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For the Transformers 40th anniversary, have a collab with studio TRIGGER and Bump of Chicken

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Advertising your movie on antihomeless architecture with a character who is working class and actively working against his caste system is so insane to me. Like do you even know who D-16 & Megatron are, this is literally against his whole character

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The Dunce Squad, full cast, radio play. I just want the in-character silliness between all the "government agents in the know, and this mall night security guard".

The Dunce Squad was inspired by @thenamesblurrito, who did a great series of drawings with all those hapless idiots.

A Monday question for fic writers:

If someone was going to podfic one of your stories (single narrator or full voice cast, your choice), which would you pick and why? And if given an opportunity to do a voice cameo in the podfic, would you?

For me: I think my DJD-on-the-LL comedy misadventure Chance would be a lot of fun out loud. And I'd opt for a cameo as Nickel, just so I can call someone an unlubed gearstick. 🤣

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The reason why the Autobots (and Decepticons) watch As The Kitchen Sinks is because 1) they don't got their own entertainment industry, and 2) it's a simulation of heavy complex social interactions, something they don't have good access to in their day-to-day life due to the war. They crave what's impossible for them to get, it like we crave our impossible goals the simulation of mysteries like cop shows, and simulation of triumph like video games where you shoot demons on Mars.

I need everyone to see this

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Unfortunately the coca-cola licensed bottler in Iceland does not carry Moxie, and I don't have plans to visit North America anytime soon, so if I'm to consume it in its birth region, the time will not be in the immediate future.

Maybe in two years, if you all come over here for the eclipse.

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Here we go again.

Image Comics, under the imprint Skybound Entertainment, now has the mantle which the IDW Publishing had for thirteen years. Which means it is time for new stories.

Or a reboot that feels rather familiar.

The thing is, Transformers has a very rich history. While the premise itself can be summarized in 1-2 sentences, there is still nearly forty years of media to draw from.

So, why do we always end up in 1984?

Because it is familiar. It is what we are used to. It is the simpler time where we know what happens, where we are in the familiarity of the franchise and we can call it our comfort. While there is certainly transformers stories that took the big leap, such as Beast Wars and Transformers Animated, those still took their cue from the original cartoon.

So what can we expect from this new comic series?

First of all, there is the obvious. Art references and references to old plots that were once seen Saturday mornings in front of the TV. While building on the true and trusted bare-bones of the cartoon series that started it all.

And secondly, we know there is going to be GI Joe comics, with the main cover of the upcoming "Duke" comic showing a fighter jet that is very familiar. And as the "Energon Universe" is its own imprint, and we have "Void Rivals", four issues already out with four characters in them from the original G1 transformers cartoon. All before this comic issue came out. So it is not only Transformers, but they are going to be alongside Duke, Marissa and Cobra Commander and with few original characters and concept in as well.

And despite all the familiarity, there is a deviation. A significant one but familiar. Grim? Mature? For grownups? No matter what, it is a deviation that's very familiar to everyone. That this medium to tell the story is not aimed at the age group that was the target audience for the cartoon, but for the same kids that watched the cartoon in its infancy, now all grown up and there is no need to sugarcoat anything. Gone are the days of thinly sanitised references to bleaker things which are expanded upon in a PSA before the credits roll. Here they are, out in the open for dissemination or to really hammer home that this is something that can't be seen on the TV during your Saturday mornings.

It's going to be interesting to see how this develops. Is this just going to be a dark adult version of the old G1 cartoon? Are they going to go for the "realism" excuse as of why such a dark turn was taken? Or will there be growth to the more hopeful and peppy? Will this comic have the space for the Optimus Prime that is "strong enough to be gentle"?

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Transformers Earthspark is doing something new when it comes to starting off a story.

I've been seeing some complaints that the Earthspark series, while sticking to established lore and characterisation, they are not showing anything. The biggest complaint is about Starscream's ark in episode 21, where Starscream's fear of Megatron is simply alluded to, once in a short exchange between Optimus Prime and Megatron, and when Hashtag confronts Starscream about it.

The thing is, Earthspark doesn't need to say anything. It's already there. The only thing that's in the way is that it is not in the Earthspark series.

Back in 2005-2006, where the news of a new Transformers movie in the works was about to happen, but now it was life action! Despite my ignorance of the franchise, I could name most of the characters. I knew that the blue blocky guy was Soundwave, I recognized Optimus Prime, Megatron and Starscream by sight, I knew that Starscream was a treacherous idiot.

I have no idea where that knowledge came from. I never consumed any other Transformers media, my brother had a total of four transformers, tiny microchangers none of which are any common guys, and we didn't know the names of, it was just a car that if standing up and pushing the hood over, it was a guy now. I have to reiterate, I have no idea how I came by that knowledge. Was it somehow absorbed through the various websites and media I saw online? I still remember having to download actual .avi files in order to watch videos from the internet, and with a limited connection anything I did online had to be measured carefully, so I had to tread on known grounds since it was highly risky seeing anything unknown because it took time and bandwidth away from the internet.

But still I knew it. And then Transformers Animated was released, where the opening scene even referenced the cartoon that came out before I was born, and then zoomed out to show that this new cartoon would be far different than its predecessor, even introducing a new main character while heavily rewamping an old one. That's where I started really consuming Transformers media, but still with the knowledge from unknown sources that it was drawing from a history older than I was.

And that is what Earthspark is relying on. It is using the fact that Transformers has become a very recognized brand where the knowledge of it passes easily. You don't need to watch any Transformers media to somehow know, that Starscream is a bumbling fool that tries to take over the Decepticons. And even if there is some unknown, the series makes it very clear that you can learn more about the Transformers, just read the comics! Or watch the old cartoon! I as a european can watch The G1 cartoon, Beast Wars and TFP for free on the official transformers channel on youtube even.

And that's how they rope you in. Earthspark is doing something new in how to reach audience, alluding to the bigger picture that's already there, waiting to be bought and consumed, while the older generation can enjoy a new storyline and little easter eggs without having to go through all the slog of reintroducing every single character that they already know.

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Just saw Rise of the Beasts. Fun movie. Arrival to Earth hit at the right time in the movie.

I admit, despite the movie clearly advertising itself as a Unicron movie, I hadn't expected Kicker at all.

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Yep! Dart just reminded me so much of Surveyor, and not just the paint job!

The artwork is by @cavalierconvoy, I forgot to add that to my ask.

Meet Surveyor! He and Dart are practically twins, and Surveyor transforms into a Formula Offroader, similar to a dune buggy!

I need to change Dart’s appearance to look more like a dune buggy but they do look alike. 😲😲

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I did a thing with the Dunce Squad.

OH MY GOD

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still thinking about this btw

Simmons, Dave, Fanzone, Fowler, and Schloder. the dunce squad. the pentagoon. who let them loose in the multiverse. someone IS going to die

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so everyone loves this last dunce squad post apparently

i saw some tags on it today that made me boot up my old computer to draw this because i think it's VITAL that you understand that Dave WILL win in a fight. this is a group that operates on Murphy's Law to function and Dave is the most Murphy of them all. i don't know what enemy they had to face down, idk Terrorcons or something? scraplets? Megatron himself? it doesn't matter, because none of the three government agents nor the police captain who canonically carries a bazooka were the ones to claim victory in this fight

it was the wet sock of a mall cop

thank you for listening to my TEDtalk i will continue going insane over them

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Earthspark Diaspora Moments and Analysis; eps. 1-3

below the cut are screenshots and explanations of how nonwhite diasporic identities are a foundation for the themes in Earthspark, a show worked on by many POC in terms of both writers and VAs

(written by someone who’s part of a multicultural nonwhite diaspora and who’s had many of these exact experiences/interactions that the Terrans go through IRL)

for more insights of what it’s like to be part of a diaspora, i have a Diaspora Tag with quotes/perspectives by other diasporic creators. more posts breaking down the rest of the episodes will come soon

episode 1: 

the Malto family is african american and filipino. african americans are inherently part of a diaspora. and we know Alex is filipino because we see the family eating lumpia with their dinner. and his VA, Jon Jon Briones, is also filipino. And while Alex DOES directly say he’s filipino in episode 6, even if he didn’t explain his ethnic identity to Bee/the audience we can still see it from small details like this (more on this later in my other posts)

[ID: A screenshot from Earthspark that is a cropped image of the Malto’s dinner table. Amongst the plated food is lumpia. end ID.]

Also Alex refers to his “lolo” at the very start of the series. In case you forgot his explanation of it in episode 6, “lolo” is Tagalog for grandpa (and “lola” means grandma). 

[ID: A screenshot of Earthspark focusing on Robby’s hand holding his phone. His father Alex is on screen, with white subtitles for his dialogue at the bottom of the screenshot saying, “Oh, my lolo gave that to me! Be careful–”. end ID.]

when twitch and thrash learn about cybertron’s history, they don’t feel like it is a part of their entire identity. their ancestry may be cybertronian, but they are disconnected from it so they don’t feel like it encapsulates their whole self. there is more to them than JUST having cybertronian origins. It’s a common thread amongst diasporic communities who share the culture of the country they are born in as well as the completely different geographic location their ancestors come from.

[ID: Two screenshots showcasing dialogue from Twitch in white text. She is saying, “It’s just that even if we are Transformers, we don’t feel like part of their story.” end ID.]

More under the cut

Keep reading

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So, where are you from?

While this is not the first Transformers media that goes into making Transformers coming from other planets than Cybertron, this is the first media that really goes into making the Transformers from Earth into a very distinct clade of their own, instead of being born of sparks that were brought down to Earth, or were literally built by other Cybertronians.

This is not just to make this more down-to-earth series, to make the kids connect with the characters even more and feel closer to them than if they would be were they aliens. This is not just from tapping into the childhood playground theatres of the Gen X and Millennial writers of the series.

This is a story born out of trauma that all of us experience in one form or another.

This is a story born out of history. Not just the list of events and what year they happened as we learn in school, but also of the little histories. Folktales, fables, bedtime stories.

Transformers Earthspark is about Culture. And how fragile it is.

Let's start with the obvious one. We all know about the Transformers, the lore behind it and all that jazz. Heroic Autobots versus the dastardly Decepticons. Led by Optimus Prime and Megatron respectively.

But the first time we see them in Earthspark, something has changed.

The first thing people noticed, even before Earthspark aired, was that Optimus Prime and Megatron were now on the same side? And neither of them kept their Autobot and Decepticon insignias? Well, it is still there, but such a minuscule and easily overlooked that one would be forgiven to think it part of the GHOST insignia to begin with. The Cybertronian factions have existed for so long that it would be so ingrained into everyone so losing it in such a way would be a big blow. And in fact, anyone not part of GHOST still has their insignias intact.

Apparently for the war to end on Earth, both Optimus Prime and Megatron had to give something up. A part of their identity, a part of their culture.

It looks like the war between the Autobots and the Decepticons has finally ended. But it looks like the victor was Earth.

But it doesn't mean that they gave up everything.

There is still something happening which GHOST is not privy to, and if they were, it would most likely be incorporated into their whole. While there are Decepticons roaming around, and still some Autobots as well allowed to still carry the insignia and apparently not work for GHOST, Bumblebee is somehow the exception. It is very likely he played a big part in the war on Earth, thus not be given whatever immunity the others have.

All of this might sound like a new and exciting story, and we're eagerly waiting for the other shoe to drop, for the relevation why Bumblebee's visage is heavily marketed while his death was apparently faked, and why his existence is very inconvenient for Optimus Prime who is apparently playing both sides, Autobot and GHOST, and why exactly Megatron joined GHOST as well despite the treatment the Decepticons are receiving.

The thing is, this is an old story. In war, it is easy to have a victor. It is however very hard not to have someone who lost. And wars have many different forms to them. In this series, we're seeing two different wars being played out. There is the Autobot and Decepticon conflict, which seems to be over now, and then there is the secret war that's going on. As I said before, Humanity seems to have won the war, and they are on the winning side of the other hidden war.

Transformers Earthspark is about two Earthborn Cybertronians bonding with a family of humans, an African American woman and a Filipino immigrant man, and their two kids.

Dot, whose ancestors were taken away from their birthplace and brought across the globe as slaves, losing their connection and familiarities to their culture and ending up as a regular American like so many that have the same roots as her.

Alex, immigrant from the Philippines, still retaining some part of his stories but having to retell them through a book.

A book that is literally part of a series called "Tales of the Obscure". What does that do to a person? Knowing that their culture is being reduced to near nothing or worse, novelty, when moving? What happens to their identity? Is Alex trying his best to tell his kids the stories of his youth to explain where he came from, or is he clinging onto one of the few things he has found in his new life that has something of his old life?

And then we have Twitch and Thrash. The two new Cybertronians who are not from Cybertron, but were born from the Emberstone while on Earth. How will they fit into the society and culture of Earth? The series up until now seems to be about just that. About these two new individuals trying to figure out who they are and how they're going to fit in. And this is a big conflict for the two of them. On one hand, they're going to be learning about themselves and learn about others and try to go their own way into being who they are.

And on the other hand -

They can be conquered, be it by Mandroid, GHOST, or Earth in general, not allowed to be who they want to be or go in the direction that might benefit them the most, defeated in the war that the Autobots and the Decepticons have already lost, the war over their identity and their right to carve out their destiny, their own way, and the way they want to live.

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Crazy that I thought this would be a tame fandom when I first wandered through because the robots make a point about being creatures who can’t reproduce sexually. Haha… heh… crazy……

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Notes from the first draft of the 80s Transformers movie:

- Rails, who transforms from a train to a train to a snake - Chemico who shows up for one second - Spike and Carly are not Danny’s parents and neither of them show up - Bumblebee fucking dies - the big bad is defeated by Danny’s mom - Tiny OP in a jar - Rails - The Decepticons are fooled by cardboard cutouts - Magnus is introduced, receives the power to become Ultra Magnus, and gets murdered and stays dead, all in the same movie - Daniel gets the power of the Primes in the end. Daniel. - I cannot stress enough how fucking amazing Rails is - Arcee is Wheeljack’s assistant - Woke King Grimlock