Fifteen! We still have fifteen!
1. Wheeljack blows his legs off right after a huge battle. Ratchet is too busy dealing with the critically injured ‘Bots to make new non-vital parts for anyone. Chip Chase comes to visit. Wheeljack gets an idea.
2. The Transformers' names always seem to reflect some aspect of who they are. Coincidence? No. When a young Cybertronian chooses his name (which Cybertronians do as soon as they can process and replicate sounds, before they even understand what the sounds mean), that name forces his physical form and entire personality to fit a certain mold; his likes, dislikes, and so on are shaped to somehow fit the name. For example, Starscream had a perfectly normal voice for a young Seeker of his age, until he overheard a pair of astronomers having a fierce argument. Likewise, Skywarp couldn’t warp until he named himself, Red Alert didn’t have his glitch, etc.
A. Unfortunately, the Cybertronians are unaware of all this. Common scientific theory mistakenly dictates that young Cybertronians possess an instinctive understanding of themselves and their language, and that they choose their names to describe their personalities, not the other way around. Thus, when the Autobots gave the Dinobots mostly brutish, crude names, they grew up to be mostly brutish, crude mechs.
B. Only two mechs have ever chosen names which don’t translate to simple self-descriptive Cybertronian concepts. The language of Cybertron has no direct translation of ‘Optimus’ or ‘Megatron’; they’re not even derived from any real words. No one knows how the two of them named themselves; no current dialect of Cybertronian has any words that even sound like their names.
The only clue is an ancient sound-recording device, discovered long after Optimus and Megatron had grown into mature mechs. The device has small clips of some dead, forgotten language. Two words which sound like ‘Optimus’ and ‘Megatron’ are included; linguists have speculated that some other words translate to mean ‘Primus’, ‘savior’ (or ‘saviors’ - the meaning is unclear), ‘weapon’, ‘death’, and ‘worlds’.
3. If every Cybertronian stops believing in Prime, he will disappear. Megatron finds out about this and cranks up the propaganda machine.
4. Art, inspired by bunny #3 here. Panicky Kitty!Ratchet giving a frantic kitty-bath (read: licking) to a struggling Kitten!Sam and Kitten!Mikaela (who are both coated in energon). Optional: Kitten!Bumblebee standing by looking worried or attacking Kitty!Sunstreaker.
5. Optimus is Ratchet and Wheeljack’s creator.
6. Art. Swoop with red medic’s crosses.
7. Art. The Constructicons looking grumpy with freshly-painted purple medic’s crosses.
8. Swoop and First Aid get captured by the ‘Cons. They find out that they are going to be ‘coaxed’ to join the ‘Cons so the Constructies don’t have to be medics anymore. Then the ‘Cons find out the downside of trained, qualified medics…
(Everybody was kung-fu fighting! Those wrenches were fast as lightning!)
Of course, the Autobots wouldn’t just let Swoop and First Aid kill all the ‘Cons. They have to learn to share. Ratchet, the Protectobots, and the Dinobots to the rescue!
9. The humans had always been under the impression that the Autobots and Decepticons fought the war because the political and military future of civilian citizens was at stake. They were wrong. There is no civilian population on Cybertron. Decepticons acquire weapons and materials from Shockwave’s drones, while Autobots get them from other races who either uphold ancient treaties or are paid to steal from Shockwave’s factories.
10. A human character (take your pick) dies. The Autobots attend the funeral. The Decepticons show up also.
11. “…you did NOT just cheer me up.”
“Yes I did. You smiled. I saw you.”
“…If I agree, will you go away and give me my bad mood back?”
12. “To borrow the human phrase: Why is it that you always have to fall for the ‘bad boys’?”
13. “Yet in his eyes, all the sadness of the world / Those pleading eyes, that both threatened and adored.”
14. The walls and ceiling were completely covered in holo-photos.
15. The ‘Bots (or the ‘Cons) get a Cybertronian-scale mechanical bull. Yee-haw!