#hbrambles

[etchbee]

don't you hate it when the most talented artist in the world makes fan art of something you've never heard of and you go in search of this wonderful compelling story only to find it does not exist, this media is the most hole-ridden ass crack bland shit in existence and only through their loving passionate eyes has it been given a soul, depth and meaning. now a 17 year old with two jobs and homework due tonight is the only person in the world that can give you a satisfying ending to the love story of basement Doug and chainsaw Joey. who have a total of 3 lines of dialogue combined and never appear on screen together.

[etchbee]

just saw TFone trailer!

thoughts. i think the art style is kinda goofy but it works okay. the character designs are very blocky but i prefer the blocky over micheal bay metal bard realism.

the casting is... fine? i mean it works for what they're going for but I think optimus and megatron should be more serious sounding. i mean, this plays into my other criticism of the trailer which is that i wish they were leaning more into the political drama aspects of the war origin stories because the darker sides are some of the best of the franchise....!!!! but whatever, i know that's too much to expect from movie producers that need their films to be palatable to the DUMB KIDS who couldn't possibly understand more complex plots 🙄 they're obviously going for an action comedy vibe which is whatever. i think there's still some substance there if they handle it well.

i at least DEMAND they don't have a completely happy ending. like, im gonna be pissed if they pull a "cruella" with megatron and give him a villain origin that isn't a villain origin at all actually. i think this is why im not happy about the quintessons being what looks to be the big bads, because it pulls a ton of attention away from the structural inequality that's supposed to drive all the prewar main conflicts.

AND by making orion a worker at the same level as megatron you REMOVE the unbalanced power dynamics that contribute to the interest of their relationship!!!!

im just saying i think i could write a better movie if i had the chance 😒

but i digress. I've been begging for a prewar movie for ages now, and even if it doesn't look incredible, it looks LEAGUES above ROTB so i am going to shut my mouth and be grateful. especially if this does well!!! MAYBE!!!! WE COULD SEE MORE ADAPTATIONS OF FRANCHISES NOT ON EARTH!! LOST LIGHT ANYONE??????

overall. My expectations are 7/10. I'll cry if I'm disappointed.

[etchbee]

do with this what you will. AND IGNORE THE TEMPLATE AHAH IT WAS THE BEST ONE I COULD FIND. sobbing.

[etchbee]

I’d like to know your personal headconnons for well really anybody preferably decepticons or combiner teams and whirl…ok mostly whirl but others to if you have time or want to

W. OWWWW!!!!!!!!!! YAY!!!!!!!!!!! I LOVE THIS ASK OK i have to think about it. i have many many whirl thoughts. disclaimer some of them may be canon or other people's headcannons that i just picked up over time.

-i think whirl loves swearing. LOVES IT. but not just cybertronian swears, he picks up a lot of alien swears and then makes his own up for good measure too. this means that half of what he says is unintelligible, really, and people don't even realize he's swearing usually. except magnus. magnus knows. magnus always knows.

-i think he probably has a lot of chronic pain. being forcefully reformatted is an incredibly unpleasant experience that tends to leave one with many lingering aches and pains. not to mention all the war injuries he's accrewed.

-on that note, i think whirl actually has a fair amount of mismatched pieces. fragments of metal and even pieces of limps and joints that he had to scavenge for a quick fix during his wrecker period. it's all painted the same blue though, so it's hard to tell unless you get close.

-i think whirl is a very touchy person. he likes to hang off people and have people hang off him, he likes to swing arms over people's shoulders, he really, REALLY likes when people pet his head. but uh... he doesn't get that a lot. people are scared as shit of him, mostly. so he takes what he can get.

-whirl generally defaults to he/him because that's kinda the baseline for transformers. but gender literally does not matter to him so he goes by all and any pronouns... genderqueer would be a good description i think

-ADORES humans, thinks they're hilarious and adorable. would be absolutely devastated if he accidentally squished one (a constant fear for magnus when verity is visiting.)

-and obv, i am a big fan of cywhirlgate (even in a queerplatonic status, which i think is closer to their canon relationship) i just think they all deserve love <3

[etchbee]

I AM OFFICIALLY GOING TO TFCON LA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am very excited. This is still an anonymous account lol so nobody is going to recognize me. But still, if you're going.... anyone could be me. You don't know. You'll never know. AHHASF IM SO EXCITED!!!!!!!!!

[etchbee]

you know sometimes i'm reading fanfic and a character will be like "yeah, I'm panromatic greysexual genderqueer" or, you know, rattle off any other hyperspecific label. which is FINE and COOL! make your characters as specific as you want if it brings you joy! sometimes you just need a little guy who is like you or like someone you love! and that's great! BUUUT also sometimes it gives me the most "he would not fucking say that" -itus ever like babe he does NOT know those words. like not even that the character wouldn't be those things just... IT IS 1602 IN ENGLAND they DON'T KNOW THOSE WORDS. AHHHHH.

[etchbee]

STOP!!! STOP!!! STOP!!!! (my tummy hurts)

[etchbee]

it's come to my attention that tumblr has like 547 million monthly users. but i'm gonna be honest, if someone told me that number was like. 5 million. i would've been like yeah ok that tracks.

[etchbee]

Nobody even talk to me right now.

HOW DO WE GO FROM THIS-

TO THIS???????????

WHY?????? WHO??????? HOW??????? His LIPS?? His stupid glasses??? WHY IS HE BROWN!!!

I can't even. The Bumblebee movie NAILED their designs. It was perfect blend of G1 designs and realism. It was so fun to watch. ALL I WANTED WAS TO SEE MORE OF IT. BUT NO. NO!! ALL WE GET ARE 2 FREAKING MINUTES OF ACTION AND THEN THIS MONSTROSITY. WHO EVEN SIGNED OFF ON THIS. IT LOOKS MORE UGLY EVERY TIME I SEE IT. THEY DIDNT EVEN INCLUDE HIS HEADFINS!!!! WHEELJACKS DESIGN IS SO MUCH FUN AND THEY LITERALLY JUST THREW IT OUT THE WINDOW AND FOR WHAY????????? I hate him.

To everyone who likes this design. I am sorry. I respect your decision. I am happy that at least someone can find joy in... this. But dear god. I hate him so much.

[etchbee]

the transformers iceberg

(explanations + commentary below the cut)

This iceberg is less an objective measure of the community and more just my personal descent into the fandom over the last year or so. Every iceberg I could find online is like bayverse exclusively, and I wanted to make one specific to my experience!! So, this one is mostly idw comics, with some fandom jokes/theories, and little tidbits of the movies/TV shows mixed in. I know a lot of the stuff in the top and middle probably seem super elementary to you guys, but I was really making this with the lense of someone who has absolutely no experience with the lore AT ALL (how I started out) So the top layer is like, basic normal person things to know. Then layer two (still above the water) is slightly niche knowledge that you probably wouldn’t have without SOME kind of immersion in the media. Then you have the first layer below the water, which is still basic esc canon. Then you have the niche cannon. Then you have the WEIRD canon. (I’m looking at you Moon fight). And THEN we’ve got the deep sea stuff! Which… speaks for itself. Anyways, I’m definitely gonna keep adding to this so if you have any ideas please send them in!! And let me know if you have a favorite cause I think some of these are pretty funny :) 

If you want clarification on one of these feel free to shoot me an ask and I’ll totally explain it!!

Also, as far as lore stuff, I’m basing a lot of these off of the TFwiki IDW timeline which you can find here. So, that’s my provided source.

[etchbee]

GUYS OH MY GOD!

THIS IS IT!!

THIS IS WHY DONNIE IS AFRAID OF BEACH BALLS!!

[etchbee]

i think one of my favorite things about rottmnt is how exaggerated it is

like the animators just have SO much fun with taking the characters and making them look as ridiculous as physically possible

so here's a (very) small compilation of some of my favorite weird ass turtle faces >>>>

anyways please feel free to submit more photos if you have them this isn't even CLOSE to all of them <3

[etchbee]

SG Starbee?

ok so im pretty sure ur referring to the ship starscream x bumblebee? if there's a character named starbee that idk about im gonna feel silly... but i'm just gonna assume u mean the ship.

as far as characterizations, i really leaned into the whole "child solider" age thing w bumblebee. (as i'm writing this, i am realizing i have basically NEVER TALKED ABOUT STARSCREAM??? so i need to do that immediately someone please remind me cause i will forget.) anyways, for that reason i don't know if i would place him into a ship with anyone.

plus, post war (which is where i think most starbee ships take place), bee is maybe... probably... in prison??? so not in any place where he would meet starscream.

ok so that's my offical statement on the lore. BUT i'm assuming you only sent this ask in because you like the ship and wanna hear about it!! so, hypothetically, if starbee WAS a part of this universe:

starscream is basically the complete opposite of bee.

bee is a manipulative, traumatized, slightly crazed people pleaser that's been exploited since birth for the sake of an apathetic overlord that only cares for him as a tool. he has no friends. he's never had friends- and really, he doesn't even understand why.

meanwhile, starscream is every bit as annoying as he is in canon. he is disobedient and loud and RUDE, and everything bee has ever been punished for. he is very clearly Doing It Wrong, and yet somehow...... he's happy? he's cared for!

it's not fair. it's just not fair.

(what bee doesn't see is this- starscream, despite his many eccentricities, is genuinely caring, and protective of the people around him. he's loyal, and determined, and idealistic to a fault. and those traits, after 4 million years of war, have endeared him to a truly staggering amount of people.)

(bee also doesn't see this: starscream is about to endear himself to one more.)

post war- bee has been allowed to rejoin society, on the condition that he makes as big of a show of it as possible. he is to serve as an example for the autobots on how to reintegrate. (relegated to poster boy once again.)

starscream is assigned to be his "diplomatic partner" in a "unity promotion campaign" between the remaining leaders of the deception and autobot armies. (starscream is assigned to be his babysitter, to make sure he doesn't fly off the rails, and to take care of him if he does.)

now, the expectation here is that hopefully, starscream and bumblebee will manage to put aside their animosity long enough that people settle and reconstruction can begin. eventually, society will become stable enough that "unity promotion" is no longer necessary, and they can go their separate ways.

that is not what happens. starscream, shepard of the lost he is, takes one look at this lonely, angry, hurting soul and goes oh! guess he's mine now :)

over the course of the next few years, starscream teaches bee how to advocate for himself. (how to be more than someone's puppet.)

starscream shows him how to really live. (how to be more than just a soldier.)

starscream helps him understand that there's more to life then fighting, that you can make a place for yourself in the world without clawing your way up and carving it out by force. (how to rest.)

and how can bee not love him after that? in some ways, he's still not... normal. in some ways, he is just as obsessed and devoted to starscream as he was the autobot cause. really, bee has just traded one idol of worship for another.

but for the first time in bee's life, that devotion isn't going to be abused. he's given his obedience to someone who will never, ever use it. and that's what love is, i think.

so, starscream gets a scary ass guard dog (that is really just a lap dog in disguise)

and bumblebee gets what he always, always wanted.

bumblebee gets to be loved.

[etchbee]

okay so

i just wanted to take a quick second to point out the facial expressions on donnie during this scene because i think the animators did just SUCH a good job on them

like, firstly, we have this expression right as they get spat out the escape pods, and he just looks... SO distraught. like just scared and panicking. and like donnie is a very low emotion character, so it really hits home the point that this was a seriously dangerous moment for them. notice how none of the other characters can see his face though, since he's turned away from them and towards the camera.

and then this is the part that gets me. he turns around and slaps on the biggest forced grin he can manage. like, to me, this face says "EVERYTHING IS FINE IT'S FINE DON'T WORRY ABOUT IT IT'S FINE I HAVE IT UNDER CONTROL"

and like we can obviously see that he is NOT okay

like, look at the wetness in the eyes. he is LITERALLY holding back tears.

but like. everyone is panicking, and scared, and upset. so he slaps on a smile and makes a joke.

and it's so subtle too! like this entire moment of donnie trying to be strong for his family is conveyed EXCLUSIVELY through his expressions, and i think it's just a really great detail that ads so much to the scene and to his character without being way over the top :)

[etchbee]

autistic donnie thoughts

as a neurodivergent person myself, i really love the autistic rise!donnie headcannons SO just wanted to say that maybe the reason he was so into the purple dragon satin jacket was because the fabric was a lot less agitating on his skin/soft shell.....? obv the movie sort of (???) covered his sensory issues with the (SPOILERS) krang ship controls but i thought this was another decent example of it.

i mean as a literal sewer child he pretty much only has access to what he can scavenge from DUMPSTERS so satin must have been like a godsend for him.

sensory issues man. not fun.

[etchbee]

hi guys.

just wanted to say that i love whirl so so so much. most blorbo of all time. yeah. just wanted to get that out there <3