#Cybertronian behavior

[starimusprime]

Need them to do the hand greeting thing

[prima-after-dawn]

Heat/rut and/or carrier/sire headcanons when 👀👀

Carrier/sire headcanons NOW HEHEHEHEH

I’ll just do some general TFO ones for now since that’s the hot topic both inside and outside of my brain. If anyone wants more about these or different characters just ask!!

D-16

Carrier

Gets stronger heat cycles than most, needs 3+ rounds to satiate

Sees Orion as the only suitable mate when in heat

Leaves tiny scratches on Orion and gets more vocal when they get rough

Primary seduction method: backing it up on Orion like a cat (demanding behavior)

Orion Pax

Sire

Has a normal rut cycle, usually only requires one round to satiate, though he’s sometimes more sexually aggressive than most when deep in rut with no relief

Will pursue D or Elita, but prefers D if both are present

Very noisy when mating: growling, snarling, whining, moaning, purring, revving, all of the noises

Primary seduction methods: purring and nuzzling up under Elita’s jaw (begging behavior) or revving his engine and feeling up D’s aft and thighs from behind (demanding behavior)

Will give D loads of dents and paint transfers, but is careful not to leave anything avoidable on Elita

Elita One

Carrier

Has a normal heat cycle, needs an average of two rounds to satiate

Extremely sexually aggressive when in heat

9 times out of 10 chooses Orion because he’s the candidate who’s most willing to risk injury by mating with her

Has a habit of pinning down, biting, and clawing during mating

Primary seduction method: aggressively rubbing her frame against Orion and groping his interface panel (demanding behavior)

Sentinel Prime

Carrier

Heat cycles are moderate, but need many rounds to satiate, sometimes from multiple mecha

Primarily targets Airachnid when in heat, but will flirt with his Death Trackers if she can’t last enough rounds

Primary seduction method: stretching out on his berth with his legs splayed and panel open, wings thumping against the berth to make himself look cute (offering behavior), or - in the case of seducing a Death Tracker - literally the exact same thing but now with engine revving (demanding behavior)

Extremely vocal during mating due to having a hypersensitive valve (a gift from when he’d bang the Primes and Megatronus wanted to ensure he didn’t feel any pain from their size)

Airachnid

Unknown

Displays more sire behavior than carrier, but has not been confirmed either by a noticeable heat or rut cycle

Oh so mysterious! Sentinel likes it 😏

[ask-one-orion-pax]

you said the rut were different for bots with cogs have you notice anything that differs form your?

Uh...yeah! They get it bad. Cogged bots are so horny they make us look like cybercats chasing our own tails!

Oh, the hilarious - and sometimes disturbing - things I've seen... Imagine the most well-groomed, high-class bot you've ever seen, trailing behind their desired mate and rubbing themselves against every sturdy surface on the way to mark the other bot's path as their territory. Cog-less mecha sometimes scrape the ground with their peds to signal interest during a rut or heat, but cogged mecha? They leave paint transfers and pheromones everywhere they go!

But don't worry, because most sires are mechs, and mechs aren't aggressive during rut. That's why it's best to just leave them alone on the rare chance that you see one out and about. Unless you want to interface with them, of course... But it's the femme sires who get aggressive. I've never seen one in rut, but I hear they're much bolder and don't take as long to aqcuire a willing mate.

[ask-sg-optimus-prime]

Lady Elita, Optimus Prime, do you two ever engage in mutual grooming sessions?

Occasionally.

He doesn’t like taking his mask off even during grooming sessions, but when he does he’s very good. His fangs are perfect for scraping tiny debris out of my seams.

[ask-one-d16]

Wait, you guy have rut???

How you deal with it exactly? I remember you said Orion could control himself pretty well then how's yours?

Yeah, we have rut and heat cycles, depending on if we’re sires or carriers respectively. They’re dealt with a little differently, too.

For a rut cycle, it’s pretty easy to resist when our interfacing systems try to override our processors, and it can either be waited out or satisfied by mating.

But for a heat cycle, it’s much more intense, even for cog-less bots. It’s much stronger and overheating can actually be dangerous, so with cog-less bots they’re quarantined until their heat resolves itself so they aren’t made to work in their condition. Fortunately, it doesn’t require interfacing, but bots in heat often suffer severe lapses in logical thought, so the quarantine also prevents them from…flirting with other mecha.

Anyways, as for my own rut cycle…it’s so annoying. I hate it. It makes me feel itchy under my armor. It’s very uncomfortable. I just stay focused and power through it, though it is a bit harder to do that if it hits while I’m in recharge.

[ask-one-elita]

I know you've probably had a lot of asks about Orion. I know you're probably wondering why. I'm not here to clarify. What do you think of Orion?

Orion is…interesting.

And very weird. Especially with what he’s been doing this solar cycle. He’s been acting…strange. Flaring his vents, leaving paint transfers on stuff…but only when I’m around! Primus, I swear if he has a virus…

[rejectidron]

Plant-based transformers could easily trap and ensnare organics within their frame.

Transformers mimicking plants would be even more freaky but I love it. You notice this weirdly metallic bush a few dozen feet away. It rustles invitingly. You have fallen for the trap as your curiosity draws you close. You are ensnared.

[rejectidron]

Circus bug toy Cubertronian Humna

Get back k tok

Tired

[transingthoseformers]

https://www.tumblr.com/transingthoseformers/779927406790197248/i-wonder-if-megan-ever-steals-something-from-op

I could see this being very fun for heat purposes >:D

Like imagine Meg’s starts sneaking stuff from Optimus, not quite realizing why, only to clue in when his heat slams into him and he realizes he’s made a nest interwoven with all these trinkets and bits he’s taken from Optimus surrounding him.

I’m imaging Soundwave going to check on him, seeing everything surrounding a flushed and panting Megatron and just sighing before putting lock on Meg’s door and praying their base doesn’t get invaded/infiltrated.

YEAH YEAH EXACTLY EXACTLY EXACTLY

Fascinating

[transformers-synergize]

What substance is the cybertronians armor? Is it actually metal or something else?

Mix of solid living metal and tightly packed nets of nanomachines.

If the outer armor is the same color as a cybertronians face plate and hands, then it's proto metal, which is not a solid metal but tightly packed nanomachines functioning similarly to cells. This is what allows cybertronian face plates to move well like a face. It also allows areas made of proto-metal to be much more sensitive to touch compared to the rest of a cybertronian body, which overall has an extremely weak sense of touch. proto-metal is also softer compared to the rest of cybertronian armor, being similar to soft metals like gold or lead, so not super soft by human standards but still more vulnerable than other parts of a bot.

Normal outer plating is mostly made of solid metal with some underlying structures, which I will get into when I finish the cybertronians anatomy post (guys, I promise it's coming, it just requires a lot of extremely detailed art so its taking a while to make), but ya, it's very solid. An easy way to tell if a vehicle is a car or a cybertronian is trying to dent it. A car body has much more give and can be more easily bent than a cybertronian does not. Though, this method of identification is not recommended since you're either going to have a very angry person because you damaged their car or a possibly angry cybertronian because you keep hitting them and possibly damaging their paint. cybertronian also don't crumple like normal modern cars when they crash.

cybertronian do have nonmetal parts and structure, but it's usually all under the outer plating except, I guess, for their optics lenses and the few rare cases of bots having internal padding on the outer side of the frame like prowl having parts of his motorcycle seat on his back. Most things that make up the seats in vehicle mode are kept internal in robot mode and used as padding to protect vital areas. Internal padding is something cybertronian naturally have, but using it to make seating or an interior to a hollow body is very new to earth-stranded bots and much less natural.

Anyways, more details on this will be provided in the upcoming Cybertronians anatomy post, which is coming at some point.

[comicaurora]

Do you think ethics are just an attempt at being a healthier form of selfish?

In one of your Detail Diatribes where Batman confronts Catwoman and tries to stop her from killing Falcone, you highlighted the fact that his reasoning was not to protect her father, but to try and save her. Ever since, some very strange ideas about the nature of selfishness and selflessness have been rattling around my head.

It only started coming into focus when I tried to put into words why it was a bad thing that D-16 killed Sentinel Prime. My best answer right now is because it made D-16 into Megatron. Orion wasn't trying to save Sentinel, he was trying to protect the cybertronian people. Maybe if Orion focused more on saving D-16, they wouldn't have lost their friendship and all of Cybertron would be better for it. Of course, in the end, Megatron was the deciding factor in making himself, caring more about his pride than his current identity, but this highlights a strange selfish quirk in sustainable selfless behavior.

If you are purely selfless you suffer from spending more of yourself than you have to give. If you're too selfish you can't maintain the human connections that are a requirement for being a complete and healthy person. It leaves the best options as being selfless to make your environment an easier one for you to live in. Where your actions for others are repaid by the selflessness from your community. Or, being selfish with your charity. Taking care of what you care about because their well being positively contributes to your own.

To be fair, the opening sentence now looks like an incomplete thought. It probably should be asking if you think ethics is just an attempt at being a more healthy form of selfish and selfless. Really, just asking if ethics is meant to make you better at being a person, which seems like a question that can answer itself. Still, it feels like an important insight to highlight that to be ethical isn’t about how much of your own life you're willing to sacrifice. It's hard to be a good person when you're not a person anymore.

This is a fascinatingly deep question, and I'm very tickled that our two touchpoints in it are a transforming robot tank and Batman.

My personal opinion is that ethics and morals are not reflections of some universal truth of Justice and Goodness, as they are often framed, but are instead best-practice guidelines on how to function in the big, messy world without causing undue suffering to yourself and others. A facet of this is determining, case by case, how much you need to prioritize yourself vs how much you can afford to help others - in the framing you've proposed, selfishness vs selflessness.

Taking the specific examples we're focusing on - two cases where someone attempts to prevent a revenge killing for the benefit, not of the victim, but of the avenger - I think they reflect this worldview, that the killing is not seen as some innately universally-judged evil act that must be prevented for its own sake, but that the act of killing will harm the killer in a way the person trying to stop them doesn't want to see.

For Catwoman, committing premeditated murder wouldn't solve any of her problems in any way that arresting Falcone and having him legally unraveled would. It'd just park a first degree murder charge on someone who'd up til this point only dealt with petty larceny, and it would potentially weigh her down with misery and regret as she grappled with the trauma of taking a life.

For Megatron, killing Sentinel Prime wasn't a bad action because he deserved to live. They just spent that whole fight scene tearing through enemies. They're warriors on track to spend the next four million years killing each other; the whole "taking a life" ship has already sailed. The problem is that Sentinel is a symbol and a structural part of the political narrative in the founding of the next stage of Cybertron's society. If the first thing the new regime does is bloodily avenge itself on the face of the old regime for the personal wrongs it did them, that proves that the only thing they care about is personal satisfaction of their individual desires - just like Sentinel. Meet the new boss, same as the old boss. If they can instead take a step back, think of the good of Cybertron as a whole, enforce a rule of law and a fair system of justice that applies equally to everyone, even on someone they personally loathe, that would signify integrity and credibility and the hallmark of wise, just and fair leadership capable of setting aside personal feelings for the greater good. It's not about Sentinel; it's about whether the satisfaction of killing him is worth the price of enforcing forever that personal vendettas are more important than the well-being of the people of Cybertron. Which makes it really obvious which one Megatron is going to pick.

My hottest take, and I mean this very genuinely, is that most of the human perception of what constitutes goodness and justice is one thousand percent based on vibes, and is extremely susceptible to narrative reframing. We see an unsympathetic victim (Sentinel Prime, Falcone) who has gleefully caused suffering to innocent people (so judged because they are framed sympathetically, not because we've actually enumerated their lifelong actions to determine they've never done anything wrong) and we feel (feel) that it would be right and just for them to suffer consequences (emphasis on suffer) because that would balance the scales on this vibes equation and that would make us feel like justice had been served. Would this suffering lead to any material good? Not inherently. Would it heal the victims? Not usually. Would it remove the source of the problem? Categorically not, what with how negative reinforcement works (or rather does not work.) It also wouldn't do anything about the other people empowered by the same system to be just as shitty in just as many ways that just happen to be offscreen from our POV. But it feels fair. So what is justice, if it reduces down to "I want them to hurt for the hurt they've caused me"? If it can be sated with a spectacle or distracted by a long nap and a good joke to let the feeling fade? What purpose does this justice serve if it is devoted wholly to the satiation of a bone-deep chordate-brain hunger for Retributive Violence rather than towards actually ensuring that the lives of those harmed are healed and supported and built up again after being broken down? (This is the entire core character arc in The Batman, btw, I'm not just monologuing for no reason here. He calls himself Vengeance for a reason, and the reason is he's doing Batman wrong)

That feeling - that white-hot burning core of Righteous Fury - is the unexamined heart of many systems of morality that focus, not on doing good, but on exacting satisfying retribution on Bad People Who Deserve It, categorized as People Who I Can Hurt Without Feeling Bad Myself. It's a very tempting concept for people who have suffered at others' hands. That feeling, that powerful instinctual understanding of "that's unfair," is incredibly strong. In my opinion, most systems of ethics are built, not around relitigating what is Good and what is Bad per se, but in trying to shape and curb that bone-deep, unbelievably powerful desire to rend the flesh from the bones of your tormenters.

But I mentioned that feeling is susceptible to narrative reframing. This is, as I understand it, a huge part of lawyering. Tell the story of what happened using true events and adding no falsehoods, but highlight the parts that make it feel like your client is the one who is being treated unfairly. They're not an unsympathetic wrongdoer who you can punish without personal moral stain - they're a loving spouse, a parent of three adorable children, they have a really cute puppy, they donate to charity, they're a wonderful conversationalist, a kind friend, etc etc. All those things can also be true of people who do terrible things, but thinking about them defuses that White Hot Core by making us sympathize with the sympathetic parts of them.

This is incredibly well-understood in fiction. It's the whole reason the tropes Kick The Dog and Pet The Dog exist. When you want the audience to root for a character's destruction, leave aside any of their potential quiet moments of sympathy - their tragic backstory, their cute pet, their adorable relationship with their mom - and instead show them going out of their way to commit some minor act of petty cruelty, say Kicking The Dog. The audience will infer that this badness is 24/7 and they have no reason to curb their enthusiasm for Righteous Vengeance. But if the writer wants the audience to see a spark of good in them, to sympathize, to believe they can be redeemed, they'll highlight one of those small moments of charming kindness, and allow them to Pet The Dog instead.

Neither of these acts, in the grand scale, have any bearing on the morality of this person's actions. A pet dog doesn't counterbalance a razed village; a kicked dog doesn't negate a generous contribution to the local soup kitchen. Goodness and badness is not a linear scale added or subtracted to by opposing deeds. BUT showing them to an audience reframes them narratively, and THAT is what shapes the judgment of the White Hot Burning Core. In the space of fiction, this form of bottom-shelf emotional manipulation is one of the cleanest ways to get the audience to root for the messy destruction of what is ostensibly, in the universe of the fiction, a wholly complex and living person who definitely has reasons for everything they've done, even ones that could be framed sympathetically when shown.

Meanwhile, in the real world, ethics are an attempt to judge what is best in a given situation without trusting the White Hot Burning Core to make the call, no matter how compelling "but it would feel really good though" might seem. They try to give someone perspective, context, other priorities to consider. The White Hot Burning Core might want you to rip someone's arms off for driving slow when you've got important places to be, but Ethics can present a number of compelling reasons not to do that - even if it's just "ripping their arms off will definitely make me even more late." And yes, this can be a balance of Selfishness Vs Selflessness. You are one of the people whose wellbeing ethics is designed to make you prioritize improving even if it feels weird, and when all other things are equal, your own health and happiness can be the deciding factor. In a world with an overarching Moral Force that weighs the goodness of your soul by sifting through every grain of action and intent seeking negativity to punish you for, absolute selflessness to the point of self destruction would still probably be seen as Morally Wrong, simply because the universe is a better place with you in it trying your best.

Anyway, if doing the right thing was simple, easy and painless, we probably wouldn't have so many thousands of years of arguing about what it looks like. Good luck out there everybody 👍

[ask-one-orion-pax]

One of D’s posts recently said ya’ll go into rut. What’s it like, and any embarrassing stories from you or D being in rut that you’d be willing to tell?

blushes

He, uh...he said that...? Primus, this'll be a long one...

clears his vocalizer and smiles

Okay, um, well...it's really not as embarrassing as you'd think, at least for cog-less bots, so long as willpower is exercised. It's much more intense for mechs with cogs. We get pretty tame symptoms, like raised internal temperatures, difficulty speaking, increased risk-taking behaviors, and so on...during the onset, anyway.

Really, with cog-less bots it's very easy to confuse a rut with a virus at first, since it takes a few hours for the, uh...urge to mate...to kick in. That's when it gets hard to manage. Every Cybertronian's frame has an internal system dedicated to the...interfacing function. When a mech's in rut, this interface system goes into overdrive, and if it isn't actively resisted...well, it basically throws his processor into the smelter.

Now, if it does that...all bets are off. And I mean all of them. A mech in this state will be driven purely by the instinct to mate and it won't go away until he does, or...gets himself off unintentionally via the extremely inappropriate methods of attracting a mate...the most common being the imitation of interfacing with an inanimate object, within view of his desired mate...

laughs nervously

That's never happened to D or me, thank Primus! But...don't tell him I told you this...when D's first rut came, it hit him all at once out of nowhere, and he truly believed he was dying. Medic told him he was fine, he resisted it well enough that he stayed fully lucid until it passed, but I did notice him looking quite affectionately at his mining grinder a few times. I thought it was so funny, but I knew D was feeling really uncomfortable, so I didn't tease him about it until he was feeling better again.

As for me...I did actually embarrass myself one time... It's okay, you can laugh. I was right in the middle of hauling ore toward the refineries when the brunt of my rut hit me, just before Elita walked by. My engine has never revved so loud in my life! It was mortifying. She almost chewed me out for it, but she noticed how flared out my armor was - my rut makes me overheat pretty bad - and pardoned me from punishment since it was an uncontrollable response. Heh...yeah. That's it.

[jweekgoji]

I quite like Cybertronian!Reader, who can transform into a motorcycle. So Reader's size is just taller than a human. They can still stand in the palm of a larger Cybertronian's hand. What do you think?

TFO!Chars/Motorcycle!Reader [hcs]

tw: size difference, mentions of possessive/overprotective behavior. chars mentioned: D-16/Megatron, Orion Pax/Optimus Prime, Elita-1, B-127, Sentinel Prime, Darkwing, Airachnid. word count: ~2000 a/n: the size difference is sooo yummy  thank you for request anon

D-16/Megatron

One of the tallest from the miner gang. When D-16 finally gets his cog, be ready for a constant tease from him. I feel like cogless D-16 is the most respectful one, he understands how hard it is for you to fit in a society where physical differences play a huge role in how others would treat you. So every time you get into trouble, he will pick you up and like «my apologies!» before quickly walking away since he does NOT want to be punched for the second time this day. He is a total sweetheart, but please, don't be like Orion.

Cogged D-16 is more bold. He is happy he can finally transform, and he desperately wants to test the limits of his own powers. You might walk next to Orion and Elita-1 one moment, and then he quickly grabs you from behind, placing on his shoulder with a «here, let me help you» which is kinda sweet if you think about it.

He also has that tiny overprotective side in him, which is borders with possessiveness. If Orion tries to ask D-16 about it, he will get defensive. What is wrong with him, helping his fellow bot? He never means to disrespect you, his intentions are pure, it's just happens that he is taller and stronger than you. How ironic.

I still believe that, as Megatron, he never treats you as someone weak and unable to protect yourself. He admits that you're skilled, you are a capable warrior if necessary, but he'd rather keep you close than let you wander around others. His touch is careful, his whole servo covers most of your frame, and he loves it, but he's not sure about the others. He doesn't trust them with you. If other decepticons try to mumble even the slightest insult towards your size and alt-mode, he will act as if they dare to insult Megatron himself. [reader is hot enough to replace you whenever I choose, Starscream!]

Orion Pax/Optimus Prime

Cogless Orion is a huge troublemaker, and he is reckless, despite his good intentions. He constantly wants to prove himself, to Sentinel, to others and to you. He can see you struggle with everyday life, and he wants it to make it better for you. Orion often brings you some tiny energon cubes he stole during one of his secret visits to the archives, or maybe it's some pretty shiny thing he gets you because he knows you love it. When he sees your optics almost sparkling in amazement when he holds a trading card of Micronus Prime and you immediately go to reach it, he will be like «what's the magic wooord~?» playfully making you try and reach for it. He's not a bully, usually he quickly quits it and gives you it anyway, but he just adores that cute, tiny smile on your face.

The height difference between you and Orion once he gets his cog is even more noticeable. But after everything, there are noticeable changes in his behavior. He sees you from a little different perspective (no pun intended), and he practically looses that playful and teasing side of his now that he has many responsibilities on his shoulders.

If Megatron is a bot who prefers to hold you close to himself, standing on his shoulder, Optimus is the one who would kneel so he can look into your optics. Now that he's a Prime, a real, kind and caring one, it might feel a little different for you because with Sentinel everyone was used to looking up at him. What Prime would stand on his knees for a small bot for you? You're dear to him no matter what size you are, and he wants you to know that you're important to him.

^ a tiny addition, but he's the bot who probably would like having you on top of his alt-mode, a tiny bot on top of a truck. It gives more mobility during a fight, and he can be sure you're safe next to him. a cute sight for autobots, but a dangerous combo on the battlefield for others!

Elita-1

Elita doesn't really care if you're short or tall, she is more occupied with her own thoughts about how to deal with today's mission and get her promotion. If you do your job well and listen to her orders without being a trouble, she also has no trouble with you. She's not rude, just a busy woman who is thinking about her career, you know? But if you somehow are friends with her, she can spare a minute or two to have some rest.

I feel like she shares the overprotective trait with D-16 if you're much smaller compared to many other bots. Mines are already dangerous for everyone, so she has to keep her optics on you 24/7 so you wouldn't get in trouble, for example, if you accidentally got stuck by a rock or lost somewhere. She explains it like «I don't want to lose my chances of promotion because of you» but it is only a partially true.

Cogged Elita is as bossy and commanding as before, but now she's more open about her feelings about you. You two have some similarities between your alt-modes, you're both cybertronian motorcycles after all. << but the size difference between her and you are a little funny tbf. She might give you the same treatment as Orion with her «I am better than you» talk, but she quickly adds all your other unique abilities. You're fast, brave and strong despite your size, despite often being teased by others, you never give up and continue to fight. She's inspired, and she makes sure you know that she adores you for it. But when someone else tries to pick on you, she will punch them straight into their face.

B-127

You two are both short. Congratulations! But somehow...he's not the shortest on the squad? Bee doesn't see anything wrong with you being small, if anything, he will try to make it look like it's the coolest thing he has ever seen. He is just happy to have new friends, especially the ones who can talk back to him! like «what do you mean you can transform into a motorcycle? that's like super, mega, ultra AWESOME! can you drive while standing on your one wheel? can you do some cool trick??» he's your biggest fan.

B-127 is really touchy with you, mainly because he had never talked with other bots for cycles while being stuck on level 50. He likes to hug you, pull closer to himself, and nuzzle his cheek against your helm, sometimes even doing it without realizing it because he has so much energy and affection he has to release, and you're just around him...it's hard not to give you some love.

This guy probably makes you his victim of loooong, long talks. He will keep you close to himself, and you just HAVE to listen to him talking about Steve, how he struggles to pick a new nickname for himself, and how happy he is to have a cog and finally work for the government...! Bee is very enthusiastic, it doesn't hurt at all, but he has this death grip around your frame that you have no chance but to listen to him. He probably doesn't realize that he holds you, maybe he's unconsciously a little scared of being left all alone.

Sentinel Prime

That man is a bastard. And a huge prick. If he chooses to let you have your own cog, that's probably for his own amusement. I mean, with or without a cog, what difference would it make for him? If anything, he might accidentally kick or step on you if he wasn't careful enough, so consider yourself lucky because he was in a good mood to spare your life. Maybe with a cog, you would be more useful for him?

Personally, see him as a bot who would have you on his shoulder/palm while posing for some photo just because he wants to look like a very respectful guy. Look at him, some tiny two-wheeler and THE Sentinel Prime? Ohh he's so kind and caring for all of his citizens! But he just does this for a boost of confidence and support from other bots. Whatever helps him rule over Iacon and get energon faster?

In private, if you have a closer relationship with him, I can definitely see him loving your small frame the most. Other bots I mentioned before pay a little to no attention to it, for Sentinel this is a thing that makes him feel even more powerful.

He's careful around you, his touch is gentle and soothing, but in his mind, it's tempting and hot; one wrong move, and he can easily damage you, but he never does it because he is in control. You're lucky he likes you or just finds you amusing to keep around. He's a control freak.

^ definitely into holding you on his lap if he has a chance. you can mind your own business until he randomly picks you up and places you where he wants it.

Dakrwing

He is a jerk too, but at least he doesn't hide it. It really depends if you just got your cog recently or if you were with it all your life. If you were a cogless miner before, Darkwing has no mercy for you. He needs his work done and fast, after all, it is an order from Sentinel and he doesn't care if it's too hard for you to hold mining equipment that is almost as big as you. Do your job or he will report you, there's no other expectation. << but he might pick on you more than on anyone else just because of your size. Poor you.

If you were born with your cog and one of the elite cybertronians, might be a racer too, I can see him being softer. As a cogged bot you have a lot of free time, and most bots usually spend their time racing or minding their own business but let's say, you are popular enough to be noticed by him, who happens to be your biggest fan. If he spots you walking through the streets of Iacon he will awkwardly approach, holding his poster of you, shyly asking for you to sign it. His height and voice in intimidating but he acts like a total fanboy around you.

Airachnid

The spider lady is scary, intimidating and a little freaky. Most of the time she's really quiet next to you, whenever you are in the same room, listening Sentinel yapping about something unimportant as usual, you will notice her glancing at you. At first you might think it was an accident, the second one as just awkward, the third time she would not look away once you notice her staring. she has that little pleased smirk on her face whenever she sees you.

Airachnid is probably the second one of the tallest bots here. she's taller than Sentinel (but I'm not sure if she's bigger than Megatron with Megatronus cog), her spider-like appearance makes most bots uncomfortable and it will surprise her if you weren't at least a little scared of her. she's not the one to openly tell you that she enjoys the height difference between you and her but her silent interest tells you everything. her optics always focused on you and no matter how small and stealthy you are, you have no chance to make a move past her.

[ask-one-d16]

waitwaitwait, rut AND heat cycles? im never going near a cybertronian again

Probably a wise decision not to be around them during their cycles. We don’t know how our systems would respond to a human presence, or if we’d comprehend your presence at all.

[ask-one-elita]

Hypothetically if you had been Orio's target when he in ruts, would you have accepted?

Do I look like the kind of femme who would spread her legs for someone just because they’re in rut? No.

[bastardlybonkers]

Would the headlights on Bee's wings count as biolights? And if so, would that make his wings anymore attractive? I'd assume they work like birds, the prettier and brighter they are the more attractive. Considering Bee is bright yellow and has lights on his wings would he be considered attractive to other fliers? Thank you

ooh alright so this ask gives me an opportunity to do another little analysis/hc dump, this time on cybertronian beauty standards! lemme start with the basics first

-personally, i dont think of fliers like birds, though ik bird behaviors is a pretty popular hc for fliers lol. i think a lot of them like wings because that means they can fly (cool flying alt, can fly together) and because theyre nice to touch and be touched!

-i think cybertronians find faces attractive due to the increase in expressiveness, so theres a cultural bias towards finding faces attractive. however, faceplates are still appreciated, and as james roberts has confirmed, those without lip mouths have the most erotic mouth build 😏 so that lends a huge bonus to faceplates, evening them out a bit in terms of beauty standards

-lights and bright plating colors are probably attractive, but id say really anything that isnt grey and lightless is probably handsome (grey looks like dead bodies to them)

-some helm shapes are just not very flattering, at least to cybertronians. pre-ghost, bumblebee's helm was probably considered extremely average looking, but post-ghost whoever built his body decided to upgrade his helm a bit lol

now for starbee specifically...

-starscream and bee are both obviously affected by the beauty standards of their culture, so theres definitely some aspects that carry over. however, theres things that they dont really care about either (for example, bumblebee doesnt really care how shiny starscreams plating is)

-i couldnt for the life of me find the lights on bees wings youre referring to in the ask 😭 i looked at all my refs but i dont see them 😔 he does have lights on his legs, which starscream probably does like, as he likes bright and pretty things in general (both on others and himself)

-starscream has never particularly cared about wheels, hes far more interested in bees doorwings. personally bumblebee would like a little more wheel attention 😂

-bumblebee finds stars wings cute, which is different from most people who like wings, who like them for the power they represent (he also likes the powerful jet alt mode but he likes getting a rise out of starscream even more)

-heel thrusters are a unique thing to cybertronians, and are probably considered a more niche attraction