#i imagine even tho they're very expensive for a toy they're probably not like. a printer.

[chemicalarospec]

on the one hand very big stuffed animals fall into the category of things that are very clearly expensive and a luxury and thus make me uncomfortable (I guess I was raised to live humbly a little too well), but on the other hand. damn I need one of those. give it a big hug. i'll always sleep alone but i could have one of those guys instead of being alone-alone y'know.

[faceglitchsworld]

It's the third of April, which means that today is Seonghwa's birthday, hooray 🎉

As always I made a collage of him 😆

Making this has been a little difficult because I wanted to put THIS iconic outfit he had during Halazia era and I literally didn't find nothing. Literally, no pictures. So I said to myself "ok, fine, I'll do them by myself then. I DON'T NEED YOU, GOOGLE" and I took these screenshots from his fancam. Did I had fun while watching it? Yes. Did I survived when I took the screenshots? No. But I came alive immediately after because I needed to take a couple more of screenshots.

But now it's here 🥹

It's beautiful isn't it?

But wait maybe I talked too much about the collage, maybe it's time for the letter now.

Must admit, while I'm writing this I'm a little spoiling the anniversary letter I'm planning to do for Ateez next year but I think it's inevitable. One, if not the main reason why Ateez stood out to me since the beginning was their performances. It's inevitable that I must talk about how Seonghwa immediately caught my attention while I was watching him performing.

Now, if I should describe what I felt and I should choose just one word, I think that the perfect word is grace. Seonghwa is graceful. Every time he performs, even when the choreography is one of the most aggressive and energetic ones (and let's be honest, Ateez and energetic performances are literally a synonym at this point) there's always one moment where Seonghwa makes a graceful, delicate movement.

And if I should describe my emotions while I see these moments...well, I must admit that it's a little difficult. I surely feel the butterfly into my stomach, because I really love him when he does those movements but I also feel...peace? Yeah, I think peace it's probably one of the best words. It seems like he wants to give a relaxed vibe, something which calms you down and makes you feel better. Bliss can be another word to describe these feelings too but...I don't know, I highly prefer the Italian translation, "Estasi", it's much more better.

I can't believe that behind this graceful and marvellous dancer there's a natural born comedian tho. Really, he's a living crackhead, I can't watch a vlog of him without not expecting him doing something silly 🤣 Sometimes I wonder how such a graceful creature can have this comic side. It's his duality and I love him for this tho. He gave us so much iconic moments that will forever be remembered into Ateez's history.

I want to talk about a recent thing he started doing very recently too, which are his lives where he builds his Lego sets. Now, Lego sets aren't a big thing into my family because they're just too expensive (according to my father) so I couldn't have one for forever. I've always been fascinated by them tho. I spent the entirety of my childhood watching the Lego themed cartoons and just watching the sets' boxes every time we had the opportunity to go into a toy store. I really wanted to buy at least one set when I was little, really. So imagine my shook when he made a live and he put a Lego set box on the table. And I teared up a little when he started building the set. Maybe I projected myself too much while I was watching him but really, it was like seeing my little self trying to built the set I never got. Yeah, probably you got it, he woke up the little kid inside me and I'm glad that live gave me the motivation to buy a set one day (I just need the money. And a toy store. Or a Lego store 🥲).

Also little fun fact. After I finally learned who's who in Ateez, I had the conviction that Seonghwa was younger than Hongjoong. Imagine my shook when I discovered that he's actually the older one. And if you're wondering, no, I didn't check the birthday dates at first. My first days with Ateez clearly were some dark times that maybe should not be remembered. Anyway, now that you've understood that the clown emoji fits me perfectly, let's come back to Seonghwa.

My dear Seonghwa, I've come at the end of this letter and I really want to say thank you for giving me goosebumps everytime you perform. There are a very few artists who made me feel soo many emotions even in just a few seconds. I didn't say it yet, but I want to say thank you for taking care of Ateez and helping Hongjoong too. Our captain needs someone who can rely on and you're doing a wonderful job with it. And again, thank you for reviving my childhood somehow through your love for Legos.

Hope you'll spend a great day with the members and that you'll receive amazing gifts from your family and Atiny too. Oh, and I hope you'll get a Lego set as a gift this year, because you deserve it. Actually, you deserve every Lego set ever existed but I think you already know this <3

Happy birthday, my Lego Starboy ⭐

[sztefa001]

OMG YESS

I mean ofc there's some fun in making alien space robots similar to us because this is how we can relate to them better. We project our own (human) experiences on them because it feels good. Because on one hand we know they're piles of sentient metal but on the other hand ouugh... hugs nice amd somft... even tho it hardly makes any sense. Lazy mind likes nice things and it's ok to be lazy sometimes and have fun like that.

AND THAT BEING SAID AND OUT OF THE WAY - RAMBLING TIME

Because sitting comfortably in what we know is nice but so is exploring the Unknown and Different!

Tl;Dr at the bottom.

Sure some characters are child- or elderly-coded for an obvious reason of showing who has more experience. We get enthusiastic, big eyed OwO babies like Terrans or Bee (to lesser extent but still, I mean look at TFA) and we get old guys with tired voices like Ratchet or even with facial hair like Alpha Triton. And it's easy to establish without confusion who's more and who's less experienced! Clear and easily noticeable, petty important in media that's just an elaborate toy ad!

Which made me think... How would it work if it all were more realistic? Or what would be the realistic reasons for Cybertronians to be like that?

What if they choose to present themselves in a certain way to show their age or the age they feel as? New shiny paint job and nice parts to keep up with trends and show that they care for themselves vs not caring for the shiniest coat and choosing functionality, same with keeping older parts that show different times they went through or because they're more reliable or comfortable than the new models. Much like buying a cool jacket and dying your hair a crazy color vs sticking to an outdated but signature suit with some order pinned to it and letting your hair go gray.

This then leads to the concept of Cybertronians not presenting their age. Because the specific parts are too expensive or just not available. Because they want to seem older or younger because they prefer some old model parts due to how they work. Because their specific frame doesn't have much variation in certain part models.

This can also tie to how they feel. Maybe there's a very old TF who looks and behaves as a much younger one just because they feel like it and like keeping up with trends. Because despite their experiences they still feel or choose to feel young.

Maybe there's a much younger one who looks much older because they just like the way outdated shapes look on them or are more functional / comfortable. Maybe they're not doing well mentally and are already more traumatized by war than an older but younger-looking buddy.

Maybe in this case the older one is just doing better mentally due to the experience with coping or worse and their coping is forgetting the trauma. Or they live in denial. Or have a "mid-life" crisis. Hence the behaviour of a young bot. Meanwhile the younger but older-looking one is doing worse because idk, they had a rough start and/or their coping skills are shit and they're bitter and have very visible PTSD. And that's why they behave like an old war veteran.

So looking at a TF you could probably guess their rough age sometimes based on looks and behavior but othen you could get so many contradicting clues. It's like if a human had a wild mix of old and young features and the image was blurred further by their fashion choices and behavior.

Think how many times you hear someone's young voice (both in terms of sound and the manner of speech) or about someone's childish behavior but then turns out it's someone much older than you imagined. Or the other way around, you listen to someone say very wise things in a very experienced voice but turns out it's a well-educated college kid who caught a bit of cold and their voice is raspy. Same with Cybertronians but blur the image further.

This is also why something that would make sense for a near-immortal alien species could get a human cancelled for depicting. Those who go with "Cybertronians are age-coded because it's to show human issues through the sci-fi lense" will say BlitzBee is bad because it's adult x minor but those who go with "it's literally robots from space who probably start off as adults from day one and if not the age gaps stops to matter at most after a century" won't have an age-gap based problem with it at all.

And just with experience alone and disregarding looks - imagine a tf made for a certain task and they perform it like an adult would from day one. But throw them into a different situation and they're just as lost as a baby in a forest. I have a few OCs like this, respected pro in one field but absolute baby once their world gets turned upside-down. Real fun.

Now regarding age and growing up - sparklings. Where do cyber-babies come from?

So you see, when a mommy-bot and daddy-bot love each other very much... Yeah, well, this is certainly something you could go with and even make it make sense! I do it sometimes. Look, monkey brain wants what monkey brain recognizes and relates to with least effort, ok? Ok. I'll talk about cold-constructs and other canons/headcanons in later paragraphs. If you really dislike it you can skip to a next mark like this:

/ / /

I think that some tfs could totally get a kid this way. They can but don't have to be a "femme and mech" or "carrier and sire" or whatever terminology you decide to use. I just think that it could be neat if two (or more! get yourself that polyclue!) Cybertronians could mix the life energy of their sparks so much so there's enough for another one or more to develop. Man, imagine if humans could come to be only if their soul were created with pure love from their parents...! Say what you will but that's pretty alien to me lol. It's ok to not like that version tho.

My personal hc is that such new spark would grow living metal around itself and after some time (years? decades? more? less? varying depending on the circumstances?) would take a form of sth like an egg, not necessarily egg-shaped tho. Then it can live outside the parent's body and transform, their "egg" slowly changing into their altmode. I like to think "egg for an altmode" could be an insult in some parts of space lol

How long till sparkling becomes an adult? Do they grow up faster than humans because they're more advanced? Slower because living metal takes longer to grow than flesh? How about mental growth, do they start out with some pre-installed knowledge or do they have to learn manually or download updates? Or a bit of both? How long does it take and what does it depend on? Fuck if I know, go wild and have fun with the concepts!

/ / /

[Edit: forgot to mention and putting it here. A tf can also come to be when a divine power brings a regular machine to life giving it spark and sentience. How much such a tf knows? How much experience they have? Maybe they're only experts in their narrow field tied to their alt and are baby-level regarding other topics? Sorry but it's 6am and I've been writing this since 4]

And now, forging. Look, idk much, I read the wiki articles long ago and watched very little of canon media but what I get is that a Cybertronian can come to be either from a naturally forged spark and frame from the living crust of Cybertron (or some titan) or be cold-constructed as in spark taken from where it developed and frozen till a mass-produced frame for it is ready. Yes, there apparently can be also cloning or other mitosis but imma allow myself to skip that.

Now how could a naturally forged one work I've seen covered in many fan continuities and I really like the the concept of them starting out smaller and less knowledgeable. Probably needing a paren- uhh I mean mentor or having to live in a school/preschool/kindergarten of sorts... Yeah yeah, baby-coded, I know; monkey brain, remember? They could ttly sprout from the ground as young adults tho. Sorta like gems in Steven Universe - popping out ready to whatever awaits!

But this may fit better the cold-constructed ones. Their frames adult from the start, probably with some extra upgrades already... And than they go online and just learn about what to do! Or are told to just download some updates to spring right into a more experienced adult from day one, why not.

Also I'm a fan of a cold-construct's need to modify their frame to better fit what their spark would've been if allowed to grow the frame on it's own. Do you think space robots would have mad dysphoria sometimes? Fearing heights when there's wings on their back, wanting to swim when their frame would sink instantly, feeling like lightest version of their gear is too heavy for them despite their strong frame?

Do you think they tend to crush on tfs with frames they would've been because their sparks recognize what they need and long for? Do you think they would hate them due to bitter jealousy? Do you think they'd know why they feel like that? If processor is the brain and spark is the soul I don't think so. How repressed is their spirituality in the times of war? Do you think they would start self-discovery when given the chance...?

Well that took an existential turn. Let's switch to gender.

Earliest TF cartoons where marketed mainly towards boys so ofc all the space robots were boys, with a token robot girl or two added later on. Some peeps shit their pants when they see a continuity where an usually "male" character gets turned into a "female" or what's even worse, an enby. Hurr-durr the show is woke. "They're alien space robots! Why gender them!" Yeah, right, why they all gotta be boys? Why just boys and girls?

Realistically speaking I think gender fuckery can be even more wild and free in whatever alien species (and especially robot ones) than humans cursed with gender dimorphism. Some hc that tfs start out always as he/him 'cuz they only have one gender and just sometimes choose to change that when introduced to a possibility to being an opposite, both ot neither.

But that begs the question - what is gender to a robot? They don't need sex. They don't need genitals. Oftentimes in fanon I see that all have both sets or all have none. Creating offspring also isn't related to it. It can be, if you want. If creating sparklings from two or more adults is sth you enjoy then you can have it in a humanized way or keep the act of creation as purely spark-to-spark. But as mentioned earlier, babies don't have to be a thing in a continuity.

If sparklings are not a thing or are created without anything sex-related and therefore there's no bodily dimorphism then what do they base their gender on? Is it gonna be altmode? All boats and ships going by she/her by default? Is it as an honorary title, like a renowned medic or leader being referred to as xe/xir to show respect? Are certain model lines referred to differently? Or maybe there's two groups from different backgrounds and to differentiate members of one group go by she/her and members of other by it/its?

And sure going with vibes makes most sense! And it can but doesn't have to go with presenting a certain way. Bet tfs choose specific paints and parts and change their voice based on the vibes they want for themselves and a given set of pronouns they prefer isn't any different from a more or less angular spare part or tinted visor or shimmery paint or or or-

So yeah, personally I don't think they have gender, certainly not a biological one / one based on how their frame is built. They just have vibes. And we call it gender because this is how we relate. Shout out to an old toolbox with a jar of various screws and nails - gotta be one of my favorite genders.

Congrats for reaching the end, here's a potato for you!

Tl;dr - it's ok to imagine your robotic blorbos as having as many human traits as you want, sometimes this is what your brain needs and that's perfectly fine. And whenever you wanna spice up your continuity with something way more alien and otherworldly - go for it! Have fun! Be wild, be free! There's so many possibilities! And also - you can put your faves in as many different iterations as you want! Go ahead and put your human-like one on the shelf right next to the pure alien one and then make ten more ;)

Actually I have a hot take that's been brewing on my mind a little in regards to Cybertronian society and physiology and stuff so like

I've said it's annoying when people impose human gender binaries on the genderless alien robots with no sexual dimorphism, but honestly I also find it annoying when people impose human standards of childhood vs adulthood on the non-organic robot aliens who are almost always born/built immediately having all of the faculties of what we would call an "adult," just lacking in actual worldly experience.

Obv there are exceptions like the recent Earthspark where the Terrans are explicitly children/child-coded

But it's honestly just so weird to me sometimes sjdkshfjd people will be like "awwww baby" to Bumblebee and ma'am that's literally a grown man. Also what functional difference is there b/t a robot that's 4 million years old vs 5 million years old when their race is technically near immortal. Like why are ppl calling Rodimus a child out there when dude is literally the same age as or just slightly younger than characters like Optimus

It's not nearly as annoying or offensive as when people put cisheteronormativity in a culture that wouldn't have it, but like. Am I the only one who finds it really boring to impose human ideas of age on alien robots ESPECIALLY when it comes to basically recreating "oh here's mommy and here's daddy and here's the baby" like sigh