#tfa analysis

[th3p0rtalmaker]

Feeling deeply emotional and mentally reflective tonight. So have my song-based dual-analysis of Prowl and Optimus Prime from TFA, in the format of a "screenplay" for a future fanvid edit (Song included at the end for those who want to listen):

Key:

Character Perspective/Focus

"Lyrics"

(Video Clips from TFA)

Verse 1: Prowl

"Everyday I run a race,

Just trying to get ahead."

(Prowl meditating/training)

"Don't think about where I am now,

Just where I want to be instead."

(Prowl being grumpy/annoyed with Bumblebee - Prowl taking down Starscream's clone)

"I'm losing so much precious time,

But will I be satisfied in the end?

Oh, in the end..."

(Where did you even find room for all this junk? - broken bird's nest)

Chorus 1: Prowl

"I don't wanna spend my life

Trying to fight for what's not mine..."

(Prowl tries and fails to close to the Matrix chamber door)

"I don't wanna lose myself

In someone else's dream..."

(Prowl dressed in the mods from Lockdown)

"I know I was made with a purpose:

To reach past the surface-

Live life fearlessly!"

(Prowl mediating with the Dinobots - Yoketron removing Prowl's gear - Prowl's visor glinting in preparation)

"I want nothing less

Than to be who I'm meant to be!"

(Prowl levitating the stadium sign - Prowl tending to his tree)

Verse 2: Optimus

"Everyone is on their way,

But I am standing still."

(Low Shot looking up at Sentinel, Jazz, & Ultra - High Shot looking down on OP)

"Comparing my 'Behind the Scenes'

Against their highlight reel."

(OP & Sentinel being sentenced by Ultra - OP watching old war vids)

"I'm burning so much energy-

Won't let it keep distracting me anymore!

Anymore, oh!"

(Ratchet taking Sari's key - OP yelling at Prowl & Bulkhead - OP apologizing and being forgiven by the team)

Chorus 2: Optimus

"I don't wanna spend my life

Trying to fight for what's not mine!"

(OP & Sentinel arguing/fighting over who's in charge)

"I don't wanna lose myself

In someone else's dream!"

(OP meets his first ship & crew)

"I know I was made with a purpose:

To reach past the surface-

Live life fearlessly!"

(OP chopping a boulder with his ax - OP pulling the boulder apart - OP standing in defiance of Megatron)

"I want nothing less

Than to be who I'm meant to be!"

(OP's S1 resurrection - OP sparing Megatron in S3)

Interlude: Both

"Nothing less than who I'm meant to be!"

(Prowl training Bulkhead - Prowl throwing Bee into the atmosphere)

"Live life with purpose!"

(OP striking a pose while giving his teamwork speech)

"Reach past the surface!"

(Prowl investigating Sari's origins)

"It's who I'm meant to be!"

(OP defeating Soundwave by playing a guitar)

Chorus 3: Both

"I don't wanna spend my life

Trying to fight for what's not mine..."

(Prowl transferring Yoketron's spark to the last protoform - Yoketron's Death)

"I don't wanna lose myself

In someone else's dream..."

(OP's heroic return to Cybertron - Sentinel's S3 parade)

"I know I was made with a purpose:

To reach past the surface-

Live life fearlessly!"

(The Allspark's spacebridge arrival - OP shattering the Allspark - Prowl solo attacking Megatron)

"I want nothing less,

I want nothing less-"

(Prowl wearing Yoketron's helmet & grinning at Lockdown - OP flying over water with his new jetback+wings)

"I want nothing less

Than to be who I'm meant to be!"

(OP & Prowl's meet-cute - OP & Prowl flying together to face Megatron)

[gonetoforks]

TFA’s Blackarachnia & Sari Sumdac are Peak Foils and I Need Them To Interact; blabbering + incorrect quotes

I don’t know much about any of the unlicensed but semiofficial tfa post season 3 projects but ykw what i would really love to see if the series continued? An episode focusing on Sari and Blackarachnia, like those “field trip with Zuko” episodes.

One of my fav themes in the series is Nature & or Vs Technology, and I think they could continue that even from Cybertron what with, *gestures vaguely* their whole situations.

Like, imagine; Blackarachnia kidnaps Sari like she’s done before to try get her to lead her to some kinda maguffin, but this time around everyone knows she’s techno-organic. Just like Blackarachnia.

Now Sari knows that they’re two sides of the same coin, how would she react to the way Blackarachnia talks about her body, her situation? Especially since this the only adult she knows who’s yknow, like her, probably the only one in the whole galaxy even. This would make any disdain or fissure between them a lot more personal than ‘mean lady who’s basically using me for directions.’ Maybe Sari would angrily try to befriend her, or they’d have some other kind of somewhat twisted mother-daughter-figure bonding moment or talk. BA’s main thing is that she’s tunnel-vision on a mission, and that she will lie and/or manipulate at any moment to get there. Would she be ruthless & tricky as ever to this kid who’s just like her, or would she let a wall down or even crack for just a moment? Maybe something in between?

What arguments would they posit to each other about that elephant in the room? Sari (teenage girl) would definitely feel hurt seeing BA’s disgust for herself and knowing how that certainly extends to her. Would she believe/realize that disgust comes from Cybertronian culture & that her friends are mostly outliers? Would Sari empathize with Blackarachnia in any way? They have mostly the same condition, but it’s affected them both very differently through sheer luck. Could that realization affect either of them? And most importantly, would BA let any of it change her ways?

Probably not, she’s very self-centered and stubborn to a fault. But I’d love to see that believable ideology of hers challenged in some way, yknow?

Idk, I just think it’d be criminal to have these themes and character arcs be so prevalent and then not have the character foils interact after the reveal that made them foils in the first place. Blackarachnia’s one of my favorites cause I just find her motivations so interesting.

Have some incorrect quotes & very specific memes.

[th3p0rtalmaker]

I think TFA Prowl's self-restraint is more performative, and less an actual part of his personality. He enforces unecessarily strict limits on his self-expression (in almost all forms) because he's trying to imitate a virtue he admired in Yoketron.

But also because he hates/fears his own emotions, and the power they have to negatively affect his behavior and his life.

And also because fully experiencing his emotions brings his unprocessed traumas into the present - where he's desperately trying to avoid them.

It's no secret that Prowl has big feelings and strong convictions, despite his efforts to pretend otherwise. And in the flashback where he meets Yoketron for the first time, younger Prowl behaves almost exactly like current-day Bumblebee. He's brash, snarky, over-confident, condescensing, and feigns self-assurance as a means of self-protection. He also expresses his thoughts and feelings freely, without concern for how his words might affect others.

I assume that over the course of his training, Prowl came to realize how immature he was, and that his unfiltered self-expression wasn't a good thing. False confidence and hostility were signs of fear and weakness. True confidence and strength of character were marked by things like having an outwardly calm demeanor, or being considerate of others. Master Yoketron acted that way, and other bots treated him with immense love and respect.

Master Yoketron was also much more at peace with himself than Prowl was. Yoketron didn't struggle against his own emotions, and his sense of restraint was just an expression of his genuine self.

Prowl wanted to have that kind of control over himself. But he sought it through self-suppression instead of self-acceptance. And he loathed seeing Bumblebee act the way he used to - expressing himself without restraint, lacking consideration for others at times, and never having an outwardly calm demeanor.

Eventually Prowl realized that these traits didn't make Bee a bad person, nor did Bee deserve to be judged for them. And after learning the truth about Yoketron's death - and defeating the bot who killed him - I think Prowl did seem significantly more at peace with himself.

But he still hadn't accepted himself.

When Jazz affirmed that their master would've been proud to see Prowl wearing his recovered helmet, Prowl insisted that he would continue working to change himself. That he would make himself worthy of carrying Yoketron's legacy. Even though Yoketron had chosen and accepted him the day the met.

Prowl never got the time to process his grief for Yoketron, or his anger at Lockdown. And I'm sure he still had countless stellar cycles of ongoing trauma to heal from, even after bonding with Optimus and the others.

But he was finally making progress. He found the place where he belonged, and the family he belonged with. He faced (potentially) the most horrific trauma of his past, and came out the other side victorious.

And then some greedy chucklefucks at Hasbro decided to kill him off - completely unwarranted, with no narrative purpose for his death. (I'm not saying that flippantly; I wrote an academic-level essay on why Prowl's death in TFA makes zero sense for his character arc.)

TLDR: TFA Prowl's self-restraint and emotional suppression were a flawed attempt to be better than the person he once was. We were denied the beauty and catharsis of seeing him learn to accept himself while healing from his trauma.

[th3p0rtalmaker]

Ya'll remember how angry Optimus was about Prowl's death?

Do you remember hearing it in his voice when he arrested Megatron?

Did it startle you - realizing it sounded nothing like Optimus's "enraged" yell when Prowl rescued the Dinobots? Or his argument with Sentinel over who was the "Primer" Prime?

Were you scared by the fact that Optimus's anger in that moment was so abnormally dramatic and intense - but not fake, or over-the-top?

Or by the fact that there was, perhaps, genuine hatred in his voice when he said Megatron didn't deserve "the easy way out"?

Optimus Prime's final words in Transformers: Animated encapsulated a distinct, chilling moment where he experienced something new for the first time.

The day Prowl died, Optimus learned that his programming couldn't prevent him from being a hero.

He also learned that his programming couldn't prevent him from murdering another Cybertronian in cold blood.

Both were choices he had to make for himself.

[th3p0rtalmaker]

I think the reason Prowl gets so easily frustrated and annoyed with Bumblebee in TFA is because he was a lot like Bee when he was younger. Yoketron's mentorship helped Prowl grow and mature as a person, and he stopped behaving the way Bumblebee does in the present. And Prowl gets frustrated because Bumblebee never seems to realize that he needs to grow up too.

But I think it's even more nuanced than that. A big part of the reason younger Prowl behaved the way he did was self-preservation. All of his life experience before Yoketron taught him that other bots only cared about themselves, and therefore would always take advantage of him for their own gain. And if that was how the world worked, Prowl believed he had every right to be selfish too. Mistrust and hostility kept him alive when the rest of the world was out to get him.

Yoketron was the first bot to show Prowl that the world is also full of kindness, generosity, and loving sacrifice. He enabled Prowl to choose to be a better bot than all the ones who had hurt, betrayed, or taken advantage of him in the past. And it seems like Prowl tried his best to imitate/adopt his master's demeanor in his efforts to become a better person.

Bumblebee, being a less mature bot, has chronic issues with being self-focused and inconsiderate of his teammates. And I think Prowl projects both his old character flaws and his intense disgust for the person he used to be onto Bumblebee. But he would've benefitted so much more from recognizing that Bee is just immature, and needs good role models who hold him accountable for his behavior.

I think Bumblebee's absence during "A Fistful of Energon" wasted a HUGE opportunity for character growth and bonding. Bee and Prowl could've realized that they're more alike than they first thought. That could've led to Prowl opening up to Bee about his life before Yoketron, explaining what kind of bot he used to be and how ashamed/disgusted he is of his old self. Bee would at least start treating him with more respect and consideration, once he had a better understanding of what Prowl's been through and why he acts the way he does in the present.

And that would've set things up for Prowl to become an effective mentor/role model for Bumblebee throughout the rest of the series. They'd still have their petty squabbles and passionate disagreements. Bumblebee would find ways to tease and poke fun at Prowl, but he'd take extra care to make it clear that whatever he did/said didn't come from a place of malice. Instead of letting himself be frustrated and contemptuous towards Bee all the time, Prowl would've started reminding himself that Bumblebee isn't the same person as his old self - and neither is he. They both need grace and compassion in order to grow, not judgement. And when other members of Team Prime are having an issues with Bumblebee, Prowl is usually the one who can actually get Bee to see why his behavior is unacceptable and needs to change.

[gritsandbrits]

Okay, now I’m curious: when you say you like to imagine that Blitzwing was already a Triple Changer before Blackarachnia joined, do you mean it in the sense of “Blitzwing was forged a Triple Changer and was always like how he is now” or in the sense of “Blitzwing was still forced to undergo the Triple Changer procedure that ended up severely traumatizing him and fracturing his mind, just by someone who wasn’t Blackarachnia”?

I always saw Blitzwing as a senior member of the Decepticons. He underwent the procedure during his days in Autobot Society, but left bc he was too "out of control" so he ended up falling in with Megatron. This backstory actually fits in well with the Autobots' penchant for conducting morally questionable experiments. It also paints him and B.A. in a different light: In spite of all the squabbling, deep down they're not really that much different:

Bonus: the impact of Blackarachnia crossing the line when she does it on Wasp is given a lot more weight bc it's her first time doin something like that, showing how she's truly become the bots she hated. If she did it on Blitzwing first it wouldn't go with her sympathetic arc the show built for her.

[juniaships]

The tfa fanbase has an ableism problem so let's start there

First it was Calling Sentinel a sociopath for being an imperfect trauma victim. Now I see a certain user calling Optimus deranged for having understandable fears about letting a human child fight grown ppl matters bc he didn't want to lose her like he lost his previous friend. I have had it with these takes.

The way some folks talk about certain characters here is abysmal. Everyone in the show has trauma but i always see it used as fuel for shipping, or stans throwing words they don't understand all because they don't like a character.

Yes Optimus has flaws as a fangirl I do acknowledge them but I hate hate HATE how he's being called deranged by someone just for expressing a behavior clearly rooting from trauma. Or try to make him out to be as toxic as Blackarachnia and Sentinel even though they're the ones actively hurting people and not really giving a shit. On the flip side I see people rag on Blackarachnia more harsher than they do male villains and ignore her trauma responses; and straight up demonize Sentinel for his.

I see people fight over who had it worse in Autobot boot camp, when Bee and Wasp and Bulkhead didn't deserve to go through that shit. Cuz I tell you right not Bee and Bulk didn't do anything to deserve Sentinel's wrath. Wasp didn't either. I see people downplay Prowl and Ratchet's backgrounds, how they're traumatized. Or the decepticons and how they're nothing but pure evil ignoring how they also may have had traumatic experiences as well. Or mock Perceptor for his funny voice, and Arcee for her amnesia. And what about the Sumdacs? Sari's existential crisis? Isaac's fears? Barely brought up except for tired angst.

By all means criticize a character. Point out their flaws I don't care. But don't go around playing psychiatrist and diagnosing terms you clearly do not understand as a form of critique. It's not funny nor cute.

[juniaships]

To add to that Sentinel post yes Optimus was flawed but the difference is he chose HEALING. Even if not shouted on the top of a mountain Optimus grew to able to speak for himself and reinforce boundaries. To put him down because of Blackarachnia and Sentinel's failings, doing the exact thing the show was criticizing, isn't it either.

Everyone shares responsibility but Optimus shouldn't get unfairly high blame for it nor does it give them the right to guilttrip him and treat others like garbage. While Blackarachnia also deserves sympathy she willingly joined a known terrorist group and did awful things and tried to use her form as an excuse. It is NOT misogyny to hold her accountable for her actionsl (though I have problems with her writing in other places). All of them had toxic traits - So what! It's called humanity for a reason. Optimus chose to work on his issues but Sentinel and B.A. succumbed to theirs. They're both a cautionary tale on what happens if a person refuses to accept help & healing. Even then That doesn't make them sociopaths and even if they were, that still don't mean we're not allowed to have compassion for them.