Enough bunnies for a one-armed combiner...
...because I only have four, and a one-legged combiner wouldn't be able to kick ass.
1. AU. Prowl and Ultra Magnus apparently have the same rank (Sub-Commander) and the same job (second-in-command), and both seem to have been police officers of some sort before or during the war. (IDW explicitly states Ultra Magnus is a space cop an agent of the Tyrest Accord which is, you know, a space cop.) So what if Optimus Prime had decided to assign his old friend Ultra Magnus to the Ark and leave Prowl on Cybertron to lead the Autobot forces there?
A. Springer might be the Wreckers' team leader, but Prowl is the boss. How is that going to work, when Prowl and the Wreckers can barely stand one another?
B. Or, Prowl vs. Shockwave. Logical tactical genius vs. logical tactical genius? Round one: Fight! They might kill each other, they might reach a truce, or Megatron might wake up X million years later and try to contact Cybertron, only to discover that Prowl has conquered the planet.
2. Probably an AU. The G1 cartoon never explains how the Season 2 Autobots got there. According to the comics, Smokescreen, Hoist, Grapple, Skids, and Tracks were created using copies of the memories of pre-existing Autobots. (The others came across the Space Bridge later on. Except for Red Alert and Inferno, who just showed up with no explanation. Now I have a headache.) How does the copied memories thing work? I can think of a few possibilities. I'm sure other people can think of more.
A. The copies have sparks but are essentially new people with borrowed memories. They're more mature than other new Transformers (Dinobots, Aerialbots, Protectobots, etc.) because they have those memories, but they're still the Cybertronian equivalents of newbies. What happened to the originals anyway? Are they dead? Are they still back on Cybertron? Are they Neutrals? Did any of them defect to the Decepticons while the Ark crew was asleep? What happens if you get two Transformers with the same memories together in one place? Is the older one a parent, an older brother, or a stranger who resents sharing their memories? Do they have all of the originals' memories or do they have copies that have been edited to remove embarrassing memories, ex-lovers, and important secrets? How does the lack of those memories alter their personalities?
B. The copies don't have sparks. They are incredibly advanced artificial intelligences which mimic the personalities and behaviors of the originals. As far as the Autobots are concerned, they're little more than smart drones. Did any of the Ark's crew members know the originals? Is it creepy to see these copies mimicking their old friends? Are the originals dead or defected or still around somewhere back on Cybertron? What would they think if they met their drone copies? What happens if they develop sparks of their own or start developing new personality traits, effectively becoming sentient individuals instead of drone copies? And what happens when/if Raoul finds out his buddy is just a robot and not a sentient robot?
C. The copies are more or less the originals. The originals died, their memories were copied, and Optimus Prime used the Matrix to collect their sparks from the Well of Allsparks so that they could be resurrected on Earth.
D. Some combination of the above. Maybe Grapple and Hoist were resurrected because they're a bonded couple, so they're option-C copies. Smokescreen is an option-A copy with memories edited to make him more like an Autobot than his completely amoral Neutral "father," a compulsive gambler and con man who would really like to see his copy be destroyed just in case Smokescreen has access to any memories containing secret information. Skids is an option-B drone that never developed any personality/spark of his own--which explains why no one ever remembers he exists. Meanwhile, Tracks is an option-B clone and Ratchet or Hoist, in a routine checkup, just discovered the drone has developed a spark. Or whatever.
3. How about a crossover with the Saiyuki manga or anime?
A. Sanzo might be the divinely appointed hero, but he's still, well, Sanzo. He shoots at his team when they annoy him and smacks them with his fan and/or random objects. And they put up with it, not because he's stronger than them (*cough-Megatron-cough*), but because any of them could rip his head off single-handedly. Literally single-handedly. A meeting between the Sanzo party and the Autobots or the Decepticons could be very interesting.
B. The Sanzo party has Jeep (changed to Hakuryu in the anime), a small white dragon which transforms into a green army Jeep. Maybe a wacky series of events sticks Hound with the Sanzo party and Jeep/Hakuryu with the Autobots.
4. Or how about a crossover with one of the Tenchi Muyo continuities?
A. In most continuities, the Jurai have spaceships made out of specially treated wood. That should freak out the Cybertronians, y/n?
B. In most continuities, the main characters have at least one cat/rabbit hybrid (cabbit!) that can turn into a giant spaceship and sometimes also into a mecha.
C. The Jurai royal family's trees and Ryoko's gems are sources of outrageous power. I'm sure the Decepticons would like to get their hands on them. And I'm sure that the combined force of Tenchi's harem could kick the Decepticons' collective ass.
1. AU. Prowl and Ultra Magnus apparently have the same rank (Sub-Commander) and the same job (second-in-command), and both seem to have been police officers of some sort before or during the war. (IDW explicitly states Ultra Magnus is a space cop an agent of the Tyrest Accord which is, you know, a space cop.) So what if Optimus Prime had decided to assign his old friend Ultra Magnus to the Ark and leave Prowl on Cybertron to lead the Autobot forces there?
A. Springer might be the Wreckers' team leader, but Prowl is the boss. How is that going to work, when Prowl and the Wreckers can barely stand one another?
B. Or, Prowl vs. Shockwave. Logical tactical genius vs. logical tactical genius? Round one: Fight! They might kill each other, they might reach a truce, or Megatron might wake up X million years later and try to contact Cybertron, only to discover that Prowl has conquered the planet.
2. Probably an AU. The G1 cartoon never explains how the Season 2 Autobots got there. According to the comics, Smokescreen, Hoist, Grapple, Skids, and Tracks were created using copies of the memories of pre-existing Autobots. (The others came across the Space Bridge later on. Except for Red Alert and Inferno, who just showed up with no explanation. Now I have a headache.) How does the copied memories thing work? I can think of a few possibilities. I'm sure other people can think of more.
A. The copies have sparks but are essentially new people with borrowed memories. They're more mature than other new Transformers (Dinobots, Aerialbots, Protectobots, etc.) because they have those memories, but they're still the Cybertronian equivalents of newbies. What happened to the originals anyway? Are they dead? Are they still back on Cybertron? Are they Neutrals? Did any of them defect to the Decepticons while the Ark crew was asleep? What happens if you get two Transformers with the same memories together in one place? Is the older one a parent, an older brother, or a stranger who resents sharing their memories? Do they have all of the originals' memories or do they have copies that have been edited to remove embarrassing memories, ex-lovers, and important secrets? How does the lack of those memories alter their personalities?
B. The copies don't have sparks. They are incredibly advanced artificial intelligences which mimic the personalities and behaviors of the originals. As far as the Autobots are concerned, they're little more than smart drones. Did any of the Ark's crew members know the originals? Is it creepy to see these copies mimicking their old friends? Are the originals dead or defected or still around somewhere back on Cybertron? What would they think if they met their drone copies? What happens if they develop sparks of their own or start developing new personality traits, effectively becoming sentient individuals instead of drone copies? And what happens when/if Raoul finds out his buddy is just a robot and not a sentient robot?
C. The copies are more or less the originals. The originals died, their memories were copied, and Optimus Prime used the Matrix to collect their sparks from the Well of Allsparks so that they could be resurrected on Earth.
D. Some combination of the above. Maybe Grapple and Hoist were resurrected because they're a bonded couple, so they're option-C copies. Smokescreen is an option-A copy with memories edited to make him more like an Autobot than his completely amoral Neutral "father," a compulsive gambler and con man who would really like to see his copy be destroyed just in case Smokescreen has access to any memories containing secret information. Skids is an option-B drone that never developed any personality/spark of his own--which explains why no one ever remembers he exists. Meanwhile, Tracks is an option-B clone and Ratchet or Hoist, in a routine checkup, just discovered the drone has developed a spark. Or whatever.
3. How about a crossover with the Saiyuki manga or anime?
A. Sanzo might be the divinely appointed hero, but he's still, well, Sanzo. He shoots at his team when they annoy him and smacks them with his fan and/or random objects. And they put up with it, not because he's stronger than them (*cough-Megatron-cough*), but because any of them could rip his head off single-handedly. Literally single-handedly. A meeting between the Sanzo party and the Autobots or the Decepticons could be very interesting.
B. The Sanzo party has Jeep (changed to Hakuryu in the anime), a small white dragon which transforms into a green army Jeep. Maybe a wacky series of events sticks Hound with the Sanzo party and Jeep/Hakuryu with the Autobots.
4. Or how about a crossover with one of the Tenchi Muyo continuities?
A. In most continuities, the Jurai have spaceships made out of specially treated wood. That should freak out the Cybertronians, y/n?
B. In most continuities, the main characters have at least one cat/rabbit hybrid (cabbit!) that can turn into a giant spaceship and sometimes also into a mecha.
C. The Jurai royal family's trees and Ryoko's gems are sources of outrageous power. I'm sure the Decepticons would like to get their hands on them. And I'm sure that the combined force of Tenchi's harem could kick the Decepticons' collective ass.