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i got ticked off the other day after seeing another clueless tiktok comment that 'chick was banned from the piston cup after 2005 for what he did to strip' <-NOT TRUE!!!!!!!!!!! (where are people even hearing that from... ??)

ahem. enjoy my silly rant about NASCAR culture. includes Logic and Fun Facts!

note here: pretty sure this is never Explicitly stated Anywhere. it is only Implied that chick is based on earnhardt.

mcqueen is also partly based on earnhardt, particularly visible in his early designs as "monte", as a black-and-red monte carlo, and some of it sticks in cars: the 'pass in the grass' <this detail specifically i feel is mentioned in special features/interview somewhere but id have to double check

ok back to the rant about chick's legitimacy:

smacks him

but yeah nascar! the sport where people used to put reeaally reeeaally long fuel lines into the cars to fit a few extra GALLONS of fuel into (they talk about this stuff on dale earnhardt jr.'s podcast sometimes!!). and now they have to cover the cars with a cloth in the sun and measure it with LASERS to make sure its within Guidelines. there is no happy medium

also. chick straightup is still racing (in the CUP series) in post-cars-1 material like TVG and the comics... so he races for at least a few more years... be reaaal

shame on you if you lie to children on the internet for views and clicks!! chick hicks was not banned <3

to round this off here's a funny little video about some NASCAR beef for some more perspective:

the girls are fightingg

my favorite part is at the end where jeff gordon (whom mcqueen is also based on!!) strangles a guy with 1 hand and it takes ten men to pull him away. and im not even kidding.

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Ko-fi commission - it’s a good feeling when you get paid to draw your otp. Thank you awesome commissioner.

Need to replace my last perfect-for-Prowl gold marker, I bled it dry on this piece (worth it). I’m probably very picky but it’s very difficult to get a good highlight to shadow combo on Prowl’s gold plating.

Markers used: Copics, Kuretake and Ohuhu on Strathmore bristol paper.

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Twerkstallion's Alternate Universes + Headcanons Masterpost (June 2025 Editon)

Much of this is developed and written alongside @youhavehitawall , my brilliant co-author and dear friend.

If an AU has a tag, the title of the section will be linked! If a series has its own Ao3, that will be linked at the bottom of each section.

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Worldbuilding

headcanons/custom lore first, because they appear in multiple 'verses! you will notice some of the details mixed in are genuinely just straight up canon; hence the inspiration to expand those ideas further with head-canon and worldbuilding.

Feral Racers HC

Racecars differ genetically from civilian cars within the same species (think dog breeds... malanois vs golden). Racecars have sharp fangs, the natural ability to hunt, and have enhanced senses. It's inspired by the rivalry/drama/brawl culture of NASCAR as well as building up the 'anxious 700-hosepower machine of destruction' we see in canon. Lightning was an instant fish out of water on the roads. Why? Well, he's not a road car. But how does that work? was he born without a horn? how did that affect his ability to communicate as a bitlet? Mainly though, this is classic furry behavior of 'lets give that guy fangs to make them cooler.' The racers growl, howl, brawl, are territorial, and are often faced with the dilemma of instinct versus logic, road law versus interpersonal connections. this headcanon pokes at questions like: "what does 'street legal' mean in the cars universe? how come most cars dont seem to know any racecars, why are they so rare? whats the distinction between being A racecar vs being a Racer? what would cause a car to be born without headlights or need special accommodations?" maybe its an autistic monster-lovers metaphor for autism, maybe its maybelline.

Semiorganic Cars HC

the cars have tongues, gums, and... iris muscle tissue? yeah, theres meat in there. meat is powered by food, not lubricant, so they need small amounts of food to fuel their organic systems. the cars have a rudimentary pulmonary system, a digestive tract, and sexual organs somewhere between the back of their cab and their trunk. they reproduce sexually, most similar to mammals. the rest of their bodies are metal, with an elaborate but tough system of ichor-nerves along their entire frame to give them bodily sensation and control. and blood. i want them to be full of blood.

Bitlets Lore

Baby car = bitlet. Bitlets are born as fragile productions (litters), most dying within the first few hours. They remain small for the first several years of life, communicating with little beeps/honks. Theyre very squishy for cars, and they toughen into metal as they grow. if you threw one at the wall -throwing babies at the wall omg why?- well, theyd be fine. in fact, theyd bounce. cars are tough! bitlets are basketball-sized, near-formless blobs of cuteness. the cabin of an adult car is where the babies ride along until they are big enough to drive on the road themselves!

Living Metal Lore

fantasy/magic/mystery/scifi element. the metal of cars is 'alive'. this is why dusty needs a factory-new gearbox in PFAR, or to rebuild his current gearbox. factory new to have an unbonded mesh, or salvage his current parts that are already bonded to his body. his only other option was graverobbing or active murder (we see this black market of parts sales in Cars 2.) Maru salvages Dusty's gearbox, which is part of Mater's line of work too. new parts can be forged/cast out of Living Metal, which is the rare, raw material new parts are machined from. Raw Living Metal is mined. Most Living Metal is naturally already in the vehicles themselves though- as they were born made of metal and grew larger. This is why new parts is a dangerous economy- to break what you have isnt good. and if your manufacturer sucks at making new parts... well, then you get Cars 2... Ties into the ichor-nerve-veins lore mentioned above. Oh, and the cars can sort of heal their metal like Christine. Not nearly as fast or well, just to a slight extent. Christine is definitely like, the evil-Wolverine of the living machine world tho. More like Sabretooth.

Animals, Machines, and Agriculture

animals exist as machines... and so do some of their organic counterparts. Tractors are cows... and cows are cows. Tractors provide metals and fluids, cows provide beef and milk; all of which are things the vehicles need. the living machines eat metal also. There are no domesticated dogs that evolved alongside the machines, as many types of vehicle fulfill that niche, and dogs are too small to herd tractors anyway. Horses fulfill the role of a cattle dog in many cases; theyre larger and sturdier than dogs, able to keep up with their machine-counterparts slightly better. and sometimes, this is just an excuse to make custom monster designs.

These headcanons dont always appear in my works, but several of them do often!

[i probably missed one but thats a good start for now]

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On to the Alternate Universes, Canon Divergences, and Crossovers!

Main Alternate Universes:

these AUs are in active development, and usually have asks, art, fics, and even multiple authors and full fic series. they are not worked on 24/7, but my brain cycles thru this list every few months/years with natural new ideas. most of these arent humanized, but i sometimes humanize them for fun!

Apocalypse AU

"What if racecars were left totally unsupervised?" Everyone but a very small population of cars drops dead within days after an invisible wave of pain crosses the globe, injuring most living machines beyond repair. Lightning McQueen, Cruz Ramirez, and Chick Hicks are among the few survivors. Together, they set out to the vast and now-wild lands of north america in search of oil... and life. A Mad Max/TWD/TLOU post-apocalptic longform anthology series with no zombies, custom lore, canon and original supporting characters, and a fully queer main cast. [Ao3 series]

Revived!Doc AU

post-canon. "What if Doc met Cruz?" Doc Hudson is dug up from his grave and brought fully back to life by a necromancer. in the 12 years he's been dead, so much has changed... and his revival doesnt come without consequence, as Doc's speed demon "The Judge" starts to haunt him. [Ao3 series]

Salqueen Bitlets AU [Canon Divergence]

Fluff-focused, Alive!Doc, slight multiship. Sally and Lightning decide 'wouldnt it be fun?' if they had a kid together. Through good doctors and sheer luck, they wind up with eleven children all at once- the full production survives. now, the task of Radiator Springs is to help raise 11 high-needs racecar babies. this will totally go well, with 0 exploding ipads in sight /s. The story follows Curly [a stock car, much like his father], Juice [an out-of-control dragster], Tad Strange [a well-adjusted geologist], "Phil" Philodendron [an anxious wreck], Runway [a girl dead-set on working for NASA], Prism Triangular [an artist in the making], Neo [a very serious young lad], and Michael [their crazy half-brother] as they grow and cause adorable mayhem in Radiator Springs. (ignore that there are 3 more names missing. you cant force an OC they sort of come to you.) [Ao3 series]

Old Man McQueen [Canon Divergence]

in the far future, Lightning is the only living resident of Radiator Springs. he's over a hundred, but his vain but painful life as a racecar has kept his parts cycled fresh and new, which has extended his lifespan. he's tired and cranky, but there may be another adventure in him yet... [Ao3 fic, no series yet at time of posting]

University AU

Rick Hicks wants his son to be a champion racer and win his team loooots of money. Turns out, his son Charles is really, really bad at this. Rick pulls Charles off the circuit, and instead sends him to university to groom him to take over the team someday and keep the family business alive. But all Charles wants is to prove himself by being a real racer. Monty McQueen wants to be a racer. Turns out, he's really bad at this, and no one can foot his bill of endless DNFing. hes sent to university to start a backup career ...the same university Charles is enrolled in. Charles and Monty are instantly drawn to each other, leaving destruction and rivalry in their wake, treading water as the ship of their dreams leaves port without them. Or maybe, that's just what being 23 feels like. [brand new AU at the time of writing, might be moved to backburner section]

Baldswap AU [CROSSOVER]

Double Isekai, temporary species swap, crack treated seriously. Custom X-Men timeline/team (to squish as many of my fav characters into one timeframe). Lightning McQueen from 2007 swaps places with Charles Xavier of the X-Men from 2004. Xavier, a human mutant, is taken in by a frightened Radiator Springs, who have to delcare Lightning missing. And Lightning... well, he gets dropped right in the middle of an active mutant warzone, and is forced to ally with Logan, the Wolverine, to survive. After the shock wears off, Logan takes the young car under his wing, suited to the job as one of the X-Men's resident mechanics- the other being his boyfriend, Kurt Wagner, who also takes a shine to the car. The X-Men adapt to their new talking car friend, but it isnt long before Lightning finds trouble, again and again. Run-ins with Magneto (who is searching for Xavier too), Sabretooth, as well as a custom racetrack on the grounds of Graymalkin Lane occupy their time... until Proteus shows up and warps reality, temporarily trapping Lightning in a human body until the X-Men can track Proteus down again to revert it. Uh, cue a trip to the mall with the girls for a wardrobe? All the while, the X-Men themselves are searching for Charles Xavier- and they know it has something to do with Lightning's sudden appearance... But the anti-mutant mob is stacked against them, and the X-Men are plunged further and further into pressure. As time goes on, Lightning is forced to reconcile that he may never go home again, and might be doomed to be the only one of his kind in a world that wants him dead, just like his new mutant friends. He doesnt have any superpowers of his own- he feels trapped in that regard too; like he cant help them either. ...is Lightning McQueen... X-Men material? (a self-indulgent reboot of my oldest crossover i made when i was 11 [too young to post it online at the time], where Logan was the one isekai'ed into Radiator Springs) This story actually is the second-most developed after the ApocAU. I have over 50k words of private notes on just this crossover, hence the long summary.

Backburner AUs:

these alternate universes are either side projects, not in active development, or are not being worked on much at the time of writing.

GTA AU:

gratuitous violence AU. humanized. Doc adopts Mater and McQueen as children after their parents are killed in a blackmail situation, and raises them both as his own. Problem is... Doc is the Crime Boss of Los Angeles... And sometime near their 30th birthday, Mater, Sally, and McQueen inherit it all after Doc is suddenly killed. And it only gets worse from there when people like Jackson Storm seize the power vacuum and nearly kill McQueen, running him out of LA... But not before a civilian named Cruz sees too much and gets trapped in their web of violence.

Demon AU:

humanized. Medieval+fantasy themed. [this summary is slightly inaccurate because this au hasnt been worked on since 2018 and i dont remember it well]. every ten years, the Demon King selects a new Demon to lord over the realm of Earth for him granting them power and control over all other demons. Lightning, a young demon attempting to survive his first challenge, crash-lands in a small village on his way to the demon king and is taken prisoner. Instead of executing him... the villagers are kind to Lightning [especially the innkeeper Sally]. Slowly, the ultimate power he sought becomes his enemy, and he rejects his duties as a demon, sacrificing his magical abilities with it. Ten years later, Lightning is nearly killed by a younger demon named Storm. Permanantley disfigured, Lightning just wants to keep living peacefully in his village... But then a demon hunter named Cruz shows up to kill him. After she fails, they realize they have a common enemy in Storm... [old art]

Bastard AU: [Canon Divergence]

In his mid forties, Lightning discovers that he has an adult daughter, a result from his party days. Shes already a racer; and she wants absolutely nothing to do with him for fear off being overshadowed by his legacy. But the press has already caught wind of their secret, and theyre forced to face the music.

Racer!Oliver AU:

OC/fanparent Oliver McQueen as a racecar in the 80s/90s, toting his son Monty along for a destablized trackside childhood. Monty still grows up to be Lightning... and he's a better racer in every way. But a better man? Well, that remains to be seen...

The Blender: [CROSSOVER OF 2 AUs]

Crack AU. The fankids from the Salqueen bitlets AU get sucked into the Apocalypse AU, and Apocalypse!Lightning winds up in their timeline in their place. The kids learn about The Horrors in looney tunes fashion, and Lightning is retraumatized to see everything he lost in the 'good timeline'... Despite it all, he's determined to actually return to the Apocalypse- there are still cars depending on him there.

The Pirate AU

Humanized, POTC themed sort of. This one i dont remember much either, as i plotted it out in 2018 or so. Captain McQueen's ship is sunk by Captain Hicks- and his first mate, the loyal Mack, is able to keep his young captain from drowning in the stormy seas- but in the chaos, theyre separated. McQueen is found and taken aboard by the RS Stanley, helmed by Captain Hudson, who'd rather send his new prisoner off the plank. Pirate stuff and friendship occurs idr. Eventually, they take down Hicks, reunite with Mack, and McQueen becomes the new captain after Hudson dies. Later, Admiral Jackson Storm has become obsessed with the infamous RS Stanley crew, and sets out with the Navy to take McQueen prisoner- and have him publicly executed.

Time Travel AU

another really old AU i dont remember much of. Humanized or not, both versions exist. The premise is post-Cars 3 Lightning gets trapped 12 years in the past. This was an early precursor to the Revived!Doc AU above.

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WHEW! I just keep making AUs, huh? Well, it's been 20 years since Cars came out, its bound to happen. Clearly its also very fun!

I also write/draw plenty of canon-compliant+adjacent fic, and i even have my own canon-aligned pre and post-canon storylines.

Canonverse:

Origin Era

my personal "backstory" for Lightning McQueen's childhood/adolescence. focuses on childhood neglect, texas culture, the city of dallas, and my fanparent-OCs Oliver McQueen and Donna Ann Steeldust and their fraught relationship. How did little Monty wind up as 'mr. one-man-show', skirt by undiagnosed, and get so emotionally attached to Doc later in life? it all starts here!

Prequel Era

This is my personal rewrite on the pre-canon material we have regarding how Monty became Lightning. this is a short span of time in his late teens/early 20's as he starts his racing career, meeting characters like Carl, the smell-swell team, and eventually, his first fan: Mack! [Ao3 fic. Quite old and in dire need of a rework, even if i had 4 chapters complete in 2018 and never posted them.]

Sequel Era

Post-canon. "At the end of Cars 3 (and COTR), Lightning said he would 'keep racing'. What does that entail?" This "Cars 4" style story follows Lightning, now under the Dinoco brand umbrella, fighting to prove himself to the racing world and end his career on a higher note than utter defeat. Problem is, 'his' way of doing things is not Mr. Dinoco's way of doing things, and Lightning has to agree to try something new... ...Which means working with a crew chief who isnt Doc. After nearly a decade of running his team/strategy out of his own head WHILE driving, Lightning meets his new crew chief; the level-headed Roger Tappet, a massive pickup truck with his own glory to chase. Theyre forced to become a team, lest both their careers end in utter ruin. Both of them have served themselves a seemingly impossible task. But it doesnt look good for the underdog Team 95 as the 2019 season starts with a bang... and the hits keep coming! [Ao3 series]

Mentioning these because sometimes these events/characters still contribute to some of the AUs above, and alternate universes arent everyone's cup of tea; i cover plenty of ground!

maybe i need a canon-compliant tag too... hmm...

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Alright! that's my June 2025 roundup on all of my Cars Alternate Universes and other headcanons/storylines. Some of these have been in development on and off since 2018, but about 1/3rd of them are from 2024.

Once again, a lot of the lore and series towards the top of this post are ideas conceived by or written alongside @youhavehitawall as a writing partner. Send love their way too!!

If you read this far, thank you for your time! My askbox is always open if you have thoughts/comments/questions about my work, drop by anytime :3

my Art Tag my Fic Tag Ao3

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Inktober day 8! I wanted to do at least one greyscale drawing, doc was perfect for it!

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Try to find every hidden critter in the first art🐸 Also, they did have fun and even flew around together And the aftermath of having fun is here... A lot of things in Hedwig/Yadwiga's Borderlands AU and her relationship with Vaughn is based on the relationship between my husband and I. And today we have another anniversary, so I'm posting these arts to honor it. (the in-game look is a result of me messing around with 3Dmodels + drawing; expression sheets are based on my Disney art studies; the last two arts is how I drew them 8 years ago and now xD) You can read about the characters here More comics and other arts can be found by the Pticenoga hashtag The biggest compilation of art with them + all the new stuff is here

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wanna redo this with my angel oc and her pickup truck boi toy

Dance like a bird - it works Vaughn's and Hedwig's idea of fun includes goofy dancing with each other. Plus Vaughn is respectful to Hedwig's quality beetle time I drew this mini-animation recently and decided to make a post with a couple of other dancing arts. Some of them are pretty old, but I've freshen them up a little bit. Also, I do have a pet Goliath beetle IRL

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Trying to save up for a new TV Paint software so I can finish this and work on more animations but for now, have the cleaned up animation of the Pixar Cars/Wedding Crashers animation I’m working on for fun!

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hicks but even more box

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🪖🌼they so cute

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idk, I was inspired by visual novel character illustrations

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https://archiveofourown.org/works/66246577/chapters/170779315

Have You Got It in You? by Wolver_bean Rating: T Wordcount: WIP and climbing Summary: Anthology-style Oneshot Collection for our Cars Apocalypse AU

Chapter 1 Summary: After a night of battle, Cruz checks in on one of the Oiltown refugees.

I made a oneshot collection for shorter apocau stuff hooray!!! 3 more chapters are already written and will post after i edit them.

nonlinear timeline, warnings per chapter, additional tags to be added

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I made a thing.

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Life RN

Finding it hard to stay motivated to work on art and writing...

Link to the fic if anyone's interested:

A03 link

FF.N link

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so I was just standing in the line to buy some water when

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If you see this on your dashboard, reblog this, NO MATTER WHAT and all your dreams and wishes will come true.

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Tex x Sterling comms for @lucidollie ❤️ always a pleasure to draw them!