I have no idea what was going on with me, i was trying to hurt my eyes, so heres my au of sg sentinel being sad
I kinda just realized that i made him and megatron kinda mirror each other a bit as both had long craved for freedom but later accepted that they were going to die in the horrible situation they are in and continued to live cause they got responsibility to do, both were forced to fight for other's entertainment, has someone had changed their mind (zeta and orion) and became attached and fought for them and became their trusted advisory, and both are fliers
The difference is that sentinel never questioned Zeta's leadership no matter what he did and developed an unhealthy attachment to him and hasnt moved on while megatron did questioned optimus's leadership which led to him defecting to the high guards and is trying to move on
(I changed megatron's wings cuz i hated the first one)
Now that I'm done with "Did I Ever Really Know You?" and I am still currently watching Transformers: Animated for another fanfic, I'll just be listing down some of my Shattered Glass AU ideas (to also help me cause otherwise there is a chance I will forget or swap concepts by accident lmao).
SG!Megatron (or D-16 cause he's not yet Megatron) being a medic/scientist for the High Guard/Decepticons at first since he has no reason to usurp Starscream. Also he is either Shockwave's apprentice or he's genuinely just winging it because no one in the High Guard is a scientist and he has to step up with only his own intelligence to help him lmao
SG!Megatron also has wings since his alt is a Cybertronian jet instead of a tank (this is based off of the canon SG where his alt is the jet and the tank). He eventually does get the tank alt when he becomes the official leader of the High Guard/Decepticons. For the meantime though, he only has one alt - and his cannons are attached to his wings instead of his arm.
SG!OP is ruling Iacon as the sole Prime. He is currently on the path of historical revisionism. Like, he's changing the records to make it so that Sentinel never existed - almost as though the Golden Age of the Primes never ended. The 13 Primes still died to the Quintessons according to the historical records, and OP is just their sole prodigy/heir who took up the mantle after they died.
SG!Starscream remains the leader of the High Guard/Decepticons for a good while - because he's genuinely a good mech here (albeit still his usual self just more serious) and is a good leader. He's only removed as leader when... he dies. Because for some reason in Shattered Glass canon he dies, so he will also die here. Optimus kills him, which forces D-16 to eventually become Megatron.
I debated for a while if D-16 even names himself after Megatronus Prime here cause he's not really a Megatronus fanboy in my SG AU (I'm sorry, very scandalous I know). But I decided that yeah he would name himself after Megatronus (if only to keep his canonical name) and also because I realized it's not really fair to make ALL the 13 Primes warmongers instead of making them more nuanced.
Speaking of, while most of the 13 Primes are still warmongers (aka they started the war with the Quintessons), SG!Megatronus Prime - instead of being the strongest Prime - would have been the Primes' diplomat. Like he was the most intellectually smart among them and capable of using his words to get what the Primes want (they just failed to do that with the Quintessons).
The High Guard does model themselves after Megatronus (who is the least violent Prime) because at least he was always willing to negotiate or use diplomatic approaches before resorting to violence. Plus I think he's probably the most chill Prime that the High Guard remembers, and they def tell D-16 lots of stories about him enough that D-16 names himself after him eventually.
Also this just a funny idea but I like to think that SG!Sentinel - before the 13 Primes were killed - was just a really overworked and tired assistant. Like I like to imagine he was going to quit the day the 13 Primes died and he just had to go along with what the Quintessons wanted even though he really just wants to retire/go on a vacation. Well... at least he's resting in peace forever now.
Then just a few SG!MegOP ideas hehe
Actually, SG!Megatron doesn't have a savior complex towards SG!OP (same way TFOne Megatron loses his savior tendencies towards Pax). Instead, I'm giving the savior complex to SG!OP who thinks Megatron is just misguided and is actively trying to "help" him see that OP is the rightful ruler of Iacon. Megatron is just very tired of his crazy ex trying to kidnap him every other day lmao
SG!OP still has D-16's old arm that he accidentally chopped off when OP was trying to kill Sentinel. The only one who knows about this is Bee (who is genuinely freaked the fuck out about it, and if he wasn't scared of being killed, he def would have told other mechs about this). SG!OP also keeps the broken headlight injury where D-16 first shot him with a cannon as another remembrance.
I've been thinking of Walking Through Shards of Glass as well. Specifically, the SG counterparts and Shockwave. While he is compassionate and open-minded now and hasn't made weapons until the fusion cannon. He was different pre-war and was not actually concerned about the public welfare or anything. He made his Outlier school for clout and to look charitable but didn't actually care if it didn't affect him. He was very selfish and used people.
He paid lip service to the values but had been raised to always look out for himself first. Then, the government betrayed him, with Optronix's help, to make a point (and because he was Zeta/Senrinel's enemy in OP's case) and he dropped the mask. His outliers went to Optronix except Damus who went to Megatron whom Shockwave had been wary of to ask for help.
They assisted in freeing him, and Soundwave took him into his care. Damus died in the process and told Shockwave that whatever his reasons he was still his hero and did more for him than anyone else had ever. Shockwave recovered and learned how to trust people and actively chose to be more compassionate to become the person Damus (and Shockwave when he was younger) had deserved.
It pains him that he failed his students, who he should have sheltered and instead used. This is part of why he immediately went to bat for Tarn. He was a second chance to make things right for a different Damus/Glitch.
Ooo??? Interesting way to depict sg Shockwave considering what we know of him in canon sg and what we know of his baseline Senator days
He got into this for his own reasons, but he came out of it a more genuine person of his own volition. He regrets what happened, and of course this influenced how he viewed tarn. Did Tarn have positive stories of his own previous mentor that made sg Shockwave's spark keen with what would have been?
This second failure had to have been so painful, and inventing the fusion cannon had to go against everything he stood for in this war.
In a SG TFOne AU, I do think it would be nice to change Sentinel’s character as well. I mean I feel like it would still work with movie Sentinel, but if I’m going to shatter other characters, might as well shatter the main villain as well. So I don’t think there was a Sentinel in the Fanclub iteration of SG, and since I’ve only ever read that particular SG iteration, I don’t really know how Sentinel is in other iterations. So his SG counterpart in this SG TFOne AU is primarily based off of his character in the movie.
So he’s still a fake Prime here, but his backstory is a little different. This also changes the 13 Primes and the Quintessons in which the 13 Primes were very much warmongers. The Quintessons still manage to kill them all, but Sentinel didn’t really betray the 13 Primes here. He, however, does make a deal with the Quintessons who want recompense for cycles of the war. Instead of doing it for the sake of gaining power, he does it because otherwise the Quintessons will kill every Cybertronian, and without the 13 Primes (also the Matrix still disappears), they will die.
He still has to provide the Quintessons with energon, but there’s also an added part of the deal where he has to remove the T-cogs of newly emerged Cybertronians. The Quintessons added this condition so that they could prevent a new Prime or like another war from happening. So yeah, Sentinel here is still technically the bad guy because… depriving people of what is essentially a piece of them before they’re even born is bad. However, he doesn’t do it out of malice, but rather as a “necessary evil.” He doesn’t feel good about it, but what can he do?
Unlike in the movie, he does actually try to find the Matrix of Leadership, but he can’t find it because Primus here is evil and no way is Primus giving this loser the Matrix. Also, there is a bit of a huge change during his confrontation with D-16. In the movie, Dee does get tortured and branded. In this AU, since Megatron is the good guy, Sentinel does still manage to capture him and some of the High Guard, but instead of torture he actually tries to explain his side of the story. Megatron does somewhat sympathize with him. Somewhat.
Here, I’m wondering whether the High Guard, specifically Starscream, actually try to negotiate with Sentinel about fighting the Quintessons and that they don’t need the Matrix - that Cybertronians can still protect themselves without the Primes or the Matrix. Maybe Sentinel is even slightly convinced about that. However, at this point Pax is already angry about being told the truth, so like in the movie, they still have that fight (though with Orion Pax instead of Dee) and the truth is revealed to everyone. Sentinel still very brutally dies here. However, unlike in the movie… Sentinel didn’t actually take Megatronus’ T-cog...
Did I Ever Really Know You? (SG TFOne Fanfic) - Chapter 4
Chapter 4, aka the fourth stage of grieving, depression.
And honestly, very valid for Shattered Glass Optimus for fumbling D-16 lmao.
But yeah, hope you enjoy!
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“Did you know I realized I loved him the day I banished him?”
Bee had stopped talking, not that Pax was listening to the mech anyway. His helm rested against his servo, the other holding onto a cube of energon - though he hadn’t had much appetite since the detonation of the mines. Letting out a small vent, Optimus brought the energon to his dermas as his optics turned to the other mech in the room. Bee still had that polite small on his faceplate, but it was a thinly veiled facade. He knew how furious the other mech really was.
The white and purple mech reminded Optimus of Dee at times, mostly because of their shared habit of mumbling non-stop. That was where the resemblance stopped. While Dee mumbled because there were too many thoughts in that processor of his, Bee mumbled - a neverending buzzing noise - because he hated the silence. A trauma that Optimus knew came from cycles of loneliness down in Sub-Level 50. It was why he’d given Bee the honor of making reports to him personally. Optimus hated the silence too. He didn’t realize how much he had relied on Dee’s ramblings until he had lost him.
“Oh?”
Bee placed the datapad on the table, placing his servos in front of him. The smaller mech’s optics were focused intently on him, but Optimus was not stupid enough to believe that Bee cared about what he had to say. He had to give the mech credit though. Bee knew to shut up when Optimus wanted him to listen.
“Does that surprise you?” Optimus placed the energon down, unable to stomach it. The past few rotational periods, it was as though a ghost haunted him. Even in recharge, all he could see was Dee’s embarrassed faceplate when Optimus had jokingly told him he’d kiss him if he were to recreate transformation technology. If he had known he’d lose Dee, he would have made the mech his conjunx sooner.
“Bossbot… I thought you hated him.” He let out a sharp vent, optics narrowing as Bee spoke. The other mech raised his servos defensively. If it had been any other mech, Optimus might have torn them to pieces. But it was Bee. Who else was left to listen to Optimus? “You broke his arm. Even before that, during our whole trip, you were mocking him. I thought it was obvious that he liked you… but you were only, ya know, stringing him along?”
“Heh… I guess I thought I was.” And he was. Optimus rested his helm against the table. He didn’t care if he looked vulnerable. What could Bee do to him anyway? He closed his optics, imagining Dee’s smile.
Always directed at him.
Only for him.
Why had he let that go?
Why did he have to realize he loved him the moment he lost him?
“He was obvious about it but…” Optimus gripped the edge of the table.
“Do you want to know when I realized?”
“...Sure, bossbot.”
—
“Sorry? You’re sorry?”
“I was wrong! I made the best decision I could for all of Cybertron at the time. I had no choice! The Quintessons would have slaughtered us all. As the only remaining survivor of the ambush, I knew I had to make the difficult decision to keep us all alive! As a leader—”
“You made us all believe in a lie! You tore a piece of ourselves and banished us to the dark because you were a coward!”
“I know! And I’m sorry… Commander Starscream was right, maybe we should have stood our ground, fought the Quintessons…”
“Too late for regrets, Sentinel. As Primus himself has decided, with the power of the Matrix of Leadership bestowed upon me and as the newly appointed Prime, for your crimes against Iacon and its people, you will be executed.”
The Matrix thrummed inside his chest, burning with the anger of the fallen Primes. Orion Pax - no, he was more than who he had been - Optimus Prime raised the axe and swung down.
The sound of ripping cables was like music to his audials. The euphoria quickly turned to horror when he realized the arm on the ground was completely white. No golden decals. Even worse, he recognized that arm.
“Dee!” He heard the axe clang against the ground, his servos gripping at the mech who had stood between him and Sentinel. Pax couldn’t focus on anything but the flowing energon that dripped between his digits. He held the other mech close to him, venting hard. “Why? Why would you do that? Dee—”
“He doesn’t deserve forgiveness.” Dee leaned against him, his remaining arm clasping at his backplate. They held each other, and for a moment Pax could pretend that he hadn’t just hurt… he just hadn’t hurt the only mech he ever loved. Love… “But Sentinel should be given the chance to fix his mistakes. He’s willing to atone, Pax. He agreed with Commander Starscream to fight the Quintessons—”
“Dee, what are you saying?” Optimus pulled away. He let out a hysterical laugh, “He can atone by dying. I can’t believe you right now. Come on, Dee, the energon loss isn’t that bad. Be sensible! I mean, look at you! Look at what he did to you, to us, to all the miners! And you want him to live?!”
“Pax, you don’t fix what is broken by breaking it even more. Sentinel made his mistakes, and he’ll pay for them, but not this way.” Dee’s blue optics - so full of pain, and Optimus knew it was pain he had caused - looked up at him. “You’re better than this. You’re more than your want for revenge—”
“The energon loss must be bad. Don’t worry, Dee, we’ll get you a medic after this.” Optimus let out a tired vent, rising up. He gestured to his chest. “This is not revenge, Dee. This is justice. Primus granted me the Matrix, and as Prime, don’t I have a duty to fulfill? Now be a good mech, and stay down.”
He didn’t waste anymore time. Dee needed medical attention, and Sentinel didn’t deserve more time to live. Optimus stomped his pede against the false prime’s helm, holding the axe high. It was more than what Sentinel deserved, a public execution when he should die in the darkness - forgotten by history the same fate he had wanted for the cogless - but Optimus needed every citizen of Iacon to witness the rise of a new epoch.
“My fellow Cybertronians! Today marks the end of lies. Primus has granted me the Matrix. Follow me and I shall usher us all into a new future! Today, energon has been restored. No mech will ever have to live in the darkness again! But for the future to begin, we must eradicate those who stand in our way. Today we purge Iacon of the heretics - those who choose to stand by the false prime’s words! Today, we tear it all down!”
He swung the axe down.
He tore at that white and gold frame, Sentinel’s limbs scattering everywhere. An arm flying over his shoulder there, a leg falling over the edge of the platform here. Optimus continued to swing his axe. Down. Down. Down.
The screaming never stopped, not even after he was done.
He looked up, watching as anarchy broke out. Countless mechs engaged in battle. He couldn’t bring himself to care. The dissenters had to die.
Optimus lifted the axe, preparing to join the fray when pain blossomed against his faceplate. He stumbled, optics widening as he turned to look at who would dare—
Blue optics, holding a pain that was beyond physical, looked up at him. “Pax… no.”
“Dee, did you just—” Optimus looked down, and any kind thought he had ever held for the other mech was completely erased as soon as he saw that arm - that damned arm. It was like a virus, a mocking remnant of Sentinel, that clung to Dee. He raised his axe, “You dare question a Prime, Dee?”
Their battle was pathetic. Optimus hadn’t held back, intending to rip that arm away from Dee and shatter it into a million pieces. Sentinel had been weak. What chance did Dee have? Even with Sentinel’s arm. The fight was over just as quickly as it had begun.
He would have torn that arm out, but the High Guard had chosen then to intervene. Optimus had stopped. One mech was easy. An army though…
“For going against the will of Primus and for attacking the ruling Prime, I banish you from Iacon.”
“Pax…”
Dee’s voice had broken him out of his rage, but by then the declaration had been made.
How silly…
To realize he loved him the moment he’d banished him.
Blue optics - always so loving towards him, always so gentle - were completely sparkbroken.
Pax never wanted to see those optics look at him like that.
He didn’t get the chance to take it back.
The High Guard had left.
And Dee was gone.
—
By the time he had finished, he realized with a bit of incredulity that Bee had fallen asleep. Optimus should have felt furious, but all he could muster was an irritated vent. He stood up, walking over to the window. Parts of Iacon were currently under reconstruction. Any trace of Sentinel’s actions had to be eradicated. His legacy would disappear. If it was possible, Optimus would have wanted to purge Sentinel from every mech’s memory. The historical records would have to do. Once the Quintessons were gone, it would be as though Iacon had never left the golden age. There would have been no Sentinel, and while he could never rewrite history to explain the death of the Primes, Optimus would make it so the rule of the Primes was never stopped. He would be the only Prime left to carry on their legacy.
The thought should have made him happy, but the loneliness in his spark festered.
What did it matter if all of Iacon was his to rule? There was no one to share in his pleasure.
Bee was nothing but a poor replacement, and the mech’s constant mumblings were beginning to grate on Optimus’ nerves. Bee was a constant buzzing noise. Dee’s mumblings had been soft. A gentle murmur that made his spark ache now that he would never get to hear it again.
He pressed his helm against the glass, closing his optics.
He was so alone.
The previous Primes had each other.
Even fragging Sentinel had Airachnid.
Who did Optimus have?
Dee had been the only mech to understand him, to love him.
And what had he done with that love?
Played with it because he couldn’t understand his own feelings. He really should have kissed Dee back then without that stupid joke about kissing him only if Dee were to recreate transformation technology. He should have made the other mech his conjunx even after he had beaten him in battle.
He shouldn’t have banished Dee.
He should have torn through the entire High Guard until he had Dee back in his arms.
He should have kept Dee from leaving.
It didn’t matter if Dee would have looked at him with sparkbroken optics for as long as they lived.
At least he would be by Optimus’ side. He could have lived with that.
He opened his optics, and though he stood alone, he could almost see Dee standing behind him in the reflection of the glass. That sweet smile over his shoulder. For him. Only for him.
“I need you.”
He murmured, uncaring if Bee heard him.
“Why did you leave me?”
He closed his optics, a momentary rage consuming him, before flickering out. He felt hollow.
He was supposed to be more than who he had been. More than Orion Pax.
So why was Optimus Prime alone?
Why did he have so much more when he had been less?
“How dare you leave me…”
Dee’s smile haunted him even beyond the reflection.
Optimus was thinking about how when he laid the bodies of his mentors enemies, worse enemies, in front of them, they rejected him but meanwhile Amp laid the body of his Mentors' enemies (Optimus was the first one he saw and who spent their trip back telling Amp about Tarn and how he'd guide him and Amp imprinted a little bit) atvtheir feet for approval and Tarn praised him. Then Amp looks at him and Optimus feels a weird feeling he doesn't recognize and thinks of his own hurt so he pats Amp which is an affectionate gesture he tolerated from Sentinel.
SG Oppy is evil but also wanted his parents to tell him they were proud of him and is just now making the connection that he kind of baby trapped himself by assigning his courtmate an adoptee. He's a stepdad by his own making.
Oooh so he's getting a twisted up version of that "being a better parent to my kid than my parents were to me". Except SG Oppy's mentors are good mentors, and SG Optimus n Tarn are being a bad influence on Amp.
But they're being supportive of Amp, and they're doing the Horrors with love so...?
Strong is the twisty logic within you, young Prime (read that in a Yoda voice idk I've never watched Star Wars)
You get it. Yes, scar symbolism! The titty window is exactly what made me think SG!Oppy would be the type to let it happen. So now he's got a scar from Tarn across his nose as a visual reminder to himself to approach this differently because he made a mistake and he has a weird feeling at the idea of it being from Tarn which he is going to need to never unpack like a normal emotionally repressed warlord.
Megatron's Scar=Mistake Reminder
Tarn's Scar=Romance????
SG!Oppy's mind is a trip.
Despite being with the SG Autobots, his time with the Waves did help Tarn work out some feelings. Like how he regretted hurting Kaon and that maybe attachments weren't entirely weakness and he could dispose some of the mentality he'd been taught.
Unfortunately, that's basically just starting up Use The Power of Love and Friendship but for Evil that this has going on.
Sentinal and Zeta raised such a monster and are in for a nasty surprise when they meet Tarn, especially when they start to get hopeful considering the Laws Tarn implemented behind Optimus's back that he let stand. Maybe their evil son fell for a nice kid, and we get the power of love to heel face turn? After meeting Tarn: Never mind. They still like him better than Optimus's other romantic liasions, of which only Jazz and Prowl were survivors.
Yepppp, sg Optimus's mind works in mysterious ways
Yeah, the Waves would be at least a little glad to know they made a serious impression on baseline Tarn.
Use The Power of Love and Friendship but for Evil
That's an amazing way to phrase this because that's what is happening.
Dear fuck is the Meeting of the Parents gonna be a trip. They've heard such nice things about Tarn (... relatively nice and specifically phrased coming from sg Oppy.) and dear fuck they're in for a time.
Idea but Tarn getting another mask but this time it's not based on a badge but just. Something (and suspiciously close to sg optimus's own face...), because Tarn frequently states how exposed he feels without his mask, and goes in on the reasoning behind why he wears it (sg Optimus might use his scars as purposeful reminders, but Tarn from what i can see is a fair bit insecure about his considering how we very very rarely see him without a mask. But hey, take that with a grain of salt i might be misinterpreting the comics)
Ah yes
Of course they like Tarn better than sg Jazz and Prowl
Jazzy, Prowly, i would like to know the reasons why SentiZeta consider you worse than Tarn.
