#idw2 quotes

[starscreams-crown]

Cosmos: "This is amazing. He's moving his legs as if that'd help him move forward."

[quetzalpapalotl]

Howd you rank your liking of Megop thru the continuities?

Before I get to that, let me just sat that the idea of megop in itself does a lot or me, so I'm probably gonna be into any megop as long as it vagely follows the standard TF pattern. The inherent intimacy of being archnemesis, being each other's equal match, only being able to stand on equal footing with the enemy leader, the respect among fellow warriors, blurring the lines of what romance even means, the grandiosity of it all.

So, the actual ranking after tfp and idw is not something set in stone or anything, my answer may have been different on another day. Only includes things I've watched/read, which aren't that many:

1.- IDW1 and TFP: You cannot make me choose between these two. IDW1 is, of course, my favorite continuity, and even tho the megop is not as strong in some parts, it still has all the elements I like. The fact that they know and understand each other so well despite never being friends. Megatron lives to fight, he needs a dance partner. Optimus has spent his entire life chasing after Megatron one way or another, Megatron made him who he is. Their paths mirror each other even when they're in separate series altogeher. Megatron doesn't hate Optimus. Look at Chaos Theory! That thing is one step from being a megop bdsm fic! Lots of things to say here, but we need to move on.

Now on the other hand we have TFP, that's the classic, the blueprint, my-nemesis-comic.jpg. If I had to guess, I'd say there was a before and after TFP in fandom regarding megop, but I have no idea actually, so don't quote me on that. Still, that show is insane, Megatron basically flirts with Optimus every time they're on screen, having Megatron back is the one thing Optimus wants for himself and he gives up even that. It has all the breakup drama! Except for Megatron, they might as well not have broken up, but the nature of their relationship changed. Battling Optimus is his favorite thing in the world. The show really does give the impression that these two are on a world of their own. And while I usually like to disregard most of the Aligned side materials on my reading of tfp, those megop bits of Exodus really are something, huh.

2.- IDW2 they were friends, now they're destined to fight each other for the next million years. They're not as intense as tfp but damn, Megatron might as well be telling Optimus he wants him chained in his bed.

3.- Cyberverse: Same thing but goofier. Megatron literally didn't win the war because he was too gay to kill Optimus and then died in his arms. Amazing. (He's not dead he's in the hospital).

4.- Sunbow Cartoon/General G1 concept: It's simple and straightforward, you can project onto it the things I like about megop and because it's G1 it's very malleable. You can take it in all kinds of directions! Always love to see what fandom does with it.

4.5.- Shattered Glass: same thing but in reverse and evil Optimus is hot. That's it.

5.- Prime Wars: It's G1, but they're old, tired and retired. They should meet and beat each other up like old times. And the whole sequence of Optimus firing Megatron? 10/10

6.- Netflix' War for Cybertron: this couls have been so good, except the show was pretty bad at properly explaining its backstory. Still, a girl takes what she can get and those scenes in season 2 are juicy. But I tempted to put this higher in the list because WFC gave me on of the best takes on megop NEMESIS/GALVATRON. Evil angst boyfriends!! They are in this situation because they were both idiots, Megatron finally got to kill Optimus and ended his last moments as himself regreting not working with him. Now they are together again. It took being enslaved by Unicron for them to get along again, but they have each other now, they have nothing but each other, not even who they used to be. It's depressing, it's great. I'm gonna have to be the change I want to see and write something about them because I'm obsessed.

7.- TFA: I used to enjoy it more, but I've fallen out of love for it. Lacks a lot of the elements I like about most megop, but there's appeal in Optimus catching the eye of this almost-mythological terror because he managed to beat him. Most of the content for it is not really to my taste, tho, but House Divided is my favorite take on it.

8.- Beast Wars: It's okay. It's not a bad ship or anything, but it doesn't really awaken anything in me. They hate each other, sure, but not in a gay way, more in the way you hate a mosquito. And then, as far as hatemances go, Rampage and Depth Charge show up to completely.

Mmm that should be it, unless I'm forgetting something. I have still read fic for other megops and I must say the whole Protector/Prime concept really appeals to me, but afaik it doesn't show up in the movies and I'm not interested in watching them regardless.

I'm eagerly awaiting Earthspark, not to have hope, but I feel like I'm gonna lose my mind.

[arceespinkgun]

I don't see many people point it out or people even being aware of it but Dreamwave contributed SIGNIFICANTLY to modern Transformers media! There is a high chance that something in any present TF media could be a subconscious callback to the Dreamwave Continuity, I think due to the objectively negative parts of it that it faded into obscurity so people don't often credit it as a forebearer when it has influenced canon and fanon a lot

I have also speculated due to what people generally bring up in regards to the Dreamwave Continuity that many haven't actually read it and it's more of a "word of mouth" situation (this has happened with the Marvel Comics and with even more recent comics like IDW1 and IDW2 where fans will heavily rely on incomplete testimonies of others or heavily caricatures of characters as a source of information)

Some plotlines featured in IDW1 were originally planned for the Dreamwave Continuity before they went ?bankrupt? (Don't quote me on the bankruptcy) such as Megatron: Origin, where the latter would have met and bonded with a character who would be a mentor to him. The story was edited to fit into the IDW1 continuity and the mentor character would later evolve to that of Terminus

This is absolutely true. A lot of characterization and worldbuilding was created for that continuity, like the creation of pre-Earth designs for characters who hadn't previously had any, and there are a lot of interesting character dynamics that could've been expanded upon in other media but never were. The Dreamwave comics are not very good, and they aren't fun like the Marvel comics are. I'm not as surprised by the lack of knowledge of the Dreamwave comics due to all of their issues, but I am really confused by the lack of discussion of IDW1, IDW2, and the Marvel comics... like I still think All Hail Megatron is pretty good and has some of the best Starscream and Megatron interactions, IDW2 had Lightbright and Lodestar, that really good Starscream Halloween comic, a more vibrant Cybertron, etc., and the Marvel comics have all the fun of the Sunbow cartoon with more consistency and characterization for characters who were much flatter in animation!

Oh Dreamwave Comics absolutely went bankrupt and more, look up Pat Lee for more information—like many comic startups around that time, it was grossly corrupt and didn't pay its artists or writers, exploiting their passion, and then it imploded.

Yes, that's right, ironically I thought the fact that it was originally planned for the Dreamwave comics was why so many of the characterization details of Megatron: Origin don't fit with late-phase IDW... only to find out that JRo took the concept of a mentor for Megatron and put him in his run of the comics, meaning he knew about the original plans. In fact, I think when concepts from Dreamwave and Marvel were attempted in IDW1, they weren't done very well. The Shockwave-Prowl tension in Dreamwave? One of the best parts of the continuity. In IDW1? I don't think it really works or means much given what archetypes those characters got turned into in that continuity and how far removed they are from their older selves. Thunderwing in the Marvel comics? Amazing idea for a character, I wish he had a more fleshed-out story! In IDW1? Whatever.

[geek-antic]

*thinks about soundwave*

*wonders why soundwave doesn't like music in IDW1*

*thinks about how tarn and soundwave used to work together*

*thinks about how tarn used music to kill, torture & traumatize*

*thinks about soundwaves original bio quote* "Cries and screams are music to my ears."

*thinks about how being a sound system in a war & using music as a weapon would cause you to associate music with hurting others*

*marvels at how context can flip a sadistic quote on it's head*

IDW1 may be over but my thoughts on it continue to linger and by god i will tie toghether all connections that dare cross my mind.

[suite43]

Look, here's what I care about: Your powerbase is built on lies. I mean, we both know I know that, right? But you can still make something good come out of this.

(id: six edits of Starscream and Bumblebee in various comics on orange backgrounds. more details under the cut.)

1: a blue hologram of Bumblebee, with speech bubbles from Windblade, off-panel, saying "There's no purer forge than a spark. It remembers everyone that touches it."

2: Both are in profile, looking away. Starscream, hands on his hips, says "Think we'll make it out of this?"

Bumblebee responds "Yes. But look where optimism got me."

Starscream says "Fair enough."

3: Bee, smiling fondly, says "I can't believe I'm happy for you". Starscream responds "Of course you are!"

4: Lit from behind, Starscream says "I don't know what to do, Bumblebee."

Bee responds "Yes, you do. If you don't know the outcome for yourself, think about what's gonna happen to everybody else."

5: Bee, staring off to one side, says "You don't mean that. About manipulating her. You're more than that. I know."

6: From behind, Starscream is leaning against the background. Bee says "It means 'I told you so'." end id)

[shanix]

literally everything i’m seeing about tread and circuits is fucking abominable

[holoforms]

Bumblebee, to Rubble: Stop having a dramatic backstory!

Bumblebee: You're only a baby!

[themedplanets]

The IDW2 Unofficial Midnight Script Doctor

Otherwise known as How Brainstorm Got His Groove Back

Alright, this obviously won’t be a full rewrite but will cover several key aspects that I believe massively drag down IDW2, and my proposed solutions.  

First off, the exposition dump and frenetic pace of early issues.  The easiest way to fix this would be to not kick off the main plot in issue one.  If you have that much ground and that many characters and plot threads to cover for people to be able to follow your story, the easiest solution would be to have a series of oneshots establishing the world and characters.  

A massive dump of information at the start makes for poor information retention and confusion, not to mention the characters definitely do not have the presence or writing to them to carry a ton of boring exposition.  However, working through a few lighter stories centered around Rubble, Bumblebee, and their secondary cast of the issue would make for easy exposition.  Beyond solving the technical issue this would create a nice sense of business as usual, stuff like the political tension is shown, but you have to show the Shire before the characters can leave it after all.

And, importantly, when they wind up brushing with the protests, Rubble witnesses someone get hurt, not fatally, obviously, but enough to leave a mark.  You know, Baby’s First Trauma.  And Bumblebee ushers him away talking about staying out of it/keeping Rubble out of trouble.

Now moving on to the biggest piece of this pie, Brainstorm.  Brainstorm getting bodied in (what was apparently) a random attack is an absolute waste of a good character.  I mean, come on!  An excitable, attention/approval-seeking mad scientist and weapons engineer?  

So what I’m saying is, he doesn’t have to live, but he can have actual plot relevance.  Because honestly he could be switched out for any rando that gets killed in his place.  Or even a nice painting that was stolen, really.  So...  Let’s make him matter?

He’s an energon engineer, but he hardly finds that fulfilling, you know.  If that goes “boom”, that’s bad.  He’s a hobbyist weapons engineer, an obsessive more-like, plans and prototypes, and only being able to share it with a few people who are sorta creeped out by it, I mean this is peace times after all, why would you make a death ray in the first place?  

And then here comes the Rise.  That are interested, they love his inventions, they want more.  And he’s so excited to feel like he’s finally valued for what he loves that he doesn’t even think through the consequences; what exactly the Rise is wanting these weapons for.

Until one day he does, gets cold feet, goes to someone for advice, and gets caught out.  He’s killed through whatever means, all his prototypes and files stolen, and it’s staged to look like a random attack.

Then Rubble and co. roll up, and here’s where that earlier trauma actually plays in the first time, because he finds Brainstorm and recognizes that he is hurt bad, but doesn’t have the reference for what death looks like, yet.  Probably knows what it is, but can’t exactly call it on sight, but he freaks out and tries to help Brainstorm, just really gets in there like some empty-headed horror protagonist who walks into a crime scene and picks up the weapon so they’re mistaken for the culprit.  Only he has an excuse.

This means that Chromia doesn’t look like a completely paranoid idiot for pursuing him as a suspect so hard.  The kid’s looking like Helen Candyman investigating that screaming in the next room while she’s holding that bloody cleaver she found.

This also means that there’s more immediate and tangible stakes that the investigator crew can pursue proactively instead of just reacting to new events. They have to figure out why Brainstorm was really killed, where his files were, and where the confidant(s) are before they can get 86′ed too.  In the actual story they’re kind of shitty investigators, their clues are essentially found off-panel or another character comes and drops it in their laps.  In fact the only time someone went and gathered important info on their own was when Prowl assaulted and threatened a guy.  

(So I guess ACAB holds true in IDW2, as well.)

And, looking at wider consequences, now the Rise/Ascenticons have new weapons that the goodies can’t predict, and likely outpaces their own outdated military tech by leagues.  Which ups the tension and danger massively.  

Now jumping ahead, we’re going to go on and murder Rubble.  Mainly because think of how much better his little dying monologue would land if he directly associated Bumblebee’s judgement with physically protecting him.  

Anyways thank you for coming to my TED Talk about how to hurt your audience better, but also engage them.

[reedrichards]

.

[megop]

Hello! Welcome to the MegOP blog!

On this post you will find some general guidelines about the contents of the blog and the tagging system.

First of all, while this blog is has a focus on MegOP as a ship (and that is with a very broad understanding of "romance"), not all the content reblogged here will necessarily be shippy. Everything is sent to a queue set to post 3 times a day. We look at the #megop and #megaop tags for posts to reblog, as well as dig up older posts to keep the queue from running out.

We will not reblog explicit sexual content posted directly, we will however reblog things like explicit content under a readmore or links that lead to it, in which case it will be tagged as #lemon. Anything else of a sexual nature will be tagged as #suggestive.

General tags

#modposting for when the mods speak

#solo megatron and #solo optimus for posts that only feature one of the characters, mostly used to keep the queue running

#incorrect quotes for non-megop posts that we thought fitted the megop vibe

#humanformers / #catformers / #dragonformers / #merformers / #birdformers

#softbody / #robots in clothes

#sparklings for posts related to mechpreg or Cybertronians as children/babies

#au for when a post is clearly using the megops of a specific continuity, but the universe/setting is completely different than the original canon beyond mere universe alterations

Continuity tags

These tags follow a pattern of "tf [continuity]"

#tf general for general/unspecified continuity, heavy continuity soup, the post uses unspecified designs, fan continuities, or the mods simply couldn't tell the continuity

#tf g1 for both Sunbow cartoon and Marvel G1, derived works set in either of those or G1-inspired crossovers

#tf aligned for everything related to the Aligned continuity family

#tf animated for everything related to Transformers Animated

#tf beast wars for everything related to the Beast Wars sub-franchise

#tf movies for everything related to the live-action movies (Bay and Knight) and related materials

#tf idw1 for everything related to the IDW comics continuity that ran from 2005 to 2018

#tf idw2 for everything related to the IDW comics continuity that ran from 2019 to 2022

#tf cyberverse for everything related to the Cyberverse continuity

#tf earthspark for everything related to the Earthspark cartoon

#tf unicron trilogy for everything related to Armada, Energon and Cybertron. We are aware that its original Japanese, Cybertron (or rather Galaxy Force) was its own show not meant as a sequel to the previous two, but we decided to archive according to the English conventions.

#tf rid 2001 for everything related to the 2001 show Robots in Disguise

#tf nwfc for everything related to the Netflix's War for Cybertron trilogy

#tf prime wars for everything related to the Machinima Prime Wars shows

#tf shattered glass for everything inspired by Shattered Glass, be it based on the official SG stories or a SG take of another continuity

#tf dreamwave for everything related to the Dreamwave comics continuity

#tf energon universe for everything related to the energon universe continuity by image comics

We hope we didn't forget anything, we'll edit this post as necessary. Ask box is open for any inquires!

[starscreams-crown]

Cosmos: "This is amazing. He's moving his legs as if that'd help him move forward."

[mrfandomwars]

Master Post!

A master post, just in general.

Main Tags: #mr talks; #mr aus; basically anything with '#mr' and then a word after

UPDATE: I have a Mando focused blog! Please follow @evaarade if you want to keep up with Mando stuff!

READ BECAUSE IT'S IMPORTANT: https://unwhitewashthebadbatch.carrd.co/

SIGN IT: https://unwhitewashthebadbatch.tumblr.com/post/685619512403443712/sign-the-petition

Posts:

POLLS

The Best Seeker Polls CANCELLED

MR Discovers:

Tusken Raider Post that is still waiting to be updated (I swear, one day I will do it)

Metas-ish

Jango Fett on Canon (no Legends) - Brief Rresume

Star wars

Palpatine Treatment of the Corruscant Guard

Abusive Dooku Mini Theory

Clones Aren't Mando's

In Defense Of Ki-Adi Mundi

- mini defense

Possible reason for people to hate Ki-Adi (aka being Stanakin's foil) - Mini Meta

Therapy Does Not Work That Way

The Council Didn't Know That Anakin Was A Slave

CLONES ARE ADULTS

Anakin (probably) watched the chips be used on the 501st and did nothing

Citadel Defense

Fun Fact about the Guard (with the addition of something I discovered later on)

Mango (Myles The Mandalorian X Jango Fett) Thoughts

Legends Wasn't Canon Dammit

where the FUCK are the other kids

Transformers

One of the Main differences between IDW Drift and RID2015 Drift (imo)

IDW2 Sentinel - Newbie Prime/First Senator?

Headcanons/Fanon Ideas:

Crechemaster Yoda

OCs

Akernane 'Ark' Ti - Tarre Vizsla's Master

- plus his (funny) height difference with Tarre

Soraia Monss

Quotes:

Star Wars

- Legends

“The Legendary Star Wars Expanded Universe Turns a New Page”, April 25th, 2014

George Lucas, Starlog, August 2005

Discord Server

Jedi Defenders

[thorinlandscaping]

ranking how likely it would be for each version of megop to get together

Transformers Prime: Personally, I think these two have already been together or they desperately wanted to be together before the war. I do think that given the opportunity and right situation they would elope at any point during the series, possibly even while in the middle of battle. I think that, post-Predacons Rising (and post that Bumblebee RID series where Optimus is resurrected?) they could have a fruitful relationship. I mean come on Megatron is just out there, somewhere, and is probably unkillable and I don’t think Optimus knows how to stay dead so they are perfect for each other. 10/10 relationship points.

G1 Cartoon: I haven’t had time to finish this yet, but the vibes I get is that if these two fuckers went on a blind date they’d fight the entire time over minor misunderstandings and then immediately afterwards become the most obnoxious couple you know. I don’s think they’d ever get together in canon cause I don’t think there’s any opportunity for it (that I’ve watched…) but I think that if at the end they’re both alive or they spend some time together without the whole war thing they have going on they would in fact work. As I’m unsure of their post-canon fates, I cannot judge a post-canon situation, but I think that they deserve a 6/10 relationship points based on energy alone.

Bayverse: I… honestly don’t know. There isn’t a lot of Lore in bayverse, and I only ever watched the first three movies so if there’s more Megop interactions and lore in the other movies I don’t know them. I know Optimus made some references to them being ‘like brothers’ or something equally manly and heterosexual before the war, so they were clearly close and knew each other. If I’m not mistaken, I don’t think Megs has full control over his mind in these movies? That might have been something I made up, but if I didn’t, I don’t think they’d be likely to get together unless we’re maybe talking a vague prewar context. When a blockbuster calls two non-related male-presenting characters ‘like brothers’ there’s usually something else going on, so for that I’ll give them a solid 4/10 relationship points.

Transformers Animated: These two certainly have the funniest relationship, being that Megatron just does not have a clue who Optimus is for a while there while Optimus considers him his mortal enemy. I think that at the end of the series, after Optimus defeats Megatron, they might be able to start something. I feel like Megatron and Optimus might spend some time together after Megatron is imprisoned, which isn’t a great place to get to know someone but I feel like they might be able to make it work. I’ll give them about a 7/10 relationship points because I feel like it could very easily happen, but the circumstances have to be right.

IDW1: Listen. Listen. They have chemistry, I can admit this. They work well together. We cannot forget Rodimus telling Optimus they seemed ‘a bit too close’ and I have a screenshot of a panel during the early war phase where one of the Decepticons says, and I quote, “He… talks about you sometimes. When he’s tired. Best not ask. It would make both of us feel uncomfortable.” So idk what else they were doing with that panel. But. I’m not the biggest fan of IDW1 megop because there’s other ships for them that I like more, but objectively, they would go well together, and objectively I give them 8/10 relationship points.

IDW2: I’m not very caught up on this one but Optimus Prime: Freefall singlehandedly gives these two a 7/10 relationship points.

[geek-antic]

Soundwave Continuity Duality

i always thought that the pure duality of soundwaves original biography and how they potrayed him in the marvel comics vs how he was potrayed in the G1 cartoon, was interesting.

and while shows like cyberverse in my opinion have managed to get a good mix or rather find a good blend between loyal follower & cunning oppertunist, it's always fun to see how words can change if given a new context.

like with marvel soundwave's quote/motto:"Cries and screams are music to my ears." very sadistic right? sounds like something a guy who likes to torture people would say.

but if say, cyberverse soundwave said something like that, then my thought would be "ah, i see so he's a bratty schoolyard bully, gotcha"

Meanwhile you could pin that quote to IDW1 soundwave and u got urself an unmentioned "and i hate music" follow up to it.

both characters could say that and it would fit given the context, which i've found out to be oddly important to me because, as much as i love loyal soldier and steadfast friend soundwave i also really like the oppertunistic survivor type of soundwave.

but when i read the IDW1 comics there are many signs of writers being confused when it comes to what direction to take soundwaves personality in. it always feels like they can't get over the disconnect of the vastly different personalites of his marvel self and his cartoon self, so they go with one or the other rather than come up with a compromise.

This is probably first shown in the Transformers spotlight: Soundwave, comic where the writer seems to lean towards the marvel comics, interpretation of soundwave where he's more oppertunistic and less loyal to megatron but is quickly ignored since that interpretation isn't as well known as the G1 cartoon.

Of course i can see why people prefer the G1 cartoon. because while i would love for soundwave to be more independent from megatron. starscream already fills the role of backstabbing oppertunist. and having one cunning oppertunist in the decepticon high command is more than enough.

and don't even get me started on shockwave's whole thing, that guy is in the same duality boat as soundwave when it comes to interpretations.

but i digress. my point is i love it when people mix and match the past interpretations into something new and better that gives the character more layers & depth than what they would've gotten if they'd ended up just choosing to stick to a single interpretation.

heck i think that's how we got mad scientist shockwave, and poetic gladiator megatron. picking and choosing things from past continuities that add a new layer of depth to the character without taking away from what they already are, makes it feel like the character is growing through generations of different interpretations, which reminds me that it's one of the reasons IDW2 vexes me so thourougly because it feels like it's just taking two steps back and completly disregarding all the lore from the IDW1 continuity, in favor of the aligned continuity. but that's for another post.

Finally, to those fans who have in their grand wisdom deemed it fit to interprit soundwave as a tired retail worker who's not getting paid enough to deal with the three extreme personalities that make up the rest of the decepticon high command? to those, i say this:

you're abselutely right.

[suite43]

a pyra magna playlist ?

soldier's poem - muse And do you think you deserve your freedom? No I don't think you do. There's no justice in the world, There's no justice in the world And there never was

machines and men - airbag Machines and men They're heaven sent I wanna get out I wanna be free So come on now And get me out

supergenisis - the mountain goats & kahi king In the twinkling of an eye, my sentence gets passed. And I drop to the ground and I go slithering through the grass, carving out battle lines as I crawl. Hold on to the battle plan, hold tight, cause someday, someday, the call will sound. We all, we all are gonna get up from the ground

[pluralsword]

[[Image description: A custom mostly deep pink and white Arcee kitbashed from a War for Cybertron Nightbird toy stands on a shelf in front of a wall, holding yellow flaming energy sabers that most closely resemble the ones of her IDW1 depiction. The rest of her though is largely of course inspired by her Synergy & IDW2 look - two blue biolights each on the lower and upper torso, the knee caps, her shoulders, and facing forward on her back stacks. Swords and head are 3D prints from shapeways by The Primeinator and Autobot Quaternion respectively.]]

Hiya folks! I’m not really prepared to do the first worldbuilding post for my fanfic yet here because I’m busy and the next big fic needs to be done before I feel prepared to discuss the trans existential stuff and imagined alien robot aesthetic system history I will dig into among many other things. I want to have the prose for y’all to read for what I’m talking about. I need to edit my first fanfic of the Autosignet Cycle series, Day of Multiflame to be a bit more readable. But I thought I’d share stuff folks who aren’t on twitter might not have seen regarding back stacks from a xenogender perspective that you could TLDR as back stacks are cute in an alien way and can be done a lot of different ways with different bodies, genders, and aesthetics, that Arcee’s IDW iterations are really special literarily, and that alt-mode stuff is really cool and could inform gender. You can read the original twitter thread and see the chosen images and related alt text here: https://twitter.com/Gestalt_Robot/status/1518252361017225216 If you want the full thoughts which is easier for me to personally to write on tumblr including alien gender stuff and an intro to stuff in my fic so far keep reading.

Some related background info - I have also kitbashed Sterling from Studio Series Blurr, Nightbeat and Velocity from Titan Returns Blurr, and done Nautica from WfC Chromia, and have a TR Brainstorm and Arcee (Blurr retools), and a WfC Chromia and Nightbird, they’re all in a photo together in the twitter thread. The Blurr retools and kitbashes all have backpacks of a sort that form the front of their vehicle mode.

I think it says something that I have such a liking for the TR/Studio Blurr and WfC Chromia/Nightbird mold. I definitely want more car gals who are like Combiner Wars Jumpstream and Dust-Up (Aileron spaceplane retool of Smokescreen pls) but also these molds can do cool things in terms of kitbashing and alien actuation aspects that I will get to.

Important sidenote I’ve kitbashed Gauge from a Bumblebee, IDW1 Lancer from CW Swindle, am going to kitbash Vibes from FoC Sideswipe, want to do backpack-less Arcee from Smokescreen and Hound. I am very lucky to actually have Jumpstream, Dust Up, and Cybertron Override. I’m sure some of you have seen the Crabcee by blurrito that I commissioned. The body shape variety stuff generally is a whole topic in itself people other than me have covered plenty, so back to backpack/back stack robots.

Counting TR Nautica the portion of the transformer toy gender iceberg Blurr is part of is exceedingly obvious even with just the official toys, unlike the deep lore of motorcycle retools. There is in fact a CW retool of Rust Dust as Wreck-Gar, Groove, and an Adventure Override (he/him canonically). There is even a Prime Cyberverse Legion Class Groove retool from Arcee as well, and there’s going to be a Legacy Road Rocket from Legacy Arcee.

Rather transformative, you could say. XD

So - why talk about back stacks? - one of my grail kitbashes is to make a bulky Arcee who has back stacks. Why? Name a woman or any physically human entity who actually wants to have big wheeled metal towers that wiggle behind their back & isn't a robot/cyborg alterhuman, furry, plural, or kinnie. Xeno pretty y'know. To quote myself on discord from November last year: “listen I'm demiromantic but I can't unsee back stacks now so, no.” This is coming from a trans person who thinks that any person’s chosen or expressed aesthetic that isn’t hateful is cute because it is what they want to actuate or can, it’s the body and experience they live in.

It’s just that also - Arcee’s IDW1 story in Phase 2 and Phase 3, IDW2, and frankly the MLP crossover has been really powerful both in big and small ways and touched on a lot of notes that struck a chord with me so her chosen shapes are just - a good vibe to me. I’ll talk more about what I think of her in a literature sense sometime. Do not be misled by Spotlight: Arcee and how people reduce her IDW1 iteration to that to think that she doesn’t have a unique place in trans literature as a hierarchy-hating errant warrior-teacher trans woman who doesn’t want redemption for the hurt she’s caused, knows and speaks to love and understanding being one of the strongest things in the world, and deep down wants to raise kids with a similar gender partner- whoops I’m crying a little- (AVP Arcee was also wholesome).

So- you have the why I’m on this topic. Did you know that Cyberverse Dead End has back stacks too? They're cute. I can't help thinking about it because of Arcee. Back stacks for all the genders/many aesthetics and across the spectrum of body shapes would be a power move.

Because they are transforming robots, this dips into alt-mode more than a bit too. Gender/aesthetic and alt-form probably inform each other. Bots have talked A LOT about their alt-form over the decades. You have Smokescreen in Aligned trying to choose an Earth mode, Lightspeed really wants to be a spaceship in the old Sunbow G1 cartoon, Shadow Striker’s guards in Cyberverse talked about Megatron’s new guards spoilers and one said they were too flashy for their own taste, in IDW2 it’s an experiential thing in part for what work people want to do and they choose their alt-mode as part of growing up assuming they weren’t assigned warplane at forging by Nominus Prime for the War of the Threefold Spark or are a clone, and in the same series during the Transformers 2021 Annual the Lodestar-Lightbright Cityspeaker-Titan gestalt speak to what amounts to weapon retrofit dysphoria. IIRC Lodestar was equipped with a bunch of weapon systems to fight Vigilem who sided with the reactionary imperialist coup by the Decepticons.

To talk about the most prominent back-stack user again - Arcee in IDW1 took on five different shapes first reformat onwards of two stacks instead of the singular one she had in her forged form - and she well - wasn’t concerned with infiltrating on Earth for most of those. We have nothing to go on as to whether her IDW2 variation in shape is merely artistic or signifies bodily change - but it is noticeable in #38 onwards that she has gotten chonkier and her alt-form went from a convertible to an armored buggy sort of car.

I dunno when canon will address this and outright say there is a link between gender actuation and alt-mode. Be brave enough to show e.g. Smokescreen and Aileron connecting over having a ‘monoboob’ (they’d probably say rounded chest or something) shape but are different genders and not trans OR actuated/accepted that for their transness. But I do know we can talk about it and write it ourselves. Among the many comparable but not the same as woman specific named aesthetics I want to touch on in my own writing, there is one I introduced which is zoomdare - I’m saving the explanation for a full post on it, but suffice to say that the experiential component of this sparktion or hearth (what Cybertronians and Camiens call their aesthetic system respectively) is concerned with the euphoria of focus/movement - part of why ‘zoom’ is part of the word, as Greenlight puts it in her own internal thoughts in Chapter 1 of Day of Multiflame regarding herself and the three zoomdares she is in a relationship with Arcee’s back stacks wiggled, and watching her love express itself through her mighty wheel and light bearing shapes reminded me of the graceful rush the four of us narrated our lives through, exhibited, shared, and loved.

So yeah, part of why back stacks are very cool to me so I will just say I think it is based that Combiner Wars Brawl’s back stacks form his tank turret because that is a totally different take on the stacks (I even kitbashed one into Greenlight!). If we step away from the To Sell Toys motivation (https://tfwiki.net/wiki/To_sell_toys) to just - think about the robots on aesthetic journeys of accepting and realizing themselves, I think we are left with one of my favorite Optimus Prime quotes (from Cyberverse Battle for Cybertron Part I and Part IV) "Everything in the universe transforms.” And yeah, trans or gender expansive or not, everything and everyone does.