I'm gonna do so much D-16 appreciation on here you guys have NO idea.
Transformers One is definitely one of my absolute favourite pieces of Transformers media and definitely my favourite Transformers movie. This is no small feat as there are at least 40 different movies, TV Shows and video games. That is without counting the several different comic series, some of which are very good and have arguably some of the franchise's best stories and writing.
Well, that's for several other posts down the line, today I'm here to discuss D-16 from TFOne. He goes through such an interesting character arc. When we first see him, he is an incredibly dutiful and hardworking bot who is the voice of reason, especially with his best friend Orion Pax.
This post was started on November 27, but I kept adding and adding until December. I finished the actual writing on December 13, which is why that is the listed date. In reality this post has been a WIP for two weeks. I didn't realise just how much I wanted to say until I started writing and had already published the post.
I want to start out with a proper examination of D-16 as a character. I wouldn't write this much about a character unless I really liked them or downright loathed them. In this case it is the former but I'm sure that I'll eventually be angry about something on here.
SPOILERS FOR TRANSFORMERS ONE
Basic plot explanation for TFOne:
Uh whoops. Turns out it wasn't very easy to do a basic explanation and I just made a summary of the entire movie. (if you know me this is very unsurprising)
Even if you have watched TFOne I still hope you find my summary/explanation interesting.
I reccommend reading my explanation near the end since my own feelings about the scenes especially bleed in there.
If you just want to see my unstructured gushing about D-16, go here.
Orion Pax and D-16 are cogless (without a transformation cog, so just a humanoid robot all of the time) miners in the city of Iacon on the planet Cybertron, where all Transformers live and come from. They toil day in and day out to keep Cybertron's population alive, because the natural flow of energon (the Transformers' source of food and energy) no longer flows.
The mythology is basically that a sort of robot god called Primus transformed into the planet Cybertron and created the first Transformers known as the "Primes" (very powerful and important Transformers) who died in a battle against the Quintessons, the arch enemies of all Cybertronians.
One of these Primes had the Matrix of Leadership which, well, it's hard to explain simply but it contains all knowledge of previous Primes (and in some continuities, the wisdom of every single deceased Transformer) and is only bestowed upon Cybetronians who are deemed worthy enough. The Matrix also causes Energon to flow on Cybertron. Before the Matrix was lost, mining for energon was not necesarry.
According to Sentinel Prime, the only Prime who survived the Quintesson attack, the Matrix has dissappeared and so he regularly goes on quests to find it... Well at least that's the official explanation. Orion Pax often sneaks into the archives to try and find clues which could help Sentinel find the Matrix. Meanwhile, D-16 is against this and trusts that Sentinel will find it by himself without Orion getting himself into trouble. Here we can sense the deep bond they have regardless of their differences in attitude.
D-16 is at the top of his mining sector and often tries to convince Orion to follow the rules as diligently as he does. Orion, while positive and interested in bettering his people and planet's future, drags D-16 into trouble without much thought. He always gives a genuine apology afterwards, though. That is why D-16 comes back time after time. Still, resentment builds up inside him. D-16 often makes aggressive remarks about killing or beating Orion. These merely seem like banter at first, and it's not until later on we realise how much aggression D-16 has inside him.
They clearly care about and know each other deeply. Orion's ambition both complements and clashes with D-16's insistence on following orders. D-16 usually end up forgiving Orion, and sometimes even begrudgingly goes along with what Orion suggests.
Something interesting to note here, is his reverence for his idol Megatronus. Megatronus is known as the strongest prime. The best one to ever live, in fact. These are traits that D-16, as a miner with few privileges and a lot of violent urges, would admire and feel a connection to.
Orion ends up tricking D-16 into racing in the Iacon 5000, a race reserved for bots that can transform. D-16 had already turned this down when Orion suggested it the night before, but Orion is set on proving that they are more than just insignificant miners, which is something D-16 wholeheartedly accepts. They end up almost winning, but fall just short of doing so because Orion went back to save D-16 who got hit by another racer. In the ensuing scene, D-16 is very mad at Orion for endangering them and possibly getting them demoted, despite feeling quite elated during the race itself.
Sentinel himself visits them in the medbay and praises them for participating. They are both very happy about this and D-16 clearly feels honoured to even meet Sentinel. Orion starts talking about how he wants to prove how miners have potential. Sentinel quickly brushes past this and says he will send them to his private care facility.
Instead, they get sent to sublevel 50 by Darkwing. (a bot who hates miners and oversees the miners) Down there they meet a very enthusiastic bot called B-127, who is exhilirated to meet other people. Down there they find a clue as to where the Matrix could be. D-16 doesn't want to go find it until Orion makes D-16 imagine what Sentinel's reaction would be if they were the ones who found it.
Eventually they end up on the surface with two additional bots, Elita-1 (their former superior in the mines) and B-127. They find the cave where the Primes were killed, but one of them, Alpha Trion, is still alive.
They awaken him and it is then revealed that Sentinel Prime never was a true prime and that he orchestrated the Quintesson attack. When he tried to take the Matrix for himself, it dissappeared, and so energon stopped flowing. He was not worthy in the eyes of Primus, since he is conniving, manipulating and ultimately unworthy of the Matrix.
This obviously shatters D-16's entire reality. All the energon he and Orion have been toiling in the mines for years upon years to obtain, has been handed over to the Quintessons. Their labor wasn't even helping the citizens of Iacon.
D-16 wishes to return to blissful ignorance. He blames Orion for uprooting the order he has come to appreciate, the only thing that kept his aggression in check. He merely talks about how Sentinel betrayed HIM with little to no regard of how the others around him may be feeling at the moment. Orion tries to explain to D-16 why they can't just stay ignorant. He tries to confront D-16 but he is having absolutely none of it. He says that Orion only ever thinks about himself, which in part is irritation over Orion's tendency to bend and ignore protocol, but also seems to be projection of some sort. When his anger reaches its boiling point, he realises that he can never return to the simple life as a miner he once had.
They continue arguing. "Don't you want to stop him?"Orion asks, to which D-16 says:
"NO, I want to kill him! I want to put Sentinel in chains and march him through the mines so everyone can see him for the false prime that he is! I want him to suffer and then to die in darkness... But we all know that it doesn't matter what I want, right, Pax? The fact is, we're just cogless bots, right? We had limited options and now, now we have none.
Watch this clip of the scene, it's very well-done in my opinion:
To make matters worse, they learn that the caste system they have been placed in since birth has been constructed by Sentinel. Under Sentinels rule, miners don't have cogs while other citizens of Iacon do, something which is treated as natural. It turns out that Sentinel took the cogs from them before they went online, so they could never achieve the ability to transform. (presumably to prevent them from rising up against him) Alpha Trion then gives them the transformation cogs of some of the other fallen primes.
D-16 starts going off the deep end. Orion, Elita and B-127 don't seem to notice his descent into violent extremism until later on where his strengthened determination makes it even harder to make him snap out of it. He becomes hellbent on revenge, regardless of wether or not it will ever help bring justice to Iacon. He does not care as long as he gets to make Sentinel feel even a smidge of the pain he's experienced all of his life. He's clearly been repressing it for a long time.
We see how D-16 is almost manically excited by his newfound powers. He is practically high on his new power and can't wait to make Sentinel pay. He has nothing left to loose and so he lets his violent tendencies overtake him.
D-16 tells Orion that he will never trust a so-called Prime ever again. He continues talking but is interrupted by an ambush from some bots on the surface. They are taken by the renegade Cybertronian High Guard. We see several well-known bots there, namely Soundwave, Shockwave and Starscream. (will make a post about TFOne Starscream sometime, he's awesome here)
Sentinel has been looking for the High Guard on his trips to the surface. Their leader, Starscream, yells at them from his throne. He believes that they are Sentinel's spies. During the time that has passed, they have become disillusioned with their original goals. Starscream speaks to the four of them:
"The idea of a unified Cybertron is a myth. All that counts is the strength of one bot over another!" To this, D-16 stands up and starts to walk away. Starscream asks what he is doing and he is blocked off by two guards. He is unphased.
"I'll tell you what I’m not doing. I’m not cowering in some busted ship, playing king of the throne." A very irritated Starscream walks down towards him as he continues speaking"I’m not pretending like I’m making a difference by throwing one punch and then running away to hide! I found out that Sentinel is rotten today, and I’m gonna make him pay for it. Today!" To which Starscream angrily replies; "You think you can insult me and just walk away? No one leaves here unless I say so. D-16 demeaningly chuckles at him "Is that right? Well, how can you say so... with my head in your teeth?"
Then D-16, the madman that he is, headbuts Starscream, challenges him to a fight. Keep in mind that D-16 is the equivalent of a 20-something-year-old with no formal combat experience who has decided to face off with the leader of an army.
AND HE WINS!
Side note: This is an awesome fight and I love seeing Starscream here, though that's for another post. He is remarkably masochistic in this scene, for whatever reason.
D-16 ends up going way overboard. As the fight grows more violent, the crowd chants his name louder and louder. Eventually he beats and strangles Starscream while he's pinned down. The fight activates something within D-16 and a large energy cannon emerges from his arm. He briefly looks at it with a shocked expressiuon. Then he threatens Starscream with it, who ends up begging for mercy despite only a few second prior literally begging D-16 to hit him.
Orion tells him to stop, and he does. He then declares that this is the last time he will ever show mercy. He encourages the High Guard to follow him to Iacon to face Sentinel instead of staying in hiding.
Orion is extremely horrified at this. D-16 briefly turns his head around in his direction and we see his previously yellow eyes flash a deep orange.
They are then ambushed by Sentinel's warriors and D-16, B-127 and Starscream are captured and taken to Iacon. Orion and Elita did not get captured and with Elita's help they convince the High Guard to help them stop Sentinel. On their way to Iacon, Orion decided to leave for a moment to go down into the mines. There he learns that Sentinel has been massively overworking them while they were gone and that the other miners were told that he and D-16 died because of injuries from the Iacon 5000 race. He holds a speech where he talks about how they all have the potential to make the world a better place, about how they can take down Sentinel if only they work together as one.
Meanwhile, D-16 is handcuffed and Sentinel talks about how he'll get them all executed for treason. D-16 tells him that he's a traitor. Sentinel mocks him for this and then notices D-16's Megatronus decal and boasts about taking his cog for himself. This enrages D-16 and he stands up to face Sentinel, who towers above him. Sentinel pushes him down and punishes D-16 by engraving the Megatronus decal into his chest. Despite this, he decides to stand up again. Sentinel is about to kill him, but then Elita and Orion arrive with their gathered forces. They save D-16 and tell him not to fight Sentinel.
Enough evidence has been gathered to incriminate Sentinel. All four of them, except for D-16 who is pissed at Sentinel, work on trying to broadcast it. D-16 fights Sentinel and is about to be killed when they are interrupted by the truth being broadcasted on every single screen. D-16 takes this opportunity to grab Sentinel and push them both out of the window. They continue fighting, but now D-16 has the upper hand. When they land, D-16 limps towards Sentinel who tries to crawl away. D-16 shoots at him but Sentinel manages to leap away. The extremely powerful blast destroys a huge statue behind Sentinel. Sentinel stops fighting back and begs for mercy. He suggests that the two of them could lead Iacon together. D-16 obviously doesn't listen to him and prepares to shoot again. Then Orion quickly jumps in front of him and D-16 narrowly manages to power his cannon down.
"What are you doing?!"
Orion tells him that it's over. That everyone in Iacon knows the truth. D-16 yells that he also knows it, that he has to do this because Sentinel took everything from him. Orion tells him that rebuilding Iacon can't possibly begin with an execution. D-16 is bitter and sad, but he's still capable of listening to reason. What is said next will tear them apart forever.
"He deserves to die! Can’t you see that?"
Orion Pax wants to imprison Sentinel and reform Iacon's corrupt systems. D-16 simply wants revenge. All his violent extremism and hatred culminates in this moment.
Orion tries to convince D-16 to stop. He ends up phrasing it in the worst possible way:
"We’re better than this. Don’t be like Sentinel."
D-16 finally loses his sanity. Orion is trying to save D-16 from himself. To not kill for the sake of killing. To not become a tyrant... but how can D-16 know that? How can he not hear his best friend compare him to the person who has hurt him the most? It is in this misunderstanding of incredible proportions D-16 gives up on listening to reason.
"Pax, you need to move out of my way before I move you myself."
Orion yet again tries to convince him, but D-16 punches and kicks him away. He is readying his cannon yet again when suddenly Orion suddenly jumps in front of the barrel and yells for him to stop.
In a stomach-churning moment, D-16 looks on in absolute horror as the blast tears right through Orion's chest. Orion falls backwards towards a giant pit.
D-16 manages to catch him. The guilt of what he has done to Orion is apparent on his face. Orion is hanging over the pit and the only thing tethering him to this world is D-16's hand.
"Why! Why did you have to do that. Why!" D-16 yells in despair. Several emotions flash across D-16's face until he settles on one final conclusion. Orion is in the way. Orion thinks he's just as bad as Sentinel. Orion has betrayed him. "D... No..." Orion knows what is about to happen. D-16 knows what he has to do; He has to let go.
He shuts his golden eyes for one final time and he leaves behind what is left of D-16. As D-16 dies, someone else replaces him. He reopens his eyes. They're completely red, lit by the rage of a lifetime of exploitation.
"I'm done saving you."
He releases his grasp. As Orion slips into the darkness, he is met with scornful yet sorrowful eyes. Then what used to be D-16 turns back around to finish what he started with Sentinel. He walks up to Sentinel, grabs him and, while he's still alive, brutally tears his body apart in front of all of Iacon.
Meanwhile we see Orion's body plunge down into Cybertron's beautiful and ever-shifting depths. Then he reaches the core of Cybertron and Primus speaks directly to him.
D-16 pulls Megatronus' stolen cog out of Sentinel's chest, discarding the core of Onyx Prime, the Prime of foresight. With Megatronus' cog in his hand, he holds a speech for his onlookers.
"The age of primes has ended! No more false prophets. Follow me, and you will never again be deceived! RISE UP! I will lead us all into the future."
Finally, he places Megatronus cog in his chest. His body reshapes itself yet again. His cannon gets two extra barrels, his helmet becomes even more closed off and his new stature makes him tower over everyone. D-16 is gone and we finally learn what replaced him.
At this moment, he sees Megatronus as everything he wants and needs to be: the strongest, the most admirable and the greatest of all. Exactly the power he needs to further fuel his hatred of authority, to punish those who have wronged him and to be stronger than the weak, opressed miner he was before.
It is this idolisation which leads to him claiming Megatron as his own name.
Megatron starts to tear down Iacon, shooting recklessly at the buildings around him. He won't stop until he is sure that every single one of Sentinel's supporters are dead. Elita-1 and B-127 try to stop him to no avail.
Orion Pax sacrificed his life for the greater good. He believed in coming together to fight for what is right, in seeing the best in people. He believed in creating a better world while D-16 sees everyone as a threat and wants to tear everything down and start over, no matter the harm caused in the process. Orion Pax believed in making a better world out of what they already had. That is what makes him worthy. That is why Primus grants him the Matrix:
"Rise up, Optimus Prime!
Optimus Prime shoots out of the depths of Cybertron and returns to face Megatron.
There is now a canyon of resentment and dissappointment between them. Megatron feels deeply betrayed, as if his former best friend has been destroyed and something new and horrible replaced him. Optimus deeply wishes he had managed to snap D-16 out of it, so he could reform Iacon with his closest friend by his side. Megatron has no sympathy for Optimus Prime. Orion Pax is dead to him, his body repurposed by the Primes for their own goals.
At the ensuing battle's most intense point, Megatron finally has Optimus pinned down, beating him with a piece of debris. When he is about to land the killing blow, the Matrix activates. A wave of energy pushes Megatron off. Optimus now wields the fabled energon axe. Megatron is completely enraged and with a roar he charges at Optimus. He fires all his weapons in a last-ditch effort to finish him off. Optimus deflects the attack with his axe and when Megatron gets close to him again, Optimus grabs Megatron's other gun, bends it and uses it as leverage to slice directly through the cannon, effectively winning the fight by incapacitating Megatron's most deadly weapon. Megatron is thrown to the ground and his eyes meet Optimus'. They're filled with a deep hurt and sadness.
He then walks up to Megatron
"We were given the power to change our world, and you chose to destroy it... just like Sentinel."
We see the shame and guilt wash over Megatron. A weak specter of D-16 still remains in him.
"You have betrayed Cybertron and its citizens...and you betrayed... me."
An immense sense of betrayal washes over Optimus as his angry expression changes to one of sadness. Lines where tears have rolled down Megatron's face make it apparent that Megatron has been crying, though he will never admit to it.
Megatron let his rage envelop him completely and utterly. He let go of Orion's hand in a fit of rage, letting him fall to his death despite the years of deep trust and friendship. All for the sake of revenge. He abused his powers to destroy Iacon against the wishes of not only Alpha Trion, but also the one person close to him.
With a deeply dismayed glance at Megatron, Optimus hardens his tone
"Go. Take the High Guard and leave. You are banished from Iacon."
Megatron's remorseful expression changes into one of complete shock. He looks at Optimus with tears in his eyes.
"It didn’t have to end this way."
"This isn’t over... Prime.
They stand face to face, glaring scornfully at each other. Nothing is left of their friendship now. Optimus steps aside to let Megatron pass.
Megatron calls for the High Guard to follow him. As they leave, Optimus looks at them with a sad expression as he thinks about how quickly their friendship fell apart.
How quickly their entire world fell apart.
He reminisces about how they met each other on their first day in the mines. They bonded over D-16's love of Megatronus, a name which now permanently divides them. Back then, they promised to look out for each other. No matter what.
Needless to say, I love this guy so much!
I keep thinking about him. I cannot escape it. I cannot help it.
D-16 is a genuinely fascinating character and his character development is so well-crafted. I have literally zero complains. The signs were all laid out from the start and we didn't see them before it was too late!
Impressively, especially for an animated movie suitable for kids, the story isn't babied at all. D-16 wants to kill Sentinel. Not "eliminate" or "get rid of". No.
He ends up ripping him apart in a scene so brutal it'd be a hard R-rating if this was about humans. We literally see his robot guts spilling out as the light leaves Sentinel's eyes.
Viewers can still empathise with D-16 despite the darkness inside of him. Maybe even because of it. Wanting to kill off corrupt politicians ruining society and people's lives for their own interests and profit sure as hell is something I've thought about on a theoretical level. I'm obviously not gonna do it, but D-16's line of thinking is unsurprising and even understandable.
It becomes an issue when it's about personal revenge instead of doing what is right. Killing political enemies sets off an extremely slippery slope, which is an extremely complicated discussion for another time.
When Orion compares D-16 to Sentinel, what he means is that being intentionally cruel and vengeful is what Sentinel stood for, and he knows that D-16 will truly loose himself if he goes through with killing Sentinel.
It's isn't about saving Sentinel, it's about saving D-16 from himself. To prevent him from becoming a murderer.
Fascinatingly, when D-16 is about to let go of Orion, he says "Why! Why did you do that! Why!" which can be interpreted in two ways:
- He still doesn't see himself at fault. D-16 feels remorse for his actions, but he can't fathom that what happened is a consequence of his radicalisation throughout the movie.
- He's asking himself why he shot Orion.
I personally think it's a mix of both. Perhaps D-16 initially blamed himself but then warped it to seeing it as Orion's fault.
D-16 deceived himself into believing that killing his best friend was something he simply had to do. That it was the right thing to do. He is so very blinded by his rage that no one can reach him. No one.
Throughout the story, D-16 is understandably irritated at Orion. Being a good miner is all he has going for him in the opressive caste system they live under. After the Iacon race, for all he knows, Orion ruined his life forever. It's made quite clear by Sentinel's cover story that they were never supposed to return alive. If Darkwing hadn't been responsible for punishing them, Airachnid may have just killed them off.
Ultimately what separates Orion and D-16 is that D-16 is an extremist. He switches between having blind faith in the system to the polar opposite; having no faith in any system at all. His emotions take reign as soon as he stops repressing them. He doesn't just start to feel them, he acts on them without any thought. He felt comfort in the deplorable conditions he faced in the mines because it was all he ever knew.
Orion, on the other hand, is an idealist. He recognises the evils of the world, but he doesn't let it bring him down or get in the way of the good of others. He doesn't give into defeatism or extreme violence to achieve his goals. He doesn't use anger as a shield against the world. He uses it to motivate himself to build a better world with what they have.
It's just so sad to see them torn apart. To see where it all went wrong. This harrowing and deeply tragic ending is among the many reasons why I love Transformers One so much
And his design! Oh wow I haven't even gotten to that yet! He looks so awesome. The helmet is simple yet it works so well for him. It is extremely versatile when conveying his character development.
Honestly I am having trouble being coherent so I'll just make a list.
- What I love about D-16/Megatron
D-16 could have been saved. Had there been more time, had they caught the warning signs, then maybe things would not have turned out like this. We will never know.
We will never know BECAUSE THEY WON'T GREENLIGHT A SEQUEL.
Fuck the marketing team! Fuck the industry for being so money-hungry that a movie has to make a bajillion dollars to be considered succesful.
It was marketed like a mediocre movie for very small kids and chosen to release at a pretty bad time. Hasbro ignored their movie and paid the price.
If companies had any grasp at all on how marketing works, respected their audience and weren't so greedy, we'd be in a better world with so much incredible art. Now that practically everyone who has seen it says it's an incredible film, surely there'd be much higher profits the next time around.(totally not trying to cope here haha)
But no! Alas! God fucking damn it I get so pissed off when I think about this. Every. SINGLE. Time.
I didn't even get to see it in cinemas because I discovered the Transformers franchise literally a week after the movie stopped being shown in cinemas. YES I AM STILL MAD ABOUT THIS.
So I rant about what I love about the movie instead to keep my head high. That's really all I can do.
This rant is around 4600 words long, by the way.
Thanks for stopping by.