Odd Moments Afterword: A Series of Statements and Extrapolations

* Hey, you!

Okay, so, you're probably pissed. Or you actually like the symbolic ending I agonized over… that will hereafter flow into the Odd version of G1, just, y'know, in your head. Before any heart-stopping yet routine molestation occurred between the stars. Which is what you'd been waiting for. All along.

Yep. I'll go jump off a bridge, now.

* So what now?

You see, if there were a ridiculously long bridge summary for this chapter and the next 'stage' of the story, it would be this:

Megatron has indeed revealed what his Second is capable of, but it did not cause Starscream to seek guidance from Megatron with this new 'power' in-hand. In forcing him to give up the last boundary he had, Megatron has earned the spite and maniacal broken rage of a self-destructive man who has absolutely nothing to lose, and the once-horrific idea of carnality will become yet another excuse to get Megatron within striking distance. For Starscream, it's either the top or die trying: it is the only thing he will settle for after all that he has lost and his cowardice will lessen as his desperation builds. Business sabotage attempts will seem coy after this situation has been left to escalate for several years and it will end, in one way or another, with a knife in the President's gut, and Starscream's hand on the handle.

There it is. I say this not because I think you won't understand (though I know a fair few will not bother to look for a theme or a power-shift that makes this ending fitting or even relevant) but because I didn't do it justice and I need to explain it to myself.

* Sorry about that whole story thing: I kinda messed up.

As much as I looked forward to it, this story-arc is sloppy at best and mutilated at worst. 'A Fat Mess' is an accurate label, really. I worked myself deeper into mud as things kept expanding as the tricky, sticky characterization demanded. Skyfire's arc was supposed to be a chapter or two. You haaaave to laugh at that, but I fell into the spike-lined plot pit of making Starscream a sympathetic character, truly pitiable yet doomed to his own flaws. I expected to be able to get to the regular-office-molestation stage easily and realized about halfway through, with as much as Starscream's (alternate, human-verse) character focused on his trauma, that such a thing would be impossible. More importantly, I felt far less comfortable with it as reality-checks fought against the idea of Starscream mentally surviving being abused by anyone, perhaps because of how he had focused himself around the horrible events in his life, obsessing and building on his fear.

I needed some kind of connector and a breaking point, a way for Starscream to confront his fears or destroy that survival instinct entirely, before these two interpretations could flow into some semblance of their G1 counterparts. That's what this ending is.

* What, you want more explanation?

Starscream used to be vile, narcissistic and scheming but still clung to some semblance of humanity, regardless of how selfish it was; now, after losing Skyfire, he's self-admittedly evil with no internal boundaries, willing to kill to get what he wants. Just to be excruciatingly obvious, the repetition of the line 'no one will believe you' (from Star's long-ago foray with the teacher) is meant to represent his regression into only caring about himself and his toxic willingness to contort any form of law or rightness to stay safe and powerful. In this, he is binding himself to all that D-Con does, hiding in evil's shadow and accepting Megatron's way – and picking up his Lord's weapons as his own. (And, by the by, that file that Shockwave planted in Skyfire's things will be impossible to prove as legitimate, and all evidence of his research destroyed, so the case will not be resolved and D-Con will thunder on as evilly as ever.)

Thus enters true G1 Starscream, arrogant and immortal, and the opener to all the classic, straight-forward abuse you've come to expect of the Seeker and his Lord while a political war rages around them. It was all I could do to drag it to this hard-knuckling crescendo, show the crack, and let you imagine the blackness that followed.

* Except not exactly, so please put down the plastic explosives.

Much as I did with the half-hashed sequel to Odd Couple, I am working on compiling what follows this piece at my livejournal account, Demzbebe. It is ridiculously long, because I practically have these guys' entire lives planned out for them. I was always thinking even when I wasn't writing. Despite the word-vomit pidgin and uncompleted scenes and conflicting themes, it's bound to be more satisfying than all you have endured here, if you signed up for gratuitous angry and oft hilarious office sex (and allusions to a greater G1-esque plotline and the classic clash of Autobots and Decepticons).

Despite being little more than a blow-by-blow of Megatron and Starscream tearing each other apart until they realize the crushing futility of it all, it has a happy ending. Surprisingly.

This is not happy for normal people. This is not happy for healthy people. This is happy for two incredibly destroyed souls who, in their death-lock, managed to find some sort of balance in each other after complete self-annihilation, and I ask that you do not hold it to any other standard but obviously take what pleasure from it you can. It's fiction. Have fun, and I'm sure your imagination can supplement whatever imagery-sparse summaries you find in the continuation of this story.

* Disclaimer: check. Summarizing statement?

Thank you, Soundwave!

Evil sonsabitches go well with malevolent overlords, and there they should remain, if only to keep them from hurting innocent bystanders. Thanks for reading and sorry for the long silence at the end, guys and gals. It wasn't a fitting reward for how loyal and good of readers you've been. You guys have been just fantastic, supportive and sweet, and I thank you again for giving this crazy idea a chance. Keep checking Demzbebe at Livejournal and I'll have the nameless sequel posted in a few increments, hopefully sometime after I get settled in Spain.

So, this is me quietly stepping out of the Transformers pool and toweling off. I don't expect the Cybertronian Country Club to close down after I leave, so you may see me again, but chances are I'll be a bit of an Elvis, popping in and out and munching on peanut-butter banana sandwiches amid contradictory rumors of my death. Regardless, it's been great, and I'll see you in the fandom lands. Ciao!

Demyrie

PS: For anyone who wants to play with this little universe I've created, I give you full permission (that's not really mine to give I'M SORRY HASBRO, but whatever). Everyone has been very conscientious about alerting me to re-appropriations of my human interpretations, but all that is required is a link or a credit to the original story or my account, and you're good to go. I know there are loads of unexplored plot-lines and characters – that was part of the charm of this Oddverse – and I'm sure as hell not going to throw my toys away just because I'm done playing with them. They're kinda pretty, after all.

Have fun, guys!