#mandroid hates her

[earthspark-shockwaves-reduction]

actually I find it so funny that they made a whole new bot named aftermath instead of actually showing the aftermath of s1

[emlos]

im calling it now btw alex will open his marriage to bee at the end of the season

[cityzenshark]

If S2 doesn't improve the story focus...

Decepticon fan speaking here. I love them, I want to see them getting the limelight, but Earthspark isn't their show. It's about the Terrans and their relationship with the Malto family. There are over a dozen other media where your favourite classics get their spotlight but this show might not be one of them. We have to accept that.

However, EarthSpark's big problem is its disregard of its own main characters to the point the audience care more about the side characters.

Long ramble ahead.

.

From Season 1, Earthspark has the tendency to disregard their own main characters for the sake of already existing ones. Thrash, Robby, Jawbreaker, and the parents are big victims here.

Thrash, despite being the other first Terran, gets little to no development. He only had one focus episode that shifted his positive view of Cybertronians yet it didn't affect his characteristic or the family dynamic whatsoever. He could've been involve in other episodes focusing on the triplets, specifically with Nightshade, like Twitch with Hashtag, but he doesn't. In the end, his canvas is just like his paint job -- empty white.

Robby could've get 4 episodes about him only for 3 of them to be shifted to Twitch & Wheeljack, Starscream, Mo. Never mind the Wheeljack episode and "Prime Time" but "What Dwells Within" is the worst of them all. Now it appears Season 2 is heavily focusing him after S1 dismisses him multiple times.

Starscream, I'm sorry what you've been through, but that episode should never be about you. Robby is sick, the Terrans got rocky with other due to the lost link which triggered Hashtag's trauma of getting possessed, and then they lost their LIFE SOURCE WATER. Earthspark wanted the audience to side with Starscream so bad they put him in the pity light instead of laying out hints of his past in previous episodes and allow the viewers to decide for themselves. The dude's a millennium old soldier, not another Terran.

EDIT: The same case goes for Grimlock. As bad as the dude has gone through in "Home", he's also a millennium-old soldier. He knows he's going through PTSD but Jawbreaker doesn't. JB is a newborn. Instead of celebrating JB when he finally got his alt mode, the moment made viewers hate him because it focuses on Grimlock's point of view.

[IMPORTANT NOTE FOR JB FANS: DO NOT GO TO TRANSFORMEMES SUBREDDIT!! RECENTLY, A USER THERE CAUSED TERRAN HATERS TO POP UP AND WISHING J.B TO DIE A HORRIBLE DEATH BECAUSE HE ACTED LIKE AN OVEREXCITED KID]

The parents... Oh dear their potentials are wasted soooo much. Ignoring Dot's relationship with Megs, they've become mere placements to remind the audience that Robby & Mo aren't poor orphans.

Dot being a veteran is to make her relationship with Megs sound plausible, that's all. Meanwhile Alex's profession in Cybertronian history is only relevant in the pilot episode and he only told the most basic one in lore. They never fuss about the cybersleeves, they seem available all the time but not really, they're ignorant of their children's activities, completely fine with them becoming child soldiers. Dot could've been the one to beat Mandroid to pulp in Prime Time like the Mama Bear she's described to be but no - let the nine year old beat him with alien powers. Alex could've played a bigger role for the Terrans to know about Cybertronians in general; for Nightshade especially by being the one who enables their intelligence and tinkering skills - not just leading them to finding their alt mode.

The show should've made Mo the same age as Robby. You can't ignore that they act like twins more than Twitch & Thrash despite the 5 year age gap. For a nine year old, she has high emotional intelligence yet so inconsiderate and naive at the same time in certain episodes. Pick one personality, please.

Finally, why oh why didn't they fix her face and head size? It looks a lot worse now.

TLDR; don't be surprised by the sudden change in character of the Cons. Earthspark doesn't respect their own main characters except Twitch. So let us heed Season 2 with low expectations.

[blueskyscribe]

So if Season 2 of Earthspark had started with the Decepticons and Autobots reconciled, I wouldn't have batted an eye. It's a cartoon, that is par for the course.

HOWEVER I'm happy the show didn't go that route, I'm happy the Decepticons are still the antagonists.

Joining forces to fight a common foe makes sense; Mandroid wanted to destroy ALL robots. We see these teamups a lot (and I love them every time), they happened in G1, Beast Wars, and TFP off the top of my head. But typically when the threat is over, so is the alliance.

Look at this from the Decepticons' perspective: Megatron leads them to this backwater planet, changes sides, and DESTROYS the only way back to Cybertron. For the crime of existing on this planet, which you never wanted to go to and cannot leave, Megatron + the Autobots assist GHOST in hunting you down (even if you're non-violent) to be imprisoned and experimented on. And when do the Autobots turn against GHOST? Only after GHOST starts targeting them and the Terrans.

Don't you think the Decepticons would see that in a cynical light? "Oh, it's a problem when the leopards eat YOUR face, huh?" And would Mandroid even have had all that power if the Autobots hadn't enabled GHOST, who enabled Mandroid?

Hashtag was really empathetic towards Starscream and I do believe he is fond of her. But it would be odd for him to give up his ambitions and ideology because a child was kind to him. You can like a child and hate their parents. And if we're talking about Starscream's PTSD being his big motivator . . . all the Terrans and Autobots are besties with Megatron, the guy who caused it. (If anything I would expect Starscream to kidnap Hashtag, like "this is for your own good, everyone except ~me~ is a bad influence." Actually I would love this as a mini-arc.)

Tarantulas is the only Decepticon who I could see immediately switching sides because he was very lukewarm about being a 'Con and really only cared about doing science and surviving. But I don't think he showed up in the finale so I'm not sure he's aware of what went down.

Anyway, I do think it's likely many (or maybe all) of the Decepticons will eventually resolve things with the Autobots, I just think it will be better if they let it play out naturally instead of making it instant like flipping a switch.

[monocle-teacup]

So it's always bugged me about how Mandroid was able to torment Hashtag in her mind. I don't know why it took me so long to realize that the whole sequence is most likely a result of the control badge's programming. With how much he hated Transformers, adding a program that would psychologically terrorize them once the badge was attached seems like something he'd do.

[arceespinkgun]

Can I ask what you like about the Prime Time episode (the one with Mo on the astral plane)? Just out of curiosity, because I haven’t seen any positive opinions for it (personally, I’m neutral) so I would love to know what you think!

Sure, I've never understood why people don't like it? It's one of the best episodes! I wrote a post about it once before where I compared it to another TF show but I'll say some more here. If I remember correctly it's usually two things people say they didn't like:

It's too confusing. Did the Maltos actually teleport to Quintus Prime's ship and did Mo fight Mandroid, or was that a vision?

A child like Mo shouldn't be burdened with all this power and be put in danger like this, especially not right after her brother almost died fighting.

But these ideas don't make any sense to me? When it comes to the first one, nothing about the episode's plot was confusing at all! The cyber-sleeves and Emberstone are connected to each other, and literally the entire span of earlier episodes showed us how the people connected to those things have mental and emotional connections? That's how the vision could be shared like that and why Mo's battle with Mandroid didn't have to physically take place for the Emberstone to be affected in real life! Kids will understand this. And if people didn't, now at least it should be 100% clear because we just learned a lot more about what the Emberstone is now that season 2's begun.

When it comes to the second thing, that's literally what the episode is about and why it's good! The entire plot is about Mo grappling with how unfair what happened to Robby is, how upset she is, and what she's supposed to do now when she and her family has all these powers! And when I saw fans complaining about how these kids shouldn't be burdened with all of this... yes? That's what the show is exploring? I hate to break it to all of you, but children who are people of color are placed in disadvantaged positions every second of every day in real life. And if it's not obvious enough that this is what the show is talking about, we get all this extra context in season 2 now, where Mo specifically gets to struggle more with realizing that maybe Quintus Prime really didn't make such great decisions and might have seeded a legacy that hurt many, many people, and Mo and Robby ultimately decide to reject his essence.

The commentary of this show and these episodes are extremely valuable... and also extremely blatant, and I don't understand why I've never seen anybody talk about this! Oh, and of course the action and backgrounds and everything were also great, but that's the usual for this show.

[botopsy]

hi hello i did some more rewatching and noticed that optimus makes a whole motion that none of the others make after he throws the terrans off. i would say potentially that megatron and elita not firing when they both had twitch at gunpoint is them hesitating but what is this. what does it mean. is it an expression of mandroid somewhere being frustrated and it coming through the link? is this as close as optimus could get to expressing how much he hates being forced to attack them and bumblebee?

i also think given the fact optimus managed to get up

and the fact that his optics flickered before he was even hit with the spear, and right after he made that motion... that he was potentially the closest one to actually breaking out of the mind control. maybe it was matrix nonsense, maybe it wasn't

either way it's just too bad it wasn't enough ❤

side note, twitch goes THROUGH it in this entire episode. elita almost shoots her before megatron does and optimus crushers her against some shipping containers. chat is she okay

[nevis-the-skeleton]

Starscream Earthspark

So, I saw all the episodes of Earthspark yesterday, and I'm so happy! I really have a lot to say about this series, which is really great, but here I'm going to focus on my favorite character. Those who know me surely know who I'm going to talk about X): Starscream!

We finally have a Starscream that is listened to and believed! I was so happy when Hashtag tried to put herself in his shoes, and even ended up standing up for him against Megatron. The fact that someone believed him, understood that he didn't deserve everything he went through made me feel so good and made me so happy.

I was so sad after TFP ended because the show seemed to show that Starscream deserved all the horrific abuse he suffered, both physically and mentally. Even in RID15 we are going in this direction, and I admit that it annoyed me. But when I saw the direction Earthspark was heading, I jumped for joy. We finally allow this more than misunderstood character to express himself and talk about his pain.

So, yeah, he's Starscream, and he's not really a good guy. But that doesn't justify all he's suffered at Megatron's hands. As Hashtag says, it wasn't all his fault. Not much is known about Megatron and Starscream's past yet, and I hope the show will expand on their history more. For example, how did they come to hate each other so much.

After, when Megatron and Starscream are fighting in the cave, I think if Megatron was so violent against Starscream, it's probably because there was Hashtag. He has such a bad image of Starscream that he must have thought the Seeker was attacking Hashtag.

Also, I think it's no exaggeration to say that Starscream must have suffered greatly at the hands of Megatron in this universe as well. Because Starscream literally tells him that he's not safe where Megatron is. So, we don't yet know how violent it was, but we can still have some guesses. There is also the hurt of Megatron's abandonment of the cause which is clear in Starscream.

Anyway, I'm really happy with Starscream's arc, and the development the Earthspark writers decided to give him. We see that he's going to go into redemption, just like Megatron, and it's nice to see that he's being given a chance too. Megatron has often had the right to a redemption arc (in IDW for example) but Starscream never (not really).

I also like that it was surely him who rallied the Decepticons helped the Terrans. When Twitch releases the others, and asks them for help, clearly none of them want to interfere. But as soon as Starscream arrives, everyone else arrives with him. So we can assume that he was the one who convinced them to help, and I think that's really great.

I can't wait to see what happens next and how the story will progress. There is still plenty to say about Earthspark, but here I focused on Starscream. I could also talk about the horrible death of Karen right in front of her brother John (poor John...), or the terrifying metamorphosis of Mandroid, or even the evolution of Robby and Mo (which is really cool).

PS: The fact that Starscream is practically adopting Hashtag is adorable X3. The hug scene with Twitch too, so not used to affection XD.

[melyonza]

If something I like about Earthspark is the strong friendship of Dot and Megatron.

I was surprised that Megatron was friends with a human, because one is used to seeing him hate the human species, but here he cares a lot about his friend.

In the first chapter, they show us that the family had just moved and then they show us a Megatron happy to see it again. Indicating that they had not seen each other for a long time.

Dot probably stayed away from transformers for the sake of her family. Megatron knew the risk Dot was running by being her friend, something the Decepticons would never accept.

When Optimus explains that they should team up, she is not happy, but when Megatron shows up, they are both excited to team up again.

When Mandroid kidnaps Megatron, Dot cares a lot for Megatron and refuses to give him up.

Megatron cares so much for Dot that he threatens to kill Mandroid if he does anything to her. Showing us that even when separated, they care a lot about each other.

When they explain to the Terrans not to trust the Decepticons. They point out to Megatron which causes Dot to feel that he is different.

I really need to know the story of how they both became best friends.

[pluralsword]

Months Later, Earthspark...

So... we didn't forget about Earthspark.

How could we? We've said we think it's the overall best Transformers show so far in 2023 CE, we were very excited at how it tackled how gender and alt-mode can relate to each other (except the Jawbreaker episode was a disappointment what with how masculinity problems were basically substituted for dinosaurs and mixed up with what should have been a PTSD narrative for Grimlock separate from Jawbreaker's aesthetic journey, and on the subject of rage that came here you would sure think the warrior teacher gal Robbie's asks if she'd show her "beserker rage" would have had some advise), the prison abolition stuff is cool, Arcee was fantastic and so very clearly drawing on her IDW iterations to the point we were hoping she'd talk about gender stuff onscreen and it would unfortunately seem that is not likely to happen... So we were enthused, but also frustrated, with how the Terran and Cybertronian aspects of life are almost always only seen through the lens of anatomy, vague history, or the oppression they go through under an ICE allegory, and qualms that have been touched on how the Terrans are basically raised without connection or celebration of transformer societal practices along with false equivalencies of the Transformers to human immigrants to the USA and uh well... ...there were some things that squicked us about some of the threats the characters faced that reminded us of childhood traumas from media and socialization growing up and we don't feel like getting into it directly too much.

We wanted to write something that honored the parts we liked while navigating how we think the bots in-universe would feel about the stuff the show didn't cover or the traumas they were put through, and how they may have tackled that offscreen, if only because we feel the deep want to. So... several months ago, after writing part of the first chapter but not being in the emotional headspace to actually finish it what with other things in life going on, we got back to it in November:

All Souls' Reforging is Neverending, which you can read on Ao3, here's the summary:

After the events of Season 1 Episode 19 "A Stygi Situation", Grimlock and Jawbreaker are in the forest when Grim gets a call from his close friend and old revolutionary war pal, Arcee, who's checking on him and offering to hang out beyond the notice of GHOST to help with his healing process, as Grimlock had done for her twice in the past. Grimlock happily agrees, and Jawbreaker goes along as well. In the Autobot's hideaway, Arcee and Grimlock detail to Jawbreaker some of the depths of peaceful transformer history and society that overlap and differ from humanity, the hierarchy that disrupted that legacy, and the Autobot rise after. Arcee also gives him some tools to embrace his strength to be gentle. As a neurodiverse trans system with some gal gender stuff & a second generation immigrant background who navigated anger and rage and pain over otherness and alienation, it was a bit saddening to see how awkward the guy-gal dynamic was in "A Stygi Situation" and that Arcee wasn't present with her own insight on rage as a tool with reason and ethos. So we wrote this, Chapter 2 and 3 will be about Arcee, Nova Storm, & Skywarp navigating traumas from episodes after, and how they seek closure.

For people who are okay with chapter spoilers, you can find the chapter 2 summary below. we dunno when we're gonna write chapter 3, rather busy:

Nova Storm and Skywarp have been through a lot. Veterans of the war against Functionism, they fell from the ethos of solidarity then by helping fight for the Decepticon Empire. In the aftermath of that war, they ended up on the run from GHOST on an unfriendly world, had to turn to the cruel and hateful Dr. Mandroid for sustenance and vengeance, endured imprisonment, faced off against the terrifying and repulsively invasive Dweller of the Depths, and finally became part of the reckoning that brings down GHOST. Trauma hits differently for everyone, and for Nova Storm, her encounter with the Dweller has left her unable to enjoy embraces and kisses from her partner Skywarp, and she still struggles with anger and sadness over how helpless she felt. So, when the dust settles after the Season 1 finale, Nova Storm turns for help from one of her old combat unit friends among the Autobots, Arcee… and she and Skywarp realize almost immediately that the violation of autonomy by mind control that Arcee experienced from GHOST likely left her in need of help as well, so mutual healing and reconciliation is sought… along with resolve to make joy and mourn for all that has come to pass.

So uh, yeah, this chapter also deals with how icky the Dweller in the Depths episode was (particularly but certainly not limited to the way the Dweller held Nova Storm reminded us of sexual(ized) violence. to be honest) in a way that we think the characters might in retrospect.

Again, you can read All Souls' Reforging is Neverending, which you can read on Ao3. Also, please feel free to reach out to us about this writing or comment, we know it covers sensitive topics even if with a g-rated framework.

[dynared]

I wanted to like EarthSpark. I think it does some interesting things. I really like Twitch, they somehow got me to enjoy Good Guy Megatron and I love Bumblebee’s almost meta characterization. But it just felt like a very weak show which never explored its concepts with any depth. That and the finale was a garbage fire. Oof.

Though I think one of my biggest problems is the weird disdain for humanity as a whole. Where you’re either part of the absurdly kind and accepting main family or stupid and/or evil. Where even the slightest discomfort with the people who dragged humans into a massive war they had no business with makes you despicable while the robots deserve to be treated well no matter how awful they are. I get it’s meant to be a bigotry allegory, but if I’m honest I just think it’s a really bad one. I’m not even a person who generally likes the human characters in Transformers stories, bar a few exceptions, but it really grinds my gears.

I also just get the really weird feeling from it that the writers aren’t comfortable writing for kids. So everything just feels dumbed down to an at times condescending level and feels weirdly afraid of interpersonal conflict beyond the first batch of episodes. Though I could be exaggerating. I’m kind of glad it got a second season since I think it can improve but I somehow doubt it will last long.

I don't want to hate Earthspark, or come off as a contrarian just because I like super robot stuff and don't like IDW stuff. I mean, there are things to like in Earthspark, but as I've discussed with a friend of mine, Earthspark feels like it's a bunch of characters in search of a plot. For better or for worse, I associated Twitch with Suletta Mercury because the two had that similar wide-eyed innocent energy and red motif, which endeared me to her almost immediately. I can take or leave Megatron as a more sorrowful/heroic figure, but at least he felt like he was genuine about wanting the kids to avoid the mistakes he made.

The problem is as characters, they don't really do anything. GHOST and Mandroid, as much as I adore Diedrich Bader's usually (he is the guy you want when you want a more Silver Age Batman) were not interesting villains because they weren't allowed to really do much besides be a blunt bigotry allegory, while at the same time, not really fitting the allegory. Readers of the recent Skybound comics know the kind of damage out-of-control Decepticons can pull, and humans aren't exactly being unreasonable in not wanting to deal with giant killer robots whom Earth's military has no reliable way of stopping, besides the goodwill of other giant killer robots, and a population that feels powerless. Considering Skybound has been implying such a situation horrifies the government into founding Codename: GI Joe specifically to combat the Decepticons, people are well within their rights to be scared. It's not a good allegory because most oppressed people don't have built-in chainguns!

The IDW era of Transformers stories, I presume as a reaction to the Michael Bay movies and the Unicron trilogy, did have a significant and notable hatred of the human characters. I mean, Cyberverse has a human in one scene. One. I think it's just using that framework to make your bigotry allegory, except the allegory doesn't work, and people have resoundingly rejected shows like Cyberverse.

As for your last point, I don't know if it's a case of the writers not understanding how to write to a children/family audience (if there's one thing kids hate, anyone hates, it's being spoken down to) or if they're just that adamant about hammering the life lessons to the detriment of everything else, hence the low stakes, flat villains, and blunt allegories.

I feel like most of my negative comparisons ultimately are based on the fact that the Skybound comics have proven that there's a better way to do this since those comics seem to be the first time since Animated that people writing Transformers stories get why people like mecha/super robot stories. And while I have no idea how the second season will turn out, I'm admittedly not expecting them to have learned their lesson. Then again, with the rumors that they want to get the live-action TV show going again, I imagine we're going to be in this weird sort of "leftover IDW" style writing malaise for a while since it will likely be years before enough Skybound comics are ready for a proper adaptation.

[eldritch-araneae]

So, it time to put my thought about Earthspark new episodes. I have a lot of insight on Bumblebee, and more thoughts regarding the story. I absolutely love this show, that's the single-handedly the best show I watched in years, no joke!

So yeah, spoilers for new episodes and it's a long post! Things I'm gonna talk about is the War, Agent Croft and Scholder, a bit of Mandroid, the Triplets and of course, Bumblebee <3

Grab your drink, sit comfy and welcome under the cut!~

The War

Episode 16 was good, showing that war is horrible and tragic and nothing good comes out of it, and Megatron putting his faith into Terrnans for them to not repeat the mistakes cybertronians did. So many lives lost, from all sides of conflict.

(Sidenote: and look like AllSpark was just sent home ( or possible destroyed) that why it was never mentioned. Bee seemed fine in the battle, only to be tackled by Skullcruncher. So I think Optimus just made up a story that Bee died to get him off radar. He's a spy after all~ Still, Bee dying and being revived by the AllSpark look like a fun AU, so feel free to play with it :D)

But also this episode gives a huge insight why Megatron's cause went wrong, and I believe this is huge! Megatron had good intentions, but I think the main reason why failed and why the war turned to be so devastating - he surrounded himself worth wrong people!

People like him!

You can see what type of person Shockwave is, the very same as Mandroid and Agent Croft. The rich people how will sacrifice everything and everyone (esp those they believe are beneath them) to get all the power they want.

So even if Megatron wanted to help his people, Shockwave and likes of him ( bc I'm sure his presence attracted more ppl like him into deception ranks) doomed this from the very start. You cannot help the sheep, if your organization is filled with wolfs.

Sure, 'cons call Megatron a traitor, but I believe he is not a traitor. Megatron was surrounded by traitors.

Which makes me wonder, why Megs kept ppl like Shockwave around?

Did Megatron had the same bigoted believes as Shockwave? Tho this one maybe seem unlikely in this continuity. Megatron would need a lot more convincing than just a human showing compassion to his people.

Or Megatron was really attached to him, bc he's a friend and he was in denial that his friend is the same type of person he tries to fight against? And this was okay as long as Shockwave used this language against Autobots only ( bc this Shockwave looks like based on Marvel one if I'm not wrong) so he let it slide?

Which brings a cool parallel with Robby in the next episode, where this kid is willing to cut his friend off for shitty behavior directed at his family.

"If that's how Stevie gonna behave? He doesn't get me as a friend. That's his loss."

Which we can officially proclaim that his human kid as more guts than Megatron hah.

(Sidenote: I do appreciate that Stevie seem to had a change of heart or least he understood the gravity of situation and changed the graffiti after the confrontation. All changes matter, even small ones, which does serve remind for all us in real life. Even if it feel like it doesn't work.)

Also yeah, love the fact writers showing all sides diverse. There are terrible people everywhere, and people how will happily harness this fear and hate. But also there are good people, and people willing to change for the greater good, and it worth fighting for.

(Sidenote: tbh this makes me excited, because it is close how I'm writing the conflict in Sparkpulse! I wanna know who am I sharing the brain cell with? :D)

Agent Croft

Wow, those first character bios we saw before the show release didn't lie how evil she is. She's a rich military person, so it checks out. And I wanna point out, that she doesn't give a fuck about life as a whole. Not about cybertronians, not about humans, not about nature or even her home planet. Again, perfectly check out.

Episode 15 demonstrates it loud and clear. There things.

They look like a blend of organic and energon. And they can infect organic being to turn them into eldritch abominations like this!

(Sidenote: this is right my alley! Again, which writer shares the braincell with me??? XD Can't help it, I drawn to body horror)

And it doesn't look it was just a "careless waste disposal". Croft testing her biowepon in wild and mark my words: that's what gonna happen in the season 1 finale! I think the entire town will get infected, yes humans too. And we saw that afflicted can be saved, but even one bear was a struggle. Now imagine the entire army of infected humans.

I'm excited for this, can't wait to see if this a case or not~

Agent Schloder

He's a such a goof, but learning he's a brother of Croft was a whiplash for sure ahaha. Such drastic difference omg.

Despite all this, he seem to be a decent person? He doesn't look like seeking power like Croft and he actually cares about protecting people? But he also deeply brainwashed, and Croft making sure he doesn't see her dirty work.

So he's heart seems like in the right place, but misdirected. So I wonder what will happen if he ever finds out what his sister is doing behind his back? Because it appears that even half of GHOST isn't aware what really going on, huh.

Sure, it will be hard to convince him that not all freeroaming cybs are dangerous ( this shit really got internalized into him, attacking Bee even tho the yellow bot saved his life), but he cares about humans. And I think a lot of humans will be in danger in the finalle bc of Croft actions I mentioned above.

So, something tells me what the shit will do down, GHOST will split up. Can't wait to see this true aha.

Mandroid

Or specifically the WHOLE IRONY of his situation. He tells Hashtag that she can't control him, but at the same time, Croft has full power over Mandroid. Also yeah, he's is techorganic, or something, called it even back then~

The Terran Triplets

I love how this batch of common theme: the struggle with belonging. Jawbreaker, Nightshade and Hashtag share the same struggle, but it manifested in different way and required a different solution.

Jawbreaker thinking he's broken, because no vehicle alt-mode appeals to him. He wants to take the perfect pick, but he doesn't know what if it. And Hasgtag already picked hers!

Elita reassuring him, and even says she struggled with this too. He will know when he'll see his alt-mode. It's something you should never force it. Very sweet! And also seem a foreshadowing, I will mention later.

Nightshade struggles to find ppl with same interests as them, then finding this connection with Tarantulas! I love how Tarantulas explains the alt-mode. It's not a something completes you. Alt-mode is something that expresses who you already are. An extension of yourself. Which again, I smell foreshadowing I'll tell you later.

I hope we'll see Tarantulas later, I like liked him, even tho he's not like his IDW counterpart. But I have say, it so relieving to see a spider character that isn't inherently evil. I just love spiders)

Also, I just love Nightshade is like a Terran version of Wheeljack but with a different flavor ahaha. They both should hang out too, see how many explosions will happen. And poor Tarantulas in the middle xD

Hashtag was terrified by the anti-transformer rhetoric she experienced in Philadeplia and then got furious after seeing Bumblebee weak and hurt, which Mandroid exploited. She needed her family like never before and only reaching out and comforting her saved her.

"Home isn't a place. It's the people who love you."

Love and care is the main focus of this show after all, which I absolutely love!

Also, they all can channel the power from Emberstone! And seems like it can be powered by emotions, like the green lantern ring! I'm excited to see more!

Bumblebee

Oh yeah, we finally got to the last and my favorite part! Let's unpack this boy even further, shall we?)

His view on Decepticons

I like how in first batch it looked like Bee is against every decepticon out there, but the second batch shows more depth to this.

Bumbleblee has close relationship with Breakdown, and he still cares about him even despite being of different sides and willing risk his cover, and even picking up the racing car alt-mode he doesn't seem like to much... just to save him.

And, despite Bee being aligned with 'bots is a sore spot for Breakdown (looks like it was a choice between Bee and Stunticons, and he choose the latter. Yet, Bee still cares about him), he still cared for Bee to sacrifice himself. Bee has a family to look after and I'm sure he understood this as well ( maybe even saw a parallel with Stunticons?)

(And sadly, we see Breakdown's arm in the last episodes tho I wonder if they in stasis bc of energon loss, but idk. It's better to assume death, and but surprised later, than the other way around. Good thing Bee didn't see him, but something tell me he will find out eventually.)

Bumblebee also willing to give second chances, especially if his family ask for this. I love how quickly his expression changes. It goes from this, listening to Nightshade explaining the situation, while still not trusting Tarantulas.

To this is in a second! He's smiling, looking at Tarantulas.

Bumblebee could argue them, saying that he's still a con and all the cons do is to deceive, but no. He accepts their words as the truth and looks relieved that Tarantulas changed for better! Which i think that what Bee wants. He doesn't want deceptions to die, he wants them to be better.

And his reaction to the dead Brawl. He doesn't look happy, or bragging about it and finding this funny. No, instead he's grieving and probably feels guilty because he had no idea happened to those who lose in the ring, and he won against Brawl earlier.

So, I think we can safely call back to ep7 and conclude that "cassette exploding in SW's chest" was just about the cassette unwinding and all this tape flying everywhere, and not cassette dying.

Plus we know that Bee was born before war now. So this could happen even back then.

His feelings about his alt-modes

Episdoes 11 and 12 showed really good insight into Bumblebee's complicated feeling about his alt-mode. So Nova Storm calling him having" a mid-life crisis alt-mode" wasn't just a random insult.

In ep11 kids fins out how Bee looked, and absolutely being slayed by his cuteness. And I agree, he's perfect here!

And Bee's reaction? You would think he might get defensive, bc this form isn't as cool as his current one? But no! Look at his face!

He looks neutral, but with hint of nostalgia? Like maybe he's holding back to not appear sad in front of kids ( bc we know, he's scared to show vulnerability to others) and when asked why did he switch, he simply answers his disguise was revealed and needed the new one.

Which makes sense, as we will see later how bad this can be, and he's a spy, but wonder there is more to it?

Because when Jawbreaker asks Bee how did he choose his alt-mode, Bee deflects, saying he doesn't understand how his answer will help Jawbreaker. Which to me it looks like Bumblebee doesn't want to talk about it.

And when Jawbreaker says that he wants to get this right first time without making a wrong choice like Bee did, Bumblebee gets angry! JB accidentally hit the very sore spot for Bee!

And if you remember how both Elita-1 and Tarantulas talked about alt-modes? How you know when this right, and how it's a reflection of who you are, this creates a lot of possibilities. So far I think he picked the racing alt-mode only because he wanted to save Breakdown.

And he def loves his WV Beetle mode, and I wonder if this has a connection to Spike? We saw him in animated flashback, so I wonder if Spike is in the show and might show up later? Bee remember this mode fondly and get really upset when JB calls it "wrong choice" because of connection to Spike?

Or this can be a metaphor or simpler time Bee was having back then. Not dealing with terrible ppl among humans additionally to terrible ppl among cons?

I do hope Spike is out there. Maybe Spike thought that Bee was dead and they haven't see each other for 15 years? Imagine their reunion, and the fact Bee realized that Spike is older and maybe we will finally exploration of human mortality in canon! I though this can be the case in ep13 when Nightshade went to cemetery to meet their fav author, but nope.

Anyways, regardless what it is, I feel this is a big deal and we will see more of this! I hope he will change his alt-mode to something he likes!

His place in Malto family

We know how quickly Bee accepted Maltos as his family and in this batch I was so happy to see the other way, when Maltos caring about him! They love him, you have no idea how this relieving to me, after all those comics where Bee is consonantly alone!

Nightshade saying Bee is the best trainer they know and making their training device sounding like him.. even tho Bee is def mortified after breaking the thing that sounds like him, poor guy.

(Tho I wonder if this implies anything hmmm?)

Also Nightshade's "Woopsy-do~ It's malfunctioning!" just kills me xDD

And Dot, while scolding Bee for being reckless, she understands why Bee was doing this and is willing to help him. And Bee also realized he accidentally endangered his new family. Also Dot looks amazing in this outfit ahah.

And when Bumblebee doesn't come home everyone is upset, and Twitch is devastated bc her fears coming true. She doesn't want to lose anyone, even if it just means the person she cares about is alive, but can't return home anymore.

And they refuse to leave him in ep 18 even tho he's telling them to find Optimus and Megatron. I love this part of of the two-parter episode because Bee cannot fight anymore, but he puts his faith and trust into Terrans. He loves them, but he also knows what they are capable of and all this training weren't wasted.

This little touch, when Twitch hesitating to leave Bumblebee to help others with Hashtag. Her sister needs help, but her mentor is weak and wounded and it's hard to choose. Thankfully Bee's words were enough her to go to help her siblings. Still, her touch lingers as she leaves.

My heart of was absolutely melted! I'm so happy to see this, I hope Bee will get a big hug from all Maltobots!

I'm so glad Bee passed out because he was going to leave again! I guess he still think he puts Maltos in danger bc GHOST now know about him. Or maybe he even feel guilty he still got kinds into this mess, even tho he trust them to do the job?

At least kids just took him home omg. And it just so funny how they put Bee on Hashtag like this xDD

I can't wait to see the rest of the season 1 when they drop! This show is so, so good! There is probably more I could say, but I'm very tired, so that all for now. If you managed to get to this point, thank you for reading!

Have a nice time of the day and see you next time! <3

[dian-mian]

⚠️ Spoiler for Earthspark ⚠️

I just finished watching the newest episodes and I can't wait for the rest of them! The show continues to exceed my expectations with how well written all the main characters are shown, especially the Malto family, as well as the plot of each episode that are so engaging to watch, the fight scenes, all it was just MUAH 🥰🥰 (My comments don't go in an order of episodes lmfao)

They've tackled a number of topics normally I wouldn't see it being addressed like racism, xenophobia, generation related trauma (Thrash being upset that the new generation of Terrans are "facing problems caused by the previous generation and the expectations to clean up their messes"), gender identity (how alt modes are very tied to their identity) and omfg they include some other messed up shit like bots fighting in the arena to get energon (Sounds very familiar hmmm) and hint hint of Mandroid becoming more mechanical??? ALSO GHOST IS GROWING EVEN MORE SUS ESPECIALLY WITH AGENT CROFT I HATE HER ALR I WANNA KILL HER

I fucking love Megatron in this show, my god he just usurp Optimus' role as the father here (Or grandpa in this case). I mean, HE TOOK THE MALTOBOTS TO THE WAR MEMORIAL TO TELL EM OLD STORIES ABOUT THE WAR TO TEACH THEM TO NOT MAKE THE SAME MISTAKES AS THE PREVIOUS GENERATION AND I 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭 (THE FLOWERS BEING A REFERENCE TO IDW WHERE EACH PETAL OF THE FLOWERS REPRESENT A LIFE LOST JUST KILLED ME RIGHT THERE)

AND NIGHTSHADE AND TARANTULAS,,, bunch of science nerds can relate ifhkdnksj,, I would die happy if Tarantulas can make a comeback to see Nightshade again and be his second papa like how Wheeljack is second papa to Twitch 🥺🥺❣️💕

My boy Jawbreaker,, I really love how he wasn't forced to choose an altmode so soon and it just going to get a lot more impactful when he finally scans an altmode that he feels is right for him! He so autistic coded and I luv it when Megatron and Elita explained to him how they got their alt modes and what it meant for them (ELITA SOFTIE MOMENT IS JUST 😭😭💞💕💞💕💞)

God, the dynamic of the Malto bots is just so super wholesome and so tightly knitted, but Twitch grew up too fast,, They all need fucking therapy, especially Hashtag my poor girl 😭

I fucking hate Mandroid with a passion, he's so hateable and punchable and killable

I wont be talking about that mutatued horror of a bear also is that fucking allowed in a kids show???

I dont know how, but Bumblebee dangling and restrained while his energon is drained is... Making me feel something. Also, he and Breakdown...

I cried and eyed so hard at that slowed down scene where Breakdown through Bumblebee and they both starin at each other like... 👁👁🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈?

ALSO, FIRST MEGATRON GOT RESTRAINED AND ALMOST GOT HIS ARM CUT OFF, NEXT BUMBLEBEE IS RESTRAINED WHILE BEING DRAINED OF ENERGON TO FUEL THE MACHINES, WHO THE FUCK IS NEXT???

Now....

I am a huge Optimus stan, so I have a bit of bitterness at the fact that throughout 11-18, he was barely involved. Like

WHERE DID YOU GO???

WHERE WERE YOU???

DID YOU SUDDENLY RUN OFF TO FIND MILK???

God, I love Optimus as a whole, even in this show but he seems so... Distant? I mean, I'm not hating the writers and animators for the lack of Optimus screentime, it's just me being a bit salty (Though I am a Megatron simp too at this point so my thirst has been at least quenched by him). I really hope there's more screentime of him (Especially him and Megatron becuz first few episodes the both were lowkey 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈) and we get a bigger picture of his role in the show in the future episodes. He barely talks to the Maltos and the Terrans, he's barely seen anywhere in the recent episodes, hell where the hell was he when the jailbreak happened???

Tldr; Love the show so much, but where's fucking Optimus

[yes-i-write-fanfiction]

In the Earth-Spark Quirk AU, what quirks do the more antagonistic (present or former) characters like Mandroid, Karen Croft, and Jon Scholder have?

Mandroid has a quirk called Perfect Memory and, as the name suggests, gives him a perfect memory, being able to instantly recall anything he's ever experienced as if it just happened. Sadly, this quirk makes it so that Mandroid can never forget just how much he hates cybertronians, the memory of what happened to him forever fresh in his mind.

Croft's quirk is called Intangible and simply put, it allows her to phase through solid objects. She can't pass through other states of matter though like liquid, gas or plasma.

Scholder can increase his density and make himself stronger and more durable. This quirk is simply called Density. The denser he makes himself the stronger he becomes but the downside is that he also gets slower as he gets denser.

[rowiewritesstuff]

Hullo could I get an Earthspark or MTMTE matchup? I use they/them pronouns. I’m an art history major and archivists, my Myers Briggs is INTJ. I’m short with black curly hair, thick glasses and an average build, I also dress fairly goth. Lots of black jeans, spikes and comfortable boots. I’m a fairly reserved person and prefer listening in conversations and my love language is gifts, mostly things I make like drawings or knittings and food. I like horror movies, hiking and museums and someone who can make me laugh. Thank you!

I match you with: Frenzy!

Frenzy is a LOUD bot who loves to talk. She goes well with your personality- after all, opposites attract. She loved telling you jokes to watch a grin creep onto your face. Whenever you are sad or angry, that’s how she’d cheer you up. 

You both have a similar style, too. She had a goth/rock look to her, and she sometimes managed to put one of your shirts over her head to see what they’d look like on her. She normally ripped them, though.

Frenzy loves to play music for you to listen to, even if you don’t always like it. She often writes songs for you.

She in turn loves to look at your art. Whenever you get into a creative block, she’s the one who will help inspire you to make something.

Frenzy is a huge fan of horror movies, and it suits you both a lot. She’ll hold you close as you watch together. Whenever a jumpscare pops onto the screen she squeezes you tighter and laughs loudly.

She loves to take you on hikes too. She always asks you what flower is which, and why different trees have different colored leaves. Sometimes when you’d get tired from walking too far she’d carry you on her back. She would always say “Only the best for my little artist!” 

Sometimes you’d gift her little scarves you put together, or a nice painting of her and you. She’d give you your favorite foods and museum tickets.

You were terrified to meet her family. You’d already met Laserbeak- who became your best friend.

Soundwave approved of you, which was unusual. He normally hated humans, but you seemed to make his mini cons happy. You got along with the quieter decepticon pretty well, often going over to their base to hang out with them.

When Soundwave was captured you were there to comfort her. You went with Laserbeak and Frenzy when they went to Philly, and got a job as a counselor. 

You were there with them the night the fight with Mandroid took place, and got injured saving her life.

“Laserbeak! We have to get them out of here!” 

They dragged you out together and took you home. They weren’t human, so they had no clue what to do. They never even really considered you may need a human doctor- so they begrudgingly called Megatron who rushed over with their human friend Dorothy.

Dorothy looked over your unconscious form. “They should be okay, but they need to rest. Maybe even a hospital.” You whimpered in pain while still unconscious as Dorothy brushed over a cut on your arm.

“Don’t touch them!” Frenzy pulled you gently into her arms. 

They ended up taking you to a hospital with the help of Dorothy, and you were released two days later. 

Frenzy would always be there for you, and she hoped the same of you.