#with apologies to tfa prowl and bulkhead bc i think they're the only two tfa mains who got neglected here?

[avoid-avoidance]

another comment compilation! shoutout to @eclipsedmoon87 a.k.a. @midnightchronicles87 for being incredibly gracious about my barging in and vomiting this entertaining, but only tangentially-related, nonsense all over their excellent TFA Blitzwing edit post (check it out, it's a little unnerving perhaps but very cool!).

Behold the consequences of encouraging me... 😂

Some minor edits from the original comments, fixing my own typos.

avoid-avoidance: This looks SO cool. So weird. But SO COOL.

I would venture to say it’s not *quite* cursed territory. True Cursed™ would be if you did this to the Random face lmao

a-a: Also big lol to the notes saying they got jumpscared by this — now I’m imagining Random pestering Hothead in their shared headspace until he agrees to walk up behind various Decepticons, quietly remove his visor, and wait for them to turn around and double-take.

a-a: Megatron: gives an almost-invisible twitch of surprise but otherwise manages to carry on admirably as though nothing is different

Blackarachnia: 100% unfazed as opposed to Megatron’s 98% unfazed — she’s just like, two eyes huh? Is that supposed to impress me? I still have more than you.

a-a: Starscream: lets out a tiny audible shriek and then FURIOUSLY denies he did any such thing.

Lugnut: does not audibly react, but is physically startled enough that his pedes actually leave the floor — he can’t really deny he reacted because the THUMP when he landed was very clear

@sztefa001: STILL HAVE MORE THAN YOU xD xD xD

a-a: bonus: he also tried this on Professor Sumdac while Sumdac was the ‘Cons’ prisoner. Sumdac did appear surprised, and then stammered something sort of awkward like ‘oh you *do* have eyes — I mean optics — under there… they‘re, uh, very nice?’. which is the first time Hothead’s ever been complimented on his optics, and he tries not to feel kind of warmed at the squishy’s offhand comment but doesn’t really succeed.

a-a: eyy what’s the use of being a traumatized accidental techno organic if you can’t use that to win absolutely petty and pointless arguments with your coworkers?

s: Awww xD

a-a: of course, Icy would argue that Blitzwing as a whole actually has *six* optics to BA‘s 4; Blackarachnia would counter that some of those hardly even count, and plus since her alt mode also has eyes she technically has more than 4; Hothead yells back that THOSE don’t count…

a-a: Random interjects that they’re both trying to compare apples and eyes anyway, or is it oranges and optics?…

a-a: The one time they both get caught up in the ridiculous argument enough to try and solicit a third party opinion, Megatron has the great misfortune to be walking by. After having the question explained to him, he gives both his officers a long blank stare, then just walks out of sight without a word. A moment later, a faint thunking can be heard, like the sound of a helmeted head impacting a wall.

midnightchronicles87: I love EVERYTHING about this, thank you for the story in my notes

a-a: haha you’re welcome! glad you don’t mind my spontaneous rambling

m: Of course I don't mind!! Nothing I've made's ever gotten this much attention before, I love it

a-a: it is my personal opinion that many TF continuities could benefit from a Soap Opera Of The Decepticons’ Everyday Lives treatment lol

m: That is an objectively correct opinion

m: If any of you want me to make more, send me some decent quality screenshots of Hothead you want me to de-visor, and I might make a fourth update to this post

m: Oh, also what expression you want, otherwise I'm doing whatever I think fits

a-a: ooh there might be moooore? 👀

a-a: they’re objectively awesome edits, if I hadn’t seen the show I wouldn’t know that wasn’t just what Blitzwing normally looks like

a-a: I’m not sure I’d know where to look to find good quality screenshots tbh… but I do think it’s hilarious to ponder Blitzwing pranking everyone by swapping his personalities around so they don’t match his faces, to freak people out. Like can you imagine what Random-face with an Icy-expression would look like, or Icy with Random-expression? (And Random with Hothead-expression = just pure nightmare fuel.)

m: OH. I like you

a-a: I mean, once everyone Blitzwing knows gets so used to him that Random’s randomness isn’t surprising anymore, I figure he’d HAVE to do *something* to up his game, right?

a-a: Random would’ve loved a certain subset of Internet culture at a particular past point I can think of…

“I made you an energon goodie… but I eated it >.<”

a-a: (as a bit of a side note, I also hold the belief that with TFA Megatron being one of the smarter, more practical Megatrons, it is funny as heck that he’s saddled with TFA Blitzwing in particular as one of his top officers.)

a-a: (reblog of original TFA Blitzwing edits post, with his ‘Hothead’ face modified to have two optics instead of a single optic band. The third image has Blitzwing wearing a skeptical expression.)

He is Pressing X To Doubt 😂

#transformers #blitzwing #also his eyeliner game is on point #mayhaps this is another fan of that well-known Cybertronian musician Gearhard Wave? #it is so neat how just the contrast between a visor and separate optics shows such different vibes #also it is sorta hilarious that despite this being the AngryFace™ #none of these edits so far are angry expressions #screenshots from a timeline where TFA got as many seasons as Supernatural #these are from a multi-episode arc where Bumblebee managed to steal Blitzwing’s visor in battle via Shenanigans #so while Blitzwing’s coworkers are having minor crises #“We didn’t even realize your red face HAD optics under there?!” #Bee is just roaming Detroit like usual but wearing a comically oversized red visor as a trophy

m: @avoid-avoidance your additions to this post keep getting better and better

a-a: ☺️

a-a: what can I say, these edits are inspirational 😂

a-a: Starscream gives a disdainful laugh. “Well, who’d have thought Blitzwing of all people would have hidden depths! What next, our fearless leader confessing that ugly head of his is actually a helmet that comes off??”

Lugnut opens his mouth but Megatron discreetly elbows him and makes a “shut up” gesture. One revelation at a time is probably all his High Command can handle..

m: XD this thread just gets better and better, and quickly ages like wine

a-a: right?!?? not bad at all, considering it’s about a side villain in a series that’s been discontinued for like a decade!

a-a: now that’s it’s occurred to me, the idea that Starscream has been one of Megatron’s key officers for ages, but somehow *no one* has ever clued him in that Megs’ helmet comes off, is cracking me up

m: Same

a-a: maybe Megatron is holding that knowledge in reserve, in case of a specific situation where a Starscream™ assassination attempt *almost* succeeds and Megs is forced to part with his helmet to escape, like a lizard’s tail coming off

m: Leaving Starscream shook for at least a megacycle

a-a: He would absolutely be torn between “At least I took a piece off of that bastard this time!” and “ WTF WTF WTF”

m: It makes me so happy that my quest to see what Hothead would look like without his visor led to this

a-a: fandom spitballing/brainstorming/crack-AU-ing like this probably makes up the biggest slice of my personal fandom-participation-pie, just in general. it’s a little addictive

a-a: ooh, if Hothead’s visor has built-in filters of some kind (e.g. tagging specific Autobots and Decepticons with notes/data, supposedly for tactical purposes?), which still function when someone other than Blitzwing is wearing it, then Bee stealing and putting on the visor could spawn all sorts of interesting plot lines

m: Oooo I like where this is heading

a-a: I’m glad you seem to have an idea where this is going bc tbh I don’t! 😆 From there it could go shippy or not, Looney-Tunes platonic wacky, or I guess there’s probably a way to make it angsty although that’s not as much my specialty…

a-a: the absolute most crack-filled idea that’s coming to mind might be (and this is definitely AU since I think there is canon backstory of some kind re: how Blitzwing became a triple?) if the visor is like… secretly a magical artifact of Primus that bestows an extra alt mode upon its wearer. so Bee steals the visor and slaps it on his face just to be a taunty little shit, and then suddenly Blitzwing is no longer a triplechanger and Bumblebee IS.

a-a: Bumblebee: *suddenly gains an additional flight-capable alt mode*

Every Autobot AND Decepticon on Earth, simultaneously: *suddenly gains a feeling of horrible creeping dread, as if They Are All Doomed*

m: HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

a-a: (and there’s definitely a Bee Movie script meme joke to be made somewhere in here about bees not being scientifically able to fly but flying anyway 🤣)

a-a: and to continue the cracky “war? what war?” vibe, the Decepticons see this cocky young newbie flyer stumbling about in the air, and instead of laughing and shooting him down, they go “ohhhh… it is A Baby…” and try to adopt a Very Not Keen On Being Adopted newly-triple’d Bee

m: EVEN BETTER

a-a: Bee is like NO NO NO NONE OF YOU ARE ALLOWED TO BE MY DAD OPTIMUS IS ALREADY MY DAD— wait crap did I say that out loud oh noooo—

Optimus: whut

m: I'm grabbing popcorn this is amazing

a-a: hmmm, what other weird funny things can fit in this AU… let’s say Megatron and Starscream are chasing Bee around the skies while also fighting each other over who would make a better mentor for what they’re convinced is the next baby Decepticon-in-training. Meanwhile, Blitzwing (not used to being one instead of three and handling it Badly)…

a-a: … talks himself into believing that now he’s no longer a triple, Megs will discard him like trash at best or execute him as a liability at worst (and to be fair canon Megs probably would). So while Bee is basically a hostage of the ‘Cons, single-faced Blitzwing flees to the *Autobots* for sanctuary, and poor Ratchet ends up volunteered by Optimus to be Blitzwing’s new therapist despite loudly claiming to be Not Qualified For That in at least 3 different ways

a-a: “Dammit, Optimus, I’m a field medic, not a psychiatrist!” /briefly channels Bones from TOS Star Trek

a-a: Sari is missing her best friend Bee very much, and despite the other four Team Prime members trying to keep her as far from Blitzwing as possible — “No such thing as a reformed ‘Con, he’s DANGEROUS” Ratchet grumps…

a-a: …Sari keeps sneaking past them to try and befriend Blitzwing, first because she wants the single-jet-alt to take her up flying to go find Bee, and then because she can’t help but feel sorry for him, he’s so distressed and obviously lonely after being three in one head for so long.

a-a: Honestly, Bumblebee’s youthful mischief and recklessness/carelessness could plausibly be misconstrued as Decepticon tendencies ready to be nurtured into full-fledged Decepticon-ness by a biased eye. That plus Megatron’s endorsement would have Lugnut on board the recruitment train for sure.

a-a: And at some point Megatron and Shockwave communicate to swap status updates, and Shockwave — who remembers from being Longarm that Bumblebee has a good Autobot-y heart under the brashness — is just like “… you’re trying to recruit WHO? Wait, since when can that little yellow Autobot FLY? What is going ON over there?!”