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And this here is today’s attempts at drawing Transformers, specifically TF One

I had this idea when I started today, since I knew the faces and noses were giving me trouble yesterday, to try this paintbrush style. The logic in my brain was that the movie was made in 3D, so logistically a more lineless style should work better, right?

I do admit, I think that the lineless style works far better in terms of the eyes and noses being the right shape, but I also admit my lines are probably a bit too soft and I may need to darken them. As well as get something good for the actual thin lines, since the paint brush on its own feels too thick, even at the lowest size

And you know what, since we’re here, does anyone have any Procreate brushes they can suggest for this sort of style? Right now I’m just using Flat Brush, but I wonder if I should use something else

Anyways, so this canvas was supposed to be more D-16, but partway through I figured I should try someone else to draw as well, so I decided Orion, so we could have the yaoi

Honestly my big problem with Pax here is that I don’t have a good comprehensive reference for him, while I can get by just fine with D-16. These were about the best I could get, and that last one I only got because these other two weren’t cutting it

I need high quality references of these characters, or at least specifically their faces. And I’m gonna need even more if I plan to draw Megatron and Optimus as well

But yeah, Orion’s here, and I was also having trouble getting the correct colors for him, because I’m stupid and used to flat colors. D was pretty easy considering he’s just greys, and a yellow tinted grey works just fine there as a grey (though I do admit I’m struggling with his eye color), but I feel like blue tinted Orion looks too blue by comparison. But I don’t know how to give him his proper face coloring without it being the same shade as D-16

I feel like my words aren’t making sense. But just get that Orion colors are a struggle. And still are, because I still don’t think that other grey is the right color

Also Orion has a significantly more complicated helmet than D, so that’s fun

I really wasn’t planning on Orion taking up so much of the space, but I needed to actually practice how he looked so that I could draw him easier. I had numerous attempts at D-16 prior, I could sort of understand his look, but I was flailing in the dark on Orion and needed the practice

I think another problem is that I don’t make him wide enough. But sue me, my character designs usually don’t have their bodies that wide/their heads that small. I’m working on it

I capped off this canvas by just deciding to make a small doodle of Orion kissing D, since why not and also I was too lazy to think of anything else to add

Where do we go from here? I have no clue, but hopefully it’ll go good

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I have two interpretations of a megop kiss in future movies

There’s the emotional version, where they kiss either in happiness as they finally reconcile, or in sadness as the last time they’ll ever be together (whether bc one dies or bc of their differences)

And then there’s the funny version, which is far more specific

Quintessons are attacking, things don’t look good, but Optimus comes in with a stupid sounding plan that actually ends up working

And so Megatron, in response, says something like “I don’t know whether to kill you or kiss you on the mouth”

Optimus nods at this and looks back at the plan working, and then on the side we see Megatron thinking about it and internally deciding “eh, we’re probably gonna die anyways”, and pulls him over to kiss him on the mouth

I want to draw that second one, I just am still lacking the skills for it. But one day. Or someone else draw it please, until I can do it (and probably do it badly)

Edit: alternative idea, at least for redraw format, the clip that “I’M GONNA KISS YOU ON THE MOUTH” comes from. Or at least the 4 seconds of it on YouTube

Optimus comes in with a transport away from certain danger from the Quintessons, and Megatron’s reply is just “I’m gonna kiss you on the mouth!” while running at him

Do you think Optimus and Megatron could kiss in the Transformers One sequels?

Half joking, half serious. Some people have given me hope that MAYBE they’ll be able to reconcile if the writers want to take them in a unique direction and not just Transformers as we know it

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Do you think Optimus and Megatron could kiss in the Transformers One sequels?

Half joking, half serious. Some people have given me hope that MAYBE they’ll be able to reconcile if the writers want to take them in a unique direction and not just Transformers as we know it

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So I have some more vague ideas of the stupid Transformers AU thing from last night

I think originally it was going to just fade away, but last night I decided I might as well rewatch the original FNAF timeline videos since Part 3 made me realize I didn’t entirely remember what was going on, and so the mentality came back to my brain at 3 or 4 in the morning because I accidentally woke up too early

Anyways, on to random stupid ideas

So Orion is some strange entity, and quite honestly even Primus doesn’t really know what he is, even though he’s pretty sure he created it. Fortunately Orion’s full cosmic horror seems to be locked away due to currently having a mortal shell. Orion just sort of popped out of the ground in the middle of nowhere

Also for some reason my brain gave me this idea that Orion has this ability to basically become a corpse for a few hours while he just chills out in some weird spirit form. I think my brain borrowed it from a concept I had seen around for Aligned continuity’s Thirteen

Also Orion is under the impression that he has amnesia, and is unaware of his weird cosmic status. He wants to know who he is but there’s problems in finding that information, as will be detailed later

After popping out from the ground, he sort of wandered until finding himself at the mines D-16 worked in, and stumbling in there unaware of anything really happening around him

D-16 heard weird noises in his sector and went to check it out, only to find Orion in some equipment and they both sort of freaked out at the sight of each other, D might have punched him out of reflex and shock, and Orion accidentally went corpse mode

D-16 now thinks he just accidentally killed this bot, which is made worse when he gets a good look at him and is 99% sure he is a higher class bot, on account of him being much smaller than the miners and having bright colors (which here would be like a symbol of class, duller/monochrome colors means you’re likely on the bottom rungs), and then later when he hears he has an actual name instead of a number. And if someone discovers he killed a higher class bot, he is at the very least getting fired and sent to prison, which he doesn’t want, so he hides the body so no one finds it and plans to dump it after his shift is over where he won’t be traced back to him

But later when he’s doing so, Orion reactivates and gives D-16 another huge scare, but this time he doesn’t attack because he realizes he probably shouldn’t try to repeat history, thinking maybe he was just mistaken the first time (despite him definitely looking dead)

He tries to figure out who Orion is so he can try and get him sent home (while apologizing for the whole situation), but Orion doesn’t know since he doesn’t really have any memories. D thinks he must have amnesia so he tries to smuggle him back somewhere until they can figure out what to do

Meanwhile Orion thinks he’s just made a friend

D first just tries sending him on a train to Iacon, but Orion refuses to leave without D, not understanding that he’s not really allowed to leave, and sneaks off the train to stay with him. He then tries to get information on Orion since he knows his name, though getting access to a database as a lowly miner is incredibly difficult, but he has no luck there since apparently Orion Pax doesn’t exist. Though he figures it may just be an issue of them having a limited database. And by this point going up to the guards isn’t gonna work because now he’ll be arrested for “kidnapping” a higher class bot

Basically the setup here is Orion hanging out with D-16 in the mines, with Orion trying to make his new friend happy, as he seems constantly stressed and generally miserable with his lot in life, while D-16 is trying to figure out who Orion is and how to get him back home without getting arrested

D admittedly grows to like the company of Orion, as he seems unaware of any sort of class difference between them and just genuinely wants to be his friend and be nice, but he also can’t deny that Orion’s unawareness makes his life a living nightmare now and things would probably be easier for the both of them if he just got back home

Orion also has this instinctual hatred for the government that he doesn’t quite understand (still a very corrupt Cybertron here), but will act upon. D-16 agrees that the government sucks, but hopes Orion doesn’t get into too much trouble defying it. Because he’ll be the one suffering the consequences

D-16 and the other miners are probably cogless, but they’re much bigger than the miners in TF One, with this D being closer to Megatron’s size. I’m not sure if Orion can transform or not though, but I do have a mental image of D just folding him up into a cube or something, harmlessly as he can easily pop out of it

I also don’t know how Optimus and Megatron come out of this scenario. Best I can say is that Orion unintentionally starts driving D-16 crazy as he finds no leads on who Orion Pax is, and becomes more and more convinced he isn’t actually real, or that he actually did kill him that first day and everything since has just been hallucinations and delusions. But I don’t know about Optimus since becoming Optimus probably means he can no longer be this chaotic little eldritch gremlin thing

And I think that’s about it. Now I have to go study for a quiz and probably start on that short story I have due tonight

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Oh yeah, the other day while I was working drive thru, someone pulled up in a blue car with orange lines and something along the lines of “security” and another similar S-word on there I can’t remember

And I was like “holy shit, TFA Sentinel Prime”

I mean the car wasn’t the same model at all, it was just a normal car, but the colors were so similar it couldn’t not remind me of Sentinel

I also don’t have a picture of said car because I was working and I can’t just stop and take a picture of a customer’s car; I’m not really even supposed to have my phone out during work. So you’ll have to take my word on it

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There’s some sort of weird combination of things happening in my brain right now, from me having just watched the new ooftroop FNAF timeline video, my brain still being in Transformers mode, and also having been seeing someone’s own D-16 and Orion Pax designs on Twitter which also feature them in some silly chibi sketches

My brain’s trying to concoct something with all this immediate information but I don’t know what. Best I can say is a silly retelling of the Transformers origin story

Probably won’t go anywhere, but I just want to write down this combination somewhere so that I have it if I ever plan on doing anything with it. Or because I want to share this mindset with someone but am lonely so it’s tumblr’s problem now

But don’t take any of it seriously. This is entirely on the mindset of silly crack

The most I can come up with is Orion being some sort of strange entity created by Primus that just kind of manifested itself and found itself in the mines D-16 worked at, and just sort of attached itself to him, so now D-16 has to deal with this friendly but kind of weird bot and keep him out of trouble

Don’t know why I’m referring to Orion as “it”, but oh well

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So like, what are the in universe explanations as to why Megatron and Optimus essentially equal each other out in terms of power?

Because like, at least in most continuities, Optimus is that powerful because he obtained the Matrix of Leadership and became a Prime. But Megatron meanwhile has never been a Prime of any sort

Closest he’s gotten is getting Megatronus’ cog in Transformers One, but even then he and the rest of the team already had cogs from Primes, and Optimus got his powerup from the Matrix

Is he just like, built different or something?

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So yesterday and then today, I was trying to again draw Transformers, this time trying my hand at D-16

I still can’t draw Transformers right, I tell you

These were pretty much my two reference photos, for anyone curious. And this is probably also the reason why I don’t have the best design of him, I only have so many refs. But I already have so many photos in my library, and I don’t have the energy to go looking for like, a dozen photos

I think by the end of it, I can draw his helmet relatively well, but I quite honestly don’t know how to draw his body. There’s so many parts to it, it’s too much for my brain to handle as someone who draws super simple. With practice it’ll probably get easier, but right now it’s rough

But the thing, the main thing killing me is the face. It always looks wrong when I draw it on

I think part of it is how high up the features are on the face, since I think normally when I draw characters, the features are generally on or around the lower half of the head, while here the eyes are on the top half. But I can’t really move them down because D’s eyes are supposed to be above his helmet vent things, and already as I draw them they’re too low. Where am I supposed to put the eyes so that they fit where they’re supposed to but also don’t look weird?

There’s also the fact that I can’t just do circle eyes on these guys, because it doesn’t really fit the style. But also it means I don’t know how to draw their eyes otherwise, and trying to do more almond shaped eyes doesn’t look right either

Then there’s also the matter of the nose and eyebrows. I see how it looks in the movie, but I don’t know how to translate that to 2D

Maybe it’d be easier if I kept more pictures of how other people draw the characters, but I only keep those as things to show my friend when we meet on Tuesdays, and then delete afterwards because I’m already pushing over 2000 photos on my library and I need to keep that number down as much as I can (I mean I have plenty of space nowadays but I just don’t like it)

I think my main goal should just be to practice more. Which I think also means using a bigger canvas, but I’ve been ruined by the 500x500 and I can no longer do 1024x768 because I’ll never finish the canvas now, so oh well

*sigh* but yeah, this. Oh, to be able to draw the characters

Things were so much easier when it was cookies. And before the cookies ruined me as an artist

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For some reason I want to see someone make their own Transformers designs, but specifically from the perspective of someone who makes toys/action figures

So I guess what I’m saying is, designs that are first and foremost about making them feasible as actual toys that transform into vehicles. The most toyetic designs, I think is the term

That’s not to say people who are 2D artists first don’t have cool designs or anything, or that they shouldn’t make designs, it’s just that I also know someone like myself would not take into consideration how the whole transforming process would feasibly work in my hypothetical designs, and I want to know what it would look like from the perspective of someone who would

I also guess that’s how a good number of the actual designs across continuities were made, particularly in g1, but I don’t mean as like a legitimate project/toyline, just something done by someone for fun

Does any of this make sense? To anyone else but me? I don’t think I explained myself that well

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I need to finish watching Animated, I only have like, 5 episodes left. But I just can’t muster the effort to do so

I was watching it, up until I decided to go looking for some Animated fanfiction, and ended up stumbling upon and getting extremely invested in this one 36 chapter fic, which took me all of Thursday and Friday to read, and then I had work, guilt and homework for the rest of the weekend

And by this point I think the Animated train in my brain has been derailed, and I don’t know if it’s coming back

I don’t have much more left, I could probably finish it today, I just refuse to watch it for whatever reason

Hm

Anyways, what show do I watch after I finish Animated? After this I’ll be able to check off Animated, Earthspark and technically Prime (even if it’s been years since I watched it through fully), so it’s a matter of finding what to watch next

I probably should go and watch g1, but I feel like that’s a lot of work and I may not currently have it in me to watch it through to the end, or at least to the movie, which I won’t watch until I reach that point in the show

Cyberverse is another consideration in my mind, but I don’t know if I want to watch it right now either. As far as I’m aware, it currently doesn’t stand as a backbone series or one that shakes things up dramatically like Earthspark

I did also remember Beast Wars exists, but again, don’t know if I want to watch it right now. I may like Optimus Primal, but also very few Beast Wars characters are in other series, and most are Predacons. Also apparently the characters get new forms in the 2nd season and onwards and I don’t like their new looks

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Okay, so I think I have some more ideas for that Transformers au, since that was all my brain let me think about during the second half of my shift

It’s mostly just about Megatron and also the Decepticon cause

Okay so first off, I think if I want to make things the way I do, I’m gonna say that the Decepticons are genuinely fighting for equality for Cybertronians, while the Autobots are fighting to maintain the status quo. It’s not necessarily to say all Autobots want inequality, and some are fighting in hopes to build a better future through more peaceful means, but a lot of them don’t really recognize that the system is or was that bad. And there are still bad Decepticons, either those just wanting to cause mayhem or are just looking for a way to better their own status, but a large portion are fighting for change in Cybertronian government

Part of what makes the Autobots the generally dominant force in this conflict is that they’ve got a lot of propaganda going for them and against the Decepticons, including that being why they’re called “Decepticons”. Not everything said about the Decepticons is untrue, they are willing to do less than savory things to achieve their goals if necessary, but the idea that the Decepticons are evil deceivers is largely propaganda

I think in my head, I want the war to be portrayed as an actual civil war and revolution. When we hear about them in history, yeah there seems to be a relatively obvious good and bad looking back, like with the American Revolution and the Patriots and Loyalists, but in the moment, when they happened, neither side was entirely good or bad, and there’s reasons as to why people stuck to one side or the other, because they were people, not entities with a singular shared ideal

The French Revolution might be a more accurate comparison to the Cybertronian civil war, but also I grew up in America so the AR is my big frame of reference and I don’t know much about the FR other than it being semi inspired by the American one and having a lot of execution. But you get what I’m saying regardless

But also if we want the idea of the Decepticons being “evil”, well you gotta probably add some propaganda to explain why that’s how they’re depicted

Optimus is someone who just wants peace and is genuinely a good person, but he was also raised on Autobot propaganda and was never in a position in life where he would have particularly suffered the system (though he probably did still have hardships, I just don’t know what). Throughout this story he learns to see the truth of the matter more

Meanwhile, back to Megatron, the person I meant to be talking about

Okay so I’m thinking that he’s from a colony or city that was at the bottom rung of Cybertronian society, though I haven’t decided particularly what his job was. It might have been a miner and/or gladiator (I’m debating gladiator to have that be a reason he’s high up in rank), but maybe I should do something else

But anyways, I haven’t worked out the kinks in his backstory, but his birthplace was under control of the Autobots, and he became emboldened by the ideals of the Decepticons and their leader (who at this point I might just make Galvatron), and ended up leading an uprising alongside his fellow bots to overthrow the corrupt leadership in their home, and being successful in this attempt. The Autobots were planning to launch a counterattack to reclaim the area, but the Decepticons caught wind of the uprising and managed to get there first, leading to the place becoming Decepticon territory and being under their protection

While not everyone involved decided to join the Decepticon rebellion afterwards, plenty being content to just have their freedom, Megatron decided to join with them afterwards, wanting to bring their cause to even more places amongst the galaxy

Megatron was a powerful bot, and one with a lot of guts and courage, and he has some skill in leading other bots, which led to him becoming a Decepticon commander. He’s also extremely loyal to those who’ve earned his respect

However his main flaw is that he is deeply emotional, and as such has a tendency to let his emotions overtake his logic and common sense, and that’s when he tends to fail and make the wrong decisions. This tends to particularly be a problem because his main emotion is anger

This is exactly why Starscream ends up getting assigned to Megatron as his second in command; Starscream may not be the most upstanding bot, but he’s very shrewd and very flexible with his circumstances, always looking for a way to come out on top, not letting grudges and emotions get in the way of things. Couple that with his extensive military experience and he was considered a good fit for Megatron, with the idea the two could even each other out

Speaking of Starscream, I’m flirting with the idea he may have at one point been an Autobot, but eventually switched sides alongside his squadron, but that’s neither here nor there

Anyways back to Megatron, he tends to judge people based on their character and direct actions rather than their skills and accomplishments. It’s not to say he can’t work with someone who’s highly skilled but an asshole, he just won’t like them

You’d think this means he’d be able to make peace with the Autobot squadron relatively quickly, but he has a deep hatred for Autobots (probably backstory related but again I don’t know the specifics) that tends to override that idea of judging by their character. Over time he also learns to let this hatred of the Autobots go, particularly because of Optimus as he sees the bot is genuinely good and wants to do what’s right

Also with that, I’m thinking he and Optimus have no prior connection, only meeting now at the time of the story. They probably knew of each other, but had no prior personal relationship

So basically they get enemies to lovers instead of the divorce arc. Well I mean, I’m not sure if they end up together, maybe one or both of them have other people they date. But you get what I mean

And yeah, I think that’s about it. I should probably go do homework now in all honesty

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Is it bad that when I saw this I thought it was about Megatron breaking up with Optimus?

Like he mostly fits with 3 out of 4, and the only one he didn’t do post-breakup he already did pre-breakup

When you broke up with your situationship did you

A: become a dictator

B: start a cult

C: join an underground fighting ring

D: do drugs with your former teacher and his new student

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Okay how the hell do I draw the Transformers One faces?

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Maybe this is a hot take, but I think I prefer fire truck Optimus over semi truck Optimus

I don’t know, he feels more complete to me that way, not needing to haul a trailer around. I know his trailer has uses sometimes, but it doesn’t always, and I feel like a trailer-less semi looks weird

Crap, now my brain’s got the idea of “what if Optimus’ trailer was their own separate Transformer?”

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I think the majority of my problems with Transformers Animated comes down to it being a 2000s cartoon

Not as in its existence as such is the problem, but it being such is why these things I don’t like are there

I don’t really know how to explain myself better than that

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Honestly I think at this point what I need is a collage of each of a Transformer’s various designs across each continuity they appear in, either with their vehicle modes on the page or on an additional separate page

Not only that, but a collage of the designs of characters with certain vehicle modes compared to others, like a collection of the car Transformers and the motorcycle Transformers to compare separately. Which in addition would probably have to be separated by continuity since that’d be way too many on one page

Unfortunately that would be far too much work and my attention span would not be able to handle a project of that size. I probably couldn’t even do it for one character, at least not one that appears often

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So my brain’s thinking back to that Transformers continuity idea thing I had, and while I don’t have any new ideas right now, I do have one thing I’m just not really sure what to do with

If Megatron isn’t the leader of the Decepticons here, then who do I make the leader?

With Optimus, there’s already some precedent and thus potential candidates, like Ultra Magnus, Sentinel Prime, or heck any of the thirteen Primes (a thought has now entered my mind of the Autobot and Decepticon faction forming from a rift between the Primes, and each being led by 6 of them while there’s 1 who’s still neutral, but I don’t know enough about the Thirteen to really do much with this, and also maybe it’d be better to have the mythical godlike heroes of Cybertron’s old days stay as just that, and say corruption only started after their time)

But since Megatron is almost always the leader of the Decepticons, and while I’ve heard in some he wasn’t the original, I don’t know who led before him. So I don’t really know who to use

My only real potential idea is Galvatron, since I know in IDW he and Megatron are separate entities. And maybe you could spin something with the fact that they have similar names, like Galvatron taking a personal liking to Megatron, or Megatron naming himself in the vein of Galvatron because he idolizes him

But maybe someone else works better? I still don’t think I’m that knowledgeable on Transformers lore yet, I kind of got sidetracked and haven’t finished Animated yet