A Transformers Thread

Prime episodes 3-5

That's the end of the five parter.

The character models are a bit rough. Hopefully this will improve on later. As someone who liked Energon as a kid, I guess I don't have any right to complain.

Miko is really the worst.

Optimus unironically said "maximum overdrive," that's something only a Hot Shot or unmute Bumblebee would say.. His ending speech reminds me of the first Bay movie.

Oh Megatron, this is the second time you throw Dark Energon at Cybertron. Last time I checked Metroplex's dead body is still there, so we have a potential zombie city floating in space.

Even with Megatron "dead," I wonder why Soundwave didn't smack Starscream in the head when the latter assumed command.

Soundwave always follow protocol and the Deception cause. If Megatron is killed and not by any Decepticon hands, then Starscream by default must assume command as leader of the Decepticons. Of course, that doesn't mean that Soundwave isn't going to search through the wreckage to find Megatron in the hopes that's he is alive.

Now that I think about it, my only problem with Starscream & Soundwave's fantastic Prime designs is that they are too grey. So more color would have been nice.

Again seriously what Kiss Player's audience supposed to have been? Wait let me poison my eyes for a bit & check the TF wiki....... "line was aimed at a much older adult male audience."

.......... What the fuck kind of drugs were these people on?

An audience scorned and shamed to oblivion.

Japan is a scary, scary place sometimes.

Starscream is the established second-in-command and Soundwave doesn't want to personally lead, so while he isn't happy about it (I believe you can see him clenching his fist) he is fine letting Starscream have his moment.

As far as color schemes, they've been trying to keep to certain motifs for each faction for easy recognition. The Autobots lean towards red, white and yellow while Decepticons lean towards purple, blue and gray. Obviously it's not an absolute, but with the focus on Autobots in civilian vehicles and Decepticons in military hardware, one is going to be more colorful than the other.

I wish for some brown and green though.

Luckily for you, Skyquake's gonna show up in the next episode!

Unluckily for you, he dies by the end of it.

I swear Prime's biggest flaw is that it was way too kill-happy with the Cons whether originally intentioned or not.

Poor Hardshell. Died with barely a handful of episodes to his name & he didn't even kill Bulkhead despite the big guys great efforts.

Edited by slimcoder on Sep 17th 2019 at 9:25:08 AM

Yeah.

Starscream and Dreadwing are the only two cons to kill any bots, and only Starscream's victim is ever on screen.

That's kinda sad.

Honestly, I prefer a lower kill count in general. Even beyond the idea of preserving characters, it's a civil war being fought. Not every bot should be shooting to kill.

Yeah I'd prefer that too.

Like I don't complain that Animated or RID or the other shows have a low kill-count for the Autobots cause it kept both sides on an even playing field throughout the shows run, so its never brought into focus. Prime through its killing off the majority of the cons but keeping every newcomer to the Bots side as well as the originals alive actually made things feel unfair for the Cons. They amusingly feel somewhat like underdogs.

Sure Beast Wars killed of the majority of the Predacons but at least the Maximals had a good deal of noticeable casualties....... Actually yeah a lot of Maximals died in the show.

Edited by slimcoder on Sep 17th 2019 at 9:44:03 AM

I came from Fall of Cybertron, so I'm sure every bot should aim to kill.

Plus, having only one onscreen Autobot casualty that takes place during the show's run compared to the hundreds of Decepticon deaths all in the same timespan goes quite a long way in debunking the claims that Prime is a mature war show.

The Decepticons do have a massive army of Cannon Fodder to ensure they always have the resource advantage over their Autobot foes. And it's heavily implied that the Autobots have become so rare that killing one these days is a big accomplishment for a Decepticon. If Megatron loses a big Decepticon like Breakdown, he can always replace them with another big Decepticon like Dreadwing or an Insecticon. Everyone's expendable except for Soundwave (for being the most competent Decepticon on Megatron's team) and Shockwave (since he tends to make more minions for Megatron).

I will say that the constant flux of the Decepticon crew does feel symbolic. Though they have the resource advantage, their power-hungry natures, selfish motives and backstabbing deceptions prove to be their undoing in the long run. The Autobots, despite being outnumbered and vulnerable, always stick together as a family and by doing so, they are able to keep their casualties to a minimum.

Think about it. Breakdown wasn't killed by Bulkhead; he was killed by Airarchnid in a botched attempt to execute her. Dreadwing was killed by Megatron for trying to kill Starscream when unity was needed. Airarchnid was banished to the moon (which is pretty much death) by Soundwave, and she took the entire Insecticon army with her. Starscream and Knock Out's botched attempt to use Syn-En ended up killing half of the Vehicon troops. And Megatron was forced to abort Project Predacon after deeming it to be too much of a risk with Predaking's newfound intelligence, which ironically lead to Predaking rebelling against the Decepticons. The only confirmed Decepticon deaths at the hands of Autobots and their allies (not counting Vehicons and unnamed Insecticons of course) are Skyquake, Hardshell, and Megatron. Ironically, two of them were killed by Bumblebee.

And this is true for nearly all incarnations of Decepticons, including Animated and Beast Wars. If they weren't so busy backstabbing each other for more power or out of petty disputes, they would have succeeded much further. Would Animated Megatron succeeded with his test run of the Lugnut Supremes had Starscream not rigged all of them to detonate in the attempt to kill Megatron? Would Beast Wars Megatron succeed in his mission had he not ignored Dinobot II's advice to save energy and fired upon the primitive humans, knowing that his own loyalist followers would be killed in the crossfire?

Edited by Shadao on Sep 17th 2019 at 11:21:23 AM

Ooof the Cons really fucked themselves over.

They couldn't even take some Bots down with them.

Edited by slimcoder on Sep 17th 2019 at 11:24:23 AM

What do you expect from a Decepticon? They're called Decepticons for a reason. And they are the faction where The Starscream came from.

Still I can’t help but feel sad for them.

What’s that trope you use when you feel bad for the villains?

.......... Oooooooh man the Autobots should get their own Starscream. I proposition Getaway to fill the vacant position.

Edited by slimcoder on Sep 17th 2019 at 11:26:21 AM

Sympathy for the Devil? Regardless, I don't feel too bad for them because their very ideology (when it finally devolves into embracing their deceptive nature) will always be their undoing.

As for an Autobot version of The Starscream, the only one I can see pull it off (and not come across as an Autobot In Name Only like Getaway) is Grimlock. Because Me Grimlock believes Optimus to be a weak leader.

Edited by Shadao on Sep 17th 2019 at 11:31:16 AM

I like the idea that while the faction ideology & desire to beat the enemy is what unites them, there are still bots with their own distinctive motivation for doing things that may or may not be morally righteous. Like how some Cons can be honorable warriors more fit to be an Autobot or some Bots are unscrupulous deceivers fir to be Deceptions but they aren't because regardless of their flaws they genuinely believe that their faction is right & believe in the ideology even if they themselves don't actually fit it.

Plus I like how Getaway has a tangible motivation, the desire to inherit the Matrix & be a Prime. It becomes more striking when you remember no one in Prime wanted the Matrix passed on to them especially Smokescreen so a Bot who actually wants the thing unlike everyone else is interesting.

Edited by slimcoder on Sep 17th 2019 at 11:35:11 AM

It'll certainly be a new twist, but I think Getaway doesn't have, how should I put this, the strength to believably usurp Optimus Prime and take over as leader. You'll have a better chance of Starscream becoming leader of the Autobots than Getaway would. At least in my opinion.

That's why I prefer Grimlock to be the Autobot version of The Starscream because he and Optimus do clash over how battles should be won, and there were many times in the original cartoon where Grimlock would disobey or even turn against Optimus. And he doesn't even need to wait for Optimus to somehow become inept enough to justify a mutiny; he's a fire breathing Tyrannosaurus Rex robot!

That's the thing, Getaway wouldn't be trying to usurp Optimus but earn the Matrix in a way he sees fit. Getaway wouldn't be an usurper but more a suck-up in a sense or a guy desperate for approval. He's loyal to the cause & Optimus but not loyal like how Ratchet is loyal for the bot he personally is but loyal in that he's the grand leader & best way to achieve his goals. To that end Getaway becomes the most Autobot of Autobots, being a hypercompetant agent & loud Autobot zealot, constantly pestering Optimus to make him leader & looking down on his teammates with an air of arrogance.

The thing being that regardless of his amazing abilities as an agent, he's not fit to lead but he doesn't see it. Plus he's the type of guy when imprisoned with an ally, he'd kill his comrade without hesitation if they are about to reveal vital information. He'll do anything for what he believes will grant Optimus' validation.

But even if he's denied time & time again he will only seriously start considering usurping after the war is lost because the war is no longer holding him back.

Edited by slimcoder on Sep 17th 2019 at 11:56:27 AM

Well, 35 years of Transformers means 35 years of Starscream making fangirls squeal.

In most, if not all, continuities, the Decepticons tend to outnumber the Autobots in raw infantry. That is partially to explain how such a fractured group prone to A LOT of infighting has maintained being a continuous threat, the We Have Reserves mindset. The movies made it more obvious, but Prime was the first to make it so explicit as the Cons had the Faceless Mook Vehicons, while the Autobots were an Oddly Small Organization limited exclusively to named characters. The majority of named Decepticon kills had limited screentime to start with ( excepting Breakdown most were introduced with "expendable" markers on them, although Dreadwing did at least manage a character arc).

On that note, it makes me wonder about how they could make alternate factions not associated with either. Stated third party characters like Swindle or Lockdown tend to be bad guys anyway, while Junkions (whose own origins are murky) quickly become Autobot allies, but I don't think they've every really explored Cybertronian civilians or pacifists trying to get out of the way. Maybe Transformers Cybertron with the different planets.

I'm not that fond of Starscream outside Armada.

Prime episodes 6-8

RIP Skyquake, my precious splash of colors. No, Makeshift doesn't count.

"He has not acquired a vehicle mode yet," Optimus Prime, speaking about a Transformer with plane kibbles all over him. By the way, can these Decepticons stop transforming into aircrafts? No, Makeshift and Vehicons don't count.

The Scraplet episode was really fun. Love how Bulkhead reacts.

I forgot to say this before, but I just love Optimus' Pathblaster. Should be his standard weapon for every subsequent adaptations.