#also i have no idea what transformers are about

[hallucinateonpaperspines]

if Ashley's for some reasons ever mentions/explains some human torture methods what would the cons thing of it ? Like are we more brutal then them ?

Well... this get dark. FBI Agent, I'm a writer I promise! This is all hypothetical! There is worse out here in the internet wilds!!!

I think for the most part, it's a game of orange-and-blue morality for a bit. There are things the Decepticons pull (Shockwave just existing) that immediately make human prosecutors start prepping the war crime cases and some things that humans do make the cons pause for a minute. At the same time, certain things the cons do, while horrible, just make humans nod because of course they would do that, and most human torture techniques just don't translate well to Cybertronian biology.

Like, the Decepticons would do things that are definitely against the Geneva Convention (and I think they would find our concept of a Geneva Convention laughable) so they would shrug off a lot of similar precedents humans have. Removing limbs, sensory depravation, experimentation, and electrocution are all familiar concepts so it is just a shrug of shoulders and a "why not?" attitude.

And then they look deeper.

In my mind, Cybertronians above all are efficient. Unless it's personal, or you are with someone who has a truly skewed brain module (Yes, Airachnid I am looking at you) the point of torture is to get information as fast as possible. Tortured to death, unless it's an accident, isn't efficient.

Humans, unfortunately, don't always care about efficiency.

They see the Human Centipede and the Terrifier, and bots are praying to primus like they've never done it before. It's entertainment, its art to mankind and it is some of the most protective vomit-worthy levels of shit they've ever seen. They see the Jigsaw franchise and Shockwave is joining discords and emailing directors to get notes.

It's fictional. It's fake. It's an unhinged level of creativity completely separated from ethics and morals, or in some cases leveraging those ideas to better stamp in some emotional torment. It's not just physically taking apart a victim, or trying to manipulate them mentally; it's full-on destruction. Complete evisceration performed in the name of delusional curiosity, sadistic glee, or self-righteous theatrics.

But, again, it's all fake! So what does it matter? Soundwaves says to himself as he bans any vore content from the Nemesis' servers and scrubs his drives

And then someone brings up Vlad the Impaler.

Imagine the horror as it just clicks. While Cybertronains may not produce excrement, they do have scraplets, so the concept of leaving someone in a tub to slowly rot or forcing rats to dig through bodies just sings a song of pain they are vulnerable to. Of slowly dying in a painful, inevitable method that's meant to leave a lasting mark.

And then a human starts thinking.

Art isn't efficient, but a masterpiece is never meant to be so mere as efficient.

Why not remove t-cogs? the element that helps these creatures transform, a crucible of their identity and self-worth?

Wait, that's not meant to be torture, that's just containment.

No. Torture is using small limbs to unwind and peel back layers of wiring. Torture is leaving portions of a frame to decay and rust, poking at the open wound, and flinging acid inside. Torture is pulling limbs off and reattaching them only to do it again. Torture is removing optics and turning sensors to maximum sensitivity before turning them off again.

Torture is taking those old methods and being creative enough to apply them on a blank canvas with new rules and no precedents.

The issue is not our brutality, it is our cruelty and creativity. And that's something that even the most vile Decepticon can respect.

They might even help you find a new muse, or canvas, to practice with.

[rafaelsilvasource]

Rafael L. Silva feels like he accomplished what he set out to do with Carlos Reyes on 9-1-1: Lone Star — but that does not mean he thinks his character's story is over.

In five seasons of the Fox procedural drama, Silva's Carlos Reyes has transformed from a wide-eyed, well-intentioned police officer navigating an undeniable attraction to firefighter-paramedic T.K. Strand (Ronen Rubinstein) to a second-generation Texas Ranger hellbent on finding his own father's cold-blooded killer. Along the way, Silva — who landed his breakout role on Lone Star in 2019, a couple years after earning his undergraduate degree in acting from Pace University — has undergone a similar metamorphosis.

"Lone Star taught me a lot. It gave me feet to walk on, gave me some strong legs to stand on my own," Silva tells TV Guide. "I grew up as a person so much from the show, and I'm extremely grateful for [co-creators] Tim [Minear] and Ryan [Murphy] for having given me the opportunity."

In the final season of Lone Star, Carlos' investigation into the Rangers uncovers that his late father Gabriel's direct superior, Chief Bridges (Alan Autry), killed Gabriel and then set up Carlos' new partner, Campbell (Parker Young), to take the fall. While the bitter truth was never going to bring his father back, Carlos is finally able to get some much-needed closure about Gabriel's untimely demise — and he is now wholeheartedly able to focus on starting a family with T.K. In a flash-forward at the end of the series finale, which saw the first responders navigating not only the fallout of an asteroid but also a potential nuclear disaster, Carlos and T.K. are revealed to have adopted the latter's half-brother Jonah after T.K. decides to quit his job and become a stay-at-home guardian.

Below, Silva opens up about his extensive preparation to play a Texas Ranger (which he stresses is still not the same thing as actually being a Ranger), how he wanted to play the epic conclusion of Carlos' year-long search to finding his father's killer, and what he has made of the chatter about a potential Lone Star spin-off. He also speaks for the first time about his experience of shooting The Waterfront, a highly anticipated new Netflix series from Dawson's Creek and The Vampire Diaries creator Kevin Williamson.

The last time we spoke, you were telling me about the extensive preparation that you insisted on doing to portray a Texas Ranger in the final season of Lone Star — similarly to how you prepared to portray a police officer at the start of this show. How did your time with the Rangers ultimately inform your portrayal of Carlos in this new professional role?

Rafael Silva: When I was first notified that I was becoming a Texas Ranger, I simply just had no idea what that meant. I didn't know what a Texas Ranger was to begin with. How does one become a Texas Ranger? So I reached out to a couple of friends who had connections in Texas and I ended up being able to go to Texas and shadow some Texas Rangers, and I did that for some time. You simply cannot replace personal experience with any sort of study. One of the Texas Rangers that I shadowed told me that a man of experience will never succumb to a man of education, and I think that that's just one of the clearest ways to explain [the process]. You only learn by doing. You can read about it, you can watch tutorials, you can do so much study, but you will never know what something actually is unless you go through it.

It's an extremely exclusive and just definingly elitist department — and I mean elitist in the sense of, only the best of the best and only those who are willing to put in the work to become a Texas Ranger do become a Texas Ranger. They don't necessarily have an entourage of people that accompany them to do their job, to solve whatever situation they have at hand. They are expected to be their sole entourage. Which is why there is that famous saying: "One riot, one Ranger," because all it takes to deal with one riot is one Ranger. I was surrounded by extremely competent, smart, dedicated Rangers, and I have to thank them for allowing me to come into their world and showing me everything. That was a level of trust that I took to heart, and that's what I was adamant about coming into [this season of] Lone Star.

I had extensive conversations with Rashad [Raisani], our showrunner, and I told him, "I am not going to do this incorrectly. I am not going to just brush it for the sake of time, for the sake of network television. I'm not going to compromise." Rashad heard that — and this is why I respect him and Tim [Minear] so much, because they want the best to be on television — and they wanted to work with me. Rashad would call me, like, "Hey, can you touch base with the Ranger that you're friends with to see if this is correct?" And I would do so. So the willingness behind the creative team at Lone Star is also equally responsible for us to see Carlos portraying the Texas Ranger in the way that he did.

How else did that collaboration manifest over the course of the season? What were you insisting needed to be "correct" about this depiction of Rangers?

Silva: So when it came to building the physicality, the boots, the double rig [gun belt] — and we don't wear jeans, we wear wranglers — and the button down shirt, everything was [done] on purpose. There was not a single thing out of place, not purposefully. So that meticulousness is not only in the physicality, but also in the way the Ranger office was designed. The hierarchy, the presentability is extremely important. Every time I was on screen, I wanted to make sure that I was meticulous, because every time a Ranger is out on the field, they're not just representing himself or herself. They're representing all Texas Rangers. So what does that mean? It's above you. It's not about you. You have to take on this responsibility not only for yourself, but for everybody else. And that's an awareness you have to have.

I think witnessing that awareness, witnessing that energy in person was irreplaceable. So the purpose of [studying the process of] Carlos becoming a Texas Ranger is not only Rafael trying to do his job, but it's also Carlos not having to prove himself. Carlos is so young to be a Texas Ranger! He's a child. He's a baby. And that's mentioned, right? I was like, "We have to talk about how young he is, and we also have to talk about that this is not nepotism, because that doesn't happen in the Texas Rangers. That doesn't exist. Every Texas Ranger is absolutely qualified to do their job on their own and do it well. That needs to be honored in the script and the stories that we're telling." I just respect them so much. And selfishly as Rafael, I wanted that to be mentioned. I wanted that to be understood.

Parker Young, who played Ranger Campbell, recently said that he was a little sad when he read Episode 8 because he thought Campbell was Gabriel's killer, but then he was happy to discover that wasn't actually the case in Episode 9. When did you learn the truth about who killed Gabriel? Did you play any of the episodes under the impression that Campbell was the suspected assailant?

Silva: No, I absolutely did not want to know a fucking thing. [Laughs.] I didn't even know until I think someone told me, and we were shooting [Episode] 508. I didn't want to have the awareness. I didn't want to play something that Carlos was not aware of. That doesn't behoove me. That helps nobody. I think Tim wanted to tell me before we even started shooting Season 5, and I was like, "Shut your mouth. Don't do that! [Laughs.] Don't tell me a thing. Why would you tell me?" And I think there's such a freedom that comes in playing and being when you don't know everything. I completely disagree when people tell me that I need to know everything. I don't know everything that's going to happen in my life, so I just act according to the present moment. And why wouldn't my character do the same thing? So if someone wanted to tell me, I ran away from them. If someone tried to call me about it, I'd hang up. But eventually, I found out and then I just had to pretend I didn't know. [Laughs.]

There are a couple moments that stand out to me in Episodes 8 and 9, and they both have to do with the way Carlos reacts to his own investigation into Gabriel's murder. First, there's a clear switch when Carlos suspects Campbell was responsible, and Carlos has a difficult time trying to lie, and then there's another switch when Carlos discovers — almost too late — that Chief Bridges was his father's killer. How did you think about playing the conclusion of this massive arc for Carlos as he gets closer and closer to the truth?

Silva: I didn't try to play a conclusion. I was just trying to do the scene the way that it's meant to be played. The beautiful thing about the art that we do is that you can live as deep [as you want] in the illusion that you have control over what you do in terms of how the story's going to be told. The story's going to be told in the editing room. My job is to be true to how I feel the scene is going to go in that moment. So I don't put the responsibility on my shoulders. And that's something that I had to learn sort of the hard way too — to learn how to let go and just play the scene the way it's asked to be played.

So in terms of performance, I give all sorts of shades to the scenes. But essentially, something I knew before we even shot these scenes was that Carlos will not get the satisfaction that he's looking for by catching the guy or killing the guy. It's not like, "Boom! There you go. Justice [served]." No, it's not, because his father will not come back out of seeking that justice. His father will not come back if the guy gets murdered, or goes to jail, or he goes to trial and then he gets sentenced and charged. What Carlos is dealing with or trying his best to avoid is actually sitting in the pain of having lost his father and knowing that he will not ever come back. So in a sense, and perhaps we don't see a lot of this in the series, it's him dealing with the emptiness of like, "Now what do I do after this whole thing is over?" And that's up to interpretation. I think that would've been a beautiful moment to explore. Unfortunately, we just didn't have the time.

But I think Carlos's story was told. I think his rage was told — rage is essentially pain. I think his pain was told, and we were able to feel with him. We did have that scene at the cemetery. I actually forget all the lines [laughs], but essentially what he's saying is, "I don't have you by my side seeking justice. I don't have my father. I don't have you." So, as an actor, I don't worry about the big picture. I worry about each moment. Obviously, I've thought about the storyline, which is why we got the story that we did. Tim and Rashad were willing to give me that [arc], which I'm really grateful for. But you work so much, only to let it go immediately. It is just crazy to me. But that was sort of the intention. The intention is every moment. I think if you take care of every moment, the rest is also taken care of.

After Episode 9, you effectively bid farewell to Carlos, because it was the conclusion of his most substantive arc of the final season. Obviously, he and T.K. still had to overcome an obstacle to adopt Jonah. What was it like for you to say goodbye to Carlos? What do you remember most from your final day on set?

Silva: I cried a lot on my last day. There's that big red [Verizon] satellite truck that gives signals to the entire city [in the series finale]. That was my last day shooting Lone Star, and I didn't know how it was going to be. I am very fortunate that I have wonderful castmates that came and brought me flowers on my last day. I wasn't expecting it! I was not expecting a single person. I wasn't expecting anything. I was just like, "Oh, I'm just going to go home. And now it's done." But no, [Natacha Karam], Brian [Michael Smith], and Brianna [Baker] came out and they brought me flowers, and I just sobbed for about 20 minutes.

I don't know why that happens. It may be silly, but it's five years of dedicating your life to the people that you work with. I cannot emphasize enough the extremely talented and hardworking crew that we had on Lone Star. Our crew did so much for that show to work. I'm extremely grateful for them because [the actors] just had to show up, literally. These are men and women that give their lives just to create this industry, and I think they go unsung very often, and that is absolutely unacceptable. We have to mention our hard-working crew more often because they are as legitimate as the actors on screen. I grew up as a person so much from the show, and I'm extremely grateful for Tim and Ryan for having given me the opportunity. So I think, in the moment, we don't really register that [loss in our brains], but the body knows and it pours it all out and starts crying. I think maybe that's why it happens, but I think I was given a mission — and I think the mission was accomplished.

Did you get to take home anything from the set?

Silva: Hell yeah. I got my Steston [hat], my cowboy boots, and a jacket.

The legacy of a show generally becomes clearer over time, but many viewers have gravitated toward Carlos and the messiness of his relationship with T.K. over the course of these five seasons. When you look back on this chapter of your career five-to-10 years down the road, what do you hope the legacy of this character will be?

Silva: You can't really control how people identify [with] Carlos — at least that's what I understood. I just hope people see him as an ever-evolving human being. Like we all are, he's just trying his best to be his best. And I don't think his story is over. I really don't. There were ideas floating around about spinning off this world into something else, and I think that was a legitimate and smart idea. I just don't think the time is right. He will live forever in a sense, but I think his story is not over.

I definitely wouldn't shy away from continuing to tell his story — him being the leader of his [own] story — but it has to be complementary to the [9-1-1] world. It is not about Rafael being this [character again]. It's about Carlos existing. Why does he exist here, and what can we do to showcase this Latino queer man in a position of power? How does he live in the world? How does he influence people? How do people influence him, and what does he represent? What can he represent? Because people of all faces, all places, all sizes, all colors identified with him. They would tell me that [personally]. And I think that's such a privilege to witness — [for] people to gravitate toward him and want to root for him. And I'm not patting myself on the back. It's not about me and will never be about me, but that's someone people would root for, and I would be rooting for the people rooting for him. When characters like that come out, I think we shouldn't discard them so easily.

So, just to be clear, are you saying the door is open for you to reprise this character at some point down the road? If the executive producers decide they want to revisit just Carlos's story one day, would you consider coming back?

Silva: Yes. But it has to be done right.

Since wrapping Lone Star last summer, you booked and already filmed the first season of Kevin Williamson's new Netflix family drama The Waterfront, in which you play Shawn, a newly employed bartender for the central Buckley family who has a secret that could upend the family forever. The show is set to premiere later this year. What can you say about your experience of making that new show and playing a different character for a change?

Silva: I'm going to tell you right off the bat: I can't really say anything, because I've also not had any conversations about talking about the other show. [Laughs.] But I'll tell you: Living in North Carolina, working with [executive producers] Kevin Williamson, Michael Narducci, Ben Fast was an extremely privileged experience. It was wonderful. I worked with extremely talented people, people from the theater.

Our number one, Holt McCallany, is such a great leader, always prepared, knows his lines and everybody else's lines. [Laughs.] And it was a wonderful example of what can be done, what should be done. But also, I observed myself in that environment. I was like, Wow, Lone Star taught me a lot. It gave me feet to walk on, gave me some strong legs to stand on my own. And shooting the show was fun. It was very different from Lone Star because Lone Star had so much going on, especially in rescue cases. You have two fire trucks, two ambulances, cop cars — it's great, and it deserves its spotlight. And then [The Waterfront] was much less about the external, a lot more about the internal. The show is entertaining, it was fun, and it will be worth the watch.

[jayvikstolemyheart]

I’ve seen a few Vampire!Viktor AUs but what about a Werewolf!Viktor?

Viktor having the chance to run for the first time, just like in the show except as a giant wolf he’s way faster than any human can be. Even if the werewolf body still has the weak leg, Viktor now has 3 legs he can use.

All the benefits and pros and cons will probably vary depending on what werewolf rules you choose to follow. But still, I like the idea of Viktor, the man who presents himself as a cool-headed logical scientist/messiah/god, turning into this wild animalistic emotional instinctive furry thing. It goes against all of Viktor’s ideas of perfection, but (if he can remember the transformation) it would bring him so much joy. Make him feel so alive.

And what if he has heightened senses and other side effects while human. He can smell human pheromones and starts to learn to associate them with specific people and emotions.

E.g. Viktor realises that when Jayce first spots him Jayce immediately cheers up at least a little bit. Also when there are times Jayce is worried about Viktor, the sickly man wants to yell at him because the scent is too much but can’t without sounding like a weirdo.

Or Viktor gaining a rapid appetite for meat that he just can’t fight anymore. Viktor has to change his bad habits with eating cuz he suddenly started stealing nearby food and tearing it up with his bare teeth and hands. Jayce (and everyone who witness this) are super concerned. Though Jayce is at least a little relieved when Viktor starts eating healthier after this.

[sklarissa]

I want to throw Masks: A New Generation into consideration. It's a game all about being a teen superhero figuring out who you are and struggling with deeply personal issues. It creates dramatic personal stakes in five interesting ways.

The Playbooks each center on a coming of age struggle that's common in young superhero stories. The Transformed, for example, is grappling with the fact that they used to be human but were turned into something scary and unsightly, while the Janus is trying to maintain a superhero/civilian double life. Meanwhile you have playbooks like the Legacy, who has the weight of generations bearing down upon them - part of the playbook is creating adult NPCs of your superhero lineage who all have their own expectations of who you should be.

The Labels replace stats. Instead of having a precise definition of your characters stats and abilities, you have five Labels (Danger, Freak, Superior, Savior, Mundane) that govern how other people see you, and how you form your own self image. You're a teen, you don't know the limit of your powers. This ties into point 3 which is

Influence - whenever someone with Influence over you (which includes all adults by default) tells you who you are or how the world works, they will attempt to shift your Labels. You can choose to either accept their words, or you have to fight back to reject what they say. Your own personal image is constantly shifting, and you have to really work at it to maintain a stable sense of self!

Conditions instead of Harm/HP. Masks doesn't care about how much damage you took when that villain punched you in the face and sent you flying across the room. It cares that you getting punched across the room was embarrassing, and now you're feeling Insecure in front of your team, which makes it harder for you to reject the influence of others when they tell you who you are. You're a teenager - you can't keep a lid on your emotions all the time, and sometimes you feel ways you don't want to feel. Do you want to stop feeling Insecure? Then you'll need to take foolhardy action without consulting the team first - perfect for creating drama!

The GM Rules are created to drive this drama forward. GMs have three main 'commandments' for playing NPCs. They have to Treat their NPCs like Hammers: Square Peg, Round Hole. Every NPC has an idea of who the players should be, and they take active steps to change and reshape the PCs, by Telling Them Who They Are Or Who They Should Be. The GM is also commanded to Bring NPCs to Rash Decisions and Hard Conclusions - big shot adult heroes are always quick to think the worst of inexperienced kids. Meanwhile your parents care about you a lot - but that drive to keep you safe will have them jumping to the worst possible conclusions. Overall, these GM Rules are the spark that sets fire to all those other interlocking mechanical systems of Influence, Conditions, and Labels.

https://www.tumblr.com/thydungeongal/769949043465093120/i-often-see-this-when-people-air-out-their

What do “dramatic, personal stakes” look like in tabletop gaming? What games center them in their mechanics and how?

Alright, so there are lots and lots of games out there that do this in very different ways, so this is going to be a very long and meandering answer.

Starting with the most "trad" example, Pendragon, the game of playing knights in Arthurian Britain that freely mixes history and myth, is for the most part a very traditional adventure game, but it also introduced the idea of Passions and Personality Traits to give mechanical heft to characterization. These are effectively measured on the same 1 to 20 scale as regular skills and attributes in the game, meaning that they can be "tested" just like skills, but they also have the potential for putting the player character into trouble. A character with the "Hates Saxons" Passion will have their hate actually manifest in play, whereas a character who is high in Lustful and low in Chaste will find themselves entangled in lots of romantic drama. Character personality will thus actually have concrete game mechanical effects. The Passions system has since been ported into more recent editions of RuneQuest and its descendants, including Mythras.

Fate is a more modern indie RPG that is less concerned with measuring out Exact Statistics and more about modeling narrative convention. Fate characters are, more so than their skills, basically defined by their Aspects, which are effectively narrative tags that define How a character should behave in a story and What sort of stuff should be happening to them. Aspects can be invoked (using Fate points, the game's main meta currency that the whole game operates on) for bonuses on actions that relate to that tag, but they can also be compelled to put the character into trouble in a way that makes sense for their Aspect, thus granting the player a Fate point if they accept the compel. Aspects are pretty much at the core of Fate and they are utilized for much more than just characterization: new temporary aspects can be created on the fly to represent things in the environment, aspects can be used to represent things in the world and the wider narrative, injuries and consequences of losing conflicts are effectively temporary aspects, and so on. This way the game is largely one where the meta resource management game ties heavily into things that matter in the fiction.

Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy (by @anim-ttrpgs) is another very trad RPG and a game that is very much a "going on an adventure" game (but the adventure is a mystery that needs to be investigated), but the game adds a bit of extra mechanical heft to characterization of make it clear that the game is about regular people investigating mysteries: the Trait system is one of the most important mechanical dials for character customization and Traits are effectively packaged options with both benefits and drawbacks, and those mechanical effects also inform characterization very heavily; Truths are unique to each investigator and are something I would compare to Fate's Aspects but much more precise and personal and less meta, giving investigators minor bonuses on actions in a scene when they are acting according to their Truth; and finally, Tiers of Fear, which are also very personal to each investigator, define how an investigator reacts to various fear stimuli that exist in the world and thus also heavily intersect with the game's Composure mechanic. All of these mechanics interact with an investigative game with a very clear intended gameplay experience to further influence characterization and add personal stakes into the narrative.

Getting back to the more avant garde, Chuubo's Marvelous Wish-Granting Engine is a game that I still struggle to wrap my head around because it's a game for smart people, but as far as I have understood: the gameplay largely revolves around player characters choosing personal goals called Arcs which are further divided into Quests; each Quest is defined as a number of experience points that must be accrued towards the quest for it to be completed, as well as specific actions that characters can do to gain bonus experience on those quests, and then you basically just. Let your characters loose on quests. The important thing is that while quests can be shared among a group (for a more traditional "Group of Heroes Going on an Adventure" narrative, which Chuubo's does also support) they are also personal (so each character will have their own personal quests they will be working towards) and asynchronous (a character may pick up multiple quests over their arc and not complete them in the same order as they started them, as some will be shorter diversions on the path towards victory). Again, this is a very broad-strokes, top-down view of how the game works, because it is a very heady game that I have yet to wrap my head around. If any Chuubo's fans notice any egregious omissions or mistakes here, please let me know.

Finally I'll finish with something a bit broader, the World of Darkness "series" of games, while not having anything quite as in-depth as personality mechanics, do all have various mechanical frameworks for tying characterization into gameplay: the Classic World of Darkness games had their Archetypes, effectively defining a broad personality archetype that the character needs to act according to in order to regain Willpower; the Chronicles of Darkness games have Vices and Virtues, with characters having one of each, once again defining how they regain Willpower; and I'm sure the newer Paradox White Wolf titles also have something to that effect as well. Basically, little carrots dangled in front of player characters to encourage characterization and acting according to a specific archetype. It's neat!

[muffinrecord]

I think San should get an alt and it should be of her completing the transformation and becoming a transformer

[marshmel-l0w7]

I've been thinking about how Smokescreen wasn't there for half of TFP and

[numberonetribble]

Another practice dump! This time digital! + Piston!

[lesbianwyllravengard]

No but Astarion wanting to be valued for more than sex and seen for something that's not just sex regardless of who romances him and Wyll wanting a chaste and genuine romance with sincere and committed courtship with no sex regardless of who romances him is insaneeeeee. I know everyone's talked about this before but everytime I stop to think about it I lose my mind. They couldn't be more narratively bound I'm clawing at the bars of my cage

[glitter-stained]

I'm not saying making tentatodd sexy (as in like, a crossover between a mermaid and glossy black octopus-y tentacle porn monster) would have fixed Nightwing Brothers in Blood... but it would have made it much better

[kaontic]

“I'm headin' in for repairs!”

“I'll shadow you back!”

One of my fav G1 moments, even if I read too much into it.

[vitrificvitriol]

Late night sketch

Bonus Astrotrain, who is waiting very patiently outside for them to stop fucking around:

[aka-indulgence]

So we know you like TFP Soundwave and Shockwave, what about their other iterations?

Thank you anon, with this ask you have given me an excuse to rattle off about my thoughts on the other versions of the WavesTM

(I'll preface this with saying the ones I know best are of course TFP, I haven't watched the other shows but I've obsessively been hunting down their clips down just to see more of the Waves™ so um. Hsgdhfb)

P.S. This turned to me headcanonizing how it’d be like to self ship with them so… I mean if you’re interested in that,

I think G1 Soundwave is sooo cute, he's a silly guy and he can turn into a tiny cassette player that fits in your pocket!! (Mass shifting? Whats that??? Never hesrd of him) I imagine him as acting like a schoolboy with a crush with you… waving to you even during intense situations, giving you flowers, being a gentleman… when he sees you it's all bokeh lights and hearts.

Courtesy of llama, I like the thought of cyberverse Soundwave to be a big flirt. He has a nice, warm speaking voice… also I like how much of an intimidating vibe he brings? Like how he postures in front of Windblade in that one scene where she asks him to lower his music and he just makes it louder… his music cutting off when Starscream tries to take over as leader… (again Llama highlighted these to me jkddjf). And through clips (and spoilers jdkf), I know Soundwave does so much in cyberverse, augh (also cyberverse soundrod is such a cute ship)

I know the least about Earthspark, but I’m 👁️ 👁️ latching onto the fact at how betrayed and hurt he sounds when he’s fighting Megatron and the Autobots. The way he goes “Traitor!” when Megatron points his cannon at him… he’s the most loyal decepticon and his leader has turned his back to him, it’s ugehhghghg (Also he fought a WHOLE team of autobots + megatron and managed to be a huge problem for them to deal with? 😳 he STRONG) I like imagining him as a soldier who’s utterly lost in life after his leader left and he doesn’t know how to live with himself. And this is SUPER canon divergent but,,, I like the idea of him latching onto you because you showed him kindness while he’s lost and he takes you… and because of how small you are, he can ensure you’ll never abandon him. (I’m. A bit emotional thinking about headcanons about him ehuhuhhhh)

As for Shockwaves! I know less about them, but I. Am a big fan of TFA Shockwave. I joke with Llama that in TFP Soundwave is the eldritch cryptid, and in TFA that role is filled by Shockwave. I’m just,,,, ahhh,,,, 😍 about how he can disguise himself, AND HIS EYE IS ALWAYS VISIBLE??? THAT’S SO SPOOKY? And he’s one of the most loyal decepticons in it too(?) In terms of self shipping I like imagining him being insane about you and wanting to do highly unethical experiments to you because of how obsessed he is with you… and I love the thought of knowing him as Longarm, while he’s shaking and having to restrain himself from revealing himself there and then and nabbing you,,, heuguhghgh

I like cyberverse Shockwave, I wish he stayed with the same weight and intimidation he has in season 1 (again, only from clips I’ve seen). I don’t have a clear idea of him yet, just know that I like the way he carries himself and how his expression is always [angy]. Also like his spider canon mode.

I like the vibes of G1 and Earthspark Shockwave but I don’t know that much about them yet! G1 looks adorable (what experiments) and Earthspark has a villainous cadence that I really like,, not to mention how incredibly violent he is :) hehe

ON A SIDE NOTE…. I kinda… like their bayverse versions?? A little? 😭 I like that Soundwave growls you’re mine to a girl and kidnaps her and transforms like. That’s what I like to imagine with TFP Soundwave? Also he has the metal tentacles? And Shockwave looks scary and has big worm monster thing… they literally only have like. 5 mins of screentime each and I heard Shockwave was supposed to be a main antagonist in one of them— I’m not a big fan of bayformers but I like imagining a little bit of these concepts applied to the other versions of the Waves kfdjshfldg

Needless to say I want all of them to hold me in their fists, kdjlgjdgf

[quibbs126]

Okay maybe this is gonna sound weird, at least from me, but shut up, I need to complain about this somewhere

So I go on Ao3 looking for Transformers One fanfics, since I’ve been reading a few as they come out and I just like seeing what premises people have. Though specifically I’m only interested in megop fanfics. Because I’m incredibly biased. Anyways, so there’s a few that have mechpreg in them, and I swear, every time, it’s Optimus having the kid

Where the heck are the Megatron being the carrier fics? I want to see that side of the premise, give it to me!

[somerandomcockroach]

Okay I really felt like exploding mentally not in a good way so putted it out in random little written scenes (bullshitting with canon and fanon because canon is fanon). Prowl and Jazz as main acting characters yesss because apparently I love these boys

_________Intercity training competition_________

The whole audition was so loud with noises despite everyone trying to whisper as quiet as possible. First time in all intercity training competition history, where chosen young mechs from everywhere in Cybertron gather together to find better rising generation of sparks, the bot won all his sparring partners in a row without losing once. Gunrunner with satisfied smile wrote down statistics about this battle. “Mistakes took place, but you give big perspectives with your agility and unpredictability.” Gunrunner already had plans on this rookie once ops group starts running.

Jazz, visibly grasping at air with ventilation at full speed, was smiling in such bright manner, showing his sparking optics behind protective glass. His smile, his reflections from black coating, his figure, still going up and down after all the battles he had – everything in him was so irresistibly refreshing and attractive. This young bot made the audience start whispering again, but on absolutely different topic this time. He still was standing over his opponent, other one was looking at him from bottom to top breathing as deep as other one, leaning on the elbow folds. Young mechs had no hard feelings against each other, everything around them was steaming with happiness over a good battle. Jazz offered his hand and helped him stand up.  

“Ya’r very brave to challenge me last but ya fought good, brotha’. Your name?” They shacked hands as a sigh of a friendly and fair battle. “Guzzle. Better to fight and lose than to never fight at all” “Oh, we’r so gonna have a drink at the end of the event!” Jazz squeezed his hand so tightly and laughed so sincerely happy. They walked out of ring shoulder to shoulder. The white and black mech with pointy red chevron, the only thing showing him off the crowd so vividly, was observing all the battles from the balcony. He still couldn’t calm down his spark after what he saw, it was such an incredible and new way of martial arts for him: wild, unpredictable, dexterous, fast and oppressive. Absolute opposite of the clear and refined, gentle manner of his hometown. He couldn't hold back his smile throughout all 10 sparring sessions, periodically jerking his shoulders in surprise, sometimes looking as if into space, trying to calculate something in his head. His brother, clearly shorter than him, tapped at his hand. Only this was able to get older brother out of entrancement he was in. “Brother, calculation simulations will begin soon” ‘Right,’ he answered with only kind look of his eyes. ‘Now my turn.’

______My priority of orders starts from J_______

“Prowl, you are not allowed to go out! You stay here! It’s an order!” Prowl’s door wings rose up in in a threatening and irritated manner. He quickly turned his head, narrowing his optics. Sharp, cold blue, freezing. Yet his lips were treacherously clanging. “You are not my commander to give me commands” “Oh, no! I have an order to keep you safe! Order from Optimus Prime itself! Do you not understand how worthy your skills are? You are not allowed to get out of here until it becomes safe, why do you even try to get out of here?” The blue light was getting darker and closer to the security bot who happened to be so unlucky to be the closest to Prowl to get this order. Red chevron towered over this hesitant mech, his knees bent under the pressure of this unbending figure. It was the first time in all his time working here, when he was truly afraid of the tactician. “I was working hand to hand with “Optimus itself” when he was just an officer,” Prowl pressed his finger into the center of the bumper with enough strength to make bot step back. “and I dare you have no right to stand on my way nor Optimus’ orders. Contact him and say that I’ve lost touch with ops, you won’t be dismissed with this explan-“ The loud crash of a broken door was heard behind interrupting him mid-sentence, Prowl stood up and lowered his wings to cover trembling mech in front of him. “Prowl, jump on, I caught signal of Jazz’s location”, there was Silverbolt straight to the help and old Orion’s group protecting main operating station alongside with other autobots. Prowl gave him a pleased smirk, his optics immediately softened (to the relief of security bot), not even thinking much he ran and jumped on top of the aerial, “long time no see, old timer. All unnecessary chatting on our way.”

[t-u-i-t-c]

Tokucember Day 13: AU or OC

Agito AU where Exceed Gills has more physical side effects

[rallazart]

Ah fine I'll post somethin. Experimenting with designs and shit is all I'm doin. Nothin new.

(Not posting the colored in versions yet. These are only concept sketches. Keep that in mind)...

The digital "version" of ^this^ is just some lazy color blocking I did. (Pay no mind to the weird light effects); But it does add a little clarity to the original sketch that might be helpful. Note: the values will change to some degree later.

Full body type idea ^here^. The tail is fan shaped from proper perspective.

The basic blocks of his design include an array of different animal features i.e. plucked feathers and skin, goat horns and eyes, coyote skull and body, and lizard scales. Idk if anyone was curious though;

if anyone asks for more detail in the design inspirations and lore I might share it. I just don't really feel the need to post every part of my process yk (especially if I'm not 100% happy with it)