#like do they spacebridge them to cybertron or something

[acidsplashes]

my friends got me stuff for my birthday and and and

guys they are FRIENDS

ik Shockwave's all no emotion logic logic logic but let me have this like

imagine a tf x pokémon au

Shockwave has a bunch of badass dark types and metal pokémon and whatnot, probably a legendary locked in the basement, all that. he's TERRIFYING

and then there's his Sylveon and his processor cannot figure out for the life of him why the hell it evolved with him and he's hyperfixated on researching in the background

[in1-nutshell]

Hey me again with old Predacon buddy maybe have Predacon buddy join Bee's team how would the other Autobots react meeting old Predacon buddy

Bot Buddy the Old Predacon is just traveling where ever their wisdom is needed.

I combined this one and another request that was similar to this one.

Hope you enjoy!

Bot Buddy the Old Predacon meets Team Bee

SFW, Platonic, Cybertronain reader

RiD2015

When Buddy dreamt about Prime, they half thought it was finally their time.

But then the idea ruled out as the Prime told them that Bumblebee needed help with his situation with his team on Earth.

Buddy is ready to tear down any wall that stands in their way.

No wonder Bumblebee hadn’t been returning their calls.

He was all the way down on Earth.

And with a team?

What situation?!

What was going on?!

Buddy was getting too old for this.

Thankfully a spacebridge was provided for them.

Buddy had to admit they missed Earth.

Less alt mode judgement here

As soon as Buddy caught a whiff of Bee’s scent, they were off in the night sky.

Once they were near a scrapyard the scent had gotten stronger.

Buddy carefully descended nearby the tall trees and took a moment to sit.

Buddy venting a bit.

“This is definitely not going to be easy this time around.”--Buddy

Snap!

Buddy turns their helm towards a small human boy.

“…I didn’t know Dinobots got this big.”

“I’m not a Dinobot kiddo. Wait how do you know about Dinobots?”--Buddy

The human boy scratches his head a bit.

Buddy raising their optic a bit.

“You’ve met one haven’t you.”--Buddy

“What if I did?”

Buddy pauses before chuckling a bit.

“You have some spunk kiddo I’ll give you that.”--Buddy

“My name is not ‘kiddo’.”

“Then what is your name my little friend?”--Buddy

“Russel.”--Russel

“Russel… that sounds like a nice name.”--Buddy

“Really? I mean sure, I guess. What’s yours?”--Russel

“Buddy. And before you go ‘Buddy?’ ‘That’s a weird name.’ or ‘I thought it would be Maimer or Bonecruncher.’ Yes, that is my name.”--Buddy

“I mean you do seem like a nice Con—”--Russel

“Not a Con. I am a Autobot, specifically a Predacon.”--Buddy

“Predacon? Is that something like a Dinobot?”--Russel

“Not exactly. My species is an old one from Cybertron’s earliest years.”--Buddy

“…So. you said you were an Autobot, huh? Prove it.”--Russel

Buddy tilting their helm.

“How do you want me to prove that?”--Buddy

Russel humms while tapping his foot.

“…I don’t know.”--Russel

Buddy laughs a little.

“You’ve mention Dinobot’s an awful lot. Mind showing me your friends. I’m trying to find one myself.”--Buddy

“You lost your friend?”--Russel

Buddy huffs a bit.

“More like ‘Let-me-drop-off-the-face-of-Cybertron-not-tell-anyone-and-let a dream-let-them-know where-I-am’.”--Buddy

Russel laughs a bit before stopping.

“What’s you friends name?”--Russel

“A young mech name Bumblebee.”--Buddy

Russels eyes go wide.

“You know him?”--Buddy

“Know him? He’s my friend too!”--Russel

Buddy chuckles a bit.

“Bumblebee always did have a way with humans. Well now, what are we waiting for.”--Buddy

Buddy rests their helm in front of Russel.

“We’ll cover more ground like this.”--Buddy

Russel smiles.

“Awesome!”--Russel

He climbs onto Buddy’s helm, carefully minding the optics.

Buddy slowly lifts their helm up.

Buddy motions towards the scrapyard.

“Is he over there?”--Buddy

“Yep! That’s where the Team is and my dad.”--Russel

Buddy starts walking towards the Scrapyard.

“Hopefully this will go better than last time.”--Buddy

“What happened last time?”--Rissel

“…I’ll tell you that story another time.”--Buddy

To say there was a bit of panic when a giant metal dragon showed up in the scrapyard was a bit of an understatement.

The dragon was bigger than Grimlock!

And they weren’t even standing up straight!

Buddy simply looked around to see if they saw Bee anywhere.

The group of Autobots had their weapons out and… was that a minibot?

Buddy hadn’t seen one of them in a while.

“Hello!”--Buddy

Most of the Autobots draw out their weapons, minus Grimlock who just transforms into his Dinobot mode.

“Oh! This was the Dinobot you were telling me about Russel?”--Buddy

Russel’s head pops up from on top of Buddy’s helm.

“Yep! Hey guys! Their friendly!”--Russel

“Russel get down from there!”--Drift

“But like how? It not like I can jump down with out break my knees if I wanted to.”--Russel

Buddy slowly lowers their helm so Russel could climb down.

“If you wanted down, all you need to do was ask.”--Buddy

Russel jumps off the last set while Buddy raises their helm back at the Autobots.

“Have any of you seen Bumblebee? I have been looking for him.”--Buddy

Strongarm tensing her shoulders.

“What do you want with the lieutenant?”--Strongarm

“Well first off, lower your—”--Buddy

“No, we are not going to lower our weapons. The first thing your going to do is make us into scrap metal the second we do.”--Sideswipe

“What is the name of Ratchet’s rusty knee joints is going on?!”--Bumblebee

Buddy and Bee stare at each other.

Buddy jumps on to Bee’s chassis making the other scream and try to pry them off of him.

They aren’t lucky.

“WHAT IN THE NAME OF CYBERTRON WHERE YOU THINKING!? DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW WORRIED I WAS WHEN YOU WEREN’T ANSWERING MY CALLS!”--Buddy

Bumblebee shrinking a bit.

Buddy expands their wings throwing everyone off.

“I swear to Prime’s spark, if you EVER think about pulling a stunt like that AGAIN I will personally go into the Well of Allspark myself and drag Prime out so we can both give you the scolding of a life time!”--Buddy

Bee chuckles nervously.

“Its good to see you too Buddy.”--Bumblebee

Buddy stops scolding and wraps their wings around the young bot tightly.

“…Anyone care to explain what just happened?!”--Sideswipe

Bee was relieved to finally have some help around.

Buddy was an excellent voice of reason when he felt like he was being a bad leader.

Also a voice to knock some sense into him sometimes.

Whether it be literally or figuratively.

Buddy whacking Bee on the helm.

“What kind of stunt were you trying to pull back there?!”--Buddy

“Well Optimus did it—”--Bumblebee

“Optimus did his things with his limits. You have to do your things with your limits.”--Buddy

“But what if that’s not good enough for the team? It will be my fault if we loose.”--Bumblebee

Buddy sits by Bee.

“Bumblebee, you’re the leader, of course its going to be your fault.”--Buddy

Bee giving them an unimpressed look.

“You know this is the part where you help me—”--Bumblebee

Buddy whacks him in the helm again.

“Will you quit doing that!”--Bumblebee

“When you learn to let me finish.”--Buddy

Be aggressively rubs his helm.

“Everything is going to be your fault one way or the other. As leader you need to accept that. The same way you need to accept that your limits and Prime are different. You both are accomplishing different things in different ways. His ways may not be the best for your situation, as I see it, you have to try some things your way.”--Buddy

“…Thanks Buddy.”--Bumblebee

Buddy chuckling a bit before stretching a bit.

Buddy grunting a bit as some of the joints pop hard.

“Hey, you okay?”--Bumblebee

Buddy giving him a bit of a tired smile.

“I’ll be fine little one. These old joints still work fine.”--Buddy

Strongarm and Sideswipe constantly tried to impress the old Predacon with stunts and facts.

Buddy loved seeing them try and impress them. It was a great source entertainment on slow days.

Though Buddy definitely put their pede down when things got a little too out of hand.

Buddy laying on top of Sideswipe and Strongarm.

The two are grunting and trying to get out of the Predacon’s weight.

“Get! Off!”--Strongarm

Buddy unamused and unbothered.

“Have the both of you decided to apologize to each other?”--Buddy

“Never!”--Sideswipe

Bumblebee walks by and spots them.

“They were fighting again?”--Bumblebee

Buddy just nods their helm looking at their claws.

“Bumblebee! Help a bot out!”--Sideswipe

Bumblebee backing off a bit.

“Yeah not doing that. The quickest way your getting out is if you apologize, trust me.”--Bumblebee

“Wait what did you do to get this?”--Sideswipe

Buddy and Bee have a flashback to him and Smokescreen under Buddy’s weight.

“That’s a story for another time.”--Buddy

Buddy stretches their tail a bit.

SQUEAK!

“…”--Everyone

“Not. A. Word.”—Buddy

“Yes Buddy.”—Bumblebee, Strongarm, and Sideswipe

Grimlock loved being around Buddy.

Finally, someone who understood the struggle of having an alt mode that wasn’t a vehicle!

Grimlock loves hearing all the stories Buddy has.

He means everyone.

From the happy ones.

To the sad ones.

To the funny ones.

And the serious ones.

It surprised him a lot how well Buddy kept up with him and how many times they would win during sparring matches.

After another victory from Buddy.

“Wooowie! That was fun!”--Grimlock

“Sure, was Grimlock.”--Buddy

“Wanna go another round?”--Grimlock

Buddy already laying down on the sunny part of their training ‘arena’.

“Maybe in a bit Grimlock. I’m a bit tired out.”--Buddy

Grimlock looks at them confused.

“But its only been half an hour? The team usually does an hour before we take a break.”--Grimlock

Buddy chuckles a bit getting comfortable as Grimlock sit in front of them.

“Well I am a bit older Grimlock, this frame is only going to go so far with my age.”--Buddy

Grimlock now laying down in front of them.

“Okay, then I guess I’ll nap here too.”

“You don’t have to Grimlock.”--Buddy

“Nuh nuh. I’m staying right here.”--Grimlock

Buddy smiles a bit before tucking their helm into their wings while draping their tail over Grimlock’s as they both take a nap under the warm sun.

Drift and the minis were a bit cautious at first.

Drift thought Buddy was going to be another Grimlock.

Except older and bulkier.

But he was sorely mistaken.

Drift never imagined a Predacon such as Buddy to be so fluid with their fighting motions, even when training.

The samurai has defiantly asked Buddy to be his sparring partner more than once.

He was not immune from the grandparent vibes.

His mini’s loved hearing Buddy’s stories with Russel.

Drift coming back from patrol to see the mini’s and Russel sitting down as Buddy acted out something.

Drift couldn’t hear what Buddy was saying.

“What do you think they’re talking about?”--Denny

“I do not know.”--Drift

Buddy makes the motion of a sword going through a body.

“…Maybe its something they saw on TV once?”--Denny

Buddy now mimics the motion of body slamming something.

“…I do not think so.”--Drift

One thing the team did notice was Buddy sometimes having trouble flying for long periods of time or remembering where things were.

It was the least they could do.

Bumblebee is especially vigilante over Buddy’s little problems.

Everyone wants to do their part in helping the ageing Predacon with their life when they helped them so much. Even do some less exciting things with them.

Buddy starts to lay down in a shady spot in the scrapyard.

“You’re not going to your sunny spot today?”--Russel

Buddy shaking their helm.

Russel just sits next to Buddy’s helm and leans back.

“Russel? What are you doing?”--Buddy

“I’m going to take a nap here.”--Russel

“You don’t need to. I’m sure the rest of the team—”--Buddy

“—is coming over.”--Russel

“What?”--Buddy

The team shows up and starts getting ready to take a mid-day nap with Buddy.

Buddy raises their wings and tail and carefully drapes them on their little family.

This is nice.

[riskyraiker]

Hello!!! I hope you're doing well!! I would like to request cybertronian! Reader with like four arms and that's like the Queen or King of the battlefield in ancient Cybertron history (example: reader was the strongest Autobot ever in history and there's ancient data about reader and photos too ykyk what I'm getting👍🙏😭) and the reader then got summoned by Megatron or idk at that point but you can choose what happens!! :33 I hope this isn't too much😭

OH MY!!! I LOVE THIS!!! but reader is an autobot in this, please tell me if you want to see an decepticon version. You are a head taller than Megatron in this.

---------------------------------

You remembered everything about how you got killed, the crying before you lost your hearing, the optics looking in horror how the strongest autobot is about to die. Now? Nobody has any idea what happened, your body vanished before they started looking for it. Optimus carried your legacy as the one and last prime. He was your friend, but you didn't get to be friends that long. Since he was made so late and you met 10 years before the war started. It felt like you woke up immediately you fell down. Where am I? you think, but soon enough you hear a voice you recongize. Megatron. "The legend is real! Y/N! I have summoned you to help us decepticons to bring Cybertron back to life and rise as the Queen/King of the battlefields like you used to be!" used to? Used to?! "Since when I wasn't the Queen/King of the battlefields? And what do you mean summoned?" I put my upper hands on my waist and lower ones crossed. "You have been offline for quite a while, Y/N. Join us since I don't want to destroy such a fighter." What is he talking about? Before you could answer a spacebridge appeared. Well it's a groundbridge but you don't need to know that yet. Through the groundbridge walks Optimus Prime himself! "Orion?!" "OPTIMUS!" Both you and Megatron yelled. "Y/N DESTROY HIM!" Did he just order me around, used-to-be-low-level mech just ordered me around?! "Are you! GIVING ME! THE QUEEN/KING OF THE BATTLEFIELDS, ORDERS?" I jumped to attack Megatron, he dodged. Another swing and a hit aswell. Punching again, Megatron catched my servo, but is definitely struggling against all my strength. I almost forgot! I have four hands! You thought as you go and punch Megatron into his 'stomach'. You pick him up and throw him to the nearest cliff you see. "Y/n? It can't be." That low voice..turning around you look at the red n' blue mech. "Optimus?"

Optimus Prime

He missed you so much! So so so so much! No matter how emotionless he can be he definitely hugged you either at the spot where you two reunited or back at the base.

Before you were summoned and revived he used to look through your files. He always stared at the picture, trying to remember how you looked when he would do something smart or help them with something.

He would try (keyword! try) to spar with you as training, but he lost usually. (Much to his shock, he did think he was good at fighting.)

Would let you go alone to a mission (HOW) and lets you have fun with the kids every now and then.

He need help? You're there. He's losing to Megs? You're there to beat some decepticon aft.

He loves your four hands, anytime he would be hurt or just needs support all your hands would around him hugging him gently.

But in the battlefield? Oh oh I'm glad you asked. He doesn't know if he should be scared or proud to see you back in action. He is glad about that you would save him no matter what comes against.

Ratchet

He had heard about you when Cybertron still had life on it's surface.

He never believed you're real, until the moment he sees you.

Four arms!? He had to check them out (for science research of course) and see how they work, because he's a medic!

Anytime you would get wounded he's rushing over to you.

He would be against it that you would go on the battlefield. You ALWAYS have to confront him that you hold the title queen/king of the battlefield.

He does like how nice and helpful you are. Since you're the queen/king of the battlefield he didn't think you would be nice and help him around the lab.

If he needs an substitute for work when he needs rest you would take his place immediately for his sake.

Bumblebee

He would be a little scared of you since you beat Megatron so easily.

The moment you prove you wouldn't hurt any of the team he would be your son from now on.

You two always had each others backs.

He would love clinging on to one of your four arms.

He has any form of a problem? Don't worry you already know about it and you'll solve it.

If he would ever get hurt you would show the enemy why you hold the title as the queen/king of the battlefield

Before you arrived he used to read some datapads about you which he got from Optimus.

He would ask you to teach him how to fight.

Arcee

She would be amazed by the amount of arms you have, but won't show it until she trusts you.

Would trust you the moment you beat Megatrons aft in front of her optics, because none of the cons would dare to even poke him.

She would be grateful that you saved her and others in the Battlefield.

Would be surprised to find some old files of you and would be more shocked to read them.

You both are badass in Jack's opinion.

Since you know how awful it's to lose a partner in the team you won't question her or how untrusting she is.

If she would get hurt in the middle of a fight you would carry her with one of your hands and fight others.

Bulkhead

He would admire you and your strength. You just beat Megatron with ease!

He had heard rumours about someone like you when he was a wrecker back in Cybertron, but never believed them until now.

He always wants to go in battles with you to see how ruthless is the queen/king of the battlefields.

He was in trouble and cornered by vehicons in a energon mine? Those vehicons looked like they belonged in a scrapyard after you attacked them.

He would be a fanboy with wheeljack and praise the ground you walk on.

Training? Hell yea he would be in. Until he loses every single time.

Wheeljack

Oh oh don't even get me started!

Would hate you, but love your fighting style at the same time.

"pshh, show off." Could be heard anytime you and him were in the battlefield the same time.

You did start to grow on him. Suddenly you weren't so bad in fighting, suddenly you weren't such a show off, suddenly he seemed to like your presence.

Now? You two are the destructive duo.

Ratchet would be worried about you more than wheeljack.

"ouch, that just broke my spark docbot." He was definitely kicked in his aft after that.

He would go on drives with you so he could get to know you better. (Surprisingly since he's such a loner)

Smokescreen

He would run over to you the moment you walk into the base.

"YOU'RE REAL?!" apparently he has read about you before.

You wouldn't have any privacy for a week since he's like a golden retriever who clings to you 24/7

He would be flabbergasped how somebots in the team didn't trust you yet. "They're the strongest Autobot in history! Let's keep them, pleeeease!"

Like I said already. He's such a golden retriever. He needs your attention, he needs you to teach him fighting etc.

Now you're his new mom too! You got two new sons! Yippee i guess?

When he sees you in action, he has star eyes. You know when he talks about it when optimus first uses the star saber? He talks like that but even more excited!

Ultra Magnus

Has high respect for you, but would hate how reckless you can be with wheeljack.

He would give you a lecture, but it falls through deaf audio receptors.

The moment he sees you in action he would doubt you less.

He knew that you used to exist, well now that you're actually alive he can't help but feel a little bit relieved that the autobots have the upperhand.

If you would call him Sir he would let you off easier.

Was surprised when he lost his hand that you supported him best you can. He didn't think that the queen/king of the battlefields could be so soft.

Denied it when you suggested that he's your adopted grumpy son, since he's always so worried about you. (He is your son now, but doesn't let the team know)

-------------------------------------------

AN: I HOPE YOU LIKED IT AND I APOLOGIZE THAT IT TOOK SO LONG. I HAD A CAMP AND NOW SCHOOL IS STARTING SO I WAS BUSY😭😭🫶

[lunarbreaksblog]

Horizon of Memories - Chapter 1

Prologue

He couldn’t help the bubbling rage inside of him as Orion turned to face him. Megatron had failed at turning Orion to the cause…yet again.

He let out a roar, face tensed in anger at the prime as the autobots fled the nemesis.

How could Megatron be so foolish to think he had another chance at the Prime.

No, he could only rely on himself and no one else.

As the neon colours of the groundbridge faded, Megatron stood, face still screwed up in anger. His optics could kill someone on sight. Reluctantly, Megatron left the site, anger still present. Slowly as he made his way to the bridge, his anger morphed into pure hatred for the Prime

He entered the command bridge– everybot looked at him, he scoffed loudly, they flinched and looked away. 

“Soundwave, I want a status report” the warframe growled as he stepped further into the bridge.

:Orion Pax terminated:

:Optimus Prime revived: Static crackled from their visor as they conducted their report with mixed voice lines.

Megatron growled, he'd never lash out at his most promising con but Soundwave was crossing a line that the warlord needed to define again. 

“I know, Soundwave '' He grunted as he stood in the middle of the dark dreary bridge with its sharp surfaces. He put his arms behind his back, hands interlocked as he peered towards the visor of the Nemesis. Storm clouds seem to be brewing.

:Unknown ship signal retrieved on planet:

“Decepticon or Autobot?” 

:Pre-war – Iaconian built:

“Interesting” Megatron was intrigued now, how did a pre-war vessel reach this lonely planet? 

‘Earth’ was quite a trek to reach all the way from Cybertron even with a Spacebridge. 

“Deploy Knockout and Starscream to investigate it” Megatron growled as he continued to watch the storm clouds.

The seeker and doctor needed to be reminded that they weren't on the same level as command as the warlord. They needed to be punished. 

Soundwave turned to his console, typing on the holographic screen. Then he sent for the two which unfortunately were in the medbay together. The doctor was fixing the seeker’s left wing when Soundwave entered.

:Lord Megatron requires you to be deployed to the semi-desert region; The Karoo: The slender mech hissed in a mix of vocals, some not recognisable to them.

“Why? Has our Lord not have Vehicons to do his bidding?” Starscream shrieked as Knockout welded the rest of his wing

“Oh shut it Starscream –” Knockout paused and looked to Soundwave “ Think of it as a time to get out of this bloody ship” he continued

Soundwave nodded and left the two.

Knockout couldn’t help but shiver at the purple mech. The mere fact that he came into the doctor’s medbay to tell them personally that Megatron wanted them to do the mission. He knew something was wrong.

“Oh you shut it Knockout, I am the second in command after all and you’re but the medic of this ship” the seeker hissed, his glare held venom.

“Let’s just go” was Knockouts only response

He personally didn't feel like having a fight with Starscream, the seekers talons could easily ruin his finish. 

–

The karoo’s hot arid air burnt Knockout’s vents as they exited the groundbridge. Starscream didn’t seem to like it either since gave off a loud growl.

“Why must I be subjected to this? I am the second in command of the Decepticons!” the seeker shrieked. 

The ground was sandy and loose, the seeker nearly lost his balance from his heels not finding a hard enough surface. 

A hot breeze swept through them, carrying dust particles that seemed to cling on Knockout’s cherry red paint. The red mech was not happy about this assignment but he needed to be quick, then he could fix his paint in the security of his habsuite.

“Are you listening to me!?” Starscream howled into the grounder’s audial. 

“Frag off” Knockout barked, his patience wearing thin.

If looks could kill, the doctor would be seven feet under from the seekers harsh glare.

Knockout held out a little machine with a screen on it. He pointed in front of him, moving the machine to get a better signal until a loud beeping came from the direction of large dull-looking mountains with flora that seemed to match this dessert. 

“That is where the point of interest is Screamer” Knockout spoke.

Quickly he transformed into his alt-mode and rode towards the mountains. Starscream didn't have a moment to say anything before he too transformed and flew after the red car. 

Soon enough, the car could make a stark difference in the wall of one of the mountains, metal seemed to be hidden in iron-rich stone and sand that made up the side of the mountain. How could he have not spotted it where he just came from. It was an eyesore.

How did it go unnoticed?

He could make out the roof of a cruiser that seemed to meld with the mountain, the cruiser was sideways, they’d have to go through the upper hull to reach the contents of the ship.

He drove faster to reach the wall-ship, with a dust of hot air he transformed into his bot mode. The ground there was more solid, less sandy.

“Now, that's quite strange?” Starscream hummed as he gracefully transformed.

“It’s a cruiser?”

“Yes– but it's a pleasure cruiser.”

“A what?”

Knockout glared at the seeker. What was a pre-war ‘pleasure cruiser’ doing out here. 

“How do you know?”

Starscream huffed and crossed his arms

“Of course I would know, I use to be prince of Vos– soon-to-be Winglord” Starscream paused “and I know its pleasure cruiser since I use to have one” he stated in annoyance

How could Knockout forget that Starscream used to be ‘royalty’.  Starscream's ignorance would soon be the death of him, Knockout thought bitterly. Either by Megatron’s hands or his own. Knockout shoved the thought of the seeker’s demise away. 

He glanced at the mountain, the ship seemed to glow under the bright hot sun. how could he have missed it? It was practically in plain sight. 

Starscream walked forward to the ship, quickly he placed his taloned servo on the cold metal ship. 

“Now, how are we going to get in Doctor?” the seeker mumbled as he started feeling the metal, looking for any weak spots.

It took them a while but they finally found a way in. A piece of the metallic hull was coming undone, a big enough gap for Knockout to wedge the piece off with his staff.

With a loud clang, the piece fell off the ship, leaving a space for both cybertronians to enter.

Once inside, Knockout couldn’t help but formulate the plan to find something for himself, since the cruiser seemed quite kitted out in elegance with its long golden corridors with red bioluminescence lights. 

Red light bathed both of them. The walls seemed to glimmer with the red light.

“Huh, quite a strange cruiser” Starscream spoke as he put his servo to his hip. 

It was atrocious to the seeker, the clashing of gold walls and red lights hurt his optics. With a huff, he walked towards the corridor. Knockout scrambled to follow him. Soon, the two were met with a spacious bridge. The visor of the cruiser only stared at stone and dirt. The bridge was luckily not bathed in red light. That helped Starscream's optics pain a bit.

“What do we do now…” Knockout grumbled. 

Soundwave didn't really specify what they were doing here or what they were looking for. They just had to look for a mysterious signal that seemed to lead them here. Maybe they could report back and say they found nothing.

While Knockout was contemplating the next course of action, Starscream stalked out of the bridge and once again down another corridor. Soon the seeker found the store room of the ship, covered in a layer of dust but the bright glow of energon was a welcoming sight to the seeker. He could even see some high-grade and rust sticks. Oh, he had found a wonder sight.

However, to the corner Starscream saw something.

It was a stasis pod?

[trinarysuns]

Earthspark theorycrafting time

Okay okay it's time for my favorite part of new TF content which is: wild extrapolation of what little we know into a house of theoretical cards which will no doubt be wiped out by the next episode to drop. Spoilers for the first 10 episodes of Earthspark abound after the cut, obviously.

So, without further ado: something is rotten in the town of Witwicky.

We don't know much about the war. Not why it was fought, or what exactly happened in it, or how it came to end—only that the spacebridge connecting Earth and Cybertron was destroyed, and according to Alex's simplified G1-esque retelling, Megatron just went "hey maybe Optimus has a point that we should stop fighting and preserve what's left of our race" and teamed up with the Autobots to end the war.

Just Megatron. Not a single other Decepticon. Not even ever-loyal Soundwave followed his lead. Even if we accept that the retelling is a highly sanitized and manicured version of what actually happened (like the thing about how Bumblebee totally disappeared forever), it's a very strange thing, isn't it?

We'll come back to this.

In any case, Cybertronians have been on Earth for thirty years. Megatron has been cooperating with Optimus for fifteen of them. The Decepticons are implied to have been in bad condition by the end of the war (Soundwave, malfunctioning in starvation, and a cassette exploding inside him. Rumble or Buzzsaw, presumably. RIP.), and rogue Decepticons are still scrambling to feed themselves in the present day.

In the very first scene of episode 1, Swindle and Hardtop are lured into an Autobot trap baited with a few (rectangles???) of energon. Sure, it's stealing, but they're not actually doing anything wrong here but trying to feed themselves. Still, it's made clear their choice is to fight and flee or surrender and go to prison forever. No third option.

Swindle escapes when the chase is interrupted by spiderbots, but Hardtop is captured. Optimus notes the spiders aren't of Cybertronian make and wonders if this has anything to do with rumors Decepticons are going missing (yes).

Later, Dot Malto comes across the convoy's wreckage. Elita-1 and Optimus arrive, only to inform Dot that the park ranger job she thought she had—the one she moved to Witwicky specifically for—was a lie and that she's actually working for the secret US military agency GHOST. As you might guess, Dot does not like this.

Interestingly, she says she doesn't work 'for the Autobots' anymore. It's not the military she has the most problem with, but them. This may or may not have to do with the much-later-referenced battle of the bay, in which the Autobots did a lot of architectural damage and she was badly injured. Either way, whatever trust was once there is broken.

Then of course Megs makes his entrance. Dot's resentment for Autobots doesn't extend to him—curious, given that in Alex's G1 story they were 'heroic Autobots' and 'evil decepticons', and Dot was a soldier there to see it all firsthand.

Megs and Dorothy are immediately and obviously old friends, and both of them on better terms with each other than with Optimus. Heck, they have names for each other no one else uses. Human buddy acquired!

Megatron: GHOST isn't a perfect ally, but Optimus believes they'll help our kind make a home on Earth. Dot: Optimus always sees the bright side. Even when there isn't one. Megatron: Don't be so hard on him, Dorothy. Clearly we've had disagreements, but when I joined the Autobots to end the war, I saw that Optimus always does what he believes is right. No matter the personal cost.

Note, not 'what's right'. 'What he believes is right', no matter the cost. Cut to Dot frowning down at the ominously-shaped GHOST logo on the overturned truck. Hmmmm.jpg.

Meanwhile, the abducted Hardtop is being stripped for parts by the evil Mandroid (okay, his name's actually Dr. Meridian. Did you remember that off the top of your head? No you didn't. Mandroid it is).

Mandroid commands the spiderbots (arachnamechs), hates Cybertronians in general and wants them off Earth, is the one who's been disappearing Decepticons, and has just welded Hardtop's arm onto his own shoulder. Hardtop, as you might guess, is not happy to be here and says when Swindle shows up they'll beat him up. This isn't gonna happen, but we'll come back to that later.

Meanwhile, after a spiderbot battle, the Autobots find out about the new kids but don't know exactly who or what they are. Optimus says he'll contact GHOST to take Twitch and Thrash to HQ for safety (he doesn't question why the truck turns up like three seconds later). Optimus promises to keep them very, very safe, and Dot tells Mo they can trust Optimus, even though we know in general that she doesn't.

Surprise, the truck driver is Mandroid and the robot kids have been abducted. Who saw that coming? Two scenes later, Optimus has to come over like 'oops GHOST has no record of that truck, they could be anywhere, my bad'.

Wow, could it be? Maybe blindly trusting Optimus Prime all the time isn't a great idea? 🤔

Meanwhile, Mandroid is interrogating Twitch and Thrash on their origins, and when that doesn't provide much intel, straps them in for dissection under a very large and many-pointy-limbed device (with a laser on it too, naturally).

The autobots show up to rescue them. When the spiderbots aren't enough to repel them, Mandroid summons some Decepticons to help fight the Autobots off: Skullcruncher, Shrapnel, Hardtop, and Bombshell. This is where we get our first clue about what's going on here, but only if you know the Transformers Lore™. Again, we'll come back to this later.

Elita-1 (fighting Hardtop): Your heart's not in this, is it? Elita-1: Brain, either.

Then Bee shows up to help, as it turns out he didn't disappear forever (surprise!). In the end, all the Decepticons are captured.

Hardtop: Honest, I don't know what came over me. I'd never fight you, Megatron! No matter what side you're on!

And then there's this odd little moment. Blink and you'll miss it, because it continues into a cut where Megatron helps Dot down from his shoulder. In response to Hardtop's words, Megatron shoves him, then... Looks at his cannon.

Hmmm.jpg x2 🤔

This segues into family time and Dot insisting Twitch and Thrash stay with them, which Optimus is glad to hear. Also he doesn't want GHOST to know Bumblebee is alive. Seems like he doesn't fully trust them either.

...And now that we're out of the ep 1-2 two parter I can skim over most of the rest of the episodes, as, for better or worse, Earthspark is in large part the 'kids and robots petting cows and family game night' show with larger events happening in the background somewhere.

A few significant moments:

-Optimus, Elita-1, and Megatron hang out all domestic-like in the secret GHOST base under Dot's ranger station, presumably. You know. The one with the Decepticon prison in it, where they're all kept until, as OP says, there's a better option available.

-Alex insinuates he used to know Dr. Meridian during the war, and presumably was another science team guy before he retired to teach.

-Swindle breaks into a GHOST convoy to steal an energon scanner that could give him a lead on finding Hardtop but can't get through the forcefield, so scams Mo and Thrash into helping him. When the kids' parents find out:

Dot: You're different from Swindle! Cons weren't born into that life, they chose it. And anyone who wears that badge? Can't be trusted.

Mo: They aren't all bad. Right, mom? You're friends with Megatron.

Dot: That's different. Megatron has truly changed.

Has he, now? But again, just him and no others. And depending what kind of Decepticon backstory we're dealing with in this continuity, saying all Decepticons are evil and chose to be so is a hmmm.jpg x3. What's our IDW1 (or even TF:P) proximity here?

-Some random GHOST trainee almost shoots a kid

-The kids fall into a pit trap and Optimus gets some extremely ominous framing

-Optimus Hides the kids from GHOST inside his trailer, inside the GHOST base. Because Optimus Prime makes bad decisions.

Dot: Cheesy footage of Autobots helping humans build a bridge. Not very subtle. And what exactly does GHOST do with the Decepticons you catch? Optimus: That's classified. I'm sorry. Dot: Bots and humans working together is wonderful, but why the secrecy? And the hard sell? You sure you're on the right team, OP?

-Megatron refuses to use his cannon against the cassettes for 'childish pranks'. Optimus calls them criminals. Bee shows up with restraining bolts to mode lock the cassettes and Megs is disgusted.

Megatron: I will never touch those... Things. Optimus: A means to an end, Megatron: safely transporting our quarry to GHOST. Megatron: Optimus, does it not concern you that our human allies control where Decepticons live, and what form they take? Even in times of so-called peace? This is not freedom.

It's enough to start an argument between OP and Megs about the way the Decepticons are being treated, in which Megatron says I gave you my fealty to save our people, which is a very interesting choice of words. Fealty, as of an oath of service and obedience to a liege lord. This is not an equal bargain.

Later, battling Soundwave, Soundwave repeats his own words to him. This is not freedom. He calls Megatron traitor—and Megatron, about to fire, stops and looks shocked: as if the idea that to the Decepticons he is a traitor is somehow a new thought.

Add another hmm.jpg to the pile.

Later on, Skywarp and Nova Storm show up intent on stealing Optimus' arm for Mandroid. Hardtop's wasn't good enough, apparently.

Optimus: They want my left arm like their lives depend on it!

And you know what? When the two of them fail in their mission and Mandroid says he'll dissect them, they don't even try to fight that small squishy human. Wow, weird. And when we find out the terran bots were created via an artifact left behind by Quintus Prime, his squiddy little logo certainly doesn't resemble an upside down spiderbot at all. :)

But now we come to the really interesting part. Dot and Megatron are captured by Mandroid and the following conversation ensues:

Mandroid: Let me begin again. Conversation is difficult, after my time in the war.

Dot: You served too?

Mandroid: My contribution was scientific. I was drafted by GHOST to toil in their robotics laboratory. After a year of laboring on projects I detested, Decepticons attacked San Francisco. Dot: Yeah, I remember. I led an infantry platoon at the battle of the bay. Mandroid: Then perhaps you remember the Autobots' friendly fire destroying buildings. My arachnamechs dragged me to safety, saving me the only way they knew how. I came away with... Souvenirs.

You know what I think?

I think it's real suspicious that Hardtop went from wanting to kill Mandroid to doing his bidding without seeming to even understand why. I think it's suspicious that all those other Decepticons did too—they might stick around for fuel, sure, but not to protest even under threat of dissection?

Why did Megatron turn his back on his loyal army in such a way that none of them followed? Why did they go to ground rather than attempt switching sides? When did it become clear that there would be no switching sides, only life imprisonment for those who surrendered?

But not for Megatron—who has sworn fealty, who 'has truly changed' who is tame and obedient. The sole exception.

Remember episodes one and two? Remember who one of Mandroid's tame Decepticon squad was? Bombshell. You know what Bombshell's whole thing is in the lore? Mind control. Do you know what other two motifs are strongly associated with mind control in the Transformers lore?

Spiders.

Needles.

The biggest hmmmmm.jpg imaginable 🤔

I think maybe the emberstone wasn't the only thing Quintus Prime left behind. I think GHOST found whatever that bit of lost technology was during the war, and Mandroid reverse engineered it into the arachnamechs and the 'projects he detested'. You know who recognized who Quintus Prime was without even thinking about it? Alex, who once worked with him.

I think one day Megatron was captured, bolted to a table in a dark room, and came back different. I think Optimus was too happy about that change to ask too many questions, and GHOST would have done the same to the rest of the Decepticons if not for losing Dr. Meridian in the battle of the bay—and with him, all his research. Mandroid doesn't care about turning the Decepticons peaceful anymore, only using them as a means to the end of Cybertronian destruction.

Now all GHOST can do is capture Decepticons and lock them up until there's Optimus' 'better way': until they can reverse engineer Mandroid's work and shadowplay the rest of them into good little productive citizens... And hope their hold on Megatron doesn't break before then.

Never trust a mech with his needles in your neck. :)

[melishade]

Number 88?

This ask game

asked so far.

Guess I can continue the New Age Anthology with this one.

Convincing

Aftermath

Quarantine

Also spoilers.

Erwin got swept up in the chaos after Optimus' unconscious body was transported to Cybertron. He had to stop Hanji from going into unknown territory to running back to Levi because he had nearly lost consciousness from all of his injuries. Then the spacebridge opened up again, and the humans from Earth came in with strange suits, while others were wearing medical outfits.

One of them, the woman that had taken Jean after he had lost his leg, and looked like Jack, ran up to Levi and used some sort of light to examine his eyes.

"Pupils are dilating." The woman quickly clicked the light off before examining his wounds, "Anyone know where his fingers are so that we can reattach it?!"

"I-I-I don't know!" Hanji stuttered.

"Then does anyone know his blood type?!" June demanded.

"What's a blood type?!" Hanji screeched.

"We're taking these humans to quarantine on Earth!" one of the people in those strange yellow suits shouted. Armin tried to pull away as he was grabbed by two of them and pulled towards the spacebridge.

"Wait! Mikasa! Mikasa where are you?!" Armin screamed.

"Armin!" Annie cried for him before yelling in surprise as she was grabbed by two others and pulled through the spacebridge.

"Whoa, what the fuck?!" Ymir tried to kick and worm her way out of one of the suits' grip.

"Someone get me a gurney!" June shouted. Erwin felt his heart drop when Levi's eyes rolled into the back of his head, and he lost consciousness.

"Levi! Levi!" Erwin cried out for him.

"The patient's lost consciousness. No doubt going into shock! He needs a blood transfusion and surgery!" June tapped her earpiece while relaying those orders.

Two other people in suits came in through the spacebridge with a rolling bed full of equipment on it while Sasha was being dragged away, separated from Connie's body. Erwin quickly assisted June with lifting Levi's body to the bed. June quickly grabbed something from under the rolling bed, a mask of sorts, and placed it over Levi's nose and mouth.

"Hey! Hey let me go!" Erwin snapped his head back to see the two suits grabbing Hanji and dragging them through the spacebridge.

"Wait, let Hanji go!" Erwin shouted at them.

"Prepare the OR!" June yelled, "Yes, I know things are hectic, but this person's injuries are severe!"

Hanji managed to hear June's words and turned their attention to Erwin. "Erwin, stay with Levi! Whatever you do, don't get separated from Levi!"

Erwin didn't have time to wonder where Hanji was being taken as June and another suit was wheeling Levi through the spacebridge. Erwin quickly bolted after them and jumped through spacebridge. When he reached the other side, he was met with pandemonium. He saw massive crowds of so many humans from both his world and on Earth on one military base. It looked like a giant storage unit with a massive door that a titan could walk through. He saw military personal from Earth giving medical treatment to people from his world. People from his world were crying, receiving medical attention, or begging to be reunited with loved ones. Soldiers were shouting at each other, barking orders, running around with supplies and trying to prevent chaos.

Through the sea of people, Erwin managed to spot the back of June's head as she was wheeling Levi's body down the hall of the massive building they were in. Erwin pushed through the people to get closer to Levi, getting over the crowd and to the hall that Levi was being wheeled through. Erwin saw Levi getting pushed through swinging doors, and he managed to catch a glimpse of people in strange medical outfits. Erwin panicked at the sight of sharp medical objects on the table and tried to go through the doors, but he was quickly blocked by two military soldiers. One of them quickly shoved him back with a massive gun before pointing it at him.

"No civilians allowed!" The other barked at him.

"Please, I need to-!" The second soldier quickly aimed his massive gun at Erwin, causing him to take a step back. Erwin was afraid they were going to fire, but June quickly pushed the doors to exit the room.

"Lower your weapons!" June ordered them as she approached Erwin, "You need to wait out here or go into quarantine. We cannot have you causing problems. Especially with your arm."

"My arm-!" Erwin froze when he remembered his cybernetic arm and looked down at it before turning his attention to the other soldiers. Were they afraid of him because of it?

"Your friend is going to need surgery, and the doctors can't be distracted," June continued to explain.

"I can't abandon Levi. If and when he wakes up, he's going to be confused about his surroundings. He might even lash out in fear," Erwin reasoned.

June took a deep breath before turning to the guards. "One of you take him to a hospital wing." She then turned to Erwin, "Let us operate on him and the other kid who lost his leg. Then I'll personally have them transported to the room you'll be staying in while you complete quarantine protocol."

"Let's go." Erwin felt the first soldier roughly grab his arm as he was pulled away.

"I beg of you! Do everything in your power to save me!" Erwin begged.

"We will. I promise we will," June reassured before going back into the operating room.

(Well, that was fun. The rest of whatever is left is free game.)

[decepti-thots]

right, i have been thinking and i have some honest to god earthspark Speculation TM. this only really spoils the flashback sequence in the opening two parter and general concepts the show establishes immediately, i think, but cutting just in case. anyway:

the fact the bots and cons are all stranded on earth after the spacebridge was destroyed by OP is a very obvious 'this will give us stuff to do in later series' gambit. the very obvious route to take is that you can, once you've done an arc or two on earth, make Getting Back To Cybertron a big deal. that's like... not even in question i think, haha.

one thing that is REALLY intriguing me though is. the quintus prime stuff has got to be set up for. something. it's a HELL of a deep lore pull- quintus prime is barely used even in the continuity family he was created for. aligned really only references him in the Covenant of Primus. he doesn't even actually come up in the Retribution novel the quintessons are IN, iirc? he is one of the least recognisable characters to be part of any version of the Thirteen in the franchise. fucking micronus has had more than him.

for those who don't know, his whole thing in aligned is indeed what we see in earthspark; he's a member of the Thirteen who goes around being an alien precursor and seeding new life onto other planets. he's responsible for the creation of Aligned's version of the quintessons, who later invade and temporarily rule over Cybertron after being the first species in the galaxy to make contact with them from off-world.

i can absolutely see a situation where they finally make contact with Cybertron again just to find out that shock, the Quintessons invaded while they've been stuck on earth. similar to cyberverse's recent and very successful reinvention of them as an antagonist in series three. for a long time the fact that Primus had superceded the Quintessons as cybertron's origin story in most media really put limits on them being included in new TF stories, but they seem to have settled on an approach that allows them to show up again in the past few years.

so i wonder if, when we see cybertron again, it will be a cybertron that is fighting or has been conquered by the quintessons.

this feels like it would fit in better than my original speculation, which was that they were gonna do a reveal that while they've been gone shockwave took over the planet, tbh. i mean the G1 influence is there and i totally expect it to turn out shockwave was left behind like in the cartoon, and he would make an excellent big bad, but the quintus stuff needs a payoff to be worth all the deep lore cuts, and the quintessons seem a really good choice for a villain that might finally fully unite the autobots and decepticons after the 'megatron and optimus fight the remnants, get inevitably betrayed by GHOST about it' plot wraps up.

[cybertron-after-dark]

Wayward Sparks Lore Post

This is the lore for the fan continuity my redesigns are from. I've actually been working on the story for a very long time before posting any of the artwork for it, and I hope to eventually make this a finished product in some way shape or form! I won't be revealing everything about the story just yet for that reason, but this sort of a little "show bible" for the continuity that's been living in my head rent free for months. Hopefully, you'll get a kick out of some of the concepts.

The Basics:

The war's been going on for a good long while. Long enough that everyone's just getting sick of it. Most sick of it would be Megatron, who's been sticking it out with his Decepticons for SO long he's ready to do something drastic.

With a small team of his best Decepticons, they steal the Allspark and track down the leader of the Autobots, Optimus Prime, picking up an energon haul from a deep space outpost near a spacebridge. Megatron's intent on finishing this as soon as possible.

Unfortunately, nobody told Megatron that the Allspark doesn't particularly like being commanded, nor are there any controls on it conveniently labeled "press here to eliminate enemies." So, after what's seeming like a pretty pointless dogfight-turned-fistfight that was SUPPOSED to end with the Allspark blowing the autobots straight to the pit, Megs can't help but be a little frustrated when the Allspark takes control of the spacebridge on its own instead and sends them to a backwater dirtball planet with no feasible way off.

The Autobots arent all too happy about the predicament either. The Decepticons still have the Allspark, and Primus only knows what nefarious plots to ransack this world he's brought them to are cooking up in his diabolical processor. (He doesn't have any plans whatsoever, he's entirely bullshitting at this point, but you can't just let the enemy know that)

Meanwhile, back on Cybertron, something sinister is brewing within the Senate. Something Senator Ratbat and his toadie, Sentinel Prime, can't keep hidden for much longer.

The Autobots

The loyal devotees of Optimus Prime, enlisted in the Autobot Corps to make Cybertron a better place. Or, as most of Cybertron knows them, Optimus's merry band of idiots and assholes. See, most Primes have standards for who they recruit as active followers. The strongest, the swiftest, the smartest, what have you. For Optimus, anyone who wants to help the community may join. Which is great and all, but man, does it attract the screwups and all the neuroses they carry.

Optimus Prime (he/him)

If there is one word to describe Optimus, it'd be "troubled." If you ask him, trouble is all life ever gave him after he made Prime. He loves his team to bits, but they can be... Frustrating at times. Even still, looking out for them is priority number one. He took an oath when Primus gave him his power: "community before self." Failing to uphold that wouldn't just be letting himself down; It'd also tick off Primus, and given the god has an eldritch, symbiotic connection to him in his head and in his spark, not honoring that vow doesn't end well. He knows the madness that comes with a broken oath firsthand, after having to denounce the mech he originally swore fealty to... But, that's in the past. Nothing a little engex can't help him forget.

Bumblebee (he/they)

Bumblebee is a happy go lucky little bot. A little too happy go lucky, honestly. As though he just doesn't have any sense of self preservation. A chronic ignorer of red flags, somehow Bumblebee makes it out of every single encounter unscathed. He never really understood why some bots can be so anxious or mopey, and he makes it his mission to help the aforementioned anxious and mopey bots see the bright side, much to their chagrin. Especially to the chagrin of Prowl, who doesn't remember the last time he smiled and isn't interested in doing so any time soon. Bee is determined to get a giggle out of that downer one way or another. He's a little bad at reading the room, and he doesn't tend to take the whole decepticon threat thing very seriously, but he really does mean well.

Wheeljack (he/him)

Excellent at both making and breaking, Wheeljack is one of the team's tech guys. Fun loving, explosion addicted, and a firm believer in ignoring common sense and safety precautions, it seems Wheeljack and his lab partner, Bulkhead, can make any sort of gizmo you need with only a 50% chance of it landing someone in the medbay. Usually wheeljack himself. That said, he's never really all that bothered hy his injuries, often laughing at himself even if half of him is scattered somewhere across the room. This generally disturbs anyone unlucky enough to see it. Usually Bulkhead.

Prowl (he/him)

Prowl is... Not exactly doing amazing. To say he's depressed would be a bit of an understatement. When he's not out on the field, the other bots don't really see much of him. He keeps to himself, always making use of Teletraan-1 to stream his shows, tinkering with new mods for his weapons, or just sleeping the day away. More than anything, Prowl wants to help people. He was hoping he could do that through law enforcement, at first. When he realized that wasn't his path, he hoped maybe joining the Autobots would be. Now that he's here, all he needs is the motivation to actually get out there and do something great... Maybe tomorrow.

Ratchet (he/him)

Ratchet is the team's medic, as well as the resident dipstick-in-the-mud. A mech of schedule, rules, and protocol, Ratchet gets flustered and almost personally offended if any of those things are broken. Straight laced as he may be, Ratchet still cares deeply for his teammates, and worries a lot about not being able to fix them perfectly if they get hurt. Honestly, he mostly needs everything in order just so he knows exactly what to do if and when things go wrong. You'll never hear him admit that out loud, though. You'll also never hear him admit to anything he did in his med school days, back when they called him the Party Ambulance.

Bulkhead (any pronouns, mostly he/him)

Another bot standing firmly in team worrywart. Bulkhead tries to cut loose and have a good time, he really does, but it's hard when your best friend/lab partner is an accident-prone adrenaline junkie with very poor impulse control. Bulkhead is a sensitive bot, a mind both creatively and mathematically inclined, wrapped up in a very big, very heavy, very clumsy package. All in all, Bulkhead just wishes the other bots' definition of fun was... Safer. With less injuries sustained by the end. That being said, he has a pretty hard time expressing it when his friends' antics cause him distress.

Other Bots

Back on Cybertron, the rest of Optimus Prime's followers try to maintain peace in a ceasefire until the two factions' leaders can return from... Wherever they ran off to. The other active Primes and their followers, most of all Sentinel, have more or less been keeping Cybertron in order while the Autobots are indisposed. While they frantically try to contact their leader, Cliffjumper (he/him), Ironhide (he/him), Cosmos (she/they) and Seaspray(they/them) have to keep the whole Autobot Corps from falling apart.

Decepticons

To call the Decepticons terrorists would be remarkably unfair. That being said, calling them heroic would be one hell of a stretch too. For all intents and purposes, the Decepticons are largely considered the undesirables of Cybertronian society. And they don't like that one bit. Warframes, petty crooks, monoformers, pit fighters, malfunctions of all stripes, all are welcome under the Decepticon banner, so long as you're pissed off enough about how you've been treated. The angriest among the crowd being an increasingly high number of mechs sporting odd, experimental frametypes they say they were reformatted into against their will.

Megatron (he/him)

A warlord, a tyrant, the ruthless leader of the most feared gang of criminals in all of Cybertronian territory. At least, that's what he wants you to believe he is. Megatron is quite a bit of bark and (while definitely not none) significantly less bite. It's a frustrating thing, being labelled a heretic and a threat to society for wanting to be equal. So, really, what's a mech to do but commit to the bit and hope it scares off the cowards who want you dead? Megatron can be headstrong, and has moderate anger issues, though he manages them quite well. Still, he's got nothing but love from his Decepticons, trying as they can occasionally be. He can be a bit overprotective of his troops, very much acting like an older brother to the more vulnerable among his ranks. He's also been trying to court Starscream, but he seems largely oblivious to Megatron's advances.

Starscream (he/she)

The terror of the skies and the mean girl of the Decepticons. Starscream is largely convinced everyone around him is an idiot. Sadly, he's blind to it when he, too, is being an idiot. A capable aerial fighter, and the second in command of the Decepticons, but seemingly cursed by bad luck at just about every turn. And the consequences of her own actions, but don't say that part out loud. Starscream is intent on usurping Megatron one way or another to gain control of the Decepticons and lead them PROPERLY, because his dumb ass could never. Especially now that he's acting all weird all the time around her. He must be onto her schemes...

Soundwave (he/him)

Soundwave has seen quite a bit. He's seen things he very much wishes he could forget about at times. Having worked as a secretary for Senator Ratbat just before the war, he got a glimpse behind the curtain of Cybertronian government and it sickened him to his core. Now he works his aft off to topple the whole thing, no matter what it takes, or how badly he overworks himself. When he isn't vividly plotting the death of the scumbag Senate, or neck deep in Decepticon work, Soundwave is usually seen with his adoptive family, Rumble, Frenzy, Laserbeak, and Ravage. The cassettes are still young, not to mention mischievous, so Soundwave definitely has his servos full, but he wouldn't trade them for the world.

Shockwave (he/they)

A disgraced former Senator, and a victim of a botched empurata-shadowplay combo, Shockwave tries his best to live as normal a life as he can with the Decepticons. He's a bit of an oddball, emotionally stunted in some regards and wildly oversensitive in others. The other Decepticons take great care to make him feel safe, and he appreciates that greatly, though he's never really sure what would be a socially acceptable way to show that gratitude. Aside from his eccentricities, Shockwave is a mech of science, and an extremely useful asset. He's a master of tech, and a wizard in the medbay, though his bedside manner is unusual to say the least.

Blitzwing (he/they)

Blitzwing's triple changing frame was not exactly their choice. Nor were the three personalities their processor splintered into when they were reformatted. Unfortunately, the only ones who really seem to believe them about what happened to them would be the Decepticons. Evidently, when a three faced bot starts babbling about being abducted and experimented on by Senator Ratbat and Sentinel Prime, that comes off less as "honest whistleblower" and more "crazy guy who's been hitting the engex a bit too hard." So, until the real culprits can be exposed for what they are, Blitzwing spends his cycles in the Decepticon ranks, either helping out or causing chaos for funsies.

Lugnut (he/him)

Lugnut is the very picture of a loyal Decepticon, at Megatron's beck and call, ready to back him up every waking second, even when Megs really didn't ask for it. A particularly big and tanky bot, Lugnut is the muscle of Decepticon High Command, an unyielding wall of an opponent. He's also kind of the fun police. Easily jealous, Lugnut has a bit of a grudge against anyone he perceives as Megatron's current favorite (Megatron does not actually pick favorites) and does anything in his power to stay in his master's good graces. As unworthy as he thinks the rest of high command is, ESPECIALLY starscream, he is still a reliable ally and trustworthy teammate to the others when he needs to be.

Other Cons

The Decepticon Base back on Cybertron was already a bit of a hot mess. Now, with Megatron's best mechs missing, it's just a liiittle difficult not to think they're sticking around for a hopeless cause. But, all is not lost. General Strika (she/her) keeps the faction from falling apart, even through the absence of her conjunx, Lugnut. While she handles the practical matters, keeping spirits up falls to the morale officer, Skywarp (any), her trinemate Thundercracker (she/they), and her bestie, Knockout (he/him). Though it's a bit of a difficult task when they're in a ceasefire and they can't even look forward to bashing autobots...

Other Factions

It isn't just the Autobots and Decepticons kicking around Cybertron. Every active Prime has their own band of loyal followers looking to make something of themselves. For better or worse...

Full disclosure, pretty much everything but the Steelguard is subject to a lot of change. There may be more, less, or even totally different factions going forward.

Sentinel Prime (he/him)

Coldhearted, sycophantic, and generally a smug bastard, Sentinel Prime believes in strength above all. Even the vow he took before Primus, "Order Through Strength," reflects that. Having a direct symbiotic connection to Primus went straight to his ego. The guy's downright insufferable. Not that he wasn't before... Sentinel is a loyal guard dog to his liege, Senator Ratbat, and trusts that he'll do anything it takes to maintain order and keep a perfect Cybertron, no matter how grisly or unsavory the cost. He'll have his troops carry out any and all dirty work the Senator needs done without question.

The Steelguard

The Steelguard are Sentinel Prime's followers, largely a band of big headed jerks that think they're Primus's gift to Cybertron and tend not to think too hard about ethics or morals. That's not to say EVERYONE working for Sentinel is a pompous windbag that thinks brute force is a solution to everything. Just most of them. In the very least, Sentinel's prodigy soldier, Breakdown (he/him) seems to have a shred of decency left in him that they haven't been able to snuff out just yet.

Jazz (he/him)

Senator Ratbat's current overworked secretary, and often the subject of Sentinel Prime's petty fits of jealousy. Ratbat takes quite a liking to Jazz, in some twisted sense, often taking him out for drinks or requesting he keep him company in his office. This sets Sentinel off to no end. To Ratbat, Jazz is the only mech on Cybertron worth befriending. To Jazz, Ratbat is quite insane and largely uncomfortable to be around.

Rodimus Prime (he/him)

The newest addition to the roster of active Primes, Rodimus has a very small band of followers that he's still working on a name for. His liege, Senator Ultra Magnus, expects great things from the little Prime, as soon as he figures out how to function normally with the presence of a god in his head, anyway. Though in the meantime, his second in command, Kup, and his high command, Arcee, Blurr and Springer, are happy to pick up the slack. They may not have a name to unite their faction, but they have a creed to uphold: "Hope Endures." They do charity work to keep spirits high while Cybertron is in a bit of a rocky state.

Fire Convoy (he/him)

Nobody knows for certain whether or not Fire Convoy is still online. Most accounts say he went entirely mad, and disappeared without a word, leaving behind his followers, the X-force. Some say he still lives, wandering the Sea of Rust, in search of an ancient titan. The remaining X-force typically keep to themselves, isolated from the remainder of Cybertron in hopes that their prime will return.

The Senate

The governing body of Cybertron, the Senate are appointed by Primus via the Allspark, in a selection process known only to the highest elites. Their top priority is and always will be maintaining order. An increasingly difficult task when the Decepticon menace persists like a nasty infestation of binaroaches. Still, they have full confidence that the primes that serve them will weed out the remaining vermin, no matter how long it takes or how messy it may get.

Senator Ratbat (he/him)

Ratbat values one thing above all else: efficiency. That's why Ratbat is primarily in charge of Cybertron's transport, and all that entails. An efficient Cybertron is a successful Cybertron, and the more like a well oiled machine the world he rules can run, the more the species as a whole can advance, improve, and evolve. No barrier is too great, too grisly, or too taboo to overcome. He will do whatever he must for the good of the world. Whether its inhabitants want it or not.

Senator Alpha Trion (he/him)

Alpha Trion is largely considered the leader among the Senate, as the oldest, wisest, and having been in power the longest. He took in Optimus Prime and gave him purpose after his loss of faith. The mech is like a son to him, really, and he's honored that such a powerful prime with such a dedicated--and useful--following would call him his liege. Alpha Trion strives for a perfect Cybertron above all else, and he truly believes Optimus to be the ticket to that ideal future he has always envisioned.

Senator Perceptor (they/them)

Perceptor is the senator to consult on any and all scientific matters, considered the most intelligent mind at the table. Primarily because they had most of their personality components removed and only has room left in their mind and spark for knowledge. Even their vox synthesizer is a much more archaic and simplistic model than normal, running on software typically only used by drones, all to free up processing power. Occasionally, they have glimmers of emotions they really shouldn't be able to feel with their programming. More often than not, flashes of regret.

Senator Ultra Magnus (he/him)

Ultra Magnus is the bot responsible for planning most of Cybertron's infrastructure, and he takes great pride in the image of a hardworking bot he maintains. His people trust him to consider the population and how to help them best. Well, the populace whose opinions matter, anyway. The expendables can say what they will, whine all day about how they're living in rusted shambles, it matters little to him when he has contributing members of society to appease. Besides, he has his dear Rodimus Prime to keep them quiet with his meaningless little gestures of good will. Quite the useful bot, that Rodimus, if a bit unfocused. Ultra Magnus really just wishes the little Prime would see the big picture and stop fretting over the "less fortunate."

Senator Wingthing (he/him)

Senator Tracks (he/him)

Rich, Noble, and stylish, Tracks has an eye for trends and knows how to set them. Which is quite the useful talent when your job is managing Cybertron's media and propaganda. It's a wonderful thing, being able to keep a whole planet distracted from whatever shady shit you need done behind the scenes.

A product of pure nepotism. Wingthing is often referred to as seat filler, joining the Senate at the same time as his brother, Ratbat, as is tradition when a twin is selected. Describing him generously, Wingthing is an eccentric bot. Describing him not-so-generously, Wingthing is an insufferable, childish moron and a raging misogynist with neither wit nor tact to his name, seemingly only serving to trash talk everything Senator Chromia says. Occasionally he'll help Senator Tracks with his propaganda projects.

Senator Chromia (she/her)

Senator Chromia is the very image of restraint. How else would she be able to listen to every obnoxious word out of Wingthing's mouth without ripping out his entire vox synthesizer? Running both military and law enforcement matters, Chromia is quite the tactician, and merciful enough to hardly ever allow excessive brutality on her own people. Her reassuring presence on the Senate is an inspiration to fembots of all stripes. If she can make it as Cybertron's #1 Girlboss, so can they!

The manifestations of Life and Death, respectively.

Misc

Cedarwood

A small town of humans about fifteen kliks from where the Autobots crashed. Very rural, with a population of self-described hillbillies, rednecks and hicks. The bots aren't sure what any of those words mean, but they're happy to try to make nice with the local organics, whenever they aren't trying to shoot the bots.

Primus and Unicron

Primus, the bored god, inhabits the minds of those it deems worthy, drawing power from their emotions and dedication to their ideals, and watching the chaos and drama his creations cause. Aside from whispering odd non sequiturs and baffling encouragements into the audials of his favorite followers, the strongest vessel for his will is the Allspark, an odd little artifact that never quite likes to stay put.

Unicron, the endless hunger, is a name spoken of in hushed whispers, lest the beast hear you. It is never a matter of if he will find your world. Merely of when. He lies in wait, in deep space, drawn to deep fear and hopelessness, seeking out the most miserable life forms so that he may bring their doom.

Teletraan-1

The primary helper drone on Optimus Prime's vessel, the Ark. Teletraan-1 keeps things ship-shape, helping to run everything from the altmode scanner, to the ship's weapons, to things as simple as connecting to Earth's wifi. It gets things done quick and snappy, it understands Optimus runs a tight ship. Tragically, it never seems to run out of ship puns... Oddly enough, seems to have a strange infatuation with the bot it most interacts with, Prowl, which really shouldn't be possible with it's limited programming. Though with the Allspark so close by, who knows what could happen.

Wreck-gar (he/they/it)

A strange little bot that showed up one day after the Decepticons managed to lose the Allspark for a bit. Equipped with a vacuum on his back and a strange little noisy box the humans call an "accordion," Wreck-gar doesn't seem to know a thing about Cybertron, leaving everyone very confused on just who he is and where he came from.

The Dinobots

Wheeljack's name for the rudimentary security drones he's been planning to make. Inspired by extinct Earth Fauna of tremendous size and power that he found out about from binging Earth documentaries, and this one movie he fell asleep halfway through called Jurassic Park. No way anything this cool could go wrong on him!

[favesgrave]

Out of His Depth (Part 1)

Blurr, in all honesty, was not having the best day. Things had gotten so off the rails in such little time that really it should have set some kind of new record. Now, he didn't know of any records that quite fit his predicament, but he's sure that there was something out there. Or he could always just make a new one.

New record for fastest way of completely having a mission spiral out of control.

It was maybe a little lengthy for other bots to say, but he could do so with ease.

If only he could say the same thing about the ongoing fight. First, he'd been caught by one of the Constructicons (Scrapper, if he remembered correctly, which he does) and suspended off the ground, lodged into his arms next to Bumblebee. Escape came not long after. Him and Bumblebee managed to take down one Starscream clone and yes, things seemed to be looking a little uphill despite the chaos surrounding them... until everything went wrong again.

Another Starscream clone, plastered in wet cement, crashed into him and his captive. Now all three were encased in cement, stuck together like glue as they were hurtling towards the spacebridge. He can't even try to run from this, his legs confined in a way that freaked him out because he couldn't even move them at all. There's no quick getaway in this situation. For someone like him, that was at the top of his nightmares.

This was the part Blurr found appropriate to panic. He flailed his arms wildly, an endless string of words leaving his mouth with pleas that would go unanswered.

"Get it off get it off get it off get it off get it off, will someone get it off, is anyone gonna get it off? Somebody-"

And then he disappeared into the spacebridge, the Starscream clones with him.

Right away, he could tell this was not a normal trip through a spacebridge. There was this feeling of being pulled, no, ripped in every direction, as if even the bridge itself wasn't quite sure where to spit him out at.

Another thing he knew was that spacebridge travel was not supposed to take this... long. Well, currently it wasn't exactly long, but in all other times he had gone through a bridge, his arrival to his destination had been instantaneous. This was nothing like that. They were floating in empty space, surrounded by a void of blues and greens that made up the exterior of a spacebridge. Sparks of energy crackled in the air, some getting much too close for comfort. He wasn't too keen on finding out what would happen if one strayed close enough to hit.

To top it off, it was painful. He heard his frame creak from the stress it was enduring, his plating shifting as they got pulled on. At one point, he was certain that it was going to detach his torso from the rest of his body, and then yank his arms out next.

He wasn't even paying attention to the Starscream clones' shrill voices screaming out in alarm beside him, begging for some kind of saving grace.

It came eventually. For Blurr, at least. The whiplash of the spacebridge was powerful enough that it split him free from the clones, though small pieces of cement still clung onto him. Still an improvement! Anything was better than being stuck to two dangerous Decepticons.

There was a light now, a bright white light. One that was getting closer, and closer, and closer-

Nope! Nope, nope, nope. Was Blurr about to die? Was that his path to the Allspark? Because he was not ready for that. In his humble opinion, he still had far too much left to do before dying. He needed to get to Cybertron and warn them of the spy. All the stray Decepticons had to be rounded up and brought to justice. Okay, that was only two things, but they were two very major things!

As much as he tried to fight it, there was no escape in sight. He squeezed his optics shut, having no choice but to accept it as he got swallowed whole.

...

Blurr immediately became reacquainted with the ground as he got tossed from the spacebridge face-first. He nearly broke down right there, too overcome with gratitude and even letting what one might call a manic laugh while he just appreciated being alive.

Focus. He needed to focus.

Upon getting over the relief of not being one with the Allspark, he was able to pick himself off the floor and take in his surroundings. Organic life flourished around him, green being nearly everywhere he turned. He had been on Earth long enough to recognize a forest when he saw one. His arrival had caused a bit of a stir. It was evident from the way he had left an imprint on the dirt and broken twigs that littered the area. He was sure that some of the birds had taken off at the sight of him too.

The Starscream clones were nowhere in sight, probably halfway across the galaxy. Was that a problem solved, or one he would need to worry about later?

He shook his head quickly, snapping himself out of it. That didn't matter right now! He needed to contact Cybertron.

Putting a finger to his commlink, he didn't waste another second. "Agent Blurr to Cybertron Command, come in Cybertron Command! Code Red! Megatron is online, Decepticon invasion imminent! Is anybody there? Can anybody hear me? Is this blasted commlink even working?!"

There was no response. Maybe his commlink had sustained damage when he'd been lost in the spacebridge?

"Oh, now this is just perfect because not only am I cut-off from Cybertron, I'm also stranded in an unfamiliar place with no telling how far away I am from Detroit. Optimus Prime and his team could have been taken offline by now and Megatron is on his way to take over Cybertron! Or maybe there's the smallest chance I'm completely wrong and they've managed to defeat Megatron before his plan succeeds!" Usually, Blurr was able to keep himself steady. But every now and then, there would be a rare instance that something would creep along and set him off. This was one of those instances.

What should he do? What was he supposed to do?

Calm down. He needed to calm down, that's what he should do. Once he did that, he could work on making his way back to Detroit. He just had to get out of this forest first. When that was done, he was sure he would be able to determine where he was.

Wherever he was, he just prayed that he could make it back on time to lend a servo in Megatron's defeat... or else Cybertron was doomed to fall.

---

It was a particularly slow day today. There wasn't much Decepticon action, which Ratchet could live with, considering the arrival of Smokescreen and how Bulkhead was sulking, despite Miko's best efforts. If anyone called him out for it, he would deny it, but Ratchet knew sulking when he saw it.

He supposed he could relate to feeling useless. It wasn't true, of course. But that didn't stop how crushing the weight of it could be. He thought about reaching out, but... well, emotional comfort was not his strong suit.

He liked to think he was improving though.

A beeping from one of his monitors pulled his attention away and a frown settled on his face once he took a look.

That was strange.

"Optimus," he called out to his old friend. "Come take a look at this." He waited a moment for him to come over and by that point, so had everyone else in the base. "By all accounts, it appears to be an Autobot life signal... though underneath the surface, it isn't quite like ours."

Smokescreen raised an opticbrow and tilted his head. "Okay... so what does that mean?"

"I don't know," Ratchet answered, typing and attempting to analyze it some more. "It's possible that the Decepticons could have somehow replicated our signal. It would explain why it appears faulty... and I find it strange we should find someone new so soon after you, Smokescreen."

Optimus, to no one's surprise, did not close his mind to the other potential outcomes. "We cannot rule out the possibility of another Autobot making it to Earth. And I fear if we do not go to investigate, the Decepticons will."

That practically decided it.

"Then let's give 'em a warm welcome," Bulkhead said. His statement could go both ways depending on who would be waiting there to greet them.

"No, not you," Ratchet said. "You aren't recovered enough yet."

"Ratchet, I'm fine-"

He raised a servo. This was not a discussion. "You're fine when I say you're fine." He stared at Bulkhead until the ex-Wrecker decided it wasn't worth it, shaking his head and retreating down the hall with his leg dragging behind him.

A twinge of guilt struck him, but he shook it off. Bulkhead was unfit for battle and if Ratchet had to snap at him to get him to understand that, then so be it. Better that than dead.

Now, onto business.

He plugged the coordinates into the groundbridge, watching as it came to life, ready to welcome the team through.

"Autobots," Optimus began. "Proceed with caution."

He better prepare the med-bay, just in case.

---

::Agent Blurr to Cybertron Command, come in Cybertron Command! Code Red! Megatron is online, Decepticon invasion imminent! Is anybody there? Can anybody hear me? Is this blasted commlink even working?!::

Megatron listened to the message Soundwave had intercepted one more time.

It was strange.

"And this does not match anything you have in your archives?" he asked for confirmation. Soundwave's response was a simple nod. "It would seem that whoever this is, he's an Autobot. And yet he speaks of Cybertron..."

This was shaping up to be a very interesting day indeed.

"Trace the source and lock onto those coordinates," he ordered. "Dreadwing."

At the mention of his name, the seeker looked alert. "What do you wish of me, Lord Megatron?"

"Assemble some vehicon troopers and investigate. Find the Autobot and bring him here alive." It wouldn't hurt to interrogate him to figure out what he was prattling on about. And if he proved to simply be crazy, then all that would be necessary was an execution.

A race had begun and the prize at the end of the finish line... was the newcomer Autobot.

[aktosage]

Also Cybertronians vs time and dimensional travel like in the comics, if so who what where when why

(I will tackle this one first but I’ll answer the other ask tonight ;] again pls I get so excited when you ask something I can’t believe that even one person is that invested I will literally hug you so tight)

TIME TRAVEL!

We know that it dooooes exist, or at least did exist or will exist. Great scientists are definitely working on that but even Shockwave wouldn’t bicker with that too much because messing up one thing in the past could completely demolish the future.

Dimensional travel definitely! Since hey why ruin YOOOUR reality when you can ruin it for the other you am I right?

Brainstorm was actually the first one to crack the code with intent. He mostly did it to test his limits (or rather to show that his abilities have no limits) and to see what could be done. He isn’t evil, but he isn’t very ‘good’ either so I don’t think that he’d use it to stop the war in another reality or that it at least wouldn’t be his first thing on the to do list.

I bet that Kup somehow traveled to a different dimension in the past. That dude literally did everything and even finds a lesson in it. Tells that story sometimes, about how he had to avoid himself in a different universe all while looking for a good bar. (?????) But yes Brainstorm. Perceptor diiiiid work on that, but he was far more interested in working on the present, rather than the past or the future :( He would definitely hypothesize about it and aspire to master it in the future, but while his abilities are the same as Brainstorm’s he has a mental blockage.

Brainstorm is a menace tho dude would definitely travel if he could just to drink someone’s cube of energon to annoy them and make them wonder if they were crazy lmao.

I didn’t include TIME travel really, because if it waaaaas possible Megatron, or even SHOCKWAVE would definitely abuse it. Shockwave because he wants to (canonically, it’s hinted in Exodus that Megatron had to ‘remind’ him that his position on Cybertron is temporary and not a ‘leader’ position, but rather a second in command while Megatron leaves the planet to exterminate the autobots) It was experimented on off course, probably by Tarantulas even. He maybe even DID time travel but it had little use for him :/ + he would need a team of scientists that could actually make sure that he’s able to return back to present which is hard considering the constant bickering of the scientists, rivalry between him and Shockwave and his need to work solo.

In TFP Ratchet said that spacebridges were a rarity or at least super hard to build and maintain (the space bridge zombie megatron doing drugs episode). So I doubt that they even had time to consider working on time travel. The autobots barley had spacebridges available because of the decepticons’ occupation + I think that Megatron would much rather destroy the autobots nooow, because he is a “man of honor” (which is utter bs oh my god) and likes to give his opponents to fight back.

Thank you for the ask once again my beloved Ace <3333332 mwah mwah mwah

If anyone would like to ask about AAAANYTHING go ahead!!! Anon or not, here or in DMs :] you are more than welcome to do so

[omega-sentinel]

@the-shy-lonely-weirdo because we wanna continue our previous tennis-match analysis while also preventing the posts from getting too long

On the subject of warframes, we’d like to point out Warpath is still an Autobot (a member of the Elite Guard, in fact) in this timeline, and it would feel odd if he was literally the only warframe Autobot in existence. (Not counting Omega Supreme, which is a cultural analysis in himself). But they’re defiantly rare.

But when it comes to the why- especially when you throw in Flightframes into the mix. As a kid, given that they always say ‘Autobots have spacebridges and Decepticons can fly’, we thought that the ability to fly was something Decepticons discovered after the war started- either making whole new ‘Cons or converting preexisting ones. It’s even possible that any ‘warframes’ we see were converted into such, and makes you wonder if the reason you see so few of them is that Cybertron made it illegal to give those upgrades to regular civilians unless their the ones doing the experiments coughcough JetstormandJetfire coughcough.

Alternatively, perhaps the Allspark is the thing that grants new life the ability to adapt and chose their forms, while without it you’ve gotta rely on cold constructed/made-to-order type frames seen in IDW. With what you’ve already mentioned about fear and control, no wonder they’d wanna keep picking peoples frame types for them, just in case. Who knows, perhaps they were keeping an eye on the pre-jet jet twins because, had they been allowed to pick their forms, they’d have become jets naturally. Maybe getting their wings for the first time was like finally stretching a limb they hadn’t even realized had been aching, half-dormant protocols to jump and zip around and get as much air time as possible finally making sense for ones, adapting to flight in a third the time it took them to learn to drive.

Or- let’s deviate for a second to talk about Ratchet’s age- he’s old. And yet, other ‘bots from the same era never seem as old as he does, even if they should be older. On one hand, maybe Warframes- like we see composing most of the Decepticon army, just live longer. Which would also explain how rare they are in modern Cybertron- not just making less, but the ones they are trying to make are taking longer to ‘cook’ and taking more resources to do so, explaining why they’d look to transitioning Autobots into these new forms rather then make them from scrap. On the other hand, that doesn’t explain the other Autobots we see from around the war times that are still ‘young’ in modern day, other then say Ratchet was already many, many vorns older then all of them. 

We’ve seen people throw out the idea that ‘Bots can upgrade and replace parts over time- and given Ratchets past experience with the war, his many years of medical experience, and Lockdown specifically, it’s no wonder he’d step away from the idea of hacking off his own parts and replacing them. Maybe he shares a bit of Yoketron’s believes not to use resources that could aid/create future generations just to keep yourself going. Which, speaking of Yoketron in what is definitely not a forced tradition-

We see him die- and come back in a New body when Prowl transfers the spark to a new protoform. A procedure Prowl doesn't even need to stop and think about, and never seemed to think Yoketron would be against. And when rewatching the series recently, we had to stop and rewind at that spot. Cause, and maybe it’s just us looking to far into things- do you think his new body looked younger then the old one? Less lines on the face? Despite being his old mind and spark, it’s a new body. And that, that could be the difference. 

For bots like Ultra Magnus, he could have led the Autobots for several generations in the the terms of a Cybertronian lifespan. Super ingrained in the old ways, and so established that it’s a real blow to the system when he’s knocked off his perch (and leaving everyone a bit floundered on how to go about replacing him). And for Ratchet, well, after everything he’s been through, it’s not really a surprise he’d turn down a protoform so a new spark could find it’s home.

But you also gotta keep in mind they lost a lot of protoforms to Lockdown (the decepticons could keep themselves going for a long time), and they had a lot of bodies to recover after the end of the war. Plus, if they had the frames to spare, they’d probably have given one to Ultra Magnus when his condition went critical. And when you read up what they planned with the scrapped season and Arcee teaching Sari- it’s heavily implied that she didn’t just not have students to teach cause of her memory loss- there weren’t any students. Even when she was gonna teach Sari, they were gonna draw attention to the fact she was the only student in class. That it’s not just that the Decepticons have stagnant numbers- the Autobots have been dwendling in how many new bots their able to make in the first place. No wonder they need civilian frames to step up and assume the position of war frames. 

Of course you also have to wonder how you make protoforms- we’d assume the All Spark has something to do with it just cause that would be fitting- but let’s be honest, the All Spark was a Plot Device that the writers never actually planned to have a deeper connection to the rest of the story, or really define in any way. It was mostly just ‘hey, we wanna do this fun and weird plot line. How’d it happen? Eh, and All Spark Shard did it or something’. 

And you know what? While a lot of people lean into the idea that Shockwave used to be on of Megatrons generals serving with him from the start of the war- he’s always seemed to young to us. The way he acts, referring to Ratchet as an ‘old’ model, his interactions with Lugnut come across like the latter is meeting this ‘competition’ for the first time, and who knows, perhaps the crossroad being young and his special ability was the reason he worked as a spy in the first place- if they scanned him, his spark and systems wouldn’t have a couple million years more on the clock then they should. And if they had all the protoforms, they could make as many new ‘Cons as they wanted. 

While the Autobots talk about the Decepticon cause like it’s a bygone problem, that all the ‘Cons would be old and run down by now- their doing just fine. Ready to attack whenever the moment arrives. And the Autobots are no where near prepared. 

(Also, depending on what the Allspark actually Is to the Cybertronians, Ratchets imminent reaction of ‘put it back where it came from or so help me’ can be various levels of dickish. But honestly, not out of character.)

[in1-nutshell]

The request was deleted on accident. But it talked about Elita One from TFA having a twin sister that was the mom friend who took her place in Archa 7. Buddy turned into Blackarachnia, but based on SG! Blackarachnia. Buddy embraces her organic form and still has the same personality. I loved the amount of potential this prompt had. I did this on the Cons reaction to Buddy. If you would like a continuation, please let me know and request it when the requests are open.

Request from @mcanon

Hope you enjoy!

Elita One's twin sister taking her place as Blackarachnia

SFW, platonic, familial, angst, mentions of wounds and transformation, mentions of insecurity but nothing detailed

TFA

Buddy and Elita are spark twin.

Some of the closest sisters Cybertron had ever known.

Kup had named Elita for her air of status.

He named Optimus for his optimism.

He named Sentinel as his guarded nature.

He named Buddy because she was a buddy to everyone. No, not Buddy could befriend.

"Hahaha! What a lame name! Haha--" --Sentinel

Elita and Optimus death glaring at him.

"... But who am I to judge right guys?..." --Sentinel

Buddy loves Elita so much. But she swears that she has the braincell most of the time.

She shares it mostly with Optimus as they both watch Elita and Sentinel go outside of there comfort zone and do some questionable things.

Elita and Sentinel about to do something reckless.

Buddy and Optimus ready with the fire extinguisher and trash bags at the ready.

Then the event came at Archa 7...

Buddy and Optimus opposed going to a planet without their juristriction.

"Tell me again why we are here with you two?"-- Buddy

"Because we are the star candidates of the Elite Guard and you don't want to let them miss us."-- Sentinel

"Try again Sentinel."--Buddy

"Because you wouldn't let your twin go by herself?"-- Elita One

"Strike two Lita."--Buddy

"Because they are our dum friends and we love them too much?"-- Optimus

"That's the correct answer."--Buddy

"Can't believe it. Betrayed by my own sister."-- Elita One

"Love you too Lita."--Buddy

Then the spiders came out.

Sentinel managed to make it to the mouth of the cave and was ready to catch his friends at the opening.

Buddy and Elita downloaded Optimus's grappling hook and the three swung into the air.

They were getting closer and closer...

They were almost there...

Then Elita's download went out.

"AAAHHH!"--Elita One

"ELITA!"-- Everyone

"Gotcha!"-- Buddy

"Thanks Buddy! Wait what about your download?!"--Elita One

"Elita, Lita look at me!"--Buddy

"What--"--Elita One

"I love you guys to Cybertron and back."--Buddy

Rapid beeping sounds.

"OPTIMUS CATCH!"-- Buddy

Buddy throws Elita to Optimus as her download stops and falls back into the crumbling cave of spiders below

"BUDDY!"--Elita and Optimus

Buddy hits a support beam in the cave and it starts crumbling down on her and the spider's.

Elita is screaming for Buddy, Optimus is yelling but he knows that he has to get his remaining friends out of there now.

He doesn't know how but he managed to get a screaming Sentinel and limp Elita out of the dangers of the former cave.

Sentinel is furious for the both of them for leaving Buddy behind.

Optimus begins the scan already predicting the unlikely outcome that Buddy's signature to be online.

Elita...

Elita is frozen in horror looking at the remains of the cave. She starts the scan when Sentinel starts his.

They spend hours and hours looking.

Buddy's energon signature was no where to be seen.

The now trio returned to Cybertron with heavy sparks.

One filled with fury.

One filled with guilt.

One filled with sadness and despair.

Elita is shocked when she hears that Optimus took the blame for the venture. A part of her wanted to go straight to Magnus and tell the whole truth.

But the other part held some resentment.

If he had just caught her too...

Elita and Sentinel both continue their training in the Academy as Optimus went to do Spacebridge repairs.

Meanwhile...

Buddy had survived the fall.

As she tried to fight off the remaining spiders when she accidentally downloads it and gets bitten by the spiders.

She screams in agony as the venom slowly transformed her into something else. When it's finished the remaining spiders had left leaving Buddy alone to wallow alone in her newly transformed body.

She crawls out of the hole and starts looking around for her friends and twin.

"Sentinel? Optimus? Elita? Guys? Where are you? I'm here! I'm safe! Guys please this isn't funny! Sentinel! Optimus! Elita! Lita?! LITA?!?! PLEASE! SOMEONE?! ANYONE!?! DONT LEAVE ME ALONE!"--Buddy

Silence...

"...please... Don't go..."

Days pass and no sign of anyone. Buddy is convinced that they had left her for dead. She cries and cries until she has no more to cry... For now anyways.

She wants to hate the spiders.

She wants to blame someone.

But she knows deep down this was one her.

It takes a bit of silent reflection, Buddy comes to terms with her new body and decides to embrace her change.

Buddy knows that Cybertron is no longer an option, they would discete her without a second thought. And she was not ready to face her former Academy mates and Elita.

Maybe there was someplace out there that would accept her as she was. Maybe some bots out there in the vast universe.

It was at that moment that a Cybertronian ship had arrived.

Buddy nearly leaped for joy until she saw the insignia on the ship.

A Decepticon ship...

And the first to come down from the ship was none other than the leader himself, Megatron.

The history videos did not do his massive presence justice.

A couple more of his soldiers came down and began to talk to him.

"Why did we stop here Lord Megatron?"--Blitzwing

"Do not question our grand and glorious leader!"--Lugnut

"There was an energon spike here a few weeks ago. There has to be something here to have caused it."--Megatron

Buddy watched from a far as the Cons talked.

Suddenly a rouge spider had crawled out of the hole and started running to the Cons. Buddy didn't know what happened in that moment but she knew that no one deserves the transformation she endured, not even the worst bot in history.

She leaped out of her hiding place and pushed Megatron out of the way letting the spider to pounce on her.

"DIE SPIDER! DIE!"-- Buddy

"How dares-- What--"--Megatron

She remembered hearing a lot of shouting, but her main target was eliminating the spider once and for all.

It was a swift yet brutal death to the organic that left Buddy drenched in it's juices.

Buddy found herself face to face with several blasters. But they were all put down as soon as Megatron ordered it.

Buddy had never felt such a powerful presence, the only other bot to have a near effect was Ultra Magnus.

Buddy felt small, literally against these giants.

No one is expecting Megatron to hold out his servo to help Buddy from off her knees.

"What is your designation?"-- Megatron

"My designation is Buddy. I was a former medic for my team, but they abandoned me for dead."-- Buddy

"... Abandoned you say... And what in the case I offer you a spot in our ranks? You seem capable enough to keep up. What is your answer?"-- Megatron

"... I would like to join you and your army as you're medic."-- Buddy

"Done."--Megatron

"Master you can--"--Lugnut

"Done."-- Megatron

She is put in charge as the ships medic soon after. It's incredibly lonely and isolating at first. No Con wanting to go near her in fear of the disgusting organic body.

Buddy doesn't blame them either.

Buddy is very insecure about it but keeps it down and does her job. A job that she found out she was rather good at.

One of the first Cons to befriend Buddy besides Megatron was Blitzwing and Lugnut.

The others soon followed there after.

Megatron has respect for Buddy when a bit more of her backstory is revealed. Buddy of course never identifies the boys in her stories but, it does leave the warlord with some pity.

Over her time as the Cons medic, she becomes a confident ally,dare he say friend.

He is more than 100% willing to hurt thoughts who wronged Buddy despite what Buddy said about forgiving.

He knows part of that is a load of scrap.

He can see it in her optics.

"With all due respect Lord Megatron. But going one in one with a team of Autobots, one that had the Magnus hammer, was incredibly dumb."--Buddy

"I see that."--Megatron

"You should know better Lord Megatron. If it weren't for natural causes... It doesn't matter right now..."--Buddy

"You worry for me."--Megatron

"Of course I worry. You are our leader of course."-- Buddy

"And not because of something else?"--Megatron

"What do you mean? I don't understand..."--Buddy

"Something... Something like--"--Megatron

"Lord Megatron!"--Lugnut

"...Yes Lugnut..."--Megatron

Blitzwing s relationship with Buddy can be summarized as a sibling relationship.

Icy loves having conversations with Buddy whether work related or not.

Hothead enjoys teasing Buddy, but Primus help the vot how decides to make fun of Buddy while he's around.

It's the classic 'no one can bully my sibling but me'.

Random likes spooking and getting Buddy out of her comfort zone, but he has his limits.

Blitzwing helps Buddy create a stoic face that looks menacing and creepy.

Buddy has to fit in some how right?.

"Let's try this one more time. Show me your angry face."--Icy

"Like this angry!"--Hothead

"Like this!"--Buddy

"Aw! You look like one of those earth kitties!"--Random

Lugnut is the next one.

Lugnut had his doubts at first with Buddy and thought she was an Auto or spy for a bit.

But as soon as he is in charge of getting her updated on Con activity and see her trying, he is hooked.

Buddy is a nice colleague to talk to and rant about the greatest achievements of Lord Megatron.

"So you think that Lord Megatron would like this poem?"--Lugnut

"... Lugnut maybe you should stick with giving him some of his oil before trying the poem thing again."--Buddy

Starscteam is last on the list because he was extremely wary of Buddy.

Not just because of her organic side. But because of her kindness and gentleness. Two traits that are not commonly associated with Cons.

He does come to terms with Buddy as she listens to his rants and genuinely worries for him when he goes out of the base too long.

He has told Buddy that when he becomes leader, he'll make Buddy his Second in Command.

Buddy gently declines this offer as she still works for Megatron and that she is not leader material .

He insisted though.

"For the last time Starscteam. I am not leader material, and anyways I have nothing against Lord Megatron."--Buddy

"We will see when I am the new leader!"--Starscream

[fang-wolfsbane]

Transformers Animated: Morning After: Chapter 04: Awakening

He couldn’t remember much.

All he did remember was his processor whirring and his helm aching as if Bulkhead decided to body slam his helm after performing some kind of crude decapitation. The loud warning siren wasn’t helping all that much either.

Groaning to himself, Highdrive’s optics struggled to force themselves online, watching as frost disappeared from the glass casing surrounding him. A nano click later he stepped out, a servo flying to hold said helm. From the looks of it, those around him seemed to have a similar problem.

Highdrive didn’t need to ask what had happened. One moment the six of them had been on an asteroid, clearing debris from a spacebridge when they’d discovered something Ratchet had called the ‘Allspark’, something that should have remained an object of legend, but was now within the very ship they occupied. He would have asked if it was still on board, but from what he could see, Optimus was already standing at the control panel, looking over a video feed of what had brought them online in the first place.

A giant… he didn’t know what. From what he could figure out, it seemed to be an organic, and Optimus Prime wasn’t all that keen about just letting them sit this one out. A silent conversation seemed to take place between the Prime and their head medic, Ratchet. A conversation neither he nor Bumblebee planned on interrupting.

How they had gone from trying to defend the very creation of life for their kind from the dark lord of Cybertron himself to ending up on an organic planet was beyond him. He knew he could chalk it up to the planet’s gravity pulling them in, causing them to crash on the surface, which was why they had to go into stasis from the start. A check on his internal clocking mechanism revealed that it had been approximately fifty stellar cycles since that day. A day he didn’t ever want to go through again.

By all rights they should have been focusing on getting the ship back in, well, shipshape, but before he could think to voice his opinion, he watched as Optimus sent out the ship portable AI drone, Teletraan One to scan the organic vehicles. If they were heading out, they were doing so in disguise. Better safe than sorry, at least on one front.

Collecting the data they needed, the drone sent the schematics to the biggest stasis pod, locking in the alterations it needed to perform on them in order for them to seem like they at least somewhat belonged on this planet, whichever one that was.

Highdrive headed in after Bumblebee, trying to hide his discomfort as he synchronised himself with the pod, downloading the data it had chosen for him. At best it was a painful stinging sensation, but not bad enough that he risked squealing like a sparkling to be teased by the other mini-bot the moment he stepped out.

Dimming his optics, Highdrive watched the pod scan his current form, then download the schematics to his frame, causing it to shift and mould itself in the appropriate areas to ensure a flawless alternative four-wheel form. This was his official first scan since boarding the ship, actually his very first scan since leaving Cybertron, since reaching an age appropriate for him to leave academy grounds. Thinking on this, he felt a pained tug at his spark that he tried to ignore. Now wasn’t the time to dwell on the past.

After they all transformed into their new forms for the first time, Highdrive wished for a reflective surface to give himself a once-over. From what he could see in Optimus’s sidemirror, he was rather low to the ground like Bumblebee, but not as bulky. No, his form was sleeker, smoother. The way his paintjob mixed in with the vehicle’s natural decals, he seemed to be some kind of emergency four-wheeler, which suit him just fine, considering that it was something he had been studying for fifty stellar cycles ago.

They were about to head out when Ratchet mentioned that he wanted to stay behind with the ship to run some diagnostics, putting in a request for Highdrive to stay behind as well. Having never been on another planet before, Highdrive silently begged their commander to let him go with, surprisingly receiving the option to choose. It wasn’t a hard one.

“If Ratchet stays behind, then I should go with you. I mean, it only makes sense for there to be a medic in the field, just in case something happens,” Highdrive said, using a textbook excuse he’d heard from a senior back at the academy when they had gotten the opportunity to go out in the field for the first time. The hum their leader gave earned a grumble from the eldest bot.

“There you have it. Autobots, let’s roll out.” And with that, Highdrive followed the red and blue truck out of the ship, straight into fluid-like substance that enveloped around them the moment the ship’s doors opened to usher them into the brand new world.

[transformersvn]

Thoughts on Transformers: War For Cybertron - Earthrise

My thoughts on this are less cohesive than last time, so I hope you're ready for a long ramble as I try to figure out exactly what I think about the series.

Tl;dr - still looks really pretty, but Siege’s weak writing hasn't improved.

Spoilers below the cut.

Earthrise generally suffers from being part 2 of 3. It's focused on getting characters from point A (Cybertron) to point B (Earth) and doesn't really do much in the meantime. You could've cut episodes 4 and 5 and it wouldn't have affected the plot all that much.

Megatron and Optimus

They need to stop having fights. It'd be best for their characters and the plot if they hadn't spent several minutes pointing guns at each other and saying that *this* time they were actually going to kill them. Just follow through already and if you can't then keep them apart until the climax.

Optimus getting distracted by Cog running up and going 'Optimus! What are you doing?!' was stupid. Cog should've been glad that Optimus was finally at the point where he wouldn't sacrifice every last Autobot to save Megatron if given the opportunity.

Them being trapped together was pointless and stupid (aside from that one screenshot we all made). Megatron's point that Optimus keeps screwing up and it's Megatron who pays the price was interesting - but it was surrounded by so much nonsense that it fell flat.

Speaking of…

Autobot Decepticon teamups

Are they trying to lean towards ending the series with mutual cooperation and peace? Their 'we all need to work together' moments were always horribly shoehorned and the Autobots didn't once try to put measures in place to defend themselves when the Decepticons inevitably betrayed them.

I like hero/villain teamups, but it doesn't work if the heroes are stupid about them.

Scorponok fight

There is a big room with a big enemy in. The Autobots have shut themselves in a corridor on one side of the room. They need to reach the other side of the room without getting killed. Whose idea was it to try and kill Scorponok instead of just evasive maneuvers to the other side of the room?!?

To be fair, Optimus did try and run distraction, but Bumblebee decided that was a stupid plan and standing still and shooting at the enemy - that none of their blasters had even scratched - was a better one.

It was a stupid fight. If they wanted a Megatron/Optimus moment so badly then, hey, the Autobots have rigged the station to blow and the Decepticons don't know that - have Megatron set off an explosion by accident and trap him and Optimus (who could've been diving forward to try and stop Megatron, thereby getting close).

The Dead Universe

You could've replaced this with Optimus getting a vision from the Matrix and Megatron having a short visit from future!Galvatron. It wasted time that could've been spent on actual character development.

Skylynx had about 3 lines that he just repeated variants of the whole episode.

Was it clear to anyone who hadn't seen the 1986 movie exactly what the Megatron/Galvatron link was? They were pretty vague about it.

Also, if Skylynx's advice made Optimus go 'hmm, yes, I should stop looking back and actually kill Megatron to prevent my own death', then Galvatron's advice to Megatron should've made him go 'I don't hate Prime this much/if he’s dedicated all his effort into stopping Prime and still failed, there must be another way'. I suppose, he didn’t kill Optimus when given a perfect opportunity, but that also just felt like an extension of their endless *points gun* “one-liner” *tables are turned* cycle.

Elita

Poor, poor, badly written Elita. She can't get anything done without Jetfire - the big strong man - questioning her or being the one to save the day, or making a desperate plan to try and fight their way out of captivity when they're going to be sacrificed, but we never see their escape attempt.

I don't think she acts like someone who is on a doomed planet. Breaking into prisons camps makes less sense than trying to find a way to fix things. Let her fail, fine, but give her a fighting chance to try and reignite Cybertron or, say, find someone who is rumoured to be able to create synthetic energon - which could've been a reason for prison breaks at least.

And it was probably meant to be read differently, but Elita's silence over her name when Megatron called her Ariel to her face, versus Optimus snarling that ‘her name is Elita-1!′ when Megatron used 'Ariel' around him, kinda makes me wonder whose decision it was to rename her.

Cog

They don't get to make me sad about a character death when that character had previously stopped Optimus from finally trying to kill Megatron and also failed to just bloody shoot Deeceus. And had he really taken the enemy ship? Really?

Misc

We never found out why the station was trapped halfway through the Spacebridge.

Optimus's voice actor still sounds like a bad Batman when he's angry, though he might've gotten away with it if Megatron's voice actor didn't have such a good "Prime" snarl.

Everyone is miserable, which isn't necessarily a bad thing in a series about the struggles of war, but when it's aimed at kids you have to ask the question: are they enjoying it? It is fun to watch?

Ultra Magnus's head was sort of flagged up as important - specifically its location was noted by Elita - but never appeared again once Megatron left Cybertron. Did he take it with him?

For having such a hard-on for the 1986 movie, their decision to have Megatron beg for mercy (something quite out of character for this version of Megatron) and not include Optimus's 'you who are without mercy now plead for it?' line was a weird whiplashy moment.

Showing Glavatron and Unicron in the trailer when they literally appear for one episode and five second respectively was seriously false advertising. When did people forget that watching a trailer is supposed to give you an idea of the type/style of plot the media is supposed to deliver?

The editing is bad in several places. There were often moments where there would be an explosion in place A, then it'd cut to a battered character in place B getting up in a ruined room, making it look like they'd been in said explosion. Confusing in a series where palette-swapping and similar character designs already make it difficult for newcomers to tell what's going on.

The velociraptor-bot at the end looked like 90's CGI and I really hope Kingdom doesn't all look like that.

If Hot Rod doesn't show up and get the Matrix in Kingdom I'm going to be severely disappointed.

Starscream really likes speechifying to a tiny audience. He makes his bid to become leader in front of a nameless Decepticon, Soundwave, Ravage, and an injured Megatron - who promptly shoots him. I have to admit that he’s probably the character they did best by, his coup moments were pretty good and captured Starscream as we all know him.

Like the question of what exactly was under siege in Siege, Earthrise only gets to Earth at the end of the last episode.

Wheeljack felt weirdly useless. He didn’t get to go through with his plan of blowing up the station and couldn’t open a pair of blast doors that Soundwave had 0 problems with. After not being the one to fix the Spacebridge in Siege, he’s not feeling much like an engineer.

You had to guess motivations and plans and fairly often piece things together backwards after the fact. Having an idea of who everyone was made that easier for me than for non-fans, but I still ended up running on incorrect assumptions about what people were going to do and why.

...

So, there you go. I guess I’m still going to watch Kingdom when it comes out, but I think I’ve lost all my optimism for it being any good.

[wemblingfool]

With Beast Wars triumphant return, as well as Cheetor and Skybyte appearing in Cyberverse, and Barricade finally getting pulled out of the bayverse, it's really wonderful to see the G1 deathgrip finally beginning to loosen.

But there are still a ton of characters and designs who deserve to be rescued from obscurity. (Mine is by no means a complete list)

Beast Era- There was just so many, that if I don't limit myself, this list will be nothing but BW. Avoiding Beast Wars US show characters because they get 90% of the attention.

Razorbeast: Was just an empty toy-only character until Furman got ahold of him and did his typical magic to obscure toy only characters. Razorbeast was the best thing from IDW's terrible BW comic.

Botanica: The first (and only serious) plant TF. She would be amazing to see expanded.

Jetstorm: Like a bad gameshow host, Jetstorm was a joy to watch in Beast Machines. He also had a brilliant design that never got justice.

Hydra: From Beast Wars Neo, Hydra was a really lonely Predacon.

Killer Punch: Also from BW Neo, he was a conspiracy theorist on the level of The Question, or The Lone Gunmen. Imagine him sitting in his mother's basement (if Destrons/Predacons had mothers), blogging on the internet about how the original Megatron was secretly an autobot double agent.

Robots in Disguise- Everyone, honestly. Y'all really need to stop the RiD hate train. But here are the stand outs (for me)

Scourge: Is much more interesting a character than anything that's been done with "Nemesis Prime," since.

Gigatron: I go with Gigatron because IMO, he was much more interesting than his US Megatron version. Six modes and driven insane to the point of each mode having a unique personality.

The Predacon Trio: Darkscream, Slapper, and Gasskunk. Skybyte makes the occasional appearance recently. He needs his troops, who were fun enough on their own.

The Autobot Brothers: Sideburn, Prowl, and X-Brawn.

TAI: The best computer the autobots have. In any continuity.

Unicron Trilogy- The biggest continuity outside of the extended G1 continuity. As usual, too many to list.

Thunderblast: Not the most interesting toy, but she was a fun character

Shortround: Dude was a toy collector. He's one of us. He deserved to be brought back.

Brushguard: A decepticon botanist who loves old b-movies. What's not to love?

Ransack & Crumplezone: One of the most iconic duos in all TF

Landmine: We need more grumpy old robots, beyond Ironhide and Kup. Also, autobot construction vehicles are very rare.

Vector Prime: Amazing given how important he was/is, at how little he's been used since. The "multiversal singularity" thing was hands down one of the dumbest narrative moves, but that's no fault of Vector Prime's.

Override: She was an interesting design, and deserves to have more done with her.

Bayverse-

Blackout: neat design and a fairly blank character

Ransack: He's a friggin' biplane!

Sideswipe: same

"Daytrader": A Steve Buscemi transformer. Another Swindle-type character. He deserves to be rescued!

Crosshairs: Fairly big personality, which is rare for a bayverse TF, and an interesting design. I'd take him before G1 Crosshairs.

Animated- Just turn TF into animated for a few more years and I'll be happy. But, in terms of moving characters forward

Prowl: What's not to love? Peaceful nature loving ninja.

Bulkhead: A clumsy, sweet gentle giant with the soul of an artist. Everyone thinks he's an idiot, but he's the best spacebridge technician on Cybertron.

Sentinel Prime: Never been a more fun Sentinel, and never will be!

Lugnut: He just kinda got dumped.

Blitzwing: Would kill to see a future Blitzwing take after him instead of the dull as dirt G1 Blitzwing

Aligned- To be honest, i hate this trainwreck as much as I do Bayverse. But there are still concepts and characters worth salvaging

Knock Out: Dude was a blast. One of the only enjoyable things in TFP.

Soundwave: The only interesting Soundwave out there, imo.

Strongarm: She deserves moving forward

NuRiD Decepticons: Unique and fun designs, all of them! Would love to see Steeljaw and Bisk again!

Bumblebee- It is small. And it is broken. But it is still good... Yeah. Still good.

Shatter & Dropkick: Very much afraid these two will be quickly forgotten about and abandoned.

Cyberverse- it did a lot of new things with old characters. But it did bring some new and unique characters to the table.

Clobber: Sorta stole TFA Lugnut's design while being an amazing new character. She's something we've never seen before- a female big muscleheaded idiot brute. Female TFs are now becoming common enough that we're starting to get variety.

Wild Wheel: Nothing about him wasn't amazing. The show was cancelled before he even appeared, though.

Thunderhowl: Like Wild Wheel, didn't show up until Cyberverse was cancelled.

Hammerbyte: same

Botcon- While under Fun Publications, Botcon became nothing but milling out more G1. But under MiB and 3H, and even in FP's early days, they did give us some unique characters.

Fractyl & Packrat: I don't think there's a more iconic set of characters to Botcon than these two.

Shadow Striker & Roulette: Shadow Striker has gotten to move forward a bit. She appeared in the movie line, which that version was then the inspiration for Cyberverse Shadow Striker, but her sister has been all but forgotten.

Flareup: She's a very bubbly and upbeat personality, who happens to take an almost fiendish glee in blowing stuff up. She's the best thing FP ever did.

Landshark: One of the most hated FP characters, and I've never understood exactly why. He'd be brilliant if he got good fiction:

Landshark doesn't know where he got his name from and he doesn't really care. Some 'bots tend to confuse it with "Landmine", but once Landshark pulls his fist from their abdomen they don't seem to get it wrong anymore. Always the practical jokester and seen by his peers as a wiseguy, he often makes light of even the most dramatic situations. Once, he had one of his power claws ripped off of his body by a blood thirsty Narliphant. Landshark didn't fret about the situation; he simply turned to Flak and asked, "Can you give me a hand?"... Flak was not amused. Able to transform his auxiliary battle platform into a hydraulic booster pack, he has the strength to wield two massive power claws capable of ripping open an enemy's armor plating. This feature also gives him the ability to cling onto or climb up almost any structure. While in vehicle mode, Landshark enjoys intimidating, and then plowing down, anyone that stands in his way.

Like I said, these are all just scratching the surface. But these are all some of my most favorites.

[melishade]

I was wondering what if Optimus prime from transformers animated end up in the world of attack on Titan instead of Optimus, prime (transformers prime) and how would that play out?

Let's say TFA Optimus gets zapped to the AOT world during the season 2 finale with the spacebridge. He kind of gets caught up in it along with TFA Megatron as they are trying to escape and lands right in the middle of Trost during episode five. Same motions kind of happen. They are able to retake Trost, but instead of an Optimus who's willing to stay, TFA Optimus kind of wants to leave.

It's not that he doesn't want to help. Quite the opposite. It's just that he's in the middle of a war of his own and he needs to get back to his team, Detroit, and stop Megatron because he's not sure where TFA Megatron is. And he says that in the Judgement Day, in front of everyone. Military Police are suspicious of this and think TFA Optimus is going to bring back more enemies, which TFA Optimus vehemently denies. If anything, he would bring back more allies! This whole situation for you guys is horrible! But if he doesn't make sure TFA Megatron is taken care of, along with the other Decepticons who might still be at large, a lot more people could end up suffering because of it.

This would be where Erwin would come in and explain that TFA Optimus and the Survey Corps could work together. If TFA Optimus helps them expand territory and fight back against the titans, he'll have more resources to get home. Because the people of the Walls don't know what's out there, and neither does Optimus. He'll end up blind, even lost. This is a situation where both parties can benefit from each other. TFA Optimus decides...this is probably the better course of action, and he ends up staying and aiding the Survey Corps.

Now the Survey Corps and the 104th can't help but marvel at how tiny Optimus is. But he's still a very skilled fighter. TFA Optimus is understandably concerned and cautious at how Hanji has taken such an interest with him and how he works. They do manage to recreate a knock-off energon source via TFA Optimus' instructions because unlike TFP, they can't find an energon deposit on the island. Although, Optimus says it tastes gross, Hanji's excited to have a possible new energy source.

Erwin, Mike, and Levi do take note that TFA Optimus is...kind of young too. He's definitely seen some shit, but he's clearly someone trying to come into his own as a leader. 

Eren doesn’t like TFA Optimus initially, but that’s because of his hatred of titans. I’d like to picture that one day when Hanji is running experiments and has Eren transform into his titan form, he makes the unconscious decision to attack TFA Optimus. But TFA Optimus has got this. He faces opponents bigger than him all the time. He takes a page out of what he’s observed with the Survey Corps and the 3D Gear and puts his own spin on it with his own grappling hook and axe and takes down Eren with ease. Which everyone is extremely impressed by. When Optimus cuts Eren out of the nape, he replies that he faces titans bigger than him on a regular basis.

Eren thinks that he’s so cool after that and asks for TFA Optimus to train him, which is weird for the ‘Bot because this kid tried to kill me and now wants to learn something from him. But Optimus realizes that Eren is misguided and going through a lot. He was certain he didn’t ask for any of this. Maybe he could help him out a little with this.

However, because of Optimus’ size, battles are going to be a lot tougher, and he really has to work around a lot in order to take down someone like Annie or even Reiner.

TFA Optimus is initially hesitant about the coup, but takes one look at the government, and it reminds him of Cybertron and he’s screaming “Let the Monarchy Burn!”

Instead of being seen as a father figure, he’s seen as an older brother. Zeke is jealous of that, and TFA Optimus is reminded of Sentinel’s arrogance whenever he’s around Zeke. He has beef with Zeke, as does everyone else.

He’s still worried for the Autobots, and they are panicking because he and TFA Megatron are missing, and they just found out Sari is a techno-organic. So they are reeling right now.

TFA Megatron?...he wouldn’t work with Paradis. He’ll probably lie in wait in Marley before striking. That’s what he did with Dr. Sumdac. It seems will within his character.