*is a big barrel of WHUT*

[seiberwing]

So. TFA season three. Yeah. What the fuck, man.


First up, the one everyone seems to be focusing on and already writing fanfic about--Blurr. What the fuck was that? They've never killed anyone onscreen before, not without some ominous Nightbird-esque sign that they might just come back (see: Soundwave and Meltdown), but getting crushed into a cube and then having said cube show up later? Kinda hard to retcon your way out of.

What really got me was the heart-wrenching way it was done. Blurr defies the laws of physics to run to Cybertron with information that could effectively turn the tide of the war, is betrayed and killed in a horrific fashion in a matter of moments, and his corpse is just handed over casually to an unsuspecting Cliffjumper and tossed out like garbage. Unless Shockwave goes on another gloating streak, nobody's even going to know what happened to him or what lengths he went to for the Autobot cause. I'm actually rather curious to know how someone in the target age demographic reacted to it, because it depressed the fuck out of me.

Now, is this a bad move? Aside from the fact that they knocked off Blurr just when I was starting to think he was kinda cool rather than someone I wouldn't have missed, I'm not sure. It's certainly a huge sign that they're taking the series in a much darker direction rather than just being inadvertently creepy like the Swindle thing.

Speaking of darker directions, Ratchet. If you'd given me a set of character bios as the beginning of the show I'd have guessed that Bumblebee, Sari and Optimus would have been the ones with the most character development. If Ratchet was even on the list, it would have been as the cranky medic who comes out of his shell and learned to love his teammates", not the cranky medic is cranky medic because of emotional scars gained during the great war who has occasional flashbacks to horrific activities perpetuated by both Decepticons and his own faction and self-esteem issues because he feels unloved and obsolete. I utterly, utterly adored that Ratchet actually called them on their shit and went at the end "no, this is wrong. I let one person be turned into a living weapon and sent to their deaths and I'm not letting it happen to another". I used to just kinda like him. Now I adore him. After this episode he's probably one of the most complex characters on the team.

Another thing I liked about the episode was the fact that the Elite Guard and their collaborators are actually blatantly shown as being unethical with Omega Supreme and showing a near-shocking lack of regard for their own people. In "Mission Accomplished" they came across as jackasses with Magnus just not being able to deal with it right now (yeah, yeah, cheap shot). In "Transwarped" it was flat-out disturbing. No one but Ratchet seems to completely get it, but there's something deeply and obviously wrong with the Autobots and I'm hoping it'll lead to a dramatic scene with Optimus and his crew giving Ultra Magnus a proper "fuck off" because if they do you'll be hearing the squee in Albuquerque.

And then there was the other thing. We've all been waiting to see what the deal with Sari was going to be, but I honestly didn't see this particular one coming. If someone had used in a fanfic I'd probably have hit the back button in two seconds unless it was a writer I knew was decent. However,I'm reserving judgment until I see where they're going with this. The whole Sari-Isaac reconciliation thing, I think, was handled reasonably well. Given that this is "why didn't you tell me I was adopted on a far grander scale I think Sari acted rather age-appropriately. When they finally got back together it made me go all melty inside because it was so clear how much Sumdac loved her despite the fact that he's not the most sensible of people.

The key thing was...weird. My Mary Sue alarms started blaring the moment the magical girl transformation kicked in and didn't really shut up until Sari's systems started going nuts. This could either go bad by making Sari far too powerful or go good by having her slowly having to deal with a new body and new personal identity. The teenager thing is a bit weird (although I do like the design), but I'm thinking it's a symptom of Cybertronian-esque protoform development. We'll see.

Comments

[mommimus-prime.livejournal.com]

Doing a quick and dirty poll of my 11 year old, he said "It sucked. How could they kill of an awesome character like Blurr? They should've killed Sentinel Prime. He sucks."

And I agree with you practically 100% here.

[seiberwing.livejournal.com]

No lifelong trauma, though? I agree, I wish it had been some minor guy like Ironhide.

Wyatt's Twitter says Blurr won't be coming back, at least not this season. Given the cost of his VA I'm not surprised, but they didn't have to murder him.

[mommimus-prime.livejournal.com]

Nah, no life long trauma. He doesn't have as much invested in the show as I do. Me? I was really traumatized.

[seiberwing.livejournal.com]

Same here. It's not "Armada Starscream" lengths of trauma, but it's still kinda bad.

[(Anonymous)]

Different kind of trama if you ask me. Starscream at least went out with a bang. He was eulogized and remembered.

Blurr got trash-compacted, casually disposed of, and maybe, in a month or two, someone's going to notice he's missing. Really sends chills down your spine.

[seiberwing.livejournal.com]

Exactly, and that's the worst part for me. Blurr died alone and failed; Armada Starscream won by dying.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_vyndasia_/]

...

I knew that, I did, but reading it just depressed the hell out of me. T_T

God, it's so disturbing when you think about it.

[kookaburra1701.livejournal.com]

Heh, yeah, I had to pause the computer and step away for a bit when Shockwave handed the cube o' Blurr to Cliffjumper.

If Cliffjumper ends up being the one who exposes Shockwave/Long Arm, it will be the first time he was right fantastic.

[seiberwing.livejournal.com]

Let's see, what was my reaction again?

03:07] Triad: Blurr...ran all the way...to Cybertron. WHAT.
[03:08] Vanessa: He's that good.
[03:08] Vanessa: (and really cute when out of breath)
[03:08] Triad: And right into Longarm Prime. Smooth.
[03:08] Triad: For a fast guy, he's kind of slow.
[03:08] Vanessa: LMAO
[03:09] Triad: Shockwave is diabolical---OH HOLY SHIT.
[03:09] Triad: O_O Blurr!
[03:09] Vanessa: >:

My vote's on some kind of Shockwave going "mwahaha I will kill you just like I killed Blurr" to Bumblebee and 'bee flipping out.

[demonlass.livejournal.com]

Could this help you feel a teensy bit better? (http://twitter.com/DerrickJWyatt)

[seiberwing.livejournal.com]

...a little.

[kookaburra1701.livejournal.com]

Yes, to everything you said. I've asked Derrik Wyatt on his blog if Blurr's story was inspired by the Battle of Marathon, we'll see if he answers. At least Blurr got an epic send off. I keep rewatching that bit, it's so amazing.

Ratchet's characterization was...wow. I actually kept have a bit of jarring disconnect, because there were these fantastic mature themes being explored, and then all of a sudden there would be some cartoon wackyness.

But I think this is a good exploration of how a race of manufactured beings can't have "liberty and freedom" like we understand it. They were all constructed to fulfill a purpose in "the great Autobot machine", so some of them would have to have been made to be cannon-fodder.

[seiberwing.livejournal.com]

Someone on DevArt mentioned that she wanted to see a fic about people revolting about how disturbing and morally corrupt Autobot society is. My reply was "we've already had a revolution, where do you think the Decepticons came from?". Megatron's a bastard, but right now I'm more sympathetic with his cause. At least he's honest about what he does and allows his troops a measure of respect.

I'm actually just a touch curious as to whether anyone on the creative is or knows a war veteran. Because they're playing up Ratchet and his PTSD immensely more than your usual kid's show would think to do.

[kookaburra1701.livejournal.com]

It opens up an interesting philosophical question: if a sapient being was created for a specific purpose, and they intentionally do not fulfill that purpose, are they being immoral? Would Autobot society be better described as "amoral" in the "needs of the many outweigh the rights of individual" sort of way? (TBH, I have no opinion on any of these interpretations, these are just random thoughts I've had. And I lost a lot of my sympathy for UM when he ordered two kids who were happy where they were to become war machines, because they were convenient. But then again, that's my human, Western post-enlightenment world view coming into it.)

Of course, TFA kind of confuses the issue with talk of "careers" but it's fun to think about, nonetheless.

I've wondered about the veteran question too - I remember being pretty surprised (but in a good way) when Ratchet's PTSD first showed up, and his curmudgeonly ways weren't downplayed like he was just Grumpy Bear who needs a hug and will be all better. (Not that I wouldn't give him a big ol' hug if I could) I really like that he has a reason he's pretty depressed all the time.

[seiberwing.livejournal.com]

It's amoral to create a sentient being simply for the purposes of destruction while trying to still remove enough of its mind to keep it from knowing the reality of what it's doing. I haven't seen Rise of Safeguard so I can't speak on that one.

Ratchet definitely needs hugs, but more importantly he needs to know that he's needed and cared about. Being so cynical all the time hasn't been good for him.

I think Omega follows orders as best he can, but he knows what he's doing and I think being partnered with Ratchet rather than someone more under the control of the Autobot High Command had something to do with it.

"Shut me down. I want to sleep again." Broke my heart, it did.

[kookaburra1701.livejournal.com]

Yes, that line was heart wrenching.

Hopefully with Sari's key not working any more, Ratchet will get to be the medic more often.

[kookaburra1701.livejournal.com]

OH: also, I have a theory about Skywarp. I think he will get hold of the whateveritwas that made BB jump around, figure out how to control it, and use it to run away all the time.

I liked that they used Thundercracker's ability. I'm pretty pleased with how consistent TFA canon has been between the toypackaging, comics, and cartoon.

[seiberwing.livejournal.com]

I could have sworn I saw Skywarp actually teleport after Blurr. Then again that might just have been how fast he was going.

[koilungfish.livejournal.com]

No, only Thundercracker chased Blurr.

Skywarp getting the transwarp whateverthehellitwas makes good sense though. Poor bastard.

[seiberwing.livejournal.com]

Well, he's got the personality for it. The braggard gets the loud noises, the coward gets the running away power, and the 'screamer gets...well, you saw.

[miryamaris.livejournal.com]

Pretty agreeing with everything written in here.

The Blurr-scrapping thing depressed me more than not seeing Blitzwing trying to steal Lugnut's limbs (to repair/upgrade himself) for the umpteenth time.
And the Sari transformation (I swear I saw this coming since the creation of the almighty key ) disturbed me more than watching Twilight...


But at least now I have (for the first time- second with TFMovie Ironhide) a favourite Autobot character *pats Grumpy Medical Bot*

[seiberwing.livejournal.com]

*is not sure of connection to Twilight* I think Ratchet's fanbase exploded over this one, between his tenderness with Omega Supreme and actually coming out and saying to Magnus what we've been thinking all show.