Dear vector prime why didnt hot hod use his arm mounted blasters to shoot the gun megatron wad reaching for in the battle of autobot City?, also are there any universes where hot rod preformed the aforementioned actions in the battle for autobot city
Hot Rod had only an instant in which to stop Megatron, and if we are to judge him for his actions in that moment, I believe we must judge only his pure heart, that he stood against injustice without hesitation. At such junctures, it is our instincts and experience that we rely on to navigate all possible responses, not our rational minds.
Countless deviations in time spring from these subconscious choices, influenced as they are by the chaos of existence. Indeed, I know of a timeline where Hot Rod did use his blasters as you describe—though it was Megatron’s hand he shot, not the gun. Still, it bought Optimus Prime a moment, and what was surely another latent impulse saw him overcome his hesitation and put down the tyrant.
Prime had still suffered grievous wounds in the course of his duel, and he was placed on a recharge slab as the others worked to repair Autobot City. When the news broke of Unicron’s assault on Cybertron, he roused himself to lead the Autobots in a rescue mission. However, Unicron was prepared for this. Megatron’s non-functional corpse, strewn from Astrotrain in deep space, had drifted into the path of the Chaosbringer, who reforged it into a perfectly loyal servant—Megatronus, the fallen.
Megatronus’ armada ambushed the Autobots’ shuttles. Hot Rod and Kup crashed into Quintessa’s ocean, while Optimus narrowly evaded destruction a second time, sacrificing the back portion of his shuttle and alighting on the planet of Junk to effect repairs. When Megatronus once again attacked, Optimus Prime and Ultra Magnus sent the rest into hiding and made a heroic last stand, but the armada tore them apart and seized the Matrix.
Yet Optimus Prime cheated death a third time. Though the brothers’ wounds were too great to save both their bodies, the Junkions were able to merge them together into a new gestalt being: Ultra Prime stood strong, the life sparks of two heroes within him, and greeted Hot Rod and the rest as they were reunited.
Megatronus has no delusions of independence or rebellion, desiring only the oblivion which had been robbed from him, and simply proffered the Matrix to Unicron, who granted his wish. Unicron took the Matrix into himself—a foreign irritant, one which could not be destroyed or expelled, but one which over time could be buried in nacre, transmuted into something else entirely. Then, the monster planet descended upon Cybertron, unfathomable in form and purpose.
Sensing the Matrix within Unicron, Ultra Prime bid the rest of the Autobots to board Hot Rod’s ship, then guided his own shuttle straight into Unicron’s maw. He evaded the planet-eater’s crushers and digesters, and fought his way to the smelting pools in the planet’s mechanical mantle, rescuing the Autobots and Decepticons there before forging on alone to Unicron’s core.
That was the last anyone ever saw of him. At a safe distance, the Autobots could only watch in horror as Unicron devoured their home planet. From there, existence became a slow race, as they traveled from star system to star system, always in the shadow of the planet-eater. Hot Rod was hit particularly hard by Prime’s death, and over time came to inherit his elder’s role as leader—though he was forever cautious, burdened with the belief that death could not be fought, only feared.
