esoteric friendships that i’m certain exist in mtmte but we just don’t see them:
rodimus and tailgate have a big brother/little brother style relationship. like in the “rodimus is a rowdy jackass” way but also he allows himself to express like 0.004% more genuine affection towards tg than other people because i mean cmon look at the little guy. the symbiotic return that tailgate receives in this relationship is being carried places like a purse dogy
swerve and cyclonus rewatching 80s slasher films “why does tailgate call you babygirl” “how about we stop talking for a little while”
cyclonus and ratchet’s mean old crotchety bastard solidarity. in the back of the club arms folded cuz i don’t agree with the music selection
tailgate and first aid will occasionally meet up just to sort of go “ohhhh my gooooddddd oh my fucking GOOOODDDDDD OHHH my GODDDDDD FUUUUUCKKK oh my gooodddddddddd” at each other. they both know exactly what they mean but it’s impenetrable to anyone else
drift is operating under the delusion that he can fix whirl (platonic). whirl is having a GREAT time fucking with his head by pretending to have spectralist visions that entail him getting free drinks
skids is surprisingly very open to being climbed on physically. another free ride for tailgate
chromedome and ratchet’s “oh my god my husband is so fucking exhausting oh my god” solidarity
speaking of which, rewind and tailgate bond over their mutual struggle to unravel their husband’s 27 million emotional firewalls and also watch early 90′s anime reruns
swerve and whirl argue with each other like letterboxd users on twitter. there’s a lot of screaming but trust them it’s a bonding exercise
chromedome and skids have occasional “i have done unspeakable things. we are not going to acknowledge this and instead i will watch you play fallout 4 in total silence” meetings. they both benefit from this experience somehow
magnus and ratchet’s mean old crotchety bastard “oh my god all of you people are fucking insane oh my god” solidarity
putting rodimus and swerve in the same room is an occupational hazard (positive connotation). they are known to escalate games as minor as uno into ship-spanning wagers, usually involving other people’s stuff. rodimus once punched a hole through a wall over wii sports
fortmax and the minibots are bestieeeesssss :3 (they help him forget about The Everything and he lets them be like 50 feet tall)
once drift and cyclonus get over the whole “sorry i played bad cop with you in a misguided attempt to impress the guy crushing on me” thing they like to practice swords with each other. drift always offers to get him a drink afterwards and cyclonus is always like “no” and then shows up an hour later and doesn’t talk to anyone but he’s still there so that counts
tailgate and drift rewatching jidaigeki movies “why does ratchet call you babygirl” “how about we stop talking for a little while”
tailgate and nautica, in a moment of drunken unfiltered weakness, discover that they both have the same sort of “i feel like no one takes me seriously and my emotional openness is offputting to people when all i want is to make genuine emotional connections with others and also when left alone i have a tendency to spiral from feeling useless and like people are only tolerating my presence and don’t actually care about me as a person and my self doubt is tearing me apart internally” thing going on
she also likes carrying him around
everyone likes carrying tailgate around