Ah man, Ratchet and Bones in the same story would be like, 9,0 different kinds of awesome! I'm really loving all of these so far.

The image of Optimus laughing in the rain is, I think, one that will stick with me for a long time to come. What you've done here is really something special... not because I don't think there is depth to be had here--far from it!--but because we come to expect, well, *less* from fanfiction. I tried to explain to my husband what was so exceptional about these pieces, and I had a hard time expressing in a way he'd understand that you had done more with these characters and their unique situation than I would have thought possible.

Sorry if I ramble, or if the praise seems over the top; It's genuine, and I tend to babble a bit when I read something that's intellectually stimulating. Thank you for sharing this, and I look forward to reading whatever you might produce in the future.

Also, I have to congratulate you on reading Levinas. I felt like I needed a stick trying to get through his work. Or a shovel.

Very random, as each chapter is totally different from the one before it.

Very well done!

I agree with a previous reviewer in that this story lost me at a few points, particularly in consideration to the organa/organon/gestalt terminology. However, I applaud the ending to this thought-provoking piece; it swelled like an orchestral crescendo and literally moved me to tears. I saw Jazz's stand against Megatron as a metaphor for fully emerging from the gestalt and coming into himself, his own wants and, ultimately, his own desicions. I love that he chose the way he wanted to live and die. I love the concept you've created with the gestalt as well. This story's emotion is raw and rings through despite a few technical problems in the text itself. All in all, it was worth working through the confusion to see it.

This was an interesting chapter, I like that you haven't abandoned your ideas from the Blaster story and that you seem to be working your way towards a resolution of those concepts that would allow that story to be finished. I also really like the idea of Jazz as a sort of alien transvestite (I guess this makes him a "hir"?), there's a great deal that could be done with that! However, I think in terms of a chapter of this story, it does fall a little short. The other vignettes are clearly short stories on a theme, each with a clear beginning, middle and end. This chapter feels like it breaks stylistically with the others, reading much more like a convoluted character study, or an essay, and consequently I found it a bit hard to follow in spots, especially where Jazz is being particularly reflective, which I actually have a hard time imagining him doing given his portrayal in the film, but I understand its necessity to get the concepts you want across. However, while your prose is normally on the more artistic, philosophical side, I think you went a bit too far this time, as I had to stop and reread paragraphs multiple times to work out what had just been said. Also some of the new terminology you're introducing just isn't explained well enough, such as organa/organon/gestalt. I know what a gestalt is from combiner teams like the Constructicons, and I gather that structure individuals are organa/organon? Though from their use in that section I honestly have a hard time telling which is singular and which plural. The prose style could have stood to be simplified in areas to make it more accessible, and help your concepts come across more clearly. I'm still left wondering how structures actually lived; under what circumstances did they separate from the gestalt, and why? If fact why even have a robot mode if their primary function can only be served when joined as a sort of hive mind?

How I think this could have been a much stronger chapter is if it were anectdotal rather than conceptual; some scene in Jazz's past that would have introduced all these same concepts, but would have been easier to understand and connected better with Jazz's ultimate fate at the end. In short, this chapter should have been more of a story the way the others are.

Moreover, I'm not sure I entirely buy the idea that Jazz stood his ground primarily because of his structural origins. I think the expression of his nature works well when he's struck with Megatron's weapon and is disoriented, and he's struggling to orient himself and connect with the ground. I felt that was one of the strongest passages. But, to have that as his primary reason for standing his ground, even more than his desire to protect Ratchet and the humans? I just don't know, it seems to me that serves to weaken Jazz's character just a little bit, that his sacrifice was more out of forces beyond his control than bravery. Or perhaps I'm misreading it.

In sum, there is much that is very good about this chapter, but it still feels like it could use tweaking to make it stronger.

Ah, one review per chapter, am apparently not allowed to review the appropriate one! So here goes...

So, Jazz had a sex change? Man, if it wasn't bad enough he was black, the tranny is *definitely* going down. Here is the odd thing about writing Jazz, and I found the same thing plaguing me when I wrote mine, that it's *really* hard to write something penetrative without condoning his treatment in the movie. That isn't to say that I think that's what you're trying to do here at all, but at the same time one finds themselves trying to rationalize the movie's rather... arbitrary character choices. Here you have the idea that Jazz ultimately stood his ground rather than running like a structure might have, and that nature ultimately working towards his untimely fate. Unfortunate, since he probably would have been the one who best liked it here on Earth, but ain't dat jus' how da watermelon slices (sorry, sorry). Really, it might have been interesting to bring in his past a sort of Other in relation to the other Autobots as feeding in to his inclination to speak in a dialect apart from the mainstream, even to the point of acting a caricature. But I suppose that would be another story unto itself.

The whole idea is interesting, of course, though I think people who aren't familiar with the stuff you've already written (in stories that have been deleted, no less) might have trouble with the terminology, especially the new ones. And I know I'm pandering to convention and all, but it might have been easier to follow if it was more narrative-driven rather than concept-driven. I know the concept is what you're ultimately trying to get across, but if there's no overlying narrative of which to speak then it's practically an essay. The structure is a bit more essay-remnant than story remnant, especially in terms with the whole 'three act' structure. I like the concept, and I'd almost like to see it be more in line with the Blaster story insofar as it could follow a sort of educating narrative about Cybertronian gender roles, if indeed you are trying to go there (you didn't mention it as a gender equivalent this time so I could be misreading).

Gender or purpose regardless, though, like the great Darius McCrary himself said; the brotha always gets it. ;)

Whoa. This is highly interesting, as all your explorations on Cybertronian culture are, but it's also very sad - this struggle to choose for oneself what they want to be that no one shouldn't even have to explain.

dreams can mean something important or nothing at all
just un processed information from the day
the Autobots seem to be adjusting to living on Earth better, and Prime knows hes not the only one dreaming now

Dreaming's subjective anyway, considering the varying aspects of person to person. :)

Beautiful POV from Jazz added as Chapter 1...wow, just when I thought this story couldn't get more breathtaking! One bot trying to overcome his own created order - being destined to lose himself to a gestalt - and yet dare to dream of living more of life as himself rather than as them. Wow, the layers of implications you wove into this bit are stunning. And the echos of his former shell/life. And even though I never would have imagined him as part of a gestalt, it makes perfect sense when compared to his tendency to completely immerse himself into everything. He didn't want to lose living one more moment, and he died doing just that. This would be powerful as a oneshot - I suggest you submit it to one of the Jazz forums for their enjoyment as well.

Dreaming is one thing that connects us all, and now it is connecting them.
Maybe that is the key.

XD
Gotta love how language fills itself out, eh?

You have no idea how much I enjoyed this chapter! Especially with the Spanish. Coming from a native speaker's point of view, it's really hard to find a good fic that involves your language and doesn't completely butcher it. And Spanish!Ratchet? Quite possibly the hottest thing this side of the solar system!

This was excellent! :D

That was a great story. Nice exploration pieces on everyone.

Interesting, kind of vague Freud quote there, especially that the inference I gather is that once their last tangible tie to 'home'- the Allspark- is gone, so begins this inexplicable dreaming. I wonder, then, what this says about Primes, who apparently always retained the ability to dream? Also brings up questions of subconscious- my notion was that Cybertronians do not have a subconscious as we know it. Does their dreaming, therefore, operate independently of that? As you write it, theirs seems to be memory induced, and less nonsensical. I imagine Ironhide would be genuinely disturbed if he was dreaming as we know it!

Good note to end on, especially as it ties in so much with their whole conundrum- looming extinction and their need to acclimate to a new home, theirs gone to the four winds. I still want to see you do more of Optimus, though. I feel like his reflectiveness here regarding his own heavy mantle and how he interacts with his 'four' and the humans.

One other thing- his 'four', I imagine, are Bumblebee, Ratchet, Ironhide and Jazz. I was kind of wondering if you have any continuity going for all of your stories, you bring Optronix again here, which you mentioned in your other fic with the name I can't spell, but in Changes one you mention Prowl was with them as well, and how in Judy's story you mention that the Autobots eventually 'come out', as it were (though I imagine that to be a few months down the road). Are these in a same continuity, or are they meant to be taken independently?