#and a lil mention of Thundercracker

[transingthoseformers]

Tarn geting on his infrequently used personal account on The Great Conversation and lurking in Relationship Advice before coming to the conclusion he actually needs to post because there's no previous question that addresses his problem.

Megatron gets a high priority notification that DamasceneSteel is posting. Tarn is using his old personal username! Megatron keeps tabs on his most volitle high comand member's activity infrequent as it is. "Help! I accidentally seduced a jet," is the last thing Megatron expected from the DJD leader so he lurks on his personal acccount(identity known only to Soundwave) and watches the trainwreck unfold in real time.

Tarn's geting notifications of Lucky slagger! Or, Share your Wisdom I beg you! Not to mention, Hoax! Everybody knows jets dont frag grounders ever!

Then User ShootyShoot McBangBang weighs in to dispense his wisdom. No hoax mech. I once when I was a newbuild, I slaged off my CO so bad i got temporary assigned to a grounder unit and let me say you losers on the ground are fragging weird about fragging. All weird and soft and slag when you flirt. I though my temp CO was flirting with me but when I kissed him he punched me for being a weirdo. The loser had no clue even when I explained how to him exactly how he was coming on to me!"

Tarn meanwhile is cross-referencing the database. Misfire might be an incompetent Deceptacon but he's a seeker and he's actually giving an explanation that's sheding light on of what the frag just happened with Pharma.

What would Jet courting look like to the uninitiated? Tarn typed tentitavely and waited for a response.

Hmmmm. It's really hard to describe the subtitles between flirt-threat and threat-threat to grounders but basicaly if it looks like a seeker's trying to kill you and you're still alive or they could kill you at any moment and they chose not to it's pretty likely they're trying to spike you.

Tarn blinked in shock and typed an incomplete response as he processed. Wait would that mean

KaoniteMiner2793 responded at the same time, But Starscream

Misfire cut them both off with STOP! ✋️ 🛑 Speculating on the Air Comander's love life WILL get you slagged! He'll make sure. You could be a Phase Sixer or the slagging DJD and he would find a way! Anyhow onto a shiny new and much safer topic! DamasceneSteel, you said you seduced a jet and I hadn't heard through the gosip network about anyone in the airforce geting it on with a grounder. You bringing the good news of The Cause to the Lost Colonies, or trying to pull a DocKnock?

Pull a DocKnock? Tarn typed brow furrowed under his mask

ShootyShoot McBangBang blythly typed away unaware who he had warned off. You know Knockout the medic and interogator from Velocitron? Pulled a slagging Wrecker over to our side early in the war with his impeccable valve Dom game? Break-something or other? The two of them single-handedly launched the Converted to the Cause porn genre. Its rumored some of the hottest smut in the genra were written by one of the elite trine.

It's been so long I forgot about that recruitment campaign. KaoniteMiner2793 added. It got unpopular when mechs realized they had to kill their lovers if they didn’t join the Cause and didn’t have live capture bounties.

Tarn considered his response. Misfire didn't. Live capture bounties! we had those! When?! 🤯

We still do. Tarn educated absenly before he logged off. Mostly medics and a few others who if they can be made to serve The Cause are more useful alive than dead. Thank you for your help clarifying the situation.

Tarn leaned back in his chair to best consider how to use the situation.

Megatron blinked at his screen stuned. Starscream's ridiculous stunts were courting attempts?!?! It was ridiculous! Preposterous! It made... entirely too much sense actualy. Had he accidentally been engaging in an amorous game of one-upmanship with his subordinate??? What in the Pit?!

Misfire sipped someone else's energy drink and scrolled to a new thread.

This is just great amazing great amazing great

Win Misfire for being our Ultimate The Great Conversation problem solver today

Megatron is Learning Today and he's not quite sure he's ready to think out the consequences

Tarn got what he was looking for, and shall utilize that information accordingly (oh the humanity, that relationship is going to be so fun given the conditions of this au)

Win Knockout and Breakdown for kick-starting a porn genre

The little lore drops make it extra interesting too like the part about live bounties and how for a short period of time porn was 100% used as positive propaganda

[smallestapplin]

aghahah loving the Autobots harem and Decepticons reaction

funny to think the only two that seems to take 'interest' secretly are the seekers, Starscream denying, Thundercracker having internal panic and I can't help but think skywarp being bold and all

do you see what I see

This was the first thing that popped in my mind, please feel free to hop back in if you wanna add more

🔞18+ only! MDNI!🔞 no sex happens, but heavy dirty talk and mentions of past relations.

-

-

Skywarp is dangerous.

You are such a cute little thing too, and seeing your small body taking such big spikes with ease just replays over and over in his mind. He's aware Thundercracker wants you too, his fellow seekers aren't very good at hiding their want for you.

It's hilarious honestly, decepticons have gone on and on about how they hate humans, they are just pests, and yet here they all are fawning over you.

But Skywarp has the upper hand over any of them.

But it comes at a cost.

He doesn't know the autobot base very well, he could never get close enough to learn the lay out to get the upper hand, but from the footage Laserbeak got, you have a home outside of the autobot base so if he can catch you leaving or before you get there, it'll be over and out.

His teleporting comes in handy for this, he's so giddy that he's going to be the first decepticon to get a taste of you, maybe even getting to rub it in the autobots faces.

It's early in the morning, you had just finished your chores at home for the day, leaving you proud that you can leave for the weekend and spend it with your lovers.

What you weren't expecting was a flash of purple, a servo grabbing you, and then you're deep in the woods, you barely recongize the area as a place in the next city over. You're face to face plate with Skywarp.

"Aw, sorry sweetspark, I didn't mean to spook ya like that." He doesn't sound sorry at all.

"Skywarp, right? I'm surprised Starscream and Thundercracker aren't with you." The three are rarely seen, at least on the battlefield, without the other far behind.

His red optics gleam, ecstatic you know who he is and so quickly too! His smile, far softer than you'd expect from a bot like him.

"Thought I'd stop by to see such a cutie."

Oh, oh no.

Sure he's quite a handsome bot, hell a good portion of cons are lookers, but you'd never expect them of all cybertronians to want to interface(as your own lovers call it) with a human.

"I'm flattered, but Ratchet is expecting me and he gets worried the more time that passes."

You're playing a dangerous game, knowing good and well Skywarp isn't a con to play nice.

"What, that old bot? You need someone who can out pace ya, not some workaholic medbot that ain't got time for ya."

You narrow your eyes at him, not taking kindly to him insulting Ratchet, that old medbot is nothing but a sweet caring lover, always ensuring you're taken care of first before overloading, even pampering you after he's fucked you stupid.

Not to mention you have every autobot to choose from, all of the more energetic bots trip over themselves just to get to be the ones to ruin you and pump you full that day.

"What, are you offering?" It was sarcastic, but his grin tells a different story.

"You catch on quick, little cutie. C'mon, I won't mention it to anyone, just let me have a taste of that pretty lil valve."

You squeak, jumping back in his servo trying to create some distance between you and his face plate. Your eyes wide at his words, does he have no shame!?

"We both know you'd brag to your seeker buddies just to rub it in their faces."

His engines purrs at your biting words. Your face is burning, you feel hot all over but you don't want him to know-

"You may have gotten me there, but don't act like you don't like the idea, you humans have such weak senses but I can smell your want already."

Skywarp laughs at your embarrassment.

"You're just too cute, I can't wait to see what other cute expressions I can have you make."

You don't get a chance to answer him when the roar of an engine is heard, you both look up and see Skyfire in his alt mode, picking a nice spot to land and letting out the autobots he flew over here.

"Seems I forget they can track my phone's location. Maybe next time you can try, if you're fast enough."

You're so smug, but you take a step forward and place a swift kiss on his scowling face, your lips so small but so soft against his dermas, he almost forgets his anger.

You said they can track a device you have, meaning no matter where he goes they could always find you.

He's snapped from his thoughts when Prowl snatches you from his servo and lands a nasty punch across his face, sending the decepticon flying.

"Dear, are you okay? He didn't hurt you, did he?" Prowl checks you over, holding you close and safely.

You just smile "I'm okay, he didn't hurt me, just came here for a talk is all."

"A talk!? Little light, you know to-"

"I know, I know 'never trust a con' but honestly he didn't do anything."

Prowl finds that hard to believe, but he lets Skywarp escape.

Maybe next time, Skywarp.

(Though he does go back to his habsuite at decepticon base, fisting his spike and fingering his valve as he remembers how your dermas felt against his, how warm you felt, how soft you felt.

Oh primus he wants more.

He needs more.

He needs you.)

[thenamesblurrito]

assorted Transformers fics to rec (part two!)

first list here! have more fics i missed the first time or discovered since then or were recommended to me by others! if you decide to read these, i recommend leaving a comment if you can to encourage the writers and show some love! 🥰 note: the ones marked with * were ones i read a long time ago and did not reread before adding them to this list, so i am going off the good vibes in my memory

An Act of Revenge for Crimes Uncommitted

canon soup, incomplete, AO3. young Orion Pax wakes up mutilated, empurata'd, and his assailants punished him for the crimes of one Optimus Prime. ooooo this is kind of heartwrenching, truly intriguing and unjust and mmmmm drama. time travel, gore, mind the tags here, a fascinating look at a bad timeline! some of the functionism stuff in here actually helped inspire my own functionist setup in SNAP

Blackout and Reboot

canon soup, complete multichap, AO3. amnesia was not on the table when Thundercracker agreed to go undercover as a human. giant robot aliens weren't on the table when Marissa took it upon herself to help the weirdest guy she'd ever met. it's a match made in heaven. i love this fic okay it's got some fantastic wth moments and TC being TC and Marissa being awesome and just. i like it. the writing could use some technical polish but the action and plot concept are good, and the fun alien/human interactions are my jam. has a sequel i haven't read

Canonfodder*

TFP, incomplete, Spacebattles. a series of harrowing updates from a poor hapless nobody isekai'd into the body of a Vehicon on dead Cybertron, and all the nonsense that spirals from there. i like this one, the pacing can get a lil jagged and the technical skill of the writing is a bit off but that's often the nature of these forum fics, i didn't mind it. definitely love the inclusion of Kup, and space video games, and the limited but interesting choices the protag can make when presented with such a dismal situation makes for a very compelling, journal-style story. if you don't know how to navigate forum fics like this, just use the links in the first post to skip to each snippet

Catching Feelings

TFA, oneshot with sequel, AO3. Bumblebee and Charlie are clearly a Thing, so what's Optimus doing thinking about her so much? honestly i just like this ship concept especially in a TFA context, it's very cute and awwwww poor Op, sorry you're experiencing emotions!

Commonality and Misunderstandings

canon soup, incomplete, AO3. a collection of scenes showing just how humans and mecha can figure each other out, no matter how wide the cross-cultural divide. this is cute! i like the human OCs and the shenanigans. talks about gender perceptions, has some mech-preg mentions, and hits some good emotional moments

the consequences of being a vehicle on Earth - even if only as a part-timer

TFA, oneshot, AO3. out of everyone who has to deal with the legality of autonomous sentient vehicles, it's Fanzone. dear god, save him. a very funny little read that honestly addresses some things i constantly wonder about re: driving laws and the bots. nothing more tortuous than the DMV!

Curious Thing, Isn't It?

vaguely G1, oneshot, AO3. the Ark crew, freshly crashed on Earth and uncomprehending of English, discover one of the tiny squishy native inhabitants. a very cute little scene, i love the variety of reactions and how they treat the kid they found

A Fourth to Remember

G1, oneshot, AO3. it's the 4th of July, and Wheeljack has taken it upon himself to make a fireworks show. lovely little story of his typical nonsense taken large-scale, and some interesting culture collision too!

The Great Space Opera

IDW/TFP crossover, incomplete, AO3. Brainstorm does a whoopsie and uh oh, is that Team Prime in the Lost Light? only a little bit written but VERY fun and i love the mindbending reactions of Ratchet meeting Ratchet. the whole premise is just. mwah

Introduction to Cybertronian Biomechanics

canon soup, incomplete, AO3. a small collection of medical essays and articles detailing a breakdown of anatomy. really fascinating, very coherent explanation that manages to condense canon and fanon into something understandable, perhaps even plausible!

Liberty Island's Decisive Battle: Godzilla vs Trypticon!

Aligned/Godzilla crossover, oneshot, AO3. when Trypticon is resurrected by dark energon and heads towards New York, Fowler remembers a certain other giant lizard monster that might be able to help. Rescue Bots cameo, Miko gets to speak Japanese, Godzilla is awesome, this is just the fic ever

Malto Family Search & Rescue

ES, oneshot, AO3. a Decepticon named Thundercracker shows up at the Malto home in the middle of the night to beg a vital favor: help find his lost dog! SUCH a cute and good and wonderful little fic that fits right in to canon!! i love TC and i love the Malto family interactions and just. oogh lovely little fic. has sequels that i am saving for a rainy day pick me up

marriages of convenience (and the inconvenience of explaining them)

IDW, oneshot, AO3. Minimus is a widower. this fun fact is dropped rather unceremoniously. the painful awkwardness is marvelously in character, there are feelings and funnies and an uncomfortably heartfelt discussion about this matter-of-fact revelation that manages to characterize each of them so well, especially Minimus

Murder Mystery Night

IDW, oneshot, AO3. it's NIGHTBEAT'S NIGHT, BABY! lovely little mystery following around the Lost Light's greatest detective when a fun game night is abruptly shut down by a real actual murder! can Nightbeat find the killer in time?

nothing is more sacred than any other thing

vaguely G1, oneshot, AO3. Skyfire is a nerdy scientist with nerdy friends, which means most shenanigans surrounding him are nerdy. very cute and fun little fic about friends and mushrooms and Starscream being duped! first in a series of oneshots that i haven't gotten around to reading yet but look equally lovely

Objectification

G1, oneshot, AO3. a human and a Cybertronian have very different opinions on who exactly the victim is in an oversexualized music video. stupid funny and good, just the way i like it! last line kills me

Optimus Prime is Destined to Die!!

canon soup AU, incomplete, AO3. poor little Orion is isekai'd into a Cybertronian fantasy light novel as one of the soon-to-die forgettable side characters: the cold prince Optimus Prime. supposed to be MegOp but that hasn't really shown up yet. fantastic premise i leapt at immediately, with interesting royal politics and classic isekai tropey vibes. it's a little slow in places from a lot of (warranted!) purple prose introspection, but i find it cool enough to read through and follow poor Orion adjusting to his new existence!

Return Me to the Stars

TFA AU, incomplete, AO3. when a near-dead little Prime is picked up by the Nemesis, it sparks a lot of shenanigans, mysteries, and interesting political developments, all thanks to Optimus being Optimus. i really love the way this fic is developing, with a terrified Autobot in enemy territory doing the best he can, an expanded cast of Decepticons, a lot of fun worldbuilding, and very engaging and dynamic interactions. features a good bit of whump for our tough lil Prime. tagged as MegOP which is still slowly developing, pretty realistically taking their time to find some kind of even footing without breaking their characterization which i greatly appreciate! the writing itself could use some spellchecking but the plot and pacing are very engaging nonetheless

Scaredy-Car

G1, oneshot, AO3. i love a good comedic misunderstanding and boy the assumptions people are making about Breakdown are WHOOF. kinda cracky, a smidgeon dirty, and just the right amount of loserness that is the entirety of the Decepticon army

The Season of the Smallest Stars

sorta IDW/Stardew Valley crossover?, incomplete, AO3. you weren't expecting a small troop of adorable little robots to help you with your farmwork. a very soft cute little fic, i love it!!! never played SV but it's easy enough to follow along anyway, and i love the cute beeping Lost Light bots helping out our farmer

Second Star From Morning

technically IDW, incomplete, AO3. only a little bit written but SELF INSERT BABYYYYYYYYY gotta love it when your protagonists are aware that this is in fact a fictional character! the panic, the questions, the wahuh?? captivating premise, i hope the author comes back to it someday

Skywarp And The Wonders Of The Unnatural World

G1, oneshot, AO3. their summary sums it up best: "The Elite Trine have a very serious and mature debate on the existence of mythical creatures." extremely funny to me, i LOVE when they're stupid and petty and catty and silly!! Skywarp is so dumb i love him so much

Small Problems*

G1, ongoing series, AO3. average human Crystal finds some shrunken Autobots lost in the big city, and her life only gets weirder from there. an OC-centric series that--spoilers for later in the series--may have been one of the original "human turned into Transformer" fics! the whole series goes from sweet and funny to heartwrenching and angsty, with a lot of in between. i love the OC and sympathize with the horrible things she ends up going through, and also the heights to which she rises! slowburn Prowl/OC, with a bit of love triangle with Jazz in there too (funfact this was the second ever piece of media in which i encountered Blurr)

Sparkless

TFP, incomplete, AO3. a Vehicon left behind finds itself fixed up by a human, and might just gain some personhood along the way. a VERY sweet little story oogh i love this Vehicon!! poor thing i want to give them hot chocolate and a blankie. it's a lovely story with an intriguing premise

Stop Me*

TFP, incomplete (but with over 200 chapters), FFN. Starscream nearly dies at the claws of the Predacons... and then he's alive again, in the past, as if none of that ever happened. a rather (in?)famous fic in the fandom, i've found, although when i first read it i didn't know that. a very interesting take on a Starscream redemption AU, paired with some fascinating outlier power moments! a little bit wooby about Screamer (maybe a lot wooby?), a lot of whump, a lot of emotion, maybe some hints of StarOP idk if that's become an actual ship since i last checked. ymmv on this one depending on your Starscream opinions but i was hooked for the whole time for sure! i need to catch up, it's technically still updating. also the author has another, shorter, complete Starscream redemption fic which i also enjoyed, check that out too

A Streetcar Named Traitor

G1, oneshot, AO3. Megatron doesn't take Starscream's defection well and Optimus has had enough. very stupid, very funny, makes me cackle as Megsy gets dunked on

Sudden Active Development... I certainly feel SAD at the moment*

TFP, incomplete, Spacebattles. another isekai forum fic, this time somebody gets dropped into the body of Nemesis Prime and has to deal with running around as an Optimus lookalike! i like the misunderstandings and the process of adapting to a strange new body. some stilted dialogue, and it gets a little weird about gender perception but i can gloss over that. ramps up with more canon characters, a sprinkling of OCs, and completely taking canon off the rails within the last few posts! this one has threadmarks for easy navigation

Turning Points*

vaguely G1 AU, incomplete, FFN. Prowl was one of the most brilliant tacticians among the Decepticons, and then they destroyed his home. it's gonna be a long climb into the good graces of the Autobots for this defector. an absolutely fantastic character driven piece with a brilliant premise, i love how Prowl is written. and the politics of defecting and dealing with a security hazard, mmmmm good!

An Uneasy Partnership*

sorta G1/Armada/canon soup?, ongoing series, FFN. Alexis keeps an unruly Starscream in her barn. this can only go well. this series is WILD, it escalates and gets worse and then better and then worse again, you root for Screamer and then you hate him, poor Alexis is on a constant horrid rollercoaster but hey, (spoilers), she gets a cool robot body and also a tyrant king boyfriend out of it??? but man is it a long, manipulative, whumpy road to get there. the powerplays and emotional turmoil in their dynamic just keep going and it's fascinating, although probably not for you if you don't like bad power imbalances. it's the end of the world as we know it and whatever comes on the other end is going to be only as good as you make of it. i think this series may also be sort of (in)famous in the fandom? idk i don't pay attention that well

Untitled

IDW, drabble, tumblr. in an unexpected meetcute, Minimus finds himself rescuing Rung. honestly it's just a quick little concept of a conversation but it has captivated me and i'm obsessed with it

[ao3feed-skystar]

The Present The Past The Future

read it on AO3 at https://ift.tt/GI2y7tC by Islands_Of_Gay A silly humanformers story about our favorite disfunctional airplane, Starscream Words: 28006, Chapters: 2/2, Language: English Fandoms: Transformers - All Media Types Rating: Mature Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Categories: Gen, Multi Characters: Starscream (Transformers), Jetfire | Skyfire (Transformers), Thundercracker (Transformers), Skywarp (Transformers), Soundwave (Transformers), Megatron (Transformers), Ratchet (Transformers), Knock Out (Transformers), Windblade (Transformers), Wheeljack (Transformers) Relationships: Jetfire | Skyfire/Starscream (Transformers), Skywarp/Starscream/Thundercracker (Transformers), Skywarp/Thundercracker (Transformers), Megatron & Starscream (Transformers), Soundwave & Starscream (Transformers) Additional Tags: Starscream-Centric, Alternate Universe - Human, Mentioned Shockwave - Freeform, Trans Skywarp, Genderfluid Starscream, Nonbinary Soundwave, Trine Shenanigans, Minor Angst, Non-Graphic Violence, Megatron isn't a dick, as a lil treat, Skyfire is kind of an ass, Drinking, Clubbing, Drunk Character, Hopeful Ending, Ambiguous/Open Ending, Swearing, Minor Original Character(s), Author doesn't know transformers lore, or how the planet is laid out, so be warned?, Human Names, Implied Sexual Content, Dirty Talk, Wheeljack is accidently mean, Implied Violence, mentioned Optimus Prime - Freeform, Implied Skyfire/Wheeljack read it on AO3 at https://ift.tt/GI2y7tC

[agatharights]

Okay so the bastard warlord dads au. I just adore it? That's amazing! I just wanna hear more stuff about Star and Megs trying to be dads to Orion. How does that all go?

It’s actually part of an AU called Transformers: Toku, largely based off of tokuketsu tropes and stories, that I share with @drawma-king but the warlord dads were one of my contributions- a combination of the common trope where one of the protagonists turns out to have an Evil Dad (or two, in this case) and the fact that every so often I look at Optimus Prime and Starscream and remember that it’s funny they have the same color scheme.

(if there’s anything I re-use from this AU into others, it’ll probably be the warlord dads arrangements because *chef’s kiss*)

Also because I wanted to post it- here’s a little short story about Orion’s first “real” face to face meeting with Megatron and Starscream! It goes about as well as you’d think.

UNDER THE CUT because long. Sorry, mobile users.

As for how it goes...it goes well at times, poorly at others? They’re trying, but also the kind of people who look at conquering a world because they’ve decided they have the Divine Right of Kings are gonna have some issues from the get-go. After the supposed death of their kid, Megatron and Starscream decided very actively to never approach the concept of family again- it hurt terribly, neither of them have much emotional maturity, and they had a war to run. So unfortunately they don’t actually know how to deal with kids, having avoided them for so long.

Not to mention that Orion(at the time named Guiltaur)’s loss was overtly traumatic. A Decepticon fortress was hit in a surprise attack by Autobot forces that outright destroyed the entire structure and sent the high-ranking Decepticons who were holed up there scattered- it was a tremendous step in destabilizing the Decepticon empire for the Autobots, a good move tactically. The Autobots who were combing through the rubble afterwards were horrified to find a sparkling- miraculously unharmed, and ushered the child away in secret- in no small part to hide the fact that they’d operated on bad intelligence and attacked a building that was not just military, but apparently domestic as well.

Megatron and Starscream, believing that their child had died as a result of Autobot attack, kicked the war into high gear, and that’s when stuff started getting real interesting. Meanwhile, Orion’s past was scrubbed to keep him safe from both autobot retribution for his parentage, and to keep him hidden from Decepticons, and he was placed into the care of the Order Pax- a religious order that took in a lot of war orphans, and eventually he was taken in by Alpha Trion, an archivist looking for an apprentice who definitely didn’t fortell all of this happening that would be silly you’d have to be, like, a prophet or a prime to tell that stuff :)

Anyways

Megatron struggles with treating Orion like a new recruit- he’s deeply impressed when Orion turns out to have excellent combat and self-defense skills for sparring (thanks to Orion’s secret life as Optimus Prime, Hero) and tries to bond with him through training- but inevitably pushes too hard because he can’t tone it down. On the flip side, Megatron’s preferred method of showing affection is just by giving people things, so a whole-ass lost library is an appropriate present for a kid, right? Right????

At the very least, Megatron gets that parental relationships are hard (given his own rocky family relationships) and isn’t really sure how to be attached to Orion. He feels like an interloper, and the fact that Orion is very clearly not interested in sticking around only makes it sting- but Megatron at least tries to convince Orion that sticking around is worth it. Sure, things are a little nasty right now, but wouldn’t you like to be crown prince of an empire? Wouldn’t you like to someday rule? We are from royal stock, and you carry the blood of kings.

Starscream instantly becomes attached. And covetous and overprotective. He hovers over Orion, and while Orion’s more or less okay dealing with it because he likes physical affection, Starscream is *very* touchy, literally. He’s constantly touching hugging him, touching his face and shoulders, kissing his helm or outright grooming him like he’s a youngling. Skywarp and Thundercracker are more casual, but still super affectionate towards Orion- especially since they basically become defacto babysitters for the most part, and Orion finds himself surrounded by a triad of very loud, broody birds a lot.

Starscream’s also a little disappointed that Orion’s favoring a grounder altmode, seeing as Orion also has the “genetics” more or less to become a Seeker as he’s still a youngling (I’ll probably post my lil thing about genetics in this setting) but is damn proud that Orion’s inherited a lot of his appearance- they both have longer faces and bright yellow optics/biolights, he has Starscream’s color and long legs and Orion even has little semi-thrusters on his heels (that give his truck altmode a jump-boost)!

Megatron is afraid of becoming attached, because losing those he loves is standard fare. Starscream is afraid of not being attached enough, as if raw love and want could keep Orion safe this time.

Orion would like to leave. This is terrifying- he’s been moonlighting as a power-armored hero fighting the Decepticons- including Megatron and Starscream themselves, and if they found out he’s pretty sure it would be catastrophic. Even without that, though, he’s an Autobot kid- he wants to be back in the Archives, with Alpha Trion and his friends. He’s been dragged out to basically a castle in the middle of nowhere, halfway across the planet from his home, and he can’t get out. It would wear on anyone’s nerves.

Megatron is terrifying and stern and way too eager to throw other people around literally, not to mention that Megatron is pretty intense in his growing megalomania, and Orion picks up on the fact that this dude legitimately believes it’s his divine right to rule and that’s not just a story to unite his forces. Seeing as Orion has interacted with the spirits of several ancient Primes at this point, he knows EXACTLY how that sort of thing usually goes down. It never goes down well. And then Starscream is overbearing and obsessive, treating him like literal treasure, but not toning down the inherent violence of his inclinations in the slightest, while still insisting on grooming him, touching up his paint, and constantly feeding him.

The part that freaks out and ultimately hurts Orion the most is that he can see how much they both desperately want this. He’s shown Megatron and Starscream not as monsters to fight on a battlefield, but as broken, wounded people who’ve turned their pain into brutality, but treat him like he’s made of precious crystal. He learns about grand-creators and family histories he never knew, he learns about Decepticon history and how these people all came together.

Worst of all, he learns that Megatron and Starscream love him.

And that love can truly sink some people to unspeakable depths.

Knowing that someone would do anything for you is a terrible curse, when that person is willing to literally turn people into mindless monsters to fight for their cause.

[copycatsymphony]

// as I have some new followers and my about is super friggin' outdated have some updated info on what's going on here -

This Soundwave is extremely canon divergent, though he follows much of what happens in IDW (up to Megatron leaving and becoming on Autobot and going on the Lost Light) but instead of erecting a space station/sanctuary/etc and remaining a "true" Decepticon, he takes off in a junk ship that is constantly on fire, breaking down, and has something fuzzy growing in 90% of the vents. He has all of his cassettes - he and Ravage are the same age, grew up on the streets together, while the rest were either created by or raised by Soundwave.

He also lives on the ship with Skywarp and Thundercracker, who originally went with him to spy on him for Starscream, but have essentially disowned him and broken up their trine. Thundercracker is a 50 foot shuttle in this Au.

Soundwave is also referred to as Bratwave (you'll see it mentioned by other Soundwaves and rp partners) basically because he's extremely young - more or less still a "kid" or youngling when the war started, and he's very much a bratty, traumatized kid who got taken advantage of by Megatron and Starscream (there are many posts of screamy harassing and abusing Soundwave on my blog so just be aware of that).

Starscream is the one that found and recruited Soundwave to become an officer, and he took on something like a father/sire-figure role for him in the start of the war. Slowly but surely after he'd gotten Soundwave to trust and depend on him, he started to treat him awfully, being cruel and isolating him and generally being an abusive aft (he was the same with Thundercracker and Skywarp, but they're even more closed off about it than Soundwave). He also managed to turn Megatron against him at one point, until our fav lil boombox felt absolutely trapped.

During the events of IDW where Megatron takes the Autobot brand, Soundwave finally snaps and decides to leave and that his only chance to get away from his abuser is right then and now. Which leads us to the shitty ship and his current lifestyle of living paycheck to paycheck doing literally anything.

Soundwave is also smaller than the canon IDW/G1 versions, he's just barely 25ft tall while the canon version is around 30-32ft tall. This is explained in my hermit crab headcanons.

But to sum it up; when young, if a Cybertronian doesn't get the necessary fuel, the spark will begin cannibalizing the entire frame. This does semi-permanent damage to the base of the frame (like bones but more like...support struts? that can be replaced but its invasive and has a high chance of being rejected) and to the spark itself. To the point that the spark becomes weaker and is unable to support a larger frame, thus making the individual smaller than the norm.

Aaand that's about it, really. Verses are kept separate, so relationships and found families (like what he has with Whirl and Void) are not a part of the main verse that I reply to things with.

[thenamesblurrito]

Do the hero's keep any powers when not transformed?

sorta yes, sorta no. it varies from kid to kid. i mention it just a lil in this post about frame dysphoria

on one end of the scale is Minimus. he only vaguely knows this from Alpha Trion’s scatterbrained mentions of it, but he has a loadbearing spark. this has a few consequences, but most notably, all his abilities as Ultra Magnus transfer over to Minimus without any detriment to him. he can whip up a storm, put a lot more force behind his actions than his tiny frame should be capable of, and carries himself with an ease and authority that you wouldn’t expect to find in a youngling.

on the other end of the scale is Makeshift. a major part of Sixshot’s power is their multiple alternate modes, but as Makeshift, they’re a Mutacon with no alt mode, and that doesn’t change. they do end up getting better hearing and vision, and it’s suddenly much easier for them to warp and shift around their useless kibble, but it comparatively isn’t much.

Windblade knows her way around the school backwards and blindfolded, and could lead you to every secret nook and cranny without ever having been there herself. Nightracer might not find a lot of fuel on the streets some days, but she still doesn’t feel tired, and sometimes when she taps on a dead device it turns back on with a half-charged battery. Skywarp’s procrastination problem gets worse, because he just never seems to run out of time to do the homework he’s been putting off, and sometimes he turns a corner to inexplicably find himself in a hallway much closer to his destination. Blackarachnia always has the right response in an argument to verbally sting her opponent. Moonracer can jump pretty high and finds lifting heavy things to be no problem at all, the weight is inconsequential. Deadlock can actively sense spirits, mostly the ghost of Prima residing in the Star Saber, and the two of them do not get along. it’s a hodgepodge of portions of powers that they have to learn to control while outside of hero form.

one thing they can do, for those of them that have some kind of physical tool or weapon as their relic, is summon that weapon or tool even as kids. this isn’t true for some of them, like Orion, Blurr, Nightracer, Starscream, Predaking, etc. but if Thundercracker wanted to wail on something with a hammer, he could manifest the Forge proportional to his youngling frame. Makeshift could wield the Scythe, Ariel could stab someone with Rhisling, and Minimus could knock a few helms with the Magnus Hammer. of course, they all perceive the relics as something to use when powered up. it takes most of them a good long while to realize that they may be able to use them even as younglings