Steeljaw Character study for my AU (kinda)
I feel like RID had a lot of potential it fell short of, mainly around how it handled its decepticons. It builds a lot of things that it immediately tears down and a lot of ideas seem almost last minute which makes it feel like more of a power rangers knockoff than a thought out show. However that genre is probably meant to appeal to the show’s audience of like, 9 year old boys and not a grown ahh man lmao. Thankfully they can’t put copyright claims on fan media.
My version of Steeljaw still follows the basics of his character in the show, obviously.
- Charming, Cunning, and sly
- Desperate to create a home for decepticons
- Desperate to be in charge of that home
- Willing to do whatever it takes even at the risk of his team members
- Knowledgeable in subsonics which he uses to his advantage
In the show itself it doesn’t mention why Steeljaw specifically wants to rule, aside from the insinuated idea that cons are mistreated in post war cybertron. However Ive always liked to headcannon that his ambitions were a lot more personal and that Steeljaw himself experienced a lot of that mistreatment.
I won’t go into the finer details of my au however it’s important to note that: Decepticons were the lower class and went to war in hopes of changing the caste system, post war the decepticons remain lower class due to discrimination after the war.
Steeljaw wasn’t born cybertron post war however he never fought either since he was too young. He’d lived with a decepticon colony (separate from the nemesis) where he hoped to eventually fight for megatron, only to be later thrust into a society rebuilt by the autobots. His ambitions wouldn’t settle however after he and his siblings experienced discrimination in almost every aspect of their life from housing, to jobs, to school, all due to the autobots. This only fueled Steeljaw’s autobot hatred and he began to envision a home world for decepticons free of the autobots prejudice. It was a win win right? The autobots had cybertron, and the decepticons would have another planet, and they wouldn’t need to fight to coexist.
He would never mention his ideas of a utopia though since even he recognized that they seemed outlandish, and would continue to seek changes to the current political climate of cybertron mostly via protest.
Out of fear that higher class autobots would learn that their discrimation of the decepticons has consequently recreated the former caste system, many protesters including Steeljaw were arrested and villainized, being charged for “instigating rebellion” rather than the issues ever being solved.
This is where Steeljaw would find himself getting placed on the alchemor and inevitably crashing on earth where decepticons were quickly establishing a home just like Steeljaw had dreamed.
However, he is also a strong believer that if you want things done right, you have to do it yourself.
