#transformer rant

Optimus and the Autobots at large are written in G1 to be about freedom vs the Decepticons’ Tyranny, but in Armada/Energon the thing Optimus is fighting for is not freedom - He fights for peace and to protect.

I say this because in Energon, Optimus clashes against Rodimus.

For anyone who doesn’t know the backstory: Cybertron was at war between Autobots and Decepticons, and while Optimus led his army to defend Cybertron, Rodimus held his flag up to inspire those following him to leave Cybertron and find a better life elsewhere.

This difference in philosophy is important in Energon and watching the characters decide which one to follow is a pretty interesting thing as none of them are wrong or right, but that isn’t what I am on about today, I just thought it would be interesting to ponder if this could be a difference between western and eastern TF media.

I think it aint a reach to say that the western TF media is usually about fighting for freedom, maybe some not as explicit as others. Meanwhile, the japanese shows don’t focus on freedom as such but put their focus far more into preserving and protecting life.

If we stay with Armada/Energon, tyranny vs freedom was never the conflict, it was destruction vs life. On the other hand, the WFC Trilogy has it’s focus on tyranny vs freedom, given that Optimus, in Siege, cared more about freedom than he did life on Cybertron, the reason why he yeeted the Allspark.

Japanese G1′s main theme was always the beauty of existence (PS: That is the name of a favourite song of mine hehe) and the Decepticons were simply bitches who wanted to destroy it. Hence the Japanese title “Hakai taite”, the Emperor of Destruction.

Personally, I did enjoy the japanese media more, even if they might not be necessarily better written than the western shows. And one reason for that is the fact that the main theme is always about preserving life.

They are more wholesome this way, what can I say. Also, Beast Machines serves a great example of how you can fuck a narrative about tyranny vs freedom by having some very weird writing choices. And maybe I don’t enjoy that discussion through TF because I have yet to see a show in which it leads to anything (nothing of the ID/W stuff I read delivered in that regard either, one reason why I stopped reading it)

Because there is this wonderful thing called ~ plot ~ and ~ character ~

Optimus' taking the blame and feeling guilty is part of his character and it drives the plot!

If he didn't have these feelings and never did what he ended up doing, taking the blame, we wouldn't have his toxic ex-friendship with Sentinel or his drive to help Blackarachnia.

The plot would not be the same. Optimus would not be the same.

TFA Optimus' whole arc features his struggle with leadership and how good a job he does.

He felt guilty and took the blame for what happened to Elita because he saw himself as the leader of his friend-group.

He tries to help Blackarachnia because he feels responsible for what happened when he was her leader.

He struggles with being a good leader the whole time, he messes up at times, he has moments of self-doubt, and everything with Sentinel and Blackarachnia is part of that.

Like - An Optimus who would have told the "truth", said that it was Sentinel's idea, felt that Blackarachnia doesn't deserve his sympathy... that wouldn't be Optimus.

These actions would make no sense with what he does for the rest of the show - Trying to lead and do it right!

An Optimus who would have shoved away his own responsibility for an accident he was involved in is not someone whose journey is about trying to lead the correct way.

And peeps - Of course he saw himself as the leader! He was a star-student, Ultra Magnus' favoured choice for becoming the next Magnus.

He has leadership skills and he feels responsible for everyone and everything he can and feels he should protect.

His backstory with Archa-7 is a good story that makes sense and gives Optimus a great character arc.

Think about it - He spents 80% of the show being inside the MegaStar and watching TV while his henchmen are out doing evil shit. And the base is always clean, so it checks out.

G1 Megatron is too busy coming up with his next scheme, and TFP Megatron is too busy growling about his ex - Both of them have a giant army to do the cleaning job.

TFA Megatron seems like the dude who would never in his life touch a broom because he's not a fucking peasant.

Beast Wars Megatron would know about cleaning, but only about body-cleaning, you know? Like he can tell you what lotion goes best with scales and what conditioner to use based on what mammal you transform to. And of course he would recommend you the bad ones on purpose.

Armada Megatron has absolutely no concept for being clean. More than that, he has no concept for self-care. That dude rips out his plating to throw them at people, he will definitely not pick that up to get any dirt off it.

Cyberverse Megatron is one dude I would never trust with fucking anything, he'd probably mix together all the soaps and cleaning supplies and kill everyone. He's also that dude who swipes the floor while walking forward, making the floor even dirtier by stepping on the wet ground with his filthy legs.

Prime Wars Megatron, on the other hand, can learn. He never did cleaning in his life, but he can pick that up, it'll become a new skill and hobby for him. I trust him, would hire as a maid.

WFC Megatron is just that kind of dude who never knew what it meant to be real clean, and once he experienced it, he will not let it go. His fucking room and anywhere he hangs his giant self-portraits gotta be clean. He might not do it himself, given how many simps he has, but he'd check every corner to see if it is really clean.

Energon Megatron though? That dude aint giving a shit, because he knows it won't matter how clean anything is, he's just gonna fucking destroy it anyway. Also, since he doesn't invest in lightbulbs, he doesn't care to invest in brooms either. Like who needs to swipe the floor anyway when you can't even see the dust?

Okay, people who know me and follow me for a some time know that I really enjoyed the whole of War for Cybetron, every season and most characters.

It has flaws; Not enough episodes to flesh out the world or characters, no real backstory, stuff like that, but I was able to enjoy it just fine anyway.

I loved Siege, Earthrise was epic and Kingdom met my expactations.

But there is ONE thing I just cannot enjoy about the way it ended, and it has to do with Megatron.

You may also know, I love Megatron. He's my fave Transformer and I do love him in WFC as well. I loved the route they took with him here and thought it worked really well, despite the no backstory.

My problem with him isn't the character himself, but how the narrative treated him and Prime, so lemme just say:

Optimus is NOT the main character of WFC - Megatron is!

But the show does treat it like Prime is the MC and Megatron the villain, because why wouldn't they?

However, I'd argue that the way the show is written and these characters are represented, that Megatron is the real MC.

His emotional state is shown far more and better and more explicitely than we ever see Primes. I am not saying that we don't get a fair amount of what Optimus goes through, but we see far more from Megatron:

1. Megatron's emotional state is far more expressively seen

2. Megatron goes through more turmoil via his dynamic with Ultra Magnus

3. We see him being far more conflicted about his actions than Prime. Prime's and the Autobot's actions in Siege don't go with a lot of emotion, while we see Megatron's very emotional reactions to them

4. When the Allspark gets sucked in by the space bridge, we see it through Megatron's eyes

5. Earthrise is all about Megatron having to do very hard decisions that eat at him. The sad look he gave section 12 before giving the order to shut it off for example

6. Megatron in general has more intense character dynamics, in Siege with Magnus, in Earthrise with Elita. In Earthrise, Prime's only intense dynamic is with Megatron

7. We get to see Megatron's hatred as the driving force to any of his actions taking over his desire to take the Allspark back and save Cybertron. It's a development we see him go through.

8. Both of them, Megs and OP, deal with guilt, but we see Megatron having nightmares about it. Megatron's illusions from the Allspark are about his guilt, while Optimus just sees Alpha Trion (which doesn't lead to anything)

9. We see Megatron dealing with his future self and rejecting it and changing his mind and perspective. Optimus has almost nothing to do with Nemesis

10. Even though both Megatron and Prime have similar stories about having done bad things and mistakes because of their own desire to win, Megatron is the one to really get confronted about it and develop because of it

Again, I am not saying that Prime's story isn't good or valid - But it did not get the care and detail as Megatron's story did.

Watching the show, I sympathised with Megatron's emotions far more than with Prime's. And that is not because I am a Megatron fan - If a Megatron aint worth shit, I won't love just cause - but because we were shown more of Megatron's emotions.

Thus, he feels more like the main character than Prime!

And here we get to the ending:

Optimus got a closure to his story with Elita's death and than with her spark speaking to him.

Megatron got nothing!

We dealt and were shown his conflicted emotions and story far more explicitely throughout the show than we did Prime's, and yet he got no closure at the end while Prime did!

It's like the writers focused on Megatron on accident and remembered right at the end that Prime was supposed to be the focus as the actual main character.

I am not saying that Prime's ending was bad or anything, it was great - But Megatron deserved one as well, even more than Prime!

Megatron should have had a scene of him reacting to Cybertron's destruction and the death of everyone.

Megatron should have had closure with the sparks of the people he cared for, especially Ultra Magnus.

His ending should have been realising that it is his fault that Cybertron got destroyed, rejecting Galvatron's self-serving goal, and doing what he always thought he was doing - saving Cybertron.

He did reject Galvatron and save Cybertron, but rejecting Galvatron was more about him not wanting to take orders from anyone and deciding his own faith, and less with his original goal.

On the golden disk, he even said how much he regretted not making peace with Optimus sooner; That thought should have been present in his actions at the end! The end when he didn't take Prime's offered hand and was like "We live in peace...for now." Didn't fit.

In the end, he simply wasn't allowed to get any closure to his story. No closure to the emotional journey he went through. He had no moment of carthasis, the end felt like watching a Rube Goldberg machine go for 3 hours just to malfunction right at the end.

Okay, say GO! note: I love most of these shows and most of what I nitpick here isn't to say that I hate what we got + doesnt include RB and RBA

G1: I love Galvatron's and Cyclonus' dynamic and loved how the show was self-aware about the fact that Galvatron was crazy, and I would love to see this written with more depth and getting further into Cyclonus' motivation for staying at Galvs' side Headmasters: It's always about Sixshot- I love him so much but always gotta say that his development only really started in the last four episodes - would have loved it if we had gotten some inclination about his more gentle character before that!

Super-God Masterforce: I am of the opinion that Masterforce is a great show with great writing and great characters and don't have much to talk about here. Anyway, I absolutely adored Godbomber and the entire concept behind him - he's a drone who gets controlled through Ginrai's chokon-power (human energy) and acts whatever Ginrai wants him to do. What I found so nice about him is that he emotes! :D And he does react to other people, even if his reactions are all based on Ginrai's will. He doesn't have a voice, so he has to get his point across in other ways and seeing him do that is a delight ~ It made him feel like a character instead of just a drone with no personality and it would have been so awesome if more detail was put into that. Minerva treated Godbomber like a person and I'd have loved to see more of that!

Victory: There is a lot I loved about this show that just didn't really come into fruition - this post should explain it! Beast Wars: I fucking love Megatron cloning his ex Dinobot to get himself a new henchman, anddüde - wouldn't it have been nice to see it be acknowledged how creepy that is? Maybe get more into the reason why he has this need to clone Dinobot? Megatron obviously wanting his ex back, but his ex wont come back, so he creats a version of his ex that is just what he wants to him to be...weird housewife creepy romance novel style??? Beast Wars 2: Hm, tbh the stuff I liked about this show was well done! Can't think of anything here

Beast Wars Neo: Same as BWII, I just cant think of anything here that I loved that was done badly. The shows are simple! One thing I would have loved to see more of is Big Convoy's past as a lone wolf. We got bits and pieces but a little bit more couldn't hurt!

Beast Machines: I loved almost every idea in this show and somehow none if it was done in a way I truly enjoyed x'D 1. The premise nature vs techno 2. Blackarachnia trying to save Silverbolt 3. The whole concept of using existing sparks for new bodies, creating new people 4. Megatron splitting himself in half 5. Plantformers Apart from the Plantformers, all these were great ideas but the way the show executed them was depressing and weird.

RiD01: You know me people, I fucking love Ultra Magnus and Optimus being brothers in this and I would have given everything for more depth between them! Just a flashback to how they were before Ultra Magnus went JerkMode would have been gold QuQ

Armada: I loved the conclusions at the end, absolutely hated everything before the conclusion tho Energon: Love Shockfleet/Mirage being in fucking love with Galvatron, wish Galvatron had acknowledged it once qvq

Cybertron: Almost the same as Energon - I loved Chromia/Thunderblast having a crush on Megatron and wished they had done something with it. They could have gone full Decepticon Queen with her with evil romance, but Megatron has the same amount of communication and social skill as a brickwall.

TFA: I loved the 2 minutes of Cyclonus and hated that he never showed up again-

Cyber Mission: So, there is this episode in which Bee and Ironhide are sparring and Ironhide saves a flower from being squished under them and is like "we must protect life". Bee says that the flower aint sentient tho, but Ironhide says "this one is."

WHAT THE FUCK DO MEAN A SENTIENT FLOWER EXISTS ON EARTH??? Why to they drop this thing and then never do anything with the concept-!

TFP: I feel like Ultra Magnus is kinda missed potential and wished they'd have done more with him, he could have had great dynamics with the rest, but was just used for Wheeljack angst.

GO!: Man they got this Predaking character (I love Predaking) and he's just so generic...and they didn't even make him bishie and pretty like the original characters for this show qnq

RiD15: I loved Steeljaw but they did him dirty by just never allowing him to be the show's threat! He mostly just got pushed aside and used by other people. (still sexy tho, his german voice be like WOOOOO-)

Prime Wars: I loved the plot of this, loved what they did with Megatron and it was such missed potential to not make him Prime at the end! QnQ It would have fit so much! Nothing against my monkuh Primal, but come on! Megatron was right there-!

Cyberverse: Loved Roddy as leader and was kinda disappointed when he was done after Prime showed up again. My boy deserved at least an award or something.

Whoever wrote that episode seemed to have forgotten everything about Megatron up to that point.

As much as Megatron being like "Starscream is right" was neat, the way he turned his back on Galvatron was just lacklustre.

He did it because "you aint my boss" kinda reasoning, when he should have done it for a totally different reason, and NOT because someone else inspired him to.

What does Galvatron, his future, stand for?

Galvatron's whole motivation is about saving himself. He's all about self-presevation, to the point that he assumes Megatron, his past self, will help him.

But Megatron did not start out with this kind of mindset - His motivation has been saving his kind, ruling Cybertron, ending the war, saving his Decepticons and than saving Cybertron.

He always did what he did for the "greater good", vile as his actions were. His growing problem over the course of the show was how self-centered he became, putting off various chances of peace aside because of his own personal beef with Optimus.

His whole journey was filled with him thinking what he did was right, blaming Optimus for everything falling apart and trying to fix it with his own means.

Do you know why he felt so much guilt? Because he saw himself as the main actor in this whole scenario - He had to bring the Allspark back to Cybertron to justify the cruelty he has done.

In subtle ways, he lost his main motivation of simply saving Cybertron and turned it into a quest of saving himself from his guilt, and killing Prime and the Autobots for escalating it to this point in the first place.

His journey has become only about himself - He had to be the victor and Optimus the villain for him to feel whole again, like the hero he viewed himself as. He didn't want Cybertron restored, he wanted to be the hero who restored her. Only then could he look at his actions and view them as necessary and just.

He became self-centered.

And Galvatron is the final stage of that - Galvatron didn't care about Cybertron or anyone else, and everything he did was to save himself.

And Megatron rejecting Galvatron- a version of himself who he could become - should have been about that!

About Megatron rejecting Galvatron for being so self-centered! Megatron should have come to the realisation that he himself became self-centered and remember what his original goal was!

That is what Megatron journey was about, him corrupting himself and letting his personal feelings of anger and frustration eat him from the inside out while he desperately tries to uphold his self-image of a hero.

That stuff just doesn't come up again, him choosing peace with the Autobots and rejecting Galvatron felt so hollow. He shouldn't have had other people's talk be the reason why he decided against Galvatron.

He should have come to that realisation by himself! Him looking at his future self and deciding he doesn't want that should have been an intimate moment between him and Galvatron!

He should have seen the state Cybertron was in, see Galvatron trying to destroy it all to save himself only, and realise that he was already becoming that selfish bastard.

He should have told Galvatron: "I did not rise up to save myself - I rose to save Cybertron and its people - And I will do that now!", then join fucking forces with Optimus and defeat the baddies together!

This Megatron has so much angst and emotion behind him in every action he takes, and then in the last fucking episode they couldn't bring that to closure.

Megatron had no business to refuse a proper handshake with Optimus at the end, or speculate about how long this peace will last!

He should have come to the logical conclusion of realising his mistakes, how self-centered he had become, finally admit to himself that his actions were wrong and that he would never be a hero. Why? Because he saw what he would become if he doesn't make peace with Optimus.

And he rejected that future, so he should have MADE PEACE WITH OPTIMUS!

strongly agree | agree | neutral | disagree | strongly disagree

What can I say except that there are many, many Optimus'/Convoy's out there and making a general opinion on them just doesn't work.

But I couldn't think of any Optimus I experienced who wasn't deep down a good person - lets make a roll call shall we? (includes all shows except RB and RBA + Bayverse)

Preface: The OG post imma talk about dealt a lot with gender and gender identity, which is NOT what I am talking about here. That is not my concern. But for habit reasons, I will refer to Starscream as he/him, as opposed to the original post that used she/her)

Also, warning: Talk about Megatron&Starscream abuse dynamics