Transformers Excerpts: Identity Crisis
Wedge sits in his room holding his old teddy bus despite being fourteen...
Mixmaster: Wedge? Your nonna called ya for supper three times. Ain't ya hungry?
Wedge:...
Mixmaster: What's wrong?
Wedge: *gives him a look and then looks down*
Mixmaster:... Sigh, look I was embarrassed too by what happened this afternoon, but it got sorted out. I was over it in thirty seconds. You don't need to-
Wedge: It's the third time that happened, Uncle Mix! Someone sees me next to you or anyone in this family, and they think you kidnapped me even though it's so obvious we're family. Nobody.... SEES you. They only see that you're a Decepticon and I'm an Autobot.
Mixmaster:....
Wedge: And stupid lady had the gears to run her mouth for it.
Mixmaster: *recalls how the lady said "If that boy is willing to become a decent person, why can't you, the ADULT, do the same instead of continuing to part of such a hateful faction?"*... Wedge, ignorant people will say ignorant things. What matter is how YOU act the people you care about feel.
Wedge: *has tears in his eyes* But that's just it. I saw how much it hurt you to be told that. You didn't even fight in the war and you have no criminal record. Yet you and everyone else in this family gets socially punished for being Decepticons. I'm the only one who gets treated like a person and only because I converted.
Mixmaster: *sits down on the bed with him* Wedge, we don't have it that bad. We've got jobs, we own this entire complex practically meaning have roofs over our head, we got fuel on the tables and armors on our backs. AND I got the right to legally adopt you. We all have it equally as good.
Wedge:... Only because we live on Earth. Every time we go to Cybertron, something happens.
Mixmaster:... Cybertron's a work in progress for everyone, kid. Not just us or even just Decepticons, but it's gonna get better. Hack, it's getting better already.
Wedge:... Uncle Mix, tell me the truth... how did YOU feel when you found out I converted?
Mixmaster: I admit I was shocked and I didn't believe it. And I didn't like that you were convinced to do it when you were only five because you can't really consent at that age, but it didn't change nothing. Honestly, I was just grateful to Primus that you were alive and I still am. And if you want keep being an Autobot, that's perfectly fine by us. We're a family and family accepts each other. Besides, you're living a great life and have a lot of opportunities with the identity you built for yourself. I mean, you're part of the elite in the Rescue Bot Academy. I'm proud of that.
Wedge:... Would I have still gotten in if I stayed a Decepticon?
Mixmaster: Wedge, you need to stop thinking like that. How do you expect people to really accept you or anyone else if you can't even accept yourself?
Years later, Wedge is eighteen and looking at himself in the mirror recalling his uncle's words, but he's taking them differently...
Hotshot: *his voice is heard over the answering machine* Wedge, were are you, man? Graduation is starting in five minutes! And you're the Valedictoriabot! You're the Autobot of the hour!
Wedge: *sighs and throws the graduation robes into the bin along with all the trophies he won over the years all highlighting him as an Autobot while all around him, there are several holograms of articles of non-Autobots facing various forms of discrimination just recently. One of the victims being his own uncle Mixmaster who was denied the job of being foreman of the Constructicon team that he rightfully deserved in favor of an Autobot who barely had experience as the law still states that every team on Cybertron must have at least one Autobot as a show of good faith* I'm sorry, guys. *he looks at the picture of himself with his four friends* But I can't do this anymore. I can't live like this anymore....
Mixmaster: *sits on the couch looking down when Wedge walks into the room now donning the Constructicon colours and has bright red eyes*... You do realize that there ain't no going back on this?
Wedge: I don't want to go back. In fact, I wanted to do this sooner.
Dirtboss: *his grandpa* You also realize that everything you were given is gonna be null and void now?
Wedge: Grandpa, if everything I had was only mine in so long as I was an Autobot, then it was always worth null and void. All of you taught me never to accept anything without really earning it. And I would rather live a hard life while being myself than a great one in so long as I fake it.
Dirtboss:... *smiles slowly and all his uncles and grandmother do*
Mixmaster: Then... go get'em, kid *hands Wedge the huge hammer* I'd say make us proud, but... you already did that.
Wedge: *takes it* Thanks. For everything, guys. I love you.
Nickel: *his grandmother kisses his cheek looking emotional*
Wedge: *walks out to the shuttle where Tarantulus and Spitfire await him taking a deep breath* I'm ready.
The next day, the news blows up about how there was a Decepticon riot, albeit a non-violent one that consisted of them marching while chanting things like "Judge actions not factions!" and in many of the picture, one can see Wedge leading it with Gal and her main team while being on full display as a Decepticon with his insignia very obvious.
