movies/tv Autobots, Decepticons, and the trivialities of existence

[Steel Accord 6,660]

I'm sure most of you are at least aware of Hasbro's OTHER cash-cow toy line. I'm a big fan myself, having watched a bit of G1 and all of Beast Wars when I was a kid and never quite calling it quits on Transformers. Something has been plaguing my thoughts of late though. The Autobots and Decepticons are almost universally depicted at war with each other. Prologue's may show how that happened but it's always a reality for their species. Animated is the exception, showing the aftermath with the Autobots as the victors. Yet Megatron still lives and is more than ready to go for round two and the Autobots have a surprising amount of corruption in their ranks. This makes the franchises' long eluded peace seem hollow.

 

What's more is time. How long has this war been going on? Given the various continuities, it's impossible to get an exact number, but you'd be hard pressed to find one source where the conflict is measured in decades. I ask because there are many fictional settings where war is the very premise. Take Star Wars for example, it's in the name! Yet the Galaxy Far, Far Away has had many periods of long uninterrupted peace. The cultures have changed and advanced during those periods as much as in the wars. (Greater even, as much as they are played up, the wars are comparatively brief in the timeline.) We get to see the Jedi as what they claim to be, pious diplomats, scholars, and philosophers just as much as we get to see them as reluctant warriors.

 

In contrast, we almost NEVER get to see Optimus as the peace loving leader and/or scientist he claims to be. It's not that Optimus is a hypocrite, he's just never given a break! Everyone believes in and reveres him to an almost messianic level. (In and OUT of Universe!) Which only brings up further questions. What are their religious beliefs? Is a Prime considered a saint? Bestowed by Primus with the Matrix of Leadership as canonization? What is their culture like? How do the Autobot councilmen get their positions? Are they appointed by Alpha Trion or elected by the citizens? What about the Decepticons? Did they even HAVE a separate political body or were they really the repressed minority Megatron claims them to be? (Granted we have an answer to that last one: Yes.)

 

Almost laughably, Equestria actually has far more thorough world building than Cybertron! Despite the nation only being around 1,000 years old. We know how it was founded, several of it's cities, how the inhabitants behave on an average basis, how they react to what's strange and foreign to them, (on the opposite what would be strange to us is average to them) Hell we even have details about their holidays! Another, more sobering contrast, is that Equestria has never truly tasted war. The most politically tense moments we've seen so far were both swiftly resolved by a quick application of love's holy fire in the shape of giant hearts. (Heats Warming's Eve and A Canterlot Wedding.)

 

Despite (or because of) the millenia of torment that has been inflicted upon and by the Autobots, my quesion is . . . is victory truly worth it at this point? What greater goals do they have as a society and as individuals?

Edited October 13, 2012 by Steel Accord