The Energon Pub

[Rodimus Prime]

Man, I love a good mystery. Roller and Dominus are the 2 main candidates based on the dropped hints, but even if whoever Tarn really is was close to Optimus back in the day, does that automatically mean it has to be an Autobot? What if there was a Decepticon traitor helping Optimus against Megatron, and Megatron found out, and this was the traitor's punishment? (What if Tarn is Punch/Counterpunch?) Or what about Alpha Trion? Like I said, I just started reading the Transformers series through TPBs, and I will have to read through MTMTE 1 more time, as I forget stuff easily. So maybe some of the characters I'm thinking of have come up before and thus are eliminated. I'm just having a little fun with this. Like I said, I love a good mystery.

[MrBlack]

Man, I love a good mystery. Roller and Dominus are the 2 main candidates based on the dropped hints, but even if whoever Tarn really is was close to Optimus back in the day, does that automatically mean it has to be an Autobot? What if there was a Decepticon traitor helping Optimus against Megatron, and Megatron found out, and this was the traitor's punishment? (What if Tarn is Punch/Counterpunch?) Or what about Alpha Trion? Like I said, I just started reading the Transformers series through TPBs, and I will have to read through MTMTE 1 more time, as I forget stuff easily. So maybe some of the characters I'm thinking of have come up before and thus are eliminated. I'm just having a little fun with this. Like I said, I love a good mystery.

From a meta perspective, it has to be someone important to the reader, or the reveal won't mean anything. If Tarn pulls off his mask and it's just some bot we've never heard of, his identity doesn't mean anything.

One thing that's bugging me is the fact that few bots, if any, know Tarn's true identity. The Autobots clearly don't know, and most Decepticons don't seem to know either. What purpose does it serve for Megatron to turn a high profile bot to his side without bragging about it? Perhaps it was more for Megatron to prove a point to himself, or perhaps certain parties do know Tarn's identity and choose to keep it secret. I could see Optimus deciding to keep Tarn's identity as Roller a secret to protect his friend's legacy, or keeping Dominus' defection a secret to protect troop morale, or maybe even to protect Rewind.