#also either I lost her blaster or she didn’t come with it as an error

[catcake24]

I HAVE THE TWINS

I’m sure I got the same size class for both toys but WOW does twitch look out of proportion with thrash lol

It isn’t too bad - it’s mostly that Thrash’s head looks a bit small compared to twitch, but I love posing them together anyways 😊😊😊

[nevertheless-moving]

I always have mixed feelings about Jedi!Leia, like, on the one hand, she’d be SO powerful, and that’d be so cool to see. Literally all I wanted as a kid was to see Leia kick some ass w/ the Force, AND SHE COULD. She’s literally the embodiment of protective instincts and justice. But on the other hand, she’d be SO POWERFUL, and Leia is... an angry person. She has every right to be, too, but that kind of thing doesn’t vibe well with ‘partially-trained powerhouse’. But then on the other side of THAT, her NOT using the force feels like denying an important part of who she is and what she could do, and Leia is the sort to do EVERYTHING SHE CAN for those she loves and feels responsible for.

Do you think she’d do the responsible thing (Anakin could never) and more or less give her powers a hard pass, or do you think she’d figure out some way to make them work for her?

There are a lot of ways to channel the force, right? 

Jedi Knights are trained in the most obviously badass methods, with the clearest physical impacts. But the jedi order had other branches (and I realize canon's probably a mess about those so good thing im overwhelmingly informed by fanon).

I think wanting to be a jedi knight is similar to wanting to be a firefighter or cop- it's a job that's description involves saveing people and ALSO comes with the chance to kick down a door. That's appealing, and necessary sometimes. But unfortunately not all problems can be solved by breaking a window dramatically with a chair, and fortunately there are other ways to do good.

So we've got medicorps- force healing and using that understanding of the living force to direct medical research.

Exploracorps- these are the jedi who probably use the force most in the way that untrained forcesensitives do, but on purpose. the successful spacers are the ones who listen to their 'instincts' and 'gut feelings' when 'something' tells them to drop out of hyperspace now or approach that stranger over there. There's an energy field that binds the universe together. People who listen to it when it's loud or follow it when its twisting around something are probably going to be more successful in general, and that edge is going to be most OBVIOUS in high risk professions.

We've got agricorps-  and kriff as someone whose done hands on conservation and farm work isn't that one dreamy. A trained jedi who can just reach their hands into a layer of soil and over the course of a year speed up nitrogen fertilization and healthy root growth and all those other things that might take a hundred years to make a noticeable impact DAMN. I'm not saying it's as cool as being a knight, backflips and laser swords are objectively cooler but it's definitely as HELPFUL if not way more so.

And then educorps and diplocorps right? That last one might be fandom so let's talk educorps- how do you use the force to teach? If i could read a kids mind to understand what they didn't understand sure maybe it would be creepy but it would honestly be more helpful and less fucked up then all the impacts of repeated testing! Do you have any idea how much less stressful your education would have been if you never had to take a test because your teacher just KNEW what you were struggling with and partnered you with another student and overt the course of a conversation it all clicked into place? If you could just clear the bad vibes out of a classroom with a wave of your hand when something scary happened in the community, allowing children in low income areas to critically think and learn without the interference of a prolonged stress response, thus giving them the opportunity to excel in the way their core world peers do? Karking one generation of psychically enhanced education, just doing that alone, could lift a planet out of institutional poverty.

And then diplomacy, politics. I'm not sure if this a cadet branch of the jedi order or LITERALLY their primary role prior to disenfranchisement and conscription. Either way it's leia's chosen profession pre and post original trilogy, and I'm gonna say she could ABSOLUTELY be doing that as a trained jedi.

Well as trained as any jedi can be at that point in the timeline.

There's one really good au out there about crechemaster anakin. And honestly? If you have severe trauma and anger issues, your culture should probs be encouraging you towards pursuing a career that does not include violence. Maybe before their numbers were depleted and conflicts became increasingly violent, the most volatile jedi were encouraged as far from physical ass kicking as possible, not out of exclusion, but because it's only going to make their problems worse, while creating brand new problems for everyone else. The tendency of the culture I live in to encourage people with violent tendencies to become cops and soldiers has CAUSED SOME ISSUES FOR EVERYONE, INCLUDING THE COPS AND SOLDIERS. Look there's no such thing as a rule that's perfect for everyone but as far as healthy outlets for agression go, vulnerable people in high risk situations are really low on the list. 

Yeah so jedi leia would probably be taught how to Not accidently on purpose kill people with her brain by willing their spaceships to crash into asteroids or screwing with their blasters in a firefight so they consistently miss, or all the other ways she unintentionally but gleefully force murdered people in the original trilogy. 

And then she'd be taught to use her skywalker-bullshit-level powers for politics. 

And holy SHIT.

Do you know how many problems are caused by miscommunication? In international security theory, rational actors pretty much ONLY go to war because of unavoidable communication errors. If you could have a trusted neutral party guaranteeing treaties with demonstable magic SO much less military spending would happen. I'm sorry but that is LITERALLY how the vatican became a political powerhouse. As it lost its credibility, so many wars happened. So many.

And that's just one of the big most clear cut things.

Domestic politics? Government reform? Jedi politicians would be INSANE. I - look.

When a policy workgroup is trying to make a change in a democratic society they genuinely try to use mind tricks. Fearmongering is the easiest- imagine if the nra was able to put a little force suggestion behind the idea that criminals were trying to break into your home and murder your family and if you give up your gun then only criminals will have guns. You're already scared- and now there's a supernatural element pushing it along. 

On the other side of the political spectrum, again, the most successful campaigns uh, also involve fear, the left is just less good at structuring the entire argument in those terms (shame is the more common go to). Pushing the fear that anyone could get sick and lose everything, even you. You could get cancer and lose your job and then you wouldn't have insurance so that's why EVERYONE needs government health insurance. Shaming anyone who does racist shit publically was so effective that racist people started getting so quiet that they accidentally raised way less racist children. 

A jedi would be unbelievably  effective with the 'negative' emotion public outreach, but that might be darkside stuff. 'righteous' emotion driven social change does happen sometimes, compassion is at start of most human rights movements.  

Tho not going to lie anger and shame is kindof what keeps those movements going so...

Jedi Politician Leia using vaapad to reshape the galaxy? 

[the-odd-job]

A primeverse drabble of Sideswipe confusing Jack with genders (I guess the kids haven’t yet learned Cybertronians have no concept of genders) and being kinda overpowered, on account of being a Shockwave made supersoldier and all that. Written while half dead and not proofread so I apologize for any and all weirdness and errors.

“I just landed on Earth. I would really appreciate it if you could tell me where the local Autobot base is, before the ‘Cons find me.”

There were some confusing signals here. On one hand the red Cybertronian down on one knee in front of them, smiling an easy, friendly smile, had a high, young, feminine voice, thin waist, and wide hips. But on the other, their facial features weren’t altogether fitting for a female, and their shoulders were broad. It was a confusing dichotomy, when so far all the mecha they’d met had fallen pretty easily in one of two camps: mech, or femme. Male or female, as it was. This one—Sideswipe, they’d introduced themselves—broke the norm set by everyone else, and Jack felt a lot like he shouldn’t even try to fit them to a specific box because really, gender was a complicated thing and not everything fit into neat boxes– “You don’t have the Autobot insignia,” Raf pointed out, pushing his glasses higher up on his nose. Jack focused back on the rest of it at that and quickly scanned the red mech’s frame. And it was true, there was no insignia to be found anywhere on her (his?) frame, only an empty space at the center of her chest that looked like it should’ve held an insignia. That was… A little odd. The femme glanced away at that, shifting uneasily. “There were some… Circumstances that forced me to get rid of it. You know, to save my skin,” she shrugged. “What kind of circumstances?” Miko asked, taking a step closer. There was challenge in her voice, demanding answers, an explanation. “It’s war out there,” Sideswipe sighed in answer, looking weary despite her youthful voice. “And you’re not always in the position to fight. I had to pass off as a Neutral for a while, so… Bye bye markings of the faction I actually belong to.” Seemed… Reasonable enough, at least to Jack’s very lacking knowledge of what interstellar politics were like. Or was it intergalactic? He wasn’t quite sure how far their friends had actually come from. Miko frowned, but she didn’t have too much of an argument either. Other concerns existed, though. “How do we know you’re actually an Autobot?” Raf asked. To their surprise, Sideswipe outright laughed at that. It was a pretty pleasant sound. “What else would I be?” she asked, giving them a lopsided smile. And it was true, her bioights and optics were blue, like Autobots’ were, and like Decepticons’ really weren’t. Jack shared a glance with Raf and Miko. They’d still need to talk to their ‘Bots before they could just tell a stranger where the base was, but– A sudden roar of engines was followed by the sounds of three different transformation sequences. “Jack! Raf! Miko! Get away from him!” Bulkhead’s voice rang out behind them and they all turned to look to see their guardians running towards them. Urgent, almost… Fearful? Him? Sideswipe? A soft hiss of pistons had them glancing back at the red mech, who rose back to his pedes. And it was only now that they could really appreciate how tall he was. He towered over Arcee, even over Bumblebee. Only Bulkhead could match his height. All of this… Probably meant Sideswipe wasn’t an Autobot after all. That suspicion was confirmed when the color of his optics suddenly changed, bleeding from blue, to purple, to red. Starting from his helm the color bled along his biolights, blue slowly draining to give way to devilish red. This was bad. “Run. Run!” Jack yelled at his two human friends, urging them both into motion ahead of himself, and together they bolted towards their guardians. And then behind them, coming to a stop only when Arcee, Bumblebee, and Bulkhead were all securely between them and Sideswipe. But the red mech didn’t even try to pursue them, merely straightened himself… Lifted his chin. A smile was playing on his lips, and he looked utterly unconcerned with the fact he was outnumbered three to one. “Ha! Sideswipe doesn’t stand a chance! Better run, ‘Con!” Miko whooped. Jack wasn’t so sure, and from the look on his face, neither did Raf. “What are you doing here, Sideswipe?” Arcee asked, snarling. Sideswipe shrugged, closing his optics demurely. “I heard Megatron was here on Earth. Figured the action would be with him.” “Well, you’re not welcome here,” Bulkhead growled, and it was really, really getting to Jack how relaxed Sideswipe remained. He had no right to be in the face of three warriors as skilled as their guardians were. They kicked ‘Con aft on the regular! “That’s just rude,” Sideswipe sighed, deigning to look at the lot of them again. “I think Megatron would disagree.” Three engines revved before the Autobots on the scene attacked. Arms transformed into blasters; Bulkhead went to close the distance for some good old melee pummeling. Sideswipe’s smile never wavered. And yeah, Sideswipe was as tall as Bulkhead was, but he was considerably lighter built. He was no Breakdown. Despite that, the red mech moved to meet Bulkhead’s charge, and… Swords extended from his arms. And kept extending. And kept extending. And kept extending until they almost brushed the ground. It wasn’t the quick shink that the blades of ones like Optimus and Arcee came to play with. This was slow, methodical—for show, almost. Sideswipe deftly avoided the blaster fire aimed at him, reached Bulkhead, and then they clashed. Except, it wasn’t the epic smashdown it was supposed to be. It wasn’t two titans coming to blows. Bulkhead undoubtedly had brute strength on his side, but Sideswipe moved like quicksilver, always staying two steps ahead of Bulkhead’s attacks, always evading every crippling blow he should have taken. And those swords he had… Slag, you’d have thought their length would be a problem, make them unwieldy. But their slow introduction into the battle was nothing but show, he was sure of that much now. Sideswipe proved well enough that he could both extend and retract them in seconds by doing just that. Every time his swords should’ve gotten in the way, they suddenly disappeared, only to reappear a moment later. And more often than not, that ended with cuts on Bulkhead that the green mech couldn’t block because of the unpredictability and sheer speed Sideswipe employed. Arcee joined the fray, and that should have tipped the scales. Arcee was a fast fighter too, and together her and Bulkhead should have had well enough destructive prowess to bring down any common ‘Con. Except Sideswipe wasn’t common, was he? He was like a dancer when he moved between Arcee and Bulkhead, smooth in every motion—blocking, moving out of the way, attacking to a devastating effect. Bumblebee couldn’t get shots in without risking hitting his comrades, so he went melee also. Three on one. For real, in close quarters. And it never stopped looking like Sideswipe had the upper hand. How was he that fast anyway? It looked almost unnatural—until Jack noticed the bit of heated air that accompanied every particularly fast motion.

Could a mech have jets built into them to enhance their movement speed..? Sideswipe never once lost his smile, despite cutting bleeding gashes into their guardians with his blades that appeared and retracted at a punishing pace. Bumblebee’s leg was almost severed. Arcee got a deep cut across her abdomen. Bulkhead was littered with wounds even his armor couldn’t protect him from. Miko didn’t look so confident anymore. In fact, he was pretty sure horror was reflected on all their faces as they watched the slow obliteration of their friends. He wasn’t… Slag, he wasn’t even sure Sideswipe was all that serious. He made it all look so effortless, like he wasn’t even trying.

He was seriously getting worried they were about to watch their guardians get killed, or at the very least, severely incapacitated, but then, a space bridge opened behind them. They glanced over their shoulders to see Optimus walk through the spinning portal, and relief flushed his veins. There was no way even Sideswipe could stand up against Optimus Prime. Right? “Sideswipe,” Optimus rumbled with a clear note of displeasure. The fight broke off, their injured friends retreating a few steps away as the Prime approached. Sideswipe didn’t try to continue the fight and straightened back to his full height, carelessly flicking some energon off the end of his left hand sword. “Optimus. Long time no see,” he smiled, and could he not freaking stop smiling?

“Does Megatron know you’re here?” Optimus asked, coming to stand beside his comrades. The red mech just shrugged, glancing away and rocking on his heels—not answering. What did that mean? That the Decepticons didn’t know about him? Could that mean he could be captured without the ‘Cons being none the wiser to it? Or killed, even? “Sideswipe, I cannot let you harm my soldiers, or the humans,” Optimus said. “I believe you are a threat if left be.” Sideswipe made an amused sound. “Can’t really disagree with that,” he said with a wry grin, and now Jack could get a good look at his fangs. Definitely a Decepticon through and through. How had they gotten fooled even momentarily? “But,” the red mech continued, inspecting his swords, “I can’t just go quietly, can I?” A shiver ran up Jack’s spine at the words. Sideswipe lifted one of his arms, pointing his sword at Optimus. The threat was clear as day. Did that mean Sideswipe was powerful enough to challenge even Optimus? No, not just Optimus, but Optimus, Arcee, Bulkhead, and Bumblebee? That couldn’t be. There was no way that could be. And maybe it wasn’t, because a vortex opened up behind Sideswipe too, and– Through walked a mech with near identical frame design, only this one was colored in bright gold. “I’m not late, am I?” he asked, and if Sideswipe’s voice was high, the new mech’s was deep, rough, traveling to his core and all but shaking it. “There’s two of them?!” Miko whispered urgently, and Jack knew what they all were thinking. If this new arrival was as strong as Sideswipe was appearing... “Not late at all, Sunny,” Sideswipe smiled, glancing at his near-copy when he came next to him. “Not late at all.”

[lisjonok]

Do the OC thing, all the things, for Baezil. :D

As soon as I saw you sent an ask I knew it’d be ALL THE THINGS for Baezil!!

Behind a cut because this got long (I can ramble).

1: What’s your OC’s biggest insecurity and how would they react if someone pointed it out to them?

Baezil's biggest insecurity is his Obsessive Compulsive Disorder -- and, to a much lesser extent, his anxiety and paranoid tendencies. He's had a marked improvement in the past decade or so and currently only his spouse is aware that he has this issue and works with him on it.

It's absolutely not something that he likes getting out or being noticed or pointed out by anyone, however. If it is, Baezil goes sort of "silent angry" and partially shuts down or gets pretty short with the person. He'd end all current communication with them and either dismiss them or leave the scene, himself, as smoothly as possible.

This is a lot better than how he was perhaps fifteen to twenty years ago. Baezil was much more prone to emotional outbursts and low-key tantrums. He's worked very hard on his temper.

Unfortunately, it's rare that he'd stop and explain to the offender on what they did to upset him unless they're his spouse or other very close friends or family.

2: If your OC wants to buy a firearm, what it might be for?

Baezil has a rifle and a blaster. Both are for work. He wouldn't otherwise have a weapon.

3: Does your OC behave differently around different people, if so with whom and how?

Absolutely. In public and around most people he doesn't know, Baezil is very formal, damn reserved on personal opinions about anything aside from work, and refrains from showing too many emotions. A small, polite smile is the most one will get. He uses titles only and will correct anyone he doesn't consider a good friend, family, or spouse. He'll only discuss his work and literally nothing else. Baezil probably overcompensates with formalities and politeness because he finds social interaction to be confusing and frightening at the best of times. 100% plants.

Good friends and family get a considerably more relaxed and personable Baezil. He'll smile, will lightly laugh at jokes (even if he doesn't understand the joke, which is nearly always). He'll actually talk about himself/his family. If upset about something, Baezil will still be disinclined to express it and will either push that away temporarily or remove himself from a situation if it's too bad. Maybe, like, 80% plants.

And lastly, a Baezil only his spouse and children see (maybe just his spouse right now, as he had a slightly rocky relationship with his first daughter). He'll ask him to explain jokes to him; even if that "ruins the joke" Baezil would much rather just understand what it was. He relaxes and is much more open with expressing himself, both positively and negatively. Still a lot of plants.

4: Would your OC want to involve themselves in humanitarian work? If yes, then for what? If not, then why not?

Oh, definitely! In the broader sense, his botany project is all about making plant-based medicine and produce more accessable in a variety of difficult climates.

As for immediate relief, Baezil would lend his medical expertise to a situation if they were short on volunteers.

5: How would your OC generally react to someone being verbally abusive towards them for no apparent reason?

Honestly, he would do his best to remove himself from the situation and then agonisingly analyse it for hours or days afterwards to try and figure out how and when he offended the person.

If he can't leave, he'll get defensive and possibly a little aggressive until he can leave.

6: Does your OC have a realistic image of their own intelligence?

Baezil is pretty sure that he's a genius in the realm of botany. And that's it. He believes he's pretty damn inept just about everywhere else.

BTW, not a genius as in egotistical and always correct, but as in he's very knowledgeable and creative within that field, as well as someone who can make errors and is welcome to critique.

7: Does your OC have any irrational phobias?

Not really.

8: How is/was your OC’s relationship with their parents?

Frustrating at the best of times and antagonistic at the worst, mostly in terms of his father who was very controlling and bordering on abusive towards him. His father had recently apologised and they made amends, slowly working towards a better understanding and relationship.

His mother was significantly kinder and more open to Baezil exploring and expressing himself as he preferred but...she, too, didn't understand him too well. Trying to reign her son in always proved to be a fight and she rarely, if ever, spoke up for him when her husband picked on him. So, they both considered Baezil to be a difficult child who has outbursts and rebelled against everything ever.

9: Does your OC feel a pressure to achieve or are they content and calm with doing what they can at the moment?

That was literally all Baezil did until just recently. But, getting older, and marrying Thistles and finally settling down with a permanent home, have helped shift some of his desires from being purely a workaholic to calming down a bit and enjoying other things.

Being promoted to captain and given a science ship with a research team also helped.

10: Does your OC guard their emotions by being tough? If not how would they?

That was Baezil up until maybe his mid-30s. Now he just buries them pretty deep and only lets Thistles see them.

11: How would your OC react to hearing they’re adopted?

His parents would still be his parents since they raised him, obviously, but he would be a little relieved not to be biologically related to his father.

12: What is one of the most primary things your OC feels that is missing from their life?

It used to be family (with children, specifically), but given that he has Thistles now and they're planning children it's something he's excited for and not a thing he's missing.

13: What kind of situations does your OC avoid the most?

Most large social gatherings or events, especially if there are Sith present.

14: If your OC gets into a fight with their best friend, would they wait for their friend to make up with them, or would they try to make up with their friend?

Given that Baezil's best friend is also his husband, I think it'd be a race as to which one of them will make up first. But, Baezil's definitely not the type to wait for apologies; he'd go ahead and do that in nearly every situation because he never believes his reaction is the correct one.

(Honestly they got into a very mild argument once and Baezil apologised for getting upset)

15: Does your OC consider themselves a good person?

Generally, yes.

16: Is your OC good at giving others validation of their feelings and making them feel understood?

Baezil's pretty empathetic and understanding of people who get upset but he doesn't necessarily...understand why people may become upset or react in certain ways to things. He'd definitely try his best to give advice, but in the past this has always turned out to be pretty useless.

17: Does your OC suffer from any mental health issues?

He has diagnosed OCD, for which he had therapy and has worked very hard on making manageable. His anxiety and paranoia go hand in hand with that.

Baezil also suffered from depression for...probably the majority of his life. As that was brought on by outside elements, it's improved significantly in the past few years as those elements have either been resolved or are being resolved.

18: What kind of intrapersonal values does your OC have? (values about their self, what makes them feel like a valid person)

...Uh. He's still working on this.

19: What boosts your OC’s confidence the most?

When Thistles tells him he did a Good and when his botany experiments come back with good results.

20: Does your OC hurt others often unintentionally? If yes, how?

Baezil is always extremely worried that he'll hurt someone as he's definitely done so in the past, either with insensitive comments about aliens or just being very blunt in a situation that had apparently required a more gentle approach.

Hence, one of the many reasons he's very restrained in most social situations.

21: Does your OC hurt others often intentionally? If yes, how?

No... Okay, other than a few fights he intentionally picked in his youth, he doesn't.

22: How does your OC usually show affection? Are they openly romantic or more restricted with their affectionate emotions?

Baezil wants and tries to show affection more openly but he's: A) incredibly inexperienced and is, as a result of that, very shy and somewhat embarrassed, and B) worries that he'll do something Wrong that would hurt or upset his spouse somehow.

It's not all bad, though; he can give Thistles hugs and kisses without internally freaking out.

23: Does your OC tend to hide something about their personality/essence when meeting new people? If yes, what?

Refer to questions 1 and 3!

He absolutely does not, however, hide that he's a giant botanist nerd who cares about plants more than he cares about most people.

24: How would your OC react if they got humiliated by someone in a group of people?

Oof. He'd literally flip a table, yell at someone, and leave.

25: How would your OC process the grief caused by the death of a loved one?

Briefly: depression, reclusiveness, and alcohol.

For longer: work, work, work.

26: What is the most intense thing your OC has been battling with?

Honestly, probably trying to understand himself, his identity, and coming to terms with it.

27: Does your OC practise any kind of escapism? If yes, what kind?

Work. So much work. He's much better now, but he used to just work all of the time and would sometimes not even return home to sleep at night.

28: How would your OC react if a bully stole their lunch money in high school?

He would have tried to fight them. He would have also lost.

29: How does your OC behave in the face of a conflict?

Baezil sets out to try to resolve the conflict, taking any possible safe routes before getting more aggressive/

30: What makes your OC defensive quickest?

Saying his work is bad and not giving any evidence of it. Oh boy, would they be in for a lecture.