You hear a great deal about "heroic Autobots." That label is
pushed on the toy boxes, in the comics, and in numerous voice-overs
in the cartoon. In other words, someone wants to make absolutely sure
you buy into this notion and accept the labeling, without even
examining the situation for yourself. Makes it much easier for them to
tell their story, if they present half the characters as simpleminded
"designated good guys," and the other half as simpleminded
"designated bad guys." Never mind that nothing is ever that clear-cut.
Let's strip all the labels and the prejudices for a moment, and take a
look at what's really going on.
Consider Cybertron, in the so-called "Golden Age" that was
shown in "War Dawn." I'll remind you that it was the Autobots
who labeled the era the Golden Age; something tells me the
Decepticons had a very different perception. After having fought off
the Quintessons a few million years earlier, in a struggle where the
major advancement could only have come from the Decepticon side
(being designed as war machines, after all, in contrast to the
"domestic" Autobots), the two groups must have settled down to an
initial peace, perhaps on originally equal footing. But by the time
"War Dawn" rolled around, probably after several cycles of war and
peace, the Autobots were clearly in control of the planet, and the
Decepticons were in the minority. Probably their talents and warriors'
natures were considered something out of Cybertron's barbaric past by
the ruling class, and so they were more and more crowded out into
being second-class citizens on their own homeworld. Finally a leader
arose who wouldn't stand for it anymore, and struck back.
Megatron himself is one of the most heroic individuals I have
ever encountered in life or fiction. He stood up against almost
insurmountable odds and inspired his followers to rise up against a
powerful opposition that felt the Decepticons were somehow morally
inferior, and had done their best to keep them suppressed and
restrained all these years. He has the ability to make his vision a
reality. He cares enough about the future of his species and his planet
to go against the status-quo, no matter how much his enemies
malign him for it, and no matter how much propaganda is spread
against him. He never accepts defeat, no matter how many times he
faces devastating setbacks -- because he believes in his dream, and he
has the strength of character and the dedication to his homeworld and
to his Decepticons to bring his goals into existence, no matter the
odds.
Much of the Transformer story that we know, is pure
propaganda -- all told from the Autobot and human perspective.
There's the insidious notion that this perspective is, in some universal
sense, the "right" one, forgetting entirely that there are other ways of
interpreting the world, that are just as "right." To that end the
Autobots among themselves are usually shown when they're being
chummy and friendly with each other, and the Decepticons are usually
focused on when there's some kind of internal squabble, giving a
totally skewed picture of them. It's all designed to suck the viewer's
sympathies in with the so-called "good guys" - leaving out entirely that
the Autobots are just as much responsible, maybe more so, for the
Cybertronian civil wars, and far less "heroic" as individuals or as a
group. These guys are cowards and isolationists, happy to cling to
their little planet and watch it slowly deplete itself of energy, and
perhaps become easy prey for any strong alien fleet that happens to
wander by - while the Decepticons were wanting to gather resources
and strengthen the defenses, and then go out and spread the empire
outward. But the Autobots thought this was "wrong," and as a result
painted the Decepticons as these wantonly vicious and greedy beings
who were bent on destruction for its own sake. That's the viewpoint
that's always shoved across in the "official" work.
But even those biases can't obscure the fact that much of the
propaganda simply isn't true. If you watch the Decepticons on the
cartoon, see their interactions with one another, see Megatron's
leadership and his relationship to his followers, and if you haven't
entirely closed your mind with pre-set biases, or at least have ever
stopped to consider the opposite perspective, you'll see that the
Decepticons are a closely-interacting team, dedicated to a cause that
will forge a better future for them and their descendants, loyal to one
another and to their leader, and standing together against anyone who
labels them "evil" and then feels justified in trying to wipe them out,
simply because their outlook on the world differs from some arbitrary,
currently-accepted social standard.
It's much easier to stay stagnating in place, than to reach for
the stars. It's much easier to bow your head and act as you're
"supposed to," according to others, than to stand up and follow your
dreams in the face of all opposition. It's much easier to present
yourself to the rest of the universe as a "designated good guy" in order
to mooch fuel from the gratitude of other species, than to refuse to
debase yourself like that and have the courage to be true to your own
nature. That takes true heroism. (And, I will also say - it's much
easier to accept a label without question, than to examine the situation
critically and check out the facts for yourself.) And that's what the
Decepticons are all about. Courage, loyalty to one another, and
honesty. They make no pretenses about who they are, regardless of
who disapproves. They're willing to forge their own path. And they
refuse to conform themselves to someone else's demands. Even with
all the designated biases in place, if one looks at the situation
objectively, their true nature comes through. And it's a far more
admirable nature than that of their hypocritical and pretentious
opponents. The real heroes of the story - are the Decepticons.
Watch the shadows......
Raksha the Plumed Serpent
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