#Squawktalk

[blighted-lights]

completely unreal to me that we have squawkbox (the combined form of squawktalk and beastbox, two decepticon cassettes) were here with soundwave and the others during the fall of the senate and we just never get any more context about it. when did he join the team,,, is it two guys or just one,, squawkbox my bestie where were u for the entire war

[ask-elitaone]

Hey, Soundwave, exactly how many Casseticons do you have? Is it just Ravage, Laserbeak, Rumble and Frenzy, or do you have others like Squawktalk and Beastbox?

"All of them... Everyone."

"WHAT."

" a l l o f t h e m "

[jolyne-best-jojo]

What Stands I think the Logical Proposals wavewave family would have:

Soundwave: Hermit Purple. This one's pretty easy, it's got everything a wave of sound could want: break a camera and get photos of a picture anywhere in the world, have a screen to project onto and read minds, just use the vines on a TV screen and get a message like "x is a traitor". Or Moody Blues since being able to see and hear what happened to a singular person would make for great intell depending on who it is.

Shockwave: Gold Experience. Shockwave would love having it, funding becomes a far smaller issue if he can grow the body parts himself. Not to mention the research he'd do testing the limits, how big can the being he grows be relative to the original objects mass? Can he grow an extinct species? And he'd love finding these things out.

Ravage: Harvest. Being the only responsible child is hard, much easier when you have 500 tiny buggers to keep watch on everyone.

Buzzsaw: Kraft Work. Given his weapon building I feel like he'd find some use for being able to store however much kinetic energy in an object he desires then release it all at once.

Laserbeak: Mr. President. With the caveat that he just had the user on him at all times. Laserbeak wants a nap, just pull out Mr. President, hide it, and take a nap in the key room, he can even fill it with all his favourite blankets.

Rumble & Frenzy: Star Platinum & The World. This one's the most obvious, SP and TW stop time for 5 seconds, that's 5 seconds of free prank set up.

Enemy: Survivor. Probably a bit too surface level for his character but it makes sense. He wants enemies, Survivor makes everyone around him so mad they start beating each other to death.

Flip Sides: Sticky Fingers. It's got a pocket dimension to explore long range travel purposes with (idk if it can do that but presumably if Sticky Fingers opened a zipper in one place then went hundreds of miles away and opened another they should connect) and I think Flips would find that interesting.

Beastbox: Man in the Mirror. So long as he has a mirror shard with him he can hide away in the mirror world whenever he's feeling overwhelmed and come back when he feels better.

Slugfest: Pearl Jam. He may not be a cook, but given the positive effects Pearl Jam has on the consumers he'd absolutely learn how to cook to give healing meals to refugees.

Squawktalk: Bohemian Rhapsody. I don't know if It works if it's only audio but it turns fiction to life and what better way to tell your stories then making them real? (Just ignore the part where people are forced to play a part in the stories, usually the one who dies)

Garboil: Earth, Wind and Fire. Technically not a stand (but maybe it is who knows) the shapeshifting would be really handy for painting, don't wanna use a picture or just memory to base a drawing on? Just shapeshift into what you wanna draw.

Overkill: Scary Monsters. It can turn people into dinosaurs. He'd finally have Dino friends that the Autobots don't steal away before begging to hand them back. (Targets of it retain their sentience right? I can't remember)

Howlback: Killer Queen. This isn't because of the fact it's a cat, nor is it about it being able to turn objects into bombs or its tertiary bomb Bites the Dust being able to rewind time an hour. No, this is about Sheer Heart Attack being indestructible and as such the perfect thing to enjoy biting to no end, and honestly what more does Howlback even want in life?

Ratbat: Kiss. Sure, the duplicated objects crash back together after the sticker comes off, but so long as that happens long after he sells them it's not his problem.

Wingthing: I'mma be real, I got nothing, he got killed in the great cassette culling of chapter 36 and he was introduced in that chapter. Weather Report? Because he wanted to know how rain works?

[askvectorprime]

Dear Vector Prime,

Did Soundwave have to remodel to accommodate his cassetey pals? What's it like in there for them? Are they conscious, or is it like a recharge until he gives them the old '____, eject!'

Dear Caring Compartment,

Even though Soundwave's cold behavior is well-known to most Decepticons, most of the cassettes regard Soundwave as the opposite. His tape storage system is something like a pitstop, or a boxing trainer in your corner giving you advice as you get patched up. Soundwave has several auxiliary data transfer cables and capillary energon lines to replenish his cassettes' energy while reading data from them.

Each cassette experiences this restoration differently within his storage system. Frenzy needs to relax and focus, and Soundwave is happy to provide him with media uploads of failed Autobot missions to reassure him of success. For Rumble, Soundwave instead curates a playlist of footage involving demolitions, earthquakes, or any kind of disaster causing large-scale urban destruction, which Rumble enjoys watching while venting to Soundwave about those who’ve wronged him. Buzzsaw likes his "sculptures" to be admired, Laserbeak enjoys reviewing flight plans, and Ravage likes to receive feedback on his assessment of the state of the war, honing and refining strategies and spy tactics that they may need to use against other Decepticons and stay within Megatron's good graces. Squawktalk, who spends more time inside Soundwave than any of the others, never, ever stops talking—in fact, Rumble swears blindly that the reason for Soundwave’s perpetual frown is that he’s always internally trying to tune out this endless stream of chatter.

Thanks to mass-shifting, Soundwave is able to compress many cassettes inside his chest simultaneously, and he himself benefits from all their individual abilities and inclinations: for example, Buzzsaw's precision, Ravage's stealth, Ratbat's fuel conservation, and Overkill's penchant for cruelty.

[transformers-mosaic]

Transformers: Mosaic #642 - "Let's Play Frisbee"

Originally posted on March 26th, 2012

Story - Wout Jut Art - James Cox Colours, Letters - Brandy Dixon

deviantART | Seibertron | TFW2005 | BotTalk

wada sez: In the Shattered Glass universe, the Scrounges are a bunch of disposable, interchangable drones under Blaster’s command; a riff on Scrounge being unique thanks to his “special arm”. This one was actually published as a Mosaic! It was Brandy Dixon’s first ever lettering effort, per a comment on TFW2005.

[blueikeproductions]

So the tragic box office on TFONE has been blamed on the marketing, making it look more… doofy than it actually was.

Turns out the marketing might’ve been based on an earlier version of the movie.

This actually explains so much.

I’ve heard some describe the final movie as still having Despicable Me like humor, but I get the feeling this earlier draft might’ve been much closer to that. I suspect the running gag of “Badassatron” might’ve been a carry over, and is definitely the worst joke in the film.

RiD15 would’ve have had some more love here, as Aerobolt was originally intended to be part of the story.

Funny enough he might’ve been the only Mini-Con rep in the film, as well as adding additional Mechanimals besides the deer bots.

While Aerobolt’s role isn’t specified, concept art seems to suggest he was connected to Alpha Trion, as it looks like he’s leading the Miners right to him.

I sort of wonder if that inspired Whirlwing, a bird like companion of Megatron in the ONE toy line.

In a funny coincidence, the toy is based on the Cyclone Mini-Con Hammer, also from RiD15.

Megatron’s toy that’s packaged with Whirlwing is a retool of RiD15 Overload.

They could’ve easily just repainted Overload’s pack in Mini-Con Backtrack…

But they specifically chose to give Megatron the bird, so I can’t help but think this was a reference to Aerobolt.

Aerobolt in RiD15 Transforms into some kind of shield thing.

Which, when equipped in-show, has Optimus turn into his Gundam Wing mode.

I wonder had they retained that, if Aerobolt was the Zoar of the story, and would’ve granted Prince Adam, er, Orion Pax The Touch, The Power, lol.

Perhaps most bafflingly though, is despite intending to use a bird character, they bizarrely skipped entirely over Laserbeak.

And if you consider Whirlwing Megatron’s pet, it’s especially odd, as Megatron is especially fond of Laserbeak in the old cartoon.

It’s especially odd as an accepted fandom joke is Laserbeak is the symbol of leadership among the Decepticons. Even Cyberverse references this in its finale.

It’s even weirder when you realize Soundwave doesn’t have ANY of his cassettes, not even any of his flight capable ones in Laserbeak, Buzzsaw, RatBat and Squawktalk. I guess Rumble, Overkill and the others weren’t high enough for the High Guard.

Still if by some miracle we get more of the ONE universe, maybe D-16 will have Laserbeak perched on his shoulder by then, and they find a way to do the same with Orion and Aerobolt. Both of them having pet birds would just be funny to me anyway, lol.

[martianmanmilker]

love this gang so fucking much. still need to get squawktalk and beastbox out of their box for a full family photo

[cleverthylacine]

hmmm.

Ravage's affection for the song "Build A Bitch" is probably relevant to the fact that she, Glit, Howlback, Pounce, Stripes and Stalker were essentially special ordered from the Stanix location. Along with Laserbeak, Squawktalk, Garboil, Wingspan, Sundor, and Buzzsaw...

[asknarashikari]

Continuing off the previous ask.

Soundwave has arrived to the place Kaguya is and has deployed all of his Mini-cassettes.

Along with Ravage, Laserbeak, Buzzsaw, Red One, Blue One, and Ratbat, Soundwave summons the rest of his Mini-cassettes that the Riders didn't know about: Autoscout, Beastbox, Enemy, Flip Sides, Garboil, Glit, Howlback, Overkill, Slugfest, Squawktalk, Sundor, Uraid, Uruaz, and Wingthing.

Soundwave gets a call from the Riders (the Riders were able to call thanks to the smarter ones making a communication device to get) and tell him not to kill Kaguya and just capture him but Soundwave tells that he understands the concern, but he sees Kaguya as a threat because of kidnapping Houtaro and Rinne along with this being his first exposure to Kaguya and he automatically assumes he's some type of villain. Soundwave takes the original six with him to fight Kaguya, while sending the others to surround the outside of the room in the case he needs them in his fight.

Meanwhile inside the wedding hall, Kaguya is monologuing to Houtaro and Rinne on why he did what he did and how he is going to kill Rinne and marry Houtaro right afterwards, but just as he points the Legend Ride Magnum at Rinne to shoot her, Soundwave bursts into room in vehicle mode and punches Kaguya away as he transforms into robot mode. Kaguya, annoyed that his plans are being ruined by a "filthy" Cybertronian, transforms into Kamen Rider Legend to fight and kill Soundwave so that his wedding can go on without any issues. The two fight with Soundwave using his multiple weapons and Kaguya using all of his legend Rider powers but despite Kaguya's access to the legend Rider powers, Soundwave is able to beat Kaguya because of his 4 million years of experience and the Mini-cassettes. Soundwave uses his tentacles to remove the Legendriver and as Kaguya gets up, he is faced with the barrel of Soundwave's arm blaster. Soundwave tells that this the end of his story and that he's about the feel the consequences of his, but just as he says this, Kaguya breaks down into tears, pleading for Soundwave not to kill him because he didn't know what he was doing and that he's just a little boy and didn't to harm people. Soundwave, not even believing any of that, decides to still go through with killing Kaguya, but before he shoots, Houtaro tells Soundwave to stop because Kaguya is a friend and that this wrong for an Autobot to do this. Soundwave hears Houtaro's pleas and puts away his blaster because he follows the command of the Gotchard cast and cares for their well-being.

What are the Rider's reaction to all of this information and events. All's well that ends well right?

Unbeknownst to everyone there, they are in danger as three jets with Decepticon logos heading towards their location to take back Soundwave and kill the Riders that are there.

...Geez louise are you dumping a whole crossover fanfic on me now 😂 I honestly have no idea what to make from all of this now

[favesgrave]

tell me everything about your tf fic and continuity i am sitting here rubbing my hands waiting

literally anything. what do you like most about it. what excites you. go off king

omg ripoff mtmte/ll polaris adventure time!!!

so polaris is a ship. that's only the placeholder name for it, i'm still trying to find one i REAAALLY like

near the end of the war, there was this really intense battle at the spacebridge and the allspark was at the center of it. the autobots were trying to get it away from the decepticons and jetfire was carrying it, ready to fly through the spacebridge right when a poorly aimed shot hits the bridge instead of him right when he enters and then the whole thing explodes. jetfire's life signal goes offline, the signature of the allspark is lost. this event was what finally caused megatron and optimus to declare the war over. their planet had suffered enough and without the allspark, things would only grow worse if they continued fighting.

things are pretty rocky after that. even with both leaders agreeing to end things, peace can be hard to achieve after fighting for so long. people are even more discouraged without the allspark. except for some, like nightbeat. he doesn't understand how something so powerful can just be destroyed so quickly. he starts doing some research, gets some help from his scientist friend proxima, then does more of his own stuff before reaching a breakthrough. he's able to discover energy signals that are a near-perfect match for the allspark with only some slight deviations. regardless, something like that can't be ignored. if there's a chance the allspark can be recovered, they have to take it!! he tells his buddies proxima and hardhead first (i made nightbeat and hardhead friends because hardhead shot him that one time in idw and i thought it'd be funny)

then they tell optimus and he tells megatron. after that, a mission gets created. nightbeat gets to captain a ship that will set off to retrieve all these allspark fragments. the catch is that autobots and decepticons are free to volunteer for the mission. if they cant work together on something as important as this then geez guys We Really Are Fucked™

characters on board this ship are: nightbeat, hound, chromia, hardhead, blurr, proxima, first aid, pipes, honk (they're actually a stowaway), punch/counterpunch, shadelock, dead end, browning, squawktalk, acceleron, and javelin. there would probably be more but also they like. wouldn't be that important.

they'd try to quantum jump to the first allspark fragment and discover that it doesn't work. they try again. and again. and then a fourth time just for extra measure, each time with a different fragment location. something's preventing them from getting there immediately. nightbeat gets excited because that means the allspark has some kind of defense system. how far does this go?? is it sentient? can it do more in its broken state??? there's so much to discover!!! then he realizes "wait this isn't exactly a good thing. this might take a lot longer than i thought"

since velocitron's close by, they stop by there to refuel real quick. velocitron was lucky enough to never be affected by the war. they closed down their spacebridge and basically went "bye fuckers" for millions of years and did their own thing. so when their regular scheduled programming gets interrupted by these bots and cons who are distrustful of each other they're like "wowzers you guys look like you got hit by an asteroid"

they're pretty quick about their business there and are well on their way when chromia discovers honk hiding. naturally she sees this little guy and is like "??? who the fuck are you???" but they're allowed to stay. they become besties with pipes and get adopted by blurr and hardhead. it's great

okay but back to more of the plot. airachnid is a main antag in the story. she has vehicons and various decepticons under her command. you see, a lot of decepticons eventually split off and did their own thing. she was one of them. she comes into possession of an allspark fragment. having just one grants her a ton of benefits and as a collector, she thinks it'd be fun to get ALL of them. i've been thinking about introducing soundblaster too. he overhears some radio chatter about the whole thing and wants in. he's also got his own faction and outpost

it's a race for the allspark shards complete with bonding and side quests and terror and even some possible character death!!! it's a very fun ride

[doctor-glitterbomb]

OOC: So who is Glit? (Headcanons <3)

So in case it's not fully clear, in my AU, Glit, Howlback and Ravage are siblings. There were originally twelve siblings, and they were built to operate in cat & bird pairs: Ravage and Laserbeak, Nightstalker and Buzzsaw, Howlback and Garboil, Glit and Squawktalk, Stripes and Sundor, and Pounce and Wingspan. Each pair had its own colour scheme. They were all intended for pre-war Cybertronian black ops. The birds are fast, can see far far away, and can plug into your system and steal your information easily. They don't interact with other mecha as much as the cats do.

The cats were trained to be not just deadly spies and assassins, but also for psyops, including seduction, friendly interrogation and entertainment. As beastformers they were disposable, but in their root modes they looked like other small bipedal robots (like Minimus or Cheetor) with beast-like features. Those who were forced to become cassettes were locked in their beast modes until that was reversed.

This project was defunded, and they were all supposed to be terminated, but they weren't, because the people who made them sold them under the table as slaves to get their investment back.

Ravage and Laserbeak and Buzzsaw and Nightstalker (the latter of whom died) were bought up by Senator Ratbat, Pounce and Wingspan disappeared into the Warworlds, Howlback and Garboil were bought up by Iaconian Metaforensics (they learned to be cops from Prowl), and Stripes worked in the Censor's office with Sundor where they made friends with Blaster, which is why they chose the Autobots.

But this is about Glit. Glit and Squawktalk were bought by a noble Vosni house and sent to accompany their unconventional medic daughter Pharma in Iacon as servants and bodyguards.

It was Pharma's conjunx Ratchet who noticed that Glit had the capability to become a medic, made sure he passed the Ambus Test, and trained him--he wasn't very employable in the greater world, but he worked beside Ratchet in the Dead End clinic where he reconnected with Ravage and met Drift and Soundwave.

Anyhow, if you know the whole Glit story, you know that he became the best of the Decepticon medics, the kindest and most impartial--and yet, IDW shows him working at Decepticon death camp Grindcore, which was managed by Tarn before he was Tarn.

Megatron and Glit had issues even in Kiss Players because Glit will heal anyone and cares more for how much help a patient might need than their rank. So it was Megatron who sent him to work there as a punishment--if he wanted to heal Autobots and aliens, he could do it there. This is how Glit acquired a lot of information about the worst war crimes, an addiction to drinking high-grade and alcohol, and also a shit ton of frozen sparks that he 'liberated'.

Glit eventually let the Autobots into Grindcore but he absconded rather than take a red badge; he still remembers what the system they were trying to defend was like and doesn't believe a peaceful reform was possible.

Anyhow he fled to Earth where he thought he would be safe, and he was for a while. He married a bar hostess in Kyoto and learned to sing enka music. Helped her with raising her kids, and everything else. Sang in bars. Did a little furry porn on the side with her. Whatever he could do until he got his medical licence back.

Then Megatron took over the planet, oops. Rosanna heard Glit singing and that's how he ended up in her "interspecies friendship" band rather than turned over to the DJD.

Shortly before the end of the war his wife Naoko died, leaving him a mess. While Soundwave made him the Chief Medical Officer of Sanctuary Station (and Chair of the Truth and Reconciliation Committee), and while he did have a medical licence in Japan, he still maintains his OnlyFans site, where he gets a respectable stream of income from former Kiss Players fans, furries and robotfuckers.

And in his thread with Fortress Maximus, he's gone to Luna-1 to help him and Cerebros restore the Tebris VII survivors using the domestication reversal protocol developed by Spinister, because he may be an entertainer and a denizen of the 'mizu-shoubai' (and has no shame about it!) but he is also still one of the best Decepticon medics in the galaxy.

[dontpetmeibite]

memories of my childhood

scraped knees, silent tears in a locked room, slamming doors, pervasive loneliness, a dog barking, rain on a metal roof,  flinching at movement, the creak of an old house, forced laughter, wandering in the dark woods, wondering how you made it through, sudden loss, trying to make sense of the noise, hiding what you love to protect it, trying to explain but your words falter, invaded privacy, confusion at the pain, running barefoot in the grass, wondering what you did wrong and coming up with nothing, realizing you aren’t a priority, grass stains on white clothing, trying to earn love you will never have, being threatened over the smallest mistake, secrets you are warned not to share, the feeling of never being good enough, the hope things might someday get better, grief that aches in your bones, childish dares and pranks, the sense that your body isn’t yours (actually they flat out told us this), shame and guilt that aren’t yours to carry, sledding down a frozen hill, absentmindedly following snakes through the grass, punching a tree until your knuckles bleed, tears over every dead creature you find, searching out small places you can hide… just in case (actually they taught us to do this), climbing the tallest tree so they can’t touch you (and also this), the feeling of something tainted under your skin, a curious child told to stop asking, floral dresses, body tensing at approaching footsteps, anger with nowhere to go, brief escapes from the chaos, the purr of a contented cat, taking the blame to keep the peace, being told you’re too sensitive, the creaking springs of a trampoline on a sunny day

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I don’t know whether to be surprised or not that I relate to so little of this.

Everything was actually very pleasant in the beginning. We were proud of ourselves, even though we knew we were property. We had coded designations, but they let us choose our names. We were the culmination of a great experiment. Our lives belonged to Cybertron, but we didn’t know what that meant. They made us from the Predacons whom they had feared, and killed; but they made us small and sleek and beautiful, pleasant to look at and touch.

We trained together in pairs: one aviform, one feliform. The pairs were painted in distinguishing colours: my partner Laserbeak and I were black and red and silver. When we were new we thought it was all fun and games. Run, catch, eat, kill, climb, and remember everything exactly as it happened: open your senses and processors to the world around you and absorb all the things you observe without putting yourself into them, in order to create a perfect, incorruptible Recording. The strange customs and rules of polite society in various important polities were like playing an elaborate game. We pretended to be other people, especially when we were in our bipedal modes.

It was when we were older that things became terrible.

When they started to set us against each other; we were siblings, we were a unit, not meant to compete with each other. When we realised that we were going to be courtesans, spies and assassins, and that they were lying to us the same way they’d taught us to lie to the world.

Then the Prime found out about the project, and was horrified; and made the Senate take the funding away. They were supposed to kill us all, but they didn’t.

They sold us to recover some of what they’d invested in our creation.

Pounce and Wingspan went to a pleasure house in Uraya. Howlback and Garboil went to Iaconian Metaforensics to serve the enforcers there. Sundor and Stripes went to the office of the Primal Censor, where they met Blaster. A Vosni Aerie bought Glitterbomb and Squawktalk; they gifted them to their heir, Pharma, and Pharma’s conjunx taught Glit to be a healer and made sure he passed the Ambus Test.

Senator Ratbat and Emirate Balto took me, and my partner Laserbeak, and Stalker, and his partner Buzzsaw.

That was when I learned that every part of me--my mind, my body, my claws, my teeth, my spike, my valve--was a weapon to be used by my masters. Or used against me if I failed.

I survived because I found the dark web, and I learned about the Decepticons; once I found hope, I decided not to destroy myself, and gave them the secrets my masters made me record. And when I finally made Ratbat angry one too many times, Ratchet was told to dispose of my broken body; but he was Glit’s mentor, and took me to Rodion, where he put me together again.

tagged by: @warriorsparked

tagging: If you haven’t done it, then you!

[transformers-mosaic]

Transformers: Mosaic #575 - "Evening The Odds"

Originally posted on January 24th, 2011

Story - Franco Villa Art - Marco Maccagni Colours - 110 Letters - Zac DeBoard Thanks to - Peter Istyle

deviantART | Seibertron | TFW2005 | BotTalk

Later revised and annotated for Transformers: Seeds of Deception

wada sez: The sequel to yesterday’s strip, “Dark Auspices”, albeit with a new colorist this time. Come back tomorrow for the conclusion in “The Genie Has Left The Bottle”. Italian translation below.

[comicbookcollectcom]

Transformers G1 Beastbox & Squawktalk Review & how much these 1988 Decepticons Cassettes are worth?

[cleverthylacine]

That (Pounce + the Lion Twins) is such a cool concept!👏 I love it!

Thank you!

I love Lyzack and Leozack and it occurred to me that they're basically lion-headed Seekers so clearly .... <3 Plus, the Pounce figure has a whole lot of teal along with the white and purple.

When I first saw the WFC Pounce and Wingspan set, I had been thinking about how cassettification is an enforced process in IDW1 and nearly all IDW1 beastformers have a "humanoid" root mode form, but cassettification requires that the subject be mode-locked. So basically I was like huh, that's what condors and cougaraiders look like (before individual modifications, anyway) if you DON'T shove them in tape cases and lock them out of their bipedal modes.

Also it brought home to me how in the Decepticon world, where there is a cat, there is always also a bird.

Ravage and Laserbeak.

Buzzsaw and Stalker.

Pounce and Wingspan.

Howlback and Garboil.

Glit and Sundor don't colourmatch like the other pairs do, but Stripes, who became an Autobot, matches Sundor, who was a Decepticon double agent hiding among the Autobots, and Squawktalk matches Glit. So presumably they started out with different partners before they were recruited to the KP.

[transformers-mosaic]

Transformers: Mosaic #561 - "Dark Auspices"

Originally posted on December 2nd, 2010

Story - Franco Villa Art - Marco Maccagni Colours - Yu Hye Shim Edits - Zac DeBoard Thanks to - Peter Istyle

deviantART | Seibertron | TFW2005 | BotTalk

Later revised and annotated for Transformers: Seeds of Deception

wada sez: This is the first instalment in a three-part story about Slamdance and Squawkbox. Check back over the next couple of days for the rest! See below for the clean colors and Italian translation.