#the autobot code

[askvectorprime]

Dear vector prime do you think humans are allowed to become a member of the autobots if they're willing to undergo the mark of autobrand?

Dear Autobot Aligned,

It truly depends on which Autobot you ask. Some Autobots would be opposed to this idea, such as Optimus Prime (you should not become involved in our war), Ratchet (your skin cannot tolerate the 1500 C burn for any significant length of time), Quickmix (Transformer fuel rarely interfaces well with human fluids), or Ultra Magnus (at human reading speeds, it would take one of you decades to make it through even the first volume of the Autobot Code).

Still, other Autobots would disagree. Hound once suggested an energon-infused ink tattoo of the Autobot symbol as a proxy for the Autobrand, though it's not clear what that much energon would do to your cells. Hot Rod even goes as far as to suggest that you buy an Autobot magnet at a local shop and stick it onto your car or bicycle—that would be enough!

I personally would strongly advise against affiliating, as I worry that you might become a target for the evil Decepticons. However, if you’re absolutely set on joining our cause, might I suggest organizing with your fellow humans in the S.T.A.R.S. program, or obtaining one of the Autobot citizenship cards issued by Emirate Xaaron?

[earthstellar]

I was thinking about the posters we see in the background on the Lost Light here and there...

I fully believe that Ultra Magnus would jump at the opportunity to make infographics and flyers outlining in meticulous detail all of the various rules and legal frameworks that apply to those on board the Lost Light. 

For informational purposes, of course. 

Naturally, his posters are far too detailed, somewhat boring looking, and long-winded for anyone to actually stop and read them, but because Swerve doesn’t want to agitate Ultra Magnus any more than his bar even existing in the first place already does, he hangs them up around the bar. 

Whirl uses them as dart boards. 

The only reason he does not get nabbed by Ultra Magnus for this is because Rung says it’s a “more constructive than usual way for Whirl to vent his frustration and anger issues surrounding the topic of authority figures, stemming from significant prior unresolved traumas”. 

Ultra Magnus asks Ratchet to confirm this, and promptly tells him that not only is Rung the final word on psychological health matters on board the ship, but that he will agree with anything that prevents Whirl from giving him more repair work to do. 

Anyway, lol. 

I had to immediately go and make such a poster, because honestly, there’s no collection of all the Autobot Code references etc. anywhere as it would be nearly impossible, and each continuity seems to have different phrasings and so on, which makes it even harder to compile a single key document for all of it.

So I thought this might serve as a handy reference tool for what the Autobot Code is generally intended to be (as described in-universe), with some summarised points that we see re-iterated across multiple continuities.

The PDF version is here!  You can also click to enlarge the image above. It can be printed on A4 size paper if you want! :) 

The only text above that I didn’t write up myself is the quote at the top, which is from MTMTE when Ultra Magnus starts explaining the Code to Tailgate.  

I spent way too long making this, but I used to work for the government so I’m pretty familiar with compiling actual documents like this lmao