Airing out some thoughts bc I've been rewatching Earthspark
It also makes me really sad how the current people at Hasbro treat the characters as of recently. In the more recent shows and Transformers One, they're all far less serious, and I can accept that in TFO because it's an origin story, it makes sense they'd all be kinda silly, they're much younger, the war hadn't started yet, etc etc etc
Taking who are obviously meant to be Optimus, Elita, and Bumblebee in the typical timeline of the war having been waging for millions of years and maintaining their flippant behavior IRKS ME. Optimus' portrayal in particular changes all the time based on who he needs to be for the story, but he usually has a solid foundation of: justice, sacrifice, wisdom, and compassion
Having been watching Earthspark most recently, I am NOT seeing Optimus written by people who care about his character. They're using him to prop up a questionably reformed Megatron. Rather than playing into the strengths of their history, the writers use Optimus to make excuses for Megatron's development. Arguably, none of the pre-existing characters develop at all, except maybe Bumblebee. Optimus suffers the most from this because, while he has some really funny moments, like the interview scene, he just isn't Optimus. Yeah, he's nice, yeah, he gives a heartfelt speech every now and then, but Optimus Prime would have been questioning G.H.O.S.T. the entire time. The show establishes several times that Optimus was working with them for 15 years. 15 years and Optimus Prime never questioned even once what was happening to the Decepticons? Didn't care enough to investigate himself when the inevitable lies and cagey answers came? The Bayverse got one thing right: when he found out about the government experimenting on Cybertronians, he went straight there and dismantled the entire thing—with his own hands. The difference is Bayverse Optimus was also being hunted by humans. TFE Optimus has no excuse when he's also the hunter
What I've noticed in recent shows is that the justice and wisdom characteristics are wildly lacking. Optimus CAN and SHOULD be making mistakes as a person, because obviously nobody is perfect and implying that Optimus Prime is some pillar to strive for isn't entirely the point of his character. You aren't supposed to want to be Optimus to make yourself a better person, you're supposed to want to be Optimus because he cares about others more than himself. He has the humility to put himself in the shoes of others and empathize. Peter Cullen's statement about "Be strong enough to be gentle" encapsulates exactly who Optimus Prime is supposed to be. You want to be Optimus because you care about others, not just yourself
(Edit: Reiterating the above, I mean that you should definitely strive to be what Optimus stands for. Could've definitely worded that better hrrmm)
Megatron—MEGATRON!—brings it up again and again that he's never liked or trusted G.H.O.S.T. and HE'S the one questioning Optimus' morality. If you have to take Megatron and make him look Optimus in the face and ask him if what he's doing is wrong, then they're both either wildly inaccurately written, or you have a golden opportunity to actually use that as a means to develop them further
Optimus is allowed to and should make mistakes, but the 15 years thing is what gets me. If this were a more recent conflict, it could work! If it was, maybe, 2-3 years, tensions are still high after the end of the war, Megatron is still finding his place amongst the Autobots, the bots themselves are adjusting to Megatron, all the while hunting down the remaining cons with human help from the just established G.H.O.S.T. Optimus' focus would be on managing all these loose ends, the government is able to get away with stuff under his nose. He would check on the imprisoned cons, the soldiers would lie about their treatment, and then when Optimus leaves, they continue. It probably wouldn't take him longer than a few months to a year to begin questioning G.H.O.S.T's actual treatment of the prisoners if only because his attention is being drawn every which way. He's just one guy, after all, and him being the one and only Prime means all the post war responsibility keeping the peace and fighting and micromanaging everything falls on him
Megatron, meanwhile, his character in TFE is just a complete mess. Listen to me. Sit down. Hold my hand. I know Megatron is hunky. I know he's awesome and cool and represented the lower class. I know he fought against oppression and was a nobody forced into a life he never had any choice in and his initial message is inspiring, especially with today's political climate
But PLLLEEAAASSSSE STOP MINIMIZING WHAT HE BECAME
The WHOLE POINT of Megatron's character is that absolute power corrupts absolutely. He and Optimus believed in the same things—except, and this is important!—how to achieve them. Optimus has always, ALWAYS believed in freedom above all else. Megatron has always believed that to defeat oppression, you have to become the oppressor. This is of course due to their respective backgrounds. They're people, after all. The very key difference is that Optimus never let his beliefs corrupt him. Megatron did. He became exactly what he was fighting against. That's the lesson his character teaches
Earthspark tries to emphasize that Megatron realized his mistake, but they never go into how or why. Dorothy, who I LOVE, she's probably my favorite human character in the show next to Mo, should not have been the one to teach Megatron his lesson. I know the writers were probably trying to pull a Carly from Dark of the Moon, where she goes off on Megatron and makes him realize that Sentinel is using him
But, again, the very important difference is the context of these situations. Dorothy showing compassion to Cybertronians is not a unique behavior for humans in the TF universes at all. There wouldn't be human protagonists whatsoever if that weren't the case. Carly waking up Megatron (who is sick and dying throughout the entire movie (an important detail as to why Megatron was so compliant the entire time)) after he sat around and did Sentinel's bidding, only for Sentinel to be the one to bring Cybertron to Earth, using the Decepticons and, most especially, Megatron in his delirious mental state gets him off his rear because Megatron has too much pride to be someone else's tool. That's another huge part of his overall character: Megatron violently refuses to let anyone control him because of his past! He started the Decepticons specifically because he was sick of being a slave!!!
There is no conceivable reason that Dorothy said something so profound it changed Megatron's entire thought process. There is just nothing she could have said that Optimus, with whom Megatron has the most history (famously in fact!) hasn't already said in the literal millions of years that the war waged for, which is why the show never once tells you exactly WHAT Dorothy said to him. I'm not trying to discredit her as a character, she's freaking awesome, but it's so blatant that she's a self-insert of one of the writers who loves Megatron with all their heart. And there's nothing wrong with that! I love him, too, and I'm glad they got to express that through Dorothy, but this is a story you're putting out to a fan base that's like 40 years old and there's a certain expectation when it comes to the portrayal of the main characters and their conflict
Obviously, Earthspark is a kid's show and I absolutely understand that everything I said is nonsense to a degree when applied to something for 10 year olds. But! The plot takes itself somewhat seriously enough for an older audience to be invested in! The fight choreography is REALLY well done in a lot of scenes, too, like, they put effort into the show! You can see how much they cared!
I just wish they took what they had and pushed it a little harder. Post war conflict is interesting and expected. A story about redeeming the Decepticons, who are painted as soulless monsters no matter which one you're talking about, is interesting! And I like the Terrans, I think they're a great way of further connecting Cybertron and Earth without relying too heavily on Unicron or relics. Creating new Cybertronians has always been one of the franchise's biggest plot elements. The Terrans being Earth-born bots is a really cool idea! They should have focused way more on that. If that had happened in TFP, the entire story would have shifted to figuring out how the Ember Stone works and how to keep it as far away from Megatron as possible. It doesn't really even feel like a redemption show, either, it feels like the writers liked Megatron and a handful of others, and condemned the rest of the main cons.
Starscream, in particular, is one of the most compelling characters to try to redeem—and I'm not speaking out of favoritism. He's an awful person. He's selfish, he's violent, he's volatile, he's a liar and a killer and would sooner give up his own wings than make a good decision. He's a monster. But so was Megatron, who the show bends over backwards to baby. Every time one of the classic Decepticons is on screen, they're as violent and evil as ever. Starscream especially gets regularly beaten throughout the show by Megatron himself. For someone who's supposed to be reformed, he never once talks to Starscream. The first time they interact, Megatron is attacking him without provocation or even a single word spoken UNTIL Hashtag intervenes! They have some of the most legendary beef in the entire franchise, but the show never tries to use that to fulfill its lesson about redemption. Starscream is obviously softer in the show. He's outright kind to Hashtag, who interacted with him for all of an hour, merely because she showed him a sliver of empathy. He clearly wanted to be with Skywarp and Nova Storm, he kept waiting for them, following them, and at the end of the episode, they voluntarily went with him, too (as of this post I haven't seen how things obviously fall apart in the end, but still). He is very clearly shown to have a side to him that ISN'T the typical Starscream. The show just never does anything with it. Probably due to time and budget, but I recall there being a distinct pattern of untoward beatings that Starscream takes completely unprovoked. I recall him pleading for help in the Paramount episodes, and he gets beaten and locked up for it!
Like. I know TFE is supposed to be the fun, carefree version of tf, I know the lack of substantial conflict or character development is intentional. A not insignificant portion of the fandom has wanted a chill "let's all hug about it" show for forever. I know this. I shrimply do not like it personally. Well, okay, I do, BUT, I just wish it was handled with more care. Redeemed Megatron is an interesting concept! But not the way TFE did it
This post is long enough so erm. Ending it there
