#the life and times of skywarp

[karanseraph]

How many Titans do we need? (Transformers)

A list of Titans, from various continuities, which may not even be up to date in the sense it doesn't reflect the Titan Class toys of Decepticon Nemesis and Autobot Ark.

Planet    Associations  Titan

Antilla    history, rust, Alpha Trion   Croaton? 

Aquatron   water, Quintus Prime   Quintessa (Necrotitan)

Aquatron (Jellyfish City)  water     Hydratron

Arduria    cold, Alchemist Prime   Metrobase

Athenia -> colonies  Mobile Battleship    Grand Maximus

Biosphera (Eukaris, Animatron) jungle, Onyx Prime   Chela

Biosphera (Eukaris, Animatron) jungle, Scourge    Hyperborea

Botropolis (a comet)  guard     Botropolis?

Caminus (a moon)  forge, hammer, Solus Prime  Caminus

Combatron? (or Cybertron?) war, Alchemist Prime   Iaconus

Cybertron (Argon Sea)  horror     Dweller

Cybertron -> colonies  Mobile Cybertronian Embassy  Lodestar

Cybertron -> Earth  Mobile Seeker Station   Trypticon (Nemesis ship)

Devisun    combination, enigma, Nexus Prime  Devisun

Earth (Pacific NW US)  Mobile Ark Annex   Metrobase

Earth (Central US)  power, Ultra Magnus   Metroplex

Earth (Eastern US)  cube (sport), Scorch? Wedge?  Citadel Secundus

Earth (Atlantic)        Atlantis

Earth (Japan)        Brave Maximus

Elba (Garrus-9)   Mobile prison of Liege Maximo, Elita-1 Carcer (Vigilem)

Elonia    protection, Star Saber, Prima  Emissary

Gigantron   size, bridge-building   Citadel Lemuria

Gorlam Prime   death,     Necrotitan (Quintessa)

Junkion    gravity? Requiem Blaster? ???

LV-117    time, Vector Prime   Tempo 

Micron (Prion, Zone)  size, Mini-Cons, Micronus Prime  Prion

Nebulos (Dominus, Master)      Fortress Maximus

Nebulos (Dominus, Master) Zarak     Scorponok

Paradron   peace     Cargohold 

Szoria    apocalyses    Waypoint

Theophany (New Crystal City) light     Metrotitan

Titan (a moon)        Metrotitan

Tsiehshi    destruction, Megatronus   Emissary

Unicron    Galvatron    Nemesis (Titan)

Velocitron   speed, Amalgamus Prime   Navitas Delta (Ogygia)

This seems way too many to keep track of for one "All Media Types" continuity soup fanfic continuity. So, I need to combine where I can and reduce the list to the best most interesting and necessary ones.

(Soon, I have characters out scouting to find which ones are being built first.)

Opinions on which are most interesting or necessary?

[karanseraph]

I have a sincerely held belief (headcanon) that Skywarp has photovoltaic filaments below his helmet and that they appear rather like Chiana's hair. Like, that transwarp ability and the mapping/modeling/maths he must do to use it accurately must be such a power and processing suck that he needs a way to re-energize. (And if he seems dim now and then it's just his processor being taxed by all the calculations.)

megatron animation wip for a megop thing I'm making

[karanseraph]

What should Unitrex be like?

There's not much canon on this fictional location other than they built starships there

Whatever I write in a fanfic will not be canon anyway

I still want it to be an interesting fictional location that I can describe within a work in internally consistent ways.

It's known as City of the Stars. Famously the place of origin for interstellar travel, at least as far as Cybertronians of the time know. That's canon.

Headcanon applied to this fic: Unitrex is a bastion (star) fort surviving from some Age of Origins/Warring states type period, but where Quintessons may have embedded themselves and so Cybertronians had to fight to take it back in the Age of Wrath. So, it likely has some preserved historic features as well as new construction in some differing style.

In this fan-continuity for a fic it's also presently (in a post-wrath Golden Age/Cusp of Expansion Era a location where at least one Titan is being constructed.

Also, in fanfic, there's a particular sparkfield nearby which various witnesses have reported substrate is being removed, presumably for inclusion inside the Titan(s). To some this is sacrilege, or at least politically incorrect given that sparkfields are a gift from god/public good.

So, there is a current culture of protest and debate surrounding the Titan project.

But Unitrex is also just a city-state in general. It must have some culture.

Like, it's the place where ships are made, but not the main spaceport for the planet, which is currently atop the Hydrax Plateau (which probably makes sense for its more equatorial latitude and ability for ships to ditch into the Sea of Rust and miss destroying urban settlements in an emergency. If you went down or had launch failure in Unitrex (in this continuity) there's some chance of missing the Sea and splattering into Tagan Heights, which sounds painful.)

It's not necessarily where pilots hang out is what I'm saying. It's got a population dense with construction workers and engineers.

And they probably want entertainment, because as much as they love their construction efforts that's probably some heavy labor. It's probably stressful dealing with working on what is essentially a government contract. All these change orders and reports!

So, maybe City of the Stars also has like rockstars and idols. We established that Rosanna had been living in Iacon (some ways west) but in real life different cities each have their own scene, right? Unitrex can have stars even if Iacon or Vos also do. It probably just doesn't involve as much Shock-Pop, pole-dancing, or Jazz, or open mic poetry that other city-states are known for.

But guitar-condor Laserbeak flies with Ramjet's team in Untrex. So, probably there's some type of Rock/Metal scene.

Also, visually, and for inspiration, like a space robot Seoul + Amsterdam (the Netherlands has a lot of bastion forts). In terms of Geography, more resembling Seoul with Unitrex's position between a fortified cliff-face at the Rust Sea border at the south and the rise of Tagan Heights north, with one major river or canal passing through. But in terms of generally being a major city with its own music scene and nightlife surely both these cities qualify. Colorful buildings. Colorful lights at night. Historic structures that are more rectilinear plus new public structures that are quite abstract and curvilinear.

Do we suppose Loudpedal lives here?

Mixmaster is among those spotted nearby so there's possibly circuit altering neurotech (CANT) available.

[graciousdragon]

now that i'm thinking about when fate comes knocking again i have to talk about how fucking funny the matrix reference doors from chapter 1 became post-twosday. the guy behind the green door was the only character in the entire series that wasn't played by sky and he just showed up for five seconds and foreshadowed her transition. if i was charlie i'd wake up laughing every morning

[karanseraph]

I think when I do this, it's often them just saying the name itself, like a certain character will just say "Amalgamous!" if that's the Prime they happen to relate to.

But Cas continued, "But fragging Fallen! Hotlink was not kidding. He knows exactly…he's really good at it!"

Shadowcaster, being the spooky kid, uses Fallen for an extra explicit exclamation.

But sometimes the saying thematically matches the thing they are commenting on, like:

Swindle started...crying? He rubbed his rounded digits over his big purple optics. "Bitstream, you're really hurting my feelings with your dirty, icky interfacin' humor." "For the love of Maximo!" Slipstream groaned.

Slipstream is invoking Maximo as the Prime she considers related to manipulative language when Swindle shows faux-offense.

Also, in my current WIP fic, they have a Vectra Prime as opposed to Vector Prime and Seekers in particular often swear by her saying "Vectra!" or "Vectra knows [why unexpected thing happened]"

Slipstream laughed. "You were considerate and professional?" "It was Skywarp! He needed real help. I wasn't going to play a trick on him or- I worked through a diagnostic terminal for Vectra's sake!"

Bitstream who totally would hack and dive other bots is saying she used appropriate data hygiene methods when working with fellow Seeker Skywarp, for Vectra's sake. Pre-war Seekers like Vectra because she's said to have been an air-frame. (Also, they may superstitiously worry that if one messes with current teleporter Skywarp that somehow legendary teleporter Vectra will be particularly offended.)

Cybertronian Colloquialisms - Primes Edition

So we've all heard "By the AllSpark!" or "What in the Pit?" or "Oh Primus" in our TF media. However, I feel like TF writers are missing out on the goldmine that is colloquialisms invoking the different Primes. So, here is a small collection of such colloquialisms, and please, feel free to add more if you have any of your own you use.

"Primus below!" - Exclamation similar to "God above!", invoking the fact that Primus is the core of Cybertron.

"Vector give me patience" - Often paired with "because if Prima gives me strength, I'm going to need bail money." The go-to for when somebot if getting on your last nerves.

"To Alchemist!" - A popular drinking toast, to thank Alchemist Prime for inventing high grade.

"The Three Below" - Refers to Solus, Onyx, and Micronus, the three Primes who formed the Well of AllSparks

"Maximum Blessings on you" - a stealth insult/curse from some dialects, where "Maximum" and "Maximo's" are nearly indistinguishable. As Liege Maximo was the Prime of Lies and Trickery, it's a fitting way to wish someone ill.

“Solus’s slag pit” - Used for something incredible, awful, and incredibly awful. Often used to refer to the latest high society fashion mess.

"Find peace or take it up with the Fallen." - In other words, calm down or screw off.

“As you say, my Liege” - A condescending remark towards a person who’s attempting to lie, cheat or mislead.

Again, if you have any primal colloquialisms you use for your fics, reblog and share them with the rest of us.

[coderiderr]

Not gonna bother editing the meme but like me holding up starscream & tc above the water, skywarp drowning, all the other seekers as the skeleton chained to the bottom

[revelboo]

I NEED MORE OF THE SEEKERS TRINE PLEASE AAAAAAAAAAA IT'S SO GOOD GOSH I LOVE YOUR WRITING SO MUCH AAAAAAAAAAAAAA 🛐💞💞💞

Thanks! How about Seekers x Reader full alternate take?

True Romance

Trine x Reader

• Wings shearing through branches as he drops dangerously low, he can feel his damaged wing screaming at him. He’s losing altitude, paralleling the roads, turbines screaming as he hears those two Autobots dogging him. Knows Thundercracker and Skywarp are headed his way, but not knowing how far out they still are. There’s a car up ahead and he passes by so low his belly scrapes and that’s it. That little wobble and he’s transforming, knees gouging up asphalt as he claws at the ground to stop his slide and he’s barely aware of the car running off the road into the tree line, because there’s the Autobots, weapons drawn on him.

• Groaning, you struggle with the seatbelt, and almost fall out of the car when you get the door open. Your head is pounding, a confused terror spinning you tight, because a jet had almost landed on your car. Shaking fingers reaching up to touch your head where it smacked against the steering wheel and come away wet as you manage to stagger up onto the road and just freeze. Brain refusing to deal with what you’re seeing, because you definitely have a concussion. There’s not three giant, robot monsters in a stand off. Staggering when you try to crane your neck you almost fall in front of the biggest one. The one with jet wings.

• Reacting, he snags the little human as it falls and holds it between him and the Autobots, shielding his spark with it. He can feel its little hands scrabbling at his servos, a pained noise escaping it as it struggles against his grip. But his little impromptu shield works. The Autobots freeze, unwilling to risk a human life, just like he’d hoped. And there, the familiar sound of turbines. Now it’s the Autobots transforming and fleeing as Skywarp and Thundercracker land and attack and his tension drains away. Using a servo to tip the little human’s face toward him, he vents softly. You might just come in handy, a little pet shield. Even if you hadn’t meant to, you’d saved him. For that and that alone, you’ll live.

• “Is that a human?” Thundercracker asks, reaching out as Starscream huffs and hands it over. It’s so small and warm in his servos, trying to curl into a terrified ball as he traces the curve of its spine. Terrified eyes stare up at him, a wound on its head sluggishly bleeding. Hurt and needing him. “Can we keep it?”

• There’s three of them, all similar enough aside from coloration. The black and purple one leaning in to try and grab you from the blue one whose wings lift with a low rumbling sound like a growl that rattles through you. You’re having a hard time focusing on what they’re saying, your head pounding and you just want to sleep, because this will be over when you wake. It’s all just a nightmare. It has to be.

• “We’re keeping it?” Skywarp vents in annoyance when Thundercracker tries to keep the human from him. Like he thinks he’s going to break it just by looking. “Why?” It’s tiny, pathetic and soft. Weak.

• “Because it’s mine,” Starscream says in exasperation, lifting a shoulder experimentally and hissing as his damaged wing pulls. Then Skywarp is there, sliding his arm around him. While he can’t reliably warp to new places, he can unerringly warp home at least. And Starscream reaches for their other brother, gripping Thundercracker’s arm as they warp home with their new pet.

Next

[penny-anna]

G1 megops wedding episode

Exterior: Autobot base

Megatron: Autobots! lay down your weapons. I didn't come here to fight.

Optimus: then what do you want, Megatron?

Megatron: I grow weary of this war. I propose a truce - in accordance with the ancient laws of Cybertron.

*Autobots all gasp*

Spike: what does that mean?

Bumblebee: under the ancient law, a war can be conclusively ended by the leaders of the opposing sides getting married

Spike: oh wow!

Prowl: Optimus, don't listen to him, this is very obviously a trap

Optimus: you're probably right, Prowl, but if there's even the slightest chance of ending this ceaseless war, I must take it.

Optimus: very well, Megatron! I accept.

Interior: Decepticon base

(Megatron is being pinned into a bridal gown by the Constructicons)

Megatron: excellent. everything is going according to my plan. as soon as Optimus and I are wed, we will attack the Autobots. in accordance with the ancient law they will be unwilling to attack their leader's husband so I will defeat them easily. and then I will rule the universe!

Starscream: you know, Megatron, as your maid of honour, I think roses would be a more elegant choice for the bouquet than lillies

Megatron: we're planning an ambush, Starscream, I don't care about the flowers

Starscream: look I just think if we're going to do this we should do it properly

Starscream: and can I just say, as your maid of honour, you have a lot of cheek wearing white!

Interior: Autobot medbay

Optimus: Ratchet, I need to talk to you about the wedding

Ratchet: oh it's about time. Optimus I trust your judgement and all but this whole thing is completely -

Optimus: will you be my best man

Ratchet:

Ratchet, audibly choked up: it would be my honour

Exterior: blasted wilderness

(The wedding party is assembled. Optimus Prime is wearing a tuxedo jacket and bowtie and is standing with his best man and 2 of his groomsmen) (Jazz & Prowl, also wearing bowties)

(Rumble is coming down the aisle. he is the flower girl and he is taking his job very seriously. both the Autobot and Decepticon sides are getting pelted aggressively with flowers)

Sparkplug Witwicky: remind me again why I'm officiating?

Ratchet: well you're a neutral party

Sparkplug: ah this is all pretty weird

Jazz: I wonder where Bumblebee and Spike are? they wouldn't want to miss the ceremony

(Soundwave begins blasting an approximation of the wedding march as Megatron walks down the aisle with his maid of honour (Starscream) and bridesmaids (Skywarp & Thundercracker)

Sparkplug: uh okay. dearly beloved -

Megatron: you don't have to do the whole preamble, human. Ravage! the rings!!

(Ravage comes over with the rings in his mouth)

Megatron: now, with this ring I thee -

(Bumblebee comes racing over to the wedding party. Spike leaps out)

Spike: stop, stop!

Bumblebee: we object!

Spike: you can't go ahead with the wedding! Megatron is already married, and we can prove it!

Megatron:

Optimus:

Ratchet:

Megatron: Starscream you told me you got the divorce finalised

Starscream: I thought you were doing that. weren't you doing that?

Megatron: how are you this incompetent

Rumble: wait so does this mean we aren't ambushing the Autobots

Megatron:

Rumble: well are we?

Optimus:

Megatron: oh let's just skip it all - Decepticons, attack!

Interior: Autobot headquarters

(The humans are eating wedding cake)

Spike: well at least we got cake?

Bumblebee: yeah this could have gone worse

Carly: I thought it was a lovely ceremony up until all the violence

Jazz: at least this way you don't have to spend the rest of your life married to that bum Megatron. right, Optimus?

(Optimus is looking sadly at his wedding ring)

Optimus: yes. that's right.

(roll credits)

[karanseraph]

This reinforces my headcanon that "Starscream" from Beast Wars II is just a Skywarp. (And coy is equally as valid as Skywarp personality as thug or coward, etc.)

To the point that, when I wrote The Life and Times of Skywarp, Skywarp usually had magenta-red or pink optics and darkly painted lips (because Gothic Icon and magic) but he deployed an amber visor and a mask in some scenes (like to avoid pollen or Sparkless).

So now it's just normal this is how Skywarp looks.

Trading cards with the designs of some background characters from Transformers One (Part 3/4)

SEEKERS TIME!!!

THUNDERCRACKER

SKYWARP

REDWING

SLIPSTREAM

DISCLAIMER The images come from the website tfw2005.com and are Trading Cards made by Chinese company Kayou

[zeropro]

I love your Thundercracker design so much. I've always been a big fan of the guy. What's your opinion of him if you don’t mind me asking?

I like him! he’s more difficult for me to draw because of his helm design but he completes the trio and I like that he’s here. just a solid, dependable, responsible older brother type who’s also kinda conservative.

LET ME EXPLAIN

thundercracker has morals, but they’re like “don’t do genocide” type morals, he only gets brownie points for having them because he’s with the decepticons, and even then he’ll like justify to himself why it’s probably fine most of the time because the movement he’s a part of tells him it’s fine.

it’s giving: good boy drafted into war and wants to believe it was meaningful but becomes disillusioned with his political party later in life.

his compassion and willingness to help someone in trouble extends to his inner circle and those directly in his line of sight, otherwise he puts his head down and just wants to be left alone, which is honestly a mood.

he’s also a little bit racist, based on his original toy description

all in all I think he’s neat! I don’t think ive encountered a take on thundercracker I didnt like. I like that he’s a bit of a brute in the original cartoons. I like that he’s got a dog and writes screenplays that arent very good in idw. i like that him and skywarp got to take a bath together in dreamwave, but in seperate oil vats five feet apart because they’re not gay (but also they’re giant robots so five feet is still close enough to touch shoulders because they’re still kinda gay <3). and I like that fan fics like to write him as really fed up with starscream but still cant help but care because they’re trine. and if any media has the three of them standing next to each other I will point and shout (until they inevitably start shooting each other because boys will be boys and we cant have nice things in canon ever!)

in summery, starscream and skywarp are my blorbos. thundercracker isnt a blorbo, because he’s my dad. 

[karanseraph]

I like this idea very much. I like that Ravage is the one there to translate if needed, because often Soundwaves and Ravages are pretty close.

But I also kinda want to write about my concept for a Soundwave who is also (at least for the story so far) non-verbal and has various ways of communicating and who is a fictional robot not intended to one-for-one represent a specific human disability or difference.

This Soundwave, we'll call them Aquatron Soundwave, or Wave, for short. They are a lot like other Soundwaves, but originated on the planet Aquatron under circumstances the Cybertronians from Cybertron aren't 100% sure about. (Hail Quintus!) They have a blue+purple deco that has a wave interference pattern across it that reads like rippling water camo. They have 5 tentacles, two arms, and two legs. They were missing their faceplate, but retained four amber optics.

Soundwave was discovered during a Space Bridge Corps intelligence mission which, in the tropey way of things, was supposed to be surveillance and information-gathering only, but when the SB-7 team discovered Wave damaged and imprisoned they made the call to rescue them which brought a whole lot of Sharkticons in to attack them and they had to make a mad-dash escape, which cost them the heroic veteran Captain Lockdown (right?).

One way they were able to communicate was by partially assimilating another bot and using that link to speak through the other bot. This was initially done without her consent out of desperation, but Wave quickly adapted to respecting consent.

Another way they were able to communicate was, in water, they could use what functioning sonic systems they had left to call Leviacons to assist them. (Aquaman vibes?)

Anyway, Wave, received repairs on Cybertron courtesy the Space Bridge Corps. But, their medical staff (mostly Scalpel and Red Alert) could only do so much without parts. There was no currently available vocalizer, especially for a bot from Aquatron who's verbal communication may have functioned differently from the start (like possibly adapted to underwater communication).

Wave then took time to acquire and assimilate replacement parts. One of the parts they assimilated was an existing turbofox trophy head Howlback gave them, which gave Wave a new face/head details that is neither turbofox nor typical Cybertronian bot faceplate but has some angular and broad features and sharp dentition (still four optics, but noticeably angular in shape). They cover this up with additional mask and visor. (They may have gotten some turbofox sounds like geckering, shrieking, wow wow, they could use to call for attention if they wished.)

Another of the ways they would communicate was by assimilating/embedding a datapad into their arm and displaying strings of text and code. (Similar to Prime Soundwave, but they didn't have the screen-face part.)

Wave also could transmit text over a bot's typical comm systems without them having to be close to read.

They developed, as well, some signs and gestures, which members of SB-7 (Sliptream, Shadow Striker, and Ravage) recognized best in order to translate if needed.

They could also still partially assimilate bots to borrow their voices. With smaller bots, this would often look like they were either disappearing into Wave (Ravage just fading into the shadow and Wave's leg and disappearing) or docking across a part of their frame (Garboil's wings forming a chestplate). When they would do this, some of the other bot's mannerisms and tone would add to Wave's, so Ravage would lend a deep, commanding manner and voice, while Garboil lent a higher, fussy, northern-accented voice.

They also have an apartment above a 'space bar' when not hanging out on the Death's Head or with SBC, so it's implied they also hook up for various cyberspace interactions (which, is something Animated Soundwave might do).

Nonverbal Soundwave and Ravage who translates for him whenever he gets frustrated by sign language (he signs too fast for anyone not fluent to translate easily)

[jaysdoodlehell]

Starscream Prompt of the Week: Family

Some thoughts on TFP Starscream:

Even tho Starscream seems egotistical, and rude to those around him, he is not a total aft. I genuinely think he cared about his family... and who I even talk about here? His Seekers of course. He is proud, when he gets to mention he was the Commander of the Energon Seekers (and as people may just say, he likes to brag, I won't agree with them 100%). He also doesn't want to have the dead spare hand of, likely, one of his Seekers, when Optimus shots off his own (he's probably forced to it later, as he has no choice, cause his hand is probably lost forever in the shadowzone, but KO did a great job with making it exactly the same, so kudos to him). Let's not forget, that Seekers comes in trines, and he probably really hates being alone (even tho in aligned novels, he is responsible for the death of at least Skywarp), but look at him thrive with a glimple of his old life, when he gets his small armada, and even Megatron tries to treat him better at the end of season 2. And it's so easy to look at my points, and be like "Jay... that doesn't have sense at all!", but it is exacktly like that with Starscream.

He is not a black-or-white character, and to properly analyse him, you have to sit down, and look at what prolonged, unidentified trauma does with ones brain... You have to look at the context of the situation, what happened to him already, what other characters around him did. What he thinks they did. All of this matters when looking at Starscream. And all of that gets harder, as he is a character that backstabs himself because he overthinks everything too much... as if, he didn't have his two trusty advisors anymore to help... But I got lost in my interpretations, when the prompt is so clear...

So what do I think family is was for Starscream? It was his pride, his power, his confidence. He was respected, and he got his back covered. I think he mourns the lose of them. Lack of safety, lack of respect, it twists him up, and people tend to forget about that sometimes... especially when often all he needs to be better is someones attention, and respect. Not only plain power hunger drives him, as many would say at the first glance. Because maybe that power hunger now, has it's core not in him being egocentric, but in the real want of having a glimpse of his old life, craving for safety, and normal treatment, that he doesn't have anymore. He probably doesn't even recognise where his wishes of being a leader come from, as it is often the case with traumatised people, but all his wishes are actually to be liked, and respected again, to be safe again, and to be treated as someone... again.

Because honestly... imagine TFP with all of Starscream's Seekers, loyal to him. He would be unstoppable (if not for the plot... making him loose, because Hasbro said so... of course, but that's a topic for another time).

Thank you @starscreamweek for doing this events. I wasn't sure if Starscream's fandom is alive anymore, and I'm positively surprised. It's good to be back after 10 years...

[nothing-leave-me-alone]

Transformers one swap au

It has begun, people are making swap aus and I can finally share the brain worm.

(I desperately need good sentinel and evil optimus to survive ok?)

I think optimus would be the false prime with megatron as as his second in comand. 50 cycles ago, Orion pax, the Primes trusted archivist sent them on a suicide mission. with the aid of megatron, his conjux, they killed them all. The remaining population lives beneath the ground in kaon. A city centered around a massive collyseum that hosts the kaon muera. A select few are allowed to fight for a chance to join the Primes high guard.

The matrix would still be lost and the quintessons would still be up there. But the war never ended, the mines are replaced by a massive underground drone factory. not OSHA approved so tragically many smiths die, a sacrifice their prime is willing to make.

Sentinel would be the adventurous yet reckless miner with his AR-1 (arachnid) as his best friend and protector. Together since the beginning they been working together seamlessly like a well oiled machine.... If you ignore sentinels uther infatuation with joining the Primes guard, he's constantly kicked out of the kaon collyseum as he tries to snop in on the gladiators. He hopes to become one, just like megatron and Optimus and aid on the front lines of the war. AR-1 has no complaints of her current life (besides that damm stinger of a boss) because it's honest work to be a smtih, why would she change anything?

I think starscream should replace Elita. He is a no nonsense head of a forgery. He has no time not patience for failure as he has kept a perfect efficiency record for nearly 12 cycles since being appointed. Despite his acceptance of his role and pride on his work he can't help but feel there is more for him, that and an utherly inexplicable connection he feels to skywarp and thundercracker, two of kaons best gladiators. He feels something missing

And darkwing would be B-127. Or D-816 as his designation number. But if you ask his friends (he has none) he goes by Dark. He's been trapped in sublevel 50 for so long and he is so so glad to have some new friends!

Bee would replace darkwing as a mine boss who cares very little for much other than racing, fighting, and pleasing the prime even at the expense of the miners. Doing anything for his 5 minutes of glory he'll step on the back of anyone, specially uppity cogless bots who should learn their place.

Elita would replace starscream. As the old leader of the high guard she saw her bots and Primes fall at the hands of those they trusted. She became bitter with the death of chromia in the last battle and decided it was every bot for themselves. Jazz and Prowl are her right hand mechs (reluctantly)

Onto the lore.

I did think of changing the comflict of the quintessons a bit. Instead of mining for energon, having the bots forge weapons like a massive underground factory, forging drones and guns for the Primes guard. Calling them cogless smiths.

Optimus and megatron keep the ilusion that the war is still going on massively all around cybertron and that they along with with their guards depart to the surface every cycle to fight on the front lines to protect them all. They should all be glad they serve on kaon, the last safe city in cybertron. Every time, they return with only a handful of drones.

In truth, they are giving drones, weapons and even cogless bots to the quintessons as payment for their debt.

----

I'm not sure how I would swap the Primes other than swap their order. Make someone else AR-1 favorite prime so that they become the simbol for the decepticons and so that optimus takes their Tcog. I'm thinking of prima or onyx.

make alpha trion be replaced with megatronus so he's the one who tells the cogless bots the truth.

[karanseraph]

I just needed a throw-away line

But I guess I gotta world-build Polyhex now, even though no one goes there for chapters. I need the unnamed stronghold to be named and to know what the closest place to recreate after installing hardware there would be.

Some of this will be headcanon for me to use in a fic, but it's mostly based on various canon (thanks @tfwiki ) which I blend and simmer into continuity soup.

Polyhex is a Province. It has a Governor. It also has a number of Barons. They aren't really land-owners, but more like captains of industry, who coincidentally lord over certain cities within Polyhex Province according to where their industry is based. The Province, along with Tagan Heights to its west, forms the northeastern quadrant of Cybertron, and it is north of the Sea of Rust.

(It does not, in this soup continuity, include Darkmount, which is its own separate and quaint, touristy The Village at Darkmount now, south of the Sea of Rust)

Some of the cities associated with Polyhex are:

Kaon - Doing its own autonomous enclave thing at the southwest edge of the Province. The Governor does not approve.

New Polyhex City

Polyhex Minor

Dodecahex

Upper Petrohex

Lower Petrohex

The Dead End (in the north, near neighboring Rodion)

Geological features may include:

a canyon

a cliff (some Baron probably has a house on it)

pits

energon crystal fields (farmed)

Sea of Rust coastal sulfur bogs (probably threatened by industry)

Automica sparkfield

The Province, apparently, enjoys sports and/or someone wants to distract the populace:

cube

mecha-soccer

wrestling

gladiatorial combat (of various levels of repute)

Other features and structures:

transport complex Ohm (rail, in this case)

Dodecahex Arena (for all the sports, or future State Games)

a stronghold (above, purple) possibly "The Polydrome"?

fancy offices (above, white) possibly "Whitemount"? At various points in history this has been a temple and/or occult event space and/or nightclub.

fuel/energon refineries

fuel/energon stores

a toll plaza on the Titanium Turnpike

(at some point) time travel?

At least one oil house with a "hex" wordplay name (The Hex & Decimal, The Hex Nut, The Hoary Hexflake?)

(Polyhex does not have a space bridge in this continuity, because we already established it is in neighboring Hydrax to the southeast. And "we don't talk about Spanner".)

Some types of residents:

a Governor

Barons

turbofoxes (more prevalent since mechanimal-rights bots stopped practice of hunting for trophies)

Maximals who just happen to have tall, pointy audio receptors and are tired of getting shot at

"mudflaps" who shoot at anything vaguely turbofox-shaped near their energon farm

big-city bots who call farmers "mudflaps"

in the north, cryo-condors

in the south, rust-foxes/ferrics

in the cities and coast area, retrorats

in country homes, glitch-mice

somewhere, cog-crickets

bats, probably

There's also about 18-ish named characters who may be associated with Polyhex if not definitely from there. I'm wondering how many "Disappeared" names can work as Baron names or if I will need to search for other fancy, named characters to play the roles of Barons. (Not to be confused with any named Senators, who are making a mess of things over in rival region Iacon.)

[karanseraph]

I am trying so hard to write something sorta like this because I want Starscream and Skywarp and Thundercracker (and some amount of their allies and opponents) to be competent and skilled and respected/feared for it, like we can believe these are the survivors of a war who no one managed to take out, yet. I don't want them angry and tempermental for no reason, but I would love to be able to write them in a way that they are seen to be justified in taking some slight or offense to the actions of others, given their history. Like, don't come at military air-frames, or Seekers, or Vos, or their allied cities. Don't come for their rank or position (Straxus, Shockwave, etc) like they didn't help found the movement.

I want to be able to do this. But my WIP is still pre-war right now and these three haven't even officially met yet. I'm still trying to figure out how the war even starts!

I know the [spoilers] 'stair incident' is what will get Skywwarp to go to the academy and that he meets Starscream and Thundercracker there. I think there's a combination of anti-construct, anti-Seeker, anti-outlier sentiments on Cybertron that lead-up to some of this. And somehow it happens while they are also arguing over the correctness of expansion and colonization via titans. But I'm still trying to figure out the political shenanigans of the current Senate and city-states that lead to there being that incident.

Writing is hard.

Guys I want angry starscream please I'm begging. I want him calculating every move he does. I want Megatron keeping him by his side because he's frightened on just how much worse starscream will become if he isn't tied down. I wanted a respected starscream because while Megatron can bash your head in star Will easily rip everything from you so he can just watch as you do it yourself. I want a starscream that confronts the others and holds his wings high. I want him to always make it aware he's the second in command for a reason. I want him to have a upper hand on Megatron as well. I want him seeking blood for his fallen fleets. I want him to be ready to carve Vos back up againfrom, the ground up. I want him to remind all the other deceptions he earned his place. I need to him to randomly show Soundwave and Shockwave just why he was and always will be second in command. I adore sympathetic Starscream but please let this man prove he's strong my mental health relys on it.

[smuzi15]

Hear me out - Starscream Earthspark

Why did Starscream take Hashtag so well?

Theory/Headcanon

Starscream is incredibly lonely. He doesn't have a soulmate he could confide in, he doesn't have someone who could understand him. Yes, he has his own triad - Skywarp and Novastorm, but the problem is that they are unable to understand Starscream.

It would seem that they are the closest of all, they simply could not help but know what pain their leader is going through, but why do they have such a strained relationship?

It's simple: Skywarp thinks that Starscream exaggerates and dramatizes everything, and Novastorm does not know what Starscream went through. Skywarp has known Starscream for a long time and has seen more than once how he could "blowing this out of proportion" because it is in his nature. Naturally, when Screamer talks about how Megatron was harsh with him, Skywarp will say "don't exaggerate", and that's the end of their dialogue. With Novastorm, everything is simpler, she is a new member of the triad, she is a replacement for Thundercracker (I assume that he died) and she has not known Starscream for long enough to believe his stories. Hence the conclusion: Starscream is alone not only in the remnants of the Decepticon faction, but also in his own triad. He is literally ready to scream about how bad he is, how much pain he is in, but they do not hear him, they DO NOT BELIEVE him.

And now imagine how in an indifferent crowd there appears someone who extends a hand, someone who is ready to believe in every word you say, about the pain you have experienced, which others considered nonsense.

Hashtag - the one who understands, the one who was ready to listen to Starscream and for him this is a breath of fresh air in a stuffy room. For the first time in many years, someone believed him, he is understood, and Screamer seizes on this. He is ready to sacrifice his life for someone who simply managed to understand him.

It's "You... believe me?" - the cry of his spark that has finally found its outlet.

Starscream is magnificent