#'i kill MECH agents'

[codenamejudas]

Jaden and Judas managing to stitch together a meaningful relationship is even funnier when you realize Jaden is a traitor out here hunting his coworkers to destabilize his former branch of MECH...and Judas' job is to hunt down MECH's traitors.

[sixleggedleech]

[monsterfactoryfanfic]

since AAPI month is winding down here in the US I thought I'd recommend a few RPGs made by Asian designers that I've personally reviewed. Please consider throwing a few bucks to these folks, they're all working with some really fascinating stuff:

Moriah, by Kyle Tam

A narrative, dark linear pathway about climbing a sacred mountain the prevent the gods' wrath from annihilating the world. Genuinely one of my favorite narrative voices in RPGs to this day. Horrifically violent and grim, but I think some of you sickos who like self-mutilation, human sacrifice, and imagery out of the binding of Isaac will dig it.

Navathem's End by Sinta Posadas and Pam Punzalan

Taking elements from both PBTA and Blades in the Dark, Navathem's End is a beefy, beautifully illustrated fantasy game where players act as agents of an organization fighting against the consequences of the Gods. I really liked some of this game's unique twists on character advancement, I think this game is ripe for a long campaign if you're trying to shift your table away from D&D.

Spectres of Brocken by Aaron Lim

Mech fantasy meets high school AU. Spectres of Brocken lets you establish rivalries and romances while in a military training academy, and then play them out on the battlefield after a timejump. I think Lim explicitly is basing this off of Fire Emblem: Three Houses, but if you've ever imagined being stabbed by your high school crush in a spear-wielding death machine, you should read through this one!

Apocalypse Keys by Rae Nedjadi

Hellboy meets Men in Black meets sad gay found family that'll eventually have to kill each other. Play as agents of the DIVISION that hunts down monsters threatening your world, while struggling to keep your own monstrous impulses in check. Perfect for monsterfuckers, as well as folks who thought Monster of the Week wasn't queer enough.

Ten Thousand Days for the Sword by Emily Zhu

Emily Zhu is my favorite tabletop designer. Their prose is immaculate, their brain is enormous, and their design is out of this world. Play as wuxia warriors battling in a cyberpunky city, using hundreds of martial arts techniques (such as Horse and Turn into a Demon) to best rival factions. Genuinely such a cool and fascinating game, I played a small campaign of it and it was SO MUCH FUN, thanks in no small part to Zhu's phenomenal writing.

[bodydoublegame]

hello! it's amy! if you follow my personal account, you'd already know what this is. body double is a side project that i do for fun inbetween infamous, just for when i need to refresh my brain! i decided to make a blog for it so i don't flood my personal account with this game lol.

This game is a side project that I do when I need inspiration for Infamous. That means development on it will be sloooow. Infamous is my main priority right now!

Body Double is a an interactive story that takes place in a cyberpunk inspired world where top secret operatives of an elusive Cypress Industries have the unique ability to jump bodies.

Agent Sawyer is the best Agent in the business, tasked with protecting Cypress Industries and all of its assets.

Until three weeks ago.

Framed for the president's murder and in a last-ditch effort to save their ass, they switch bodies with our regular, ordinary IT-tech MC...who is now walking in the body of a suspect the entire city is looking for. Stuck in a citywide manhunt, MC is now on the run with a pesky Agent who refuses to tell them where their body is. To make matters worse, Agent Sawyer's subconcious is stuck in their head, speaking to them like a pest MC can't shake off.

Wonderful.

With a help of a host of characters from Sawyer's past and MC's present, MC will have to throw themself in a conspiracy to clear Sawyer's name and get back to normal. Relatively. No pressure.

The usual IF stuff: customize your mc from personality to appearance. Unsurprisingly from me, BODY DOUBLE is a character driven story with a focus on relationship dynamics, angst and drama...but this time with action.

Mold Sawyer in the prologue and be stuck with them in your head for the rest of the story. Are they humorous? Stoic? Vulgar? Emotional? Arrogant? You decide.

Romance characters like Sawyer's ex (messy) or the human-mech hybrid trying to kill you (messy) or your measly IT tech friend who has no idea what the hell is going on but they're a trooper. Or an AI. Your call.

Try to uncover a conspiracy and solve a murder in a cyberpunk setting.

Don't die?

SAWYER [RO][customizable]: the agent accused of murder. The wires get crossed when they switch bodies with you, and somehow you have their subconcious in your head. They refuse to switch back until you help clear their name even though you're in their body, which means people are after you now. Asshole move, really.

ROACH: Sawyer's twin brother and perpetual hermit. As a hacker, he has eyes all over the city. He also misses his sibling, so he's determined to see it through.

AGENT BECK [f or m] [RO]: A cool and intimidating fellow Agent of Cypress Industries...and Sawyer's ex partner. Sawyer dumped them, broke their heart, and since then, ghosted them (as one does.) With that said, Beck is determined to help you. And them. Just make sure to try to ignore the longing looks they send your way. It's not towards you, of course.

CAI [RO] [f, m or nb models] : Cypress AI or CAI is Sawyer's former field partner. Honest, cold and emotionless, you can't believe CAI is actually helping you. It must be going against their every makeup to go against Cypress, but having someone like them on your side is beneficial, at least.

HAWKE [m][RO]: the mech-human hybrid tasked with hunting you down. Well, hunting Sawyer down. Their one mission is to see you (Sawyer) dead, which poses a problem so as long as you're in this body. So there's that.

SOLANA [f][RO]: the elusive club owner...and the last person to see the president alive. You can't tell if Solana is an ally or an enemy, but you do know the one thing that drives her is power. Good to keep an eye on her, anyway.

AXL [nb] [RO]: the wealthy child of the now dead president and new heir of Cypress Industries. They hate your (Sawyer's) guts. They have hired all the best operatives and assassins to take you (Sawyer) down, and will stop and nothing to get their justice. If only you could convince them otherwise...

MAV [f or m] [RO]: your best friend and fellow IT employee. A trooper, who decides to be your sidekick on this weird...journey. No biggie. Make sure they don't die.

As usual, BD is 18+ for adult themes, explicit language, suggestive situations, violence and more! <3

[moonlight-tmd]

Unicron and Primus meeting Bee's Partners in the god sparkling au?

Been a while since i talked about this old thing-

Hmm well, I suppose i coulld pull together the very unstable story i've put together for this AU. But let's skip to the "Meet your in-laws" scenes, shall we?

ProwlBee!

The first time Prowl met Unis (Unicron) he was scared for his life cuz this guy was huge. Not to mention the danger aura invading his EM field whenever he was near. Bee has always felt like a little trouble magnet to him but this guy was that x1000. Unis on the other hand tries his best to not squish the black boring bug his beloved bitty chose as a mate- this guy doesn't even know how to tell a joke for frag's sake! How is he supposed to entertain his bitty when all the stuff he does is boring... Oh well, he supposes he makes Bee happy and safe, but if he ever makes his sweet supernova cry then he will regret it.

Prisma (Primus) was a whole lot different as you imagine- sure he was still big, maybe bigger than Unis, but unlike him he almost didn't feel threatening. There was something about him that made everyone calm down. Prowl was quite happy that this one actually likes him and even shares few of his interests. Prisma was also happy that his bitlet found someone who can take care of him and make him happy. Although it might have hurt him a tiny bit seeing how similar Prowl and Bee are to him and Unis... he'l keep an eye out just in case something goes wrong.

ShockBee!

When Bee introduced Longarm to Unis there was this awkward moment of just them staring at one another. Bee couldn't tell what's wrong but Longarm was momentarily trapped in his own hell- He stood before the God of Chaos himself and could do nothing as the disguise he had faded away before he snapped back to reality with Bee and Unis. Longarm generally avoids Bee's Papa, he believes he doesn't like him... and he does! Unis knows perfectly what "Longarm" is and does and, despite loving the thrill of danger and betrayal, he DOES NOT like that he is his bitlet's mate. There's so much things that could go wrong and he is not willing to risk anything and have Bee cry because of this double-agent. He makes sure to let him know he's not welcome and hopefully breaks up with Bee.

Prisma was not that different. Longarm felt the same imposing aura and saw his image just like he did with Unis, and it effectively made him doubt all his life choices. Prisma also doesn't like that this mech is full of lies and betrayal, he may not be as direct as Unis but he does give him the cold shoulder. Also he and Unis finally agreed on something together, hooray!

BlitzBee!

Unis almost decapitated Blitz the first time he saw him- Blitz jumped Bee and picked him up, Unis attacked thinking Bee was in danger. Fortunatelly Bee stopped him before anything bad could happen- Blitz, upon knowing that the mech who nearly killed him is Bee's dad... well, he definitely kept himself in line around both. Although not for long as Unis rather quickly took a liking to him- he called him a freak in an affectionate way (?) and seemed to enjoy his company. Unis liked the way Blitzwing was; he was fun, unstable and very strong- perfect recipe for chaos! He was happy for Bee to have found himself someone so good to mate with.

Prisma tho, wasn't as impressed as Unis but he still was accepting. Although in a way one would accept someone disabled or with defects. The first time they were ever left alone Prisma told him he went thru so much and that he will make sure the ones who hurt him will pay the price of doing so. Blitzwing was confused but he didn't say anything. He didn't complain, both of Bee's parents seemed to approve of their relationship. Although it would've been nice if Unis didn't slip and reveal them to the others before they could come up with a plan to do so...

[in1-nutshell]

I'm very sorry, but can i also request Buddy the terran who looks like Rumble ending up on Fearless Buddy Timeline?? If it isn’t to much.

So they arrive and everyone is taken aback about this kid. They don’t know each other, but Fearless feels kind of protective around them, so they became a Protector of Buddy. And Buddy protects Fearless as well.

There will be chaos and maybe Ravage will become a sibling for this kid. Buddy will feel safer around bots they know, like megs, and if Buddy explains the accident with shockwave and everyone realizes what the problem is and decide to tell Buddy about Rumble. What would happen??

Echo is back!

Fearless is adding another sibling on their list.

Hope you enjoy!

Echo meets Fearless on the Lost Light

SFW, Platonic, Familial, Cybertronian (Terran) reader, Human reader

TFE/MTMTE

After finding out about the groundbrigde, the rest of the Autobots and good members of G.H.O.S.T. had decided to repurpose it.

To use it for good as Mo said.

Echo honestly couldn’t care less about the groundbridge.

They were there for moral support for Nightshade and Hashtag.

Once it was time to test it out, Wheeljack flipped the switch.

The portal swirls were its normal colors and were stable… until they weren’t.

Echo holding onto some of the safety guard rails. Echo: “Hey guys? Is that normal?” The groundbrigde colors start to flux and change size. Nightshade and Hashtag holding on to the console for dear life. Hashtag and Nightshade: “NO!” Wheeljack holding on to the railing near the kill switch. Wheeljack: “Just hold on for a couple more nanoclicks and I’ll shut it down!” Agent Scholder: “AAAAAHHHHHHH!” The agent starts flying to the bridge. Echo: “Scholder!” They let go of the railing and start going after the flying human. Hashtag, Nightshade, and Wheeljack: “ECHO!” Echo grabs the human with one servo and launches him back to the others. They try grabbing the sides of the groundbrigde, but they narrowly miss and get pulled in as the portal closes.

  Meanwhile on the Lost Light… Fearless is walking down the halls with a mug of coffee in one hand and two energy drinks in the other. Fearless: “Finally! That super speed is as good as mine now!” The portal opens and Echo comes flying out. Fearless ducks and drops their concoction in the process. Fearless: “Great there goes my superhero origin story…”

Fearless was seriously thinking about having Magnus make them business cards for every bot or human from other universes visited the Lost Light.

That or have Brainstorm scan the multiverse and see why it is made of Swiss cheese.

It certainly was a trip between trying to explain the minibot (who had just realized their new fear of space) and trying to explain the portals/bridge works.

Echo was a bit hesitant to meet the rest of the crew members when Fearless brought the idea up, but ultimately relented.

Fearless and Echo walking side by side. Fearless noticing how tense the minibot was. Fearless: “There’s nothing to be scared about the crew. I mean, as long as we don’t get some bots mad.” Echo: “I’m not scared!” Fearless gives them a half teasing look. Fearless: “Its okay if you wanna hold my hand kiddo.” Echo: “… Are you serious?” Fearless without missing a beat grabs a hold of the minobots servo. They don’t let go.

Fearless brings them straight to Rodimus and Ultra Magnus.

Magnus feels a wave of déjà vu.

Rodimus happily greets the minibot to the ship.

Echo tries remembering some of the manners Mom had taught them and greeted them as politely as they could.

One pro about this universe was no ‘Rumble’ talks.

In comes in Megatron.

Echo nearly has whiplash seeing the giant grey mech. Rodimus and Magnus think that the bot is about to glitch. No one was prepared for them to sprint over to him with the happiest smile on their face. Echo: “Megatron! Finally, a familiar face!” Megatron gives Fearless a confused look. Fearless just shrugs. Megatron: “Hello? And you are?” Echo stands up straighter slightly puffing their chassis. Echo: “I’m Echo! I got shot out of a groundbride portal.” Megatron: “Ah! That makes sense.” Ravage shows up from behind. Echo immediately stands in front of Fearless glaring at the felicon. Ravage: “When did we get the new crewmate?” Echo: “YOU CAN TALK!?”

A crew meet and greet is called after 15 minutes of trying to convince Echo that Ravage wasn’t going to maul Fearless.

And an additional 10 minutes to convince Echo to let go of Fearless.

It comes to a compromise that Megatron and Fearless would always be nearby.

Fearless wasn’t blind seeing how Echo tensed seeing so many bots enter the room.

This was going to be eventful.

Magnus: “Number 3, you may ask your appropriate question.” Swerve: “What’s your alt mode and how did you get it?” Echo stands up and turns into their rover form before transforming back. Echo: “Dad calls it a ‘mini rover’ and got it from going through stuff in the barn.” Fearless raises and eyebrow but keeps quiet. Magnus: “Number 24." Nautica: “Who’s this ‘Dad’?” Echo smiles: “He’s the best dad in the world! He tells the best stories about the Great War and legends! Robbie and Mo sometimes voiceover the bots and cons when he’s ding the stories from the comics.” Murmur comes from the crowd. Magnus: “Number 15.” Drift: “Are your guardians humans?” Echo: “Yep! It’s Mom, Dad, Robbie, Mo, Me, Thrash, Twitch, Hashtag, Nightshade, and Jawbreaker. Then there’s the bots and some of the cons too, but they are like extended family.” Magnus: “Number 42.” Brainstorm: “When did you come online? Before, During, or after the war?” Echo: “Oh that’s easy! A little over a year ago.” Fearless spits out their orange juice and is in a coughing mess. Echo goes over and carefully pats their back, blissfully unaware of what they just unleashed in the crowd. Brainstorm: “Little over a year!?” Echo picks up Fearless, still rubbing small circles on their back, while going back to their seat. Echo: “Yeah? Technically I was the first one to come to consciousness...” Brainstorm: “What do you mean by that…?” Echo: “Well Robbie and Mo found some Emberstone, touched it and with the powers of I don’t remember, POOF! Me, Thrash and Twitch popped out of the cave water. Oh, and we need water to survive instead of that energon stuff. We can technically still drink it, but it burns faster—Woah! Is he okay?!” Brainstorm is on the floor twitching with Perceptor kneeling by also twitching.

Somewhere in the crowd… Whirl whispering to Cyclonus: “Do you know where Megs has those adoption paper?” Cyclonus raises his optic: “Why…” Whirl: “… I’m gonna steal that kid.” Cyclonus: “Whirl, no.” Whirl: “Whirl, yes!”

It took a while to get through the questions with the number of bots nearly short circuiting on the spot.

When they told them about Shockwave and what he had done, it just sealed the deal for the ‘Echo protection squad’.

They weren’t fond of the name but didn’t mind some bots looking after them either.

Megatron looked like he might have had a stroke when Echo mentioned Dot and that they shared history.

It’s a somber moment when Echo mentions Rumble to the crew, especially to the former Decepticons onboard.

None of them want to talk about it.

Fearless caught Ravage going to the communications hub.

They have an idea who he’s calling and leave him to it.

Speaking of Fearless…

As soon as Fearless got through Echo’s shell, the two were practically attached to the hip.

And CHAOS REIGNED.

The ship now belonged in the palms of their hands/servos.

Whirl has already begun his search for adoption papers and already dubbed little Echo as his kid.

No takes backies.

Magnus had to be taken to the med bay to get an IV of pure Common Sense attached to his frame after witnessing the shenanigans.

Another tearful goodbye was felt when Echo had to go back home.

Fearless chuckled to themselves as the portal closed.

Meanwhile in Echo’s universe…

Echo gets spat out into a pile of dirt. Echo standing up trying to shake and brush all the dirt. Echo: “Who leaves a pile of dirt in the middle—”

SLAM!

Jawbreaker slams into Echo in a fierce hug. Jawbreaker: “Echo you’re okay! You’re okay! You’re okay!” Echo wheezing feeling their frame dent but manages to pull an arm out to pat their younger sibling. Echo: “I’m here Jaws.” Rapid pedesteps start getting louder. Echo: “…This is how I’m gonna go out… drowned and squashed in my family’s hugs… Ha, bring it.”

[valentinetypewriter]

Things I did and didn't like about The Umbrella Academy season 4

warning spoilers under the cut

Things I did like

Confirmation that Ben and Viktor were close as children, it was nice seeing someone in his family treating him nicely

The entire concept of the timeline subway, I do think it's a very interesting concept

Diego and Lila's daughter being named Grace, especially because Diego seemed the closest to their mother

Klaus helping out alison taking care of Claire when she can't

Lila having a new power, because I hated her old power, it just felt very Mary Sue

The references to season 1 episode 1 in the last episode (Reginald's speech and the music)

Klaus being a total germaphobe, I like the over cautious behaviour now that he can die

Small details, like Klaus writing on his hand the word stop where his Tattoo used to be

I also enjoyed the references made to the comics, like the mask that temp agents wear being in Gene and Jean's barn. I think the photo of them saving paris/the Eiffel tower is a reference to the comic where the tower is a mech for Zombie robot Gustave Eiffel

A lot of what happens to Klaus is very similar to that of the comics, like his situation with the drug dealer is what he's doing in the first comic, also now being able to levitate as well.

Things I didn't like

Just fyi a cute little end sequence isn't going to distract anyone from it being bad

The first thing Klaus took from that box was Dave’s dog tags and they just don’t talk about it. Nor mention it at all again

After getting his powers back, luther's body changed again, I don't like this as his body isn't affected by his powers, it was caused by being injected with a serum to save him

Viktor has trouble committing to relationships and this problem is not further elaborated upon. Like what was the point of showing that

Also Ray’s abandonment is never actually discussed, but I guess it's consistent that Alison can't keep a stable relationship. But seriously she betrays her family and let's Reginald kill Luther, just to have this man in her life and she loses him and no one mentions it

Lila and Diego are not content with family life and an unnecessary love triangle is formed between them and Five. I feel like they certainly butchered a lot of the characters in this season

Five out of all people, who constantly risked his own life trying to get back to his family multiple times suddenly ignores and hides a way to get back to them, because now all of a sudden he has a thing for his brother's wife???

In season 2 Diego makes a bracelet in the mental hospital for Lila she ends up wearing it the entire time throughout the season, only losing it when she gets shot. Diego picks it up and keeps it with him, when he finds her again in season 3 he gives it back to her, which she then wears for the rest of the show. But in season 4 suddenly she hates bracelets, trading one her got for her for a fucking vacuum.

Klaus is the only sibling who dies without knowing how the Original Ben (his ben, his best friend) died

It kind of went downhill after episode 5, like there were a few things I disliked but nothing that outright made me hate this season. But the way they managed to massacre 2 good characters that had an enjoyable platonic relationship is astounding

Five spends the last three seasons, trying to save everyone, mostly trying to save his family he spent 60 odd years trying to get back just to become a home wrecker in the end

I don't think Lila and Five had a genuine connection the way Lila and Diego did, I feel like they were just lonely and desperate after 7 years.

Lila despite having laser eyes, suddenly being able to copy powers again in the last episode despite not doing it at all nor showing any sign of being able to do that

ABIGAIL >:[

They never ended up explaining why the fuck Jeniffer was found inside a giant squid, its mentioned quite A bit, and even gets shown multiple times, but there's no reason or meaning for it.

[lets-try-some-writing]

Getting more information on what the femmes do was very exciting (idk if that's the right word) but if it's not a spoiler I would love to hear more about the process when a femme finishes the preparations

(And it makes sense, find someone insignificant and reuse them to make someone new, someone potentially more useful)

The Grim Dark Archives: Statement #007 Cold Forged

[Statement taken from [Redacted] on [Redacted: Sensitive data] regarding femmes and what they do to their chosen subjects. Concerns have been rising after [Redacted] made it clear that Arcee can latch onto humans just as easily as she can another Cybertronian. Personnel working at the Autobot base have begun attempting to go on strike in an effort to escape.

I can't say I blame them, but [Redacted] was called to explain the process that femmes put their targets through to hopefully give us some answers. I suspect the higher ups just want enough information to weave a half baked like for the staff, but the information is vital nonetheless. The more we know, the better a chance we have of fighting back if need be.

Statement begins.]

══════════════════

Femmes... yeah, I've known a few over the course of my life. Elita was one real piece of work. She wanted Orion when she was still Ariel, and she threw a fit when the Archives got him before she could. She wanted Optimus as well once she found out he had been Orion at some point. She nearly got him too. I think the only reason Optimus managed to get out of her clutches was because of his rather murderous tendencies. I don't know if he meant to or not, but he allowed Elita to try and claim him and then watched on as her abilities backfired.

There is a reason femmes only target the weak. If their will cannot overcome the will of the target, their abilities will kill them instead... and in a rather brutal fashion.

It was a shame. Elita, when she wasn't enthralled with her targets, was a good femme. She treated her cold forged well and was a brilliant tactician. She actually kept Optimus in line for a long time. She ensured he couldn't do anything nearly as extreme as what he does now. That's the good thing about femmes. They are good and kind to their targets. They fill the void in the bot's life that no other could have ever hoped to fill. It is a peaceful end for a mech that would otherwise be cast away by society. Elita was the companion Optimus needed, a level helmed and gentle being who served as his equalizer when his plans demanded more pain than required. I appreciated her for that, especially when I served as as a special agent-

Ignore that remark. No. Ignore it.

Do you understand me Witwicky? You will ignore that remark.

[Note: [Redacted] expressed a severe violent reaction the moment I made it clear that I had no intention of adhering to his wishes. He only calmed when he watched me scratch it from the records. Of course I added back the redacted information following the conversation, but [Redacted] has things he wants to hide it seems.]

Good.

As I was saying, Elita was a fantastic person. Femmes are more than capable of being normal members of society when they are tended to. In fact, they are even worshipped in some circles and given the lowly members of society so that they may be remade. But Elita aimed too high, she went beyond the bounds set by the rules of femmes. She tried to go after a mech who was too strong, and for that reason, she fell.

Femmes are of the line of Solus Prime, the first femme created by Primus. At least that's what the Primacy will tell you. I'm not all that sure on the theological stuff, but there are records pointing to the fact that Solus existed. Because of that, I am willing to pin the femmes existence back to her. I don't know all the details about the first femme. That's the kind of thing you'd need to ask Orion about. He always loved talking about the theological details of history. He always got so passionate about it...

Sometimes... I forget Orion isn't here to answer anymore. I mean, he is, but he also isn't. But that's beside the point. This isn't my forte. Sorry, its just seeing Optimus so often after so many millennia, it can bring back old memories yanno? I will get back on topic.

No one knows what makes a newspark become a femme. In fact, there are no signs at all until the newspark sheds their second armor set. They behave just like every other Cybertronian, and then sometime in their early adolescence, they start following a specific individual around. Usually their first target is someone very old or very young, the weak of society or those without enough knowledge to fight back. Once the femme has picked, that's when the Council steps in and slaps a sticker on them to denote what they are. The poor target is cut off from everyone and left to the femme. Why? Because the first target is always the one who suffers the most.

Femmes are highly territorial. They will never aid one another unless both their targets are in danger and cooperating is in their best interest. So every young femme is on her own, left to figure things out as she ages. For young femmes, they will pick their victims apart. There is no peace to be found as they sink their connectors into their target to try and tear apart their CNA and remake it. The process kills the target without fail. A more experienced femme knows that she must follow a ritual, a process of sorts. She must know her target, she must care for her target, and only once her target is open to her... only then can she dig her claws in and remake them.

Yes, yes I am getting to the actual process now. Calm down. I swear you fleshies are just as impatient as Cyberfelines sometimes.

First she will get to know her target and release a chemical, a pheromone as your kind call it. This chemical causes the target to become calm, more trusting, and it also weakens their immune system. It has some benefits, such as increased processor function and heightened senses, but all this comes at the cost of increasing weakness. Not to mention the increase in processor activity is largely so that the femme may attract her target's attention and push them into seeing her in a light that best fits what role she is aiming to fulfill until the time for harvest arrives.

Around a vorn into her work, the femme will start to introduce her coils, her touches if you will. She will start to touch her target as often as she can, and it is through this that small injectors in her digits will begin to input a specially made protomatter into her target. The target will feel no pain since the injections are so small. But over months, years, vorns... slowly her target will start to think less, feel less, until at last they start to collapse.

Femmes are not needlessly cruel in their efforts. She will be very gentle with her target in their dying cycles. When they begin to forget, she will remind them of the things they lost. She will help them fuel, she will take them places they enjoy, and she will allow them ample time to deal with their lingering affairs. Any living relatives will not be compensated, but that is because she sees her work as the greatest compensation any being could possibly receive. She is remolding the worthless into something greater, and for that reason she is both compelled to her work just as much as she heralds it as something sacred. It is her nature to be gentle in this stage, for by that point, her target will be carrying the beginnings of her cold forged, her perfect creation.

There is no set time for it, but at some point in this final stage, the femme will continue her injections of protomatter and her quiet indoctrination until finally, her target shatters. This can take various forms, usually some type of explosion or contortion of the frame, but the end result is always the same. The target dies, and from their corpse, a new being emerges. Much like a newspark, it emerges without armor, but unlike the newsparks from the Well, it will come forth with memory and a mission.

We call these things the Cold Forged. They are beings that completely lack emotion. Or perhaps the ability to empathize. It is hard to tell with them. They all seem to take sick glee in watching others squirm. But anyway, the Cold Forged have a purpose that their femme gave them, and most often, they do not care to reveal it. Those that have felt like giving up data have often been given a mission that amounts to a concept, a thought or ideal. The most common mission these beings receive is by far the most terrifying.

Perfection.

They are given one concept, and they live out their entire lives embodying and striving to reach it. The Cold Forged are Cybertronian by every single stretch of the word, but they are not... like us. Does that make sense? My kind do not really do the empathy thing. But they have SOMETHING. The Cold Forged don't even have that. They are true machines.

You know what's so funny about this whole thing?

The femmes don't even care about their Cold Forged. They make them, and then they move along to the next target. The Cold Forged are the closest any Cybertronian has to actually having a biological creation, and the femmes don't care!

[Note: [Redacted] laughed for a rather long time following this statement. He seemed to be... unstable while speaking on this matter.]

Sorry about that.

It's just, it feels so clinical to me even millennia after learning about the process. These femmes go through so much effort just to make a creature that they then throw away. Elita was a rare exception in this regard. She liked to keep tabs on her Cold Forged, and I think one of hers even ended up with the Elite Guard. Her missions to her Cold Forged were always super specialized too.

Yeah. Femmes. Cold Forged. It's a hot mess I tell you.

Jack will be fine. Arcee will care for him as best she knows how until his dying day. That much you can be sure of.

══════════════════

[Statement end.

I am unsure how to feel about all this. Every detail I gather about these aliens tells me that there is something deeply wrong with them. I have my theories, but considering [Redacted]'s disposition and what info we have on everyone else, I think I can say that this race has been altered somehow. If [Redacted] is able to comprehend empathy, there must be others.

They are capable of feeling and being reasonable, but there is some factor that changes things for them. I shouldn't get involved...

But I want to know. I want to figure this mess out. I am just one man, but if I can put some pieces together, then perhaps there is something we can do to fix this. If nothing else, I want to understand these aliens. I want to know why.

Why start a war? Why do all this? And why in God's name would they shatter in such a way culturally? There must be an answer, and I have a sinking feeling that the only ones who can give me answers are going to be very dangerous.

Agent Witwicky signing off.

Recording ends.]

[transingthoseformers]

Do you have a WIP you haven't talked about because it's not fleshed well enough?

Hmm, let me look through my notes because I think I talk about most of my WIPs even when they're just bare bones I chew on

A few of the plotlines I don't think I've talked about yet but I've been internally toying with include:

The earthspark mecha reconnect with Cybertron, only to learn the war is still very much ongoing up there (Rodimus and Megaempress may or may not be two big names involved here)

Earthspark Tarn and Overlord arrive on Earth, with a mutual deal that circles around killing Megatron. However, they end up disagreeing on how exactly they're going to execute this idea, and Tarn ends up doubting his alliance with Overlord the more he spends time with the blue mech.

Earthspark Trepan somehows his way to earth, and Megatron is torn between what, exactly, he is going to do with Trepan. Sometimes in this plotline, Trepan end up striking a malicious deal with agent Kroft and GHOST, which doesn't bode well

In general I have a million ideas about Megatron's pre-war past being dug up and consequences ensue

Vaguely tfp but it's been several years since the Great Cybertronian War ended, since the transformers left to go back to Cybertron. Except, for one reason or another, necessity calls Optimus back to earth and he isn't alone (he's with Megatron. Megatron is here. And his 💖husband💖, as it's made increasingly clear that a lot has changed since the bots left)

Instead of getting strapped down to the laboratory table, CYLAS becomes a decepticon and joins their ranks. He wanted to be one so bad? He gets to realize it's not all cupcakes and rainbows as it really sets in that he's not quite human anymore and that the decepticons suck fucking ass.

We only saw a bit of the bot brawls in Earthspark, but I like to explore the idea a little further— especially with the concept of an exgladiator getting involved with them.

Quintessons invading earth, causing the autobots, decepticons, and humans alike to need to team up is a favorite concept I like to fuck with

Tfp decepticon win or seemingly decepticon win scenario where Megatron, as part of his ever enigmatic plans, starts a planned pregnancy because to him? They've won, and it's time to move on to the next phase of the plan. Sure, rebuilding while on earth was not anticipated, but it's nothing the decepticons can't puzzle out :)

This one's a little more freeform and sillygoofy but, as part of peace negotiations, Megatron wants something unexpected: a sparkling. He wants Optimus to give him a sparkling.

Tfa decepticon win scenario where a disgraced decepticon traitor teams up with the autobots to topple Megatron from his throne

An au were some especially ambitious humans find a (bayverse?) hatchling, and take it in. They're about to learn raising a sparkling is you guessed it pretty fucking hard

What were things like when earthspark Megatron freshly defected? I like to think about that

Other stuff probably

[ppnuggie]

polyam earthspark optimus/reader/megatron hcs ? they r so funny in the show i want to hold both their hands

　　　　　　MEGOP x gn human reader

　　　　『　megatron ,, optimus ,, gender neutral human reader 』

　　-> megop w/ reader :))

　　— fluff ,, sfw ,, crack

　　— theyre so goofy and precious i love them 😭🫶

• being w/ the two of them is quite the experience ,, theyre both old mechs trying to live on earth ,, where everything is smaller than them

• theres many times where they make mistakes ,, none of which harm you but either come close to it or have nothing to do with it

• they wouldnt know how to live with themselves if they happened to harm you

• optimus is more open to being goofy and spending time with you ,, whilst he is careful he is more affectionate of the two

• he loves to give you headpats and kiss your head ,, he adores to hold you in his servos ,, i mean ,, can you blame him ?? youre just so cute 🥺

• he loves when you try to hold his servo ,, with your tiny hand on his digit ,, he has the widest smile ever

• optimus also likes to receive forehead kisses 🤭 it makes his spark hum so loud ,, his fans would kick on and whirl

• megatron isnt as affectionate as optimus ,, but he still loves you in his own way

• he loves nose kisses above anything ,, just feeling your lips on his nose ,, he just loves it <3

• he lets you sit up on his shoulder so long as he isn’t doing anything that involves a lot of moving

• he may also let you watch him train ,, as long as you stay outside the room 💀 so then you arent blasted by the training course

• optimus wouldnt ,, since he worries a bit too much about it ,, like what if the shots break the door and detects you as a person on the training course and kills you ?? 😱😱😱

• you probably show them all the memes you can ,, but theyre not sure what to do with it or how to process them

• bc once you sent one of a cursed image of beans in a shoe ,, and optimus asked why there were ground squishes in a shoe and megatron just left yall on read 💀

• dot is constantly supporting you ,, whilst agent schloder is grumbling about you hogging optimus to yourself ,, after all ,, he does give me op fanboy vibes 💀

• optimus might make playlists full of songs that remind him of you :) and send it to you

• megs chooses to write about you ,, and sometimes share it if he doesnt find it too corny or cheesy

[lightning-and-dragons]

Strength and Survival Chapter 1

LEGO Ninjago, LEGO Ninjago: Dragons Rising

Strength & Survival Chapter List//Next Chapter (Chapter 2)

A Jay-centric fanfic

Jay Walker escaped the Administration, but with weakened powers, no memories, and very little chance of survival, he isn't sure how long he can run from the agents sent after him.

Rontu senses his fear, finds him, and decides that he needs her help to continue on.

Never could she have guessed how much she would come to care for him.

OR: Jay Walker escapes the Administration and gets adopted by Rontu, much to Egalt's dismay.

Or, read it on Tumblr below! (it's a long one)

Warning tags: Graphic Descriptions of Violence, descriptions of injury and blood, some gun violence (laser guns from the Administration). Rated Teen and Up

Survive. Survive. Survive.

Jay Walker knew, in that moment, that he hated sand. His legs burned as he ran on top of it, his shoes sliding every which way, trying to gain a sturdy surface to grip onto, but there was nothing. His feet sunk into it, trapping him briefly before he gained enough strength to free himself. All that was around him was sand, sand, and more sand, making true escape impossible. How could he run away when the sand wouldn’t let him?

He heard screams of anger from behind him, and he stumbled, urging himself to go faster, to make some distance from the ever growing army behind him. 

He didn't have a chance to turn back and check how big the army had gotten, yet he knew that, at this point in the chase, they would have deployed mechs. There were probably no less than fifty agents on his tail, all tasked to do one thing: capture Jay and bring him back to the Administration. The thought made his stomach twist into knots, and he tried to run even faster.

Jay just escaped the claws of the Administration. He wasn’t going back. He wasn’t going back to the endless days of paperwork, the meaningless job he was thrust into. He wasn’t going back to where no one cared about anything but check marks and signatures on useless paper, where everyone stared with unseeing eyes, only obeying orders like slaves. And he wasn’t going back to the Chamber. Never, ever, again. 

The sun above him burned his skin, sand carried by a strong wind landed in his hair, in his suit, and in his eyes. But he didn’t stop running. Stopping meant more pain, and he didn’t want to be in pain anymore. He wanted to live. He wanted to be free. 

“Agent Walker! By the all encompassing authority of the Administrator you must come with us immediately!” The voice behind him was loud, too loud, and Jay knew that he was running out of time. He had to go faster. He had to do something to buy himself time. 

His heart pounded strongly in his chest, fast, repeating the same word over and over again. 

Survive. Survive. Survive.

He screamed as he felt one of the lasers from a gun hit his shoulder, causing him to stumble into the sand below him, knees digging into the rough, gritty surface. He coughed, grabbing his shoulder with a cry, feeling warm blood dribbling down his fingers. But he tried not to let it concern him. The laser wasn’t going to be what killed him. It was going to be his stumble into the sand that did that. 

He fought to get up, once, twice, three times, yet he couldn’t pull himself up, his legs shaking with exhaustion, his feet unable to dig themselves out of the sand without sliding. 

An agent finally caught up to him, no expression on his face, and aimed the gun right at Jay’s head. Jay stilled, knowing that it was too late now.

“You are to be taken back to the Administration, where the Administrator will determine what to do with you.” The agent said sternly, and Jay turned away, pulling himself into a tight ball. He closed his eyes, not wanting to see the gun, and not knowing what to do. 

He couldn’t breathe. The fear of what was waiting for him seemed to take hold of his throat, crushing it, squeezing it with more strength than a mountain, causing darkness to loom at the edge of his vision. 

He didn’t want to go back. He wouldn’t. He couldn’t.

Survive. Survive. Survive.

As if it had woken up from slumber, for the first time in days, Jay could feel his lightning. It snaked underneath his skin, an electric current that pulsed with every beat of his heart, growing stronger. Jay felt the lightning move through his veins as if it had a life of its own. And he welcomed the feeling, gripping it with his mind and heart, eager to feel it after having lost it for so long. 

He knew that that was what the Administration wanted. He knew that they wanted his powers, his lightning. Yet, as Jay faced certain doom, he couldn’t help but be thankful that at least some of his powers were returning. That he could finally do something instead of succumbing to the fear. That he could finally defend himself. 

The lightning that had been forced away from him was finally his to control again, and he wasn’t going to let it go to waste. 

The Administration could take his memories, his strength, but they could never fully take away the lightning that he controlled. The lightning that was his. 

“Agent Walker, get up and come with us immediately!”

Jay took a deep breath, allowing the lightning to flow through him, and with a speed he didn’t know he possessed, he reached up, shooting the lightning out of his fingertips and into the air. He shocked the agent above him, sending the other man down to the sandy ground, shaking. 

Blue lightning danced on his fingertips, and he shakily got to his feet, showing the raw power to the other agents who had approached him. Everyone shuttered to a stop, and before Jay could relish his victory and escape, one of the mechs lifted its arm and shot Jay in the chest, causing him to stumble back. His vision began going black, and Jay ran once more, shooting bolts of lighting behind him, hoping that he could slow them down. A part of him wondered if he could do more with his powers, but the other part of him didn’t care. All that mattered now was escape. 

Laser fire flew past him, and he ducked as one whizzed right over his head. Jay’s chest seized, fighting for a breath that Jay couldn’t stop to take, and his shoulder throbbed with every step he took, the movement jarring his body. He didn’t even want to look down at his chest to see the sort of damage the mech did to him. He knew that he would give up if he did. 

Suddenly, the sand underneath his feet turned to stone, and he flailed out his arms, his feet slamming to a rough stop as he saw a steep drop in front of him, leading down into darkness. It was a crack in the earth guiding the way to nothing, a dark expanse that Jay didn’t want to imagine for a second longer.  Jay cried out, fear pulsing through his body as he stood on the edge, so, so close to falling to his death. Too close.

Looking back, he could see the Administration still in pursuit, dozens of agents closing in on him with one united purpose. He couldn’t fight them all, even though his powers had returned he wasn’t strong enough to face the army. And he couldn’t continue forward, he couldn’t fly, and he certainly couldn’t jump far enough to make it to the other side. Before he could scramble away from the edge, another shot from a gun hit Jay’s side, causing him to stumble back, his right foot teetering on the edge of nothingness. 

“Wait! Wait!” Jay called, raising his hands up, resting his foot as much on the ground at possible, yet he knew that one strong gust of wind would send him over. “Can we talk about this?”

“Depends.” A female agent now said, stepping forward confidently. Her gun was held loosely in her hands, but Jay knew that she wouldn’t miss. “Are you willing to come with us? The Administrator values your participation in the Administration.”

“Participation? You mean how he would throw me in the Chamber and drain my powers? The Administrator doesn’t care about people, all he wants is to expand and take over all of the Merged realm! Surely you see that!” The words escaped before he knew it, and somehow Jay knew that that was normal for him. 

“Agent Walker, under Section A4G67, you must remain silent, you cannot speak of the Administrator so freely.”

“No! I quit! You can’t tell me what to do! And neither can the Administrator! This is absolutely ridiculous! Can’t you see that you work in the Realm of Madness? You know what that word means, right? You’re mad, all of you! Absolutely crazy!”

“Says the man who’s standing on the edge of a cliff. Who has lightning powers that he refuses to use to help the Administration.” The woman was calm; a startling contrast to Jay’s own mind and heart.

“I’m not giving my powers to someone who would use it to make weapons. To take over.” 

Jay’s breathing was ragged as he sensed the looming fall behind him, and he stepped forward, further onto solid ground, only to be stopped by another raised gun. All of the agents were aiming at him now, and Jay knew what he had to do. 

He didn’t know who he was, not really. He didn’t know what he did before the Administration, if he had friends, a family, or even if he was a good person. Yet he knew that he would never stand for something like this. There was no way he would let his lightning be taken to hurt others. That wasn’t a part of who he was. It couldn’t be. 

He couldn’t let them take it. And that left only one option.

Without a second thought, Jay backed up and stepped off of the ledge, hoping that there was something safe at the bottom. He could hear the confused voices of the others until the sound was swallowed by the wind rushing around his ears, his hair, his suit, enveloping him into it’s cold embrace. A scream escaped him, short as it was taken away by the air around him. He could feel himself falling, his limbs losing control, his mind muddled with fear. The top of the cliff got smaller and smaller in his gaze, and Jay knew that he was running out of time. 

Looking around frantically, he skimmed the cliff walls for anything he could hold onto, a tree, a vine, anything, but there was nothing. If only he had a grappling hook or something to catch him一

Wait. His teleporter. He could make a portal and get out of here!

Reaching for his belt, he grasped the small device in his hand, thankful that he hadn’t lost it when he lost his gun. A part of him wondered why he hadn’t thought of it before, but he was thankful that he did now. 

The ground was rushing towards him, and Jay didn’t waste a second turning the transporter on, setting it to any location other than this one, and pressed the button. 

A portal swallowed him as he fell, and after that dizzying feeling that always came with teleporting, he landed on dusty ground with a huff. He heard a snap, followed by a burning pain in his arm, and he didn’t even have the breath to cry out. All he could hear was the ringing in his ears, and darkness covered the rest of his vision.

Keep going. Survive. Survive. Survive.

With a rough groan Jay rolled onto his hands and knees, crying out as his left arm buckled under the weight of his body. He looked over at it, but closed his eyes as soon as he saw bone, his stomach swirling at the blood that seemed imprinted at the back of his eyelids. His legs quaked under him, but somehow he managed to get to his feet. Opening his eyes once more, avoiding looking at his arm, he looked around, and saw that he was teleported to a desert, the same one or different he didn’t know. But he knew that the Administration would find him soon; they could track the teleporter; it was their own device after all. 

Jay had to keep moving despite his pain, despite his fear. He had to escape. He couldn’t give up. He couldn’t quit.

And, for reasons he still didn’t know, or never would, the words never quit continued with him with every footstep. 

---------------------------------

Rontu could always hear the sound of struggle. Like the changing winds, or the turning of the tides, something like voices of fear and suffering always reached her ears. Sometimes it was a whisper, other times it was loud, sometimes she could hear words, other times it was just murmurs, those that sounded terrified. 

As often as she could feel those voices, she equally felt them quiet, peace and comfort no doubt pushing their fears away. She knew it was real peace, as the voices quieted gradually, not suddenly, and she found comfort in it. When the voices quieted, she knew that someone had helped them. Someone had saved those who the voices belonged to. She knew that, despite how she had retired from saving the world, that there were other protectors, people who brought safety, hope, inspiration, and peace. And it brought her comfort too.

Even after the Merge, she could hear the voices soften, and as time wore on even less and less voices could be heard. Whoever was saving Ninjago before was back, and was helping people like they always have. 

A part of her always wanted to go and help those heroes, to quiet even more of the cries of fear, yet she knew that her time for battle had passed. Egalt would agree with her. They both fought their battle long ago. Now they could rest. 

Yet, the voice that entered her ears now was different from the others. It was louder, no words echoing through its frantic tones but survive. It seemed lost, worried, yet determined, but so, so scared. It wasn’t the kind of fear that was present in someone’s mind, it was the fear that was rooted in someone’s heart, in their entire being. 

She had never felt something like this before. Rontu knew, in that moment, she couldn’t sit and wait for the heroes to help that voice. She needed to stop the fear however she could. And, the voice was so strong it pulsed through her mind, sending shockwaves through her bones; whoever it was wouldn’t be hard to find. 

Was it a good idea? Perhaps not. Yet she had to help. No one should live with so much fear.

She slowly got up from where she was resting against the stones of her home, gaining the attention of Egalt, who lifted his head in response. 

“What are you doing, Rontu? Surely you have nowhere to be.”

“I do. There is one out there who needs me.” She replied, watching him with a steady gaze.

“We’ve fought our battle. Now we can rest.” Egalt urged, getting up himself, but Rontu turned away from him, stretching out her wings, preparing to fly a long journey, something that she hadn’t done in years.

“I cannot rest as long as this being is so afraid. I must help. But you can stay here if you so wish, I will not argue.” 

Egalt’s eyes took on a hard look, yet he knew as well as she did that Rontu wouldn’t be swayed. “Fine. Go. But don’t expect my help.”

“I will not.”

With a swift beat of her wings, she was in the air, with wind at her back and under her wings, guiding her to the cry of help. The fear still coursed through her, pulsing with every second that passed, strong enough that not even the sun on her scales could distract her. She tried to study the voice as she flew, yet there wasn’t much she could gather other than the fear. What had this being gone through to be so afraid, that the fear was as deeply ingrained in them as their own self? 

Rontu didn’t know, but she wanted to find out. She was a protector, and she needed to protect this voice from whatever had come upon it. 

The voice led her to a wide desert in between the Realm of Madness and some stray islands from Shintaro, an expanse of nothing but sand and heat. She knew that there were no water sources for miles on end, was that what the voice was scared about?

No. The cry was too full of terror, as if they were afraid of what was behind them as well as ahead. 

She looked among the sands with an eagle eye, studying the rolling dunes for any signs of life, anything moving among the sand, and she finally spotted it. The voice. The being. The one who feared. 

From her view above, it was a male human, with curly brown hair matted with blood, who dragged himself through the sand, holding his left arm protectively. He stumbled every so often, falling into the sand in the harder moments, forcing himself up slowly. The suit he wore was not a good outfit for the desert he traversed, and was covered in blood, and she knew that he needed her. There was no one else who could help him. 

She didn’t waste a second landing onto the sandy hills in front of the boy, ducking her head down to meet his gaze, expecting him to look up at her. He didn’t. His eyes were still trained on the ground, despite how loud her landing must’ve been for him. 

“I’m not going with you.” He said, his small voice cracking. His body sagged with exhaustion, and Rontu knew that, if he didn’t get help soon, he would die. Now that she was closer, she could see how injured the boy was. He had two burn injuries, one on his shoulder and one in the middle of his chest, a broken arm, and a bleeding head. 

In her experience, only two kinds of people could continue walking with injuries such as these, those great warriors who knew pain, or the ones that had to continue on no matter what. 

Something in her told her that this boy was both. 

“I’ll not force you to do anything, little one.” Rontu said, her voice echoing across the expanse, and he finally looked up, his sapphire blue eyes widening as he took in her presence. 

“I…I thought you were someone else.” He said weakly, swaying where he stood yet still stayed standing. His legs were shaking, and his eyes were full of fear. She hoped that she could get rid of that fear. 

“Is someone trying to take you?” She asked, yet the boy did not acknowledge her. 

“Are…are you a talking dragon?”

Rontu found herself chuckling, despite the worry that blossomed in her chest. “Yes, I am Rontu, Dragon Master, protector of the realms. What is your name?”

The boy looked at her, his eyebrows furrowed, before his whole body went slack, his eyes closing as he crumpled to the sandy ground. Rontu didn’t waste a second in walking forward to him. As gently as she could, she scooped him up with her wing, letting him gently slide down to her back, where she knew it was the safest for him. His hand grazed the scales where he laid, and with one piercingly clear moment, she sensed something different in him, something that felt like the sky above her and completely opposite to the ground underneath her paws. It felt like the power of lightning, thrumming under his skin like the very blood that kept him alive. 

Could this be the Master of Lightning? If he was, what was he doing all the way out here? Who had hurt him? And why did his element feel weaker, like part of it had vanished?

She had very few experiences with elemental masters, yet those she knew had a powerful element within them, one that couldn’t be stopped. Yet this one felt as if it could be snuffed out like a candle, taken out by one strong gust of wind. 

The thought saddened her. Not only was the element weak, but the wielder was too, and was likely close to death. Who had done such a thing? Where were they?

Rontu felt something shift within her, rage building in her stomach, a righteous rage that she was familiar with, the rage that sought to bring the wrong to justice and help the innocent keep going. Yet she forced the rage down. She knew that the boy on her back needed help. She didn’t have time to chase down whoever did this. If she did, he would die. It was not a fair trade. 

Without a second thought, she beat her wings and lifted herself into the air, careful to keep steady for the boy resting on her back. Going slower than she ever had before, she made her way back to her home. She knew that she and Egalt could be his only chance at survival, not just for his physical body but for the element contained within him. It was her only option. 

Like the voice, the boy, always said. 

Survive. Survive. Survive.

----------------------------------

Strength & Survival Chapter List//Next Chapter (Chapter 2)

[crim50n-r8er]

Hmm…I guess with myself talking about Sonic from my Fursona. I think I should let you all know about an AU I made for it while I was gone.

The AU is called “Blockbuster,” and no, it has nothing to deal with the Sonic movie, given that term is normally used for such things. No, Blockbuster is a roleswap AU. I’ll write down the premise of it in a new paragraph.

Blockbuster is a roleswap for all the Echidnas being swapped with the Hedgehogs (Sonic and Knuckles, Amy and Tikal, Silver with Shade, and Shadow with Imperator Ix) along with other swaps and some symbolism and inspiration over cults, religions, and mythologies

If you wish to know what I swapped with what. I shall post them under the cut.

Sonic 🔁 Knuckles

Everything’s the same for Knuckles, but he doesn’t have the aspects of his personality that were due to being reclusive all his life, that being a bit shy and socially awkward…at least I think that’s something that would be caused by being a recluse.

Sonic is the same, but due to being the ME Guardian, he can’t leave the island for adventure. So he explores every nook and cranny on Angel island until Towers arrives, meaning anything from the future games such as the Ancients with their cyberspace portals, he has knowledge of that from the get-go.

Eggman role = G.U.N. Commander Towers

G.U.N. Commander Towers Role = Maria Robotnik

Maria Robotnik Role: Dr. Ivo “Eggman” Robotnik

Commsnder Abraham Towers goes by Commander Noah and wants to be dictator of the world as he sees it as too corrupt and sinful.

Maria in this AU no longer has NIDS and is able to live to the age of 62 (yes, going by Sonic X ages, sue me). Maria is very caring for her troops, even with a militaristic discipline, and she would be smart enough not to blame Knuckles in the events of my SA2 adaption.

You see that correctly. Eggman is now the one with NIDS and is the one to hang aboard the ARK with his grandfather to find a cure through “The Chaos Cure Project” (I would acronym this, but I don’t think that would be wise as it could get confused with a…party of sorts.) He would also meet the same fate as Maria in canon, that being shot down by G.U.N. Agents while saving Ix, all at the age of 9 years old.

Tails 🔁 Ray

Ray: Ray is the sidekick to Knuckles, but he’s not a mechanic, so the two would meet by Ray finding Knuckles gliding across West-side Island and admiring his gliding skills.

Tails: Due to Ray going silent after SegaSonic and Knuckles Chaotix, I had to improvise with Tails, so I decided on him being a nurtured and/or brainwashed personal scientist and researcher for Commander Noah, giving him all his mechs, robots, and studies into ancient history.

Vector 🔁 Vanilla

I only swapped the two to have Vanilla simp for Vector like how the latter does to the former in Sonic X lol

Vanilla is a member of the “Chaotix Adventure Group” (the CAG for short) along with her daughter, Cream, and their leader, Mighty.

Vector is just a calm, cottagecore man living out in the wilderness with his found family younger daughter, Marine the Raccoon.

Espio 🔁 Mighty

Mighty: Due to not being trained in stealth like Espio, The Chaotix would now be the an exploration group instead of a detective agency. He would behave like normal as he adopts Knuckles’s hat from the OVA and uses a reusable warp ring that can duplicate itself for great blitzing in his ball form.

Espio: He will just be a normal dude on the sidelines until the events of Heroes where he gets killed by Neo Mecha Knuckles for his camouflage bio-data.

Amy Rose 🔁 Tikal

Tikal: A more mellow fan of Knuckles and his accomplishments as a hero, but still finds her way to Little Planet to be kidnapped by Mecha Knuckles. She has a crush on him as well but is a bit more mellow about it. She also wields a giant Kendama instead of Amy’s Piko-Piko Hammer

Amy is now the daughter of Pachacamac (yes he still exists. I just changed him from an echidna to a hedgehog) and is the one who guides Knuckles and friends through the events of my SA1 adaptation. She still keeps her personality, so things might get a bit hectic between her and her father, probably a fight, even.

Metal Sonic 🔁 Mecha Knuckles

I don’t think I need to explain this 😅

.

I’m not sure if I want to put ALLL of my swaps into one post, so I’ll split it into parts to make it more…digestible, I guess. So I’ll be back in a bit with a few more. I won’t say that it’ll be the rest of them, but it will be a significant portion.

Anyway. Have a good morning everyone!

[Part 1] [Part 2] [Part 3]

[skylarkking]

So remember Equinox? The character I gave a weird backstory too?

This guy? Weeeeeellll what if I made him the b@stard child. Sure I'd have to redesign him and give him some of Megatron's attributes and shit but hey! New lore idea

Infodump under cut

So he is the bastard son of Megatron and Ultra Magnus right? Specifically Ultra Magnus is also momma Maggie in this case. Anyway, similar plot with him attending the academy and meeting Longarm BUT his abilities are tweaked. He has insane reflexes and his processing speed is so fast that he can predict movement before it happens. So he has the spidey sense still.

His story is similar to how it was but with some changes.

He is put into the academy so that Ultra Magnus could keep a close eye on him while keeping him safe. Of course the others don't know that he's the Magnus's son and this includes Shockwave in his Longarm disguise.

Shockwave only found out about it after overhearing Equinox talking to his carrier on a video feed.

When Shockwave reported this to the warlord, Megatron immediately ordered Shockwave to keep Equinox safe until.he arrived. When questioned about it Shockwave would learn that, before the war, he and Ultra Magnus were a fling. Megatron did not realize that Ultra Magnus was sparked until a report from one of his spies informed him of the news shortly after the fling ended.

Megatron had been searching for Equinox since then so that he may reprogram him to be the heir to the Decepticon cause.

So here comes Shockwave pretending to care about Equinox. He didn't calculate however that he would eventually begin to care. That fact would come to fruition after Starscream had almost killed Equinox during his escape from the Elite Guard.

Shockwave would be by Equinox's side as he recovered and his feelings for the Autobot would grow and grow. When Equinox was well enough to leave the medical facility Shockwave would assign him as his second in command just so he could make sure Equinox did not get hurt again.

At first Shockwave justified it as part of his mission. But he quickly would realize that was a big fat lie. He loved Equinox.

But he couldn't let those feelings get in the way, even when his disguise was discovered by Equinox.

When Equinox found out who Longarm really was he did something Shockwave was not expecting. He didn't run or freak out. Instead, he became curious about the massive mech. He fawned over him and admired his frame in such a way that threw Shockwave way off guard.

Shockwave should have killed him, but he couldn't bring himself to do it. Unfortunately Ultra Magnus and agent Blurr would not react as kindly.

Equinox would try to stop Blurr from hurting Shockwave but would end up getting shot at by Blurr to 'detain him for treason'. Shockwavw would attack the speedster and almost get him, but Blurr would manage to escape and report the incident. Shockwave would take the unconscious and injured Equinox along with Arcee back to Megatron

When Equinox came to he would be laid down on a berth and he'd overhear Shockwave speaking to Megatron. Careful not to rouse suspicion Equinox would strain to listen in and hear and that's how he finds out that his sire is the notorious warlord.

Of course Equinox freaks the fuck out and shuts down from shock.

Still working out the tweaks lore wise but this is what I got for now

[ktbofficial]

Greetings, this is @hra-official with our proposal for a burn-based weapons system. I must apologize for the convoluted setup, but since the omninode we're transmitting from is still registered under Landmark Colonial, we are unable to display our signature in this message.

Now, to the business at hand: there are two primary challenges with integrating a burn-based weapon system in the assets of Baronic United Command:

As we all know, such a weapon will frequently be used against forces equipped with Harrison Armory mechanized frames. Despite the many flaws of their design ethos, such frames are almost universally well equipeed to manage excess heat and are often hardened against incendiary weapons.

Given that a large portion of RKF chassis are optimized for melee or close-quarters combat, creating hazardous terrain on a front line is liable to be especially hazardous for BUC Kurassiers

The solution? Chemical burn.

As luck would have it, the Hercynian Hive Worm naturally secretes a powerful acid which rapidly corrodes metal and even stone, but is harmless to it's own living tissue. Hercynian Refurbished Armaments has just completed the tests of the first prototypes of a chemical projector capable of harnessing it.

[ID: several images follow. The first is a diagram of a nozzle connected to two nested tanks. The second through seventh are several photos of a Genghis Mk.1 being hosed by a sprayer like the one described by the diagram; they show the mech activating it's autocooler and explosive vents while rust-coloured smoke and brownish sludge leak from it's seams. As of the sixth images it's arms dangle limply at it's sides. In the seventh, armour plates are starting to come off]

As you can see, projector itself is compact enough to be attached to a main mount, although larger hardpoints my be used to supply it with bigger tanks.

The reason the tanks are nested is twofold: firstly, to prevent corrosion of the parent vehicle if they should be pierced; and seondly, to modulate the viscosity and corrosiveness of the payload.

This is needed for it's application in an anti-infantry role: mixed with the correct amount of neutralizing agent, the acid becomes fluid enough to be sprayed in a wide cone, capable of penetrating soft cover and coat a wide area. The partial neutralization of the acid also prevents it from causing burns on living tissues, while still retaining enough efficacy to render infantry-portable weapons and hardsuits ineffective.

In this configuration, the weapon is less-than-lethal while remaining capable of rendering infantry combat-ineffective, meaning that - unlike a flamethrower - using it has a very low risk of killing civilians caught in the crossfire, so long as they are promptly given medical attention.

Excellent. The use of a jungle predator's acid is, in the view of the Jungle Warfare Commission, a slashing moment of brilliance - the nested tanks a further triumph.

We have two questions for you:

Is the projected acid of equivalent weight to a conventional flamethrower's fuel?

Is it easily synthesized by a printer or bioreplicating cloning machine?

Aside from these, this looks to be quite good. We will conduct comparative trials of this weapon system against the one proposed by Revved-and-Ready, and shall return with a decision.

Thank you for your time.

[glowstickspinalfluid]

Random thought for your Splatoon Swap AU:

In the Splatoon 3 era, how would the dehydration equivalent work for DJ Octavio?

Maybe a partial Fuzzification leading to a pre-Grizz boss fight, like with Canon Agent 3 and Canon Tartar?

When I say “partial” I mean he retains most of his former personality, but he’s completely fuzzed physically (and becomes a knitting maniac because tarantula design influence hee hoo)

i've never really thought about what happens with octavio in 3, mostly because i feel like the dehydration, and by extension the needing magic brain juice, was a last-minute cop out instead of just killing cuttlefish (and a little because i'm stuck on how to get everyone into alterna in the first place). I'm neutral on killing either of them off, so i can keep octavio. some sort of fuzzification would probably be the best option as i refuse to do the dehydration thing.

for grizz to keep octavio alive and in a salvageable state, then i think he would have to want octavio to be an engineer for building the rocket or delivering the fuzzy ooze. octavio wouldn't wanna cooperate, this guy kidnapped his subjects and is now threatening to kill him, and then he'd get fuzzified just enough to cloud his judgement but still make sure he can build stuff.

i do like the idea of a fuzzy octavio boss fight, but realistically he is cooked without his mech and grizz is not letting him keep that thing. the octo entourage, nss, and deep cut are stuck in alterna together though (cuttlefish doesn't have a mech, only agents, so some of them have to be there from the fight that broke the crater open) so there's probably gonna be more fighting.

octavio would probably be a little fuzzy afterwards, personally i'd rather have octavio wearing steampunk goggles like the fuzzy octolings have (mr grizz is capitalism, steampunk is very industrial revolution-core, leaves a more thematic mark on him than just haha yummy squid jerky) but the spider thing is cute too. he makes organically sourced fur sweaters for his grandchildren and they're grossed out but wear them anyways

i'll probably work out this au better once marching band season is over, but that's still a good bit away

[dragonflight203]

Mass Effect 3 replay, Mars:

-And right off the bat we see Cerberus troopers executing Alliance soldiers. ME3 is not a game interested in subtlety.

I’m always a fan of hating Cerberus, but this feels cartoonishly evil. And it’s quite the whiplash from ME2.

I’d have preferred if Cerberus had stayed in the background before playing their hand. We still could have chased them for the Prothean data, but the enemies that killed everyone in the base could have been Reaper troops.

Then TIM could have made us an offer to work with him in exchange for the data, we could have told him to fuck off (or agreed if Bioware felt very ambitious), and learned later on the full extent of Cerberus’ machinations.

-This is my other main problem with ME3. We spend as much if not more time fighting Cerberus than we the Alliance, and I do not care about Cerberus. They’re just another supremacist terrorist group. Fiction is full of them.

In a science fiction game where the main enemy are eldritch abominations that destroy organics on a regular basis, that’s the enemy I want to learn more about. ME3 should be centered around the Reaper threat. Instead we spend so. Much. Time focused on Cerberus.

Whose attack on the Citadel do we fend off? Cerberus. Whose base do we infiltrate? Cerberus. What grand reveal do we learn? That Cerberus is turning organics into Reaper troops and has learned to override Reaper indoctrination. What enemy leader do we converse with? TIM. Who is the final boss? TIM.

Compared to Cerberus, Reapers are just background noise. And it’s a damn shame because the Reapers are way more interesting. I want to learn about them.

-Kaidan’s suspicions are entirely valid. Shepard worked with Cerberus for an extended period quite recently. Of course their loyalties should be in question and how much they know. Shepard should have expected this.

This is more ME2’s fault for not giving Shepard the chance to tell Cerberus to fuck off or work with the Alliance as an undercover agent.

-The Cerberus troops chasing Liara through the vents is silly. She should have thrown a singularity at them while in there or they should have easily shot her.

-And once again Shepard says the Alliance (Hackett) gave them orders. In this case, to go to Mars.

I repeat: Spectres only take orders from the Council.

ME3 really wants Shepard to just be a very competent Alliance soldier and to hell with anything that gets in the way. It would not be difficult to rewrite the dialogue so Shepard is working with the Alliance, not for them.

-And now Liara tells us about the deus ex machina that will be the backbone of the game. It’d be terrible if Shepard had to actually do any investigating of their own.

-How did Hackett know that Liara is the Shadow Broker?

-Poor James is so lost.

I’m actually quite fond of him. He’s in over his head and he knows it, but he holds his own.

-Why does Liara say that the Protheans came close to destroying the Protheans?

In ME1, Virgil said or implied that the Protheans didn’t stand a chance. The best they could do was sabotage the Citadel to help the next cycle.

I suppose Illos was an isolated research facility, so you could argue they were unaware that another group was working on the Crucible.

-ME3 reverts to the ME1 method of giving you experience points for being curious. For example, reading a data pad. Nice change from ME2.

-Liara, on Cerberus opening the airlock of the cafeteria and killing everyone: This is brutal, even by Cerberus standards.

Are we just ignoring everything we learned in ME1? Cerberus fed a squad of marines to thresher maws and experimented on the survivor. I think that’s brutal.

-I’ve always wondered if the shooting glass mechanic was originally intended to be used more extensively. I think this is the only time in the game where it’s used. Maybe shooting the glass over the cockpit of an Atlas mech, if you want to be generous.

-If you don’t shoot the glass, two of the troopers move like they will leave but never actually open the door.

-Of course Dr. Eva has the same kind of ridiculous bodysuit that Miranda had. I don’t know why I expected anything different. It must be standard Cerberus issue for top agents.

-Shepard, to Liara about how they keep moving: I just think about what I’d lose if I fail.

Shepard is staring at Kaidan during the exchange. Intentional, because I’m romancing him?

-To continue emphasizing how evil they are now, Cerberus turned on the sterility field while the researchers were inside. Just so there are no doubts that they are no longer the morally ambigious group from ME2.

ME2 retcons ME1, ME3 retcons ME2.

-And here is the grand reveal that Cerberus troops are indoctrinated.

This does make their actions a bit easier to swallow through ME3 since they’re working for the Reapers, but still way too much time is spent on them.

-Again, Kaidan’s concerns are valid. We know that Miranda wanted to put a control chip in Shepard. Kaidan has no way of being certain they did not. Shepard could be a deep cover agent and not even know it themselves.

-TIM about the Reapers: Where you see a means to destroy, I see a means to control.

There’s two endings foreshadowed. Still nothing for synthesis.

Also, given TIM pushes control it’s odd that it’s treated as the paragon choice in the endgame. Tim’s thoroughly renegade aligned what with his willingness to win at any cost.

-TIM does not want the Reapers destroyed. He wants to use them to improve humanity’s standing.

TIM is insane, but that’s a known side effect of indoctrination so I’ll give him a pass. The Reapers are far too dangerous to keep alive as tools.

Still, you think he’d remember that from the rachni experiments.

-The Dr. Eva chase is just silly. Realistically you should be able to shoot or attack her, but instead all you can do is run after her. They should have just made it a cutscene.

I’m a vanguard. I can’t even target her for a charge. Ridiculous.

-Liara, supporting the potential of the Prothean data: You know we can’t win this conventionally.

No, and I’m disappointed this is the best alternative Bioware could come up with.

-Bailey’s been promoted to commander. Good to see corruption thriving on the Citadel.