WARNING:
[Spoilers abound]
I've listed this under teen, lest a young'un (little bit of friendly fire there) stumbles on my f-bomb.
Additionally, a quick apology for any bad grammar or spelling errors. This entire post is really just me trying to express how much I love this character, the movie, and Transformers in general with a bunch of unorganized thoughts, and my friends are way too tired of me yapping, so I will instead do so to the NewGrounds void.
Guys why in the actual fuck is Transformers One so good?
I recently watched the movie for the fourth time (don't judge okay, the hyper fixation is a little too real right now), and I just noticed that the little strip of metal Megatron/D-16 stomps on in that scene when he's talking about being lied to by Sentinel (time stamp at [51:13]) was the strip that all the miners wear, B-127 doesn't have one because he's been banished to the dungeon, and Elita-1 initially wears it when she is still a miner, but when she's demoted to waste management, it's no longer there. It indicates rank, so when you see Orion's strip, it only has one cube/gold plate in it.
D-16's, however, is nearly full, which is also why he points to it when he talks to Orion in the Medbay, he taps his chest just under the strip while he says: "I was paying my dues, I was going places." [22:56]. I didn't even notice it at first, I thought he was pointing at his Megatronus decal.
These little details that aren't shoved in your face are such a brilliant, subtle way to both build up the characters and the world they inhabit. The 'model' worker that is D-16, versus the troublemaker who's Orion Pax. How D-16 had more to lose than Pax, not just his because of his bruised pride and ego, but also all the effort he makes to succeed in the system. He lives in a place that actively prevents him from truly succeeding, but because he truly, fully believes in the current system, he is content with it, which is why his descent seems so sudden in the latter half of the movie. He was a "perfect" worker for Iacon in every sense, a "perfect" citizen, he entirely trusts in Sentinel, almost to the point of worship, he's an efficient and hard-working miner (as referenced by Sentinel mentioning that he was, as a miner, "Atop the leaderboard in your sector" [1:11:35]) and he (D-16) even blames himself getting punched by Darkwing, despite the fact that he was just trying to defend/explain Orion's actions.
Orion senses that something is wrong with the status quo, which is why he works so hard to fight against it by trying to uncover the truth, to find the Matrix of Leadership, it's because he intrinsically feels that the world is unfair/that there's something wrong ("Deep down, I always knew something was off" [50:44]). He knew that those limited options are just that, they're limitations on the cogless, ways to limit their freedom, their "auto"nomy if you will (If you won't, I'll be very sad). So when he finds that all his doubts are proven right, unlike D-16, when he casts aside the system (his rank-strip is also gone when D-16 smashes his), he's not as deeply affected by it, because some part of him has always felt uneasy about it. However, unlike Orion, who sheds the system in order to pursue one that is fair, D-16 is consumed by the betrayal and rage he feels, because his entire life, his identity, all his moments of swallowed pride were for nothing ("Every single day of my life... has been a lie." [50:30]). Orion Pax is able to let go, to think to the future, to be optimistic, while D-16 is not.
PointlessHub does a really good job at explaining D-16's fall (in a better way than I could ever express) so I'm linking his video at the specific point in it that talks about him. I really recommend you watch the full thing, all his videos are top-notch, couldn't glaze the guy more:
Continuing on-
About Megatron's eyes, the shift from yellow to red, it's been talked about so much already, and aside from saying that I personally think it's really, really, cool, I don't have much else to add. So instead of beating a dead horse, I'm gonna beat a half-alive one instead (if this was something that was also already talked about too much, I'm sorry for mistaking a dead horse for an alive one).
Unlike all the other bots, Megatron/ D-16 has hexagons for irises instead of circles.
It really helps with his expressions too, because with his irises a sharper shape, they're able to emphasize the angularity of the rest of his face, making it more intense. The other bots do have a similar level of boxiness/rigidness to their designs too, but their round irises look softer and more approachable, a little more human, which also reflects in how they emote.
It's also cool that in most cartoons, villains tend to feature more angular designs, whereas heroes are more boxy or round. So the angular irises of Megatron really work from a traditional cartoon sense too. This is really well presented in Transformers Prime as well, where Megatron and really the decepticons in general (maybe an exception could be made for Breakdown and Skyquake) heavily feature triangular shapes and sharp edges, while the autobots tend to be more boxy.
The eyes are a great way to set Megatron apart from autobots and decepticons alike (Starscream and Shockwave both have circular irises, so I don't think hexagonal eyes are a symbol of "evil/malice"). But the angularity of his irises helps to sell the fact that he's abrasive and severe even as D-16, who's a pretty chill guy
(stole this gif from the PointlessHub video because it was just so perfect)
A way this 'sharpness' manifests is in how he constantly threatens Orion Pax with violence/death ("If we survive this, I'm gonna kill you!" [19:26]), though they're mostly comedically hyperbolic moments, and D-16 doesn't really mean it, (I do tend to say worse things to my buddies, but this is a movie, so I'm allowed to overanalyze it however I want) they help to emphasize the idea that he's always been at least a little violent and cagey. Even if overall, he's a decent person (bot? Cybertronian?)
Well, at least until he becomes Megatron.
I'm finished trying to dissect stuff in an organized way now, so here's some random thoughts I'm too lazy to try and refine:
Megatron, oh my god, he looks incredible, we finally get a sleek, uncluttered design in an actual Transformers movie for the first time since 1984. I wasn't even alive then so I couldn't enjoy seeing something like that on the big screen till now. It's not like I despise Bay's Megatron or anything, I actually really like that version of his design, the jagged edges really work. I'm just tired of the convoluted, overly complex transformer designs.
G1 was fun as hell, and I'm glad to see more appreciation of those designs on the big screen. Crossing my fingers for a gun form with the tank one, because that's silly, and I want to see Starscream/Optimus Prime shoot Megatron (as in use him as a gun, not shoot, shoot, though to be fair, they do plenty of that).
The cameos made me kick my feet, Wheeljack looks so damn good-
They finally gave him his stupid blue sides back, they've been grey or molded smoothly into his head for too long. I really wanted to see the Dr. Ratchet mentioned in the Medbay sequence, but you can't have everything I guess.
Jazz is also here!
And though his screen time is short, it's sweet. He's my absolute favourite autobot and I hate how he was uh, treated in the Bayverse. I nearly didn't recognize him because for some reason my brain associates his character with his original colour palette in the 80's cartoon, so him being gray like his Bayformer counterpart caused my mind to lag a little bit, I love him in any form nonetheless, and his upgraded, cogged version is basically just the G1 design anyway, so it's not like I'm complaining.
I'm disappointed that it seems like we'll never get a sequel, but at least they went out with a bang.
I missed the movie when it was playing in theatres, a great sin I know, but I'm waiting for it to play again at the cheap rerun theatre near my neighbourhood so I can support it just a little more with my limited funds.
TFOne is a really, really, really good movie that will forever hold a place in my heart and if you don't watch it, I'll pee in your shoes.