ehatnow

[ehatnow]

I’ve been scrutinizing the badges and medical symbols (or lack thereof) of the medics of IDW, and speculating about what these might say about each of them.

Out of all the medics, Flatline’s badge(less) arrangement stood out to me, so it’s time to make this way deeper than the writers and artists intended.

To wear a badge, or not to wear a badge…

Thanks to Alex Milne, the Autobots got their own medical cross:

This is worn by Pharma and First Aid, and by Ratchet before the war and during the earliest days of the conflict. He later removes the cross, but switches between a couple of different symbols and no symbol throughout the course of the war—his time spent on Earth having a lot to do with that, I suspect. Even so, after the war, he chooses not to wear any indication of his status as a medic—only an Autobot badge.

Meanwhile, the Decepticons have no universally recognized symbol for their medics. Instead, they each have their own unique symbol, or none at all. Glit has a vaguely medical-looking cross that differs from the Autobot medical cross, and Flatline has a symbol resembling the pulse of a spark:

…which I can only assume is meant to be the Cybertronian version of the following, but with a circle for the spark instead of a heart:

Meanwhile, Spinister and Nickel have nothing. Just their Decepticon badges.

Now, to combine these with faction badges:

Badge + medical symbol: Pharma, First Aid

Badge + no medical symbol: Ratchet, Fixit, Velocity, Spinister, Nickel

No badge + medical symbol: Flatline, Glit

No badge + no medical symbol: Ambulon

There are three medics who don’t wear badges; all of them are or were Decepticons. This is interesting on its own, but I’m more interested in how this may correlate to their attitudes towards treating Autobots:

Even though Glit’s KP version is willing to treat people regardless of faction, this is never confirmed for his IDW version. There isn’t enough evidence to infer how he feels about Autobots, or treating them. Yes, he was at Grindcore, but that says nothing about how he treated Autobot prisoners behind the scenes.

As for Ambulon, he switched sides and underwent the Act of Affiliation, but—evidently—not the Rite of the Autobrand. I could speculate all day about why, but that’s not important because, whatever the case, he treats patients of both factions without hesitation. Because he’s been on both sides, he has an externally observable reason to do so.

This leaves Flatline as the only badgeless—and only Decepticon—medic who’s proven to uphold a moral value of treating people regardless of faction. Unlike Ambulon, he has no externally obvious reason to do so, but he does it anyway because it’s personally important to him.

The following roams into headcanon territory, but based on what can be inferred from Flatline’s few appearances, I like to think his choice to not wear a Decepticon badge serves two purposes:

It’s his way of signaling to potential patients: “I don’t see you through the lenses of your faction and ideology, but as a person.”

It’s a personal reminder for himself of his commitment to being blind to factions when treating people; it’s a way of reminding himself he’s committed to the preservation of life first—not to any group or “order” of medical personnel.

This is not to say medics who do wear badges and belong to an order of medics don’t also treat patients based on similar values—as we see First Aid and Ratchet treating people of the opposing faction.

This is just me playing around with the possibility of inferring something deeper about Flatline’s character—what he values, how he sees himself and the world, what sets him apart from others “like him,” etc.

And besides, Autobot medics are expected to uphold their medical oaths. Decepticon medics—perhaps unfairly—are assumed to be lax in that area, so it means more to have a Decepticon medic who holds to their personal moral values despite the general attitude towards the enemy seen in many of their comrades.

On that note, I would love to know how Tarn sees Flatline…

A Decepticon who refused the Rite of the Deceptibrand.

A Decepticon who refused to cut into his spark casing to signify his commitment to the Cause.

A Decepticon who values commitment to his personal morals above adhering to any external ideology.

[ehatnow]

My contribution to the @medicalgradezine in all its glory! This project was so incredibly fun, the mods did an amazing job, and all my fellow contributors delivered such high quality stuff. Can't wait to join future projects like this!

[ehatnow]

this came to me in a dream last night ive since forgotten

optimus x blaster

(im instantly pelted with rotten tomatoes and then booed off the stage)

[ehatnow]

i love blaster

[ehatnow]

Drawing transformers as stupid babies collection

[ehatnow]

WAIT WHAT FIC SOMEONE SEND IT TO ME HELLO

It makes me die a little on the inside that the only fic I’ve ever read with decent Blaster characterization is TGWP, where he’s basically a ghost.

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[ehatnow]

I'm genuinely so fascinated with your art! it's got an interesting texture if that makes sense.

I remember on Instagram you saying digital touch ups/mixed media but I have such a hard time telling what's digital and what's traditional because it all gels together so well!

if you've ever made a post about your general process that I've missed, I'd love to see it!

anyway thanks for the transformers content, it's feeding my family out four rn

Awh omg thank you so much ! Yes, I've been doing a lot of mixed media lately and I'm glad people think my mixed media art looks seamless ! I'll take you on a journey down my mixed media process ! More below the cut !

I start out traditionally ! I sketched this piece with a colored pencil and went over it with a very thin fine point sharpie (I don't have microns </3) When I'm done I take the picture on my iPad, depending on the room lighting or time of day results vary, but it doesn't really matter how bad the lighting is as long as the lines look crisp.

Then I crank the hell out of the exposure and play around with the photo settings, lighting things up until it looks like this

I don't have exact specific settings for this since it varies depending on how bad the lighting I started with was so I just play around until it looks relatively good. I'm going for bright background with no shadows and crisp lines. Then I pop it into procreate !

First order of business after importing, new layer, color pick the background, fill the layer with the background color, then put the blend mode on divide ! This will get rid of the yellow lighting.

I use Procreate's halftone feature to apply it to my lineart before I color, it just gives it a fun effect.

For coloring, I go on a new layer and put that blend mode on multiply, this lets me color within the lineart, I block out my shapes (usually characters) in one solid color and then as I continue to color I just add layers and clip them together.

Here's a speedpaint for this piece, audio warning for music and flashing warning, especially at the end when I play around with blend modes + gradient maps

The brush I use for drawing over my lineart is Procreate's default gel pen, I slightly adjusted it so that it has a rougher look that blends in with the traditional lineart (the only thing I changed is the jitter amount)

Other brushes I used include; Abbie Nurse's Pan-Dem-Ink's Brushset (Skadouche and Blotto) for my onomatopoeias + blood, paper textures are from one of thedawner's procreate brush packs (I believe volume 3 or it might have been the mixed texture pack, the brushes are just called paper tex 4 and paper tex 5), 1 also use true grit supply's procreate texture bundle a ton for the ink splatter look next to some of the lines as well as the blood (drrty detail 4 + grunge shader - detailed)

For paper textures, I kinda layer them on and play with the opacity to give the piece an almost withered or worn out effect

When I'm done with the piece I slap more halftone on it and play around with the opacity until I'm happy

That's essentially it ! My process is mostly lost of experimenting and playing around until you find that sweet balance

[ehatnow]

Red Alert is Blaster's mentor, fight me

A huge headcanon that after the events of the movie, Blaster essentially takes over the duties of Red Alert (security and base management), as he was better than anyone else in this work, especially in terms of information security.

[ehatnow]

tfo doorwing mechs feat. blaster !! more rambling below :3

i'm v fond of the hc that doorwings are extended sensor panels,,, when i was thinking abt how that would translate to tfo, their lack of said sensor panels could mean their senses are significantly dulled. cogless jazz + the datsuns are subsequently very accident prone, though that's not any fault of their own HSDKLGH

their tier badges are v scratched up bc they keep flipping between promotions and demotions LOL

also full sketch canvas yayyyyy

[ehatnow]

i just think she deserves a little TLC if u know what i mean 😌 and if u don't thats ok because it was the best joke i could come up with on so little sleep

[ehatnow]

im in love with how this fandom seems to have something for everyone. im certain there are other franchises with a similar continuity structure but this is the first ive ever been in.

theres cartoons (all with different stories and tones and styles), comics (with different tones and art styles - just look at the skybound vs idw debate here), toys (so many options omg), movies (knight, bay, tf one, 86 - something everyone will like)... so much stuff!

if someones even vaguely interested in the premise there is bound to be something they'll love, whether its a fandom fave or something more obscure

theres so much variety and theres so many options. i love it.

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[ehatnow]

[ehatnow]

guess who im thinking abt guys. his name definitely doesnt start with b and rhyme with gaster

[ehatnow]

i just want a tfone fic where the cons are being goofy and megatron is struggling to adapt to them

[ehatnow]

im gonna start crazy posting abt blaster one of these days freaking watch me. speaking of blaster who wants to hear me yap my ass off abt him and after im done we will all clap and hold hands and frolic in a field singing happy songs

[ehatnow]

i bring a loving motherly vibe to the function

[ehatnow]

im reading a fic but im like half convinced this was meant to be a research paper on pneumonia