If the Autobots are so autonomous, why are they letting some big shot government b$#ch decide who joins them?
You are looking into a line that was somewhat hastily thrown together to make sense of the term "Autobot" way too much.
Considering they received random additions to the team after RotF (Dino/Mirage, Q/Wheeljack, and to some extent Brains and the Wreckers), they sure seem to be autonomous in the "which Autobots join us" department. As for humans, it's understandable if the government wants some say over who can interact with the Autobots and who can't.
"Autonomous" does not refer to their connection to government organizations. It means that each Autobot (and Decepticon) is not controlled by an outside force. They are self-piloted, if you will, not driven like RC cars. Or at least that's how I understood it.
You must be new. The Autobots motto is freedom is the right of all sentient beings. So uh, even though some of us might think otherwise, big shot govenment b$#ches are sentient. They are free to decide whether or not the Autobots are allowed to immigrate into the U.S.A. or not. Optimus said it himself in ROTF. Come on, dude.
btw, there's this error I'm having on my account. I can't look at the history of all the posts and threads I've made. I just keep getting this message "Searching has been disabled." can anyone help me with this?
I think my quote is superior. Humans are autonomous too, but we must obey the law. The Autobots, respecting humans wishes, (freedom!) follow it too. If the government wanted to deport them, they would go.
As I pointed at with the quote in my last post, being autonomous doesn't mean you can do whatever you want while in a completely different society. You can still follow governing laws. While on Earth, Optimus and co. have opted to work with the American government, and will follow whatever orders that are given.
