The Energon Pub

I developed a great theory to fix flashbacks errors!

Indeed, the first time we're introduced to Skyfire, in the flashback scene Starscream is shown converting into an earthling jet, and that is a blatant mistake.

Much likely, when Omega Supreme told Prime his story/origin, the Constructicons are shown in their earthling modes... on Cybertron, millions of years before the earthling stories! Another blatant mistake.

My theory is simple but effective: the mind of a Transformer is very complex, and his "imagination" function works very differently in comparison with ours! So, when someone tells a story or just recollects things, the "flashbacks" in a Transformer's mind have "glitches", because Transformers have problems with telling past apart from present (they live an "infinite present time" so to speak... they live for MILLIONS of years !!!!!!!!!!).
More specifically, this can happen when they must "remember" transformations or alternative modes.

So basically, when Omega Supreme told Prime about the Constructicons, Prime's mind "imagined" ("figured") the whole story in a glitched way, and the Constructicons appeared on earthling alternative modes rather than Cybertronian alternative ones.

Just a theory.

you're saying that Optimus is senile?

I'd have thought Transformers would have been better at remembering things than humans, although it is possible that their lifespan is longer than the space in their memory, so they wipe and overwrite stuff frequently, including the physical properties of other Transformers. Most seem to be able to identify each other on site even if they've changed completely (starscream knows it's Megatron who busts in to get him at his coronation, and there's a lot of instances of bots who've never met before knowing each other's names) so it is possible they use something else to recognise each other. Quite likely in fact, since the entire race is able to reconfigure their bodies, that there'd be another way of confirming who they are, probably an energy signature or a wireless signal.

I pretty much agree with you... maybe they can sense each other's sparks?