#primus vanguard

[askvectorprime]

Dear Vector Prime, do you know anything of the White Order leaders with the body-types of Dragonicus and Thunderwing? What were their names/titles? What deeds led to their deaths and entombment in the Ivory Towers?

Dear Alabaster Adventurer,

I see you’ve chosen two of the more notable leaders of the White Universe. Long before the seven colored universes were merged by the Primus Vanguard and their holy defenders organized into orders, the White Guardians watched over the inhabitants of their primordial universe. Their dedication to protecting life had led to a cosmos filled with planets untouched by the ravages of time. The bravery espoused by the Way of the White Matrix had allowed their mightiest warriors to face down even entropy itself. The world that would become known as the White Planet had long been saved from climate change, its pristine glaciers having been saved from the rulebreaker named Heat. Wherever a citizen walked, there was always a White Guardian ready to save them, from dangerous traffic, unsteady construction, and even bad nights’ sleep. When Primus first made contact with this universe, they were led by the peace-hoarding dragon, White Resolute Convoy.

For Resolute Convoy, the threat of the Specters was outweighed only by the threat of the six other universes. The heat of the Red, the sickly-sweet Purple… To him, once the Specters had been extinguished, the real threat would be the stains of his neighbors on his perfected world.

By now, many of the White Guardians had personally accompanied their counterparts into battle, and had experienced their bravery at first hand, so it should not come as a surprise to that there was little resistance when Primus himself, enraged at this disregard for his grand design, arrived in the White Universe to punish Resolute Convoy. This was said to have been the first and only time Primus brought the might of his Golden Power down on one of his own lieutenants, and it was only the disappointed gaze of Blue Brightes Convoy, Primus’ second in the duel, that saved Resolute Convoy from death. By now quite unpopular with his own people, the dragon slinked away into the wastes, never to be seen again.

With no named successor, one White Guardian rose above the others to take the place of Convoy. With grinning fangs and a cocksure stalk, Daringdo took the name White Daringdo Convoy, and the mantle of leadership with it. His horrific appearance having been carved in his youth to scare off evil, the maverick Daringdo had been known to loudly introduce himself as “uncle” or “grandfather” to his foes before demanding respect, then blowing them away with his Cyclone Cannon.

As Daringdo Convoy, he was aware that his watch was merely part of a longer chain of justice, and it was thus that he took a ward, Gallant, to teach in his ways. Gallant was far more stiff than his master, more concerned with traffic statistics than the untrue stories Daringdo Convoy taught him in order to find the hidden justice within. Perhaps it was some sense of his eventual death that drove him to take a student. During a particularly vile Specter attack, Daringdo Convoy chose to stand his ground and let his subordinates escape. Intent on never backing down, in his last moments he converted the Matrix Saber into its White Matrix form, and opened it fully, exposing the attacking Specters to not just the full force of the White Star Power, but encoding their entire spectrographic data inside its crystalline core. Despite intense wounds, he died standing. A silent Gallant returned to the battlefield some days later, and at the request of his comrades became White Gallant Convoy. His only hope was to follow in his foolhardy master’s footsteps. The data White Daringdo Convoy had obtained would be shared with the other universes, becoming part of the chain of events that would end with Blue Big Convoy proposing the Joint Matrix Strategy and the birth of the Precursor Universe.

For good and for ill, all former leaders of the Primus Vanguard are memorialized in the Ivory Tower. However, Resolute Convoy lost his right to enshrinement. Indeed, neophytes occasionally mistake Daringdo’s memorial for him, thinking his monstrous countenance proof of his draconic heritage. This is a mistake quickly corrected by attendants: to this day, White Resolute Convoy is the only commander struck from the records. Primus had desired a future all his own, but it would be a future with change, albeit by his own design.

Nonetheless, these two warriors are examples of the many ways justice and order can be interpreted through the lens of belief. I hope their tale has been of interest to you.

[pluralsword]

Nova is easily our favorite from these four because he is such a fun villain to write/read, like honestly he's an imperialist progressive and one of the if not the prototypical OG Functionist (not counting Shockwave's complicity here that's a time loop thing) and is a arguably canonical (trans)misogynist (he is at the very least structurally for wanting to take away people's wills and thus capacity to realize and actuate but we'll get to why he certainly is because of the Primus Vanguard thing) unconfirmed but most likely partially responsible for the societal doing away of gender in favor of androcentric 'genderlessness' (Shockwave is to blame for letting it happen but make no mistake this was a societal act under autocracy like singular individuals do not shape history alone)... and probably was kept informed about his head scientist and fellow imperialist schemer Jhiaxus taking Arcee's request for gender affirmation during that time period and then not giving her what she wanted/putting her through unnecessary and painful procedures and abandoning her...

This is the same guy whose colonial peacekeeper (see: cops) Primus Vanguard members would sometimes come back from deployment beyond cybertronian space using she/her pronouns and that was publicly known but the government did nothing to help make them or their own number who didn't join the Vanguard to figure themselves out understood (Anode in Lost Light #8 spoke to how she didn't get what the big deal was with those pronouns until she went to space and met other species during the Great War). So yeah you know what this guy regularly used and abandoned trans women canonically and we think that's something severely not noted about Nova.

And all of this is done in a way that is not in the framework of human history and our particular versions of patriarchic baggage within the hegemonic masculinity on this Earth, despite the fact some of the writers trip through alt-mode as a race metaphor/allegory (that doesn't really work for these alien robots because race is a particular colonial construct created for oppressive purposes, we do it as a gender/aesthetic erasure anatomy hierarchy instead but that's a discussion for another time) because most of the typical (trans)misogyny from our world in terms of seeing as weaker or property or things we don't want to say and so forth simply isn't there.

But other things from othering such as confusion over gender, sidelining and erasure of (trans) women from history despite the fact they were still part of cybertronian society during the Golden Age and onwards (see: Crasher, what Anode said about the Primus Vanguard, etc.), and thinking of e.g. Arcee as crazy (hi Blurr honey you did that and that wasn't nice) are.

So yeah, combined with the fact that this whole gender thing we just talked about is just one part of Nova Prime's evil scheming and the fact he's being manipulated by Shockwave and Jhiaxus at the same time while thinking he's in charge of the colonial Expansion, and was a Matrix bearer perhaps because he thought he was worthy and not because he was a good person, all of that makes him... someone we can read and write fanfic about without getting exhausted by the baggage that writing about a misogynistic person in a position of power would normally carry for us if that person was a participant in human imperial patriarchy. And so writing about or just thinking or reading about people resisting his rule or destroying his legacy just feels so very good.

Zeta is the counterrevolutionary reformer so we get why people chose him because he's also a different can of bolts but yeah just had to say all that. Because we want people who haven't read our stuff to get our perspective a bit and we kind of hyperfocused on this.

Anode, Lug, and Arcee survived these four scrapheads and helped destroy the empires and legacies they were responsible (including by navigating the Autobot hegemony), despite everything they went to because of them, and they did with the help of multiple species including humans, an anti-Functionist resistance, bots including gal bots of worlds that did not forget gender but embraced it, and with cybertronians who worked alongside or finally embraced them. If that's not dark hopepunk we don't know what is.

Of course our favorite Prime really is Solus Prime but if you list her it's like 'what do I do with the rest of Thirteen' and she was the least 'bastard politician' of the lot lmao.

*small note: Sentinel Prime is amatophobic, not just homophobic, we know this because he knows gals exist (he mentions Nickel for example in the Titans Return one-shot iirc) and presumably can put together than m-spec/f-spec relationships can exist but he's still a homophobe who is gay you are correct so emphasizing it makes sense XD

If you follow me and don't have a favorite bastard politician prime then shame on you, honestly

[bymyblackhand]

[pluralsword]

seems the energon universe is still working out numbers of years the timeline is, so, joke: this time, Arcee is 14 million years old! and so is Ratchet!! and they were contemporaries of Zerta Trion!!! /j think its fairly clear that this wouldnt be the case unless Magnus Is AS OLD AS KUP

this was followed by someone jokingly suggesting "arcee predates cybertron, somehow" and we had the same brain that in this joke scenario Chronarchitect and Primus were in on it, so she's the secret backup plan for the Covenant and Primus Vanguard (truly don't expect 3h or Gen Selects to show up in the Energon Universe and not any time soon but who knows the third confirmed transformer gal of the series is a really old venerable lady key to the plot of Void Rivals and has been in it since issue 1 so)

what we actually think re ages so far: really f'ing old: Alpha & Zerta Trion

old AF: Kup

damn old: Ultra Magnus

unclear but not young: Arcee, Ratchet, Cliffjumper, Jazz, Optimus, Elita One, Jetfire, Decepticons generally

???: Hot Rod, Springer, Golobulus

youngest autobots: Carly & Spike

those of you new to transformers who don't get the Arcee and Ratchet joke:

in IDW1 Arcee is 12 million years old, making her older than most of the cast, around not long after the end of peaceful free utopian transformer society due to the God War that almost everyone lost memory of. She grew up as a gladiator (not by choice) alongside her twin brother Galvatron in Protohex, during the squabbling authoritarian primacies that fought each other until the alliance of the Thirteen formed from multiple factions, Megatronus's army having freed her and her brother and the two having joined that military and stayed on as warriors of the Thirteen until Arcee couldn't bear the colonial conquests anymore (her brother was not of the same opinion).

Ratchet in the Aligned hardcover text variation of Alpha Trions The Covenant of Primus is presented as a bot who, iirc, was scrawling out geometry on the ground and lived in a cave at the dawn of time in a period of relative equality, back before the Quintessons colonized Cybertron and introduced the carceral state, police forces, and a bioessentialist hierarchy of alt modes

In these cases, Arcee and Ratchet respectively are much, much older than Optimus Prime

[brandwhorestarscream]

Oooh, just go for any and all timelines you'd find interesting for the son-in-law ask? I'd love to hear any of them!

I'll just go down the line then!! :D

So, timeline 1 is canon: Galvatron and Terminus are dead long, long before Megatronus ever even meets Orion Pax. Terminus dies from infection after losing his legs in a mining accident, and Galvatron dies in the gladiator pits after a rigged match.

Timeline 2, the Destructicon timeline, Megatron dies when he's the equivalent of like. 2 months old. So that's out

Timeline 3, the self imposed exodus. Because the warframes abandoned cybertron about a 100 million years ago, Sentinel Prime was never assassin mated: i.e. he's still alive and kicking so Orion isn't ever selected for Primehood. In this one, he and Megatron don't meet until they're both far, far into adulthood--roughly where the first season of Transformers Prime starts--and ol Megs is actually in a committed relationship with someone else. Any guesses as to whom? (It's not Soundwave, though they did date for quite awhile)

Timeline 4 is where we actually get our first look at Megop! Big bad is still the corrupt Primacy and the Senate, so while Orion may never become the Prime in name, he's still a beloved leader of the resistance. Except this time 🤭 he and Megatron are on the same side, leading together as one. In this timeline, Galvatron and Terminus fled from Kaon with their sparkling after being warned of the horrible future by Galvatron-2: Megatronus and Orion met when they were children, and were close friends all while growing up. To be honest, those two were the absolute last ones to figure out they were in love: everyone and their carrier and also their turbohound knew they were going to end up together. In TL4, Galvatron and Terminus have watched Orion grow up alongside their son and are very fond of him: they're perfectly supportive of their relationship and probably also had a bet going on about how long it would take for them to realize their feelings.

Now, timeline 5... here's where we get into the really complicated stuff. In this one, the Senatorial system is abolished before war can ever break out, and that includes the Prime as a figurehead. This is a timeline where all of the civil rights issues are solved peacefully: the Matrix is returned to the gods' Acolytes for safe keeping as a holy relic, and as there's no war nor anymore Primal figurehead, the Matrix isn't called upon to take a new host.

Orion and Megatron meet when they're teenagers-to-young adults, and this is the one with the rapunzel-esque situation for Megatron. Except instead of a tower, he's kept secluded within the walls of Iacon's main Temple of Primus (it makes sense it context I swear, but that's a whole other post of its own). Galvatron keeps him confined out of fear for his life: he's lived through so many lives and has been visited by his previous selves so often it's made him incredibly paranoid and obsessive. Isolation is his greatest love: keep Megatronus away from anything and anyone that could hurt him, sequestered in one of the safest buildings on the planet. As a holy place of worship and frequented by the Chosen Ones of the gods (aka the Acolytes) the Temple is under constant watch from the Primal Vanguard. No one gets in if they're not supposed to be there. It's safe. Megatronus has never set foot outside since being brought in as a sparkling and is extremely sheltered: cue Orion getting dragged there against his will for a research project and falling helm over pedes for this pretty holy virgin type.

...Again. I promise you it makes sense in context. I'll sexualize my religious trauma as much as I want tyvm lmfao 😂

ANYWAY. The first time Galvatron meets Orion it's hate at first sight: via several little misunderstandings he thinks Orion is an invader in the Temple trying to hurt his only child and kinda goes ballistic. Even after everything has settled down and he's knows Megatron is safe, he still despises him. He wants the little upstart to stay far, far away from his baby. Wants everyone to stay away from his baby, really. No one is safe. No one can be trusted. It takes a long, long time for him to be even slightly ok with Orion's presence, and even longer for him to accept it when a relationship does bloom between them.

Terminus, on the other servo, quietly adores Orion. Megatronus really only has one friend growing up in the Temple: the only son of a rather religious Senator, little Shockwave. But he can't visit often so their boy rarely gets to speak with peers his age, and it makes him happy to see Megatronus interacting with another youngling. Orion is polite and sweet and genuinely a good kid, seeing them spend time together warms his old spark. He's really not at all surprised when Orion presents his first courting gift, and gives the young mech his blessing to pursue his only child.

Timeline 6 diverges pretty late and much of TL5's canon carries over. This timeline split comes when they're already married adults, so there's no change there

Timeline 7 is just. Universal oblivion: there is no more universe. So uh... moot point

I hope you enjoyed this! I hope I answered your question ok. I know I didn't exactly touch on High Lord Protector stuff, but honestly it doesn't ever really crop up in Hindsight. I can say, independent of timelines and individual canons, they'd be very proud to see their son ascend to such a position, but would also be scared to death. That's such a big change, after all! And a dangerous position to take on 🥺 they worry about their baby

[swervesbarpodcast]

Come meet the characters of our DnD Transform & Roll Out! Season Eons

Next up, Stormburst Convoy!

After losing his friends at the hand of Shockwave he was recruited and saved by the Primus Vanguard.

Art by @hexamis

[incomingawn]

Just to make sure everyone here knows what I’m about: Her

[pandacronic-art]

Commission for LoonShy, a take on Splendid Yellow Convoy.

Ko-fi

[incomingawn]

You’re goddamn right. She is unknowable and terrible and the most beautiful being you will ever come across.

Yeah megaempress is funny but I think yellow splendid convoy is funnier. she's optimus prime but yellow and girl and she turns into a firetruck

theres nothing that makes sense on this page

[destiny2paladin]

This Season is a Lie

We are not being haunted by those who have gone before us, we are not haunted by the dead. At least, not the spirits of the dead. Those who are haunted this season? They’re haunted by themselves. I will explain.

First, Crow, haunted by Uldren. It’s not Uldren at all. It is the voice of the darkness trying to influence the Crow by speaking through the one voice that will get under his skin. Crow isn’t afraid of Uldren. He is ashamed of Uldren and the legacy that hangs over him as a result. Uldren's voice and words causes Crow to unleash a Golden Gun on Uldren, and all Crow wants is to get RID of Uldren. Crow isn't afraid. Not in the slightest. But he is ashamed. Ashamed of his past and ashamed that because he remembers, he might become Uldren again. His shame haunts him, not his fear. And his shame manifests with the voice and face that he is ashamed of.

Zavala, Vanguard Commander. Haunted not by fear, but by Grief. Loss and letting it weigh on him. Safiyah would never shame Zavala, cut at him, wound him in the way the Nightmare did. But Zavala believed the Nightmare, because he loved her. He loved her so dearly he was ready to give up his own immortality and agelessness in order to atone for not protecting his son. Zavala's grief consumed him from within. It ate him away. And the Nighmares chose Safi because Zavala would never be able to ignore her words. They would cut deeper than any knife a hunter could ever wield, and unless we helped him, Zavala would crumble under the weight of his own regrets.

Caiatl. Empress of the Cabal. Daughter of Calus. She didn't fear the Dominus as we did. She admired him, was mentored by him. No. Caiatl was angry at herself. Angry for failing Torobatl, her home. Angry at Calus, for escaping and causing so many problems. Angry at herself for not seeing through the betrayal of her own trusted advisor, which led to the fall of her home. And who would tell Caiatl that she was pathetic, a failure, a weakling? The one who taught her. Her mentor and idol, Dominus Ghaul, the Ghost Primus. Caiatl's anger at herself began consuming her and making her reckless much like the shame of Uldren's past consumed Crow and Zavala's grief consumed him. There is not fear. There is the voices of those who can get so far beneath our skin they swim in our marrow.

Further proof of this idea, that the Darkness haunts us with the most painful voice and not with our fear, is in the Lore Tab of Tresspasser. Ikora ventures onto the Leviathan and is confronted by a ghost of Cayde. He taunts Ikora with malicious intent, which given the voice logs he left, he would never do. Saint knows Osiris will be there as his nightmare on the Leviathan, shaming him, scorning him for failing to save him. "Why didn't you come for me, Saint? Why did you fail me?" Osiris would not say these things. A voice meaning to cause pain would. Misraaks, Kell of Light, hears the voices of those of his kin he has slain. He hears those who shame him for his violence. Calus himself fears not Caiatl herself, but being forgotten, overshadowed. It is why he makes such grand shows of himself. And for us, the Young Wolf? We face down nothing. We cannot regret our choices, because we have yet to do something wrong. We have slain gods. Saved the universe. Pushed back unstoppable forces. We rose from rust and death into a being that creates fear in those who serve the dark. We have no regrets, because we do not know failure, at least not in the way Crow, Zavala, and Caiatl do.

This season is not about being haunted by spirits. It is about being haunted by ourselves, wearing a mask and speaking a voice that causes the worst pain possible. And Eris? She knows this. It is why she knows how to fight the Nightmares. Because she has suffered under their weight for nigh on two years. Two long, cold years on Luna's surface.

And she has bought us time to strike back.

[dangus-doo]

I draw a pen doodle every day until I forget

Day 100: Magna Convoy/Blue Classics Prime (Transformers Takara Legends/Primus Vanguard)

Today I drew a Blue classics Optimus toy that I have! I don’t quite know his name, but I know that he’s a knock off of Magna Convoy from the Primal Vanguard toyline.

He looks good next to other colored Optimus that I have! (Being a knock off, all his joints are kinda loose, but standing still, he looks super stoic!)

I made it to 100 days! I didn’t think I’d get nearly this far! I’m really proud of… some of these drawings! (Not all, self criticism’s a bitch…) But I felt that today is a milestone, so I drew one of my favorite toys to celebrate! Thank you for sticking around this far! I hope I get to say that again at 200! Here’s hoping!

[askvectorprime]

Dear Vector Prime,

What became of Megaligator after he came into possession of the Creation Matrix? Was it ever retrieved by Megatron and the rest of the Green Order?

Dear Vernal Venturer,

I believe I gave you a very truncated version of events before, that Megalligator reconciled with Megatron to become the joint Green Compassionate Convoys, but I suppose I never told you the full story.

After once again evading the judgmental fist of his brother Convobat, Megalligator continued on his quest to kill all Megatrons. The silent Golden Ager Soundwave had taken him to the Green Planet for a reason, and soon it became clear. They found a great pyramid, its Bulkhead guards having long since abandoned the Green Temple in grief over the loss of their commander, Green Tender Convoy. All save one: a large BotBot (large by BotBot standards, about as tall as Megalligator), who introduced himself as Bulk Gulp.

Bulk Gulp showed deference to Soundwave, but initially was wary of Megalligator, butting heads with him almost immediately—each considered the other’s alt-form useless! What’s more, Bulk Gulp darkly noted, Megalligator reminded him of “the new guy”.

Under duress, Bulk Gulp would lead the two visitors up the pyramid. Translating from Soundwave’s total silence, he explained that the weapon Megalligator needed for his quest was contained in the temple, and they would need to get it from its protector. Heartened by his plans finally moving along, Megalligator’s confidence quickly turned to dismay as he found none other than a Megatron- no, the Megatron, hunched in a corner, contemplating the Green Matrix enshrined at the top of the pyramid. Megatron could only note that he wasn’t able to get the Green Matrix to open before Megalligator lunged at him, raining blows upon his face.

Megalligator shouted what he had always known: that he and his brothers were clones, and while Convobat had been born “good”, the clone “son” of a Convoy, Megalligator had been born “evil”, forged from samples the Straxus twins had stolen from Megatron Omega. Megatron said nothing, realizing that his millennia of ambition had left him alone in an unfriendly past, separate from his dearest friend. Bulk Gulp and Soundwave watched in despair. Soundwave had never been good at communication or interpersonal relationships, and his bringing the two green warriors together had only brought further misery. The Green Order had fled the temple not just in grief, but in disappointment that a former tyrant was to be their new leader.

It was at this moment that Sideways attacked the temple, the space biker having been hired by the Straxuses to track and destroy Megalligator. Sideways handily took on both him and Megatron, cruelly declaring that no matter what anybody said, they’d both always be monsters. Then, a voice called out from the Green Matrix. To be a Green Warrior was to defend nature and nature was not something to be defined by others, but by understanding both our roots and the skies our branches reached for. It was here that Megalligator understood his true power: to super-robot lifeforms, his techokinesis was control over life itself. Using the same connection to his progenitor that connected Convobat to Blue Big Convoy, Megalligator synced his Spark to Megatron’s, suffusing him with life energy and giving him the strength he needed to defeat Sideways with a Mega Fusion Buster drill attack.

From the Creation Matrix came a vision of Green Tender Convoy. He explained that neither Megatron or Megalligator were suited to be his successor. Megatron was a being of half-life, an irradiated Spark piloting the unliving body of an abomination created by his past self. Megalligator was a being of death, an assassin overflowing with energy, whose only goal was the death of his foes to prove his life. But half-life and living for death are both forms of life, and their duality would allow them to surpass Green Tender Convoy as joint commanders: Green Compassionate Convoys. With his blessing, both took hold of the Green Matrix, and lit the beacon at the top of the pyramid.

Soundwave could only smile. His was not a perfect plan, but he would see Primus saved. As he took a triumphant swig from Bulk Gulp, he knew that His will had been passed down.

[anon-e-miss]

thats a great fic! i was more thinking about like… under more dangerous or stressed circumstances. like the doc witch hunt? or even after being captured or something.

How about in the middle of battle?

He ignored the pain. Displayed on the six screens in front was the battle. They were holding on by a thread. Seeing a the left flank weakening, Prowl directed reinforcements to plug the hole just in time to see another line break. Prowl barked orders at the generals, castigated Optimus Prime and tried to weave order into the chaos unfolding before his optics.

Pain brought Prowl to his knees and he groaned as he dragged himself upright, bracing himself on his console. Prime's back was unguarded and Prowl ordered the Vanguard to close ranks. Through gritted denta, Prowl growled orders though he could hardly see the battle through the pain triggered static in his optics. His legs bowed and Prowl clung to his console as he tried to hold himself even half upright. There was an intense pressure within his abdomen. As if he was being rend open from within, the pain and the pressure forced his thighs apart and despite his efforts, Prowl collapsed onto the floor.

"Right!" He shrieked the order and the reinforcements swung 'round.

Prowl fell back on his elbows as a burning pressure build against low in his belly, in his array. He panted as he reached between his legs and found his array bared and his valve slick and dilated. As he tried to understand what was happening, an explosion shattered their lines and Prowl directed Superion to face Bruticus. Back bowed, Prowl felt a hard object butt against his digits where they rested over his cavernous entrance. Straining, Prowl braced his peds and pushed as the thing pushed against his digits. He screamed as it stretched his rim taunt before bursting free from his internals. With a shaking servo, Prowl raised the object as he craned his helm to look. And egg? He was... He was in emergence!

As Prowl writhed on the floor, he called out commands as his frame strained, another egg falling into position to evacuate his frame. There was no respite. Even as the second egg crowned against his rim, another wedged itself in his gestational duct. As he tried to see the battle, Prowl issued a final command before the violent demands on his frame became all encompassing.

"Holy Primus," Jazz cursed and Prowl screamed.

The largest egg yet broke from his internal duct and surged through his battered channel to strain his rim as it crowned. It was too big, much too big, it felt like something the size of his helm was trying to escape his valve. Jazz was staring at the ruin between Prowl's legs but Prowl did not have the strength or the processor to bark at him. Instead he braced his peds and strained uselessly.

"Holy Primus," Ratchet cursed and Prowl's helmed lulled. Who had called him? Jazz? "Four... five eggs. You can't do anything by halves. Jazz, get down here, take his ped.

"Wah?" Jazz's mouth gaped.

"He needs help pushing," Ratchet replied. "Take his ped, and hold it to your shoulder."

"Gah!" Prowl cried.

"I don't have a vacuum on me," Ratchet said. "Jazz, give me your servo."

"Eh?" Jazz asked.

"Here," Ratchet said. Jazz's servo covered the egg stuck in Prowl's internals "Now deploy your magnets and pull!"

"Aargh!" Prowl screamed as Jazz pulled at the same time as Prowl pushed the egg finally broke free from Prowl's frame.

[pluralsword]

Image Description: In front of a sci-fi polityscape back drop are a number of transformers who all have some yellow or yellowish orange in their paint schemes, except for one in sword mode for the reference. From left to right, Cyberverse Deluxe Grimlock holding Dazzlestrike in sword mode with an arm around Earthrise Sunstreaker who is a battle stance with two of T30 Arcee’s blue swords, and in front of them is Kingdom core Rattrap kneeling. To their right is Kingdom Mainframe, Cybertron Swindle, Legacy Jhiaxus holding a Matrix with a Matrix glow blast effect, a deep cuts mini of Optimus Prime painted as Splendid Yellow Convoy... and further is World's Smallest Bumblebee in front of Origins Bumblebee holding the Autobot Enigma aloft, behind whom is WFC Nova Storm with an arm around Jhiaxus. Last on the right is Cyberverse Deluxe Cheetor holding the AllSpark, and Nemesis Strika with an arm around Cheetor and a kitbash of the Mistress of Flame from RID 15 Windblade. End Image description.

Vanguardposting! a treat: the most icebergy and group (trans) sapphic Yellow Order posting we could have imagined from the toys we have. This is the Precursor World show we want. For those who don’t know, the Yellow Order is canonically an all gal group - originally led by Yellow Splendid Convoy - and after a number of convoluted events we don’t want to spoil, the next generation of the Primus Vanguard follows her footsteps, the Yellow Order led by none other than a Jhiaxus.

Suffice to say you could play around with this- different definitions of the word gal, being adjacent or close to galness, maybe becoming a part of the Yellow Order is like assuming a gender role for people across the gender spectrum- and maybe it thus/or also comes with realizations of gender. To go further- into what we like to write, it could be alien assemblage aesthetic ritually iterative free associated community of errant warriors with aesthetic overlap.

We think our small following can recognize that we Greencee coded Grimlock and Sunstreaker which is of course extra cool because Sunstreaker has back stacks, Grimlock is close friends with Arcee in Cyberverse, and Sunstreaker was a gal in Animated’s complete AllSpark almanac- whose art is based on Animated Arcee.

This is the Precursor World show we want.

[neonir]

LETS TALK ABOUT THE PLANES

D&D has a bunch of planes, these are essentially a whole list of universes within the universe, while most adventures will take place on the material, many will dive into some other planes, or at the very, very least will interact with some of their inhabitants.

Gunna go over a handful of them for now

Structure: What the plane looks like, it’s general layout

Inhabitants: Who lives there, what they do.

Main threats: What your tombstone will say

Notable things: Fun facts about a neat place!

Further reading: If you want some things to look into on your own time

THE BLOOD WAR DUO FIRST:

These next two guys *hate each other*. The exaaact reason behind this can change on the setting, but essseeeentially a whole bunch of angels came down to act as vanguards against the abyss to stop demons from coming up and ruining everything. But it turns out, being in a super evil charged plane for extended periods of time, doing nothing but killing and being killed will do a number on you. Needless to say, they all kinda "fell" and are now devils, holding onto their old lawful nature, but replacing their good with evil and remain almost entirely dedicated to just killing every devil they can get their hands on

Demons meanwhile just kinda wanna ruin everything cause that's just what they like to do.

Anyways depending on the setting the blood war is either done and demons are in an even deeper pit for now, it never ended and they’re still at it to this day, or maybe it wasn’t called the blood war in that setting they just hate each other. Either way this is one of those wonderful cases where the guy you hate and the other guy you hate, both hate each other more, and constantly kick each others heads in. It’s swell.

THE NINE HELLS:

Structure: There's 9 layers of it, each one is ruled by an archdevil. Each layer has a different theme, each theme is more or less based on the guy running it. Or vice versa. Don't ask me they're matchy is the point.

Inhabitants: This is where devils live. The Devil is in the details, because of this they make deals. Lawful evil. Bad guys, but when they agree to something, they'll keep their end of the deal. By the letter of the law, not the spirit. Again, ruled by Archdevils, which are just the most powerful (politically, magically and physically typically) of the inhabitants of that layer.

Main threats: Devils are rude and super duper want your souls. Also demons keep invading. Which the devils really, really, REALLY hate. Also each layer can be anywhere from "on fire" to "Literally colder than the antarctic" so just jot that down.

Notable things: Devils like to make deals for the souls of mortals, specifically because they can claim these souls and either use them as a fun alternative to firewood, or can have them turned into handy dandy devil soldiers to fight demons for eternity.

Further reading: Archdevils are each different types of interesting and have a lot of shared lore to play with. Asmodeus is the top dog and has a lot of drama history with pretty much every archdevil in the place.

THE ABYSS:

Structure: Depends a little on the setting, but it can be anywhere from 99 layers to infinite layers, but it's essentially a big roiling pit of bad. Nothing is consistent and the only thing it exists for is to tear the rest of the cosmology apart. It's bad limbo, and limbo's already a mess.

Inhabitants: Demons live here, yes, that's different from devils. Chaotic evil. This is just a bunch of assholes. Literally looked up "How to be a dickhead" in the dictionary and then ate the book and spat on its writer because that's literally all they know how to do. They're ruled by Demon Lords, who are just kinda the biggest dicks of them all.

Main threats: This whole place is pretty much just the worst. Everything here just wants to ruin your whole deal. The only organization is enforced by big bad dude's literally beating the less big bad dudes into submission so they can order them to beat up less bad big dudes.

Notable things: Many powerful beings have carved out chunks of the abyss to call their own personal homes. These guys tend to freaking suck.

Further reading: Really you're gunna wanna investigate the river styx, it'll kinda cover a lot of useful stuff about how these guys go about stuff. More or less these guys are just bad for the sake of it.

THE AXIOMATIC ANACHRONISTIC PALS:

So these two are just kinda "Raw chaos" and "Pure order" There's actually other similar planes that share a lot in common with each of them, Archeron and Pandemonium, but they're just kinda like "What if you had these two planes...but they were kinda BAD!!!!" And we've just covered the bad versions of law and chaos so screw that nonsense tbh.

MECHANUS:

Structure: A wonderfully designed infinite series of interlocking floating continent sized gears that are in constant motion, be it fast or slow all simultaneously fitting into one grand ever turning perfect machine. This'd probably be one of the most wonderful to behold things in the setting. Shame if you kick a rock over you might be sent to infinite jail.

Inhabitants: Modrons! The lovely little goofy mechanical box/ball boys who fly around with very specific tasks (Such as counting every single living thing alive in the entire universe) or just organizing things "The right way". Each one listens to the one above it, which comes to an ultimate point with Primus, the ultimate law in the realm of absolutes.  There are also some very cool dudes called "Inevitables" which are just the shit.

Main threats: Well, Primus likes for its shit to stay the way it put it. Don't make a mess. If you are here, be here the way it allows people to be here. Otherwise you get an inevitable on your ass and these guys *do not* fuck around. They literally can't.

Notable facts: Did you know you can go to get contracts done up in primus' halls to ensure legitimacy? Did you know if you try to break one of these contracts one of types of inevitable called a marut comes over and rather politely yanks you and the person whose contract you broke back to Primus. You may then attempt to justify WHY you thought it was a good idea to break your contract, and should it not be a good enough reason, the Marut will then proceed to beat you unerringly into a fine paste.

Further reading: Look into modrons and the plane itself mostly, it can be hard to find details on the inevitables so don't stress too much about that. Primus can be interesting to investigate depending on how much history you wanna look into.

LIMBO:

Structure: Man fuck I ain't even gunna try. This place is a mess. It's literally whatever the fuck it happens to be at the time.

Inhabitants: A lot actually! Lots of folk call this place home from the very zen and chill Githzerai and their "Live and let live" jedi vibes, to the remarkably less chill Slaadi, who are big funky many coloured frog men who vary from "silly frog man" to "Sentient Hole in Reality" depending on how far up the pokemon style evolution chain they've climbed.

Main threats: Well, the whole place is more or less non euclidean mass of ever churning raw chaos. Aside from that, watch out for Slaad Lords, which themselves can vary from "Funky dude with god like powers who uses them to wander around doing whatever comes to mind" to "Lord of entropy who wants to more or less bring about the heat death of the universe"

Notable facts: With some force of will, one can actually instill some amount of order into this place, which is how the Githzerai make their homes, literally just concentrating on keeping an area of it "approximately home shaped" collectively defining the place they live as what it is.

Further reading: Honestly the slaad lords are equal parts fascinating, hilarious and on occasion a little dissapointing. The history of the slaad is neat (Primus is kinda responsible for their existence) and the plane itself has been through some stuff. The githzerai are one half of the race that once gave the mindflayers an unparalleled beating before turning their sights on each other and then bugging off in their separate ways.

NEXT TIME MAYBE: ELEMENTAL PLANES, THE ETHEREAL AND THE ASTRAL.

IF I’M LUCKY I WILL NEVER HAVE TO WRITE ABOUT THE FEYWILDS OR THE SHADOWFELL.

[swervesbarpodcast]

Tune into the thrilling latest episode as the Primus Vanguard make a tough decision, while the players attempt to steal the Silver Matrix. But who can they trust when new friends may have hidden agendas?