*Long post/Character analysis(?)*
What if Magnus took the first opportunity to leave Earth, because of how terrified he was of Optimus’ reaction to him explaining what happened on Orcas Island and afterwards, and desperately wanted to avoid that confrontation when tensions inevitably flared up to a point where he can no longer hide his feelings?
I’ve described this analogy before, but I’ll reiterate, since we’re coming back to Earth this next issue (as well as some comments I’ve seen about Mags’ decision to leave Earth in particular)—
Imagine if you just moved back in with family to recover after being held captive for years, and immediately encounter your kidnapper, but unexpectedly experience a PTSD episode and flee to find/establish safety—
And just when you’ve calmed down and are able to have a reassuring conversation with some of the family who were able to find you—you not only get kidnapped again (by this time, the authorities who’ve mistaken you for someone like your first kidnapper, without proper investigation)—
You unintentionally (at best) hurt some of them because their boss couldn’t be bothered to take the time to discern enemy from ally (possibly had half a goddamn year to do this btw, unless they plan on retconning this or actually explaining that he somehow didn’t know) and just decided to risk/sacrifice the lives of his subordinates for…blind retaliation?
(Which totally hasn’t happened in history before, no— 😒)
Then fast forwarding after you luckily escape that ordeal, and the misunderstanding supposedly gets resolved—that same boss (a now second perpetrator in your life) utilizing his position of authority/power personally shows up at your family’s house, and showers the head (the one who pays the bills) with gifts, and thus gains more to use against you if you were to confront either of them.
(Meanwhile, not only is he seemingly not gonna bother to provide anymore “assistance” in regards to dealing with the criminals you continue to struggle with [he had more opportunities to]—he’s secretly going after other people as a result of his continuing incompetence)
What do you do then?
…
Exactly.
Because now, it’s highly likely that a conversation with the head of the house would not only NOT go in your favor—but also (even if they genuinely mean well) potentially traumatize you even further by one, downplaying what happened (“He’s no Shockwave, so you have nothing to fear”), two, insinuating that you were the one at fault when you weren’t (“You didn’t scare or harm any of the humans, did you?”)—
And/or three, something along the lines of, “He didn’t know any better, and he’s done a lot of good. Perhaps in time you two can…reconcile?”.
Yeah. No. F**k that—
Prioritize your recovering mental health instead, Mags. You have my full support as a human.✌️
(No hate to Optimus, but the idea of him saying things like that, to someone who experienced something horrible can be extremely damaging as well, due to how these words can make one feel truly unsupported and like they’ve lost most of if not all of their remaining autonomy, which just sounds…very unlike what an Autobot is supposed to be and stand for right?)
So perhaps, if he were to have stayed on Earth, I’m going to predict right now that Mags would not have accomplished as much as he did in Issue #32 alone, if Issue #29 was anything to go by.
“He still got beat up again”
And this is gonna sound weird, but I like that!
I like that’s he’s not the best fighter this side of the galaxy and loses a lotta fights. That’s more real. It shows that he’s still got a long road ahead of him, but thanks to Elita removing him from an emotionally detrimental environment (which yes, could risk affecting him physically), he’s immediately able to provide support after being given support himself as well as a newfound purpose.
(You can certainly have your own take on this, and believe that Mags just straight up being able to attack Shockwave now is the writers just “curing” his PTSD, but hear me out if you’d like—)
Think of it back to that analogy as suddenly another head of a household in your family showing up, or a close friend, or a social worker—
Someone who’s experienced, reliable, has never said anything bad about you or to you (not yet at least, oh God, Kirkman please don’t make her do that unless you have a clear plan), and who saved your life once before—
Someone who could take you (and other family members!) away, give you a fresh start, a chance to make a tangible difference, and hope.
It’s beautiful, and so many people are in need of that.
“Yeah, sure, take you away, right back to an active warzone and straight to your first kidnapper smh”
As if Earth isn’t currently a warzone with Megatron? :/
Look, if you had to choose, would you rather be in a warzone you were or weren’t familiar with (with not to mention the added pressure/stress you can’t handle well of protecting humans even though it was not your fault they got involved)?
And seeing Shockwave so damaged, Shorb jokes aside, that’s huge.
It’s great that Mags is able to see more clearly just how pathetic his first kidnapper really is, and how weak he is when he doesn’t have any backup—and also how explicitly awful he’s choosing to act.
Because others, as he knows very well, will hide that awfulness so successfully that they can charm anyone onto their side (at least until those people finally get sick of their nasty attitude and personality, and hightail it), and that can be arguably way more terrifying.
“Yeah, which is exactly what can happen to Carly, Spike and the rest of the Autobots without Magnus’ protection/awareness. If the charm wears off/fails, what’s stopping Flagg from taking Carly and Spike hostage to get what he wants from Optimus?
Because Magnus so selfishly left, they’re (rest of humanity included) hella screwed from not only Flagg but obviously Megatron or…whatever he’s gonna evolve into.
‘I just feel like I’m needed’ my ass! Can’t believe they assassinated his character like that…”
You do realize that people with trauma aren’t perfect beings (well actually Mags is perfect and always has been but anyway— ❤️🤍💙 ) who are always pure of heart and always able to make the “right” decision and are always able to accurately explain their feelings…
Right?
Ulchtar/Starscream is the most extreme/irredeemable example of this in this comic alone so far.
(Oh. Right. And Megs too, ig…)
Wheeljack came off as a hypocrite when he snapped at Bulkhead (What, other Autobots can’t voice their opinions, but you can, Wheeljack, to Optimus himself? Didn’t know you were explicitly named second-in-command, hmm)—
But you can understand why he’s like that.
You can understand Optimus’ inconsistent behavior/dialogue, as someone who still lacks experience greatly fearing a revert back into a more violent version of himself.
(But you can also attribute this to poor writing, if you want, but from what I interpret I think it still works so far, even if yes it could’ve been done better with more time)
Point is, people with trauma are just like everyone else in terms of flaws, so for those that referred to him as a “snake”, I’d argue that Mags choosing to leave Earth not only made total sense for his character, but also made it even more interesting and just…real.
He held Trailbreaker in his arms to defend him, and he gets irresponsibly allowed to wander off and be vulnerable…
All that effort. All that pain. For nothing.
And yet, on Cybertron…there’s very strangely a sense of greater stability and certainty, so thanks Elita. You’ve done fragging awesome job. 💗
PS: Mentally prepared for all of this subtext to be thrown out the window depending on what happens next and how they wanna portray certain characters going forward.
Will I be disappointed or mad if so?
I think I know what I’m getting myself into by this point so if anything I’ll play along, why not. *Shrugs*
No but if they wanna start portraying Flagg as a genuine good guy so that we earn that aircraft carrier, they better give me at least 50 goddamn issues IDW Megatron style because he’s got a lot to address and change. A lot.
AND DON’T YOU DARE MAKE HIM SACRIFICE HIMSELF DARTH VADER STYLE—!!!!!!