#to be gentle zine

[spashahoney]

Well-deserved shuteye for our fearless, gentle leader of the Autobots. Please make sure he gets his rest, heroes!

-

My piece for the To Be Gentle: an Optimus Prime Fanzine by @allsparkzines can now be viewed! Totally check out the fresh and funky zine about the hero of Cybertron! I had a whole lot of fun making it!

[sparrowsworkshop]

Because of you, we have a future. Thank you, Peter Cullen, for your continual, unwavering efforts to imbue the words "strong enough to be gentle" into the spark of Optimus Prime <3 This is my artwork for the "To Be Gentle Zine," hosted by @allsparkzines ! I was so thrilled to be able to contribute! ❤️‍🔥Tremendous thank you to the mods who set this up. This was an honor. Tumblr wrecked the quality a bit, as it does, but you can see the optimal ;) version in the zine, which will be releasing digitally soon!

[ariesnhope]

Hi there!

I am happy to share the art I made for the zines To Be Gentle and Peace Through Tyranny, hosted by @allsparkzines.

These are gifts for Peter Cullen and for Frank Welker, to celebrate their amazing work as voice actors for Optimus Prime and Megatron.

Thank you for letting me be part of it, it was a lovely opportunity to express my appreciation for the voices who have been giving life, for so many years, to this amazing characters.

Dont forget to check the work of all the talented writers and artists who participated in this zines!

[xenonmalachite]

my piece for @allsparkzines "To Be Gentle" Optimus Prime zine. because of how long Peter Cullen has voiced Optimus, i wanted to highlight the 3 main eras he's voiced for and the design movements that came with them. G1 in the 80's and the Memphis movement, the first Bayverse movie and the Y2K graphics in the 2000's, and TFP with repeating CMYK designs in the 2010's. it's a testament that no matter the times changing, Peter continues to be a Voice for Optimus and an inspiration for all. :)

massive thanks to @kagebros for hosting the zine. It was an amazing journey and an incredible experience. I hope you're looking at all the submissions with pride because they're all incredible. this project was so fun and i enjoyed it, even through art block.

[poptimus-prime]

Here's my piece for the To Be Gentle Zine hosted by @allsparkzines! It features TFP Optimus and the human kiddos meeting a rather prickly little critter.

I did my best and that's what matters.

Title: Nature Walk

Word Count: 950

It was a warm evening in early summer, and Optimus was grateful for a wave of peace. He continued on, making sure the children were still nearby. They were scaling the hills beside him as he walked, the slope not too steep and eventually leaving them at around eye level to him. 

He smiled to himself as he watched them all chatter among themselves, and how Jack and Miko would walk slowly to allow Raf to keep up on his little legs. Something about the mundane nature on Earth spoke to his spark; it refreshed him and made him more resolute to fight for it. 

He wished it didn’t take the war to get here, but he wouldn’t trade these moments for anything.

He pauses to take a look at some flowers on a tree, slightly wilted as they prepare to become fruits. He finds himself fixated on the mottled pink petals that are now dry and wrinkled, and he wishes his hands weren't so big that it would be nearly impossible to touch them.

“Hey, Optimus, check this out.” Jack interrupted his train of thought. He looked over to see the teen pointing at a tree in the near distance, though upon further inspection it was clear that he wanted Optimus to see the bird perched on one of its strong branches. It cawed out loudly, flapping its wings to resettle.

It was a beautiful bird, Optimus thought, noting its striking burnt orange tail. He racked his memory for the name of this bird, this hawk more specifically.

“I believe this one is called a red-tailed hawk.” He responded with a small smile, watching Miko take pictures on her phone. “Though, it seems to be a bit of a misnomer, because I have never seen one with a truly red tail.

“Seems pretty red to me.” Miko hummed out her observation. 

“You’ve seen lots of them?” Raf asked Optimus with wide eyes, flapping his hand a little. 

“Of course, I frequently come out to this part of this landmass. This is where many of them live.” Optimus explained. “I haven’t seen many of them in Jasper.”

“Yeah, they don’t live out there.” Raf sighed. “Unless the zoo counts.”

“I understand.”

Optimus and the children continued on, talking about the various animals Optimus had run into—polar bears and penguins, tigers and elephants, and his favorite—the moose. 

“I hope we’ll see a moose.” Miko said to Optimus. “I heard they’re so big and kinda epic.”

“I believe we are a little too far south to see a moose.” Optimus admitted. “But we will see.”

“Why is that your favorite animal?” Jack asked, more curious than anything else.

“…I’ve never really stopped to think about that.” Optimus admitted. “Do I really need a justification for why?”

“No, not really.” The teen answered back. “People just have different reasons for how they define a favorite animal. Sometimes that’s interesting to hear about.”

“Hm…” Optimus thought hard as they walked. He remained quiet for a few minutes before speaking again. “I suppose I appreciate how protective they are of their offspring.”

“You would say something like that.” Miko snorted a little, delighted in how much of a softie this giant robot was. 

“Well, it's the truth.” Optimus insisted, pausing as he heard the rustle of the bush nearby. His audials slowly turned back, almost apprehensive. The children took note, barely peeking out from the edge of his shoulder as he stood in front of them. 

After a painful minute of rustling, interspersed with yowling, a small bobcat ran from the brush, many quills sticking out from it. Optimus almost went after it, but by the time he registered the quills, it was already gone.

“Poor thing…” He laments, guilty that he couldn't have helped the cat.

“He'll be fine later.” Jack assured Optimus, patting his plating. “He probably won't tangle with whatever got him again.”

“Was it a hedgehog? Do you think a hedgehog is nearby?” Miko asked, very pleased at the thought. “I didn't know there would be hedgehogs here!”

“Hedgehogs don't live here, Miko.” Raf informed, a little disappointed at the fact.

“Another quilled creature does, however.” Optimus turned his head to them and brought his finger to his lips. The children obeyed, quiet and still. Optimus could feel tension build in his frame as he held still, waiting.

A rather frumpy looking creature covered with the same quills that cursed the bobcat emerged from the same bush, making its way to a nearby tree. It sniffed in Optimus and the children's general direction, and then began to scale the tree.

Miko in particular was transfixed, watching as the animal shimmied up the tree, using its tail as almost a fifth limb. She had her phone out to record video, but she found herself…not doing that.

“What a rare sight.” Optimus’ voice curled lightly under his smile. “A North American porcupine. I have heard that most humans who go out of their way looking for one never find one.”

“And we got to see one without even trying.” Jack caught on to what Optimus was implying, a smile on his face.

“It's so cute!” Miko giggled. “I wanna hug it.”

“I wouldn't. Didn't you see what it did to that bobcat?” Raf cringed a tiny bit.

“Right.” She sighed. “That would hurt.”

Optimus couldn't help but allow a chuckle to bark out of the back of his throat. Of all the things he found curious about humanity, the fact that they could look at dangerous animals and want to hug them was rather amusing. 

Though, he questioned how dangerous a porcupine actually was. Perhaps he would have to do more reading later. 

[lets-try-some-writing]

Summary:

The war rages around him, but Optimus still finds a chance to be gentle with an enemy soldier left to die on the battlefield. Despite being on opposing sides, it seems they share a few important hopes.

━━━━━━ ⊙ ❖ ⊙ ━━━━━━━━━━━━ ⊙ ❖ ⊙

This is my contribution to the To Be Gentle zine by @allsparkzines!

It was a joy to write and I am beyond pleased to have written something to show my appreciation for Peter Cullen and his fantastic work over the years as the voice of Optimus Prime. He's been a part of my childhood since I was an actual toddler and I am happy to have given something back for all those fond memories.

[benadrylcandlewhack]

After nearly a year, I'm very pleased to share with you all my piece for the "To Be Gentle" Optimus zine by @allsparkzines !!!

This is the first zine I've ever been apart of and I had an absolute blast working on it alongside all the talented artists and writers who took part in this amazing project! I hope to do more projects like this in the future :)

Also special thank you to @kagebros for hosting the zine and giving me this incredible opportunity

[sagey-writes]

Without the Matrix, without the pulse of fighting moving protecting—

How was he to live now as Orion?

Post-canon conversations and musings between a retired Optimus Prime and young adult Miko.

-

This was my piece for the To Be Gentle zine hosted by @allsparkzines, which I was excited to be a part of! Transformers has been a huge part of my life and all the work and heart and soul that Peter Cullen has imbued into the character of Optimus Prime has held such a special place in my heart ^.^

[novafire-is-thinking]

SUMMARY

It’s no secret that Cybertronians and humans share a common destiny.

Will Cybertroniankind be the death of humankind? Will humans instead destroy Cybertronians? Will we destroy each other?

Optimus asks a different question.

My oneshot for the To Be Gentle zine by @allsparkzines ✨

I’m so grateful for the opportunity to contribute this idea of mine to convey to Peter Cullen even a fraction of my appreciation for him and all he’s poured into Optimus Prime over the decades.

[allsparkzines]

Our titles for the To Be Gentle zine and Peace Through Tyranny zine covers!

This zine will be free digitally and offered on Gumroad. Physical copies will NOT be produced as these are gift zines for Peter Cullen and Frank Welker who will be the only ones that hold the physical copies!

[thegoldenshi-shi]

Hello Shi-Shi. I recognize it’s been..quite awhile since I’ve spoken, I’ve been really busy and now I just have to few moments to relax and wind down until tomorrow. I am still not done everything and still am quite busy with lifeguarding lessons, tests, presentations and exams next week, but I should be free soon! Hopefully. I’ve gotten a job so that should take up some of my time as well as well as Softball provincials soon, but I’m hoping to soon have some stress free time. I hope you’ve been well!

Besides that, the characters from your Strawberry Tofu look really interesting as well! Especially the one of the far right, he looks quite serious, just like Prowl or Sunstreaker usually do so that’s probably why I was drawn to him, which is fun.

I have also saw your wip for the To Be Gentle Zine on Discord! It looks really well done, and I love the details in it, especially the glowing butterfly. Mine is still uncompleted, as I haven’t found the time to continue working on it, but it’s coming along slowly but surely.

Also really love the little comic you made! I am unsure who the characters are, but they seem really interesting (and pretty, of course. Especially in your art style.) I have been watching your page as a quiet viewer, but just know I do really love your art and all that you make and I’m sure everyone else does too, Shi-Shi.

I missed making little notes to you, so I’ll try and make more instead of not making one for around a month, but I’m not sure if I can, but I will definitely try as I miss talking to you. I hope you are doing well again, and that you have a wonderful day/night, I will talk again soon.

-Meister :)

Hello there Meister! Nice to hear from you again~

It sounds like you've been keeping busy, that list looks kind of intimidating. I'll also hope that you get personal time to destress and relax when you need to. But hey, a job and Softball provincials coming up? That's exiting! Good for you~

I'm glad you found my oni-lords interesting. It takes so long to design unique characters, and Umi (the one on the far right) is probably one of my favorites of the five ^J^.

I didn't know you were in the To Be Gentle Zine! One of my anons has crept up on me again hehe. The devil is in the details on that picture, they took both no effort and all the effort at the same time. The little glowing butterfly is actually kind of a personal touch for me. I had a really close friend who used to call me leptiru moj, which means "butterfly". So it's a tiny self-insert (a little cringey, but I thought it was appropriate to show my appreciation)

I wish you good luck and smooth sailing on your own zine piece~

As far as the comic goes...I'm not gonna lie, I've been sitting on the tiny twisted wonderland comic for an age. I don't really like some parts of it, but I'm glad to hear that you do~ It's easy to forget that everyone sees things differently.

I'm always touched by the kindness of your asks, thank you very much for sending them in. I enjoy our little back-and-forth conversations as well. It seems like having a pen pal. I hope you have a lovely day/night Meister~

[loo-looland]

Like how Charlie is just casually sitting on megatron shoulder

I’m excited to finally post my pieces for the To Be Gentle and Peace Through Tyranny zines from @allsparkzines ! These were so fun to work on and connect together. Check out all the other amazing art these zines have to offer!

[brushes-of-sage]

The zines have been given 🥹

Kicking my legs, giggling, sobbing into my pillow-

[hysterical-random-things]

I had the wonderful experience of being part of the Peace Through Tyranny & To Be Gentle Zines put together by @allsparkzines! Here's my Piece for To Be Gentle!

[greyfalter]

Gee, Vicious, making a small animal do aaaalll the hard work for you, huh?

My Otsukimi piece for the @livingwithsinzine Vicious collab :D

Please check out the full zine here!

Full artwork + closeups under the cut :3c

[capbiscuit]

Wahoo first zine piece ever !

I participated in @allsparkzines gift zine for Peter Cullen !

Thank you for pulling this together and letting me be a part of it !