#my leg is fun decepticon color now

[keferon]

………I got bit by something venomus….

[annabelle-creart]

Because I needed it and because I ALWAYS confuse them, here are my designs for Life of Rescue Bots Au: Frenzy and Rumble.

Backstory: compared with the TfP and IDW Tf, Rumble and Frenzy are twin-sparks and sparklings that, like Sissi, were made during the the war, just a little before the orphanages stopped their functions. Rumble is a really energized little fembot and the one of the ideas, she likes to make plans, is smart and agile and is the voice of the reason when threatened, Frenzy is a little bot more of following, but is also a little headache because he is always making disasters and experimenting with Soundwave´s tools, also, can be kind of rude when feels on danger. In human years they should have 10-12 years old and are really hyperactive and almost impossible to calm down, unless you´re Soundwave, they´re like Soundwave´s sparklings, and are also spies, like Lazerbeak and Ravage. They transform into drones and I´m thinking if, with the time, made them transform also in some dinosaur, like a velociraptor, to match the "dino modes" of the Rescue Bots.

As Soundwave´s sparklings, they are also Heatwave and Shockwave´s niece and nephew, and can difference them easily, compared with the rest of the population, both human and cybertronian. (let´s remember they´re triplet-sparks)

Now, details, if you ask why they look like Soundwave, is because I wanted, it just felt right, but I also used a part of Shockwave and Heatwave for their designs, because their dynamic remembered me of their uncles, Rumble is a girl who likes leadership and is always prepared for trouble, but is also really sentimental, like Heatwave, while Frenzy is as curious, rude and caring as Shockwave before the empurata.

Also, fun fact: Rumble is like the older sister and Frenzy is like the youngest brother, but they both share the same brain cell.

Same happens with Shocky, Heaty and Sune, Shockwave is like the oldest, Heatwave is the middle one and Soundwave is the youngest, but when they´re together it seems like they share the same processor.

Also, funniest fact if you noticed: Why Frenzy´s eyes and leg are like that? because they´re damaged, Frenzy lost his leg in the same accident that costed Soundwave´s legs and face scars, and his eyes are a factory defect, making them part purple like Soundwave´s eyes and part blue like Shockwave´s eyes before the empurata, also, making Frenzy have the a really weird type of vision, because:

Headcanon time: For Cybertronians, purple sclerotics are the equivalent of human daltonism or color-blindness, specifically the one that makes you unable to see the red color, so, he can see normal colors in a part, but can´t see reds in another, the purple-pink pupils are normal and okay.

Also funniest fact if you noticed: Why Rumble´s eyes have red sclerotic and white pupils? because just like I wanted them to match with Shockwave and Heatwave, I wanted to match them with Soundwave and Megatron, because, in my humanformers context, Megatron is the father of these kids...

Yeah, I´m into this type of divorce angst (It´s so funny!!!)

So, cause of my Megatron x Soundwave brainrot I decided to also add some of Soundwave into Frenzy and some of Megatron into Rumble. And yes, Soundwave and Megatron were something, but Soundwave leave Megatron when stopped Shockwave permanently and leave decepticons to became an autobot (also, marrying Optimus but Soundwave doesn´t know that yet)

That´s all, good night

spoiler: This is the post that started the divorce angst SJKAJSKAJS

[presidentofthelipglossclub]

HIHI

since you sent me asks for airachnid, im sending you one back >:)

i need to know your thoughts on her. i am asking you with the biggest eyes rn

YAYAYAYYAYA!!!! you have NO IDEA how much i love her!!

ok first of all she got done so dirty by the tfp writers ok. like yeah whatevs she killed tailgate it's fine bc she's a girlboss. also the fandom does her dirty too. like starscream is super popular and he's done way worse. like he killed cliffjumper and is just as much of a backstabber but bc he's a guy it's fine? fuck that if y'all can't handle evil women you don't deserve evil men. besides airachnid was a baddie and starscream is more of a boytoy (not a bad thing but i will always support women's wrongs more than men's)

now onto everything i love. her design? SLAYS. she did not have to look that cool like for real. i love how she has a different eye color than everyone else, to kinda show her insectoid aspects and that she's more of a loner who doesn't strictly follow anyone. her spider legs are really cool, and i love that she has a more humanoid bot mode and a more insectoid bot mode.

i like the whole rivalry with arcee, it's kinda hilarious bc even more than the whole opposite sides of a war they both have personal beef which i live for. i think it becomes even funnier if you ship them (i do bc again funny) and then you can have a fun rivalry complete with toxic yuri. as all things should be.

her personality is so yummy i'm so serious. like YES queen become a dictator. YES go mad with power. YES leave that bitch for dead. YES get sent to the fucking moon i guess. idk i would do whatever she wants bc i'm weak and cool spider lady.

she's maybe my number one decepticon in tfp because c'mon. she a baddie. i say decepticon bc i love ultra magnus in all forms so he's my fave autobot, but they might be tied for just general faves.

[itcamefromthetoybox]

The Cybertron Chainsaw Massacre

The new trailer for “Transformers: Rise of the Beasts” drops today, and, as anyone who knows me could guess, I am so pumped for that movie! And since today’s the day of the new trailer, I thought it was also a good day to continue our look at the “Rise of the Beasts” toyline. So today, we’re going to be looking at “Beast Alliance: Beast Weaponizers Optimus Prime and Chainclaw.” How does the latest version of the Autobot leader hold up?

If you’re reading a review of a Transformer, I think it’s safe to say you know who Optimus Prime is, so let’s skip over that part. Instead, we’re gonna just dive into the figure itself. Optimus is part of the “Beast Alliance” line of figures, which focuses on kid-friendly figures that interact with little robot animals (mostly Maximals, but one Predacon) that become weapons and armor. The “Beast Weaponizers” subline that this particular Prime is part of consists of figures whose animal accessories become weapons, much like the Rhinox figure we looked at in the last review.

Optimus looks like pretty much what you’d expect. He’s very, VERY heavily based off the original Optimus, but with the realistic detailing that the movies are known for having. The paint job’s very basic, and is, again, what you think of when you think of Optimus Prime. There’s a lot of details sculpted onto his entire body that weren’t painted in, but that’s honestly fine. If they’d painted all the sculpted details in, it would have been a mess. So while the look is definitely one we’ve seen a million times, that’s definitely better than an eye-melting mess of colors just for the sake of doing something different.

Bro found a look that works and stuck with it.

In vehicle mode, Optimus looks almost identical to his G1 design. You know the look by now: red cab, blue back, black wheels, smokestacks. It’s a design we’ve seen a million times and there’s nothing particularly eye-catching about it. It’s ok, but it’s not exciting.

Seconds before running over a bunch of Decepticons while playing 80′s rock.

The transformation’s very straightforward and easy, partially because it’s one that most Optimus Primes have: fold head down, rotate body, fold arms back, and lift legs up. Thrilling. I don’t really have anything else to say about this part, because it’s something we’ve seen a million times.

In terms of articulation, Optimus is great. He’s highly posable, and the waist articulation he has as part of his transformation really pays off here. He’s got very decent articulation, which makes him a lot of fun to play with and pose. Something else that this figure has that I like is a pair of supports that fold out from his feet. This deals with most balance issues you could have with this figure, especially after you give him an accessory.

Speaking of accessories, this brings us to Prime’s only one. Optimus comes with Chainclaw, a mechanical wolf who folds into a chainsaw that Optimus can hold. Chainclaw looks pretty great. His silver and ice-blue color scheme look really cool on him and make his red eyes stand out, and his sculpted fur gives him a wild, beastial look that makes him feel like the hybrid of animal and machine you’d want from a Maximal. My one complaint is his tail: he hasn’t got one. There’s a little nub that reminds me of my childhood dog who lost her tail before we got her, but that’s about it. I know it’s to make it easier to transform Chainclaw into his weapon mode, but it’s still a weird look.

“I’ll give you my heart. In exchange... show me your dreams.”

The chainsaw mode’s a bit lacking, honestly. It looks like a stretching dog with a chainsaw sticking out of its ass, which is… certainly a look to go for. Aside from what can only be described as “the downward dog pose gone horribly wrong,” the paint and sculpting on Chainclaw’s weapon mode really serve the figure well. It’s clear effort was put into this toy, and the colors are very easy on the eye. An additional detail I like is that, since the colors don’t match Optimus or any other figure in the line, you can easily give Chainclaw to any other character as an accessory without it being an issue, which makes me think of some of the Mini-Cons from “Transformers: Armada” and how they could go with any bigger figure without issue.

Something about this just feels painful to look at.

Chainclaw’s articulation is limited to running poses, and that’s about it. Since most of his body was made to hide the chainsaw blade, there wasn’t room left for dynamic poses with the figure. The entire figure is based around turning into a weapon, so any articulation he has is a part of that.

To transform Chainclaw, you fold down the handle in his chest so Optimus can hold it, move Chainclaw’s front legs to hide the sides of his face, and fold his ass down so it and his rear legs are under his body and his chainsaw blade is out. It’s a quick transformation with no complications. Now, on first glance, it looks like his legs are blocking part of the handle, so Optimus is only holding him by the tip. However, upon closer look, you can see that the handle is sculpted so that only part of it can be held at all, and it’s held pretty firmly. Chainclaw can also be plugged into holes on both of Optimus Prime’s arms, but that connection’s a bit looser.

"Aaah! Chainsaw! The great communicator!"

My big complaint with this toy is that, when Optimus is in vehicle mode, there isn’t really a great place to store Chainclaw. You can peg him into the sides of the vehicle, but it just looks off. Maybe if you plug weapons into both sides, it would look better, but as is, it’s a lopsided look.

Now, would I recommend “Beast Alliance: Beast Weaponizers Optimus Prime and Chainclaw?” I’m not going to say you should definitely go out of your way to grab them, but they’re not bad figures. They’re ok and kids will have fun with them. I’m 31 and I’m having fun with them, too. If you have some extra fun money laying around and you see them, they’re not a bad set. However, if you’re limited to one Optimus Prime from the “Beast Alliance,” I would wait to see how this set does when compared to the “Beast Alliance: Beast Combiners Optimus Prime and Lionblade” set that will be coming out soon before you throw down some money. “Beast Alliance: Beast Weaponizers Optimus Prime and Chainclaw” are going for about $17, which feels a bit much to me, but is due to the fact the economy is a nightmare right now, so wait to see how the Lionblade set is before you commit to more than $15. This is JS signing off and wishing you Happy Toy Hunting!

[frankenwolf1564]

Newage Umibozu: Deep depths, deep cuts

I swear I’m not just going to review NewAge stuff I am not one of those people endlessly sucking their co-

Back with another NewAge offering, H43V Umibozu, aka Depth Charge, sees the legends scale company lightly poke Beast Wars with a ten-foot pole to bring the Transmetal 2 season three star to life in a somewhat unconventional fashion.

Before getting into the actual figure, we need a bit of context, partially because the story behind this release is half the fun. Back when the Kingdom line launched and we got the superb G1 Cyclonus, many fans noted that if you turned his spaceship mode around, it kind of resembled a manta ray. This prompted other, more diehard fans to ponder a potential retool to turn the mold into Beast Wars Depth Charge, in a similar vein to the Transformers Collectors Club Hunt For The Decepticons Terradive (whew!) repaint for the same character. While Hasbro passed on such a release, due to a number of different possible reasons, NewAge said “fuck it we ball” and announced Umibozu. If I’m remembering this correctly, he even came out after their initial batch of Cyclonus repaints, due to the fact this deco was inspired specifically by those fan comments. It’s not too dissimilar to how they announced a G2 Tigerstripe Grimlock after the Legacy figure was revealed. They saw there was a market and jumped into it.

Now, on to the actual toy! Depth Charge wears the Cyclonus mold well. His slim, slender form is a bit of a departure from the notoriously bulky original toy, but it does a much nicer job of matching the trimmed down show model. The round forearms help more than you might expect, being one of the few shapes to make a complete carryover. The chest does its job of evoking the originals fish face, and the colors stand bright and proud. The purples and blues are spot on, really helping bring this guy to life. Honestly, I couldn’t ask for much more outside of a wholly new mold, something that MP scale company Transart is planning on tackling.

The transformation meets a similar standard of “clever yet simple” that I’ve experienced with some of their other offerings. The nosecone/tail folds up quite elegantly, and the way the back of his legs reshape themselves is exceptionally well done. There is some partsforming to get him into manta ray mode, but considering the mold wasn’t designed to accommodate such features in the first place it is an unsurprising and not all that bothersome element. My only legitimate complaint about it is that the fins pegs are perhaps a bit too tight, making minor modifications to get them looking just right a tad annoying. The outcome for your efforts looks gorgeous, no matter which way you spin it. The blues and silvers are cleanly separated, with some delightful purple accents at the retooled wingtips. The fins still work just fine for the jet mode, the stylized departure not detracting too much from the jet’s profile or making it feel like it could never work as such, especially not in the world of the transformers. Of course, we all know why they’re really here. With a quick hand transplant and literally just turning the thing around, you’re left with a more than serviceable manta ray. Could they have made a more believable/organic alt mode? Not as easily, but almost absolutely. Did they need to? No. This doesn’t feel “off” compared to the original considering its techno-organic nature. Pro-tip though, scrunch up the nose cone for a better-looking tail.

I know I’ve made a fair amount of comparisons to the original but those are completely based on “feel” of the character and he’s had two toys alright?

                Articulation is mostly within NewAges standard, with only one or two gripes holding him back. Starting at the bend in his die-cast toes (not a lost art anymore, huh?), he’s got ankle tilts, a 90° knee bend, thigh swivels, ball jointed hips, accompanying skirt flaps, a waist swivel just because this time, an ab crunch, universal jointed shoulders, and a ball jointed head. His arms can hinge outward at the bicep, mostly for the transformation, but if that’s extended even slightly you can’t use the bicep swivel. His elbows are double jointed, and he comes with a wrist swivel thanks to a pair of alternate hands. You can swivel his forearms if you so wish, but again this is another transformation joint and doesn’t look all that natural most of the time. You’re still more than able to get a wide range of dynamic, expressive poses out of him, but the arms are left just a bit cumbersome. Accessories are kept fairly light, with the manta ray fins, a pair of open hands to really sell some of those poses, and a blaster that he can have a bit of trouble holding dead on due to the shape of his arms.

As a new Beast Wars Depth Charge, this obviously falls short, but as a pre-earth Cybertronian Depth Charge? It hits every mark it needs to. It comes in looking stunning and executes the idea presented perfectly. Regardless of whatever flaws the figure may have, it sets out with a concept and completely nails it. This is, I believe, NewAge at their best. Not strictly adhering to cartoon accuracy cMph Devastator, but taking liberties and creating something new. Both this and H60W Mimic (reviewed here!) revive the long-begotten Hasbro days of turning whatever into whoever. We simply don’t get as many imaginative repaints as we used to, despite the apparent rising tooling costs. Gone are the times when we’d regularly get the likes of ROTF Deadend, Energon Tradbolt, Armada Airazor, or nearly the entirety of the Universe 2003 line. There are plenty more examples with convention exclusives and the like, even Depth Charges second actual figure was exclusive to the Transformers Collectors Club, but those have always specifically been more specialized and niche, as well as impossible to get your hands on nowadays. There is one I’ll need to take a look at though… thankfully I won’t have to go on a complete rampage to find it.

[kittiesluvyou]

You Can’t Outrun Megaout

Summary: Megatron and Knock Out fuse to torment Starscream for fun.

Word Count: Unknown

Inspiration: Megatron and Knock Out fusion by @seehowsupplethespineis

Tw: abuse and vomit

“It appears that Starscream has failed again at collecting more dark energon for my stores, dear Knock Out. How incompetent can he be with not only multiple failed assassination attempts to rule the Decepticons, but also going into the energon mines and finding more dark energon?! Are my beatings not working on him anymore, am I not hitting him hard enough, should I not bash his head to the point of bleeding?” Megatron paced back-and-forth in Knock Out’s med bay, his hands crossed behind his back.

Knock Out knew that his questions were all rhetorical, so he didn’t offer a response. He stood against his dissecting bed, arms and legs crossed, and let Megatron rant about his “problem child”. “I’m an excellent leader, but HE doesn’t believe so! UGH! I swear to Primus he is such a baby sometimes. All he does is cry, whine, and act like that he’s so much better than me!” Knock Out’s eyes widened Megatron has just given him the best idea ever. “Lord Megatron, forgive me for intruding on your grievances, but you just gave me a brilliant, horrible, awful idea.” He smirked and strutted seductively towards him, placing his hands softly on Megatron’s chest. “Knock Out, this better not involve any kind of sexual acts or I’ll kill you on the spot.” “Oh no, no, no, my liege! I’m suggesting a fusion of us to scar poor Screamer for life. With your need of command and my way of using amusement as a weapon, we’d be an unstoppable duo that Starscream would learn to fear.”

“Knock Out,” Megatron grabbed the medic’s hands, removed them from his chest, and dipped him. “That is by far the best idea that you’ve ever had. As soon a Soundwave sends a groundbridge for Starscream, that’ll be our time to act.” Megatron and Knock Out danced until a flash of light protruded from their bodies forming a being with a white polo shirt, a dark red coat, greyish-red hair, black earrings, black pants, and silver shoes. He also had white and sharp shark-like teeth His name was Megaout and he would make Starscream pay for his many sins against not only Megatron, but to the Decepticons as a whole.

Starscream walked out of the groundbridge and onto the main deck of the Teletraan I. He was carrying two crates of dark energon, there should’ve been more; however, the Autobots stole most of it for Ratchet’s research experiment. “Lord Megatron, I’ve only managed to collect two crates of dark energon before I got scrapped by Bumblebee and Arcee! I know that you’ve asked for twenty, but I couldn’t risk dying over energon so I retreated with these two crates.” He set the boxes down on the floor and was about to walk away when he heard an unusual voice, it sounded like Knock Out was possessed by a demon “You’re a failure, Starscream! I asked for twenty dark energon crates and all I get in return are two?! Look at you, even with that scared look on your face,” his eyes were a dark magenta color (courtesy of all of the dark energon that Megatron had been intaking into his system. “Kn-Knock Out?! If this is a prank, then you can knock it off right now!” Megaout giggled “Your puns are worse than your fashion sense.” He emerged from the corner behind the wall to show himself to him.

Just one look at this guy made his blood run cold, his legs were quaking, he wanted to escape. “You need to...RUN!” Starscream took off to the only place where he felt safe, which is in his own chambers. Megaout was faster than he was, so it wasn’t a problem when he tackled him to the ground and sent them both flying 30 kilometers. He locked Starscreams’ wrists on the ground and snarled “your fast, Screamer, but not fast enough.” He punched him in his left eye, leaving a blue and purple bruise. He punched him in the gut so hard that it matches the same way Megatron would always punch him; merciless and ravenous. Starscream tried to curl up on his side but he forgot that his fate lied in the fate of this...person.

“WHO ARE YOU?!” He shrieked as blood surged from his mouth. “My dear, sweet, cowardly Starscream, I AM A FUSION OF MEGATRON AND KNOCK OUT, I AM YOUR WORST NIGHTMARE, I LIVE ONLY TO TORMENT YOU! I. AM. MEGAOUT!” “That explains where that name came from,” he croaked out suddenly finding the courage to kick him off of his body. He then dashed to his chambers, trying to fight back his tears “I’ll cry once I’m safe.” He whispered.

Once he made it to his chambers, he immediately went to the restroom to empty out the contents in his stomach, which most of it was blood anyways. His feet were burning from running in his stilettoes, so he took them off; however, he left his pink socks on. He got into his sideways fetal position on the hard, cold, metallic floor and sobbed “Knock Out why? Do you not love me anymore? Is that why you beat me to a bloody pulp? You allowed Megatron to fuse with you just to torment me, didn’t you? Well, it worked!” He laughed hysterically, his hair was disheveled, his clothes were stained with blood, and he looked completely crazed; and his eyes were still watery. “I’M MORE AFRAID OF YOU THAN MEGATRON! CONGRATULATIONS, KNOCK OUT! I HOPE YOU’RE HAPPY NOW!” His cries now sounded like laughter with every hiccup that he had.

“Soundwave has just installed his new security camera in Starscreams’ chambers and you might want to have a look, Knock Out.” Megatron stepped out of the way to let him have a better look at the shivering, bloody, wreck that was Starscream. “Shall I attend to his medical needs, Lord Megatron?” “No. Besides, he’s more scared of you now than he is of me; and that says a lot considering that you two are so...close to each other.” “It’s not personal if that’s what you’re thinking, it’s all business.” “Oh really? Then perhaps you could explain what you meant when you said ‘you’re no Breakdown. Though I must confess, I’ve always admired your lustrous finnish’?” Knock Out disguised his blush by putting his elbow to his face like he was about to sneeze “that was nothing, Lord Megatron, that was a little...sarcastic quip that I made. It was meant to be sarcastic, I swear upon the All Spark.” “Very well, just don’t have any...moments like that ever again or you and Starscream will be severely punished.”

Knock Out gave a small bow “as you wish, Lord Megatron.” He started to walk away. “I’ll be in my chambers if you need me.” In his chambers, he felt like he couldn’t move. He felt like he was chained on his satin bed, he could feel his head pounding, his stomach felt weak. His guilt was devouring him over what he did to Starscream, his only other companion on this forsaken ship. “Starscream, I’m so sorry...I didn’t mean to...I wanted to get you back for all of the times you’ve treated me like dirt...I should’ve known that it would end like this.” Of course, Starscream couldn’t hear any of what he said, but he will apologize in the morning during breakfast and try his absolute hardest to make it up to him, no matter if it was the cost of his status as medic or even his own life.

[scintillating-galaxias]

simpatico week day 4 - multiverse

MTMTE and cyberverse perceptor and brainstorm collide!! @simpaticoweek​ read it here on ao3!

-

Brainstorm gasped and grabbed Perceptor’s arm while pointing at mech with a familiar red, white, and blue color scheme standing amongst the curious crowd. “Perce, look!”

Perceptor looked around, alarmed. “What? What is it?”

“Next to the red mech with the white face! It’s you!”

Before Perceptor could stop him, Brainstorm hurried off towards the mech. This mech had the same white dials on his forearms, and even the same cylindrical, white scope mounted on his shoulder—a dead-ringer for an alternate-universe Perceptor. i

“Excuse me!” Brainstorm called. The mech turned around, and whoa, he wasn’t expecting the burnt-out optics. “Uh. Hello. You’re Perceptor, right?”

“I am,” said the mech. He didn’t have the same slight accent as Percy did; his voice was flatter, a bit more neutral. The scope on his shoulder lit up, shining a bright blue light on Brainstorm’s face. Definitely, a scanner of some sort, though it left a bizarre, faintly prickly sensation across Brainstorm’s plating he didn’t usually get when Ratchet or First Aid scanned him. “I don’t recognize you. I’m assuming you’re one of our visitors from the alternate universe?”

“Name’s Brainstorm, resident genius of the universe next door. How are you seeing me right now? Is it something with your scope?”

“Correct. I reformatted my scope to operate as a visual feed after I blew out my optics.”

Guess that was a universal concept, Perceptor’s redesigning or changing their scopes for some entirely different use than their original one. “You did? What happened?”

“It’s not any of your business to ask that,” he chided.

Brainstorm put up his servos apologetically. Then, realizing his error, said, “Sorry,” after a second.

The other Perceptor gave him a look of pointed disapproval so similar to his Perceptor’s, he was almost afraid he was about to start getting chewed out for his messy labeling jobs.

“Be more mindful of your questions next time,” the other Perceptor said instead. “As for your other inquiry: I could tell you made a motion in front of your chest with your hands, and you did something else just now, but details such as color and specific body parts such as your digits are lost to me when my scope is inactive.”

“Fascinating,” said a familiar voice. Perceptor, his Percy, had finally made it through the crowd and over to them. Brainstorm felt his spark lift a bit higher in its chamber as Perceptor came to a stop beside him, servo almost unconsciously winding itself into his.

The scope went on again. “You’re… Me, I presume?” the other Perceptor asked, interest coloring his voice.

“I am Perceptor, yes.”

“Fascinating,” said the other Perceptor, and Brainstorm laughed.

“Primus, you two really are the same mech.”

“Of course,” they said in tandem, and then they looked at each other. Brainstorm poorly stifled another laugh.

“Your scope,” Perceptor prompted. “You scanned Brainstorm and I and compared the information it collected to a pre-existing database before confirming you didn’t know who we were. I can only assume you made code-based modifications to it?”

“That is correct.”

“May I ask what kind of modifications? My scope gives me enhanced magnification, but nothing to that extent, so you’ll have to forgive my curiosity.”

Other-Perceptor, who had now earned the prefix ‘Other’ in Brainstorm’s processor because otherwise, it would be a nightmare to try and recount later, cleared his throat. “When in use, it can collect information such as the light values and assign them to colors using a code assigned to every paint color on record, and how the percentage of much of each color is present within the whole subject.” He didn’t gesture nearly as much as Perceptor, either, Brainstorm noted. So far, he was turning out to be far more reserved than his Perceptor. Or... No, he reminded Brainstorm of when he’d first met Perceptor on the Lost Light. Heh. Maybe he’d had an influence on his conjunx after all. “That allows me to tell apart primary, secondary, and tertiary colors, so even if two mechs have similar paint colors, the chances they have the same frame and paint jobs are extremely slim. Decals like those on Hot Rod aren’t so easily discernible. That allows me to match the color codes to virtually any mech in my database. It isn’t the most accurate system, but it is precise enough.”

“That is remarkable,” Perceptor said, reaching up to touch his own scope. “I’ve reformatted myself before, but not to that sort of extent. Have you made any other modifications?”

“Numerous, since the threat of the Quintesson’s and Megatron X were eliminated.”

“Megatron X?”

Brainstorm tuned them out as they traded stories and statistics, looking around the crowd for some mech that could possibly be him. He could see Whirl with his arm slung around another blue, singled-opticked helicopter. Both were laughing rapturously about something. In the next cycle of Brainstorm’s code, they were wrestling each other to the ground. Rodimus was excitedly chatting it up with Hot Rod, who had enthusiastically introduced himself the second the Lost Light crew had stepped out of the portal. Beside Hot Rod was Soundwave of all mechs, and even more bizarrely, he seemed to have his servo loosely held around Hot Rod’s waist. Brainstorm only lingered on it a little bit. He wasn’t one for gossip, but even he knew that was going to be the talk of the ship later. Nearby, Drift was looking spectacularly sulky, though a cheery yellow mech was making valiant attempts at cheering him up. And of course, Megatron was talking to Other-Megatron and Other-Optimus Prime, and seemed to be rather wistfully staring at the two’s shared proximity to each other.

All in all, it felt like a very successful experiment in Brainstorm’s spark. All these mechs had somehow found their alternate selves, even though there’d been no guarantee they would even exist in this universe. And still, more mechs Brainstorm didn’t even recognize who were intermingling with the Lost Light crew. Successful experiment indeed. Except for one, tiny detail.

“Where am I?” he asked, interrupting the Perceptor’s conversation. “I mean, everyone else has a double. Where’s the other me?”

Other-Perceptor tilted his head. “I don’t know. There is no record of a Brainstorm in the Autobot databases.”

“Oh.” Brainstorm tapped his pede while Perceptor lightly squeezed his servo. “What about a Genitus?”

“One moment.” Other-Perceptor’s scope dipped down slightly. Then, after a moment, it straightened back out, and he looked at Brainstorm. “There’s no record of a Genitus, either.”

“Huh.” Damn. He really hoped alternate-Brainstorm wasn’t dead. That would suck. Or maybe he had a different paint job than Brainstorm did. Other-Perceptor had said his database was based on color. Or maybe… “I was a Decepticon for a bit in my universe,” he offered. Other-Perceptor offered no reaction to this fact except for a minute twitch of his scope. “Maybe this one still is.”

“If you wish to search the Decepticon databases, I would ask Soundwave. He and Hot Rod have been in charge of integrating the two sides since the defeat of Megatron X, and though there is still much to work to be done, he is likely your best chance.”

A brilliant idea lit up Brainstorm’s face. “You should come with us!” he said, optics sparkling. “I’m great! I’m sure you’d have a blast with this universe’s Stormy.”

“I’m not sure that’s—”

“Naw, come on, it’ll be fun.”

“I wouldn’t resist him,” Perceptor advised. “He can be extremely persistent.”

Other-Perceptor sighed with a tired acceptance. “Alright, then. Let us go.”

Brainstorm whirled around on his heel and happily marched right through the crowd, cheerfully announcing, “Coming through!” approximately half a second before barrelling through a conversation. He made it through the crowd in record time and stopped promptly before Hot Rod, Soundwave, and Rodimus. All three of them immediately turn towards them, though their interest is evidently in the two Perceptor’s and not the incredibly antsy jet.

“What do you want?” rumbled Soundwave. Jeez. Did he always sound that menacing?

“Be nice,” Hot Rod scolded. “You know these guys. Perceptor, Perceptor two, and… who’re you?”

“That’s Brainstorm,” answered Rodimus over Brainstorm’s affronted noise. “He and Perceptor were the ones who figured out the whole… universe swap magic.”

“Time travel, alternate universe traveling. Twice, I might add,” Brainstorm said, primly turning over his servo as he looked down at his digits with extreme satisfaction. “No biggie.”

Rodimus rolled his optics. “Toot your own horn later,” he complained. “We get it. You’re smart. Primus knows you don’t let us forget it. Now, why’d you come over here?”

“To ask him something,” Brainstorm said, angling his wing at Soundwave, who stiffened. “I want him to look up this universe’s version of me. Your Perceptor couldn’t find me in the Autobot databases and recommended we check the Decepticon ones.”

“I dunno,” said Hot Rod, looking Brainstorm up and down with a doubtful frown. “I’ve met a lot of mechs, and I’ve never seen anyone like him…”

“You weren’t ever a Decepticon,” said Soundwave. “I am.” Rodimus, Perceptor, and Brainstorm all shared a look, but Hot Rod either didn’t care about or didn’t notice the tense. “I recognize the name. Megatron banished the Decepticon scientist Brainstorm to an off-planet site early in the war because his experiments potentially posed a greater threat to Cybertron than anything else at the time. We have not been in contact with him since.”

Brainstorm pouted. “‘Potentially posed?’ You didn’t even let me stick around to find out? Where’s the fun in that?”

Soundwave leveled him with the dryest, most unamused look Brainstorm’s ever seen from someone without a face. “You were a menace to all of Cybertronian society.”

“Nothing’s changed then,” said Perceptor. Brainstorm flicked him in the leg with one of his ankle winglets.

“Wait,” said Hot Rod. “You banished someone for ‘potentially threatening’ experiments, and you still let Shockwave run around? He tried to destroy Earth like, five times! He literally poisoned the AllSpark! He nearly killed everyone and the whole planet! What kind of logic is that?”

“Same old then,” Rodimus said drily.

Hot Rod sighed. “It’s a long story. He’s gone now, anyway. How long has Brainstorm been away? Does he even know the war’s over?”

Soundwave paused. “Uncertain. All contact with the moon he was banished to and Cybertron was cut off directly after his arrival.”

Hot Rod and Rodimus both clapped a servo over their face. Other-Perceptor shook his head, while Perceptor consolingly patted Brainstorm on the pauldron. “Unbelievable,” Brainstorm groaned. “Megatron looked at my EM field and thought it was awful enough to kick me off the planet. And then he forgot. Me! Forgot about me!”

“A slight oversight has been made,” Soundwave admitted. “I will inform Megatron and arrange a ship for him immediately. If he still functions.”

Hot Rod huffed. “Oh, even better! You left some innocent guy on the moon, and now he might be dead?”

“Should we go?” muttered Rodimus as Soundwave and Hot Rod broke out into bickering. Brainstorm nodded and slowly started backing away, and the two Perceptor’s plus Rodimus followed him.

“When can we expect an answer?” Perceptor asked Other-Perceptor once they were safely out of ear-shot.

“Soundwave is usually prompt about these things, based on my work experience with him. Megatron is… less so, I’m told. I would wager at least a couple of weeks.”

“Are we staying that long?” Brainstorm asked Rodimus.

“Is something catastrophic going to happen if we do?”

“There’s an eighty-nine point seven-five-three-four-two-four percent chance that the portal could destabilize and collapse, trapping us here until someone aboard Lost Light reopens the portal. Given that everyone who knows how to operate that portal is currently here, it would be implausible we would be able to return to our universe,” said Perceptor.

“It’ll be fine,” said Brainstorm after a stiflingly tense beat. “C’mon, I wanna go talk to Wheeljack.”

--

“Still can’t believe they just left me on the moon,” Brainstorm muttered. He, Perceptor, and Other-Perceptor were currently making their way to a temporary condominium in residential Iacon. It currently was housing a number of freshly displaced Cybertronians until something more suitable could be found or built for them. As Other-Perceptor had predicted, it’d taken roughly twelve days for them to be informed of Other-Brainstorm’s (whose name actually was Brainstorm, not Genitus) whereabouts. It’d then taken another two days for Other-Brainstorm to say he was ready to accept visitors, and another four to get plans in place.

“I’m sure it was nothing personal,” Perceptor was saying as they squeezed their way around a group of laughing mechs.

“I’ve never heard of this mech,” Other-Perceptor mused. “But he must have had some truly uncanny ideas if Megatron decided he was too dangerous for his tastes.”

Brainstorm hummed. “Yeah. I wonder what that poor sod discovered to wind up getting him kicked off the planet.” He gasped and stopped suddenly, servos flying to his subspace. “Scrap! I left my notes in the lab! I wanted to compare them with him!”

Perceptor made an apologetic noise but reluctantly said, “That’s probably for the best. You’d be here for years if you had your notes, and we have to make it back to the Lost Light for our reservations at Swerve’s anyway. I don’t want to try and cajole him into giving us the bar for the evening again.”

“Yeah,” Brainstorm sighed. “There’s always next time, I guess. Hey, do you think our next date could be in another universe?”

“I don’t see why not. Perhaps the energon will be different.”

“What if there isn’t even energon in that universe?”

“Hm, true. I didn’t consider that. We’ll bring our own in case that happens to be the case.”

Other-Perceptor was watching them carefully. “What is the relationship between you two?” he asked mildly. “I didn’t want to assume, but…”

“We’re conjunx endura,” Perceptor said, that especially pleased sparkle that always showed up in his optic whenever he talked about their recent unification glowing to life once again. It gave Brainstorm weird fuzzy feelings in his circuits. He’d have to investigate what precisely in his code caused that later.

“‘Conjunx?’” Other-Perceptor frowned. “I’m not familiar with the term.”

“Write that down, write that down!” Brainstorm hissed, grabbing Perceptor’s arm.

“You write it down. I’m attempting to have a conversation,” said Perceptor, brushing Brainstorm’s servo before capturing it in his own. He gave it a light squeeze, which had Brainstorm’s wings fluttering away. “Yes. Brainstorm is my conjunx. The formal term is conjunx endura. It, in an extremely oversimplified definition, means he is my significant other.”

Other-Perceptor nodded. “I see. I don’t have one such partner myself. The war and the Quintesson invasion took away most time for such matters. For most others, anyway.” Brainstorm thought of Soundwave’s servo on Hot Rod’s hip and wondered what in the hell happened to this universe for that to happen.

“But the war’s done now, isn’t it?” he said as they turned down into a plaza and started making their way toward the condominium.

“Allow me to rephrase. I’m not interested in seeking such a relationship at the moment. A new lab partner is more than sufficient. And I must admit I am curious about what exactly it is this Brainstorm created that scared Megatron of all mechs so badly.”

“Eh, that’s fair. Lab partner is still pretty alright.”

“I happen to agree with that,” said Perceptor.

“Oh, you just happen to?”

“You know what I mean.”

The three of them entered through the first set of doors and were met with a wall of buttons labeled with room numbers. Other-Perceptor unhesitantly pushed the button to Other-Brainstorm’s room. A few seconds later, a small screen flickered to life, revealing someone with a familiar orange blast mask.

“My wings look different,” Brainstorm commented as soon as the connection stabilized.

“Good thing they’re my wings and not yours,” Other-Brainstorm snipped back without missing a beat. Brainstorm barked a laugh.

“Fair enough! Can we come down?”

A loud crash! crackled through the speakers. Other-Perceptor grimaced, while Perceptor merely looked faintly resigned. Other-Brainstorm, entirely unperturbed, said, “Yeah, yeah, just watch your step when you come in. I haven’t gotten to organize yet, so the place is a tad messy.”

“Oh, dear,” murmured Perceptor as the second set of doors to the lobby slid open and the trio of scientists stepped through. “I can only hope that this universe’s Brainstorm’s idea of ‘messy’ is far more reasonable than yours.”

Brainstorm narrowed his optics. “Is this about the moldy energon crystal sample again? I feel like this is about the moldy energon crystal sample again.”

“It was there for three years, Brainstorm.”

“So I sometimes lose track of things! Big deal!”

“How did he manage that?” asked Other-Perceptor as they piled into the elevator. Were all elevators in his universe this roomy? This one could have comfortably housed a few more average-sized mechs like himself. Or maybe like, twelve Tailgate’s or Rewind’s.

Perceptor sighed. “I still haven’t quite managed to parse that one out. All I know is that three years ago, it wasn’t possible to grow mold on crystalized energon.”

Brainstorm threw up his servos, narrowly avoiding whacking Perceptor’s scope. “You’re teaming up on me!” he whined. “Okay, fine. I’ll admit it was bad.”

“That’s what I’ve been telling you.”

The elevator was a short ride to the basement, so it was only a few seconds before the doors dinged open, and the three of them spilled out into the hall.

“Which way?” asked Other-Perceptor.

At that moment, a shrill whistling began to shriek from the leftward hallway, pitching up higher and louder with every passing second until it was cut off with a loud bang accompanied by profuse swearing.

“G51 sounds like it’s that way,” Perceptor said dryly.

He’s correct, of course, and Brainstorm knocks a cheery rhythm against the door. It slid open, and in the doorway stood Other-Brainstorm. Yep. That was him, alright. There was the teal paint job, the white wings, and… a purple Decepticon sigil, branded right across his orange cockpit. Yeesh.

“I was starting to think I’d cleaned up for nothing,” Other-Brainstorm greeted.

“If this is your idea of clean, I’d hate to see what messy is,” mused Other-Perceptor as he stepped into the threshold, scope bobbing wildly as it drank in the chaotic environment. A criss-cross of thick cables and wires were taped to the ground, winding around the room to various machines lined up against the walls. Multiple experiments suspended in thin air crowded up the ceiling, ranging from maybe-guns to definitely-guns to things Brainstorm didn’t even know what to call. Datapads were scattered everywhere, tossed into open drawers, and haphazardly stacked into concerningly tall towers.

“Hardy har,” said Other-Brainstorm, crossing his arms. “Who’re you to start critiquing my workspace?”

“I am this universe’s Perceptor. I am a scientist like yourself. And my companions are an alternate version of you and I.”

Other-Brainstorm looked distinctly unimpressed. “Alternative universes? Please. That was like, a million years ago.”

“What?” squawked Brainstorm.

“You—Excuse me?” Perceptor gaped.

Other-Perceptor pushed further inside and started scanning the massive whiteboard taking up an entire wall of the apartment. “I don’t recognize any of the formulas here,” he said, somehow sounding simultaneously highly skeptical and impressed. “What are they?”

“Oh, I derived those. They describe a relationship between the mesh that constitutes the space-time continuum of multiple dimensions and any one object,” Other-Brainstorm said with a shrug.

Other-Perceptor stared at the board for a while longer. Then he turned around and said, “I can see why Megatron would perceive you as a class one threat. These could cause insurmountable amounts of devastation if they fell into the wrong hands.”

Other-Brainstorm threw up his hands. “Why does everyone keep saying that! I’m not gonna do anything!”

“Why make these, then?”

“I had to see if I could.” He paused. “And it gets boring on the moon.”

“A test, then? A game?”

“I guess? It’s not that deep, to be honest. I was just having fun.”

Other-Perceptor nodded. Then, he turned and neatly sat down in a nearby stool, chin jutted up. “You’re going to tell me everything you’ve learned,” he said calmly, “and I’m not leaving until you do.”

“Uh.” Other-Brainstorm blinked. “You sure you won’t be missed anywhere? Might take a while,” he warned.

“I might be. I don’t care.”

“...Slag. Okay. I guess I’ll start with… Well, where do you wanna start?”

“The beginning. I meant everything.”

“Well, damn,” Brainstorm murmured to Perceptor as Other-Brainstorm stared for a second before he grinned and launched into his explanations. “That was fast.”

“He might not be missed,” said Perceptor, “but we will be if we don’t leave soon.”

“Aw, c’mon, we were just getting to the fun part!”

“You can get caught up later when you come back,” Other-Perceptor said, half-distracted as Other-Brainstorm brought up a sprawling holograph of notes. Brainstorm whined a bit; he didn’t know what those equations were for either, and he was dying to know. But Perceptor was right. Rodimus’ threats to leave anyone late to take-off behind were not to be taken lightly. He’d done it before, and he would do it again.

“I’m holding you to that.” Brainstorm shimmied out of the doorway and back out into the hallway. “C’mon Percy, let’s go.”

Once they were back outside the condominium, Perceptor and Brainstorm took a bit of time to meander around the city, trying to identify anything they could. But the buildings here were in a completely different style to the ones on the Cybertron they were familiar with, and monuments and popular spots in town looked nothing at all like what either of them knew them to be. God, it was positively killing Brainstorm to have to leave so quickly. Slaughtering him. There was so much to explore still, so many more questions he had, and not enough of them had been answered to tide him over until their next visit.

“Do you think they’ll get along?” Perceptor asked as they finally began to make their way back to the Lost Light. The fuel quills were nearly at full mast, the sharp points just barely peeking out above the city skyline. They’d need to hurry.

Brainstorm glanced at him. “You don’t think they will?”

“I didn’t say that. I’m only asking because I know we didn’t exactly have what one would call an instant connection when we started working together.”

A thunderous, rumbling boom cut Brainstorm off before he could answer. Seconds later, the shockwave rolled over them, just strong enough to force them to take a step back. They whipped around, a plume of black smoke already smudging the air in the direction of the condominium.

“You know what?” Brainstorm said as the smoke rose higher and higher. “I think they’re gonna get along just fine, Percy.”

[the-odd-job]

Close Your Eyes to This Disaster Chapter 2: Where Has It Gone?

Rating: Explicit Warnings: Chose Not to Use, Rape/Non-Con Category: Other Fandom: Transformers G1 Relationships: Megatron/Sunstreaker, Megatron/Sideswipe, Sideswipe & Sunstreaker Characters: Sunstreaker, Sideswipe, Prowl, Jazz, Bluestreak Additional Tags: Dubcon, Sticky, Abusive Relationships, Mind Games, Manipulation, Gaslighting, Canon-Typical Violence Words: 1549

( Previous )

Earth. For the time being, it looked like they’d be calling it home—along so with a host of Decepticons. With the Prime’s skills at diplomacy, the humans hadn’t quite welcomed the Autobots, but had at least agreed to leave them alone when they promised they intended no harm. And, once the Decepticons began to attack human establishments in search for energy and resources, the Autobots’ opposition of their enemy faction had warmed the humans to them further.

These were the kinds of details Sunstreaker didn’t care too much about, though. He held no love for the squishy organics that populated the planet, and the whole place was so full of… Dirt.

And now they were stuck here for the foreseeable future. His only consolation was the fact there were still Decepticons to fight to combat some of the boredom that might have otherwise come, and he had to admit that there was a strange kind of beauty to the alien world. Not to mention it had a star it orbited. They had stopped at other planets on the way to the accident that landed them here; daylight wasn’t something he hadn’t seen before, but it would be a long time before he got used to it after the eternal night Cybertron had been clad in for the entirety of his lifetime.

Sunrises and sunsets in particular were something to marvel at, and even now Sunstreaker sat on the edge of one of the Ark’s engines, the spaceship’s rear so protruding from the mountain it had been buried under for the longest time. It offered an excellent vantage point over the desert and the setting sun in the horizon. His drawing tablet was held steadily in his servos as he painted the sight with sure strokes of his stylus. It was a pleasure to even have a drawing tablet again, after he hadn’t possessed one since the beginning of the war. Excuse him for making the most of it now that he could.

Sideswipe’s voice rose from below him where his brother was chatting with Bluestreak and Jazz at Ark’s entrance. Sunstreaker let the conversation wash through him, Sideswipe’s laughter the only thing that he allowed to ring loud and clear in him. There was something about a bet relating to Prowl that Smokescreen had been organizing, Sideswipe’s intrigue over it clear. Jazz was always going to win any and all bets related to Prowl, but that never stopped others from trying to get even partial winnings. Wasn’t some fun at the expense of the black and white doorwinger just fun?

It was indeed, up until a fourth voice joined in. “I heard that.”

Sunstreaker grinned at Prowl’s flat and entirely unamused tone when the SIC joined them, his wings twitching stiffly in clear indication that he wasn’t all that pleased. Bluestreak squeaked and began to stammer apologies at once. Sideswipe just went on to laugh outright, as unapologetic as Jazz who wrapped an arm across Prowl’s shoulders. “Aw, Prowler. Just a bit of fun in good spirits, yeah? No harm intended, whatsoever.”

Prowl wasn’t having it, but Jazz was a terrible mech to argue with. With grins and playful words he shot down each of Prowl’s complaints until the tactician was dragging a servo down his faceplates, looking beyond frustrated.

Sideswipe was still snickering at the two, but Sunstreaker’s attention was pulled back to his work. The sun was going too low to be an useful reference anymore, but he was almost done anyway. One detail was fixed, other two added as he captured the last of the colors onto the screen, and then… He wasn’t going to make it look any better without spending an eternity on it.

Satisfied, Sunstreaker subspaced his tablet before pushing himself over the edge entirely, taking the too long fall down and landing heavily in the middle of the conversation. He took the pain in his legs gladly just for the others’ reactions. Sideswipe didn’t react in any way, of course; Jazz’s visor flashed and Prowl’s wings jerked and that was already quite a bit of reaction from them, but Bluestreak jumped back in fright. “Oh, Primus, Sunstreaker, can you not do that?” he squeaked. “I swear you’re going to snuff my spark one day with the scares you give by creeping up on mecha, and I don’t know how you even do it but it’s really disconcerting–!“

Satisfactory. “Do you want me to tell Ratchet that you’re apparently once again trying to injure yourself with foolhardy stunts?” Prowl asked from him, continuing on with laying down the effect his too sudden entries had on others–

There was just the slightest tug of a smirk at the corners of Sunstreaker’s mouth and he shrugged, uncaring despite the threats of getting Ratchet involved—which would end in something painful. In response Prowl’s doorwings hiked higher, but before he could gear up to more admonishment, Sideswipe clicked for their attention.

“As much as I’d love to stay and listen to your lovely voice,” his brother winked at the SIC, “I’ve got an early patrol in the morning. Figure I oughta go catch some recharge before that. Wouldn’t want to give the ‘Cons an easy kill ‘cause I was runnin’ low on charge.” In the middle of that Sideswipe set towards the Ark’s interior, Sunstreaker trailing a step after him.

“Have a good night!” Bluestreak wished after them, Jazz repeating the sentiment.

And Prowl, poor, poor Prowl only looked more aggravated. They’d inevitably do something to land themselves in his office again, though, they always did. He could lecture them all he wanted then.

And they would tune it all out and have no answers when Prowl demanded them to tell him what he’d just said. Then they’d be handed a punishment of some sort… Rinse and repeat ad infinitum. They never learned, much to their commanders’ eternal chagrin.

They headed straight to their quarters, Sideswipe practically dancing the way and Sunstreaker walking in a more sedate manner next to his energetic half. They passed a couple of mecha Sideswipe had friendly words for, Sunstreaker’s offer a glare, before they came to their door. Inside Sunstreaker laid down on their berth on his back, Sideswipe crawling on top of him, chest to chest. Their spark halves pushed on the insides of their spark chambers as they settled, drawn to each other with inescapable demand—but they didn’t merge their cores, only their fields. “Gotta find Smokes in the morning,” Sideswipe murmured. “I want in on that bet.”

“Shower and polish, too,” Sunstreaker added, letting his optics close once the lights in the room turned off. Sideswipe giggled.

“Wash before a dusty patrol, that’s such a good idea. It’s a backroads patrol, too.”

“It is.”

“Shower and polish. I need to get up early for that. Only need my ratios after the patrol.” Air pushed from Sideswipe’s vents as he relaxed fully and let silence fall despite his dislike of it, Sunstreaker taking his weight and doing the same. They set the length of their frames’ recharge cycles to give themselves enough time in the morning, before initiating them for their systems to power down.

They didn’t get the chance to run the full course of it, though. It was only three hours later according to their chronometers when there was a knock on their—careful, but loud enough to rouse them. They tensed, confused and still in the middle of bringing their systems online, but as ever, their combat programming reached its peak before anything else. Even if it was danger, they would be prepared.

However, a ping for identification said it was only Bluestreak. Sideswipe triggered the door to open. “Come in.”

Bluestreak’s optics glowed in the dark as he stepped into their room, wringing his servos together. “Thanks. I uh, ha-had a bad memory purge, I’m not really sure why because I haven’t done anything special, but I had one anyway a-and I really wouldn’t want to be alone right now but I can go if I’m bothering you–“

The twins untangled themselves and Sunstreaker scooted to the side until he was against the wall. Sideswipe gestured for Bluestreak to join them, his brother settling down next to Sunstreaker and beckoning Bluestreak to lay down on his other side. “’Course. C’mere and lemme cuddle you. I need a cuddlebuddy.”

Bluestreak cracked a small smile but took the invitation, nearly tripping over his own pedes in his rush to get the comfort of another. “I know you prefer to cuddle Sunny,” he said even as he got on the berth and burrowed into Sideswipe’s side, his doorwings in the open space behind him.

“Yeah, well, variety’s the spice of life,” Sideswipe grinned. “Plus he’s right there, so.” Sunstreaker huffed but let his optics offline again, Sideswipe doing the same. They didn’t continue their recharge cycles right away, though, instead waiting until Bluestreak began to relax and then, eventually, fell into his own recharge entirely, the sounds of his systems evening out. It likely wouldn’t be the last time they got the gunner in their berth like this, but it was big enough to accommodate all three of them, so what did it matter?

Besides, he was a friend, and wasn’t this what friends did?

( Next )

[dragons-socks]

Baby Bumblebee chptr 4

////////Six Months Later\\\\\\\\\

Bee was walking home from school. Lennox and Ironhide were hunting down Decepticons in Europe, so he didn’t really have a ride today, which was fine. He didn’t mind not going back to the house when Lennox or Ironhide wasn’t there. It’s not that Bee didn’t like Sarah or Annabell, but they just didn’t really get each other. Annabell tried to poke at every nerve Bumblebee had, just testing his patience. And Sarah either babied him too much or acted as if he should already know how to do some complex human thing.

And then there was school. Apparently, Sarah was right about his name. Though Bee still didn’t understand how a girl in his class can be named ‘jasmine’ after a flower, but to be called after the insect that lets that flower grow and flourish… that’s taking it too weird? Not to mention no one in the institute knows morse code, and only a few, including his teacher know sign language. The school said they’d set him up with an interpreter. That has yet to be seen.

“Oh, hey, you’re Honey Bee, right?” Bumblebee jumped as a boy his physical age tapped him on the shoulder. Bee pulled out a small keyring of flash card that said common phrases to help him interact with people who couldn’t understand his other forms of communications. He tapped on the one with his actual name on it. “Oh, well I’m Raven.”

Bee made a saluting gesture; instead of his hand being horizontal and pushed in front of him, his palm was vertical and facing out while his hand moved away to the side of his temple. Then, Bee finger-spelt the boy’s name. Raven looked at his hands with wide eyes.

“Woah, you really can’t speak, can you?” Raven asked. Bee let out angry trills, glaring at the boy. He started to walk faster, getting away from the human. “No, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it like that!”

Bee chittered, turning around and raising an eyebrow. You have one chance.

“I just didn’t want to believe Harvey. He’s always making up things about other people. My mom says he’s a bully.” Raven rambled. Bee nodded in agreement. Harvey was a larger kid in his class who kept trying to pick fights and make fun of Bumblebee. Bee would hand the kid’s ass to him, but he was still an Autobots and harming humans was still a big ‘no’ in his books. “We should be friends. I see you like Voltron. My favorite is the red lion, but the yellow one is alright too.”

Bumblebee shrugged, not knowing what this ‘Voltron’ was, but decided not to try to confuse the other with too complex interactions. This is the most pleasant conversation he’s had since being forced to partake in the human learning institution.

Soon Raven had to split off to go to his own home, but made Bee promise to meet up tomorrow to walk to school. Bee felt lighter for some reason, almost like he wasn’t so alone. Annabell picked up on his good mood as soon as he entered the house. A toy sailed through the air and whacked him in the forehead.

“Hey, Bee.” She smiled.

“Annabell, stop throwing toys. Go sit in the corner.” Sarah gawked. This turned into a ten minute scream-cry feast in which Annabell was forced to spend time in the corner for longer than her original sentence. Bumblebee was already set up at the table by this point, pulling out his homework. “How was school, Bee?” The woman said as she signed the words.

‘Good, I meet a new friend. His name is Raven.’ Bee signed, his feet kicking in the open air under the table.

“Oh, that’s nice, what did you guys talk about?” Sarah leaned over the counter, ruffling Bee’s hair. He huffed and waved her hand away.

‘He kept talking about some lion-show called Voltage or something? Said I liked it too, but I don’t know why he would think that.’

“You mean Voltron? Your bookbag is designed to look like one of the characters on the show. He probably thought you got the bag because you liked the show, not because it was yellow and black.” She explained, lifting up the bag in question. On the back in vinyl letters did read ‘Voltron’. “We could watch it. So you know what your friend is talking about.”

Bee shrugged at this. He’s tried to watch human entertainment, but nothing really caught his interest. Well, he’s only really seen whatever the Witwicky’s watched, and that was just through their living room window as he was parked in their driveway. Recently, Annabell has been making him watch her shows, which were all about learning numbers, colors, and being nice. At least she has her numbers and colors down.

“Yeah, it can be our thing, when you’re done with your homework we can watch a few episodes.” Sarah nodded to herself.

Annabell was returned from her sentencing. She shuffled up to Bumblebee, holding out the wooden block that she had thrown at him earlier.

“M’sorry, Bee.” She toed at the ground and gave him large puppy dog eyes. Bee huffed and took the block from her. He’s learned pretty fast to accept her peace offerings or have her throw another tantrum.

‘Yeah, I’m sure you are.’ Bee signed back. Annabell jumped around to her mom.

“Mom, what did he say?” Sarah shook her head at the young autobot. “He said, ‘apology accepted’.”

It didn’t take long to finish the easy equations or sentence structures his teachers assigned for his class. As soon as he put his work back into his bag, Sarah ushered him onto the couch and turned on their television.

“Get comfortable, sweetie, the first episode is the longest.” Bee wrapped himself in the yellow blanket that he’s since claimed as his own. As the episode went on, Bee found himself drawing parallels of his own life and the autobots to those of these characters. He was so immersed into this stupid cartoon that he didn’t even notice that Lennox had arrived and sat down next to his wife. Not until the episode was paused.

‘HEY!’ Bumblebee turned to Sarah, jumping a little when Lennox was also there.

“Hey to you too, kid.” Lennox said, his voice thick and his face contorted into worry. Bumblebee sat up.

‘Is Ironhide okay?’ Bee signed, trying to twist out of his cocoon to get a better look outside for the mech.

“He’s fine, Bee. But I do have some bad news. The Decepticons found the base. The Autobots had to be relocated and for your safety, we might not be getting their new location.”

‘But what about Ironhide? He still needs Energon to function. How will I find them once we’ve figured out how to change me back?’ Bee asked.

“They don’t think there’s a cure for you, Bee. Optimus thought it best to cut ties. Don’t worry about Ironhide. We’re still going to get shipments of Energon for him.” Lennox pulled Bee into his chest. Bee didn’t have room to sign his frustrations, but he also didn’t have energy to fight off his prison of warm arms. Instead he let Lennox’s voice swirl around his own thoughts that wanted to drown him.

_______________

Bee slipped out of the house. The moon, street lamps, and his blinking shoe steps were his only light to navigate out of the neighborhood and try to find his way back to Optimus. The mech might not want him, but that was where he belonged, and he wasn’t going to take no for an answer.

It wasn’t the first time that he realized that walking was much more time consuming than driving. This was just another time that the notion ingrained itself into his head. This was the first time Bumblebee found himself walking for a long time after sunset. It seemed to take longer in the dark. It took so much longer to reach the school than it usually does.

Maybe it wasn’t the darkness of night that had Bumblebee shuffling his feet. Maybe it was the thought of seeing Optimus and the others after a month of not seeing them. Maybe it was the knowledge that this was in direct opposition of Optimus’s orders. This is the most rebellious he’s been in a long time. Bumblebee finds his feet stopping. He looks around and realizes he’s walked himself all the way just a house past Sam’s. The chill has already settled into his skin, but he’s just noticed his minutely shivers. His teeth are chattering, and he feels tired seeping into the very marrow of his human bones. His feet and legs ache. It must have been half the night gone by now.

A rumbling sound brings the rest of the world back into focus. Cars race towards him, screeching to a halt and boxing him in. At first he thinks its normal bad humans, until he recognizes the cars and notices the Decepticons’ insignias.

“I don’t get it.” Starscream’s voice is audible from his vehicular mode. “There is but a human child where the signal emits. No energon, no Autobots. Nothing.”

Bumblebee’s heart spikes. He backs away from Megatron’s right-hand. The other ‘Cons have switched back to their natural state. They leer down at Bumblebee. One even tries to grab at him. He rolls to the side, and books it for a crack in their formation. Breakdown snagged Bee’s leg, scooping him upside-down, before he could make it. Bee kept hissing and sputtering at the Cons, but they weren’t intimidated.

“It appears, Starscream, that the boy is the origin of the signal. Maybe Knockout’s weapon wasn’t as defective as we had first thought. This human child does have a striking resemblance to their mute scout.” Breakdown muses.

Bee lets out sharp whistles, hoping the sleeping humans around them will awaken, but its almost no use. His vision starts to blur as the Cons start moving away. He doesn’t know what to do. He starts pushing against the metal fist around his leg, but with each shove the only result is his palms getting hotter.

Bumblebee can feel in his gut that Breakdown is about to shift. He can hear the t-cog clicking its gears in the split second preparation of turning into the alt mode. Bee panics, pulling his arm as far back as he could and smacking hard onto Breakdown’s grip. Instead of being halted by the warm living metal, his hand pushed in with no resistance. A shot of blue energy cut a path from his hand to the open sky. Breakdown drops Bee on the ground in surprise. Bee is able to twist himself to land on his back rather than just his head. He ignores the searing pain of smacking into the asphalt and scrambles away from his capture. The other Cons make a quick double-back, but not before Bee is on his feet. His palms and fingers tingle from the heat, but are unharmed from the powerful blast-ray. Cons surround him. He pulls his arm back and lets out another blast, sweeping his arm in an arc and taking out a line of the enemies, and also some of the residential appliances.

“Bee?” It’s Sam’s voice as he scampers out of his house in a shirt and boxers. “Where’s Lennox? Why are you here?” Bee doesn’t answer. He can’t answer. He sidesteps a blast from the Cons. Its not enough, Bee is grabbed again. His arms are pinned to his side in Starscream’s hand.

“I’ve got him, retreat.” Starscream proclaimed, ignoring Bee’s chitters and Sam’s shouts. A ground bridge was opened a few feet away. Starscream watched his men walk into the portal before turning to Sam with a viscous grin. “Till the next time, Witwick-”

Bee was once again hitting the ground. His back is singing and his ears are ringing from the gunshot. His vision is blurry, but he can still make out Mikaela cocking back a rifle as Sam ran to him. Sam carefully moved Bee away from the Decepticon, who was clutching his shot-up hand. There was a moment where it looked like Starscream was going to exact revenge. Luckily the portal behind him started to close and if he wanted a ride back home he couldn’t fight the humans. Everyone sighed with relief until they looked down at Bee.

The worried shouts of his friends were cut short as Bee’s small body finally gave it quits and fell asleep.

[crimson-ace]

A Real Rock-Solid Dude (Or Would a More Accurate Term Be Dudebot?)

Archive of Our Own Link

Here’s yet another story in the Transformers AU, this time focusing on Stoneheart and Nino. If anyone wants to share their thoughts on it or offer advice on how I can improve, you’re more than welcome to.

Nino couldn’t believe that he was actually riding in the passenger seat of an advanced alien robot taking on the form of a dump truck who was specifically assigned to protect him. He looked so cool and had all these weapons, and Nino actually got to hang out with him! Yeah, he was technically there to make sure some evil giant robots didn’t try to kill him and his family, but that was a minor detail. He couldn’t wait to get to know him.

Likewise, Stoneheart couldn’t believe that Optimus Prime was actually letting him spend time with a human. Ever since he had arrived on Earth, he had wanted to understand humans more, but hadn’t gotten much of a chance because of Optimus’s orders to remain robots in disguise.

Stoneheart naturally had a lot of questions to ask Nino. “Why do humans have so many different skin colors? How do you make those trees I see in the forest? What does your kind use to refuel? Can you tell me what a ‘meme’ is? Does the cybernetic warlord Schwarzenegger really exist?”

“Whoa, dude! Calm down for a second.” Nino was surprised by how eager Stoneheart sounded, and the strange questions he was asking. But then again, humans are kind of weird. Nino thought he saw the yellow Autobot dudette trying to hide from him before the big leader Autobot dude (he’s really bad with names, okay?) told her to get back to the command center.

“I’m sorry, I really want to learn everything I can about humans.” Stoneheart said. “I haven’t really interacted with your kind before. I haven’t really even interacted with a lot of life forms outside of other Autobots.”

“Well, I’m still open for questions. Just be sure to ask them one at a time, okay?” Nino suggested.

“Uh… okay.” Stoneheart felt a little embarrassed for going on like that. “What do humans do for entertainment?”

“Well, I like to listen to music. Here, I’ll play something for you.” Nino took out his phone and looked for a good song for Stoneheart. He pressed a button, and a smooth hip-hop beat started to play.

“Ooh, that sounds nice.” Stoneheart said, enjoying the music.

“Only the best songs go on my playlist.” Nino said, happy Stoneheart was having a good time.“How long have you been on Earth anyway?”

Stoneheart had to quickly do the math converting stellar cycles to human units of measurement. “I’d say about three of your Earth years.”

“And you’ve really managed to stay hidden that long?”

“Well, we’ve had help from your planet’s government.” Stoneheart explained. “We have a liaison who monitors our activity and occasionally calls for backup if we need it.”

“So you have a babysitter?” Nino asked. “That’s so lame.”

“I wouldn’t call him that. Our liaison’s abrasive, but he’s got a good heart.” Stoneheart said. “I’ve worked with far worse before.”

Stoneheart kept driving until he stopped, much to Nino’s confusion.

“Uh, dude, why did you stop?”

“I was told that when the light on the street is red, vehicles are supposed to stop. Did I do something wrong?” Stoneheart asked.

Nino looked out Stoneheart’s window and saw the stoplight. “We’re still in the countryside, and there wasn’t a stoplight here yesterday.” Right after he said that, the stoplight faded away in a flash of orange light. Before he could think of anything else, Nino saw an orange sports car charging towards him and Stoneheart.

“Get in!” Stoneheart cried as he started driving away, knowing what, or rather, who the car really was. But before he could get any farther, Stoneheart was flanked by several black cars with purple highlights. The cars transformed into robotic drones, much like the ones Stoneheart had fought earlier with Ladybug and Queen Bee. They all pointed their weapons at Stoneheart

Soon after, the orange car stopped and transformed into a humanoid figure that casually walked over to Stoneheart with a smirk on her face.

“Hi Stoneheart. Why don’t you transform so we can have a little chat?” She asked.

Stoneheart had Nino get out and transformed into his robot mode, making sure Nino was safe behind his leg.

“What are you doing here?” Stoneheart asked, clenching a fist in anger.

Volpina chuckled a little. “Well, during our little skirmish today where you risked your titles as ‘robots in disguise’ over a couple of organic lifeforms, I took the chance to place a tracking device on you.”

Nino saw the orange device on the Autobot’s leg and tried to pull it off before Stoneheart did it himself. “So why me? Why not Queen Bee or Ladybug?”

Hearing the question made Volpina laugh a little more. “You’re really asking that? Do you even realize the position you’re in right now? This is a chance to rejoin the winning team!”

Nino’s eyes widened as he heard Volpina’s offer. “R-Rejoin?”

“Yeah, you know those big bad Decepticons you were told about by Optimus Prime? Your buddy here used to be one.” Volpina said with a sadistic grin on her face.

Stoneheart tensed up, worried his past would drive Nino away like so many before him.

It turned out that Volpina was counting on this, as one of the Vehicons took advantage of Stoneheart letting his guard down and grabbed Nino in one hand before handing him to Volpina

Nino struggled to escape the grip of the Decepticon, which only got tighter the more he moved around.

“They’re even more disgusting up close. Though they are fun to see go ‘pop’.” She sneered, enjoying the human’s suffering.

Stoneheart thought of charging Volpina, but he was stopped by the Vehicons aiming their weapons at him.

“Here’s the deal: You’re going to call the Autobot base for a ground bridge, so we can find out just where you all hide from the wrath of the Decepticons.” Volpina said as she presented Nino to Stoneheart. “If you don’t, I get the organic’s blood all over my hand.”

Stoneheart was at a loss of what to do as the Vehicons moved closer to him.

Suddenly, he got a message from the Autobot base, almost like fate was laughing at him. “Stoneheart, this is Pegasus. How are things with the human?”

Volpina grinned wickedly as held Nino in her hand, making Stoneheart know what would happen if he didn’t cooperate.

“I, uh… everything’s fine, Pegasus. I’ll check in with you later.” Stoneheart said before ending the call, causing the Vehicons to move in on him.

“I get that you’re a little nervous, but are you unaware of our deal?” Volpina asked. “Call your base again, or my troops open fire.”

To make sure Stoneheart did what Volpina wanted, a Vehicon pressed its weapon against his back.

Stoneheart raised his left hand and went to press the button on his head that activated his comlink… and then swiftly grabbed the Vehicon behind him and threw it at Volpina.

The sudden impact caused the Decepticon to lose her grip on Nino, who started to fall to the ground. Thankfully, Stoneheart dived down and caught him before transforming back into vehicle mode and driving off with Nino in his cab.

Just when he thought he had outrun then, Stoneheart found himself cornered by more Vehicons. Just when it seemed like he was outnumbered again, he saw a stray blaster fire from afar, hitting one of the Vehicons.

Stoneheart transformed back into his robot form, holding Nino in his hands, and saw Optimus Prime was there, holding his ion blaster. “Stoneheart, get Nino to a safe place.” He ordered as he engaged the Vehicons.

Stoneheart nodded and ran through blaster fire before hiding Nino behind a rock. “Stay here.” He said as he charged back out with Optimus. The two Autobots quickly dispatched the remaining Vehicons.

...........

“How did you know I was in trouble?” Stoneheart asked as he and Optimus walked back to Nino.

“The tone in your voice made it clear you were in distress.” Optimus explained.

Stoneheart sighed a little. “I’m guessing you don’t want me to be Nino’s guardian anymore?”

“On the contrary. The fact that you risked so much for Nino shows you have learned so much about compassion for life.”

Nino saw Optimus and Stoneheart and ran over to them. “Hey dudes!” He said as Stoneheart picked him up. “Are you okay?” Stoneheart asked.

Nino nodded. “Yeah, I’m fine. A little bruised, but still fine.” He said before he looked at Optimus. “Hey, uh… Prime Dude? The fox bot said Stoneheart used to be a Decepticon? Is that true?”

Optimus saw the concerned look on Stoneheart’s face and pondered how to explain this to Nino. “Yes, Stoneheart was a Decepticon, but not anymore. Every solar cycle, he is learning about the importance of life, and is now fighting for more reasons than personal thrill.”

Nino was surprised, but noticed how worried Stoneheart looked, so he decided to stop asking questions for now. “Okay, that’s fine. I’m fine with you, Autobot or Decepticon.” He said, making Stoneheart smile a little.

“To ensure Volpina does not attempt to ambush you again, I shall accompany you home.” Optimus said as he transformed into his truck mode.

“Okay, that’s pog!” Nino exclaimed, confusing both Autobots

“What does ‘pog’ mean?” Stoneheart asked Optimus.

“I believe it may be the name of a famous poet on Earth.” Optimus replied, just as confused as Stoneheart.

Optimus drove alongside Stoneheart and stopped a few houses down from where Nino said his home was.“So what’s going to happen tomorrow? Are you going to watch me 24/7?” Nino asked.

“We’re going to do some things to make the base more hospitable for you.” Stoneheart explained. “I’ll pick you up from school and take you to our base.”

“That’s… weird.” Nino replied. “You guys are really doing all of this just to protect us?”

“Any life lost to the Decepticons is one life too many.” Optimus explained.

Nino was surprised at the Autobot leader’s dedication.“But I almost endangered one of your guys. You really don’t see me as annoying?”

“Nino, we Autobots value all sentient life, and are willing to lay our sparks on the line to ensure your people’s safety.” Optimus said. “Now, from what I am familiar with, Earth customs say it is best that you come home to rest.”

Nino checked the time on his phone and realized Optimus had a point. “Okay then. Goodnight, dudes. Wait, do robots have to sleep? Eh, never mind.” Nino said as he headed back to his house.

“Are you sure you aren’t mad, Optimus?” Stoneheart asked nervously.

“Stoneheart, what you have done tonight has proven that I made the right choice in giving you a second chance.” Optimus replied while the two stood watch in their vehicle forms, planning to meet up with Pegasus once things looked clear.

[endthisfool]

Dirge Eater

Summary: Getting his claws on one of Brainstorm's untested inventions leads to Whirl being flung into an universe that isn't quite ready for someone like him. Back in Jasper, Nevada Team Prime is faced with the task of reeling in the wayward whirlybird, but it won't be pleasant ride for anyone.

Chapter 1: Death Bringer

An iridescent tear eats at a storm ridden sky, bleeding the taste of a distant universe like an infection. Out it spits a being of that unknown, chaotic and ruthless. He doesn’t belong here. As if knowing that, the sky seems to rumble its distaste of the rapidly descending figure. Far below, a young boy by the name of Rafael Esquivel sits idly on the front steps of his school building. He’s content to wait outside for his friends, despite the swirling clouds above. However, a storm isn’t the only thing brewing over head, and it certainly isn’t the most worrisome. An odd sound reaches Raf’s ears. He looks about himself, furrowing his brows at the relatively empty area. It’s not empty for long. There’s a wicked crack of concrete as something huge lands in an impact that lances through the ground, sending debris and dust flying outward from its epicenter. Cars wail their distress, joined by a smattering of shocked shouts. Raf’s up on his feet and down the rest of the steps before he can even process what he’s running toward. Due to his short stride, by the time he gets there there’s already a growing crowd of students, teachers, and passerby’s alike. They peter about uncertainly, low mummers of confusion drifting between them. Raf finds himself having to push past a woman taking pictures to get a closer look. The crater cuts a deep hole into the concrete, thin trails of black smoke whisking up from the crumpled heap of metal within. A sluggish flow of fluorescent pink liquid seeps from the mass. The scent of ozone lies thick in the air. His knees feel weak, a thrill races up his spine, and the hairs on the back of his neck stand at attention. The gangly mess of strange parts and twisted blue metal, rises up from its grave with a horrific spat of clattering. In turn the previously gawking crowd scatters haphazardly, screaming all the while. The source of their fear moves like an old windup toy missing a few gears. Jittering and loud. No longer an unidentifiable pile of scrap, the thing reveals itself to be some sort of mech. All thin plating and abnormal-near insect like limbs- it appears nothing like the Cybertronian’s on Earth. ‘Nothing like the autobots at least, this has to be a decepticon.’ Worse, it had no face, just a telescopic-esq head and a single burning gold optic. It brings up an eerie recollection of the xenomorphs from Alien. Certainly not a pleasant comparison. The creature gives a small shake, then a full body shudder, its dented blue plating flaring wildly. It topples over. Its huge pair of pincers dig rivets into the concrete, and the air fills with that terrifying clattering once more. There comes the realization that it’s cackling. Rafael backpedals, which is apparently the wrong thing to do because suddenly that big yellow optic is trained directly on him. He freezes, blood running cold in face of that spotlight-like gaze. His throat constricts, gulping audibly around the fear lodged there. Automatically the boy raises his hands-empty palms outward hovering over his chest-in a placating gesture. The mech lurches forward, pistons screeching, and brings up one claw to point straight between his eyes. “ Ha! You look like Rung’s holomatter avatar had a baby with a gremlin.” Its optic contorts into a squint from what can only be unaltered glee, at the bewildered expression on the boy’s face. “Don’t take it personally, lotta you organics have that-“ There’s a vague gesture that spans the entirety of Raf’s person. “-nasty little flesh-bag look going on.” Raf’s mouth opens and closes, but he can’t seem to find any words. His awareness that he- and the entire human race- was just insulted only dimly registers considering the razor sharp claws only inches from his face. “No argument there, huh?” Those claws open and snap shut, clacking together, akin to a crab. Upon the resulting flinch from the human, they retreat back to supporting the mech’s frame. It regards him with a slightly more wary glint to its optic. “...Did I break you, Squishy? I told you not to take it personally, jeez.” The mech heaves itself upward once more, balancing precariously on its thin legs. Distantly Raf notes the school doors opening as people rush past him to safety. “ Fun chat , but I’m gonna go.” It scratches idly at the jutting plating serving as its chest, dislodging some dirt there. In the process it uncovers a much too familiar emblem beneath the grime. Rafael blinks rapidly at the sight of it, shock blooming through his fear in some sort of messy tandem, giving way to conflict. “W-wait! You- you’re a,” Suddenly the blue mech crouches low as if readying to spring, giving Raf a clear view of the twin gun barrels under its chest. At that the blurted words die before they can become a coherent sentence. “I’m a what?” It challenges with the hum of its weapons. Danger evident in its tense frame. Raf squeaks, tripping onto his rear in his haste to put space between himself and those barrels. There’s a chuffing sound above, and it seems the mech is now laughing at his misfortune. He can’t find it in himself to be embarrassed, much too relieved to be free of the mech’s ire. However, despite the mood change the bot doesn’t relax from its crouch. The blades above its claws spin lazily, and it shutters its gold optic a few times. The sound of police sirens wail in the distance, apparently someone had half a mind to call the authorities on the giant robot. Not that that would do any good. “This was a real riveting experience, really, good times with my old pal, Squishy-Four-Eyes,” Mock sincerity coats the words in a growing dirge. Its blades- no rotors begin to spin faster. “Sadly, I’ve got more important things to do, which would be literally anything else. So I’m gonna go do those things.” The mech uncoils from its crouch with enough force to launch itself upward into the air. Its frame contorts, folding mid-air to transform into something strikingly similar to an Earth helicopter. There’s a disconcerting whine to its engine, as if it’s protesting its injuries. Then it’s gone. Veering up and away without a speck of hesitation. Raf remains seated on the ground, even as frantic footsteps sound behind him. His friend Jack Darby nearly tumbles to the ground himself when he skids to a halt beside his younger friend. Their mutual friend Miko Nakadai, however, does trip, and plows straight into Jack. They land in a sprawled heap, but Raf pays them no heed. The older boy attempts to draw his attention with a cry of: “What was that!?” Mystified Rafael stares at the rapidly vanishing helicopter in the sky. “I think...it was an autobot.” A hand snatching his glasses off his face knocks him out of his stupor. “Hey-“ “Hello? Are these working, Raf? That dude is flying, only ‘cons fly.” Miko points upward with the stolen glasses a bit more forcefully than needed. Miffed she hadn’t gotten to take a picture of the weird mech. “Autobots: roll out! That’s not rolling, that’s, like, the opposite of rolling. Bam. ‘Con. End of story.” “No I-,” He struggles to reach his glasses from the taller girl, and she relents returning them with a snort. “I saw it, he had an autobot symbol on.” Jack squints at him, sharing an incredulous glance with Miko. “Are you sure, Raf? That guy didn’t really seem like autobot material.” “Yeah, besides the whole flying thing, none of the autobots have big claws like that.” She mimics the mech’s claws snapping with her hands. Raf averts his gaze, gnawing at his lip. He doesn’t point out the fact that he had been mere feet away from the bot, whereas they had only managed to catch a glimpse of him from inside the school. He saw it, bright red on the mech’s cockpit, he’d recognize it anywhere. Nevertheless, he shrugs slightly, shaken up and adverse to continuing an argument with his friends. Miko seems to notice his dejection and gives him a pat on the back that’s only kinda condescending.

------ So maybe ‘borrowing’ a few of Brainstorm’s inventions hadn’t been his best idea. Then again maybe Brainstorm shouldn’t make his experiments look like guns, because of course Whirl would be obligated to shoot them. He couldn’t just, not shoot them. Not shooting guns went against his morals. And well, maybe if he hadn’t been shooting at random in an enclosed area he wouldn’t have accidentally shot himself. But that’s enough maybes for now. Result is he doesn’t know where he is, and he managed to get smashed up while landing. Nothing too out of the ordinary. Though usually he’d be getting yelled at by now. Strangely enough his comm hasn’t said a peep since he woke up. In a crater. Surrounded by squealing organics. That was pretty weird. Whirl’s HUD blinks red, damage reports rolling across his vision groggily. Urgent: primary energon line severed. Stabilizing gyros functioning at 65%. Spinal strut fractured. GPS System Offline. Energon levels lo- He dismisses the alerts easily, they were no use to him, the level of first aid he was capable of performing with his claws was quite limited. His auto-repair would have to pick up the slack. Even so, leaking to death on a foreign planet wasn’t really the blaze of glory type ending he was looking for. So he needs to clamp off that energon line before he offlines. Simple enough for a pair of pincers. The landscape beneath him blends into an endless stream of indistinguishable shapes and colors. At this point he was fairly far from that organic settlement. The scenery below was now writhe with greenery. Proximity sensors ping a sudden alert. Whirl banks to the left, something bright whizzing past him into the clouds. He slows his flight, enough to detect the frames on the ground aiming at him. Outnumbered, he halts, hovering in place. They’re all dark colored mechs, near identical beyond a few variations. Behind them, similar looking mechs mill about the wide entrance of a mine. When they notice him they take hold of their carts, and retreat into the mine. A few return, training their weapons on him as well. Staring him down uncertainly one guard begins to shout. “Land a-and don’t move! Servos in the air!” The mech’s voice trembles slightly. He doesn’t give much thought to it. They shot first. Allowing his rotors to still in place, he drops out of the air like a dead seeker. Yelps of surprise and several attempts to shoot him follow. A blast glances off his chassis, but if the goal was to slow him down it does nothing. Whirl crashes down onto the mech that had spoken, transforming into his root mode during the impact. His frame is lightweight, but his momentum is more than enough to crumple the mech into the ground. The ‘copter’s HUD informs him of the consequences of using himself as a battering ram. As if the singeing pain didn’t make it obvious enough. He revels in it, all of it. The ruined frame under him shudders and sparks. Dark plating leaks blue over his claws in spurts while he works his grip onto weak neck cabling. The mech sputters feebly. A grotesque gurgling comes from his opponent, spinal strut following his helm free from his frame. Whirl straightens, towering over the graying mech. He holds the mech’s decapitated helm aloft between his claws, gleefully observing the fear take hold in the surrounding mechs. “I did what he asked, didn’t I?” He nails the nearest guard with the offlined mech’s helm, and they go down like a brick. Claws back in the air he gives them a wiggle to emphasize their position. “See? I can follow orders.” They don’t respond. Verbally at least, the sound of their blasters charging up is enough of an answer in itself. Whirl concedes, “OK, so three out of two isn’t bad, I mean, I had to move to get my servos in the air didn’t I?” They let their blasters do the talking once again, opening fire upon the autobot. He lets his own weapons join the conversation. Whirl heaves his offline opponent up to shield his taller frame, twin guns mowing down a row of mechs in front of him. They fall one after another, as if they weren’t built to last in a fight. ‘Kinda pathetic.’ Blaster fire licking at his chassis draws his attention to an unfortunate mech who tries to backpedal. The ‘copter forgoes his guns, bodily throwing himself at the shorter mech. He butts his helm against the other’s visor, shattering it, and carelessly damaging his own optic in the process. It doesn’t affect his pace. He latches on the dazed mech’s shoulders, and gives them a sharp tug. The intention was to tear his arms off, however his opponent ends up completely bisected lengthways. Whirl’s golden optic shutters in a surprised blink. Blue liquid soaks his cockpit, dribbling into his seams, mixing with the pink energon he leaked. The pincers holding the two halves of the other mech clench involuntarily. Something about this wasn’t quite right. His momentary pause gives the other mechs an opportunity to attack. Something in his leg gives way, the damaged armor there failing to protect it. The autobot turns on his attackers, confusion forgotten. “Is everyone on this dust bowl planet huge afts? Quit shooting me while I’m trying to think!”

------------- “ Prime! ” Disgruntled would perhaps be too weak a word to describe Agent Fowler’s demeanor right now. He’s furious, pacing up and down the walk way, his hands balled into fists. The addressed autobot regards him calmly, a slight frown on his handsome faceplate. His medic at the base’s computer terminal quirks an eyebrow ridge at the infuriated human. Leading Optimus to silently will the other to not say anything that would fuel the Agent’s bad mood. Thankfully Ratchet just snorts, resuming his work. Relieved the taller ‘bot patiently waits for the man to voice his complaints. It takes several more moments of huffing and puffing. Then Fowler finally halts his pacing, coming to stand in front of Optimus, his hands gripping at the railing. His glare is met with the autobot leader’s slightly confused, perhaps even concerned optics. For whatever reason this deepens the human’s scowl. “You wanna tell me what one of your guys was doing prancing around a school in broad daylight!?” That garners Ratchet’s attention, and this time the medic turns from his terminal fully, crossing his arms over his chassis. Optimus sighs quietly through his vents. “Agent Fowler, I understand you are displeased with our presence here on Earth, however you have met all the autobot’s stationed on this planet.” Fowler glares harder, Prime presses on before the human could interrupt. “No one was patrolling in town today, in fact Bumblebee, Arcee, and Bulkhead have only left recently to pick up their charges.” “Oh yeah? Then how do you explain the huge robotic blue bozo my men have been working to scrub off the World Wide Web?” He jabs a finger at Optimus’ frowning faceplate. “Do you know how many phones we’ve had to confiscate? This is a huge mess, Prime! And I’m holding you accountable.” Optimus opens his mouth to respond, but the sound of his comm crackling to life in his audial has him ignoring Fowler. The man sputters indignantly when the autobot holds up a servo to silence him. Over the comm Bee’s clicks and whirls sound off an excited babble. :: Raf says he met a new autobot at his school! :: Arcee’s voice joins the call, :: Jack and Miko both say he didn’t.:: Optimus considers the conflicting information, and gives the order to his soldiers to return to base with their charges promptly. Fowler stares at him expectantly. “It would appear that the children have some information on our unknown mech.” “That’s it? That’s all you have to say? There’s a dangerous mech out there who clearly didn’t get the robots in disguise memo!” Fowler bashes a fist against the railing, rattling it. “You can’t just let this guy go wandering through towns willy-nilly!” “Agent Fowler, I assure you once we take stock of the situation we won’t allow this mech to continue roaming in this manner.” Whether or not this mech was an autobot or not would really be the deciding factor in that. Neither a Decepticon or a Neutral would be all too willing to take orders from him. “Until then we will provide assistance in covering up this incident.” Fowler seethes. The screech of tires alerts the base’s occupants of the arrival of the remaining autobots. The young scout tears into the room, flashing his headlights. His charge can be heard laughing through the open windows. Arcee rolls up next, Bulkhead close behind. “Optimus!” Rafael peeks out Bee’s window, a faltering smile on his face. He glances toward his friends who’ve already crossed the base floor toward the couch. “I uh-“ Bumblebee beeps encouragingly at his nervous charge, the boy responds with another weak smile, and exits the scout. Rafael describes what he encountered at his school. The injured blue mech he found in the crater. His crass personality, and strange appearance. The autobots tense when the boy mentions the mech’s lack of servos, lack of a face . The tank churning signs of an empurata victim. “...then I think he called me ugly, or really just organics in general-“ Ratchet snorts. “-he got up to leave, and that’s when I saw the autobot symbol on his chest.” “Then he flew away!” Miko pipes up from the couch, Jack bobbing his head in a nod. Optimus doesn’t acknowledge the interruption, opting to lower himself closer to eye-level with Rafael. “Can you describe his alt mode for us?” Raf relaxes, clearly having been expecting some sort of dismissal. “It looked like some sort of helicopter...with a pair of big guns under its cockpit.” “I see,” There’s an uncomfortable niggling at the back of his processor. He raises to optics to address his team. “Do any of you recognize a mech of that description?” They each shake their helms, Raf’s expression falls, dismayed. Miko rolls her eyes. “Told you it wasn’t an autobot, autobots don’t fly.” Ratchet spares her a look, “There are fliers in the autobots, the aerialbots for one, it’s just not common.” Rafael perks up, nearing the medic. “You think this mech could be one of the aerialbots?” His big hopeful eyes has the gruff medic averting his gaze with a shrug. “If he is, I’ve never heard of him.”

---------

A few more dents mar his frame, and a few more errors crowd his HUD. At some point his rotors began smoking, but they’d stop soon enough. Sticky blue energon covers his plating like a second coat of paint. Limping into another chamber of the mine Whirl subspaces another cube of that weird blue energon. Not what he was looking for. A quiet clank of metal far too soft to be his own, has him squinting in an imitation of a smile. “Peek-a-boo!” Pincers snap shut over his advisory’s leg, wrenching the mech from its hiding place, and onto the floor. It immediately begins begging, which was funny the first dozen times, but now Whirl’s over it. “Please, don’t kill me! I jus-just work the mines! I don’t-I dont-“ “I don’t care.” To emphasize his point the ‘copter lashes out with his claws, impaling the mech through its neck, and successfully destroying its vocoder. The mech writhes, grasping at the claw pinning it to the ground. “Ya know, I didn’t even realize you guys were ‘cons until I had already deactivated most of you.” That single golden optic burns uncaring holes into the helpless mech at his pedes. It’s void of any sort of empathy, just watching the other with the same level of detachment as a human regarding an ant. “I think Eyebrows would say that’s concerning .” A sharp kick drives his pede into the miner’s abdominal plating. The mech curls inward on itself in silent pain. “He’d also ask me how I feel, or some slag like that. What about you, how are you feeling?” Whirl peers down at the miner, standing his other pede on top the other’s helm. He leans his weight into it, humming as the mech’s faceplate began to split. “Speechless huh? That good? You’re a weirdo.” “No judgement here, I’m not gonna tattle to anyone about what gets you revved,” Perhaps he presses too hard, because he finds his pede touching the floor, having gone straight through the mech’s helm. The crushed pieces of the miner’s brain module fizz against his pede forlornly. “Whoops. Guess you’re taking your kinks to the grave.” He yanks both his claws and his pede from the greying frame, losing his balance in the process. Whirl’s back hits the far wall with a painful crack. The blue mech allows himself to slide down to the floor as if strutless. His damage report begins to ping at him again, he dismisses it as usual, retrieving one of the blue energon cubes from his subspace. He eyes it thoughtfully with his single optic, turning it around in the mine’s dim lighting as if the angle would change it somehow. “You think this’ll give me some weird organic disease?” The cooling corpse remains considerably quiet. “Yeah, me too.” Whirl clinks the cube against the miner’s chassis then empties the entire cube into his intake. He doesn’t taste it, he hasn’t been able to taste anything in a long time. Nevertheless, he makes the sound of smacking lips he doesn’t have, along with a hum, as if contemplating the flavor. ‘Grinning’ down at the mech he nudges the cold frame with one of his sharp elbows. “Better than the sludge Swerve serves.” He laughs enough for both of them.

[the-energon-hole]

Could I request some fall/autumn/halloween headcanons with tfp Smokescreen and Bee with their s/o's?

((A/N - I got stuck on this one, so I’m sorry if it seems a little off in anyway I had to adjust it so many times.))

Bumblebee

-”Oh, do you like that picture Bee?” You asked as you sat in an old lawn chair in the garage next to him. You were wrapped up in a nice warm blanket sipping a nice warm cup of coffee in your pajamas, it was a little self indulgent to do this with Bee, but the two of you decided that a night in could be relaxing and fun. No Decepticon Autobot War, no patrolling around the dusty old desert to keep watch for danger, and absolutely no one else but the two of you just sitting around and having a good chat. It was becoming a rarer and rarer commodity that the two of you would get time to yourselves beyond the little sneaks of affection you could squeeze in when there was down time at the base- it was nice to just sit and relax and talk to each other the way normal domestic partners were able to do, even if your relationship was far from normal. Bee beeped quizzically at you as he found one of your old photo albums lying on one of the workbenches in the small concrete room, you let him go through all your old photos… even if some of them hurt to look at and remember. The one he was asking about though was a fond memory you had from when you were younger and much more entrepid than you were now. It was a picture of you wrapped up in a warm and colorfully knitted scarf with mittens to match that were covering your hands, and as you had them thrown over your head there were leaves of so many varying colors flying around you in a messy fashion, some even sticking to your flushed looking face and to the dark beanie that covered your head. “That picture? Hmm… I can’t remember who took that one, but it was a trip I took up to the mountains so I could see the changing of the leaves for the first time. You don’t really experience seasons out here in the desert, so it was nice to be able to experience it at least once in my life.” Bee beeped at you quizzically again with a lot of inflection in his tone, and it finally hit you what he meant through his words… he had never experienced Autumn either. He hasn’t been able to see the world beyond the desert and the city the resides within it. It was then that you vowed to take him on the most amazing road trip once this whole war was over, you were going to show him the most amazing and beautiful places that the world has to offer.

-You sat cross legged on Bumblebee’s yellow and black hood as you examined a medium brown shipping box that was surprisingly light for its size. Bee beeped quizzically at you as you rotated the box in your hands as you shook it a little to try and guess what was inside. It was a package you ordered months ago and completely forgot about due to the fact you got swept up in an alien war between a species that consisted of giant robots- you argued that was a pretty fair reason to forget about your mail delivery on a consistent basis. Bee beeped at you again a little louder, which pulled you from you thoughts enough to chuckle and answer hks question- “Sorry, Bee, it looks like a package I ordered a while ago. I forgot what it was that I bought and I was trying to think of what it was that I could have ordered.” Bee responded with a noise of understanding as you adjusted yourself on the top of his hood so that you could properly open the box without making to much of a mess that you would have to clean up later. “Oh! This is the knitted Fall Ware I bought from that online designer I like” you exclaimed as you pulled out a plush looking scarf that was very soft to the touch, the next item you fished from the box was a sweater made of the same material that had a beautiful and artistic depiction of a tree losing its leaves that had changed to all different kinds of colors as they almost appeared to sway in the breeze on the still image on the piece of outerwear, and the last thing you pulled from the box was a cute little beanie that had a similar pattern to that of the sweater that was made of equally soft material. Bee beeped at you again as you wrapped the scarf around your neck in glee as you strokes at the fabric with your fingers, “These were fashion accessories that were apart of a bigger fall line by this internet designer, aren’t they cute? It’s a little too warm to wear them out here in the desert, but I just couldn’t pass up an opportunity to snag myself a set when the time came.” Bee didn’t understand what you meant by fashion, but he was happy that you were happy about getting clothes that were meant to match the season of autumn. Besides, he thought you looked nice with all your new pieces of clothing- the warm colors matched your personality in a way he couldn’t describe, it was like a reflection of not only the changing of the season but also of who you were on the inside. 

-You sat in your driveway in your new Halloween costumes as you watched the sun orange and yellow sun begin to dip down over the horizon. You’d be surprised at the fact that this small town does have quite a population of children, young children specifically- the ones that like to dress up in fun costumes and run around and collect as much candy as their bags could carry. You always loved Halloween and being able to celebrate it when you were little, and now that you were older and able to give out sweets on your own, you found it endearing and cute to see all the little ones running around asking for candy. You had the driveway decorated in a small way- a few body parts here and a few spiders there, but the big focal point of your decorations was none other than the bot himself, Bumblebee! He stood there nervously as the first group of kids of the night ran up to him and marveled at the “decoration” while the parents asked how you managed to accomplish such an amazing feat of engineering. “How did you get it’s eyes to glow so bright?” “It makes sounds just like a real machine!” “Oh, wow! It’s so warm and not cold at all!” After the night went on for awhile, you noticed Bee was actually having a good time receiving so much attention- you knew he would like pretending to be a statue more than he thought, olus, it was a good reminder for him about what it was that he was fighting for here on earth. These kids, these families, these people all called this floating rock their home and had nowhere else to go in the entire universe- this was a good way to not only see what he was fighting for, but for him to feel appreciated by civilians without giving away the fact he was an alien machine from another galaxy. so many kids dropped by that there was almost a party there on your block, but as it grew later and passed their bedtimes the crowd of people began to dissipate as they all waved goodbye to both you and the “statue” you let out a sigh of relief as your street was once again empty with all the houses that had light in them begin to grow dim. “How’d you like your first Halloween, Bee?” You asked as he transformed back into a car so you could usher him back into the privacy of your garage. He beeped happily at you as he began to describe all the kind things those kids said about him when they came up to place their hands on his frame- he felt so warm and loved as they spewed kind words at him in a way he had never experienced before. It made you smile as he continued on and on about his whole experience as if you weren’t there to see it, and it warmed your heart so much as you politely sat and listened to him speak with great passion and love.

Smokescreen

-You sat inside Smokescreen’s quarters that was located in the Autobot base doing nothing more than making a huge mess out of the project you had began just a few hours ago, but then again, the whole fun of this project was to get messy and mushy while teaching him the wily ways of humanity on the side. “So, why are you making a big mess again?” Smokescreen asked you as you sat on his desk covered in orange stringy pumpkin guts as you were trying to make the most traditional Jack-O-Lantern you could from this small one you picked up from the grocery store, you sighed at his question again as you tried not to touch your face out of frustration because you were still very sticky, it was literally about the third time he had asked that question- “It’s an old Hallow’s Eve tradition that dates back generations of humanity. Some people say that these little guys are supposed to protect your home from the undead, and others say they are meant to light the way for the good spirits to come and find you and give you blessings…” You explained as you finally began to carve into the surface of the pumpkin with your carving knife. “And… You believe that?” He asked in a rather crude tone as he cut you off before you could even finish your story, but you know he didn’t mean it on purpose- he just didn’t understand human customs and traditions quite yet, so it was only natural for him to think that what you were doing was rather… alien. “Does it matter if I do or not?” you shot back at him in a lighthearted tone as you placed a small tealight candle into the now hallowed and carved out shell of the tiny pumpkin “The point is that it’s tradition- and this tradition in particular can bring a lot of happiness to people. It’s a fun family activity that helps everyone get into the mood of the season, you know?” You light the candle and closed the pumpkin up  to show Smokescreen what it was that you were trying to teach him about. It was nothing fancy, just your run of the mill goofy face with triangle eyes and a jagged mouth, but it seems Smokescreen just made a strange noise as he just couldn’t wrap his mind around the concept as he looked down into the face of the Jack-O-Lantern you just carved. “C’mon, help me with the next one you big grump.” You snickered as he made a face at you calling him a grump- you pulled out another round pumpkin that was much bigger than the last one that could really use a face- the point wasn’t for him to understand really, the point was for you two to finally spend some time together doing the things that you wanted to do instead of having to worry about the war that was going on outside of these walls, and he was just happy to be spending one on one time with the one person who understand him… even if he doesn’t understand you completely yet. Hew was trying to understand, and you really appreciated the effort, even if he did fall flat sometimes.

-”Thanks for taking me all the way out to the nearest coffee shop, Smokescreen” you said as you swirled the hot cup of liquid around in your cup as you sped down the freeway to head back to Jasper. You felt a sense of comfort when you felt the warm liquid swirl around in the paper cup that was in your hands, it was a little sappy, but you knew that this little cup of coffee guaranteed that you were going to have a great start to the new season (even if you didn’t really get to experience it due to living in a desert climate). “Anything for you, though, I have to say- it smells a little funny but also a little familiar… funny in a good way, I think?” He responded as you took a big whiff of your coffee through the small ventilation  hole on the top of the cup. Pumpkin Spice, for you it was the perfect sign to let you know that it was the changing of the season, a perfect way to remind you that the rest of the world is experiencing cooler and cooler weather while beginning to prep for the upcoming holiday season. “It’s a special kind of spice that uses seasonal vegetation to celebrate a successful year of harvest- it’s a very popular scent on top of flavor. I use it all the time in the house as a candle because it’s kind of comforting.” You told him as you took a sip of your slightly too hot coffee- you might have to wait for it to cool off just a touch before you can really enjoy all of the flavors in the bitter liquid. “That must be why it is familiar! It’s comforting for me too… it reminds me of you, and anything that reminds me of you always makes me feel better.” You made an ‘aww’ noise at his words ad you put your hand on his dashboard. You could hear his voice stutter a little bit as he made a noise of sucking in air “I-I mean, you know- I like you and stuff but I- ummm.” He was stumbling through his words as he was trying to articulate his thoughts- he was so bad with words and it was so endearing and adorable to you. “You care about me and it’s very sweet, but don’t worry, just because you spill your guts to me it doesn’t make you any less of a macho mech.” You heard him sigh in relief. “Good! I mean- not that I think that kind of thing matters or anything. I mean- it does matter, but it doesn’t also… I mean-” “Relax, Smokescreen your emotional secret is just between you, me, and this cup of coffee.” You cut him off as you raised your cup a little to signify a mock toast as you took another sip of your seasonal drink. “Thanks. I appreciate it.” You just chuckled as you got comfortable in the driver’s seat once more as you opted to just watch the dry scenery pass you by once more- you reminisced about never being able to truly see the colors of fall, but that was ok, so long as you were surrounded by the people and bots that loved you nothing else really mattered.

-You jumped in your seat as you placed your hand over your chest in a way to try and quell the dramatic beating that you could feel inside of it. Smokescreen made a surprised noise as well, but his reaction was less dramatic than yours, which made you laugh harder at your own silliness. You both sat in front of a projection screen in his room just watching old classic horror movies from the 80s, you have seen all of these movies so many times as they aired as reruns on TV or they are always playing in the background during this time of year in shopping malls and movie theaters alike. “This is pretty gruesome! Why would those two teenagers stop in the middle of the woods to exchange fluids?! There is a guy trying to kill you!” Smokescreen emphasized as he was having a hard time understanding why humans would willfully do sexual things when there is a crazed serial killer on the loose. “You know Smokey, though this is a fictional movie, it has been known that adrenaline can increase the libido in humans- so scary things can make humans a little frisky.” You explained as you watched the killer hack up the poor teenagers who were screaming and begging for their lives. You didn’t really think beyond the words that came out of your mouth, as you were pretty much used to explaining things like this to Smokescreen, but when you caught him staring at you it made your face begin to flush as you asked him what he was looking at you like that for. “Are you watching this movie to… get your… libido er- going?” you nearly choked on your own oxygen as you coughed and almost panicked at what it was that he was implying. “Of course not! It’s nearly Hallow’s Eve and I was simply trying to get into the spooky mood!” you exclaimed as you put your hands on your cheeks to feel just how warm your face hard really gotten. “Ah…” He replied as he shifted a little in his seat on his berth. “Does that disappoint you?” you asked in a stoic way as you saw your opportunity to try and force Smokescreen into being more open and honest with his feelings. “I-I mean… I don’t- I don’t know. Yes? No?” He stammered as he too tried to cover his face in embarrassment “I mean- I like you. I think you’re attractive and I mean- who wouldn’t want to lay with you? N-Not that I want to right now! I mean, if you want-” You just chuckled as your face began to return to it’s normal color as you watched him struggle to find the words that were stuck in his audio box. “I know what you mean Smokey, I was just teasing you, you big goof.”you said as you gave him a gentle punch on his his servo- it was the closest appendage to you that you could reach to emphasize that you were just playing around with him. “Ok, good! Good” he sighed as he tried his best to turn his focus back onto the movie and to not try and think about the jarring conversation he just had with you where he nearly let his whole spark just puke out all of the deepest thoughts he had locked up in his processor. It wasn’t the right time to talk about that yet, but when it will be, he hopes that he doesn’t stammer and lose track of his words like he did earlier.

(02/11/2019)

[optimusphillip]

OptimusPhillip Reviews 16: Transformers: Generations Soundwave (WFC: Siege)

It seems that the old Micro Change Transformers can never get a proper update these days. Megatron can’t be a gun because that’ll apparently get kids shot, and a robot that turns into a camera or a microscope just doesn’t please the kids like it used to. But the thing that never ceases to amaze me is that apparently, kids don’t even know what cassette tapes are. Primus help me, I’m only nineteen and I already feel old! As a result, Soundwave and Blaster always feel the need to get creative... even when they’re marketed towards people who do know what cassettes are. Anyway, today we’ll be taking a look at Siege Soundwave, the latest attempt to update the classic communications officer.

Spaceship Mode

It seems that when Hasbro can’t think of a new vehicle mode for a Decepticon, they default to “Cybertronian spaceship.” As a result, Soundwave transforms into a flying brick with booster rockets and landing skids. At the very least, he proves my point about Hasbro forgetting the battle damage feature wrong. The entire top of the vehicle is slathered with silver weathering detail, as are the sides of the nose. It’s one of the busier examples of battle damage, and I’ll admit, probably my least favorite. At the very least, I don’t think the vehicle had much aesthetic value to detract from in the first place. On the plus side, all that sculpted detail I love so much is still here. I like the little antenna sticking off the back of the ship. Brings a bit of interesting asymmetry. Though I do question the decision to give him a cockpit.

In terms of functionality, it’s pretty much as much of a brick as it looks. You can play around with the position of the thrusters, but I don’t think that’s intentional. It feels like they just aren’t locking in the way they should. Most of the functionality comes from the weapons gimmick. Each thruster has a COMBAT port on it, where you can attach his weapons: a pair of matching cylindrical blasters with stubby little barrels. He also has his third weapon, a double barreled blaster that stores by tabbing in beneath the right thruster. All of their barrels are compatible with the blast effect parts, but strangely not the thrusters themselves. Though be careful when putting a blast effect on the “Concussion Blaster”, since the peg on that one is designed to slide in for a robot mode feature. Just remember to push back on the rear and you’ll be fine.

Aside from that, there’s not much to the spaceship mode. It’s honestly kind of a throwaway mode... but you do have an alternative.

Lamp Post Mode

Yes, after many years of fan-modes, Hasbro has finally made a real bonus mode. In this case, Soundwave is capable of transforming into the lamp post mode seen in the pilot episode of the cartoon, and to the toy’s credit, it doesn’t just consist of putting Soundwave into a T-pose. That said, it still has a lot in common with the robot mode, and it doesn’t really do much in this mode either: what you see is what you get. It’s more a fun novelty than an actual mode, and it is a lot of fun.

Conversion

Converting from spaceship to robot (or lamp post) is fairly bare-bones at its core, but actually does have some interesting tricks, particularly in the way the legs transform. Not only do the side panels of the legs fold up to hide the thighs, but the feet are cleverly concealed by a set of panels, which collapse up to fill the cavity left behind by flipping them out. From there, most of it involves flipping parts around the torso. The arms split apart and fold up from underneath the ship mode, and the waist assembly comes down from the back, and the thrusters collapse into a backpack. Take special note of the rear antenna, however: it must be folded down in order for the right arm to tab into place, and for his shoulder cannon to peg in.

Robot Mode

Soundwave continues the trend of Siege toys mimicking their G1 counterparts ludicrously well. Granted, Soundwave isn’t a particularly hard design to replicate, but they still pulled it off really well. The battle damage is, of course, still present, but it’s far more subdued here than in spaceship mode, since most of the spaceship roof is hidden away here. Now it’s mostly in his legs, with some scuff marks on his forearms, and my personal favorite detail: the cracks spider-webbing in his chest. It’s a clever way of incorporating the design feature, though it probably won’t win over those who still dislike it. Me, though, I like this level of battle damage, and would like to see more toys take the approach of this mode.

As far as other painted details, it’s about what you’d expect from a Soundwave: red bands around the wrists, silver on the faux tape deck buttons, a fully painted chest door, and some extra detail on the shins. Of course, the head sculpt is 100% Soundwave, though his eyes are done in yellow plastic rather than red, like his original toy. It’s kind of odd: eye color is usually the one thing Hasbro keeps from the cartoon over the toy, which makes Soundwave kind of an outlier among his teammates. Still, he’s got some good light piping, and if it really bothers you, a red sharpie should do the trick.

Siege has been a great line for articulation, and Soundwave so lives up to that standard. Ball jointed neck, universal shoulders and hips, with skirts to provide forward clearance, bicep and thigh swivels, double-jointed elbows, 90 degree knees, a waist joint and ankle rockers. Though I will say, the right shoulder does have a tendency to pop out of its socket. You know, as much as I found the antenna amusing, I feel like I’d rather have a secure shoulder.

For extra functions, the robot mode adds seven new COMBAT ports, meaning he can be armed up with extra weapons if you so desire. Of course he gets his classic shoulder cannon (or “Sonic Cannon”), which now has a jointed peg to serve as anti-air fire, as well as his “Concussion Blaster”, which lacks the midway extension, but still gets its blast effect compatible slide-out barrel. He also gets the “Blitz Charge Blaster”, which is unique to this version of the character, and which I honestly don’t use very much. Sometimes I’ll peg it onto his arm or something, but it just doesn’t feel right giving it to him. Though interestingly, it can actually be used with Siege Megatron to recreate his back-mounted cannon, in case the sword-gun doesn’t work for you. I may actually just end up doing that with it instead. And of course, the weapons can be combined to form the “Sonic Compression Mega-Blaster”: basically Soundwave’s two main weapons strung together with a gray rod. It’s honestly kind of underwhelming, though it’s length is impressive. I’m guessing this is the reason the Charge Blaster was included, but it feels like an odd choice, considering the two main weapons can just peg together on their own, and if anything look more cohesive that way.

But of course, it is Soundwave, and so it retains his classic gimmick. Pressing a gray button on his shoulder causes his chest compartment to spring open, with enough space to accommodate one cassette. None are included, however, so you’ll have to buy them separately. I like how his left hand has an extended finger, so he can actually be posed ejecting the tapes. One thing that merits mentioning, however, is that the chest door has no permanent stopper to keep it from going all the way down. Instead, it’s held up by the waist piece, which isn’t doesn’t clip in all that securely, so opening the chest may mess with some alignments. Oh well, it’s not a huge deal.

Normally, this is when I’d go into my final thoughts on the figure, but there is one thing I feel deserves a mention...

Boombox Mode (Fan-Made)

“If a Soundwave toy exists, fans will attempt to turn him into a boombox.” --Rule 84

It’s honestly not surprising that fans have made a boombox mode for this figure. Not only is Rule 84 totally a thing that I did not just make up, but this figure is so well-articulated and so accurate to the G1 model that it’s honestly child’s play to figure out. Of course, the legs aren’t designed to look like the sides of a boombox, and the thighs aren’t well hidden, but it’s still more than passable. That said, there’s one hiccup: the arms. The arms have no place to go in boombox mode, meaning they have to come off for everything to sit flush. Fortunately, they’re just on mushroom pegs, so they can be removed by hand, but it still means you have parts lying around. If you’re willing to shell out 15 bucks, however, you can buy a set of add-on parts that peg into the hollow parts of Soundwave’s arm mounts, creating a track for them to slide along. I personally do not see that function as being worth an additional $15, especially when I could 3D print a set of my own for cheaper (not counting the cost of CAD software and the printer itself, both of which I already have access to).

Function-wise... it’s a boombox. It retains the spring-loaded compartment from robot mode, but aside from that, it’s just a box.

Final Thoughts

If you love classic Transformers, this toy is a must-have. His official vehicle mode is forgettable, but his robot mode is phenomenal, and a great representation of his G1 self. In addition, not only does he have the secret lamp post mode, but he can also easily assume the best boombox fan mode I’ve ever seen on a Soundwave toy, making him an overall well-rounded figure, especially if you get the upgrade parts. But of course, what is a tape deck... without tapes?

[allspark]

Flying into the Allspark Studio at 9999 Powered Knots is the Autobot team that’s in the Zone, Road Fire, Sonic Bomber and Dai Atlus!  Is this Big Powered group of Autobots going to defend your shelves from Violen Jiger and his Decepticon Generals, or will they spend their time in jet mode making rainbows?  Tune in after the break to find out!

I start this review off by saying that if you don’t know anything about these characters, go straight to the TFWiki right now and do your research.  Go ahead and click on all the links.  We’ll wait…

  OK, now that you are all caught up, let’s take a look at a neat set of Japanese exclusive updates to…Japanese exclusive Transformers from the early 90’s era of the franchise!

   Road Fire

Road Fire is a solid remold of one of my favorite childhood characters and Titans Return molds, Twin Twist.  Remolded parts include the kneecaps, chest piece, the entire cockpit mechanism, Titanmaster head and faceplate. 

  Road Fire Vehicle Mode

Road Fire is a Cybertronian tank.  While he may not have any “Master” launching mechanism like the G1 figure does, he is able to store a “Master” class figure in his turret, which features a nice cockpit for storage of the head in vehicle mode.  I love the aggressiveness of the vehicle mode and appreciate that they maintained the double cockpit look of the G1 figure, which makes it appear that this guy takes Cybertronian and Human pilots.  I personally prefer to flip the treads up to give the vehicle the appearance of a hover tank…which would make sense for Cybertron.  Another cool “feature” is that the turret can be rotated back on top of the tank body, giving it a squatter, more Terran look.  This is a great vehicle, no matter the style you prefer, but you do have choices.

  Road Fire Robot Mode

His colors nicely contrasting white, red, blue and black, with bits of orange highlights in a few spots like the knees and chest.  He balances and poses about the same as Twin Twist, unless you have him holding his “Burst cannon”, which tends to make him heavier in whatever direction it is placed.  One nice “feature” on his robot mode is the chest compartment that holds the connector for vehicle Big Powered mode.  Pressing on the Autobot symbol pops open the compartment, revealing what I will be imagining as his spark chamber.  In addition to having a great color scheme based on a mold I already loved, I have to say the best bonus is adding this guy to my “Jumpstarter” team, which you can see in these reviews: Topspin-|-Twin Twist.

  Sonic Bomber

Sonic Bomber is a heavy remold of Titans Return Crossfire.  So heavy, in fact, that it would be easier for me to tell you what is NOT remolded.  Parts that remain the same as the original are the thighs and hips, the inner hip piece that has the hip ball joint posts, the entire arm assemblies, and the Titanmaster thighs and torso plate.

  Sonic Bomber Vehicle Mode

Taking into consideration all the extra parts in this remold, especially in the robot feet which form the back/wing section of this figure, it is not a huge surprise that it looks so distinct from Misfire, very accurately approximating the bomber mode of the original toy.  As a jet it holds together well.  It maintains the “Titanmaster” cockpit, though it is molded in solid black plastic, so the smaller robot is hidden from view.  Overall, I like this mode, but I do have one minor complaint. The original Sonic Bomber sported a yellow rifle, which broke up all the black in jet mode a bit nicer than the black rifle the LG EX version has.  It’s not a major issue, but it would have been nice to get it in yellow, especially considering how close the rest of the jet mode gets to the G1 toy’s appearance.

  Sonic Bomber Robot Mode

Takara did a phenomenal job recreating an updated Sonic Bomber robot mode.  While some liberties were taken (mostly in the arms) this figure is a nice amalgamation of the G1 toy and animation model. Most importantly, the reds, whites, blues and yellows are pretty much in the right spots, with the exception of a few details on the legs.  The chest piece and robot head really top off a spot-on look.  The QC on my Sonic Bomber is great as well, apart from the hips being looser than the rest of his joints, and the ball joints for the feet being a little too tight.  Still, he looks really cool in robot mode, he poses well, and gives the Autobots some additional air support.  He gets an A in my book.

  Dai Atlus

Dai Atlus is another super heavy remold of a Titans Return figure, this time being Black, er… Sky Shadow.  Again, this figure has so many parts it will be faster to identify those which were not remolded.  Original mold parts include the feet, knee/tread section of the lower legs, thighs, hips, inner shoulder assemblies, and the entire Titanmaster, minus the head and faceplate.

  Dai Atlus Jet Mode

This figure is neat because it technically has two vehicle modes, “Drill Tank” and “Jet”.  Both modes are very similar and require a bit more suspension of disbelief than normal for Transformers, but they are neat and harken back nicely to the original figure.  Other than the weirdness of being a jet sitting on tank treads, I don’t have anything bad to say about these modes.  They are what they are, but at least they hold together nicely, which was one of my fears ever since I saw the promotional images.

  Dai Atlus Robot Mode

Robot mode is really where this figure should shine.  Before I bring up the issues, let’s look at what does work.  The original Dai Atlus figure was the definition of a G1 brick.  I’m not sure anything other than the arms was capable of movement.  This figure gives us a fully poseable, “anime” styled update with a few cues to the toy details as well.  He also has tons of articulation (even more than Sky Shadow), which should make for the perfect recreation of a G1 character…but the new parts mess that up.  This is where I am less happy with how the figure turned out.  The waist piece blocks the forward movement of the legs, limiting his poseability.  Additionally, while the new part connecting the lower and upper halves of the body in vehicle mode provides some waist articulation, it makes for a somewhat wobbly upper body that just does not feel as solid as it should.  Do not misunderstand me, I love this set, and I like this figure, and I am really glad we got it…but this is the one spot where it really falls short.

  Base Mode

All of these figures can form base modes.  I have never been a huge fan of base modes, but I never had any Transformers that had them when I was a child, so they don’t hit me in the nostalgia like they might hit you.  They do sit together nicely as a set of bases.  It’s a thing kids would love…if this was a set that was cheap enough to let kids play with it.  Hey HasbroPulse…

Big Powered Mode

Not only does Big Powered magically shoot rainbows from its backside like a Squatty Potty Unicorn, it is held together mostly by magic as well.  I mean, magic, and a few peg/ports.  2 peg ports.  It connects with two connectors.  Basically, you put each vehicle in its “Big Powered Mode” form, then clamp Road Fire on top of Dai Atlus via that clip in Road Fire’s chest, then you peg under Dai Atlus using the 5mm port on the just behind Sonic Bomber’s hidden Titanmaster cockpit.  Two connectors get you this rainbow spewing wonder.   It’s both a mess and an absolute beauty to behold.  I think I love it.

  Recommendation

Big Powered gets 8 Energon Z’s out of 10.  It gives us a nice update of a set of hard to acquire G1 bricks as a group of pretty decent figures.  It is faithful to many of the important details, but the molds have downsides, especially Dai Atlus.  Should the downsides stop you from getting this set?  Absolutely not!  It may not be perfect, but it is fun, and will definitely be a focal point for conversations when you have friends checking out your collection.  Get it now, while you still can!

  LG-EX Big Powered Gallery and Review! Flying into the Allspark Studio at 9999 Powered Knots is the Autobot team that’s in the Zone, Road Fire, Sonic Bomber and Dai Atlus! 

[jimclassicstoycollection]

Transformers: Power of the Primes 

Deluxe class

Dreadwind

Well, now Titans Return has come toa close, and Power of the Primes, has now started. And first new member of my collection is the Decepticon Dreadwind.

Part of the wave 1 Dreadwind returns, but no longer a PowerMaster but as a Combiner; a heavily retooled Aerialbot Combiner. And I have to say it’s pretty cool to have the Combiners back!

Jet mode:

Dreadwind is a white turquoise, and purple jet; certainly not traditional colors but I suppose it’s safe to say Dreadwind is usually a Cybertrons jet, and not an earth one. Without the accessories Dreadwind does look like any of the Aerialbot Combiners, but when you peg his matrix/Combiner hand it does, kinda resemble his PowerMaster engine, and of course you can attach the gun on the wings, or on any of the pegs.

Transformation:

He’s a little more complicated than the usual Aerialbot; he is a reboot after all. Instead of the wings being part of the backpack they hinge down to the ankles. It does make for a fun transformation.

Robot mode:

So yeah, it’s a robot mode. you Know; pretty standard. The matrix casing can store a Prime core (or in this case a Titanmaster, lol!) But wait, THERE'S MORE!!!

Bc Dreadwind is also a Combiner!!!! Yes that's right after some transformation he can either become an arm or a leg.

[arcticfoxbear]

An impossible task, to find a single speck of life, one lone spark, in the immeasurable galaxy. He had a stolen ship, a set of weapons bequeathed him by questionable benefactors, and a very particular set of skills. None of his usual allies were available to him. Who was?

A broken femme haunted by musty ghosts

A broken mech looking for a purpose

A broken spark looking for someone to love

Separately they were the refuse of a war and the flotsam of a new age, shattered fragments of systems that no longer existed. Together they might be a source of joy to a dreary world, a team, a family. That is if he can get over the small fact that he hates them all.

So awhile ago my brain asked what would happen if Leverage was set on Post War Cybertron TF:P. This is the result. It isn’t exactly Leverage, isn’t exactly transformers, but it seems like it might be fun. Here is a sneak preview. 

The Agency

The simple, steel grey buildings on this side of New Kaon didn’t quite trust the newly reengineered power grid, much like the mechs who inhabited it. A midsized, grey mech nervously ran an optic over the set of doors before him. Unlike normal doors that lifted or slid to the side or irised open when you approached them, these doors were balanced on pivots and you had to manually push them open. The squat, rectangular office was different from all the others except in these manual doors, but none of the buildings followed any sort of code, unless it was their nondescript color, and the lack of conformity itself was camouflage enough in this place.

Open.

It was a single glyph carved crudely into the plaque attached to the door. It was the only mark on the outside of the structure. If you needed the services those inside offered you knew where to find them. If not…well they knew where to find you if the stories were true.

Oregrind fought down a shiver and traced his servos over the small statue in his hand. It was carved out of plastisteel, a fragment of building that had burned under phosphors bombs ages ago. The shape might have been a mech when it was first crafted but constant touching had worn it past recognition. Still Oregrind remembered. He remembered the original shape of the one he held, and he remember the one he prayed still existed in someone else’s hands, somewhere out there.

Squaring his shoulders Oregrind reached out and pushed open the swinging doors. He found himself in a nondescript waiting area lit by softly glowing blue energon lamps on the walls. A jet black mech with bronze outlines was slouched in a chair against the wall. He paid Oregrind no notice, intent on picking some sort of shrapnel out of his forearm armor. Oregrind felt oddly mixed relief and dread in his spark when he spotted the Decepticon shield on the strange mech’s pauldrons.

“Delta! For Primes’ sake! Do that in the back room. Not the reception area!”

The sudden, high pitched voice caught Oregrind by surprise and he whirled to face a small, pink femme who had appeared in a side door. A small, pink Autobot femme.

“Light’s better in here.” Delta (presumably) replied.

“You are getting energon all over the reception seats!”  the femme squealed, rushing towards Delta waving a clipboard threateningly. “I set up a first aid area specifically for the next time you got into trouble with something bigger than you-“

“Cool you thrusters Jumps, you don’t want to scare off the client.” Delta said with amiable disinterest in her fury and her clipboard alike.

Oregrind would have been perfectly content for the Autobot to not notice him. In fact he was currently sliding back towards the door, trying to get out. The femme snapped her head around and her pale turquoise optics widened in surprise and then a formal smile snapped into place on her faceplates.

“Oh! Do pardon me and my,” she cut her optics back to the Decepticon and they flashed with life and irritation for a moment before turning back on Oregrind with emotionless interest, “uncouth colleague. Please come right in,” she gestured to a second door that was labeled ‘office’. “As you can see we have no other clients at the moment.”

“That’s – that’s fine,” Oregrind stammered. “I’ll just leave.”

“Oh I assure you that we are the best at what we do.” The femme said with a sort of canned brightness in her tone as she took his arm and led him towards the door. “Delta Blade over there might look like he’s not good for much other than energon prospecting but he is really highly skilled. As for myself I am fluent is over forty-thousand types of code-“

“But that’s it, I,” Oregrind pulled his arm out of her grip with a bit more force than he intended and they staggered away from each other. Oregrind was uncomfortably aware that Delta Blade was now staring at him coolly, the blade he had been using to dig out the shrapnel now held still in his servos. “I thought this was a place for Decepticons,” Oregrind finished in a weak tone as he backed towards the door.

“This is a place for everyone,” the femme said, the artificial brightness growing in her voice and threatening to spill over.

Oregrind had reached the door and was backed up against it. He realized that he would have to pull the door open, putting himself closer to the advancing femme. The moment of tension was broken however by a loud bellow of pain. A massive orange Dinobot came barreling out of the same door the femme had appeared from. He was braying inarticulately but from the way he was holding up his foreleg there was clearly something lodged in his pedd. Instantly the femme was at the side of the charging Dinobot and kneeling by his pedd.

“Oh! Snarl sweetie. Show Jumpstart what is wrong. What hurts Snarl?”

Oregrind stared in mute fascination at the femme. The dinobot was a common sort, orange armor with two rows of dorsal plates for solar collection was supported by four sturdy legs and defended by a powerful tail. He stopped on a cred the moment the femme ordered him too and obediently held up the pedd for her to examine. A Decepticon shield adorned the Dinobot’s helm above his crimson optics. All of the artificial behavior was gone from the femme, replaced by genuine care and concern.

“This is a place for anyone with a problem and enough credits to pay us.”

Oregrind jumped nervously and gripped the door handle behind his back. He glanced over at Delta Blade who had risen and was standing beside him, calming watching the femme with crossed arms. Oregrind’s optics were drawn to the wounds still weeping energon on the other Decepticon’s armor.

“That’s not shrapnel,” Oregrind said in shock. “Those are driller teeth!”

Delta Blade cast him a derisive glance and strode over to where the femme was struggling to pull a fragment of metal out of the plates of the Dinobot’s pedd.

“Take care of our client,” Delta said curtly as he pulled the smaller femme into a standing position. “I’ll get Snarl fixed up. The boss’ll be back soon and he’ll want a summary.”

“Right, right,” the femme said. “He just stepped on a well scraper again.” She turned back to Oregrind and gave him a more genuine smile.

“Now, I take it you have a problem?”

Oregrind nodded uneasily and gripped the figurine in his servos. His faceplates twisted into a bitter smile.

“I can’t go to the Autobots in New Iacon,” he began.

“Of course you wouldn’t want to,” Jumpstart said, nodding her head in understanding.

And oddly enough Oregrind got the impression that the pretty little Autobot did understand.

“And, Pit if I will risk admitting this to other,” he glanced nervously where Delta Blade was bent over Snarl’s foot, “well, normal Decepticons.”

“So you came to us,” the femme said. “Word of vocalizer advertisement is how we get our clients. I take it someone recommended us to you?”

Oregrind nodded. “I need you to find someone.” He began, gripping the figurine so tightly his servos hurt.  “My friend. I need you to find my friend.”

“Well,” this time the femme’s smile seemed absolutely genuine. “That is what we do here. Please, come into my office.”