#so here you have a painting that's kinda me out of my prime

[caede9]

did you guys remember that i draw animal art? yeah me neither. this took way too long to do but tbh i'm surprised it came out so well despite that. this is blackpine, who belongs to a friend's friend, @togebos

[tinydefector]

Every single day I think about your post about bots being freaky xenophiles about humans it is my Roman empire

Heheheh I'm glad you guys like it but here's some other funny ideas I have of humans being stupid little creatures forgetting that the bots are literally Alien robots.

- getting smoochy with one of the Bots and attempting to fondle them, you slap their headlight and their horn honks, scaring not only you but the bot themself, it kinda ruins the mood but it's worth the laugh afterwards.

- specifically an Optimus Prime one. Having to tell this bot to get a power wash before he's allowed to sleep with you becuase God forbid you have to lay beside him because all you can smell is diesel and it makes your stomach churn so badly. He will grumble about it but if it means he gets to cuddle and hold you of a night you can bet your boots he is squeaky clean. (Also leads to alot of bathroom fun)

- taking any of the speedsters to a show and shine, it's like a fuckin car porn show and the bots are just stunned. Rodimus is having the time of his life literally having humans touching every inch of him as they admire his paint and engine. He loves it even more when you get the bucket of water out. It becomes something he regularly ask you to go do with him becuase he loves having you dressed up all nice and showing him off. In more than one way the praise really makes him feel worth it. He loves having you lean into his engine bay asking if he's alright, asking to just let them know when he wants to go. And this bot treats you to a nice beach side date after. (He has every local show and shine dated) other bots who love this consist of. Tracks, Jazz, Mirage, Knockout(he likes making Breakdown Jealous. Get cucked in the back row)

-rust, it is ratchets most hated thing to deal with because of how corrosive it is to their frames, and trying to find something on earth that works well enough to clear it off so he can do surgerys leads him to the humans gifting him a large thing of Coca-Cola, it works just as well as clean cutter (cybertronian rust remover), when he realises the ingredients are very similar it makes life so much easier until he catches The humans drinking it and he nearly has a spark attack trying to make them regurgitate it. It leads to him finding out that humans casually drink it when they really shouldn't.

- the bugs and insect carnage left in the bots grills, windshield and just small gaps. The horror on one of the humans face when they kiss their bot and then that taste the nastness of dead bugs. Or them enjoying laying on their bot and then a spider crawls out of a gap, scurring right towards them. It leads to the bots regularly getting washes alot more that they ever would have on cybertron, and it's time each bot loves so much. Becuase it develops into pull sized bathtubs, power washing, polished and just proper care given to them.

Here's also a collection of new things humans do that become kinks or fetishes for the bots.

- cleaning/ washing,

- panel beating and repairs

-causal car maintenance

________________

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[brandwhorestarscream]

Megatronus talking to Megatron fic please?

Hell yeah lets go. Mostly just transcribed from my rambling in discord, but nyeh

Consider: the cogs they've been given influence their host a bit. Like how, donated organs sometimes have "memories" from their old bodies that they had before. Giving the host physical sensations and habits they didn't have before (it's a real thing, look it up)

We know that Liege Maximo wasn't responsible for orchestrating Solus's death in this universe, but it's still very possible he's still got a very dark and twisted streak inside him. What if D-16's sudden, violent resolve to kill Sentinel came from Liege Maximo? He 100000% wants Sentinel dead because he's a traitor and doesn't deserve to live, and his influence still on his cog combined with D-16's righteous anger came together into the drive to rip that mech apart, with his bare hands.

What I'm getting at is, the cogs have "memory" and influence, to a point. Optimus got Prima's cog, so naturally he stepped into a more rigid leadership position that was staunchly against purposefully extinguishing sparks. So, when D-16 takes Megatronus Prime's cog from Sentinel's chest, he gets hit with a blast of Presence from the God of War himself, and already riled up and angry he kinda. Spirals out of control.

The Spirit of War drives him to fight, protect, destroy. Raze that evil mech's influence to the ground so not a single shred of him remains. Unless his presence is completely annihilated, there's a chance it could seep into the cracks and take up root again, and slowly sink it's insidious fingers into their people once more. He cannot allow that!

Fast forward to that night and newly christened Megatron is still angry, angry, angry… until he falls asleep and his processor can get a much-needed rest and defrag. He dreams about- about Orion, about… the surface, about Sentinel, about everything. He sees Sentinel taking Orion away, sees Orion bloodied and lifeless falling into a pit of despair. He sees himself, out of his body, trying to save him but he can't. He sees his best friend looking at him in sadness and disgust and, finally, feels the sadness and misery he'd been stubbornly choking down suddenly force it's way into his throat.

...Is he awake? Is he asleep? It hits him so intensely he can't tell, and just. Plops down on the ground, arms wrapping around himself and beginning to sob with all the force of his broken spark. It's not fair. Everything… everything has changed, he's lost everything and everyone and- and he's still angry! Why does he feel like this? How does he make it stop? He doesn't want to be angry anymore, he doesn't want… whatever this is that he can feel slowly creeping toward him. This isn't over. Something bad is coming. He doesn't want this, he doesn't want this, he doesn't want this-!

He about jumps out of his plating when someone suddenly touches his helm, and nearly falls over when he looks up and finds a hulking, huge mech had settled down next to him. Thrice his size, at least, and before, that wouldn't have been strange. Expected, even. But now he has his cog, his alt mode, he's much bigger now. Even so, he feels puny in this mech's shadow, but his size alone isn't the surprising part.

Painted purple and black with a face that Megatron knows extremely well. He rubs his optics and shakes his helm, but he's still there. His vocalizer squeaks when he utters the name, "M- Muh-! Megatronus Prime?!"

He's definitely still dreaming. He has to be. But- But everything feels so grounded and lucid and real- but-

Megatronus Prime chuckles softly. "Sorry to frighten you, little one," he lats the ground next to him. "Sit with me?"

"I- um," he blinks. "Y-Yes sir?"

Megatron has no idea what to say. He sits a respectful distance away, hugging his knees and just o.o staring at him shellshocked the whole time. It- It has to be a dream but it feels real. Is… Is Megatronus actually here with him? Surely he can't be, but…

The Prime waves his servo out in front of them, and warm, gently burning orange fire materializes from nowhere. It floats in a ball before them, lighting the dark, shadowy night. Megatron can feel the heat on his cheeks, and the sensation is too real to be anything but.

"You… y-you're really here-!" He gasps and wipes clumsily at his still-wet face. "Oh- Oh my Primes, you're really-" Promptly slaps a servo over his mouth, optics wide. "I- I'm sorry, I didn't mean to swear, I know we shouldn't use the Primes names in vain I just- y-you're here and- and-"

Megatronus laughs and shakes his helm fondly, reaching over to gently pat his helm. "Peace, youngling, peace. I take no offense." Prima, on the other hand… ooh, how he hated hearing their children swear. It amused the god of war, more than anything. He gave the little silver mech a thoughtful once over. "You have my cog." It's not a question.

Megatron flinches and brings both servos to to his chest. "I- I'm sorry!" He means it too, hanging his helm and looking ashamed. "I- I was just- he took it, he killed you and he took and I- I couldn't just let him keep it," it was impulsive, he would admit, swapping it for the cog already in his own chassis. His voice lowers to a shameful whisper. "D'you… w-want it back?" He doesn't want to go back to being cogless, but…

Luckily, Megatronus shakes his helm. "No, no, keep it. I've no use for it anymore. Heh," a humorless sound that could almost pass as a sarcastic laugh. "Though, I should ask. Wouldn't you rather have yours?"

"What do you mean?"

He holds out one huge servo, palm flat, and an image flickers to life, misty and glowing blue similar to the visions Alpha Trion had shown them. It's simple this time, just a standard transformation cog. But… Megatron chokes. "You mean-?! Th-This one is-?"

"Yours," the Prime nods. "We keep track. We've kept track of every cog he stole, and whom it belongs to. If you want yours, I'll grant it to you."

He's stunned silent, mouth hanging open and entranced by the vision. He… he could have it back? He'd come to accept that his cog was gone, that that monster had molested his newborn body and plucked it right from his chassis, that a part of him had been stolen and desecrated before he even opened his optics for the first time. A hurt that could never heal… a wound he'd carry til the day he died.

But now, Megatronus Prime, his greatest hero and idol, is talking to him and offering it back. All he can do is sit there with his jaw slack.

The god of war seems amused, laughing for real this time and reclining back against the solid metal behind him. He reaches out and wraps one arm around the youngling, who squeaks in surprise, and pulls him close against his side. "You don't have to decide now," he promises. "You can keep mine, if you like the way it feels. And if you change your mind someday, that's fine too."

He's not at all expecting the sudden sob that bubbles up from his side, and looks down in surprise. Little namesake suddenly curls against him, shaken by the first positive physical contact he's had in multiple days, beginning to weep with earnest against his hero's side.

"Wh-"

"I'm sorry!" The words burst out of him in a rasping voice heavily laden with sorrow and wet sobs. "I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm so so sorry! I- I didn't mean to, it wasn't supposed to happen like that, I didn't wanna hurt him, I- I didn't mean to I was just so mad-"

This… really isn't Megatronus's forte. He doesn't know what to say, so opts not to say much at all, instead gently draping his arm around the young, miserable bot and just letting him huddle beneath him, weeping brokenly.

"I know, little one… I know. It's alright-"

"It's NOT alright!" He wails. "Nothing is alright! I wanna go home but I don't have a home anymore, and- and Orion hates me and everyone probably hates me and- and I killed my best friend and I took your cog without asking and," he takes a great, heaving, wheezing invent. "And I'm just like Sentinel!"

Megatronus goes from awkward to actively panicking in about 2 seconds. Ok, tears he can deal with. Let them cry it out and release all the stress and they'll be fine afterwards. That's how it goes. But… super deep seated self doubt and worry you've turned into the monster you just defeated? That's- That's really not something he knows how to deal with. Megatronus Prime does not know how to deal with kids.

"...wait, no-" he gives the little one a gentle shake. "No, no, that isn't true-" he continued to wail and cry like the world is ending, like his spark really has shattered into pieces. "You're not- you didn't intend to hurt your friend and wouldn't have if it was up to you, and--forgive me, Mother--Sentinel needed to be dealt with. "You've nothing in common with that mech aside from the cog you both hosted in your chest-"

That just seems to make him cry harder, and Megatronus flounders. What to do, what to do?! Um, uh-

"Oh!" He reaches up with both hands, undoing clasps and deactivating invisible magnets. "Here! Do you want to try on my mask?"

That gets him. Megatron raises his helm suddenly, still hiccupping, tears still streaming down his cheeks. His mouth is still trembling, but he's no longer wailing.

"Wh-" he whimpers softly. "What….?"

Megatronus undoes the last clasp and removes his giant purple mask, lowering it slowly and giving the little silver mech a somewhat sheepish look, red optics peering over the rim. "Do you… want to try it on?"

Megatron blinks twice, then thrice. "That's a mask?"

The god of war nods, lowering it further. He has an unexpectedly pretty, almost delicate face. "My Solus made it for me," he admits, sounding almost shy. "To tell the truth, I… ahem, I get… rather anxious when people see my face. Solus made this for me, quite a long time ago." it's huge when he reaches to offer it to Megatron, nearly the size and width of a small table.

Megatron's hands are still shaking as it's laid across his lap, pinning him to the ground end eliciting an "oof!" of surprise. It's heavy! It weighs more than the miners did when they were cogless! Probably still weighs more than some of them! He runs his hands over the smooth, tempered metal, awed by its quality and sheer size.

"You wear this all the time?" He asks, starstruck.

"Indeed. I never take it off, in fact." this was a special occasion, though.

"I… we thought this was your face," Megatron admits, nearly sheepish. He reaches up to touch his chassis, where the likeness of the god's mask is still etched painfully into the metal there, thanks to Sentinel. He steals a glance up at Megatronus, unable to quite believe what he's seeing. "Everything in the datafiles and history stuff, you're always wearing it. We- We thought you didn't have a mouth!"

Megatronus smiles at him, amused, and for the first time in days Megatron manages to smile, too.

"…can I really, uh…?"

The god of war snaps his fingers and the mask shrinks obediently, til it's just the right size. "Go ahead, youngling."

He exhales nervously and slips it on, fumbling unsurely with the clasps. It smells like sulfur and high quality energon, and something about it makes his whole body prickle.

After he's got it on, he looks up at Megatronus shyly, fidgeting. The world looks different from in here: his peripheral vision is cut off, and everything is framed with the shape of the optical slits. "Well…?" He wrings his servos nervously. "How do I look…?"

"…heh," Megatronus lays one servo on his helm, jostling him gently. "Like a little champion of war." He may be called Megatron now but he's still a child at spark, right now. He's painfully young, and Megatronus Prime is worried for him.

When Megatron wishes he had a mirror so he could see what he looks like with the mask on, and Megatronus is all too glad to grant that wish. It's good to see him less emotionally devastated, but soon after the little silver mechling settles back against his side. "I don't… wanna go to war," he admits forlornly, hugging his knees. "I… I wanna go home. I don't want a war."

"That means you're smart," Megatronus tells him seriously, which earns him a confused look. "I preside over war and reap power from it, but only a fool hopes for war. War incurs heavy loss no matter who you are, and those who actively seek it seek their own destruction in turn. Tis my duty to govern that domain and stand as a guardian over those who must do battle." The Patron Deity of Warriors, Megatron recalls easily. The Guardian Prime of all who take up arms.

If the god of war himself encourages not to seek his domain, it's probably best to listen, no? He sags helplessly against the divine mech's side, feeling helpless.

"You said you want to go home?" Megatronus asks, and Megatron nods wordlessly. "Then… perhaps you should."

"I can't! Orion said- he's a Prime now, and he doesn't want me there, and- and I said I'd never trust another leader again-"

"You trust me, don't you?"

It's plain to see how much the kid idolizes him, and trusts him enough to, at the very least, cry his spark out and air his grievances. That certainly speaks of trust.

"Well- yes but, that's different!" Megatronus Prime isn't just some leader, he's one of the 13! One of the gods! Trusting him is different than trusting some uppity mortal that thinks they're better than everyone else and is willing to suck their lives away for their own benefit! Megatronus Prime isn't like that-

"Do you think your friend Orion is like that?"

"No!" The reflexive leap to defend his friend comes before he can really process it. "No of course not, he's-"

Megatron covers his mouth. Oh. Slag.

"Perhaps," the Prime reaches down and gently removes his mask from Megatron's face, gently lifting his chin with one finger. "A better vow would be to no longer place blind trust in those who lead. Don't deny yourself faith or hope, little one. Both are important in order for you or anyone to have a future."

A future. Right. He sighs, shoulders falling to their lowest point and averting his optics. What future? He's stranded on the treacherous surface with a bunch of bloodthirsty strangers, and if he shows even an ounce of weakness that screechy seeker is going to be jumping for his throat. If not him, then one of the others, surely. He couldn't have any sort of comfortable or trustworthy future with people like that surrounding him. Every friend he's ever had, all of his batchmates, his siblings, his family, they're all back in Iacon. The mecha in the high guard hold no love for him, nor do the ones he's left behind. None of them ever will again. Even Orion, his... his everything, even he surely hates him now.

"Do you truly believe that, little one?"

"Yes! Wouldn't you?! I- I killed him!" Accidentally, and because Orion threw himself in front of his weapon, but still. "Sentinel Prime killed you, don't you hate him?" internally, Dee hates himself for hurting Orion. Surely Orion must hate him as much as he hates him, right?

"Sentinel," Megatronus spits the name in a vengeful rasp. "Murdered me in cold blood, as he did several of my siblings. We're still deciding what to do with him. Orion Pax threw himself in front of your weapon and was caught in the crossfire. You did not seek to murder him, nor did you seek to harm him. Twas an accident, nothing more, and not deserving of hatred. Not the hatred you hold for yourself, nor the hatred you presume he holds for you."

"But..." Megatron shrinks in his shadow, tears beading along the bottom lid of his optics. "But..."

"Hush," the Prime's command is firm but still very gentle. "You want to go home. You don't wish for war. Then I ask you, little one: what must you do to achieve those goals?"

[monstertreden]

⊹ ࣪EVERYTHING I FIGHT FOR ⊹ ࣪

-Reader: GN reader (platonic) -TW: none -Character: Optimus Prime (Transformers series) -Summary: Optimus is the best sire anyone could ask for, except when he must leave on various missions away from Cybertron. It was during those times that the absence felt so unbearable that his sparkling would sneak onto the ship... -Word count : 1747 -A/N: S/N = Sparkling Name I had this in my drafts for a while now, I've been kinda busy lately,,damn

Long warm shadows coated the landing Ark, its familiar silhouette descending towards Cybertronian grounds. The hum of engines quieted as the first bot to step onto the ground was none other than Optimus Prime himself. Exhausted, he let out a sigh of relief. After all those endless missions and difficult decisions, Prime could finally step his pedes home.

Yet, before he could even make his announcement, a streak of bright, young energy burst from the crowd of Autobots waiting to greet him.

“Ack-- hey watch it!”

 “Ouch- they stepped on my pedes--"

“My new paint job! noooo-"

 A sparkling, one that could barely reach his stabilizing servos, dashed toward him at full speed, their optics wide with excitement. “Sire!”  Their voice rose above the crowd's murmurs to get his attention. Arms open wide, they barrelled toward him like an unstoppable force.

“Sire!” They jumped up and down as they neared. Surprised but overjoyed, Optimus stretched his arms just in time to catch them before they could slam themself against his legs. After scooping them up into a gentle but firm embrace, he then lifted them high into the air!

“Little one” At the contagious laugh of his sparkling his optics lit up with genuine joy " There you are”

“Sire! Sire! You’ve come back!” They hugged his digit tightly, beaming with excitement for his arrival, he was finally home!  Primus- their grip on his arms was utterly strong for their size, an unspoken plea for reassurance.

Looking at his sparkling, he replied softly  “Yes, little one, I’ve come back.” He gently stroked their helm with one of his servos.

"Sometimes duty calls, but rest assured, I always come back here, to you-”

The smaller bot nestled into his embrace,  as if every mission, every farewell, could take him away from them. “-That’s a promise." For Optimus, the battles and long journeys seemed worth it, just to feel them there, thanking Primus that they were safe in his arms.

“ What did you do this time?? Did you help the humans? Kicked bad guys???-” They started yapping about, excited to hear more of their sire’s stories. “- I want to join you too!” Eager to hear more, they wiggled slightly in his hold.

“Patience” Optimus paused their rambling  “You have plenty of time to grow strong and learn. But for now...your most important job is staying safe and keeping that bright spark of yours shining.”

“But sireee, I can fight those scarp-heads! I can help you!” They insisted.

“Language first, S/N” Optimus raised a brow plate, which made the sparkling freeze for a nanoclick, immediately crossing their arms in a pout. “But they are scrap-heads…”

The Prime managed to chuckle “Even so, you must remeber, words carry as much power as actions. Use them wisely.” He continued, “I have no doubt you’ll become a force to be reckoned with someday. But for now, the best way you can help me is by being here learning, experiencing and assisting in the growth of Cybertron. It needs your help, you, see?” Turning slightly, Optimus gestured outward, drawing his youngling’s attention away from his chassis and instead toward the bustling scenery around them.

── .✦

It had only been a short while since sire and sparkling were catching up and enjoying each other's company when the base's alarm blared through the corridors, alerting everyone of a new mission ahead, much to Optimus's dismay. He found it difficult to look down at his sparkling, knowing what he had to say next.

"Duty calls,sweetspark” Voice tinged with regret, he gently set them down on the floor.

“But you’ve promised you’d stay longer!”

Optimus paused at their protest, his optics flickering with guilt. He knelt, placing his large servo on their shoulder as the sparkling did not dare to separate themselves from their sire’s leg.

"I know, I know, I promised.” Each word hung heavy with regret. “But sometimes, things don't go as we planned. Something has come up, and I have to leave again." Optimus looked at them, his spitting image. He knew how much you hated being apart and how frightened and antsy you became when he was away. "I know you're scared, my little one. But I trust you to be brave while I'm gone. Can you do that for me?"

As his sparkling nod, his optics flickered with pride and gratitude as he leaned closer.

"That's my brave one."

He gave them one last reassuring pat on the helm before turning around and transforming into his truck mode, the engine roaring to life as he prepared to embark on the ship.

── .✦

As the last few preparations were underway, Optimus and the other Autobots were busy securing the final cargo in the Ark’s storage hold, ensuring everything was in order: countless barrels of energon, essential for their long journey ahead. Little did they know though that one of those barrels held more than just fuel…

Just a little longer, they thought, giggling to themselves as the ship’s engines roared to life. In the tight space, their small frame curled up against the walls of the energon-filled barrel, ready to wait for just the right moment to make their presence known.

Their optics flickered with excitement as they peered through a tiny crack in the lid. Tiny servos gripped the edges, the promise of adventure ahead sending shots of adrenaline into their circuit. For too long, they had to watch him leave. Every mission ended in farewells, and every farewell seemed to stretch longer and longer. But this time, they had enough. They wanted to be by his side, to prove themself to him and the Autobots.

Unfortunately, S/N  miscalculated something… still blissfully munching on the energon cube, they hadn’t realized how loud the sound was as they eagerly devoured it. Who could blame them? After hours inside the barrel, the hunger had taken over.

Optimus, who was nearby on patrol, went on high alert at the unexpected noise. His optics narrowed slightly, his posture shifting as he tried to assess the situation. He hadn't expected to hear anything like this. whatever it was... Carefully, he wrapped his fingers around the edges of the barrel and gave it a slight nudge. With a smooth motion, the cap came off.

Inside the barrel, the small sparkling froze mid-chew, their optics wide with surprise. For a moment, they were caught—still holding the energon cube, their mouth full, and unable to hide.

“Ops...” The small sparkling burped again

Primus, he was confused,

“How in Primus did you get in there-“

The sparkling, still holding the energon cube, looked up sheepishly, the sweet treat still clutched in their servos.

"Little one, you cannot be here," he said softly, though his voice carried a tone of both affection and responsibility. "It's too dangerous. I know you miss me, but there are risks you don't understand."

They swallowed the energon cube, their optics bright and filled with determination, they had been so sure that this time, they could prove themselves.  “I just want to be with you, sire,” they murmured, fidgeting with her digits.

His usual calm demeanor was replaced by a tenderness only a sire could show. Gently, he curled his digit around their tiny servo, cradling it with the utmost care..

"I understand, my little one," he said, his voice filled with a fatherly reassurance, not anger. "You feel lonely when I am away, don't you?"

They didn’t speak, but the weight of their emotions was clear. Instead, they leaned closer to his digit, finding comfort in the subtle touch.

Optimus' optical ridges furrowed, he gently pulled them closer, allowing them to carefully lean against his digit.

"I know, sweetspark, I know it's hard for you when I have to go away," his voice gentle and sincere. "But I need you to understand why sometimes I must go.  I want to keep you safe, my little one. I go on missions to protect everyone, including you."

However, his sparkling only frowned deeper and stubbornly turned their head away, unwilling to meet his gaze.

Optimus couldn’t be angry at them, He understood the conflicting emotions they held within their spark. With one digit he gently poked their helm.

"You want to be with me, right?" he guessed gently, his voice warm and soothing.

They only gave him a side-optic glance still unwilling to speak. Optimus' optics softened, his paternal instincts kicking in. He gently lifted them up, cradling them in his large arms.

" my little one, you’re understood," he said softly, his voice filled with compassion. "It's natural to want to be with the ones we care about. I want you with me too, you know?" To stay by my side-“

“But  you’re never home!” The youngling blurted. Optimus' optics flickered, and a hint of sorrow tugged at his spark.

He knew that it was dangerous for them to be with him on missions, but the weight of their longing and fear tugged at his paternal instincts. "S/N, you know I can't always keep you with me. It's not safe for you on missions. I do hold you dear, here, always--” He placed his servo near his matrix  “Autobots face many dangers, and I can't put you at risk”

Though he appreciated her youthful determination, he couldn't help but be a responsible guardian to her.

"I have no doubt that you could kick the bad guys, after all, you have time to learn and grow."

By then the small sparkling who was nestling in his servos was falling into recharge.

“…But I hope” He murmured, almost to himself” you’ll never have to face all of this once you’re older”

Ratchet’s voice broke the moment, his expression etched with concern as he eyed the slumbering sparkling.  “Optimus” the medic called “What are we going to do with them, then? It’s too late to turn back the ship now, we’re too far away”

Glancing down at his youngling, the weight of the situation pressed down on him.

“We” He started, before quickly correcting himself “...I’ll keep them protected here until we return home, until then, they’ll remain safe with me…”

A solemn promise came from the deepest parts of his spark,  and that was enough as a long journey was ahead of them. No harm would come to them, not while he stood as their protector.

── .✦

[beautifulhigh]

Hi hi!! It's unfair of me to ask you to actually write the full essay on the rwrb red room kiss scene, but I saw your tags and am very interested in at least what the main thesis would be, if you feel like sharing!! No worries if not 😊 Have a good night/day/whatever time it is where you are!

The last few weeks have been, well. They've Been™ and I'm going to use this wonderful ask to dust off my overthinking tag and write a meta post on this movie, these boys, and then hope more than three people care what I have to say.

The Red Room kiss scene is Iconic™ and Important™ and in this essay I (really) will discuss agency, framing, and why it always had to be Alex to be the one to make the move.

While book!Alex takes book!Henry to the Red Room, here he's waiting. Bundle of nervous energy. He doesn't know what to do with himself, how to hold himself, how to present himself when Henry turns up. He's backlit in this (which is a theatre technique, I see you Matthew) but it also adds to the drama and tension of the scene.

The (in)famous painting of Hamilton, about to bear witness to things.

We jump cut between Alex trying to find... something. Here he is realising his shirt has come slightly undone and he wants to try and be somewhat presentable. At least for the moment. But it speaks to Alex's physicality in this scene because he is shifting and moving so much that his clothing is shifting. There's also an interpretation that this suit represents the formality of the situation - the Prime Minister's dinner, at which he (the First Son) and the boy he wants to kiss (the actual Prinec) are supposed to be front and centre and the picture of formality.

He's coming undone in this moment because he's the First Son and he's waiting for the Prince, but he's also Alex and he's waiting for Henry.

Ah, yes. The casual lean against the wall. Fancy seeing you here, your Royal Highness, what do you think of the menu? But there's grounding here too. When you're spiralling focusing on a physical point of contact between you and and something can help ground you.

It's also a defensive stance in a way. You shall not pass, I'm not moving. Alex is claiming space and territory and he's controlling it.

"How dare you fucking kiss me, run away, ghost me, then walk into the White House like nothing changed." This is closed off, defensive, protective - probably why it's the quickest of the poses to be dismissed. He's got his back against the wall like he's scared or ready to come out fighting. And, in a way, both of those are true.

Book!Alex is mid-crisis on his bisexuality and while he logically knows he is very much into Henry, he's not gotten to the point of turning theory into reality.

Movie!Alex is more chill about being into guys, but this attraction to Henry is confusing him. He hates the guy. He wants to punch him in the mouth. With his mouth.

(What? That's literally book canon: and if he weren’t already hell-bent on destroying Henry’s infuriating idiot face with his mouth right now, he would consider doing it with his fist.)

Casual lean against the table, less staged and jarring than the extended arm against the wall.

But then Henry walks in and Alex stands to attention and he is... rapt. He is calm and composed and he is focused. We're back to the back-lit position which helps frame him with a near-halo effect.

And you can see that he is relaxed. There's a slight drop in the jaw, his shoulders are sloped and rounded. Because none on what he was trying to convey before matters. Henry is here.

"Look" he starts with - he's expecting a fight. He's expecting Alex to go off on one for the kiss, for the liberty taken. Even if Alex is willing to forget that it ever happened, take Henry's secret to the grave, Henry gets one thing right in this.

"my behaviour was appalling"

Because it was. Look, Hen, I love you and I'm with Alex in the feeling that I will go to war for you to see you happy and safe. But you did kinda kiss him without consent (harsh reading) and you did ghost him without apology (soft reading) and for a boy raised in the Royal Household that... well... it's pretty much top items on the Very Bad Behaviour list. He did not act with decorum or dignity, he did not act in the way that his status and position demands.

(That's OK, Hen. Because the boy under the linden tree wasn't the Prince. It's OK to not be him, and Alex is going to spend the rest of his life loudly loving the man, not the prince.)

"Shut up, stop talking." // “Shut up, shut all the way up, oh my God,” Alex hisses

Because even though both versions of Alex said he wanted to talk to Henry, in the moment that's the last thing he wants to do. And actions speak louder than words, right?

Why it had to be Alex

Henry needed to make the first move, that New Year's kiss, because there needed to be something to make Alex realise that this thing he's feeling is very much reciprocated, and that Henry wants it too. If Alex had kissed Henry for the first time on New Year's Eve/Day then it would have been too much of a leap. Alex, at whatever stage of his bisexual journey, has no clear idea of Henry's orientation at that party. It's only with retrospective viewing that he realises that Henry was low-key flirting, and that the sharing of these deeply personal moments wasn't just a "two bros in a hot tub" thing.

So Henry had to kiss Alex first but then he had to run because there was no way that the mostly-closeted, private Prince could accept that a) he fucking kissed a boy, b) said boy is the one he's been dreaming of since Rio/Melbourne, and c) the boy kinda?? kissed him back?? Henry will have been having a low-grade anxiety attack all through January (and trying to reclaim some control with the date he went on in the book).

In this moment, Alex knows all the pieces. He's played this logic game to its conclusion and he knows all the facts. 1) Henry is gay. 2) Henry is into him. 3) He's into Henry. That last fact is something Henry isn't fully aware of (or at least can't bring himself to believe it to be true) and so it has to be Alex.

He doesn't want Henry to say something that would get in the way of this, doesn't want to hear any kind of pre-prepared speech of "yeah, we're better off as friends" that always happens when the couple get too close to getting together too early in the run time. Alex is full on shutting that down, shutting Henry up, and he gives as good as he got.

"Wait a minute" // Henry’s too shocked to respond, mouth falling open slackly in a way that’s more surprise than invitation, and for a horrified moment Alex thinks he calculated all wrong, but then Henry’s kissing him back, and it’s everything.

And this time it's both of them. Framed between Hamilton and the books. The American political trailblazer and the literary. In the space between? There's our boys.

Alex's hand is on the wall again and he's controlling the space but Henry is very much in it. He's protective but in a different way.

In one frantic motion, Alex knocks the candelabra off the table next to them and pushes Henry onto it so he’s sitting with his back against—Alex looks up and almost breaks into deranged laughter—a portrait of Alexander Hamilton. Henry’s legs fall open readily and Alex crowds up between them, wrenching Henry’s head back into another searing kiss. They’re really moving now, wrecking each other’s suits, Henry’s lip caught between Alex’s teeth, the portrait’s frame rattling against the wall when Henry’s head drops back and bangs into it. Alex is at his throat, and he’s somewhere between angry and giddy, caught up in the space between years of sworn hate and something else he’s begun to suspect has always been there. It’s white-hot, and he feels crazy with it, lit up from the inside. Henry gives as good as he gets, hooking one knee around the back of Alex’s thigh for leverage, delicate royal sensibilities nowhere in the cut of his teeth. Alex has been learning for a while Henry isn’t what he thought, but it’s something else to feel it this close up, the quiet burn in him, the pent-up person under the perfect veneer who tries and pushes and wants. He drops a hand onto Henry’s thigh, feeling the electrical pulse there, the smooth fabric over hard muscle. He pushes up, up, and Henry’s hand slams down over his, digging his nails in.

The sensibility of the suits is on its way out, they're not the First Son and the Prince. And Alex is taking the lead.

Agency

Henry is somewhat passive in this - although he is fully engaged - but it's Alex who set this in motion. Pun intended. Alex who pushed him against the wall. Alex who pushed him up onto the table and hiked his leg up around his hip, Alex who is driving in. Because Alex needs Henry to know that third fact. The one he's worked out, the one that Henry is just catching up with. This isn't payback, it's not some prank. Alex Wants™.

There's a scene I'm writing in my current FirstPrince WiP in which Alex and Henry have a charged moment. And Henry wants to act on it but those princely sensibilities get in the way and he can't let himself be led into doing something that could be used against him. If Henry made all the moves then the accusation of him taking advantage, of the inherant imbalance that comes with status and titles and positions of power. So in the scene, and here, Alex takes the lead. There's no way anyone could accuse Henry of forcing Alex into doing this.

(Good luck getting Alex to do ANYTHING he doesn't want to.)

So Alex gives and Henry takes and he gets the memo very quickly.

Fact number three. Alex wants this too.

Then Movie!Amy walks in on them (which IMO is way funnier than Book!Amy hissing through a crack in the door) and these idiots try to act like they weren't redefining International Relations a second ago. Alex is by the painting, Henry is by the books. They've gone back to their sides and they're playing at being interested in what they find there. But they're not, it's all for show, someone who gives a passing glance at this point sees this part of them, this side of them The First Son and the Prince: the politician and the literary.

They're both backlit, they're in line even if it doesn't look like it, Alex is no longer on Henry's right, and they're both trying to act like the people that others could see them as.

But we - and they - know better. 1) Henry is gay. 2) Henry is into Alex. 3) Alex is into Henry.

4) Everyone is on the same page now.

(Also I know Casey talked about seeing the Red Room on a White House tour and so that's why they included a scene in that room in their book, but I cannot ignore the fact that red = love and passion and danger and fire [the counter to the water motif] and it's a warm colour designed to excite.)

[alipeeps]

Episode 20

Goddammit Bai Jiu, you had better be pulling a double agent thing like Pei Sijing turned out to be or I swear I will never forgive you!

This flashback montage of how he lied to everyone is giving me the rages.

I can't help thinking about him just the previous episode telling Li Lun that Zhu Yan (who had gotten himself trapped in a demon-suppressing cage in order to protect Bai Jiu) "Zhao Yuanzhou is my best friend". Grrrrr...

Ugh, and the flashback montage of how he sealed Zhu Yan's senses is even worse! You sneaky, devious little shit, Bai Jiu.

Fuck's sake, they've been working towards this from the very start, right down to the list of people to be on the team...

I keep feeling like there is information that either I have missed or that simply was not presented in previous eps? Last ep they said Pei Sijing was the Prime Minister's representative - and I was like, eh? Since when?

And now Wen Zongyu says she's the Prime Minister's bodyguard?! I don't remember that ever being mentioned?

Oh fuuuuuuck!! So it WAS Chongwu Camp running that clinic with the imprisoned demons 8 years ago...

And 8 years later it is still the ever-burning wood - that Zhu Yan accidentally absorbed back then - that Wen Zongyu is after!

Well, the little shit does at least look a bit conflicted...

And.. right, okay, I watch a lot of cdrama, I know this is just how it goes, it's very common to have scenes where they stand around dramatically talking about their schemes etc and almost kinda waiting for the next move/attack to be made etc but really?

You've had it laid out in explicit detail that all they need to do is use a needle to seal your sense of touch and that's it, kiss your core goodbye, but you're still gonna just stand there and watch and wait for them to come at you with the needle? You could turn around and be out that fucking door in a heartbeat dude, why don't you?

Oh SHIT the entire room is painted with demon-suppressing charms?!!

Dude, just fucking RUN then - you can outpace a fucking 13 year old, surely?

Annnd now you can't do that because the cavalry has arrived to cut off your exit.

Pleeeeeeease tell me we're gonna get one of those famous GJM flashbacks where it turns out they suspected something and they planned for this?

Ayyyy teleport device for the win!!

And from the sigh of relief, Bai Jiu did not want to have to do this. But that doesn't fucking change that he has been doing it right up until this point.

Uhhhh is that not the Prime Minister's carriage that previously stopped for "Wen Xiao" who was blocking the road? Why is it now seeping blood as it passes along the street...

I guess Not-Wen Xiao was hungry eh?

Ahh Zhuo Yichen, Zhuo YIchen...

Yeah best not to pin your hopes on maybe's... this is a cdrama after all...

Situ's mansion? Am I having memory lapses again? That sound's familiar but I can't think why...

Oh and presumably it's because of Mr Situ who has just arrived in a panic. Can we assume the guards are here to arrest Wen Xiao for eating the Prime Minister?

Hold up, it's Chongwu Camp that have come for her? How come they keep coming around to enforce things on behalf of the Prime Minister?

Oh ya think?!!

Oooh she's clever...

Oh she's VERY clever! Ask Mr Situ to hide you in his mansion... where you can then search for the divine wood!!

Oooh dontcha just wanna punch that smirk off his face?

This fishpond is so fucking extra and I love it so..

Oh you've got a wife hidden away in a sealed fucking room have you bro? Bedridden and sensitive to light and wind, is she? That doesn't exactly explain why the room is literally sealed shut?!!

Oh and was that a glimpse of the inside of the room with branches in it?

Oh wtf wait is Mr Situ Bai Jiu's dad?! I hadn't connected the names before. So the mystery wife who is sealed away is Bai Jiu's mum? The one who we've previously seen footage of Bai Jiu crying outside her room as branches spread out from under the door? Is Mrs Situ a pagoda demon as I have previously theorised?

My god these two. Zhu Yan's like.. didn't expect you to be the subject of a city wide hunt.. impressive! And Wen Xiao's like... why shouldn't I be.. are you doubting my ability to excel?

Is poor Zhuo Yichen now the only one who doesn't know about Bai Jiu? Shouldn't somebody maybe clue him in?

Why would the crime scene carriage be sent to Demon Hunting Bureau when it's a) Chongwu Camp who are charged with arresting the alleged perpetrator and b) Demon Hunting Bureau could well be assumed to be biased in favour of Wen Xiao and not objective in assessing the evidence?

Yeah why has he been carrying that copy of the book around all this time?

Check out Sherlock fucking Holmes here making deductions about the owner of this book based on its appearance...

Ahhh finally the penny has dropped for Zhuo Yichen that they've previously encountered a demon who was able to appear as Wen Xiao...

Ayyy it's our favourite mountain god!!

Oooh you clever boy, you purified the yao water? Plan "repair the baize token" is back on track!!

Aaaaand yup Ao Yin is the demon Li Lun released from the cage at the clinic 8 years ago...

I sure hope that confidence is warranted. Maybe you should be... ohh I dunno... looking at how to unseal your 4 senses so that you are not still vulnerable to having the last 1 sealed?

And didn't I fucking say that somebody needs to warn Zhuo Yichen about Bai Jiu? Cos here the little fucker is and Zhuo dage has no fucking idea that he's a Chongwu Camp traitor.

Yeah you better run you little shit.

Oh man, that's badass. I love when we get a reminder of just how powerful - and scary - he really is.

Oh wait, lemme guess, Wen Zongyu promised him that whatever skanky research he is performing with demon blood - and that he needs the ever-burning wood from Zhao Yuanzhou for - can cure whatever's going on with Bai Jiu's mum?

Goddamn this kid is such a good actor though. It's killing me that we may never get to see his portrayal of Xia Sini/kiddy Chu Wanning in Immortality - he will have fucking nailed it, I'm sure.

FUCKING CALLED IT!! That bastard promised him to save his mum if he joined the Demon Hunting Bureau and sealed Zhu Yan's 5 senses.

Oh fuck the baby Xiao Jiu actor is super fucking cute!!

Uhoh is that a blood moon? Is it (again!) the same one from 8 years ago where Zhu Yan wigged out?

And did Bai Jiu's pagoda spirit mum also lose control of her powers during that blood moon?

Oh dang so his name is Situ Jiu and he chose Bai Jiu when he went to train under Wen Zongyu.

And again Wen Zongyu said his mum was killed by a demon. Is that a mis-translation? Like... is she ill... or dead?

And I still think she was not so much killed/made ill by a demon as... she is a demon and she lost control/something went wrong...

She's not dead or ill she's.... a tree!

Fucking knew it!

What on earth was the point of keeping this from him all this time though Mr Situ? Ffs...

Ah-ha!! Mummy was not just a demon, she was half-demon, half-god, like Ying Lei... and that's why Bai Jiu had divine power... and why the pagoda demon said he was lying when he said he was human...

Oh wow, she's proper old school demi-god too, as old as the gods...

Ah fuck so it was the same blood moon and it was the disappearance of the baize token that injured her and made her revert to her true form. So... presumably fixing the baize token might also fix her?

(And if she is descended from the same source as the divine wood... would wood from her tree form serve as the divine wood needed to repair the token? And is that why the clues about the divine wood were rumoured to be hidden at Situ mansion?)

That is a very good fucking question.

Why the FUCK didn't you tell your goddamn son what was going on Mr Situ, instead of leaving him hurting all these years and wide open to being manipulated by the bad guys?!!

You fucking tell him Zhuo Yichen.

Fucking kid's got more guts and responsibility than any of you bloody adults.

But Xiao Jiu, sweetie, can I please recommend that you put all of your clever medical knowledge to immediate use to fucking unseal all that you've done to Zhu Yan so that he is no longer vulnerable to being sealed by a single fucking needle?

Ah fuck... was that ending Chongwu camp closing in on them while they were all having a heart to heart?

[nights-nonsensical-ramblings]

Knuckles’ repeating phrase being “I don’t need the details, just tell me who to smash” has not been sitting right with me. It feels pulled right out of those portrayals that paint Knuckles as nothing more than the angry dumb, punchy guy.

And it’s especially weird when you consider the shatter verse versions of him.

Like to me Renegade Knucks feels like the regular Knuckles put through an urban an cynical filter. (This kinda makes him sit in the uncanny valley for me.) Yes, he does get angry, but all of them are at reasonable points and mostly tied to people breaking his and others trust, but we see he’s still willing to give sonic multiple chances and can be pretty chill (as chill as someone can be In an Eggman ruled dystopia)

I don’t have as much to say in Gnarly, but he can be taken as Knuckles’ the side of him that struggles with trusting others in a personal vulnerability sense and all the stress he must feel with the threat of people coming after the m.e turned up to the extreme.

And then there’s Dread. I could go on and on about how much I love Dread as a mirror self ‘this is who Knuckles is not’ He is introduced as someone overly cheerful with no sense of duty or responsibility. Completely the opposite to Knuckles who’s diligence to his role is one of his core characteristics and how it often leads to him being in a bad mood. Then Dread is shown to be a coward, and by Sonic’s reaction this is clearly meant to be a ‘this ain’t Knuckles’ moment. Then Dread goes and abandons the crew on a sinking boat, the group has multiple flyers, they definitely could have worked something out to get everyone to safety, but no. Dread is selfish and takes it for himself, and yet again in the scene this is called out as ‘not a Knuckles thing’ and once he comes back sonic has the line of ‘not abandoning his crew’ and Dread immediately contradicting that with the ‘not for his crew’ line with a sinister grin and a shot that lingers just long enough to feel off.

So then what’s with this line?

I am so hoping what I’m I’ve come up with is intentional and not me looking deeper than the writers did

So in Sonic prime Sonic’s thoughts on Knuckles are interesting. There the running gag of ‘I’ll even take Knuckles.’ Running joke playing to their rivalry? Yeah, maybe. But could also be to show that Sonic doesn’t know Knuckles that well. Plus when Sonic’s talking about his friends all he can say is “Knuckles and his… Knuckles.” When he even comes up for things for Rouge and then there’s there’s him going that ‘he’s even happy to see knuckles’ when in the ghosty place.

Here’s my thoughts. Those lines aren’t meant to be a representation on the characters, but instead they what Sonic’s perception of them is.

I have clearer thoughts on some of these, but others are a bit shaky 

“As long as I’m around you’ll always have a wingman” - To Sonic Tails is his little buddy, a sidekick, the way he interacts with Nine seems to support this.

“The forest is the most beautiful place on earth” - he sees Amy as someone who’s really sweet and kind

“You may not like the way I do things but I get things done.” - Him seeing Rouge being willing to steal

“No problem sonic” - a very npc line. How well does he really know Big

And that brings us back to Knuckles 

His line can fit really well if Sonic doesn’t really know him that well and hasn’t got a chance to get to know the side of Knuckles that he keeps yo himself.

Please please please let this be what’s going on here. They’ve been getting him so good elsewhere I’d hate for them to screw him up here.

[hapfish]

Hey! I'm making a F!Leo cosplay and I was wondering if you have any advice for how to do the shell? The plastron, specifically. Yours was amazing! Ty xx

Yeah of course!!! Luckily the rise plastrons are very geometric so its pretty easy to make a pattern from it! I dont have pictures of early steps so pls bear with me <3 info n pictures below the cut

First thing i did was make a pattern of my torso with plastic wrap and tape so i could see the curve of my stomach and chest. Cant say this helped a TON, but i cant imagine things in my head, so it helped me conceptualize the size and dimensions i would need the front panels to be to cover my torso.

Next i started sketching small patterns for what the cut outs may look like. DEFINITELY make a paper pattern, this took a lot of trial and error and you dont want to waste too much foam. I cannot for the life of me find my paper patterns unfortunately, but hopefully you can see part of where im coming from with the detailed pictures of the plastron!! I made patters for 1/2 of the plastron, and flipped the patters over to make the other half mirrored and symetrical.

Now the cutting. I used .7mm foam (i think?? I got it from micheals. Joann fabrics has some but only small sheets. If you want less seams you should get the bigger ones, or buy massive sheets online. EVA foam isnt too hard to find, but make sure your density and width is appropriate for what youre making. When actually cutting the pieces out, some cuts will be flat while others may work best at an angle. I used mostly 90* and 45* angles to make clean edges and corners.

Bear with me bc the pictures in this next part are kinda uglie </3 ill explain why later.

For matching the curve of the body, i used a fresh blade and made shallow triangle cuts on the backside of the foam as can be seen here:

It would have worked better if the chest pieces were also vurved by i was on a time crunch and didnt have the time to make a 3rd or fourth plastron (yes this was a second fully completed attempt orz). Im also a bigger dude so it may be easier if your torso is smaller. I also had the benefit of making my pants from scratch (using a demon slayer uniform pattern that i altered) so i made the waistband big enough to tuck the shell into, which helped with keeping it curved around my body.

(This but only applies to future leo and i did post gluing the pieces together, but for his Top Surgery Scars™️ i cut into the chest at a 45*angle, then glued those pieces back onto the back side to seal the cut)

For gluing, i tried a whole lot of types but jothing worked as well as cement glue. It is toxic tho so make sure you do it outside or with good ventilation, and wear gloves/a mask. I did two layers on each edge then stuck the edges together, 3 if i noticed the foam absorbing it to much. Make sure you take the gluing slow and really put pressure on the pieces to lock them together. Follow the instructions and youll do fine.

For painting, i did 2 layers of modge podge, 1-2 priming layers (depends on if foam is white or black to start), and then whatever layers you need for a smooth coat of color. I topped it off with modgepodge again to seal it, but that may not have been the best idea for the following reasons....

EW YUCK. WHY IT LOOK LIKE THAT.

Well. It didnt always. Turns out when youre wearing approx 3 laters in the summer then cover your body with insulating foam, the heat and moisture makes the modgepodge MELT. and like i said before, this bottom portion was tucked into my pants so it did not breathe. I have yet to even try to find a solution but just keep it in mind when making your cosplay (and if you find a solution PLEASE LET ME KNOW! My one idea was tryna find a sealant that wont melt (obv) but idk what that would be)

And FINALLY. how to secure it to the body suit!! I used snaps!! So easy and nice (besides the melting issue but thats a different thing entirely.) They never came off or gave me problems (minus the melting) and made the shells easy to transfer/travel with and put on.

(Heres a pic of them on the suit sewn in by hand, and above you can see them on the shell itself.)

All in all, The plastron was so so hard and im honestly still not happy with it, planning to remake it before i wear him again. Please show me your cosplay when you finish it, id love to see!! Please lemme know if you have any other questions!! 🐢💙

[joycew-art]

Someone asked what my process was to make the Rickbot comic, so I thought I'd make a separate post to show it. The process was kinda all over the place and spread over many months from December 2022 up till June 2023, so I'll try my best to make it understandable. And if you have any questions feel free to ask them!

The idea

So it all started with the idea of; What if Rickbot came back? And then the idea immediately made me think of two things;

How would Rickbot react?

Why is he brought back?

Which ended up with these two scenarios in my mind;

A. Rickbot awakens and he's not happy B. Rick tells the reason he's activated again

These were the very first scenes that started it all.

So then the question became, how do I go from point A to point B?

I would take moments from the show as reference for how they would act in these scenarios. And I'd take inspiration from manga and other comics of how I wanted the dialogue to flow and what the comic layouts would look like. In this case I knew a lot of dialogue would be involved cause these guys talk a lot! But I also didn't want the panels to feel too crowded and rushed so I limited myself to the amount of dialogue per panel.

Right now I'm writing it down like it was very planned, but for me this was often a very subconscious thing I did. I just thought up scenarios while I was taking walks or daydreaming in the shower etc. And sometimes these very specific moments would pop up that I would write down or draw out later.

I would make mini thumbnails of how I wanted the pages to go and write the dialogue next to it. At this point I'm mainly thinking of what I want characters to say and how I want the story to flow. Sometimes I make multiple versions of the same scenario to see how it flows better.

At times I even only write down dialogue and then make the thumbnails for them later. I have a tiny a6 sketchbook for little thumbnails and ideas like this. These were often moments were I didn't know where I wanted to take the comic yet, so I would separate the two to keep it more organized for myself.

As you might have noticed, not everything is the same in the final comic. I always fine-tune or change stuff up as I go. Sometimes things don't flow as well as I thought they did or some dialogue feels awkward or unnecessary.

Sketching

Once all the pages were planned and I have a good idea of how the story would go I opened a new Clip Studio Paint file and used the comic feature to set that up.

I would then copy the thumbnails I made in the page files and exported a thumbnail draft of the whole comic and 'read' through it to see how it flowed.

After I was satisfied I finally started sketching the pages.

Most of the pages stayed the same from the thumbnail, aside from some poses or expressions here and there. But I would also change up stuff I wasn't satisfied with.

For example, initially the Prime panel looked like the left one, but I didn't like how the pose flowed with the text balloons. There was a lot of empty space as well. So I decided to redo it to the one on the right.

Even now for the final version I'm thinking of resizing Rick a bit more. These kind of changes just happen throughout the process.

The backgrounds

I knew the comic would only take place in the garage, so to save myself a lot of time I decided to make it in 3d.

First I decided to sketch out the four walls of the garage as planes;

Then I imported those in Blender. I did some simple 3d modeling to get the basic shapes for the counters and the cabinet et voila! 3d sketch version of the garage!

I know this is a very watered down explanation, but trying to explain how I did it would take a whole new tutorial. And there are many other ones out there that explain it much better than I could. I was lucky that I already have some Blender experience cause of past works I've done for school and stuff.

But if you got the time to delve into it I would recommend it! For this here you only need to know the basics. Also Blender is free to download :)

This has saved me a lotttt of time drawing the same backgrounds over and over again!

Cover

Lastly I did the cover. That one has also gone through multiple versions. I had a vague idea of what I wanted, but I wasn't happy with the execution so I redrew that one as well.

So that's the whole process so far. I do I wanna continue the comic once I got the energy to work on it again. Gonna do some test pages first to see what kind of rendering I wanna go for. Not sure if'll be in black and white, color or a combo...we'll see.

I hope this helps! And if you have any questions don't be afraid to ask them.

[vayshkarell]

How I Made my V2 Cosplay

Oh boy! This right here is about how I make my cosplay head of V2. Some of the stages don't have photos, but i'll do my best to explain what I did. I also have no WIPs of the gloves, but those were super straight forward. Some photos are very low quality due to my phone having a damaged camera at the time, and other photos were taken from my instagram story as they're the only photos I have from that stage. Please note that this is not a tutorial! This is more of a story of a disastrous (but ultimately successful) project done by someone with no idea what they were doing. Please find actual tutorials by more experienced people!

The Modeling Base

This right hear is a big chunk of upholstery foam! I own a ton of this stuff, so i decided the best way to start this was a foam blank. Well, this was a bad idea in retrospect, but hey it technically worked. Kinda. I started by drawing the basic shape, then cutting out thick sheets. From there, I glued them together and began shaping with scissors to get the desired shape. Honestly a 3D modeled blank may have been better, or a base made of foam board pieces used instead. Live and learn I suppose.

 After I got the shape to something i was happy with, I began the transition to EVA foam. To do this, I mummified the thing in duct tape and marked seam lines in sharpie. I then cut out these duct tape pieces, and stuck them to paper to act as a backing.

Foam Shell Construction

Once I had a pattern, I began making the actual head. To do this, I traced the pattern onto sheets of EVA foam (I believe 4mm or 6mm) and cut them out. Lots of these pieces needed bevels, some of which i had to dremel as shown below due to them not cutting correctly. Bevels are important as they make the foam crease as desired for angular shapes. I'm still pretty amateur with it though, and frequently got bevels wrong.

As I cut pieces, I began gluing them together with an awful gunk called contact cement. This stuff is a special glue that you let dry before sticking the pieces together, and it pretty cool. Unfortunately it's flammable and a carcinogen. As stated before, I'm pretty new to armor, so lots of the seams have weird gaps I had to fix farther down the line. After quite awhile, I had the basic shell assembled. However, the shell had numerous gaps and pieces that didn't fit correctly. Enter the foam clay.

Foam clay is a substance similar to model magic, and was honestly a life saver here. This thing has a second shell basically made of the stuff. I had to fill gaps primarily around the eye socket, but the entire thing honestly barely fit together.

After some filling and sanding, I made a test optic. And the head looked preeeety bad. There was something just incredibly off about it. This began the massive amounts of revising and reshaping I had to do. And fixing of awful symmetry. The head required a massive amount of sanding around the sides of the face and the chin. Between initial construction and when I began painting, I completely reshaped these areas. I made the chin significantly smaller, and added the indents or whatever (fins?) on the side of the head. However, doing all of this required me to fill in chunks of the interior with large wads of foam clay. If I hadn't done so, then I would've sanded through it in places. I also made the awful decision to gap fill with hot glue. If you've not dremeled hot glue, I don't recommend trying it. It melts the glue and sends globs of it flying, and those things are hot and really hurt.

After even more sanding, gap filling, and re-sanding, I finally got the shape to something i was happy with. Unfortunately I don't have any photos from just before painting.

Priming and Painting

The next step was for me to slather this thing in primer so it could be painted. I use Plastidip, as a tutorial i saw years ago said it was the best primer. Why does it need primed? I'm not actually entirely sure, but it's what I've heard needs done, so that's what I do.

Plastidip is a spray, so I of course did this outside. After a ton of coats, I was left with a shiny surface ready for the paint. Not much to say on primer.

Due to not currently having a functional airbrush, V2 is entirely hand painted. I coated this guy in red paint, and i mean coated the entire thing. Even areas I'd later paint black. Quick tip: Don't do that. It's a waste of paint. But i did it anyway cause I'm a dumbass. I also had issues when doing the black with getting it to stick, and when removing tape it caused some paint to peal off too. I originally had painted a barcode on the side of the head, but removing the tape took the black paint off too. Sooooo no bar code.

Once I got the shell painted, I did the optic. The test optic I used was marker on unicorn buckram, but that stuff is really hard to see through, the markers looked bad, and I couldn't pain it without clogging the mesh (due to not having an airbrush and having to do it by hand.) So, I got different mesh: a larger weave black mesh. This stuff I was actually able to hand paint, thus how I got the iris I did.

The Gloves

The gloves were, frankly, rushed. I bought a pair of cheap black costume gloves online, and then glued foam to em. For the gloves, I just used paper patterns to make the foam pieces. No fancy patterning here, just drawing shapes. After cutting the foam, I hot glued it, and then painted them. No priming on these, cause I was lazy and had a con coming up.

Conclusion

So that's about it! Thank you for reading this monster of a post! I'm hoping to eventually do a V1 head, so I'll be repatterning the V unit head soon. When I do, I'll probably make an actual tutorial. I dunno. We'll see.

[crosseyedcricketart]

art tips

here's some traditional art tips from me:

acrylic painting:

different brands do different things with their paint and one of them has to do with pigment characteristics versus consistency. For example, most of Liquitex’s paints are the same texture and consistency because they adjust their formula to act as such, whereas Golden Acrylics doesn’t and the pigments characteristics are allowed to shine through. Learning about specific pigments can be a pain but it can also help you make sure your painting ends up how you wanted it to.

if you’re doing a layered painting “proper painting”- THIN LAYERS. THIN THIN LAYERS. acrylic loves to clump up on itself like nail Polish. Go slow and pay attention to how it dries.

acrylic paint appears lighter than how it will dry. If you’re planning a color scheme, get some paper or a sketch page and swatch your colors and let them completely dry. They will also appear a lot lighter if you dilute them with water.

one note of the characteristic of acrylic paint is that it doesn’t tend to have the depth or luminosity of oil paint. If you get the right paints, you can do it. Some paints are more transparent and they work great for this. Work in thin layers, layer and layer and layer, and add opaque paints to add definitive layers so once the painting is done, there is depth. Phthalo paints work great for this.

when mixing colors, the paint can start to look foggy, and a lot of times this is from air being whipped into the paint. If you’re worried that this foggy paint won’t look how you wanted it to, swatch it and let it dry. In my experience, it applies and dries fine.

oil painting:

this is for really people who had terrible instructors or self taught: fat over lean does matter. fat over lean is the concept that the oilier paint should be for the final layers while the thinned out paint, or lean paint, is for the first layers. this helps to prevent cracking on both traditional oils and water mixable oils. so your leanest paint is for your under painting while your fattest paint is your final layers. this isn’t really a “learn the rules to break them” concept, it’s more of a “you want your painting to survive more than 5 years” concept.

oil paint appears the same color it will dry as if it is at normal opacity. This gets effected by diluting or fattening the paint, however.

if you’re gonna paint on paper with oil paint, use thick paper. I mean at least 300g/140 lb paper. If you can, prime it with gesso. And it’ll work great.

Water mixable oil paints work the same as traditional oil paints without the need for solvents or mineral spirits.

watercolor & colored pencils:

colored pencils: treat these like newborns. gentle. the pigment can break easily, like pencil graphite can. use circles to blend and lay down a more opaque layer. sharpen them gently. i have a whole separate, manual sharpener for my colored pencils.

watercolor paintings: use cotton paper or paper with cotton in it. trust me it works better. the paper warps less and you can add more water than just normal paper. cotton paper is more expensive though. kinda like using wood board instead of canvas for an oil painting.

Watercolor: take care of your brushes like they are your one and only begotten son, okay? You can paint with a messed up brush in acrylic or oil but watercolor depends on the brush a lot of times.

general art tips:

Get a heavyweight paper sketchbook if you want to sketch out paintings or swatch paint and keep them for future reference.

Paint in general: PAY ATTENTION TO THE LIGHTFASTNESS ! This is very important if you ever intend to have your art in galleries or for sale. Lightfastness just means how long the pigments in your paint stay the same as when they were packaged as when they are on your painting. Improved lightfastness pigments are normally marked with “permanent” in their names, like “permanent alizarin crimson”.

General safety: PICK UP YOUR PAINT WATER OR SEAL IT IF YOU HAVE PETS!! Even if they won’t get fatally sick, it won’t make them feel good, and in my experience they don’t care if the water is bright red.

Painting: have a designated paint water cup. Do not drink Out of this cup. Learn it is a paint water cup. Then you will Not drink out of paint water cup.

GET SOME BRUSH SOAP!! Get it!! I promise you it makes a difference. If you can’t invest in any, use something like Dawn or Mrs. Meyers dish soap but keep an eye on how dry the brushes are if they are natural hair. The paint soap I use is the Masters brush cleaner and preserver and I got a massive tub of it for $20 at my local art store.

find a local art store if you are able! And I do not mean Michael’s or Hobby Lobby. I mean local. A lot of times they’re competing with these stores and they have cheaper prices and some even have student/professor discounts. The one I go to has a lot of stuff under MSRP and I get a discount. And they don’t sell any bad quality items.

if you’re struggling with a concept, find a book on it. Internet Archive as a library with a lot of art books, some stores sell art books. Art books are useful insight; even if you don’t agree with the author, it can help you realize what you’re trying to achieve. However, if you’re buying it, make sure to skim it and see if it’s actually useful for you. I have a lot of DK published art books.

if you feel stagnant in your art, look at art. I mean it. Look at photography, painting, fashion, sculpture, jewelry— look at things. This is how I ended up painting fish. And guess what? I freaking love painting fish. I again have a library of books just so I can look at them For inspiration.

General art: if you want to be able to travel with your supplies but don’t know how to do so, let me give you some tips in this tip: Get a massive bag. I mean a big ole canvas bag. I got one from Aldi for $8 that works great. If you already have one, even better. If you have a big enough backpack, you can use that too. Get a palette that can cover. You can DIY one, probably, or you can buy one. Then if you have any wet paint, you don’t have to throw it out or risk getting it everywhere. If this isn’t a concern of yours, no worries. Use a hair tie or scrunchie to bundle your brushes together. This keeps them from going everywhere. Situate your paints so they won’t be crushed if you’re taking tubes. Bring a small amount of brush cleaner with you. I reused a skincare jar for mine. Bring what you’re going to paint on.

General art: reuse jars. I mean it. I have some skincare jars that I’ve reused to hold paint oil and brush cleaner and I use old pasta sauce jars for brush cups. They work great.

here’s how to wash off different paints from your skin- oil paints— get a true soap. Dish soap works too. Acrylic paint— let it dry and you can brush it off with a nail brush or old toothbrush. watercolor paint- wipe it off with a wet wipe or a dampened paper towel/hand towel. If you’re going to use a hand towel, have a designated towel since it can stain.

Stretched canvas; if you’ve damaged or pierced your canvas, you can probably fix it with gesso and acrylic paint, or just acrylic paint. You can also sew the canvas back if you really want to save it.

Here’s some art stuff I like and use but you don’t need it:

Masterson oil palette

Pentalic Nature Sketch 25% cotton sketchbook

Winsor & Newton Artisan Water Mixable oil Colour

Golden Professional acrylic heavy body paints

The Masters Brush cleanser and preserver

Liquitex palette knives

[charlieslowartsies]

Hey, so I'm not sure if someone has asked you yet, but I'm fascinated by how you use the Cybertronian language in your transformers fics. How does it work exactly?

This got long, and I’m sorry as always. Thank Primus for read mores.

For starters when I FIRST began working on Resonance and realized I wanted to try putting Cybertronian into it, I read the wiki page, more specifically the opening paragraph:

It should be little surprise, given a moment's thought, that distinct Cybertronian languages exist. The Transformers did not go about speaking English or any other known Earth language long ages ago on their distant metal world. Though the records of such conversations are frequently translated for us, we should not forget that these conversations originally flowed in odd electronic syllables past strange metallic lips, or were etched by alien hands long eons before the first humans painted muddy shapes upon dark cave stone.

‘Fuck.’ Was my first thought. ‘I’m about to try and work an ancient language into this damn fic about a human and an alien robot boning/becoming soul mates…and I want it to be believable.’

‘College linguistics comes back to haunt me.’ Was my second.

So I’ve mashed several continuities together, from the comics to the tv show to the Bay/Knight movies. That sort of gave me a big door way to wedge information through, winding it around plot, and Cade and Prime’s interactions. There’s also more than one alphabet, because of course there is.

I wanted Cade and the Reader to bond as much as Cade and Prime did learning, and Prime teaching him/us. While Cade’s spent a handful of years with the 2.0 team, any lessons would be sort of like Cybertronian 101, rough and dirty. I didn’t want him fluent, (because how?) and reliant on the bots to explain more than they assumed. (Taken shamelessly from my own background. My mom and Uncle speak fluent Spanish but I know broken bits and pieces. I can swear like a sailor though.)

I also leaned into sticking to verbal lessons and displays of the language in action, instead of ‘Cade read a book’ which I think helped make it more…interesting? Hopefully!

Things, phrases, and manners of speaking Cade would be interested in just to help him survive among the bots. The word for ‘I’m a medic, don’t shoot my ass, I can help you!’ is kinda more important than names for Cybertron’s dead Primes or famous landscapes/battles.

Cade can speak Cybertronian better than he can read it, and indeed in Resonance the language is dying among its own kind, sort of like in Atlantis: The Lost Empire. (Not as degraded/gone though.) A younger mech that hatched off Cybertron and grew up amongst the stars only knows what they’ve heard/read or if an older mech transferred the language to them.

I decided to lean into Transformer’s physiology and history and create a few rules to stick to. Here’s a few from my notes, subject to have changed but I don’t think I contradicted them??

1. Transformers do not have a word or specific phrase for ‘please’ in Cybertronian. Instead of ‘Please do/give/take/etc X’ it would simply be removed from the vernacular. You don’t really ask a lot, you demand/take/coerce/threaten.

2. Yes is ‘Affirmative’ and no is ‘Negative’ and used more frequently than yes/no in reply to someone.

4. Short, stilted, and cutting phrases should make up the language when being translated into English. Blunt, but inseparable.

5. Delicate, kind, or sweet terms when being soft or gentle with a treasured person, such as an offspring, friend or mate. Long, lyrical, almost poetic??

6. Repetition to increase intention. “This is very good!” becomes “Good-good-good!” and perhaps engines might be made to purr a little to indicate pleasure/enjoyment/contentment, or optics would be squeezed shut for trust blinks like cats lol!

7. Nonverbal vocalizations slip in and out around Cybertronian as much as English. Static might come across grating to us, but static to a Transformer could mean confusion, alarm, or merely mumbling to oneself. It might not indicate stress—humans hear static and would be troubled, but a mech might be confused if a human heard their staticy sounds and assumed something was wrong. (Reversal, soft and wet sounds are jarring and foreign to Transformers, or usually mean something malfunctioning to them. Whistling from our lips is a great trick, they would think.) Steam whistles, and metal whistles but organic creatures making the noise? Woah!

8. There ARE other dialects but not gunna parse into them deeply or I’ll go nuts and the fic will derail. EX: Vosian (Vos) Vilocitronian (Vilocitron), Kaonic (Kaon) etc. Combatron is a colony thank god,can get away with it dominantly Cybertronian if I need it.

9. Look into Dragon Langauge/Thu’um and study.

10. Cade and Prime are ‘You-and-I’ when talking to one another, their special designation for each other. ‘They-Who-Are-One’ means the same but used by third parties. Prime also uses ‘Light-of-my-Spark’ or Sparklight, and ‘Cade-Beloved’  

Those are old notes, dating back from Res’ early chapters in 2019.

Part of what helped me picture how I wanted the language to work was translating bot’s names into what I imagined their ‘true’ designations would be. It became kind of fun, actually. Especially seeing how short names could turn into long, almost lyrical titles. I wanted Cybertronian to sound harsh, heavy, and grating to humans in the fic, but also at its heart be flowing, connected and ever changing like the bot’s themselves.

Some were self explanatory to their ‘English’ version, some more esoteric. Starscream became ‘Screams-Like-Dying-Starlight.’ Terrifying but it paints a picture of what he does, what kind of fight he will give you, etc. As did ‘In-His-Crosshairs’ or ‘Drifts-Through-Darkest-Skies.’ Saying that 'Crosshairs and 'Drift' were what they were called on English seemed like a good way to show that we, as humans, are the aliens to them as much as they're alien to us?

Optimus Prime had other titles that both worked as nicknames or insults, depending on who said it their inflection. ‘He-Who-Reigns-War’ was meant to be heartbreaking as it was, well, kinda true. He doesn’t like it, Cade doesn’t like it. Many Autobots won’t use it.

Because I don’t study linguistics/zero time to study as much as I’d like, I have to absolutely work on rules and tweak them on the fly. I try to stick their speech being present, more than temporary.

‘Did you get hurt?’ would become ‘Hurting?’ and ‘I don’t like this at all, this is scary!’ becomes ‘Do-Not-Like! Scared!’

I wanted the Cybertronian dialect in Resonance to be emotive and rich in gestures, and firm statements. Abstract but ‘in the moment’ and very much still reliant on body language and tone versus tons of explanations or verbal hypothetical’s. There are noises and sounds humans cannot pronounce in this language, but there are work arounds within reason and, of course, a Cybertronian listening a human speak any Earth language can engage almost within minutes through learning and copying.  

I hope this answered your question DX Sorry for the rambling!! If you read this far 200 cookies for youuuu

[pricemarshfield]

Answer the prime numbers. Do All Tha Prime Numbers 🫵

good lord. okay but i’m putting it under the cut

2. Do you plan each chapter ahead or write as you go?

biiiit of both? i know very concretely where i want a fic to start & end, i know the general placement of a few important scenes throughout the fic, and then i have Loose outlines about how each chapter will get me there. but mostly i write as i go; i just have an idea of the endpoint so i don’t wander off into the wilderness (drive my outline wildly off course)

3. Describe the creative process of writing a chapter/fic

well since playing bg3 it’s: become haunted by an idea involving raphael baldursgate, say oh my god no i haven’t even written any of my current wips in months i don’t have time, and then blacking out with 6k of porn that’s somehow not even close to done on my google docs. and this repeats forever

but also. i kinda just do it idk. i sit at my computer and write until it’s done

5. Do you like constructive criticism?

context dependent. if i ask for it, yeah. unprompted in comments, nah. people are much better about this than they used to be, which is funny because i’m less bothered now than i used to be. baby fic author sarah was haunted by concrit; current me is like yeah critique is the only way to improve but i am writing this for funnnn so leaf me alone

(should specify i Just mean in terms of like. technical advice here. if i’m being a bigot in my writing somehow, that is something i want to know and fix asap)

7. How do you choose which POV to write from?

vibessss. whoever i wanna write more in the moment unless the specific scene only works from one perspective. this is why talk is getting a sequel (threequel. i guess. bc i’m also doing the two-part “endings”) which is just the same fic but from raphael pov bc i want to write him now

11. Link your three favorite fics right now

only three? damn. can i do four 😭 you sent me over a dozen questions i’m doing four.

of street names & subway wall prophecies by @dalgursbate is SO good. buffyverse au shadowstarion, so well-characterized and vivid and also FUN i LOVE it. i already liked shadowstarion (shocking! girl who multiships everything likes pairing between two of her favorite characters!) but now i rotate them in my mind forever. i want to bind this physically so i have it and am only stopped by having not actually kept most of my bookbinding stuff when i moved. but i need a physical copy so i can Eat It. also everyone should read everything else molly’s ever posted

who will burn who by @pouralaura is so good i’m proselytizing for it. PHENOMENAL fic. professor au raphael and he is SOOO fun; he fits so well in this verse without being defanged into something unrecognizable. and also it’s HOT!!!! SO HOT! fanning myself when i read it! the prose is just soooo fucking nice in this too. all of what i’ve said about this fic is true of all of laura’s fics and once again. everyone should read everything she’s ever posted

Blood in the Wine by @atrueneutral is so fucking interesting that i literally had to lie in bed and just stare at my ceiling and THINK about it after i read the latest chapter today. priest raphael au But Watch Out. i’m so deeply intrigued by the world-building in this, and neutral’s tav is INCREDIBLY compelling. this fic makes me want to paint again and if i had a canvas on hand i probably would have by now. and not to sound like a broken record but everyone read all of neutral’s fics too tyvm 🙏

Cooler Than Me by @wetcatspellcaster has absolutely brightened my day with every update, which has been nice because boyyy am i going through it a little bit. an academic/celebrity modern au with rosalie frostsong, love of my life, as the academic consulting on a film about a historical figure she Hates, and astarion, playing that guy. it’s so fun and funny and fluffy, and i just love seeing how all the different characters are translated to this AU because they’re ALL bangers. fox you are my roommate and know this already but for anyone just reading through, i absolutely cannot recommend all of emma’s fics enough :)

for all of these peep me being #insane in the comments and also know i could have listed like eight more fics even Just sticking with bg3, plus like 10 more if i brought in all the banger d20 ones i still need to catch up on. anyway i’m gonna go reread all of these once i finish answering this ask

13. what’s a common writing tip that you almost always follow?

FOR ME show don’t tell works. because i treat it as a mantra to make sure i’m showing what i’m telling, since my (unedited) writing style is just. so direct. my characters are introspective and love to think “i am doing x because y which results in z” and that’s fun but sometimes less is more. but also i think it’s a tip that’s oft misused and not always helpful hence the For Me

17. What do you do when writing becomes difficult? (maybe a lack of inspiration or writers block)

i simply do something else 👍 i am past the point of forcing words out of myself. i wrote a 40 page paper in one night bc i procrastinated so badly in my senior year of college and i don’t want to return to the mental state that invoked in me. especially not for Fanfiction, my Hobby

19. What is the most-used tag on your ao3?

post-canon, fluff, and alternate universe - canon divergence are the main three; i should note that these are largely one-off fics under 2k i wrote half a decade ago, and most of my fics now are messy longfics with a lot of smut. the canon divergence one is still real though

23. Best writing advice for other writers?

🗣️ if you’re stuck, go back three sentences!!! oh my GOD did this save my editing process. the fact i finish editing chapters ever is due to this. also write what you want to write when you want to write it; if you’re writing for a self-imposed deadline or entitled commenters, the fun’s gonna get sucked out of it Fast.

also if you get someone who makes a Lot of fic requests that brush veryyyy close to what you’re not comfortable taking just block them. it’s fine. protect your peace

29. What’s your revision or editing process like?

finish draft. take a full day away from it. reread. fix mistakes. i absolutely Should do more—reading aloud, probably make comments to myself and then go back—but tbh. i am impatient. i want to Post and see people’s Thoughts right away

31. Do you start with the characters or the plot when writing?

used to be characters and a Vibe and the plot would come after, now plots complete with characters and themes attack me in the night until a new outline appears in my google docs. i blame raphael

37. How do you choose where to end a chapter?

“okay so this chapter should end at this scene :) oh god why is this other scene getting so long. ah fuck this is already 6k words and i’m not halfway through my plans. oh jesus christ wait a second it’s incredibly self-indulgent additional scene with the steel chair!!” and then i keep writing until i hit whatever is in my outline. don’t do this. you can change your chapter count. i am inflexibly stubborn but everyone else can and should do that. or just don’t commit to a chapter count at first. don’t be like me

41. Do you tend to reread fics or are you a one-and-done kind of person?

I LOVE REREADING FICS !!! i guarantee every single fic i recommended above i have reread at least a dozen times times, and i think all three of them came out this year. one i discovered a momth ago. i have some fics i have reread Hundreds of times. i Love to reread fics

43. Do you take a sadistic joy in whumping your characters, or are you more the "If you hurt them I would kill everyone and then myself" kind of person?

*poorly hiding a comically large mallet behind my back* i’m sooo nice to my characters actually. ignore the longfic which is just my tav’s bad end. and also the one where i put her in a version of hell she’d hate more than usual. and also all the things i’m gonna do in later knife’s edge chapters. and also that time i posted “this sucks for everyone but me, the writer who loves making things worse”

47. How many times do you usually revise your fic/chapter before posting?

one. two if i’m really motivated. like a quarter of the way through before i give up and post immediately if i’m really UNmotivated. don’t be like me

53. How do you spend your time when it comes to fanfiction? Are you primarily a fic reader, writer, or a perfect 50/50 split of both?

i go through phases of each. i’ve written a lot this month, i read a lot last month. i think probably like 60:40 reader/writer but it’d probably be 50:50 if i wasn’t so committed to leaving comments with my full thoughts (and i love commenting. so i will not give that up)

59. Does anyone in your personal life know you write fic? if not, would you tell anyone?

my mom said she’d read my noir au when i told her about it (she has not). my grandma tried to figure out what to get me for my birthday by asking what fanfiction characters i liked right now. my aunt who i don’t even like has my ao3. i have no shame and also my writing fucks so like

61. Why do you continue writing fics?

I Need. To Read My Ideas. I Need Them To Exist. The Words Need To Be Out Of My Head And In A Form I Can Enjoy. also it’s fun and i like the community aspect of fandom

67. Do you prefer prompts and challenges, or completely independent ideas?

i love prompts and challenges but the fics i’ve been most excited to write have been fully independent ideas. still, fics i’ve loved and think are some of my best have come from challenges! so. idk i guess wishy-washy copout answer It Depends

71. When it comes to more complicated narratives, how do you keep track of outlines, characters, development, timeline, ect.?

i got a note on my phone with bullet points that are not clear enough and that i will be confused about later until at 3am i remember what the hell i meant by a bullet simply reading “jowan” (note: this is a real example. it is not a dragon age fic)

73. What do you think makes your writing stand out from other works?

i got no clue. i’m so bad at describing my own writing in general, i have no idea how to differentiate it from others’ work. i like it though! i’m just terrible at articulating stuff about my Own writing lmfao

fox you sent this to me An Hour Ago. if there are typos dont tell me. if i missed a prime number for Sure dont tell me. goddamn.

[iowkey-ioki]

How i made xenos nails!!

Materials

-worbla

-2mm eva foam

-scissors

-heat gun

-soldering iron (technically optional but helps A LOT)

-gesso (i used regular gesso, but if you can id buy heavy body gesso)

-P400+P600 sand paper

-acyrlic paint (just silver is ok, but black will help)

-white gloves

-hot glue

PART 1- forming the base

This part is VERY hard to explain so hopefully the diagram helps- ill explain every step here

Finger tips

1. Cut out a piece of worbla thats double the length of the finger tip you want + a little extra.

2. Heat it slightly and fold that piece of worbla in half around your finger.

3. Form it slightly around your finger, leaving a little extra space for the glove material, then cut it out with good scissors. (NOTE- if you try to form it on your finger while wearing gloves, the worbla MAY stick to the gloves. Id recommend just doing it on your bare finger)

4. Heat it up again until its very soft and round out the shape, making sure the sides stick together. If its too small when you test fit it around the glove, try to push out the walls a bit more.

Nails

Watch this video before starting this part-

1. Find a good length for your nails- mine are approx. 3 inches. Make a template and then cut the shape out of eva foam.

2. Cut out TWO pieces of worbla a little bigger then the nail strip and heat one up, sticky side up (the sticky side is shiny). Put the eva foam strip in the middle. Heat up the second piece of worbla and put it on top, sandwiching the eva foam.

3. Score all around the eva strip then cut AS CLOSE as possible to the edge.

Attaching the pieces

1. Heat up the finger tip and half of the nail. Attach the nail to the finger tip while wearing it to make sure it doesnt cave in. Use a picture from the manga as reference while doing this part

2. Once again, using a manga reference, use scrap worbla to fill out the sides and smooth everything down. This is the part where you can use a soldering iron to smooth everything out- be careful though, because you can easily burn the worbla.

2.5. I forgot to make a diagram but dont forget to curve the nails! I used a little metal dome to get a consistent curve for all of them.

3. Make little worbla balls, flatten them with something flat, then attach them to the nails while still hot.

Now repeat ALL these steps for all 10 nails! Yay!

PART 2- priming

For priming i used regular gesso because I was impatient, but if you have plenty of time I recommend heavy body gesso. It took me 12 layers to get everything decently smooth, but if you used heavy body it would probably take 3-5 layers.

I also used floral foam, craft sticks, and sticky tack for my painting setup- if you can think of a better method without sticky tack id recommend trying something else- just because i had to pick out the sticky tack with tweezers, and it took forever lol

Two things to note about gesso-

1. It doesnt self level so you need to sand it smooth

2. DO NOT DRY SAND!! Always wet sand gesso

My exact steps were this-

4 layers of gesso -> sand with P400 -> 4 layers of gesso -> sand with P400 -> 4 layers of gesso -> sand with P600

This part is very time consuming if you use regular gesso, but its definitely worth it for the smooth finish.

PART 3- painting

Before adding silver, I threw down a quick matte black layer. It tends to make metals look much better and it wont take long to dry, so I highly recommend it.

For the silver, i used decoart extreme sheen in silver, which i highly recommend. Relatively cheap and can be found in any craft store

Id also recommend having all your brush strokes go vertically if you can- it looks much cleaner.

PART 4 (final part)- attachment

I used a pair of white gloves i bought a while back at spirit halloween, but you can make them or buy them- doesnt matter as long as you like them.

This part is kinda dumb but I genuinely dont know if theres a better method… i put hot glue in the nails, let it cool for a couple of seconds, then put them ON MY FINGERS while wearing the gloves. It gets you the best fit possible but also burns a little so watch out.

And thats it! Thats all there is to it. Let me know if you found this helpful, and if anything was confusing leave a comment and ill try to help you.

As a bonus heres a picture that works very well for reference

[bakerstmel]

Fall Favorite Fic Festival, Entry 4

I'm writing this in Memphis, TN, and I can't see any red trees from my hotel window. Too far south to have gotten started, maybe. It's been very overcast. I'm here for a professional meeting, and as is always the case, they've had the AC set to "violent" in the meeting rooms and I don't know that I'll ever be warm again. You know how if you've ever gotten a sunburn, the water in the shower is warmer when it hits your feet than when it comes out of the showerhead, because it's been heated by your skin? My showers here have been the complete opposite of that.

All that to say, I'm still feeling sad, still feeling lonely, definitely facing an anniversary reaction from my sister's passing, and still quite intentionally drowning my sorrows in fic.

I had the best, most angsty fic in mind for this entry, like, call and warn @221bjen level angst, but then one day, this manip came to mind, for no particular reason:

and oh, yeah, baby. I couldn't sign into AO3 fast enough. If you know, you know, and if you don't, you've got to read:

Whiteout, by SinceWhenDoYouCallMe_John

I will spare your TL by adding a cut here.

This is a fic I re-read fairly often for sheer pleasure, but that is not to say it's fluff. The author tries in the notes to make it sound like fluff, but it's Sherlock and John as part of an aerial rescue team at the freaking Matterhorn and there is ice and danger and multiple CPR events and Greg Lestrade speaking French and secrets and tears and all kinds of relationship drama and it's JUST NOT FLUFF, OK? However, it is written in a fun documentary style (Shane based it on a documentary he came across on Netflix) with mostly dialogue and camera direction and it is a quick, satisfying read.

I've had the pleasure of betaing for this author in the past, and so I've spent more than a little time thinking about his style. He is an extremely versatile writer, and I think this fic really highlights that. If you compare this style to, say, the highly descriptive and romantic (not just in the relationship way, but also in the world-painted-in-perfect-light-way) Gimme Shelter, you wouldn't necessarily know they were written by the same person within a fairly short block of time (8 months). This fic is crisp, well timed, and quickly paced, with perfectly set points of action, snappy dialogue, and not a lot of down time. Gimme Shelter moves well too, but it's a very different feeling, silky and gentle. It's like the difference between taking a shot of great tequila vs savoring a perfect Cabernet. And if that's not enough for you, please note that SWDYCMJ has also written Priestlock, a skiing OT3, a straight-ahead ghost story, Potterlock, and a Black Mirror crossover that kept me on my toes. Plus, of course, the beautiful Brokeback Mountain fusion that still breaks my heart in all the best ways.

I mentioned in my last entry how the artistry in this fandom continues to knock me out to this day, and Shane's collective work is another prime example.

I don't feel like I'm doing this fic justice, but it's kinda hard for me to talk about without ruining the surprise of it. Even discussing the structure is tricky. Just...go read it. You'll thank me later.

[nsokolow]

Transformers One: Charoite

Chapter One

In one of the many trains that zipped through the air in Iacon City stood a small, predominately purple transforming bot. She wore a small, tense smile as she rocked back and forth.

The few bots left on the train repeatedly turned their eyes to her. She figured it was likely because of her clear enthusiasm, but she really hoped it was because they recognized her from the ten seconds her image appeared on the news. With less bots on the train, more attention would of course be on her. Two of the bots were mining bots, born without transformation cogs, and she imagined they would look up to her even more.

“You’re kinda freaking me out, lady,” one of the miners remarked with a step back.

Ouch.

She hoped nobody could sense her disappointment. For a moment, she fantasized about what she would have said if she was one of those jerks who always belittled the miners.

As a golden tower came closer into view, a transformer snapped his head back and forth between the purple bot and the tower. “Hey! Aren’t you the new—”

“—Yes!” The bot exclaimed as she threw her fists up.

The train stopped at the gleaming tower. She squealed and leapt to the train’s opening door. She made a quick turn and grinned with a click of her tongue. “Call me Charoite! Well, it’s been real, but this hero’s gotta shape and mold the future!”

She exited the train and stepped up to the tower’s closed doors. As the train immediately sped away, Charoite felt a surge of anxiety. She however could just fly to another set of doors should this high-set pair not open. She took a deep breath and knocked.

“Who is it?” A femme’s forbidding voice asked through an intercom.

“Charoite?” She hated how scared she sounded—and felt. She calmed herself as much as she could and steadied her voice. “Charoite. I’m here for my first day. You may recognize me from the ten beautiful seconds I was on the news. Yes, I counted! Then again, you work and live here, so you may have seen me more than—”

The doors slid open in a stunning second. Airachnid, a dark bot with way more than the usual two legs loomed over Charoite. Her two main purple eyes stared her down, then she turned her head in both directions, staring at her with the rows of smaller eyes on the sides of her head.

Airachnid resumed her straightened posture. “He should be in shortly.”

Charoite watched in relief as Airachnid sauntered away. She wasn’t exactly known as an approachable bot, but she apparently could be downright terrifying in person.

Charoite took a seat on one of the two blue couches. They seemed to be made of some sort of stone. They were blue but had golden lines in no pattern spread throughout. She traced a finger on one of the golden lines and noticed it was raised. “Huh, must be painted on.”

“Ah! Charoite! Welcome to my humble abode!”

Charoite turned around and saw a blue bot with golden, angel-like wings. He made his way in front of her.

“Sentinel Prime!” Charoite shot up from her seat. “I’m Charoite!”

“Ah…we’re gonna be seeing a lot of each other. Call me, ‘Sentinel.’” Sentinel extended his hand.

“Oh, okay, wow!” Charoite vigorously shook his hand. THE Sentinel Prime! He wants me to call him “Sentinel!”

He sat down on the couch across from her and gestured for her to sit back down.

A/N: After a long and eventually annoying time trying to come up with a name for the OC, I realized Charoite was the right call. Since she’s purple, I looked up purple gems, and I found one called, “charoite.” I then found out that there’s a religion that associates it with change, discernment, and, well..transforming, surprisingly! Change and discernment are key factors in this story, which made the name an even better fit than I thought it would be. Anyhow, hope you all enjoy! Oooooh boy…Sentinel Prime! 😬 😱