#but that has nothing to do with liege maximo

[quibbs126]

So my brain’s thinking about my AU again (though I still haven’t drawn anything new yet, I’ll get to that eventually), and it’s considering the idea again of including Impactor, going off the idea that he’s Terminus’ kid with Megatronus, though Megatronus was already out of the picture

The question then is, what do I have him do in the current day? Because timeline wise, he’d probably be a little younger than Alpha Trion, so probably still alive, and I feel like his existence should have more impact than just being something that happened in the timeline but doesn’t impact the plot, like Terminus kind of does

But also, I don’t really know anything about Impactor, so I don’t know where I should put him. I know in IDW he shares a past with Megatron and I think Terminus, and that he’s leader of the Wreckers, but that’s about it, I don’t really know his personality either

I could have him lead an Autobot Wrecker group, but I don’t know much about the Wreckers outside of what Prime told me either, and at this point I don’t know if I want to include the Wreckers, mostly because of my lack of knowledge. Another idea is that he leads the bounty hunter group Hot Rod and Arcee were in, given I haven’t decided on a leader yet, but that group in my mind is made up of the g1 Season 3 cast, like the previous two, Springer, Blurr, probably Kup, and Impactor is nowhere to be seen in that lineup, I don’t think he’s even in the show. The only reason why I’d put him is because I know he and Springer have some sort of Wrecker connection, and because I don’t know who else to make their leader. Ultra Magnus wouldn’t lead a bounty hunter group (though he was commander of the Wreckers in Prime wasn’t he? Hmm), and while Kup’s there too, I also don’t really see him leading one either

So yeah like, what do I do with him? Do I make him lead a Wrecker group, which means I’ll have to make Wreckers and figure out where they’re supposed to fit in the story while not really understanding them much (aka it’s probably the most logical answer but that’s a lot of effort I don’t want to do), should I have him lead Hot Rod and Arcee’s bounty hunter group (aka the best answer in my head right now but I don’t know if it’s right for the character), or do I do something else entirely?

[planetformer-central]

Thank you for making this baby prime AU, it's a boost of serotonin seeing each art of it!

How do Starscream and Soundwave feel about the Primes they once guarded now having been reborn?

I've already done Soundwave, so here's Starscream. This is part 1 of a set of comic pages I have sketched.

That said, in the TF1 Baby Primes AU, Starscream is not a meme worthy character. He is cunning, exceptionally so. He was trained from the moment of his forging to be a soldier, eventually being taken under the wing of Liege Maximo himself. He watched the Cybertronian empire fall. He witnessed Crystal City, the crown jewel of Cybertron, burn. He was so loyal during the war that he was allowed to know of the Primes reincarnations and even serve as a teacher to Prima during his regular rebirths. Additionally, he served in a priestly position to fill in after the Primacy was destroyed. He tried to keep the ancient customs of Cybertron alive, no matter the cost to himself.

Starscream is old, and above all else, he's unwavering in his goals. He wants nothing more than for the old empire to return, and for his Lords to be able to go back to their traditional roles as wandering guardians and guides. For the sake of his goals, he has allied himself with Megatron and remains loyal in the hope that Megatron might show his Lords the error of their ways and convince them to come back with the High Guard.

One of his notable quotes regarding the situation is as follows:

"Our Lords are young yet. And during this delicate time after rebirth, they imprint easily. Their loyalty to Optimus is pure and unwavering, at least for now. But as they age, so long as they are shown the truth, they will begin to stray from him. That is when we strike. That is when we can bring them home."

[mapledkanata]

You've mentioned how Sentinel reacts to D16..but how do the other Primes feel about Orion dating?

“Hello, my good ‘Tumblr’ users! I shall be taking on some of these asks as Maple rests!

I see that many of you have been wondering about this exact thing. 

Well, starting with myself, I can say that I initially found myself hesitant, though not shocked.

There are many ways of which Me—D-16 and Orion have turned to be.

For a time, I worried. Though, I could not let such presumptions cloud what is Now. Little Orion now has a sparkmate. They make each other very happy.

Ah, that’s enough about me! As for the others… here’s my understanding of their thoughts.”

Megatronus Prime: “…a formidable warrior such as D-16 would make for a worthy companion of Orion.” (Trusting)

Alpha Trion: “The two of them are still very young. They will have much to learn in each other’s company… I should hope that they stay out of trouble.” (Hm…)

Zeta Prime: “My little Orion has a sparkmate..? Oh… how could I be so disengaged from his life?” (Surprised)

Solus Prime: “Oh, it is so very sweet! I am reminded of Megatronus and myself… That D-16’s spark is fierce and fervent, I am glad of his relationship to Orion.” (Enthused)

Alchemist Prime: “Ah, D-16’s the name, yes? Well, I don’t know too much of the mech, but I’ve seen enough dopey smiles to know I shouldn’t worry about Orion.” (Emotional)

Nexus Prime: “ORIOOOON..,..,, he’s all grown now… no longer that sparkling we gathered at the well… ahem… I have witnessed D-16’s trainings within the High Guard. Megatronus thinks highly of D-16, for good reason… Orion should be in good hands…. Orion….” (Emotional)

Onyx Prime: “D-16 should hope he treats Orion well.” (Wary)

Quintus Prime: “Ah, young love! Thus, a new chapter of our youngest Prime unfolds…” (Enthused) 

Micronus Prime: “Let’s hope D-16 is as good of a fighter as the others say he is! Haha, joking!” (Accepting)

Liege Maximo: “D-16, hm? A commendable warrior, sure, but he’s bit of the awkward kind… So long as Orion’s happy, I have nothing to contest, I suppose.” (Accepting?)

Prima Prime: “Guh…. all I can think about is how I’m still loveless….” (Accepting??)

Amalgamous Prime: “Hah! I had set them up myself! Well, I gave them that nudge they needed—they’re both just too shy!” (Endorsing)

[energ00n]

I remember it was mentioned that Airachnid was originally an apprentice of Onyx Prime before working for Sentinel, and Onyx mostly allowed this because he strongly believes in free will. How would each of the primes react if one of their "graduated" apprentice ended up deserting them like this?

Imagine being on the president’s bad side lol. I can’t tell you how all 13 will react cuz I haven’t delved that deep into all of them buttt I’ll try the ones I do know

- Onyx (eco): Onyx always voices his thoughts with his Apprentices, their bonds are strong. However, he’s known to value one’s free will and nature, he’ll let the Apprentices do as they wish

- Megatronous (military): He always believes he raises strong warriors with the same wish to protect their home, to desert such noble purpose it’s uhhhh hard not to think of cowardice being at play. He won’t say anything to deter one’s will but he’ll be disheartened

- Maximo (law enforcement): He’s petty, holds grudges and he’s not afraid to show it. Maximo is especially proud of his selections of Apprentices, all strong willed, all highly skilled and disciplined (gestures to Elita), he personally made sure of it and he hates being wrong. He also won’t try to convince anyone to stay, there’s no place for indecisiveness in his House

- Zeta (diplomacy): There will be paperwork involved lol. Most likely he’s prepared positions for every single Apprentice he has, carefully designed and tailored for the individuals’ profiles. So desertion will be like a wrench to the cog, he will not be happy with time wasted

- Sentinel (public relation): The most likely to not give a shit. He has a lot of Apprentices and most of them are not there because of their talent or skill, they’re there cuz of their pretty faces and they kiss his ass well. Absolutely nothing was lost to him if one quit he’ll just pick up another

- Nexus (culture intelligence/architecture): Nexus is chill with whatever you choose! It’s highly unlikely someone would need to leave tho his House have all kind of jobs a bot might want

- Solus (craftsmanship): She’ll grieve talent wasted and wonder what bigger and better thing the ex apprentice will achieve

- Alpha Trion (archiving): Will also be disappointed but what else he gonna do

- Prima (religion): lol nah

These are purely what ifs, I have a hard time imagining some of these guys’ students leaving

Specifically, Megatronous, Liege Maximo and Alpha Trion. Those are based on their Apprentice’s general qualities only. Those under Solus or Nexus quitting is crazy cuz imagine walking away from guaranteed good future and loving mentors lol

[askvectorprime]

what is the most horrible thing you have ever seen?

Dear Abomination Allured,

While I have seen many all-too-terrible things in my time, there is one that sticks in my memory banks… no matter how much I would wish to forget the sight.

During the long struggle against Unicron, I had grown weary. I had been fighting for so many eons that they blurred together, victory turning to defeat turning to victory turning to defeat. I wondered about the nature of the battle—how we could stand to fight such an impossibly overwhelming foe, whether we could ever triumph. Had our creation been a fool's errand?

This moment of weakness was answered by the Liege Maximo, who in a similar weary tone reminded me that I alone could answer these questions—by setting myself against the timestream’s flow, and visiting the distant past, to see how the universe was before our existence.

Liege had spoken flippantly, never expecting that I would take him at its word. But I did as he said, turning back the cycles, before even Primus’ own creation, to visit the stark nothingness that existed after the Primal Realms had been wholly devoured, that still and sparkless place: the Void.

I have felt the frayed edges of doomed timelines, watched entire universes cut down in their prime… I have met monsters the likes of which you cannot imagine, I have seen the Eye of Horus, witnessed the Hytherion’s impossible gyre, glimpsed unthinkable entities for which no name exists… I have visited scrapyard-worlds composed of corpses, I have seen stars and planets and all their life rendered down into fuel, I have stolen into torture chambers on the unmarked levels of vast underground complexes, and eavesdropped… time is a tsunami. And in a multiverse filled with overwhelming noise and abject suffering, it may seem foolish to say that the most horrifying thing in existence is nothing at all… but nothing compares, and I can promise you nothing scares me more.

The last light from the faintest stars has long since been swallowed up, every planet, every moon, every asteroid, everything… all swallowed up. There was no light to see by, nothing to see. No medium to transmit sound, nothing to hear. And without any referent, time itself ceased to hold meaning—nothing to happen, nothing to start, nothing to end. Having arrived in that timeless place, I found myself unable to leave—trapped, cut off from my own domain. Blind, deaf, powerless… I broke down.

In a way, it was a relief to realise I was being hunted. Having believed his hunger sated, Unicron was vexed to realise he had room for more. He stalked me through the Void, but ironically, it was his very presence which allowed me to evade him; some echo of relativity reasserted itself, and it was all I could do to keep the distance between us constant. I was still in denial, desperate to believe that surely some world had been missed, some crumb of life yet eked out an existence, an extremophile adapted for this most hostile of environments. And yet there was nothing. Just him.

I do not know how long I spent there; the question is non-applicable. All I know is that, eventually, I found a single molecule of hydrogen. I broke down once more, this time in joy. For if this one molecule could exist, so too could others like it. For through the period of its atomic orbital, the probabilistic behaviour of that single electron in relation to its proton giving rise to countless possible futures, I began to count the cycles once more. Perhaps that was when time began—and with time, as many untold eons as it might take, there came the possibility of change. Unicron would return to his slumber, and as he slept, these distant specks of matter would cross the gulf between them, and join together, to create a new universe. The Void would be filled with life once more. My future would come to pass. I watched the atom’s cycles, I counted on it, and then I was gone.

I returned, only moments after I had left. I was, if anything, more weary than I had been to start. But now I knew that even the smallest thing in existence could stand against Unicron, outwit him, defy him. And if it could, we could do no less. We would stop him, no matter the cost.

[melishade]

Hello again, another question with AOT Eren being in Post-Rumbling AOP! I imagine Rung hearing about AOT Eren from Primus when he is at one of their sessions, Rung will freeze and internally, most of Primes will be freaking the fuck out. I imagine pulling AOT Eren to what remains of the Paths while he is asleep, which I imagine he will be in old HQ of Survey Corps so that Hanji has close eye on him...and to basically help around given he is stuck in this timeline.

So, Primus and Primes, brought him to their realm, and they are trying to find out HOW he is here, especially when they learn he is from a different timeline, not sure how they will treat AOT Eren given he started Rumbling and killed 80% of Humanity, but he didn't punch Primus or they will see he is relatively more stable mentally.

I imagine they will be shocked or surprised with how he treats Ymir, being happy she is free and that he ap[ologises that his idiotic counterpart did not help her get free, but demanded Founder's power.

I imagine he will ask to see AOP Eren...and promptly starts beating him up for being his stupid self.

AOT Eren: Why the fuck did you do it!? There were other options! Did you even look at alternative choices with Founder's Power?!

AOP Eren: Alternative choices?!

AOT Eren: *Megatronus level of anger*

AOT Eren: *SCREEEEEEECH!*

AOP Eren: Oh SHIT!

Rest of the Primes:

Primus: I will let him have a few minutes with him.

Previous episode of AOT Eren just making an appearance

LOL!

Rung: So how did your visit go?

Optimus: I saw Eren alive and well.

Rung cracking the datapad by accident: Oh!

The Primes listening in: INCOHERENT SCREAMING

After the session.

Rung: WHERE IS HE?! WHERE IS HE?!

Onyx: WE'RE LOOKING! WE'RE LOOKING!

Rung letting his voice slip: LOOK FASTER!

But really AOT Eren just disappears on everyone and they just...kind of let it go at this point?! Like what else do they do with that?! They just hope AOT Eren doesn't come back or end up in a place that would have them do damage control. But basically Rung found him, snapped his fingers and AOT Eren was transported to the realm of the Primes with 12 deities staring him down.

AOT Eren:...This is a really weird day.

Liege Maximo: Really? That's all you have to say?

AOT Eren: To be honest. I think this is a weird version of hell.

They immediately clock in that something is wrong when Primus introduces himself and Eren doesn't have a negative reaction. More confused if anything. And they they realize:

Primus: By the Allspark it's multiverse theory.

Amalgamous: Hah?!

Primus: THIS IS THE ORIGINAL EREN!

The Primes start screaming while Eren is quite terrified at these deities freaking out about it.

Prima: How did he end up in this timeline?!

Everyone snaps their heads to Vector.

Vector: I did nothing! You all know how meticulous I am at my job!

Micronus: You're the only one with the powers to do it! And Primus is confused too!

AOT Eren just asks to be sent home, or to hell. Either way, he just doesn't want to be here. And the Primes would be surprised at how calm he is.

Eren: I wiped out 80% of humanity. Do you really think someone like me deserves mercy?

Solus: At least this version isn't trying to argue or justify it.

Eren: I'm sorry. The other version tried to justify it?

And yes, AOT Eren asks before he leaves or they send him wherever that he takes a crack at AOP Eren.

Prima: You want to do what?!

Eren: I mean...I still got issues with myself so...why not?

Liege Maximo:...you wanna borrow my darts?

And it's basically that Batman meme. The beat down:

AOT Eren comes back bloodied while Primus pockets a banged up AOP Eren somewhere else. AOT Eren is ready to go to hell officially, but...the Primes are in a good mood. And a little bit generous.

Primus: How would you like to be our guinea pig?

AOT Eren: I don't follow.

Primus: See, I don't believe in an eternal hell. I believe in reincarnation. But as you know, you have done some rather heinous crimes. And giving you reincarnation with all of those crimes...would be too easy. So I intend to put your alternative self through some trials to prove that he is worthy of reincarnation. There are still some factors that will determine if it will actually happen, but you can be our test subject, since you are a version of Eren. If you help out with the test, you will get tortured. But I'll over you a chance to reincarnate once this is all over.

AOT Eren:...You know I've killed more people? Right? Why would you even consider offering me a chance to reincarnate at all?

Primus: You have been dealt a bad hand, which is why I sent Optimus to your world in order to try and prevent it. Your alternate self didn't take that opportunity for peace for a variety of reasons. But you didn't have many options. But from what I've seen, you did seem open to change. The world just didn't treat you fairly.

AOT Eren:...I...I don't know what to say to that. Where would...where would I even go if I did this reincarnation thing?

Primus: Wherever your spark desires. The choice is yours.

AOT Eren:...I'm not worthy for this chance. I hurt my friends. I killed so many people, I-!

Primus: Every sentient being deserves an opportunity for redemption. You are definitely going to take some time to get there, but...I still believe that you can become a better person.

So AOT Eren agrees to be their guinea pig and gives the Primes pointers on how best to torture AOP Eren during the trials. Although AOT Eren is completely traumatized after test running Solus' trial and he has to take a break and throw up.

Solus beaming with pride: So my trial is perfect.

The other Primes staring in horror.

Primus and the Primes don't let AOT Eren know about Founder Ymir. She's still sleeping and she doesn't need to be involved in any of this. She needs her nap.

[lets-try-some-writing]

What if it was another Prime who was reincarnated into Orion Pax? Like instead of The Thirteenth who was reborn as Orion Pax and late became Optimus Prime, what if it was Prima? Or Solus Prime? Or Heck! What if it was Megatonus!

How would the plot change? What would their interactions between the Team, Decepticons and Humans be like? What would their reaction to finding Unicron be like?

Thank you!

Ooooooooh this is a REALLY good prompt. I like it a great deal. Also I loved this idea so much that I took it to my friend @spreadwardiard and with his help, planned out several parts for this AU.

━━━━━━ ⊙ ❖ ⊙ ━━━━━━━━━━━━ ⊙ ❖ ⊙

Where is Thirteen?!

It had been decided long ago that the Thirteenth Prime would be the one to return, that he or one of his incarnations would lead Cybertron during its darkest hour. The original Primes all knew this, especially those who perished and were returned to Primus's embrace. It was the rule. And so when Thirteen vanished from among them, sent up to be prepared to enter the living realm, they were all eager and waiting to see what would come of it.

But nothing came. Things continued to grow worse in the living realm, and while they couldn't see it, they could FEEL it. Thirteen should have been up and operating by now. He should have been doing something.

Liege Maximo was not generous by any definition of the term, but he was cunning and calculating. He could tell quite easily that something had either gone wrong, or Thirteen had gotten lost somewhere in his mission. Whatever the case, it needed to be rectified. As such he intended to go the Well's edge, to possibly attempt to hitch a ride with some unsuspecting mech so he could look through their optics and get and idea of what was going on. It would be bending the rules, but he knew how to play his cards. The only reason his plans fell apart last time was due to his belief that Solus would not be overpowered by Megatronus. He was wiser now, he would play his games carefully.

He really should have expected Primus to note his desire and do something with it.

'This was wrong, very very wrong. Thirteen couldn't be gone. Thirteen was supposed to be operating this frame, NOT Liege Maximo. The younger Prime was a fool, but he was the one meant for this task, not Liege, never him. The frame he occupied what quite clearly meant for his diplomatic compatriot, the singular member of the original Primes that Liege failed to gain any sway over. He both admired and resented that fact.

Whatever the case, this was wrong. Horribly and unmistakably wrong.'

Something obviously had deviated from the plan. All Liege could do was internally scream when he found himself within the small and still sparkling like frame quite clearly intended for his fellow Prime. The body he occupied had Thirteen's face, it had his structure, and most disgustingly it had absolutely none of the sharp features Liege loved in his old frame. He hated it with every fiber of his being, and momentarily he considered flinging himself and the abominable frame he operated back into the Well. However that idea was banished when Liege came to the conclusion rather quickly that if HE was operating Thirteen's intended frame, then Thirteen was still up here somewhere, lost and quite possibly stuck in some limbo.

This was not his job. He was the most 'evil' of his fellows, he was the most selfish, and he was NOT meant to be the kind and empathetic leader Primus had likely sent Thirteen up to be. Why in the stars was HE here then? As much as he seethed at the question, he soon found himself with an answer as Alpha Trion came to collect him. The elder Prime knew it was Liege immediately, and in return both were let reeling and wondering where their fellow Prime was.

Alpha Trion: You should not be here Liege.

Liege Maximo: I am well aware of that Trion. Where is Thirteen?

Alpha Trion: I do not know. The Covenant offers no wisdom aside from the assurance that he yet lives.

Liege Maximo: He has a duty to fulfill and I have no interest in remaining in his frame.

Alpha Trion: That much is obvious, but there is little we can do at present. Thirteen must be located and put back on task. Until then, you must operate in his stead.

Liege Maximo: What? I am no empathetic fool like Thirteen. I have wishes, desires, things I wish to have.

Alpha Trion: I am well aware of that Liege. But you have always been charismatic. Use that ability and Thirteen's frame to find him and bring him back into the fold.

Liege Maximo: And what do I gain from this arrangement?

Alpha Trion: A chance to obtain power. If you find him, you will have Thirteen's audial. You always wanted a say in the developments of Cybertron did you not?

Liege was still not pleased with the arrangement, but it was one he had next to no choice in agreeing to. He had no interest in playing messiah for Primus's mortal creations unless he could lord over them, and that was not on the table so long as Thirteen was lurking somewhere. Regardless of his future plans, he still needed to find wherever his fellow Prime had wandered off to, if only to assess the situation. If Thirteen failed to perform, them Liege could begin looking into doing as he wished. Until then, he needed strength and influence, resources he would gain through his search if Thirteen was buried as deep as he predicted.

As such, Liege went with Alpha Trion and contented himself for a time in gathering intelligence as his frame developed. Taking into account the rather docile appearance of his new frame, Liege developed a designation and personality to match. He needed contacts, and his prior personality would simply not cut it, at least so long as he paraded himself so openly. He had been given a set of cards to play, and while not fond of them, he would put them to good use. He chose the designation of Orion Pax, a name he found to be fitting for his purposes. He needed to be seen as intelligent, but kind. He played that role before with Solus. He could do so again. It did not take long for him to be known as the most knowledgeable and kindsparked archivist serving under Alpha Trion. This ended up with the Master Archivist giving Liege, or rather Orion, quite a few side glances, untrusting due to his prior betrayal.

Orion Pax opted to keep his distance from his fellow Prime for both their sakes, but mainly for his plans. Alpha Trion knew him well, he knew that Liege, or Orion, was a master manipulator and speaker. If the Recorder Prime knew all his thoughts, there would be battle between them. As it was, they were only bound by shared duty. Thus while Orion learned under him, he otherwise kept to himself and tried not to be suspicious.

He grew slowly but observed dutifully. He saw the situation on Cybertron and laughed in the face of it. The mortals were so very foolish. They chose their Primes on whims and chained themselves without any subtly. Using reprogramming and castes was so very inefficient. If the mortals really wanted control, they would make their population believe themselves in command through careful usage of propaganda and education, not forced labor. It was too obvious, and there were always mecha willing to look past the veil. How very foolish of them. It was so ridiculous to him that often he spent extraordinary amounts of time digging through files, not for enjoyment, but to dig out the gems amidst the slag. He needed servants like his loyal beasts from so long ago. He needed mecha who would follow him and do his bidding even if they weren't aware of it. And for that, he required competent individuals to serve him.

It was somewhat hard for him to work his way through the archives enough to understand the world in great enough detail to begin his search. It took him millennia, of which he spent patiently working away under Alpha Trion even as he grew in knowledge. He could be patient, especially when he finally found mecha that garnered his interest that were within the realms of his sphere of influence. Orion was of course only a middle caste mech, data caste specifically. There were rules to his station, ones that he found just as foolish as the caste system, but that he was required to adhere to while he blended in and grew in power. With that in mind, there were only two mecha who he could influence who seemed to not be wrapped up in the lies told to them.

Orion Pax: Welcome to the Archives. How may I be of assistance?

Ratchet: I am looking for medical case records from the Rust Plague. I couldn't find them at my local archive. They said the files were transferred here.

Orion Pax: That would be correct. We had those files moved here in response to an influx of medical personnel. I will guide you to the records, please follow me.

Ratchet: Thank you-?

Orion Pax: My designation is Orion Pax. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance.

It was not hard to throw his weight around as Alpha Trion's student to have files moved. And it was also not at all difficult to purposefully have certain files checked out when Ratchet came, forcing the medical student to return time and time again for more. Orion always made sure to be the one to help him, and to offer nothing but kindness with a hint at a desire to break free of the castes. It was perfect, and before too long, Ratchet came to him without need for manipulation, often speaking on the cruelties of their world. He played his cards well, and in return he gained a loyal ally who was well on his way to climbing up the latter in the medical field.

Jazz was not so easy to take into his circle as the spy was quite simply able to see through his manipulations. Thus Orion instead opted to speak half truths and lure the spy in with promises of a better future. Jazz was rightfully skeptical, but Orion showed his worth by performing a few minor interventions, saving the lives of a few mecha with well placed documents and a few whispers amongst certain circles. Jazz didn't trust him, but he didn't need to. He only needed to serve. In that regard, he was exemplary, doing exactly what Orion needed him to do if Orion could simply convince him it was for the benefit of their endeavors to free the people of Cybertron. Meanwhile behind the scenes, Orion used the influence he garnered to begin his search for his fellow Prime.

Vorns were spent going through records, visiting locations, and trying to find anomalies. It was an impossible task, and quickly ended with Orion deciding that moving along and preparing the way for Thirteen was the best course of action. He had already cemented himself as a 'freedom fighter' amongst his allies, so he might as well use that reputation to make greater contacts. Thirteen would naturally be drawn toward things that aligned with his duty, at least, that was the hope. Thirteen was most likely to be involved in organizations and communities that focused around freedom and care for the weak. As such it simply made sense for Orion to seek out a mech with growing influence down in the pits, if not to find Thirteen, then to increase his own sphere of influence via association.

Alpha Trion: You wish to go to Kaon and use archival funds to do so.

Orion Pax: I do. There is a mech there, one who has named himself after our fallen fellow Prime. He speaks of freedom and fights for it.

Alpha Trion: You have never cared for freedom Liege. What is it you really want?

Orion Pax: Now, don't be hasty Trion. I am going to Kaon to look for Thirteen, just as I said I would. He is most likely to be around those fighting for his precious freedom.

Alpha Trion: What do you gain from this Liege? Don't play games with me.

Orion Pax: So untrusting. If you must know, I intend to establish contact with the gladiator Megatronus and extend my sphere of influence. There is much to be gained from eliminating this ridiculous waste of resources you call the caste system.

Alpha Trion: Such as potential for you to manipulate the order of this world?

Orion Pax: Why I never insinuated anything of the kind Prime. I merely wish to see the people of this world free to act as they will-

Alpha Trion: Preferably for your benefit.

It was quite the affair to convince Alpha Trion to find his expedition, but once it was done, Orion Pax studied Megatronus and prepared the perfect personality and arguments to use. He needed the gladiator to find him useful if nothing else, and due to his position, he brought much to the table. There was no way Megatronus would turn him away, and with the gladiator's help, Orion could ride his way straight into a position of power able to manipulate Cybertron. Finding Thirteen would be a bonus since he could throw his sibling Prime into the position of poster mech and control things from the sidelines. It was a perfect plan, one with little room for egregious error.

Only as soon as he finally secured a meeting with the gladiator, he suddenly found himself vividly remembering the chaos that was his first attempt to control the flow of things during the first age as one mech stuck out like an energon crystal in the rust sea. He came expecting to meet Megatronus, and possibly even locate Thirteen hiding away somewhere as a small domestic worker or even settled with a family. He was not at all ready to meet Megatronus and find himself being stared down by a masked mech who looked nearly nothing like his brother Prime, but was quite clearly the one and only Thirteen.

Orion Pax: Greetings, it is a pleasure to meet you-?

???: Greeting accepted: Orion Pax aknowledged.

Orion Pax: You know my designation? How-?

Megatronus: The moment you reached out to me, I had my associate here look into you. I do not like acting without the input of my second.

Orion Pax straining to keep smiling: Oh? I was unaware you had someone with such capabilities on your side, much less a second in command.

Megatronus: Why yes, Soundwave is a highly capable friend and compatriot. I would have never gotten this far without his aid in planning and management. He is a true ally and the only who I believe could best me in the arena.

Orion Pax struggling to not break character: I see. In that case, shall we begin discussion? As I stated in my message, I wish to hear more of your ideals and operations.

It was against all the odds, yet somehow Thirteen happened to be the mysterious spymaster and second in command of Megatronus of Kaon of all mecha. The Thirteen Orion, or rather Liege Maximo recalled was soft spoken, a diplomate of few words but endless empathy and consideration. This mech... he had to be Thirteen, his spark signature and everything about his told Orion as such, but he was different, wiser, and no longer the naïve Prime from so long ago. He had not been idle during his time in the living realm, and yet no matter how hard Orion looked into "Soundwave" he could barely find anything. All information on the mech was hidden behind Prime and council level security. If he went to Alpha Trion asking for the information, the recorder Prime was likely to become outright hostile.

He couldn't risk it. He would just need to work on his own. Now that he knew who Thirteen was, he just needed to move him into a position where Orion could manipulate him. But that quickly proved to be a challenge as the moment he tried to use his persona on Soundwave, his brother Prime noted him immediately and cornered him.

Orion Pax: Soundwave! I would be in your debt if you would look over these speeches I have composed for Megatronus-!

Soundwave: Liege Maximo's games are waste of time. Megatronus: No fool. Tolerates you because of usefulness. Hard to win trust.

Liege Maximo: Why Thirteen, I do not wish to harm him or anyone for that matter. I merely wish for this world to be made into the best version of itself. Does that not start with removing the caste system?

Soundwave: Liege Maximo: Betrayed us. Had Megatronus kill Solus. Was punished by Megatronus. Liege Maximo: Does not remember last attempt at manipulation?

Liege Maximo: I am well aware of my faults Thirteen. But that is why I need your aid. You were meant to inhabit this frame, not me. If I had my way I would never have come to the living realm as I am. You are far better suited to lead this people. Can I not help you get there?

Soundwave: Manipulations: Useless. Liege Maximo: Will refer to Soundwave by designation. Not Thirteen anymore. Soundwave: Has no interest in ruling. Megatronus: Better suited.

Liege Maximo: Then why don't we put aside our differences for the time being to help him? He wants to fix things doesn't he? If I prove untrustworthy by the time he gets to speak to the council, then we can discuss this further. How does that sound?

Soundwave: .... Parameters: Acceptable. Liege Maximo: Will be killed if Megatronus is harmed.

Liege Maximo: Of course brother. I would never touch your Champion, at least not without cause.

Soundwave: Final warning: Do. Not. Touch. Megatronus.

Orion or rather Liege Maximo finally found Thirteen, but it seemed that his fellow Prime was not at all trusting. It was an agitating turn of events, but manageable. Now with Thirteen at least within his realm of influence, Orion could finally begin working to accomplish his own aims.

[cardboardfoxwrites]

So, the other day I was reading over the first pages of the Covenant. I stopped when I reached Liege Maximo's entry. The underlined part left me thinking.

I believe in the fact that someone has to take a negative role in the order to trigger certain events that bring the civilization/individuals to do something that might later either affect the Universe in some way, or, at a smaller scale, affect the planet in question.

Example - the 'go back in time and kill Hitler' rhetorical question: Basically, I'm a believer that, if one was to return in time and would kill Hitler, another guy would rise to take his place and the story would repeat, albeit somewhat differently.

What does this have to do with Transformers?

We all know that in The Aligned Continuity it was Liege Maximo who orchestrated the Fall of the Primes. I was thinking of ways to redeem him, but then I thought of something:

Liege was smart. He could pick up subtleties, and we know that Primus gave each Prime a certain coding and certain knowledge of things. What if, during the fight against Unicron, he got a vision, maybe they all did but brushed it off as Unicron's manipulation, and only a while after it was over he realize what it meant.

Maybe it WAS Unicron's manipulation and the Manipulator himself fell to it.

That vision was of two things:

1. He saw Quintus create new life using the Emberstone, creating the Quintessons, who in turn would kill him

2. He saw the Well of Allsparks as he entered it, a tunnel to Primus' Core, and saw other sparks rushing by him to get out

Thus, he understood that, the only way to bring new life to Cybertron would be to open that Well of Allsparks.

He thought it over for years, and, in the end, he came to the conclusion that one of them must die in order to open it (maybe through trial and error).

He loved his sibling, but Unicron's corruption made him jealous and blind to any other possibility. So, he began planning on how to make one of the others create the Well.

He didn't plan for that bot to be Solus. Primus below, even he knew that they'll need her.

It was one faithful day when he heard Onyx's cries. He was close to the pits, working on his creatures, which were initially meant to guard the new generation to come. Then Megatronus came, enraged. He immediately realized what was happening and, when the other Primes came, in their blind fight, he hit them with his darts, managing to make everyone see an illusion of himself.

That illusion didn't see the end of the fight. After the fight, they buried what they thought was the original. Liege Maximo watched everything from the sidelines, his spark shuddering like it hadn't since the fight against Unicron. Then the Well opened, and he watched as his brothers descended through it. He watched as the new generation emerged, beautiful stars being born and taking form, like they all must've done in the beginning.

His coding reached the end. He had fulfilled his plans. The Well had been created, the new generation of Cybertronians appeared.

He took a moment to lament the loss of his siblings - so many had paid the price for just one.

After that, the Original remained on Cybertron, unbeknownst to his remaining siblings, who were still affected by the Darts, took upon a new identity, and watched the events happen.

He was there when the Quintessons came. That's when he realized that his plan had been for nothing, and he had been played by Unicron, just like everyone else.

After the Quintessons left, he made his way to become a higher caste mech for the advantages, thus being given access to places, leisure etc.

Then the War started. He night played a part in it as well. He was in Sentinel's inner circle. He tried to make Sentinel to change the Caste System. He even used his Darts on him, but it only made things worse. By the time Sentinel would give in, Orion Pax and Megatron would stand before the Council.

Liege wouldn't be present there, aware of who Orion was, and that, once he would receive the Matrix, he would be able to remember him on sight.

He watched the War taking place from afar, part of him basking in the chaos, while part of him suffering and questioning why this was the wish of his Creator, why Primus created a race so complex that they'd even think to start a war.

He was there to watch his Creator die.

He was there when, millennia after the Well of Allsparks stopped creating new life, 3 or 4 new sparks emerged, receiving their bodies. He felt the presence of his Siblings, although it was faint, barely there, and went to inspect. His spark began racing when he saw a pale purple robot, a Minicon, and a Predacon.

He was there to see Shockwave take them in. He was there to watch, but didn't do anything. What could he? He'd risk getting discovered.

But then... His attention would get grabbed by something else. In two opposite places of the Universe: he felt Unicron waking up, and his transmitter picked up the Quintesson language.

[scalproie]

@zenyamin HELL YEAH I DO

Put them under a readmore bc even if I streamline their needlessly complicated lore, its still A Lot.

First group is bunch of miscellaneous vehicons left behind on earth after every cybertronian went home to cybertron, and they kinda stumble upon the enigma of combination, making them into a combiner. You have:

Jam (as in "Traffic Jam", vehicon, head)

TR-135 (vehicon, right arm (turn into blaster))

Overburden (miner vehicon, left arm (turn into a drill))

Ringer (eradicon (the flying ones), left leg)

Lacet (silver eradicon, right leg)

When combined theyre not very powerful but their strength resides in their crazy resiliance. They fight monstrous manifestations of Unicron who wanted to take advantage of the fact that every cybertronian allegedly left earth to plan his grand return by wiping out every living thing on his surface. He named them "Cannon Fodder".

Second group has a whole lore and setting so hold on:

Bots and Cons on hell moon

So it all starts with a decepticon scientist named Spin Glass who worked his entire life on one (1) project which is to create his own Emberstone after the one from Quintus Prime, Megatron recruited him back at the start of the war but after the severe lack of any result, he eventually send him to a very remote and hostile moon with a bunch of decepticon nobodies so he could get him outta his hands.

Eventually Optimus and the autobots came to know about the existence of said moon and the decepticon team on it so he send an equal bunch of autobot nobodies to keep the cons there in check.

The two teams came into contact and started fighting just as Spin Glass' Emberstone came to completion and its activation resulted in two things:

It destroyed the transmission tower of the moon, stranding the two teams there until its either restored and they can send a distress signals to their respective sides, or until someone from the decepticon or autobot gets worried about the lack of news from the moon teams (this will not happen)

Everybody acquired a power from a specific Prime, split into two for each side:

Spin Glass (con) and Quick-fix (bot) got Quintus Prime's magno-telekinesis and are able to channel Spin Glass' Emberstone to heal their allies.

Spin Glass is the leader of the decepticon team and the main scientist, he tries to keep his new god complex and his frustration about the stupidity of everyone on this moon, esp his team he has to relunctantly fix, in check, but to his credit he is arguably the strongest cybertronian there.

Quick-fix is the autobot team's medic, her magno-telekinesis is honestly nothing compared to Spin Glass', but she doesnt let it get to her (it pisses her off so bad). She can channel the Emberstone much better and from almost anywhere tho, and it had made her an incredible healer.

Tideturner (con) and Perihelion (bot) each got one half of Prima's Star Saber.

Perihelion is the leader of the autobot team and refuses to admit she might be a little out of her depth, and her denial is fueled by the need to prove her worth. She is by far the better swordmaster here and has a better handling of her half of the Star Saber.

Tideturner is a con soldier who loves challenges but hates defeat, he's a very sore loser and an even more infuriating winner.

Pulstar (con) and Pharos (bot) have a mild control over time and space that they got from Vector Prime, they use it to reach incredible speed.

Pulstar knew Spin Glass the longest and is the closest thing he might have to a friend if Spin Glass had any of those. Pulstar has something Spin Glass severely lacks: enormous charisma, and bc of that, Pulstar is on somewhat good terms with everyone on his team and is the major reason why it hasnt imploded yet. He's the unofficial SiC.

Pharos is a regular bot soldier and ever since hes had those powers, he's obsessed with finding out its limits, like lightspeed.

Balefire (con) and Aphelion (bot) can make clouds of the paralyzing toxin that was in Liege Maximo's liegian darts.

Aphelion is the "spark sister" of Perihelion and the autobot team's SiC. She is very worried and insecure about having received the power of the most treachorous Prime and what it could mean for the relationship between her and her sister/team.

Balefire used to be the most nobody of nobodies con soldiers and his new powers got to his head VERY fast.

Makeshift (con) and Presage (bot) gained the ability to transform into anybody effortlessly just like Amalgamous Prime.

Makeshift (yes that one) was already a shifting spy before this ordeal but with a lot of technical setbacks, so this new development and power made their job EXPONENTIALLY much easier. They have BY FAR the best handling of their new power out of anyone on the moon, including Spin Glass. They are even able to manifest Amalgamous' scythe seemingly out of nowhere.

Presage used to be an actor pre-war before having to join the autobot's side. Thanks to his new power, he is very excited to be able to flex his acting muscles and fool those uncouth cons into provinding intel for his team.

Short Fuse (con) and Atomizer (bot) inherited Alchemist Prime's lenses that allows them to see incredibly far, but also to scan for hidden energon, to see thru walls for a bit, and to see through Presage and Makeshift's disguises.

Atomizer (yes that one) is the one who is the most pissed about being stranded on this moon, and the godly powers he received are barely compensation, but he does have to admit that he is a much more deadlier archer/sniper now. Perihelion has to butter him up about him one of the most vital member of this team. He has a particularly active rivalry with Makeshift.

Short Fuse is the con sniper and he FUCKING HATES people. He will spend almost the entirety of the fights in a completely different location shooting bots from far away. Outside of fights he almost hides away in his own base and WILL physically attack you if you come near him. He tolerates Pulstar a bit.

Snap Out (con) and Coil (bot) are able to make almost any invention possible thanks to Solus Prime's power.

Coil was very happy to be a nobody bot during the war bc he hates violence and has a severe self-esteem problem. He uses his new power almost exclusively to create defensive devices to help his team. Spin Glass is particularly interested in him bc outside of himself, Coil is the only one able to fix the transmission tower.

Snap Out was the one who was most mentally affected by getting her power, she creates exclusively weapons for herself and treat them as if they were alive, calling herself their "mother". Despite that, they break very quickly and she has no grief over it. Spin Glass refuses to work with her bc he thinks she's crazy.

Sidewinder (con) and Stormweaver (bot) had their alt-mod upgraded into mythical creatures to reflect Onyx Prime. They can access aspects of his triptych mask, with the exception of mournsong.

Sidewinder can now turn into a western dragon with a lot of firepower. Out of the three aspects of the mask, the one he uses the most is predator and he now bases his new personality around the hunt. Sometimes he refuses to go back to his robot alt-mode. His team thinks he's cringe.

Stormweaver can now turn into an eastern dragon with lightning control. Out of the three aspects of the mask, the one he uses the most is farsight, and he mostly does it to try and predict the very hostile weather of the moon.

Lift Off (con) and Hardwire (bot) got the strength, arsenal and general tankiness of Megatronus Prime. They also have limited access to the requiem blaster and are mostly fighting for control over it.

Hardwire is the ONLY ONE out of the 18 bots on the moon to have a little admiration for the moon they're on. He secretly documents the environment around him. He is the main pillar of support for his team and is likely the one reason they don't all lose it.

Lift Off is a mean girl in the body of a massive helicopter. She thinks very high of herself and has now the power to back it up. She WILL try to get a rise out of people just to see what happens, Pulstar's the only one who's immune to it.

SO THAT'S THE FULL TEAMS.

They mostly fight over the transmission tower, as the first one to hold onto the position and fix it will be the one who'll be able to first call their faction's leaders. Usually when a team make a little bit of progress on it, the other team come destroy it.

They COULD work together to fix it but Spin Glass wants to rub his scientific success rrrrrreally hard in Shockwave's face and Perihelion wants to show Optimus that she can be an Autobot team leader hero without help from anybody.

When they're not fighting over the transmission tower or in other various locations, they're fighting against the moon itself that seems even more hostile than before ever since Spin Glass activated his Emberstone, so now the moon throws at them storms, meteors, energon blackouts, and other deadly stuff they might even have to work together to survive.

And if you read all this and think "hey wait a minute isnt that..." you would be 100% right and it is 100% on purpose

Now what are YOUR tf OCs 🫵

[deepwater-abyss]

Starscream, second in command of the Decepticons, member of the Elite Trine, and planning on overthrowing Megatron! Wait. You didn't hear that last part.

More under the cut!

Starscream is the sibling of Thundercracker and Skywarp. They didn't rise together, nor do they share a splitspark bond, but they are siblings nonetheless. Like the other two, Starscream was forced to fend for himself when he was younger, a street rat within Vos. But he wanted more for himself, and for his siblings. He didnt want to be forever fighting for survival.

He met a young scientist by the name of Skyfire by chance, though Skyfire was quickly enamored by her. Skyfire took sympathy with Starscream and her plight and became the ticket out of poverty. Though Starscream couldn't forget her origins.

When the Decepticon movement began to take hold, Starscream immediately knew they wanted in. Here were others, suffering just as they had, others who are still suffering because of their frame, because no one would take them in, because everyone turned a blind-eye to anything less then perfect. (Perfect being a midweight grounder who was always a grounder.)

Starscream and xir trine travelled to Kaon to personally join the movement. Starscream proved valuable quickly, and xir trine was basically adopted by Megatron. Starscream, who already loved Skyfire but had yet to admit, realized that xe also fancied Megatron. But xe wouldn't say anything. No. That would be showing weakness and Starscream cannot be weak.

Eventually, Thundercracker and Skywarp's incessant nagging made Starscream propose forming a sparkbond with Megatron. Since he was practically their right hand man! Not because he liked them. Though after said bond was formed, it was obvious, though left unsaid.

As the war began and was waged, things changed. Skyfire betrayed the Decepticons, breaking Starscream's spark. Megatron was careful about the emotions shared with even Starscream. And Cybertron began to die.

As did Megatron.

Only to come back. Changed. That wasn't Megatron. Not anymore. Even without a sparkbond, it was obvious. Touched by the Unmaker itself? Starscream avoided interacting with Megatron as much as possible aside from running the war, shutting him out. But the sparkbond was still there. Maybe Starscream himself was cursed as well. He dare not think that.

Tension between him and Megatron became apparent. But after the Nemesis crashed on Earth, after being awoken by a human, things may change yet again.

Oh, also Starscream is Liege Maximo reincarnte.

[quetzalpapalotl]

Well, First Strike was much easier to follow this time around, some things are better than I remember and some are... not...

It's better than Revolutionaries and definitively better than Revolution (actually my perception of what makes a good comic may be skewed because of that). It helps that this is a story about Scarlett first and foremost, which helps it center it and feel way less messy, even if I'm not here for her. It was annoying that the story needed to remind me every two pages that Scarlett and Colton are oh so badass, but their story did make me feel something so. That side was fine.

The thing is, I'm here for Optimus, and he has some beats that I want him to have, that would have been right for him to have, except that the way the are presented feels completely unearned (which happens a lot with Scott, idk about Rodríguez). Like when OP apologizes to Scarlett for the council not listening to reason and she's like "To reason or to you??" that conversation was good and it brought up good points about OP, except it felt like a completely non-sequitur because is not like it was Optimus who brought Scarlett here and had promised she would be safe. She just showed up and OP tried to vouch for her. Is it because the Earth joining was his idea?? It still feels so weird especially with what comes next.

Optimus disregarding other people to do what he thinks is the right thing is nothing new, yes, but after annexing Earth, risking war to force it to join the council, ignoring the pleas of the Microverse and everything else he has been doing, breaking Scarlett and co. out of prison so they can help save Cybertron that's nothing! Like, Scarlett was arrested just for showing up as a preventive measure, is not like she has done anything bad. Why is this portrayed as such a dark thing and why is this the thing that made Windblade give up on OP??? When she said herself that Scarlett was right. When TAAO wanted to make such a big point of Windblade having had to learn to trick and scheme. When she keeps trying to appeal to Starscream's good side. When TAAO literally portrayed Starscream releasing Chromia from jail (who actually got people killed for no reason) to go look for Liege Maximo as a good thing. Like the scenes where OP gets chewed out would be good if they were happening for a good reason, but as it stands, it just feels like they just wanted OP to do some morally grey thing to have to scenes and that was the best they could come up with. It's kind of a waste, I wish OP had done something actually fucked up. I liked his interactions with Scarlett at least.

Also even if he broke the law and is full of himself, the Council fighting OP and co when the guys who want to kill all of Cybertron are right there is just stupid.

But yeah, for the most part I think it had good dialogue and character interactions, even among the characters I didn't care about, it was charming. So there is that.

[tyrantofthefirmament]

*shyly approach* Lord Starscream, I believe this is my first time speaking to you and I've admired you for a long time. I even have a necklace with a jet on it I wear because it reminds me of you. I hope you're doing well. May I ask how holidays on Cybertronian vary from Earth holidays? Merry Christmas and thank you for your time. (And I love your blog! Have a nice day and Merry Christmas to you too!)

Ah, an anon with manners. 

*he picks the anon up carefully to give its kiss on the head, and sets it down with a flourish*

Since you asked, I’d say it depends on the holidays. Obviously the events commemorated in each planet’s holidays are going to differ, as are the customs, but there are a few similarities. 

Both Earth and Cybertron have holidays based on history, religion, and legend, for example. Cybertron, however, has nothing resembling a rodent that predicts the weather.

Some of our holidays were full-blown celebrations that everyone took part in - or should have, if the caste system hadn’t made a lot of mecha miss out. In Vos, we had a week of partying and flying after the end of the rainy season, where everyone celebrated with new paint jobs. It was a time to enjoy the good weather and show off trends based on the previous season’s paint looks in the theater and holo-vids. We also had a lot of civic holidays throughout the years, based on anniversaries of battles, coronations, and other historic events. Most of those wouldn’t be celebrated every year, but rather every Vorn or every thirteen Vorns. Even Vosnians would tire of that many parties. The majority of those holidays were marked by formation flights and official displays by the Air Command, and not so much by widespread festivities. I did like to declare holidays though, on the vorniversaries of my coronation. Everyone likes a day off.

The biggest holiday in Vos was the Wind in the Spires Festival, which commemorated the founding of Vos and the achievements of its people. There were days and days of feasting, music, air shows, speeches, and the Spire Search! The Spire Search was a city-wide scavenger hunt for young Seekers to take part in, with clues given by anyone from their teachers and upperclassmechs, to merchants, and anyone who wanted to make them up. There was an official hunt where all the clues led to each other in sequence, with clues made up by other Seekers as side adventures. We usually followed the extra clues after the main hunt had concluded, especially if we didn’t do so well. I usually did quite well, but I found the extra clues often led to unbeatable bargains and home-made snacks that I wouldn’t have known about. Many of Vos’s lower caste merchants and lower ranked artisans gave samples and coupons as prizes to drum up business, you see. Once I got too old to hunt in the Spire Search I enjoyed writing clues for it. It was fun to give my students and the apprentices in Vos’s many guilds a challenge.

In Vos, as well as elsewhere on Cybertron, we had holidays in honor of Primus and the Thirteen, though most mecha only really celebrated the ones pertaining to whichever Primes they considered patrons. Two of those - the days devoted to Liege Maximo and the Fallen - were set aside for pondering ones life and mistakes, and seeking amends. The others were generally solemn religious occasions. The main religious holiday I celebrated was one that commemorated the dead. It was one of my duties as the leader of a city state, and of the Air Command, to lead formation flights over the Well of AllSparks in honor the Sparks that have returned there. I haven’t had the opportunity to do that for all the Seekers lost since the war started. Most of us, in fact, when Vos fell and many millennia after...

There was also a day of thanks, celebrated all over Cybertron. The Vosnian tradition for that one was to make a pilgrimage to the Sonic Canyons and do sonic booms or buzz the canyon walls to thank Primus for our wings and whatever else we had on our Sparks. We had our own holiday for the dead in Vos as well, where we would do sonic booms all day to “wake the dead”, then shoot flares and fireworks and feast all night in their memory. We didn’t sleep until the flares faded or the sun came up.

I know Earth has holidays for historical leaders, and for the dead, and for religious figures, and I know that feasting, presents, and fireworks are involved, but I couldn’t say how similar they are. To me many Earth holidays seem unduly troublesome and humiliating, and I’m not sure what’s supposed to be fun about them certain aspects of them. I wish you could see holidays in Vos.

((Thank you anon! Merry Christmas to you too and thank you for the fun ask! I love writing headcanons!))

[ring-rong-rang-rung]

Do you think a Jealous Prima in the love triangle would feel remorse for killing either Solus or Megatronous ina jealous rage ? Or would he start to self justify what he did ?

Hmmm...

There would be some remorse from him, along with a good amount of guilt. He is the leader, the one who sets the example. How could he do this? How could he have this blood on his hands?

But if Liege Maximo is still there and manipulating him, I could easily see him coming around to justify it.

He might struggle harder about justifying Solus (she begged him to be calm, to sit at the fires and speak to her, to tell her what was wrong. She said they could fix it together, the three of them, and yet, he refused. Pride had been his downfall, and he had taken her with him.), but he probably has an easier time with Megatronus (he was snarling, grabbing Prima’s wrists and telling him to drop the Star Saber, to disconnect from the Matrix. Telling him to stop being a fool and listen, Primus-damn-it! It had been so easy to cut through him, and watch his optics fade.).

Without Maximo’s influence, however, the guilt and remorse would outweigh everything else. He’d probably surrender everything as soon as he was found. Weapons, titles, the Matrix, and himself to the justice his fellow Primes saw fit to put upon him.

If it was Solus who lived, she would almost find it pitiable, were the fires within her spark not raging, crying out for both her loves who were now lost to her. She would take him to Alpha Trion, and retreat into her forge, praying to Primus the best way she knew how, with her Forge.

If it was Megatronus, he would level the Requiem Blaster and fire. The satisfaction was worth it, but nothing would ever bring her back. And eventually, he would mourn Prima too, as much as it pained him. The others would have to decide his fate then. Was he guilty, or justified? Either way, he was lost now, searching for something that would never return.

[thanksjro]

Before We Begin

Full disclosure: I’m not working off of a physical copy of this story, but rather a PDF download. I live in the United States, and don’t think I’d be able to find a copy of this book if my life depended on it.

When I was looking at the download packets, I chose the one with as many extra materials as I could, so I’d have the best chance at understanding the story without having to rely on the internet too much.

As you can see, there’s a good amount to work with here. I’m especially happy to have the notes- also known as the Story So Far. Thank god for this, because this would be an absolute slog to get through otherwise.

Eugenesis takes place within the Marvel comics continuity, which includes both the American and UK comics published at the time, and The Transformers The Movie. The guide summarizes the millions-year long war between the Autobots and the Decepticons over control of the planet Cybertron. Pretty basic stuff, things anyone who’s ever heard of the Transformers ought to know. The notes assume that the reader knows absolutely nothing about the franchise, which is good, because it means nothing gets left out.

This is already an interesting contrast between Eugenesis and MTMTE/LL, which didn’t need very much extra reading to be understood, if any at all. A rarity in the comic industry. Sure, there were things you could read to get a deeper understanding of certain character motivations- Last Stand of the Wreckers, for example, giving one a better grasp of why Fort Max is so messed up and angry.

But this is about the notes right now, not the comics. So, let’s dive right into:

That’s right, baby, this novel takes place in the far-flung future of 2012, and you better believe the date 12/21/12 comes up at least once.

There’s a lot of stuff that’s covered in the notes, and I’ll bring it up as needed as I progress through the novel. It’s helpful to have, but let’s move on to the juicier stuff.

…Is what I would say, if the notes weren’t completely batshit insane.

It starts out innocently enough, describing the beginnings of the war, establishing that the Transformers didn’t always, well, transform. Transformation technology was developed by Megatron in order to make the Decepticons more combat-effective, and the Autobots followed suit. They fought so hard that Cybertron was knocked out of orbit and got lost for a little while, eventually coming under the rule of a warlord named Trannis while Optimus and Megatron are busy being unconscious for four million years on Earth.

Trannis is a massive technoist, who believes that mechanical beings are the bee’s knees, so he starts cyberforming other planets, until he gets offed by the resistance. He’s quickly replaced with Jhiaxus, who’s basically more of the same, and the Decepticons of Cybertron split up, one team heading into space to do evil robot things, the other guarding Cybertron from the resistance. The Beast Wars are mentioned. The cartoon continuity is mentioned. Shockwave shows up for a bit, gets thrown in a swamp a couple times.

Things go on like this until 1985, when the Earth-based Autobots reestablish contact with their homeworld.

Galvatron shows up- y’know, Galvatron. The revamped Megatron from the movie, which takes place in 2005. He time-hopped from the future to build a weapon to kill Unicron. The Autobots try to stop him. Why they don’t just let him kill Unicron, who is blatantly evil and a threat to anyone around him, isn’t stated, but they eventually trick Galvatron into going back to the future, with a little help from Kup, Blurr, and Hot Rod, who are also from the future.

Galvatron comes back a year later. He causes a bunch of time-travel nonsense to happen, and is basically the worst until the Time Wars happen.

Meanwhile, Megatron heads back to Cybertron to see what’s happened while he was taking a dirt nap. Straxis- who was left in charge by Jhiaxus- isn’t doing so hot, and decides he’s going to steal Megatron’s body for his own. He gets killed for his troubles. Megatron decides he’s just going to head back to Earth, feeling pretty paranoid at this point- which, fair enough. I don’t think I’d feel very safe after someone tried to steal my body either.

Later on, Optimus Prime dies in a video game. Optimus Prime is killed by a human child in a video game. In fact, let me just show you the whole paragraph that covers this, because I don’t know that I’m able to do it justice.

It just blows my mind, and I knew that this happened before I even attempted to read the notes. These notes are eight pages long, and this is on page three.

Now Fortress Maximus is leading a group of Autobots, but he’s really not feeling the fight so much, so he, Kup, and Hot Rod just kinda… leave. They end up on Nebulos and become Target/Headmasters, just in time for the Decepticons to track them down and fight some more. Back on Earth, the Autobots launch Optimus’ corpse into space and elect a dinosaur as their new leader. This goes about as well as one would expect.

Over in London, G.I. Joe finds out that Megatron’s been living in the sewers. Actually, it isn’t Megatron, but a clone, housing the personalities of both Megatron and Straxis. They kill him and throw him in the river. Shockwave catches wind of this and has the body brought to him so he can use it to kill Galvatron. He brings the body back online using a ‘psycho-probe’, and uses the power of suggestion to have Megatron do his dirty work.

Megatron decides to kill Cyclonus and Scourge first, since they work for Galvatron, and through a time-travel mishap, ends up killing one of them before they were created. This displeases the space-time continuum, which promptly rips, and will continue to do so over the next few months.

Are you starting to see why I needed to break this down?

Optimus Prime is brought back from the dead. Hooray.

Starscream finds the Underbase-  an ancient storehouse of Cybertronian knowledge so vast it will literally melt your brain- and wrecks shop until the moment it kills him.

Meanwhile, clone-Megatron has decided he’s not going to kill Galvatron, but rather join forces with him. Everyone agrees that this is a terrible idea, and so the Autobots and Decepticons living in the year 2009 join forces to get Galvatron back to the future. The space-time rift swallows him, Scourge, and Cyclonus’ corpse, solving the problem pretty cleanly. Clone-Megatron finds the original-flavor Megatron, and promptly kills himself.

With the original Megatron back in play, he kidnaps Ratchet and forces him to resurrect Starscream as a Pretender- a robot in a protective shell. Ratchet decides that he’s going to fuck the warlord over as thoroughly as possible, instead bringing back a few of his friends and then exploding the Decepticon base. Both Ratchet and Megatron are presumed dead, but when has that ever stopped anyone in this franchise?

The newly resurrected Autobot Pretenders wind up in the center of the planet, Decepticons hot on their trail, and find themselves face-to-face with Primus, their creator god. Someone shoots the poor guy in the face, and he screams loud enough for Unicron, Bringer of Chaos, Vorer of Worlds, to hear him. So, that’s a thing they’re going to have to deal with in a few months.

Unicron finds a Galvatron from a parallel universe and takes him along for the ride, as the Autobots spend the start of the 90’s looking for the original Optimus’ dead body, which they never bothered to get the Matrix out of for some reason. They better hurry, because space is pretty big, and that Matrix is the only thing that can stop the Chaos Bringer.

Ratchet and Megatron are found- alive- in a pocket dimension, though they probably wish that they weren’t, seeing as they’ve been fused together so hard their brains have to take turns piloting their horrific, melty, shared body.

Unicron shows up in ’91 and kills, just, so many people. Optimus Prime sacrifices himself to save the rest of the population, flinging his body and the newly-recovered Matrix into the World-Vorer’s mouth. This kills God.

Optimus names Grimlock as the new leader of the Autobots- because that worked out so well the last time- and then dies. Prowl does all the heavy lifting to actually get the planet back in shape, seeing as the fight with Unicron wrecked Cybertron so hard its trying to tear itself apart via earthquakes.

Cyberquakes?

Anyway,  Prowl works out a deal with the new leader of the Decepticons, Bludgeon, only to get sabotaged for his efforts, the Autobots being left to die as the 'Cons fly off to find new worlds to conquer.

Shockwave and Starscream- that’s right baby, he’s back- steal the Ark, unaware that there were multiple other people aboard. It’s like they didn’t even check. Galvatron is stowed away, and both Megatron and Ratchet- freshly separated- are stored in stasis pods. Ratchet wakes up and immediately crashes the ship into Canada, hoping to kill the Decepticons aboard. Galvatron lives, only to be trapped under the ice by a nasty fight with Fortress Maximus, the last Autobot left on Earth.

Back on Cybertron, Gridlock has a show of competence and reveals that he had extra ships hidden away, just in case the Decepticons tried anything funny. They get off the planet and go to fight some ‘Cons.

Optimus Prime is brought back from the dead. Hooray.

The Matrix is recreated. Wahoo.

The Autobots fight the Decepticons, defeating them once and for all. Or do they?

No, they don’t.

See, even the notes know what’s up.

Not even a year later, Optimus catches wind of Decepticon forces gathering along the edge of the galaxy. He decides to make Grimlock leader of the Earthforce- because Optimus never friggin’ learns- and they face off against Megatron and friends a few times before the Decepticons abandon Earth altogether. At some point, Fortress Maximus gets killed off. Grimlock disbands the Earthforce to chase the ‘Cons across the galaxy, and finds a Cybertronian empire, which holds at its center Liege Maximo, who claims to have created Megatron.

Well, that’s not exactly right; he claims to be Megatron’s progenitor.

It’s at this point I broke out the TFWiki, because that could mean a lot of things.

Still vague. Hmm. I’m onto you, Marvel comics. Don’t be jumping on the mechpreg just yet, we still have three more pages of notes to get through.

…What did I just say, Marvel comics?

Did I say three pages? I meant two paragraphs. Holy hell, that hits like a punch to the face, it does.

Okay, so this isn’t exactly what you think, believe it or not. This is describing the form of reproduction that was established in the Marvel comics known as budding- some unlucky robot’s body runs away with itself and basically vomits out another fully-formed ‘bot. It’s like their chest was chewing a huge wad of gum, tried to blow a bubble, but did it just a little too hard.

Getting back on track, Optimus Prime finds out about budding from Vector Sigma, but pulls out of their little pow-wow before he can be told about the byproduct of this birthing process- the Swarm, an ink-black cloud of evil energy that left Cybertron ages ago to find something to feed off of.

The Swarm finds its way home, interrupting yet another standoff between the Autobots/Decepticons and the Cybertronian Empire. A lot of folks die, and Optimus surrenders to the Swarm in an attempt to save his compatriots. The Swarm gets introduced to, and I quote: “concepts of nobility, compassion, and sacrifice”, then goes back into deep space to seek enlightenment.

Can you imagine if human afterbirth did that? You just had a baby, and now you have to beat your placenta off with a broom? Then the god-king of the world introduces it to meditation and kindness, and it goes off to find inner peace instead of killing everyone? Comic books are wild.

Other than that funky little aside, it’s business as usual for the Transformers- war! From 1995 to 2003, they’re fighting nonstop. Then the UN decides that Optimus Prime’s allowed to build a giant robot city on Earth. It sure is a good thing Optimus is such a nice guy, because I don’t think they would have been able to stop him otherwise. Imagine telling the thirty-foot tall robot-Jesus from space he needs a permit to build a city in the middle of the desert.

They build the city- Autobot City, in fact- with Metroplex the Titan sealed inside, just in case the Decepticons decide to try anything funny.

They do- it’s called The Transformers The Movie. There’s a slight difference in plot, in that the notes remind us of the fact that Galvatron is a time-traveling ponce, but other than that the movie’s the movie.

To summarize that- though I’d be surprised if I needed to- movie goes like this: It’s the distant future of 2005, ‘Cons attack Autobot City, Optimus gets shot and dies AGAIN, traumatizing thousands of children in the mid-80s, Megatron gets shunted into deep space, meets Orson Welles who makes him a thigh-tastic new body, Megatron-now-Galvatron turns Starscream into a small pile of ash, a bunch of robots get vored, Hot Rod fulfills his destiny and becomes the new space-Jesus, Unicron explodes, YOU GOT THE TOUCH YOU GOT THE POWER-

So after all that happens, the Autobots take back Cybertron and tell the remaining Decepticons to kindly screw off. Hot Rod- now Rodimus Prime- decides he’s not taking any chances and hires a bounty hunter to find and kill Galvatron, who’s off galavanting somewhere in space. Both Rodimus and the bounty hunter follow Galvatron through time- of course- and land in 1987, but return to the future/present empty-handed. While they were gone, Shockwave and a group of Decepticons showed up on Cybertron, resulting in a stalemate between the two factions.

In 2008, the bounty hunter shoots down Cyclonus and Scourge- Rodimus put a hit out on them, too- over the planet of Junk, home of the Junkions. Who else is there? Oh, just Unicron. He’s got the Junkions brainwashed and building him a new body. He uses the bounty hunter to kill Shockwave, instates Cyclonus and Scourge as the new Decepticon leaders, then gets blown up by Rodimus and Wreck-Gar. Cyclonus, Scourge, and the bounty hunter all go through a time portal as this is happening, and the two Transformers end up in 15th century Cybertron, where they’ll become Targetmasters. Their resumes must be very impressive at this point. Nobody’s sure where the bounty hunter’s gotten to- we’ll get back to him later.

Although his physical form has been destroyed, Unicron’s essence lives on inside the Matrix. This can only end well, surely.

Back on Cybertron, Soundwave takes control of the Decepticon forces.

The Quintessons break free from Unicron’s control, just in time to discover that their planet’s about to be torn apart by the space-time rift Cyclonus’ dead body made.

Are you beginning to see why I felt the need to summarize these notes?

The leader of the Quintessons decides that now is the perfect time to attack Autobot City on Earth, as well as Cybertron. This doesn’t go very well for the Quintessons, or their planet.

The time-rift is still causing issues, so Rodimus Prime grabs some Autobots and heads to the past, to go grab everyone’s favorite time-traveling ‘Cons. What happened there we already covered, so I’ll leave it at that.

Rodimus and friends return to the present, only to wind up in a parallel universe, and the fact that this is only the second time I’ve had to write “parallel universe” for this section of the breakdown honestly astounds me. Rodimus gets possessed by the spirit of Unicron, who was hiding in the Matrix as we covered earlier, but he handles it pretty well and they head back home.

Back in their original universe, they find Galvatron, Cyclonus and Scourge, repaired by the space-time rift. Rodimus destroys any and all time machines he can get his hands on at this point- the notes say it’s to keep a promise he made to Optimus, but between you and me, I think he’s just gotten sick of Galvatron’s shit.

A couple years after that, Unicron’s got himself a hot new bod, and now he’s gonna tear up the town. By "tear up”, I of course mean devour with the sole intent of destruction, and by “town", I mean the entirety of Cybertron. Rodimus Prime manages to stop him, by containing him within his body, perhaps his mind? The notes are vague here, but the Wiki seems to imply that he’s trapped within the Matrix again, which Rodimus holds.

Now it’s December 2012, and things aren’t going so great for the Autobots. The Decepticons have control of Cybertron, the remaining Autobots being forced into hiding underground. On Earth, Autobot city is manned by a hundred ‘bots, Ultra Magnus acting as leader. They’re there to make sure Earth’s safe from the ‘Cons, but there hasn’t been an attack in quite a bit.

That’s where the notes end. That’s everything you need to know before reading Eugenesis. So, what did we learn?

We learned that Galvatron and his goons time traveled so frequently they broke the laws of physics. Optimus is just as incapable of staying dead here as he is everywhere else- multiversal constant, that one. Rodimus is smarter than Optimus about confronting the enemy, in that he intends for them to die, either by his hand or one that’s been hired. Good for him, I say. Get the job done, Rodders.

We also learned that the mechpreg really isn’t Roberts’ fault. I mean, yeah, he probably leans on the concept a bit heavily, but he’s just working with what he was given by the franchise. We’ll see how deep that rabbit hole goes later on.

But I think the most important thing to glean from this is that comic timelines are a nightmare. That’s the real lesson here.

Okay! Notes are done! That means we can start on the novel, right?

No.

No, it doesn’t.

We still have the prequel to get through.

[blueikeproductions]

Lately I’ve kept pondering over RiD15, and wondering how the story and characters could’ve been approached differently. As much as I didn’t like the bulk of Prime, I do think embracing its predecessor from the start might’ve helped in places. Generally I see a revised RiD as largely having the same concept, escaped prisoners the Autobots need to round up, but pivoted in a more coherent direction. The Alchemor would be an inside job. The (secret Decepticon) High Council would specifically arrange a prison ship filled with baddest of the bad to be sent adrift in space, and later be sabotaged to crash on Earth as part of an elaborate plot. While partially a revenge scheme for Earth’s role in the Decepticons’ final defeat in the Great War, it’s also mostly busy work to distract the Autobots while the Council set larger plans in motion on Cybertron. Some of The Thirteen however would have an influence on events. Optimus would urge Bumblebee to protect Earth, but Onyx would be the one to subtly manipulate the Council, orchestrating the wrangling of Beast type Transformers in the prison ship for a colonization effort for Beast kind, with Steeljaw as the figure head. Steeljaw, of course, would defy Onyx as he seeks to recruit a personal Pack to take over the greater Solar System and create a new Decepticon Empire. Another Prime would also interfere, Liege Maximo, who like in the RiD books, mostly partakes in events for his own amusement over anything else. The villain of the week plot would generally remain, but tighter plotting would ensure everything feeds into larger story arcs. In particular, the Autobots apprehending weaker Decepticons, for example, would allow Steeljaw to weed out undesirables in his future Pack, something that was alluded to in the Minitron episode. Overtime Steeljaw would form his Pack, consisting of members from the third season, as well as extra characters such as Chop Shop, Bisk, Simacore, Vertebreak, Springload and Groundpounder. Springload in particular would be useful in sniffing out relics remaining on Earth for Decepticon usage while on his hunt for Dorados. Decepticon Island would still come into play, though slightly tweaked to serve as more of a homebase for The Pack, though it eventually gets taken over by the Autobots as it does inshow. Like Prime, there’d be a collectathon aspect, as both sides resume collecting leftover tech, which would result in several arcs. The initial arc would be the revival of MECH, now under the command of Dr. Archevil, with Short Circuit, and The Mechanic. Following Cylas’ lead, they’re conducting biotech research to jumpstart humanity’s next evolution. Denny and Fixit would infiltrate the group, disguised as The Robot Master with the glitchy Mini-Con said to be a tamed Cybertronian under his control. Later arcs would be adaptions of the Prime Wars trilogy. Upon finding the Enigma of Combination, Steeljaw plots to use it to create the ultimate Decepticon Combiner from his pack, resulting in SteelReign. Secondhand exposure causes the Bee Team to merge into UltraBee. On top of including Crash Combiners from the toyline, there’d be several original combinations as well such as Twinferno and Grimlock. Later, in desperate need of resources and a base after Decepticon Island, Springload insists on finding Doradus, and after following some leads, eventually discovers it! It turns out to be a Titan that crash landed on Earth during ancient times, it’s abundant sources of Energon being what seeded the planet’s Energon deposits in a mild retcon. Steeljaw seeks to control the Titan, and uses Vertebreak’s grafting experiments to merge with Dorados’ Titan Master to do so. The series finale sees the Council attempting to harness the Power of the Primes for their benefit on Cybertron, which causes a ripple effect to Earth, causing the Transformers to confront the Primes that orchestrated events and come together to defeat The Fallen, who was awakened between dimensions by the Council’s tampering. The human characters would be allowed to have proper arcs and characterization as the show progresses. Denny and Russell would be largely the same, only with an arc that gradually allows Russell to warm up to his father and explain how they became estranged in the first place. The original show implies such a relationship, but it’s glossed over way too quickly. Mrs. Clay would appear, and be revealed to work with Fowler in UNIT: E to help investigate and cover up the Transformers’ presence on Earth. Her team consists of Stormshot, Skyhammer and Twinferno. Fowler’s unit is not directly interacted with usually, but is shown to include adult! Jack, Raf and Miko who along with Ratchet are shown to deal with Alchemorcons outside of Crown City, particularly Stockade and his Mini-Cons who have become their arch enemies. Hank is allowed to be in the know at the scrapyard following a Decepticon attack at the Crown City Fair, and becomes fast friends with Grimlock. Their relationship is an inversion of Bulkhead and Miko’s. The alien hunter from season 3 is used at the start of the series, rewritten as investigating Transformer activity since at least TF Prime, and seeks to prove their existence. Something of a Mr. Crocker type, he’s viewed as the Crown City nutjob, and nobody believes his claims (even MECH wants nothing to do with him). Like Kelly of the original RiD, he’d get comically caught up in the Transformers’ conflicts, usually with little to show for it by the end. Some additional spot light episodes include the following: A loose adaption of Afterdeath, where Bisk seeks programmer Ethan Zachary at Alternate Realities, Inc and demands his team create a challenging video game to his specifications. He and Bumblebee would later duel within the completed game, dubbed Multi-World. Ethan Zachery would be an old college buddy of Denny’s. Grimlock, frustrated at is inability to blend in like the other Autobots, finds a relic in Simacore’s lab that enhances transformation. Equipping it, Grimlock can now transform into other vehicles, but can’t control what he turns into, leading to many hilarious situations. Chop Shop is hired by an eccentric alien collector, later revealed to be Autobot Pipes, to acquire Earth memorabilia to add to his collection. The biggest source of such memorabilia is Denny’s scrapyard, which Chop Shop pilfers from under his nose as part of an arc long running gag, until the Autobots get wise to it. Pipes, not really a bad sort at all, tries to make amends by actually buying Denny’s wares, of which leaves the discriminating nostalgist with a hefty pile of Shanix that’s useless on Earth... This later works out for Denny, as thanks to Pipes, he now has a new intergalactic avenue of business with other alien collectors by series end.

[spockandawe]

windblade and or chromia?

Awright! I’m catching up on a few more of these before I pass out for the night (work has been kicking my ass), but I haven’t forgotten these are here, and heck, if anyone still wants to send in other asks, this is exactly the kind of character noodling I love to do.

I already hit windblade, so! Chromia!

First impression: Hahaha, not much. Like Windblade, she was a casualty of Dark Cybertron writing. And because IDW was my first real introduction to transformers, I had no idea at all she was a legacy until forever later, so there wasn’t anything to get my attention at the time.

Impression now: Oooh, this is a complicated one. So, I’m in a weird spot where I really love who she is, but I’ve got real trouble getting attached to her emotionally, which is weird, because she hits LOTS of my favorite things, but... here I am. More than anything, I love how ruthless she can be. The Windblade miniseries was where she got my attention, and that was some choice character material. I love it when Windblade is calculating about things, but Chromia took an extra sharp, mercenary approach to the situation that’s a lot more like how Starscream would classically take control of a situation than how Windblade would. And I love the push and pull between her trying to do what’s best for Windblade versus her own wants and needs. And then I really love that the story touched on the aftermath of her setting off the bomb, where autobots/decepticons? They’re used to casual killing. Chromia is plenty aggressive and ready to fight, but the emotional impact of following through in that way has a much different scope when you’re not coming into the situation after millions of years of total war, and I love the nuance of her emotional response to it all and how that’s also used to control her. It’s a fascinating dynamic and her character is so interesting.

Favorite moment: Mm. Hmmm. This feels a little like cheating because it’s feeding off my emotions for another character, but the moment when she panics Waspinator and he tries to bolt, and she tackles and pins him. The backstory for both of them gives layers of emotional context for the scene that’s not necessarily easy to discuss in a post like this, but it’s wonderful material to think through and turn over in my head on my own.

Idea for a story; Arcee/Chromia. I want to take these two ladies who have a lot of similar characteristics, where they’re both often blunt, impatient, quick to anger, and prone to violence, but where their backstories are so dramatically different, and make them smooch. Arcee is so old, so jaded, so experienced, and very used to holding herself detached from the world. Chromia feels very young, she’s very naive in some ways, and being an ‘experienced’ warrior on caminus is nothing compared to what cybertron has been through. My trouble is that if I knew what the story was about (just the ship isn’t enough for me to sink my teeth into) I’d be able to write their dynamic pretty easily, but I don’t know... what the story would be about :T

Unpopular opinion: ...................i’m not a big fan of chromblade :X At least as flushrom. I’ve seen it done well, and I get why people like it, but... I don’t know. I think part of it is that when a relationship is old and established and comfortable, it doesn’t have the negotiating-new-territory ground for me to play in. Part of it is that given canon, I’d want to pick my way through all the post-bomb territory to make myself believe it at a gut level, but that’s so much to cover that I’m never going to actually do it. And I kind of like the baggage of unintentionally poisoned relationships, where neither person wanted it to fall apart, but it still hangs over them and hurts them ages later, a la cdprowl. I don’t have many characters where canon prepackages that scenario for me, so I’m reluctant to smooth away this one. It’s not quite a complete explanation, because I still like palerom/amica chromblade just fine, and I don’t know why that’s different, but flushrom just won’t click for me.

Favorite relationship: Just to be contrary, I’m going to say Ironhide. It was going to be arcee in one answer and ironhide in the other, so he goes here. I know they only shared a few scenes because nudge nudge wink wink remember how they were dating in the eighties??? But I’m also ABSOLUTELY FASCINATED by the emotional potential of them getting close to each other. Some of it is similar to the arcee thing, where I want to ship someone young, naive, and energetic with someone who’s exhausted, burned-out, and running on autopilot. But the parallels in how both of them have fucked up!! Ironhide got angry, acted impulsively, and nearly beat Mirage to death. Chromia decided to manipulate Windblade into leaving cybertron, and ended up killing several bystanders and hurting Windblade pretty badly too. They both pull up afterwards, horrified, but the consequences don’t just go away. And whether it’s platonic or romantic, I want.... I’d love to see something where she helps spark him into engaging with life a little more (especially at the time when he spends most of his time wandering inside metroplex) and he helps slow her down a little so that things don’t feel quite so urgent that they need immediate, drastic action. This is a dynamic I’d prefer to write instead of trying to describe, because it would be a very delicate balance, so it’s not just the eighties obligatory het cliche romance, but... yes. I want to see it explored.

Favorite headcanon: That while she ran off looking for Liege Maximo, she hooked up with Arcee, and then hooked up with Arcee :V I would have died happy if that had genuinely taken place in canon, but it fits so perfectly in my heart that I’m just going to act like it’s canon anyways