They're juvenile Transformers, and "Rescue Bots" is a cadet type role. That's why Prime was surprised that any were left: all other RB teams were rushed to full combat status. This would--
jesus how is it hard for this fandom to understand some people don't rip off heads without creepily infantilizing them because of course every adult enjoys decapitation
it mostly angers me because it implies the work the bots do that isn't murder also by extension isn't brave, and it IS brave to rescue people, it IS brave to reach out to your enemies
Like, completely sidestepping the problematic concept that EVERY Autobot is fed into the combat machine of their military when they're "old enough", those..... characters don't act like children.........
Like yes okay some of them sometimes do INCREDIBLY naive things, and I would accept an argument that Boulder and Blades are younger than the other two but
Heatwave does have a bit of a "I should be in combat" complex going on, but you could just as easily chalk that up to the idea that he feels like he could make a bigger contribution fighting Decepticons--
Sure, there's overlap in the skill sets and some of the training is cross-compatible, but they don't teach firefighting to recruits in boot camp, they teach them military stuff.
That's why Prime was surprised that any were left: all other RB teams were rushed to full combat status. This would--