#soundwave is literally just some guy..

[morikeifemme]

Some more design doodles ft bonus Rumble

Ruble is not height accurate in this pic just cus I haven’t decided if I want frenzy to be more of a “twin” to rumble or if they should be completely separate designs so I’m still playing with him

[katetcake]

Oh God why does he sound like that lmaooo

[lord-squiggletits]

Ahhhhh I really didn't imagine it, I still dislike Barber's way of writing Orion/Optimus just as much as I did on the first reading and all it took was rereading a few screencaps from one specific scene.

Literally I don't know which part annoys me more: Jetfire existing in the background solely to go "ORION PAX FUCKING SUCKS AND IS A HYPOCRITE", Orion being written like an edgy asshole who hates everyone, or Soundwave talking like an unhinged terrorist and the narrative expecting me to see Orion as the hypocrite for using violence to arrest terrorists.

Soundwave is seriously like "You have no proof we assassinated the Senate, but if we did assassinate the Senate it would've been justified, but also totally trust us bro, just because we could've hypothetically murdered the entire reigning government doesn't mean that we're violent bro come on just bc we assassinated-- I mean could have hypothetically had the means and cause to kill like a hundred people doesn't mean we were gonna kill anyone else, come on bro why are you calling us violent just bc we think some murder is okay" while Jetfire is in the background like "WOW ORION I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU'RE WILLING TO BE VIOLENT IN RESPONSE TO OTHER PEOPLE BEING VIOLENT. YOU DON'T CARE ABOUT YOUR OWN SIDE'S FLAWS EVEN THOUGH YOU'RE LITERALLY DOING AN INVESTIGATION TO DECIDE WHETHER ONE OF YOUR COPS COMMITTED AN UNJUSTIFIED KILLING OR NOT. YOU HAVE DONE LITERALLY NOTHING TO TRY AND FIGHT THE CORRUPTION IN SOCIETY." (Jetfire had no way of knowing about OP and crew fighting the Senate's schemes in Shadowplay and Elegant Chaos, but as a reader it's very frustrating seeing Orion getting lambasted as never having done anything to fight society's corruption when he literally did, and by the time he was even working for Zeta Megatron was already evil and had the whole Senate assassinated.)

Like ughhhh oh my god I could have maybe enjoyed this story under a better writer but as it's written it's some "yet you participate in society, curious" levels of political commentary where at least one character seemingly only exists in the scene to shit on OP (something that happens a lot in Barber's works, like with Pyra Magna and Slide) and where OP is framed as a hypocritical asshole for a reaction that's very understandable given the context.

And also it's weird because Barber wants so badly for you to read Orion as some sort of hypocrite for being against terrorist activities but being willing to employ violence himself to arrest terrorists, yet... it turns out the big twist of the story is that the Decepticons WERE smuggling weapons and Soundwave DID lie to Orion (even if it was unintentionally), thus vindicating Orion's entire distrustful attitude? Like, it seems as if it was supposed to be an ACAB story showing how evil the police are for killing people and how Orion (as a cop) is evil for being a cop that uses violence on behalf of the state. Except uh. Then Barber wrote a plot where the Decepticons literally were smuggling weapons all along (and this is alongside lore from Megatron: Origin where we as the readers know for a fact the Decepticons/Starscream killed the Senate) so.... Like, it just seems to me that if Barber wanted to write an ACAB story about how the state monopoly on violence is bad, he probably shouldn't have written the Decepticons as actually being terrorists who literally did lie about smuggling weapons?

I feel like a better way to write an ACAB/anti-state-monopoly-on-violence would've been to like, explore the way that states take advantage of catastrophe/using scapegoat political movements to gather more power to themselves and justify removing citizens' rights with "it's an emergency, we're taking away your freedoms to protect everyone." Like, maybe Zeta passes some law saying that officers can search citizens without a warrant, which he justifies with the fact that Decepticon terrorism is so rampant that officers need immediate permission to conduct raids/searches. Except this is obviously a problem because people have a right to privacy, and probably the cops are super overzealous and end up arresting innocent people without cause (like idk, maybe just being friends with someone who is sympathetic to the Decepticons gets someone landed in jail? Maybe Jetfire gets arrested bc he's critical of the state and has hung out with Decepticon sympathizers before). So then Orion has an actual "are we the baddies?" moment where he wants to stop the bad people, but he realizes that his side are infringing on people's citizens and justifying police brutality for the sake of a nebulous "greater good," and that even though he and his cops were given greater power to supposedly "protect citizens," in practice they're actually doing great harm to citizens by invading their privacy, creating a surveillance state, and imprisoning people without just cause? Basically "we were given this power to stop terrorists from hurting civilians, but now we're hurting civilians too so are we actually doing any good?" Because that way Orion and his cops would ACTUALLY be in the wrong and their state monopoly on violence would be an actually widespread institutional thing where they're clearly being allowed to do bad things just because they're cops. Not just Orion investigating one singular police killing.

But with the story written as "Orion suspected the Decepticons of murdering the Senate (he's correct about this) but still investigated one of his officers to see if he committed a wrongful murder (literally him paying attention to his own side's wrongdoings, Jetfire), and it turns out the Decepticons WERE smuggling weapons and doing terrorism (Orion was correct about this)" it's just.......... like, Orion may not be morally correct, but his hunches/investigations about the suspected criminal activity were literally correct. AND HE WAS WILLING TO DO THIS INVESTIGATION IN THE FIRST PLACE. But for some reason he's still framed as if he's an asshole for this? Even though this is a point in the pre-war lore where Megatron won't back down from violence and has lost his way from his original pure intentions, so it's not like Orion can just go "let's put down our weapons and be friends and mutually trust each other to not stab each other in the back."

It just feels as if Barber's intentions to write an ACAB story where Orion is framed as being too judgmental and quick to be violent don't line up with the actual events of the story. The story is desperately trying to call Orion a hypocrite, but he really just seems as if he's reacting understandably to the events that are happening around him, so there's a real dissonance here where I don't understand why the ACAB story had the cops be right about the Decepticons committing terrorism, and I'm also supposed to see Orion as an asshole for correctly not trusting the Decepticons???

[robotsandjunk]

In honour of pride month do you have any sexuality and BDSM hcs for the tfp Decepticons?

So I had to have a bit of a think about this one because in my personal view of Cybertronians sexuality isn’t as easily defined as it is for humans for various reasons but I’ll put down what I think they’d be in human terms since it’s an interesting thought experiment. I also went literal on the BDSM headcanon part since this’ll be such a big post

Megatron - Gay

He’s a dom top, he would be a switch in the top/bottom sense but he has some weird hang ups because of the gladiator pits, so connects submissions to loosing and all the consequences that come with that. It would take him a while to get through all that but he’s not the kinda guy to do deep introspection

He prefers holding his partners down rather than any sort of bondage, he also prefers partners that ‘put up a fight’ so to speak. He thinks dominance is something that should be earned so he needs to have a partner who could at least stand up to him

He’s kinda weird about interface in general

Soundwave - Demisexual

He’s a switch but likes to fight to determine the positions. These fights can be actual physical fights but he usually only does that with Megatron (it’s a bit more playful with other partners)

He’s a fan of bondage and will usually use his data cables to hold his partner. He’s not so much into being tied up himself though, it makes him feel trapped

He’s not really much of a sadist of masochist but doesn’t mind being a bit rough here and there

Starscream - Gay

Dom bottom, he likes things his way. That’s it

He’s not big on bondage, he’s never enjoyed being held or tied down but doesn’t mind tying his partner up on the odd occasion

Starscreams definitely got a slight sadistic streak, usually in small ways like a small pinch or a corrective tap with a cane. He can be a little bit of a masochist but there’d need to be a massive amount of trust before he’d even consider it, and he’s not a particularly trusting bot so he doesn’t indulge it often

Shockwave - Pan

Shockwaves a switch and bottom I’d say, but he has a lot of opinions on what’s going on and how things are done either way

He likes bondage for certain scenes it just depends on what he’s experimenting with that week, he’s got some nice equipment for it though everything’s very sturdy

He’s a bit of a sadist and masochist in the sense he he likes seeing how far a frame can be pushed and he finds the different reactions different bots have fascinating

Knockout - Gay

He’s a dom switch and just a little bit bossy in bed in general

He likes bondage but more in an artistic sense, so he more does it for aesthetic purposes rather than to actually restrain his partner. He has equipment that’s complement near any frame and paint job

He can be a bit of sadist but only to a small degree, he does enough repairs in his day job after all. He’s not a masochist in the slightest he’d barely tolerate his paint getting scuffed let alone any actual scratches

Breakdown - Bi

He’s a switch all around and is pretty go with the flow when it comes to interface in general

He’s so-so on bondage he’d never go out of his way to do it but he’s happy to discuss it with a partner

Breakdowns neither a sadist or masochist, he’s there for a good time and pain doesn’t constitute a good time to him (He’s also aware that he’s a big strong guy so even when he’s trying to be gentle that could still be a bit heavy handed for some)

Dreadwing - Pan

He’s a switch top but would probably fall more under the service top category he enjoys looking after his partners

Dreadwings not big into bondage, flight frames tend to get claustrophobic easily and being tied up exacerbates that. He doesn’t do bondage on partners either just because he can’t get his head around it being enjoyable

He’s not really a sadist or masochist he thinks violence of any kind should be kept to battle (not that he’s judgmental towards bots who are into it it’s just not his thing)

Airachnid - Lesbian

Airachnids a dom top and a mean one at that, she has high expectations of her partners and is very quick to correct mistakes

She a big fan of bondage and the kind she does is very artful. Usually its suspension bondage with the ropes tied in a very elegant manner that hides how sturdy they are

I think she’d definitely be a sadist, you’ve got to correct unruly subs one way or another. I’m genuinely not sure if she’d be a masochist or not, probably not but there’s always the possibility

[thatshappinessforme]

When We Are Together - Pt. 1 (?)

omg...hi. i'm really here rn. posting this. at nearly 4 am on a monday morning. im nervous. i could vomit. so...this has been in my head for forever. literally. the idea is massive. it extends so far. it's seriously a whole universe in my little brain. it took so long to get the basis of this all out on paper, but, i'm hoping this is a series...a long one. the title isn't going to make much sense right now, but i pinky swear we'll get there eventually. so...without further ado...here she is...(EEK!) (also i have no idea how to set this post up so bear with me lol)

so i guess i just lost my fanfic writing vcard💌

_____________________________________________

word count: 2.4k

cw: just a little swearing, maybe a bit of bad writing, also maybe typos?? might be a little boring because it’s mostly to just like set the scene idk? (eventually the plan is to have a lil smut or smth but this really is just an intro lol)

_____________________________________________

The day starts as usual. You wake up to the sound of your alarm and your roommate’s hair dryer blaring through the thin walls of your Brooklyn walk-up. With a groan, you peel yourself out of the warmth of your bed, go to your desk, and open your laptop, holding onto a shred of delusional hope that one of your classes might be canceled for today; they rarely are…but you can’t blame a girl for being an optimist. 

You scroll through your inbox, refreshing, and refreshing – you really don’t want to go to class today. Blame the essay you’d procrastinated that you’d spent all of last night speed-writing. Blame senioritis. Blame the unpaid music publicity internship that you’d been letting eat up your time in hopes of scoring a good job. Blame the frigid snow and ice that seem to be taunting you from outside your window. But, luckily it’s a Friday.

You refresh your inbox one last time, just for good measure. And, something actually comes in. But, it’s not from one of your professors. It’s from some company named “Dirty Hit.”

You raise an eyebrow and open the email, thinking it must be something related to one of the countless jobs you’ve applied for in the last few weeks, preparing for graduation at the end of the semester.

Y/N,

I’m a representative with one of our bands here at Dirty Hit. We’re really impressed with your work and have an opportunity we’d love to discuss with you, if you have a free moment this week at some point. Are you based out of New York? Get back to us when you can. We’re looking forward to hearing from you.

Best,

The Dirty Hit Team

“That’s weird,” you whisper to yourself, reading the short, ominous email over and over again. It’s not everyday that a label reaches out to a random college student to work with them. You’re not really sure what they could possibly be impressed with. You’ve just done minor PR internship work with underground bands from the east coast – that’s not exactly impressive. It sure as hell doesn’t warrant an email.

“Y/N?,” you hear one of your roommates and best friend, Vivian, call from outside your door before walking in, not bothering to knock. The two of you are close, almost like sisters at this point. In some ways, you’re exactly the same person, but in others your polar opposites. She’s a little bit more outgoing than you are, but she always helps to get you out of your shell. “Do you think I can get this guy I’m talking to into the venue tomorrow night? It’s just at The Soundwave, right?,” she asks, plopping down on the corner of your bed. 

Shit. You completely forgot you signed up for an open mic tonight. You’d been playing your songs at small bars in Brooklyn and Manhattan for the past year or so. Songwriting had always been a bit of a hobby for you. So when you’re a broke college student in one of the most expensive cities in the world, you just find tricks to get you and your friends to do fun things for free. You’d learned a while back that performing at open mics usually meant you and your friends could get into bars and clubs without having to pay a cover, so you’d been spending your weekends doing that for a while. It’s all for fun. Sure, you like performing and put a lot into your songwriting, but pursuing it isn’t even quite a dream for you. You have an impending college degree you’ve worked your ass off for. In every sense of the word, music was a hobby for you. 

“Yeah, it shouldn’t be a problem. He might have to pay the cover, but it’s not like it’s the sort of thing where people buy tickets. You know the drill. But, obviously you’re my plus one, so no cover for you,” you nod, still staring at your laptop screen.

“What are you staring at, over there? Everything okay?,” she asks, getting up and moving to stand over your shoulder at your desk. You move your head a little so she can get a good look at the words on your screen. You watch her face as she reads the email, her lips dancing on each of the syllables as you watch her process it. “Dirty Hit? What the hell is that? Sounds like a porn company. Impressed with your work? Do you have a booming, secret OnlyFans I’m unaware of?,” she jokes. 

I laugh and playfully nudge her arm. “No, no,” you giggle, “It’s a record label, I think. I’ve heard the name thrown around a few times at my internship. I think they’re kinda big.” You tab over and do a quick Google search. Immediately, a sea of popular artists and bands pop up under the label.

“Holy shit. Beabadoobee? Bleachers? The 19 fucking 75? I have their fuckin’ poster on my wall. They’re cool as shit,” she reads over your shoulder. “I mean, I have no idea what they could possibly want from me. My resumè isn’t all that impressive. Sure, I’m planning on going into music PR, but there’s no reason why I would stand out against someone who has like…an actual career under their belt,” you ramble, trying to make sense of the 67 words in haunting your inbox. 

There’s a long pause, both of you trying aimlessly to make sense of the email. “Well, you’re gonna email them back, right?,” she eventually asks. You take breath, starting a reply to the email, leaving your cell phone number.

You try to focus on anything other than waiting for a reply. You do your best not to let your mind wander into the what-ifs, but as soon as you get done with your lectures for the day, you check your phone for any response.

Y/N,

Thanks for getting back to us so quickly. The band and management is also in New York for the next few months for a project. We would give you more information over email, but much of the matter is highly confidential. We have a studio space at Electric Lady in Greenwich Village that we could meet at, if that works for you. I know it is rather short notice, but could you meet this evening at some point? Let us know.

Best,

The Dirty Hit Team

You quickly reply to the email on your walk back from campus, confirming the meeting for later this evening. You get back to your apartment and practically tear apart your closet trying to figure out what the hell to wear. You know it’s a business meeting, but it’s also for some mystery band. You don’t want to dress unprofessionally, but you also don’t want to seem uptight. You decide on a black mini skirt with tights and a chunky black turtleneck sweater. You finish primping and step into Vivian’s room, practically out of breath from all the outfits you’ve tried on and scrapped.

“Okay, if you were a band looking for…a PR representative…? Would you hire me?,” you ask her, standing in front of her bed as she looks up from her phone. She looks you up and down and grins, “Of course I would, Y/N. You look great,” she reassures you, sensing you’re anxious, “So, you really think this is just a PR gig?”

“I mean, yeah. What else could it possibly be? It couldn’t be my music. I’m not even on any streaming platforms; I don’t promote it at all,” you say with certainty. She shrugs and smiles, before wishing you the best of luck as you head out the door.

You get on the subway and head to Electric Lady. The train has always been one of your favorite parts about living in New York for college. Putting your pink headphones on, looking out the window into the catacombs that stretch throughout the city, people watching. It’s where you did your best thinking. 

You get off the train and walk through the streets, your headphones on and your music blasting, only interrupted occasionally by Google Maps telling you where to turn and such. Eventually the robotic voice in your ear says “Arrived” and you look over your right shoulder…here it is. You're right on time. You go to open the doors, pushing on them gently; must still be locked. You sigh, assuming that its to be expected. That this is simply upholding a prophecy of some sort that the band and music-industry-folk run behind…until you hear a laugh.

“It’s a pull,” you hear a man’s voice call out with a slight chuckle. From just those three words, you’ve determined that he has one of the thickest English accents you’d ever heard. You look over your left shoulder and see a man leaning up against the wall of the studio smoking a cigarette. “What?,” you ask, confused as you look over to him. He has a hood on and you can’t make out his face, or what he was trying to tell you. “The doors. It says right on them. ‘PULL,’” he chuckles, tossing his cigarette to the ground and putting it out with his Adidas sneaker, walking over to you. “Oh, um, thanks, I’m an idiot. I almost gave up,” you chuckle, pulling the door open this time. The man follows you into the studio, holding the door open once you tug on it. You look back over your shoulder to thank him for holding the door, the first time he’s been close enough for you to make out his face; Christ, it’s Matty Healy.

“I know who you are,” he says to you with a cheeky grin as he starts walking into the back of the studio. You just stand there near the doorway, the gust of cigarette-scented, cold January air lingering around you. You’re perplexed, to say the least. He keeps walking down the hall before finally turning over his shoulder, “You’re just gonna stand there? You have a meeting. Wouldn’t be very professional of you to stand us up,” he teases dryly. You blink a few times before nodding, following him, still in a bit of disbelief that this was the band that had some sort of ‘interest’ in you.

He shows you into a studio in the back. Once he opens the door, there are four other men sitting there, three that you also recognize from your roommate’s wall. The other, a bit older, more professional looking. 

“Y/N! I’m Jamie, I manage these blokes. Thank you so much for agreeing to come meet with us today. I know everything was rather vague on the emails, but…we had to keep it that way. But, now that you’re here, let's talk, yeah? Are you familiar with The 1975?,” the older man asks you, in a super friendly manner as you sit down on a plush chair in the corner of the room. Every eye in the room is glued to you. The air is almost sticky with anticipation. You take a deep breath and try to slap on the most composed, thoughtful, professional smile you can manage.

“Um, yes! Of course,” you nod, tucking a stray strand of your hair behind your ear, “I’m actually a fan of you all. Really, I listen to your stuff with my friends – you’re fantastic.”

“Good, good. We’re glad to hear it,” he grins, looking around at the boys who also all look to be pleased. Even though everyone’s eyes are on you, you feel Matty's specifically, practically burning a hole in the side of your head as he stands, still leaning in the doorway.

“We’re impressed with you, Y/N. So, I’m just going to get on with it. George went to a little bar in Bushwick last month and sent us a video he took of you singing one of your originals…you’re bloody fantastic. We’re going on tour this summer. We want to do something a little different this time with our opener. We want to build someone from the ground up. You’re it. We want you. What do you say? You interested?,” he explains with a wide grin, his tone casual like he didn’t just tell you the craziest shit you’ve ever heard. 

Jamie’s words hit you in slow motion. You look around the room, the air moving from feeling sticky to feeling ice cold, jolting you awake. “I’m sorry…what the actual fuck did you just say?,” you blurt out blankly, any ounce of composure you may have had completely gone. 

You immediately catch yourself, your language, your lack of professionalism, though, “Oh my god, I’m sorry. I…that just came out of my mouth…I-,” your face goes bright red as you desperately try to correct yourself.

The room erupts in laughter, the men you recognize from Viv’s poster nearly barreling over off the sofa. Jamie’s jaw on the floor as he howls, slapping the table in front of him. You look over your shoulder to see that Matty’s still in the doorway, and he’s just standing there with his arms crossed, shaking his head at you with a shit-eating grin.

“Oh, I think we’re gonna get along quite well with this one,” he remarks, licking his lips, weirdly impressed with your mispeakings.

You can’t help but sigh softly and shake your own head when he looks at you like that; something in you shifting as if he’s the only person in the room; as if he was the only person who'd ever laid eyes on you; as if he was the only person ever. As if, the offer you got just moments before wasn’t the most absurd thing that had ever happened to you. As if you didn’t need to thoroughly think this all over. As if you could make the decision right now.

You look back over to Jamie, who’s still chuckling. Before you can give yourself the time to overthink, you swing one of your legs over the other, lean back into the chair and smirk, “Jamie, where the hell do I sign?” 

…and this is how it starts.

[toaarcan]

People are raving about Skybound Transformers and I'm just sitting here like "This comic is so committed to being G1 But Edgy that it's not actually bothering to develop its characters before they get killed off."

Optimus and to a lesser extent Cliffjumper are the only ones who feel at all more three-dimensional than their G1 toy bios. I feel like I know more about fucking G.I. Joe Man than I do about this version of Starscream, who was the main villain of the comic until last issue.

Like, what do we know about Skybound Starscream's personality? He likes killing people and he was allegedly friends with Jetfire. I say 'allegedly' because he lasts all of a page before killing Jetfire for not immediately throwing in with the Decepticons. There's not even a token attempt at manipulation, the fucking cartoon did more with this idea than Skybound did.

The badly-animated 23-minute toy commercial with the budget of two coffee beans and some pocket lint is not a high bar to clear.

And hey, how about a different example? How about Skywarp's sorta-death?

Skywarp gets ripped apart in Issue 4, and used to repair Teletraan 1 so the Decepticons can revive more of their guys. But... why? They're currently surrounded by dozens of corpses they could cannibalise instead, many of whom are much less useful to the cause than the teleporting fighter jet. Like fuck, you've got three of Reflector and he's nearly always useless. The only reason this doesn't immediately backfire on Soundwave is that when the Autobots retake the Ark, Wheeljack accidentally reactivates what's left of Skywarp's brain and he starts blocking their efforts to revive more Autobots. Congratulates my guy, you turned the teleporting fighter jet into a minor software bug, and him being anything besides a corpse wasn't even intentional.

But you can make this work. Let's say that there's a reason Soundwave needs Skywarp gone. Maybe Skywarp, as a Seeker, is ultra-loyal to Starscream, and being as powerful as he is, makes Screamer's position as the leader of the Decepticons basically unassailable. The only way Soundwave can depose Starscream is to first trick him into helping eliminate Skywarp.

And like that, all three Decepticons get some extra character. Soundwave's manipulative side is put on display, an aspect of his character that often gets left out. Starscream's cruelty and ineptitude as leader is elaborated on by demonstrating that he doesn't reward loyalty, being more likely to backstab even someone who has always had his back if he's convinced it will benefit him. Skywarp gets a personality trait before he's violently killed, and now him dying means something other than another demonstration of weirdly organic robo-gore.

Instead we get "Starscream, we need to kill one of our most dangerous soldiers instead of literally any of these other assholes we've got lying around. I am a better leader because this worked out for me accidentally."

[tfp-is-my-lifeblood-lol]

How would the bots and cons handwriting be like? (Sorry for my bad English lol)

Ahhh! I love this idea! Had WAY too much fun with this.

Bots and Cons Handwriting

Optimus:

-Can write insanely neatly, and in literally ANY font

-Everything he writes looks like it came straight from Google Docs

-He can perfectly recreate Comic Sans, much to the children's amusement

-Handwriting KING

-He's too powerful

Arcee:

-Her handwriting is gorgeous

-She writes very neatly, definitely in cursive

-Everything she writes looks like a diary from the Victorian era

-Majestic✨✨✨✨

Ratchet:

-Cursive, but MESSY cursive

-Like, REALLY messy cursive. What is he even writing? Who knows? It's a mystery.

-You know, cuz, like, that's how a pharmacist's prescriptions look, and he's a medic. Lol

-Ratchet has messy pharmacist handwriting

Bumblebee:

-His handwriting is so cute😭

-Basically Comic Sans

-Not PERFECT Comic Sans like Optimus, but just bubbly and adorable

-Having legible handwriting is something he practices a lot, since his voice box is broken. Writing is a nice way to express himself if need be.

-He has kindergarten teacher handwriting

-My dyslexia would be so happy

Smokescreen:

-Neat enough handwriting, but HE WRITES SO BIG

-All caps, all the time

-He goes through too many notebooks, because he saves NO space

-Poor guy. He just has a big personality

Bulkhead:

-Unreadable

-His hands are just way too big

-Very messy. Only Wheeljack can read it because he and Bulkhead share the same braincells

-Bulkhead and Ratchet get in arguments, because Ratchet's reads Bulk's handwriting, and is like: "Bulkhead, your attempts at penmanship are downright INCOMPREHENSIBLE."

And Bulkhead's like: "You say that like any of us can read yours!"

And Arcee's like: "I second that."

And Bumblebee buzzes in agreement.

Ratchet just rolls his eyes, like "ugh." Because he can't argue. HIS handwriting is gibberish, too.

Ultra Magnus:

-Opposite of Smokescreen...Ultra Magnus's handwriting is TINY!

-Seriously, where is it? You need a microscope.

-Only the humans can read it, because it's so small. And even THEY have to squint

-It's also PERFECT. His handwriting is very neat

and blocky, like a typewriter

-If only we could actually see it

Wheeljack:

-He's like, a graphic design CHAMPION

-He learned handwriting from Miko, so he loves big bubble letters. He decorates them with cool patterns, like flames, and lightning bolts

-Very stylish

Megatron:

-What I can only describe as "spooky cursive"

-Very formal, and kinda gothic

-He'd use some kind of calligraphy pen with very dark, splattery ink, or, like, whatever the Cybertronian version of a quill is.

-He's an elegant guy...well, sort of, except most of what he writes consists of:

"My dearest Starscream,

It is with great regret (note my sarcasm, Starscream.) It is with great PLEASURE that I must inform you...

I have caught you invading my stash of dark energon, once again.

I will be grinding you into scrap metal momentarily.

Yours truly,

Lord Megatron."

Starscream:

-Starscream has the ABILITY to write neatly, and in cursive

-But he writes very scribbly, because he's angry

-If "ranting" was a font, it's the font he writes in

-Also, he probably keeps a rage journal, where he trash talks everyone he knows

-Somebody help him🥲

Soundwave:

-Handwriting? What's that?

-He probably uses his internal computer to make documents, and prints them

-And when he prints things, they probably slide out of his neck. Terrifying. So he prints things to freak Starscream out

-It's beautiful

-If Soundwave was FORCED to handwrite, he'd do it in computer code, or morse code, or something weird like that. Everyone would be baffled trying to understand it.

Airachnid:

-Very splattery

-But that's what happens when you use energon and human blood as ink.

Shockwave:

-Writes in calculator font

-Like, the font a calculator has

-He says it's "the most logical font"

-Starscream constantly judges him for it

Breakdown:

-Definitely not neat, but not Bulkhead levels of messy, either

-He doesn't have the best handwriting, but he can make some pretty good doodles

-If, for some reason, Megatron assigned Breakdown and Knockout a task involving handwriting, Breakdown and Knockout would both doodle instead of being productive

Knockout:

-Ooo! So majestic!

-It's very bold

-His handwriting is suave and announcer-y, just like him

-It'd also be curved slightly to the right, like italics

-Almost like something you'd see in a commercial, or a movie trailer, or a billboard

-Like a NASCAR advertisement (y'know, because race car)

[inkfamy]

Are you saying you don't like Skybound Starscream? :(

I'm not sure what post this is a response to, but I absolutely adore him. The more a narrative tries to make me dislike a character, the more my affection grows. Energon Universe Starscream is evil to the point it's comical - he murdered someone literally the moment he woke up, he's killing civilians as they try to run away, smushing people with his bare hands, slapping Soundwave and making him drop his dead cat, destroying a hospital on purpose, cannibalising an injured comrade for parts, kicking said dead cat like a football and it's only been 4 issues. His rationale behind every horrible thing he's done is that he's just that much of an asshole and he thinks it's funny. The narrative is hitting every single "this guy fucking sucks" button, the dude hasn't managed to be on-page without doing something completely egregious. I fully expect him to be shown taking candy from a baby at some point. He's completely over the top, out of control, he's going to run out of allies before the first story arc even ends. He's like a villain from Saturday morning cartoons. He should have a long pointed moustache so he can twirl it.

I can understand why people are already baying for Starscream's blood but I love him. I have loved every iteration of Starscream for almost 20 years and I will love every iteration of Starscream for the next 20.

I hope EU Starscream lives forever, I hope he only gets worse every moment and never, ever self-reflects or feels an ounce of remorse. He's my perfect little feral cat baby that hates everything and everyone and I want to see him bite and scratch and pee on the carpet because it's just really entertaining to watch him go.

[chaos-has-a-tmblr-now]

Can we appreciate how Megasound has almost every ship dynamic? You just have to search through the right universe for it.

Friends/Close allies to Lovers for TFP. If you may add some spice to it, (non-quite literally) enemies to friends to lovers considering they worked as gladiators and most likely fought eachother eventually until Soundwave started to like the guy.

For angst, well, there is every continuity really, but the easiest route is TFE/Earthspark. They are lovers to enemies, literally. I will not be told otherwise. “Don't make this personal, Soundwave!” and “It already is.” are not really very straight dialogues if you ask me.

And lastly but most importantly, losers to lovers for G1. Because they're just two idiots, and I cherish them with all my heart.

There are darker routes for them of course, you can twist that devotion to something almost animalistic and unhinged if you may, but sometimes a bit of lighthearted and silly stuff when it comes to their dynamic is also good for the soul.

[catcake24]

I have SO MANY feelings about the Chaos Terrans

Okay so… one thing I noticed, which is supposed to be a minor thing, is that both Aftermath and Spitfire came into existence during a fight. I can’t help but think though… yeah they’re corrupted by chaos power, but maybe the reason they literally are BORN fighting is because of how they were made? I mean…

Imagine being aftermath, you’re seconds old… and a van is crashing into you. Maybe he’s scared or angry, and he scans it, before going on a rampage. Next thing he knows, a guy is saying they’re on the same side and offers more destruction, so he goes along with Breakdown. Spitfire is born and is seconds old when she is falling, and her first memory is someone strange that she doesn’t know grabbing unto her and saying she needs to scan an alt mode to survive. No time to think or reconsider, just boom, gotta survive. What if that affected how they woke up… like obviously they’re violent seemingly by nature, but maybe they’re so aggressive because their first memories of existence were so perilous. We don’t even know if they LIKE their alt modes much, which might even mean they hate everything including their bodies and lash out as a result as well.

The Terrans we know woke up relatively safe in a cave, feeling the bond and love of their siblings, and even the triplets with the cave in had family they could trust in very quickly. They had time to pick their alt modes, settle into the world and their family support, find their own purposes.

Speaking of the bond, I wonder if the Chaos Terrans are unstable because they don’t have that emotional bond the Malto Terrans have. They immediately know what love, kindness, and friendship feel like, while the Chaos Terrans didn’t feel that. Not just that, but Aftermath says something interesting: “Lonliness. I would like to be lonely.”

I know he’s annoyed with Jawbreaker, but does he mean he’s always lonely when not around others? Does he feel alone, being the only one of his kind? He IMMEDIATELY seeks out Spitfire as soon as he can, seemingly knowing she was created beforehand just by sensing her, and is super excited to find her too. He even says they share a connection, not too surprised she knows his name.

In Witwicky I and II, they are seemingly always together now - we literally almost never see them apart. They get along really well too, and even seem to care for eachother since Spitfire gives Aftermath the water to recharge and offers to charge the staff next (though jokingly). I think Aftermath even calls Spitfire “sis”. So, and I’m just spitballing here, they do share that sibling bond but it’s corrupted by the chaos power? Or maybe they’re craving that emotional bond since they were SUPPOSED to have it but don’t.

So here’s a fanfic idea: What if they’re resurrected by Quintus power at some point, but still don’t share that emotional bond with the Maltos - they share it with EACHOTHER. They suddenly feel whole, like they woke up not able to understand why they were so angry and lashed out, but now not just feel stable from this Emberstone power but feel complete with their sibling bond.

I can’t imagine either the Maltos or the Chaos Terrans would want to join their family anyways, so what do they do then? If I were to make a fanfic, I’d probably have them run off and do their own thing until they’re adopted by Soundwave who has experience with rowdy youngsters. Who knows, maybe even the remaining Decepticons can come to accept these Terrans. Spitfire would get a new alt mode, and Aftermath would be supportive and maybe find something of his own.

Idk… just my insane ramblings and ideas for these goobers.

[favcharacterpoll]

ROUND 3 MATCH 52: ZACK VS. SOUNDWAVE

Zack Underwood from Milo Murphy's Law faces Soundwave from Transformers. Who do you like more? also, soundwave just killed Milo Murphy so.

Zack Propaganda:

"ZACK (ima do some propaganda since he doesn’t have any)

1: he was in a lumberjack themed boy band. Called the Lumberzacks

2: he is terrified of fish

3: he is “claustroavoidant” (he’s not claustrophobic, he just AVOIDS closed spaces whenever possible)

4: he’s literally so sweet. made of sunshine. just a little guy

5: he’s SUCH a good friend. He moves to a new school and befriends a kid who has anything that can go wrong around him go wrong. And he’s so clearly scared so often, but he sticks by Milo’s side.

6: his character development over the series. In the last episode of s2, when on an alien planet to rescue his friend, he says that he is “done being afraid.” He gets such great character development and it’s amazing.

7: please. please. look at his little face"

Soundwave Propaganda:

"In like every show ever once he's not there/kidnapped/dead the entire Decepticon fucking faction goes to shambles. Ex: in transformers: Prime, (SPOILER!)

once he was "banished to the shadow realm" Megatron literally died and they lost the war 💀💀"

"Soundwave never loses in a poll"

"SOUNDWAVE MY BELOVED his back is so so sore from single-handedly holding up the Decepticon cause every vote for him is 1 more ibuprofen tablet given to him"

[singingcicadas]

Why are Autobots just as bad as the Decepticons?

Why? Some people seem to be under this impression that the Autobots have some kind of original sin that makes their cause morally inferior to that of the Decepticon 'revolutionists', for Reasons:

1. Autobots are bad because they were part of the old oppressive government.

Okay but it was literally Optimus who came up with the name, when he stormed the Senate demanding for autonomy? Sentinel took it for his own use. Optimus was a fugitive under Sentinel. He was doing vigilante work against the government. 

2. But Optimus was a cop and served Zeta. Cops are bad and Zeta was bad so Optimus was just as bad. 

Well Optimus only worked with Zeta because Zeta hid his true colours at first and seemed a decent progressive guy. He and Megatron killed Zeta when that turned out not to be the case, thus ending the oppression of the old government. 

What did he do as a cop that’s so unforgivable, besides the occupation itself? He wasn’t making political arrests for the government (he treated Megatron with respect and lauded his polemics, he sided with rebel bomb planter Hot Rod) or persecuting people based on their class or function. He threw the cops who did that in jail (sorry Whirl), he got help for the people on the streets instead of arresting them as per government protocol (Drift). The only arrests he was shown to make were either thugs harassing defenceless citizens (the guys beating up Drift), illegal drug and arms dealers (Swindle), murderers, and terrorists. Notice how they’re all Decepticons. Because that’s what the Decepticons were to Cybertron’s society.

— Like it's important to note that there's never been a sweet point in Decepticon history where they were true upright freedom fighters, dedicated to nothing but emancipation of the people. That idealized version only ever existed in Megatron's writings. The Decepticons didn't start out well-meaning and turned bad somewhere along the way, they've always been a ragtag gathering of degenerates from the dregs of society looking for a venue to excerise violence and embrace their pursuit for chaos and power. They were warmongers. Terrorists. Thugs. Weapons traffickers. Opportunists. Sadists. Bloodsport enjoyers/profiteers. It’s those people who were the targets of Megatron's recruitment speeches when he promised them that he'd turn the planet into their gladiatorial arena. It’s those traits that were coveted, sought, valued by the Decepticon ranks. Revolution of the oppressed lmao, aside from Megatron himself, there's not one honest-to-god true proletariat or bottom class in the Decepticons' upper echelons. Soundwave, Ratbat’s lackey. Starscream, criminal tax swindler. Shockwave, mad scientist (with a specialization in body experimentation) and former sketchy Senator. Honest work got you as nowhere in the Decepticons as in the Cybertron social ladder.

This is an example of political persecution. By a team of sanctioned torture police created for this explicit purpose. For literally every bad thing the government did, the Decepticons have done something to one-up them. Think functionalism is bad? How about let's conscript everyone into a combatant and if you don't want to fight you can die. Painfully. Social stratification? How about a military hierarchy for the entire society based purely on might makes right. Empurata and shadowplay? Forced frame alteration and body experimentation. Lobotomy. Grooming. Vamparc ribbon that sucks the life out of an entire city's worth of people? Burn up the planet and massacre half its population. Unlawful treatment of prisoners? Pick from the menu of anti-personal bombs, live incineration chambers, multi-year torture marathons, or a DJD custom treatment. Persecution/neglect of the unfortuate mechs who ended up on the streets? Just throw them straight into the smelting pool to make into something useful instead. Expansion and colonism? Imperalism and genocide ftw. The Decepticons were worse than the old government in practically every concievable way.

3. But Optimus was violent as a cop.

Yes he was violent towards the Decepticons, a Decepticon specifically, Swindle, an unrepentant repeat offender, because they were using innocents to bomb cities and conquering citystates and Megatron must be stopped before the situation got any worse but Swindle just won’t spit any info. Like obviously his actions were wrong but they weren’t completely unfounded considering the circumstances, certainly not comparable to an equal level with the Decepticons who regularly torture prisoners for the entertainment. The most he's guilty of is paying evil unto evil and meeting violence with violence.

4. Autobots were perpetrators of the injustices of the society because they didn’t actively fight against it.

That’s not true, Optimus fought against it by using his position to help people as much as he possibly could; a lot of his work went against government orders. Rachet fought against it by running his clinic at Dead End. Impactor fought against it when he stood up for Rung. The outlier vigilante team fought against it, they risked their lives to help the Decepticons with Optimus when they stole the fake matrix bomb. Hot Rod fought for Nyon. They all fought by allowing themselves to grow beyond the societally imposed prejudices, by focusing past the rightful anger at being born into such a cruel world, by trying to become the best people they could under the circumstances and extending kindness to others no matter how difficult their own struggles. It's the entire society that's dysfunctional and has been dysfunctional since the beginning of history, individuals should not be held responsible when they're just trying to make the best out of the life they'd been given and not maliciously harming anyone along the way.

5. But that doesn’t count as actually fighting if they didn't get engaged in outright war.

Uhhh I’m sure that’s the justification Decepticons used when they were doing join or die massacres but okay I guess.

And then there’s the grand finale：

6. “Autobots are bad because wars are bad and they fought a war.”

The Autobots didn't want to fight. It was the Decepticons who declared war on them. They were literally forced into it. It was either that or accept Megatron’s peace through tyranny. And there is a massive difference between deaths/violence/destruction/resource appropriation that’s justified by military necessity and the excessive use of force like killing and torture for the funsies only the latter would be considered a war crime omgggg people please stop spamming the word war crime

Anyways this line of reasoning need to go and duel it out with the previous one because they are contradictory.

The Autobots are by no means perfect but to make them comparable to the Decepticons is just. I dont even know. It's like putting a piece of white paper with a black dot on it beside a piece of black paper and saying they're the same colour. No. The black paper didn't even start out white. Of course not everything is going to be that clear cut in war but acknowledging the presence of those grey areas doesn't mean you can equate the values of right and wrong. 

And also associating the Decepticon movement with freedom fighters is buying into their propaganda. Megatron never gave a shit about anyone's freedom other than his own.

'Peace through tyranny' is a pretty self-explanatory phrase come on

[serialadoptersbracket]

Round 2, Match 55: Mendoza vs. Soundwave

Submitted kids:

Mendoza: Esteban, Zia and Tao

Soundwave: Rumble, Frenzy, Laserbeak, Ravage, Ratbat, Garboil, Enemy, Wingthing, Beastbox, Squalktalk, Glit, Howlback, Slugfest, Overkill, Sundor, and Autoscout but there's bound to be more I'm forgetting.

Propaganda under the cut!

Mendoza:

1. “Mendoza did not exactly *begin* as father material, what with him being a character with a very grey morality at first and both a help to the children and someone they couldn't trust fully, but his entire arc in the first season is him becoming a better person. None of the kids are biologically his but he just went and unofficially adopted all three of them. Their story is inextricably bound up with the show's story.

He first met Esteban when Esteban was a baby and was handed to him in the middle of a storm at sea (then Esteban's father seemingly died in said storm), but because Mendoza was young and interested in gold he let a local (?) church raise the child. He then met Esteban again twelve years later, on the same day he would be kidnapping Zia (for money, because Zia knows how to read quipus that the Spanish hope will tell the way to the Inca's gold) (the show takes place in the early 16th century). So he begins by kidnapping a child and manipulating another to hide in a ship and cross an ocean. They all meet Tao later, and this one is wary of him too at first, but he ends up winning their trust while bettering himself.

He's the only parental figure these kids have: Esteban's father was lost at sea after his mother was killed, Zia spends most of the first season looking for her father only for him to get killed an episode or two after their reunion, and Tao lost both his parents years ago. In the beginning of the show he's completely using them to find a legendary city of gold, and even admits it, but as the story goes he's caring more and more for them and puts himself in mortal danger just to help them, when just running away would have been much more beneficial to him. In later seasons this pattern keeps up and he's not even a grey character anymore, he's just their dad who's scheming and plotting sometimes. With the cities of gold having been revealed to be monetarily worthless he wouldn't have any reason to still accompany them, but he loves them so he stays with them. He's much more of a dad than Esteban's birth father (who miraculously reappears but keeps getting pushed out of the way by the plot), he's teaching them stuff and protecting them and cheering them on and worrying about them and helping them every step of the way. He makes dad jokes. When random people ask if Zia is his daughter he says yes, and he would say the same for Tao (and for Esteban too but he's hung up about Esteban's "real" father being alive and a nice guy).”

2. “He took Esteban on his journey because he needed his medallion, Zia because his commander requested it, and Tao because he was useful. But then he fought so much at their side that he pretty much betrayed the Spanish army and everything else to protect those kids. They didn't like him much at first, but eventually grew to love him in return, especially in later seasons.”

3. “Sly Spaniard looking for some gold in the New World accidentally adopts the three children he more or less uses to find the Mysterious Cities of Gold, but he also cares about them and accidentally starts caring about them so much that by the end of the first season he realises how much he would miss them if they weren't there.”

Soundwave:

1. “This is a dude who stores smaller dudes in his boob and he usually launches them out at high speeds to commit crimes. Fandom loves to headcanon them as a dad and his horde of kids and pets.”

2. “Forgot buzzsaw (yellow bird) lol

Bro really do be adopting”

3. “#he literally is a single mother of like 18 and they all live inside of his chest #and the only time he gets close to showing emotion is when something happens to one of them”

[knight-says-rollout]

Shattered glass Blaster and Soundwave’s dynamic was so funny pre-war

Like on one side you have Blaster

He got himself fired from his job as a radio show host for shit talking his listeners while on air. Soundwave was hired later on as his replacement.

Blaster hates this guys guts and has constructed a villain origin in his head where Soundwaves the root of everything that’s ever gone wrong in his career. Wave is his greatest enemy, the guy Clearly has it out for him. Blaster knows that Soundwave hates him personally. In fact! Soundwave is clearly Jealous of him. Meanwhile Blaster probably spends far more time than reasonable watching the news and sulking.

Then you have Soundwave

He’s just Some Guy. He recently got a job on a radio show that happened to be hiring. He’s living his best life and he literally could not tell you who the fuck Blaster even is.

[cosmics-beings]

it's kinda weird to see people arguing that megatron isn't a slave and going back and forth and trying to bring up logistics and semantics. you don't have to like him but trying to ignore a huge, canonically part of his character and the reason he started a revolution is erm...

like again don't like him, don't like the decepticons, but claiming a man who was clearly a slave, and has been confirmed as a slave by himself, canon, writers, and other characters is weird and gross.

and the arguments some of you guys use mirror how people try to say that black people or other ethnic groups who had histories of slavery aren't actually slaves. I've seen weird shit like that come up in arguments and in lectures and it's weird.

regardless he is canonically a slave, who had to fight for his own freedom. the decepticon movement was made by a slave who had no choice but to fight against an oppressive regime. all of deception high command was also oppressed at a point which is why they became decepticons.

if you can't take the fact that megatron was a slave and that the decepticon movement started as a form of revolution then the story probably isn't for you.

this isn't to excuse just how badly megatron and the other cons (soundwave and starscream and even shockwave) fucked up at the end and how their movement became oppressive. but the critique is the decepticons wouldn't need to exist if there wasn't an oppressive government - the autobots--existing in the first place.

the fact that slavery literally existed in tf isn't something you should be trying to argue or act like isn't true it should be horrifying and show that autobot society needed to change.

but no go on and be weird and gross and argue how someone who is canonically a slave isn't one because you don't like him.

[arceespinkgun]

In Re: to the IDW/MTMTE Ravage post with Blighted, I'd love to know more of your thoughts about that version of him. You and Blighted are the first people I've really seen have a problem with this version of Ravage, and I'm curious to know more of what you think.

@blighted-lights if you want to share your own opinions on this (BTW when I use she/her pronouns for Ravage even though he's a man in IDW it's just that I headcanoned that she was a woman while reading the Marvel comics since there aren't enough women and she's an awesome Decepticon, and then when Earthspark season 2 used them I got super excited lol I think blighted-lights sees Ravage as bigender)

There are a lot of things in MTMTE/LL and IDW in general that I find to be truly awful writing. The way Ravage is written is just one small example. But it's true, I rarely see anyone point these things out. I don't know if people with those opinions got harassed or something. When it comes to Ravage, there are many characters that I think got totally shafted and she's not the one who had it the worst. Lug? Terminus? Roller? If you want to talk about characters who fell through the cracks and got almost nothing in terms of exploration, those are some really bad examples. For characters who I felt had awful, poorly-written development that felt disrespectful, Getaway, Trailbreaker, and Skids are some really bad cases. But Ravage was still the victim of both issues.

What does Ravage even do in MTMTE/LL? Practically nothing, to be honest. She rarely shows up in scenes to be cool except for like, one instance where she saves some characters from the DJD's troops. The rest of the time she's just a satellite to Megatron. What did her joining the crew of the Lost Light even add to the story? Not much. She's just somebody for Megatron to talk to about himself, never even really about her. The worst Ravage scene IMO is when she's dying because Megatron wouldn't take responsibility for what was happened and was just going to stay inside while everybody else fought the DJD, but then Megatron goes ballistic when she's mortally wounded (I guess he didn't care about Skids dying earlier, the guy who was traumatized in one of his faction's death camps, wow, what a great captain, it only matters when his friend/partner dies). Ravage spends her whole time dying talking about how awesome and smart Megatron is and about how he actually planned EVERYTHING and says only he could somehow steal Trailbreaker's outlier power and shit even though genius Brainstorm says that's literally impossible. When she dies, Megatron flips the table her corpse is lying on, sending the pieces of her body flying away. The person Ravage was shown to be close to before MTMTE/LL, Soundwave, felt her die and grieves alone.

Compare this to like, the Marvel comics I just read where Ravage saves the entire universe and is a badass who has connections to multiple characters, a deep history, and who feels like an equal partner to Megatron. Or even to Beast Wars Ravage! Even though BW Ravage gets blown up super quickly, think of how cool her presence was and what a big deal it felt like to meet a member of the Predacon Secret Police. What James Roberts wrote was such a slap in the face to anybody who liked this character IMO.