Well, they were writing M.E.C.H. out of the series at the time, and eliminating Silas's need for them by giving him a Transformer suit wasn't a bad way to do it. As for Airachnid, that was when she was still with the Decepticons, and he was captured. Like I said, I think the idea was to establish her as a threat on her own power.

 

The character had been established as "threat", when Megatron sent two men to deal with Airachnid. The rest was an act of public posturing.

 

Yeah, Silus really couldn't have gotten a TF body without Breakdown. Just image how hard it would've been to write in a line about MECH retrieving Nemesis at the end of it's debut episode. They also really needed to prove Airachnid was capable on her own, for all the time she would spend without Insecticons backing her up, in episodes like...

Yeah, chances are good that you're right about their reasoning, and the writers were just too lazy to take five seconds and think up those easy alternatives, including one they'd already introduced. Seriously, Airchnid already had backup.

 

Because he was getting too big for his boots.

Did you know he did an interview for 'Soap Opera Digest' where he claimed he wrote his own lines? Anyway soon after that he was killed off. Nowadays he reads to the blind and he's also a mento for the kids.

Y’know a mento? A role model.

 

Okay came up with a scenario for Breakdown's arc into Hurt.

Breakdown fires the last shot at Bulkhead, but feels guilty about it because of all the respect he had for his rival. Everybody at the Nemesis congratulated him on it, and say a surviving Insecticon from his mission speaks highly of him, and calls him as monstrous as they are or something to compliment him. Breakdown hates it, but knows he can't voice disapproval of killing Bulkhead, and maybe only to Knock Out.

Word comes that Bulky still lives, so Breakdown is ordered to kill Wheejack. The latter rips into him and keeps calling him a monster, and Breakdown gets really pissed and really lays into Wheeljack. "STOP-CALLING-ME-A MONSTER-BECAUSE-I'M-NOT!!" Wheeljack is down. He has a moment where he looks at his hands, and retracts his hammer afterwards... But sees Laserbeak up above, and regretfully deploys his hammer again. He picks up Jackie to do the deed, and says "If Bulkhead doesn't make it... Please tell him I'm sorry."

Then Miko blows him to high hell anyway. Rest of the episode plays out.

I also had this other idea I'll go ahead and share. Miko and Jackie return to base, and Ratchet's claim that he may never be fully functional again rings true, only he's forced into a borderline vegetative state, probably for forever. Miko goes to Bulky, cries, and sees him barely able to open his eyes, and muster up the closest to a smile he can get. It hits Miko that Bulky will be like this for the rest of his life, and meanwhile Ratchet discusses how Bulky is gonna really put a strain on their resources. Optimus eventually decides to pull the plug, but will give it some time so Miko and the others can say their goodbyes... But they hear a flatline. Miko was able to pull the plug. And the episode ends like the show did, only Bulkhead really doesn't wake up.

I'd also move the final scene with Breakdown's corpse up before the final scene at the base.

 

Yes, but that would have involved a lot of guesswork. Besides, if the stuff about the voice actor is true, then they probably would have wanted him out as quickly as possible, and might have felt like they wouldn't have been able to afford paying him until Hurt.

Hey, if they had to write Breakdown off, why not make the most of it? As for Airachnid, they probably wanted to give her a last moment of glory before writing her out.

 

They killed him off so it could be even. 1 autobot death= 1 decepticon death. Besides optimus,bumblebee, and megatron since they seem to be immortal and always come back for some reason.

 

She also gave Arcee a hard time in the forest, she was already a threat, this doesn't justify Breakdown's death.

Wow that was dark.

 

Again, working off the assumption the voice actor was asking for more money and they wanted him off the show as quickly as possible, they probably decided they could re-establish the threat of Airachnid by having her be the one to kill him.

 

Wow. Really well thought out and written, but bruh, you know how many tears if have shed if they pulled all that?