aplumsart

[aplumsart]

Very interesting fic that I had the pleasure of beta-ing for! It gets kinda dark so just a heads up for anyone not comfortable with that! But a very fresh take on TFOne characters overall.

Honest Spark

(A dystopian tale based on Transformers: One)

Aka: Bumblebee’s pov of his life in post-Megatron banishment world, as a victim and conspirator

🔗https://archiveofourown.org/works/65828278

Summary:

After witnessing Chief Elita One’s fall from the fortress following a quarrel with the Prime, Lieutenant Bumblebee begins teaching himself how to dream properly. Despite the punishments he endures, one particular bot keeps him from achieving complete peace of mind: the outcast of their world—once known as D-16, now called Megatron.

Warning:

This story contains themes of emotional manipulation, grooming, and ideological brainwashing, depicted for the purpose of critique. It features deliberately unsettling portrayals of Optimus Prime and Elita One that explore power abuse, control, and their roles within an oppressive system. Proceed with the reading means you are fully aware of this.

P.S. Official Oplita and implied Megop contents are in place, but not for the purpose of romance.

Read with a song:

“When I get older I will be stronger,

They'll call me freedom, just like a wavin' flag.”

Also, thank @aplumsart for her beta-reading and contributions to this work! ❤️

[aplumsart]

I'm surprised that this needs to be spelled out for some of y'all in the year of our lord 2025. Anyways, very on theme for a blog out to turn all Transformers into girls to reblog this post! Here are some of my thoughts:

Genderbending can be a very useful way for writers who want to write humanist works to practice writing well-rounded female characters. Patriarchy and its mode of thought can be, sadly, perpetuated by even the most well-meaning women writers. The problem with the fact that there are very few mainstream and popular media with well written women is that it can be hard for anyone (men or women) to imagine their own well written, fully human female characters! But it's not all doom and gloom, as feminists we can practice imagining fully human female characters by genderbending well-written male characters. Of course, there are definitely other ways of practicing, like doing a character sketch of a woman in your life etc. etc. I find it weird and cringe that some fans would go out of their way to leave messages/comments that oppose this. Very unmindful, very undemure, Dennis.

Fan works is creatively exploring possibilities that canon can't do due to publishing/market needs. The most wonderful thing about fanwork is that it comes from a place of pure passion and creativity and is only bound by the democratic voice of the fan community. Why would you try and use canon to try and limit fan works? Shouldn't canon serve as the fertile ground that grows fan works? Unless you can prove that genderbending is unethical in some sense (which is laughable) who gave you the badge to go around policing other people's creativity?

If it's not your cup of tea, block the tag. But I'd encourage anyone iffy about genderbending to reflect on why they feel this way. Is there any valid criticism under that discomfort or just the internalization of mysoginistic views borne from a patriarchical society?

Thank you for coming to my TED Talk ;)

Some thoughts I need to voice about genderbending:

This is a response to that guy who insists genderbent ships aren’t “real yuri,” and to everyone else who treats genderbending as inherently “unacceptable.”

As much as I want to see more Transformers characters assigned female (which is already a paradox, since they don’t reproduce and rarely feel gendered in the human sense), I also believe genderbent versions of canonically male characters and popular mlm ships can be powerful feminist writing.

I completely understand why people are invested in ships like MegOp—these are some of the most complex, well-rounded characters in the franchise. And if women fans want to bring those characters closer to their own identities—to make them more empathetic, more human, more relatable—why shouldn’t they?

And no, it’s not that women love these characters because they’re male. It’s because they’re compelling. They have agency, moral grayness, charisma. A gender swap doesn’t erase that. If anything, it proves that good character writing transcends gender. The lack of equally nuanced female characters in canon is a separate issue—and genderbending is one way fans choose to respond. It’s not playing by the old rules—it’s making new ones. It’s saying, “Look, these characters could be women, and the plot still holds.” That’s not weakness. That’s a creative, brave act.

But when you come after fans—many of them women—for reimagining their favorite characters as complex, powerful, deeply human girls just because you insist “they’re male and that will never change,” I honestly don’t see any difference between you and those misogynistic men who panic at the thought of femininity having power. You’re clinging to gender essentialism like it’s gospel: “You can play, but only by the rules we already set. You can’t change the game.”

But that’s exactly what genderbending does. It rewrites the rules. And maybe that’s what scares you most.

It also baffles me how much resistance genderbending gets in Western fandom spaces—especially when Asian fan communities have been casually embracing it for decades. We’re talking about alien robots here, characters with no biological sex and very little attachment to human gender norms. And yet, the moment someone redraws Megatron as a woman, or imagines a female-coded Optimus in a romance, suddenly it’s “unrealistic” or “disrespectful to canon”? That’s not progressive. That’s conservative gatekeeping wrapped in faux-wokeness. If you’re more bothered by fans reimagining fictional characters than you are by the lack of meaningful female representation in the source material, then maybe the problem isn’t genderbending—it’s your discomfort with women making the story theirs.

[aplumsart]

Please have a humanformer Percy and Skyfire I doodled with a multicoloured pen 🤲

[aplumsart]

This is so funny I’m screaming

Megatron : *thinks he’s smooth af*

Op : Is this guy stupid ????

Bonus

[aplumsart]

Doodled something during my volunteer shift, I’m here to turn all TFs into girls 🫡

[aplumsart]

Ever needed a reference sheet for Jazz's alt mode? Well fear not, because I found his exact car

BEHOLD! The OG, the first, and the highly esteemed 935 chassis 935-001! First used for racing in 1976, this car is a legend just like Jazz >:D

Pls research it, I think it's cool :3

[aplumsart]

Thanks for the tag! I really enjoyed doing the proof reading~

Chapter 22: To The Moon

Story link:

https://archiveofourown.org/works/51741250/chapters/163306003

Summary:

The Nemesis is flying toward a new settlement. At the same time, Optimus is finding peace in his spark over a long-standing conflict. One long-held silence is finally broken. One toxic friendship comes to an end. And the heavy burden of undeserved self-blame is lifted from a kind spark.

Notes:

This chapter has a beta reader! Thanks to @aplumsart for her contributions.

Theme song: “Tell Me If You Wanna Go Home” by Keira Knightley & Hailee Steinfeld.

Author’s notes:

I’ve always wanted to write a story that seriously explores the dilemma between Optimus and Blackarachnia/Elita One (since I see them as one person with a consistent personality). Transformers: Animated portrays Blackarachnia as an abusive, toxic former friend to Optimus, yet frames the narrative as if he is entirely responsible for her change—from a kind person to a bully. As a result, the audience is misled into thinking that it’s “okay” for her to manipulate his guilt and harm both him and those around him without consequence. Meanwhile, Optimus is expected to suppress his pain, anger, and disgust, tolerating her actions simply because she’s perceived as “just a girl who means no real harm.” Worse, some interpretations even suggest that he finds her manipulative behavior attractive and wants to pursue her romantically—despite the fact that she poisoned two of his closest friends and toyed with his emotions while they were dying. I find these implications disrespectful to both characters.

So, I rewrote the story to make two things clear:

1. Blackarachnia/Elita One is not a “harmless girl driven by revenge.” She is a grown woman with an abusive nature. Her choice to ignore Optimus’s good intentions and direct her anger at him is not justified—it stems from selfishness and a lack of empathy. Her actions are toxic, and there are no excuses for them.

2. Optimus, in his interactions with Blackarachnia/Elita One, was a victim of school bullying and a toxic friendship. His compulsive self-blame and tolerance toward her are neither healthy nor sustainable. This toxic dynamic is fully explored, and by the end of the story, Optimus has grown—becoming strong and clear-minded enough to say no to someone who long ago disqualified herself from being his friend.

[aplumsart]

NEW VIDEOS ON YOUR FAVORITE CHANNEL📢📢💥🆘📢💥🆘🆘📢🆘

[aplumsart]

Someone get OP off of Instagram Live

[aplumsart]

Oh my god I’m the biggest sucker for G1 Rodimags (haven’t read MTMTE yet to know their dynamic there yet so pls don’t come for me). G1 Rodimus is so criminally underrated so please have some of my gender bent humanformers of G1 rodimags 🤲

[aplumsart]

Why Optimus being a good person in upper class/ Megatron being an angry rebellious lower class is a great and meaningful plot

Recently, with TFOne coming out, I’ve learned that the new movie made changes to Optimus and Megatron’s backstories and instead of giving them different backgrounds, like coming from different classes (like in tfp or idw1), they’re put in the same class as colleagues in mines. I’ve already seen people celebrating this as “an innovation/ something new” and an uplifting of Optimus’s character, because as the lower class he gets to rebel, therefore Megatron’s character aura won’t overshadow his. But actually, I am quite disappointed at this change. I think such arrangement is a worse one, not a better one, especially to those who love character depth and realist plots.

First of all, I want to argue that Optimus and Megatron carry every different roles in all transformers shows in general. By this I mean no matter how the plots change, the foundation of their motivations are different—maybe only except for Shattered Glass, where their roles are exchanged. Megatron’s foundation of motivation is: war/chaos. No matter how much his actions are justified, Megatron is still a bad guy, because he sticks to a path of violence and destruction rather than peace and negotiations. In contrast, (I put Megatron first because Optimus’s motivation is clearer if compared with Megatron) Optimus’s underlying logic (the foundation of his character motivation) is: peace/order. No matter how brilliant the battle scenes were, no matter how much he talked about “stopping Megatron at all costs”, Optimus’s final goal is to seek peaceful solution to the conflicts he engaged in, and find a way to resume order. That is also the basic logic of every transformers show, and how the playwrights justify autobots as the good guys, decepticons the bad guys. (This can be easily understood through series that give Megatron and decepticons fully justifiable motivations, like tfp and idw. They started the war because they were angry at the unjust treatments, and became villains because they eventually became a source of ongoing chaos and destruction)

With this premise, it is not difficult to see how brilliant and intelligent it is to put Optimus and Megatron in two different classes. Because people’s thoughts vary with very different experiences. In the past successful shows like tfp, the conflict between Optimus/Megatron is perfectly explained with an idealist/realist contrast.

Being an idealist advocate of freedom and equality is a successful way most Optimus(es) are portrayed. Under this premise, Optimus is basically a good person with strong sense of morality. He is aware of the problems in his system, seeks a change, but because he is from a more “privileged” class, or to say, closer to the power holders, he tends to develop an idealistic view of solving problems with milder approaches: handing in proposals, talking with congress members, or growing his own influence and trying to persuade the congress. In any of these cases, Optimus’s ideas are in line with his background. And like any well-written character, he is limited by what he can see in the class he belongs to.

As we’ve analyzed at the very beginning, Megatron’s characterization mainly revolves around “war and chaos”, one clever way (tfp and idw) playwrights used to make him more than just an evil stage prop is to make him more of a realist, in contrast with Optimus’s idealism. This usually comes with the backstory of Megatron coming from the bottom of the society, rebels with violence against social suppression he could not endure— at the same time, he also has a natural tendency to seek radical solutions. With this disadvantaged background, Megatron’s violent behaviors and refusal of peace are not groundless actions. It is a clever way to reflect the reality and increase plot depth. In my opinion, explaining “why the villain does evil” is the key to a successful story.

Another thing I want to argue is that, I don’t think giving Megatron and decepticons a justifiable backstory is diminishing/ “overshadowing” Optimus’s character. Because as we analyzed above, Megatron and Optimus have different roles to play. One overthrows the old system, the other rebuilds the new system. One raises the question, the other spends more efforts to find a feasible solution. Optimus and Megatron are two sides of the same coin. The depth of Megatron’s motivation actually decides how brave/noble/meaningful Optimus is in the act of “defeating” Megatron. For example, If Megatron’s “evil” is flatly portrayed as a bad-tempered child throwing a tantrum, Optimus’s “act of justice” is merely an older child calming the naughtiest kid in class.

Some believe that “not being able to stand up and rebel against suppression (like idw Megatron did)” made Optimus somehow “uncool” compared to Megatron. But he’s not. In fact, Optimus’s journey is not a bit easier compared to Megatron.

Instead of “suppressed class rebelling when there’s nothing to lose”, Optimus’s growth arc follows the route of a compassionate upper class who can look beyond where he stands for, and resonate with people who’s living under him and away from his life. Compared to Megatron’s “outward rebellion”, Optimus’s rebellion is “inward”: he has to fight himself to reach the higher ground— fighting the urge to step back into his conventional ways of thinking, fighting his self-doubts and inborn modesty to step back from leadership (very well presented in TFA and TFP), and by the end of the war, in most Megop fictions, Optimus has to fight back the urge to continue the war as he is used to, and step forward to “see” and “move” Megatron— understanding him, reaching out to him, loving him. Many people take “fighting on with the villains” as a braver, manly act, but actually stopping the conflict takes more courage and wisdom. And in the long run, it’s always a superior choice.

In short, I still think writing Megatron as the rebellious lower class and Optimus a compassionate upper class is a genius idea beyond comparison. They’re bound to be different, and there’s no harm in creating separate backstories for them. Like I’ve read in an early megop novel that has become a classic: “I’m here to do things you wouldn’t, so that you can do what’s right.” (Megs to OP)

In my own impression, Megatron is a radical revolutionary, and Optimus is an idealist reformer. The two carry different aims and functions in the plots, their values contradict and supplement each other, and so when they’re finally united, sitting down and listening to each other, their unity is incomparable.

[aplumsart]

[aplumsart]

I'm gonna make a post with all of the 'stick figure violence' adjacent images I have. if anyone knows any similar ones I'm missing PLEASE SEND ME THEM. I have an unhealthy obsession with them.

[aplumsart]

Hot hot hot hot chocolate

HEY WE GOT IT

[aplumsart]

Will definitely be checking out the 2020 drama series! I thought I was over shipping for a little bit but the new anime’s got me feral over them

onmyoji related media you can watch (that has english subs)

Behold, my Onmyoji film/TV collection for curious people who've already seen the anime!

The Yin-Yang Master (2001) and it's 2003 sequel The real OGs, the one most people know from Yuzuru Hanyu's SEIMEI free skate routine. Featuring Nomura Mansai as Seimei and Hideaki Itou as Hiromasa, these movies were my introduction to the Onmyoji series as a whole. The soundtrack is a banger, the practical effects are great and you get to see Hiroyuki Sanada ham it up in the first movie! I would say that the first movie is a lot stronger, but the second movie makes up for it by being A Lot Gayer. It even has an English dub! It's easily found on Certain streaming websites or on DVD.

晴雅集 - Qing Ya Ji, aka The Yin-Yang Master: Dream of Eternity A Chinese adaptation that REALLY puts its own spin on things; Qingming and Boya are Seimei and Hiromasa respectively, but it's not easy to tell if you aren't already aware of the source material! It's a different take that I love regardless, with beautiful visuals, incredible costuming and impressive sets. It also made me cry like a baby at one point, which is always a plus. It's on Netflix and it also has an English dub.

Onmyoji - Takiyashahime (2020) A TV Asahi drama special that adapts the two-part Takiyashahime novels. It's not 1-1 of course, but it does follow the main plot points well enough (it also adapts Tsuyuko's story as a bonus!) It's got that "yeah this was done on a TV drama budget and not a movie one" look when it comes to the effects, but that doesn't stop it from being enjoyable. You really get a glimpse at novel Seimei and Hiromasa's dynamic in this (they include one of my favourite hirosei exchanges in this and it's SO GOOD) as well as proper Nasty Old Man Ashiya Doman!!! You can watch it on Certain streaming sites.

There also exists a 2015 TV Asahi drama series, but I haven't been able to find it. An earlier 2001 NHK drama series exists as well, but it isn't subbed in English. It is, at the very least, entirely on YouTube! 10 episodes, 45 minutes each. It's a little...weird, I won't lie (they try to make Hiromasa and Mitsumushi a thing which is. Why) but some of the stories are genuinely heartwrenching, which was a surprise to me when I watched it!

[aplumsart]

Honestly this pair lives in my mind rent free. Image best paired with “A Slumber did my Spirit Seal” by William Wordsworth

[aplumsart]

Decided to just finally post this cuz I’ll probably never be happy with it. But hopefully everyone enjoys