See for example:
Sort of an in-between of Thrusts and Thundercrackers abilities, but less turning ability when activated.
Basically I imagine her integrating into herself a “pseud-mass profile enlarger” generator for the technobabble.
Man from the empties to IDW , Transformers comics have a long ugly history of unexamined ableism. (Though earlier it was physical ableism.)
I remember being upset at the Autobots commiting war the crime of disguising themselves as empties in Machine War comics, because the writer’s defense was like a slap in the face to me when my grandmother had dementia.
He stated his interpretation of the empties was that they were mentally ill and had bad days where they were raving, and basically barely people in his eyes. As if that made it okay that after that mission the decepticons would obviously start targeting the empties in response.
This is more than James Roberts, this has been a problem with the franchise since the first Marvel comics.
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I note the autobts were mostly ableist to those with physical disabilities outside their ranks in the Marvel comics.
Its considered normal for young bots to have crushes on members of organic sapients, though they are usually celebrities or fictional characters rather than personal aquaintences.
Most organics species methods of intimacy can come off as less scary and intimidating than the cybertronian methods to such youth.
However, its also seen as something to “grow out of” and those that don’t are considered “creepy” or “immature”.
Childhood friends to enemies to lovers.
I’ll admit big reason I’m against sympathetic portrayals of the Decepticon cause (or at least having the Autobots be responsible for their formation) is how in hindsight a lot of pro-decepticon portrayals in fanfiction in 2000s was either moral relativist bullshit or eerily similar to that Forbes article about “if there are no losers, how can the winners shine?’
I have affection for many decepticon grunts, but this current trend of putting the more popular Decepticons on path of redemption is r
My preferred take would be Autobots and Decepticons being revolutions on separate sides of Cybertron , expanding across the planet until they collide and their philosophical differences are irredeemable.
Also, their freaking name is unsympathetic and embraces ideas of “realpolitik”. Animated made it a reclaimed slur but that’s not something I’d want as the standard for the franchise
I am curious how Soundwave became treated so sympathetically in fandom and modern writings when in original incarnation they oversaw torture and assassination. Even I find myself often falling for his charm and awesomeness.
Are we all distracted by his cool voice and cute animal buddies?
I toy with the idea of Quickstrike’s chauvinism to Blackarachnia being more sincere than you’d expect, and in fact being extended to “ladies” he’s not attracted to, even across species.
Mainly for the possibility that “gentlemanly behavior” causing trouble for the villains of a multiverse teamup crossover like they had in the Botcon scripts
Like he misses the signal to attack because he’s helping an elderly human women cross the street.
Quickstrike: slightly less horrible than expected! But still on at least “mob enforcer” level.
Because I really love Ratbat as a leader. and I sometimes feel the name is the only thing holding him back from being a more used antagonist.
“I don’t need hands when I can just tell you to do things”
“If a projectile costs more than your target will ever make in their entire lifespan, think twice about firing.”
“Wingthings: Attack!”
And keeping special operations Decepticons in coffin-like suspended animation for fuel efficiency purposes.
Ratbat offers the decepticons what’s likely the best path to victory, but by a method that would change their very way of life to a point they may not find it worth living.
Also I proposed having a character based on BB from the Beast Wars anime as his bodyguard/mech-suit. A Decepticon who was heavily injured in battle after performing great deeds, all their identity components minus the spark destroyed. For their efforts they are “rewarded being rebuilt as Ratbat’s servant.
Because it provides a funny explanation for why cybertronians new to Earth keep having trouble telling whats a person and what’s not : they’re used to using energy signatures as a guideline since they come in so many shapes.
Monsters and Stuff 