#Elita-1 the woman you are

[killrbeetle]

I need Elita-1 to have her badass all woman squadron again like I want badass women being badass and kicking butt like plsssss like Elita-1 can be 2nd in command ANDDD have her own group PLEASEEEEEEEEE

[theangrycomet-art]

Did you ever post a design for TFA Ariel? I was reading the bios and noticed you mentioned Elita got an upgrade and I’m curious to what she looked like before

ah- I believe there has been some confusion.

My TFA Elita-1/Elita Prime IS the base.

The upgrade would be her going from Elita Prime to Ariel One as a part of the Autobot's Aerialbots experiment. She would be "volunteered" for the program after nearly dieing on field at Alpha Trion's insistance.

Here's a preliminary design- so far i like it but i may tweak the color pallet a bit

Ariel One's new altmode is based on Wonder Woman's invisible plane

[shadowcat222]

I'm actually starting to like g1 Oplita, tragedy and all-

Optimus and Elita would do anything to save each other, and they're made to. They almost die for each other.

And yet he leaves her behind again, as far as we know Elita never gets to reunite fully with Optimus.

Also you can kinda taste some favoritism Alpha Trion has towards Optimus- Elita-1 needs him but the only thing that gets him to shut up about having told her not to use her special power is learning that she used it to save Optimus. Not to mention his repeated reminders not to use it are pretty condescending when you remember she's a grown woman who KNOWS THE CONSEQUENCES-

I want Elita-1 to find happiness... Or at least know how she grieved.

[funsizedkola]

She's A Maniac [part 1]

So I got REAL INSPIRED by @keferon 's Mecha Pilot AU (and got me liking JazzProwl overall thanks to it despite me being a Recent Transformers fan) and what really got my interest piqued was the fact that due to Quintessons, the Autobots and Deceptions joined forces in this AU. So! That inspired me a bit with this!

Though as you will see, what really took over here was the idea of what Elita One would be in a setting like this so, pardon my indulgence in this post. (And I like megoplita so sue me~)

They want her retired.

It's not outright said, but Swindle's grin and flattering words can't conceal what he's trying to encourage. Boardroom executives, sponsors, spokespeople, they're all the same to her at this point in her life. Ever since she was a fresh young recruit she never lost the feeling that she can only could rely on fellow pilots to be honest with her. If you're not going through the same agonizing road of misery all recruits live through (if they survive, even) then you can't understand her life.

And certainly don't have the right to direct where she should go.

"Our wonderful, exemplary Ariel-"

"Captain," calmly and yet with no spared patience is what emits with her narrowed eyes. The poster behind her in her office shows the girl that used to still respond to that name. Hopeful, radiant maybe, eyes gleaming like the polish of the mech she pilots in distant view. Ponytail bouncy with the abundant energy she once had as her smile expressed faith in the future. Everyone's future.

You wouldn’t recognize that girl at first glance in the woman glaring holes at this man's head. A few noticeable streaks of white now run through her strawberry blonde hair as the fire before is searing hot coals serving as her eyes. The way Swindle rubbed his hands shows he's maybe second guessing this conversation. Especially with what else he thought was also necessary to discuss.

"You understand, don't you? Progress must march on if we want to see results-"

"And you think sending Rumble and Frenzy to follow where Jazz was last heard is the way to do it?" Venomous, her fist fell on her desk as she soon stood up. "The children, next on the chopping block after the fully grown man failed to respond back? Who shouldn't have been put in that program in the first place you son of a-"

"W-Well, the decision has already been made so really you're only being informed as a formality-"

Oh, why bother with words anymore? The same snarl Elita would give to the enemy kaiju is what sends the suited man running out the door. By the way he scurried down the hall as she yells obscenities his way she knows there's nothing more she can do. He's at times just the glorified messenger boy with decisions like these in hopes that by the time she's found a proper suit or sponser or whatever to shake around she won't be as mad. But no, this weathered soul isn't so keen on lying down on this matter.

"Wooow~ They're going to definitely find a way to fire you if you keep that up."

Blurr isn't perturbed by the look thrown his way, cool and composed as he was leaning against the wall like he overheard quite the show to stop by. With how it's the longest he's initiated any conversation with her, he must of been very amused by what was said in there. Casual smile paired by serious eyes as he leans in, poster boy for the masses advising to former poster girl for new recruits. "Unfortunately he is right. No matter what you do, you can't change their minds on this. Whatever suggestion was offered is already a done deal."

Any non pilot saying this would have their throat grabbed. But as much as she yearns to disagree she can't throw away the reality he's delivering to her. With how prized a pilot Jazz is, the chance that they have gone and lost one of their best assets have backpedaled the hopes the higher ups have of gaining an advantage in this war. Now, anyone else they will consider sending will be those they consider to be... significantly expendable.

.

.

.

And maybe.

Perhaps also those they wish to be rid of.

"... Okay I don't know if I like that look in your eyes."

"Oh, really? I'll take that as a good sign then," is all the senior pilot says as she then starts heading to where the boardroom is.

Bemused, Blurr watches at the faded burgundy from her jacket leaves his line of sight before he looks back at her office. For a second he wondered if he saw just a hint of that spunky pilot in that framed poster in her eyes. Though he mainly is looking at said artwork to remember what exactly was her name.

Elita One: "I'll see you on the battlefield!"

Ah right, that's what she goes by.

- - -

"You're going too?!"

Ah, she knew she forgot something. Tiredly drinking the rest of her coffee, Elita just let Hot Rod rage on and get some of this indignation out of his system. Though when his angry tirade turns to him accusing certain people of using this as a chance to cowardly do away with her she then raised a finger and shook her head. "I volunteered," she corrected.

"WHAT?!"

"Told you," Wheeljack adds unhelpfully as Hot Rod just looks to him striding in with a stack of reports about her currently reconstructing mech, then to her, and for a moment looks almost hurt dare she say.

She gives a rare apologetic smile. "I was meaning to tell you all, but I had my hands full by all this preparation for me and the twins."

"But. But. You don't have to. Just say the word and I'll step in. I'll find Jazz and keep those two safe as well-" Oh how earnest he sounds. She doesn't doubt his conviction with how he's been arguably the most affected pilot since they heard that one of their own may for all they know be lost in space with no hope of return. "Captain, we need you here!"

"One way or another I can't ignore the risk that they will find a way to get rid of me once and for all. So at least through this it would be by my decision," Elita points out before patting his arm. He's not as visibly worn with burden like she is, but he looked even younger once. A prodigy in spirit and strength as she one time carried him after an excruciating round of tests left him unable to walk. He didn't ask for her help but she told him what he needs to do if he wishes to keep going and be one of the blazing warriors of history instead of the tragic burnt matches sent for cremation. "And I appreciate the offer. But no, you're needed more than me. You know I only got so much time left till it's time for me to meet my sisters."

It's not like she doesn't see why he remains unconvinced. And she gets a feeling he won't be the only pilot attempting to in some way convey refusal of her decision as word will now spread. The main reason she evaded the path of high office promotions other pilots ventured off to was so there's as least one more person there for the new recruits to turn to. To say for them the things they are afraid to voice till they've grown wise enough to walk on their own. But she knew one day she will have to let go and just hope for the best, as she taps Hot Rod on the chest.

"If you ask me, it's time for you to see if Captain is a right fit for you as well."

- - -

There's two reasons Elita can guess why Rumble and Frenzy were picked for this 'retrieval mission'.

One. They are a PR disaster waiting to happen. That's due to their controversial background of orphans being picked for the program. A convenient lack of parents unable to refuse rights to them made them easy pickings to be handed over from whatever foster care organization was receptive to bribes. But the longer the war wanes the more the public is willing to start aiming criticisms to the mech program and where there is smoke, there will be a fire to inevitably be posted to all news and media outlets.

Two. They are a PR disaster waiting to happen. The experiments they had to go through were far from gentle but it did nothing to tame their already wild personalities. If anything, it only made them worse. If you were a pilot they might listen to you, and even then depending on their mood it's a maybe. Jazz was one of the few that handled those troublemakers with ease and since his departure from Earth they've made their worries for him everyone's problem. His easygoing attitude and way of entertaining them was how he unintentionally got them to listen to him.

But. Elita can't say why the twins listen to her in her case. Intimidation, one may say. Perhaps being the closest they will get to a maternal figure despite her stern demeanor, another may comment. Or maybe the terror twins know to fall in line when the scarier pilot is in the room, another will add in. Whatever reason, she can't complain as they follow her lead in preparing for their mission. They delight in the new shiny suits they get to try on before attempting to look serious in her presence. It breaks her heart how they slowly try acting less their age in little ways and so she comments her approval for her own new attire so they can relax and get back to being eager. Any moment they can have to laugh between difficult rounds of training cannot be swept away.

As they tell each other how they definitely will show off to the others how much cooler they look, she glances at her reflection from the leg of her upgraded mech. Maybe one of the designers was feeling nostalgic as the shade of pink reflected more the hues she had in her early days. A contrast to the darker tones of magenta and wine red she preferred to adorn herself with when she no longer had the energy to smile for the camera. A sendoff to her once envious legacy, she morbidly thinks before seeing that some of the pilots have arrived in the hangar.

For some, it's the last chance their comrades will get to say goodbye and wish them luck before they are called away for combat. Elita appreciates the thought as she sees the twins gang up on a nervous First Aid, hoping that this isn't it for them. Or at the very least, the children will get to return to earth again.

"A badge?" She comments as she's handed a vibrant piece of metal that can magnetize to her suit. "You shouldn't have."

Hot Rod grins as he shows two smaller ones he's no doubt readied for Rumble and Frenzy. Before handing her another regular sized badge that has her raise a brow before she realizes.

"Give this to Jazz when you find him."

When. Not if. She's glad at least he is stubbornly having faith in their perilous pilgrimage. Clasping his hand she gives a nod before she lets herself be pulled in a hug. "I will," she promises him, knowing he needs to hear her resolve. "And I'll remind him that you still owe him money from your last bet."

The waver in his laugh has her close her eyes. Steeling herself as she knows the ones they'll leave behind will cry enough for her.

- - -

"Rumble, Frenzy, report! Report!"

Way to soon after their send off, they have somehow managed to end up in a swarm of enemies. Blasting away at the eyes of one of them, Elita frantically searched around for any sign of the stealth mechs she had ended up separated from. Is it damaged comms? Are they too occupied with fighting or running? Or maybe, they're already- no. No she won't guess till she's seen them herself. Wherever they are on this rock of a planet, she'll be there.

"Elita! You'll never guess what I found!!!" The joyful voice of a girl still way too young for active service is now calling her.

"Frenzy? Where are you and your brother?!" Alerts blaring have her picking up her last kaiju victim by the tentacles as she whips it around to stun it's comrades attempting to surround her.

"Hey I was the one to find him first!" Rumble, he's alive too oh thank-

"Well he patted me first so there!"

"Nu-uh!"

"Yu-huh!"

"Nu-uh!!!"

"Yu-huh!!!"

"STATUS. REPORT."

The pair of "Yes ma'am"s have her heaving a sigh as she looks down on one of her toes feebly attempting to grab her armored leg. "Kids, am I right?" She says dryly before stomping on its head, green muck now staining her. So much for a pristine paint job.

"Contact with good guys have been made, ma'am!"

"There's this really cool one we wanna keep, ma'am!"

"Can we, please? Ma'am!"

"Alright enough with the- wait what are you saying...?" She trails off, not liking the implication that there's something else out there that's not one of identifiable tentacle monsters she's been fighting for most of her life. Whatever chatter the twins are having to scheme to her agreeing is no longer her focus as she's got a larger tentacle wrapping itself around the head of her mech. Immediately kicking away, she growled as she sees this big guy is smart and is keeping her at enough distance from his weak points. Just what she needs, one of the tankier enforcers to show up.

Quickly she's attempting to take aim to wherever she can hit first, limb, neck(?), maybe the eyes-

Blade.

There's a glowing blade going through the alien's torso.

Feeling her captor's balance careen, Elita readies herself to roll on the rocky ground. Immediately getting to untangling the now limp tentacle from herself. And also getting ready for another fight because whatever just saved her has yet to earn her ease with how she now sees an imposing figure attached to said glowing axe. Monster wriggling away in halves, the more metal being steps over it to her direction.

Eyes.

Bright blue eyes is what she sees, vibrant on this planet only lit by distant stars and moons. Nothing like anything she's ever seen on any mech like construct as it's like she's actually being perceived.

The axe it wields is now shrinking before somehow it's replaced with a hand, the sight feeling more mythical rather than engineered. Now both hands are held up as if to convey peace as he pauses in front of her.

A voice is what she's hearing, but it's not one she can understand. It certainly doesn't sound human either which has her hackles raised once more, stepping back.

The way this red and blue mech tilts it's head as if in thought has her nearly laugh as something so mighty and tall somehow looks a tad approachable. But no, she can't be wasting time here as she drags her eyes away.

"I. Appreciate the help but I have to go and look for my own now," she manages to say as she wonders if it would be too rude to run off. But her sensors indicating forms heading her way have her looking to see the young pilots running to her. Sheer relief waves over her as she hurries forth to bend down and let them crash into her open arms, their chatter and barely even dented mechs assuring her that they're okay, for now they're alright.

Though she draws back with a frown. "You two. Need to improve your communication on the field," she stated.

"Really? I thought we did great," Frenzy says, her brother nodding as she internally sighs. "And look, it's our new friends!"

The relief of finding these two distraction her from the full scale of approaching mass their way is what soon is realized to Elita, looking up to see two more mechs walking their way.

They. Do not look as approachable as the first one. One is darker blue with a gleaming red visor that has her feel like she's being scanned, and the other one has red eyes pinpointed on them.

And a face. It has a proper face.

Somehow, it has a mouth. That moves. That can't be made by metal, no way does such material deliver such a menacing scowl with ease like that. Abruptly standing to place herself between those two and the kids, she could of sworn silver head is now smirking but she's not wanting to waste time on chances that could lead to bodily harm now that she has the twins.

"Rumble, Frenzy, go. Now!" She ordered, but she just gets vehement shaking heads as they tug at her hands.

"No, they're the good guys! Like we said!"

"Yeah, they saved us! Well, more like the blue one was doing that as the grey guy just killed aliens."

Judging from the amount of green splatters on said stranger she is inclined to believe that.

"So, can we keep him? That guy is so cool!" Rumble pleads as he waves at Red Visor who gives a little wave back. "I promise we'll do whatever you say Captain!"

"Yeah! We'll be perfect soldiers!"

They no doubt will be pleading from within their cockpits which, while cute to imagine, does not dissuade said Captain from tapping them on the heads. "No."

"Pleaaaaase! Please please please! We'll name him and everything!"

"Take him on walks!"

"Won't use him in our pranks!"

"You already should be following my orders to stay safe," The tired woman stressed, feeling tempted to remove her helmet to rub her forehead. "And besides, I'm pretty sure they can't talk to us so what's the use in keep them around? Chances are they already have their own designations but not like we'll know what they are!"

The static she keeps getting when trying to contact home base is also not helping her stress here. Improved communications her foot, she should of known they would of been stuck going no contact with any one human being this far away from Earth. As the twins keep pleading as they cling to her legs, she feels too worn out to even think about how undignified she must look to these other mech users.

"Optimus Prime."

Pausing, she slowly turns to where she hears that voice from. Sure enough, Axe Guy has stepped forth and the tone she just heard somehow just. Fits. Deep, and yet rich with humble gravitas...?

"That would be my designation. May I have the honor of learning yours?"

[icyrambles]

of all my transformers takes, i feel like the one that'll get me sent directly to fandom hell is my feral hatred of the term "femme"

like genuinely it's such a stupid term. not because i don't think the robots can't have gender. because i do think they have some concept of gender. but because it's just woman 2.0

like you've got this super interesting alien species. they've got their own culture, their own language, their own ideas of sexuality and right and wrong, and their own religion. and to see most of the fandom look at that and go "but what if i just made man and woman but for robots" pisses me off

it makes me mad because it's fucking boring as shit. you've got all this cool worldbuilding and lore and you decide that the best thing to do when discussing robot gender is just to give them human gender but slightly to the left

"but icy, how to you distinguish the women transformers from the male ones?"

just fucking use mech for all of them. i use mech/mecha as a catch all term. it's my replacement for person or man or guy. like when someone says "you guys" they could obviously be referring to a group of all men, but let's be real here, "you guys" as it is used in colloquial english, is a gender neutral term despite having a more gendered term within it.

and it's specifically the term femme that grinds my gears. i don't have any issues with people headcanoning characters using she/her pronouns. i think that's cool as hell because pronouns do not equate to gender and in a fandom where like, 90% of the characters use he/him it's nice to see some switchups for pronouns because it gets a little repetitive after a while. but the term femme just tells me that you subscribe to the idea that the alien robot species who do not have the same concepts and ideas of gender as humans do, somehow managed to craft together the exact same gender concepts as an organic species halfway across the galaxy.

and i'm sure someone might be like "well it's not a gender thing" but i only ever see the term femme used to describe a canon character who uses she/her pronouns (like arcee or elita-1) or to describe a fandom headcanon that revolves around a character using she/her pronouns (like starscream or ravage) it has everything to do with how the fandom seems to cling to the idea that cybertronians have to have the same concepts of gender for humans

i've been in this fandom for a little over a year and despite going through forums and tumblr posts and even looking at twitter for a tiny bit, i've yet to see an actual attempt at exploring the concepts of cybertronian gender.

so here's mine; taken from my worldbuilding ideas that i'm sorting out for my in the works fan continuity

cybertronian gender, like a lot of their societal norms, is tied to one's altmode.

as taken from the marriam-webster dictionary: gender is - a subclass within a grammatical class (such as noun, pronoun, adjective, or verb) of a language that is partly arbitrary but also partly based on distinguishable characteristics (such as shape, social rank, manner of existence, or sex) and that determines agreement with and selection of other words or grammatical forms

now applying that to a species that has the specific characteristic of being able to literally change shape with the assistance of an internal organ (ie the t-cog) leads me to the idea that instead of gender being based on the biological sex like it is for humans, gender is instead rooted in the altmode.

the terms of seeker and speedster are adjectives to describe the altmode of a cybertronian, but also can describe the gender. this isn't meant to be a direct 1-1 copy of human ideas of sex and gender but instead a theoretical worldbuilding exercise in how a species that does not reproduce in a sexual manner would develop similar concepts of personal expressions through their established canon biology.

within my worldbuilding. the common language packs of cybertron come with three sets of standard, altmode neutral pronouns. these roughly translated into english, are he, she, and they. notice how i said altmode neutral pronouns. that's because most altmodes have their own sets of established pronouns that crop up within the groups.

this particular idea ties in with how my versions of cybertronians communicate. basically cybertronians communicate both via verbal speech, such as talking using a vocaliser, but also via manipulating their EM fields, and attaching non-verbal alterations to their spoken words via radio waves and the EM field.

so the pronoun [He] when used in a sentence, might have extra attachments added onto it.

EX: [He (positive/neutral) went to my house the other day.]

So in this case the speaker is referring to someone in a positive or neutral manner.

Here's another one using pronouns on a personal level when referring to one's self.

EX: [Hello. (courteous) My name is Starscream (Vosian - Seeker). I use He/Him (Neutral) pronouns.]

This is a typical cybertronian style of greeting. It includes a hello to the other party/s, the title of the individual along with their region of origin/residence and altmode, and finally their preferred set or sets of altmode neutral pronouns. In this case, Starscream would tag his "Hello" with a neutral emotion, being courteous but not excited because the mech he's talking to is someone he doesn't know but isn't enemies with. He then attaches his region of origin "Vos" and his altmode group "Seeker" and finally caps it off with his preferred set of pronouns "He/Him" which has a neutral emotion modifier tagged onto it because while it's his preferred set of pronouns in the neutral sense, it's not what he'd like to be using all the time.

he/him, she/her, and they/them are all equally neutral and for all cybertronians they exist in a state of purely personal preference. there's nothing about arcee using she/her pronouns that makes her more woman gendered anymore than starscream using he/him pronouns makes him male gendered. that's just human bias. they're robots, so they don't view themselves in the same way. those sets of pronouns, again, are merely translated into english for the reader's convenience.

Now I've thrown around the term "altmode neutral" quite a bit so here's an explanation for that.

Cybertronians with the same or similar altmodes will often develop languages and cultures surrounding those altmodes, similar to how many cultures and identities are developed through similarities with each other. This varies from region to region, with many languages and cultures not meshing together even if those mecha have the same altmode.

A jet like Pharma who was raised in Iacon around primarily ground based altmodes tends to use pronouns specific to grounder based language families while someone like Starscream or Thundercracker, who are from Vos, use altmode specific pronouns indicative of language families developed by mostly flight frames.

The common language data pack exists as an easy way for mecha to communicate with each other without potentially butchering another individual's native language. While one could theoretically download a whole language into their brain module, their actual speech would likely sound distorted or unnatural due to the fact that the brain module only retains the information that was on the download and is unable to account for things like accents, region dialects, and other such nuances in languages

Altmode specific pronouns are often tagged with extra modifiers and would function similarly to the concept of neo pronouns in english.

Megatron as an example has a tank altmode and his specific altmode pronouns are chk/chiks and using them in spoken dialogue would require one to either create a noice similar to a tank canon loading with their vocaliser, or in another tank's case, would simply have them use their own tank barrel to produce the noise.

flight frames often clank their wings together or whistle as their altmode specific pronouns. speedsters will revv their engines. smaller cars like bumblebee or cliffjumper will beep their horns, and ambulances like ratchet will whoop their sirens.

going back to my "pharma raised in iacon" example. he's a jet, but rather than clanking his wings together, he'll utilize his inbuilt siren (installed while he was in medical school) as his altmode specific pronouns. it, roughly translated to written form is wheep/whoop

this also extends to preferences for partners. i've seen people joke about how ratchet has a thing for speedsters because of his thing with drift and rodimus, but genuinely i do think that within the idea of altmodes being tied to gender, mecha would develop preferences for certain altmodes.

and when i say preference, i do mean just a preference. altmodes are fluid things within cybertronian society. megatron, as an example, is a gun, a tank, and a heavy bomber plane across varying continuities, yet at the end of the day, he's still megatron. his altmode is not what defines him as a character.

therefore i think changing altmodes is purely a thing that's tied to economic status. it's very expensive to have the whole exoframe completely reformatted so those who regularly change their altmodes either have shanix to spare, or have saved up enough money to have the procedures done.

this is even touched upon within idw's version of cybertron, what with the existence of relinquishment clinics, where mecha will go and donate their frames for money, and then those shells can be bought so another individual can have a new altmode.

when a mech decides to have their altmode changed they'll often shift up their altmode specific pronouns too. a smaller car changing altmodes into a bigger vehicle will instead honk their horn instead of beeping or maybe they'll revv their engines louder just to signify that they've changed altmodes.

going back to my sentence examples. here's one with ratchet and pharma introducing themselves to a patient

EX:

Ratchet: Hello (positive/friendly/welcoming) My name is Ratchet (Vaporex - Ambulance - Medic) I use He/Him (Positive) and siren whoops pronouns.

Pharma: Hello (kind). My name is Pharma (Iacon - Jet - Medic). I use He/Him and clanks wings/whoops sirens pronouns.

like i said, this isn't meant to be a direct 1-1 with human genders. cybertronian altmodes within my fan continuity defy more than just how another individual views them. they can signify occupation, social standing, and economic class. and some mecha even choose to disregard their altmodes entirely when it comes to their personal expression, sticking exclusively to the gender neutral pronouns.

anyways this post is half rant half worldbuilding so if ya made it to the end i'd be happy to hear your thoughts. and as always, if you liked this post please feel free to reblog :]

[nothing-54]

Transformers ONE X Nimona AU

This is an AU with my two FAVORITE ANIMATED MOVIES!!!, the first being Nimona and the second being Transformers ONE (which I watch recently and loved It) and the two movies reminded me of each other (one betraying the other and lying assholes of leader that made SHIT choses) so I came up with this Idea to put the two movies together:

PS. I know some people ship Orion Pax and D-16 together but in this AU I made it be a cousin relationship between Ambrosuis (A gay demisexual (my HC) man) and Eleanor (A lesbian demisexual woman) DO NOT SHIP THEM TOGETHER FOR THE LOVE OF LIFE PLEASE THEY ARE FUCKING COUSINS !!!, and I wanted to see my OC in all her villainy glory.

Anyway here is the cast :

Ambrosuis Goldenloin : Orion Pax/Optimus Prime

Eleanor Terrestreus/Icaba OC : D-16/Megatron (this is my OC who is Ambrosuis' adopted cousin, the Director's adopted daughter, is blind in her right eye, has dyslexia, and she is a human/basilisk hybrid)

Ballister Boldheart : Elita-1 (both smart and badass)

Nimona : B-127/B/Bumblebee (both fun and cause destruction)

The Director : Sentinel Prime (hate these two with a burning passion)

Garth Blackblood OC : Airachnid (wanted to add him in more so I chose this character)

Queen Valerin : Alpha Tron (both get killed/hurt by someone they thought they could trust)

Artemis OC : Megatronis Prime (makes sense because Valerin and Artemis are friends and allies)(this is my shapeshifter OC who is transgender (m+f)

Gloreth : Zeta Prime (in this Gloreth and Ambrosuis are not related in this AU sorry about that)

Todd Sureblade : Darkwing (because I can and they are the same dumb shitheads)

Echidna OC : Starscream (this is my OC who is the Basilisk leader)

Andraphius OC : Soundwave

Saniya OC : Shockwave (this is my OC who is the Harpy leader)

Diego (squire) : Jazz

and that's all I have for this AU hope you enjoy!

[teatitty]

In my own Transformers AU's where they land on Earth I really like to play around with the idea of everyone gunning for the final working space bridge in their alt modes and they all get caught up in it Going Wrong so they get stuck on earth unable to transform for a while because of low energy [alt modes being their 'battery saver mode' essentially], scattered all over the place in different countries. Just committing completely to the "robots in disguise" bit of it

Sunstreaker gets picked up by some hollywood dudes to be used as a stunt car and quickly gets a reputation for being a 'cursed object on set' because the car is always moving, has a habit of being "hard to control" for drivers and sometimes revs a little too loudly comfort but on the flipside almost always comes away from said car stunts completely fine with everyone else in tact

Ironhide gets picked up by a single parent juggling 4 kids of varying ages in Thailand and starts off hating every second of it but grudgingly comes to care for this little family just trying to get by with what they can

Arcee ends up with Jem and the Holograms because you know I gotta have that in here, Jemcee is everything. She's also one of the first formers to get her energon back up bc of the synergy tech [which is based on cybertron tech but nobody knows that yet]

Optimus is a young woman's first truck in Australia and he is Stressed The Hell Out about keeping her safe she is his daughter now holy shit he wasn't prepared for this!!! He hates her boyfriend not because the boyfriend is an asshole but because he finds the guy super annoying. Boyfriend left empty takeout trash in his seats one time and has been on his list for life ever since. The boyfriend thinks Optimus is a cursed truck but the young lady scoffs and rolls her eyes because her truck has never caused problems for her

Bumblebee is involved in some Herbie levels of shenanigans probably. Touring all over Europe. Elita-1 is being used by heavy leather bikers and the rescue bots [including our medbots!!!] are of course in their respective fields all over the globe, always somehow getting to where they need to be perfectly timed regardless of conditions and saving many many lives

NASA and other such space places are def fully aware of the robot aliens. They're probably housing a few of them in secret wholesale lying to the government about it lol [space science people are the good guys of course they just wanna help and geek out]

I have no idea how they would all end up banding back together again I just want them to be living that superhero double-life and dealing with the horrors of timezone differences and spotty connections. The inherent hilarity of Starscream tryna talk shit to Megatron on a video call but he keeps cutting out and freezing

[blueikeproductions]

Since I saw grifters being stupid about it, let’s go into the conceptual history of female Transformers.

Ladybots have a very … clumsy origin, but not as clunky as stuff like the Matrix or 13 Primes.

Transformers fiction started with the Marvel Comics, and when asked by Bob Budiansky, the main creator of the general lore, if female robots were a thing at all, and Hasbro said no.

So Budiansky and later Furman just accepted that with the American Marvel comics not including female robots.

Later on, taking advantage of the humanoid Pretenders, Budiansky wrote this above part clarifying Transformers don’t do the same things we humans do in romantic terms. The comics much earlier clarified Cybertronians reproduce using the ancient Creation Matrix, with the cartoon using the equally ancient super computer Vector Sigma.

Cloudburst’s comment about TFs not having men or women wound up creating a misconception that lingers to this day, that Transformers collectively are a genderless species.

It’s not in my wheelhouse to understand the logistics of how that works, but it’s something I’ve never really agreed with due to the species still using masculine pronouns, which suggests, at the time, they’re an all male species. Some modern material like Aligned and IDW unhelpfully tried using this also, claiming the Transformers had no concept of gender as we define it and only began implementing it after contact with organic species. This also led to the controversial IDW Trans Arcee, and IDW’s flimsy retcons about how gender DID exist on Cybertron but biological (technological?) females went… extinct (?), with trans women filling in the gap, while bio-technological females naturally existed on the various colony planets. IDW was not shy on Cybertron being a planet of gay men in its later years, so take that as you will, same with the fandom misconception of Caminus being the “Amazon woman” planet due to it bringing in other females in IDW.

All that said however, female characters were tinkered with in the early concepts of the series. Budiansky had tinkered with females, with his original intent for Ratchet being a ladybot, as he was meant to be a reference to Nurse Ratched from One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest.

This is where the cartoon comes in, as female robots were meant to be part of the story from the start. A recently unearthed script and pitch bible for the cartoon reveals the Autobots were meant to include a girl named Firecycle. Firecycle as a female medic and mutual love interest to Optimus Prime, with her shtick being she took her medic role so seriously she’d stop to repair Decepticons who were clearly faking it. She also valued life above all else, so she didn’t like to walk/drive on grass, fearing she’d hurt it. It should be noted Firecycle originates from the early story bible and pitch episode “A Robot’s Best Friend is his Dog”, repurposed from the Car & Cable pitch that had Muffy instead of Bumblebee.

This pitch also included the human cast from Car & Cable Matt Conroy, Eddie and Wendy Fairchild, and their dog Burt, hence the dog part. Burt was able to sniff out Decepticons hiding in Vehicle Mode, with this early pitch also leaning into the idea of Autobots and Decepticons being genetically distinct, as surmised by Matt.

This pitch also included a Decepticon called Whirlpool but we don’t know their gender, personality or vehicle mode. I like to think they were the first female Decepticon, but we won’t know for sure unless more of the early concept work is unearthed.

In the end, Firecycle never made it through, Hasbro presumably still not wanting girls in the boys’ clubhouse. It wasn’t until the cartoon staff put their foot down later on, citing girls liked Transformers also, including their daughters, that Hasbro eased off on it.

From there we got Arcee, Elita-1, Beta, Chromia, etc.

The inclusion of ladybots later in the series did come off as something of a retcon, as to explain why we hadn’t seen them before, Shockwave would muse on thinking they were extinct this whole time, with the show later clarifying female robots were around from the start.

Most future cartoons would follow the G1 cartoon’s lead, not really dwelling on where ladies came from, but including them anyway. There was still a predominant male over female robot slant, with most females being generics that persisted in stuff like the Unicron Trilogy.

Some much later American retcons for the anime and toy line would state that several Mini-Cons, Alexis’ partner Sureshock among them, were female, with Galaxy Force’s Override, AKA Nitro Convoy, being gender bent from male in Japan to female in America to boost female presence in the show.

What’s interesting is the female robots pushed were exclusively Autobots, as the G1 cartoon never included female DECEPTICONS. It’s never been explained yet why this was, but I partly suspect that Hasbro was only ok with girls so long as they were Autobots, and didn’t want little girls being naughty due to girls in Megatron’s employ.

Japanese manga would surprisingly include the first female Decepticons for the Victory manga.

Though they were depicted as civilians, and never actually fought the Autobots.

Still the ball was slowly rolling from here to depict Ladycons, with Beast Wars BlackArachnia in particular as the more prominent representative for a while, with her inspiring the Decepticon Airachnid. Strika from Beast Machines also contributed to increased female presence among the Decepticons.

Interestingly Japanese media tried to split the difference, where while we did have BlackArachnia and Seacon Scylla…

…most of the female presence was limited to the Navi computers, who are similar to the Beast Machines Diagnostic Drone in being little side kicks that help the Maximals and Predacons for their missions.

RiD01 had a similar concept in T-Ai, the friendly AI that was pals with Koji and helped Optimus lead the Autobots against the Predacons.

Slowly but surely though, steps were being taken to include female Transformers on top of the female rep in humans like Carly, Sari, Miko, Kelly and so forth. Animated and RiD15 saw a particular increase in female Autobots AND Decepticons both as major toys and fun background/in-show only characters like Lightyear, Glyph, Filch and Glowstrike among others.

And then Aligned and IDW happened.

The creation of Solus Prime on the surface somewhat muddled things, as she’s the defacto female robot of which all female Transformers are descended from in the same way animal types and Mini-Cons descend from Onyx and Micronus. On top of being The Fallen’s girlfriend who fell to his (unintentional) domestic violence, early concepts also state she helped birth the entire Cybertronian race, so yeah none of that helps. Some more recent stuff seemed to catch on this mild stereotype and focused more on her forager status, being the inventor and gadget gal of the group. That didn’t stop her in modern times from becoming an exclamation/swear word in RiD15 and Cyberverse in “Sweet Solus Prime!” Her biggest contribution was primarily her giant Fixit Felix hammer, which was a reoccurring relic in Prime wielded by both sides, with Megatron using it in a scheme to build his own weapon.

Solus was also credited with building the Star Saber and Apex Armor, though the later in Prime was said to be built by Decepticon scientists, conflicting with the Solus claim…

IDW didn’t help either, as mirroring Marvel, Arcee was the first female robot, born from a forced gender transition reformatting by Jhiaxus for skud and giggles just to see what would happen if gender as defined by organics, was suddenly introduced into the Transformer species. Arcee was understandably none too happy about this, her identity being violated and viscously hunting down Jhiaxus to exact revenge.

She would finally get her revenge thanks to Dead Universe shenanigans, getting to kill the undead scientist over and over again until she was satisfied.

Furman penned this story way before the modern social justice warrior/grifter stuff took root, with most agreeing Furman’s more sci-fi way to create females in a robotic species didn’t work, and mostly ignored it. It wasn’t until the modern hoopla we’ve been stuck in kicked in did IDW writers try to fix the problem. My issue with it is they wound up over correcting it, continually drawing attention to a matter most would rather have left ignored until the end of the original IDW run.

The retcon ultimately became that Arcee was an ancient Transformer from its prehistory, who was a mighty warrior alongside his brother Galvatron. At some point, Arcee wanted to be reformatted into a female body, and out of desperation sought out Jhiaxus intentionally rather than being captured at random. The earlier anger and rage was reinterpreted as Arcee instead being loopy from bad software used in her reconstruction.

Not helped either was a slip up confusing the matter if other ladybots existed on Cybertron pre-Arcee, with MTMTE, TAAO, & OP explaining them as trans ladybots also, and that Cybertron’s females either way left the planet or became extinct. Whatever the case, the planet became populated by male robots who were unfamiliar with females, creating a Vandread situation when Ladybots were shown to still exist on colony planets I don’t think was at all intentional…

Simply put it was a mess.

A mess IDW and later Skybound sought not to repeat by just having Ladybots of all makes and models exist from the start, no mental gymnastics needed.

It’s this heavy insistence though on trying to make trans woman rep, good intentioned but hopelessly flawed, that got grifters and some veteran fans cheesed off. On top of the bizarre situation with Arcee, the main trans rep besides her were Anode and Lug, new characters for MTMTE/LL who were met with revulsion because most readers found them incredibly annoying (though some were mad at them for being trans also, let’s not dance around that). It doesn’t help at the height of the feminism stuff in the mid 2010’s saw news outlets claim female Transformers were being introduced into the franchise by IDW, a horrible misunderstanding, and shows that most weren’t really aware of Arcee, Elita, Firestar, Blackarachnia, Thunderblast, Airrazor, and more from older material…

Another frowned upon thing from this era that persisted to EarthSpark was the habit of gender bending legacy bots into females, with Skywarp, Frenzy, Ravage, Swoop, and Jazz as particular standouts, alongside Nova Storm (a generic in the scheme of things but still noteworthy). There was also a peculiar push from modern cartoon writers to make Thundercracker a girl, but Hasbro put their foot down on him specifically. This is partly why Nova Storm occupies the modern Jet trio, to make up for the lack of a lady Thundercracker. It’s this modern flippant gender swapping that annoys people, as it comes off as an artificial attempt to boost female robots in a time when we have plenty more preexisting ladies to choose from. (And I say that aware of the era Override came from.) Clearly it doesn’t matter unless it’s a popular male character turned female, which is why I’m surprised Hot Rod, Grimlock or Soundwave haven’t gotten gender bent yet. It’s also why I side eye Mae Catt’s sole lament on ES being unable to bring back trans Arcee, the one thing everyone just wants to escape from… Read the room, Mae. There was room for a trans robot, but Arcee wasn’t it.

Still, despite the very bumpy ride getting there, female Transformers did start becoming more common place, with the Autobots typically having Arcee, Windblade or Elita-1 as the token chick of the team, while the Decepticons were a toss up. As of typing, they still haven’t settled on a defacto female Decepticon, despite experimenting with Airachnid, Nightbird, and Shadow Striker in those roles.

Still let it be known the next time a grifter starts trouble, female Transformers were supposed to exist from the start, it just took them a little longer to drive by was all.

[istherewifiinhell]

okay my non tf knower beloveds. before you is the two most famous female autobots from their latest released iteration

[ID: 1. Left, Elita-1, has a slight frame with squared off shapes, augment with chunky boots and plating at her knees, forearms and big shoulder pads. Her base metal colour is light pink, with dark pink plates. She has large rugged tires at her feet and shoulders and a hip skirt made of her alt mode car doors. Her helm is large, continuing the shape of her head in a triangular or trapezoidal shape.

2. Right, Arcee, also slight, but in rounded retro future shapes, her plating very stream line and evoking her retro car alt mode. Base metal is grey, seen only on her face and hands, the rest of her in baby pink and creamy off white. Small white rimmed tires on her legs and shoulders, and a chromed up backpack. Her helm is small, looking more like a white helmet, round with flat disk either side. 3. Extra angle on Arcee in daylight colours to show off her features more END]

sorry no promo art arcee yet. for whatever reason. the bastards.

now. here is the female autobot from the new movie trailer

[ID: Cyber robot design, with more metallic shine. Slight frame, rounded square shapes. She's in a more saturated pink colour at the helm, torso, upper arms and lower legs. With a lighter colour that's pink, rose gold or grey depending on lighting, for the rest. And some black at her joints. Upper arms are long, rounded, lower legs have a sort of swoopy boot shape, with pointed knee pads. Her helm's a larger blocky shape than her face, a squared look from the from, but either side has the round flat disk parts. 1. Upper body from the side, holding big gun. 2. Upper body facing forward 3. Action pose showing some of the legs. END]

yeah i did my best shes not in it much

[steelthroat]

TALK TO ME ABOUT OT3!!! GIMME DEM DEETS!!!

First you have to know... I love ot3s, most of my ships in this fandom are ot3s or moresomes...

Other than the trio of music: jazz/blaster/Soundwave that I love dearly and is my main thing because... yes.

I have this trio that maybe works only in my head and in the context of a wip fic I'm writing...

Arcee/Elita-1/Optimus Prime

Now first thing first everyone should know I love Optimus with tf women, he is husband material and every woman deserves an Optimus in her life...

But other than that in this context I have my Gladiator Op Au in which my 2 wives are already seasoned warriors and gladiators because of problems with the government

And Op that also is there because of problems with the government is there alone against the world and becomes friends with them and chaos ensues. But I have scenes planned for them. They are so good for each other I promise

[mychlapci]

Who are your top 10 transformers you’d like to get pregnant

I will be honest with you. I think I'm too horny to remember 10 transformers at once. but I'll try.

No.1 is Optimus, easy. my first tf show was tfp and after watching about ten episodes i went to school (and this was still the last year of high school…) and i went to my friend and i said, I need a fanfiction where Optimus Prime is pregnant. And then she sent me some. My first fantasies were those of him getting knocked up by Megatron and having to hide it from the rest of the team in shame…

No.2, Megatron. This is obviously the right choice. I have a whole weird thing about, like, a big strong warrior getting pregnant and not only keeping his respect amongst his troops but increasing it also. It's so hot to me. 

3, 4, 5 is a three person combo! yes, baby, dratchrod is where it’s at. I like them in a genuine, honest, non-horny way, and I like them even more in a very gross, very lewd, horny way. I need Drift PREGNANT. I need Ratchet PREGNANT. I need Rodimus PREGNANT. i could say more, but my blog is an homage to dratchrod pregnancy dude. Of course any version of them from any continuity (though Drift doesn’t really have many versions...) are not safe from my pregnancy beam.

6. this is a little guilty pleasure of mine but. Elita-1. I need her pregnant… in a woman-respecting way, of course. In the same vein as Megatron, I need her to be respected as a warrior for her big swollen belly. 

no. 7 is Starscream. He was also one of the first bots I'd wanted to impregnate back when I got here, and though my desire to get him pregnant had diminished a little, it never truly left.

no. 8 RUNG. Primus is the life-giver. Old and fertile as fuck. Need i say more?

no. 9 is, and I am disappointed a little for putting him so low, but it’s Bulkhead. I was sitting on the streets of Seattle with a sign that read “I need a fat bitch” and Bulkhead was who I’ve been given. I loved tfp Bulkhead. He was surprisingly parental and it made me kind of horny.

no. 10. Airachnid. Black Arachnia. or whatever you wanna call her, , whichever version. Maybe it’s because I'm in an insecticon mood, maybe it’s nostalgia for my childhood crush on beast machines Black Arachnia, but I need me an insecticon mommy. 

[elfdragon12]

"Enlightened" feminist who uses words like "playwright" instead of "screenwriter" and tells people "if you don't understand me, maybe you should read more" and "(famous feminist quote)": Elita-1 is a flat character! It's not the reader's job to fix what Hasbro does! Elita-1 is only there to be Optimus's girlfriend! Elita-1 one is impossible to fix! (Chromia is different because Ironhide isn't used as much!) Elita-1 doesn't represent any real women!

Also "enlightened" feminist:

Are... Are we for real here? TFA Elita-1/Blackarachnia is a better written character than G1 Elita-1? TFA Blackarachnia doesn't need any fixing? She "reflects" real women and G1 Elita-1 couldn't possibly?

Maybe I don't read enough feminist literature, but, as a woman, I would take G1 Elita-1 over TFA Elita-1/Blackarachnia any day of the week. TFA gives her the veneer of being a complex character, but her role is only to be the source of Optimus's man pain, be a damsel in distress (her plans always fail, original Blackarachnia would never), and develop Optimus and Sentinel's relationship. Meanwhile, G1 Elita-1 has the same development as every other character (G1 is a glorified toy commercial, giving most characters enough character for kids to latch onto and play with, not much else), but is the trusted leader of the Autobot girl gang, gave Shockwave the slip for millions of years, and uses her special power of stopping time to save Optimus.

Could G1 Elita-1 be better? Yes. That is the case for nearly every G1 character. Is she "only" Optimus's girlfriend? No. In her very first appearance, she has established relationships with other women and Alpha Trion. Is she "too flat to even written about"? Kindly? Screw you, skill issue. Other writers have and more will in the future.

Oh, did I mention that this "enlightened" feminist who hates Elita-1 and thinks no one should ever include her in anything ever lists MegOp as one of their only two ships? I'm totally sure that has nothing to do with anything.

[lord-squiggletits]

Salty Ask List: 1, 5, 14, 22 ?

1.What OTPs in your fandom(s) do you just not get?

Dr/atc/het 100000%... I just don't understand what their chemistry is supposed to be together. It's partially ruined for me by Drift in MTMTE being an absolute mess of a character who got most of his planned plotlines cut or changed, and partially ruined by the fact Drift spends most of MTMTE straight up absent from the story, and then he and Ratchet meet up in Empire of Stone and come back during Dying of the Light and are just...together romantically now? I don't understand how they have any chemistry at all much less romantic lskdjflkds

I know a big one people talk about is "Ratchet saved Drift's life and then told him he believed in him" but... the way their meeting was written didn't come off as particularly romantic to me? Ratchet saved Drift the same way he's saved countless other addicts in the Dead End and then his parting words to Drift were to tell him to go to the Functionists so they could get him a job. Very "pull yourself up by the bootstraps" kind of advice that clearly didn't work since Drift stayed impoverished, his friend got killed by police brutality, he went into the underworld to be a hitman, etc etc. Like yeah in theory it's very romantic for an OTP's first meeting to be one of them saving the other's life and treating the impoverished person kindly for possibly the first time in their life. It's just that that moment in canon doesn't have romantic vibes to me at all, it's just a doctor-patient encounter in which Ratchet is nice to Drift like he's nice to everyone, except it's also kind of condescending/ignorant bc Ratchet basically tells Drift "oh just get a job and get clean and you'll be fine" as if it's that easy to stop being a homeless/jobless drug addict?? If an ER doctor did that shit to me I'd be more likely to see him as an asshole than to admire or like him at all sdklfjsd.

Then Drift was a Decepticon for millions of years, then he joined the Autobots on Earth and like... he and Ratchet sure existed on the same team together dlkfjldsjlkds there were zero interactions of worth b/t them in phase 1, their ship dynamic came entirely from JRO's writing and even then I feel like it's an informed romance more than an organic and believable one.

5. Has fandom ever ruined a pairing for you?

I actually used to like O/Pli/ta when I first came here, but as I stayed longer it became evident that the overwhelming majority of the fan content of it reeks of "we are very sorry for having a heterosexual ship, let us compensate for it by making the woman a Girlboss Xtreme and the man a weak simp so that you can be sure the woman isn't being Oppressed and Stereotyped by being in a heterosexual romantic relationship" which is one of my most detested types of fan content, so now I have the ship tag blocked sldkfjlsdkdskl. Literally it's just the same "the woman is a TOTALLY COMPETENT AND COOL ACTION HERO and her man is a TOTAL SIMP FOR HER" that's interchangeable with most het ships in other fandoms, where there's no actual personality or chemistry for them and instead it's just the same Fandom Approved Heterosexual Relationship Dynamic.

That and a significant amount of content I see for it is just like blatantly ripped off from Me/go/p dslkfjsdfsjl or like, taking the main MOP dynamic and just swapping OP and Elita's places so now Elita is the cool action hero who's rival to Megatron and OP just Exists as an emotional support husband I guess. Or like Elita is made into a daring action hero while Optimus is reduced to a meek little wallflower who's no one of any real importance and just follows in her wake. It reeks of insecurity and unoriginality, as if the fanbase is cripplingly aware that Elita was made to be the Token Girlfriend and instead of just making her a better character and making the romance she's a part of more equal and compelling for both characters, they have to violently overcompensate by having Elita steal OP's role and everything interesting about him. 😂Like I'm begging people to just be normal about hetero ships. You can ship a man and a woman together without having to diminish the man and girlbossify the woman to prove you're a Real Feminist.

14. Unpopular opinion about your fandom?

Continuity soup is boring and for the most parts creates purely fanon plots/ideas/characterizations that have tenuous relationships to actual canon. It's nice that people have the creativity to make their own AUs, but I also want to read about the actual continuity in question and not someone's mishmash of it.

Like UGH when I read a fic tagged IDW1 I want to see cop Orion not archivist or dockworker Orion. When I read a fic tagged IDW1 I want to read about the Senate led by Proteus and the reigns of Nova/Nominus/Sentinel/Zeta, not about the Council from TFP. When I read a fic tagged IDW1 MegOP I want Orion being a simp for Megatron after reading his stuff/meeting him one (1) time sdkflsdkf not yet another iteration of the tired "one day an archivist and a gladiator became great friends! then they broke up."

It's not hate for other continuities, I'm just tired of the fact that continuity soup is so prevalent that even when I'm specifically filtering for content of the one continuity I want to read about, the fics I find keep having random shit from other continuities interjected into it. I think each continuity has really interesting takes on lore that have potential to be wholly unique for each one, so it's really frustrating when the average fic I can find is just a random mishmash of continuity elements, or more often than not just an IDW knockoff taking place in a separate continuity. Like guys, I'm an IDW stan myself, but wouldn't it be cool if we got more fics that explored ideas that only happen in G1, or only happen in Animated, or Aligned, etc?

Doesn't help that when I AM looking specifically for IDW stuff, most of the content I look at (MOP) does continuity soup for the sake of replacing IDW OP with some sort of aligned/g1 lite OP which makes me salty as hell

22. Popular character you hate?

Drift for sure sdklfsdlk. I mean when I first read about him in the comics (the Drift miniseries) I was like, he's fine I guess he's an action hero whatever. But then literally the more of the comics I read the more his personality and story were just incredibly corny, stereotypical, or boring as hell no matter what writer was controlling him. And he got bounced around between writers a lot, and then even the "main author" people know Drift from (JRO) kept changing his plans for what Drift was supposed to be (and cutting plots related to him) so any hints towards a storyline went nowhere. And then Drift spent basically all of MTMTE gone elsewhere on some exile-adventure, and then during LL he just kind of. Is there, existing.

So like, honestly Drift is a victim of getting bounced back and forth and having his writing changed so often he doesn't reach his full potential, which isn't really "his fault" as a character. It just so happens that I also think the bits of his character that exist are either boring or overhyped or in one case (portrayal of his religion/religious worldbuilding in general) outright offensive. He's basically written like some hippie stereotype with vaguely Asian/Japanese flavoring (the extent of which is basically his name + fighting style) and then he barely like... does anything in the plot? I think he's supposed to be like, ~mysterious and shifty~ but then all of the plotlines that involved him being a secret traitor got cut, so Drift basically just became Weirdly Suspicious For No Reason and his genuine personality/motivations felt indistinguishable from what he was faking and what plots got cut from him. Absolute mess of a character that got almost no payoff for any of the things planned for him, and all that's left is some kooky hippie personality of "hee hoo I believe in auras and mystical vibes and magical colors, also I'm dating an atheist who's openly dismissive of most of my religious beliefs (that I do or don't actually believe in depending on what part of the story I'm in) and this somehow doesn't get in the way of our personal/romantic chemistry

But then the fanbase are basically making him some kind of Gary Stue, obsessed with making headcanons like "Deadlock wrote/edited Megatron's speeches for him too!" and "Drift defected from the Decepticons to try and make a point to Megatron!" and generally trying to make him the Decepticons' Specialest Boy Ever and it's just. Ugh I get that he was under-written in canon, but every bit of fanon I've encountered doesn't make him interesting either. They just kind of make Drift the center of the world where he's actually the coolest, most talented and interesting person ever where other characters owe their accomplishments partially to his influence and I'm just. I don't get it, I don't understand the appeal of fanon and I don't even understand the appeal of canon either. I think part of it is for representation reasons (e.g. Asian, lower class, former drug addict) and it's nice that people can pull something meaningful out of the mess that is canon. It's just for me, canon Drift is so mediocre I don't get why anyone would even WANT him as representation sdlkfjsdlkf. I guess fixing what the writers failed to explore the potential of is an understandable motivation though.

[transformers-diverge]

(Click for better quality)

Finally finished the Elita crew lineup! The lore for them is that they are some of the Autobot that got left behind by the Ark, so now they deal with the Decepticons on Cybertron while not knowing what happened to the Ark. Now for some facts about them:

Moonracer is by far the youngest of the group, and was relatively sheltered from the war by her creators until her city was bombed, after which she was picked up by Elita and taught how to defend herself. Her alt mode is a moon buggy, and her design was based on 1950’s diner uniforms and chinchillas (I wanted to start giving each bot an animal base for more design flourishes)

Chromia is Elita’s right hand woman, and takes her job (and everything else) very seriously. She can be cold and blunt, but she just misses her old life as a energon farmer with her conjunx Ironhide, and doesn’t want to see anyone else she cares about get hurt. Her alt mode is probably a Cybertronian pickup, and her design is based on knights and rhinos

Elita is the leader of the group, and basically the leader of all the Autobots on Cybertron while Optimus is on earth. She used to be Ariel the dockworker until and accident had her, Orion, and Dion reformatted into Elita 1, Optimus Prime, and Ultra Magnus. She loves fighting almost as much as she loves her conjunx, and her design is based on knights and axolotls

Greenlight is an engineer and the closest thing the group has to a medic, though she’s better at repairing weapons than bots. Her plans to be conjunxed to Lancer were cut short by the war, and her main goal is to win this war and finally be with her forever. She’s very stresses out, and has picked up smoking Cygars to keep herself calm, though her nonchalant manner makes others question why she even needs to calm down in the first place. Her design is based on butches (duh), engineers, and tree pangolins

Lancer is a romantic, and always attempts to add flare to her battles, even in the middle of a war zone. She was trained in the Cybertronian equivalent of fencing, and values her rapier more than anything, as it was a conjunxing gift from Greenlight, given to her before their plans fell apart due to the war. Her design is based on those fancy coats and hats that every sword fighter wears in movies, and also secretary birds

Firestar is brash, and a very leap before you look type bot, putting her at odds with Chromia often. She doesn’t use a traditional weapon, instead opting for her outlier ability of shooting flames from her hands. She can be hard to get along with at first, but just like Chromia, she does truly care for her companions and just wants to get back to her normal life before the war. Her design is based on punk fashion and red foxes

Holy crap this took forever, sorry for not posting so much it just takes me a while to finish art, and six characters is a lot. Anyways, hope you enjoyed, and feel free to ask me any questions you might have on this au!

[makeproshipfriends]

Ba weep grahna weep nini bong! I'm Cherenkov, and I'm a 25 year old Texan woman. I'm looking for adult proship Transformers fans! I'm especially interested in G1 and Transformers One. My favorite TF ships are Megatron x Optimus Prime, Starscream x Shockwave, Soundwave x Jazz x Blaster, Cliffjumper x Mirage and Elita-1 x Arcee!

I'm also a big Team Fortress 2 fan, so I'd love to talk about that too! My favorite TF2 ships are Spy x Scout, Soldier x Demoman, Engineer x Pyro and Sniper x Medic!

I love pretty much all the M/M and F/F ships from both, and I might not be super into hetero ships myself but I think it's cool when other people are ^^ I also really love toxic pairings and incest!

I'm especially interested in finding other selfshippers, since I selfship with Soundwave and Sniper (I'm ok with talking to other people who selfship with them, don't worry!)

I have DMs set to private and asks off because I've had to deal with harassment in the past, but if you want to DM me you can reply to this post or to my intro post, whichever you prefer! ^^

go say hi to Cherenkov! 🌻

[studentinpursuitofclouds]

What characters could be in Camilla's kin list? Same question about Lance and others :D

Eyyyy 💕

Thank you very much for your question! I hope I was able to choose characters close to our lovely SVE people. This is my first time making this list, I hope I understood everything correctly 😅

Camilla:

Carmilla ("Castlevania"), the queen of vampires (in the Netflix series, she is the general of Dracula's army). She is shown as a femme fatale, seductress and manipulator. Dangerous, bossy, does whatever she wants. Of course, in the games and Netflix series she is terribly selfish and cruel, but still she reminds very much of SVE Camilla (I thought at first that it was Carmilla who inspired the creation of Camilla. Even their names!). High kin.

Bayonetta (game "Bayonetta") - if SVE Camilla was carrying around guns, I'd scream that this is the "Literally Me" category.

Fujiko Mine (manga/anime "Lupin the Third"), a talented thief, cunning and seductive. Able to go to great lengths to achieve those riches, has had many relationships, loves to live luxuriously and is very talented at everything. I prefer Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro and anime season 4 for SVE Camilla, as there Fujiko showed more or less (kinda?) tender feelings and compassion, whereas in the original manga she acts solely out of her own interests. Nevertheless - a strong, intelligent and capable woman that almost always gets what she wants. High kin.

Lance:

Zagreus (game "Hades") - Zagreus is often shown to be humble, good-natured, and sarcastic in the game. I mean, his cheerful, though somewhat unruly nature allows him to easily befriend many people, treating those of lower status as his equals, though he respects his elders. In my opinion - he's almost like Lance's SVE. So "literally me" category.

Zorro (I will choose 1975 film, because it's my favorite) - man with a mask, a master swordsman, a noble defender of the weak and a punishment for criminals. Not without a sense of humour, always ready to rush to the aid of those in need and has a high sense of justice. It would be funny to see Lance in a mask, where after he would then reveal his identity to us.... Maybe a little controversial, but I still think it would be the high kin here.

(There was supposed to be information here about Lance the dragon trainer from Pokémon and a joke about how he and SVE Lance are very similar, but then I remembered that SVE Lance was inspired specifically by Lance from Pokémon. So we'll skip that one).

Isaac:

Geralt of Rivia (book version + game trilogy) - monster hunter, loner, sarcastic, builds himself up to be emotionless and cold, yet has a sense of empathy, stands up for the weak, intelligent and almost always sensible - should I go on? Very high kin.

Van Helsing (2004 film, not the book version) - somebody give me that meme with the two Spider-Men pointing fingers at each other, because oh boy, those two monster hunters are like two peas in a pod! "Literally me," period.

Dettlaff van der Eretein (The Witcher 3: Blood and Wine) - a reserved and cold loner vampire that is trying to find his place in the world, carries a universal sadness inside him and harbours a small hope for simple happiness? Yes, please! I could write a whole list of how similar Dettlaff and Isaac are in character traits, but we'd sit here all day. So I'll give him the "literally me" verdict and we'll go down the list.

Alesia:

Tyrande Whisperwind ("Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos") - Alesia's constant references to the Yoba, kind nature, determination and desire to protect the people made me think of the phrase "By Elune", which I often heard when going through the company of Night Elves (ah, good old Warcraft...). So considering that Alesia leads the men to defend the walls of the Castle Village from the threat, is full of bravery and courage, and always mentions her god, with Tyrande she is very similar. I can safely call this a "literal me" category.

Elita-1 ("Transformers: Generation 1"). Autobot, a skilled and ruthless warrior, yet gentle and kind to her allies. In the animated series and most comics, Elita is cautious and constantly strives to make sure her squad is safe. However, if something goes wrong, she is willing to do anything to keep her friends and subordinates safe. Not much is known about Alesia yet, but from the dialogue we have so far, I get the impression that Alesia will be the same - brave and willing to lay down her life for her friends. High kin.