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I just made another gifset from this episode, but I couldn’t resist making one for this scene, too.

Can we just take a moment to appreciate how fucking NICE the Constructibots are? And how god damn misunderstood? I apologize for this wall of text but please, give it a quick read because as much as I love this episode, it really bothered me…

Bulkhead says they’re no good and they’ll never be good, but they rescued Bulkhead and Blitzwing.

Not because they’re Autobots or Decepticons….just because they’re bros with no biases who just don’t want anyone to get squashed.

Then they go and lug all the supplies back to the Decepticon’s base, get materials and try and fix Megatron’s bridge, try and peacefully take the Allspark fragments from Bulkhead and only resort to violence when Optimus threatens them (as opposed to, ya’know, explaining the situation and how they’re being tricked in more detail than Bulkhead’s half-assed rambling earlier), try and keep their friendship with Bulkhead up until he literally tries to smash their amnesia-sticken heads in with a wrecking ball….hell, even AFTER that, Scrap still goes with Sari to save the Autobots who tried to kill him in Human Error…..

Their only “flaw” was that they drank a lot of oil and were slightly obnoxious…but think about it for a moment. Did you notice how FUCKING HUGE they are? They’re bigger than Bulkhead! Almost as big as Lugnut! Not to mention, cement trucks and power shovels are notorious gass guzzlers…all bots are shown to drink oil as a fuel source, so it makes sense why they’d knock back a few dozen oil barrels. It’s literally their first day alive and they’re probably not used to the sudden drain of energy that comes out of all the work they do normally (building stuff), PLUS walking, talking, transforming, and driving.  They’re not doing it because they’re alcoholics…they’re doing it because they literally need that much oil to run properly. 

Even their obnoxious behavior can be explained. If the Wreck-Gar episode proved anything, it’s that when a machine comes to life for the first time, they’re pretty much a blank slate, aside from the interactions their vehicle had with humans in the past. Mix and Scrap were always surrounded by construction workers, men who are known for cat calling and having frat-boy mentalities. Again, it makes perfect sense for them to act this way if that’s all they really know. Not to mention, Blitzwing abuses their innocence, calling a police siren a “quitting bell” and Megatron telling them the TRUTH that the Autobots kicked them out of Cybertron, a statement which, without the proper context that these two clearly would not have had, could easily make anyone believe the Autobots are just as bad as the Decepticons. They go with the bots who were nicer to them and gave them better oil because…well did you see how the rest of the Autobot gang treated them? Imagine you just meet someone really nice, they take you to meet their friends, and all their friends do is glare at you and judge you and talk behind your back? Obviously you’re not going to like them! And as much as I love Ratchet, how dare he make the comment that they’re not charming. They’re not, not by any means…but Ratchet…seriously? YOU’RE judging someone for not being polite? 

Again, remember that this is literally their first week (at most) of existing. One side is telling them one thing, the other side is telling them the other, one’s mistreating them, but they’re still nice and friendly with Bulkhead and consider him a friend. If the Autobots took five minutes to put aside their judgements and calmly explain the entire situation, these two would have surely changed sides again! They’re not the hardest to convince, guys. As nice as they are, they’re pretty damn stupid too. Tell them they’re made of peanuts, they’ll probably believe you! But no. Optimus jumps to fisticuffs and Bulkhead BLOWS THEM THE FUCK UP! And even when they get amnesia and DO have the chance to be befriended again, what does Bulky do? He totally ruins it by trying to bash their brains in.

What the hell?! Bulkhead, what are you thinking?! You bots destroy building on a regular basis! Don’t chase away the guys who would willingly repair ALL your shit without a question! Oh, and if that’s not bad enough…Optimus says they have a second chance now AFTER Bulkhead chases them away. A chance to “make the right choice”

ARE. YOU. FUCKING. KIDDING. ME?

BULKHEAD JUST TRIED MURDERING THEM AND YOU THINK THEY’RE GONNA SIDE WITH YOU GUYS? What, are you high!? Of course they’re not going to side with you!! No bot in their right mind would side with a team that stood back and let a team mate attack them! The Constructibots weren’t the ones who needed the second chance to make the right decision, YOU WERE AND YOU TOTALLY BLEW IT.

I guess what bothers me the most about this episode is how, a few episodes ago, Wreck-Gar’s episode had the strong message of “Don’t Let People Tell You Who You Are, You Can Be Anything You Want To Be.” Hell, the entire theme of the SHOW is “There’s More To Someone Than You Think”. Sari, Bulkhead, Ratchet, Optimus, Bumblebee, Prowl…they ALL have a story arc where they show that there’s more to their personality they even they didn’t know about…they’re more than they’re stereotypical character traits and they CAN change (pun not intended) and better themselves if given the chance. 

The Constructibots were never given that chance. They’re written off as bad guys or immature fuck ups and never get any recognition from the other bots as to how NICE they actually are. Not only that, but between Mix’s technical jargon and Scrap’s kindly nature towards Snarl…the creators have actually shown that these two are both intelligent and warm individuals who just wanna help out, but can get a little immature at times. But again, Bumblebee’s immature, Ratchet is cranky, even PROWL was a jerk at first and all the bots seemed to be okay with that.  

Maybe this show was TRYING to give a PSA-like message about not hanging out with the wrong crowd, stay away from drinkers and all that…but is that really a good message? “Don’t judge. Always give people a chance…unless they drink then fuck those guys because they’re no good and will never be good”? 

And even if they were trying to make Bulkhead the “bad guy” in this episode, trying to say something like “even the sweetest of people can make mistakes once they’ve been hurt”…that heroic ending undermined it all.

And even in their episodes after Rise of the Constructicons, they’re not “bad” guys. Sure they’re written “badder” than they were in the first episode, (personally I think it’s because they were too NICE in the first episode for anyone to believe they would bully a little girl unless they changed their personalities slightly), but they’re still the lovable doofuses who could still be persuaded over to the opposite side if someone put an effort into it….Sari practically DID just that with Scrapper!

Alright….I think that’s all the rant I have in me right now. I apologize for this HUGE FUCKING TEXT POST but I’ve been wanting to talk about this for a VERY long time. Thanks for listening ;w;

I must say I agree with all of this.

TFA is very odd when it comes to the morality and ethical treatment of “Allspark Energy” birthed characters. So much so that it basically boils down to a case by case basis with no consistency or accountability held to the protagonists. Speaking of which, we here see yet another example of TFA!Bulkhead doing something violent, dangerous, and ill-informed towards another person with absolutely no consequences visited upon him.