So... I've actually been making more of these but totally forgot to share them here. ART DUMP TIME!
Soundwave has made use of innumerable underlings in his endless quest to control information. Their primary function is to gather, process, and store intel of every imaginable kind, both on the enemy and on fellow Decepticons (a loyal Decepticon has no secrets!). Every iota of raw data is invaluable, regardless of how mundane it may seem. As such, these lackeys will sacrifice their own minds and bodies to hold more, and more, and more, until they’re little more than barely-living memory cards. But even then one bot can only hold so much…
Prior to their ultimate fate, these Decepticons are often tasked with properly maintaining the collective information. Sometimes that requires creating helpful graphs to simplify complex social issues, remastering damaged recordings (Rumble does a perfect impression of Megatron, for those rare instances when a bit too much static interferes), discarding offensive works that do not fit with modern sensibilities, or just simply asking [citation needed] on dubious claims. Although largely thankless, it is a vital role that lets the Decepticon populace know what it needs to know._______________________________
My initial idea was that these guys would've all turned into actual drones, ideally ones used by news reporters. But that got dull and restrictive real quick (and searching "news drones" isn't very helpful), so I went with a mix of 'drones' and surveillance-related things.
Rumble and Frenzy are based on Boston Dynamic's "BigDog" - which, as a military pack mule, doesn't really fit the theme all that much, but since I used real-world robots with treads, wheels, and copter blades I thought I might as well go with one with legs.
BTW, that small text on Overkill (the dinosaur) reads "We Toys See Everything"
One of the first true Transformers, Liege Maximo was instrumental in freeing Cybertron from its oppressive slavemasters/creators and the various alien invaders that somehow believed they had ‘bought’ them, as well as later forging mutual trades with those very same beings (on Cybertron’s own terms, of course!).
Liege Maximo himself originated as a ‘Military Hardware’ robot and thus he was a guarded and protective individual, suspicious of everything but endlessly loyal to his own cause -- traits which lead the modern Decepticons to view him as a spiritual ancestor. Some Autobots, however, claim that the Liege was instead their predecessor, citing how he fought for the “freedom of all sentient beings.” Other Autobots instead label Maximo a bigot, repulsed by his attempts to relocate their own ‘Consumer Goods’ ancestors to a planet of their own. (poor Autobots, fighting amongst themselves…)
Of course, the Liege Maximo was a bot of a time irreconcilably different from today. A bot utterly divorced from the modern era; no one alive truly knows Maximo as a person, or even knew someone else that knew Maximo as a person, and thus no one can say for sure what his views on anything are. Perhaps the Liege would have agreed with Decepticonism, or perhaps he would’ve sided with the Autobots, or perhaps he’d have opposed both. Heck, even basic facts about him are in dispute; for instance it isn’t particularly clear if “Liege Maximo” was even a proper name or simply a rank.
Still, Liege Maximo is a powerful symbol, an inspiration to the masses… and a tool for those with agendas._______________________________
Liege Maximo originally had an AWESOME design which absolutely begged for more than just a single panel loaded with speech bubbles... but then they made him Loki (like, literally Loki, but just a robot). Meh.
Maxy turns into a corkscrew-like spaceship piloted by five-faced tentacled weirdos you might've seen in an 1980s cartoon movie based on toys.
Galvatron is a madman, so completely and utterly out of his mind it’s a marvel he functions at all. He rambles on about unicorns, break into a fit of laughter mid-sentance, argue with his scepter, names inanimate objects “Milo”, and generally makes frightfully little sense. On top of this, Galvatron presumes himself to be Decepticon Leader, expecting everyone (Autobots and humans included!) to follow his orders -- and as one might expect, said orders are bafflingly ridiculous, making sense to no one but Galvatron himself. If even that.
Some conspiracy theorists would have you believe that Galvatron is none other than Megatron! They claim that our Leader had met with a terrible fate and is now a slave to an evil all-consuming god from beyond the stars, and that this “truth” is being hidden from the public by Decepticon Command for just-as-nefarious reasons. Naturally, this is preposterous. All loyal Decepticons can see Megatron is alive and well thanks to his daily televised speeches or his frequent motorcade travels; truly fortunate Decepticons might even have had the privilege to see Megatron in battle alongside Starscream. All these Autobot-sympathizers prove is that they are even crazier than Galvatron.____________________________
There, world, a stagecoach transformer!
A twist on the idea that Big Brother the original person is dead. Megatron himself is for all intents and purposes dead, but his physical remains have been reconstructed into another being entirely. Meanwhile the *idea* of Megatron is kept alive by Soundwave and the DJD.
Or it could all just be a crazy bot that just kinda resembles Megatron a little bit...
Optimus Prime is the supreme leader of the Autobots, a position he achieved not because he won the hearts of the people but because he happens to hold a pagan trinket – the so-called Matrix of Leadership – which he claimed from the previous leader upon their unexpected death. Upon assuming command, Optimus has turned his back on mother Cybertron to adopt Earth as a new homeworld, somehow believing the lives of those small alien organics are worth more than his own kind. Whether the rest of the Autobots agree with him or not is meaningless; Optimus alone holds complete control over everything thanks to his mythical ‘Cog of Command.’ Ironic for one that claims to fight for freedom.
While nearly all Transformers have taken up alternate modes based upon human constructs, Decepticons adopt forms that reflect their personality and function while the Autobots universally hide their true selves behind common civilian automobiles. Optimus Prime himself has tailored his disguise to appeal to the average working man, to fool humanity into thinking he is anything less than an invading warlord.
Truly, we are being deceived.___________________
Have you ever noticed how, in the live action movies, Optimus' very first action is to find a disguise while Megaton's is to correct people about his actual name? Optimus is still the good guy, but he's also the deceptive one...
I've been puzzling my puzzler sore over what *my* Optimus would even look like. In retrospect, COWBOY VS POLITICIAN seems far too obvious.