#cybug thundercracker

[velvetwyrme]

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moth skyfire REAL <3!!!

also hello to the people who asked me about skyfire. you were all correct! (also extra kudos to @t4ckie-j4ckie who also guessed that skyfires little buddy D0C would make an appearance shfkfhdk) SORRY FOR THE LONG WAIT.

take the full picture of Doc and the Buges + misc. notes under the cut as compensation.

There are actually TWO people working at the clinic- Doc and Dia :]

Skyfire is the resident cybug at the veterinary clinic. Doc found him half frozen in the winter and nursed him back to health, and now he just lives there

Cosmos lives at Doc's house instead of the clinic, but they'll bring him in sometimes because otherwise he gets a little lonely :(

Dia has some cybugs as well! They started off with just one, but then things kept happening and now they have like, a whole scuttle of them.

They helped foster a couple of cybugs that were rescued, and ended up keeping both of them ^^" They then ended up with another after they uh... encountered a cybug traveling in their direction. Very swiftly. (Dia is still recovering.)

Also there's that one cybug in their garden that kinda hangs around their porch. He's an honorary member of their household, even though hes a stray

Doc is also a moderator on r/cybugs. He had to break up fights between Buster and Bob and became acquainted with them that way

also i didnt know where else to put this but. i imagine you can also hold seekers like how people hold small birds when they tag them.

[velvetwyrme]

the thrine cybugs need little bows on them,Starscream specifically needs a bell to keep him out of trouble

also if any of the thrine bugs(can you tell they’re my favorite) were to give their caretaker little ‘gifts’(things they find around the house ie. underneath the couch and tables),which one would it be? :3c

-♠️

BOWS... YEAH 🥺🥺

and tbh i think Skywarp probably needs a bell too, he'd be a little menace. at least you hear Starscream yelling when something in his plan goes awry 😂 Skywarp just continues making mischief and then you find out wayyyy later...

ooo... i could see any of the 3 of them doing that honestly. but they'd bring very different things and in very different manners GJFHFJS

Thundercracker would come back with things like flowers and petals, pretty lengths of yarn/thread and random objects he likes. either drops it in his keepers lap and runs off, or gives it to them and wants snuggles/pets. unfortunately, i also think he's liable to steal keys and other things like that, but he would give them back with a little prompting.

Starscream would "give" things by hoarding them then surreptitiously leaving them around the house in obvious places and hiding nearby until they are found. and he has STANDARDS! what those standards are? who knows. a heritage brooch holds the same value as a bottlecap. mostly shiny things though.

Skywarp would be a mixed bag, but he'd be insistent about depositing whatever he's found directly into his keepers hand. things he's probably given Buster: a button, handful of grass, cool looking stone, part of a dead bird (how...?), pocket lint, spring from a pen, weird leaf, one sock (where did the other one go?), half eaten mouthful of jelly, 20 bucks. you never know what you're gonna get.

[velvetwyrme]

Cybug Thundercracker situation makes it seem like a) Buster had to adopt both seekermoths bc they were now his trine and so they are now a package deal b) Both seekermoths had to adopt Buster bc she's their new Trinemate's human (and maybe bc she provides food)

yeah pretty much! i like to think that skywarp took to it better than starscream did LMAO. he came around eventually but i imagine it would've been like trying to socialize a stubborn adult stray cat

starscream canonically likes buster's gf though 👍

kjsdhfksdhf YEAH,, i've been thinking about that... i reckon that different seeker subspecies would value different things, but some common ones would be; size, plating density, flight ability/maneuverability amongst other things, such as their ability and willingness to defend/attack

the ideal seeker would be one that is one with solid plating that isn't TOO heavy as to impede their ability to fly/maneuver in the air.

certain seekers would also look for size of partner either for protection or reproductive purposes imo. skywarp is small, but i imagine he has relatively dense plating and flies VERY fast. TC is big, has dense plating due to a steady diet. he's more rounded off than skywarp and starscream but he's still got plenty of defensive and offensive ability.

and sometimes wires get a little crossed and starscream gets obsessed with a shuttlebug. you know how it is. real pebbles the budgie and her giant cockatoo wife vibes.

[velvetwyrme]

since the cybugs transform into vehicles: All I can think about now is Cybugs thinking human vehicles (based on them) are Large Enemy Spiders Bugs (!!!)

The equivalent of seeing an Argentinosaurus suddenly walking next to you.

Oh God now I'm thinking of one getting bought from a store and absolutely Panicking because "Why Are We Touching The Giant Evil Bug Why Are We Touch-- aRE WE GOING INSIDE OF I–"

fhdkfhdkdn that's really fun to think abt!! it would probably depend on whether they've been exposed to many human vehicles

e.g. wild cybugs that live closer to settlements and roads would probably be more used to seeing and/or interacting with them!

but there is probably an instinctual element of "oh no big creature = dangerous" for SUREEE.

[velvetwyrme]

hello! biologist here :] I love cybugs a lot, and wanted to say your taxonomy is pretty good. It can be an absolute pain to tackle for speculative projects and you are applying it to tiny vehicle people. My heart goes out to you

I'm no entomologist but there are a few terms that might help with cybug classification. Subspecies usually applies to somewhat minor differences in a species that typically don't live in the same area, where the subspecies interbreeding creates offspring with a mix of both parent's traits. For the seekers though there's also such a thing as morphs and breeds. Morphs of the same species can appear very different physically from the wildtype (like glaucus tiger swallowtails) and offspring will either have the morph of their parents or present wildtype. Breeds on the other hand are a lot like subspecies but imply human selection. They can interbreed and the result could be either like a morph or a subspecies depending on the genes involved.

(didn't expect to be sending an ask about breeding seekers on a Friday morning, but here we are)

As for Jeetle a better word than subspecies would probably be caste/sub-caste. A queen/worker/drone is a caste, while differences between workers is called a subcaste. If a colony needs more protectors -> chemical signals or special foods can alter grub development. (Though, if there is no physical change only a behavioral one, it might not even be considered a subcaste, it might just be a Job. Like honey bees have.)

And usually with mimics, the better of a mimic they are the less likely theyre a subspecies and the more likely they're their own species. That's never a certainty though and bug genetics are weird. Heck, a mimic could even end up being just a morph. It happens in butterflies (like with the dark swallowtails)

Sorry for the word wall 🙏 Hope you're having a great day and thank you for bug

*nods and takes notes* !!!!!

I LOVE THE WALL OF TEXT :DD thank you so much for your input as a biologist, its very fun learning things <3333

Also, image comparison of the mentioned tiger swallowtails and the different morphs for others who are interested:

(source // A is a male with standard colouration, B is a female with the darker morph [a mimic!], and C is a female with the yellow [non mimicking] morph!)

I've mentioned elsewhere that I've been using "subspecies" as more of an easily understood shorthand (essentially just. [subcategory of "species"/larger grouping that can interbreed*] ...as such, the somewhat inaccurate usage at times. i try not to think too hard about it >>) which is why after getting that ask I was like. huh. I wonder what the actual taxonomy would look like... and now I'm here :^]

*as far as I'm aware, animals of the same genera can also interbreed but their resulting offspring are considered hybrids and/or tend to run into issues with being infertile? idk, i know a more abt breeding plants LMAO. plant hybridization is pretty common!

but yes!! onwards! taxonomy chatter under the cut.

For Readability purposes there are headers.

SEEKERS

👀!! Seekers having different morphs and breeds...

There's been mention of Thundercracker being a domesticated Seeker cybug (i agree!!) so that's interesting to think about that in context of breeds having a human influence... Seekers like TC are bred to be bigger and more easy to handle, with focus on large, pretty wings and bright colours...

I did consider the fact that one of the criteria for subspecies is that they are geographically distinct (e.g. the Bengal tiger vs the Siberian tiger) and when I was making my taxonomy chart I was actually debating shifting Seekers category-wise (either up to genus, or down to subspecies) which also got me thinking about breeds when writing that other post (as such, the debate of shifting Seeker to subspecies**) but forgot to mention it because researching the differences between how species/subspecies/breeds are defined was making my head spin and I gave up on taxonomy GDKFBSK,,

(**Like domestic dogs and cats!! I think they're currently taxonomically defined as their own subspecies (?) but some people still argue that they are their own species...? taxonomy </3)

As for Starscream and Skywarp, I was thinking that Skywarp is uh. very very far from his typical environment (whereas Starscream is native to this region), which is why I was considering whether or not subspecies would be actually applicable here... buuuut also there's inherently something very funny to me thinking about Skywarp being the "goth" morph thskfhfkfndb,,,

I'm still not entirely sure where they actually would fit in taxonomically, but thinking of the variation in Seekers like how different breeds of dog exist is the most accurate :] (although without specifically a human influence in many cases. While Starscream and Skywarp may seem feral, that implies previous domestication– *i am forcibly shunted into the next section*)

PROWL / PEETLE

OOOH... caste/subcaste is the word I was looking for for sure!! In Prowl's case there are physical differences, but just not as obviously dramatic as solider ants :D! Enforcers tend to have different colour schemes (black and white, with blue and/or red highlights) as well as the addition of sirens and lights. I also think they'd have thicker armour and sharper chevrons!

AND YESS... chemical signals/differing food alters grub development!!!! I also hinted at that in my notes here!!

Colonies will increase the amount of Enforcers if under strain (much like many irl ant colonies do) >:3c

Playing with specbio in terms of funny little bug robots that also. turn into vehicles allows for some leeway in terms of realism (for. obvious reasons) but I like rooting some aspects in reality where I can :D! (also presumably obvious, considering I tried to work out potential taxonomy largely unprompted)

(SLIGHT SPOILER FOR UPCOMING STUFF, skip next paragraph if you don't want to know)

That being said, I don't think that the process (of defining caste within a colony) can be stopped once it's started in irl cases, buuuut imo that's why The Grub will look so similar to Prowl colour-wise once they pupate :] They were originally going to be an Enforcer (caused by colony under stress) but since they got taken in by J+P they got a little mixed up and don't end up as an Enforcer, despite looking the part (Monochrome sorta colours, but no sirens/lights)

SPOILERS OVER

JAZZ / JEETLE

I waffled over where to put Mimics the most LMAO. I also considered categorising them under being their own species, but ended up sticking with subspecies at the time because I imagine that they can interbreed with others of their frametype.

HOWEVER now you've brought up morphs... that probably fits what's going on with Jazz the most! Maybe? He's meant to be mimicking the general look of an Enforcer just at a glance. I imagine he's got the ability to mimic their sirens as well, but that's probably more of an overall species thing where they can mimic sounds (like some birds can).

anyhow. TAXONOMY. YAY. im not going to remake my diagram (... yet) but thank you so much for your input and discussion <33!!

[velvetwyrme]

Do the bugs still have powers? Like could Skywarp still teleport. Bc I’m thinking about the absolute chaos some of the bugs could cause. Thundercracker technically has like sonic boom projectile powers that like never get featured in media I think too. Screamer might not have special powers but he sure makes up for it through sheer force of will.

Tiny metal bugs are already a menace, now imagine there being a small chance with every bug that they’ve got unique power mutations.

Mirage being able to go invisible. Hound just straight up able to make holograms. (You think they’re over there? Wrong they’ve gotten into the pantry and are eating your food.) The poor sucker who takes them in would have the worst time keeping track of them.

i was also thinking about this recently, and i dont have a definitive answer but ITD BE REALLY FUNNY IF THEY DID.

Skywarp being able to teleport would make him SUCH a menace. good lordy. like even if he's got limits (limited range, runs out of energy quicker etc...) you can bet that he's gonna cause So many problems.

im not sure if TC's sonic boom is a fanon thing or tiny canon detail that made it's way through the fandom (like Sunstreaker being an artist!!) but I still really like the idea of it regardless. he'll break your nice glassware if you aren't careful 😂

!!! CYBUG MIRSGE AND HOUND... 🥺🥺🥺 you're so lucky they're polite. not polite enough to not come and steal your snacks but they're better than Skywarp.