I thought it’d be interesting to see how stable Orion and D-16’s friendship is. That is to say, how lowkey unhealthy it is.
D-16 is clearly not communicative of his wants and boundaries when he needs to be (though the novel does touch upon this during the first few chapters) and instead compartmentalises it — feeding into Megatron — until it blows up when its too much.
also the fact that he never seems to call Orion his name (whether it be his full name, first name, last name, or whatever) unless he’s annoyed / frustrated? is very,, interesting. to me. I think Orion called his name more times than he ever did.
Adding to that, the only time he ever properly called his name without being angry was during their first meeting.
It seems as well that he doesn't become frustrated with him unless what Orion is doing benefits him as well. Which, in my third rewatch of the movie, is very evident.
THIS!! is not to say Orion isn’t free from flaws either. He has a problem with not thinking about the consequences of what hes done until it hits him, or just, being unintentionally insensitive (take what happened in the Iacon 5000)
His priorities (his goal of making the cogless bots have equal and fair rights, knowledge, etc.) take more precedence over anything else.
There’s no doubt he cares about D-16. That’s a given. But it's clear he’s not his main priority until the end of the movie where D-16 starts his spiral towards becoming Megatron.
Orion is probably used to D-16 always covering for him and having his back that he doesn’t realise how much hes taking him for granted. And D-16, does NOT say anything about it.
okay, well, in the novels he did say something about it:
but i fear this is the last time D-16 would ever state his boundaries to Orion.
(sidenote: i dont agree with what Orion did when D-16 clearly didnt want to be dragged into his stunts. AND i dont even think, regarding his character, that Orion would go through with his plan if D-16 stated beforehand that he didnt want to be involved!
would he try and make D-16 understand his side? sure. but i think Orion wouldn’t even cross that line if D-16 made it clear.)
Anyway, my main point: As much as I love Dpax’s friendship, they’re not good for each other in the long run. I imagine that if this kept up, D-16's resentment towards Orion would blow up and lead them to go their separate ways.