#cybertronian civil war

[gardenofchrome]

I’m am dying for more combiners to be shown in Transformers media. But not just any combiners- I would like to see combiners with a sibling like relationship. Who panic in their combined form if a limb gets ripped off because they know that one of their siblings got hurt and seek revenge for it, kind of what Thundercracker is doing for Skywarp in the Skybound comics. Even in their uncombined form they take care of each other.

[pluralsword]

Arcee once said that "ferocity without compassion is brutality." We think this is a clear case of Slipstream engaging in brutality, gods. Omega Supreme's poor brain module… ;-;

So we did this video this way with the death included to demonstrate that you can still die to Omega Supreme while playing as a flier in Chapter V on normal (though it is substantially harder to do so than as a grounder) for the dub we might play it on hard or just- use the second half of the video. Honestly a bit terrified (in both a generally sapphic but in this case very concerned in the context of the mod's plot way) of Slipstream's alt-mode guns hereafter.

For those who don't know what this mod is, it's a campaign mod for War for Cybertron that lets you play Slipstream and Arcee in various parts of the campaign! It's subtitles only because we couldn't port in new audio for Slipstream or characters talking to her. You can read more about it here

[huli-jinx]

The Astral Express makes a brief stop at a destroyed Cybertron.

[scribescrawls]

On a more silly note, imagine the High Guard after the whole killing Sentinel thing happened/banishment and a few weeks later call a meeting with Optimus and they go “hey so I know we’re at odds at the moment but are we ever going to get payed for the last 50 cycles?” cause I mean technically I don’t think they were ever officially fired so much as declared dead to the general public and secretly being hunted down during that time. Do they go up to Optimus and are just like “so I get that we don’t really work here anymore but like can we still get our severance pay and our backlog of paychecks?” Cause I’m pretty sure since they were military the government was paying them before the whole Sentinel betrayal thing and any funds any of them had has probably been seized by the state (aka Sentinel during that time) or frozen sitting somewhere in account of being presumed dead. Does Megatron not want to have this meeting but the entire High Guard are grumpy about it like "no I want to get payed! I want my stuff/money back!" so now he has to sit across from Optimus in the most awkward meeting after their fall out as Starscream shouts across the table negotiating if they still qualify/are entitled for the Cybertronian equivalent of military/veteran pension for their previous cycles of service.

Cybertronian Civil War on hold due to the nightmare of bureaucracy and paperwork because tracking down at minimum 73 different case files of each High Guard member and getting them all in order when probably half of the information was purposely destroyed by Sentinel means it will probably take a while. How many times has Shockwave and the rest of the High Guard have to sign documents to declare "yes I am alive" "no I did not fake my death to commit tax fraud". Or dealing with banks and other organizations going "please provide proof that you are indeed Starscream." Starscream going "I'm literally Starscream and standing in front of you what other proof is more clear! You are literally looking at a photo of me on the datapad!" "Apologies, but unless you have x, y, z document I am afraid we cannot simply take your word that you are Starscream. If you are missing these documents please fill out these thirty forms as alternative verification of identity". Also imagining Thundercracker going "hey do you think my buy five get one free drink stamp card still works. I've been sitting on that free drink for 50 cycles…"

Funniest thing if Shockwave was a senator before joining the High Guard and there was a small period of time where he actually was declared dead before it got cleared up back in the day when the Primes were still alive, but now they can't find the paperwork that cleared up that it was an error and he was still in fact alive so now he's been declared doubly dead.

Shockwave: It's document 37C!

Elita: Repeating it for the fifth time will not change the fact that it does not exist!

Shockwave, done with being declared dead: It exists! It's added every time my taxes get filed each cycle! Did I suddenly imagine the last thousands of cycles of my life!

Elita, losing her own temper: There is no document 37C! Listen here Blinky, I can easily resolve this matter by getting you declared dead for a third time for real!

Optimus stressed and trying not to cry: Maybe we should call for a break in the meeting...

When the break is over no one can find Optimus who has decided to play hooky from his responsibilities because he'd tired and feels like he's going to lose it dealing with all the sudden responsibilities of being leader of an entire planet. I like the idea that it's Megatron who finds him. Megatron going "if I have to suffer through these meetings so do you" (he was secretly also ditching the meeting and accidentally bumped into Optimus because the place is technically their old spot that they sometimes went together, both thought it would be abandoned and no one would find them there). It's awkward, there are hurt feelings on both sides, but maybe they slowly get to talking and at least commiserate how much they hate paperwork. Also funny if they find out they both also have to resolve their own "declared dead by Sentinel" paperwork considering he said they both died after the Iacon 5000 lol.

Also I think it would be funny if these meetings drag on for so long that Optimus is just like instead of commuting back and forth from the surface to Iacon every day just stay here in the city it will save time. Banishment temporarily rescinded. Even more funny if they also have to deal with the Quintessons so half of these meeting turn into war meetings to deal with and fight the Quintessons off their planet where both sides are like "we're not on the same side!", but also eventually have to work together to win. So it's basically an officially we're not on the same side, but all actions say otherwise lol. I like to think Bee likes to hangout with Soundwave during meetings and finds him so cool, and Soundwave actually likes listening to Bee yap finding him endearing.

They eventually realize that it would be easier (and less paperwork) to just reinstate the High Guard and at this point so much time has passed that they've basically been doing their old job anyway as they fight the Quintessons together. Banishment permanently rescinded for all parties involved. I like to think megop over the course of these meetings and fighting together against the Quintessons make up. Things can't go back to the exact way it was between them, but that doesn't mean they can't rebuild something new between them. I like to think both groups have differing ideas of how to lead and how to deal with situations, but I like to think eventually they get to a point where they can compromise and work with differing ideas depending on what's best for the situation at hand similar to the 13 Primes who probably had conflicting and contrasting personalities and approaches but were able to use these differences to work together and make them stronger as a united front.

Cybertronian Civil War avoided through the sheer slog of paperwork and bureaucracy.

[lets-try-some-writing]

I swear I would die for a fanfic or writing of Alpha Trion experience with feral bitey Orion who has no respect for his ancient ways or scrolls and like the experience of finding him.

Coming right up my dear anon! I may have messed with your prompt just a little bit. Sorry for how short this is.

━━━━━━ ⊙ ❖ ⊙ ━━━━━━━━━━━━

"Orion Pax." Alpha Trion put down his quill with a sigh as he looked over his shoulder. The feral monstrosity was at it yet again.

"Primus below, give me strength." He knew exactly what to expect, but it still prompted him to sigh as he looked at the hole in Orion's crib. He had, yet again, bitten his way through the metal bars and clambered his way to freedom. Alpha Trion would need to get a cyber-hound kennel or get a custom crib made from something far more sturdy than whatever the crib was currently made of.

This was the third crib just this stellar cycle.

"Archivists, be on the lookout for Orion Pax. He has escaped his designated space yet again." He sent the message over the private channel used by the Archives. He could almost feel the collective groan of his students as they put down whatever they were doing to find the wayward sparkling traversing the Archives.

He wandered the halls while rubbing his face in exhaustion. Ever since taking in Pax, there had been no peace in his once restful workspace. Orion cried throughout most of his recharge cycle, and barring that, he was plotting yet another escape attempt. It was draining on body and spark alike. Especially when Orion was found chewing on a record dating back to the early Quintesson era.

"Sir, we've located him?" He perked up at the voice coming across his commlink, but he frowned at the almost questioning tone. Was the archivist not sure?

"You do not sound confident." He remarked simply as he strode in the general direction of the archivist's signal.

"Well, we have found him, but he's... in the ceiling?" That was not a good sign. Alpha Trion all but sprinted until he found the archivist and a few others crowded around the base of a huge pillar. It held up the fifth archival level and extended more than sixty feet into the air. Looking up, Alpha Trion wanted to bang his helm against the nearest wall.

"Do we get a ladder?" The question hung in the air as Orion Pax clung to the very top of the pillar, his little clawed digits digging into the metal as he chewed on a datapad. Why he climbed up the pillar and why he was eating a datapad was beyond Alpha Trion. He stopped bothering to ask questions after a certain point.

"Yes, get the ladder." Alpha Trion sighed and died a little inside as, before he knew it, he was teetering precariously on a ladder with the aid of more than a few archivists as he reached out to grab his ward. The feral sparkling purposefully kept scooting around the pillar to avoid his grasp, growing as he did so. Alpha Trion had half the mind to shoot him with a dart gun just to make him loosen up. However, he was not fond of the idea of actually hurting the little monster.

A half groon and more than a few scratches later, Alpha Trion held his screeching ward by the leg upside down as he carefully worked back down the ladder. The archivists vented in relief and one was quick to grab an energon crystal for the screaming sparkling to chew on. The moment Alpha Trion put it in his intake, Orion's optics cycled down and he contented himself by crunching his way through the crystal.

It was a momentary break from what was likely to be a long few cycles of chasing Orion down while a new crib was made.

[witchofthesouls]

Story idea of a take "human fell into media and took over a character's body."

Set far before TFP, a human wakes up upon a slab inside a body that's not theirs. "Tell the Master, she lives!"

As much as I enjoy the "Sam Witwicky time travels to pre-war Cyberton," he had the approval and semi-guidance of Primes and the Allspark to work his way through Golden Age Cybertron.

What happens to a human who didn't have that protection? Only basic knowledge via the show and online discussions? Now, they need to navigate the treacherous waters of High-Caste society, the cultural and moral shocks, and the immense systematic pressures that allowed them to take over an empty frame.

Specifically, the exploration of an alien planet that has commonalities with Ancient Greece and the Roman Empire, Victorian England, and Gilded Age America with space trade.

Much like the tragic Cassandra, warnings go ignored at the most crucial shatterpoint, and the war still happens.

[knight-says-rollout]

It is so important to me that people remember the difference between “pre-war” and “no war” AUs

No war is a civilian AU, that’s the dreamland on cybertron, that’s your happy ending where they work as musicians and clockmakers and all that!

Pre-war?? Pre-war is what caused the war. It’s a dystopia. That is not a silly little civilian AU those robots are in turmoil.

[transingthoseformers]

I once read a fic that basically had sparklings be omnivorous horseshoe crabs who'd eat anything, including other mechs, to get the necessary materials for growth.

So I'm kinda into the idea of sparklings as things that might haunt a normal person's nightmares! The bots are all cooing over how cute it is but the humans are going get it the fuck away from me.

Especially considering it could easily kill a human by just curiously poking at them.

... random idea for sparklings? You got it! Decided to go weird and a bit dark.

So. Cybertronians have large litters. 15-20 are the normal amount. The thing is, sparklings are very prone to dying. The parent(s) only ever really get involved in protecting them from other bots and providing the occasional energon.

Sparklings are not intelligent. They're basically only thinking about fuel and growing. So they get into accidents and die. Get eaten by wildlife. Randomly die because something was wrong from the start.

At the end of this "infant" period, when they've developed enough, it's like a switch is flipped. They start to notice the world around them. Start to think.

It's also at this point the parents' instincts tells them to seek out their surviving offspring, who'll likely only number 1-2. They locate them with the help of special sounds, resembling no other common sound.

Now they'll be properly taken care of and loved.

Damnnn

That's always a fascinating approach, because you always gotta wonder how as their species advances they approach this, as it makes sense as a species they'd eventually try to lessen infant mortality rate. After all, humans did that right?? And in general it makes sense that sparklings are born in cities they're less likely to run into wildlife. Unless there's some sort of ~thing~ about carriers stepping out of the city to have their sparklings??

[fandomunsexyman]

What is something that your OC would find incredibly hard to lie about? Even if they really wanted to do so...

For Saragan and Brickback?

For Saragan it would be their parents. Saragan does not talk about Iphan or Holris much, but when they do they're very frank about who their parents were. Iphan was a Bhaalspawn and as much as she worked to protect Saragan, Saragan was still aware that Iphan committed atrocities so that he would not kill them. Holris was a hero and Saragan looked up to him but they don't want to mythologize him because Holris was their father first and foremost. Saragan would want their fathers to be understood as people and not myths.

Brickback would have a hard time lying about their early life in general. They're proud of where they came from and refuse to minimize the impact it had on them. Brickback remembers that period of their life fondly as them when they were "better" and as such would be as truthful about it as possible. On a lighter note Brickback would also find it hard to lie about their medical history. Their first ever doctor was someone who could and did poison people which left them with the lasting impression that all medics did that at will.

[nameishname]

man the thing that always gets me the most about transformers is when they know each other by name. Like,, sure it hurts when they do because they knew each other pre war. But really when it's like,,, knowing someone by name because you've fought each other so many times in so many battles all during the same unending war that you know this person. Like, sometimes it's even more than just knowing their name sometimes you know this person. The characters that have playful relationships with each other that met for the first time on the battlefield. That are actively trying to kill each other, but will be sad about it and miss them when the other is gone. The ones that bond in unlikely situations just to go back to fighting as soon as the dust settles. Sometimes it's even at a time where the war has lost its point or contradicts what they were even fighting for in the first place. Where they're literally doomed to fight into extinction or.. stop. But they don't stop. Like, idk... The autobots and decepticons pretty much always end up fighting for an amount of time so large it's literally inconceivable. And at the end there's often so few of them left, and they mostly all know each other intimately and by name and like,,,

Idk this is really rambly and I'm having a bit of trouble articulating but sometimes I really stop and think about how many of them know each other specifically through fighting and it gets to me a little bit

[fawningoveradream]

one feeling I wish I could re-live over again? Relearning and processing transfromers lore and character backstories, per every series/continuity. Also Transformers Wiki is the best, hands down. Never ever ever been on a more helpful information site before. Its clearly made with love and passion for everything transformers related. And the distinct lack of ads blocking your view from deep dive reading also are huge pointers. 

[gardenofchrome]

Foreshadowing at its finest

(Also can we talk about this scenery like 👀)

[pluralsword]

Warpath: "Look -- that's the outer shell of Cybertron's Core! Wow…"

Arcee: "The Core remade me when I asked, and now it aches, I- sobs.

Arcee: "You look sad, Optimus."

Optimus: "Sad for Core, you & all trans bots. The Core, the main conduit of energon and reforging to all on Cybertron, to see it defiled…"

Well, you all (at least some of you) knew this was coming! Sword Arcee, trans and all, with her story interwoven with that of many more transformer across generations- making the wounds the Core has suffered all the more bitter, and the fight one for an ecosystem/self that has affirmed transformation (pun intended) from the beginning. We find Core as a character interesting (it/it's pronouns!) because it's not a deity figure but is at the center of cybertronian life, transformer or no. Also there's something very satisfying about writing WFC Arcee as a trans character within the game itself since her bot and alt mode were the basis for IDW1 Arcee's look in 2012-2014 at the beginning of the Robots in Disguise/The Transformers comic…

This portion of the mod needs some editing, spotted a line where Arcee is referred to as Ironhide left over from the base game, and there are some cutscenes to remove Ironhide from (unfortunately Arcee can't be added to them in his place due to coding limitations of the game).

For those who don’t know what this mod is, it’s a campaign mod for War for Cybertron that lets you play Slipstream and Arcee in various parts of the campaign! It’s subtitles only because we couldn’t port in new audio for Slipstream or characters talking to her. You can read more about it here and see Slipstream attempt to yeet delete Omega Supreme here

[umbrakinetix]

Tf robot husbands poll is destroying friendships and ripping apart families on my dashboard rn

[supremestarscream]

He’s also more than willing to feed the much more entertaining narrative that Megatron just had space rabies all along.

[yuukirita]

Thinking about how “entire-moral-backbone-of-the-decepticon-army” B-127 exists in the context of the cybertronian civil war and like

The Autobots are going to have a vested interest in keeping him alive.

Like yes Optimus Prime and Commander Elita-One would be very cross if something were to happen to him but there’s also looking at it from a logistical standpoint.

Most if not all of the Decepticon high command like the guy, they want to keep him safe AND happy. They pull themselves back from committing atrocities if they think it would upset him/make him disappointed in them.

Example:

Shockwave: Suggests war crime #1

Starscream: Counters with war crime #2

Soundwave: Logistics on making both things happen

B-127: *vague noises of being upset*

All Three: Pull back! Abort! Wrong course of action!

Intelligence is going to have a field day bc maybe War Crime #2 would have been a huge strategic advantage to the Decepticon but it didn’t happen bc of this yellow happy mess of a bot

And the worst/best part is he’s not even trying, he just wants his first friends to get along again

Yeah the war is going to be different thanks to Bee-

Everyone is glad he is there!

*looks at second Bee au*

yeah. Glad he's there.