#is bringing shockwave to cybertron a terrible idea over all?

[reader-from-nowhere]

Despite everything, it's still you.

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Thinking about them, about how Shockwave lost himself loving Orion, about how absolutely doomed they were from the very beginning. They wouldn't have lasted, neither of them could've kept each other. Not in this line of work.

But still, if one word can be used to describe the two of them, it would be selfish.

Shockwave is selfish in which he refused to let Orion rest, dragging him through hell and back, into the pit of insanity with him. Orion is selfish in which despite everything his partner had done, he still wants Shockwave next to him, close to him. They cling onto one another, hold themselves so close that when they get separated, their claws ripped each other apart.

It changed them, scarred them beyond what they used to be.

Orion, now Optimus, in a body that is not his, with a mind with millions of years worth of memories - Shockwave, with a broken and mind and a shattered heart.

Their past is long dead. But their future, is still very much alive.

And by Primus, Optimus is GOING to drag his dumbaft of a partner kicking and screaming back next to him no matter what. And, hopefully, into a better life.

This new Shockwave caused this big of a mess, might as well help him clean it up. Damn it, Shock', Optimus is suppose to be the troublesome one.

________________________________

This is so self-indulgent sob 😭😭 you can't give me ShockOp and not expect me to go bonkers over them. They are so tragic I HAD to give them a hopeful ending, Primus knows they've suffered enough. Tell me Optimus, the guy who has attachment issues SO BAD that it dragged a war on for millions of years, wouldn't absolutely find any and all excuses to not hand Shockwave over once the shenanigans are over even after what Shock' did to him.

"Erm actually once I told him he can try to revive me if I die during a drinking game as a joke so TECHNICALLY it's fine.☝️☝️ " "He killed hundreds of our men." "I plead insanity."

Also, we kind of need Shockwave if we gonna do the whole 'Jazz gets robot'ed' thingy, so this is an easy fix for any potential plot hole. (and totally not me trying to keep pookie alive) Let Optimus bring Shockwave to Cybertron ‼️‼️

Mecha au by @keferon (sorry for tagging you sm i just love making content for this au 😭😭😭)

[brandwhorestarscream]

Maybe a weird question, but how would the coalition of bereaved parents react upon seeing what their sparklings became in the "canon" universe?

Oooooh this is a good ask!! Not only is it about Hindsight (yesssss 🥰) but this is such a fun topic! I've actually thought about it a little bit, a silly crack idea of the destructicon high command getting plopped into canon

We'll start with Electroshock and Illuminate. They're ecstatic when they find out he's alive, but the happiness is short lived. When they see what's happened to Shockwave they're horrified: he's been reduced to little more than a husk, just a shell of what he used to be. Empurata and shadowplay was usually reserved for those who crossed the Senate and needed to be put in their place. It's horrific, to see that their baby has been reduced to little more than a drone. He operates exclusively on logic almost like a pre-programmed AI. His emotions have been physically removed from his mind, and if he gets a chance to meet them he doesn't have much to say. How can he? He recognizes that they are his creators, and still holds his memories of them, but all the feelings attached to those memories are gone. He's not happy to see them, he's not sad to see them, he hasn't missed them. Their baby can't feel anything and it's alkost like suffering his death all over again. He's here but he's not there, you know?

Illuminate is devestated, begging Shockwave to come back, to speak to her, to say that some sliver of him still remains in there. Electroshock knows he's gone--she was a Senator for millions of years, after all. She knows a clean shadowplay when she sees one, and she knows there's nothing left of their son 😔

Now, for Wavelength... his is a little more difficult. Considering he's half-dead, all hooked up to and one with the mothership, his consciousness is fragmented and scattered. He can "see" through the security systems, and this is the first time he ever gets to properly look at Soundwave. He can't see his son's face, but his stature is so achingly similar to his sire. Because Soundwave doesn't speak it would be really hard for them to communicate if they were actually together. Wavelength, somewhere within the recesses of his mind, is proud of his son. He's doing what needs to be done, fighting to rectify Cybertron's miserable state and working tirelessly to bring them closer to victory. How could he not be proud? He wishes he could hear him speak, just once--all the other parents have memories of their sparklings alive, giggling, cooing, and yes, even speaking, but Wavelength never even got to hold him. His baby died before he could even be born, so he never got to hear his sparkling make a single sound. He longs for it, more than anything, but is content just to see him in another world, alive and safe.

For Starscream... well. His carrier is dead, but if Skysoar could see him, he'd weep tears of joy. The deaths of his newborn triplets killed him, so to see that even one of them made it to adulthood is a great relief. He looks a lot like Storm Rider, actually, so lithe and quick and graceful. The other two are equally as glad to see him alive, once they figure out which one he is. They were so young when they died that their color nanites hadn't yet come in, and Starscream is constantly dressed in the mourning colors. They're very worried for his health and safety. He seems to have such terrible luck, and his mental health is clearly in a very poor state. He's completely isolated, and seekers are so social they need positive relationships to be healthy. It's clear he's been alone for a long time. Perhaps, if things were different, he would've become a great Winglord just as they hoped. If they had actually entered the other timeline/dimension, they would've separated him from everyone else to protect him, and get him the help he needs: destructive and treacherous tendencies are not doing him any favors and he desperately needs intervention.

And finally, Megatron. This could change a bit from timeline to timeline, as Galvatron gets more and more obsessed and paranoid the more lives he goes through, but to keep it simple we'll stick with the second timeline's iteration.

At first, he's blinded by pride and joy. Not only has his son grown up, but he's become such a fine warrior that he's unrivalled by all but the Prime himself. He followed in his carrier's footsteps and waged a war for the betterment of society, to give the warframes a chance at a better life. He avoids or outright denies any wrongdoings his 'sweet little angel' has committed. It's Terminus that has to set him straight: though he is also ecstatic to see dear Megatronus alive, he certainly isn't well. He's gotten himself hooked on dark energon of all things, which is worse than every cybertronian narcotic combined. Raising the dead and forcing them to fight as mere puppets is a line he isn't comfortable crossing. Terminus doesn't care at all for the autobots or the organic creatures they love so much, but he's not going to sit idly by while their son plays with fire and inevitably sets himself ablaze. He doesn't care if Megatron is an adult: as his sire he has a responsibility to guide him and set him straight if he's doing something stupid, and drug use like that is about as dumb as it gets. He doesn't care if he wants to cyberform the earth (the destructicons already did). He doesn't care if he wants to wipe out all the autobots. He doesn't care if he wants to rule over Cybertron as it's sole monarch. It's almost cute, if you ask him, how much Megatronus has grown up to be like his mother. But he's going to nip this problem in the bud if it fucking kills him

TLDR: ultimately, they're all happy to see them alive, but each worried for different reasons as their kids are each suffering some major issue. Tysm for the ask, anon! I had a great time with it 💖 if there's anything else you'd like to know about Hindsight or have more ideas to throw out there, please don't be shy ^-^

[quantumlogician]

The aftermath of it all bore no reward.

In some way, he expected this. It did not mean he wanted this, however. After spending countless stellar-cycles trying to navigate around this outcome, he could not outrun gut instinct of it all going to waste. In the early hours of a new dawn, under the blistering red sunrise, never gentle into the morning, Shockwave wasted his time working through a surplus of memories. A spindle of ' what-if 's and ' if-only 's. If he only he had suggested this, if only he had cracked down on that, if only he had stopped it before it all became salvageable.

But, all it would ever be is hypotheticals. He could not change his circumstance. This life stuck in some rusting pit with the only companion the last Seeker on Cybertron who spent most of his time in an erratic display of culpability and listlessness. At least he blustered at a specific frequency Shockwave could tune out, so his mind could keep on important matters.

Inaction wore terrible on Shockwave. Bolted down from a productive repertoire, banned from the profitable and busy parts of the planet, and extremely down on his luck, most of his days were spent sitting before a workbench, figuring out life. Figuring out if there was the smallest road he could pinpoint on his map and move forward. His talents were plenty and useful — it would amount to some worth, surely.

At least Ravage was there to force him away from rotting before low-table lamps and focus on someone who was not himself. His problems were many too — chief of them all concerning his former ' master '. ( Shockwave was not all too sure what Soundwave used to consider himself with his deployers, so for the sake of brevity ).

Shockwave did what he could to comfort the beastformer about it. It came in the form of verbal sympathies; shared wavelengths of guilt and uncertainty about the situation; and paired mourning. These could never suffice the agony of losing a spark-mate twice, he's sure. All of Shockwave's empathetic attempts were no more constructions of what he thinks might be ' enough '.

Though, he would be lying to say he didn't miss Soundwave too.

Life was a lonely, isolating experience for him. Difficult to be in like-minded company for the grand majority of it. Soundwave was no scientist, but their rapport gave this logician the illusion that he wasn't so alienated from others as he were before. Would he say he felt seen? Not necessarily. There were still these gaps between them due to communicating differences, but to be in presence with someone who made attempts to do more than tolerate him was enough.

Ravage was persistent in this idea that the spymaster was out there. The absence of a body implied this Schrodinger's explanation that until they find anything, then they couldn't sign off on his obituary. Shockwave was not quite as hopeful as his small companion can be, but he humored him, if not wanting to provide a proper burial to one of the few greatest minds on Cybertron.

Cycles went on, relentless and uncaring as they had the beginning of time. Maps were over marked. Earth was scoured ( or what was left of it ). The multiverse was considered. Shockwave was not one to give up on his slow march through eternity, so he had thrown all his knowledge into finding the mere traces of the other. Within his mind, he had already relented to the fact that plainly there may be nothing to find.

At least Ravage kept the spirit off and didn't it pay off.

At some point, Shockwave ceased caring about security, creating an automated system that triggered the space bridge alive at anything that might match Soundwave's unique frequency. The first few times were false positives, but he kept it switched on if not to give some pep to Ravage's step. Yet, at Starscream's suggestion to consider other planes, go molecular in tracing, aided far more in discovery than Shockwave's own blunt force attempts.

The bridge ripped through dimensions, connecting this lab to a space unknown, bringing forth a malnourished figure that hobbled through the walkway and giving way at the mouth of the portal. Worn at the joints, the logician was not quick on his pedes to investigate what had some through and if it was worth the time, but to say his spark didn't silence into 0Hz upon setting optic over the familiar angular shape, doubled over into itself.

He didn't dare speak a name nor utter a word. Crouching down near it, he passed a servo down over their middle section to support them from colliding into the floor, to inspect them, to see if it was really him.

There was this obtrusion his knuckle jammed into, preventing the width of his arm from curling under the mech. He pulls away unable to see what this one was holding onto and instead focusing efforts on grabbing them totally to dispense them on the nearest cot.

Starter for @quantumlogician

The unrelenting emptiness of the Shadow Zone was not something to be trifled with. It gave the world an off-colored sheen that made everything appear dull and lifeless. If it was comparable to anything, it would be purgatory. To be forced to watch the world continue on without you, entirely unable to touch, feel, or interact with anything happening was pure torture.

Soundwave hated it.

He had lost track of how long he had been trapped. After the first few weeks, he had begun to shut off non-essential systems. The day he had been forced to shut down his data cables had been a difficult one. They were not only an extension of himself, but his means of survival in any normal situation. He still remembered how tedious it had been to curl the lengths of his dead tendrils back into their casing by hand.

At some point, Laserbeak started fading. What few biolights decorated her little frame flickered out, much like his own, and she no longer had the strength to do more than stay docked on his chest. Without any means of acquiring fresh energon, Soundwave elected to siphon whatever he could from his own frame into hers. A single tendril was powered on just enough to perform the task. It kept Laserbeak online, but Soundwave did not have nearly enough energon to bring her back up to working order.

It went on like that for a very, very long time. Day in, day out. Check on Laserbeak, offer what little energon he could, then try and shut down more and more of his systems. Soundwave was constantly broadcasting a message for help on any channel that he could, though it had yet to bring in any worthwhile results. He had long since accepted that he would never get a response back. He and Laserbeak were doomed to go offline alone, never to be seen or heard from again.

He spent a lot of time thinking about the few things in his life that he missed. Ravage had returned from the dead, only to be left separated from Soundwave for a second time. Megatron, who had been the very reason for Soundwave’s existence, was dead. He had watched his master plunge from the ship, entirely helpless to stop the catastrophic event. Then, there had been Shockwave. The only mech on board that Primus forsaken ship that Soundwave wanted more than anything else in the world. Just thinking about the purple mech sent him into a downward spiral. There was no telling what had happened to Shockwave in the aftermath of Megatron’s death. Had he escaped? Had he taken Ravage with him? Was he okay?

Laserbeak tried to comfort Soundwave whenever she could in the beginning, but he could tell she was just as scared as he was. Now, she didn't even have the energy to acknowledge his concerned prodding.

The day he received an alert about Laserbeak’s imminent shutdown was the day he truly gave up. He sat with her bundled up in his arms, visor buried into her little frame as he tried to offer any sense of comfort that he could while she was still alive. The silence was deafening.

Then, suddenly, there was a brilliant flash of color and a horribly loud, grating whoosh of a ground bridge. Or, maybe even a space bridge. Soundwave didn't care enough to decide. He stared at it, shocked and entirely in disbelief. Clearly he was hallucinating. He had to be.

Soundwave, despite his complete lack of energy, shoved himself to his pedes and stumbled forward. He gripped Laserbeak with everything he had, keeping her close to his chest through his desperate surge forward. It was fake. It had to be fake. There was no way someone had found him. It was-

Soundwave stumbled into a new space that he didn't have the mental power to take note of. He took one step into the room, then immediately collapsed forward with Laserbeak still in a death grip within his arms.

[eldritch-araneae]

Windblade, Bumblebee, and Sari from my Sparkpulse AU :3

Below is quick AU explanation ( it’s 13,4k works, I’m sorry I tired to keep it short I SWEAR XD) Also I’m such dumbass, I forgot their Autobot sigils! XDDD

Core ideas of the AU:

It’s basically G1+TFA+Cyberverse mix;

This AU revolves around Bumblebee as the main protagonist;

Autobots crash-landed on Earth in 1985, they landed in Detroit, specifically on Belle Isle; 

Earth became their home and Autobots pretty much-integrated into human society over 33 years. They influenced human society a lot, that helped to avert climate and energy crisis( as not wanting humans going the same road as cybertronians by depriving their planet of resources);

Ark has fusion reactors that are used in Energon production. Autobots encouraged humans to use their own fusion reactors, which allowed human civilization to completely get rid of fossil fuel as the main power source;

Setting: Solarpunk (when the story happens);

Sparks exist and give a lifeforce to all forms of life, not just to cybertronians;

Cybertron is gone, nothing can fix it;

Decepticons only arrive in 2018.

Bumblebee’s Background.

Bumblebee is the youngest among Autobots, who was found on the road unconscious back on Cybertron by Jazz. 

After examining him, Ratchet shares his concerns with Optimus - not only Bumblebee is abnormally small but his plating is soft and flexible, yet fragile, it would be easy to cut and melt through. He also lacks physical strength. 

All of this implies that Cybertron has no more resources to forge any new bots and Bumblebee is the last.

This means there is no way Optimus should send the minibot to fight ( tho Bee has a lot of courage and will pull some crazy stunts here and there), so instead he assigns Bee for scouting and spying missions under Jazz’s supervision ( Special Operations).

Introductions went pretty well, though Optimus admitted that Bumblebee’s face seemed familiar.

Soon, after the first few scouting missions, it’s revealed that Bee has a bit more problems. His spark is strange, it’s producing way too much energy that his small frame can handle, resulting in the erratic sparkpulse that overwhelms his entire system and shut him down for 5 minutes.

Thankfully it was discovered after Bee finished his duty, but still, it raised a lot of concerns. Ratchet tried his best to examine his spark chamber, only to find that the minibot’s spark was sealed shut in some sort of protective shell. This shell cannot be opened. Cutting through it would be bad, so Ratchet opted to work with what he has. 

He first suggests Bee burn down this excessive energy, which works pretty well, as training with Windblade, or doing short races where it’s relatively safe with Hot Rod and such. Still, despite his efforts, the spark eventually will send a huge energy surge that would force-reboot Bumblebee. It didn’t stop Bee from taking on his missions and one of the reboots happened in the middle of the duty. That scared the shit out of everyone as they lost contact with him while he was on Decepticons territory. Thankfully, like clockwork, he was back in 5 minutes. After he completed the mission of securing intel, he had to convince Optimus that he would be okay even if he shut down because Deceptions would never catch him. Bee reveals that he has one interesting ability - he can sense sparks of others( both signature and the pulse). 

For some reason, he thought everyone could do this, that's why he never mentioned it before. 

That allows him to plan ahead, as he pays attention to hiding places and Deception’s nearby and how they move, easily avoiding his enemies. 

Soon he’s pretty much known as the elusive Autobot who will break onto your base, steal all your shit and get away without being caught. Megatron even places a big bounty for catching Bumblebee that is yet to be fulfilled. Then he gets known for being someone who Deceptions, who wants to join Autobots can go to and arrange the meeting with Optimus Prime. Windblade always helps him with this: Bee can sense what is spark feeling, while she can use psychic abilities to catch a sense of their intent. Together they never made a mistake, though there were a couple of close calls.

So this keeps going for a short period of time until Bee catches some terrible wave of spark signatures, emitting from below. Something tells me that they are in grave danger and Autobots must leave Cybertron for good. Such a claim isn’t taken lightly, asking what proof Bee has. 

Sadly, he cannot prove anything aside from “terrible screams of mass death coming from Cybertron's core”. He feels like he knows, but he cannot recall any memories from his data banks. All he knew was that they were screwed and it’s all because of Shockwave ( who Bee hates the most, not even Megatron sparks so much anger within him as seeing Shockwave does.). Windblade also caught this as well with her different sensors so she sided with Bumblebee. Then she decided to look into Bee’s mind and see if she can help Bee to recover those memories. 

It quickly proves that it’s not that simple - all his memories that come before he was found by Jazz are sealed away. And not by some hard-coding shenanigans, but by Vector Sigma - a device that was used to program the AllSpark ( the thing that gives life to cybertronians) so it will create a desired form of life.

 And not just him, but Windblade also discovered this seal, though it only seals specific cluster to memories, which timeframe aligns with Bee’s seal.

So they had a picture: Shockwave did something that messed up Cybertron’s core and, presumably, Bee and Windlade witnessed this( and apparently have met before)? The only way to find out, a break-in to The Spire of Forging ( a place where cybertronians were born), and use Vector Sigma to break the seals. 

That caused a huge fight as the spire was currently controlled by Decepticons, while Megatron suddenly got an idea to use the AllSpark to reprogram Autobots into Decepticons. So it becomes a race. Windbalde, Bumblebee, and Optimus have reached the Chamber of Creation first...only to find out that Vector Sigma is destroyed - the device was cut apart and crucial components were missing. But it wasn’t all - the AllSpark was gone as well!

Understanding that there is nothing they can do, they retreat, followed by angry Megatron’s shooting.

After the battle Optimus informed anyone of their grim situation: AllSpark is missing( they searched for it, this artifact that very strong and unique signature but it’s literally nowhere on Cybertron), Vector Sigma is destroyed and there is still a threat that gets closed to the surface that will destroy them all ( Bee was very insistent of leaving). 

So he makes it a vote between all Autobots: shall they leave or keep fighting. To Bee’s surprise, the majority decided on leaving. Relieved, he begins helping others to prepare Ark ( their spaceship) for a long journey.

When Ark was ready to launch, some complications happened ( as the ship wasn’t in perfect condition for interstellar travels) but they managed to leave Cybertron and begin their journey to their new home.

In general, Bee is in a good relationship with almost every Autobot. Optimus values him as both an amazing scout and a good friend who isn’t afraid to speak his mind and question everything.

Bumblebee befriends Windblade - the cityspeaker from Caminus ( which was of one the first colonies that were destroyed during the war). She absolutely adores Bee’s carefree and optimistic attitude, never being tired of his silly antics ( which he often does on purpose to lighten her mood). 

They become pretty close, and Bee has no problem opening up to her, like sharing his fears ( he is really brave but isn’t fearless).

Some bots like Sunstreaker don't really like Bumblebee much. He thinks that Bee is a defective bot that will doom their entire cause and this animosity intensified when Bee starts bringing in former Decepticons and insisting on leaving their planet behind. (Sunstreaker’s twin, Sideswipe, admits it’s probably because his brother used to be like Bumblebee, kind and hopeful, but the war has changed him and he hates it.) 

Bumblebee tried his best to ignore Sunstreaker, but it is difficult as he compares himself to bigger and stronger bots, feeling like what he’s doing isn’t enough. That being fast, athletic and cunning isn’t enough - he must be more, he must become strong. Which causes him to take some crazy decisions that will put Bee in danger and probably get hurt. 

He desperately craves recognition and respect from others while not realizing that he already has it.

The arrival of Autobots on Earth in 1985.

After one warp jump, they ended up in the Solar System. The Ark wasn’t doing well ( esp engine) and needed repairs if they wanna continue their journey. Teletraan-1 scanned the solar system, informed Autobots about the planet they are currently orbiting (Earth) has a sentient lifeform along with a diverse ecosystem. This surprised everyone because of the odds of them jumping tens thousand light-years away from Cybertron and ending up near other sentient beings.

Optimus didn’t wish to disturb other sentient beings, he decided that they should move to another planet, fix their ship, and move out. 

For that Teletraan-1 suggested staying on the fifth planet’s orbit which is a gas giant (Jupiter). Gas Giants are known for having a lot of hydrogen and helium and additionally, some chemical compounds like ammonia which can be used in producing deuterium and tritium ( isotopes of hydrogen)  which are used as fuel for fusion reactors.

The only issue was how to get there, as their ship is fragile at the moment. Wheeljack suggested using gravity assist still should be okay.

Teletraan-1 calculated the positions of the planets and it’s been decided they were gonna use Earth’s gravity to propel forward, then circle around and do another flyby near Earth - that would give them another speed to reach Jupiter.

Suddenly Teletraan-1 informs the crew about a big asteroid that is headed in their direction and the collision is imminent. It happened fast, before Autobots could maneuver Ark off of the way. After the asteroid successfully vibe checked Autobots, the Ark got seriously damaged and was flung towards the planet. They couldn't break from gravitational pull so Autobots had to prepare for impacts, which would be easier if the ship weren’t breaking apart at that moment, Teletraan-1 did it’s best to stir the ship away from the cities.

Meanwhile, in chaos, Bumblebee fell into a hole in the ship’s walls and he landed in the water of Lake Erie. The impact was terrible as it almost tore his arm from his body. He screamed in pain and was forced into reboot.

Then he woke up next time, he was still in the water, completely disoriented - mostly to the fact he could sense so many sparks around him. He brushed it off as it wasn't important at the moment. 

While still being in pain, he managed to swim up to the surface to look around. Bee saw a big smoke rising in the distance, assuming this is where Ark landed, he tried to make his way there. 

Then Bee sensed something nearby, another spark with clear distress radiating from it. He looked around but saw nothing, then he submerged under the water. He saw a small figure who was struggling to swim. 

Bee dive deeper ( while doing his best to ignore the pain of his damaged arm), gently caught the figure and went back to the surface. The figure took a big inhale and coughed a lot. Bee was concerned, but he could only observe for now. 

He first noticed how this being kinda reminded him of his own kin: they have 4 limbs- 2 legs and 2 arms with 5 fingers, the face structure is similar as well, they also warm and look like they vent as well ( aka breathing. Cybertronian’s breathing is part of the air cooling system.see more in Trivia). While there was a lot of difference as well( being organic lifeform and such), that amazed Bumblebee that he almost forgot about his hand.

After being calmed down, the figure finally looked at their savior only to meet face to face with a giant alien robot. He yelled as a surprise, while Bee yelled back because the former's yell startled him pretty much.

After the shock faded and understanding that Bee wasn't doing anything bad ( they were just chilling in the lake) they sighed in relief and smiled, thanked him for saving them. Bee cannot understand what the figure says, but he assumes right he can sense relief emitting from the figure’s spark and replies, which of course the other didn’t understand as well.

The figure then gestures towards the mainland that isn’t far away, while making a paddling motion which Bee understood as “take me to the land”. He nodded ( to his relief on it means the same thing for humans) and he began swimming towards the land. Which pretty much drained him as they both arrived and his hand got worse. 

Bumblebee curled on the ground, trying to endure, but once again his system shut him down. The last thing he hears as the figure calls to him is a worry.

The next time he awoke, he wasn’t by the lake anymore, but inside of some sort of garage. He was lying on the floor and he tried to get up, but again his arm hurt, though he noticed that this time the pain is tolerable somehow.

He looks to the side and sees that his entire arm was wrapped into some weird stuff, kinda looking like duct tape? Sure it was flimsy, it kept his arm from falling apart.

Two figures entered the room: one he’s already familiar with, which is this person he saved from the lake, and others. They look similar to each other, the other person looking older, for some reason they reminded him of Ratchet. Bee tried to sit up again, but the pain wasn't letting him. Two people instantly got worried, saying something to him which he imagined was something like “please don’t move”. The older one went close to examine the arm closely, Bumblebee knew this look: a look of someone who is checking on the work they did...really reminded of Ratchet again. 

Bee sighs and gives a small smile and thanks to them, though he knows they won’t understand the hopes that the tone of his voice suggested the meaning. The older person nods in acknowledgment, then they exchanged a few words with the younger one and left the room.

The younger one sat by Bee. Autobot looked at them, observing them once more, taking more onto more features and he could tell that they did the same with him. Suddenly their expression lighted up as if they had an idea. Bee tilted his head slightly in question.

Making sure that Bee’s attention is on them, the figure points at themself says “I”. At first, Bee was confused, so they repeated it again. The only thing he could think of is to repeat the same. The exclamation followed by a nod means he did it right. Then they pointed at him and said “you”. Bee did the same...and suddenly it’s clicked. The language, they were teaching him their language!  He smiled and they continued.

Somewhere in the middle of this, they finally introduced each other. The person’s name is Spike Witwicky, a 15yo boy who is living with his father and helping him with the car repairs business. When Bumblebee introduced himself, Spike giggled, saying that Bee’s name sounded exactly how they call a specific insect. The Autobot snorts, funding this coincidence amusing. 

What a strange planet, and he began liking it already. 

Spike asks if Bee came from that huge ship that was falling. He nods, explaining ( in his broken English I imagine) that an asteroid took them down, and then he fell through the hole into the water at high speed that almost tore his arm off. Spike winced sympathetically, assuring that now Bee is gonna be alright. Then he thanks the yellow Autobot for saving him, Bee smiled in response, saying he did what he was right. Though he gets curious how Spike ended up in the water in the first place and Spike blushes in embarrassment because he was looking at the descending Ark and he wasn’t paying attention that he was hanging on slippery ground. He fell and since he wasn’t a good swimmer, the current took him away from the land until Bumblebee found him later.

Soon Spike’s father returns with more supplies and he was pleasantly surprised that their guest can communicate with them. Bee thanks him for patching his arm, tho the old guy says he can do some more, while they try to find out where the Ark landed so they can return Bee back to his people.

A bit later in the evening, Spike decided to show Bee various VHS tapes documentaries about Earth( he almost moved tv and VHS player to the garage), he could have a picture of what their planet was like. The Autobot happily agrees, being both curious and see it as an opportunity to learn more English words.

After a few days, Spike’s dad found out where the Ark landed, on Belle Isle. He offered Bumblebee a lift ( he has a truck which also was used to transport the Autobot from the lake’s shore). Bee gladly agrees, being happy they were helping him even though they didn't have to. To which Spike replied that Bee didn't have to save him either, but he did it anyway.

Spike with dad helped him to get onto the thing where to connect the thing ( lol I forgot), they both sat into the car and began their ride.

The trip went okay, Bee even relaxed and looked around the city, being amazed because everything was new, the sensations were new. Though sure he could see people staring at him, understanding that they know about Autobots...after all, there is no way you could miss something like this as their crash landing. There was probably a lot of news going on about this. 

Thankfully, Spike informed him that the ship didn’t kill anyone during the crash, which was a great relief on his spark. 

Soon they arrived at their destination, Bee peeks over the truck to see the damage around ( a lot of broken trees), and the Ark wasn’t looking so good. He hoped at least everyone was okay!

Suddenly Windblade quickly walked out of Art’s entrance, expecting these humans to be more reporters or whatever and before she could draw any conclusions, Bee called her name and waved with his good arm which instantly grabbed her attention. 

She ran over to her best friends, that he’s alive ( she was looking everywhere and was worried sick) and really wanted to bear hug him, but she saw the arm, so she hugged him gently. Then Bee explained to her that those humans helped him ( gesturing to his broken arm). Windblade thanked the theme, as Bee translated to them. 

After that Windblade announced to everyone over comms that Bee is alive and found, but required medical attention. Meanwhile, Spike looked a bit sad and asked if he’ll see Bumblebee again. The bot smiled and told him that he memorized the path from Spike’s home to Ark, so he will find it again. For that Spike jumped into a hug ( Windblade quietly ‘awww’ed at the scene). 

Windblade helped Bee to stand up and get off the truck, both humans wished Bumblebee speedy recovery before they headed home. She was asking Bee about his new friends ( and also commenting how it was only their couple of days on this planet and he already befriended aliens amazing), Bee ofc told her everything.

On Art, the crew was overjoyed with Scout's return, though Ratchet quickly led him into the med bay as it was clear how much damage he sustained. Meanwhile, Bee sends to Teletraan-1 anything he learned in English, to share with other Autobots, which Optimus was delighted with such a turn of events as it meant he can finally properly contact humans.

After Autobots got a bit established ( like making connections with humans and stuff), Bee finally paid a visit to Spike, the boy was so happy to see him again. 

After that Bumblebee and Spike spend a lot of time together and become friends. Spike also befriended Windblade, while we weren’t as close with her as with Bee, they enjoyed each other's company. Spike’s dad also made friends among Autobots. Together they learned more about the world they were stranded in, with all its beauties and problems, discovering new things like sparks actually being in every living being, Bee has to train himself to probably filter signals, he mostly focused on sensing his fellow Autobots and humans.

Bee quickly grew attached to Earth, not really missing Cybertron anymore. Sure there are a lot of processes and it’s different for everyone but Autobots felt that they can actually live again ( or begin living for younger bots who were forged during the war), the future seemed bright.

When Spike got older ( around 18 yo) he informed Bumblebee that he will leave Detroit for a university opportunity. The news saddened the scout, not wanting to part with his human friend, but he understands that he shouldn’t be in the way of Spike’s hopes and dreams. Out of curiosity, he asks Spike what he’s gonna study ( he had multiple guesses because Spike liked a lot of things).To that Spike replied with the biggest smiles that he will become an astrophysicist! Spike never could choose one thing, but that fateful day when Autobots arrived has sealed the deal. He hoped that he would work at NASA one day. They both laugh.

The day when Spike was leaving, along with his father, they said goodbye. Spike promised to stay in contact with Bee, and the bot promised the same. Kilometers apart won’t matter, they will always remain best friends forever.

Bumblebee missed Spike greatly after this and he needed time to accept this, but thankfully they both were true to their promise and stayed in contact for all years to come.

Fast forward to 2018.

This is when the story would begin, as all previous events described in this document to this point would be revealed through flashbacks and such.

Autobots have been living in peace for 33 years now. They helped humans to progress, technologically, and socially ( Solarpunk setting). They are integrated into society and have jobs( Bee for example is a courier, though sometimes he acts as a diplomat at important meetings that he attends with Prime as humans tend to like him), some bots scattered across the globe to do their thing (though they ofc course pay visits to Ark).

The Ark is part of a big overgrown forest on Belle Isle. It is because Wheeljack and Perceptor wanted to fix the damage they did to the environment during their crush. And after some experimentation, trial, and error they made some sort of serum that stimulates trees to grow fast. Too fast even as plants got out of hand at one point, so they had to fix this as well.

Bumblebee took a liking of plants, so he started his own collection. This private chamber was damaged and has a missing wall after the crash, later it was fixed, it expanded a bit and has a lot of light coming in through windows so it’s perfect for plants keeping. 

6 years ago he and Windblade befriended human Sari Sumdac, who is now 30 years old head engineer, working at Sumdac Systems along with her father. She's an absolute gremlin and always up to shenanigans, which awakes the gremlin side of Bee. Windblade tags along as well, maybe to keep an eye on them. All three are close friends :3

Sari builds an exosuit that improves her strength and grats a lot of cool abilities ( aka Iron Man but cooler) in case Decepticons show up.

He’s also in contact (which thanks to the internet became much easier) and friends with Spike, who is 48 years old astrophysicist at NASA, married to Carly, and has adopted son Daniel. Spike with his family visits Detroit each year to hang out with Autobots.

There is a lot of shenanigans happening on Ark, especially in group chat ( aka Discord server? with Sari and Spike invited.) The higher command are mods, but sure, Jazz loves changing channels names into something stupid :D

There are always twins ( Sideswipe and Suntreaker) with pranks, Jazz blasting music, Wheeljack blowing himself up again while Ratchet complains, fixing him again and again. They would do a lot of activities when free, (imagine them playing Among Us, Bumblebee being such a good imposter >:3) adopting human customs, they even get invited sometimes to entertainment shows ( you know, like those with two teams they have to do various impressions, etc).

The Bee loves music and got into drumming ( he had a habit of focusing on someones’ sparkpulse, using it as a base beat and used his hands to drum on various surfaces as entertainment back on Cybertron), he always does collabs with Windblade ( electro guitar), Sari ( keyboard + other electronic stuff, like a theremin) and sometimes Spike ( saxophone) to do video game music covers, they have a channel ( editing video and maintaining are on Jazz).

Fun fact: Bee’s drumkit and Blade’s guitar are one of few things of cultural value that actually survived the war, though they required repairment and some adjustments ( because the kit was too big for Bumblebee), they are in good condition now. There is writing on Cybertronian, showing the name of the company that used to produce instruments all those million years ago. 

Autobots are living their best life, even though they are prepared in case Decepticons will show up at their doorway.

The arrival of Decepticons.

Decepticons left Cybertron soon after Autobot’s, as Megatron believed that Optimus stole the AllSpark and was determined to take it back and use it to fix their broken homeworlds. Unlike Ark, their spaceship, Nemesis, was in [perfect condition. so they traveled from star to star in order to find a signal from AllSpark.

The problem was that no matter how Shockwave updated the scanning system, they just couldn't find any traces. It was frustrating to Megatron, he could feel how much energy this object radiated every time he walked into the Chamber of Creation, but there was literally nothing. It couldn't just vanish into thin air, can it?

So they just kept guessing, checking every nearby star system. It took a lot of time and was fruitless and the Decepticons grew tired. Starscream especially, always dreamed about taking Megatron’s place and rule Decepticons. So one day, after another failure to locate the AllSpark, Megatron and Starscream broke into a fight, resulting in the warlord throwing his second in command at the control panel by accident. 

Starscream face planted random coordinations and the Nemesis warp jumped to the Solar System, placing them on Earth’s orbit. Sunday scanners activated as they found Autobots’ signatures on this planet. Megatron laughs, he finally found Optimus so the AllSpark must be with them.

Soon they landed somewhere outside of Detroit, which didn't go unnoticed. Teletraan-1 alerts Autobots immediately. Bumblebee volunteers to investigate, followed by Windblade as a backup. Optimus approves the mission and the trio goes to Nemesis location.

Bee gets close to Nemesis, while Blade stays in the air just in case her friend needs a quick escape. He knows the plans of the ship well ( he infiltrated it a number of times), so he easily slips through the guards inside, into the vents. Soon he locates Megatron and carefully listens. He finds out about Megatron's intention to seize the AllSpark from Autobots. Looks like it's the only reason why they even came here and he will turn the city apart to get it.

Thankfully Wheeljack made a force field that won't let Decepticons in as a precaution for years ago. Still, that is a grim sign and they have to deal with Deceptions regardless. 

Bumblebee hacks into their system and quickly downloads important intel.

Then he sees Shockwave, it takes a lot of self-control to not hiss, Megatron just gives him simple orders to oversee something. He takes orders and leaves, but Bumblebee notices that he went in a completely different direction ( as Bee knows the ship well) and didn't like it. Bee wants to follow and see what this mad scientist is planning, but he senses Ravage nearby. The cat is also moving quickly through vents, probably because Soundwave ejected him here in case Bumblebee will show up.

The scout quickly gets out beforeRavage discovers him and leaves. On the way back he shares his findings with Windblade, and later back on Ark with the high command of Autobots. They don't have the AllSpark (and even if they had they wouldn't give it to Megatron anyway), and they must drive Decepticons off the planet, or convince Megatron to stop.

So after this, I imagine a few instances when Decepticons tried to attack the city ( but couldn't get it), Autobots would usually lure them away from the city and fight them there. Here examples of shenanigans that happened:

Sudden dance off, the seeker trio( Starscream, Thundercracker, and Skywarp) was really confused about this shit;

Sari ( in her suit) is legit disassembling Decepticons in the mid-fight. Imagine, Starscream wants to shoot, but his null rays fall off, awkward;

She also stole t-cog ( the detail responsible for transformation) from Blitzwing, much later it was returned;

Devastator caught Bumblebee and was going to quash the scout. Bee on the other hand focused on Devastator’s sparks ( he’s a combiner, made out of 6 Decepticons known as Constructicons) by accident and could hear that chaos that is happening in Devastator’s mine ( since all 6 don't merge into one, they still present chatter, telling Devastator what to do which is pure chaos). That overwhelms him and he yells “QUIET”, silencing 6 six constructions which seriously freaks Devastator out and he falls apart. Much later he did the same trick again when tried to throw Devastator at Autobots again;

Optimus is trying to convince Megatron that they don't have the AllSpark which isn't working. Not letting his frustration get ahead of him, Prime starts throwing memes( which he carefully chose for a specific situation) at Megatron. Megatron is not amused ahah).

Megatron wants to move forward and maybe to take on other cities to force Prime to surrender, but Autobots are one step ahead( as they planned), surrounding Nemesis from various positions ( as Optimus called all other Autobots that live in different locations) to harass Deceptions from time to time, trapping their enemies effectively. 

Conspiring with cassettes.

Later Autobots find out that despite the force field being up, and effectively repelling Deceptions, Soundwave’s cassettes are actually able to squeeze through. Wheeljack is hypothesizing it’s probably because of their size ( they are smaller than Bumblebee as intended) and looking for a solution to solve this.

Interestingly enough, cassettes ( 5 of them: Ravage, Laserbeak, Buzzsaw, and twins: Frenzy and Rumble) are not causing chaos while being out in the city. Bumblebee is keeping an eye on them, he can easily track them down, though they move fast which turns into some sort of game. At some point, he actually exchanges words with Ravage. Bee is trying to understand cassette's motives, but Ravage keeps it to himself ( though Bee senses some sort of enjoyment instead of malice).

Later Bumblebee gets a message from Rumble: they have a bomb and will blow up something ( I haven't decided sorry) if Bumblebee won't come to them alone. Knowing this is turned into a fight, he goes anyway without telling anybody as he wants to get to the bottom of this.

This indeed turns into a fight, as cassettes demand Bee to tell them where the AllSpark is. Bee tells them he has no idea like anyone else. Ravage asks why Bumblebee doesn't want to restore Cybertron, to which Bee replies that there is literally nothing left to restore. The AllSpark isn't some sort of magical object that can fix all their problems. Besides, Decepticons had it in control, why didn't they use it then? The situation gets really awkward after this, Frenzy admits that Megatron saw devastation only after Autobots left as his focus shifted to other things after his enemies were gone.

The fight stops, Bumblebee seizes the moment and asks where is the bomb they threatened him with earlier. Laserbeak just casually shows it, and in fact, it wasn't even activated. Rumble tells him when Megatron found out that cassettes and slip through the barrier, he ordered Soundwave to use the bomb to cause chaos. This isn't really what cassettes want to do, because finally in a million years they can actually roam free and explore new locations and things safe from Megaton. 

Cassettes admit that they aren't really loyal to their leader, only participating in war because their caretaker, Soundwave, was loyal to Megaton...though his loyal shifted and now his loyalty revolves around keeping his cassettes safe because Megatron won't be nice if he finds out. So he keeps up his appearances, while he lets his cassettes roam free.

Bumblebee understands that situation is complicated, but he sees this as an opportunity to end this stupid war. After all, Soundwave is highly regarded by Megatron, so maybe he can work with this.

Buzzsaw thought asks what they are gonna do now as they failed the task, which is quickly decided to shift all blame onto Bumblebee, even for future situations like this as Bee revealed that he can sense from far away from anyone. Ravage realized it’s the reason why he and others were never able to catch him! So after this being decided they went back and Bee returned to Ark, sharing this only with Sari, Windblade, and Optimus Prime for security reasons, he doesn't want to blow cassettes cover by accident.

Infiltrating Nemesis again.

Bumblebee isn't having a good time. He gets forced into reboot more frequently than it used to, especially during battles with Decepticons. Autobots had to save him multiple times, which was a blow to his self-esteem. Not to mention Sunstreaker was at him again, insulting the scout. Bumblebee yelled at him in return ( something that never happened before), he gets angrier and more frustrated. His best friends are doing their best to help, but there is little they can do.

Ratchet examined him and scanners show that the spark shell is losing its integrity, as it wears off over time. That explained why so many reboots happened recently. He says that Bumblebee shouldn't go on the missions at all, and Optimus agrees with this. Bee doesn't take it well, believing they think he’s now being useless to them, and storms off.

Then he sneaks out at night, planning to infiltrate the Nemesis again with two purposes: to prove that he is still useful to Autobots and to find out what Shockwave is up to ( it still bothers him a lot).

He sneaks in like usual and at first, it was okay, but then the vent under him broke ( yeah those vents are worn off over so many years too) and he fell right before the Seeker Trio. So the chase begins, Bee still can get away and he knows the ship but suddenly an unfortunate thing happens - his spark malfunction again and sends him into forced reboot.

Next time he awakens, he’s being restrained on some sort of medical table, which Bee quickly recognizes where he is - in Shockwave quarters. That sends terror to his spark, not only he’s been caught and Autobots don't know where he is, but he’s at mercy of the mad scientist. 

He tried to break free, but it’s useless, he never had much strength anyway. He looks around, and among his various projects, he sees something like a spire blueprint projected on the screen. It seems like it’s part of Nemesis. He doesn't like this at all. 

Shockwave enters the rooms, carrying various tools with him. Bee asks what he’s gonna do with him. The scientist doesn't reply first as he runs the scanner over Bee’s entire body ( while he’s changing the project on his scene meanwhile), it detects something in Bee’s spark chamber. 

Bee asks why Shockwaves keeps doing this,( like his sick experiments that even Megatron did not approve of). To this, the scientist replies that this war is going way too long and it will never end. So he decided to have a little fun while he can, he wants to relish in chaos and see the world burn.

He says that Bumblebee is carrying something interesting inside and he wants to find it. Shockwave activates his cutting tool and gets closer, intending to cut Bumblebee open.

Thankfully, salvation comes in an unusual form, Soundwave enters the room and demands to hand Bumblebee to him. Shockwave is not amused and refuses, so both argue until Shockwave gets an order directly from Megatron because the warlord wants Soundwave to dig intel out of elusive Autobot scout. After that, Shockwave can do whatever he wants with the prisoner.

Bee sighs with relief as he is escorted to Soundwave quarters. He doesn't make an attempt to escape, he can't really run away with a stasis cuff one + hr wants to get more insight on the Communication Officer. Maybe Soundwave knows what Shockwave is planning.

When they arrive, Bumblebee gets fully restrained again, and he’s mind gets connected to Soundwave’s systems ( via a cord) to start digging thought Bee’s mind ( if I remember correctly, Soundwave can read minds and emotions bc he can sense electric impulses in the processor or brain, he using cord here bc he wants to do deeper). 

Bee is pretty calm about this, he doesn't carry any useful intel ( he usually drops it at Teletraan-1 when he completes the duty). So Soundwave is stuck with casual memories while looking for any indication of the AllSpark, though he comments on Bee's good drumming skills.

Meanwhile, Ravage self-ejects from Soundwave’s chest and be like “dude seriously how the fuck did you get caught?? what are you doing even?”. Bee asks if they know anything about Shockwave’s plans. Such a question surprises both Decepticons, Bee understands that they don't know anything. Ravage doesn't like the sound of this and asks Bee to elaborate, but before he can answer, the scout looks to the side, sensing Megatron is coming in this direction. 

Ravage quickly transforms and tucks himself back into Soundwave’s cassette deck. In a minute, the warlord himself entered the room. He is pleased to see Soundwave already working on the task, while he turns to Bumblebee to take a good look at him as he never has seen the scout, who ruined a lot of his plans, up close - Bee would always be in the distance or lingering on the corners of Megatron’s optics before vanishing out of sight.

Megatron is acting pretty smug as a big nuisance in his grasp, though he admits he feels like he saw Bee’s face somewhere ( same reaction as Prime). He starts monologuing about how it would be great if Bumblebee would join him, they would win this war quickly. Maybe the little scout would convince Optimus Prime to join them, to which Bee asked if Megatron is still salty about Optimus breaking up with him.

That quickly pisses Megatron off, he grabs scout's neck and pins him heavily on the table, saying that he should watch his mouth. Bee isn't having this, replying ( as much as he can with his throat squeezed) that Megatron is an insolent fool who only focuses to keep Starscream on a leash, while Shockwave is plotting under his nose.

Megatron would probably hurt Bumblebee after this, but Sundewave reminded his leader that he’s still working and needs the scout in pieces. Megatron gives the order to continue, while he leaves. Both Bee and Soundwave sigh in relief, the latter commenting that the scout should keep it down in Megatron’s presence, to which Bee replies that someone had to say this.

Soundwave soon stumbles upon the Vector Sigma seal, locking the rest of Bumblebee’s memories. Soundwave asks Bee about this, to which the scout gives him the honest answer - he doesn't know how it got there and it’s been there already when he “first” woke up. Bumblebee asks if Soundwave can break it. The communication officer makes a few attempts, but it doesn't affect the seal at all. They need Victory Sigma, but it’s gone.

Bee expressed his frustration because he felt like the answer lies beneath it, but he said that he will find a way to stop Megatron. Soundwave replies that it’s impossible, but Bee doesn't buy this, he noticed the other reaction and it was hopeful.  

Bumblebee also notices multiple sparkpulses inside Soundwave, his cassettes, but only 5 of them are active, while there are many more of them, and those cassettes are being stasis. Bee asks Soundwave how long they’ve been asleep. Soundwave pauses, not expecting that question, and they reply that they have been in stasis since the beginning of the war.

Bee now understands, Soundwave has been working hard for Megatron, wanting to end the war as quickly as possible ( that was a motivation for a lot of Decepticons as Bee found out when they reached out for him), while sparing most of his cassette the trauma.

They sat in silence for a minute before Megatron contacted Soundwave, demanding his presence somewhere while ordering to leave a cassette to guard the prisoner. Soundwave sits for another minute, communicating with these cassettes, then ejects Ravage and leaves the room.

Ravage stands still, listening to the environment and making sure the coast is clear, then tells Bumblebee “you broke out using shock bombs, understood?” and releases the scout. Bee quickly gets up, thanking the cat. To that Ravage says “Go left now, I’ll give you ten seconds”. Bee nods and runs out of the room. 

After ten seconds the alarms burst on, informing that the prisoner had escaped. For convenience, Bee uses a few shock bombs he has with him as Decepticons try to stop him. 

He gets out, though he’s also pretty beaten up and it takes hours for him to get back to Ark ( he couldn't transform). He collapses then he crosses the entrance.

When Bee awakens, he’s on a medical table. His body is fixed, though Ratchet gave the minibot an earful of lecture for defying his recommendations and now Bee’s spark shell is even more strained. Prime also talks to Bee, reassuring the scout that no, Optimus and other Autobots don’t see him as burned and he doesn't have to go to such lengths to prove himself ( those conversations happened often back on Cybertron).

Bee doesn't reply, yet the give into he gathered when he was stuck on Nemesis.

Soon after this, Bee actually gets to talk with Sunstreaker to resolve their issue. The taller Autobot admits that he’s been projecting a lot because he used to be like Bumblebee when he was younger. Then he was envious because, despite everything, Bee remains kinds and hopeful. The scout tells him it takes a lot of work to keep being him after all those tragedies he had witnessed. Sunstreaker nods, though he still doesn't understand who Bee can easily move on after leaving Cybertron, it was their home after all. 

Bumblebee simply said that Cyberton didn’t feel like home, but prison.

And then the shit gets real!

Optimus decided to take another chance to negotiate peace with Megatron. They gathered near Nemesis, both Autobots and Decepticons just chilling (some interacting, like cassettes hanging out with Bee-Blade-Sari trio) while their leaders were negotiating. 

At first there heated arguments between the two leaders, Megatron acting like Optimus is the one being unreasonable and trying to blame him, while Optimus being like “listen you started this shit, you have no one to blame but yourself” (more politely of course). Soon, they both calmed down and actually made progress, as Megatron noticed that a lot of Decepticons are being distracted by various Earthian things because it’s all new in a million years.

Before they could proclaim anything, Shockwave appeared. Bee tenses instantly, this can't be good. I haven't decided if Shockwave would monologue or not, but the end is the same - he shoots Bumblebee in the chest.

Before anyone can react, Shockwave snatches the minibot and lifts him to his level, taking a closer look at the wound. The shoot wasn't direct, but tangential - it made a hole in the chest and partly chipped away the protective shell, leaving Bee’s spark partly exposed.

The energy is pulsing through the hole now( while Bee’s pulse gets completely haywire as he tries to free himself), the signature, and the effect is unmistakable - this is the AllSpark.  The amount of shock is impossible to describe, after all, Bee was carrying the AllSpark within himself and no one had an idea. Even Shockwave did not expect THAT!

Megatron is being evil smug again, now the AllSpark within his grasp! Except Shockwave has other plans. Instead, he activates his device, which was built into Nemesis. This spire was designed to fuck over all lifeforms on this planet ( including cybertronians), and with AllSpark his plan to cause massive chaos gets perfect as the AllSpark not only creates but also destroys. 

As he was about to rip the AllSpark out of Bee’s body, this system got overwhelmed, but instead of rebooting, his body discharged the energy, creating a big wave that threw everyone away.

Bumblebee meanwhile is screaming in pain ( the AllSpark is slowly breaking him apart) and a surge of painful memories ( the wave broke the seal). Not to mention he’s surrounded and pretty sure he might die, if he wants to get through this - he must become stronger to protect himself.

That thought activates the interface, the Vector Sigma interface. It already had something set up there. Bee can’t really see what it is, something about protective armor(?), he confirms it, the interface turned into a small cell that absorbed a portion of AllSpark energy. Then, as if he knows what to do, he slams the cell into the ground.

For a moment nothing happened, then suddenly a huge amount of plant-like-black vine material burst from the ground. Everyone instantly got into their sense after that blast, now witnessing those vines connecting to Bee’s chest and the AllSpark, lifting him off the ground and begin forming something BIG.

Decepticons are trying to shoot those vines, but hey, they re heat resistant quickly grow back :) Autobots are trying to contact the scout, but his comm is dead, Windblade cannot get into him minds as it’s filled with so many negative emotions like rage, grief, desperation, depression. Said emotions also floored Soundwave, making him unable to move.

Soon Bumblebee ( or more like the huge shell that was growing around him) formed into a big, dragon-like creature, who leats out of deafening roar at AllSpark energy shoots everywhere. An he’s so angry that everyone around him can feel it in their sparks.

This is how he looks, he’s strong enough to throw big cybertronians around like chew toys. Bumblebee’s body is cocooned in the chest area, the light from the AllSpark shines through crevasses.

Despite being angry, he doesn’t attack first and Optimus could have reasoned with him, but Megatron decided it was a good idea to attack the bigger monster and this is when the shit gets loose. 

Bumblebee trashes around, causing chaos around him, sometimes targeting someone and going after them for a few moments. All this is followed by energy discharges, so he successfully beats the shit out of everyone.

Shockwave is the only one who is pleased with surprise results, as he tried to collect data.

Soon Windblade manages to get a hold of her best friend’s mind and he tries to calm Bee down. He slows down a bit, which opens an opportunity for Sari to get inside thought crevasses and try to locate him.

She follows the opposite direction from energy flow, and soon she finds him. His face is a mix of anger and fear, Sari starts talking, trying to draw his attention to her. Soon enough he notices her ( the beast stops moving).

Bee tells her that he’s scared and he’s in pain. His body cracks more because even this large shall not contain all the power of the AllSpark. She hugs his head, telling that they will figure this out, but first hee need to stop thrashing around, he’s hurting everyone. 

Meanwhile, Windblade does the same, using telepathy to talk to him. It worked and they always convinced him to just fly towards the Ark, but Shockwave wasn’t having that, and started shooting at Bumblebee, trying to provoke him. Bee is sort of back to his senses, seeing Shockwave again, angers him to the point that this anger throws Windblade out of his mind. Sari is alright, but the expressions on Bee’s face terrified her. 

Bees run and pines Shockwave to the ground. Suddenly he speaks ( his voice sounds very distorted when it comes from the beast) telling him in space that Shockwave is the one who destroyed Cybertron and left them homeless. the mad scientist chuckles, commenting that this means his “pet project” had worked and he regrets nothing.  

Bumblebee executes Shockwave without mercy.

After Bumblebee flies up heads towards the Ark, Windblade flies after him, while Optimus uses this moment to gather Autobots and get the hell out of there. Sari tells him over comms that Bee is breaking, so he asks Ratchet to drive ahead and help Bumblebee.

Bee meanwhile is almost there, but his body cannot take this anymore. The chest opens up and Bumblebee with Sari falls out of the monster( then the husk falls down and lands right by the entrance of Ark). They both fall for a few seconds before the AllSpark shatters into small pieces and they fly in different directions. Windblade caught them both, both saw what happened and got really scared that Bee might be dead. 

There is small light coming from his exposed spark chamber, so Blade rushes to the medical bay, while frantically explaining to Ratchet ( who is on the way) what just happened. He instructs them to stabilize Bumblebee, enforcing he gets in and takes over.

Ratchet barely managed to save Bee’s life. After that, it took a lot of time to put the minibot together ( between all other urgent repairs of other Autobots that got fucked up by Bee’s outrage). Now, when the danger has passed, Ratchet can get a better look at scout’s sparks chamber that was hidden under the shell. Said shell was crumbled, he had to remove it. Then tells others what he’s discovered: 

First, his spark still hosts a few AllSpark shards. He tried to remove it but it turned out that Bee’s spark IS merged with the AllSpark. His system even pings errors about missing components. This is ironic because it made sense that the AllSpark was causing erratic sparkpulses, but yet they cant separated it from him;

Second, he discovered that Bee also has Vector Sigma installed in his spark chamber, this is exactly those missing components from the broken device;

Third, now there is a plant ( it looks exactly like that vine from earlier) parasite residing in Bee’s body, it appears to be feeding on AllSpark energy. Ratchet tried to remove it, it slapped him on the face. It resists and refuses to come off.

It raises so many questions, of how and why Bee got both AllSpark AND Vector Sigma. There was a suggestion that Bee could steal, or maybe all of this was some sick experiment that Shockwave did, though now they won’t know with the mad scientist dead. Windblade feels that she was involved in this, but still has no idea how.

She still cannot stop thinking about what she saw in Bee’s mindspace during the rampage. He was overwhelmed by grief, sadness, pain, guilt and all of this he merged into anger. And that he carried this angger for a really long time, longer that any of them can imagine. Ratchet is sure that Bee cannot be older, but who knows. Perhaps Bumblebee had a different body in the past that was destroyed.

After a week Bee wakes up. Of course, he’s being hugged by Blade and Sari, everyone sighed with relief. Optimus asks if Bee remembers anything from the meeting. The scout thinks for a moment. He remembers being shot, he remembers paint and panic and anger, he definitely remembers killing Shockwave. He doesn’t know who to feel about it.

He also informed him about a plant parasite. Bee is surprised, but he feels fine for far.

He’s upset when he learns that he beat everyone up and proceeds to apologize before every Autobot that was involved in this. He also sees his discarded husk outside of the Ark, which is examined by Wheeljack and Perceptor (  and wondering if human culture influenced Bee to make this creature look like one of the monsters from his video games).

He doesn’t have any recollection of making it, though this form seems familiar...probably he saw that dragon in a video game...probably.

Bee walks around the island to clear his head, being joined by Sari and Windblade. He admits that he is partly scared that he killed Shockwave like this...but on hand, he’s relieved that this guy is gone and Earth is safe for now. 

The scout also tells them that he remembered something during that fight that he could remember before. He tried again, but now it feels like his memories are scattered - they are there, but out of reach. 

To see what’s going on, Windblade uses her abilities to get into Bee’s mind. She sees that the Vector Sigma seal is gone ( tho her own is still active), but now all those memories that were locked are either missing or corrupted. Even those that weren’t locked are broken. She hypothesized that the AllSpark shattering damaged his data banks, taking the portion of memories with shards. 

That is just another reason why they must collect the shards.

Good thing that Bee can sense the shards, most of them landed in the city, but some landed outside, even near Nemesis which isn’t good. Later they come back and inform Prime about this and the high command starts formulating the plans of retrieving shards.

Meanwhile Wheeljack, Ratchet, and Sari brainstorm ideas of how to prevent the AllSpark from harming Bumblebee. The plant is absorbing the portion of energy, but it’s clear he still needs a shell. Sari tells them that Sumdac Systems will provide resources for the project.

Collecting the shards.

In general, the collecting of shards will go smoothly for most of the time, since most shards landed in the city. Some they found just laying in the bushes or roofs, some were handled by humans, some were even sent by mail. As new shards rejoin Bumblebee, Windblade helps him to restore his recent memories, while they still need to complete AllSpark to get access to previously locked memories.

Ratchet also keeps in check Bee’s health as new shards are added, and gradually builds a shell around the spark chamber, minding the plant.

So, few thing that happened during this time frame in no particular order:

Starscream got his hands onto one of the shards and caused chaos to both Decepticons and Autobots, he can even use it to get through the force field around the city;

Bumblebee created Grimlock, using an awesome t-rex animatronic as a base;

Thundercracker leaving Decepticons, thought he didn't go to Autobots either. He talks with Windbladem admitting that it was terrifying to see someone like Bumblebee so hurt ( he’s referring to that dragon accident) because of the war;

Discovering that the plant, living inside Bee is actually a symbiont - it protects its host when Bee is in danger, even helping him to lift a weight that Bee couldn't before ( though his body hurts a lot after this). Sari names it Clover ( in fact she did it with all Bee’s plants);

When the last shard is gathered, Ratchet doesnt final touches to the shell. He doesn't completely seal it away, letting it’s potions flow through Bumblebee’s body. This should reduce chances of forced reboot, thought they still might happen.

After this, Bumblebee secludes himself in his room, wanting to sort through all his memories, as those old one now finally accessible. After a few days he asks Windblade to come, He removes her Vector Sigma seal, and they talk through all those events. 

Soon Bumblebee requests Autobots together ( who can come, if someone can't, then they will be sent the recorded version of this) in front of Ark ( where the husk is) because there is something that everyone must know. He also asks Soundwave to send Laserbeak to the meeting, so she can record this conversation and present it to other Decepticons, Megatron included. Soundwave obliges, sending Bee his regards.

The truth behind the AllSpark.

Now with all his memories intact, Bumblebee reveals that he’s not the guardian or an weird experiment involving the AllSpark, but he IS the AllSpark.

That one thing was enough to shock everyone( accepts Windblade). At first they thought that technically yes, bc Bee’s spark fused the AllSpark, but Bee elaborates that he was created by Primus billions years ago. Windblade confirmed it, as she knows the truth already. 

To clear the confusion, Bumblebee starts from the beginning. 

Primus was wandering around the Universe. Like any giant with planet alt-form, he had one desire - to create and host a life. While he could easily transform, create a new life, and then fall into eternal slumber, Primus wanted to leave someone in charge. Thus he created the AllSpark - a powerful transformer who can create, destroy and maintain life on the planet. 

This person is Bumblebee, with a dragon-like altform, that looked almost exactly like that husk that now is resting in front of Ark.

Before Bee proceeded to his duties, he and Primus traveled around the Universe. Primus was teaching Bumblebee about life, about conditions required for life to exist, about material and what kind of life he can make. They visited planets, filled with various life forms: organic, silicone, energoinds and even other mechanical lifeforms.

Bee was observing living beings, learning about how they build, how they function, how they interact.

When the training was finished and Bee was ready, they traveled to a lone orange dwarf star(class K). Primus transformed and placed himself onto orbit. After this Bumblebee created the first cybertronian life. 

In thousands of years he filled the planets with divine ecosystems, with various biomes and huge species diversities and even first sentient beings. For most of the time he left anything for natural selection, while keeping a close eye on it in case something appears that will threaten life on the planet. In this case, by his protocols, he must kill that being in order to preserve balance.

He admits, while he loved his job and enjoyed creating, he was lonely. Primus advised against forming a relationship with his creations because he thought that Bumblebee’s powers could be misused in this case, for example getting involved in conflict where he could be persuaded to insta-kill someone. 

So he stayed out, but it hurt and he longed for companionship more than anything, which led to frustration and even anger at his creator for leaving alone for eternity.

Still, Bumblebee endured this and continued his work.

Peace lasted for a long time  ( if you don't think of the wars that were waged between clans from time to time), until Quintessons began their invasion on Cybertron. At first they couldn't set their tentacles there as Bee was such a fierce protector, but much later they figured out to send drones to fight instead. That posed a problem for Bumblebee because yes, he can easily kill a living being, but cannot kill what isn't alive in the first place. 

Bumblebee held endless hordes of drones for a long time, but eventually he was overwhelmed by numbers ( he was fighting alone, as cybertronians back there were no match to Quinesson’s forces) and killed.

Cybertron fell to Quintessons and everyone was enslaved.

Then Quintessons salvaged his spark( The AllSpark) and few more components to use the power of creation to create even more slaves. At first they couldn't use AllSpark, because it has quantuum properties. It creates endless possibilities, but none of their devices has enough strong sensors to set those possibilities, making them real.

Lucky for them, the components they got from Bumblebee’s dead body were connected to the AllSpark, with them Quintessons created Vector Sigma, a device that allows manipulation of the AllSpark.

They kept creating slayes, while completely ignoring anything else and soon all those diverse ecosystems that Bee made collapsed. The rain turned into acid, rust was crawling everywhere as Quintessons kept draining resources of the planet, while they tried to erase everything about Primus and AllSpark from cybetronian’s culture. While cybertronians still remembered Primus, the AllSpark was forgotten.

Hearing this was disturbing, considering the fact that after cybertronians liberated themselves from Quinesson’s tyranny - they kept using Vector Sigma for forging new bots.

Bumblebee wasn't too angry about this, they simply didn't know. Then he gets asked if he was killed, how Bumblebee is still here?

Short answer is they only destroyed his body. To explain this, Bumblebee reminds everyone how sparks work. Sparks are the lifeforce of every living being, but for sentient beings it also serves like a second brain/processor to process the emotion response.

But in Bumblebee’s case it’s the other way around: his spark is the main processor, while the head processor is for emotional response and processing the info from sensors. Primus made him like this in case Bumblebee's gonna get killed at some point so he could rebuild himself.  

Sadly, because they quickly salvaged him, removing both his spark and components that we connected to it and separating them - that made rebuilding impossible. 

And because of his spark’s quantuum nature, Bumblebee’s consciousness was locked in a quantum state, making him both existing and not existing at the same time.

He could only watch what’s happening. He was grieving over his work being destroyed, his creations being enslaved and potentially being forever stuck in quantuum sea, not able to interact with the real world again. 

The time went by, and eventually, cybertronians livetred themself from Quintessons and it marked the beginning of the Golden Age. Bumblebee was lingering, watching this happen. He was a bit happier after this, despite the fact that society was locked in functionalism( when both's place in society is defined by their alt form. Like a jet could only serve in the army) - a leftover from Quintesson tyraty. Still, it was better than Quintessons!

Bumblebee continues lingering, sometimes he floats in the form of a random bot and asks if they can see him. Usually it never works, but one day, one bot was able to hear him. Bee was ecstatic about this, finally he could talk to someone ( even though his talking was mere whisper as he forgot how his own voice used to sound). He introduced himself as Bumblebee ( it was one of many names that was given to him by his creations during ancient times that he liked a lot).

Bee thought maybe he could tell someone the truth about AllSpark origin and maybe that would help him to get back to the real world, but sadly none of his attempts were successful. Some don't believe him, some did but were punished by strict government. Additionally as Bee realised that only those who can psychic abilities can hear him. And those bots are extremely rare.

Still, Bumblebee wasn't losing hope, and kept trying ( though he was being more thoughtful about getting his friend in trouble). 

At some point, another big event happened - a gladiator named Megatron, with his partner, archivist Orion Pax ( who will later be known as Optimus Prime) created a revolution that liberated cybertronians from cages of functionalism. Now every cybertronian could be whoever they wanted, that pleased Bumblebee so much.

Not to mention now he has more chances to escape his quantuum prison, especially when a group of archaeologists has found a hidden temple that was dedicated to AllSpark - the only one that wasn't destroyed by Quintessons.

Even Megatron with Optimus came to see these fins. The most noticeable thing was the statue which archaeologists believed was the personification of AllSpark, which was an image of Bumblebee. 

(That made Optimus realise why Bumblebee’s face was so familiar when he first met him. Sure the form is different, but the face remains the same( and same goes to Megatron).)

At the same time a group of scientists noticed some quantum fluctuation comic from the AllSpark and they were going to research this. 

During this timeframe, Bee was really close to being found. He was really close to escaping. 

But as if fate decided to fuck everyone over, things changed from best to worst.

It all started when everyone realised that Cybertron will be completely drained of resources in a few millions years. That caused the frantic search of planets where they could get them. One planet that was relatively close was found. It was rich and solved this problem...but it also hosted life.

Heated arguments began, Megatron believed that they can just go and take it, because they really needed it and they are superior to this primitive form of life on that planet. Optimus on other hand refused to harm those lifeforms, even if they are primitive, that they can look elsewhere.

Bumblebee sided with Optimus, he knew the fact that there is another system near that one, that is rich with resources they need AND also unsuitable for life. He knew it in case if he ever needed those resources he could go and get them back in the day when he was in charge here.

Bee frantically searched for someone who could hear him, so he could pass this information...but he had no luck. Soon the civil war began and it was the beginning of the end.

As war was going on, Bumblebee lost all hope. He saw destruction he hadn't seen since Quintessons invasion and Cybertron’s reasons were thinning. Soon there were no resources to make new bots.

Bumblebee tight there is nothing he can do and was saddened about upcoming doom. 

Until and stumbled upon Windblade.

She was able to hear him. So they talked a lot and became close. Bee told her everything about himself, and when Blade was going to tell Optimus about Bee, he stopped her. Bumblebee was scared he's gonna be punished somehow ( it happened before in the past) but instead he has a plan, but he needs her help. She agrees, and waits until Bee is done with preparation.

Soon Bumblebee tells her about it, even a bit more urgently because he just saw Shockwave unleashing something that will kill everything and they need to get off the planet.

But first, Bumblebee needs a body. Now, when the Chamber of Creation isn't occupied anymore, Windblade sneaked inside ( Bee was carefully guiding her) the Spire, then got into the Chamber. 

He instructed her to activate Vector Sigma, then managed to upload a blueprint to her data banks that she was able to upload to Vector Sigma. 

Then he told her to set specific parameters, allowing the systems that were used for assembling bodies to scrap for resources. It was barely enough, still it gathered resources for a small body, compromising something like strength and armor. 

Then he told her to cut open Vector Sigma and get important components - the very same components that belonged to him long ago and install them to the body's spark chamber.

The last step was taking the AllSpark, placing it in a spark chamber and sealing it in a protective shell that will suppress the AllSpark frequency.

When Windblade did all this, she waited. It was silent for a few minutes and she was anxious that the plant might not get worse...before the body powered up and for the first time in seemingly forever, Bumblebee opened his optics.

This was probably the happiest day of his life since he lost his body. He hugged Windblade, thanking her for getting him out. After adjusting and remembering how to walk to transformers, they left the Spire.

But now they had to figure out what to do. When Megatron finds out that AllSpark is gone, hell will break loose and they cannot have the AllSpark being taken again. 

Bee cannot really protect himself. His body is fragile and will fall apart if he to unshesh his powers. And Decepticons like Soundwave can dig into one's mind to find out their secret. So it leads to a drastic solution - to seal any memories of him away. Blade doesn't want this, but understands it’s their only shotm so she agrees.

First they position themself near Autobot base.

Then Bumblebee activates his Vector Sigma interface, programming the seal in a specific way, so while memories are locked away, some feelings will linger. This will allow Bumblebee and Windblade to become friends again, and will also carry on the missing to make cybertronians leave the planet.

First he places the seal into Windblade’s data banks, which will activate in a few minutes and reboot her system. So it gives her time to arrive to base and be safe when memories are going to be locked away. She hugs him again before he leaves sayin “see you on the other side”.

Then he gets close to the road where Jazz soon appears, then he seales all his memories completely. The reboot happens and he falls on the ground, where next moment he’s being found by Jazz. 

The rest of the story everyone knows.

Bumblebee gives free minutes for everyone to process the whole thing. It explained a lot of things: his reboots, his ability to sense sparks, that husk’s creation,  pretty much everything.

So he’s being bombarded with questions, one of them was about what Shockwave did. Interestingly enough Bee never told Blade what exactly the mad scientist did. Bee tried to answer, but turned out he just cannot say this out of loud, that’s how terrible it was. Seeing the pained expression on Bumblebee’s face, everyone quickly moved on to different questions. 

Another question was about Primus, because Bee made it sound like Primus was just one of many beings like him. Bumblebee reveals that in fact, Earth is also giant like Primus, and unlike his creator, she can communicate with Bee during the recharge. 

So she’s asleep, but can talk to Bee when he’s asleep too. In fact he made a lot of attempts to connect, but because the AllSpark was sealed under shell, Bee could not hear her clearly. Until now.

She was asking if he can resurrect her two companions, who turned out to be Venus and Mars -  two other giants that came to this system with her. Something went wrong when both transformed to planets that caused their deaths, rendering planets unsuitable to life. 

Sadly, Bumblebee can only create or kill, he cannot bring the dead back. Once spark crosses the dimension and appears in the Well of All Sparks, it gets cleaned. It's a point of no return and the only direction for spark to go is forward -  to it's new life.

After the meeting is over, Bee turns to Laserbeak, making sure that all this information was received by Soundwave, which she confirms. Now they can only hope for better, that this is gonna be enough to stop Megaton from his fruitless conquest.

Then he goes on another walk around the forest, thinking about his past, present and future. Despite everything, he’s glad he lived to this point. He has what he always wanted( aka companionship) and now there is a chance for everyone to thrive once again, along with humans.

The final stretch.

Of course, nothing can be that easy. 

Soon after the big reveal, the entire Soundwave cassette horde( aka even those who were in stasis since the beginning of the war) arrives at the Ark’s entrance. They look terrified and begging for help. When asked what happened, Ravage told Bee that Megatron didn't take the news well when Soundwave presented that entire conversation to Decepticons.

Soundwave tried to reason with his leader, but Megatron got mad and hurt Soundwave, then he was going to hurt the cassettes as punishment, which resulted in fight and Soundwave ejecting every single one and telling them to run.

So they ran and came here, begging to save Soundwave.

This makes Bumblebee energon boil in his tubes, he’s almost jumped into his husk body to just run and tear Megatron apart, but he managed to calm himself. Optimus decided to go and deal with Megatron himself, and Bee tags along. 

When they meet again with Megatron near Nemesis again, first Optimus demands to release Soundwave. Somehow they convince him to do so, and Autobots take him to Ark for repair and reunite him with cassettes.

Meanwhile Megatron demands Bumblebee to fix Cynertron, which turns into a heated argument, because there is literally nothing to fix. Bee cannot just magically undo all the damage. 

In the end Bumblebee snaps, and just decides to do what he really, really didn't want to do -  he wants to open the space bridge and show Megatron what is happening on Cybertron. If this won't help, he doesn't know what can. 

Bumblebee warns that they might not get out alive, but Megatron agrees anyway, believing that minibot still can fix their home planet. Optimus Prime also joins, refusing to leave Bumblebee alone with Megatron.

They arrive at the Chamber of Creation and look outside ( as they are on top floor). The Spire is the only building that is still sanding, meanwhile anything else lay in ruins. Megatron is confused, he doesn't remember leaving Cynertron in such a terrible state.

Bumblebee asks them if they can see those drones. They cannot, asking what drones. He sighs, understanding they have to go to ground level and that's actually scary.  Still, he activated the elevator and they went down.

At entrance they stop and now they see - countless tiny drones consuming metal, then multiplying. And their hunger knows no bounds. 

Bumblebee reveals that those “Scraplets” were created by Shockwave in order to cause chaos among Autobots. But they didn't work as he intended he just threw them away. They landed near Cyberton’s core, which activated them...and they began to consume everything in sight. When Scaplets got to Cybertron lavras ( it’s like the immune system of the planet) and Bee felt their deaths, he knew the time was up and they needed to run.

Now it made sense why Bumblebee killed this mad scientist in the first place.

Megatron asks if Bumblebee can kill them, but Bee says he can only kill living beings,while those things are just sparkless drones and they will devour him quickly.

After a minute, Megatron sighs in defeat, telling Bumblebee he can take them back to Earth.

He nods and about to open a portal...then suddenly his spark is acting up again, sending a huge power surge around him. Once again he is forced into rebooting before he can open a portal.

This caught the attention of scraplets and they charged at bost. Optimus grabs Bee, and both he and Megatron start running. First they tried to make it to the elevator, but it was already being chewed.

So they were forced to take stairs. So Optimus carrying Bee, and dragging Megatron with him, Megatron is shooting from his fusion cannot, breaking shit to slow down scraplets. 

When they reach the top floor, they have nowhere to run. Megatrons asks how soon Bee will be back online, which according to Optimus’s chronometers is 3 more minutes. Megatron feels that they don't have it and suddenly the entire building is rumbling.

Because it’s being eaten, it starts falling, while scraplets are seeping inside the chamber. Two bots look at each other, and do the leap of faith ( while holding onto each other and Bumblebee of course). Just before they hit infested ground, Bee suddenly wakes up and he opens a portal. All three fall into it and are transported back to Earth.

Panicked they look around for scraplets that could be transported with them, but thankfully there was none. They are safe.

Optimus is surprised that Bee woke up earlier, and the minibot himself is surprised as well. Though he quickly realised it’s because of his plants symbiont + new shell combinations - his system still gets overwhelmed, but not as drastically as before, allowing his system to recover quicker.

After this, Megatron allows Autobots to leave in peace, while he still needs to process everything he saw.

Later ( with Optimus help) he declares that war is over and that Earth is their new home, which was surprisingly received well by other Decepticons ( he told them what he saw).

Finally Bumblebee can sigh in relief, finally they can have a bright future ahead of them and  he’s looking forward to it.

Trivia( aka random stuff I didn't know where to fit).

Cybertronians can breathe and it’s part of their air cooling system, as such a process allows them to quickly inhale cooler air and exhale hot air. When calm they don't actually breathe, but as soon they are scared/excited/in a fight - they start doing this;

They can also cry, and it’s also part of the cooling system. Processors and spark chambers tend to be heated more than anything and require cooling by liquid nitrogen. When strong emotional responses happen, heating goes off the charts, and because optics are so close to the head processor - there is a risk of melting them. So the liquid nitrogen gets pumped to optics as well, and because this liquid has a low boiling point - those tears take a form of gas, seeping through the space between optic and face. Older bots don't cry much because they kinda get used to horrors of the war, while younger like Bee are actually more emotional and showing it often. Even after restoring his memories fully, he’s still emotion as hell;

Bumblebee is sleepwalking sometimes, and if he sees another person he starts whispering “Can you see me?” over and over until he gets the “right” reasons which is “Yes, I can see you, Bumblebee”. After this he falls back to recharge. That scared a lot of Autobots first, they discovered the right answer when Optimus replied, thanks to his tendency to give full and polite answers. This happens because of trauma when Bee lost his body and became “non-existent” to anyone;

He used to terrify Decepticons when he infiltrated their bases  to the point they thought that Bee was some sort of Autobot vengeful spirit that came to hunt them. Bumblebee used his abilities to avoid his enemies, while toying with them, like lingering at the corners of their optics before disappearing and even whispering”Can you see me?” right into their audio sensors.);

When Decepticosn arrived on Earth, Bumblebee was an anxious mess, he was afraid that Earth might die just like Cybertron did. To give himself hope and a way of coping, he remembered the legend that if you fold 1000 origami cranes, your wish will come true. He made the first crane soon after Decepticon’s arrival, and the last right before he received his last AllSpark shard. Now those cranes are everywhere on the Ark;

Spike visits Detroit at some point, but I haven't decided when. Probably when the AllSpark shattered, so he helped to restore it too;

Bumblebee has two strong phobias: 

Athazagoraphobia. The fear of being forgotten, ignored, or abandoned; 

Monophobia. The fear of being alone for a long time;

In future, humans figured out the way to transport their mind into their spark and then transport that spark into techno-organic bodies which ultimately extends their lifespan.

Sari was one of first humans doing this, not wanting to leave Bumblebee and Windblade;

Spike, on the other hand, decided to die of old age because he felt like he did everything he wanted and his journey reached his end. Bee was really upset about this, but let Spike go. Spike spent his last moments with Bee.

Also in the future, Bumblebee’s body gets an upgrade, restoring his original form alt-form (6 legged dragon), though it’s smaller than before, Bee used to be small and finally comfortable with this. He will also be in charge of creating new cybertronians and terraforming new planets;

This is how Bumblebee used to look like;

Here’s the statue that was discovered, that Optimus and Megatron saw before.

[transformers-extrication]

Subject of some interest here’s Wheeljack! And as usual info is below.

Wheeljack walks primarily on all fours, using the armoured backs of his main hands to support his front half. Due to the angle of his back legs, Wheeljack has trouble walking in a bipedal motion, it’s not impossible, but more trouble than it’s worth. Walking on his hind legs only causes him to wobble from side-to-side harshly among other weirdness to his gait.

His head fins do indeed, light up, when he talks. Even when he whispers except then it’s incredibly dim.

The smaller secondary arms you have noticed on Wheeljacks shoulders have been altered. Wheeljack has placed ‘gloves’ on these hands, giving them the appearance of being webbed, he did this as cupping them against his chest makes an excellent ‘pocket’ for him to hold onto many little odds and sods while he works on his latest projects. Underneath he has spindly fingers.

Wheeljack is very excitable and loves to dive right into projects and ideas.

Has been friends with Perceptor for an exceedingly long time.

While at the Cybertronian version of a sort of “science academy” Wheeljack incorporated Shockwave into his friend circle creating a tight-knit friendship trio.

He and Perceptor were instrumental in helping Shockwave overcome some issues and begin to accept himself more. Wheeljack would make it a mission to try and get Shockwave to laugh at least once a day.

Regarding Shockwave he was intially incredibly happy some mech with plenty of financial backing picked up the fellow cyclops to make him a lead scientist. While Perceptor was more upset at the sudden loss of contact with their friend Wheeljack refused to hear it and optimistically brushed it off as “He’s in a new super-big fancy place now! It’s not deliberate Shocksy is probably just mega-cusy with all of the new stuff he’s got! You know how he is with new places, give him a while!”

This only made the hit harder when he eventually saw Shockwave again. During the war. Witnessing the stoic hateful mess Shockwave had become under Megatrons control tore Wheeljacks spark to shreds.

Wheeljack and Perceptor have tried many times to try and ‘reach’ Shockwave and ‘bring him back’ during the war, the attempts have always failed and lead to many heated angry moments between the two scientists. Probably a good thing they never found out their attempts occasionally did touch upon some of Shockwaves forcibly locked away emotions.

Due to this Wheeljack, despite any of their arguments, is incredibly protective (and somewhat clingy) to Perceptor, the Dinobots, and others he views as friends. Perceptor can usually get him to stop this behaviour, knowing it stems from guilt.

Before the War on Cybertron Wheeljack occasionally got scientific apprentices handed to him due to his eagerness to spread knowledge and also learn more himself. One such apprentice was Swoop, after Swoop never showed up Wheeljack went hunting for him.

Wheeljack had immense trouble trying to find Swoop and went to the council in Iacon to see if he could be allowed records of Swoops transfer papers. He was helped by a spindly mech with a somewhat monotone voice who said they’d seen that name go towards Kaon,

This is how he ended up in brief contact with Grimlock, learning about Grimlock, Swoop and a couple others torture being used as guinea pigs for tests. Mortified by this news Wheeljack had tried his best to get into Kaon to find a way of freeing them.

He was halted by a now denounced member of the Scientific community who passed word to him that Swoop would be fine some rising voice named Megatronus was vowing to make Cybertron a better place and liberate mechs from their current state of society. After all this mech claimed he knew what it was like to lose a friend...

During the war it was these memories and the knowledge of what happened that lead Wheeljack to hunt down the Dinobots upon their disasterous escape from Shockwaves lab. Knowing part of their history and some names allowed Wheeljack to get in close to them and help them regain some control over themselves.

The group protected Wheeljack from an attack from Shockwave but received terrible damage in the process. After a lengthly discussion (and lots of begging) Wheeljack got Ratchet to help him fix up some life support pods for the Dinobots, keeping them in stasis until they could one day be repaired in full. He was so protective of these pods, he made sure to sneak them onto the Ark before it was launched so they would remain with him.

Doggedly loyal to his friends. He’ll never lose another if he can help it.

Easily loses himself in sources of knowledge.

Keep an eye on him else he might start tinkering with various objects.

Often needs something to fiddle with during meetings, presentations, etc to help him focus.

Invents and creates new weapons, items, machines and devices to help the Autobots in the war, or just in general really.

Perceptor and others refer to him as ‘remarkably flammable’. He’s no more flammable than any other mech in reality.

Although, he probably has this 'reputation’ due to the fact his creations have a high chance to explode when he first makes them. That is a bit of a problem when your enthusiasm sometimes leads you to forget things.

Never lets this bother him though and will get straight back to working on his inventions. Ratchet has had to drag him out of his workshop to repair him before when the Inventor decides to disregard potential explosion-related injuries in favour of continuing his work.

Can jump far.

Is a sucker for big, tight hugs and claims Shockwave was good at them.

Does occasionally “baby talk” his creations.

[thanksjro]

Dark Cybertron Chapter 3: This One’s All About Skywarp. Honest!

It’s a beautiful day during Cybertron’s apocalypse, and Starscream is talking to a corpse to work through his emotions. He goes through a very brief rundown of what happened last issue, I guess because Swerve’s too busy being in space to do the Story So Far, and caps it off with an apology to Metalhawk over killing him. Rattrap watches this go down in the background, because this is Skywarp’s toy tie-in issue.

After this very incriminating conversation, Starscream goes out to see to the massive crowd standing outside, including Scoops’ little Targetmaster buddies.

I don’t care for that man’s beard.

Starscream promises to go talk to the Titan, though he really doesn’t want to, and Rattrap catches up to him to touch base. The two of them go to see Megatron, who’s still trapped in the forcefield hamster ball Wheeljack stuffed inside his chest back in RID. Starscream teases Rattrap about trying to be conniving, comparing it to his own endeavors as the Decepticon SIC, and offers a bit of advice.

Implying that Starscream hasn’t been flying by the seat of his proverbial pants since he became a main character in Phase Two.

Starscream, having met his daily quota of rubbing his success in Megatron’s face, goes off to see what he can do about this Titan situation.

Over at the Titan itself, the Autobots and Decepticons are duking it out, with the man of the hour gracing us with his presence.

Outstanding, you funky little robot.

Arcee tries a little banter, but it falls flat, and instead she just decides to sword fight a cat. Bumblebee asks Soundwave just what the hell he thinks he’s doing, and Soundwave gives a complete non-answer in the form of Decepticon propaganda, because anything else would make things too easy. This is where Starscream shows up and has his little chat with the Titan.

Back over in prison, Rattrap’s getting the skinny on the dark prophecy Scoop introduced into the narrative last issue. Rattrap wants to know just how this information got passed around so well outside of jail, and Scoop suggests that there are people who perhaps have a vetted interest in what may or may not be happening with Starscream. Then Rattrap makes it weird by A) not being terribly concerned about the potential end of the world and B) being impressed by the idea that Starscream somehow planned said end of the world.

This Skywarp issue is really good.

Over with the Lost Light, Ultra Magnus has taken command, and the lads are about to make the quantum jump to chase after Jhiaxus. But wait! Something’s off! The ship’s moving in a way that it shouldn’t be! Very odd, that. Brainstorm calls with answers, asking Magnus to grab Getaway, for some friggin’ reason, and head down to the shuttle bay.

Getaway asks Magnus how it feels to be big man on campus, and Magnus seems to think it’s a bit overrated.

Wow, someone needs to go talk to Xaaron about maybe thinking through his debate topics before he posts them, so he doesn’t get pegged as a space racist. The Universal Killswitch happened, like, last week, my dude.

The two of them get to the shuttle bay to discover that Metroplex’s thumb- which they picked up back in Spotlight: Trailcutter- is floating, and more or less pushing the Lost Light off-course. Getaway is pretty jazzed to see this thing on the ship, sort of missing the bigger picture. Brainstorm hypothesizes that Metroplex is using his severed thumb to guide the Lost Light to him.

Not sure why Getaway needed to be here for this.

Back on Cybertron, Everyone watches as Starscream flies up to the Titan. Arcee is ready to blast him out of the sky with a gun as big as she is, but Bumblebee wants to see where this goes. This pisses Prowl the hell off, and he starts yelling, but Bumblebee tells him to shut up. Bumblebee tells a lot of people to shut up in “Dark Cybertron”.

So we’ve got a team-up going on between the Autobots and the Decepticons- Bumblebee says it isn’t, but it pretty much is. Soundwave and Prowl get into a bit of a scuff, as Starscream lands and asks the Titan to chat.

Yeah, that doesn’t really work out too well.

Starscream manages to escape the Titan death blast in his alt, as the poor bastards on the ground below begin to dissolve into black fizz.

But Skywarp’s okay, so it can’t be all bad!

Yeeeeah, Skywarp.

Prowl starts yelling at Bumblebee again, as if he can’t see that the friggin’ death wave the Titan shot out of its face is still heading for Iacon, Starscream just barely managing to stay ahead of it. He lands as it hits, screaming about how Cybertron is his and he’s not gonna let some murder energy to steal his thunder, bracing his arms out as if that’ll do anything. Everyone watching him do this has about the expression you’d expect from witnessing such madness.

As the Iaconian populace gets dusted, someone else wakes up from the dead. It’s Metalhawk, and it’s time for him to become a tool of the narrative.

Metalhawk launches into the air and lands on top of Starscream, interrupting his personal diatribe to gripe about how he killed him. Still, there are bigger fish to fry, as he kicks Starscream through a wall and walks into the room where they keep Megatron.

Metalhawk releases Megatron from his hamster ball prison and carries him away, despite Starscream maybe insinuating that Megatron is dead somehow? It’s not super clear. Anyway, Metalhawk must do some pretty intense arm exercises, because he carries Megatron out and shoots into the air, holding him one-handed to his side.

Eat your veggies, kids, and you too can kidnap an entire warlord.

As the city falls apart, Rattrap and Scoop enter the scene, the prison likely having collapsed in the aftershocks of the death wave. Good thing they’re giant robots who can’t be killed by mere crushing damage. Rattrap tries to connive, but Scoop is more concerned with the fact that many people are dying, because he’s a somewhat decent person. Some of these people have begun to turn on Starscream, who takes it about as well be you’d expect.

Back on the Lost Light, the lads have decided to go find Metroplex, and to hell with bringing Jhiaxus to justice. At least for now. Of course, Ratchet tries to argue that they should do what Orion wanted them to do, but Orion isn’t here right now, is he? And Orion isn’t the space pope at this present time, now is he? So yeah. Metroplex time. They quantum jump, ending up underwater, with said water swarming with robots. That might be an issue, especially since they don’t seem to be terribly friendly.

Back in the Crystal City with Shockwave, Metalhawk’s dropped off the package, and Shockwave reminds us that he installed a space bridge in Megatron’s torso. Scientists sure do like to shove random bullshit into Megatron’s torso.

Hey.

Let’s talk about the NAILs for a second.

This is Tappet. I’ve been calling him Hat Guy up until this point, but his name is Tappet.

Everything Tappet done in the last 20+ issues of RID can be explained without him being the subject of the sentence:

The Decepticons kicked Tappet’s ass. Prowl sent Tappet to prison. Metalhawk bailed Tappet out of prison. Metalhawk brought Sky-Byte to the trashcan fire to talk to Tappet and some other neutrals. Starscream takes off his top as Tappet watches.

The point I’m trying to make here is that Tappet doesn’t actually do anything. None of the NAILs actually do anything, other than die and fill out crowd shots. Sometimes they bitch about the current situation, but even then, a lot of the time, those more vocal NAILs were actually involved in the war at some point.

This is an issue, because we’ve been presented with this entirely new group that’s in direct opposition of the war caused by every character we’d met prior to The Death of Optimus Prime.

And they have zero agency within the story. Shit just happens around them and they react. In fact, one of the major point points of RID is whether or not the Autobots should let the NAILs have agency within the very government that rules them, and it is such a point of contention that it takes literal in-story months and several disasters for them to reach a consensus. A decision that barely involves input from Metalhawk, the guy who is a NAIL, and is meant to be their advocate. Metalhawk, who is supposed to be on the same level as Bumblebee in terms of sway in the narrative.

At first, he did- he was the subtly conniving bastard who would trip Bumblebee up in front of others to make him look bad, and then deny anything of the sort happened if questioned. It was an interesting dynamic with a character that was new to the continuity. Metalhawk was interesting.

Then Starscream got involved, and Metalhawk’s role was reduced to yes-man and character motivation to both of them, because conniving is Starscream’s thing, and obviously we can’t have two bastards gang up on poor, sweet lil’ Bumblebee.

Who had a remote control that could blow up people’s heads if they pissed him off.

You remember when Bumblebee was the kid appeal character? Because I do.

The point is, the NAILs exist, but their existence isn’t justified within the story. They’re set-dressing, not characters. And now Metalhawk in particular is a prop for Shockwave, and somehow I doubt the other guys are going to be doing a hell of a lot in this story.

I dunno, it just seems like a bit of a waste.

Anyway, Skywarp sure was present in his toy tie-in issue, huh? Remember when he did that thing? And the stuff? Ah man, that was so cool!

Yeah, someone probably crossed their I’s and dotted their T’s on this one, because I’m pretty friggin’ sure this wasn’t meant to be his, even if the exclusive cover says otherwise.

[shikai-the-storyteller]

I absolutely didn’t go back through and edit this at all and hardly any of this is verbatim but I tried to take notes on some of what Mae Catt said during her stream if anyone is interested!

EDIT: Here’s a cleaner post with most of the Q&A.

She says she doesn’t want to yuck anybody’s yums re: ships. She seems Arcee and Grimlock more as friends, but she didn’t say they can’t be in a relationship

They fell in love with Perceptor so they wanted him on the “End of the World fighting the Quintessons” team

They had to dedicate a lot of effort into Dead End b/c it takes time to send in info for modeling a character and deciding on their alt mode

She was pitching Obsidian from Beast Machines really hard. She didn’t know what his personality would be it was just a “Look how cool he is!” sort of thing

Thought it’d be fun to have someone pessimistic like Dead End be on the team

“According to us, Drift did not make it, but I fully endorse whatever you want”

“The brand team had grown up on the toys as we had grown up on the toons, so we just wanted to make the best thing imaginable.” That’s nice 

Rodimus was never considered for the show “it’s been covered to death”, but they were adamant about portraying Hot Rod as someone who wanted to be a leader

Hot Rod is someone who is learning to be a leader

“Please don’t tell JRO I forgot about Whirl” re: talking about why they chose each character for the “Anti-Quintesson” team

Q: Re: Why did Drift try to kill Roddy A: They said they needed a double-agent and they needed someone who would (seemingly) kill Hot Rod

She loves that Optimus is just trying so hard to rebuild Cybertron, I just want society to start rebuilding

Q: Since you mentioned Optimus's death... he didn't seem to have a plinth in "our" Matrix realm. Does that mean the list of Primes works differently? Like are the 13 more of a dynasty, rather than all being a group together?  A: They decided Optimus would be in the Alt! Universe matrix because they wanted to show he was dead. Logical backflips because he needed to be among the 13 to talk to Windblade. 

She says Starscream’s death hurt her most

They didn’t want to kill people off willy-nilly for shock value

"The audience will fall in love with Slipstream so she has to die" LMAO

She almost wanted Starscream to emerge from the Judge heads untouched but she’s ultimately glad that idea got shot down

Dead End’s eyes are white

She’d love to have a MTMTE Magnus / Minimus included. She wished and prayed to have Frenzy and Rumble

They wanted Jazz to be a lady!!!!!!!

These characters are like grown ups (kinda) with their own lives that we don’t see. Lots of stuff happening between episodes

“Rumble and Frenzy are always considered in my heart, but there wasn’t enough time or space or assets to do so”

“Alt Soundwaves also had their own Laserbeaks. I wonder if the scientist would’ve taken them out. He might’ve just gotten rid of them.”

“A lot of intelligent life is inherently mechanical” explaining why so much of the life we saw in the show were robots

She would’ve liked to have the other shows show up (TFP, TFA, G1, Shattered Glass) but they don’t have those assets or budget. “This will quickly become unclear to audiences who aren’t (you people).” They couldn’t have all these references when some of their audience wouldn’t get it

“Why does anyone collect what they collect? That’s a really angry dad who’s got five children and he plays music. Gotta have that” --re: the Scientist and Soundwave

Knock Out was considered but every Transformer under the sun was discussed at some point in the Writer’s room. 

Developing Sky-Byte’s character was simultaneous with Jetfire’s character, "We knew we wanted Sky-Byte to be a poet, and we wanted him and Megatron to be chummy”

From the getgo they didn’t want any humans distracting from the Transformers

Q: Is Megatron dead? A: “In discussions we wanted to kill him. Wanted to do a reverse Optimus death. However, in the final product, I kinda enjoy the ambiguity rather than the final decision. Can’t remember if we were decisive about that in the script.”

She wanted them to have IDW Tarn in there “OBVIOUSLY (the perfect decepticon) should look like this guy. A faceless mindless Decepticon that only serves Megatron”

Q: Is Dead End a good boyfriend? A: Dead End is a work in progress, but maybe Percy is patient enough to get him there

Q: Is Astrotrain a good boyfriend?” A: “No, no...he’s not a good person, really”

“When I was desperately trying to save Starscream’s life even though I brutally murdered Slipstream--” LMAO She wanted Starscream to have amnesia and she says she wanted to have a redeption arc. She wanted him to have a Windblade shard and have it be kind of like Castaway, where he only talked to it (and the shard only had 5 phrases it could say) and eventually Bee would befriend him Wanted to write Starscream as an abuse victim who expected the worse of the Autobots, but she wanted him to warm up slowly

Wanted a Starscream and Optimus episode where he’s like “you did your best and that’s what counts”

Q: Is Percy a good boyfriend A: “Absolutely--WAIT HOLD ON. He’s very blunt, he doesn’t mince words, if you can handle his bluntness then you’re good. He is what he is and you have to deal with him.”

Q: Is Soundwave a good boyfriend? A: Soundwave is not a good boyfriend. He’s a good casual romance but he’s not a good boyfriend. Soundwave would be a terrible listener. He hears a lot but he’d tune you out.

Percy did permanently take over Mac’s bar

She really wanted Obsidian and Transmutate to be in the show.

If Thunderclash was in the show he and Jetfire would HATE each other. Thunderclash would be a rival reality star (maybe) to Media Fire

Fave Episode was “I Am the AllSpark” b/c of that Megatron and Starscream dialogue Also S2 04 Soundwave and Shockwave

Transmutate would be more like the uprising version (?) but modeled more on the BeastWars version

The Starscream & Megatron beatdown was super severe and they were like “holy frick they’re really going for it” when they saw the boards for it

She likes the Windblade / Slipstream ship

Her favorite VA is Jeremy Levy, he’s a really cool guy

She thinks Starscream and Cheetor could become (not necessarily friends, but connected?) because of their connection to the All Spark 

Describes Starscream as an “Awful gremlin” several times

They say Megatron didn’t actually kill Starscream, just really beat him down hard

“Don’t take things I say as the end all be all”

She doesn’t think Bee would be a Prime, Windblade and Hot Rod would be a better Prime. He wouldn’t want to be a Prime. He’s the #2 to Primes!

With unlimited budget combiners could’ve been included, but it doesn’t seem like they thought about it

Astrotrain and the Insecticons are from Megatron X’s universe

Megatron’s priorities changed when he saw his doppelganger. Realizing he was a horrible tyrant, that scared him enough to return and not kill Optimus and make peace no matter what.

She thinks Cliffjumper and Bee wouldn’t get along, solely because of the IDW2 comic stuff

Got 26 episodes for season 3 because they got the 4-part movies

Megatron cares about his troops but not in a way that we would notice that care

Wasn’t a HUGE die-hard TF fan when she got into the series but she was a bigger GI Joe fan, she reread a bunch of things and did a lot of research

Cut joke: S2 E5 Megatron and OP finds the All Spark Decepticons and Autobots popping all over the world, Soundwave pops into Brazil where there’s a music festival and he’d crash the concert and hang out. He likes EDM the most?

The Titans want to be cities. They want citizens. They want to be lived in, that brings them joy (ouch)

Q: How did the Decepticons learn to stream? A: Because they’re deceptive! He knew he should dedicate some time to winning the hearts and minds of humans. Starscreams’ funeral was not the first time they streamed Optimus would use the official media channels, not a streaming service. Megatron would try to speak more directly to the people.

From the conception, the show wasn’t going to have humans

She thought people would ship Dead End / Percy but it wasn’t until she saw art that she started shipping them

Q: Is Optimus the type of streamer who would take 10 minutes to figure out how to un-mute his microphone A: Optimus is a dad. He has no idea what’s going on re: streaming. Optimus would say embarrassing news while Bee and Hot Rod are in the middle of streaming

Doesn’t ship Bee with anyone, she sees him as a little brother

Randolph put Rack ‘n Ruin in the show.

AcidStorm is genderfluid

Cold Construction doesn’t exist in this show. Maybe there’s one jet mode all the seekers really like

We have Mae Catt to thank for Whirl

Percy didn’t transform because not a good time to turn into a microscope while you’re trying to save your planet from Quintessons

If she were a transformer she’d want to be a stealth bomber. She’s 5′3 so she says she’d probably actually be a motorcycle like Chromia

They killed Prowl because it was Shadow Striker doing the killing and he’s a self-sacrificing lieutenant.

Enjoyed writing Starscream most, Clobber and Hot Rod became a joy, S2 E4 was her first one, it was fun getting into Hot Rod’s voice. She said it was hard doing Optimus’ voice, she’d always pass it off to someone to look at it.

She loves the idea of Wild Wheel robbing Astrotrain in train-mode, totally wild west-style

One of her proudest things was turning Lugnut into a gal

They wanted to include more female characters

They love Cosmos, she has a little toy of him. R2D2 but a transformer! They loved having her in the show

Blurr really was the fastest

Maccadam looking like a buff Rung was just a strange coincidence 

Q: Megop rights?  A: “Oh absolutely, duh”

Says we absolutely SHOULD write fanfic. Fanfiction made her into the writer she is today, she says you should write it

There’s a lot between episodes, people living their lives and characters living on the ship that don’t pop up in the show

She wrote non-stop Matrix fanfic from 12-20 years old, she learned a lot thanks to writing fanfic

Uses “They” pronouns for Rack ‘n Ruin but they both use “he”

Sad that Skywarp didn’t get a speaking line

Re: Starscream’s redemption arc: She wanted Starscream to have amnesia if they went the “he comes out of the ruins of the judge totally fine”. “A redemption arc needs to be facilitated by a character acknowledging that what they did was wrong. He would have a laundry list of excuses for everything, even if there was all that evidence to the contrary, but needs to acknowledge that reasons don’t matter because people got hurt. Needs to intend to do better. Let them try and let them fail, they don’t need to 180, it’s hard work to be a better person.”

Shadow Striker is taller than Optimus or is his height. She loves the gender-neutral designs for a lot of characters

She’s not going to say whether Ratchet finished medical school or not Laughed at the  "i don't believe that man has ever been to medical school" comment

Q: How would you feel about a female Optimus Prime? A: [GAY LAUGHTER] “So do you turn Optimus Prime into a woman, or do you take characters like Elita One and uplift her? I would want to lean more into giving Elita One more oomph, I do love how Optimus doubts himself and if he’s worthy of being a Prime.”

Says Rack ‘n Ruin are probably the Prime in that one weird universe lmao

Loves the idea that Transformers have siblings / families

She doesn’t think Cybertronians celebrate birthdays. “Why would you celebrate being alive for 4 million years that sounds like a nightmare.” She says that people would be celebrating milestones if nothing else

She’d kill to have Perceptor meet the other stunticons

She says she doesn’t post fanfic as much anymore. Sends them to Natalie as love letters (Ghost Busters fics specifically)

In a world where you had unlimited budget it’d be fun if Cybertronians were constantly shape-shifting and changing their forms, they’d like having Transformers who “grew a beard” and decided to “shave it”

Re: Ratchet and Medical school: she wants a “I choose to believe Ratchet has never been to medical school” shirt

Natalie (her GF) said hi 

She doesn’t understand cycles or astrocycles, she doesn’t understand the weird Transformers time stuff. (mood)

Natalie explained how ghost traps work and it was a delight "You're basically making a pocket dimension, that's how you capture ghosts" “The Technology for a ghost trap is like magic and science” 

Maecatt's bringing all her TF toys over to the camera 

Q: Elita prime when? A: All the time, in my heart! 

Q: Why are you so mean to Percy? A: He's so mature and pragmatic that he can take it, and is willing to take one for the team bc he understands that it's what he needs to do. Yes, he’s calmly feral.

Yes to the hurt/comfort Deadceptor fanfic joke answer

She jokingly says she's willing to buy Cyberverse fanart prints

“Arcee was fun to figure out because there’s an extra bit of pressure to develop a female character, there is extra pressure to do it well since it’s representing a different community (not that women are different species) more representation is needed. “What kind of woman can our Arcee be?”” Scared to write her poorly, but they realized she could be a fun dynamic duo with Grimlock, someone who could keep up with him, not a “girl” version of him, but someone who could stand on her own two feet

Collecting Soundwave because Soundwave is COOL. Wouldn’t you collect a single father of 5 who carries them around in his chest?

Shockwave altered his vibes to have maximum bad vibes to destroy the All Spark

Rebooting the franchise: she’d maybe do beast wars or something

Skullcruncher is a lady! She misses Mac but Percy takes good care of her

She loved Beast Wars Inferno, she loved that Inferno called Megatron a Queen. It was played as a joke because the 90s weren’t very socially conscious, but she liked that Megatron never corrected him or beat him down

She wanted to have Lightbright and Nickle in the show 

"Maybe Drift is alive, maybe he's rethinking his decision and he'll come back later" 

She said it's hard talking about writing a show because you're designing the experience and you have to make sometimes what sounds like cold and pragmatic decisions (eg: "we need a cold and spunky female") which sucks, but they need to balance out the show. She says she'd never do that just for the sake of doing it, but it's part of something that they do need to be aware of while working on a show “Starts from a weirdly cold pragmatic place, but we try and put truth in it”

Q: Is Skullcruncher Percy's bouncer now that he's running Maccadam's? A: Oh totally

She felt bad about the writing thing because she says "you could throw a rock in California and you'd hit a writer / director or whatever" but she says she really likes being an authority on things now, even if it’s weird

She said Drift would've been helpful in S3 for sure, maybe he'd come up with Repugnis

Q: If Tarn is the perfect Decepticon who's the perfect Autobot A: Someone with a Firetruck alt mode, Autobot insignia as a face. Nat and her talked about it a lot. She says Optimus SHOULD be a fire truck, it makes the relationship between him and Ratchet a little more fun since Ratchet is an ambulance, and Optimus has an AX. It just makes sense! She agreed that the perfect Autobot would be Thunderclash after the chat said that

“If you put the proverbial budget-gun to my head, I’d keep Unicron in planet-mode because it’s more mysterious, but I want both alt modes”

Her favorite Megatron is Beast Wars Megatron

They didn’t want to go the Unicron route because everyone goes that route

Q:  What sort of documents DID Optimus work on in the archives? A: Probably historical archives and working on all the Primes. Something like the French / American revolution equivalent, which informed his speech writing for Megatron and his own ethics. (NICE)

She doesn’t like Sky Lnxy’s design, it’s creepy. “He talks in the G1 episodes and the voice makes it worse.” She can’t get over his face

“Found” the social awkwardness for Optimus. Optimus depicted as a father figure in S1 because it’s from Bee’s perspective, S2 / S3 they were able to explore more and found the limits and found it was hard to maintain that level of heroic dialogue. Optimus would feel awkward about it too. Randolph did an impression of Optimus’ speech. “He can’t not be in war-mode” :(

Q: Were Optimus and Megatron friends ever, or did they just work together on the speech stuff? A: Oh hell yes, I think [the story] is always enhanced when they’re friends and when Optimus really believes in what Megatron was working on. Optimus’ rejection of Megatron is what pushes him over the edge, his best friend rejecting him pushes him into a place where he becomes a tyrannical person.

Q: Does Maccadam know we love him? A: *puts hand over heart and looks into the distance* Yes

“Who knows where Dead End ended up” then backtracks and says “Wait that sounds flippant”

Soundwave’s favorite Earth song is Despacito

Q:  What's the best selfie Arcee's ever taken A: Mae Catt loves the one with the giraffe. She likes the idea of Arcee having a bunch of human friends

Q: What do the Transformers think of the Florida Man? A: They can’t really tell the difference between humans, they don’t really get it. It just sorta looks like all the normal stuff they see on Earth (or something)

Q: Who's the Florida Man of the Transformers A: Rack ‘n Ruin or Skybyte. But he’s too nice hmmm.

Leaned into the wackiness of Wheeljack because of the VA

Q:  What does Optimus do when he's not giving speeches / being a leader when they were all hanging out on the ARK? A: I think he reads, he seems like a heavy reader. It’d be cute if he read really bad Earth romance novels. He seems like a guy who needs a break from everything.

Q: Does Optimus have hobbies? A: Not to borrow from Rung, but doesn’t it seem like Optimus would make model ships? Very quiet, very focused detail-oriented hobby. Oh duh, he also plays basketball.

“I’d love to see more jets [who aren’t our usual gang] and find out all jets are kinda snobby”. Kaon and Tarn would be fun, it’d be cool to make up places.

(Someone asking if Optimus would read 50 Shades of Gray, someone else saying “They’d take it the wrong way because Transformers turn gray when they die”)

Everyone on the Autobot side are friends with each other.

Q: Does Megatron do anything for fun or is he too angry? A: I want to say he’s too angry, he has fun beating people down but I don’t think he’s had fun for a long time

Q: Were you surprised that Jake Tillman was in his 20s listening to his Optimus the first time? A: Jake Tillman was a vine-r she listened to a ton. She’d heard him when he was in his teens

MaeCatt loves that Shadow Striker saved Windblade’s body and kept her safe

Q: what was most important to you personally to put out in each episode? like humor/characterization/arcs A: Wanted to make sure she didn’t write dialogue that was condescending, wanted to be true about the character. Needs to be true to the characters (and gay) 

Transformers probably don’t know what memes are. They know what they ARE, but they don’t get it. They wanted Hot Rod to be super into Earth culture (winning races and driving off before humans could realize no one was in the car), but they never had time to really get into that.

Wound up in the Cyberverse writer’s room thanks to her agents, says she was the only person who gave a crap about GI Joe stuff, the executives were so sweet and let her chat, and they said she wasn’t a good fit for the current live action project so they sent her to the animation side, they sent her to Michael Howzer and they hit it off talking about GI Joe stuff. She was a post PA, someone who helped editors finish things for TV, got a call with an offer. 

[sternerstufftoys]

(Blueberry Mango S)Whirl

People like to complain about Whirl's toys. Too short, too tall, too skinny, too bulky, too much like Alex Milne, not Milney enough, you get the idea. But here's the thing: who was even into Whirl before 2012? Absolutely no-one, that's who. And yeah yeah yeah, you're sat there grumbling "Well I knew him before he was in More than Meets the Eye." Yeah, you knew of him. But did you have any of his early albums? Did you see him at Glastonbury in 2011? Well?

It's possible we're talking about different people.

Whirl then. Don't underestimate his influence on modern Transformers storytelling, at least as far as IDW is concerned. See the problem is, with his G1 toy originating from a non-Takara toy company, he gets the sinister expressionless cyclops face like Shockwave. But with Shockwave it works - he's emotionless and logical, so a face that can't emote suits him just fine. Whirl's not like that, in fact his original bio was pretty clear on him being the exact opposite, an insane and ruthless bastard that just happens to be on the side of the good guys.

So James Roberts had something to address. If the cyclops-face isn't tied to a lack of emotion, where does it come from? Enter Empurata, the process of removing the head and hands of its victim as a legally sanctioned punishment. Brr. But with this, the obvious clash of visual styles of Whirl and Shockwave with the rest of the bunch was rectified. Hurrah.

I liked Whirl, which hardly makes me unique. Spend any time here on Tumblr and you'll find he has a large fanbase quietly ignoring the fact that they're stanning (I think that's the word) an out-and-out murderer who's at least partly responsible for the entire civil war starting. Whirl may have a tragic past, but he's not the sweet misguided innocent that some people want to believe he is. He's a bad person who's done terrible things, and by the end of the series Whirl is in and out of jail. His redemption is not in his actions, but in his connection to others, especially his relationship with Cyclonus and Tailgate. I didn't massively aww for Drift and Ratchet, but I did for Whirl.

Anyway, why this Whirl? It's not exactly the most popular of toys, being a redeco of Fall of Cybertron Vortex, and the FOC Combaticons have a contentious reputation as toys. But, ah, well, here y'see. a) The Vortex mould is one of the better of that lot and b) this way Whirl doesn't tower over Universe Cyclonus. Plus he gets this snazzy splash of mango-flavour orange paint all over him which really does brighten him up. There are problems, such as the weedy arms, the rotor blades that have nowhere to go and the great big combiner hand on show tucked into his leg, but it's worth the tradeoff for a raggedy orange kilt and tits that actually scowl. Who even needs a face on your head, eh Whirl?

He doesn't make for a particularly great helicopter, especially thanks to an inability to sit on a flat surface. Yes, I get that on Cybertron he doesn't have much use for sitting around idle in alt mode, but when there's no flight stand hole to support him either he just ends up daftly flopping around the moment you set him down. Also, getting everything to clip together right can be a bit of a faff.

Oh well, he's not for everyone, this Whirl, but he's definitely for me. He gets Vortex's bonkers swords as well as a huge spinny Gatling gun that has nowhere to go in helicopter mode, which is certainly a very Whirl move to pull, bringing more weapons to a fight than he could possibly ever use. Just don't leave him to his own devices, or he'll start shooting Moomins.

[twitchesandstitches]

I have an idea for two new factions to play parts as antagonists, but I need suggestions since I’m sort of operating a bit outside my usual series and I don’t want them to become like super over-saturated with just a few specific series.

Opening up suggestions for characters for two other factions, and I really would appreciate it if you send in suggestions ASAP!

First group is the Ringers, a warlike faction that’s intended to be a lot more morally darker than the Cobalts and serve as ideological opponents to the fleet, though they have some ulterior motives that make what they do reasonable, if not sympathetic at all. Their goal is to plunge the multiverse into endless war and conflict, in a fashion similar to Talon from Overwatch; they believe that warfare and conflict force people to evolve and become better people, and also seem to know something about an upcoming disaster or terrible shift in the multiverse that will make it necessary for people to be hardened in order to survive it.

Their overall themes include: Conflict Is Good, War as desirable or natural (with possible social darwinism), the craving of bloodshed and warfare in general, frowning upon idealism and notions of honor, building character through strife, and in terms of moral alignment, being a lighter shade of black; they’re not pure evil (for the most part, and those that are may be tolerated) and they’re better than the uncertain forces they have foreseen, but to those affected by their rampages and plots, but not by much.

Generally they go about stirring up conflict or engaging others in massive battles, attempting to attack people and force them to build alliances or exaggerate rivalries, and are usually plotting to find some relic or secret to do the one thing to make everyone start fighting.

Alternatively, they may be out to conquer the multiverse, or much of it as they can, in order to safeguard it from this unknown threat, and have a mentality that only they have the authority to do so and the will to do it. They may also have different sub-factions with different views, but in the end it comes down to the same methods.

I have some characters in mind, and may switch around others from various factions if they might fit better here, but i mainly need more Big Lady characters. Generally I would appreciate suggestions from some of the following fandoms: Marvel, Disney, DC, RPG-style games I can update for the setting, but I’m good for stuff I’m not familiar with. Just suggest whoever and I’ll see if they fit!

Some possible characters for this group of endless battle: Javik from Mass Effect, with elements of Doomfist from Overwatch (giant gauntlet that amplifies powers, the same motive, and goals). Azula from the Avatarverse, in full Evil Overlord lady mode, and perhaps Kuvira from Legend of Korra as a more straightforward warlord queen?

Airachnid from Transformers Prime, with characteristics of her IDW incarnation; less sadistic and more experiment-minded, and interested in psychological experiments on a vast scale. Also the Combaticons, all female here, as rough and tough soldiers that are like anti-Dinobots.

Maleficent from Disney, playing up her fae aspects to the full; she may have little interest in the actual purpose behind a multiverse of endless war, but is going with it for her own plans or amusement. Depends on how the Disney stuff interacts with this? She might be a dark goddess of magic backing them, too

The Condesce/Meenah Peixes, from Homestuck. In this continuity she was originally doing her endless war against all the multiverse in an attempt to build a homeland for the trolls, after their lost their homeworld of Beforus. After eons of endless war, she’s become incredibly bloodthirsty and perhaps a little addicted to slaughter, and may be losing track of her original goal in favor of slaking her bloodlust. (Alternatively, I may choose to put her into a criminal organization as part of the Midnight Crew and other groups that are criminals but not, y’know, total bastards. Depends on whether I want to play up her canon traits, or soften them.)

Ghazghkull Mag Uruk Thraka from Warhammer 40k: he’s the embodiment of ‘orcs as warlike brutes’, how could i not?? Maybe a girl version for Ork Amazon fun?

Yellow Diamond: I previously implied that she, White and Blue were captives of Megatron and mere jewelery for him, but I might have it that she has become freed and joined up with these guys, embittered and coming to believe in their cause, desperate as she is to save her people.

Hel from Marvel, but with more traits of her mythical inspiration (perhaps she shifts between two extremes, one cold but fair, the other rather playfully malicious and hungry for death), acting as a divine backer for them?

General demony characters associated with battle and warfare: no specifics here at the moment, but characters that fit this motif would be good

In general, blood knight-types, femme fatales that can be read as warriors, and anyone that has a big character emphasis on strength would fit well here!

The second faction is a variant on the Suicide Squad/TAsk Force X from DC; an elite group of agents working on behalf of mysterious benefactors. Their true numbers are in the millions, but this refers specifically to a squad that is a recurring set of characters. They are not normally antagonistic, though their goals may bring them into conflict with the Fleet, and certainly they don't like the militant guys up there and the Cobalts fight with them….. A Lot.

This task force consists exclusively of anti-heroes, reformed villains, and characters who were once straight up pure bad but have since reformed. They are people looking for a chance to find a new life, atone for their misdeeds, or simply are looking for a better cause and were never bad to begin with.

They are run by Amanda Waller of DC, who may either be part of, or answer to, a governing assembly of big multiversal figures trying to bring some stability to the cosmos. They might also have divine backing; some of their agents are people who are definitely dead, but are still looking for a second chance.

Some possible members:

Reaper/Gabriel Reyes from Overwatch, playing up both his ghostly qualities and the idea that he is a double agent. Most likely the leader and role model for them, and is a straight up ‘anti hero that kills bad guys who deserve it’ character here, rather than the vengeful wraith he is in canon at present.

Blue Diamond: Assuming that its the same case with Yellow, she’s come to regret what she has enabled over the eons and come to conclude that Pink/Rose Quartz had been right all along. Note that her true form is likely planet-sized here. A good chunk of her loyal gems may attend as the squad’s brute muscle.

Shockwave: From Cybertron, mostly using his IDW characterization. Specifically, this is Senator Shockwave. Once this famously cold, heartless and logical ‘Con was a hopeful idealist until the corrupt leaders of his homeworld took his face, his hands, and his ability to feel anything but cold logic. Following recent events, though, his mind has been freed, and he is in shock at millions of years of horrifying cruelty, and he would like nothing better than tho put his scientific acumen to work helping the multiverse.

Bucky Barnes/The White Wolf: He’s Wallers’ attendant, representative in the squad, and something of a political officer, muddled by his tendency to be everyone’s obnoxious brother.

Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy: A two-for-one deal, both of them usually giant ladies or even a full on fusion, and their canon tendency to become better people by being around each other has blossomed into full on attempts to go Good. Harley’s actual job is to be an on-team psychiatrist, while Ivy has transformed into a full on plant monster lady who sees it as her job to restore devastated worlds to full health again.

Lust, from Fullmetal Alchemist. Honestly undecided if she belongs here or with the warmonger faction; either way, she is mostly akin to the canon Lust from the manga and Brotherhood, but with the motivations of her first anime counterpart. Big, busty and largely embodying bloodlust, she has somehow incorporated most of her fellow homunculi and gained their powers, most obviously Pride and Gluttony, becoming absolutely ravenous and death to all that face her, and she is called in to devour entire planets and absorb their souls if there is no other way to save them from otherwise certain doom. They can then be extracted from her and given new bodies at some later date.

Giganta, from DC. Drawing on the more benign or ‘hey, being a baddie is just a job, y’know?’ takes of her. With a bit of the friendly valley girl vibes she had in the DCU!

Slade Wilson/Deathstroke and DEadpool: Considered as one unit here because this version of Deadpool is a flawed clone of Slade, who was a highly skilled super soldier for hire. The squad dealt with Deadpool’s frustrated actions his makers forced him to do, and subsequently recruited both Slade and Deadpool into their ranks, with the latter being treated as an obnoxious little brother to Slade. This Slade is heavily based on his Arrowverse actor, and Deadpool looks like a melted version thereof.

Any additional characters are, again, highly encouraged! Generally I’m looking for characters who were anti-heroes or reluctant villains at best (think Mr. Freeze types; ones that felt they had no choice and they made you REAl SAD) or you could see them regretting what they did and wanting to atone for it.

Generally speaking, these guys aren’t antagonists except in the most genuine sense; they might have opposing goals to the fleet, but they are more likely allies than not. Occasionally their purposes might run counter and a fight starts, and they should ideally be so skilled as to pose a serious threat to even the most extreme numbers.

I’m rather lacking in Sexy Lady-Types for this faction, so I especially welcome suggestions on that score. Send ‘em in, please!

[thehiddenpredacon]

Darkmist’s Bio!

Designation: Darkmist Nicknames: Darkie, Dark, DM, Misty (she only allows Starscream or close friends call her by the nicknames. Give her some?) Primary color: light navy blue Secondary color: grey Territory color: dark grey Optic color: yellow(left optic), blue(right optic) Biolight colors: Yellow and blue Gender: Femme(female) Species: Minicon - Predacon Faction: Neither side (Stays on Cons warship and follows Starscream) Descendant of: Onyx Prime and Micronus Prime Abilities: HyperSpeed, Invisibility Alt mode: A minicon that’s a predacon Father like figure: Starscream Enemies: Megatron, Autobots(She’s just scared of them), Shockwave, Soundwave(He creeps her out) Friends: Onyx Prime(He’s the one who sent her up to space), Starscream, Knockout Weapons of choice: Blue flames she breathes out, claws, her abilities Speed: 10/10 Strength: 8/10 (predacon strength is 10/10) Endurance: 5/10 Intelligence: 7/10

Personality: Shy at first but once she gets to trust you she will be more outgoing. She’s a risk taker. She has some of Screamers personalities since he raised her in a way. Her emotions switch quickly and she’s anxious about almost everything unless Starscream is around. She's clumsy and stammer’s. She’s also a terrible liar.

History(summary of it): ( Takes place during Transformers: Prime) Before the great cataclysm destroyed the predacon race completely someone sent her up into space in a pod along with others that needed to be kept safe. She was stuck in space and locked in a stasis pod for decades until The nemesis located her position. Starscream notified Megatron which he had the seeker bring the pod to the ship for inspection. Later Starscream was forced to stay with the pod in the medbay where the medic of the ship(Knockout) could examine it. Megatron told the second commander to keep her in the pod because he wasn’t going to allow some random bot they do not know about roaming on the ship but the seeker thought otherwise. He suggested to Knockout that they should open it so the femme herself could answer the questions. Knockout thought it was a bad idea but did what the commander said since he is well...the commander. The predacon wasn’t fully developed at all and was still learning quite a few things. Turns out she knew completely nothing of what was going on. She barely even knew how to speak properly which Starscream was very irritated by it. Knockout and Starscream argued about who was going to teach her words since she needed to learn. Starscream was unfortunately chosen as the lucky one to teach her. This was completely new to him so he got frustrated easily. It took him a while but he soon got the hang of it. He made logs on his datapad to see how much she improves within time. In fact not only that he started to get used to it but he began liking her in a friendly way. The only hard part about this was to keep her out of Megatron's hands. He didn’t want to screw up this friendly relationship he managed to gain for once. No one on the damned ship ever trusted him or took the time to get to know him properly. No one would even stick around to hear him out. He was lonely. He wasn’t going to allow Megatron to take away the only friend he had since his trine brothers Skywarp and Thundercracker died. He desperately needed someone to hear him out. When Starscream was close friends with the femme he told her to stay in his room no matter what and don’t let herself be seen on the ship or bad things will happen. He promised to her and himself that he would not let anything bad happen. Ever since then they have been running away from Megatron nonstop. It was sometimes difficult to keep her out of sight. The femme would follow Starscream through the vents of the ship since she got bored of hiding sometimes and found him by his heat signature since Predacons were expert trackers. Though later on Megatron began to grow curious to where the femme in the pod went since he hadn’t seen the pod anywhere in a while. He hadn’t gotten any reports or anything either since he was so, so, busy dealing with the Autobots. He asked Starscream where the pod had been and the seeker lied, saying that the pod sent itself off. The warlord didn’t believe him one bit and fought him for a true answer. He knew the seeker was a decent liar at times. Though the seeker kept refusing to tell him and Megatron gave him a couple of good beatings until he spoke up. Once Megatron finally managed to have tortured Starscream enough to get the answer out he made the troops look for the femme. When they found her they took her hostage on board while the warlord put Starscream in a cell for not following his orders. Starscream tried breaking out of the cell but it was impossible. He was helpless. Megatron had taken the predacon femme to one of Shockwaves labs on Cybertron for experimentation. They were studying predacon C.N.A to make an army of them eventually. When she was strapped to an experimentation table Shockwave took samples of her C.N.A and placed it on a shelf for safe keeping. During the process of trying to get the sample, she struggling thus making shockwave put the marks on her wings. She was a fighter and tried to fight back since she didn’t know how to properly fight. In fact, she didn’t know how to breathe fire or fly. Knockout was helping Shockwave with this experiment and felt bad for the femme of course since he knew of her as well as Starscream did.  The red medic was thinking of helping her but thought otherwise because he didn’t want his paint to be scratched by Megatron. But fortunately when Shockwave walked out of the room the medic without thinking pressed the button that would release her anyways and told her to go find Starscream. She immediately fled out of the laboratory unseen. Starscream was still stuck in the cell and she managed to find him. It took awhile but she found him. She helped secretly free him by getting the key card to the cell. Once they were both out they tried to sneakily run away from the ship but unfortunately when they made it to the flight deck, unknowingly one of the troops spotted them, soon alerting Megatron. They were both surrounded by the troops and Megatron. Starscream did the hardest thing he could which was to tell her to save herself and jump off of the ship. He will find her eventually. She refused to at first but the seeker eventually had to push her off since she was so attached and so forth they haven’t seen each other since then. Starscream had another beating for letting her escape and was forced to live with the guilt of losing his best and only friend. Megatron had always won and took everything from him. He hated him ever since. Starscream had another beating for letting her escape and was forced to live with the guilt of losing his best and only friend. Megatron had always won and took everything from him. He hated him ever since. After the events of Transformers Prime (RID 2017 summary): Shortly after the events of Starscream’s arch (RID episodes). Starscream was sent to jail by Optimus Prime for his crimes of overuse of power and, or trying to take over the world again. The seeker was currently in a coma and didn’t wake up for a couple of days. The poor mech simply was only trying to prove himself to everyone that he wasn’t a joke anymore since they didn’t take him seriously enough. When he woke up he forgot what had happened recently and wondered why he was in a cell then immediately had gotten a horrible flashback of it. He groaned when he had first awoken and rubbed his head as he sat up. The guards took his blasters and any weapon he had on him. He felt helpless and then the guilt washed over him once more all of the sudden. But why was he feeling guilty? He had completely almost forgotten about the femme he had saved once a long time ago but he couldn’t do anything about it as of now. He was so busy trying to prove himself that he had forgotten about her. His power-hungriness took over him. As that was happening the femme had taught herself to do almost everything now in the time being. She even ran into the Autobots once on earth for help. Once she had mention Starscream they quickly denied her at first but she made them listen to her portion of the story. They still didn’t believe her one bit. She was growing frustrated and then left them to turn to Steeljaws pack for help. It may be risky but it was her best option. Fortunately, Steeljaw offered ‘’to help her” find Starscream since was part of the Decepticons slightly. They said he was sent to jail due to his recent actions they have heard about. With that new information, she became doubtful that she was going to get him back easily now and there was no way to get back to Cybertron on her own. But...she did see a groundbridge in the Autobots Scrapyard. She had no choice but to go back there in order to get to Cybertron. She just had to find him. She thanked Steeljaw for the information and said she would be on her way but unfortunately he wasn’t going to let her go anytime soon. He tied her up to a tree and used her as bait for the Autobots to lure them out of their base. It worked of course since the Autobots are predictable now. Once they Autobots came to the location of the distress signal they were shocked to see Darkmist there. They questioned her intentions but released her from the bonds Steeljaw tied her up then. Little did they know Steeljaw implanted a bomb right next to the tree and Strongarm pointed it out. She made Sideswipe try and disarm the bomb since he used to be a harmless criminal once but he had no idea how to and just cut all of the wires while Darkmist was freaking out the whole time. Though cutting all of the wires was successful! Bumblebee apologized to the predacon and finally said that they will assist her in getting Starscream back to her. She thanked them and was a bit happier now. Although… She did have a slight grudge against Starscream for leaving her alone all of this time. She was going to help him get out of jail but she wasn’t going to talk to him just yet. Not until he actually apologizes. Once the Autobots on Earth actually listened to her side of the story about Starscream they managed to believe her for once and contacted Optimus that they are sending a femme that is looking for Starscream through the groundbridge back to Cybertron and that he should meet her at the coordinates they sent him. Optimus said he would be there immediately. Once Darkmist arrived at the other end of the portal there stood a tall red and blue color schemed mech. She much feared him at first since she was much smaller than him but once he spoke his name she calmed down and told him that she was looking for Starscream. When she said that he said nothing and began walking, hoping that she would follow him. Optimus took her to the jail Starscream was placed in. When they arrived neared the cell Optimus told her that he was not allowed out of there for what he did. Darkmist tried to convince Optimus that his intentions were good but he was still wary of them. Once they arrived at the cell Optimus said to Starscream that he had a visitor and stood by while Darkmist slowly walked up to the cell. The seeker scoffed at first and didn’t believe him because he never had visitors but fortunately when he looked up he saw Darkmist and his face lit up. Despite that the femme wasn’t going to talk to him the seeker was pretty happy to see someone he knew properly. When he realized that she was rather more silent than usual after he talked so much he asked her what was wrong then realized that she was mad about him leaving her. Starscream stammered his apology at first and wasn’t sure how to word it since he never apologized for anything before. Optimus was surprised by this as he watched then began to believe her. Once the seeker finally apologized properly she smiled and giggled at him, telling him that it was alright. She asked Optimus if he could release him again after seeing that but he unfortunately still has to deny that request. She kept pleading the former Autobot leader but he still said no. That’s when Starscream bugged in and told Optimus that she needed him and that he won’t do anything ever again. He just wanted to be with her. Then Optimus said to the both of them that redemption was the only other option that would let him free and that they will need to place a tracker chip on him somewhere so they could follow every movement of his. Starscream said he would do anything to get out of the damned cell. He didn’t care. He was also a seeker and seekers needed to fly so he didn’t want to become a crazy bot or they would never let him out. With that Optimus finally let him out with a small glare in his optics and the guards put the tracker on Starscream so he could be on his way. The seeker was happy to finally be with his friend for once. And the best part was that there was no more Megatron to worry about so they were safe at last. Status: Online Sparkmate: Currently doesn't have one. Voice Claim: Anne Marie Theme song: FRIENDS by Marshmellow & Anne Marie Quotes: ''So much for staying hidden...'' ''Primus, Just hear him out for once! You never give him a chance!'' ''I believe everyone deserves a second chance.'' ''You are not the only one, Starscream.'' Fun facts: - She represents the friendship of Onyx Prime and Micronus Prime. - She was made by Primus to let bots know that the Primes had existed once. So far all bots think it’s a myth and no one believes her - She rarely transforms into beast mode because she thinks she looks silly compared to others - She has ripped wings thus she can’t fly well. It prevents her from doing such. - she also had a hard time breathing fire once but eventually she made large blue flames that were insanely hot. Will add more when I think of more!

Please do not use her without my permission! I worked very hard on her and it took forever to make her! Transformers(c) Hasbro Darkmist(c) Me Art(c) Me Had her Since 2012

DA Ref: https://www.deviantart.com/thehiddenpredacon/art/Darkmist-s-Official-Biographical-Records-716727575

[verdigrisprowl]

Apr 9 Dancitron Movie Night - Vertigo

The characters were very easily hate-able. That made the movie, by default, very easily hate-able. It was actually a well-written suspense movie, it just had loathsome characters.

But there was a brief semblance of harmony—if not peace—as everyone in the room yelled at the screen.

Today Specs 7:40 pm *in comes a dragon! she bears comfort food this time, rust sticks and oil cakes and tinsel cookies shaped like glitchmice.* Hello, Soundwave! ItsyBitsySpyers 7:40 pm *Soundwave was hoping to get a moment of dancing in before everyone got there, but he'll abort that leg flick and sit right the frag down.* Specs 7:41 pm *the dragon would never judge you for dancing, Soundwave* ItsyBitsySpyers 7:41 pm *Ravage IMMEDIATELY pokes his helm out of the stairwell* =I SMELL TINSEL.= Prowl 7:41 pm *Prowl arrives and tilts her helm at the music* ItsyBitsySpyers 7:41 pm [[Good evening, dragon, Prowl.]] Specs 7:41 pm You do! I was just experimenting a little with it, since it's the right sort of thing... You like tinsel? Prowl 7:42 pm Good evening, Soundwave. *nods to Specs and Ravage too she guesses* ItsyBitsySpyers 7:42 pm *Ravage's optics are so pale they're nearly white. Oh, does he ever. It's like catnip for murder felines.* =What you are wanting for all of them?= Specs 7:44 pm *the dragon just passes that platter to Ravage* Just tell me if they're suitable according to your refined palate. ItsyBitsySpyers 7:45 pm *He takes the edge of it in his mouth - can't use his paws, and someone might grab it if it's in his feeler/tail claws - and murmurs a thank you around it as best he can.* Shocky 7:45 pm Good evening ItsyBitsySpyers 7:45 pm *Soundwave sits up straighter and looks over. What's this, then?* Specs 7:45 pm *Ravage is always welcome to help himself to anything she makes. It's her privilege to make these and bring them in, and her delight.* ItsyBitsySpyers 7:45 pm [[Good evening. From which universe might you hail...?]] Prowl 7:46 pm *stiffens visibly* Smokescreen 7:46 pm /Smokescreen's coming in and is going to go immediately for the drinks./ Shocky 7:46 pm I believe you might know it as the 'prime verse' ((i have no idea, my shockers is kinda a divergent)) ItsyBitsySpyers 7:48 pm *Nods.*

((what's the url?)) ((so i can keep track of which ones he talks to about what when they're here)) Bull 7:48 pm ((*goes to get munchies*)) Shocky 7:49 pm ((@illogicalshockwave but if you want the actual link its https://illogicalshockwave.tumblr.com/ )) ItsyBitsySpyers 7:49 pm ((OH! i know yours already, hello 😀 )) Prowl 7:49 pm ((*follows* Smokescreen 7:49 pm /Smokescreen's going to grab a few drinks, before going to sit next to prowl. setting one down/ Prowl! It's been a little while- what've you been up to? Shocky 7:52 pm *Shockwave sits a respectful distance away from the two, examining the music with a half curious half confused look* Prowl 7:52 pm *Prowl relaxes a notch at hearing Smokescreen's voice* Hello, Smokescreen. I've been up to a great deal. Ultra Magnus and I had to reassess the police force's goals and plan training for the newest recruits. ItsyBitsySpyers 7:53 pm *Ravage tries to fuss at Smokescreen and finds he can't sound angry with a tray in his mouth. He runs up stairs with it to set it in his room, then charges over to Smokescreen and swats at his leg with a claw.*

=Payment!= *Soundwave nods again at Shockwave.*

[[We are watching an Earth film from this music's time period. It seemed appropriate.]] Smokescreen 7:53 pm /Smokescreen's looking up at Shockwave, and waves!/ Shocks! I don't think I've seen you here before- you like movies? Shocky 7:54 pm I have never had the time to watch one. I am interested to see what this film is about however Smokescreen 7:54 pm Ohh- did that all go well, though? that sounds like a lot of work- sounds like we've both been busy with stuff! Education systems don't build themselves, apparently. Smokescreen 7:55 pm Wait. Wait, really? Man- I'd love to show you some sometime! Some of them might be helpful science-wise? /Smokescreen's looking through his subspace, and is offering out a half-full cube of low-grade/ How's this? Bull 7:57 pm [*has chips and halfa*] ItsyBitsySpyers 7:57 pm ((what's halfa?)) Bull 7:57 pm ((meant to use out of character 😛)) Shocky 7:57 pm ...Indeed? I am unsure as to how fictional films would aid in scientific discovery, but I would be willing to listen Magnum Ace 7:57 pm ((the next time you come by, you should bring some over)) Bull 7:58 pm ((It's a candy; either made from sesame seeds or flour based)) Prowl 7:58 pm It is. We've only had a few... awkward adjustments. Bull 7:58 pm ((found it at the store and decided to try it)) Smokescreen 7:58 pm It could give you different ideas! And there's multiversal documentaries- they might have science advancements that even you haven't found yet. ... Awkward adjustments? What kinda adjustments are those? Magnum Ace 7:59 pm -pings Soundwave. Mind them coming over for movie night?- Shocky 7:59 pm ((i'm so jelly, i have to be on a diet now q.q fitness is going to be a pain in the ass to get started in but ehh)) Prowl 7:59 pm My understanding was that these were non-fiction documentaries. Prowl 8:00 pm Recruits with the wrong idea of what an enforcer should do. Nothing we can't fix with time. Bull 8:01 pm ((I wasn't even sure what it was when I found it; got that and some gunpowder green tea and black rice)) ItsyBitsySpyers 8:01 pm *Ravage growls louder.* =PAYMENT.= *SWIPE hard with the claws. Get some scratches, you.* Smokescreen 8:01 pm Ohhhh- oh, yeah. That kinda thing is pretty important! Come to think of it- I don't really know what's going on with law enforcement where I am Magnum Ace 8:01 pm ((you do find the weird stuff Specs 8:02 pm ((ayy gunpowder green tea)) Smokescreen 8:02 pm OW- ow, come on, Ravage. That was payment! What about helm pats? Orrr- I could tell you a story. From Alpha Trion. ItsyBitsySpyers 8:02 pm ((we will start soon-ish, get any snacks and whatever you need)) Bull 8:02 pm ((I want to get the ice cream cake looking deserts they had; and some Russian coffee)) Smokescreen 8:02 pm But I don't have any shanix. Prowl 8:02 pm I would advise you to ensure they're not abusing their position to abuse the civilians on your Cybertron. Magnum Ace 8:02 pm ((shhhhh, I'm getting hungry ItsyBitsySpyers 8:03 pm =Touch my helm and die, Autobot.= *Bares his glowing fangs.* =Story or items. Or bleed.= Bull 8:03 pm ((Then eat; I know you got yourself foods)) Specs 8:03 pm *this would be a terrible time to inform Ravage that he's the coolest cat this dragon has seen, but she's definitely thinking it.* *chimera, of course, is the cutest cat* Bull 8:03 pm ((and it better not just be Mountain Dew)) Magnum Ace 8:03 pm ((I did, but I want sweets now ((......... ((<.< Smokescreen 8:04 pm I mean- I don't really mind bleeding all that much, if I can still have the drinks! /Smokescreen's leaning down to take a sip of his drink./ Prowl 8:05 pm *lets out a small huff in amusement* Shocky 8:05 pm *Shockwave is just... baffled at how smokescreen is like this* annoying the hosts is most unwise, Smokescreen. Prowl 8:05 pm Just pay him, Smokescreen, before you wind up missing metal. Smokescreen 8:06 pm Hey, what? I'm not even trying to be annoying- and I've had worse ways of paying bots before. It's not like I'm letting Ravage rip off plating or something. Bull 8:07 pm ((I swear I will attack you with a leek next time I come over)) ItsyBitsySpyers 8:07 pm *Specs should tell them both later. They'll appreciate it more then, for sure.*

[[Indeed it is. You should listen to Shockwave. Ravage has been known to bite thieves.]] Magnum Ace 8:07 pm ((OAO noooooo ItsyBitsySpyers 8:07 pm [[And he's not known for letting go.]] Smokescreen 8:07 pm Well- I guess Ravage'll have to get used to living in my quarters, then, if he won't let go. Bull 8:07 pm ((eat healthier then)) ItsyBitsySpyers 8:07 pm ((we start at 8:15)) Smokescreen 8:07 pm ... But I guess I can give a story. VProwl 8:08 pm *Prowl has been here less than a minute, and he's already sick of Smokescr why is shockwave here* Magnum Ace 8:08 pm ((Maybe Shocky 8:08 pm What are the accepted forms of payment? Being a new guest to these events I am unsure if Shanix is, or something with more weight in the multiverse ItsyBitsySpyers 8:09 pm [[Anything we might find interesting or useful. We do not have a functional currency yet, and barter has been more useful.]] VProwl 8:09 pm *not what he needs. NOT what he needs.* Magnum Ace 8:09 pm ((ANYWAY, before I'm assaulted by leeks, should me and Bull just assume they're in the room now?)) VProwl 8:09 pm @Soundwave «Is he going to be sitting with you.» Bull 8:09 pm ((*has a bag of celery ready for the smacking*) Magnum Ace 8:09 pm ((PUT THE BAG DOWN ItsyBitsySpyers 8:09 pm ((crud was i pinged for a bridge? i've been scattered, lemme just--))

*Anyone who might've been asking for a way in now has one.*

@P: [[...No. Why would he?]] Bull 8:10 pm ((eat REAL food!)) Magnum Ace 8:10 pm ((I am! SHUSH! Smokescreen 8:10 pm I'm not a useful bot and you know it, Sounds. But for stories, stories... What kind of story would you want, anyway? Magnum Ace 8:10 pm ((and thanks snek VProwl 8:10 pm @S «I can't tell if it's yours.» *if he's not, though, Prowl is sitting next to Soundwave and making himself as unobtrusive as possible.* ItsyBitsySpyers 8:12 pm [[Vital events in that bot's timeline's history. Ones he wouldn't already have easy access to, that is.]]

@P: [[It is not.]] *He'll gently bump a knee while pretending to shift for comfort.* Magnum Ace 8:12 pm -and he's just going to trot through the bridge at a quicker clip than normal- ItsyBitsySpyers 8:12 pm ((LAST SONG GRAB YO STUFF)) Bull 8:13 pm *Bull follows in after* Smokescreen 8:13 pm ... Oh. Well, that's pretty personal- he was pretty private about slag, and I don't know what parts you would know already. VProwl 8:14 pm @S «Good. I've had quite enough of—everything, lately. People. People who can screw up reality.» Magnum Ace 8:14 pm ...I think Meckel is a bit angry. ItsyBitsySpyers 8:14 pm [[Greetings, Ace, Bull.]]

*He'll nod over to the small stepladder stashed next to one of the couches. Zori proposed it as a possibly helpful item recently.* Prowl 8:14 pm *clasps her hands together on the table and listens to the music/room* Magnum Ace 8:14 pm Hello, Soundwave! ItsyBitsySpyers 8:14 pm @P: [[...He apologizes for that.]] Bull 8:14 pm I was not sticking around to find out. Hi, Soundwave Magnum Ace 8:15 pm I...might have had something to do with it? VProwl 8:15 pm @S «You're only involved in half of it.» @S «... That's not true. Sixty-eight percent of it.» Bull 8:16 pm What did you do? *Bull was already regretting asking the question* Magnum Ace 8:16 pm ....... ItsyBitsySpyers 8:16 pm ((WARNINGS: idfk i wanted to go into this blind, it's hitchcock, that means murder mysteries. so, uh. murder, mystery, probably fifties sexism, a blond lady in trouble or causing it, and then the rest is whatever it is tonight.)) Magnum Ace 8:16 pm I may have.....decided to exit through a window. Again. ItsyBitsySpyers 8:16 pm ((oh, and heights, i guess, probably. it is called vertigo.)) Shocky 8:16 pm *There is an awful lot of bots here. He'll shift a little further away from people and quietly observe from there* Bull 8:17 pm Why?! *There was a slight whine to his voice; not liking the idea of an angry Meckel* Magnum Ace 8:17 pm -oh, look, he's being distracted by climbing up to the table- ItsyBitsySpyers 8:17 pm *Soundwave settles in and half listens to the talk about Meckel while the movie starts.*

@P: [[He will endeavor to be as realistic as possible for at least three weeks.]] Specs 8:18 pm *be mindful of where you sit, Shockwave. the dragon is only the size of a fox, and she tends to perch on the back of couches where no one else is sitting* VProwl 8:18 pm @S «I think I'm going to need more than three weeks, but I appreciate the effort.» Magnum Ace 8:18 pm -Guilt, what guilt, he's fine- Bull 8:19 pm *Bull follows Magnum to their normal spot; still giving his fellow leaguer a look* Magnum Ace 8:19 pm .... Omicron 8:19 pm *Ice queen stepps in, looking around* Magnum Ace 8:19 pm The other exit was blocked. By Richard. -who he still hasn't talked to- ItsyBitsySpyers 8:20 pm (("guys we forgot to make credits" "uhhhh my kid's got a Spirograph set?" "good, use that") Bull 8:20 pm Oh... *that was understandable* Specs 8:20 pm Ice Queen! *here comes the fluffiest dragon, looking to become the fluffiest epaulette* How have you been? Shocky 8:20 pm *Shockwave half looks at the new comer before focusing on the strange abstract film opening* Smokescreen 8:21 pm /Smokescreen's going to go ahead and offer the cube of high grade to Prowl!/ Hitchcock, huh? He did that bird documentary, right? Omicron 8:21 pm *Icy ducks her head and chirps to fluffy dragon, offering a wing for them to climb up to her back with racer* Magnum Ace 8:21 pm ....Carl may have seen me do that. And decided to try... ItsyBitsySpyers 8:21 pm [[Yes. And the murder surrounding the key.]] Magnum Ace 8:21 pm -That's why Meckel was mad at him- Smokescreen 8:21 pm And that movie about clowning around? Bull 8:22 pm No, he didn't... Oh Silkie's not gonna be happy either. ItsyBitsySpyers 8:22 pm [[...About what?]] Smokescreen 8:22 pm You know, it was about clowns doing the slag that clowns do? VProwl 8:22 pm *oh, police offic— oh. never mind.* ItsyBitsySpyers 8:22 pm *Well, that was an unpleasant opening.* Magnum Ace 8:23 pm He...did. He's being fixed, and...kinda my fault he has to be Specs 8:23 pm *floof floof* *dragon solidarity* VProwl 8:23 pm *oh, another police officer. one that's quitting but still.* Magnum Ace 8:24 pm .....he's really not going to be -he was bracing himself for that talk- Bull 8:24 pm *he really didn't want be in Magnum's place* Smokescreen 8:24 pm W. What saying I think she just wants to get rid of him Magnum Ace 8:25 pm -he's in for it- ItsyBitsySpyers 8:26 pm [[Ah. Then they do not date anymore.]] Smokescreen 8:26 pm War? Wait, what war? Shocky 8:26 pm *Shockwave likes this femme so far. Seems like a practical quiet sort* Omicron 8:26 pm *the big predacon settles in her spot to the side, crossing forelegs and gives fluffy dragon a lick, and grins as Racer tries to groom them too* Swoop 8:27 pm ((I'm ooc. Don't mind me.)) Omicron 8:27 pm ((what is the name of the movie?)) ItsyBitsySpyers 8:27 pm ((Yo)) ((Vertigo)) VProwl 8:28 pm Perhaps they shouldn't have done that next to the window. Bull 8:29 pm He's got it worse then me. *knows what it's like to be afraid of heights* Specs 8:29 pm *the smaller dragon chirps at Racer, and gives him a lick back too. HE'S certainly clean, especially in comparison to smokescreen. as long as he's careful and doesn't tug out her fur, he can try to groom her as much as he pleases.* VProwl 8:29 pm He's got the right idea, though. Gradual desensitization. Omicron 8:29 pm ((thanks!)) Smokescreen 8:29 pm whoa that's a fancy desk Magnum Ace 8:29 pm You're getting better with yours ItsyBitsySpyers 8:29 pm [[Hmm. He wonders how Blades is doing these days...]] Bull 8:30 pm *Bull gives a rueful chuckle* I don't know if I should thank or blame the Deus. Prowl 8:30 pm He's a grounder now. Smokescreen 8:30 pm ... Man, it's been forever since I've since those rescue bots where I am- I wonder if they ever learned about, uh, stuff. Magnum Ace 8:30 pm Both ItsyBitsySpyers 8:30 pm [[He knows that. He means afterward.]] ((... the phone rang once, stopped, and then about 30 seconds later rang once and stopped. what even?)) Magnum Ace 8:30 pm I'm surprised Windy isn't scared of heights after that though Omicron 8:31 pm Racer: *he's very clean! he just got groomed by one of his insecticon minders before coming! gives a rumbly like purr attempt as he tries to groom* Smokescreen 8:31 pm ....... Shocky 8:31 pm **That gavin fellow sounds an awful lot like the old senators* Smokescreen 8:31 pm . . . Bull 8:31 pm I think he'd hate volcanoes and lava more. Prowl 8:31 pm He avoids some of the higher roads according to Chase, but other than that, he's functioning well enough. VProwl 8:32 pm He's a fool. ItsyBitsySpyers 8:32 pm ((i was looking at the phone stuff, why is he supposed to be following?)) VProwl 8:32 pm Even if you don't believe those things, you investigate the situation to find out what's going on. Magnum Ace 8:32 pm True. I don't blame him, though. VProwl 8:32 pm ((this dude thinks that his wife is being haunted by someone dead and wants a retired detective to follow her and see what's up)) Specs 8:32 pm *chirps at Racer and licks the top of his head gently. the dragon's got a rough, catlike tongue, designed for grooming all that thick fluffy fur. not so good for cleaning metal.* ItsyBitsySpyers 8:33 pm [[He has heard that Earth felines and Earth canines sense ghosts. If this human thinks his conjunx is being haunted, he should get her one.]] Magnum Ace 8:33 pm ...that entire trip was just one disaster after another Smokescreen 8:33 pm Do you really need to snoop into her life that much? Bull 8:34 pm More or less. *They all had their experiences on that trip* VProwl 8:34 pm Has he tried getting involved with HER yet? Ask her about those apparent gaps in her behavior? Call out her contradictions? Rather than involving either doctors OR detectives? Shocky 8:34 pm *These health conditions with their conjunx is uncomfortably close to touching with issues with his own* Prowl 8:35 pm Doubtful if he's asking someone else to do it. VProwl 8:35 pm He doesn't know yet whether she's possessed or simply lying, and already he's having somebody stalk her. ItsyBitsySpyers 8:35 pm [[That is a good point.]] Omicron 8:35 pm Racer: *doesn't mind one bit, reflexively gives a lick back, little smoother of a forcked glossa, no drools or left over energon though! ....she might get gold dust shines though* Magnum Ace 8:35 pm Hopefully this season goes better Smokescreen 8:35 pm Maybe she's trying to get away from him? Bull 8:35 pm If anyone says we should 'take a vacation' or that we should go training overseas, I'll say no thanks. Omicron 8:36 pm *Icy just watches movie, little confused, but liking some of the humans* Specs 8:36 pm *nothing wrong with being a little sparkly! as long as there's no energon drool on her, Racer's a good bean.* ItsyBitsySpyers 8:36 pm *What went wrong on that trip, he wonders.* Magnum Ace 8:36 pm -snorts in laughter- I'm sure you won't be the only one Omicron 8:37 pm Interesting the difference between the views....wonder if any mech has been those cars Shocky 8:37 pm strange altmodes they drive in... Magnum Ace 8:38 pm I like my plating attached, thanks Smokescreen 8:38 pm They're ancient alt modes! Bull 8:38 pm I think I rather go training with Jurota in the mountains; gotta be safer. ItsyBitsySpyers 8:38 pm [[He will give the humans one advantage: it must be easier to follow each other in their cars since they do not identify each other by which one they are.]] Magnum Ace 8:38 pm -EVERYTHING went wrong on it- ItsyBitsySpyers 8:38 pm [[Or in their case, are driving.]] Omicron 8:39 pm this...is very stalker like Smokescreen 8:39 pm But can't they see each other inside the cars? Magnum Ace 8:39 pm ....just watch for storms. They get nasty up there Bull 8:39 pm Still; safer. Smokescreen 8:39 pm Her husband did pay him to basically professionally stalk because he doesn't want to talk to his own wife. Omicron 8:40 pm so...is smokescreen still not clean? *to specs* Magnum Ace 8:40 pm True. Less...everything that was that trip Specs 8:40 pm Unless I can prove he's taken a bath today, and it's not his first one this month? Absolutely not. Shocky 8:40 pm *looks at the one insisting on cleanliness and tilts his helm* ItsyBitsySpyers 8:41 pm [[Humans have terrible vision. They measure their visual acuity in lengths shorter than he is tall.]] Specs 8:41 pm *look, she grooms herself with her tongue. she HAS to insist on cleanliness. there's just too many bad things that happen otherwise.* ItsyBitsySpyers 8:41 pm [[They would consider it a badge of honor to lay on the ground and still be able to see the glyphs on his visor. It is sad.]] Smokescreen 8:41 pm /Smokescreen's snooping, and is staring at Specs right now./ Omicron 8:41 pm .....*grings at the fluffy dragon* want to get him over here and I can make sure he's clean? at least for the evening Magnum Ace 8:41 pm Still, at least we shouldn't have to do that again ItsyBitsySpyers 8:42 pm *The useless facts you pick up when you're investigating octopus eyes...* Magnum Ace 8:42 pm Unless Owner has another relative that's playing dead somewhere Smokescreen 8:42 pm Seriously? Humans have vision that bad? But isn't that why some of them wear glasses? so their vision can be as good as ours? Prowl 8:42 pm Glasses? Specs 8:42 pm ...*ooh, she's considering that* Does that qualify as a disruption, you think? Bull 8:43 pm .... *now that he thought about it; no one ever talked about her mother* Omicron 8:43 pm *Ice Queen isn't sure, staaaaaaaaares at Soundwave, and give him a ping* Magnum Ace 8:43 pm ..... Smokescreen 8:43 pm Yeah! They're kinda like visors, but they have two pieces of glass that by- I'm not exactly sure how it works, but it gives them super good vision. VProwl 8:43 pm *looks at Soundwave* ... How do they drive? Bull 8:43 pm *Then again that was a can of worms Bull was NOT gonna pry at* Magnum Ace 8:43 pm -please don't- ItsyBitsySpyers 8:44 pm *Ravage stumbles back downstairs and over to the dragons. He flops down, flips onto his back, and whispers.* =Very... very good.= *PURRING AWAY. Content felinoid.*

[[Please, do not forcibly bathe anyone onthe premises. If you must remove the stink, take them outside and use a hose.]] Shocky 8:44 pm these close up shots are quite unnecessary Prowl 8:44 pm Ah. Smokescreen 8:44 pm It's supposed to show what the humans are focusing on! ItsyBitsySpyers 8:45 pm @Prowl: [[The humans? Haven't you had them driving you before?]] Smokescreen 8:45 pm ... Wait, forcibly bathing? Why would anyone do that anyway? Specs 8:45 pm *that's one delighted chirp from the dragon* I think I'll make that again, then! *always nice to see someone appreciate her cooking* Omicron 8:46 pm hm... maybe outside. *blinks, lowers head and sniffs at Ravage?* ItsyBitsySpyers 8:46 pm *Ravage goes wide-opticked and bats at the nose.* *He then DARTS THE HELL OFF and into a corner* Magnum Ace 8:47 pm -what the hell was that blur?- Specs 8:48 pm *poofs up* *well, that's something* Magnum Ace 8:48 pm -it looked cat shaped- VProwl 8:48 pm @S «I didn't know they couldn't see that far.» Omicron 8:48 pm *big dragon blinks, well...did she do that?* VProwl 8:49 pm *he retroactively feels much less safe.* Smokescreen 8:50 pm ... Sounds, do you know how glasses work? ItsyBitsySpyers 8:51 pm [[-He- would like a question like that. He doesn't see what the Midge human has against it.]]

[[Of course he knows how glasses work. Some Cybertronians require visual assistance as well.]] Magnum Ace 8:51 pm ...-tempted to ask for a baseball, to see if it was a cat- Smokescreen 8:51 pm But what about glasses for humans? How do they make the glass that lets them see better? VProwl 8:51 pm Her issue with it is that it clearly wasn't his original question and he's dodging the question. @S «... What's up with Ravage?» Prowl 8:52 pm Ah, so they are the same as visors. ItsyBitsySpyers 8:53 pm @P: [[Tinsel cookies. Something about the substance overstimulates his olfactory sensors. Temporary glitch.]]

[[He does not know how the glasses are made. Only the ones they put in their eyes.]] Omicron 8:53 pm *Icy turns back and gives her hatchling and fluffy dragon a good few licks, purring under them* Smokescreen 8:53 pm Wait- the ones they put into their eyes? They what? Specs 8:54 pm *purrs and chirrups at the predacon. SHE'S clean, at least* Shocky 8:54 pm this investigator seems quite the rude type... ItsyBitsySpyers 8:55 pm [[Sharp, isn't she.]] VProwl 8:55 pm Quite. Omicron 8:55 pm *Icy approves of the clean!* oh, thought you might like to meet someone new by chance. Likely won't get her out from under her hiding place Prowl 8:55 pm She should be a detective. ItsyBitsySpyers 8:55 pm [[And why rude, do you say?]] *Not that he disagrees. He just wants to know.* Specs 8:56 pm Oh? Shocky 8:56 pm They are too abrupt in their treatment, to stern with no manners it is slighly vexing. VProwl 8:58 pm Why wouldn't he tell his own spouse these things about her own history. He's a terrible spouse. Omicron 8:58 pm *Icy nods at her left wing, shifting a little so her passenger can just hear a protesting mew under* Specs 8:59 pm Are genealogy records simply not available to these humans? *blinks and turns her head. there's someone there!* Omicron 8:59 pm apparently not....or not easy to find? ItsyBitsySpyers 8:59 pm *SOUNDWAVE HEARD A MEW.* Omicron 9:00 pm *There was a tiny mew!* ItsyBitsySpyers 9:00 pm *There is a cat in here and it is not Ravage. His screen goes ! and all.* Magnum Ace 9:00 pm -is there a cat in here?- -other than Ravage- Bull 9:00 pm !!! Specs 9:00 pm *chirrups and searches for the mewler* ItsyBitsySpyers 9:00 pm *It then goes ! brighter and redder. She threw herself off!?* Magnum Ace 9:00 pm !!! Omicron 9:01 pm whaaa...what? !! VProwl 9:01 pm Maybe she's being "driven mad" by a husband that sneaks behind her back, stalks her, and keeps secrets from her about her own family. Prowl 9:01 pm That seems a great deal more plausible than a ghost. Omicron 9:01 pm *specs can hear another little mew as icy moves, and Racer just...jumps on the spot* ItsyBitsySpyers 9:03 pm [[...He's not going to explain why she is there without her outerwear?]] [[Or who he is? Or where she is?]] Shocky 9:03 pm *shockwave is frustrated with the film now* why not simply call their conjunx? would it not be more rational? Specs 9:04 pm Racer! *why he jump on the mewler. wait...* *the dragon actually turns and noses around- could this be a second hatchling?* Omicron 9:05 pm Racer: *bounces on Icy's wing, its strong enough that he doesn't hurt, then he's showing the other small dragon how to get in under the big wing, squiring over to his sibling* Specs 9:06 pm *follows Racer, and then gasps gently. it IS another hatchling! hello, little one. have a lick.* Prowl 9:06 pm Rational behavior seems to have died with the officer on that rooftop. Magnum Ace 9:08 pm -what just happened?- Omicron 9:08 pm *little sparkling meeps, wide golden optic at new person! omgomgomg new person- oh, a lick...sparkling calms down* VProwl 9:09 pm Their sexual tension is boring, unconvincing, and distracting from the far more important mystery at hand. ItsyBitsySpyers 9:09 pm [[Agreed.]] Omicron 9:09 pm I agree Specs 9:09 pm *chirps at the hatchling again, before curling up nearby and purring as strongly as possible. the dragon's no motorcycle engine, but she can manage a decent rumble.* Bull 9:10 pm And she's gone... Shocky 9:10 pm perhaps not the wisest idea to turn their back on them ItsyBitsySpyers 9:10 pm [[He would not blame her for fleeing.]] Magnum Ace 9:10 pm ..... Prowl 9:11 pm Is that what the overly long wrist touch was meant to be? The audio description didn't go into detail. VProwl 9:11 pm Not at all. Omicron 9:11 pm RAcer: *noses his sibling, snuggling and loving on until little hands shyly reach out at take a small bat at fluffy purring thing-person of soft* ItsyBitsySpyers 9:11 pm [[He's following her AGAIN?]] VProwl 9:11 pm Yes, there was hand-touching and silent staring at each other. When characters silently stare at each other for no good reason, especially while touching, it's usually meant to indicate sexual tension. Prowl 9:12 pm Humans have strange ideas of what sexual tension is. Specs 9:12 pm *chirrups and licks the hatchling again. yes, she is a Soft and Safe purry furry dragon. you may touch.* Omicron 9:12 pm These are really strange humans.... Magnum Ace 9:12 pm -huffs- VProwl 9:13 pm *...... does his alternate have a conception of staring or is it all completely abstract to her. he doesn't know.* ItsyBitsySpyers 9:13 pm [[One moment. How did he get both of their cars to his home location after the fall into the water?]] Magnum Ace 9:13 pm This is... Omicron 9:13 pm ....that is a good question Prowl 9:13 pm *has a very good idea but since she's never discussed her blindness with her alternate, he wouldn't really know* Shocky 9:13 pm he must of walked there after getting her home VProwl 9:13 pm ... Perhaps he towed it? *no, he wouldn't. and he feels like it might be rude to ask. so he'll just wonder.* Omicron 9:14 pm *little hatchling slowly inches closer...and then sniffs...she bops her head int othe soft fluff* Magnum Ace 9:14 pm ...a bit uncomfortable ItsyBitsySpyers 9:14 pm [[A little more than a bit.]] VProwl 9:15 pm "A bit." Bull 9:15 pm ...Getting even creepier. Specs 9:15 pm *oh, that's precious. the dragon continues to purr, and licks the hatchling on the head comfortingly. hatchlings are perfect beings.* ItsyBitsySpyers 9:15 pm [[Drive off, human.]] VProwl 9:15 pm Leave without him. Magnum Ace 9:15 pm ...... VProwl 9:15 pm ... Well, as long as your stalker always knows where you are, you might as well always know where he is, I suppose. Prowl 9:15 pm Why are they pausing so much while talking? Is this another human sexual attraction thing? VProwl 9:16 pm Yes. I think so, anyway. Omicron 9:16 pm Racer: *wiggles over to flop on them both, going back to snuggling with his sister, and happy* ((9231y23tyhgsgsg!!!!!!!!!! That's WHERE I LIVE!!)) (Was part of this filmed in washington???) ItsyBitsySpyers 9:17 pm [[It's hardly the tree's fault she is an organic with a short life span.]] VProwl 9:17 pm ... So now she thinks she's the dead person. Has she thought that all along during their interactions? Smokescreen 9:18 pm wait frag I kinda got distracted what'd I miss Magnum Ace 9:18 pm .... Bull 9:18 pm .... *is getting a bad feeling* Specs 9:18 pm ((most of it was, probably- hitchcock either lived in washington or liked it a lot)) Magnum Ace 9:18 pm -same here, Bull- Omicron 9:19 pm ....the frag human VProwl 9:19 pm Oh, leave her alone. Omicron 9:19 pm (Mwahah! I know that rest stop) (good work with the camera angles to avoid it) ItsyBitsySpyers 9:20 pm ((lmao)) Magnum Ace 9:20 pm What.... Specs 9:20 pm *OOF. Racer is a good bean, but predacon hatchlings are so heavy! still, there are snuggles to be had, and hatchling foreheads to clean.* ItsyBitsySpyers 9:20 pm [[He refuses to be responsible for Wheeljack forever.]] Shocky 9:20 pm *shockwave hides a quiet snort* Omicron 9:20 pm That sound like something my insecticons would say ItsyBitsySpyers 9:21 pm *Soundwave wouldn't have minded if Shockwave snorted out loud. It's a miserable situation and he knows it.* Magnum Ace 9:21 pm ...... Omicron 9:21 pm *new hatchling smiles at grooming, and she pokes her glossa out off and on, petting dragon* Prowl 9:22 pm Madeline thinks she's a dead human. She and the ex-detective are having sexual tension while he continues to stalk her as instructed by her... huzband? Magnum Ace 9:22 pm -what is going on in this movie?- VProwl 9:22 pm Husband, yes. A conjunx that uses "he." Magnum Ace 9:22 pm ........ VProwl 9:22 pm Eugh. Prowl 9:22 pm Oh, and the ghost is trying to kill her. Specs 9:22 pm *yes. this is perfect. this is a blessed day all around. if the dragon could purr any more vigorously, she'd be at risk of shaking herself apart* Omicron 9:22 pm .....what in Primus' name you strange organics Bull 9:22 pm That's gonna cause trouble Magnum Ace 9:23 pm -facepalms- Shocky 9:23 pm ..... ItsyBitsySpyers 9:23 pm [[...What.]] Prowl 9:23 pm Primus. Tarantulas 9:23 pm *guess who's super duper fashionably late to the party and gonna linger at the back of the room next to the snacks for a while* ItsyBitsySpyers 9:23 pm [[Could we not have had a film about this Midge human? He likes her far more.]] Prowl 9:23 pm Hm, agreed. Shocky 9:23 pm midge is indeed much more interesting VProwl 9:24 pm She's intelligent, she's competent, she's got her life together. She's not emotionally unstable enough to carry a movie. Omicron 9:24 pm *Icy sniffs at the air, and looks over at Tarantulas, gives a soft chirp* ItsyBitsySpyers 9:24 pm *Soundwave huffs. That may be true, but he'd watch it anyway.* *Soundwave pings Tarantulas hello.* [[Ha.]] Tarantulas 9:25 pm *ping for soundwave, and a spidery-limbed wave in icy's direction* Bull 9:25 pm .... awkward VProwl 9:25 pm *tragically, hasn't seen tarantulas yet.* Shocky 9:25 pm it is quite the pretty painting... Prowl 9:26 pm *conjunx that uses he...* Is there an English word for a conjunx that doesn't use he or she? Omicron 9:26 pm *Icy shifts her wing, grings at the chirp and mew and shifts the cuddle pile under her wing to a better balanced spot* ItsyBitsySpyers 9:26 pm [[Oh, don't ruin it over him.]] [[It was a good message.]] VProwl 9:26 pm I think all humans use he or she. All the ones I've ever met or heard about, anyway. Prowl 9:26 pm Ah. Omicron 9:27 pm *looks at Prow* I think 'they' is used a lot? at least one human my crew liked did? *does that help?* Magnum Ace 9:28 pm . . . VProwl 9:28 pm ... I've heard of /one/ person who uses "they." They aren't human, though. Maybe it's just rare among humans. Smokescreen 9:29 pm !!! /Smokescreen's waving to Tarantulas!/ Prowl 9:29 pm I've only spoken with one human and she used she. Tarantulas 9:29 pm *there's no way tarantulas is gonna be able to catch up and pay attention to the movie is there, not this late and with - a shOCKWAVE. THERE'S A SHOCkwave in here, act natural tara* ItsyBitsySpyers 9:29 pm [[Who were they?]] *Looking at Prowl.* Tarantulas 9:30 pm *for now he'll edge his way over to smokescreen and say hello via a pat on the helm* Prowl 9:30 pm Ratchet's human partner, June. Smokescreen 9:31 pm ... /He wasn't expecting Tarantulas to come to him, especially when Prowl's here. The helm pat gets his doorwings wiggling, and Smokescreen's reaching to pat Messy back!/ VProwl 9:32 pm Chimera. Magnum Ace 9:32 pm ........ VProwl 9:32 pm *...which prowl were you looking at, soundwave* ItsyBitsySpyers 9:33 pm [[She's clearly uncomfortable. Desist.]]

[[...He didn't expect you to remember them. Few others do.]] Omicron 9:33 pm .....I don't think 'kissing' is supposed to work that way? Bull 9:33 pm *is not liking this* VProwl 9:33 pm They don't know each other at all! They're being absurd. Bull 9:33 pm don't let her go in alone.... Shocky 9:33 pm this is quite unrealistic Specs 9:33 pm *see, hanging in a cuddlepuddle with the hatchlings is far better than watching this ridiculous movie* Smokescreen 9:34 pm ... Is this what human religious buildings are like? VProwl 9:34 pm *puzzled look at Soundwave* Why wouldn't I remember them? Magnum Ace 9:34 pm Oh...that's not good Bull 9:34 pm *doesn't like where this is going; starts to duck his head* Omicron 9:34 pm *icy's tempted to stick her head under her wing too* .......... Magnum Ace 9:34 pm .......... Omicron 9:35 pm ..........what....the....frag Bull 9:35 pm *doesn't look up; he knows what happened* VProwl 9:35 pm ... Excellent work, detective. Tarantulas 9:35 pm *near smokey, not loudly* ...Oh goodness, I've come in at the most wonderful time, haven't I. Magnum Ace 9:35 pm -pats Bull's shoulders- ItsyBitsySpyers 9:35 pm @P: [[They are sparkless, and a Cybertronian creation, not a Cybertronian as they are commonly understood. Most who discover that dismiss and ignore them. The rest simply forget because Chimera is too shy to appear in person most times. That is why.]] [[...How unfortunate for the Madeleine human.]] Specs 9:36 pm *shifts a little so that she can poke her snout out from beneath Ice Queen's wing momentarily* Did I hear Chimera's name? Smokescreen 9:36 pm /Smokescreen's starting to cling to Tarantulas a bit, nodding/ You did- you mostly missed this one human being a jerk. It's good to see you again! VProwl 9:36 pm @S «Hm. Well. ... I haven't forgot them.» Smokescreen 9:36 pm the husband can be blamed for everything didn't even try to talk to her Omicron 9:37 pm Racer: *head resting on the the dragon poof, blep at her* Prowl 9:37 pm *will move a little away from Smokescreen so his new visitor can sit down if he likes* ItsyBitsySpyers 9:37 pm @P: [[...Thank you, in all sincerity. He will tell them that.]]

[[Yes. They're upstairs right now, playing a dice game with Zori.]] VProwl 9:37 pm *longing side glance at Tarantulas. he's all the way over there.* Bull 9:38 pm It wouldn't help... It's never that easy. Tarantulas 9:38 pm It's good to see you as well, Smokescreen. *another pet to the helm, and he offers smokey some snacks he'd snatched from the back table - but he's not sitting down, no, seems to just be stopping by* Smokescreen 9:38 pm ... /He's happy to accept the treat, happy to have Tarantula's company while he can./ Specs 9:38 pm How fitting, the cutest cat and cutest scorpion spending time together. *returns to the hatchlings and licks Racer right onna nose* Prowl 9:38 pm *oh good, Prowl's not up for strangers* ItsyBitsySpyers 9:38 pm [[They often do, those two.]] Specs 9:39 pm ((...what the FUCK is going on here with that coroner. does he know the detective? is he just a bitch?)) Windchill 9:39 pm *He's here, sorry.* Omicron 9:39 pm [he's being an aft] Specs 9:40 pm ((wait, judge? coroner? whatever. aft confirmed.)) Shocky 9:41 pm *Shockwave has seen quite enough of this story. It is far too tragic and unsatisfying for his liking. He gets up to leave* Omicron 9:41 pm Racer: !! 😀 *licks back, then licks his sibling, tugging on a little kibble bits to get her to make sound and wiggle a bit. other hatchling hides her head under specs* Windchill 9:41 pm This is one of those talking movies, isn't it? Shocky 9:41 pm good evening all, thank you for the evening. Tarantulas 9:41 pm *a ping to smokey with a promise to visit later? words are hard for tarantulas right now while he knows his science idol's nearby and - is he leaving? oh nooooo* Prowl 9:41 pm I thought Chimera was a serpent? *that's what Mirage's one report that mentioned them said anyway* Are they a shifter of some kind, Soundwave? Smokescreen 9:41 pm Awww- bye Shocks! Can I show you some more movies later? ItsyBitsySpyers 9:41 pm [[Farewell.]] ((oof i'm sorry to anyone about the colors changing)) Windchill 9:42 pm *He's not going to bother sitting down this late in the game.* Omicron 9:42 pm *Ice Queen nods at Shockwave, wary, but polite * VProwl 9:42 pm *not a fan of the flashing colors. Would rather they don't.* Specs 9:42 pm *chirps at Racer, gently reaching out to boop him on the nose* No, be nice to your sibling. She can hide if she wants. Shocky 9:42 pm perhaps Smokescreen. Good night. *he leaves promptly* Windchill 9:42 pm *Snorts.* Smokescreen 9:43 pm /Smokescreen looks a little disappointed- is Tarantulas going there already? Oh... Well, he's going to pet Tarantulas a bit more, before letting go, letting him go over to Prowl if he wants./ ItsyBitsySpyers 9:43 pm [[Chimera is a serpent, yes. And a bird, and a feline, when it suits them. You could call them a shapeshifter, yes.]] VProwl 9:44 pm "Triplechanger," I'd think. ItsyBitsySpyers 9:44 pm [[Oh, that /would/ be closer.]] Smokescreen 9:44 pm ... What is that place and what is that thing Prowl 9:44 pm It would be much closer if they're limited to only those forms. Magnum Ace 9:44 pm ....... Specs 9:44 pm *sticks her snout out again real quick* Chimera is a good person. VProwl 9:44 pm *... he's been committed, hasn't he.* *tenses.* ItsyBitsySpyers 9:45 pm *Overturns hand and pings.* Magnum Ace 9:45 pm He lost his mind, didn't he? VProwl 9:45 pm *... takes it.* Specs 9:45 pm *and there she goes again. gotta speak in support of that Good Chimera Friend* Tarantulas 9:45 pm *visibly loosens up a bit after shockwave leaves and comes over to vprowl - here, have yet another distraction* Prowl 9:45 pm I've never met Chimera personally. Smokescreen 9:45 pm Melancholia? Omicron 9:45 pm *The younger hatchling snuggles, then mews at the fluffy leaving !! she edges closer after, sniffing* Specs 9:46 pm *don't worry, little one. the fluffy returns. can't leave little bitlets unsnuggled for long!* ItsyBitsySpyers 9:46 pm [[A very good person. One of the best he's ever known, in fact.]] *Glances to the other Prowl, nodding at Tarantulas on the way.* [[He could arrange for them to drop by, if you like. They might like to have unusual company.]] Smokescreen 9:46 pm ... /shifting himself so he doesn't see Boxy Prowl or Tarantulas./ Prowl 9:47 pm *sorry Smokescreen, you're stuck with her* Bull 9:47 pm .... Smokescreen 9:47 pm /He's probably looking right at Rounder Prowl, scooting in again/ VProwl 9:48 pm *oh good. hello tara.* Magnum Ace 9:48 pm . . . Prowl 9:48 pm *can feel him scooting, yes?* Windchill 9:48 pm *That's a lot of red.* *He doesn't care for it.* ItsyBitsySpyers 9:48 pm *Thinks it's fantastic.* Omicron 9:48 pm Racer: *gives licks, but soon he wiggles out to bounce around on Icy's back, leaving his sibling to snuggle* Windchill 9:48 pm *All things in moderation please.* VProwl 9:49 pm *in what ways can prowl latch on to you.* Prowl 9:49 pm Is he going to stalk some one else now? ItsyBitsySpyers 9:49 pm [[Is he following another-- that is what he wondered.]] Omicron 9:49 pm it looks like it Windchill 9:50 pm (( Is anyone else's chat shifting up and down? It's starting to irritate me. )) Magnum Ace 9:50 pm -is concerned now- ItsyBitsySpyers 9:50 pm ((OH there's a fix for that update uhhhh hold on)) Magnum Ace 9:50 pm ((yeah Omicron 9:50 pm (a little) Smokescreen 9:50 pm /Yep! Smokescreen's getting pretty comfy, but is giving Prowl a bit of space so she can choose if she wants to get closer./ ItsyBitsySpyers 9:50 pm *Rubs thumb on Prowl's hand and delivers a question ping. Better now that he's out?* Bull 9:50 pm *Bull is internally noping* ItsyBitsySpyers 9:50 pm (( https://userstyles.org/styles/149395/rabb-it-css-fixup?utm_campaign=stylish_stylepage )) Tarantulas 9:50 pm *if vprowl's talking about latching onto tara - all the ways. he's settling in as near to prowl as he can get* Windchill 9:51 pm (( Okay no worries I was just wondering if it was me and I needed to update or something. Every time Rabbit does something new I suddenly don't know how to use it anymore. Me? Resistant to change? Yes. )) Prowl 9:51 pm *she'll allow him to hover nearby, that's close enough, but she's relaxed now that Shockwave has left* ItsyBitsySpyers 9:51 pm ((if it doesn't work right away refresh rabbit))

((and ye no prob we all hated it too, it's a bad update)) Specs 9:51 pm *that's okay. the fluffy is happy to ignore the movie and snuggle whichever hatchlings want snuggles.* Windchill 9:51 pm (( KK thanks! I'll update later now that I know I won't be plagued with it the rest of my life. )) Creepy. Magnum Ace 9:52 pm .... VProwl 9:52 pm *he's going to wrap a hand around Tarantulas's elbow.* Smokescreen 9:52 pm What a creep. Omicron 9:52 pm what...the frag human. Magnum Ace 9:52 pm .... VProwl 9:52 pm He's a jerk. He's been a jerk the whole movie and he's still a jerk now. Windchill 9:53 pm She could have kicked him in the nuts. Smokescreen 9:53 pm Are there really humans like this? Windchill 9:53 pm There are mecha like this. ItsyBitsySpyers 9:53 pm [[There are mechs like this as-- yes, thank you.]] Prowl 9:53 pm She should have closed the door in his face. VProwl 9:53 pm She should. Smokescreen 9:53 pm I know there are mecha like this- but are there really humans awful in this way? Bull 9:54 pm He shouldn't be there... He should just get away from there. Windchill 9:54 pm Humans aren't special. Omicron 9:54 pm There are some predacons alike too...but most of the time they will get bitten Magnum Ace 9:54 pm He...is a human I would not like coming near our compound ItsyBitsySpyers 9:54 pm [[She should have punched him and gone for assistance.]] Prowl 9:54 pm He should also know better than to follow others to their homes. Smokescreen 9:54 pm You don You don't have to apologize! He's the one being a creep. Prowl 9:54 pm No matter who they look like. Windchill 9:54 pm *Why is she taking pity on him, damn you script.* VProwl 9:54 pm I'd blame it on his emotional instability but he's been like this the whole way through. Prowl 9:55 pm Exactly. Smokescreen 9:55 pm I see bots that look like certain other bots all the time- doesn't mean I follow them and force them to feel bad for me. Windchill 9:55 pm Say no. ItsyBitsySpyers 9:55 pm [[Who in Primus' name would go on a date after that.]] Windchill 9:55 pm Damn it. Magnum Ace 9:55 pm ............. Omicron 9:55 pm *sparkling slowly inches up and careful flop of the fluffy dragon, she's about a third racer's side* Magnum Ace 9:55 pm -facepalms- ItsyBitsySpyers 9:55 pm [[Change hotels, human.]] Prowl 9:55 pm Foolish. Omicron 9:56 pm why...are you... leave woman Windchill 9:56 pm *Well, he might have, but he was in a darker place at the time.* Bull 9:56 pm *Bull ducks his head again* ItsyBitsySpyers 9:56 pm *Sits up fast* Prowl 9:57 pm Oh. Omicron 9:57 pm ...what the frag Smokescreen 9:57 pm Oh good she's getting out of there Windchill 9:57 pm One can hope. VProwl 9:57 pm Where'd she get a license from another state with someone else's name? Specs 9:57 pm *oh goodness. such a tiny little hatchling. so cute, so pure. snug snug.* Magnum Ace 9:57 pm Leave, don't...what? Smokescreen 9:57 pm Huh- she's left handed too? I heard that's unusual for humans. Prowl 9:58 pm Her real name? Smokescreen 9:58 pm Fake IDs are really easy to get if you know where to go Windchill 9:58 pm ...Huh. Omicron 9:58 pm what... VProwl 9:58 pm ... Aha. Windchill 9:59 pm Gross. Smokescreen 9:59 pm you know he's the kind to rummage through seemingly-stranger's trash though Windchill 10:00 pm It's that red again. Magnum Ace 10:00 pm ..... Omicron 10:00 pm *little sparkling gives a happy sound, tucks her arms and legs up into the snuggling* Prowl 10:00 pm Is there something wrong with the red? Windchill 10:01 pm I think they used too much. Omicron 10:01 pm *Icy lets racer down to sniff around the snack table* Smokescreen 10:01 pm They had a LOT of red paint Prowl 10:01 pm Ah. Windchill 10:01 pm Like a dark ritual meant to summon a headache. Smokescreen 10:01 pm Ugh. What a creep. You've gone one ONE date. Omicron 10:01 pm ......what the frag VProwl 10:02 pm You think you've known her one night. Magnum Ace 10:02 pm ....... Bull 10:02 pm Even if it was faked, he's broken... Magnum Ace 10:02 pm This is not going to go well ItsyBitsySpyers 10:02 pm [[She is no better for lying to him.]] VProwl 10:02 pm To be fair, in reality, he ALSO barely knows her. Prowl 10:03 pm She should have given him the letter and turned herself into the police for her part in the murder. ItsyBitsySpyers 10:03 pm [[And after having forced him through all of that.]] Specs 10:03 pm *oh, no. just when the baby's gotten all comfortable... five more minutes. she'll just keep purring and cuddling with the bitlet for now.* Windchill 10:03 pm Man. Smokescreen 10:04 pm The lying is wrong, but that doesn't make his behavior right. ItsyBitsySpyers 10:04 pm [[Neither should be anywhere near the other.]] VProwl 10:04 pm Hm. Of course, she should turn herself in. However, at this point I like him quite a lot less than her. And I don't like her. Windchill 10:04 pm She's got more paint on her eyebrows than I do. Impressive. Bull 10:04 pm *he knows exactly what he's trying to do* Omicron 10:05 pm Racer, go say hello if you want before its too late *Icy snorts, watches him scoot around to go doe that....then she snorts at the screen* ItsyBitsySpyers 10:05 pm [[...Is he attempting to dress her like the other?]] Smokescreen 10:05 pm ... Yeeeep. Bull 10:05 pm ...... Magnum Ace 10:05 pm ................ Windchill 10:05 pm What a control freak. VProwl 10:06 pm He needs to let go of her. Magnum Ace 10:06 pm He's a worrying type of human Smokescreen 10:06 pm Ugh. Omicron 10:06 pm ....little female smack him Specs 10:06 pm *the dragon stretches, and reluctantly scoots out from under Ice Queen's wing after giving the bitlet one last lick on the forehead* Good night, everyone! ItsyBitsySpyers 10:06 pm [[Who is this 'we'.]] Smokescreen 10:06 pm ... There really aren't humans like this, are there? Windchill 10:06 pm Of course there are. Humans wrote this about themselves. Smokescreen 10:06 pm ... Specs 10:06 pm ((gneh. normally I'd be able to handle this, but... night, everyone!)) VProwl 10:06 pm ((night)) ItsyBitsySpyers 10:06 pm ((night)) Smokescreen 10:06 pm ((aaaaa night night Prowl 10:06 pm ((night! Windchill 10:07 pm (( Goodnight! )) Tarantulas 10:07 pm (( night! Magnum Ace 10:07 pm ((g'night! Omicron 10:07 pm (good night!) ItsyBitsySpyers 10:07 pm ((next week's should be far more enjoyable and light)) Omicron 10:07 pm *icy gives a purr to her and a chirp goodbye* ItsyBitsySpyers 10:07 pm ((i think it's the whales Trek)) Prowl 10:07 pm It's only been a few days. Smokescreen 10:08 pm Did you really have that much fun? He kinda barged into your room Windchill 10:08 pm *Visibly shudders* Prowl 10:08 pm *thinks they should both be arrested at this point* Smokescreen 10:08 pm He's not worth it. ItsyBitsySpyers 10:08 pm [[It is her appearance! How does that not matter to her?]] Omicron 10:08 pm Why is she tolerating this.... even I can see this is unheathy Smokescreen 10:09 pm ... That's really bad. VProwl 10:09 pm She's saying "no" over and over, of course it matters to her. I think she's a far better judge of what matters to her than he is! Prowl 10:09 pm Because she believes she's in love with him. VProwl 10:09 pm *disgusted noise* Bull 10:09 pm ..... *Bull really does not like this* Omicron 10:09 pm *also gives a disgusted sound* Smokescreen 10:09 pm But that doesn't mean she has to change herself- she shouldn't have to Magnum Ace 10:09 pm This man is....uncomfortable Bull 10:11 pm One year is not enough time to get over such trauma. Staying in the same place only makes it worse. Smokescreen 10:11 pm ... This is like. If I went up to Megs and was like "I want you to keep leading Cybertron but can you change your alt mode to be a truck and also paint yourself blue and red" Omicron 10:11 pm love is not that, love is being able to lean on someone. To be able to let your guard down around them for a time. To know what energon they like and they know how you like it *grumbling to herself* ItsyBitsySpyers 10:11 pm ((man i had a slight spoiler that there was an impersonation somewhere in it but i had nooooo idea it would be this messed up a story. i mean i'm fascinated in that trainwreck way but damn.)) Windchill 10:11 pm *Blonde is not her colour.* Tarantulas 10:12 pm *hrm. tara's having a few uneasy thoughts but having little trouble shunting them into a mental box that might as well be a trashcan. not so much thoughts about the situation, but personal ones* ItsyBitsySpyers 10:12 pm *Is someone having a bit of an epiphany over there* VProwl 10:13 pm *makes another disgusted sound* Magnum Ace 10:14 pm -UNCOMFORTABLE- Prowl 10:14 pm *shakes her head* Bull 10:14 pm *Bull is fully noping again* VProwl 10:14 pm *and another for good measure* Omicron 10:14 pm Primus I'm glade racer has no interest in screens outside of consoles Windchill 10:15 pm If Ernie's is the red place I vote no. Smokescreen 10:15 pm ... Muss you? Prowl 10:15 pm Ruin her paint. Smokescreen 10:15 pm Ohhh. VProwl 10:16 pm ... Isn't she not supposed to— yes. The jewelry is a giveaway. Bull 10:16 pm *red flags again* Windchill 10:17 pm How long before one of them ends up dead? Bull 10:17 pm no.... no.... Prowl 10:17 pm Not long at this rate. Magnum Ace 10:17 pm ..... Windchill 10:17 pm He could crash the car and take them both out. Omicron 10:17 pm I would not imagine long Smokescreen 10:17 pm Nooo- Prowl, come on. That won't happen, right? Magnum Ace 10:17 pm Oh no Smokescreen 10:17 pm ... oh no VProwl 10:18 pm That's not ominous at all. Omicron 10:18 pm *snorts* Windchill 10:18 pm They've got a dark filter on the screen and everything! Omicron 10:18 pm Racer: *edging ever to sniff soundwave's pede* Windchill 10:18 pm *He's not taking this seriously anymore. Easier to cope that way.* Smokescreen 10:18 pm Primus Bull 10:19 pm Don't go back into the past... Smokescreen 10:19 pm Reliving this stuff only makes it hurt more Bull 10:19 pm *is ducking his head again* ItsyBitsySpyers 10:19 pm [[Scream for help, human.]] VProwl 10:19 pm He's done nothing but manhandle her the whole movie, regardless of whether they were strangers or lovers, getting along or fighting. Tarantulas 10:20 pm *ok now it's hard to ignore a brief flashback, tarantulas shivers* Magnum Ace 10:20 pm -burying face in knees- Bull 10:20 pm *this is leading to all sorts of bad places for Bull* Omicron 10:20 pm BITE him! Smokescreen 10:21 pm Why would you want to relive traumatic events anyway? It's easier to just... Pretend they didn't happen. And avoid the stuff- and I swear if he's responsible for her getting hurt again I'm gonna be Omicron 10:21 pm Something human VProwl 10:21 pm *felt that. He moves his hand to lace with tarantulas's fingers.* Tarantulas 10:22 pm *he's got no idea what's going on in the movie aside from someone impersonating someone else's loved one and being forced to relive the prior one's death, and while he knows prowl would never do that to him, still...* Magnum Ace 10:23 pm -nopenopenope- Prowl 10:23 pm *leans her shoulder against Smokescreen's, is certain she knows how this is going to end, either on purpose or accident* VProwl 10:23 pm *rest easy, tara. he likes your fuzz too much for that.* Tarantulas 10:24 pm *fair, but Trust Issues™️ * VProwl 10:24 pm *Trust Issues* Smokescreen 10:24 pm /Tensing up, leaning against Prowl as well- he doesn't like where this is going at all./ Bull 10:25 pm *is still not looking* VProwl 10:25 pm *disgusted noise* Windchill 10:25 pm How unsurprising. Prowl 10:25 pm *joins in with a disgusted noise of her own* VProwl 10:25 pm ... How did she—? She was nowhere near— Of all the stupid— Smokescreen 10:25 pm ... ItsyBitsySpyers 10:26 pm [[Well. That was horrid.]] Windchill 10:26 pm *Well. It wasn't a dead baby movie but it was pretty bad.* Magnum Ace 10:26 pm .......... Smokescreen 10:26 pm sounds why are there humans like that Prowl 10:26 pm That's it? No retribution for the murder victim? Her husband walks away free? VProwl 10:26 pm ......... *laughs* Bull 10:26 pm .......... Tarantulas 10:26 pm *is startled by the laugh, squeezes prowl's hand* Windchill 10:26 pm I think that was worse than Titanic, even. Omicron 10:26 pm *snarls at the screen* I dare say that was a flop. Sorry Soundwave VProwl 10:26 pm *he's just. gonna take back one of his hands. and laugh into it.* Windchill 10:26 pm Good job, Soundwave. You've outdone yourself. Smokescreen 10:26 pm I know, right? There's no real resolution, and- Primus, that's a pretty depressing end. VProwl 10:26 pm sh-she just fell. Bull 10:27 pm *knows he's gonna have flashbacks and nightmares tonight* ItsyBitsySpyers 10:27 pm *...Is mildly alarmed by this laughter, but.*

[[He has, hasn't he. He'll try not to break that record again.]] Prowl 10:27 pm Fell from her own clumsiness. VProwl 10:27 pm *IT WAS THE MOST ABSURD ENDING* Tarantulas 10:27 pm What are you - what do you mean? Windchill 10:27 pm *Applauds politely.* VProwl 10:27 pm *okay. okay. he's collecting himself. he pats soundwave's shoulder.* Magnum Ace 10:27 pm -pats Bull's back- VProwl 10:27 pm It was an excellent movie with detestable characters. Omicron 10:28 pm *icy shakes her head, checks on Racer to see who's pedes he's sniffing* Prowl 10:28 pm .... Smokescreen 10:28 pm ....... Windchill 10:28 pm It was as if they couldn't quite commit to writing him pushing her off himself. Smokescreen 10:28 pm Soundwave ItsyBitsySpyers 10:28 pm (( 😀 )) Smokescreen 10:28 pm did you really just Tarantulas 10:28 pm (( lmao VProwl 10:28 pm A solid, suspenseful plot. It didn't stop being suspensefffff-- *SOUNDWAVE.* Prowl 10:28 pm *was just startled by the music, not... Soundwave, really?* VProwl 10:28 pm *he's laughing again, give him a minute.* Magnum Ace 10:28 pm ........... -seriously!?- ItsyBitsySpyers 10:29 pm *Morbid humor, dear baseball player.* Omicron 10:29 pm *back to shaking her head* Windchill 10:29 pm *More polite applause.* Prowl 10:29 pm *huffs in amusement* Windchill 10:29 pm *He approves.* Bull 10:29 pm *has no humor about that movie* VProwl 10:29 pm *"falling for you" indeed* Magnum Ace 10:29 pm -huffs- Smokescreen 10:29 pm Sounds have I mentioned that you stink smellywave ItsyBitsySpyers 10:30 pm *Sometimes it's the only way to handle something deeply unpleasant. Soundwave's really, really uncomfortable with the idea of being controlled like that.* Prowl 10:30 pm *is still mad the murderer got away with it* Magnum Ace 10:30 pm Bull, are you okay? VProwl 10:30 pm I was—TRYING to say. Didn't stop being suspenseful, even when the mystery was revealed. Good. Tarantulas 10:30 pm *startled again, withdrawing from prowl a bit. their internal states are a tad dissonant* Prowl 10:30 pm I thought you were the one that was supposed to stink? VProwl 10:30 pm But loathsome characters. Omicron 10:30 pm agreed Smokescreen 10:30 pm Hey, what? I don't stink! I haven't gotten dirty recently. ItsyBitsySpyers 10:30 pm *Tries not to laugh harder at Prowl's comment about stinking.*

[[Very loathsome.]] Bull 10:31 pm .... no... I'm not recharging tonight *he is gonna avoid the nightmares anyway he can* Prowl 10:31 pm *chuckles* Windchill 10:31 pm *Why are these lyrics misspelled #offended* Omicron 10:31 pm Smoke screen have you cleaned since last time we met? Smokescreen 10:31 pm Well, no- but it's not like I'm particularly dirty. And I've been, uh, busy. Magnum Ace 10:31 pm ...I might join you in that ItsyBitsySpyers 10:31 pm ((also i've never seen james stewart be anything except that A Wonderful Life guy so this is very. very much a shock, i think)) Magnum Ace 10:32 pm How made do you think Meckel would be if he found out, though? VProwl 10:32 pm *looks at Tarantulas.* Sorry. *he's not sure what he did but it apparently drove Tarantulas away, which is very hard to do.* Magnum Ace 10:32 pm *mad Omicron 10:32 pm You said you washed a long time ago before that. It builds up mech Smokescreen 10:32 pm ... I mean, it's not that long ago. And I just haven't been up to get clean, anyway. Also Knock Out used all my polish anyway And he likes bathing more than I do- so I gotta save that stuff for him. Bull 10:33 pm I'll take his wrath... better than the alternative *Bull unconsciously rubs one of his wrists* Prowl 10:33 pm I'd have noticed if he stank. Omicron 10:33 pm You can see use a washrack without polish...I don't think I even have any Prowl 10:34 pm *interacts with an Ironhide that thinks medical attention means you probably stop the bleeding maybe* Tarantulas 10:34 pm *confused@prowl* Wh-? Why are you apologizing? Smokescreen 10:34 pm But the other soaps are also- I can't use them while Knock Out's at my place. He'll get way too upset if he doesn't have any. ItsyBitsySpyers 10:34 pm ((AND since I promised elsewhere: someone was gonna show this movie like a year and a half ago, and I couldn't stand the idea of watching it then and here is why it took until now:)) VProwl 10:34 pm Because I did something that made you move away. Omicron 10:35 pm Does your world have more then one washing area? or even worker insecticons? Magnum Ace 10:35 pm ...not a very good movie for you, huh... ItsyBitsySpyers 10:35 pm ((I watch Gotham and in it, the Riddler accidentally kills someone before he's the Riddler. Much later, this other very creepy lady who looks just like the first one appears and refuses to let him go. In an effort to make him love her, she changes her appearance to that of the first lady. How does this second lady look when she first shows up, you might ask? Well.)) Tarantulas 10:35 pm *hadn't realized he'd moved away, actually; attempts to settle back in* Oh - no, no you've done no such thing, hush. Smokescreen 10:36 pm Well, of course there are- but I just- I haven't been up to get washed. It's not that big a deal, really. ItsyBitsySpyers 10:36 pm ((complete with the evening dress, a necklace, blond hair, and the FUCKING SWIRLIES IN THE BACK)) Prowl 10:36 pm ((IsabellAH Bull 10:36 pm no.... Magnum Ace 10:36 pm ((hooooly shitcakes)) Windchill 10:36 pm (( HUH. )) Omicron 10:36 pm ... ....! *tilts head and listens to the music* VProwl 10:37 pm ((omg)) Omicron 10:37 pm *humms along* Prowl 10:37 pm ((fucking gotham still hasn't explained it and i'm so mad ItsyBitsySpyers 10:37 pm ((so everyone knew it was gonna be some kinda Vertigo play the moment she showed up, and that's how come i knew impersonation had Something to do with this movie but nothing else.)) VProwl 10:37 pm ((somebody in the gotham costume department is a hitchcock fan)) Magnum Ace 10:37 pm It's okay...we can talk later, okay? -scoots closer to pat Bull's back again- VProwl 10:38 pm I obviously did something, you don't need to pretend I didn't. Bull 10:38 pm *He wasn't sure he'd want to talk about it at all but nodded anyways* ItsyBitsySpyers 10:38 pm ((oh yeah, and like... i forgot to mark the time. i'll give 15 more minutes)) Omicron 10:39 pm *Icy worldless soft singing along to the tune, it sounds like something that's been played for her hatchlings* ItsyBitsySpyers 10:40 pm *Also: He saw that wrist rub. It is suspicious.* Magnum Ace 10:40 pm -Nods. Good. He hoped. Still, time to get going now.- You good to go home now? Tarantulas 10:40 pm It's not - *tiny sigh* You're fine, Prowl, it must've been your laughter, I'd wager. The movie - it was a tad disorienting. ItsyBitsySpyers 10:40 pm *Did someone lock them up? He's going to have to point that out to Prowl later.* Windchill 10:40 pm Well. *He shakes himself as if the grossness would dislodge itself.* I'm going to go home and invent something to complain about. VProwl 10:41 pm ... Oh. ... Sorry. It was—the end—took me by surprise. Omicron 10:41 pm Racer: *sitting beside Soundwave still...might be laying down really* VProwl 10:42 pm No, not—not surprise—just... the... non-sequitur-ness of how it was done. Magnum Ace 10:42 pm -stands up, and offers Bull a hand up as well- ItsyBitsySpyers 10:42 pm *Soundwave will idly stick a hand down to offer a quick pat to Racer before the youngling has to go.*

[[Goodnight, Windchill. Maybe your mate will have painted everything red.]] Tarantulas 10:42 pm I do think that was the point, wasn't it? *wry visor quirk, seems more at ease* VProwl 10:42 pm ... Was it? Windchill 10:43 pm Maybe... *he taps his chin.* Maybe I'll suggest it so I can complain about it. Bull 10:43 pm *After a moment Bull takes the offered hand to stand* Tarantulas 10:43 pm I hadn't seen the whole movie, but I do get the impression it was a sort of ironic twist. Omicron 10:43 pm Racer: *lifts his head into the pat, tryng to turn in into a pet, he had to say hi* Magnum Ace 10:44 pm -up to your feet, Bull. Time to get home to NOT sleep apparently- VProwl 10:44 pm Yes, but that doesn't mean the way it was done wasn't... absurd. Magnum Ace 10:44 pm -and he's helping him up- Windchill 10:44 pm *He won't, actually, he's caused enough strife without anything being painted red.* Prowl 10:45 pm *stands up with a flick of her doors* Goodnight, Smokescreen. Soundwave. *a nod to the rest of the room* Smokescreen 10:45 pm Aww- goodnight, Prowl It was nice seeing you again! Talk to you later? VProwl 10:45 pm Of course, somebody was going to fall. But after a movie where every element was precisely triggered by something that happened ten steps earlier, for it to happen by random dumb happenstance is—incongruous. Bull 10:45 pm Let's go... ItsyBitsySpyers 10:45 pm [[Goodnight, Prowl. He'll see about arranging for you to meet Chimera.]] Omicron 10:45 pm *Icy waves her free wing before getting up and streaching some* Magnum Ace 10:45 pm Yeah. Soundwave? Can we have a way home now? Windchill 10:46 pm *Creepy creeps away.* ItsyBitsySpyers 10:46 pm [[Of course you may. Try to take care of yourselves.]] Prowl 10:46 pm I'm sure, Smokescreen, and thank you, Soundwave. I'd like that. Magnum Ace 10:46 pm Thank you. -and off he goes, tugging Bull behind him- Tarantulas 10:47 pm Ah - I see. *distracted by watching ppl leave and by settling down against prowl again, should he permit* Smokescreen 10:47 pm Oh yeah! Sounds- did you get the chance to share those educational documents? Are you guys close to setting anything up over there? Prowl 10:48 pm *and she's out the door* ItsyBitsySpyers 10:48 pm [[...It completely slipped his mind in all the ch-- in recent events. He will look into that soon.]] VProwl 10:49 pm *prowl will permit, but he doesn't reciprocate just yet. he still feels like he messed up.* Smokescreen 10:50 pm You know? That's fair- it's been pretty hectic. I haven't had the chance to do too much, either. Though I'm kinda wondering if there's any other public services like that that should be around, that'd make life nicer for everyone. Omicron 10:50 pm *rumbles and says something in predacon*

Racer: ...! *inches over to sniff at Prowls pede, not touching* pbbt...? biu? VProwl 10:51 pm *leans forward slightly and looks down.* Pbbt. ItsyBitsySpyers 10:52 pm [[Places for the public to make their own art and leave it on display until someone else covers it with their own. Buzzsaw would be furious if he didn't suggest that.]] Omicron 10:52 pm Racer: ! Pbbtowl! Tarantulas 10:52 pm *is rapt watching this exchange* ItsyBitsySpyers 10:52 pm ((two minute warning)) Smokescreen 10:52 pm OH that would be so cool- you know, I wanna see about getting that in. VProwl 10:52 pm Hello, Racer. ((a very loose definition of classical music, here)) Smokescreen 10:53 pm And maybe a proper theater of some kind? It'd be great for events that the outdoor theater in the gardens wouldn't fit as well. Omicron 10:53 pm Racer: *gives the pede a quite lick and bounces away in case of kick, then meeps at Soundwave as he starts to scuttle back to Icy* Smokescreen 10:53 pm Like performing or talks with larger audiences. VProwl 10:54 pm *huff. he can have that lick. prowl saw it coming so he's not going to kick for it.* ItsyBitsySpyers 10:55 pm [[Indeed. He is in full support of theaters. But now it is time to close the building.]] *Soundwave beeps at Racer as he scuttles.* Smokescreen 10:56 pm Of course- thanks, Sounds. I'm gonna see what all we'll need to make those things happen. Have a good night. /Smokescreen's getting up and is starting to head home./ Omicron 10:56 pm *eerily quiet as she shifted up right then drops into a mock battle stance as Racer comes bounding over and floofs up at her, meeps as he's scooped up. She chirps a goodbye around her hatchling, might let the other one out next time if racer stays home* ItsyBitsySpyers 10:57 pm [[You're welcome. Goodnight.]]

[[And goodnight to you too, Ice Queen, Racer... unidentified young one. He looks forward to meeting you another time.]] Omicron 10:57 pm ((thank you for the stream,!)) ItsyBitsySpyers 10:57 pm ((np!)) Omicron 10:57 pm *soundwave gets a mew from under a wing as the predacons leave* Tarantulas 10:59 pm *referring to the Pbbt-owl* When did /that/ happen? Have I been absent from movie nights for that long? ItsyBitsySpyers 10:59 pm *And now he'll look over at Tarantulas and bob his helm. He didn't get to see much of the mech past Prowl's chest and the events on screen.*

[[Several weeks. It's...]] Choose your words carefully, Soundwave. [[Quite charming.]] VProwl 10:59 pm Maybe you haven't been coming to the right ones. Tarantulas 11:00 pm Obviously not, hyeh. VProwl 11:02 pm He's a Predacon newbuild. He's been learning to make sounds. Recently he's been moving up to whole words. *with just the barest hint of glee:* He can say my name. ItsyBitsySpyers 11:03 pm [[He said half of his the other night. Yours is far more complete.]] *Confirming nod* VProwl 11:04 pm Mine's shorter. Tarantulas 11:04 pm That's absolutely precious. That is - I've seen Racer around, but - the linguistic development. ItsyBitsySpyers 11:04 pm [[And requires a difficult sound at the front. It is impressive.]] Tarantulas 11:05 pm He must have taken a liking to you, hm? VProwl 11:05 pm *with slightly more than just the barest hint of glee:* Apparently. Tarantulas 11:07 pm *leans in to briefly nuzzle his forehelm against, visor-smile, it's just too adorable* ItsyBitsySpyers 11:09 pm [[You've no idea. Prowl seems to be quite good with younglings. He's held conversations, pbbt-ed repeatedly, let the little one climb on him and attack his foot...]]

*Casually ticking things off on his fingers.* [[Much more patience and kindness than most show them, to be sure.]] Tarantulas 11:10 pm *sw you're making tara's spark hurt with the cute* VProwl 11:10 pm *where did this nuzzle come from?* ... Ah. Well, I'm getting along with /a/ youngling, we can say that much. Tarantulas 11:13 pm I suppose that simply means we ought to have more of them around to increase the trial sample size, mm? *has like 2% regret saying that but it can't be retracted* ItsyBitsySpyers 11:14 pm [[That is a tall order. He doesn't exactly have any lying around, himself.]] [[That one will have to do for now, unless someone else brings one.]] VProwl 11:15 pm I don't see any need to further experiment. But yyyes, that /would/ be the way to increase the sample size. ItsyBitsySpyers 11:16 pm *Hears the extended y in that yyyes and wonders if he missed something here.* VProwl 11:16 pm *it's a "that's how it would be done if it were to be done but why is it something you want to be done" yyyes* ItsyBitsySpyers 11:17 pm *Because he's damned curious by nature, and Prowl's the one who insisted it was /a/ youngling. Soundwave kind of wants to find like three more and see.* Tarantulas 11:18 pm *tara's curious too, but he's got his own personal reasons tied into it as well, shh* VProwl 11:18 pm ... There's one youngling who sends me bad jokes. ItsyBitsySpyers 11:18 pm [[Swoop?]] Tarantulas 11:18 pm What sort of "bad"? VProwl 11:19 pm No. Time... something. Timeframe? Timewarp? Something. "Bad" like "negative four degrees looks like a human defecating." ItsyBitsySpyers 11:20 pm [[Timeline.]] VProwl 11:20 pm Yes. Tarantulas 11:20 pm ......... ItsyBitsySpyers 11:20 pm [[...What does a cold temperature have to do with organic digestive functions?]] VProwl 11:22 pm I went around with her for a couple of minutes trying to figure it out. Apparently you're supposed to treat the numbers like a pictogram. ItsyBitsySpyers 11:22 pm [[That's ridiculous. The four doesn't even have a head.]] VProwl 11:22 pm That's what the degree sign is for. The negative sign is the defecated matter. ItsyBitsySpyers 11:23 pm [[He prefers Swoop's jokes.]] Tarantulas 11:23 pm *vague facepalming* VProwl 11:23 pm Oh, and the pictogram only works if the four is in a font that makes the top half look like a triangle instead of parallel lines. I told you they were bad. Tarantulas 11:25 pm ...I take it Timeline's at a slightly more advanced stage of development relative to Racer, yet far from full maturity. VProwl 11:25 pm She can talk. I don't know what her "full maturity" is supposed to look like. She has, for example, already surpassed Smokescreen. Tarantulas 11:26 pm *snorts and feels a little bad* VProwl 11:26 pm *Dead Serious* ItsyBitsySpyers 11:27 pm *Looks thoughtful for a second, glancing up to the ceiling. Then:*

[[He'll buy that.]] [[But there are a great many mechs who can talk and have nothing sensible to say with the ability. Smokescreen's not alone in that respect.]] [[Would that /they/ were the ones condemned to silence and /he/ could enjoy being able to talk.]] Tarantulas 11:29 pm *confused squint* What do you mean by that? VProwl 11:29 pm *soundwave you know you can talk, right* ItsyBitsySpyers 11:30 pm *...Pauses and looks back at both of them.*

[[In a 'will they /please/ be quiet, my helm hurts' sense and not a tyrannical denial of the population's right to say anything, mind you.]] VProwl 11:30 pm Understood. And sympathized with. ItsyBitsySpyers 11:30 pm *And yes, he knows. Someone else here doesn't.* [[...Though if they have something crude or cruel to say about minicons, he would just as soon not hear it.]] *You know what, he's going to be quiet. This hole is getting bigger.* Tarantulas 11:31 pm Sure, but - condemned to silence? Is there something I'm missing, here? *he's going to pry, he's never known or asked about sw's silence, but apparently now's the time* VProwl 11:32 pm *Prowl's not answering that. Go ahead, Soundwave.* ItsyBitsySpyers 11:33 pm [[If he could speak, and avoid subjecting himself to the brains of mechs like Smokescreen, don't you think he would.]] VProwl 11:34 pm *... does it count as lying to tarantulas if prowl doesn't contradict this blatant lie.* ItsyBitsySpyers 11:34 pm *That is a lie of omission, and he doesn't count those, himself.* VProwl 11:34 pm *...... well as long as Tarantulas doesn't ask Prowl.* Tarantulas 11:37 pm *calculating pause* .../Can/ you not speak? I suppose I never thought you could or couldn't, one way or the other. ItsyBitsySpyers 11:42 pm [[You've heard him 'talk' through recordings played over his speakers,]] *Motions to them* [[But replaying files is all they are good for. They are not connected to a vocalizer.]] VProwl 11:42 pm *... translation: his vocalizer is not connected to his speakers.* ItsyBitsySpyers 11:43 pm *Not to the ones he gestured to, anyway.* Tarantulas 11:47 pm *slight squint, can't help but ask* ...Do you /have/ a vocalizer? And if yes, is it a voluntary choice to have it disconnected? VProwl 11:48 pm *Ah, and Tarantulas caught the dodge. very clever, Tarantulas.* *he feels like he's watching a hax match.* *Tarantulas is, as usual, playing very aggressively tonight. Can Soundwave continue to evade.* ItsyBitsySpyers 11:51 pm [[He has one. It is erratic enough to be considered nonfunctional and irreparable, and that was not a voluntary choice.]]

*Soundwave has told a hundred lies to thousands of people about his voice. He'll dance this dance all night.* VProwl 11:52 pm *well SOME people are OVERLY JUDGMENTAL if they think his vocalizer is nonfunctional and irreparable.* ItsyBitsySpyers 11:52 pm *Of course. And seeing as it's not fully disconnected, no choices were involved in its severing, voluntary or otherwise.* Tarantulas 11:52 pm But you've chosen not to replace it? ItsyBitsySpyers 11:53 pm [[It is his, and he has other forms of communication.]] VProwl 11:53 pm *he can say "greetings" and "one," what else does he need to say.* Tarantulas 11:54 pm True, of course - and far be it for me to dictate how one ought communicate oneself. I'm simply trying to understand what the situation is. ItsyBitsySpyers 11:55 pm *Nods.* Tarantulas 11:55 pm *is itching with a few other questions, but sits on them for now* You could simply tell me what happened, but I'm aware that's not your style. ItsyBitsySpyers 11:56 pm < -- soundwave rn )) Yesterday ItsyBitsySpyers 11:58 pm [[No, it's not. There are some details about himself and his history he prefers to keep /to/ himself - and in the past, where they belong.]] Tarantulas 12:00 am *tiny snicker* I'd believe that if you hadn't just brought the topic up yourself, tangentially. VProwl 12:00 am ((if he ever wants to tapdance like that...)) ItsyBitsySpyers 12:00 am [[There is a difference between a widely known fact and the reason it /is/ fact.]] [[It's considered rude to ask Bumblebee what happened to his, and everyone actually knows that story.]] Tarantulas 12:01 am To be fair, /I/ don't, hyeh. VProwl 12:02 am And you'd ask him, too. Tarantulas 12:05 am Pft, you're not wrong - but it doesn't necessarily make it /rude/ per se. VProwl 12:05 am Soundwave just said it's considered rude. Rudeness is decided by social consensus, not by the actor. So it does necessarily make it rude. Tarantulas 12:07 am Hmmm, I'd think rudeness is determined by the person the so-called rudeness is directed toward - so, do you think I've been rude to you, Soundwave? VProwl 12:07 am ... Fair. ItsyBitsySpyers 12:16 am [[You've been invasive, and without asking if it is something you are welcome to investigate. He considers it rude, yes.]]

[[Being trapped in that Noisemaze for so long had to have had lasting effects of some kind, but you'll notice he isn't asking if your shyness around crowds has something to do with that.]] Tarantulas 12:18 am *squint* You're free to confirm with Prowl on that one - my relatively antisocial nature has been around longer than the Noisemaze has, to be sure. But - hyeh, I find that less invasive to talk about than you seem to find your vocal situation to be, so. VProwl 12:19 am ... I can't tell if this is cordial pecking at each other or bordering-on-hostile pecking, so I'm going to say now that if you two get into an argument I'm not refereeing. ItsyBitsySpyers 12:20 am [[Cordial with a mild hostility garnish. He dislikes it when a point or the area around it continues to be nudged at after he has made it clear he is unwilling to speak of it.]] *But hey, free factoid about Tarantulas.* Tarantulas 12:22 am I only nudged out of innocent curiosity, I promise. *the sincerity of that statement is yours to judge* ItsyBitsySpyers 12:23 am *He doesn't trust a single glyph, but he'll pretend he does.*

[[Naturally. Now, if we're done with that...? It grows late.]] VProwl 12:24 am *oh-so-slowly, oh-so-casually slides onto Soundwave's lap.* ItsyBitsySpyers 12:31 am *Will oh-so-slowly-and-casually wrap a feeler around Prowl after Tarantulas is safely home and tug him backward down onto the couch. Tonight is a share a close space night, he thinks? It's been a while, and things having been what they were, well. It'll be good to remind each of them the other hasn't gone and isn't going anywhere?* VProwl 12:32 am *god yes, please. he desperately needs that reassurance right now. he's been a lot more shaken than he's letting himself show.* ItsyBitsySpyers 12:34 am *Then he'll get it, and lots of it.*

[afterspark-podcast]

G1 Episode 13: Transcript

Episode Show Notes

[This can also be found on AO3!]

[Stinger]

O: And uh, you're wearing my corpse which is you know, horrifying.

[Intro Music]

O: Hello, and welcome to the Afterspark Podcast, an episode by episode recap the generation 1 Transformers cartoon. I'm Owls!

S: And I’m Specs.

O: Today we're gonna be talking about episode number 13: The Ultimate Doom, part 3.  Let's talk about giant robots today, shall we?

S: Yup, yup, yup.

O: So, last time on the Transformers--evil Shaggy has amassed an army of evil mind controlled slaves, Megatron succeeded in bringing Cybertron into Earth's orbit and Sparkplug has betrayed his own son.

S: We open as we closed last time with a Spike, Bumblebee, and Brawn on Cybertron confronting a mind-controlled Sparkplug...who has alerted the Decepticons to their presence.

O: They attempt an escape.

S: Badly!  Super fucking badly!

O: [laughter] With Bumblebee running headfirst into Shockwave’s knees.

S: This poor boy does not look before he leaps!

O: No, no that's Cliffjumper’s job!

S: True.

O: Anyway, Brawn gets the brilliant idea to try to escape this using the oldest trick in the book.

S: Pretending to be peddlin’ some shit.

O: To Shockwave!

S: Yeah, magazines I think?  I don’t know.

O: Something like that.

S: Soundwave, Thundercracker, and Skywarp also enter the room.

O: Brawn further earns my ire by shooting Soundwave at point-blank range and calling him tall, dark, and gruesome.  How dare you insult my Big Blue Boy you bastard!?!

S: Sparkplug blocks the oddly tiny door to keep them from escaping.  I mean...okay?

O: But seriously--I'm pretty sure Shockwave would have to crawl to be able to use this exit!

S: I'm just gonna go with they're probably--they probably just fucked up perspective.

O: Probably, but that’s not what it looked like.  Like--it looked like it was about like um, Sparkplug’s height or something or not that much taller than him?

S: Yeah, well this show makes no sense sometimes so let's--let's ignore that for now.  Shockwave shoots Brawn.

O: YAY!

S: But then Skyfire, Trailbreaker and Wheeljack show up to save their sorry butts.

O: I mean also yay, but mostly just because Wheeljack and Skyfire are there now.

S: And they’re cool dudes.

O: I like them both.

S: The tiny door is apparently a bother to no one but Skyfire, so I'm going with yeah, probably stupid perspective stuff.  Uh, Shockwave unintentionally provides him with a hole big enough to escape through by shooting at him and then blowing up the wall instead because they all went to the goddamn stormtrooper school of shooting.

O: Well that the poor guy only has one optic.  I mean are we gonna pull a Futurama here and say he's got no depth perception and can't shoot worth shit?

S: Yes, but the thing is it's easier to--actually no, let’s just not get into that.

O: No, no let's not go into that.  The Autobots escape, exploding Thundercracker and Starscream in the process, apparently.  I'm pretty sure both of them are on Earth and that these are just random other seekers but whatever.

S: Probably random--random dudes, just reused color schemes, yeah.  They regroup at Wheeljack’s old lab, which the Decepticons--uh, the Decepticons miss this and like, drive right past.

O: So it turns out that Bumblebee picked up a giant ass CD while in the Decepticon headquarters that just so happens to show the chip behind Sparkplug’s ear.

S: And cut to more robots...surfing.

O: ROBOTS SURFING ON SURFBOARDS!

S: And Optimus is just bracketed on both sides by Ironhide and Ratchet.  Cuz, of course he's gotta have the two matching dudes like--

O: Of course!

S: --like, ugh, I forget the word...flanking him!

O: A giant tidal wave comes up from behind and Bluestreak (somehow) pulls ahead of the group while freaking out about its eminent arrival.

S: Of course he does.  I don't know, he's got super panic powers.

O: [laughs] The powers of panic!  So clearly what you're telling me is Bluestreak and Shaggy run on the same ability.

S: I guess, yeah.  Optimus says to maintain speed and if they stay out in front of the wave they'll get there faster?

O: I don't see thrusters on those surfboards. Optimus, this is not how surfboards work, thank you!

S: I mean maybe there's something underwater that we don't see, but who the hell knows.

O: I still don't think that's how this works.

S: I don't know!  Evil Shaggy has got his slaves working on a “sea funnel,” to route the tidal wave’s energy and create Energon.  He warns Starscream that the structure isn't strong enough and that the humans will die.  Do the robots care?

O: [laughs] Apparently not. Anyway, Megatron throws a generator at Starscream, like, after this conversation and orders him to install it.  And this thing definitely changes sizes between shots, uh, cuz when Megatron's holding it it looks huge and then it is much smaller when Starscream catches it.

S: They're just...they're--they’re dumb magic robots.

O: I--clearly sigh--like, I didn't know Megatron's mass shifting abilities, uh, affected the things he was holding but apparently they do!

S: Apparently.

O: Megatron looks really off in the scene?

S: It looks like there were smaller drawings that were enlarged and Xeroxed to shit, because yeah--the--the line quality is kind of terrible

O: Yeah, like think--you know, you--if you've seen a Disney movie you have seen Xerox, uh, a lot of the ones that did this were 101 Dalmatians and like, Sword in the Stone.  Um, they don't look terrible but there's definitely a noticeable quality drop and if you do it and you take a really small image and make it really big you get a lot of noise in the lines which is exactly what happened here.  Megatron tells Dr. Evil to stay away from Starscream.  He proceeds to ignore this.

S: Megatron actually gave you some good damn advice and you ignore it and still pursue the two-bit hussy another Starscream.

O: He is. [laughter]

S: He really is.

O: Apparently Rumble’s visor can freaking pop out and work like binoculars!?!

S: It's like Bender’s eyes--his--

O: Yeah.  Yeah.

S: His x-ray vision.

O: [laughter] “I'll use my robot x-ray vision look in this box!” [sound effect]

S: Yeah, [sighs] and the first time a wave hits and works as expected generating Energon.

O: Then the second tidal wave, the one the Autobots are actually in front of approaches.  Megatron seems nonplussed by this as he expects the Autobots will likely be crushed.  Uh, “This is bad!,” yeah, no shit Optimus!

S: Understatement of the century!

O: The Autobots however are perfectly fine despite being slammed in this of the sea tunnel.

S: Funnel.

O: Funnel, whoops! [laughter]

S: Most of the humans are also perfectly fine even though the sea funnel was destroyed on impact and it's like--

O: Everybody’s just sort of lying around I think the Autobots are like, gathering people up or something?

S: Maybe, like, there's a lot of wreckage.

O: I don't think they should be alive!

S: Yeah.  Uh, evil Shaggy was apparently also there when this happened, or here when it happened and is now holding on to a girder for dear life dangling over the water.

O: He is screaming for Megatron the entire time he's dangling by the way. [laughter]

S: Yeah...Starscream does his best Kraken impression as he arises from the depths and grabs Dr. Evil, sort of rescuing him but I don't really feel like it was much of a rescue.

O: It’s Starscream, are you really safe when you’re with Starscream?  The answer is no.  We see the other Decepticons escape and yet another spaceship.

S: When did they even have time to build this? Where do they get the resources?

O: Your guess is as good as mine.  So once on the ship they say they've gathered enough Energon to revitalize Cybertron according to Reflector, or one of the Reflectors.  A Reflector of some sort.

S: Yeah, back on Cybertron Wheeljack reports to Optimus about their progress.

O: We see Spike attempting to sneak into the Decepticon base again and then he's caught in Shockwave’s spotlight?

S: His monoboob spotlight.

O: It’s purple!

S: [sighs] The Decepticons just fucking love purple.

O: [snorts]

S: I mean it’s, yeah.  He’s also flanked by what appears to be two Skywarps.

O: One of them will mysteriously turn green and a later shot though.

S: Yaaaaay, for inconsistent coloring.  Spike is captured and Sparkplug yet again tells him to join the dark side.

O: “Spike, I am your father!” [laughter]

S: Shockwave orders Sparkplug to kill Spike but Sparkplug fights his mind control.

O: The Autobots show up and Wheeljack uses his new super secret special machine to break the control on Sparkplug.

S: And it's time for hugging and making up and then more escape attempts ensue in the firefight.

O: I would like to take the time to remind you that Spike is voiced by Corey Burton.  Shockwave is also voiced by Corey Burton.  So in this scene Corey Burton is yelling at Corey Burton--a recursive loop of Corey Burton, if you will.

S: Wheeljack calls for um, air support and then Skyfire drops the fuck in to pick the Autobots and their humans up to go back to Earth.

O: Sparkplug thanks all the Autobots for their help, now that you know, he's no longer evil.

S: Yay for not being evil.  We cut to Earth and oh no, it’s...Cliffjumper time.  Cliffjumper is here again.

O: However, apparently Optimus’s authority is enough to hold off the little idiot from doing something stupid immediately.

S: Which is kind of a refreshing change.

O: Yeah, right?  Normally it's--I'm gonna do something real stupid, I'm gonna punch Megatron in nads, I'm gonna--what else did he do?  Oh!  I'm gonna shoot Megatron over here from cover where I'm protected this is fine.

S: I'm going to shoot this rock formation that sort of looks like a Decepticon but it is definitely not actually a Decepticon and cause a rockslide.

O: Uh-huh, and almost kill Optimus or Ironhide or whoever was standing there.

S: Yeah, and then whatever the heck he and-- well no he's not the one that uh, rode Soundwave for a while that was Brawn.

O: That was Brawn.  Brawn's already on my shit list but for completely different reasons.

S: [laughter] Okay, um, let's get back to--to business.  Mirage uses his invisibility to sneak closer.  Elsewhere, Starscream is not even attempting to be subtle--complaining that he'll never be able to take over the Decepticons without his own Energon source to Dr. Evil.

O: Starscream, has absolutely no situational awareness.  Megatron is literally standing right behind him. [Questionable Megatron impression] “That's mutiny Starscream!”  Yeah, no shit my good dude.

S:Megatron was apparently going to blast Starscream but is called away by an emergency.  Starscream takes this moment to retreat.

O: Never retreat my ass Screamer, you retreated so many times--yet you keep saying that, in battle, that you never retreat.

S: Maybe he only considers it retreat if he's actually fighting the Decepticons, who know--

O: You mean Autobots?

S: Autobots, oh god, yes.

O: I mean…possibly?

S: Who the hell knows?  The writing’s inconsistent and no one does anything that makes sense.  Back with the ship Mirage reveals himself after doing exactly nothing, [suppressed laughter] by sneaking on board the ship as Optimus and the rest reveal themselves immediately after.

O: He couldn’t have, I don't know--shot Megatron at close range or something!?!  I am aware Megatron clearly has pretty thick armor but he didn't do anything!

S: The jets attack the Autobots, it's really not effective, at all.

O: The Autobots and Decepticons then return fire at each other with Prowl suggesting a retreat but--as they are outnumbered.

S: But, lo!  Skyfire descends from on high to deliver reinforcements.

O: And I swear Wheeljack does some sexy poses as he shoots his anti mind control beam from above.

S: We got--we got photo evidence.

O: Yes, yes we do.

S: Yeah.  The remaining humans flee as their control is broken.  There's some like, weird perspective stuff here again and it just looks really silly.

O: Megs is pissed about losing his prisoners with jobs.

S: Oh, those prisoners my jobs.

O: [laughter]

S: I feel like Megatron would get along well with that dude [the Grandmaster].

O: I don't know if he would, actually.

S: Actually, yeah you're right you probably wouldn't but he'd probably be really...I don't know.

O: I feel like you would be ok with him for precisely two seconds until Jeff Goldblum opened his mouth.

S: I could, I could see that.  Though Starscream and Loki would probably--

O: Oh, Starscream when Loki would get along like a house on fire!  Definitely!

S: Lots of screaming and flames and backstabbing.  Then he um, then transforms and fires at Skyfire.

O: You know what? I stand corrected.  I think this entire time I have been under the impression he could not fire himself.  Please insert your own joke--something, something, jerking off, something.

S: Skyfire lands and transforms to join the fray.

O: He says to, “Save Megatron for me!”

S: Why are you so damn gung-ho about this, you're a scientist!?!  You declared you're a scientist multiple times!

O: [laughter] I like fanfic where he’s a pacifist, cause that makes so much more sense in my head.  We cut to Rumble who is pulling his normal stunt of EARTHQUAKES!  In an attempt to attack Bee.

S: Bee takes one look at the crevice that appears and says, “Not again!”

O: Not unlike a pot full of petunias.

S: He then proceeds to grab a vine and Tarzan the shit out of Rumble into the ravine of his own creation.

O: Back with the sexual tension! I mean back with Megatron and Optimus.  They exchange words but Megs boards his ship and flees, leaving everyone else to die in the approaching tidal wave...another approaching tidal wave, apparently.

S: There are many of this--there are many in this show, everything's just super fucked up.  And Spike gives the bots a pep talk as he grabs yet another Cybertronian weapon.  So gung-ho to help--this kid grabs so many weapons.

O: He does.

S: He must have incredible upper-body strength cuz these are like, as big as he is.

O: I'm convinced that’s why Carly married him.  There is no other reason why she shoulda hit that.

S: The fact that she’s--we'll get into it--

O: We'll get into Carly later, Carly is lovely.

S: Yeah.  Carly is great.  Prowl reaches the conclusion that it would take an explosion equivalent to ten billion astro liters to knock Cybertron out of Earth’s orbit.

O: What the fuck is an astro liter!?!  I hate all of you.  Hate, I say!

S: The thing is astro liter doesn't even make sense as...like, a measurement for an explosion because people don't measure explosions in fucking liters.

O: I don’t know, man!  [laughter]

S: [sighs] God... the Autobots get a brilliant idea to blow up Megatron’s starship to cause said explosion because apparently that--okay?

O: They do this, and it does indeed knock Cybertron out of Earth's orbit.

S: It just fucking yeets it out of the orbit.

O: Pretty much.  This makes the huge incoming tidal wave disappear immediately.

S: That’s not how those work.  That’s not how those WORKKK!  [groans]

O:  None of the tidal waves in  this episode have worked properly.  I think we can safely say that.  So Specs, you remember that huge, huge explosion, the one that knocked Cybertron out of orbit?  Megatron lived through that!  You know what?  That's it, I yield, you clearly are invincible, sir!

S: Yep, he's just floating around in space a bit dinged up, but otherwise perfectly fine looking.

O: He flies home even!  [laughter] He’s perfectly fine!  Anyway--

S: He’s the goddamn Terminator.

O: He is the goddamn Terminator!  Join us next time for, “Countdown to Extinction!”  Starscream attempts to blow up Earth, destroy Megatron, and take over Cybertron--all in one day!

S: He's an ambitious little fucker I'll give him that.

O: Indeed! So Specs, what is our fanfic for today?

S: Okay, today we have two selections.  The first is, “And There Was Much to Learn,” by ilyena_sylph and Merfilly.  Continuity-wise, this one is G1 cartoon, it's rated G, uh, it is slash fiction.  Our pairings here are Skyfire and Starscream and our characters are Skyfire and Starscream.  It's very Skyfire and Starscream.

O: Yes.

S: I think you've noticed.

O: [laughter]

S: And so, in summary:  Five moments from Skyfire’s ever puzzling relationship with Starscream.  And basically the character theme rec for this episode--or this piece of fan fiction is, Starscream and science because science…

O: [laughter] Science!  Do you need another reason?  No, you don't--it's science!

S: Well, science is the I guess, the common thread between the two of them that I have for today, so science, lots of science.  And to move on to our second recommendation, uh, “Faith in Science.”  I said there was science!

O: There is indeed more science.

S: The author here for, “Faith in Science,” is Merfilly.  Continuity-wise this one is also G1 cartoon, it's rated G, it's gen.  Pairings--there aren't any.  Characters: Wheeljack, Ratchet, Megatron, Optimus Prime, Ultra Magnus, Perceptor, Prowl, and Beachcomber--more or less in order of their appearance.

O: Fair.

S: And so in summary, “ Wheeljack began in a laboratory but the Autobots need him for his unique scientific bent.”

O: Which I’m assu--I'm assuming is explosions.

S: Yes.

O: The answer is yes.

S: At least from what I remember?  I read this a few weeks back and it's like, yes there's explosions involved and like, yeah, blowing shit up and making weapons.  Uh, so yeah, this one theme for it is again, science, lots of science!

O: But with Wheeljack!

S: Yes, and that's it for fanfiction recommendations.  Do we have fanart recommendations?

O: Yes, we do!  Alright, so today's fanart recommendation is--so they do not appear to have any other accounts than their Tumblr which is what I'm going to use, which is Se--

S:  sekitei88?

O: We’ll go with that.

S: Is at least how I would guess?

O: That's what I'm gonna go with, um, you can find them on tumblr I am not aware of other accounts, if I find them before we post this I will post that as well.  They tend to do a variety of things but I picked all of their Beast Wars stuff because I love Beast Wars and this one in fact, has a lot of Dinobot!  Yay!  So some of my--they actually have done some of my favorite Beast Wars fanart particularly fluffy feathered Megatron and Dinobot, yes!

Ah, so the three that I have picked as recommendations are quite literally fluffy Dinobot and Megatron, which is--it is, it's delightful. Uh, they also did--okay, so there’s an episode later in the series where Grimlock is in an apron and a bowtie serving drinks.  This hap--is a thing that will happen and it is literally adorable and they basically, the next two pieces of fan art they did that silly apron thing with uh, Megatron and Dinobot II for Beast Wars and then in the third piece they did it with a Grimlock from Robots in Disguise.  It is delightful, I recommend it, and I have a lot of fun with their art. [laughter]

S: Is it fluffy as in pairing fluffy or they are fluffy as in they are fluffy dinosaurs?

O: Oh, no, no, no, they actually have feathers like, they are--they're physically fluffy. not that they’re--it's not relationship-esque stuff, though you probably could read it that way.

S: Feathery Dinobot looks very nice.

O: it's just a really nice fanart of it honestly.

S: Like, I think you threw pictures--I think you threw the pictures at me.

O: I probably sent you the pictures--I actually have them.

S: Yes, yes, you tossed that at me!  You literally linked those to me.

O: I know I did because I was just like these are amazing! But that’s--

S: [laughter]

O: Oh, I’m sorry he's a dragon. I don't know if I said T-Rex or not um, in that?

S: Aw, I like it.

O: I like it too.  Eh, I like Grim--Grimsy’s probably my favorite character in Robots in Disguise even though it makes no sense because there's literally two Grimlocks running around in Aligned, but I’m not gonna get into that right now.

S: And that just about wraps it up for us today remember to check us out on Tumblr or Pillowfort as Afterspark[-]Podcast for any additional information, show notes or links we may have mentioned.  You can also find us on Facebook and Twitter at AftersparkPod (all one word) and various other locations by searching for Afterspark Podcast such as AO3, iTunes, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, and  Youtube just to name a few.  Till next time, I'm Specs!

O: And I’m Owls!

S: Toodles!

[Outro Music]

[thanksjro]

Dark Cybertron Chapter 4: Rung is the Most Dangerous Man Alive

There are so MANY of you.

So, when last we left off, the Lost Light had VOMPFed into a massive body of water, or at least something water adjacent, and was surrounded by guys. Let’s see how this plays out.

Ultra Magnus is dubious about this whole “being completely surrounded by tiny little dudes” thing, but Mainframe’s got a pretty good read on the situation, given that he’s the one actually looking at the screen for the radar. Off in the background, Brainstorm and Perceptor discuss the structural intent of the Lost Light. Perceptor alludes to the fact that there’s more than one way to be alive as a giant space robot, introducing the term “warm-wired”, which I don’t recall ever being addressed after this issue.

Er, well, no, they’re not actually, Magnus, they’re Ammonites. Way to stereotype, dude.

For this issue’s tie-in toy, Hasbro chose the Mini-Con Centuritron. Only problem with that was that Centuritron wasn’t at all established within the IDW universe. Mini-Cons also hadn’t been established, at least not in name. There were little guys running around, but they weren’t Mini-Cons. So, what to do?

In the proper tie-in issue publication- not the issue that was sold in comic shops- certain lines of dialogue were changed to help establish that Mini-Cons were a thing, by calling the Ammonites Mini-Cons. In the standalone issue, the terms are used interchangeably, mainly because none of the folks in the lime-light this issue went to the bar on Hedonia where we met the Ammonites.

So where did these little buggers come from? Perceptor has a theory, which he shouts with so much vim and vigor he briefly turns the world around him into an anime background.

There you go, shippers. There’s where the name comes from. Hope it was worth the last 82 pages.

Anyway, Ultra Magnus decides that he’s going to talk to these guys. It goes about as well as you’d expect.

And that’s a series wrap on the crew of the Lost Light! Let’s give them a hand, folks!

Over on Cybertron, that awful black dusting thing is still going on, so much so that the sky has been blacked out like there’s a major forest fire going. Things are looking rough for ol’ Starscream; even Scoop, the nicest man to ever friggin’ live, is a bit cross with him.

Scoop makes this known by heading a mob to yell at Starscream, pointing out that he’s got a big ugly black mark slapped on his chest, a mark that means he’s obviously going to bring about the end of days. Rattrap attempts to protect Starscream from these harsh words, promising that they’ll figure this thing out. Whether or not Starscream will get to keep his crown after today remains to be seen.

Back on the Lost Light, Roche’s lines have left and been replaced by event-standard artist Raiz, as the hole blasted in the ship hemorrhages water on all our beloved friends.

Skids enters the narrative to fill Magnus in on what exactly they’re facing, and Getaway predicts a pun. Magnus decides that it’s time for recess, because they’ll be going outside for this fight.

Of course, if you’re going to go underwater for a battle, you’re going to need some ability to be evasive. None of these guys turn into submarines or ships though. What to do?

Meet Rodimus’ midlife-crisis within his midlife-crisis, the Rodpod. It’s garish, silly, and very round. Nobody’s terribly impressed with it, but it’s what we’ve got.

Smashcut to everyone outside- Atomizer is firing off arrows somehow, someone let Swerve have a gun that wasn’t his My First Blaster, and Rung has a fucking stick.

In the Rodpod, Skids, Whirl, Ultra Magnus, Perceptor, Brainstorm, and Getaway for some reason, are packed in like sardines. We’re really pushing Getaway in this, aren’t we? Their job will be to protect the fuel quills of the ship- those red spiky doohickeys sitting on top of the roof.

Y’all ready to see Rung get scary?

Rung dodges the fist of an Ammonite with a deftness usually reserved for people who aren’t skinny little nerds, spouting off his character stats as he hands this guy his own ass. With a fucking stick.

I want you to imagine a chorus of 50 air horns going off right here. Clearly he is a force of nature not to be reckoned with.

Then the moment passes and he gets bodychecked. Also, he’s got bushy-ass people eyebrows in this. Make of that what you will.

The Ammonites begin combining, becoming larger and larger until they’re bigger than the ship, only for Whirl to blast a hole in them and pass right on through.

Over in the Dead Universe, things aren’t looking so hot, and it’s not for the reason you might think. See, Rodimus and Hardhead have decided to have a go at it, Hardhead poking at the fact that Rodimus just up and left Cybertron for everyone else to clean up, while he went on a space-cruise. Rodimus reminds everyone of the Remain in Light arc, then claims that if needed, he’d come back to Cybertron to take things over, but somehow I feel as if his heart isn’t exactly in that promise. Cyclonus looms in the background, looking like a night demon. He doesn’t contribute to the conversation, but it’s nice to know he’s still here with us.

The conversation gets turned around to the Primes, and how the last several really sort of sucked. When Cyclonus is asked about his opinion on the matter, it’s revealed that he’s fucking dying. So we’re going to have to deal with that. Also, Nightbeat’s here now. No idea how he got ahead of the group, considering he doesn’t seem to have a ship.

Back on Cybertron, over with the Titan, folks are slowly disintegrating. Frenzy looks absolutely terrible. Nobody’s really sure what to do. Ravage wants to fight a guy 800 times his size. Soundwave hears screaming with his special powers. Down in Crystal City, Megatron is the one screaming, as Shockwave pokes at him with something that’s probably medical equipment, but looks like a wrench and a paring knife hooked up to a car battery. Shockwave is still willing to give Megatron a seat at his weird logic table, but Megatron don’t want that shit. Metalhawk is also here, which is nice, I guess. Shockwave lets Megatron know that Nova Prime and Galvatron are still alive. Megatron tries to appeal to Shockwave over the fact that he’s important, but Shockwave has some bad news for old Megsy:

Then he hits a switch and activates the space bridge in Megatron’s chest, and robots start bursting out of his chest as he screams in anguish.

…Roberts wrote this scene, didn’t he?

Back at the Rodpod, the fellas are getting chased by the Ammonites, looking like a giant ammonite themselves. Using evasive maneuvers, they dive into an abyss. Only, it’s not an abyss.

It’s Metroplex’s eye hole.

Ewwwwww.

[thanksjro]

Before We Begin

Full disclosure: I’m not working off of a physical copy of this story, but rather a PDF download. I live in the United States, and don’t think I’d be able to find a copy of this book if my life depended on it.

When I was looking at the download packets, I chose the one with as many extra materials as I could, so I’d have the best chance at understanding the story without having to rely on the internet too much.

As you can see, there’s a good amount to work with here. I’m especially happy to have the notes- also known as the Story So Far. Thank god for this, because this would be an absolute slog to get through otherwise.

Eugenesis takes place within the Marvel comics continuity, which includes both the American and UK comics published at the time, and The Transformers The Movie. The guide summarizes the millions-year long war between the Autobots and the Decepticons over control of the planet Cybertron. Pretty basic stuff, things anyone who’s ever heard of the Transformers ought to know. The notes assume that the reader knows absolutely nothing about the franchise, which is good, because it means nothing gets left out.

This is already an interesting contrast between Eugenesis and MTMTE/LL, which didn’t need very much extra reading to be understood, if any at all. A rarity in the comic industry. Sure, there were things you could read to get a deeper understanding of certain character motivations- Last Stand of the Wreckers, for example, giving one a better grasp of why Fort Max is so messed up and angry.

But this is about the notes right now, not the comics. So, let’s dive right into:

That’s right, baby, this novel takes place in the far-flung future of 2012, and you better believe the date 12/21/12 comes up at least once.

There’s a lot of stuff that’s covered in the notes, and I’ll bring it up as needed as I progress through the novel. It’s helpful to have, but let’s move on to the juicier stuff.

…Is what I would say, if the notes weren’t completely batshit insane.

It starts out innocently enough, describing the beginnings of the war, establishing that the Transformers didn’t always, well, transform. Transformation technology was developed by Megatron in order to make the Decepticons more combat-effective, and the Autobots followed suit. They fought so hard that Cybertron was knocked out of orbit and got lost for a little while, eventually coming under the rule of a warlord named Trannis while Optimus and Megatron are busy being unconscious for four million years on Earth.

Trannis is a massive technoist, who believes that mechanical beings are the bee’s knees, so he starts cyberforming other planets, until he gets offed by the resistance. He’s quickly replaced with Jhiaxus, who’s basically more of the same, and the Decepticons of Cybertron split up, one team heading into space to do evil robot things, the other guarding Cybertron from the resistance. The Beast Wars are mentioned. The cartoon continuity is mentioned. Shockwave shows up for a bit, gets thrown in a swamp a couple times.

Things go on like this until 1985, when the Earth-based Autobots reestablish contact with their homeworld.

Galvatron shows up- y’know, Galvatron. The revamped Megatron from the movie, which takes place in 2005. He time-hopped from the future to build a weapon to kill Unicron. The Autobots try to stop him. Why they don’t just let him kill Unicron, who is blatantly evil and a threat to anyone around him, isn’t stated, but they eventually trick Galvatron into going back to the future, with a little help from Kup, Blurr, and Hot Rod, who are also from the future.

Galvatron comes back a year later. He causes a bunch of time-travel nonsense to happen, and is basically the worst until the Time Wars happen.

Meanwhile, Megatron heads back to Cybertron to see what’s happened while he was taking a dirt nap. Straxis- who was left in charge by Jhiaxus- isn’t doing so hot, and decides he’s going to steal Megatron’s body for his own. He gets killed for his troubles. Megatron decides he’s just going to head back to Earth, feeling pretty paranoid at this point- which, fair enough. I don’t think I’d feel very safe after someone tried to steal my body either.

Later on, Optimus Prime dies in a video game. Optimus Prime is killed by a human child in a video game. In fact, let me just show you the whole paragraph that covers this, because I don’t know that I’m able to do it justice.

It just blows my mind, and I knew that this happened before I even attempted to read the notes. These notes are eight pages long, and this is on page three.

Now Fortress Maximus is leading a group of Autobots, but he’s really not feeling the fight so much, so he, Kup, and Hot Rod just kinda… leave. They end up on Nebulos and become Target/Headmasters, just in time for the Decepticons to track them down and fight some more. Back on Earth, the Autobots launch Optimus’ corpse into space and elect a dinosaur as their new leader. This goes about as well as one would expect.

Over in London, G.I. Joe finds out that Megatron’s been living in the sewers. Actually, it isn’t Megatron, but a clone, housing the personalities of both Megatron and Straxis. They kill him and throw him in the river. Shockwave catches wind of this and has the body brought to him so he can use it to kill Galvatron. He brings the body back online using a ‘psycho-probe’, and uses the power of suggestion to have Megatron do his dirty work.

Megatron decides to kill Cyclonus and Scourge first, since they work for Galvatron, and through a time-travel mishap, ends up killing one of them before they were created. This displeases the space-time continuum, which promptly rips, and will continue to do so over the next few months.

Are you starting to see why I needed to break this down?

Optimus Prime is brought back from the dead. Hooray.

Starscream finds the Underbase-  an ancient storehouse of Cybertronian knowledge so vast it will literally melt your brain- and wrecks shop until the moment it kills him.

Meanwhile, clone-Megatron has decided he’s not going to kill Galvatron, but rather join forces with him. Everyone agrees that this is a terrible idea, and so the Autobots and Decepticons living in the year 2009 join forces to get Galvatron back to the future. The space-time rift swallows him, Scourge, and Cyclonus’ corpse, solving the problem pretty cleanly. Clone-Megatron finds the original-flavor Megatron, and promptly kills himself.

With the original Megatron back in play, he kidnaps Ratchet and forces him to resurrect Starscream as a Pretender- a robot in a protective shell. Ratchet decides that he’s going to fuck the warlord over as thoroughly as possible, instead bringing back a few of his friends and then exploding the Decepticon base. Both Ratchet and Megatron are presumed dead, but when has that ever stopped anyone in this franchise?

The newly resurrected Autobot Pretenders wind up in the center of the planet, Decepticons hot on their trail, and find themselves face-to-face with Primus, their creator god. Someone shoots the poor guy in the face, and he screams loud enough for Unicron, Bringer of Chaos, Vorer of Worlds, to hear him. So, that’s a thing they’re going to have to deal with in a few months.

Unicron finds a Galvatron from a parallel universe and takes him along for the ride, as the Autobots spend the start of the 90’s looking for the original Optimus’ dead body, which they never bothered to get the Matrix out of for some reason. They better hurry, because space is pretty big, and that Matrix is the only thing that can stop the Chaos Bringer.

Ratchet and Megatron are found- alive- in a pocket dimension, though they probably wish that they weren’t, seeing as they’ve been fused together so hard their brains have to take turns piloting their horrific, melty, shared body.

Unicron shows up in ’91 and kills, just, so many people. Optimus Prime sacrifices himself to save the rest of the population, flinging his body and the newly-recovered Matrix into the World-Vorer’s mouth. This kills God.

Optimus names Grimlock as the new leader of the Autobots- because that worked out so well the last time- and then dies. Prowl does all the heavy lifting to actually get the planet back in shape, seeing as the fight with Unicron wrecked Cybertron so hard its trying to tear itself apart via earthquakes.

Cyberquakes?

Anyway,  Prowl works out a deal with the new leader of the Decepticons, Bludgeon, only to get sabotaged for his efforts, the Autobots being left to die as the 'Cons fly off to find new worlds to conquer.

Shockwave and Starscream- that’s right baby, he’s back- steal the Ark, unaware that there were multiple other people aboard. It’s like they didn’t even check. Galvatron is stowed away, and both Megatron and Ratchet- freshly separated- are stored in stasis pods. Ratchet wakes up and immediately crashes the ship into Canada, hoping to kill the Decepticons aboard. Galvatron lives, only to be trapped under the ice by a nasty fight with Fortress Maximus, the last Autobot left on Earth.

Back on Cybertron, Gridlock has a show of competence and reveals that he had extra ships hidden away, just in case the Decepticons tried anything funny. They get off the planet and go to fight some ‘Cons.

Optimus Prime is brought back from the dead. Hooray.

The Matrix is recreated. Wahoo.

The Autobots fight the Decepticons, defeating them once and for all. Or do they?

No, they don’t.

See, even the notes know what’s up.

Not even a year later, Optimus catches wind of Decepticon forces gathering along the edge of the galaxy. He decides to make Grimlock leader of the Earthforce- because Optimus never friggin’ learns- and they face off against Megatron and friends a few times before the Decepticons abandon Earth altogether. At some point, Fortress Maximus gets killed off. Grimlock disbands the Earthforce to chase the ‘Cons across the galaxy, and finds a Cybertronian empire, which holds at its center Liege Maximo, who claims to have created Megatron.

Well, that’s not exactly right; he claims to be Megatron’s progenitor.

It’s at this point I broke out the TFWiki, because that could mean a lot of things.

Still vague. Hmm. I’m onto you, Marvel comics. Don’t be jumping on the mechpreg just yet, we still have three more pages of notes to get through.

…What did I just say, Marvel comics?

Did I say three pages? I meant two paragraphs. Holy hell, that hits like a punch to the face, it does.

Okay, so this isn’t exactly what you think, believe it or not. This is describing the form of reproduction that was established in the Marvel comics known as budding- some unlucky robot’s body runs away with itself and basically vomits out another fully-formed ‘bot. It’s like their chest was chewing a huge wad of gum, tried to blow a bubble, but did it just a little too hard.

Getting back on track, Optimus Prime finds out about budding from Vector Sigma, but pulls out of their little pow-wow before he can be told about the byproduct of this birthing process- the Swarm, an ink-black cloud of evil energy that left Cybertron ages ago to find something to feed off of.

The Swarm finds its way home, interrupting yet another standoff between the Autobots/Decepticons and the Cybertronian Empire. A lot of folks die, and Optimus surrenders to the Swarm in an attempt to save his compatriots. The Swarm gets introduced to, and I quote: “concepts of nobility, compassion, and sacrifice”, then goes back into deep space to seek enlightenment.

Can you imagine if human afterbirth did that? You just had a baby, and now you have to beat your placenta off with a broom? Then the god-king of the world introduces it to meditation and kindness, and it goes off to find inner peace instead of killing everyone? Comic books are wild.

Other than that funky little aside, it’s business as usual for the Transformers- war! From 1995 to 2003, they’re fighting nonstop. Then the UN decides that Optimus Prime’s allowed to build a giant robot city on Earth. It sure is a good thing Optimus is such a nice guy, because I don’t think they would have been able to stop him otherwise. Imagine telling the thirty-foot tall robot-Jesus from space he needs a permit to build a city in the middle of the desert.

They build the city- Autobot City, in fact- with Metroplex the Titan sealed inside, just in case the Decepticons decide to try anything funny.

They do- it’s called The Transformers The Movie. There’s a slight difference in plot, in that the notes remind us of the fact that Galvatron is a time-traveling ponce, but other than that the movie’s the movie.

To summarize that- though I’d be surprised if I needed to- movie goes like this: It’s the distant future of 2005, ‘Cons attack Autobot City, Optimus gets shot and dies AGAIN, traumatizing thousands of children in the mid-80s, Megatron gets shunted into deep space, meets Orson Welles who makes him a thigh-tastic new body, Megatron-now-Galvatron turns Starscream into a small pile of ash, a bunch of robots get vored, Hot Rod fulfills his destiny and becomes the new space-Jesus, Unicron explodes, YOU GOT THE TOUCH YOU GOT THE POWER-

So after all that happens, the Autobots take back Cybertron and tell the remaining Decepticons to kindly screw off. Hot Rod- now Rodimus Prime- decides he’s not taking any chances and hires a bounty hunter to find and kill Galvatron, who’s off galavanting somewhere in space. Both Rodimus and the bounty hunter follow Galvatron through time- of course- and land in 1987, but return to the future/present empty-handed. While they were gone, Shockwave and a group of Decepticons showed up on Cybertron, resulting in a stalemate between the two factions.

In 2008, the bounty hunter shoots down Cyclonus and Scourge- Rodimus put a hit out on them, too- over the planet of Junk, home of the Junkions. Who else is there? Oh, just Unicron. He’s got the Junkions brainwashed and building him a new body. He uses the bounty hunter to kill Shockwave, instates Cyclonus and Scourge as the new Decepticon leaders, then gets blown up by Rodimus and Wreck-Gar. Cyclonus, Scourge, and the bounty hunter all go through a time portal as this is happening, and the two Transformers end up in 15th century Cybertron, where they’ll become Targetmasters. Their resumes must be very impressive at this point. Nobody’s sure where the bounty hunter’s gotten to- we’ll get back to him later.

Although his physical form has been destroyed, Unicron’s essence lives on inside the Matrix. This can only end well, surely.

Back on Cybertron, Soundwave takes control of the Decepticon forces.

The Quintessons break free from Unicron’s control, just in time to discover that their planet’s about to be torn apart by the space-time rift Cyclonus’ dead body made.

Are you beginning to see why I felt the need to summarize these notes?

The leader of the Quintessons decides that now is the perfect time to attack Autobot City on Earth, as well as Cybertron. This doesn’t go very well for the Quintessons, or their planet.

The time-rift is still causing issues, so Rodimus Prime grabs some Autobots and heads to the past, to go grab everyone’s favorite time-traveling ‘Cons. What happened there we already covered, so I’ll leave it at that.

Rodimus and friends return to the present, only to wind up in a parallel universe, and the fact that this is only the second time I’ve had to write “parallel universe” for this section of the breakdown honestly astounds me. Rodimus gets possessed by the spirit of Unicron, who was hiding in the Matrix as we covered earlier, but he handles it pretty well and they head back home.

Back in their original universe, they find Galvatron, Cyclonus and Scourge, repaired by the space-time rift. Rodimus destroys any and all time machines he can get his hands on at this point- the notes say it’s to keep a promise he made to Optimus, but between you and me, I think he’s just gotten sick of Galvatron’s shit.

A couple years after that, Unicron’s got himself a hot new bod, and now he’s gonna tear up the town. By "tear up”, I of course mean devour with the sole intent of destruction, and by “town", I mean the entirety of Cybertron. Rodimus Prime manages to stop him, by containing him within his body, perhaps his mind? The notes are vague here, but the Wiki seems to imply that he’s trapped within the Matrix again, which Rodimus holds.

Now it’s December 2012, and things aren’t going so great for the Autobots. The Decepticons have control of Cybertron, the remaining Autobots being forced into hiding underground. On Earth, Autobot city is manned by a hundred ‘bots, Ultra Magnus acting as leader. They’re there to make sure Earth’s safe from the ‘Cons, but there hasn’t been an attack in quite a bit.

That’s where the notes end. That’s everything you need to know before reading Eugenesis. So, what did we learn?

We learned that Galvatron and his goons time traveled so frequently they broke the laws of physics. Optimus is just as incapable of staying dead here as he is everywhere else- multiversal constant, that one. Rodimus is smarter than Optimus about confronting the enemy, in that he intends for them to die, either by his hand or one that’s been hired. Good for him, I say. Get the job done, Rodders.

We also learned that the mechpreg really isn’t Roberts’ fault. I mean, yeah, he probably leans on the concept a bit heavily, but he’s just working with what he was given by the franchise. We’ll see how deep that rabbit hole goes later on.

But I think the most important thing to glean from this is that comic timelines are a nightmare. That’s the real lesson here.

Okay! Notes are done! That means we can start on the novel, right?

No.

No, it doesn’t.

We still have the prequel to get through.