Hey fans! So I have the privilege of watching Rise of the Beasts today as a cinema near where I live had it on today instead of the 22nd of June as the national release date for Australia. I am not going to spoil anything. But here is my brief review of the movie.
Mirage was the best thing in the movie.
Optimus is a savage with his words, and I appreciated his apprehension to humans.
Primal was pretty awesome to watch.
Scourge was a decent villain.
How does it compare to the Bayverse? Well, the short response to that is, The Last Knight is gold compared to the cluster I just watched.
This is my opinion, and if you enjoy the film, that is fine. But that is how I feel about the movie.
All I can say is, despite how I feel about the movie, I am still tempted to write a story about it. So keep an eye out for that in the future.
Saphira was sitting on a hospital bed after being brought to the medical facility of NEST. She was wearing a white robe now and her left arm out as the glass was carefully removed and her wounds being attended to. And the scrape on her back was worse than she had thought too. There was a shallow wound there now, and now that the adrenaline had passed, the pain really kicked in. She was not happy about it at all. The glass shards stung, that was true, but it was not as bad as the wound in her back. She was just thankful she did not need any stitches in all of her wounds. She did need stitches to the wound on her shoulder once the shard was removed. Ointment was applied, and she was given antibiotics too since the wound on her back was bad enough to already get infected despite being shallow.
Ratchet had been the one to carefully remove each shard of glass from her arm. She now had to have a nice bandage around her arm since there were too many wounds to bandage individually, so it made more sense. But she at least did not have to need a cast. That was a bonus in her mind as a broken bone would really make things a lot more complicated. At least now NEST was going to listen to her, and she hoped that they would listen. She really disliked that they have ignored her until the point she was attacked directly by the decepticons.
Saphira narrowed her eyes as she stared at the floor. "This is such bullshit…" Ratchet looked at her in surprise just as he removed the last shard. "It took me being attacked for NEST to listen…it's such bullshit…"
"Yeah, it is." Ratchet could not help but agree as he looked back at her arm and grabbed a bandage to begin wrapping her arm. "But as it seems you were able to get some information, that does seem like an obvious reason why Laserbeak would attack you. There's a chance he has been watching you."
"The decepticons don't need to spy on me while energon sensors keep watch around the globe," Saphira said bluntly, glancing at her arm as Ratchet wrapped her arm up gently. "They had their human operatives. I cannot help but wonder just how many more there are in this world."
"It would seem that way. You'll have to tell this to Mearing when she arrives. I know she will take your word seriously, and it is a good thing. But…if it weren't for the decepticons, I am not sure if she would have listened too." Ratchet intakes heavily as he pondered on it. "What exactly did you learn?"
"That Barricade might not far from the truth," Saphira said in a simple, confident tone. "He has not changed his story, and with what I have learned, he is not far from the truth. I just wish and hope that Optimus will listen to me on that. I know it won't be easy."
Ratchet listened quietly and hummed softly. "I am also struggling to believe that Sentinel could have made any kind of deal with Megatron. I hope you understand that, Saphira." She nodded that she understood. "But if the decepticons do have a plan regarding something that you have learned, we will definitely take it into consideration. But if this does revolve around Sentinel, you are going to have a hard time convincing everyone here."
"Yeah…I got that." Saphira at least knew that she was not going to be in for an easy time speaking with Optimus. She did not want to argue with him. "At the very least, I am alive. Optimus is so relieved, and he's impatient. I think he really wants to land and see me."
"I do believe they should be here within the hour…maybe half hour, I am not sure. You definitely do not have long to wait. But you unfortunately cannot tell anyone about what happened until they arrive. Mearing is on her way, but that will take time too."
"Everyone is taking time." Saphira was not even being sarcastic about it either. She missed Optimus and she wanted to curl up in his arms. "I am also getting impatient. I have important information, and no one is here to receive it."
"There will be, just give it time." Ratchet finished bandaging her arm and smiled at her. "That should feel better, too." She looked at her arm and lowered it with a shrug. "Look, I have listened to Barricade's warning. I do believe he believes what he knows, and maybe something was indeed said between Megatron and Sentinel. But I knew him too, and I have a hard time believing he would betray us that easily."
"Yeah, well...the thing is, though, if Barricade is capable of changing sides, anyone is capable to making deals with the devil." The medic raised an eyebrow at her. "I'm not kidding, Ratchet. Don't you remember the Lord of the Rings? Saruman the White was also a good wizard, and then he was fooled into aligning with Sauron out of fear and greed. And you never know, Sentinel might do the same."
"I guess you are right, to a degree. But we cannot possibly know what transpired on our planet before Sentinel left Cybertron. I think we are all not sure if what Barricade knows is true. For all we know, he misunderstood." Saphira did realize that was also possible. But the scrap bots were saying the same thing, and she didn't want to brush it all aside simply because of a possibility that she was wrong. "We will listen to what you have to tell us when Mearing and Optimus arrive, Saphira. You should take the time to relax now."
"I need to take the time to get a new car too," Saphira said with a light chuckle. "I'm thinking a Nissan GTR." Ratchet grinned at her as she told him her thoughts. "It's a favorite of mine."
"Whatever you decide to do, I am sure it will be fine. You can afford any kind of vehicle after all. But first, I will just inform you that you will be on the antibiotics for just a couple days. Since the infection is fresh, it should be cleared quickly." Saphira knew that, but she knew she had to hear it from a doctor first. "And I have put in a recommendation that you stay here for a few days because of it. Thankfully, it has been approved."
"As it should. Can I change into proper clothes now?" Saphira looked down at the robe with a frown. "I do not want to be wearing this all day. It's not really dignifying."
"Alright. We are finished here anyway." Ratchet finished inputting notes onto a tablet as Saphira stood up with a groan. "Though I think one of the officers brought you need clothes as well. I saw her with them, but I am not sure where she put them."
Saphira figured it was on a desk or something as she began to look around the room. It took her a little while before she spotted a folded set of clothes. A shirt, jacket and jeans, which made her smile since Laserbeak did mess up the clothes she was wearing today. She grabbed them and took them to the bathroom to get changed. And it was a somewhat agonizing process with the injuries on her body. Slowly, but surely, she was able to put the new clothes on and they were reasonably comfortable.
She sighed deeply as she looked in the mirror and fixed up her hair before she walked out of the room. She smiled as she saw Ratchet waiting for her. "So...am I able to go? Or are there other things you need to tell me?"
"You are free to go. Barricade is waiting outside the door to take you to the hangar. You will be able to stay there until Optimus returns with Lennox, and Mearing arrives as well. I am not sure if she will turn up at the same time as them though." Ratchet shrugged before looking at her with a smile. "I hope you can take it easy, Saphira."
"Thank you." Saphira appreciated his warm words as she made her way to the door. She opened it and smiled as she saw Barricade leaning against the wall by the door with his arms crossed with a concerned expression on his face. "Hi, Barricade. I'm okay, and I'm good to go with you to the hangar."
Barricade smiled slightly at her as he straightened up from where he was leaning and walked over to her. "I do wish that I had been there to help sooner. I know it's nonsense, but it is worse when someone seems to think I could be misunderstanding."
Saphira widened her eyes in surprise. "Oh, I did not realize you heard that."
"You probably don't know how good our hearing is. Ratchet would have known I was here listening." He shook his head as they walk down the hallway. "And I thought Ratchet was reasonable. Am I living a totally different reality or something?"
"I have listened to you, Barricade. I do believe you, even if not everything is as you think. You know that." The former decepticon simply huffed, and she softened her expression. "Listen, I will tell Optimus and Mearing about what I have learned. But I think I need to do more digging. And I think I will need a different source."
Barricade looked at her in surprise. "You think you can dig deeper?" She nodded. "And what other source do you think you need?"
Saphira shrugged as she thought about it. "The idiot who helped us get to Egypt."
Barricade frowned in confusion for a moment as he pondered what exactly she had meant. "Idiot? Hmm...oh! Wait, don't tell me! Not him. You can't mean him." She nodded and the bot glanced around briefly and leaned closer to her to whisper. "I think you're crazy to think about asking for his help again. But he has done us good in the past."
"Exactly. And I believe, with the money be now earns, he can help us even further. But we need to be careful." Barricade nodded in agreement. "I won't ask for his help just yet, only when we really need it."
"Smart idea. I like it when you do that." Barricade smile widened as he was very impressed. "I know what we can do. How about a little bit of adrenaline on the racetrack?" She raised an eyebrow and points at her bandaged arm. He chuckled softly at her. "Just kidding!"
She elbowed him playfully. "You idiot, you almost had me believing your word." He chuckled again at her. "Where are Wheelie and Brains?"
"They're with some of the engineers working on some kind of prototype. I am the only one who is pretty much free from doing anything. Wheeljack is still doing what he does best." Saphira widened her eyes smiled as she realized she hasn't seen him in a while. "Ah, I forgot, maybe I should take you to him. He is in the hangar, coincidentally. He's showing off some new weapons or something."
"I guess it is a good thing we will be heading that way," Saphira said with a light chuckle. "But I am more excited about waiting in the hangar for Optimus." Barricade was not surprised one bit by Saphira's comment. "But I could have used a bit of time to chat with those two bots, they have been super helpful. Maybe later."
"They will definitely be free later. The engineers don't have long days here, so you will find they will be free within a few hours…I know that by then, Optimus will be here, but they may get to leave early because of that. I can only hope anyway." Barricade shrugged as he pondered on it. "I do wonder as well, will this affect your job?"
Saphira shook her head. "No, it won't Do not worry much about that. I can choose to work hard or not for the work that I do. But I cannot really go into detail about it."
The bot smiled at her as he listened to her. "I suppose that is a good thing. But I am sure that with the money you have in your bank, it would not matter if you had no job as you could live off it." He was right about that, but Saphira was not someone who would just sit and do nothing. She would be extremely bored otherwise. "I am glad that we autobots need no such trivial thing as money. Having seen how humans react to it, it is something I am glad we do not delve into."
"Yeah, I definitely agree. I do feel that money has not changed me though. And that is how I wanted it to be, and I am sure you know that. The only thing that has changed is my maturity…or at least, I hope I have matured a lot since I met the autobots." Barricade chuckled softly in amusement at the girl as her comment was rather funny to him. "Though I was pretty mature by the time Optimus met me, so I don't know."
"You have definitely grown a lot during these past few years, Saphira. You have become stronger, and you have become more mature. These are all positive, Saphira, and you should pat yourself on the back for that kind of achievement." He placed his hand on her shoulder gently. Thankfully it was the right shoulder. "That is what your experiences have brought you. I am sure you probably feel a little heavy at times, but that is something we all experience."
"I guess you are right. I at least can look at that positively. I guess dying and saving Optimus's life will always be the top experience for me." He nodded as he glanced at her. "It was kind of surreal, though. I met the Primes, and they pretty much have been watching this whole time."
"You met them?" Barricade was so surprised as he listened to Saphira as this was certainly something he had not expected. "Really?" She nodded. "Wow...even though you were dead, you were brought before the twelve Primes of old. That is...I really hope you were honored to be there before their feet." She nodded affirmatively. "Good. The fact that they brought you to them, spoke to you and, I am assuming, gave you permission to be Optimus's sparkmate..."
"Actually, they said it was always my destiny to be his sparkmate. I was surprised and happy at the same time. But...I do wish that we could have brought them back." She looked down a little as she thought back to them. "But they did not want it. They were so humble, I wish I could have some way to speak to them."
"That would be nice. But their time was over a long time ago. Their wisdom would be nice now, but there is nothing more we can do." Barricade could see that Saphira knew that, and he glanced out a window as they walk by it. He stopped for a moment as he spotted a large aircraft in the sky. "I think I see the plane bringing Optimus home."
Saphira immediately looked out the window to look at the sky and she smiled, grabbing Barricade's hand and pulling him away from the window. "Come on, Barricade! Let's get to the hangar before they land! I do not want to miss it."
Barricade chuckled as he walked quickly with Saphira out of the medical center. He wasn't entirely sure if he saw the right plane, but it was possible. He knew it would take a little bit before the pilot lands the plane, so they would have to wait a little bit. He figured she could at least catch up with Wheeljack if she wanted to. But she may even want to have Barricade take her to the airstrip to watch the plane arrives. He did know if would be more than one aircraft landing too.
Once they exit the medical center, Saphira saw Barricade's vehicle mode ahead and the passenger door opened for her. "Thank you, Barricade." Saphira stepped inside with a slight grimace. "Ouch...even sitting hurts my back."
"Take it easy and you will be fine," Barricade said as his holoform disappeared. "Shall I bring you to the hangar?"
"If you don't, I will find something that will annoy you and you will become irritable for the rest of the day," Saphira threatened playfully with a chuckle. "I am sure you wouldn't want that."
"You know I get irritated easily," Barricade said with a chuckle. "Alright, I'll bring you to the hangar." The Challenger engine roared to life and he rolled towards the hangar. "I suppose you can say your hellos to Wheeljack before we go and sit by the runway and watch the planes land and you can greet your sparkmate."
"That does sound like a good plan, to be honest," Saphira said as her excitement grew. She kept her eye to the sky, watching the planes circle the base and she knew they were preparing to land. "I cannot wait to see him again. I only take a minute away from him, and I miss him."
Barricade chuckled softly as he was not surprised. "In a few years from now, you most likely won't feel that. It is always the early years of being sparkmates you feel that way. Then it becomes pretty much normal to see them every day and you slowly get annoyed with them. Of course, it does not happen all the time, but it seems to happen quite a bit."
She chuckled softly as she was not surprised. "Just like human relationships."
Barricade just chuckled again at her comment. He did not know a lot about human relationships, but he has observed it a little bit. A part of him did wish he had gotten Saphira to love him before she met Optimus, but he was following orders at the time. Looking back, he knew things could have been done differently. But there was not much he could do about that now, and he knew it. He was fine being friends with her, and he might find someone else he could love. But he was not sure.
He drove into the hangar and Saphira spotted Wheeljack. The old bot turned around to face them and his optics lit up with a smile on his face. "Ah, it is good to see you again," He said cheerfully as Barricade stopped by him. You are super lucky that I am not in the middle of a dangerous experiment." He looked at Saphira as she stepped out with a smile on her face. "I heard you had kind of a rough time earlier, Saphira. I am so sorry for that, lass."
"Eh, it is okay." Saphira smiled at him and glanced at his desk as Barricade transformed. "I will heal, and thankfully, Barricade was able to get there before Laserbeak could try anything." She walked closer to the bot, glancing at his desk curiously. "How have you been, Wheeljack? It has been months since I last saw you."
"I have been marvellous!" Wheeljack turned to grab something from the desk and leaned down to show Saphira. "I have been working on this. It's a grenade that I have made for humans to use." Saphira looked at it curiously as it looked like a spear in shape. "It has a timer though, so it is extremely useful for when needing to destroy something and there is time to get out. And it will pack a punch."
"That's pretty cool. Is it ready to be used yet?"
"It is, actually." Wheeljack looked back at his desk and grabbed something else to show Saphira. "This here is designed to fit the wrist and hand of any human. It can be used as a grappling hook or even a harpoon in tight situations. It used as a grappling hook, this will do the work for you and take you to safety, so the use of legs are not necessary."
Saphira looked at the next item, and it did look like a metal glove of some sort. "That's pretty cool. And kind of funny with that description, if I am honest." Wheeljack grinned as she looked at the two items in his hand. "I think the military will like it. These are very, very useful."
"Thank you. Oh, and I have something else…" Wheeljack turned around to grab something else. He put the two items back on the desk and grabbed a cube, and inside was a pale, green liquid. "I have managed to perfect synthetic energon. You already know I have done well with it, but now I have managed to create many different flavors. And they are all of different grades."
"My favorite is the purple, red and the dark blue energon," Barricade said, getting Saphira attention. "They have a sweet flavor to it that I quite like. The dark blue energon has the highest grade, which I don't have all the time or I would likely end up drunk."
"So it is alcohol too?" Saphira asked curious with a grin.
Barricade and Wheeljack laugh gently at her. "I guess it kind of is. Optimus has the dark blue energon all the time, and it does not affect him. But the dark pink energon, well, Optimus only took a few sips before he noticed how it affected him."
"Yes, well, I am still working on that one," Wheeljack said as he chuckled softly, putting the cube away. "Sometimes I don't realize how strong it is until someone tests it. And to be fair, Barricade…" He looked at the former decepticon with an amused expression. "Being a Prime, his tolerance for high grade is much higher than yours. I am sure you know that quite well."
"Yes, I do, Wheeljack. Optimus needs the high grade more than me too." Barricade looked down at Saphira as she was chuckling at him. "I see you find that quite funny."
"I do. But I also do not know if really want to see any of you drunk. I am not sure if that would be scary or not." Saphira gasped suddenly as the jet of a plane flew over that hangar and she turned with a squeal. "They're almost here!" She ran back to the door to head outside. "Are you coming, Barricade?!"
Barricade shrugged and followed her quickly with a smile. Wheeljack just chuckled and turned back to his work. Barricade thought about scooping Saphira up to have her sit on his shoulder, but she probably would not want that. She ran out of the door and looked around, and she spotted one of the planes touching down on the runway. She squealed happily and ran towards the runway, making sure to keep to the side before she came to a stop to watch them.
Barricade walked over with a smile and knelt down beside her. "You know, I have no idea what exactly happened over there, but I still think it was fishy. Especially if Prime himself said something was odd about it."
"Yeah, but we will try to talk to Optimus anyway." Saphira stared at the plane was it slowed down and began moving in their direction. She looked at the second plane as it came in for landing and she smiled. "I wonder which one has Optimus on board."
"We will find out soon enough." Barricade smiled as he watched the first plane roll over as it was guided to where it would be parked before it came to a stop. "I imagine Optimus is feeling happy to feel your excitement."
"He is. He is also excited to see me, and I also sense that worry too." Saphira watched the first plane intently as the ramp is brought down. She widened her eyes when she saw the camaro roll of first. "Bumblebee!" She could not help but run over excitedly.
Bumblebee transformed and he was so happy to see Saphira running over to him. "Hey there, little sister!" He walked towards her and scooped her up from the ground. "It has been too long!"
Saphira giggled as he held her before she grimaced. "Just be careful, Bee. I am still sore."
Bumblebee looked at her arm before setting her on his shoulder. "I apologize, my friend. I will try and be careful with you."
"We most certainly don't want her hurt anymore than she is, punk," Ironhide spoke as he rolled over before transforming. Saphira smiled as she watched Ironhide and he looked at her with a smile. "You are one brave girl, Saphira. I am sorry we weren't here to thrash that bird up."
"I guess he took advantage of it." Saphira looked to see the corvette rolling over and she smiled. "Hello, Sideswipe."
"Saphira." Sideswipe transforms and smiles at her politely. "It is always a pleasure. Dino and Optimus are on the last plane with Lennox. They will come over to speak with you shortly." Saphira nodded as she understood. "It is nice to see you again after all this time. I still dislike the restrictions we have had on seeing you."
"I know. It bothers me too." She sighed a little and looked at the second plane as it rolled towards them. "But we can only do what we can. I do think it will change."
"I hope so, hmmph!" Ironhide snorted. "At least Bee should be your guardian again."
"It would be nice. I would be able to save some money on a new car that way." Bumblebee folded his arms with a sarcastic expression at Saphira. "It is true, Bee! Though, to be fair, I might get another car anyway."
"I still like being useful. But good idea."
Saphira chuckled softly at him as her eyes lingered on the plane. She knew Optimus was in there, and she was excited to see him. When the plane came to a stop and the ramp came down, Dino drove out first and she smiled when she saw the peterbilt driving out behind the ferrari. Bee let Saphira down from his shoulder as Optimus drove towards them. She ran closer with a smile, excited to see him.
He did not transform, which was a surprise to her. He rolled up by her and opened the door. "Get in, Saphira," He said in a gentle tone, though Saphira immediately noticed something was off. "I am very happy to see you."
"You aren't going to transform?" Saphira asked curiously.
Optimus sighed a little in response. "Something has happened, and I am angry at the other humans. I don't want you to mistake that as anger to you."
"Oh, I see…" Saphira was concerned and she began to climb up with a grimace. "Ouch…sorry…my arm is a little sore, and so is my back."
"I still cannot believe Laserbeak attacked you in front of civilians," Optimus said in disbelief as Saphira sat on the seat. He closed the door and drove towards the hangar. The other autobots follow him to the hangar. "I am just glad you are safe, Saphira. Your injuries do not appear to be bad, and I am happy about it."
"Me too. I am curious about what happened in your mission, though."
"Hmm…it…well, I am not sure if I should say, but you were attacked by Laserbeak because you found something, so I think it will be fine to tell you. I am not under the same obligations to secrecy of things as the humans are with you. You are my equal, after all." She was pleased to hear that, even though she understood his hesitancy. "As you know, we left the country to Ukraine because we were reached out by someone from the government regarding information that that had. Something in Chernobyl, which I believe had a big disaster in the past."
"Yeah, it did. That is odd…and odd that they reached out to NEST especially." Saphira relaxed in the seat as Optimus rolled into the hangar while she thought about it. "So what happened?"
"Lennox discovered a part of a long, lost autobot ship…" A part of an autobot ship?! "One that happened to be carrying something that would have won us the war. A ship that I witnessed myself escaping Cybertron."
"I see…so why are you angry?"
"Because we were told all autobot secrets of this planet had been told to us," Optimus responded bluntly. Saphira tensed a little as she knew that Optimus had no idea of what she knew as well. "And it feels as though that this was hidden. Although, strangely enough, the person who brought us to the facility was found dead after. I am not sure why."
Decepticons? Another human operative maybe?
"I see…well, hopefully you are mistaken. Chernobyl was abandoned years ago, and no one can live there anymore, so it might not be what you think." Saphira looked out the window and spotted Mearing entering the hangar. "Good, Mearing is here. We can now have a discussion."
"Indeed, we can. And I forgot one thing…" Saphira frowned for a moment before turning her head when she saw Optimus's holoform forming being her. He was smiling at her and he was shirtless, making her blush as she saw his muscular figure. "I missed you, my sweet sparkmate."
Saphira chuckled as he leaned to kiss her. She kissed him back passionately. "Just remember, we have a lot of eyes around here, Optimus."
"And I don't care."
She chuckled again as she accepted more kisses from him. He was gentle as he wrapped his arm around her, mindful of the injuries she has sustained and he was treating her like she was a piece of glass. No, something more fragile than glass. And she loved it. She wanted to spend time with him like this privately, and she hoped for that. But they had to deal with everything else first, Saphira knew it. She also had to try and convince Optimus and Mearing that what she has learned were implications that the space program was something that they needed to look into. That was going to be very interesting to say the least.
