I can’t stop thinking about how TFA’s depiction of Beachcomber is like, one of if not THE most bleak representations of his character in any continuity to date??? Or at the very least one of the most unconventional. He never gets to see Earth or know a life outside of Cybertron, which is especially interesting considering his love for Earth’s ecosystems/inhabitants and the emotional connection he feels to the planet itself is arguably one of his most defining and memorable character traits in other continuities, namely G1.

Moreover, the prospect of being in the middle of Cybertron’s then ongoing war was seemingly so distressing to him that he not only refused to participate outright, but began avidly using drugs in (what I presume to be) an attempt to cope with/disassociate/mentally escape from the brutality of it; ultimately developing a persistent dependence on them in the process.

Following these events, he no longer peruses his interests or passions, and as it stands currently the local law enforcement view him as a dangerous criminal for no discernible reason aside from prejudice. I say this because Beachcomber is an infamous pacifist, plain and simple. He is not a violent person. Presumably this is something bots know about him, or at least it’s something they could very easily know if they were to speak to him or do research into his background for even a minute.

For Sideswipe to insinuate there would ever be an instance in which Beachcomber would be “gunning for a fight” , or otherwise pose some kind of threat to public safety as he implies here, comes off as incredibly disingenuous and rooted in some weirdly classist biases. Idk he’s literally a cop in this continuity so I guess it checks out (above panel is taken from The Stunti-Con Job)

Anyhow, to make matters worse, one of the few bots Beachcomber is ever stated to have been close to in any meaningful capacity, Swerve, ended up dying in battle. (Taken from his page of the TFWiki)

Which leaves Rattletrap, who, based off of his testimony here, is seemingly just as eager to sell Beachcomber’s valuable limbs/modifications off for money as he is to continue exploiting the guy outright, with little to no regard for his well-being whatsoever apart from being a reliable source of income.

And I mean, stepping back a bit, can you imagine what things must have been like for Beachcomber during the war? Especially its latter half. Consider where he must have been mentally as someone who viscerally opposes conflict/violence being surrounded by it on a near constant basis. Like, he didn’t know about Project Omega, or at least I don’t think he would have known. As far as his perspective was concerned he was on the defensive, backing a team that was actively bleeding resources and projected to suffer defeat, leading to inconceivable losses.

There was no hope for victory, and someone he personally knew ended up being a casualty alongside many others. It’s no wonder the guy suffered a massive mental break (what I interpret the aforementioned “overclocking bug” to be in reference to, something akin to an anxiety/panic attack, which Beachcomber was stated as being susceptible to in his original G1 character description) and wound up falling into substance use to cope. Shit must have been intense…

Without any hope for the future he just seems to be so aimless, lacking direction or drive. Just a drifter who espouses empty rhetoric about peace and universal oneness, deprived of any and all motive or resource to enact real tangible change.

And like, man I dunno. There’s something about the fact he doesn’t even pursue geology anymore that's especially upsetting to me. That was his hobby, his primary interest. The way in which he seemingly just doesn’t care for it anymore puts into perspective how dramatically his life has fallen off the rails.

For the most part he’s characterized in this very stereotypical tongue-in-cheek kind of way, and I feel like because of this nobody really talks about how miserable and tragic the reality of his life is, especially without any sort of canonical support system to help him through it. The more thought you give it the more you realize the poor guy seriously isn’t doing too great…

All that being said, I’m well aware this deeply saddening interpretation I’ve concocted isn’t anywhere near how the writers probably intended him to be perceived. I know full well they just wanted him to be a kindhearted, albeit ditsy, perpetually stoned out hippie with superficial optimism and a somewhat misguided naive view of the world à la “Who Needs The Peace Corps”. Which honestly can be interesting in and of itself! I enjoy both facets of his character and I think they can kind of coexist in a way.. I just wish people took him a bit more seriously sometimes, I don’t really see a lot of that predominantly with respect to him... but maybe that’s just my own bias talking. If it wasn’t already obvious i really really like Beachcomber lol