Yup! And, on the Autobot side, there’s the irony that a lot of Autobots, like Prowl, are devoted to fighting for order, but their entire faction is a chaotic mess of Leeroy-Jenkins-style meteoroid-surfers and loose cannons with their own agendas, without an actual ordered vision of the world they want after the war.
Mmm. I had thoughts about this a day or two back.
Being a good (ideological) Autobot is “heroic nonsense before following orders”. See; everyone who doesn’t listen to their superior and ends up saving the day. Ironically enough, Getaway is doing just this (though through less heroic means to a heroic end) and he is a schemer. Being a good literal Autobot is doing what’s good for everyone, Prowl.
Meanwhile ideological Decepticon is “be your goddamn self wake the fuck up” and honestly, Starscream is perfect. He questions, has ambition, and sticks out. But being a good literal Decepticon is fitting the hell out in the war machine. You’ve got your role, stick to it or you’re repurposed.
Autobots also have thought police, Shadowplay, Institutes, binary guns, idea bullets. Decepticons have thought police that kills or harms you to make you change your mind. Overlord and Trepan fascinatingly show off these differences, and play off each other well. Overlord manipulates and scares mechs because of what he does to the outside, that affects the inside. Trepan is feared because what he does on the inside, affects the outside, everything.
Just, Cons and Bots, man. Cons and Bots.
Okay, I LOVE this. I think this split between being a good ideological fit with your faction and being a good literal fit with what your faction needs to win is perfect, and really well explained! It makes a lot of sense that for both sides, the ideal is more independent and more individualistic than the actual level of cohesion needed to win a war.
I’m also struck by the fact that Megatron actually calls Starscream the “Decepticon ideal” in All Hail Megatron. He’s strong, fierce, ambitious, and has clawed his way almost to the top. It supports the suggestion that there’s a division between the kind of Decepticon Megatron wants to foster (liberated, individualistic, free to pursue their ambitions as far as their strength and talents allow) and the kind of Decepticon that the pressures of that particular military culture tend to produce (are you actively challenging for leadership? No? Then get back in line!). See also: Megatron’s decision to spare Deadlock after he was sentenced to death for rebelling against his commander. Megatron likes ambitious, independent people, but the faction’s structure does not naturally reward those things.
My only quibble, really, is that I see Getaway as falling much more into the good (literal) Autobot category – he’s trying to do something he sees as a small sacrifice for the greater good, in a very Prowl-like way, in contrast to Rodimus’s “heart over head, every time” heroism.
The differences between the Autobot and Decepticon thought police are also pretty striking, because I think it’s very fitting for the Autobot focus on community that if you’re doing something that’s not for the good of the community, they’ll change you to fit in. It’s really chilling. Whereas the DJD don’t actually try to “fix” people who are being “bad” Decepticons. They punish them, brutally, yes, but in a very weird way, there’s a certain respect for Decepticon individuality in that. “I understand that this is what you have chosen to do/be, and you will not change, and both of us cannot coexist, so prepare to die.” Yes, part of the point is to scare other Decepticons into not trying it, but they never attempted to, say, reprogramme Overlord or Black Shadow.
The Decepticons use mind control on their enemies, but only the Autobots use it on their allies.
I love
how Transformers: Prime treats gender and gender roles, both being subtly fair
in how it treats male and female characters, and how it also quietly
reconstructs gender roles. Sure, it has a clear majority of male characters,
but the writing or the language used doesn’t treat male and female characters
differently or enforce gender roles, and I appreciate that greatly.
Arcee is a
capable leader and a fierce fighter, and her arc is about learning to trust
again and letting go of bloody revenge before it destroys her. She
isn’t “overtly emotional” or scolded by her teammates even when her thirst
for revenge causes them harm, she’s a person who’s having a difficult time.
Everyone around her trusts her and she is both strict and supportive of her
friends.
Airachnid
is scary as hell and no one belittles her at any point. She is taken seriously,
and the thing between her and Arcee is also framed and treated like a truly
dangerous affair, not some silly girls’ slap fight. She is capable of terrible
things and they aren’t brushed off because of her gender.
Miko is a
tomboy, but this isn’t at any point brought up as an unusual thing, and her
gender identity is not put at odds with her behavior. The writing lets a girl
be gender non-conforming and still a girl without a question, and this is
hugely important. There is no one right way to be a girl, and Miko is allowed
to do that in her own way. And when her recklessness gets her or her friends in
trouble, the issue is putting others in danger, not how she needs to be more
girly.
June is a
mother and in a caring profession, a nurse, but she isn’t a one-dimensional
character slapped with a bunch of stereotypes. She is raising her son alone and
like any parent she simply worries. She also works a lot, and her skills are
valuable assets to the team. We also see the actual nature of nurse work
when she jumps into action in an emergency when Rafiel gets injured in the end
of season 1.
There are
also different versions of masculinity, and all of them valid. Sure, we have
our Megatron, our Dreadwing, our Breakdown, our Wheeljack, and to a certain
extend Bulkhead. But strong and sort of aggressive as they are, they are not
toxic. Their battle prowess, stoicism or aggression are not inherently tied to
their masculinity as they don’t use them to underline their identities, nor do
they lead to them looking down at others who are different.
In
Decepticons we have a clear majority of aggressive masculine types, but we also
have Knockout and Starscream. Knockout’s vanity and clear queer coding are not
issues to anyone nor is he a joke to other characters. The traditionally
masculine Breakdown is a close friend/coded partner of his, and Knockout is
also a skilled fighter, a good doctor and kind of scary as well (s2.ep19 Human
factor, anyone?). Starscream is the one everyone has beef with, but it’s
because of personal matters, and he isn’t mocked for his feminine attributes.
Traits like being scheming and cowardly are not linked with his effeminate
design but his ambition, and none of these are reduced to jokes.
As for
different masculinities, Autobots – our good guys, mind you – have vocally
pacifist and protective Optimus Prime who focuses on wisdom and defense, almost
like a maternal figure, but still the one capable of going against Megatron in
battle. I mentioned Bulkhead with the traditional masculine characters, but
additionally to his attitude and deeds before thoughts kind of way, he’s also
very empathetic. He hugs people and is very often the most openly emotional,
getting excited, angry and worried. Bumblebee is close to the action-y kind of
young male character, but his youth and inexperience are not ignored, and he
takes orders and advice from the older bots higher in the chain of command.
The
language used is also a part of this. The bots don’t refer to each other as men
or women. Troops is not synonymous with men. Not even the bad guys ridicule
anyone based on their gender or their ability to perform gender roles, which
would be a cheap jab and lazy writing.
There
isn’t one instance of “you’re a girl, this is dangerous!” or “but… but you’re a
girl, how do you know how to so this technical/brave/useful thing?”
Actually,
no one’s gender is brought up as a reason for anyone’s skills, be they male or
female. In the beginning I mentioned that the series does all of this “subtly”
and “quietly”, and by that I mean that no one ever makes a preachy speech about
this, which is something often seen when the show/movie/story wants to make a
point. But I’ve often found that when there’s a preachy scene about gender
roles or one scene of “girl power”, this is all there is, and the rest of the
show or a movie continues to do the very things it was trying to call out. I
prefer TF Prime’s way of never having that one scene or maybe an episode of
superficial textual critique, and just actually doing the reconstruction
consistently through the entirety of its run.
As a kid
I had a huge problem with gender representation in media, especially with how
girls in childrens’ shows seemed to come in two version: delicate, squeaky-voiced,
endlessly patient carers, or loud, obnoxious, bossy brats who need to learn a
lesson. I’m so glad things have changed for the better.
I have seen bounty hunter AUs before, so please bear with me and my not-so-original idea. But I just want even more excuses for megop, soooo *shrugs*
So in this AU after the disappearance of Elita-1 Optimus is expelled from the academy. He’s not a Prime. He barely has a credit to his name. And it was only because Ultra Magnus was able to pull a few favors that he got himself a ship. It’s not a great one, but it works fine. Of course, it comes at a price.
Basically the Autobots are all “since you don’t have the training/programming for civilian occupations (and you most certainly cannot be something other than what you are), you shall take on various tasks of the state and its law enforcement, should you choose.”
And they basically explain the terms of the bounty hunting, only it had a twist where if OP doesn’t meet his quota, he will be labelled a traitor and get himself put on the list. And they basically say it’s either this or an exile situation where you’ll die slowly from acid rain exposure. Wow, stellar options.
So now Optimus has this shitty ship, a shitty life, and a shitty– no, near impossible– assignment. How is he supposed to make that quota? How is he gonna fight Decepticons? Sentinel threw him under the bus, and is now the right hand mech of the Magnus. Maybe one day Optimus will look back and forgive him of being young and cowardly but today is NOT that day!!
So instead of OP and his team, it’s Rodimus Prime and his crew who trails Megatron all the way to Earth. Only Sumdac doesn’t find Megatron… Optimus does.
He was following a lead of some super secret Decepticon activity, as well as a large energy reading. ‘They’ve gotta be connected.’ He had thought to himself. And he could really use some confiscated fuel.
Just… gimme a barely-functioning Megatron who is trying to talk his way into distracting Optimus, but Optimus is like… just giving him the cold shoulder. Doesn’t engage. Stays very observant of his high-profile captive and doesn’t let him weasel his way out if this.
After a while, Megatron grows silent, and is mildly impressed by this Autobot. It’s a long ride back to the nearest space bridge to Cybertron… so Megatron decides to pick his hunter’s processor…
“You have a designation, Autobot?”
“Not important. What did I say about the talking?”
“You could always up the stasis cuff energy, to prevent all of my function.”
“Yeah, well I’m not cruel. I know that if I do that, your helm will explode, because you won’t be able to contain your insatiable need to pester me.”
“Hn. Well, I…”
“I also know that if I do that they’re more likely to short-circuit. Nice goad, you reeeeaally had me going there.”
“… Hmph. You’re a clever one.”
“Silenzio. There’s something to process: a word I just picked up on Earth. It’s got a nice ring to it, maybe you should figure out what it means.”
HI SO a while ago, well, more like earlier today me and my buddy @vuullet were talking about pre-triple changer blitzwing headcanons and so i decided to draw mines
basically the headcanon i have was that blitzwing was a seeker before he became a triple changer, he had a seeker trine (does TFA have seeker trines? well it does now) consisting of Blitzwing as the leader, Astrotrain and Octane. they had a very close trine bond that was hard to shake, they basically trusted their lives with each other. sometime during the war the trine underwent the triple changer program that made all three into triple changers, but with many side effects. in the process of implementing the triple changer code blackarachnia, whether by accident or on purpose, severed their trine bond by creating a block between them in their processors. with their bond broken, they couldn’t connect with each other like they used to and slowly just drifted away from each other. they were sent to their own missions and never really talked to each other after that.
oh, and blitzy is shorter than the rest of them pre-triple changer 😉
I wanna think that Decepticons value a partner who is strong and will protect you. Who can also overpower you.
They’ll have “play fights” where one Con wrestles the other into submission and fucks them.
Outsiders might not understand because the struggling would seem real.
On Twitter I saw a scenario where Rodimus assumed Drift’s con ex abused him after memory linking with him, because the sex was so rough.
(what kinds of signals Cons would have that advances really aren’t okay?)
I suspect it can honestly get ambiguous sometimes. Like, I think the assumption would be that if a ‘Con really doesn’t want it, then they would overpower their suitor, esclating the fight if necessary – using their inbuilt weaponry, usually.
Buuuut there’d be times when a ‘Con couldn’t do that, or didn’t want to risk real damage by using weapons, or the other combattant didn’t realize that by esclating the fight they wanted it to stop rather than just keep on going until they were overpowered…or, y’know, didn’t care enough to pay attention to the signals that this wasn’t a happy sexytimes playfight.
Another signal would probably be to just refuse to fight back. It’d risk looking like a surrender, but usually ‘Cons expect their ‘defeated’ companions to participate in the interface as well as the fight. Still, though, it’d depend on the other ‘Con realizing something was wrong and caring enough to back off.
*jumps in*
I did something like that in an RP. (I think it was an RP…. Don’t think it was a fic???) where yeah, if the Con REALLY doesn’t want to clang, he lies limp under his ‘attacker’ and turns his face away. It’s not submission to the other ‘Con, it’s ‘look how uninspiring you are to me, you’re not worth putting my hands on even to shove off’.
It was a fun concept to play with, (and by fun I mean oh dears gods the DRAMU) because the Autobots did NOT know this was how to say no, except for a critical few, who were, of COURSE, hiding their cross faction affairs. ^_^
This is an area where the way IDW has handled gender means we have to kinda move away from “human” ways of thinking about it as “gay” or “straight” or “bi” or “pan.” It’s not something that’s really been delved into, but the implication is that gender doesn’t seem to matter to Transformers when it comes to romance. What we think of as homoromantic attraction is the standard on Cybertron because it’s been a planet on which only “male” Transformers existed for something like eight million years. But the sudden introduction of “female” Transformers to the planet throught contact with the colonies, while it’s confused some ‘bots, hasn’t led to some mass reinterpretation of romance by a population that has, in human terms, been 100% gay for eight million years.
Here’s the best way I can illustrate this: in MTMTE #41, both Getaway and Skids (guys) were flirting with Firestar (a girl):
But then in the next issue, Skids briefly refers to Firestar as male, because he has grown up on a planet where there is only one gender, and isn’t used to even thinking of there being a distinction:
So, I mean, you could interpret this to say “Skids is bi,” in that “he’s attracted to both males and females,” but really that’s too “human” a way to look at it. It’s that he doesn’t even have to mentally or socially differentiate between Firestar being either “male” or “female” to flirt with her. He just saw “an attractive Transformer.” That’s all that actually mattered, because… like, “gender” has been a thing on Cybertron for a hot five minutes. It doesn’t “matter” like that.
Y’know, people have been popping Minimus Ambus into TFA, having been operating the Magnus armor the whole time, and that’s awesome and I love it and what people are doing but consider:
TFA has some of the most screwed up morally ambiguous Autobots. What if someone said “We need Ultra Magnus up and moving to preserve the stability of the commonwealth, and we have a loadbearer here…”
Gimme that sweet body horror of the Autobots literally scrapping Ultra Magnus and reworking his internals so that Minimus can pilot him for “the greater good” 😀
Cybertronian Database 