#but it turns out that the guy who dedicated his entire being to the Decepticons is not big on individualism

[blueskyscribeupdates]

Secure Own Oxygen Mask

Chapter 29

You go downstairs, Laserbeak still tucked safely in your chest.  The lights are on in the lab. Every week you draw up carefully crafted shifts for the scientists, and every week they fail to adhere to them.  

It is annoying, but tonight it works to your advantage.  No less than three mecha are puttering over half-finished projects: Sinthesis, Tarantulas, and the head of the Science Division, Shockwave.  Sinthesis is pointing out the inner workings of some kind of gun, which Shockwave is looking over with a critical eye—the only one he has, in more than one sense.

Tarantulas takes the chance to sidle over, held aloft by four of his scuttling spider legs.  Nor are the others left idle; in his various limbs he carries a vial of green liquid, an eyedropper, and a clipboard, while his hands are clasped around a large beaker of some pale pink, gelatinous material.  "Lieutenant Soundwave? What are you doing here at this late hour?"

"Seeking Shockwave."  As Tarantulas' legs shift and tilt, smoke wafts out of the vial and its contents tip towards the rim. "Reminder: safety protocols mandatory."

He follows your pointed stare as a single drop spills out—accompanied by a smell so acrid that even you can taste it—and begins eating through the floor.  

"Ah." Hastily he brings the vial level. "Well, since you're here perhaps I can interest you in a demonstration of what I've been working on."

You are Soundwave, Third-in-Command; you tend to all the matters which Starscream thinks are beneath his notice, and which actually are beneath Megatron's. Yet as you stand there, feeling tired and compressed, you long to say no.

You make a gesture. "Continue."

"I've been studying the natural defenses of creatures native to this planet, and their offensive mechanisms as well.  This," he taps one claw against the beaker of pink goop, "is but one of the transorganic compounds I've developed. You see, when I add the correct portion of proteins . . ." 

Using the eyedropper, he adds three sizzling green drops to the beaker.  Tarantulas encourages the chemical reaction by stirring vigorously with a glass stick; it meets growing resistance as the concoction changes to a milky hue and takes on a semi-solid state; when he finally pulls the stick free, it is trailing thin, white, tacky threads.

"Amazing, isn't it?" Tarantulas' mandibles clatter excitedly. "A totally new substance!"

You look at the white threads.  "Purpose?"

"The possible applications are endless!" he says, suspiciously vague.  "Look over here, I've been using the webbing, as I call it, (the temptation was too great to do otherwise, ha ha ha,) to hold all my tools—" 

Sometimes the scientists forget that the purpose of their research is not to satisfy their own curiosity, but to win a war.  "Query: military applications?  Webbing: can restrain Autobots?"

He hesitates.  "Not yet, per se, but with more research and development that is certainly a possibility.  Its tensile strength is already significant compared to its diameter, here, let me show you—"

And with a forward jerk of his head he opens his mandibles and spits a mess of thin white threads into his waiting hands.

You recoil.  Your hands jerk upward and you must resist the instinct to activate your subsonics to push away a threat, perhaps a carrier of disease.  From within you feel Laserbeak's incredulity and disgust mirroring yours, although there is a note of delight too; he can't wait to send a video to the other cassettes and force them to witness this.

"Query . . ."  But the only query that springs to mind is That was intentional? You put that in your chassis? And you already know the answer to that.

Your reaction has not gone unnoticed. Tarantulas wilts, his spider legs curling towards his body and his long, thin fingers twitching as he alternately stretches the white threads thin and scrunches them into a ball.  He stutters something incoherent about the practicality of transporting work materials as you look at the beaker.  Its contents have mostly been converted into a wad of white, but traces of the original solution roll along the bottom of the glass.  The pink coloration strikes you as familiar.

"Query." This time your voice is firm. "Production of material: requires energon?"

"Er, of course.  It's such a highly reactive substance, almost any experiment uses—"

"Energon: precious.  Experiment: nonessential. Results: unusable.  Tarantulas: will cease."

Tarantulas' legs pull him back.  "You can't be serious!  Science does not come with a timetable! Please, if you'll just let me bring this project to fruition—"

An unfamiliar anger flares within you, starting in your spark and burning outward. Laserbeak agrees; he lends control and focus as you step forward.  Your vocalizer thrums with uncontrolled reverb.  "Energon: PRECIOUS."

Though Tarantulas cowers back, you read the resentment on his face.  "But—"

You issue him ten demerits.  Not all at once.  Individually, at increments of two seconds.  His legs twitch erratically, his hands fold to his chest, still full of white string.  It smears over his biolights, tacky and half-hardened.  Disgusting.  You half hope he keeps arguing.  He has already lost privileges to the recreation room, flavor additives, and 'the good seats' in Astrotrain.  If he chooses to lose more, so be it.  Experiments are not the only things that can be denied energon.

"Soundwave!  How good to see you." Shockwave is suddenly hovering at your elbow, either having noticed the altercation or having been pinged that one of his underlings is racking up demerits. "And what brings you to my humble domain tonight?"

He puts the slightest emphasis on my.  No doubt he is rankled that you punished one of his mecha, but he has enough sense not to express it directly.  You tamp down your anger;  Shockwave does not deserve demerits, even if his subordinates are lacking, even if he has ignored the work schedule (again).  It is his nature to be jealous—he is a mech who has lost much—but he does his best.  You are both professionals, at least.

And truly, he is brilliant.

"Soundwave: requires assistance.  Requests Shockwave: examine blueprint, make alterations."

"Certainly!  Anything for our illustrious Third-in-Command."  His tone is jovial, leaving you the option to take this remark as a joke or seriously.  (You do not care much either way.)  "I can pencil you in next week for fifteen minutes, or for an hour in two weeks.  I apologize for the wait, but I'm simply swamped . . ."

That won't do. "Affirmative.  Soundwave: will assist Shockwave.  Soundwave: will conduct census of experiments. Soundwave: will locate excess energon use.  Soundwave: will—"

Shockwave interrupts your droning. "On the other hand, there's no time like the present, is there?"  He puts a hand under your elbow and gestures with his gun-arm.  "Please, join me in the privacy of my office."

He sweeps you past Sinthesis, who keeps their head studiously close to their work, and away from Tarantulas, who is swelling like he might explode.

You pay them no mind, though you do access Tarantulas' file and add a damning tag:  Not a Team Player.

[yes-i-write-fanfiction]

What would the decepticons think of tfp rung and what would rung think of them?

-At first, Megatron does not think much of Rung. He's a small, scrawny bot with no prior fighting experience so he won't be able to stand in the way of the decepticons. At least, that's what Megatron first assumes. But Megatron did not get too where he is with just raw power and force. No, he used his charisma, he spoke to the masses and moved their sparks with his words. Because of this, Megatron is more than aware of the power of the spoken word. And this is what finally makes him aware of Rung as a threat.

Rung has a way with words, can speak in a way makes people feel seen and that is what makes him dangerous. The last thing Megatron needs is Rung going around and talking with his soldiers, appealing to their feelings and swaying them unto his side. No, he needs to be dealt with and quickly at that.

Meanwhile, Rung feels sympathy with Megatron. He's read his early texts, his cause to action, and remembers the mech that he used to be; the idealistic mech with hopes for the future. To see him turn into this warmonger, a person that only thirsts for battle and conquest, is tragic. Still, Rung thinks there's still a glimmer of light in Megatron's otherwise dark spark. Somewhere, that bright eyed youth still lives on.

-Starscream initially tries to manipulate Rung when he tries to talk. Yes, Starscream is used to talking, to spinning stories and lying to get out on top. But he's not used to Rung. Rung talks to him like a person, an equal, like he's someone important but not because he's some high ranking official but simply because he's another living being. It makes him feel a million different emotions all at once, most of which he has no intention of ever confronting.

After this initial meeting, Starscream tries to avoid talking to Rung again. And if he has to he will make it brief. He doesn't like how it feels like Rung can see right through him, like he can read his mind and knows all his deepest secrets. It makes him feel vulnerable and he doesn't like that one bit.

Rung on the other hand doesn't want to make Starscream feel uncomfortable, he simply wants to help him. When he looks at the seeker he sees a person that's hurting, that lies and manipulates to cope and backstabs because he's afraid of getting hurt first. It doesn't have to be like this.

-Immediately, there's something about Rung that puts Soundwave on edge. The way he slips through the gaps of Soundwave's mind, threatening to be forgotten the moment he stops concentrating on him. After some more research, Soundwave learns that he's not the only one experiencing this. This makes Rung something mysterious, unknown, a threat.

This, coupled with his charisma, makes Rung someone that Soundwave actively keeps an eye on. He will never show it but he's created an entire folder, encrypted with his some of his most powerful firewalls, dedicated to figuring out just who, or what, Rung is.

While Soundwave thinks all of this, Rung sees the silent mech as a dedicated person that's placed his entire identity in the decepticon cause. This is very dangerous for a person's mental wellbeing and he would love to have a talk with Soundwave to maybe figure this out.

-Knockout initially looks down on Rung because of multiple reasons. One; he's a psychiatrist, which is like a medic but not as important. Two; he's old and looks like something out of a history book. Three; he's small and scrawny and can't even transform into something useful like a car. What a pitiful little guy.

But slowly Knockout starts to enjoy Rung's company whenever they meet. Rung makes him feel seen, makes him feel heard and isn't that a change from the usual? Eventually Knockout grows fond of the mech, even if he still kinda bullies him. It's not out of cruelty anymore though, it's simply friendly banter.

Rung enjoys talking with Knockout and finds him fascinating. At first glance he appears to be nothing but a vain, self absorbed mech but when you actually get to know him you find out that there's actually a lot going on in that helm of his. Likes his sense of humor and sarcasm.

-Ok, so Breakdown is used to handling bots that are pretty sturdy, be it allies or enemies. But Rung is like a gazillion years old and looks like a gust of wind could blow him off his feet and this stresses Breakdown out because he doesn't really wanna hurt the guy. Whenever they talk Rung is always genuinely nice and concerned about Breakdown's wellbeing and that is not something he's used to.

Breakdown really wishes that Rung were a decepticon since they could actually be friends then. At the same time he actually finds himself agreeing with a lot of what the little dude has to say, much to his own surprise. Talking with Rung always leaves him thinking for a long time afterwards.

Rung likes Breakdown and genuinely cares about his wellbeing. Despite his intimidating appearance he's actually very kind and caring, always looking out for his fellow decepticons, even the vehicons. Rung knows that when the war ends Cybertron will need mechs like Breakdown. That's why his sudden death leaves him incredibly shaken.

-Similar to Soundwave, Shockwave has his optic on Rung. But whereas the TIC is wary, Shockwave finds himself fascinated. His fellow decepticons, not even the autobots, seems to have noticed that there's something very special about the orange mech. And no, he's not talking about his education or charisma. The way he fades from people's memories, the strange energy readings of his spark that oddly matches that of the Matrix, the photonic shards that's started to appear ever since he showed up... There's something more about this mech than meets the eye.

Shockwave sees Rung as a test subject, one that he longs to acquire. The more he learns about the bot the more intrigued he becomes. There's so many experiments that he has in mind regarding this bot and none of them are particularly pleasant.

While Rung never got to meet senator Shockwave he knew a great deal about the bot and finds it beyond tragic and horrible what happened to him. A part of him hopes that that mech is still in there somewhere but he also knows that Shadowplay is not something easily undone and that Shockwave has no interest in reversing the process.

[fckwritersblock]

Protection Forever - William Lennox

Lennox x Reader

Description: Running into an old flame at the worst possible time.

Warning: nah. Bad writing? Kinda. Unedited because I was excited. I’ll not when it’s been fixed. Somethings may not be fully aligned with the movie but I tried 😩

Word count: 2500+

Dedicated to @merakiaes hey fren!

All gifs from @meragifs too!

You were an EMT.

The two of you pulled up to meet with the other Autobots, you exiting the vehicle before he transformed. You were in awe as he and the rest of the cars all changed.

The biggest one, their leader, gave a rundown of everything that was happening once he confirmed Sam’s identity. This was just a recap for you as Ratchet had already explained. The teenage boy just stood there stuttering not really knowing how to process everything and you frowned again. That was when you really took notice of two teens just standing there. Having known what was expected of Sam Witwicky you frowned slightly.

“I don’t know about this Ratchet, he’s just kid.” You commented to the alien you had formed a quick bond with.

“And who might you be?” The one called Optimus inquired.

You gave him your name before the other yellow autobot, who you’d later learned was Bumble Bee, uttered something through his radio. It was hard for you to hear but the other robots seemed to be use to it as Ratchet responded immediately.

“The human. I like her.” Ratchet sounding irritated.

Bumblebee made another comment and right before Ratchet could respond one of the others chimed in.

“Wait why do they get humans?” Jazz asked incredulously. “I want one too!”

“Enough! Humans are not pets.” The one call Optimus Prime stated sternly, clearly tired of their bickering. You held your laugh, highly amused.

They were like siblings. A family.

“Exactly I’m just here to help and be a better tour guide than these kids can be.” You confirmed practically forcing your services on them. “Besides they need adult supervision. From the looks of it, you all do.” You grinned at everyone around you. Optimus gave a nod, agreeing.

“She stays. Let’s move.”

In that short amount of time things moved rather quickly. You watched the Autobots accidentally destroy Sam’s backyard when attempting to retrieve the glasses, you were all arrested, you escaped thanks to the Autobots, only to be arrested again.

Fail.

Finally you ended it some secret base. How get you weren’t alone. The government had apparently been on a roll with kidnapping civilians who “knew too much “.

Things weren’t going great but quickly went left when the Decepticons, the Autobot rivals, came to retrieve Megatron.

A war from another planet had officially made Earth its battleground.

You were nervous, trying to figure out how to calm everything down before things started to escalate. Nobody was going to get anywhere with all the bickering. That’s when you saw him.

It had been what? Two years?

Still, without even knowing it, without even knowing you were present, he was still able to make your heart be slow and fast at the same time. The army had aged him, but for the better making him all the more attractive but you couldn’t focus on that right now. Especially when you heard:

“The cryogenic system is failing! We're losing NBE One!”

All the soldiers begin to pack everything that they could to prepare in a fight the way they always did. It was an mirable the way Linux game orders in his men took them without a second thought. The trust there.

“That’s good. Get all the ammo you got.”

“Everything you can carry. Bring it.”

Tearing your eyes away from your former lover you grab Sam.

“Come on, we need Bee.” You reminded him, nodding in Simmons direction

“You got to take me to my car.” Sam said, then repeated when he was ignored. “You have to take me to my car. He’s gonna know what to do with the Cube.”

“Your car? It's confiscated.”

“Then unconfiscate it.” You stared blankly.

“We do not know what will happen if we let it near this thing! -“

“You don't know.”

“Maybe you know, but I don't know.”

You rolled your eyes at the insufferable mans rambling.

This was really was more about ego who was in control more than anything. The guy running the ship, clearly was on a power trip. Unfortunately for him he was facing off against soldiers . The Captain who’s eyes you could feel staring at the side of your face.

A Captain and his soldiers. Ones that really dont like to lose and take serving their country seriously.

The guy who arrested you earlier continue to argue with Sam about getting him back to bumblebee when Lennox finally pulled out his gun sick of the back-and-forth.

“Take him to his car!”

As soon as he did so all hell broke loose and everyone from both parties pulled out a weapon.

“Drop it!”

It wasn’t until One of the sector seven agents pointed a gun at the back of Will’s head that you disable to another agent and took his gun and pointed it directly and held it directly at the one pointing the gun at your ex.

“I really wouldn’t.” You warned.

You were no soldier, but Will have taught you plenty before you broke up. So did your brother, before he passed away. He actually served alongside Will but died in combat. Biking. That’s part of why you were so hurt when Will re-enlisted. When he got promoted to Captain and chose the army over you. You were terrified of losing him the way you lost your brother. The break up wasn’t that messy but you both said things you didn’t mean. In attempts to mask your own pain and hurt one another.

You know. Hurt people, hurt people.

It’s still came to no surprise that you put a bullet in someone to protect him. Together or not you’d never let anything happen to him.

“I'm ordering you under S-Seven executive jurisdiction-“ Simmons ranted.

“S-Seven don't exist.” You interjected, earning a quick appreciative glance from Will.

“Right. And we don’t take orders from people that don’t exist.”

“I’m gonna count to 5. Okay-“ Simmons attempted to threat yet again.

“Well, I’m gonna count to three.” Will deadpanned.

You knew that look. God did you know that look and it was so wrong that you were so turned on.

Finally the Secretary of defense interfered telling Simmons to do what was being asked of him. Everyone relaxed slight, weapons lowering.

“Y/n,”

“Captain.”

The Captain and couldn’t help but watch you how do you get up and prepare to go.

“So that’s her huh?” Epps commented as Will watched you run off with Sam.

“Yeah..” Will answered, mind racing.

While he knew he’d eventually see you again, he didn’t think it would be like this. You looked breath taking.

“Damn. Shorty had your back that entire time.”

“Gear up,”

“What I’m just saying I thought she was gonna put a cap in his.” Epps shouted after his Captain receiving no response.

Will knew you had his back, you always would, the same way he would always have yours. He thought of you often, the break up between two inescapable, never feeling like he did the right thing. You were always not too far from the front of his mind. Him wondering how you were doing. If you were happy. If you found somebody else. There was no doubt he regretted what had transpired between the two of you. It was his fault. He knew that. You knew that. He had ample opportunity to fight for you and he didn’t. When he was promoted Captain he felt he had to choose between you and the army. He didn’t choose you the way he should’ve. In reality he could’ve had both. However hr so caught up proven himself to his deadbeat dad that he possibly let the best thing that ever happened to him go.

Not to mention trying to atone for your brothers death. It wasn’t his fault, but he still couldn’t shake it. So without talking to you he reenlisted. Needless to say where that got him.

Now hear the both of you were in the middle of an alien war. Yeah. This is the last place he thought he’d see you.

You were numb. The battle on the highway enough to freak you out. For mommy, just a moment you thought this might be a dream but no. This is all very real. One minute you guys were just entering the city trying to lay low, next thing you know - BOOM! The explosion knocked all of you over, injuring some, killing a few. Bumblebee’s legs were partially blown off.

Getting up off the pavement you waited for the ringing in your ear to subside as you stood up, trying to study yourself when you felt a pair of arms hold you still.

You knew it was Will just by the way he touched you, you blinked hard trying not to go down memory lane.

“Are you okay?” The concern in his voice was enough to make your heart skip a bear.

“Yeah,” you nodded slowly. “Yeah I’m fine.”

Slowly you removed yourself from his grip and went to check on Sam and Mikaela. Ratchet on the other hand -

“Hmm. His pheromone levels are-“ you quickly turned on him and glared.

“Ratchet I’ll turn you into a can opener if you don’t shut the hell up.”

The robot nearly held his hands up in the surrendering position as he followed you. Will had arranged an aircraft to pick up Sam and the cube while everyone else defended themselves against the deceptive cons in a hurry to get the cube far far away before Megatron arrived. Sam was in a panic and so Michaela, you could see Will’s short fuse getting ready to exploded. It was then you decided to be an escort.

“Sam, you can’t do this alone.” Michaela fussed.

“He won’t be alone.” You commented, causing all parties involved to look at you.

“I’m going with you.” You declared.

“No.” Will didn’t even hesitated as he stepped closer to you.

“Captain Lennox-“

“No!” You grabbed him by the front of his beer and pushed him back.

“Do you see what going on out there?!” You continued to hold on to him and you yelled at him over there chose. “We’re at a war. One we are extremely ill prepared for. So get your shit together! Sam is my responsibility. I have to get this kid to safety.”

This time your hands slid up the side of his face forcing him to look at you.

“Y/n..” he breathed out leaning down toward you, and for the first time during all this madness you could visibly see he was afraid.

“I’ll be back, Will.” You assured him, briefly resting your forehead against his.

Gathering himself he pulled away, looking toward Sam then back at you.

“Go. Go!”

And then we were running.. With nothing but an M16 strapped to your back and the pistol in your hand, you ran faster than you ever have before.

The four of you were under attack once more, you and Sam doing what you had to, to avoid getting snatched up as a fight Ironhide and Ratchet defended you. Unfortunately you were too close to one of the cars that went up in flames and you were thrown into another car from the blast.

“Y/n!” You could feel the blood on your forehead as you slowly pushed yourself up. As you tried to stand you immediately stopped feeling the pain in your thigh. Looking down could see the damage that had been done. The blood surrounding the afflicted area.

“Wha- what, what do i do?!” Sam asked frantically once he took notice of your injury.

“You gotta keep going Sam. I’ll be fine.”

He stood fo his feet, unsure of what to do. When Ironhide told him the same thing.

“Go!” You screamed once more.

Sam left and continued to run without you as you, as quickly as possible, as you tore your focus away from him to pull the shard of glass in your leg out. Ripping a piece of your shirt off you tightly tied it around your thigh in order to stop the bleeding. There was no point in going forward now but the return back to everyone else and help them fight.

You just had to avoid getting killed in the process.

You seen a car steering wheel, a Mountain Dew vending machine and and Xbox all turn into one of those freaky ass robots right before your eyes. All of which you helped others fight off. It was so surreal. In fact, if it wasn’t for the constant ringing in your ear from all the explosions you definitely think you were dreaming. You almost made it back to Lennox and his men when another Decepticon stood between between you and your destinations. They were definitely taking a beating. You saw Epps shooting a green laser indicating the robot that doubled as a helicopter wasn’t a friendly and decided to do what you could to keep the Decepticon from getting any closer to them and hurting any more civilians. In an attempt to draw it away from everyone else, you begin to fire your weapon giving it everything you had.

Unfortunately, the side effective taking its attention off the others meant putting the attention on you.

You ran trying to duck and dodge a bullets now directed your way.

But Will. Will’s heart dropped. Seeing you there defending yourself alone. His pause was brief, the air forces plan already in motion, before he started the motorcycle and was speeding in your direction.

“William!” You screamed for him fearfully as he drove straight toward the robot.

The only thing you could hear was your heartbeat pounding in your ears. You almost couldn’t breathe, you don’t remember the last time you ever felt so scared in your life. But it wasn’t your life you feared for was it?

He rushed forward and slid under the robot continuing to firing the launcher. All you could do was watch as he drove toward you. Toward the danger your mind wondering if he did that on a regular basis. Was this the life of a soldier? What he went through day after day when he was deployed?

Standing up he only spared the parts of the dismembered robot a glance before shouting and turning looking for you. In a matter of seconds he was standing directly in front of you and pulling you into his arms.

Relief.

There was nothing like physically being about to touch someone, hold someone to really know they were okay.

“So…” you began, suddenly feeling nervous. “...That was hot-“

Before you were able to get another word in, he captured your lips with his kissing you roughly and bringing you closer, hands on the small of your back. You couldn’t help it kiss him back just as fiercely put in every emotion you had into that kiss.

Every ounce of passion he had in body, put into this kiss, your lips just as soft, kiss just as pure as he remembered. When you kissed, he knew he was a goner and could never let you go again.

It has been two years since the last time you guys have been this close. This intimate. Reconnected. The feeling it gave you, the indescribable feeling, was one neither one of you ever wanted to forgo again. Pulling back slowly, you both had smiles on your faces, Will pulling you closer to plant a kiss on your forehead.

“Excuse me,” Epps interrupted.

The both of you turning your attention on him.

“As cute as this shit is it’s highly inappropriate in the middle of the battle. I’m just saying we are trying to stay alive and shit.”

———————————————

Oh my fu- I don’t even know what this isssss

Couldn’t tell you what my original ideas was or nothing. I believed this was going to short-

I enjoyed writing it though! Shoutout again to @merakiaes for being on this lennox train with me lol

I’m just....I’m just gonna leave this mess here.

Bye

- Mo

—————————-

Tags: @merakiaes @lilythemadqueen

[tfw-no-tennis]

mtmte liveblog issue 22

oooh man, its time to feel some EMOTIONS!

I'm BACK after a hiatus, which was due in part to me getting my 1st dose of the covid vaccine! woohoo!

anyways, starting here w/issue 22....we have a great cover w/thunderclash, the legend himself

oof. the covers made me forget how much I don't like the art this issue...I hate to be mean to the artists but this art style just isn't doin it for me chief

god I love this issue though. the framing device of rewind’s movie is so so fantastic

tailgate listing off all his fake awards/accomplishments....ily 

rodimus my boy, you're a prime in my heart

the ‘not a decepticon’ label for cyclonus is so much hvbhkjfbskjf

I literally wanna comment on every single panel bc I love all the characters so much but then id be here forever...that being said whirl ily sm 

hvbjdfbhsfjhdfshja BRAINSTORM ‘according to perceptor - ships genius’ hvhdkjhbfhjs ily dumb gay idiot

and then the cut to perceptor after brainstorm like, blew up his lab vjbkdsfnbksjf dude

GODDDDDD drift ‘your name...defines you. it’s your soul expressed in syllables. hm? oh, yes, sorry. it’s drift.’ GOD he’s so fucking funny. I love early story hippy drift

god I cant stop thinking about how good this whole issue would be as an animated show...like, specifically rewinds film, it would be SO FUCKING GOOOOOOD mtmte show WHEN

rewiiiiind ;_; I fuckgin love rewind god. fellow video editing enthusiast....

ohhhh rodimus being embarrassed about his big speech at the beginning of mtmte....my boy I love u so much

gjhnbgehjsrkfbjksf magnus being suspicious of rewind oh my god. magnus ily but please, look at the lil guy, he’s a good boy, most of the time

the fuckgin footage that magnus removed hbvhakjbfhskf god. wasn't that intended to be footage of magnus dancing? I love him

minibot squad.....

and here it begins, the mystery stick rung question...

poor rung oh my god he’s just trying to polish his lil spaceship and people r throwing shit at him. taking Ls as per usual it seems

hand grenade tag hvbfjksdnfbkjdf love that callback

noooo rungs ship :( 

magnus’s censorship vhbhadkjfhdbhjsakjhfn

oh man I forgot about how they met that race of Transformers But More 

the one-upsmanship hbvkajsbehfjks

whirrrrrl lmao I love whirl sm

goddddd whirl just killing that other alien and ending the 16 million yr long civil war bvkjsdbfhjjkafs so fucking much

oh god oh god the ‘are you happy’ page, I'm not emotionally equipped to handle this like, ever

but I will say I feel like it would be EVEN MORE oof if it were milne or someone drawing it bc I feel like this art style takes away from some of the impact bc the expressions aren't really that...expressive? idk how to put it

anyways. every single answer destroys me!!! like even the happy ones, like chromedome and rewind and tailgate - well, in present time, none of those three are doing so hot, so that makes this just hurt 

and rung....that is so fucking depressing. jesus. this guy is so fuckng sad, somebody get him a friend stat

and swerve...ouch. this readthru I've really noticed how much early-mtmte swerve is not-so-subtly like, crying out for help bc he’s so alone and shit. jesus 

also brainstorms response is just plain ole sad w/context, but at this point in the story without context, it just seems very foreboding lmao. I'm realizing this readthru that brainstorm is very sketchy and ominous in a particular ‘is he evil?’ mad scientist sorta way in early mtmte

and then everyone else is also just so OOF in their own unique sad ways, but I think the worst out of everyone is drift....GODDDDDD. especially considering that at this point in the story, drift is this kinda goofy hippy guy, so seeing him just sit there with his face in his hand, not even answering the question...AND knowing that shortly after this he’ll end up banished...IT FUCKING HURTS M8!

meanwhile, the more upbeat ‘quest to see rungs alt mode’ continues...with an ‘alt mode party’ vhbadkjsdfnabskjf it looks so silly with a bunch of cars just sitting around a table lmao

I cant even tell who everyone is bc they so rarely turn into cars n shit lmaoooooo 

rodimus with the bucket on his head hbvhakjbfskjf I CANT

everyone’s reactions to thunderclash...i fucking love it

the fact that TAILGATE doesn't hate him, even though we’ve seen that tailgate tends to dislike people who are universally liked/who have achieved a lot of impressive things

rodimus you petty thot vbdkjbfdjhsakjdf ily

RODIMUS IS SO FUNNYYYYYY ‘I'm not making all these sacrifices and leading these guys into battle and being inspirational - I'm not doing that because it makes me look good’ RODIMUS VBHSKJDFNBKSJF

thunderclash talking about magnus’s article on typefaces....hdbksjfsdbkjgfb bro

AND THEN MAGNUS HUGS HIM....HGBSKJFDSHFKD I CANT

POOR DRIFT bvhajkdfbhjkjsfd rodimus saying he ‘rehabilitated him’ oh my god

the whole spectralism thing...im sorry I cant get over how funny all this is vbakdjfbksjf thunderclash rlly b out here charming rodimus’s entire crew

and then ratchet comes in, calling tc ‘thunders,’ and tc immediately notices ratchets new hands (somehow) hvbkjfhbskjf truly amazing

it cracks me up that rodimus is all 😒😒 at thunderclash, even though as we come to find out, tc really IS That Perfect, and him complimenting rodimus isn't sarcasm at all lmao

AND THEYRE LOOKING FOR THE KNIGHTS OF CYBERTRON TOO HVSDHFJBSHKHDFJS OF COURSE

the vis vitalis being a life support machine spaceship is a really cool concept tho

‘rescuing some orphans from an exploding sun’ I fucking cant

evil guy: [holds a gun to thunderclash’s head] 

rodimus: :D finally something doesn't go his way!

he’s so petty I’m..........dkdjhfdabhduifadijgl

and its the aliens from earlier! oooh

GODDD I forgot that swerve used rung in mystery stick mode to SCHWACK the guy

rung casually dropping the fact that the functionists like, experimented on him...there's a lot of implications there, and that'll certainly be explored more later...

the fact that his ID card says ‘rong’ hvbhjakhdsbfakhsjfn 

oughufadkfujbsfk the circle of light throwing wrenches n shit at skids...guys cmon vbhsdjkfnslfd

the circle of light is like ‘wtf you all have trauma and a bunch of weird unhealthy coping mechanisms this is wack byeeeee’ lmao

skids calling the lost light his home is rlly sweet tho

cant believe the religious space hippy cult is being so rude about a film made by a guy who died like a week ago. unreal 

cd finally figured out how to make the pffft sound, good for him

AUGHHHHH the fact that rewind used ‘little victories’ as the title of the film and that's something that chromedome said in the video ;_; I'm fucking inconsolable 

rodimus, despite his obvious posturing for the camera during the whole issue, comes off as surprisingly genuine when he says that he hasn't thought about his own future much, but wants the crew to have a happy ending....im gonna cry

‘who knows what's around the corner?’ tailgate, PLEASE don't say that, oh my god, 

OUGHHHH GROUP SHOT 

OHHH mannnnNNNNN i love this issue SO MUCH. what a good fun emotional rollercoaster wrap-up to mtmte s1. god. 

like, this issue has it all - humor, drama, crippling sadness, intrigue, worldbuilding...it’s so excellent 

and getting to see rewind again hurts so bad but also I love him

ok quick mtmte s1 retrospective...god s1 is so fucking good. I'm gonna have to read more to say which chunk of mtmte I liked best but s1 is so fucking excellent that it might be my favorite. though its hard to pick bc there's so much good stuff later on too...whatever, the point is s1 is so so good

the plotlines and characters are fucking stellar. like I cant even believe how well Everything works, its very impressive. I cant really think of anything major that made me go ‘yeah could've done without that plotline/character’

I love how dedicated jro is to connecting everything. I've mentioned it before but basically every single moment in the series has payoff - what you initially think is just a funny moment, or a fluffy character establishment bit, ends up ALSO being an important plot point later, in some way

an example would be here w/rung and his alt mode - it just seems like a fun little B-plot for this issue, and seems to pretty neatly conclude with the reveal that rung was eventually classified as an ‘ornament’ (lmao)...but we later on get to see a lot more about this, both here and in the functionist universe 

and like, stuff like tailgate’s autobot lessons w/magnus - at first that can be seen as purely character establishment stuff, showing that magnus is a strict rule-lover and tg is a loveable try-hard good boy - but that becomes plot relevant in remain in light, with tailgate saving the day due to his knowledge of the autobot code (and its also character relevant, with magnus’s arc in remain in light). 

and I know this is like. a normal regular thing in writing, but I'm just very impressed about how cleanly jro pulls it off, and how many things he’s juggling at once, especially in early mtmte - it’s very ambitious!

and we gotta remember, this is a comic book. I've read a lot of comic books, and the quality is all over the place. a lot of writers bite off more than they can chew, and the story ends up kinda scattered as a result. 

another thing I see a lot in franchise writing like this is a lack of strong early character establishing due to the author assuming the readers are at least somewhat familiar with the characters already - which can be totally fair depending on where it is in the continuity, but other times it can come off as lazy

in mtmte, the cast is extremely well fleshed out, and not only that, the cast itself is unique in that there are a lot of relative unknowns (franchise-wise) - which I think was an absolutely brilliant move, because then jro was able to essentially create The Definitive Version of these characters - characters like swerve, brainstorm, chromedome, rewind, tailgate...mtmte is their baseline characterization, because they haven't really appeared in much else

this also allows for deviation from the franchise norms - again, a comic book classic is good writing being stifled by a need to stick to a certain status quo regard the characters, the world, the powers, relationships, etc

(I've mostly read DC comics, and some marvel, so I'm thinking superheroes w/all these comic comparisons)

so mtmte had a good recipe for genuine creativity in that the characters were relative unknowns, the plot was basically ‘space road trip,’ the status quo of ‘autobot vs decepticon war’ had been demolished throughout the entire franchise...so jro was able to take all that and run, and it turned out so fantastic

and luckily it isn't over yet! so many comics suffer from premature cancellation...and sadly mtmte/ll isn't exempt from this, as we’ll see later, but I've seen some awful ones, where comics are forced to wrap up in like 2 issues while in the middle of an arc. yikes. 

but another comic staple...one of my least favorite things about comics books in general...something that was basically responsible for driving me away from comics after reading a bunch...the dreaded crossover event

yep, even mtmte isn't immune to this unfortunate plague on the comic industry. crossover events are the absolute worst, and I'm saying this as somebody who adores crossovers (in concept more than execution usually). they SHOULD be my favorite, but unfortunately they p much always completely suck

they're essentially a ploy to get you to read the other ongoing titles, but they usually only serve to bog down whatever story you're reading to the point where you don't even wanna read that one anymore, let alone read all the other ongoings. at least, that’s been my experience 

it doesn't help that reading orders tend to be hard to find/keep track of, and that you need to go read the other series to know what's going on. I just hate it, like, I came here to read THIS series, I don't want a bunch of other series showing up too - even if I was reading two series, I wouldn't want them crossed over, because they're separate stories! augh!

I'm totally losing my focus here but my point is...crossover events suck, and mtmte unfortunately is involved in one. I have not read dark cybertron, and I'm not about to. I've heard nothing but bad things so I have no desire to inflict that upon myself 

soooo ill be reading through the tfwiki articles for those issues to give myself a better understanding of what went on - which is more than I've ever done in the past - and maybe ill even make a single post summarizing my thoughts on what I read in the wiki, lmao

but yea ill be skipping to the mtmte s2 stuff next 

phew ok I'm super tired, my vision keeps blurring out and stuff lmao. its time for bed, I probably have more thoughts but ill save them for later. for now...peace out!

[captaincharpen]

Movie Optimus and Megatron are actually really deep guys, seriously

You know what, screw it, I’m dropping all of my thoughts on why I think Bayverse Optimus and Megatron are tragically underrated here. So buckle up kids, here we go

So everyone seems to think that the Optimus Prime and Megatron of Michael Bay’s movie series are either terribly shallow husks of their classic characterizations at best, or atrocious bastardizations of sacred childhood icons at worst.

However I, an intellectual, have unwisely spent several hours of my life poring over every detail of them to come to the conclusion that there’s actually a lot going on with them. So I’m going to drag you, kicking and screaming, into my head and break down exactly what makes these two tick. Starting with Megatron.

Now most people see this guy and think “generic movie bad guy. Makes evil plan, screws up evil plan, slinks away to return in sequel with a more messed up face”. But this Megatron actually has so much going on for him that I think he could almost be seen as a would-be hero in his own way.

While starting a war that effectively killed his planet does dock him quite a few sympathy points, one thing that can’t be denied is that he truly cared about Cybertron when all’s said and done.

While his plots to destroy Earth to restore Cybertron can easily come off as bog-standard bad guy scheming, looking at it from his perspective, he’s fought for centuries to reform his home for, what he thinks, is the greater good. And now that he’s done so much damage to it for that goal, he’s determined to fix it, no matter what it takes.

That’s why he risked stranding himself on an alien planet to find the Allspark when, arguably, it would’ve been easier to simply press on with the war he was winning and find another planet to colonize when the dust settled. It’s also why, no matter how many times he’s left for dead or forced to work with people who’s ideals he’d normally hate, he still chases every chance to restore life to Cybertron anyway. Because that genuinely is the most important thing to him, and he’s perfectly willing to give his life as many times as necessary to save it

And even though his negligence of human life seems terrible from our perspective, in his eyes it’s a necessary evil to sacrifice a bunch of tiny aliens to finally bring his home back from the brink of a death that he’s effectively responsible for. Of course that doesn’t make it okay, but it’s not like he’s a cackling villain who wants to screw over humanity for fun. From his perspective, Optimus abandoned the planet they’d waged thousands of years of war over for the sake of some random alien planet he decided he liked better. And the thing is, he’s kind of right

The Optimus Prime of the movies is usually seen as either a noble, if bland, hero or a psychotic maniac who’s prone to chronic bloodlust. But honestly, he can be, and very much is, a little bit of both

So it’s obvious that this Optimus is a little cracked in the head, and it’s hard to see how he could NOT be after having his figurative and/or literal brother turn on him and failing to stop him from nearly destroying their homeworld and killing millions of people, all of whom Optimus was responsible for protecting. Not to mention being forced to willingly seal his planet’s fate by throwing the Allspark, the one thing that could save it, into the far reaches of who-knows-where.

And through all of this, he HAS to maintain a stoic, optimistic appearance. He can’t show any doubt, hesitation, grief, or even the effects of the general stress of the job, because he’s the one pillar holding up what’s left of the Autobots. They’ve lost literally everything else, and if their perfect leader who’ll get them through any crisis were to ever show that he’s vulnerable, the last thing they could really believe in would effectively be shattered.

So instead he dedicates himself to an, admittedly very unhealthy, black-and-white view of “Autobots and humans good, Decepticons bad”. He’s tried pleading, negotiating and showing mercy to the Decepticons and it got his planet nearly destroyed and him and his loyal friends stranded light-years away. So he’s essentially lost faith in himself and allowed himself to go further than he ever would otherwise just to see an end to the Decepticons for good

I think the best character to compare him to would be, believe it or not, Batman. No matter how far he goes, he’ll always hold onto his one rule. And for Optimus, that “one rule” is humanity. He clearly sees humanity as a reflection of what the Cybertronians used to be and as a result, projects his guilt over his failures and desire to see Cybertron start over, and do things right this time, onto them.

When he makes the decision to sacrifice himself and the Allspark to save Earth from Megatron, it’s arguable that he was effectively running away from what he sees as his failed legacy and giving a new chance to humanity in its place. Now obviously that’s an incredibly short-sighted idea, which even Sam could see, but by that point Optimus had effectively given up on Cybertron and adopted Earth as his “new Cybertron”. In his final speech at the end of the first movie, he seems incredibly dismissive of the loss of Cybertron and seems totally fine to just chill on Earth forever.

And no matter how many times the Decepticons uncover new ways to fix Cybertron, at the expense of the humans, he immediately shoots them down, while never trying to find a more mutually beneficial solution of his own. Even when the cracks start to show in the Autobots’ alliance with the humans and his own mentor and father figure seemingly comes back from the dead to tell him he’s given up on Cybertron, he still gives an optimistic speech at the end of DOTM and says that he’ll never turn his back on humanity. Even after seeing his old world right in from of him, he seems to feel no affinity for it anymore.

That is, until he has his mid-life crisis after the soft reboot of the last two movies. Humanity outright betrays him, almost all of the last of his loyal followers and friends are dead because of it, he could’ve seen the obvious signs of this coming, but he didn’t.

He decides to break his one rule and kill whoever’s responsible for all of it, but still clings onto his black-and-white defense mechanism of convincing himself that this one human is the SOLE instigator of their betrayal, as he’s still unwilling to admit that his new favorite aliens could be just as terrible as his own people can. And when he does finally kill him it’s only when his new human friend would die if he didn’t act immediately.

But once that line was finally crossed, he hits rock bottom. Sure, he goes back on his threat to abandon Earth and commands his Autobots to protect yet another special human friend, essentially falling back on his old ways of having maybe a little too much faith in humans. But once he leaves to find his creators, to “find himself” essentially. He’s forced to confront his failures yet again, this time in front of someone claiming to be his creator and, by extension, the supposed authority on what he should and shouldn’t be. And, in his vulnerable state, he allows himself to become corrupted into “Nemesis Prime”.

Now one could argue this was just simple brainwashing, but I could argue, have you SEEN this Prime? This is essentially what he’s like all the time, only now he’s stripped of the tenuous limits he’s placed on himself. In keeping with the Batman comparison, he’s “lived long enough to see himself become the villain”.

But the thing that brings him back from the brink isn’t one of his precious humans, it’s the voice of the one Autobot who stuck by his side all this time and is still there believing in him even at his worst. When he’s finally reminded of what he’s really fighting for, the Autobots who pledged their loyalty to him, knowing that he could lead them to victory, his faith in himself is restored. Maybe not completely yet, but he’s remembered that the awe inspiring leader that his Autobots see isn’t just a facade. Which is why his “did you forget who I am” scene is one of the most underrated badass moments in the entire movie series. Even without my painstaking overanalysis in your head to back it up.

And with that, I think I’ve rambled long enough that your brain has been reduced to a fine paste, so if you’ve really soldiered on this far, total props to you on that and I appreciate you caring this much about my mad rambling. Obviously, I’ve romanticized both characters here quite a bit, but I kind of had to for the sake of the argument. In practice, both of them are unstable, single-minded and admittedly kind of selfish. But I just wanted to point out that both of them have their own reasons for being the way they are, that could have easily gone deeper and made them into truly iconic takes on these characters if the movies had only run with the concepts they set up.

And so my only solution was to amend that with a hastily slapped together essay on my Tumblr blog that nobody reads. Anyway thank you for coming to my TED talk

[twitchesandstitches]

Cobalt Stingers - Space Pirate Rivals to the MILF Fleet

THE COBALT STINGERS

Pretty much at the beginning of the fleet’s creation, the original groups comprising the fleet’s founding members split away from them and formed their own group and have since acted as rivals, friendly antagonists, and of late, anti-heroes willing to do things that the fleet does not when things get real serious once its become clear the danger the multiverse may be in.

For the most part, they are specifically an action-y group of space pirates that started at the exact same time and place as the fleet, armed with their own collection of strange magical artifacts and unique powers. They are dedicated rivals to the fleet, intending on making themselves into the most famous and powerful figures in all the multiverse, gathering many to them as groupies. Imagine a a combination of the ‘harmless adventuring pirate’ archetype and a rock band, with an emphasis on putting on as much of a show and garnering fame and attention, and you have them at the core. For the most part, they do not do much harm; these aren’t enemies, mostly. Eventually, though, as they become aware of the horrific situation the multiverse is in, they shift gears and attempt to avert catastrophe, in far more ruthless ways than the fleet will permit. In general, though, they are friendly rivals, lovers and exes, rather than true enemies. Less epic space battles, more goofy races for That Sweet Treasure Trove.

From the trolls was the big core of the cobalts, and the source of their name: Vriska Serket, a cerulean troll obsessed with the glorious part of her people and yearning for the security of a true homeland, became rivals with her friend Terezi over their disagreements over a thing called ‘collateral damage’, and with her partner (in every way) Eridan Ampora, around the same time that Terezi’s new mini-girlfriend Sierra got the Eupeptic Gestat with all its amazing power-gaining abilities, Vriska discovered something similar, a magical stone fountain that flowed not with water, but with raw power. It came with a key that fuses with the heart of whoever takes it for their own, and by claiming it, she can add powers to it and bestow them onto others as she pleases. She can make these claims by physically devouring them or in some way asserting her authority upon them; making them swear loyalty to her qualifies. However, in order to unlock its true powers, she must locate the final piece of the relic, a crown that confers absolute authority and dominon over others.

Some other trolls traveling with Vriska at the time included Ardata (a protege, of sorts, for Vriska), Lanque (a jadeblood vampire troll looking for adventure) a pair of yellowbloods naamed Folkyi and Kuprem (living FTL engines and enemy debuffer), and many others. Eridan Ampora also came with her, and most of the trolls that had origianlly been with their group and cared more for profit than secrets. They run the hemospectrum, but tend towardsd the colder colors, generally purple and blue.

From Sierra’s original group split off Alejandro and Heather, two humans that were effectively vilalins from their world, with a penchant for schemes, sabotaging foes through political manuevering, and had a hard time influencing someone as obstinate as Sierra was. They got along great with Vriska, finding something of a kindred spirit in her. Thanks to her, Alejandro has smoke-themed powers that let him turn into smoke or weaponize it, while Heather can turn into living diamond-like gold as a perfect defense. They also brought along Scarlet, a much nastier schemer than either of them, but who has found an occupation as a true schemer among them. Duncan has also joined them as something of a heavy-hitting enforcer type guy, and is a huge glory seeker even by their standards.

The Autobot remnants weren’t just Autobots; out of necessity they gathered neutrals who declined to join either side during the Cybertronian civil war, and even former Decepticons who had left their empire seeing the genocidal extremes it had sunk to, as well as their Lord Megatron being all but a outright vessel of some… thing they refuse to elaborate on. Tensions were high in this group, with mutual Autobot and Decepticon hatred, and most of those Decepticons followed former internal affairs and spymaster, Soundwave, as did his human-sized offspring: Ravage the beast-bot, mischievous Rumble, ferocious Frenzy, straitlaced Laserbeak, and obnoxious Ratbat. He elected to follow Vriska’s plans in pursuit of… well, not glory, no one knows WHY he cares. It’s suspected that he’s become something of a team dad to the Cobalts and even if he doesn’t care about fame or wealth, he does want them to stay secure. He is certainly obsessed with safety and security, above all else.

Other ‘Cons that have come with him includes the mighty Strika, and at least two known teams of former ‘Cons: the Stunticons, a hot-rodding team of mercenaries that transform into car analogues and presently led by sleek race car Knockout, who is also the chief of medical concerns on the pirate fleets) and the Combaticons, who prefer to be in their combined form of Bruticus Maximus, and otherwise are deadly tanks, jets and helicotpers, living engines of destruction; they’re very much like dark counterparts to the Dinobots, being a tight knit team built for destruction.

Those individuals and teams form the inner circle of the Cobalts, the most elite and respected of them. However, they wouldn’t be a threat to the fleet if they weren’t numerous, and they are VERY numerous, in general, it is best to assume that any given group that dispersed and became part of the fleet had their less ethical counterparts or enemies get snatched up with the Cobalts, and they have had a number of others join their ranks, as listed below. For the most part, note that any individual Cobalt is likely far more powerful than many of the fleet at once; while Vriska’s power fountain doesn’t give power quickly, it can empower people far more easily and plenty at once, without having to craft things as the Gestat does. Consequently, the Cobalts are way more powerful on average, though perhaps less versatile and not as modded up, for better or worse.

Additional Decepticons - Following Soundwave from the beginning or called since the events of the Cobalt’s forming; if a ‘Con from Robots In Disguise 2016 isn’t specifically listed elsewhere, assume they are here. They run the gamut from ‘monstrous robot modes’, to cars, and especially the militarized vehicles common to Decepticon ranks.

Gems: A good number of Gems have come to their side, initially for refuge, and later wit the promise of rebuilding their empire in time. Most of these originally hailed from Yellow Diamond’s court, but they include Holly Blue Agate, Aquamarine, possibly Jasper, Peridot and Lapis Lazuli depending on whether or not they fit better here or in the main crew (they may defect later). Generally former high-ranking Gems.

Eldar corsairs: Eldar pirates who prey on mortals to feed their own psychic powers and to amuse themselves, plenty of these Eldar have joined up with the Cobalts to take part in their fame, or were bested and swore allegiance to them. It’s rumoured that Vriska’s ancestor may have set the Dark Eldar on their current path and taught them their refined forms of cruelty and wickedness. In any case, Eldar-style technology forms the basis of the more refined technological aesthetic the Cobalts favor, up to ‘piloting’ giant robots by psychically attuning to them from a distance. A secret Dark Eldar ritual transforms someone into a giant fit to crush and demolish entire cities, and certainly Vriska and others like her will make use of it.

Ork Freebooters: hundreds of orks have pledged loyalty to the inner circle of the Cobalts, bringing with them a ton of looted weaponry, deadly war machines, and a lust for conquest most clearly marked in their leader, Captain Bluddflag.

Rogue Asari: A large portion of Asari, generally the Ardat-Yakshi who have had their condition selectively controlled by Vriska’s new powers, have joined as elite warrior and battlemages/living siege engines. They number hugely at this point, given new fertility despite their condition as a result of a bargain cut with the fleet, and make a good chunk of the Cobalt’s numbers. With them are their meat-shield thralls: bataarian soldiers, bangaa brutes, and a sizable army of those now claimed by them.

League of Villainy: Originally a group across many universes dedicated to organizing super villains and criminals with immense powers, supplying their organizations, helping them control their abilities, and perhaps coming to various agreements with society to allow them to take control and fulfill their various ambitions. Over time, with increasing cataclysms, the stability they required to do such things ceased to be, and they faded away but for a few pockets of civilization, and the Cobalts found them. Now comprising a large number of superpowered brutes, mad scientists, schemers, vengeance-addicted layabouts and many others united only in avarice and raw power, they joined the Cobalts, lured by greater promises of… less destructive nastiness. Their leader of a sort of a woman called Shego (of Kim Possible), who has mastered all the powers she could originally have in canon (destruction blasts, size shifting, super speed, super strength, self-cloning), her close friend and partner Giganta. Eobard Thawne is another leader and now an important technical advisor for the Inner Circle, and countless villains of a thousand worlds now answer to the Cobalts. (Imagine a comic book-style villain; if they’re not too evil, or not really team players, they can be here!)

Human Gangsters: At some point the Cobalts came upon a human criminal organization and promptly defeated it and absorbed it into their ranks; of these, its biggest leader, a modern outlaw named Elizabeth Caladonia Ashe (as from Overwatch), saw fit to convince her closest allies to join up with the new winning team. She’s brought in enough ships, firepower and connections to continue funding the Cobalts and give them influence they might otherwise not have. They even have access to old-school human war machines, giant mechs, and designs for destroyer-class ships, and a large assortment of combat-grade sapient robots who think this all sounds like a ton of fun.

Team Skull: Technically part of Ashe’s gang, but by communing with the strange entities called Pokemon, they’ve learned how to call upon them and bond with them, commanding them; they’re fairly moral influences within the Cobalts, in spite of their raw power, and it’s suggested their boss Guzma is going to make Inner Circle sooner or later.

Succubi: During an accident with a rift and a poorly timed summoning ritual, a little over a thousand spirits of desire and lust awere conjured into being from the influence of the Cobalts, assuming hyper-endowed and very curvaceous forms with the humans on the crew as a basis. Very magically powerful and charmed by their notions of desire in an abstract way, they are… if not loyal, at least bound to the Cobalts by uncertain aspects of their very existence. Incredibly powerful, they actually generate raw magic, empowering magic users in the Cobalts, and technically immortal; if slain, they reform a short while later on one of the pirate ships.

[the-energon-hole]

Anon Asks:  Can I have some h/c's about RiD15 Steeljaw and Thunderhoof (separate) raising a sparkling?

SteelJaw

-He never would ever, in his entire existence, think that something out there could be meaningful enough to break the hard shell that is his spark, after all, he is a cold blooded Decepticon leader destined to run his own empire- until this small and squish little ball of life called a Sparkling came into his life.

-Whether this small life was found by him or the others, it was almost love at first sight as the small Cybertronian imprinted onto him rather quickly. At first, he found it extremely annoying, as he couldn’t have such a small thing be in the way of his quest for world domination! It didn’t take long for the child to worm its way into his spark and become a big part of his life, after all, an heir to the thrown would be ideal!

-He tries not to gush about how cute he thinks his sparkling is while in the presents of the other Decepticons, but sometimes a bot can’t help but coo and chirp at a being so small and adorable. Anyone who says anything bad about his parenting skills or his sweet-spark will meet a horrible and painful end, by his hands personally!

-His favorite hobby is to teach his Sparkling how to rule with an iron fist, and that anyone who stands in their way should be eliminated without question or remorse. His young one will be the most powerful and cruel of all Decepticons!

Thunderhoof

-He is a boss for crying out loud, he can’t have some small vulnerable thing around him all the time! He knows Sparklings are a whole lot of work, and he honestly feels like some other bot would be suited better. Bots like Autobots; guys like him don’t do so well with small things.

-Once the Sparkling imprints on him though, his tune has changed and done a complete 180 turn around. Maybe having this small thing around wouldn’t be so bad, after all, sparklings grow up- he could create a whole Cybertronian 100% dedicated to him and his line of work.

-Any bot that so much dares to look at his little spark the wrong way, well, let’s just say they end up with a pair of cement shoes at the bottom of the ocean. No one is to look or touch his little prodigy while he lives, and they are certainly not allowed to coo at it as if it’s some kind of incomprehensible being.

-He will kill anyone who says anything to anyone, but the times when he is alone and in recharge with his little spark, he loves to just lay and listen to the small life located not too far from him. To hear it whirl, to hear it buzz, to hear it try to speak… it’s almost too much for him to handle. He would die for that kid, but he would never say that out loud.

[tfwiki]

Transformers: The Last Knight Google Hangout with the Transformers Team

On June  1 2017, the Hasbro Transformers brand team held an online press conference highlighting mainline and exclusive products based on the upcoming The Last Knight film. Matthew Karpowich attended for Transformers Wiki.

Presenters

L-R: "Arrow," John (Warden), Ben, John (Frazier). They are presumably higher-resolution in real life.

Aristides "Arrow" Membreno - Design Manager, Transformers. With the brand for a year and a half, works on exclusives.

John Warden - Design Manager, Transformers. Knew most of the people at the Hangout already!

Ben Montano - Brand Marketing Director, Transformers. Marketing director for more than two years, been at many conventions.

John Frazier - Senior Brand Development + Marketing Manager, Transformers. With the brand team for two years, his first time meeting fans.

The Event

Following some incidental sound and video issues (yay technology), the Hangout began slightly after 5pm EST with a "show and tell" that dove into more detail on items that Entertainment Weekly had revealed earlier in the day.

"Arrow" showcased Premier Edition deluxe class Hot Rod with his licensed Lamborghini alt-mode. Hot Rod was mentioned as part of an initiate to bring story-elements and older lore forward into the movie universe. He is a Walmart exclusive and part of the "Autobots Unite" exclusive program.

Nyeh! Skullitron!

Premier Edition deluxe "knight of Cybertron" Skullitron was up next. The team considers his rusty deco and "insane broken down skull face" to be his highlights. The rust was said to be pearlescent and functioned like a paint-wash. He is a Toys R Us exclusive and part of its "Mission to Cybertron" series.

Quintessa. Sufficiently advanced alien magic is indistinguishable from science.

Combiner Infernocus was called out as being in some of the television commercials - or "versions of him," anyway. The fit of the combination was improved over previous versions of the molds. Infernocus comes with a tiny clear representation of the mysterious alien sorceress Quintessa. He (they) is (are) also a Toys R Us "Mission to Cybertron" exclusive.

Each "Mission to Cybertron" exclusive comes with a unique two-sided trading card. One side has a website URL that allows you to translate the glyphs found on the toys; on the other side is a piece of a poster that you can form with all the exclusive cards.

Cogtro? Nitman?

Premier Edition deluxe Cogman is a Headmaster! Cogman's converting head has the same type of connections as the concurrent Titans Return toys and is entirely compatible with them, as is his larger body - which was specifically mentioned as a Transtector! Cogman's body turns into a licensed Aston Martin DB-11 that seats two.

As part of an Easter egg, Cogman's Titan Master has cross-compatibility with the voyager class Decepticon called Nitro. Nitro's head is removable (but does not become a little robot), which enables the tiny Cogman to take over Nitro's body. Nitro's jet mode also has an opening cockpit that Cogman can ride in!

Premier Edition leader class Dragonstorm was called out as a Duocon made up of Dragonicus (dra-GONE-icus, guy with wings) and Stormreign (guy with mace). Dragonstorm's beast heads are based on the actual CGI model files from the film effects!

Each half of Dragonstorm is larger than a deluxe, but not quite the size of a voyager class toy. They're sort of in a class of their own.

Dragonstorm's wings have a "metal thorn" look and deco to make them look ancient.

All exclusive items are planned to be available in overseas markets as well, though it is possible they'll be at different region-specific retailers.

Q&A

Mainline

When asked about how toy development has changed since the first live-action movie, the team felt the biggest change in the Last Knight product range was their partnership with Paramount now enabling them to use CAD files from the film's special effects to make the toys more accurate than ever before. They also feel that having better information about their consumer base has allowed them to market their toy segments more accurately, creating equally quick-fun toys for kids and detailed-out items for collectors instead of focusing on one area or the other.

In regards to the Last Knight line having reused product from Age of Extinction, the idea was to make the items available for a new generation of kids who might not have been in the appropriate age range for the preceding film. In the case of Grimlock and some other characters, they also used it as an opportunity to do more screen-accurate deco.

The change from blister-pack bubbles to boxes for the deluxe class range came about after consultation with other brand teams within Hasbro. (We're looking at you, Marvel Legends and Star Wars Black Series...)

Nitro's fighter jet mode is a Hasbro-original creation designed by John Warden. He used Nitro as an outlet for the military vehicle design muscles he developed during his time on the G.I. Joe brand.

Leader scale should be widely available in the fall of 2017. Most items shown during the event are expected to hit in early August.

The items shown in the presentation round out the Last Knight Premier Edition items for the rest of the 2017 calendar year. However, they look forward to sharing more items going forward, as 2018 is going to be another big year for the brand (*cough*Transformers Universe: Bumblebee*cough*).

Tiny Turbo Changers

The team appreciates all the love for the Tiny Turbo Changers! There are currently no plans to expand the range beyond the film series, but they will at least feature characters from movies 1 through 5. It was reiterated that long-time Takara designer and "wizard of transformations" Koujin Ohno helped bring them to life, which helps give them a sense of design continuity with the franchise's roots.

Regarding the development of small transforming figures instead of small static figures (like Tiny Titans), the team acknowledged its difficulty, as it took almost a year to get the concept to their satisfaction. There was a dedicated effort to make sure the figures converted differently from each other to bring out their individual character. The designs of the physical transformations, meanwhile, were aided by working in vinyl instead of the ABS material normally used for Transformers.

The team didn't have anything to say about Chopter, but liked the notion that a sub-line having its own unique characters helps give it an identity of its own.

 Miscellaneous

On the subject of bringing film characters into other Transformers series, the presenters noted the success they had with Grimlock and Grimlock, Drift moving from comics into movie and Robots in Disguise, and Blurr moving between Rescue Bots and Robots in Disguise. Hasbro is always searching for opportunities to mingle characters across their entertainment properties to create interesting stories, and look forward to surprising the fandom with certain characters popping up in different venues. The sky's the limit with the character roster in their hands!

When asked about Valvotron, the Hasbro team said the promotion with Valvoline was intended as a fun way to introduce new fans to the property. While there are no plans to introduce Valvotron into their "story universe", they indicated there might be other partnerships along the same lines in other countries.

The inspiration for the redeco of planet Cybertron came from its depiction in the original television series; the new toy tries to capture the contrasting "internal glow against dark blue planet" Cybertron had there, with the glow of the planet's core now becoming "revealed" with the conversion to its robot mode. They thought it helped better portray the idea of the planet as a living being. As well, the sounds and features from the original release are all retained.

Favorite Items

Warden's favorite is Cogman: the ability to showcase a classic play feature like Headmasters in a line supported by a blockbuster film is incredibly exciting. He also hopes that any kid who ends up with Cogman discovers that the figure is cross-compatible with any Titans Return toys they might own, opening up a world of personal story possibilities for them.

"Arrow"'s favorite is Hot Rod: he enjoyed the ability to bring back a classic character and the opportunity to work on a Lamborghini. (He also noted that he was the only person on the team who worked on Hot Rod's deluxe.)

Frazier's favorite showcased in the event is Dragonstorm, because of his high level of detail and Duocon combiner play. However, his favorite figure in the entire line is leader class Megatron, which he feels looks like a work of art.

Montano's favorite shown during the event is Hot Rod because his daughter thinks Transformers is cool now that it has a Lamborghini in it. However, his overall favorite is Masterpiece movie Optimus Prime, because it represents a true concentration of the effort that both Hasbro and TakaraTomy put into bringing the brand to life.

[katieiscunning]

A Transformers Review: MTMTE 1

Transformers is based on a simple premise: the good Autobots fight the bad Decepticons.

One of the masterstrokes of the recent IDW comic line is to do something new, to have ended the war and left all the robots- Autobots, Decepticons and the non-affiliated- with no idea what to do next. IDW didn’t have to do this- they could have milked the conflict for decades of repetitive storytelling. It’s the sort of statement of intent that says a lot- but basically, that they’re going to try, 

Some of the now warless robots are resettling on their planet, Cybertron (take a drink for a silly word then give up because this game would kill you when reading Transformers), and some of them decide that, since Cybertron is a war-torn shell, their only chance is to find the heaven-planet where their gods are supposed to live. It is named Cyberutopia, of course.

These are the guys we’ll be following; desperate idiots who have no home and no lives and who would rather waste their time on a nonsense quest than actually fixing their problems.

Do you see why I love them yet?

Our ship is the Lost Light, and our captain is Rodimus. Amazingly that is his sensible name. He’s blunt, hot headed and wants to prove himself. He is a poor, poor choice for a captain. His second in commands are Drift, a hippie with a dark past and straight-laced space cop Ultra Magnus (like two levels up from Normal Magnus I guess).

Not everyone is happy that they’re leaving. Prowl, grumpy policeman, and Bumblebee, leader of the Autobots on Cybertron- are especially annoyed. Bumblebee doesn’t want to lose Ratchet- expert medic who is So Done With Everything- and Prowl doesn’t want to lose his ex.

This ex is Chromedome, moody, mopey and completely dedicated to his husband Rewind. A note here: the earlier issues of MTMTE are ambiguous at best in how they refer to romantic relationships between Transformers. There’s a lot of ‘you guys are best friends! BEST FRIENDS!’ going on. I promise you it does not last, that you’ll soon be swimming in queer spacebots, but you can bet I’ll share as many panels of ‘BEST FRIENDS’-ing as I can till that happens.

A further note: you might be saying ‘these aren’t gay robots, they’re robots and robots are genderless’, to which I will reply, ehhhhh sort of? One of my favourite things about the later comics is how they address the way gender works in a society where it doesn’t have any relationship to reproduction. Transformers can, as we’ll learn, be male or female, with male unfortunately still feeling like the default. However, they don’t interpret gender like we do. Much later a male-coded Transformer will flirt with a female-coded Transformer without noticing that she’s female. This isn’t played as a joke, but just as gender not mattering. There’s a lot to unpack there and we will when we get to it, suffice to say that it’s complicated as well as simple. All Transformers exist somewhere between asexual and bi, between identifying as male female, and normally, nonbinary (though with heavy male coding). Are these gay car robots? Not exactly, but to our puny human ears they’re similar.  

Chromedome refuses to stay because as self destructive as he is, even he doesn’t want to stay anywhere near this hell of a relationship.

As he goes Prowl mutters ominously into his communicator that, with him leaving, they’ll need to go to plan B and ‘load the cargo’.

Meanwhile, though, an angry plane is brooding.

This is Cyclonus- a horned samurai guy who was stuck in hell for the entire war. That’s not accurate, but it’s as much as you need to know to understand him. He’s out flying around and enjoying his angst when he runs into Whirl.

Now, even among a cast of people as messed up as these guys, Whirl is messed up. Whirl has a lightbulb for a face, claws for hands and likes suicidal violence. These things are more linked than you might think. Again, we’ll get to it.

Whirl and Cyclonus start fighting because of course they do, and end up crashing past the pre-launch ship where Brainstorm- who’s a clever scientist, who would have guessed- Swerve- a miserable loner in a too-jokey shell- and Rung- model collector and robot psychiatrist- are boarding. But we don’t have time for that because now it’s SIX MILLION YEARS AGO!

Tiny, adorable, self-doubting Tailgate has fallen into the depths of Cybertron and can’t escape.

He manages to crawl a few feet to his supplies, sets off an explosion and flies back to the surface… only to discover he passed out down there for millennia, that he’s now in the present and has managed to half-crush Whirl.

Thankfully, Ratchet, Chromedome and Rewind are heading past on their way to the ship. After misunderstanding Tailgate (who was supposed to be boarding a ship before he fell into the planet), they bring them all along.

Finally about to launch, Rodimus- angry with Bumblebee for trying to stop them- ignores a last-minute message from him.

Then the ship explodes.

No, it doesn’t. But it looks like it does to Bumblebee, Prowl, and the rest of Cybertron. Really it’s teleported across the stars and reappears, leaking robots out of a hole in its side and five seconds away from crashing. CLIFFHANGER!

We end back on Cybertron with Bumblebee and Prowl mourning their apparently dead friends. Behind them a message crackles over the radio- the message that made Bumblebee send that last second call to Rodimus. An unknown voice identifies themselves as being a member of the Lost Light’s crew, somehow stranded in the past. They beg someone to prevent the launch, claiming that it will all go wrong, that they ‘weren’t prepared’, and that they’ll doom the entire race unless they’re stopped.

This is a lot of plot and a lot of characters. It’s a first issue, it’s what happens. But I’ve done a huge disservice to MTMTE in my recap: all of this is so much more organic and so much less garbled when you’re reading it as nature (and James Roberts) intended.

With so much introduction happening there isn’t much to analyse- other than saying that the characterisation is strong, the plot is compelling, and the mysteries are stacking there’s not much to add. Nick Roche rocks the art well enough that even an uninitiated Transformers Philistine like me could mainly tell the characters apart, though it’s still something that’s hard to get used to. We’re talking about robots that turn into cars. Variation is not their strong suit.

Next week we’ll finish up this mini-arc, introduce the last of our very large crew, and find out just how well Cybertronians run on Nightmare Fuel.

You can get on this fun train by buying the comics over here: https://www.comixology.co.uk/Transformers-More-Than-Meets-the-Eye-2011/comics-series/7279?ref=c2VhcmNoL2luZGV4L2Rlc2t0b3Avc2xpZGVyTGlzdC90b3BSZXN1bHRzU2xpZGVy

Written by James Roberts, Art by Nick Roche, published by IDW

[britesparc]

Weekend Top Ten #254

Top Ten Characters from More Than Meets the Eye

This week was the fifth birthday of my favourite comic of all time, Transformers: More Than Meets the Eye. It’s still going, of course, having transformed (see what I did there) into Lost Light, but very much a continuation of the story James Roberts and his artistic collaborators have been telling since early 2012.

To celebrate, I wanted to list my favourite moments from the series, but as I talked about “most emotional moments” fairly recently, that seems redundant. In fact, I’ve talked about MTMTE quite a lot in these Top Tens, so fresh ground is increasingly hard to come by. So I shall focus on the characters: my favourites in the series, and why I love this particular interpretation of them.

Well done, James, Alex, Josh, and the rest: you’ve achieved something!

Megatron: achieving the impossible of making the concept of “Autobot Megatron” entirely believable, the notion of an old sad warlord attempting to make peace with his horrific legacy and the world he’s helped create is fascinating.

Rodimus: still probably my favoutire Transformers character of all time, this iteration of Rodimus – at once narcissistic and vainglorious but at the same time utterly self-sacrificial and dedicated to both the Autobot cause and to his crew – is a wonderful study in how a someone can occupy seemingly contradictory characteristics simultaneously.

Minimus Ambus: reinventing Ultra Magnus first as a stuffy and bookish by-the-rules fusspot was one thing, but then going further and revealing that Magnus was merely an inherited identity, and this Magnus was really a diminutive ‘bot with a robo-tasche? Excellent.

Nautica: a massive nerd who likes dancing and drinking and reading, who forms fast friendships but is reluctant to reveal her true feelings, Nautica is a beautiful and rather sad character. How she will react after the death of her closest friend will be interesting.

Swerve: once again showcasing how multifaceted the best characters are, the gradual unpeeling of Swerve’s neuroses and mental health issues, and how they affected him physically, was a great slow-burner, turning a stock comic relief character into a tragicomic hero.

Cyclonus: another brilliant reinvention, the Decepticon best known for being Galvatron’s lackey is now an ancient warrior with a strict code of honour, but who is besotted with Tailgate and would do anything for him, whether that is tearing a planet in half or going down in a hail of gunfire.

Whirl: a whirling dervish of chaos and violence, Whirl is another apparently comic character (albeit a much darker vein of comedy) who likewise has many layers, a tragic figure undone by his own temperament whilst also a victim of the unjust society that was pre-war Cybertron.

Ratchet: old and grumpy might be Ratchet’s stock characterisation across most Transformers media, but his fatherly relationship to Rodimus, and the growing opposites-attract friendship with Drift, marks this Ratchet out as something special. Beautifully poignant, his actions when faced with a rampaging Overlord – “tell Whirl he can have my hands” – remains a series high point.

Grimlock: when Grimlock first appeared very early in the IDW comics, he was as smart and articulate as he usually is when written by Simon Furman; giving him some kind of brain injury (whether it’s a physical or psychological issue hasn’t been firmly established yet) which reverts him to his “Me Grimlock” persona isn’t too much of a surprise. However, it’s been so delicately handled, with his mind still in there somewhere, and under the potentially dubious care of the Scavengers, he is beginning to blossom. Another good examination of mental illness in a book about giant robots looking for their giant robot gods in space. Shout-out to his carer Misfire, who has also shown hidden depths in his relationship with Grimlock.

Brainstorm: everyone loves a mad scientist, and the seemingly amoral Brainstorm, with his ability to build something lethal out of any benign thing you put in front of him, has been a source of comedy throughout. The revelation of his tragic backstory, and the lengths he was willing to go to “fix” his past, lead to one of the greatest arcs in MTMTE.

What, no Nightbeat? Seriously? Wow. Wasn’t expecting that. But then, I’m examining these characters as per their portrayal in MTMTE/Lost Light, rather than just which ones I “like”. Nightbeat remains awesome, with some fresh wrinkles to his persona, but “Sherlock Holmes in space” isn’t too divorced from what we’ve seen before. All the same, great characters, a great series, and a great run! Happy birthday, guys!