#transformers meta

So.

Optimus Prime is the chosen of Primus, but has also the terrible problem of being at war where he rusks his life and Primus wants his chosen one ALIVE thank you very much.

Soldier tries to land a blow on the prime? The ground swallows them.

Try to ambush him using a natural formation? Owo would you look at that it changes/opens to free him

I hope the Decepticons enjoy earthquakes and constant collapses over their army because sure as hell you are not killing Primus favorite on HIS ground.

So that's why Decepticons have to fly and live in spaceships and not ground bases because the ground is NOT kind to them.

Optimus in the meantime is... not super thrilled about it all but the Autobots sure are.

Same thing for Rodimus Prime but Demetra style Cybertron gets depressed whenever Rodimus is traveling around and not there for long periods of time.

What do other planets have that Cybetron doesn't, why won't Primus kids stay with him ffs he misses them :(

(aka overthinking the military logistics of transforming robots for fun while looking through Jason Scheier's instagram for TFO concept art)

"Why did D-16 beat Starscream so easily in Transformers One if Starscream is an ancient High Guard veteran and war hero?" seems to be a recurring fandom question, based on what I've seen as a llongtime urker, with the leading explanation being:

1) Masochism 2) Duuuh, D-16 has Onyx Prime's T-cog, of course he'd win 3) SS threw the fight

Now, the Doylist explanation is that the HG hideout is basically a giant Apocalypse Now homage (as Jason Scheier mentioned in this interview), and thanks to runtime constraints, the movie's HGs are basically violent social Darwinists LARPing Apocalypse Now in a crashed Quint ship too.

However...

The movie also establishes that the HGs manage to survive for 50 cycles on the surface. During an energon drought. While being hunted by Sentinel (and presumably hiding from the Quints too).

And are still considered enough of a threat, militarily or symbolically, that Sentinel was still regularly searching for them during surface expeditions.

That's not a minor feat. That is "someone deserves a fucking medal for keeping this organization functioning at all" level of logistical competence, even if you believe the TFO RP book's framing that "Oh SS is too cowardly to go after Sentinel and the Quints directly and only raids energon tribute trains."

(…No offense to the RP book because I personally take a lot of inspiration from it while writing my fic, but my brother in Primus, that's not cowardice. That's literally how asymmetric warfare works.）

Anyways, my simple Watsonian explanation is this:

The skillset that allows you to keep a guerilla army alive for 50 cycles is not necessarily the same skillset that allows you to 1v1 Cybertron's angriest ex-miner who just found out his entire life was built on a lie.

Like, a commander's job, whether you are running a guerilla army or a conventional air force, is not "win fistfights." It's keeping an organization alive, functional, and effective under pressure.

That means logistics and supply chains and coordination. Morale management. Strategic decision-making.

And, most importantly, knowing when NOT to engage, because guerrilla warfare isn't about winning fair fights.

It's about wearing down the enemy's will bit by bit, effectively wasting their time and resources, and sometimes, building enough structure to eventually become a governing force.

(Or, in simpler terms: you don't fight a colonial occupation fleet and its puppet government head-on, because if you do, you'll fucking die.)

And yeah, I know, Orion referring to them as "the most legendary warriors in all of Cybertron" probably doesn't help either, but if you really think about it? The sorts of battles the HGs engaged in before the Primes' death would have been against the Quint fleets——the giant living ships we saw in the movie.

Aerial combat that was presumably done in their alts, as an actual conventional army, and relied more on formation discipline, chain of command, probably ground artillery support if they had any, and boring but essential logistics.

(And whatever material Orion read in the Iacon data archives——if we look at what the movie's opening implied——are far from uncensored or historically neutral. If Sentinel spent 50 cycles constructing a mythology around the Age of the Primes, then "the HGs were legendary warriors" is exactly the kind of statement that would survive censorship, but the details on how they fought? Not so much.)

(It's like if somebody's only knowledge of WWII came from patriotic propaganda posters.)

And after the fall of the Primes, they aren't even a conventional army anymore. Survival is the new win condition, and by guerilla war standards, "Still existing after 50 cycles" is already a significant success.

Thus, I don't think SS losing to D-16 means he's somehow a wimp or fraud or that he threw the fight.

Much like a decorated fighter jet pilot losing to an enraged construction worker in a bar fight says nothing about his, well, piloting skills, it just ain't where his biggest implied strengths are at.

…To use a stupid analogy, TFO SS isn't the PVP veteran. He's the MMO guild master from a faction the devs actively hate, who's probably suffering heavy burnout and held together entirely by spite, caffeine, and a burning desire to never let the dev team win, with a build optimized for endgame PVE content.

Obviously he isn't the powerhouse that Shockwave is, even in generation one. But there's still a lot of instances of him employing his scientific talents. He literally forged Bruticus in "Starscream's Brigade" with the help of only World War II military vehicles, like he's a inventer too. And in 'A Decepticon Raider in King Arthur's court', Starscream LITERALLY invents two sources of electricity using just gold coins, and then he literally makes gunpowder like holy shit. He's also a electrican AND a alchemist. He's knowledgeable about chemical manufacturing process AND electricity generation enough to make use of them.

First Part:  According to @tee-chew on Tumblr, I really appreciate their hard work in compilling every information we have got about sparklings in various Transformers medias and giving their fantastic headcanons (please check them out). 

First, forged Cybertronians (not cold constructed ones) begin as sparks surrounded by sentio metallico (living metal/transformium/etc.) with no defined shape and form. They existed within the ‘hot spot’ prepare to emerge and become protoforms. Moreover, the main composition of sentio metallico is rarified energons, a rare and limited type of energon essential to all cybertronian beings. (this will be featured in my future cybertronian alimentary post)

The second form is the protoform—often depicted as tiny white cylinder with digital electronic circuit patterns. However, they do not have to be small or cylinder-shaped; protoform can exist in various shapes and sizes. I think a protoform’s distinctive features include color, patterns, and perhaps some kind of spark signature, electronic field, or beeping sound to signal other cybertronians that it is, indeed, a protoform—like how organic newborns cry to alert adults, a telling of their vulnerable stage. 

Protoform stage duration only lasts in minutes before developing a face and alt-mode within hours (plating and kibbles, etc.). They are considered ‘warm’ metal until they find their true shape or ‘solidify’. 

 A protoform’s development finishes within 24 hours but they are not yet considered an adult here, this is where the term ‘sparkling’ applies. I agree with @tee-chew headcanons that “a sparkling is fully form cybertronian but very young and inexperienced.” To note: a protoform must still need to ‘learn’ communication, surviving skills, and mental development (or training).  Importantly, Cybertronians have a ‘natural’ alt-modes (their true shape) they are born with. Their sentio metallico is adaptable and be able to reconfigure into new shape or design as their own desire(by choice.) While a spark may contain some coding with purpose to influence frame formation, but the meaning of true frame refers to ‘the originally forged frame’--not a ‘true’ or ‘great’ as defined by Functionism. (TL;DR: true shape/frame = originally forged frame)

Second part: Now comes the question regarding cold constructed cybertronians.

 In my headcanon I think they initially develop in a similar way to the forged one, but without a spark and without the ‘warm.’ The ‘cold’ in cold construction mayt stem from the fact that they are born without ‘warm’ metal; instead, they are built directly to an assigned shape and alt-mode. Thus, cold-constructed bots are ‘wake up’ with fully developed bodies. Canonicallly, this seems to affect the mental state of some of them because of the lack of a developmental stage. 

In Till All Are One, issue #12, Windblade says while holding his spark.

“It is the flame of primus itself. The forge in which each transformer is shaped according to his design. A spark is shaped by all who touch it, but the first hand meant to is Primus; sparks are meant to be forged in the design of his divine choosing.”

To me, this implies that every untouched spark has a shape or ‘natural’ alt-mode it was born with—as Primus design—meaning the originally forged frame.

Another quote states “Bots not born, but built. Never allowed to find their true shape. Instead forged to the specification of another’s greed”

This suggests that cold constructed cybertronian never have the chance to discover their originally forged frame. Instead, they are built and confined to a shape chosen by their ‘creators’, often for war or exploitation. It is a horrific violation—an invasive interferance with what should have been an untouched spark, stripping them of freedom from birth and placing them at the bottom of society. From this perspective, the ‘cold’ may refer to the absence of ‘warm’ metal and lacck of a stage in which to find their true shape. Although sentio metallico may still allow them to modify their frames, kibbles, or T-cogs that compatible to them, but would never actually discover their original frame.

“Is that what you were truly seeking, Starscream? Escape from a foreign skin? The belonging you thought was lost forever”  Starscream feel disconnected from his frame—a sense that something is wrong within his body. A discomfort similar to feeling out of place in one’s own skin. Something in his spark, codings, or psyche, tell him otherwise. 

However, this does not mean every cold-constructed bot experiences this dysporia. Nor do I think Starscream is the only one. Throughout IDW continuity, we see cold-constructed cybertronians change their frame frequently without showing overt discomfort. Being born into a body does not necessarily mean one must remain fixed to that one frame. One can feel at ease externally while still sensing something internally misaligned, perhaps something they cannot put into a word or think that anyone would understand them.

I headcanon that this discomfort may also influenced by external factors. I do speculate that being a cold constructed bot, an inferior being, most likely affects self-perception and behaviors. Society’s treatment of them — being born into frames with specific assigned purposes — may contribute to psychological strain. For example, Starscream’s obsession with superiority (‘I am better than you’) may stem from this background. I think in Till All Are One, Windblade even implied that cold constructed cybertronians may be born with personality or psychological defects—which could be a theory worth exploring for another day.

Because I've been observing the seekers a lot, and I was rewatching the end credits for Transformers One, because it got me curious where exactly they're getting branded, and if the three examples we got were Shockwave, Soundwave, and Starscream - turns out, it wasn't, it was all seekers. But! I did notice something:

*Seeker may not necessarily be Thundercracker, but with similar cockpit design (Seekers vary by cockpit design).

Observing what little we can in this shot, we do see that a good deal has it on their cockpit/chest or their shoulder:

But on the other hand, we get an explicit shot of Starscream's insignia ON his wing, and the shot is lead with that before revealing the freshly rechristened Decepticon High Command:

And I thought "that's weird".

Or maybe, it isn't that weird. Since, ofc, Starscream's insignia placement is where it's traditionally located, it's an allusion to that!

But the thing is, we also have to consider all the other factors in the context - there's a deliberateness here, an emphasis. For one, the animators didn't spare a single shot of any other seekers getting branded on their wings. They emphasized that they got it on their chest or their shoulders, and it's odd! Because in any other transformers media, seekers also get it on their wings! Are you telling me they couldn't be bothered to show at least one who had it branded there?

But the thing is, the movie is rife with intentional details. It's a movie that encourages you to observe. And with what you observe, you question. And the scene wants you to ask the question:

Why is it significant to show deliberately that seekers got branded on their chest/shoulders? Why is it significant that Starscream got branded on his wings but not his cockpit unlike any other seeker?

My theory: loyalty.

Which is an insane thing to accuse Starscream to have considering his, uh, established precedence of treachery in all transformers media, BUT HEAR ME OUT AND CHECK THE CONCEPT ART FOR THE SEEKERS, OR RATHER, THEIR COCKPITS:

Ofc, the other seekers are simply a mix and match of these examples, but I also want you really look at Thundercracker and Skywarp:

Checking T.C.'s and Skywarps resective cards, the symbol of their cockpit matches with Starscream:

"But wait, maybe it just matches with any other seeker?" I considered it as well, but I think the emblem isn't just there for decoration. Why do I think so? Because of Skywarp; he has the same cockpit design as Slipstream and two others, but he's the only one with an emblem. Why?

Me, I think that emblem is a symbol of the High Guard - the cockpit design on Starscream isn't just for aesthetic, it's there to show he was the leader, and the High Guard served the Primes. Thundercracker and Skywarp also has these emblems to set them apart with the other seekers, and traditionally, they were Starscream's teammates (or trine in fanon terms). It explicitly tells us that Starscream, Thundercracker, and Skywarp are to be grouped together.

Here's the thing: Starscream on first watch seems like the typical Starscream, but there's something more than meets the eye with him (lol). We can debate how effective his leadership is back when he used to lead to and fro or what his actual moral allegiance is considering by joining the Decepticons and when he attacked Iacon, he's betraying everything the Primes stood for, but weirdly enough, I DO think he is genuinely loyal to the Primes. Considering the movies theme of 'Fall from Grace', Megatron isn't actually the only example of it in the film - the High Guard is too.

Questionable effectiveness aside, I would like to point out the High Guard didn't serve Sentinel. Or more explicitly, Starscream doesn't beg Sentinel for mercy or to be spared to try to bargain his way into gaining power (let's be real, we all can think of a Starscream who would absolutely do that), instead he viciously threatens Sentinel, even when set on execution. Another thing I want to point out, is that if the High Guard was only fighting Sentinel JUST so they could get their high status back, then they could have just. Served him? If they truly don't have any moral backbone, they could have just bargained with Sentinel to keep their status and comfort and still do High Guard things with a "Prime". And it's a win-win for both groups too - Sentinel gets to have an elite force to be his enforcers for his regime, the High Guard gets to keep their status and safe from any retribution. But they didn't. Instead, they chose exile on the dangerous surface with little to no energon, hiding from Sentinel and the Quintessons, all the while trying to survive with incessant threat of death hanging over their heads, potentially killed by their environment, their enemies, or starvation.

Which makes me assume some things: while definitely no longer good people, there's some lines they won't cross, Starscream included; they're not motivated by status, they're motivated by revenge on Sentinel; it seems they're loyal to who the Primes ARE, not to the system the Primes' established.

Which brings to my theory: Starscream DOES betray Megatron, but not because out of greed for power, but rather for a good and understandable reason, and because Starscream still holds some belief in the Primes' ideals and what the High Guard used to fight for.

If you absolutely must give her a special connection to it, the obvious choice to me is "personal fascination". a nerd would call themselves an expert even if it's not necessarily true (she's snobby and dishonest). then you can draw parallels with optimus's personal fascination with the war, and how when they actually encountered their abstract interests, it killed him and almost killed her.

and this is all just if the fascination starts with her as blackarachnia. if she was into it as elita, she can bond with optimus over the history of autobots doing cool shit with the allspark. she can bond with sentinel over craving fame and glory, like "what if *i* was the autobot who finally found the allspark?". generalize it into a more general treasure-hunting streak, and you've got an independent motivation for her to go to spider planet that are not just extensions and extrapolations of the two man-characters.

bringing up pharma’s marginalization in what i’d just reblogged made me really want to elaborate in a formal post, because he’s my favorite across the entire franchise and i genuinely believe that this is a core aspect of his character

under the page break i talk about functionalism and how i think it’s all really really important to my analysis of why this guy is the way he is. i also talk about ratchma ig but this analysis doesn’t require ratchma being a romantic engagement to make its point

SPOILER WARNINGS for mtmte 4-5, 17-21, and lost light 23 ahead