Ahhhh, this is a good idea, but also, consider! OP is mutilated, and Sentinel goes on his merry way, complete with hands and a face. Optimus has taken the fall for him in a bigger way than just getting stuck with a shitty assignment, he’s lost his face, and it was all because Sentinel threw him under the bus, but he wouldn’t throw Sentinel under the bus. If Sentinel remains stuck in his land where he has to believe that he’s right, and that everything went wrong because Optimus screwed up, then good! This is vindication! This is just! This is the punishment Optimus deserves, even if he got things to that point by not being entirely truthful. Every time he looks at Optimus’s face, it’s validation for his feelings. And every time he feels those emotions, it’s validation for what happened to Optimus’s face. A nice ugly feedback loop.
And then! When he gets to Earth and sees what happened to Elita, I mean. We’ve seen canon, it horrifies him. His reaction to anything organic edges me pretty close to being willing to straight-up call it a trigger, and what happened to Elita because he screwed up– because Optimus screwed up, given the emotional trauma he took away from the incident, from his point of view, it is LITERALLY the worst thing that could have happened to her. Seeing how bad it is, that’s maybe even a shock strong enough that the blame-to-be-assigned overflows from ‘just Optimus’ so that the thought starts to creep in that maybe, possibly, it might be a teeny tiny little bit his fault that he pushed them to go to this planet in the first place.
And after that, every time he sees Optimus’s face? It’s awful, but it’s a just punishment. It’s what Optimus deserves. For that thing that was… maybe Sentinel’s fault. That he never got punished for. That Optimus got extra punished for. But– but no, if Optimus hadn’t messed up, Elita would have been safe, and everything would have been fine. And what happened to her was even worse than he could have guessed. So Optimus extra deserves this. Even though. Sentinel maybe deserved. A little punishment. Maybe. And after all that, after ages of having to believe that this is Right, he’s reminded of all all those doubts every time he looks at his two old friends and sees what happened to them. Every time he sees them, he’s reminded that he’s the only one who came away from that situation intact, all for something that he can maybe, quietly, admit in his own head… was actually his fault.
Tag: omg
I love the “starscream was a scientist” backstory because it informs absolutely none of his current character? Like yeah I used to be a scientist and I was really good at it and now I kill people and those two things are entirely unrelated like he isn’t an evil scientist and he didn’t have some tragedy where he had to Give Up science to fight he just. changed his mind one day out of spite apparently
he gave up science after dumbass skyfire got himself stuck in an iceberg and ruined their scientific expedition, the science communtiy was like “lmFAO GTFOoooOOOO” Also because of his warframe build vs scientific models like a microscope. muh elitism prevents you from succeeding in our college because fuck you stupid guntoating warmachines, yall ain’t good for nothin but shootin [it wasn’t said like this but that’s the vibe you got: naggly little shits], War Academy is much more “exciting” because you don’t have people shooting you down at every turn. well i mean, they do shoot you down but that’s physical
this kinda stuff is elaborated in Transformers Animated during bootcamps, and then further in the G1 und IDW comics. Hence the introduction of Functionist Classes: Starscream fits into the Flight class rather than Scientific class. which is gonna cause problems when you want to be a nerd.
and was then
seducedwrangledpersuaded to join the decepticon legion by megs because muh revolution because what else ya gonna do with your life if you get shunned by your scientific peers, i’d fuckin shoot an autobot if i were seething with hatred for everyhting in life toothough yes, it does inform of his current situation because starscream often DOES point out flaws in megatron’s plans, including ones that require scientific background to know. he also built meg’s fusion cannon. The one megatron shoots him with. He built it to impress megatron, only to get shot by it when megatron started going by feels over reals and not listening to what starscream had to say over what Megatron felt was right hence why decepticons keep losing and starscream getting screamier as the days go by because it’s just as infuriating to hear your scientific knowledge being shot down in a wartime scenario as it is in a college scenario
(Yesss, these are good, and it’s always ok though I can’t promise [a fast] response!)
Transformer skinhealth musings: mechs sometimes develop random small screws or bolts akin to human moles, that are not harmful on their own unless there’s too many close together or they grow too big/abnormal which is when they start to risk weakening the metal between the bolts during transformation. Seekers and other high altitude/speed flyers are especially at risk because G-forces and pressure shifts risk ripping the screws off which could be extremely risky during flight; thus seekers are considered to have ideal “skin” because they need to keep their surface as perfect as possible.
At certain points some young mechs might suffer from chronic and embarrassing paint bubbling, and older mechs might develop chronic paint wrinkling. More embarrassing and maybe more exclusive to those with Earth alt-modes are different issues in their car upholstery, and not making sure to clean, dry and air out their seats may end up with persistent itchy mildew or other infestations. Also less of a health thing but I’m pretty sure that those with more than four wheels sometimes get them pinched awkwardly after transforming to root mode, but then it’s bit embarrassing to re-transform just for that when everyone’s looking so they try to subtly hang back and shift their limbs hoping the wheel will spin to settle better.
Ratchet: I’m 80% exhaustion, 10% sarcasm, 20% don’t care.
Optimus: That’s 110%.
Ratchet: 20% of me doesn’t care.
do you think cybertronians researched things such as dry ice and other winter hazardous road conditions, or had to learn from experience? ‘cuz all i can see the autobots readying up for battle in the icy roads of canada, and they don’t know about the curse that is canada’s highways and just spin out when trying to chase decepticons
optimus: roll oUT –HOLY PRIMUS
And half of the Autobots are sports cars – how many Lamborghinis or Porsches would end up in a snowdrift? 😊
The Decepticons find this fucking hilarious. They start hitting all the Canadian oil fields in winter for JUST THIS REASON.
Cybertronian Database 