#is it purely mech made or is it inherent to Cybertronians?

[transingthoseformers]

What about mech mating calls? An infrasonic sound or a ping through special network made while a mech is in heat or just seeking a partner for a casual frag. For someone it's a quick and easy way to find a mech to mess around with and for others, not so popular and attractive, it's just voicing their desperation so maybe someone will take pity on them.

Hmm, interesting!!

[bitegore]

I was tagged by the absolutely awesome @gold-from-straw and I’m gonna tag a few people so uhhh... @mllemusketeer , @poplitealqueen , @travellinglemonworkshop , @chaotictrickster , @ternaryflower53

post: 

A snippet of your work in progress

The theme song for your WIP

The theme song for your protagonist

The theme song for your antagonist

The theme song for your protagonist’s love interest (if they have one)

The theme song for the main pairing of your WIP

The theme song for the opening chapter (if it’s a long fic)

Song for the current chapter/page (if it’s a long fic)

Any other songs you’d like to mention and why

and then tag some friends and have fun!

A snippet of your work in progress

They dragged him before the council again. They shoved a single cube of energon into Megatron’s hands and forced him, again, to his knees. He made to lift his head and the enforcer on his right snatched the cube from his starvation-weakened servos. “Bow, filth, and you get your precious energon back,” the enforcer snapped. Megatron weighed his options—his dignity, or his life?—and then slowly inclined his head, training his optics on the floor.

“Good mech,” the enforcer purred, and held the cube out again.

Megatron snatched it and, this time, drained it in one quick gulp. He heard the enforcer to his left chuckle.

How he wished to tear off their faceplates and bash their faces to shattered wrecks beneath his fists. But he knew it was hopeless, and so he knelt on the floor of the Senate, and he waited.

“Megatron of Tarn,” one of the councilors said, voice laden with condescension. Megatron had never bothered to learn who was who, and so all he knew was that this was one of many mechs with too much power and too much arrogance than could possibly be good for anyone other than themselves. ”You have disobeyed the will of Primus and defied your path in life . You have attempted to tempt others to follow in your sinful footsteps. You have attempted to seduce others to follow your evil rhetoric. Is this not true?”

Megatron raised his optic ridges, though he kept his gaze fixed on the floor. He didn’t want to tempt the enforcers to do something to him that he couldn’t fight off. “Is this meant to be some mockery of a trial?”

One of the enforcers hit him over the back of the helm with something, and Megatron winced as his optics shorted out for a moment.

“Megatron of Tarn, you stand accused of these heinous crimes,” the unnamed senator snapped. “Are the charges true?”

Megatron attempted to lift his head and received another brutal blow to the back of the helm instead. “Frag you!”

An angry rumble went around the room.

“Admit your guilt,” the senator snarled at Megatron.

Megatron gritted his dentae, bracing for the blow he knew would come. He glared at the senate floor. “The things I’m accused of—you are the guilty ones!”

The theme song for your WIP

A Song for the Nameless by Sworn In(video) (lyrics)

At its core, Project Forged Chains is about revolution, but also at its core, Project Forged Chains is about brainwashing and brainwashing aftermath. A Song For The Nameless is kinda about both. At once. Both about dismantling the prejudices that one holds and , also, about breaking one’s programming in the more literal sense.

The Great Die Off by Rise Against (video) (lyrics)

This one is just pure revolution. Revolution a la we’re going to end you and supplant you and build a better world in your wake and you are not allowed to bring your ideals to our new order.

The theme song for your protagonist

Zero Visibility by Rise Against (video) (lyrics)

Megatron wants to make things better. The problem is, he’s never gotten to see a better world. He’s going to keep trying and keep trying, but his guidance is just a guess in the dark. At least the Decepticons will be with him for the ride, but there’s no guarantee his world will be a better one so much as it will just be one that strives to be better. They walk through the dark, and Megatron, blind, tries to guide them down a path he cannot see.

Forty Six and Two by Tool (video) (lyrics)

Megatron gets shadowplayed and brainwashed. Forty Six and Two is about digging out the secrets and pitfalls in your subconscious mind. Unfortunately for Megatron, that’s…a bit more literal than the song originally was.

The theme song for your antagonist

Red Right Hand by Karliene Reynolds (video) (lyrics)

It’s so quintessentially Proteus. Proteus controls the Senate, controls the people, does all these things for power and blackmail and pulling all the strings in his own metaphorical red right hand. He wields his money and privilege like an executioner’s axe. He’s also generally a douche who doesn’t conceive of the people he considers ‘lesser’ as real beings, but that’s kind of besides the point, because every nobleman Cybertronian did that. That’s why Megatron’s gonna kill em all lmfao

The theme song for your protagonist’s love interest (if they have one)

Never go Back by Evanescence (video) (lyrics)

This one is really good for when Orion starts to lose his strong sense of morality after seeing everything that the Decepticons face from the Decepticon perspective and not as an outsider and then an Autobot. He starts to feel like he’s coming undone, and the only thing that really keeps him grounded is Megatron—but of course, Megatron himself is looking to dismantle the rest of the world and bring Cybertronian society crashing down about everyone’s ears. Don’t get me wrong—Megatron has a hell of a moral compass himself, albeit a somewhat rewritten one, but he and his views are not very good for Orion as he’s going through the downward spiral of yet another Patented Optimus Prime Crisis of Conscience(tm).

Ticks and Leeches by Tool (video) (lyrics

Basically, Orion @ the upper class’s mistreatment of his newfound close friends in the Decepticon movement and…well…everywhere, ever, really, Functionism fucking sucks.

The theme song for the main pairing of your WIP

Become the Beast by Karliene Reynolds (video) (lyrics)

Orion isn’t getting the option of staying his original, somewhat more idealistic self here; he’s being dragged headfirst into the dangerous life of being a rebel, and, eventually, an insurgent rebel, by the Decepticons and especially by a newly-minted, forged-in-fire-and-furious-about-it Megatron. He may have found new friends, and love, and all this nice happy belongingness among the Decepticons, but ultimately it is a dark path he winds up walking here.

Better Things by Memphis May Fire (video) (lyrics)

It’s very much Megatron about Optimus @ Proteus after the Chainlink arc (which is currently plotted for chapters 14-17!). Orion helps Megatron get himself together after everything, but Optimus is the one burning in fire and fury beside him. And together, they will remake the society that broke them.

The theme song for the opening chapter (if it’s a long fic)

White Washed by August Burns Red (video) (lyrics)

Megatron here is arrested and forcibly stopped from doing what he does, but he still has that anger and rebelliousness in him.

Song for the current chapter/page (if it’s a long fic)

Sink With You by Underoath (video) )(lyrics)

It just hits really hard for everyone in this chapter. Sink With You is fundamentally about losing hope and still being defiant and angry about it. Orion and Megatron are both at this point by this chapter, already.

Any other songs you’d like to mention and why

The Product of Hate by Ice Nine Kills (video) (lyrics)

It’s just so good for, well. The entire story, really. Anything dealing with the revolution against Functionist Cybertron and functionism as a whole has to deal with the violence inherent in the system, the mistreatment of the lower classes…and the inability of the middle and upper classes to recognize it until it’s thrown in their faces and plastered on the walls and even then the better-off mechs all tended to join the Autobots. The Product of Hate is about real-world racism.

The Power in Belief by Ice Nine Kills (video) (lyrics)

It feels like the whole Decepticon movement is kind of encapsulated in the concept of “we can do this if we fight hard and we believe in the cause.” And, of course, Decepticonism is like three quarters of the story, so if there wasn’t something to say about Decepticonism there would be something wrong, lmao.

Destruction of Myself by From Ashes to New (video) (lyrics)

Megatron internalizes a whole bunch of really bad shit between chapters five and seven. Blame Proteus.

[the-energon-hole]

Hey there. Could I request hcs for Bumblebee, Smokescreen and Knockout all (separately) falling for the reader, who is Optimus's kid? And Optimus's reactions to each suitor?

((A/N I know you meant Transformers Prime in this instance, but please remember to specify your continuity as all these characters also exsist in the scope of the IDW comics, which I haven’t found time to complete yet.

It just helps so I don’ get confused and accidentally delete a request that I could have filled

Bumblebee

-So many people, both Cybertronians and Humans, treated you so much differently because of the circumstances of your birth- as you were the creation of the Archivist Orion Pax, the current Optimus Prime. Those whom didn’t even know your real name threw themselves wholly at you as a way to gain some kind of favor of the Prime, it has been that way since the day he was bestowed The Matrix of Leadership- and you hated it. The only bot that treated you with any kind of normalcy was Bumblebee, and that was why you two were so close to this day. To him, you were just his good friend and companion, not a commodity to be used to gain the favor and love of a Prime. Truthfully, you saw the sweet and loving mech as a potential mate,but you both were so young and in the throes of war, it wouldn’t be practical for the two of you to become one- at least, not yet anyway. There was still time for the two of you, there was no rush, and that was another big relief for you- as life sometimes moved to fast for your taste.

-With all this time you two spend bonding and growing, mischief is always guaranteed to follow- you were both so young and excited to explore this new world you all called home, let’s just say Agent Fowler has his work cut out for him covering up your existence tl the native human population on this planet. Sometimes you thought it was silly to be robots in disguise, but being the child of a prime, you rarely had room to disagree or go against what your creator speaks or demands. Optimus was a great caretaker, but you wish you had more room to make your own mistakes- to learn and grow on your own as Bumblebee does, but there are prying eyes from every angle, not just from Optimus either. You had such high expectations thrusted upon you from others, that when you did get into some kind of trouble, Optimus is the first on the trail to defending your actions… no matter how bad they seem, and you have made some bad ones in your short time being a part of this unwanted conflict. It’s nice for you and Bumblebee to just go out and have fun being mischievous little children, even if you are a little to old to be playing pranks and causing havoc for the small team to have to clean up.

-Optimus Prime is a bot of many titles, he has seen and heard so many pieces of information that he has enough of it to break down civilizations with nothing but his words and a little tenacity. He was not blind, and his optics could see the growing passion and love that was forming between the two of his youngest team members. He knows how hard it is for you to always be the prim and perfect creation of a prime, even though you were created long before he was even considered for the title of Prime, as some saw you as nothing more than a bargaining chip while others saw you as some kind of continuation of his incomplete legacy. It wasn’t fair to you to always have to be on his side, and it wasn’t fair to you that other wished to dictate what you should do because of your heritage- if he was honest, you couldn’t have picked a better mech to be with, as he knew Bumblebee would not only care for you fully but that he would also treat you fairly and with respect.

Smokescreen

-At first Smokescreen was like all the other bots that you have come across in your short life- overprotective and judgemental. He treated you as if you were some kind of fragile porcelain doll that could break under any kind of pressure, even if that was the farthest thing from the truth. You were well trained ad able to protect yourself from most kinds of dangers and threats that presented themselves to you- you had to be strong in the face of adversity, it looked bad on Optimus if you were a meek little thing. Once you proved yourself to the young ex-elite guards member, you could tell he was able to relax as he released a held breath that always seemed to be in his air tanks when he was around you. After that, he was a much better companion to you, treating you as an equal rather than an asset that was only there to be protected and coddled. It was the start of something very beautiful between the two of you, when he finally realized you were a very capable young bot who was on par with him when it came to skills- well everything just followed naturally after that.

-Smokescreen was actually a rather sensitive bot- mostly when it came to his own personal thoughts and feelings. You could relate to that, almost always being forced to squish your own feelings down deep in order to perform your duties to their fullest and perform adequate enough to impress your superiors. Emotions weren’t something one could factor in during a time of war- well, emotions like love and acceptance were not valid during your time of service anyway. It was hard for not only him, but also for you at times, to express how deeply you care for one another- it is going to take a lot of time and a lot of patience and a lot of understanding before the two of you are comfortable enough with one another to actually begin to show affection in front of the others. The fear of judgment is always there in the back of your mind, even if no one around you even has a negative thought to think, years of academy training for him and years of social conditioning for you have made it hard to share how you really feel- in the end no matter what anyone round the two of you say, so long as you fulfill each other and make each other happy, nothing can stand in the way of that- ranking and relatives be damned.

-Optimus Prime feels like Smokescreen would be a good match for you, simply because the two of you were young and inexperienced and have had the world thrust upon them without really having to ask for it. The inexperience you share together leads a perfect path for the two of you to learn and grow together as one, it is a way to learn empathy and love by being a companion and a constant in each others lives- though Optimus once experienced love long ago, he knows why this is an important topic. Sometimes certain things cannot be taught, they must simply be experienced- and love is one of those things. He was ecstatic with your choice in companionship, and he was overjoyed that you would get to experience these life changing feelings- even if you did not know it how to process them yet, love is what can change a bot for the better- and he believes in that power for everyone. Even if you don’t bond forever with Smokescreen, and it turns out that maybe you two will grow apart, those memories are always good. He has fond memories, and he cannot wait until you will experience something similar as well.

Knockout

-To say you were blown away by Knockout’s appearance was an understatement, he was absolutely gorgeous, but the worst part was is that he knew it. You had no idea that bots that pretty still existed in such an ugly and heinous war-to say the least, someone like him would never notice someone like you. Certainly you were the child of a prime, and that came with all kinds of inherent responsibilities to always look posh and prim, but you were in no way on the same level as Knockout. You never liked to use your rank and birth situation to any kind of advantage, as it felt immorally wrong to use your creator as an excuse to get ahead of anyone else in the world, but it almost feels like it’s the only option to get the cherry electric red mech’s attention. It made you so upset that a thought like that would buzz around your processor, because if that mech doesn’t want you than he doesn’t want you, you shouldn’t have to stoop to a low level to get someone to feel affection for you. That isn’t the kind of affection you would ever want- an artificial and wrong kind of affection, wrought with unspoken hatred and bitterness out of forcefulness from a little spark of attraction that cn be as easily snuffed out as it was to light up… No, you will try, but if he doesn’t like you than that will be just the way it is- no point in trying to change yourself to please someone- it is never worth it to be someone you aren’t to please another.

-However, unbenounced to you, it appears that he does have an optic on you- and how could he not? You were so moralistically good and pure, once something like that would have made him sick, but all the kindness and patience you have shown him- well, it makes his spark feel all warm and static on the inside. You were so wonderful inside and out- you had a nice frame and a pure spark, it was a two for the price of one, and well he was always a sucker for a good deal. He never had the opportunity to grieve for his dear Breakdown, but when you were the only one to confront him about it- it went from him being a big suave mech to a pile of blubbering mush so fast. He thought he was over his death, but he wasn’t, and instead of mocking him for being upset you allowed him to grieve in the correct way. You held him and cooed at him and told him it wasn’t his fault- all the things he needed from all the grief he let build up, you gave him an out he wasn’t sure he was ever going to get, and he appreciated it more than you would ever know. Not many bots get to see him like that- he has worked hard to put up this wall of a cool facade and vain aesthetic, he thought no one could see through it. You did, and boy did he really appreciate it. He felt that little light of love begin to grow for you- and he knew you felt it to by the way you acted around him, but this was something you had to push for and not him. He cannot be the big bad bot that takes advantage of the Prime’s creation, he doesn’t want to be seen as the bad guy, but he was more than willing to wait for you to come forward with these feelings, he was just a great mech like that.

-Optimus was a little torn with how he should feel about this budding relationship, because in the end it was ultimately your decision to make and he cannot stop you from doing what you wanted to do. Knockout was an enigma to him at times, he only seemed to be interested in fighting for himself and keeping himself o a winning team, but at other times he could have sworn he saw a soft spot in the bright red optics of a mech whom has been through more than he lets slip. Optimus was one who knew all too well that sometimes what is on the surface isn’t what is on the inside, as he saw such good in Megatron back when he fought for the rights of those who couldn’t fight for themselves. He has seen such drastic changes in so many Cybertronians, that he supposed that Knockout could be one of those mechs who can be changed for the better with the love and adoration of someone that was so very moralistically strong. You were the bright beacon in his dreary and ugly life, one that gave him an even stronger reason to fight for what he believed in, and now maybe it as time for another bot that struggled so hard with morality to share in that light and use it as a beacon to shine their way through the dark. He might not approve of this relationship right away, and it may take him quite a long time to grow to respect your decision, he knows that is could be for the best for the two of you. A great learning and growing experience that could impact you both for the rest of your lives, it really was a beautiful thing.

[sparkpulse-blog]

Why I don’t see TFP Bulkhead as a gentle giant at all... and love him even more for it.

I’ve been meaning to write this for about a month and a half now, so here we go. Something I see a lot, through fan chatter and fanart and the Wiki page, and even hear on the TFP DVDs with commentary, is this descriptor used towards Bulkhead: gentle giant. We all know what that is, it’s the big huge guy that’s really tough but actually loves kittens and carries umbrellas for little old ladies. The big-but-sweet guy. That. Yeah. People use that term all the time to describe Bulkhead... and I couldn’t disagree more. He is not, in my perspective, a “gentle giant” at all, in spite of the bundle of sweetness that was his Transformers: Animated origins...

And actually, I like him a lot better that way.

Fair warning, ya’all, this is going to be a long one...

Check this guy out. This is Bulkhead. He’s big, he’s green, he’s got wrecking balls for hands when he fights, and for a long time he’s the second-largest member of Team Prime, the muscle of the group. He is also, in my opinion, the biggest jerk on the entire team. Even Ratchet’s crotchety old man act doesn't come close to me, because he does not act on it. Bulkhead does. So why do I think so few others consider that? Because of this:

Meet Miko Nakadai, Bulkhead’s human partner. He’s always worried about her, always looking out for her. He tries to protect her, even when she makes it practically impossible for him. He worries about how she’s doing in school, how she will make a future for herself, in a way that’s downright fatherly (Deus Ex Machina). He takes her to fun events, even though he can’t exactly walk around with her (Monster Truck Rally in TMI). He watches out for her happiness. And a lot of people look at Bulkhead and Miko and sing their praises of his efforts... but not to the right tune, I’m thinking, because they’re often overlooking some of the more questionable things he’s done in the series. Things like...

Trying to leave not one, but two humans in the grasp of the Decepticons. Agent Fowler was actually tortured at the hands of Starscream, and Bulkhead... didn’t much care until somebody else made him (Darkness Rising, Part 3). And what about the bully, Vince? Captured by Knock Out in Speed Metal, Bulkhead honestly couldn’t care less. This is a kid, Miko and Jack’s age... but too bad for him, because Bulkhead, and I quote, “heard he was a jerk.” Everyone talks about Ratchet’s distaste for humans because he’s so vocal about it, but I honestly don’t see how Bulkhead is much better early on... he’s perfectly content to not lift a servo for anyone who falls into Decepticon hands.

And then what about the things that fall into his hands? In Darkness Rising, Part 2, Bulkhead picks up a tool Ratchet uses and destroys it in his hand... to punctuate a sentence? Ironically, the line is this: “ Team Prime knows when to use force, and how much to use!” Yes, you just demonstrated that you know exactly how much force it takes to wreck Ratchet’s gear. In Deus Ex Machina the destroyed piece is a tool Ratchet needs right then (his frame welder) and it is destroyed out of anger. From the get-go he’s been known to smash or break things out of anger, and in fact in said episode he refers to breaking things as being what he’s best at. In Scrapheap, Arcee is very quick to assume that the reason they can’t get in touch with the base is Bulkhead somehow. Optimus has a hard time denying how possible this really is. Later on in Orion Pax, Part 1, he destroys Ratchet’s property, again just out of pure frustration and anger... and then, when Ratchet tries to call him out on it, Bulkhead sneers at him “What, you needed that?” He knows what he’s doing, and he mocks Ratchet’s anger over it. He has zero regard for the property of his teammates when he’s in a bad mood... not that he much cares for their feelings at those times, either.

Although admittedly, Arcee was not doing her part at easing the tension of this situation, either...

And let’s not forget how he treats his enemies for the full brutality of Bulkhead. In the episode Armada, where Bulkhead beats a Starscream clone to death with his bare hands (I can’t recall, actually, if he used his wrecking balls or not) thinking it was the real deal, he seems actually perturbed later to find out Starscream didn’t die. Or how about Darkness Rising, Part 4, where he kills a Vehicon by ripping it’s insides out. I’m not even going to go into the kettle of fish that is Operation: Breakdown right now. Bulkhead, Optimus Prime asked you to do the right thing and save a fellow Cybertronian from MECH and you essentially told him to frag off. Enough. Said. It’s dangerous enough being Bulkhead’s ally. Being his enemy only assures a brutal, painful, probably terrifying death...

So uh, where’s this part about all of this making me love him even more?

So here’s the thing. From my perspective, taking all of this into account, there is nothing inherently gentle about Bulkhead at all. Sorry, TF Wiki, I’m going to stand firm on this one. He claims he was in construction, but those are destruction tools on his hands, demolition tools. He holds enemy life in zero regard, and feels about the same for humans most of the time; he doesn’t care about them. He’s petty and petulant, even childish in his temperament... he is dangerous to be around, for friend (or friend’s gear) or foe. Pretty much the only person not at risk of his temper, in fact, is this little fifteen-year-old girl, this hyperactive, impulsive disturber of the peace who has affixed herself to him. Bulkhead loves this child, fusses over her like she were his own, and tries his best to keep her safe. And this goes completely against his nature, honestly.

That is what I love about it.

In order to protect this child, who loves him just as unconditionally in return, Bulkhead has to fight that more violent nature. He has to make a conscious effort to be gentle with her, to be careful, to not put her into harm’s way. He has to watch his step with those over-sized feet, and compensates by giving her shoulder rides instead. The mech who crushes steel and pulls out wiring with his bare hands has to be delicate to pick her up... I think it’s telling that in what I believe was Shadowzone (I may be wrong on the exact episode this time) he even picks up Miko’s cell phone without damaging it... showing a care with her property that he certainly doesn’t show for anyone else’s. And none of this is natural to him. None of this is probably all that easy, either. It takes a conscious choice on his part, and he has to work at it constantly. When you’re used to swinging your fists when you’re mad, it takes a lot of self-control to stop when you could put someone else at risk. And he does. Because he loves this child like she was his own. He loves this child enough that he will suppress his own inherently violent impulses to keep her safe.

And what’s not to love about that?

[sparkpulse-blog]

Let’s Talk Headcanons: Sparkmates and Spark-binding

So lately I’ve been getting the urge to ramble about headcanons again, and there’s one I want to do, but to get to it I need to talk about this one, first. And “this one” happens to have to do with one of my favorite Transformers topics; unsurprisingly, it’s the spark. I find the idea of the Cybertronian spark to be utterly amazing and beautiful; ever since Beast Wars, a Transformer’s soul has been a tangible part of their body, synonymous with their heart, real and physical and able to be seen and touched. To me, that has endless potential... especially since that same continuity first coined the term “sparkmate” in Airazor’s bio, and confirmed in-series with Tigatron’s dialogue that showing another Cybertronian your spark was an act of intimacy. The romantic potential of the soul being physical has had me swooning for years now, so let’s share some of those thoughts!

.... but first, I’ll give any of you who are looking at my username and raising an eyebrow a moment to finish. Oh, yeah. I’m that dork.

So! The concept of a ‘sparkmate’ was first played upon in Beast Wars, where the whole spark mythos began. Before that, in G1, there were certain allusions to certain pairings, but nothing was overly-concrete and the pairings were seldom, often never, visited again. Which is a shame, because I loved Ironhide and Chromia in G1, but I digress. Later uses of the term were scarce to the point of being virtually non-existant, although Brainstorm apparently dropped the word in MTMTE issue 38 (thank you, TF Wiki!) so, while the term is obscure, it does still get some credit even today. And I, being me, like to ponder on it from time to time.

I’ve read many pieces of fan fiction in which a set of Transformers can “bind” their sparks together to become sparkmates, I am in love with this idea. The spark is not exactly a durable thing, Beast Wars makes this clear... they can be easily damaged, even collapsed, if not properly protected inside a body. Transformers: Animated lends strength to this idea with the fact that even with a new, completely undamaged, factory-fresh body, Yoketron’s spark was already too far gone for Prowl to save him. Canon fact. The spark can be very fragile.

So to show someone your spark, you have to be able to trust them. To let someone handle your spark... that trust has to be absolute. It’s a beautiful gesture; you’re showing someone the concentrated force of your entire existence, and trusting them not to harm it. And then, taking it a step further with the more fan-based concept of spark-binding, you’re holding that pinpoint of existence so close to their own that for a brief time they merge into each other, and from there a bond is formed that crosses space even when partners are separated, that allows them to give their love and support directly to their partner without a word, through pure feeling...

Hold on. I need a moment here. The implications are just too beautiful...

Which, of course, means in my head that they probably aren’t without their caveats. I honestly think there must be some danger in spark-binding, a thought that I’m fairly sure I’m not alone in; namely that the bond between sparks is so intimate, and so powerful, that the death of one partner may well mean the death of the other. This is where I come into the idea, a bit more my own, that most, if not all, sparkmates are Conjunx Endurae... but being Conjunx Endurae does not make you sparkmates. Essentially, in my world of headcanon, becoming Conjunx was the poor mech’s sparkbind.

Oh yeah, I’m going class-ist with this.

Now, I’m going to talk about two major continuities here, IDW and Aligned. IDW will be first, because it is the briefest... Conjunx Endurae are pretty rare, and from what I’ve seen, I believe a lot of this stems back to the Functionist era. Love doesn’t have a function that these people can categorize, and the Functionist council was known for being utilitarian to the extreme, so... well... you get a few lines of dialogue that make it sound like such things were frowned upon, at least on Cybertron, itself. And when they weren’t frowned upon, they were strictly regulated... Swerve makes mention of the fact that Amica Endurae, on Cybertron, are Conjunx Endurae that didn’t work out. As in, a pair could only become Amica if they tried to be Conjunx first. Bittersweet, indeed...

Honestly, if just getting married is that difficult in IDW, I can only imagine that sparkmates are very few and far between. It’s something that is kept quiet, hushed voices beyond locked doors. Sparkmates keep it secret, keep it to themselves. It isn’t always even out of necessity anymore, the habit just won’t die. It makes me a little sad...

Aligned, of course, is another kettle of fish entirely.

It is my firm belief that when you look at the pre-war power structure of Aligned, true love was treated as a luxury of the rich. The lower classes would have been discouraged from forming bonds, largely because of the inherent danger of losing two workers if one is killed in an accident. Sure, you can just replace them, but training newbies takes time and enough of them get crushed by mining cave-ins or fall off of towers under construction anyway... it’s just too inconvenient to let them bind. So you either make it sound like some terrifying thing, or you just don’t tell them it’s possible at all. Many of the slave castes went their whole lives without knowing or understanding that the ability to never feel alone existed at all. The highest castes, however, the elites of the elite, could love and bind as they chose... not that the decision was ever made lightly, but still, they could make it freely. Sparkbinding was a luxury, a risk that only those who lived the most ‘safely’ could afford to take. At least, until the war broke out... at which point just about everyone was thinking that a bound spark might be a little bit dangerous right now. This did lead, however, to many couples pledging to bond with each other once the war was over. A beautiful dream, indeed.

So that’s a bit about the views on sparkbinding, as I imagine it, in two major continuities. Now for some of the generic headcanons I entertain about sparkbinding...

Sparkbinding is not limited to couples. Trines can become sparkmates just as easily, and groups of four or more are possible, although I can’t imagine who would do that, myself. But if a combiner team or some such wanted to, hey, a combiner team or some such could.

Some things are harder for a sparkbound set to share than others... and some things are harder to hide. For example... and this is a fun one... it’s virtually impossible to cheat when you’re sparkbound because your partner or partners will feel you interfacing with someone else. Some trine sets, however, use this to their advantage... if one partner tries to stay at work too late or hit the bar too long on the way home, the other two can... encourage them, so to speak... to come back home more quickly. And some sparkbound pairs like to partner-swap or send one member out to find a bit of fun because... well, because some people are just into that. Consider it long-distance foreplay. Hey, I’m not going to judge!

Not everyone can sparkbind, but this is usually the result of deliberate medical procedure, not any sort of defect a Cybertronian would be naturally born with. Crediting @chief-justice-tyrese with this one, but very often the inability to bond is part of the punishment an Empurata victim endures... it further separates them from the rest of society by preventing them from ever truly sharing themselves with another. Because you know, I needed yet another reason to feel horrible for Whirl and want to give him all the cuddles. Yep. I didn’t need my spark today, either.

High-ranking political figureheads were often discouraged from sparkbinding because of the risk of someone trying to assassinate them by killing the bondmate. Primes were never expected to bind. Many council members kept secret spouses, though, because who was allowed to tell them no?

Bonding does not give a pair any sort of advanced telepathy or anything, but many who have been bound for a long time find that they don’t need it anyway... they learn to read their partners perfectly well through the flux of emotions fed through the spark link, without ever a word passed. This can easily lead outsiders to assume that they do have some sort of telepathy going on...

And, finally, the reason I needed to do this before writing about a different headcanon entirely...

Sparkbinding is the only way to get sparklings. Which is why they’re called sparklings in the first place. That’s right, folks! Tune in next time for Sparkpulse rambling about where she thinks babies come from!

Goodnight, everybody!