#why Airachnid of all characters?

[quibbs126]

Honestly I really do have to wonder why Airachnid of all characters was made to be Sentinel's loyal second in command in TF One. Like why did the writers choose her?

Not that her being here is a bad thing, she's great, I'm just genuinely curious because I don't see much of an obvious answer

Like all the other generally important characters of the movie make sense, either being well established characters within the franchise and/or typically in a role relevant to the movie's story. I'm not sure that latter part made sense, I mean like how Sentinel is usually a "predecessor" to Optimus' position as Prime, as well as flawed ruler of Cybertron, so him being the ruler of Cybertron/Iacon makes sense in the movie. Or to an extent Elita-1, who's prominence in the series has only been increasing in more recent years, but she's also supposed to be like Optimus' female counterpart in her original role, and she shares a backstory with him in g1, which is where the name Orion Pax originated, so like she fits here in relevance too I think. Does that make sense? I think I overexplained

But like, Airachnid isn't nearly on the level of relevance as any other major character in the story, being a character who first debuted in Transformers Prime, and as far as I'm aware has never had particularly strong ties with pre-war Cybertronian government/Sentinel. She feels like such a strange addition in comparison to everyone else

I mean there's some stuff I can maybe see as reasoning for her there. Like how TFA Sentinel had a strong connection to Blackarachnia, who's a character very similar to Airachnid and I feel like is meant to basically be her replacement, and they chose Airachnid instead because of BA's whole techno-organic thing and turning into a spider, while Airachnid just looks like a spider in robot form and turns into a helicopter

And also while Airachnid is a Decepticon, I'm pretty sure in Prime she tended to be more self-serving than devoted to any cause (though she'd never join the Autobots), eventually being more like a third party after Megatron decided to get rid of her. Similar with Blackarachnia honestly, in Beast Wars she doesn't seem particularly loyal to the Predacons, and she basically didn't interact with the Decepticons past the TFA pilot, she was pretty much a separate party. And seeing as how Airachnid was part of a group from before the war that both sides hate in One, it makes sense to have Sentinel's second-in-command be someone who's not too staunch on their faction loyalty. Though I'm also given to understand in earlier drafts of the movie, she was meant to join the Decepticons in the end, so I'm not so sure on this logic. Also, it is ironic when you compare her previous incarnations' self-serving nature to her being seemingly 100% loyal to Sentinel

And also also, maybe they just wanted a cool, more unique-looking character, maybe particularly one that's female since there's only one other major female character in the movie. And the other most prominent female Decepticon, Slipstream, is a Seeker, and so is inherently tied to Starscream and the other Seekers (who also seem to make up the majority of the High Guard we see?), so spider lady it is

I don't know, I'm just genuinely curious, because there doesn't seem to be any clear-cut answer as to why Airachnid specifically is here as Sentinel's loyal second-in-command

[bones4thecats]

┗ A Star's Shield; Starscream × F! S/O ┛

Characters: Starscream (Transformers One) A/N: This was a lot of fun to write, though I do believe it could have been better, I do think it turned out pretty good. Anyways, sorry for the long wait for this. Enjoy <3 Trigger Warnings for: Kidnapping, corrupt government, assault, unwanted advances. Sentinel is just his own trigger warning at this point. ⇘ Summary: After being captured by Airachnid and the Cybertronian Government, you were thrown into a room with the rest of your captured High Guard members and two miner bots. As you were handed over to Sentinel Prime by his right-hand, you notice your sparkmate, Starscream, watching you in an attempt to keep you and himself calm. But, when Sentinel begins to speak, not even B-127 could keep himself calm. Italic words = past memories

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💫 A cozy set of rays from the sun began to cover Cybertron. Another day, another restless amount of hours trying to sabotage Sentinel Prime beyond what his reputation could save.

💫 The steps of a seeker made you look up from the surface floor of your base's exteriors. There, walking up to you, was Starscream. He had been leading your guard, the High Guard, for so long that you could hardly keep count, and that says a lot.

💫 Starscream looked at you and nodded. You responded the same as you looked back outside. It was hard to see without expert optics, but, far out in the distance, was Iacon City. Your optics narrowed as memories you once made there popped up. Anyone who understood your real self knew why that bothered you so much.

"I heard from Wreckwave that the Iacon 5000 is happening tomorrow." Starscream said.

"I did too. Why does it matter? Are we planning something big during it or something?" You questioned back.

"No. Though, it would be of expert insight that at least some-bot goes there to check on how the city is holding together after all this time."

💫 His optics slightly shut as he chuckled. He then lifted his arm and wrapped it around your shoulders, pulling you into his side as he laid his helm on top of your own. As seekers, you were both fairly tall, though, you were just about a head shorter than the masculine one next to you. Fortunate for him, unfortunate for your short self.

"Let me guess, Scream'. You want me to go down there with you?"

"I knew your processor would lock in sooner rather than later!" He smiled.

"And, what happens if, I don't know- a member of the guard sees us snooping around? You know that Sentinel and the High Guard aren't exactly friends, and most definitely not close to frenemies."

"That's the thing. I have spoken with Shockwave, and he has a device that shall last for, around a third of a cycle. Are you in or out, my dearest Y/N?"

"Is that even a question?"

═══════════════ ⋆★⋆

💫 Your optics went online as you groaned, pain covering the back of your helm as you looked around. You reached up and felt the back of your helmet, and once you felt the liquid, you froze in fear. You remembered what happened now.

💫 It was when those four bots were brought to your base. A blue and red one, a grey one with a Megatronus Prime sticker on his shoulder, another with a yellow-colored frame, and the only feminine one, whom was colored pink with some white here and there.

💫 They, well, the red and blue one at least, proposed that they were on the same side as you. They wanted to reveal Sentinel Prime as the traitor to Cybertron that he was. And honestly? You thought it was a pretty good deal. Starscream on the other hand? His own beliefs clouded his judgement of the four.

💫 When the grey one, whom the blue and red one called D, tried to walk out of the base to locate Cybertron's leader to punish himself, Starscream obviously was taking a hit to his own ego. Shocker.

💫 As he was chocked to the point that his voice-box was beginning to be crushed, making what was once a smooth and slightly-raspy voice begin to go from pitch to pitch with a highly artificial tang being added on top of it all. You had been able to slightly alter it, bringing the pitches down slightly, but fixing it fully was beyond anyone's abilities.

💫 While your memories came back, a dark figure stepped inside with golden-Cybertronians following suite. You looked up towards the helms of these people and scoffed. You recognized the tallest one. It was Airachnid. The heap of scrap that was somehow still alive well without any scratches. How disappointing.

"Get her up. I'm sure he's going to be very pleased to see his favorite old friend here." She said, grazing underneath your chin with one of her elongated insect-legs.

"Good to see you as well, Airachnid." You said.

💫 Airachnid rolled her optics and began walking away, a guard at both sides of you as you followed. Unwilling was one word to describe the entire journey through the tower's halls. Until you found Starscream and got the others out to safety, you needed to keep these fearful thoughts of yours out of sight and out of mind.

💫 Sentinel looked at a statue and glared, those Primes that tried holding the planet back from compromise. He did the right thing. Of course he did, how could his judgement be bad?

💫 The Prime looked over his shoulder and cocked a brow, wondering why Airachnid was bringing in some random seeker. So, in his true, straight-forward nature, asked the insect-themed Cybertronian about this.

"I'm sure you'll love to find out who this is."

"Yeah, yeah. Get to the point."

💫 The mask that covered most of your helm released pressure as it was unlocked by a guard. You grimaced as light hit you all of a sudden, seriously, a warning would be amazing sometimes.

"It can't be. Y/N?"

"...Y/N?"

💫 Sentinel's optics were wide as he stepped up to look closely at you. It just couldn't be you. There was no way in the name of the 13 Primes that you were alive and standing right before him.

"I almost forgot just how beautiful you were. Though, you looked better on the ground, kneeling before me." Sentinel smirked before allowing his hand to drift across your face, to your shoulder, and down to your sides. "Go ahead and undo her cuffs. I'm sure she won't claw me without orders."

"Are you sure, Sir?" A guard asked.

"Completely."

💫 Your brows furrowed as you glared at him. The clicks of your cuffs coming undone hit everyone's sound-receptors, and before anyone realized it, you had launched yourself at Sentinel, grabbing one of his wings and tugging on it to draw some sort of pain.

💫 Sentinel just glared and wrapped a servo around your neck, lifted you up in the air and chuckled darkly. Everyone, including the guards, shivered as he crushed your neck slowly and delicately, almost as if he was enjoying this pain he was drawing out of you.

"How did I know you were going to do that?"

💫 Crash.

"Y/N!" B-127 yelled.

💫 You yelped as your back made contact with the nearby wall. The pain that overtook your system was immediate, and it only worsened as a guard picked you up and threw you back at Sentinel to keep torturing.

💫 His servo wrapped around your neck once again, this time from behind as he held you flush against his front. Sentinel smirked and wrapped his opposite roam around your waist as you struggled to free yourself.

"You know, if you had just stayed by my side we could've been the perfect duo. Leading Cybertron into the future."

"Like hell I would've-" A gasp came out as his grasp on your vocal cords tightened.

"Had the most perfect model family unit. Two young sparklings filled with potential. Little Quartermaster and Artillery. Sounds just right, wouldn't you agree, lovely?"

"Get your servos off of her!" Starscream yelled.

"Oh?" Sentinel hummed. "I forgot just how dear you two held one another. Almost as if you were together for eons before I met you."

"We were, and still are! So, I will warn you one more time, Sentinel. Get your energon-stained servos off of my sparkmate!"

💫 Sentinel rolled his optics and latched another pair of cuffs on you, securing your violent impulses. He got near your sound-receptors once again and said quietly;

"To bad your love for that pitchy seeker kept that future out of my grasp."

💫 Starscream kneeled back down as you were thrown in front of him, dents in your frame as he looked you over. Fear was in his optics as he looked you over. And, as Sentinel moved onto D-16, Starscream paid attention to you, keeping the guards and Airachnid away from your frame. No more pain was going to come to you while he stood beside you.

💫 But, unknowingly to you both, that future was soon to be completely changed.

═══════════════ ⋆★⋆

"There is no way that Starscream yelled at Sentinel Prime!" Blitzwing said.

💫 You smiled at the bot holding two sparklings in his lap, acting like the older brother figure that he was for them as they've aged.

"Well, believe it or don't, I know for sure that he did." You said, turning around to look at the Second-in-Command of the Decepticons as he planned with Megatron the next move in the war.

"And I'm thankful every passing moment that he was there for me..."

[factual-fantasy]

29 Asks! Thank you! :}} 🚗

My rule of "no fanart" applies to fanfics as well. I have now updated my pinned posts FAQ to address this 😌

(Referencing this post)

XDD I'm glad! :}}}

Oof- sorry! No alcohol for us thanks! 😅 But hey- thanks for the offer! :)

@dunkudunk

AAAAAA THANK YOU SO MCUH!!! 😭😭💞💞💞

@elegysonnet

My favorite ancient Cookie is prooobably Pure Vanilla.. and my favorite beast is probably Mystic flour 👀👀

(Link in ask)

NIRAMIIIIII I will absorb this advice thank you 🫡🫡🫡

Something tells me he shouldn't be trusted with a tool that powerful/valuable <XDD

I'm considering the paid drawing requests more and more.. thank you for this ask. I'll keep it all in mind! :}}}

..Thank yuuu.... 🥺💖e

@thesweetishfish

XD That's actually very sweet and reassuring, thank you!🥰

Keeping this all in mind, thank you very much! :}}

(In response to this post)

NOOOOO DON'T TAKE MY TABLET I NEED HER 😭😭😭

@digi-vie

Aww XDDD love the chaotic bag gremlin. And the second one is so beautiful!🥰Thank you! :))

@starrygirldrawsx3

I've been thinking about watching TFP connected shows on and off.. maybe I'll give them a go after I finish Prime..? But aaaa idk.. not having Bulk, Miko and Ratchet around would be such a bummer 😭💔💔

Honestly a paid requests thing sounds great. I've had many times where I've dealt with artblock and turned to peoples suggestions for help. If I could work out a system for that.. I think I'd be much more comfortable giving commissions a go. <:)

@neo-metalscottic (Bibi and Cici birthday post) (Webtoon OC post)

Howdy, thank you so much. <:) I'm hoping my Ko-fi does start to rake in some money overtime. I really don't want to have to do commissions.💔

As for their birthdays... uhhhh I'm having a hard time remembering the dates. I have it written done somewhere I'm sure.. I know that Gerald's is somewhere in April, and Jangles is in August. I'll have to go find those dates again-

Also thank you! :DD I'm so glad you like my OCs! :))) So far what I had in mind for those two was.. well, you might need some context first actually-

The general idea for that webcomic was that it all takes place inside the broken mind of a comatose girl. (This cliché plot is what made me drop it rather quick) But anyways- so all the characters in this world are based on things in her real life.

The clown character is meant to be apart of a species of clowns. They're shapeshifters of sorts. And the shadowy figure is his true form/a beast that he can transform into if needed. This clown character is supposed to be her minds version of her dad. Someone one who always made her laugh and was very friendly. But was also very capable of protecting her.

Now the owl... I was thinking that one night before she fell into her coma.. she saw a barn owl outside her bedroom window. But due to the surrounding darkness, she could only see its head. She ended up feeling like/imagining that all the darkness out there around it was its body.

So now in her dream scape, this black shapeshifting beast stalks the group from afar. Contorting its body into various shadowy bugs and furry creatures. But always keeping its owl face...

He only knows as much as I do, So unfortunately I'd say no 😅 I'm unfamiliar with Skeletor. But Papyrus on the other hand...👀

Woof 💀 this is why I'm just sticking with Transformers: Prime 😅There's too much to keep track of!

A much as it brings me down, yes. I'd like to be notified in hopes I can have it taken down. 😔 Also thank you! :)

(Link in ask)

I see no issue with this XD

Are they bringing ibuprofen? :(

@milk-powrit

Some characters will stay evil and will have no redemption. For example Silas, Airachnid and Megatron will see no redemption. And I cant see any world where TFP Soundwave would work with the Autobots.. same thing with Starscream and his brothers.

As for most of those dramatic battles and moments, most of it will be remedied by "they actually survived the fight and got a second chance."😅

@tango-o-mango

My favorite bot character is Ratchet :)) but Bulkhead is a very close second. I just cant help but love the grumpy old bot. He pretends to not like the kids and be annoyed by the others antics. But the truth is his spark is full of nothing but love and dedication to his team. And he would give up everything he is/has to protect any of them. 🧡

My favorite human characterrr..... well, usually its Miko, but only when she's being really sweet/cute with Bulkhead. "I'll never forget you.." "I wanna be just like you Bulk!" "I cant Bulk, I gotta get you outa here!" "We cant leave Bulkhead! "(Run Miko!) Miko's brow frows and she tears up"

But aside from those moments she can get on my nerves sometimes <XD So for that reason I think Jack is my favorite human character. He never gets on my nerves and I like how much he's matured over the series.

Now favorite duo... ooo that's a good question. It'll have to beeee... uhhh.. man. Its a tough pick. I like Ratchet and Optimus, Bulkhead and Wheeljack are always fun.. but man, Bulkhead and Miko just hits different.

Arcee: "A scout must be silent but deadly" (Miko and Bulk both snicker and laugh). "That's my girl!" "I'm never leaving your side again.." The two of them together just makes my heart swell 😭💞💞

Also thank you! I hope you have a wonderful day as well! :))

@friedfishilove

AAA THANK YU SO MUCH!! :DDD

Also unfortunately, no.😔 There's been no such healing. 1 year later and I'm still battling this condition with no cure in sight. I'm at my wits end if I'm being honest.

@imafrealinrainbow478484

My only thought is "Why do those humans look nothing like Mario?? 💀"

I've heard of Earthspark, and while I've heard some good things about it.. I've also seen some not so good things. I think I'll just stick with Transformers Prime <:D

Yeah I was surprised that "Orion" wasn't more shocked and devastated at being told that his dear friend Ratchet and him were at war. And for this long..

I wish we had a moment where Ratchet got to explain everything to him. Or better yet- can you imagine if Orion was told all this horrible stuff about Ratchet, and then somehow he has a brief encounter with Ratchet? Maybe he was on the battle field and saw Ratchet in the distance, gingerly helping Bee to his feet.

Then they lock optics, and Ratchet looks devastated. His optics are full of worry and sorrow. The way he protectively shields Bee from gunfire.. he just cant see the blood thirst war criminal that Megatron described.

Maybe after that he would start to really become suspicious of Megatron and start to figure things out..

@jade-green-butterfly

Thank you <:) I wish the same for you! :))

@wolfie-777

Judging by your name, I'd say make it a wolf XDDD

[tfp-is-my-lifeblood-lol]

Reasons Why I Think TFP Jack is Underrated:

Welcome to my organized bullet list of why I think Jack is cool. I used to think he was boring too, but now I think he's the goat and here's why:

-He has Main Character Energy, but he's more snarky than most cliche main characters

In fact, he is a petty king:

-He doesn't wanna be on Team Prime at first, but eventually accepts it...

...He then proceeds to BURN Airachnid's ship to the GROUND with a stupid survival kit for babies

-HE DEFEATED THE ALIEN SPIDER QUEEN WITH NOTHING BUT A LIGHTER AND A POCKET KNIFE, BRO

-HE WAS DONE WITH HER BULLSHIT LOL

-Plus he tricked Silas by pretending to beg for mercy, when really, he was stealing his walkie talkie.

-Jack is boring, BUT the fact that Jack has nothing special about him IS his superpower; Miko has the Apex Armor and her brave personality, Raf has genius level computer smarts, and Jack has PURE SPITE. It's beautiful.

-He has zero skills, but he'll figure out how to defeat his enemies anyway, SOLEY because he's tired and doesn't get paid enough for this shit.

-For example, in one of the Titan Magazine comics, Jack literally kicks Silus in the balls

Evidence:

Iconic✨

Apex armor? Cybertronian technology?

Screw that. How about I KICK you in the balls?l

-A true legend

-He's also a mess though, and I relate so hard

-He's so petty he talked two aliens into helping him cheat at street racing to piss off his classmate

-His romantic subplot is treated like a complete joke, and I love that. Normally, the Main Character✨ is awkward, but gets the girl in the end. Not Jack, though. Nope. He just constantly looks stupid in front of Sierra, nothing ever happens between them, and Arcee is just watching with popcorn as his life falls apart. It's hilarious.

Also, if I'm correct, isn't the last time we see Sierra when she sees Arcee's homoform, and thinks Jack has a girlfriend, and then Jack is like "She's my mom😅." And Sierra's all like: "Your mom looks good in leather😐...on your bike😐😐😐😐..." Maybe I'm wrong, but if that's the case, it's funny. Jack is a simp and it gets him nowhere.

-His sarcasm works perfectly with Arcee's sarcastic attitude.

-Also Tailgate is voiced by Josh Keaton (Jack's voice actor) in the flashbacks, so I headcanon that Jack reminds Arcee of Tailgate, and that's why she has such a soft spot for him.

Tailgate and Arcee's dialogue had the same vibe as her and Jack's

Also, it gives more context to why she was so scared to lose him when Airachnid showed up. It would've literally been like losing Tailgate all over again.

-Jack is Team Prime's designated Good Ideas Guy

It was Jack's idea to hijack the spacebridge to send him to Cybertron

It was also his idea to drain the dark energon out of The Nemesis when it came alive and froze everyone

-I'm probably just projecting, he has generalized anxiety disorder vibes

-I feel like he prefers a comfortable, predictable life because he gets nervous easily

-He's always the first to freak out, and overthink, and Arcee always has to calm him down

-And she's so patient with him it's so sweet😱

-I agree the writing behind his existence is meh, and a lot of the cool stuff about him is probably unintentional, but I don't care, so take that!

Anyway, the moral of the story is:

Jack is just an angry little harmonica boy. Leave him alone. He's trying his best😭

Thank you for coming to my TedTalk.

[axolartandfics]

Transformers and Female Body Types (Rant/Essay)

(I wanted more images in this, but tumblr has a limit and it was a lot of pictures anyway)

Anyone who complains about female transformers having “robot boobs” needs to shut up. Unless it’s a case of critiquing a design that’s genuinely caricatured, this complaint only serves to protest against robots looking too feminine, as if all robots by default should have broad, masculine shoulders and flat chests instead. The problem is that people look at a masculine transformer and say, “Ah yes, an anthropomorphised robot.” But the moment it’s one of the female transformers, it’s “why do robots need boobs?” as if a male-looking body type is anthropomorphizing, but a female-looking body time is suddenly “too human” or “too much.” As if all humanoid robot aliens should look male by default.

That being said, for a long time transformers did have a glaring issue of their female transformers having a generic, Barbie-doll like body type. This especially became problematic as male characters appeared with several different and varying heights and builds, while female characters all looked the same.

This eventually improved with newer media. I’m going to go through different transformers series, giving my opinions on various female Cybertronians designs.

Transformers Animated and Transformers Prime are the cases where we see the very few female characters that there are being designed with this more Barbie doll look, especially in comparison to the male cast, who each have strikingly different silhouettes. I maintain that there’s nothing wrong with having this stereotypically feminine figure as long as it’s not caricatured or designed to sxualize the character (in TFA’s case, Black Airachnid was extremely sexualized, but Arcee wasn’t at least) it’s just the lack of variety that makes it painful. If all female characters were designed with a stocky, square body type, it would be just as bad; the problem is the lack of diversity in representing how each woman is different.

I think Arcee from Transformers Prime gets some of the most comments about how she has breasts and hips and is most often faced with the question “why should robots have boobs?” In response to this question, I propose: why shouldn’t they? The shape of their chassis really doesn’t matter in the end. I like Arcee’s design and acting like she’s inherently caricatured for looking like a woman is just a way of alienating femininity.

TFP Arcee is also unfortunately sexualized a lot by the fandom. Primus forbid a woman exist in peace.

The problem with these ‘Barbie doll’ designs isn’t that they are oversexualized— while this may have been a problem with Black Airachnia, the true problem, as seen especially with the treatment of TFP Arcee, is the concept that any female body traits are inherently sexual, which both creators and fandom spaces feed into.

It’s not as prominent, but I’ve also seen a trend of attempting to give female transformers more diverse body types by giving them… male body types.

In Transformers Cyberverse, the Seekers all have the same body type, whether they are male, female, or genderfluid, the only differences being that the female models have lips and the male ones have facial-hair like chin stubs (and Acid Storm switches back and forth). However I would hardly call this progress, because the body type is more male-leaning, not truly gender neutral.

Often to make something appear gender neutral, people will just remove anything too obviously feminine. This treats masculine traits as the “default” and female traits as a deviance from this. A truly gender-neutral design would incorporate both masculine and feminine traits at the same time.

(What if we just made all the Seekers look like women and gave the dudes chins. What if we did that. Huh.)

Shadowstriker from Cyberverse is a better example of this, having a female body type but a chin stub and generally gender neutral face.

I like the look of Alpha Strike as well, she feels actually gender neutral and isn’t too exaggerated like most muscular (and especially muscular female) characters are.

For example, Clobber’s design is good, but I do think her lips were strangely exaggerated.

Once the IDW run of the Transformers comics actually introduced female characters, they eventually gained a large cast with a variety of different body types. Take Windblade, Nautica, Pyra Magna, the Mistress of Flame, and Aileron.

These aren’t all examples, but IDW certainly had a unique design for each of their female characters, with different heights, width, mixing and matching the proportions of their bodies and displaying diverse body types. Aileron is also a stand-out character design for me, as one of the few heavy-set transformers to be designed in a way that looks more rounded than bulky, implying weight over muscle. We need more weighted transformers in general.

I have many positive feelings about Transformers Earthspark’s choice of character design for their female characters.

Earthspark has the most consistently diverse character design for its female characters.

And it shows that the key to designing actually good female Cybertronians isn’t necessarily to make them not feminine, but to show diverse depictions of femininity. All of the female characters in this show are pretty feminine, but they all look different. Twitch is small and slight, Hashtag is tall and boxy. Each one has different proportions and are easy to tell apart by body type alone. Even better, they each have drastically different facial structures. Twitch has large eyes, Hashtag has a strong chin, Elita-1 has a straight nose and pronounced lips, Arcee has small eyes and a very slight nose, et cetera. Earthspark is definitely a win in this department.

My point with all of this is to say that femininity isn’t a one-size fits all. Every woman is different and everyone should get to express their gender in whatever way they see fit. Transformers gradually diversifying the look of their female characters represents this, and I hope they continue improving as the franchise continues.

[lockheed-martin-unofficial]

Thinking about Altmodes.

The fact that cybertronians even have the ability to “scan” vehicles (created by other alien species) tells me that they’ve always not only been aware of other intelligent species, but also possibly interacted with them. They were designed to interact with them that way, assuming scanning was an ability Primus gave them and not an extra gadget they added into their frames afterwards (Which is also an interesting concept) But maybe that interaction only went one way.

Taking the catchphrase Robots In Disguise™️ seriously, it is easy to imagine cybertronians being a horror story for other species. Aliens that hide in plain sight, lying in wait. Indistinguishable from the very vehicles you use to travel around. Would you trust your car, be sure it wasn’t replaced? Cybertronians would be TERRIFYING if they wanted to conquer your planet from the shadows.

On another note, I like to imagine there’s More Than Meets The Eye™️ to scanning altmodes. It’s not just to hide. Take TFP for an example. Neither Airachnid nor Dreadwing/Skyquake transformed before scanning an altmode even though they were in situations where doing so would have greatly helped them. This was probably an animation thing, the people making the show not having the time and budget to design two seperate altmodes for the characters.

However, if we read into it, I think it’d make sense that the true reason they scan earth-based altmodes is that their cybertronian altmodes are not fully compatible with earth. Or at least they don’t know how compatible they would be so instead of risking they wait to scan an earth-based form. Especially when it comes to flyers. The atmosphere, the gases in it, the gravity, all work a whole lot differently on other planets. It’s more advantageous to become something that was built to maneuver on this planet, than trying your chances with your cybertronian altmode and seeing how it fares in this unfamiliar environment, while also in the middle of a battle.

The Autobots specifically mention to Wheeljack and Smokescreen that they needed an earth-based altmode for disguise purposes, so we know they could have probably transformed this entire time but simply chose not to out of convenience.

They would probably not be able to go back to their earth-based altmodes again without scanning if they reverted to their cybertronian ones, which is why they don’t when they go to Cybertron. I also imagine the process of un-scanning an altmode (dunno what else to call that) would take a while, so if it ain’t broke don’t fix it.

In episode where Arcee and Jack go to Cybertron, she’s gonna come back in a few hours so why would she go through the trouble? In the movie, they don’t really have a reason/motivation to do so. The Autobots probably want a reminder of Earth, Decepticons like Shockwave and Megatron already have cybertronian altmodes. I don’t think we see Knockout transform but he’s always been very vocal about how pretty he is as a car so he probably kept his altmode as well.

That leaves only Starscream to be explained, and my personal headcanon is that he secretly grew to like human-made aircraft. Although it would’ve been cool to see him as a cybertronian jet in the movie, the movie scriptwriters didn’t really care about Starscream anyway.

In my AU the earthplane enjoyment is in part due to him bonding with Nicole and pitying all the trouble humans have to go through to achieve what comes to him naturally.

[arceespinkgun]

https://www.tumblr.com/arceespinkgun/780026220107759616/so-ik-youre-prolly-done-and-dusted-with-your?source=share

hi!!!! in your tags, you mentioned this

and im just wondering what you meant by it? im guessing you already did a post about elita in tfone, but i must have missed it, so im wondering how are elita and arachnid not taken seriously? i think the movie gives at least elita an arc, a pretty good one imo, good character writing... can't say the same about arachnid, but i suppose her role was just that, a creepy boogieman (for the lack of a better word). it is sad that we never explore her character fully, and i expected them to, but we just didn't, which is a shame but understandable since the movie is only this long

do you think they were treated unfairly in the movie?

I've talked about this a couple of times before (in my "transformers one" tag), so I'll just go over it quickly as bullet points:

The movie has two major women in it, the climactic fight for Elita-1 is against that other woman... and they don't say a single word to each other, not even some fight banter, Elita-1 is talking to Orion the whole time

Notably, that enemy, Airachnid, used to be Arcee's arch-enemy in other media

This is despite the fact that another guy, who nearly ruins Elita's life, could've been a far more logical fight in her story

Elita-1's design looks almost nothing like her usual design, lacking most unique features and looking super similar to Arcee from things like the Bumblebee movie and this one

Every other main character (as in, D-16, Orion Pax, and B-127) gets an initial name. Elita-1 does not (if it was copyright issues, they could have used Erial or something like when a toy of her came out)

Every other main character gets to have a built-in weapon, even somebody who isn't normally associated with one like Bumblebee, and Elita-1 does not and does not have any special power either

In Elita's first scene she's hit on by Orion and turns him down

When Elita-1 is strong-arming the future-Decepticons with violence it’s played as comedic but when D-16 does it it’s lingered on and shown to be scary and sign of his villain arc, a dark and serious turning point

She begins as very combative but it’s Orion and B-127 who gore random soldiers the most violently

Because the characterizations shift so fast, I end up being disappointed that her arc is all about how she should grow to support Orion (in a better movie this wouldn't be an issue)

Even Alpha Trion gets mentioned in the movie's theme song. She does not

I also want to note that Elita-1's characterization doesn't have a lot in common with her usual characterizations. That would normally be fine, but because of all the other things I listed here, it feels to me less like it's a cool new reinvention to fit a great story or something, and more like the people writing the movie didn't know much about her

Airachnid is in so little of the movie that there isn't as much to say about her specifically, but my feeling is that we basically don't get any exploration of her at all. She's an enforcer for Sentinel Prime and used as a tool by the main characters at the end. Why is she loyal to Sentinel? I think to me Airachnid's treatment stands out so much not only because she's the only other woman with a major role, and because of the Elita-1 and Airachnid battle, but because she's been absent from media for a while. I think of this: across her iterations, Airachnid has normally been characterized as a predatory villain with an independent streak. This trend of being independent was broken by this film.

I understand many people disagree, but to me, with all of this, I get the sense that these decisions were made "because we need a heroine and a woman for her to fight at the end." That Elita-1 isn't very based in a love for her character, but because "we need a girl one." At the very least, I don't think giving Elita-1 some special power or weapon and having her and Airachnid say a thing to each other or clash a little earlier in the movie or anything would've been that hard to accommodate. I liked some elements in the deleted scene storyboards where they were present (I liked Elita saying she always dreamed of being a soldier, and the brutal fight between Airachnid and Megatron).

[blade-liger-4ever]

Why I'm not big into TFP Arcee

Now don't get me wrong, TFP Arcee is the only version of the character I'll ever give almost 100% respect. However, I'm really tired of all the gushing and praise she gets, and that's not counting how much I ended up hating her in S2. Now, admittedly, most of my beef with her is in her treatment of Smokescreen, but in light of @chaoticcreatorgardendean's points about her characterization in S1, I'll lightly tackle her problems there.

No worries, this - shouldn't, I hope - be as bad as my dressing down of Jack.

So, when Arcee is introduced, we're told in pretty rapid fashion that she's 1 an aft-kicker in her own right, 2 has a traumatic backstory that left her with a procupine-like exterior to everyone, and 3 that she's very much not all that caring. Yes, I clearly recall her protective streak with Jack; however, that came after she ditched housesitting duty in favor of blowing off steam on patrol. Right here, we see a couple of vices to Arcee's character: she's arrogant in how her skills are used (further emphasized with her arguing against being Jack's guardian), and that she is irresponsible. Face it, she knows better than anyone in the audience that Bulkhead's got a spine made out of chocolate when it comes to kids or pressure of any kind that's not from a Decepticon. To leave him in charge with Miko, the single most strong-willed being in this continuity after Optimus and Megatron, is so reckless and immature that it borders on stupidity. No, she didn't realize that Miko would join the battlefield, but it's pretty dang clear that Miko is a force of nature unto herself. Butter spines + Bombs of willpower = the Butter spines losing. That's just a fact, and it tells us that Arcee, while pretty and bad-butt, has many flaws.

Then comes her saga of arcs with Jack. Not only is she shown to be immature and hypocritical when the race episode comes up, but she also chafes/bites back at authority, even from Optimus. Don't forget, anytime Airachnid or Starscream/revenge was on the table, she flew off the handle and went straight for the kill, practically giving the finger to Optimus numerous times while doing so. Heck, I don't think Optimus even grounded her at base for her insubordination, and while that's kinda respectable insofar as Optimus not being harsh to his pseudo family, it's a tactical risk when letting Arcee's wrath and hatred go unchecked or even unpunished. No joke, Arcee continually almost got herself and others killed when she was greedy for revenge or offended by a bratty kid; the fact that she's not really punished (I'm not counting the race episode because she still disobeyed orders to make Jack look good for the stupid chick) at all is a writing and military failure on everyone involved. Letting her get away with this and not learning from her mistakes, when even Miko (who was also filled to the brim with rage and grief) knew after killing Hardshell that it didn't change what she felt/what happened, is - I don't even know how to categorize it.

Yeah, it's relatable that Arcee is like this, but it's stupid that she doesn't learn, not to mention dangerous for those who try acting like her. In real life, there would have been severe consequences for her actions but, since this is fantasy land where strong females can do whatever and walk away scot-free, a blind eye is turned to Arcee.

Now we come to my biggest problem.

Her treatment of Smokescreen.

I understand that his attitude/personality at first is gonna grate on her nerves, but even slow Bulkhead gave him a better wakeup call by saying what amounted to, "Look at me, kid. You really think war is easy and that you can just go in guns blazing and jump us closer to victory?"

Pits of Kaon, that was literally more thoughtful and thought provoking than Arcee's demeaning points. All she ever did was make him the butt of her own sarcastic commentary, pick on him with various condescending nicknames, and then lash out whenever he was already kicking himself for messing something up. Smokescreen held himself to high standards, an issue that Bulkhead knew and empathized with due to his own insecurities, and tried to comfort him and lift the burden from his shoulders. Smokescreen wouldn't take it because he knew he'd been the one to fail, and felt like a failure and dead weight whenever his presence didn't bring something good to the table. He never wanted it to be all about glory, or fame, or really anything superficial. He just wanted to prove his worth, carry his weight, and do his part.

But Arcee never or wouldn't see that. Instead, she just saw a kid with a supposedly inflated ego and chose to read him the riot act when he was already doing that to himself fourteen different ways from Sunday. She didn't care enough about Smokescreen to actually listen and think "Okay, that's what's going on in his head"; she just wanted someone who would "take things seriously" and was gonna verbally abuse him until he "got the message".

Sweetheart, if you want him to mature, you help him by guiding his steps, nurturing his virtues, and helping him up when he's fallen. You don't do it by telling him how much he stinks for not grasping the state of things in the time it takes to blink, or by kicking him when he's down. All that tells him is that he's a waste of time for the people he's dedicated his whole life to helping, which in turn will make him self-destruct. Now luckily, Smokescreen was of a stronger constitution, and therefore shook off the doubt and fear of ineptitude when faced with bigger problems, but if he were anyone else, who's to say he wouldn't have eaten a bullet out of despair? Arcee would've then had the blood of an innocent life on her conscience, and nothing could have made up for that.

I do, objectively, like TFP Arcee, especially compared to her alternate counterparts.

I just can't stand how she got off so easily so many times.

Well, hope y'all enjoyed this, even though I'm pretty sure I did worse to her than I anticipated.

Til next time -

"Roll out!"

[flarunie]

Transformer One Time Travel Au

(But its not the one doing the time traveling is not Optimus or Megatron)

Starscream:

This Starscream would definitely regret accepting Megatron as their leader, given how temperamental Megatron is.

After one of his many failed attempts at overthrowing Megatron, Starscream finally gets killed.

He wakes up in a panic—only to find himself sitting on a throne he was sure no longer belonged to him.

That meant the rest of the High Guard would notice, or at the very least, Soundwave, with his telepathic abilities. The truth would eventually come out. Maybe not all of them would believe it at first, thinking Starscream had finally lost his mind—if not for Soundwave’s reassurance.

Then, they would have to come up with a plan to prevent a Cybertronian civil war after Starscream revealed what he knew about the future.

In the future, the High Guard would have known where the Primes had fallen, thanks to Megatron, as well as the fact that Alpha Trion was still alive. That’s why their first step was to find the old cog. But that was by no means easy, not with the Quintessons and Sentinel still around.

If things went according to plan, the High Guard would sneak back into Iacon through the Energon delivery trains.

Upon seeing their supposedly glorious leader, the High Guards would definitely laugh at Starscream.

"Are you joking? This tiny fan-mech here will become our leader? And the one who eats off the floor will be a future Prime?"

Meanwhile, Starscream would be utterly confused—because the only versions of Optimus and Megatron he had ever met were them after they recived there Tcog.

Bounus:

Starscream may or may not had tried to throw Orion down the hole to speed thing up.

———

Anyone got ideas on what other characters I should do next cuz currently we got:

Darkwing:

Airachnid:

Bumblebee:

Elita-1:

[emperor-kumquat]

Hello Emperor Kumkuat!

This is the next part of last month's questions. I didn't want to overload you, so I split it into several parts. There will be at least five more questions in May:

Which character do you think you changed the most compared to the original?

What diseases do you plan to include in the stories besides the zombie virus (e.g. Hate Plague)?

According to morality, who is the best and worst per faction (According to Actual and Mercy Canon)?

If the previous Bosses fought each other (Overlord, Sunder, Tarn and Kremzeek) who would win (but no body/mind control)?

What ideas do you plan to take from Transformers One, e.g. (miners' life, robot deer, Airacnid as an assassin who worked for Sentinel)? I look forward to your answer.

Thank you for the specific questions, it's always nice to get some of those!

Which character changed the most from the original? Ohhhh I really need to think. So many had slight changes but I think Imperious and Kremzeek had the biggest changes. "Lord Imperious Delirious" is a Transformers character I still know zip about. I took one look at the design and made him a giant spawn of Unicron like Thunderwing of the TFP game. Imperious travels the universe looking for inhabited planets to raze with demonic rainbow light. But Kremzeek goes from a pokemon lil shit to a highly intelligent, manipulative, body-possessing, agender sun alien created by the Emberstone. They can not only speak now, they gaslight!

The only contagious virus in Mercy is the one carried by Airachnid. Otherwise, the Rust Plague now has a vaccine and spray to defeat it. When Cybertronians return to Cybertron, they are supposed to go straight to medical to check for other viruses they might be carrying. The Hate Plague will not be included. Now, Mercy has invented many genetic diseases to allow me to represent some disabilities. Froid has "ventilation system failure" which causes him to overheat easily and die, so he has to refrain from exercise and stress. Kaon has an optic nerve disease which causes his blindness. Characters mistakenly thought Overlord had a fatal brain disease called "regulatory region failure". I would also like to write in more to explain "why can't they just replace their organs with other organs to fix the problem?". A genetic disease means that no matter how many times a part is replaced, eventually, it starts to malfunction because the body isn't equipped to support it. This is why Bludgeon will be deaf and the Minicons like Fix-It unable to have legs.

Oh fun, let's talk about morality in Mercy! I'll pick some of the badies.... Airachnid is just plain cruel. Shockwave did way too many horrible experiments on bots and is the cause of Tarn & co's trauma. Megatron was pretty bad too (though you can justify him more as a former slave). Altero the Vehicon mafia boss will get way too genocidal. Necrose the Vehicon is way too fascinated with death and does messed up things like wear human skulls and bones as a necklace (campers he claims to have killed). I also wanted to include Coldstar as a minor but very cruel scientist in someone's past.

Bad Autobots! Fortress Maximus before the War had the job of deciding which newly forged Cybertronians went into slavery. Slingshot, one of the Aerialbots, is very discriminatory and has an ableist scene against Froid. Silverbolt absorbed those attitudes and becomes an offensive member of the council (he will display the Cybertronian equivalent of transphobia too). Devcon is very in your face discriminatory and the type who wants all Decepticons dead, end of story. Prowl isn't evil exactly, he has goodness in him, but he believes every racial bias (like red eyes=evil) and tries to teach them to the player.

When it comes to the Autobots, their badness usually shows in the form of being very discriminatory. Some of them are still classist, still racist, still ableist, etc. I write more Autobots this way than Decepticons. But not all Autobots—it is still very important to me that this is not what Optimus Prime stood for and anyone truly dedicated to his cause knows better. Characters like Bumblebee, Dominus Ambus, Metalhawk, Star Saber, and Dr. Cogwheel are/were incredibly kindhearted and open-minded.

4. Ok so if all the bosses had to fight each other with no mind- or body-control?? Overlord, easy win. The bot turned his own skin into the same material as the Apex Armor basically. Dude's absolutely jacked and has 41 weapons. Sunder is not strong without his mind-control powers at all. His second resort is flinging his own dark energon blood at you to try to nauseate you. Third resort is starting a zombie apocalypse distraction, but Overlord wouldn't be bothered. Overlord would also destroy every member of Loyalty (Tarn, Vos, Kaon, Helex, Tesarus) because he is immune to their powers. Loyalty would also destroy Sunder without his mind-control powers. If he had them, he could stand a change against Tarn & co at close-range but fall to Vos and Kaon who normally attack beyond his range. Kremzeek would just watch it all happen I guess! No one can really physically hurt Kremzeek without the right tools. But Kremzeek can't really hurt you either without the right tools.

5. Yes haha I do want to use the deer robots from Transformers: One and stick them in the background somewhere. Apart from that, there isn't really anything else I was planning to use at this moment in time. Maybe a Vehicon can be golden as a reference!

[quibbs126]

So I did some more Transformers drawings, and I figured page was full enough

I mean, it isn’t really, I could have fit more in the corner if I wanted, but I can’t think of anything else to draw there, so might as well post it now

So I suppose, let’s talk through all this

First off we have an Optimus I never finished, because I couldn’t get that bending shoulder to look right. It just looks off, and I can’t finish it until it looks right. So I never did

I think he’s supposed to be sad and yearning after the breakup with Megatron, and talking about it with someone

Anyways, then we move on to the Dinobot section, which I made because I started Beast Wars and like Dinobot, and had been attempting to draw him at work the previous day

I think I draw him too skinny, which is why I made that middle one, to be more accurate. But I also kind of like drawing him skinnier? I know it isn’t accurate, but I like making him so. Like he’s got muscles, but has a lean body type. I don’t know

Then today, I wanted to draw a happy, smiling D-16, who’s doing so at something Orion did for him (this isn’t supposed to be a recreation of the race scene)

I was going to do it more like the Dinobot style, but then I ended up going back to 3D boxes anyways

Honestly I think it’s one of the ones I’m most proud of, look at him and his sweet little face

Still can’t get the sticker right though

But anyways, on to the last thing, the Bee and Elita

Honestly I think the two of them need some ships in this universe too. Megatron and Optimus got their whole situation, but what about them? Elita doesn’t really have any options presented right now outside of maybe Arcee and I guess Airachnid (but personally I’m not here for the toxic yuri right now), and I don’t really know about Bee

The sequels should give them new characters to have subplots and shipping with. It can’t all be Megatron and Optimus hogging the spotlight (even if I do like them)

As for the drawings of the two themselves, I mean it’s alright. I think Elita came out better though. But it’s also my first time drawing them, and it takes some practice for me to get them right

I’m realizing as I type this that I have a sketchbook, and I got good at drawing Dinobot after drawing him on sauce paper a few times. So like, I could just do that to try and practice the characters without needing to be at work, and having a handy place to keep those references. Hm, well that’s a solution for later

It also does not help that I don’t have good references for them, especially in their cogged forms. These are about the best I got, and they aren’t the best quality either, I do not know how to draw their heads (well mostly Bee’s)

I also don’t think I’m drawing the Transformers One cast right. Like their bodies and general proportions I mean

Like, I noticed from this random screenshot I saw today that D-16’s noticeably wider than Orion

And I also know that the quartet have their own distinct face shapes from one another

I just don’t know how to convey those things in my drawing of them, it doesn’t want to work

Also I don’t think I have the basic structure of how their bodies work down either. I noticed today that almost all of them have more cylindrical shoulders than the rectangles I sketch, and also they have those middle circle joints

This is an observation I’ve had before, but the Transformers One designs to me really feel like action figures/toys with the way they’re built and designed. I don’t really know how to explain what I mean, but it’s how I see these designs in particular, which I can’t say with Animated or I think Beast Wars either. If this makes sense

But yeah, that’s the drawings. I don’t really know how to end this

[bones4thecats]

can you do general relationship headcanon by Rid Slipstream and Jetstorm x Minicon reader, the reader was previously Airachnid's minicon

Minicon! Reader Once Aided Airachnid

Characters: Slipstream and Jetstorm (RiD2015) - Seperate Requester: @zinnia1506 A/N: I have never written for these two minicons, and I am just barely mid-way through the series so they may not be the most accurate. Though, these two are adorable ngl. Anyways, enjoy!! ⚠️ Spoilers/Trigger Warnings for: The Tragedy of Slipstream (a short between seasons one and two) and Mentions for torture, abuse, manipulation, unwilling experimentation and war ⚠️

••●••●••●••●••●••●••●••●••●••●••●••●••●••●••●••●••●••●••●•

»»———————————-　 Slipstream 　———————————-««

🎋 When you two first met, it was quite the experience to say the least

🎋 You were once the minicon to Airachnid, the former torture expert of the Decepticon cause. And you served her from the start of your life till the day she was banished by Soundwave to live on one of Cybertron's moons years ago

🎋 So, when another Decepticon, specifically Shadow Raker, offered you a new life in return of pure devotion and loyalty to him, you took his hand and gifted him a smile he couldn't wait in twisting around

🎋 Due to your life as Airachnid's previous minicon, you were subjected to a lot of unforgettable experiences. Ranging from mental to physical abuse, you were ruined before Shadow Raker could get his hands on you

🎋 Throughout the next few years of serving the Decepticon, you met an older mech named Deadshot, and when he saw just how numb you were to the pain of even having part of your leg torn off during the after effects of the war, he gained a new respect, fear, and care for you

🎋 No one should be able to withstand that with a blank face

🎋 After he escaped and took Slipstream and Jetstorm, Deadshot had taken you as well, having you transform into his new signature kusarigama. Over the time of him renaming himself and becoming a team of bounty hunters, you became close with them, understanding that the way you were raised was incorrect

🎋 Slipstream and you became closer than you and the other two. He was your confidant, and you were his

🎋 He spoke to you about his past, how when a Cyclone attacked him and why he turned to a life of petty thief. And you spoke to him about why you joined Airachnid and Shadow Raker. He took it a lot better than you believed he would. He hugged you and helped calm you down

"I may not understand what you went through exactly, but believe me when I say this, Y/N. You are far better than what your previous Masters were like. Airachnid was a energon-thirsty monster and Shadow Raker is a sparkless being... you are the opposite. You're serene and full of love and care for not only me, but everyone else in the Scrapyard. I am happy to be with you. Okay?"

••●••●••●••●••●••●••●••●••●••●••●••●••●••●••●••●••●••●••●•

»»———————————-　 Jetstorm 　———————————-««

🎍 Jetstorm hardly knew you when Drift took him, Slipstream, and you away from Shadow Raker. The only thing he knew of you being that you had a huge pain tolerance

🎍 He ever heard a story of how you got your spark nearly torn apart and refused to flinch in any kind of agony

🎍 To be honest, unlike others like Optimus Prime and Bumblebee, Jetstorm had no idea that you once served Airachnid. But, he has heard stories of her to, so he was immediatly scared at the thought of you being subjected to her abusive nature

🎍 That night, Jetstorm asked Drift where you came from and if Airachnid and Shadow Raker had anything to do with your pain tolerance

"Jetstorm, my pupil. Shadow Raker had nothing to do with their torment, it was Airachnid whole-sparkly who did everything to make them what they once were. She had given them multiple limb replacements without consent, from getting their arm torn off and picking apart their shoulder to just see them suffer and having their optics picked piece by piece while awake and all-feeling, Y/N has been through it all."

"Oh my..."

"We musn't bring it up around them though. The last time that happened, they had broken out in a large fit of panicked pleas and sobs. So, what will we not do?"

"Bring Airachnid or Shadow Raker up around them."

"Good. You may now leave, Jetstorm."

"Thank you, Sensei."

🎍 When Shadow Raker returned for the two minicons, he abducted you from the Scrapyard and held you away from the trio. Declaring he was your mentor and not the traitorous 'Deadlock'

🎍 You glared at him as he tried to lay a servo on your friends and you began to fight against the many of his 'Shadows', throwing them aside before getting Drift up and helping him get the two back. You were beyond any kind of calming down as you kicked him in the knee and threw him across the ship's room before yelling for the others to get out

🎍 While healing, Jetstorm looked at you and thanked you for the rescue and assistance. You just nodded and curled up in a tiny ball, making him sigh and sit down next to you before offering up his embrace. And when you saw it, you broke down and allowed him to hold you closely

🎍 You trusted him...

"Y/N. Can you please look at me?" Jetstorm asked, making you look up at him with small tears running down your metal-made cheeks. The minicon wiped them away and began speaking once more.

"I will never understand the pain you went through at the servos of Airachnid and Shadow Raker, and I know that. But, I would like to be there for you whenever you need comfort. Is that alright?"

[factual-fantasy]

Can i grab you by the ankles and slowly drag you deeper into the transformers' Fandom?

Purely with your permission (:

XD I've been thinking about it. But ngl I'm put off by the amount of work it would take to rejoin the fandom and build my AU.

To start, I'd have to re-watch the whole show to refresh my memory.. which would be a lot for my short attention span to handle 😅(I never even finished the show the first time around because of this 💀)

Then I'd want to do a LOT of crazy rewrites to the story and a BOAT LOAD of redesigns. Basically everyone except Arcee and the deceptions get a brand new design and alt-modes.. so much redesigninggg 😵‍💫

And THEN I'd have to work out all the whack job changes I wanna make to the story. For one I would want Wheeljack to stay put with the Autobots when he first came to Earth in episode 8. Which would entail me digging into Wheeljacks character and figure out why he kept leaving. And then make a situation or something about Earth/the Autobots that compels Wheeljack to stay SO MUCH that it overrides his desire to leave Earth. Hmm.. what would that be exactly.. 🤔

I also want Sky Quake and Dread wing (was that their names..?) to get away from Earth together unscathed. Or at least give them some kind of ending where they are together. I remember the fates they had in the show made me very sad :(((

And then there's the even MORE complicated changes. Like the fact that I want Cliffjumper AND Tailgate to be alive and well A N D on Earth with everyone else. Just for the heck of it ngl 😂 But I ALSO want Arcee to keep her initial standoffish attitudes towards Jack.. that I thiiiink I remember her having...? I also want her to still have that bitter hatred towards Airachnid. Hmmmm a loooot of plot holes to patch there...

I also want Breakdown to be alive and have joined the Autobots. Which would later cause Knockout to rethink things and join the Autobots as well. I saw that Knockout joins the Autobots in the actual show but I just never saw what made him do it-

Another thing is I remember not really liking Smokescreen, Ultra Magnus and the new body for Optimus and their new base... I would probably build up my AU juuuuust far enough to get breakdown on the team and then call it there. I wouldn't write any further because I don't care for Smokescreen or Ultra Magnus. Which I thiiiiink came after that whole Breakdown thing....? It would just turn into a "day in the life of" AU where the plot wouldn't really progress much further.

So yeah, I'm open to drawing more of it here and there.. but I've got my work cut out for me if I ever wanted to officially rejoin the fandom 😅

[polygonal-trees]

Welcome new Transformers fans!

You might have seen this Don't Make Me Tap The Sign meme floating around. Transformers One has been out for a little while now so I want to expand on it as well as some other TF fandom things.

What does "Transformers doesn't have a set canon" actually mean?

Essentially, every new Transformers story is a reboot. They might draw from or expand on concepts from previous iterations but canonically each continuity family is separate. This means all lore is extremely flexible - origin stories, relationships, even personalities can change wildly between iterations and while some may be better or worse than others, they are all equally canon.

For example: Orion Pax was a dock worker in G1, an archivist in Prime, and a miner in TF One. None of these contradict each other.

Continuities also tend to share ideas without being directly connected. For example Transformers One draws from Transformers Prime in multiple ways (e.g. it features Airachnid) but it is not a prequel to Prime and in fact directly contradicts it. Yes I know there's a guy on xitter claiming tfone is a prequel to the Bay movies but he's wrong.

What is a continuity family?

Most storylines include tie-in novels, comics, video games, and other shows that all share the same canon.

The Aligned Continuity is the most well known. It consists of Transformers Prime, Rescue Bots, Rescue Bots Academy, Robots in Disguise 2015, multiple video games, and some tie-in novels and comics. They are all ostensibly set in the same canon... except the Aligned Continuity is inconsistent so even its lore is loose :')

My point is that while every continuity is separate, some shows are connected.

(Sorry if this is confusing. It is confusing. You get used to it)

What about fanon?

The Transformers franchise is old enough that a lot of fanon has become so pervasive it exists in a sort of nebulous space where it feels like it could be canon or at least become canon once enough fans are working for Hasbro but essentially: oh boy is there a lot of fanon

For example: seeker trines, doorwing speak, the Unicron Singularity and all forms of robot sex (sorry) are fanon, but they appear so often in fanworks that it's easy to get confused (I know I do!)

It's safest to assume something isn't canon unless you've seen it in a show (and even then, it may only be canon to that particular show)

Can I mix-and-match in my own fanworks?

Absolutely! It's very common for creators to set a story in one continuity but transplant a character from another, or use a different backstory, or borrow whole plot points from different canons. Chop up that lore and make a delicious continuity soup.

So why is this important?

It is very, very, very, very, very frustrating to be "corrected" about something that isn't relevant, or to see someone critisize a show based on lore that doesn't apply, or to have a character be called OOC when they're not, etc. I think a lot of fandom slapfights could be avoided if more people understood how loose Transformers canon actually is. Do what you want with your own creations but please be mindful when it comes to interacting with other people's.

This is A Lot

You don't have to know everything about Transformers to be in the fandom and have a good time - if you're only interested in TF One that is perfectly alright, you don't need to watch every show and read every comic and play every game to be considered a fan of something.

But if you want to find out more I recommend checking out the TFWiki - it isn't perfect but it gives a good rundown of most general lore as well as details about specific shows.

That's it from me. I hope this is helpful! It's the sort of thing I would have liked to read when I first joined the fandom haha

[sublimati0ns]

One of the negatives of Prime is how the show handled "getting rid" of the Decepticons. Soundwave was thrown into something of another reality, Airachnid got stuck on one of Cybetron's moons (both are presumed dead I think?) and later in the movie Shockwave kind of fades into the background while Starscream gets attacked by Predacons.

What is your opinion on this matter and how do you handle the plot holes?

By definition a plot hole is an inconsistency in a story that conflicts with previously-established information—for example, Optimus remaking in s01e06 that Skyquake “has not yet acquired a vehicle mode,” when most continuities present transformers as having two modes by default; they just adjust their vehicle modes on Earth to blend in. Megatron and Soundwave both have Cybertronian alt modes, so why wouldn’t Skyquake have been built with one too? Plot hole! (Though you could justify it without contradicting the text by saying he did have an alt mode, it just wasn’t a vehicle, as being able to turn into objects like radios or guns has been a thing since G1, ahaha.)

With that in mind, the fates of the Decepticons at the end of season 3 and Rising weren’t plot holes, they were just loose threads! Often, showrunners intentionally leave these in so they can pick up the thread again if they get renewed, or the show is given official iterative works (like a continuation comic).

The ambiguity leaves lots of room to continue things, and I tend to favour this choice more than definitive, on-screen deaths unless the latter is the best choice for the story. I’d rather see a character’s fate be left up in the air than watch them die only to randomly come back in a Deus ex Machina *looks at Optimus and Megatron* >> (I say that affectionately; I didn’t actually mind that those two had the power of Primus and Unicron on their sides cuz it was set up in the show LOL But some IPs don’t set it up well—or at all…)

So I have positive feelings about how the writers handled the Decepticons, myself! In TFPANE (TFP: A New Era, the fan-continuation I’ve been drawing KOSS in), I imagined everyone gets addressed—Starscream narrowly escapes the predacons and is taken into Autobot custody on death’s door; Shockwave returns to his lab but later agrees making peace and cooperating is the most logical course of action; Soundwave gets taken out of the shadow zone after the Autobots realise he’s been influencing the Nemesis from the other dimension (he later leaves to find the exiled Megatron); and Airachnid finds her way back to Cybertron in search of fuel after she drains all her soldiers.

Thank you as always for the thoughtful ask!! ;u; <3

[lets-try-some-writing]

Hi, I'm the anon that ask about the belief thing, I'm truly sorry unwarrant hostility, I was tense and I'm just going say it, that post has a lot of things that I have seen before use to ease people into Terf rhetoric and it striked a nerve and I took out my ajitation on you simply because your one of my favorite author and you reblogged and I felt irrationally angry, I shouldn't have done and again I'm very sorry, that was a shitty thing to do

Anon I'm not upset in the slightest! I've been mulling over it and talking to others and I get why you and others are upset with me.

Originally when I came across the post, I ignored the controversial terms and buzzwords, instead looking at the sheer analysis portion. I should have taken the OP's terms into consideration when reblogging and noted that others probably wouldn't take it well. I forget I'm being observed online more than I should. And I've long since grown numb to such rhetoric and looked solely at the commentary on how Elita-One and Airachnid have become rather bland as characters when compared to prior iterations.

I meant no disrespect and I do not agree with all the terms applied and commentary from the OP. I do not support all the points made within the OP's post, nor to I agree with the way human concepts were so harshly applied to aliens of all things. I simply found there to be a good point within the rant and focused down on that portion without much regard for the rest. I didn't look all that deeply into the use of language.

I apologize for any miscommunication. I was a tad aggressive myself in prior responses and was not fond of being critiqued when I didn't see myself as having done anything wrong. Thank you for reaching out! I will try keep in mind the perceptions of others when I interact with more sensitive subjects.