All Hail Megatron Discussion thread

[Sparky Prime]

The more I think about it, the more I am thinking Perceptor simply cannot help Ratchet. Ratchet's dialogue about wanting the old Perceptor back indicates that Perceptor has been changed in a way that, we can safely assume, prevents him from helping.

Maybe it is a question of his sniper mods costing him other systems. Mayber Ratchet simply does not trust Kup's designated shooter. The "why" is less important than the "what" in this case.

I very much disagree. The modifications Perceptor makes on himself are things such as better body armor, stabilizers in his arms to improve aim, the eye piece for pinpointing targets and so on. If anything, the majority of these modifications to make himself a top sniper should also allow him to do much more precise work in scientific fields, not hinder those skills to the point he can't use them at all. Besides his refusal to help, there is nothing to indicate Perceptor has changed in a way that prevents him from doing so, thus I see no reason to assume that at all. And Ratchet is the one asking for Perceptor's help. The "why" Perceptor can't help would explain everything here.

[Dominic]

Do we see Ratchet asking for help? I recall him wishing for the "old" Perceptor. And, how is "why Perceptor changed" so important when the important thing is that Perceptor, like a bunch of other guys, had changed at all?

Dom

[andersonh1]

Or he's worried that if he does do repairs on Prime, then Prowl's gonna make him install some bogus algorithms, like he made him do with Kup.

That's an interesting thought. I can just about buy that too.

[Onslaught Six]

"Oh man, what if I try to help Prime, but I fail, or make it worse?"

"We all remember what happened last time I tried to help Prime!"

when they asked Perceptor to help out,

God damn it, I just re read AHM and I'm already forgetting stuff. I suck.

That never happened, there's no panel where Ratchet goes, "Hey Perceptor! Help me, you jerk," and Perceptor goes, "No, I'm a jerk." Sparky is extrapolating.

It may even be that Perceptor is unaware Ratchet wants his help, and Ratchet--and the other Autobots--are merely assuming that because Perceptor's Different Now, he won't be able to help. It may be a case of, "Why didn't you help us?" "You never asked."

[BWprowl]

That never happened, there's no panel where Ratchet goes, "Hey Perceptor! Help me, you jerk," and Perceptor goes, "No, I'm a jerk." Sparky is extrapolating.

It may even be that Perceptor is unaware Ratchet wants his help, and Ratchet--and the other Autobots--are merely assuming that because Perceptor's Different Now, he won't be able to help. It may be a case of, "Why didn't you help us?" "You never asked."

Man, I was JUST going to say that! Seriously, that could be it. Perceptor's new persona has come back to bite him in the ass. He may still be perfectly fine with doing lab work, but now that he's the Scary Sniper, everyone's scared of him, and no one wants to ask for his help! Poor, lonely Perceptor...

[Sparky Prime]

That never happened, there's no panel where Ratchet goes, "Hey Perceptor! Help me, you jerk," and Perceptor goes, "No, I'm a jerk." Sparky is extrapolating.

It may even be that Perceptor is unaware Ratchet wants his help, and Ratchet--and the other Autobots--are merely assuming that because Perceptor's Different Now, he won't be able to help. It may be a case of, "Why didn't you help us?" "You never asked."

Or they could have asked him off panel and what we see is Ratchet wishing for the old Perceptor because the 'new' one refused to help (which is how I was interpreting it). Either way, given the dire situation Prime was in, it's pretty clear Ratchet and Wheeljack could have used all the help they could get. Really, even if they hadn't directly asked him for the help, he could have, you know, offered to. "So, I hear Prime's in bad shape. Looks like we got a break with the bridge blowing up, need a hand?" "Primus yes!"

And, how is "why Perceptor changed" so important when the important thing is that Perceptor, like a bunch of other guys, had changed at all?

It's not "why Perceptor changed" it's "why Perceptor is so different". Switching professions doesn't lead to this big of a difference in personality. Even in the Coda story, Perceptor isn't that distant and cold toward the other Autobots.

[Dominic]

Perceptor is likely going to be friendlier to Kup's band than the others because he *knows* Kup's band and they are his buddies.

Again, "why he is so different" is less important than the fact he *is* different. The differences are thematically consistent with the rest of the story. The point is that Perceptor, at that point, is not able to help with Prime.

Do we really need a faux-techno-babble explanation for why Perceptor is different to clue us in that he is different, when the reaction of several characters also says "wow, Perceptor is different now"?

Dom

[Sparky Prime]

Perceptor is likely going to be friendlier to Kup's band than the others because he *knows* Kup's band and they are his buddies.

I'm sure Perceptor *knows* a wide range of Autobots beyond Kup's team given the range his science skills would take him to and who he works with, particularly other scientists like Wheeljack, Jetfire and maybe even Ratchet. Besides that, there really is no evidence in AHM to support that claim either way. All we see of him in the story is the 'cold scary sniper'.

Again, "why he is so different" is less important than the fact he *is* different. The differences are thematically consistent with the rest of the story. The point is that Perceptor, at that point, is not able to help with Prime.

Again, you can't just completely change how a character's personality with out explanation. That'd be like trying to change the plot halfway for no apparent reason. It just doesn't work. That's the point.

Do we really need a faux-techno-babble explanation for why Perceptor is different to clue us in that he is different, when the reaction of several characters also says "wow, Perceptor is different now"?

Why would we need a faux-techno-babble explanation? ANY explanation would be an improvement, it doesn't have to be techno-babble at all.

[BWprowl]

Dude, he totally has an explanation! The last time he fixed somebody (Kup), Prowl the jerkass had him put Bad Shit in his programs or whatever. Read AHM 15, Perceptor was clearly disheartened by the whole procedure. Who knows what sort of trauma it put him through? Clearly, enough trauma that he eventually decided to just stop fixing Autobots.

Or, I dunno, any of the six or seven other explanations we've posited throughout this thread that you're obstinately ignoring because you seem to get a kick out of discrediting McCarthy's writing, regardless of how easy it actually is to explain something that wasn't even that important to the plot in the first place!

Seriously, that "wish we had the old Perceptor back" thing was a such a one-off, throw-away line that it didn't even really need to be in there. If they hadn't put it in, then we wouldn't be in the middle of this big, stupid argument.

[Sparky Prime]

Dude, he totally has an explanation! The last time he fixed somebody (Kup), Prowl the jerkass had him put Bad Shit in his programs or whatever. Read AHM 15, Perceptor was clearly disheartened by the whole procedure. Who knows what sort of trauma it put him through? Clearly, enough trauma that he eventually decided to just stop fixing Autobots.

The only thing I see is Perceptor wanting to be a sniper simply because he feels like he owes it for Kup's team saving his life, but that doesn't explain the change in personality. While it appears he didn't like that Prowl made him put some programs into Kup, I don't see anything to indicate he was that disheartened by it at all. He certainly wasn't disheartened with it enough to stop keeping track of Kup afterwords still as a scientist, at least until he was hurt in the field. Even so, in AHM 15, that isn't the 'cold scary sniper' Perceptor that we see in the rest of AHM. No, the drastic character changes made to Perceptor's personality are still left unexplained.

Or, I dunno, any of the six or seven other explanations we've posited throughout this thread that you're obstinately ignoring because you seem to get a kick out of discrediting McCarthy's writing, regardless of how easy it actually is to explain something that wasn't even that important to the plot in the first place!

Before you go flaming me over it, you might want to actually go back to check. I didn't ignore anything, I responded to various theories back on page 70 of this discussion, among others I'm sure. It isn't as easy to explain away as you seem to think it is. It doesn't matter how important it was or wasn't to the plot. A story needs to be consistent, and that includes how characters are characterized. And if your going to change something, it needs some kind of actual explanation, not just "oh, he's different now".

Seriously, that "wish we had the old Perceptor back" thing was a such a one-off, throw-away line that it didn't even really need to be in there. If they hadn't put it in, then we wouldn't be in the middle of this big, stupid argument.

No, Perceptor is well known for being a scientist character despite becoming a sniper. Even if that line wasn't there, you'd have people wondering why he wasn't helping Ratchet and Wheeljack with Optimus.