Headcanon: The Bayverse movies are a shared dreamscape for cybertronians in other continuities. It came into being when earth became suddenly important in the great Civil War, as Cybertronians tried to cope with the new paradigm where tiny flesh creatures gained great importance in their conflict. It’s only one of many dreamscapes, but those who have fought on earth tend to gravitate toward it in their sleep.
Think about it, in the movies, the characters are disjointed, their personalities shift from movie to movie (sometimes scene to scene). Motivations are unclear and/or simplified. Why does Optimus care about the humans? Ask him that and he spouts some vague rhetoric that is never really established in the movies. The humans treat the robots like either pets or villains and are generally unbelievable assholes to them. Megatron just does things because grrr!. It’s clear that he’s very emotional and passionate about beating the hell out of Optimus, but his motives are never well established either. But it makes perfect sense if that whole world is a collective dream, the bots would be taking their motivations, hangups and grudges with them when they go into recharge and find themselves suddenly a part of this disjointed narrative.
So many scenes in these movies seem like a collections of Nightmares that characters might tell Rung during a session:
Ravage: It was stormy, the ocean was choppy. I think I was on the top of a human ship..A submarine. I opened a hatch and regurgitated ball bearings into their bridge and it turned into another another cybertronian.
Ironhide: I was standing in the human’s private outdoor space, everyone was there. A tiny creature, a dog? I could barely see it. The thing drained it’s tank on my foot. I got angry but Optimus wouldn’t let me squish it, I had to stand there and do nothing.
Bee: I was in my alt mode in some kind of park, these two humans were making out on my hood and It made me feel warm and happy?
Megatron: -then I realized that I wasn’t really in charge, I was serving a master. I doing all the work for millennia long quest to destroy earth’s sun and he didn’t lift a finger to help. This made sense to me at the time, I was content to be a tool as long as I won in the end.
Optimus: -We were destroying the city but that did no matter. I could hear the humans dying but all I cared about was finishing him once and for all.
Bots whose consciousness goes into the dreams during recharge tend to be incidental characters in the dreamscape, but those who are in comas/unconscious/dead-but-not-really become more important because they are their for long periods of time. Sometimes pivotal characters like Optimus and Megatron are phantoms of what the dreaming bots believe they should be rather then the dreaming consciousness of those characters.
Honestly, these movies make so much more sense as a shared dream. Death has so little weight that you can picture the poor bot who died horribly waking up in the equivalent of a cold sweat on their recharge slab or after being knocked out in battle.
i get real sick and tired of people being like “ah yes hufflepuff is the house for cutesy people” and “slytherin is the house of broody angsty people” because both of these statements are false and this is yet another post where i stand firm by the fact that Tailgate is the Slytherin and Cyclonus is the Hufflepuff in the Cygate Slytherpuff duo
Tailgate: will say and do anything to achieve the end of feeling liked and supported. Once he considers you his people he will justify anything you do to anyone who looks at you crosswise. does not take betrayal well and holds resentment/grudges for other people’s actions
Cyclonus: Super uptight about personal integrity to the point where it inhibits his ability to make friends. Or talk about feelings. Occasionally comes off as haughtiness. Super dependable –you didn’t ask him to be your champion, but he is, and good luck getting rid of him. Thinks burdening other people when you can do the work yourself is Wrong. Holds grudges if it has to do with honor, but otherwise it’s water under the bridge.
@pollution-of-subterranean-waters and I were discussing Megatron and Optimus’s moral approaches in TF Devastation, and this led me to a certain question that I want to ask you, dear followers.
So while Megatron prioritizes Cybertronians and Cybertron over all other life forms, Optimus sees the bigger picture and prioritizes life in general, caring for all living beings in the universe. Which makes me admire him a lot, since this approach takes a remarkably open mind and a lot of love.
However, there is an important detail: both Optimus and Megatron are leaders of their people, which means that safety and prosperity of their people must be their first priority; their position puts a huge responsibility on their shoulders, they are entrusted with their entire species’ survival and culture (no matter if they were chosen or took that power on their own). And from that point of view, Optimus is doing a very dubious thing: he puts this responsibility aside in favor of others.
Imagine if there was a situation where Earth leaders had to decide: either sacrifice Earth and save10 other inhabited planets – or see them destroyed and save our planet.
Would it be morally correct for the leaders of Earth to sarifice the people they were chosen to represent?
Must a leader be loyal to the group that they lead, or to some higher moral standard? And where is the line? Like, aggressively conquering and annihilating other people to get more riches is bad without a doubt, but if it’s a question of survival?
I am genuinely interested in your opinions on that topic, so feel free to share them if you want.
4,000,000 year of practice. I wonder how many cons did Megatron help “get clean”
Also note: This same thing has happened to Megatron. He can’t get drunk anymore either.
Is it just me or do I detect a little something in the way he says “I did?” Megatron’s whole life has been about giving up pieces of himself to become what he became.
On the other hand, Trailcutter’s alcoholism has been cured, albeit by force, and he has a job now to give him something else to do with himself…which makes me pleased that Megatron seems to be turning out to be a good leader for the LL, if not a particularly warm and fuzzy one.
I’m just amused by the fact that Megatron seems to have been an active participant in the Decepticon healthcare system… “Having troubles drinking? Here, you’re going to see Megatron…”
You know one thing I really liked about TFA was that Optimus used his Axe to propel himself across a gap he couldn’t jump and to this day I still think thats cool as fuck.
So the heartbreaking thing about Animated Optimus being an utter aft in Megatron Rising part 1 is that he’s not being like that because he’s scared or frusturated–it’s because he genuinely thinks that it is how you’re supposed to lead.
Look at Sentinel. Look at the behavior of almost every other military caste Autobot we’ve met. Every one of Optimus’s mentors has behaved that way. He’d never expected leadership to mean anything else.
So the jet twins are my favorite characters in all of Transformers, I love them a lot and I wanted to make a appreciation post saying why they are so great and i wish they would stop being ignored so much.
So lets get started~
Jetstorm and Jetfire are the very first flying autobots. They are also the only onscreen combiners. It should also be noted Devastator was planned and Metalhawk was also a possibility to join Safeguard so Safeguard vs Devastator anyone? I would LOVE that.
Before becoming jets they were cute lil cars (ill post ref under a cut at the end)
Additionally their existence begs many questions about the ‘nameless’ class and if bots are made and just sent out to do a job. Seeing as how the twins are quite athletic and immature and it can be presumed they didn’t choose to be oil refinery bots. Speaking of which…
Despite their natural skills, its more shown then told, they are pretty insecure although more on Jetstorms part. Because of their presumed status Jetstorm doesn’t believe they can ever be anything and Jetfire is a little more optimistic.
After they fought (about practically nothing) the pipe they were on broke, however only Jetfire fell. Jetstorm was fine but still was injured in Perceptors lab, I headcannon he jumped after his brother, but you can interpret what you want here.
The jet twins are super learners, in the arrival “Survival Skills” Optimus gets his butt kicked by Megatron but that was the highest score, The jet twins learned to fly instantly and defeated everything in their path. The Autobots literally had to throw Starscream’s code at them and they learned how to beat him too. Making them the most powerful Autobots physically in the show.
They are very curious, in Metalhawk’s Allspark Almanac entry they mention how they want to learn about organic stuff, also they wanted to play bumblebee’s video game, so they don’t completely agree/listen to Sentinel
I don’t think that it was just grunt work to have the twins fix that generator, they are very smart, however Jetstorm yelling at it was priceless.
“Communications are Okie for Dokie” – Jetfire
The Selfie with Blitzwing
“Please Sentinel Prime sir do tell us how you make capture of this badness bot” -Jetfire and Jetstorm
They really like the circus
Jetfire and Jetstorm often (mainly in body language and slight comments) detach themselves from others in stressful situations. Usually with Sentinel being rude to them for example in the comic Jetfire griped his head and shuts his eyes when sentinel tries to get in his face.
However they still are genuinely curious and like meeting people.
They don’t understand slang and its adorable.
Look at them their designs are precious! Complementary colors! Jetfire’s got a aviators helmet for a head its adorable…look at em!!
Probably literally read each others minds. Being Split Spark twins and all.
Safeguard is their true form, they were one protoform split in half (according to Perceptor)
To wrap it up here basically i think, there’s TONS to work from here, I didn’t even list all the things I’ve noticed but i wanna keep this not too long. Thank you for reading the ramblings of a fangirl with too much time on her hands. I’m considering making one for MTMTE Rodmius too. Reference for twins pre-upgrade below cut.
I like headcanon that red optics are better suited for the dark. Because it perfectly explains why Decepticon’s ships are so dim! Especially in TF:A when in first episode they all interacted in total darkness.
The 1980s Transformers cartoon is one of the few examples where robots turning on their creators is presented as an unambiguously just action.
This is legitimately one of my favourite things about the cartoon – not only that it’s presented in a completely positive light, but that we don’t even know about it until two seasons in.
We’ve bonded with these characters, come to admire them, come to think of them as almost more human than the humans, and then –
BAM, YOU’VE BEEN COZYING UP TO SKYNET.
And it turns out they really are the good guys.
I love that.
The Quints are dicks, though. An entire species with no need for sexual reproduction and they still saw fit to install a gender binary.
I think MTMTE Rodimus is conceited, a very flawed, but fun character. He feels very good about himself and his leadership. He means well, and he tries his best to take care of everyone under his command, even though he is plain horrible at it, and he takes it really hard when it comes back and slaps him in the face (ie Red Alert’s suicide attempt, Magnus calling him out). He has a good sense of responsibility, but doesn’t take the authority and burden of leadership as seriously as he should have. He thinks he’s learning from experience day by day, but in reality he just keeps going back and forth in his progress of becoming a better leader.
To be honest, I wouldn’t compare him with G1 Rodimus Prime, as besides both being a turbo-revvin’ daredevil, they are too different as far as leadership is concerned. Rodimus Prime is unwillingly “the Chosen One”; he is very confident (almost borderline arrogant) about his fighting skills, but he knows by heart that as a leader, he will never compare to Optimus Prime. At first he thinks being a Prime is pretty rad, but as soon as he realizes how much responsibility and burden he has to take, he goes “I’m so not ready for this, but I have to do it anyway because everybody looks up to me now, WELP”. He judges himself a lot, and gets upset whenever he can’t live up to his role, but others just keep saying “you can do it! you are a Prime!”, and it really stresses him out. I mean, it took him almost the entire Season 3 to come to term with his role!
Cybertronian Database 