Apocalypse World universe

Old Mech Optimus, by Imager: -- Some of you have seen this little snippet of life. This is my homage to the film trailer for Logan, reimagined for Transformers. You can see the original here, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Div0iP65aZo The song sung in this interlude is Johnny Cash's cover of 'Hurt'.

The scene is of Cybertron, turned to rust, decrepit and a wasteland, far more than the eon long war.

"Orion. There's always more to do." A female voice says. "The war is over. There's nothing left for us to fight for." grumbles a deep, basso voice.

Optimus Prime stares poignantly into an oil basin. He's old, rusted, and antifreeze trickles down his arms. His hands, once strong and firm, grip weakly against the metal. In his eyes lie the weariness of 40 eons of war...

I hurt myself today. To see if I still feel

He continues, "We have fought ourselves...to death."

I focus on the pain, the only thing that's real

The view is of Megatron and the remaining Decepticons, militia'd up in the rust wastes. Soundwave's entire arm has been immobilized, his ejector rusted and inactive, Megatron wears a tattered cloak over his shoulder, his own body ruined. He stares grimly forward.

"Who is she?" Optimus grumbles. "The first protoform born...in six eons." The female voice replies.

She continues, "They will come for her."

Optimus lowers his head, "I have no right to ask any more of them."

A small Femme of vague dimensions raises her optics upwards to the sky.

A series of tanks plow through the last remnants of Iacon, rust breaking apart into clouds of dust in their wake.

And you could have it all I

n his semi mode, Optimus barrels off of a cliff, transforms and reaches out towards the child.

A grim-faced Megatron stands upon the ruins of the Decagon, reflecting on life in disgust.

My empire of pain

Prowl and Springer are locked in combat with each other. Springer has his hands on Prowl's shoulders, screaming though there is no audio, Prowl is thrown to the ground, and Springer's sword comes down quickly thereafter.

Elita One, half of her head missing, stands in the shadows, confronting Optimus.

I will let you down

Imager and Razorclaw struggle in their last grapple. She kicks at him with her massive feet, desperate to push him off, but the Predacon holds on. His claws lunge forward, up into her chest cavity from below. He pulls on something within her, and her optics go out immediately, her body sagging.

With a groan of metal, Optimus leaps forwards his gun raised up, an iconic pose as he opens fire offscreen.

I will make you hurt

The shadow of Optimus stands before Red Alert, Jazz, and Silverbolt, the three had answered his call.

Soundwave in the background intones towards Megatron, "WHAT WILL HE DO?" Megatron turns his back, disgusted. "What he always does....ruin everything."

The small protoform Femme still clad in white metal, steps forward gingerly. The massive frame of Optimus moves to kneel, his joints shuddering, as he moves to meet her gaze on a lower level. "Hello young one." "I...am Optimus Prime."

...I will find a way

Apocalypse Universe TP
So what does this mean that this is posted here? Take a guess. I'll be running a short 3 part TP set at the very end of Cybertron's life, at the very end of the Cybertronians' lives. The Transformer race has been scattered and obliterated, only a handful of each side left alive. And even now as their species die, even now they fight, because soon there will be that one tiny spark of hope, that one flickering flame of survival. The idea that the race may still continue on...it is a cause worth dying for.

So what does this mean for you? Well first off, there's no need for new characters unless this becomes a bigger deal than it is currently. Secondly, here's the biggest detail. If you are KO'd in this TP, your Apocalypse character is considered to be DEAD. Actually dead. This does not mean that your character in standard TFU is affected in any way, just that in this future, you can be killed. If you must die, make it a good death, make it a sad one, or a glorious one. Whether your remaining missiles refuse to launch and you die flying into a hulking monster, or if a tiny stegobot curls up beside his dead friend, Soundwave, and chooses to never wake up again *sniff*, make it a good death. This is your chance to show how you want your character to die, how you see them ending.

Now that that is out of the way, its not totally about death, but about the drama of aging, of frayed alliances, of being too old to do the magic and the adventure of before. Make up new history for you and your compatriots. Have characters have a falling out over something that happened in the time between now and the future. Explore these new options, find a new history.

Now as for who has survived. Assume only the characters that are being played are alive still. lets not be too hasty in talking about who is dead because one never knows who may log in for the TP, but there's a bare handful of bots and cons left, maybe six to ten each depending on who shows. Take that into account.

Lastly, for those characters who you've reestablished for this TP, post their new profiles on this board. Just give us a rundown of them, much like a +finger, but modified with how life has changed them. I'll give you a few here shortly. Go get em, Bots and Cons.