Fanfic / Decepticon Arrival

Decepticon Arrival is a crossover between Transformers and Steven Universe by Halseboys on Wattpad.

A group of friends cosplaying as the Combaticons get sent to the world of Steven Universe after running into a mysterious prop-seller dressed up as Lockdown from Transformers: Animated. Doing what giant transforming robots do best, they get to work setting up shop on Earth while helping out Steven Universe and his friends protect the Earth along with tracking down any other Cybertronians who have ended up on the planet to bolster their forces.

This fic displays examples of:

• Adaptational Angst Upgrade: In Transformers: Animated, Sari Sumdac enjoyed a close relationship with her father Isaac despite his mistakes and grew up around people who supported her at every step. This version of Sari not only lost her father to an assassin, but was forced to live on the streets after Porter C. Powell exposed her status as a legally nonexistent being and kicked her out of her old home with nothing but the clothes on her back.
• Adaptational Nice Guy:
  • Pretty much all of the Decepticons (barring certain individuals) are fine with interacting with organic beings such as humans and have no plans on world domination, though they're also fine with engaging in slightly shady activities every now and then. It's justified by the fact that the Decepticons here are transmigrated humans whose souls were fused with the bots they dressed up as in their previous lives, which means that they're much less inclined to harm their former species than the canon versions of the Decepticons.
  • Most versions of Motormaster are infamous for abusing their subordinate Stunticons out of sadistic whimsy and caring nothing about their fellow 'Cons. This version is far nicer towards his fellow Stunticons and is visibly enraged when Barricade is mauled by a corrupted gem.
  • Quake was described in his G1 toy bio as a violent berserker who only sought to destroy anything in his way, allegiance be damned, and infamously murdered Rubble in the 2019 IDW comics after the poor bot accidentally witnessed Quake killing a Voin trader who had information on Brainstorm's murder at the hands of members of the Rise. Quake in this story has yet to display any form of hostility or malice and is far better around kids like Steven.
  • The Decepticons in Animated were mostly composed of bloodthirsty warmongers and saw anyone who wasn't Cybertronian or part of their ranks as inferior. Blackrachnia's group, made up of Blitzwing, Lugnut, most of Team Chaar (sans Cyclonus), Waspinator, and Blackrachnia herself (along with Nightracer from G2) took in Sari Sumdac as one of their own and have been acting as a Family of Choice for the orphaned girl ever since.
• Anti-Hero Team: While the Decepticons are on the side of good in this continuity, they're not afraid to use unsavory tactics or withhold info from the Gems if the situation requires it.
• Arm Cannon: True to canon, Shockwave has a BFG replacing one of his missing arms, something that he reminds the Crystal Gems about when they ask him to put his weapon away.
• Becoming the Mask: Drag Strip internally notes how most of the Decepticons that have arrived on SU!Earth have similar personalities to their old human identities, with their old selves taking up parts of their Cybertronian identity's personality in return.
• Behemoth Battle:
  • Bruticus versus Malachite sees the Combaticon gestalt deliver a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown onto the hostile Gem fusion and slice Malachite in half with his rotor-blade shield, unfusing Jasper and Lapis.
  • Menasor takes on the corrupted Gem that was rampaging across the Irish countryside and goes to town on the beast, impaling it in the head with his sword after beating it black and blue.
• Birds of a Feather: Steven and Sari bond over their shared nature as Half-Human Hybrids when they first meet each other in Detroit.
• Combining Mecha: The Combaticons and Stunticons are the only Decepticons that demonstrate the ability to combine into a larger gestalt at the moment, though the Constructicons are very likely to combine into Devastator at some point.
• Curb-Stomp Battle:
  • Malachite initially believes she stands a chance against Bruticus after the Combaticons fuse together into their gestalt form. Bruticus swiftly disabuses her of that notion with a brutal, one-sided beatdown before separating her back into Jasper and Lapis.
  • The corrupted Gem that the Stunticons face in Ireland meets its match when the Stunticons combine into Menasor, resulting in its defeat as Menasor tears its earthen shell apart in short order.
• Dark and Troubled Past: Sari had a rough life before Blackrachnia's group found and adopted her. To boot: she once lived with her father Isaac in Sumdac Tower before an unknown assassin murdered him in cold blood, with the cops failing to find the person responsible for Isaac's death thanks to the assassin disposing of anything that could implicate them in Isaac's death. Porter C. Powell was then chosen by Sumdac System's board of directors as Isaac's successor, with the company transformed into an arms manufacturer under Powell's leadership and Sari kicked out of her old home after Powell exposed her status as a legally nonexistent being, forcing her into life on the mean streets of Detroit. After her attempts at begging for alms were callously rebuffed by Detroit's uncaring citizens, she then had to search through dumpsters and trashcans for food and clothing while dodging the city's various criminal gangs and other malcontents. One day, Sari was captured by a group of gangsters who intended to sell her off as a Sex Slave after they had their way with her, causing Sari to awaken her latent Cybertronian abilities in the form of a massive explosion that wiped out the gangers who captured her.
• Dark Is Not Evil: Although many of the Decepticons have dark color schemes and rather indimidating appearances, they're quite nice to Steven and have no intent of harming people unless someone attacks them first.
• Death by Adaptation: Isaac Sumdac was killed by an unknown assassin who wiped all evidence of their presence after the deed was done.
• The Dreaded: Overlord and Bludgeon are the only two Decepticons that the other bots and Steven regard with fear and suspicion, not least thanks to their menacing appearances even compared to other Decepticons. Considering how their counterparts in the IDW comics were respectively an Ax-Crazy mass murderer and an Omnicidal Maniac obsessed with the apocalypse, they had every reason to be afraid of them.
• Even the Loving Hero Has Hated Ones: As much of an All-Loving Hero Steven is, not even he wants to be around Overlord for his sadistic nature, noting that whatever's going on in Overlord's mind is most likely far worse than what his behavior already suggests of his character.
• Everyone Has Standards:
  • Blast Off isn't too happy that Jasper is being used to power the dropship that the other Combaticons built with Shockwave's help when he spots her gem wired into the ship, though he shuts up when Onslaught informs him that it was either that or drain themselves of Energon to fuel the dropship.
  • None of the Decepticons like how Steven's been deprived of a normal childhood thanks to his current predicament, with all of them vowing to help give Steven a chance at enjoying a normal life whenever they can.
  • Steven is appalled at the sheer amount of cruelty Sari went through after he learns about her Dark and Troubled Past along with the fact that she was nearly kidnapped and forced into being a Sex Slave.
• Gotta Catch Them All: After Overlord and Bludgeon reveal that there may be more Decepticons that have arrived on SU!Earth, the Combaticons and the others decide to track them down so they can bring them into the fold and bolster their numbers against any potential enemies that may show up.
• Helping Would Be Kill Stealing: The main reason why the Combaticons prefer to let Steven handle some of his own issues by himself - while they would love to help Steven, they know that some things that happened in Steven Universe canon must happen so that Steven can properly grow and develop into the person he was in that timeline.
• Jerkass: Frenzy and Rumble introduce themselves to Steven and the Gems by mocking Amethyst for her chubbiness and attempting to harass Steve after he calls them out for their dickish behavior. Soundwave has none of that and immediately orders both Minicons to stop their antics.
• The Knights Who Say "Squee!": Steven is nothing short of excited to meet the Decepticons, gushing over their advanced tech and awe-inspiring appearances.
• Mythology Gag: Longhaul and Bonecrusher get into an argument with Spittor over the Unicron Trilogy after Spittor remarks that Transformers: Energon wasn't that bad of a show, a reference to the infamous reputation Energon has among the Transformers fanbase and the divisive reputation the Unicron Trilogy has with Transformers fans in general.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Brawl informs Onslaught that by returning Jasper to the Rubies, he gave the Diamond Authority someone who could inform them of the Decepticons' capabilities via eyewitness evidence, which would hold a lot of weight due to Jasper's status as a war hero among the Gems. To his credit, Onslaught immediately realizes how foolish that decision was and vows to not make the same mistake again.
• Properly Paranoid:
  • Although the Decepticons prefer to let certain events in Steven Universe play out as they did in canon, they also decide to build a drone army in case the Diamond Authority comes to Earth ahead of schedule.
  • Starscream is treated with suspicion from the Decepticons when he first arrives at the Decepticon base with his fellow Seekers before Steven manages to break the ice between both sides. Considering how his canon counterpart has a legendary propensity to backstab anyone he's allied with, they had every right to be worried about Screamer's behavior.
• The Reveal: Chapter 7 reveals that not only are there a lot of Decepticons scattered on Earth, but the Combaticons actually arrived a good deal later than the others on Earth.
• Shout-Out:
  • The way the Combaticons introduce themselves to Steven and the Crystal Gems is drawn from the Autobot introduction sequence in Transformers (2007).
  • While challenging the Rubies to a game of lobbing, Onslaught references how it was known as a Cybertronian pastime in the same vein as Bulkhead did in Transformers: Prime.
• The Stations of the Canon: The Decepticons decide to let certain events in Steven Universe occur in the same manner as canon to ensure that they won't have too much unknown factors to deal with, though they also begin construction of a drone army of Vehicons to bolster their numbers in the event that the Diamond Authority decide to attack Earth earlier than expected.
• Token Evil Teammate: While most of the Decepticons featured are kindhearted (if morally ambiguous) people, Overlord stands out for being the only one who is visibly malevolent, most notably enjoying how the others fear him.
• Was Once a Man: Pretty much all of the Decepticons who arrive on the Earth of Steven Universe were once regular humans before the transportation process turned them into Cybertronians.
• Worthy Opponent: The Rubies gain Onslaught's respect for their determination to win against him during their lobbing game in spite of their disadvantages.

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