#or she in arcee and moonracer's case

[just-absolutely-super]

rewatching TFOne hits differently once you're familiar with G1 or other TF continuities

[theangrycomet-art]

the Sillays

I love these women so much

for a rough idea of everyone’s ages/generations: Elita, Chromia, and Moonracer were molded post-war while the other’s were during, or in Lancer’s case Pre

Lancer is the oldest at about Ultra Magnus’ age,

Greenlight is the same generation as Arcee and Ratchet (older than Arcee younger than Ratchet). She was a draft dodger that got caught and recruited into weapons development.

Novastar is actually the same model year as Prowl; in the last generation to at the tail end of the Great War.

Elita Prime is in Optimus/Sentinel/Blackarachnia’s generation though she’s a bit older (she would have been the equivalent of the grade above them in the academy)

Chromia is Blurr and Cliffjumper’s age: they were that in-between generation between Optimus/Sentinel’s and Bumblebee/Bulkheads

Moonracer just barely makes the cutoff for Chromia’s generation- and is the youngest both of her team and her model year

Random notes

Blackarachnia: Catwoman, Ariel/Elita Prime: Wonderwoman

Chromia has a habit of doodling in the margins of her notes, despite her insistence on orderly note keeping

Lancer has (unwilling) undergone several frame operations, mostly during the peak of war at orders of her superiors. Only recently has she been able to start modding her self back. Greenlight’s helping her with that.

Due to her overcharged spark, Moonracer is prone to generating more energy than her frame can handle. This can cause her to automatically go into stasis mode to preserve her processors, so it’s not uncommon for her to pass out in random places when she holds still for too long

COMMISSIONS OPEN

[theangrycomet]

TFP's designs reflect the writer's decisions regarding character direction very well.

It's not as though I don't like the designs on their own; on the contrary I actually love the less-action-figure-and-more-extraterrestrial art direction they took with the Transformers.

But a lot of the designs push certain aspects so far to the point where their barely recognizable from the characters they are supposed to be.

Somewhat Coherent Ramblings below on the 3 biggest "victims" with my (admittedly limited) transformers lore knowledge.

is that a stickbug or a snake?

Starscream got a bad back from carrying the entire Decepticon cause on his shoulders while Megatron's snorting up Satan's crotch dust so forgive his poor posture.

Like it's a solid design for a for a sniveling backstabber- being able to look like a pathetic little bug one second to a ruthless killer the next.

And I love how he's rigged and animated- forget Predaking most of the animatign budget went into Starscream's theatrics-

Honestly he's probably the least "problematic" for lack of a better word for me because he can be fixed with giving him a paint job and maybe a helmet- probably styled along the lines of RID!Starscream's helm and he'd be fine.

A bigger part of my problems with his design now that I've ruminated on it is more how he's not allowed to feel like a proper, competent threat on his own after the first half of S1- and in turn, how he's not allowed to be intimidating more often.

the Sleeping Beauty Dress argument

Seriously tho- like she looks good but why did they make her blue specifically? Just make her a dark magenta to go with the muted color scheme of the show if your worried about her standing out to much (she's a $30k sports bike in bumfuck nevada- she's already flunked the "in disguise" part of the class)

I get the "oh the she's only girl she shouldn't be pink" argument but you know what would address that? HAVING MORE FEMALE CHARACTERS.

Getting off track...

Again, Arcee's design on it's own, even with the whole "female transformers must be motorbikes so we have an excuse to make them slender" trend, it's really cool.

It reflects her tough-love approach, and how the war has left her sharp around the edges so she doesn't get hurt again. But she doesn't really feel like an ARCEE design.

Like I've said before, it feels like at times the writers couldn't get permission to get the characters they wanted and decided to write the characters they could get to fit the story they wanted to tell, and that reflects in their designs at times. She takes charge of the team because she's best suited for the job, just ask her.

Arcee even is the one to take out Shockwave and allow her and Cliffjumper's escape- similar to how another blue-femme rescued a similarly named friend from Shockwave's clutches back in G1.

With this design and writing direction, it would have been better suited to another spiky blue femme; Chromia. She even comes with an established red love interest to kill off (sorry Ironhide).

Hell if the writers REALLY wanted they could have even still had her Tailgate Event happen with her favorite sharpshooter (sorry Moonracer).

Arcee girly pop

boombox gone eldritch cyber horror

I love this design so much, but where the HELL is Soundwave supposed to store his minicons??? That's his whole thing! Yes he has Laserbeak- but there should be SOME indication of where his lost Cassettes used to go even if they are dead (which in all likely hood they are but again- SEPERATE post).

It's very interesting to me how stripped down he looks, as though with each cassette he's literally lost a piece of himself.

Give Soundwave his Full-Grown Children Back Damn You.

Rumble and Frenzy would have had a fucking BLAST messing with the Jasper team- humans and bots alike.

Bonus:

I will admit when I found RID Drift's design and how Jetstorm and Slipstream are docked on him, I am curious if Soundwave's had his Cassettes on his arms too.

Because if that is the case Soundwave does have room on his arms for at least two- maybe four on the shoulders.

[dustbunny105]

Title: Looking Good Fandom: Transformers G1 (vaguely Sunbow) Ship: Arcee/Moonracer Word Count: 1479 Rating: G Summary: Arcee misunderstands Moonracer's intentions, so Moonracer makes them more plain. A/N: For "G1; Moonracer and Arcee; target locked" at @fembot-prompts and I'm using it to mark "Arcee" on my bingo card. Man, this was a pain o write. You ever get so fixated on a single point of dialogue that the rest of a scene or story becomes blurry? Yeah, that was this. But, hey, it's written now! While you’re here, consider donating to Care for Gaza.

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Blurr and Hot Rod are looking pretty put out for a couple of bots who've got Arcee smiling and laughing with them. If they're not going to appreciate the attention, Moonracer thinks, they could get out of the way for someone who will. She's been waiting for five minutes to be that someone.

Which, okay. It's not actually all that long of a wait, she can admit, certainly not in the grand scheme of a Cybertronian's lifespan. But the two weeks until her next deployment isn't all that long either and she was here first. Sort of. Almost. Arcee had been in Moonracer's sights, walking along the expanse of her position on the edge of the construction zone at the perfect angle to be casually bumped into. With that to focus on, how was she supposed to have noticed the other two before they launched themselves out of their alt modes and crowded Arcee with low, excited whispers? Why were they even in the construction zone? Not for the same reason as Moonracer, surely…

Before the possibility can make her too anxious, Blurr and Hot Rod finally take whatever hint Arcee has been giving them. Exchanging a few last words that make Arcee laugh again and shake a friendly fist, they throw themselves back into their alt modes and hurry away, not without Arcee calling after them to mind how they drove.

This is Moonracer's chance.

She doesn't drive or even run but she does make her way more quickly this time, just in case. Not so quick as to not look casual. Of course, that's probably shot anyway, since there's no way Arcee didn't notice her hanging around and staring at stacks of building materials for the last five minutes and she knows Moonracer isn't on the construction crew. Yeah, probably best not to sabotage herself by taking too long for no reason, actually. Moonracer breaks into a jog to cover the last few meters between them.

"Arcee, good morning!" she calls as she comes close.

"'Morning, Moonracer," Arcee says. There's a teasing edge to the warm tone of her voice, something knowing that makes Moonracer almost understand why Blurr and Hot Rod might've been put out. "What brings you out this way?"

"Oh, you know," says Moonracer. "Just passing by." She feels unaccountably shy under the twinkling of those optics that seem to be staring through her own, right down into her spark. She cycles cool air over her rapidly heating internals and rallies herself; looks Arcee once-over and says, "You're looking good today."

Arcee blurts out a laugh, her hand chasing her mouth as she throws her head back with the force of it. Not exactly what Moonracer had been going for. Her plating goes flat against her protoform and she can feel her own smile fall away.

"Guard duty must really look good on me," Arcee says once her outburst has passed, polite affection laced with amusement. "You're not the first person to say that to me today." Her smile twitches into a grin and she leans close as if to share a secret. "You're not going to be the first person I let use the construction zone as an obstacle course either." One of her optics flashes in a wink. "Sorry, 'Racer. You might still catch the other two, not that I know anything about--"

Moonracer's jaw drops open and a gasp jumps into the air between them. It's all she can do to keep her fans from spinning up in response to a flash of mortification, immediate and hot in her circuits.

"I would never--" she starts, stopping herself with a thoughtful look towards the construction equipment. "Well, actually, I guess--" She gives her head a quick shake and, not able to keep from pouting, insists, "But I'm not!"

Arcee looks at her with her mouth rounded into a little o, the sparkle of laughter gone from her optics. She looks, at least, as if Moonracer's sincerity has made some kind of impression on her. But she also looks puzzled and Moonracer feels herself deflate a little under her scrutiny, gentle as it is. Still unable to reconfigure her face out of its childish expression, she looks sharply aside. She's probably not doing anything to raise herself in Arcee's esteem right now-- especially grating now that she knows that she apparently doesn't rate very high to begin with-- but that just makes her pout harder.

It's only about ten seconds of silence before Moonracer can't take it anymore, though. She glances quickly back at Arcee, then away again, and says, "I just wanted to tell you that you look good today."

"Thank you," Arcee says slowly. Moonracer risks another glance and finds Arcee looking down at herself. This close, Moonracer notices the light scratches and faint scuffs that Arcee either hadn't had time or hadn't taken time to buff out before her shift. Arcee runs a finger over one of the more prominent ones, high on a forearm guard, and when she meets Moonracer's optics this time, she's the one who looks uncertain. "I haven't… done anything, though?"

Maybe this whole fiasco can still be salvaged. Confidence boosted now that she's not the only one off her guard, Moonracer stands up straight and makes her plating relax and says with a smile, "Yeah, I know. It's just that I always think you look good."

Arcee resets her optics over another little o. Then that little o stretches out into a smile and there's laughter in her voice when she asks, "Are you trying to flirt with me, Moonracer?"

"Trying!?" Moonracer sputters. Her engines lets off a series of indignant hiccups when that makes Arcee outright laugh again-- not cruelly or incredulously, though, and Moonracer holds tight to that. "I am flirting! And if you'd stop laughing at me, I'd be asking you for a date by now!"

"Sorry, sorry," Arcee says, though the laughter is still there in her optics. "It's just-- while I'm on duty?"

"Well, it's the only time I can ever find you without your team," Moonracer says in a huff, followed by a subvocal mutter of, "usually." Her lips actually twitch up at the little huff of laughter that gets. "So, um. What do you think? I haven't got a shift today. After yours, maybe we can drive out to the lake together? I don't know if you've seen Earth's sunsets yet…?"

"I have," Arcee says. "They're beautiful." Her smile this time is soft and curious and she looks like she's seeing something else now when she looks at Moonracer, right through her own optics and into her spark. "I would love to see one with you."

"Great!" Moonracer says in a high enough pitch that she'd be embarrassed if she weren't spending so much of her energy being elated. "I'll pick you up at shift's end. Oh, or do you need to…?"

"No, I'm free then," Arcee says. She brushes away dust from the side of her helm and adds coyly, "As long as you really do think I look fine as I am, anyway."

"Of course," Moonracer says, practically vibrating. Distantly, she's aware that this is the perfect opportunity for a few good lines but her mind is already on the evening to come. Ugh-- she won't see Arcee again until evening. Not a long wait in the grand scheme of things-- she knows, she knows-- but, well. Without being too dramatic about it, how is she supposed to live until then? She has no shift or appointments or anything else to occupy her mind. She's got nothing to do but wallow and obsess--

"Until then," says Arcee, her expression knowing, "you might spend some time out on the far edge of the city ground, where they haven't cleared for working on."

Moonracer tips her head at that and asks, "Why? Is there something going on that way?"

Arcee shrugs, all too casual, and says, "Oh, no-- nothing I know about, at least."

It takes a second for Moonracer to connect the dots. Then even when she does, she hesitates. Arcee just looks back at her, still affectionate, still curious, her hand still up beside her helm, putting that scuff on her forearm on full display. Moonracer spares a second to consider that maybe there'd been something she hadn't seen either, when she'd looked earlier into Arcee's optics-- only a second, though, and then she's folded down into her alt and peeling out towards the ends of Autobot City's bounds.

"Careful!" Arcee calls like she means the way she's driving.

"Always am!" Moonracer calls back. She thinks she might hear Arcee laugh again but it's not like anyone who really knows is there to correct her. Besides, of course she'll be careful (at least within reason). No way is she doing anything that'll cost her this date!

[primevein]

The Prime of His Youth: Book IV: Fire's Master: Ch37: Rally

The Elite Guard had collected together in the main corridor, what should be the main thoroughfair.

"Anyone encounter a Headmaster?" Landslide asked. The Elite Guard all looked at each other for a moment, with not one replying.

"And what happens when we do?" Cinderstream asked Smokescreen.

"Energon shots to the Transtector. It will protect them from the direct effects, but the feedback might dispel enough of the Dark Energon to snap them back to their senses."

"You know I don't have?.." Cindersteam asked, a when Smokescreen passed him a pistol. Cinderstream took the pistol.

"You just... have it in case someone needs it?" Downshift asked.

"Yes." Smokescreen said, and pulled something else out. It was small and card like. He tapped it against his open left hand a couple of times before putting it away.

"And?" Moose Runner asked.

"The Prime's back-up plan." Smokescreen simply stated, "Let's hope we don't need it, this time." He then quickly put it away.

* * *

Japheth drove into the command centre. Arcee and Rust Dust right behind him. Roxana and Arcelia followed, with Sirenia and Carrron transforming into a landing. Behind them was Pyra Magna, with Jumpstream and Dust Up behind her. Japheth transformed, and all of the others did as well. As he walked into the command centre, he looked between the seven Micromasters that dotted the place. All aiming blasters at him.

"Seven Minicons, this is Japheth Prime." Moonracer said from her sniper nest. They all dropped their weapons.

Japheth looked between them, and knew in his spark they were perfect. They were miners, with a long history of working together. He pulled something out and tossed it to them. "Here." he said.

Irelic caught it, and glared down at it as it started to glow. He started to glow with it, when the other six Micromasters started to glow as well. The light filled the room, and when it was gone, the seven stood combined together.

Japheth walked up to them with a bright smile and offered him his hand. "Japheth Prime." he said. The combined Micromasters looked at him, hand moving instinctively forward. Japheth grabbed it and shook it. "And you are?"

The combined thought for a moment, and then gently looked down to him, "Warmachine."

"Oh?!" Japheth asked, "I like it." He then stepped back and transformed. "Arkie?" he asked.

"Tsk." she replied, as she walked up, "Really?"

"You said you wanted a nickname." Japheth said.

"Okay, yeah, but..." she said, as he opened up his rear compartment. "Did you really think you'd need all of these?" She waved Warmachine over. With a curious look he walked over. She handed him one bolter, which he took with his left hand. She then handed him another, which he picked up with his right. She then pulled out an ammo crate, which she placed on the ground. Warmachine's hands transformed, absorbing the bolters. He reverted his hands, which he looked at for a moment before looking down at the ammunition crate. Arcee closed Japheth's compartment, and he transformed.

"We can teach you to make the ammuntion." Japheth said to Warmachine.

"And the weapons?" Warmachine grumbled.

"Bolters, and you'd have to talk to Knockout." He then looked around the room, "Once we solve this little issue." His eyes focused on Airachnid. "Find Twinstrike."

Airachnid just looked at him for a moment, "You think I'm especially good at?.."

"Yes." Japheth stated.

"Don't you trust your other scout, more?" Airachnid asked, faking being wounded.

"I trust turning my back to her, more." Japheth harshly replied. She glared at him for a moment. When she realized it wasn't working, she gave up and transformed to fly away.

"And us?" Jumpsteam asked, taking a few steps towards him. The three other Rust Maidens there doing the same.

"Recall the Wreckers. Miko and Bulkhead need to be left until the last."

Pyra Magna walked passed him, "You heard him." she said, the other three Rust Maidens walking after her. They then transformed and rolled out.

"And myself?" Warmachine strongly asked.

"Get used to transforming and combining." he said, and Warmachine broke up into the seven Micromasters.

"And us?" Arcee sardonically asked.

"Ciel and Siren on the console."

"And... us?.." Arcee nervously asked.

"You, me, and Roxie in a cuddle."

"Of course!" Roxana exclaimed.

* * *

Warmachine combined together, and looked at his hands as he flexed them, as he wiggled his fingers. He looked over to Japheth as he sat against a low wall, with Arcee and Roxana in a cuddle. "This activity is curious?" he asked.

"Arcee?" Japheth asked, and she frowned as she opened her eyes, and turned to look at Warmachine

"It's called cuddling, and it - is - wonderful."

"Perhaps we should?.."

"Among sparkmates." Roxana quickly stated, and he gave them a curious look.

"Are sparkmates not normally pairs?" Warmachine strongly asked.

Japheth turned to Arcelia and Sirenia at the console, "Siren, Ciel." he said. The two quickly finished up what they were doing, and turned to walk towards him.

"Humans have various levels of sparkmate, we are referred to as Concubines, while Arcee is the Wife." Arcelia stated.

"The modern, Human world pretends it does not, which is an incredible aberration, historically." Sirenia added. "Throughout almost the entirety of Human history, any leftover women would be taken up by the higher-class males."

Japheth sighed.

"You, disagree?" Warmachine asked. He then looked down at his hands as he opened and closed them. He looked back to Japheth.

"He doesn't like us fawning over him." Arcee stated.

"He doesn't like us talking about how fantastic he is." Roxana said.

"You - have not?" Warmachine asked.

"Because he doesn't want us to." Arcee sardonically said, trying to pretend she did not enjoy the cuddle as much as she was.

Warmachine thought this over for a moment, "I would like a target range to test my new weapons."

"Moonracer?" Japheth asked, and she quickly jumped down from her nest.

"On it!" she shouted.

"Arcelia can also give you a list of patterns that Roxie can help you with." Japheth said, and Warmachine just stared at him.

"Lost technology." Roxana giddily said.

* * *

Moose Runner and Landslide drive into the hangar. Kaen and Seizen knelt down, and started pulling the shackled Micromasters from their back. They struggled without purpose, as if they did not have more than a single thought, but that was one thought more than true Terrorcons.

* * *

Bulkhead's wrecking ball shattered the chest of one of the mini-Terrorcons as Miko, in her armour did the same with a heel-palm strike. The bodies fell to the ground and ceased all movement. They didn't shuffle, they didn't crawl, they didn't even twitch. They had been dead Ronnacycles before now.

"Do you know long I've wanted to do this?" Miko asked.

"Knowing you, like 5 minutes after you met me."

Miko paused for a moment. "Okay, yeah. You know what I miss, my guitar. Think I could get a guitar that works as a weapon?"

"You already have rockets, your auto-blaster, and armour forged by the original Primes." Bulkhead neutrally said to her.

"You think the guitar wouldn't work with the armour?" Miko genuinely asked her.

"Well, you'd probably have to pick, one sized for the armour, and one sized for an adorable fembot."

"Alright, I like your sass." Miko replied, "And I am adorable."

"But aren't guitars based on the length of the string?" Bulkhead asked.

"What?!" Miko exclaimed, "Oh, scrap."

"We do know a few mad scientists who could probably build it for you." Bulkhead simply stated.

"I honestly didn't see this coming?" Miko asked.

"What?" Bulkhead replied.

"You, me, and Terrorcons, and what I want to do is go and talk to Knockout."

"To be fair, they are a bit smaller than last time." Bulkhead replied.

* * *

Phantom Rider rammed through a pack of mini-Terrorcons, striking a half-dozen of them. He transformed in the middle of the pack. His chains were outstretched, which he then swept forward. This struck nine or ten. Seaspray swept in and transformed right behind him. He had a harpoon gun in each hand, and each pierced a chest of a mini-Terrorcon. He put the harpoon guns away and transformed his hands into Great Knights, the blades most infamously used by Optimus. He used them to puncture the chestplates of the mini-Terrorcons, one by one, as Phantom Rider's chains started slamming one into the other, leaving scorch marks where they touched. The shambling bodies were pierced or thrashed about, until in the end most completely stopped, while others were too broken to move.

"You really need to get a knife." Seaspray simply said to him.

Phantom Rider's eyes were barely visible through his visor, but Seaspray could see enough to see them glare. Phantom Rider pulled out a knife. The glare continued for a moment before he looked down, stabbing the knife hard enough to break the breast plates of one of the twitching bodies.

* * *

The twins transformed into a landing as Seaspray and Phantom Rider pierced the last of the twitching bodies.

"You two are." Skyburst stated.

"Hard to catch." Stormclash added.

Phantom Rider gave them a questioning gaze.

"What's up?" Seaspray asked, "You miss us already?"

"I can see why." Stormclash stated.

"Wheeljack missed you so much." Skyburst added. Seaspray just smiled at them, "Rally."

"With His Prime." Stormclash added.

* * *

Pyra Magna and Rust Dust drove up. Wheeljack barely looked back at them, "Ladies?" he asked.

Zuo turned to give them a more respectful look. "How can we help you?"

* * *

Pyra Magna drove with Rust Dust behind her. Twinstrike turned his draconic body to the left, and the left head turned to look at them.

"We trust you found what you were looking for?" Rust Dust asked, and his left head looked down at her.

"Looking is not the right word." the left head said. The right head appeared overtop of him.

"We found what we were seeking."

* * *

Dust Up and Jumpstream drove and transformed, Miko and Bulkhead standing over a pile of broken Micromaster bodies. "Yo." Miko said, and gave them a little wave. "What's up?"

"We're here to help you hold the line." Dust Up eagerly said.

"In case we need to break contact." Jumpstream replied, "He's got a plan."

"Care to share?" Miko asked.

"When he shares with us." Dust Up dismissively said.

"Yeah, that's Japheth." Bulkhead stated.

[earthstellar]

OK I’m gonna talk for a long time about a character almost nobody but me is interested in, but I love her so please put up with me for a minute here lol 

alright, here we go: 

I feel like Road Rage is absolutely among the least-utilised G1 characters ever, which sucks because I love her so much!!! 

Here’s a summary of her bio from TF Wiki: 

Road Rage is the bodyguard/advisor of Ambassador Crosscut. 

She is well-versed in alien cultures and generally cheerful, making her a very good diplomat. 

However, a chronic short-out in her vehicle mode causes her to live up to her name; in car mode, she is a snarling, swerving speed machine with little regard—if not utter contempt—for anyone else on the road with her.

Which reminds me a lot of how they handled Grimlock as he’s depicted in Cyberverse, where he’s very polite and highly intelligent in root mode, but in alt-mode he’s out there fucking shit up, lmao.

And of course, she’s visually interesting because out of all the G1 femme bots, Road Rage is a big departure from the “typical” femme bot frame type, with a far more heavy-duty feel to her compared to Chromia, Moonracer, Arcee, etc. -- Her original G1 toy was just a re-deco of Tracks. 

I can’t help but wonder how much her aesthetics played a role in her never really getting that much traction in Western/English language media... Sigh. 

Although Road Rage does make an appearance in IDW 2! 

And she does also appear in TFA as well: 

However, in both IDW 2 and TFA, her frame type/model seems to have been adjusted quite a bit, and okay fine, but I feel like the heavy weight and serious look of the original G1 design gets a little lost in the redesigns and she ends up losing a lot of personality as a result, visually speaking.  

Don’t get me wrong, I totally get that adjustments for art style / modernisation to match other character models etc. is a thing that needs to happen as part of natural art evolution and so on! 

No problem with that; There’s a lot of consideration that goes into any character design process, and of course, it’s Transformers so toy models need to be taken into consideration as well, lol. 

But I look at the original G1 Tracks re-deco design of Road Rage, and I think that IDK, making her less brick-like doesn’t really feel quite right to me, personally. (Of course, that’s just my opinion, and the redesigns aren’t inherently bad at all!)

In TFA they also made her a bounty hunter for-justice type character, but personally, I love her original bio. Kick ass diplomatic advisor. That’s so fucking strong!!!! 

It just feels so much more unique and interesting to me, although I get that with TFA they were already working with a fairly large cast of characters with lots going on etc. and you gotta do what you gotta do to make things work for the story that you are trying to tell (or the story you are already in the middle of telling, which is often the case, lmao).

I just really like the idea of this very cordial diplomat’s advisor being a fucking HUGE MASSIVE POWERHOUSE LADY and looking threatening as shit, but actually she’s very chill and is there to help! 

(Until she almost runs you off the road later but hey that’s not 100% her fault, she feels bad about it, she’ll help you get to the hotel so you can get ready for the speaker’s hall event later. No worries. lmao)

But still, IDK, it would be nice to see some more non-”typical” femme bots on a more regular basis. 

I love the hell out of Termagax in IDW 2, Clobber in Cyberverse, etc. and tbh please give me more femme bots who are wide as hell. 

Just, give me some absolutely huge femme bots. 

(If we ever see Termagax animated in anything, I will lose my shit entirely, please give us more Termagax, I love her.) 

I mean, come on, the G1 Road Rage design has that prominent hood torso/chest design that evokes TFA Ratchet’s “beer belly”-- It’s right there!!! Visually, it’s doable!!! 

I feel like TFA Road Rage could have still had a fair enough redesign to match the style of the series but retained a larger / heavier set frame??? 

(Of course, this may not have been done for whatever reasons, but we have so few fat or even just generally big lady bots, and I feel like the G1 design for Road Rage could absolutely be interpreted in subsequent art styles / toy designs as being a wider / heavier frame type???) 

We don’t see a lot of huge, heavy femme bots. The ones we do see are typically neutrals or Decepticons. We could use a few more fat lady Autobots, I’m just saying! But also just more large, strong, boxy, fat, etc. femme bots in general. 

Again, not dunking on the IDW 2 / TFA designs, both art styles generally kick ass, but I love the G1 design for her so much. 

Look at her. She’s so fucking powerful. I feel like the subsequent redesigns don’t really capture that sense of “absolute fucking rectangle of a femme bot”, but of course they also adjusted her character bio a bit for the redesigns too, so IDK. 

In TFA, we already have some big bots like Bulkhead and of course, Ratchet’s got a pretty prominent robo-gut. We know it can be done!! 

And in IDW 2, we do have a bit more frame type diversity, which is always welcome. <3 

It just would have been interesting to see TFA Road Rage’s original hood torso/chest worked into a similar design to Ratchet’s, with a wider set frame, broader limbs, and thicker/bigger door wings to match-- Since her G1 model could already be interpreted as being pretty big, and it might have been a fun little throwback design / nod to the original for those who were already familiar with this character. 

I mean, her original frame type was based on Tracks, and look at how they redesigned Tracks for TFA. Not a super big guy or anything lol, but it’s clear they played around with this frame type redesign concept in at least a couple ways. 

So IDK!!!! I just love the original G1 Road Rage, and while I’m not dunking on the later redesigns of the character, I feel like it would be really cool to see a big lady bot in an interesting role like diplomatic advisor. 

TL;DR: PLEASE GIVE ME THE FAT GOD TIER DIPLOMATIC ADVISOR VERSION OF ROAD RAGE, SHE IS LARGE AND SMART AND I LOVE HER.

[mk-wizard]

Two Alternate Versions of Strongarm in RID That Come to Mind

Hi, fans.

Now before get into this, if you like Strongarm the way she is, I have nothing against it. I wanted to give her a chance which I did after watching all of season 1 of RID, but I cannot lie. I didn’t like her. Or rather, I didn’t like the role she was given or how she was executed. After I got to know Strongarm, she felt like a carbon copy of Prowl which is not just no good, it was not necessary. First, if you’re going to make a carbon copy of an existing character, just use the real character. Don’t do something like because that’s backwards writing and it reduces the character to being a token character. Second, considering RID was a sequel to Prime, it could have followed its trend by reusing an existing character and rebooting her completely. And the character I would have rebooted was Moonracer since her original counterpart was also an eager young rookie. Let me elaborate two ways I would have treated Strongarm.

In the first way, as I said before, I would have rebooted Moonracer the same way Arcee was rebooted in Prime and was better for it. In Prime, Arcee was professional, a lady and acted like the responsible big sister of the team and she was awesome for it. As for Moonracer, she would be the opposite. The little sister trying to prove herself as well as find herself in which case, I would have dialed down the by-the-book attitude and make her rookie-like qualities show more. This take is fresh and new for a female character because she’s still nobody’s love interest, you can still make Moonracer a tomboy if you want (the original one was one too I believe) and it makes her more relatable. Everyone was new at something at one time and that’s ok. And it’s ok to have a female character who is new at something and trying to find her footing, mess up and learn from the adults. Heck, I would even have her interactions with Sideswipe be friendly in the sense that she is torn between following rules, but also thinking he may have a point on some things. Making the rookie character female and a believable rookie doesn’t maker her insulting to women. If anything, it shows the audience that females are tough enough to fall down and get back up again.

In the second way, if you want to follow the trend of making an entirely new female character, I would have made Strongarm entirely different altogether. In other words, I would have had her and Sideswipe switch roles. For some context, I would have Prowl playing her role; the by-the-book lawman who is stern, rigid yet means well. And would have had Strongarm playing Sideswipe’s role; the chivalrous punk who wants to have fun and loves messing with the lawman. Considering there hasn’t been a chivalrous bad girl since Beast Wars Blackarachnia and there has yet to be one who is an Autobot, this take on Strongarm would have been a real breath of fresh air. While this take of Strongarm would be inevitably feminine in my mind and her chemistry with Prowl might have been romantic with them possibly becoming a couple, that too is fresh because we haven’t seen love bloom in too many Transformers series. Also, in the case of bad girls, their feminine side is not only a strength, but it is also a powerful weapon. Not mention, being feminine and falling in love is not anti-feminist or weak, and girls themselves need to see that in the media.

But this is just me. Like I said, if you like the official version of Strongarm, that’s cool with me. These are just my thoughts and I would like to hear yours. I am leaning towards the second thought I had though especially when I think of the first meeting scene between Prowl and Strongarm. Initially, he would mistaken her for a mech (because her name is very gender neutral), but once she transforms, he sees she is femme.

[nimmenstjer]

Quick colourguide/toy-modding suggestion I made for G1 Greenlight and Lancer.

(got the proportions right by partially tracing internet images; this was pure for the colours and to see if some minor mods would look right)

Finding the right character or toy to base even a fictional transformation on for Lancer was a nightmare. 

I mean, not like there are a lot of fembots who have toys, and some who do are basically a repaint of a male character, which might work for them, but I wanted something a little more feminine for Lancer.

And the most tricky part of it was her skirt.

(image taken from tfwiki.net) (note miracle of off-model art making everything more difficult)

She has, from one angle, a skirt, and from the front, a high-waisted dress that’s shorter, or more open at the front.

I wanted a nod to that in the toymodel I’d use for her, and so I looked up fembots with some part of their design, altmode kibble or no, hanging from their back.

I found  and rejected Unicron Trilogy and Animated Arcee, as wel as a few others, before I came to the obvious choice of Blackarachnia. Animated version, that is.

Did she end up a little too feminine? Maybe. But it was not like I had a ton of choice, and an U3 Arcee recolour would be not exactly distinct from any of her many recolours.

And then there was Greenlight:

(also from tfwiki. As is this one:

which has a slightly different collar/chest)

I mean, G1 Greenlight is basically “stockier G1 Arcee with no kibble, and with headfins at her ears and a mohawk for a headridge”.  Plus some other superficial differences that pretty much can be painted on.

So I looked for toy G1 universe Arcees that were a bit stockier, or at least a bit flat-chested, and went nope at all the official toys.

Generations Arcee and her repaints are pretty much “extra delicate, extra curvy, extra fem, less of the thing you’re looking for in this case”, and Titans Return Arcee, though I fell in love with her instantly, was bascially a Blurr toy retooled as IDW Arcee, and with a die-cast head, so, there’s not much to mod there. Also, it would be a waste of such a perfect beauty.

(I’d love to babble about how much I love her, but that’s not the point of this post, so let’s just say that she’s the only reason I now have an Ebay account.)

U3, TFA, Bay, and TFP Arcees were also out, for obvious reasons.

So on to the unofficial toys:

RC, Alcee, Rouge, Pink Assasin, Leia, ARC, Delicate Warrior, Valkyrie, Azalea and Leah.

As the main girl character in Transformers, if here’s a knockoff toy that’s a girl, there’s a seventy percent chance that it’s Arcee.

Some of them are triple digit expensive. Some of them are complex and fiddly. Some of them are a re-interpretation of Arcee. Some of them are all three. Not to mention that a lot of them are tiny works of art that I’m reluctant to mess with.

Alcee is basically “like the official toy, but bigger like you wanted”, RC in an expensive if awesome fan interpretation. Rogue is expensive and complex and comes with a face with cool shades. Pink Assasin is a cutesy anime version who doesn’t so much transform as faceplant with her feet into her backpack. 

Leia is... the perfect Empurata version of Arcee, actually. The lightpiping in the back of her head looks like a single optic, and her hands are removable. Her altmode is crippled too, for maximum sadism options.

ARC and Valkyrie and Delicate Warrior... I just dislike how they look.

Leah however: She looks a bit wonky, mostly in the face, and she’s tiny, one of the cheaper options and looking like it. 

Her transformation, however, is a complete one, without looking like there are limbs sticking out, and she looks like she’d be easy to mod. Plus, she’s pretty much one of the stockier, and the most flat-chested Arcee I can find.

Maybe, next year or so, I’ll buy her, repaint her and try and figure out how to mod her head to the way I want it to be.

Am I going to find some toy wheels and a set of matching axles to give her functional wheels when I’m done, completely changing her look to a more sturdy car to match a more sturdy lady? Oh yeah.

Either way, if both of them’d get an official toy like Moonracer and Firestar did, I’ll be happy for it. 

Then there are IDW Greenlight and Lancer.

(from tfwiki. there are close-ups where her face looks better, but this gets her entire body.)

Transformationwise, I thought of maybe a helicopter, but then I realized that Classics Rodimus would be a better match, transformationwise. She has the spoiler and everything.

However, she has a slighter, somewhat more feminie build in addition to the triangular lower point of her chest and the rounded shoulders, so, yeah, that idea didn’t work. An adapted Arcee’s head might work, with a pointy middle ridge and a visor, but then you still don’t have a body.

So, I still have no idea.

Greenlight is easier.

She has threads in her legs, so, likely a tank, and with little to no kibble, which eliminates a bunch of options.

Her head is nearly entirely a feminine version of Armada Starscream, so if you got one of those, and some green paint laying around, you’re halfway there.

Besides that Arcee, I also bought a “Thrilling 30 Megatron and Chop Shop Legends class” off of EBay. 

I am about to find out what it’s like to mod a toy and try and make a new head for it later the next week.

[possiblespoilers]

transcript from youtube captions below the read more:

Arcee: Shush. Wake up. But be quiet.

Lancer: The wiring for Glyph's console is built into the wall. We could crawl through here if we wanted.

Arcee: Can it get through here?

Lancer: Primus, I hope not!

Greenlight: It looked too big, but we don't know anything about it. For all we know, it teleports. I mean, it got past all our sensors without setting a single one off

Lancer: We never thought we'd have to detect approaching organics.

Botanica: This is amazing! Our planet has a number of small pollinators to help perpetuate the native species and a wide assortment of detritivores and insectivores, but even the largest of them do not approach this size after reaching maximum growth–

Arcee: Hey! Focus! Alright? How do we kill it?

Botanica: Kill it? Oh no: That poor creature is already dying. It's such a shame. It has incredibly power and strength of will to have made it this far. Even still, I don't imagine it would survive being shipped to me and–

Flareup: I got a grenade on me.

Arcee: Naw, too cramped. It'll hurt the others.

Red Alert: Don't forget, it'll damage the CR chamber also.

Arcee: There's not enough room to swing a sword but Moonracer...?

Moonracer: It would only take me one shot!

Arcee: It would if you knew where to shoot. Organics don't have sparks, though. Better aim to shoot all its legs off instead.

Botanica: No no! Both your swords and blasters create too much heat. The material spun by the spider is very likely flammable.

Flareup: Well then it'll be twice as dead!

Arcee: That gunk is everywhere. A fire that big would wreck all our supplies and drive us back to the surface.

Red Alert: With a pillar of smoke to guide the seekers straight to us.

Botanica: Patience is all you need. The poor thing is outside of its element. Tired, hungry and lost. Its days are numbered. It's fighting out of instinct and fear. Let it pass with some dignity.

Red Alert: We have no idea what chemicals its slobbering all over our one way to contact other Autobots AND our CR Chamber which–in case everyone has forgotten– contains one of our own. If you're so sure it's producing flammable material, then all the more reason to hurry up and kill the thing. Any number of things in this hole can accidentally strike up a spark and set us ablaze. If it so much as gets bored and shoves an errant tool against the wall, we are through.

Arcee: Yeah, I'm with docbot. We kill it now and clean up CAREFULLY.

Botanica: *sigh* Of course...

Greenlight: Soo, uh... How?

Lancer: We don't know anything about this species.

Greenlight: Or about organics! This isn't exactly the gooey blob they showed Fleshy Horrors From 20,000 Mechanometers Below Ultrix!

Flareup: Well it's just sitting there let's rush it!

Red Alert: You–

Lancer: Huh?

Red Alert: –and you–

Greenlight: Uh...

Red Alert: –with me.

Arcee: Whelp, guess we're on standby. Unless Rattrap has any helpful suggestions.

Botanica: Rattrap... has many suggestions. Next to none have proven helpful.

Arcee: Heh, but you did like a few...

Botanica: He has his... uh......charm?

Arcee: Never let him hear you say that.

Botanica: Never.

Rattrap: *in the distance* I heard that!

Arcee: Moonracer, keep an optic on our guest. *sounds of tools whirring and banging*

Moonracer: I am.... *sounds of tools whirring and banging* It's just doing... whatever... *sounds of tools whirring and banging* I-I can't see Chromia very well, but... Elita's awake. *sounds of tools whirring and banging* And she's by all the weapons! *sounds of tools whirring and banging* Maybe... she'll kill it? *sounds of tools whirring and banging*

Arcee: If she's not moving she's probably come to the same conclusion we have... *sounds of tools whirring and banging* Or she's just waiting for it to die of old age. *sounds of tools whirring and banging*

Lancer: Okay! Red says to get the organic's attention over by the door!

Moonracer: Is that... Red's side paneling?

Greenlight: Yeah. She's done more than drop some kibble though!

Lancer: Hurry! I think she's in place!

Arcee: Alright: Let's make some noise! Hey! Hey yo! Over here!

Flareup, Greenlight, Moonracer all shouting over eachother: Hey! Leggy! Hey! Spider! Come towards us! Yeah you! *whistling* You wanna piece of this? Bring it on! Hey! Over here!

Flareup: Bet you can't handle the best–FragfragfragFRAG it's looking at me!

Arcee: Yeah that's right come over here, ya ugly freak!

Red Alert: *swipe* *spider shrieks* I hate arachnids.

Moonracer, Greenlight, Flareup talking over each other: Yeah! Go, Red Alert! That was SO cool!! Alright! Yes!!

Moonracer: ...and gross. But mostly cool!

Red Alert: Ohh, my... Botanica, what have you done to yourself?

Botanica: I could ask the same, Red Alert.

Red Alert: As it so happens, I was recently gifted a hard light mass generator. A very precise tool. Compact....Aaand it suited me.

Botanica: Perhaps there’s hope for you as a model breaker yet.

Red Alert: Assuming you haven't damaged your processor while... redefining your face, –your expertise in organics may be useful in disposing of this mess.

*transitional music*

Drone JO3: Shockwave, sir, we've located the obstruction in the HVAC system. It's.... Uhh... We don't actually know what it is. This is... Ugh... I've never SMELLED anything like it.

Shockwave: Clear the obstruction and bring a sample of it to my laboratory.        

Please welcome our new Arcee, xiki-scribbles!

Arcee - http://xiki-scribbles.tumblr.com/ Botanica - http://kalmobotti.tumblr.com/ Drone - http://biozonic.tumblr.com/ Flareup - Anj Greenlight - http://windblaade.tumblr.com Lancer - http://potatowitch.tumblr.com/ Moonracer - http://snowylittlebastard.tumblr.com/ Rattrap - http://ha-hahaha-ha-tower-knight.tumblr.com/ Red Alert - http://encune.tumblr.com/ Shockwave - http://hazardous-studios.tumblr.com/

Support the creators on Patreon!

[possiblespoilers]

transcript adjusted from youtube captions below the read more:

*comm beeps*

Elita, Firestar, Lancer, Red Alert, & Arcee: Glyph!

Arcee: are you alright?

Greenlight, Moonracer, Lancer overlapping: oh my gosh, I'm so glad you’re- you’re back! oh my goodness- so worried!- goodness, so worried about you!

Red Alert: Glad to see you still have all your limbs

FirestarL you have got to be one of the toughest rollie pollies I have ever seen! how did you get out of there alive?

Elita: it is so good to have you back

Glyph: is this one an Alpha Trion’s safe houses?

Alpha Trion: I'm surprised you remember. it's been quite a while since we've seen one another

Glyph: Alpha Trion you're awake?

Alpha Trion: my stasis pod met a more...immediate need

Glyph: Oh? Oh. Flareup?

Red Alert: she's alive, for now

Chromia: no student of mine goes out that easy

Firestar: damn right

Glyph: I'm so sorry, I didn't-

Firestar: don't. none of this is on you Glyph

Elita: not many bots could escape a Decepticon stronghold alone and unarmed

Glyph: it wasn't like that. I only escaped because they didn't think much of me

Arcee: oh, whatever gets the job done

Glyph: and I wasn't alone, I, she's still in there

Elita: who

Glyph: the bot who helped me escape. I don't think I asked her name or maybe I did and I forgot it. how could I forget so quickly. so selfish!

Elita: no more self deprecation Glyph. you defended all of our lives by quickly removing yourself from their grasp, compute?

Glyph: yes ma'am

Elita: good, now describe this bot for us

Glyph: I couldn't actually see her. she was inside some kind of containment unit and, um, I was too small to see into the window, but she was bitter. her voice was very hoarse. she's been in Shockwave’s lab for some time. she knew what went where, and when. I left her my damaged primary comm uplink. she sounded confident as she could integrate it into her systems, so she must have medical training

Red Alert: medics are a closely guarded asset. if this prisoner is a medic, her team would have reported her capture immediately, so that she could be replaced

Firestar: hmm

Red Alert: we haven't been informed of any kidnappings. which isn't to say they haven't occurred, but we can only use the information we possess. currently the only m.i.a. medics that we're aware of are onboard ships that have not contacted anybody since the exodus

Glyph: I would have a recognized Ratchet or Hoist. I'd have to check through the reports to see who else is missing.

Red Alert: come to think of it, I remember Fixit has a junior medic. her name escapes me, but a transport crashed prior to the Exodus

Elita: a likely suspect then

Red Alert: she shared a frame type with Arcee and Moonracer. would the containment unit holds someone that size Glyph?

Glyph: oh it's much larger than that. Elita could fit inside

Red Alert: that may be a product of Shockwave’s size rather than hers

Arcee: they might not even be a medic. there are plenty of Engineers who could do a passable job just fixing bots up.

Glyph: whoever she is, I told her we could save her. whether that meant escape, or...

Firestar: absolutely

Chromia: ain't happening

Firestar: what! why? we've got a medic in Con hands.

Chromia: this isn't Red Alert we're talking about. we've got no idea who's in there

Firestar: doesn't matter who, she's trapped in Shockwave’s lab. Shockwave the con with a science crush on “let's split a spark six ways” Jhiaxus. they're having who knows what done to her right now. we have to save her! we're the Autobots, it's our duty

Chromia: Firestar you've got a bad case of the Rescue Bots flaring up

Firestar: and proud of it! Elita, this is what Autobots do. we protect those who can't protect themselves

Chromia: no one's blaming you for Glyph getting captured but you

Firestar: don't even-

Arcee: Chromia’s right, we can barely take care of ourselves these days

Firestar: I'm sorry, am I the only one who remembers that we were already prepping to kick those exact same doors down ten klicks ago?

Arcee: that was for Glyph, our teammate with a head full of valuable Autobot codes, not some stranger we don't even know

Firestar: I can't believe what I'm hearing. valuable Autobot codes? I thought we were going after Glyph because we love her and it was the right thing to do

Elita: we do love her, and it was the right thing to do

Firestar: so we're going in then?

Elita: No

Firestar: Elita-

Elita: you've got your spark in the right place Firestar, you're the most honorable warrior left on Cybertron.

Red Alert: isn't a more no made one of us

Arcee: that's for sure

Greenlight: Elita One is right, I'm sorry Firestar

Elita: but noble intentions can’t overshadow common sense. what is gained if we succeed in rescuing her?

Firestar: a life

Chromia: another mouth to feed

Red Alert: an unstable patient in need of supplies and numerous stellar cycles of bodywork

Elita: and what is lost if we fail this mission?

Firestar: many lives

Chromia: the last Autobot hold on our home planet

Firestar: it isn't right. Optimus would-

Elita: do you really want me to act like Optimus?

Red Alert: we don't need a righteous hero rushing into martyrdom! not him, not Elita One, and not you Firestar!

Elita: there are people and causes worth dying for. unwinnable battles that must be fought, but this is not one of those cases. our planet is littered with bodies and I won't approve a mission that will only add my squad, my family, to those piles. these last few quartexes have been especially hard on you Firestar

Firestar: me?

Elita: you're a rescue bot at the end of the world. these aren't decisions you were ever meant to make. I'm sorry to force them on you, however, the bots right here are the ones who need your strength the most. you have no shortage of opportunities to save them

Firestar: *sighs* I want to agree with you. I wish I could

Elita: you're drained. go rest

Red Alert: Alpha Trion can oversee Glyph’s diagnostic. come on Firestar

Firestar: mmh

everyone leaves except Elita & Glyph

Elita: Glyph are you all right?

Glyph: yes I'm fine

Elita: that bot did a heroic thing by helping you. I'm sorry we can't help her

Glyph: me too

Alpha Trion - [x] Arcee - @xiki-scribbles Chromia - [x] Elita One - Andy Joy Firestar - @egsauce Glyph - @tartly-sweet Greenlight - @windblaade Lancer - [x] Moonracer - @snowylittlebastard Red Alert - @encune 

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