C,F,J,M And N, With Cayde-6

Optimus Prime and Bumblebee father/son appreciation post

Just some wholesome gifs of O.P and Bumbles being the best father/son duo ever:

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Ft. Any Cayde-6 user

Title: Midnight Hauntings

Time: some ungodly hour in the morning

~~~~~~~~

The Guardian was actually not expecting herself to have a “Hunter Vanguard” stay at her room for the night, Her and Cayde had been friends for some time now before starting a romantic relationship.

Bringing herself from slumber, she felt the side of her head on his chest, she did a small nuzzle on him, not long before she shot up to a loud crash outside her room in the distance, looking towards her room door before turning her head to the sleeping EXO.

“Cayde! Cayde!” She whispered in fear, hand shaking his chest, no matter how much she tried to get him to wake up, she failed.

She then moves to shift her legs to the edge of the bed, before standing on her feet, making her way to her side of the nightstand, opening one of the drawers and getting her gun out before wondering to the door.

The hatch metal door opened at her command, hiding in the doorframe as she pointed her gun to her right and left, looking over a shoulder to see if he woke, but he remained asleep on her bed.

Later turning her head to the dark hallway, she wonders out to investigate what caused the loud crash that woke her from her sleep.

After some wondering, she hid in a corner of the hall that’s straight, with a left and right turns, pointing her gun at each direction, the hallway is clear, very silent.

She turns left, continuing to slowly wonder, assuming that crash came from somewhere that’s distant from where her room is.

After some more wondering and finding spots of the hallway clear, a chill went down her spine, heavy breathing as she sees that a window broken with glass shards on the floor, it is clear that someone must have broke in.

She aims her gun as she heard the sound of something run past her from behind, she moves up to hide at another corner, she can feel her heartbeat starting to go faster, her arms were beginning to shake while she points her gun left and right.

It was clear, scared to speak… she moves forward down the hallway, later startled by loud banging and snarling coming from one of the doors, causing her to run down the hallway before hiding herself behind another corner.

Shaking in fear, panic slowly beginning to rise… she slowly peeks her head over the corner, the snarling and the banging behind the door seemed to stop, leaving her in quiet sounds in the air drifting in the hallway.

She looks to her right, tightening her grip on her gun… she later looks to her left, greeted by something that stood many feet away from her, light flickering, it didn’t look human.

The figure had its head down, breathing weakly… she slowly brought her gun to aim at the figure with her trembling hands, finding it slowly moving its head up to stare blankly at her with a creepy-looking face, causing the female hunter a racing heartbeat.

“W-What the hell..?” She thought to herself.

She can feel it pounding out of her chest, her quiet panicked breathing brought the figure to a horrible smile, causing it to run towards her, she lets out a loud scream as she ran down the hallway while the figure chased her with bolting legs.

She later ran into a dead end, panicking as the figure walked towards her before pouncing her against the wall, clenching her eyes shut tightly, turning her head to the right, holding the weapon so she wouldn’t be able to shoot it, she fought back in fear as it held her hands, trying to avoid being killed by it.

Later feeling reality come to her, she felt an actual hand gripping on her right wrist… another hand on her left shoulder, she can hear the sound of someone snapping her out of the darkness that is tormenting her.

Slowly opening her eyes, she sees that it wasn’t that dark figure that isn’t pinning her against the wall, she slowly turns her head to see that it’s Cayde and the Ghosts that are behind them.

She sees him with a worried look on his face, her heartbeat can still be heard pounding in her chest with panicked breaths.

“C-Cayde… I… I…” She was trying to explain why she was out here at this hour, but couldn’t get the words out of her mouth due to fear, tears beginning to fall.

She felt his arms wrap around her before being pulled into his chest, her body shaking while gripping him tightly.

“I… I…” her voice was now breaking from what she saw in those dark halls.

“Meet me at the bar. I’m buying.”

What’s Shadow’s true purpose?

So Shadow’s loyalty is often forgotten what with the fanon marking him as edgy

 and a lone wolf, but it’s there and it makes me mad that people pass it off 

because it’s a big part of his character. 

 But okay so like. Usually most people interpret Shadow’s purpose was to be 

made for Maria and to help the world right? Right. So when Maria dies he thinks

 his purpose is revenge. WRONG. He gets that epiphany when Amy reminds 

him about it. 

 But that’s not it 

 Because okay, Maria wanted Shadow to protect the world. And for awhile 

maybe Shadow interprets this as “okay I gotta be Mobius’ hero.” But! He realizes

that that place is already taken. Sonic is Mobius’ hero and therefore he is literally

 the world. He’s usually the only one that can fix the world when it goes into peril.

 (The only other person to ever majorly save the world by himself was Shadow) 

so Shadow realizes, it’s not Mobius in general he has to be there for, but Sonic. 

The world can thrive as long as Sonic is their world, their core. 

 In a sense you could say that Shadow sees his new Maria in Sonic. In order for

 his purpose to be fulfilled, Sonic needs to stay kicking. That’s why we see in 06 

that he literally doesn’t look at him when he’s dead!!! Their world is broken 

because Sonic is prematurely gone from it. It’s not until Silver says “we still have

 a chance at saving this world!” That Shadow FINALLY LOOKS TO SONIC 

WITH A BROKEN VOICE AND SAYS “maybe we could’ve..if he were still alive.” 

 AND ITS LITERALLY THE LAST STRING IN HIS PURPOSE BEING SEVERED. 

 Sonic and Shadow were fated to meet for a reason. Shadow was supposed to 

meet Sonic because his purpose was to protect the world like a Shadow. HE’S 

SONIC’S SHADOW. HE’S SUPPOSED TO PROTECT SONIC SO THE WORLD

 MAY REMAIN SAFE. 

 Like I’m sure SEGA didn’t mean to be that deep and only meant to make them 

rivals but SEGAAA oh my god you literally made Maria tell Shadow “you’re to 

watch over this world, like a shadow!” And people mistook Shadow!! for Sonic!! 

Because he’s Sonic’s shadow!! He’s supposed to watch over Sonic!! Girl if that

 ain’t some metaphorical stuff!!

 LIKE IT ALL MAKES SENSE NOW. SHADOWS LIKE NO NONSENSE 

RESPONSES TO SONIC ASKING FOR HELP ISNT JUST BECAUSE THEYRE 

ALLIES, ITS BECAUSE HE KNOWS THATS HIS JOB. AND ALSO? ALL THE 

TIMES HE PROTECTS HIM FROM GETTING HURT ISNT THAT BULLSHIT

 THAT PEOPLE SAY LIKE “oh man it’s because he wants to be the one to kill 

him, nobody else can” WRONG. ITS BECAUSE HE HAS TO KEEP SONIC 

SAFE 

 another example of that is him going into hiding upon finding out about Sonic’s 

“death” in Forces. Every time this bitch finds out that Sonic’s dead he literally 

loses himself. Even if people don’t ship this, it doesn’t have to be seen like that. 

Shadow cares deeply for Sonic because Sonic is his purpose. 

 And that’s the tea. 

So, after watching Bumblebee and LOVING it, it also made me think about something… Bumblebee managed to execute having a female main protagonist FANTASTICALLY (something achieved only by Transformers Animated’s Sari Sumdac), so I thought “how would other Transformers shows looked if they focused on female human characters as well? Especially if they were underutilized”. (Also an excuse to draw in a different style).

You see, when I was in high-school it always irked me that, in TFP, we were introduced to Sierra and the show promptly forgot about her roughly halfway through its run, because she looked like she might break away from a LOT of the common high school cheerleader stereotypes in cartoons at the time after Speed Metal aired.

Plus I liked her character design, I mean c’mon, she had a spiky ponytail.

So I decided, “Say, if I were to make a TF cartoon/comic, how about I’d make HER the human protagonist instead?”

So instead of just making her a satellite love interest to Jack, I interpret her as actually tries her best being a model student, and has a strong interest in chemistry, and would absolutely fascinated with trying to figure out what exactly is energon composed of given the chance. As the head cheerleader of Jasper High, she leads a very active lifestyle.

However, because of the pressure of being the model student, she relieves stress by having an interest in more dangerous after-school activities, like illegal racing (as shown in the episode Speed Metal)

After the initial shock, she’d actually be real fascinated by the concept of giant robots duking it out with other giant robots. Much to the surprise of Jack. 

Regarding Cybertronians, she’d love to know more about their society and how they function, not just because they’re giant robots. Since she has an interest in cars, I imagine she’d also be interested in how the inner workings of Cybertronians are like.

To compliment Sierra, I also wanna give attention to an under-utilized character in Transformers, Elita-1. Ever since I watched her in the original cartoons for the first time as a lad, she became one of my faves. Then I was disappointed, that, for the most part, her appearances were relegated to comics, and in TFA she became a villain (not hatin’ I LOVE her characterization there, I just miss heroic Elita). I became MORE motivated to try my hand in designing my own version of Elita after reading @robotsandramblings‘s post here.

So here, if I were to make my own TF series, I re-imagined her as a mix between of her original G1 counterpart and her IDW counterpart (with a design taking major inspiration from her 2018 Power of the Primes toy), with some personal flavors:

Just like Optimus she’s a powerful warrior and leader, basically his equal in Autobot command, but whereas Prime is more diplomatic, while Elita usually prefers the more aggressive route.

When she was forged (I interpret her here as a citizen of Kaon), her chassis was colored pink/purple… a sign of bad luck/bad omens as it is the color of energon. She wears it with pride however, and much like many an Earth-animal, the bright color’s a sign that’s she’s not to be messed with.

Just a like her IDW self, her helmet’s missing a few bits on the right side (after a lengthy fight with several ‘cons), and she never fixed it. It’s a symbol of pride for her.

Just like in G1, her Conjunx Endurae is Optimus, whom she still calls Orion for nostalgia’s sake.

It was particularly scandalous because Orion Pax was the “good cop” and she definitely isn’t in this re-imagining.

She loves a good melee.

Beyond this, I don’t have much more to tell, besides perhaps Elita acts as the Autobot’s vanguard, arriving first to Earth before Optimus does to root out possible Decepticon activity.

…Also an excuse to finally show how big my interpretation of Blackout is for y’all.

"Don't want people poking through the lives of Cayde 1-5..."

"...so just, put it all behind you, okay?"

Sonic, Knuckles and Shadow as humans!

Florence Castle's HEROES OF CYBERTRON - Episodio Speciale 01: DINOBOT

Buon compleanno Beast Wars ma - soprattutto - buon compleanno anche a me, poiché entrambi quest'anno compiamo ben 25 anni. Perciò festeggeremo tutti insieme con questo speciale che tratterà l'icona numero uno di questa serie TF "bestiale"...

NOTA: Alcune immagini non sono mie, ma vengono dal sito DeviantArt. Articolo scritto da me, con l'approvazione di @jazzluca.

***

SPECIALE 1: DINOBOT, l'onore di un guerriero

«Forse ho trovato la risposta alla domanda che mi assillava da tempo: il futuro non può essere mutato, siamo noi che decidiamo le nostre scelte. Ma, ironia della sorte, soltanto ora scopro di non poter scegliere affatto. Io sono un guerriero... e il mio destino è combattere!».

Con questa bellissima e commovente citazione tratta dalla serie TF che quest’anno spegnerà venticinque candeline, introduciamo un’altra stella del firmamento robottiano che ha segnato profondamente i nostri cuori fino alle lacrime (per alcuni letteralmente!). Da non confondersi con l’omonima squadra Autobot dall’altmode sauresco, DINOBOT è indiscutibilmente il beniamino delle masse per il suo acuto senso dell’onore e quel carisma tale che morirebbe gloriosamente in battaglia pur di proteggere chi ama; il tutto armato dei suoi inconfondibili spada e scudo rotanti e uno sguardo laser à la Superman per gli attacchi a lunga distanza.

È impossibile non ricordare quel velociraptor Predacon che crede nella ricerca di una gloria imperitura, e che già all'inizio della serie Beast Wars inizia a mettere in dubbio i metodi di Megatron accusandolo di aver condotto il resto della ciurma su un pianeta sbagliato dopo il furto del Disco d'Oro, una preziosissima reliquia di Cybertron. Verrà quindi scacciato da disertore e si unirà successivamente ai Maximal nonostante il suo tentativo fallito di “spodestare” Optimus Primal dal ruolo di leader, ed è per questo che si distingue dai suoi neocompagni proprio per la sua famigerata lealtà ballerina: un Predacon resta pur sempre un Predacon, dopotutto, ma – parafrasando Nightmare before Christmas, uscito al cinema tre anni prima di ciò che in Italia conoscevamo come “Biocombat” – ti decanterà Shakespeare a memoria!

Ebbene sì: Dinobot viene dipinto come un guerriero romantico, nell’accezione di tragico, un antieroe che lotta disperatamente per la sua libertà e sempre contro l’inevitabilità del destino; esattamente come fanno gli shakespeariani Macbeth («Ahimè, povero Tarantulas! Lo conoscevo, Cheetor...») e Amleto (il celeberrimo «Essere o non essere, questo è il dilemma...», oppure quel «Il resto è silenzio...» detto in punto di morte), entrambi in perenne lotta contro la natura “bene di madre e di voler matrigna”. E come tutti gli eroi tragici di questo genere, anche il nostro ha amiconi del cuore che lo rispettano, come quel Rattrap con cui condivide una divertente rivalità per i motivi di cui sopra.

Il suo canto del cigno avviene nella Stagione 2, nel memorabile episodio Un Grande Eroe, in cui lo vediamo affrontare l’intero entourage di Megatron tutto da solo fino alla fine delle sue forze – arriva persino a mettere KO lo spietato capo Predacon con una rudimentale ascia. E quando i suoi compagni Maximal arrivano troppo tardi a vedere cos'è successo, Dinobot ha già abbracciato il suo destino e chiede umilmente loro di raccontare la sua storia ai posteri, poiché “non c’è nulla da recriminare” nell’aver salvato la valletta da cui nascerà la razza umana: «Dite loro la verità. – egli dice – I miei tradimenti e anche le mie imprese... e lasciate che mi giudichino di conseguenza. Ora lasciatemi in pace...». Questa è la fine di Dinobot, “vissuto da guerriero e morto da eroe”, ma non per quel mostro di Megatron sempre volenteroso di manipolare le menti dei nostri amici Biocombat con le sue intricatissime trame.

Nella Stagione 3 infatti, grazie alle possibilità offerte dalla tecnologia Transmetal 2, egli resuscita il caro e vecchio guerriero fondendo il DNA di questi e un frammento della Scintilla di Rampage, dando vita a un grottesco pseudo zombie/clone/mostro di Frankenstein. Con questa nuova veste, quindi, “Dinobot secondo” torna all’ovile dei Predacon nel tentativo di Megatron di avere tra le fila un soldato fedele e obbediente da controllare a piacimento, anche se il fantasma dei ricordi della vita precedente è sempre dietro l’angolo. La serie non ce lo spiega esplicitamente, ma si pensa che Rattrap abbia giocato un ruolo chiave per recuperare il “vecchio” Dinobot quasi in maniera analoga di Blackarachnia nei confronti di Tarantulas. Il suo sacrificio nel finale di serie lascia intendere che, seppur sia stato manipolato e riprogrammato contro la propria volontà, Dinobot è sempre disposto a tutto per andare fino in fondo e dignitosamente. Purtroppo, non sono mai state (finora) segnalate altre sue apparizioni in serie esterne alle Biocombat – esclusi i fumetti e l'omaggio nella recente War for Cybertron: Il Regno, in cui i Maxmal e i Predacon si contrano con i Cybertroniani G1 in un crossover non così brillante ma al tempo stesso un ottimo modo per festeggiare i venticinque anni delle Guerre Animali. Comunque, pare che l’anima di Dinobot si sia reincarnata in personaggi non così diversi dall’originale; i decani ricorderanno sicuramente la figura di Starscream concepita in Armada, ma il più vicino di tutti è forse il Decepticon Dreadwing della serie TRANSFORMERS: Prime, di cui abbiamo già discusso nella Puntata 4.

***

Per quanto sia stato un personaggio radicato esclusivamente nell’universo Beast Wars, Dinobot è divenuto popolarissimo e amato da pubblico anche attraverso i numerosi modellini susseguitisi negli anni. Primo tra tutti il Deluxe del 1996, che come tutti i colleghi di ondata aveva la gimmik della “testa mutante” – cioè una maschera con fattezze bestiali che segnava la transizione dalla forma animale a quella robotica. I colori della variante Hasbro non erano così eccezionali (il raptor era troppo rosa!) e il viso del Bot era appena abbozzato, mentre la variante Takara cercava allora come oggi di rimanere il più possibile fedele alla controparte animata. E ovviamente non mancano delle piccole variazioni, come il remold in Grimlock o la ricolorazione celebrativa del decennale della serie – il Deluxe del 2006, con parti dipinte con bei colori metallizzati e una valida alternativa al predecessore Takara.

Doveroso menzionare l’aggiornamento – se possiamo definirlo tale – in Dinobot Transmetal 2 del 1999, anche questo un Deluxe ed è tuttora una rarità della sua categoria dato che la distribuzione dei Beast Wars iniziò ad interrompersi coi primissimi Transmetal 2. Un Deluxe, dicevo, che da una parte da un senso di continuità, ma dall’altra cozza con la versione nel cartone, che già il primo Dinobot era secondo solo a Megatron come altezza, quindi dovevano farlo minimo come Mega o Voyager, occasione perduta qui nella sua incarnazione TM2, senza però contare che altre versioni di personaggi della prima ora come Cybershark e Blackarachnia ricevettero un upgrade di stazza da Deluxe proprio nei rispettivi Mega Transmetal 2, ma sono dettagli.

Ma un personaggio così popolare non potrebbe mai avere la possibilità di riapparire in modelli aggiornati negli anni successivi? Naturalmente sì, e così ecco un bell’Universe del 2008/09 nei panni di un velociraptor ispirato a Jurassic Park con una forma robotica più fedele alla controparte animata e con proporzioni più antropomorfe – oltre a una colorazione show-accurate se si prende l’omonimo Takara. Certo l’iconico scudo non ruota più, ma in compenso può sparare un missile che è anche l’altrettanto celebre spada. Il fascino delle Biocombat, però, si esaurisce in fretta e da quell’anno non se ne sente più parlare, a parte il Dinobot con altmode veicolare per la Timeline 2006 che purtroppo era solo il remold di Cybertron Longrack.

Quasi nel tentativo di aggiungere una pezza all’aspetto goffo e troppo poco fedele alla controparte animata dei modellini di cui sopra, nel 2018 anche Dinobot appare tra i Masterpiece e finalmente con le giuste proporzioni e altezza – o almeno, insieme agli altri personaggi della sottocategoria Beast Wars della linea. Tra le chicche di questo Dinobot spiccano dettagli stampati e la verniciatura antigraffio, rendendolo quindi molto più resistente. Certo, è dettagliatissimo e fedelissimo al cartone animato, ma può spaventare i giunti delle articolazioni alle spalle del Bot, troppo duri e fragili – difettino corretto con le copie successive, per fortuna.

Se proprio il Masterpiece è economicamente proibitivo, tre anni dopo arriva da War for Cybertron: Il Regno della macro-famiglia Generations un Voyager discreto e accettabile. È effettivamente un Masterpiece in miniatura e ci viene presentato come Predacon (ricordandoci che all’inizio della serie originale apparteneva a tale schieramento prima di disertare), ciononostante è anche un valido sostituto che manda definitivamente in soffitta il vecchio modello degli anni ‘90.

***

CONCLUSIONE

Poiché come le Beast Wars sono nata nel ’96, mi vedo costretta essere di parte: una serie animata che ha avuto il coraggio di nascere in computer grafica, tecnologia all’epoca pionieristica e sconosciuta all’infuori dei pochi cartoni che conosco, per esempio della neonata Pixar Animation Studios. Scelte audaci a parte, l’idea di avere Transformer con altmode bestiali era già presente nella G1 – come i Predacon e i Terrorcon – ma una serie che sia interamente sulle “guerre animali” è stata una vera e propria rivoluzione. E che ci abbia regalato trame accattivanti dei personaggi memorabili come il nostro Dinobot o Blackarachnia è un altro punto a suo favore. Grazie di tutto, Guerriero!

Arrivederci alla prossima puntata! 😘

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Transformers: Dark of The Moon [The Fall of 2 Primes]

The strength & narrative of this DOTM movie would’ve been the mentor /student relationship between Sentinel & Optimus. 

Character driven story about “Bonds & Corruption”

Sentinels death would’ve held more weight if the humans had much much much much less screentime:

*Bye Sam, bye Sam’s parents, by Carly, bye Military Jocks i don’t gaf about

 Here we get to see flashbacks of Orion Pax under Sentinels guidance on Cybertron, the mentorship. 

Even a spry Bee with his true voice, a young scout. 

Younger Ironhide, a combat instructor.

Jazz, stylistic, smooth talking upcomer in the Ranks, BFF with Cliffjumper.

Ratchet, studious, friend of Orions.

We see them briefly, but enough to hit the emotional chords. The focus is Orion & Sentinel.

Thus, we see Cybertron’s culture, the AllSpark in it’s original glory, everything.

Orion, he serves as an archivist, a meek yet brilliant librarian, and Sentinel Prime; Elite Cybertronian Defender, Commander. 

Sentinel seeing potential, and a good soul in Orion, takes him under his wing. 

Teaching his philosophies & principles to the young scholar, here we see Sentinels warmer side. His true self:

Before the War

 And tragically, as the War dragged on. 

As Orion ascended to Prime status, came the dark toll of what the War did to Sentinel Prime & his sanity:

Thus his descent into the Decepticon way of thinking, the ends justifying the means; His fall being sealed with the deal with the Devil, the “Deal with Megatron.”

Which we’d actually SEE happen.  

Fast forward, Sentinel is found. 

The pillars are the mission now, yet The Autobots are collecting them while Sentinel is withholding his true intentions.

By now, Jazz is indeed alive in Movie 1,2, & most of 3:

 And it is here, In the third film after getting to know them as characters, not CGI props with stereotypical traits; That Sentinel kills both Ironhide & Jazz in a brutal 2v1. 

 Showing a more badass, less bullshit death for two legacy Autobots, them using teamwork & veteran combat tactics against a seasoned Prime. With swelling Jablonsky epic score. 

And displaying Sentinels strength as he defeats them both with sheer cunning, and superior skills. 

_____________________________________

 The Setup of the fight-

-is they would be on recon to look for pillars, just the three of them as a squad, while Bee, & Ratchet are elsewhere. And Optimus is solo. 

Sentinels plan would be to weed down the Autobots to just Optimus remaining, for he still cares for his friend and wants to possibly turn him.

So for opposition to be minimum, so he attacks the 2 unsuspecting Autobots. 

They would have him on the defense at first, Similar to (Ultra Magnus & Wheeljack vs Predaking fight): Brutal, gritty, well executed.

They would overwhelm him initially with sequences of team attacks:

-only for the fight to suddenly turn when Ironhide charges in for another punch, Sentinel feints and spear thrusts into him; Holding him in place long enough to use his rust corrosion rifle. 

Weakening Ironhide, but Ironhide delivers a vicious punch to Sentinel Prime, which he blocks with his shield but is sent back several feet, showing Ironhide’s sheer might & resolve.

Jazz distracting Sentinel with a smooth flying kick to the back, landing next to Ironhide:

Jazz: “Looks like it’s do or die! You still with me man?“

Ironhide: *Aggressive snort

Jazz: “Nuff said.”

A determined Jazz & Enraged Ironhide continue to take on Sentinel in a gruesome battle, in which he (Sentinel) turns up the heat & starts fighting offensively. 

He eventually kills them by wearing down their stamina, cutting them in precise locations, using his shield to bash their sliced areas & joints, using their strength against them, using wits over brawn.

Experience vs numbers.

Here they die a Warriors death, fighting to the end. Giving him plenty of bruises & injuries from the battle before they fall.

Not snapped in half comically then tossed like trash, no cheap shots from behind then faded into rust & metal.

He would even comment on his respecting their skill & resolve, acknowledging their ability, before ending them.

They Fall Like Warriors

________________________

Sentinel would excuse their deaths & his injuries on a Decepticon ambush.

The deaths of their friends deliver a massive blow to Ratchet, Bee, & Optimus. Who’s had the longest history with Jazz and Ironhide.

However Ratchet would play a major role in discovering the truth through forensics, and would inform Optimus the truth of their deaths from Sentinels wounds alone having traces of Ironhides’ rounds;  Prime doubts this until it’s too late, wanting to believe otherwise.

Which begins Prime’s descent into despair & darkness, which we see in AOE

 His disappointment in his mentor, the betrayal, the loss of Jazz & Ironhide (Which is given more memorial & respect), and eventually having to kill Sentinel, broke Optimus. 

Turning him into a colder, darker Prime, just like Sentinel was. 

Sentinels mistake was being absent for so long, he didn’t realize the Orion he knew, was gone. Optimus is a leader, a fighter, also a commander as Sentinel was. A Legend.

No longer Orion Pax, no longer the underling. Now a Rival.

If we got that film, “Dark Of The Moon” being the “Revenge of the Sith” of the TF Trilogy, a tale of corruption:

This scene would have you feeling for these characters, you’d feel the investment:

Having to see Optimus kill him in cold energon. It would actually mean something because we saw in the beginning of the movie, the good Sentinel was capable of.

We would’ve also gotten to see their History, their bond; And that bond’s slow, gradual destruction.

_____________________

Two examples of Cybertron’s finest becoming infected by the harsh reality that regardless of your intentions, good or bad-

War takes no sides, it’s unfair,  and is as ruthless & persistent as you’re willing to take it or make it.

LEGACY of Advancement devolved into Savagery & War from one Bots dark, immovable ambition, Megatron.

___________________________

Sentinel’s goal of saving his race, a mission born of good intentions executed by horrific means, even killing his own allies; An otherwise honorable bot, led astray by an evil one, preying on his insecurities as a Leader, powerless to defend his people, from themselves.

All so Megatron could get closer to the Allspark, by proxy overthrowing the system, The concept of Primes, the Counsel, everything he sees as shackles on their society from becoming what he feels it should be.

His Twisted Utopia.

Sentinel would otherwise be marveled by Earth’s natural beauty, torn between his compelling duty of reviving a now dead Cybertron & his principles of leaving Earth it’s Freedom, for according to him at one point, it was it’s right. Letting Earth live; At the expense of his own.

And even doubting his mission to save Cybertron; Due to having to kill Jazz & Ironhide. They were true Autobots, serving the cause, dying for what?

They were Cybertronians of his own creed. He killed them to save “everyone”? His mind is warped by centuries, millennia of war, butchering, & massacre’s. The killing of his brothers in arms, daunts him, but not for long.

But we at least see that it did something to him.

For in his mind, he convinced himself that they & many others were merely a means, a (((sacrifice for victory))) to save the many. All stemming from his shame of not being able to save Cybertron from itself.

Driven mad with grief & regrets and misguided methods:

Except someone who he saw as a Student, friend, even perhaps a son figure; Came to kill him, not save him. 

For the moment he slew Ironhide & Jazz, he sealed his fate.

The battle would involve Ratchet, an enraged Bumblebee & Prime initially. But due to the involvement of other Decepticons (The Wave Brothers Shockwave & Soundwave WHO ARE NOT killed recklessly here and Barricade & Starscream who are given legitimate screentime to be actual threats)

Thus, It would become a duel between Primes: For Megatron would leave Sentinel behind to his doom, as bait to further his own ends.

The Primes would fight & fight until their weapons gave out, wore, and shattered due to their godly strength and the unique circumstance of emotion behind their blows:

One striving to reach the other for reconciliation, and the younger one striving to avenge his friends; Enraged by betrayal & drunk with anger against someone he knew & respected. 

A state we’ve never seen Optimus in.

Becoming a brutal hand to hand deathmatch. 

The fight reaching it’s climax, it’s a deadlock stalemate, they’re too even; The protege not only managed to reach Sentinels level but nearly surpass him.

Sentinel picks up a shard of metal from a sword, jumping toward Optimus- Prime feints backward, ultimately using the Matrix itself (via chest beam) to obliterate Sentinel.

 Sentinel turning away the Matrix earlier in the film would be Sentinel himself knowing he was not worthy, he was ashamed.

Bleeding out, with a gaping hole in his spark. Sentinel pleads with Optimus to help his agenda, pleads slurs into an apology to Cybertron itself.. then his eyes go dark.

Fact is, character wise, Sentinel fell too deep. 

And by killing him violently, severing ties with someone he respected the most, would cause Optimus to also fall further into despair & gradual madness, darkness.

Killing Sentinel was an emotional drive, it wasn’t a satisfactory conclusion nor was it closure for Optimus.

Sentinel, who genuinely cared about Orion once; In spite of his good intentions for Cybertron, left Optimus only a legacy of pain, betrayal, and death.

:

Sentinel, if left unchecked was going to unintentionally repeat Cybertron, on Earth. 

______________

In AOE, Optimus, with the help of Bee, Ratchet and the Autobots that remain & depend on him, he would have moral support. 

With CliffJumper and The Dinobots joining the team respectively in Ironhide’s stead.

(The Dinobots would legitimately join the ranks as an Elite squad of Autobot Warriors that remained on Cybertron) 

Respected, feared, intelligent warriors. Not dumb dino bums.

And Cliffjumper, responding to the news of Jazz’s demise, also joins Optimus’ squad, ready to take the fight to the “Cons” for his fallen friend.

And with the counsel of Arcee, Optimus’ new Second in command

The newly acting 1st Lt. respectively supplanting Jazz

ARCEE: Primes close friend from Cybertron’s early War efforts, she respects him, and he trusts her. 

Trust, something he struggles with at this point. So her having his trust, means she’s the real deal.

The Older Sister figure of the squad, where Bee is the energy, Ratchet is the rational, she is the glue to the teams morale.

-Thus, Optimus would gradually recover, mostly, from his darkness in AOE 

He would still be hardened, but he’s still Optimus.

For he still has purpose, with purpose, he has a chance to prevent the same incident with Sentinel from happening again. 

Except now (again) he’s a lot less trusting, more brutal in battle, but self aware of himself when and if he goes too far. 

With that said, In AOE:

He gradually regains his strength in that firm gentleness his character  always commanded, hope, and compassion that he once gave off in 2007.

But it’s gradual, in this version of DOTM, he went through some serious shit.

And the witnessing of his very human struggles with redemption of ones own darkness is the testimony of Hope that he being a “Christ like figure” stands for, ergo Superman etc.

A good message of overcoming inner demons, relying on those who rely on you. A change for the better, is not instant, it’s a process.

Showing character development. Change, something Sentinel could not do; Even in his final moments.

And Megatron still lurks out there, plotting, growing his own ranks, and waiting:

And this current Optimus, unlike his past self will not seek to appeal to Megatron. No talk, no banter, no speeches, no debate, not this time:

A Tragic Tale, The Fall Of 2 Primes 

Soldier 76 headcanons

//I wish I had followers but oh well, gotta start somewhere//

- Is usually busy but makes up for his time away with sweet gifts and souveniers from his missions

- isn’t too big on PDA

- He doesn’t show it but it’s pretty easy to get him riled up or bothered (wink wonk) ;)

- Gets self conscious sometimes because of his age

- This worsens when with you in public, poor guy

- Lowkey super sweet

- Likes to give soft little kisses all over your face and arms

- His favourite place to kiss is your forehead because of his height

- This man adores you in his jacket even if he pretends to be annoyed that you stole it

- Isn’t the best at nicknames

- uses generic ones like babe, sweety, honey if your married