#rotr crimson doctor

[riseoftheradiotrons]

Turbulence, green is not your color

Turbulence is sobbing in his room again. Let's hope he doesn't get crying-fluid in his PC. Or let's hope he does, actually.

Crim looks at the message, confused. "I don't know how to tell you that the majority of his body is navy blue. Though... I have to agree with you, his helm is obnoxious."

[transformers-fan-continuities]

Spotlight: Rise of the Radiotrons

Here it is folks, the first fan canon spotlight, showcasing Rise of the Radiotrons created by sleeveev! You can find this over at @riseoftheradiotrons and also on AO3! This is a long post, fair warning.

Q) Give us a run down of your cont! What's it about, what's it called, what's it like?

the cont, despite being called Rise of the Radiotrons, revolves around five main groups of characters, and the mystery that accidentally intertwines all of them. a lot of false identities, undiscovered pasts, mystery that you need to read all the way through to really uncover. it also takes place during the attrition phase of the Autobot-Decepticon war, and Megatron and Optimus are... dead. but... weren't they made immortal by the Eternal Surge? where are they?

Q) What characters take the lead here? Any personal favorites?

characters that take the lead? hoo, boy, there's a lot. and be warned, this is OC-heavy. Wavecrash, Blackarachnia, Sparkplug, Pascal, and Ness make up the Earth detective team, the first to investigate the Radiotrons: Nanotube, Quicksilver, Greenscreen, and [REDACTED] (that is not their name, you will learn it later!).

Starscream, Moonkiller, and Pharma investigate a series of rust-related murders, later with the help of Eclipse and Terraform. the two they investigate? two hulking beings that carry a rust of sheer destruction of anything metal, Turbulence and someone known only as The Crimson Doctor. the third part is mostly with just a few characters. Dial-Up and Absolute Zero are in a cat-and-mouse chase, Dial-Up attempting to capture Absolute Zero and return him to the prison he escaped from. other 'bots come into this story, including Pylon, Airachnid, Suture, and Cyclonus, but they are not the main focus.

Turbulence.  this motherfucker. this moldy bitch.

my personal favorites? i love Sparkplug, i love my little gaming PC gal. The Crimson Doctor has also grown on me quite a bit. i'm gonna make fat robots and you can't stop me.

Sparkplug above, Crimson Doctor (Crim) below

Q) I love how he isn’t crimson at all.

oh you'll learn why he's crimson

Q) Ominous! Is there a bigger point to this, like a theme or some catharsis? Or is it just fluffy fun?

a bigger point to this? well, i have quite my fair share of trauma for being in a military family - being on the home front of a war i never even learned about until i was like 12. i wanted to show the horrors of attrition above all, because attrition is the part of war that everyone seems to forget, but is possibly the most dangerous part of it. everyone's killing each other over resources, dying of preventable diseases, resources are spread thin among soldiers and thinner among civilians. it also lets new, perhaps worse groups arise from the dust.

war was never about who was right. it was about who could live longer. and RotR, with its rampant killings that people can't even begin to investigate until their leaders are toppled from their thrones and complete anarchy reigns among military sites, is a testament to that.

war was the cause for part of the namesake of the Radiotrons themselves - the Great Radiation Crisis. war was where everything went wrong

Q) How long have you been working on it?

now, for the slightly less dark - it varies from character to character! while the official plot of RotR was established on August 25 this year, some 'bots go much further back - Pascal's earliest concepts were made on May 8, Nanotube's were made on April 25, and The Crimson Doctor's roots go as far back as a character called The Crimson-Eyed Doctor, a character created on Dec 11, 2019 (happy belated birthday, Crim!).

Q) You’re very meticulous with your dates!

i lose track of all time otherwise

Q) Give us a behind-the-scenes look! Show us a secret ;))

behind the scenes.

this is a mystery cont.

THERE'S A LOT BEHIND THE SCENES.

i will start with some no-context spoilers, here.

and, now for something a bit more genuinely secret.

whether this is a crimson doctor or a red herring, you decide.

Q) Where did you draw inspiration from? What canons, what other fiction, what parts of real life?

this varies from subtle to shameless.

my cont would fit best in an comic format, so it makes sense that i was inspired by IDW - and that it was my entry into the TF fandom! there is also some TFA bits in there, but the majority of it is personal robot worldbuilding, with a couple sprinkles of headcanons and OCs taken from Afterburn, a cont made by a longtime friend of mine.

other fiction i took inspiration from is mostly in the character designs. Blackarachnia was loosely inspired by Tawna from Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time (you went through such a good revamp sweetie. neon lesbian.). if you can't tell that Turbulence took inspiration from Cioccolata from JJBA: Golden Wind, i don't know what to tell you. Crim took less inspiration from a character and more from a trope - the "ever-obedient villain subordinate". i just sucked all of the homoeroticism out of it, and also decided to give him more of a self than just someone who serves the villain.

here's Tawna (specifically Crash Bandicoot 4), one of the big inspirations for Blackarachnia's design! we don't talk about your past sweetie.

and Blackarachnia headshot to compare, because her fullbody is still in progress.

i am sharing this specific image of cio, one of turb's inspos, because i BASED A TURB PIECE OFF OF IT.

real life? RADIATION, RADIATION. i have radiation and radioactive things and the PERIODIC TABLE as a special interest and it SHOWS. it's all radiation. even the names. Quicksilver comes from mercury, Starborn comes from all elements being created from stars in space, Nanotube comes from carbon nanotubes, and [REDACTED] comes from... well, you don't know yet. there's also the whole attrition war thing, for real life inspiration, too.

Q) Show off something you're really proud of, a particular favorite part of your cont.

this piece of Eclipse and Turbulence('s hand), for one

(the image is at the end of the post under a readmore, as it contains eye trauma, eye touching, and roboblood)

and another thing i am particularly proud of are all my worldbuilding posts! they look like textbook entries kinda but i really really love em. here's one of them, though there are many more on the blog!

lastly, my favorite character introduction post. if you know Afterburn, you may be pleasantly surprised seeing this.

Q) Ah, that guy.

fun fact about RotR Absolute Zero! his color palette is taken from a diagram of a human heart. here is the motherfucker in question,

Q) What other fan canons do you love and why? Would you like to see them interviewed?

Afterburn. my best friend made this i can't just NOT advertise it. go look at it there's murderers and there's an OC that's actually very inspired by not one but two of my creations (the original OC he was a fanformer of, and his altmode - I'd had thoughts of various greenhouse 'bots like that). @transformersafterburn​. please don't simp for Abzero. or maybe do. he's a better option than Turbulence.

Mirror Mirror. found at @transformers-mirror-mirror​, it's got so many epic character designs and realistically sized altmodes despite not having realistically sized altmodes this makes me go happy flappy and is also inspiring a future project of mine, also Shattered Glass!

NEW PRIMES OF CYBERTRON. RITO I LOVE YOUR CONT SO MUCH. i summed it up in "transformers ungunned" but THERE IS MUCH MORE GO CHECK IT OUT AFTER YOU FINISH READING THIS INTERVIEW @thenamesblurrito​

Q) [insert flattered keysmashing from me, creator of New Primes of Cybertron, otherwise known as TF:SNAP]

Thank you very much veev! Everyone go check out Rise of the Radiotrons! Stay tuned for next week, when we’ll get to see some Shattered Glass...

(aforementioned image under the cut, warning for eye trauma, eye touching, and roboblood)

[riseoftheradiotrons]

Dear followers, I give you...

CRIMSON LOAFTOR.

[ID: a rough digital sketch of The Crimson Doctor from the fan continuity Rise of the Radiotrons, but without his rust. he is loafing like a cat. end ID.]

That is all.

[riseoftheradiotrons]

[ID: A fullbody of The Crimson Doctor from the fan continuity Rise of the Radiotrons, without his rust. He is a fat robot, mainly pale grey and blue grey, with blue accents and large, square blue symbols on his right arm and on his side plating. There are two fins coming off of the sides of his head, the left fin intact and the right fin broken. His eyes are replaced with a screen-visor resembling a heart monitor. Two blue triangles are formed from the blue accents on his stomach. Two large semicircle sections on his back have the appearance of small wings. His upper arms are cylindrical, while his lower arms are rectangular, and there is a visible robotic joint connecting the two. His hands are pale orange, with yellow fingers and black fingertips. His thighs are thick and pale grey, with blue grey on the sides. Below his thighs, his legs and feet no longer resemble human feet, and instead have the appearance of a thick rod with tripod-like feet at the front end and a small extra support on the back end. In the middle-left corner are all of the colors used in the reference image. and in the lower-left corner is a drawing showing his right arm from a different view, revealing a large blue wire also connecting the robotic joint and the upper arm. Notes near the arm image say ‘side view of arm’, ‘i give up on this hand’, and ‘fuck hands’. end ID.]

The Crimson Doctor’s redesign!

(He still has rust, of course. This is a reference image.)

Now with black fingernail polish and a better understanding of how robot limbs work on Titan’s part. The symbol will remain scribbled out until the point in the story in which is it revealed, because Oh Boy, Spoilers.

His altmode is one of those little capsule bitches that keep getting sent out into space because capsules are the ideal space shape, however, due to some well-known rust problems, he has been rendered unable to transform.

[riseoftheradiotrons]

Crimson Doctor. Describe your ideal man or men.

He looks a little caught off guard. He certainly wasn't expecting to be asked about his taste in men by the askpad and the people sending messages to it.

"I... I don't know. I never thought I'd get that far. But... I do like a taller mech. Tall, broad, dark blue paint. Dark blue and purple. They're both nice colors."

[riseoftheradiotrons]

Crim, do you think you’ll end up happy?

He looks at that askpad for a long, long time.

You see tears start to fall, from underneath his visor.

"I hope I will. I don't think I will... but Watcher almighty, I hope I will."

[riseoftheradiotrons]

Crim, why are you alloromantic?

He opens his mouth.

Shuts it.

Sits there, staring at the askpad in silence.

The background fades to a galaxy PNG. He is sitting in empty space. Vaporwave music slowly fades in. He spins offscreen.

[riseoftheradiotrons]

A Discussion Around A Shitty Picnic Table With Popcorn Shrimp As Refreshments

Moonkiller was the first to speak up once the other Autobot sat down. “What is your name?” 

Then, Starscream, “Your real name. We’re Cybertronians, too.” He showed the large Decepticon patch on the sleeve of his crop top hoodie.

“Oh! I’m Terraform, a medic... ex-medic.” 

Pharma sighed in relief, “Good. We need one of those.”

Starscream looked at Pharma, confused. “Weren’t you a medic?”

“Yeah, and I haven’t been able to touch or examine a single body other than my own for who knows how long? I don’t even think I could successfully patch up a coursing spark at this rate.”

Terraform glanced left and right, not exactly wanting to remain in this conversation. “Why did you call me over here...? Other than for being another Cybertronian, of course.”

“We are searching for someone.” Moonkiller popped a popcorn shrimp into her mouth, then slid the container of popcorn shrimp over to Terradome. “Would you like a popcorn shrimp?”

He carefully bit into one, and his eyes went wide. “Human food is amazing. How did you find currency here? I didn’t see any conversion areas, and I don’t even think the conversion ratio is measured here.”

Pharma shrugged, biting into a warm cookie. “Oh, you know.”

“Forget I asked.” Terraform finished off his popcorn shrimp. “You were searching for someone?”

“Yep. Cryogen.”

His eyes widened. “Cryogen? He’s moneycapped!”

Moonkiller raised an eyebrow. “And?”

“...fair. I guess a moneycapped killer is easier to follow than a capless one.” Terraform took his sunhat off of his head, letting the holographic hat dissolve into thin air as he tentatively reached out for another popcorn shrimp.

“Go ahead, you are allowed.” Moonkiller shrugged. “We cannot eat all of this anyway.”

Terraform gladly ate another shrimp. “Well... I don’t know how much I could help you with that. Except maybe Cryogen’s medical records, he is- was an Autobot.”

Starscream immediately looked intrigued. “Ooo. That’d be great, actually.”

“I can’t send medical records over digipad, I’ll just tell you when we’re... in a less crowded area.” Terraform gestured to the buzz of the glowing city around him and the others.

Starscream shrugged, “We’ll leave once the streets start to clear, and then we can discuss more Cryogen information. It looks like he isn’t in any of the Pax system’s larger cities, so he’s probably on a smaller planet, and Pharma will have to refuel tors shuttle.”

The four continued their conversations and human food experimentation late into the night.

     As they left, two men lingered on the streets.

One was a heavy, hulking man, and had bandages over his eyes, nasty scars peeking out from under them. Curly black hair fell over his face, and he was in a large grey parka and white pants. He held a cane in each hand - one shorter, for support, and one longer, to investigate his surroundings.

The other was nearly as tall, but much thinner, his green hair pulled into a small ponytail and a cross necklace resting over his hoodie. An unusual gold earring pierced each ear, and his sneakers were clearly new but sensory hell to even look at.

“That’s my father they’re trying to find, Crim.” The green-haired man looked at the black-haired man like he was roadkill. “Didn’t you hear them?”

The black-haired man was silent.

“We’re going back. We’re going back to find him.”

“...shouldn’t we bring Eclipse?”

“To the melting pot with Eclipse. He doesn’t even have any physical descriptions of you, what the melt can he do?”

The black-haired man nodded. Robotically, involuntarily.

“Tonight, we’re finding Cryogen.”

Turbulence and The Crimson Doctor walked off into the night.

[riseoftheradiotrons]

Crimson Doctor and something good happening to him for writing prompts. No matter how small.

So, I may have skipped ahead to the epilogue. But at least it gives you some insight into his fate. 

~~Five hundred years after the main story~~

It had been many years since the war ended.

Bulb-Rust treatment developments had come to a standstill. The Crimson Doctor had some free time for the first time in who knows how long - he had even set a room up for himself in the research facility, he was staying there offering up so much Bulb-Rust and testing so many treatments that leaving was just inconvenient. 

For now, he’d taken an opportunity to leave Cybertron, now sitting on an asteroid. It was calm here, with none of the light pollution that came from Cybertron Original or any of its colonies. The methane ice slowly evaporated into the cold void of space, creating a thin fog of sorts that made him look almost ethereal.

He looked up at the stars. 

The calm sky, which moved so slowly, you didn’t notice its movement until the constellations shifted positions. 

So far from the unpredictability he used to know. 

He thought of Turbulence. He hadn’t shown up since he took the podship for himself, abandoning Crim altogether. He must be satisfied, wherever he was, if he refused to come back for Crim, and even deactivated Crim’s mind control chip. Crim didn’t know whether he wanted this fate for Turbulence. It may have freed him, but Turbulence must be living a much happier life than him if he went so far as to deactivate the mind control chip.

He sighed, thin streams of air rushing out of his vents and gently blowing on the fog surrounding him.

He liked these moments of calm. 

~~

[riseoftheradiotrons]

Crim, does it hurt when you’re mind controlled?

“No, it doesn’t hurt. But I don’t feel anything during it. So Turbulence could be trying to kill me with a blade straight through my spark in mind control, and... I wouldn’t feel it.”

[riseoftheradiotrons]

i'm working on shit i SWEAR i'm working on shit i just HATE LINEART

here are WIPs of both the Crim redesign and Dial-Up's design

don't ask about Dial-Up's altmode it's a fucking travesty

[riseoftheradiotrons]

Mouth for Crim?

“...many things. Many, many things. Most of them to Turbulence, but... if I had just one choice, I’d apologize to Eclipse. I can’t speak when I’m around him, and he’ll likely refuse to listen to me in the first place, knowing who he expects to talk to here... but he’s so young.” His voice starts to break. “He’s barely a metamech, he hasn’t been able to experience life at all as is, at least from what Turbulence tells me he knows of him. I’m lucky that he has no face or voice to attach to my name if he ever hears it.”

“CRIMSON!” Turbulence calls from upstairs.

Crim’s screen-eyes blip, his expression returns to complete neutrality, and he stands up from his seat like a man possessed. The back supports on his triple-jointed legs retract, letting him walk towards the stairs more quickly, and he goes completely silent. He’s lost any more ability to respond for now.

[riseoftheradiotrons]

[slaps Crimson Doctor’s thighs, rattling the soul in his Thiccc thighs]

Congratulations! You’ve shattered your fingers by slapping metal that hard.

He leans down and asks that you kindly not do that again, for your sake and his.

[riseoftheradiotrons]

So I’m good friends with @transformers-mirror-mirror​ , and she brought up the concept of a potential SG RotR, and, well...

[ID: a traditional drawing of a Shattered Glass version of Crimson Doctor from the fan continuity Rise of the Radiotrons, done in pencil and gel pen. He looks the same as regular Crimson Doctor, but with a few key differences. His spongy rust is gone, and there is one little white sail coming from each side of his head, green on the outer edge and white everywhere else. His green heart-monitor optics are now red. The ‘FIRST AID’ strips that go down his neck now read ‘CODE BLUE’, and a mauve rust drips from the top of his head and from his mouth, trickling down his face. end ID.]

I’ve certainly been entertaining the idea.

[riseoftheradiotrons]

My art program crashed as I was putting the ‘FIRST AID’ on everything, and I took that as a sign to not do that and instead just post him as is. So here’s The Crimson Doctor himself! What unusual hands he has there... Surely, there must be an explanation for that.

[riseoftheradiotrons]

Crimmy, don’t tell him this, but you’re hotter than Turb could ever dream of being.

This is the most genuine compliment he’s received since before Turb started mind-controlling him.