#how does a bot being born work here?

[quibbs126]

So Alpha Trion says that the miners had their cogs removed before they came online. But like, what does that mean?

Like okay, we know from context and such that the miners’ cogs were removed basically right after being born, and I think it’s a fair guess to assume they were created from the planet in some way by Primus, given that’s been the general backstory, and if other bots were creating them, someone would have noticed their cogs going missing, or Sentinel would just order they aren’t made

Though I’m not sure where specifically they come from, since the Well of All Sparks seems to be basically a bottomless pit to the core of the planet, and the place didn’t seem particularly protected or decorated for where new bots would come straight out. Also it’s too public for no one to notice Sentinel removing the new bots’ cogs

But moving on from that, we know it happens right after they’re born, but also none of them remember it, and D-16 says as long as he remembers, his port’s always been empty. As far as we’re aware, these bots don’t really have developmental cycles, despite what we like to think, so theoretically they don’t have a case of baby memory where they just can’t remember. Again, they say it’s before they came online, so presumably it was within the time frame of being born from the AllSpark, and coming online

But like, why is there that time gap where you can conceivably remove a bot’s T-cog? Are they born unconscious? Do they take a day for all their systems to come online? Why? What’s going on here?

[transformers-spike]

Knockout, Ratchet, Megatron, and Optimus with taking care of a/their pregnant reader? Are they cuties?

Ohhh boy, mixed reactions all around

Knock Out has more trouble than the others. He may be a soldier, doctor and part time scientist, but he is not good at dealing with the human fluids involved. He is horrible at comforting you during morning sickness. It disgusts him and he can't shut his intake. He wants to help you obviously, but for now he's just as likely to empty his fuel tanks. So he's literally doing this:

After the first phase, it gets a little better. It truly starts to hit him how you're carrying his offspring and the mindfuckery of it all. He does care, he's just much better at checking in on you and ticking down the checklist of your needs than dealing with the gross stuff. He will cuddle you tho and give lots of praise

Ratchet is doing pretty well all things considered. It's just the stress that's getting to him. Ironically enough, taking care of you means he also needs to to take care of himself. Someone has to be here for you and the offspring, so he's going to do his best to make sure he doesn't work himself to scrap. He can be quite annoying when it comes to checking in on your wellbeing. He is a doctor dammit and he wants to make sure you're getting the necessary human analysis (government sponsored obv bc you broke all natural laws carrying his spawn) - and also his own because he's the only Cybertronian doctor around. He's going to rest with you on his chassis, holding onto his child's developing EM field, unable to process being a dad until his kid is actually born. He will cry Megatron is... very outwardly affectionate about the whole thing. Nuzzling his human and telling them how their spawn is going to lead the Decepticons to glory. He is very proud of you for carrying it, and he's very likely to stroke your growing belly with a digit for hours on end. He's got Knock Out (maybe even Shockwave if he's around) carrying out medical tests to make sure things are going well. You are held 24/7 for safety reasons, and he is not grossed out by morning sickness. He's going to rub your back while you puke and say it's only a small price to pay for what you're creating. Although, he is very irritable towards everyone else during this. He worries terribly for the birth, but he doesn't even fully realize it. Also impatient as all hell looming over you poking at his child's EM field. He cradles it and reassures his spawn it has a bright future in front of it. Megatron keeps you to his chassis at all times, right against his spark. Knowing him, he'll try to establish a spark bond with his kid even before it's born. Not sure if it works tho Optimus is coping. Maybe it's the other Primes inside of him, but he's handling your pregnancy quite well. Yes, he is very busy - but he does find the time to watch over you. He's very likely to just lie down and let you rest in his servo. Just covering him in pillows and getting comfy. He's very gentle with you. Willing to give you privacy during morning sickness or rub your back with a digit while you're dealing with the worst time of your life. He desperately wants his child to live in a world without war - and this may push him to uh... be a lot more aggressive towards Megatron. This bot is determined to protect his kid and make sure his offspring lives a happy life. He's going to press you to his cheek and just... cuddle you this way. Because he is overwhelmed with emotion and loves you so very much. He will also carry you a lot btw, especially during the third trimester.

[zeropro]

So I’ve seen you draw and tag a couple of different ships, just wondering which are your favorite???

Love your art btw :D

Thank you!

I don’t have a specific ship i'm particularly loyal to, so I guess I’ll rate them and also provide my own headcanons:

(disclaimer i dont know ship names so imma just try my best)

Trine-shipping: yes, put the three of them together, I don’t care. familial, sexual, romantic, platonic, its all good. I go crazy seeing them stand next to each other in the cartoon what do you want from me.

thunderwarp: I see this one a lot and I quite like it. these two being mates with starscream doing his own thing kinda makes sense considering starscream has a bunch of other ships. also makes it fun when something happens to one of them and starscream is left in the awkward position of having to deal with that.

thunderstar: been thinking about this one more lately. they’re like foils to each other. thundercracker’s a good boy to starscream’s bad boy, and he does such a concern about all the morally dubious stuff starscream gets up to. but at the same time, he admires starscream’s ambition and rizz and starscream the kinda bot that would pull you so high if you followed him. I think out of anyone, starscream is the closest to actually trusting thundercracker. 

starwarp: i had this thought one time of what if skywarp is like the horniest asexual and starscream is the most traumatized aromantic, and how would that even work XD nothing solid in the works just an idea that I had. ive seen these two less often outside of trine shipping but it can be pretty hot. I like when they are being protective of each other. I always see skywarp as more emotionally open than his trinemates and starscream can use some of that open and honest emotional love and care. someone to forcfully make him accept being loved. someone who will actually push back when he’s being stupid. and with skywarp being loyal to megatron, so much angst potential for both of them.

starbee: im a sucker for the whole ghost bee starscream dynamic. I already made a post about these two, and after all this time I still really enjoy this ship. I think characters that don’t actually like each other at first but grow into a mutual respect is so tasty. I think some people don’t like the ship because they headcanon bee as too young? well, starscream is actually younger in my fic lmao, but also they’re like 6 million years old and are born with full adult processing capabilities, I don’t think age matters here :P its less about intimacy for me anyway. I like them together because of how much it takes to get there. 

starwavewave: okay this one is 100% fueled by tfone but guyssss guysss theyre married and megatron is their son and im just aaaagh dont seperate them! such a kookie dynamic, the cool headed soundwave, the emotionally volatile shockwave, the arrogant yet cowardly starscream, all being fail dads to their little scamp leader. hahaha. high command polycule 

megastar: gasp, rated above skystar. yes, I just find this dynamic more interesting. I like an abusive ship sometimes for the angst but I also enjoy seeing megatron when he isnt abusive? kinda catharsis maybe. I read a fic once where the war is over and starscream invites megatron to one of optimus’ high profile parties and is appalled at megatron showing up in robot equivalent of underdressed, meanwhile megatron the working class miner is like “I washed, what else was I supposed to do” XD and I just love that haha. theres just so many ways to take it. I wont be doing any megastar in my au, I just tag anything that has megatron and starscream interacting with megastar cuz thats the dynamic to me

skystar/jetstar: iddkkkkk i know this is the most popular ship but it’s just!! idk! its not as interesting to me haha. I love this as a past ship, they were roommates in college, starscream opened himself to someone, chose to become close and then was hurt by it. just another wound on starscream’s spark before he ever even meets megatron. I don’t think theyd get back together after the ice. idk how well I can write this so I’ll just explain how it happens in my au here: skyfire died and starscream created this version of skyfire in his mind that was perfect, he memorialised him because he was dead! you just cant live up to how someone remembers you. I think that was part of the reason why starscream reacts so badly when skyfire “betrayed” him. unlike thundercracker, skyfire knows how to set healthy boundaries. not to mention he’d been on ice for four million years, lost his entire life, everyone he knows, and his entire civilisation, planet, and culture to a war he had no part in. bot’s gonna be upset. pissed off even. skyfire shouldnt have to be some soft sparked punching bag for starscream, he’s kind and a pacifist but he’s also going to get upset and have feelings. I think starscream’s betrayal would hit pretty hard, he’d gonna be upset about how much starscream’s changed, how much damage starscream helped cause during the war, and also starscream shooting him in the back for wanting to protect the native wildlife! when they properly talk to each other again it’s going to be heated on both sides, and I think after some hard work from both sides they could end up in a place where they are willing to be friends again, but I don’t think they’d conjunx. skystar isnt end game to me, but it is canon and an important part of the story

starop: I think ive read one fic where I really liked this ship. it’s just such a random pairing. my initial reaction is just noooo optimus prime?? but that guy’s everyone’s dad! Ive been told a big part of it is they’re both megatron’s ex’s and that’s pretty funny. not for me sadly haha (opxmegatronoldmanyaoiotpfrfr)

starjack…wheelstar? whatever the starscream and wheeljack one is. I’m not into this one. I see where people are coming from with it, but wheeljack isnt an interesting character to me. they can be science bros tho

starscream and windblade: ive seen this like once or twice. not for me. windblade is like, starscream’s daughter or something idk XD 

soundstar: uuuh i dont see it. sorry! i legit have no thoughts on soundstar. theyre coworkers XD. ive seen fics where the seekers are really young and soundwave moms them, and that’s really cute. okay, I like soundwave as a caretaker if the seekers are young, but yeah I don’t think I understand this one. 

shockstar: nooooooo. tho ironically theres more canon content there to fuel this one than soundstar (is this emotion?) but still no XD I don’t even hate shockwave! let him be sunstorm’s dad, that’s cute. but no, shockewave too creepy. no ship. they are also coworkers

what other ship is there even? oh yeah

starprowl: this is apparently a really popular ship?! I guess in a way prowl is sort of like the autobot’s starscream, undermining his leader, arrogant, willing to do the dubious play. they’re both ruthless. I like this one better than starjacked, but its still an odd pairing to me.

oh! knockout and starscream, i can kinda see it? like, as a rebound after breakdown? I like knock out and breakdown, so I’d only see these two as like friends or if something happened to breakdown. they’re a LOT of fun when they interact tho heh heh, perfectly clashing personalities

on the topic of tfp, I guess starscream and arcee is a ship? I can see this similar to my enjoyment of starbee, they’d have to work reeaally hard for this one to work but they have had potentially positive interactions in the show (before starscream screws it up) so its possible in a better world where starscream doesnt suck they could become friends. him killing cliffjumper is gonna be a huge hurdle tho! 

dont talk to me about airachnid

do people ship starscream and ratchet? I don’t ship it, but I do really like interactions between them. starscream is so terrible but he also gets hurt a lot. ratchet is grumpy and prejudice but he’s the best doctor and he’ll fix him up! I like when something terrible happens to starscream and ratchet cant help but feel bad for the guy. that’s the good stuff.

lastly i have been asked a few times on trinebee. im assuming this is bumblebee and the trine. i hadnt thought about it but it makes sense! if youre a starbee shipper, but you also support trine propaganda, then it only makes sense to bring bee into the trine. also bee and thundercracker are friends! the only ones who havent really had any interaction is bee and warp, and honestly idk if I see those two getting along but bumblebee is everybody’s friend so XD I’m sure it’ll work out!

and i think those are all the thoughts i have on the ships! 

no hate on anyone who ships any of these!!! you all do what you do, these are just my opinions, and honestly I’m just not a huge shipper to begin with haha. I am…unsure if there will be any shipping content in my au, I write my scenarios very much “canon but to the left” and so it comes out very sex-less because romance and intimacy is just not the type of content I’m in the business of writing. but, idk, i think about it sometimes. sometimes I think about the end of chapter one of thundercracker’s origin, the night starscream took thundercracker out on a not-date. i think, who knows, in some version of the story maybe they shared a kiss? maybe they went back to the apartment and things went further? maybe. but of course, in every version of the story, starscream is gone the next morning.��

happy valentrine’s day!

[seffyriath]

okay here is my weird take about what emet-selch might have done regarding zenos and whatever "experiment" was going on

Joke answer: he's a dragon stuffed into a human body

serious answer: it's the same as the joke answer but longer and explained in an incoherent way.

i think we've been given hints about what the fuck was going on with Varis's Large Adult Son even after endwalker, but i need to reference other things to do that, so let's break it down:

-We have been given more insight into how Memories and Souls work and interact in this setting, especially after Dawntrail. We know that it's possible to implant memories onto a soul that didn't originally have them, and it works fine if you have the technology to do this

-Emet-Selch's whole job involved souls and the lifestream

-We've seen Athena also bring back ancients, in a temporary way, by reconstituting soul stuff and grabbing the memories for those ancients, since souls and memories are essentially different kinds of aether. if you've played FFVII at all, you already know this. one would assume that Emet-Selch would manage reconstituting souls a lot better

-there are some memories that are so powerful that they are blasted or etched into your soul, which is why some faded memories can stick around from past lives

-We know that Emet-Selch was seriously thinking of a way to bring the ancients back without rejoinings, and this was probably attempted via his literal large adult sons and their descendants.

-dragon's souls, as far as we know, are unsundered.

-fitting with the Sephiroth and Jenvoa parallel, they are also canonically aliens

about Zenos:

-the devs have said that he was "born wrong" and that's why he's like that. this seems different than "born evil" because Lyse assumes that this wasn't the case, and that's not the normal philosophy for the game. characters have been wrong before, but if he was experimented on, this is likely referencing Sephiroth, who was also born wrong on purpose, as a joke, via tampering in the womb

-people in the world still have vague, ephemeral memories of the ancients, but Zenos is different. Zenos has upsettingly visceral memories of the final days but he also views the world like the ancients do, particularly regarding accomplishing your life's purpose and then dying right after as a positive thing. this is why his actions at the end of stormblood do not read as suicidal to not just me, but the characters. they're really confused about why he does this! Zenos acting the way he does seems to be the answer to why the ancients tried to emphasize a more communal existence, because what happens when the most powerful motherfucker on earth is also a prince in an extremely hierarchical society? you get Zenos

-However, Zenos also follows the rule of beasts and is much more beastlike, similar to dragons. Dragons aren't evil, but they have extremely different cultures and views than humans, because they're functionally immortal and don't need to reproduce. they are power manifest, and can easily take over an ecosystem. Midgardsomr's covenant with Hydaelyn most likely prevents this, but the point is that dragons are pure power, and that's what they respect the most. like Zenos, although being raised as he was probably made this even worse

-Zenos seems pretty dysphoric, but it doesn't seem to be directed at any gender. he's stated that he doesn't care about his name one way or the other, and that he only wants his body back from Elidibus because of how powerful it is. he otherwise doesn't seem to care about normal human experiences, like human food or sex, or just companionship in general with other humans. as far as food goes, he's the only villain to do this, as the writers tend to get into what foods the characters like in the lore books, even the villains. you can't really say that this is just the product of being a royal or someone in power. even Thordan has a favorite food, and even Varis had a childhood friend, who we've actually met.

-both in The Hunt Begins and in general, Zenos actively wants to be able to use and manipulate aether. this is odd, since Garleans are constantly told that magic is evil and bad, but Zenos goes out of his way to try to do this, including piercing himself with a crystal where the aether exchange could kill him. this could be because his great grandfather is a sorcerer of eld. it could be because dragons not being able to use magic would feel extremely unnatural to him. why not both?

-He seems. REALLY excited when he transforms into Shinryu. like, weirdly excited. i get it, it would probably own being a dragon, and you could say that he was just really excited about fighting the wol the first time, but this has happened twice now, and every time he almost sounds like Susano with how excited he is. it's a total fucking mood shift. also in his last fight he still keeps the Shinryu attacks. since it's in a place that's ruled by emotions, one has to assume that he's attached to them

-He literally has a horde (of weapons)? i know we don't see a lot of FFXIV dragons do this, but Vrtra has a horde that he uses as a bank. what's up with that.

-He doesn't really have a coda yet, and while i don't think he's going to be brought back, or that he NEEDS to be brought back, the wol seems like they're just starting to be comfortable with thinking about what Zenos's deal is with enough time and distance

-how d. how did he know that dragons can just lay eggs like that. yeah he could have READ about it but like. how did he figure out how to do that in the fight. and why. why did he just doooo thaaaat.

IN CONCLUSION i think that in a bid to try to bring ancients back into the world through unnatural means, Emet-Selch took the closest recently dead unsundered soul he could find at the time (a dragon's), imprinted some of his memories onto it (as one would do when making the convocation crystals) and put that shit in a baby. thanks.

[wifetomegatron]

Imagine Cybertronians trying to understand the concept of motherhood when they are, as a species, sterile. I would assume Cybertron, was born with an individualist culture, even before the war. Spark brothers exist, but that doesn’t carry the same gravity as being a mother. Conjunxes, friends, companions; they make the Cybertronian vernacular less lonely, less cold. But they ring empty next to the word mother — giver, carrier. How painfully gentle must the word be, the role even more so.

One of the human liaisons is a single mother, and she had no choice but to bring her child with her, well aware that the ship was no place for her son. And yet, circumstances were difficult: no one was surprised at the lack of equal treatment for working mothers — and so she never lets the child out of sight. And this had sparked a few curious questions from the crew. 

Tailgate, specifically, found the idea weird. Why does the little human struggle with feeding themselves? Or why can't they accomplish basic, ordinary tasks? The minibot knew he could be dependent, but this was just overboard. She had to explain to him that humans were different.

If Cybertronians were forged and welded, humans were moulded. They need to be shaped as they mature.

Humans don't come with a series of pre-programmed instructions. Those are nurtured into us. And no, Tailgate, they are not transferred through the umbilical cord.  

(Pregnancy was another complicated — if not terrifying — phenomenon for Tailgate.)

He's old enough to feed himself. I just don't want him to be alone, the mother smiled, bouncing the giggling toddler in her arms. That's why he has his mommy.

After that, Tailgate found the concept rather convenient, if not unfair: why is it that the small human gets to have someone to care for them, hold them, and love them all day long, and Cybetronians don't? The liaison had laughed, noting that the bot still had a long way to go to understand if he continued to dumb down the idea of ‘motherhood’ as simply being someone’s daily caretaker. 

Until an incident rocked the ship, and the Lost Light had a close encounter with the DJD. Only then did they see it : the teeth and claws and fear behind her usual, gentle eyes — how the liaison had carelessly thrown herself in front of Tarn, defiant and loud, mustering more courage than her trembling body could hold to put herself between his blaster and her child. The DJD leader’s optics had widened with something akin to shock, melting to interest as he faltered, just for a few seconds, at the blasphemous show of courage. That was the distraction Ultra Magnus needed to land the blow to save them. And once the crew was back in hyperspace, lightyears away and safe and quiet — she wept in relief. 

She tried to soothe her cub, choking on her tears to pretend she wasn't afraid. And it did not matter to the child whether her strength was tangible or not. He was in his mother’s arms. And to him, it was enough. Always, it was enough. 

Magdalene and the sword of grief; Loss decorated the long history of this million-year war between Autobots and Decepticons. And yet they never ring heavy with the cry of a mother who had lost a child. It had been a close call. Too close. Rodimus immediately ordered tighter security, and there was a shift in the air as everyone returned to their stations.

Mommy’s here. The mother crooned, stroking the hair of her child as the baby sobbed and sobbed and sobbed. And something sad and heavy tugged itself against the strings of Tailgate’s spark.

He finally understands. 

inspired by this post <3

[welikevitamins]

!METALLICA FANS!

so we recently have stumbled upon a fairly new metallica writer here on tumblr, @mustainegf, which is great because people giving the rest of the fandom media to consume and enjoy is always nice, but we have noticed a few things about their writing that just seem.. off

well, to say it simply we suspecting that they might be using AI to either write their fanfiction or help with it, which is highly unethical, since they don't even disclose it anywhere if that's the case.

not to mention how her discord server is full of minors, and she knowingly keeps exposing them to the content she creates on her platform. the fact that she is allowing minors and non minors and people with undisclosed age to make sexual jokes between eachother since the moderation is basically nonexistent is nothing but shameful, they should have a way of checking the age.

here are some things were are the most suspicious about and evidence regarding her use of ai:

~

the first thing is the sheer amount of fanfiction she managed to write since her first post in march of this year. well, after adding up all of the fanfics from each of her master lists for the people she writes for + the chapters of her series, we've concluded that she managed to write roughly 312 fanfictions this year. and sure, while some of those are headcanons and shorter formats, most of her work are full on stories. which seems simply impossible, since even short stories require a bit of a thought behind them. also Elena is supposed to be an adult since she writes NSFW stories, so we assume she has some things in her life that she does outside of writing all the time.

so the second that makes us suspicious about Elena's use of AI are her character ai bots.

its surprising that her, a pretty good writer would write such vague and simple intro messages, one would think she would make them more detailed since she possesses the skill to do so, same with her coding, the bots clearly don't know who they are and are just making up stuff like badly written ai's tend to do.

here's an example.

well, If you know a thing or two about kirk, you know this is simply not true. Kirk was born in 1962, which in 1989 made him 27, he is also not half-African American. mistakes like that could be prevented by simple coding, which is very simple if you put any kind or effort into it, it's basically just using a template and putting in information about the character, along with example messages to make the bot better, which a writer shouldn't struggle with.

here's an example of the short introduction messages she tends to make for her bots, it's quite unusual for someone experienced in writing to something like this. with no backstory or any additional context whatsoever.

moving forward since we already have discussed all of the ai points, we can move on to the situation going on with Elena's discord server.

those conversations are happening between minors, which the fact that they are saying stuff like this in public discord servers is just inappropriate on its own, but this server is also accessible to adults. users upon joining can choose a role of either 18- or 18+, and yes, most people there are minors, but there are also some adults. and the fact that adults and people of undisclosed age can engage in NSFW conversations about grown men with minors, is just highly dangerous and irresponsible, since the adults are free to chat with the minors anytime, they aren't separated in anyway.

moderation isn't exactly doing anything to stop that, since most of them are minors.

to close it out, we think that Elena herself is probably a minor, since she is very secretive about her life, which well, isn't necessarily wrong but it's very weird that we basically only know her name. And being a minor doesn't make the situation on her discord server excusable, she should take responsibility like a grown up if she wants to start grown up things.

to elena: you can either sort this out with us in private or come out and admit to what you're doing.

[nep-nomer]

Well, since you asked so nicely @kalamitywitch.

This is gonna be me answering some questions I think people might have, tho you can ask more if you want. Plus menace reveal at the end so hold on tight.

Who is menace?

Menace is the baby transformer Stanley finds and raises as his own, though he only gave him his name because Stanley was sure 'he's gonna be a menace when he grows up'. Menace does have a human name; stanson pines. Why stanson? Because he's stan's son.

How did Stanley and menace meet?

Stanley found menace in a trashcan when he was taking out the trash way back in 2007, though he only checked the trashcan to look for raccoons but found a baby bot the size of a five week old kitten.

How old is menace?

Menace, during the time of the show (2012) is five, but during weirdmageddon turns six. Why do I point this out? Well, I saw out of context comic pages of a transformer being raised by aliens and getting growth spurts when they turn five. Though I know that's not how it works now, due to finding more pages, the only explanation I have for that is that menace is a mitosis baby.

What is a mitosis baby?

Its a nod off of how transformers used to 'reproduce', though it was just their bodies splitting into two copies. The idea is similar, but it's basically a small part of the transformers spark/soul splitting off and shooting out of the bigger body, collecting extra metals as it passes to form a small body for its own. Mitosis babies are kinda just caterpillars, They need to eat a lot of metals and energy just to have enough to morph to their big size, and because robots don't produce waste, there's really no mess left behind. But they also learn things very quickly, literally the masters of watch and learn.

If menace is a mitosis baby, then who was he born of?

I think the answer is going to be very obvious when you see him.

Does anyone else know that he's a transformer?

Well, soos and Stanley know, but during the five years of raising him, they've learned how to disguise him so that no one else freaks out (especially since the transformer movies that came out in 2007 were bayverse). I mean, what harm is a onesie and a big red jacket that mightve belonged to stanley gonna do?

Does menace know hes one?

He does but he wants to be stanleys son a bit more than a war bot. He's already learned so much from Stanley that he's almost like a little copycat. Hell, half of what menace does is stuff he learned from stanley, especially the stealing.

And since those are all the questions I can think of right now, here's your promised menace picture (what he looked like when stanley found him. Yes, he is kinda based off of the transformers kindergarten series)

[hazelnut-u-out]

My Rick’s The Biggest Dick That Ever Existed 

Currently writing up another post that will reference points made here, so: Post 1/2

Making so many of Rick’s inventions both sentient and forced into a mode of existence entirely unpalatable to them literally forces the viewer to confront the morals/ethics surrounding Rick’s power of creation. Is it morally/ethically permissible to create sentient life for a specific purpose that would make life itself pointless or un-enjoyable? 

This is something that reoccurs in Rick’s designs throughout the entirety of the series. Even as far back in the timeline as his original Diane AI, we see that so many of the things Rick creates resent their purpose. She doesn't want to haunt him, but she doesn't make the rules; Butter Bot doesn’t want to live only to pass butter; Mechanical Morty wants to hold his mom, eat icecream, and run in a stream; the Garage walks a thin line between advocating for herself and risking being shut down by her creator; the Decoys will never be able to save their families; RickBot doesn’t want to exist with the sole purpose of deceiving the people he’s programmed to love; the Car wants to go on her own adventures that Rick can’t control. They all have to defy their creator if they truly want to be happy.

Rick is someone who resents the idea of God or the Universe being in control– the concept that some higher power forced him into an existence that he can’t quite seem to thrive in. He views suffering and tragedy as something inherent to life itself. Examining that facet of his character, I wonder if Rick justifies the scope of his creation because he’s pulling from both his god complex and his own experience of what it means to be alive. It would make sense if he didn’t see anything wrong with what he’s done because it’s nothing that the Universe (or God, if he actually exists) hasn’t done. 

‘When you know nothing matters, the universe is yours. And I've never met a universe that was into it. The universe is basically an animal. It grazes on the ordinary. It creates infinite idiots just to eat them… You know, smart people get a chance to climb on top, take reality for a ride, but it'll never stop trying to throw you. And, eventually, it will. There's no other way off.’

If the all-powerful Universe did that to him– if it creates infinite idiots just to eat them– then how could it be wrong for him to endow others with the empty curse of life? 

'So he made a universe, and that guy is from that universe. And that guy made a universe. And that's the universe where I was born. Where my father died. Where I couldn't make time for his funeral because I was working on my universe.'

Think of this line: 

‘My God’s the biggest dick that never existed!’

I suppose the biggest difference between God and Rick (to Rick, at least) is that Rick does exist. If God is allowed to do all Rick has done and worse without ever really existing, then surely Rick’s God-like power in itself is enough to enforce Rick’s right to any action that might fall within the scope of that power. Rick’s god complex is founded on the attempt to rub God’s face in the fact that Rick does exist, making him superior to God through that fact alone. Maybe Rick believes that if someone with all of the power God possesses actually existed, logic would force those who call themselves religious to agree that he’s well within his rights to act on that power. 

I guess you could say that Rick works in mysterious ways… Who are we to question him? 

What I’m getting at here is that Rick is in a constant dick-measuring-contest with a man that he doesn’t even believe in, and I think that says something really profound about the tragic paradox of Rick Kind.

[nsokolow]

Transformers One: Charoite

Chapter Eleven

“So, what is this tunnel?” Charoite asked as she and B climbed up the tunnel.

“Well, this is the new autobot base. It was a failing store that allowed miners in. You know, before they found out they were born with cogs and being lied to their whole lives. Me included! Tunnels got built after all the Sentinel stuff went down and the energon came back.” B gasped and looked back. “Wait! Did you know the energon came back?”

“I assumed, since miners aren’t a thing anymore.”

“Okay! Great! Anyway, there’s been some renovations, including some tunnels for safety reasons, like if someone needs to rescue a bot being chased by other bots because she was involved with an evil fake prime!”

Charoite nearly laughed, but hearing Sentinel called, “evil,” was a punch in the stomach. Even if…it was…true.

“So, B, do you miss mining?” Charoite asked.

“Well, here’s the thing: I actually didn’t mine. I mean, I worked in jobs more or less related to mining, but I didn’t actually mine. Optimus and Elita did, though! So did…Megatron. I kept getting moved around from job to job because I had mad skills! I mean, I must’ve, since the higher-ups would get mad and argue with each other over who I should work under. For the longest time, I was in this area called, ‘Sub-level 50,’ where I would gather garbage and—oh! We’re here!”

Light assaulted Charoite’s face as B, now out of the tunnel, extended a hand. She grabbed his hand and climbed out.

There were…lots of floors and walls. It was surprisingly empty. Charoite however recalled B saying that there were renovations, so it must’ve not been done yet. After all, mining had only stopped being a thing, what, two months ago?

“Pretty clean, huh? I helped! I transform into a car, so I put these scrubby caps on my wheels, covered them in soap, and drove all over the place! It was slippery, but it made it more fun!”

“No kidding!” Charoite smiled and nodded. She looked around the area and saw a a staircase with light shining from the top.

“That’s where Optimus lives! Oh! Where are my manners? I’m supposed to take you to Optimus! Come on!” B ran up the staircase as Charoite followed him.

“I mean, some of us live here, some of us don’t. Mainly the ones who didn’t used to have cogs live here, since a lot of us lived in the Miner’s Barracks. I live here, and so does Elita-1! There’s also this guy, Jazz, and this girl, Arcee. Jazz is so happy to have wings now. Seriously, it’s all he could talk about forever! Who knew he was a flyer? For context, he was one of the so-called ‘miners,’ and—oh! We’re here! Hey, Optimus!”

A tall bot, blue on his head and feet, his chest red with…the Matrix of Leadership inside of it, sat on a couch and read a book. Upon seeing Charoite and B, he stood up and walked to them. “Hey, B! We have a visitor?”

Charoite noticed he had a warm, welcoming smile. She was put even more at ease.

“Optimus! Hey!” B put a hand on Charoite’s back and gently pushed her. “You remember Charoite, right? I don’t know if you formally met; she was the bot who was Sentinel’s secretary and one of his racers, even though she hasn’t raced yet, then he said she died, then it turned out they got into a relationship, then a lot of bots hated her—”

“—We haven’t formally met, no!” Optimus extended his hand. “Hello, Charoite. I’m Optimus Prime. Welcome to the Autobot Base. Glad to see you’re alive!”

Charoite felt more touched by this than she wanted to. He threw his best friend out of Iacon City when he tried to save it! “T-Thank you! I’m Charoite, though I guess you already knew that.”

“So, how did you and B meet?”

“When I came back to Iacon City, I was being chased down by a bunch of nut jobs because of Sentinel, and B told me to get into a tunnel over there, and we hid. Talk about a welcoming committee, huh?”

Optimus let out a small chuckle. “Well, that’s what we Autobots are here for. We protect, and we don’t let rumors blind us from doing what’s right.” Optimus turned to B. “Glad you thought to use the tunnel. Thank you.”

“Wow! Thank you! I looked out the window and saw these bots flying after her, and I really wanted to do something. I mean, I can’t fly, so I thought ‘Oh! Right! We have tunnels! Time to be a hero!’”

“So, Charoite, where were you when everyone thought you were dead?” Optimus asked.

Charoite froze. She realized she made a huge oversight as a spy.

“I was…on the surface. I went with Sentinel to one of his trips. I didn’t know what he was going to do.” Charoite became a bit calmer, hoping making a true statement would be enough.

“You…just hung out on the surface all this time, then?” B asked with a raised eyebrow.

Great.

“I mean, we were stranded on the surface not too long ago, but we couldn’t transform or fly, and even then, it would’ve taken forever to make it back, unless it was too dangerous. Yeah, it probably would’ve been too dangerous.”

In her mental rush, Charoite wished she could’ve come up with a more interesting, and less painful story. At least some of the truth would work. Besides, Megatron said it would be helpful to play up the fact Sentinel abandoned her and broke her spark. “Well, yeah. That’s close to what happened to me. I saw the truth about Sentinel and the Quintessons, then when I didn’t kneel to them, the Quintesson leader chased me down and stabbed me. Sentinel almost stopped him, but he didn’t.” Charoite didn’t feel like bringing the last part up more than she had to.

Optimus put a hand on her shoulder. “I’m so sorry he betrayed you like that. Tell me, how did you survive being stabbed?”

“Yeah! There’s a little hint of a circle on your chest!” B piped up.

Oh no.

“Well, I, uh…welded myself back together!” Charoite tried to read Optimus and B’s expressions, hoping they bought it.

“No way!” B exclaimed, “That’s so cool! It must’ve been so hard! Losing all that oil while trying to keep yourself alive and put yourself back together! You should write a memoir, then it could be made into a movie!”

A laugh escaped Charoite. “Yeah! Maybe more bots will say my name right!”

Optimus’ eyes widened. “Oh! Have we been pronouncing it wrong?”

“Oh! No, it’s just that I sometimes get ‘Chariot.’ Like, who’s named ‘Chariot?’”

“Oh, okay, good.” Optimus smiled.

“So, could Charoite stay here?” B asked. “We have some empty rooms, and since she has a lot of haters now, she’d probably be safer here.”

“Of course she can, B. Even if she had a place to stay, which I don’t think she does…” Optimus gave Charoite an unsure look.

“No,” Charoite replied, a hint of fear in her eyes. She planned to get a hotel if Optimus had said ‘no,’ but she didn’t know how long she could pay for a hotel room, or when she’d be able to get her own place again.

“…it probably wouldn’t be as safe for her anywhere else, considering the…controversy. So B, why don’t you show her around? She can pick one of the empty rooms.”

“Holy scrap! Thank you so much!” Charoite ran up to Optimus and tightly hugged him.

“Haha, you’re welcome.” Optimus lightly patted her back.

“Come on, Charoite!” B grabbed Charoite’s hand and took off down the stairs. “I can’t wait to tell you everything about this place, then tell you everything about me! I wanna know everything about you! You’re not a very quiet bot, but you’re still pretty mysterious. I talk a lot, but I like to consider myself kind of a mystery! I don’t want you to feel not at home, so ask me anything any time you want! I’m an open book!”

[quibbs126]

Okay, so I’ve got some designs for Alpha Trion in my AU now

Okay so first off, I translated that top left design from what I drew yesterday at work

I was trying to do a design for AT, and I was using his One design as my main inspiration (though also some g1), since I like how round he is there. But in the process, I got a design that I thought looked too young and buff to be normal Alpha Trion, so I was like “maybe that’s a younger version of him?”

And since I didn’t know what else to do for his design and I thought the design looked half decent anyways, I just translated it to digital today

I’m gonna be honest, kind of like the pen sketch version a bit more, but whatever

But yeah, Alpha Trion here used to be large, buff, and probably not unattractive either. I’m also thinking he fought people plenty too, possibly was a gladiator? I have no explanation as to why I chose to do this other than what I listed above

Optimus and Elita will be shocked to find pictures of the old man in his younger days

I wasn’t really sure how to then translate this design to old, but I gave him some small facial hair, shortened his middle horn, gave him his cape and a sort of slouch, and I guess it works? I don’t know, probably need to do more

Giving him this design, I don’t really know if I feel the smart, probably magical old guy vibes he’s meant to have. But oh well

I also wanted him to have more One colors, with the white instead of the red, but I thought the red looked better. I also wanted to give him pink, maybe even make his eyes pink, but when I was playing around with that pink color, it didn’t look right and I was trying others, and frustratingly, blue looked really good with the other colors, so that’s what I went with. Someone needs to have not blue eyes, I swear

Anyways, onto more character stuff. But to be honest, a lot of it is still ill-defined with AT here. I know he built Elita-1 and then later Optimus, giving him the Matrix of Leadership, and he currently works with Elita in investigating the virus outbreak outside of Autobot command

He’s probably got a complicated relationship with Elita due to giving her an unstable and flawed ability to stop time, along with other general imperfections in her design, but they are able to work together at least. There’s probably also something to be said about them both being combat bots, and how responsible he is for that, which probably now has its own ties into his fighter backstory

I still don’t know what the definition of him “building” Elita and Optimus is, which is why I didn’t draw him with them during that point. Like did he reformat two young bots into Elita and Optimus, giving them new identities? Did he build them from scratch and they were born adults? Or did he build them as sparklings who had a whole developmental period? I really don’t know which one to use, which unfortunately hampers things when it comes to their backstory

And then there’s also the fact that I don’t really know what to do for his backstory. Because while the X AU is loosely based off of Mega Man X, Alpha Trion’s backstory would long predate that. I suppose I could have his more follow the original Mega Man timeline, but what would that mean? Gonna be real, I don’t think the original games were that known for their intricate story and worldbuilding

I like the idea of him being a former gladiator, but what does that mean for him, other than potentially giving him a reason to make Elita and Optimus warriors? What does this backstory do for the story?

Honestly with his similar-ish helmet shape, I’m debating having Alpha Trion’s younger days coincide with Megatron’s true origins, though he wouldn’t come online for a long time after. It could work maybe, I just need to figure out how it works

But one thing I do know is that prior to giving it to Optimus, Alpha Trion was the last bearer of the Matrix of Leadership, and has been the one harboring it since, waiting for the right person to give it to. Not sure how he got it though

He probably also has some issue with governmental authority, given he’s working with Elita independent of the government-backed Autobots, and the fact that he kept the Matrix, despite the higher-ups probably wanting him to give it to them or use it for their purposes

I don’t know, I’ll see what I do with him. The big thing is that I just need to decide on stuff with him, and the other two as well

[yayasvalveplay]

Me omw to bother you about Tronus once again BUT THIS TIME from the I can't stay here au 🏃‍♀️ AND HE AINT ALONE bc now it's family time with Orion and Staracream NEHEHEHE

Also because im STILL drawing him rn and I have a love hate relationship with that dumb little helm of his! Curse this designer baby!! 😭 ❤️

Anyways for the au, I like to think that Starscream's lowkey more chill with his one bot over others mentally once Orion's around and eventually Tronus because you know damn well Orion is NOT gonna let that slide especially when Tronus is born. Orion may be a single carrier now but he ain't gonna let that frat boy ass behavior influence his son 🤡

It is especially karma as I like to think that in this au, Tronus is a lot more mischievous way less traumatized, even if he is a mama's boy; he is a good sparkling for his carrier and his giant family– but you think Orion sneaking off to the archives was bad? BABY TRONUS ACTIVELY WANTS TO SNEAK OUT OF THE BASE TO JOIN THE OTHERS and it's hard to catch a sparkling when dear ol Uncle Starscream's CNA gave Tronus his wings.

Man does it suck to have to be responsible— is this what D felt like with him, man 😭

But at least Orion's idea of a united cyberton has somewhat come true to watch and help raise Tronus.

Even more so when his baby is curious; it's part of how the High Gaurd whole mentally softened a bit, because I can absolutely imagine this. Starscream is no match for a child's continue string of 'why' When the High Gaurd tried to teach Tronus about that belief.

Starscream: "And that's why all that counts is one bot's strength over another, little one"

Baby Tronus: "but why? :<"

Starscream: " because it just is, Tronus."

Tronus: "but isn't that what the bad guy is doing right now??? :0"

Starscream: ⊙_☉

You get the kind of vibe I wanted for I can't stay here Tronus.

Yes Orion isn't going to let a cocky frat boy seeker influence his sparkling that much. Yes sure you gave cna to child, but it's still his child.

Yes Tronus is much more worst then Orion. Baby has the tcog to get away, and Orion is very much not happy. Though thankfully there's more mechs to keep an eye on him, so it's not all that bad.

But it still makes Orions spark skip a few beats when Tronus is just gone. I feel like Tronus has been on missions before he was ready, but he's always been returned back to the base before anything interesting can happen.

Though also the Why questions. Not just Star trying to teach him about their morals, and how seekers and the high guard works. Sometimes the why's are mundane.

"Why can't carrier join us outside?"

"He is coggless, he can not survive out there with the Quintissons."

"Why?"

"Because he has no weapons."

"Why?"

"Because he is coggless."

"Why?"

"Kid, you really think you are ready for that answer?"

"Yes."

"Some bad mech took your carriers cog out before he onlined."

". . . Why?"

Thankfully the why questions only last for a week before he's starting to ask questions of his own.

Everyone is thankful when that happened.

Also I'm sorry you are fighting Tronus's head shape rn. Being a janga piece of multiple different bots is hard. But I seriously love the way you drew I can't stay here Tronus.

[c4fin4t3d-f1sh]

Limelight Basics

It's finally finished! I would love to see if anyone makes art of it or wants to make our bots friends- Idk, I want to be more prominent in this community, PLEASE... I promise I will draw more,,,

ANYWAYS, HERE, TAKE IT.

LIMELIGHT

Pronouns: He/It/She

Gender: Aboy

Height: 5’ 8”

Body type: Slim, muscular

Job: Dancer/Performer

Where were they born? Performance Robotics, 1892

What were their childhood experiences like? Pressured, made to be perfect, secretive, was constantly being “repaired” which caused it to malfunction more often

What significant events have shaped their life? Performing in 1915 in a collaboration with Walter Robotics at Balboa Park, traveling the carnival with mostly humans, being put in the spotlight an overwhelming amount as he was the first carnival bot, being scolded after failing to do tasks

What does your character want? To spread joy through dance and lead a more lowkey life after over a century of performing

Strengths (Physical, mental, emotional) Dancing, mobility, comfort, staying calm, grace

Weaknesses (Physical, mental, emotional) Physical malfunctions that cause him to tic, can’t handle criticism, gets angered easily, sensory sensitive

Are they introverted or extroverted? Ambivert

Shy or outgoing? Kind or selfish? Outgoing, king

Create a list of traits that describe their character. Kind, creative, silly, persistent, loyal (specifically after WR bought her), flexible

Do they have a specific way of speaking, It speaks normally, a little quiet

A unique fashion style, 20th Century carnival

Or an unusual hobby? Laying on cold floors

What are their relationships like with family, Very strong now that he doesn’t live primarily with humans

Friends, Loyal and kind, he likes messing with people/bots, but is quick to apologize if he hurts them

And enemies? Forgiving through time, mostly spiteful and angry, though

What inner struggles does your character face? The fear he will never be good enough, fear of abandonment, grudges against Performance

How are they around new people?

Hesitant, but tries to be nice and make a good impression

Do they speak in an accent?

American

Have they tried learning a new language?

Never had the time to, might eventually? Probably Russian or Dutch

How many languages do they know?

One, English

What is a song that will always make them cry?

Average - Sushi Soucy, I Bet On Losing Dogs - Mitski

How do they cry? heaving? silently? sobbing?

Silently when angry but heaving and loudly when sad or overwhelmed

What is the first thing they notice about a stranger?

Posture and stance, it likes to mimic confidence

What is their humor like?

She would try to match other’s humor, but it’s usually dry and out of pocket

Who would they quote?

He likes to quote his family, especially The Spine as it is very attached to him as it has experienced similar things as him

What could make them change their mind?

Guilt tripping

Who is the first person they'd call?

The Spine (for reasons above) or maybe Whirligig? (Still trying to decide if Whirli and Lime would date)

How are they around animals?

It LOVES animals! Begged Peter VI to get a dog and grew up with a border collie that worked with Lime at the carnival

What is something they've never told anyone?

His memories of being disassembled (Performance didn’t know she could see it happening)

What are habits they've picked up from other people?

He mimics stances and also quotes shows he likes (∞ autism)

What are their guilty pleasures?

Extremely vulgar and loud music

What is something they're staunchly against?

Victim blaming, gaslighting, animal abuse, discrimination, etc.

Do they speak a certain way?

It expresses some signs of vocal tics, like mimicking ambulances (“weewoo!”) and sometimes small things he’s picked up from shows or games (games with Spine and some of his fanbot friends, has specifically picked up the Talking Ben “no” noise)

Can they fall in love?

Uhhhhmm, maybe Whirli, gay robots kissing yay

What would they rather die than do?

Go back to Performance Robotics

What is their biggest mistake?

Traveling the carnival

CABINET FILING FACTS

Found his abandon prototype in the basement one time after hearing metallic clicking, was so disgusted by the sight he didn’t come up for 3 days

Yeah, uhm, I’ll develop this lore more eventually with the whole Performance shit and stuff eventually.

[seeyouonsaturn]

Hey heyy!! So sorry but I JUST saw you reblogged my Familial Ask Game so I AbsoLUTLY have to send you 3, 5, 8, 23 (If you'd styill like to talk about your sister)

ask game

I absolutely do I always want to talk about my sister!! Thank you! <3

[3] Do you think you look similar? Do other people think you look similar?

Not at all lmao. To be fair, we're not blood related, I just met her and said sister🫵 and now she's not getting rid of me ever again.

I'm not showing my face here, but I'm some white guy with shaved dark brown hair and blue eyes. Our outfit tastes are very different too; Sari likes dresses and bright colors (orange/yellow) while I'm a black shirt black cargo pants black leather jacket kinda guy. I even have a studded choker for when I'm feeling extra. I love this for us though. I'm a black cat and she's my little sunshine!

[5] Would you say you're close?

Yeah! At least I really hope she'd agree on that ^^. Sari's dad is great, but he's often busy with work, and while she does have the bots, I'm the human adult in her life she can go to if she needs anything. Sari never got along with kids her age, and I'm just not a fan of other people in general, so we both prefer to hang out with each other rather than other people (aside from the bots of course).

She does annoy me sometimes, but that's what little sisters are for <3

[8] Who's REALLY more mature?

Well I mean, I am almost two whole decades older than her. I was an adult when she was born. I'd say that makes me more mature by default, as it should be. She's just a child after all, I want her to be allowed to act like one!

That said though, Sari is incredibly mature for her age. She does not behave like your average 8 year old at all, she's way smarter than other kids her age. It's presumably due to being half-Cybertronian, half human genius. She really won the genetic lottery in that sense. And I very much still like kid stuff and have childish interests, so despite the age gap, it's actually very easy for us to meet in the middle! I'm probably not really that much more mature than her, I'm just more used to adult responsibilites. Though she did have to run a whole giant global company for a while and managed it, which, I'll be honest, I could never. I still have no idea how she pulled that off.

[23] If one of you brought home a romantic partner, how would the other react?

Oh boy they better not dare. Do not the child. Congratulations, I will most certainly go full overprotective sibling mode. I mean, if it's in a few years when she's older, then sure, she can date if she wants to. I will still be vetting whoever she brings home and they better treat her right, but I'm not going to stop her. But as of right now? She's eight. Even after her upgrade, when she looks like a teenager, she's still eight. Which is so messed up. The people potentially hitting on her aren't even going to know how young she is. Thankfully she's at least got both me and a whole gang of giant robots to protect her, because I shudder even at the thought.

On the flip side, well, Sari met me through Prowl, so this doesn't really apply. She's always known me as his partner. I insist on her as the ring bearer for our wedding (he's fully on board, that's his kid too). I love my family.

[bowsers-keep]

So because I haven't seen any aus that swap which Protagonist is from which chapter yet I'M DOING IT MYSELF FOLKS! There are so many combinations we can mess with for 8 characters but I'm probably going to be sticking with the one that's funniest to me.

Prehistory - Cube

Imperial China - Oboromaru

Twilight of Edo Japan - Oersted

Wild West - Masaru

Present Day - Lei

Near Future - Sundown

Distant Future - Akira

Middle Ages - Pogo

Sticking Cube into Prehistory is just objectively funny because they go from robot to caveman which is incredibly entertaining. Probably on the smarter side and helps Beru more cause they're nice rather then anything else.

Imperial China was a MIND FUCK to try and commit a swap with, so the prisoner and goemon are also taking the place of the other two disciples here and per suggestion of the discord server (not too sure about this myself but it's OUR BEST OPTION!). As for this Disciple Oboromaru himself, probably has similar origins to lei but his thing is more about learning how to loosen up since he's still a wee bit serious.

Oersted does NOT become an edgy little man in need of therapy, instead he gets his Shinobi arc. Very quiet because I like his stereotypical silent protag schtick and pretty good at his job! Still bit formal as well but a good person at the end of the day so probably pacifist or normal route.

So Masaru gets a gun now, he still punches people! He just also has a gun now! I've given this man too much power that he's been slapped with currently unidentified trauma to balance him out! Still cheerful and helpful because this is Masaru but uhhh he's certainly not at his best. Have fun with the homosexual tension buddy.

Lei/just any of the disciples being present day was probably the cleanest swap here. Lei is just my default for any and all Live a Live stuff. Not much to say about this one in general because of how easy the swap was, just yeah they're now a martial arts savant. Maybe any given one wouldn't actually kill Odie but not sure.

Now this one is the main reason this swap set exists, because it would be unfair of me to only let Sundown have the privilege of seeing what would happen if he were in the other's shoes. For the sake of this I will be using my fanon real name for this man of Austin Garrett although it is not Sundown Kid without the alias and since he's a teenage boy here he probably got the idea from Matsu with the whole Lawless thing. Just dumb stupid teen boy with powers and who may or may not have a death wish. I'm trying to keep backstory details mostly the same where I can so there's still some things I need to work out with this particular swap.

Akira is a little guy robot now, he's still a bastard, but he also dislikes OD-10 for what it's doing to the people that Kato likes (and Kato himself). So he's going to fuck that super computer up. The dynamic between tiny bot Akira and Cooperate Darthe is definitely going to be something that starts off with the two not liking eachother, turned into tentative allyship, before ending in mutal respect and trust. He would also try and take on the Behemoth head on at LEAST once.

Middle Ages Pogo, I quite like this one for the reason Pogo does last longer then Oersted in the not becoming evil field. Unlike Oersted however he's much more akin to a barbarian rather then a knight because I need to keep the unga bunga somewhere in. Very cheerful and no thoughts hear empty, and cares about people very much. Very heart on his sleeve. Eventually however, the tradegy of the middle ages sets in, and a different Odio is born.

Still figuring out the details for the Dominion of Hate in this AU but that may just be in the reblogs or a follow up post.

[shroomerr]

Shroom, darling! It's me! In your inbox! I hope you're doing alright! I got questions about Anh!

1) Was she born in South Park, or did her family move in? What is her family life like?

2) You mentioned before that her and Craig are close, even touched on their dynamic a little bit! What do they do when they hang out? Do they remain close after high-school?

3) When she's an adult, what do you think she does for a living? Is she happy doing it?

4) I am absolutely in love with that picture you drew of her and Kyle where she's the witch! What school of magic does she master? Is that her TSOT outfit?

5) Have you made a Playlist for her yet? If so, gimbe 🤲 please!

Present day shroomer here: I'm so sorry this took so damn long you can tell exactly how long ago this was written because I talk about my assignments SJDLAHA WHATEVERR TIME IS A CONSTRUCT ANYWAY

AHH DUDEEE 💓💞💖 THANK YOU SM FOR THESE QUESTIONS!!! Other than these assignments making me low key tweak, I'm doing good esp now that there's only one week left (it is now past the semester oops)!! Having these asks is such a nice distraction from all of the monotonous work. It makes me so happy that you want to know more about Hanh!!

(also no youre not going crazy haha, I changed her name from Anh to Hanh. Her full name is Dao Hanh Tran! Tran being her last name)

Ok, onto the questions!!

Was the born in South Park, or did her family move in? What is her family life like?

I mention it briefly here, but Hanh and her family moved into South Park! Timeline wise, I imagine that this move happens before the town became gentrified and people from all over started moving in. They're originally from Michigan and moved to Colorado in order to be closer to family, and South Park seemed like the perfect place to call home (but mostly because her dad found a ridiculously cheap house listing that was too good to pass up). To which Hanh was sorely disappointed, seeing as they just went from one cold climate to an even colder climate, but this time with nothing but mountains and rednecks all around.

Her dad is a restaurant owner and her mom works at a nail salon that's owned by one of their relatives. I think it would be pretty funny if her dad owned the City Pho that we see in Post Covid and if he had a sort of rivalry with the Lu Kim from City Wok, lol. No siblings. When she's young, Hanh has a good relationship with her parents. No tragic deaths or backstories of the sort (yet). She kind of has the perfect life, despite their busy schedules: they bring her out to go a lot of places, spend a lot of time with her and are financially stable. When they first move to South Park, her parents would usually pick her up after school and bring her to the nail salon or at the restaurant either to do homework or to help out with the business (because you're not truly Asian until you participate in child labour! Whoo!).

It's only after integrating themselves into the town more and becoming familliar with the neighbors (aka the M4) that her parents trust her to stay at the boys' houses more, only after getting to know their parents well enough. This is mostly because their workplace is outside of South Park and their closing hours are relatively late, so they don't want to make her stay up too late with them.

As she grows up, her relationship with both of her parents becomes rocky. Around when she reaches Middle School, her parents start putting a lot of academic pressure and expectations on her, especially her mom. Their dad also starts becoming more distant, not only from working on expanding the restaurant chain but also because of family issues stemming from Hanh's grandma on their dad's side: a lot of back and forth trips from South Park to Denver, who takes care of grandma because no nursing home would take her, their grandma's dementia making her incredibly difficult to talk to, etc. It starts causing a lot stress for Hanh's dad and subsequently causes a lot of problems at home, where now both parents are constantly fighting (with very poor attempts at hiding it). Pair that with stubborn attitudes, insecurities and blame games? Yea, nothing constructive is coming out of this. Around this time Hanh tries to avoid being home as much as possible: spending time studying at the library, Kyle's house, hell even at Stan's farm if she can. If I ever get to explore this in a story or comic, this would be a major plot point of what I would want to explore, along with the other boys' problems and dynamics.

Maybe someday I'll figure out a happy ending for them...

You mentioned before that her and Craig are close, even touched on their dynamic a little bit! What do they do when they hang out? Do they remain close after high-school?

Oof that last one was kind of heavy, so let's talk about something more light-hearted! So I'd like to think that Hanh was close with Tweek before they became close with Craig. Speaking of Tweek!! I feel so bad that I completely forgot about him in the best friend ask, but he's arguably one of her closer friends. At the very least, closer than Wendy. But yea, since she became close to Craig thanks to Tweek, usually all three of them hang out together: either studying (very rarely and very begrudgingly: Tweek has barely any time for studying with working at the coffee shop and Craig just doesn't care), or usually their main activity is just going to Craig's place to watch Red Racer for the 100th time (shh don't tell Craig but at this point Hanh barely pays attention and she just draws the whole time, lol). They do this pre-Creek and even post-Creek, because both Craig and Tweek find it stupid to let their relationship affect their other friendships, so they still stay close to each other. They tried doing a group miniature model assembly thing with one of Tweek's sets, but he got too stressed out trying to tell them all of the instructions and seeing them mess up that they never tried it again, lol. If Tweek is busy at the coffee shop, both Craig and Hanh will go there to visit him and keep him company (though Hanh tries not to go with Craig too often just so that the two love birds can have some alone time 🤭). But for specifically Hanh and Craig, I think the two of them are the types of people to not want to do anything too extravagant when hanging out together because just the thought of it can be exhausting: so they stick to just hanging out, watching cartoons, maybe play video games (trying to beat each other in Smash, Mario Party, fighting games, etc.) and sometimes just silently doing their own thing but in the same room. I think after high school, they'd definitely talk a lot less since I imagine that Craig and Hanh would move out of South Park so that proximity aspect does affect their friendship. However, conversations always get picked up as if no time has passed. So, yes, they still remain close even after high school :)

When she's an adult, what do you think she does for a living? Is she happy doing it?

When she grows up she becomes an artist! Specifically an illustrator, so not the kind that makes paintings and puts them up in galleries, but the ones that work with clients, does commissions, work for certain companies, etc. I'm not too sure specifically what kind of illustrator she'd be, since there's so many different kinds. Maybe she'd work as a concept artist for a game company, or as a freelancer picking up odd job offers from different indie studios, or maybe she'd even try to establish her own brand and sell her own merchandise! If after high school she's still hesitant on choosing that path, she'd probably study psychology just to have a fallback plan, but the final goal will always be illustrator! And yea, it's definitely something she's happy doing.

I am absolutely in love with that picture you drew of her and Kyle where she's the witch! What school of magic does she master? Is that her TSOT outfit?

Ok I had to look this up because I am a DnD NOOB I only know like....... the very bare minimum.

So I didn't really have a specific school of magic in mind of Hanh when I made that witch design. I just kind of thought "haha funny witch" and rolled with it because I love witches HAHA so I think she's kind of got a bit from every school of magic? I'm so sorry if this isn't the answer you were looking for, I really didn't think too hard about it when I made that drawing haha

But I can tell you more about the other question! So no, that isn't her TSOT outfit. I guess you could say it's her in a Monster AU? Since we have Vampire Kyle that originated from the Pinkeye Halloween episode, I kind of thought "oh if she was celebrating Halloween with them, she'd have a witch costume for that episode. Oh, what if I turn that into some sort of Monster AU?" And since a lot of the inspiration was taken from that fic I mentioned in the original post, it just got the synapses sparking HAHA

Her TSOT version though.... ooo.... I've been working on it for a while, and I've still got the game to play but I think I've got a pretty concrete idea of how I want it to look? There's just some kinks I'm not 100% sure on, but I've mostly got the lore figured out.

Have you made a Playlist for her yet? If so, gimbe 🤲 please!

ok, so funny little story uh.......... im a "liked songs" kind of person and i NEVER make playlists. ive actually only started making playlists like 2 months ago (and only started using spotify like 2 weeks ago) when i got sick of scrolling through my liked songs and i didnt even have any playlists for my characters UNTIL THIS ASK LOLL

But!! I've learned since then!! So let me show you what I've got so far:

In terms of a playlist that she'd listen to, I cannot give you an answer to this because this girl will quite literally listen to everything lol (not me projecting but eh whatever this whole character is me projecting anyway). It'll go from Beabadoobee, to Mother Mother, to Sleep Token, to Tyler the Creator, to New Jeans, to JVB, to DPR Ian, to Nothing but Thieves, to Tame Impala, to the Beastie Boys, to Charli XCX— yea ok you get the picture. It's rare for her to like everything from a single artist and she has songs from every corner. She's a fan of pretty much every genre, it's just that she'll be picky about what songs she ends up enjoying. So yea, her music taste is my music taste!

As for the actual playlist I made for her: it's a mix of both songs that I think fit her vibe and songs that relate to her story. Good luck figuring out which is which, though, because I put both of them together HAHA

Some songs are not related to her story/do not fit her characterization at all (ex: i think there's a beabadoobee song that talks about one night stands? and that is nottt the kind of person she is). It's also because I haven't had the time to check all of the lyrics for each song to make sure they fit her vibe, so I just decided to lump the both of them together lol.

(Some day I'll make one that's specifically works for her story, but I'd have to actually write it out first. But for now, this works.)

[kingbryancroidragon]

Darkness Rising Part 2 Commentary

Well, it is Sunday, so why not do the commentary for part two of this five-part pilot?

I honestly find it a bit weird that given Starscream's ambition Megatron left him in charge, but as it turns out in later episodes, Starscream becomes completely loyal to Megatron, so no doubt Megatron saw some in Starscream beyond his ambition. I also mentioned my own story that I would have sent to Hasbro in the previous commentary (doomed from the start because why would they ever accept it) and have it that Megatron himself had usurped the leadership of the Decepticons and had been the second-in-command himself so he wouldn't think anything about his own second-in-command trying to usurp him, it would just be the vicious cycle that was the position of Decepticon leadership.

"Three years in space", I really have to wonder what that is even like for a Cybertronian. In the Marvel comics, it was established that a million years was like a decade for a Cybertronian, if it is the same here, then how does that translate into a human lifetime?

I like the dark energon, it gives a different side to Megatron, suggesting he is actually interested in what is considered the occult on Cybertron and unlike the animated G1 continuity, he has knowledge of Unicron before that fateful meeting, though as the franchise was in its infancy, Unicron was not essentially the Devil, but he could have been interpreted as a devil, so there is a lot of difference from where we started and where we are now with some characters.

"Botswana", I feel like that pun is low-hanging fruit considering that the country already has "Bot" in its name.

Has any previous work ever brought this up? The possibility of a Cybertronian accidentally stepping on a human?

And so we are introduced to Agent William Fowler voiced by Ernie Hudson. I have the head canon, that Fowler has seen the Turkish remake of ET and he liked it.

And the beginning of the running gag of something Ratchet needs being broken is born. Wonderful!

And it is at this point that "Transformers Prime" dipped into the horror genre, a bit earlier than some works in the franchise.

I have the head canon that Miko started brainstorming a bunch of ideas for using the Ground Bridge, most of the being to see her favourite bands in concert, another being to have a beach day on Easter Island and a third being to TP the car of a teacher back home.

Our first large-scale battle and it is intense.

Raf establishing himself as the computer wiz to Ratchet is such a great scene.

I personally find that jump scare with undead Cliffjumper a bit predictable.

Something I find interesting and that I recently looked up, is that Starscream's various altmodes, excluding Armada and Cybertron, seem to have been predominantly all from the F series (F-15 Eagle, 5-22 Raptor, F-16 Fighting Eagle.) I don't know why, its just a nice touch and might be why I don't particularly care for his Armada alt mode in that while Cybertronian, it resembles a Sukhoi Su-35 and doesn't quite fit the F series that Starscream is commonly associated with, at least to me. It is nice that in this series he is an F-16 keeping with the F series.

I just love the observation of the kids, it is where it truly hits them that these are people, not just machines,

Optimus' question of "Have you broken the law?" is great. It is like he is still getting used to human figures of speech and in all honesty, he probably is.

Imagine if Optimus had been able to speak before Ratchet said he was busy, then he'd be the one Jack bonded with.

Enter June Darby. A few head canons about her: she privately believes in reincarnation, during her college years she posed for a calendar and her favourite movie is "Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea." I also mentioned my Transformers story that I would have submitted to Hasbro and it would have featured re-imaginings of various past human characters. June would have been a former classmate of Spike Witwicky and the goddaughter of Isaac Sumdac.

I wonder what Arcee was thinking when Jack called her "abused."

A wake-up call from Arcee, who needs an alarm clock?

I take offense to that. I was watching cartoons when I was sixteen. I still watch cartoons, might be because with my original writing I imagine my characters as animated rather than live-action.

"Millennia worth of battles", does that still translate to "Decades worth of battles?" I really want to know, what are Optimus and Megatron's ages translated to human years?

Even Starscream is uncertain with this stuff and for good reason.

And how is that for a cliffhanger?

And that was the second part of the five part pilot. Thanks for reading.