Three triple changers, two stunticons, a combaticon, a conehead and a handful of seekers walk into a bar...

Hey, look it's the Decepticon fic I kept saying I would write! This is significantly lighter fare than the Autobot stories, and just a bit of surface scratching when it comes to figuring out what the Decepticons are doing in the wake of the Movie. It doesn't so much explain how the Decepticons ended up on Chaar as it makes that a plausible outcome....

https://velvetfanfic.wordpress.com/2023/09/01/triple-act-tragedy/

Velvet Glove (who now has a couple of other Decepticon ideas percolating. Will try writing those if I can figure out where their plots begin and end.)

On Friday, September 1, 2023 at 3:48:02 AM UTC-6, Velvet Glove wrote:

> https://velvetfanfic.wordpress.com/2023/09/01/triple-act-tragedy/

So as a matter of etiquette, if you want feedback about the story, can I quote snippets here and reply to them, or would you prefer comments left directly on your web site? You didn't post the story here, so I don't want to damage the exclusivity of your content.

Zob (tried not to run over any grasshoppers with the lawnmower today)

On Saturday, September 2, 2023 at 12:24:15 AM UTC+1, Zobovor wrote:
> On Friday, September 1, 2023 at 3:48:02 AM UTC-6, Velvet Glove wrote:
>
> > https://velvetfanfic.wordpress.com/2023/09/01/triple-act-tragedy/
>
> So as a matter of etiquette, if you want feedback about the story, can I quote snippets here and reply to them, or would you prefer comments left directly on your web site? You didn't post the story here, so I don't want to damage the exclusivity of your content.
>
>
> Zob (tried not to run over any grasshoppers with the lawnmower today)

Oh, please post here! Makes for an easier discussion. I only posted the link to the website because that way all the formatting is preserved. It's annoying to have to go in and asterisk all the italics. (I finally figured out how to turn on the on-site comment form, but that's only in the off chance somebody stumbles across the website and wants to reach out to me. I'm not worrying about getting a whole lot of traffic to the site.)

I suppose it would be easier to respond if I did just cut and paste the story to the newsgroup. What are people's preferences on that?

Velvet Glove (who is more uptight about formatting than exclusivity)

On Saturday, September 2, 2023 at 1:26:57 AM UTC-4, Velvet Glove wrote:
> On Saturday, September 2, 2023 at 12:24:15 AM UTC+1, Zobovor wrote:
> > On Friday, September 1, 2023 at 3:48:02 AM UTC-6, Velvet Glove wrote:
> >
> > > https://velvetfanfic.wordpress.com/2023/09/01/triple-act-tragedy/
> >
> > So as a matter of etiquette, if you want feedback about the story, can I quote snippets here and reply to them, or would you prefer comments left directly on your web site? You didn't post the story here, so I don't want to damage the exclusivity of your content.
> >
> >
> > Zob (tried not to run over any grasshoppers with the lawnmower today)
> Oh, please post here! Makes for an easier discussion. I only posted the link to the website because that way all the formatting is preserved. It's annoying to have to go in and asterisk all the italics. (I finally figured out how to turn on the on-site comment form, but that's only in the off chance somebody stumbles across the website and wants to reach out to me. I'm not worrying about getting a whole lot of traffic to the site.)
>
> I suppose it would be easier to respond if I did just cut and paste the story to the newsgroup. What are people's preferences on that?
>
> Velvet Glove (who is more uptight about formatting than exclusivity)

For archiving purposes, I'd recommend crossposting to this group as well - hopefully Google will persevere where other sites don't. It's sad that so many of the original webpages from the 90s, which were hosted on ephemeral college accounts or now-defunct services (RIP Geocities) are now beyond salvaging.

Look forward to reading the story!

On Saturday, September 2, 2023 at 2:56:23 PM UTC+1, Codigo Postal wrote:
> For archiving purposes, I'd recommend crossposting to this group as well - hopefully Google will persevere where other sites don't. It's sad that so many of the original webpages from the 90s, which were hosted on ephemeral college accounts or now-defunct services (RIP Geocities) are now beyond salvaging.
>
> Look forward to reading the story!

This is one of the reasons I went with WordPress, since I figured a blogging site was more likely to have legs. My livejournal accounts are still online even though I've not logged in for years. But crossposting for archive purposes it is! Story sans any italics below:

Triple Act Tragedy

Blitzwing had never been so relieved to see Astrotrain, still in sombre orbit of Cybertron. All through his reconnaissance flight over Polyhex, he had been pushing down a fear of being abandoned—pure paranoia, but he only relaxed when the shuttle opened his airlock to let him inside.

The other Decepticons were still in Astrotrain’s hold as well, though they would have had less choice in staying or going. It was a weird assortment: Ramjet, two Stunticons, one Combaticon and a handful of seekers who had never been posted to Earth, so Blitzwing barely knew them.

There was one new addition since he had left for his sweep. “Good to see you’re still on the side of the living,” Octane greeted him.

“Likewise.” The sentiment was insincere. At one time, Octane had been the third of their triple-changer clique, but then Blitzwing and Astrotrain had slept through four million years of warfare that Octane had had to survive. Blitzwing had never really figured out who Octane was now, but he was definitely more than the guy he had once known.

“Did you find anything in Polyhex?” Astrotrain asked hopefully.

“Wreckage,” Blitzwing told him succinctly. “Everything’s been destroyed. Anybody left down there is dead.”

“Shockwave?” Octane looked curious rather than hopeful.

“Saw what was left of him.” Blitzwing omitted the fact that Shockwave had technically still been alive at the time, just in case those who had done the long haul on Cybertron still had some loyalty to him. Cybertron’s former guardian would not long survive his injuries, and they did not have the resources for charity cases.

“Can’t we salvage anything?” Ramjet asked.

“Doubt it. Besides, I spotted at least two Autobots poking around as well. Seems like they came out of the Unicron fight better than we did.”

“Only because we softened him up for them,” Drag Strip insisted.

“I don’t know what the slag happened to Unicron,” Octane drawled, “But if the Autobots had a weapon that could do that kind of damage, they’d have blasted us off Cybertron years ago.”

“Their ship took off from Iacon again, but it’s stayed in orbit,” Astrotrain told them. “Near as I can tell they’re harvesting debris from the fight.”

“Typical.” They hardly needed Dead End to point out the downsides of their situation, but he was going to do it anyway. “So they get all the benefit of whatever did kill Unicron.”

“Maybe it was Galvatron?” one of the seekers offered. Blitzwing thought his name might have been Ion Storm. Or Bitstream. It was not like it mattered.

“If it was Galvatron, we’d all be in Iacon right now trashing Autobots!” Vortex snapped. “Why don’t we do that anyway?”

“Go right ahead,” Blitzwing told him, and he sat down, stretching his legs out. Vortex glowered at him, but even he had more sense than to take on Iacon alone. Or maybe he lacked the energy reserves to get there.

It had been a ludicrous battle. Like most Decepticons with aerial modes, Blitzwing had flown into orbit directly to assault Unicron. Some shuttles had taken off, but those had not been obvious in combat… He thought about the Constructicons and Soundwave. Had they made a tactical retreat from the outset? Blitzwing had made that decision himself a few minutes into the fight, desperately fleeing to the far side of Cybertron’s remaining moon.

Astrotrain and many of the others had had the same idea. Dead End thought the missing Stunticons were dead, and Blitzwing was inclined to agree with him for once. Dead End and Drag Strip had been lucky to have caught Astrotrain on his retreat.

“Any word on the radio frequencies?” Blitzwing asked without any real hope.

“Nothing,” Astrotrain confirmed. “I tried putting out a call, but nobody’s answering. No other distress beacons on the radar either.” That was how they had found Vortex after the battle, floating in space. The other Combaticons had likely escaped aboard Blast Off, but it seemed Vortex had missed the flight.

“They’re probably already dead.” Dead End again, of course. “And that makes them the lucky ones.”

“The Unicronians aren’t dead,” Octane corrected him.. “Well, Galvatron probably is, but Cyclonus and the rest… They were just watching the battle. When Unicron started blowing up, they went a little weird. Looked like they were in pain almost. Then they suddenly streaked off.”

“They were always weird,” Ramjet said. “We’re better off without them. Without Galvatron too.”

“But…” Another seeker, hesitant. “Who’s leading the Decepticons now?”

Ramjet smirked and looked at Blitzwing. Blitzwing scowled back and shook his head. That ambition had not survived Unicron. There was no longer an empire to lead, and for perhaps the first time in his life, he had no taste for further battle.

Astrotrain spoke up. “Megatron told us he would always be the leader of the Decepticons. If he’s dead, then maybe there aren’t Decepticons anymore.”

“Then what the slag are we supposed to be?” Drag Strip was not going to indulge their pontifications.

“Masters of our own destiny!” Octane declared, cheerily. They all stared at him, and he spread his arms. “We’ve lost Cybertron… so what? There’s a whole Galaxy out there, and we’re in good fighting shape.” During the age that Megatron and the others had been lost, Octane had deserted Cybertron (several times, apparently) and lived a civilian life before rejoining the war effort—nor had he gone back to military service willingly, as Blitzwing recalled it.

“We could conquer our own planet,” Vortex gasped, optics alight.

“Or kick back, relax and have a little fun. It’s been a long war, guys. Time for some R and R!”

“The Battlechargers?” a confused seeker asked.

“Rest and relaxation!” Octane gave them all a pitying look. “Come on. Let Uncle Octane show you a world outside of martial law..”

Ramjet, at least, did not appreciate being patronised. “Why not start with Monacus?” he asked, casually showing off his own galactic experience. “Always a good time on Monacus!”

“That’s not how I remember it,” Astrotrain grumbled..

Octane shrugged. “I guess we could start with the basics. Got the fuel to get there, Astrotrain?”

“Yeah…” Astrotrain hesitated, giving the others time to protest, but nobody did. With a sigh, he broke orbit.

Blitzwing moved up towards the bridge, where he could speak quietly to the other triple-changer. When it came down to it, Astrotrain was the only one in this lot he knew well enough to trust. “What’s Monacus?”

“An asteroid. No official settlement, but it’s a hub for casinos, bars and stuff. We used to have a share in a gladiatorial arena out there.”

That sounded familiar; Shockwave had funded the Decepticon war effort with a few inter-galactic business concerns. Blitzwing doubted any of them were still operational, but… “Maybe there’s a life out there for Decepticons after all.”

“Maybe.” Astrotrain did not sound optimistic, but he did not sound pessimistic either. It was a start.

Disembarking on Monacus, Octane felt more confident than he had done in years. It had been less than a decade since he had returned to Cybertron to discover that Megatron was back in charge and military service was no longer optional; it felt like centuries. No, the soldier life was not for him.

It was a pity about the company, really. Having a rainmaker as well as Dead End was never going to be a winning combination, but most of the others were stuck in shellshock. He remembered Blitzwing being a lot more fun—or at least easier to provoke—way back when. Astrotrain did not even transform once everybody was out.

“Hey, Astro, are you coming?”

“You don’t want me to wait here?”

Military conditioning had a lot to answer for, Octane thought. “Come on! We’re gonna find a bar drink a toast to our fallen comrades and then another toast for our future!” And quite possibly some more toasts beyond that. “Ah… I don’t suppose any of you have a galactic credit account?”

There were some baffled looks. Megatron had never prioritised a payroll, and some of the seekers had never even been off Cybertron before. Thankfully, Ramjet’s competitive streak was dependable. “Of course,” he scoffed.

Astrotrain glared suspiciously at him. “You were embezzling from Megatron?”

Ramjet sniffed. “No, just some moonlighting from time to time. Galaxy’s a lot more fun when you’ve got cash to hand.”

“Words of wisdom,” Octane agreed, benevolent. “Right, first round’s on me, second round’s on Ramjet.” Ramjet looked indignant but could not protest if he was trying to score points off Octane. The triple-changer viewed the expense as an investment; loosen everybody up a bit, and maybe he would be able to get somewhere with them.

Of the stories you've posted since your return to ATT, this is by far my favorite. Great character interactions and characterizations, references to obscura that feel natural and help flesh out the story (Hollywood, please take notes - this is how you do it correctly), and all in a self-contained tale that feels right at home in a post-Movie/pre Season 3 universe. If we ever get good-enough AI to create new G1 episodes with animation and voice acting, this is a story that should be first in the queue. Thanks for sharing and keep them coming!

> Ultimately, I decided “bugger this,” and assembled a ragtag band of failures. I kind of wanted to do Blitzwing and Astrotrain anyway, which is why I gave Blitzwing the prior mention. I added in Octane because he’s a character I’ve used before in my stories without ever really getting into his head. With the other Decepticons, I was playing with how individuals functioned outside of their subteam, but I went with all three of the Decepticon triple-changers. For whatever reason, I’ve always had a soft spot for them.

They're an interesting bunch - the OG 2 featured heavily in Season 2, and had prominent roles after in the Movie and FFOD. They attempted rebellion, and you're right - it's the contrast between the ambitious, aggressive Blitzwing of S2 and TFTM and the war-weary, resigned Blitzwing of FFOD that is so ripe for exploration. Who hurt him?

(Oh right. A planet-sized god of death).

>
> I didn’t mean for the story to be quite as light-hearted as it ended up being.

Frankly, the setting is grimdark enough. The Transformers have just faced the possible end of their existence, the Cons have lost the war, their leader, their comrades, and all hope of a future. The light-hearted tone provides a great balance to what could otherwise be a depressing slog of despair.

>
> While Astrotrain and Blitzwing are the real protagonists of this story, Octane is the key to the plot. He always looks like he should have been part of a trio with Astrotrain and Blitzwing, just from his colour scheme, but his toy came out a year later and, crucially, on the other side of the Movie, which means that Octane’s timeline is wildly different. The show never really addressed the difference that four-million-year gap would make in friendships, but it’s something I’ve often wondered about. The way I see it, Octane and the others were probably tight once, but he’s moved on and got used to watching his own back. He doesn’t need them anymore.

Spot-on characterization - it feels consistent with what we know of Octane, and it's interesting to explore the relationship between him and other Triplechangers.

>

> (More cartoon obscura: Lanarq and Xetaxxis are the two planets at war in The Quintesson Journal. In that episode, the Xetaxxans vaguely resemble Star Wars Jawas, with cloaks and protruding optics. In The Gambler, an alien working at Gyconi’s Pit is wearing a hooded cloak with mechanical optics protruding from its shadowed face. I decided that this clearly makes it a retroactive Xetaxxan, and as it doesn’t seem to suffer any fate in the episode, I have assumed it took over the arena after Gyconi fled and Slizardo ran off with Devcon.)

This is the one place in the world where Lanarq and Xetaxxis are most definitely not considered obscura!

I always thought it seemed like a reference to the Mideast conflict between Israel and Palestine, but then, I've never seen a Star War.

>
> None of this made for profound insight, but it was fun. I think this is also the first time I’ve written an exclusively Decepticon story, so there’s a milestone! It seems to have broken the ice anyway. I’ve now got thoughts for a couple more Decepticon post-movie plots, which will hopefully have more depth to them.

Bring em on!

On Saturday, September 2, 2023 at 7:13:52 PM UTC+1, Codigo Postal wrote:
> Of the stories you've posted since your return to ATT, this is by far my favorite. Great character interactions and characterizations, references to obscura that feel natural and help flesh out the story (Hollywood, please take notes - this is how you do it correctly), and all in a self-contained tale that feels right at home in a post-Movie/pre Season 3 universe. If we ever get good-enough AI to create new G1 episodes with animation and voice acting, this is a story that should be first in the queue. Thanks for sharing and keep them coming!

I think ragtag bands of failures may be my specialty...

No, I'm actually really pleased to hear that, thank you! I've been feeling very rusty, with the brain just randomly kicking out scenes, but I seem to have finally got into my groove of proper stories, and it's extremely satisfying. It's not like the improvement's going to stay linear, and everything's subject to taste anyway, but it's nice to know I've written something that somebody else has genuinely enjoyed.

> > I didn’t mean for the story to be quite as light-hearted as it ended up being.
> Frankly, the setting is grimdark enough. The Transformers have just faced the possible end of their existence, the Cons have lost the war, their leader, their comrades, and all hope of a future. The light-hearted tone provides a great balance to what could otherwise be a depressing slog of despair..

I think this is a YMMV kind of thing. I've got the right tone for you; somebody else will think it's far too inane for the subject matter. I let this sit for a couple of weeks before actually posting it, and I still felt that I'd hit a decent balance on the re-read (I tweaked a few lines here and there, but nothing major).

I did write a depressing slog of despair today though (well, I kind of took a short-cut), so we'll see how the next one ends up.

>
> I always thought it seemed like a reference to the Mideast conflict between Israel and Palestine, but then, I've never seen a Star War.

Yep, I'm pretty sure that the Quintesson Journal was meant to be real world political commentary, and any jawa resembling was purely coincidental. The Gambler, however, was very clearly following the Star Wars template of space opera.

Velvet Glove (who is thoroughly enjoying watching episodes for fic research.. Most recent ones were Killing Jar and Burden Hardest to Bear.)

On Saturday, September 2, 2023 at 8:43:37 AM UTC-6, Velvet Glove wrote:

> Octane had been the third of their triple-changer clique, but then Blitzwing and Astrotrain had slept through four million years of warfare that Octane had had to survive.

Octane's such a fun character, but he confuses me. Sandstorm treats him like an old-timer, but he acts young and charismatic, not rusted and curmudgeony. It's fun to think that he and Astrotrain and Blitzwing got to go on adventures together until circumstances resulted in them being separated.
> “Can’t we salvage anything?” Ramjet asked.

The voice I hear for Ramjet is different than how you write him. This is not a criticism, and please don't change it, but one of the things I noticed about Jack Angel's portrayal of Ramjet is that he tended not to use contractions. He would say things like "it is not blocked anymore!" instead of "it's not blocked anymore!" I'm not sure if the goal was to portray him as a little dumb, since that's kind of how he comes off.

> “I don’t know what the slag happened to Unicron,” Octane drawled, “But if the Autobots had a weapon that could do that kind of damage, they’d have blasted us off Cybertron years ago.”

This is a super interesting observation from the Decepticon side of things. They have no way of knowing that it was the Matrix, or that it seemed to be at least partly designed with the very specific purpose of destroying Unicron. For all the Decepticons know, the Autobots have some kind of fancy energy blasting weapon like the lightning bug from "Cosmic Rust" or something.

> “The Unicronians aren’t dead,” Octane corrected him. “Well, Galvatron probably is, but Cyclonus and the rest… They were just watching the battle. When Unicron started blowing up, they went a little weird. Looked like they were in pain almost. Then they suddenly streaked off.”

I forget, when is the last moment we actually see Cyclonus and the Sweeps in the movie? Were they even part of the Decepticon assault? I remember seeing Unicron pluck the mothership out of space and throw it aside, so I assume Galvatron's soldiers were on board.

The idea behind Galvatron and his soldiers seems to be that they could all draw strength directly from Unicron, so with Unicron destroyed, they lost that ability and were reduced merely to regular Transformers with regular abilities. That sure must have been a rude awakening for them all.

> “Or kick back, relax and have a little fun. It’s been a long war, guys. Time for some R and R!”
>
> “The Battlechargers?” a confused seeker asked.

Hee hee.

> Drag Strip sorrowfully clinked his glass against Dead End’s. “We shoulda had Breakdown here for this. He really had a way with words, y’know?”

A way of mangling them, anyway!

> Star Hopper was unfortunate enough to share a colour scheme with Onslaught, so perhaps Vortex was also missing his team.

Oh, I know exactly which character you're writing about, here. In my little world, I call him Slaughterhouse.

> Blitzwing stared at him. “You’ve spent twenty years on a team with Swindle. How were you that careless?”

Poor Swindle. He'll never live down that reputation!
> That’s why it’s titled as a tragedy… I defy you to look at these Decepticons, and tell me they aren’t a tragic bunch..

It's an interesting collection of characters, to be sure. In both official and unofficial fiction, we tend to see a lot of the Combaticons playing off each other, or the Stunticons, but the guys from the combiner teams are so rarely isolated that you don't always get to see new character dynamics like this. You basically took advantage of the Scramble City mix-and-match aspect, only in story form!

> None of this made for profound insight, but it was fun. I think this is also the first time I’ve written an exclusively Decepticon story, so there’s a milestone! It seems to have broken the ice anyway. I’ve now got thoughts for a couple more Decepticon post-movie plots, which will hopefully have more depth to them.

The only thing I'm a little disappointed about is that there was no Soundwave! But, he doesn't exactly seem the type to get drinks and go gambling...

Zob

On Monday, September 4, 2023 at 3:15:23 AM UTC+1, Zobovor wrote:
> > “Can’t we salvage anything?” Ramjet asked.
> The voice I hear for Ramjet is different than how you write him. This is not a criticism, and please don't change it, but one of the things I noticed about Jack Angel's portrayal of Ramjet is that he tended not to use contractions. He would say things like "it is not blocked anymore!" instead of "it's not blocked anymore!" I'm not sure if the goal was to portray him as a little dumb, since that's kind of how he comes off.

Oh, that's a really interesting note. I did not pick up on that when I was trying to watch some Ramjet stuff. Honestly, I never did get a feel for Ramjet, so he ended up being the character I needed him to be rather than me playing off who *he* is. I tried to make sure he didn't do anything inconsistent with his cartoon portrayal, but I'm not surprised that he's not ringing true for you.

> This is a super interesting observation from the Decepticon side of things. They have no way of knowing that it was the Matrix, or that it seemed to be at least partly designed with the very specific purpose of destroying Unicron. For all the Decepticons know, the Autobots have some kind of fancy energy blasting weapon like the lightning bug from "Cosmic Rust" or something.

Well, Galvatron knew that Unicron believed the Matrix was a threat but it's not clear how much the rest of the Decepticons knew. I figured that for both sides it must have been a very messy, confusing few days; eventually, they could probably compare enough notes to work it out, but not understanding what went on really contributes to the shock.

> I forget, when is the last moment we actually see Cyclonus and the Sweeps in the movie? Were they even part of the Decepticon assault? I remember seeing Unicron pluck the mothership out of space and throw it aside, so I assume Galvatron's soldiers were on board.

I *think* we don't see them after Junk. (I could be wrong... there are a lot of places where they could appear in the background, but not that I could find.) It makes sense to me that they wouldn't get involved in the attack on Unicron. After all, they were *his* slaves. If they tried to attack him, he'd probably only start torturing them. (I can't recall if we ever see him doing the torture on them or if it's just Galvatron, but it makes sense that he would be able to do it.) They also don't seem to be anywhere around when Galvatron tries to bargain with the Matrix. I figured they were like: "Yeah, let us know how that works out for you."

> The idea behind Galvatron and his soldiers seems to be that they could all draw strength directly from Unicron, so with Unicron destroyed, they lost that ability and were reduced merely to regular Transformers with regular abilities. That sure must have been a rude awakening for them all.

On the other hand... they were no longer enslaved by a monster who could get inside their heads. So I'd say it was a net benefit.

> The only thing I'm a little disappointed about is that there was no Soundwave! But, he doesn't exactly seem the type to get drinks and go gambling....

Oh, god no. This was never going to be a Soundwave story. I'm still hoping to do a story featuring Soundwave, but you probably shouldn't get your hopes up for how that one will turn out...

Velvet Glove (Soundwave's other alternate mode is writer's block apparently)

On Monday, September 4, 2023 at 9:41:31 AM UTC-4, Velvet Glove wrote:
> On Monday, September 4, 2023 at 3:15:23 AM UTC+1, Zobovor wrote:
> > > “Can’t we salvage anything?” Ramjet asked.
> > The voice I hear for Ramjet is different than how you write him. This is not a criticism, and please don't change it, but one of the things I noticed about Jack Angel's portrayal of Ramjet is that he tended not to use contractions. He would say things like "it is not blocked anymore!" instead of "it's not blocked anymore!" I'm not sure if the goal was to portray him as a little dumb, since that's kind of how he comes off.
> Oh, that's a really interesting note. I did not pick up on that when I was trying to watch some Ramjet stuff. Honestly, I never did get a feel for Ramjet, so he ended up being the character I needed him to be rather than me playing off who *he* is. I tried to make sure he didn't do anything inconsistent with his cartoon portrayal, but I'm not surprised that he's not ringing true for you.
I've noticed the contraction thing regarding Ramjet also...at least, in some episodes. He was a pretty minor character so how he comes across in the cartoon seems to oscillate quite a bit between "dumb thug" to a pretty competent guy and arguably the "lead" conehead. In The Gambler, for example, he seems to be the ranking 'Con there and Dirge defers to him. Note Ramjet uses contractions in that one too "there's nothing there but sand and more sand").
> They also don't seem to be anywhere around when Galvatron tries to bargain with the Matrix. I figured they were like: "Yeah, let us know how that works out for you."
LOL.
I honestly always assumed they were crewing their ship in the final battle (which is very clearly *destroyed* on camera by Unicron by the way, which wouldn't bode well for their survivial if you looked at the movie as a standalone film). But I do like your idea of them just watching everything, in a sort of trance maybe, and then having a freakout when Unicron was destroyed and they were liberated. I'd like to think though that if the Decepticons hadn't gotten their collective asses kicked so hard at the end of the movie, that the others would have rounded Cyclonus and the Sweeps up for some serious questioning after it was all over. Especially with Galvatron MIA.

Anyway, good story Velvet! Enjoyed the cast selection, and your take on Octane is fun. I can also just picture those backhanded Stunticon eulogies!

On Tuesday, September 5, 2023 at 9:01:27 PM UTC+1, Sky Raider wrote:
> I've noticed the contraction thing regarding Ramjet also...at least, in some episodes. He was a pretty minor character so how he comes across in the cartoon seems to oscillate quite a bit between "dumb thug" to a pretty competent guy and arguably the "lead" conehead. In The Gambler, for example, he seems to be the ranking 'Con there and Dirge defers to him. Note Ramjet uses contractions in that one too "there's nothing there but sand and more sand").

This is a general cartoon problem. I think most of us tend to attach a particular episode to a character and that becomes our personal canon version.... but we don't all use the same episode!

> I honestly always assumed they were crewing their ship in the final battle (which is very clearly *destroyed* on camera by Unicron by the way, which wouldn't bode well for their survivial if you looked at the movie as a standalone film).

It's never made any sense to me that they would participate in that battle. It's a lose-lose situation for them. Their ship does appear in some Season 3 episodes, but I figure Galvatron might have had them build a copy of the original. Notably, they don't use it when flying around the Galaxy in FFoD.. Actually, I think the first reappearance of the ship is in Dark Awakening, so maybe the Quintessons gifted a copy to Galvatron when they needed him to shoot the Autobots down by the mausoleum.

Thanks for the comments!