#toasty's analyzing

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Thinking about the fact that as Transformers One progressed, especially once it hit the part where it was revealed that Sentinel was a traitor and that the miners were born with cogs, Elita's and D's personalities kind of swapped.

At first D-16 was fairly supportive or Orion, and Elita-1 was not whatsoever. Both felt like Orion was a fool, but while D would somewhat tolerate what they both viewed as Orion's bullshit, Elita absolutely would not.

But as the story of the movie begins to pick up, and D-16 gets dropped with Orion into Sublevel 50, and Elita-1 unvoluntarily joins them on their quest to find the Matrix, there begin to be subtle changes. In Sublevel 50, D-16 shows some resentment for Orion's actions, but like previous times, then is fine with Orion after things start to look up again. And when Elita joins, though at first she is pissed, we start to see her soften up a bit, particularly once they hit the surface of Iacon.

And once they reach the resting place of the Primes and finally reveal the truth, the switch becomes more obvious. D-16 expresses rage regarding Sentinel Prime towards Orion, blowing up on him, even partially blaming him for them finding out about Sentinel's betrayal and their cogs being stolen. But Elita-1 does the opposite, expressing admiration for Orion's previous bullshit (having had gotten them to the cave in the first place), and even sides with him, more willing to do whatever "out of protocol" move he may make to correct Sentinel's wrongs, and even more so complements his moves with her own, sort of like D did.

And by the end of the movie, their places have fully swapped, with Elita standing by Orion, now Optimus, while D-16, now Megatron, is against them (for political reasons), unlike how it used to be D-16 standing with Orion, while Elita is against them (for job position and protocol reasons).

Also, to summarize in a different way, D-16 loses his love for Orion, which he previously held, while Elita-1 gains her love for Orion, which she previously held none. (Whether or not you interpret both or either relationship as romantic or platonic)

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So I had a thought last weekend regarding Transformers One, specifically Darkwing dropping Orion and D16 into Sublevel 50. Because every time I watch the movie that scene coming up is kind of dreadful Like it just HAD to be Darkwing. If it was anyone else at all, they would be living in squalor in Sentinel's tower or whatever.

BUT. Darkwing HAD to drop them. Because if he didn't, yes, D16 and Orion would be living in splendor in Sentinel's tower. But only for so long. Sure, they'd get to tour the mines, but they'd have to watch their coworkers and friends work themselves to exhaustion to try and mine the Energon that they are running out of, especially after Sentinel returns from his post-Iacon 5000 expedition to the surface.

They'd likely also have to watch their coworkers and friends in the mines literally work themselves to death, and then other cogless bots possibly take their place to do the same, all for some measly Energon that is running out faster and faster.

Hell, even the two of them living in splendor with all of the Cogged bots won't be so squalor like anymore, with the little Energon being mined not going to them, but rather the Quintessons.

And then after that, when there is no more Energon, or at least not enough to please the Quintessons, stuff may get much worse, which the Quintessons possibly attacking Iacon, which would then be filled with Cybertronians to weak and Energon-starved to really fight back (plus Sentinel would likely either get killed by the Quintessons or just run).

And even if there was a chance for D16 or Orion to do anything about it, they likely wouldn't be able to. Well, at least in Orion's case. He'd likely see his friends working themselves to death while touring the mines, and try to do anything to prevent them from dying, whether that be imploring Sentinel to please cut their shifts, or, if that doesn't work, continue his own hunt through the Archive vaults for anything on the Matrix of Leadership.

But even that won't help much, because chances are, he still won't know about Sublevel 50, and as such, he won't be able to get down there and find the communication transmission regarding the Primes' last location.

But, would D16 really do anything? He never really showed to have as much anger towards Sentinel hurting the miners and other cogless bots because it hurt the people around (unlike how Orion did), but mainly only based on how Sentinel's actions harmed himself, and got him taken advantage of by the system. Specifically himself. So he likely wouldn't try to help the miners out of their situation.

Plus, he's likely too enamored by Sentinel, as he has no idea of his betrayal to all of Cybertron. So even if he does believe that Sentinel is overworking the miners, he'll still find a valid reason in his mind for Sentinel to be doing so.

So yeah, if Darkwing didn't drop D16 and Orion into Sublevel 50, Iacon (and possibly Cybertron as a whole) would be a whole other level of fucked.

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The fact that while Sentinel was all "We barely have enough Energon for ourselves" the cogged bots probably would have platters full of Energon still (like shown at the beginning of the movie when Orion went "Oo, Energon!" and stole some) while the miners are the ones who, while having longer shifts with less breaks, were probably allowed less Energon rations (because frankly I'm pretty sure that's how their Energon was distributed).

(Along with this that beginning scene with Orion and the Energon also says a lot about Iacon's society at the time itself)

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It's funny (in a not so funny but "oh god the parallels" way) that both Claudia and Callum, human mages, virtually pawns of Aaravos, have a staff from a previous important elven person of great power (whether they were royalty or a mage).

But for Claudia, she stole it. Or rather her dad technically stole it. But still. Claudia technically shouldn't have it. Nor is she willing to let it go.

Whereas Callum was allowed to have it (though I don't remember if Ibis actually said he could have it like Callum claims or not. Even if he didn't actually though, it's still implied) after the previous mage that owned his died. And he is willing to let it go if he must (using it as a gift of sacrifice to Rex Igneous)

But regardless of how they got their staffs, it feels kind of deliberate that both the human mages being led down a dark path by Aaravos have a very powerful elven staff that the eye is often drawn to while watching them on screen.

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So when the Bounty crashes, the three groups' thoughts about whether the other groups are alive or not differ greatly.

For Lloyd and Nya, the others being alive isn't a concern. They probably assume the others are still alive, just stranded. But as priorities are, they have to stop Ras before they can look for them.

For Kai, Wyldfyre, and Sora, the concern is there a bit, but survival is more important, as is stopping Ras when they see the Wolf Mask Warriors.

But for Arin and Riyu, that worry that they are the only survivors is prominent. And unlike the other two groups, this fear is actually what further motivates them to go find Ras, as only they can now. And they have too.

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It's so interesting how the Overlord acts different in Rebooted, especially while in the Computer.

For one, he's desperate about his body, willing to throw all caution to the wind. Which may seem out of character for him, but considering his first interaction with Pythor during Episode 3, it actually makes a lot of sense.

When Pythor saves the Overlord from the powerless Ninjago City, while the Overlord is still stuck in his computer, one of the first things the Overlord asks is "What do you want with me?"

This alone shows how the Overlord is very vulnerable at this point, relying on power for his utter survival. And the Overlord doesn't like being vulnerable, as that can lead to someone else actually being in control that is not him.

And thus, to break that vulnerability and become strong, and more important, in control again, he needs that body of his. Because otherwise his games with other people being in "control" won't be just that. A game. It'd be the reality.

(And with the case of the other times when he was vulnerable and needed to grow himself, he took advantage of others who were vulnerable. But Pythor wasn't. Garmadon and Harumi were, but Pythor wasn't.)

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Just finished the first Bayverse Transformers movie and one thing I can tell you (imo) is that TF One personally did the Jazz treatment better than this movie (origin of the Jazz treatment) did.

Like with Bayverse I kinda just didn't feel much about it, y'know? Jazz wasn't really that prominent so (for me at least) there wasn't really a sort of emotional attachment involved. Honestly if the same was done to even a character like Ironhide (who isn't even a prominent character either, but he has a bit more than Jazz does), I think I'd feel a teensy bit more emotion? (Now if it were Bumblebee or Optimus who got the treatment, there'd be plenty emotions due to their sheer prominence in the movie)

Whereas with TF One and Sentinel getting the Jazz Treatment, we get to see this guy, and if not form a sort of attachment towards the character, form an intense hatred or just more of any emotion to link with him. Plus TF One literally builds up to the whole scene where he gets Jazzed. While for Bayverse it was kinda just... there. Like honestly if they decided to remove that scene I don't think much would change in the movie (except for the little funeral scene for Jazz, and even then that felt pretty lacking)

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Ok, there's something about Ras ordering Cinder to kill the Cloud Monks that makes it feel darker than usual in Ninjago.

Of course, villains are always talking about killing the ninja, but that's just it. They're talking about killing the ninja.

And even when they talk about killing innocent people, there's something different about the way they say it and their body movements that make it feel a little less dark.

But with Ras telling Cinder to destroy the Cloud Kingdom, and by extension the Cloud Monks, he literally tells him "I said everything".

Plus, when Ras says this, for one, we see Cinder laugh and smile in a very devious way, and the Cloud Monks start whimpering in fear, unable to do anything to stop it at all, unlike other threatened characters who can somewhat fight, even if not that well.