#1 Signal Lancer fan wrote:The one thing I think they could have executed better is his turn from Orion. They did a good job showing the gap between them start to build, but D-16 choosing to drop Orion still feels like a huge jump in his character.
Recall that after they first got their cogs and D did his whole "No, I want to kill him!" speech, Orion started trying to calm down D and make him reconsider. But then they had to get away from Sentinel's trackers and the pressure was on. They had their first transformations and their first battle, in which D cut loose for the first time in his life and really let out his more primal instincts, which he found he really enjoyed. Orion again tried to ease him down, but D had gained a new sense of self-confidence and took charge of their journey back to Iacon. Orion told him to be careful with the map, but the newly-confident D-16 started to get annoyed with Orion doubting his judgement and, with as much control as he could stand to muster, D told him to back off.
Later, as they got further in their journey and D had cooled off a little bit, he and Orion started talking again but clearly had differing views on what to do about Sentinel. They nearly got into another argument, but then D reassured Orion that, despite their different views, Orion was the one person in D's life that he knew he could trust and count on. This line was crucial in D's story, and the fact that he got cut off before he could finish saying it (by the High Guard ambushing and capturing the group) was foreshadowing to how that trust would later be cut off.
In his time with the High Guard, D-16 grew to learn of might makes right, which Orion clearly disagreed with but never really got to speak out against with D due to D being swept up in the moment with the other High Guard members cheering him on and boosting his ego once he proved his might and will superior to Starscream's. There was also no time for Orion to object to D's newfound sense of violent vigor due to Airachnid's forces ambushing everyone and capturing D-16, separating him and Orion.
During their time apart, Orion further renewed his sense of wanting Sentinel to face justice for his crimes while D-16 further boiled in his desire for vengeance against Sentinel, which Sentinel only made stronger by verbally and physically abusing D in front of the other captives, whom mere moments ago were cheering for D-16 as their new hero. Sentinel not just hurting but humiliating D-16 in front of his once and former admirers just made D angrier and even more wanting to murder Sentinel.
By the time Orion and the rest of the High Guard burst in to rescue the captives, Orion tried to help D and reason with him, but D-16's hatred had by then already passed its point of no return, which Orion didn't know because he hadn't been there to witness the abuse Sentinel dished out on D. Had he been, Orion might have been able to understand how and why D-16's hatred had risen to the level it had reached, and might have possibly been able to better reason with him (even if D still wouldn't have reciprocated since the needs of the plot demanded that D-16 execute Sentinel).
So we come to the moment of truth where D-16 first tries to shoot Sentinel and Orion takes the blast for him, much to D's horror. Recall earlier that D had said Orion was the only person he could trust and rely on. And now, in D's moment of long-awaited satisfaction, that one person who's been a constant fixture in his life, his
best friend, was seemingly choosing Sentinel (the very object of all of D-16's hatred and vengeance) over D-16. And in that one fleeting moment where D came to his senses and tried to save Orion from falling, the moment passed when D asks him why he did what he did, and all Orion could say to him was "D... no..."
That was the final straw. All this time, all those cycles, of Orion being his best friend who always had his back, and D-16 always having Orion's back and always getting him out of trouble... They now felt as hollow and false as everything Sentinel ever said and did for the good of Cybertron. Sentinel, the great deceiver, who put on a public face of trust and loyalty, was a fraud. And now, in this moment of Orion Pax saving the great deceiver, did D-16 realize that Orion was every bit of a liar and a fraud to D-16 as Sentinel was (or at least, that's what his mad rage had led him to believe). How could Orion pick Sentinel over him? Because it turns out Orion was just like Sentinel. A fraud, a liar, a traitor. And all traitors must pay. Must die!
"...I'm done saving you!"
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