#anyway… hey thanks for asking!

[floral-hex]

How's the tournament going?

Long! I didn’t bring enough food! I’m so tired and hungry!

[elodieunderglass]

So for some more details:

- I am fairly time-poor with a huge amount of commitments: Grownup Job Senior Promotion, three small kids on summer holidays/starting school, writing a novel fanfic for sick friend, peak growing/harvest season at allotment, etc. so im only offering “what I can actually deliver” at this time

- swan comic is a new idea, people like those don’t they? Not sure of how fundraising mechanism would work here but maybe taking prompts?

- not sure how essay would work but it’s probably my best/most appealing skill?

- material items in exchange for a minimum fixed amount. So offline I’m most known for material works. I’m not a BAD printmaker / craftworker and for this I would be looking at designing a sort of limited print run of greeting card style original hand printed prints. I know you guys aren’t familiar with this work from me, so this would involve a bit of trust that An Art from me would be worth at least £5 lmao. However it’s kind of nice to get something real in the mail right??

- super worried about fandom auction so this would be mostly a register of interest that I’d take to more experienced people and use as leverage to start an auction; I’m not in a great place to provide much actual legwork here. I also have huge guilt from like 2000-something where someone paid A HUNDRED AND LIKE 20 DOLLARS to charity for earthquake survivors and I DID NOT FINISH THE FIC AND I HAD to write to them, weepingly, apologising forever about it, and they were so graceful, they forgave me and wrote off my fandom auction contribution, but I had never watched the tv show they requested and was in the process of romancing dr glass and it all went SO wrong, this MIGHT heal my scars of shame from fandom auctions generally OR might make them worse. It itvery hard to write fic actually it’s my worst skill pls don’t pick this

Anyway

I will dance like a monkey and get sick kids out of Gaza. What would you like to see most?

[rowrowronnie]

anyone remember that pyro is a robot headcanon? yeah um erm i also remembered that and also sorta maybe mightve gotten carried away a little bit.. tee hee..

[whatwooshkai]

splish splosh has 23 been done yet for the ask game? :3

(also I swear to Primus HEATWAVE STOP DOING THAT UR GONNA GIVE EVERYONE A SPARK/HEART ATTACK-)

"This song sucks," Heatwave snaps, giving his engine an annoyed rumble.

"This is the lesser of all evils," Kade argues back, waving a hand. "Radio's shit right now."

"Fine," Heatwave growls, and suddenly the dial starts spinning, stations flipping rapidly. "If Earth radio is so shit, I'm putting on my radio."

There's a burst of static, a beat of silence, then a voice fills the cab, speaking a language Kade has only ever heard snatches of.

"Is he speaking Cybertronian?"

"NeoCybex," Heatwave corrects automatically. "Common. We have more than one language, you know."

Kade shakes his head. "Okay. Whatever. Is Cybertron, like, a gazillion light years away? How the fuck are you getting this station?"

Heatwave's head on the monitor gives a little tilt, and the cab rumbles, as if he's shrugging. "You can always call in to Truck Norris' show. I don't question it."

"Wait. Wait. Back the fuck up." Kade grips the wheel and leans forward. "'Truck Norris?'"

"Yeah," Heatwave says. "That's the host's name. What about it?"

"I-" Kade doesn't know what to say. How is he possibly supposed to explain to Heatwave that his strange radio host who apparently has a frequency that is strong enough to reach Earth has a name that's basically a stupid pun of a famous human. How. "I feel like you're not hearing yourself."

"Wait. Shut the fuck up," Heatwave snaps, and Truck Norris seems to be finishing off a sentence. Kade does as asked, staying silent as fucking Truck Norris speaks again, and then a familiar voice speaks over the radio, his voice a mix of soft clicks and purrs and whirrs, with the cadence of a question.

No fucking way.

But it's over just as fast as it happened, and Truck Norris' voice is back, a soft click coming through signalling the end of the call in.

"Okay, let me get this straight," Kade demands. "You not only can get this radio station from a billion-jillion light years away, you can also call in?!"

"Yeah," Heatwave says, his voice heavily accented for a second. He resets his voice box, and the accent is gone in the next sentence. "He's always taking callers."

"I feel like you're not understanding how freaky this is," Kade stresses, tapping a nervous beat on the wheel. "I'm not science guy, but this shouldn't be possible at all-"

"Shut up," Heatwave snarls, and Kade shuts up, as the volume dial spins and suddenly sound is flooding through the speakers.

It's unlike anything Kade has ever heard before. The closest thing he can relate it to is experimental rock, but even that's a stretch.

It sounds like heavy machinery and it sounds soft and loud at the same time, and there must be someone singing, a powerful, echoey, a mechanical voice holding and hitting notes most singers could only dream of.

And it's... not bad. In fact, Kade kind of likes it.

Heatwave's head on the monitor is bobbing along softly, as if doing it unconsciously.

They're quiet for a while once it's over, listening to Truck Norris talk and another bot call in, before Kade finally asks: "Was that a song?"

"Yeah," Heatwave says quietly, but there's a smile in his voice. "My favorite, actually. Haven't heard it in a while." The beginning of the song plays a bit, before suddenly being cut off. "And I have it recorded now." He's quiet for another moment, before asking, "What'd you think?"

Aw. That's... oddly vulnerable, coming from Heatwave. So Kade is honest. "I liked it," he says. "And I think I'd like to hear more."

Heatwave's engine gives a delighted purr.

------------------------

"What's this?"

Kade's head snaps over to the CD Haley is studying. "Oh, that?" he says smoothly, holding out a hand, which she places it into. A clear jewel case and a CD with "Heatwave" scrawled on it in sharpie. "I think it's a band," he lies easily. "Found it in a thrift store. I searched them up but there's nothing, so they must be really underground. It's this weird, like, experimental metal rock. Want to listen?"

"Sure!"

It's actually a CD of Heatwave's favorite Cybertronian songs. Boulder and Graham took the recordings and burned them onto a CD for him, and they're working on ones for the others. Still, no one has questioned Truck Norris yet.

Kade's actually taken quite a liking to Cybertronian music. It's kind of pretty, in its own way. And Cody absolutely loves it. Human vocal chords are not built for the proper pronunciation of NeoCybex "words", but that doesn't mean he's not going to try.

The CD loads and the first song begins to play. Haley looks taken aback for a second, before leaning forward, falling into the rhythm immediately.

It makes it a little hard for Kade to keep his eyes on the road.

[shuploc]

WAIT, is it true we're getting more miguel art? Don't get me wrong, I love Astarion, but my atsv fixation is coming back hard and it would just be so perfect! <33 Thanks for all the work you do!

Well, short answer is yes! It's a little silly actually, but to you guys it seems like I just randomly stopped drawing him and moved on, but I've actually been working on multiple Miguel drawings since like, October, for different zines. Those pieces will eventually get posted too, but it'll be a while, ngl.

But yes, ya'll will get a completely different Miggy thing soon, hopefully in time for Christmas! 😊 I'm SO glad you like my Astarion stuff too, thank you so much for the kind words!

[yellowocaballero]

Omg hi Ms. Yellow Caballero big fan of your work <3 For real though, I'm really excited that your sharing the Weekenders, it was a joy to read and I'm bongocat-ing now that others also get the privilege to read it as well.

Referencing your tags, would you please elaborate of ableism in fandom and, like you said, how fandom treats characters with unpalatable disabilities?

Hi Ms. Bud Lite I'm a big fan of you <3

TL;DR A fear of writing characters of highly marginalized identities shields you from criticism and discomfort, but it's actively stigmatizing to people of these identities and as a writer you really need to get over yourself and write The Icky People.

I guess I'll come out swinging on this one and say that fandom doesn't like severe mental illness. (As a note, when I say severe mental illness (SMI) I mean illnesses such as psychotic disorders, bipolar disorder, substance use disorders, personality disorders, etc)

Obviously, nobody likes people w/SMI. It's just insanely egregious in fandom to me, since fanfic writers absolutely love writing characters or HC characters with depression, anxiety, or a specific variety of PTSD That Isn't Scary. People actively reject any character HCs for a SMI. When people write a character with SMI, they nicely downplay it, ignore it, substitute it for a disorder they like better, or rewrite it. It's completely untolerated, in both headcanons and in fanfiction, and every time I bring it up I always get the most interesting reasons why somebody couldn't possibly acknowledge a character's SMI in their writing. I've heard all of these:

"I don't know enough about the disorder to write it accurately." Do research.

"I'm not X, so I can't really depict it." You probably aren't a cis white man, but you depict those guys just fine.

"It feels insulting to the character." There is no shame in having a SMI.

"I can't understand what it's like, so it's better to be cautious and avoid giving characters stigmatized identities." There are LOTS of experiences that you'll never understand because you've never had them - you just don't want to write anything you're uncomfortable with. People with SMI make you uncomfortable, and you don't want to write anything that makes you feel uncomfortable, or think of a comfort character in an uncomfortable way. SMIs are marginalized differently than solely depression/anxiety/The Nice PTSD, and by refusing to write them you're actively contributing to the stigma.

I think (?) I've spoken in the past about how I believe that the rigorous external and internal policing of writing people of marginalized identities is actively harmful towards efforts to increase diversity of experience and background in fiction. A lot of fanfiction writers are just terrified to write people who they can't directly relate with, because they're worried 'they'll get it wrong' and be Big Cancelled. I think this is negative enough when it prevents people from going outside of their comfort zone, but on a macro level I think this results in people refusing to write characters of marginalized identities as all. It's an insidious thought process, and it's reflected in people's unwillingness to diversity their writing or acknowledge canon diversity.

'Well, I don't understand what it's like to be Black, so I don't want to write Black people'. 'I want to project on this character, so I only want to write them with mental illnesses and identities I have'. 'If I write a marginalized character incorrectly people will yell at me, so I won't write a marginalized character who's marginalized differently than me at all'. Can you imagine writing a lesbian character with a boyfriend because 'you feel uncomfortable writing lesbian experiences'? It's blatantly homophobic. But people do that with disability and race/ethnicity ALL THE TIME.

People with SMI notice that you feel uncomfortable with them. It's obvious. They notice when a character has a SMI + anxiety, and you only write their anxiety. They notice when a character displays symptoms of a SMI in canon, but you write it out. And POC notice when the characters of color are written out. I know we all like to project on the blorbos and relate to them, and in the joys of your own head do whatever, but as a writer if you only stick to identities you're comfortable with you are actively being a worse writer. Which to me is the REAL sin lmfao.

[s-ccaam-era-crepe]

maybe i shouldn't have picked up that hitchhiker.. or maybe you shouldn't have accepted that ride.

who's to blame at the end really

(Flash warning!!!)

[quendiviner]

toby + drastic!

YEAA ‼️ have a drawing too (also found here)

Summary: As one of its attempts to disturb the doomed project, Tobias hides very important information regarding it behind a passcode only it knows. Without the data, there is no way Samuel could continue the project. But what Toby forgot is that despite everything, the man was chosen to lead the project because of his ability to always get what he wants.

Captured, Tobias tries to survive for as long as it can, or at least to wait for a perfect opportunity to escape.

Warnings: blood, violence, death, (mild) torture, injuries

----

"You're surprisingly strong," the guard, Amanda, murmured into Tobias's face, "for some lab loser."

It smirked slightly, looking into her eyes, and spat blood at her face. "Gee, thanks, trying my best here. First time for everything, am I right," it giggled, ignoring the pain in its right side.

A cracked rib, possibly. Tobias tried to think when was the last time it had one. Possibly back when it was still figure skating?

It wasn't as annoying as the guilt in its head, feeling deeply bad about its actions. It wasn't like this, why the fuck would it do this?

Amanda stepped back, almost tripping over a cable behind her, shaking her head. "You little bitch, you-" she tried to reach for the tissue box on the table, but it kept sliding away from her bloody hands. Another guard, Robert, came closer, took out several tissues and wiped her face. She thanked him, grabbed the box and threw it towards Tobias, missing its face only a few centimeters.

It tried to keep its expression as calm as possible, despite the feeling in its stomach, and the heart beats so loud it thought the others could hear if they were close enough.

Tobias knew what they want, what Samuel wants.

It could just say it and have the whole thing end. Not suffer more and more until Samuel could finally get what he wants, or until-

It groaned at the impact of Robert's fist into its cheek.

"You think you're funny?" Amanda said loudly, gesturing the guard to hit again, "The only thing you are is annoying."

Tobias looked at her. "You know, you're probably the only one who has said that to my face."

It knew how desperate its actions were, and how they were based on a pathetic little hope it had that someone could maybe get here in time, to save it from all of this.

And if drastic, unusual behavior was what could let it hold on until that, then it really didn't see another choice.

It's not like Tobias wanted to give up and just tell everything to these fucking corporates, either.

The idea of the project being continued and reaching the next stage Samuel has planned made him feel even more sick than whatever was happening now.

"What are you doing?" Samuel's voice rang across the room, making both guards quickly turn to the door.

"Katz is acting brave," Robert began and pointed at Amanda, "and she's taking it a bit too personally."

"Too personally? Fucker spit into my face-"

Samuel sighed. "And why would it do that?"

"She decided to annoy it, I guess."

Another sigh. Samuel rubbed his chin and gave a sign with his hand. Robert turned to Amanda and shot her in face.

"What the fuck?" Tobias flinched in its chair as the body fell right next to it. "You're killing your own people now??"

"You know what's good about being in an actual lab?" Samuel said calmly, taking a few steps towards it. "The local cleaning nanobots do an incredible job. I don't know why you ever bothered to clean things by yourself."

"Wh-"

"Robert, could you please help Dr. Katz get up on its feet? I'd love to show Toby something."

The guard grabbed its shoulders and jerked it up. "Come on now, doctor."

Tobias tried to take a step, winced at the pain in its knee and fell down on the floor.

"Now, now, no drastic movements, and no smart-in-your-opinion remarks. Our friend here," Samuel glanced at his guard, "has a twitchy finger."

"Good for him," Tobias muttered while getting up slowly. It tried to stand up properly, only to wince at the pain again, "though it does sound like something he should get checked out," it added. The guard groaned and shoved him a little, not enough to make him fall but enough for the scientist to let out a surprised yet exhausted gasp.

"I warned you, Toby."

"Oh, fuck off, will you. Frankly, I doubt you'll let him blow my brains out before I tell you what you want," it smirked, "by the way, how are you going to do it? Doubt your little trick you used for Erin will work this time."

"They were more...cooperative...than you, yes."

"Didn't know turning one's back to you and getting shot counts as cooperating nowadays."

"Well, aren't you smart," Samuel said, "Robert, help our chemist walk, will you?"

The guard nodded, wrapping his arm around its shoulders.

"Where are we going?"

"Observation hall," he glanced at Tobias, "That's what you and others called it, right? Because whoever walked there could see what's happening in main lab?"

Tobias nodded slowly. "Mmhmm."

"It's good to hear office rumors every now and then."

"That the only reason you stopped by the break room?"

"Of course! I had an espresso machine in my office. It's much better than whatever you had from that coffee machine. I decided to take a sip once, it was a big mistake. But it also showed the reason why I always saw you with a latte from a neighbor cafe," he smirked, "How do you and your wife divide the cost of your little 'lunch meetings'? I know for sure she has a higher salary than you."

"That's none of your business."

"Hey, you two did meet up during work time."

"Fuck off, will you?"

"Sure, sure," Samuel stopped and rose his arms, "Ah! We're here. Now, you said this plan of yours, journalists and internal investigations, was all yours, right? No one else is involved?"

What the fuck is he doing? Tobias thought. "Yes. Why the hell would I endanger someone else's life? Do I look like an idiot?"

"Well, okay," he gestured to join him by the window, "Then what was she doing in the servers?"

Robert pushed it towards the window and stepped away. Tobias took a small step, leaned on the rail and looked down. A blonde woman, sitting on a chair, another guard standing next to her, aggressively asking questions. "Wh- Lydia?"

"Yes, your assistant. You sound surprised, interesting..." Tobias felt him standing right behind itself, watching over its shoulder. "Funny, I could swear that she was doing all this because of you. Though, of course, in a way, she is following your opinions."

"Wh- what do you mean?"

"Oh, you know. You being against my decision probably drove her to go destroy all the data we have."

"She was doing what?"

"You heard me, Toby. Funny thing, if you would've been behind it, I would've let her go. But, now-"

"Wait, wait, wait!" Tobias turned to him and grabbed his jacket, "Don't do it, I beg you, she's just doing what she thinks is right. She's just young. Who isn't acting foolish when they're young?" It shook his shoulders. "Come on now, please."

"Bargaining, are you?" He stared at Tobias and pointed at the window. "Do you have something to do with this?"

"No, I swear!"

"Then why are so keen on defending her?"

"Because she doesn't deserve to die."

"Very well. Tell me the password."

"What, no, that's-"

"Last chance."

"It has nothing to do with-" Tobias gasoed as Samuel grabbed its shoulder and pushed it into the window. The guard had taken out a gun, a blaster. "No, no, please! I-" it took a deep breath, "Okay, fine. You'll get what you want."

"God, you're pathetic," Samuel took out a notepad from his jacket and gave it to Tobias. "Write."

"Okay, okay, fine," it sat down and scribbled something on the paper, then folded it several times. "Here."

Samuel chuckled. "Now that wasn't hard, was it?" he twirled the paper in his hand for a moment, gave it to the guard still standing behind them, and took out his communication device. He turned to the window with a wide smile on his face and murmured into the device, "Kill her."

"No!" Tobias turned to the window, only to see the light blue flash of the blaster. "Why...why did you do that? You promised-"

"I didn't promise you shit, Toby," Samuel turned around, leaving the sobbing mess of a scientist leaning on the rail, and walked to Robert. The guard was still messing around with the laptop, trying to find the right program. "Did you get it open?"

"I haven't tried yet, sir. I-"

"Ugh, let me," he opened the program, "Finally, now, let's see," Samuel carefully unfolded the note, his smirk suddenly turning into a frown. "You think this is funny, Tobias? You think writing 'suck a dick, corporate shithead' will offend me, huh? Drastic, for sure, I wouldn't know you were this brave, but-" he turned to the window, only to see that there's no one there. "What the fuck? Where did it go?"

Robert shrugged. "I have no idea, sir."

Samuel ripped the note into pieces and grabbed the guard's shoulders. "Then go and FIND IT," he hissed.

----

taglist (reply/dm/ask in tags to be added or removed):

@spaceratprodigy @elvves @dekarios @aeducanthaig @edgepunk

@dickytwister @hiddenbeks @terendelev @tuntau @babylon5

@claudiawolf @velocitic @eluvixns

[faytelumos]

Jason Todd

Give Me a Character

How I feel about Jason? I love him. He's my boy. He's a martyr. He's a cautionary tale. He's always been doomed since the day he was born. The very universe itself conspires against him because readers wanted him to die. So he dies. Again and again, in every universe, he dies, and he fights, and he tries to make the world a better place, and he wants to be kind, but he is doomed, always, every time, even when he comes back. It's tragic, and I hate what they've done to him, but without it, he wouldn't be the same person. He wouldn't be my blorbo.

JoyFire (Jason Todd x Roy Harper x Koriand'r) is my OTP for this guy. And I will say it out loud, I also enjoy JayTim and JayDick. I like JoyFire because it's like… the family you choose. Each of them has trauma about getting left behind in some sense. So they'll never leave each other. Even if Jason's a jerk sometimes, he will never, ever leave either of them hanging when it matters even a little. And they're the same for him. I like JayTim because Tim thinks Jason is so annoying, and Jason thinks Tim is so smart and capable, and so there's a little bit of pining in there? Especially in the opposite way one would expect by looking at them. But Tim knows that Jason's smart, and I kind of ignore a bunch of the ugliness that happened right around Under the Red Hood with them, to be honest. Not completely, but some of it. I think that Tim can admire Jason's ingenuity and persistence even when he's rolling his eyes at him, and I think that Jason thinks so highly of Tim, even when he refuses to ever say it out loud. And as for JayDick, maybe some of it is just me smashing my favorite dolls together. I freaking love Dick Grayson. Who doesn't? And I freaking love Jason, and they have a complicated relationship, but they love each other, whether you want it to be brotherly, friendly, or romantic. They love each other, and I'll take that in any flavor I can get it.

Non-romantic OTP is also Jason and Dick. You cannot tell me these two don't share the braincell when they're in a room together. But also, they can be hyper competent together. If they're both motivated and working together, they can do anything. Including building a heated roof pool out of cardboard, a carbon metallic alloy, and a "borrowed" shop vacuum.

(Also gotta mention that I adore father-son pair Bruce and Jason. The two of them are just so wonderful together, how Jason brings such joy into Bruce's life and Bruce just wants Jason to heal and realize his dreams, ah!)

Unpopular opinion about him? Willis was a good dad. [lifts a megaphone] Willis Todd was a good dad! He was a victim of a broken system and turned to crime because it was the only means he had to provide for his family! Any time he laid a hand on Jason or Catherine was still unjustified, but it was because Willis was a deeply frustrated and scared man who had no system or room to handle his negative emotions or feel accomplishment in his life! [puts down the megaphone] Domestic abuse is never okay, and that goes the same if a woman is the abuser. But Willis was not an asshole, he was a poverty-stricken petty criminal with the most minimal support system. He loved Jason, and he loved Catherine, and he tore himself up to do his best to provide for them all the way to the end. His story is a sad one, he was not the villain, and I hate it when people say Jason is better off without him and didn't mourn him or feel bad about his death.

There's a lot of things I wished hadn't happened to him in canon, but most of all, I hate what Zur En Arrh did to him.* It was absolutely terrible, and then the fact that nobody was left to give Jason any support at all after the fact because they were all chasing Zur really gets to me. The way that one panel just showed him trembling, so small, alone, asking anybody at all for help…. It breaks my heart. Because it's always like that for him. He ends up alone, on his own, because he's the black sheep and he's mad about it, and he defends people who others leave behind. And it breaks my heart in a way that actually very truly makes me sad. Because there are people who think he deserves it. Including the writers.

[stealingpotatoes]

Do you know where Yoda is in your Anakin-raises-Leia au?

Is he still chilling on Dagobah, with occasional visits from the X-many greats grandkids?

Did he see Anakin, Ahsoka, and (later) Obi-Wan trying to raise a baby and think Absolutely Not, they need Adult Supervision?

Did he choose to stay near Luke like OT Obi, but as a mysterious bog gremlin instead of sand wizard? is he punking any imperials that try to enter - think Shrek vibes

Is he taking advantage of the Vader free universe to go around looking for their lost padawans?

did he immediately retire to a vacation world, leaving saving the universe in his lineages' hands as he sips space piña coladas and watches the sun set?

Is he doing a mix of everything?

yeah he's pissed off to dagobah as per usual!! so yeah shrek vibes but on dagobah not naboo ): really not much difference, though Anakin and Leia do (carefully) visit a few times to get Jedi guidance or whatever! but yeah just bc vader isn't here doesn't mean yoda's 1. safe or 2. in a mental state to be a jedi after losing so many ppl he taught ): lad's in his depressed swamp boy summer

[thisbluespirit]

So, yesterday, I remembered to glance at current dramas on BBC Sounds again for the first time in a while, and got a huge and wonderful shock on finding this at the top of the SFF category.

It's a 1971 6 part supernatural series starring Martin Jarvis & Patricia Gallimore. I don't think it's ever been repeated since. At least parts of it were missing for a while, and I had no idea whether the rest of it was extant or not. But I liked the sound of it enough that I bought the novelisation, and it was top of my impossible radio listening wishlist.

Yesterday, I got to listen to Part 1, Part 2 should be broadcast later today!

ETA: You can listen to the link regardless of where you are in the world! (UK listeners just get the Sounds app as well if they want it.)

[velvetwyrme]

transformers one is out now!!! have yuo watched it yet?? how was it?? c:

HI ANON i hope you dont mind that i kept this in my askbox for a couple days because I hadn't watched it yet (wanted to make sure I was No Longer Sick, because being sick in the cinema is Not Great) and also technically it hasn't released here yet,,,? BUT apparently they've got advance preview weekends for like. the same price so Obviously I went.

ANYWAY I HAVE WATCHED IT NOW AND IT WAS FANTASTIC!!!! THANK YOU FOR ASKING.

AHHHHHHHHHH hold on I've been talking nonstop about it for like the last. 4 hours. fucking help me. or dont. I love to chatter and will continue to do so under the cut shjfkgnwmbfks so if you count this, it'll end up nearing 6. I'm... probably going to talk about this as if you know the general premise of the movie, but if not. Google it. Or just go watch it!! (Can recommend) I talk too much to summarise it fhfjfbskdnfkf

Vague spoiler warning because I don't know what I'll talk about rhdjfbekntkr,,,,

Edit: If you've been following me for any amount of time, you know that when I say this got long, you really do have to believe me on that.

My mom liked it as well???? She came with me because I didn't want to subject any of my irl friends to my tf rambling and she didn't want me to go alone fbfkfbkd I thought she wouldn't, but SHE LIKED IT.

Okay so first off: going into the theatre, I was so so afraid that I was going to have the same thought I had after watching Puss and Boots: The First Wish, which was- "I REALLY liked that, and it would have been one of my favorite movies if I was still a child." (Still a really good movie!!)

BUT I DIDN'T HAVE THAT. I JUST REALLY LOVE THE MOVIE FULL STOP.

Anyway, onto my wild rambling.

The visuals were superb!! Gorgeous. No notes. Freaking amazing animation and character design and world design !!!!! I'LL COME BACK TO THAT I COULD YELL FOREVER ABT WORLDBUILDING. The characterisation is so so good, so tasty.

Also because I'm a huge honkin nerd...

The movie is largely focused on the dynamic between Orion Pax/Optimus Prime and D-16/Megatron, but the other characters also shine through really well, and they show off a lot personality even with the ones with very few scenes. Elita-One is a fucking delight I wanna kiss her!!!!!!! She's so cool and pragmatic and it SHOWS in what she does and how she acts. She IS better than you, and she knows it. Even Starscreams confident yet cowardly nature is shown with him lounging on a throne and slinking off after his fight with D-16, and he's barely there!!! RAHAGGHHH I love what you can do with characterisation!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Also my god this movie was funny. Even when the pacing is fast it's a GOOD fast. Comedic moments are used really well in this, and it flips smoothly between that and the more serious and heartfelt bits.

AND HRHFJFJDK okay so maybe its just my sense of humor, but I found Bee to be really really really funny. He's just like me for real!!! Talks too much, excited as HELL about everything!!!!!!!!! HE'S JUST LIKE ME. I also told my mom this and she was like. "Yes! He is jist like you!! He talks a lot. You would do the knife-hands thing. Also, you're wearing yellow." And. I was. I am. hrhfjfjfkkghdk 💛💛 Shockwave in this movie is ALSO very funny. He gets punched <3 Many other characters also get punched, but he complains about it. He reminds me somewhat of TF Animated Shockwave but less intimidating sgdjfbdjfbdmfbmd

Speaking of characters... Airachnid was so pretty. I love her design so much!!!! She's alien and COOL and I love her!!!!! She has so many eyes... (I'd ALSO love to know more about what her deal is. But... her lack of a motive/story is made up infinitely by strong screen presence and personality) Sentinel was ALSO very pretty and I loved seeing him on screen but I (spoilers) loved seeing him get ripped in half more. Those were LOVELY shots.

I brought my mini Soundwave along with me!! I liked Soundwave in the movie even if he didn't play a big part <33 The "there sure are a lot of waves" joke was VERY funny because I had the exact same thought moments before.

There are a LOT of cameos in the film and I kept going "AHHHHH [CHARACTER]". I get why they didn't add more as main characters- there were a loooooot of characters running around already, and only 2 hours!! Even so, I still wish we saw more of the other characters that cameoed (JAZZ!!!!!! MY BOYYYY!! I WAS SO SCARED THEY'D KILL HIM OFF) or had minor appearances because I just. I want to know what they'd do with the characterisation........ but that's what fanfic for for ig ehfjfhdk,,

And on the topic of lovely shots, theres a series of scenes near the end of the movie with no dialogue, only music and sound and. It's SO good. It's so impactful and beautiful and ausuaiaiurhrgh...

The whole movie is inherently sort of a tragedy since it's a prequel. We all know how it ends; what these characters become. But the build up to that is so SO good. I loved the character progression- D-16'S PROGRESSION TO BECOMING MEGATRON IS!!! AHHHHH!! I loved seeing him shift from one perspective to another and they made it believable.

His anger and betrayal giving way to violence- there's this one bit shortly after they are given the ability to transform where you See that violence in D-16 fir the first time, and it's shot so starkly in comparison to the other characters (who also fight to get away) and it's just like. Oh. There's the potential for something dangerous there.

It is so so interesting to me to see how that violence is framed in comparison to the others- all three of the other protags have their moments of violence- Elita-One is very very intimidating and used violence/threats to get her way, and Bee has this lightheartedness/innocence to his violence... Orion Pax is just. he's doing what needs to be done, he takes no joy from the destruction- he's fighting back, but I think most importantly all of them know when to stop.

There are the fights and punches that get thrown around, and then there is D-16 wailing on Starscream. Megatron RIPPING SENTINEL IN HALF. God that scene was good.

Anyway, sometimes in media a character goes through a Big Event that changes or breaks them, but here? There is no breaking point for D-16/Megatron. It's a slow spiralling descent and you see him taking one step after another, deciding to continue down this path. This is shown in a more literal way with his eyes slowly changing colour through the movie (fucking SICK SHOTS!!!!!!!) but there are a dozen more moments where you can see him decide who he is becoming.

IT WAS REALLY GOOD, I LOVE SHIT LIKE THAT.

And as audience!! Though we know this change is inevitable!! (This is an event in the past- the end of this is already written!!!) It's still tragic!! I feel for him!! I want him to keep getting back up in the face of Sentinel's cruelty!!!!!!!!!!

Orion watching his friend change, seeing them grow further apart... and he still hangs onto that hope right up until the end (and even after that!!!!!! He banishes him, because he will not kill him!!)

imo, they did Orion Pax/Optimus Prime really well in this one- he gets into a lot of trouble and it somehow works out. I think they do really well in making him feel down to earth in this- he's punchy and dynamic and has this unwavering respect for the people around him, but he's also good at being tricky and manipulative to get interesting outcomes that nobody else could have considered- he knows how people tick on an individual level and he knows how to use that. He thinks differently, and it's fantastic. Most importantly, Orion can see something nobody else can: a world where things are better.

Orion becoming Optimus... ough. aough. It's so!!!!!! AHHH. I loved all of the sequences that follow after. When his signature axe made an appearance I was so excited it was REALLY COOL. ALL OF IT WAS SO COOL.

The fight choreography is FANTASTIC and while it was a little messy at times (so much... going on........) it was fluid and dynamic and mwah mwah mwah I love it.

ALSO I SAID I'D YELL ABOUT WORLDBUILDING but this is really really long already so like. I'll keep it short as I can

The glimpses of the society that exists is FASCINATING to me. We don't get to see much of it, because our main characters are purely of the lower classes, so what's available to us is quite limited, but the class structure is INTERESTING to me. Unlike IDW, where form dictates function, this universe is driven (ha. ha.) on the idea that some Cybertronians can't transform (and thus work in the lower classes, as miners and waste management etc.) but as it turns out, (spoilers) they actually get their transformation cogs removed before they come online. And like... I can't help but wonder how they pick who gets that treatment?? Luck???? I'm dying to know.

ALSO I really like the Quintessons (sad they're not the the horrible five faced creature things. I wanna see the Weirdos!!!!) but I still think these fuck hard. They're really buggy and organic and cool (I adore their ship designs holy shiiiiiiiiit- just yesterday I was admiring all the bugs and monsters and crabby things in Guild Wars 2, and now THIS?? BLESSED.) And the CYBERTRONIAN DEER ARE COOL!!!!!!!!!! I like them. That's all. I wished we got to see more of the bio-mechanical parts of the planet...

AND AND THE PLANET ITSELF HOLY SHIT AHHHHHH!!!!! The city is gorgeous- the spires going up and down is mwah amazing. The roads and rails appearing/disappearing as they are used? PEAK. The MINES and the surface of Cybertron. They're shifting, moving, alive. I legit was staring slackjawed when they were in the mines- it's just SO COOL to watch!!!

OKAY. IM DONE NOW.

...

AUGH I want to watch it again. I probably WILL watch it again.

If you got all the way down here, thank you for reading (?!) and please tell me what YOU thought of it if you've seen it 🥺👀 Or if you're going to. I definitely recommend it.

[emry-stars-art]

I just read through all of the mer au and royal au master posts and I just have to say that they're so creative and I love the way you write and draw them. They're both such good aus.

Do you have any more with Andrew and Kevin taking care of Neil when he's just barely back from evermore? I don't care that it's not realistic that he's temporarily blind, I think it's such an interesting way to explore Kevin and Andrew taking care of Neil

(First of all thank you SO much you’re so kind, I also love exploring the dynamic of these three - if you couldn’t tell by the sheer volume of writing here - because ahhhh)

So I held onto this specifically for now; we are halfway through whumptober yayyyyyy 🥲

I bring you a small barrage of help and comfort for the boy!!

Abram’s immediate return to Palmetto

Responsibility II - Abram’s hair

Andrew catching Abram after a nightmare

Abram beginning his recovery in Day’s care

Andrew beginning to help with Abram’s physical therapy

Find more royal au scenes here 💕

[silverstarfics]

good news guys I completed my first year of university and finally overcame my soul-crushing anxiety about interacting in fandom spaces so now I’m backkk. actually I meant to redownload tumblr before thunderpride began but long story short I ended up without any internet oops... anyway hi!! I missed everyone!!

[perilegs]

i miss horses

[wolfram-but-art]

Your art is food.

let him cook now I SAID LET HIM COOK!!!