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thanksjro · 4 years

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Eugenesis, Part One, Scene Four: A Motherfrickin’ Interlude

I know, I’m disappointed too.

The plot takes a backseat for a second, as we reflect on the history of Cybertron. We’re more or less told that all the other races in the galaxy are sick of the Transformers’ shit, and nobody gave two fucks when their entire planet just straight up disappeared.

This isn’t even a Roberts-sprung idea. We’re still dealing with information that was given to us via the Marvel comics; "biomorphic reproduction” is just the fancy way to say budding. I’m beginning to think that all the mechpreg accusations are somewhat misplaced. Watch this book prove me wrong, I’m halfway expecting it.

The Cybertronian population has been cut down to mere thousands as a result of Unicron’s very brief resurrection and subsequent destruction by way of Optimus Prime, and the Autobots are now the Resistance, hiding underground, as they were established to be in both the notes and Liars, A-to-D.

It’s here, in this damp underground that we meet up with Rodimus, who’s busy not listening to his second in command, Thunderclash.

Thunderclash is mentioned to be an ex-Decepticon here. Interesting take, one that I can’t seem to find any basis for in any media he was involved in prior to this novel’s publication. Still, it’s a neat bit of info, seeing as years later, Rodimus would take on another subordinate ex-‘Con in MTMTE, by way of Drift, and then later Megatron himself.

Anyway, what’s Thunderclash so worked up about? He’s not sure that holding a faction-wide assembly aboveground is such a hot idea. Which, fair; they aren’t exactly camped out in the bowels of the planet for shits and giggles. Rodimus points out that it would be good for morale to actually interact with the men under his command, which Thunderclash interprets as him basically wanting to throw a barbecue. Thunderclash is literally the only person who has a problem with this event- everyone else has either approved it, made it possible, or just thought it was a good idea.

He goes on to air his other grievances, including that the Thunder Raider- Ratchet’s ship- was supposed to be moving supplies from Delphi instead of what it’s currently doing. There’s just no pleasing Thunderclash.

Rodimus brings up the Helex report, if only to get his SOC to shut up for a second. The incident, covered in Liars, A-to-D, involved Mirage and a couple other Autobots facing off against Sixshot, a ‘Con who Galvatron really likes, purely for his bloodlust. As it turns out, Sixshot didn’t die when he was crushed by the space debris, and Mirage had the chance to take him out, but hesitated. Something’s on his mind, and Rodimus made the call to send him off with Ratchet to get his head clear. That’s probably why he was acting funny when they landed on Earth.

Thunderclash doesn’t understand why Rodimus doesn’t stop stringing Ultra Magnus along and just go ahead and shut Autobot City down, since they both agree it’s a waste of resources. Rodimus tries to get the final word in as he leaves, but ends up just sounding bitter, left standing alone as his chest flares up with pain, like the mechanical version of a tuberculosis cough.

Meanwhile, Nightbeat’s unpacking in his new room, having been transferred from the Sonic Canyons, the other Autobot/Resistance outpost. He overhears Rodimus and Thunderclash’s “discussion”. Nightbeat’s not too thrilled about his new digs, especially the lighting situation.

I can’t even begin to tell you what the fuck that could possibly mean. I looked up the phrase and got makeup ads. Guess his color match was off.

Nightbeat isn’t even sure why he’s in Iacon. All he knows is the High Command wanted him, so here he is. He thinks that maybe he should try talking to someone- maybe Chromedome, he knows him- but remembers that he’s too cool and aloof for that, and instead decides to wax poetic like a total edgelord.

Nightbeat doesn’t like the fact that most Cybertronians reach for immortality through replacement of parts. He’s decided that instead, he’s going to eventually weaken and die, having never replaced a moment of his past. This might be considered noble, if it wasn’t completely insane. In a fit of poetry, he busts the lights in his room, then pulls out what I think is his spark(?) and stares into it like the eyes of a lover- it’s referred to as a glass orb, so I’m not totally sure what’s going on here- reminded that it’s too late to start over, and to think otherwise might as well be a betrayal.

Nightbeat is fucking weird.

After reading this section, I decided to hit up the wiki, because I don’t understand this character in the slightest. It, unfortunately, wasn’t of much help. I learned that Nightbeat was a Headmaster, with a binary bond to a Nebulan named Muzzle, and that he’s been brought back from the dead at least once, but nothing to really explain just what’s going on with his train of thought here.

And then I had to stop myself and remember that this- Eugenesis, as a novel- is allowed to have self-contained character arcs and conundrums. I was so wrapped up in knowing the answer, I forgot that I only had a vague approximation of the question. The journey’s only just begun, after all. We’re on page 16.

Back in Autobot City, Wheeljack has to punch a door to get it to open. He, Ratchet, and Mirage enter Blaster’s domain, the Coms Level, where they meet back up with Ultra Magnus. We learn what Rewind found back a couple posts ago- three life signs, located in the now-abandoned Decepticon Fortress, labelled as being comatose.

They pull together a search-and-retrieve team, consisting of Ratchet, Mirage, Hound, Trailbreaker, and Bluestreak, and get ready to pull some Rescue Bots shenanigans. Magnus tells everyone to be careful, which pretty much guarantees that some grade-A bullshit is about to go down.

The narrative is ping-ponging a bit, but bear with me. Nightbeat’s dealing with a crisis of his own back on Cybertron: Longtooth’s gone missing. Nightbeat’s been on the scene for roughly five minutes at this point, but I suppose it’s nice to be needed.

Back on Earth, the team touches down in front of the fortress and makes its way inside. They find a busted throne, some lasered graffiti, and not much else. Mirage is in a mood, and they continue on, deeper into the guts of the fort.

So, what have we learned in this section? For starters, Thunderclash is kind of a dick. Sure, Rodimus isn’t the easiest to work with- he has the literal embodiment of evil trapped inside his body, after all- but still. Thunders needs to chillax.

We get some biological terminology for the Transformers as a race: morphcore, which is an outdated term for the transformation cog, lifespark, which nowadays is just the spark, and the brain module, which remains the same today.

We also got to prove that Roberts may not be the source of the mechpreg, but he sure as hell perpetuates it.

Examples A and B, your Honor. This is called theming, and it’s all on the writer, not the source materials. Can’t defend Roberts on this one.

…James.

This one doesn’t even make sense. The sentence this snippet comes from describes Mirage feeling the wall of the fortress for weaknesses, not giving it a pap-smear. Sometimes the writing feels a little “smack the manuscript around with a thesaurus until it looks good.”

#transformers #jro #eugenesis #part one #maccadam #Hannzreads #text post #long post #prose writing

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