#a good paintjob can fix a LOT

[saphizzle]

I know you posted the progress pics of your Red Guy cosplay and I was wondering if you’d be cool with giving more deets about how you did the mouth part!

Of course!! It really is nothing special, and made with stuff I already had at home :))

The base is made from paper and masking tape, literally that's it!

No really, what I did was cut some shapes out of paper that roughly covered the lower half of my face like a mask, and started going to town on it with tape until it was sturdy and the shape I wanted. Be careful with this, you still need to breathe :)

The teeth are airdry clay! An absolute hassle to work with, but using water, a paintbrush, and a sharp wooden stick I was able to nudge the teeth into shape. I didn't want them to be perfect!

I then waited for that to fully dry before covering it with 3 layers of matte sealant (drying properly between layers)

Then, painting! I used acryllic paints :)

When that's done, I covered it again with sealant, but glossy this time for that wet look!

I used an old red shirt for the "skin", and carefully hotglued it around the edges. (The fabric was very stretchy, so I could shape it pretty well) Any holes I had left over I sewed together with a ladder stitch (so he's got some joker scars, but that's aight)

I glued some elastic bands to the edges that go around the back of my head, and Done! That's teeth!

[mychlapci]

Sentinel Prime feminization but it’s his coworkers who are sick of his shit. It started as a drunken joke on a night out when they were all bitching about how annoying and toxic he is. The Elite Guard as a whole can’t deny that the mech is dedicated and skilled, but by the Allspark does Sentinel have some sort of personality defect! All this self-obsessed macho posturing really brings the whole office’s vibes down. Wouldn’t it be nice if the mech thought about someone else’s needs for once? Haha, yeah, it’d be a lot easier to take the attitude if Sentinel was a pretty, pouty girl instead of a hypermasculine (gotta be compensating, mech!) jock coworker? And the whole table has a long, awkward drink of their high grade before laughing it off and moving on with the night.

Except it’s not a one-off joke at all. It quickly becomes an in joke, where they all share side glances whenever Sentinel does something stupid. Someone will inevitably say something like “I could fix her,” when he leaves the room, and everyone else will laugh. But they can’t stop thinking about it. About their shitty boss as a needy, simpering thing. And then finally, Sentinel reams someone out over basically nothing one time too many. The room exchanges side glances and eyerolls. And then, when the silence falls and Sentinel swans out of the room high on his own authority, the mech just says “I’m actually going to do it.” Jazz chuckles and Cliffjumper laughs, and the room sighs collectively.

“No, I’m serious.” Oh, for real? “Yeah. Do you want to help or not?” And so begins the Elite Guard’s collaboration to feminize their awful coworker. Everyone is in on it except for Sentinel, even Longarm Prime with the Ops department! (As a side note, Shockwave is now substantially more afraid of what sufficiently dedicated civic frames can accomplish when working together)

It’s slow going, in the beginning. They aren’t willing to tip Sentinel off that something’s going on too early. So it starts with his paint job. They pay off the attendant of the Guard’s favorite body shop to just. Use a bit of glitter and a higher gloss for the blue. A harmless, easily fixed prank on their boss! If he gets mad just tell him you’re out of his regular paint and that you couldn’t bear to let him look sloppy. Even Sentinel isn’t stupid enough to yell at the person who does his paint. He’s privately fuming in his sleek, glossy, sparkling blue paint when he comes in to do some data work the next day. Sentinel’s sure they’re going to mock him relentlessly for his stupid paintjob. Everyone knows that glitter and shimmer have no place on a mech like Sentinel! They’re for girls!

His coworkers, of course, set it up and have prepared themselves accordingly. They aren’t prepared for how good it actually looks. Everyone has compliments to shower Sentinel with until his chest is puffed up with pride and the scowl has melted. People are stroking at his shoulders and admiring “his” bold choice! How shiny he is, how subtly but gorgeous it works with his blue. Sentinel is reevaluating this whole glitter thing, now. Actually, he tells his stylist, he’d like to keep the glitter. But the orange looks a little flat beside it… do you think gold would fit better? This choice earns even more rave reviews.

As the office works on getting Sentinel obsessed with their opinions on his appearance, the Elite Guard’s tech crew and engineers have been working on a very special personal datapad for their boss. Blurr helps them out by taking one for the team and breaking Sentinel’s old one. Thankfully there’s a new and improved pad ready to go, Sentinel Prime, sir! The screen is brighter, the lines are crisper, and there are several additional settings to help a busy mech focus on their work. Sentinel loves it, of course, and quickly gets a case to match his paint. Between the “white noise generator” and the “privacy overlay,” Sentinel is essentially hypnotizing himself all cycle, every cycle. Letting plenty of delicious subliminal messages fill his processors, slowly convincing him that a good boss doesn’t scream and yell. Never punish, always reward… craving touch is normal and healthy. There’s nothing strange about hugging your coworkers, there’s nothing strange about letting them touch and pet you. Let them touch and pet you. Never punish, always reward. Be a good boss. Soft and gentle is the best way to be. And of course his “productivity settings” actually do help Sentinel get his work done, so he loves to use them constantly.

There’s a lot less screaming and annoyance from Sentinel now, and everyone is loving it. Their boss loves to polish his plating to a glossy, glittery sheen and in front of the mechs. He loves the attentions and how good it feels to be called so pretty and shiny… he’s got to figure out the next step to make himself even more appealing, got to keep their admiring optics on him! He also gives out hugs and pets on the arm. And arches into their touches subconsciously, leaning his face into the hands that cup at his cheeks. They’re slowly desensitizing him to more and more intimate touches, already able to rest a hand on the small of Sentinel’s back to physically guide him places. The office atmosphere is already infinitely more pleasant by the time the medics start slipping Sentinel small amounts of aphrodisiacs.

That’s what i’m saying, Sentinel’s coworkers should get fed up with his shit and start a slow-burn forcefem scheme against him. Or well, for him. Getting turned into a pretty girl would be beneficial for Sentinel, he just doesn’t get it yet, so it’s best they keep their efforts very subtle. A little bit of manipulation there, some weak hypnosis here… And Sentinel basically turns into a soft pretty girl all by himself. All the elite guard had to do was give him a couple nudges. 

He’s so much more bearable to be around, so easy to move around the office by the small of his back, so pliant to manhandling… Next step is to make him horny. Mechs like Sentinel only ever use their spikes, thinking that taking it up the valve is below them… But if his valve was too wet, too hot, burning for someone to touch it, Sentinel might just break down and beg the first bot he sees to fuck him.

[whyshouldiworry]

Dodger comes online with a groan, sitting up slowly. He’s sprawled out behind some dumpster in an alley behind an apartment building, the festive detritus of the last month covering his frame. Banners, glitter, undergarments in all the colors of the rainbow he’s still got on as his paintjob. He’s on Earth, with a massive helmache, no regrets, with one thought in his mind from the last month.

Queer humans know where it’s at. He learned so much and vibed so much and they are the *best* at parties. He’d only known a handful of squishies before now, but after transforming and chasing the uniformed afts off at whatever parade he’d last been at, he had a lot more friends now.

One of them opened their back window and called down to him from the second story. “Dodger! You good down there? Can I get you anything?”  “Nah Syd, nothin’ a lil fuel won’t fix! I gotta head back or Rigel’ll start worryin’.” Standing up was a process, but once he managed it Dodger brushed what he could off his frame, laughing. “And maybe a shower! Don’t think a hose is gonna cut it here. Thanks for lettin’ me crash though!” Transforming in a sparkly flurry, the hoverbike floated up to eye-level with the window. 

“Later!” Flipping backwards, he righted himself and zoomed through the alley, on his way to somewhere open enough that he could call a bridge.

[doberbutts]

Honestly the thing that gets me the most about a lot of these outcross projects is this:

At some point earlier in the year, someone [with a Z-list, but not carrying the albino gene, dobe] asked what it would take for good breeders to take them seriously. A good breeder responded, and the response was not popular.

Get a good bitch from a good breeder. Health tested, titled parents. No Z list, no unknown pedigrees. Raise her up, train her and title her to at least a 1 but preferably a 3. Realistically since there’s only so old a maiden bitch can be before asking her to carry a litter is simply unfair, if you can’t get to 1 before the deadline, then fine. You can always add numbers after her breeding if you run out of time to do it before.

Fully health test her. Breed her to a fully health tested dog with a 3. Preferably, if you can, get the stud tested both to his breed-specific standards and also to dobe-specific standards, even if that means you have to pay out of pocket to the stud owner to get these tests done. Once the litter is born, keep a dog and a bitch from that litter.

Raise both puppies- the dog should be a 3 before he breeds since collection is a thing that’s very possible to do. The bitch, again, preferably a 3 but if 1 is the best we get before the clock starts ticking then fine. Fully health test them- both dobe-specific problems and whatever breeds we brought in. Breed the dog to a bitch held to the same standards as the foundation. Breed the bitch to a stud held to the standard of her father. Whatever you breed to create the second generation should be as unrelated as possible to the first. Repeat.

This is how good working dobe breeders create their foundational lines- of course exclusively doberman-to-doberman. Why should they expect anything less from someone claiming to want to better the breed?

Reasons this was an unpopular suggestion:

1- titles don’t mean everything. And it’s true, titles don’t mean everything. I personally know IGP3 dogs that I would never buy a dog from, and untitled dogs that I think should be bred. But the fact of the matter is that a title, at the very least, is a scoring from a third, uninvolved party on your dog’s instincts, drive, temperament, and trainability. Scorebooks reveal where dogs struggle, but the title is better than “yeah man he’s totally protective”.

2- but I don’t waaaaaaant to do protection. Tough tiddies. This is a working, protection breed. Strength of character and solid nerve and ability/desire to move forward with aggression are all things the breed struggles with and they’re all things that need to be improved upon. If you don’t want a working protective dog then you do not want a doberman. You just want a friendly, happy dog with a doberman paintjob, and that means you are the one chasing aesthetic.

3- but protection work is hard. And? You thought fixing a breed that literally drops dead without warning would be easy? Doberman people are already following that format in their own breeding programs, the least you can do is actually put in the same amount of effort.

[mappinglasirena]

La Sirena’s Season 2 Exterior

So, Season 2 of Star Trek: Picard is well and truly upon us :D

There is a lot to say about what we’ve seen in the only two episodes that have come out so far, and from the previews it’s clear there’s a lot more to come. I’m not sure how quick (let alone systematic) I’ll be in writing it all up, but I figured I’d make a start here.

I loathe advising anyone to go on twitter voluntarily, but if you find yourself dissatisfied with my posting speed here, I usually have  on the @mappinglasirena twitter. But in the end, everything ends up on this blog in some form or other anyway, so don’t venture into the wilds of twitter unless you feel emotionally ready and have a good exit strategy ready 😋

With all that out of the way, let’s look at what we’ve seen of the exterior of La Sirena in season 2.

Spoilers for Season 2 ep 2 “Penance” after the cut.

We got our first glimpse of La Sirena in the alternate evil timeline this episode.

As we already knew from the trailers, she lost her lovely red-and-white paint job, which has been replaced by a mottled grey-black camo colour scheme.

Production designer Dave Blass posted this concept art of Sirena’s new paintjob on twitter:

The redesign is credited to John Eaves, though the original design of the ship was done by Mark Yang, Todd Cherniawsky and the season 1 VFX team.

As you can see, La Sirena is a registered ship in the alternate timeline, and her official registy number is NCC-93131.

You can see the full dorsal registry here (the “C.S.S. La Sirena” on top is barely legible, but in contrast to the design image, I’m fairly sure it’s there nonetheless).

Underneath the name is the mermaid nose art John Eaves designed for the ship in season 1.

There were some hints the mermaid was going to get a redesign, but for now it looks like she has stayed the same, only flipped. You can see the writing is mirrored in the concept art.

The name of the ship and the mermaid also appear on the outside front of the starboard nacelle.

The other ships listed in the concept art above are the Kaplan F17 Patrol Frigates fighting alongside her over Vulcan. According to Blass, there’s a sixth ship, the C.S.S. Charybdis, NCC-93137. I love that all of these ships are named after sea monsters!

I’m not sure if there was any thought put into why a redesign of an ancient freighter was used as a squadron of attack ships leading the assault on Vulcan, but I know a lot of headcanons already abound. I’m looking forward to reading the fic people are going to write about this :D

Externally, it looks like CSS Sirena is pretty much identical to her prime timeline counterpart, apart from the paintjob. We’ve only seen brief glimpses of her so far, but here is the clearest shot we get:

The one big change, apart from the paint job, is the engine lights. While prime!Sirena’s engines had a blue light, the lights in the alternate timeline are switched to golden yellow, which works nicely in contrast with the colour scheme (and is rather unsual for a Star Trek ship).

Despite all the changes, however, most of the ship has stayed the same. (Edit: In fact, VFX supervisor Brian tatosky confirmed on twitter that they only changed the paint job and fixed a slight bug in the model, but otherwise her exterior is still exactly the same as last season.)

Details that are ommitted in the concept art still show up in the on-screen model. For instance, the shutters protecting the lateral bridge windows and the large panorama window cutting across the upper and lower deck on both sides are still in place and are lowered when Sirena drops out of warp over Earth.

(The shutter covering the bridge window.)

(On the right you can see the shutter covering the upper half of the panorama window.)

Of course, there are a bunch of changes on the inside of the ship which I’ll have a closer look at in time. But for now, this is a first glance at what our little Speed Freighter’s evil sister looks like.

[sepublic]

Disparity between the Knights of Ren and Kylo

           But something about the Knights of Ren, in contrast to their leader, is that they seem so much more… scrappy? Dirty, unorganized, but also used and worn-out, and thus genuine? Like they’ve really put themselves out there into the harsh work with rolled-up, tattered sleeves, and you get this sense of them actually being in the fray and on the frontlines.

           You’ve of course got their dirt-covered boots and whatnot, but also you have people like Vicrul or Cardo, who use the hides of animals as part of their attire… Ap’lek’s cloak is oiled to shed aside water, he’s clearly someone who works within the elements to take advantage of them as part of his stealth, they’re his dirty unglamorous home. Clearly the Knights of Ren do a lot of work putting together scrap metal, like you see with Ap’lek’s mask, Kuruk having those pieces bent around his helmet to help focus his vision, Cardo’s mask is just a repurposed furnace plate! Ushar’s mask has a straight-up dent in it that he’s never bothered to fix, even when he has access to Albrekh; Likely as a twisted memento of honor and tribute to the victim who inflicted the damage. Trudgen straight-up has part of a Death Trooper’s helmet incorporated into his own mask as well!

           Then you’ve got the Night Buzzard, which is dirty and grimy, and has received constant modifications, likely by Kuruk, that cause it to spew noxious gas. Vicrul’s pistol has also been pushed to its limits with alterations, and Cardo is obsessed with modifying and enhancing weapons, keeping them up to date and ready for the next battle; The Knights of Ren have weapons that are a more cold, dull steel and gray, not polished and refined. Their armor and outfits feel much more scratched-out and faded, used and worn in. You get the sense almost that they’re kind of like scavengers themselves, similar to Rey; Making do with what they find, not too focused on aesthetical neatness nor tidy appearance, just getting the point across, salvaging trophies from victories.

          And, it fits with their philosophy, the Ren- Which revolves around basically just living in the moment, unapologetically taking and consuming and resorting to nature and instinct… Letting the ‘Shadow’ guide and feed them, like they’re always on the fringe of society, gathering and appreciating what they can and making use of it, having to make the most of their tools, constantly altering and patching themselves up. They don’t have the access to the best resources, not fancy luxuries or anything like that; It’s almost rather working-class, I’d say! It of course matches with their origins as essentially criminals and a cult-ish biker gang, a ragtag group of mercenaries.

          Even their original, nameless leader kind of fits this more down-to-earth, cobbled-together aesthetic, with a gray mask that he’s customized with a red symbol, amidst the scratches; Not wearing much save for a tattered cloak and glove, and his pants and boots, and that’s about it! Nothing particularly polished nor clean. He’s dirty, roughed-up, and covered in scars, he has not gone unscathed and he doesn’t need to protect himself from the elements, he wears his damage and past on his (metaphorical) sleeve and possibly even has a cybernetic hand, to go with the Vader parallel that Charles Soule intended!

           All of this of course contrasts with Kylo Ren, who… His mask is clearly hi-tech, up-to-date, with a full-on vocoder and mechanical function that causes it to open up and close, possibly somewhat vacuum-sealed as well. The metal is polished and shiny, the mask a smooth, likely painted, matte black. His clothes are tidy and almost prince-like, made of what seems to be more comfortable and fancier cloth and fabrics, a nice deep black that’s clearly taken care of, shiny boots, the works. While the Knights of Ren make do with just their Night Buzzard and weapons they scrounge for, constantly patching up and honing them between battles to keep them almost good-as-new, Kylo Ren has his clean and sleek, modern ships supplied directly from the First Order; He’s got his command shuttle, the TIE Silencer, and at least two TIE Whisper’s.

           His vehicles have red, vibrant and glowing lights and paintjobs, and are likely the sleek pinnacle of First Order engineering, with Kuat and rich backers from Canto Bight to contribute to development. Kyle Ron probably has his entire team of engineers to prepare and take care of his ship before him, even before becoming Supreme Leader- Especially when he tells a pair of officers to prepare his TIE Silencer for him, even before he usurps Snoke. He was clearly the golden child throughout his life in a sense, born into a privileged, luxurious family with a lot of power and fame; And then serving Snoke, who himself had all of the inexplicably vast resources of the First Order behind him, invested everything into Kylo Ren’s training and upkeep… Kept him well-fed and taken care of (at least physically).

           Yeah, Kylo has trained vigorously, and his own lightsaber is a patchwork job, but that was built back when he was ‘just’ leader of the Knights of Ren, newly anointed, and before he’d started serving in the First Order; And as a major political influence, with a LOT of authority and power behind him, serving as a triumvirate alongside Hux and Phasma, right beneath Snoke himself! You get the sense that he always had something to fall back to, a comfortable safety net- That when all was said and done, he had a retinue of medical droids to patch him up, a team to keep his laundry nice and clean and ‘presentable’. That he always had his parents who were welcoming of him, trying to be patient, always offering him the opportunity to go back home; He had SO much, and yet he really threw it all away for some fantasy, didn’t he?

           Kylo Ren really comes across as like… A privileged rich kid, a pampered brat who doesn’t really know what it’s like to work out in the fringes, to have to constantly fight and kill just to survive, to be fed the next day. To not have the luxury of mindlessly destroying the hard work and machinery, the craft of others he’s taken for granted, every time he has a temper tantrum- Leaving people to clean up the mess and replace it good as new. The Knights of Ren couldn’t be so frivolous with THEIR resources, they had to make everything count, reuse and recycle, scavenge from scrap metal, tidy things up at least a little; But they didn’t have the luxury to make themselves sleek and polished, nor access to the most up-to-date technology of an entire military junta.

          They had to get their hands dirty and personal, all of the time, they didn’t have the pride and privilege to turn down jobs; They took whatever mercenary work was offered to stay fed and clothed. And yet they remained just as vigilant and dedicated to the Ren as ever, never wavering as far as we can tell; Even when their original leader was slain, they didn’t throw a fit, but just made do with the situation, accepted that this was all they had left, and had Kylo as their new master.

           While Kylo was no doubt living the high-life at the very top of the First Order pyramid, we rarely see the Knights of Ren, who don’t have Snoke’s personal precious attention and protection. They’re likely out there doing the dark, unknown and unglamorous dirty work, quietly coming back to restock and refuel, no ceremonies nor worship from Stormtroopers, most of whom seem to regard them in disgust as ‘Ghouls’. Unlike Kylo, they fully chose and accepted and embraced their roles, they provided their ‘good’ deaths and earned their spots within the group, not fighting it, not constantly lamenting and whining about how they deserved better, because anything is good.

          Even when Kylo Ren became Supreme Leader, it seems that for whatever reason, the Knights of Ren didn’t embrace the new resources at their disposal- Did Kylo not bother to take care of them, or were they just so used to working as scrappy little mercenaries, that the high-end luxuries of the First Order somewhat bothered them? That they preferred to keep doing things as they did, that this organized, political and polished structure wasn’t for them. Hux regards them as distasteful for it, but while he and Kylo have entire armies and servants at their beck and call and disposal, the Knights of Ren have only themselves and each other to carry out the missions assigned to them, and they do their tasks silently, dutifully, and without complaint.

           To contrast, Kylo Ren has a much cleaner, brighter aesthetic, flashy and red like his lightsaber, and later the Sarrassian iron that puts together the fragments of his helmet. He’s a leader, a political figure, who intentionally draws attention to himself as the heir to Vader, he thinks he’s entitled to Anakin’s lightsaber, and can afford to draw attention to himself, he wants it. But the Knights of Ren, they have to be practical and dark, hiding to survive, Ap’lek especially, although of course some manner of exception is made with Ushar and Cardo. It’s not like they’re just hunters, but also prey as well, like the Mandalorian coverts… Their dirtied, roughened-up appearance, more battered and humble like what you would see with the Millenium Falcon, paints the Knights of Ren as more underdogs than their leader.

           In essence, you get this sense of privileged disconnect between the Knights of Ren and Kylo; That he’s this bourgeoisie rich kid, whose parents bought him everything, that he never REALLY had to work for things, there was no genuine struggle nor danger for him. Work and training may as well have been a hobby for him, he can afford to throw things away, while for the Knights of Ren it very much is a matter of survival, life or death. And with how Kylo wants to join them for some reason after leaving the Jedi Order, even though he only had ONE encounter where they tried to kill him, Luke, and Lor San Tekka; And all their previous leader did was just leave an open invitation…

           And again, you get the idea that Kylo Ren has this idealized, glamorous, almost fetishizing and romanticized view of what it’s like to be a Knight of Ren, that it’s some cool club to join- And not a genuine, forged-in-fire, rigorous existence. That it’s tough and painful and very much a deliberate choice, not something done lightly and for fun, which he finds out when he tries to join them for ‘comradery’ I suppose, only to be oh-so shocked at seeing them kill people, as if he hadn’t always known this. Kylo Ren didn’t really want to be a Knight of Ren, just his cool idea and fun of what it’d be like, how he doesn’t REALLY want the Empire back, just the idealized version of the past. He’s a pampered brat playing pretend, so psyched up for the dream of the job, but when he actually has to do the hard work and unglamorous parts, he caves and hesitates, while the actual Knights of Ren roll their eyes, because of course this little kid does. He has no idea what he’s getting himself into, he’s so dumb and naïve and reckless.

           It’s telling that the Knights of Ren have no issues working with Albrekh, an alien, especially because they know they can’t afford to be picky with their allies and friends, beggars can’t be choosers; While Kylo “My parents didn’t love me enough” Ron is willing to kill an officer for asking a reasonable question, and throws aside all of the people in his life that he takes for granted. Similarly, the only person resembling an alien that we see Kylo Ren actually work with is Snoke, whom he hated and eventually killed, and even Snoke was at least part-human, so given his worship of the Empire, and Kylo Ren likely looks down on non-humans.

           Not to mention, with how Kylo sometimes refers to Rey as ‘the scavenger’, and you get this sense of like… disdain from him towards her more humble, downright impoverished, background and conditions of her home life, and the way she had to keep herself fed. And you can’t help but wonder if the Knights of Ren picked up on this, that part of the reason they never enjoyed the First Order’s resources was because they knew that they didn’t belong in this neat and tidy, posh hierarchy of political society and advanced tech; That they were regarded as savage monsters and ghouls by the First Order, dirty and unkempt. Their own leader didn’t really know or understand them, he only had leadership by virtue of power and affinity to the Dark Side, but not much else; And he was constantly fighting the Dark Side, always in the hand of Snoke, never really leading the Knights of Ren alongside them as equals and comrades like their past leader.

           He probably didn’t care for, nor appreciate them- Kylo probably even looked down on them, even! Not fully and openly, but there was likely this implicit disdain and disgust… Or at the very least, he made an ‘exception’ to them, but with how he regarded scavengers and lower-class people like them… The Knights of Ren could only wonder just how conditional his tolerance was. He praised and elevated them, borderline glorified and romanticized; But he could never truly be one of them, he never knew what it was like, he had no idea, he could only guess and play pretend, and never admit that truth. There was a growing disconnect, likely a dissatisfaction between the Knights of Ren towards Kylo, and it just worsened with his agendas with Rey, forcing them to do the work of capturing her by themselves, forgetting the Knights in his own confrontations, etc.

           Kylo didn’t really feel like one of them, like a part of them- He saw himself as elevated and separate, more like lapdogs and attacks dogs, tools to point in a direction, not true brothers-in-arms on the same level, regardless of leadership role. And this ignorance, this subtle lack of regard and attention, quickly abandoning the Knights of Ren to focus on his drama with his parents, Luke, Snoke, and Rey… It must’ve been frustrating and alienating for the Knights of Ren.

          The closest Kylo ever got was when he repaired his shattered helmet using Albrekh himself, with the dented and scratched-up look more akin to them, uniting the aesthetic more… But again, there was always that fancy, graceful training from Luke and Snoke, and his special little lightsaber. Then the attention from Palpatine… And when he had to go to Exegol, when he confronted Rey, Kylo never did so with the Knights of Ren, because he never truly trusted nor felt like they had his back, he never truly saw himself as one of them, and didn’t think it necessary to bring them alone, to include them all.

           They weren’t special, chosen ones with the cool bloodlines and parentage that gave them special innate talent and Force powers, they were more like Voe if anything else. The Knights of Ren had force-sensitivity, but it was stunted and much weaker than Kyle’s natural, unearned talent and gifts; Everything they got, they had to fight and train and work for, self-taught and without the guidance of some wiser leader, because I doubt Kylo trained his own Knights either. Their fighting style is more brutal and utilitarian, with the use of a wide variety of tools and actual blasters- The Knights of Ren had to make a name for themselves, carve out their own reputation, because they started from nothing, and their original leader best exemplifies this with his lack of name, the closest being the title of Ren that he shares with everyone else anyway.

           The Knights of Ren didn’t have a special destiny, nor a bond as part of some sacred, prophesized dyad- If anything, they were more like Rey, before THAT reveal… Just lowly nobodies who had to make a name for themselves, stumbled across their own version of found family in a sense- Did what they needed to survive, had to go through the grueling agony of existence on their own. They actively looked for new members to add into their group, other lowly and despised criminals and others of society, as could’ve been the case with Karrst. There was no special place for them within the story, and yet they were still relegated to doing nameless, thankless jobs and tasks, not even acknowledged individually, and forgotten and abandoned by even their own leader, for some stranger he’d just met.

          When he turned to the Light Side, did their time together mean nothing for Ben to leave them- Of course it did, because there wasn’t REALLY anything there, and he never tried, or at least never could’ve understood, and never realized this from the position he was in. He tried to force his way in and it just created this uncomfortable, begrudging toleration by the Knights of Ren, until finally their resentment boiled up and bubbled over and burst; And they took their sweet time, vengefully confronting their former leader and beating him up slowly, because they wanted this to hurt. They wanted him to know what it was like to be beaten down with no hope, with no glimpse of light, nobody to pick him up and comfort him, no luxury nor resources or sacred destiny; To have only darkness and shadow to hide and thrive in, to embrace and become grateful towards… As they scrounged up and kept fighting, determined, not entitled by any parentage or destiny, but because they simply chose to keep biting and survive.

           Nobody seemed to care nor remember the Knights of Ren, they were just disposable tools for everyone, except their original leader, who really did seem to be on amicable relationship with them; Addressing them by name, in a casual manner that alluded to past comradery and shared knowledge, bonding… Someone they felt safe actually speaking up and talking to, asking questions instead of silently waiting for orders and accepting things as they were. There was no special Force powers, for they did not expect anything from the Shadow, and when they did receive, they made sure to venerate it in return, for of course this was owed back, they had to pay back the force that guided and fed them.

          They had a gratitude, and as their Ren codified, the Knights learned to disregard societal norms and obligations, and attitudes, and just live, doing what they needed to survive. No apologies, no glorifications, they just were, that’s all they wanted and needed. Obviously this independent, not-caring-what-anyone-thinks attitude was no doubt ‘cool’ to a young Kylo Ren, which was why he wanted to join them, while misunderstanding so badly how the Knights of Ren even got to that point in the first place, and what came with this. Kylo kept being concerned about how others perceived and looked at him, because he was a sad, pathetic, insecure little child; While for the Knights of Ren, it just didn’t matter.

          They could be hated, or beloved- It wasn’t important at all how others regarded them, because they didn’t heed how outsiders felt, they didn’t apologize nor account for their existence, didn’t try to justify anything. It was Us VS Them, they found solace in just each other, and recognized and prepared themselves for an entire world against them, anyone else as fair game and a potential enemy. Their prior leader rightfully regarded Kylo with suspicion, kept a cautious distance- So nothing was lost when they confronted Kylo on Exegol to kill him, no tears shed nor regrets made whatsoever, besides having not done this sooner.

           But of course, special Ben Solo gets his redemption or whatever, he gets his spotlight and glory as he saves the day, or at least sort of tries to contribute. He is glorified by the narrative and likely in-universe, venerated for his ‘noble’ turn and sacrifice, especially by the real-life fandom; But the Knights of Ren, nobody cares for them. And it doesn’t matter- They’re used to it, they’ve learned to accept and adapt, this is just the normal status quo for them. They don’t need veneration nor hatred, they’re just here to get through the day and only focus on what matters, themselves and each other.

           …In that sense, with all of this meta about the Knights of Ren being more like ‘nobodies’, poor and scavenging, having to work for things; And Rey, the contradictions of her character be damned, feels like she’d be a more welcome fit as a new leader than Kylo. Maybe there could be an AU where she joins them, and the Knights of Ren bond with this new kid, this little sibling, who’s a dirty feral gremlin like them who likes to scavenge and experiment, modify, messily and shoddily cobble stuff together.

          I do have to wonder if Rey calling herself a nobody, initially intended at one point to have no special place nor destiny in the narrative, besides the one she made for herself with her found family- If that was meant to be a parallel to the Knights of Ren and their former leader, who also calls himself a nobody, and goes by no distinctive name himself. I can only imagine, but I bet that a Dark Side Rey would be a much more attentive, down-to-earth, and ultimately preferable leader to the Knights of Ren, as someone who actually bonds with and understands them, and learns to value them; To the point where if she DID make a turn to the Light, she’d probably invite them to come with her out of concern, and the Knights of Ren would be touched enough to even consider, or at least spare, Rey…

           At the very least, I don’t think Rey would immediately throw them aside like the garbage they always were, because she was good now and too enlightened and heroic to be level with these evil monsters; She knew someone who was a masked ‘monster’ himself, Finn, and she fell in love and found acceptance with him, and vice-versa. Rey, for better or worse, has the patience to reach out and give others the benefit of the doubt, to hope for them, to not hypocritically condemn, for she knows her own mistakes and weaknesses as well… So I think the Knights of Ren in this AU would be much more likely to be touched- And that even if they were to lash against a reformed Rey, it’d come from a genuine sense of hurt and betrayal, grief and loss; And not just a relieved desire to get rid of this pesky brat that’s been bugging them for the past several years.

[sunshineandcybertronians]

Buffer - Knock Out x reader

Word count: 2, 503 Warnings: none A/N: Was washing a car, decided to write this and did a TON of research.

"(Y/n), you need to wash me and buff out these scratches. Earth is fun to race on, but can be a pain when dirt gets all over my finish!" Your friend, Knockout complained while brushing himself off as he entered the medbay. "And it doesn't help that the Autobots have to scratch me whenever I'm just doing my job.”

A while ago, when you were minding your own business, simply walking on the outskirts of Jasper, you spotted a fight. But not a normal fist exchange, giant robots who you would learn were called cybertronians. Knockout was in that fight. Before the other bots could, he grabbed you, transformed into an Aston Martin, and pulled you through a green-blue, swirling portal.

When he changed back when on the Nemesis, you, being the perfectionist you were at times, pointed out a nasty scratch and that he'd need to get that buffed out. To that comment he agreed. He told you that he captured you so you wouldn't run and tell all of your human friends about him, and later when their leader, Megatron questioned keeping you alive, he also said that you would be a good bargaining chip if the Autobots had something they wanted. Now you weren't a hostage. You helped Knockout with injured Decepticons, which you noted that he was actually a fairly good teacher. And, of course, you aided him with his cosmetic needs.

You smiled upon seeing him again, but it faded to a look of concern when he came closer and you could see the marks. The worst spot was above his right headlight. It had several small, horizontal cuts where the pain had been stripped off as if someone had taken a rock and swiped while dug it into that area.

"You're right." Then you remembered your act. "But I just buffed you two days ago," but even as you stated it, you were already getting out the wash mitts and buckets. The truth was, you loved Knockout's appearance and his paintjob, and would do anything to keep it looking as shiny and clean as Knockout always kept it. Plus, he was your friend. Even so, you would often pretend to resist because if he knew how willing you were to help him, he would have you doing it every three hours.

"Three days," he corrected. "And you're my assistant, thus you help me when I need it. Plus you never seem to mind once you're doing it."

You rolled your eyes playfully and made your way down to the floor, using the makeshift human sized stairs, holding a bucket of soup and water. "I think you forgot to mention that I'm your friend," you didn't even pretend to be upset in anyway.

"I didn't think I needed to." He lifted an optic ridge slightly and gave you a look that made your face faintly warm up.

"Okay, transform now so I can actually wash you," you set down the buckets and loosely cross your arms.

He complied and you got to work. Letting the blue, soft wash mitt around your hand soak into the soupy water, your thoughts wandered to when you got it.

You were standing at the counter with a wash mitt that had soft tassels covering it, along with soup and various other objects.

"That's a lot of stuff for washing a car," the balding middle aged man in the store's uniform commented. "It's going to look like you have a furry paw with this thing on," he joked, holding up the mitt before setting it down again.

"Maybe, but it's very absorbent and has chenille microfibers, making cleaning more efficient and will not scratch like a sponge or cloth would. Plus, wearing it will make it easier to move and get the correct motion," you blurted out a fragment of what you learned while googling the best materials to make Knock look even more perfect.

The man whistled and shook his head. "Wow. That's a lot of research. You must really love your car."

You thought about it for a second and nodded with a smile, "Yes, I do."

Now, you focused on the present, wiping the mitt full of soup smoothing over Knockout's hood. It was a task you always poured yourself into, being sure to clean every part of him aside from the undercarriage. You took care and extra time on the scratched area, absent mindedly admiring the paint that was still flawless, soup suds now adorning it.

"Is that good enough?" you asked, slipping off the wet wash mitt and setting it into the bucket. Although you were fairly certain you had done well enough, you wanted his opinion. The hand mirror that was sitting nearby was picked up by you and you held it up so Knockout could observe your work.

He hummed in approval. "Not bad, but I think I'll judge after you rinse and dry me."

"Will do," you agreed. You quickly grabbed the hose. Water spouted from the nozzle poured over him, washing the bits of white soup off of him and onto the floor. Once the bits of white disappeared, you twisted the hose until no more water leaked out of it. You stared at the paint intently to make sure you didn't accidentally leave microscopic scratches when cleaning him. The result satisfied you. Without any further delay, you whipped out a towel. Not just any towel, you couldn't use a normal one for drying off a car, especially not Knockout. It was a microfiber waffle weave towel. You began blotting off the water like you always would. Wiping could result in picked up dirt and scraping it along the paint, which was the last thing you or the medic wanted.

As soon as the rest of the water was picked up, you draped the towel on your arm and said, "Finished with the washing." Your mind was already making a list of what you needed next to buff him out.

He transformed back into bot form to inspect your work while you spun around to get the rotary buffer and other supplies."Not bad. Like always." He turned his arm over to check the door with its gray pattern. "And to think I once thought a human could never do something like this."

"Well I had to learn. I can't do a mediocre job on the great Knockout," you added with a playful smile.

"Where did you learn all of this? You certainly didn't know at first."

A lot of time on the internet, you were tempted to say. And you meant A LOT of time on the internet. Instead you settled for with a shrug, "I just picked it up."

His optics caught the area where the paint was torn off from the battle and he scowled. "But now it's time to get rid of THAT."

"On it," you carried the buffer, compound bottle, and bucket of paint as best you could. "Now that it's clean, I can reapply the paint."

Since Knockout would have to face the possibility of his paint getting ripped off whenever he encountered an Autobot, he had tons of his paint, so you wouldn't have to jump through hoops to find the right color and make sure it was made out of the right material so it wouldn't react badly with the rest of the paint.

You began to mask the headlight below the area you would repaint, as to not get anything on it that wasn't supposed to be there. There was no scratches in the primer, so you didn't need to add primer. With Knockout always keeping himself in prime condition, you didn't need to remove any rust since there was none. That removed two possible steps. You applied the wax and grease remover to the gray area before using a 220 grit sandpaper to smooth out the area for the paint to stick.

While doing this, you heard Knockout grunt from the slight pain caused by the sandpaper. "Sorry, are you alright? Should I be more gentle?" you asked with concern.

"Yeah. It's just a little uncomfortable. I'll be okay, just keep on doing that," he answered as his lights flickered at his words.

You nodded. Once you were done sliding the sandpaper back and forth, you washed that spot again to remove any debris. Next was the actual painting. The can hissed from the seal being broken as you slowly and delicately opened it. After mixing it, you painted on several thin layers. While waiting for each layer to dry, you would either talk to Knockout or he would transform to get some work done if it was semi dry.

When that was done, you pulled out three pieces of sandpaper to even the new paint that stuck up a little. Starting with the 1,000 grit sandpaper to get off the majority, then moving to 2,000 and after 3,000 as you got close to the level of the rest of the paint and needed more fine sandpaper. The next step was to add top coat, which was easier then the previous step.

In other words the whole thing was a long, tedious process. You understood completely why Knockout got so irritated whenever his paint was scratched. Especially since you were the one to fix it most of the time. Plus, you knew it made Knockout upset and you wanted him to look his best.

"Okay." You wiped off your forehead with your wrist. "Now time to get to the actual buffing. Would you like to do this part?" You sincerely hoped he said yes, because no matter how much you wanted to help him, you were getting tired.

"Mmm, I think I'll let you do it," his smooth voice answered. You could tell by his voice he didn't need time to think about it at all.

Sighing, you shook your head with a smile. "Of course. I'm just glad most of the time I'm polishing you and, less frequently, washing you."

"I'm sure you want my paint to look perfect just as much as I do, considering how much effort you put in."

"Maybe," you replied, tongue in cheek.

Now you needed to cover the windows and anything you didn't want compound on. Choosing the appropriate buffing pad and compound, you got right to it. You got the soft circular piece wet and squirted the cream onto it. Slowly and carefully rubbing the spinning pad in circles, making sure you got every spot. It took little effort for you to keep the pressure constant, considering how many times you had done it. The only time you had to think about it was when you reached an edge.

It was beautiful the way it made light swirls at first and make it disappear to reveal shiny paint. You absent mindedly tuned out the whirring of the motor as your brain wandered. Mostly thinking about Knockout, his finish, and how great he looked.

When that was over, you sighed and bent over with your hands on your knees, knowing you had to rinse and wash him all over again. If it weren't for the fact that there were lots of times you had to wait a certain amount of time after a step, you would have been completely winded.

"You're doing a great job, doll," he softly encouraged. "After you wash me off again, I can dry myself."

"Really?" you looked up and smiled at his kind offer that was much appreciated.

"Yep. Although, you'll need to get the parts that are difficult to reach."

"Deal," you almost laughed and felt your smile grow and energy returning.

You practically skipped to the hose. Once you finished spraying the crystal clear water onto him, wiping suds onto him, and rinsing him off all over again, you began to walk over to the corner to relax. A sharp, cool object touched your shoulder and you turned around to see Knockout with his helm tilted.

"I believe I need something." A smirk adorned his handsome face.

You remembered the towel. "Oh." You rushed to get it and bolted back over to him.

He held out his servo for the waffle weave towel. You smiled and nearly fell into a daydream as you stared up at him and handed it to him. Your heart skipped a beat when the edge of your hand brushed against the cool metal of his servo. After a few seconds, you managed to snap yourself out of it before he noticed. You turned, paced over, and flopped into your chair.

Sitting down in the bean bag chair, you bit your lip while you admired Knockout reaching all around his frame to dry himself off. You wished that you could wash and buff him while he was in bot mode, but then you wouldn't be able to reach very far with how small you were.

The daydream and staring session only ended when Knockout tossed the towel to you. It softly hit you in the face and dropped into your lap, leaving a shocked expression on your face.

"Now it's your turn." Knockout winked and shifted back into an Aston Martin.

A low laugh vibrated in your throat, but never left your mouth. You quickly inspected him and got any spot he missed. After that was completed, you got another pad and wax. You set it on low speed and smeared and smoothed the wax onto him. It took a good amount of time, but it seemed faster with you spacing out. As a final touch, you wiped him down with a microfiber cloth to take off any extra wax that didn't need to be there.

When you were finally, completely done, he looked absolutely gorgeous. His paint was a thing of beauty. You had gotten a lot of practice at that kind of thing by being around Knockout, and it showed. You could see your reflection on him. He seemed even more attractive and shiny after transforming.

He whistled while admiring your handy work. "You're a master at this."

"Why would I give you any less except my best?" You threw your extra hand into the air as you used the other to put the rotary buffer away.

His optics looked it over another time. "This is nice. Can you do this again another time?

You let out a laugh before you could stop yourself. "No. I just did it." part of you was exhausted and never wanted to do it again, but another part was completely okay with it because, well, he was Knockout.

"C'mon, you know you love me." He set a servo on his shining hip, showing off his signature, amazing grin.

A smirk crept onto your lips. "Yes, I do."

Extended ending: "Argh!" you heard Starscream's voice from behind the door after Knockout walked out. "Your finish is so bright, it's hurting my optics! Did you make (Y/n) buff you again?!"

You gently held your hand over your mouth and giggled.

[caspers-chibs-imagines]

Redemption

Summary 

Riley Teller and her son move back to Charming. When Riley returns however, she is faced with the fact that she had to take on her responsibilities as a mom better than before when they are apart of The Sons. Allies are made and maybe a little something more with a certain Scotsman.

____

Chapter Thirteen 

I sat in the garage trying to fix the left brake on my bike the next day. I had woken up pretty early this morning and decided to get up and get out of Chibs' room before anyone turned up at the clubhouse. I opened up the garage for mom too.

Now I was sat here finishing my bike so that I could try her out today. I wasn't paying much attention to everyone around me. But I did see the looks that Chibs was giving me as he leant over the engine of a car that got brought in. We hadn't spoken to one another since last night – mostly due to my own doing but I wasn't ready to talk about what we did last night. Hell, I had been the one that said we would take things slow but ended up in bed with him the first chance I had.

Feeling frustrated with myself I tossed the wire cutter in my hand across the garage at the wall. A couple of the others in the garage froze at my sudden outburst, even Chibs as he watched me with a careful eye.

I caught mom looking through the blinds at me as I walked out of the garage to get some fresh air. I went over to the benches by the clubhouse and sat on top of it as I lit myself a cigarette.

"You okay, baby?" I look up a moment later to see my mom had came over to me. She gave the look that said, 'don't lie to me' and I almost caved in and told her about my previous night events but withheld myself from doing so.

"Yeah. Just getting annoyed with the bike." I lie and take another drag. Mom turns back to look at the garage and when I see that she was looking at Chibs. Who had decided to step out of the garage for a smoke too and leant against the building. He looked over at me and I took notice how his jaw clenched and unclenched before he looked away again. Mom then turns her attention back to me and I quickly look away from Chibs.

"You haven't got to feel bad." She takes my cigarette out of my hand and takes a drag of it. I raise an eyebrow at her, and she rolls her eyes at me. "I'm old, not blind sweetie."

"It shouldn't have happened. I can't do that to the club." I sigh as mom passes me the cigarette back. She gives me a look, the kind that she would give me when I was a kid and brought a boy over to meet her and Clay. The kind made me want to just curl up and disappear.

"You wanted to be part of it. Now you have to own it." She tells me and walks back off to her office in the garage. I finished my smoke and flicked it away from me. Shaking my head, I stood up and went back to the garage.

***

"Mommy!" Tommy cheered as he ran over to me from Mary's car. I dropped everything I was doing and ran to meet him halfway. I picked him up in my arms and span around as I held him close to my chest.

"Oh baby, mommy has missed you so much!" I cheer before pressing all over his face as he squealed with delight. I look over to Mary as she gets out the car. "How was the little troublemaker?"

"Good as gold. Didn't want to leave the kids." She smiles and I thank her again for taking care of him and then she leaves the lot. I turn my attention back to Tommy as he held onto his teddy bear.

"Wanna come see mommy's new bike?" I ask him and he beams with glee as he nods his head. I let him down and hold onto his hand as I lead him over to the almost fully restored Harley.

"Whoa!" Tommy cheered as he ran up to the bike. "Can I sit on it?!" He cheered again as he pointed to the seat. I smiled as I helped him onto the seat and he tried to reach for the handles, but his little arms were just a little too short to reach.

"Once it's done, shall me and you take it for a ride?" I ask him and he nods his head. I ruffle up his hair before helping him off the bike and he saw Chibs at the other side of the garage and ran over to him.

I noticed how Chibs had been keeping an eye on us since he got here and was prepared for Tommy to jump up into his arms. Tommy went straight into telling him about his sleepover and Chibs was all smiles with him. I exhaled a breath before I made my way over to them. Tommy turns to me and then beams as he talks again.

"Mommy is going to take me to ride her new bike!" He pointed over to my bike and Chibs raised an eyebrow at me.

"Is she now?" He asks my son, looking at me with an amused face.

"Yeah, mommy is really good at driving." Tommy boasts with a smile on his face.

"Are we sure mommy can even reach the handlebars?" Chibs chuckles and I hit him in the shoulder for his little dig at me.

"I'll have you know I can ride circles around you." I cross my arms over my chest and smirk. "What do you think I would get grounded for as a kid."

Chibs puts his spare hand up in defence and Tommy high fives him and giggles. I ruffle my son's hair and Chibs puts him down.

"Alrigh', ya willing to beat ya top rocker on that, prospect?" He challenges me. Calling me prospect made me laugh at him.

"You're on, old man."

***

After making sure that the engine would run and finishing the paintjob on the body of my beauty, she was ready to be taken out on the road. Jax had came into the garage and congratulated me on fixing her up and I told him about the challenge that Chibs and I had thrown at one another. Word went around the club and when it got to Clay, he decided to use it as a test on me once again.

"Put your helmet on." I tell Tommy as I put the small helmet on his head, and he clicked the strap under his neck, and I tapped the top of it. "Safe?" I ask and he nods his head before I put my own helmet on.

"You even know how to ride that thing, doll?" Tig asks as I get onto my bike. I flip him off and earn a few chuckles off the others as they all mounted their own bikes. I turned to Tommy and lifted him up to sit in front of me so that he could be safe with me on the ride.

"While we ride, you hold onto mommy's arms okay." I tell him and he nods his head before holding onto my arms as tight as he can. Mom was on the back of Clay's bike, Tara on the back of Jax's and once everyone was mounted and ready, we rode out to a deserted highway. I rode alongside Half-Sack behind everyone else.

Tommy cheered loudly as we rode to the location and I couldn't help but laugh at his joy of being on the bike. I would have to take him out on rides more often if he loved them this much.

When we came to a stop, mom came over to get Tommy from me to keep him with her. Before he left, he leaned up and kissed me on the cheek.

"Good luck mommy!" He smiled and then walked off with mom. I pulled up alongside Chibs as Jax came to stand in front of us and in between the bikes.

"Rules are first one to make it up the highway and back first wins." He says and then he reaches behind him to get his gun from his waistband. "You both ready?!" I looked over to Chibs and held out my fist, to which he hit with his own and we both revved our bikes up.

Jax fired a shot into the air and we were off. I released the clutch and shot off down the highway. The air whipped past me as the speed picked up and my bike roared. I looked to my left to see Chibs side by side with me and I laughed and revved the engine more and started to accelerate. I kept going until I reached the end of the highway and slowed down to turn around and head back down the highway to where we began.

Chibs had caught up with me and was right by my side again. I looked over to him as he did to me and blew him a kiss before revving her up once more and speeding ahead of him and crossing the point Jax stood.

Once I had come back to everyone, they cheered and congratulated me on my victory as I got off my bike. Tommy ran up to me as I took my helmet off and I picked him up as he cheered for me.

"Mommy won!" His gleeful cheers made everyone else cheer and then Clay came over to me.

"I'll hand to you, sweetheart. You know how to ride." He patted me on the shoulder and then pulled me into a hug after I put Tommy down. When I pulled away Jax and I clashed together as he laughed with me and ruffled my hair.

"You did good, sis." He told me and I shoved his shoulder and then all the members were clapping me on the back as they cheered. I laughed in the middle of them all before they all stopped, and we all got mounted onto our bikes again and rode back to the clubhouse.

***

It was dark when we got there, and everyone was enjoying a drink in the clubhouse. Tommy was watching as Jax and I played pool. He sat on the couch with Tara as he showed her his teddy bear and told her stories of his made-up adventures with him.

"Mind if I steal ya sister for moment, Jackie boy?" Chibs asks as he comes over to us and leans on the pool table. I look at Jax and he gestures for me to go with Chibs and I put my cue down on the table and tell Tommy to stay with Tara before following Chibs outside.

When I close the clubhouse door behind me, I follow Chibs as he walks over to the boxing ring and leans against it. I stand in front of him and put my hands on my hips.

"This the part where you tell me that you went easy on me?" I ask him, hoping to get a laugh out of him but he just stands there looking at me.

"You left this mornin'." He says and I feel a lump form in my throat. I move my hands from my hips into my pockets and look away from him down to my boots.

"Had to open up shop." I try to convince him.

"Ya a shite liar." He snaps and I look sheepishly up at him and he was frowning as he looked back at me. I sigh and run my tongue along my teeth.

"What do you expect me to say, Filip?" I ask him and take my hands out of my pockets. "Thanks for the sex. I'll come back when I want more?" I wave my hands around as I talk. "Sorry I let this happen even though I said let's take things slow?"

"Ya didn' have to say anything." He snaps at me as he stands up straight. He takes a few steps to close the distance I had put between us. His breath brushed against my face as I looked up at him.

"Then what?" I ask him. My hands clenched and unclenched by sides as I tried to stay calm with him being so close to me. Looking up into his brown eyes, I began to lose myself in them.

"Stop pretendin' like there ain' something here." He says. His hand comes up touch my face as he brushes his thumb against my cheek. I shivered a little at just his small touch and he noticed it too as he smirked.

"The others would kick both our asses." I tried to reason, mostly with myself. I knew I couldn't keep going after Chibs, I was part of the club now – even if it was just as prospect. They wouldn't take kindly to the new member sleeping with one of their brothers. Especially with Jax and how I was meant to be here to help him get the club back in order.

"I couldn' give a shite about what they think." Chibs frowns before putting his hands on either side of my face. I looked up at him after taking a deep breath and biting at my lip.

Like mom had said, I chose to join this club. If I was going to start this shit, then I would have to own it while it lasted.

"Fuck it." I say and pull Chibs down to me and press my lips to his. My hands ran through his hair and his ran down my sides to cup my ass. If I had already crossed the line, then I was going to fucking dance along it.

[lbibliophile-mcu]

Tony Stark Bingo 2019 Masterpost

Masterpost for the @tonystarkbingo

I got a blackout!

And far more fills and fill types than I expected when I started, including trying several new art methods (ie. drawing with tongs - DUM-E’s Drawings).

Overall I did (some fills with two types):

Fanfic - 8

Drabble - 4

Poem - 5

Art /craft - 7

Gifset - 2

Picset - 5  (moodboards and screenshot collections)

Links and details for each of the fills are below the cut.

Thankyou to the organisers/mods for encouraging and spreading so much great content!

Babysitting

S1 - WTF Link/s: AO3 Tumblr Fill type: Fanfic [500 words] Characters: Obadiah Stane x Tony Stark Tags: Pre-IM1, young Tony Stark, pillow fort, Obadiah Stane’s B+ parenting Summary Obadiah looks at the construction before him and suppresses a sigh. Apparently, it’s going to be one of those days. Carefully ensuring his jocular ‘Uncle Obie’ tone is in place, he approaches.“Hey, Tony, how ya doing in there?”

Everything and Nothing

T1 - Jealousy Link/s: Tumblr Fill type: Fanfic - drabble Characters: Tony Stark Tags: Public image, retirement Summary: People think Tony Stark has everything. But their ‘everything’ isn’t what he wants.

Arm Catalogue

A1 - Shopping together Link/s: Tumblr Fill type: Image edit for Veto Power Characters: Bucky Barnes x Tony Stark Tags: Bucky Barnes’ metal arm Summary: Tony is maky Bucky a new arm, and has so many ideas for the paintjob. A pity Bucky doesn’t like any of them.

Understanding

R1 - Cannon: MCU (Pre-CA:CW) Link/s: Tumblr Fill type: Gifset Characters: Pepper Potts / Tony Stark Tags: Iron Man 3, PTSD Summary: She tries, but she doesn’t understand what it’s like. And that’s good. Because if she understood - truly understood - that would make her as broken as I am.

TON-E’s Valentine [DUM-E’s Drawings]

K1 - Arc Reactor Link/s: AO3 Tumblr Fill type: Art  Characters: DUM-E x Tony Stark Tags: Tony Stark has a heart, method drawing Summary: DUM-E was learning about Valentines day. He knew that you gave a card to someone you care about. He knew that it was supposed to show a heart. So that’s what he drew.

Aftermath

S2 - Writing format: Unreliable narrator Link/s: AO3 Tumblr Fill type: Poem and moodboard Tags: Avengers (2012), collateral damage, outside POV Summary: When real life superheroes saved New York, it was like a something out of a story. But then the cleanup began. And continued, and continued... New York, Greenwich, Sokovia, Lagos. Suddenly, superheros are a lot less exciting. Rubble all looks the same, whether it was made by the heroes or the villains.

RUI (Rescued Under the Influence)

T2 - Confessions under the influence Link/s: AO3 Fill type: Fanfic [1300 words] Characters: Bucky Barnes / Tony Stark Tags: First meeting, rescue, non-consensual drug use, drugged confessions Summary: When Bucky entered the base, he expected to find Hydra agents (to be destroyed) and computer files (to be copied if useful, then also destroyed). He was not prepared to find a drugged Tony Stark. Nor was he prepared for Stark's reaction to seeing him. How does he deal with someone being excited to meet him?

Lab-yrinth

A2 - Labyrinth Link/s: Tumblr Fill type: Art / Puzzle Characters: DUM-E Tags: Maze, Tony’s workshop Summary: Help DUM-E find way through the lab to get TON-E a smoothie.

Avalanche

R2 - Sharing body heat Link/s: AO3  Fill type: Fanfic [1600 words] Characters: Steve Rogers x Tony Stark Tags: Steve Rogers needs a hug, nightmares, touch-starved Summary: Sometimes, all it takes is little things. A minor annoyance that leads to another and another and another. Until it all comes crashing down and you are helpless to stop it or escape.Waking up in a new century was hard, but Steve thought he was coping. (He wasn’t.)

Befriending a Cat

K2 - Cat!Tony Link/s: AO3 Tumblr Fill type: Fanfic - drabble sequence  [600 words] Characters: OG6 Avengers team x Tony Stark Tags: 5+1 format, Domestic Avengers, metaphorical cat Summary: Befriending Tony Stark, the Avengers decide, is rather like befriending a cat.

He loves me, he loves me not...

S3 - image [’Proof Tony Stark has a heart’ plaque] Link/s: Tumblr Fill type: Art Characters: Pepper Potts / Tony Stark Tags: IM1, pining, arc reactor Summary: Pepper Potts knew she was falling in love with her boss, and tried to find subtle ways to show it. What she didn’t know, was if he liked her back…

Flashbacks

T3 - Sickfic Link/s:  Tumblr Fill type: Poem and moodboard/image edit Characters: Tony Stark Tags: PTSD, mentions of torture and near-death Summary: PTSD flashbacks are never fun, and now his brain has a whole selection of scenes to choose from…

Iron Man themed braid

A3 - Free Link/s: Tumblr Fill type: Craft Tags: Iron Man theme, weaving Summary: Tablet woven braid made with crochet cotton. Iron Man colours with pale blue triangular ‘arc reactors’.

Shoot for the Moon

R3 - Galaxy Link/s: Tumblr Fill type: Image edit / gifset Characters: Tony Stark Tags: Quote, story arc Summary: “Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you’ll land among the stars “

DUM-E’s list of what not to put in a smoothie  [DUM-E’s Drawings]

K3 - Historical Link/s: AO3 Tumblr Fill type: Art Characters: DUM-E Tags: DUM-E at MIT, method drawing Summary: It took a while for DUM-E to get the hang of the whole making (edible) smoothies, so he left himself notes as a reminder.

Honestly, Pepper

S4 - Writing format: Non-linear Link/s: AO3 Tumblr Fill type: Fanfic [960 words] Characters: Pepper Potts x Tony Stark, Avengers team  Tags: Dialogue only, non-linear narrative, domestic Avengers, disaster Avengers, crack Summary: Pepper Potts, CEO and sometimes superhero-wrangler, walks out of the elevator onto the Avengers Tower common-floor and stops in shock. How is this even her life? And why is she not surprised?

Cuddle Pile (Whose limbs are these?)

T4 - Puzzle Link/s: AO3 Tumblr Fill type: Poem and moodboard Characters: OG6 Avengers team (including Pepper Potts and Bucky Barnes) Tags: Avengers family, romantic/platonic OT8, song parody Summary: After a hard day/night/fight, nothing is better than curling up in a pile with all your friends… at least, until someone has to get up

Hey, Remember Me?

A4 - Amnesia Link/s: AO3 Tumblr Fill type: Fanfic [560 words] Characters: Scott Lang x Avengers team Tags: Based on the Endgame teaser trailers, time travel, post-Snap, amnesia, open ending Summary: The Snap didn’t just kill half of all life, it erased it from existence; first the physical form, then their more intangible presence. For those who remain, it’s hard to maintain the drive to fix things when you don’t remember what you’re missing…

TON-E’s Hero [DUM-E’s Drawings]

R4 - Tony in workshop Link/s: AO3 Tumblr Fill type: Art Characters: Dum-E x Tony Stark Tags: Tony’s workshop, DUM-E’s fire extinguisher, lab safety, method drawing Summary: TON-E is not very good at remembering about lab safety. That is why DUM-E has to be ready to protect him!

Curse of a Superhero

K4 - Clint Barton / Hawkeye Link/s: Tumblr Fill type: Fanfic - drabble Characters: Clint Barton x Tony Stark Tags: Family, angst Summary: Sometimes Tony wonders how Clint did it; managed to be both a father and an Avenger, balance duty to his family with duty to the world.

No Shit, There I Was, Undercover at a Gay Bar...

S5 - Undercover in a gay bar Link/s: AO3 Tumblr Fill type: Fanfic [1200 words] Characters: Clint Barton / Tony Stark Tags: Pre-slash, identity porn, undercover as gay Summary: No shit there I was, undercover in a gay bar... and you'll never guess who I ran into and how.

Legacy

T5 - Confessions in desperate situations Link/s: AO3 Tumblr Fill type: Poem and moodboard Characters: Pepper Potts / Tony Stark, James Rhodes x Tony Stark Tags: palladium poisoning Summary: Tony is dying. It's an inescapable fact; the clock ticking down with every burnt-out reactor core. He tries to tell them, but the words won't come. He can only give them pieces of his legacy, and hope they forgive him.

I Came Out to Have a Good Time...

A5 - image [bruised Tony in the F1 racing suit] Link/s: Tumblr Fill type: Gifset Characters: Vanko x Tony Stark Tags: Iron Man 2, Monaco race, car crash Summary: Tony is Done with villains interrupting his days off.

Status Report

R5 - Last chance Link/s: AO3 Tumblr Fill type: Fanfic [1300 words] Characters: JARVIS x Tony Stark, OG6 Avengers team Tags: Dialogue-only, Major character death, heavy angst, self-sacrifice, AVALON protocol Summary: Iron Man is a superhero, but Tony Stark is only human. And sometimes, what is asked of a superhero is more than a human can give. So Tony makes contingency plans. He makes the AVALON protocol. He makes sure that Iron Man is able to help the Avengers even when human Tony Stark… can’t.

Faith, Against all Logic

K5 - Robots Link/s: Tumblr Fill type: Poem - drabble Characters: FRIDAY x DUM-E x U, Tony Stark Tags: Post-IW, bot feels Summary: Tony is lost in space, and Friday doesn’t know what to do. Her big brothers give her some advice.

[cchromedome]

cdrw!!

1. How did they meet?i mean, we know this2. Big Spoon/Little Spoon?they switch.... domey big but rewind has a strong personality and will be the big spoon if he wants to goddamn it3. Who initiated the Conjunx ritus, and who finished it?chromedome definitely initiated it bc his dumb gay ass is so in love witht his tiny little cameraman and rewind reacted in kind4. Which one purrs more?rewind more in public i think. domey purrs a lot in private tho5. Who takes more engex, and how do they like it?i mean it’s canon that rewind is a lightweight so probably chromedome. domey strikes me as the type to enjoy a nice bourbon or something. rewind likes aperol spritzers (yknow. the engex equivalent thereof) 6. Who gets more paintjobs?i’m like having a dissociative episode and all i can think of is rewind colour changing pants outlier theory7. Who has a worst taste in color?chromedome. rewind is 90% of his fashion sense8. During the war, are they in the same faction? If not, how does this affect their relationship?yes 9. Do they sleep cuddled together, or side-by-side?depends on the night. they’re well past the honeymoon stage of their relationship where they’re constantly cuddling but they do it frequently10. What do they do after the war? (if they met during the war)fucked off into space with some red guy idk11. Did anyone predict them getting together?bRAINSTORM he was practically the wingman 12. What makes them a good pairing?they support each other wholeheartedly in their endeavours. domey supports rewind finding dominus, and rewind supports domey in fighting mental illness and addiction. and of course they like each other as people13. If they had (a) sparkling(s), what would they be like?i feel like their kid would be the absolute sweetest. like the two of them have such gentle demeanours, it would be so nice for them to have a sweet and nice child14. Random headcanon(s)?in my like. human au (I guess? it’s not officially an au it’s just where i have my humanformer designs) chromedome dresses like ur average cishet man (he is not cishet but yknow) until he meets rewind and rewind fixes his shit. like it’s so ba d and rewind is like Oh My God I Can’t Deal W This 

[smoothshift]

I'd love to take better care about our family's secondary car, but since I have zero experience I wouldn't be able to do it. via /r/cars

I'd love to take better care about our family's secondary car, but since I have zero experience I wouldn't be able to do it.

So to start off, I have loved cars since I was really small. I always used to play with Hot Wheels and Matchbox cars and video games about cars have been one of my favourite genres for as long as I can remember! Never got into working on cars though since my whole family doesn't care about cars at all. To them it's just a utility thing, and when it breaks, it breaks. Also I don't really have the funds to get into it either. I got my driver's license last year in February and have mostly driven my parent's VW Transporter (Our main car). Since my grandfather passed away in 2012 we also own his old 1992 Audi 100 C4 2.3E though. It's automatic, which kinda sucks, but it's still so much more fun to drive around in that one! It's not a special car by any means, but I really like it, especially because of the good memories I have of driving around in it with my grandparents.

Unfortunately it isn't in that good of a shape at the moment. After 150k kilometres it has a good amount of dents and scratches from my brother who usually drives it since he's older than me and actually needs a car unlike me haha. The worst thing from the outside is probably a terrible paintjob on the left hand side of the car. There are also some issues on the interior side of things, mostly the headliner and some cloth paneling on the doors which start to hang down etc. Also the radio doesn't really work.

Mechanically, the car is in an okay-ish condition I'd say. The transmission can be a bit rough during the shifts (especially downshifts), the fuel pump has been buzzing for a long ass time, it sometimes takes a bit to crank up and every now and the brake booster needs some time to start working. The exhaust is rather loud aswell, even though we got a new original one a few years ago, maybe that's normal though (And I don't mind it honestly haha). And the parking brake doesn't do a lot either! Don't really have the knowledge about any other possible mechanical issues tbh. It doesn't feel like it drives perfectly though. Getting it fixed by a shop would probably be too expensive aswell, and cost a multiple of the car itself haha.

My major fear is that my brother doesn't really take care of it and it's condition depreciates even more. When I drive the car, I try to be as careful as possible, not stepping on the gas too much most of the time and just not stressing out the parts too much haha. I don't drive with my brother that often, but from what I can tell he doesn't really think about that kind of stuff. He often drives really short distances and accelerates quite quickly during those drives. Also he drives on reserve range quite a lot which isn't great either from what I've heard.

The car isn't really worth a lot, but I still want to maintain it instead of slowly driving it into it's grave! It really hurts me seeing how it is being used right now.

I hope I am at the right place with this post here, just want to hear some opinions on the topic :) Sorry for the long ass text too haha.

​

TL;DR Brother drives "old" car from grandpa and doesn't take care of it that much. I would like to maintain it better, but don't have any knowledge about it. I know a bit about the major issues with the car but wouldn't be able to fix them on my own.

[giraffeautomotive1]

History and Techniques of Car Paint Repair

When you scratch or dent your car, removing the paint in the process, you have five options regarding the car paint repair from which to choose.

The first option , primarily for more extensive damage - is to take your car to a paint repair specialist (bodyshop or crash repair centre) to fix the damage and repaint the affected area. Usually this type of repair job can take several days.

The second option , primarily for minor damage (and if the car paintwork is not damaged) - is to have a paintless dent removal technician work on it, which will be much faster, cheaper and convenient as their mobile service personnel can come to you at a suitable time, rather than you going to them during your working hours.

The third option is to use a SMART repair technician (small to medium area repair technique) as these paint repair technicians specialise in minor repairs such as bumper scuffs and small scratches.

The fourth option is to attempt to do the repair job yourself, although this only solves the paint repair, not the actual dent or scratch itself. It goes without saying that if you're not experienced in this type of work, you could end up doing more harm than good, with a result that is a lot worse than when you started!

And the fifth option is to do nothing and leave it as it is. Of course, that doesn't really solve anything, but it doesn't cost you anything either. However, it is recommended that you at least "touch in" any scratches to prevent rust forming.

Which method of repair you choose depends on several different factors: the cost, the make of the car, the extent of the damage, and your car insurance cover.

If you don't have much money, then the first car paint repair option is eliminated. However, if your car is a Porsche, where the paint job comprises 21 different stages to ensure its durability, you may find the first repair option the only viable one available for major damages.

If the extent of the damage is minor, then the second or third paint repair options become the most practical, although the rather primitive touching-up method will always show much more so than the method of paintless dent removal followed by touching in, which is designed to disguise the damage to almost invisible. It is important to note that paintless dent removal is largely used when there is very minor or no paint damage.

Whichever method you choose, it is still hard to believe that the "paint" used in Auto Industry paint repair originated from a substance comprised of items such as berries, blood, plants, soot and ash, during the cave men era.

As the demand for vehicle paint increased dramatically, technologists were commissioned to discover faster ways of applying paint to automobiles. The three days needed for the numerous coats of standard paint to dry was hampering supply and a damaged car needing car paint repair Canverra was taking almost as long as a new one to finish!

Aside from perfecting the spray gun so that greater quantities of paint could be more accurately and evenly dispersed over the shell of a car, "dilutable" paint resins incorporating water were produced. These were more environmentally-friendly than previous ones, releasing water into the atmosphere upon drying instead of organic solvents and are still the ones used today.

Later, tiny metallic pieces which when administered would only be a depth of 15 microns (15 millionths of a metre) were added as well as pigments to the paints to vary the car paint palette and choice of car paint repair materials. To finish, a clear coat of protective resin was introduced over the paintjob to seal in the paint, add to durability, and give it that lustrous shine.

This explains why when you take your car to a garage it takes so long, why paintless dent removal is such good value, and why when you do a "touch up" car paint repair job yourself, it looks so noticeably different from the original manufacturer's paintjob.

Ultimately, the idea is to try to avoid needing vehicle paint repair by driving safely and carefully, whilst still enjoying your pride and joy on the roads

For more Information- car air conditioning regas canberra

[eniracy]

Super Sailor Venus SH Figuarts Review

She’s here at last! Now I can take lovely Super photos with my inner senshi. And yes, I may have already customised her special effect for the above photo.

So first things first: this isn’t the tidiest figure I’ve gotten. She’s got a fair few blemishes like a bubble by her arm, or plastic coming off her bow and a messy paintjob around her skirt but they aren’t too bad. As you can see in the bottom left picture, her fringe fits amazingly well to her head. If you’ve noticed how different her hair looks then that’s because they seem to have gone for a different finish than before.

The difference, in person, is quite obvious. They seem to have gone for a thicker, less ‘stamped’ hair mould this time around and I like the finish on it more than the original. The shading is a little more subtle although I found one of the joints didn’t sit right and was always flared out a little but that could just be this particular figurine.

She sits well, her legs able to stay pretty close together even at the above angle. Of course her new bowtails help a lot at keeping her upright.

Speaking off, her bowtails never seemed to be in the position I wanted them to be, like they had been seated off-kilter ever so slightly but that’s not the end of the world.

Just to show how different their hair looks now. Although the original (right) has a more hair texture (at a stretch), the quality of the new one feels much higher.

The original one seems taller, oddly but that might be a per-figure basis since my Super Sailor Mercury is taller than her original and others haven’t found that to be so. Super Sailor Venus’ neck does seem to be shorter though. Her skirt flares a tad more than the original just like the other inner senshi have which helps her articulate a wider stance. Her bow is also the newer, flared shape.

On the left is her original face, on the right is her Super face. You can clearly see more attention to detail in her eyes and it’s a lovely face. Her tiara especially is well painted.

The top row are her new faces, and the bottom her original. Although it’s sad that we didn’t get a sideways face with her mouth closed, they’re all pretty expressive and suit Venus nicely. If I didn’t own the original, I would probably miss the original faces for posing though since her :D and >:( face are very useful for certain situations.

Her effects are ... well one of them is actually really good and you don’t have to use the stand if you’re clever. But this one (above)? Ugh, I don’t think I’ll ever get it out again now I’ve taken this photo. They could have done so much better.

In conclusion, if you don’t own any Venus figurines I do highly recommend her. Her faces suit her very nicely and one of the effects is bright and dynamic enough to warrant going for this one instead of the original. The biggest downside of only getting this one is you miss out on a couple of faceplates that might be useful for some situations (but that could be fixed with a cheap bootleg?). Your mileage for defects might vary, but the ones mine came with don’t bother me too much.

[fantroll-purgatory]

@tuesdaney

Info!! (rip this got super long). also image uploader within this is being weird so image is coming as a separate submission. or maybe it’s in the post three times and i just can’t see it, in which case i am so sorry

We can fix every formatting problem behind the scenes. Shh, no one even needs to know anything went wrong. 

Alternian, AU since she eventually joins a session.

Age: 7 sweeps

Name: Januss Celera. Januss from Janus, in reference to both the Roman god of time and Janus particles (specifically particles which are half hydrophilic and half hydrophobic). Celera from Acceleration.

Janus is also a god of transitions and duality, so I think it makes sense for this switching-up thing you’ve given her. He is also associated a lot with travel and journey and so forth. It’s ALSO speculated that his name could’ve been derived from the Latin verb ‘to go’, which fits her speed theme. What I’m saying is Januss Celera is a great name.

Strife Specibus: vehicular manslaughterkind i don’t actually know. she’s not really one for combat, which is to say she’ll murder anyone clearly weaker than her no problem but if it looks like anything close to a fair fight she’s going to be a coward and run away. at a loss for something that fits

She has a really rough and tumble vibe. I think for a regular weapon you could give her maybe a tireironkind? Something that’s functionally related to her interests but that she can also grab and wail on someone with if she needs to. 

Or you could reference her excessive need to win by giving her trophykind. If someone beats her in a race, she can just grab the trophy they won and bash them with that. Seems fitting for her personality.

You could give her vehiclekind as a secondary weapon, though! Weaponize those cars, Januss.  

Fetch Modus: also not too sure. I like the idea of a modus where she has to be traveling at least a certain speed to get items out, so at walking pace she could only get out little things but if shes flooring it in some kinda vehicle she can take out whatever she wants

Velocity Modus sounds like a good idea. Gotta speed up to eject things. 

Or you could do like a Time Challenge Modus. When she wants to eject something from the modus, it’s split into ‘components’ that are scattered across an area and she has a time limit to collect them all. If she fails the time challenge, the item gets locked down for a time proportionate to how important the item is. She could use such a particularly annoying modus because she feels confident in her ability to Always Succeed.

Blood Color: ok hoooo boy here’s where we get to the Whole Idea behind Januss and its going to take a second of explaining my personal speculations on troll genetics and biology, so:

There’s a specific part of the troll genome that goes “hey! this troll is a seadweller” which triggers the development of gills and fins in a grub-to-be, and the violet blood. It’s actually present in the genes of every troll, but is only able to switch on in purplebloods, and only in specific circumstances. basically, all violetbloods are technically mutant purplebloods (and fuchsia blooded trolls are like. an even rarer “hyper mutation” of purplebloods but thats not relevant here) uh. I hope that makes sense? I like speculating how blood color works in trolls and seadwellers in particular are weird. Anyway,

Januss is a violetblood, or at least appears to be one when she’s a grub. She has a mutation in the protein responsible for “switching on” the seadweller gene, though, and it basically switches back off after 4 or so sweeps. As a result, her blood color has shifted from violet to purple and her fins and gills are stunted. On the surface she just looks like a violetblood with kinda small fins, on the inside her gills barely work and are getting worse, and she probably has a few other odd symptoms from her body suddenly changing its mind about blood color. (she’ll probably live to some weird age inbetween what’s expected of violet and purple, for example. if no one finds out and culls her.)

I like this explanation of her state a lot. Something like her having an enzyme/growth hormone that has a visible effect on the blood color and results in the development of particular features. And then her body just says Oops and stops producing that hormone and so her blood goes back to the basic state… It’s really interesting. I think it works, especially because there’s some speculation on the bridge between purples and violets anyways, considering the purple association with aquatic mammals. They’re Close to the seadweller without actually Being the seadweller and I think that provides some definitely reasonable room for mutation and weird halfway development. 

All of that is to say- your theory tracks well enough to justify the theme of your character.

Symbol and meaning: Aquaries is what she’s grown up under and goes by, but technically she’d be Capries, which is somewhat reflected in her horns. When she winds up playing Sgrub and eventually stops hiding her mutation, she makes a new (non canon) symbol for herself by taking Aquaries and making it fit the purpleblood sign language. (caus like, I doubt she’d automatically know “oh yes my actual sign is capries” but she does want to reflect her real blood color)

I like that a lot! Figuring out and working things out for herself is great. And not to spoil what we talk about during the land/title/moon section, but I do agree with these assignments. So I’ll be keeping this in mind when working w/ her design!

Trolltag: agileTraverse. caus she’s fast and can do some sick stunts and she knows it

Might I recommend supersonicAstrobatic[SA]? Just to REALLY push her speed theme and at least pay reference to the fact that she wants to race spaceships. Or astrobaticTerminality[AT] if you want to keep the same abbreviation. It keeps the spaceship reference. Terminality pays reference to the god Janus’ theme of End Points, meaning here the Extreme, The Most. Also a good reference to the fact that she’s ruthless and will, in fact, do a kill. She’s a terminal astrobatic.

Quirk: ^she encloses her words like this to resemble her symbol. she types fairly normally, no capitalization unLESS/SHE/GETS/EXCITED/OR/ANGRY/IN/WHICH/CASE/SHES/FAST/AND/LOUD/AND/EVERYONE/KNOWS/IT!!!!!!!!!!!!^

Not sure how she’d change that after changing her symbol, maybe by swapping the ^ for a u.

Honestly I think just keeping it around would be acceptable? It’s the way she’s talked for a lot of years, so you could make the argument that the habit is hard to break and just sticks around. It’s implied that it reflects a real manner of speaking, too, since Sollux’s changes upon blindness. So unless you think she would change some of her vocal mannerisms or would undergo some physical impact (like losing her front teeth, to return to the Sollux example), there’s no Real need to adjust her quirk. 

Special Abilities: nothing beyond standard highblood stuff, and the aforementioned mutation. It’s worth mentioning that she can’t do chucklevoodos though. I figure her seadweller upbringing keeps her distanced from the whole juggalo religion thing, even after she “shows her true colors”, as it were.

Makes sense, since she didn’t fall back into purpleblood until she hit, what, ~8 years old? I think you could probably make a case for her not having psychic abilities but still having just the subtle passive influence of chucklevoodoos. Because I think the implication is that it’s a natural ability meant to Keep Lowbloods In Check that is cultivated by the church for a specific purpose/aesthetic. 

What I’m saying is that you could give her some really weak chaotic auras that make her slightly more naturally intimidating.

Lusus: Sailfishmom! A large sailfish with some froggy qualities, like bug eyes and fins that are more like a tadpole’s tail. Sailfish caus they’re fast and frog caus they start in the water but do land stuff later in life. She has a pretty ok relationship with her lusus, who helped her through the rough patch that was “oh fuck im a mutant”.

Love the idea of this! Really clever. The transition of the tadpole combined with the speed of the sailfish fit her image very well! Do they breathe through their skin?

Personality/interests: Januss is constantly impatient and constantly moving. Part of this is just the way she is, part of it is her anxiety to grow up and leave the planet as soon as possible so she can claim governorship over some backwater colony where no one higher up than her can figure out her secret. her passion is vehicle racing, be it ships or cars or spaceships (well, she wants to race spaceships, anyway. when she’s actually off planet.) She has an enormous garage of assorted vehicles in her hive, which is a gargantuan decommissioned spacefighter carrier, half sunk near a sandbar as the dying wish of the former captain.

Sorry to interject. There’s just something very, very funny to me about the idea of a Carpenter Drone just placing a child in a half-sunken spaceship and being like Good Luck. It’s also a great hive location thematically, so good on ya.

She loves giving custom paintjobs and shady modifications to her rides, the latter giving her a nice edge in the less respectable races she participates in (which is all of them.) Her trophies and her killcount on the tracks are both formidable in number, but out of the drivers seat she tends to be a coward. She has few friends, and barely filled quadrants, managing to escape culling only by pulling some strings with her royal status. This isn’t because she’s antisocial, rather she’s terrified someone will figure out her secret. All of her friends are land dwellers because of this, since hanging out underwater for long would probably drown her.

I like the idea of her giving some really wild paintjobs to her rides. Violets are described as the eccentrics, so her reflecting just a little bit of that seadweller tendency could be fun. The shady modifications are also interesting. Does she purchase them on the black market? Have a supplier? Or does she fiddle with them herself? All of the above could be interesting. 

Like she could start off buying from a shady person and then move into tinkering with them herself, to… mixed results.

I like the idea of her being a coward, too- it makes sense! If there’s a fair fight on the horizon, she runs the risk of bleeding. And running the risk of bleeding is something she’d never want to do. 

I have to point out that she’s not really Currently at risk of being culled for being partnerless. At 7 sweeps, she’d be sitting comfortably at about 15. Though we don’t Really have confirmation of about when the Imperial Drones come knocking, it’s safe to assume it’d be closer to when the trolls are About To Leave Planet, since that’s when they’d be adults. Which  means she’s got a little over one sweep to sort her shit out or run. …Or pull some nobility strings, as you’ve mentioned. 

I feel like it’s worth noting at this point that Janus is heavily associated with Auspices. So giving her a more firm relationship in that regard might be a good idea just to draw the link. 

Despite her cowardice she has a definite ruthless streak even when off the track, it just tends to only be aimed at lowbloods who she’s sure she can take on. While racing she’s even more brutal, and her general cockiness and arrogance combine with this to make her a terrible sport. If you win against her you’re dead as soon as the race is over if she thinks she can take you.

I like this a lot. Especially because it shines a light on a very Purpleblood habit of hers. Purplebloods are said to take their work very seriously (even if their work isn’t often… conventional, by our standards) and to desire to be the Foremost in their field, plus they’re known for being very violent. 

Also I hope her underestimating lowbloods comes back to bite her in the ass.

Title: Something of time, for sure, since the whole theme I’m trying to run with Januss is well, literally running. Trying to get into her adult life and away from what she’s afraid of, trying to always be the fastest on the track, her mutation making her a seadweller for only a limited time, et cetera. I don’t have a concrete plot planned for her but you can bet her need to hurry everything will Absolutely Ruin her life bigtime at some point and she’ll have to dig her way out of that. That being said, I can’t decide what class fits her.

I agree with her time assignation so much. The valuing of action, the refusal of passivity even if it’s reckless, the Very strong struggle against fate, the focus on the destination, her restlessness, her ruthlessness… It all checks out! 

Now on to her class:

Prince of Time, Prince of Time, Prince of Time, Prince of Time-

Sorry, got excited about that one. I just think with her general ruthless nature and her impatience, prince of time is a Very fitting role for her. She’s someone very active and someone who seems very focused on her own goals. And this title suits that, but in the worst possible ways. 

Basically speaking, a Prince of Time is able to destroy time or destroy With time. 

Given her impatience and her desire to progress, I can easily see her just destroying segments of time. Deleting them. Poof. Trying to get to where she wants to be as fast as possible. Of course, this would fragment the universe and cause great harm. Skipping out on major segments and very important events could easily distort the timeline. Since inevitability is tied so strongly with the time aspect, Inevitability Itself could be destroyed, which could severely hurt the Alpha Timeline and splinter things to the point of incomprehensibility. Using her time travel in this way could really damage her life and like the lives of everyone across multiple different versions of reality. 

She could also destroy through time, like making things experience decay and destruction at a further rate, or bringing about their inevitable demise sooner than expected. 

Her inverse, Sylph of Space, would allow her to passively create Space. As she fragments and chews up timelines, more and more Boundless Space is able to exist. Each time she uses this power, she creates another timeline, more theoretical Room in which to operate. Which could lead to some grand ‘working with yourself from another dimension’ fun! 

The development needed for this title comes with this: She would have to undergo some major character development to stop from ruining everything. She would have to learn to reign herself in and get herself under control and learn to appreciate the moment before she Destroyed All. 

Land: Not sure? I like the idea of a water covered planet where she has to figure out how to lower the water level to properly traverse it, and even after figuring it out the water will only recede very slowly, making her wait. Sort of both a lesson in patience and an acceptance of her mutation? idk

I love this idea. The fact that it would seem like a mockery of her condition at first but it would allow her to slowly come to terms with it. And the teaching her to slow down and smell the roses. Maybe she could stumble upon mysteries and treasures, things she absolutely would’ve missed if she’d been able to rush through the planet. 

Dream Planet: Derse for sure.

Wow this is very long. I’ll send over the picture in another submission.

Here’s Januss! Left is living that highblood life, right is in session after she’s become comfortable letting that go. She wears the goggles during her races as her highblood self, and more or less all the time later, since she’s found that when she dosen’t have to keep up an elaborate lie around water, she likes it a lot better.

I’ll be honest there’s not much I had to edit for her. 

LEFT SIDE-

Horns and hair: I kept them the same. But let me tell you spriting that hair wasn’t easy! Very fun, though. 

Fins: I edited them to be slightly smaller than the traditional seadweller fins! 

Eyes: I wanted to make them nicely sharp and with some dark lines to make sure they looked defined and dangerous. I also had to give her some eyelashes because of troll rules. 

Mouth: I loved it so it gets to stick how it was. 

Clothes: I took John’s ectobiologist jacket and edited it so thoroughly I almost considered skipping on mentioning it, but that’d be rude. Either way, I liked most of the detail and really liked how it looks kind of like an admiral’s jacket. I decided to take the jacket and extend it down into the pants, though. For two reasons, really:

1. The original pants color looked too much like purpleblood and I thought it’d be antithetical to her trying to hide her blood condition to wear such a large amount of it on her clothes. 

2. Combining them together reminded me of racecar driver jumpers! 

Shoes: They’re just some pretty simple and straightforward boots.

RIGHT SIDE-

Horns, hair, fins, eyes: See above. 

Goggles: I liked them a lot, so I kept them around. I just took the outline of her shirt and created an overlay with it, and then put a screen for reflective light. 

Mouth: Purpleblood lipstick, like in your original art. 

Symbol: I couldn’t really see the detail of the symbol really well on your original drawing, so I tried to create what I could tell of it as best as I could. It looks a liiittle similar to Capripia, but that’s fine. I think the straight edge ends and the curled wings as well as the rounded diamond set it apart enough and I think it takes enough notes from her Aquaries symbol to be at least recognizable in context! 

Pants: Because she’s a purpleblood I didn’t want to leave her without some neat patterned flourish. So I added a checker pattern to one leg. Mostly because I’ve seen a lot of motorcycle racers with those kinds of patterns on their legs. And it makes her look edgy.

Boots: The same but edited to have more gold and purple. 

Thank you so much for sharing her, I absolutely loved her and loved working on her!

-CD

[spacephant0m]

Animal Crossing Pocket Camp Tips: In-Game Currency

I really love animal crossing, it’s easily one of my favorite games. I had been waiting FOR SO LONG for Pocket Camp to come out, and honestly the day it was released, I cried tears of joy. I love my little animal friends. SO I decided since I’ve never had the chance to do this before (or the willpower), I decided to make my own little game guide for all of you lovely camp-goers~

First of all I’d like to say that a lot of these tips are obviously OPTIONAL. Don’t feel pressured into doing these things if you don’t want to. This is just here to help you make the most out of your gameplay!

DISCLAIMER: this is not a full-fledged guide as an absolutely amazing one has already been written here: https://sirtaptap.com/2017/10/animal-crossing-pocket-camp-guide/ . However, I feel that some quick and easy tip-sharing to make things a bit more ~personal~ is always great to have because, everyone plays games differently. There’s no one way to play a game, especially one like animal crossing. Please keep in mind that not everything in the guide is set in stone as mistakes can be made. As time goes on we’ll have more details about how everything works~

App version: 1.0.0 Date: November 24th, 2017

Making Money

Okay so there are tons of ways to make those sweet sweet bells. Obviously just talking to animal campers is a great way. But there are tons of other things you can do!

1.       Tap on campers at your campsite to see if they are available to talk. It won’t tell you above their heads in the map screen if their conversation option has refreshed yet, so you just have to look. This refreshes about every hour. Doing this will help them level up, and sometimes they will give you bells or an item! If their level is maxed out, talk to them anyways just in case they wanna give you something. Approximately every hour, 3 random campers at your site will have new requests, so fulfill those as well just in case they give you some bells/items for it.

2.       Catch ALL BUGS AND FISH YOU SEE. PICK UP ALL FRUIT AND SEASHELLS. You can sell them in the market, but if you wanna “grind for bells” quickly, you can easily just choose “sell” instead of “list for sale.” Regular items go for 10 bells a piece, rare items for 100, and then VERY rare go for 1500, (such as the rainbow trout), ULTRA rare go for 5000, (such as the tuna). I WOULD NOT recommend selling these very rare ones unless you just got lucky and somehow have like 5 tuna fish. Save them for later because with further game patches and updates, they’re likely to be useful. And Idk about you but I feel that putting it in your market box for 30k wont do any good considering -most people- do not have that many bells right now and it will be stuck in your market box for a very long time. I’ve seen way too many people doing this and it’s insane.

3.       The spawning in this game seems to work a bit like acnl, except that they don’t always randomly spawn. Sometimes you have to leave the area and then come back for new fish and bugs to spawn. Seashells take longer to respawn, though I’m not entirely sure how long it takes. But by leaving the area and coming back, you can easily catch lots of bugs and fish to sell if you’re REALLY short on bells (I’m trying so hard to get enough to buy this 5000 bell acid-washed jacket as I’m typing this).

4.       You get 100-200 bells for talking to/assisting campers, and 1000 bells each time you level up.

5.       You can shake trees in ACNL, and you can shake trees in ACPC as well! ALL OF THE TREES. EVEN THE PALM TREES. SHAKE EVERY SINGLE ONE. You can get up to 1000 bells this way. That’s like the equivalent of talking to 10 campers. It’s so easy. Shake the trees. I beg of you.

6.       You can enter shovelstrike quarry once per day, and you have a good chance and making some moolah here, so, make sure you ask those pals of yours to help ya out. You only need 5 so it shouldn’t be too difficult.

BELL SAVING

1.       Some people will say “just build everything.” But that is a no-no if you want to save time and money (and resources o lord). Personally, my main focus is campers. I want certain campers in my campsite, so I prioritized building the furniture that their heart so desires. If your focus is decorating and you don’t care for any of the campers that are available, then knock yourself out crafting those couches. But for me, once I get all of the campers I want, then I will make the furniture I want.

2.       Your items aren’t cataloged like they are in ACNL. So there is really no reason to buy every single thing at the little nookling’s shop. Buy what you WANT, but do your best not to make impulse purchases. I know it’s tempting but once the shop rotates and that rare item comes into view, you’ll be heartbroken at how poor you are and that you can’t afford that fancy jacket you wanted. Of course, if you are one of those upperclass folks who can throw dollar dollar bills at this game, then this certainly does not apply to you. Go nuts.

3.       Try to pay attention to market box prices. You can easily make 100 bells back by talking to a camper, but paying an excessive amount for a few beetles is no good. I tend to buy stuff from market boxes because I’m lazy and I don’t mind helping out my friends. However, you just have to be smart about it because you can easily spend all of your money this way.

 CAMPER CUSTOMIZATION

1.       There are currently 2 models of the camper. Vintage and modern. So you don’t HAVE to change your camper model if you don’t want to. Just pick the one you want. The models are 5000 bells and you get a free paint job if you switch models. Fancy patterns cost leaf tickets so make sure you save those up if you want one. Also, you can switch back to patterns you paid for with leaf tickets, as they are always available for free once you buy them.

2.       Loans: expanding the interior is something that you can pay off in a loan in this game, just like your house in ACNL.

1st expansion: more space in the main floor, 10,000 bells

2nd expansion: second floor, 30,000 bells

3rd expansion: more space in the second floor, 50,000 bells

4th expansion: more space in the main floor, 100,000 bells

5th expansion: more first floor space (maximum? Not sure yet), 150,000 bells

6th expansion: more second floor space (max?), 200,000 bells

NOTE: currently there is a bug with paying off a loan, where it will take out your money you put in and then later say you didn’t actually pay anything, but you will have less bells. It’s best to pay it all off at once and then immediately go to OK MOTORS and upgrade again! I’m sure they will fix this since this is only version 1.0.0.

LEAF TICKETS

Last but not least, the dreaded in-game currency. First of all I’d like to say that you should not complain about this because this is how game devs make money. I believe that all artists deserve payment for their work and, asking that they do this for free is just a no-no, even if it is a “big company.” These people have to pay their bills, man. Besides, a game like this isn’t the same as an actual fully featured video game. It’s great that people have the option to pay for something IF THEY WANT TO. And let me tell you, a copy of animal crossing new leaf is currently 20 USD, and most hardcore animal crossing fans actually purchase multiple copies of the game just so that they can have another custom town and more of the villagers that they want, since you are limited to 10 in that game.

OKAY ENOUGH BABBLING ON, time for the tips

1. Save your leaf tickets. What should you spend them on? 3 things:

Limited special items. I bought Tom Nook and K.K. even tho only one of them will be out at a time, because I love them both so much.

Expanding your crafting capacity. This is so super helpful and actually useful to you, as most things in the game you can pay for with leaf tickets are actually easily attainable. The ONLY way to expand crafting capacity is with leaf tickets, so spend them on this.

Camper paint customization. Make sure you only do this if you really truly want that fancy camper paintjob.

2. If you have a dollar to spare I’d recommend spending it on the 72 hour special offer because you can get double the amount of leaf tickets (40) for the price of 20. Offers like this in mobile games tend to only come around rarely, such as for specific holidays, game anniversaries, etc. And, personally, I like to support things that I love, which brings me to my next point.

3. This may not be a decision that you can make so early in the game’s release, however, if you like this game and you want to see it improve, SUPPORT IT. Buy yourself some leaf tickets. It is sooo important to support games that you love, as that is how they can afford to spend time making new updates and adding new content. A lot of people absolutely DESPISE this sort of thing but, good games come with paying for em. People were totally outraged that you have to pay to play Mario on mobile devices. They are giving us this game for FREE with lots of great content. It’s certainly not a pay-to-play game, which I am so thankful for. And if all else fails and you’d rather not spend money on Pocket Camp, go out and buy yourself a different animal crossing game to show your support for it. And I don’t want to see anyone whining that game devs have to make a living with their work. Creative careers are so incredibly under-appreciated because people think they should have access to LEISURE for free. HEALTH CARE should be free, not leisurely activities that are OPTIONAL. This backwards thinking is incredibly toxic behavior.

If you’re like me, a poor millennial child just trying to get through college, then you shouldn’t mindlessly throw your money away buying fishing nets and honey pots. I’d recommend you save your leaf tickets for more special items that ACPC will have in the future.

Thanks for reading and I hope you found this helpful. This is just something I whipped up to avoid writing my research paper. Please leave more tips and any corrections if you have any!

[thanksjro]

MTMTE #21:  The Sound of Breaking Glass, a prose story- James Did, in Fact, Put That Baby in That Robot

It’s after the fight with Tyrest and his goons, but before Cyclonus stabs Tailgate with a sword for medical purposes. The portal has stopped working, Skids isn’t making any sense, and Rodimus is about to do one of the scariest things you can do as an adult person.

He’s going to make several business-related phone calls.

Perceptor trying to be funny is the oddest take I’ve seen in a bit. I was completely unaware that he had a sense of humor.

Rodimus is looking pretty rough from that nonsense he pulled in the space-crucifix, but he doesn’t want to bother Ratchet, since Tailgate’s still looking like he’s gonna bite it at this point. Besides he’s still got work to do- he fully intends on getting the space bridge back in working order.

The bridge, unfortunately, isn’t making it easy for him; thing’s falling apart and bursting into flames at random intervals.

Rodimus wants to make the last few days at least somewhat worthwhile, a sentiment that Minimus catches onto, and doesn’t seem to agree with. What would it mean, if they were able to say “well, Tailgate, half a religious order, and the concept of trust in the law are dead, but at least we got to finish off our road trip in record time!”? Food for thought, Minimus, I’ll give you that.

Brainstorm runs through the room like a maniac, over the metaphorical moon about something, as he interrupts the conversation. Once he’s gone, Minimus asks about his outer shell, I guess because he feels naked without it. As he collects his belongings, Rodimus brings up their earlier conversation, and reaffirms that he wants to make up for what’s happened. Minimus acknowledges his words, but doesn’t really offer anything in return.

Back over on the Lost Light, we get subjected to a title drop.

Rung is meeting Fort Max in the hollowed-out remains of Swerve’s, because his office is full of corpses. This is a sort-of continuation of their conversation in the brig, where Rung forgave Fort Max for being a big part of why he got shot. They have a brief discussion about where Max’s head is at, and whether or not he’s ready to get back into the workforce after the nightmare hellscape that was Garrus-9. Rung seems to think that the fact that Fort Max is considering his mental health in the first place is a good sign, and offers his services should he be needed.

Too bad they’re going to have to tele-con, since Fort Max is being sent off the ship for his new job.

Over at Rodimus’ office, Rodimus considers hiring Atomizer to redecorate his pad- even though they seem to have very similar tastes when it comes to paintjobs- because he just isn’t feeling the sick flames and hot pink interior anymore.

I see Rodimus is taking the “no fun allowed” route to personal growth. Wonder how long that’ll last.

He has a think about the last conversation he had with Drift before he threw him off the ship, the memory laced with “Overlord murdered a lot of people because of me” guilt. Drift hadn’t been thrilled about the prospect of Rodimus’ inquiry, and made that much known, then volunteered to be the scapegoat. Rodimus hated this idea, horrified by the idea of letting Drift take the fall for him, after all the work he’d put in to try and be liked by people after the whole “Deadlock” thing.

Then Drift revealed that he’s got another reason for not letting Rodimus get kicked off the ship.

Back at Swerve’s, the man himself has made an appearance, interrupting the meeting between Rung and Fort Max, and proceeding to make a fool of himself by way of slapstick. It’s okay though, because he’s too high on actually feeling good about himself for once in his miserable life to feel physical pain.

Rodimus more or less insinuated this exact idea back in issue #17, and it made him so upset he was about to close his bar completely down over it. Good to see our robot Pagliacci bouncing back so nicely.

Brainstorm enters the scene like a vengeful spirit, and I guess Rung and Fort Max just disappear into the aether as he has a little chat with Swerve. Turns out that someone went and took a peek inside the super-secret, possibly-sun-destroying briefcase Brainstorm keeps on his person at all times, and he wants to know who. It was probably a little easier to swing than usual, given that Brainstorm had given up the springs on the clasps of the thing to help break everyone out of moon jail, and he probably had to take at least a little time to recover from his soul halfway evaporating out of his eyes.

Swerve makes a joke, because he has a lot of trouble handling serious situations, then we get confirmation that Brainstorm kidnapped a fucking zygote from the moon.

Brainstorm has a baby inside him.

James, I’m begging you, we can’t keep doing this.

Later, Ratchet’s checking on Tailgate after his stabbing/stabbing repair/cybercrosis cure injection.

Swerve what the FUCK do you think you’re doing with that medical biowaste?

Minimus comes in, looking very silly, as he’s having a heck of a time putting the Magnus Armor back on.

Minimus would like some help getting dressed, and, because clothes for space robots seem to skew more towards body parts than anything else, he’s come to the best doctor on the Lost Light.

(Nobody tell First Aid I said that. I fear his wrath.)

Ratchet is surprisingly handy with the Armor, and it’s revealed that he’s known about Ultra Magnus actually being a completely different, much smaller guy, since the very start.

As in, when Tyrest first started pulling this nonsense.

He didn’t say anything to anyone because he didn’t see the point, then lets Minimus know that he’s his favorite, which gives him a much-needed ego-boost. Minimus wanders off to go put the rest of his clothes on, leaving Ratchet to pull a body out of the morgue that isn’t dead.

Later, on Luna 1, we get to see Rodimus get bummed out about the baby moon not flaring back up. It’s not for lack of trying- he’s crawling around on the ground, rubbing his face in the dirt, all while Getaway watches- but it doesn’t seem like the babies are coming back. Getaway thinks it’s weird that it just kinda turned off, but then again this wasn’t exactly a typical situation, now was it? He tries igniting the Hot Spot himself, planting the first seed of his primus apotheosis diagnosis years from now, then asks our dear captain what’s next on the agenda.

Rodimus, saddened by the loss of literally a billion lives, shakes out his pocket onto the ground.

Don’t worry, the Matrix was in there, so it was totally respectful of the dead. Fort Max rides up, playfully threatening to arrest Rodimus for littering, and we finally get to know what his new career path is.

Duly Appointed Enforcer of the Tyrest Accord.

Also, he brought a friend.

Red Alert, jumping right back into his work, has decided to stay with Fort Max on Luna 1, to chase bad guys and help the Circle of Light recover/prepare for attack. Then he tells Rodimus to turn his phone back on, because Perceptor’s been trying to call him for a while now.

Back at Tyrest’s sweet digs, Perceptor’s gotten the communications system working, and is ready to call Cybertron. Cybertron, who probably thinks they all died back in issue #1, despite Blaster’s best efforts in issue #13 and #15. Blaster did not help with this project, probably because he was busy getting his tiddy compartment fixed.

Perceptor dials, everyone wonders what Bumblebee’s been up to, they get their hopes up, and we get one hell of a reveal for anyone who hasn’t been following along with the sister series up to this point.

Ah, that’s right, I’ve got to do a lightning round for RID, don’t I?

In the Postscript of this prose story, we meet Outrigger, a member of the Circle of Light who will be established as a big honkin’ dork the more we learn about him. He’s just run into Red Alert’s office to tell him about Tyrest having moved. This is a very odd occurrence indeed, as Tyrest was shot in the spine, and should not be able to move. 

The two of them head over to where Tyrest is being held, only to find he’s disappeared from a locked room.

Well, shit.