#i love when ppl give him little antennas so I did too

[ickyyrus]

i like This guy in particular

[lordxgrinnyxboy]

rewatching The Grinning Man once again,,2am edition,,just through Beauty and the Beast bc i had to give up and go to bed. @past me you really thought you were gonna. ha. haha. who ever said you’re not a funny clown.

‘ye gods’ is fully a tagphrase of barkilphedro’s. bc saying it at least twice makes it definitely a Thing.

josiana says Bark looks like a...~bug~...and ngl the cut of his coat + those limp antenna things on his hat do actually kinda create that effect. they really did make him look like a skittering creature

accidentally paused at such a moment where his head is angled just so and it’s so weird bc u can’t see the paint on his nose at this angle what

i could play barkilphedro. it would be a ghastly shame but i. no. i could though. no i couldn’t. but

everything bark says just sounds very...Like That.

gonna start doing eye makeup like bark’s

i have so many feelings about the fact that Mr. Maskell’s ensemble(?) character and Ms. Obianyo’s ensemble character stand beside each other for this scene

au where Gwyn’s mom lives and the two of them work as performers

no but fully that Green Cowl but also like. Ms. Obianyo’s entire outfit??? that is a Fantastic Look right There right There.

i like how Bark points at an audience member when he says “whose life is even worse than yours”

okay so the mist that comes up when Bark first says “laughter is the best medicine” plus the way Ms. Obianyo’s ensemble character Looks At Him plus the way Ms. Obianyo’s Ensemble Character and Mr. Maskell’s Ensemble Character stand next to each other plus the fact that this is all Barkilphedro telling the story of events he perpetrated and whatnot just generally the whole look of the bit gives me Feelings like these particular two ensemble characters are almost sort of the ghosts of Gwyn’s mom and kinda sorta who Gwyn could’ve been but also not but also Kinda

i’m just so very emotional and love seeing these two together they look amazing and i love them DX

Josiana’s Introduction/Portrait dress looks fantastic and im mad she doesn’t get to keep it

London!Jojo’s costume is better

genuinely still can’t believe Clarence is Ursus

but it’s kinda ironic tho since it’s by Clarence’s orders that Bark was ever in the situation where ‘hmm guess i havvvve to mutilate this kid’s face lol, that’s too bad” was a thought htat occurred to him so i mean both of Ursus’ characters had a hand in what happened

clarence is like “look at my unhappy children/what a tonic for my pain” ursus is like “...” and dea’s like “look at your unhappy children father i dare u”

the lords on palace hill are a gift

Ms. Brisson is just a truly adorable individual i love her ensemble character

also the material on the sort of dress/aprons the Lords wear? the print kind of looks like a map to me but idk if that’s what it is?

Osric’s “Welcome to the Stokes-Croft Faire” is like. one of the top 10 most iconic moments of the show for me negl. maybe even top 5. It’s got this particular energy i can’t describe but it’s So Good

i feel like in this scene like the top half of Mr. Maskell’s face is painted white(er) which looks fabulous once the bandages + cowl are added like heavens above but also with the whole “ooooh that’s the ghost of pre-barkilphedro!Gwynplaine” angle it’s interesting w/how Jojo’s got that bit of white paint/powder as well and it looks like Dirry-Moir’s whole face is painted at least for this number like Ooooh Is That A Lord Thing idk but it’s a Vibe

i once again think it’s interesting that it’s the actors for Angelica and Jojo who are in the picture frame for “Chained Beasts Fighting” considering how Jojo and Angelica seem to for real not get along so well during the play’s events

i’ve another theory abt mr. hubert

bark’s really like all up on Mr Maskensemblecharacter for the “stab an old man with a needle” bit.

i’ve tried so hard to figure out what the heck that could mean but all i can find is “they’re probably referring to murdering ppl with hat pins” u-u

yo the artwork on the walls behind them Wowie

gosh i love Osric

the little dance thing they do after “I’ve got the misery” is something i yearn for like. pls.

idk if anyone gets more into that last Laughter is the Best Medicine choreo than mr. Dirry-Moir like. he is positively Aggressive with it

the drum or whatever makes that little repeating like, three-point, one-two-three over and over toward the peak of this song is like. i don’t know what i was about to say but I Like This Part Of The Song Even Though It Is Very Stressful And Intense

idk man gwyn just looks Really Good when ursus pulls back that curtain like idk if it’s the way he’s standing or the way he’s moving however slightly or what he’s doing with his hands but like. A+ Gwynlit you look fantastic right here

i like how initially he looks just at Ursus but then kind of looks directly into the camera. sort of fancy the notion that in order to get through shows Gwyn’s kind of particular about where he looks and will try to focus on Ursus and Dea as much as possible but otherwise kind of just tries to not really See the audience maybe or something

oh hey that’s Born Broken that’s music boxing hangon lemme go back what plays for

i don’t reckona- give me a minute - i don’t. recognize. there we go. the music box sound that  plays for gwyn

dea is So Pretty

“I shall put my money where my mouth is” dirry-moir that is a most unfortunate turn of phrase

ngl gwyn always looks like he’s having a good time doing up the Drama for his act as Clarence

shadow!gwyn’s hair is next level kinds of floofy magnificence

even his bandages look amazing

“Sonny” :}

no but when Gwyn walks little puppet!Gwyn up the ramp to the ship but Dea’s helping and so they wind up standing Very Close and there’s Height Difference i’m sorry but they are Adorable

i reall like the ocean effect they do

Dea’s cowl look is Exquisite

can’t actually remember for real for real but i’m fairly confident that Mr. Maskell’s “MOTHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEER MOTHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEER” was at least 67% of what initially forced me to fall in love with this show so Thank You Mr. Maskell For That

the cowl + bandages just looks so good i don’t know what to say. that’s a Look right there. the eye makeup? the hair? The Bandages and Cowl? I’m sorry who says this is not a handsome boy?

he looks amzing

puppet!gwyn constantly looks like he’s got one eyebrow raised thanks to how the eye area is carved

i want to know how Ursus thought he wasn’t going to wind up with a couple of the most dramatic chidlren on the earth like when did he think there was a chance they wouldn’t both turn out Dramatic

high note hazlit has arrived

i wish that in the Osric Raises Gwyn au there was some way for Osric to meet like Ghost!Hazlit or i don’t even know but. they need. to meet each other.

Osric’s got vibes and i don’t know what they are but they’re so powerful and they move me to intense affection

it’s Ridiculously Tall-looking Gwyn time. he goes to stand up straight and keeps on Extending

he really just keeps his eyes on the puppet at all times tho

“your little hat can find out what it means” i know he said ‘heart’ but he said ‘hat’ gwyn needs a hat send tweet

book gwyn got to have a hat

don’t worry gwynlit osric’s gonna take care of that in the au

dea’s so cute

so when Ursus says “for certain, it would be no man” is that like a heads-up that they changed the wolf’s name bc now it isn’t Homo anymore or

it’s 3am now and im only 20 minutes in help me dea

forearms

the “No” “Yes, yes” when Ursus first gives him the Crimson Lethe kills me every single time bro.

how long is this post do i need to shut up yet

i’ve babbled for longer before i think we’re good

And Ursus Gave The Boy A Name. A Cruel Name. A Name That Means “Wow That Debilitating Wound Carved Into Your Actual Face Must Hurt Pretty Bad Huh Kidlet”

arms

still mad about the fact that Ursus mentions “Melt into mist/no longer exist” and Barkilphedro uses those Exact Words

i always assume they’re talkin about going to Murca but i mean technically anywhere could be the ‘new world’ huh

forearm

see the one thing i

when he says “we’ll come back to the place where once we were lost in the snow” now im thinking about adult!lord!Gwyn revisiting like. the actual place. where it all Happened like. imagine adult!Gwyn going back to the gallows-site and just.

under angelica’s reign it’s probably converted into a memorial instead ofc and is no longer a gallows-site but still

puppet!Dea doesn’t wear shoes

when puppet!Dea first goes “Mojo?” puppet!Gwyn kinda reaches toward her for a sec like he’s Concerned

Dirry-Moir waving at Dea like he’s trying to figure if she really is blind smh

cowl gwyn is such a phenomenal look

GWYN DOES THE FOOT WIGGLE DURING THE BEAUTY AND THE BEAST SCENE I JUST NOW NOTICED

HIS FOOT IS ACTUALLY FLAT ON THE GROUND SO INSTEAD OF IT BEING A LITTLE HEEL SHAKE IT’S MORE LIKE A LIL ANKLE TWISTY BUT. !!

puppet!Gwyn fiddles with his shirt/vest a lot

forearm

the lil motion with his head after the Kiss tho rlly does look suspicious like the “twinge (of unspeakable agony)” motion tho

love how Osric just runs along to go with to see the rest of the show like. he’s into it.

[black-strike-otp]

part 98

When it’s hard to write becuz u feel like ur up too late keeping other ppl awake

Warm air moaned through the cracks and crevices of bent and misshapen metal. It gave off whistles and caused thinner pieces to wave in the air as a breeze came in from the Sea of Rust. There must have been a blistering storm going in order for the bots to feel the effects of it all the way to the colonial hideout. Luckily, it didn’t dampen the spirits or process of those hard at work.

Four bots stood together in a line, staring to the skies and the dark massive figure hovering high above Cybertron. Some bots dangling from chairs hanging from anchor points and rigged with harnesses, other climbing on ladders and even the structure itself as they received beams from Blackout to weld and bolt into place.

“Looks like they’re about done,” Barricade noted. “How tall did Blackout say it was?”

“I believe somewhere around the three-thousand foot mark?” Venus noted.

“At least it doesn’t require more than bare structure,” Novastrike whispered with awe. “Imagine if it was an apartment complex and the floors and walls we’d have to build.”

“May yet do,” Scorponok chattered. “If live long. See Cybertron reborn.”

The other three nodded with helms in various degrees of agreement. Although the possibility felt slim and out of reach, it was still a potential. The future was riddled with the unknown.

“That’s going to be one big target,” ‘Cade pointed out.

“No doubt,” Novastrike agreed. “But we need it to be tall enough to breech above possible lower level interference. It’s practically out of the atmosphere already, which means it should get a clear frequency signal out to space.”

Metal clanked as more beams rang against each other softly. As bots unhooked the tethers to beams they had secured, Blackout whirled around and came in low to pick up the final piece they’d be needing.

The top of the tower had been prefabricated and constructed on the ground. Its high-rise beams and adorning blinking lights to alert fliers and seekers not to hit the structure were attached. Bots from below and above were preparing the data streamers, cables, and power units from in various networks to make sure everything connected as smoothly as possible.

Blackout raised the massive composed structure off the ground effortlessly. Bots at various points on the ground and along the structure held on to extended straps to help keep it from swaying too much as his thrusters rumbled and he raised up with the item in tow to the very tippy top of the assembled piece. With nonstop progress, efficient workers, and a constant day and night shift of work, the project only had managed to take them roughly thirty days in total.

It was both a feet of engineering as it was a chronicle of the accounts of determination and willpower. If it stood, and worked as all hoped, it would be one of the most successful post Golden era achievements of the age.

In the opinion of all present and accounted for, at least. Some bots may be swayed to the belief that a synthetic energon could be adjusted over the years, though it still had not been perfected. Or other factors in medical care that had to be designed during the war were a good candidate too.

But the transmitter was teamwork at its finest. It held the hope of its builders in its simple commonplace design and with the very tippy top as Blackout held it into place for bots to begin checking, double checking, and triple checking every nut and bolt they put, every weld they placed. The antenna and various loads of equipment tucked snuggly at the bottom of it couldn’t be damaged, or all their work would be for nothing.

Blackout remained patiently still as the crew worked to assemble the remaining attachments and connect some vital last-minute wires between the computer and the antenna. Giving the thumbs up, some of the bots began to descend the behemoth whilst others got down the faster route: disarming their anchors and hanging to tethers and ladders still dangling from Blackout’s undercarriage to be taken down.

“Watching all these bots makes me wish I’d went into building fabrication,” ‘Cade stated thoughtfully.

Venus turned her optics to him, smiling sweetly as she speculated aloud, “That would have been nice, I guess I would have found a different mech to spend my time with at the institute.”

“Psh, I was only kidding,” he mumbled. “Building’s for chums.”

A working bot paused as he walked by, glancing to Barricade. The size of his derma were so massive that they protruded past a partially broken face mask he had in place. The bot gave a shake of his helm, walking away.

“I didn’t mean it!” Barricade called after him. “He knows I didn’t mean it, right?”

“Babe, maybe let the bots work in peace.”

“Besides,” he went on while placing a servo around Venus’ waist. “I like to burn rubber and cause too much trouble to stand in one spot for most of the day just doing the same task over and over again. I like to mix it up.”

Creating a soft ‘mhm’ in the back of her throat, Venus smiled with endearment as she leaned close to press a kiss against the side of his helm. The flashy cop purred his engines softly in response and returned the favor in kind with a kiss on her forehead.

“That’s gross,” Scorponok vowed with a tap of his pedes as he shifted himself and his gaze away from the couple.

“Don’t be mad just because you haven’t found a lady Insecticon yet Scorponok,” Barricade taunted lightly.

“Repugnant,” the scorpion clicked unhappily.

Pitying the poor bug for the josting he got too often, Novastrike stepped over to him and placed her servo upon his helm. He tilted his helm back so that three of his four golden optics turned to her, with one still focused on Blackout’s figure as he continued playing air life support to those getting off of the intergalactic transmitter.

Turning her optics to her beloved, Nova returned in watching as he helped down the last of the crew that awaited his pickup. He showed a tremendous amount of patience as he lowered himself softly to the surface of Cybertron and waited for bots to come unfasten all the tethers that had been latched on to various areas of his frame for structure. Even if Blackout liked to boost that he was more than capable of handling the weight easily, Novastrike found herself wincing inwardly. He hadn’t acted at all as of late like he’d been in pain, but when she truly thought about how he’d been spending day and night helping to get bots on and off the tower, lifting heavy equipment and rods, she felt a great deal of sympathy for her lovely mech.

Maybe she’d have to spend some time later with him if he would sit down long enough to let her give him some much needed TLC. A nice rubdown, a bit of polishing maybe, some well-deserved kisses while he just lounged.

Once the remainder of the fasteners were removed, Blackout reconfigured his armor around swiftly into his bipedal state. His helm gave an approving slight nod to the closest mech to him, saying something. They motioned with their servo up to the top of the immense construction project and then over to a nearby bot.

Unable to wait any longer, Novastrike darted around the workers pedes and over to Blackout. She could hear Venus and Scorponok try calling out to her. She guessed it was probably something about not getting in the way and being safe, but if the soaring pillar hadn’t fallen so far, she was pretty sure there was nothing to be concerned about.

As Blackout made his way over to a group of mechs stationed beside an enclosed monitor, Nova swerved to follow him.

“Evening Blackout!” the mech called out.

He nodded his helm respectfully.

“Just about to turn on the transmission signal you had recorded,” he stated. “The receiving unit should be finished in a couple joors. Some bots had to rewire a couple o’ things. But it’s not like our signal should be reading in the Andromeda galaxy right away since it has a lot o’ light-years to travel. You sure that’s where your friend is?”

Opening his mouth to answer, Blackout turned his optics down to the quiet huffing and puffing that came running up to his side. He raised an optic ridge down at Novastrike, grinning a little as she looked up to him.

“Hey,” she breathed out heavily.

“Hey to you too,” he rumbled, finding himself smiling a little wider.

“Are we about to turn this thing on?” Nova inquired, flicking her audio receptors forward.

“I was just about to say,” Blackout continued, turning his optics now to the mech. “That he was free to start transmitting. I’m not exactly sure where our ally is. I can only guess he started back to retracing our steps. Where we’d been and the area where we’d met up prior should have given him a good indication where to start working. How wide is our spectrum in the region?”

“About 8 light-years, give or take.”

“Well, we can certainly expect eventually to pick up some chatter and backfeed from the open receiver,” Blackout grunted with a nod of his helm. “Go ahead. Fire away.”

Bobbing his helm up and down, the mech turned into the partially enclosed monitor and moved around some wires into various plugs. He keystroked various things into the keypad and closed the box up.

Novastrike turned her helm back and squinted into the sky.

“Are we supposed to see if it’s doing anything?”

“No,” the engineer laughed. “It’s sending frequencies and coded encryption we can not hear; you won’t see anything but the warning lights along the tower maybe meant to indicate there’s a building so no one hits it.”

“How will we be able to receive anything back?” Novastrike asked desperately.

“Our coding indicates constant updates in the position and re-positioning of the tower as Cybertron circles its star,” the bot explained. “So long as there’s nothing that ends up blocking a sender's signal, they should be able to reply. It may get, how do I put this... back-logged, but so long as they put their message on a loop as we do, it will eventually arrive to the antenna.”

“There are two separate streaming data feeds. One sends, while the other receives. Our receiver isn’t ready; not a big problem as I said before as no bot will be getting our message instantaneously and if they are well, they’re close enough to Cybertron to turn their afts around and get here anyway. We should have it done not long from now. It offers a closed channel comm feed too that some of the crew and Blackout can privately access via their personal comm to check the receiver in real time to see if there’s any responses. Otherwise, we will have bots on manned duty keeping check on everything.”

“Sounds like a lot of work,” Novastrike breathed. She could feel stress just listening to this bot. She couldn’t imagine being in charge of any of this stuff.

Turning her optics up to Blackout, the little femme inquired quietly, “What did you send in the message, anyway?”

“I briefly left Nighthawk a status report that we were okay,” he responded. “Some minor details on our whereabouts, and an inquiry if he’d gotten any leads. I’ll have the loop changed if anything else comes up. Though, there will be no telling in what time or frame he may pick them up, if at all.”

Flicking her optics to the mech, Novastrike waited until he was walking away until she whispered, “How long can we loop our message through the antenna before some of these workers demand we start looping their messages in random directions hoping to get in contact with their friends?”

Blackout vented. “I don’t know. Considering this is the one and only way to currently communicate outside of Cybertron, it’s going to attract a lot of attention both from our own rogue faction as well as other bots. For the time being, bots are satisfied it’s complete and they know there’s a message getting out there. Vague, but out there. So we could get responses from any bot that technically hears the message.”

“Therefore,” he went on, “If we need to add more to the loop, there’s always the option of just making an extremely lengthy loop of data, or just debriefing specific bot’s names and a short mock of information they want to get out there. It’ll be like drawing straws if it comes to that though to decide who gets to grace the loop or not. We don’t need to add hundreds of names, it’ll just deter those who get the stream of information. No bot will want to, or may even be capable of, going through all that data to try looking for one name of someone they recognize and seeing a strange encrypted message.”

“Even if they do,” Blackout went on, “if we get a response, we would have to have a massive vote or some kind of elected mass to decide if we resume sending out the same feed, or try just signaling the one response we get with a reply to whomever the responder chooses to speak with.”

“Sounds... complicated,” Novastrike stated with an anxious smile. “You could have just told me ‘There’s only one message right now going out, it’s ours, and let’s hope to hear back from Nighthawk soon.”

Frowning, the obsidian giant drew his optic ridges together. “But that would not have been efficient as it hardly answered your questions.”

“Yeah, all the other stuff didn’t answer my questions much better,” she admitted.

Snorting back laughter, Blackout shook his helm slightly. He had a peaceful smile on his faceplate that warmed Novastrike’s spark as she watched him.

Extending his servo, the mech made a curling motion with his digits as he murmured softly, “May I?”

With a nod of her helm, Blackout knelt down and allowed her to climb upon his servo. As he rose to his full height, he brought her against his chassis. The thick, dark armor was already slightly warmed as the dark armored mech held her close to himself, directly over his spark chamber.

Snuggling back into her mech’s impervious armor plating of his chassis, Novastrike looked out at all the bustling bots walking around still. Some were congratulating each other, others were simply sharing dull-lit energon cubes, more still were wandering in the direction of the rogue base to probably get some much deserved rest.

She could make out Venus, Barricade, and Scorponok talking to a few of the bots in a huddled group. Some of the bots were making wild motions with their arms dramatically. The duo seemed invested in the conversation, though the scorpion not so much.

Nova had to smile a she watched ‘Cade take Venus by the servo. His arm moved back and forth with hers, their digits intertwined.

“What do we do now?” Novastrike whispered softly, turning her helm up to look into Blackout’s dark crimson optics.

He prepared a captivating small smile, just for her. With a twitch of his servo and rearrangement of his digits, Blackout managed to move his digits to be able to caress from her audio stacks down her backstrut.

She wriggled beneath the contact, purring vibrantly. Pressing her side against his armor, Novastrike looked to him with shimmering optics as she rested her cheek to him, listening to the mechanics of his body with her sensitive ears so close. The sound of his spark was just beneath the surface, pulsing quietly and humming an exceptionally beautiful tune.

“For now, all we can do is wait.”