I was fiddling with my sprites again. Odd how I get inspiration form the oddest things.

I have some 70 G1 Autobots, 65 G1 Decepticons, 5 Movie Autobots, 8 Movie Decepticons, 10 Maximals, 10 Vehicons, 11 Predacons(suspect I'm counting Blackarachnia twice there), 12 Trilogy Autobots, 21 Trilogy Decepticons, a scattering of Minicons, And five of each faction from RiD. Plus some Quintesson/Unicron sprites.

This is, for the most part, not counting body switches.

Roughtly speaking however, with the exception of the Trilogy Autobots getting shafted(I really didn't collect the Energon or Armada Autobots, so they haven't been sprited yet, and now there's not much of an interest except for me to try to be complete), that means that both Autobots and Decepticons have been on even footing when it comes to their battles.

Which would, in theory, be fine. However, little Huffer in the upper right corner of the sheet is looking at me pleadingly. To quote him from MTMTE: "But we're not fighters like they are!"(refering to the Decepticons).

Which means that the Autobots would actually need to have an edge in either numbers or technology in order to face off against the Decepticons with any kind of hope. Let alone win, which they seem to do with surprising regularity.

Logically, if the Autobots are primarily non-combatant, they wouldn't have the weapons technology. Looking at Transformers Animated(which I haven't sprited yet... when I'm able to save JPGs again maybe I'll get around to it) I think they roughtly have the right of it: The Decepticons are bigger and stronger, better equipped for combat in all ways. But not better equipped for infrastructure, and thus noticably fewer in number. It takes, on average, three Autobots to defeat one Decepticon in an even match. But the Decepticons are outnumbered five to one.

Looking over my G1 sprites however, that is not particularly the case. A number of Autobots are heavily armed, sometimes much heavier than your average Decepticon. Omega Supreme could crush Frenzy without really even trying.

So I was thinking of this, and thinking what I could do with all these sprites. First thought of course was a video game(which is what I made them for in the first place) and I quickly put that out of my head as to much work for the moment. Second choice was a sprite comic. So I started reading Insecticomics and completely forgot about my idea of doing any work.

Actually, no, that's not true.

You see, Insecticomics cast is mostly Decepticons. It ALSO features a world where the Transformers are(for the most part) AT PEACE. And them being at peace is actually one of the least unbelievable things in that comic. Mostly because the jokes work better that way.

Now, if I was going to make a sprite comic about Transformers, I'd probably try to do something like that. If for nothing else, then it gives me an excuse to mix multiple generations in. However, I can't turn off my inner nerd long enough to discount continuity. The multiple generations thing I can solve easily enough. I mean, already we have repaints from other "generations" entering the G1 timeline(if one believes Classics are a continuation of G1).

So I was thinking: What would it take for Cybertron to be at peace?

Seriously... without killing off THAT many, how could Optimus Prime or Rodimus Prime ended the Great War and brought peace to Cybertron? How about the other storylines? Could certain characters even EXIST in a peaceful world? I know (movie)Bonecrusher would probably start fights continually... Bonecrusher Hates Peace and all that. There are even enough Autobots who simply wouldn't stop fighting when told to, even if there was nothing left to fight.

Short of killing them off or dramatically reprogramming them, would it be possible to write a story about these characters living together in peace?

For some reason I'm very much drawn to the begining of the Energon series, where the Decepticons are working with the Autobots. They don't like it of course, but without a leader and without any other skills, they've signed on to help out the Autobots. Now, of course, this is broken when Scorponok arises and presents the promise of a new crusade for the Decepticons to take part in. What if Scorponok hadn't arrived?

Or better yet, what if Megatron had actually been convinced to surrender? I'm betting, depending on the Megatron, he'd have had an outright mutiny within his ranks. But for that matter, Optimus Prime was the Autobot leader only because he gave them victory. Just as many Autobots didn't like him leading as Decepticons didn't like Megatron leading. If Prime and Megatron actually decided to declare peace, or heck even if one of them declared VICTORY, wouldn't they have a revolt in their ranks?

Then again, breaking the sides down into chaotic pockets might be the nearest to peace Cybertron could achieve. That's roughtly how it works out in Insecticomics. Nearly the whole population is built out of warmachines. If not every single one, then at least a majority of Cybertronians have built in weapons. Ignoring for a moment raising the issue of gun control when you can install lasers in your optical array, again most, if not all, are sociopaths. Disarmament is not really an option, but then again most of them don't seem to have the self control NOT to shoot each other.

Anyway, once I realised I was going around in circles, I figured I'd like to hear other opinions.

What would it take to bring peace to Cybertron?

A bigger threat - bigger then movie Unicron - bigger then IDW Thunderwing.
Something mindbogglingly HUGE and dangerous and a long term thing to knock over.

Over the time it took to beat the danger, old prejudices are lost.
And a LOT of warriors dead.

Making peace the only solution, and in many ways the acceptable one.

Something like a giant black hole popping up right next to Cybertron and threatening to consume the whole planet? The whole universe?? Even then it didn't seem to work, because the bots and cons both had their own ideas about how best to deal with the black hole.

I was just watching an episode of Beast Machines and Botanica refused to fight. Later in the episode she has a vision where the Oracle shows her all the evil that Megatron has done. Presumably this is to get her to fight. What does that say about them as a species when even their god demands combat?

They don't need a bigger threat, just a bigger goal. Kinda like how the G2 cons began to assimilate galaxies.

In the old Dream Wave continuity it became postulated/discovered, in the Micromaster line, that the purpose of the TFs race was to conquer/control the universe. Autobots were to garrison, potect abd maintain worlds that were already assimilated and Decepticons were to explore and conquer new territories. But the Cons didn't want to leave home and the bots didn't want to run an Empire, thus creating the "great deception" upon which Megatron founded the Decepticons.

I guess what I'm saying is, it would take a higher purpose, something beyond "fight this thing over here" Something like assimiliating the universe. And if the expansion is done, priomarly in peace with the Cons focus on destroying the places that fight back too stringently it just might work.

Also, presumably, there is Peace in the Beast Wars universe. Least threw most of it, the implication, as I see it, has always been that Megatron and the other enemies in the various Beast Wars series were rogues acting under their own iniatiave, and yes the Predacons were EVENTUALY going to start a new war but in that time there was peace. So maybe a reformating a changing of ways could bring in "peace."

OR, maybe if they LOST. A friend of mine ran/runs a game whose premise was that Unicron won, devoured Cybertron and the Matrix and is proceeding to consume, well, everything. The THREAT of something truly horrid and destructive is one thing, the REALITYY of it quite another. Though I suppose this solution falls in line with the "killing lots of people" angle which you want to avoid.

In the end, though, I don't think TFs can have a story of "peace" 'cause, generally, it'd be boriong, they gotta be fighting something :)

IDW Thunderwing was not much of a threat. I'm sorry, Starscream did the same thing with the Underbase.

In honesty, I don't think a "greater threat" is the answer. It's been done, often implied the only way to reach peace. Honestly however, it never seems to solve anything. You're still in conflict, and unless it's a truely sustained conflict it's doubtful that the Autobots and Decepticons would lose their prejudices. And even then, you've just traded one set of prejudices for another and expanded the conflict instead of ending it.

Depending on how you read it, that sounds about normal for the Transformers. Primus was a war-god, designed to battle Unicron. To that end Primus decided that his children would be in constant struggle with themselves to prepare for the final battle at the end of days. Unfortunately, if you believe the Marvel comics, Primus and Unicron are now dead. Primus sacraficed himself so that his "children" could choose for themselves and make a better life for themselves. That leaves the Transformers with the question of what to do... they've just joined forces to stop a threat larger than themselves... and their first instinct once "peace" breaks out is to fight one another. They can't handle peace. To many of them have been fighting until that's all they know and so simply turn on one another.

Which wasn't really an end to conflict. It was just taking the conflict elsewhere. The G2 cons would flatten any world under massive firepower simply because it was in range. They didn't need to be a threat, just there. Plus, it was rather implied that all their Cyber-forming was in essense being performed in order to continually fuel this ever expanding warmachine.

Actually, that brings in the most effective arguement I can think of. Beast Wars was(despite the name) probably as peaceful as Cybertron has ever gotten. Megatron and his Predacons, and later Optimus Primal and the Maximals(BM) were a small faction of only five or six, pretty much individuals working under their own initiative, and the "war" they were fighting was minimal and if there had been something keeping them away from Weapons of Mass Destruction(IE: Time traveling back and destroying The Ark or reformatting all of Cybertron) their struggles could have been largly ignored.

Of course, we're never given EXACTLY what happened between G1 and BeastWars. Every time we get an implication of it("The Gathering" for example... which stole the title and some of the plotline from my BeastWars fanfiction back when I was on BeastWars Anonymous) they continued the G1 struggle all the way up to and through the BeastWars. In these stories there is no peace that Optimus Primal referances in BeastWars(given that canoncity is always a bit tenuous I'm not going to debate that).

I'm not saying that there couldn't be conflict in a peaceful Cybertron. I'm asking what would it take to break the two monolithic forces of "Autobots vrs Decepticons" who are fielding massive armies and regularly utilizing weapons of mass destruction. Looking at the Insecticomics again, there is alot of conflict. But since it's more of a humor driven series, the conflict isn't particularly blood thirsty. It's not unheard of for two members of conflicting sides to invite each other over for a game of cards(much to their commanders dismay. "They might be spies!" "Oh no, now they've learned the layout of our rec room.") This is noticably more peaceful than we've seen in any canonical storyline that I can think of. In G1 the Autobots and Decepticons were shown to kick back, get drunk, and sometimes play football or something. But never with each other. They didn't even talk or negociate with one another for that matter. The rare times that they competed in nonviolent activities(say the big race in Transformers:Cybertron) there was usually an extenuating circumstance AND it broke down into outright violence before the end.

Transformers Animated might have the answer to that too. Supposably, by the storyline of Animated, Cybertron is at peace. The Autobots are just getting out of a massive war, they still have a standing army/police force. The Decepticons are basically defeated, and have no intention of standing up against the full forces of the Autobots. They're not gone, but with the police force keeping them away from any weapons of mass destruction, and the Autobots superior numbers/infastructure the Decepticons are being kept in check. A number of the Decepticons(Blackarachnia and Lockdown) might not even be adverse to siding with the Autobots, if they could be given the proper motivation(for Lockdown all you'd have to do is pay him). Given that there are only six "pure blood" Decepticons in the show, having two of them willing to accept peace is a good sign(the rest of the Decepticons numbers come from the All Spark, which could be considered a Weapon of Mass Destruction... or in this case a Weapon of Mass Reproduction which was how the Autobots managed to outnumber the Decepticons in the first place).

Of course, I haven't seen Bridge To Far yet, so this whole thing about Megatron connecting back up with the Decepticons back on Cybertron might give lie to the concept that their Cybertron is "at peace".

Well in animated Megatron has ordred his Con subbordinate sto cause trouble and stir things up so they could better conquer Cybertron. It seams, really, that animated is inthe phase leading up to a war. Though the first ep implies it has been a LONG time since the conflict, what with no one having ever seen a con warship and Sentinel Prime having NO idea what a decepticon looks like.

Seams the only times we've seen peace IN canon, after the Great Wars began, is when one side won. End of the TFs movie, the Bots won and their was peace for 5 years until Galvatron got back up. In Beast Wars megatron says quite clarlythe Autobots won the Great War and we have peace again. Even in the Beast Wars comics they imply, more in the second IDW run then first, that the conflicys between Pred and Maxi are more rogue elements and skirmishes.

So I guess the answer is some one has to win and a charismatic leader(s) has to NOT rise to rally the loosing faction.