Life changing events

Disclaimer: I do not own Transformers. Just my OCs.

Author's note: I was partially inspired by other fanfics for this "the Transformers are animated actors" story and hope that you enjoy reading this just as much as I love writing it. Admittedly, this isn't the best I've written but I am doing what research i can to keep things accurate to the time period as well make my OCs interesting.

December 25th, 1983

Dear journal,

Yesterday, I received the best news I had heard in a long time. I went to a job interview a few days ago for a position of onset mechanic for an upcoming television show about robots that turn into vehicles. It's not every day that a Toon gets a chance to work on a TV show as a behind the scenes person, let alone acting. I was never a good actor but I never really cared.

"Annie, that's exciting! You better tell Mackenzie and Colin." My sister Cathy told me over the phone. "They're going to be so excited."

"I know. Of course, I don't start until after the New Year begins but it's still great nonetheless." I admitted. Mackenzie is 6 and will be 7 in January while Colin is 8 going on 9 and his birthday is in March. We are not necessarily what I'd call poor; we live in a decent neighborhood of ToonTown and use coupons for most of our groceries when possible and I had already been making a good amount of money working at a nearby auto parts store but the idea of a job on a TV show, even if it was only behind the scenes, was too good of an opportunity to pass up. Perhaps I can raise Colin's and Mackenzie's allowance next year. Well, it's time to clean up the wrapping paper from the presents my kids got from their aunts, uncles and cousins who are visiting. I also have to get Christmas dinner cooked.

Sometimes I wish their father was still here; I curse whoever invented Dip when I think about his death but I know he'd be proud of me for how well I've done so far with taking care of two kids on my own. And now is not the time to be sad; it's a time to be excited about the future and the happiness that lies ahead.

(end journal entry.)

When she had woken up this morning, Annie White was still smiling at the news from yesterday as she showered and brushed her black hair, blinking the sleepiness from her brown eyes. She soon finished her personal grooming and got dressed in blue jeans and a red and green striped T-shirt. She slipped her new candy cane-pattern socks on along with her around the house shoes that were blue and white striped as she went back to her room. She thought about her kids and how excited her children would be when she finally told them about her new job.

Colin, who had blonde hair like his late father as well as blue eyes, was the one who had gotten up second. He was still wearing his pajamas with robots on them as he ran and woke up his family, including his two aunts, two uncles, and 3 cousins who were visiting and his little sister Mackenzie, who had black hair like her mother and was wearing plain blue pajamas.

By the time everyone had gotten up, Annie and her brother in law Eric, Cathy's husband, had cooked breakfast and had started cooking Christmas dinner and occasionally checking on it as the kids opened their presents.

Colin and Mackenzie's cousins were Aunt Sara's and Uncle Tom's daughter Ruby, who was a year older than Colin at 9 years old, and the twins Jessica and Kevin, who were Aunt Cathy and Uncle Eric's kids, were 5 years old. Ruby had red hair; the twins had brown hair. All 3 of them had blue eyes.

Mackenzie gave her cousins their presents, which were coloring books for the twins and a Barbie doll for Ruby, and gave her brother Colin a few Matchbox cars. Most of Mackenzie's own presents were also toy cars; her relatives knew she was a tomboy and that she had once mutilated the last Barbie she had been given but that incident was another story. Her uncle Tim, who had not been able to get time off for Christmas this year, had sent her a gift certificate to Toys R Us to get her own toys later.

All too soon it was time for dinner; Mackenzie sat between the twins so that they wouldn't fight with each other at the table in the kitchen while Ruby and Colin were on the other side of the table. The adults were eating on the front porch since it wasn't quite as cold as it could be in some places seeing as this was California where they lived. Then when the meal was over, everyone had gathered into the living room for an announcement from her mom.

All the kids screamed excitedly upon hearing the words "I got a new job working behind the scenes on the set of some television shows". That was even before Annie explained that she was going to be a mechanic for the stunt vehicles that would be used.

"That's so awesome!" Ruby shouted.

"What's behind the scenes mean?" Kevin asked.

"Well, it means she's not going to be an actress but she's going to still work on the show doing a different job, in this case auto mechanic like what she was doing before." Aunt Sara explained to her nephew.

The kids couldn't stop talking about it as they went to play outside; sure, there was no snow but they knew that the adults would not let them just watch TV like they usually would have. Mackenzie wondered if any of the Toon actors would treat her mom and the other show's crew members with respect; if they didn't, well, she'd be tempted to do some things would get her into a lot of trouble. Little did she know that her mom was in fact going to get some respect…

January 3rd, 1984

Optimus Prime drove up to the studio, slightly nervous about what would happen. Today was the first day of meeting with the writers to discuss the final script for the 3 part miniseries "More Than Meets the Eye". The meetings would last the rest of the week, then the next few weeks were rehearsals, and filming of The Transformers would start on February 1st. The rest of the series' first season would be filmed in March and April and premiere in ToonTown in July and nationally in September. Then, depending on how well the series did in both viewership and sale of the toys that the series was promoting, the second season would be much longer and would film starting in October.

It was a surprising that he had passed the auditions and had been chosen; Elita One had gone to support him but she would not audition; she would possibly get a guest appearance later in the series though. Optimus had been so nervous the whole time and as it turned out, many of the other robot Toons auditioning had also been nervous at first but once Ratchet insisted they all calm down and just give it their best shot, no one was quite as nervous. Some were cut but the final cast was 20 robots playing the Autobots, 16 who would be playing the Decepticons to start with though other characters would be introduced later. Also, there were two human Toons who would be playing the allies of the Autobots. Spike Witwicky and his father William Irving Witwicky, or "Sparkplug" as he was nicknamed, had been picked but Spike's mother hadn't wanted to be part of the series so it was decided that her absence would be left unexplained in show.

Optimus stopped, transformed into robot mode, and walked through the huge doors that were made for the sake of all of the robot stars of The Transformers and greeted everyone politely.

"Hey Optimus, you're just in time." One of the normal human production crew members said. "The writers are waiting; everyone else is already there."

And so, the long day began. Starscream personally thought that the idea of the anti-matter energon cubes in the episode to be titled "Roll For it" were ridiculous but, as Soundwave pointed out, the show did not have to follow real science since it was fiction. Ratchet was worried that someone would be dumb enough to hurt themselves on set but since he was a real doctor who just happened to also be playing one in fiction, the writers told him he could be on set medic for all the Toons when he wasn't filming any of his scenes.

After 2 hours, everyone went to get lunch as well as just walk around the rest of the studio. Optimus went towards the garage; some of the stunts the robots would do themselves but others were going to just use stunt cars for when vehicle mode was required in some scenes. He wanted to see if these cars had any resemblance to the vehicle modes himself and the rest of the cast had.

"Damn it, I thought I was going in the right direction to get back to where I need to be." A human Toon woman muttered.

Optimus looked down towards the black haired woman. "May I help you Miss?" he asked.

"I'm looking for the garage. It's Annie by the way." She explained, feeling nervous.

Perhaps she feels like this only because she was speaking to someone who would be a big star, the red and blue robot thought to himself. "I was heading towards there as well; would you like me to escort you Annie?" He asked.

"Yes, thank you Mr. Prime." She replied.

'You may just call me Optimus if you wish." Optimus lowered his hand so that she could sit in it. Annie climbed into it. She held on tightly as he lifted her up and walked towards the garage.

"I didn't expect to see anyone who's a star in the making out here." Annie admitted. "It's my first day of work and everything."

"It's my first official day of work as well." Optimus explained. He didn't think it was a big deal that he would be famous; after all, someday someone else might be more popular and he would be forgotten. "I think everyone is nervous today about how well of a job they are going to do overall but I do not think that anyone will do terribly as long as they keep focus on the task at hand and do their best."

"That's very reassuring, thank you Optimus." The single mom smiled.

As soon as they walked into the garage, Optimus set Annie down and sat down, making sure not to accidentally crush the stunt cars that were parked there. Some of the cars would be used on other shows besides The Transformers and those were being serviced today by Annie and at least 3 other mechanics. Sure, all 3 of her coworkers were men but they treated her well.

"I am curious about you Annie; what part of ToonTown do you live in?" Optimus asked.

"Well, I live on William Hannah Street and that has mostly human Toons and a few other animal Toons, mainly some dog, cat, rabbit, and a few other Toons that resemble pets living around me though they're a small percentage of the neighborhood's residents." She admitted. "I have a son, Colin, and a daughter, Mackenzie; they're at school right now though they really did not want to go back to school yesterday since they felt Christmas vacation was too short."

Optimus chuckled a little. "I can understand that; my own son has acted like that at times. Do you have a spouse?" He didn't realize he shouldn't have asked until he got the answer.

Putting on her work gloves in order to check a van's engine (said van would be used as a stunt vehicle for Ironhide), Annie simply answered "He died last year two weeks after my son's birthday. Dip laced bullets were used in a random shooting." She had a few tears on her face. "I still am not comfortable talking about it."

"My condolences to you for the loss of your husband." Optimus said. "I apologize for bringing up a bad memory."

"You didn't know; I can't blame you for that." She replied, wiping some tears off her face with a clean rag and popping the hood of the van. "I think he'd be impressed at how far I've come with taking care of the kids. Some of my friends thought I wouldn't be able to do it. "

Optimus smiled as he heard the woman talk about her family. "Are Mackenzie and Colin well behaved?"

"Most of the time but they're kids; they're going to make mistakes and get into trouble. I know Colin wants to be an actor too but Mackenzie thinks she wants to do something else for a career. I told them they could do whatever they want to when they're old enough." Annie checked her watch. "Wait a minute, I shouldn't be rambling on like this! You need to get back to whatever you were doing."

"Meetings with the script writers." Optimus corrected her. "Thank you for reminding me; perhaps we can get to know each other better?"

"Maybe; I think this may the start of the strangest friendship I've ever had." Annie laughed as she checked the oil in the van's engine. "I will see you around."

Optimus smiled and bid the human Toon goodbye as he left the garage. He thought he heard Sideswipe and Sunstreaker talking about the behind the scenes crew, Sunstreaker saying negative things about them and he sighed, shaking his head. This was going to be a stressful job but at least it was going to be a little bit more bearable…