#and its nothing like idw i promise

[oozeofthecovenant]

the many faces of ootc honeycutt

[sonknuxadow]

The mandates were created to prevent an Archie 2.0 fiasco from happening.

im not really sure what the tone of this ask is supposed to be but i Know that ken penders and the particularly bad parts of archie sonic are the reason sega acts the way they do with the current comics and im not against sega having rules and being strict with the characters? ive read archie sonic ive seen what can happen when people are just allowed to do whatever they want with no input from sega and i do not want a repeat of that at all. the only rules that i know about and actually have a problem with are the ones that require shadow to be sonics asshole rival who has no friends and the one that says sonic isnt allowed to show much negative emotion

[emotionallyattachednerd]

Eternal Soul | IDW Rodimus/Hot Rod x f!human reader | NSFW 18+

Word count: 3500+

Warnings: Smut ( oral, sex, size difference and first time ) and robot on human. NSFW 18+.

Notes: Don't mean to sound creepy, but I enjoy the virgins. Something fun about first timers. Thanks @lonetile for sending through. Sorry for the wait. Once again, like many times before, I went a little crazy with the length of this. Hope you all enjoy. 🥰

☕ Coffee

Being the only human on the Lost Light crew was very exciting, but also hard, though you managed to find some sort of adjustment over time and to fit in with the new species. There is something though that has been on your mind, and you wish you got it done and over with before leaving earth.

You're still a virgin.

The last thing you want is to be a forty year old virgin, not that you were close to that age, but you didn't know just how long you were going to be away or if you were ever going to return to earth. It made you feel weird, and you wish you just hooked up with someone just to get the deed done.

Everyone was great, big, but allowed you to fit in. Each one has their own personality, different characters, but only one stood out. Rodimus is quite the charmer, silly, very flirty with you, and you find yourself falling for his charms.

At first you took it as his type of character, it's how he speaks to a lot of people, but over time you realise the tone difference when he's around others or around you, it's more smoother, husky even.

You never even imagined to be attracted to another species, yet here you are, almost drooling over the sight of Rodimus. Then it happens, he invites you back to his quarters, to talk more in private.

It gets more difficult though when he suddenly downsizes himself. Still large, but closer to your size. Apparently their species can do this and they call it mass displacement. The very sight of him like this gives you very sexual ideas but you force yourself to put these in the vault, for now at least.

Another thing that surprises you is the amount of comforts and silks he has on his berth. You didn't think his species had such things, then again you're still learning about them. More things will probably surprise you along the way.

"Are you alright? You look uncomfortable?" You're snapped out of your thoughts when you hear Rodimus speak right beside you, and you realise that you've been quiet, you probably look so stupid.

"Oh! I'm fine..."

"Sure, you look completely fine." Rodimus chuckles lightly. Damn that laugh. "Come on, you can tell me anything. I promise to keep all your deepest and darkest secrets to myself." He sends you that upturn charming smirk.

"Yeah, right." You can't help but snort softly through your gentle laughter before clearing your throat nervously. "Just...alright, look, you've been really nice to me the moment I arrived, helped me fit in and even spent time with me. You're...nice."

"What can I say? I'm a terrific guy!" He sits with his legs spread wide, cool guy style, helm tilted and optics directly on you. Jesus Christ.

"Is there a real reason you've been nice to me?" You cross your legs, sitting comfortably on the comforts under you.

"Do I need a reason?" He quickly adds on. "Well, I'm curious about you, don't meet many humans, and I find you rather cute." Its time for you to blush. He chuckles noticing this. "Ah! Even cuter when you get that hue going. Guess my charms truly work on you."

"You have no idea..." You murmur, and finally, you ask. Fuck it. "Sorry if this is weird, but I was wondering, does your species have sex?"

"Yeah!" He chuckles, answering as if it was nothing. "We call it 'interfacing' though. Why do you ask? Do you want to fool around?" There it is again, that husky tone.

"I-I mean...maybe?"

"Great! Let's get it going then!" He's suddenly on top and presses you down onto the comforts, about to kiss you but you stop him.

"Wait" You push against his chassis, panting heavily, slowly trying to recover from what just happened.

"Oh, sorry, too much? Thought we were both wanting the same thing? Or is there a weird human thing I don't know about?" Rodimus rambles as he sits up and gives you a little more space.

"I do! I-I do want that, but there's something you need to know about first, and I don't know how you're going to react."

Rodimus narrows his optics, watching them drift down and up your body. "Are you secretly a male? Because if you are, I'm totally cool with that."

You stare at him, baffled. "What? No, no I'm not. Jesus, don't you have any limits?"

"Not really." He sounds so proud of himself, making you giggle lightly.

"Alright, well, you should know that...I'm a virgin."

Now that's something he wasn't expecting, and ends up staring at you blankly through widen optics. The lingering silence makes you anxious and you meet his gaze, only to notice something in his face. "That turns you on, doesn't it?" Of course it does.

"It very much does. Sure, I've claimed some virgins in my time, but never a human, so I feel pretty damn lucky right now." He hovers over you closely, that charming upturn smirk plastered across his face.

Your nerves slowly start boiling up through you. Sure, you want this, but you are still agitated and processing what you are feeling. You weren't oblivious when it came to sex, you've watched porn, and some friends from earth have told their experiences.

"Scared?"

"A little." You admit through a shy murmur. That spunk is gone from him.

"Listen. I don't want you to feel pressured, so if you want to stop we can. But if we continue, I promise to go slow, whatever pace you want. I'm rather skillful so you've got the best offer here for you." All that smugness is gone and he's being all tender and caring. He understands you're nervous, and is being a real gentleman now.

This is happening, you don't want to back out.

"Alright, I trust you." You manage to answer through your shaky voice.

Rodimus is going to show you the best time possible, leaving no regrets and you only wanting to lay with only him. "Let's try this again."

He leans down again and this time you let him kiss you. It's soft and warm, not what you imagined kissing a robot would feel like, it's oddly delightful, and you lean into the kiss slowly, moving your hand up to caress his cheek.

You feel his glossa running across your lips before dipping between them, coiling with your tongue and letting out a low moan against you. There's a warm metallic taste coming from him, but there's a sweetness in it, surrounding your taste buds and causing you to moan softly in return. Sure, you've kissed guys before, but nothing compared to this kind of kiss. It was very sexual, needy, yet calm.

His servos observe over your body against your tight fitted clothes, sneaking under to touch your warm skin. He breaks apart from the intense kiss, letting out heated vents as optic downcast across your body curiously. "So, maybe you could help me out? Not used to these clothes you wear, kind of new to me."

"Alright." You're still nervous but bottle it up as you proceed to remove your clothes. First your tights, then your tank top, leaving you in your undergarments. Rodimus tilts his helm curiously at you, watching you remove your clothes slowly as he admires every inch of your soft body.

Unhooking your bra you can't help but hold it against your breasts for a moment before finally letting it drop. Then you slip out of your undies, kicking them aside and leaving you baren naked for him. You're flushed, heart hammering, feeling very exposed in his lustful optics, watching them glow brightly against you.

Silently he crawls closer, servos running up against your hip and up over towards your breast. Feeling his soft padded digits against them makes your breath hitch and nipples perk out from the contact.

"So soft." You hear him say through a gentle tone. "These can be played with, right?"

"Yeah..." You can't help but flush in embarrassment, earning an upturn smirk from him.

"I bet you've touched yourself plenty of times." His words cause you to stutter silently, earning a snicker from him. "You're so cute when you blush. Don't worry, I'll take very good care of you."

You find yourself laying down again on your back, Rodimus hovering over your naked body as he skillfully touches you all over, focusing on your breasts as he massages them before leaning over to gently drag his glossa against your perk nipple.

This causes you to arch your back, a surprised gasp leaving you, feeling nothing but the buzzing electric pleasure that rocks through your body. He likes your reaction, smirking smugly at her before taking the whole nipple into his mouth.

A lavish moan erupts from you as he does this, humming around your delicate nipple while circling his glossa around the bud, sucking as if he was a hungry baby. You feel his servo drift down between you both and touch your inner thigh making your skin quiver in delight. You then feel his digit glide up across your soft curls and against your pussy. A sudden shame tightens in your chest and he feels your body tense up, making him stop his movements and let go of your nipple with a slick pop.

"Is this alright?" He proceeds to place a kiss against your shoulder as her shifts himself back up a little. The tender contact makes you give him a bashful smile.

"Yeah. I just...don't want you to think I'm weird and hairy." You don't shave often, seeing no point, but you don't want to feel grossed out by you.

"Nah, not even close. You're an exotic beauty, gorgeous, and you have a seductive vibe that is really making me hot." He sends you a playful smirk. "So, can I continue?"

He's not your average guy, not in the slightest, but you think that's what makes this a little better to relax yourself. He's not one to judge, but to enjoy himself and make sure you have a good first experience. All you can answer with is a nod, and he continues, moving down across your body.

His warm kisses trail down lightly, across your breasts, stomach, moving between your thighs causing your breath to hitch from the tingling contact. His servos smooth against your hips and up over your waist, mouth lingering and heated vents hitting your very core, feeling his lascivious optics looking at you for just a short moment, before you feel his servos spread your thighs wider and his digits parting your pussy lips.

A jittery gasp escapes, feeling yourself exposed makes your body fidget slightly. Sure, you've touched yourself before, but no one has ever touched you like this.

"What a pretty tight flower you have." Rodimus whispers seductively, his dentas nibbling at his lower lip while he admires your fleshy pinkness, so much like a valve much to his delight. It means he knew exactly what to do with you. Leaning closer he gently drags his glossa between your folds and across your sensitive clit, letting out a groan that rumbles from his chassis.

A surprised whine erupts from you feeling him do this, so little yet with a strong reaction, it feels intensely good.

“Oh, I love that sound you make.” He drips out lustfully through a smug smile. "I can't wait to hear what other sounds I'll hear from you." He then moves forward again, nuzzling his mouth against your pussy and starts to lap at you slowly and eagerly, drawing out your sweet juices as you crane your neck back against the comforts and let out short blissful whimpers.

His glossa rolls between your folds before feeling it dip into your tight entrance causing your breath to hitch, mewling softly as he starts to feast upon your pussy and lap at your sweet dew all for himself.

Your hands grip at the comforts you lay under, eyes fluttering close as you spread your thighs more for him, melting under his erotic touches and glossa. This is so much mroe different than touching yourself, it's a thousand times better, a growing pleasure you've never felt before. You love it, every second of it.

Rodimus lets out a lingering moan against you, craving your sweet juices leaking constantly for him, drinking up everything you give him as your hips shimmy under his servos, moving in sync with his glossa.

His lips suddenly latch onto your clit and he sucks hard, causing you to mewl aloud as shivers through your body. Rapid pulses rush through you over again, eyes screwed shut as your mouth hangs open with lingering moans.

Suddenly, he stops, making you pout and causing him to chuckle lightly. "Oh don't worry, I'm not going to leave you hanging for too long." He moves back up and kisses you smoothly, tasting yourself at his lips and feeling his digit prob at your entrance before he pushes in your tight depths.

A whined hiss leaves you against his lips, the stretch is new and you are not used to it, but you try to relax by spreading your legs more and letting your body adjust to his exploring digit curling gently against your inner walls.

"So tight." He says as if he was praising you. "Frag, it's going to be a snug fit for my spike. Getting me really riled up here." Your cheeks bloom red hearing his words tickle against your ear.

"Just...please be gentle." You are worried it's going to hurt a lot, even though you're so aroused, you're still nervous about what is about to happen.

"I'll be gentle, don't you worry. You're soaking wet, so my spike should glide in with ease." He assures you before adding a second digit, stretching you further a little.

Your breath hitches but the pain wasn't so bad as you clench around him, hips moving slightly with his slowly pumping digits as he sucks at your tits again, letting out eager moans against you while you arch your chest up against his warm mouth latched onto you.

"Fuck." You breathe out through a moan, eyes closed as you lick your lips ambition.

Rodimus smiles against your nipple before letting out and gazing up at you. "Oh I love these babies, they are so soft and sensitive. I just want to bury myself in them."

Hearing this causes you to giggle tenderly through your growing arousal. "Yeah? Well, you can play with them whenever you like."

You say it before you think about it, however, he lets out a proud grin. "I was hoping you would say that. For now though, I want to make you mine, and claim your innocence."

There's a sound that confuses you, like metal shifting, then you feel something long and warm running up against your inner thigh causing your breath to hitch before glancing down.

There in plain sight was his cock, or his spike as he would call it, and you can't help but swallow thickly at the size of him. He's so thick! Bumpy ridges cascaded along his length, red luminous lines surrounding, and pink fluids leaks from his twitching tip, running around his spike to drip down onto the berth. You didn't even realise you've been staring so long and hear his playful snickers.

"Am I truly that impressive?" He leans closer as he asks this, caressing your cheek as his spike rests against your pussy.

"Yeah." You admit through a bashful smile. "You're rather big. Will you fit?" You can't help but question.

"I'm sure I'll fit. I have no doubt that you'll be able to accept my spike in your tight body. So, shall I pursue?"

All you can do is nod for your answer, feeling his lips against your own again as you rub your hands over his shoulders, a way to distract you as he positions himself and pushes into your tight entrance.

It's happening. You feel his pulsing length invade your heated core until he is met with resistance, lifts your leg up against his hip before pushing more firmly, and you feel the sharp pain snap through you.

You're no longer a virgin.

The pain wasn't so terrible but it does sting and ache still, feeling him going slow as he pushes further in, feeling his ridged spike pulsing rapidly through your channel while he kisses you slowly and passionately. You moan, both pain and pleasure, and he groans in return while his glossa coils eagerly with your tongue.

Rodimus is now pressed firmly against your pussy, fully imbedded, as he keeps still to savour your tightness clenching around him. You feel so full, which causes you to move your hand down between you bodies and your breath hitches when you feel a bulge against your lower belly caused by his vast spike throbbing in you. He does the same to meet your hand and feels it, making him break the kiss and lets out a lazy grin through his flaming arousal.

"See? You took all of me so well. You're so tight, can feel everything in you, feels fragging, wonderful, tightest valve I've ever had. Are you doing alright?" To hear him ask was kind of him.

"I'm alright..." You whimper out softly. "Please, fuck me, I want to feel it all."

"Have it all you shall have, darling." He says before he starts to move, pulling out gently, noticing the wet crimson along his spike indicating your innocence is no more. He feels rather proud of himself to be able to be your first. Gently, he rolls his waist back in, fully imbedded, and sets a calm pace as he fucks you, groaning lowly repeatedly.

Your legs tighten at his waist while your hands wrap around the back of his neck to hold onto him, soft mewls erupting from you as you feel yourself rock gently under his movements. The pain dulls and you casually now feel only the growing rush of heat flooding through you, feeling your clit rubbing against him with his movements in perfect sync.

The bulge repeatedly expands against your lower belly over again as his spike reaches deep, claiming every bit of you. Your body rocks and shakes under his slowly growing movements, thrusts becoming shorter and firmer, heated grunts formed out from him as he holds a tighter grip against your thigh and hip, watching himself entering your pussy over again. His spike hits your g-spot causing your back to arch sharply.

"Fuck! Oh fuck!" You cry out in bliss, the pounding pleasure boiling rapidly through your hot body, pussy accepting every inch of him as he snaps forward over again. There's no holding back now.

"Fragging pit, feels so good! Sucking me whole, such a good girl. Yeah, that's it, keep clenching. I'll fill you deeply with my fluids, over again, make sure your body drinks everything I give. Do you want that, huh? Want me to frag you always?" His heated vents hit against your neck as he leans closer again, pace firm and hard as he tugs you against his solid movements.

"P-please..." You whimper out as you struggle with your words.

"What's that? Go ahead, tell Roddy what you want." His rough movements are intoxidating, you crave every bit of it, clenching around his throbbing spike even more, feeling your pleasure about to snap.

"You!" You cry out in ecstasy. "All of you!"

"Take all of me then!"

Burying his face into your neck he sets an abrupt and hard pace, jackhammering against your body as he bends your leg up over his shoulder, stretching your body and you love just how much you can flex under his strong movements. He grunts hard into your ear, each thrust creating another animalistic sound from him as you fall apart under him, lust consuming every bit of you and him in the rapid movements, before you feel yourself about to crumble and don't hold back, cumming hard around his thrusting spike buried deep in you.

Your orgasim is what sends him over the edge as he lets out a lingering throat loud moan followed by the warm trans fluids flooding your channel, overlosding himself within you. His movements continue, slowing down and giving small jerks against you so he can savour every bit of you still.

You're a painting mess, moaning as you feel his spike still buried deep with the bulge and fluids embedded deeply, allowing yourself to catch your breath as he slowly comes to a stop.

Rodimus tilts your head and shares a kiss with you, tender and loving kind, before looking deeply into your eyes through his hazy optics.

"So, pretty good right?" That smugness in his voice is cute.

"So good." You answer without lying.

"Think you can handle a second round?" He gives his waist a teasing thrust, spike twitching through your inner channel that makes you whimper softly through a cocky smile. Sure, why not?

"Let's find out."

[beevean]

Honestly, as someone who wasn't a huge fan of Frontiers from a gameplay or story perspective, I couldn't help but feel alienated from the fanbase for a while. People seem to praise it up the ass, and I honestly don't see what their seeing in the game. And often times when you point out criticism, you get responses like "It's a step in the right direction, we should praise it" or "You're not a real Sonic fan if you don't like this"

Are you me? :^)

After all the shit we endured with IDW and its endless, vitriolic discourse about its writing and take on Sonic and Eggman and its "deep" morality (which stopped being deep once Flynn got tired of the discourse, then it became "a book for kids")... Frontiers broke me. Again, I must stress: it's not about the game, because I haven't played it and videos don't make it justice. I can believe it's a fun experience. But the writing is honestly '06 level of bad, mostly for how boring and pretentious the story is.

Where are all these deep, emotional character moments? Where are all these compelling character arcs (that are totally not rehashes of past games)? Where is Sage's depth? Why are we praising Eggman sitting on his ass for 90% of the game and then suddenly developing fatherly feelings when past games made clear that he's only proud of his creations when they make him look good and he's more than willing to abuse them for the slightest transgressions (which Sage has made)?

Then you add the forced references (some of them straight up wrong, like the Neo Metal one), the meta jokes, the completely unnecessary lore that to this day I still don't understand, the underwhelming villain, the wasted conflict of Sonic getting corrupted, the lackluster finale, and the fact that literally nothing happens - which would be fine if this game had a tone more like Heroes or Generations, which were aware that story was their lowest priority, but no, this game wants to be DEEP, a step in the right direction after the EVIL PONTAFF! (I still find very... unprofessional? that Flynn wrote a jab at Baldy McNosehair in one of the Egg Memos. It's not even the first time he does that, he also did it in IDW. I get it man, you think your writing is so much better, "thanks for putting the chili back on my dog" :^) )

So anyway. It got to the point where the praise genuinely made me feel like there was something wrong with me. I don't like IDW, I don't like Frontiers, now I don't see anything promising in Prime - am I a bad Sonic fan? Am I being stripped of something that gave me joy since I was 8? I had to distance myself. I had to keep my few friends close and think about the parts I still enjoy.

It's not the first time I took a "break" from Sonic - the period from 2013 to 2017 was... bad. But everyone else agreed that it was! That's the thing. It's one thing to disagree that SA2 is a masterpiece, because fine, whatever, you can't always agree with the majority. But when it comes to modern material, the majority is so vitriolic and nasty, and I can't deal with it anymore. I'll make my own fandom :\

[platonicphoenix]

Aero's Lore (Partyrockers oc au)

Aero, the guitarist and the silent seeker of her band: the Partyrockers, she was one of the only members without a party-based alt mode.

(this is kind of older writing so sorry if it's lowkey dookie water. content includes violence, some swearing, and Overlord- He's his own trigger warning. This is mainly non romantic, and more of just angsty. Writing and Aero's design beneath the cut vv)

Aero: (rip to the height difference Aero is ~27ft tall and overlord is ~44ft 💀❌️)

Overlord (IDW art):

Aero's p.o.v:

Bombs noises, gunfire, and explosions could be heard from everywhere I was. Disko was setting off explosions on the buildings and watching in joy as organics ran free of their abusive 'owners.' This civilization was known for keeping organics like pets or peasants and torturing them for their sick amusement. It was wrong, it was disgusting. Someone had to punish them.

So Disko and I took that initiative.

The punishment came extra for any Autobots running by. Disko was still loyal to the Decepticon cause, I just follow. Though, nothing is perfect, right? I got caught by the Autobots and detained. Such acts couldn't go unpunished I guess.  How sick though, the Autobots are defending them!?! Those sick bots who treat organics like toys and not sentient beings? What did we even fight for!?!? Disko managed to get away. Whispering into my comn-link that he would come back for me.

Hopefully- I’ll be back. But I was sent to Garrus-9, that horrid prison.

As a few mega-cycles passed by, 'Overlord' came along, rampaging throughout the whole place and leaving only destruction in his wake.

Luckily, I was a Decepticon. So of course, I had been freed from my cell and managed to recover my guitar. (P.S. Aero's modified guitar can unsheathe spikes to use as a melee weapon, and be a gun.)

Although it was 'nice' at the new Garrus-9, I still miss my old band. I still want to escape and get back to Disko, to have a conversation with Partylock again, to take pictures with Barbwire, and to pole dance with Partybomber and teach him the guitar. Also to meet that rat sack of a youngling he illegitimately adopted.

So, to escape. I fought in the arena. I Fought and murdered numerous poor bots just for Overlord's sick amusement and other bots to watch and enjoy. I wanted out.

Hoping Overlord would keep the promise of freedom he made to everyone. I fought and fought until I reached the top, and seized victory by its throat.

The moment I won that final battle, I looked at Overlord straight into his optics and waited, just for him to tell me, "Meet me in my quarters" So I did. I wonder, why did he want me in his quarters? To drink a cup of Engex as a reward or something?

When the time came, I went in. Just for him to say:

3rd person p.o.v:

Overlord: "Welcome, Aero.. that sweet, sweet victory of yours must've felt amazing! Knowing that you now get the chance of freedom, correct?"

Aero nodded, waiting for him to get to the point.

Overlord: "Well… Too bad. 

Aero, my dear. You don't think I don't hear that retched guitar of yours? Every time I try to recharge, I hear the strumming of chords and different melodies! You're lucky, so, so lucky that you're good.. Cause I'm feelin' nice today, so I'll give you a 3rd option."

Aero's p.o.v: 

What was he on about!?? I was confused. Options?? What did he mean by options??

Oh...

Oh, frag…

Oh, fragging no-

Don't tell me...

This slag licker lied???

Overlord: "Fight me, suicide, or... Be a ‘personal music player.’ I wish to hear all sorts of melodies you have in mind.."

WHAT THE FUCK???

my optics widened and I may or may not have a disgusted look plastered onto my face plates.

Overlord: "You see, recently I have been growing bored, bored and stressed and tired. I need something to... Soothe me."

he strummed the chords on my guitar, I jolted back, not wanting to be near this disgusting wrench. Overlord cackled as he watched me jump back.

Overlord: "Oh, don't be so scared... I won't exactly kill you~! Unless, you chose otherwise.. or, frag up.."

I'm so fucked. 

Shit

Shit

Shit

SHIT!

OH FOR FRAG SAKE! I DON'T WANT TO DIE!

IS THAT SO HARD TO FUCKING ASK FOR??

.

.

.

..I held my urge to go batshit crazy on this mech, but this is OVERLORD we're talking about, I would die in an instant. So here I am again, forced to sit and wait for a miracle, as I slowly wilt away and lose my sanity every fragging second.

"I don't want to die." I mumbled "..... I choose the music option, I'll play my music, every melody you ask until I can't..!"

Overlord: "Or until I get bored." he said with a sadistic grin plastered onto his faceplates

Shut the fuck up for fuck sake.

"I'll make sure you won't get bored, music never bores!" 

Hope that wasn't too cheesy...

Overlord: "Oh really?" he chuckled "-and one last thing... You can't leave this room, don't forget. You're supposed to be 'free'." his sadistic wheezing echoed through the room and made my audials sting, almost like the sound of nails on a chalkboard.

This just got even worse. I should've chosen suicide. Too late now! Urgh. Overlord sits on his recharge slab, elbows resting on his knees as he hunches over, and looks at me in the optics.

Overlord: "Well, songbird? What are you waiting for? Get playing."

Songbird?!?! I think I just gagged. I sit on a nearby chair. Tune my guitar, and strum the cords of the first song...

Welcome to your new life Aero!

(P.S. If Aero strums the wrong cord, he would whoop her ass, and Overlord would make sure she isn't dead, just to torture her, and to make this funner. In the Partyrockers Au Overlord is a bit less ‘kill-oriented’, sometimes he takes bots with potential and crushes their will just because he finds it funny.)

(Silly sketch)

[decepti-thots]

I'm having mild A Few Days (Or So) Later Anxiety™ and wanted to add a disclaimer to my comment on the post where you talked about MTMtE/LL being regarded as fanfiction about how I defo think its done to de-legitimize official works (purposefully or not), but that I defo don't think fanfiction isn't a legitimate form of art/writing also? I dunno, I probably have nothing to worry about, but anxiety is Like That sometimes haha. (that said though, your thoughts that you mentioned would be interesting to see I think!)

Haha, well, I'm the one who made the post, so nothing to worry about there, I promise! I don't think you came across as dismissive of fic at all. As you say, talking about how that's why people use that 'accusation' doesn't necessarily mean you agree with the underlying logic.

As for my thoughts…

One thing that frustrates me whenever I try and discuss this is actually something you hit on the head here I think inadvertently- people who write fanfiction (like myself!) often tend to respond with a kneejerk reaction whenever someone says [xyz] isn't fanfic, because we assume, often incorrectly, they must mean 'it's Too Good to be fanfiction'. But that's not the case! Fanfic is as unique as any form of creative work, and saying something like MTMTE isn't fanfic is no more an insult to fanfic than, say, pointing out the Mona Lisa isn't a watercolour painting is an insult to watercolour artists. It's just an observation around what a work is or is not.

I get it- fanfic is often very specifically looked down on just for being fanfic, and we tend to get defensive over things we care about. I've been writing fanfic since I was eight, so over two decades now; it's a huge part of my life and one I don't like people to be unfairly dismissive of. But one of the things which I love about fanfic is that it does certain specific things that other mediums don't or often even can't, and I think describing every bit of remotely transformative work as 'fanfic' really robs us of that nuance.

MTMTE is not 'officially published fanfic' because it is subject to certain editorial requests and constraints that fanfic just… isn't. And this fact massively impacts how it unfolds as a work. The fact CDRW only gradually reveal themselves as a romantic couple is a very blatant example of this. Roberts had to ask IDW's permission to have gay characters. Who in turn had to ask Hasbro's permission. The result is a very gradual amping up of the subtext, and that means the serialized storytelling functions differently than if MTMTE was just his fanwork or whatever. The annotated scripts and notebooks he's given us make all of this very clear- there are numerous points where he's like, 'and then Barber asked me to cut this', etc. In turn, MTMTE received editorial scrutiny and support no fic is likely to, even with the most dedicated beta reader, and is in conversation with other writers' ideas in ways that it can use to its advantage. It is a different comic than a fancomic might be in ways that relate to it being published, and what the process of publishing a comic looks like.

But even beyond that, there are things like what I brought up in that post about 'original characters', for example. In fanfic, the understanding is that OCs are an indulgence in most cases on the part of the author. This isn't always true- but often it is! And that's a good thing, because fanfic is something people should enjoy and be self-indulgent with. But like. In a work like MTMTE, characters like Rung are not introduced purely because the author wants to make a mark on a pre-existing canon or insert themself into the story. They are usually introduced because they are needed narratively speaking. Rung is required for the narrative that Roberts has planned from the very beginning, and he cannot be a pre-existing character within that framework without it fundamentally changing the way the story reads. Similar to, say, characters like Tarn. So when people talk about these characters like they're OCs he somehow snuck into Real Transformers Canon TM, we lose a lot of interesting discussion about what those characters do as pieces of the story, because the assumption becomes 'they are there because Roberts wanted to make his OCs canon'.

And finally, we have this odd feeling that somehow MTMTE isn't 'real' Transformers canon because even its fans treat it like fanfiction turned official and see just the 'fanfic' part of that idea, not the 'official' bit. So suddenly, the only way any of it can be implicitly legitimized is by having stuff show up elsewhere. Like hey, Tarn showing up in Cyberverse was GREAT, but Tarn was a 'real Transformers character' before that. Y'know? Again, fanfic NOT being 'real canon' is literally a part of what makes it great- fanfic, far from being lessened by its non-canonicity, is enriched by the way that changes how it reads to its audience contextually and what it can do. But trying to read MTMTE through that lens makes no sense, and tbh, it feels very much like people are being almost… defensive about liking it in a way I find unnecessary and self-defeating.

And it is reeeeeal telling to me that exRiD does not get this treatment. Aileron is not 'Barber's OC', people do not hedge their bets on its appeal to the broader TF fanbase. You know? Some combination of knowing Roberts used to write fanfic and its content being seen as somehow 'fanfic like' (read: character driven and heavily interested in romance and interpersonal relationships) drives us more towards that view for MTMTE as a fandom.

And just to finish off: I've read a lot more of Roberts' fic than a lot of people in this fandom, I suspect. I can tell you right now, his fanfic and his MTMTE work honestly… don't overlap that much. There are things you can point to, but MTMTE is a completely different ballgame in almost every way. I know it's beating a dead horse and this point to say, but one would not necessarily recommend Eugenesis, for example, to a MTMTE fan. To put it lightly.

[kudosmyhero]

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (IDW) Micro: Villains #5: Karai

Read Date: April 10, 2023 Cover Date: August 2013 ● Writer: Erik Burnham ● Art: Cory Smith ● Colors: Ian Herring ● Letterer: Shawn Lee ● Editor: Bobby Curnow ●

**HERE BE SPOILERS: Skip ahead to the fan art/podcast to avoid spoilers

Reactions As I Read: ● looks like only two of the five students we can easily see were able to "steel themselves against surprise." ● "What were you before you felt this way?" / "Younger." - oof, felt that one ● Karai is an autodidact. she is … really growing on me as a character

● harsh Leo is harsh ● 👏👏👏👏👏

Synopsis: The issue begins at the Foot Clan's genin training facility in Westchester County, New York. The head teacher Toshiro is leading a group in a training session, teaching them the importance of moving in unison. Karai appears and intentionally surprises the group, seeing which students are startled and which are not. She seeks council from Toshiro. Karai tells Toshiro she is unsure of what direction to proceed in; she struggles to accept her new place in the clan (under Leonardo, now a chūnin). She knows she cannot hope to challenge her grandfather Oroku Saki for control of the clan and win, nor can she leave the clan for without it she feels she is nothing.

She tells Toshiro how in her youth her father Oroku Yori told her stories of the Foot Clan's glory and told her to draw strength from the, but saw that it was apparent that he himself did not, having turned the clan into a legion of lawyers and accountants. On one occasion, she saw one of her father's advising subordinates, Nakamura, speak to him with disrespect, and how he brushed it off with the promise of monetary gain. Caught eavesdropping by her mother, she is sent to he library to occupy herself. It is then that she found the Ashi no Himitsu, the book containing all the history and secrets of the Foot Clan. She studied it in secret, learning everything she could. For years she lived a double life: the prim, proper upper class girl her mother wanted her to be by day, and the ninja her father never was by night. One night, Oroku Saki appeared before her in a dream. He compliments her form, good for one with no formal instruction. Saki admires that she does not fear him. Karai says she has nothing to fear from a dream. Saki slashes her across the hand and asks if one feels pain in a dream. She says he is a ghost then, but still shows no fear. She says she plans on bringing the Foot Clan out of the mire her father dragged it into. Saki tells her that they will do it together. He may be dead, but he tells her that she can bring him back to life.

Karai spent the next few years building the clan's resources, recruiting capable bodies to her cause and eliminating those who were responsible for dragging the clan down. Eventually, Karai hunted down Nakamura, the man who she'd witnessed disrespect her father, and killed him. Without him to aid in the running of the clan, her father eventually died of stress.

She laments to Toshiro that after rebuilding the Foot Clan and resurrecting its jōnin, he chose another as his second-in-command. If she has nothing to offer but her past accomplishments, she wonders, what use is she? At that point Leonardo arrives and derides her for coming to whine to an old man, for not having the strength to deal with things on her own. Leonardo says that he was sent to evaluate the effectiveness of the training facility, and he has deemed it nearly worthless. Karai tells him that Toshiro is an excellent teacher but he has not been given enough time to train the new recruits. Leonardo tells Karai that her opinion is worthless, and her only worth to him is in how fast she can do what he tells her to. Leonardo continues provoking her, taunting her with her poor ability to lead. Karai attacks him and Leonardo is pleased, eager to put her in her place. During their fight, Karai realizes that Leonardo's movements are slower, less sure. She knows she could finish him once and for all if she chose to. Karai feigns defeat and Leonardo leaves. Toshiro asks why Karai stayed her hand. She explains that if she had killed him, her grandfather would kill her for disobedience. She knows she must change Oroku Saki's mind about Leonardo first. She vows to have her revenge, and makes the decision to look to the future rather than the past.

Two days later, Karai has gathered potential recruits (two of whom are Bebop and Rocksteady) at Shorai Research & Development, one of the Foot Clan's facilities. She tells them they have all been chosen for their understanding that power is what makes one last in this world. She tells them that there is one final test before making the decision on who will be chosen for the procedure. They will fight until the last two standing.

(https://turtlepedia.fandom.com/wiki/Karai_(IDW_issue))

Fan Art: Leo and Karai by ice-mei

Accompanying Podcast: ● Shellheads - episode 46

[thegeminisage]

doing a dog sidequest in zelda and i STILL cant pet them. got the ember trousers tho!!! i bet the whole outfit rules i cant wait to see it

wait wait these guys found a bottle...dont tell me its another gerudo love letter lol

oooh clues to the fierce deity armor...i found some already but that's COOL. and i gotta come back to get the sword even tho i snagged it with amiibo already lol

i've decided to clean up some shrines i've neglected to do...i promised myself i'd do more story but i never have TIME to sit down and enjoy it!!

this shrine by snowfield stable was absolutely delightful. 10/10. it feels like such a proper zelda dungeon

omg lol the well here is frozen

FAIRIES........man thats so cool. the way their light works in this game is absolutely stunningly beautiful. i wish they came in different colors like oot

always gotta grab a few seeds wherever i am but now it's time for A Different Shrine

i've got maybe 6-7 shrines i activated but did not do, and 2 shrines i did do but didn't get the chest at.....in hebra lol that was early game bs. "oh i want to have fun now i'll get the chests later" the literal devil talking smh

GOT MY LAST STAMINA WHEEL........taking a break 4 now but man am i ever stoked!!! my "being is overflowed with vigor" apparently. nice.

omg i never realized it but yunobo got added to the goron city statue!!

daruk looks like he's dabbing lol (i'm taking a pic of it for a sidequest)

death mountain intimidates me so i'm biting the bullet and heading to lanayru - i'm working my way from hateno up around the south/east side of the mountain. and i guess from there gradually towards kakariko, although i'm saving the ones in kakariko proper for later

IT'S NAYDRA HEY GIRL

good lord that horn went all the way back down to the ocean lol

omg my map says there's a letter in a bottle here...i see it now, but i can't believe i didn't see it when i was getting korok seeds before

i cheated and i know where the cave is, so i'm not gonna follow the brightbloom seeds. i'm going that way anyway on my korok journey and i don't want to do it twice in a row. koroks robbed me of doign this quest organically!! oh well. it's my own fault for looking at "user contributed" on the map lol

dragging my bike around in this cave with me bc my supplies are so desperately low lol. idw it to respawn i JUST made it

oh........................i don't know if i can get it back out lol

i did it!! it would have been less trouble to make a new bike which sort of defeats the purpose but whatever

mapla point, my old enemy...when i had 899 seeds in botw, here was the missing one

i can see the brightbloom seed trail from here! it's quite beautiful actually, especially at night. the reflections on the dark water..........

i wish i could shoot arrows while riding the bike/any vehicle. that would fucking rule

if theres one thing i do like about koroks its how the boulder rolling puzzles from botw became these put the boulder OUT of the hole into the tree puzzles. really good subversion since rolling boulders into holes is now completely doable with ultrahand without any effort or thinking at all. and thank god for that frankly.

i thot maybe this cave guy would turn out to be a yiga but he was legit lol good for him

ok, before i tackle lanayru proper i need more FANS........always out of mf supplies around here smh

the gacha i use for fans also gives out portable pots and flame emitters, at what feels like a higher rate...i don't use flame emitters often but it's nice to know there will never come a time when i'm not able to cook lol

49 fans, but only 9 steering sticks! if only there was a gacha that gave out nothing BUT fans and steering sticks...bc soon i'll have to go load up on THOSE

kinda good that i need fan refills so often tho bc from there i go straight down to this construct camp and then into the mining cave to trade zonaite for crystalized charges AND there's zonaite mining in there...a good thing to do regularly. i don't have as many problems finding zonaite as i do with that middle step of trading it for crystalized charges lol. i kind of wish they hadn't added that in there

ugh, off to lanayru we go.

it's fine. i have snowboots now, and so many fire arrows

WAIT DROP EVERYTHING STAR PIECE

lmao. warp into lanayru warp out of lanayru

oh my god i left at 2:55am i can't BELIEVE i made it in time. thank you, bike. thank you, dark link armor

ugh. ok. back to. lanayru

first stop of COURSE back to the wisdom spring. girl i finally have that claw

done. one down two to go........i have the claws i just never wind up at the springs lol. i never want to go near the quarry again <3

AWWW addison is here shivering in the cold...he says he eats food to deal with the weather conditions but man!!! buddy!!!!!

love it when he gives me muddlebuds. king

accidentally dropped my bike off the side of the mountain lol. i used recall on it just in time but it went too far before i canceled and dropped into a lizalfos camp. life is so textured

spotted naydra coming out of her hole (and doing just fine). beautiful! sadly not chasing her at this time though rip in peace the mats i could have farmed

plotting my next few korok seeds and apparently there's not one but THREE sets of gloom hands near one of them (purifier lake). no fucking thank you i'm quitting before i get to that one. a problem for tomorrow me

maybe if i'm careful i can fly over them...? eugh there's a shrine near there too. why do they make certain areas scary in both games!! there was a lynel here in botw!!!!

oh it's zelda 🥺🥺🥺 she's so far away though, i can't go chasing her either...babygirl i miss you

ugh fine ok it's the next seed and i don't wanna quit yet...i'm just gonna fly over them. you have to be kinda close for them to spawn...hopefully it will be fine...

yea tho i walk through the shadow of death or whatever i fear no evil if i can fly the fuck over it

successful landing. no hands so far. if i don't move much while i solve this block puzzle. OF ALL THINGS. maybe it will be fine

I DID IT......

AND it looks like the shrine is underground. huge win for me

wow! and one long trip thru an underground road later here i am at the good old promenade. a great place to either start or fuck off from tomorrow <3

[luescris]

i remember specifically seeing this group of really annoying weirdos who claim to be sonic fans but literally do nothing but shit on sonic material.....well thats actually not my point. i remember vividly that these people HATE surge and kit, which is one thing like to each their own, but oh my god

do u remember that issue where surge is depicted as having an emotional breakdown, nearly a panic attack? they fucking dogpiled her and called her "bad and inconsistently written for being so weak out of nowhere" like. literally shaming her for being traumatized

so. thinking its bad writing that a character is written as traumatized and emotionally unstable is so incredibly stupid. but also its legitimately chilling the....the absolute lack of empathy. the way they refuse to be at all compassionate just because they dont like her character. the fucking nerve to call her displaying symptoms of mental illness "WEAK"

i hope these people are completely alone in their lives and i dont even mean that in a trying to be mean way, i mean that as in the way theyve shown their asses, the way theyre willing to be so senselessly cruel and mean just because they disagree with it and its not their taste, like. its scary. i dont want these people near anyone else, the idea of them even thinking of another person the way they talk about surge is horrifying to me

...... What the hell???

That's all kinds of gross.

So, this is getting to a point where idk if it should continue. Sending asks about how bad anti-idw haters are. While I like interacting with people, I also would like to focus on more positive things (This isn't targeted at you anon I promise!!). Yes, I suppose I did start talking about it myself, but I'm gonna be honest. I didn't expect people to respond, haha. 😅

I will say that you all are still allowed to send me asks! Just maybe more about what things we do like about the IDW comics, so we can put more positivity in the tag?? If we keep talking about the hate, I don't know if we'd be any better than the anti-IDW haters (Though I will say, I went back to the anti-IDW post I commented on, and I'm pretty sure my comment got deleted /: That's so mature smh)

I will also say that I agree with you, Surge having a panic attack makes sense with everything she went through, and the way those people responded was toxic as hell. For those of you out there (like me LMAO) that have mental illnesses, you are not weak for having them. And you are certainly not alone. <3

[bumblebeesdoorwings]

tf ask

7, 8, 12, 14, 16, 17, 23, 24, 29, 33 aand 40

feel free to skip some!! because this is a lot!!! but i would love to hear your answers on any of these <3

OOOOOOOOOO!

7. Favorite show(s)

I haven't had the time to watch all of them yet, but I think G1 is currently my favorite show! Its whacky, its got that 80s charm, its got mistakes that make me go wild. Its got basketballin' 0ptimus. Its got everything.

8. Favorite comic series

Shattered Glass. Idw Shattered Glass. GOD that was so fun. It was dark, it was heart breaking, AUGH. Absolutely GUTTED we don't get any more of it. It was such a cool concept to play with!

12. Least favorite ship(s)

THATS A CAN OF WORMS. UHM... I have many least favorites LOL I'll shoot honorable mentions to Dr1ftr0d, M3gast4r, W1ndscre4m. I got those blacklisted LMAO (yes I'm using numbers in the names, idk how tumblr works its tags anymore and I'm not that kinda person to let my 'ew' get into their 'yay!' )

14. Least favorite Autobot(s)

PPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP PR0WL. I'm sure he's fantastic in G1 and other shows but oh my god you can't get me to give a hoot about Idw Prowll.

16. Least favorite show(s)

A big big big unpopular can of worms opinion. T f a. I watched one episode and noped out there. I couldn't do more..

17. Least favorite comic series

There was one single comic run in the Idw 0ptimus series that had ninja G i J0e and I just.. Not a fan. But I don't think I have any that I strictly dislike. Just.. g i j0es.

23. Favorite underrated character(s)

I feel like this fandom doesn't let any characters go underrated. But I'll still say Pharma. He's so interesting and the fact that we know next to nothing about him except for like.. a few panels and then some? MHM. LOVE. Obessed you could even say. Thats my babygirl!!

24. Favorite class/group(s) (i.e. Seekers, Scavengers, Constructicons, Aerialbots, DJD, etc)

This one is hard... SO HARD. I love Seekers, I love the Scavengers and holy SHIT I love the DJD. I have a Kaon figure and it is my beloved.. Like.. Seekers are a fun group to roll around in my hands. Whats their deal? Why 3 of them? I like all the answers I get in the fandom. The Scavengers are silly little guys, just goofy dudes. I'd hang with them all day every day. Sublime guys. DJD are just cruel and evil and violent and pure horror. I love the dark side of things, and getting that REALLY dark stuff mixed in with the fun stuff? Its great and pretty horrifying and I love it.

29. A bot you could consider a mortal enemy

Megan..... *side eyes*

33. What your alt mode would be if you were a Cybertronian

To be honest... just based on how much I crave freedom and not feeling caged? A jet. Not a big one, a tiny little jet. Just a little guuy.

40. What would you do if the Autobots landed on Earth right now and asked for your help

They can have anything and everything they need as long as they promise to take me with them. GET ME OFF THIS HELL PLANET. I'll settle for in depth history lessons and culture lessons about Cybertron though if I was forced to stay though.

Thanks friend!!! :D <3

If this shows up in any tags, I'm so sorry, I don't understand the tagging system but I tried!

[cosmically-powered-starscream]

Front and Center

Notes: I can’t write x readers to save my life, I always end up with creating an OC as a stand-in... and it goes downhill from there. Also this is what happens when you only write the parts of the fic you actually want to write and nothing else. Yay!

Pairing: IDW Starscream x OC (gn, sfw)

Word count: 1.1K

[AO3 link]

* * *

“You know, if this goes through as planned, everyone will know.”

“Yes, I’m aware of that.”

Two seekers stood on the habsuite balcony, overlooking a late sunset over Cybertron. The night was slowly falling and another public speech from the planet’s new ruler, Starscream, was just behind the corner. A gathering like many others before, yet there was some strange buzzing going on in the darker back alleys, out of the presumed reach of Cybertron’s higher-ups. But Starscream had ears everywhere and Stormchaser was very aware of that. They’d known him for a very long time.

“So, you really want to go through with this.”

“Are you worried about me or about your public image?” Starscream chuckled.

Stormchaser scoffed. “Public image, obviously. I better go settle my tab to Maccadam’s now because I doubt Blurr will be happy to see me afterwards.”

* * *

Spotlights at the hall were almost as bright as the future Starscream was describing in his speech to the attending citizens. The new paint on his latest frame glistened in the lights as he moved in grand gestures, promising new ways of bettering the life on their war-stricken planet now the battles have ceased and it was time for rebuilding the society.

And when for a moment it looked like the public may even stop and consider his words this time, a deafening noise interrupted everyone’s thought process. Rumble and screams filled the hall and the podium fell under a thick veil of smoke.

* * *

“How is he?” Stormchaser almost kicked the door open to the hospital hallway where mere moments ago they wheeled Starscream in, covered in dents and scratches, unconscious and holding on by a thread. Just a few steps behind them ran Windblade, unable to stop them. “Stormchaser, wait!”

Everyone at the hospital had their servos full with light injuries and distressed citizens after the explosion but a young medic, visibly annoyed turned to Stormchaser as they paced fast towards him. “I’m sorry, we’re not authorized to give information about patient’s medical condition to anyone who just walks in here.”

“Well since I’m the one in charge of his consent in case of an emergency, you definitely should be authorized to tell me.”

That rendered the medic silent. “I’m sorry?”

Stormchaser took out a datapad and handed it over to the medic. “You should check your patient’s files when tending to them.” They weren’t even trying to hide their stress and anger now.

“I’m his Conjunx Endura.”

* * *

When Starscream came to, the amount of ache his entire being was in was indescribable. The throbbing pain that felt like it was coming from his very core made even opening his optics a painful chore. But still, even in the haze of dizziness, he could make out the only sensation that wasn’t entirely unpleasant. A servo in another servo and a familiar looking shape by the berth.

“Sentimental, aren’t we?”

The blurry shape jolted up, as if suddenly awoken by the sound of his strangled voice.

“You’re awake!”

“I… don’t even know what happened.”

“Wheeljack said it was an experimental charge. A frequency bomb, designed to take out a spark with an incredible accuracy. Almost like Tarn’s outlier ability, compressed into an explosive.”

A small nervous laugh. “So, you’re saying the DJD themselves came for me.”

“No. But I think it’s not surprising to see where the perpetrator’s inspiration came from. Your spark needed a lot of juice to stabilize.”

“So that’s why you look like slag.” The servo on his servo tightened its grip.

“Shut up,” Stormchaser whispered, putting their helm to Starscream’s, forehelms touching. He smiled weakly.

“Are we alone?” Starscream asked almost inaudibly.

“Yes.”

“Do they think I staged it? That we staged it?”

“Hard to tell so far. The explosion? Only time will tell when news coverage starts coming out. The public opinion is definitely going to be divided. The Conjunx bond? Yes, they do think so.”

“They don’t believe there are people I can genuinely trust with my life. Of course.”

“You didn’t know what was going to hit you. You didn’t know what they had planned. You only knew it’s going to happen but you had no idea how.”

Starscream heard that hint of anger seeping into his Conjunx’s voice. “It was necessary to let it happen in the long run.”

“You had no idea what your odds were against.”

“Neither did I in the last few millions of years.”

“Star…”

“Okay, fair, that’s not true. I knew too well what I was against in the last few millions of years.”

Stormchaser exvented with a low rumble of their engines. The concern was real and Starscream knew it.

“It’s true. Besides. I knew I could rely on you to prevent any further vendetta against me when I’m out cold. I trust you.”

A moment of silence with nothing but a buzz and beeps of the health monitors. There were very few people Starscream ever trusted in his life, the number of those who he could say actually cared for him even lower. People he knew wouldn’t stab him in the back at the first chance they got, just like he did to others countless times before. And if there was a chance to strike, it wouldn’t get any better than him unconscious and vulnerable.

That’s why he had Stormchaser by his side. Trustworthy even in the most difficult situations, stubborn enough to tell him off when his strategies were getting more, as they put it, outlandish. What would he do without them.

“And even if you couldn’t prevent my demise, well…” he brought a heavy servo to Stormchaser’s faceplate. “There are backup plans.”

“Backup plans you know I don’t agree with.”

“I know. Well, no need for them so far, right?”

He brought their lips together for a tired but tender kiss. “I still think you’d be a good ruler of Cybertron.”

Stormchaser grinned. “I think I’d leave that position to Windblade.”

“I should watch my back for both of you then. I look away for a moment and suddenly, you form an alliance against me,” he laughed weakly.

“Well, at this point who knows, my friendship with her may as well be over. She looked very distraught when I announced our bond to the medics.”

“Oh, I’m sorry my charming personality and shiny reputation is ruining yours in turn,” he said dramatically. Stormchaser sighed but with a smile. They knew he’s going to be fine.

“Just go back to recharge, you need it,” Stormchaser gently stroke his cheek before placing a kiss on his forehelm.

“M-hm,” he hummed contently before closing his optics. Even a heavy head can try to have a peaceful night it seems. “Storm?”

“Yeah?”

His voice got weaker and his optics remained closed as recharge was slowly taking over him but Stormchaser knew exactly what was said.

“Thank you. I love you.”

“I love you too, Star.”

[transfemstarscream]

i think the problem with a lot of transformer comics (not just IDW, though since it has been the longest publisher for transformer comics i guess the problem is a lot more prominent with them) is that comics are condensed stories, traditionally speaking: comic runs running for many issues usually weren’t +50-issues of the same, serialized story, but rather comics with arcs, parts, and deviations from the usual status quo, all wrapped up in one run that all had a central focus. the amazing spider-man (1963) isn’t a +700 issue run with a serialized, consistent story that’s been told for over +700 issues, but rather a run consisting of stories that centered around a main idea and weren’t limited to one overarching story.

this is because comics are different from TV shows and movies; you can’t tell a story in one issue of a comic the same way you can tell a story in a 22-min. episode of a show, nor can you tell a story in three issues the same way you can tell a story in a hour long film. comics didn’t have time for filler, which is why every part of a story told within an issue or through multiple issues mattered. it had to serve a purpose! that first page was always meant to set the mood; it never started off with “once upon a time” or pages upon pages of exposition to help you understand what’s going on, it went straight to the story because it had a story to tell in a limited amount of panels.

so when transformer comics tend to use issues not for telling stories, but for setting up stories that are to be told later, it feels like nothing has been gained because there really… wasn’t anything to gain. most of the time, the comics spent more time, more panels, more issues setting up a promised arc than actually telling the story! and it’s risky not just because of how much time is wasted setting it up, but also because, usually, the writer doesn’t know themselves if they’ll be able to tell it later. i can’t think of any off the top of my head, but weren’t there multiple characters in MTMTE/LL that people thought were going to be important later? that felt like they had their story being set up? felt like something was going to be important, but was only a focus in a few panels or few pages?

although i believe IDW2 has gained undeserved flack, especially when people try to compare it to its predecessor that had more than a decade to establish itself, there was a valid criticism in its earlier years! it was taking too long to get a plot going. sure, it’s good to establish all your characters, your worldbuilding, lore behind certain story elements… but how has the story developed in anyway? how has it moved from the last time we read it? the issues were released monthly, and for more than a year there wasn’t any sort of progress for the story other than maybe a character IDW1 readers are familiar with getting introduced there. being so obsessed with lore, worldbuilding, and stuff that adds nothing to the story efficiently other than try to add extra weight to it (that often never gets brought up again anyway) is why a lot of stories fail.

trying to tell a singular, overarching story in a comic form isn’t the same as if you had 26 episodes of a show to tell it. transformers overexpanding war stories won’t work as well in three issues than if you had three episodes. this may or not be a very long thorough explanation of comics as an excuse for me to beg IDW to release tf one-shots instead. please IDW give me an arcee one-shot focusing on her studying the blade.

[seeker-of-the-stars]

Hey, Im not sure if you have the time, but can you do a continuation on the IDW Starscream and TFP Bumblebee? I love everything you've written so far! Thank you 💕💕

I’m not sure if I’ve written anything with Starscream and Bumblebee yet, but I’d be happy to give it a try!

The way it turned out, it’s mostly a sequel to this fic if you want to read that first!

***

Starscream sighed when he heard a knock on the door to his bedroom. “Windblade, I don’t want to hear it. Like I said, I’ll keep out of everyone’s way but I’m not going to apologize.”

Instead of hearing Windblade’s voice on the other side giving him a lecture like he expected, he heard an odd unfamiliar voice that sounded like buzzing.

“What? Who is this?” he asked. He had to strain his audials to understand what the bot in question was saying.

“My name is Bumblebee, I was with Arcee and Bulkhead when we found you. Can I come in? I just want to talk, I promise.”

Starscream’s wings jerked in surprise. Of course, he should’ve recognized the little yellow bot as Bumblebee as soon as he saw him! Who else would willingly stick with such a bright, obnoxious color?

“Fine, but what I said still stands. I’m not apologizing.”

He saw the door handle turn and the yellow bot walk into his room. As he did, Starscream got a good look at him for the first time. Like the Bumblebee from his world, this one was on the smaller side in comparison to himself and the others, but still a good deal taller than his counterpart. He was also not, in fact all yellow as he originally thought, but had black accents that complimented the color, making it look less garish. 

“Is everything alright? Your friends got a bit worried about you when you stormed off like that.”

An odd feeling of warmth filled his spark at the statement. He quickly shoved it down and composed his face into a neutral expression.

“Windblade worries about everything, and Wheeljack isn’t much better. I was just sick of being talked down to by a bot I could pick up with one hand.”

“Arcee is my teammate you know, and she’s been through a lot,” Bumblebee defended. He took a seat next to him on the berth. “Would it really kill you to be a little nicer?”

“It might. Where I come from, the nice bots tend to die first.”

Bumblebee sighed. “I don’t know why I bothered. I thought I’d give you a chance since it seemed unfair to judge you by the actions of your counterpart, but it seems as though you’re just as cruel and annoying as he is.”

“Wait!” Starscream said as Bumblebee got up to leave. “What happened to your voice?”

The yellow bot immediately tensed. “I don’t see how it’s any of your business.”

“Hey, I was just asking,” Starscream rose his servos in surrender. “Because the Bumblebee from my world doesn’t talk like that. Were you created with it, or...”

Bumblebee sighed. “It’s a war injury, Megatron’s fault. Once the field medics got a hold of me, the options were either this or not being able to speak at all.”

“Megatron, huh?” Starscream mused. “Why does that not surprise me.”

“You were his second in command before you broke away from the Decepticons, right? Before you took over Cybertron?”

“First of all, I didn’t “take over Cybertron.” I was elected by the people, fair and square.”

“I still have a hard time believing that,” Bumblebee said. “But you used to work under Megatron?”

“Yes,” Starscream said. “Why?”

“I just wanted to know... did he ever hurt you?”

Starscream stiffened. “Megatron hurt a lot of people, as did I. It’s part of being in a war.”

“I guess,” Bumblebee admitted. “It just seems like he’s a sore topic for you, is all.”

“I don’t give a damn about Megatron,” Starscream puffed out his chassis. “I accomplished everything he ever wished he could, and he’s spending the rest of his short life as a pawn to the Autobots, who will kill him as soon as he serves his purpose. To look back at the past would be nothing but a waste of time.”

“Yeah, I guess,” Bumblebee said. “But if you ever need to talk, just let me know. I promise I won’t judge.”

Again, that weird, warm feeling slipped its way into Starscream’s spark. “Next thing I know you’ll be asking if I want to buff each other’s finish and talk about cute bots.”

“You’re impossible,” Bumblebee groaned. “If you want to be mister doom and gloom and stay in your room than I’m not going to stop you, but just know you’re being obnoxious.”

“Hey Bee,” Starscream stopped him as he walked out the door. “I knew your counterpart back home. We had our differences, and he could be a real pain in the aft... but he was a good bot. One of the few who actually gave a damn about people outside of his faction. He’s, well, not around anymore in the traditional sense, but I think you would’ve gotten along.”

Bumblebee’s expression softened. “Have a good night, Starscream. I’ll see you in the morning.” 

[magnetothehedgehog]

Shadow IDW:Another Maria.

By now, its pretty much agreed a lot of people dislike Shadow's characterization in the Idw comics, even more so with the big need for him to be Sonic's "Bitter Rival." Character mandate.

But let's take a moment and just appreciate?

Despite this restriction, the Idw Team has not only made him have relevant goal making his appearances in the comics have PURPOSE, despite Shadow's lack of telling anyone what that seemingly random puprose is. But also they have, Evan in particular from what i can tell, have painted this beautiful picture of the inner person shadow is despite his outward exterior.

Let me explain a bit. And Imma cry a little with this.

Shadows Goal: to protect the planet from threats, but specifically, to protect the planet to keep a promise to the one person he loved the most.

That's right.

Maria. Thats why he showed up to fight mettalix. What other reason would he have to? To prove he was the strongest? No, that wouldn't be true even if he told you that was what it was. He's shown he doesn't "seem" to care about others, so whats the matter if mettalix destroys some stuff here or there.

Yet how come shadow shows up whenever there is a major threat or seemingly new rising up danger similar to eggman? Why did he try to take out Mr.Tinker?

Shadow was tasked with protecting the planet, but thats a big ask, and something he doesn't quite know how to do. He himself was created for more than being a weapon, but since his release in sa2 it was all he came to know.

In shadow the hedgehog he had to annihilate the whole black arms species because they wanted to consume the planet. And while they where trying to eat the planet and the people in it, having to obliterate them, especially knowing one them is technically your dad, probably lingers in his mind a bit. He probably thinks about it. Maybe it bothers him.

To Shadow, the only way to deal with a threat is to take it out- merely avoiding thee problem leads to nothing but more trouble, and more heartache.

Which leads me to number 2 😢😢😢😭:

He doesn't want another Maria. For him, letting a threat go on to threaten someone else or something he holds dear is the worst crime. Think back. He tried running away from the Gun soldiers with Maria. In all the sequences he was running away with her, not fighting. In the hero story of Shadow the hedgehog on the ark, Maria asks you to save the scientists, which leads me to believe that canonically, shadow didn't actually fight on the ark, just evaded. But look what happened. His best friend got shot and died, because he ran away. Because he let the threat live. He probably wonders if its because he didn't fight.

Take the latest issue. He goes straight for Starline instead of outright releasing tails or rouge (who has already practically released herself mind you). This previous experience comes back into play, maybe even doubling because of how tinker turning back to eggman unleashed the virus which shadow couldn't stop. If you look closely, hes almost losing himself when Starline gets away.

Only Rouge's words of wisdom pull him out of his rage filled trance. Perhaps she knows that all that killing would weigh on him even more. Yeah, even if he did take out one person, to take out another? And another? All that guilt piling up on his conscience.

But yeah I think they did a nice job on how he's constantly battling with whta he thinks his promise means and what he should do so he can still sleep at night and have a healthy life going forward.

Obviously this could be different from how they may see it or be writing it towards, but this is kinda how I perceive it/like to think they are keeping in mind.

(Edit: I made this a little while back and forgot to post it/work on it so I kinda forgot anything else I was gonna write)

Anyways, these are my thoughts :)

[cutegirlmayra]

Here's an angsty prompt idea. After their latest battle with Eggman his latest invention inadvertently gets Amy sick which is quickly becoming fatal (not necessarily what IDW is doing but like same vibe you know). Sonic demands Eggman do something to fix this and save her. And we all know Sonic isn't the most emotionally vulnerable but when it gets touch and go he really fears it might be the end. But Amy gets healed and all's well that ends well. Appreciate it ^_^

Only if you’re okay with me going SUPER angsty lol.

-----------------*TRIGGER WARNING*--------: This will be dealing with disabilities/seizure like symptoms, if you are sensitive to this material, please read any of my other fanfictions! (As someone with Asbergers and ADHD, I hope you’ll understand that I know the severity of the context, but I’m in no way trying to make fun of or portray disability in any negative way. If my writing appears as such please note it was unintentional.)

I have put a ‘Keep Reading’ for those of you who wish not to read it.

(Image found from this location: (x), if you have art you’d like to showcase, I still need Preview Images! I’d love to have some helpful artist allow me permission to use their art with their links as credit to advertise their works and also for a preview image to my prompts, thank you so much and support the original creator of this image!)

Prompt:

After all was said and done... no one thought it would turn out like this.

Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Silver all piled around as Sonic sat beneath a shaded tree and held a sleeping Amy next to him.

“This doesn’t look too good...” Tails had taken a sample of Eggman’s third party experimental toxin, meant for Sonic but the enemy ended up targeting Amy as a test-run.

Needless to say, Eggman ended his alliance with the third party after he got ‘experimental crazy’ and decided he didn’t want to work with someone so trigger-happy.

The toxin seemed to place Amy in an endless sleep cycle, but she would twitch or sound off painful whimpers and groans and toss in the sleep at times.

“The data suggests it’s attacking her brain, working it’s way up from the injection point it was shot from all the way up the spinal chord, so it’s striking the main hub for communication signals to the rest of the body.” Tails was watching the gunky chemical inside her progressing at a sluggish pace as it infected up the spinal chord, but not quite at the brain yet.

The image made it look like it was hugging her spine and oozing its way up, but still had a ways to go.

Sonic blinked his eyes, not sure what this could all mean but looked down at Amy. She started her twitches and sounds of pain, so he took his hand and moved it up off of where she was leaning, looping it around to rub the opposite shoulder and looked back to Tails. Her struggles ended with struggling pants, before going back into a deep sleep.

Silver shook his head, folding his arms. He was clearly distressed, him and Amy had joined up early in the adventure, he felt this was somehow his fault, even though he did nothing wrong.

“That madman just kept shooting those shots with that drug everywhere! Whatever it is, it’s got to be a threat to the future as well.” He was so focused on the task at hand, that he hadn’t looked back until he heard Amy cry out and bent to a knee, seeing she had taken a hit for him.

Eggman hollered about waiting for Sonic to be the first hit, but the third party seemed to have their own agenda, and almost shot Eggman too.

Everyone escaped getting hit and defeated both him and Eggman before they parted ways, taking Amy’s limp form somewhere safe.

Before she was fully under the chemical’s effects, she had flinched and stiffened on the ground, trying to keep her pain silent before dropping into the blacked-out state...

“We have to find Eggman, he’s the one who knows the most about this experimental chemical.” Tails motioned his hands, then showed the gunk’s path upwards by pointing to Amy and traveling his hand up from where her spin would be. “We’ve still got time, a couple hours, just going off an estimate.”

Sonic looked back to Amy, “I can’t leave her like this, Tails. She’s unsafe, and that guy still hasn’t shown up yet.”

It was true that they lost sight of the mad scientist, but they were unaware Eggman had separated himself from their ‘unethical services’ but mostly because they wouldn’t follow orders.

Silver shook his head, getting a grip on his emotions. “I’ll do it.”

Knuckles, remaining silently crushed by the lack of help he could offer, turned in surprise to Silver.

“I’m partly the reason this happened... if I just had looked back and paid more attention to her...” he closed his eyes, clearly distraught as Knuckles turned his head away, also thinking that since Silver was with her, he should have been more attentive.

“It’s not your fault, Silver.” Showing some compassion, Tails moved over to him and placed a reassuring hand on Silver’s arm. “Honest, I’m sure if Amy could, she’d say the same thing too.”

Silver looked to Tails and sighed, nodding. During his brief moments of meeting her, he could tell she was a very kind girl.

“I know that, but... I still feel awful!” He kicked the ground and turned away, but looked back over his shoulder to Sonic. “Sonic,... I promise you, I’ll do what I can to keep her safe... but you have to go and confront Eggman about all this.” He swiped out his hand, showing his strong sense of justice as his eyebrows narrowed in his anger.

Sonic waited a moment, as though weighing his options and looked down at Amy.

He gently picked her up, and carried her over to Silver.

In a few short gestures with his eyes, he showed that he was passing the responsibility over to Silver, however short the time would be from him facing Eggman and then coming back to her.

They held a stare for a long time... as though both hedgehogs were making a silent contract, and Silver finally bowed slightly as he took Amy.

Sonic’s hand gripped her arm that was about to flop off her stomach and dangle to her side but his fast reflexes had caught it. He held it a moment, as though transferring the responsibility was a difficult decision. But... if there was hope, he was going to go for it, and Amy would have to be okay...

He had to make sure of it.

He slowly placed it back on her stomach, rubbing her hand discreetly as though promising her he wouldn’t be too long.

He then looked back up to Silver and nodded, the transaction was made and the message was loud and clear.

Don’t Fail.

As Sonic gestured for Tails and Knuckles to follow with a pivot to the new route and a nod, Tails spun his tails and lifted off the ground, taking one final look to Amy and Silver. He smiled weakly, as though also showing his agreement to this, and then went to follow Sonic.

Knuckles... just walked by, glaring Silver down... but finally he unfolded his arms and groaned towards the ground, taking off in a running start.

Looks like he felt too uneasy about this... but didn’t voice his concerns.

He was trusting that it was Sonic’s decision, and apparently would go with it. As he went though, he caught up to Sonic’s leisurely pace in waiting for him, and gave him the same uncertain glare he had given to Silver.

Another message between men: I don’t like this.

Sonic looked away from it, but his expression held no joy, only a serious focus towards the next, on-coming step and fight: I know. Neither do I.

Tails’s eyebrows bent, seeing the mute exchange between the two, his hands bundled up and held in as his usual go-to position for flying, but he turned his body around as he flew forward to look back at Silver holding Amy, his head slackening with his shoulders falling... Helpless.

Tails swallowed hard, “Be safe... Amy...” And didn’t look back...

When Silver finally took a deep, calming but determined breath in, he looked over to see Sonic and his friends had disappeared into the next zone.

“I won’t be naive this time.” He told himself, and headed towards the X-Tornado, stationed just beside the tree. “This time... I won’t make anyone worry.”

It was several hours later as Silver sat down after collecting water and watched Amy on the ground. He fiddled with his gloves, growing a bit restless, wanting to help protect the future but knowing his place was to protect Amy for now.

He looked up and used his telekinesis to fiddle with a blade of grass, making it move left or right and tugging on it but not enough to pull it from the ground.

The world was so beautiful to him... he didn’t want even one blade to die in it.

That thought... led him to look over at Amy.

His eyes bent and it was clear he was remembering her finding him, and how sweet and bubbly she was... she had persisted in joining him for his search for Sonic, carrying a warning that he never knew would have benefited her to know... why did he feel the need to keep it a secret for only Sonic to know?

It wasn’t like he disregarded her, but maybe he didn’t value her company as much as he should.

Now, seeing her so still upon the ground... the wind not even reaching her... It was all a bit much to bear.

He tucked his head down between the gap of his raised knee and bent arm, trying to hide his emotional state as his eyes squinted and mouth trembled.

He wasn’t crying, but he was also trying to fight the sensation of being about to cry.

Then it happened.

She started another twitching and jerking, making odd sounds that spooked him.

“N-no, you’re okay. You’re okay..!” he rolled to his knees and held his hands out as though once again... feeling helpless.

Even his words were desperate to sound comforting, but his panic was so relevant in them.

He used his powers to get a blob of the fresh water he had collected up into the air, moving it towards her mouth.

“Please Amy... just endure it a little longer...” He pleaded, before he heard a large crash and turned around.

The water fell to her side, as the twitching and flinching became minor, but still happening.

He saw a fallen tree, and narrowed his eyes at it before gasping as a robot from the third party, clearly stolen from Eggman’s designs, began to approach.

Then more and more of Eggman’s stolen property, with new logos that were just slapped on over Eggman’s logo sticker started approaching him.

“Not again...” Silver’s fists shifted into a rage-filled jerk, as though in one swift moment, he was ready to destroy and protect. “I won’t let you hurt anyone ever again!”

As the robots all raised their machine-gun arms, having detected them, it was clear they weren’t shooting bullets... but darts.

 “Ur-rah!” Silver lifted up the X-Tornado with his power and held it up as cover to the shots fired. The darts stabbed into the X-Tornado, and the black substance was evident in a small cylinder attached to the dart’s tip.

It leaked into the X-Tornado,... but at least it wasn’t into anyone’s body.

He rose to a knee, shoving the X-Tornado forward to push the robots down. Amazingly, the X-Tornado didn’t even dent in, but was still perfectly intact.

However, some of the darts did bend like a nail having been jammed in the wrong way.

He shoved the X-Tornado to the side and skidded the robots hide off of it, shoving them back into the forest where they came from.

He stopped only to look down at Amy, her twitching much less now, but it was clear something was happening.

He gritted his teeth, his eyes still glossy from his despair before at her condition. “Hang on, Amy... They aren’t getting you. You’re no one’s experiment!” he moved one arm away from lifting the X-Tornado, but his balanced faltered now that one arm was using his psychic power to lift the huge plane up.

He strained, sweat falling from his brow as he jammed his teeth together even more and tried lifting Amy up from the ground too... then himself.

It was a huge escape effort, two hands carrying one large plane’s weight in one hand, and the other with him and Amy.

Knowing his power was faltering at handling too many objects at once, and one being massive, he kept feeling himself dropping and having to catch himself.

When Amy jerked, his mental concentration was momentarily lost and he almost dropped her.

That was the last straw.

“I can’t out run them.” He looked around, knowing he needed a better solution. “I’ll have to hide you and distract them.”

Seeing in the distance a mountain, he pulled up his legs, gathering the rest of his courage and strength, and shot himself towards it.

There was a cave!

His expression turned to joy at the realization, and he quickly flew down to it. “That looks safe!” he exclaimed, gliding down and putting the X-Tornado in the cave first, in and off to the back left where another tunnel formed from the main one.

Out of sight.

“Okay, Amy... Please forgive me...” He caught her into his arms, and held her tightly, dipping his head down in shame at having to leave her side. “Sonic... I said I’d do my best... this is my best option... please believe me...” He flew up to the plane’s passenger cockpit, thinking that if anyone did discover the plane, they would see there’s no pilot and perhaps not search it further but abandon it.

He lifted the clear shielding and placed her in the seat, strapping her in.

She had stopped twitching, and worried, he put two fingers to her nose and mouth.

Shallow breathing...

He frowned, but leaned forward and hugged her head one last time.

When he heard more logs crashing and snapping from being trampled by robot bodies forcing their way through the landscape, his head swung up to check the cave and hurriedly dropped the shielding down again.

“I’ll come back, and hopefully, I’ll bring Sonic and some good news too.” both hands were against the shield, he moved his face closer to look in and still saw her asleep.

“...I’m sorry.” He turned his head away, flying off from the plane’s exterior slowly... danging himself in the air before looking back to the entrance of the cave, having flown into the center tunnel way again and looked as though he was prepared to battle.

He shot out of the cave and began hitting the robots with his power, ramming them into each other and denting their hides till they sparked. “This way!” he cried out, and led the assault of robots after him.

More hours passed...

Shadow was running off with a stolen formula blueprint, trying to evade flying robots that were even greater rip-offs of Eggmans.

As he turned into a cave to hide, he walked down it stealthily, still holding the container with the data chip inside it.

“Rouge, I’ve got it.” he spoke out, touching a device by his ear as he examined the cylinder container further.

“Does it have it?” her voice rang urgently through the mic.

“No... but my scanners say it should be... what?” He walked towards the hidden tunnel path and his eyes widened.

“Shadow? What’s wrong? What are you getting?”

“It’s...” His eyes traveled down the darkness from the plane’s tip, seeing it littered on the side with darts. “The X-Torn-... AH!” his shock couldn’t have been more real as he hurriedly jumped from the cave’s side to the plane’s hide and pulled an intact dart out.

He tilted the chemical inside it... watching it slosh around.

“It wasn’t an error... they’re here!” He exclaimed, but hearing the robots outside, he moved down the plane’s top and kept stealthily pulling out more darts.

“Incredible! Way to go, Shadow! Who knew this abandoned G.U.N base would come so much in handy..! Oh, that’s right. I did. Is it some sort of secret lab..?”

He ignored Rouge’s gloating when his foot hit something in the dark, another cockpit. He looked back to adjust his foot and get around it,... when a darkened silhouette that didn’t match the angles of machinery caught his attention.

Then the shaded figure began to violently twitch and cause a ruckus, almost like a seizure episode.

The thrashes completely threw Shadow off guard, and he stumbled back, his expression showing his horror at whatever beast was trapped inside.

“Rouge, there’s something else here.” He didn’t have time to explain, but pulled out a Chaos Emerald, “Chaos Control!” he illuminated the cave and his entire demeanor fell into a grave look of confusion.

“It can’t be...” His eyes darted left and right, examining her condition as he couldn’t understand what he was witnessing. “It’s-!”

But before he could continue to explain to Rouge, who was blind as a bat from only being able to listen in and not see what was going on, robot steps started echoing in the cave. He turned around, a look of serious emergency on his face.

“Shadow!? What did you find!? Don’t leave me in the dark here! What’s all that thumping sound!? Shadow! Shadow, respond!”

“Not now, Rouge!” he killed the mic, tossing it to the ground as he ripped it off his ear and used Chaos Spears to jam into the shield and break the material.

He unstrapped her from the seat, feeling her flopping onto him and helped her over his shoulder. “Darn, I was hoping for more samples, but this is too important.” He turned back to the see the robots’ lights now come on, searching like a beacon out at sea in all sorts of directions... it was as though they were hurrying to find him too...

He jumped down and consequently crushed the G.U.N earpiece on his decent down, hurrying to the back of the cave.

When the robots fired on their jets, he knew he was heard.

“Chaos-!” he held up the Chaos Emerald. “Control!” and teleported through time and space.

Back with Rouge, she was complaining how the old computers couldn’t diagnose Amy and scan the chemical at the same time.

“What’s more important?” Shadow folded his arms, looking to Amy, “A life or a future life?” then glared to Rouge as though it wasn’t an option to contradict him.

She looked to Amy, not shaking anymore and sighed, knowing the answer as she cut off the research side of the computer and turned on it’s scanners.

“This is bad...” Rouge saw the screen... “The chemical has spread up her spinal chord and has it’s greasy little tethers at the base of her brain.”

“That’s impossible.” Seeing the image, Shadow’s arms dropped and he lurched forward, as though he wasn’t expecting the results to be this severe. “The chemical compound would need an extraordinary amount of time before reaching that far! Where was the injection location?”

When he turned back to Rouge... her hands were trembling, hovering over the keyboard.

He looked up to see her eyes mortified at these readings of Amy’s current state, and Shadow had to approach her and pull her away from the computer, quickly typing in to see more data.

It took all of Rouge’s strength to look away, turning back to Amy and covering her mouth, reaching for her hand.

“How... How could this happen?” Her voice was choking up, “Sonic... Sonic would never allow this to happen! How could they just abandon her like that!” she hit her hand holding Amy’s into the table she was laid out on.

“Keep it together, Rouge.” Shadow’s voice sounded controlled, as though a solider, keeping the trauma at bay and back away from his work. “We need a cure.” He continued, “Or the rest of us are going to end up this way.”

“Who says they haven’t already!?” Rouge’s back bent forward as she coughed into her hand, unable to keep her emotions under control with a sight like this. “She’s slipping away and they just left her there to-!”

Shadow flung around and gripped her hand, pulling her back to him.

His glare said it all.

Don’t assume anything.

She felt her knees get weak and slowly lowered herself to sit on the ground, her wings drooping in stages as they lowered down and dragged against the floor.

Shadow just watched her and removed his aggressive grip on her wrist as it slipped through his grasp. He didn’t mean to be so hostile, but now wasn’t the time to judge others’ actions.

It was the time to act and save.

“I will find Sonic.” He declared, moving back over to the panel of controls and typing in more directives. “I’ve seen enough to know her state... she still has some time before it completely eats away at her mind.” the entire computer shifted over to what looked like research on the chemicals being scanned. “The amount we found should be plenty, I’ve set the computer to reverse engineer. It will take some time... but keep her alive till I can bring Sonic and his friends here... to answer for what they’ve done.” With that last sentence, Rouge looked up to see the pain in his eyes... to show he had a heart after all.

Did he have doubts that Sonic wasn’t as kind and admirable as he had seemed to be? The answer was a resounding yes. He wasn’t denying Rouge’s accusations, but wasn’t going to give in to them until he had the truth.

Nothing was being ruled out, and Rouge nodded as she wiped her wetted eyes and stood back up, being brave.

“Make sure you give them what they deserve for me... Shadow.” she moved back to Amy’s side, and Shadow closed his eyes as though silently accepting that he would.

“If all looks lost...” He began, turning his back to her and talking over his shoulder.

She shook her head, raising her head up as though to catch any remaining wetness from becoming tears.

He looked back towards the exit, not finishing the thoughts, per her body language’s request... and took off.

More hours passed...

“This is ridiculous!” Rouge was surrounded by Eggman’s robots, but stood in front of them and held her arms out to keep them from approaching Amy. “You expect me to believe you came all this way for her!? And not to get your greedy hands on the chemical!?”

“My machines are already leagues ahead of your outdated G.U.N technology!” Eggman’s voice billowed through one of the robots, holding guns made of lazer-power towards her. “As you can see, I’m not equipped with that awful drug. I had thought it would make controlling mindless robots easier to get rid of the human mind entirely, I had no idea what they were really working on...” he confessed, pausing Rouge a moment as she listened to what he was saying. “Now, if you’d be so kind, I’d rather have something to barter with when Sonic realizes I’ve parted ways with the mad professor...”

“So she’s your bait and switch!?” Her leg swung as though threatening to drill into his robots.

“W-woah, woah, calm down, Mama Rouge. I have a nutralizer I created for myself in case this might happen... It would benefit both me and Amy’s current state to test it out, don’t you agree?” His voice sounded as though he was trying to negotiate. “Yes, I want Sonic’s fury to be redirected, but that doesn’t mean I have no intention to present a perfectly healthy Rose to him... Savvy?”

She... slowly lowered her foot down, still ticked off as the robots surrounded Amy and began to move her into a floating transport pod.

“There, now we see eye to eye...”

“If anything happens to her Eggman...” She flew to sit on the end of the pod, showing she was coming too. “You’re screwed.”

“Don’t think I don’t know that... come along then.” he groaned, showing his own ‘calm distress’ as the robot he was speaking through turned and the rest marched out with the transport pod in the middle.

Getting to Eggman’s base, his computer screens were massive compared to the old G.U.N base... but as Rouge stayed by Amy’s side... Eggman’s face grew more and more like stone...

The results... were not in his favor.

As though whimsical at first, he was now showing signs of racing against the clock. Treating Rouge like a nurse all of a sudden, he spoke quickly out without a shred of emotion, only hurry. “That extraction gun. Over there.”

Rouge was being to panic at his odd shift in behavior, but quickly used her wings to push herself to move faster, rapidly grabbing the object he barely gestured to and rushing back to him with dust flying up in her wake.

“She better make it Doc.”

He didn’t say anything.

“Hold her down, she’s not going to like this.” He jammed the gun’s barrel to her side.

“DOCTOR!” Rouge shoved it off her body, “Have you lost your mind!?”

“Rouge, if you interfere, I’ll be sure to blame the consequences on you.” His threat was nothing like she had seen from him before... and complying, she did as she was told.

She pushed Amy’s arms down to the her sides, over her head as Eggman swung the gun back into position.

“What will it do to her?”

He said nothing, only working fast, moving some parts on the gun as it lit up, and then cocked it.

“Eggman...” her plea revealed her fear...

He shot into Amy’s side.

Amy’s body lurched forward and from her, a painful cry.

“Keep her down.” Eggman seemed to be grabbing a stick with movable features and cocked it back again.

An odd substance started draining into the gun.

“You’re not gonna do it again!” Rouge cried out, but Eggman just lowered the gun and let the substance spill into it.

“Could you not talk and let me work, woman!?” Eggman rudely spat out as he watched the substance mingle with some blood... before unhooking it from her side and grabbing some medical supplies to stop the bleeding. “There... if anyone asks...” He kept one hand on the bandage... “I did what I could.”

Rouge saw the grim look on his face and her’s finally broke.

She looked back to Amy, who was slowly coming too, but something was off with her.

Eggman looked away, “I stopped the process.”

“You what?” Rouge saw him turn his face away from her, as though he was hiding something.

“...It’s damage could be recovered... but that’s up to Amy now...” he was speaking too sorrowfully, as though trying to distance himself from the situation.

Rouge wouldn’t allow it.

“EGGMAN!” she grabbed his padded shoulder and yanked him down, he let her, though it was clearly uncomfortable for a man of his height to slump so far to the side like this. She hollered frantically in his ear, “You tell me what you don’t want me to know!”

He grimaced, as though not wanting to but then Amy stirred again.

Her body did some more twitches... as though her muscles were aching, before she slightly... opened her eyes.

Rouge released Eggman and appeared right by her side in seconds, “Amy..? Sweetie, tell me you’re okay.” she placed a hand to her cheek.

“...Rrrrouge...” she breathed out.

Rouge sighed in relief and dropped her head, “Thank Chaos.”

But... when she looked to see Eggman’s face.

Stone.

Why wasn’t he relieved too?

Rouge, worried again now, looked back to Amy.

She was making odd hums, as though waking up, but something was off with them. She looked to Eggman, “Egg...” she said, but began to create weird forms with her mouth, and Rouge’s hand twitched off her cheek as she continued to move as though unused to her limps.

Rouge’s chest rose and fell... “What’s wrong with her?” she demanded, feeling her heart tighten as though not wanting to beat anymore. “WHAT HAPPENED TO HER?!” she turned to Eggman but that was when Sonic, Silver, Tails, Knuckles, and Shadow busted through the door as it feel like cold steel to the empty entrance.

“Rouge!” Shadow cried out, and it was clear Silver was beaten down and bruised... what had happened?

Knuckles darted by the two, followed by a speedy blue blur and Tails... was frozen in fear.

Amy’s eyes wouldn’t concentrate on anything, and her expression didn’t match the situation at all.

Sonic’s blur paused in front of her... stone.

Knuckles halted his franic steps... before looking to the screen, then back to her... his footsteps slowed... and then he fell to his knees.

He bashed his fist into the ground, and then lowered his back as though unable to look further.

Silver’s eyes shook, “Is she..?”

Shadow turned his head away, and Tails finished everyone’s trail of thought...

“She’s... gone.” He gripped his head.

“B-but she’s alive!” Silver gestured to her, grabbing Tails’s shoulder, “She’s still moving!”

“She’s not there!” Tails jerked himself away from Silver, “Her mind’s gone! The Amy we knew is gone!” he cried out, crying and cringing as he fell to the ground, sobbing. “It’s been too much time... We traveled to the cave and she wasn’t there. That took time!” He gripped his chest as Silver’s world began to crash down on him. “Shadow took time to find us!” He seemed to curl up on the ground, as Amy gestured a hand in the air, as though trying to grab something flying around her, as though in her mind... things were different. “We were stopped by that man and had to fight for our lives! We finally got him taken care of and unable to stop us further, but then Shadow got the G.U.N results remotely and my miles-electric had to download the signal, that meant we waited!” he gripped his head again, panting and wheezing as though also going through a mental breakdown. He started shouting as the room fell motionless... still... except for Amy. “When we discovered that the chemical probably had destroyed half of her already, we rushed to find Rouge!”

The situation looked like they were hung up on a wild goose chase, trying to scramble around and find Amy.

“BUT WHEN WE GOT THERE SHE WAS GONE!”

Rouge collapsed to the ground, covering her face with one hand, but through the slits in her fingers, her eyes shrunk and trembled.

“WE COULDN’T SAVE HER!”

-Many days later...-

Cream was out with Amy, supervised by Vanilla as she sat on a bench and walked the two. Cream was bending down to pick flowers, but Amy was staring up at the sky, as though transfixed on something, before Cream held up a flower and she took it, wobbling it in front of her face.

Cream gave a forced smile, just glad that it amused her.

Then... beside Vanilla... Sonic appeared.

“..How is she?” he asked, but his usual cheer and charisma was gone.

Vanilla smiled and looked down to her hands laying gracefully on her lap. “... Her appetites good... she only says one syllable words though... and not many for several days now.” She looked back up with a mother’s care at the two girls, seeing Cream and Cheese try to engage Amy but Amy was still shaking the flower profusely in front of her eye.

Sonic also stared... then folded his arms and adjusted his balance, looking on the ground as though uncomfortable.

“...Does she recognize anyone?”

“She recognizes Cream, but doesn’t seem to notice me. She’ll speak to Cream, but not engage me.” There was some pain being held back in her words... “I hand feed her... But sometimes she bats my face or shoves my hand away.”

Sonic turned abruptly away from her, “I don’t need to hear that!”

“... You asked...” she lowered her head, as though she’s been answering politely for too long, and so she told him the truth to see if that would satisfy him. “She may never get any better, Sonic... You come by and ask but I always tell you the same, kind things... today, you must face the possibly that Amy may be mentally disabled for life now.”

Sonic whole being tensed up, but not wanting to lash out at her, he held it in, struggling.

“... You should see her. Talk with her.” Vanilla finally said, looking to him, “She’d like that.”

“...I don’t think I can handle if-” he cut himself off, hearing the shift in his voice cracking and not liking his emotions being so real in front of others. He cleared his throat and looked to the sky... just like Rouge had done to keep the wetness in her eyes. “If she doesn’t know me.”

Vanilla remained silent, but like a loving mother, got up and embraced Sonic from being, resting her head on his shoulder and leaning her cheek into his, rubbing and stroking his head to calm him down.

“Her mind may not, but her heart will always know who you are, Sonic. You should speak to her.”

With that kind, motherly encouragement, Vanilla called back Cream and Cheese and took her hand as Cream took Cheese’s arm.

“We’ll give you two some space.” she moved further down the trail as Sonic was now solely in charge of watching her.

He took a deep breath, clearly uncomfortable, but walked softly over to her, trying not to spook her.

He bent down by her side, “Hey,... Amy.” He felt a lump in his throat as his smile he had tried to summon for her sake vanished at the sight of the flower falling from Amy’s hands and her taking a few seconds to stop shaking, and just stare at her hand while her damaged brain tried to figure out what had happened.

He closed his eyes, sitting down from his squat and finding this terribly hard.

He had avoided this for so long... he had beaten up Silver in his rage and then yelled at Shadow for leaving her as well.

By the time he got to Rouge and Eggman, there was no rage, only heartache.

“It’s been a long time...” He admitted, “That we haven’t seen each other.” He pressed his two fingers into his eyes, and as he strained against crying, his lips trembled like Silver’s had once done... and it was clear he was on the verge of crying.

That’s when Amy’s eyes blinked and she turned to look at him.

She made some weird mumbling sounds that were in-cohesive, and hit his shoulder with a few strong bats.

“Ow, ow, stop!” he leaned away and held up his hand, catching her slapping hand.

“Son.” she said the first syllable of his name,... stared at him... and then angrily, almost child-like, began to hit him again.

“Woah, stop,.. stop,.. stop!” he kept counter-weighting the hand as she hit before trying to pull away from his touch, crying out as he finally let her go and she scrunched her arms into herself.

He didn’t know how to handle this, but he was going to do his best. “Do you... do you know who I am.”

She made a strange, but clearly upset face, and glared at the ground.

“... I’m so sorry.”

“Son...”

“I failed you.”

“Son...”

“I shouldn’t have left you there. I should have let Silver go with Tails and Knuckles. I shouldn’t have blamed him either... I should have listened to Knuckles’s gut feeling... he kept bringing it up and I kept thinking we had more time. I shouldn’t have punched and kicked him... I shouldn’t have shouted at Shadow... I should have just run, like I always do. I should have ran straight to you and I didn’t. I’m so sorry, Amy. I’m so-... I’m so lost without you.”

Amy’s body turned away from him.

It was a beautiful sky... a wonderful summer day... a perfect scene for a picnic or family outing.

But there they were, a broken man once revering himself as a hero... and a broken girl who he missed dearly.

Then, as though a snake about to strike, her hand went back up to strike him... but he began to cry.

Her hand twitched and slowed... before landing on his head.

“...Son...ic.”

He kept crying.

“Son.. ic... cry...”

He didn’t notice.

“Son..ic.. don’t... cry...”

Then his ear twitched, and his eyes shook a moment as they grew wider and wider.

“Sonic...”

He turned to look at her.

She was crying...

He watched... then cried out, “Vanilla!!!” his voice rang through the flowered fields...

It took time, but with help, Amy slowly recovered, and Sonic was with her every step of the way.

(A huge AU, but ya know, I thought-- ‘what’s worse than a huge side-effect that would lead Sonic to his breaking point?’ here you go~)

[beevean]

3 years of Sonic Forces, the biggest love-hate relationship of the series

[note: this is the translation of @latin-dr-robotnik​’s article]

Today is an almost special day, today it’s the anniversary of a rather peculiar game in this series.

On this day 3 years ago, the (to this day) newest game of Sonic Team was released: Sonic Forces. After waiting a year and a half since its announcement (and four years since Sonic Lost World’s release), it was finally time to see what the last chapter of the main series had in store for us, and the results were… okay.

There were so many warning signs in the months before the release: a marketing campaign that was noticeably absent until the very last month, opting to focus more on Mania (let’s not forget that we still get videos about Mania even after the game’s release, not so much about Forces), which added to the uncertainty caused by the footage already available at the time, which ended up being confirmed a few days before the release, when some people managed to get the game early and streamed a good chunk of the game. While one of the leakers was just a bad player, the quality of the game itself was put into question…

A harsh reality

I’m not going to soften up my words here: for being the latest Sonic game, in a post-Generations and post-Boom era, Sonic Forces fell short of everything it tried to do (if it tried). Anything positive comes from the roots of something negative, and in the context of this anniversary, after 3 years without knowing a thing about the next game, it only emphasizes the frustration and the disappointment it caused.

Sonic Forces promised a world devastated by Eggman, an epic battle to save the world and win against a powerful enemy. However, of so many promises, not even the first one, the most basic one, was kept: it was an empty takeover, explained poorly (because they didn’t even show it, they told it through text) and developed even worse. All the potential of such an exciting world was thrown away as soon as the game didn’t even try to explain some of its most important questions (like why Green Hill was in the process of desertification); to this day we still don’t know what the fuck does the Phantom Ruby do, in Mania it has some powers, in Forces it has different powers, and it’s not clear where does it come from or if it’s more powerful than the Chaos Emeralds. It is disappointing to not be able to discover all this untapped potential, and it is so disappointing that one of the oldest works on my blog was an attempt to rewrite the beginning of the game, give it more context and a better footing to start the adventure.

This old leak dates back to 2016, when the game was barely announced, and surprisingly it ended up being real, very very real. Even the title “Sonic Wars” is true, and if you don’t believe me you can open the game’s folder and read the names that appear. Source.

The confusion and disappointment don’t end here. If you have read the mess of opinions and emotions that is my analysis of the game [translator’s note: the link is in Spanish], you may have noticed that one of the biggest questions never answered was, what’s up with the order of the levels and why is it so confusing? Between 2016 and 2017, there were some leaks and statements going around places like Sonic Stadium that confirmed that the game went through numerous changes, not just in the plot, but in the levels as well. Right now I can’t find these old posts (I’m surprised that the fandom didn’t archive them), but it was said that the original idea for Forces, then still called Sonic Wars, was to shine the spotlight even more on the Avatar, or Buddy as it was called; the decision was unanimously rejected by SEGA of America and Europe, forcing SEGA of Japan to order that the game was modified. In fact, I remember that the leak that mentioned this meeting between the SEGA branches was rather bad, with a very tense atmosphere and lots of disagreements.

This is the closest thing to a confirmation of the scrapped plot that I could find. At least it’s proof that I’m not crazy and that Forces was indeed more focused on the Avatar. Source.

The mess that is the order of the levels, the questionable presence of characters like Classic Sonic, and some of the details of one of the leaked scrapped scripts such as that apparently they considered to reintroduce Mephiles – all of this shapes the network of a mediocre game, created under the premise of “from the creators of Sonic Colors and Sonic Generations” but taking all the wrong parts of those two games, using an engine that has been proven to be less efficient than Unleashed’s and Generations (and I’m not talking about the Hedgehog Engine, which is the graphical engine – I’m talking about the game and physics engine of Lost World), and with short levels and… polarizing bosses, to say the least.

The result is a game that shows a lot of potential, but in practice it doesn’t live up to it at all, be it for its own limitations (being rushed like hell) or for a noticeable lack of attention to details; it didn’t succeed in creating a cohesive and coherent world, with levels that could be worthy of what has been learned in these years. This is the reality of Sonic Forces.

And yet...

Despite everything I’ve just said, despite all the unacceptable errors that Forces made, and despite all the terribly wasted potential… we still talk about this game.

There are many reasons. On one hand, Forces and Mania have been the latest Sonic games for 3 years now, which is tragic in on itself (Team Sonic Racing disappeared from the face of the Earth); on the other, we still talk about Forces because there is something that still attracts us to it.

It’s not the same attraction we feel for Sonic ‘06, though. Forces is not a complete, almost-franchise-killing disaster like ‘06 was, it’s not a giant meme that spread from the fandom to popular circles and internet figures such as the Game Grumps. People have been trying to fix Forces’ mistakes, but not on the same scale as projects that tries to completely recreate ‘06 with a radically different engine, or fix each and every bug in the original version. Forces is nowhere near as infamous, and so the discussion goes in different directions.

Episode Shadow is still one of the most entertaining parts of the game, and one of the most important as well, as Shadow himself hadn’t been a playable character since… well, Sonic ‘06.

On one hand, there is a cult surrounding Infinite, one that I personally don’t agree with, and I don’t know if it’s bigger than Mephiles’ 15 years ago, but I do know that it exists and it’s still present. One of the ways Sonic Team tried to “go back to its roots” was to introduce a character like Infinite in a plot that was supposed to be “more serious”. Final results notwithstanding, Infinite managed to win the heart of a sizeable portion of the fandom, which still wishes for his return and development.

On the other hand, there is the Avatar, our personal OC with an impressive customization system, which allows us complete freedom, to the point that we could recreate characters introduced in Sonic IDW like Whisper the Wolf. What at first looked like a questionable idea, nothing more than a source of memes, ended up becoming the smartest idea Forces had, with a gameplay style that, in my opinion, retains a little of the old Adventure spirit, and even had some of the most fun levels in the game. While Classic Sonic ruined one third of the game, and Sonic was somewhat mediocre compared to his past feats, the Avatar’s gameplay style manages to keep its quality throughout the game, despite the fact that the plot keeps revolving around their presence instead of focusing on the other aspects of saving the world, which is... well, a little unfortunate.

Even I, who I’m not really into Sonic OCs, had a lot of fun recreating some of the characters.

And finally we get to the best part of the entire game: the music.

Even after three years my opinions haven’t changed much. Forces’ music isn’t perfect, it has its low moments (I feel like I’m the only one who doesn’t like Light of Hope) and some disasters (F*ded H*lls lol), but overall it has good intentions and it has some pretty good highlights.

The use of synths, as overdone and criticized as it is, was an honest attempt to follow a trend present in older games, like Sonic Unleashed, where this instrument symbolized Eggman’s influence. An interesting touch that, while wasn’t completely successful, is appreciated.

I still say that Fighting Onward is one of the best themes of the entire game, and Spaceport as the level benefits from having it.

Then there’s the best part of the entire soundtrack: the return of vocal themes, such as the main theme, the villain theme, and some of the level themes. I cannot explain with enough words how much fans were waiting for this, and it was brilliantly handled by the advertising campaign: a preview of the instrumental version of Fist Bump, a short peek of the Avatar themes, and finally the reveal of some of the major themes. It’s not surprising that it became one of the most appreciated parts by the fans. From the iconic intro of Fading World to the subtle nod to Green Hill in Set In Motion, every theme has something that makes it stand out from the rest of the game.

But even so, the rest of the music in the game has redeemable points as well. Forces in general distances itself from the music styles previously used in the series, especially from the variety of incredible sounds of Unleashed or even Lost World; but from time to time it still recognizably Sonic, like in the half-Megaman, half-Runners Network Terminal, in the extremely epic and underrated Last Judgement, or in the always-mentioned Ghost Town (not the only “good” Classic theme in my opinion, but the first one that comes to mind). Even the remixed Zavok theme sound better in Forces than in its original version.

A love-hate relationship

At the end of the day, the only thing left I could say is that Forces is still one of the most polarizing games in the series. 3 years aren’t enough to heal some of the wounds left by the 4-year hiatus, plus the disappointment of the time, but at the same time these 3 years kept alive the memory of its best moment, the discussions about the music and the uncountable groups of fans reunited to share OCs like the fandom has always done.

In this anniversary, I thought it would be interesting to revisit a bit the peculiar relationship I have with this game, as we wait for a new hype cycle for the next game. And maybe, just maybe, that will be the moment Forces will fade from our collective memory, at least for a decade, until new fans will look back to the good and bad this game has done. And I hope that, in the future, the situation of the franchise will also be different from what it has been these last years, in a good way of course.

This is all we have left of Forces today, a game that did not manage to capitalize on its opportunities, and a game that shames the legacy of the Unleashed-Colors-Generations era; but also a game that had some genuine, interesting ideas, and a different musical direction, one that (with some exceptions) was what the fans wanted. It’s a polarizing game, it’s a love-hate relationship.