#tf one megatron

[icecream4starscream]

Spoiler Warning for Transformers One. Please go see the film, it's great.

Something occurred to me when rewatching Elita-1's firing scene:

Right off the bat, she's presented as an absolute unit in the mines. We see her being a very by-the-book character. She's incredibly competent, strong, serious, focused, and an effective leader.

Maybe a little too effective.

We learn that Sentinel goes out of his way to personally take care of any "anomalies" in his system and does so in a way where the blame always gets shifted away from him.

It's why he personally went to see Pax and D-16 after the Iacon 5000 race. He makes himself out to be the open-minded, compassionate leader he's been parading as.

When Darkwing throws Orion and D-16 into sub-level 50, neither bot suspects Sentinel for their demotion. In fact, they beg Darkwing to talk to Sentinel so he can sort out the "misunderstanding".

It's later confirmed that Sentinel never had any intention of talking with Orion or D-16 after their first meeting. When Orion reunites with his fellow miners later in the film, they mention that Sentinel put out a statement saying that they both died from "racing injuries".

Sentinel might've not even openly ordered Darkwing to dispose of them. Darkwing might've been manipulated into thinking everyone was mocking him for losing the race (thanks to lowly miners) making him want to get rid of them.

Subconsciously manipulating someone like Darkwing would've been easy for Sentinel.

Sentinel clearly does not tolerate anyone rising above the station he imposes on them.

So what does this have to do with Elita-1 being fired?

We see her rigidly following the rules, meeting all quotas, running a tight and efficient crew. She's doing her job as a miner, a role unknowingly forced upon her by Sentinel, perfectly.

Shouldn't Sentinel be happy about that?

Well sure...

If Elita wasn't actively trying to get promoted.

We don't get a lot of information about how promotion works in TFOne's mining system, but we do know that in other iterations of pre-war Cybertron, one of the only ways miners could rise out of the mines was by participating in ridiculously difficult gladiatorial fights in Kaon's pits.

In other iterations, this was how D-16/Megatron was able to escape his station and how he grew to be so strong.

So basically, whatever version you look at, the miners are told "if you work really, reeeeally hard, and do your job perfectly, and don't die in the process (which, odds are, you will) you might, MIGHT get a chance to get out of the caste you were born into."

It's BS.

It's an impossible feat. No one is actually supposed to be able to achieve that goal, but it's the metaphorical carrot dangling in front of the work mules so they don't notice the ever-tightening rope around their necks.

But every so often there's someone extraordinary, like Elita, who actually manages to meet this impossible standard and with whom it becomes increasingly difficult to deny this coveted promotion.

So what can Sentinel do about bots like Elita-1?

Simple.

Wait for a screw-up.

It must happen eventually.

A member of Elita's team, Orion Pax, in clear violation of evacuation protocol, goes back into the mines to save Jazz from getting crushed to death.

Despite managing to escape, the closing mine causes a tunnel support to be flung into nearby machinery (which doesn't look critical and could probably be easily fixed).

Then, right the heck outta nowhere, Darkwing drops in, SECONDS AFTER THE INCIDENT JUST HAPPENED, and immediately fires Elita.

No "What happened?" or "Who's responsible?" or "The supervisor wants to see you", he just pops into the scene and demotes Elita, arguably one of the best workers in the mine, to a bottom-tier waste management position.

As if he'd been on standby, actively waiting for a reason to fire her.

"But Elita herself wasn't the one who screwed up!"

Doesn't matter.

"But she told them to follow protocol!"

Doesn't matter.

"But Orion admitted he was the one at fault!"

Doesn't matter.

"But a bot was saved! Jazz would've died!"

Does. Not. MATTER.

Her firing is presented as the typical "one character says thing won't happen then thing immediately happens" joke, but given how so much thought went into so much of TFOne's background details, I can't help but wonder if this was a hint to how broken the system was and how it was always rigged in a way that ensures the miners will never get out.

Not to mention, once Orion, D-16, and Jazz safely escape, she chews Orion out by saying, "If I get fired for this..." meaning this abrupt, out-of-nowhere, baseless firing is absolutely typical.

That's what makes Elita's "I'm better than you" speech to Orion that much more meaningful, because in many ways, she is better than him.

She's a better worker, better fighter, better at completing the task at hand, better at making sure things run smoothly. She is, ironically enough, an efficient and perfectly-running machine.

But had Orion not dragged Elita to the surface, she probably would've spent her whole life obediently following the rules, never questioning why things were the way they were. She was so focused on rising up within the system that she could never look beyond it.

Elita might be the cog by which other cogs turn.

But Orion is the spark that shows them a better way.

That's why he was given the Matrix.

[sparklingcamelia]

"You're not weak. You're afraid of everything you cannot control or conquer."

i am megatron

prev comic

[cloowwwwn]

Megatron and toy

UPD: OMG I SKIPPED THE SECOND PAGE, I noticed it literally a day after publication 😭

[themadkatartist]

I Hope You Cry For Me

This was a new style I wanted to try out. Was inspired by Cry For Me from The Weeknd.

[megatronfeetpics2]

Megatron I am not looking at that fusion cannon

[mariacardenas162002]

Ohhhhhhhhhhh por Dios son hermosos ❤️💙🩶❤️💛🖤🩷🩶🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩💞💞💞💞💞💞💞💞💞💞💞💞💞💞💞💞😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

Tfone bunny time 🐰💕

[smoked-salmon-official]

so was it worth it, d-16?

[ramelcandy]

Not quite the same

[jackalsprey]

I was on a TFOne rewatch (yes I know I have a problem) and during the scene between the Quintessons and Sentinel, one line struck me.

“There’s barely enough energon for us.”

Then I remembered the chase scene at the beginning of the movie, when Orion accidentally falls into the middle of what looks like a party and tons of energon cubes fall everywhere. There’s only a few bots in that scene, 15 at most, but there’s enough energon there to feed several dozen bots.

We never see the miners with energon. Bee presumably had some that he saved for his “friends” on Sublevel 50 that he brought with them on the expedition. Orion is rapidly consuming all the energon he can get his hands on while also running from the cops. Was that because the miners are given strict rations for how much they can consume, despite having the most difficult and dangerous job in all of Cybertron?

The miners give everything and are given nothing while cogged bots get everything and give nothing in return. Despite the society being rapidly depleted of its most valuable resource and barely having enough for survival, excess is still given to the highest ranking. Did Sentinel budgeted energon by cutting miners rations smaller and smaller while still giving the cogged bots enough for lavish parties and snacking? The more you watch the movie and see the details of Iacon, it gets harder to say Megatron was wrong.

[violetaquadelight]

From 0 to 1000+

A Transformers xover

[flayyr]

I forgive your fears, for they were born of love

[naehilisms]

something something three high guardsmen and a mentally unwell emo kid walk into an abandoned energon depot

inspired by this and this

[kinzenn]

working on tf animatic !!!

few of the frames i've done so far :))

[compaculaaa]

[tfone-continuity-au]

Courtesy of @xxtc-96xx for this particular idea

[jubileeeeee]

OUGHHH FELLA YOU AND YOUR GORGEOUS BRAIN DO YOU KNOW WHAT YOUVE DONE

youve given me sooo soo many ideas thank you hehhhehhuehhh

unfortunately getting hit with 100 raw unfiltered emotions is not always so funny and cute :)