Okay, I cannot REMOTELY begin to process all these emotions right now, but even the saddest emotions also feel really, really good. AND! ON A MORE FRIVOLOUS NOTE. Spoiler: LL25 Of all the robo-smooches to become canon in this extremely romantique finale, I could never, EVER have predicted this pair AND!!! CYWHIRLGATE IMPLICATIONS!!!!!!!!!!!! (Oh god I just caught the parallel to their first hug, I am Emotions) (I legitimately have an essay i want to write about how whirl and cyclonus actually have extremely similar personalities, but it just became a lot more relevant and urgent ;-;)
Spoiler: LL25, incoherent feels I am. So satisfied. And sad but it’s not over. This has all happened before. It will all happen again. In any number of possible fascinating new and old configurations. This is canon and I’m thrilled. The best way I can describe the feeling of watching this era of this franchise end from this perspective is like the last scene in Fight Club. Transformers, you met me at a very strange time in my life.
Spoiler: LL25 Roddy. Honey. Of all the people you could possibly try to lie to about drinking, the former Dead Ender addict is probably the least chance of success of anyone still alive or maybe at all.
I'm just??? i'm crying? I'm crying so hard :'( I love the end but oh my god the author's note just murdered my feelings
into all of our tears, I bring you a shitpost from my cousin do earthside Autobots have drivers' licenses for themselves
GOAL REACHED! I now own digital copies of every Lost Light. Maybe I'll chip away at getting digital copies of MTMTE collections, maybe not. I DO want those two text stories, does anyone have links to them?
Spoiler: LL 25 You know, at first I felt like the 'proper' timeline end in LL 25 was the bad end, but like, it seems pretty okay, actually. And it's not presented as an end, exactly, either, but as an ongoing thing, see Whirl going to move in with Cyclonus and Tailgate. The fact that Rung got forgotten makes me sad, but it's definitely implied that Rewind 'remembering things that never happened' is at least partially remembering Rung, and while his condition isn't... great, he got it doing what he loved and he's still able to communicate and communicate intimately with Chromedome. Chromedome becoming a grief counselor, however temporarily, is a great sign for his mental health, too! Whirl's prison stints, not great, but the fact that they're all for minor stuff shows huge progress. Ratchet dies, but he's lived an indeterminate but long period of time happily with Drift. Minimus is living as himself and is working on his obsession enough that he's not writing his obsessive manifesto anymore. Lug and Anode settled down and are probably doing great. Swerve has his bar! He doesn't have 113 bars anymore, but that's a lot of bars. Basically, it's all very bittersweet, but the sweet is definitely a huge part of that. At the same time, it emphasizes how the Lost Light crew works better together. It's nice. I can handle it. And it's also fantastic we get a 'AND THE ADVENTURE CONTINUES' timeline split, too! Because that perfectly sums up the tone of MTMTE/LL, I think. People are imperfect and messed up and slowly getting better. I am going to stubbornly insist that Megatron got the death penalty, though, because 'infinite imprisonment' sounds like infinite torture to me. Regardless of your opinion on Megatron, that's not okay for anyone.
Signal to Noise (issue.... 13 or 14? Just after Hedonia, at least) The Sound of Breaking Glass (just after Tyrest, I honestly forget what numbers that was)
Spoiler: LL25 I read No Exit a while ago because I wanted to understand why an issue was called No Exit. Now everything is Sartre forever because I started asking questions about who is acting in bad faith. As I understand it, it’s about refusing to see the full spectrum of possibilities and how the person you are is because of all the people you could have been but aren’t. Defining yourself inaccurately because you accept outside ideas in place of your own full truth. Failing to acknowledge that a bad choice is still a choice, thereby denying yourself your own agency. Iirc, Roddy had the results of the vote etched on his hand at the time. He obviously didn’t want to stop being captain of the Lost Light but he was looking hard for other people to make that decision for him. He tried Optimus, who told him off. It was a bit harsh but I don’t think it would have been better if Optimus had told him what he wanted to hear, because that’s how you lose track of the fact that you always have agency and wind up trapped in an uncomfortably warm sitting room for eternity even though there’s a door and it’s not even locked. No Exit indeed. It’s not wrong, it’s just not what you were definitely intended to initially assume, and that’s why I can’t ever decide if Sartre makes me amused or tired. You live at the expense of every other iteration of yourself who made different decisions. If you can’t see that, all the possibilities that define the person you aren’t, and therefore the person you are, and from there make decisions with honesty and intent, then uncomfortably warm sitting room hell. I think the first duplication of the Lost Light collapsed when they found the coffin. It’s not too challenging a decision to live at the expense of your corpse, who wouldn’t be in a position to appreciate the opportunity properly anyway. If the second duplication worked (which it totally did) then there’s a very interesting situation where you don’t live at the expense of every other possible you. Somewhere out there is a you whose being is set apart by not having made the same decisions and become the same version of you. You are very actually defined by how you differ. If the other you’s continued existence means you and your duplicate must never significantly overlap, then you know what? Sure. Go find the least likely place for your very best life to happen. Go where you know you would never find yourself if you’re really living your dreams. Go hang out with Thunderclash. At least you’re entirely aware that this isn’t everything you are or could be. That’s something. Till all are one.
NO FLUFF, ONLY PAIN >:D i've done the sad fic, now i need to work my personal niche genre...... sad porn.........