#TFR story

[prahelika]

never ever have i consumed a piece of media where the protagonist is undebatably kindhearted and said, "the hero needs to die".

until mission impossible

[thetransfemininereview]

THE 60-HOUR TRANSFEM SHORT STORY CHALLENGE

There’s just 2.5 days left in the 2024 TFR Awards. Feel like you haven’t read enough to vote? It’s not too late!

Before the Dec. 27th deadline at 11:59pm EST, I challenge you to read as many of these stories as possible and vote for your favorite! 🔥

You can consider this an unofficial longlist. Try to read 3-5 stories - don’t just vote for the first one you read!

Voting link here:

[elias-hirsch]

I get the sense that ethan views grace as more of a little sister, or he's kinda like the cool aunt and she's the niece that looks up to her lol.

I absolutely love the way mcq depicts ilsa and ethan's relationship. There was a podcast where he said he wanted a female character that wasn't there to 'serve' the male, who would not compromise on her goals just to help ethan and it's so compelling bcs of it. I can *feel* ethan being charmed by her, where as with grace i get the sense he sees her as someone he needs to save/take care of. It's a little strange that people think he fell in love with her, and I can't see a possibility in which he might fall for her post canon.

Sincerely, where the fuck did you all get that Ethan fell for Grace? Truly?

Does Grace have a hero worship towards Ethan? Absolutely! And who can blame her when she sees him do all that he does?

But Ethan has never treated her differently than anyone else, have y'all seen him in love? That is not a man in love with that woman for God's sake 🙄

[winters-orbit]

I have even more thoughts now that I've seen tfr a second time. But the criticism I keep coming back to is people saying the ending was unsatisfying. To me it was so clear that there were only two options for the end of this movie, what we got or Ethan six feet under in a body bag.

It's exactly what Luther said at the beginning, 'what are we going to do, retire?' There's no perfect little story book happy ending for Ethan. He is going to keep doing all of this until it kills him because this is just what his life is now. There are so many points in this movie, particularly the entire sequence leading up to and inside the sevastobol where it's so clear that Ethan has accepted his death. He goes into that expecting to die, to the point where he even looks surprised when he wakes up with Grace.

Ethan was never going to get an ending where the government gives him a medal or he gets to stop doing this and retire or whatever other shit people think would be satisfying. It's hammered home multiple times throughout the film with 'we live and die in the shadows, for those we hold close and those we'll never know'.

It was never going to be satisfying, because if anything this movie was the explanation of the tragedy of Ethan Hunt. While the world gets to sleep easy because of him, he never will.

[badgerhuan]

if you are upset that TFR didn't end with Ethan getting out of the IMF, maybe it's worth asking yourself why you think an "escape" is the only good ending, why to get out is the only worthy goal.

maybe that rings true for you and is what you want out of your story, what you expect out of your movie, but that's is simply not the kind of story mi is.

so what if Ethan is trapped? so what if he can't leave? what's important is what he chooses to do with that life. and Ethan chooses, again and again, to fight for the world, fight for a better future. the Choice might have been presented as an order, but Ethan never took the Choice and the Oath to follow orders. no, he takes them for the chance to make them his own, and to fight for the future and every soul on Earth. he might be compelled to push himself above and beyond for it, but shouldn't we all?

maybe we can't control the life we were given, but we can take matters into our own hands to make it better, if we have the ability to. why wouldn't you do what you can to make the world a better place? why wouldn't you make the active choice to fight your way through the darkness? would escaping from taking that responsibility really make you happy? we have to try. we've got to try. for those that we hold close. for those that we'll never meet.

[tf-rechargeandrebound]

Ok I redesigned them for the last goddamn time

TFR Autobot designs ^^ (I'm sorry if the colours look fucked up idk how to fix exporting stuff)

Character profiles beneath the cut

Optimus Prime

Allegiance: Autobot

Alt mode: Freightliner semi truck

Occupation: Autobot commander, current Prime

Likes: Cybertronian history, reading, Earth’s general vibe, long drives, peace and quiet

Dislikes: His position as Prime (he’s not very vocal about it though), snakes, icy roads, large social functions, taking breaks from all that gosh darn paperwork

Once a humble dock worker named Orion Pax, Optimus Prime is the leader of the Autobot Resistance, and is being counted on to save his home from the Decepticons. Any Autobot would describe him as wise, kind, stoic, somewhat stern, and a great leader who can sometimes get grumpy when stressed or tired. His most trusted officers and family, such as Elita-1, know that he’s also rather socially awkward and a bit of a bookworm. He cares deeply for every single Autobot under his command, and has grown to care for Earth as well. He generally dislikes needlessly reckless behaviour from those around him, as he can’t bear to see even more lives lost to the war. He often doubts himself, his role as Prime, and his actions, even if they were right. At the end of the day, Optimus wants nothing more than to live a quiet life with his loved ones.

Elita-1

Allegiance: Autobot

Alt mode: F-16 Fighting Falcon fighter jet

Occupation: Autobot commander

Likes: Astronomy, meteorology, flying, Earth rain, stargazing

Dislikes: Megatron (everyone hates him but she hates him on a very personal level), confined spaces, caves, snowstorms

Before she was Elita-1, she was Ariel, and before she was Ariel, she was a miner designated AR-1. After escaping the mines when she was young, she was taken in by an old dock boss named Kup who offered her a job at the docks, where she met a young mech named Orion Pax. Elita and Optimus Prime are both co-commanders and conjunx enduras. She’s much more of a social jokester than he is, and is extremely popular amongst the troops. She’s cunning, loyal, intelligent, and a fierce warrior who always stands up for what’s right and puts others before herself, all while being someone who’s willing to lend an ear to anyone who needs to vent. She’s truly the definition of an Autobot.

Bumblebee

Allegiance: Autobot

Alt mode: 2017 Volkswagen Beetle

Occupation: Special Operations scout

Likes: Earth pop culture (especially video games and 80s music), open roads, making friends, adventure, summertime, stories about pre-war Cybertron, carwashes

Dislikes: Being teased for his height, sharp objects, confinement, failing a task or mission

Bumblebee is one of the youngest and most promising soldiers in the Resistance. Raised by Optimus and Elita, he chose to join the fight against the Decepticons once he came of age, a decision that they respect but don’t fully approve of. His oddly small stature makes him ideal for espionage-based missions, and he’s nearly mastered using his size to his advantage while in direct combat. Bee is an extremely upbeat and friendly bot, and while he may be small, he has a big spark that cares deeply for everyone around him. He often recklessly puts himself in danger to protect others, which usually gets him injured, but the injuries are worth it, in his opinion. Overall, Bumblebee is a dependable, determined, and brave Autobot, just like his caretakers.

Wheeljack

Allegiance: Autobot

Alt mode: 2015 Chevrolet Silverado

Occupation: Autobot Science Division, Chief Engineer

Likes: Science, inventing, researching, stunt driving (he doesn’t do it much anymore, though), lab work, reading scientific reports, explaining things he’s invented or fixed, explosions

Dislikes: Listening to his body when it tells him to take breaks, not knowing about a subject, distractions from his work, long fights

Wheeljack is one of Cybertron’s greatest scientific minds. He’s a brilliant, eccentric engineer and a good-natured bot who others like to be around. He can easily become engrossed in his work, and has little regard for his own personal safety, as he frequently patches himself up and regularly visits the medbay after his daily experiment blows up in his face. He often looks out for the youngsters around him, and ends up fostering a strong paternal affection towards his human ally Sadie. While he’s not on the front lines as much as he once was, he’s still quite a capable fighter and a force to be reckoned with.

Ratchet

Allegiance: Autobot

Alt mode: MXP-170 ambulance

Occupation: Chief Medical Officer

Likes: Peace and quiet, napping, organizing his equipment, Engex, bossing people around

Dislikes: People or bots who annoy him, his equipment being disorganized, comments about his age (unless he makes them), hotshot young bots (except for Bee), busy cities

One of Iacon’s best and most dedicated medical professionals, Ratchet is an elderly, cranky old medic who’s constantly trying to keep his fellow Autobots out of trouble. He’s no stranger to wartime, as he's a veteran of the Quintesson War that took place before the majority of his comrades were even protoformed. Having raised both Optimus and Wheeljack, they’re two of the only bots who know that, despite his prickly exterior, Ratchet is actually quite a softie deep down. Still, Ratchet has a nasty temper, and he often doesn’t work well with others, preferring to do things “his way”. When the situation is dire enough, however, he’ll accept help from those around him. Occasionally, he’ll be relaxed enough to lightheartedly joke around with those he’s closest with, but overall he’s a tough, no-nonsense, hard working old bot.

[thahxa]

at the same time i think it's a useful accounting metric! if you currently take money from the drawer but in the future you might need to take more money from your paycheck and/or borrow from your friends you might consider some less fancy food!

The Social Security Trust Fund is more an accounting of how much extra we taxed for social security than it is anything like an investment unit. If it "runs out", that means we either change how much we tax or we change how much we pay out, all of which is a future problem

[basstech-deck]

this is my current progress on @batmanisagatewaydrug 's 2025 book bingo. those that are keen-eyed may notice a reoccurring theme... :3 (im considering substituting a few titles out to make it entirely transfem authors, though that may be tough for Childhood Fave, Read/Make a Recipe, Pub. before 1950, and Literary Fiction... we'll see.) full title/author list for filled in squares below the cut:

Short Story Collection: Girlfriends by Emily Zhou

Sequel: A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas

Fantasy: The West Passage by Jared Pechaček

Indie Publisher: Picnic Magazine Spring 2025 ed. Alma Avalle & Joyce Laurie

Graphic Novel: Girlmode by Magdeline Visaggio & Paulina Ganucheau

Animal on the Cover: Stag Dance by Torrey Peters

Set in Country You've Never Visited: The Library Thief by Kuchenga Shenjé

2025 Debut Author: Woodworking by Emily St. James

Read a zine/make a zine: Shark Story by Audrey Vest (I picked this up at a local trans community event last month, i'll scan & send it to anyone that wants it)

2024 Award Winner: Welcome to Dorley Hall by Alyson Greaves (2024 TFR Reader's Choice award)

Nonfiction; Learn Something New: Whipping Girl by Julia Serano (I may slide this into social justice/activism later)

Horror: Tell Me I'm Worthless by Alison Rumfitt

Historical Fiction: Wrath Goddess Sing by Maya Deane

[bravoechoes]

out of genuine curiosity what would your ideal benthan #GettingTogether story be. to me it would be some sort of post tfr tragicomedy where both of them are sort of desperate (benji from years of pining, ethan because he’s so lost) and it’s horrible for the both of them the entire time.

okay yeah i have a very similar vision. i think either post-dr or post-tfr but probably the latter. and like almost in a way where benji feels like hes taking advantage of ethan who is just like. a husk on the floor. its not that he cant consent or that benji has power over him but ethan is at a point where hes completely alone and the only reason hes reaching for benji is because he has literally no one else. so benji is like well it feels great to be sloppy sevenths but also man you really, really need a hug. can i please give you a hug in a friend way. so i think it mostly happens by accident bc benji doesnt know what else to do to make him feel good so he just like holds him and they end up jacking it together.

[rebeccasteventaylor]

The more I see TFR (five times currently) the more I can see

How Ethan clings to Benji - literally physically clings to him. Like he gets out of the entity and automatically reaches out for Benji and clutches at him.

How much Grace looks like Marie and every time Ethan reaches for her, he is dazed and confused and just been lost in his own memories and when he realises she’s not Marie, he turns away from her (convinced a theme of this story is Ethan finally dealing the loss of Marie which allows him to finally lose that guilt and move on - to Benji)

How relaxed (to a certain extent) and light hearted Ethan is around Benji as opposed to how tense and subdued when Benji isn’t around.

Keeping Benji safe is a huge priority for Ethan - more so than the mission at this point - and Benji knows it.

How intense every moment Ethan looks at Benji is. His gaze is practically burning at him. Every look filled with emotion and need and ‘there is no one else in the room but you and me’.

I cannot wait to get this on streaming/dvd so we can get some gifs/stills of the way Ethan looks at Benji.

I think Ethan won’t look at Benji in the plane though because Benji is so clearly injured despite Ethan sending him away to keep him safe and Ethan feels guilty.

Gabriel shot Marie, Ethan couldn’t get to her and then she died in Ethan’s arms. Benji was shot by Gabriel’s troops, possibly by Gabriel himself (really need to work out the choreography of that moment) but Benji sends Ethan away - he won’t have a loved one die in his arms again.

(Fairly sure Ethan reaches out for Benji when the shooting starts but Grace pushes Ethan back against the bomb)

How Ethan and Benji, even miles and miles apart, echo each other. The faith Ethan has in his team even as he worries.

Although we lost the forehead touch and they spend a lot of the movie apart, we actually got a lot more benthan than we thought at first glance

[aprocessionofthoughts]

Memory

whumptoer24 day 15- childhood trauma fandom- dp x dc tw- neglect, implied torture summary- Danny remembers so much, he wishes he could forget so much more

masterlist ao3 part 5 of TFR

Danny remembers that when he was little, his parents were more involved in their lives. He can remember his father swinging him around and his mother holding his hand as they walked through the park. He can remember going to the playground and playing hide and seek with Jazz and their parents. He remembers family meals and playing board games. He remembers hugs and kisses and being tucked into bed. He remembers bedtime stories and his mother singing while she cooked, and his dad telling terrible jokes. He remembers being loved.

But he also remembers Jazz standing on a step stool as she tried to cook mac ’n cheese. He remembers walking to school in the snow with Jazz. They are already late, they waited too long for their parents. He remembers being hungry when there wasn’t food in the house. He remembers not seeing his parents all day. He remembers sneaking down the basement stairs to ask his mom to read him a bedtime story. He remembers how she scowled at him and told him to go to his room, that they were busy. He remembers Jazz telling him bedtime stories and tucking him in. He remembers Jazz taking him to the park, and doing odd chores for neighbors so she could buy some groceries so they’d have food to eat. He remembers her hugs and how she’d hold him close and kiss his forehead and tell him that she loved him.

He remembers being loved. He remembers being lonely. He remembers wishing his parents would pay him more attention. He remembers feeling selfish that he wished for their attention when they told him they were doing important work that will help the whole world.

He remembers growing up not knowing if today he would be loved or ignored. He remembers Jazz’s steadfastness.

But he remembers when his parents spent more time downstairs than upstairs except to sleep. Things changed then. His parents were no longer geniuses who were trying to save the world. He remembers when he stopped fighting his classmates who said his parents were crazy. He remembers bitterly thinking that they might be.

He remembers his parents forgetting to pick him up from school or from friends’ houses. He remembers them accidentally locking him and Jazz out of the house, and they were too afraid of what would happen if they broke a window so they slept outside.

He remembers that he ran away once. He took his backpack stuffed with clothes and a few granola bars and his stuffed rabbit. Instead of walking to school he went into the small woods near Amity, thinking that he could live with the animals like the characters in his stories.

He remembers getting lost, being cold, being hungry, being scared of every little noise. He remembers crying out for his parents, hoping that they’d rescue him. He remembers finally stumbling out of the woods and making his way home. It was dark already, and when he stumbled inside Jazz was there, crying and pulling him into her arms. His parents hadn’t noticed.

And then the portal opened. And everything changed but nothing really did.

His parents were obsessed, they had been right, ghosts were real.

There was never food in the house now. Not unless he or jazz brought it in. When his parents noticed they complaid and said he and Jazz had to start ‘pulling their own weight.’ They didn’t realize that jazz worked hard to try and pay the bills that accumulated and that Danny had started taking care of neighbors’ yards when he could to try and help put food on the table. It wasn’t consistent. It couldn’t be, not with ghost fights and escaping his parents.

And it was hard, but a year went by and he was getting the hang of it.

Then they found out and everything spiraled.

He tries not to remember the looks on their faces. He tries not to remember the cold metal table and scalpels laced with ectoranium. He tries not to remember them shoving Jazz when she tried to free him, then locking her in a cage ‘for her own good.’ He tries not to remember Sam and Tucker bursting in and fighting his parents. He tries not to remember them stitching him back up after they’d knocked his parents out. He tries not to remember Sam shoving a credit card into his hand and telling him and Jazz to run.

He remembers so many things. He wishes he could forget so many more.

[prahelika]

I’m confused about your opinion on final reckoning. you reblogged a response to your tfr post and then a vague post making fun of the response. do you disagree that tfr is hopeful?

right. thank you for asking. i really do need to clear my thoughts on this. putting this under a cut to spare everyone's dashes from the discourse.

first of all, a note about the conflicting reblogs - i reblogged the response to my post because i agree, in general, with the actual point of the post, which is that tfr is not inherently hopeless (more on that in a bit). the reason i reblogged the vaguepost? i wasn't super fond of being completely misinterpreted on my own post and didn't like the things implied about ppl who think tfr is sad. to sum up, approved of the message, didn't like the ad hominem remarks.

now, my actual thoughts about tfr. first of all, it is absolutely a hopeful film. every single mi movie by design is a hopeful film. when i say that tfr is 'bleak', i mean it for ethan personally - he saved the world but lost his closest friend. he keeps on giving and he keeps on losing. however, it is undeniable that tfr is about hope - it is always worth it to save the world despite your personal struggles. (the other 'bleak' movie of the series, mi1, operates similarly; ethan loses absolutely everything but he does save the day. his philosophy of zero body count is proven to be correct. he gains a new friend at the end.)

that said, i do find tfr to be extremely sad. not hopeless or pessimistic - just sad. when i talk about mi1 and tfr being the saddest movies of the series, i mean only the personal consequences for ethan and the sense of grief that comes from his story. i do think that mi provides a great insight into how the most hopeful stories are the most tragic ones - but that is 100% my personal opinion. it is absolutely valid to walk out of tfr feeling happy and uplifted, just as walking out feeling sad. neither of these necessarily mean that somebody didn't understand the movie's core thesis.

that's about it, yeah.

[reredram]

Finally done with the ref for TFR Seven Red Suns from 3rd Act of the story wohooo!! + adding little theme that fits him so well! I'm really proud of how it came out

[benadrylcandlewhack]

Important Announcement‼️‼️‼️

Now many of you know my TF fan continuity, Transformers Resistance, and I am forever grateful for the love you've all shown for it, so I hope that you all enjoy this update!

TFR's getting a name change!

I was never fully happy with "Resistance" as a name, it always felt a lil boring to me, which is why I'm very happy to introduce you all to...

Transformers: Recharge and Rebound (TFR&R)

I'll come up with some deeper meaning for it eventually but for now I just prefer it to Resistance, I think it's fresh and funsies and maybe it'll inspire a core theme for the robot designs or smth idk

This won't affect any of the story thus far btw! I'll be retagging everything with new tags that go with the name and tweaking the Ao3 title sometime today to make everything match

Again, thank you all for everything, and keep your eyes peeled for Chapter 6!

[my-fool]

i'm crazy about cult logic and the familiar risk. how do you come up with your ideas? (earnest question not rhetorical) do you come up with one core concept first and then build and build on the web of themes, or does it all unfold naturally from any random point? or do you make it up as you go and then tweak after?

how do you reconcile in your head so many different versions of the same character, like ulder and astarion and even wyll to some extent who are so different in both of those fics?

Interesting questions thank you for the opportunity to speak....

Ideas & plot structure

Ideas and plots are one of those things that happen organically for me so it's hard to define where they come from BUT i don't want to leave you with that bland answer so I will speak vaguely upon this topic for a moment

The best advice about having unique ideas comes from neil gaiman's masterclass series where he says that the best ideas are the collision of two distinct concepts (its been 2 years since i watched it so paraphrasing). For me this is usually 1 core idea that I try to interpret through characters that have an existing dynamic. For Cult Logic, I wanted it to feel like a regency novel (hence the marriage troubles and the duel) and the only person he could realistically duel would be Ulder and I couldn't find a reason for them to duel over Astarion so it had to be an oc (emmaline). Everything was plotted out in both directions from that endpoint. As much as i like cult logic I felt like the plot left something to be desired and I wasn't able to explore everything I wanted to with the plot's random time constraint so i wrote the familiar risk almost immediately afterward 😆

The best advice about engaging plots I've received was from pixar writers which was "find out what a character finds most important or relies on and take that away". You'll notice this happens almost constantly in the familiar risk. What Astarion values most is the safety Wyll provides and Astarion loses him twice, once at the midpoint and then again at the end. What Wyll values most is his ability to hide/mask, and that is gradually eroded throughout the entire plot. Not just the tensest moments, but also the most emotional plot beats and the closest moments to a character's heart revolve around those dynamics.

Character writing

For me characters serve the plot, not the other way around, even in fanfiction. Everything serves the plot and even though I've softened with time to value emotional beats and quieter moments, I will always operate to some degree with plotplotplot on the mind.

Therefore their differences in cult logic vs familiar risk suit the story that I wanted to tell and when I started to write them I fell into a familiar risk "feeling". Astarion's endpoint in TFR is kind of a little further along from where he is in CL but for me they exist in that same timeline where he starts off as horrible starved spawn gremlin ~> actual loving person who can put others first. So for me he has unique parts to both fics but he's the same guy in my head.

Wyll is different in both fics to an extent. I think cult logic wyll was very rattled by his father being tortured which is why he falls into the subservience. I was still learning to write Wyll so I wasnt 100% sure on him yet. TFR wyll is tough as nails he's like a noir detective 🕵️‍♂️ frankly he is not super canon compliant anymore (i would argue he is he just takes a different selection of canon traits than those usually favoured in fanon).

Ulder is starkly different between two fics. When i was writing cult logic someone left a comment like:

"I may be wrong but I think Ulder is drowing in so much guilt and Wyll not getting angry at him and always forgiving him does not help so he escalates in hope to get Wyll finally get angry and punish him."

And i was like FUCKKKK.

🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯

And after that I posted the last few chapters of cult logic but it was worming away in my brain like FAWK.

I genuinely felt so gutted for this poor guy. Poor ulder. So i wanted to write something where he could be the good guy.

Structurally also ulder needed to be a good guy a) because wyll goes through so much in TFR and b) so that functionally Astarion has someone to lean on post-canon. If, in TFR, Wyll returned home after the climax to an ulder that was stiff and unforgiving... yeesh !

Hope that all makes sense ! Thank you for the ask and the opportunity to talk :)

[yeah-w-r-i-t-e]

simon pegg said on his story that they got an 8 minute standing ovation for TFR...it's gonna be epic i just know it...