness out, and you get a character his is deeply hurt and grasping at understanding his own feelings now that he is finally given the time to experience them.

I’m curious how the romantic relationship stuff will develop because he hasn’t been given the proper time to even interact with kid’s his own age much, especially not people he could be attracted to. As well as seeing his struggle with more complex emotions that he’ll be forced to confront as I read more! (Also please no spoilers in the comments past season three events, I am catching up quickly on my own!)

[brooklynisher]

Probably not canon anymore but it's funny how everyone imagines Peter's face to be scarred or heavily changed when in reality (or at least in 2012) he literally straight up doesn't have a face.

Like, THAT ISN'T just a covering for his face. That's his actual face

Could it be lighting? Maybe? But I don't think that's how lighting works. I don't think his face is naturally allergic to light.

I don't think this is canon anymore because The Seventh paints Peter's broken mask as this huge mystery and unless the mystery is about bringing this back, I don't think this is the surprise we might be getting.

BUT HEY this was all borderline if not 100% canon at one point in time

[lightandfellowship]

I enjoy the (perhaps unintentional?) metaphor here. Darkness is water* (drenched) and it feeds the emotions of a person like a plant (grow).

*Darkness is commonly represented by water in this series, from what I understand of various examples provided by others.

[starheirxero]

can we talk about eclipse killing lunar and then lunar killing eclipse,,,, i feel like i could overanalyze this the brain cogs are turning,,,

YES YES YES IT HAS BEEN MAKING ME GO INSANEEEE

I have like 1 million emotions about it but I don't know how to string them together. The revenge aspect and the grief aspect and the regret aspect and the consequences aspect and just auaagghhh. I've been nonstop thinking of that post that says "you cannot kill your brother in a way that does not also kill you" bc I think it applies to them both so much here and it's gunna make me start eating the floor

[72degreescold]

Do you have any Ven headcanons you would like to share?

OH BOY DO I!

He def takes Aqua & Terra at their word in pretty much every regard; upon waking, he felt bad and guilty that he missed everything and they went through so much, but they assured him a handful of times that - they may not be okay now, but they will be and the best thing he can do for them now is be happy and safe.

The news  (read: return of memories) will crush him. Right now he’s perfectly comfy with himself. Maybe not thrilled about the whole x-blade and sleeping for a decade thingy, but knows now that he and Vanitas are separate entities; if anything he feels a little better knowing it wasn't his darkness that resulted in such a malicious creature - and he definitely does over think the fact that Vanitas was hiding in him (or  that he was technically possessed-cause to be fair, who hasn't be). He just takes everything at face value… for now.

Also def does not question his ties to Chirithy either. He's a little confused about it, but it just feels right to have it there so he goes with it.

He’s oblivious to the fact that Aqua is a little hesitant about the creature. Terra is similarly oblivious, but also does not overthink it since he doesn't pick up any kind of malicious vibes - which he's gotten better at doing. A little. 

Slightly less but still petulant that Aqua & Terra dont want him going anywhere alone. Still, he recognizes that it's important to them so he feels it’s the least he can do - even if it’s driving him up a wall cause he wants to help out with Sora (assuming it took them a while to leave for their trip to the Realm of Darkness).

He REALLY enjoyed frisbee with Lea & Isa; he’s genuinely shocked as details about Lea/axel’s past trickle out over time (and it will feed into his eventual thoughts when the whole Laurium/Marluxia thing unfolds).

He’s not at all hesitant to hang out with Roxas and, if anything, he’s intrigued and wants to get to know him. Again, kinda oblivious to the fact Roxas might be hesitant to meet up, though he does pick up on the clues pretty quick and tries to be cognizant of making sure he doesn’t make Roxas uncomfy.

He does NOT do well in the Realm of Darkness. It’s (darkness) resonating with something in him (shifty eyes) that gives him those piercing, groan-inducing headaches and makes him all shaky and sweaty, but he wants to help and doesnt want to worry Aqua and Terra so he doesnt say anything until oopsie - surely something of consequence happens.

Using his light in Realm of Darkness is either SUPER OP and leaves him practically catatonic after use or just straight up hurts to use. After all, the deeper the darkness, the brighter the light shines..

[linkedin-offficial]

not art but i HAVE to share these bcus ive picked up music autism lately . i have a weird habit of overanalyzing and overthinking about music when im hyperfixating on something and trying to connect the dots . well

IM LOSING MY MIND A LITTLE‼️ (SPOTIFY PLAYLIST)

IM NOT WRONG RIGHT. RIGHT⁉️

[transingthoseformers]

Look this made me squeal hard enough to feel it through my teeth because

Ohhhh Rodimus no wonder you sound like such an asshole during all of this

W Thunderclash honestly, just... W Thunderclash lmao. Dude's made the damn best of a rough situation, and I actually have a million questions on how the Vis Vitalis works (also nice symbolism there on the name) like it wirelessly keeps him alive, and he has a pretty much mortal wound. Because that feels like very useful technology, makes me question the nature of his injury and functionality of his systems, i want to know how all of this shit works

[thelassoway]

I'm still so mad that we got all those parallels and callbacks and yet no tedbecca. It was all for nothing. THEY WERE IN LOVE DAMMIT!!!!

Hi!

First, I hope all is well with you.

And this gif sums up my feels on that season of that one show:

🍻

[hellolulu]

Shigeo Saves The Cat

A Dive Into What The Cat Symbolises

During the Mogami Arc, Mogami had created a world in which Shigeo had no powers, and was hated by all the people he loved. In this cruel world, Shigeo was presented with a cat, and this cat died because he was unable to protect it.

During the car crash, Shigeo used his powers in public, to save the cat. He has, at this point, come to accept that his powers can be used for good, and that they're not just to be used in dire situations. He used them to help the others call a ufo, after all! That's pretty chill! For... you know, having super cool powers that you can do just about anything with.

Although he hasn't begun to use them for his own sake, he saw the danger coming, and was able to save the cat. [And, to a different extent, using his physical powers, saved the kid. But this isn't about the kid or the fact he used both sides of himself to save 2 different entities, haha]

Then he gets hit, and ??? takes the stage. He still rejects his powers as part of his personhood; (a conscious being made from his own repressed self) he can accept them as if they're a certain muscle in the body, or an extra limb, but only now is he able to see that this is a mental thing, not physical.

During the final arc, in large part thanks to Reigen (of course, also thanks to Hanazawa, Ritsu, and Dimple, but the point is Reigen's words are the ones to calm him down) this repressed self is accepted not as part of his body, the way the body is a case for the mind, but as part of himself. A part of his mind. Which he very much had been sealing up and repressing.

Then, in the after-part, Shigeo sees a cat, and assumes it's stuck. He acts, moving forward to climb the pole. He doesn't think anything like "it might be easier with psychic powers, but I should use the body I've been working on" or "I would rather use my physical body than my powers to save this cat" he simply moves. Not a single complicated thought goes through his mind. He acts. His powers are part of him; his body, his person, his ESP - all of it is him, and he simply did the most natural thing that came to mind. He climbed the pole using muscles he'd worked on, but not as opposed to his powers - just because it was the first response he came up with. [And as a muscle obsessed boy, it's unsurprising haha!]

But he does not save the cat.

Because the cat, regardless of him and his story, is just that. It's a cat. It's got nothing to do with him; it's neutral. It's an entity with its own path, it doesn't need him in order to survive. It's not on him to save or to protect it, not on him to do anything at all about it. It's on him just to want to act, to want to care. He's changed from a boy who was afraid to act at all, to one who acts without reservation.

And saving the cat was never his goal in the first place.

Tldr:

Mogami presented a cat that he needed to save, but that he was unable to save.

The car-crash presented a cat that needed saving, and that he was able to save.

And the finale presented a cat that, at the end of the day, has nothing to do with what he must do to live life to the fullest. He's just a teenage boy who has a girl he likes, and who goes to school like everyone else. His powers are just a part of him, nothing he has to pay the universe back for. There's no big magical destiny, no cats to save.

He can finally simply exist.

...

For now!! Dun dun dun...

I'm kidding.

Or am I?!

[stereax]

lol as soon as I sent that message about why hak was fired, I saw that it was allegedly a player thing. Feel free to ignore that ask, sorry

anon love I am in the middle of a deep deep stereanalysis about it please don't even worry!!!

[creppersfunpalooza]

tempted to write an entire essay on why the images of blood in the snow are actually really poetically beautiful and in my opinion serve as a lovely metaphor but i’m a little shy….

[rbdbrainworms]

ok right, let's think about this from diego's perspective for a moment

lets start at the baseline that ur the spoiled son of one of the most powerful man in the contry, the ✨hottest prettiest most popular coolest boy in ur whooole rich kid elite school✨, and you just started dating this rly hot girl

except u also went out on a date w some older girls on the side and got drunk and totalled a car and ended up in the hospital and now u have to do community service and ur powerful dad is manipulative and crazy and overbearing and u dont know how stand up to him and ur home life is a disaster and ur actually really unhappy with your lifestyle and you very likely have a precocious alcoholism problem and you feel u have to hide the things youre most passionate abt - like music - , repress who you might actually want to be and bow down to your father's pressures. but its fiiiiine as long as you dont think abt it too much, right?

right, anyway! the girl ur dating complains abt this annoying new girl in you ~elite~ school, the daughter of a famous singer. apparently shes weird, and mean, and combative, so tacky and rude and unfiltered and disruptive. this new girl heard some mildly incriminating things you and your girlfriend talked abt, and now shes worried. your attitude is, of course, to go up to the new girl and threaten her for no real reason

and she is, well. much like described: strong-minded, agressive, irreverent, no filter. says and does whatever she wants. talks back to you and then some. you grab her and shes like. who tf are you. no i cant get u my moms autrograph. you threaten her right out and shes just, im sorry, are u chapolin colorado?? i think u forgot ur antennas sweetie

(sorry just. her dialogue >>>)

(she also lights up a sinalizer inside as bus beside u bc of it, but you never find that out)

ok,. you go on to your little rich kid school club. you get attacked and stabbed on the way to ur secret community service - yknow, over the drunk driving, - and a little child has to live on the street bc ur dad arranges that his brother is wrongfully arrested over it. youre not happy abt it, necessarily, but also youre not the type of person who would do anything to stop it, especially against your dad

your dad humiliates you and tears you a new one and you're all very frustrated w life. but you bow your head to him and move on, as always, because what else can you do?

you get drunk, again, and ends up kissing your girlfriends' best friend

the next day you stumble upon that girl in the hallway, and provoke her - like before, she claps back immediately. didn't she realize already this is your place, and the rest of your friends', and not for people like her??

heres the answer: she starts fighting your friend for calling her mother a slut (in not so many words) and you get in the way - and she reads you and your dad for filth. then, she gets her finger right at the center of the wound - she'd much rather have her people and her mother's artist crowd and revealing clothes and ""lack of class""" over having a corrupt father who'd sent someone to jail for a crime they didnt commit.

see, she is the type of person who wouldn't let something like that happen without consequence .

you dont really have much to say to that, or much to do really, except. seethe

you say to your friends, the best thing to do is to ignore her!

and then, well, you dont

by the way, you are the ✨prettiest, hottest, most popular boy in school✨ and this girl, as established, is inconvenient, weird, shameless, uncontrollable, she has no class or respect for you or your friends, her makeup is too dark, her hair is strange, her humor is cutting, her bad temper is obvious. you, well, you can have aaaany girl you want - so you're definitely not and would NEVER be attracted to her at all!

anyway, a gossip rag comes up and talks abt you kissing yours girls best friend. even though it makes absolutely no sense for this new girl to be the one to do it - she doesnt even know you all, and really doesn't seem like the kind to say something behind the back rather than in your face- and even though you've talked a grand total of two (2) times (and "talked" here is being generous), you're suddenly Convinced , it Has to be her. bc....... her mom is a famous singer. so. irrefutable proof. right there.

that, ofc, justifies you throwing her overboard into a lake, even though she doesnt know how to swim. all your friends think you exaggerated, after all you couldve really hurt her, maybe even killed her - you shrug and laugh it off.

"roberta is very rough" you say. SOMEONE has to show her whos boss, someone has to show her who REALLY has the power here, you tell them. obviously that someone has to be you

could it be possible that you're trying to feel powerful after your recent fuck ups and your dads latest humiliation? is it possible you overdid it bc this girl pushes aaaaall your buttons ? that it irritates you that she's so strong-minded and defiant and you're not?🤔naah don't worry about it

so, she finds out you couldve KILLED her. and then she throws ur 15k guitar into the water as retaliation . as one does. and you are LIVID. it is a 15k guitar, and also the one thing you really actually love - music

as the very not-unhinged person you are, you threaten to drown her, (again). she says she isnt scared of you, and you insist that she is. you tell her you have A LOT of power (do you?) and if she "continues with the gossip rags", which she denies writing, you will certainly "put her in her place"

she clearly has no framework for what she should or shouldnt do, or who she should or shouldnt mess with. but that should show her

so she's actually pretty freaked out. and leaves. you don't see her for three weeks

do you take this is as a win?

nope! you, the ✨ hottest, prettiest most popularest boy in school✨ apparently did not have much better things to do these 3 weeks than obsess over her, bc the first thing you do upon coming back is going out to find her, threaten her (you have to cuddle her to do that, for some reason) and put in place a questionable plot to try to get her expelled

see, you tell her, you always get what you want (do you?) and the thing you want THE MOST is for her to leave the school

why do you care SO much abt expelling her? you've talked what, 3 times. you've certainly had worst, more violent altercations with other people in this meantime. you don't know that she would mess with you again. if you're SO powerful and able to show her who's boss, why worry so much about making her , in particular, leave? weeell, don't worry about it

you're so happy about this plan and managing to screw her over, that you get drunk again! in celebration, you toast to the girl who made you the happiest lately - roberta pardo! . you kiss a pillow as if its her. when your actual girlfriend hears you, she thinks it means youre cheating on her - and who can blame her?

and then! the plan fails. bc ur a villain and the power of friendship defeats you!

also, she's extremely clever. you'll realize in the near future, its rare that you manage to outsmart her - and the times you do, you usually regret . but let's not get ahead of ourselves

you're furious. you vow shes "going to pay" ;.

pay for what? she hasnt actually done anything, other than respond to your attacks - all of the times you've met, she's always been answering your own agressiveness, standing her ground instead of bowing her head.

you have so far: threatened her on sight, insulted her family, thrown her in a lake, accused her without evidence, threatened to drown her, and tried to frame her for theft and get her expelled. she has... insulted you back, thrown your guitar on a lake after you threw her, and outsmarted you, defending herself against your accusations

now, not only did she escape your little plot, meaning she will stay in school, where you'll see her everyday, she doesn't even have the decency to be intimidated anymore! now she has the audacity of saying she's not scared of you, that you're the one who is going to pay, and this has just begun.

you hear all of that very closely, by the way, because you're pushing her against a wall

youre even more ... furious and dedicated to ~~bringing her down

you've known her for what ammounts to one (1) week.

[tfw-no-tennis]

mtmte and reproductive themes: an analysis

your local medical scientist/biologist LJ dives into the complicated reproductive themes presented in tf: mtmte

ok so amongst my liveblogging I realized I still haven't given my reproductive biology thoughts, and now seems a good time since I couldn't fit it in during remain in light

so basically, ik everyone memes on jro for the mpreg and the general reproductive themes present in mtmte/ll, but honestly I see why he went that route? w/the repro themes, not the mpreg lmao. and even the reproductive stuff has some weird terminology/vibes so I totally get why everyone memes

anyways, basically...[puts biologist hat on] so from a purely scientific standpoint, there is this: the biological imperative is reproduction. as in, the entire POINT of biological species - the reason they exist, their main goal in their existence - is to reproduce and carry on their genes and their species

now obviously this is a bit general, and a lot of people would say ‘hey I don't agree with that, I don't want kids, etcetc’ to which I say, exactly! this is a scientific generalization, and another factor is that humanity is very advanced, especially compared to a lot of other biological species, so of course humans, with our capability for advanced thought and philosophy and whatnot, would not strictly adhere to this

biological species can be categorized as r-selected or k-selected - r-selected (think r = rapid) are species that reproduce frequently, have short lifespans/life cycles, and produce many offspring. example: fruit flies. k-selected species reproduce less frequently, have longer lifespans and life cycles, and produce only a few offspring at a time (so, humans).

so r-selected species are more likely to adhere closely to the biological imperative - fruit flies exist so they can produce as many offspring as they can before dying, and since their lifespan is so short they spend almost all their time alive working towards this goal

now, back to the alien robots - so, cybertronians are NOT biological. so it stands that the biological imperative of reproduction above all else wouldn't apply to them. which, as we see from canon, seems true. most cybertronians don't really care about reproduction or carrying on the species

and this isn't as big of a problem when your species is basically immortal. it becomes more of a problem when your species goes to war for 4 million years and most of you die

then it’s like, oh shit, a lot of us died and also we don't have any sort of easy, obvious way to make more of our species (unlike any biological species)

which is why it makes a lot of sense that cold construction was invented as a way to create more cybertronians once the hot spots stopped popping up

cybertronians are also interesting bc they don’t easily fall into k-selected or r-selected categories (makes sense, since they’re not organic). in terms of being r-selected, they are capable of rapid reproduction (MTOs) through artificial means, and they have short life cycles (no sort of ‘childhood,’ unlike k-selected species), but for k-selected, they DO have very long lifespans, and they don't put nearly as much focus on reproduction as most r-selected species (which, again, they’re not organic, so trying to classify them with these terms is arbitrary)

so it makes a lot of sense that after the war is over, a lot of cybertronians would shift focus towards the question of, ‘how does our species continue on when most of us died and we have no way of reproducing?’

so what I’m saying is, jro IS valid bc this is a logical question that would arise in post-war times

also, it makes me wonder what the cybertronian/mechanical imperative would be - is it ‘war’? that seems pretty harsh, but that could be interesting as a theme in-text, with a lot of the organic aliens hating cybertronians, and cybtertronians having a reputation for being a war-mongering species 

oh man also. reproduction and religion are typically closely tied (think about with christianity and the virgin mary, and all the other bible stories about birth/pregnancy/babies) - because a big question of religion is ‘where did we as a species originate from?’ and different religions answer that in different ways

for cybertronians, it makes a lot of sense that they would have a variety of religions with their own unique takes on where the cybertronian species came from...it’s also a good alternative to the idea that the cybertronians were BUILT rather than born/created by a god/gods

like the g1 origin where the quintessons built them - which, yknow, that’s a different continuity, and also it’s g1, where the transformers were much more robots/cars rather than aliens/living mechanical beings...but it’s interesting to think about the quintesson origin being a bit of a horror story to the idw tfs; the idea that they were created as machines by another sentient species is pretty fucked

anyways that's digressing. the point - even though cybertronians aren't biological, it seems safe to say that as a sentient species, they would have some slanted interpretation of that biological imperative in place - namely, that cybertronians would want their species to continue. secondary to this is reproduction itself - could cold construction be considered reproduction? are sparks springing up in hot spots reproductive? is ‘reproduction’ defined here as a new life being created, or as an act between one or more individuals that leads to the creation of a new life?

interestingly, that second definition would put cold construction in the ‘reproduction’ category, but not hot spot spark production. 

more digression...basically, it stands to reason that cybertronians would have some drive to continue their species, which manifested in the creation of the cold construction method (and later, the construction of MTOs is a war-based slant on that same philosophy)

but during the war, reproduction largely took a backseat to fighting - MTOs were produced to aid in the fight, not necessarily to continue on their species in any significant way

and now that the war is over...it makes sense that reproduction would become more of a priority, especially considering what a huge dent the war left in the cybertronian population

cybertronians...are like certain fish species. some fish species breed semi-rarely, but are designed to live very long lives and get super big and ancient. and if they breed often enough, and the older ones live long enough, you have a nice balance of old-ass fish that can breed to newer fish that don't breed

the problem is fishing - a lot of these species have been heavily fished, and the big fish - the breeding fish - are the ones taken to eat. this leaves the population skewed towards young fish, which isn't how the species is supposed to be structured

this is why some fish have an upper length limit as well as the typical minimum length (like striped bass) - bc the DEM wants the really big breeder fish to stay in the ocean where they can make more fish 

lmao how did I end up talking about fish. anyways

so basically. cybertronians are like this - they live a long ass time and don't reproduce (via hot spots appearing) very often, which creates a good balanced population - or it’s supposed to, if you don't go to war for 4 million years and decimate a large chunk of the population

so the whole...mpreg baby thing also kind of makes sense bc, there’s kinda a population crisis going on, so its logical that various cybertronians would explore a myriad of ways to reproduce, including looking to organic species for inspiration, since organic species generally have built-in reproductive capabilities (and those reproductive capabilities come in many different forms) 

think invertebrates performing parthenogenesis because there’s a skewed female population. generally in the biological world, sexual reproduction > asexual reproduction, because sexual reproduction garners a much higher level of genetic mixing (which is a healthy thing for a population, generally)

but under duress, some species can perform asexual reproduction as a failsafe in order to ensure continuation of the species, even if sexual reproduction would be preferred 

so it would make sense that the cybertronians would be attempting to explore all of their options, because they’re pretty much in the red in terms of population 

ok that’s all I've got tonight folks. feel free to talk to me anytime about this stuff or any biology/science wooooo

[faux-ee]

sometimes i get told that i shouldn't overanalyze pop media, especially anime, bcs in the general view their whole point is doing fanservice to a bunch of teenagers through all the cool actions and queerbait. i find this kind of rhetoric somewhat pathetic and I'd be rlly sad if it turns out to be the truth in the industry. A lot of these stories have great potentials, especially one like bungo stray dogs, which actually inspires ppl to read good authors whose works r very relevant to our time, and contains important themes such as healing from trauma and anti-war sentiment. Like i wish stories i love werent just seen as subcultural junk food served to trend-following twelve year olds or ppl who r too tired to consume "good" media.