Tagging @sveene and @vihattu-thethoroughbredofsin since they're interested in my Lotus AU

The status of the Maltos: With Mandroid missing from GHOST, it's decided that it's safer for the family to relocate. While many would assume that it would make sense for the family to be under GHOST protection, Dot has had enough with everything and decides to take Robby and Mo back to Philadelphia. The city is no place for the Terrans, so Alex stays with them in Witwicky at GHOST. Of course, no one in the family is happy about the arrangement, but better to be safe than sorry. However, the plan is to still make it look like nothing has changed at the Malto residence so as to trap Mandroid in case he shows up.

-Alex So something I set out to do in my AU is actually address the fact that Alex and Mandroid used to be friends. Their reunion happened much differently in my AU which explains Alex's mental state after Season 1.

Alex is pretty much on a roller coaster of emotions here because a very good friend he thought was dead is actually alive and the one tormenting his family. For Alex, it's basically like he's mourning the death of his friend all over again. For everything Mandroid did, the fact that the scientist let the Maltos live when he easily could've killed them in the season finale makes Alex believe that his old friend isn't a lost cause after all. This obviously causes tension with his family. He's pretty much the only human Malto that's really going to feature in the story.

-Dorothy After everything that's happened, she's pissed. Not only was her desire for a quiet life steamrolled over by GHOST manipulation and her kids bringing home Transformers, but the fact that Robby and Mo have the cyber sleeves pretty much guarantees that she's never going to fully escape the chaos. I personally find it highly unlikely that she wouldn't be feeling bitter about everything on some level. She's human, not some almost emotionless robot. With the info the show gave us, she definitely should've made more of a fuss about certain things instead of acting like someone made a minor mistake. In my AU, a small part of her is actually happy to have a semblance of a normal life while in Philadelphia, but she also has guilt for feeling that way.

-Robby and Mo They're both upset at leaving the Terrans, but they start realizing that they pretty much ignored how Dot would feel when they brought Twitch and Thrash home. I honestly don't really plan on having them show up much.

happy baby donkey

It pains me to say this, but I honestly find it hard to have any sort of expectations about Season 2 of ES. A common defense of the ES fandom is "Let the writing cook". That's a valid sentiment, but considering what happened with Season 1, that argument pretty much defeats itself between dropped plot threads, the show ignoring its own logic to hit the story beats it wants to tell, and the fact that it's painfully obvious the writers don't have the skills to do any sort of deeper themes competently. Thinking that the show is actually going to deliver on anything it hints at seems like a recipe for disappointment.

Plus, it's safe to say at this point that ES is going to be done after Season 2 so it's not like the show can set the ground work for a longer storyline.

At this point, I'm mostly sticking around for Season 2 on the off chance of more Mandroid and I'm curious if the writing will somehow improve.

So here’s the thing.

Looooong before we even knew the Quintessons were going to be the main threat in ONE, most people had already assumed EarthSpark was going to use the Quintessons due to the Emberstone and Quintus Prime’s roles here.

…The problem is we still don’t actually know, as of typing, if they WILL. The first season completely botched its primary ideas and wasted its two main villains. Whatever was bring set up was often tossed aside for more butterfly chasing, so if they were setting up the Quintessons, I don’t trust them to go through with it due to poor story editing and if they do, they’ll likely be poorly utilized like Mandroid and Croft.

Considering one alleged leak is another “after school special” pause in the momentum about Hashtag being gay like they did to stop and explain Nightshade being non-binary, I still think this stuff will still be more important than the actual plot, whatever that intends to be. The problem remains performative diversity first, story second, when it always should be cool story with a few fun characters who do cool things who happen to be gay & what have you. If younger generations are calling this performative diversity stupid now, you know it’s coming to an end. Which means we can get Nightshade to be seen as a fun character and not a shield as they tend to be unfortunately.

Some of the modern plots lately have been the Autobots & Decepticons working together to fight a common enemy: D-Void & Unicron in IDW, Exharcon in IDW2, most… everyone in Cyberverse frankly but the Quintessons in particular, so having both factions fight against something in the final season sounds about right. I don’t really count Mandroid because most of the time he was fought by the Autobots anyway (and yes I include Megatron as an Autobot).

While he’s right there has been brand synergy (kinda) with other projects in the past, most notably the Rescue Bots becoming Dinobots and Grimlock’s inclusion in RiD15 were influenced by Age of Extinction, with The Last Knight having RiD15 synergy with Cade and the Autobots living in a junkyard at the start of the film, I’m not sure I believe EarthSpark is intended to have synergy with ONE anyway.

For starters, I believe One has been in development SINCE RiD15, if it came out then instead it would’ve made more sense for Bumblebee and crew to fight the Quintessons over a special relic then; RiD was loose enough it could’ve pulled that off. Cyberverse included Quintessons late in its run, but they were visually so far removed from the OGs, closer to the machines in The Matrix and more like trans dimensional Dr. Who villains, that they didn’t really synergize at all with WFC’s toy line which used the G1 designs (and used the Quints worse somehow).

The One designs go for an original look for the Quintessons again, but skewing more closer to G1 and Aligned versions with a mix of the techno organic look of G2 Liege Maximo which is curious, but more visually striking than Cyberverse just copying The Matrix.

I don’t see EarthSpark making the Quintessons dimensional beings like Cyberverse at all because that goes against the modern story they’re creations of Quintus Prime (not that Hasbro really utilizes it anyway since WFC and Skybound imply the 80’s cartoon Quintesson origins for the Transformers), as well as diluting their genetic relationship to the Terrans. It’s certainly not because Hasbro has disavowed the multiverse because Legacy is still chugging along, with its replacement set to continue the trend.

I remain convinced the original intention was for EarthSpark and ReActivate to be released together and have a similar concept in Autobots, Decepticons and humans brought together because of the Quintessons doing something stupid, but clearly that didn’t happen as intended. ReActivate is stuck in development hell still last I heard with toys trickling out but no one’s buying them. EarthSpark has been a commercial failure from the word go sadly and it’s only sticking around a bit longer to help celebrate the 40th anniversary. Had that not been the case, it would’ve been scrapped I wager going by all the other Paramount+ shows that got the axe. Heck it probably would’ve gotten the axe after Nightshade’s debut episode like Ridley Jones’ non-binary calf episode killed it. The difference here is Ridley got five seasons at least, but at the expensive of becoming a laughing stock by adults comparing it to their childhood cartoons… Hmm it’s not really a pretty picture either way tho’…

Still whatever synergy EarthSpark may have had is gone or was never there. I don’t really see the start of the war brought up in a satisfactory way, as I doubt the writers want to make Megatron look bad. It would dilute Megatron being friends with Dot among other things. Again not the flex the writers think it is. It’ll be another last gasp at IDW’s post war ideas at best, just written a bit more like a proper kids cartoon at best, second verse same as the first at worst. Either way the Terrans are in the rear view window, with TFONE as the next thing along with Skybound. That they’re moving forward with the GI Joe crossover tease from RotB also shows Hasbro having faith in the Energon Universe and wanting to use its ideas going forward in other things. I want Cobra-La to be where Movie Megatron is. Project Iceman but with a twist!

So another Mandroid related ephipany popped into my head so I'm tagging @sveene and @vihattu-thethoroughbredofsin since I know they'll be interested. I just realized that going by multiple bits of dialogue and the guidebook, the show heavily implies that Mandroid faked his death after the Battle of the Bay.

Evidence:

The guidebook states that Mandroid was interviewed after the Battle of the Bay

Alex believed Mandroid was dead

Croft saying, "You're no good to me dead. We already tried that." in Disarmed

Mandroid's speech when talking to Twitch and Thrash in the series premiere: "We have much in common, you and I. Part of two different worlds, Neither of which accept us. So we must be more."

All of this tells me that he tried living a normal life after his accident. However, his growing anger about Transformers as well as most likely facing shitty treatment from other people because of being an amputee drove him to deciding on his Mission. He most likely went to Croft which would explain how easily he was able to get GHOST resources.

Of course, the big question is how he faked his death. Did he stage an accident in his lab or did he stage a more tragic end?

So one of the first Mandroid headcanons @sveene and I ever talked about was that Final Form Mandroid can purr. I've been searching for audio that would fit and found this:

I imagine his purring would have a metallic sounding edge to it because of the tech his new body is made of.

Also tagging @vihattu-thethoroughbredofsin since she also likes the idea of Mandroid purring.

Когда получил в подарок бесполезную хрень, но делаешь…

Когда получил в подарок бесполезную хрень, но делаешь вид, что тебе всё нравится

I feel like GHOST would have a medical facility for human agents in all of their bases because of how many risks come with the job. I'm assuming it was probably used when Hashtag hacked into their systems and caused a jailbreak.

AND FOR THE LOVE OF PRIMUS GET JEFFREY COMBS TO VOICE HIM

You know who else should be in Earthspark?

Ratchet

Of course Ratchet should be in EVERY major transformers adaptations. Because hes great. Because hes Ratchet.

Honestly? My main piece of advice for writing well-rounded characters is to make them a little bit lame. No real living person is 100% cool and suave 100% of the time. Everyone's a little awkward sometimes, or gets too excited about something goofy, or has a silly fear, or laughs about stupid things. Being a bit of a loser is an incurable part of the human condition. Utilize that in your writing.

The Beast that Bothers

people who only use conventional social media are so funny bc they’ll casually be like “can I see your tumblr??” are you Insane. this is no instagram or twitter. this is my vault of secrets

And they would both torment TFP Ratchet

I just feel like earthspark Arcee and Miko would get along

The two movies I’m looking forward to seeing this year~! Besides Planet of the Apes and Sonic that is.

the great thing about being a fanfic writer: if there's a certain fanfic plot you can't find, you can make it yourself.

the terrible thing about being a fanfic writer: now you *have* to write that fanfic plot you can't find.

now that the eaglemoss comics are up on the archive, i just want to point out how mind-bogglingly ecstatic i am about ratchet sitting like this being in official material