Rewriting Transformers Energon

[Thundercracker Prime]

An exercise I've done in my head and occasionally thought of writing as fan fiction is how to rewrite Transformers Energon (but that means I'd have to watch it or Superlink to take notes, which I'm reluctant to do), mainly because I think it could've been a good sequel to Armada (which I have a strong nostalgic regard for despite its flaws) instead of the incoherent mess we got twenty years ago. Some of the more obvious ideas I've had to improve the show include giving Kicker an actual character arc, having Alexis help Starscream regain his memories and freedom, not having Demolishor just rejoin the Decepticons as a mindless ape after having a fairly interesting arc of questioning his loyalties, and trimming the length of the series to avoid all the redundant plots it had. With that in mind, how would you guys go about rewriting Energon?

 

[The Predaking]

I think I would have made Scorponok and the terrorcons a bigger threat as a separate faction. Have them revive both Starscream and Megatron to fight with them. Only Megatron's strength of will won't let him be controlled, reclaims the decepticons and wages war against all of his enemies!

 

[CoffeeHorse]

The biggest thing is to just do it all one time. I love the idea of exploring an era after the Great War has been over a while, with Decepticons having to choose between Megatron or whatever place they've found in the new era. There is interesting material here. Just cut the redundancy. Build up to Unicron's return once.

 

[Thundercracker Prime]

I think I would have made Scorponok and the terrorcons a bigger threat as a separate faction. Have them revive both Starscream and Megatron to fight with them. Only Megatron's strength of will won't let him be controlled, reclaims the decepticons and wages war against all of his enemies!

I could see Scorponok resurrecting Megatron under Alpha Q's orders.

 

[CoffeeHorse]

I prefer Megatron being a rogue element, engineering his own resurrection whether Scorponok or Alpha Q like it or not. But I would have it take longer for Megatron to take over the Terrorcons once he's back, with the Autobots left to wonder who they should be rooting for.

 

[Thundercracker Prime]

I forgot to mention this, but in the previous incarnation of the Allspark Forums, someone (I don't remember who it was) suggested that I change the toyline as little as possible when developing a rewrite. What do you guys think of that?

 

[CoffeeHorse]

It wasn't me but I agree. The toyline is fine. I'd add the toys that didn't make it into the show, because some of them are really cool.

Which reminds me that I still need to get a Slugslinger at some point.

 

[lastmaximal]

I'm fine with that too, because the problem was really never with the toys.

 

[Glitch]

Energon is raw mineral found on many worlds that can be refined into three forms, the Omnicons mine and refine it into positively charged red energon, the Terrorcons make negatively charged green energon, this has to be established at some point explaining why a collision of both in huge quantities is a bad idea. The fourth form is blue ultra energon that gives transformers superior speed, fireblast, strength and a healing ability.

The Spark of Combination is a technological adaptation of the Autobots, it's designed to merge minds but has a physical advantage too.

Unicron is heavily damaged after Quintessa blew up in his face and he's gone into shutdown, creating Galvatron and the Terrorcons to restore him.

Alpha Quintesson is the Supreme leader of the Quintessons, a galactic empire that was destroyed by Unicron in the space between Armada and Energon, he's now seeking to restore his empire through Unicrons power. His people have a terrible reputation with the Transformers and often clashed with both sides and many other races at the height of their power. Despite their past reputation he's always been fair to outsiders and is an ally of Rodimus.

The Decepticons have settled in their new life, Megatron is resurrected and reformatted into Galvatron and straight off becomes a fanatic herald of Unicron, he is army building and uses Thrusts spark to restore Scorponok, then forces Cyclonus and Tidal Wave to become Snowcat and Mirage (also Snowcat is renamed Snowstorm), Demolisher is allowed to retain his identity due to loyalty but Starscreams lobotomised into a bodyguard and assassin. Galvatron eventually reverts to Megatron to stop Unicron. Shockblast is basically Shockwave except he's been mentally broken by Unicrons attack and is unstable, he's aware Megatron once changed him with a robosmasher and wants revenge.

The Autobots are busy restoring Cybertron with the aid of the Omnicons, a massive group of Cybertronians like the Nails from IDWs comics, only they shed their allegiances. and have forbid the Autobots and Decepticons from visiting their worlds. Rodimus was the instigator of the Omnicons and ally of the Quintessons, he's morally grey to the Autobots. Some captured Omnicons are reformatted into Terrorcons and cloned.

Omega Supreme is an ancient guardian robot rebuilt and upgraded by the Autobots to fight the Decepticon and Terrorcon threat.

The Combiners are a trio of Supercons with Omnicon soliders, Barricade and Steamhammer are reprogrammed and join the Decepticons while Storm Jet remains an Autobot, they have a mastery of ultra energon.

Instead of Primus, we have Vector Sigma who consults with Optimus and gifts the Autobots with the spark of combination and ultra energon.

The Minicons have largely relocated to the Omnicon realm though some remain on Cybertron.

 

[Thundercracker Prime]

Energon has four forms, it's a raw mineral found on many worlds, the Omnicons mine and refine it into positively charged red energon, the Terrorcons make negatively charged green energon, this has to be established at some point explaining why a collision of both in huge quantities is a bad idea. The fourth form is blue ultra energon that gives transformers super speed, strength and a healing ability.

The Spark of Combination is a technological adaptation of the Autobots, it's designed to merge minds but has a physical advantage too.

Unicron is heavily damaged after Quintessa blew up in his face and he's gone into shutdown, creating Galvatron and the Terrorcons to restore him.

Alpha Quintesson is the Supreme leader of the Quintessons, a galactic empire that was destroyed by Unicron in the space between Armada and Energon, he's now seeking to restore his empire through Unicrons power. His people have a terrible reputation with the Transformers and often clashed with both sides and many other races at the height of their power. Despite their past reputation he's always been fair to outsiders and is an ally of Rodimus.

The Decepticons have settled in their new life, Megatron is resurrected and reformatted into Galvatron and straight off and becomes a fanatic herald of Unicron, he is army building, he uses Thrusts spark to restore Scorponok and forces Cyclonus and Tidal Wave to become Snowcat and Mirage (also Snowcat is renamed Snowstorm), Demolisher is allowed to retain his identity due to loyalty but Starscreams lobotomised into a bodyguard and assassin. Galvatron eventually reverts to Megatron to stop Unicron. Shockblast is basically Shockwave except he's been broken by Unicrons attack and is unstable, he's aware Megatron once changed him and wants revenge.

The Autobots are busy restoring Cybertron with the aid of the Omnicons, a massive group of Cybertronians like the Nails from IDW only they shed their allegiances. and have forbid the Autobots and Decepticons from visiting their worlds. Rodimus was the instigator of the Omnicons and ally of the Quintessons, he's morally grey to the Autobots.

Omega Supreme is an ancient guardian rebuilt by the Autobots to fight the Decepticon and Terrorcon threat.

The Combiners are a trio of Supercons with Omnicon soliders, Barricade and Steamhammer are reprogrammed and join the Decepticons while Storm Jet remains an Autobot, they have a mastery of ultra energon.

Instead of Primus, we have Vector Sigma who gifts the Autobots with the spark of combination and ultra energon.

The Minicons have largely relocated to the Omnicon realm though some remain.

Would you mind if I took some of these ideas for my own rewrite?

 

[Thundercracker Prime]

I just realized that I never listed my own ideas, so I'm going to do so now:

• To get the obvious out of the way, Alexis helps Starscream regain his memories and freedom, prompting his defection to the Autobots for the rest of the series.
• Most of the Mini-Cons are reformatted into the Omnicons in order for them to be able to harvest raw Energon and to prevent a new war from breaking out over their use.
• Megatron goes by Galvatron from the moment of his resurrection, just like in Superlink. When his superstructure is upgraded due to exposure to Ultra Energon, he takes the name "Galvatron Imperious" to spite Optimus Prime.
• It will be kept ambiguous whether Galvatron is actually in control of himself or has been possessed by Unicron.
• Demolishor does rejoin the Decepticons for a time, but the treatment of Inferno in his captivity makes him realize that Galvatron has gone beyond the pale, so he liberates the former. He later sacrifices himself to remove the Decepticon virus from Inferno's data tracks, which extinguishes his Spark in the process.
• Demolishor's upgraded form is now a separate character named Long Haul.
• The Air Team are Decepticons. I did this because the Autobots have several unique gimmicks while the Decpticons canonically have only one, so I wanted to balance things out.
• Shockblast never betrays Galvatron and Six-Shot doesn't exist. Instead, the former takes on the latter's color scheme when exposed to the Ultra Energon reservoir.
• I don't remember who suggested this on Discord, but someone suggested that Prowl be created from the Sparks of Red Alert and Blurr, who are killed by the Decepticons early in the series. I liked this idea, so I'm rolling with it. Additionally, because Prowl wouldn't exist at the beginning of the show, his role in Rodimus's crew is taken up by Cliffjumper.
• Snow Cat, Long Haul, and Mirage, while still depicted comedically, will also be shown to be deadly combatants to the Autobots because of the upgrades they've received from Galvatron.

 

[Firestar2022]

I have a suggestion. How about making Transformers Super Link/Energon a stand alone series disconnected from Micron Legend/Armada.

 

[Superomegaprime]

My thoughts for Energon, is that much of the series could of been cut down to about two or three movies and nothing of consquence would of been lost, but its clear that the show had no overall vision to guide things and I don't blame the studio that produced Galaxy Force (Cybertron) for wanting to start over, they likely looked at Energon and thought "What a mess, lets start over with a clean slate!"

 

[CoffeeHorse]

I have a suggestion. How about making Transformers Super Link/Energon a stand alone series disconnected from Micron Legend/Armada.

Nah. The connection to Armada is the most interesting thing about it. It makes Armada retroactively more interesting because we get to see what it was all for. It's a post-war future distant enough that they get to actually build something before it all falls apart again, but close enough that the same characters can be involved again. And unlike G1 season 3 (maybe the most comparable thing), the Decepticons have a place on post-war Cybertron. They're not trying to come back from exile. They're making a serious gamble, and they're not all sure how they feel about it.

There is not much like Energon in the whole franchise. That's why we still wish it were good.

 

[Lobjob]

The beginning of Energon was truly enjoyable until it all falls apart. Early Energon was refreshing.

 

[CoffeeHorse]

It gets a little more refreshing all the time. Early Energon is still a glimpse of something cool that we haven't quite gotten elsewhere.

 

[Shadewing]

I've always said that Armada and Energon were inverses of each other. Armada's early episodes are not great, some fairly bad. But once the Starsabre is assembled the series really starts going places and becomes , imo, honestly enjoyable. Energon keep that momentum going... and then fumbles... and just never really recovers.

 

[CoffeeHorse]

It's like the Energon writers accidentally deleted the show bible and instead of improving their way through the storylines they just dropped them all.

 

[ZacDeath]

I was hoping for a fan edit of the series, where they cut out all the long drawnout transformation scenes, and all the scenes where everyone is just standing there, rehashing just what happened. The episodes would be like 6 minutes long, but it would be more watchable.

 

[LBD "Nytetrayn"]

I have a suggestion. How about making Transformers Super Link/Energon a stand alone series disconnected from Micron Legend/Armada.

Funny, that. I was just discussing on Discord recently whether anything would really be lost if someone watching were to jump straight from Armada to Cybertron.

I think the biggest things might be Megatron and Starscream being alive at the start. If you can gloss over that, though...